“We cannot ignore the numbers: 104 communities that we established and legalised together, and 160 farms, with more to come,” Netanyahu said.
Israel has faced growing international outrage over its settlement expansion, as violence by settlers against Palestinians soars.
GAZA, August 25, 2026 (WAFA) — Medical sources in the Gaza Strip said on Sunday that the death toll from Israel’s ongoing aggression on the Strip has risen to 73,431 Palestinians killed and 174,437 injured since October 7, 2023.
They said Gaza hospitals received nine fatalities over the past 24 hours.
(August 21, 2026)
The leadership of the Joint Lis, including the alliance’s chairman, Prof. Yousef Jabareen, MK Dr. Ahmad Tibi, and former MK Sami Abu Shehadeh, alongside Hadash MK Ofer Cassif and Joint List candidate Jafar Farah (Hadash), met in Tel-Aviv on Thursday, August 20, with more than twenty European Union ambassadors to Israel. This marks the Joint List’s first diplomatic meeting since the announcement of its formation.
(August 21, 2026)
We highlighted the grave threats facing the integrity and fairness of elections in Israel, specifically the political persecution of parties and parliamentarians representing Arab citizens, alongside racist attempts to undermine their legitimacy.
We also addressed the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank and the escalation of state terror against Palestinians, carried out by settler milicias with military cooperation and protection and in blunt violation of international law.
We have commenced the meeting by emphasizing the vital role of the European Union and its Member States in combating racism, advancing democratic norms and human rights, and promoting an immediate end to the occupation to achieve a just peace.
Cassif eventually reached the families and expressed his support.
Louai Ridi, a Palestinian American, has been effectively trapped on his property since settlers first arrived in the area on Aug. 9. The settlers pitched a tent surrounding Ridi’s home before cutting water pipes and electricity lines and blocking roads leading to his property, making it extremely difficult for the Ridi family and other residents to go about the area.
Videos posted by Cassif, Zo Haderekh and the Palestinian families have brought international attention to the standoff, creating an unusual degree of pressure on the Israeli government and its military.
Israeli soldiers blocked Knesset member Ofer Cassif from reaching a Palestinian family home in the occupied West Bank village of Qusra, where settlers have maintained a 17-day siege.
Cassif eventually reached the families and expressed his support.
JERUSALEM, August 25, 2026 (WAFA) – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said in a press statement today that Israeli forces forcibly raided its Kalandia Training Centre (KTC) in occupied East Jerusalem at around 10:00 a.m., with at least four armored vehicles and more than 50 Israeli security personnel, while approximately 20 UNRWA staff members were on site.
According to the statement, Israeli officials subsequently made public statements indicating that the premises had been seized by the Israeli authorities.
UNRWA unequivocally condemned this unauthorized and deeply concerning incursion into the Kalandia Training Centre.
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir took part in the raid and said Israeli authorities had begun what he described as an “operation to evacuate the building,” claiming that “there is no place for the agency in Jerusalem and Israel.”
The sources added that Israeli forces detained 40 employees and others present at the Qalandiya Training Institute and subjected them to questioning,
The occupation forces also distributed notices to several homes and facilities near the apartheid wall in the Kafr Aqab area, coinciding with the tightening of military measures in the region.
In Kafr Aqab, Israeli forces evacuated the Qalandiya Vocational Training Center, run by UNRWA, and began demolishing its facilities.
(8 hours ago)
The Israeli army raided UNRWA’s vocational facilities in Qalandiya and Kafr Aqab, which provide services for about 16,000 Palestinian refugees from across the occupied West Bank, says journalist Sarah Abu Alrob from Ramallah.
“This comes within a larger campaign where the Israeli government has been calling to dismantle the UNRWA organisation that provides educational, medical and social services to Palestinian refugees who are still in the occupied West Bank,” she told Al Jazeera.
