Portal:Current events/2026 February 27

February 27, 2026 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Middle East crisis
- Gaza war
  - Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip
    - Israeli air and drone strikes kill at least five people and injure several others in central and southern Gaza, despite an ongoing United States-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas. (AFP via The Hindu)
- Prelude to the 2026 Iran war
  - U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee says that all embassy staff members in Israel are permitted to leave and urges them do so quickly amidst fears of potential United States strikes against Iran. (The New York Times)
  - The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem confirms that non-emergency government personnel and family members are allowed to leave Israel, citing "safety risks". (Middle East Monitor)
2026 Afghanistan–Pakistan war
- Clashes break out on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, with Pakistan launching airstrikes on several locations in Afghanistan, including the capital of Kabul, targeting Taliban government forces directly, in what Pakistani defense minister Khawaja Asif describes as "open war". (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

2026 Bolivian Air Force Lockheed C-130 crash
- Twenty people are killed and 30 more are injured after the crash of a Bolivian Air Force aircraft into a busy avenue in El Alto, Bolivia. (Reuters)
Seven people are killed and 19 others are injured in a blast and fire at a café in Shchuchinsk, Kazakhstan. (Reuters)
Six people are killed and several others are injured after a sleeper bus collides with a trailer on National Highway 25 in Rajasthan, India. (News18)
Two people are killed and 49 more injured after a tram derails in Milan, Italy, and crashes into pedestrians and a building. (BBC News) (Rai News)

International relations

Law and crime

2025 Pertamina corruption case
- A court in Jakarta, Indonesia, sentences nine individuals, including two former chief executives of subsidiaries of state-owned energy company Pertamina, to prison terms ranging from nine to 15 years in a corruption case involving alleged unlawful oil terminal leasing and crude oil imports that prosecutors say caused significant state losses. (Reuters)
Humanitarian aid during the Gaza war
- The Supreme Court of Israel issues an interim order suspending a government ban on 37 foreign non-governmental organizations operating in Gaza and the West Bank, allowing them to continue their operations while the court reviews a petition challenging the revocation of their legal status. (AFP via France 24)
A Tunisian court sentences former prime minister Ali Laarayedh, who has been detained since 2022, to 24 years in prison for facilitating the travel of Tunisian nationals to Syrian conflict zones during his premiership, while seven co-defendants, including former interior ministry officials, receive prison terms ranging from three to 24 years. (Reuters)

Science and technology