• Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formally rejected a US-brokered peace plan for Gaza, saying an Israeli pullout will not happen until Hamas is fully disarmed.

Concerns mount over integrity of Israel’s October elections

Israelis will decide the country’s next government and prime minister when they vote in legislative elections on October 27, which will see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempt to win another term in office.

But there are mounting concerns over the future of Israeli democracy amid apparent attempts by Netanyahu’s government to entrench its power.

A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that almost three-quarters of Jewish Israelis were concerned about the integrity of the 2026 election, while 43 percent said they were optimistic about the future of democratic government in Israel.

US pressure on Israel ‘simply in the arena of words’

Phyllis Bennis, a Middle East specialist and fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, says Netanyahu’s rejection of the plan for Hamas’s disarmament and Israel’s withdrawal in Gaza undermines the framework that Trump himself laid out.

She noted that Trump, in a Truth Social post, said the agreement was going to be carried out in “carefully structured phases”, under which the disarmament of Hamas and the withdrawal of Israeli forces would proceed simultaneously. But now, Netanyahu has said he would not follow the plan.

Bennis said the leader’s stance is driven by domestic politics in Israel, “where Netanyahu is under enormous pressure, both from his electoral coalition in the Knesset and public opinion, which is very much in support of his very hard line position”.

But the other factor is that US pressure on Israel remains largely rhetorical.

“The so-called pressure from the United States is simply in the arena of words. It’s only statements, and we’ve seen this from the beginning of the genocide in Gaza back in 2023,” Bennis said.

She argued concrete pressure would mean ending arms transfers and aid to Israel.

“This is what makes the genocide, which is still going on in Gaza, possible. It’s also the diplomatic support from the United States, [including] in the United Nations and protection from the International Criminal Court.”

Hamas made ‘major concession’ in agreeing to full disarmament

Phyllis Bennis at the Institute for Policy Studies about Israel’s rejection of the Board of Peace’s 15-point plan for Gaza, said that Hamas had made a genuine concession by agreeing to full disarmament but Israel’s refusal to reciprocate marked a “dangerous” turning point.

“Hamas made this major concession to agree to full disarmament but clearly only to be carried out in cooperation, in parallel, with an Israeli withdrawal. But the Israelis are not only refusing to withdraw. They are taking more land in Gaza and consolidating their control of land in Lebanon,” she said.

“There have been 1,100 people killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes just since the ceasefire deal was passed in October of last year, so the notion that the genocide is over is simply not the case. And if there’s just a stall – if it goes into stalemate – that means the genocide is continuing. This is what’s so dramatically dangerous about this,” she added.

Israel has ‘almost got America over a barrel’ on Gaza

Antony Loewenstein, a journalist and author of The Palestine Laboratory, says it is no surprise that Netanyahu has rejected the US-brokered Gaza peace plan.

“Israel – not just Netanyahu, [but also] his cabinet and, frankly, a sizeable proportion of the Israeli Jewish population, arguably a majority, which includes the likely alternative prime ministers if Netanyahu loses an election held in October – have a similar view,” he said.

“There is no desire, constituency, support to end the Israeli presence in Gaza. There’s no desire to assist Palestinians. There’s no care about Palestinian lives. We’ve seen after close to three years 80,000 to 100,000 Palestinians killed by Israel. The vast majority are civilians,” Loewenstein said.

“And it’s not like that has brought up any shame within mainstream Israeli Jewish society. So what does that say to you? It says that Netanyahu can do this pretty much without punishment,” he added.

Netanyahu’s ‘coup’ against Gaza plan risks endless war

Netanyahu’s rejection of the United States-led roadmap for Gaza has raised urgent questions about the fragile peace process and the prolonged suffering for more than two million Palestinians in the territory.

The 15-point plan mandates that Hamas would disarm in exchange for a phased Israeli military withdrawal and the transition of governance to a technocratic Palestinian committee backed by an international security force.

Since Trump announced his peace plan for Gaza last year, Israel has continued near-daily deadly attacks in violation of a “ceasefire” deal. Rather than withdrawing its forces, it now maintains military control of more than 70 percent of the Strip. And on Sunday, just weeks before Israel’s crucial elections, Netanyahu effectively paralyzed the diplomatic process by insisting that Israeli troops will not withdraw until Hamas is “genuinely disarmed”.

The rejection places the US-brokered ceasefire on the brink of total collapse.

Trump says he’ll respond to Netanyahu’s Gaza plan rejection on Truth Social

Asked by reporters in the Oval Office about Netanyahu’s rejection of the Board of Peace’s 15-point Gaza plan, Trump said he would respond on Truth Social.

He said: “I’ll post my response there. I have a response, a good response, I’ll post it there,” adding that relations between the two men remain “very good”.

