Palestinian toll mounts as Israel steps up West Bank raids

Israel is also holding more than 600 Palestinians without charge or trial in what’s known as administrative detention — the highest in six years. (File/AFP)
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Updated 29 August 2022
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Palestinian toll mounts as Israel steps up West Bank raids

  • The military says the vast majority were militants or stone-throwers who endangered the soldiers
  • The dead include 17 teens under the age of 18, as well as six women

TUBAS, West Bank: At least 85 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank this year as Israeli forces have carried out nightly raids in cities, towns and villages, making it the deadliest in the occupied territory since 2016.
The military says the vast majority were militants or stone-throwers who endangered the soldiers. The tally, from the Palestinian Health Ministry, includes Palestinians who carried out deadly attacks inside Israel.
But it also includes several civilians, including a veteran journalist and a lawyer who apparently drove unwittingly into a battle zone, as well as local youths who took to the streets in response to the invasion of their neighborhoods.
The length and frequency of the raids has pulled into focus Israel’s tactics in the West Bank, where nearly 3 million Palestinians live under a decades-long occupation and Palestinians view the military’s presence as a humiliation and a threat.
Israeli troops have regularly operated across the West Bank since Israel captured the territory in 1967.
Israel says it is dismantling militant networks that threaten its citizens, and that it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians. Palestinians say the raids are aimed at maintaining Israel’s 55-year military rule over territories they want for a future state — a dream that appears as remote as ever, with no serious peace negotiations held in over a decade..
Israel stepped up the operations this past spring after a string of deadly attacks by Palestinians against Israelis killed 17 people, some carried out by militants from the West Bank. There have been no deadly attacks since May, but the relentless military operations have continued.
The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported 85 Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem since the start of the year.
With four months to go this year, that already is the highest number since 2016, the tail-end of a previous wave of violence, when 91 Palestinians were killed, according to yearly data compiled by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.
The ministry’s tally includes attackers and known militants, but also the veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, and a 58-year-old man who was shot in the head outside a bakery earlier this month. The Israeli military says both might have been hit by Palestinian gunfire but has not provided evidence to substantiate its claims.
The dead include 17 teens under the age of 18, as well as six women, according to the ministry. Israel says that teenagers and women are often involved in violence, while critics accuse the army of using excessive force in many cases.
Israel is also holding more than 600 Palestinians without charge or trial in what’s known as administrative detention — the highest in six years.
Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general who now heads the Israel Defense and Security Forum, said the heightened pace of operations is the result of the recent wave of attacks and the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to crack down on militants in the areas it administers.
The Palestinian Authority is mired in a crisis of legitimacy largely stemming from its cooperation with Israel on security matters. Palestinian officials say they will not help police the occupation, especially if there is no hope that doing so will lead to independence.
Rights groups say that while some Israeli missions are aimed at combatting specific threats, others are intended as a show of force, or to protect the growing population of Jewish settlers.
Ori Givati is the head of Breaking the Silence, an Israeli group opposed to the occupation that gathers testimonies of former Israeli soldiers. Some soldiers recall carrying out mock arrests, in which fully armed soldiers raid a home in the middle of the night — for training purposes.
Even more common, Givati says, are so-called “stimulus and response” operations, which he said he took part in himself when he served in the West Bank. In those, Israeli troops roll through Palestinian areas, sometimes with lights and speakers on, hoping to lure stone-throwers or gunmen into the streets so they can arrest or confront them.
“The way we occupy the Palestinians is by creating more and more friction, making our presence felt,” Givati said. “We invade their towns, their cities, their homes.”
In a statement, the army denied the allegations, saying it acts “solely against threats and terrorist operatives who pose a security threat” in Israel and the West Bank.
Israel says it investigates all cases in which Israeli troops are suspected of killing civilians, but rights groups say most of those investigations are quietly closed with soldiers rarely facing serious repercussions.
There were two notable exceptions this year.
The killing of Abu Akleh, a veteran on-air correspondent, prompted numerous independent investigations that concluded she was likely killed by Israeli fire. Israel denies targeting her and says it is still investigating.
There was also the death in January of Omar Assad, a 78-year-old who died shortly after Israeli soldiers bound and blindfolded him and left him in the cold. In that case, senior officers were reprimanded and stripped of leadership roles.
Both were American citizens, and the US raised both cases with Israel. Last week, Israel discharged four soldiers after they were caught on camera beating and kicking two detained Palestinians.
There was no such uproar over Salah Sawafta, who was shot outside the bakery as he returned from dawn prayers in the West Bank town of Tubas earlier this month. Israeli troops, who had gone to arrest suspected militants, were engaged in a firefight with Palestinian gunmen.
His family believes he was killed by an Israeli sniper in a building across the street. Zakreya Abu Dollah, the bakery owner who witnessed the shooting, said he saw Israeli soldiers fanned out on the street but no Palestinian gunmen or stone-throwers in the immediate area.
The military says it is investigating and that Sawafta might have been hit by a stray bullet fired by Palestinian militants.
Jehad Sawafta said his late brother, who made a living trading animal feed, had no connection to any political faction or militant group.
Salah had a son and four daughters, one of whom was engaged to be married this past Friday. The father of the bride was killed a week before the wedding.
“His second daughter was supposed to be married on Aug. 26, but then everything got turned upside down,” Jehad said. “Those girls adored their father because he provided a good and dignified life for them.”


