3 h. ago Israeli president condemns ‘serious’ attack by settlers on West Bank villages

Isaac Herzog makes rare statement on often-ignored violence as settlers injure Palestinians and attack soldiersDozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, injuring four Palestinians and attacking Israeli soldiers in the latest incident of rising settler violence.The settlers attacked the Palestinian villages of Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf, setting vehicles on fire and damaging property belonging to a Bedouin community, with charred remains of cars left behind the next day. Continue reading...

Politics

5 h. ago Trump writes to Israeli president calling on him to pardon Netanyahu

The US president has repeatedly offered Netanyahu public declarations of support amid his ongoing corruption trial

Politics

8 h. ago Trump repeats request to Israeli president for Netanyahu pardon

Isaac Herzog can pardon convicted criminals in some circumstances, but cases against Israeli PM are still ongoingDonald Trump has repeated a request to Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, for a pardon for Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial in three separate corruption cases.The Israeli prime minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the ongoing court cases. No rulings have been delivered, and his supporters have dismissed the trials as politically motivated. Continue reading...

Politics

10 h. ago Starmer condemns ‘unacceptable’ attack on Streeting amid leadership row

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has called for heads to roll in No 10 over suggestions he was plotting to oust Sir Keir Starmer.

Politics

64 h. ago Reuters journalist among Palestinians injured after Israeli settlers attack olive harvesters in West Bank

News agency says journalist and security adviser repeatedly beaten by masked Israeli men wielding clubs and sticks

Events

9 d. ago ‘Olives are everything for us’: West Bank farmers prevented from harvesting by settler violence

About 70% of town’s olives are inaccessible without risking a potentially fatal clash with Israeli settlersAround As-Sawiya, rolling hills covered in fields and orchards rise to a horizon sharp against a pristine blue sky. It is a stunning view. But look closer and it becomes clear why the few thousand residents of this small town in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank say they are under siege – and why the olives are still heavy on the trees two weeks after the official date of the beginning of the annual harvest.From the highest point in As-Sawiya, Mahmud Hassan, the mayor, points out the olive orchards on the other side of the highway below the town. They lie on land owned by local families but are now impossible to reach without risking a potentially fatal clash with Israeli settlers who live in settlements around the town, or with Israeli security forces, he says. In all, about 70% of the town’s olives are currently inaccessible. Continue reading...

Society

1 week ago Lebanese president orders army to confront Israeli incursions after deadly raid

IDF says it was attacking Hezbollah infrastructure when it fired at a ‘suspect’ and the incident is under reviewIsraeli troops have killed a Lebanese municipal worker while carrying out a raid in the south of the country, prompting Lebanon’s president to order the army to confront future incursions.Lebanese state media identified the slain man as Ibrahim Salameh, an employee of the Blida municipality, a village near the border with Israel. The Israeli military confirmed the raid and said it was attacking Hezbollah infrastructure when it fired at a “suspect”. It said the incident was under review. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago What does the Israeli proposal to annex the West Bank involve after JD Vance hits out at ‘stupid political stunt’

Over 250 settlements, considered illegal, are spread across the West Bank, with nearly a million settlers

Politics

2 w. ago Vance says Knesset votes on annexing West Bank are an ‘insult’ as Netanyahu halts progress

US vice-president suggests votes were ‘stupid political stunt’ as Israeli PM halts further work on billsMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has ordered a halt to the advancement of parliamentary bills linked to the annexation of the West Bank after the US vice-president, JD Vance, described a vote on two bills in the Knesset as an “insult”.The bills applying Israeli law to the occupied West Bank, which would be tantamount to the annexation of land Palestinians want for a state, won preliminary approval from Israel’s parliament on Wednesday, barely a week after Donald Trump pushed through a deal aimed at ending a two-year Israeli offensive in Gaza. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Gaza ceasefire not like monitoring a toddler, says JD Vance during Netanyahu meeting

JD Vance has said monitoring the ceasefire in Gaza is not like monitoring a toddler, as he met with Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu.

Events

3 w. ago Gaza ceasefire live: JD Vance has ‘great optimism’ truce will hold as he meets Netanyahu

On a visit to Israel, the US vice-president said Washington would not set a deadline for the group to disarm under the US-brokered dealIsrael has completed the identification of the bodies of two more hostages, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday, the Associated Press (AP) reports. Authorities identified the deceased hostages as Arie Zalmanovich and Tamir Adar. Their bodies were transported in coffins by the Red Cross and handed over to the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip. A military ceremony attended by the chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces was planned for later in the day, Netanyahu’s office said. The two were killed in kibbutz Nir Oz during the 7 October 2023, attack by Hamas militants, which triggered the two-year war. Since the ceasefire began on 10 October, the remains of 15 hostages have been returned to Israel. Another 13 still need to be recovered in Gaza and handed over, a key element to the ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, the burial of m...

