Latest news with #attack
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
'No life without water': settler attacks threaten West Bank communities
From his monitoring station on a remote hill in the occupied West Bank, water operator Subhil Olayan keeps watch over a lifeline for Palestinians, the Ein Samiyah spring. So when Israeli settlers recently attacked the system of wells, pumps and pipelines he oversees, he knew the stakes. "There is no life without water, of course", he said, following the attack which temporarily cut off the water supply to nearby villages. The spring, which feeds the pumping station, is the main or backup water source for some 110,000 people, according to the Palestinian company that manages it -- making it one of the most vital in the West Bank, where water is in chronic short supply. The attack is one of several recent incidents in which settlers have been accused of damaging, diverting or seizing control of Palestinian water sources. "The settlers came and the first thing they did was break the pipeline. And when the pipeline is broken, we automatically have to stop pumping" water to nearby villages, some of which exclusively rely on the Ein Samiyah spring. "The water just goes into the dirt, into the ground," Olayan told AFP, adding that workers immediately fixed the damage to resume water supply. Just two days after the latest attack, Israeli settlers -- some of them armed -- splashed in pools just below the spring, while Olayan monitored water pressure and cameras from a distance. His software showed normal pressure in the pipes pulling water from the wells and the large pipe carrying water up the hill to his village of Kafr Malik. But he said maintenance teams dared not venture down to the pumping station out of fear for their safety. Since the start of the war in Gaza, deadly settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have become commonplace. Last week, settlers beat a 20-year-old dual US citizen to death in the nearby village of Sinjil, prompting US ambassador Mike Huckabee to urge Israel to "aggressively investigate" the killing. - Annexation - Issa Qassis, chairman on the board of the Jerusalem Water Undertaking, which manages the Ein Samiyah spring, said he viewed the attacks as a tool for Israeli land grabs and annexation. "When you restrict water supply in certain areas, people simply move where water is available", he told AFP at a press conference. "So in a plan to move people to other lands, water is the best and fastest way", he said. Since the start of the war in Gaza, several Israeli politicians and officials have become increasingly vocal in support of annexing the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. Most prominent among them is Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, who said in November that 2025 would be the year Israel applies its sovereignty over the Palestinian territory. Qassis accused Israel's government of supporting settler attacks such as the one on Ein Samiyah. The Israeli army told AFP that soldiers were not aware of the incident in which pipes were damaged, "and therefore were unable to prevent it". The damage to Ein Samiyah's water facilities was not an isolated incident. In recent months, settlers in the nearby Jordan Valley took control of the Al-Auja spring by diverting its water from upstream, said Farhan Ghawanmeh, a representative of the Ras Ein Al Auja community. He said two other springs in the area had also recently been taken over. - Water rights - In Dura al-Qaraa, another West Bank village that uses the Ein Samiyah spring as a back-up water source, residents are also concerned about increasingly long droughts and the way Israel regulates their water rights. "For years now, no one has been planting because the water levels have decreased," said Rafeaa Qasim, a member of the village council, citing lower rainfall causing the land to be "basically abandoned". Qasim said that though water shortages in the village have existed for 30 years, residents' hands are tied in the face of this challenge. "We have no options; digging a well is not allowed", despite the presence of local water springs, he said, pointing to a well project that the UN and World Bank rejected due to Israeli law prohibiting drilling in the area. The lands chosen for drilling sit in the West Bank's Area C, which covers more than 60 percent of the territory and is under full Israeli control. Israeli NGO B'Tselem reported in 2023 that the legal system led to sharp disparities in water access within the West Bank between Palestinians and Israelis. Whereas nearly all residents of Israel and Israeli settlements have running water every day, only 36 percent of West Bank Palestinians do, the report said. In Dura al-Qaraa, Qasim fears for the future. "Each year, the water decreases and the crisis grows -- it's not getting better, it's getting worse." lba/acc/ysm/tc
France 24
an hour ago
- Politics
- France 24
'No life without water': settler attacks threaten West Bank communities
