Israeli forces repeatedly stop aid and goods truck drivers at military checkpoints and inside the Kerem Shalom crossing, forcing them to strip, beating them, and humiliating them, even after they have received prior security approval to work and access these areas.

 

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor

is in Gaza Strip.  ·

d͏p͏s͏S͏r͏o͏o͏e͏n͏t͏0͏g͏3͏0͏h͏9͏9͏g͏m͏c͏4͏0͏u͏c͏3͏0͏8͏1͏i͏c͏8͏c͏5͏0͏g͏8͏1͏3͏i͏l͏5͏h͏c͏h͏c͏l͏g͏m͏l͏l͏0͏4͏7͏0͏f͏i͏h͏c͏9͏g͏  ·

Israeli forces have destroyed trucks and warehouses, targeted and detained drivers, and blocked the entry of trucks, spare parts, and essential maintenance materials in #Gaza.

 

Even when trucks are allowed through the crossings, their cargo may never reach those in need. Gaza’s transportation, storage, and distribution infrastructure has been systematically damaged or destroyed.

The shortage of spare parts has become so severe that workers are dismantling broken-down trucks to salvage parts and keep others running.

 

The cost of changing a truck’s oil has soared from around 450 shekels ($150) before the genocide to nearly 100,000 shekels ($33,000) today. One kilogram of engine oil, when available, can cost nearly $1,100.

 

And the drivers keeping this lifeline moving are themselves subjected to abuse.

 

Israeli forces repeatedly stop aid and goods truck drivers at military checkpoints and inside the Kerem Shalom crossing, forcing them to strip, beating them, and humiliating them, even after they have received prior security approval to work and access these areas.

 

This is more than a blockade of goods. It is the disruption of an entire lifeline, from the crossing to the hands of Gaza’s population.

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1492388512914889&set=a.620359713451111 

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Life in Gaza next to Israel's 'Yellow Line' : This is life in Gaza near Israel's advancing ‘Yellow Line’, where two million people are now crammed into just 36 per cent of the Strip marked out by the Israeli military amid continued airstrikes, despite the ceasefire with Hamas.

 

 Aug 26, 2026

This is life in Gaza near Israel's advancing ‘Yellow Line’, where two million people are now crammed into just 36 per cent of the Strip marked out by the Israeli military amid continued airstrikes, despite the ceasefire with Hamas. 

 

Those living near the line risk injury or death at the hands of Israeli forces. 

 

It comes as Donald Trump's top Gaza official has criticised Israel for its ongoing airstrikes, which he said jeopardise the ceasefire and the US-backed plan to disarm Hamas. 

 

Nickolay Mladenov, who's on the Board of Peace, also criticised Hamas for failing to stop its military activities. 

 

Israel won't allow us into Gaza, so this report is produced with Gazan colleagues. 

 

We asked the Israel Defence Forces for a response to this report but did not receive one by the deadline.

https://youtu.be/FO0vEHkOAJY?si=7IthFo8b8XbtbbLp 

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The Guardian: Smoke rises after an Israeli attack in Gaza. A witness said the strike targeted the Asqalan prayer hall, which is home to many Gaza residents displaced during the Israeli incursion. More than 100 French and British former diplomats have said Palestine is being erased in front of the world’s eyes and called for urgent action including trade and arms sales bans to press Israel to accept a Palestinian state.

Gaza

Smoke rises after an Israeli attack in Gaza. A witness said the strike targeted the Asqalan prayer hall, which is home to many Gaza residents displaced during the Israeli incursion. More than 100 French and British former diplomats have said Palestine is being erased in front of the world’s eyes and called for urgent action including trade and arms sales bans to press Israel to accept a Palestinian state.  Photograph: Omar Ashtawy/HL/Getty Images

 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2026/aug/28/the-week-around-the-world-in-20-pictures?CMP=share_btn_url#img-10

More photos from Palestine in The Guardian's Gallery: 

 

Gaza

Palestinians walk past the rubble of collapsed buildings at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Grassroots Labour groups in the UK are gearing up for a conference showdown with Andy Burnham over Gaza, as the party’s members seek to force the prime minister to recognise Israel’s actions as a genocide and impose a full arms embargo Photograph: Ramzi Abu Amer/JNA/ZUMA/Shutterstock

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2026/aug/28/the-week-around-the-world-in-20-pictures?CMP=share_btn_url#img-11 

Jannatah, West Bank

Israeli settlers confront left-wing activists in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian village of Jannatah. Violent settler attacks in the occupied West Bank under direct Palestinian rule have almost doubled since 2025, as settlers pursue a self-proclaimed ‘great settlement revolution’ in the very heart of the territory earmarked for a Palestinian statePhotograph: Ilia Yefimovich/AFP/Getty Images

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2026/aug/28/the-week-around-the-world-in-20-pictures?CMP=share_btn_url#img-12 

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Why Israeli Authorities Are Encouraging Settler Violence Against Palestinians: The retired I.D.F. colonel Doron Meiner, who was arrested while trying to protect a Palestinian community from settlers in the West Bank, discusses Israel’s strategy

A Palestinian man sits next to his family’s belongings after their house was demolished by Israeli security forces in the village of Nahalin, southwest of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on July 22, 2026.Photograph by John Wessels / AFP / Getty

 By Isaac Chotiner

August 24, 2026

Violent attacks by Israeli settlers have accelerated across the West Bank in recent weeks, adding to what has already been a horrifying year for Palestinian communities in the territory. (The United Nations found that, as of early August, Palestinians in the West Bank had faced more than fourteen hundred attacks from Israeli settlers that resulted in casualties or property damage in 2026.) And now, in the lead-up to October’s elections, the Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, has suggested that the country’s police forces take control of the area. (The police are overseen by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right minister of national security, who is himself a settler and is famous for celebrating and encouraging deadly attacks on Palestinians.)

