Israeli settlers raid West Bank town, troops kill 3 Palestinians
Dozens of Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian West Bank town on Wednesday, sparking a confrontation that ended with Israeli forces killing three Palestinians, the Israeli military and Palestinian authorities said.
Three Palestinians were killed and seven wounded in the violence in Kafr Malik, northeast of Ramallah, the Palestinian health ministry said.
An Israeli military statement said dozens of Israelis set fire to property, and military and police forces were dispatched to the scene after receiving a report of ensuing violence that included an exchange of stone-throwing.
The military statement said several Palestinians opened fire and hurled rocks at the forces, who returned the fire. Five Israeli suspects were arrested. An Israeli army officer was lightly wounded.
Video footage showed at least two cars had been set ablaze. Reuters could not independently verify the video.
Hussein al-Sheikh, the deputy to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, posted on X: "The government of Israel, with its behaviour and decisions, is pushing the region to explode."
"We call on the international community to intervene urgently to protect our Palestinian people," he said.
Earlier on Wednesday a Palestinian boy was shot dead by the Israeli army during a raid on Al-Yamun, a West Bank town west of Jenin, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Nahar Net
3 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Trump officials to give first classified briefing to Congress on Iran strikes
by Naharnet Newsdesk 26 June 2025, 11:37 Senators are set to meet with top national security officials Thursday as many question President Donald Trump's decision to bomb three Iranian nuclear sites — and whether those strikes were ultimately successful. The classified briefing, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday and was delayed, also comes as the Senate is expected to vote this week on a resolution that would require congressional approval if Trump decides to strike Iran again. Democrats, and some Republicans, have said that the White House overstepped its authority when it failed to seek the advice of Congress and they want to know more about the intelligence that Trump relied on when he authorized the attacks. "Senators deserve full transparency, and the administration has a legal obligation to inform Congress precisely about what is happening," said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, who said Tuesday that it was "outrageous" that the Senate and House briefings were postponed. A similar briefing for House members was pushed to Friday. CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are expected to brief the senators on Thursday. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was scheduled to be at the Tuesday briefing, but will not be attending, according to a person familiar with the schedule. The briefing could be contentious as questions have swirled around Trump's decision to strike Iran and whether the attacks were successful. A preliminary U.S. intelligence report found this week that Iran's nuclear program had been set back only a few months, contradicting statements from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the status of Iran's nuclear facilities, according to two people familiar with the report. The people were not authorized to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. On Wednesday, Gabbard and Ratcliffe sent out statements backing Trump's claims that the facilities were "completely and fully obliterated." Gabbard posted on social media that "new intelligence confirms what @POTUS has stated numerous times: Iran's nuclear facilities have been destroyed." She said that if the Iranians choose to rebuild the three facilities, it would "likely take years to do." Ratcliffe said in a statement from the CIA that Iran's nuclear program has been "severely damaged" and cited new intelligence "from a historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years." Most Republicans have staunchly defended Trump and hailed the tentative ceasefire he brokered in the Israel-Iran war. House Speaker Mike Johnson even went as far as to question the constitutionality of the War Powers Act, which is intended to give Congress a say in military action. "The bottom line is the commander in chief is the president, the military reports to the president, and the person empowered to act on the nation's behalf is the president," Johnson told reporters. But some Republicans — including some of Trump's staunchest supporters — are uncomfortable with the strikes and the potential for U.S. involvement in an extended Middle East conflict. "I think the speaker needs to review the Constitution," said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. "And I think there's a lot of evidence that our Founding Fathers did not want presidents to unilaterally go to war." Paul would not say if he is voting for the resolution by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that would require congressional approval for specific military action in Iran. The resolution is likely to fail as 60 votes would be needed to pass it and Republicans have a 53-47 majority. But Kaine says it's important to put the Senate on the record. "You have a debate like this so that the entire American public, whose sons and daughters are in the military and whose lives will be at risk in war, get to see the debate and reach their own conclusion together with the elected officials about whether the mission is worth it or not," Kaine said. While he did not seek approval, Trump sent congressional leaders a short letter Monday serving as his official notice of the strikes, two days after the bombs fell. The letter said that the strike was taken "to advance vital United States national interests, and in collective self-defense of our ally, Israel, by eliminating Iran's nuclear program."