So when Israeli settlers recently attacked the system of wells, pumps and pipelines he oversees, he knew the stakes. "There is no life without water, of course", he said, following the attack which temporarily cut off the water supply to nearby villages. The spring, which feeds the pumping station, is the main or backup water source for some 110,000 people, according to the Palestinian company that manages it -- making it one of the most vital in the West Bank, where water is in chronic short supply. The attack is one of several recent incidents in which settlers have been accused of damaging, diverting or seizing control of Palestinian water sources. "The settlers came and the first thing they did was break the pipeline. And when the pipeline is broken, we automatically have to stop pumping" water to nearby villages, some of which exclusively rely on the Ein Samiyah spring. "The water just goes into the dirt, into the ground," Olayan told AFP, adding that workers immediately fixed the damage to resume water supply. Just two days after the latest attack, Israeli settlers -- some of them armed -- splashed in pools just below the spring, while Olayan monitored water pressure and cameras from a distance. His software showed normal pressure in the pipes pulling water from the wells and the large pipe carrying water up the hill to his village of Kafr Malik. But he said maintenance teams dared not venture down to the pumping station out of fear for their safety. Since the start of the war in Gaza, deadly settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have become commonplace. Last week, settlers beat a 20-year-old dual US citizen to death in the nearby village of Sinjil, prompting US ambassador Mike Huckabee to urge Israel to "aggressively investigate" the killing. Annexation Issa Qassis, chairman on the board of the Jerusalem Water Undertaking, which manages the Ein Samiyah spring, said he viewed the attacks as a tool for Israeli land grabs and annexation. "When you restrict water supply in certain areas, people simply move where water is available", he told AFP at a press conference. "So in a plan to move people to other lands, water is the best and fastest way", he said. Since the start of the war in Gaza, several Israeli politicians and officials have become increasingly vocal in support of annexing the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. Most prominent among them is Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, who said in November that 2025 would be the year Israel applies its sovereignty over the Palestinian territory. Qassis accused Israel's government of supporting settler attacks such as the one on Ein Samiyah. The Israeli army told AFP that soldiers were not aware of the incident in which pipes were damaged, "and therefore were unable to prevent it". The damage to Ein Samiyah's water facilities was not an isolated incident. In recent months, settlers in the nearby Jordan Valley took control of the Al-Auja spring by diverting its water from upstream, said Farhan Ghawanmeh, a representative of the Ras Ein Al Auja community. He said two other springs in the area had also recently been taken over. Water rights In Dura al-Qaraa, another West Bank village that uses the Ein Samiyah spring as a back-up water source, residents are also concerned about increasingly long droughts and the way Israel regulates their water rights. "For years now, no one has been planting because the water levels have decreased," said Rafeaa Qasim, a member of the village council, citing lower rainfall causing the land to be "basically abandoned". Qasim said that though water shortages in the village have existed for 30 years, residents' hands are tied in the face of this challenge. "We have no options; digging a well is not allowed", despite the presence of local water springs, he said, pointing to a well project that the UN and World Bank rejected due to Israeli law prohibiting drilling in the area. The lands chosen for drilling sit in the West Bank's Area C, which covers more than 60 percent of the territory and is under full Israeli control. Israeli NGO B'Tselem reported in 2023 that the legal system led to sharp disparities in water access within the West Bank between Palestinians and Israelis. Whereas nearly all residents of Israel and Israeli settlements have running water every day, only 36 percent of West Bank Palestinians do, the report said. In Dura al-Qaraa, Qasim fears for the future. © 2025 AFP
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia hammers Ukraine port in overnight attack days after Trump sanctions threat
Russia, in the face of President Trump's recent sanctions threat, attacked Ukraine with over 300 drones overnight, hammering the port city of Odesa. The attacks targeted about 10 regions in the war-torn nation late Friday, with Russia launching 344 drones, of which around 200 were Shahed drones and 45 missiles, according to Ukraine's Air Force. Ukraine intercepted about 185 drones and 23 missiles. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an online update Saturday morning that six people were injured, including a child in the strike on Odesa, a port city on the Black Sea. One person was killed in the attack. In Sumy, a city located in the northeast, 'critical' infrastructure was damaged in the overnight attack that left 'several thousand' families without electricity. 'My condolences to their family and loved ones. Missiles and drones also struck Pavlohrad, damaging a residential building and vital infrastructure,' Zelensky wrote on social platform X. 'All relevant services are now on the ground wherever needed, restoring affected areas and assisting people after the attack.' Russia has been bombarding Ukraine in recent weeks with drone attacks, firing as many as 700 in a single night. On Wednesday, the Kremlin's military launched another large-scale attack, with Ukraine able to shoot down nearly 200 drones. The latest attack comes less than a week after Trump threatened to impose 'severe' sanctions on Moscow if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not end the military offensive against Ukraine within a certain timeframe. 'We're very, very unhappy with [Russia], and we're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in about 50 days,' Trump said on Monday during a meeting at the White House with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. 'We are very unhappy — I am — with Russia.' During Rutte's visit to Washington, Trump also announced that more weapons would be supplied to Ukraine, but that the U.S. would not bear the brunt of the cost. As part of the deal, weapons would be sourced from various NATO allies in Europe. Trump, who campaigned on ending the largest land conflict in Europe since World War II, has recently taken a tougher stance against Russia, criticizing its leader after the two spoke over the phone earlier this month. Following that conversation, he signaled Putin was not prepared to end the more than three-year-long war and conceded that they had made 'no progress' on peace talks. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Russia Today
