"In its official comments, the Israeli army had said that the displaced [Palestinian] population had left voluntarily, that “civilians who wished to evacuate were permitted to temporarily leave the area”. Ahmaro was outraged at the suggestion that he had any choice about fleeing. “Never, never, never. Why should I leave my house?” he asked."

Guardian graphic. Source: Peace Now

 

... Within hours, the whole city of 250,000 people had been sealed off [by Israeli forces] and the neighbourhood of Farsh al-Hawa [Palestine], closest to the site of Friday’s attack [on Israeli forces at one of the many Israeli checkpoint chokeholds on Palestine], had been flattened. By Sunday morning, there was nothing left but rubble of an industrial area that had been full of car workshops, a big ceramics plant and other enterprises.

As the bulldozers were at work there, another district a few kilometres away was being systematically emptied. Ein Deir Baha was allegedly home to at least one of the two men involved in the attack (both of whom were killed on the spot), and on Friday its residents paid the price.

Fahed Ahmaro, who was forced to flee his home in the Deir Baha area of Hebron by Israeli security forces, looks at his house from a distance. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum/The Guardian

 

The imam from the local mosque, Fahed Ahmaro, was woken at about midnight by the loudspeakers from military vehicles patrolling the street, telling [Palestinian] homeowners to vacate their homes immediately for their own safety.

Ahmaro had 30 members of his family living in his house. He rushed his frail mother and some of his grandchildren to his daughter’s house in another part of Hebron, and was on his way back in the hope of picking up some of his possessions when his neighbour phoned him.

“He told me not to come back, and the [Israeli] army had blown up the gates to the house. I don’t know what they have done to it by now. I heard they destroyed the furniture,” Ahmaro said. “You don’t know what you have until you lose it. Now I realise how devastating it is to lose your home.”

At midday on Sunday, he was in a Hebron market shopping for a change of clothes for his grandchildren, uncertain how long the family’s exile would last.

He had heard that the house was being used as a base by Israeli soldiers and looking up at the house, perched on the side of a steep hill, he could see some lights on but no sign of life.

The Hebron municipality said that 370 families, nearly 2,000 people, had been displaced by the army sweep through Ein Deir Baha. In its official comments, the Israeli army had said that the displaced population had left voluntarily, that “civilians who wished to evacuate were permitted to temporarily leave the area”.

Ahmaro was outraged at the suggestion that he had any choice about fleeing.

“Never, never, never. Why should I leave my house?” he asked.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/26/collective-punishment-palestinians-displaced-israeli-forces-take-over-hebron-homes

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Israeli soldiers raze neighbourhood in Hebron, driving families from homes

PM Benjamin Netanyahu vows ‘to destroy this place’ in retaliation for militant attack on army checkpoinks

Israeli troops have levelled a neighbourhood in Hebron, driving out hundreds of families in collective punishment for a militant attack on an army checkpoint outside the West Bank city, local Palestinian authorities said.

The Hebron municipality estimated that 35 hectares (86 acres) had been destroyed or marked for destruction and about 1,500 people had been evicted from their homes by Saturday afternoon in the district of Ein Deir Baha. The whole city of 250,000 people was sealed off by checkpoints on every point of entry.

Videos sent by a Hebron resident showed a substantial area of devastation with every house over several blocks flattened in an urban area. One video showed soldiers marking Palestinian houses with a sprayed black cross, another showed a bulldozer tearing down a stone wall on a hillside and another showed a large residential building festooned with Israeli flags... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/24/israel-soldiers-raze-west-bank-neighbourhood-hebron-families-from-homes

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“Despite a ceasefire nominally in force since October 2025, Israeli forces have killed about 160 Palestinians in Gaza in July alone, bringing the death toll in the ravaged enclave since the so-called ceasefire to more than 1,200. This includes women, children, older persons and others who had taken shelter in tents and areas to which they had been directed for their own safety,”

UN experts condemned the sharp escalation of #Israeli attacks against #Palestinian civilians across the occupied Palestinian territory, incl. Gaza & West Bank, in July, registering a sharp deterioration of an already catastrophic human rights situation.

UN experts condemn escalation in attacks against Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank

10 August 2026

GENEVA – UN experts* today condemned the sharp escalation of attacks against Palestinian civilians across the occupied Palestinian territory in July, registering a sharp deterioration of an already catastrophic human rights situation.

“Despite a ceasefire nominally in force since October 2025, Israeli forces have killed about 160 Palestinians in Gaza in July alone, bringing the death toll in the ravaged enclave since the so-called ceasefire to more than 1,200. This includes women, children, older persons and others who had taken shelter in tents and areas to which they had been directed for their own safety,” the experts said. “Most killings occurred in densely populated displacement zones such as Al-Mawasi, far from the so-called yellow line. Nowhere in Gaza is safe.”

