LIVE: Middle East nations close borders to contain coronavirus as global pandemic worsens

A member of the Palestinian security forces applies antiseptic gel to his hands while being assisted to wear a protective suit before delivering food supplies to a hotel under quarantine due to COVID-19 in Beit Jala, Bethlehem. (File/AFP)
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Updated 20 March 2020
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LIVE: Middle East nations close borders to contain coronavirus as global pandemic worsens

  • Kuwait Health Ministry has reported six new cases in the past 24 hours
  • The Philippines has 15 new confirmed coronavirus infections, bringing total to 217

DUBAI: Middle Eastern states continue to adopt new regulations restricting movement in and out of their countries as the COVID-19 pandemic endures.

The United Arab Emirates on Thursday announced that residents who are outside the country would be temporarily stopped from returning to the country and banned nationals from traveling abroad.

Hospitals in Oman put non-urgent and routine cases on hold to free up capacity for coronavirus patients.

Meanwhile, Beijing was hit by a record number of imported cases of the coronavirus as new local transmissions in China fell to zero. It was the first time since the virus took hold late last year in Hubei province – including the city of Wuhan, the center of the outbreak – that China has recorded no locally transmitted cases.

Thursday, March 19 (All times in GMT)

21:59 - Tenants of retail shops and restaurants at the hotels of the UAE’s National Corporation for Tourism and Hotels (NCTH) will be exempted from paying rents for three months, the NCTH announced on Thursday, as part of the country’s efforts to fight against the new coronavirus COVID-19

20:45 - More African countries closed their borders Thursday as the coronavirus’ local spread threatened to turn the continent of 1.3 billion people into an alarming new front for the pandemic.

Africa is seeing an “extremely rapid evolution," the World Health Organization's regional chief, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, told reporters.

19:55 - The United States on Thursday warned against any international travel due to the coronavirus pandemic and advised citizens to come home if possible.

Upgrading its travel alert to the highest possible level, the State Department said that Americans who do not return "should be prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period."

19:45 - King Salman received a telephone call from Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Thursday during which the two leaders discussed ways of cooperating and coordinating to fight the coronavirus outbreak and prevent its spread. 

19:30 - France's Cannes Film Festival, arguably the world’s most prestigious film festival and cinema’s largest annual gathering, has postponed its 73rd edition due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Organizers of the French Riviera festival, scheduled to take place May 12-23, said Thursday that they are considering moving the festival to the end of June or the beginning of July.

19:15 - The coronavirus epidemic has killed 108 more people in France over the last 24 hours, bringing the total death toll from the outbreak in the country to 372, the top French health official said Thursday.

"The number of infections is doubling every four days," Jerome Salomon told reporters, adding that the virus was spreading in France "rapidly and intensely".

18:55 - Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's government will approve orders forcing Israelis to stay at home during the coronavirus crisis, only being allowed to leave for food and medicine shopping

18:15 - Saudi Arabia's King Salman made a televised address to the nation regarding the coronavirus outbreak. READ MORE HERE.

17:20 - UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday that Britain can turn the tide against the coronavirus outbreak within the next 12 weeks and eventually "send it packing".

"We can turn the tide within the next 12 weeks and I'm absolutely confident that we can send coronavirus packing in this country but only if we take the steps - we all take the steps - that we have outlined," Johnson said at a news conference.

17:00 - Tunisia has registered its first coronavirus death, an official in the health ministry told Reuters on Thursday.

The North African country, which has reported 39 coronavirus cases, has closed mosques, cafes and markets, shut its land and maritime borders and suspended international flights to try to contain the pandemic. 

16:55 - Brazil on Thursday announced it was closing its land borders for 15 days to nearly all its neighbors to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

A ministerial decree said it was blocking entry "by road or land" from all neighboring countries with the exception of Uruguay to the south.

It shut its border with Venezuela on Tuesday.

