Gaza

By Sabiu Abdullahi

An Israeli settler has defended recent attacks on Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, describing them as justified retaliation after the killing of a security guard from the Havat Gilad outpost.

The remarks came during an interview with the BBC, which gained rare access to Havat Gilad, an Israeli settler outpost located deep inside the occupied West Bank.

Violence escalated in the area last weekend after an Israeli security guard from Havat Gilad died during a confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians in the nearby village of Tal. Four Palestinians and one Israeli soldier also lost their lives in the incident, although reports said the circumstances that triggered the clash remain disputed.

During the interview, Yehuda Shimon, a lawyer who represents Israelis accused of attacking Palestinians, defended the reprisals against nearby Palestinian villages.

“I think now, after they killed one Israeli, we need to kill all the people in Tal and Sarra, even Jit and Farata,” he said, referring to neighbouring Palestinian communities.

When questioned about equating the death of one Israeli with the lives of hundreds or thousands of Palestinians, Shimon replied: “No, millions. One Jewish life, it’s 10 million [Palestinians].”

Asked whether his comments were racist, he did not deny the accusation.

“Yes, I know,” he replied. “But this is the truth, because God chose us [and] because of this you are jealous.”

The BBC noted that such views are rejected by many Israelis. However, it said they help explain the growing tensions in the West Bank, where Israeli settlements and unauthorised outposts continue to expand amid rising violence against Palestinians.

Many settlers in outposts such as Havat Gilad believe the West Bank was divinely promised to the Jewish people. International law considers both authorised Israeli settlements and unauthorised outposts in the occupied territory illegal.

Shimon dismissed international legal objections. He argued that biblical claims supersede international law. He also criticised the Israeli government and military, claiming they have not done enough to support Jewish claims to the land.

“The Israeli government and the Israeli army, they like the United Nations – if Palestinians come and Jewish people come, [they] don’t kill the Palestinians, [they] just separate the people,” he said. “Afterwards, because they don’t kill Palestinians, the Palestinians kill us.”

However, figures from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) present a different picture. According to the agency, 64 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank between the beginning of the year and July 20. It said 18 of those deaths occurred during settler attacks. At least 12 victims were reportedly killed by settlers, while three died at the hands of Israeli forces. Responsibility for three other deaths remains under investigation. OCHA also recorded one Israeli death during the same period.

The UN agency further reported that injuries caused by settler attacks have increased sharply this year, with more than three Palestinians injured each day on average.

Shimon also alleged that international media had accepted what he called the Palestinian narrative. He claimed, without presenting evidence, that Palestinians in the area were heavily armed and intended to repeat the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023.

“If we don’t wake up and drop them all from this area, from all areas of Israel, even Gaza too, they will come back, and come back [again],” he said.

The report noted that Israeli settlers in the West Bank are protected by the Israeli military and local armed security units. Palestinians, on the other hand, remain under Israeli military occupation and face movement restrictions through checkpoints and road closures. Some international human rights organisations have described the system as “apartheid,” a characterisation Israel has rejected as “absurd and distorted.”

When asked about the future of Palestinians in the West Bank, Shimon outlined three options.

He said they could remain under Israeli rule, relocate voluntarily to Arab or Muslim countries, or face deadly consequences if they continued to resist.

“if you don’t want to make peace with us, and you don’t want to get out, I don’t have a choice: I must kill you, and I kill you all,” he said.

The BBC also highlighted similarities between Shimon’s views and proposals previously advanced by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Before joining the government, Smotrich proposed that Palestinians either abandon demands for statehood and live under Israeli rule, leave the territory voluntarily, or face military action if they continued armed resistance.

Meanwhile, many Palestinians living near Havat Gilad told the BBC they feel abandoned and vulnerable. They accused Israeli forces of prioritising the protection of settlers while leaving Palestinian communities exposed to repeated attacks.

“It’s a very bad situation,” one resident said. “Europe is busy, America is occupied with Iran, China doesn’t care, Russia is fighting Ukraine, the UN are finished and the Arabs have internal problems. We don’t know what we can do.”

By Muhammad Abubakar

Nearly half of Americans believe the United States should arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he enters the country, according to a new Economist/YouGov poll.

The survey found that 49 per cent of respondents support enforcing the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Netanyahu, while 27 per cent oppose such action and 23 per cent remain undecided.

