west

Tulkarem, occupied West Bank – Fawza Awad, a 75-year-old widow, couldn’t hold back her tears as she described the living conditions she has endured since being displaced from the Tulkarem refugee camp in January 2025 – a result of an Israeli military operation that targeted refugee camps in the northern West Bank, forcibly displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homes.

With little money, Fawza and her family found shelter where they could: a small, unfinished house in Tulkarem belonging to her daughter. She currently lives in a portion of the structure alongside her son, his wife, and their child.

The family previously relied on limited financial and food assistance provided by the World Food Programme (WFP), but has not received aid in the past five months.

The UN agency officially announced a 50 percent reduction in the number of food aid recipients in the occupied West Bank in September, citing “critical funding constraints”, the result of reduced funding from international funders. Food needs, conversely, have more than doubled since 2023, when Israel began its genocidal war on Gaza, and increased attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

The WFP noted at the time that approximately 900,000 people in the West Bank are currently suffering from food insecurity.

In a statement given to Al Jazeera, the WFP confirmed that some families had stopped receiving aid before the official announcement in September.

Fawza and her family have been left to fend for themselves. There is no prospect of returning to her old home – she says that the Israeli army has completely demolished the structure, replacing it with a wide road to facilitate the movement of its military vehicles.

She added that one of her sons has been detained by Israel since 2024, while her other sons, who previously worked inside Israel, are now all unemployed.

“I suffer from asthma and high blood pressure, requiring monthly medication that costs at least 200 shekels ($64), an expense no one covers for me. We used to receive modest food aid barely enough for two or three people, but now that has stopped completely,” Fawza told Al Jazeera.

‘Not even bread’

Not far away, in the al-Muwahhad School building in the Thannabeh suburb of Tulkarem, more than 1,000 Palestinians displaced from the Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps are sheltering, having found nowhere else to go and unable to pay rent.

Among them are Rabab Qasim, 47, her husband Talib Abu Sarriya, 72, and their three children. For the second consecutive year, they have been living in a small, 30-square-metre (320sq-foot) room on the ground floor of the school, with no source of income and totally reliant on aid.

For the past three months, the family has received no aid whatsoever following the WFP food assistance cut.

“I suffer from a herniated disc in my back, requiring monthly treatment that costs 300 shekels ($96) – an amount I cannot afford,” Rabab said. “I also need physical therapy, which I have never been able to access because I cannot pay for it. I sleep on a worn-out mattress on the floor; all I wish for is to be able to buy a bed.”

Talib told Al Jazeera that the family are often unable to find bread or a meal, and frequently go to sleep hungry. It’s a far cry from their former life in the Tulkarem refugee camp, where he once owned a small vegetable stall. It was a modest livelihood, but one that gave them enough to get by.

Alone in the struggle

The WFP has blamed increasing Israeli pogroms and forced displacements in the West Bank for devastating livelihoods, deepening hunger, and pushing families into even more severe crises. The latest quarterly food security analysis conducted by the WFP indicates that 76 percent of Palestinian households in the West Bank have experienced a significant decline in income.

According to the analysis, 12 percent of the population has poor food consumption, and one-third of households cannot afford a healthy diet due to rapidly deteriorating economic conditions. Rural areas and the governorates in the southern occupied West Bank have been the hardest hit.

Said al-Amour, 61, a resident of Khirbet al-Rakeez in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, told Al Jazeera that he and his 14-person family haven’t received any assistance from the WFP for the past seven months.

In April 2025, while confronting repeated attacks by settlers on the village, Said says he was shot by a settler. The injury resulted in the amputation of his leg and a permanent disability; he continues to face periodic assaults and beatings whenever he encounters the settlers – part of the ongoing pogrom against Palestinians in the West Bank.

“They are trying to steal our land. I refuse to let them take it, and I will continue to defend it, but I am paying a heavy price. Now, they have cut off the aid I used to receive that helped my family remain steadfast here,” he told Al Jazeera.

Due to the amputation of his leg, al-Amour requires monthly medical treatment costing at least 1,200 shekels ($385), an expense that he cannot afford. He has no source of income other than a few olive trees, which settlers frequently attempt to seize.

Collapse of livelihoods

In cooperation with its partners, the WFP still provides assistance to 200,000 Palestinians in the West Bank through cash transfers, food vouchers, direct food supplies, livelihood programmes, and nutritional services.

However, the WFP told Al Jazeera that it simply does not have the resources to cover the needs of all the families in the West Bank requiring assistance.

“The cessation of aid does not imply that a beneficiary is ineligible; rather, it is a broad decision affecting all current beneficiaries, regardless of the outcome of their individual assessment,” the WFP said. “It is possible that changes may occur, and aid could be reinstated for some beneficiaries; in such cases, they would be contacted and notified via text message.”

Economist and human rights activist Ubai Aboudi told Al Jazeera that the West Bank is facing a humanitarian crisis exacerbated by the loss of the WFP food aid, as well as a financial crisis affecting the Palestinian Authority (PA). Israel has completely withheld the customs revenues it collects on behalf of the PA since May 2025, leaving the authority unable to pay public sector salaries.

Aboudi noted other factors, such as the tens of thousands of Palestinians previously employed in Israel and illegal settlements in the West Bank who have been out of work since October 2023, when Israel stopped giving them work permits.

He also added that Israeli restrictions on Palestinian and international NGOs, including the suspension of registration for 37 international organisations and the closure of some local groups, have further limited the ability to provide humanitarian assistance.

“Around half a million Palestinian families need food assistance, while the actual need may be greater,” Aboudi said. “With aid declining from the World Food Programme and other sources, many families are unable to secure food.”

A bittersweet homecoming — emphasis on the bitter — propels Polish filmmaker Paweł Pawlikowski’s spare, precise drama “Fatherland,” which takes an episode from the life of Nobel Prize-winning German author Thomas Mann and, with the help of some poetic license, creates a story full of simmering anger and sorrow. Only rarely do the dignified characters allow their emotions to come storming out. When they do, though, the sound seems to reverberate, the tumult of the past ringing in our ears.

