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A Palestinian man and a girl stand inside a home damaged in an attack by Israeli settlers in the Khirbet al-Tuba community in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron, West Bank, Palestine on August 6, 2026. [Wisam Hashlamoun – Anadolu Agency]
Israeli occupiers set fire to a Palestinian home in the Hebron governorate in the occupied West Bank on Thursday while a mother and her daughter were inside, according to local sources.
Aliya al-Nawajaa, the owner of the burned home, told Anadolu Agency that five masked occupiers attacked her house at dawn in the Khirbet al-Fara area of the city of Yatta.
She said one of the occupiers opened the window of the bedroom where she was sleeping with her daughter and threatened her and her family.
The attackers then set fire to the bedroom, causing the flames to spread rapidly before she could put them out, Nawajaa said.
She added that she immediately woke her daughter and they barely managed to flee the house safely.
Nawajaa said local residents and neighbors did not wake up immediately because of the early hour, prompting her to call her husband, who was not at home, to seek help.
Separately, the Israeli army began moving mobile homes to a settlement outpost established on Mount Tarousa, west of the city of Dura, southwest of Hebron, according to local sources.
The sources said Israeli heavy machinery began transporting new mobile homes to the outpost early Thursday as part of a “plan to expand settlements in the area.”
Israeli army vehicles accompanied the machinery during the operation, they added.
Since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza in October 2023, Israeli forces and occupiers have intensified attacks against Palestinians and their property across the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
The attacks have included the killing and wounding of Palestinians, arrests, the demolition of homes and other structures, the burning of mosques and vehicles, the destruction of agricultural land – preventing farmers from accessing their fields – plus forced displacement, and the expansion of settlements on Palestinian land.
Palestinians warn that the attacks are meant to pave the way for Israel to annex the West Bank, which would undermine the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state as envisaged in relevant UN resolutions.
Israel was established in 1948 on Palestinian lands seized by armed Zionist groups that carried out massacres and displaced at least 750,000 Palestinians, before Israel occupied the remaining Palestinian territories and refused to withdraw from them.
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Palestinians march carrying flags and symbolic keys representing the right of return during a demonstration marking the 78th anniversary of the Nakba in Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine, on May 12, 2026. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]
To live in the occupied West Bank today is to exist within a finely tuned apparatus of deliberate friction.
When people outside Palestine think of the Israeli occupation, their minds focus on military incursions, violent raids, and harrowing images of warfare. Those realities are undeniably real and constant. But there is another, quieter layer of control shaping every second of our lives—an insidious policy of administrative and physical strangulation degrading the basic mechanics of human survival.
From gas station queues and dry water pipes to unpaid paychecks, blocked roads, trapped bank deposits, and choked border crossings, life here has been rendered so excruciatingly difficult that the underlying message becomes undeniable: there is no future for you—the Palestinians—here. This message isn’t subtle; it is spelled out on billboards erected by settlers across the West Bank with the army’s approval.
The Fuel Bottleneck: Waiting Hours to Move a Few Miles
Last week, I spent an hour waiting in a line of idling cars stretching nearly a kilometer outside a petrol station. Engines were off to conserve remaining fuel, turning car cabins into ovens. Around me, taxi drivers, ambulances, and parents with children sat in shared, helpless exhaustion.
This is not an accidental shortage; it is a structural squeeze. Under the 1994 Paris Economic Protocol, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is kept completely dependent on Israeli energy suppliers. In recent months, Israel systematically slashed fuel quotas delivered to Palestinian distributors. Standard daily deliveries of gasoline and diesel—normally around 4.5 million liters—have been throttled down to 3.5 million liters or less.
Prevented from maintaining a strategic fuel reserve, local stations hold only a few days of inventory. The moment Israel curtails the quota, the entire West Bank freezes. Transport halts, municipal services grind to a standstill, and filling your tank turns into an ordeal of anxiety.
Financial Siege: The Clearance Revenue Crisis and Unpaid Salaries
The friction is not just physical; it is profoundly financial. For almost three years, the economic foundation of nearly every Palestinian household has buckled under a systematic financial blockade.
Under long-standing agreements, Israel collects custom duties and import taxes—clearance revenues—on behalf of the PA, deducting a 3% fee before transferring the remainder. These revenues constitute 65% to 70% of the PA’s budget, funding healthcare, education, infrastructure, and salaries for over 140,000 public sector workers.
Since October 2023, the Israeli government escalated its withholding of these tax transfers, freezing billions of shekels. Transfers have been halted or subjected to crippling political deductions.
For me and hundreds of thousands of public servants, this is not an abstract macroeconomic headline—it is the reality of unpaid grocery bills and bank accounts in perpetual overdraft. Civil servants—teachers, nurses, doctors—have not received a full salary in nearly three years, surviving on partial payments of 50% or 60% every few months. Small business owners cannot make sales, creating widespread economic paralysis.
