Israeli forces have launched a large-scale arrest campaign across the occupied West Bank, detaining more than 100 Palestinians since the start of Ramadan. Those arrested include women, children, and individuals previously released from Israeli prisons. The operations intensified from February 18 in areas including Jerusalem, while Israeli authorities also restricted Ramadan decorations and celebrations.

According to the report, Israeli authorities prevented Palestinian worshippers from performing the first Friday prayers of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, even though they held valid permits. Rights groups stated that more than 9,300 Palestinians are currently imprisoned in Israel, including 350 children. They also reported that since the onset of the Gaza conflict about two and a half years ago, Israel has limited food supplies to detainees and restricted their ability to pray or read the Quran.

Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations have warned that torture, starvation, and medical neglect have led to the deaths of numerous Palestinian prisoners.

The Palestinian Health Ministry reported on Sunday that 614 people have been killed and 1,643 injured in Gaza during the four months since a ceasefire was declared on October 10 of last year. The ceasefire followed two years of intense Israeli military operations and was announced after intervention by U.S. President Donald Trump. Despite the ceasefire, Israeli forces have continued to carry out attacks targeting Gaza residents.

According to the ministry, two people were killed and three injured in the past 24 hours due to Israeli strikes. It also stated that 726 bodies have been recovered from the rubble during this period, while many victims remain trapped beneath collapsed structures. Reports from Al Jazeera and the Palestinian news agency Wafa detailed recent attacks in Jabalia refugee camp, Khan Younis, and Beit Lahia, where several civilians, including a woman, were killed.

Since October 2023, a total of 72,072 people have been killed and 171,741 injured in Gaza as a result of Israeli military actions, according to the ministry’s data.

Hamas has stated that it will not accept any interference in Gaza’s internal affairs, even as it welcomes the deployment of an international stability force in the region. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem told AFP on Friday that the group supports a peacekeeping mission that monitors the ceasefire and acts as a buffer between Israeli forces and the Palestinian population, without intervening in Gaza’s governance.

The statement followed Thursday’s inaugural meeting of the U.S. President Donald Trump’s Peace Council in Washington, where five countries—Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, and Albania—pledged to send troops to the International Stability Force (ISF) for Gaza. Egypt and Jordan will instead provide training to the Palestinian police. ISF Commander Major General Jasper Jeffers said the force aims to deploy 20,000 soldiers and establish a new police unit, with Indonesia ready to send up to eight troops.

The development marks a new phase in international involvement in Gaza’s security arrangements, though Hamas has emphasized that any mission must respect Palestinian sovereignty and avoid internal interference.

Severe restrictions were enforced on worshippers attending prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the first Friday of Ramadan, according to Al Jazeera journalist Nour Odeh. She reported that out of 3.3 million residents in the occupied West Bank, only 10,000 were granted permission to enter. Historically, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have spent time at the site during Ramadan as part of a centuries-old tradition.

Speaking from the Qalandiya checkpoint, Odeh described the limited access as symbolic of broader restrictions, noting that in previous years up to 250,000 worshippers gathered for a single Friday prayer. This year, attendance is expected to be far lower, with entry mainly granted to Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and inside Israel. She also reported that hundreds were being held at the checkpoint, prevented from reaching the mosque.

Odeh said the new restrictions weaken social and religious ties among Palestinians, calling the inability to break fast in Jerusalem another means of separating East Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has declared that any decision regarding Gaza must be preceded by a complete halt to Israeli aggression. In a statement issued on Thursday in response to the inaugural meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace council in Washington, Hamas said that ending Israeli occupation is the essential precondition for achieving stability in Gaza.

The statement emphasized lifting the Israeli blockade on Gaza and ensuring Palestinians’ rights to freedom and self-determination. It also condemned the convening of the peace council meeting while Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip continued. Hamas called on mediators to ensure the implementation of ceasefire agreements and to prevent Israel from obstructing them.

Hamas warned that stability in Gaza cannot be achieved without ending the occupation and realizing the full rights of the Palestinian people.

