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A view of a damaged house of a Palestinian family burned by Israeli settlers in the village of Abu Falah near Ramallah, West Bank on November 08, 2025. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]
Eight Palestinians were injured in the illegal Israeli settlers’ assaults in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem on Sunday, according to local sources, Anadolu reports.
Illegal Israeli settlers attacked the Al-Arara Bedouin community north of occupied East Jerusalem with stones and sticks, leaving seven Palestinians with varying degrees of injuries, according to the Bedouin rights group Al-Baidar.
The settlers burned the container houses and caused material losses to the residents.
The organization warned that “the continuation of these violations poses a direct threat to the stability of the people and their presence on their lands and paves the way for forced displacement.”
In the Umm al-Khair village of southern Hebron, southern West Bank, another group of settlers attacked Palestinians in the morning while they were working on their lands, local sources told Anadolu.
A young Palestinian was transferred to a hospital for medical attention after getting injured on his face and head.
Israeli attacks have escalated across the occupied West Bank since October 2023, killing more than 1,069 Palestinians and injuring 10,300 others, Palestinian figures showed.
According to the official Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Israeli forces and illegal settlers carried out 766 attacks against Palestinians, their homes, property, and sources of livelihood across the West Bank in October alone.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
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Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Vote Labour for Genocide.
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Olive harvest of Palestinians continue despite Israelis, seizing Palestinian land, conduct attacks under the protection of Israeli soldiers, in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah, West Bank, on October 20, 2025. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]
Illegal Israeli settlers staged 158 assaults against Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank since the start of the olive harvest season in October, according to a local official, Anadolu reports.
Muayyar Shaaban, who heads the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said field teams documented 17 attacks by the Israeli army and 141 others by illegal settlers.
“These attacks ranged from violent physical assaults, arrests, movement restrictions, denial of access, intimidation, and harassment to direct gunfire,” Shaaban said.
According to the official, 56 attacks were carried out in the northern city of Nablus, 51 assaults in the central city of Ramallah, and 15 in Hebron in the southern West Bank.
Shaaban noted that 57 incidents of movement restrictions and intimidation against olive pickers were documented, in addition to 22 cases of beating and physical assault against farmers.
A total of 795 olive trees were destroyed in 74 attacks directly targeting olive-planted lands, he added.
The Palestinian official described the season as “one of the most difficult and dangerous in decades” due to the escalating attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers.
Shaaban accused the Israeli occupation of systematically targeting the olive harvest season due to the deep emotional and historical bond between Palestinians and their land as part of “a clear and declared plan to control Palestinian geography and deny Palestinians access to their lands.”
According to Palestinian figures, illegal Israeli settlers have carried out 7,154 attacks against Palestinians and their property across the West Bank since October 2023, killing 33 Palestinians and displacing 33 Bedouin communities.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAOrcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
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Jewish settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, seize a house belonging to the Nasir al-Din family in the Old City of Hebron, West Bank on September 02, 2025. [Amer Shallodi – Anadolu Agency]
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned Thursday that Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are facing mass forced displacement at the hands of the Israeli occupation army and illegal settlers, amounting to an imminent risk of ethnic cleansing.
In its statement, MSF stressed that Israel’s annexation-driven policies in the occupied West Bank represent grave breaches of international humanitarian law and human rights law.
According to the organisation, in 2025 MSF teams witnessed policies and practices that are “blatantly designed to remove Palestinians from their land and prevent any possibility of return.”
MSF concluded that “ending the occupation remains the only way to alleviate the severe suffering facing Palestinians.” The group urged the United States, European Union member states, and the wider international community to apply real pressure to halt Israel’s practices of displacement and ensure an end to its illegal occupation.
The warning came a day after far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared that Tel Aviv intends to annex 82 per cent of the occupied West Bank under Israeli sovereignty in order to block the establishment of a Palestinian state.
