AL-HATHRURA: As relentless harassment from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/who-are-the-west-bank-settlers" style="color:#0073e6;">Israeli settlers</a>&nbsp;drove his brothers from their Bedouin community in the central occupied West Bank, Ahmed Kaabneh remained determined to stay on the land his family had lived on for generations. But when a handful of young settlers constructed a shack around 100 meters above his home and started intimidating his children, 45-year-old Kaabneh said he had no choice but to flee too. As with scores of Bedouin communities across the West Bank, the small cluster of wood and metal houses where Kaabneh&rsquo;s father and grandfather had lived now lies empty. &lsquo;Nearly a lifetime&rsquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;It is very difficult... because you leave an area where you lived for 45 years. Not a day or two or three, but nearly a lifetime,&rdquo; Kaabneh told AFP at his family&#39;s new makeshift house in the rocky hills north of Jericho. &ldquo;But what can you do? They are the strong ones and we are the weak, and we have no power.&rdquo; Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and violence there has soared since the Gaza war&nbsp;erupted in October 2023. Over 3,000 displaced&nbsp;Some 3,200 Palestinians from dozens of Bedouin and herding communities have been forced from their homes by settler violence and movement restrictions since October 2023, the UN&#39;s humanitarian agency OCHA reported in October. The United Nations said this October was the worst month for settler violence since it began recording incidents in 2006. Almost none of the perpetrators have been held to account by the Israeli authorities. Kaabneh, four of his brothers, and their families now live together some 13 kilometers (eight miles) northeast of their original homes, which sat in the al-Hathrura area. Outside his freshly constructed metal house, boys kicked a football while washing hung from the line.&nbsp; But Kaabneh said the area did not feel like home. &ldquo;We are in a place we have never lived in before, and life here is hard,&rdquo; he said. Settler outpostsAlongside surging violence, the number of settler outposts has exploded in the West Bank. While all Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, outposts are also prohibited under Israeli law.&nbsp; But many end up being legalized by the Israeli authorities. AFP had visited Kaabneh in the al-Hathrura area weeks before he was forced to flee. On the dirt road to his family&#39;s compound, caravans and an Israeli flag atop a hill marked an outpost established earlier this year -- one of several to have sprung up in the area. &lsquo;The situation is terrifying&rsquo;On the other side of the track, in the valley, lay the wreckage of another Bedouin compound whose residents had recently fled. While in Kaabneh&#39;s cluster of homes, AFP witnessed two settlers driving up a hill to surveil the Bedouins below. &ldquo;The situation is terrifying,&rdquo; Kaabneh said at the time, with life becoming almost untenable because of daily harassment and shrinking grazing land. &lsquo;Shout all night&rsquo;Less than three weeks later, the homes were deserted. Kaabneh said the settlers &ldquo;would shout all night, throw stones, and walk through the middle of the houses.&rdquo; &ldquo;They didn&#39;t allow us to sleep at night, nor move freely during the day.&rdquo; &lsquo;Thrive on chaos&rsquo;These days, only activists and the odd cat wander the remnants of Kaabneh&#39;s former life -- where upturned children&#39;s bikes and discarded shoes reveal the chaotic departure. &quot;We are here to keep an eye on the property... because a lot of places that are abandoned are usually looted by the settlements,&quot; said Sahar Kan-Tor, 29, an Israeli activist with the Israeli-Palestinian grassroots group Standing Together. Meanwhile, settlers with a quad bike and a digger were busy dismantling their hilltop shack and replacing it with a sofa and a table. &ldquo;They thrive on chaos,&rdquo; Kan-Tor explained. &ldquo;It is, in a way, a land without laws. There (are) authorities roaming around, but nothing is enforced, or very rarely enforced.&rdquo; 14% of West BankA report by Israeli settlement watchdogs last December said settlers had used shepherding outposts to seize 14% of the West Bank in recent years. NGOs Peace Now and Kerem Navot said settlers were acting &ldquo;with the backing of the Israeli government and military&rdquo;. Some members of Israel&#39;s right-wing government are settlers themselves, and far-right ministers have called for the West Bank&#39;s annexation. Threat of attacks loom&nbsp;Kan-Tor said he believed settlers were targeting this stretch of the West Bank because of its significance for a contiguous Palestinian state. But Kaabneh said the threat of attacks loomed even in his new location in the east of the territory. He said settlers had already driven along the track leading to his family&#39;s homes and watched them from the hill above. &ldquo;Even this area, which should be considered safe, is not truly safe,&rdquo; Kaabneh lamented. &ldquo;They pursue us everywhere.&rdquo;

Middle East

A report by Israeli settlement watchdogs last December said settlers had used shepherding outposts to seize 14% of the West Bank in recent years; 3,200 Palestinians have been displaced because of settler violence since October 2023.