16:50 - Millions of people could die from the new coronavirus, particularly in poor countries, if it is allowed to spread unchecked, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Thursday, appealing for a coordinated global response to the pandemic.

"If we let the virus spread like wildfire - especially in the most vulnerable regions of the world - it would kill millions of people," he said.

"Global solidarity is not only a moral imperative, it is in everyone's interests," he said. Guterres stressed the need for a coordinated global response to contain a "health catastrophe" that already has claimed the lives of more than 9,000 people and infected more than 217,500 around the world.

"We need to immediately move away from a situation where each country is undertaking its own health strategies to one that ensures, in full transparency, a coordinated global response, including helping countries that are less prepared to tackle the crisis," he said.

16:50 - Egypt said on Thursday it would shut all cafes, shopping malls, sports clubs and nightclubs from 7 p.m. until 6 a.m. local time every night until March 31, strengthening measures introduced to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

16:30 - The UK's Queen Elizabeth II, who left London and retreated to Windsor Castle this week, has commented on the coronavirus crisis.

16:05 - Kuwait has extended the suspension of schools and universities to August 4, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) said on Thursday.  

16:00 - Abu Dhabi has suspended tourism services and closed desert camps over coronavirus fears.

15:50 -  The US has approved the anti-malarial drug chloroquine for use as a treatment against the new coronavirus, President Donald Trump said Thursday.

"We're going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately, and that's where the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has been so great," Trump told reporters.

"They've gone through the approval process - it's been approved. They took it down from many, many months to immediate. So we're going to be able to make that drug available by prescription."

15:15 - Monaco's Prince Albert II has tested positive for the coronavirus, the principality said in a statement Thursday, adding there were "no concerns for his health".

The head of the tiny Mediterranean enclave is continuing to work from his private apartments at the royal palace, the statement said.

15:10 - Algeria’s health ministry said that there are 90 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country and that nine people have died of the illness.  

15:00 - The death toll from the coronavirus in England rose to 128 on Thursday, the health service said.

"A further 29 people, who tested positive for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) have died," NHS England said. "Patients were aged between 47 and 96 years old and had underlying health conditions."  

14:55 - India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday ordered the country's 1.3 billion population to follow a one-day curfew to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Modi said in an address to the nation that the curfew would be on Sunday from 7:00am to 9:00pm to test the giant country's ability to take tough measures against what he called a growing crisis. The measure would be "in the interest of the country to follow and prepare us for future challenges."

India has reported 173 positive virus cases and four deaths.

14:50 – There's been very eerie scenes in London as the usually packed commuter routes and tourist sites have been virtually deserted. Reuters reports that dozens of underground train stations across the capital were due to be closed and an industry source said supermarkets were expecting police support amid the fears that London was facing a virtual shutdown. MORE HERE

14:45 - Bahrain announced the suspension of Friday prayers accross the country and said that mosques will stay open for the five daily prayers. 

14:30 – An interesting and sombre day in terms of new global figures and some fresh research.

Italy, a country of 60 million, which has suffered 2,978 deaths is likely to overtake China’s 3,249 dead — in a country of 1.4 billion — when Thursday’s figures are released. However in Wuhan, the region in China where the pandemic originated, recorded no new cases on Thursday. MORE HERE more here on the contrasting situations.

14:00 – For all Liverpool fans anxiously waiting for news on whether their team will be able to end their 30-year wait to be champions of England again... the wait goes on a little longer, thanks to the coronavirus chaos.

It was decided that the shutdown of English football would be extended until at least April 30 on Thursday, after the Premier League and English Football League (EFL) held crisis meetings. MORE HERE.




Above, a football fan wearing a protective face mask walks near the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on March 15, 2020. (AFP)

13:50 – The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Netherlands has risen by 409 to a total of 2,460, with 18 new deaths.

12:25  Britain’s Ministry of Defence announced some personnel will be redeployed back to the UK from Iraq after there has been a reduced requirement for training from the Iraqi Security Forces and a pause in the training missions of the global coalition fighting Daesh and NATO in the country due to coronavirus. FULL STORY HERE.

