Armed Israeli settlers try to break into Palestinian grandfather’s home
Mohammed Al-Obaiyat has lived in his home since before Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. Now, he faces growing attacks from nearby settlements surrounding his village of Umm Safa, while Israeli forces have ordered him to leave his home within weeks.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu vows ‘to destroy this place’ in retaliation for militant attack on army checkpoint Israeli troops have levelled a neighbourhood in Hebron, driving out hundreds of families, in collective punishment for a militant attack on an army checkpoint outside the West Bank city, local Palestinian authorities said. The Hebron municipality estimated that 35 hectares (86 acres) had been destroyed or marked for destruction and about 1,500 people had been evicted from their homes by Saturday afternoon in the district of Ein Deir Baha.
Israeli forces reportedly shot dead a Syrian man with an intellectual disability and hearing problems, during a raid.
The Israeli military has begun demolishing Palestinian buildings in the city of Hebron, after two Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack by two Palestinian gunmen. Netanyahu’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for Israel to launch a campaign in the West Bank “exactly like in Gaza or Lebanon,” while far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for Israel to dismantle the Palestinian Authority.
Iranian officials, media and analysts sense war is closer, but signal there will be no backing down.
Iran has “substantially increased” its efforts to target Americans in the Middle East and beyond, US national intelligence chief Jay Clayton warned on Friday. Washington previously ordered non-essential staff to leave the Gulf ahead of the start of its war against Iran and again in July before US President Donald Trump called off a new wave of strikes.
Iran said on Saturday that US military ships would never be allowed to enter the Gulf “under any circumstances” and President Donald Trump will “take that dream to his grave”. “We will not allow US military ships in the Persian Gulf under any circumstances and at any time,” said Iran’s armed forces chief of staff Ali Abdollahi, according to Iranian state television.