The experts reported with alarm that entire residential blocks receive evacuation orders just before fighter jets destroy them, deepening the already severe shelter crisis. “The continuous westward advancement of the so-called yellow line, the construction of a 23-kilometre barrier along it and the systematic detonation of residential buildings are re-engineering the geography of illegally occupied Gaza through force and displacement,” the experts said. They also condemned strikes on hospitals and shelters, the killing of police officers and UN-contracted staff, attacks on fishers, and abductions and abuses by armed groups reportedly collaborating with the Israeli military, as well as the killing of humanitarian workers, who through their work protecting and promoting fundamental human rights, are human rights defenders. “The genocide is continuing unabated,” the experts said.

They warned that food aid is still not entering Gaza freely, while products brought in through commercial channels are ultra-processed and neither nutritionally nor culturally adequate.

“With farmland and clean water inaccessible and agricultural inputs blocked, Palestinians are unable to feed themselves,” said the experts, adding that the burden is falling heaviest on children, older persons and those with disabilities. They also warned that food insecurity is fuelling a rise in gender-based violence and child marriage, as well as endangering women in their daily searches for food.

In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the experts deplored the killing of at least 14 Palestinians in July, most of them in the final 10 days, as well as deaths resulting from movement restrictions, among them the death of a four-month-old baby and a pregnant woman's miscarriage after ambulances were blocked at military gates. “When checkpoints and gates threaten the lives of infants, pregnant women and their unborn children, movement restrictions become lethal instruments,” they said.

The experts were particularly shocked by the surge in settler terror... READ MORE  https://waps.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/08/un-experts-condemn-escalation-attacks-against-palestinians-gaza-and-west

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"Insane how little media coverage the occupied West Bank gets while Israel steals more land and terrorizes Palestinians every, single, day." Assal Rad

Please FOLLOW HER:  Assal Rad

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Assal Rad

@AssalRad 

https://x.com/AssalRad/status/2087088992999309741  

Al Jazeera English

@AJEnglish

 

BREAKING: Israeli military continues attacks and raids across the occupied West Bank, with arrests, home raids, and forced displacement reported in several areas.  LIVE updates: http://aje.news/s92crs

 

Escalation in settler attacks in occupied West Bank driven by upcoming Israeli elections

The recent escalation in settler attacks against Palestinians is state-sponsored and driven by the upcoming Israeli elections at the end of October, according to Ubai Al-Aboudi, a human rights advocate and former executive director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development.

“As a policy and a way to promote their policies or to promote themselves among the general electorate, the Israeli politicians that are now in charge of the government are giving more of a free hand and encouraging settlers even more to do these kinds of widespread attacks, pogroms, ethnic cleansing operations against Palestinians,” Al-Aboudi said.

Al-Aboudi noted that the surge in violence is also linked to a potential change in government in October.

“So, the settlers also understand that any new government might not be as lenient towards them, towards the ethnic cleansing process that they are taking right now on the ground,” he said, emphasising that the primary objective is to displace Palestinians from their land.

“The fact [is] that Israelis, through the government policy, through their genocidal policies, through their support of the settler militias … have been trying to push Palestinians out of our lands, to drive us away to make us refugees again,” Al-Aboudi added.  https://aje.news/suhi9z?update=4845765

ANALYSIS

Israeli illegal settlement enterprise aimed at denying Palestinians their rights

Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise in the occupied West Bank is aimed at preventing Palestinians from exercising their rights and ultimately preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state, political analyst Xavier Abu Eid has told Al Jazeera.

“The effect on Palestinians is exactly the same. It’s part of the same settler enterprise aimed at preventing Palestinians from enjoying their rights in their homeland,” Abu Eid said. He said the issue of Israeli settlers has been normalised locally and internationally, with attempts to distinguish between those living in illegal settlements for economic reasons and more ideologically driven settlers.

But Abu Eid said such distinctions obscure the broader system Israel has built around illegal settlements. “It’s not just about settlements and housing, but about the whole infrastructure,” he said.

As an example, Abu Eid said it is cheaper to travel by bus to an Israeli settlement than to a Palestinian village in the West Bank, highlighting how Israel prioritises illegal settlements and the infrastructure serving them.

He described this as part of a creeping takeover of Palestinian land, accompanied by restrictions on Palestinian movement and the seizure of more territory for Israeli settlers.   https://aje.news/suhi9z?update=4845425

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Western Media manufactures consent for genocide    https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/834977/dont-say-palestine-by-assal-rad/

Israeli general says Gaza should remain ‘destroyed for generations’: Giora Eiland says Palestinian despair serves Israel and demands permanent control beyond the Yellow Line

Palestinian residential salvage what they can from an apartment targeted in overnight Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on August 2, 2026. (Omar Al Qattaa/AFP)

 Elis Gjevori

Published date: 9 August 2026 21:30 BST

A former head of Israel’s National Security Council has called for Gaza to remain devastated for decades, openly presenting Palestinian despair and destruction as desirable outcomes after Israel’s genocide in the enclave.

Retired Major General Giora Eiland told Israel’s 103FM radio station on Sunday that rebuilding Gaza would run against Israeli interests.

“Israel has no interest in Gaza being rebuilt, it is better for us that it be destroyed for generations to come,” Eiland said.

“The greater the despair in Gaza and the greater the destruction, and the greater the monument to what they did on October 7, years to come, that is good" he added.