Five countries have pledged to send troops to the newly formed Gaza International Stability Force (ISF), according to its commander Major General Jasper Jeffers. Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Peace Board in Washington on Thursday, Jeffers said Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, and Albania will contribute forces to secure the Gaza Valley and lay the foundation for lasting peace. Egypt and Jordan will not send troops but will train Palestinian police instead.

Jeffers announced that Indonesia will serve as the ISF’s deputy commander, emphasizing the mission’s goal of ensuring Gaza’s security and prosperity. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto reaffirmed Jakarta’s commitment, stating that his country will deploy 8,000 or more troops. He expressed hope that genuine peace could be achieved under President Donald Trump’s leadership despite existing challenges.

At the same meeting, nine member countries pledged a total of 7 billion dollars to a reconstruction fund for war-torn Gaza. The U.S. President said the United States would contribute 10 billion dollars to the Peace Board, though he did not specify how the funds would be used.

A new report by the United Nations Human Rights Office accuses Israel of actions that may amount to ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Released on Thursday, the report says Israel’s military campaign and blockade have made life in Gaza “increasingly incompatible with Palestinians’ continued existence as a group.” It cites intensified attacks, destruction of neighborhoods, and denial of humanitarian aid as evidence of an apparent effort to cause a permanent demographic shift. Covering the period from November 1, 2024, to October 31, 2025, the report documents systematic unlawful force, arbitrary detention, and home demolitions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The report highlights widespread famine and the killing of unprecedented numbers of civilians in Gaza, noting that at least 463 Palestinians, including 157 children, starved to death during the 12-month period. It attributes these deaths to Israeli government actions that blocked food access. Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue air strikes and demolitions across Gaza, violating a ceasefire that began on October 10, 2025. Violence has also surged in the West Bank, with settlers attacking Palestinian communities under military protection.

The report warns that these policies are altering the demographic composition of Palestinian territories and deepening humanitarian collapse.

A new study published in The Lancet Global Health has confirmed that more than 75,000 people were killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli attacks. The report, titled “Gaza Mortality Survey,” found that between October 7, 2023, and January 5, 2025, a total of 75,200 violent deaths occurred, representing about 3.4 percent of Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.2 million. The findings indicate that the death toll has exceeded earlier official statistics.

The study also supports the Gaza Health Ministry’s data, suggesting that its figures were not exaggerated. As of February 16, the ministry reported at least 72,063 deaths since the war began, including 603 deaths after a ceasefire was declared on October 10, 2025. Israel has repeatedly questioned the ministry’s numbers, but an Israeli military officer reportedly acknowledged in January that around 70,000 people had been killed during the conflict.

The Lancet’s confirmation of the scale of casualties underscores the devastating human cost of the prolonged conflict and may influence future assessments of humanitarian and reconstruction needs in Gaza.

Eighty-five United Nations member states have jointly condemned Israel’s plan to expand its occupation and register land in the occupied West Bank. On February 17, Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour issued a joint statement on behalf of the countries, calling Israel’s unilateral decision a violation of international law and demanding its immediate cancellation. The plan involves registering land in Area C, which covers about 60 percent of the West Bank, marking the first such move since 1967.

Countries signing the condemnation include Australia, Canada, China, France, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, with the European Union and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation also expressing support. UN Secretary-General António Guterres voiced deep concern, warning that the plan could increase the risk of Palestinian displacement and further destabilize the region. He recalled the 2024 International Court of Justice ruling that declared Israel’s presence and settlements in the West Bank illegal.

The report also noted that a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and two others injured by an explosion from leftover Israeli military ordnance in the Jordan Valley. Observers warned that Israel’s expansion plan could endanger the comprehensive peace initiative aimed at halting the Gaza war.

The Israeli government has approved a proposal to register large areas of the occupied West Bank as state property, marking the first such decision since Israel’s occupation of the territory in 1967, according to the country’s public broadcaster Kan. The Palestinian Authority has strongly condemned the move, describing it as legally invalid and a violation of international law.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the main objective of Israel’s decision is to annex the West Bank and advance settlement expansion. The ministry declared on social media platform X that it rejects any attempt by the occupiers to convert Palestinian land into state property and denounced efforts to legitimize illegal settlements, land theft, and annexation.

