Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza are paying the price for an election they can’t vote in.

While Israel’s political future dominates headlines, its “full lockdown” of the occupied West Bank and ongoing bombings in Gaza received far less attention. Whatever the outcome of Israel’s election, the result will be the same: more of the occupation, dispossession, and killing that Palestinians saw this week.

Israel killed at least 15 Palestinians, including a 6-year-old girl shot in the neck, in separate incidents across Gaza this week, while simultaneously terrorizing Palestinians, journalists, and activists across the occupied West Bank.

Subscribe now

In Hebron – a total closure of which was ordered after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers – occupation forces forcibly displaced thousands of Palestinians, demolishing homes after giving some families just minutes to collect their belongings.

There, Israeli police also arrested U.S. journalist Jasper Nathaniel and activist Andrey Kharzhanovsky after illegal Israeli settlers attacked them – yes, you read that right.

While Israelis flocked to voting booths to decide who leads the oppression and occupation of Palestinians next, here is what Palestinians who don’t get a vote had to endure this week:

Saturday, Oct. 24 – Hundreds of Families Displaced in Hebron Amid Israeli Lockdown

Read more

Collective punishment.

It’s been Israeli policy for decades.

In the occupied West Bank, we’re witnessing collective punishment in its purest form after the Israeli military said suspected Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers and injured three others near a checkpoint in Hebron on Friday. The suspected assailants were killed in the attack, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a “full lockdown” of the occupied West Bank, with Israeli forces conducting raids, forcibly displacing Palestinian families, and demolishing homes and structures of those who had nothing to do with the shooting.

Subscribe now

Collective punishment is also what we’ve witnessed in Gaza for decades, especially over the last three years. Nearly every day this week, for example, Israel killed a child – sometimes more than one – in Gaza. Some of their names were:

Misk Hazem al-Dalou, 7
Abdul Rahman Khalil Awad, 10
Walid Mohammed Shakshak, 13
Yusuf Salim Abu Ghali, 14
Majd Mohammed Fakhri Hassan, 15

They are among the more than 350 children who have been killed since the so-called “ceasefire” a year ago.

As Israel inflicts collective punishment on Palestinians, the world largely remains silent. Here’s more on what Palestinians were forced to endure during another deadly and troubling week in Palestine:

Saturday, Oct. 17 – Masked Israeli Settlers Attack European Diplomats

Read more

The video is haunting. Little Maryam, surrounded by fire and smoke, crying as she watches her mother burn.

Maryam Ghanem survived, rescued by Palestinian journalist Ali al-Jaafrawi. The toddler is now an orphan. Her father was killed just months before she was born. She continues to ask for her mom.

Maryam herself will forever be haunted by a genocide that she was born into – a genocide that took both of her parents and left her with severe burns. This is the reality children like Maryam face every day as the world continues to stand by as Israel kills, starves, burns.

Subscribe now

Things didn’t look any better in the occupied West Bank this week, where settlers continued their pogroms on Palestinian villages and towns. On Friday, settlers attacked Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest, injuring several, including Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, an American, in another incident caught on video.

How can the world continue to deny the horrors Palestinian endure every day when such images continue to show up on our screens?

Here’s more from another deadly and troubling week in Palestine:

Read more

The word “ceasefire” has lost all meaning.

One year ago, Israel and Hamas agreed to a supposed truce, only for Israel to almost instantly and repeatedly violate it with impunity.

It seems to Israel, “ceasefire” means killing children, firing on breastfeeding mothers, and blocking the entrance of meaningful amounts of aid or any reconstruction materials. To Israel, “ceasefire” means killing journalists, denying children the simple pleasure of flying kites, and striking funeral processions. To Israel, “ceasefire” means killing more than 1,480 Palestinians in one year.

Palestinians cannot mark one year since the so-called “ceasefire” took effect – because there has been no real ceasefire at all.

Subscribe now

Just this week in Gaza, Israel killed over a dozen Palestinians, including children, and issued new forced displacement orders across the Strip. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces and settlers attacked Palestinians trying to harvest their olives, and Israel’s extremist national security minister posted another sick video.

Here’s more on those stories and others from another deadly and troubling week in Palestine:

Saturday, Oct. 3 – Pope Mourns Israeli Attack on Christian Community in Gaza

Read more

Three years of genocide.

