attacks

One killed and 29 others wounded in latest Israeli attack in violation of ceasefire.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley have killed one person and wounded 29 others, the latest in a series of ceasefire violations.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health announced that a “16-year-old Syrian boy was killed”, the National News Agency (NNA) reported on Thursday. He was named as Hussein Mohsen al-Khalaf and was killed in a strike on Kfar Dan near Baalbek, the L’Orient news outlet reported.

At least 13 air strikes were recorded, four in Shmestar, five in Boudai, two in Harbata and two in the Hermel and Nabi Chit mountains, according to NNA. Several shops were damaged in the Baalbek Souk in Tallet al-Ajami.

The Israeli military said it targeted eight camps belonging to Hezbollah’s special operations unit, the Radwan Force. It said weapons and missiles were stored there and training was conducted “as part of preparations for emergency situations, and to plan and execute terrorist plots”. It said this activity was a “violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon”.

Ceasefire violations

Israel’s military has continued to carry out attacks in Lebanon, despite a November 2024 ceasefire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that sought to bring an end to more than a year of fighting. More than 300 people have been killed since then, including 127 civilians, according to the United Nations.

Last week, at least 12 people were killed in Israeli strikes on the Bekaa Valley and the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the city of Sidon. Israel said it was targeting Hezbollah and Hamas command centres.

Lebanon filed a complaint with the UN in January, detailing a total of 2,036 Israeli violations between October and December 2025 alone. It called on the UN Security Council to compel Israel to end these actions and to fully withdraw from its borders.

Israel continues to occupy parts of Lebanon, blocking the reconstruction of border villages and preventing people from returning to their homes.

Lebanon’s government has said it has almost completed its ceasefire commitment to disarm Hezbollah south of the Litani River. It said it will need four months to complete the second phase.

However, Hezbollah has rejected this, saying it believes the disarmament in the ceasefire agreement only applies to areas south of the river.

Kyiv hopes progress in talks in Geneva will pave the way for a direct meeting between Russian and Ukrainian leaders.

Russia pounded Ukraine with a barrage of missile and drone attacks across the country overnight, wounding at least eight people, in advance of the latest high-level meeting between Kyiv and Washington aimed at ending the war, now in its fifth year.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the latest attacks on the capital in the early hours of Wednesday caused damage to a nine-storey residential building in the Darnytskyi district, and resulted in fires in a home and garages elsewhere in the city.

The strikes on the capital prompted the activation of air defence systems to counter the attack, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said, advising residents to remain in shelters until the assault was over. No casualties were reported in the capital.

Ukraine has faced regular overnight barrages as Russia targets cities with missiles and drones in harsh winter conditions in recent months, also targeting civilian energy infrastructure, even amid an ongoing push by Washington to try to negotiate an end to Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

Attacks also took place in the regions of Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk, with officials reporting seven wounded in Kharkiv and another in Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk, the AFP news agency reported.

US, Ukrainian delegations to meet

The strikes came before a scheduled meeting in the Swiss city of Geneva between Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, being held in advance of a full session of talks involving Moscow, Kyiv and Washington expected in early March.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday he had spoken with US President Donald Trump before the talks, with Witkoff and Kushner part of the 30-minute call, to discuss the issues that their representatives would cover in Geneva, “as well as preparations for the next meeting of the full negotiating teams in a trilateral format at the very beginning of March”.

Zelenskyy, who has repeatedly sought face-to-face meetings with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to resolve the most challenging issues, said he expected the meeting in Geneva would “create an opportunity to move talks to the leaders’ level”.

“President Trump supports this sequence of steps,” he said. “This is the only way to resolve all the complex and sensitive issues and finally end the war.”

Putin has dismissed such a meeting repeatedly in the past, calling into question Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as Ukraine’s leader.

Meanwhile, Russian state news agency TASS reported the Kremlin’s economic affairs envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, was also due to be in Geneva on Thursday, where he would “pursue negotiations with the Americans on economic issues”.

Negotiations stalled

Despite Trump’s desire to bring an end to the conflict, one he claimed he could end in 24 hours after he retook office, the talks so far have failed to bear fruit.

Negotiations, based on a US plan unveiled late last year, have hit a roadblock over the thorniest territorial issues, such as control of the eastern Donbas, an industrial region in eastern Ukraine that has been at the heart of the fiercest fighting.

Russia is pushing for full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, in the Donbas, and has threatened to take it by force if Kyiv does not cave in at the negotiating table.