Like Pawlikowski’s previous two features, “Ida” and “Cold War,” “Fatherland” is a period piece shot in black and white in a boxy 4:3 aspect ratio so that the frame resembles an old photograph, although his images contain no hint of nostalgia. It’s 1949, and the 70-something Mann (Hanns Zischler) has returned to Germany for the first time since fleeing to America 16 years prior. Accompanying him is Erika (Sandra Hüller), his daughter and fellow writer, who begrudgingly serves as interpreter, personal assistant and driver. In addition, she’ll offer her brutally honest thoughts on the flowery speeches he will deliver while being honored for his artistry.

Quickly, they discover that while the war may be over, the bombed-out buildings remain, as do the lingering resentments within Germany, which is controlled by the United States in the west and the Soviets in the east. Thomas, an outspoken critic of Nazism, leading to his exile, believes that his public appearances can unite the country he loves. The cynical Erika knows better, convinced he’s a PR tool for a nation hoping to refurbish its tarnished reputation.

Drawing inspiration from “The Magician,” Colm Tóibín’s fictionalized 2021 Mann biography, Pawlikowski uses this trip as a jumping-off point, introducing real-life individuals who were not present and inventing a new central dynamic. (In truth, Thomas traveled with his wife, not his daughter.) But those creative liberties merely accentuate Pawlikowski’s narrative and thematic aims, which, as in “Ida” and “Cold War” include pairing an intimate story with the larger rumblings of postwar Europe. Thomas and Erika arrive in a Germany torn apart and the ruptures within their family are nearly as tumultuous.

The film is haunted by the specter of Klaus (August Diehl), Erika’s brother, who is actually the first person we see onscreen. In a masterful unbroken shot, Klaus is on the phone from France with his sister, expressing his bottomless anguish. “I don’t believe in anything anymore,” Klaus, who is also a writer, declares. “I can’t remember the last time I felt something.” He’s talking about the fractured Germany, but his depression speaks to something closer to home too. Concerned, Erika encourages Klaus to join them. He declines, but his absence — and a shocking later revelation — informs so much of their journey, personalizing the sense of disrepair Thomas and Erika experience.

Working with his usual cinematographer Łukasz Żal, Pawlikowski prefers a static camera, leaving plenty of headroom above the characters so that they feel entombed by their surroundings. The effect is especially disconcerting as this father and daughter navigate glad-handers and former Nazi collaborators in West Germany who are anxious to bury the past. But Thomas and Erika are no fools, coolly telling off smiling Hitler sympathizers during a tony reception. There has been no more satisfying slap in cinema this year than the one Erika lands on a smug German actor, leading to a wicked punchline that shouldn’t be spoiled.

Such moments of barbed humor are infrequent in “Fatherland,” but Pawlikowski wields them like grenades, shattering the stifling niceties enveloping Thomas and Erika. The Germany of “Fatherland” is one of contradictions, with Erika uncovering letters sent to Thomas’ hotel that savagely accuse him of betraying his country, despite state officials eager to embrace him as a symbol of the nation’s creative and cultural excellence. In contrast to the gorgeous monochrome visuals, this is a land that stinks of complicity and delusion — of opportunists desperate to scramble onto the right side of history. Pawlikowski has said that he keeps returning to the past in his films because addressing our modern ills directly would be too daunting. But whether in Frankfurt or, later, Weimar — where Soviet officials are as keen to canonize Thomas — this father and daughter aren’t simply driving through Germany but taking a tour across fascism’s long shadow, which still darkens the world.

Both leads are exceptional, with Zischler articulating the great writer’s arrogance and willful denial of the inconvenient truths he wants to ignore. As for Hüller, this is another superb performance in a series of them in recent years. Where Thomas is aloof and proud, Erika is prickly and sardonic, excellent tools for protecting a surprisingly fragile heart. Their journey to Germany will heal neither the nation nor the divisions within this family. You can’t go home again and in the case of the characters in “Fatherland,” maybe you shouldn’t try.

Israeli pogroms on Palestinian farmers and their lands during the olive harvest season intensify.

Israeli forces have arrested 36 Palestinians during raids across the occupied West Bank, as attacks on Palestinian farmers and their lands during the olive harvest season ramp up.

In Jenin governorate, Israeli forces raided towns and villages on Thursday, arresting 10 Palestinians, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, citing data from the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.

Israeli forces also raided the town of Tuqu in the Hebron governorate on Thursday and arrested former prisoner Shorok al-Badan, along with five others from other parts of Hebron, according to Wafa.

The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said on Thursday that Israeli forces arrested 14 people in Khirbet Jawaya village of Masafer Yatta in Hebron, while Wafa reported that three other Palestinians were arrested across the Hebron governorate, citing a security source.

In Nablus and Jerusalem, three more Palestinians were arrested during Israeli raids in the village of Burin, the town of Awarta, and the Qalandiya refugee camp.

Attack pattern

The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said it documented 17 pogroms by Israeli forces and settlers on Thursday against Palestinian farmers and their land during the olive harvest.

The incidents were recorded across occupied West Bank governorates, including Hebron, Qalqilya, Nablus, Ramallah and el-Bireh, Jenin and Salfit.

According to the Commission, the attacks included assaults on farmers, preventing them from reaching their land, theft of crops and agricultural equipment, damage and burning of olive trees, as well as arrests, threats at gunpoint and live fire.

The Commission says the pattern represents an escalation in attacks targeting the olive harvest and undermines Palestinians’ ability to access and cultivate their land and maintain their livelihoods.

Israeli attacks on Palestinian farmers garnered international attention and condemnation. US Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander was briefly detained on Wednesday by the Israeli military with a warning while volunteering to help Palestinian farmers harvest olives in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli court releases nine settler suspects over West Bank attacks as investigations into recent assaults continue.

Israel has released nine of the 10 Israeli settler suspects arrested over attacks on a US journalist and European diplomats in the occupied West Bank, placing them under house arrest.

An Israeli court in Jerusalem ordered the release late on Wednesday, according to Honenu, a law firm that represents Israeli settlers.

