Latest news with #Israeli-controlled
Gulf Insider
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Gulf Insider
Last Christian Town In West Bank Attacked And Besieged By Israeli Settlers
The last entirely-Christian town in the Israeli-controlled West Bank is enduring a wave of attacks by violent Jewish settlers, a local church leader says, prompting families to flee and leading clergy to declare the town is 'no longer safe' for its inhabitants. Ominously, settlers have also set up an 'outpost' on the fringe of that town — Taybeh, Ramallah — a 4,500-year-old community with huge significance in the story of Jesus Christ. 'The town, which the Gospel of John (11:54) refers to as 'Ephraim' — the place Jesus withdrew to before his passion — is no longer safe for its people today,' Father Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of Taybeh's Church of Christ the Redeemer, told the Catholic, Arabic-language ACI MENA news service. 'We do not live in peace but in daily fear and last October, more than 10 families have left Taybeh due to fear from ongoing violence and harassment.' This and other videos embedded below are circulating on social media, purportedly capturing the settlers' latest attacks on Taybeh this week ( BBC confirms an attack took place on Wednesday): This is only the latest in an ongoing pattern of aggression directed toward Taybeh's inhabitants, a pattern that has also included stealing farm equipment, and destroying crops with fire or by releasing settlers' cattle to devour them, Catholic News Agency reports. Settlers have established an outpost on the town's eastern edge, on the remains of a farmhouse abandoned by Christians who'd fled about a year ago under the growing settler campaign of violence and intimidation. An 'outpost' is a Jewish settlement on Palestinian land that's not authorized by the Israeli government. Outposts typically begin with something as small as a tent or a van, and are frequently situated on hilltops or agricultural land. In the case of 'herding outposts,' settlers will bring livestock that they allow to graze over a wide area with the goal of establishing a larger claim. Despite outposts' lack of government permission at the outset, the Israeli government often legalizes them retroactively, cementing the Palestinians' loss of the land. (Note, there are both Christian and Muslim Palestinians, and both varieties experience the iniquities associated with being non-Jewish in the West Bank.) Israeli settlers attack the Christian Palestinian village of Taybeh. Meanwhile, if Christians or Muslims defend themselves, the Israeli military will kill them. — Khalil Sayegh (@KhalilJeries) June 25, 2025 The settler outpost on Taybeh's periphery sits in an economically-essential agricultural zone that comprises 4,200 acres out of the town's total 5,900 acres. The land is used for olive groves and seasonal crops, along with raising poultry and sheep. In the usual sequence of events, Jews in the outposts begin harassing the Palestinians whose families have long lived off that land, preventing them from accessing it. Such behavior is often carried out as Israeli security forces stand by and watch — often intervening only when Palestinians fight back. Local Christians say this agricultural-deprivation tactic is exactly what's playing out in Taybeh: During the latest olive harvest season, for the second year in a row, farmers were barred from accessing their land near the Rimmonim settlement — which was built on confiscated Taybeh land — resulting in either theft or complete spoilage of the olive crop. Approximately 20 families were physically assaulted while trying to reach their land…. 'These days, settlers are grazing their cows on a hill planted with olive and barley fields right next to people's homes. Locals see this as part of a systematic effort to strangle them economically and push them out,' [said Father Fawadleh] — ACI MENA / Catholic News Agency Horrific night in the West Bank: Israeli settlers are currently attacking the Christian village of Taybeh, near Ramallah—setting homes on fire and shooting at residents. — Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) June 25, 2025 Here, a Palestinian Christian explains how he, his family and fellow Taybeh residents are preyed upon by West Bank settlers seeking to take over the land: "Jesus Christ came here a week before he was crucified," a Palestinian in Taybeh told me. Taybeh is the largest Palestinian Christian community in the West Bank. Since October 7th, armed Jewish settlers and the Israeli army, emboldened by the war in Gaza, have been terrorizing… — Jeremy Loffredo (@loffredojeremy) March 31, 2024 Click here to read more…
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Gaza health authorities say Israel kills 44 waiting for aid as war's death toll passes 56,000