But Ukraine has rejected the demand and signalled it would not sign a deal without security guarantees that deter Russia from invading again. The Ukrainian constitution also forbids the ceding of territory.

Hundreds of thousands of people on both sides are believed to have been killed in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Fifty-five-year-old Tabitha Iorchon used to work as a nanny at a rural primary school in her community, Demevaa, in Chanchanji District of Takum Local Government Area, in Taraba State, northeastern Nigeria. The job provided her with a steady income which she used to support her children and grandchildren who lived with her. She supplemented her earnings with farming. 

Tabitha loved her job and was very fond of the children she cared for. 

But that life has been snatched from her. 

In September 2025, terrorists invaded Demevaa and surrounding communities in Chanchanji District. “They killed pregnant women and ripped their babies out of their bellies. They slaughtered men and cut off the hands of many people,” she recounted. 

Tabitha is among those who escaped that night of terror. She, alongside other residents, fled to reach Chanchanji town, where they are now living in displacement. Her parents, who lived in a different neighbourhood and were weak and vulnerable, were left behind, but fortunately, they survived the attacks.

The genesis of violence

This is not the first time communities in southern Taraba have come under attack. However, locals say that early September last year was when the wave of violence reached Chanchanji District. It began with the discovery of two farmers dead on their farms. Before residents could make sense of the incident, more farmers were attacked and killed. The weeks that followed saw communities like Demevaa and Amadu raided.

Over the years, Taraba communities, such as those within Takum bordering Benue, have experienced attacks often described as farmers-herders clashes or carried out by local militia gangs. One of the most notorious figures linked to violence in the region was Terwase Akwaza, alias Gana, who, before his death, claimed that terrorists disguised as herders contacted him to carry out attacks in “about three states they want to [capture], being Plateau, Taraba, Benue…”. 

Since the Nigerian Army killed Gana in September 2020, his once-cohesive network has fractured into rival factions, with groups led by criminals such as Fullfire and Chen now operating independently and often violently in border areas.

Residents in Chanchanji told HumAngle that herders often come to graze in the area during the dry season, but clashes have never occurred. HumAngle contacted Lashen James, the Taraba State Police Command spokesperson, but he did not respond.

Life in displacement 

In the wake of the attacks, several displacement camps were established by non-government and faith-based organisations in Chanchanji town, an urban area in Takum to accommodate people fleeing the violence in Demevaa, Amadu, Tse-Bawa, Tse-Tseve, and other affected communities within the district. 

Tabitha and several other displaced persons sought refuge at one of the camps. There, they rely on humanitarian organisations for survival. Although the food supplies are inconsistent, she said they felt somewhat safer there.

“Old people and children were dying because there was insufficient food,” she noted. “Our yams, guinea corn, millet and cassava were all destroyed and burnt by the terrorists who attacked our people.”

Tabitha said that even the tents in the camp are not sufficient and the available ones are always overcrowded. “We just spread our wrappers on the floor to sleep,” she said. 

Despite the difficulties in the camp, the displaced persons persevered, hoping peace would eventually be restored. However, another wave of terror erupted on February 8, when terrorists attacked Chanchanji district and raided several villages. Locals said the terrorists returned the next day and unleashed more havoc.   

No terror group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. 

Avangwa Emmanuel, a resident of Tse-Bawa, told HumAngle that his father and three uncles were killed during the February incident. He noted that many others were killed in their homes that day. “They [terrorists] were heavily armed,” he added.

Avangwa and others from his village are currently taking shelter at a secondary school that has been converted into a temporary camp.

“No water, no food, nothing. Everybody is just struggling. Our major problem here is food. Also, what we need is peace. If there’s anything the government can do to restore peace so that we can return to our homes and continue our work, that is all,” he said.

Amadu, another community in Chanchanji District, was among the hardest hit. Terkuma Moses, the community leader, said scores were killed, and locals have fled to displacement camps. HumAngle could not independently confirm the figures as the police authorities did not respond to enquiries. 

“The attackers come here daily. We’ve been living in perpetual fear. There have been many rape occurrences during these attacks,” Abraham Nyingi, a resident of Amadu, told HumAngle. He noted that no government official had been dispatched to assess the displaced persons’ situation. “We are at the mercy of humanitarian organisations. If the government really wants to help us, we would be very grateful,” he said.

“The environmental conditions are very harsh. Our children can’t go to school. We lack medical care,” he lamented.

