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The attacks on Tuesday came as the Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs said at least 13 mosques have been “violated” by the Israeli military or settlers since the start of the year.

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Footage, verified by Al Jazeera, showed worshippers at the mosque in Madama, near Nablus, coughing in the aftermath of the tear gas attack. One elderly man was seen bent over as another tried to help him.

The ministry said Israeli forces “fired tear gas canisters” into the mosque as people gathered for their evening prayers. The attack “resulted in several elderly worshippers suffering from suffocation and caused widespread disruption to the congregation”, it added.

The attack in Madama came hours after Israeli settlers tried to set fire to another mosque in the nearby town of Bazariya.

Photos and videos from Nur al-Din Zanki Mosque showed blackened burn marks around a window of a room and Hebrew phrases sprayed on the exterior walls.

Majed Nasr, who lives near the mosque, said the attack took place early on Tuesday morning. “There was a small explosion that caused a fire inside the mosque building,” he told the AFP news agency. “We managed to contain the blaze before things could get worse and reach the main upper part of the building.”

The Religious Affairs Ministry condemned the incident as a “criminal attack”.

Surge in attacks on mosques

Local sources told the Anadolu agency that the racist slogans sprayed at the site included threats against Palestinians and a message to the United States ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, saying: “Huckabee, greetings from the terrorists.”

Last month, Huckabee had described Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians in the town of Qusra and other areas of the occupied West Bank as “terrorists”.

The attacks in Madama and Bazariya come as Israeli raids on West Bank mosques have surged following the launch of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in 2023.

Data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) and Anadolu showed an average of four mosque attacks each year between 2017 and 2022. That figure tripled after the war on Gaza in 2023, with an average of 10 a year. This year’s is the highest annual figure since 2017.

The office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement following the Madama attack, warning of “the dangers of the continued and escalating religious war” waged by Israeli forces and settlers against religious sites in the occupied West Bank, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.

The “systematic attacks … crossed all red lines and risked triggering a religious conflict with serious consequences for the region and the world”, it said.

Israeli settlers also burned vehicles in the town of Beta, south of Nablus, and set fire to a Palestinian vehicle in Nahalin, west of Bethlehem, on Tuesday, according to media reports and footage posted online.

The attacks come amid a sharp increase in pogroms by Israeli forces and settlers across the occupied West Bank.

The United Nations said in August that at least 76 Palestinians have been killed in the territory this year and that some 3,800 people have been displaced by settler violence, as well as demolitions and evictions.

It also said settler violence had reached “unprecedented levels,” with more than 1,430 attacks resulting in casualties or property damage documented this year.

Elsewhere in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Israeli forces arrested at least 14 Palestinians, including five in Rummanah, one at the Anabta checkpoint, one in Tammun, three in Hebron, two in Bethlehem and two in Nablus.

Israeli forces also uprooted olive trees near Jenin, demolished greenhouses and issued a demolition notice for a home in the town of Idhna. %!s()

It is the largest defence deal ever concluded between the two countries. It is also one of the most significant export agreements in Israel’s recent history.

What makes the agreement particularly striking is that it comes as Israel’s global standing is at one of its lowest points in decades. And Greece is no outlier, given that 65 percent of its citizens now view Israel unfavourably. Why, then, has Athens now chosen to openly deepen its ties with Israel in the most politically sensitive of areas: defence and military technology?

Firstly, the shadow of Israel’s conflict with Iran looms large. In early March, an Iranian drone struck Cyprus, Greece’s neighbour and close partner. This likely reinforced anxieties that were already visible in 2024. After Israel, with the help of the United States, downed approximately 300 Iranian drones and missiles, Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias called on Athens to develop its own antidrone “dome”.

The deal is therefore partly the product of pragmatic necessity as countries scramble for military solutions to growing drone threats. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, for example, are acquiring antidrone technology from Ukraine, another country able to market its products as battle-tested.

Despite its political disadvantage, Israel has a practical head start, given that it has long practised “arms diplomacy”, using its defence industry as a springboard to cultivate deeper bilateral ties with prospective buyers.

