Israeli forces kill a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in Burqa, as settlers torch an industrial area in Beita and assault a woman near Hebron. In Gaza, pressure builds on Israel to let in shelter and aid after children die in flooded camps.
Al Jazeera’s Nour Hegazy has the latest.
Published On 10 Nov 202610 Nov 2026
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Ahmed Abed (a pseudonym due to ongoing threats of arrest) still feels like a prisoner despite being released from an Israeli jail to the occupied West Bank nearly two years ago.
Despite being technically “free”, Abed, 43, is still often rearrested by Israeli forces or summoned by intelligence for interrogation.
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Hundreds of other Palestinians in the occupied West Bank face similar ordeals after being released from Israeli prisons. Their homes are sometimes raided twice a week; they can be detained, assaulted and interrogated on the spot before being released.
Every day, organisations dedicated to prisoners’ affairs document the arrests of dozens of Palestinians across the West Bank as part of large-scale operations that frequently target former detainees. Most of those detained are released after hours of interrogation, in what appears to be a campaign of intimidation by Israel against former Palestinian prisoners.
Abed was released as part of a prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel in January 2025, having served 22 years of a life sentence. Since his release, he has faced persistent harassment by the Israeli military.
Just days after Abed’s release, he was summoned by Israeli intelligence for questioning. They informed him that they were unhappy with the political decision to carry out the exchange deal and warned they would rearrest him if he made the “slightest mistake”.
Since his release, he has been arrested six times and summoned for interrogation five times. Each time, his home has been raided and his family terrorised by Israeli soldiers. His father was once arrested simply because Abed happened to be outside his house at night.
“Whenever there are reports of Israeli military activity in the city, my family goes into a state of high alert; no one sleeps all night,” he told Al Jazeera. “Some neighbours even leave their homes, fearing they might be raided as part of the collective intimidation campaign imposed because of me.”
When Abed is arrested, he is often forced to walk for several kilometres handcuffed and blindfolded, accompanied by soldiers. He is then placed in a detention centre under dire conditions, deprived of food and water, subjected to beatings and verbal abuse, and then the threats begin.
“Every time, they threaten to send me back to prison to the point where I feel as though two-thirds of my body are still in captivity, with only one-third outside,” he said. “The threats vary, but the underlying message is always the same: I am not permitted to do anything ordinary or live a normal life like everyone else.”
Abed avoids family gatherings, fearing his presence may bring them harm, and so limits his interactions to his immediate family. An Israeli officer warned him that if he were to go to the mosque to pray, he would be arrested.
“The Israeli officer told me, ‘We have zero patience for you. Any behaviour we deem inappropriate, or any movement we find suspicious, we will rearrest you immediately,’” Abed added.
Although he managed to earn both a bachelor’s degree and a doctorate during his time in prison, he has been unable to secure a job. When employers learn about his repeated arrests, they refuse to hire him. Instead, he has to rely on day-labour work to cover his basic costs.
A former prisoner from Qalqilya says he is arrested on average twice a week during the frequent Israeli military sweeps of the city, where former detainees are targeted. He was recently warned during one interrogation that if he ever set foot on a football pitch, he would be arrested. This puts his job as a referee in jeopardy.
Abdullah, another former prisoner from the city who also requested not to use his real name, told Al Jazeera that he has been arrested so many times since his release in 2000 that he has lost count. But he says he has spent a total of 17 years in custody since his “release”.
He was recently held under “administrative detention”, lasting from November 2023 to February 2025, during which he was subject to physical and psychological torture. By the time he was released, he had lost 60kg (132 pounds).
Abdullah, who supports a family of seven, is repeatedly arrested and released after a few hours, but only after his children have been terrorised and his home ransacked.
His employer grew frustrated with his repeated detentions and found a replacement for him.
“After losing my job, I began working on a piece of land I inherited from my father. However, due to arrests and threats, I can never find the right time to tend to it,” he said. “I often fall behind in irrigating, applying pesticides, or tilling the soil, all of which have taken a toll on my seasonal yields, leaving me with more losses than profits.”
Since the outbreak of the war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the occupied West Bank has witnessed a wave of Israeli arrest campaigns and pogroms. Israeli troops now make regular incursions into towns, refugee camps, and homes, as well as arrests at military checkpoints to detain former prisoners.
Palestinian prisoner advocacy organisations have documented approximately 26,000 arrests in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between October 2023, when the genocidal war on Gaza began, and early October 2026. This figure includes more than 800 women and nearly 2,000 minors. The total encompasses individuals who were subsequently released, not just those who remain in custody.
Amani Sarahneh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, told Al Jazeera that Israeli operations in the West Bank have evolved into a continuous, round-the-clock wave of detentions. On average, between 10 and 15 Palestinians are arrested and remain in Israeli custody every day.
These arrests not only take place at night, as they did before, but also during daylight hours, at military checkpoints, and through field interrogations.
“The persistence of these campaigns has led to a ‘normalisation of fear’ among the citizens, which has significantly impacted social relations, particularly in villages where residents live in a state of constant anxiety, fearing that occupation forces might storm their towns or public spaces and arrest groups of people at any moment,” she told Al Jazeera.
These arrests are frequently accompanied by physical assaults and abuse, with detainees held for long hours while handcuffed and blindfolded. The victims’ family homes are frequently ransacked and possessions taken away during the Israeli raids.
“These policies also include using family members of those targeted, such as wives and sisters, as hostages to exert pressure,” Sarahneh said.
“The impact of these campaigns has extended beyond the detainees and their families, deepening a sense of fear and apprehension among the general public, who now worry that the arrests could reach a much wider segment of the population,” Sarahneh said.