In recent months, the worsening hunger has compelled some displaced persons to return to their communities. Tabitha said that none of those who left made it back. “They got killed,” she said. “Their bodies were found in the bushes.” 

Life at a standstill

The school where Tabitha once worked has remained closed since the crisis began. She has lost not only her livelihood, but also her sense of independence, as she cannot return home or secure alternative work. She continues to fear for her elderly parents, who remain in the village. She sometimes reaches them by phone, and they tell her they are also experiencing food shortages, as their barns were burnt during the attacks.

Tabitha described the displacement as the worst experience of her lifetime. 

“We lack basic things like food and we buy water since the camp doesn’t have a water supply. The harmattan season is still here, and many of us are still sleeping outside because all the rooms are overcrowded,” Tabitha said. 

With the new arrivals following the February 8 attacks, she said the struggle for survival has intensified. 

“I can’t further my education now. I can’t do any business. I’m just stuck here,” said Veronica Iorchan, a 22-year-old resident of Demevaa. 

When the attacks began in September, she was in her final year at the Taraba State Polytechnic in Suntai. By the time she completed her studies in October, instead of returning home to a joyous celebration, Veronica was informed that her community was deserted. The rest of her family had moved to the Abaya IDP camp. 

“I came straight to the camp from school,” she said, adding that she lost two of her uncles in the attack.

While the camp provides them with accommodation and food, Veronica said they must fend for themselves when it comes to obtaining hygiene products and toiletries, such as sanitary pads. Even though she is determined to seek employment in the host community, she feels unsafe whenever she leaves the camp. She dreams of a time when she can return home and make plans for her future.

A cry for peace

Tabitha looks forward to a time when she can return to her community, re-unite with her parents, resume her job as a nanny, and supplement her income with farming. 

“That will only happen if there is peace,” she said. 

While Avangwa is still grappling with the loss of his father and three uncles, he says the hardship at the makeshift camp intensifies with each passing day. He noted that Tse-Bawa is an agrarian community, and the crisis, which has persisted for about five months, has severely disrupted farming activities, as locals can no longer access their farms. Several farmlands and barns were also set ablaze in the attacks.

“So if we can have peace, then we can go back to our places and settle. All we need is just peace and nothing more,” he said. 

Abraham calls on the government to urgently look into the crisis. “Our people do not really need much from the government,” he said. “Just secure us.”

Residents say the government’s lack of concern for their plight has been deeply shattering. Recently, religious leaders affiliated with the Catholic Church led a peaceful protest in Jalingo, the state capital, calling on the government to extend security interventions to the southern Taraba area, which includes Takum and Donga Local Government Areas.

“As a matter of urgency, adequate security personnel should be mobilised and deployed to the hinterlands, where this carnage is taking place unabated,” James Yaro, a priest and Vicar Pastoral of Taraba’s Catholic Diocese of Wukari, told journalists. 

“The government at all levels must be deliberate in ensuring security guarantees and bringing enablers and perpetrators of these dastardly acts, or heinous crimes against humanity, to justice through their immediate arrest and prosecution, irrespective of their ethnic, political, and religious affiliations.” He added that, “IDPs require immediate intervention by the government.”

HumAngle wrote to the Taraba State Ministry of Special Duties and Humanitarian Affairs for comments but received no response at the time of filing this report.

Main target was the energy sector, but residential buildings and a railway were also damaged, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.

Russia has launched dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones at Ukraine, killing at least one person, according to Ukrainian officials.

The most powerful attacks were reported in the regions of Kyiv, Odesa and Kharkiv, the officials said on Sunday.

Ukraine’s air force said Moscow launched 50 ballistic and cruise missiles and 297 drones overnight, the majority of which were intercepted.

“Moscow continues to invest in strikes more than in diplomacy,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding that this past week alone, Russia launched more than 1,300 drones, ‌more than 1,400 guided aerial bombs and 96 missiles against Ukraine.

The president added that Sunday’s attacks targeted the Dnipro, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Poltava and Sumy regions.

The main target of the attack was the energy sector, but residential buildings and a railway were also damaged, he noted.

In a separate incident in the western city of Lviv, which has been largely spared the worst of the conflict, a policewoman was killed and 25 people were injured in the detonation of explosive devices inside a shop on a central shopping street.

Hours later, law enforcement said it had arrested a Ukrainian woman suspected of carrying out the bombing, without providing any further details and saying an investigation was ongoing.

