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US, Allies Prepare to Defend Israel as Netanyahu Says It’s Already in ‘Multi-Front War’ with Iran

Palestinian rescuers extinguish a fire in a damaged building following Israeli bombardment which hit a school complex, including the Hamama and al-Huda schools, in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in the north of Gaza City on August 3, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
Palestinian rescuers extinguish a fire in a damaged building following Israeli bombardment which hit a school complex, including the Hamama and al-Huda schools, in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in the north of Gaza City on August 3, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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US, Allies Prepare to Defend Israel as Netanyahu Says It’s Already in ‘Multi-Front War’ with Iran

Palestinian rescuers extinguish a fire in a damaged building following Israeli bombardment which hit a school complex, including the Hamama and al-Huda schools, in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in the north of Gaza City on August 3, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
Palestinian rescuers extinguish a fire in a damaged building following Israeli bombardment which hit a school complex, including the Hamama and al-Huda schools, in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in the north of Gaza City on August 3, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Israel is already in a “multi-front war” with Iran and its proxies, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting Sunday, as the United States and allies prepared to defend Israel from an expected counterstrike and prevent an even more destructive regional conflict.

Tensions have soared following nearly 10 months of war in Gaza and the killing last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran. Iran and its allies have blamed Israel and threatened retaliation. Hamas says it has begun discussions on choosing a new leader.

Netanyahu said Israel was ready for any scenario. Jordan's foreign minister was making a rare trip to Iran as part of diplomatic efforts, while the Pentagon has moved significant assets to the region.

“We are doing everything possible to make sure that this situation does not boil over,” White House deputy national security adviser Jon Finer told ABC.

In Israel, some prepared bomb shelters and recalled Iran's unprecedented direct military assault in April following a suspected Israeli strike that killed two Iranian generals. Israel said almost all the drones and ballistic and cruise missiles were intercepted.

A stabbing attack on Sunday near Tel Aviv killed a woman in her 70s and an 80-year-old man, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service and a nearby hospital, and two other men were wounded. The police said the attack was carried out by a Palestinian militant, who was “neutralized.”

Inside Gaza, Israel’s military said it struck Hamas command centers at two schools in Gaza City. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Earlier, Israeli strikes killed at least 18 people. One hit a tent camp for thousands of displaced Palestinians in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, killing four people, including one woman, and injuring others, Gaza's Health Ministry said. An Associated Press journalist filmed men rushing to the scene to retrieve bodies while trying to extinguish the fire.

The Israeli military said it targeted a Palestinian fighter in the strike, which it said caused secondary explosions, "indicating the presence of weaponry in the area.”

The hospital in Deir al-Balah is the main medical facility operating in central Gaza as many others in the territory no longer function. A separate strike on a home near Deir al-Balah killed a girl and her parents, according to the hospital.

Another strike flattened a house in northern Gaza, killing at least eight people, including three children, their parents and their grandmother, according to the Health Ministry. A further three people were killed in a strike on a vehicle in Gaza City, according to the Civil Defense first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government.

Palestinian fighters in Gaza fired at least five projectiles at Israeli communities near the border without causing casualties or damage, the military said. The military later told people in some parts of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis to evacuate.

An Israeli strike on Saturday at a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City killed at least 16 people and wounded another 21, according to the Health Ministry, which announced the toll on Sunday. Israel’s military, which regularly accuses Palestinian fighters of sheltering in civilian areas, said it struck a Hamas command center.

The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 people hostage.

Israel's massive offensive in response has killed at least 39,580 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Heavy airstrikes and ground operations have caused widespread destruction and displaced the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

The armed group Hezbollah and Israel have continued to trade fire along the Lebanon border since the war began, with the severity growing in recent months. The Lebanese state-run National News Agency said an Israeli strike targeted a house in Beit Lef, and the Lebanese Health Ministry said two people were critically wounded.

Hezbollah says it's aimed at relieving pressure on fellow Iran-backed ally Hamas. A growing number of countries, including the US, are encouraging citizens to leave Lebanon after last week's killing of a senior commander.

