• The UN warns that the occupied West Bank is at a breaking point, with Deputy Special Coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov saying that 76 Palestinians, including 18 minors, were killed in the territory this year.

Israel unconvinced by US Board of Peace plan for Gaza

The Trump administration is trying to buy time to convince Israel to agree to the Gaza Board of Peace plan, but the Israelis remain unconvinced, according to David Hale, a former US undersecretary of state for political affairs.

Hale said that the White House may be keeping quiet about the proposal to refine its terms.

“I suspect one reason that the White House has been quiet about this is that they may want to just go back to the drawing board and tinker with the 15 points, see if they can close the gap, see if there’s something that Israel can accept,” Hale said.

However, Israel’s strict requirements regarding its security and the military capabilities of Hamas remain the core obstacles, he suggested.

“Clearly, the red line for the Israelis is that they’re not going to withdraw until they see a complete and thorough disarming of Hamas,” Hale added.

He pointed out that Israeli officials do not believe that “the paper solutions of this International Stabilization Force and the Board of Peace are adequate to reassure the public that Gaza will be safe for the foreseeable future”.

US must address both Israeli and Palestinian obstacles to peace, former diplomat says

Ambassador David Hale, former US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, said that the US needs to address both Israeli and Palestinian roadblocks to achieve an enduring peace in the region.

“We need to look beyond the horizon here, there is going to be a succession crisis of some sort,” Hale told Al Jazeera, referring to the aging leadership of the Palestinian Authority.

“The current corrupt, illegitimate, decrepit leadership is going to go,” he said. “Well, we don’t know what’s going to come in its place, and we need to think about that.”

Turning to Israel’s internal challenges, Hale pointed out that Israeli authorities have failed to address growing violence in the occupied West Bank.

“The absence of law and order with colonists is, I think, intolerable for any democratic state,” Hale said. “Whether there are political currents that agree with the colonists or not is irrelevant.”

“It is a job of the state to secure its territory or, in the case of occupation, to make sure that there’s law and order in those areas, and it has fallen short,” he added.

Netanyahu will reject Gaza plan for his political future

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prepared to defy Trump to safeguard his domestic political future, according to Michael Ratney, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia who also served as Chargé d'Affaires at the US Embassy in Israel.

“I think he bargains that it’s better for him to publicly reject the plan and risk whatever reaction he gets from Trump,” Ratney said.

“It’s first and foremost about Netanyahu’s election prospects in the next couple of months,” he added.

“Whatever the reality of his interaction with Trump and the degree to which maybe he would acquiesce to some of the elements of this plan is secondary to what he says publicly to his electorate.”

Trump torn between pro-Israel image and Netanyahu frustration: Former diplomat

Ambassador Michael Ratney, former Charge d'Affaires at the US Embassy in Israel, said Trump is trying to balance his personal dislike for Netanyahu with his desire to project strong pro-Israel credentials.

“I think the whole thing sort of puts Trump in an unusual place,” Ratney told Al Jazeera.

“He wants to be seen as the best champion of Israel in US history. On the other hand, it seems like Netanyahu kind of irritates him, and he’s constantly striking this balance,” he said.

Top Turkish diplomat to visit Egypt tomorrow

The situation in Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, Gaza, Syria, Libya and the eastern Mediterranean will be on the agenda during Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s two-day visit to Egypt starting on Thursday, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency.

Fidan is expected to exchange views on the implementation of the second phase of the 15-point Gaza deal and address the risks to regional stability posed by Israel’s attacks across Palestine, as well as its aggressive actions against Lebanon and Syria, it said.

He is expected to express support for diplomatic efforts aimed at re-establishing a ceasefire between the US and Iran and reopening the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible, the agency added.

Board of Peace says $400m debt relief fund ‘not transferred through Hamas’

Gaza Board of Peace chief Nickolay Mladenov says Hamas will not receive any of the financial flows stipulated in the second phase of the agreement signed by Hamas and Israel.

In a Hebrew-language post on X, Mladenov responded to Israeli criticisms about $400m in debt relief for Gaza, saying that “Board of Peace funds are not transferred through Hamas.”

Mladenov stressed that the Board’s goal was to establish a government in which Hamas would “have no role”.

“There are more than enough genuine challenges in this effort. There is no need to invent additional ones,” the post reads.

Separately, a Board of Peace official told the Times of Israel newspaper that the money was for “legitimate outstanding obligations, such as unpaid public servants or suppliers who provided genuine services to the population”.