Events

3 w. ago Gaza ceasefire live: JD Vance has ‘great optimism’ truce will hold as he prepares to meet Netanyahu

On a visit to Israel, the US vice-president said Washington would not set a deadline for the group to disarm under the US-brokered dealHello and welcome to our continuing Middle East coverage.JD Vance has expressed “great optimism” that the Gaza truce would hold, during a visit to Israel aimed at shoring up support for a ceasefire and postwar reconstruction plans.The top United Nations court will rule on Wednesday on Israel’s obligations towards agencies providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza, as aid groups scramble to scale up assistance after a ceasefire. Judges at the International Court of Justice in The Hague have been asked for an “advisory opinion” laying out Israel’s duty to facilitate aid in Gaza.At a press conference in Israel on Tuesday, JD Vance referred to Hamas as a “terrorist organisation” and said the Israeli army was “defending itself” throughout the conflict. He said there is “a lot of work left to do” and that it is going to take a “long time” a...

Events

3 w. ago Israeli settlers beat Palestinian farmers on video as attacks mount during West Bank olive harvest

Video obtained by The Associated Press shows an Israeli settler beating Palestinian olive harvesters with clubs in an attack that Palestinian health officials say sent at least one woman to the hospital with serious injuries

Politics

3 w. ago ‘Never seen something so extreme’: Palestinian woman nearly clubbed to death by Jewish settler

Afaf Abu Alia, 55, known locally as Umm Saleh, was clubbed over the head on Sunday and has been taken to hospital where she is recovering

Events

3 w. ago Gaza ceasefire live: Vance arrives in Israel as Qatar condemns ‘continued violation’ of ceasefire

US vice-president’s trip comes a day after two Trump envoys met NetanyahuUS vice-president JD Vance has arrived in Israel with his wife, Usha.Vance is expected to meet top US Middle East envoys and military experts monitoring the truce on Tuesday. He is expected to meet with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and president Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem tomorrow. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago US envoys arrive in Israel to shore up the Gaza ceasefire after a major flareup

A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy says that Washington's special envoy Steve Witkoff and the U.S. president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner have arrived in Israel

Politics

3 w. ago Xi Jinping is preparing to go toe to toe with Donald Trump – and there will only be one winner | Simon Tisdall

Beijing has realised that reckless America First policies are alienating old and new friends alike, creating a vacuum it can fillHolding court for the cameras in Sharm el-Sheikh last week, a manically self-congratulatory Donald Trump, Gaza’s make-believe saviour, hailed his fellow “tough guys” – tame tyrants, such as Egypt’s Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who helped fabricate his flimsy Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.Yet later this month, the American pharaoh-president is due to face a far less biddable tough guy: China’s leader, Xi Jinping. Bookmakers may withhold odds on the outcome. In the US-China race for 21st-century primacy, Xi is sprinting ahead, assisted by spur-heeled Trump’s many missteps.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago While the eyes of the world are on Gaza, Israeli settlers in the West Bank still behave with impunity | Ofer Cassif

As the harvest season begins, attacks on Palestinian farmers and their land are spiralling. The words of peace following the Gaza ceasefire ring hollowLast Monday, when the US president, Donald Trump, addressed the Knesset alongside the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, my compatriot lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner calling them to “Recognise Palestine”. We were brutally expelled by force from the parliament’s plenum, revealing the fragile state of the supposed “only democracy in the Middle East”. How can Trump and Netanyahu speak of peace in the Middle East without recognition of the people deprived for decades of their basic liberties and rights under vicious occupation?Nowhere is the deceit more clear than in the occupied West Bank. There, the words of peace are but a weak and distant voice, but the horrifying sounds of settler violence and terror still echo loudly. More than 30 occurrences of settler violence against Palestinians have been documented since the...

Politics

4 w. ago Donald Trump issues harrowing threat to Hamas as Gaza ceasefire deal hangs by a thread

Donald Trump, the US President, spoke to journalists at the White House after Israeli Prime Minister's Office confirmed authorities received the remains of four more dead hostages

Events

4 w. ago BBC Breakfast chaos as row erupts between Donald Trump and reporter live on air

Donald Trump appeared to get into a row with a reporter live on BBC Breakfast when the US President was pressed about a peace deal between Israel and Palestine.

Politics