… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Tag: West Bank

  • Israel seeks permanent control of Gaza, while ensuring Jewish majority in West Bank, Israel: UN inquiry commission

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    Israeli tank and armored vehicle are seen from Israel – Gaza border on September 21, 2025. [Tsafrir Abayov – Anadolu Agency]

    Israel is seeking permanent control of the Gaza Strip while ensuring a Jewish majority in the occupied West Bank and inside Israel, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel said in a new report Tuesday, Anadolu reports.

    The commission found Israeli policies since October 2023 show “clear and consistent” intent to “forcibly transfer Palestinians, expand Israeli Jewish civilian presence and annex the entirety of the West Bank,” blocking Palestinian self-determination.

    It warned that these measures are part of a broader strategy to prevent any future Palestinian state.

    “I am particularly appalled by the Israeli Finance Minister (Bezalel) Smotrich’s recently announced plan of annexing 82 percent of the occupied West Bank, and by the approval of a plan cementing the E1 settlement expansion, with Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu asserting that this will ensure there will be no Palestinian State,” said Navi Pillay, the commission chair.

    “Israeli encroachment into the entirety of the West Bank and the dispossession and relocation of multiple Palestinian communities are now explicit goals, which Israeli officials proudly boast about,” she stressed, adding that these measures are “abhorrent and must be condemned widely.”

    The report said Israeli military operations in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams refugee camps since early 2025 destroyed buildings, displaced residents, and amounted to collective punishment. Some demolished structures were labeled “terrorist homes” by the army, but the commission found the actions were not militarily justified.

    READ: Spain approves full arms embargo on Israel, warns Netanyahu over Gaza killings

    In Gaza, the inquiry found that Israeli authorities “extensively and systematically” demolished civilian infrastructure in corridors and buffer zones, expanding control over 75% of the territory by July.

    It said such actions have “substantially reduced the territory available for Palestinians, with significant implications for their ability to exercise their right to self-determination.”

    The report also accused Israeli authorities of systematically reducing Gaza’s territory and resources, saying actions inflicted conditions of life calculated to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, “which is an underlying act of genocide.”

    “Israel must immediately end and reverse its confiscation and use of Palestinian land in Gaza, including for the creation and expansion of the buffer zone and corridors. It must return all confiscated land to its Palestinian owners,” Pillay said.

    “Israeli confiscation and control of land ostensibly carried out for security purposes have not achieved more security for anyone but have deepened the misery of the Palestinian people and deprived them of resources indispensable for their survival, including the capacity to produce food.”

    The report also noted that inside Israel, successive governments have implemented laws and policies confining Palestinian localities and hindering integration. It said similarities with measures in the West Bank point to a broader policy “intended to secure a Jewish majority in all areas under Israeli control, reducing the possibility of geographical self-determination for the Palestinian people.”

    The commission named Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, current Defense Minister Israel Katz, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Settlements and National Projects Orit Strock, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as bearing the greatest responsibility for international crimes linked to land and housing, with Netanyahu and Gallant also found responsible for incitement to genocide.

    The report will be presented to the UN General Assembly’s 80th session on Oct. 28 in New York.

    Last week, the commission concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza by committing “four of the five” genocidal acts defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention: killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy the group, and preventing births.

    READ: Islamic Jihad official accuses Netanyahu of rejecting peace, says Gaza solution blocked

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    Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
    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/O74hZCKKdpA
    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.
    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.
    Vote Labour for Genocide.

  • Gaza bleeds, Israel plans its next move: Annexing the West Bank

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    Israeli forces raid the el-Amari Refugee Camp, located south of the city of Ramallah in the West Bank on September 14, 2025. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]

    While the genocide and destruction in Gaza have reached unprecedented levels, Israel now appears to be moving towards its next bold step — a West Bank version of the Gaza endgame scenario. Tension is mounting regionally and globally over a possible imminent Israeli declaration to annex the occupied West Bank. If it happens, the move would mark a major turning point in the timeline of the Arab-Israeli conflict over the land of Palestine. “There are serious and real concerns that Israel may, in the coming days, announce the annexation of the West Bank. The annexation of the West Bank to Israel is a central part of the political project of two main parties allied with Likud in this extremist government led by Netanyahu,” said Qadura Fares, the former Palestinian minister and member of the Legislative Council, in a phone conversation from Ramallah in the West Bank.

    At the same time, we are witnessing a historic shift as Western nations long supportive of Israel begin to take a different stance, recognising the State of Palestine one after another. These strong Western voices are also warning Israel, in real time, against any unilateral annexation of the West Bank in response to this global wave of recognition.

    “This government in Israel has two options now on the table. It can either respond diplomatically to each of the countries recognising Palestine, or it can declare the annexation of the West Bank as a collective punishment against those nations,” Ambassador Alon Liel, retired senior Israeli diplomat, told me in a short conversation.

