US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited the Palestinian town of Taybeh on Saturday, days after a historic church there was attacked and vandalized by illegal Israeli settlers.
During his visit, Huckabee toured the site of Al-Khadr Church in the town, northeast of Ramallah in the central West Bank.
“Desecrating a church, mosque or synagogue is a crime against humanity and God,” the diplomat said on his X account.
He also emphasized that “when American citizens – Jewish, Muslim or Christian – are terrorized or victims of crime, I will demand those responsible be held accountable with real consequences.”
According to local reports, illegal settlers stormed the area around the centuries-old church last week, set fires in its surroundings, and brought livestock into the church compound as reported in Anadolu.
The town, home to many American citizens, has faced a surge in settler violence in recent weeks.
Attacks by illegal settlers have also targeted nearby Bedouin communities, as part of a broader escalation across the West Bank.
Palestinian authorities documented at least 2,153 illegal settler attacks in the occupied territory in the first half of this year alone, resulting in the killing of four Palestinians.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Air traffic at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport was suspended Friday following the launch of a missile from Yemen, according to Israeli Channel 12.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF,” the army said in a statement.
Alarms were sounded in various areas across the country, including in major cities such as Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Petah Tikva, Jerusalem, Holon, Rishon LeZion, Bnei Brak, Modi’in and Rehovot, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported.
The army and Israeli media did not note any damage from the missile but this was the third missile to have fired from Yemen since Wednesday and was intercepted by Israel’s Arrow-3 System according to the Jerusalem Post.
The Yemeni Houthi group announced it launched a military operation targeting the Ben Gurion Airport with a hypersonic ballistic missile.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group carried out a “qualitative” military operation targeting the airport with a missile called “Palestine-2.”
“Our operations will continue until the aggression on the Gaza Strip stops and the siege is lifted,” Saree emphasized in a televised speech.
The Houthis have intensified missile and drone strikes on Israel since Israeli forces resumed attacks on the Gaza Strip in March after two months of a shaky ceasefire.
Since November 2023, the group has targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where nearly 59,000 victims have been killed in an Israeli onslaught according to Anadolu.
One man and one woman were killed after Israel bombed a Catholic Church in Gaza, Thursday morning.
The parish priest of the Holy Family Catholic Church as it’s officially known, Father Gabriel Romanelli as well as six others were injured and taken to the Al Ahli Baptist Hospital. in Gaza City.
The news was confirmed by The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pizzaballa and carried across news and social media websites, reaffirming that Romanelli, an Argentinian cleric, kept an open channel with the late Pope Francis informing him od developments in Gaza.
The church which lies in Gaza City was directly hit by an Israeli tank shell causing major structural damage to the building that has since housed Palestinians fleeing from Israeli bombs.
Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni confirmed in a social media post that: “Israeli raids on Gaza also hit the Church of the Holy Family. The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable. No military action can justify such an attitude.”
Gaza has a minority Christian community whose number stood at around 1,100 including 135 Catholics. The number may have yet dwindled since the Israeli genocide which began soon after 7 October 2023 that killed over 58,000 people.
Indeed, in that month, Israeli warplanes bombed the Church of St Porphyrius, Gaza’s oldest church and killing at least 18 people.
In October 2023, just days after the war began, Israeli forces bombed the Church of Saint Porphyrius, the Gaza Strip’s oldest, killing at least 18 people.
The Israeli occupation army admitted that five soldiers were wounded by the fire of the Palestinian resistance fire, Wednesday, in the northern Gaza Strip.
An Israeli Channel 12 correspondent reported that a Palestinian fighter emerged from a tunnel opening and fired an anti-tank missile at a force from the Paratroopers Brigade. He then opened fire with a machine gun at the soldiers, wounding four soldiers, two of them seriously.
In another incident, Wednesday, a soldier from the Yahalom Unit was moderately wounded when an explosive device exploded in the central Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian resistance is confronting the occupation’s aggression against the Gaza Strip, and the Israeli army has suffered heavy losses in lives and equipment.