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu in November 2024 over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Netanyahu and the Israeli government reject the allegations, describing them as politically motivated.

The poll reflects growing public criticism of Netanyahu in the United States. Recent surveys have also shown declining support for his leadership and increasing concern among Americans over U.S. policy toward Israel, particularly among Democratic voters and younger Americans.

Despite the poll results, legal experts note that the United States is not a member of the ICC, making the enforcement of the court’s arrest warrant highly unlikely under current U.S. law.

By Sabiu Abdullahi l

At least 14 Palestinians were killed in a series of Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip on Friday. Eight of the victims died after a drone strike hit mourners attending a funeral procession in the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to Palestinian civil defence authorities and hospital officials.

The incident was reported by Al Jazeera, which cited Gaza’s civil defence agency and Al-Awda Hospital. The hospital also said at least 20 people sustained injuries in the attack.

Witnesses said the drone struck mourners gathered outside the Ahmad Yassin Mosque in the Al-Balata market area as they prepared to begin the funeral procession for a Palestinian who had been killed earlier the same day in another Israeli attack.

“There is no regard for the ceasefire,” Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud said while reporting from Gaza City.

“The people who were participating in the [funeral] procession were coming out of the mosque [when] a drone strike targeted a group of people within the procession itself.”

The Israeli military confirmed that it carried out the strike. According to AFP, the army claimed it had targeted a “terrorist” cell in central Gaza. It added that it was “aware of the claims that several uninvolved individuals were harmed as a result of the strike. The results of the strike are under review.”

Hamas condemned the attack in a statement, describing it as a serious violation of the ceasefire agreement.

“This heinous crime takes place while the aggressor regime, through its systematic and continuous violation of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, continues to kill and terrorise innocent citizens in front of the eyes of mediators and the international community,” the group said.

Elsewhere in Gaza, a 52-year-old woman was killed after an Israeli drone reportedly dropped a bomb near Abu Tammam School in Beit Lahia. Another Palestinian was killed in Az-Zawayda, while another lost his life after Israeli fire struck a shelter for displaced people in al-Sawarha.

An Israeli drone strike on an apartment in Gaza City also killed one Palestinian and injured several others, including children. Another woman later died from wounds she sustained during Israeli gunfire southwest of Khan Younis.

Despite the ceasefire that took effect in October 2025, hostilities have continued across Gaza. Research group Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) reported that Israeli attacks increased in recent months, with more than 40 strikes recorded in June, the highest monthly figure since the ceasefire began.

“The skies above the Gaza Strip are filled with drones,” Mahmoud said.

“You can hear the mechanical hum of these drones everywhere … In addition to the ongoing [Israeli] destruction of remaining infrastructure,” he added.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz also reported on Friday that 274 children have been killed since the ceasefire began, stating that, on average, one child has died each day during the period.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) has announced the death of Palestinian goalkeeper Saleem Al-Ashqar following an incident involving Israeli forces in Gaza earlier this week.

In a statement, the association said Al-Ashqar died after “fire opened by occupation forces.”

The PFA described the late footballer as one of many Palestinian sports figures who have lost their lives since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.

According to the association, more than 1,000 Palestinian athletes have been killed during the conflict.

Reports said Al-Ashqar got married five months ago, while his wife is currently expecting their first child.

His death has drawn reactions from relatives, teammates and members of the international sporting community, many of whom expressed sadness over the development.

Chilean football club Deportivo Palestino also reacted to the incident in a statement issued on Wednesday.

“We deeply mourn the tragic death of 32-year-old Palestinian goalkeeper Salim Al-Ashqar. He was killed by the Israeli army. We are deeply saddened by the continuation of such events. We call for justice and peace,” the club said.

By Maryam Ahmad

A United Nations commission of inquiry has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, alleging that Israeli forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children and inflicted conditions aimed at destroying the future of the Palestinian population.

In a report released on Monday, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry said children accounted for nearly 30 per cent of the more than 67,000 Palestinians reported killed during the conflict. The commission argued that the use of heavy weapons in densely populated areas, attacks on essential services, and severe humanitarian conditions demonstrated genocidal intent.

The inquiry also documented widespread psychological trauma, attacks on healthcare facilities, and worsening conditions for children in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Israel strongly rejected the findings, describing them as false and politically motivated. Israeli officials said the military takes measures to minimise civilian casualties and blamed Hamas for operating within civilian areas and diverting humanitarian resources.

