Trump claims he told Netanyahu ‘the killing has to stop’ in July

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has claimed that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end Israel’s war on Gaza during their meeting in Florida in July.

“He knows what he’s doing, I did encourage him to get this over with,” Trump said at a news conference on Thursday. “It has to get over with fast, but have victory, get your victory and get it over with. It has to stop, the killing has to stop.”

Trump met Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida when the Israeli prime minister was in the US to deliver a controversial address to a joint session of the US Congress. During the visit, Netanyahu also met with US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

We previously reported that the Israeli prime minister’s office had denied a report from US outlet Axios that Trump and Netanyahu spoke on the phone on Wednesday, in a call in which Trump “intended to encourage Netanyahu to take the deal” – referring to a ceasefire.

Trump criticises Harris for tying ‘Israel’s hands behind its back’ over ceasefire

Earlier, we reported that US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump had claimed at a news conference on Thursday that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting in July to “get your victory” but the “killing must stop” in Gaza.

Speaking hours later at an event on tackling anti-Semitism, Trump has now criticised US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris over their calls for a ceasefire.

“From the start, Harris has worked to tie Israel’s hand behind its back, demanding an immediate ceasefire, always demanding ceasefire,” Trump said. He added that a ceasefire “would only give Hamas time to regroup and launch a new October 7-style attack”.

“I will give Israel the support that it needs to win, but I do want them to win fast,” he said.

US tells Israel to protect Palestinians after deadly Israeli settler attacks in West Bank

The US has condemned as “unacceptable” deadly rampage attacks on a Palestinian village and town by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, saying its key ally Israel must protect Palestinian “communities from harm”.

“Attacks by violent settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank are unacceptable and must stop,” a US National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement.

“Israeli authorities must take measures to protect all communities from harm, this includes intervening to stop such violence and holding all perpetrators of such violence to account,” the spokesperson said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 23-year-old Palestinian man – identified as Mahmoud Abdel Qader Sadda –  was killed in the settler violence and another Palestinian suffered critical gunshot wounds to the chest in the attack on the village of Jit, located east of Qalqilya city.

Dozens of masked Israeli settlers, some armed, hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails as they stormed the Palestinian village, setting fire to several cars and destroying property.

‘Time is now’: UN rights expert says sanction Israel over settler attacks on Palestinians

The UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory said “sanctions must be imposed” on Israel over Israeli settler violence against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.

In a post on social media highlighting remarks by humanitarian law expert, Itay Epshtain, that “settler violence is instructed, directed, and controlled” by Israeli state officials, the UN’s Francesca Albanese said sanctions need to go beyond individual settlers and illegal settlements.

“Time to act was decades ago: as it was not done, that time is now,” Albanese said.

"Settler violence against #Palestinains is attributable to the State of #Israel and its central and local government".
Hence #sanctions must be imposed on the State of Israel, not just individual settlers/settlement products.
Time to act was decades ago: as it was not done, that… https://t.co/4vpcFYeB65

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) August 16, 2024

In a series of posts on social media, the special adviser to the Norwegian Refugee Council said that Israeli “settler violence is aided and supported” by institutions of the Israeli state, including ministries and regional and local councils involved in the illegal settlements.

“Settler violence against Palestinians is attributable to the State of Israel and its central and local government,” Epshtain said.

The international community can, and must, employ “lawful countermeasures” to compel Israel to abide by international law, which is being “seriously and systematically breached through settler violence”, he said.

“The adequate response to the upsurge of settler violence, including the deadly incident tonight, is to subject Israeli ministries and the ministers who head them, and local government and heads of regional and local settlement councils to financial restrictions and travel bans,” Epshtain said.

The International Court of Justice affirmed in July that Israel’s military presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful, he said, and all illegal Israeli settlements must be immediately dismantled, and settlers must withdraw from Palestinian land.

“The organs of government that allow for continued Israeli presence, and the violence it brings with it, are an affront to international law and must be met with political resolve to impose sanctions,” he added.

Gallant condemns ‘extremist rioting’ in the West Bank

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has condemned “violent, radical riots” by extremist Israeli settlers on the village of Jit, east of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank.

“At a time when our troops are fighting on the front lines, defending the State of Israel, a group of radical individuals have launched a riot and attacked innocent people. They do not represent the values of the communities living in Samaria,” he said, using the Israeli name for the occupied West Bank.

One man was killed as dozens of Israeli settlers, some armed, hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails as they rampaged through the Palestinian village on Thursday. Attacks were also reported on the Palestinian town of Huwara in the Nablus Governorate.

Israeli rights groups react with revulsion to ‘pure settler terrorism’

Human rights groups and activists in Israel have blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for supporting and sponsoring settler violence following the attacks on an occupied West Bank village and town during which a 23-year-old Palestinian man was killed and about a dozen injured.

“This is pure settler terrorism – supported by the state, sponsored by our government,” the Peace Now organisation said on social media.

The Mistaclim organisation, which is made up of Israelis opposed to the occupation of Palestinian territory, said, “Contrary to the publication in the news, this is not a nationalist event but a terrorist attack.”

“So far – 0 arrests,” it added.

They're all terrorist attacks, state sponsored terrorist attacks.

1 Palestinian is reported dead in a pogrom perpetrated by around 50 masked settler terrorists who invaded the Palestinian village of Jit, torching at least four houses.

This is pure settler terrorism—supported by the state, sponsored by our government.pic.twitter.com/e1EKCf08XK

— Peace Now (@peacenowisrael) August 15, 2024

West Bank council head says he ‘despises’ settler rioters

The head of the Samaria Regional Council, an Israeli governing body in the occupied West Bank, has claimed the Israeli settlers who carried out a deadly rampage in the Palestinian village of Jit on Thursday night – which left one person dead and about a dozen injured – were not from his area.

“We know that this is a WhatsApp group of fringe, violent youth, most of whom are not even from Samaria. I despise them like most of the country,” Yossi Dagan told Israel’s Kan radio.

“I am in constant contact with the police, the [Israeli military], and with the security establishment, and also with residents who called yesterday and requested I talk with the police because they felt torn apart by this violence,” he said.

Israeli human rights activists and international legal experts have accused state officials in Israel – at ministerial and regional council level – of supporting and directing settler violence against Palestinians, which has been continuing for years.

Settler attacks part of Israel’s ‘policy of ethnic cleansing’: ex-PLO leader

The deadly Israeli settler attacks in the occupied West Bank on Thursday night are “part of Israel’s policy of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine”, said Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian political leader and a former executive committee member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

In a post on social media, Ashrawi said attacks by “Israeli settler thugs” on Palestinian villagers “has become a pattern in the occupied West Bank”. “They are armed, financed, protected” and “generally supported by the army and the government” in Israel, she said.


Financed by donors from the US as well

Former State Department director questions support for Israel’s Netzah Yehuda

Former US State Department human rights official Charles Blaha says Washington’s decision to continue funding the Israeli military’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion is “inexplicable” when looking at the evidence of the unit’s human rights abuses.

“It really calls into question how much value the department gives to the lives of Palestinian Americans,” he said.

Palestinian Authority slams ‘terrorist settler gangs’

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has said “the armed collective attack” by settlers on the village of Jit in the occupied West Bank is “organised state terrorism”. The ministry condemned the brutal attack committed by “the terrorist settler gangs” on the village located in the east of the city of Qalqilya.

“We demand the imposition of deterrent sanctions on the racist colonial system, the dismantling of the terrorist settler militias, and the prosecution of their members,” the statement said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 23-year-old Palestinian man – identified as Mahmoud Abdel Qader Sadda –  was killed in the settler violence and another Palestinian suffered critical gunshot wounds to the chest in the attack on the village.

Borrell slams deadly Israeli settler attack in occupied West Bank

The EU’s foreign policy chief has urged the Israeli government to stop “unacceptable actions” by settlers immediately.

Josep Borrell wrote on X: “Day after day, in an almost total impunity, Israeli settlers fuel violence in the occupied West Bank, contributing to endanger any chance of peace.”

“I confirm my intention to table a proposal for EU sanctions against violent settlers’ enablers, including some Israeli government’s members,” he added.

Borrell’s remarks come after the Palestinian Health Ministry said a 23-year-old Palestinian man was killed in settler violence and another Palestinian suffered gunshot wounds to the chest in the attack on the village of Jit.

UK, France condemn deadly settler attack in occupied West Bank

The foreign minister of France and foreign secretary of the UK have condemned an attack by Israeli settlers on the occupied West Bank town of Jit on Thursday, which killed one Palestinian man and critically wounded another who was shot in the chest.

Stephane Sejourne said France condemns the situation in Jit as he spoke at a news conference in Jerusalem with the UK’s David Lammy.

“The scenes overnight of the burning and the torching of buildings, of the Molotov cocktails thrown at cars, of the widespread rampage and chasing of people from their homes is abhorrent, and I condemn it in the strongest of terms,” Lammy said.

Israeli military carries out arrests in Tulkarem, Ramallah

Clashes erupted in Tulkarem after the Israeli military stormed the occupied West Bank city, according to local media reports.

Israeli forces have now withdrawn from the area after an hours-long raid, arresting and taking a Palestinian man with them. The Israeli military has also arrested a man and his sister after storming their home in the village of Beitin, northeast of Ramallah.

Grief and rage after 2 killed in Israeli drone strike on West Bank refugee camp

<sub>Mourners bid farewell to Palestinian Ahmad Sheikh Khalil, who was killed along with Wael Mish in an Israeli drone strike on the Balata refugee camp, in Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on August 15


People attend the funeral for Ahmad Sheikh Khalil and Wael Mish, who were killed on Thursday in an Israeli air attack in the Balata refugee camp</sub>

No ‘rest even in death’: Bodies of Palestinian children confiscated by Israeli forces

Israel’s military confiscated and continues to withhold from families and relatives the bodies of 35 Palestinian children killed in the occupied territory since 2016, a child rights group said.