“That should not be confused with paying Hamas or covering obligations linked to terrorism, corruption or financial mismanagement,” the official was quoted as saying.

Israel seeking to ‘remove Palestine from world’s agenda’: Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Netanyahu’s government of seeking to push Palestine off the international agenda by exploiting conflicts in the region.

“The aim of the Netanyahu government is to remove Palestine from the common agenda of humanity by profiting from chaos and new conflicts in the region,” Erdogan said at a joint news conference with his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas.

“No matter what they do, they will not succeed. The Palestinian cause will continue to grow in people’s hearts as they try to destroy it,” he said, promising that Turkiye would fight for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Abbas arrived in Ankara yesterday, accompanied by his diplomatic adviser Majdi Khalidi, intelligence chief Majed Faraj and senior Palestinian official Ziad Abu Amr.

He met the Turkish president today, with the pair discussing developments in the region in talks the Palestinian leader described as “important and fruitful”.

Israel carries out first air strike on Gaza in more than a week

An Israeli air strike on northern Gaza has killed one Palestinian and wounded several others.

Anadolu news agency, citing a medical source, says the strike targeted a three-wheeled vehicle in Beit Lahiya.

An Israeli military spokesperson told the AFP news agency that the strike was conducted to “remove a threat”.

The wounded were taken to a Gaza City hospital.

It comes as the first Israeli air attack on Gaza in more than a week.

Hamas condemns Israeli strike on Gaza, accuses Israel of seeking to thwart ceasefire deal

The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas condemns what the Zionist occupation army did today in targeting a number of citizens in the northern and southern Gaza Strip, which resulted in the death of a martyr and the injury of a number of people, which confirms the occupation’s insistence on thwarting the efforts of the mediators, guarantors and the Peace Council to reach an agreement that achieves a sustainable ceasefire.

Hamas has condemned Israel for a Wednesday air strike on Gaza – the first in more than a week – which left one dead and others injured.

In an official statement, the movement said that the attack “confirms the occupation’s insistence on thwarting the efforts of the mediators, guarantors and the Board of Peace to reach an agreement that achieves a sustainable ceasefire”.

Israeli defence minister pledges indefinite military presence in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says the country “under no circumstances” will withdraw from land it occupies in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza.

Israel’s i24 news reports that during a visit today to army positions on the front line in southern Lebanon, Katz declared that forces will remain indefinitely in what Israel calls “security zones” in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza.

Israel occupies territory in southern Lebanon, more than half of the Gaza Strip and several strategic positions in Syria, including part of Jabal al-Sheikh, the country’s highest mountain.

Gaza death toll rises

At least two Palestinians have been injured in new Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, and one body was retrieved from the rubble of previous attacks, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

Israel has killed at least 1,259 Palestinians and injured 4,148 others since last October’s “ceasefire”, the ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 73,388 Palestinians and injured 174,259 since October 2023, it added.

Eurovision winner ineligible to host if involved in ‘armed conflict’

The organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest have changed the rules for next year’s competition, barring a winning broadcaster from hosting the following contest if its country is involved in an “armed conflict” or “sensitive geopolitical situation”.

Under the new rules, the winning broadcaster will be “automatically ineligible to host” in such circumstances.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes Eurovision, said the changes followed feedback from participating broadcasters and were intended to provide greater clarity and ensure a safe environment for artists and production staff.

The changes come after Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia did not compete in the 2026 contest in Vienna, having threatened to withdraw unless Israel was excluded over its war in Gaza.

Eurovision Song Contest director Martin Green said the changes were aimed at “giving everyone involved greater clarity, protecting artists and ensuring the contest continues to provide a safe and welcoming environment”.

Israel intensifies raids, detentions in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces and colonists have continued a campaign of arrests, raids, demolitions, and land seizures across the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the Wafa news agency reports.

• Israeli forces detained 23 Palestinians, including two children, in Bethlehem, Jenin, Ramallah, Qalqilya and occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday.
• Israeli forces detained Ahmed Thaer Atta Al-Hajj, a 16-year-old Palestinian with disability from the village of Beit Sira, west of Ramallah.
• Twelve Palestinian-owned warehouses and agricultural facilities were demolished during Israeli raids, as notices were issued for the destruction of a school, homes and other buildings in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.
• Israeli forces demolished the house of Farouk Ramadan, who was shot dead while resisting a colonist raid last month.
• Six Palestinians, including two children, were injured during an Israeli raid in the town of Burqa near Nablus, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
• Colonists stormed several Palestinian villages near Nablus and raided an area near religious shrines in Awarta.
• Israeli earthmovers demolished a 60-square-metre (646 sq ft) agricultural facility in Yirza, east of Tubas, for not having a building permit.

