Category World News

As part of its deadly raids across the occupied West Bank that began on January 21, the Israeli army continues to destroy several Palestinian homes in the Jenin refugee camp.

As Israeli forces destroyed the civilian homes overnight, explosions echoed throughout the camp, according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, on Friday.

Israeli forces increased their presence close to the camp, according to witnesses, and engaged in intensive drone surveillance.

After earlier bombing the main entrance and the main road leading to it, the army is still in control of Jenin Governmental Hospital.

It began the demolition of residential blocks in Jenin earlier this week, as reported by Jenin Governor Kamal Abu al-Rub, for the first time since 2002.

The Israeli military offensive, which launched two days after a ceasefire was agreed in Gaza, has targeted Jenin city, its refugee camp and surrounding towns, killing 25 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Nearly 90% of the camp’s population has been forced to flee, with many seeking refuge in 39 towns and villages in the Jenin governorate.

Additionally, Israeli forces stormed several Ramallah governorate neighborhoods and assaulted and detained two Palestinians in the Old City of Hebron while they distributed bread.

In Beita, south of Nablus, Israeli forces assaulted ambulance crews during a raid, wounding a paramedic, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society. Israeli soldiers fired stun grenades directly at the ambulance, damaging the vehicle as it was responding to an emergency, it said.

Military assault on Tulkarem

Israeli forces continued their extensive military assault on Tulkarem city and its refugee camp in the West Bank for the 12th day in a row, causing significant damage to infrastructure and civilian property.

Over the past few days, the Israeli army has arrested dozens of Palestinians, forced hundreds of families to flee their homes and killed four Palestinians, including a child and a journalist.

After evicting their residents, Israeli forces have also occupied Palestinian homes in Tulkarem and its camp.

Witnesses claimed that the Israeli army had carried out numerous arrests in eastern Tulkarem city, according to Turkiye’s Anadolu news agency.

According to Wafa, Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital is still under Israeli military siege. The adjacent al-Adawiya commercial complex, which it has converted into a military and surveillance post, is also under its control.

According to Tulkarem Governor Abdullah Kamil, the camp’s majority population has been displaced as a result of the Israeli military assault.

Offensive in Tubas

The Israeli army continued its offensive in Tubas governorate and Tammun and the Far’a refugee camp for a sixth day in a row in the northern West Bank.

Under the guise of airstrikes and drone attacks, Israeli forces have been conducting house-to-house searches in Tammun.

Residents are suffering from a severe shortage of supplies and a nearly total power outage, despite no injuries being reported.

Palestinians in the area have also been the subject of numerous arrests and interrogations by the Israeli army.

In the midst of Israel’s conflict with Gaza, Palestinian poet and author Mohammed El-Kurd wrote, “Death is so quotidian that journalists report it as though they’re reporting the weather.” And with a ceasefire in place, the fate of Palestinians remains uncertain.

What part does the Western gaze play in perpetuating a Palestinians’ struggle for justice and freedom, and how does it affect our understanding of it?

Here is the situation on Friday, February 7:

Fighting

• In Logachyovka village in Belgorod, a Ukrainian drone attack killed three people, including a minor. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a man, an 18-year-old woman and 14-year-old girl, all passengers, died in the attack.
• Ukraine’s military said Kyiv’s forces struck an airfield overnight in Russia’s Krasnodar region, which sits on the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, resulting in explosions and a fire. Moscow’s forces use the airfield to house and launch drones to attack Ukraine and maintain aircraft in southern Ukraine, according to the military.
• Additionally, according to the military, 56 of the 77 Russian drones that were launched into Ukraine overnight were shot down, despite the fact that 18 of them failed to land on their targets.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defence said Moscow’s air defence systems destroyed 28 Ukrainian drones overnight.