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Arab World

Residents of North Lebanon City Lose Neighbors, Livelihoods in Building Collapse

People stand at the site of the collapsed residential building in Tripoli, Lebanon, 09 February 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
People stand at the site of the collapsed residential building in Tripoli, Lebanon, 09 February 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
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Residents of North Lebanon City Lose Neighbors, Livelihoods in Building Collapse

People stand at the site of the collapsed residential building in Tripoli, Lebanon, 09 February 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
People stand at the site of the collapsed residential building in Tripoli, Lebanon, 09 February 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

Rubble is all that remains of the building once home to Adnan Mardash's grocery shop in north Lebanon's Tripoli after it collapsed, killing 14 people and shining a spotlight on the impoverished city's neglect.

Mardash, 54, said he shut the small ground-floor store where he worked for more than three decades and went to his nearby home shortly before the disaster on Sunday afternoon.

"Our neighbors and loved ones died... people lost their livelihoods," said the father of four, who has no other income.

"We felt the building's situation wasn't good and we contacted the municipality but got no response," he told AFP.

Only eight people were pulled out alive after the building, home to 12 apartments, collapsed in the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood.

People were angry and grieving on Monday, some peering over balconies to watch emergency workers remove debris after the disaster, which came just over two weeks after another building in the city collapsed, killing two people.

"Officials come, put on a show then leave, they're all liars... nobody cares about the poor people. If an official had lived in this building, it would have been fixed in seconds," Mardash said.

Naser Fadel, 60, who has lived all his life in the neighborhood, stood at his small store weeping.

"We live here in extreme poverty. We've gone through wars... There are no words to express what we have been through," he said.

Those who died were "the best people, they were poor and humble," he said.

- 'Rich people' -

Even before a years-long economic crisis began in Lebanon in 2019, more than half of the city's residents lived at or below the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

The building that collapsed is on a crowded street that divides the predominantly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood from the mainly Alawite Jabal Mohsen.

Buildings still bear the scars of recurring clashes between the two neighborhoods from 2007 to 2014.

The fighting, and a 2023 earthquake that hit Türkiye and neighboring Syria, not far from Tripoli, worsened the situation.

The Tripoli municipality on Sunday declared the city "disaster-stricken" and urged the Lebanese state to bear its responsibilities.

After an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said authorities had decided to evacuate 114 buildings at risk of collapse and provide a year of housing allowances for the affected families.

Tripoli Mayor Abdel Hamid Karimeh told AFP that at least 600 other buildings needed "direct intervention to reinforce them" but he warned that the real number could be much higher.

He said the municipality has recently evacuated 12 buildings and relocated residents to a hospitality institute.

In the Qubbeh neighborhood near to Bab al-Tebbaneh, Yousef Ahmed, 80, had moved in with his daughter after losing his home in last month's deadly building collapse.

"Nobody has given us any help... there are lawmakers and rich people" in the city but "nobody asks about our situation", he lamented.

- 'Without oversight' -

Lebanon is dotted with derelict buildings, and many inhabited structures are in an advanced state of disrepair.

Several buildings have collapsed before in Tripoli and other parts of the country over the years, with the authorities failing to take appropriate measures to ensure structural safety.

Many buildings were built illegally, especially during the 1975-1990 civil war, while some owners have added new floors to existing residential blocks without permits.

Abir Saksouk, co-founder of research and design firm Public Works Studio, said authorities had allowed buildings to fall into disrepair and noted a lack of oversight and legislative gaps.

She said a public safety decree dating to the early 2000s fails to provide a mechanism for restoring buildings constructed before it was issued.

Many buildings were also built "without oversight", she told AFP, while decrying neglect of the issue and "unjust housing policies".

Many residents have little choice but to stay in their dilapidated homes.

Mohammed al-Sayed, 56, has remained in his building despite pieces falling from a second-floor balcony.

He said the municipality had repeatedly warned about cracks after four additional floors were built on the original two.

But he said he was unable to leave the building where he has spent almost his whole life.

"I have no shelter or alternative place to live," he said.