Barri Worth Girvan, a veteran government employee who ran on a platform of leveraging her experience to advocate for residents, declared victory in the race for Los Angeles City Council’s Third District seat late Friday.
Worth Girvan’s announcement came after the latest vote tally Friday evening showed her widening her lead over rival Tim Gaspar, with 51% of the vote to Gaspar’s 49%.
“I will bring competence, transparency, follow-through, and ethical leadership to City Hall, which Angelenos deserve and too often do not get,” she said in a statement, which also thanked Gaspar for stepping up to run as well.
“I know how City Hall works, and I know how to make it work for you,” Worth Girvan said. “I am ready to hit the ground running on Day One, delivering the services our neighborhoods deserve, and leading with the integrity you have every right to expect.
Earlier Friday, Gaspar’s campaign said he wasn’t yet ready to concede. The campaign couldn’t immediately be reached for comment following Worth Girvan’s announcement.
The current Third District councilmember, Bob Blumenfield, is leaving office because of term limits. The 3rd District seat includes Woodland Hills, Reseda and Canoga Park.
Worth Girvan and Gaspar were virtually tied on election night Tuesday, but on Thursday Worth Girvan began pulling ahead as more mail-in ballots were counted.
Before entering the race, Worth Girvan was L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath’s district director for three years, handling constituent services on the Westside and in the Valley.
A former insurance company owner, Gaspar is running on a pro-business platform and has been endorsed by the Valley Industry & Commerce Assn. and the Los Angeles Police Protective League, a union representing LAPD officers. He’s also been endorsed by Blumenfield, L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, real estate developer Rick Caruso and former Democratic state Assemblymember Bob Hertzberg, Worth Girvan’s former boss.
Worth Girvan was endorsed by the L.A. County Democratic Party and labor unions including the local chapters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Service Employees International Union. She’s also been endorsed by Horvath and former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
In the race for District 9, both Jose Ugarte and Estuardo Mazariegos remain locked in a tight contest. Councilmember Curren Price is also termed out.
District 9 encompasses South L.A. neighborhoods, the Convention Center and USC. But no matter who wins, District 9 will undergo a shift in representation after decades of being represented by a Black council member.
Price is currently facing charges of embezzlement and conflict of interest and he has denied wrongdoing. Price has endorsed Ugarte, his former deputy chief of staff, whose platform includes protecting city residents from federal immigration enforcement and the Trump administration.
Mazariegos is backed by the L.A. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. He’s worked as a community organizer for decades and said he’s running to improve quality of life in the city, including by making housing more affordable and spending money on basic services other than policing.
Ugarte’s campaign received outside support from special interest groups including Airbnb, Uber, the California Apartment Assn. and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18, which represents workers at the Department of Water and Power.
Mazariegos was supported by groups including United Teachers Los Angeles and the Progressive Era PAC. Special interest groups have spent more than $250,000 supporting his campaign.
Israeli settlers have forced dozens of Palestinians from their homes in Jericho after seizing eight properties and reportedly firing live ammunition, beating residents and throwing stones.
Published On 6 Nov 20266 Nov 2026
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Jay Rockefeller, the last member of his family’s political dynasty — and the only Democrat — who served as West Virginia’s governor and later a longtime U.S. senator, has died. He was 89.
Rockefeller died Thursday night at his home in Washington, said Mary Stewart, vice president for external affairs at WETA, the public broadcasting station where Rockefeller’s wife, Sharon, serves as president and CEO.
Rockefeller came from one of the nation’s richest families to spend a half century in public service in one of the poorest states. He arrived in 1964 as a worker in an anti-poverty program, was elected governor a dozen years later and served two terms, then spent 30 years as a U.S. senator.
“I could not imagine a more rewarding career,” Rockefeller said upon his retirement in 2015.
He was born John D. Rockefeller IV in New York City. His great-grandfather, Standard Oil Co. founder John Rockefeller, died a month before Rockefeller’s birth. His father, John D. Rockefeller III, was a well-known philanthropist. Uncles Winthrop (Arkansas) and Nelson (New York) were Republican governors. Another uncle, David Rockefeller, ran Chase Manhattan Bank.
Jay Rockefeller went in a different direction.
A few years out of college at age 27, Rockefeller moved to the West Virginia mining community of Emmons to participate in the Volunteers in Service to America program, a time that Rockefeller said proved transformative.
“It explains every policy I pursued and every vote I have cast. It was where my beliefs were bolted down, and where my passions met my principles,” he said in an emotional farewell speech from the Senate floor on Dec. 4, 2014.
While he intended for his stay in the state to be brief, Rockefeller broke from his family’s Republican tradition and was elected to the state House of Delegates as a Democrat in 1966. By combining money with hard work in a traditionally Democratic state, Rockefeller overcame suspicions of political opportunism and rose from state legislator to secretary of state to governor.
A turning point came after Rockefeller’s only political defeat in the 1972 governor’s race to Republican Arch A. Moore Jr., whose daughter, Republican Shelley Moore Capito, was elected in 2014 to Rockefeller’s Senate seat upon his retirement.
After the defeat, Rockefeller remained in West Virginia, a decision he called the most important of his career. He became the first without a theological degree to become president of West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1973. His popularity there — and a change in his stance to embrace strip mining — translated to a landslide win over Republican Cecil Underwood in the 1976 governor’s race.
As governor, Rockefeller emphasized development of the state’s infrastructure, such as roads, sewers and bridges. Those issues, he said, are “not very sexy things, I grant you but very, very necessary in West Virginia.”