Kyiv attack

Mykola Kalashnyk, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram that Russian forces targeted five districts in the Kyiv region, injuring at least 15 people, including four children, and killing one person.

Russian attacks were also reported in the eastern region of Kharkiv, where Governor Oleh Syniehubov said at least 12 settlements were targeted and six people injured.

In southern Ukraine, fires broke out in the region of Odesa as Russian drones struck energy infrastructure, according to Governor Oleh Kiper.

“Fortunately, there were no deaths or injuries. An assessment of the state of energy facilities and elimination of the consequences is ongoing,” Kiper wrote on Telegram.

Attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities have become a near-daily occurrence in winter during Russia’s war in Ukraine, which started almost four years ago when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of the neighbouring country.

These attacks deprive millions of Ukrainians of heat, power and running water as temperatures have dropped below minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit), causing thick ice to cover roads and the Dnipro, Europe’s fifth largest river.

Last week, Russia unleashed a barrage of nearly 400 drones and 29 missiles on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on the first day of two days of peace negotiations in Geneva, its second large-scale blow in six days.

On February 12, another attack had left 100,000 families without electricity and 3,500 apartment buildings without heat in Kyiv alone.

Sunday’s attacks come as the United States is trying to reach a ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow.

But these efforts – including the talks in Geneva last week and two earlier sessions in the United Arab Emirates – have failed to reach any breakthrough.

A core sticking point is territory. Russia wants Ukraine to pull out from the remaining 20 percent of its eastern region of Donetsk that the Kremlin’s forces have failed to capture – something firmly rejected by Kyiv.

Ukraine does not want to make territorial concessions and is demanding clear security guarantees that it will not be attacked by Russia again if a ceasefire is reached.

Pakistan’s military has carried out air strikes in Afghanistan, targeting what it called “camps and hideouts” belonging to armed groups behind a spate of recent attacks, including a suicide bombing that killed dozens of worshippers at a Shia mosque in Islamabad.

There was no immediate comment from Afghanistan’s Taliban government, but Afghan sources told Al Jazeera the strikes on Sunday hit two border provinces.

The sources said a drone strike hit a religious school in the Paktika province, and that attacks also took place in Nangarhar province.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in a statement on X, said the country’s military conducted “intelligence-based, selective operations” against seven camps and hideouts belonging to the Pakistan Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and its affiliates.

An affiliate of the Islamic State group was also targeted in the border region, it said.

The ministry said it had “conclusive evidence” that recent attacks in Islamabad, as well as in the northwestern Bajaur and Bannu districts, were perpetrated by fighters “on behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers”.

It said Pakistan has repeatedly urged the Taliban government to take action to prevent armed groups from using Afghan territory to launch attacks, but that Kabul has failed to “undertake any substantive action”.

Pakistan “has always strived to maintain peace and stability in the region”, it added, but said the safety and security of Pakistani citizens remained its top priority.

The Pakistani air strikes on Afghanistan came hours after a suicide bomber targeted a security convoy in the Bannu district of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing two soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel.

On Monday, a suicide bomber, backed by gunmen, rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the wall of a security post in the nearby Bajaur, killing 11 soldiers and a child. Authorities later said the attacker was an Afghan national.

On February 6, another suicide bomber detonated his explosives during noon prayers at the Khadija Tul Kubra mosque in Islamabad’s Tarlai Kalan area, killing at least 31 worshippers and wounding 170 others.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.

While bombings are rare in the heavily guarded capital, the attack on Khadija Tul Kubra was the second such attack in three months, raising fears of a return to violence in Pakistan’s major urban centres.

At the time, the Pakistani military said the “planning, training, and indoctrination for the attack took place in Afghanistan”.

In its statement on Sunday, the Pakistani Information Ministry reiterated a call on the international community to press the Taliban to uphold its commitments under the agreement it signed with the United States, in the Qatari capital, Doha, in 2020, to prevent the use of Afghan territory for attacks against other countries.

The ministry said the move was “vital for regional and global peace and security”.

Pakistan has seen a surge in violence in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP and outlawed Baloch separatist groups. Islamabad accuses the TTP of operating from inside Afghanistan, a charge the group denies.

The Taliban government has also consistently denied sheltering anti-Pakistan armed groups.

Relations between the neighbouring countries have remained tense since October, when deadly border clashes killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected fighters.

The violence followed explosions in Kabul, which Afghan officials blamed on Pakistan.

A ceasefire mediated by Qatar on October 19 has largely held, but subsequent talks in Turkiye’s Istanbul failed to produce a formal agreement.

