• Israeli forces have raided Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank, while classes were in session.

Israeli military claims killing two Hamas fighters

The Israeli military says it has killed two Hamas fighters in two separate attacks on the Gaza Strip.

It identified the men, who were killed on Friday, as Ibrahim Fawzi Ismail Mohsen and Mohammed Kamel Suleiman Mohsen.

The Turkish Anadolu agency, citing local sources, reported that the 36-year-old Mohsen was killed in a drone attack as he visited his brother Khalil’s grave at al-Sawarha cemetery. Khalil was killed in Deir el-Balah on May 11, 2024.

Israeli air attacks on Gaza continue; 1 killed, 6 wounded

Palestinians in Gaza are still facing a significant range of security challenges, with the “ceasefire” mainly remaining on a shaky footing.

Earlier today, Israel struck a makeshift tent in al-Mawasi, killing a 28-year-old man and wounding several others. In another attack in Gaza City, a group of Palestinians was targeted by a drone strike in the Shati refugee camp.

According to the emergency services, six Palestinians have been confirmed wounded since dawn today.

Earlier this morning, we saw a movement of Israeli drones across the sky in the central area and repeated Israeli shelling heard every now and then coming from the eastern edge of the central and southern parts of Gaza, as well.

These air strikes, from the perspective of Palestinians, are seen as a fracture of the current US-brokered “ceasefire” agreement, which has done little to ensure their protection and safety.

Number of people killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza reaches 74,018

The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of Israel’s genocidal war in October 2023 has risen to at least 74,018, with 175,079 people wounded, the enclave’s Health Ministry has said in its daily update.

It said the bodies of two people killed in Israeli attacks arrived in Gaza’s hospitals over the latest 24-hour reporting period. Another 11 people were wounded during the period.

The figures bring the recorded death toll since a “ceasefire” in October to at least 1,417, with 4,964 people wounded. A total of 834 bodies have been recovered from beneath rubble, it said.

Israeli army claims to have killed Hamas commander; no confirmation yet

The military and Shin Bet intelligence agency say Muhammad Hamad Muhammad Gabbain, a commander in Hamas’s military wing, was killed in an air strike in northern Gaza last week.

He had been “advancing plots” against Israeli forces and civilians, it said, adding that Gabbain was “working to rehabilitate the capabilities of Hamas”.

The army also accused him of holding Israeli captives in Gaza. No immediate response was available from Hamas.

A specific date from that week is needed to determine whether the Israeli claim is fake.

Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip resume as tensions continue to rise

There’s been a growing sense of tension across Gaza since the early hours of this morning. This was clear during attacks conducted by the Israeli military in the city of Khan Younis where a tent was targeted. A Palestinian man was killed – he was in his 20s.

In al-Shati refugee camp, a group of Palestinians came under fire by the Israeli air force.

An update from Gaza City about an Israeli drone that struck a vehicle close to the UN headquarters. According to the initial footage, the car was completely engulfed in flames as civilians and civil defence members tried to put out the fire.

This incident in Gaza City reflects the continuation of Israel’s ongoing systematic campaign of military pressure on Palestinians.

People here says it’s just a matter of luck if you survive the next day given the intensity and pace of the Israeli attacks.

Israeli forces shoot four Palestinians dead across Gaza

At least four Palestinians have been killed and 12 wounded by Israeli gunfire in several areas of the Gaza Strip since dawn, according to hospital sources speaking to Al Jazeera.

One of the latest killings were confirmed by Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, saying a Palestinian succumbed to the wounds sustained earlier today in Israeli gunfire in the middle of the southern city.

Hamas condemn threats from Israel’s Ben-Gvir towards Palestinian prisoner

The Palestinian group has condemned a video released by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, which includes a death threat towards long-term Palestinian prisoner Hassan Salameh.

“It foreshadows further murders against him and our heroic prisoners inside Israeli jails, as part of the occupation’s policy of turning prisons into arenas of direct physical liquidation, in blatant violation of all international laws,” Hamas said in a statement published on Telegram.

“We have exerted, and continue to exert, every possible effort at all levels and by all means to secure the release of our prisoners in the occupation’s prisons, and we will remain committed to this pledge until they achieve their freedom,” the statement added.

Salameh is a former Hamas military commander.

‘Board of Peace’ dismisses UN role in Gaza after Israel’s long-held demand

The US-led Board of Peace says the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) will have no role in Gaza – echoing a long-standing Israeli demand to sideline the organization considered a lifeline for millions of Palestinians.

The board, which has been tasked with overseeing the “ceasefire” and Gaza’s reconstruction, said on Friday that it would work only with partners it deems “reliable” and who it believes can meet the needs of Gaza’s population – a standard it says UNRWA does not meet.

The move comes after the board unveiled a multibillion-dollar plan on Wednesday aimed at beginning Gaza’s reconstruction of the devastated Palestinian territory after years of Israel’s genocidal war.