Arab World

UN: Israeli Measure in West Bank is ‘Unlawful,’ Erodes Two-State Solution

Palestinian men sit on the rubble as others console each other after a Palestinian home was demolished by the Israeli army in the village of Shuqba, west of the city of Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
Palestinian men sit on the rubble as others console each other after a Palestinian home was demolished by the Israeli army in the village of Shuqba, west of the city of Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
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UN: Israeli Measure in West Bank is ‘Unlawful,’ Erodes Two-State Solution

Palestinian men sit on the rubble as others console each other after a Palestinian home was demolished by the Israeli army in the village of Shuqba, west of the city of Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
Palestinian men sit on the rubble as others console each other after a Palestinian home was demolished by the Israeli army in the village of Shuqba, west of the city of Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday voiced grave concern over the reported decision by the Israeli security cabinet to authorize a series of administrative and enforcement measures in Areas A and B in the occupied West Bank, warning that such measure erodes the prospect for the two-State solution.

“Such actions, including Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are not only destabilizing but – as recalled by the International Court of Justice – unlawful,” according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.

Guterres reiterated that all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and their associated regime and infrastructure, have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation of international law, including relevant UN resolutions.

The Secretary-General called on Israel to reverse the measures. He also urged all parties “to preserve the only path to lasting peace, a negotiated two-State solution, in line with relevant Security Council resolutions and international law.”

On Sunday, the Ynet news website revealed that the Israeli cabinet is advancing a series of dramatic decisions aimed at deepening Israel’s de facto annexation of parts of the West Bank.

It said the measures, advanced by ministers Israel Katz and Bezalel Smotrich, are expected to bring far-reaching changes to land registration and property acquisition procedures in the West Bank, enabling the state to demolish Palestinian-owned buildings in Area A.

The decisions are also expected to significantly expand Jewish settlement across the West Bank.

In Ramallah, the Palestinian Presidency strongly denounced the dangerous decisions approved by the Israeli cabinet aimed at deepening attempts to annex the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency, WAFA.

The Presidency considered the decisions “a continuation of the comprehensive war waged by the Israeli government against Palestinians, and an unprecedented escalation targeting the Palestinian presence and its national and historical rights throughout the Palestinian territory, especially in the occupied West Bank.”

It warned of the grave implications of these decisions, which represent the practical implementation of annexation and displacement plans.

“These decisions also violate all agreements signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, as well as international law and resolutions of international legitimacy, and constitute a blatant violation of the Oslo Accords and the Hebron Agreement,” the Presidency said.

 

 

Arab World

Palestinians in the West Bank Struggle to Get by as Israel Severely Limits Work Permits

Palestinians protest after Israeli soldiers blocked the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026, demanding to be allowed to return to their homes from where they were expelled last year during an ongoing Israeli army operation. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Palestinians protest after Israeli soldiers blocked the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026, demanding to be allowed to return to their homes from where they were expelled last year during an ongoing Israeli army operation. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
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Palestinians in the West Bank Struggle to Get by as Israel Severely Limits Work Permits

Palestinians protest after Israeli soldiers blocked the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026, demanding to be allowed to return to their homes from where they were expelled last year during an ongoing Israeli army operation. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Palestinians protest after Israeli soldiers blocked the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026, demanding to be allowed to return to their homes from where they were expelled last year during an ongoing Israeli army operation. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

Hanadi Abu Zant hasn’t been able to pay rent on her apartment in the occupied West Bank for nearly a year after losing her permit to work inside Israel. When her landlord calls the police on her, she hides in a mosque.

“My biggest fear is being kicked out of my home. Where will we sleep, on the street?” she said, wiping tears from her cheeks.

She is among some 100,000 Palestinians whose work permits were revoked after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. Confined to the occupied territory, where jobs are scarce and wages far lower, they face dwindling and dangerous options as the economic crisis deepens, The Associated Press said.

Some have sold their belongings or gone into debt as they try to pay for food, electricity and school expenses for their children. Others have paid steep fees for black-market permits or tried to sneak into Israel, risking arrest or worse if they are mistaken for militants.