In preparation for annexation, Israel has intensified its crimes in the West Bank since launching its genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip in October 2023. These crimes include home demolitions, mass displacement of Palestinian civilians, widespread land confiscation, and the accelerated expansion of illegal settlements.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
58 Palestinians injured in IOF raid on Central Ramallah. Photo: Andalou Agency
The offensive is considered a major escalation as it took place in Ramallah, the political and administrative hub of the Palestinian Authority.
Daily raids carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have for decades been routine for Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank. However, Ramallah city center has been relatively safe compared to other areas, largely since the second intifada ended in 2005.
This isn’t to say that such relative calm extends to the entire governorate of Ramallah and Al-Bireh; it applies exclusively to the few square kilometers surrounding the Palestinian Authority (PA) headquarters near the center of the city.
Although this particular part of the city was previously subjected to IOF raids, such offensives happened rarely, for a brief time and usually not during daytime.
In a major escalation, the IOF stormed Ramallah city center on Tuesday, August 26, at rush hour in the afternoon, shooting at passersby and a journalist’s vehicle. Eyewitnesses and media workers reported the use of live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets, and gas canisters during the raid.
Those taking part in a sit-in to commemorate the National Day for the Recovery of the Bodies of Slain Palestinians, a day when families demand the return of their martyrs’ bodies, 700-1500 of which are reportedly held by Israel, were also suppressed by Israeli military personnel when they raided the area.
At least 58 Palestinians were wounded in the assault, which lasted for hours, including a 13-year-old boy, who sustained an injury to his abdomen.
The IOF also arrested three people from a money exchange shop, and confiscated around 1.5 million Israeli Shekel (USD 447,000), over allegations that the shop was transferring money to Hamas.
The IOF continues its military operations across the West Bank
On Wednesday, August 27, the IOF raided the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank, and imposed a siege on its Old City.
Dozens of Palestinians were reported injured in the attack, which lasted 14 hours. Palestinian citizens also told Turkish news agency Anadolu that the IOF turned a number of houses in the city into military barracks.
The spokesperson for the Palestinian Presidency Nabil Abu Rudeineh condemned and rejected the IOF’s intensified military operations in cities, villages, and refugee camps across the West Bank on Wednesday.
Abu Rudeineh called the latest Israeli military actions in the West Bank a “dangerous escalation”. He also held the Israeli government responsible for the escalating assaults of the IOF, and the terrorist acts of illegal Israeli settlers against the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian official warned Netanyahu’s government that continuing with these policies will lead the region to further tension and instability.
He also reiterated his call for the US administration to pressure Israel to stop these dangerous policies, which violate the resolutions of international legitimacy and international law, and to oblige it to end the war and other acts of aggression.
Palestinians gather in the ruins of Gaza City in the hopes of obtaining humanitarian aid packages dropped from planes | Mahmoud Abu Hamda/Anadolu via Getty Images
It’s clear that Netanyahu’s ‘messianic fantasy’ is full control of the territory. Staying silent is complicity
As its appalling onslaught in Gaza and treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank are broadcast around the world, Israel is increasingly encountering international opprobrium. Yet Binyamin Netanyahu’s position is still not under threat from the country’s domestic opposition, whose criticism of his government scarcely stretches to the war.
While that may be starting to change, the Israeli prime minister’s rule will likely persist as long as he can rely on the support of Donald Trump, which shows no sign of abating. In any case, he could probably rectify any significant shift in domestic attitudes by engineering another crisis with Iran.
Why support for the war persists in Israel needs to be understood, and it is worth recalling that before the Hamas attack nearly two years ago, Israeli Jews thought that they were at last achieving a measure of lasting security.
At the time, the occupied West Bank has seen a steady increase in the number and size of Jewish settlements, along with all the strategic roads, checkpoints and patrols that went with them. That helped to ensure Israel could more effectively control the whole area, which was already enclosed by the heavily guarded border with Jordan and the separation barrier with Israel.
