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  • Strikes rock Gaza on Eid al-Adha as Israeli ceasefire violations top 3,000

    Strikes rock Gaza on Eid al-Adha as Israeli ceasefire violations top 3,000

    Even as Palestinian residents of the blockaded Gaza Strip gathered to mark the holy Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, Israeli military operations did not pause, with local authorities documenting thousands of breaches of a months-old nominal truce.

    The most high-profile strike of the holiday period hit a multi-story residential building in Gaza City’s al-Rimal neighborhood, carried out overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. Al Jazeera reports that as of initial casualty counts, six people have been confirmed dead in the attack.

    Israeli military officials have confirmed the strike targeted Mohammed Odeh, the recently appointed leader of Hamas’s armed wing, who stepped into the role in mid-May following the death of his predecessor Izz al-Din al-Haddad. The killing of Odeh has not received official confirmation from Hamas as of Wednesday, but an anonymous Hamas source speaking to Agence France-Presse confirmed that Odeh’s wife and two children were also killed in the air raid, and that a formal funeral procession would be held Wednesday afternoon in central Gaza City.

    The targeted strike is just one of thousands of truce violations that have occurred since a tentative ceasefire agreement first took effect in October, according to data from the Gaza Government Media Office. The office’s official statement released Wednesday pegs total confirmed violations at 3,005, with actions ranging from large-scale aerial bombings and deliberate strikes on civilian infrastructure to widespread home demolitions, repeated ground incursions into residential neighborhoods and ongoing small-arms fire against civilian populations.

    Since the truce was signed, the ongoing Israeli operations have left a devastating toll on Gaza’s civilian population: more than 910 non-combatant Palestinians have been killed, another 2,747 have suffered injuries, and 82 additional people have been detained or abducted by Israeli forces during incursions into the enclave.

    Compounding the humanitarian crisis, Israeli border restrictions have continued to block the vast majority of humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, with more than 64 percent of all scheduled relief shipments denied entry as of this week. The blocked shipments include critical lifesaving supplies: food, clean drinking water, pharmaceutical products, fuel for medical generators and other basic necessities that Gaza’s population already suffers acute shortages of.

    Local media reports, citing sources in Gaza’s overstretched health system, note that more than 12 additional people have been killed across the enclave in Israeli strikes over the 24-hour period ending Wednesday morning. Beyond the al-Rimal strike, Israeli forces launched new operations at dawn Wednesday: airstrikes hit areas east of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, while artillery shelling was reported in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

    This reporting is part of independent coverage from Middle East Eye, which specializes in on-the-ground reporting and analysis of the Middle East and North Africa region.

  • Defected Sudanese RSF commander Savannah performs Hajj in Mecca

    Defected Sudanese RSF commander Savannah performs Hajj in Mecca

    Weeks after publicly breaking ranks with Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces — the paramilitary group widely accused of perpetrating genocide in the country’s Darfur region — a top defector has appeared in new footage performing the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, triggering fierce divided debate across Sudanese digital communities.

    Circulated publicly by Al Jazeera on Tuesday, the video shows Ali Rizqallah, better known by his battlefield alias Savannah, standing at the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site. He presses his palms against the structure’s iconic black kiswa cloth, offering public prayers for his war-ravaged homeland as thousands of fellow pilgrims circle the site behind him. In the audio recording of the clip, Savannah calls on God to grant unity to Sudanese forces, halt ongoing bloodshed, end the two-year civil war, lift the nation’s crippling crisis, and bring judgment against what he terms “every tyrant”.

    Savannah’s defection from the RSF was first announced in a formal video statement on May 11. Just four days after that announcement, he reemerged in Sudan’s capital Khartoum, where he pledged to take up arms alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) against his former comrades in the conflict zones of Kordofan and Darfur. Before his split from the group, Savannah stood among the RSF’s most powerful and high-profile field commanders. He led multiple operations that allowed the paramilitary force to seize key strategic territories across North Darfur and West Kordofan, including the critical town of al-Nahud, and has been linked to the recruitment of foreign fighters from neighboring Chad and Niger.

    A former leader of an independent armed movement, Savannah was first integrated into the SAF with the rank of brigadier general under a 2013 peace deal with the government of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir. He was stripped of that rank by a military court in 2021, following Bashir’s ouster from power, and only joined the RSF when the current civil war broke out in mid-April 2023. During a May 16 press conference in Khartoum, Savannah framed his initial decision to align with the RSF as one born of coercion, not ideology. He claimed he had no other option amid widespread intimidation and retaliatory campaigns targeting the families of anyone who refused to fight alongside the group, saying “I and my family were among the victims of the militia, like the rest of the Sudanese”. He has also stated he is willing to face legal accountability for any accusations brought against him.

    In that same press briefing, Savannah alleged that dozens of field and tribal commanders are still being forced to fight for the RSF against their will, with the group holding their families hostage to guarantee compliance. He added that the RSF has carried out internal purges, executing several of its own commanders in recent days — naming Abdullah Hussein and senior adviser Hamid Ali as recent casualties, with additional killings documented across West Darfur. He also claimed that senior RSF figures, including operations chief Othman Mohammed Hamid (better known as Othman Amaliyat), have been placed under house arrest by the group’s leadership. Savannah predicted that a wave of large-scale defections will hit the RSF in the near future, and confirmed that he and his allied fighters are fully prepared to work toward dismantling the paramilitary organization entirely. He also noted that large stockpiles of weapons continue to flow into RSF-held territories in Darfur, though he declined to name the supplier. International observers have already documented substantial evidence pointing to the United Arab Emirates as the primary source of weapons, equipment and even Colombian mercenaries supporting the RSF.

