• Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN’s deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, told the Security Council that Israeli strikes have killed at least 100 Palestinians in Gaza since August 12.
• Israeli forces raided Jenin and Nablus in the occupied West Bank and tightened the settler siege on Qusra with concrete blocks and an iron gate.

Sunken ship causes fight on Israel’s right over militia’s violent legacy

A race has emerged in right-wing Israeli politics over who can more closely associate themselves with Irgun, a militia implicated in the killing and torture of dozens of Palestinians during the 1948 war that led to the Nakba, the forced displacement of more than 750,000 Palestinians during the formation of the state of Israel.

On Monday, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced the discovery of the wreck of the Irgun’s cargo vessel, the Altalena.

The ship carried weapons from France to the paramilitary group before being sunk on the orders of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, in June 1948.

Irgun was not a militia but a terrorist organization by the United Nations, British, and United States governments. One of its members was Menachem Begin (first on the wanted list), who later became prime minister.

You can read clearly ".. to roundup terrorists"

"..ship carried weapons from France.."

The civil war by European Zionists from November 1947 to May 1948 started first against the British in British Mandatory Palestine, followed by genocide and crimes against humanity against the Palestinians that is known as Nakba.

France was involved by arms supply.

Israeli strike kills one, wounds several in Gaza City

One Palestinian has been killed and several wounded by an Israeli drone strike in Gaza City, according to Gaza’s civil defence and hospital sources.

The strike targeted a bicycle in the city’s central area.

Israeli strikes today have killed at least three people across Gaza.

Gaza’s Board of Peace failing to protect basic Palestinian rights, aid group head tells UN Security Council

The executive director of an umbrella group representing more than 100 international aid agencies operating in the occupied Palestinian territory has told the UN Security Council (UNSC) that the body proposed to oversee Gaza is failing to deliver on the rights of Palestinians.

Athena Rayburn, who heads the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), said Trump’s Board of Peace should be judged on whether it is protecting civilians, bringing about an end to Israel’s illegal presence and moving towards self-determination for Palestinians.

“By these basic measures, the Board of Peace is failing,” she said.

The board was created under UNSC Resolution 2803, which Rayburn said had helped reduce hostilities, “but has also so far functioned to further entrench Israel’s unlawful presence”.

“The rights of Palestinians in Gaza have been made subordinate to the far-reaching, capricious and arbitrary requirements of its occupier,” she said.

Rayburn says the arrangement has also “normalised a situation in which two million people are trapped and dependent on humanitarian assistance that is controlled and restricted by the state that has designed the scarcity”.

UN divided over Gaza plan as Israel insists Hamas must disarm first

The UN Security Council remains divided over the sequencing of a US-backed plan to end Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

The 15-point roadmap links Hamas’s disarmament to a phased Israeli military withdrawal. Hamas accepted the plan in July, but Israel rejected it five days later, saying that Hamas must disarm first. The US has backed Israel’s interpretation that withdrawal would begin only after Hamas demonstrates full compliance.

Qatar, speaking for the Arab Group, rejected that position and said weapons control should happen in parallel with an Israeli withdrawal.

The dispute over sequencing has become a key obstacle to implementing the roadmap and ending the conflict.

Israel accused of withholding remains of nearly 800 Palestinians

Organizations representing Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian National Campaign for the Retrieval of Martyrs’ Bodies and Disclosure of the Fate of the Missing released a statement alleging that Israel is withholding Palestinian human remains.

The statement said Israel’s withholding of bodies “deprives Palestinian families of knowing the fate of their loved ones, bidding them farewell and burying them”.

According to the statement, the campaign and institutions have identified 799 individuals whose remains are still being held.

The Palestinian National Campaign for the Retrieval of Martyrs’ Bodies and Disclosure of the Fate of the Missing is a civil society group that demands Israel release the bodies of Palestinians killed so families can bury them. They also investigate missing persons cases.

Israeli has been snatching and holding dead bodies of Palestinians as bargain chips for many years.