Israel, which has controlled the West Bank for nearly six decades, says it is under no obligation to allow Palestinians to enter for work and makes such decisions based on security considerations. Thousands of Palestinians are still allowed to work in scores of Jewish settlements across the West Bank, built on land they want for a future state.

Risk of collapse

The World Bank has warned that the West Bank economy is at risk of collapse because of Israel’s restrictions. By the end of last year, unemployment had surged to nearly 30% compared with around 12% before the war, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Before the war, tens of thousands of Palestinians worked inside Israel, mainly in construction and service jobs. Wages can be more than double those in the landlocked West Bank, where decades of Israeli checkpoints, land seizures and other restrictions have weighed heavily on the economy. Palestinians also blame the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the territory, for not doing enough to create jobs.

About 100,000 Palestinians had work permits that were revoked after the outbreak of the war. Israel has since reinstated fewer than 10,000, according to Gisha, an Israeli group advocating for Palestinian freedom of movement.

Wages earned in Israel injected some $4 billion into the Palestinian economy in 2022, according to the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank. That’s equivalent to about two-thirds of the Palestinian Authority's budget that year.

An Israeli official said Palestinians do not have an inherent right to enter Israel, and that permits are subject to security considerations. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Israel seized the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state. Some 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, along with over 500,000 Israeli settlers who can come and go freely.

The war in Gaza has brought a spike in Palestinian attacks on Israelis as well as settler violence. Military operations that Israel says are aimed at dismantling militant groups have caused heavy damage in the West Bank and displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians.

‘My refrigerator, it’s empty’

After her husband left her five years ago, Abu Zant secured a job at a food-packing plant in Israel that paid around $1,400 a month, enough to support her four children. When the war erupted, she thought the ban would only last a few months. She baked pastries for friends to scrape by.

Hasan Joma, who ran a business in Tulkarem before the war helping people find work in Israel, said Palestinian brokers are charging more than triple the price for a permit.

While there are no definite figures, tens of thousands of Palestinians are believed to be working illegally in Israel, according to Esteban Klor, professor of economics at Israel's Hebrew University and a senior researcher at the INSS. Some risk their lives trying to cross Israel’s separation barrier, which consists of 9-meter high (30-foot) concrete walls, fences and closed military roads.

Shuhrat Barghouthi’s husband has spent five months in prison for trying to climb the barrier to enter Israel for work, she said. Before the war, the couple worked in Israel earning a combined $5,700 a month. Now they are both unemployed and around $14,000 in debt.

“Come and see my refrigerator, it’s empty, there’s nothing to feed my children,” she said. She can’t afford to heat her apartment, where she hasn’t paid rent in two years. She says her children are often sick and frequently go to bed hungry.

Sometimes she returns home to see her belongings strewn in the street by the landlord, who has been trying to evict them.

Forced to work in settlements

Of the roughly 48,000 Palestinians who worked in Israeli settlements before the war, more than 65% have kept their permits, according to Gisha. The Palestinians and most of the international community view the settlements, which have rapidly expanded in recent years, as illegal.

Israeli officials did not respond to questions about why more Palestinians are permitted to work in the settlements.

Palestinians employed in the settlements, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, say their employers have beefed up security since the start of the war and are far more willing to fire anyone stepping out of line, knowing there are plenty more desperate for work.

Two Palestinians working in the Mishor Adumim settlement said security guards look through workers’ phones and revoke their permits arbitrarily.

Israelis have turned to foreign workers to fill jobs held by Palestinians, but some say it’s a poor substitute because they cost more and do not know the language. Palestinians speak Arabic, but those who work in Israel are often fluent in Hebrew.

Raphael Dadush, an Israeli developer, said the permit crackdown has resulted in costly delays.

Before the war, Palestinians made up more than half his workforce. He’s tried to replace them with Chinese workers but says it’s not exactly the same. He understands the government’s decision, but says it’s time to find a way for Palestinians to return that ensures Israel’s security.

Assaf Adiv, the executive director of an Israeli group advocating for Palestinian labor rights, says there has to be some economic integration or there will be “chaos.”

“The alternative to work in Israel is starvation and desperation,” he said.