    Savannah is the fourth senior RSF commander to defect to the SAF since October 2024, following high-profile exits by Abu Aqla Keikel, Major-General al-Nour Ahmed Adam (known as al-Qubba), and field commander Bashara al-Huwaira.

    The footage of his Hajj pilgrimage has split public opinion among Sudanese social media users. Some commentators have interpreted the act as a public gesture of repentance for his time with the RSF, while others have rejected any religious act as insufficient to atone for the paramilitary group’s well-documented atrocities. In a direct public message to Savannah, Sudanese journalist Sabah Ahmed wrote that the rights of RSF victims cannot be erased by performing Hajj or touching the Kaaba’s coverings, saying simply “Our rights against you have not been forgiven.”

    The RSF has faced mounting international condemnation and legal consequences over atrocities committed primarily in Darfur, particularly after the group captured the North Darfur capital el-Fasher in October 2025 following a 500-day siege. The UN Security Council has already sanctioned four senior RSF commanders, with UN investigators concluding that the group’s actions carry “the hallmarks of genocide”. The United States formally recognized the RSF’s actions as genocide in January 2025, and imposed sanctions on RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti. The International Criminal Court based in The Hague is currently conducting investigations into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by commanders from both the RSF and SAF since the conflict began. To date, Savannah has not been personally sanctioned by any international body.

    Sudan’s civil war, which has continued unabated since April 2023, has spawned what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst current humanitarian crisis. Clashes between the SAF and RSF have killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced nearly 13 million more, and left more than 40 percent of Sudan’s population facing acute life-threatening food insecurity.

  • Is the Gulf losing its grip on the oil world?

    Is the Gulf losing its grip on the oil world?

    The ongoing conflict in Iran has put global energy markets to an unexpected test, particularly after supply disruptions hit the Strait of Hormuz—the world’s busiest and most critical oil transit chokepoint. What has surprised most industry analysts, however, is the surprising resilience of international oil prices, which have held steady near $100 per barrel, a far lower level than most pre-conflict forecasts predicted even with the loss of Hormuz transit capacity.

    The core explanation for this unexpected market stability lies in the rapidly expanding role of oil production across North and South America. Long before the Iran conflict erupted, the International Energy Agency projected that nearly all incremental global oil demand growth through 2026 would be covered by rising output from American nations including the United States, Canada, Brazil, Guyana, and Argentina.

    Prior to the war, market expectations centered on a coming period of oversupply: OPEC had signaled plans to ramp up production, which most analysts believed would push stockpiles higher and drag prices downward. The Iranian conflict upended this outlook entirely. The disruption of Hormuz shipping removed up to 14 million barrels of daily supply from global markets, driving prices upward and leading to large draws on global commercial stockpiles instead of the expected builds.

    Yet a long-held energy market axiom has held true: high prices are the most effective remedy for supply shortages. Producers across the Americas have moved quickly to capitalize on elevated prices by ramping up output and expanding export capacity. In the United States, crude oil exports hit an all-time record of 6.44 million barrels per day in April 2026, and the country is expanding port infrastructure to handle even more volume, with nearly 800,000 barrels per day of new dock capacity scheduled to launch by 2026.

    Down in Brazil, the country has added eight new offshore floating production units in recent years, bringing a combined total capacity of nearly 1.5 million barrels per day. State-owned oil giant Petrobras recently brought one new project online in the Búzios field off the coast of Rio de Janeiro five months ahead of schedule, a direct move to capitalize on strong global prices. Industry projections point to another sharp production increase for Brazil in 2026.

    Further north along the South American coast, Guyana has solidified its position as one of the world’s fastest-growing oil producers. Current output already sits around 900,000 barrels per day, and forecasts indicate production could nearly double by the end of the 2020s. Even Venezuela, which has struggled with years of declining output and deep economic crisis, has managed to boost exports substantially in response to higher global prices.

    When combined, these regional gains are projected to push total oil output across the Americas to roughly 30 million barrels per day by the end of 2026, a volume that approaches pre-war OPEC total production. The U.S. retains its title as the world’s largest single producer, with total liquid hydrocarbon output hitting almost 22 million barrels per day in April 2026.

    Ironically, this Western Hemisphere production boom can trace part of its origins to OPEC itself. For more than a decade, the cartel’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia led a strategy of output cuts to prop up global prices, a policy that made higher-cost exploration and production projects across the Americas commercially viable—particularly U.S. shale oil development.

    Saudi Arabia’s “higher for longer” price strategy is rooted in its domestic economic priorities: to fund large-scale diversification projects including the planned futuristic city Neom, the kingdom requires oil prices of at least $90 per barrel. The unintended consequence of this policy has been a powerful financial incentive for non-OPEC producers to scale up output aggressively.

    Even with this rapid growth in American production, it would be premature to declare a permanent shift of the global oil industry’s center of gravity away from the Middle East. Production economics still heavily favor Gulf Cooperation Council producers, as extraction costs in the Persian Gulf remain among the lowest on Earth.