Advertisement In central Gaza, three witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli forces opened fire as people advanced east toward aid trucks south of Wadi Gaza. 'It was a massacre,' said Ahmed Halawa. He said tanks and drones fired at people, 'even as we were fleeing. Many people were either martyred or wounded.' Hossam Abu Shahada said drones were flying over the area, watching the crowds, then there was gunfire from tanks and drones as people were moving eastward. He described a 'chaotic and bloody' scene as people tried to escape. He said he saw at least three people lying motionless and many others wounded. Mourners prayed over the body of a person killed a day earlier while attempting to get aid at a distribution point near the Israeli-controlled Zikim border crossing, at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday. OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images Israel's military said it was reviewing the incident, which took place near the Netzarim corridor, a road that separates northern and southern Gaza. The Awda hospital in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, which received the victims, confirmed 25 deaths and said 146 others were wounded. It said 62 were in critical condition and transferred to other hospitals. Advertisement In the central town of Deir al-Balah, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital said it received the bodies of six people from the same incident. In the southernmost city of Rafah, witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire as crowds tried to reach another food distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. At least 19 were killed and 50 others wounded, according to Nasser hospital and Gaza's Health Ministry. Two witnesses said Israeli troops started firing as thousands of Palestinians massed at the Shakoush area, several hundred meters (yards) from the distribution site. The Israeli military did not immediately return a request for comment. Salem Ismail was in the crowd and was shot in a leg. He said he saw forces firing towards the crowd who were moving north toward the site. Ayman Abu Joda said he saw heavy gunfire from Israeli tanks and that many people were shot. He said he helped evacuate three wounded people, one hit in the chest and two in the legs. 'It was the same tragedy every day: We seek food and the occupation opens fire and kills many,' he said. The casualty toll was confirmed to The Associated Press by Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Health Ministry's records department. The GHF said on social media its hub there opened Tuesday at 10 a.m. and closed after finishing food distribution. It called on people not to head to the hub. Displaced Palestinians stay at a tent camp in Gaza City, pictured on Monday. Jehad Alshrafi/Associated Press Israel wants the GHF to replace a system coordinated by the United Nations and international aid groups. Along with the United States, it accuses Hamas of stealing aid, without offering evidence. The U.N. denies there is systematic diversion of aid. Advertisement The GHF sites are in Israeli military zones where independent media have no access. Death toll in Gaza over 56,000 Meanwhile, Gaza's Health Ministry said Israel's 21-month military operation in Gaza has killed 56,077 people. The war was sparked by Hamas' surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed around 1,200 people dead, mostly civilians, and took 251 others hostage. Many have been released by ceasefire or other agreements. The death toll is by far the highest in any round of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. The ministry said the dead include 5,759 who have been killed since Israel resumed fighting on March 18, shattering a two-month ceasefire. The ministry doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half of the dead were women and children. Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, which operates in heavily populated areas. Israel says over 20,000 Hamas militants have been killed, though it has provided no evidence to support that claim. Hamas has not commented on its casualties.
Express Tribune
21-06-2025
- Health
- Express Tribune
Israeli forces kill 60, half near aid centres
Mourned at the morgue of a central Gaza hospital, where victims of a shooting incident near an aid centre were taken. Photo AFP Gaza's civil defence agency said 31 Palestinian aid seekers were among at least 60 people killed Friday by Israeli forces, the latest in a string of deadly incidents near aid distribution sites. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed while waiting for aid in the southern Gaza Strip and 26 others near a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli-controlled strip of land that bisects the Palestinian territory. Thousands of Palestinians have gathered there daily in the hope of receiving food rations, as famine looms across Gaza after more than 20 months of war. The Israeli army told AFP that its troops in the Netzarim area had first fired "warning shots" at "suspects" approaching them. When the individuals continued advancing, "an aircraft struck and eliminated the suspects in order to remove the threat," the army said. Similar incidents have occurred in that area regularly since late May, when the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation opened its distribution centres, as Israel eased a two-month aid blocakde. The privately run foundation's operations in Gaza have been marred by chaotic scenes. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with it over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. Elsewhere in the territory on Friday, Bassal said 14 people were killed in two separate strikes in and around the central city of Deir el-Balah, and 13 others in three Israeli air strikes in the Gaza City area. One of those strikes, which killed three people, hit a phone charging station in the city, Bassal said. In southern Gaza, two people were killed "by Israeli gunfire" in two separate incidents, he added.
