A new directive would restrict IDF-issued devices to iPhones for lieutenant colonels, reducing the risk of intrusions for senior officers. The Israel Defense Forces will tighten rules on mobile devices for senior officers and prohibit Android phones on IDF-issued lines, Army Radio reported on Wednesday.

Israel's parliament approved a law setting the death penalty as the default punishment for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks.

No further attempts will be made to rescue a humpback whale who has gotten repeatedly stuck off Germany's Baltic coast, officials said on Wednesday, as experts believe the animal will not survive its week-long ordeal. Till Backhaus, environment minister for the north-eastern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region where the whale is currently stranded, said a restricted zone has been established around the animal to allow it to die in peace as there was no more hope of freeing it.