    In many major Saudi fields, production costs fall below $10 per barrel, and the regional average across the Gulf is roughly $27 per barrel. By comparison, most North American shale operations require prices between $50 and $65 per barrel to turn a profit. This cost gap becomes critically important during market downturns: if oil demand weakens and prices fall, higher-cost American producers will face pressure first, while low-cost Gulf producers with massive reserve bases can easily outlast periods of low prices.

    Geography also gives Middle Eastern producers a major advantage in fast-growing key Asian markets. For large emerging economies including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, importing oil from the nearby Gulf is far more cost-effective than long-haul shipments from the Americas. Additionally, most Asian refineries were originally designed to process heavy, high-distillate Middle Eastern crudes that align with regional demand for diesel and jet fuel, the fuels that underpin most economic growth. U.S. shale exports are largely lighter crude that cannot directly replace Middle Eastern grades without costly refinery modifications.

    Gulf producers are also investing heavily to protect their long-term market position and reduce reliance on the Strait of Hormuz. The United Arab Emirates is expanding its Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, which bypasses the strait entirely to ship crude to the Indian Ocean. Saudi Arabia already operates the massive East-West Pipeline, which can move up to 7 million barrels of oil per day to Red Sea export terminals, eliminating exposure to Hormuz disruptions and opening more direct trade routes to European and Asian markets.

    There is no question that the Americas are reshaping the global oil market in profound ways. The region now functions as the world’s de facto swing producer, adding critical supply flexibility during geopolitical shocks and supply crises. Still, long-term market dominance depends on far more than just production volume: production costs, geographic access to key markets, infrastructure investment, and total reserve size all play decisive roles. On all these metrics, the Middle East retains a formidable, unrivaled advantage.

    For as long as global oil demand remains at historically high levels, the Gulf region will almost certainly stay the core hub of global oil production and exports—even as the Americas grow into an increasingly important source of crude supply for the world.

  • Compliance wall: China rewriting world’s agriculture trade rules

    Compliance wall: China rewriting world’s agriculture trade rules

    Across Asia’s agricultural trade ecosystem, a stark divide is emerging, driven by a transformative shift: China’s revised import regulations are actively redrawing supply chain maps across the entire region, creating winners and losers among global agricultural producers.

    In São Paulo, Brazil, Chinese meat purchasers are now offering premium prices for beef that carries formal certification confirming it comes from deforestation-free supply chains. A purchasing delegation from the Tianjin Meat Industry Association, reflecting shifting consumer priorities in China, has committed to sourcing 50,000 tons of this compliant product by the end of 2026. This move sends a clear, industry-altering signal: transparency and environmental compliance are now non-negotiable core requirements for Chinese importers.

    Half a continent away in Southeast Asia, Vietnam’s lucrative durian industry faces a far grimmer reality. In Vietnam’s Dong Thap Province, 80 out of 112 local fruit packaging facilities have suspended all exports to China after banned chemical residues were detected in multiple shipments. Local prices for the popular Ri6 durian cultivar have plummeted to just $1 per kilogram, well below the baseline cost of production. Strengthened safety screenings and persistent inspection bottlenecks have completely locked non-compliant producers out of the Chinese market.

    This shift marks a key turning point for global agricultural trade: China is no longer merely a volume-focused mass buyer. Its evolving market access standards now exert profound, far-reaching influence over global agricultural production and trade. For foreign producers aiming to access the world’s largest food consumer market, meeting unified compliance criteria has become the single most decisive factor for success.

    ### The End of an Era of Relaxed Cross-Border Rules
    To understand the current disruption, it is necessary to look back at the old cross-border trade model that prevailed for decades. Between 2003 and 2005, when analyst Ju Liang worked in cross-border logistics along the China-Vietnam border, regional trade lacked mature traceability frameworks, standardized inspection protocols, and strict certification requirements. Basic customs clearance was enough to keep legitimate operations running.

    Over time, Vietnamese producers developed a fixed mindset that low price points could compensate for gaps in product quality and incomplete documentation. Chinese logistics operators also grew accustomed to flexible, informal border clearance arrangements. While this low-regulation model drove rapid growth in transaction volumes, it left the entire industry ill-prepared for the regulatory tightening that would eventually come.

    China’s Customs Decree 280, which formalizes mandatory registration requirements for all foreign food manufacturers exporting to China, completely upended this long-standing trade logic. The regulation has been translated into multiple languages and officially circulated globally to align international suppliers with updated compliance norms.

    Brazil, for its part, proactively prepared for this shift. After a 2017 quality scandal, the country invested eight years between 2018 and 2025 to build a comprehensive end-to-end digital tracking system that covers every step of the supply chain, from pastures and slaughterhouses to warehouses and cross-border shipping. When China raised its food safety and environmental thresholds, Brazil was ready, securing a stable position as a trusted, qualified supplier.

    Vietnam, by contrast, has fallen noticeably behind in quality management, product traceability, and logistics and cold chain development, despite its large cultivated fruit acreage. Some local facilities even submitted falsified traceability documents in an attempt to pass customs inspections. These issues stem from deep structural gaps between modern industrial supply chain management and Vietnam’s dominant scattered small-scale farming model. Today, producers that attempt to bypass official standards can no longer evade border restrictions, and face permanent exclusion from China’s mainstream import market.

    ### Infrastructure Creates the Competitive Divide
    A comparison between Thailand and Vietnam makes clear how infrastructure investment shapes export competitiveness in the new regulatory environment.

