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Palestinians Approve 36 Candidate Groups to Run in May Vote

A picture taken with a drone shows the exterior of the Palestinian Legislative Council, in Gaza City March 30, 2021. Picture taken March 30, 2021. (Reuters)
A picture taken with a drone shows the exterior of the Palestinian Legislative Council, in Gaza City March 30, 2021. Picture taken March 30, 2021. (Reuters)
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Palestinians Approve 36 Candidate Groups to Run in May Vote

A picture taken with a drone shows the exterior of the Palestinian Legislative Council, in Gaza City March 30, 2021. Picture taken March 30, 2021. (Reuters)
A picture taken with a drone shows the exterior of the Palestinian Legislative Council, in Gaza City March 30, 2021. Picture taken March 30, 2021. (Reuters)

Palestinian election officials announced Sunday that 36 candidate lists had been approved to run in legislative elections set for next month, the first Palestinian polls in 15 years.

The vote, which precedes a presidential election called for July 31, is part of an effort by the dominant Palestinian movements -- Fatah secularists and Hamas Islamists -- to boost international support for Palestinian governance, AFP reported.

Groups had until Wednesday to submit their lists of candidates to contest in the May 22 legislative polls.

Individual names on each list are due to be published Tuesday, but the Palestinian electoral commission announced on its website that it had approved all 36 applications.

President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement, which controls the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is contesting the polls, as is Hamas, which has run the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip since 2007.

Fatah is facing challenges from dissident factions including the Freedom list, led by a nephew of the late Palestinian icon Yasser Arafat, Nasser al-Kidwa.

Freedom has been endorsed by Marwan Barghouti, a popular leader whom supporters have described as the Palestinian Mandela.

Barghouti is serving multiple life sentences in Israel for allegedly organizing deadly attacks during the second Palestinian intifada (uprising) from 2000-2005.

Abbas’s former Gaza security chief, Mohammed Dahlan, is also backing a list of challengers.

Former Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad, an ex-World Bank official with a track record of fighting corruption, is supporting another.

While Fatah and Hamas have reached an agreement for voting to take place in the West Bank and Gaza, the ability of Palestinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem to vote remains uncertain.

Israel bans all Palestinian political activity in Jerusalem, but Palestinian leaders insist voting be held in the city’s east, which they claim as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

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Arab World

Israeli Settlers Beat Palestinian Farmers on Video as Attacks Mount During West Bank Olive Harvest 

Israeli soldiers take position as Palestinians harvest olives in the occupied West Bank village of Turmus Ayya, on the outskirts of Ramallah, on October 20, 2025. (AFP)
Israeli soldiers take position as Palestinians harvest olives in the occupied West Bank village of Turmus Ayya, on the outskirts of Ramallah, on October 20, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Settlers Beat Palestinian Farmers on Video as Attacks Mount During West Bank Olive Harvest 

Israeli soldiers take position as Palestinians harvest olives in the occupied West Bank village of Turmus Ayya, on the outskirts of Ramallah, on October 20, 2025. (AFP)
Israeli soldiers take position as Palestinians harvest olives in the occupied West Bank village of Turmus Ayya, on the outskirts of Ramallah, on October 20, 2025. (AFP)

Israeli settlers descended on Palestinian olive harvesters and activists this week in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, beating them with clubs in an attack Palestinian health officials said sent at least one woman to the hospital with serious injuries.

The attack Sunday in the town of Turmus Ayya, which was captured in videos obtained by The Associated Press, came as Palestinians say settler violence in the region is worsening. The United Nations and rights groups have raised the alarm as harvest season begins and Palestinian farmers are at growing risk while gathering olives.

"Settler violence has skyrocketed in scale and frequency," Ajith Sunghay, the head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territory, said in a statement released Tuesday. "Two weeks into the start of the 2025 harvest, we have already seen severe attacks by armed settlers against Palestinian men, women, children and foreign solidarity activists."

In one of the videos obtained by the AP, a masked man was seen running through an olive grove and beating at least two people with a club, including a woman as she lay motionless on the ground. The masked man appeared to be wearing tzitzit, a ritual fringed garment for Jews.

The woman was hospitalized with serious injures, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry said.

In a separate video, more than a dozen masked men were seen running down a village road alongside an olive grove, pursuing a car. One settler clubbed the car and opened the door. A passenger managed to escape and run away with the group of men running after him.

A third video showed flames and smoke rising from several torched cars.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the head of the West Bank police force said in an internal police WhatsApp group that the footage of the masked settler beating the woman "kept him up at night" and instructed officers to bring the settler to justice.

Israel's military and police did not respond to an AP request for comment on the attack.