This week, the Israeli government approved a plan to designate large areas of the occupied West Bank as “state property”, shifting the burden of proof to Palestinians to establish ownership of their land.

The decision, which undermines the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, has prompted regional condemnation, with many describing it as a de facto annexation which is illegal under international law.

In recent years, Israel has intensified its military incursions, expanded illegal settlements, and demolished Palestinian homes, all as part of a series of aggressive actions to steal more Palestinian land.

In total, at least 37,135 Palestinians were displaced across the occupied West Bank in 2025, a record high amid Israeli military incursions and settler attacks, according to figures compiled by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

According to UNRWA, Israeli military incursions have forcibly displaced at least 33,362 Palestinians from three northern refugee camps: Jenin (12,557), Tulkarem(11,862) and Nur Shams (8,943).

In addition to those displaced during Israeli operations, at least 3,773 have been forced from their homes due to Israeli home demolitions, settler violence, and access restrictions.

The West Bank governorates with the largest number of forced displacements include:

• Ramallah and el-Bireh: 870
• Jerusalem: 841
• Hebron: 446
• Nablus: 407
• Bethlehem: 397
• Tubas: 292
• Salfit: 150
• Jericho: 135
• Jenin: 110
• Tulkarem: 65
• Qalqilya: 60

Why most demolitions and attacks are in Area C

As part of the 1993 Oslo Accords, signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel, the occupied West Bank was divided into three areas – A, B and C.

This led to the formation of the Palestinian Authority (PA) – an administrative body that would govern Palestinian internal security, administration and civilian affairs in areas of self-rule, for a five-year interim period.

Area A initially comprised 3 percent of the West Bank and grew to 18 percent by 1999. In Area A, the PA controls most affairs.

Area B represents about 22 percent of the West Bank. In both areas, while the PA is in charge of education, health and the economy, the Israelis have full control of external security, meaning they retain the right to enter at any time.

Area C represents 60 percent of the West Bank. Under the Oslo Accords, control of this area was supposed to be handed over to the PA. Instead, Israel retains total control over all matters, including security, planning and construction. The transfer of control to the PA never happened.

Although Area C is the least populated part of the West Bank, with about 300,000 Palestinians compared with about 3 million in Areas A and B, the vast majority of home demolitions and settler attacks occur there, due to it being under full Israeli military and administrative control.

The Israeli Civil Administration rarely grants building permits to Palestinians in this area, so nearly all construction is considered illegal and subject to demolition.

Record number of Israeli settler attacks

Since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank has steadily risen.

According to data from OCHA, settlers have attacked Palestinians more than 3,700 times in the occupied West Bank over the past 28 months.

The number of settler attacks has risen sharply since 2016, with 852 recorded in 2022, 1,291 in 2023, 1,449 in 2024 and 1,828 in 2025 – an average of five attacks per day, according to data from OCHA.

Every West Bank governorate has faced settler attacks over the past year.

Data from OCHA shows that between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025, the Ramallah and el-Bireh governorate recorded the highest number of settler attacks with 523 incidents, followed by Nablus with 349 and Hebron with 309.

Who are Israeli settlers?

Settlers are Israeli citizens living in illegal, Jewish-only communities, known as Israeli settlements, built on Palestinian-owned land that Israel occupied in 1967.

Benjamin Netanyahu – Israel’s longest-serving prime minister – has bolstered settlement expansions since he first came to power in 1996, undermining the 1993 Oslo Accords, which called for the freezing of settlements and a mutually negotiated two-state solution.

Today, roughly 10 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, totalling between 600,000 and 750,000 people, live in about 250 settlements and outposts dispersed throughout the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Many of these settlements are located near Palestinian population centres, often leading to increased tensions and restrictions on movement for Palestinians.

Nearly a year since the Palestinian-Israeli film No Other Land won an Academy Award, its co-director, Hamdan Ballal, says Israeli settler attacks on the cluster of occupied West Bank villages known as Masafer Yatta have only gotten worse, as those involved in the documentary bear the brunt of Israeli reprisals.

The latest bout of violence came on Sunday, when Israeli settlers stormed Ballal’s hometown of Susya, despite an Israeli court ruling designating the area around his home as closed to non-residents. Israeli army officers called by the family to enforce the ruling, issued two weeks prior, sided with the attackers.