Those four words – and the reality they represent – are hard to comprehend.

Of course, we know Israel acts with impunity and the unconditional support of the U.S. and so many Western powers, but how can the world allow a livestreamed genocide to happen – much less enter its fourth year?

Just in Gaza this week, the official death toll reached another grim milestone, as Israeli strikes killed several, including another journalist. Israel’s genocidal actions are not limited to Gaza: Israel’s extremist national security minister threatened to execute a Palestinian prisoner, Israeli settlers carried out more pogroms in the occupied West Bank, and hundreds of Israelis stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Subscribe now

For the next week, Zeteo will publish several essays and interviews as part of our coverage marking three years since the horror of Oct. 7 and the genocide that followed. If you’re not already, consider becoming a paid subscriber to access it all without a paywall.

Now, here’s more on what happened just this week in Palestine:

Saturday, Sept. 26 – Official Death Toll in Gaza Surpasses 74,000

The official death toll in Gaza from Israel’s genocide topped 74,000, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. The death toll is likely much, much higher as thousands of bodies remain under the rubble.

The death toll includes more than 1,400 who have been killed since the so-called “ceasefire” last October.

Sunday, Sept. 27 – Ben-Gvir Threatens Palestinian Prisoner With Death in Video

Read more

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in New York to address the UN General Assembly, he was greeted by a mass walkout inside the hall and mass protests on the streets.

It was yet another sign that the man wanted on war crimes charges is increasingly isolated on the world stage as Palestinians and their supporters prepare to mark three years since Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza began.

Subscribe now

Unfortunately, however, the growing opposition has done nothing to stop Israel from its actions. Just this week, Israeli forces continued to kill children, reportedly dropped “skunk water” on Palestinians in Gaza, and demolished the homes of around 180 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Here’s more on those stories and others from another troubling and deadly week in Palestine:

Saturday, Sept. 19 – Israeli President Pardons Soldier Who Killed Incapacitated Palestinian Attacker

Read more

A child cries as he remains trapped by the rubble of a collapsed building. A Palestinian man holds up a dead child pulled from the wreckage. Palestinian rescue workers use their bare hands to dig to reach those screaming for help. Those were the scenes this week after a war-damaged building collapsed in Gaza City as several Palestinian families slept inside.

At least 12 of the 21 Palestinians who died were children. Rescue operations were complicated by the limited resources Palestinian first responders have to work with because of Israel’s severe restrictions on heavy machinery and other equipment from entering the Strip. The fact that dozens were rescued is purely due to the ingenuity and resilience of Palestinian rescue workers.

Subscribe now

Meanwhile, this week, Israel continued its attacks in Gaza, killing, among others, a 15-year-old boy. In the occupied West Bank, settler attacks continue to intensify, while a leading Israeli think tank issued a rare “strategic alert,” warning “Jewish terrorism” against Palestinians has become “a distinct strategic threat to the State of Israel.” Here’s more on all of those stories and others from another troubling and deadly week in Palestine:

Saturday, Sept. 12 - Pregnant Woman Dies After Being Shot in the Head by Israeli Forces

Read more

School started this week in Gaza. Israel allowed 8-year-old Wafaa Akila to attend class for one day before killing her and her father.

It’s a cruelty that’s hard to comprehend. Two photos shared online are gutting: The first shows Wafaa in her blue uniform giving a thumbs up, happy to be going to school – a brief escape from the genocide that defined her childhood. The second shows her school books in the mangled vehicle in which she was killed.

It was another week defined by Israel’s killing of kids. On the same day Wafaa was murdered, Israel killed another child, Saadi Ghalia, while he slept in a school serving as a shelter for forcibly displaced people. About three days later, Israel killed a mother and father, and their two young daughters, while they too slept.

Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published two bombshell reports on Gaza.

Subscribe now

Here’s more on all of that and other stories from another troubling week in Palestine:

Saturday, Sept. 5 – Huckabee Calls West Bank a ‘Nebulous Term’ While Visiting the West Bank

Read more

As with most weeks, this week in Palestine was so horrific that it was difficult to choose what to include in Zeteo’s weekly round-up of stories out of Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Israeli strikes and gunfire continued to escalate across Gaza, killing multiple Palestinians, including children. As we reported earlier this week, an Israeli raid in Gaza City forced a kindergarten to frantically evacuate hundreds of 4- and 5-year-olds.

