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Israeli Intelligence Arrests Hamas Cell in Jerusalem

Religious Jews in a Jerusalem suburb during Purim celebrations (EPA)
Religious Jews in a Jerusalem suburb during Purim celebrations (EPA)
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Israeli Intelligence Arrests Hamas Cell in Jerusalem

Religious Jews in a Jerusalem suburb during Purim celebrations (EPA)
Religious Jews in a Jerusalem suburb during Purim celebrations (EPA)

The Israeli intelligence (Shin Bet) arrested a Palestinian cell in Jerusalem that transferred $250,000 from Turkey to finance alleged terrorist activities and pay families of martyrs and prisoners.

The Israeli Public Prosecution has submitted an indictment to a court in Jerusalem against four citizens from Sur Baher and Beit Hanina, on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

They were accused of running a terrorist group, encouraging terrorist activities, financing terrorism, tax offenses, and money laundering.

The Shin Bet claimed the detainees were assigned to carry out military operations that led to clashes during the holy month of Ramadan.

The Shin Bet and the Israeli police arrested the four suspects last month, but a media blackout was imposed, which was removed Friday during the trial.

The indictment named the detainees as freed prisoner Khaled Sabah, a senior Hamas official in Jerusalem, his two sons Munib and Musab and Firas Tawtah, claiming some were trained outside the country.

Tawtah is accused of using the Zakat Committee that he leads for funneling money to Hamas and collecting and distributing $8.6 million between 2007 and 2021.

The police claimed that Sabah had recently met with Khaled Atoun and Musa Ekry, Hamas top officials, who currently live and work in Turkey, and that they appointed Sabah in charge of "Hamas" funds in Jerusalem.

A sum of $250,000 was recently handed over to him for financing Hamas' activities during Ramadan, but he was unable to bring such a large sum across the border, and he started entering the money in small amounts.

The operators urged Sabah to find a way to enter the money, so he deposited it in a Turkish bank account and spent the amount from his Palestinian bank account.

Israeli authorities confiscated $246,000 in cash that was found in his home.

The indictment added that Sabah's two sons aided him as members of Hamas, and the money was transferred to Hamas activists and their families and persons convicted of offenses of terrorism and breach of public order.

The Shin Bet claimed Sabah met in Turkey with Hamas leaders, including Zakaria Najib, who was convicted of kidnapping the soldier Nahshon Waxman in 1994.

The indictment added that during his last month's visit to Turkey, Sabah's ​​responsibilities were expanded, and he was appointed as the head of Hamas in Jerusalem to advance its military activity in the city.

Sabah was asked to form and move military and organizational infrastructure in Jerusalem and prepare for Ramadan month.

It claimed that Mosab helped his father and formed a link with Hamas's leadership in Turkey, and Munib helped relay messages between the officials in Turkey and collected money on his father's behalf.

In 2012-2022, Tawtah collected nearly $150,000 for the charity to be transferred to the families and orphans affiliated with Hamas.

The charity had a total income of $8.6 million between 2007 and 2020, the indictment read, which were transferred to the martyrs' families.

The association also transferred a large part of the money to orphans not affiliated with Hamas.

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Arab World

Israel’s Security Cabinet Approves 19 New Settlements in West Bank

A helicopter flies over the Israeli settlement of Shilo in the occupied West Bank on December 14, 2025. (AFP)
A helicopter flies over the Israeli settlement of Shilo in the occupied West Bank on December 14, 2025. (AFP)
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Israel’s Security Cabinet Approves 19 New Settlements in West Bank

A helicopter flies over the Israeli settlement of Shilo in the occupied West Bank on December 14, 2025. (AFP)
A helicopter flies over the Israeli settlement of Shilo in the occupied West Bank on December 14, 2025. (AFP)

Israel's security cabinet approved the establishment of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move the country's far-right finance minister said on Sunday was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.  

The decision brings the total number of settlements approved over the past three years to 69, according to a statement from the office of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.  

The latest approvals come days after the United Nations said the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank -- all of which are considered illegal under international law -- had reached its highest level since at least 2017.  

"The proposal by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz to declare and formalize 19 new settlements in Judea and Samaria has been approved by the cabinet," the statement said, without specifying when the decision was taken. 

Smotrich is a vocal proponent of settlement expansion and a settler himself.  

"On the ground, we are blocking the establishment of a Palestinian terror state," he said in the statement.  

"We will continue to develop, build, and settle the land of our ancestral heritage, with faith in the justice of our path." 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has recently condemned what he described as Israel's "relentless" expansion of settlements in the occupied territory.  

It "continues to fuel tensions, impede access by Palestinians to their land and threaten the viability of a fully independent, democratic, contiguous and sovereign Palestinian State", he said earlier this month.  

Since the start of the war in Gaza, calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state have proliferated, with several European countries, Canada and Australia recently moving to formally recognize such a state, drawing rebukes from Israel.  

A UN report said the expansion of settlements was at its highest point since 2017, when the United Nations began tracking such data.  

"These figures represent a sharp increase compared to previous years," Guterres said, noting an average of 12,815 housing units were added annually between 2017 and 2022.  