Israeli colonists feel invincible after Gaza genocide

Israeli colonist attacks in the occupied West Bank have become more brazen due to a sense of invincibility following Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, argues Muhannad Ayyash, a professor of sociology at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

“One of the big things that has happened is that these colonist movements have seen how Israel has gotten away with genocide on the world stage,” Ayyash said.

“The colonist movement, just like Israeli politicians, believes that this is a moment in history where they can finish off the Palestinian question once and for all,” he said.

Ayyash added that this sense of impunity among a majority of Israelis has been encouraged by US complicity.

“Material pressure and economic isolation of the Israeli state is the only path, because right now, they keep getting rewarded.”

Israeli forces raid Nablus charity and two towns in occupied West Bank

The Palestinian Wafa news agency reports that Israeli forces raided a charity in the city of Nablus at dawn on Wednesday. Security sources told Wafa that forces stormed the city and raided The Future Generation Hands Association, a local non-governmental organization focused on youth and community development.

Israeli forces also stormed the town of Tammun and the village of Tayasir, located south and east of Tubas in the occupied West Bank. Local sources told Wafa that forces entered Tammun with several military patrols, deployed foot units and searched several homes before withdrawing without any reported arrests.

Later, forces entered Tayasir, where Kamal Bani Odah, director of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club in Tubas, said troops conducted search operations inside several residences.

The actions follow a broader campaign of arrests, raids, demolitions and land seizures across the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, during which Wafa reported that Israeli forces detained 23 Palestinians, including two children, across Bethlehem, Jenin, Ramallah, Qalqilya and occupied East Jerusalem.

Hamas calls on Palestinians to register for legislative elections

Hamas has asked Palestinians to register and update their information in the electoral register to participate in the upcoming elections.

In a news release, the movement stated that registration is the fundamental gateway point “for exercising the right to choose and participate in the national decision-making process, and electing people’s representatives in official institutions, foremost among them the Legislative Council and the Palestinian National Council”.

It added that “the stage our cause is going through necessitates broadening national participation, strengthening the unity of our people, and building effective Palestinian institutions that derive their legitimacy from their free will, express their aspirations, and safeguard their rights and national interests, away from any guardianship or interference in their national decision-making.”

Legislative elections are set to be held in Palestine on November 28, 2026.

Palestinian journalist among three arrested in occupied West Bank raids

The Israeli military has arrested three Palestinians, including a journalist, during raids in the Ramallah area of the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

Citing security sources, Wafa said Israeli forces stormed the town of Beitunia, west of Ramallah, at dawn and arrested journalist Muhammad Awad after raiding and searching his home.

Israeli forces also arrested two other Palestinians after raiding and searching their homes in the nearby city of el-Bireh, Wafa said.

Israeli military admits forces allowed colonists to besiege Palestinian family near Nablus

The Israeli military says senior commanders have intervened in Qusra, south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank after its forces were accused of protecting Israeli colonists who besieged a Palestinian family inside their home and prevented supplies from reaching them.

Colonists reportedly erected a makeshift structure next to the family’s home and controlled access to the property, leaving the family unable to receive food and other essential supplies.

Israeli forces subsequently declared the area a closed military zone, but colonists were allowed to remain, according to independent journalist Andrew X, who reported from the scene that Israeli soldiers allowed the siege to continue rather than removing the colonists.

The incident follows repeated colonist attacks on Qusra. Last month, a mosque in the village was set on fire by Israeli colonists.

The Israeli military in a statement on X that senior military and Border Police commanders “took a serious view of the actions committed by Israeli civilians against the Palestinian family”.

It said Border Police are removing the Israeli colonists and taking disciplinary action against the Israeli force documented at the scene, without specifying what its personnel had done or what disciplinary measures they would face. Such instances of disciplinary action are rare.

Is always, when an 'incident' attracts our attention, we let you look at it in the context of international law:

What does international law say when Israeli forces subsequently declared an area in the West Bank a closed military zone, but colonists were allowed to remain?

Under international law, when an occupying power declares a Palestinian area a closed military zone but allows Israeli colonists to remain or take over land, it violates core principles of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the duties of a belligerent occupier.

