Palestinians trapped in their homes by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank town of Qusra are running out of food as the siege enters its 12th day.
Archiv: Einheimische / Indigene / locals / natives / indigenous people
UN: Keep International Force in Lebanon to Protect Civilians
(August 13, 2026)
In August 2025, the Security Council unanimously decided to extend the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which first deployed in 1978, one final time until the end of 2026, when it would begin a phased withdrawal. That decision came before the latest escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in March 2026âand before Israeli forces displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians and occupied large swathes of southern Lebanon. Deliberate acts of displacement may amount to the war crime of forced displacement.
âPulling the plug on UNIFIL without a robust international force in place would effectively abandon millions of Lebanese civilians to an uncertain and potentially disastrous fate,â said Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch. âUN missions may not be a lasting solution, but the peacekeepers are a crucial deterrent against attacks on civilians and human rights abuses.â
President Aoun backs extending UNIFIL mandate, stresses need for international presence in south
President Joseph Aoun welcomed the parliamentary initiative and petition calling for an extension of the international forcesâ mandate in southern Lebanon.
He said UNIFILâs presence in the south is important for several reasons, including helping residents remain in their towns and villages and promoting stability in coordination with the Lebanese Army.
Israel/OPT: Siege of Palestinian homes in Qusra marks relentless escalation in state-backed settler violence
(August 14, 2026)
âThe three families under siege have been threatened, harassed and attacked by Israeli settlers from nearby outposts for several months. They have been confined to their homes since Sunday 9 August, are running out of food, and lack access to basic necessities, including running water. The homes targeted in these attacks are located in Area B of the West Bank, supposedly under Palestinian administrative control and Israeli military control, according to the classification of the Oslo Accords. Yet Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances trying to deliver food and water to the homes were also attacked by settlers. Despite these violent attacks, Israeli forces allowed the settlers to remain close proximity to the Palestinian familiesâ homes.
âFor far too long, the world has ignored the immense, unfathomable suffering of Palestinians being uprooted and erased from land they have inhabited for generations. The international community must stop treating such incidents as âisolatedâ and instead hold Israel accountable.â
Palestinian families still under siege by settlers in Qusra in the West Bank
(August 14, 2026)
Palestinian families near Qusra in the occupied West Bank say they remain trapped in their homes, six days after far-right Israeli settlers moved into the area. Despite U.S. pressure on Israel to disperse the settlers, residents say some still remain, while the IDF continues to be present â for now. NBC News‘ Matt Bradley reports.
Colonists attack Qusra municipal crew as Israeli forces detain three
NABLUS, August 15, 2026 (WAFA) â Israeli colonists on Saturday attacked a team from the Qusra municipality south of Nablus as it attempted to restore electricity to homes that have been under siege for about a week, while Israeli forces detained three members of the crew.
Local sources told WAFA that the municipal crew headed to the homes after receiving coordination to restore electricity, which colonists had cut off more than a week ago. The colonists attacked and surrounded the crew before Israeli forces intervened and detained three of its members.
Meantime, colonists continued to besiege the homes of three Palestinian families in Qusra amid a deployment of Israeli forces in the area, the sources said.
U.S. ambassador calls settler siege of Palestinian homes a ‚horrific act of terror
(August 13, 2026)
Huckabee‘s post on X was an unusually sharp rebuke from a U.S. official, even as he defended the Israeli military‘s response. Huckabee is a longtime ally of Israel‘s settler movement and in the past has expressed support for Israeli control over the occupied West Bank while condemning settler violence.
Occupied West Bank: Settler siege of Palestinians marks a new low
(August 13, 2026)
Three Palestinian families â around 15 people in total, including at least two children â have remained confined to their homes âin a state of terrorâ in the Ras al Ein area of Qusra village, south of Nablus, OHCHR said, alleging that the settlers had cut their power and water.
âThese criminal actions by the settlers, supported or acquiesced to by Israel, the Occupying Power, are making life unbearable for these Palestinian families and are clearly aimed at forcing them to leave their homes and their land,â the UN office said. âTime is running out for these three families before they are forcibly displacedâ.