The report is likely to intensify international debate over the conduct of the war, which began after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and has since resulted in heavy casualties and widespread destruction across Gaza.

By Muhammad Abubakar

U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly launched into a profanity-laden tirade against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their latest phone conversation, according to a report by Axios.

Citing unnamed sources familiar with the exchange, Axios reported that Trump told Netanyahu: “You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”

The reported remarks reflect growing tensions over Israel’s handling of the ongoing conflict in Gaza and increasing international criticism of the Israeli government. Neither Trump nor Netanyahu had publicly commented on the report at the time of publication.

If confirmed, the exchange would mark one of the sharpest known criticisms of Netanyahu by Trump, despite the close relationship the two leaders maintained during Trump’s presidency.

By Maryam Ahmad

A former head of Israel’s intelligence agency has sharply condemned rising settler violence in the West Bank, saying it has left him “ashamed to be a Jew.”

Tamir Pardo, who led Mossad from 2011 to 2016, made the remarks in a recent interview, warning that attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian communities are eroding Israel’s moral standing and threatening its long-term security. His comments come amid an uptick in reported incidents involving arson, assaults, and property damage in the territory.

Human rights organisations have documented a rise in settler-related violence in recent months, often carried out with limited accountability. Israeli authorities say they are working to curb such incidents, but critics argue enforcement remains inconsistent.

Pardo’s intervention adds to a growing chorus of current and former security officials voicing concern over developments in the West Bank. He urged the government to uphold the rule of law and take decisive action against perpetrators, warning that failure to do so risks further escalation and international isolation.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

An Al Jazeera correspondent, Mohammed Wishah, has lost his life after an Israeli strike reportedly hit his vehicle in Gaza City.

The incident happened amid ongoing clashes despite a ceasefire brokered by the United States to ease tensions. Wishah’s death has increased concern over the rising number of journalists killed in the conflict.

According to Al Jazeera, the strike directly hit his vehicle, killing him at the scene. Details surrounding the attack remain uncertain, and Israeli authorities have not issued an immediate response.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the network said: “Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemns the heinous crime of targeting and killing Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent, Mohammed Wishah, following a strike on the vehicle in which he was travelling west of the Gaza Strip.

“This constitutes a new and flagrant violation of all international laws and norms, and reflects a continued systematic policy of targeting journalists and silencing the voice of truth.”

The organisation described the incident as part of a broader pattern of attacks against media workers. It said the development signals an escalation that threatens press freedom and limits coverage from the region.

“Mohammed Wishah joins the ranks of Al Jazeera journalists killed by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza: Samer Abu Daqqa, Hamza Al Dahdouh, Ismail Al Ghoul, Ahmed Al Louh, Hossam Shabat, Ibrahim Thaher, Mohammed Qreiqea, Mohammed Nofal, Anas Al Sharif, and Mohammed Salama,” Al Jazeera said.

“As Al Jazeera mourns its correspondent Mohammed Wishah, who joined the Network in 2018, it affirms that his killing was not a random act but a deliberate and targeted crime intended to intimidate journalists and prevent them from carrying out their professional duties.”

The network said it holds Israeli forces responsible for the incident. It added that the action forms part of a consistent pattern aimed at silencing its reporters and restricting coverage on the ground.

Al Jazeera extended condolences to the family and colleagues of the deceased. It stated that such incidents will not stop its work. The organisation also urged the international community and rights groups to act. It called for accountability and an end to attacks on journalists.

The network said it will pursue legal steps to ensure justice for its staff and other journalists killed in Gaza.

Wishah’s death brings the number of Palestinian journalists killed since October 2023 to 262. The figure has raised fresh concerns among press freedom groups about the safety of reporters in conflict zones.

Elsewhere in Gaza, violence has continued. Health officials said at least 10 people died in an Israeli airstrike near a school that sheltered displaced residents in central Gaza.

“At least 10 people were killed and dozens injured, including six in critical condition, by Israeli shelling and clashes east of Maghazi refugee camp,” the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said in a statement.

Witnesses reported that drones fired missiles during the incident. The attack followed clashes between residents and members of a militia said to have Israeli backing.

“The residents tried to defend their homes, but the occupation forces targeted them directly,” Ahmed al-Maghazi told Reuters.

The latest developments have increased scrutiny on conditions faced by journalists and civilians in Gaza, where access to safe environments remains limited amid continued military operations.