The International Court of Justice has affirmed that all Israeli colonies in the West Bank are illegal and that the occupying power must evacuate their colonists rather than protect or accommodate their presence.

• Under the Hague Regulations and the Fourth Geneva Convention, an occupying force must protect the local protected population and maintain public order, rather than allow occupying civilians to dispossess them.
• Enforcing a military closure selectively—restricting Palestinians or shielding colonist-established outposts—violates the prohibition against discriminatory treatment and arbitrary deprivation of property and freedom of movement.
• An occupier cannot use "security zones" or military orders to permanently alter the demographic character of land or retroactively legalize unlawful civilian presence.

Israeli minister hails demolition of Palestinian buildings in occupied West Bank

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says Israel has begun to demolish 26 Palestinian buildings in the northern West Bank “ahead of the renewal of colony in the area”.

Smotrich said the demolitions were an “essential step to strengthen the colony and security, which serves as the protective wall of the State of Israel”.

Israeli colonies in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law. The International Court of Justice has also found Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory to be unlawful.

Israel accused of complicity in colonist demolition of Jericho homes

Where Palestinian homes once stood among orchards and swimming pools on the southwestern edge of Jericho, there is now only flattened earth.

Somewhere beneath the packed dirt lie entire houses, dumped into pits and smoothed over. Only a few severed water pipes hint that anyone ever lived here – that, and the piles of rubble yet to be buried by an Israeli colonist’s excavator.

“Why do you hide the crime you’re committing?” asked Khalil al-Razim, 60, a Jerusalemite who has spent his summers on a plot of land here in the area of Ein al-Duyuk for more than a decade.

Beside al-Razim’s house, a pile of rubble more than two meters high blocks the entrance to the home of his neighbor, Mohammad Salah. Next to the pile, Salah stood with one of his four children. He now climbs his own fence to reach his house.

“Why do you hide the crime you’re committing?”

It is a international crime and clearly look as erasing evidence. However, it has nothing to do with trying to hide evidence but with a policy: erase all references to the very existence of Palestinian life, including the people.

More than 170 Palestinian children killed in occupied West Bank since 2024: UNICEF

At least 174 Palestinian children – or “more than one child every week” – has been killed in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, since January 2024, according to UNICEF.

Speaking at the UN Security Council, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Hannan Sulieman said more than 1,500 Palestinian children were also injured during that period, nearly half of them by live ammunition.

Sulieman said the UN agency documented incidents in which Palestinian children “were shot when they did not pose an imminent threat”, including when they were running away. She said children have been “shot, beaten, stabbed and pepper-sprayed” while homes, livelihoods and water infrastructure have come under attack.

At least 355 Palestinian children from the West Bank are currently being held in Israeli military detention, according to Israeli Prison Service figures cited by Sulieman – the highest number in eight years. “Nearly half – 164 children – are held under administrative detention without charge or trial,” she said.

“Children in the West Bank have the same rights as children everywhere: to live, to learn, to be protected and to imagine a future beyond violence and fear.”

Forty journalists remain in Israeli jails: Palestinian Prisoner’s Society

The number of Palestinian journalists in Israeli prisons has increased to 40, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), following the arrest of journalist Muhammad Awad in the occupied West Bank’s Ramallah this morning.

The PPS said five women were among them, adding that more than 250 journalists have been arrested in total since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, with the majority of them released later.

It also said more than 260 journalists have been killed since the war on Gaza started.

Palestinian, UK ministers discuss rising Israeli colonist attacks

Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, foreign minister of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, has held a phone conversation with Stephen Doughty, the UK’s newly-appointed minister of state for the Middle East.

According to a statement on X from the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, the two discussed the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza and rising Israeli colonist attacks in the occupied West Bank.

Shahin highlighted ongoing developments in the West Bank, pointing specifically to what the ministry described as “colonist terrorism and attacks on holy sites”.

She also thanked the UK for supporting Palestinian concerns at international forums, particularly during the latest UN Security Council session focused on Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.

Doughty, who was recently appointed by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to supporting the State of Palestine “at all levels”, according to the Palestinian ministry statement.

Israeli demolition orders across occupied West Bank ‘devastating’ for Palestinians

The impact of Israeli demolition orders has been devastating. About 40 shops and businesses were demolished today, just in the Jenin area, a district in the northern-occupied West Bank with a relatively less fortunate economy than other cities, like Nablus, for instance.

It cannot afford to lose that many businesses without any compensation or cause.