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Kiev targets Moscow in another drone raid
Ukraine has launched a major drone raid on Moscow and surrounding areas, with more than a dozen UAVs shot down just hours after Kiev claimed it was ready for another round of talks with Russia. Air defenses intercepted at least 15 drones en route to the Russian capital as of 2:30am Sunday morning, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said. He reported no significant damage or casualties on the ground, adding that emergency services were responding at the debris crash sites. Kiev has intensified attempted drone attacks on Moscow over the past week, according to Sobyanin, who has reported similar nightly raids since Wednesday. Ukraine has conducted UAV raids deep into Russian territory for months, often striking residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure. The Russian government has denounced the strikes as 'terrorist attacks' that deliberately target civilians. The latest raid comes just hours after Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky proposed holding a third round of talks with Russia in Istanbul next week. At their most recent meeting in June, the Russian delegation offered a conditional ceasefire, stating that Moscow would agree to a truce if Kiev took meaningful steps to deescalate, including suspending Western military aid deliveries – an offer Kiev rejected. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kiev is seeking an unconditional pause in the fighting to rearm and regroup its forces. Moscow has warned that it will not tolerate the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine, even under the guise of peacekeepers.
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Daily Mail
American stabbed in the neck by migrants while vacationing in Italy
An American teacher's Italian holiday turned into a waking nightmare after he was knifed in the throat during a shocking broad-daylight attack on a train in Milan. Nick Pellegrino, 29, a Staten Island-born Catholic school coach now living in San Francisco, was ambushed by two migrants while traveling through San Giuliano Milanese. He says he narrowly escaped with his life after losing more than a liter of blood in the horrific attack on Tuesday. The pair, believed to be North African, stabbed him in the neck with a 5-inch blade, snatched his gold crucifix and luggage, and vanished – leaving Pellegrino slumped in a pool of blood on the platform. 'With these very loose, lefty immigration laws, these immigrants come into these countries and they're running amok, trying to murder people,' he told the New York Post in a phone interview from his hospital bed. 'It's a playground for terror, for the vicious.' 'It's f**king crazy,' he added. 'I know America has a big immigration problem, but it is worse here.' Pellegrino, who was visiting relatives in Italy, said the attack unfolded moments after the train pulled into the station. He'd been looking at his phone when the men charged him. 'I remember looking at the floor in the train and just seeing the blade of the knife, and the most frightening amount of blood I have ever seen,' he said. The blade pierced his neck and grazed his jugular. Emergency workers later told him he'd lost around a liter-and-a-half of blood. The attackers fled with his belongings and sacred jewelry. Somehow, he managed to stagger off the train. A 16-year-old boy called for help as stunned onlookers filmed the wounded American begging for his life. 'I don't want to die, Lord,' he was heard repeating in the now-deleted clips shared briefly on Instagram. 'It took the ambulance 15 minutes to get to me,' Pellegrino recalled. 'A few more minutes, and I was a goner. I could feel, with every heartbeat, another gush of blood coming out.' Doctors stitched up the wound with nine sutures and are monitoring a dangerous clot. He'll remain hospitalized until at least Saturday. Italian authorities have since arrested the two men, though their names have not been released. Pellegrino said investigators told him the pair had just attacked an elderly man with a glass bottle and robbed a woman of her necklace before turning on him. The incident comes amid growing tension over the migrant crisis in Italy, where authorities have declared a national emergency. More than 157,000 migrants and asylum seekers crossed the Mediterranean to Italy in 2023 alone – many from Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria, Sudan and Syria – sparking crime fears and political unrest. For Pellegrino, the traumatic ordeal has become a spiritual reckoning. 'I used to doubt,' he admitted. 'I don't doubt anymore. This has grounded me in my faith. I know Jesus saved me, and I will always be a believer.' He's booked to fly home on July 24 – but said his mother back in Staten Island has taken the whole ordeal harder than he has.
