Famously, the slogan “All the News That’s Fit to Print” graces the front page of every New York Times edition. The slogan was coined at the end of the 19th century by the paper’s publisher, Adolph Ochs. Of course, in today’s hyper-globalized world, the slogan is wishful thinking. No paper could realistically cover all the important news stories of the day.
Still, it would be hard to argue that outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and others adequately cover even those stories they do print. They often devote precious space to emotive or opinionated claims, while omitting highly material and relevant information that sheds important new light.
Provided below are three important, but underreported, stories bearing on Israel and the Middle East that media consumers should know this week.
1) At Least 18 “Medical Workers” Killed in Gaza Were Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad Combatants
During the Israel-Hamas war, known anti-Israel “UN experts” accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of “medicide” in Gaza, their word for what they alleged to be the deliberate “attacking and starving healthcare workers, paramedics and hospitals to wipe out medical care.” Israel routinely pushed back against the narrative, even revealing Hamas documents from 2020 and videos that detailed how Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) exploited Gazan medical facilities for military purposes.
This week, The Times of Israel reported that at least 18 “medical professionals” killed in the Israel-Hamas war were actually Hamas and PIJ combatants. One of them, Mohammed Akram al-Kafarna, was eulogized by the Geneva-based International Council of Nurses (ICN) after his September 2025 death, identifying him as one of “hundreds of nurses and healthcare workers who have tragically lost their lives during the conflict.” Except, al-Kafarna was also a fighter in the Nidal Nasser Battalion, part of Hamas’ Northern Gaza Brigade. Al-Kafarna and 17 other doctors, nurses, paramedics or employees of hospital or the Hamas-run heath ministry have been claimed as members of the terror groups in recently published mourning notices.
Even despite Hamas claiming the “nurse” as one of its own, ICN still asserts on its website that his killing violated international law.
This is yet another case where Hamas and PIJ members assumed civilian identities, while their terror affiliations were only revealed years later. In addition to these death notices revealing “healthcare workers” as terrorists, the groups also recently revealed “journalists” and soccer players as their operatives too.
2) London Borough Begins Ending ‘Twin City’ Relationship With Haifa, Giving ‘Staggeringly Insensitive’ October 7 Deadline
A controversial deadline sparked backlash following a decision by London’s Hackney Council to sever its 58-year twin city relationship with Haifa, Israel. Newly elected Green Party Hackney mayor Zoë Garbett originally gave Haifa mayor Yona Yahav by October 7, 2026, to respond to the plan to cut twinning ties. As The Jewish Chronicle reported, Garbett was then forced to apologize for selecting the third anniversary of the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust as the due date for a response. She offered her “sincere apologies” for the “insensitive and serious mistake,” and extended the deadline by one week.
The “twin city” concept originated after World War II, in an attempt to foster peace and reconciliation between countries previously at war. After Israel declared statehood in 1948, Israeli leaders sought twin-city agreements with many cities with large Jewish populations.
London’s Hackney borough has been twinned with Haifa, home to Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Baháʼí communities, since 1968. The relationship centered on connecting a Hackney hospital with Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center, which resulted in tangible connections, like when Haifa doctors came to teach techniques to Hackney doctors a few years back.
On July 28, 2026, the Hackney Council voted in favor of ending the twin city relationship with Haifa, citing a moral imperative because of the war in Gaza. The vote does not mean ties are immediately severed, but a formal process has commenced. The process includes an impact assessment, establishing a working group, and writing to the mayor of the twinned city. The vote was condemned by the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
“Tonight, the Hackney Green Party showed its ignorance and bigotry… This vote represents the prioritisation of spite over sense.” – Board President @PhilR_R pic.twitter.com/XKhRGpnCrV
— Board of Deputies of British Jews (@BoardofDeputies) July 28, 2026
3) Israeli Tourists Assaulted in Crete Hotel
On July 26, 2026, a group of Israeli tourists reported being physically attacked near and inside their Crete hotel. The group reported returning from a party at approximately 4 a.m. while singing in Hebrew. The tourists explained they were attacked by a group wielding sharp objects and rifles who shouted “F— Israel” and “Free Palestine,” who then threw glass bottles and chased them into the hotel compound.
As reported nearly exclusively in the written press by Times of Israel, 17-year-old Raz told Israeli Channel 12 that the Israelis yelled back at the group, and an argument ensued, but when they got closer to the hotel, a bigger group arrived. Raz reported that the group tried to jump them, and a friend stopped one attacker from breaking a bottle on his head. Another Israeli was hit in the head from a projectile fired from an attacker’s air rifle.
The tourists locked themselves in their hotel rooms, with several younger ones sending distress and farewell messages to their families in Israel while the attackers moved between hotel floors, knocking on doors, searching for Israeli guests. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the embassy in Greece coordinated with local authorities. When the incident concluded, many of the Israelis cut their vacations short to return home.
The victims characterized the attack as an antisemitic assault, but local residents claimed intoxication was to blame.
This is not the first time Crete and Israelis have been in the news this summer. The Daily Mail reported that a suspected Hamas operative, a 37-year-old Palestinian-Egyptian man working as an electrician at a Crete hotel, was arrested by Greek special forces in June. The police found chemicals, a precision scale and other bomb-making equipment in his Athens apartment. Authorities believe he was preparing a terror attack on an Israeli cruise ship and were tipped off by Cypriot intelligence after arresting two Palestinians near Larnaca who were in touch with the man.
Other than The Times of Israel and Israeli television channels, who interviewed victims, no mainstream media covered this Crete hotel attack.