Trump, his team ‘don’t see Palestinians as human beings’

Journalist and author Antony Loewenstein about Netanyahu’s rejection of the US-brokered Gaza peace plan:

He said Washington had plenty of options to compel Netanyahu to accept, if it were willing to use them. “The US has massive possibility of power, of course. They could stop aid, they could stop military support, they could change their votes at the UN. There’s huge things they could do,” he said.

“But the truth of the matter is they’re not going to do it because the bottom line is the people who run the US – Trump, Jared Kushner, Stephen Miller – they don’t see Palestinians as human beings, they don’t see them as equal to Jewish Israelis, and that ultimately is the problem with this deal.”

Israel ‘deliberately obstructing the path to de-escalation’ in Gaza: Media Office

Gaza’s Government Media Office says Netanyahu’s rejection of Trump’s 15-point plan for the enclave is a “direct blow to the mediators’ efforts” and that he is “deliberately obstructing the path to de-escalation and significantly exacerbating the humanitarian crisis”.

The office also said in a statement published on Telegram that Palestinian factions had “demonstrated a high degree of national responsibility”, and engaged “positively” with the negotiations, “driven by a desire to prevent further bloodshed among our Palestinian people and end the catastrophic humanitarian crisis”.

They urged the international community and the United Nations to “compel the occupation government to halt its genocidal war and implement the agreed-upon terms”.

Gaza plan could lead towards disarmament of Hamas: Germany

The German government has said it regards Trump’s latest Gaza plan as an opportunity to make progress towards the disarmament of Hamas.

Asked about Netanyahu’s rejection of the plan, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said some disagreement was to be expected.

“With such a complex undertaking, it was perfectly clear there would be many, many unanswered questions,” he said.

‘Bottom line is that Israel doesn’t want Palestinian self-determination’

Mohamad Elmasry of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies says Netanyahu will try to stall the process in Gaza as much as possible.

He said that there is a “strong desire for expansion in Israel”. “There is a real desire to expand the borders, to take over Gaza and to drive out the Palestinian population.”

Elmasry, however, argued that there are also tensions in Israel about the prospect of that expansion.

“There are enough people within the [Israeli] political leadership who understand that it would be complicated and perhaps costly politically, economically, and otherwise,” he added. “The bottom line is that Israel doesn’t want Palestinian governance or self-determination.”

“As flawed as this Board of Peace plan is, there is a chance that there will be Palestinian independence – even if a minor independence – in Gaza, requiring Israeli withdrawal and the reconstruction of Gaza,” he said, concluding that Israel would “obviously” act against it.

Board of Peace official tells Al Jazeera that Gaza peace plan remains ‘fully in effect’

A Board of Peace Council official has told Al Jazeera that the US-brokered Gaza peace plan remains “fully in effect”.

The plan is progressing steadily, based on implementation and verification on the ground, the official said, adding that the framework is designed so that each phase moves forward once commitments are fulfilled.

Discussions with Israel are also ongoing.

The statement comes after Netanyahu rejected the plan on Sunday.

Palestinians in Gaza to hold funeral for detainee killed in Israeli custody

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Club says funeral prayers for Ihab Mohammad Abdul Qader Diab, who was killed in Israeli custody, will be held at Al-Katiba Mosque in western Gaza on Tuesday.

Diab, 36, was imprisoned in December 2023 and is believed to have died in September 2024. But the club said his death was only confirmed by Israeli authorities recently.

Israeli authorities claimed he had “suffered from a health condition” but his family has rejected that, saying he was healthy and had no illnesses when he was arrested.

Diab’s death brings the number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody since October 2023 to 91. The number includes 53 Palestinians from Gaza.

Six people injured in Israeli attacks in Gaza in 24 hours

Israel has injured at least six people in the Gaza Strip over the latest 24-hour reporting period, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

Israel has killed 1,258 people and injured 4,145 since October’s “ceasefire”, it said.

Since October 2023, when Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began, at least 73,386 Palestinians have been killed and 174,256 have been injured, the ministry said.

Child succumbs to injuries sustained in Israeli gunfire in southern Gaza

Seba Naeem al-Hashash, a 13-year-old child, has succumbed to the injuries in the al-Mawasi area, near the city of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to the Wafa news agency.

The injuries were sustained during Israeli gunfire in the area of Qizan Abu Rashwan, south of Khan Younis, several days ago, the report said.

Ben-Gvir posts AI video of starving Palestinian ahead of elections

Israeli far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has posted an AI-generated video depicting a starving Palestinian prisoner, as well as real videos mocking detainees who describe poor conditions in Israeli jails.

The videos are part of Ben-Gvir’s campaign highlighting his harsh treatment of Palestinian prisoners ahead of Israel’s October legislative elections.