• In May 2012, the Israelis returned 91 dead bodies of Palestinians
• In February 2023, the war belligerent returned 400 dead bodies of Palestinians.
• November 2025, Israel hands over 45 bodies after Hamas returns the remains of 3 soldiers
• In November 2025, 15 dead bodies of Palestinians where given back

Israeli army claims two Palestinians it killed in Gaza were Hamas members

The Israeli army has claimed that two Palestinians it killed earlier this week in Gaza were Hamas fighters who were part of the October 7 attacks.

It said a strike on Sunday in Khan Younis killed Hazem Mousa while another strike in the same southern city on Monday killed Razek Sahil Suleiman Abu Shahma.

The army says Abu Shahma also previously served as the bodyguard of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Happened in the occupied West Bank

Palestinian news agency Wafa reports:

• Israeli forces injured two young men in northern Jerusalem during a raid on Beit Inan. One man was shot in the knee with live ammunition, and another was hit by a rubber-coated metal bullet. Forces also arrested six Palestinians across the governorate, including three children.
• Additionally, forces raided Bir Nabala and detained the Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, Ashraf al-Awar, during a funeral in Silwan.
• Israeli settlers kidnapped two brothers, Muhammad and Omar Hamadna, near the northern entrance of Nablus city. Separately, hundreds of settlers stormed Joseph’s Tomb under heavy military protection, during which forces fired tear gas canisters at journalists and closed surrounding roads.
• Forces arrested Oday Rabie Shamroukh in the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. They also issued demolition notices for a house and a livestock barracks in Zaatara, under the pretext of lacking a permit.
• In Hebron, Israeli forces arrested three Palestinians in the Fawwar refugee camp.
• Soldiers arrested three Palestinians in Jenin, including a man with a disability.
• In Tubas, settlers vandalized water supply pipelines in the Al-Ras Al-Ahmar area.

Palestinians fear deepening siege in West Bank village

Palestinians here fear that the situation will not get better because the siege is tightening.

Yesterday, Israeli forces came to this area and established three new metal gates.

It’s increasing fear among Palestinians. Since the area is already a closed military zone, what are these gates for? No Palestinian is allowed to enter without prior coordination with the Israeli army.

Are the gates put there to insinuate permanence?

People are worried that this is being done slowly to push people out of their homes one way or another. And the Israeli settlers are still here.

Israeli forces further restrict Palestinian movements in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces have tightened restrictions on movement across several Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Residents of Nabi Samuel, Beit Iksa and the Khalaileh neighborhood have reportedly been required to obtain special permits to travel to and from their homes, further isolating the communities.

The report added that about 10 residents of Beit Iksa have been unable to reach their homes for the past two days, with some told they lack the necessary permits or are subject to so-called “security bans”.

370 Palestinian children being held in Israeli prisons, report says

Approximately 370 Palestinian children remain imprisoned in Israeli detention centers, according to a new report by the Palestinian Centre for Prisoners Advocacy.

“As of early August 2026, approximately 370 Palestinian children were being held in Israeli prisons, most of them in Megiddo and Ofer prisons, among more than 9,400 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, according to data compiled by the Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy”, the report reads.

It adds that the detention of Palestinian children in Israeli prisons is no longer an exceptional occurrence or one confined to isolated cases. “It has become a recurring feature of Israeli arrest campaigns across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem”, says the report.

The report says 276 children have been detained by Israeli forces in the first six months of this year.

“The figures also demonstrate Israel’s continued use of administrative detention without charge or trial.”

Israel aims to make Palestinian refugee issue ‘go away’, UNRWA chief says

Christian Saunders, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, says the Israeli government’s raid on the organization's Qalandiya vocational training center was an attempt to “eliminate the presence of the United Nations” in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Saunders told Al Jazeera that while the raid displaced UNRWA employees and left at least seven Palestinians injured by live ammunition, the broader goal is to make the refugee issue disappear.

“If UNRWA is defunded and eliminated, then they are hoping that the issue of the refugees, the Palestine refugees, will go away,” Saunders said. “Which means that the right of return, reparations, and compensation would go away as well.”

