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Over the past 15 years, a British-born Israeli immigration consultant has facilitated the relocation of more than 6,000 Jewish people to Israel, much of that work carried out during his tenure with a controversial organization that openly advertises residency opportunities in illegal Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights. As Israel continues to expand its network of unauthorized settlements and outposts in Palestinian-claimed territories, a growing number of Israel-aligned organizations have stepped up efforts to recruit Jewish migrants from across the globe to move to these occupied areas.

One of the most high-profile groups engaged in this work is Nefesh B’Nefesh (NBN), an organization that facilitates Jewish immigration to Israel—known widely as Aliyah—while actively promoting settlement in occupied territories. The group’s official website hosts dedicated informational pages for dozens of illegal settlements, complete with local community contact details for prospective migrants interested in relocating. For example, NBN spotlights the Gush Etzion settlement bloc in the West Bank, profiling individual settlements including Tekoa. In its promotional material for Tekoa, the organization notes the settlement’s population growth followed the opening of a new bypass route that circumvents nearby Palestinian communities, a framing that omits any discussion of the route’s seizure of private Palestinian land.

NBN also promotes Katzrin, a settlement built on illegally occupied Syrian land in the Golan Heights, marketing the community only for its “breathtaking surrounding views” while failing to disclose its status on occupied territory. Other settlements across the West Bank receive similar misleading promotion: Elkana is billed as a “well-situated community in the center of Israel,” while the Mateh Binyamin cluster of illegal outposts is described as “one of the most beautiful regions in Israel. Neither location is acknowledged to sit outside of Israel’s internationally recognized 1948 armistice lines. To further recruit for Mateh Binyamin, NBN has hosted a 2021 recorded webinar on its website featuring US-born settlers encouraging international Jews to relocate to the area.

The organization’s informational page for Mitzpeh Yericho frames relocation to the settlement as part of a “pioneering effort to build up Eretz Yisrael [the land of Israel],” noting that most residents live in permanent housing while others occupy temporary structures including mobile homes and modular concrete units—structures frequently used by settlers to establish new unauthorised outposts on seized Palestinian land. NBN also promotes expansion of the Shiloh settlement, highlighting “several construction initiatives” underway to “expand its borders,” language that directly refers to the seizure of additional adjacent Palestinian territory for settlement growth.

While the total number of international migrants NBN has assisted to move into illegal occupied territories remains undisclosed, the group’s own page for the West Bank settlement of Efrat offers a glimpse: it notes “thousands of NBN Olim [immigrants]” currently reside in the unauthorized settlement. When contacted for comment, NBN has attempted to distance itself from promotional activity, claiming its settlement pages are “for educational and informational purposes only” and that it “does not endorse, recommend, or promote any specific community.” Despite this disclaimer, the organization’s consistent terminology and framing treats both the Golan Heights and the occupied West Bank as integral territory of the state of Israel, contradicting its formal claims.

NBN primarily focuses on facilitating Aliyah for Jewish migrants from North America (the United States and Canada), but previously maintained operational activities in the United Kingdom, where it was led by the UK-born Dov Newmark, the subject of this investigation. Public records and Newmark’s own LinkedIn profile confirm he served as NBN’s “Director of UK Aliyah” from 2009 through 2023. In a May 2024 interview with British-Israeli podcaster David Goodwin, Newmark reflected positively on his 15-year tenure with the organization, saying “Nefesh really put all the information together on one site, which was amazing,” calling his time with the group “Amazing 15 years. Great organisation.”

Newmark confirms that during his 15 years working on Aliyah, first with NBN and now through his private consultancy, he has assisted more than 6,000 Jewish people in relocating to Israel. It remains unclear whether any of these migrants were assisted to move to illegal settlements: neither Newmark nor NBN responded to multiple requests for comment from Middle East Eye (MEE) for this investigation. It also remains unclear exactly when NBN ceased formal operations in the UK: Newmark claims the organization exited the UK market around 2018, but a UK-registered charitable entity linked to the group, Friends of Nefesh B’Nefesh Limited, was only formally dissolved in July 2024, and NBN listed a UK contact number on its website through 2021.