The Journal
20-06-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
As the world's eyes turned to Iran this week, Israeli forces killed hundreds of people in Gaza
IN THE LAST week news headlines the world over have been focused on the alarming developments in the Middle East since Israel attacked nuclear and military sites in Iran last Friday, and Iran responded with aerial strikes against Israel. Much of the focus has been on whether the US, under the Trump administration, will carry out strikes on Iran alongside Israel. Trump has prevaricated on the issue, but finally said yesterday that he believes that there a chance for real negotiations to take place, which he is allowing a two weeks window for. He has urged Iran to make an unconditional surrender. Israel's military offensive in Gaza and the deadly manner in which the dispersal of aid into the strip is being managed has continued in the last week at the same time, with several key incidents taking place. The last 24 hours Gaza's civil defence agency has said that 31 Palestinian aid seekers were among at least 60 people killed today by Israeli forces (Gaza is two hours ahead of GMT time). A spokesperson said that five people were killed while waiting for aid in the southern Gaza strip and 26 others were killed in a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli-controlled strip of land that bisets Palestinian territory. Thousands are gathering there daily in an attempt to get food ration, as famine is looming across Gaza after more than 20 months of war. The Israeli army has claimed it fired 'warning shots' at 'suspects' that approached them. They further said that when individuals continued to approach an aircraft 'eliminated the suspects in order to remove the threat'. The Israel and US backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has taken over the distribution of aid into the strip since May, and there have been multiple mass deaths of aid seekers since. Also today, the civil defence agency said that 14 people were killed in two separate strikes in and around the central city of Deir el-Balah, and 13 others in three Israeli air strikes in the Gaza City Area. In Southern Gaza, two others were killed by 'Israeli gunfire'. AFP news agency has said it is now difficult to independently verify death tolls due to Israeli restrictions on media in the Strip, and difficulties in accessing some areas. Today, the former Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren appeared on Today with Claire Byrne, and he disputed reports that people are dying of widespread starvation in Gaza. He claimed that UN is getting its data 'from Hamas', and that Israeli analysts have 'different data'. Oren also claimed that Hamas is killing people near aid sites as In the last week On Thursday, the civil defence agency said that Israeli forces had killed at least 72 people, including another 21 aid seekers near distribution sites. Spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said that six were killed while waiting for aid in Southern Gaza, and 15 were killed in the Netzarim corridor. A man who witnessed the shootings at aid sites told AFP that people had gathered overnight on Wednesday, hoping that aid would be distributed on Thursday morning. 'Around 1:00 am (2200 GMT Wednesday), they started shooting at us,' he said by phone, reporting gunfire, tank shelling and bombs dropped by drones. Another man who spoke to the news agency said the size of the crowd made it impossible for people to escape, and that casualties were left lying on the ground within walking distance of the aid distribution point. 'We couldn't help them or even escape ourselves,' he said. In Northern Gaza – where most territories are under an evacuation order from the IDF – Bassal said that 51 people were killed in nine separate strikes. On the Wednesday, 33 people were reported as being killed by Israeli fire, including 11 aid seekers. Bassal said that 'occupation forces opened fire and launched several shells… at thousands of citizens'. Once again, on Wednesday, the IDF said that a group of 'suspicious individuals' had approached its forces in a manner that 'posed a potential threat'. It said that its troops fired 'warning shots', but that it was 'unaware of injuries'. Advertisement Later on Wednesday, the IDF said one of its soldiers was killed during an operation in Southern Gaza. On the same day the chair of the United Nations' Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Israel and the Palestinian territories said that the new aid 'foundation' is 'outrageous'. 