The ministry further stated that the decision contradicts United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which deems Israeli settlements in all occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, illegal under international law.

The article from Amar Desh Online, published on February 15, 2026, argues that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza after two years of violence is not the result of natural disaster but of deliberate political and military decisions. It states that global media portrayals focusing on hunger, tents, and aid trucks obscure the underlying causes and shift attention from justice to relief.

According to the report, Israel’s blockade, military assaults, and restrictions on food and reconstruction have created famine-like conditions and widespread destruction. The piece contends that depicting Gaza solely as a humanitarian crisis hides Israel’s responsibility and transforms political crimes into relief issues. It emphasizes that Palestinians have been turned from a people resisting occupation into passive recipients of aid.

The article concludes that humanitarian assistance can keep people alive but cannot restore dignity, sovereignty, or security under a permanent blockade. It asserts that only justice and political accountability, not charity, can address Gaza’s ongoing devastation.

At least eight Palestinians were killed in new Israeli attacks on Gaza despite an existing ceasefire agreement. According to an Al Jazeera report, four people were killed on Sunday in the southern city of Khan Younis when Israeli forces launched strikes beyond the so-called 'yellow line' marking their positions in Gaza. Another four were killed when Israeli forces attacked a tent sheltering displaced people in the Al-Faluja area of northern Gaza, a source at Al-Shifa Hospital said.

Israeli authorities did not immediately comment on the incidents. Gaza authorities stated that since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, Israel has violated it more than 1,500 times. These violations have resulted in at least 591 deaths and 1,590 injuries so far.

The repeated attacks highlight the fragility of the ceasefire and the continuing humanitarian toll on Gaza’s civilian population, according to the information provided by Gaza authorities.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has reported that 90 percent of school buildings in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or completely destroyed during two years of Israeli military aggression. The agency shared this information on Thursday through a post on social media platform X, noting that the few remaining intact schools have been converted into shelters. Children in Gaza are now entirely dependent on temporary classrooms or digital platforms for their education.

UNRWA stated that it is working to support the education of children affected by the ongoing devastation in Gaza. The report comes amid continuing conflict that began after Palestinian resistance groups launched an operation in Israel on October 7, 2023, aimed at breaking the long-standing blockade of Gaza. In response, Israeli forces initiated one of the most intense military campaigns in recent history.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, as of February 11, more than 72,000 people have been killed during the two-year-long Israeli offensive.

Hamas has described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s participation in the Gaza Peace Board as a farce. On Wednesday, Osama Hamdan, a leader of the Palestinian resistance movement, said they had not received any draft proposal from mediators regarding the surrender of weapons. He emphasized that Hamas has not made any formal decision to disarm.

Hamdan reiterated that as long as Israeli occupation continues, resistance will remain a legitimate right. He further stated that the Palestinian people reject any form of externally imposed guardianship. According to him, Hamas has communicated with Indonesia to clarify that any international force’s role must be limited to the borders of the Gaza Strip.

Hamdan added that any international stabilization force should focus on preventing attacks against the Palestinian people.

Hamas has called on international mediators to compel Israel to adhere to the Gaza ceasefire agreement. The Palestinian resistance group’s spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, accused Israel of violating the truce by attacking civilian homes under false pretenses. According to a report by Middle East Monitor, Qassem said Israeli forces were intensifying assaults in Gaza despite ongoing mediation efforts to maintain peace in the region.

The spokesperson alleged that Tel Aviv was ignoring all attempts by mediators to preserve calm in the Gaza Strip and continuing to bomb civilian areas. He emphasized that Israel must be forced to stop breaching the ceasefire agreement. Gaza’s government media office reported that since October, Israel has violated the ceasefire 1,620 times, resulting in 573 deaths and 1,553 injuries.

The repeated violations, as reported by Gaza authorities, have raised concerns about the sustainability of the ceasefire and the effectiveness of mediation efforts aimed at restoring stability in the region.