Israeli forces seized the facility in the Kafr Aqab neighborhood near occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday, with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir participating and declaring that there was “no place for the agency in Jerusalem and Israel”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the evacuation as lawful under Israeli legislation and accused the agency of aiding Hamas in the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

Saunders expressed “disappointment” over the impact on local young people, noting that the facility previously provided essential education and training.

Some “340 young people are not going to get the education, not going to get the training they need”, Saunders said, stressing that the program gives students “the skills and an opportunity to lead a full and dignified life”.

The Israelis have already destroyed almost all UNRWA facilities in Gaza. It seems to look like they want to get rid of all UNRWA facilities in the West Bank. That may not be just to make life of the Palestinians in the West Bank more miserable. It has other reasons.

The United Nations General Assembly founded the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in December 1949.

One of the mandates it was given is to register all Palestinians for generations to come, and those who weren't registered before its mandate, as refugee. This makes it (by international law) for the Israelis to have the whole of Palestine as theirs.

When the Israelis began to seek for methods to have the Palestinians out of Gaza, they started targeting UNWRA in November 2023 by masterminding with Cyprus a bypass campaign to have full control over humanitarian aid. Biden joined in January 2024 while the EU followed in May 2024.

The Israeli created humanitarian chaos that came with the masterminding of the bypass could be used to accuse the UNRWA of failing to provide aid, which indeed has spread on social media.

The Israelis are just going to neutralize the UN agency so that the Palestinians will loose their refugee status to end up stateless.

This was before the agency was embroiled in a case where a few of its workers were found to have links with Hamas.

Agency ‘not planning on going anywhere’ despite Israeli seizure, says UNRWA chief

Christian Saunders, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, pushed back against Israeli claims regarding the seized Qalandiya training center after authorities alleged the property was owned by the Jewish National Fund and allocated to the Jerusalem Municipality for a planned complex, citing October 2024 legislation restricting UNRWA’s activities.

UNRWA firmly rejected the claims, maintaining that the centre is a UN facility protected under international law.

“We’re a humanitarian organisation; we’re a development organisation. We are given our mandate by the United Nations General Assembly to provide critical services,” Saunders said. He added that UNRWA would continue doing so “until the General Assembly decides otherwise, or there is a durable solution to the Palestine question”.

Saunders said UNRWA was doing what it could to protect its staff and facilities through security assessments, training and risk mitigation.

He said the Israelis’ use of force was ill-advised and that the only solution was through dialogue.

“I think it is long overdue for the Israelis and the Palestinians to sit down and to resolve these issues. We’re not planning on going anywhere,” Saunders said.

"authorities alleged the property was owned by the Jewish National Fund"

An occupying power is not allowed to enter or seize a UN compound, and its claim that the UN lacks property rights or legal protection in occupied territory is completely wrong.

• Under the United Nations Charter and international conventions, UN property, premises, and assets are completely inviolable.
• They are immune from search, requisition, confiscation, seizure, or any other form of interference by any party, including an occupying military force.
• This protection must be upheld even during armed conflict or occupation to allow the UN to perform its duties safely and independently.
• Belligerent occupation (when a foreign military controls a territory) is temporary and does not give the occupying power legal ownership or sovereignty over the land.

US senator slams ‘extremists in the Israeli government’ over UNRWA raid

US Senator Chris Van Hollen has slammed Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and extremists in the Israeli government over Tuesday’s raid on a UN training centre in the occupied West Bank.

“Ben-Gvir & extremists in the Israeli govt want to get rid of UNRWA with the hopes of ensuring that there is no such thing as a Palestinian refugee,” Van Hollen said on X.

Ben-Gvir joined the Israeli forces’ raid on the Qalandiya Training Centre, a key facility operated by UNRWA, in the Kafr Aqab neighborhood in the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu, who has accused the UN agency of assisting Hamas during the October 7, 2023 attack, said he ordered the raid.

“The world should not continue to sit back & let this happen to UNRWA,” Van Hollen said.

EU, UK, Denmark among countries condemning Israeli seizure of UNRWA facility

The EU, UK, Denmark and Japan are among the countries that have issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s seizure of the UNRWA facility.

The signatories called for Israel’s “immediate and full compliance with the UN obligations allowing UNRWA to carry out its mandated activities without interference”.

