Israel kills a top Hamas commander as Jordan sentences 3 in church attack, and other Mideast news

Israeli forces killed a top commander of the militant Hamas group in an overnight airstrike on southern Gaza, Israel said Sunday.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed that it struck a radar system at an American helicopter base in Bahrain. The U.S. military command did not immediately comment on the claim.

Jordan sentenced three men to death for a deadly shooting at a Greek Orthodox Church in the city of Karak last month, state-run Al Mamlaka TV said. And in Yemen, health authorities with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels said an airstrike on Sanaa wounded two women and two children, and blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack, without offering evidence.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Sunday. Read our full coverage here.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed early on Sunday that it struck a radar system at an American helicopter base in Bahrain, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

The U.S. military’s Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, did not immediately comment. The development comes after CENTCOM said on Friday that it intercepted two Iranian drones headed toward Bahrain and denied Iran’s claim at the time that it had struck a U.S. early-warning radar system there.

Bahrain's military said Sunday that its air defense systems had intercepted a number of Iranian projectiles before they reached their targets.

Earlier Sunday, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry issued two nationwide alerts warning of a threat, the first such alerts since September. It did not specify the nature of the threat or say whether anything had been hit.

“Iran continues its systematic hostile approach through its sinful attacks targeting the Kingdom of Bahrain,” the statement added.

Israel said it killed a top Hamas commander in an airstrike on southern Gaza. A Hamas statement confirmed the killing of Samir Mahmoud Hassan Abu Younis, commander of the group's Rafah Brigade, and said a funeral would be held for him later in the day.

The Israeli military said Abu Younis was killed in a strike just after midnight Saturday. It said he had been working to build up Hamas and directing plans “to advance and carry out terror attacks.” Two months earlier, his predecessor was also killed in an Israeli strike.

The military said it targeted other Hamas militants in Sunday’s strike but provided no additional details.

Jordan’s State Security Court on Sunday sentenced three men to death for a deadly shooting at a Greek Orthodox Church in the city of Karak last month, state-run Al Mamlaka TV said. The men were charged with “carrying out terrorist acts.” The Oct. 23 attack was one of the deadliest on Jordan’s Christian minority in decades, with nine people killed and dozens more wounded. The attackers targeted mourners attending a funeral at St. George’s Church in Karak, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of the capital, Amman. The three defendants, identified by authorities as two brothers and their brother-in-law, were arrested three days after the attack following a shootout with security forces in Karak. All three were wounded.

Jordanian authorities described the men as followers of an extremist ideology but said they were not affiliated with an organized group. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Days later, Jordan launched airstrikes in southern Syria, saying they targeted militant groups linked to the attack. Syrian authorities disputed Jordan’s account and reported civilian deaths.

Houthi health officials say an airstrike on Sanaa, Yemen's capital, wounded two women and two children.

The strike hit a residential neighborhood in northeastern Sanaa early Sunday, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said in a statement, without providing further details or saying what was hit in the strike. It said the wounded were taken to the Muayyad Hospital for treatment.

Ministry spokesman Anees al-Asbahi blamed Saudi Arabia for the strike. There was no immediate comment from the kingdom.

A Saudi military spokesman, meanwhile, said air defense systems intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis early on Sunday toward Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

Two drones were also shot down over the Saudi oil-rich Eastern Region, said the spokesman, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki.

The airstrike in Sanaa and the missile and drone attacks in Saudi Arabia were the latest in a monthslong escalation between the Houthis and the kingdom that has seen a return of fighting in Yemen’s civil war after more than four years of ceasefire.

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

Jordanian security personnel stand guard outside the State Security Court, which sentenced three men to death Sunday for an Oct. 23 shooting that killed nine people at St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in Hamoud village in Karak governorate, in Amman, Jordan, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

Jordanian security personnel stand guard outside the State Security Court, which sentenced three men to death Sunday for an Oct. 23 shooting that killed nine people at St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in Hamoud village in Karak governorate, in Amman, Jordan, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

Jordanian security personnel stand guard outside the State Security Court, which sentenced three men to death Sunday for an Oct. 23 shooting that killed nine people at St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in Hamoud village in Karak governorate, in Amman, Jordan, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

Women sit on a bench overlooking cargo ships anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)

Displaced Palestinian children repair tents damaged by heavy rain in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

MUNICH (AP) — Tom Brady called it “pretty epic.” In Munich four years ago, the Buccaneers beat the Seahawks.

But he wasn’t referring to the game.

The now-retired quarterback was talking about how the German fans memorably belted out the lyrics to “Take Me Home, Country Roads” late in the fourth quarter and then stuck around after the final whistle to sing “Sweet Caroline.”

The full-stadium karaoke has become a tradition at each NFL game in Germany and no doubt will be a highlight Sunday when the Detroit Lions face the New England Patriots at Allianz Arena in Munich.

“Once they’ve had a couple of beers, they like to hug each other and start singing songs — it’s like an integral part of German culture,” said Jan Weinreich, a former quarterback who helps cover the NFL for German broadcaster RTL.

Both songs are well-known in Germany and have been popular for years at festivals like Oktoberfest.

“Not only after beers,” fan Zeljko Vrhar explained Saturday after a visit to the NFL’s merchandise store in Old Town.

“Every birthday party, private parties, everywhere the song is in the playlist,” he said of John Denver’s 1971 hit. “Everybody knows it — children, older people, my grandpa, my grandma, my parents.”

Similarly, he said, Germans learn Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” released in 1969, from an early age.

Vrhar, who attended the Munich game in 2022, called it “a special moment... I saw the players on the field. They were looking around like, ‘what’s happening here?’”

As fans stayed post-game and sang “Sweet Caroline,” Tampa Bay players Sean Murphy-Bunting and Carlton Davis III — who now plays for New England but is injured — bounced to the beat and high-fived fans.

The tradition has continued at two games in Frankfurt in 2023, another Munich game in 2024, and last year in Berlin — with visiting American fans and others of course joining in.

Alexander Steinforth, general manager of NFL Germany, said the singing is “deeply rooted in the German culture of Oktoberfest.”

“'Country Roads' but also ‘Sweet Caroline’ are two of the songs that almost everyone knows here in Germany," he said. "They’re often played in stadia, but I think it never reached such a level as it did for the first NFL game here in ’22. It has evolved from there. Now, it seems to be played across all our international games.”

It makes sense why the songs are so popular at games — across a variety of sports — with feel-good lyrics and uplifting choruses.

The Boston Red Sox have been playing “Sweet Caroline” in the middle of the eighth inning of home games at Fenway Park for more than 20 years.

“Country Roads” — which the Library of Congress says has been recorded in 19 languages — became the anthem of the U.S. men's soccer team during last summer's World Cup.

Born Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr., Denver died in a plane crash in 1997. The song references West Virginia, but Denver's estate told the AP this summer that it transcends geography.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

New England Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones attends a news conference after an NFL football practice in Munich, Germany, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026 ahead of the match between the New England Patriots and the Detroit Lions on Sunday. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson addresses the media during a press conference after an NFL football practice in Munich, Germany, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Lennart Preiss)

New England Patriots wide receiver DeMario Douglas wears a FC Bayern Munich soccer club scarf as he attends a news conference after an NFL football practice in Munich, Germany, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026 ahead of the match between the New England Patriots and the Detroit Lions on Sunday. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (0) gestures during an NFL football practice in Munich, Germany, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Lennart Preiss)