Ethnic cleansing was also a theme this week, with Israel’s defense minister reportedly saying the only “real solution” for Gaza was clearing it of Palestinians, and a UN report raising concerns about the forced displacement of entire refugee camps in the occupied West Bank.

Subscribe now

Meanwhile, Israeli settlers continued their rampages across the West Bank, including severely beating an elderly woman.

Here’s more on many of those stories and others from another troubling and deadly week in Palestine:

Saturday, Aug. 29 – Israeli Forces Target Hospital Medicine Warehouse in Gaza

Read more

Children in Gaza can’t even fly kites anymore – without risking their lives.

Israel continues to ensure kids in Gaza have no childhood – whether by killing them, displacing them, wounding them, imprisoning them, and/or starving them, and now by taking away one of the few things that bring them joy. The cruelty is hard to comprehend.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to fly its quadcopters and launch missiles with impunity.

Subscribe now

Just this week, Israeli fire killed at least four children across Gaza and the occupied West Bank: 4-year-olds Hassan al-Hafi and Muhammad Abdel Salam Taha, 10-year-old Amal Nash’at Abu Khater, and 14-year-old Islam Ahmed Ajouri.

Meanwhile, Israeli settlers continued their siege of the Palestinian village of Qusra and their attacks on other areas of the West Bank. Here’s more on those stories and others from another troubling week in Palestine:

Saturday, Aug. 22 – Israeli Settlers ‘Severely Assault’ 15-Year-Old Palestinian

Read more

“We found people in pieces.”

The comment is striking, even if increasingly familiar after nearly three years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

It’s how a witness to Tuesday’s Israeli strike on a Gaza City seaside cafe described to Drop Site the aftermath of an attack that killed at least six people, including a child, and reportedly pushed people nearby into the sea. One victim’s body was so mangled, officials said, they could not immediately identify them.

The strike took place one day after Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Jared Kushner, left the region, failing to make a breakthrough in efforts to implement the next stages of the so-called “ceasefire,” as Israel continues to reject the Trump plan. Unsurprisingly, according to Haaretz, Israeli officials left their meeting with Kushner with an agreement that Israel could continue “targeted” strikes on the enclave.

Subscribe now

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers’ siege of the Palestinian village of Qusra continued; Israeli settler leaders pledged to return to Gaza; and a Palestinian teen was killed in a settler raid in Khirbet Hamroush.

Here’s more on those stories and others from another deadly and troubling week in Palestine:

Saturday, Aug. 15 – Gaza Oxygen Facilities Operating Beyond Capacity Amid Israeli Restrictions

Read more

US Ambassador Mike Huckabee called settlers besieging a Palestinian American home in the occupied West Bank “Israeli terrorists.” It’s a welcome, rare rebuke from a U.S. official, but what kind of weight does it really have when the same official has been a long-time supporter of Israeli settlements? It wasn’t that long ago that Huckabee made similar comments about settler violence gripping the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh, where attacks continue, or the settlers who beat Palestinian American Sayfollah Musallet to death (no one has been held accountable).

Subscribe now

What kind of weight do Huckabee’s comments really have when, hours after using the phrase “Israeli terrorists,” he called the settlers “illegal trespassers” instead? Or when he defended the vast majority of settlers, saying they aren’t the problem, the “unsettlers” are, even though the settlements themselves are illegal under international law? It’s nice for officials to call attention to what Palestinians and their supporters have been decrying for years, but it rings hollow when nothing of substance is actually done to hold Israel accountable.

Just this week, Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, Israel killed a 13-year-old girl by reportedly shooting her as she memorized the Quran, and an Israeli official said the bodies of Palestinians should be held as bargaining chips.

Here’s more on all those stories and other things that happened during another troubling week in Palestine:

Saturday, Aug. 8 – Israeli Forces Shoot 13-Year-Old Girl as She ‘Memorized the Quran’

Read more

300 Palestinian children killed in 300 days. That’s one child killed on average every day by Israel since the so-called “ceasefire” took effect last October, according to UNICEF. As we’ve asked over and over again: What ceasefire?

What ceasefire, when Israel kills over 30 Palestinians in the days after U.S. President Donald Trump claims a breakthrough in talks to implement the truce.

Subscribe now

What ceasefire, when Israel destroys medicines… medicines without the world batting an eye?

This is Palestine, where Israel’s genocide continues unabated, where Israeli settlers continue to rampage through West Bank villages with impunity. Here’s just a small glimpse of what happened during another troubling week in Palestine:

Saturday, Aug. 1 – Israeli Forces Destroy Gaza Medical Supply Warehouses

Read more

Join Mehdi, Zeteo contributor Diana Buttu, Palestinian organizer and activist Fadi Quran, and independent journalist Jasper Nathaniel for a LIVE Town Hall on Monday at 1pm ET / 10am PT (6pm BST), as Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank hits an all-time high. They’ll describe what things look like on the ground, and take your questions.

Paid subscribers can find the link to register at the bottom of this email. If you’re not already one, become a paid Zeteo subscriber today to join the Town Hall, read all of ‘This Week in Palestine,’ and get access to all Zeteo content.

Subscribe now

In the week after four Palestinians and two Israelis were killed during an Israeli settler attack in the occupied West Bank village of Tal, settler violence and Israel’s crackdown on Palestinians have only escalated.

Settlers stole and vandalized Palestinian property, including a cemetery, set fire to mosques, marched through Palestinian villages, and continue to threaten and attack Palestinians, often while the Israeli military watched on. Instead of holding settlers accountable, Israeli forces raided villages, detained scores of Palestinians, shot and wounded at least one person, and held up an ambulance carrying a bleeding pregnant woman at a checkpoint (the woman ended up suffering a miscarriage).

Subscribe now

Meanwhile, strikes continued in Gaza, even as Donald Trump touted a breakthrough in talks between the so-called “Board of Peace” and Hamas on a disarmament plan that appears to hinge on Israel, which has routinely violated the supposed “ceasefire” for months, actually fulfilling its obligations under the agreement.

Read about all that and more from another troubling week in Palestine:

Read more

Israeli settlers attack; Palestinians get blamed. Israeli settlers kill; Palestinians are arrested. Israeli settlers antagonize and provoke; entire villages and towns are punished.

This week, the occupied West Bank experienced some of the deadliest settler violence this year – culminating in a Friday attack that ended with four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers killed. Palestinians are now facing renewed collective punishment – mass raids are being carried out under the guise of “counter-terror” operations, curfews were put in place, and roads were shut to Palestinian vehicles, including ambulances – while settlers continue their attacks.

“Pogroms against defenseless civilians all over the West Bank, while Gaza is under fire,” UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese tweeted, calling for an arms embargo against Israel.

Subscribe now

The violence will likely only get worse – settlers raid villages under the protection of soldiers, they’re rarely prosecuted, and their illegal outposts are continuously legitimized by Israeli officials.

All the while, Israel continues to pound Gaza, including killing a family of six this week and violating the so-called “ceasefire” in other ways.

Here’s more on those stories and others from another extremely troubling week in Palestine:

Saturday, July 18 – Palestinian Teen Football Player Dies After Being Shot by Israeli Forces

Read more

Palestinians must live their lives on repeat. Israeli strikes – day and night, targeting hospitals, police, and children. Kids lose one parent and then another. Parents cry over the body of a son, and then a daughter. Homes are demolished. Israeli settlers attack Palestinians on their own land – over and over again.

It’s a never-ending cycle – one caught on video, shared online, yet allowed to continue, a cycle that only gets worse.

Subscribe now

A U.S. politician experienced only a small sliver of the kind of violence Palestinians endure every day, only to find himself on the receiving end of the relentless hasbara industry this week. At the same time, more children were killed, a Palestinian family had 30 minutes to collect as many of their belongings as possible before their home was demolished, and Israel targeted a funeral in Gaza.

Here’s more on all of that and much more, as it was another troubling week in Palestine:

Saturday, July 11 – No Justice One Year After Palestinian-American Killed by Settlers – Just Another Attack

Read more

Israel ensures Palestinians get no reprieve. Not while in their makeshift tent homes in Gaza; not as they walk down the street or collect water; not as they fish in the sea. Not if they’re children, just trying to have some semblance of a childhood; not if they’re mothers, trying to keep their kids safe; not if they’re doctors, or medics, or journalists; not if they’re aid workers, known for organizing World Cup screenings or simply doing their job of delivering food assistance.