The second factor driving the Achilles Shield deal is another longstanding tenet of Israeli grand strategy: the “periphery doctrine”. This advocates that Israel develop ties with non-Arab states and peoples on the periphery of the Levant to counter the hostility between Israel and its immediate neighbours. It is a recognition that shared threats can produce strategic partnerships. And in the case of Israel and Greece, that shared threat is Turkiye.

The irony is that Turkiye – as a non-Arab state and the gateway between the Middle East and Europe – was Israel’s close partner in the early days of the periphery doctrine. In 1949, Turkiye was the first Muslim country to recognise Israel. In subsequent years, Ankara and Tel Aviv developed robust but clandestine security ties.

This worked as Israel intended in that it opened the door to increasingly public and broader bilateral relations, which continued even after the Islamist-oriented AK Party, or Justice and Development Party, came to power in Turkiye in 2002.

But both sides fell out in late 2008 after Israel launched an offensive on the Gaza Strip. Subsequent divergences over Israeli policies towards the occupied Palestinian territory have gradually unravelled their deep ties.

Bilateral trade has collapsed since Ankara imposed an embargo on Israel in 2024. There are no longer direct flights between the two countries. In June, US President Donald Trump claimed that US pressure stopped Turkiye from joining the war on Iran, on Tehran’s side. This may sound far-fetched, yet it illustrates how Israel and Turkiye not only disagree on many geopolitical issues, but increasingly see each other as rivals and even threats.

What is remarkable is how quickly Greece has filled the void. In previous years, Tel Aviv’s partnership with Ankara precluded closer ties with Athens. But no more: in late 2025, Israel, Cyprus and Greece signed a “Joint Action Plan” that mandates enhanced military cooperation.

Energy has reinforced this strategic convergence. The discovery of substantial gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean encouraged Israel, Greece and Cyprus to cooperate on pipelines and maritime security.

And, as was the case with Turkiye, more extensive bilateral ties followed security cooperation: some 744,000 Israelis visited Greece in 2025, compared with the peak of 558,000 Israeli tourists who travelled to Turkiye in 2008.

The increasing regional division into competing blocs has also driven the burgeoning Israel-Greece relationship. In February, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu floated a “hexagon alliance” of Israel, Greece, Cyprus, India and unnamed Arab and African countries.

Six months later, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement. This alliance broadly overlaps with what commentators earlier labelled the “Islamic coalition”.

This is an evolving dynamic and inter-bloc collaboration is as common as intra-bloc divergences. But it demonstrates that the crisis of confidence in the US as a security guarantor extends beyond the Gulf states and predates the recent war on Iran. It also portends headaches for Washington’s policymakers, given that these increasingly competing states are all US allies.

The Achilles Shield deal is therefore the new manifestation of an old Israeli strategy that has been accelerated by the US-Israel war on Iran. Public scepticism may complicate Greece-Israel relations, but Israeli-Turkish ties deepened for decades despite similarly unfavourable public attitudes.

In short, in the eastern Mediterranean and elsewhere, growing popular outrage at Israel’s policies will continue to coexist uneasily with deepening security cooperation at an elite level. The irony is that the same conflicts that have damaged Israel’s international standing have also increased the value of its military experience and defence technology.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. %!s()

Tyler joined the company's Board as a non-executive director in April last year and was appointed interim chair on May 26.

BP said Tyler, who has worked alongside more than 15 CEOs during a non-executive career spanning listed private companies across oil and gas, natural resources and engineering firms, will assume his role immediately.

"Ian brings significant experience providing challenge and support to executive teams, while maintaining strong governance and oversight on behalf of shareholders," Amanda Blanc, BP's senior independent director, said in a statement.

The company also announced that Blanc will not stand for re-election at the 2027 annual general meeting and will step down from the board once a successor has been appointed for her role.

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Tyler said he had asked Blanc to stay, but she told him that after four years, now was an appropriate time to plan for her departure from the board.

"I will lead the board's evolution, ensuring we have the depth, experience and capabilities needed to support the company's strategic priorities and long-term value creation," Tyler said.

"I am committed to establishing regular and transparent engagement with our shareholders, while continuing to support the wider leadership team as they deliver the performance and value our shareholders rightfully expect," he added.

Tyler's appointment comes as BP seeks to stabilize the company following years of executive turnover and strategic division. The London-listed major is pivoting back to its core business of oil and gas, while prioritizing financial discipline by simplifying its portfolio.