    Thailand has successfully leveraged the China-Laos Railway to boost its tropical fruit exports to China. Cold-chain freight trains move durians and mangosteens from Thai orchards to Kunming quickly via expanded cross-border rail corridors, with products reaching more than 30 major Chinese cities within 48 hours of final road transfer. The railway is projected to carry more than 200,000 tons of tropical fruit in 2026 alone. Advanced refrigeration technology keeps container temperatures within a narrow, stable range, cutting cargo loss from 8-15% under traditional road transport to just 1-5%.

    Vietnam’s export chain, by comparison, suffers from crippling operational bottlenecks. Convoys of durian transport trucks regularly queue for 24 hours to wait for pre-shipment testing in Dong Nai Province. By the end of 2025, Vietnam only had 24 testing laboratories accredited by China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC), far too few to meet demand across its major growing regions.

    This extended waiting period is not the result of a temporary inspection backlog: it is a consequence of China’s permanent regulatory upgrade. Dong Thap Province alone harvests its massive durian crop in May and June each year, and the country lacks the efficient clearance infrastructure to process this peak output. Shortages of cold storage exacerbate the problem: Vietnam has 117 professional cold storage facilities, but 90% are designed for frozen meat and seafood, leaving very limited capacity for fresh fruit. Annual post-harvest losses reach 20-40%, translating to $3.5 billion to $4.1 billion in economic damage each year.

    Given the massive capital investment required to build out cold chain facilities, accredited testing laboratories, and modern cross-border logistics, Vietnam’s structural competitive disadvantages are unlikely to be reversed in the next three to five years. Thai exporters, by contrast, benefit from stable, reliable cold-chain transport supported by a transnational rail network that aligns with China’s requirements.

    ### Beyond Surface-Level Inspection Bottlenecks
    Public discourse in Vietnam often blames export disruptions on limited testing capacity, but this ignores deeper systemic flaws that are the root of the problem.

    China enforces strict testing for cadmium, a toxic heavy metal, and Auramine O, an unapproved industrial dye, both of which pose risks to human health. Test results from the Mekong Delta show that a large share of durian and jackfruit samples have excessive heavy metal levels, and any shipment containing unapproved food additives is immediately recalled.

    A failed reinspection in China carries long-term penalties: factories with disqualified shipments lose their official export registration codes, and restoring qualification takes six to 12 months – an entire fruit export cycle. Eight local packaging plants have submitted accreditation applications but still await official approval, leaving export operations stagnant.

    Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports hit a record $8.5 billion in 2025, but that growth was driven entirely by expanded production volume, not systematic industrial upgrading or improved risk resistance. The widely cited “testing bottleneck” conceals a host of unresolved problems: incomplete traceability records, unregulated planting practices, lax factory audits, and chronic underinvestment in cold chain infrastructure. Peer competitors like Thailand have already addressed these issues to adapt to China’s new rules.

    ### Compliance Standards Reset Global Agricultural Trade
    Vietnam’s agricultural regulatory body has pushed local testing institutions to speed up inspections and appealed to Chinese customs for more flexible clearance policies. However, these incremental adjustments cannot close the deep, systemic strategic gaps that hold the country back.

    Today, China has emerged as a rule-setter in global agricultural trade. By establishing ESG-aligned purchasing standards, tightening limits on hazardous contaminants, and requiring high-standard cold chain infrastructure, it has put in place clear compliance thresholds for all overseas suppliers. Producers that meet these standards – those that invest in digital traceability, build out cold chain capacity, and maintain complete, accurate trading documents – thrive, while producers that rely on informal operations and falsified credentials are gradually pushed out of the market.

    This shifting landscape carries profound implications for Southeast Asian economies. Nations that align their industrial standards and infrastructure development with China’s requirements, like Thailand through its integration with the China-Laos Railway, retain steady access to China’s huge consumer market. Economies that fail to adapt, by contrast, will see their agricultural products lose competitive ground to better-prepared rivals.

    Vietnam now faces a critical strategic choice. It can continue to address updated import rules with temporary, stopgap fixes, or it can pursue comprehensive supply chain reform. Full upgrades – covering farm-level traceability systems, standardized testing capacity, and border cold storage networks – can turn compliance requirements into lasting competitive advantages.

    A new order for global agricultural trade is already taking shape. Every rejected shipment, every premium paid for certified compliant goods, and every fresh fruit delivered via temperature-controlled cross-border transport signals that this industry-wide transformation is well underway. Compliance rules act as a fair screening mechanism, not discriminatory trade barriers. Meeting high standards is now the essential entry ticket to China’s market, separating competitive, forward-thinking producers from outdated operations and resetting the balance of global agricultural trade.

    *Ju Liang is an independent policy analyst with over 20 years of on-the-ground experience in Southeast Asia, specializing in agricultural trade and supply chain compliance. He is currently affiliated with Yunnan Agricultural University, China. All opinions expressed are his own.*

  • ‘They stole our sheep, killed my son’: Israeli settlers, soldiers attack and loot West Bank villages

    ‘They stole our sheep, killed my son’: Israeli settlers, soldiers attack and loot West Bank villages

    Deep in the occupied West Bank, north of Ramallah in the small village of Jiljilya, Ali Kaabneh stands on the exact patch of ground where his 16-year-old son Yousef was shot and killed last Wednesday, during a joint raid by Israeli settlers and soldiers that left a once-thriving Bedouin community displaced and its livelihood stolen. In an interview with Middle East Eye, Kaabneh laid bare the devastating human cost of what he calls a deliberate campaign of state-backed displacement and plunder targeting Palestinian communities in the occupied territories.