Lebanese who fled the Israeli invasion visit to see what‘s left
Hamadi says the Basma family, who lived just across a lane from them in a neighborhood called the Nuns‘ Quarter, was killed in an airstrike in March â the parents along with all four of their children. The impact collapsed the house on top of them and two of the children â ages around 8 and 11 â are still under the rubble, she says.
„Now when I look at the neighborhood they are the only ones I can think about,“ she says.
She says in a quiet area full of older people, the family‘s four children brought life to the neighborhood. „They were the ones who made all the noise and activity,“ she says.
Hammadi says she used to drink coffee with the mother, who was in her late 30s. She would talk about waiting for her children to grow up.
„They were wonderful people,“ she says. „Now there‘s no one left from the family.“
Four Palestinians killed, four injured by Israeli forces during attack by colonists near Nablus
Issam al-Saifi, secretary of the Fatah movement in Tell, said colonists attacked two homes in the eastern part of the town, prompting residents to confront them and force them to withdraw.
He said half an hour later, the colonists attacked the western part of the town again, leading to clashes between residents on one side and the colonists and Israeli occupation forces, who stormed the area to provide them protection to the colonists.
He added that Israeli soldiers and colonists opened fire indiscriminately at residents, killing four young Palestinians, including two brothers and their two cousins, and injuring four others. Israeli forces also declared the town a closed military zone, while colonists continued to deploy around the area.
âThey were laughingâ: Israelâs use of rape and sexual abuse in prisons
It was April 10, 2024, during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The Gaza civil servant had been beaten, tortured, bound and forced to soil himself since his arrest by Israeli soldiers a month earlier.
The soldiers and their guard dogs surrounded him that day. âThere were six soldiers on the right and six on the left,â he recalled. âThey would ask your name. If you said âMuhammadâ, they would say, âNo, say your name is b****.ââ
Al-Bakri said he was held with seven other prisoners. They were all stripped, blindfolded and handcuffed.
âWe were raped after being stripped of our clothes,â he said. âWe were shouting, âOh Lord, oh Godâ, but they were just laughing and filming us.â Al-Bakri then echoed what several rights agencies have also reported â that guards also used dogs during the sexual abuse of prisoners. âThe dogs were following commands from the officers to [attack] us,â he said.
âThere was no mercy. We stayed in that state of sexual abuse and beatings for about 20 minutes to half an hour. Then they told us to get dressed and took us back to the prison.â
Photos: People flee Beirutâs southern suburbs after Netanyahu orders attacks
Traffic crawls as people try to leave the southern suburbs of Beirut [Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]
2026 WAN-IFRA Golden Pen of Freedom to be awarded to the professional photo and video journalists of Gaza
Wider understanding of the war âhas been shaped by reliance on their sacrifice, dedication, and professionalism in desperate circumstances,â continues the award citation. âTheir work has fuelled coverage of the devastation of Gaza and its people that has reached around the globe; their documentation will remain a visual testimony.â
The award will be received by representatives of the three main international news agencies operating in Gaza â Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press, and Reuters â whose local journalists continue to provide consistent, professional coverage under extremely challenging conditions.
Israel‘s secret base in Iraq: what happened in the western desert and why Baghdad couldn‘t respond
(May 16, 2026)
The physical record is not seriously in dispute, and it begins with a shepherd. On March 4, a local herder in the remote desert southwest of Najaf and Karbala reported unusual helicopter activity to military authorities in Najaf. Iraqi forces were dispatched. They came under fire from the air. One soldier was killed, and two were wounded. Baghdad submitted a protest note to the Global Coalition without naming who had fired, and the incident was quietly classified âuntil the Wall Street Journal named the party responsible on May 9.
In Iraqi Desert, Two Israeli Outposts Were Kept Secret for Months
The presence of an Israeli outpost in Iraq was previously reported by The Wall Street Journal. Iraqi officials told The Times there was another undisclosed second base also in Iraqâs western desert.
The base Mr. al-Shammari came across predated the current war between the United States, Israel and Iran, the regional security officials said, and was used during the 12-day war against Tehran in June 2025.
