By Abdul Adil
London, (The Muslim News): Israeli forces and settlers intensified operations across the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, leaving three Palestinian children injured and dozens detained during military raids.
According to Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, illegal Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian home in the town of al-Samu, south of Hebron, injuring three children and killing several sheep. The Palestinian Authority’s Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission reported that settlers carried out 621 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank in November alone.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces detained at least 40 Palestinians during raids across multiple West Bank areas. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office said nine people were arrested in Tulkarem and Qalqilya in the north, while 31 others were detained in the south, including 22 from Dura near Hebron and nine from Tuqu southeast of Bethlehem.
Human rights groups report that more than 9,300 Palestinians, including women and children, remain imprisoned by Israel, where many face abuse, starvation, and medical neglect. Since October 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 1,102 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, injured nearly 11,000, and detained around 21,000, according to Palestinian figures.
In July, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Gaza faces ongoing humanitarian crisis
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Tuesday that humanitarian conditions in Gaza remain catastrophic despite a ceasefire in place for more than two months.
“In Gaza, conditions remain dire, and humanitarian needs are overwhelming,” the agency said, citing widespread shortages and destruction. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), 1.6 million people in Gaza face acute food insecurity.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini described Gaza as a “man-made hunger crisis,” noting that agency staff—many of whom are displaced—continue working to assist families.
The ceasefire that began on Oct. 10 was meant to end nearly two years of Israeli military operations that killed almost 71,000 Palestinians and injured more than 171,000 others, most of them women and children.
Despite the agreement, Gaza authorities say Israel has committed 875 ceasefire violations, resulting in 411 deaths and 1,112 injuries. Aid deliveries also fall far short of agreed levels, with an average of 244 aid trucks entering Gaza daily instead of the promised 600, and only five fuel trucks arriving per day out of the 50 required.
Settlement expansion and International Response
Israel’s security cabinet recently approved 19 new illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government accelerates policies aimed at annexing occupied Palestinian land. The United Nations says settlement expansion in 2025 has reached its highest level since 2017.
Asked about Israel’s settlement activity, a spokesperson for the UK prime minister told The Muslim News the government’s position remains focused on maintaining the ceasefire, increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza, and pursuing a two-state solution. When questioned about possible sanctions against Israel, the spokesperson declined to comment.
Israeli raids and airstrikes continue in Syria
Israeli forces also carried out a new incursion into Syria’s southern Quneitra countryside on Tuesday, according to Syrian state media. The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that an Israeli patrol entered from the town of Bir Ajam and advanced toward the village of Bariqa. State television said the raid lasted about an hour before Israeli forces withdrew.
Syrian officials say Israel has repeatedly violated Syria’s sovereignty through ground incursions and airstrikes, killing civilians and destroying military infrastructure. Government data indicates that since December 2024, Israel has conducted more than 1,000 airstrikes and over 400 cross-border raids into southern Syria.
Following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government in late 2024, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing a demilitarized buffer zone, violating a 1974 disengagement agreement.
Israel signals permanent presence in Gaza and Syria
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday that Israel would never fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip or occupied Syrian territories. Speaking at a press conference in the Beit El settlement near Ramallah, Katz said Israeli forces were “deep inside Gaza” and would remain there.
He also announced plans to establish new military bases in northern Gaza, replacing settlements evacuated during Israel’s 2005 withdrawal. Katz praised the current Israeli government as a “settlement government” and said Nahal military units would be established in the area.
An estimated 750,000 Israeli settlers now live in illegal settlements across the West Bank, including 250,000 in East Jerusalem. Settler attacks against Palestinians occur daily, often aimed at forcing communities from their land.
Regarding Syria, Katz stated, “We will not move an inch,” without elaborating.
Israeli strike in Lebanon kills three
The Israeli army claimed Tuesday that it killed three Hezbollah members in an airstrike near Sidon in southern Lebanon a day earlier, alleging that one of them also worked for Lebanese intelligence. Lebanese authorities and Hezbollah did not immediately comment.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that three people were killed when an Israeli strike hit a vehicle on the Aqtnit–Quneitra road in the Sidon district.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire in November 2024 after more than a year of cross-border fighting that killed over 4,000 people and injured 17,000. Under the agreement, Israeli forces were to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon by January, but they continue to maintain a presence at five border outposts.
[Photo: Palestinians struggle to live under harsh conditions at the Jabalia Refugee Camp amid Israeli attacks in northern Gaza City, Gaza on December 23, 2025. Photojournalist: Abdalhkem Abu Riash/AA]
