Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described, on Monday, the war of extermination waged by Tel Aviv on the Gaza Strip as the longest and most costly in Israel's history.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel, with American support, has been waging a war of genocide on Gaza, resulting in more than 147,000 Palestinian deaths and injuries, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing.

"We are fighting the longest and most costly war in our history. Without victory there is no security, and without security there is no economy," Smotrich told Israel's Army Radio.

Smotrich did not give an estimate of the current or future cost of the war.

But last September, the Israeli economic newspaper Calcalist said the cost of the war on Gaza was rising dramatically, and the army had raised its total estimate from 130 billion shekels ($36.7 billion) to between 140 and 150 billion shekels (about $39.5-42.4 billion).

Since its establishment in 1948 on occupied Palestinian lands, Israel has never fought a long war as it is currently doing in Gaza, which has negative repercussions on the economy and the army itself, given its heavy reliance on reserve forces.

Indeed, several international economic institutions have downgraded Israel's credit rating in recent months, indicating a decline in the economy.

But Smotrich claimed that "the economy is in much better shape than we expected."

Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, calls for settlement in Gaza and the establishment of an Israeli military government there, in addition to annexing the occupied West Bank.

However, he also claimed that "there is a consensus on the goals of the war, and establishing settlements in Gaza is not part of it, although it is important for security."

In recent months, Israeli institutions, activists and officials have held events, some of them near Gaza, to call for the establishment of settlements in the Palestinian enclave.

Smotrich blamed the Israeli army for refusing to take responsibility for distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza.

"The fact that the army refuses to take responsibility for distributing humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip is...a large part of the reason why the abductees have not yet been returned," he said, referring to the Israeli prisoners in Gaza.

He added: "If this is what is required to ensure security, I do not fear that we will be an alternative to the government in Gaza for a period of time to eliminate Hamas."

Israeli media reported earlier, citing army officials, that assuming responsibility for distributing aid means permanent presence in Gaza and the establishment of a military government.

Israel has turned Gaza into the largest prison in the world, besieging it for the 18th year, and the war of extermination has forced about two million of its citizens, numbering about 2.3 million Palestinians, to flee in catastrophic conditions, with deliberate deprivation of food, water and medicine.

In addition to the war on Gaza, Israel has been waging a war on Lebanon since September 23, and it also exchanges attacks with Iran and carries out air strikes on Yemen and Syria from time to time.

For decades, Israel has occupied Arab lands in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, and rejects the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Raed al-Nams, media officer at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Gaza, said on Monday that dozens of wounded people were evacuated from hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip to the Baptist and Shifa hospitals in Gaza City.

Al-Nams confirmed in media statements on Monday that the health system in the hospitals of the northern Gaza Strip is deteriorating, and there is a shortage of resources and medical supplies and a shortage of personnel.

He pointed out that there are a large number of injured people in hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, and they are suffering from difficult conditions, warning that the services provided in the three hospitals there (Indonesian, Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda) are basically minimal.

Al-Nams noted that there are about 12,000 injured people who need treatment outside the Gaza Strip, while the occupation's measures and closure of the crossings prevent them from completing their treatment journey.

The Red Crescent announced a few days ago the evacuation of 20 patients from Al-Awda Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross, noting that one of them died due to the occupation’s measures and its delay of ambulances.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that Israel has only allowed the evacuation of a quarter of the 21,000 patients from the Gaza Strip since October 2023.

The UN official confirmed that three-quarters of patients in the Gaza Strip are waiting for evacuation for treatment, and Israel is still obstructing this, warning that this long wait threatens their lives.

The World Health Organization announced that it was able to evacuate more than 100 patients and wounded people from the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south of the Strip, to several Arab and foreign countries to receive the required treatment.

Since the Israeli army invaded the city of Rafah and closed the Rafah border crossing in May 2024, only 282 sick and wounded people have been evacuated from the Gaza Strip, according to the representative of the global organization, Rick Peeperkorn.

Rickson pointed out that there are about 12-14 thousand Palestinians suffering from burns, spinal injuries, amputations, or cancer, among other diseases, who need treatment abroad.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that the death toll from the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has risen to 43,846 martyrs, in addition to 103,740 wounded with varying injuries, since October 7, 2023.

New testimonies from Gaza detainees in Ofer, documented by the Prisoners' Affairs Authority and the Prisoners' Club, showed that the occupation prison administration continues to commit atrocities against them, including torturing them physically and psychologically, and depriving them of treatment and food.

The Prisoners Affairs Authority and the Prisoners Club said in a joint press release on Monday that their legal teams were recently able to visit 15 detainees from the Gaza Strip in Ofer prison, who confirmed that they have been shackled around the clock for more than 10 months, and that they are deprived of using tissues and soap, and are only allowed to shower every 10 days, for three minutes, and have lost their ability to estimate time.

They indicated in their testimonies that the prison administration systematically uses the opening in the door of their cells to punish them by forcing the bound detainees to stick their hands out of the opening of the cell up to their armpits, after which the prison guards use several tools to beat them on their hands and bend them violently, causing unbearable pain.

They explained that this type of physical torture has become the most prominent form of daily torture, without excluding any of the detainees, whether minors, sick, wounded, or the elderly.

In the testimony of one of the detainees whose legs were amputated (A.A.), he said that the prison administration forced the detainees held with him in the cell to carry him to the level of the cell opening to get his hands out of it, and they beat him and bent his hands severely, as a “punishment” for his inability to get down from the “bersh” – the place where prisoners sleep – during what is called (the number – the security check).

He added: Even though my legs are amputated, the prison guards force me every day to get off the “barsh” and lie on my stomach on the ground, until the “number” period for all the cells in the section ends, and this is repeated four times a day.

He confirmed that since his arrest on February 15, 2024, he has been handcuffed all the time, and as a result suffers from severe pain in his hands, bruises and swelling, and severe burning at the ends of his amputated feet.

The Commission and the Prisoners Club explained that the prison administration uses (the number) as a tool of torture and abuse of detainees, noting that it is carried out four times a day, during which detainees are forced to lie on their stomachs until the number is finished in all cells, i.e. about two hours, and anyone who violates it is punished through the opening of the "cell".

The detainees mentioned in their testimonies what happens during the process of transporting them to court sessions, indicating that they are transferred from 7:00 in the morning to an (iron cage), and are forced to sit in an uncomfortable position (on the knees or stomach) until the court procedures are completed.

In the context of the occupation’s continued implementation of the crime of enforced disappearance against hundreds of detainees from Gaza, there is no clear data from the relevant institutions regarding the total number of detainees from Gaza in the occupation’s prisons and camps, except for what was announced by the prison administration at the beginning of November 2024, that there are (1627) detainees from Gaza who the occupation classifies as (illegal combatants), noting that this data does not include all detainees from Gaza, specifically those in the camps affiliated with the occupation army.

The children of Gaza continue to tell their sad stories and heartbreaking tales, as a result of their continuous targeting by the occupation army, without any guilt in the war of extermination waged by Israel.

Yesterday, a scene of a child crying after his father was arrested in front of him, beaten and shackled, and his mother was martyred, topped social media platforms. This was not the first or last case, as stories of childhoods deprived of security, safety, tranquility, care and tenderness occur daily. This is a frightened child, another worried, a third starving, a girl longing for her school and wondering what sin we have committed, a girl walking with an amputated foot, another sitting next to her mother’s grave, and innocent children announcing the martyrdom of their brothers, sisters and all family members.

These are horrific stories that words cannot describe, because a child's tear and a little girl's cry are more eloquent than any words. With the continuation of the massacres, the disregard for the lives of innocents, and the use of all types of ammunition to kill the citizens of Gaza, the latest of which were explosive barrels during the Beit Lahia massacre, there remains an urgent question shrouded in confusion and anxiety: When will the aggression end? And how long will the hopes, ambitions and wishes of the children of Gaza remain without a horizon, without a future, without hope of rising from all these bleeding wounds that surround the Strip?

The aggression will not end in the near future, due to Israel’s disregard for any UN resolution and its repeated violations and encroachment on international legitimacy, as it exploits American military, financial and political support to continue the genocidal massacres, which claim the lives of dozens of children and women, as happened yesterday in Beit Lahia and other cities in the Gaza Strip, in addition to continuing the attacks on cities, villages and camps in the West Bank, and the terrorizing of the settlers.

Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh held the US administration fully responsible for the continuation of this bloody aggression, as a result of giving the Israeli occupation authorities political cover to escape punishment and defy international legitimacy resolutions, the latest of which was the UN General Assembly resolution to implement the advisory opinion of the Hague Court, to stop the aggression and end the Israeli occupation.

While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates held the international community responsible for the continuation of the massacres, displacement and starvation that the Israeli occupation forces continue to commit against our people in the Gaza Strip in general and in the north in particular, and the presence of dozens of martyrs, wounded and missing under the rubble, in light of the complete destruction of all the necessities of life and the systematic starvation policy pursued by the Israeli government, what is required is a collective international move to stop the war of extermination and displacement, and to force the occupying state to implement the international resolutions and precautionary orders, if the international community wants to preserve what remains of its credibility, and the necessity of obligating it not to follow the double standards in dealing between the Palestinian people and Israel, and to take the necessary and sufficient steps to respect international law and United Nations resolutions.

What is happening in the northern Gaza Strip cannot be imagined by the human mind, especially since it is more like a catastrophe against humanity and a witness to the world’s injustice against the Palestinian people. These massacres must be stopped, otherwise silence despite international and Palestinian appeals is considered a green light for the criminal occupation government to continue its crimes. It is also worth noting that the bias of the American administration and the harnessing of its military and political capabilities to support the occupation and its denial of its commission of genocide, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, is evidence of this administration’s partnership in violating humanitarian laws and international law.

When will the chapters of the catastrophe end, and can the international community really bear its responsibilities, and will the United States change its positions and explicitly declare a halt to this aggression by pressuring Israel?

We are certain that everything will remain the same and all voices will be low, and there is no global voice that can rise up and strike hard on the table, and impose a new equation based on respecting and appreciating the aspirations of the Palestinian people, for everyone is a traitor, as long as the war of killing children and women continues.

As the Israeli officer, Captain Eliyahu Yitzhak Naddaf, who immigrated from Palestine and left the colony as a political refugee to one of the Arab countries, said, he deserves encouragement and appreciation for his bold and meaningful act, in protest against the actions of the occupation army in the Gaza Strip, and in rejection of its heinous crimes against civilians.

Quoting the instructions of the political colony leadership to the Israeli army: “Leave nothing in Gaza, neither people nor stones.” This is what they are doing, working to eliminate the Palestinian Arab human presence in the Gaza Strip, either by killing or displacement and expulsion, and by destroying buildings, homes and infrastructure to make the Gaza Strip unfit for living and normal life.

But will the crimes they are committing against the Palestinian people lead to the success of their plan in Palestine?? They expelled half of the Palestinian people in 1948 from their homeland, and committed atrocities of killing, liquidation and displacement, but the Palestinian people rose from their camps in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and established the PLO, and held their first constituent national council in Jerusalem in 1964 under the generous patronage of the late Hussein, and the revolution exploded in response to the Nakba, and the PLO gained representation and status, and the Palestinian cause achieved its status with international institutions.

The revolution and the struggle moved from exile to the homeland, the creativity of the stones, and the first intifada in 1987, which forced the Rabin government to recognize the three titles: 1- the people, 2- the organization, 3- the rights, and this led to: 1- the gradual Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian cities, 2- the return of 400 thousand Palestinians to the homeland, 3- the birth of the authority as a prelude to the state, 4- and most importantly, the transfer of the Palestinian title from exile to the homeland.

The plans of the Netanyahu and Trump governments against the Palestinian people are great, powerful, harsh and difficult, but they will not succeed in passing their desires and conspiracies to end the Palestinian people who cling to their homeland, which has no other homeland, and will stand firm as they have previously remained and stood firm throughout decades of oppression, brutality and Israeli attempts at deportation, or by placing obstacles and frustrating the Palestinian Authority and spreading rumors and slander against it, with the aim of creating a gap between it and its people, and by feeding division, fragmentation and disintegration among the ranks of the factions, especially between Fatah and Hamas.

The plans of the Netanyahu and Trump governments will be thwarted by the Palestinian people and will not pass, and will not find anyone who responds to them by deporting them from Jerusalem and the Palestinian West Bank. The crimes of the colony’s criminals and those who stand with them will pass, and they will be tried before history and the peoples, just as the Nazi leaders and war criminals were tried, and the will of the Palestinian people will triumph, just as the will of the peoples who were liberated from their occupiers triumphed.

Palestine will remain, as it was, a homeland for the Palestinians, and Jordan will remain a homeland for the Jordanians, and for the Jordanians only, just as Syria is for the Syrians, Lebanon is for the Lebanese, and Egypt is for the Egyptians. The peoples of these countries, like the rest of the Arab peoples, will remain levers supporting the steadfastness of the Palestinians and their remaining on their homeland, continuing the struggle until the occupation is defeated and its expansionist colonial project is defeated.

The attempts to deport, displace, expel and displace Palestinians outside their homeland will not find anyone who accepts them, agrees to them or passes them, because the Palestinian people, who have suffered from the taboos and cruelty of the Nakba, will not allow them to be repeated. The people, organized through their factions, parties, personalities and organizations, are the strongest in confronting it, and will bear all the consequences of their steadfastness on the land of their homeland, and will pay the price of remaining, as they have no choice but the choice of remaining, steadfastness and victory, no matter how great the challenges facing them.

They say he is a merchant who loves deals and hates wars, they say he is unpredictable, and that he will be free from Zionist pressures and that this may make it easy for him to impose a settlement on everyone, they say he is narcissistic, nervous and aggressive, and thus he will make his own glory in his own way, and they also added that he won the votes of the Arabs and Muslims and that therefore he will flatter them in one way or another, and they also said that he is returning again with more experience and deeper experience, and these people may have some excuse or some understanding, as weakness, helplessness and frailty have reached the point that we wait for solutions from the maker of crises, and that we hope for help from our enemies and the friends of our enemies, so the President of the United States of America has become like someone who comes with a mountain of food and a mountain of fire, with reward and torment in his hands, such that hearts and eyes are attached to him, hoping for his sympathy and avoiding his anger, so that the Arab broadcaster asked him about his half-Arab grandson, and the man sympathized and said that the Arabs are smart... Thanks be to God Almighty, as this description destroys more than 70 years of insistence by Hollywood studios that the Arabs are stupid and do not deserve the oil they have And suction.

Trump is a true merchant, surprising, narcissistic, and transcending the official establishment, trying to provide a new content for the administration, society, and the new role of the United States. He is working for a new, violent, aggressive, more precise, selfish, and isolated imperialism, reshaping itself to minimize losses to a great extent, an imperialism that seeks to regain power and influence through containment operations, common interests, and profitable deals.

An imperialism that is proactive, rapid, and decisive - but aggressive to the extreme of aggression - an imperialism of corporations, banks, and high technology, which does not recognize much of national and cultural particularities and dreams, and therefore it is an imperialism in which the financial elites are allied with the political elites who see the world as a mere golf course on which they can move as they please, unhindered by borders, groups, or laws.

In this sense, Trump surrounds himself with figures who reflect all of this and more, figures who claim religious purity and divine zeal and that they are messengers from heaven, on whose shoulders lies the fulfillment of prophecies and the embodiment of all good tidings. Figures who have no experience except that they love Israel and that Israel loves them, and that they are extremists in their love for it and are prepared to do anything for it, and that they are enemies of the Palestinian people and their rights, history, existence and struggle, and in doing so they are against international law and against everything issued by international bodies regarding this conflict, and they are against all initiatives and proposals, even those launched by former American presidents, and they are against the global popular mood, against reality, against history and even against the religion in which they claim to believe.

This extremism that Trump is bringing through his second new administration is very dangerous, not only for us, but even for the Israelis and their entity, as one of their writers said.

The extremism that is evident in these appointments and in this administration shows us that Trump is returning to the White House once again, more clearly hostile to the Palestinian people, and more biased towards the Zionist messianic vision. This is why the settlers and some Israeli politicians celebrated Trump’s victory, and began to speak openly about annexing the West Bank to Israeli sovereignty.