A Palestinian journalist, Amal Shamali, has died after an Israeli air strike hit the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS).

Shamali worked as a correspondent for Qatar Radio. The PJS said the journalist was killed on Monday when Israeli forces carried out the strike on the camp.

In a statement, the union explained that Shamali had also contributed to several Arab and local media organisations. It added that she remained active in her profession despite the ongoing war in Gaza. The organisation said she was among reporters who continued their work throughout the conflict in the territory.

The PJS described the rising number of journalists killed in Gaza as alarming. It noted that more than 270 journalists and media workers have died since Israel launched its military campaign in the enclave on October 7, 2023. The war began after Hamas-led attacks targeted southern Israel.

The union said: “This represents one of the bloodiest periods for journalists in modern history, reflecting the scale of the deliberate targeting of Palestinian journalism in an attempt to silence the voice of truth and prevent the documentation of the crimes and violations committed against the Palestinian people.”

The organisation added: “Targeting journalists will not succeed in breaking the will of the Palestinian journalistic community or deterring it from fulfilling its professional and humanitarian mission of conveying the truth and documenting the crimes and aggression faced by the Palestinian people.”

Gaza’s Government Media Office also reacted to the killing. In a statement, it said it “strongly condemns the systematic targeting, killing, and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation”.

The office further stated that it “holds the Israeli occupation, the U.S. administration, and the countries participating in the crime of genocide – such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France – fully responsible for committing these heinous and brutal crimes”.

It called on international and regional media organisations, as well as human rights groups, to condemn what it described as attacks against journalists in Gaza. The office urged the international community to work toward holding Israel accountable for its “ongoing crimes” against Palestinian journalists.

Data compiled by the monitoring platform Shireen.ps indicates that Israeli attacks have killed roughly 13 journalists every month during the more than two years of fighting. The platform is named after Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who died after Israeli forces shot her in the occupied West Bank in 2022.

The monitoring group also reported that at least 10 of the journalists killed during the war worked for Al Jazeera. One of them was Arabic correspondent Anas al-Sharif, who reported extensively from northern Gaza.

Researchers say the war in Gaza has become the deadliest conflict for journalists in modern times. The Costs of War project at Brown University reports that the number of journalists killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023 exceeds the total killed in several major wars combined. These include the US Civil War, both World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan.

A report released earlier this year by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) also identified Palestine as the most dangerous place in the world for journalists in 2025.

The report said the Middle East recorded the highest number of journalist deaths last year. It accounted for 74 fatalities out of the 128 media workers killed worldwide. Africa followed with 18 deaths. The Asia-Pacific region recorded 15, while the Americas had 11 and Europe reported 10.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s Ministry of Health says that since a ceasefire mediated by the United States and Qatar took effect in October, at least 640 Palestinians have died and about 1,700 others have been wounded.

Health authorities in Gaza say that since the start of the war in October 2023, at least 72,123 Palestinians have died and 171,805 have been injured. Israeli officials say that 1,139 people were killed during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

By Iranloye Sofiu Taiye

The world has entered a phase in which power no longer feels compelled to wear moral disguises. From Eastern Europe to the Middle East, from East Asia to Latin America, coercion has re-emerged as an acceptable instrument of statecraft, and sovereignty has become increasingly conditional, least respected when convenient and violated when costly restraint disappears.

The Russia–Ukraine war, China’s posture towards Taiwan, Israel’s war in Gaza, and the long-standing pressure campaign against Venezuela are not isolated crises. They are symptoms of a systemic transition: the erosion of post–Cold War restraint and the reassertion of raw power politics in a crowded, mistrustful, and increasingly multipolar international system.

For Africa, this moment is not abstract. It is existential. The same forces reshaping Europe, Asia, and Latin America are already present on the African continent through resource competition, security outsourcing, debt diplomacy, sanctions regimes, proxy alignments, and political conditionality. The difference is that Africa often confronts these forces without a unified strategy, relying instead on appeals to history, morality, or international goodwill. That approach is no longer sufficient.

Realist theory, as articulated by thinkers such as Hans Morgenthau and John Mearsheimer, offers a brutally honest diagnosis of the international system. It reminds us that global politics is characterised by anarchy, not law; that survival, not virtue, motivates states; and that power, not rhetoric, ultimately determines outcomes.