Israeli police said one suspect remained in custody and that the investigation into the violent incidents was continuing.

Masked settlers were filmed last week assaulting Heidi Levine, a Washington Post photojournalist covering a Palestinian olive harvest who was taken to hospital and underwent surgery on a finger.

In a separate attack earlier this week, masked settlers assaulted French, Belgian and Polish diplomats and a French mayor in another part of the West Bank.

The suspects had been detained after the United States called for a crackdown on settler violence. France, Belgium and Poland also urged Israel to act.

“In the vast majority of attacks against Palestinians, no arrests are made at all,” said Yonatan Kanonich, head of research at the Israeli rights group Yesh Din. “In cases that receive media coverage … the police arrest several settlers and release most of them shortly afterward.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a post on X Thursday that the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory was “out of control”, with Palestinians continuing “to suffer daily attacks by Israeli settlers” and journalists and diplomats also being attacked.

Guterres called for “a credible political path towards lasting peace”.

Separately, the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission on Thursday said it documented 17 West Bank pogroms by Israeli forces and settlers against Palestinian farmers and their land during the olive harvest.

The commission recorded 409 attacks in October, 317 of which were by settlers and 92 by Israeli forces.

Nablus recorded the most attacks, 166, followed by Salfit with 91.

The commission said the attacks included assaults on farmers, preventing them from reaching their land, theft of crops and agricultural equipment, damage and burning of olive trees, as well as arrests, threats at gunpoint and live fire.

Ali Hassan Bazzari from Burqa died of wounds from settler gunfire while picking olives on October 7, the commission reported.

On Thursday, settlers set fire to olive trees near Imatin, east of Qalqilya, while Israeli forces forced farmers to leave and detained a farmer and several of his workers, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Near Yabad, west of Jenin, settlers stole 17 bags of harvested olives and equipment, local sources said.

Citing a local Palestinian official, Wafa reported that around Jenin, Israeli forces closed transport roads and most village gates, preventing farmers from reaching land in Barta’a.

Avanti West Coast research says that more than half of all passengers would like a completely phone-free carriage

Railway boffins claim to have discovered the ‘perfect train journey’ – from dodging boiled eggs and sweaty feet to revealing the best seat on any train. Avanti West Coast research and customer data claims to have revealed the unwritten rules of onboard comfort and which behaviours generate disapproving tuts.

The intercity operator has launched its first Comfort Index to provide a unique insight into what passengers value most during their journey and how it varies across Britain.

Their research said more than two thirds (77%) said they want a window seat, 69% prefer to face forward and 58% want an empty seat beside them. Exactly one in five (20%) would even travel 15 minutes longer to keep it empty, 18% would pay an extra £5 and 22% would sacrifice Wi-Fi.

Another one in five (20%) would even swap their coveted window seat for a little more space. Avanti’s booking data suggests there may be such a thing as the perfect train seat, with Seat 18 in Coach B being the most reserved seat on its Pendolino services.

It was booked 179,685 times between September 2025 – September 2026 and matches passenger preferences of having a window and table.

While those travelling on the West Coast Main Line have similar thoughts about seats, snacks proved controversial with 52% of rail travellers objecting to boiled eggs and 48% to tuna sandwiches being eaten onboard.

They say the famously reserved reputation of British people extends to the carriage environment too, with more than two-thirds (68%) wanting more quiet carriages.

More than half (52%) would even choose a completely phone-free carriage, suggesting that for many Brits, the dream journey might simply be one where nobody makes any noise.

The Index also reveals a generational shift in the unwritten rules of train travel, with Gen Z passengers being more tolerant of video calls. It says 38% think Facetiming onboard is unacceptable compared to almost three quarters (72%) of over-65s.

Sounds of other people’s phones onboard reveals an even bigger generation gap. A huge 88% of over-65s object to TikToks or videos without headphones compared to just 51% of 18-24-year-olds.

Younger passengers are said to place greater emphasis on choice and ‘making the journey their own’. A surprising 62% of 25-34-year-olds say choosing between Standard, Premium and First Class matters during planning compared with 42% of over-65s.

Gen Z are bringing their own comforts onboard too, with one in eight (12%) 18-24-year-olds saying they’d even pack a massage gun. Avanti West Coast say everyone seems to agree on keeping your socks on, as three quarters (75%) say taking them off onboard is unacceptable.

A whopping 70% object to TikToks without headphones and 67% to someone cutting or filing their nails. The study also shows how rail journeys are considered part of the occasion, with 69% of Brits saying their leisure time starts the moment they get onboard.

Between September 2025 – September 2026 Avanti West Coast say their customers drank almost 420,000 cups of breakfast tea and ate 212,000 KitKats.

Beer proved another favourite, with 154,000 Grolsch Pilsners sold, painting a suitably British picture of onboard comfort – a cuppa, something sweet or a cold beer en route. From seating preference and noise tolerance to boiled eggs, the Index shows Brits might never agree on exactly what makes the perfect journey.

Kathryn O’Brien at Avanti West Coast said: “The Comfort Index shows everyone’s definition of comfort varies. While there’s some unspoken rail travel etiquette most seem to agree on, beyond that people have different thoughts on what makes a comfortable journey.

“For some it’s peace and quiet while for others it’s getting work done, enjoying a snack or having space to relax.

“Customers most value the ability to shape their journey around their own needs, whether that’s choosing the perfect seat or enjoying a cup of tea onboard. That’s why we offer our seat picker tool and a range of refreshments in our onboard shop, helping customers to enjoy their trip from the very moment they board.

“By better understanding what matters most to our customers, we can continue to enhance and develop the onboard experience. This includes upgrading Wi-Fi connectivity to make travelling with Avanti West Coast as comfortable as possible for everyone.”

The full Avanti West Coast Comfort Index is available here

NORTH West trolled her mom, Kim Kardashian, in a hilarious post of the reality star sleeping on her birthday.

The 13-year-old gave her famous mom a shoutout for her 46th birthday, but it most likely wasn’t what Kim expected.