Israeli forces began preparing to build the makeshift base as far back as late 2024, one of the regional officials said â identifying remote sites from which to operate in future conflicts.
Iraqi farmer killed to hide evidence of two Israeli bases in country: Report
The presence of two secret Israeli bases in Iraq may have led to the death of a shepherd who discovered them, according to an investigation by The New York Times (NYT).
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Israel set up a covert outpost in Iraqâs western desert during the conflict with Iran. The site was reportedly used to support air operations and housed special forces units.
Israeli military orders residents of 8 Lebanese towns, villages to flee
The towns and villages under the Israeli militaryâs latest forced displacement orders are Libbaya, Yohmor, Ayn al-Tineh and Sohmor in the Bekaa Valley, and Kfer Melki, Houmin al-Fawqa, Tefahta and Mazraat Sinay in the south of the country.
Israel uproots thousands of grapevines in Hebron to expand settler road
Zuhur Tarwa stood in shock as Israeli army markers appeared across her vineyard, declaring it confiscated.
The 68-year-old Palestinian had spent years tending the land with her two daughters in the fertile Baqaâa Valley, east of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
Their 200 grapevines once filled the plot with broad green leaves, promising a strong harvest.
Before that could happen, the confiscation order arrived – followed soon after by bulldozers.
âThey razed the entire land, uprooting the grapevines and other crops,â Tarwa told Middle East Eye.
CAIR Says Congress, Trump Admin Must Act After New NYT Revelations of Israelâs Widespread Sexual Abuse of Palestinian Prisoners
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nationâs largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on Congress and the Trump administration to take immediate action after a New York Times report detailed horrifying allegations of widespread sexual abuse, rape, torture, and humiliation of Palestinians held in Israeli detention facilities.
This is a hard article to read, but I hope you‘ll do so.
(May 11, 2026)
I‘ve spent some time reporting on widespread rape and other sexual violence of Palestinian male and female prisoners by Israeli authorities, and the article is now published. The assault victims were warned not to give speak of what they endured — they were sometimes told they would be killed or raped if they gave interviews — but they found the courage to do so. One man described being raped three times in a single day in Israeli prison, the third time after he tried to protest. A young woman said the guards would come in at the beginning of each shift and strip her naked and abuse her. Another reported that she was shown photos of herself being raped and warned they would be released unless she cooperated with Israeli intelligence. Even three children who had been detained told me they had been sexually abused. Look, whatever our position on the Middle East, we should be able to agree on being anti-rape. Sexual assaults were horrific when Israeli women were targeted on Oct. 7, and they‘re equally horrific when Israeli authorities use them against Palestinians day after day after day. We should be able to find common ground in opposing rape. Here‘s a gift link to the article:
Israeli Officials Denounce NYT Report on Systemic Sexual Abuse of Palestinians
The article in question, âThe Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,â by Nicholas Kristof, recounts the stories of 14 Palestinians who experienced sexual violence at the hands of Israeli soldiers and settlers. A majority of the interviews discuss sexual violence inflicted by soldiers and interrogators on Palestinians in Israeli detention, but others speak of attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank â attacks that are âincreasingly protect[ed]â by the Israeli military, according to Kristof. The interviews are reinforced by testimony from Israeli and international human rights organizations, and demonstrate that sexual violence is systemic, used on a daily basis against Palestinians, and effectively Israeli state policy.
The Horror of Sexual Assault in Israeli Prisons
(transcript)
Iâm appalled by this pattern of abuse, partly because our American tax dollars subsidize the Israeli security forces. I fear that leaves us complicit. The United States has leverage, and we could use it to insist on an end to the impunity and to demand that Red Cross visits be restored for Palestinian detainees. Look, whether you consider yourself pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian, hereâs one thing we should be able to agree on: Weâre anti-rape. The horrific abuse inflicted on Israeli women on Oct. 7 now happens to Palestinians day after day after day.
The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians
Itâs a simple proposition: Whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemning rape.
