Portal:Current events/2026 July 31

July 31, 2026 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Middle Eastern crisis
- 2026 Iran war
  - 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis
    - Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says that it struck two tankers trying to pass the Strait of Hormuz with aerial protection from the United States, and forced four others to turn around. (The Guardian)
  - Recent evidence by The New York Times show that a U.S. strike yesterday on Qeshm Island hit a family home and killed three people. (The New York Times)
- Gaza war
  - Israeli incursions in the West Bank during the Gaza war, Israeli settler violence
    - At least eleven Palestinians, including four children, are injured during a raid by Israeli settlers and soldiers in Nablus in the occupied West Bank. Israeli soldiers also detain at least ten people from Bethlehem, Nablus, Salim, and Tell. (Al Jazeera)
  - Gaza war hostage crisis
    - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirms that they have killed a Mujahideen Brigades militant who was involved in the abduction of Avinatan Or and Noa Argamani during the Nova music festival massacre, and directing the abduction of Sudthisak Rinthalak during the October 7 attacks. (The Jerusalem Post) (The Times of Israel)
  - Gaza peace plan
    - Hamas says that they will disarm if Israel withdraws from and ends its military campaign in the Gaza Strip and if Israel and the U.S. honors the ceasefire agreement signed in October 2025. (Middle East Eye) (The Washington Post)
  - The IDF says that killed two Hamas operatives accused of smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip in separate strikes. (The Times of Israel)
Russo-Ukrainian war
- Attacks in Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian war
  - Two warehouses in Volgograd and Zelenodolsk, Tatarstan, are attacked and set on fire, causing damage estimated at US$1.5 billion, in the latest of a series of Ukrainian drone strikes targeting Russian online retailer Wildberries. (AFP via France 24) (Kyiv Post)
Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir
- A migrant worker is fatally shot and another is injured by insurgents in Kulgam district, Jammu and Kashmir, India. (The Indian Express)
Mali War
- Human Rights Watch reports that a Sukhoi Su-24 airstrike by the Russian paramilitary group Africa Corps in Mali's Mopti region killed eight civilians in June. (Africanews) (AP)
Sudanese civil war
- The Sudan News Agency reports that the Group 26 unit of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group has surrendered its personnel and military equipment to the Sudanese Armed Forces. (Middle East Monitor)

Business and economy

AI boom
- South Korea's KOSPI index rises by 18%, its largest single-day gain in history, amid a surge of investment in AI. (The New York Times)

Disasters and accidents

A bus en route to Algiers, Algeria, plunges into a deep ravine in El Kerma after skidding off the road, killing 25 people and injuring 44 others. (AP)
Twelve people, including five children, are killed and 66 others are injured after a bus overturns on the N1 highway near Trompsburg, Free State, South Africa. (IOL)
Two bodies and a body part are recovered after an avalanche on the Broad Peak in Pakistan buried ten climbers yesterday, including Nirmal Purja, who remains missing. (BBC News)

Health and environment

A cancer patient at the Christie hospital in Manchester, United Kingdom, becomes the first to receive the ZI-MA4-1 therapy. (BBC) (The Independent)

International relations

Morocco–Spain relations
- 2026 Morocco–Spain border incident
  - Ceutan mayor-president Juan Jesús Vivas says that around 60,000 undocumented migrants have entered the Spanish exclave in North Africa in the last 24 hours, as the death toll rises to 57. (The Guardian) (BBC News)
  - Videos on social media appear to show the Spanish Army deploying military vehicles towards the border with Morocco. (Reuters)
  - French interior minister Laurent Nuñez announces that he has ordered increased controls at the border with Spain amid fears the thousands of migrants entering Ceuta could make their way to France. (Politico)
  - Austrian chancellor Christian Stocker and Finnish interior minister Mari Rantanen join Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni in calling for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen Area in response to the mass arrival of migrants in Ceuta over the last 24 hours. (AA)
  - Spanish authorities close the Melilla border crossing with Morocco after around 400 migrants stormed the border barrier. RTVE reports the sound of gunfire and explosions. (AA)
  - Italy suspends Schengen border-free travel with Spain, introducing checks on air and sea passengers and strengthening controls with France along the France–Italy border. (Reuters)
  - Spain's interior ministry says authorities have returned about 48,300 of roughly 50,000 migrants who entered Ceuta from Morocco. (CBS News)
Belarus–Latvia relations
- Latvia announces the sudden closure of its border with Belarus, citing "technical reasons". (Reuters)

Law and crime

Crime in Karachi
- Murder of Mir Raza Ali
  - Pakistani entrepreneur and Wafflix founder Mir Raza Ali Khan is found shot dead in Karachi, Pakistan, two days after he went missing. Police launch a murder investigation into the case. (The Express Tribune)
2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings
- A Sri Lankan court sentences former police chief Pujith Jayasundara to death for negligence in failing to prevent the 2019 Easter bombings, which killed 279 people. Sri Lanka has not carried out an execution since 1976. (AFP via The Star)
Indonesian authorities announces it arrested a Malaysia Airlines pilot for allegedly smuggling over 26 kg (57 lb) of ecstasy and a package of methamphetamine into Jakarta's Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. (AP)

Politics and elections

2026 Bulgarian presidential election
- The Bulgarian National Assembly sets 25 October as the date for the presidential election. (AP)

Sports

2030 FIFA World Cup controversies
- Carlos Cordeiro, senior FIFA executive and adviser to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, resigns in protest of Infantino's plans to sell stakes in FIFA Forward Enterprise to private investors, including American banking institution JPMorgan Chase, calling them "a bad deal for FIFA's members, a bad deal for football, and a bad deal for the long-term future of the game". (Sky News)
- The Asian Football Confederation joins UEFA in opposing Infantino's plans and vows to boycott the next tournament if they go ahead. (The Independent)
- Infantino reverses his plan to sell stakes in the FIFA World Cup amidst backlash. (ESPN)