After Rockefeller defeated Arch Moore in a rematch in 1980, he won a U.S. Senate seat in 1984 after the retirement of longtime Democrat Jennings Randolph. It came despite a landslide victory that year for Republican President Ronald Reagan.
Rockefeller and his wife, Sharon, daughter of former Republican Sen. Charles Percy of Illinois, fit easily into the capital’s social scene, purchasing a multimillion-dollar estate for their family. Never shy or apologetic about using his inherited $150 million fortune to win his races, he spent millions upon millions from his own pocket. He won by comfortable margins in each of his five terms.
Rockefeller’s vast wealth was always a source of conversation and an undercurrent in his political races. He spent at least $21 million of his own money in his political campaigns, including $9 million to win a close 1984 Senate race against Republican novice and fellow multimillionaire John Raese. In Rockefeller’s 1980 gubernatorial race against Republican Arch Moore Jr., bumper stickers appeared saying: “Make Him Spend It All, Arch.”
The state’s junior senator for 25 years, Rockefeller carved his own path of influence in Sen. Robert C. Byrd’s immense shadow. Byrd died in 2010 as the longest-serving senator in U.S. history, winning an enduring reputation for steering billions of dollars over many decades to boost his impoverished state.
Rockefeller’s influence was less showy. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, he championed consumers’ rights, upgrading broadband infrastructure and sponsoring a bill to block companies from tracking online activity of their customers. He authored legislation in 1997 that created the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which assists poor families whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid.
He also was head of committees on Veterans Affairs and Intelligence, frequently sparring with President George W. Bush over foreign policy. Rockefeller said he regretted his 2002 vote to authorize the war against Iraq.
But Rockefeller also differed with the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama over mining-related regulations. With his state the nation’s second-biggest coal producer, Rockefeller was among several West Virginia officials who opposed the Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency’s oversight of the mountaintop removal method of surface mining.
College studies in Tokyo laid the groundwork for Rockefeller’s efforts to bring business from Japan to West Virginia. He had known Toyota’s founding family since the 1960s and was instrumental in helping the Japanese automaker pick a Buffalo, West Virginia, cornfield for an engine parts plant in 1996. The $2 billion plant now employs about 2,200 workers.
Raby writes for the Associated Press.
BIANCA Censori shared a sweet moment with her stepdaughter, North West, at a packed event.
The model accompanied her husband Kanye’s eldest daughter to ComplexCon in Los Angeles early last month.
North, 13, vlogged her experience at the annual two-day convention, from her eclectic look to signing autographs and taking pictures with fans.
The teen shared the 21-minute video on her YouTube channel on Tuesday, which included a heartwarming exchange with her stepmom.
Early in the clip, Bianca, 31, appeared alongside North at the crowded venue, where they matched in all-black outfits.
North rocked a black top and her signature vibrant blue hair in braided pigtails, with heavy makeup, facial piercings, and a massive skull necklace.
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Bianca rocked a black leather jacket and oversized sunglasses, her brunette hair falling straight down.
North towered over her father’s wife as they posed for what they thought was a photo-op.
After learning they were being recorded, North flashed her silver grills while Bianca puckered her lips at the camera.
Kanye, 49, also attended the event and was seen hugging his daughter backstage and taking pictures.
The U.S. Sun obtained photos from last month’s festival showing the trio navigating the crowds in matching black attire.
Bianca and North walked hand-in-hand, with Bianca gripping Kanye’s arm tightly as their 10-person security team surrounded them.
Hours earlier, North’s mother, Kim Kardashian, 46, shared her concerns about her kids growing up in the spotlight, particularly North, who’s garnered a massive following on TikTok.
North is also following in her rapper father’s footsteps by forging a music career, while appearing on the family’s Hulu series, The Kardashians.
“I do worry about it. Each kid does what they’re comfortable with,” Kim said in an interview with The Times, after admitting she has five nannies on rotation to help care for her and Kanye’s four children.
“So, my little ones come around when I’m filming, but they don’t really do storylines. North loves it a little bit more than the rest. I hold her back,” the All’s Fair star said.
“All she wants to do is forward-facing projects. And so, it’s like us really kind of trying to savor those moments and not doing everything that comes her way, so we can really make sure that we manage it the right way,” she added.
Kim and Kanye, who finalized their divorce in December 2022 after nearly seven years of marriage, share daughters North and Chicago, 8, and sons Saint, 10, and Psalm, 7.
Kanye married Bianca just weeks after divorcing Kim and has been accused of dictating her barely-there wardrobe.
The Yeezy architect has repeatedly stepped out in extremely racy outfits, including a completely see-through fishnet top and an almost invisible sheer bodysuit.
A source previously told The U.S. Sun that Kanye has spent thousands of dollars on his wife’s nearly naked looks.
Parker’s managerial career to date has seen three promotions followed by much leaner times in the Premier League.
His first taste of senior management was at Fulham, who he immediately guided back to the Premier League with a play-off final win over Brentford in 2020.
Parker could not keep them up again the following season and left by mutual consent in June 2021. He then became manager of Bournemouth and led them to promotion as runners-up, ironically behind Fulham.
A few weeks into the new Premier League season, the Cherries lost 9-0 at Liverpool and Parker departed three days later.
He briefly managed Belgian side Club Brugge in the 2022-23 season before replacing the Bayern Munich-bound Vincent Kompany as Burnley boss in 2024.
Parker guided the Clarets to the Premier League at the first attempt, with one of the best defensive records in English football history and a 31-match unbeaten streak.
However, he could not keep the team up last season and he departed Turf Moor after their relegation was confirmed.
Parker is highly regarded at West Ham from his four years as a player at the club.