More widely, Israel had overwhelming air superiority in the region, which enabled it to project power in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. It was far from complete, given the presence of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the theocratic regime in Iran, but Israel’s ever-present connection with the United States offered further protection.
Perhaps the most reassuring element was how Gaza had been subdued after the shock of the 2006 Hamas election victory over Fatah, a secular nationalist party that had previously had a majority on the Palestinian Legislative Council.
That election had been held across all the Palestinian territories and was followed by violent Israeli and international opposition to the onset of Hamas rule, as well as conflict between Fatah and Hamas. Within months, Fatah had regained control of the West Bank, while Hamas ran Gaza, which almost immediately became subject to a near siege by Israel.
The first of the four, in 2008, was a 22-day Israeli military offensive that killed around 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. This was followed by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) assassinating Hamas’s military chief of staff, Ahmed Jabari, and conducting eight days of air raids in 2012.
Then, mid-2014 saw a seven-week IDF offensive after Hamas kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenagers. That bitter air and ground offensive led to the deaths of more than 2,100 Palestinians and 73 Israelis. Israeli losses were mostly IDF ground troops, which is one reason why many senior Israeli soldiers are now reluctant to put troops into Gaza City.
More recently, in May 2021, the IDF killed 260 Palestinians in Gaza, and 13 Israelis died in rocket fire from Gaza. Thirty more Palestinians were killed in further attacks in 2022.
Amid these short but intense wars, many Israelis became used to brief bursts of warfare, which were often seen as a necessary means to control Palestinians. Israeli military personnel even referred to such violence as “mowing the grass”, according to foreign correspondent and author Phoebe Greenwood, whose vivid insights into reporting on the years of war do much to explain the lack of balance in the mainstream media when it comes to Israel and Palestine.
In total, in the 15 years leading up to 2023, in the wake of the first and second Intifadas (Palestinian uprisings) and the control of Gaza, Israeli military operations killed close to 5,000 Palestinians and wounded thousands more. That this was well over three times the Israeli death toll on 7 October counted for little among the great majority of Israeli Jews, enabling the Netanyahu coalition to go to war with those Palestinian “human animals” to destroy Hamas once and for all.
Within weeks, it became clear that Hamas would not easily be defeated. From very early on in the war, the IDF was pursuing the Dahiya Doctrine of punishing the civilian population to undermine support for Hamas. That is failing to the extent that while Hamas has lost thousands of its paramilitaries, there are many thousands more ready to take their place.
As a result, Israel is using increasingly extreme measures, including killing medics and paramedics, destroying hospitals and medical centres, and starving people by cutting off food supplies.
At the same time, the Netanyahu government is conducting an international propaganda exercise, especially in the UK and Germany – two of the states where support is most urgently needed.
In an interview with LBC journalist Iain Dale last year, Hotovely suggested that “every school, every mosque, every second house” in Gaza had access to underground tunnels and that this justified Israel’s bombardment.
“But that’s an argument for destroying the whole of Gaza, every single building there,” said LBC presenter Iain Dale. “Do you have another solution?” she responded.
That response starkly supports Nimer Sultany’s assessment of the situation in an article in The Guardian this week. Sultany, a Palestinian citizen of Israel who is a reader in public law at SOAS University of London, wrote: “Israel is pursuing the messianic fantasy and the criminal enterprise of a ‘Greater Israel’, with the goal of ‘maximum land, and minimum Arabs.’”
Ambassador Hotovely’s views certainly support Sultany’s argument, as does the announcement this week that Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to take full control of Gaza City. From there, it seems likely that the rest of the Gaza Strip would be next, followed by the West Bank.
Sultany is right to call this aim a “messianic fantasy”. Western political leaders must recognise it as such and radically change their policies on selling arms and sharing intelligence with the IDF, as well as introducing sanctions on trade with Israel. Given the UK’s long-term relationship with Israel, and its close military and security links with the IDF (which exceed those of any other nation bar the US), Keir Starmer should take the lead in this.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Vote Labour for Genocide.