Shares of BP were up around 0.4% on Wednesday morning. The stock has climbed around 25% so far this year.

Conduct concerns

In May, BP removed its chairman Manifold with immediate effect. Manifold, who had only been in post for around seven months, had faced accusations of "serious concerns" relating to governance standards, oversight and conduct.

The former chair has pushed back against the accusations, saying he'd been removed from his post "without warning and without explanation" and that he disputes "entirely the characterisation" of his conduct.

His dismissal had raised questions about BP's corporate governance after a succession of abrupt leadership departures.

In 2023, Bernard Looney resigned as CEO after the company said he misled the board about past relationships with colleagues. He was succeeded by Murray Auchincloss, who stepped down after less than two years in the role.

Current CEO Meg O'Neill took the reins in December, becoming the company's fourth CEO in six years. %!s()

Gruv Launches Legends of Animation DVD Sale

Gruv isn’t actually listing the original prices of the cartoon collections, so I’m comparing their prices to the listings currently available on Amazon. There’s also no clear end date for the sale, which at the very least will run through Labor Day weekend sales.

Legends of Animation Sale

Given the Warner Bros. connection, it’s not a surprise that the sale includes a ridiculous amount of Looney Tunes. The cartoon squad is particularly topical with Coyote vs. Acme, the once-shelved Warner Bros. movie we recently gave a 9/10 review, now actually showing in theaters.

Having first aired in 1930, the Looney Tunes is a particularly long-running series that would be near-impossible to pack into a single DVD release. As such, Gruv is giving you tons of options. We’re talking the full lineup of collected seasons from across eras and anniversaries, as well as a decent chunk of film collections.

One of the best deals in sale is actually on a particularly recent release, at least in DVD form. The Tom & Jerry Golden Era Collection dropped last December, collecting 114 episodes of the original cartoon that aired primarily from 1940 to 1958. The $20 price drop on Gruv bring the box set to a lower price than it's ever been on Amazon.

Other discounted box sets include What’s New Scooby Doo, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and a particularly great combo, The Flintstones and The Jetstons.

What Is Gruv?

Gruv is an official storefront backed by Universal and Warner Bros, so it’s basically as close as you can get to getting these DVDs directly from the source. I’ve been covering Blu-ray deals for several years now, and quickly picked up on the fact that DVD discounts at retailers like Amazon are often just price-matching what was already happening directly at Gruv.

Like many things, it remains to be seen what exactly will happen with these physical media distribution deals and storefronts if Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros., which is currently on pause, goes into full effect.

Blythe (she/her) is an Audience Development Coordinator at IGN who spends way too much time in character customization screens and tracking down collectibles. %!s()

The extended look at the highly anticipated Rockstar Games title, which marks an entirely new category of entertainment for Netflix, was classified under the English-language film list for the week. It was No. 1 on that list in 87 of 93 countries that Netflix tracks globally.

For comparison, “Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look” views have topped 17 million on YouTube just on the Rockstar Games account only, as of the time of publication Tuesday. The video was posted to YouTube by Rockstar Games at 9 p.m. ET last Thursday, following its exclusive debut earlier that day on Netflix.

It should be noted here that YouTube and Netflix count views very differently. Netflix defines a view as the total hours viewed for a title divided by its runtime, meaning one household watching a program twice would be counted only once. On YouTube, a view is counted as soon as any video (whether its a short, a repeat viewing or partial plays) starts to play.

The “Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look” content was captured entirely from in-game footage on PlayStation 5 (the game will be released for PS5 and Xbox Series X and S on Nov. 19), per Netflix and Take-Two Interactive-owned publisher Rockstar. It marks the lengthiest look fans have gotten at “GTAVI” thus far, following two trailers released over the past three years.

The special features “GTAVI” protagonists Jason and Lucia in both cinematic and gameplay scenes throughout the fictional Vice City, and teases the overall narrative of the game.

Coming in at a distant second on the Top 10 English-language movies list was “The Whisper Man” with 23.2 million views.

On the TV side, the documentary “Death of the Pastor’s Wife” was No. 1 with 19 million views, while the third season of Tyler Perry’s “Beauty in Black” was runnerup with 13 million views.

See the full Netflix Top 10 rankings for the week here. %!s()