When contacted by MEE, a spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office reaffirmed the UK government’s longstanding official position on the legality of Israeli settlements, but declined to comment specifically on Newmark’s activities. The spokesperson stated, “The UK is clear that settlements are illegal under international law and jeopardise prospects for peace. We oppose further settlement expansion and strongly advise against conducting any economic and financial activities in illegal Israeli settlements.”

Raised in northeast London, Newmark became active in Bnei Akiva, a Zionist Jewish youth movement that frames Aliyah as the “ultimate expression of its ideology” and organizes gap year programs for international Jewish youth in Israel, from his teenage years. In 2008, Newmark himself relocated to Israel with his wife and three children, and has resided in Modiin, within Israel’s recognized borders, ever since. After leaving NBN in 2023, he launched his own independent Aliyah consultancy business called Make Aliyah Easy, which offers free support services to British Jews looking to relocate to Israel, including pre-migration planning, relocation logistics assistance, and post-arrival integration support. Instead of charging clients directly, Newmark earns commission from referring clients to English-speaking service providers ranging from moving companies to currency exchange services. MEE was unable to verify which providers Newmark works with, or whether any of those providers operate in occupied territories.

To grow his new business, Newmark has partnered with multiple Israeli and UK-based organizations, including Yad L’Olim, Olim Paveway, UK shipping firm Stephen Morris, and London-based investment firm Raymond James, hosting informational webinars featuring Israeli real estate agents and immigration experts to guide prospective migrants. Publicly, all residential communities Newmark promotes on his own platforms sit within Israel’s internationally recognized borders, with no public mention of assistance for relocation to illegal settlements. But a newly announced partnership has raised new questions about his work. In June 2026, Newmark publicized a formal partnership with Shivat Zion, an Israeli Aliyah organization that launched in 2025 marketing itself as “the UK’s Only Free Aliyah Support Charity” despite never completing registration with the UK Charity Commission.

Earlier in 2026, investigative outlet Declassified UK exposed that Shivat Zion had offered to assist a UK citizen with relocation to an illegal West Bank settlement, prompting two UK Labour Members of Parliament to call for official sanctions against the group. In response to the expose, a Shivat Zion representative posted a video claiming the organization operates “under Israeli law” but did not directly deny the allegations that it facilitates migration to occupied territories, stating only: “If someone has decided on a specific city in Israel, we help them.”

While Israel enshrines its settlements in the West Bank as legal under its own domestic law, this designation has no standing under international law. All Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian and Syrian territory are universally recognized as illegal under international law, and are also unlawful under British law. Newmark has publicly described his arrangement with Shivat Zion as a partnership, but the organization’s website formally lists him as its Senior Aliyah and Strategic Consultant for the UK. It remains unclear whether he works as an employee, earns commission, or operates as a freelance contractor for the group. What is clear is that Newmark serves as Shivat Zion’s primary public point of contact in the UK: no other UK-based Aliyah consultants are listed on the organization’s website. Shivat Zion also declined to respond to multiple MEE inquiries about its UK operations, its activity in occupied territories, and its partnership with Newmark, and did not rule out assisting migration to illegal settlements.

Despite the ongoing controversy over links to organizations that promote settlement in occupied territories, Newmark remains unapologetic about his work and continues to expand his Aliyah-focused business. “If you think about it, Israel is a country made up of Olim [immigrants],” Newmark told Goodwin in the 2024 interview. “Israel survives and thrives on Aliyah.” Newmark argues the founding and existence of the state of Israel deserves celebration, noting “it didn’t come easy.” He also shared that his daughter was serving in the Israeli navy at the time of the interview, and that he regularly volunteers at Israeli army bases, cooking barbecue meals for active-duty soldiers. Despite widespread documentation of human rights violations committed by the Israeli military and ongoing international accusations of genocide in its military campaign in Gaza, Newmark says he finds the experience of volunteering with the military inspiring. “You can see the determination in those soldiers to go in there and do what they need to do. They’re so positive and the morale is so high, you can’t help but be sucked into that positivity,” he said.

