**Missile Strike on Israel Indicates Eruption of Long-Awaited Regional Conflict** The recent missile attack on Tel Aviv has starkly illustrated that the regional conflict many have feared for the past year may have finally begun. As the forces of restraint in the Middle East continue to erode, Israeli officials have characterized the assault as an Iranian declaration of war. On Tuesday night, the sight of missiles raining down on the city served as a clear signal of escalating tensions. This marks the second Iranian aerial assault on Israel in under six months. Unlike the previous attack, which allowed for several days of warning with slower drones and cruise missiles targeting a military base in the sparsely populated Negev desert, this latest strike came with little to no advance notice. The situation underscores the growing volatility in the region and raises concerns about the potential for a broader conflict.

In a tragic incident, a UN worker was killed by an Israeli sniper in the northern West Bank, marking the first death of an UNRWA employee in the region in over a decade. Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad, a sanitation worker for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, was shot while on the roof of his home in el Far’a camp during the early hours of Thursday morning. He leaves behind a wife and five children. This incident comes as friends and family in Turkey mourn the loss of a US-Turkish activist who was killed by the Israeli military during a protest just six days prior, approximately 30 kilometers away. In a related development, the Israeli military reported that a missile launched from Yemen struck an unpopulated area, further escalating tensions in the region.