Nahar Net
3 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Battered Iran faces uncertain future after grinding war with Israel
The bombing has quieted in Iran's 12-day conflict with Israel. Now its battered theocracy and 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei must regroup and rebuild in a changed landscape. Israeli airstrikes decimated the upper ranks of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard and depleted its arsenal of ballistic missiles. Israeli missiles and American bunker-buster bombs damaged the nuclear program — though how much remains disputed. Khamenei, who took shelter in a secret location during the bombardment, has not appeared since issuing a video message a week ago. Iran's self-described "Axis of Resistance," a group of allied countries and militias in the Mideast, has been mauled by the Israelis since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Foreign support Tehran may have expected from China and Russia never materialized. At home, old problems remain, particularly an economy wrecked by international sanctions, corruption and mismanagement. "Iran's leadership has been dealt a heavy blow and will be conscious of preserving the ceasefire, which gives the regime breathing room and allows space to focus on internal security and reconstruction," the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, said in an analysis Wednesday. Shoring up loyalty One thing Israel's campaign showed was how much its intelligence agencies have infiltrated Iran — particularly its swift pinpointing of military and Guard commanders and top nuclear scientists for strikes. The No. 1 task for Khamenei may be to root out any suspected disloyalty in the ranks. "There must be some sort of purge. But who will implement it? That is the question," said Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. "This level of distrust that apparently exists now is going to paralyze any effective planning or security overhaul," he said. Aziz said the mistrust and uncertainty could be "why Khamenei hasn't come out of his shelter." In that atmosphere, rebuilding Iran's military, particularly its Revolutionary Guard, will be a challenge. But the forces have a deep bench of officers. One top survivor of the war, Gen. Esmail Qaani, in charge of the Guard's expeditionary Quds Force, was seen in videos of a pro-government demonstration in Tehran on Tuesday. On the civilian side, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi found himself empowered to the level of almost a de facto prime minister, publishing announcements on even the ceasefire while others in Tehran remained silent. Khamenei also has to rethink the security policy he wove together over the past two decades. The "Axis of Resistance" alliances allowed Iran to project its power across the Mideast but also was seen as a defensive buffer, intended to keep conflict away from Iranian borders. That buffer has now been shown to be a failure. Race for a bomb? After Israel's campaign exposed Iran's vulnerabilities, Khamenei might conclude that his country can only protect itself by turning its nuclear capability into an actual bomb, as North Korea did. Iran has always said its nuclear program is peaceful. But it is the only non-nuclear armed state to have enriched uranium to 60%, a short step from weapons-grade. Many observers believe Khamenei opposed taking that step to a weapon to avoid a war, Azizi said. But now voices within the system demanding a bomb are likely growing, he said. "We might have already passed that threshold for Khamenei's viewpoint to change." Still, any drive for a nuclear weapon would be a major gamble. The extent of damage from the U.S. and Israeli barrages remains unclear, but Iran certainly needs to rebuild its nuclear facilities and centrifuge infrastructure, whether that takes months or years. And it would have to do all that in extreme secrecy, concealed from Israeli and U.S. intelligence. Were Israel to catch wind, it could resume strikes. Khamenei could also take the opposite path, resuming talks with the United States in hopes of winning sanctions relief. U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, appearing Tuesday night on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle," called the chance for future negotiations "promising." "We're already talking to each other," he said. "We are hopeful we can have a long-term peace agreement that resurrects Iran." Challenges at home Many also fear an intensified crackdown on dissent, as a leadership battered by war regroups amid mounting problems at home. Iran's frail economy has been wrecked by international sanctions, corruption and years of mismanagement. For months, the ailing power grid has been plagued by hourslong, rolling blackouts. The flight of much of Tehran's population during the war temporarily eased the strain. But as they return, even longer blackouts are likely to come roaring back during the worst of the summer months, disrupting everything from bakeries to factories. The war also shut down Tehran's stock market and currency exchange shops, pausing a collapse of Iran's riyal currency. Back in 2015 when Iran reached its nuclear deal with world powers, the rial traded at 32,000 to $1. Today, it is near 1 million rials to the dollar. Once businesses reopen in force, the plunge could resume. The economy has sparked unrest in the past. After state-set gasoline prices rose in 2019, protests spread across some 100 cities and towns, with gas stations and banks burned down. In the ensuing crackdown, at least 321 people were killed and thousands detained, according to Amnesty International. Then there's the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who had been detained by security forces allegedly over not wearing her headscarf, or hijab, to their liking. In a monthslong crackdown, more than 500 were killed and over 22,000 detained. Many women in Tehran still refuse to wear the hijab. But activists worry the war will trigger new restrictions. In an open letter last weekend, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi wrote that "the Islamic Republic is a religious, authoritarian, and misogynistic regime — incapable of reform and systematically violating the fundamental rights of the Iranian people." But she called for a ceasefire in the war "because I firmly believe that democracy and peace will not emerge from the dark and terrifying corridors of war and violence." Questions persist over Khamenei's successor Despite Israel's talk of eliminating him, Khamenei survived this confrontation. What comes after him remains unknown. The war could fuel a change in the Islamic Republic itself, pushing more towards a military-style rule. Under the Islamic Republic, leading Shiite clerics stand at the top of the hierarchy, drawing the lines to which the civilian government, the military and intelligence and security establishment must submit. As supreme leader, Khamenei symbolizes that clerical power. A panel of Shiite clerics is tasked with choosing one of their own as his successor. Several names have been touted, including Khamenei's son and the grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Some candidates are seen as more hard-line, some more open to reform. Whoever is chosen, military and Guard commanders may more than ever be the power behind the robes. "People have been talking of a transition from clergy-dominated Islamic Republic to a military-dominated Islamic Republic," Azizi said. "This war has made that scenario more plausible. … The next government will be more military-security oriented."