In the post, shared to North’s Instagram Stories on Wednesday, the teenager captured a selfie of the mother-daughter pair in what looked like a conference room.

North smiled widely alongside Kim, who had fallen asleep in her chair.

The up-close shot showed Kim with her head tilted back as she slept in full glam.

“Happy birthday @kimkardashian ily,” North wrote above the unflattering photo of the Skims founder.

NECKS LEVEL

North West, 13, sparks uproar as she debuts NECK piercing in new TikTok

The post comes just hours after Kim shared numerous photos of her dramatic Halloween makeover, in which she transformed herself to look like her eldest daughter.

Kim looked identical to her first-born child, whom she shares with her ex, Kanye West, matching North’s style from head to toe.

The model was a carbon copy of North, wearing a vibrant blue wig, heavy eye makeup, long black nails, and multiple face and hand piercings.

She even copied the youngster’s signature gothic style of all-black attire and a massive skull necklace.

Fans have repeatedly raised concerns over North’s mature style, especially with her numerous body piercings.

Recently, North debuted her neck, cheek, and thigh piercings, which sparked an uproar on social media, with critics saying she is too young to have them.

However, North and Kim clarified on a livestream earlier this month that the teen’s body piercings were, in fact, fake.

Kim also assured that she’s fine with North expressing herself with piercings, as long as they are fake.

When North teased that she’s considering getting a real bridge piercing one day, Kim made it clear she isn’t on board.

“We can glue on for now,” the actress compromised.

Kim and Kanye are also parents of a daughter, Chicago, 8, and sons Saint, 10, and Psalm, 7.

While they split their time between both parents, who divorced in 2022 after nearly seven years of marriage, Kim has a team of nannies to help when she needs them.

According to her profile in The Times, published earlier this month, Kim employs five nannies, with one on duty at a time while the others rotate.

The magazine also notes that Kim describes herself as an “intermediate-strict parent,” as she does school drop-offs and pick-ups each day, and has dinner with them, despite a nanny always being nearby.

“I’m extremely patient and loving. I still have a kid sleep in my bed when they want. I read books with the kids every night,” she added.

Israeli forces detained U.S. Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander on Wednesday as he helped Palestinian farmers harvest olives in the occupied West Bank, releasing him hours later while dozens of other volunteers, including a group of American rabbis, remained in custody.

The incident was the latest in an annual olive harvest that has been marked by violence between Israeli settlers and Palestinian villagers attempting to gather their crops.

The Israeli military said the farmers and volunteers had failed to seek prior approval for the harvest and were detained “due to the security risk posed by conducting an uncoordinated harvest near an Israeli community.” It later added that it viewed “the arrival of dozens of activists as an act intended solely to provoke, which undermines the harvesting process.”

Lander is running in the U.S. elections on Nov. 3 to represent a heavily Democratic New York district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“The occupation is a crime under international law,” Lander wrote on social media after he was detained. “Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know.”

“These detentions by the IDF are one more attempt to undermine Palestinians’ right to harvest their olive groves, travel on their roads, and live in their homes,” he added in a post after his release.

This year, Palestinians have been required to coordinate with the Israeli military to access more of their privately owned farmland than in previous years. The anti-settlement group Peace Now said last week that the army had expanded by nearly 30% the area of farmland that Palestinians cannot enter without prior approval, to 34 square miles. The Israeli military declined to comment on the exact figures but said Palestinian farmers must coordinate access to areas under Israeli security control.

The detained volunteers were taken to a police facility. Lander was among them but “released after it became known that he was a congressional candidate,” the Israeli police said in a statement.

Israeli rights group Yesh Din and the Palestinian Farmers’ Union have said the 2026 harvest has been the most violent in recent history, with hundreds of reported thefts, clashes and arson attacks.

Much of the violence has unfolded on land outside Palestinian villages, where Palestinians have historically harvested olives and Israeli settlers have increasingly erected outposts without authorization from Israel’s government.

But there were no clashes before Israeli forces arrived Wednesday, according to Beck Strober, a spokesperson for Protect the Harvest, the advocacy group that organized the volunteers at the grove.

Jill Jacobs, one of a dozen American rabbis detained, condemned the Israeli government restricting the ability of Palestinians to harvest freely.

“The Israeli government is actively advancing the forced displacement of Palestinian communities across the West Bank, using its military to deny Palestinians access to their land and intimidate those who stand alongside them,” Jacobs, chief executive of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, said in a statement.

Lander, who was endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, defeated U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman in a primary for New York’s 10th congressional district. The race was viewed as a referendum on the Democratic party’s support for Israel. Both candidates are Jewish and have criticized Israel, but only Lander called the war in Gaza a genocide.

Lander was not the first U.S. politician detained in the West Bank this year. U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, said Israeli forces detained him during a visit in July.

Lander says dozens remain in Israeli custody after being detained while helping Palestinian farmers harvest olives.

United States Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander says he has been released from Israeli military custody with a warning after being detained alongside dozens of volunteers helping Palestinian farmers harvest olives in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.

But several dozen others, including rabbis and international volunteers, remain in detention, according to Lander, who called them to be released immediately.

“I’ve been released from IDF custody with a ‘warning,’ apparently because of my public profile,” Lander wrote on X. “I told them I wasn’t even a congressmember yet, just a nominee.”

Lander, a former New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate, was among approximately 80 volunteers detained by Israeli soldiers and police near the village of Nahalin, outside Bethlehem, according to the Israeli organisation Rabbis for Human Rights.

The group, which included American, Israeli, Palestinian, British and Canadian volunteers, had been accompanying Palestinian farmers for about two hours when Israeli forces arrived and informed them that they were in a closed military zone.

The volunteers were then taken to a police station, according to Rabbis for Human Rights.

The Israeli government has not responded to a request for comment.

DO you love the theatre, gigs and stand-up but the prices make you wince?

You don’t need to spend a fortune though – as there are bags of secret loopholes and clever hacks to experience all sorts of culture, from Shakespearean plays to comedy gigs and arena concerts for virtually nothing.