    The raid was launched in response to unconfirmed claims that 120 sheep had been stolen from an illegal Israeli settler outpost called Tzur Levavi Farm, run by the Maguri family. The outpost sits in Jabal al-Batin, a section of Area A – the part of the occupied West Bank that is nominally under the full civil and security control of the Palestinian Authority, under the terms of the Oslo Accords. All Israeli settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank are classified as illegal under international law, and this particular outpost was built on private Palestinian land belonging to the nearby villages of Sinjil and al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya.

    Within hours of the theft report, dozens of settlers backed by uniformed Israeli soldiers launched a large-scale incursion into the three neighboring Palestinian villages of Sinjil, Jiljilya and Abwein. The armed group systematically entered local sheep pens, emptying them of livestock and seizing a total of 900 sheep from local residents. The operation was openly coordinated between Israeli security forces and settler participants, according to reporting from Israel National News (Arutz 7), a media outlet closely aligned with the Israeli settler movement. The outlet confirmed the seizure was only possible through direct collaboration between security search forces and settler civilian volunteers.

    As the raid unfolded, the Israeli military deployed drones to track fleeing Palestinian herders and set up roadblocks across the entire region to guarantee unimpeded movement for the settlers and their stolen flock. Members of the Kaabneh clan, who maintained a small herding community in the wadi between Sinjil and Jiljilya, spotted the advancing group and attempted to flee with their flock toward the built-up center of Jiljilya. Military forces tracked the group via aerial surveillance, surrounded them, confiscated all their sheep, and took four Kaabneh family members into custody – including Ali Kaabneh, Yousef’s father. All four detainees were released later the same day, after no evidence linking them to the earlier sheep theft from the outpost was found.

    Kaabneh, who was in detention when his son was killed, described the peaceful resistance his family offered to the theft. “We were at home working with the sheep. The settlers came under army protection,” he said. “We did not attack them, we did nothing. We moved the sheep about two kilometres away, and the army located them using drones.” Today, a circle of stones marks the spot where Yousef fell, and faint bloodstains still mark the dry earth just a few dozen meters from the main road where the stolen flock was driven away.

    In a harrowing account of his son’s killing, Kaabneh said the 16-year-old was unarmed and posed no threat to the heavily armed soldiers. “The army killed my son deliberately. They shot him in the chest and he died on the spot,” he said. “He was 16 years old – what was his crime? He wanted his sheep back, and they responded by shooting him. What danger did he pose to them? He had nothing in his hands, he was unarmed. They could have arrested him, but instead they shot him. Like any child, he wanted to build a home in the future and get married. But here, during the day we worked, and at night we stood guard in shifts, without sleeping.”

    Cell phone footage filmed by the family captures the moments before the shooting: several Israeli soldiers stand opposite an alley where Kaabneh and other family members gathered to protest the theft as the stolen flock passed, before multiple gunshots ring out. One of the bullets struck Yousef. Ali Kaabneh was arrested just moments after filming, and only learned of his son’s death when he was released from custody four hours later.

    Fawaz Kaabneh, another local resident who had 200 sheep stolen during the raid and was also detained, said the rapid release of all detainees makes clear the allegations against them were baseless. “We were afraid they would reach the houses, so we went out. We were shocked by the number of settlers. They seized me and handed me over to the army, and from there I was transferred to the police. They took me to Sha’ar Binyamin. I told them the sheep were mine,” he said. After being questioned and released that night, Fawaz filed a formal complaint with Israeli police; in the days after the raid, the military returned roughly four dozen sheep to the village.

    Iyad Ghafar, a Sinjil-based local activist who documented the entire raid, provided a step-by-step reconstruction of the coordinated operation. At 11:06 a.m., he filmed an armed settler drawing a pistol and charging toward him as he documented the stolen flock. Six minutes later, Yousef Kaabneh was shot dead by soldiers. Additional footage captured by Ghafar shows masked settlers throwing stones at Palestinian residents during the incursion. Ghafar confirmed all the stolen sheep were driven directly to the Maguri outpost, which is built inside former Palestinian agricultural structures in Area A. It is the same site where Israeli soldiers and settlers killed two young Palestinian men defending their land just last July. One of those victims was Saif al-Din Musallat, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen, who died from injuries sustained during severe beatings by the group, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

    Ghafar emphasized the full coordination between soldiers and settlers throughout the incursion. “It began on the edge of Sinjil, and afterwards they started attacking Jiljilya. We managed to get there in time, and I filmed the settlers and the army, and where they came from. The settlers chased us. One of them drew a weapon and came straight towards us. We got into the car and drove away. The military patrol stopped and started shooting at us – we almost died. It was a joint operation by the army and the settlers, acting together at the same time. Together they entered homes, together they chased the shepherds, together they took the flock,” he said.

    Before last week’s raid, around 20 Palestinian families – roughly 200 people, all of whom are refugees originally displaced from land east of Ramallah in 1948 – lived in the small community between Jiljilya and Sinjil. Today, every last resident has fled the area, leaving behind empty sheep pens and intact tents filled with mattresses, clothing, and baby cots, abandoned in the rush to escape. Residents only returned briefly this week to collect personal belongings and rescue dogs that were left behind during the evacuation.

