General Strike Paralyzes Palestine, 'Hamas' and 'Jihad' Call for New Uprising

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh gestures as he delivers a speech over US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City December 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh gestures as he delivers a speech over US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City December 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
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General Strike Paralyzes Palestine, 'Hamas' and 'Jihad' Call for New Uprising

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh gestures as he delivers a speech over US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City December 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh gestures as he delivers a speech over US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City December 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

As the Palestinian authority considers adequate options to respond to the US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem a capital of Israel, Palestinians marched to the streets to express anger and rage against this decision. They clashed with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, chanting “Death to US and Trump.”

Palestine witnessed on Thursday a general mass strike – Palestinians protested, burnt images of Trump and US flags, and threw stones and empty bottles on the Israeli soldiers who responded with gun-shooting, gas and sound bombs.

At a press conference, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called for a “new uprising” against Israel after Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

“Tomorrow, December 8, 2017, should be a day of rage and the beginning of a major effort to rise up,” he said Thursday in a televised speech.

Haniyeh called on the Palestinian Authority to halt security coordination with Israel and to revoke the Oslo Accords.

“We have given instruction to all Hamas members and to all its wings to be fully ready for any new instructions or orders that may be given to confront this strategic danger that threatens Jerusalem and threatens Palestine,” added Haniyeh.

He demanded the convention of “an urgent Arab Summit” to propose a serious stand beside Jerusalem and to boycott the US administration.

Daoud Chehab, head of Islamic Jihad Movement media office, narrated the movement's statement that demanded announcing the failure of settlement, revoking Oslo Accords and rejecting any obligations resulting from it especially in the field of security coordination.

Chehab called all factions to engage in the Jerusalem uprising and to empower and escalate the resistance all over the occupied territories, namely in the West Bank. He also called on the Arab League to withdraw from peacemaking with Israel, cut any ties with Israel and to close all its embassies in Arab capitals.

President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas is currently coordinating with a number of Arab leaders to consider future steps. In this context, Abbas met on Thursday Jordan’s King Abdullah II and they discussed latest developments.



Israel Military Says Soldier Killed in Gaza 

A drone view shows the destruction in a residential neighborhood, after the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the area, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza City, October 21, 2025. (Reuters)
A drone view shows the destruction in a residential neighborhood, after the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the area, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza City, October 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israel Military Says Soldier Killed in Gaza 

A drone view shows the destruction in a residential neighborhood, after the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the area, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza City, October 21, 2025. (Reuters)
A drone view shows the destruction in a residential neighborhood, after the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the area, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza City, October 21, 2025. (Reuters)

The Israeli military announced that one of its soldiers had been killed in combat in southern Gaza on Wednesday, but a security source said the death appeared to have been caused by "friendly fire".

"Staff Sergeant Ofri Yafe, aged 21, from HaYogev, a soldier in the Paratroopers Reconnaissance Unit, fell during combat in the southern Gaza Strip," the military said in a statement.

A security source, however, told AFP that the soldier appeared to have been "killed by friendly fire", without providing further details.

"The incident is still under investigation," the source added.

The death brings to five the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza since a ceasefire took effect on October 10.


Syria: SDF’s Mazloum Abdi Says Implementation of Integration Deal May Take Time

People sit outdoors surrounded by nature, with the Tigris river flowing in the background, following a long atmospheric depression, near the Syrian-Turkish border in Derik, Syria, February 16, 2026 REUTERS/Orhan Qereman
People sit outdoors surrounded by nature, with the Tigris river flowing in the background, following a long atmospheric depression, near the Syrian-Turkish border in Derik, Syria, February 16, 2026 REUTERS/Orhan Qereman
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Syria: SDF’s Mazloum Abdi Says Implementation of Integration Deal May Take Time

People sit outdoors surrounded by nature, with the Tigris river flowing in the background, following a long atmospheric depression, near the Syrian-Turkish border in Derik, Syria, February 16, 2026 REUTERS/Orhan Qereman
People sit outdoors surrounded by nature, with the Tigris river flowing in the background, following a long atmospheric depression, near the Syrian-Turkish border in Derik, Syria, February 16, 2026 REUTERS/Orhan Qereman

Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the process of merging the SDF with Syrian government forces “may take some time,” despite expressing confidence in the eventual success of the agreement.

His remarks came after earlier comments in which he acknowledged differences with Damascus over the concept of “decentralization.”

Speaking at a tribal conference in the northeastern city of Hasakah on Tuesday, Abdi said the issue of integration would not be resolved quickly, but stressed that the agreement remains on track.

He said the deal reached last month stipulates that three Syrian army brigades will be created out of the SDF.

Abdi added that all SDF military units have withdrawn to their barracks in an effort to preserve stability and continue implementing the announced integration agreement with the Syrian state.

He also emphasized the need for armed forces to withdraw from the vicinity of the city of Ayn al-Arab (Kobani), to be replaced by security forces tasked with maintaining order.


Israeli Far-Right Minister to Push for ‘Migration’ of West Bank, Gaza Palestinians 

A Palestinian man checks leather belts as people prepare for Ramadan, in the old city of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 17,2026. (Reuters)
A Palestinian man checks leather belts as people prepare for Ramadan, in the old city of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 17,2026. (Reuters)
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Israeli Far-Right Minister to Push for ‘Migration’ of West Bank, Gaza Palestinians 

A Palestinian man checks leather belts as people prepare for Ramadan, in the old city of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 17,2026. (Reuters)
A Palestinian man checks leather belts as people prepare for Ramadan, in the old city of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 17,2026. (Reuters)

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would pursue a policy of "encouraging the migration" of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported Wednesday.

"We will eliminate the idea of an Arab terror state," said Smotrich, speaking at an event organized by his Religious Zionism Party late on Tuesday.

"We will finally, formally, and in practical terms nullify the cursed Oslo Accords and embark on a path toward sovereignty, while encouraging emigration from both Gaza and Judea and Samaria.

"There is no other long-term solution," added Smotrich, who himself lives in a settlement in the West Bank.

Since last week, Israel has approved a series of measures backed by far-right ministers to tighten control over the West Bank, including in areas administered by the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords, in place since the 1990s.

The measures include a process to register land in the West Bank as "state property" and facilitate direct purchases of land by Jewish Israelis.

The measures have triggered widespread international outrage.

On Tuesday, the UN missions of 85 countries condemned the measures, which critics say amount to de facto annexation of the Palestinian territory.

"We strongly condemn unilateral Israeli decisions and measures aimed at expanding Israel's unlawful presence in the West Bank," they said in a statement.

"Such decisions are contrary to Israel's obligations under international law and must be immediately reversed.

"We underline in this regard our strong opposition to any form of annexation."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called on Israel to reverse its land registration policy, calling it "destabilizing" and "unlawful".

The West Bank would form the largest part of any future Palestinian state. Many on Israel's religious right view it as Israeli land.

Israeli NGOs have also raised the alarm over a settlement plan signed by the government which they say would mark the first expansion of Jerusalem's borders into the occupied West Bank since 1967.

The planned development, announced by Israel's Ministry of Construction and Housing, is formally a westward expansion of the Geva Binyamin, or Adam, settlement situated northeast of Jerusalem in the West Bank.

The current Israeli government has fast-tracked settlement expansion, approving a record 52 settlements in 2025.

Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements and outposts, which are illegal under international law.