‘Land without laws’: Israeli settlers force Bedouins from West Bank community

NUR SHAMS: An Al Jazeera journalist was shot and injured while covering a demonstration by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank that was dispersed by Israeli soldiers, AFP journalists witnessed on Tuesday.&nbsp;The demonstrators were protesting their displacement by Israel from the Nur Shams refugee camp on the edge of Tulkarem in the north of the Palestinian territory.&nbsp;&quot;Al Jazeera cameraman Fadi Yassin was shot in the leg by Israeli forces in the city of Tulkarem,&quot; Al Jazeera reported.&nbsp;The journalist was evacuated by ambulance after being shot while working in the middle of a crowd of about 150 camp residents, AFP journalists reported.&nbsp;&quot;His condition is stable and we managed to control the bleeding,&quot; Palestinian Red Crescent Society paramedic Abdullah Nairat, who handled the medical evacuation, told AFP.&nbsp;&quot;A bullet entered his right leg from the outside, passed through, and hit his left thigh.&quot;&nbsp;Nur Shams residents were demonstrating for the right to return to their homes inside the camp, which was evacuated in early 2025 during an ongoing Israeli military operation in several refugee camps in the northern West Bank.&nbsp;After gunshots rang out from inside Nur Shams, Yassin fell, AFP journalists reported. He was then carried to an ambulance.&nbsp;Israeli soldiers then walked down from inside the camp and began to disperse the crowd, briefly detaining two demonstrators and a cameraman for Jordanian television channel Roya.&nbsp;When asked for comment by AFP, the Israeli military said it was looking into the incident.&nbsp;&quot;It&#39;s one of the most basic rights we were given, to have the (refugee) camp after they displaced us in 1948,&quot; Noha Zait, a Nur Shams resident, told AFP before the demonstration was dispersed.&nbsp;Refugee camps were created in the Palestinian territories and in neighboring Arab countries for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel at the time of the country&#39;s creation in 1948.&nbsp;&quot;We must return to our homes, and not a single soldier should remain in the camp,&quot; added Zait, 56.&nbsp;Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.&nbsp;It says its months-long operation in the territory&#39;s north is aimed at cracking down on several camps that are strongholds of Palestinian armed groups.&nbsp;The UN humanitarian agency OCHA says that nearly 40,000 Palestinians were displaced by the Israeli operation in the refugee camps of the northern West Bank.

An Al Jazeera cameraman was shot and injured by Israeli forces while covering a protest in Nur Shams camp, where displaced Palestinians were demanding a return to their homes. 

Al Jazeera journalist shot and injured at West Bank protest

GAZA CITY: The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza confirmed Saturday it had received the bodies of 15 Palestinians the day before under the US-brokered ceasefire exchange deal.&nbsp;&quot;The Ministry of Health announces the receipt of 15 bodies of martyrs who were released yesterday, Friday, by the Israeli occupation through the Red Cross. This brings the total number of bodies received to 330&quot; as part of the deal, the ministry said, adding it had so far identified 97.&nbsp;They were returned in exchange for the remains of 73-year-old Israeli hostage Meny Godard, which Hamas returned via the Red Cross on Thursday.

Gaza’s health ministry confirmed receiving 15 Palestinian bodies under a US-brokered ceasefire exchange, raising the total returned to 330.

Gaza ministry confirms received bodies of 15 Palestinians under truce deal

RAMALLAH: Israeli forces shot dead an 11-year-old boy in the occupied West Bank, his family and health officials said Friday, while the army said its troops opened fire at rock throwers.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;The Palestinian health ministry said that Mohammad Hallaq was shot dead on Thursday by Israeli soldiers &quot;in the town of Al-Rihiya, south of Hebron. The bullet penetrated his pelvis.&quot;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Hallaq&#39;s uncle, also named Mohammad Hallaq, told AFP the child was sitting in front of his house when an army patrol passed by during a confrontation with a group of older youths.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;(The soldiers) fired directly at (the older boys), and he was killed,&quot; the uncle told AFP, adding the child was sitting away from the youths.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;The Israeli military told AFP that soldiers had shot and struck people during an altercation while deployed in Al-Rihiya.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;Soldiers responded with fire toward the suspects in the rock-hurling. Hits were identified,&quot; it said, using the language it generally uses to say troops shot and hit someone.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Ayed Abu Eqtaish, an official for Defence for Children International Palestine, a rights organisation, said the incident took place around 5:00 pm (1400 GMT), after which Hallaq was transported to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;The number of children and teenagers shot dead by Israeli forces in the West Bank after being suspected of throwing rocks dramatically increased in 2025.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;A Palestinian teenager who held US citizenship was shot dead by the army in April, followed by a 14-year-old in June in the town of Sinjil in June, and a 15-year-old in July.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;On each occasion, the military said the youths had thrown rocks at its troops.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;The Palestinian health ministry also reported on Thursday evening that an adult, 20-year-old Mahdi Kamil, was killed by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;The Israeli military told AFP that its troops killed a Palestinian militant in Qabatiya on Thursday after he threw &quot;an explosive device&quot; towards soldiers deployed in the area.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;The soldiers responded with fire and eliminated the terrorist,&quot; it said.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 where violence has surged since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, 2023.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Since then, Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 986 Palestinians in the West Bank,&nbsp;including many militants, according to health ministry figures.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Over the same period, at least 43 Israelis, including members of security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to official figures.