    The Kaabneh family’s story is a stark example of the ongoing pattern of displacement and dispossession facing Palestinian communities across the occupied West Bank, rights observers note. The clan has been repeatedly displaced by settler violence backed by the Israeli military over the past three years. Originally expelled from their traditional land between the Negev and Masafer Yatta in the 1948 Nakba, the family lived in Mu’arrajat Centre near the Taybeh junction until the outbreak of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, when settlers and soldiers forced them to leave. Some members relocated to the outskirts of Lubban ash-Sharqiya, while others moved to the al-Batin area – where the Tzur Levavi outpost was built a year later, shortly after soldiers killed Musallat and 20-year-old Mohammad Razek Hussein al-Shalabi. The family was forced to flee again.

    Ali Kaabneh and other remaining family members settled near Route 60 on the outskirts of Lubban ash-Sharqiya, but were attacked again just weeks before the Jiljilya raid. On April 6, settlers burned two cars and a tent that family members were sleeping in, injured one relative with a club, and spray-painted the far-right “Price Tag” and “Zionist Revenge” slogans on the remains of the camp. The attack was launched as retaliation for the evacuation of another illegal outpost, Ora Yisrael, built in Wadi Salfit deep inside Area B – dozens of kilometers away from the Kaabneh camp. The clan moved to their Jiljilya compound after that attack, believing that since the area is formally under Palestinian Authority control, it would be safer.

    “We moved from Mu’arrajat to Lubban ash-Sharqiya. We were attacked there on 6 April, so we moved here. This is under Palestinian Authority control, so we thought it would be safer, but there is no safe place,” Ali Kaabneh said. The repeated targeting of displaced Bedouin families after relocation is not a new pattern: in April 2025, settlers who built an illegal outpost near Sinjil attacked another group of displaced residents from Wadi as-Siq, burning their vehicles and residential tents.

    In conflicting official statements issued after the incident, Israeli military spokespersons attempted to downplay the military’s role in the raid. A spokesperson acknowledged the Tzur Levavi outpost is located inside Area A, but claimed soldiers only entered the area “to remove the civilians” – not to support or protect the settler operation. “Upon arriving at the scene, [Israeli army] and Border Police forces acted to remove all Israeli civilians from the village, prevent friction in the area, and recover the livestock,” the spokesperson said, adding that forces had arrested several suspects in the initial sheep theft from the outpost. The statement does not explain how forces allowed settlers to leave the area with 900 Palestinian sheep if the goal of the operation was to prevent theft and friction.

    In a later update, the Israeli army acknowledged that “some of the Israelis who entered the village took animals belonging to local residents” and confirmed that approximately 40 sheep had been returned to the village, adding that “the entire incident remains under review and is still being investigated.” Israeli police, for their part, said all detained suspects were questioned and released with conditions, and that a counter-complaint filed by Palestinian residents is currently under examination “with the aim of establishing the truth.”

    The incident has underscored growing international concerns over rising settler violence and state-backed land grabs in the occupied West Bank, as settlements and outposts continue to expand into Palestinian territory formally designated for Palestinian self-governance under the Oslo Accords.

  • Israeli defence minister insists there are ‘voluntary emigration’ plans for Gaza

    Israeli defence minister insists there are ‘voluntary emigration’ plans for Gaza

    More than 18 months into Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has formally advanced long-circulated proposals to push Palestinians to leave the enclave through what the government frames as “voluntary emigration”, announcing this week that preparations are on track to be implemented when the government deems conditions appropriate. In a public statement Wednesday, Katz confirmed the plans will move forward “at the proper time and in the proper manner”, one day after he announced Israel had assassinated Mohammed Odeh, the leader of Hamas’s armed wing, alongside his wife and three children in a targeted strike. Back in March, Israel’s security cabinet already greenlit Katz’s proposal to set up a dedicated internal directorate within the defence ministry to manage the process of mass “migration” out of Gaza, a policy that has been raised repeatedly by senior Israeli officials since the current military campaign began in October 2023.

    To date, the military offensive has killed more than 72,700 Palestinians and reduced most of Gaza’s built infrastructure to rubble, yet repeated surveys show the overwhelming majority of the enclave’s population refuses to leave their ancestral homeland. The push for emigration has dovetailed with growing public calls from extremist Israeli settler groups and far-right politicians to annex parts of Gaza and establish new Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territory. While some senior government figures have attempted to frame the exit initiative as a purely voluntary program, other Israeli officials have openly advocated for forced expulsion — a practice widely recognized under international law as a war crime.

    One of the most prominent voices pushing for forced removal is far-right Member of Knesset Limor Son Har-Melech, who doubled down on her position during a tour of the Gaza border region in early May. Speaking on social media platform X following the visit, Son Har-Melech argued that full reoccupation of Gaza, mass expulsion of its existing residents, and the construction of permanent Israeli settlements is the only path to what she calls long-term security for the state of Israel. “Regrettably, the State of Israel is still captive to a flawed conception. There is no alternative to conquest, expulsion, and settlement,” she wrote, adding that any other diplomatic or political solution would fail and lead to future violence. She also emphasized Israel must retain permanent control over the Netzarim Corridor, a strategic route that splits the Gaza Strip into northern and southern zones, and establish a continuous Israeli settlement presence along the corridor.