Having emerged at Charlton Athletic, and endured an unsuccessful move to Chelsea in 2004, he joined the Hammers from Newcastle United in June 2007, for a fee of £7m.
Parker went on to make 129 appearances in claret and blue, scoring 12 goals. He also won the club’s player of the year award three seasons in a row.
In 2010-11, despite the Hammers’ relegation from the Premier League, Parker also won the Football Writers’ Association footballer of the year award and was nominated for the Professional Footballers’ Association player of the year.
He started the first four Championship matches of West Ham’s 2011–12 campaign, but handed in a transfer request after a bid came in from Tottenham Hotspur.
Parker completed a move to Spurs in order to further his England career, and he went on to be part of Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2012 squad.
He later played for Fulham, before retiring in June 2017.
Palestinian Americans in the occupied West Bank are putting up US flags, razor wires and metal fences at their homes to fend off pogroms by Israeli settlers and soldiers.
Published On 3 Nov 20263 Nov 2026
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What does it mean when a Sunset Strip hotel installs a white pool table with gold balls and puts a swing set on the roof?
It means that Ian Schrager, the New York lifestyle entrepreneur who co-founded Studio 54, is again reaching west to try some new ideas.
Ian Schrager shows off the rooftop of the Public West Hollywood.
This time, his new hotel property is known as the Public West Hollywood. It opened Oct. 30, occupying the same 1962 building that was home to the Standard Hotel from 1999 to 2021.
Though rates start at about $450, Schrager said he is guided by the idea of “luxury for all.” The hotel, which also goes by PUBLIC, includes 137 guest rooms and suites and plenty of cultural and health-and-wellness programming, including Pilates, sound baths and DJs. There’s a bakery/coffee shop, a lobby bar and restaurant, a poolside scene festooned with greenery. There’s a small club called Studio with black velvet walls and six Renaissance portrait “paintings” in ornate frames. (If you watch those portraits carefully, you may see their expressions change.)
And then there’s the roof.
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1. The hotel’s rooftop pool. 2. Schrager opened the hotel’s roof up as a 14,000-square-foot park-like area. 3. A swing set on the rooftop terrace, which non-hotel guests can access with a $35 day pass.
Faced with a snug property that has already been declared a protected local cultural resource, Schrager persuaded West Hollywood officials to let him reinforce some walls and open the hotel’s roof up as a 14,000-square-foot park-like area for up to 400 guests. Surfaced with artificial turf and pebbles, it has a swing set, firepits, picnic tables, a running track, a bar, a 30-foot-wide screen for movies and panoramic views of the Hollywood Hills and city skyline. (Non-hotel guests can access the area until 5 p.m. by buying a $35 day pass.)
“Approximately 75% of the public space in the hotel is outdoors,” Schrager said. “We feel that’s just the right thing to do when you’re in Southern California. It brought another dimension to the hotel.”
Yet Schrager confessed that he’s still not exactly sure how that will work.
“We never know how people are going to use the space,” Schrager said. “We do the best we can … and then we make adjustments.”
The hotel’s lobby bar and restaurant.
There’s luminous LED lighting in public rooms.
The Public’s building, a three-story structure by Midcentury Modernist architect Herbert R. Kameon, opened as the Thunderbird Inn and featured wave-shaped balcony walls, which remain. Later it became the Hollywood Sunset Hotel, then the Golden Crest retirement home. Its profile grew when the Standard Hotel, a venture by André Balazs, opened in 1999 and raised eyebrows with its upside-down sign, a DJ booth next to the front desk, a poolside deck covered in blue artificial turf and (as shown in a 2000 episode of “Sex and the City”) a glass box in its lobby, which often contained models and actors in provocative poses. After the Standard shut down, the building fell idle for years.
Its new incarnation features design contributions from Schrager and British minimalist designer John Pawson and departs from upscale boutique hotel tradition in several ways.
The lobby floor is white, the furniture supplying pops of blue, green and red. The front desk is a trio of pink podiums (one for self-check-in, two to be staffed). The luminous LED lighting in public rooms and corridors hints at a UFO arrival and pays homage to artists James Turrell and Dan Flavin. Room service is limited because, Schrager said, the cost of delivering a soft-boiled egg to someone’s room makes no sense for anyone anymore.
“I think really what’s important is that everybody who is working at the hotel is personable, is friendly, is charming and genuinely interested in being helpful,” Schrager said. “I think that’s more important than the gold buttons, gold epaulets and all the other accoutrements.”
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1. Gold pool table balls. 2. Plants fill the restaurant.
As much as he loves coming up with design ideas, Schrager said, most are “a little bit like the special effects in a movie. They can make a good movie better, but they can’t make a bad movie good.”
In the Public Hotel’s guest rooms, almost everything is white and there are no visible TVs. Instead, each room has a bench housing an angled projector. Click your remote control and you have an 11-foot-wide image on a white wall — a sort of private screening room.
“I couldn’t bear to have a big, black ugly TV on the wall in my pristine hotel room,” Schrager said, adding that “it’s going to change the industry. Everyone’s going to do that and get rid of the television because it just makes sense.”
Schrager, 80, speaks with a thick Brooklyn accent. He won wide attention as co-owner of the New York night club Studio 54, which opened in April 1977, nearly 50 years ago. Though it lasted just under three years, that scene became an emblem of its era, but it ended poorly for Schrager. In 1980, he was convicted of tax evasion and served about a year in federal prison. In 2017 — after reinventing himself as a hotelier, achieving sustained success and expressing remorse — he was pardoned in 2017 by President Obama.