11:00 – Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief negotiator for the bloc’s future relationship with Britain after Brexit, has been infected with the new coronavirus

10:45 – Abu Dhabi Airports temporarily moved several flights from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3.

"On 18th March 2020, Abu Dhabi Airports consolidated operations into two terminals. Select flights operating to and from Terminal 1 are now operating out of Terminal 3," the company said in a statement.

10:45 – Iran said death toll from the coronavirus outbreak has risen to 1,284, with total cases now at 18,407.

10:40 – Saudi Arabia’s ‘Jeddah Season’ announced in a statement that it has cancelled the festival due to the coronavirus outbreak.

10:35 – Tunisia reported 10 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 38.

10:30 – Belgium recorded 309 new coronavirus cases on March 18, a spokesman for the Belgian health ministry said on Thursday, bringing the total number of infected in the country to 1,795. The spokesman said that 7 new deaths were recorded on Wednesday because of the coronavirus, for a total of 21 in the country since the beginning of the epidemic.

10:15 – Belgium health minister said 309 new coronavirus cases were confirmed on March 18, in largest jump in a day in the country.

10:10 – Morocco’s Health Ministry recorded four new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 58.

10:10 –  The United Arab Emirate’s General Authority of Sports canceled all activities and tournaments starting until further notice.

09:40 – Egypt will shut all cafes, malls, sporting clubs and nightclubs from 7:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. local time, starting Thursday, until March 31 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the government said in a statement. The government said supermarkets and pharmacies were exempt for the closure. The country has so far registered 210 cases of the new respiratory disease, including 6 deaths.

09:00 – The Philippines’ foreign minister has signed an order stopping issuance of visas to foreigners, with no ‘no exceptions’, to halt coronavirus spread.

08:55 – Sri Lanka election commission said country will not be in a position to hold parliamentary elections on April 25 due to coronavirus regulations.

08:50 – Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Morocco have suspended a rule requiring airlines to use most of their scheduled services or else forfeit landing slots at airports due to the coronavirus outbreak, International Air Transport Association Africa and Middle East Vice President Muhammad Ali Albakri said.




Dubai suspended a rule requiring airlines to use most of their scheduled services or else forfeit landing slots at airports. (AFP)

08:45 – The Philippine health ministry has reported 15 new confirmed coronavirus infections, bringing total to 217. Meanwhile, the Philippines’ health secretary Francisco Duque III said he was on self-quarantine and has undergone tests despite showing no signs of coronavirus disease.

08:50 – Kuwait Health Ministry has announced six new cases in the past 24 hours.

08:45 – Italy will extend lockdown measures over coronavirus, PM Conte.

08:40 – Up to 20,000 British military service personnel will be put on standby to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak, the defence ministry said on Thursday.
The number represented a doubling of service personnel who are on standby.

08:15 – The Turkish association of shopping centers has recommended the closure of malls close due to the spread of the coronavirus.




Turkey has ramped up steps to rein in the virus, closing cafes, banning mass prayers and halting flights to 20 countries. (AFP)

08:05 – Russia said on Thursday a 79-year-old woman with underlying health issues who tested positive for the new coronavirus had died from pneumonia, the country’s first confirmed death resulting from the virus.
Russia has reported 147 cases of the coronavirus.

07:30 – Thailand reported 60 new coronavirus cases, a health official said.

06:40 – The historic Queen Elizabeth 2, refurbished as a luxury hotel while permanently docked at Dubai’s Mina Rashid, is closing its facilities starting noon of Thursday, March 19, until September 1 as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus.




The historic Queen Elizabeth 2 was refurbished as a luxury hotel while permanently docked at Dubai’s Mina Rashid. (AFP)

06:25 – Amazon.com Inc. said on Thursday that one of its associates had tested positive for coronavirus at its Queens, New York delivery station and it will temporarily shut down the hub for additional sanitation. The company said it will send associates home with full pay.

