Israel on alert for militant attack

Israel security forces were put on full alert on Friday evening over fears of a possible militant attack on the country’s border with Egypt. Security officials said they believed the militant group Hamas was preparing an attack to embarrass Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who filed a UN bid for statehood earlier in the day. Hamas has said it believes the Palestinians must “liberate their land first” before establishing a “political body.” "The Palestinian people do not beg the world for a state, and the state can't be created through decisions and initiatives," the head of Hamas’s political wing, Ismail Haniyeh, said on Thursday.