"These developments are further entrenching the unlawful Israeli occupation and violating international law and undermining the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination." 

Excluding east Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, along with about three million Palestinian residents.  

Smotrich's office said the 19 newly approved settlements are located in what it described as "highly strategic" areas, adding that two of them -- Ganim and Kadim in the northern West Bank -- would be re-established after being dismantled two decades ago.  

Five of the 19 settlements already existed but had not previously been granted legal status under Israeli law, the statement said.  

While all Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory are considered illegal under international law, some wildcat outposts are also illegal in the eyes of the Israeli government.  

Many of these, however, are later legalized by Israeli authorities, fueling fears about the possible annexation of the territory. 

US President Donald Trump has warned Israel about annexing the West Bank.  

"Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened," Trump said in a recent interview to Time magazine.  

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and violence there has soared since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023 following Hamas's attack on Israel.  

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,027 Palestinians in the West Bank -- both gunmen and civilians -- since the start of the fighting in Gaza, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.  

At least 44 Israelis have been killed in the West Bank in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations during the same period, according to Israeli data. 

Arab World

Iraq Top Judge Says Armed Factions to Cooperate on Weapons

Cars drive through central Baghdad as a thick fog blankets the Iraqi capital on December 11, 2025. (AFP)
Cars drive through central Baghdad as a thick fog blankets the Iraqi capital on December 11, 2025. (AFP)
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Iraq Top Judge Says Armed Factions to Cooperate on Weapons

Cars drive through central Baghdad as a thick fog blankets the Iraqi capital on December 11, 2025. (AFP)
Cars drive through central Baghdad as a thick fog blankets the Iraqi capital on December 11, 2025. (AFP)

The head of Iraq's highest judicial body said Saturday that the leaders of armed factions have agreed to cooperate on the sensitive issue of the state's monopoly on weapons.

However, the powerful Kataib Hezbollah group said that it would only discuss giving up its arms when foreign troops leave the country.

"The resistance is a right, and its weapons will remain in the hands of its fighters," the group said in a statement.

The leaders of three other pro-Iran factions designated by Washington as terrorist groups said that it is time to restrict weapons to state control, although they too have stopped short of committing to disarm -- a long-standing US demand.

Faiq Zidan, the head of Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, in a statement thanked "faction leaders for heeding his advice to coordinate together to enforcing the rule of law, restrict weapons to state control, and transition to political action after the national need for military action has ceased".

After Iraq's general elections in November, the United States demanded that the new government exclude six groups it designates as terrorists and instead move to dismantle them, Iraqi officials and diplomats told AFP.

But some of the groups have increased their presence in the new parliament and are members of the Coordination Framework, a ruling alliance of Shiite parties with varying ties to Iran that holds the majority.

The blacklisted groups are part of the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces, a former paramilitary alliance that has integrated into the armed forces. But they have also developed a reputation for sometimes acting on their own.

They are also part of the Tehran-backed so-called "Axis of Resistance" and have called for the withdrawal of US troops -- deployed in Iraq as part of an anti-ISIS coalition -- and launched attacks against them.

These groups include the powerful Asaib Ahl al-Haq faction, which won 27 seats in the elections.

Earlier this week, the group's leader, Qais al-Khazali, a key figure in the Coordination Framework, said "we believe" in "the slogan to restrict weapons to the state", and "we are now part of the state".

Two other groups, Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya and Kataeb Imam Ali, said on Friday that it is time to "limit weapons to the state".

Arab World

Israeli Military Says Killed Two Palestinians in West Bank

A Palestinian flag flutters in front of Israeli soldiers standing near their military vehicle parked at the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp, in the Israeli-occupied northern West Bank on December 15, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian flag flutters in front of Israeli soldiers standing near their military vehicle parked at the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp, in the Israeli-occupied northern West Bank on December 15, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Military Says Killed Two Palestinians in West Bank

A Palestinian flag flutters in front of Israeli soldiers standing near their military vehicle parked at the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp, in the Israeli-occupied northern West Bank on December 15, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian flag flutters in front of Israeli soldiers standing near their military vehicle parked at the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp, in the Israeli-occupied northern West Bank on December 15, 2025. (AFP)

Israel's military said it killed two Palestinians in the north of the occupied West Bank Saturday, accusing one of throwing "a block" and the other an explosive at its soldiers.

In a statement the military said that during an operation "in the area of Qabatiya, a terrorist hurled a block toward the soldiers, who responded with fire and eliminated the terrorist".

"Simultaneously, during an additional operation in the Silat al-Harithiya area, a terrorist hurled an explosive toward the soldiers, who responded with fire and eliminated the terrorist."

Both locations are near the city of Jenin.

The Israeli military reported no injuries among its troops.

The Palestinian health ministry said that a 16-year-old boy died "from wounds caused by a bullet of the Israeli occupation forces", according to the official Wafa news agency.

It also reported that a 22-year-old man was killed by "a bullet to the chest during an occupation forces raid" on Silat al-Harithiya.

Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has soared since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 triggered the Gaza war.

It has not subsided despite the truce between Israel and Hamas that came into effect in October.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, many of them gunmen, but also scores of civilians, in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.

At least 44 Israelis, both soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli figures.