UN warns Israeli attacks on Gaza are driving up humanitarian needs

The United Nations has warned that Israel’s continued attacks against Gaza “continue to put Palestinians at risk and increase humanitarian needs”.

In its latest weekday update, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Israeli gunfire, shelling and naval fire had caused several civilian casualties since Friday and reiterated that “under international humanitarian law, civilians and civilian infrastructure must always be protected”.

OCHA said its partners working to address the threat of explosive hazards in Gaza had marked more than 1,000 items of explosive ordnance in the Strip since the war began. Teams tasked with helping families spot and report explosive hazards had also held sessions with 63,000 participants this month alone.

The report stressed the importance of allowing essential supplies and specialised equipment into Gaza to expand “life-saving services”.

Palestinian union reports 108 attacks on journalists in West Bank in July

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has documented 108 attacks last month by Israeli forces and colonists against Palestinian journalists and media workers in the occupied West Bank.

The syndicate’s Freedoms Committee said in a statement that the violations ranged from detentions and beatings to interrogations, obstruction of coverage, and seizures or destruction of equipment. It described what it said was a pattern that has made it increasingly difficult for journalists to document Israeli military raids and colonist violence on the ground.

Israeli forces arrest 19 Palestinians across occupied West Bank

At least 19 Palestinian people have been arrested across several areas in the occupied West Bank since dawn, according to the Wafa news agency.

A security source told Wafa that 10 of them were arrested in the village of Marah Rabah, in the Bethlehem governorate.

Israeli forces raided the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, where they arrested five Palestinians, as well as shot and injured a young man who was transferred to hospital for treatment.

In Jenin, Israel arrested three Palestinians early on Monday. Local sources said Israeli forces raided several homes across the Jenin governorate and interrogated civilians.

They also arrested Mahmoud Shalawto, a man who was previously imprisoned for 10 years, in the ancient Palestinian village of Aboud, in northern Ramallah.

Israeli forces bulldoze land near Jenin for military site, colonist road

Israeli forces have begun bulldozing Palestinian-owned land between the villages of Mirka and Qabatiya, south of Jenin, to build a military site and colonist road, according to the Wafa news agency.

Landowner Mohammad Abu Ma’ala said forces razed the land despite a pending legal objection, having given residents 72 hours to leave. He was forcibly evicted from his 700sq meters (7,534sq feet) poultry facility before forces returned with bulldozers, causing significant financial losses.

The move follows an earlier order seizing 1,000sq meters (10,763sq feet) near Al-Hafira, part of a wider series of land seizures across Jenin.

Under international humanitarian law, an occupying power is strictly prohibited from destroying or appropriating private or public property in occupied territory unless it is absolutely and imperatively required by immediate military operations. Using bulldozers to clear Palestinian land for the occupier's own infrastructure, settlements, or general use violates core treaties and judicial rulings.

• The Hague Regulations of 1907 (Article 46 & 55): Establish that private property must be respected and cannot be confiscated. The occupying state is only an administrator of public properties, not the owner or sovereign.The
• Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 53): Explicitly forbids any destruction by the occupying power of real or personal property—whether belonging to private individuals, the state, or public authorities—unless rendered absolutely necessary by active military operations.
• Grave Breaches (Article 147): Classifies extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity as a serious violation of international law.
• Seizing land for exclusive use by the occupying power or civilian colonies treats temporary military control as permanent annexation.

UN experts condemn ‘catastrophic human rights situation’ in Gaza, West Bank

UN experts condemned the increase in attacks on Palestinian civilians in July, calling it “a sharp deterioration of an already catastrophic human rights situation”, and said “the genocide is continuing unabated”.

They condemned the advancing “Yellow Line” and demolition of buildings as “re-engineering the geography of illegally occupied Gaza through force and displacement”. Stating that “nowhere in Gaza is safe”, Israeli forces killed at least 160 Palestinians in July alone, increasing the death toll since last October’s ceasefire to more than 1,200.

In the occupied West Bank, they deplored the killing of at least 14 Palestinians in July and condemned the surge in colonist violence, including four killings in the village of Tal on July 24, saying “colonist terror … operates with the protection and often the participation of the Israeli occupation forces”.

Citing the 2024 ruling by the International Court of Justice that Israel’s occupation is unlawful, the experts condemned how Israel “has been allowed to accelerate the very policies the Court found unlawful”, warning that states aiding Israel are “themselves in breach of international law”.

Palestinian Christian body warns of ‘systematic’ persecution, urges church leaders to act

The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine has written to church leaders worldwide, warning of escalating violence, displacement and persecution targeting Palestinians, and Palestinian Christians in particular, across the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.

The letter, from Ramzi Khouri, head of the Committee, described a “systematic pattern” of colonist violence, land confiscation, restrictions on worship, and attacks on clergy, churches and monasteries.