Newmark also says he expects Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza will drive an increase in Aliyah, a trend he says he is prepared to support. “There’s always a spike in Aliyah after a conflict,” he explained. “And this will be no different. There will be a spike. […] And I’m excited to help people fulfil and realise their dream of moving and making Aliyah.”

This report was produced by Middle East Eye, an independent media outlet focused on original coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and surrounding regions.

A new chapter of escalating maritime instability has unfolded in the waters off Yemen, after an Indian-flagged commercial vessel capsized and sank when it was struck by an unidentified projectile, regional and national officials confirmed this week.

All 14 crew members on board the MSV Faize Noore Oliya — 13 of whom hold Indian citizenship — have been pulled from the water safely, with no reported casualties, Indian Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced. In his official statement, Sonowal denounced the strike as an unprovoked attack, adding that New Delhi would move quickly to implement new safeguards to protect Indian seafarers operating in the high-risk region. As of the latest updates, no group or actor has claimed responsibility for the strike, and the identity of the perpetrator remains unconfirmed.

This incident marks the latest in a growing string of targeted attacks on commercial shipping across the Red Sea, a critical alternative shipping route that many oil tankers have diverted to since Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most vital chokepoints for global energy trade, back in February. The disruption to key regional shipping lanes began in earnest after a series of coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets in late February, which triggered Tehran’s decision to close the Strait of Hormuz — a passage that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s daily oil consumption. The closure immediately sent shockwaves through global energy markets, pushing oil prices sharply higher as supply chain fears mounted.

In response to the closure, many oil tankers carrying crude from Saudi Arabia re-routed through the Red Sea to reach global markets. But the growing frequency of attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, most of which have been linked to Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement targeting Saudi-linked vessels, has turned the alternative route into a new danger zone for commercial shipping. Reuters, citing officials from Yemen’s Saudi-backed and internationally recognized transportation ministry, reported that the Houthi group carried out the latest attack using an explosive-laden boat. The Houthi movement has not issued any public response to the accusation, and the group previously announced a self-declared blockade of Saudi Red Sea ports in late July, which has already disrupted regional shipping activity. The United Kingdom’s Maritime Trade Operations agency has also documented multiple separate attacks on commercial vessels transiting the region over the past seven days.

Despite the rising security threats to regional shipping, global oil markets saw a significant downturn on Tuesday, with prices dropping to a three-week low. The decline came after senior U.S. officials signaled growing optimism that a new deal with Iran could be reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. This push for a new agreement follows a 14-point memorandum of understanding signed between Washington and Tehran back in June that laid out a framework for a ceasefire, the reopening of the Strait, and a negotiated end to hostilities within a 60-day window. The deal collapsed just three weeks after it was signed, however, when then-U.S. President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire was finished after Iran carried out new attacks on shipping in the Strait and the U.S. launched retaliatory strikes.

On Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that negotiations have moved forward in recent days, indicating that a final deal to reopen the Strait could be finalized as early as Tuesday or Wednesday. Iran has pushed back against this framing, however, with Tehran officials stating that they are not engaged in direct negotiations with the United States and have no plans to open such talks, saying that any ongoing diplomatic discussions are being mediated through Oman.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs later issued a formal statement calling the ongoing wave of attacks on commercial shipping in the region deeply worrisome. “The targeting of commercial shipping in the region must end, and free and unimpeded navigation and commerce through the international waterways in the region, in keeping with international law, must be restored at the earliest,” the ministry’s statement read, echoing growing global concern over the impact of the regional crisis on international trade and energy security.