Israeli forces raided and seized the Qalandiya Training Centre in the Kafr Aqab neighborhood on Tuesday, expelling UNRWA employees and ordering them not to return.

Ben Gvir thanks Trump over post on USAID’s UNRWA inquiry

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has thanked US President Trump for sharing a report by Just the News saying “USAID report finds more than 100 UNRWA employees participated in Hamas atrocities on Oct. 7”.

Trump’s post on his Truth Social account came after the USAID’s Office of the Inspector General announced yesterday it had referred over 100 current and former UNRWA staff for a State Department review “for participation in the October 7 terrorist attacks.”

The United Nations says nine employees of UNRWA, its agency for Palestinian refugees, “may have been involved” in the October 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas, adding that they have been fired.

In 2024 UNRWA employed 32,000 people across its area of operations, 13,000 of them in Gaza.

Following the Israeli allegations of the UN agency’s involvement in the events of October 7, many governments, including top donor the United States, abruptly suspended funding to the agency, threatening its efforts to deliver aid in Gaza. Several countries have since resumed payments.

Ben Gvir writes in a post on X, “Thank you, Mr. President, for not being afraid to tell the world the TRUTH about the involvement of UNRWA personnel in the atrocities and murders of October 7”.

“Rest assured, Sir, that I am handling the matter personally”, he says.

We have been documenting Israeli activities in their attempt to seek entire control over UNRWA's humanitarian aid program since November 2023, when they and Cyprus laid the groundwork for what later was presented, first to France then to the EU, as a "humanitarian corridor" from Cyprus to the coast of Gaza.

In April 2024, the Israelis intensified their campaign against UNRWA by accusing the agency of having links with Hamas. There were 10 employees dismissed by UNRWA over alleged links with Hamas.

But linking any Palestinian in Gaza to the October 7th event is something that the Israeli war belligerent is doing for a much longer time, while Netanyahu knew for at least a year before 2023, that Hamas was planning something. He allowed it to happen. Those who are following the trial against Netanyahu know the reason.

The United States has been a Zionist country since 1898. But, its political landscape became heavily Israeli since the infiltration of the successor of Zionist organization AZCPA, AIPAC in Washington. Late US President John F. Kennedy had warned for the infiltration.

So, what the USAID’s Office of the Inspector General is doing is no other than scapegoating, which is another term for the Zionist phrase "Always blame the victim."

US lawmakers demand release of Palestinian-American student held by Israel

More than 40 members of the US Congress have called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to secure the release of Sama Safi, a 20-year-old US citizen held without charge by Israel since June.

In a letter led by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, the lawmakers said the Palestinian-American student’s health was deteriorating in custody and that she had been denied regular access to medication for a chronic condition.

“Her life is at risk on your watch,” the lawmakers wrote.

Israeli forces seized Safi, a student at Birzeit University, in a predawn raid on her home in the occupied West Bank.

The State Department said it was tracking the situation but declined to comment on the case, citing privacy concerns.

Dutch court weighs trade ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements

The Israel Product Center in the Netherlands has taken the Dutch state to court over a trade ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The center says the ban is discriminatory and violates EU free-trade rules. The Dutch government says the measure is necessary to avoid supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land through economic activity.

{youtube}https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jprp4b85xiw{/youtube}

Burnham’s expected UK ban on Israeli settlement goods draws broad support

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is expected to soon approve a ban on goods linked to Israeli settlements, after Israel issued tenders to build more than 1,200 units for the E1 settlement in the occupied West Bank.

“Sanctions on Israel’s illegal settlements would be a very welcome first step in helping to bring an end to Israel’s unlawful occupation,” Labour MP Richard Burgon said.

“The International Court of Justice has been clear that all states have obligations to bring that unlawful situation to an end. These sanctions would be an important move towards meeting our moral as well as our legal obligations,” he added.

More than 140 Labour MPs, including Burgon, have called for the trade ban. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said on August 19 that Israel’s E1 tender was “an unacceptable and destructive act,” pledging a “comprehensive set of measures” targeting sanctions “at those who participate in illegal settlement expansion”.