Excluding UNRWA fits Israel’s goal to ‘dismantle’ Palestinian agency

Blocking the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from assisting the reconstruction of Gaza aligns with Israel’s vision to “marginalise and ultimately dismantle the agency”, says political analyst Ahmed Najar.

“UNRWA is not simply another aid contractor, it possesses personnel, infrastructure, institutional knowledge and relationships with Palestinian communities that no newly created organization can reproduce,” he said.

“Removing UNRWA, therefore, serves a political purpose extending far beyond the delivery of aid.”

The US-led Board of Peace and International Stabilization Force has said that UNRWA will have no role in Gaza after providing millions of displaced Palestinians with critical humanitarian aid since the 1940s.

That will mean reconstruction is managed from outside Palestine “and administered through institutions acceptable to Israel”, said Najar.

“This risks turning Palestinians into recipients of decisions rather than the owners and decision-makers of their future.”

The UNRWA is founded in 1949 as an independent body within the United Nations. Among its mandate is the registration of Palestinians as refugee for generations to come. This makes it for the Israelis impossible to claim the entire country of Palestine as theirs.

Dismantling UNRWA is the Israeli desired method to strip the Palestinians from their refugee status to make them stateless.

The Israelis started this "war" in November 2023 by masterminding with Cyprus a bypass campaign to have full control over humanitarian aid to Gaza.

West Bank

Israeli colonists set fire to Palestinian vehicles in occupied West Bank

Israeli colonists have attacked the town of Abu Falah, northeast of the city of Ramallah, setting fire to multiple vehicles and agricultural land, according to local sources and videos posted online.

The footage shows fires burning in the town as well as two vehicles that had been torched.

No injuries were reported.

Israeli pogroms in the occupied West Bank have escalated before the country’s elections, with the UN recording more than 1,600 attacks by colonists that have resulted in casualties and property damage since the beginning of the year.

Israeli forces shoot and wound Palestinian girl in West Bank

The Wafa news agency is reporting that Israeli forces have shot and wounded a Palestinian girl at a checkpoint in Qalandiya in the occupied West Bank.

It said the nature of her wounds and her condition was not clear.

More than 1,100 Israeli colonists storm Al-Aqsa Mosque complex

The Palestinian body governing much of occupied East Jerusalem says 1,143 Israelis entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.

The Jerusalem governorate reported the colonists stormed the courtyard of the holy site under protection of Israeli soldiers. The colonists then carried out religious prayers and rituals for hours.

“These actions occurred amid ongoing violations of the historical and legal status quo at the mosque”, a statement said.

Khaled Meshaal, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, warned on Saturday that Israeli actions and measures towards Al-Aqsa Mosque are “paving the way for total control and domination over the site”.

Hamas official warns Israel aiming for ‘total control’ of Al-Aqsa Mosque

Khaled Meshaal, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, has warned that Israeli actions and measures towards Al-Aqsa Mosque are “paving the way for total control and domination over the site”.

In a statement, he said these measures include the 40-day closure of the mosque, the “imposition of temporal division” to clear the site for incursions by “extremist Jewish groups” and efforts to “achieve spatial division” by emptying key facilities within the complex.

He said the mosque “stands at a crossroads” and called for measures to protect the compound, including a “strategy of resistance and jihad” to “rescue Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa”.

He urged Palestinians to travel to the mosque to maintain a “steadfast presence” there, and called on people across the Arab and Islamic world to rally in support of Palestine.

Turkey, Qatar condemn Israeli colonists’ Al-Aqsa raid, call for global action to protect holy sites

Turkey and Qatar have condemned an Israeli colonist raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, which both countries said took place under the protection of Israeli forces.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry said the raid was conducted by “Israeli extremist groups”. It accused the Israeli government of seeking to “further fuel tension in the region and undermine peace and stability efforts” through “violations and provocations targeting the holy places of Muslims”.

It renewed its call for the international community to “take deterrent measures against Israel’s practices that violate the historical and legal status of Al-Aqsa Mosque”.

In a separate statement posted on X, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said the incursion was “a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law” and “an unacceptable provocation to the sentiments of millions of Muslims worldwide”.

It stressed that Al-Aqsa is “an exclusive place of worship for Muslims” and that any unilateral measures to change the status quo in Jerusalem and its holy sites “are null and void under international law”.

Qatar warned that continued provocations risk “fueling further violence and escalation in the region” and called on the international community to compel Israel to halt violations against Palestinians and their holy sites.

Smotrich says Israel must ‘go to war’ in occupied West Bank

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called on Israel to “go to war” in the occupied West Bank and “do there what we did in Gaza”, according to Israeli media reports.

The chair of the far-right Religious Zionism party reportedly made the remarks on a podcast for the Ynet outlet.

Smotrich repeated his call to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, which has limited control in parts of the West Bank. He also urged Israel to annex southern Lebanon and the territory the army holds in Gaza.

Israel is holding a general election on October 27.