On a somber Tuesday in Gaza City, hundreds of mourning relatives gathered to lay to rest 112 members of two interconnected Palestinian clans, the Abu Shari’a and al-Hasayna families, who were killed in a devastating 2023 Israeli airstrike. Their remains, which lay trapped under collapsed concrete for nearly three years, were only recovered by civil defence teams last month, bringing an end to a years-long wait for closure that came paired with a devastating reawakening of grief.

The airstrike that killed these family members targeted Gaza’s densely populated Sabra neighborhood in November 2023, and stands as one of the deadliest single attacks in the ongoing Israeli military campaign in Gaza. Israeli warplanes completely leveled an entire residential block where hundreds of clan members had gathered to shelter, killing more than 300 people in total – among them 44 children, 37 women, and more than 10 people living with disabilities. For months after the attack, most of the victims’ remains remained trapped under the rubble of the destroyed buildings, as Israeli restrictions blocked critical heavy rescue equipment from entering the besieged territory, halting all recovery efforts.

It was not until July 14 that Palestinian Civil Defence crews were able to resume search operations at the site, working with limited, insufficient tools to extract remains from the rubble. The intense force of the Israeli bombs had scattered human remains across the site, turning the already painstaking work into an even more grueling challenge. After 17 days of nonstop work under extremely harsh conditions, crews recovered the 112 remains laid to rest this week. Even so, dozens more victims from the strike are still believed to be entombed in the debris, and thousands more across Gaza share the same fate.

“We worked for 17 days to recover the bodies in extremely difficult conditions. In the end, we managed to recover the remains of 112 people,” Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defence in the Gaza Strip, told Middle East Eye. “Thousands of people are still buried beneath the rubble, while their families continue to grieve and plead for the means to recover them.”

Among those killed in the strike were prominent community leaders, including Fathi Abu Shari’a, the clan’s respected elder mukhtar. After the first blast hit Abu Shari’a’s home, hundreds of surviving family members fled to the residence of Mofeed al-Hasayneh, a former Palestinian Authority minister of public works and housing who also held United States citizenship. The family believed the home would be spared from attack, with around 200 al-Hasayneh members gathering there for shelter – but the building was also hit by an Israeli bomb, killing everyone inside including al-Hasayneh.

Mahmoud al-Hasayneh, a survivor of the attack who lost multiple extended family members in the strike, shared his family’s decades-long agony of waiting for recovery. Al-Hasayneh was not at the home when it was bombed, but his son was injured, and his brother, sister-in-law, their children, two of his sisters and their entire families, and dozens of other aunts, uncles, and cousins were killed. Many of the victims held dual citizenship from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Romania, he added, noting that Israeli forces did not spare women, children, or any civilian space in the attack.

“Unfortunately, the Israelis respected neither children nor women, nor immunity, nor any house, nor any sanctity,” al-Hasayneh said. “They struck everyone here.”

For relatives scattered across the globe, every step of the slow recovery process reopened deep trauma. “Every time a body was recovered, relatives abroad would call and cry. We opened a new wound,” al-Hasayneh said. “We pray that God will envelop them in His mercy and honour them. This is the greatest honour for the deceased: that they are helped in being buried.”

For the families gathered for the mass funeral, where the remains were laid out in rows, each draped in a Palestinian flag, the moment carried conflicting, bittersweet emotion: relief at finally being able to lay their loved ones to rest, after nearly 1000 days of waiting, paired with a crushing return of the grief they felt when the massacre first occurred.

“There is a feeling of both pain and joy,” said Amer Abu Shari’a, who lost multiple family members in the attack. “Joy because we will bury and honour these martyrs after three years. But the sorrow has returned, as if the massacre happened today.”

