Dozens of Israeli Settlers Raze Homes and Cars in Overnight West Bank Rampage, Haaretz
Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din said that settlers attacked the father of the family with stones and sticks, leading to his hospitalization. Hawara’s mayor said that the father suffered skull fractures. According to one security source, the security coordinator of the Yitzhar settlement was also attacked by the settlers, using clubs.
Israel Warns Lebanon to Ensure Hezbollah Adheres to Truce or Face Attacks Itself, The Times of Israel
Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Tuesday that if the recently implemented ceasefire with Hezbollah collapses, the state of Lebanon will no longer be exempt from blame for attacks, and Israel’s military responses will not distinguish between the terror group and the country where it is based.
As Israel Bans UNRWA, Palestinians Stand to Lose Schools and Clinics, Not Only in Gaza, NPR
A question mark also hangs over dozens of UNRWA-operated health clinics and the wide-ranging social services the agency provides, not only in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, but also in war-torn Gaza. Without the cooperation of Israel that has existed since UNRWA’s inception some 75 years ago, many fear the agency cannot continue functioning.
An Israeli Strike Kills a Person in Lebanon, Further Shaking the Tenuous Ceasefire, AP
Netanyahu vowed keep striking “with an iron fist” against perceived Hezbollah violations of the truce. His defense minister warned that if the ceasefire collapses, Israel will target not just Hezbollah but the Lebanese state.
Israeli Leaders Applaud Trump Pledge on Hostages, Gazans Fear the Worst, Reuters
Mohammed Dahlan, like hundreds of thousands of Gazans, has had to flee his house because of the fighting and is desperate for the war to end. But he said he was shocked by Trump. “We were hoping that the new administration would bring with it a breakthrough …. but it seems (Trump) is in complete agreement with the Israeli administration.”
MKs File Bill To Enable Police Probes Against AG Amid Growing Campaign To Oust Her, The Times of Israel
Coalition lawmakers on Tuesday revealed the draft of a bill that would enable criminal investigations against the attorney general and the state attorney, amid a campaign within the government seeking Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s ouster.
Israeli Forces Advance in Khan Younis Area of Southern Gaza, 20 Killed Across Enclave, Reuters
Israeli tanks pushed into northern parts of the Khan Younis area in the south of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and Palestinian medics said Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 20 people across the enclave.
Israeli Prisons for Gaza Detainees Cannot Become a Black Hole of Human Rights Violations, Haaretz
The Haaretz Editorial Board writes, “It’s comforting to believe that this isn’t part of a policy. But in practice, many Gazans are searching for their relatives not only amid the rubble, but also within the walls of Israel’s prisons. The lack of transparency forces them to try gathering scraps of information from freed detainees or lawyers who visit the jails. And many of them remain without answers.”
Why These Israeli Men Volunteered To Fight – but Now Refuse To Return to Gaza, BBC
Fergal Keane shares, “Significantly, the IDI poll also suggests that the sense of solidarity which marked the opening days of the war as the country reeled from the trauma of 7 October has been overtaken by the revival of political divisions: only 26% of Israelis believe there is now a sense of togetherness, while 44% say there is not.”
So Joe Biden’s Reading Rashid Khalidi. You Should Too, The Forward
Rob Eshman writes, “‘There is no better or more important introduction to this history from the Palestinian perspective than Khalidi’s book,’ Daniel Sokatch, CEO of the New Israel Fund, wrote in an email. ‘From the Palestinian perspective’ is the key. Most American Jews – the vast majority of whom are supportive of Israel – are raised with only one narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and are therefore unable to understand, or even consider, why Israel engenders so much opposition […]. Like the Passover story of the child who does not know what to ask, too many American Jews can’t even fathom that there is a different point of view, based on a different experience and interpretation of the same historical events.”
Unleashed: Abuse of Palestinians by Israeli Soldiers in the Center of Hebron [Report], B’Tselem
B’Tselem gathered 25 testimonies from Palestinians who were abused by Israeli soldiers in central Hebron between May and August 2024. The testimonies describe acts of violence, humiliation, and abuse directed by soldiers at men, women, teenagers and children. Victims gave harrowing accounts of physical and psychological abuse, including beatings, whipping, having cigarettes put out on their bodies, blows to their genitals, injection of an unidentified substance, prolonged binding and blindfolding, threats, insults and more.