“The ruling was supposed to make things better for us, but the opposite happened,” Ballal told Al Jazeera on Monday. “Israeli authorities did nothing to enforce the decision, but joined the settlers in the attack.”

One of his brothers was held in a chokehold by an army officer and later hospitalised with breathing difficulties. Four other relatives – two brothers, a nephew, and a cousin – were detained for several hours as they arrived at the scene. They have all since been released.

The Palestinian film director said his family was ambushed by the same Israeli settler who led an attack against him as he returned from the Oscar ceremony in Los Angeles last March. Then, he had been taken away in a blindfold by a group of Israeli settlers and army officers and released a day later with injuries to his head and stomach, leading to global condemnation.

Ballal said the retaliation for the documentary has since been directed against his family, rather than himself, to avoid media attention. His relatives have been routinely prevented from grazing sheep and ploughing the land. At times, they have been arrested, questioned about his work and whereabouts, or intimidated to vacate their homes.

“My family is paying because of me; because I shared the movie and I shared the truth,” he said.

The film, which won the Oscar for best documentary on March 2, follows Palestinian journalist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham as they try to protect Palestinian homes amid tensions with settlers in Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills. Israeli filmmaker Rachel Szor also shares directing credits.

Israeli settlers in the area often graze their animals on Palestinian land to assert control, signal unrestricted access, and lay the groundwork for establishing illegal outposts, cutting Palestinians off from their farms and livestock.

The Israeli army argues that it has to demolish the Palestinian villages to convert the area into a military “firing” or training zone. It did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on Sunday’s incident.

Across the occupied West Bank, Israel’s far-right coalition government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been openly promoting new measures to expand Israeli control over the Palestinian territory.

Most recently, it announced the resumption of the land registration processes for the first time since 1967, which Israeli rights groups say will accelerate the dispossession and displacement of Palestinians in violation of international law.

‘Right to live’

Ballal’s family has not been the only one to pay the price for the acclaimed documentary.

Adra, the Palestinian protagonist in the film, had his home in at-Tawani raided by the Israeli army in September, after clashes broke out with a group of Israeli settlers that trespassed in his olive grove.

In July, Awdah Hathaleen, an activist, football player and a consultant for No Other Land, was shot dead, in the chest, in the village of Umm al-Khair. The father of three was a key figure in non-violent resistance against settler violence in Masafer Yatta. His assailant, Israeli settler Yinon Levi, later said, “I’m glad I did it,” according to witnesses.

Ballal said he does not hesitate to describe these attacks as being “terrorist”, as they leave the Palestinian community in Masafer Yatta constantly fearing for their safety.

“It’s a simple right for Palestinians to feel safe in their homes,” he told Al Jazeera. “We are scared; we are in danger, and it’s been like this for a long time.”

“International law doesn’t work for Palestinians,” he continued. “But we are human, and we have a right to live.”

The US soldiers will not have a combat role and are to operate under the full command authority of Nigeria’s military.

The United States has sent 100 military personnel to northern Nigeria to train and advise local forces, as deadly threats rise from armed groups such as Boko Haram and ISIL (ISIS)-linked factions.

Samaila Uba, Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters spokesman, confirmed the US troops’ arrival in the northeastern area of Bauchi on Monday.

He said they will provide “technical support” and “intelligence sharing” to help target and defeat “terrorist organisations”. The US also sent “associated equipment” to support the mission.

Uba stressed that the US soldiers will not play a direct combat role, but will share technical expertise under the full command authority of Nigerian forces.

“The armed forces of Nigeria remain fully committed to degrading and defeating terrorist organisations that threaten the country’s sovereignty, national security, and the safety of its citizens,” said the military spokesman in comments carried by Nigeria’s Premium Times newspaper.

Last weekend, gunmen on motorcycles rampaged through three villages in northern Nigeria, killing at least 46 people and abducting many others. The bloodiest attack happened in the village of Konkoso, in Niger State, where at least 38 people were shot dead or had their throats slit.

Protracted fight

The US deployment follows an easing of tensions that flared between Washington and Nigeria late last year, when US President Donald Trump accused the country of failing to stop killings against Christians and threatened to intervene militarily.

The Nigerian government has rejected Trump’s accusation, and analysts say people across all faiths, not just Christians, are victims of armed groups’ violence

In December, US forces launched air strikes on ISIL-affiliated fighters in the country’s northwest. Last month, following discussions with Nigerian authorities in Abuja, the head of US Africa Command confirmed that a small team of US military officers were in Nigeria, focused on intelligence support.