Before you know it, you could be gushing to your mates about the “must-see” West End musical or cool band you saw – and you don’t even have to bankrupt yourself. Here’s how to get the best deals…

TodayTix

This app lets people book highly discounted last-minute tickets to West End and off-West End shows.

It operates worldwide, so if you are on holiday in New York you could pick up a Broadway bargain, too.

Our reporter saw the hit play The Book of Mormon for a knockdown price in the Big Apple, booking in the morning, and it was problem-free. But we’ve also taken advantage of their “rush tickets” and “digital lotteries”.

Rush tickets go on sale inside the app on the day, usually at 10am, and get you seats for a fraction of the price – typically £25 to £30.

Shows including The Devil Wears Prada and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child are included among the options.

Lottery tickets are picked from a pool – the most famous example is Hamilton, which usually sells out months in advance. People can “win” them for as little as £10.

Our reporter won £10 lottery tickets to see Orlando Bloom get his kit off in Killer Joe in the West End in 2018 via TodayTix – so it really works!

SeatFillers UK

This connects slow-filling productions and gigs with eager audience members… it’s win-win.

Called ‘papering’, it’s a technique theatre producers use to fill empty seats and create buzz.

However, while the app is free and used nationwide – you submit your county and where else you might like to watch things – we can’t actually tell you what could come up for grabs.

Because some audience members will have paid full price for tickets, you’re strictly forbidden from shouting out: “I’ve got a freebie!” so discretion is a must.

Central Tickets

If you can be discreet, then Central Tickets will be perfect for you. Like SeatFillers UK, it’s free to join and it works on the same principle.

You get tickets to gigs, the opera, dance, shows and comedy shows for between £4 and £15. It’s got a 4.9 out of 5 Trustpilot rating with more than 3,000 reviews.

The cash goes towards an admin fee – but they also raise money for NHS Charities Together.

The Audience Club

This costs £5 a year – or is free if you’re a Blue Light Card or Defence Privilege Card holder.

It’s largely London-based, but is perfect if you live in or near the capital or regularly visit and love the arts.

You can browse hundreds of shows, including West End ones. But it also offers quirky, niche plays – great if you love branching out a bit!

ShowFilmFirst

Founded in 2001, don’t let the name fool you – this isn’t just a movie seat-filler platform; they also offer theatre, comedy, music and days out.

Happily, it’s free to join and it’s not just London. You can find offers as far afield as Manchester, Birmingham, Bath, Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leeds, Bristol, Belfast, Nottingham, Brighton, Southampton and even more.

There’s only one catch – afterwards you have to fill out a quick survey… but that’s nothing for a free experience!

My Box Office

You can either choose a lifetime membership for £12.99 or an annual membership for £5. Once signed up, you’re offered seats through papering – usually paying an admin fee of around £1 to £5 per show.

They deliver access to more than 42,000 events, from burlesque to cabaret and even sports.

Tickets For Good

This initiative requires a small booking fee but gives free tickets to major events for NHS staff, contractors, students, teachers, education staff and charity staff.

It also gives tickets to volunteers and people associated with The Ticket Bank – those who might face barriers that make it trickier to access live events, for example, unpaid carers.

It operates across the UK, so people might see anything from West End musicals to stand-up comedy, and UK music festivals to live sporting events.

National Theatre Concessions

London’s National Theatre offers £10 tickets to 16–25-year-olds – and you don’t have to live in the capital. You can book online.

Additionally, every Friday the theatre issues a limited number of “friday rush” tickets for the subsequent week – even for sold-out shows!

With actors like Jodie Comer, Andrew Garfield, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jonny Lee Miller, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Andrew Scott and Hugh Jackman having trod the boards there, bargain tickets are a win.

Royal Shakespeare Company

If you’re Midlands-based, then a trip to Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, might be in order.

The RSC offers £10 tickets for 14–25-year-olds for shows performed there.

The discount is available on its website here. Not Bard going!

Festival ballots and free tickets

Live near a major UK festival? Then check if they run residents’ lotteries for free shows or heavily discounted tickets.

Our reporter snagged free tickets to see Skepta and The Streets thanks to a lotto win in Crystal Palace, London, and bagged cheap tickets to see Blondie, Iggy Pop and Noel Gallagher for the same reason.

But similar schemes exist if you live close in other parts of London, Sheffield, Winchester, Oxon, Dorset and Bucks.

You can similarly volunteer at many festivals and receive free tickets.

Occasionally this offer is emailed directly to local residents, as with above, but bigger charities also offer it for events like Glastonbury.

Writer Becky Pemberton told how her friend watched Glastonbury in 2022 for free, having volunteered.

Meanwhile, she enjoyed the event too as she helped out at a toasted cheese sandwich stand which she found out about through “word of mouth”.

She said: “I worked on a cheese toasty stand and got a free ticket for Glastonbury in 2022 (plus fed during shifts!).

“I did it by Pyramid Stage and saw Billie Eilish and Diana Ross. My friend also volunteered for the charity WaterAid and got in for free too. We’d meet up after our shifts and danced the night away into the early hours without having paid a penny!”

Visit WaterAid here and Oxfam here.

Sit in the audience at massive BBC shows like Strictly

This is all done by a random draw – but you might get lucky!

From Strictly to Bookclub, there are loads on offer and they come up all the time. Crucially, they take place all over the UK, with shows being filmed in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Leeds, London and Margate.

If you fancy your luck visit the Beeb’s site here.

European diplomats and officials were attacked on Saturday amid a surge in settler pogroms across the occupied West Bank in recent weeks, coinciding with olive harvest season.

The settler pogroms have escalated just weeks before Israel heads to the polls on October 27.

The European Union (EU) on Sunday condemned settler attacks on European diplomats and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. A day earlier, a veteran American journalist working for the Washington Post was also brutally attacked.

But this is not the first time Israeli settlers have assaulted foreign officials or prominent Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Here’s a timeline of some of the recent and past attacks:

October 17, 2026

Israeli settlers assaulted European diplomats, including a French mayor, near the Palestinian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank.

The delegation was visiting Palestinian olive harvesters on Saturday when the Israeli attackers confronted the group.