    The current situation on the ground remains dire, despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement reached in October that was intended to end active hostilities, lift Israel’s total 18-month blockade of Gaza, and allow unimpeded access for humanitarian aid including food, clean water, and critical medical supplies. Since the truce was announced, Israel has repeatedly violated its terms and has largely kept the crippling blockade in place, leaving basic necessities including fuel, food, and life-saving medication at critically low levels for Gaza’s 2 million remaining residents.

    Over the course of the war, only a few thousand Palestinians have managed to evacuate Gaza through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt. Following the ceasefire, Israeli authorities have allowed just a tiny handful of displaced Palestinians to return to Gaza from Egypt each day, and many who have crossed back have reported systemic abuse and harassment by Israeli forces during their journey. Even with the nominal ceasefire in place, Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling across the enclave have continued nonstop, killing more than 800 additional Palestinians since the truce took effect. As of the latest count from Gaza’s Ministry of Health, the total death toll from Israel’s military campaign since October 2023 now stands at more than 72,700, with over 172,000 more people sustaining life-altering injuries.

  • Former US Attorney General Pam Bondi diagnosed with cancer

    Former US Attorney General Pam Bondi diagnosed with cancer

    Weeks after being removed from her position as the United States’ top law enforcement official, former Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced she has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, multiple American media outlets have confirmed. The story of Bondi’s health diagnosis was first broken by Axios, which reported that the news of her illness came just a short time after former President Donald Trump removed her from the Department of Justice post.

    At 60 years old, Bondi shared with CNN that she is currently undergoing active treatment for the cancer, and is still in the recovery period from a surgical procedure she underwent several weeks prior. Despite the diagnosis, she confirmed she is “doing well” and has no plans to step back from professional work. In a revealing new development, Bondi will join the newly formed White House advisory panel focused on artificial intelligence: the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, commonly known as PCAST.

    Katie Miller, a podcast host and former White House advisor, publicly shared her support for Bondi on social media, writing that “Pam has been quietly kicking cancer’s ass the last few weeks” and noting that Bondi “has a heart of gold”.

    When Bondi departed the Department of Justice in early April, she stated at the time that she was looking forward to moving into a role in the private sector. Her appointment to PCAST marks the first public confirmation of her ongoing professional work following her exit from the Justice Department.

    Vice President JD Vance issued an official statement praising Bondi’s new role, saying: “Pam has been an enormously valuable asset to the president’s team, and I’m thrilled for her and for all of us that she’s going to remain involved in confronting some of the most important issues the administration faces.”

    PCAST was established by Trump via executive order in January 2025, with the formal mission to “unite the brightest minds from academia, industry, and government to guide our Nation through this critical moment by charting a path forward for American leadership in science and technology”. The first full slate of council members was not publicly announced until March 2026, and the group includes some of the most prominent leaders in the global science and technology sectors: Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang are all counted among its members.

  • WHO warns of ‘catastrophic collision’ of Ebola and war in DR Congo

    WHO warns of ‘catastrophic collision’ of Ebola and war in DR Congo

    The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a stark public warning this Wednesday, highlighting how persistent armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is severely undermining global and local efforts to curb a fast-growing, deadly Ebola outbreak. As the crisis intensifies, neighboring Uganda has moved swiftly to close its entire border with the DRC in a bid to stop cross-border transmission.

    Since the outbreak was officially declared in mid-May, WHO data has documented more than 1,000 combined confirmed and suspected Ebola cases across the country, with 10 confirmed deaths and 223 additional deaths linked to suspected infections. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasized that decades of persistent insecurity in eastern DRC, a region roiled by ongoing clashes between dozens of armed groups, has created an almost insurmountable barrier to effective outbreak containment.

    In a post on the social platform X, Tedros spelled out the severity of the unfolding crisis: “Eastern DRC now faces a catastrophic collision of disease and conflict with the Ebola outbreak in Ituri province outpacing the response.” This current outbreak, the 17th recorded Ebola event in DRC’s history, is driven by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus – a variant for which no targeted vaccine or specific treatment currently exists.

    Ituri province, the rural region where the virus was first detected, has operated with almost no functional state services for more than 30 years, leaving local health systems drastically underprepared to respond. On a visit to Rwampara, one of the outbreak’s current epicenters, an AFP reporting team witnessed a symptomatic Ebola patient carried to the local hospital on the back of a motorbike, squeezed between the driver and her own sister, as no emergency ambulances are available in the area.

    Local health worker Dieudonne Sezabo confirmed to reporters that with no formal medical transport infrastructure in place, “people make do with motorbikes.” After the patient, who presented with classic Ebola symptoms including high fever and nose bleeding linked to the virus’s characteristic hemorrhagic fever, was checked in, Sezabo urgently sprayed chlorine to decontaminate the bike and driver. The driver, who only wore a basic surgical mask with no other protective gear against the virus, which spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids, faced unprotected exposure during the trip. While the hospital has managed to set up a basic temporary isolation ward, it is still waiting for critical medical and protective equipment to arrive.

    Uganda, which shares a long border with eastern DRC, has already recorded one confirmed Ebola death and six additional confirmed cases, prompting the government to announce an immediate full border closure. In addition to the border shutdown, Uganda is imposing a mandatory 21-day quarantine for any individual crossing into the country from DRC, to be overseen by the national Ministry of Health and local district surveillance teams.

    While WHO officials have reported that the current case fatality rate sits below 25 percent – a far lower figure than many recent Ebola outbreaks in the region – public health experts warn the virus was likely spreading undetected for weeks or months before the outbreak was declared, meaning the true scale of the crisis remains unknown.