 Palestinians gather for Friday prayers amid the rubble of a destroyed building in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, October 17, 2025. (AP)

The Palestinian health ministry said that Mohammad Hallaq was shot dead on Thursday by Israeli soldiers "in the town of Al-Rihiya, south of Hebron. The bullet penetrated his pelvis."

Family says Israeli forces kill 11-year-old Palestinian in West Bank

GAZA CITY: Gaza&#39;s civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 50 people across the Palestinian territory on Friday. The Israeli military is pressing an offensive in Gaza City, from which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee in recent weeks. The civil defense agency -- a rescue force operating in Gaza -- reported at least 50 Palestinians killed across the territory since dawn, 30 of them in Gaza City. Israel&#39;s military said the air force had during the past day &quot;struck over 140 targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including terrorists, tunnel shafts (and) military infrastructure&quot;. AFP footage from Al-Shati refugee camp near Gaza City showed heavy damage to buildings after an air strike. Searching through rubble&nbsp;A barefoot young girl was among those searching through the rubble for belongings. Toppled poles left a web of cables on the ground. Netanyahu said at the United Nations on Friday that the military had &quot;crushed the bulk&quot; of Hamas&#39;s &quot;terror machine&quot; and sought to finish the job &quot;as fast as possible.&quot; He said his speech was being partially broadcast in Gaza on military loudspeakers. A statement from his office said the military had &quot;taken over the telephones of Gaza residents and Hamas members&quot;, and that the address was being broadcast live on the devices. &quot;It&#39;s a lie -- we haven&#39;t received any messages or anything on the phone, and we didn&#39;t hear any loudspeakers,&quot; said Randa Hanoun, 30, a displaced Palestinian living in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. &quot;This is just an attempt to stir fear in our hearts and to make us pay attention to Netanyahu&#39;s speech... But we don&#39;t care about his speeches and we don&#39;t want to hear a single word from him.&quot; Two AFP contributors in southern Gaza and one in Gaza City said they hadn&#39;t heard the speech on the loudspeakers, nor received anything on their phones. &lsquo;10 people in a small tent&rsquo;&nbsp;Israel launched its ground offensive on Gaza City on September 16. The military said on Thursday that 700,000 Palestinians had fled the urban hub since late August. The UN humanitarian office said the displacement of 388,400 people had been recorded since mid-August, most of them from Gaza City. Um Youssef al-Shaer, a 50-year-old displaced Palestinian living in the tent city of of Al-Mawasi on the Mediterranean coast, told AFP that the area had become overcrowded as more and more Palestinians sought refuge there. &quot;We are piled on top of each other in a single tent -- me, my husband, our six children and my husband&#39;s elderly parents -- 10 people in a small tent,&quot; she said. Over nearly two years, Israeli war on Gaza have killed at least 65,549 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Gaza, figures the UN considers reliable.

Israeli forces killed at least 50 Palestinians Friday amid intensified Gaza City offensives. Over 140 targets were struck. Displacement grows, with overcrowded shelters and rising civilian tolls. Netanyahu claims Hamas weakened. 

Israeli forces kill at least 50 Palestinians: Gaza civil defense 

GAZA: An Israeli air strike on a home where displaced people had taken refuge in central Gaza killed at least 11 people on Thursday, the territory&#39;s civil defence spokesperson told AFP. Israel has intensified its offensive on the devastated Palestinian territory in recent weeks, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee. &quot;Eleven people were killed and many are missing or wounded after an Israeli airstrike targeted a house... which was sheltering displaced people north of Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip,&quot; civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said. Several children killed&nbsp;Several children were among those killed, the emergency services said, and their bodies were taken to a nearby hospital. Over nearly two years, Israeli military operations have killed at least 65,419 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Gaza, figures the UN considers reliable. The US-backed offensive on Gaza City came as a United Nations probe accused Israel of committing &quot;genocide&quot; in the Gaza Strip, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials had incited the crime. Famine&nbsp;Israel rejected the findings and slammed the probe as &quot;distorted and false&quot;. Large parts of Gaza have been laid to waste, and last month a body backed by the United Nations officially declared famine in part of the territory. &quot;We lost our children, our homes and our places,&quot; Najia Abu Amsha, a Palestinian whose nephew was killed while waiting for aid, said Wednesday. &quot;We became beggars and sick.&quot;

An Israeli airstrike on a home sheltering displaced people in central Gaza killed 11, including children. The strike comes amid intensified Israeli operations, UN genocide accusations, and worsening conditions, including famine.

Articles tagged with "Palestinians"

‘Land without laws’: Israeli settlers force Bedouins from West Bank community

Al Jazeera journalist shot and injured at West Bank protest

Gaza ministry confirms received bodies of 15 Palestinians under truce deal

Family says Israeli forces kill 11-year-old Palestinian in West Bank

Israeli forces kill at least 50 Palestinians: Gaza civil defense

Israeli strike kills 11 Palestinians: Gaza civil defence