The new appointments reflect that Trump is coming to give Israel everything it has seemingly dreamed of. So why do we expect a man in his seventies like him to change?! Why do we expect him to change when he comes from an extremist Evangelical background, and he represents extremist religious, ethnic and class groups? Why do we expect him to change when he is funded by extremely influential Zionist Jewish lobbies?! Why do we expect him to change without there being anyone pressuring him from Arabs and Muslims?!

There is no need for illusions about this president. It is better and more appropriate for us to prepare from now to deal with what this administration may carry of old and new plans, the most dangerous of which is the annexation of the occupied West Bank, the overthrow of the settlement solution, the marginalization of the Palestinian National Authority, and the demographic and political dismantling of the Palestinian people.

Trump comes surrounded by people who do not see us or recognize us, and if we do not prepare for such people, the worst is yet to come, and there is no power or strength except with God.

Smotrich expressed his happiness with Trump's victory in the US presidential election race, hoping that 2025 would be the year of annexation, just as Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir, Sa'ar, Knesset members and other Israeli politicians did, as they all believe that Trump's term will resolve the conflict with the Palestinian people and will inevitably lead to annexation.

In fact, this Israeli optimism about annexing the West Bank came from urgent military and political considerations, as the Israeli government succeeded in expanding the settlement process in the West Bank, and the Israeli army succeeded in reoccupying Gaza, and establishing semi-permanent military axes that do not indicate at all an imminent Israeli withdrawal from the Strip. The occupation army also encroached on southern Lebanon, and destroyed more than 40 Lebanese border villages, while Israel is working to impose harsh conditions on Lebanon to implement Resolution 1701. Politically, Trump's rise for the second time is an event that will not be repeated for right-wing Israelis who are eager to annex the West Bank. In his first presidential term 2017-2021, Trump spared no effort in supporting Israel, as he recognized Jerusalem as the unified capital of Israel, recognized the annexation of the Golan Heights, cut off aid to UNRWA, closed the organization's offices in Washington, and tried to impose his deal known as the Deal of the Century, which is a liquidation project for the Palestinian cause that recognizes the annexation of the Jordan Valley, Jerusalem, and most of Area C to the occupying state.

The initial appointments announced by Trump to his administration team seem to indicate conclusively that Republicans are convinced of the annexation process. Trump appointed Michael Huckabee as ambassador to Israel. He is a politician and cleric who belongs to the neo-conservatives and strongly supports settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. In his first comment after announcing his appointment, Huckabee announced that his administration might not object to the annexation process. On the Israeli side, immediately after Trump’s victory, Netanyahu appointed Yehiel Latter as Israel’s ambassador to Washington. He is an American-Israeli who is described as a Republican in his inclinations, as well as an academic, settler, and rabbi, who calls for resolving the conflict, annexing the West Bank, and continuing the occupation of the Gaza Strip.

Such appointments and public statements indicate a real trend among Republicans and Israelis to resolve the conflict during Trump’s term, and it seems that Trump will not oppose this. On the contrary, he may push for amendments to the Deal of the Century in order to re-promote it. This time, there is no doubt that Gaza will not be part of this deal!

It is not clear how things will go during the first quarter of next year, but Netanyahu may seek to threaten the annexation process in order to pressure Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with it and abandon its condition for the establishment of a Palestinian state, which is what he did with the United Arab Emirates when they signed the Abraham Accords four years ago. The Netanyahu government may resort to a partial declaration of the annexation of some areas such as the Jordan Valley, and then begin expanding the annexation process to the rest of the areas in the coming years. All of these scenarios are expected and will be decisive if they happen, and they must be confronted by the Palestinians, the Arabs and the international community, so that they do not become a reality that is difficult to change. Among the confrontational policies that I propose in this regard are the following:

First: Strengthening the Palestinian-Saudi-Jordanian-Egyptian front in the face of Israeli plans, especially since Saudi Arabia’s recent positions have become absolutely supportive of Palestinian rights, especially with regard to forming an international alliance to establish a two-state solution.

Second: Forming a broad national, partisan and civil front to confront the annexation process, and proposing national programs in which all Palestinians participate to strengthen the steadfastness of citizens and confront annexation and apartheid policies.

Third: Accelerating the steps towards national unity by calling on all factions and movements that are not members of the PLO to join the organization and commit to its programs, international commitments and decisions without any prior conditions from these factions.

Abdul Aziz is a ten-year-old Gazan boy who looks energetic and athletic, as his physique suggests. His age does not yet prepare him to delve into politics or understand what is going on around him, and why all this killing, destruction, displacement, fear and anxiety, even though he knows that there is a state called "Israel" next door that is besieging them, starving them, displacing them and attacking them with rockets and missiles day and night.

Abdul Aziz came into the world with his twin sister Mira after a four-year wait to bring joy to his father, journalist Mohammed Khreis, and his wife, who resorted to in vitro fertilization to be able to conceive.

Abdul Aziz Mohammed Khreis was born during another war, before or after it, it doesn’t matter. A war, or more precisely an aggression, because war is between two armies. But what happened in 2014, just like what is happening today, was between an army that possesses the equipment and technology that qualifies it to occupy an advanced position among the armies of the world, and also possesses hundreds of nuclear warheads, and a people who had been under siege for seven years - at the time - and had nothing but patience, will and hope.

The ceiling of Abdul Aziz’s dreams, like all his peers in the besieged and starving Gaza Strip, is to enjoy security and peace like the rest of the children of the world, and to find a football field where he can practice his hobby, or a safe space on the beach where he can play with his friends without fearing their bullets and shells that do not differentiate between anyone, or an open crossing that enables him and his family to travel as all people do.