    Tedros detailed how ongoing fighting is worsening the public health emergency at every turn, explaining that “clashes are driving mass displacement, pushing exposed contacts into overcrowded camps and severing critical containment corridors.” He added that frontline health workers are putting their lives at grave risk every day to respond, but repeated attacks on already fragile health facilities have made tracking infected cases and monitoring their close contacts nearly impossible.

    “We cannot build community trust or isolate the sick while bombs are falling,” Tedros said, issuing an urgent appeal for “all warring parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire to contain this outbreak.”

    International responses are beginning to take shape beyond the region: The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the United States is moving forward with plans to establish a dedicated quarantine facility in neighboring Kenya, primarily to accommodate U.S. citizens who need to evacuate the DRC quickly and complete a required monitoring period. Kenyan health authorities have already screened more than 55,000 travelers crossing into the country from Uganda, and as of the latest update, no confirmed Ebola cases have been detected within Kenya’s borders.

  • ‘I don’t buy into the narrative at all’: Nathan Cleary shuts down Origin concerns with stunning second-half performance

    ‘I don’t buy into the narrative at all’: Nathan Cleary shuts down Origin concerns with stunning second-half performance

    For years, a persistent cloud has hung over Nathan Cleary’s elite rugby league career: while he is widely regarded as one of the greatest club players of his generation, critics have argued he has failed to consistently deliver when the brightest lights are on the biggest representative stages, most notably the State of Origin. On Wednesday night at Sydney’s Accor Stadium, the Penrith Panthers halfback erased every last doubt in sensational fashion, producing a masterclass that delivered a stunning comeback victory for the New South Wales Blues and will leave Queensland Maroons and Brisbane Broncos supporters reliving the heartbreak for months to come.

    Queensland got off to a blistering start, racing out to a commanding 20-0 lead that left the home crowd stunned into silence. The momentum shifted dramatically, however, after Queensland star Kalyn Ponga was sent from the field for a high tackle. Wet, slippery conditions did nothing to slow the Blues’ fightback, sparked by the electric form of NSW’s halves combination. When the final siren sounded, the hosts had pulled off one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent Origin history, snatching a 22-20 win.

    While rookie five-eighth Ethan Strange turned heads with a standout performance that included one scored try and another disallowed for obstruction, it was Cleary who claimed the prestigious man of the match award, pulling every playmaking trick from his playbook to turn the tide of the match. The four-time NRL premiership winner set up the Blues’ first try with a perfectly weighted grubber kick, nailed a clutch 40/20 to gain critical field position, crossed for a try of his own to cut Queensland’s lead to just four points, and then put up a perfectly placed bomb that set up captain James Tedesco’s match-winning final try.

    The performance echoed Cleary’s iconic role in Penrith Panthers’ record-breaking 2023 NRL Grand Final comeback victory – a win that also played out at Accor Stadium, against the Brisbane Broncos, at the same end of the ground. That parallel has not been lost on fans or teammates, who have long pushed back against the narrative that Cleary’s playing style is ill-suited to the bruising, high-intensity nature of State of Origin football. Compounding the magnitude of Cleary’s performance was the added pressure he faced: regular halves partner Mitch Moses was ruled out of the series opener just days before kickoff with a hamstring injury, forcing Cleary to take on all playmaking responsibility, a challenge he met by landing 21 of the Blues’ 25 total kicks throughout the match.

    Blues skipper and Cleary’s Panthers club teammate Isaah Yeo said he never bought into the critics’ narrative. “The 40/20 was massive for us while we were chasing points, he comes up with a try there, and had just a calm head. He attacked the game. I feel like he’s done that in so many big games before so it feels like it’s not new for me,” Yeo told reporters after the match. “I love to see him own those moments, and I thought he was outstanding tonight when we needed him most. He stepped up and provided for us, so super stoked for him. I don’t agree with some of the stuff that gets said, and there’s no bigger fan than me.”

    Blues coach Laurie Daley also hit back at the criticism of Cleary, saying his performance was no surprise to those who have worked with him closely. “Not that I wanted to see it (him take full control), but I just get disappointed with the narrative that is driven,” Daley said. “He’s a champion, he’s still got a lot of footy left to play, and it was reminiscent of the grand final. He was phenomenal for us.”

    Dale faces a selection headache ahead of the second game of the series, scheduled for next month in Melbourne. Moses is expected to be fit enough to return to the starting side, but Strange’s exceptional performance after being elevated from the bench for game one makes a strong case for the rookie to retain his spot. “The guys that played tonight were exceptional,” Daley said. “You know what Origin’s like, you just never know who’s available so you’ve just got to make sure you’ve got the right people and they’re playing well. I think Mitch is a big part of our team. It’s not a bad hammy so we expect him to play. If he plays then he’ll be a part of the squad for sure.”

  • Spanish police raid HQ of governing Socialists as corruption probe escalates

    Spanish police raid HQ of governing Socialists as corruption probe escalates

    In a dramatic development that has sent shockwaves through Spanish politics, law enforcement agencies have executed a raid on the Madrid headquarters of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s governing Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), seizing confidential documents linked to an ongoing probe into alleged obstruction of judicial proceedings. The operation marks the latest escalation in a cascade of corruption scandals that have plagued Sánchez’s administration in recent months, putting intense political pressure on the embattled prime minister.