The Shekel Trap: Cash Accumulation and Banking Strangulation
In a surreal twist of monetary warfare, our economy suffers simultaneously from a lack of digital liquidity and an unmanageable overload of physical cash. Forced to use the Israeli Shekel (NIS), hundreds of thousands of laborers, merchants, and shops trade in physical banknotes daily, pouring an estimated 30 billion shekels into Palestinian banks yearly.
However, the Bank of Israel places an arbitrary annual cap of 18 billion shekels on physical paper money Palestinian banks can transfer back into the Israeli banking system. Israeli correspondent banks routinely refuse to clear excess cash, citing absurd bureaucratic excuses while political figures champion economic strangulation.
The outcome is agonizing: over 15 billion shekels in physical bills sit trapped in Palestinian bank vaults, unusable for international trade or digital transfers. Local banks have run out of vault space and imposed monthly deposit limits. When a gas station owner or grocer cannot deposit cash earnings to pay for their next shipment, the entire distribution chain collapses.
Inside my home, another clock is constantly ticking: the water tank level. Access to clean, running water is governed by a system of stark discrimination.
Under the 1995 Oslo II agreement—supposed to last five years but enforced three decades later—Israel controls 80% of the Mountain Aquifer’s water. The Israeli national water company, Mekorot, controls pipelines supplying Palestinian towns. During summer months, Mekorot routinely throttles water supplies to Palestinian municipalities—like Hebron, Bethlehem, and Jenin—to ensure uninterrupted supply to nearby illegal settlements.
According to human rights organizations and the Palestinian Hydrology Group, West Bank Palestinians consume an average of 70 liters of water per day—well below the WHO minimum standard of 100 liters. Meanwhile, Israeli domestic consumers receive roughly 300 liters per day, and settlers in illegal outposts consume up to 800 liters.
In my neighborhood, running water comes through pipes once a week for a 24-to-48-hour window. We live around those brief hours: filling rooftop tanks, running laundry, and scrubbing floors. When tanks run dry, we purchase water from private mobile tankers at extortionate prices—water pumped from our aquifers sold back at five times the cost. Looking from my roof, I see a nearby settlement where lawn sprinklers run all afternoon. Looking down at my sink, not a single drop comes out.
The Grid of Control: Checkpoints, Closures, and Settler Violence
Movement in the West Bank has long been restricted, turning the territory into an open-air maze of isolated enclaves. Over 560 permanent obstacles—manned military checkpoints, iron gates, earthen mounds, and concrete blocks—carve up the land.
A trip from Ramallah to Qira, my hometown, historically a 45-minute drive, now consumes four to six hours. At any moment, an Israeli soldier can swing an Iron Gate shut, locking thousands inside a valley or blocking access to healthcare, universities, or jobs.
Compounding this is the relentless rise of settlers terrorism. Protected by armed forces, state-backed settler groups descend upon villages, burning olive groves, attacking homes, smashing vehicles, and closing agricultural lands.
Just recently, settlers arrived in my hometown of Qira. They entered without permission to survey local archaeological sites, later publishing two videos set to Hebrew music showing them inspecting the ancient Roman pool next to my home and an old shrine down the valley. While there were no direct attacks or property damage this time, such incursions rarely remain passive; watching them walk through our spaces leaves a lingering fear that this quiet scouting is only the precursor to something far worse.
For me as a Palestinian farmer, tending family land held for generations has become a high-risk endeavor where I face beatings or live fire simply for harvesting my olives. The message is simple: your space is shrinking, and you are never safe.
The Choked Exit: The Al-Karameh Crossing Bottleneck
For 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank, there is no accessible commercial airport. Barred from using Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, our sole window to the world is the Allenby Bridge (Al-Karameh / King Hussein Bridge crossing) connecting the West Bank to Jordan.
Recently, the Israeli Crossings Authority dramatically slashed operating hours at Al-Karameh. The terminal—once operating around the clock during peak travel—has seen its processing window severely restricted, closing early on weekdays and remaining closed on weekends.
Traveling abroad has become a nightmare of bureaucratic cruelty. Thousands gather at dawn in sweltering waiting halls. Digital registration slots sell out weeks in advance. Families are turned back after waiting all day because the border closed at 13:30 sharp. Trapping millions inside a landlocked enclave by choking their only exit is not security; it is a psychological cage.
Coercive Displacement: The Strategy of Making Life Unbearable
When you connect these dots—fuel lines, payless months, the shekel trap, dry water pipes, unpredictable checkpoints, settler violence, and locked borders—a clear, chilling pattern emerges.
None of these pressures operates in isolation. They form a deliberate architecture of friction designed to exhaust the human spirit—a policy of quiet, coercive displacement. The objective is to make daily existence so intolerable, expensive, and hopeless that people—especially the young, educated, and ambitious—eventually leave on their own.
Every queue we stand in, every dry tap we open, and every closed gate sends the same implicit signal: there is no room for you to thrive here.