Abdul Aziz and his family left their home due to the raids and shelling operations carried out by the occupation’s planes and tanks, and they moved from place to place in search of lost security, until they ended up in a tent that did not protect against the cold, heat, or shells in the Al-Sawarah area, west of the Al-Nuseirat camp in the middle of the Strip, but death pursued them from the occupation’s warplanes, and his parents and twin sister, Mira, were kidnapped.

Ten-year-old Abdul Aziz is now lying on a hospital bed in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, under the care of his grandmother who never leaves him. He survived the throes of death, but he sustained severe abdominal injuries, as shrapnel from the bombs tore his insides apart, leaving him in need of continuous medical care, as he cannot do without the tubes that come out of his stomach.

Now, what is going through the mind of the child Abdulaziz after losing his father, mother and sister? What does he remember of that horrific incident, when the occupiers’ missiles rained down on the tents of the displaced? Did Abdulaziz really escape death, having become an orphan of both parents, and without his other half, his sister Mira?

This morning, Monday, the Israeli occupation forces launched a campaign of raids and arrests in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.

In Bethlehem, the occupation forces stormed the Deheishe refugee camp, searched most of its homes, ransacked their contents, and detained more than 30 citizens for hours, without any arrests being reported.

In occupied Jerusalem, the occupation forces arrested a citizen and his wife, after raiding their home in the Salam suburb, which lies between the Shuafat camp and the town of Anata, northeast of the city of Jerusalem.

In Hebron, the occupation forces stormed the town of Dura and arrested the young man Tariq Jamal Amro and seized fertilizers and agricultural materials from his store in the town.

In the same context, the occupation forces stormed the village of Tabqa, south of Hebron, closed its entrances, and prevented citizens from passing. They also set up several military checkpoints at the entrances to Hebron, its towns, villages, and camps, and closed a number of main and secondary roads with iron gates, cement blocks, and earthen barriers.

In Ramallah, the occupation forces stormed the village of Al-Mughayyir, and arrested Ayman Abu Aliya (48 years old), Murad Abu Aliya (48 years old), Amer Abu Aliya (41 years old), and Obeida Abu Aliya (38 years old), and seized 3 vehicles, and raided and searched more than 40 homes.

It also arrested 4 brothers from the town of Silwad, east of Ramallah: Bilal, Tariq, Muhammad, and Mahmoud Subhi Hammad, after raiding and searching their parents’ home.

Meanwhile, the occupation forces raided and searched the house of citizen Saleh Hamed in the town.

The occupation forces stormed a number of villages and towns in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate, namely: Beit Ur al-Tahta, Shaqba, Silwad, Deir Ghassaneh, Kafr Ein, Beit Liqya, and al-Tira.

This morning, Monday, Israeli occupation bulldozers demolished several facilities in the town of Rafat, northwest of Jerusalem.

Local sources reported that the occupation forces demolished a garden, a hut and a studio called “Miral Studio” belonging to citizen Nabil Mazraawi from the town of Beit Surik, northwest of Jerusalem.

The sources added that the occupation demolished two football fields belonging to the Aydiyeh family in a nearby location.

In the northern Jordan Valley, the occupation forces seized four water pumps located on several springs in Khirbet al-Deir, owned by the citizen, Muhammad Fayez Daraghmeh, which are used to irrigate irrigated crops planted in that area.

In a related context, Muhammad Sawafta, a farmer in Al-Deir, said that the occupation seized water pumps and solar energy used to operate those pumps, leaving nearly 600 dunums planted with grapes and corn without a water source.

A number of citizens, including children, were killed at dawn on Monday, when the Israeli occupation forces bombed a tent housing displaced people in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources reported that a citizen, his wife and two children were killed, in addition to his daughter being seriously injured, after the occupation forces bombed a tent sheltering displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Yunis.

The occupation army's artillery also shelled the Al-Midan area in the Beit Lahia project in the northern Gaza Strip, areas in the south and west of Gaza City in the central Gaza Strip, and the northern and western areas of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip.

The occupation forces blew up residential buildings around Street 8 in the Zeitoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City.

The occupation forces continue their aggression on the Gaza Strip, by land, sea and air, since October 7, 2023, which resulted in the death of 43,846 citizens, the majority of whom are women and children, and the injury of 103,740 others, in an incomplete toll, as thousands of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and rescue crews cannot reach them.

For days, dozens of bleeding families in Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun have been crying out for help from under the rubble, without water, food or medicine, and are begging rescue teams to rescue them and their children from under the roofs, which have closed in on their chests, almost suffocating their breath.

There is no pain that equals the helplessness and helplessness to heal your children’s wounds, or feed them from the hunger that is gnawing at their intestines, or give them a drink of water to quench their thirst! What is this oppression that is raging in the hearts of those who dig with their nails in the cement, searching for the sounds of their hearts that groan under the rubble, before what remains of the breaths that were begging for life are silenced!

Seventy individuals from the Al-Nabari and Abd Al-Ati families, young and old, old and young, most of them children and women, were killed in a raid. The bodies of fifty of them were recovered, while the rest continued to suffer their pain and bleeding wounds under the rubble of their homes, with no one to help them. Others from the Abu Armana, Al-Masri and Al-Muqaddamah families in Al-Bureih and Al-Nuseirat are still under the rubble, while fathers carry the remains of their sons and grandchildren to bury them!

Oh God... who will stop the killing, who will curb the killers' lust?!

Stop the war of extermination now...!