It voiced concern over Taybeh, Palestine’s last entirely Christian town, which has seen a “painful decline” in population since 2023.

The Committee called on church leaders to visit Palestine and witness conditions firsthand, urging solidarity move “from expressions of concern and sympathy to witness, principled positions, and action”.

It enclosed a report on violations against Palestinian Christians since the beginning of this year, closing with: “See. Listen. Speak. And let what you see and hear lead to action.”

Taybeh village disappearing amid Israeli colony expansion

Xavier Abu Eid, a Palestinian analyst and landowner in the tourist village of Taybeh, in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli army has declared a “closed military zone” and restricted access to non-residents, seemingly in a bid to curb colonist attacks.

Abu Eid said that he and many other landowners cannot access their land under the new policy.

Taybeh, he noted, is strategically important for agriculture, but also because several areas can be monitored from there, including Jerusalem.

Religiously, it is known as the last place Jesus Christ was before entering Jerusalem.

The village is also just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Jordan, he said.

But Taybeh is disappearing due to Israeli colonist expansion, Abu Eid added, saying Israel aims to annex the Jordan Valley through the village.

Abu Eid recounted colonist attacks he has encountered in the Taybeh area, including an incident in which he was nearly pushed off a cliff and another in which stones were thrown at his car while he was driving.

Colonists, he said, are implementing Israeli state policy, while the military is enabling them.

“For colonists to come to Taybeh, it’s very visual – you can actually see them coming in,” Abu Eid said.

“And there’s a watchtower for the Israeli military close by. So clearly here there is co-ordination between colonists and Israeli soldiers not just for the sake of the impunity they receive but also for allowing them to attack whenever they want.”

Seizing land for exclusive use by the occupying power or civilian colonies treats temporary military control as permanent annexation.

Israeli forces open fire on Palestinian civilians near Jerusalem

Israeli forces have opened fire on Palestinian civilians near Al-Ram, north of occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Wafa news agency.

The shooting took place as Israeli military vehicles raided the area and deployed at its northern entrance. No casualties were immediately reported.

Israeli forces also carried out a raid in Tubas, deploying in the city centre and firing stun grenades at young men, Wafa reported.

The news agency said such raids take place almost daily across the occupied West Bank under the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians. The raids, which often trigger confrontations, are carried out without warrants under the Israeli military’s broad, arbitrary powers.

Israeli MP Ofer Cassif: Colonist attacks part of state-backed ethnic cleansing plan

Ofer Cassif, a member of Israel’s parliament from the left-wing, Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party, says escalating attacks on Palestinians by Israeli colonists and soldiers in the occupied West Bank are part of an electoral and ethnic cleansing strategy by the government.

“The colonists are the proxies of the government and the occupation forces,” he said to Nour Odeh near the town of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank. “This is clear state terrorism. They finance it, they support it, and they encourage it.”

Cassif said he had visited Umm al-Khair and Taybeh, where he said colonists set fire to homes last Wednesday and “people were almost burned to death”.

“Everything is accompanied by the occupation forces and by the government and encouraged, as I said, and financed by the government,” he said.

Cassif accused the Israeli government of seeking further escalation in the West Bank ahead of elections because “they know they’re going to be beaten”.

“They want to ignite a huge fire in the West Bank and to use it as an excuse to launch yet another genocide like in Gaza against the Palestinians in the West Bank, and thereafter, to use it as an instrument to win back the elections they are going to lose at the moment,” he added.

Cassif said the escalation had “nothing to do with the security of Israel” and was instead connected to what he called the “decisive plan” introduced by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in 2017.

“This is a part of the extermination project of the ethnic cleansing. And that’s the reason why it is so difficult to stop, because the government doesn’t want to stop it. They want it to continue.”

Happened in the occupied West Bank

• Israeli forces raided Balata refugee camp near Nablus, injuring a young man with gunfire and detaining five Palestinians.
• Israeli soldiers detained a former prisoner in Aboud, northwest of Ramallah, and opened fire on civilians near Al-Ram, north of Jerusalem.
• Israeli authorities demolished a home in Yatta, south of Hebron, displacing a family of six.
• Israeli authorities issued a military order to seize land in Marda, Salfit, to build a communications tower.
• Colonists attacked the Al-Kaabneh Bedouin community east of Al-Taybeh, broke into a home in Jenin, besieged a family’s house near Nablus for a second day, and razed farmland in Salem, east of Nablus.
• A far-right Israeli lawmaker raided a school in Shuafat refugee camp for the second time, posting “Closed” signs on its doors.
• Colonists under military protection attacked Palestinian farmers in Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah. Residents confronted them, no injuries were reported.
• Israeli forces raided Al-Mughayyir, detained two young men and fired tear gas.