In Saturday’s incident, the settlers targeted Belgium’s consul general, French and Polish diplomats, and Catholic representatives, Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prevot said.

“A French mayor was assaulted and a Belgian vehicle damaged,” Prevot said, linking the incident to Israel’s “illegal settlement policy” and pledging to push for further EU sanctions.

Bernard Baudoux, the French mayor who was assaulted, told the AFP news agency the attack suggests that “there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government” towards settler violence.

Video shared by an activist at the scene, Amit Orfali, shows Baudoux leaning against a vehicle while sitting on the dusty ground. Other clips showed young masked men knocking insistently on a driver’s side window and asking for identification, while other masked men carrying sticks advanced in the distance. Orfali said the masked men “threatened to kill us”.

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called on Israel to arrest the “extremist settlers” who “violently assaulted” Baudoux, and bring them to justice. “They must urgently halt this criminal violence and guarantee the safety of civilian populations, as they are compelled to do under international law,” he said in a post on X.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has, however, appeared to question the reports of the attack on the Europeans, saying on X that they are “alleged” and require “compelling evidence”, despite acknowledging that published footage of the incident exists.

“We take positive note of statements by several Israeli representatives who condemned the attacks,” the EU said in a statement on Sunday. “But we expect full accountability as well as effective measures to prevent continued acts of violence and violent harassment against Palestinians, including during the ongoing olive harvest season, as well as against journalists.”

October 16, 2026

Palestinian farmers harvesting olives and veteran American journalist Heidi Levine, 64, who freelances for the Washington Post, were brutally attacked by settlers.

Levine fell to the ground during the assault before she was set upon, witnesses said. “We looked and saw that there was a journalist … on the ground with people surrounding her, beating her, clubbing her, robbing her, pulling her up, beating her again and kicking her,” Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who witnessed the attack, told Al Jazeera.

Levine later told reporters that her attackers “just kept kicking me and kicking me, like probably 50 times”.

Levine was wearing a protective vest marked “PRESS” on the front and back. Her cameras and phone were taken from her during the assault, the Washington Post reported.

Nathaniel said he and others managed to reach her when the settlers briefly backed away, but she struggled to stand. “She was in very, very bad shape. She couldn’t really get up off the ground,” he said.

As they helped Levine towards paramedics, settlers charged again, throwing more stones, he added. The journalist was eventually taken to a hospital in Ramallah.

Nathaniel said Israeli soldiers arrived after the settler assault and opened fire and used tear gas against Palestinians, shooting a man in the leg. “They do nothing to stop the settlers, and they speed into town and start firing their guns and tear-gassing, and they shoot a Palestinian man in the leg,” he said.

“They’re pointing their guns at the paramedics who are helping him, shoving journalists, including myself,” Nathaniel said, adding that the injured man was eventually taken away in an ambulance.

Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reported that Israeli forces fired live ammunition and tear gas at Palestinians during the attack. After the soldiers left, Palestinians returned to harvesting their olives, Nathaniel added.

Netanyahu’s office has said the facts around the settler attack “remain unclear”, as it offered a conditional condemnation.

“Serious questions remain”, said a post on the official X account of the prime minister’s office, calling for an investigation to “establish the facts, including who initiated the violence”.

October 6, 2026

Israeli settlers beat Palestinian AFP news agency photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh, 58, with rifle butts near Aqraba, south of Nablus. He suffered bruises to his head and torso and was taken by ambulance to a hospital, according to witnesses, his family and fellow journalists cited by AFP.

AFP photographer John Wessels was with Ashtiyeh when the incident occurred.

The news agency reported that a quadbike had raced towards the journalists and a man had opened live fire.

“At least six other people then rushed towards the AFP journalists, firing guns,” AFP reported. “As Ashtiyeh attempted to enter a car, which was clearly marked ‘Press’, two men jumped on him and beat him repeatedly with the butts of their rifles. ‘I could hear his screams,’ said Wessels, who was also threatened at gunpoint.”

While Ashtiyeh is now conscious in a hospital in Nablus, the assailants have taken his camera equipment, according to his colleague Wessels.

The Israeli military has yet to respond to the AFP news agency.

July 11, 2026

United States Congressional Representative Ro Khanna said he and his tour group were detained by rifle-wielding Israeli settlers during a trip to Palestine.

In a post on X, Khanna had accused the Israeli army of supporting the settlers.

“When the [Israeli army] arrived, they sided with the settlers and continued our detention,” Khanna wrote.

Khanna, a Democrat who is considering running for US president in 2028, told the Reuters news agency that “hoodlums … with machine guns” had detained his group a day earlier. “They block off the road. And then they call the [Israeli military] and the [Israeli military] is on their side,” Khanna said.

He added that the settlers were armed with US-made assault rifles.

In an interview with DRM News, Khanna said his experience in the occupied West Bank and Israel was the “first time” he had “really been acutely aware of being brown”.

“I saw the arrogance in the eyes of those settlers. Twenty-one and 22-year-olds with guns, laughing that they had detained us. The arrogance of those young [Israeli army] soldiers that my tax dollars are funding. Having no respect for the fact that they were detaining Americans,” he added.

The Israeli military disputed Khanna’s version of the events, saying that it “dispersed” civilians who were blocking the road.

Israeli officials have, however, ruled out apologising to Khanna or holding the settlers accountable.

Three months after the incident, on Saturday, October 17, Khanna called Netanyahu a “liar” after his office released an October 16 statement on X saying that “serious questions remain” about “who initiated the violence” and other details of the attack on Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine.

“Netanyahu called me a liar when settlers detained me, along with a NYT photographer, in Zanuta this past July,” Khanna wrote. “Netanyahu, you are the liar with the blood of Palestinian children on your hands.”

November 2025

One Canadian and three Italian activists were injured by illegal Israeli settlers in the Ein ad-Duyuk village in the Jericho governorate in the central West Bank, local sources told the Anadolu news agency.

Anadolu reported that settlers had stormed into a Bedouin community where the activists were residing and then assaulted them. Three activists sustained moderate injuries, while one was critically wounded, the news agency said and added that their passports, phones, and belongings were also taken.