06:05 – Indonesia halted a mass congregation of nearly 9,000 Muslim pilgrims and began quarantining and checking their health Thursday to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

05:35 – French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday gave his full backing for the European Central Bank's (ECB) latest monetary stimulus measures aimed at helping the euro zone fight the global coronavirus crisis.

“Full support for the exceptional measures taken this evening by the ECB. It is now up to us, the European states, to step up to the plate via our budgetary interventions and to show a bigger financial solidarity at the heart of the euro zone,” wrote Macron on Twitter.

05:25 – Jordan has started closing down Amman and other governorates. 

05:10 – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the country’s border would be closed for foreigners from midnight on Thursday, but citizens and permanent residents can still return.

05:00 – Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison said a travel ban will be placed on non-residents and non-Australian citizens, effective Friday at 9p.m. local time, as an overwhelming number of cases of coronavirus have come from overseas.

04:30 – Turkish clothing retailers, including Mavi Giyim and Vakko Tekstil, are temporarily shutting stores in response to the spread of a coronavirus, they said.

Wednesday’s announcements to the Istanbul stock exchange followed President Tayyip Erdogan's advice to Turks not to leave home for three weeks, unless necessary, and to minimise social contact until the virus threat recedes. Turkey announced a second death and said infections had nearly doubled to 191, despite ramping

up steps to rein in the virus, such as closing cafes, banning mass prayers and halting flights to 20 countries.

04:15 – The United States is suspending routine visa services in most countries because of the coronavirus pandemic, the State Department announced late Wednesday.

It said embassies and consulates in “most countries worldwide ... will cancel all routine immigrant and nonimmigrant visa appointments as of March 18, 2020.”

It did not specify which countries would be exempted from the suspension, which was in response to “worldwide challenges” related to the deadly pandemic.

03:50 – Australia’s biggest airline Qantas said it would halt all international flights and suspend 20,000 staff in response to the coronavirus pandemic, days after the island nation’s other main carrier Virgin shut its overseas routes.

03:35 – Two US lawmakers including a Florida representative on Wednesday became the first members of Congress to announce they have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart’s office said in a statement that “just a short while ago, he was notified that he has tested positive for COVID-19.”

The Republican who represents part of Miami follows that city's Mayor Francis Suarez, who announced that he had tested positive for coronavirus last week.

03:10 – Sub-Saharan Africa has recorded its first COVID-19 death, which was a high-ranking politician in Burkina Faso.

Wednesday, March 18 (All times in GMT)

23:30 – Kuwait health ministry has banned social gatherings including weddings and celebrations with to prevent further spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19 in the country, state news agency KUNA reported on Wednesday.

23:00 – Algeria’s Health Ministry recorded 12 new cases of coronavirus and one death, bringing the total number of infections to 72 and deaths to 6. The ministry has reported a total of 36 recoveries so far.

20:40 – Oman’s Health Ministry reported 6 new coronavirus cases in the country, bringing the total number to 39.


Tunisia hands lengthy prison terms to top politicians and former security officials

Updated 5 sec ago
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Tunisia hands lengthy prison terms to top politicians and former security officials

  • A total of 21 were charged in the case, with 10 already in custody and 11 having fled the country