Supporters of Israel made that point after the brutal sexual assaults against Israeli women during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu and many U.S. senators, including Marco Rubio, condemned that sexual violence, and Netanyahu rightly called on âall civilized leadersâ to âspeak up.â
And yet in wrenching interviews, Palestinians have recounted to me a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children â by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards.
Israeli forces demolish dozens of commercial and industrial facilities in al-Eizariya southeast of occupied Jerusalem
According to available data, these shops are threatened with removal as part of the occupationâs dangerous colonial project known as the âFabric of Lifeâ plan, which represents a practical implementation of the Israeli annexation plan for the area known as âE1,â aiming to establish full geographical contiguity between the colony of Maâale Adumim and occupied Jerusalem.
This would result in the separation of the northern West Bank from its southern part and the seizure of nearly 3% of the occupied Palestinian Territory for formal annexation under the so-called âGreater Jerusalemâ plan.
Occupation Soldiers Detained Solidarity Delegations Supporting Palestinian Victims of Settlers Terror
he delegations to Bethlehem and the Jordan Valley, were stopped by soldiers and police officers, and activists held protests on the scene. In other areas, activities proceeded as planned. âWhile settler terror gangs operated across the West Bank unhindered, the police and army blocked hundreds of activists this morning who came to demonstrate solidarity with the victims,â one of the participants told Zo Haderekh.
Hundreds of activists from a wide range of organizations took part in the protest, including Partnership for Peace, Rabbis for Human Rights, Peace Now, Hadash, Zazim, The Parents Circle-Families Forum, Standing Together, Jordan Valley Activists, Looking the Occupation in the Eye, Women Wage Peace, A Land for All, Combatants for Peace, Breaking the Silence, and Mothers Against Violence.
Partnership for Peace stated: âHundreds of Israelis who set out to oppose terror and demand the state enforce the law in the occupied territories were detained at all checkpoints. It was proven that when the army wants to, it can act efficiently. We expect authorities to show the same determination in protecting innocent people who undergo daily violent pogrom attacks. We will not stop striving for peace, justice, and equality for all residents of the region.â âWe will continue the struggle against the occupation and ethnic cleansing! They will not succeed in stopping us!â they emphasized.
WATCH: The Palestinian shot dead hours before his son was born
Nayef Samaro left work in Nablus to run errands for his wife, who was hours away from delivering their first son by caesarean section.
The 26-year-old soon-to-be father was excited, despite the Israeli army raiding his city.
But before the birth, an Israeli soldier shot Nayef in the head, leaving him to bleed out in the street.
He never saw his son.
Watch our report here:
‚Killing like we haven‘t since 1967‘: Top Israeli general brags about shooting Palestinians in occupied West Bank
âA plasterer in [the West Bank city of] Ramallah earns 1,500 shekels ($510) a month and a plasterer in [the Israeli town of] Ramle earns 7,000 shekels a month, so of course he‘s willing to risk being shot in the knee or a week of detention, if he succeeded in crossing over and can work in a bakery,â Bluth explained.
âThere are a lot of âlimping monumentsâ in Palestinian villages, of those who tried to [cross the barrier], so there is a price being paid,â he boasted.
The Israeli general also said Palestinians throwing rocks were engaged in âterrorism,â while bragging about how many his troops had killed last year.
Israel killing Palestinians âlike we haven‘t since 1967â, top commander says
Israelâs top commander in the occupied West Bank has said the army is killing Palestinians at levels ânot seen since 1967â, according to Haaretz.
Avi Bluth, head of the Israeli armyâs Central Command, made the remarks in a closed forum, where he also defended looser rules of engagement allowing troops to fire at unarmed Palestinians.
He acknowledged a discriminatory approach whereby Jewish Israeli stone-throwers are not targeted while Palestinians carrying out similar acts are fired at.
„In three years, we have killed 1,500 terrorists,“ he said, referring to Palestinians.
„So how is there no intifada? Why arenât they taking to the streets? Why is the Palestinian public indifferent? Why are there no disturbances?“ Bluth, a settler who has been the Israeli army commander in the West Bank since 2024, added.