July 2025

Palestinian activist and English teacher Awdah Hathaleen, who contributed to the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, was shot and killed on July 28, 2025, in the occupied West Bank village of Umm al-Khair in the Masafer Yatta region.

The beloved 31-year-old activist and father of three fell to the ground as people rushed over to try to help him. Then an ambulance came out of the nearby illegal settlement of Carmel and took him away.

Footage published by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem appears to show the suspect Yinon Levi opening fire on Hathaleen during a confrontation in the village.

Despite the visual evidence and prior sanctions imposed on Levi by both the EU and the United States over past attacks on Palestinians, Israeli authorities released him to house arrest.

US President Donald Trump also removed the penalties against Levi and other settlers accused of extremist violence after assuming office in January 2025.

July 2024

Israeli settlers attacked a group of foreign volunteers helping Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank.

David Hummel, an American-German in the group, told the AFP news agency that eight mainly American volunteers were working with the farmers in an olive grove near the Palestinian village of Qusra when settlers attacked them.

“They started attacking and beating us all with sticks and metal pipes, and they were throwing rocks as well at us,” he said.

“I was attacked on my legs, on my arms and here on my jaw as well and it was … very violent,” he added.

The Israeli army condemned the violence and said its troops were deployed to the scene and had fired warning shots into the air, causing the Israeli settlers to flee the area.

Trump-appointed Ambassador Mike Huckabee calls attack in occupied West Bank a ‘despicable act of terror’.

United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has demanded Israel prosecute and jail those responsible for the attack on Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine in the occupied West Bank.

“Attacking a female photographer is a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards,” Huckabee wrote on X on Saturday.

“Those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend YRS in prison,” he added. “We have called for a full investigation, arrest, and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law to whoever participated in this.”

Levine was covering Palestinians’ annual harvest of olives on Friday in the occupied West Bank when Israeli settlers brutally attacked her and several Palestinians.

Israeli settlers stormed the area, beat her and stole her passport, telephone, wallet and equipment, according to witnesses.

The perpetrators, armed with bottles and slingshots, “were kicking me for like 10 minutes, and I was trying to hold onto my cameras and my bag”, Levine said.

Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who witnessed the attack, told Al Jazeera that Levine “was in very, very bad shape. She couldn’t really get up off the ground.”

Levine, 64, was taken to hospital after the assault in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah.

The American photojournalist underwent surgery on her finger, which was nearly detached from her hand, and was left with a broken rib and multiple broken vertebrae, as well as lacerations, her daughter told The Associated Press news agency.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who wants to shore up his pro-settlement right-wing base ahead of closely fought October 27 elections, claimed on Friday that Palestinians or “far-left” activists may have been responsible for the attack on Levine and other Palestinians.

Huckabee, a staunch ally of Israel who has sharply criticised Israeli settler attacks against Americans, did not identify the culprits as settlers after Netanyahu tried to sow doubt as to their identity.

The ambassador, appointed by US President Donald Trump, met Palestinian-Americans in the occupied West Bank town of Turmus Aya in September to hear locals’ testimony about their experiences with pogroms. In August, Huckabee called a days-long Israeli settler siege an “act of terror”.

The US State Department criticised Friday’s attack using a cautious tone on Levine’s beating, stating condemnation of “criminal violence by any party”.

India reached 118-5 after seven overs with Naman Dhir hitting 24 off six balls before rain forced an end to the game.

India and the West Indies were forced to settle for a 2-2 stalemate in their five-match Twenty20 International series after Saturday’s deciding match lasted just 48 minutes before it met a watery end.

At Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where play began an hour and 45 minutes behind schedule and the match was reduced to nine overs a side, India had reached 118-5 in 7.4 overs when the rain returned, forcing the umpires to call off play with not even a five-overs-a-side shootout possible.

The stadium was hosting its first international fixture since the October 2024 Test match between India and New Zealand and more than 20,000 expectant fans braved the inclement weather.

Their patience was rewarded when India’s batters went on the rampage after being put in by West Indies captain Shai Hope, with Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson and the impressive Naman Dhir – with an unbeaten 24 off six balls – leading the way.

India lashed eight fours and seven sixes in their limited batting stint, with Kishan bringing up the 100th six of the series by swinging Romario Shepherd over long leg and out of the stadium.

But then, the skies opened up again, emphatically washing away any prospect of a decisive outcome.

Several Palestinians have been injured by Israeli settlers, and farmers have been arrested by Israeli forces during Israeli pogroms across the occupied West Bank.

Four women and a child were among six people injured on Saturday when Israeli settlers attacked residents in Ma’in village in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

In the town of Deir Ammar, west of Ramallah, Israeli forces opened fire on farmers picking olives, forcing them to leave their land, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

In the same area, Israeli settlers shot and injured two Palestinians. In the village of Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem, Israeli forces fired on a Palestinian civilian vehicle.

‘Part of campaign’

In the village of Kafr Malek, northeast of Ramallah, settlers raided a farm at dawn and killed about 20 sheep, Mayor Najeh Rustum told Al Jazeera.

He added that Israeli forces had raided the village the previous night as well, firing tear gas canisters that ignited a fire in a house and caused material damage.

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah, said settlers destroyed olive trees across the Beit Furik plain, east of Nablus, in the northern West Bank while Israeli forces arrested landowners and olive pickers.

In the village of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah, she said, settlers under army protection fired live ammunition at farmers in the al-Hariq area to prevent them from completing the harvest and forced them off their land. Settlers also smashed the vehicle of international activist Jonathan Budlak in the village and threw stones at a farmer’s vehicle.

In the village of Burqa near Ramallah, Israeli forces and settlers prevented farmers from picking olives, Odeh said, adding that settlers attacked farmers in the Wadi al-Sha’er area, southeast of Salfit.

“What we see, whether it’s in Beit Furik, Kafr Malek, Deir Jarir or elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, is part of a campaign,” Odeh said.

She said settlers have become increasingly emboldened, publicly advertising attack campaigns on social media platforms.