The mass burial of the 112 clan members shines a light on the broader crisis of missing people across the Gaza Strip. Omar Nofal, head of Gaza’s government committee for missing persons, told reporters that around 6,000 people have been officially registered as missing since the war began, but the actual number is likely closer to 15,000 – all still trapped under rubble from thousands of destroyed buildings across the territory. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli forces have killed more than 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023, and wounded more than 170,000 others, with thousands more still unaccounted for under collapsed infrastructure.

In a significant policy shift following high-stakes talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the US-backed Board of Peace has toughened conditions for any Israeli military pullback from Gaza, abandoning a previously proposed phased approach to the conflict. The body now explicitly ties any Israeli withdrawal of forces beyond the Yellow Line — the de facto demarcation splitting Gaza into Israeli- and Palestinian-controlled zones — to the full and complete disarmament of Hamas, covering all light weapons, heavy armaments and underground tunnel networks.

The new position marks a sharp departure from the framework the board outlined just one week prior. Last week, board officials put forward a incremental plan that would have paired partial, step-by-step Israeli withdrawals back to the Yellow Line with gradual Hamas disarmament, matching comments from the board’s high representative Nickolay Mladenov, who said withdrawals and disarmament must “move in lockstep.” Initially, in Monday’s post-meeting statement, the body referenced a “full withdrawal of the IDF,” which kept open the door for earlier partial pullbacks. But within minutes, officials removed the word “full,” bringing the board’s stance directly in line with Netanyahu’s long-held demand that Israeli forces remain in Gaza until Hamas is fully disarmed.

The Yellow Line was originally drawn up after a controversial ceasefire agreement in October 2025. In the time since that truce, Israel has expanded its territorial control in the enclave, now holding more than 60 percent of Gaza, with Netanyahu publicly stating the goal of extending Israeli control to roughly 70 percent of the strip.

This policy reversal has already introduced new uncertainty to mediation efforts. Hamas had previously accepted the original phased sequencing of withdrawals and disarmament, and analysts warn the board’s retreat from its earlier position risks unraveling the fragile preliminary agreement, while rewarding Israel’s ongoing refusal to halt military strikes or begin pullbacks. According to Israeli outlet Israel Hayom, Netanyahu made his government’s position clear during talks with Mladenov: Israel will not end its offensive in Gaza, nor will it withdraw forces to the Yellow Line ahead of full Hamas disarmament.

Additional Israeli demands have further complicated negotiations. Israeli officials have sought formal assurances that even after Hamas completes disarmament, Israel will retain the right to carry out military strikes inside Gaza. The Israeli government also rejected Turkish and Qatari participation in a proposed international monitoring committee charged with overseeing disarmament, and demanded that all seized Hamas weapons be destroyed rather than stored.

Mladenov sought to temper expectations for quick progress following the contentious talks. “This is the start of the hard phase and I have never pretended otherwise,” he wrote on social platform X. “Not much of what we do now is dramatic. It is slow, grinding and technical work.”

Hours after the meeting concluded, violence continued on the ground: an Israeli air strike targeting the Sheikh Ajlin neighborhood of Gaza City killed two Palestinian civilians, underscoring the ongoing human cost of stalled diplomacy.

Tensions across the Middle East have escalated sharply this week, with overlapping diplomatic efforts, conflicting claims about dialogue between the United States and Iran, and rising violence threatening stability across key waterways and border regions. In a public statement, former US President Donald Trump announced that direct negotiations between Washington and Tehran are currently underway, adding a stark warning that this latest diplomatic push represents Tehran’s “last chance” to reach a binding agreement to de-escalate the ongoing conflict between the two nations.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei quickly pushed back against Trump’s claim, flatly denying that any direct talks with US officials are in progress or that any future meetings have been scheduled. Currently, discussions focused on security and governance of the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz remain facilitated through Omani mediation, Baghaei confirmed. Undisclosed sources speaking to Anadolu Agency note that negotiators from Pakistan and Qatar are also working behind the scenes to lock in a mutually acceptable date and location for a potential direct meeting between Iranian and US delegations. Last week, Pakistan formally extended an urgent invitation to Iranian negotiators to travel to Islamabad, a move widely interpreted as an effort to restart Iran-US talks that have stalled for weeks. Pakistan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Ishaq Dar extended the invitation directly to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a recent phone call, urging Araghchi to visit “at his earliest convenience.”