More than 500 health sector personnel have been killed nd hundreds of them have been injured since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. During its war, the occupation has used all its tools to fight the health system in the Strip, from direct attacks, targeting and killing medical personnel, arresting them, and preventing medical supplies and equipment.

Rohan Talbot, a doctor and official with the British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), gave testimony before the British Parliament regarding the crimes of the Israeli occupation against doctors in Gaza. In his testimony, he confirmed that there is evidence indicating the deliberate targeting of Palestinian medical personnel by Israel. Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation has arrested hundreds of Palestinian health care workers. While many of them are still in detention and prisons, a number of those who were released were able to convey the reality of these detention centers and the horrific violations that prisoners are subjected to inside them.

The occupation forces arrested Dr. Adnan Al-Barsh, a Palestinian orthopedic surgeon from northern Gaza, while he was performing his work. He died last April inside the Israeli Ofer prison in mysterious circumstances.

Today, the British Sky News network publishes a video report in which it attempts to reveal the details of the last period in the doctor’s life inside the occupation’s prisons.

compelling evidence

The report relied on a statement given by a prisoner who knew Dr. Al-Barsh to lawyers from the Israeli human rights organization "HaMoked". The summary of what was stated in his statement is that Dr. Adnan arrived at Ofer Prison in mid-April in a deplorable state, and it was clear that he had been assaulted, as he had injuries on his body and was naked from the bottom up.

The former prisoner continues his testimony by saying that the prison guards threw the doctor into the middle of the yard and left him there. He was unable to stand, so one of the prisoners helped him and accompanied him to one of the rooms. After a few minutes, he heard the screams of the prisoners from the room, announcing that Dr. Adnan Al-Barsh had been martyred.

The latest Sky News report caused a stir on social media, with activists believing that the details of the report implicitly indicate that the doctor was raped before his death.

“There is now overwhelming evidence of rape of Palestinians by the Israeli military,” commented writer Owen Jones. “The fact that this is not considered newsworthy underscores the anti-Arab racism. Rape allegations only matter if they can be used to show the West’s enemies as barbaric.”

"lack of honor"

"Has rape and sexual assault become normal? Yes rape, now normalized by child killers in the Israeli military," wrote activist Jim Fitzpatrick.

"Even genocide has rules. This country not only lacks humanity, but also lacks honor. Rape as a punishment? Rape of people? Doctors? I can't believe it as I write this," said blogger Melih Ozkan.

Journalist Alon Mizrahi wrote: “The colonizer kills and destroys the most talented and capable among the colonized to make it seem as if the colonizers alone possess culture, values, and capabilities... It is a strategy based on a deep illness, but also on fear and envy; Israelis cannot stand a Palestinian doctor, poet, intellectual, journalist, or charismatic orator.”

The State of Qatar confirmed, on Sunday, that Israel's bombing of a school affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) that shelters displaced persons in Gaza City is an extension of the policies of targeting civilians and a violation of the principles of international law.

The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned, in a statement, of the serious repercussions of the Israeli occupation's attempts to "obstruct" UNRWA's activities.

She said: "Qatar strongly condemns the Israeli occupation's bombing of a UNRWA school, which shelters displaced people in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, which led to the deaths and injuries of people."

She stressed that she "considers it an extension of the occupation's policies based on targeting unarmed civilians and civilian objects, and a blatant violation of the principles of international law and international humanitarian law."

Lebanese media reported today (Sunday) that an Israeli airstrike targeted the "Mulla - Mar Elias" area in the heart of Beirut, where civilian casualties were recorded.

The Lebanese National News Agency said that the Israeli raid on Beirut targeted the Islamic Group's center in Mar Elias.

This evening, Sunday, the Israeli occupation forces stormed the town of Silwad, east of Ramallah.

Security sources reported that an occupation army force stormed the town of Silwad, without any arrests or clashes being reported.

Likud MK Avichai Boaron said that Israel will take "the Tomb of the Patriarchs (the Ibrahimi Mosque) meter by meter, just as we started with one meter."

"We have a good security minister, a good defense minister and friends abroad. This is our chance. We have two years to do this. The place will not remain stuck in 1967," Poiron added.

The Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs warned, on Sunday, of Israel's attempts to control the Ibrahimi Mosque in the city of Hebron, south of the West Bank, and place it completely under its sovereignty.

In a statement, the ministry condemned "the statements of Likud Knesset (parliament) member Avichai Boaron, in which he called for the nationalization of the Ibrahimi Mosque, taking control of it, and placing it completely under Israeli sovereignty."

Since 1994, the Ibrahimi Mosque has been divided into two sections: one for Muslims and the other for Jews, after a Jewish settler killed 29 Muslims while they were performing the dawn prayer on February 25 of the same year.

Israel seeks to completely seize the Ibrahimi Mosque, which violates international laws.

Pope Francis said that what is happening in the Gaza Strip has the characteristics of genocide according to some experts, calling for an investigation into whether Israeli practices in the Strip conform to this definition.

This came according to what was published by the Italian newspaper "La Stampa" today, Sunday, from passages included in a book of dialogues with the Pope, which was prepared by Hernan Reyes Alcaide based on interviews with the Pope, entitled "Hope Never Disappoints. Pilgrims Towards a Better World", according to what was reported by "Anadolu".

In his book, the Pope addressed immigration issues and problems and called for solving them and addressing their causes in their countries.

Under the subject of migration, he touched on the situation in Gaza in his book, saying: “I think in particular of our Palestinian brothers and sisters who left Gaza at a time when famine struck and it became difficult for food and aid to reach their lands.”