(August 24, 2026)
A four-year-old child was among three Palestinians killed in Israeli air attacks in central Gaza on Sunday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to escalate attacks over the alleged launching of paper kites from the war-torn enclave.
(May 11, 2026)
Millions of people around the world are demanding that their leaders act to stop Israel’s violations. Humanity must win.
(May 8, 2026)
„Die Aussetzung des EU-Israel Assoziierungsabkommens, gegen dessen Menschenrechtsklausel die israelische Regierung permanent verstößt, ist eine juristische und moralische Verpflichtung. Außenminister Wadephul hat die Wahl, Menschenrechte zum Eckpfeiler europäischer Israel-Politik zu machen – oder mit Doppelstandards weiter die EU zu spalten und internationales Recht auszuhöhlen,“ sagt Julia Duchrow, Generalsekretärin von Amnesty International in Deutschland.
„Deutschland sollte nicht länger dazu beitragen, dass Israels Gräueltaten folgenlos bleiben. Stattdessen sollte sich Außenminister Wadephul der Mehrheit der EU-Staaten anschließen und die überfälligen Schritte mittragen: die Aussetzung des Abkommens, ein Verbot des Handels mit illegalen Siedlungen sowie ein Ende sämtlicher Waffenlieferungen nach Israel“, sagt Philipp Frisch, Direktor von Human Rights Watch Deutschland.
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.
Another 10 Palestinians were killed and 25 others wounded over the past 24 hours in the Gaza Strip, raising the death toll from Israel‘s genocide in the blockaded enclave since October 2023 to 73,417, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.
(March 31, 2026)
Execution will be the default for Palestinians found guilty of lethal attacks deemed as terrorist acts in the West Bank’s military courts – which have a conviction rate of around 96%. Amnesty International says that the system routinely relies on evidence extracted through torture and abuse. The death sentence will be imposed even if prosecutors do not seek it. Convictions need no longer be unanimous. There is no possibility of pardon. Executions must take place within 90 days. Within Israeli civilian courts, the new law imposes the death penalty for deliberately killing a person with the intention of “negating the existence of the State of Israel”. Life imprisonment can only substitute in unspecified “special” circumstances.
There could hardly be a more shocking contrast with the near-total impunity of Israelis killing Palestinians in the West Bank, amid increasing – and increasingly systematic – state-backed settler violence.
“In this place, the terrorists will be executed,” Ben Gvir said in a video posted on Instagram, where he has around 150,000 followers.
In the video, Ben Gvir points towards what appears to be an active construction site and says the complex will include “viewing chambers where crime victims will be able to come and watch” Palestinians being hanged.
„We are fulfilling what we promised,“ the minister added.
Marwan Sabah, head of the village council, said residents could no longer access the village cemetery, adding that he had instructed residents to bury their dead at home.
Israeli forces and settlers launched at least 467 attacks on Palestinian communities across the occupied West Bank over the past week, the Palestinian prime minister’s office said.
In a post on X, the office said the violence damaged 75 Palestinian homes and other structures.
It described the attacks as part of a “relentless escalation of violence, dispossession, and destruction”.
GAZA, August 19, 2026 (WAFA) – At least nine Palestinians were killed and 15 others injured on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City.
WAFA correspondent, citing sources at Al-Shifa Medical Complex, reported that the bodies of nine Palestinians, most of them burned and dismembered, were brought to the hospital, along with 15 injured Palestinians, most of whom were in critical condition.
BERLIN, August 18, 2026 (WAFA) — Macit Karaahmetoğlu, a deputy member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Parliament and a lawmaker from the Social Democratic Party (SPD), expressed his support for a call by Palestine’s Ambassador to Germany, Laith Arafeh, for Germany to recognize the State of Palestine.
In a press statement, Karaahmetoğlu said that a majority of countries around the world, including several European countries such as France, Spain, and the United Kingdom, have recognized the State of Palestine.
He added that Germany’s recognition of the State of Palestine would serve as an effective lever in support of the two-state solution.
Israel has waged a military onslaught on the Strip since 7 October 2023, killing 73,399 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 174,310 others. It has destroyed 90% of the Strip’s infrastructure, with the cost of Gaza reconstruction estimated at $70 billion.
Since the Gaza ceasefire agreement went into effect on October 11, 2025, Israel has killed over 1,265 Palestinians and injured 4,198 others. The bodies of 813 slain Palestinians have been recovered during the same period.
In the last 24 hours, the bodies of five slain Palestinians along with 18 casualties were admitted to Gaza hospitals.
Moreover, at least 10,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
From Merz’s conservatives to Alternative for Germany and the Left, condemnation cut across the Bundestag’s political spectrum.
(August 15, 2026)
The European Commission has been negotiating a secret agreement to share sensitive personal data with Israel’s police service, despite internal legal warnings that the deal could violate international law and put Palestinians at risk, according to a new report by civil rights group Statewatch published by Novara Media, Anadolu reports.
The draft agreement, originally negotiated with the European police agency Europol, would allow the exchange of biometric data, genetic information, location data, political views, and personal details.
Critical research indicates the deal has progressed despite a 2022 ruling by the Council of the EU’s Legal Service which deemed the proposal legally untenable.
(August 4, 2026)
Under the plans, the bloc’s law enforcement agency, Europol, would exchange sensitive personal information about Palestinians with Israel’s police force, which is headquartered in the illegally occupied West Bank.
There is also concern the deal could harm members of the Palestinian diaspora, with a risk that activists in Europe could be targeted.
The data would include names, identification numbers, locations, genetic and biometric information and details about people’s political views, beliefs and personal lives.
(May 8, 2026)
„Die Aussetzung des EU-Israel Assoziierungsabkommens, gegen dessen Menschenrechtsklausel die israelische Regierung permanent verstößt, ist eine juristische und moralische Verpflichtung. Außenminister Wadephul hat die Wahl, Menschenrechte zum Eckpfeiler europäischer Israel-Politik zu machen – oder mit Doppelstandards weiter die EU zu spalten und internationales Recht auszuhöhlen,“ sagt Julia Duchrow, Generalsekretärin von Amnesty International in Deutschland.
„Deutschland sollte nicht länger dazu beitragen, dass Israels Gräueltaten folgenlos bleiben. Stattdessen sollte sich Außenminister Wadephul der Mehrheit der EU-Staaten anschließen und die überfälligen Schritte mittragen: die Aussetzung des Abkommens, ein Verbot des Handels mit illegalen Siedlungen sowie ein Ende sämtlicher Waffenlieferungen nach Israel“, sagt Philipp Frisch, Direktor von Human Rights Watch Deutschland.
“It’s no secret, I disagree with the prime minister,“ he said. “I think targeted assassinations should be carried out in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night,” said the far-right Israeli minister.
“Not just those who pose an immediate threat, there are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even people,” added Ben-Gvir.
Ben-Gvir also promised Braslavski that he would seek to allow him to personally take part if prisoners are executed under Israel’s recently enacted death penalty law for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks on Israelis.
Speaking with former Israeli captive Rom Braslavski, Ben-Gvir said that hanging would be the primary method of execution under the death penalty legislation he has been actively promoting.
„I will do the impossible when the time comes,“ the minister remarked during the conversation. „I promise you that I will do everything in my power and turn the world upside down to make this happen“.
In addition to his comments on the death penalty, Ben-Gvir expressed satisfaction regarding the harsher conditions Palestinian prisoners are currently facing within the Israeli penal system.
GAZA, August 17, 2026 (WAFA) — The death toll from Israel‘s war on the Gaza Strip has risen to 73,399, while the number of injured has reached 174,310 since October 7, 2023, according to medical sources.
The sources said Gaza hospitals received five fatalities over the past 48 hours, including two newly reported deaths and three bodies recovered from under the rubble, as well as 18 injured people.