UAE warns against ‘miscalculated actions’ in Israeli-Iranian conflict, calls for immediate ceasefire

Updated 4 sec ago
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UAE warns against ‘miscalculated actions’ in Israeli-Iranian conflict, calls for immediate ceasefire

  • Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan says Emirati leadership is dedicated to promotion of stability, prosperity and justice
  • He highlights ‘the risks of reckless and miscalculated actions that could extend beyond the borders’ of Israel and Iran

LONDON: As military exchanges between Israel and Iran continued on Tuesday for a fifth consecutive day, the UAE’s minister of foreign affairs, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, warned of the wider threat posed by the continuing conflict and called for an immediate ceasefire.

“There is no alternative to political and diplomatic solutions,” he said, calling on the UN and its Security Council to intervene and halt the escalating violence.

He also highlighted “the risks of reckless and miscalculated actions that could extend beyond the borders” of Israel and Iran, the Emirates News Agency reported.

The UAE believes “a diplomatic approach is urgently required to lead both parties toward deescalation, end hostilities, and prevent the situation from spiraling into grave and far-reaching consequences,” he added.

The goal of international diplomacy, he said, must be to immediately halt hostilities, prevent the conflict from spiraling out of control, and mitigate its effects on global peace and security.

The UAE condemned the Israeli airstrikes on Iran that began on Friday, which have targeted nuclear sites, military leaders, intelligence chiefs and atomic scientists. Iran has responded by firing ballistic missiles at Israeli towns and cities along the Mediterranean, including Tel Aviv, Rishon LeZion and Haifa.

Sheikh Abdullah said the Emirati leadership is dedicated to the promotion of stability, prosperity and justice, and he stressed the urgent need for wisdom in a region long embroiled in conflicts.

“The UAE believes that promoting dialogue, adhering to international law and respecting the sovereignty of states are essential principles for resolving the current crises,” he added.

“The UAE calls on the United Nations and the Security Council to fully uphold their responsibilities by preventing further escalation, and taking urgent and necessary measures to achieve a ceasefire and reinforce international peace and security.”


At least 60 people feared missing in two deadly shipwrecks off Libya, IOM says

Updated 50 min 37 sec ago
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At least 60 people feared missing in two deadly shipwrecks off Libya, IOM says

  • IOM says shipwrecks happened off the Libyan coast

CAIRO: At least 60 people were feared missing at sea after two deadly shipwrecks off the coast of Libya in recent days, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday.


Russia says Israel attacks on Iran are illegal, notes Iran’s commitment to NPT

Updated 52 min 25 sec ago
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Russia says Israel attacks on Iran are illegal, notes Iran’s commitment to NPT

  • The statement said Moscow was waiting for the International Atomic Energy Agency to provide “unvarnished” assessments of the damage caused to Iranian nuclear facilities by Israeli attacks

MOSCOW: Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denounced continued Israeli attacks on Iran as illegal and said a solution to the conflict over Tehran’s nuclear program could only be found through diplomacy.
A ministry statement posted on Telegram noted Iran’s “clear statements” on its commitment to adhere to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and its willingness to meet with US representatives.
The statement also said Moscow was waiting for the International Atomic Energy Agency to provide “unvarnished” assessments of the damage caused to Iranian nuclear facilities by Israeli attacks.

 


Qatari emir and Turkish president discuss Israeli attacks on Iran

Updated 17 June 2025
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Qatari emir and Turkish president discuss Israeli attacks on Iran

  • Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasize important need to deescalate conflict and find diplomatic solutions

LONDON: Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday discussed Israel’s ongoing attacks on Iran, which began on Friday and have targeted nuclear sites, military leaders, intelligence chiefs and atomic scientists.

During their call, the leaders emphasized the important need to deescalate the conflict and find diplomatic solutions, the Qatar News Agency reported.

Earlier in the day, the Qatari minister of state for foreign affairs, Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, warned during a call with Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, that the targeting of Iranian nuclear facilities by Israel represented a serious threat to regional and international security.

The IAEA reported on Monday that an Israeli airstrike on Iran’s Natanz Nuclear Facility on Friday had damaged centrifuges at the underground uranium-enrichment plant, raising concerns about possible radiological and chemical contamination in the area.


Qatari minister of state, IAEA chief discuss ‘serious threat’ of Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites

Updated 17 June 2025
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Qatari minister of state, IAEA chief discuss ‘serious threat’ of Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites

  • Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi reiterates Qatar’s condemnation of attacks on Iranian territory
  • He said targeting nuclear facilities threatens regional, international security

LONDON: The Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi on Tuesday discussed the conflict between Israel and Iran with Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Al-Khulaifi discussed in a call the Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities that began on Friday, targeting the Natanz, Fordo, and Isfahan nuclear sites.

Al-Khulaifi stressed that targeting nuclear facilities was a serious threat to regional and international security. He reaffirmed Qatar’s commitment to dialogue to resolve conflicts and achieve peace in the region.

The officials discussed ways to improve the security of nuclear facilities and ensure they are safeguarded against threats, the Qatar News Agency reported.

Al-Khulaifi reiterated Qatar’s strong condemnation of the Israeli attacks on Iranian territory, deeming them blatant violations of Iran’s sovereignty and security, the QNA added.

The IAEA reported on Monday that the Israeli airstrike on Iran’s Natanz facility on Friday damaged the centrifuges of the underground uranium enrichment plant, raising concerns about potential radiological and chemical contamination in the area.