2 arrested in connection with London arson attack on Jewish charity’s ambulances, police say
Firefighters at the scene in Highfield Road, Golders Green, London, after an apparent arson attack on four ambulances belonging to the Jewish Community Ambulance service in London. The Metropolitan Police confirmed the incident is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime. Picture date: Monday March 23, 2026. (Photo by Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Two men were arrested in connection with an arson attack on a Jewish charity’s ambulances in the north London neighborhood of Golders Green, British police said on Wednesday.
The men — aged 47 and 45 — were taken into custody Wednesday morning at separate addresses in northwest and central London, police said.
Both were arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and have been taken to a London police station where they’re being held, according to London’s Metropolitan Police Service, which noted that its officers are conducting searches at the two addresses.
Four ambulances used by Hatzola, a volunteer-led ambulance service in north London, were set on fire just about 1:30 a.m. on Monday morning, police said. Three masked or hooded individuals were seen setting the fires, police said.
Investigators said that they were combing through hours of CCTV footage related to the case, in part to “trace the suspects’ movements.”
“This appears to be an important breakthrough in the investigation, but we’re also mindful that CCTV footage of the incident suggests there were at least three people involved,” Cmdr. Helen Flanagan, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, who is leading the investigation, said in a statement.
An investigations was still underway, Flanagan added, saying the Met would “seek to arrest all of those who may have been involved.”
Officials said that the arson attack was being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, although it had not as been designated a terrorist incident as of the police’s most recent update, which was published on Monday.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the attack as “horrifying,” saying on social media on Monday that it appeared to be a “shocking antisemitic arson attack.”
“An attack on our Jewish community is an attack on us all,” Starmer said. “We will fight the poison that is antisemitism.”
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi (C), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel (L) and U.S. Attorney for Washington, DC Jeanine Pirro make a press announcement at the Department of Justice on February 6, 2026 in Washington, DC. Bondi announced the FBI has captured and extradited Zubayr al-Bakoush, a suspect in the 2012 attack on the US Embassy in Benghazi, Libya. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A suspect in the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, has been arrested and brought back to the United States, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday.
Zubayr al-Bakoush was brought back to Andrews Air Force Base at 3:00 a.m., Bondi said at a press conference alongside FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
On Sept. 11, 2012, a group of men stormed into the diplomatic compound in Benghazi in an attack that killed four Americans.
The suspect is charged with the murder of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.
Pirro said Bakoush was first charged by complaint in 2015, which was sealed for 11 years. The eight-count indictment has now been unsealed, she said.
“It charges Bakoush with the murder of Ambassador Chris Stevens, the murder of State Department employee Sean Smith, the attempted murder of State Department Special Agent Scott Wicklund and conspiracy to provide materials for terrorists and support that resulted in the death of four Americans, as well as arson at the special mission,” Pirro added.
al-Bakoush made his initial appearance before a magistrate judge while in custody later Friday. He was represented by a stand-in attorney and the court deferred his arraignment until a permanent appointed counsel is assigned.
Prosecutors said they will seek pretrial detention. A detention hearing is expected to be held next week.
This is the first arrest in nearly nine years in connection with the attack.
In 2017, the U.S. captured one of the suspects in the attack — Mustafa al-Imam — and extradited him back to the U.S. for trial. He was later convicted on two criminal counts and sentenced to 19 years in prison.
-ABC News’ Briana Stewart contributed to this report.
A view of the structural damage following air strikes carried out by the Israeli military in the Balata Street and El Basta areas of central Beirut, Lebanon on March 18, 2026. (Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Around 4 a.m. Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces posted an image of several blocks in Beirut’s Bashoura neighborhood, saying in an accompanying “urgent warning” that people inside a building outlined in red should leave immediately.
“To everyone present in the building marked in red on the attached map and the adjacent buildings: You are located near a facility affiliated with the terrorist Hezbollah organization, which the Israel Defense Forces will act against,” Avichay Adraee, an IDF spokesperson, said in the Arabic-language post on social media.
About an hour later an Israeli airstrike targeted the building, reducing it to rubble.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone was inside the building at the time of its destruction. The Lebanese Ministry of Health on Wednesday said at least 10 people had been killed in overnight Israeli strikes on the capital, but did not detail where those killings had taken place. Another 27 people were injured, the ministry said.
The Israeli strikes came amid an escalation of Israel’s efforts to stamp out Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy based in Lebanon and designated by Israel and the United States as a terrorist organization.
Hezbollah on March 2 began firing missiles south into Israel, an act that it said was in support of Iran. Those launches, which effectively marked the end of a fragile ceasefire that began in November 2024, came two days after the United States and Israel launched joint airstrikes on Tehran.
