Israeli Raid in the West Bank Sparks Clashes, Killing One

Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian man during a raid in the village of Deir al-Hatab near the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP)
Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian man during a raid in the village of Deir al-Hatab near the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP)
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Israeli Raid in the West Bank Sparks Clashes, Killing One

Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian man during a raid in the village of Deir al-Hatab near the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP)
Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian man during a raid in the village of Deir al-Hatab near the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP)

A Palestinian man was killed by Israeli army fire Wednesday, as troops raided a village in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The ministry said Alaa Zaghal, 21, died from a gunshot wound to the head in Deir al-Hatab, east of Nablus.

The army said it would comment on the incident after the Yom Kippur holiday.

Local media reported that an armored convoy surrounded the home of Salman Omran, who posted an unverified video online calling for support. An Associated Press journalist saw heavy gunfire and rock-throwing between young Palestinian men clashing with Israeli soldiers.

The WAFA news agency said Omran surrendered after an Israeli bulldozer approached his home. It was unclear why he was wanted by Israeli forces.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said seven people were wounded, including three journalists, during the clashes and that one of its ambulances had been hit by tear gas.

Israel has carried out similar incursions almost every night in the West Bank since spring after a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israelis killed 19 people.

Israel says its operations aim to dismantle militant infrastructure and prevent future attacks, and that it has been forced to act because of ineffectiveness on the part of Palestinian security forces.

For Palestinians, the nightly raids into their cities, villages and towns have undermined the Palestinian security forces and strengthened Israel's control over lands Palestinians want for their hoped-for state.

The Israeli raids have killed some 100 Palestinians, making this year the deadliest since 2015.

Most of those killed are said by Israel to have been gunmen, but local youths protesting the incursions as well as some civilians have also been killed in the violence. Hundreds have been rounded up, with many placed in so-called administrative detention, which allows Israel to hold them without trial or charge.

The raids have increased tensions in the West Bank, with a recent uptick in Palestinian shooting attacks against Israelis. They have also drawn into focus the growing disillusionment amongst young Palestinians over the tight security coordination between Israeli and the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, who work together to apprehend gunmen.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and 500,000 Jewish settlers now live in some 130 settlements and other outposts among nearly 3 million Palestinians. The Palestinians want that territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, for their future state.



Palestinian Authority Condemns East Jerusalem Evictions

A Palestinian man (R) watch a settler family walks past a group of Israeli police officers as 11 Palestinian families in the Batan al-Hawa area of Silwan are evicted to make room for Israeli settlers, in the predominantly Arab neighbourhood of Silwan, in East Jerusalem on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)
A Palestinian man (R) watch a settler family walks past a group of Israeli police officers as 11 Palestinian families in the Batan al-Hawa area of Silwan are evicted to make room for Israeli settlers, in the predominantly Arab neighbourhood of Silwan, in East Jerusalem on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)
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Palestinian Authority Condemns East Jerusalem Evictions

A Palestinian man (R) watch a settler family walks past a group of Israeli police officers as 11 Palestinian families in the Batan al-Hawa area of Silwan are evicted to make room for Israeli settlers, in the predominantly Arab neighbourhood of Silwan, in East Jerusalem on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)
A Palestinian man (R) watch a settler family walks past a group of Israeli police officers as 11 Palestinian families in the Batan al-Hawa area of Silwan are evicted to make room for Israeli settlers, in the predominantly Arab neighbourhood of Silwan, in East Jerusalem on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)

The Palestinian Authority has condemned the recent eviction of multiple families from their homes in east Jerusalem and urged the international community to take "firm measures" to halt the displacements.

Several families were removed from their homes in the neighborhood of Silwan in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on Wednesday, AFP journalists saw.

Silwan has for decades been the target of a policy allowing Jews who lost property before the establishment of Israel in 1948 to reclaim it.

Israeli rights group B'Tselem said the evictions were the start of "a large wave of displacement affecting around 2,200 people" and were part of a policy aimed at "Judaizing the neighborhood".

In a statement released late on Friday by official news agency WAFA, the PA's foreign ministry "condemned the escalation by Israeli occupation authorities of forced eviction measures".

It said 15 families had been evicted from the hilltop neighborhood south of Jerusalem's Old City.

It also called on the international community to take "firm and more decisive steps to prevent the continuation of forced displacement against the Palestinian people".

Israeli authorities have evicted many Palestinian families from the area in recent years, while further families await the enforcement of eviction orders.

Hundreds of settlers, whose presence is illegal under international law, live among around 50,000 Palestinians in Silwan.

Their presence in the neighborhood dates back to the 1980s.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967, later annexing it and declaring it part of its undivided capital, a move not recognized by the UN or most of the international community.

Palestinians aspire to make it the capital of a future Palestinian state.