“I wanted it for my family,” Schrager told the New York Times. “It’s hard to be a good example for your kids when you did something like what I did, and you try to teach your kids to live by the rules and be an upstanding person.”
Schrager’s rise in the hotel business was steep. In 1984, he and business partner Steve Rubell opened Morgans Hotel, a pioneer in the “boutique hotel” category. Soon Schrager and Rubell expanded Morgans Hotel Group to include the Royalton and Paramount hotels in Manhattan and the redesigned Mondrian (now known as the Valorian) in Los Angeles. After selling his interest in Morgans Hotel Group, Schrager teamed with Marriott International to build that company’s Edition brand, including the Edition hotel that has been in business on Sunset in West Hollywood since 2019.
Lobby pool table, the Public West Hollywood hotel.
With the Public in WeHo, Schrager is building yet another brand, one which already includes New York’s Public Hotel (opened in 2017). Schrager’s partner in Public Hotels is Highgate Hotels, a New York-based global hotel that is handling financing and management while Schrager focuses on “branding, marketing and creating the vibe.” If all goes to plan, Schrager said, Public will soon open three more hotels in Manhattan, the first within 18 months.
But first, he needs to help introduce the Public to West Hollywood. In the run-up to opening, the New York-based Schrager said, he’s been visiting L.A. weekly for the last few months.
And since his own hotel was unfinished, where has he been sleeping?
“I hate to say this. The Four Seasons.”
West Ham United have sacked head coach Nuno Espirito Santo after their disappointing start to the Championship season.
The 52-year-old has been in charge since September 2025 and oversaw the Hammers’ relegation from the Premier League last season.
Widely seen as favourites for automatic promotion, the London side are currently eighth in the table, six points behind leaders Middlesbrough.
They have won two of their last six games and have lost back-to-back home matches – a 3-2 loss to Southampton and a 3-1 defeat to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
Assistant head coach Rui Pedro Silva and goalkeeper coach Rui Barbosa have also left the club.
Mark Noble, Steve Potts and Gerard Prenderville will take temporary charge of the side for their Championship trip to Cardiff City on Wednesday night.
“Following a thorough review of the start to the EFL Championship season, the board of directors believe that a change is necessary at this time in order to ensure that the club’s objectives and expectations remain on track,” a West Ham United statement read.
“West Ham United would like to thank Nuno, Rui and Rui for their hard work and commitment during their time at the Club, and wish them all the very best for the future.
“The process of recruiting a new head coach is already under way.”
More to follow.
More to follow.
The election night highs for Palestinian citizens of Israel – Arab-led parties won a record 19 seats – turned into a week of delegitimising rhetoric from Israeli politicians.
Nearly 840,000 people voted for Ra’am and the Joint List, a 64 percent increase on 2022, and adding them to opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc would give an anti-Netanyahu coalition 67 seats; without them, only a unity deal between the main Zionist blocs or another election is possible.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud alleged the election had been “stolen” by Palestinian parties with unproven claims of Qatari financing. Qatar denied such accusations, as police sources told The Times of Israel that there was no evidence of widespread fraud. By Sunday, election committee chairman Noam Sohlberg declared the election “conducted properly”.
However, the rhetoric delegitimising the Palestinian vote is now being reflected in the coalition negotiations under way. Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party, has ruled out Palestinian partners, and Eisenkot has presented four conditions for anyone joining his coalition that would be anathema to the Palestinian parties, including recognising Israel as “a Jewish, democratic, liberal, and egalitarian state”, and mandatory national service for all citizens, including Palestinians.
However, Palestinian politicians continue to express a willingness to back an Eisenkot government from outside – if only to enable the departure of Netanyahu and the far right. Meanwhile, thousands rallied in Tel Aviv for a coalition that includes the parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel.
While the Israeli electorate was consumed by the election’s unclear results, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank continued enduring a variety of sieges, most prominently in Hebron. By October 29, Al Jazeera’s data unit counted 10 entrances sealed and about 5,000 people displaced. The city saw at least 120 arrests and 13 businesses demolished by Friday, when the army also blew up the homes of two men it blamed for an attack. Palestinian officials accused the government of using the operation to win settler votes; no Israeli official has said so outright.
On November 2, Governor Khaled Dudin announced the army had withdrawn from Hebron, and that displaced families could return. The Jerusalem Post reported that the army’s chief of staff recommended leaving Hebron before the election, but that Netanyahu refused.
But even with the operation over, the damage remains following more than 120 arrests and daily economic losses the governor put at 10 million to 12 million shekels ($3.2m to $3.8m) in a city responsible for about 40 percent of Palestinian industrial output.
But Hebron was only the largest of many closures that continue to plague the West Bank. In Masafer Yatta, at least 12 villages were cut off, and the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that forces detained 10 teachers from the Jinba school on Sunday.
Yousef Shanaran – who has been besieged in his home with his family in Wadi Rakhim for four weeks now – told Al Jazeera on Monday that settlers have now poisoned the well outside his family home, which the family already was unable to access for days at a time due to the siege. “No water, no food, nothing at all I’ve got,” he said. “Nobody is allowed to bring anything to us.”
These sieges continue as settlers, and increasingly Israeli forces, disrupt the olive harvest across the West Bank. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented 397 settler attacks causing casualties or damage in the first 26 days of October – a monthly high since OCHA began tracking such incidents in 2006.
Across villages, a familiar pattern has emerged: settlers attack pickers, the army declares a closed military zone and orders the farmers out, and the harvest is lost.
Amid reports of detentions and deportations of solidarity activists who came to the West Bank to assist in the olive harvest in recent days, activists accused settlers of assaulting three activist journalists at Umm al-Khair, and Israel revoked Brad Lander’s travel authorisation after he was detained while harvesting olives two weeks ago.
In Gaza, attacks continued on a daily basis as the UN human rights office warned on October 30 that Palestinians are being pushed into an ever smaller area, calling the “Yellow Line” a “kill zone” that is moving westward.
By November 2, the Ministry of Health put the death toll since last year’s ceasefire at 1,593. Sunday was the deadliest day of the week, with at least eight killed. Among those reported killed over the past week:
Israeli authorities claimed many of those killed this week were Hamas fighters, though no evidence was provided. Among those were Diaa Abu al-Rous, killed north of Nuseirat on Saturday, and Mohammed Qudeih, killed in a strike on a tent in Khan Younis the same day, who the military claimed were members of Hamas’s Nukhba Forces; Palestinian reports describe Abu al-Rous as a teacher.
Such killings take place with winter closing in and humanitarian conditions struggling to improve: two infant girls died of burns in a tent fire in al-Mawasi on Friday, and the shelter picture is dire, with Gaza’s Social Development Ministry saying about 200,000 tents are needed, yet only dozens have arrived due to Israeli entry restrictions.
With no hospitals in Gaza fully functioning, the Red Crescent warned on Monday that the health system is at risk of collapse after 26 hospitals went out of service – with fuel shortages threatening the remaining facilities.
Israel has revoked travel authorisation for US Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander after he was detained while harvesting olives with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank last week.
Published On 29 Oct 202629 Oct 2026
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Israeli forces and settlers have escalated pogroms and raids across the occupied West Bank, attacking and injuring Palestinians, restricting their movement, carrying out arrests and demolishing homes.
This comes as a military offensive and siege on the Hebron governorate entered its seventh day – an operation that has displaced or besieged hundreds of Palestinian families and kept tens of thousands of students out of classrooms.
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In the Qalandiya refugee camp just north of occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli forces carried out a raid that triggered clashes on Thursday. Two children were wounded, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said.
It said its teams treated a 15-year-old boy who was shot with live ammunition in both legs, and a child, aged 12, who was injured by live-bullet fragments. Both were taken to hospital.
In a separate incident, Israeli soldiers and settlers beat disabled Palestinian Mohammad Ahmad Ayesh Thawabta in the village of al-Maniya, southeast of Bethlehem, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
In the northern West Bank, Israeli forces detained 13 Palestinians, including three brothers, in raids before dawn on Thursday, the Palestinian Prisoners Media Office and local sources said. Most of the raids were in the Nablus governorate, where soldiers searched homes and harassed families.
Hebron offensive
In Hebron, Israeli forces continued raids and closures that began last week after two Israeli soldiers were killed in a gun attack. Both Palestinian suspects were also killed.
Hebron Governor Khaled Dudin said on Thursday that 537 families, comprising 3,361 people, have been forced from their homes, Wafa reported.
They include 232 infants, 326 older people, 147 pregnant or breastfeeding women and 213 people with chronic illnesses. Municipal figures put the total number affected, including those under siege, at about 5,000 people from 780 families.
Dudin said the offensive has disrupted education for about 262,000 students across 589 schools in the governorate this week, forcing schools to move to remote learning. Officials estimated daily economic losses at 10 million to 12 million shekels ($3.2m to $3.9m).
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said Israeli forces detained 110 Palestinians in the governorate from Friday to Wednesday. Soldiers beat two men in Dura and Wad al-Saman and arrested two brothers while they were ploughing their land east of Yatta, it said. Israeli forces also raided homes in Taffuh and Halhul, and settlers attacked vehicles at the city’s closed northern entrance, it added.
In nearby Masafer Yatta, armed settlers attacked US journalist Jasper Nathaniel and two activists in the village of Umm al-Khair on Wednesday. Russian activist Adele Shoko said on X that the settlers beat and threatened them and stole their equipment and Nathaniel was pepper-sprayed and arrested.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Israeli forces are still operating in Hebron, blocking access and imposing tight restrictions on movement across the governorate.
They are “disrupting Palestinians’ access to livelihoods, education and healthcare. Most displaced families are staying with relatives,” OCHA said, calling for the prevention of further forced displacements and demolitions.
Israeli forces also demolished memorials to Palestinians in several parts of the Hebron governorate on Thursday. In Dura, south of Hebron city, soldiers fired a heavy barrage of tear gas before bulldozing a mural bearing the images of several of the town’s dead, including Bajis Abu Atwan, who was killed in the 1970s.
The targeting of memorials “appears to be a new pattern recently adopted by Israeli forces across all West Bank governorates – though at a higher rate here in Hebron”, Al Jazeera’s Muntasir Nassar said, reporting from Dura.
Israeli military and settler attacks across the West Bank have intensified since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023.
Video footage posted online showed several men, some of them armed, beating Nathaniel and Andrey X.
Published On 29 Oct 202629 Oct 2026
Russian activist Adele Shoko has said that Israeli settlers attacked her alongside two of her colleagues in the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair, in the Masafer Yatta area of the occupied West Bank, according to social media posts.
Shoko said on social media platform X that she, US journalist Jasper Nathaniel, and Israeli-Russian activist Andrey X were beaten and threatened by armed settlers who stole equipment and personal items.
“Jasper and I were also beaten. Jasper was then pepper-sprayed and arrested,” Shoko wrote, adding that Nathaniel was taken away by Israeli forces.
Shoko said Andrey X suffered a concussion and lost consciousness multiple times during the incident before being detained by authorities.