In violation of international humanitarian and human rights law, Israeli authorities continue to hold the remains of slain Palestinian children in what grieving families see as an act of “collective punishment”, Defense for Children International – Palestine said.

The latest body of a child taken by Israeli forces was that of 16-year-old Shadi Wissam Mohammad Shiha, who was killed by Israeli sniper fire on Tuesday night in the village of Anata, northeast of Jerusalem, while closing up his family-owned car wash.

“Palestinian children cannot rest even in death as Israeli authorities continue confiscating children’s bodies and withholding them from their families indefinitely,” the organisation said in a statement.

Shadi Wissam Mohammad Shiha, 16, was killed by an Israeli sniper near the Israeli separation wall outside of Jerusalem.
Israeli authorities confiscated his body. Shadi is one of 35 Palestinian children whose bodies are withheld by Israeli authorities. https://t.co/OYrCL1RfjC pic.twitter.com/q6hcUlAJGE

— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) August 15, 2024

Palestinian fighters target Israeli forces with drone in southern Gaza: Monitors

Hamas fighters carried out a drone attack on Israeli forces operating to the east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, an area where Israel’s military has warned it will “act forcefully” due to continued rocket attacks on its territory, monitors said.

US-based defence think tanks the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) also report that a Palestinian splinter group – the Martyr Abd al-Qader al-Husseini Brigades – took part in a rocket attack with Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades on Thursday.

The joint operation targeted Israeli forces deployed on the Netzarim Corridor and marks another consecutive day of rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian armed groups in the area to the south of Gaza City.

Hamas fighters also launched rockets into southern Israel from Khan Younis again on Thursday, though Israel’s military said only that two missiles landed in open ground near the Kissufim area in Israel, which is located adjacent to central Gaza.

Woman, teenager among victims of Daraj attack

As we’ve been reporting, Israel’s military bombed a home in Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood overnight, killing five people and injuring eight. Among those killed were a woman and her 13-year-old daughter, the Wafa news agency reports.

Victims of the attack have been brought to al-Ahli Arab Hospital for treatment, Wafa reports.

Where were Israel’s latest military strikes?

Israel’s latest bombing and artillery attacks have hit areas of north, central and southern Gaza overnight. According to the Wafa news agency, the attacks include:

Israeli military drone bombs group of people in Gaza City

An Israeli military drone has bombed a group of Palestinians near the al-Tabbaa Tower in the as-Saraya Junction area of Gaza City, killing at least two people and injuring five more, according to local media reports.

Three children killed in attack on al-Mawasi

An Israeli military attack has struck a tent camp in the area of al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report. The attack has killed at least four people, including three children, they said.

Israel had previously designated al-Mawasi as a “humanitarian safe zone”.

Medics rescue wounded from Gaza City attack

Earlier today, we reported that Israeli forces had bombed a residence near Gaza City’s Shawa Square. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has now released footage of its medics responding to the scene of that attack this morning.

The medics recovered the bodies of three people killed and rescued four people wounded, according to the relief group.

No space to bury the dead

After more than 10 months of Israeli bombardment, Gaza is running out of graves to bury its dead in. “Since the war started, we haven’t stopped. Today alone I dug at least 70 graves,” said Najy Abu Hateb, who works as a gravedigger in Khan Younis.

“We’re exhausted. I wish for this war to end.”

Israeli military attacks sites in southern Lebanon

Israeli fighter jets and artillery hit sites in southern Lebanon overnight, including a building used by Hezbollah in the village of Kfar Kila and locations in the villages of Rmeish and Ramyah.

Netanyahu sees ‘victory’ as crushing hopes for Palestinian statehood

For months, Israeli PM Netanyahu has promised to press ahead with Israel’s military campaign in Gaza until achieving “total victory”. But what does “total victory” look like?

According to Israeli author and analyst Akiva Eldar, Netanyahu sees victory as “an end to the two-state solution”. “This is the conflict that is waiting around the corner”, Eldar told Al Jazeera, pointing to divergence between Israel and its backer the US on the issue of Palestinian statehood.

“What Netanyahu wants is to make sure that there will never be a Palestinian state,” he said.

‘Clock is ticking’ for Harris: Pro-Palestinian activist

A coalition of about 200 social justice organisations are planning to march at the US Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago on Monday, protesting one of the thorniest electoral issues – Washington’s aid to Israel.

Hatem Abudayyeh, spokesperson for the March on the DNC coalition, told Reuters dozens of coalition group leaders met after President Joe Biden ended his campaign but decided to go ahead with the rally nonetheless.

The Abandon Biden campaign group believes his replacement, Vice President Kamala Harris, bears responsibility for Gaza’s humanitarian crisis but is not yet launching an Abandon Harris campaign, spokesperson Hudhayfah Ahmad was quoted as saying by the agency.

The group will be in Chicago and watching for changes to the Democratic Party’s position on Israel-Palestine. “We’re going to give [Harris] a lot more grace than we gave Joe Biden,” Ahmad said. “However, I will emphasise, the clock is ticking and our patience is running out.”