Subscribe now

This week, Israel appeared to escalate its attacks on Gaza, killing at least two dozen Palestinians, including several children and two aid workers. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli military raids continued, as did settler violence, which is up 560% since 2019 (only 6.6% of cases have resulted in indictments, Haaretz reported this week).

There was a bit of relatively positive news, however, including an emotional reunion on Monday. Here’s more on that, and other things that happened this week in Palestine:

Saturday, July 4 – Israeli Forces Turn Palestinian Home Into Military Post

Israeli forces seized a Palestinian home, forced its owners to flee, and turned it into a military post in the northern West Bank village of Arabouna, Palestinian media reported.

Sunday, July 5 – 4-Month-Old Boy Dies After Israel Blocks Ambulance

Read more

1,000 days. This week marked 1,000 days since Israel’s genocide of Gaza began. 1,000 days of near-daily bombings. 1,000 days of forced displacement, starvation, and a lack of adequate medical care. 1,000 days of the world largely ignoring a genocide broadcast live on our screens, of babies with parts of their skulls blown off, of Israeli soldiers gleefully showing evidence of their war crimes, of people being burned alive, or raped, or tortured.

The truth is, however, the Nakba, the dehumanization have gone on for much longer than 1,000 days. And will likely continue for many more, so long as Israel continues to receive the backing of the U.S. and much of the West.

Subscribe now

On just one day this week: Israel killed at least three children, including little Siwar, who was reportedly just days away from celebrating her first birthday, as well as a footballer in Gaza. Another child was killed while collecting water on Friday. Here’s more on those stories and others from another troubling week in Palestine:

Saturday, June 27 – Arrest Ben-Gvir, Hind Rajab Foundation Urges U.S., Before Far-Right Minister Cancels Trip

Read more

On Tuesday, a UN commission inquiry confirmed what we already knew: Israel is deliberately killing and abusing Palestinian children in its genocide in Gaza.

Not even 24 hours later, Israel killed another child. His name was Ahmed Mohsen al-Raqab.

Ahmed wasn’t the only person Israel killed this week. Raghad Ashour was a high school student. Israel reportedly killed her in a double-tap strike as she walked to take an exam. Maysara Al-Khawaja was a paramedic, killed in another strike in Gaza. And Ahmed Weshah was an Al Jazeera photographer – the 12th Al Jazeera journalist killed by Israel since October 2023. Where is the outrage?

Subscribe now

Where, too, is the outrage over the obvious abuse journalist Mujahid Bani Mufleh suffered while in Israeli custody? It’s difficult to look at the side-by-side photos of Mufleh from before and after his abduction by Israeli forces. But looking at the photos, knowing the names of the people killed, reading the devastating reports, is our obligation – to not only know what Israel continues to do, but to not normalize the killing and abuse.

Here’s more on their stories, and others, from another troubling week in Palestine:

Saturday, June 20 – Israel Kills Al Jazeera Journalist in Gaza

Israel killed Al Jazeera cameraman Ahmed Wishah in a strike on a house in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. He’s the 12th Al Jazeera journalist killed since October 2023, and one of at least 260 Palestinian journalists Israel has killed during its genocide in Gaza.

His killing came just weeks after Israel killed his brother, Mohammed, who also worked for Al Jazeera.

Sunday, June 21 – Israel Arrests Palestinian ‘Doctor of the Poor’

Read more

The video is hard to watch. Little Zeina pleading over her father’s body, “Father, father, my beloved father, come to me…. Why did you leave me? Why?”

Zeina, of course, knows her father didn’t leave her. He and her brother were taken from her by Israel. They were killed while collecting water.

Subscribe now

Zeina’s father, Mohammad Al-Habeel, and her brother, 5-year-old Mousa, are two of the more than 1,000 Palestinians killed since the so-called “ceasefire” agreement last October. “What ceasefire?” as Zeteo contributor Diana Buttu recently asked.

This week also saw more settler violence, including arson attacks on mosques, and another Palestinian child was shot in the face and killed by Israeli forces.

Here’s a brief look at another troubling week in Palestine:

Saturday, June 13 – Israeli settlers steal water pipes, attack Palestinian villages

Read more