    READ: Smotrich threatens Netanyahu with dismantling Palestinian Authority if West Bank annexation stalls

    For many Israelis, this is seen as the moment to change realities on the ground — taking advantage of Western recognition of Palestine as a pretext to move deeper into the West Bank. While everything they have done in Gaza so far has been approved by the Trump administration, they foresee that this golden era in Washington will not return anytime soon. With the unprecedented support President Trump is granting Israel, taking full sovereignty of the land is exactly what the Israeli far right needs now. As Jason Shvili wrote in the far-right Israeli newspaper Israel HaYom: “No other US administration, Democrat or Republican, has been more receptive to the idea of Israel extending its sovereignty to Judea and Samaria, so annexation must happen as soon as possible.”

    Retired Israeli ambassador and senior diplomat Alon Liel agrees that the chances are high the USA will back Israel in such a step. But he adds: “The real fear inside the government now is the threat annexation may pose to the Abraham Accords. The achievement of the Accords and relations with the UAE and Bahrain are attributed to PM Netanyahu. Taking over the West Bank may threaten the future of these agreements. These accords are seen as Netanyahu’s biggest diplomatic achievement.”

    Annexing the West Bank has long been a central vision for the future of the Jewish state according to the Israeli agenda, but timing is critical. As we see day by day on the ground in Gaza, Israel has pushed much of Gaza’s population southward, concentrating residents into a narrow strip of land and effectively emptying large areas of Palestinians. These actions appear aimed at displacement, potentially forcing Gaza’s Palestinians to leave for Egypt as part of a broader strategy for a Greater Israel, another vision repeatedly mentioned in the narrative of several ministers in the coalition currently running Israel and leading the ongoing war we are witnessing right now.

    Bringing the West Bank formally under Israeli sovereignty would therefore complete the picture — unifying the lands of historic Palestine under the authority of the self-styled Jewish state “The annexation of the West Bank is linked to other plan in the Israeli agenda, linked to the displacement of the Palestinians, the transfer of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Jerusalem into Jordan”  said former Palestinian minister and member of the Legislative Council, Qadura Fares “This harms the Jordanian sovereignty, a decisive stance must be taken by all Arab countries to respond to Israel,”  Mr. Fares added.

    Israeli opposition, represented by Yair Lapid, the leader of the Yesh Atid party, expressed its disapproval of the possible move to annex the West Bank. Lapid’s concern was not a fundamental objection to the idea of annexation itself, but rather the timing and the heavy diplomatic cost.

    READ: Israeli forces storm West Bank cities, demolish homes, detain 120 Palestinians

    “What are they trying to do? Further damage our international relations? All we’ll get out of this is more serious international backlash for something that has no viability,” Lapid said earlier this month. He described calls for taking over the West Bank as “another provocation toward a world that is already turning its back on us.”

    Former ambassador Alon Liel believes the opinion of the other segment of Israeli society is completely different. “The religious part of the population in Israel does not care about the world — if we lose the support of the world or not, they see the world as antisemitic anyhow. Israel is sharply divided,” Liel said.

    Former Palestinian minister Qadura Fares emphasized that the West Bank is occupied — and will remain so regardless of any possible annexation order. Palestinians therefore have the right to resist the occupation, and any annexation would be illegal, adding yet another entry to a long list of Israeli actions deemed violations under international law.

    Both the measures Israel is taking in Gaza — pushing the population outward and crushing resistance — and its actions in the West Bank, from the destruction of refugee camps like Nour Shams and Jenin to expanding illegal settlements and cutting the region’s geographical integrity, follow a single prescription. They make a Palestinian state on the land occupied in 1967 impossible. They kill all chances of a two-state solution and pave the way for uprooting the Palestinian people entirely, leaving the land to the Jewish state.

    Israel is seizing what it sees as the best use of the remaining three years of the current US administration. In this window, the impossible becomes possible — a season unlikely to return under any future administration. But the true end of eight-decade Palestinian struggle will take far longer than these three years.

    The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

    This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

    Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
    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/O74hZCKKdpA
    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.
    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.
    Vote Labour for Genocide.

  • Israeli forces storm West Bank cities, demolish homes, detain 120 Palestinians

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    The Israeli military conduct a raid in Ramallah and detain a Palestinian youth with his eyes blindsided, on September 16, 2025, in West Bank. Israeli troops have intensified restrictions across the West Bank and often open fire on people approaching the barrier. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]

    Israeli forces on Wednesday stormed several Palestinian cities in the West Bank, demolished homes in the south, and carried out mass arrests as part of a widening campaign of raids in the occupied territory, Anadolu Agency reports.

    Witnesses said undercover units entered al-Bireh town near Ramallah before reinforcements arrived with armored vehicles in the al-Masyoun neighborhood.

    In Nablus, troops pushed into the eastern districts, deploying in the Musallakh area and the Balata refugee camp.

    In the Hebron province, local council head Mohammed Ribee said Israeli bulldozers leveled houses and caves in the village of Khirbet Khillet al-Daba, and destroyed tents, water pipes, sanitation units, and solar power cells.