Nahar Net
3 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Israeli strike targets Shaqra as lasting peace proves elusive
by Naharnet Newsdesk 26 June 2025, 11:32 An Israeli strike targeted Thursday a bulldozer on the Baraasheet-Shaqra road after an Israeli infantry force entered the outskirts of Houla at dawn and detonated a house there. Israeli troops entered Lebanon on September 30, 2024, after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges launched by Hezbollah in support of Gaza. Under a November truce, which was based on a United Nations resolution that ended the 2006 war, only U.N. peacekeepers and the Lebanese army may bear arms south of the Litani river, which runs around 30 kilometers from the Israeli border. Israel was supposed to withdraw all of its forces but has kept troops in five areas it deems strategic. It has continued to launch frequent strikes, mainly on what it says are suspected Hezbollah positions and operatives. A strike on Tuesday killed three people, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The Israeli military said it had killed a currency dealer responsible for transferring funds from Iran to Hezbollah. Lebanon saw Israeli ground invasions in 1978 and 1982 that prompted the creation of U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL, which remains in place to this day, and the formation of Hezbollah with Iran's support. The militant group went on to fight devastating wars with Israel in 2006 and 2024. After the 2006 ceasefire, rocket launches from Lebanon and Israeli raids and air strikes on Hezbollah targets occurred sporadically until an uptick in hostilities in 2023. Truces involving Israel have a history of unravelling with no long-term settlement with its foes. While the war with Iran was the first direct confrontation between the arch enemies, Israel's wars in Lebanon and Gaza saw it battle Tehran-backed militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas repeatedly over several decades. - Iran - Israel and Iran had fought a low-intensity shadow war for decades before they entered into direct hostilities on June 13. Prior to the war, Israel had acknowledged cyberattacks on Iran's nuclear program, while its intelligence services have been linked to assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists. Iran has long been accused by Israel and Western governments of funding and transferring weapons to militant groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and the Palestinian territories -- its so-called "axis of resistance". After the ceasefire was announced on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to prevent Tehran ever rebuilding its nuclear facilities, raising the prospect of further conflict. - Syria - Israel's last formal ceasefire with Syria was the 1974 disengagement agreement which followed the previous year's Arab-Israeli war. As in Lebanon, a U.N. peacekeeping mission formed to monitor the agreement, UNDOF, remains in place today. After the overthrow of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December last year, Israel sent troops into the buffer zone set up by the agreement to separate Syrian and Israeli forces. It also carried out an intensive bombing campaign against Syrian military assets to prevent them falling into the hands of the new Islamist-led government, which it regards as jihadist. Iranian-backed groups, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, which had been severely weakened in its war with Israel, had helped keep Assad in power through more than 13 years of civil war and were repeatedly pounded by previous Israeli air strikes. - Gaza - Israel launched a withering offensive in Gaza after Hamas's attack of October 2023 left 1,219 people dead. Now in its 21st month, the conflict has killed 56,156 Palestinians. A first truce in November 2023 allowed the release of hostages seized during the Hamas attack, but did not achieve lasting peace. Another ceasefire did not come until January 2025, lasting six weeks despite occasional strikes, but collapsed in March when Israel resumed major operations. Previous wars in Gaza in 2008, 2012, 2014, 2021 and 2023 ended with ceasefires, mostly brokered by Egypt. They were all repeatedly broken by Israeli strikes and incursions or by rocket fire from Palestinian factions inside Gaza.