Saudi Arabia confirmed, on Sunday, that the bombing of Abu Asi School in Gaza City comes within the framework of Israel's continued "systematic targeting" of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed in a statement the Kingdom's condemnation and denunciation "in the strongest terms of the continued systematic targeting of UNRWA, its facilities and its workers by the Israeli occupation forces, the latest of which was the bombing of Abu Asi School in the Gaza Strip."

The ministry reiterated the "Kingdom's absolute rejection of the Israeli occupation's continued targeting of civilians and relief and humanitarian agencies amid the silence of the international community."

She called on the international community to "assume its responsibilities towards the ongoing Israeli violations, which increase the suffering of the Palestinian people and undermine the chances of achieving peace in the region."

The Lebanese army announced on Sunday that two soldiers were killed in an Israeli strike, accusing Tel Aviv of directly targeting a military site belonging to it in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli army is fighting with Hezbollah.

The army said in a statement: "The Israeli enemy directly targeted an army center in the town of Mari-Hasbaya, which led to the death of one soldier and the injury of 3 others, one of whom is in critical condition."

Another statement reported that "a second soldier was killed after being injured as a result of the Israeli enemy directly targeting an army center in the town of Mari-Hasbaya."

Twelve Lebanese soldiers have been killed in Israeli strikes since the war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah broke out in September, according to a tally by AFP based on official data.

Mossad chief David Barnea will present a "new plan" prepared by the agency this evening, Sunday, with the aim of "moving" the negotiations for a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, during emergency security deliberations held by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this evening, Sunday.

This came according to what was reported by Channel 13 Israel; the channel quoted a senior security source as saying that "the meeting comes in light of Hamas's rejection of the current proposals presented, which prompted the security services to prepare new proposals that will be reviewed during the discussion."

Earlier today, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz claimed during a visit to the Israeli army's prisoner command headquarters on Sunday that returning prisoners and missing persons is the "most important moral goal" among the priorities of Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

During the visit, which was accompanied by the outgoing Director General of the Ministry of Defense, Eyal Zamir, Katz was briefed on the current situation by the head of the Prisoners and Missing Persons Command, retired Major General Nitzan Alon, retired Major General Yoav Mordechai, and other officials involved in this file.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Defense said that the briefing focused on intelligence and operational developments related to the Israeli prisoners held by the resistance factions in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.

Katz claimed that the efforts to return the prisoners are being made without any "political considerations," and that he feels "additional motivation" from every meeting he holds with the prisoners' families and with the work teams. Katz pledged to "work with the security services in every possible way to return the prisoners to their homeland, whether they are alive or not."

It is noteworthy that Katz's statements come in the context of a broad media campaign that seeks to portray the Israeli efforts in this file as having an "ethical" nature, amid widespread criticism of the government's policies towards the file and repeated accusations by the prisoners' families that it has abandoned their sons.

A Lebanese security source confirmed to Al Jazeera that Hezbollah media relations official, Mohammed Afif, was assassinated in an Israeli raid on the Ras al-Nabaa area in Beirut.

The Israeli raid targeted a building belonging to the Baath Party in the downtown area of the capital, Beirut, which led to a large displacement of residents, especially since the area is considered relatively safe.

Following the raid, the Israeli Army Radio said that "Mohammad Afif, Hezbollah's media relations official, was the target of the assassination in Beirut."

Hezbollah did not issue any comment on the news of Afif's assassination, while the Lebanese Ministry of Health said that "one person was martyred and three were injured in an Israeli enemy raid on the Ras al-Nabaa area in Beirut."

Today, Sunday, the Israeli occupation forces arrested a truck driver after settlers attacked him on Al-Ma'rajat Road, northwest of Jericho.

Eyewitnesses reported that a group of settlers severely beat citizen Muhammad Qandil, a truck driver from the city of Jericho, on Al-Ma'rajat Road, before the occupation army arrested him and prevented Red Crescent crews from providing him with medical treatment.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday he wanted to end the war with Russia in 2025 "through diplomatic means," hoping the new US administration, led by President-elect Donald Trump, would help speed things up, as Russian factories build new lethal weapons to attack Ukraine.

"For our part, we must do everything possible to ensure that this war ends next year. We must end it by diplomatic means. I think this is very important," Zelensky told Radio Ukraine.

He added that he expects the new US administration, led by Donald Trump, to help end the war - which is approaching its 1,000th day - quickly, without providing details.

"The war will certainly end faster with the policies of the team that will run the White House... This is their approach, their promise to their society," Zelensky said, adding, "The war will end, but we do not know exactly when."

He stressed that he had a "constructive interaction" with Donald Trump during their phone conversation after his victory in the US presidential elections, noting that Trump "heard the foundations on which Kiev relies," while he did not hear anything that contradicted Kiev's position.

Trump, who will take office on January 20, has said he would seek a quick deal between Kiev and Moscow to end the war, but has not set out any terms, including what would happen, for example, to Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces since 2022.

Zelensky demands that any peace deal include Russia’s withdrawal from all Ukrainian territory, something Russian President Vladimir Putin rejects. The Ukrainian president also fears that U.S. support for his country will weaken as its forces struggle on the front lines, or that a deal will be imposed on it that would cede territory to Russia.

Japanese move

Meanwhile, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya arrived in Kyiv on Saturday on an unannounced visit to discuss North Korea's deepening military alliance with Russia, including the deployment of thousands of troops to support Moscow's war in Ukraine.