Turmus Ayya, whose population is predominantly Palestinian-American, has long been a target of settler attacks, but villagers say the violence worsened during the Israel-Hamas war. It's nestled in a valley surrounded by hilltops crowned with Israeli settlements and outposts.

Since the killing of a 14-year-old Palestinian-American, Amer Rabee, by Israeli forces in the town in April protests against settler violence and the military's perceived failure to curb it have provoked regular clashes with settlers.

More broadly, settler violence is surging across the West Bank. The UN says the first half of 2025 has seen 757 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage - a 13% increase compared with the same period last year.

The first week of olive harvest season has seen more than 150 settler attacks and over 700 olive trees uprooted, broken or poisoned, according to Muayyad Shaaban, who heads an office in the Palestinian Authority that is tracking the violence.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state. Settler advocates hold key Israeli Cabinet positions that grant them and the settlers an important say over the West Bank.

Arab World

First Egypt-EU Summit Aims to Strengthen Strategic Partnership  

Egypt's President Sisi is welcomed upon his arrival in Brussels on Tuesday. (Egyptian Presidency)
Egypt's President Sisi is welcomed upon his arrival in Brussels on Tuesday. (Egyptian Presidency)
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First Egypt-EU Summit Aims to Strengthen Strategic Partnership  

Egypt's President Sisi is welcomed upon his arrival in Brussels on Tuesday. (Egyptian Presidency)
Egypt's President Sisi is welcomed upon his arrival in Brussels on Tuesday. (Egyptian Presidency)

Egypt’s ties with the European Union are entering a new phase of cooperation with the first-ever Egypt-EU summit, led by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, set to be held in Brussels.

The summit, described by the Egyptian presidency as “historic”, follows months of repeated European financial support for Cairo and is expected to deepen their strategic partnership and expand opportunities for cooperation amid global upheaval, according to former Egyptian diplomats who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat.

They said the meeting would also address regional political crises.

Sisi arrived in the Belgian capital on Tuesday to head Egypt’s delegation at the summit, scheduled for Wednesday, the presidency said in a statement.

Presidential Spokesman Ambassador Mohamed el-Shennawy said the “historic summit - the first of its kind between Egypt and the EU - crowns the comprehensive strategic partnership officially launched in Cairo in March 2024.”

On the sidelines of the visit, Sisi will hold a series of key meetings with senior EU officials, a number of European leaders, and the King of Belgium to solidify frameworks for cooperation and political coordination on regional and international issues of common concern.

The visit also includes “a pivotal economic component,” with a major economic forum to be held on the sidelines focusing on investment opportunities in Egypt. The forum will bring together leading European corporations and business executives and will discuss Egypt’s vision for combating irregular migration, according to the presidency.

Trade between Egypt and EU member states reached about $31.2 billion in 2023, according to data released by Egypt’s statistics agency last March.

The EU remains Egypt’s leading investor, with accumulated investments of around €38.8 billion, roughly 39% of Egypt’s total foreign direct investment (FDI). Egypt is the EU’s second-largest FDI recipient in the Middle East and North Africa region, according to the EU Delegation in Cairo.

Ambassador Mohamed Higazy, a member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs and a former assistant foreign minister, said the summit reaffirms the bilateral partnership agreement and represents a key opportunity to enhance cooperation between the two sides.

In March 2024, Sisi and the European Commission signed a declaration upgrading Egypt-EU relations to a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” in the presence of the prime ministers of Cyprus, Greece, Italy, and Austria. The agreement outlined cooperation in six areas: political relations, economic stability, investment, trade, migration, and security.

Ambassador Gamal Bayoumi, former secretary-general of the Egypt-EU Partnership Association and a former assistant foreign minister, said the summit carries significant weight as “the first of its kind,” adding that no similar summit has ever been held with any Mediterranean country before.

He said the meeting reflects “a clear intent to accelerate cooperation with Egypt across multiple sectors.”

Bayoumi expected the summit to result in greater European investment in Egypt, expanded collaboration, and increased trade volumes between the two sides.

In March 2024, the EU announced an €8 billion financial support package for Egypt, covering trade and investment sectors over the coming years. Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said in January 2025 that Cairo had received an initial €1 billion tranche from a €7.4 billion EU financing package.

On May 20, EU lawmakers and member states reached an agreement to provide Egypt with €4 billion ($4.5 billion) in loans to bolster its economy and strengthen cooperation under the strategic partnership.

The European Parliament said in a statement that “a short-term loan of up to €1 billion was disbursed at the end of 2024, and an additional loan of up to €4 billion will now follow.” Cairo will have a repayment period of up to 35 years, it added.

Higazy said the coming period will witness “broader cooperation between both sides, especially in investment,” describing the European aid and financing packages as a recognition of Egypt’s regional importance and a commitment to supporting its economy and future.