Palestinian Brothers Killed in Israeli Strike on Gaza

Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike, according to medics, in Gaza City, March 28, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike, according to medics, in Gaza City, March 28, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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Palestinian Brothers Killed in Israeli Strike on Gaza

Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike, according to medics, in Gaza City, March 28, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike, according to medics, in Gaza City, March 28, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinian brothers Saturday morning in the Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.

The strike hit the men close to the Showa roundabout in Gaza City’s Shijaiyah neighborhood, according to the Al-Ahly hospital.

The area is close to the so-called Yellow Line which separates Israeli-controlled areas across the Gaza Strip from the rest of the enclave.

Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


Israel, Hezbollah Brace for Prolonged Fighting in South Lebanon

An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the Lebanese border (Reuters)
An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the Lebanese border (Reuters)
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Israel, Hezbollah Brace for Prolonged Fighting in South Lebanon

An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the Lebanese border (Reuters)
An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the Lebanese border (Reuters)

Hezbollah is preparing for a prolonged fight in south Lebanon and is insisting on an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory before any ceasefire takes effect, to avoid a repeat of the last war’s outcome, Lebanese sources following the group’s talks with officials said.

Continued Israeli troop build-ups suggest the Israeli army is also bracing for a long battle.

Information in Lebanon on fighters targeted in airstrikes, reinforced by Israeli footage of operations in combat zones, points to a shift in Hezbollah’s military approach.

The group has reduced combat units to two or three fighters to limit attrition and granted field units authority to act independently, based on battlefield conditions.

Sources said Hezbollah is preparing for a long war and will not accept any political deal that does not guarantee an Israeli withdrawal before a ceasefire begins, to prevent Israel from using any pause to destroy more homes or entrench military positions inside Lebanon.

The group is telling officials its fighters will continue to resist Israeli incursions until a full withdrawal, however long that takes. Any political agreement, the sources said, would also ensure the return of prisoners, whose numbers have risen since the war began, and allow displaced residents to return to their homes.

Talks suspended

The leaks indicate Hezbollah has raised its conditions ahead of any potential agreement, although there are currently no negotiations or exchanged messages with Israel through any international mediator, the sources said.

Israel has also raised its demands, seeking political negotiations with the Lebanese state while fighting continues and while it holds Lebanese territory.

These demands are coupled with steps by the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah, secure northern Israel fully and eliminate any threat, diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The stance mirrors Israeli statements. The Israeli military said, “If the Lebanese government does not disarm Hezbollah, we will do it.”

A UN official warned of “increasingly alarming rhetoric” from Israeli authorities and the military regarding southern Lebanon, adding that what is needed is full respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Advance of 10 kilometers

Israeli forces have made what is seen as a strategic advance along Lebanon’s coast, pushing nearly 10 kilometers from the border southwest of Naqoura toward Bayyada, about 12 kilometers from the coastal city of Tyre.

Local sources said progress on this axis has been relatively smooth, as Hezbollah’s defenses are positioned farther east, along the route the Israeli army would take to reach Shama and Tayr Harfa and seize the surrounding high ground.

That would allow it to overlook the valleys of Zibqin and Majdal Zoun, an area it failed to enter in the last war despite controlling Shama.

Elsewhere, Israeli forces have advanced further in Qantara, nearing the edges of Wadi al-Hujair, a strategic valley that marked Israel’s last point of control before its withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000. Reaching it would cut Hezbollah's supply lines from the valley and the Litani River toward the interior.

In response, Hezbollah said it carried out a series of attacks targeting Israeli tanks and troop concentrations, and released images showing armored vehicles hit in Deir Siryan and Taybeh with guided missiles and drones. The group said its fighters were engaging Israeli forces at point-blank range in some areas of incursion and inside village neighborhoods.

The number of operations on Thursday reached nearly 90, announced in separate statements, the highest since the war began on Oct. 8, 2024, signaling a sharp escalation.

Israel now fully controls 11 villages across the first, second and third lines along the border.

At the same time, Israeli airstrikes hit the Zahrani area, causing casualties in Sarafand and Saksakiyeh.

Strikes also targeted Bazaliyah in the Bekaa in eastern Lebanon, as well as dozens of villages in the districts of Tyre, Nabatieh, Bint Jbeil, Marjayoun and Jezzine, in addition to attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Warnings over the humanitarian situation

On the humanitarian front, Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Lebanon, said about 150,000 people have been cut off after bridges over the Litani River were destroyed.

The situation remains deeply alarming, and there is a real risk of a humanitarian catastrophe, she said.

Marcoluigi Corsi, UNICEF Representative in Lebanon, said at a Friday press conference that displaced people in Lebanon are unable to find safe shelter even in the capital, Beirut, amid the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah.