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Benjamin Netanyahu is facing calls for an inquiry after Haaretz reported that the UAE president warned him of a major Hamas operation about ten days before 7 October, a report his office calls an absolute lie.

Saudi Arabia has vowed to respond after Houthi drones and missiles hit four cities and set fire to energy facilities, and the Kremlin says Donald Trump told Vladimir Putin he wants a swift end to the war in Ukraine.

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2️⃣ 🇺🇸🇮🇷 US destroys five Iranian tankers as Tehran launches retaliatory strikes on Jordan: US Central Command said it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday after the Revolutionary Guards targeted a Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice in two days, adding that the crews were told to abandon ship first. Iran fired missiles at a US base in Jordan in response, and Jordan's military said it intercepted 18 with two others falling in uninhabited areas.

3️⃣ 🇮🇸🇺🇸 Iceland summons US ambassador over Trump's stars and stripes map: Iceland summoned the US ambassador after US President Donald Trump posted a map on Truth Social showing Iceland, Canada, Greenland, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean covered by the American flag and labelled "United States of America". Iceland's foreign minister called the post "completely inappropriate", and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico is not and will not be a colony of any foreign country.

4️⃣ 🇭🇺🇷🇺 Hungary expels 10 Russian diplomats, Moscow promises harsh response: Hungary ordered 10 Russian diplomats to leave over "unacceptable" activities incompatible with their diplomatic status, with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Anita Orban saying it did not mean breaking off relations. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova promised a "harsh and painful" response, and Budapest had not expelled Russian diplomats before now.

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🇮🇱 Netanyahu faces backlash over October 7 warning report

Haaretz reported, drawing on an upcoming book by the Israeli journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruti Yuval, that UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed called Netanyahu about 10 days before 7 October 2023 and warned in a 45-minute call that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning a major move against Israel.

The report said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted "relatively calmly" and assured Sheikh Mohammed that Israel was prepared for any scenario.

His office called the report an "absolute lie", saying he did not speak to the UAE president in that period and received no warning, while the UAE foreign ministry declined to comment on conversations between leaders but did not deny the call.

Four opposition leaders issued a rare joint statement demanding "an immediate and thorough investigation", and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the alleged disregard amounted to "criminal negligence".

Elections are less than two months away, and Prime Minister Netanyahu has resisted demands for an independent commission into the failures that preceded an attack in which more than 1,200 people were murdered and over 250 abducted.

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