After arriving in Ukraine by train from Poland, Iwaya will meet his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sebiha today, and talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky are likely later in the day, according to a Japanese foreign ministry official.

The ministry said Tokyo's "serious concern" over growing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia was at the top of the agenda.

According to US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments, up to 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia as part of a major defense treaty between the countries.

Japan, along with the United States and other members of the Group of Seven major industrial nations, has supported Ukraine while imposing economic sanctions on Russia since the war began in February 2022.

Ukrainian soldiers take part in training at a shooting range in the Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine (AFP - Archive)

Russian attacks

Iwaya's visit comes after the Ukrainian capital was attacked by Russian drones, damaging residential buildings and infrastructure in the Obolon district of Kyiv. No casualties were reported.

The head of the military administration in Kyiv, Serhiy Popko, said that Ukrainian air defenses neutralized up to 12 drones. The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia attacked Ukraine with 83 Shahed drones in the early hours of Saturday morning.

She added that 55 of these planes were shot down, while 30 others deviated from their course or were lost after electronic jamming.

For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had destroyed 35 Ukrainian drones, including 20 over the western Kursk region and 11 over the Bryansk region.

false goal

In a related development, an Associated Press report today said that a high-tech factory in central Russia has manufactured a new lethal force to attack Ukraine, consisting of a small number of highly destructive thermal drones surrounded by huge swarms of “foam traps.”

The agency quoted a source familiar with Russian production and a Ukrainian electronics expert as saying that the plan, which Russia has dubbed “Operation False Target,” aims to force Ukraine to spend scarce resources to save lives and maintain vital infrastructure, including the use of expensive air defense munitions.

"Radars, snipers and even electronics experts cannot spot the killer drones in the sky," they added.

Unarmed traps now make up more than half of the drones targeting Ukraine and up to 75% of new drones coming out of the factory in Russia’s Alabuga special economic zone, according to the source familiar with Russian production.

"The same factory produces a particularly lethal version of the Shahed drones armed with thermobaric warheads," he added, noting that "a small number of highly destructive drones are surrounded by huge swarms of cheap foam baits."

The Prisoners Club reported today, Sunday, that the number of martyred prisoners inside Israeli occupation prisons has risen to 43.

The club said in a brief statement, "With the martyrdom of the two prisoners, Samih Aliwi and Anwar Aslim, the number of martyred prisoners after October 7 has risen to (43), who have been martyred as a result of torture, abuse, and starvation, in addition to medical crimes."

He pointed out that this number is only those whose identities have been announced, in addition to dozens of martyr prisoners whose identities and circumstances of their martyrdom are still being concealed by the occupation, and other detainees who were executed, bringing the number of martyr prisoners whose identities are known since 1967 to (280).

Today, Sunday, the Israeli occupation forces suffocated school students and arrested a young man in Tubas and Bethlehem.

In Tubas, the occupation forces arrested the young man, Muhammad Nidal Bani Odeh (20 years old), while he was passing through the Hamra checkpoint.

In Bethlehem, the occupation forces stationed in the "Tall" area in the Old City, where the school complex is located, fired gas and sound bombs at students as they were leaving their schools, which resulted in a number of them suffering from suffocation.

These forces pursued the students along the main street leading to the "Bababa" area and inside the neighborhoods.

It is noteworthy that a number of female students suffered from suffocation today, after the Israeli occupation forces stormed the town of Al-Khader and fired tear gas bombs at the female students of Al-Khader Elementary School, as they were entering the school.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced today, Sunday, that the death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 43,846, the majority of whom are children and women, since the start of the Israeli occupation aggression on October 7, 2023.

She added that the number of injuries has risen to 103,740 since the beginning of the aggression, while thousands of victims are still under the rubble.

She pointed out that the occupation forces committed 6 massacres, which resulted in the death of 47 citizens and the injury of 139 others.

Today, Sunday, the military court of the occupation in the Salem camp sentenced the journalist colleague at the Palestinian News and Information Agency "Wafa", Rasha Harzallah, to prison and a fine.

The family stated in a phone call with the official news agency "Wafa" that the occupation court issued a sentence against colleague Harzallah to six months in prison, ending on December 1, in addition to a fine of 13 thousand shekels.

Our colleague Rasha Harzallah was arrested on June 2nd, after being summoned for investigation at the Huwara detention center. She is the sister of the martyr Muhammad Harzallah.

Herzallah is among about 94 journalists who have been arrested since the start of the war of extermination in Gaza. Among the journalists, there are four female journalists: (Rula Hassanein, Bushra Al-Tawil, Rasha Herzallah, and the journalism student at Birzeit University Amal Shujaiya), and at least 16 journalists from Gaza whose identities we were able to verify. Among the journalists, 17 are under administrative detention, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.

Today, Sunday, the Israeli occupation forces arrested two young men east of Qalqilya.

Local sources said that the occupation forces stormed the village of Baqa al-Hatab, east of Qalqilya, and arrested the two young men, Imran Yousef and Baraa Louay, after raiding and searching their homes in the village.

The occupation forces set up a flying military checkpoint at the entrance to the village, stopped vehicles randomly, and checked the identities of their passengers.

Today, Sunday, settlers set up a tent in Tel Rumeida in the center of Hebron, under the protection of the occupation army.

According to local sources, a number of settlers set up a tent near the new spring, on the land of the Qunaibi family in Tel Rumeida, under the protection of the occupation army.

She pointed out that this is the second time that the tent has been set up in the same place, with the aim of controlling the area near the "Ramatei Shai" settlement, which was built on citizens' lands in the middle of Hebron.