The Israeli Air Force has since retaliated by carrying out strikes on the Lebanese capital and elsewhere in Lebanon, striking targets that Israel describes as Hezbollah-related.
Health officials in Lebanon said at least 912 people have been killed in strikes, along with more than 2,000 people who have been injured. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the conflict, officials said.
Among the Israeli targets have been buildings and sites throughout Lebanon associated with the Al-Qard al-Hasan Association, an organisation said to finance Hezbollah’s operations. Israel, as it posted a grainy video showing an eagle-eyed view the Bashoura-building strike, said it had overnight targeted that group. It did not explicitly link the al-Hasan group to the destroyed building.
Hezbollah has also continued targeting Israel, firing between 50 and 60 rockets overnight into the country’s north, according to the IDF. Most were intercepted, but several made direct hits, damaging property and setting fires, Israel said. Emergency medical services reported no fatalities, but several light injuries.
Israel’s air force has also over the last two weeks targeted sites across Southern Lebanon.
Israel also said on Monday it had begun a “limited and targeted” ground operation across its northern border, where it says it’s seeking to destroy Hezbollah “strongholds.” The IDF added on Tuesday that it was seeking to create an “additional layer of security for residents of northern Israel.”
Telling Lebanese residents they will not be allowed to return to southern Lebanon, Defense Minister Israel Katz has signaled Israel may carve out a buffer zone inside Lebanese territory.
“In recent days, IDF troops from the 36th Division have begun limited and targeted ground operations aimed at enhancing the forward defense area,” the IDF said in a statement. “The troops are continuing efforts to establish the forward defensive posture in order to remove threats and create an additional layer of security for residents of northern Israel.”
Israel on Wednesday issued a broad warning for anyone in southern Lebanon, saying residents south of the Litani River — which is seen in part as a geographic boundary between northern and southern Lebanon — should move north as quickly as they could.
The IDF was expecting to target “crossings” on that river, meaning bridges, in the coming hours, Israel said, adding that it was being “compelled” to carry out those strikes because of Hezbollah’s activities “with the support of the civilian population.”
“For your safety and the safety of your families, immediately move to areas north of the Litani River,” the IDF said on social media on Wednesday. “Remaining south of the Litani River may endanger your lives and the lives of your families. Please note: any movement southward may endanger your lives.”
“Accordingly, and to prevent the transfer of reinforcements and combat means, the Defense Army intends to attack crossings on the Litani River starting from midday hours today,” Adraee, the IDF spokesperson, said on social media.
It was unclear how civilians remaining in the south would be able evacuate to the north if river crossings were destroyed.
(LONDON) — The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has reopened to limited pedestrian traffic, Israeli authorities confirmed Monday.
The reopening is the first step in implementing the second phase of President Trump’s Gaza peace plan. The crossing has been completely closed to Palestinians in Gaza since May 2024. Egypt has not allowed unfettered access to its territory through the crossing.
“Following the arrival of the EUBAM teams on behalf of the European Union, the Rafah crossing has now opened to the movement of residents, for both entry and exit,” an Israeli security official told ABC News.
The first group of Palestinians returning from Egypt has arrived in the Gaza Strip. Khaled Megawer, Egypt’s North Sinai governor general, said 50 Palestinians were expected to cross into Egypt on Monday.
Raeed Al-Nemes, a Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) spokesperson, told ABC News that a total of 15 Palestinians – including five Palestinian patients and 10 relatives – left Gaza via the Rafah crossing on Monday.
“The health situation in Gaza is extremely dire,” he said, calling on international organizations and the National Gaza Administration Committee to pressure Israel to allow a larger number of patients to travel abroad for treatment.
On Sunday night, the Israeli Army released video and pictures of a new Israel Defense Forces security checkpoint it will use for Gazans entering Rafah. In a statement, the IDF said “forces have completed in recent days the establishment of the ‘Regavim’ designated checkpoint, which is managed by the security establishment in the area under IDF control.”
The IDF added, “The security establishment forces at the checkpoint check the identities of those entering against lists approved by the Israeli security establishment and carry out a strict inspection of their luggage.”
Israel said it will approve the names of all Gazans entering or leaving the area according to terms reached under Trump’s 20-point peace plan.
The Egyptian Ministry of Health announced Monday that 150 hospitals and approximately 300 ambulances were ready to receive injured and wounded Palestinians.
About 22,000 injured Gazans need medical evacuation, a Hamas spokesperson said Sunday.
On the other side of the crossing, about 10,700 Palestinians who have been evacuated to seek treatment outside Gaza through the World Health Organization will return to the territory after their treatment, the PRCS spokesman said.