“There have been 300 documented attacks since the beginning of October, and that has had a devastating impact on a very important season for Palestinian farmers,” she said, adding that danger comes from soldiers and settlers alike as military forces routinely intervene to protect settlers and attack Palestinians defending their land.

Prominent rabbi justifies attacks

The attacks follow a religious edict issued by Rabbi Dov Lior, a prominent rabbi for National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party and a leading authority among the Hilltop Youth, which is a religious Zionist group devoted to seizing Palestinian land in the West Bank.

In the edict, Lior stated that harvesting olives in the Holy Land is entirely permitted and carries an added virtue, given security dangers.

He wrote that Jews are permitted to harvest olives even in areas far from Jewish communities to publicly display ownership of the land and fulfil God’s commandment of conquering it. He claimed the land belongs to the Jewish people and Palestinians did not buy or rent it.

Odeh said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplays pogroms and no concrete action is taken to stop them.

“It is a matter of debate among politicians, but no one is stopping these settlers, whose names, locations and homes are known,” she said, adding that politicians permit the violence to continue because “it is politically expedient” and secures votes before elections on October 27.

Follow updates, including toss and team news, from our live text commentary stream of the series decider.

India host West Indies in the final match of the tour on Saturday with an all-time classic T20 series level at 2-2.

Who: India vs West Indies
What: Twenty20 International cricket series
Where: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, India
When: Saturday, October 17, at 7pm (13:30 GMT)
How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will have all the build-up from 11:30 GMT before our live text commentary stream

India host West Indies in the decisive T20 International series finale on Saturday after one of the most compelling white-ball tours in recent memory.

The five-game series is level at 2-2 before the match in Bengaluru after record-breaking feats by the tourists that have pushed the T20 World Cup holders to the limit.

Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at what has become a must-not-miss showdown.

How did West Indies tour of India begin?

The teams played a three-match One-Day International to begin the white-ball tour, which saw India take an unassailable lead after opening eight-wicket wins in Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati.

After posting a mammoth 351-7 off their 50 overs – thanks largely to KL Rahul’s 129 off 87 balls – in New Chandigarh, India would have felt they had enough on the board to claim the third match, too.

Enter West Indies captain Shai Hope. The opener hit 162 off 143 balls in an unbeaten knock that led his side to a five-wicket win.

It was the West Indies highest ODI run chase.

How did the India-West Indies T20 series begin?

India put the disappointment of the closing defeat in the ODI series behind them by claiming an eight-win win, with 5.2 overs to spare, in the first T20 of the series.

Despite fifties from Hope and Sherfane Rutherford, West Indies were bowled out for 171, with Naman Dhir taking three wickets for the hosts.

Hope then hit an unbeaten 102 off only 45 balls in the second match to lead West Indies to their highest successful Twenty20 run chase.

Hope hit nine sixes and six boundaries as the West Indies finished with 252-4 in reply to India’s 249-5.

India restored their series lead in the third match, but only via a narrow 14-run victory.

After being bowled out off the last ball of their innings, India posted 223 – led by Abhishek Sharma’s 69 off 30 balls.

Arshdeep Singh claimed three wickets as West Indies were restricted to 209-7.

What happened in the last India-West Indies T20?

It was time for the Hope show again in the fourth game of the T20 tour, as the wicketkeeper-batter hit his second century of the series.

The tourists struck 247-3, having been put in, with Hope hitting an unbeaten 102.

His nine sixes and four fours were a record tally for a West Indies batter in a T20 International.

The total was the second-highest first innings score in T20s against India, trailing England’s 257-3 in Southampton this year.

Opener Sanju Samson’s 56 off 23 balls set India off to a good start, but Keemo Paul’s five-wicket haul led West Indies to a 24-run series levelling win.

What did Shai Hope joke about his Player of the Match awards?

Hope joked after the fourth T20 that he was worried he may ⁠have to fork ⁠out excess baggage fees after picking up his third Player of the Match award on their tour of India.

“To be honest, they are a bit heavy, and we have got to look at the luggage weight,” he quipped after the win.

“I think we are going to have some problems going back home.”

Predicted India team lineup

Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (w), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh

Predicted West Indies team lineup

Shai Hope (c and w), Jewel Andrew, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Roston Chase, Shamar Springer, Keemo Paul, Shamar Joseph, Gudakesh Motie

“The Palestinian question is the greatest historical injustice of this century,” China’s foreign minister said.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told Israeli President Isaac Herzog during a meeting in Azerbaijan that Israel should stop and reverse its “forced establishment” of West Bank settlements, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Wang told Herzog that China has consistently viewed the Palestinian question as the greatest historical injustice of this century, the ministry said in the statement on Friday.

Wang emphasised that the “two-state solution” is the right path to a resolution and said the immediate priority is to fully open access to the Gaza Strip so a humanitarian “catastrophe” is not allowed to spread.

Wang added that China is willing to work with the international community to push all parties to return to dialogue as soon as possible and seek a political settlement.

Wang is attending the Seventh Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, held in Baku, Azerbaijan, as the special representative of President Xi Jinping, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported.

China urges new Middle East framework

In September, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Cairo for the first time in a decade and called on Middle East countries to oppose external influence and consider reshaping the region’s security order.

Xi’s rare visit arrived as Beijing seeks to expand its influence in the region amid the US-Israel war on Iran.

The talks covered the US-Israel war on Iran, with both presidents urging “diplomatic solutions” to reach a “comprehensive agreement to end the war”, according to a statement from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s spokesperson.

In March, China criticised the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, with Beijing demanding an immediate halt to the joint attacks. Wang told his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar, that the attack on Iran came as negotiations between Washington and Tehran had “made significant progress, including addressing Israel’s security concerns”, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement following the start of the war.

China was Iran’s largest trading partner, buying up to 90 percent of its oil, according to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. In 2021, Beijing signed a 25-year “comprehensive strategic partnership agreement” with Tehran.

At the same time, Beijing has spent the past decade cultivating closer ties with Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and remains a top trade partner of both the US and Israel.