“Andrey was severely beaten and lost consciousness several times in front of police. Despite this, he was denied hospital treatment. He was put in an ambulance – but instead of being taken to hospital, he was taken to a police station. He is still there, arrested and being denied medical care,” she wrote.
Video footage Shoko posted online showed several men, some of them armed, beating Nathaniel and Andrey X. Further video showed Israeli authorities leading away Nathaniel while he shouted that he had just been beaten up.
The assault follows an October 16 incident in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, where masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers harvesting olives, setting trees on fire and throwing stones using slingshots.
Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, who was covering the attack, was beaten, robbed, and hospitalised, while a Palestinian man was shot in the leg by Israeli soldiers who arrived on the scene and fired live ammunition and tear gas.
Levine, who was wearing a protective vest marked “PRESS”, said settlers repeatedly kicked and beat her on the ground before stealing her passport, phone, and camera equipment. Washington Post Executive Editor Matt Murray condemned the “unwarranted attack on a journalist doing her job”, while several US lawmakers called for an investigation and an end to settler violence in the region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told the leaders of dozens of African nations that Moscow was their best partner, accusing the ‘colonial’ West of still trying to exploit the continent’s resources. The Kremlin is hosting a two-day Russia-Africa Summit.
Published On 28 Oct 202628 Oct 2026
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BIANCA Censori did not hold back when she straddled husband Kanye West in a sparkly bodysuit, before he performed to thousands of fans.
The rapper’s Aussie wife, 31, is known for flashing the flesh and her latest sexy look did not disappoint.
At the weekend Bianca was in Jakarta, Indonesia to support her husband in concert.
Before the Golddigger hitmaker went on stage at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, his wife made sure to give him a send off.
In the saucy snap, Kanye could be seen dressed in a white jumpsuit and mask, that he has been wearing on his current Ye Live Concert Tour, whilst Bianca straddled him.
The model is almost climbing her man whilst wearing a skintight sparkly bodysuit, in the pic posted on her Instagram Stories.
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She later posted another photo of her very sparkly, tight ensemble.
Bianca is famous for her provocative looks, with her nude dress at the 2025 Grammys being the most famous.
While her revealing wardrobe choices might raise eyebrows, the Australia-native feels there’s nothing X-rated about it.
She told Vanity Fair: “That, to me, is basically not nudity.”
Further explaining how she viewed her nudity as art work, she added: “I had an obvious obsession with nudity.
“I was naked everywhere. I didn’t detach with it at any point.
“I consistently showed the same imagery over and over and over again. I live my artwork.”
Bianca and Kanye tied the knot in a private ceremony in California in 2022, shortly after the rapper finalized his divorce from Kim Kardashian.
THE thespians who frequent the Garrick Theatre in London’s West End are more used to seeing the likes of Richard E. Grant and Christine Baranski tread the boards than a dwarf bouncing around inside a giant balloon.
That’s their loss though, because the families packing the venue off Leicester Square were hooting with laughter at the launch of Cirque Bererk last week – a theatre-circus spectacular with more than 30 performers that is running throughout October half term.
And Sun Club members can get an extra 10 per cent off if they book their tickets through London Theatre Direct, when booking via our Sun Club Promo page.
To get your tickets, sign up to Sun Club for for £1.99 a month then head to the Sun Club Offers hub and London Theatre Direct page or click here.
It was quite something to see a group of acts usually found in big tops showcasing their talents in a old-fashioned London theatre.
Despite the smaller stage, we witnessed acrobats spinning from their mouths, men doing the limbo under poles of burning fire, motorbikes racing round a metal cage and a mesmerising quad of dancers in LED armour.
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While there was a lack of a thread between most of the acts that left it feeling slightly disjointed, you can be sure the children in the audience didn’t notice it.
Despite the age of the kids ranging from around three years old upwards (although age guidance is age five-plus), their concentration was held throughout the show – even though it was long enough to merit an interval.
Of course they were – who doesn’t want to see performers juggling fire and shooting arrows through objects onstage?
This was also in no small part thanks to the man from the aforementioned balloon, who took on the role of a modern ringmaster.
Fans of Zippos Circus, who produce Cirque Beserk, may recognise him from Zippos travelling shows.
With a grin wide enough to light up any stage, he tied all of the acts together alongside a comedy robot, in a style akin to an entry-level Cirque De Soleil.
Which is essentially what this show is, a great starter show for families that is a wonderful way to introduce kids to the magic of both the circus and London’s West End.
Cirque Beserk runs every day until October 31, with tickets from £28.
Israel says it will close all land crossings with the occupied West Bank when it holds a general election on Tuesday.
Published On 25 Oct 202625 Oct 2026
Israel has said it will close all land crossings with the occupied West Bank on the day of its general election next week.
The Israeli army said in a statement early on Sunday that it would bar Palestinian workers from entering most areas of the West Bank from Sunday through Monday, and a full closure of crossings into and out of the territory will be enforced on Tuesday, the day of the Israeli vote.
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The announcement comes a day after Israeli army imposed a lockdown in Hebron and displaced thousands of Palestinians from their homes.
It has conducted hundreds of raids since Friday’s attack by two Palestinian gunmen on an Israeli army reserve base, which killed two Israeli soldiers. The two Palestinians were also killed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a “full lockdown” of the occupied West Bank following the attack, while Defence Minister Israel Katz confirmed that “about 2,000” people had been displaced.
“They will not be allowed to return to their neighbourhood until we’ve finished dealing with all the Hamas issues in Hebron,” Katz said in an interview with public broadcaster Kan.
Hebron’s Mayor Yousef al-Ja’bari told Al Jazeera that the city of Hebron and several neighbouring villages were under a complete blockade.