Israeli authorities to close West Bank crossings for a week

The Wafa news agency is reporting that Israeli authorities have decided to “impose a comprehensive closure on the West Bank” and close crossings into the territory until Saturday.

The agency said this was due to the Jewish holiday Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot.

Israel’s military tightens restrictions in and around Ramallah

Wafa is reporting that Israeli forces have tightened restrictions in and around the occupied West Bank city by closing several roads and entrances.

The agency, citing local sources, said Israeli forces closed the gate at the entrance to the town of Turmus Ayya, north of Ramallah and “harassed citizens”.

They also closed the entrances to villages such as Aboud, Nabi Saleh, Atara and Taybeh and set up a military checkpoint at the entrance to Yabroud and Ein Sinya, it said.

Palestinian Authority condemns Smotrich’s call for ‘war’ on West Bank

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry warns the latest comments by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich “are an explicit call to expand the war of genocide, displacement and annexation in the West Bank”.

The far-right politician said in an interview with Ynet News that the Israeli military should “go to war” in the occupied West Bank and repeat what it “did in Gaza”.

Smotrich’s comments “reveal the truth of the Israeli plans aimed at implementing attempts at annexation and displacement, and undermining the possibility of establishing an independent Palestinian state”, a ministry statement said.

From January to late July, the UN recorded more than 1,330 colonist attacks on Palestinians in the occupied territory, the highest number in 20 years.

Israel revokes diplomatic status of Dutch diplomats in occupied West Bank

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has said Dutch diplomats working at the Netherlands’ ‌Representative Office in the occupied West Bank’s Ramallah city must return diplomatic documents issued by Israel within seven days.

He said in a statement that the decision came in response to the Netherlands’ ban on imported goods from illegal Israeli colonies.

According to Saar, the Israeli Foreign Ministry informed the Dutch Embassy in Israel that after the seven-day window, the diplomatic immunities and privileges granted by the status will expire.

“If the Netherlands wishes to continue representing its interests with the Palestinians, it may do so from Palestinian Authority territory, rather than from the territory of the State of Israel,” Saar said.

“Any country that acts in a hostile and unilateral manner against Israel will lose influence and relevance in the region,” he added.

The Netherlands is a large trading partner with Israel, as bilateral trade totaled about $4.8bn last year.

Israel’s revocation of diplomatic status for Dutch diplomats is largely ‘symbolic’

The recent move to revoke the diplomatic status of Dutch diplomats in Ramallah is notable in that it signals “Israel’s growing diplomatic isolation”, Carne Ross said.

Ross, a former senior British diplomat and founder of the non-profit advisory group Independent Diplomat, said the closure of various East Jerusalem consulates of countries that imposed sanctions on goods from illegal Israeli colonies, however, is not nearly as impactful as the sanctions themselves.

“Throwing out a few diplomats isn’t really much of a price to make a country pay – it’s more symbolic. In some ways, it’s an act of self-harm because you’re actually explicitly and materially damaging your diplomatic relations with a country”, he said.

The leverage that European countries are currently exerting upon Israel by banning illegal colony goods is far more consequential, he said, adding that it “actively harms the economic welfare of those colonies.”

“The Europeans should be considering much more material leverage because it’s very clear that the colony policy is a deliberate policy of this government and therefore penalizing the government for the colonies would be entirely appropriate”, Ross said.

Palestinian politician calls for comprehensive sanctions as Israeli officials push for West Bank military campaign

Israel’s isolation is unprecedented, but not enough on its own, says Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, who is calling for comprehensive sanctions.

He cited calls by senior Israeli officials, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, for a campaign in the occupied West Bank identical to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Israel has “never been as isolated in its entire history as it is today”, Barghouti said, noting recent sanctions on illegal colonies by some Western states and the cold shoulder given to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations General Assembly last week.

“What we need today is not merely statements or words. We need action,” he said, arguing that condemnations and boycotting illegal Israeli colonies did not go far enough.

“It is the government that is carrying out these actions; it is the government that is committing the crimes,” he said. “So comprehensive sanctions and a comprehensive boycott are what we need now.”

Israel must be sanctioned like apartheid South Africa, Palestinian politician says

Palestinians have reached the conclusion that Israel wants to “eliminate” them, Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti said.

Barghouti said that Israel’s tools to do so have been threefold: military violence, economic strangulation, and constant encroachment on Palestinians’ homes and lands.

If Western nations imposed strict sanctions on Israel as they did with the apartheid government of South Africa in the 1980s, “eventually, the system of colonist colonialism will fall down”, Barghouti said. But he acknowledged that it would take a new generation of leaders for something like that to happen.

Israeli Supreme Court says government must allow Red Cross to visit Palestinian prisoners

Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that the government is in breach of a judgement requiring it to let the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visit Palestinian prisoners, according to the Haaretz newspaper.

The judges said the government was obliged to permit visits to detention facilities “with the required speed”, noting that more than three months had passed since the ruling, the report said.

They gave the government until October 11 to say whether arrangements for resuming visits had been completed.