TUNIS: A Tunisian court on Tuesday handed jail terms of 12 to 35 years on high-profile politicians, including opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi and former security officials, a move that critics say underscores the president’s use of the judiciary to cement authoritarian rule.
Among those sentenced on charges of conspiring against the state in the major mass trial, were Nadia Akacha, the former chief of staff to President Kais Saied, local radio Mosaique FM said. Akacha who fled abroad received 35 years.
Ghannouchi, 84, veteran head of the Islamist-leaning Ennahda party, was handed a 14-year term.
Ghannouchi who was the speaker of the elected parliament dissolved by Saied, has been in prison since 2023, receiving three sentences of a total of 27 years in separate cases in recent months.
A total of 21 were charged in the case, with 10 already in custody and 11 having fled the country.
The court sentenced former intelligence chief Kamel Guizani to 35 years, former Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem to 35 years, and Mouadh Ghannouchi, son of Rached Ghannouchi, to 35 years. All three have fled the country.
Saied dissolved the parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree, then dissolved the independent Supreme Judicial Council and sacked dozens of judges, a move that opposition called a coup which undermined the nascent democracy that sparked in 2011 the Arab Spring uprisings.
Saied rejects the accusations and says his steps are legal and aim to end years of chaos and corruption hidden within the political elite.
Most opposition leaders, some journalists, and critics of Saied have been imprisoned since he seized control of most powers in 2021.
This year, a court handed jail terms of 5 to 66 years to opposition leaders, businessmen and lawyers on charges of conspiring as well, a case the opposition says is fabricated in an attempt to stamp out opposition to the president.
Human rights groups and activists say Saied has turned Tunisia into an open-air prison and is using the judiciary and police to target his political opponents.
Saied rejects these accusations, saying he will not be a dictator.


‘Hostage,’ Eli Sharabi’s memoir about life in Hamas captivity, is coming to the US

Updated 34 min 13 sec ago
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‘Hostage,’ Eli Sharabi’s memoir about life in Hamas captivity, is coming to the US

  • Sharabi reveals how his faith gave him the resilience to endure the horrific conditions and overcome mental anguish

NEW YORK: A memoir by an Israeli man held in captivity for more than a year by Hamas is coming out this fall in the US Eli Sharabi’s “Hostage,” written in Hebrew and already a bestseller in Israel, is the first published memoir by anyone kidnapped by Hamas during the deadly surprise attack of Oct. 7, 2023. Harper Influence, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced Tuesday that the English-language edition of his book will come out this Oct. 7, the 2-year anniversary.
Sharabi, 53, was released in early February and has said that he had shrunk to under 100 pounds — less than the weight of his youngest daughter, who was killed along with his wife and older daughter. More than 1,000 were killed in the attack and more than 200 taken hostage.
“It was important to me that the story come out as quickly as possible, so that the world will understand what life is like inside captivity,” Sharabi said in a statement. “Once they do, they will not be able to remain indifferent. But I also want readers to know that even in the darkest of times, you can always seek out the light and choose humanity.”
According to Harper Influence, Sharabi writes about his experience with his captors in “stark, unflinching prose, detailing the relationships the hostages formed with one another, including Alon Ohel, still a hostage in Gaza, with whom Sharabi formed an unbreakable father-son bond.”
“Along the way, Sharabi reveals how his faith gave him the resilience to endure the horrific conditions and overcome mental anguish,” the announcement reads in part.


Palestinian teen dies from head injury after Israeli forces opened fire

Updated 08 July 2025
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Palestinian teen dies from head injury after Israeli forces opened fire

  • Ahmed Al-Awiwi, 19, from Hebron, was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers about six months ago
  • He underwent brain surgery, but his health worsened, leading to his death on Tuesday evening

LONDON: A Palestinian teen died of his wounds six months after being shot when Israeli forces opened fire in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday.

Ahmed Al-Awiwi, a 19-year-old from the city, was shot in the head by Israeli forces during confrontations in Bab Al-Zawiya, which erupted after settlers stormed the area.

Al-Awiwi was admitted to Al-Ahli Hospital a week ago to undergo brain surgery. Subsequently, his health worsened, leading to his death on Tuesday evening, the ministry added.

This week, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in the West Bank. Wissam Ghassan Hasan Ishtiya, 37, was shot on Sunday by Israeli forces in Salem, a village east of Nablus, after they stormed the area and surrounded two houses, firing live ammunition. Qusay Nasser Mahmoud Nassar, 23, also from Salem, was killed by Israeli fire.

