B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights group, said in a 249-page report published on Tuesday that Tel Aviv is working to erase Palestinian life in the West Bank far more obviously than before the Hamas attack in 2023, and said its effort relies heavily on “cooperation between official state authorities and settler militias operating in the West Bank with state backing and support,” according to a report in Haaretz.
About a week and a half before Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the group was planning a “major operation” and that Tel Aviv should be prepared, but the Israeli leader “did nothing,” Haaretz reported, citing a new book “Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment.”
Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese president, called out Israel for its “repeated violations” of the ceasefire that was announced in June and warned that Tel Aviv’s latest attack on a government building and hospital inside the country could lead to a “dangerous escalation,” according to the Financial Times.
The Houthis in Yemen made big gains last week and seized areas along the Red Sea coast and a strategic island in the vital Bab al-Mandab Strait, which was seen as a major setback for the Saudis and a new headache for the Trump administration that has been at war with Iran in the nearby Strait of Hormuz.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a Rosh Hashanah toast earlier this month during a meeting with top security officials and said that the end of the “Iranian regime is near” and that he was determined to see its downfall.
Israeli ‘settlers’ have besieged homes in the hilltop town of Qusra in the West Bank for over a week, and residents said the IDF, which is supposed to intervene in these attacks, did nothing to stop it.
The Israeli military has been accused of intentionally setting wildfires in southern Lebanon, according to a report last week.
Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, said earlier this week that the IDF will not be withdrawing from so-called security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza to ensure the security of northern Israel, drawing a swift response from the White House.
The UN special coordinator for Lebanon said in a statement released Saturday that his office is deeply concerned about the “scale of detonations and demolitions taking place in south Lebanon,” which is being committed by occupying IDF troops under the auspices of rooting out Hezbollah infrastructure.
Israel has killed at least 73,333 Palestinians and wounded another 174,023 since the start of its genocidal war in Gaza in October 2023.