Death toll in occupied West Bank from Israeli attacks rises
Israeli army and settler attacks killed at least 1,151 and wounded more than 11,885 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank since Israelâs genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, Al Jazeera reported.
Three-day General Strike Planned Over Crime in Arab Society
(February 7, 2026)
The Higher Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel announced on Thursday, February 5, that it has begun preparations for a comprehensive, three-day general strike affecting all workers and institutions in Arab towns and communities in Israel.
According to Al-Ittihad and Zo Haderekh, this move is part of an escalating response to the rampant spread of crime and violence and a protest against the far-right governmentâs policies toward Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel. The decision was made during a meeting of the Committeeâs Secretariat held at the Kafr Qara municipality hall and the committee clarified that the strike would last for three consecutive days, during which all economic activities will be halted, while ensuring communication with unions and social organizations to guarantee the success of the move and protect strikers from the risk of dismissal.
The Follow-up Committee also approved organizing a âDisruption Marchâ, tomorrow morning (Sunday), where convoys of cars will set off from various regions in the Galilee and merge with groups from Highways 2 and 1 towards Jerusalem, followed by a demonstration and a press conference at the Prime Minister Office to highlight the issue internationally and locally.
Arab-Israeli Protest Convoy Over Police Inaction Ends With Rally Outside Netanyahu‘s Office
The so-called Disruption Convoy was delayed by police en route to Jerusalem, and some participants said they were issued traffic tickets. Protest leaders planned to give Netanyahu a letter describing the toll gun violence and crime has taken on the Arab community in Israel, but were turned away by his office
How reconstruction became Israelâs new weapon of âsilent transferâ in Gaza
With UN assessments indicating that removing debris alone could last until 2032 and a full reconstruction of Gaza stretching to 2040, the âwaitâ becomes a policy of displacement.
âTime decomposes societies,â Jabareen said.
He said Israel is betting on ârational emigrationâ â after living for years in tents, Palestinians will leave, not because they were forced by tanks, but because they were exhausted by fears over their future.
What the Joint Listâs revival signifies for Palestinian politics in Israel
(January 28, 2026)
This is a historic event in a volatile political moment. Even before the publication of polls gauging the Joint Listâs electoral strength â predicting that it could secure 15-16 of the Knessetâs 120 seats, making it the third largest force in Israeli politics â the popular demand for unity suggests the possibility for unprecedented voter turnout in Arab society.
Israeli news outlets described the renewal of the Joint List as âdrama in the political system,â and rightly so. Such a scenario would alter the balance between opposing blocs and force Zionist parties across the spectrum â from Yair Golanâs center-left Democrats to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuâs Likud â to recalibrate their strategies.
Minneapolis Residents Wear Their Passports, Desperate to Ward Off ICE
In the past two months, federal immigration agents have arrested thousands in the Twin Cities, detaining citizens, asylum-seekers, refugees and the undocumented. They have killed two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. And they have stopped people seemingly at random, asking for identification or simply demanding: âWhere were you born?â
Now, many people here are asking a question that is a novel one in America: Is it safe to leave home without proof of citizenship? Has the United States turned into a show-me-your-papers nation?
For many Minnesotans, the answer has been an unequivocal yes.
„Federal Invasion“: Minnesota Officials Condemn Violent ICE Raids, Arrests
(January 14, 2025)
Trump‘s immigration enforcement surge continues to rock Minnesota, just a week after the ICE shooting of Renee Good, a mother of three and U.S. citizen in Minneapolis. The Minnesota Star Tribune reports that the number of federal agents now in Minneapolis and Saint Paul outstrips the 10 largest Twin Cities metro police departments combined. „We don‘t want ICE in our neighborhoods. They are violent, they are creating chaos and terrorizing our immigrant neighbors, and they are not keeping anyone safe,“ says vice president of the Saint Paul City Council, Hwa Jeong Kim, who comments on the city‘s new lawsuit against the Trump administration, the loss of temporary protected status for thousands of Somali immigrants in the United States, plans for a general strike in Minneapolis and more.