By Abdul Adil
London, (The Muslim News): At least seven Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in separate Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, while Palestinian officials reported a series of Israeli settler attacks on olive farmers and Israeli military raids across the occupied West Bank.
The developments come amid continued Israeli violations of a ceasefire agreement that took effect in October 2025, according to Palestinian sources.
In southern Gaza, at least four government employees were killed and 30 others wounded in an Israeli strike targeting an Economy Ministry post in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Rafah, the Gaza government media office said. Six of the wounded were in critical condition.
The office condemned the attack as a “new crime and a horrific massacre,” accusing Israel of targeting civilian government employees and seeking to undermine public institutions.
In central Gaza, two Palestinians were killed and others wounded when an Israeli drone struck a civilian vehicle near the entrance to the Maghazi refugee camp along Salah al-Din Street, a medical source at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.
Another Palestinian was killed in a strike targeting a gathering of civilians near the Halawa displacement camp east of Jabalia in northern Gaza, medical sources told Anadolu.
Israeli forces also struck a home in the Safatawi neighborhood north of Gaza City after issuing an evacuation warning for a residential block. No casualties were immediately reported. An earlier strike on a home in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza also caused no reported casualties.
Local sources reported heavy Israeli gunfire and artillery shelling in areas northeast of Khan Younis, east of Deir al-Balah and northeastern Gaza City. Military vehicles also fired toward tents sheltering displaced Palestinians near the Halawa camp.
According to Palestinian figures, Israeli violations of the ceasefire had killed 1,568 Palestinians and wounded 5,648 others as of Wednesday. Since October 2023, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and wounded over 175,000, while causing widespread destruction across the enclave.
Israeli settler attacks target olive farmers across West Bank
Separately, the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said it documented 12 attacks by Israeli settlers and military forces against Palestinian olive farmers and their property across five West Bank governorates within a 12-hour period on Wednesday.
The incidents, recorded between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. local time, occurred in Ramallah and Al-Bireh, Hebron, Nablus, Salfit and Jenin during the olive harvest season.
The commission said the attacks involved the detention of 14 foreign solidarity activists, beatings and pepper-spray attacks against farmers, theft of olive crops, damage to trees and the bulldozing of agricultural land.
In Kafr Malik, northeast of Ramallah, settlers reportedly chased Palestinian olive pickers and released livestock into agricultural fields. In Al-Lubban Al-Gharbi, northwest of Ramallah, settlers forced farmers and foreign activists off their land.
The commission said 14 foreign activists were detained and had their phones confiscated before Israeli police arrived and arrested them.
In the Nablus governorate, settlers prevented residents from accessing agricultural land in Jabal Al-Arma, in Beita, and attacked farmers working in Jamma’in. One farmer and members of his family were beaten, with the farmer sustaining a blow to the head. Other farmers were reportedly injured by beatings, pepper spray and tear gas.
In the Hebron governorate, settlers stole olives from trees belonging to Palestinian farmer Ahmad Akash al-Hreini in the Al-Rahniya area south of Yatta and damaged olive trees. In Salfit, olives were stolen from Palestinian land in Wadi Al-Ahmar, between Marda and Yasuf, and live ammunition was fired toward a farmer who confronted those taking the harvest.
Israeli forces also continued bulldozing agricultural land between the villages of Tura and Umm Dar in the Jenin governorate, according to the commission.
The body warned that attacks during the olive harvest were preventing Palestinian farmers from reaching their land and threatened their livelihoods, while gunfire, tree destruction and land clearance risked causing lasting economic and environmental damage.
Children injured as Israeli raids and arrests continue
Elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, three Palestinians, including two children and a person with a disability, were injured in separate incidents on Thursday. Palestinian sources also reported that Israeli forces arrested at least 13 people during raids across the territory.
In Qalandia refugee camp, north of occupied Jerusalem, two children were wounded during clashes triggered by an Israeli military raid, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.
A 15-year-old boy was shot with live ammunition in both legs, while a 12-year-old child was injured by live-bullet fragments. Both were taken to hospital.
In a separate incident, Israeli soldiers and settlers beat Mohammad Ahmad Ayesh Thawabta, a Palestinian with a disability from Beit Fajjar, in the village of Al-Minya southeast of Bethlehem, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
In Hebron, Israeli forces continued raids and closures for a seventh consecutive day, shutting iron gates around the Old City and taking over Palestinian homes in the Jalda and Ain Deir Baha neighborhoods for use as military barracks, local sources told Anadolu.
The Hebron Municipality said Tuesday that the operations had displaced nearly 5,000 Palestinians, representing 780 families.
The offensive began Friday following an attack by two Palestinians that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others. Israeli forces subsequently killed the two attackers. Between Friday and Wednesday, Israeli forces arrested 110 Palestinians, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said.
In the village of Saqqa, in the Hebron governorate, a settler reportedly fired live ammunition toward children playing football at a school field and toward nearby Palestinian homes. Village council head Walid Hashish said the settler also shot at guard dogs near homes, killing three.
In Salfit, Israeli forces demolished two Palestinian homes and bulldozed land in Deir Ballut, municipal official Jihad Yassin told Anadolu. He said water lines were also bulldozed, with the forces citing construction without permits. Yassin estimated that approximately 100 demolition notices had been issued in the town.
Palestinian figures say Israeli military raids and settler attacks since October 2023 have killed more than 1,220 Palestinians, injured around 13,350 and led to the arrest of more than 26,000 people in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The United Nations has also raised concerns over rising settler violence. In June, 14 UN special rapporteurs warned that attacks by Israeli settlers, which they said were occurring with state support and complicity, posed an existential threat to Palestinian communities.
Approximately 750,000 Israeli settlers live in 156 settlements and 360 outposts across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian figures.
Iran rejects reported US overture to resume talks
Meanwhile, Iran has rejected a reported request by US Vice President JD Vance to restart negotiations, saying Tehran will take no new steps until Washington implements seven conditions simultaneously, according to an Iranian source cited by Al-Mayadeen and Fars News.
The source said Vance had recently corresponded with Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and rejected US reports suggesting progress in negotiations or an Iranian retreat from its position.
The source also described US President Donald Trump’s claim that the correspondence concerned equipment and medicine as “completely false.”
The reported Iranian conditions include an end to all military operations, the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of the naval blockade and the withdrawal of US forces from areas near Iran.
According to the source, Tehran had not yet responded to Vance’s letter and would not take further steps before all seven conditions were met.
[Photo: Palestinians inspect the heavy damage to a residential home following an Israeli airstrike in the Saftawi neighborhood of Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine on October 29, 2026. Despite an ongoing ceasefire, Israeli military forces bombed the house after issuing an evacuation warning, causing a fire to break out.
Photojournalist: Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/AA]