Some Israeli organizations have tried to prevent violence against Palestinian communities. Doron Meinert, a retired colonel in the Israel Defense Forces, was arrested earlier this month while trying to protect a Palestinian community in the West Bank that was under attack from settlers. I recently spoke with Meinert about his work with the group Looking the Occupation in the Eye, and about how the situation in the West Bank has deteriorated so rapidly. Our conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.

Can you tell me about your background and career?

I’m sixty-six years old. I was in the army for about twenty-five years. I’ve been a colonel in the army. I’ve been a brigade commander, and then a staff officer. But, about fifteen years ago, I retired. And then I started work as a volunteer protecting Palestinians in the West Bank.

How did you decide to do this work that you’re doing now? What caused you to make this decision?

All my life I believed that the Palestinian problem and the occupation problem were the deepest and most serious problems Israel had... READ MORE  https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-israeli-authorities-are-encouraging-settler-violence-against-palestinians 

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United Nations rejects Israel’s threat to expel Gaza residents over kite-flying. United Nations rights office spokesperson slams Israeli threat of forced evacuations from Gaza communities over kite flying.

Palestinian children hold kites during a gathering at Gaza Port on August 25, 2026 [Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

 

By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and Reuters

Published On 26 Aug 202626 Aug 2026

The United Nations has condemned Israel’s threat to expel Palestinians from areas of the besieged Gaza Strip where kites were being flown by children.

“On the threat of expulsion due to children’s kite flying, I hope we can all agree that this is outrageous,” UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters on Tuesday.

Israel warned Hamas on Sunday that it would intensify military operations if kites, drones or balloons continue, saying those responsible would be targeted.

Several kites not carrying incendiary devices were reported to have drifted into southern Israeli communities over the last month. The incidents have evoked memories of incendiary kites and balloons launched from Gaza in 2018, in what Palestinians said was a protest against the Israeli blockade of the enclave.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz, in a joint statement on Sunday, said “Israel warns Hamas that if the launches toward Israel do not cease immediately”, Israeli forces “will take action to intensify targeted operations against those responsible”. They “will evacuate the population from areas from which kites, drones and balloons are launched”, it added.

Gaza’s popular committees, coordinating with Hamas authorities, urged parents on Monday to stop children flying kites, saying they were acting “to protect their innocent lives”.

“Every summer, my kid, Ahmed, and the kids in the street fly those kites to entertain themselves,” Umm Mohammed, a mother in Gaza City, told the Reuters news agency. “But [now] I will not allow him to – not any more.”

Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, rejected the Israeli warning over the kites.

“Is it conceivable that attempts to appease the war criminal Netanyahu have led them to describe innocent children’s activities as armed activities, while Netanyahu continues to kill and destroy daily despite the agreement?”

The dispute comes amid a “ceasefire” in Gaza that has failed to halt Israeli attacks. More than 1,280 Palestinians have been killed since the agreement took effect in October, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/26/un-rejects-israels-threat-to-expel-gaza-residents-over-kite-flying 

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"Because, after all, how do you explain to a 12-year-old that one of the world’s most powerful militaries is designating paper kites as “weapons of war” in a completely devastated area?" Maha Hussaini of Palestine

 Maha Hussaini

@MahaGaza

 

Two weeks ago, Nazeeh, my first nephew, flew a kite for the first time in his life. 

 

He is 12, however, and he should have learned how to fly kites years ago. But when he was old enough to learn, the genocide began. For the next three years, the things he learned were how to cut firewood with his father for cooking, collect water, and move from one shelter to another. 

 

Earlier this month, we went to the beach together as a family. 

 

In every break he took from swimming, I noticed him watching boys flying kites. 

 

“Nazeeh,” I called. “Look around. If you see anyone selling kites, let’s get you one.” 

 

His eyes lit up. He jumped up and started asking around. 

 

We couldn’t find anyone selling one. And just as he came back disappointed, I called over a boy flying a black-and-white kite. 

 

“Where did you buy it?” I asked. 

 

“Do you want one?” he asked back. 

 

He told us he made the kites himself from nylon and sticks and sold them to earn a little pocket money. He offered us the kite for very little. So we got it. 

 

For the next few hours, I had to reach back into my own childhood to teach Nazeeh how to fly it. 

 

Every time I let out more string and the kite climbed higher, he would jump and shout: “Higher! Higher!” 

 

I hadn’t seen my little genius this excited in a long time. 

 

Nazeeh isn’t easily impressed by ordinary children’s toys. He is the kind of kid who would rather take things apart and fix them, especially electronics, or sit watching “how-to” videos. 

 

At one point, laughing, he said: “Wow, how beautiful it is to drive something in the sky.”  He knew “drive” wasn’t quite the right word. But I knew exactly what he meant. 

 

As I expected, the kite didn’t stay the way he had bought it. The next day, he asked his mother to show him YouTube videos on how to make kites. Then he rebuilt his own. 

 

He used different nylon. He glued a Palestinian flag onto it. And he wrote “Gaza” on every side, preparing it for our next trip to the beach. 

 

But yesterday, his parents told him he couldn’t fly it outside the house. 

 

“Why?” he asked. 

 

I’m not sure what they told him, but I’m sure they couldn’t put into words how Israel’s Prime Minister and Defense Minister have themselves threatened intensified bombing and forced evacuations of areas in Gaza where children are spotted flying kites. 

 

Because, after all, how do you explain to a 12-year-old that one of the world’s most powerful militaries is designating paper kites as “weapons of war” in a completely devastated area? 

https://x.com/MahaGaza/status/2091823635409346902

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