Video obtained by AP shows settler assault on small Palestinian village with rare clarity

Palestinian Qusai Al-Amur sits in a hospital bed next to his relatives following an attack by Israeli settlers on his West Bank village of Jinba, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP)
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Palestinian Qusai Al-Amur sits in a hospital bed next to his relatives following an attack by Israeli settlers on his West Bank village of Jinba, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 29 March 2025
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Video obtained by AP shows settler assault on small Palestinian village with rare clarity

Palestinian Qusai Al-Amur sits in a hospital bed next to his relatives following an attack by Israeli settlers on his West Bank
  • A number of settlers pile out of them and run out of the frame, and the screams of Palestinian women can be heard
  • Palestinians and rights groups say Israeli forces usually turn a blind eye or intervene on behalf of the settlers

JERUSALEM: Over a dozen Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian village in the southern Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, beating residents with sticks and rocks, in an incident captured with rare clarity by security cameras. The video obtained by AP and testimonies from Palestinian witnesses appeared to conflict with the account of the attack provided by Israeli police and military, who arrested over 20 Palestinians afterwards.

The violence in the village of Jinba follows a settler attack earlier this week in a nearby village in which Hamdan Ballal, a Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” was left bloodied and bruised before being detained by Israeli soldiers for about 20 hours.

The videos provide uncommonly stark images of the type of settler assault Palestinians in the West Bank say now occurs frequently. They say radical Jewish settlers rarely, if ever, face repercussions for attacking Palestinian communities, while Palestinians are often rounded up in droves and detained by Israeli forces.

Settlers descend on Jinba

AP obtained footage from two security cameras belonging to the Al-Amur family, whose home came under attack. Footage from one camera shows a jeep, an ATV and a white pick-up truck speed up to the edge of the village.

A number of settlers pile out of them and run out of the frame, and the screams of Palestinian women can be heard. The settlers then return into view, and at least 15 of them ascend a slope, getting closer to the camera.

Many are masked, at least three are carrying bats or sticks, and one is armed with an assault rifle. One can be seen throwing a rock, then bending to collect more.

The matriarch of the Al-Amur family, Oula Awad, said she saw the settlers approaching her house between 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM, as she was doing laundry outside with her daughter. Her son, Qusai, 17, and husband, Aziz, 63, were washing up to prepare for Ramadan prayers when the settlers pulled up in vehicles and emerged.

“The settler runs toward me and told me, ‘Don’t wave. Do not move forward. We will hit you,’” she said.

In security footage taken from a different camera at the house, she and her daughter, 16-year-old Handa, are seen screaming and waving clothes in the air, calling for help. At one point, Awad makes a motion waving her arms. It is not clear if she throws something at a settler rushing toward her.

The settlers are then seen converging on Qusai. One settler begins hitting him with a stick as he tries to run away. Another settler smashes his head with a rock, sending him to the ground. Four settlers then kick and beat him before running away.

Awad said the settlers locked her and her daughter in a side room as they beat her younger son, Ahmad, and her husband Aziz.

“They entered the room and hit the windows,” said Awad. They tried to burn the furniture. “My husband was standing on the stairs, and they started beating him.”

A video taken by Qusai and shared with the AP showed Ahmad on the ground with a head laceration. Aziz lies nearby, his face bloodied.

Five Palestinians remain in hospitals. Aziz had a chest injury and underwent surgery for skull fractures; Ahmed, 16, is in intensive care. Qusai suffered a broken arm, bruises and cuts. Another villager, Maher Mohammed, had cuts and bruises, as did his son Osama, who was also undergoing kidney examinations.

Nidal Younis, the head of the Masafer Yatta village council, witnessed part of the attack and was detained by police for two hours afterward. He said soldiers who arrived on scene following the attack prevented Palestinians from nearby villages from helping and threw stun grenades at homes, a claim to which the military did not respond.

Police and military provide a conflicting account

 

Following the incident, Israeli police said they detained 22 Palestinians from the village on suspicion of stone throwing and brought them in for further investigation.

They said Palestinians had attacked two settler shepherds nearby, minorly injuring them.

“The security forces view the series of attacks in the area seriously, and will take strong action to bring those involved to justice,” the police said. They did not respond when asked by the AP why no Israeli civilians were arrested.

The military gave a somewhat different account, saying an Israeli civilian had been attacked and injured by militants near an Israeli settlement.

Then, it said “a violent confrontation developed between a number of Israeli civilians and Palestinians,” injuring another Israeli civilian.