Since late 2023, over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, and 7,000 injured. Israeli forces conduct daily raids on villages and towns in the Palestinian territories, where they have maintained a military occupation since June 1967.


Massacres at aid distributions overwhelm Gaza health system

Updated 08 July 2025
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Massacres at aid distributions overwhelm Gaza health system

  • All Red Cross staff now contributing to emergency response effort in besieged territory

GAZA CITY: The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday that a “sharp surge” in deaths and injuries in incidents around aid distribution sites in Gaza is pushing the territory’s already stretched health system past its capacity.

The ICRC said in a statement that its field hospital in south Gaza recorded 200 deaths since the new aid distribution sites were launched in late May.
The facility also treated more than 2,200 “weapon-wounded patients, most of them across more than 21 separate mass casualty events,” it added.
“Over the past month, a sharp surge in mass casualty incidents linked to aid distribution sites has overwhelmed Gaza’s shattered health care system,” the ICRC said.
“The scale and frequency of these incidents are without precedent,” it said, adding that its field hospital had treated more patients since late May than “in all mass casualty events during the entire previous year.”
To cope with the flow of wounded, ICRC said that all its staff were now contributing to the emergency response effort.
“Physiotherapists support nurses, cleaning and dressing wounds and taking vitals. Cleaners now serve as orderlies, carrying stretchers wherever they are needed. Midwives have stepped into palliative care,” it added.
An officially private effort, the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operations on May 26 after Israel halted supplies into the Gaza Strip for more than two months, sparking warnings of imminent famine. GHF operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations.
More than 500 people have been killed while waiting to access rations from its distribution sites, the UN Human Rights Office said on Friday.
The GHF has denied that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points.
Gaza’s health system has been at a point of near collapse for months, with nearly all hospitals and health facilities either out of service or only partly functional.
Israel’s drastic restrictions on the entry of goods and aid into Gaza since the start of the war 21 months ago has caused shortages of everything, including medicine, medical supplies, and fuel, which hospitals rely on to power their generators.

 


Why Israeli settler violence against Palestinians is surging in the West Bank

Updated 08 July 2025
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Why Israeli settler violence against Palestinians is surging in the West Bank

  • Settler violence has increased, with more than 820 incidents recorded in the first half of 2025 — a 20 percent rise from last year
  • Human rights groups accuse Israel of using attacks as an informal tool for land appropriation, with official support and military backing

LONDON: It began with an incident of the type that has become all too familiar in the West Bank, and yet has lately been overlooked by global media coverage distracted by the wars in Gaza and Iran.

On June 25, a force of about 100 of Israeli settlers, many of them masked, descended on the Palestinian West Bank town of Kafr Malik, 17 kilometers northeast of Ramallah.

It wasn’t the first time the town had been attacked, but this time was different.

Emboldened by right-wing ministers in Israel’s coalition government, settlers across the West Bank have become increasingly aggressive toward their Arab neighbors.

Kafr Malik, which sits close to an illegal settlement established in 2019, has been attacked again and again. But this time, the consequences went beyond harassment, beatings, and the destruction of property.

Accounts of what happened vary, but the basic facts are clear. In what The Times of Israel described as “a settler rampage,” the attackers threw stones at residents and set fire to homes and cars.

Settlers had taken over vast areas in the West Bank. (AFP)

Men from the town formed a cordon to protect their families. In the words of a statement issued by the Israeli army, which until this point had not intervened, “at the scene, friction erupted between Israeli civilians and Palestinians, including mutual stone-throwing.”

The Israel Defense Forces then opened fire on the Palestinians, killing three men and wounding seven more, adding to a toll of more than 900 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since Oct. 7, 2023.

Five of the settlers were detained and handed over to the police. No charges have been forthcoming.

Daylight attacks like these have become increasingly commonplace in the West Bank, and routinely go unnoticed by the international community.

Attention was drawn to this one in part thanks to Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry, which issued a statement denouncing “the continued violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers, under the protection of the occupation forces, against Palestinian civilians, including the attacks in the village of Kafr Malik.”