There are several kinds of demolitions: one is for not having a permit, and the other is collective punishment against Palestinians who have been imprisoned or killed by Israel as they stand accused of carrying out attacks against Israelis.

Regarding permits, the body responsible for giving these to Palestinians is composed of Israeli colonists who also do the zoning and planning of Israeli colony expansion and land grab. And what is happening in Jenin is important because this is where the colony movement wants to expand its illegal colony presence.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also responsible for colony expansion, says that these demolitions were important to secure the expansion of illegal colonies. Smotrich is the reason why many new colonies have popped up in that area recently.

This is yet another example of electioneering. Smotrich and his coalition are making good on their promise of fighting Palestinian presence in the occupied West Bank while expanding colonies at the same time.

Under international humanitarian law, an occupying power is strictly prohibited from destroying real or personal property in occupied territory unless rendered absolutely necessary by active military operations. Mass or administrative demolition orders issued across the West Bank violate foundational treaties like the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Hague Regulation

• Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention bans all destruction of private or public property by an occupier, except for strict, immediate operational military necessity. Administrative pretexts, lack of building permits, or planning policies favoring the occupier do not justify destruction.
• Under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, individual or mass forcible transfers and deportations of protected persons from occupied territory are prohibited. Demolitions that cause widespread displacement amount to a grave breach of international law.
• Article 46 of the Hague Regulations states that private property must be respected and cannot be confiscated, meaning an occupying force cannot expropriate local land for the benefit of its own civilian population or colonies

Germany’s ex-envoy to Israel slams ‘disastrous’ West Bank colony policy

Germany’s former ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, has sharply criticised the Israeli government’s colony policy in the occupied West Bank, describing it as “disastrous”.

Israel’s policy in the Palestinian territory amounts to “displacement through psychological and physical violence”, Seibert told German weekly Die Zeit.

Seibert, who previously served as a spokesperson for former Chancellor Angela Merkel, said Germany’s commitment to Israel’s security applies to Israel within its internationally recognized borders.

“But that does not apply to the colonists in the Jordan Valley,” Seibert said, describing Israeli colonies in the occupied West Bank as illegal under international law.

"... Germany’s commitment to Israel’s security applies to Israel within its internationally recognized borders."

The international recognized Israeli borders are not based on a single map. Instead, the UN relies on historical frameworks, wartime armistice lines, and bilateral peace treaties. While the Israelis never legally codified their final boundaries in a constitution, and never submitted a final map upon joining the UN, this because of their imperious intentions, the global community uses specific reference points to define its territory.

Happened in the occupied West Bank

Israeli forces have continued to carry out raids and arrests across the occupied West Bank.

• Israeli forces fired tear gas and stun grenades during a raid near the Dheisheh refugee camp, south of Bethlehem. Forces also raided the town of Idhna, west of Hebron.
• Israeli colonists attacked a Bedouin community in the town of Taybeh, in Ramallah.
• Israeli forces searched three homes after storming the village of Abu Njeim, southeast of Bethlehem, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency. No arrests were reported.
• Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian during a raid in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, and three others after storming the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron.
• Wafa said Israeli forces severely beat a 16-year-old Palestinian during a raid near the village of Artas, south of Bethlehem.
• The Israeli army issued demolition orders for a number of facilities and buildings after raiding the Qalandiya refugee camp, north of occupied East Jerusalem.

Israeli rights group says settlers are accelerating ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank

B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group, says that colonists’ efforts to force Palestinian families from their homes in the West Bank are intensifying, citing a new case in the town of Qusra, near Nablus.

According to the group, colonists recently set up an illegal outpost on the grounds of two Palestinian homes on Qusra’s outskirts in an attempt to push the families out and seize their properties. B’Tselem said the Israeli army has taken no steps to remove the colonists or protect the residents.

B’Tselem executive director Yuli Novak said the situation in Qusra reflects a broader pattern, accusing colonist militias – operating with military backing and US funding – of ramping up attacks on Palestinian towns, seizing land, and displacing families.

“Israeli ethnic cleansing in the West Bank is accelerating and expanding in full view of everyone,” she said.

The group pointed to a similar case last month in the nearby village of Jalud, where it said colonists forced out the Tubasi family after a siege and repeated assaults before taking over their homes.

B’Tselem reported that Israel has fully displaced 64 Palestinian communities and partially displaced 15 others since October 2023, affecting more than 4,800 people, including more than 2,300 children. The group also released footage showing colonists and Israeli soldiers praying near Palestinian homes in Qusra.