Nigeria is facing a protracted fight with dozens of local armed groups increasingly battling for turf, including the homegrown Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, the ISIL affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP).

There is also the ISIL-linked Lakurawa, as well as other “bandit” groups that specialise in kidnapping for ransom and illegal mining.

Recently, the crisis worsened to include other fighters from the neighbouring Sahel region, including the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, which claimed its first attack on Nigerian soil last year.

Several thousand people in Nigeria have been killed, according to data from the United Nations.

While Christians have been among those targeted, analysts and residents say the majority of victims of the armed groups are Muslims in the Muslim-dominated north, where most attacks occur.

Nigeria’s 240 million people are evenly split between Christians, mainly in the south, ‌and Muslims, mostly in the north.

Lebanese authorities say Israeli forces bombed a vehicle near the border, killing at least four people.

Israeli forces have bombed a vehicle near Lebanon’s border with Syria, killing at least four people, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

The Israeli air strike took place early on Monday morning, it said in a statement.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said one of the victims was a Syrian national named Khaled Mohammad al-Ahmad.

The Israeli military confirmed the air strike, claiming in a post on X that it targeted members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Lebanon. It did not provide evidence for its claim.

The Israeli military said the raid took place in the Majdal Anjar area of Lebanon.

There was no immediate comment from the PIJ.

The PIJ is an armed group in the occupied Palestinian territory, fighting alongside Hamas in Gaza for the establishment of a Palestinian state. It is also an ally of the Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah, which launched attacks on northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinians after the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in 2023.

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in November 2024, but the Israeli military has continued to carry out near-daily attacks on Lebanon, in violation of the United States-brokered truce.

According to the United Nations, the Israeli military launched more than 10,000 air and ground attacks in the year since it agreed to halt hostilities.

The UN’s rights office said in November last year that it verified at least 108 civilian casualties from Israeli attacks since the ceasefire, including at least 21 women and 16 children.

At least 11 Lebanese civilians were also abducted by Israeli forces during that time period, the office said.

Lebanon filed a complaint with the UN last month about the repeated Israeli violations, urging the UN Security Council to push Israel to end its attacks and fully withdraw from the country.

The complaint said Israel violated Lebanon’s sovereignty at least 2,036 times in the last three months of 2025 alone.

Israel also continues to occupy five areas in Lebanese territory, blocking the reconstruction of destroyed border villages and preventing tens of thousands of displaced people from returning to their homes.

At least 32 people were killed when terrorists invaded villages of the Borgu Local Government Area (LGA) in Niger State,  North Central Nigeria. The attack occurred around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14, lasting for about three hours.

Umar Abdulkarim, the village chief of Konkoso in the Borgu LGA, was identified as one of the victims of the terrorist attack. The attackers set homes ablaze, leaving people displaced and fearful of further raids. 

“We ran with nothing,” a resident who asked not to be named for security reasons, said. “Our houses and police station were burnt, including the houses of Sarkin Samari and his brother.”

Another resident, who is also related to the Konkoso village chief, revealed that the assailants had hung around the community until around 1 a.m. before carrying out the attack, which lasted till about 10 a.m.

“Before the attack, I spoke with him, and he confirmed that the terrorists were approaching the community. After about thirty minutes, they started shooting. As for yesterday, we were able to retrieve 30 dead bodies, which were shot and slaughtered. This morning, we recovered two more,” the local said, noting that the assailants kidnapped an unspecified number of women and children, while some ran away for safety. 

Although residents insisted there has been no assistance from security agencies since the onset of the attack, Wasiu Abiodun, the Niger State police spokesperson, claimed military forces were being deployed to the area.

This incident is part of an escalating wave of violence linked to terrorists who have taken control of the Kainji Forest Reserve, instilling fear in rural communities across the region. The terror group, led by the notorious leader Mallam Sadiqu, engages in merciless killings and kidnaps individuals for ransom, often for mass executions. 

US President Donald Trump says that the first meeting of his newly created ‘Board of Peace’ will take place on Thursday.

At least 11 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip in the latest Israeli attacks that continue in violation of the “ceasefire”, hospital sources have said.

Israeli forces targeted tents sheltering people in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Sunday, killing at least five Palestinians, hospital sources told Al Jazeera.

At least five others were killed in Israeli attacks west of Khan Younis in the south of the Strip, according to hospital sources.