He also said on Saturday that 2,200 people had been forced from their homes by Israeli troops and raids.
![Israeli machinery demolishes a Palestinian house in Hebron in the occupied West Bank on October 23, 2026 [Mussa Qawasma/Reuters]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2026-10-23T132856Z_1299398986_RC209OAEYEEN_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-HEBRON-SETTLERS-1792910159.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, has called for international pressure on Israel to protect Hebron’s residents, who said soldiers announced forced evacuation orders over loudspeakers late at night, leaving them with no time to prepare and few places to go.
The PA called Israel’s actions “collective punishment”, citing the demolition of homes, forced displacement of entire neighbourhoods, and the “closure and siege of Palestinian cities”.
About 200,000 Palestinians live in the city of Hebron, and a further 600,000 in Hebron governorate, making it the West Bank’s most populous area.
The Israeli military has said the operation will last several days.
But Netanyahu suggested bigger action was coming, saying he was planning an operation on a scale not seen since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving prime minister, is facing a tight race for a new term in Tuesday’s vote, and analysts say he is trying to capitalise on ongoing regional military conflicts and national security fears to anchor his re-election campaign.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said about 2,000 residents had been displaced by the operation, which has led to at least one whole street appearing to have been flattened, according to footage shared online.
Even before the entry and exit bans on workers were announced by the IDF on Sunday, the military had cordoned off the city, heavily restricting the movement of its 200,000 residents.
It is common for Israeli forces to demolish the homes of Palestinians who are suspected of carrying out attacks on Israelis in the West Bank – a practice Israeli rights groups have criticised as collective punishment.
Friday’s shooting came during a tense time for the region, just days ahead of Israel’s election taking place on Tuesday.
In an interview with Israel’s i24 television channel released on Saturday, Netanyahu threatened a “very big surprise” for the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the territory.
Hebron Mayor Youssef al-Jaabari said the operation was being “driven by the elections” and that Netanyahu and his ministers were attempting to secure the votes of the far right and the settlers.
On Saturday, thousands gathered in Tel Aviv for a large anti-government demonstration.
The protest was organised by the October Council, a group founded by the families of victims and hostages taken by militants on 7 October 2023, to demand accountability for the failure to prevent the Hamas-led attack.
“Three days before the election, we will hold the culminating event marking three years of struggle to uncover the truth, demand accountability, and establish a state commission of inquiry,” the October Council wrote on X ahead of the rally.
The gathering saw the participation of the leaders of the four main opposition parties, including Gadi Eisenkot, the former military chief of staff who is neck and neck with Netanyahu.
Maisie Symonds scores a “goal of the season” contender to help Brighton beat West Ham 3-0, securing just their second league win of the season in the Women’s Super League.
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Palestinians in Hebron are ‘living in fear’ with the city closed, while Israeli forces arrest dozens across West Bank.
Israel has imposed a lockdown and displaced thousands of Palestinians from their homes in Hebron, as the military conducts raids in the occupied West Bank following the deaths of two Israeli soldiers.
This comes as the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Saturday called for international pressure on Israel to protect Hebron’s residents, who said soldiers announced evacuation orders over loudspeakers late at night, leaving them with no time to prepare and few places to move to.
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Hebron’s mayor Yousef al-Ja’bari told Al Jazeera that 2,200 people had been forced from their homes as hundreds of Israeli raids took place since Friday’s attack by two Palestinian gunmen on an Israeli army reserve base. The two Palestinians were killed, as well as the two Israeli soldiers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then ordered a “full lockdown” of the West Bank following the attack.
Mayor al-Ja’bari said on Saturday that Hebron residents can neither enter nor leave the city.
Israeli soldiers also fired a stun grenade at Al Jazeera journalists near the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint in Hebron, as they documented an Israeli operation to bulldoze homes and vehicles in the area.
The Israeli military carried out raids across at least 15 areas of the occupied West Bank on Saturday, Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground reported.
Those targeted include Jenin and Nablus in the north; Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Birzeit, and occupied East Jerusalem in the centre; and Bethlehem in the south.
Israeli forces have arrested about 70 Palestinians in raids across the West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said.
The PA, which governs the West Bank, called Israel’s actions “collective punishment”, citing the demolition of homes, forced displacement of entire neighbourhoods, and the “closure and siege of Palestinian cities”, and urged the international community to intervene, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Meanwhile, Hamas said in a statement that the “campaigns and escalations carried out by the occupation and its criminal settlers against our people will only fuel further outrage”.
Around 200,000 Palestinians live in the city of Hebron itself, and a further 600,000 in Hebron governorate, making it the West Bank’s most populous governorate.
Those 800,000 Palestinians in Hebron governorate are “now under siege, with all entrances and exits closed since morning”, Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist and political analyst based in Hebron, told Al Jazeera.
“Inside the city, there is no safe place for anyone to hide … the city is really in fear,” Amro said.
Israeli politicians are trying to “capitalise” on the attack ahead of parliamentary elections on October 27 , Al Jazeera’s West Bank correspondent Nour Odeh said.
“Netanyahu, his Likud party, and his allies in this right-wing coalition are behind in the polls,” said Odeh, so in response they are “trying to put up a brave front, saying they’re combating Palestinians”.
Just days before Israelis are set to vote, Netanyahu avoided answering whether he planned to dismantle the PA, but said a “big surprise” awaits the organisation.
The Israeli army begins its lockdown and military operations across the West Bank. Around 200 Palestinian families have been forced out of their homes in Hebron. All checkpoints and crossings in the West Bank closed for Palestinians. Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Saleh brings you the latest.
Published On 24 Oct 202624 Oct 2026
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