The occupation forces, with American support, continue their aggression against the Gaza Strip, which has resulted in more than 197,000 deaths and injuries, in addition to thousands of missing persons and hundreds of thousands of displaced persons.
Conditions in Gaza have reached an unspeakable level of devastation with children paying the highest price, top UN officials told the Security Council on Wednesday, warning of soaring child deaths, starvation and a shattered health system amid continuing bombardment and displacement.
Tom Fletcher, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said there was no “vocabulary” left to adequately describe conditions on the ground.
“Food is running out. Those seeking it risk being shot. People are dying trying to feed their families. Field hospitals receive dead bodies, and medical workers hear stories firsthand from the injured – day after day after day,” he said.
Starvation rates among children reached their highest levels in June, with more than 5,800 girls and boys diagnosed as acutely malnourished.
“Last week, amid this hunger crisis, children and women were killed in a strike while waiting for the food supplements to keep them alive.”
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher briefs the Security Council
A classroom full of children, lost every day
UNICEF’s Executive Director Catherine Russell told ambassadors that an average of 28 children are killed in Gaza every day – “the equivalent of an entire classroom.”
Over the past 21 months, more than 17,000 children have been killed and 33,000 injured across Gaza.
Many of those children, she said, were struck “as they line up for lifesaving humanitarian aid – further proof that there is no safe place for civilians anywhere in Gaza.”
“Children are not political actors. They do not start conflicts, and they are powerless to stop them. But they suffer greatly, and they wonder why the world has failed them,” she added.
“And make no mistake, we have failed them.”
Critical infrastructure collapse
Gaza’s health system “is shattered,” Mr. Fletcher reported – only 17 of 36 hospitals and 63 of 170 primary health centres are even partially functioning; shortages mean up to five babies share one incubator.
Seventy per cent of essential medicines are out of stock, half of all medical equipment is damaged, pregnant women are giving birth without care, women and girls manage their periods without basic supplies.
Meanwhile, water production capacity has plummeted leaving the entire enclave (95 per cent) facing water insecurity.
“With clean water increasingly difficult to access, children have little choice but to drink contaminated water,” Ms. Russell said, noting that this is increasing the risk of disease outbreaks.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell briefs the Security Council
Aid impeded, fuel at trickle levels
Mr. Fletcher further described the scale of challenges to moving something as simple as a bag of flour into Gaza.
He noted multiple layers of approvals that Israel requires, scanning, re‑loading, multiple handoffs, damaged roads, delays at holding points, insecurity and desperate civilians grabbing supplies off trucks.
Last week – after almost 130 days – some fuel entered Gaza, as Israeli authorities agreed to allow two trucks in per day, five days a week. However, petrol – fuel for ambulances and other critical services – has not been permitted.
Between 19 May and 14 July, just 1,633 aid trucks – about 62 per cent of loads submitted for clearance – entered Gaza, far below the average of 630 daily truckloads moved during the previous ceasefire, Mr. Fletcher said.
Appeals to Israel, Hamas – and the Council
Both officials pressed for immediate, safe, sustained, demilitarised humanitarian access through all available crossings, consistent fuel flows, protection of civilians at distribution points, and restoration of the UN‑led aid pipeline that briefly functioned during earlier pauses in fighting.
They also reiterated the UN’s call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held in Gaza and called on all parties – including Hamas and other armed groups – to respect international humanitarian law.
Mr. Fletcher asked the Security Council to assess whether Israel, as the occupying power, is meeting its obligations to ensure food and medical supplies reach civilians.
“We hold all parties to the standards of international law in this conflict. We don’t have to choose – and in fact, we must not choose – between demanding the end to the starvation of civilians in Gaza and demanding the unconditional release of all the hostages,” he said.
“We must reject antisemitism – we must fight it with every fibre of our DNA. But we must also hold Israel to the same principles and laws as all other States.”
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