Masafer Yatta was designated by the Israeli military as a live-fire training zone in the 1980s, and the military has ordered the expulsion of the residents, mostly Arab Bedouin. Around 1,000 residents have largely remained in place, but soldiers regularly come in to demolish homes, tents, water tanks and olive orchards.

Palestinians and rights groups say Israeli forces usually turn a blind eye or intervene on behalf of the settlers.

The war in Gaza has sparked a surge of violence in the West Bank, with the Israeli military carrying out widescale military operations that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. There has been a rise in settler violence as well as Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

 


Jordanian field hospital begins operations in Gaza, treats over 1,000 patients

Jordanian field hospital begins operations in Gaza, treats over 1,000 patients
Updated 8 sec ago
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Jordanian field hospital begins operations in Gaza, treats over 1,000 patients

Jordanian field hospital begins operations in Gaza, treats over 1,000 patients
  • Facility boasts clinics for dermatology, orthopedics, pediatrics, maxillofacial surgery, internal medicine, gynecology
  • Hospital team this week supplied 11 trucks of humanitarian aid, relief items, medical supplies to support Gaza’s health infrastructure

LONDON: The Jordanian Field Hospital 7 in southern Gaza has started receiving patients and providing medical and therapeutic services as part of a humanitarian mission to support Palestinians in the territory.

Its field hospital director said that medical and nursing teams had treated over 1,000 patients in specialized clinics that operate round the clock to address various medical needs.

“We take pride in our presence in Gaza and our unwavering commitment to serve our Palestinian brothers and sisters with distinction and professionalism,” the hospital’s force commander told the Jordan News Agency.

The facility includes clinics for dermatology, orthopedics, pediatrics, maxillofacial surgery, internal medicine, and gynecology. It also provides neonatal intensive care and operates a mobile prosthetic limb support unit, in addition to offering facilities for general surgery, vascular surgery, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, and burns treatment.

The hospital team this week supplied 11 trucks of humanitarian aid, relief items, and medical supplies to support Gaza’s health infrastructure, as part of the Jordanian Armed Forces’ broader efforts to help Palestinians.

Jordan was among the first countries to conduct airlift missions in the early days of the conflict and has delivered relief to Gaza since late 2023.

It has partnered with several humanitarian organizations, including the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, and World Central Kitchen, to implement food and medical projects aimed at assisting Palestinians in Gaza.


UK, France and other nations call for an immediate end to war in Gaza

Smoke and flames rise from a residential building hit by an Israeli strike, in Gaza City July 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke and flames rise from a residential building hit by an Israeli strike, in Gaza City July 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Updated 36 min 46 sec ago
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UK, France and other nations call for an immediate end to war in Gaza

Smoke and flames rise from a residential building hit by an Israeli strike, in Gaza City July 21, 2025. (Reuters)
  • The call for an end to the war and the way Israel delivers aid comes from several countries which are allied with Israel and its most important backer, the US

LONDON: Britain and more than 20 other countries called on Monday for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and criticized the Israeli government’s aid delivery model after hundreds of Palestinians were killed near sites distributing food.

France, Italy, Japan, Australia, Canada, Denmark and other countries said more than 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid and condemned what it called the “drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians.”

The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites, which the United States and Israel backed to take over aid distribution in Gaza from a network led by the United Nations.

“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” the countries’ foreign ministers said in a joint statement.

The call for an end to the war and the way Israel delivers aid comes from several countries which are allied with Israel and its most important backer, the United States.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the accusation.

The UN has called the GHF’s model unsafe and a breach of humanitarian impartiality standards, which GHF denies.


Eye hospital in Gaza reports 1,200 new cases of vision loss in July

Eye hospital in Gaza reports 1,200 new cases of vision loss in July
Updated 21 July 2025
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Eye hospital in Gaza reports 1,200 new cases of vision loss in July

Eye hospital in Gaza reports 1,200 new cases of vision loss in July
  • Dr. Abdel Salam Sabah said severe malnutrition causes vitamin and mineral deficiencies, which increase the risk of vision impairment
  • He warned that 4,000 to 5,000 patients who regularly visited the eye hospital before the war are now without follow-up or treatment

LONDON: An eye hospital in Gaza reported on Monday nearly 1,200 new cases of complete or partial vision loss in July in the Palestinian coastal enclave as Israel continues its attacks and medical resources deplete.

Dr. Abdel Salam Sabah, the director of the Eye Hospital in Gaza, reported that medical staff addressed nearly 1,200 new cases of complete or partial vision loss in Gaza City and the Al-Nasr neighborhood over the past two weeks.