'It involves the United States itself, the government, and it turns out, as we watch daily, that people who go to these centres are being killed as they seek food'. The United Nations and other major aid organisations are refusing to work with the group over concerns that it is furthering Israeli military objectives. West Bank raids In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Israeli military raided refugee camps in the West Bank overnight. An official who runs the Balata Camp said that the military evicted home owners in the camps and told them not to return for 72 hours, and used their homes as interrogation outposts. Imad Zaki said that house-to-house searches were conducted, and that the contents of refugees' homes were destroyed, and residents were 'assaulted'. Zaki said that life in the camp was 'largely paralysed' by the raid. On the Tuesday, the civil defence agency said that more than 50 Palestinians were killed near the aid centre in the territories south, and some 200 people were wounded. A man who witnessed the shootings by military drones said that people were murdered 'in cold blood' who were 'ordinary, unarmed people'. The IDF said that it was looking into reports of injuries, and that a 'gathering' had been identified near an aid distribution truck that 'got stuck'. On Monday the civil defence agency reported that Israeli troops killed 20 people who were waiting to collect food. Bassal said that the Israeli forces opened fire near the Al-Alam roundabout in the southern city of Rafah, where people were waiting to reach the aid distribution site. On the same day, Ahmed al-Farra, the head of the paediatric department at Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Yunis said that people 'are hungry, they didn't get any food since nearly four months ago'. Farra said that the GHF sites are the only way for people to seek out food, and when they get there they are 'killed by snipers'. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had 200 people at its field hospital in the Al-Mawasi area near Rafah on the Monday. On the Sunday it treated 170 patients. In a statement the Red Cross said many of those people 'were wounded by gunshots, and reported that they were trying to access a food distribution site'. On the same day at the G7 summit in Canada, Ursala von der Leyen, the European Commission President, told reporters that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu promised over the phone to do more to bring aid in Gaza. On the Sunday, it was reported that 16 people were killed in Israeli military operations in various parts of the Gaza strip, including three citizens near aid distribution centres. Netanyahu speaking on Fox News. On the Sunday Netanyahu appeared on Fox News, the US channel, and said that he had ordered negotiators to 'advance' talks on the release of hostages being held in Gaza. He said that the US Middle East envoy made an offer to begin a 60-day ceasefire, with half of the remaining hostages being released straight away. Of the 251 hostages that were seized in Hamas's October 7 attacks, 52 are still held in Gaza, including 34 who Israel believes to be dead. On the Saturday, the day after Israel's attacks on Iran, Gaza rescuers said that 41 people were killed in Israeli military operations, more than half of whom were waiting on aid. On the same day, internet access was restored after a three day blackout, which the Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority blamed on Israel (a claim Israel didn't comment on). The Palestine Red Crescent Society said the week before that the blackout had hindered its rescue operations by making it difficult to contact first responders in the field. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Al-Ahram Weekly
20-06-2025
- Health
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Israeli forces kill at least 60 across Gaza, half near aid centres - War on Gaza
Israeli forces killed at least 60 people in Gaza on Friday, including 31 Palestinians seeking aid, the territory's civil defence agency said. Five people died while waiting for aid in the southern Gaza Strip, and 26 others were killed near the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli-controlled area where thousands of Palestinians gather daily hoping to receive food rations amid a deepening humanitarian crisis. Since late May, Israeli forces have killed more than 250 people near aid distribution points run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The foundation faces rejection from UN agencies and major aid groups over concerns it serves Israeli military interests and undermines independent humanitarian efforts. In separate strikes, Israeli attacks killed 14 people near Deir el-Balah and 13 around Gaza City, including one strike on a phone charging station, while Israeli gunfire killed two more Palestinians in the south. The armed wing of the Palestinian group Al-Quds Brigades said it targeted an Israeli military post in Khan Younis, which remains under Israeli military evacuation orders. Gaza's health ministry reported the death toll from Israel's genocidal war on the territory has now reached 55,637, with women and children comprising the majority of victims. Medical officials warn hospitals face imminent shutdown within days as Israeli forces continue to block fuel supplies vital for operating generators that power critical medical equipment, worsening an already catastrophic humanitarian situation. *This story was edited by Ahram Online. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