Human Rights Watch’s Sarah Sanbar said the UK has “long been calling on … more than just condemn”, adding that “banning trade with illegal settlements would make war crimes less profitable.” Critics, including Labour Friends of Israel, argue a ban risks broader economic blowback. Recent YouGov polling found one in two Britons support such a ban.

Happened in the occupied West Bank

• A 13-year-old girl and a 38-year-old woman were shot in the head by Israeli forces this morning during a raid in the city of Yatta, south of Hebron. Their conditions were reported to be stable.
• Israeli troops arrested a young man in the village of Rashaydeh, east of Bethlehem, in the early hours.
• Soldiers stormed the town of Tammun, southeast of Tubas, at dawn and searched several homes.
• Israeli authorities seized 15,342 dunams (15sq km) of land in the city of Al-Bireh, with the aim of establishing what they describe as a “security route” around the Psagot settlement.

Far-right Israeli minister pushes illegal West Bank settlement

Bezalel Smotrich, says the plan to build a new illegal settlement in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank will prevent Palestinians from ever having their own state.

“The construction I am spearheading in the E1 area puts an end to the dream of establishing a terror state next to Jerusalem,” the far-right finance minister posted on X.

“Anyone who opposes construction in E1 supports the establishment of a Palestinian state – even if they lie to you and try to present a different position.”

All Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal under international law. In July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation unlawful.

Israel’s replacement of historical names in Jerusalem ‘aimed at Judaising the city’

Haroun Nasser al-Din, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, says the replacement of historical Arabic names with Hebrew names and Israel’s threat to demolish dozens of schools in Jerusalem are part of a comprehensive war and escalating crimes against the city and its residents.

In a statement, he said that these actions are “aimed at Judaising the city and displacing its inhabitants”.

The Hamas member explained that replacing historical names in the city with Hebrew names is “a falsification of history and facts, and a desperate attempt to obliterate the Islamic and Arab identity of occupied Jerusalem”.

Nasser al-Din also said that Israel’s threat to demolish dozens of schools constitutes “a war crime aimed at keeping the Palestinian people ignorant and undermining their steadfastness and resilience on their land”.

"..aimed at Judaising the city.."

"Judaising" is a term to replace the description of the act that explains it is erasing all references to the very Palestinian existence, to fabricate the claim that Palestinians never have existed."

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem calls the West Bank a ‘lawless land’

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, called the West Bank a “lawless land” at a conference in Italy this week.

“The West must help raise its gaze somewhat, create perspectives, and also help calm this continuing downward spiral through ever greater diplomatic efforts,” the cardinal said, as reported by Vatican News.

“Sooner or later, the pope will come to the Holy Land … it is only a matter of time,” Pizzaballa said at the annual Rimini Meeting, adding that a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine “is the only way” to recognise both Israeli and Palestinian right “to have a home in their own land”.

The cardinal also said the situation in Gaza has “deteriorated enormously”.

Besieged Qusra residents fear permanent Israeli presence

Israeli forces have installed three new metal gates near Palestinian homes that are under siege in Qusra, in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians fear the gates could signal a permanent Israeli presence and further restrict access to their houses and land.

Happened in the occupied West Bank

The Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported attacks by settlers and the Israeli military across the occupied West Bank today.

• These attacks resulted in the deaths or killings of four people and the injury of dozens of others.
• Twelve Palestinians were arrested, and their homes were searched and destroyed.
• Agricultural and water infrastructure, along with dozens of homes and facilities, received demolition and seizure orders.
• There is a continued siege and systematic isolation measures for villages in the vicinity of Jerusalem.
• Two women and a 14-year-old girl sustained facial and head injuries when Israeli forces fired live ammunition at a vehicle carrying several women south of Hebron.
• A number of Palestinians suffered from tear gas inhalation after Israeli forces raided the village of Al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, south of Nablus, firing tear gas and stun grenades indiscriminately, which also caused fires near some homes.
• In an incident of settler violence, a Palestinian man sustained injuries and bruises to his abdomen after being pelted with stones east of Bethlehem.