The Israeli occupation forces demolished a house in the town of Tuqu’, southeast of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, Thursday morning, under the pretext of being built without a permit.
Local sources reported that the occupation forces began demolishing a two-story house, each floor measuring 200 square meters, in the Khirbet al-Deir area. The house belonged to Ali Mahmoud Suleiman.
The sources added that the occupation forces completely closed off the area, preventing residents from accessing the demolition site or moving around it.
The occupation authorities continue to implement their policy of demolishing Palestinian homes and structures in the West Bank, particularly in Area C, under the pretext of building without a permit. This is occuring while Palestinians face severe restrictions that prevent them from obtaining building permits, according to Palestinian and international human rights organizations as reported by Snd news agency.
Goalkeeper of Khan Yunis Services Club, Saleem Khader Al-Ashqar, 32, was killed on Monday after being shot by Israeli occupation forces in the town of Al-Qarara, northeast of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip as reported by the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Al-Ashqar also played for Al-Aqsa and Al-Musaddar Sport Clubs during his football career in the Gaza Strip. Local sources said Al-Ashqar had been married for only five months and was awaiting the birth of his first child. He was also the only son among seven siblings.
With the killing of Al-Ashqar, the number of members of the Palestinian sports movement killed since the start of the Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023 has risen to 1,009, including 567 from the Palestinian football community.
“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,” Chilean football club Deportivo Palestino said Wednesday as quoted by Anadolu.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “incapable of governing his own government” because far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, and ultra-Orthodox groups have taken control of him.
“He is incapable of governing his own government, because Ben-Gvir and Smotrich and Haredim, they all control him,” Bennett said in an interview with broadcaster Mario Nawfal.
“I would not entertain in my government any idiots that talk about– just really stupid statements that people like Ben-Gvir and Smotrich say. I would not have allowed Ben-Gvir into my government to begin with. But if someone in my government said something like that, I would call them to order. Netanyahu can no longer do that because he depends upon them,” he said.
Bennett acknowledged that Israel’s international standing has deteriorated badly, stemming not from biased media or external propaganda, but from the government’s conduct — ministers inflicting “ongoing self-inflicted wounds” on Israel’s image while the country conducted “zero public diplomacy.”
The former prime minister argued that prolonged Israeli wars in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and the Iran front were contrary to Israel’s military doctrine and were draining the country. “It’s not Israel’s doctrine,” he said.
“If we have to pursue war, do it quickly, intensively, win and move on to stabilize the region. When you drag it on for such a long time, it exhausts our economy, exhausts our reservists,” he added. Anadolu
Young Lebanese chess champion Lauren Abdel Samad decided to withdraw from the World Chess Championship for the under-8s, held in Georgia, to avoid playing against Israeli players. Lauren is a distinguished player with an impressive record in chess, having won matches in the World Championship in just three minutes! Despite her young age, she took a patriotic stance after watching the news and following the actions of these individuals against her fellow Lebanese countrymen, especially children of her age.
According to her family, the move was intentional despite the consequences, with her father saying she was fully aware of the outcome but maintained a firm personal stance shaped by her awareness of Israel’s “destruction of homes and the targeting of children.”
Israeli soldiers killed 54 Palestinian children and youths in the West Bank in 2025 according to the B’Tselem organization.
In a full report it released, Monday, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights states that from 7 October 2023 to 28 June 2026, Israel killed 1,086 Palestinians in the West Bank; 241 of them children and teenagers.
It states further that nearly one in every four Palestinians killed by Israel in the West Bank in this period was a minor with B’Tselem adding that this is the highest rate of Palestinian children and teenagers killed in the West Bank since Israel occupied the territory in 1967.
“The widespread, unprecedented killing of Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank is the result of a broader Israeli policy that enables the killing of Palestinians with virtually no accountability. When the military commander of the area boasts that Israel is killing Palestinians ‘like we haven’t killed since 1967,’ he is confirming exactly that: The system does not merely back those who pull the trigger – it effectively grants them a license to kill,” the B’Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak pointed out.
The report shows that the killing of Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank is not the result of isolated mistakes or violations of military orders. It is the outcome of an Israeli policy that expands the circumstances in which soldiers are permitted to shoot and kill, including children; backs those who use lethal force; labels Palestinians killed as “terrorists” even when they posed no threat to anyone; and almost never holds the perpetrators to account.
These findings are commensurate with recent remarks by the head of the Israeli military’s Central Command, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, who boasted that Israel is killing Palestinians in the West Bank “like we haven’t killed since 1967,” and presented the high number of fatalities as an achievement.
Despite the scale of the killings, B’Tselem is not aware of a single indictment filed in Israel since October 2023 in connection with the killing of Palestinians in the West Bank. This includes cases in which the victims were children and teenagers.
The report also found that in nearly one-quarter of the cases documented by B’Tselem in 2025, Israeli forces delayed or prevented medical teams or local residents from reaching wounded children and teenagers to provide life-saving assistance. In addition, Israel is still withholding the bodies of 18 of the 54 children and teenagers killed in 2025.
The killings in the West Bank cannot be separated from Israel’s killing of more than 21,000 Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip. By allowing Israel to kill on such a scale in Gaza without consequences, the international community has effectively given it a green light to pursue the same lethal policy in the West Bank. As long as Israel continues to enjoy near-total impunity in the world, the lives of Palestinians – including children – will remain unprotected and exposed.
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