Israeli army destroys water pipelines, orders families from homes in occupied West Bank

The Israeli army destroyed water pipelines and detained two Palestinians in separate raids Monday across the occupied West Bank, according to local sources.

Palestinian human rights activist Aref Daraghmeh said Israeli forces destroyed water pipelines in the Atouf and Ras al-Ahmar areas of Tubas governorate. The area has seen months of Israeli operations involving the clearing of agricultural land, damage to water networks and the filling in of artesian wells, causing heavy losses to local farmers, Daraghmeh said.

In the northern Jordan Valley, Israeli forces detained two Palestinian brothers in the Ein al-Hilweh area, local sources told Anadolu.

Separately, troops raided Tell village southwest of Nablus and ordered residents to leave several homes ahead of the planned demolition of a house belonging to Palestinian Farouq Ramadan.

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Ramadan was killed on July 24 during an attack by Israeli occupiers on the village. Local sources said he had disarmed and killed one of the attackers before being shot dead. Three other members of his family were also killed and four Palestinians injured during the attack, according to the sources.

Near Ramallah, Israeli occupiers set fire to agricultural land east of Jaljaliya village before Palestinian civil defence crews brought the blaze under control, the official news agency Wafa reported.

Village council head Osama Nazmi said Israeli occupiers established an outpost in the area about a year ago and seized homes belonging to Palestinians from the nearby town of Al-Mazraa Al-Sharqiya.

Israel advances illegal settlement plan for around 650 housing units: Jerusalem governorate

Israel has advanced plans for a new illegal settlement of around 650 housing units south of Jerusalem, the Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate said Monday.

The governorate said in a statement that Israel’s District Planning and Building Committee had deposited the plan for the proposed “Nofei Rachel” settlement, which would cover some 27 dunams (6.7 acres) next to Palestinian homes.

The governorate warned that the project’s impact would extend beyond the number of planned units, saying its location would directly affect the daily lives of Palestinians in the area.

It said the plan was part of an Israeli settlement policy aimed at restricting Palestinian presence and urban expansion while expanding illegal settlements and creating new facts on the ground.

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Also Monday, the Israeli rights group Ir Amim said Israel had advanced three major settlement projects totaling more than 3,400 housing units in East Jerusalem in recent weeks.

The United Nations and most countries consider Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land illegal under international law and say they undermine prospects for a two-state solution.

The Israeli Peace Now movement estimates that about 500,000 occupiers live in the West Bank, in addition to about 250,000 in illegal settlements in East Jerusalem.

Israel holds remains of about 1,700 Palestinians for potential future exchanges: report

Israel is holding the bodies of around 1,700 Palestinians for possible use in future exchanges, despite no Israeli captives being held by Hamas, the Haaretz daily reported Monday.

The figure was raised during recent discussions within Israel’s security establishment, the newspaper said, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

Shin Bet chief David Zini supports retaining the bodies in case Israelis are taken captive or go missing in the future, a position also backed by the Israeli army, according to the report.

Haaretz said most of the bodies belong to Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who took part in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel or subsequent fighting. Some, however, belong to Palestinians who were not involved in the fighting, it said.

Legal sources cited by Haaretz questioned Israel’s authority to retain the bodies, saying the state lacks the power to hold the remains of Palestinians with no proven involvement in fighting unless the Security Cabinet first establishes a policy on the matter.

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In October 2025, the Palestinian National Campaign for the Retrieval of Martyrs’ Bodies and Disclosure of the Fate of the Missing said Israel was holding around 1,500 bodies of Palestinians from Gaza at the Sde Teiman military facility in southern Israel.

The Israeli army continues to target Palestinians in several areas of the Gaza Strip despite an Israel-Hamas ceasefire that went into effect on October 10, 2025, killing at least 1,258 Palestinians and injuring 4,139 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Israel has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured over 174,000 in a genocidal war since October 2023. The war has also caused widespread destruction, affecting 90% of the enclave’s infrastructure.