For decades, our response to oppression has been Sumud—holding onto our land, our heritage, and our dignity. But as the occupation systematically grinds down the mechanics of daily survival, holding on grows harder by the day. We remain here not out of ease, but out of necessity—wondering how much longer steadfastness can endure before we are stripped of everything and displaced by force.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
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Smoke rises over the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah (Eastern Zawtar) in the Nabatieh Governorate of southern Lebanon following Israeli artillery fire and airstrikes that violated ceasefire and framework agreements on August 12, 2026. [Ramiz Dallah – Anadolu Agency]
The Israeli military on Thursday continued to carry out relentless airstrikes and artillery barrages across southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire deal that ostensibly went into effect in June, Anadolu reports.
According to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA), Israeli artillery fire targeted the town of Houla and parts of the Marjayoun district, along with positions near the towns of Qabrikha and Tulin.
Artillery shelling was also reported in the Saluki and Hujeir valleys, which extend through the Marjayoun, Bint Jbeil and Nabatieh districts.
In the Tyre district, the towns of Majdal Zoun and Mansouri were both reportedly shaken by Israeli artillery barrages.
In the Nabatieh district, Israeli warplanes conducted overnight strikes on Ali al-Taher hill and around Al-Dabsha and the Doha Kfar Rumman area, according to the news agency.
NNA did not provide any information regarding possible casualties.
On Thursday, former Israeli defense minister Moshe Ya’alon accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of keeping existing war fronts open — and seeking to open new ones — in an effort to preempt the formation of an official commission of inquiry into the ongoing conflict.
In June, Beirut and Tel Aviv signed a US-brokered ceasefire agreement calling for Israel’s gradual withdrawal from all Lebanese territory, to be followed by the Lebanese army’s deployment into vacated areas.
It also calls for the disarmament of “armed groups” in reference to Hezbollah.
Despite the agreement, Israel has continued to carry out almost daily attacks on southern Lebanon, which, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, have killed more than 4,000 people since early March.
Israeli forces currently occupy several parts of southern Lebanon, some of which they have held for decades.
Other areas were occupied in 2023 and 2024, when Israeli forces advanced more than 10 kilometers into Lebanese territory.
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Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
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Relatives and local residents attend the funeral ceremony for 50 Palestinians, whose bodies were recovered from the rubble of buildings destroyed in intense Israeli bombardments, at the courtyard of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine on August 20, 2026. [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]
Türkiye, Egypt and Qatar on Thursday strongly condemned recent Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip that killed civilians, including women and children, warning that the escalation threatens ongoing efforts to implement the ceasefire, Anadolu reports.
In a joint statement, the three countries, acting as mediators, expressed “deep concern” over continued violations and said the intensification of Israeli attacks was undermining regional and international efforts at a critical stage.
They said intensive efforts were underway to implement the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, citing a meeting between the Board of Peace and Israeli officials as well as “constructive steps” in the negotiation process.
“The mediating countries stress the imperative for Israel to fully comply with all its obligations under the ceasefire agreement and to refrain from actions that could further undermine the ceasefire and escalate tensions,” the statement said.
Pointing to the “devastating consequences of the continued Israeli aggression” in the region, Türkiye, Egypt and Qatar renewed their call on the international community and the Board of Peace to take steps to ensure compliance with the ceasefire.
“In view of the devastating consequences of the continued Israeli aggression in the region, the mediating countries reiterate their call on the international community and the Board of Peace, under the leadership of President Trump and as endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2803, to take the necessary steps to ensure compliance with the ceasefire and to exert effective pressure to prevent further escalation,” the statement said.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
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Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, arrives at 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Cabinet meeting in London, United Kingdom on July 21, 2026. [Zeynep Demir – Anadolu Agency]
In a rare display of opposition, the UK Government on Wednesday issued a strongly worded statement condemning Israel’s publication of a tender for the E1 settlement, describing the project is an unacceptable and destructive act.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said: “E1 would cut across the heart of Palestine and risks separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem, which would endanger the viability of a two-state solution.
“The UK has been clear privately and publicly in our opposition to E1 and our support for a two-state solution as the only way to ensure long-term security and peace for both Palestinians and Israelis. All settlements damage that prospect and are a flagrant breach of international law.
“Today, I made clear to the Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar that the Israeli Government must halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion.
“In addition, the Israeli Chargé d’Affaires has been summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where we set out the UK’s profound objection to this move by the Netanyahu government and demanded an immediate reversal.
“The impact of settler violence and terrorism has been catastrophic for Palestinian communities. Settlement expansion and attempts to create irreversible divisions on the ground threaten peace, security and the prospects for a viable Palestinian state.
“Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the Two-State Solution.
“In the coming weeks we will set out a comprehensive set of measures to respond to Israeli government policies, protect the viability of the Palestinian state, target sanctions at those who participate in illegal settlement expansion and support a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians.”
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