The hospital had previously recorded approximately 1,500 cases of total or partial blindness due to eye injuries, he said, while many others face progressive vision loss from untreated chronic illnesses.

Dr. Sabah warned that 4,000 to 5,000 patients who regularly visited the hospital before the war in October 2023 are now without follow-up or treatment, putting them at serious risk of losing their sight.

He added that severe malnutrition causes vitamin and mineral deficiencies, which increase the risk of vision impairment, particularly in patients with diabetes.

Since March 2, 2025, Israeli forces have closed all border crossings with Gaza, greatly limiting the quantities of food and medical aid entering the enclave, which has led to a widespread famine. Since Israel’s attack on Gaza in late 2023, there have been 58,895 Palestinian deaths, mainly among women and children, and 140,980 injuries.


US officials express anger over Israel’s Syria strikes

US officials express anger over Israel’s Syria strikes
Updated 21 July 2025
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US officials express anger over Israel’s Syria strikes

US officials express anger over Israel’s Syria strikes
  • PM Netanyahu ‘like a madman. He bombs everything all the time’
  • White House officials also describe growing consternation over Gaza war

LONDON: White House officials have expressed frustration over Israel’s bombing of Syria, The Times reported.

Israel carried out a series of attacks on government targets in the Syrian Arab Republic last week, including a strike on a tank convoy and the shelling of the Defense Ministry in Damascus.

US diplomats warned Israel to cease its intervention, which it claimed to be conducting in support of Syria’s Druze minority.

Clashes between local Bedouin and Druze forces had broken out in Syria’s southern province of Sweida, with the country’s government sending troops to quell the violence.

One White House official told Axios that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time. This could undermine what (US President Donald) Trump is trying to do.”

Trump lifted sanctions on Syria earlier this year after meeting President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who has pledged to unite his country and bring an end to more than a decade of violence.

The US brokered a ceasefire last week that appeared to stop the clashes in Sweida, where more than 1,000 people were killed over seven days, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The violence was reportedly sparked by a series of kidnappings targeting members of various faiths, clans and tribal groups in the province.

Before launching strikes, Israel claimed that Syrian government forces were involved in targeting the Druze.

Israel has its own community of Druze, numbering about 130,000, and some Syrian members of the faith traveled to meet family members there to escape the violence in Sweida.

After the overthrow of Bashar Assad’s regime last year, Israel sent forces into Sweida to establish a buffer zone. The province borders Syria’s Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

Another US official told Axios: “Netanyahu is sometimes like a child who just won’t behave.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday urged Al-Sharaa to halt the violence in his country, which he described as “horrifying and dangerous.”

The “rape and slaughter of innocent people, which has and is still occurring, must end,” Rubio said on X, adding that Syrian authorities “must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks.”

White House officials also described growing consternation over Israel’s war on Gaza, especially after the shelling of the Palestinian enclave’s only Catholic church last week. The attack killed three Palestinians.

A senior American official told Axios after the church strike: “The feeling is that every day there is something new … what the f***?”

Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel, also delivered surprise public criticism in the wake of an arson attack on a Byzantine-era church in the occupied West Bank over the weekend.

“To commit an act of sacrilege by desecrating a place that is supposed to be a place of worship, it is an act of terror, and it is a crime,” he said. “There should be consequences.”

He also demanded “accountability” from Israel after a Palestinian American was killed in the West Bank last week.


Israeli undercover force detains senior Gaza health official, ministry says

Israeli undercover force detains senior Gaza health official, ministry says
Updated 21 July 2025
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Israeli undercover force detains senior Gaza health official, ministry says

Israeli undercover force detains senior Gaza health official, ministry says
  • Marwan Al-Hams, in charge of field hospitals in the enclave, was on his way to visit the ICRC field hospital in northern Rafah when an Israeli force “abducted” him after opening fire

CAIRO: An Israeli undercover force detained Marwan Al-Hams, a senior Gaza Health Ministry official, outside the field hospital of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday, the health ministry said.

Hams, in charge of field hospitals in the enclave, was on his way to visit the ICRC field hospital in northern Rafah when an Israeli force “abducted” him after opening fire, killing one person and wounding another civilian nearby, according to the ministry.

Medics said the person killed was a local journalist who was filming an interview with Hams when the incident happened.

The Israeli military and the Red Cross did not immediately respond following separate requests by Reuters for comment.

Israel has raided and attacked hospitals across the Gaza Strip during the 21-month war in Gaza, accusing Hamas of using them for military purposes, an accusation the group denies. But sending undercover forces to carry out arrests has been rare.