A statement released by Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, which monitors settler violence in the West Bank, also condemned the latest violence.

“Under the auspices of (the) government and (with) military backing, settler violence in the West Bank continues and becomes more deadly by the day,” it said.

“This is what ethnic cleansing looks like.”

In the wake of the attack on Kafr Malik, Hussein Al-Sheikh, deputy to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, also laid the blame for settler violence on the Israeli government.

“The government of Israel, with its behavior and decisions, is pushing the region to explode,” he posted on X. “We call on the international community to intervene urgently to protect our Palestinian people.”

The “sad truth,” said Ameneh Mehvar, senior Middle East analyst at the independent conflict data organization ACLED, “is that this feels like deja vu, the same story repeating again and again.

“Although it’s not a new story, what is new is that settler violence is now increasing, with settlers becoming increasingly emboldened by the support that they’re receiving from the government.

“There is a culture of impunity. They don’t fear arrest, they don’t fear prosecution, and they don’t fear convictions. In the few cases when settlers are charged with an offense, less than three percent end in conviction.”

In November, Israel’s new defense minister, Israel Katz, announced that settlers would no longer be subject to military “administrative detention orders,” under which suspects can be held indefinitely without trial.

The orders remain in force for Palestinians, of whom, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, more than 1,000 remain detained, without charge or trial.

Daylight attacks have become increasingly commonplace in the West Bank, and routinely go unnoticed by the international community. (AFP)

On July 3, figures released by the UN children’s fund, UNICEF, revealed that between Oct. 7, 2023, and June 30 this year, at least 915 Palestinians, including 213 children, have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

More than 9,500, including 1,631 children, have been injured.

Reflecting the recent Israeli military activity in the area, 77 percent of child killings in 2025 have been in the northern governorates of the West Bank, with the highest number of fatalities — 35 percent of the total — in Jenin.

According to figures compiled by ACLED, among the dead are 26 Palestinians killed in West Bank incidents involving settlers or soldiers escorting or protecting settlers.

Settlers have killed around a dozen people, while five more have died at the hands of “settlement emergency squads” — civilians armed by the Israeli government in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

Seven were killed by the IDF, which intervened after arriving at scenes of violence initiated by settlers — exactly what happened at Kafr Malik.

that this year is on track to become one of the most violent years for settler violence since ACLED began its coverage in Palestine in 2016,” said Mehvar.

FASTFACTS

• Hamas on Friday said it was ready to start talks “immediately” on a proposal for a ceasefire in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

• Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said it supported ceasefire talks, but demanded “guarantees” that Israel “will not resume its aggression” once hostages held in Gaza were freed.

In addition, ACLED recorded more than 820 violent incidents involving settlers in the first six months of 2025 alone — a more than 20 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

“This means

Demonstrating just how emboldened settlers have become, many have clashed with units of the IDF in a series of incidents that began with the attack on Kafr Malik.

The settlers, who had been trying to establish an illegal outpost on Palestinian land near the village, turned on the soldiers, accusing the commander of being “a traitor.”

According to the IDF, they beat, choked, and hurled rocks at the troops, and slashed the tyres of a police vehicle.

Later that same evening, an army patrol vehicle in the vicinity was ambushed and stoned. The soldiers, who at first didn’t realize that their attackers were fellow Israelis, fired warning shots, one of which wounded a teenager, prompting further settler violence.

According to IDF reports, gangs of settlers tried to break into a military base in the central West Bank, throwing rocks and spraying pepper spray at troops, while in the Ramallah area an IDF security installation was torched.

These events have come as a shock to Israeli public opinion. In an editorial published on July 1, The Jerusalem Post condemned “the growing cancer of lawbreakers in (the) West Bank,” which “must be cut out, before it’s too late.”