    He noted that the operation wiped out the remaining shelters of families previously displaced in a May demolition that targeted 25 homes and farm structures.

    The Palestinian Prisoner Society said the Israeli army has arrested 120 Palestinians since the start of the week, including women, children, and former detainees.

    READ: Israel pushes West Bank annexation while threatening terror across the Middle East

    It added that nearly 19,000 Palestinians have been detained in the West Bank since the Gaza war began in October 2023, describing the arrests as a systematic policy of collective punishment often accompanied by beatings, field interrogations, and home destruction.

    Palestinian officials warn that the intensifying raids, demolitions, and land seizures are part of Israel’s strategy to accelerate settlement expansion and move toward annexing the West Bank, a step they say would permanently eliminate the prospect of a two-state solution.

    Since October 2023, at least 1,042 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

    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.

    READ: Over 1,000 Palestinians detained as Israeli forces tighten grip on West Bank’s Tulkarm city

    This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

    Vote Labour for Genocide.
    Vote Labour for Genocide.

  • West Bank sees surge in Israeli raids with arrests, shootings and property destruction

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    Israeli forces detain Palestinians following an explosion in Tulkarm, West Bank, on September 11, 2025. [Nedal Eshtayah - Anadolu Agency]
    Israeli forces detain Palestinians following an explosion in Tulkarm, West Bank, on September 11, 2025. [Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency]

    Israeli forces mounted a series of raids across the occupied West Bank on Thursday, arresting dozens of Palestinians, wounding a young man near Jerusalem, and issuing demolition orders for homes and a school in the south, local officials and witnesses said, Anadolu reports.

    In Qubeiba, northwest of Jerusalem, troops detained Mayor Nafez Hamouda after storming his home, before releasing him hours later. His arrest came as part of a four-day military campaign in nearby villages following Monday’s shooting attack that killed six Israelis.

    Residents in Biddu and Qatanna reported widespread house raids, interrogations and property damage, while soldiers forced shops to close and tightened checks at nearby checkpoints, creating heavy traffic congestion. Journalists said their equipment was confiscated to prevent coverage.

    Palestinian authorities said a young man was shot in the leg near a separation barrier between al-Ram and Beit Hanina. Witnesses said he was among laborers trying to cross into Israel for work, and that soldiers blocked ambulances from reaching him.

    In the northern Jenin district, bulldozers destroyed vegetable crops and uprooted olive trees on farmland in Burqin. Dozens of illegal settlers, accompanied by Israeli troops, also entered the site of the former Sanur settlement, evacuated in 2005, but recently approved by the Israeli Cabinet for re-establishment.

    READ: Israeli forces detain 10 Palestinians, wound 2 in West Bank raids

    Further south, officials in the Hebron area said the army distributed demolition notices for five makeshift homes in the village of Khirbet Zanuta, east of Yatta. A separate order targeted al-Zuwaidin Secondary School, which serves around 120 students in the Masafer Yatta region.

    According to the Palestinian government’s Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Israel carried out 57 demolitions across the West Bank in August, affecting 125 structures, including 39 homes, 52 agricultural facilities and 20 sources of livelihood.

    Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, at least 1,020 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

    In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal. It demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

    READ: Latin church in Gaza refuses to leave despite Israeli evacuation orders

    Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
    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/O74hZCKKdpA
    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.
    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.
    Vote Labour for Genocide.

  • Saudi crown prince, Palestinian vice president discuss US visa denial before UN General Assembly meetings

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    Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on October 23, 2024. [Photo by NATHAN HOWARD/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]

    Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met in Riyadh on Monday with Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh to discuss a US decision to revoke visas for a Palestinian delegation attending this month’s UN General Assembly meetings in New York, Anadolu reports.

    A Saudi Foreign Ministry statement said discussions between the two sides took up the latest Palestinian developments and ongoing efforts to support the Palestinian cause.

    The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Sheikh hailed Saudi Arabia’s “firm position and its efforts to support the Palestinian people and their just cause at all levels.”

    The talks also touched on a US decision to cancel visas for the Palestinian delegation ahead of the UN General Assembly meetings on Sept. 8-23, Wafa said.

    READ: Former Saudi intelligence chief to CNN: Saudi Arabia cannot normalise relations with “war criminal”

    Bin Salman and Sheikh also addressed the situation in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem amid Israeli attacks and settler violence, Wafa said.

    They reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining close coordination between the two sides to address the ongoing challenges facing the region.

    In late July, the US Department of State imposed sanctions on the Palestinian Authority and the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), denying visas to their members, including President Mahmoud Abbas.

    The penalties came as several Western countries, including France and the UK, plan to recognize a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly meetings.

    Sheikh arrived in the Saudi capital on Sunday for an official visit.

    The visit comes as Israel continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing over 63,500 Palestinians since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

    Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

    Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

    READ: Italy, Saudi Arabia condemn unilateral, violent actions in West Bank undermining 2-state solution

    Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
    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/O74hZCKKdpA
    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.
    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.
    Vote Labour for Genocide.