Recent conflicts confirm realism’s core claims: Russia acted in Ukraine not because of moral failure but because it perceived a narrowing window to secure its sphere of influence. China’s pressure on Taiwan is driven less by ideology than by long-term assessments of capability, timing, and strategic opportunity. Israel’s conduct in Gaza reflects the logic of overwhelming deterrence in an insecure regional environment. The United States’ treatment of Venezuela illustrates how economic warfare substitutes for direct military intervention in an era of reputational constraints.

In each case, capability trumped legality, and vulnerability invited pressure. Yet realism, while accurate in diagnosing power behaviour, becomes dangerous when treated as destiny. Taken to its logical extreme, it suggests that weaker states have only three options: submission, alignment, or destruction. This is analytically lazy and politically paralysing.

History and current global practice demonstrate that survival is not reserved for the strongest but for the most strategically positioned. The key distinction between states that withstand pressure and those that collapse is not moral standing but strategic architecture.

Ukraine did not survive Russia’s invasion because it matched Moscow militarily. It survived because it transformed a bilateral war into a multilateral stake. By embedding its security dilemma within NATO, the EU, and global norms, Ukraine increased the cost of Russian victory beyond the battlefield.

Taiwan’s resilience lies not only in its arms but also in its economy. Its centrality to global semiconductor supply chains converts any military action into a worldwide economic crisis. Invasion becomes irrational not because it is impossible, but because it is prohibitively disruptive.

Palestine commands unprecedented global sympathy yet remains structurally vulnerable. Without credible security guarantees, economic leverage, or institutional power, moral legitimacy alone has not translated into sovereignty.

Venezuela’s leadership adopted confrontational rhetoric without building defensive alliances, diversified economic networks, or institutional shields. The result has been isolation, sanctions, and internal fragility, confirming that outrage without insulation invites coercion. The lesson is stark: states do not survive because they are right; they survive because they are costly to dominate. Afghanistan’s resilience is a case study. 

Africa today occupies a paradoxical position. The continent is: Central to the global energy transition (critical minerals), demographically pivotal, geopolitically courted by rival powers, and numerically powerful in multilateral institutions; alas, Africa remains strategically fragmented. Most African states still approach global politics through the language of gratitude, alignment, or moral appeal rather than through calculated leverage. The continent’s diplomatic posture is often reactive rather than anticipatory.

This is dangerous in a world where: aid is weaponised, debt is politicised, sanctions are normalised, and security assistance comes with strategic strings. Africa risks becoming the quiet theatre of the next great-power contest, not because it is weak, but because it is insufficiently coordinated.

What Africa requires is neither idealism nor cynicism, but strategic realism with agency a doctrine that accepts power politics while refusing subjugation.

Such a doctrine would rest on five pillars.

1. Strategic Indispensability: Africa must move beyond raw resource exportation toward value-chain centrality. Countries that control processing, logistics, and industrial ecosystems are harder to coerce than those that merely supply inputs.

2. Networked Sovereignty: Sovereignty in the 21st century is not isolationist. It is embedded on favourable terms through regional blocs, trade regimes, and security compacts that dilute unilateral pressure.

3. Institutional Power, Not Institutional Faith: Africa must stop treating international institutions as moral referees and start using them as arenas of contestation. Voting blocs, agenda-setting, and procedural leverage matter.

4. Strategic Non-Alignment, Not Passivity: Non-alignment must evolve from rhetorical neutrality into active hedging, diversifying partnerships, avoiding dependency traps, and exploiting multipolar competition without becoming a proxy.

5. Continental Coordination: No African state, regardless of size, can negotiate effectively alone in a hardened global system. Continental coherence in economic, diplomatic, and security-related is no longer aspirational; it is existential.

Conclusively, power will not wait for Africa to be ready; the defining feature of the emerging world order is not chaos, but selective constraint. Power will be exercised where resistance is weak, fragmented, or sentimental and restrained where costs are high, and consequences diffuse. Africa cannot afford another century of learning this lesson too late. The continent must abandon the illusion that shared history, moral standing, or international sympathy will shield it from coercion. Those narratives did not protect Ukraine, Palestine, or Venezuela. They will not protect Africa.

What will protect Africa is a strategy: the ability to anticipate pressure, restructure vulnerability, and convert relevance into leverage. In a world where power has shed its disguises, survival belongs not to the loudest protester, but to the most strategically prepared.

Iranloye Sofiu Taiye is a policy analyst and wrote via iranloye100@gmail.com.