Category: 2. World

Israeli destruction in al-Mughayyir near Ramallah is part of push to forcibly displace Palestinians, researcher says.

The Israeli military has destroyed about 3,000 olive trees in a village near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the head of the local council says, as Palestinians face a continued wave of violence across the territory in the shadow of Israel’s war on Gaza.

The Israeli military issued an order to uproot olive trees in a 0.27sq-km (0.1sq-mile) area in al-Mughayyir, a village of about 4,000 residents northeast of Ramallah.

The army justified the measure by saying the trees posed a “security threat” to a main Israeli settlement road that runs through the village’s lands.

The destruction was carried out as al-Mughayyir has been under lockdown since Thursday after an Israeli settler said he was shot at in the area.

The deputy head of the village council, Marzouq Abu Naim, told Palestinian news agency Wafa that Israeli soldiers had stormed more than 30 homes since dawn on Saturday, destroying residents’ property and vehicles.

For decades, the Israeli military has uprooted olive trees – an important Palestinian cultural symbol – across the occupied Palestinian territory as part of the country’s efforts to seize Palestinian land and forcibly displace residents.

The West Bank also has seen a surge in Israeli military and settler violence since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, and tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced out of their homes.

More than 2,370 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians have been reported across the area from January 2024 to the end of July this year, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The highest number of attacks – 585 – was recorded in the Ramallah area, followed by 479 in the Nablus region in the northern West Bank.

At least 671 Palestinians, including 129 children, also have been killed by Israeli forces and Israeli settlers across the West Bank in that same time period, OCHA said.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on Saturday on the uprooting of the olive trees in al-Mughayyir.

Hamza Zubeidat, a Palestinian researcher, said the destruction is part of Israel’s “continuous” effort to force Palestinians off their lands.

“We have to be clear that since 1967, Israel is still implementing the same plan of evicting the Palestinian population from the countryside and the cities of the West Bank. What’s going on right now is just a continuous process of this eviction of Palestinians. It’s not a new Israeli process,” Zubeidat told Al Jazeera.

He noted that al-Mughayyir has a long agricultural history and, like other villages in the West Bank, relies almost entirely on agriculture and livestock as its main source of income.

“This area where more than 3,000 olive trees [were] uprooted is one of the most fertile areas in this part of the Ramallah area,” Zubeidat explained.

“Uprooting trees, confiscated water springs, blocking and preventing Palestinians from accessing their farms and water sources means more food and water insecurity.”

KHAN YOUNIS: Palestinians sheltering in tents or seeking scarce food aid were among at least 25 people killed by Israeli strikes and shootings Saturday in Gaza, according to local hospitals, as the world confronted an exceptional announcement that famine is now gripping Gaza’s largest city.

The famine determination by the world’s leading authority on food crises galvanized governments and aid groups to intensify pleas for Israel to halt its 22-month offensive on Gaza Aid groups have warned for months that the war and Israel’s restrictions of food into Gaza are causing starvation among civilians.

Israel denounced the famine declaration as lies and the military is pressing ahead with preparations to seize Gaza City. Efforts toward a ceasefire that could forestall the offensive are on hold as mediators await Israel’s next steps.

 

Gaza hospitals take in new dead and wounded

Israeli strikes killed at least 14 people in the southern Gaza Strip early Saturday, according to morgue records and health officials at Nasser Hospital. The officials said the strikes targeted tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis, which became home to hundreds of thousands who had fled from elsewhere in Gaza. More than half of the dead were women and children.

Awad Abu Agala, uncle of two children who died, said no place in Gaza is now safe.

“The entire Gaza Strip is being bombed … In the south. In the north. Everywhere,” Abu Agala told The Associated Press, saying the children were targeted overnight while in their tents.

A grieving relative, Hekmat Foujo, pleaded for a truce.

“We want to rest,” Foujo said, fighting through her tears. ‘’Have some mercy on us.”

In northern Gaza, Israeli gunfire killed at least five aid-seekers Saturday near the Zikim crossing with Israel, where UN and other agencies’ convoys enter the enclave, health officials at the Sheikh Radwan field hospital told the AP.

Six people were killed in other attacks on Gaza elsewhere Saturday, according to hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions about the deaths.

 

A famine announcement ups the pressure

A report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said Friday that Gaza City is gripped by famine that is likely to spread if fighting and restrictions on humanitarian aid continue.

It was a highly rare pronouncement by the group, its first in the Middle East, and came after Israel imposed a 2 1/2-month blockade on Gaza earlier this year, then eased access with a focus on a new US-backed private aid supplier, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF.

In response to global outrage over images of emaciated children, Israel in recent weeks has allowed airdrops and a new influx of aid entering by land, but UN and other aid agencies say the food reaching Gaza is still not nearly enough.

AP journalists have seen chaos and security problems on roads leading to aid deliveries, and there have been reports of Israeli troops firing toward aid-seekers. Israel’s military says they fire warning shots if individuals approach the troops or pose a threat to soldiers.

The IPC said nearly half a million people in Gaza, about one-fourth of the population, face catastrophic hunger that leaves many at risk of dying. It said hunger has been magnified by widespread displacement and the collapse of food production.

Netanyahu’s office denounced the IPC report as “an outright lie,” and accuses Hamas of starving the hostages. Israel says it has allowed enough aid to enter during the war.

 

Activity is escalating ahead of Gaza City offensive

With ground troops already active in strategic areas, the widescale operation in Gaza City could start within days.

Aid group Doctors without Borders, or MSF, said Saturday its clinics around Gaza City are seeing high numbers of patients as people flee recent bombardments. The group said in a statement that “strikes are forcing people, including MSF staff, to flee their homes once again, and we are seeing displacement across Gaza City.″

The Israeli military has said troops are operating on the outskirts of Gaza City and in the city’s Zeitoun neighborhood.

Israel says Gaza City is still a Hamas stronghold, with a network of militant tunnels. The city also is home to hundreds of thousands of civilians, some of whom have fled from elsewhere.

 

Ceasefire efforts await Israel’s response

Many Israelis fear the assault on Gaza City could doom the roughly 20 hostages who have survived captivity since 2023.

Netanyahu said Thursday he had instructed officials to begin immediate negotiations to release hostages and end the war on Israel’s terms. It is unclear if Israel will return to long-running talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar after Hamas said earlier this week that it accepted a new proposal from the Arab mediators.

Hamas has said it would release captives in exchange for ending the war, but rejects disarmament without the creation of a Palestinian state.

US President Donald Trump expressed frustration with Hamas’ stance, suggesting the militant group was less interested in making deals to release hostages with so few left alive.

“The situation has to end. It’s extortion, and it has to end,” Trump told reporters Friday. “I actually think (the hostages are) safer in many ways if you went in and you really went in fast and you did it.”