Settler violence has increased with more than 820 incidents recorded in the first half of 2025 — a 20 percent rise from last year. (AFP)

It added that the “aggression by certain Jewish residents of Samaria (the Jewish name for the central region of the West Bank) against Palestinians” had been “overlooked during the past 20 months amid the hyperfocus on the Israel-Hamas war and the plight of hostages and then the lightning war with Iran,” but “it can’t be ignored — or swept under the rug — any longer.

“These fringe elements within the Jewish population … are not just terrorizing Palestinians — itself an affront — but they have no qualms about directing their violence against their fellow Israelis serving in the IDF.”

But singling out the extremist settlers for condemnation overlooks the reality that they have been encouraged and emboldened by the actions of ministers within the Israeli government, said Mehvar.

On May 29, defense minister Katz and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich authorized the construction of 22 new settlements and “outposts” in the West Bank.

They made no secret of the motive. The new settlements “are all placed within a long-term strategic vision,” they said in a statement.

The goal was “to strengthen the Israeli hold on the territory, to avoid the establishment of a Palestinian state, and to create the basis for future development of settlement in the coming decades.”

It was telling that the new settlements will include Homesh and Sa-Nur, two former settlements that were evacuated in 2005 along with all Israeli settlements in Gaza. Last year, the Knesset repealed a law that prevented settlers returning to the areas.

“The reality is that there have been so many incidents of violence, either by the army or by settlers, for a long time,” said Yair Dvir, spokesperson for Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.

“There is a state of permanent violence in the West Bank, which is happening all the time, and it’s part of the strategy of the apartheid regime of Israel, which seeks to take more and more land in the West Bank,” he told Arab News.

He accused the government of pursuing a policy of ethnic cleansing against the whole of Palestine. “And of course, it has used the war in Gaza to do the same also in the West Bank,” he added.

Keeping up with the unchecked proliferation of illegal outposts and settlements in the West Bank is extremely difficult because of the sheer pace and number of developments.

In November 2021, B’Tselem published a report revealing there were 280 settlements, of which 138 had been officially established by the state. In addition there were 150 outposts, often referred to as “farms,” not officially recognized by the state but allowed to operate freely.

Settlers had taken over vast areas in the West Bank, to which Palestinians had little or no access, B’Tselem reported in “State Business: Israel’s misappropriation of land in the West Bank through settler violence.”

“This is what ethnic cleansing looks like.” (AFP)

Some land had been “officially” seized by the state through military orders declaring an area “state land,” a “firing zone,” or a “nature reserve.” Other areas had been taken over by settlers “through daily acts of violence, including attacks on Palestinians and their property.”

The two methods of land seizure are often directly linked. “Settler violence against Palestinians serves as a major informal tool at the hands of the state to take over more and more West Bank land,” said the report.

“The state fully supports and assists these acts of violence, and its agents sometimes participate in them directly. As such, settler violence is a form of government policy, aided and abetted by official state authorities with their active participation.”

The report concluded that, in 2021, settlements in the West Bank were home to more than 44,000 settlers. But today, said Dvir, the figure is closer to 700,000.

“There has been a huge increase in the establishment of new outposts all over the West Bank in the past couple of years, even though all the settlements and outposts are illegal under international law,” he said.

“According to Israeli law, only the outposts are illegal, but they still get funding and infrastructure and, of course, are defended by the Israeli authorities.”

Mehvar fears the growth in officially sanctioned settlements is bound to see settler violence increase.

A surge in settler violence, backed by Israeli policy, is fueling clashes and land seizures across the West Bank. (AFP)

“There have always been attacks, but they were usually carried out at night, by a few individual criminals,” she said.

“But more and more we are seeing attacks in broad daylight, often in the presence of Israeli security forces, coordinated by settlers said to be communicating and organizing on WhatsApp groups.

“If more settlements are built, deep inside Palestine, not only will it make any hope of a Palestinian state almost impossible, but with so many settlers living in close proximity to Palestinian communities it will also make violence a lot more likely.”