The simmering confrontation took a harder turn as senior Iranian military advisor Mohsen Rezaei, who serves as a top aide to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, issued a stark warning to US military forces in the region. Rezaei cautioned that American naval vessels and deployed troops will “face serious risks and casualties” if Washington continues its naval blockade of Iranian commercial ports. In a public post on the social platform X, Rezaei emphasized that “The U.S. must change its behavior — or we will not tolerate this. We will never permit the opening of a second corridor in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Despite the public disputes over negotiations, anonymous Iranian and US officials told The New York Times that Iran and Oman are in the final stages of finalizing a draft agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to unimpeded commercial shipping, a deal that would grant Tehran near-total control over the contested strategic waterway, through which roughly 20% of the world’s daily oil shipments pass.

Tensions along the waterway spilled into violence this week, Reuters reported Tuesday. A Liberian-flagged commercial vessel was hit by an unclaimed projectile while transiting the Strait near the Omani coastline. Maritime industry sources confirm that the entire crew abandoned the damaged ship, and at least one sailor remains missing following the incident.

In a separate development, Rezaei also confirmed this week that Iran had scrapped a pre-planned retaliatory strike against three locations in Ukraine, after Kyiv issued a formal apology for a recent Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial vessel. Speaking to Iranian state television, Rezaei explained that Iran’s armed forces had completed all military preparations for the strikes before the operation was called off following the apology.

The five-month-long open conflict between the US and Iran has already generated unexpected financial windfalls for major global energy firms, as skyrocketing oil and gas prices have driven a sharp surge in corporate profits. British energy giant BP reported that its most recent quarterly profits have more than doubled compared to the previous year. UK-based rival Shell confirmed its net profit also doubled to nearly $10 billion in the three months ending in June, while Saudi state oil giant Aramco recorded a 44% rise in net profits over the same period.

In a separate hotspot along the Israel-Lebanon border, the seventh round of US-brokered negotiations between Israeli and Lebanese delegations kicked off this week in Rome. The three-day talks are focused on addressing ongoing Israeli violations of a conditional ceasefire agreement reached between the two sides in April, including unapproved Israeli land-clearing operations, explosions targeting civilian infrastructure, and the demolition of residential homes in southern Lebanon.

A senior Lebanese official speaking to Anadolu Agency outlined the Lebanese delegation’s core proposal: the talks will focus on establishing new designated pilot zones for Israeli military withdrawal, with the second phase of withdrawal covering either Bint Jbeil or Khiam, both located south of the Litani River in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem publicly rejected the negotiations in a televised address Monday, arguing that the talks will bring “nothing but shame, humiliation, and successive compromises” for Lebanon. Qassem also criticized Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, claiming Aoun “has not acted as an arbiter, nor as a unifying figure, but has become biased and divisive, which is incompatible with his role and with Lebanon’s strength.”

The resumption of diplomatic talks comes as Israeli forces continue to carry out attacks and home demolitions in multiple southern Lebanese towns. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) issued a formal update Monday confirming that peacekeepers continue to record “daily Israeli violations of Lebanon’s airspace, roadblocks and activities in its territorial waters.” Between Thursday and Sunday alone, UNIFIL documented 125 separate Israeli air violations, with total combined overflight time exceeding 418 hours. “Peacekeepers also report extensive military activity on the ground in south Lebanon, including significant engineering works and active troop movements,” a UN deputy spokesperson confirmed.

Since Israel renewed its large-scale military assault on Lebanon on March 2, official counts place the Lebanese death toll at over 4,300 people, with an additional 12,200 people wounded in the ongoing hostilities.