Separately, Sami al-Dahdouh, a commander of the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), was killed in an Israeli attack in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood east of Gaza City.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem condemned the Israeli attacks as a “new massacre” and a “criminal escalation”.

He said they were a “clear attempt to impose a bloody reality on the ground and send a message that all efforts and bodies concerned with establishing calm in Gaza are meaningless, and that the occupation is continuing its aggression despite all parties speaking of the necessity of adhering to the ceasefire agreement”.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 600 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,600 others since the United States- and Qatar-mediated “ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 10 October, part of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end Israel’s two-year genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel has violated the “ceasefire” at least 1,620 times from October 10, 2025 to February 10, 2026, the Government Media Office in Gaza reports. Israel also accuses Hamas of violating the agreement. It says four soldiers have been killed.

Board of Peace

The latest attacks come as Trump announced that the first meeting of his newly created “Board of Peace” will take place on Thursday in Washington, DC.

Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Sunday that members have pledged more than $5bn towards rebuilding war-shattered Gaza, and committed “thousands of personnel to the International Stabilization Force and Local Police to maintain Security and Peace for Gazans.”

The US has asked countries to pay $1bn to join the Board of Peace, suggesting five countries may have already pledged to do so.

“There are reports that the United Arab Emirates has been the first to step forward with this billion-dollar pledge. There are also reports that Kuwait may be coming on board. That leaves three other countries, ostensibly, that have not been made public yet,” Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan said.

It was not clear how many of the board’s 20 members would be in attendance at the meeting.

Initially envisaged as a mechanism for ending the Gaza war, Trump’s board has taken shape with his ambition for a much broader mandate of resolving conflicts around the world, in what appears to be a US attempt to bypass the United Nations.

Several key US allies have declined to join the board.

Trump also said in the post that “Hamas must uphold its commitment to Full and Immediate Demilitarization”.

Hamas’s Qassem called on the Board of Peace to pressure Israel to stop violating the ceasefire and “compel it to implement what was agreed upon without delay or manipulation”.

Medical sources say Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in southern Khan Younis and four in northern al-Faluja.

Israeli forces have killed at least nine Palestinians in new attacks across Gaza, in yet another violation of the United States-brokered “ceasefire” in October, according to medical sources.

The attacks on Sunday came as the Israeli military launched several attacks on southern Lebanon, targeting what it called warehouses used by the Hezbollah armed group.

In Gaza, a source at the Nasser Hospital told Al Jazeera Israeli forces killed at least five Palestinians in the southern city of Khan Younis.

The attack took place beyond the so-called “yellow line”, where Israeli troops are stationed in Gaza, the source added.

The other four Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces attacked a tent for displaced people in the al-Faluja area of northern Gaza, a source at al-Shifa Hospital said.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

The Israeli military, however, said in a statement early on Sunday that it struck a building in an unspecified part of northern Gaza shortly after several armed fighters entered the structure.

At least two of the fighters were killed, it said.

The Israeli military also said it killed another person in Gaza on Sunday who allegedly crossed the yellow line and posed “an immediate threat” to its forces there.

It did not provide evidence for its claims.

In Lebanon, the Israeli military said it struck warehouses used by Hezbollah for storing weapons and launchers in the southern parts of the country.

The Israeli military and Hezbollah, which began attacks on northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza in 2023, agreed to a ceasefire in November 2024.

There was no immediate comment from Lebanon on Sunday’s attacks.

According to authorities in Gaza and Lebanon, the Israeli military continues to launch near-daily attacks despite agreeing to halt the fighting.

In Gaza, Israel has violated the US-brokered “ceasefire” more than 1,500 times since it came into effect on October 10. At least 591 people have been killed and 1,590 wounded since then.

In addition to the near-daily killing of Palestinians, Israel also severely restricts quantities of food, medicine, medical supplies, shelter materials and prefabricated houses from entering Gaza, where some 2 million Palestinians – including 1.5 million displaced – live in catastrophic conditions.

Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza on October 8, 2023, with support from the US, killing 72,032 people, wounding some 171,661, and destroying 90 percent of the territory’s infrastructure.

The United Nations estimates it could cost more than $70bn to rebuild Gaza.

In Lebanon, the Israeli military launched more than 10,000 air and ground attacks in the year since it agreed to halt hostilities, according to the UN.

The organisation’s rights office said in November last year that it verified at least 108 civilian casualties from Israeli attacks since the ceasefire, including at least 21 women and 16 children.

At least 11 Lebanese civilians were also abducted by Israeli forces during that time period, the office said.