Escalation deepens across occupied Palestinian territories
Religious-site incursions, settlement activity, demolitions and arrests in the West Bank have coincided with deadly strikes and worsening medical shortages in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera.
Israeli ministers and hundreds of settlers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during Jewish holidays, prompting condemnation from Jordan’s Foreign Ministry, which holds custodianship over the site. Israeli forces also closed Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque to Muslim worshippers while allowing settlers access for holiday celebrations.
Violence and punitive measures continued across the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man near Jenin after accusing him of attempting a vehicular attack, while a suspect was detained after an Israeli settler was fatally shot near Halamish. Israeli authorities then ordered demolitions and imposed closures and raids in and around Ramallah, el-Bireh and Biddu, according to reports cited by Al Jazeera.
The escalation has also extended into legal and administrative policy. The Knesset has passed a law allowing military courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis. Separately, President Isaac Herzog expunged the criminal record of former soldier Elor Azaria, who was convicted of manslaughter for killing a wounded Palestinian. The decision was opposed by Israel’s military chief of staff.
Al Jazeera also reported attacks by settlers on Palestinian villages and agricultural land ahead of the olive harvest, including damage to olive trees and the occupation of an agricultural structure. Demolitions and displacement were reported in Deir Ballut and Masafer Yatta, while land near sites in Tulkarem was posted for seizure under an archaeological-preservation rationale.
In Gaza, strikes and building collapses continued amid declining medical capacity. Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported 1,394 deaths and 4,839 injuries since the October 2025 ceasefire, and 73,914 deaths since October 2023; those figures were not independently verified in the supplied material. Medical sources cited by Al Jazeera said 70 per cent of hospital generators were out of service, while access for a medical evacuation convoy to Egypt was reduced from 136 patients and family members to 61.