Eiland, a secular Israeli nationalist aligned with opposition politician Avigdor Lieberman, opposes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu politically.

Yet his prescriptions for Gaza have frequently gone beyond Netanyahu’s publicly declared policies.

Calls for Israel to occupy Gaza land... READ MORE  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-general-says-gaza-should-remain-destroyed-generations

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'They want to make us leave': Israel destroys West Bank wells serving Palestinian herders. Residents of Ras al-Ahmar say the destruction of their main water source follows months of settler attacks

The three destroyed wells supplied more than 47 Palestinian families, around 600 people (Mojahid Nawahda/MEE)

Mojahid Nawahda and Teebah Assi in Ras al-Ahmar, occupied Palestine

Published date: 3 August 2026 

As first light reaches the scattered tents and animal pens of Ras al-Ahmar in the northern Jordan Valley, the silence is broken only by the cries of thirsty livestock waiting for water that no longer comes.

Days after Israeli forces destroyed three of the Palestinian community's main water wells, residents are scrambling to secure enough water for their families, crops and animals in one of the occupied West Bank's driest regions.

For 60-year-old Ali Bani Odeh, the destruction of the wells was more than merely the loss of infrastructure. A father of four and grandfather of 14, he has spent decades farming and raising livestock to support his family in Ras al-Ahmar.

Now, like dozens of other families, he is uncertain how long they can continue living on the land without a reliable water supply.

"Water is everything for us," Ali told Middle East Eye.

"Without water, we cannot live. We need it for our families, our sheep and our crops. Since the wells were destroyed, we have been forced to bring water from town at a much higher cost, and even then, we're not always allowed to pass."

Families must now haul water from distant towns at far greater expense, while military checkpoints and movement restrictions frequently delay or prevent tankers from reaching the village.

'The wells were the lifeline of this community'

– Abdullah Bisharat, head of the village council

According to Ras al-Ahmar village council head Abdullah Bisharat, the three destroyed wells supplied more than 47 Palestinian families, serving over 600 people and irrigating around 7,500 dunams of farmland.

The wells also sustained thousands of sheep and goats, the main source of income for many families.

"The wells were the lifeline of this community," Bisharat said.

"Their destruction has affected every aspect of daily life, from drinking water and agriculture to livestock, leaving dozens of families struggling to meet their most basic needs."

Settler attacks

Residents say the destruction marked the worst escalation in a months-long water crisis caused by Israeli settler attacks.

They say settlers repeatedly cut the pipelines supplying the community, forcing families to rely on costly water tankers. This time, however, the wells themselves were destroyed, eliminating the community's main source of water.

Ali's son, Obeida Bani Odeh, fears the loss of the wells threatens not only his family's livelihood but also their future in Ras al-Ahmar. 

"We cannot survive here without water," Obeida said.

"For months, the pipelines supplying our community were repeatedly cut, and we had to bring water from nearby towns, often at three times the usual cost.

"Now the wells have been destroyed, and there is no reliable source of water left for our families or our livestock."

He said the challenges extend beyond water shortages. Settler attacks and movement restrictions have made it increasingly difficult to bring in water, animal feed and other essential supplies.

"The settlers attack everyone, from the young to the old," Obeida said. 

"They want to make people afraid and force them to leave. But we have been living on this land for generations."... READ MORE  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/they-want-make-us-leave-israel-destroys-west-bank-wells-serving-palestinian-herders

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Israel continues to commit genocide by targeting children in Gaza, UN inquiry finds. Independent report says by aiming at children Israel is undermining capacity of Palestinian people to exist

Children playing among the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza’s Jabalia camp last year.

Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Israel continues to commit genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza, an ⁠independent UN inquiry has found.

The report by the UN independent international commission of inquiry examined violations against Palestinian children since the start of the war in Gaza, and said about 30% of the people killed by Israeli forces have been children.

A previous report by the commission in September found that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and that Israeli officials, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, incited these acts. Netanyahu is separately wanted by the international criminal court (ICC) for war crimes.

The Israeli mission in Geneva said Israel rejected the commission’s “libellous sham”. Israel has fought hard against allegations of genocide, while receiving critical diplomatic support from its allies, including the US and the UK.

A significant body of research by legal and rights experts has concluded that Israel is intent on destroying Palestinians, including analyses by UN investigators, rights bodies such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and genocide scholars worldwide.

Genocide, which became a crime after the second world war and the Holocaust, is considered the most serious international crime.

The convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide defines it as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

The ​UN commission said in its report, released on Tuesday, that Palestinian children were deliberately targeted and killed during the ‌war, including after a ceasefire came into effect ‌in October 2025.

It said this was a key element in establishing genocidal intent by Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the Palestinian group, in whole or in part, ‌in Gaza.

“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” ... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/23/israel-deliberately-targeting-gaza-children-to-commit-genocide-un-inquiry-finds

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18 June 2026- Human Rights Council- Sixty-second session

“The essence of childhood has been destroyed”: Israel’s deliberate targeting of Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 7 October 2023

Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel   ... READ MORE  https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session62/a-hrc-62-crp-2.pdf