Bayoumi, who led Egypt’s negotiations with the EU for the 2001 partnership agreement, said economic issues would likely take priority among the summit’s agenda items, with prospects for success bolstered by Europe’s continued backing of Cairo amid regional turmoil.

Arab World

Assassinations Despite Truce: Hamas Fears ‘Lebanon Scenario’ in Gaza  

A picture taken from an undisclosed position in southern Israel along the border with the Gaza Strip shows the destruction in the besieged Palestinian territory on October 21, 2025. (AFP)
A picture taken from an undisclosed position in southern Israel along the border with the Gaza Strip shows the destruction in the besieged Palestinian territory on October 21, 2025. (AFP)
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Assassinations Despite Truce: Hamas Fears ‘Lebanon Scenario’ in Gaza  

A picture taken from an undisclosed position in southern Israel along the border with the Gaza Strip shows the destruction in the besieged Palestinian territory on October 21, 2025. (AFP)
A picture taken from an undisclosed position in southern Israel along the border with the Gaza Strip shows the destruction in the besieged Palestinian territory on October 21, 2025. (AFP)

Israeli airstrikes over the past three days in various parts of the Gaza Strip were not entirely random and targeted several key Hamas operatives, killing five “influential” field commanders and seriously wounding another, sources within Palestinian factions, including Hamas, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

All six men were members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, the sources said.

According to Hamas sources, the movement’s leadership believes Israel may be attempting to “replicate the Lebanese scenario” in Gaza - a reference to Israeli strikes and assassinations against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon despite the declared ceasefire between the two sides.

A Hamas source said that on Sunday, Israel used a suicide drone to assassinate Taj al-Din al-Wahidi, the deputy commander of the “Western Battalion” in Jabalia, which belongs to the Qassam Brigades. Al-Wahidi was killed while inside an apartment near Gaza City’s port area, the source said.

The source described al-Wahidi as the “de facto commander” of the battalion, who oversaw a series of operations against Israeli forces during the war, personally supervising both planning and execution. He had survived multiple previous assassination attempts and was among those who directed the October 7, 2023, assault on Israel’s Zikim military post, the source added.

A separate Hamas source said another drone fired at least one missile at a group of four senior Hamas operatives, killing all four and critically wounding their field commander - the leader of an elite company within the Eastern Battalion in Jabalia.

The men had been gathered near a beach resort in the central Gaza town of al-Zawaida. All were residents of the Jabalia refugee camp and had been assigned various combat missions during the war, the source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The wounded commander, who remains in critical condition, is a wanted man from a prominent pro-Hamas family in Jabalia, the source added. He and his group were the last remaining active cell from the Eastern Battalion in the camp.

According to the sources, the cell had recently been tasked with targeting the al-Samaana gang, one of several armed groups operating in Jabalia and Beit Lahia that Hamas accuses of collaborating with Israel.

‘Lebanese scenario’

Hamas sources did not rule out that Israel’s insistence on maintaining security control over Gaza could be part of a broader strategy to “recreate the Lebanese experience” by carrying out assassinations of field commanders and activists under the pretext of preventing Hamas from rebuilding its military capabilities.

“The assassinations carried out last Sunday confirm Israel’s intention to continue this pattern,” one source told Asharq Al-Awsat. “It may use the issue of disarmament as a pretext to conduct future strikes inside Gaza, just as it has done in Lebanon.”

While Hamas sources expressed confidence in Arab and Islamic mediators, they said the movement still does not trust the United States, which “has often allowed Israel to pursue its plans,” even if Washington is now discouraging a return to all-out war.

“The scenario unfolding in Lebanon could well be repeated in Gaza,” one Hamas source said. “That is why the movement’s leadership insisted throughout negotiations on a complete ceasefire, with clear guarantees from all mediators, including the US - guarantees that Hamas ultimately secured during the Sharm el-Sheikh talks.”

‘No turning back’

A field source said Israeli violations could have a “limited impact” on the current ceasefire but stressed that Hamas remains committed to the truce.

“The movement does not want to go backward but to move forward,” the source stressed. “However, Israel’s actions on the ground and its aggressive behavior are affecting the situation and could lead to a brief period of reciprocal clashes before mediators intervene again, as happened last time.”

“It is unreasonable for the world to dwell on what happened in Rafah, when the details remain unclear, while ignoring Israel’s daily violations that have killed dozens of civilians across the Strip for no reason other than killing,” the source added.

The Hamas and factional delegation, currently in Cairo, is expected to continue discussions with senior Egyptian officials to ensure that the ceasefire is “clearly defined and prevents Israel from manipulating it at will, as it does in Lebanon,” the source said.