• Russian prosecutors said a 52-year-old man was sentenced to 17 years in prison for “high treason”. He was found guilty of spieing on Ukrainian forces’ movements.
• Ukraine attempted to counterattack in the Kursk region of western Russia, which is bordered with Ukraine, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Kyiv’s forces were repelled by Russian troops, the ministry said.
• Turkiye’s Anadolu news agency cited Russia’s Defence Ministry in reporting that Moscow’s forces retook control of the Kursk villages of Ukanok and Cherkasskaya Konopelka, both located about 8km (5 miles) from Russia’s border with Ukraine.

Humanitarian aid

• According to the AFP news agency, Ukraine is willing to establish a humanitarian corridor to allow hundreds of Russian civilians living in Kursk-controlled areas to return to their original territories if Moscow submits an official request, citing the presidency of Ukraine.

Politics and diplomacy

• According to Sebastien Lecornu, the minister of Ukraine’s defenses, France delivered its first shipment of Mirage 2000 fighter jets to Kyiv to aid in its ongoing war with Russia.
• Rustem Umerov, the defense minister of Ukraine, claimed the Netherlands had delivered F-16 fighters made by the United States to Ukraine. These, along with the French Mirage jets, will soon begin carrying out combat missions, he said.
• Senior lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, according to the Russian state news agency RIA, claimed preparations for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin were in “advanced stage.” According to Slutsky, the meeting could take place in February or March.

• After Moscow did the same to a UK diplomat in November, the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office called Russia’s ambassador to London to request the removal of their accreditation.
• Maria Zakharova, a spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responded to media reports that Russia might impose restrictions on diplomats’ travel within EU member states. Zakharova warned the bloc that Russia would react if it put restrictions on their diplomats.
• Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova said she had a “thorough discussion” with Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, in their first meeting since Kellogg’s appointment.

Hungary is imposing a strict ban on international organizations and media outlets that receive funding from the US and other countries.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a ally of US President Donald Trump, stated that his country was “line by line” with organizations that have received US financial assistance.

Hungary has long implemented crackdowns on NGOs and the country’s independent media, passing laws that, according to critics, seek to stigmatize and impede organizations that offer legal and human rights assistance, expose official corruption, and crackdown on NGOs and independent media.

These international networks must be eliminated right away, according to Orban. “It is necessary to make their existence legally impossible”.

The Hungarian president has only grown more enthusiastic about Trump’s decision to abolish the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is responsible for providing humanitarian aid overseas. &nbsp, He has praised Trump’s slash of funding, claiming such aid had been used to fund organisations that sought to “topple” his government.

Orban argued that individuals who work for organizations that received funding from USAID might be referred to as “agents.”

According to Orban, “every money coming from America should be made public, and those who receive it should be subject to sanctions.”

The Sovereignty Protection Office, an independent body that Orban’s right-wing government designated as having the power to investigate individuals and media outlets that it believes are influencing foreign policy, was established in 2023.

Lebanon is struggling with yet another humanitarian crisis following Israel’s two-month-long war, which has displaced more than a million people. The Lebanese people relied on community support and decades of non-governmental efforts to survive because there was no functioning government during the conflict.

People & Power examines how various social groups in Lebanon responded to a hysterical population that sought refuge in Beirut’s and mountain villages.

The United States has demanded that Hezbollah must not be part of Lebanon’s government.

Washington’s Deputy Middle East Envoy Morgan Ortagus said on Friday after meeting Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun that she was “not afraid” of the armed group “because they’ve been defeated militarily”. She did point out that the US has taken a “red line” in terms of its continued involvement with the government.

The Shia Muslim, Iran-backed, Hezbollah is believed to have been weakened by Israel’s recent war on Lebanon, but maintains a significant political role.

“We have set clear red lines … that]Hezbollah] won’t be able to terrorise the Lebanese people, and that includes by being a part of the government”, Ortagus told reporters.

The head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, Mohammed Raad, later slammed Ortagus ‘ comments as “blatant interference” in Lebanon’s affairs.

Ortagus ‘ statement was “full of malice and irresponsibility” and attacked a component of “Lebanese political life”, Raad said in a statement, adding that the remarks amounted to “blatant interference in Lebanon’s sovereignty”.

Since Donald Trump took office and Aoun was elected president, Ortagus is the first senior US official to travel to Lebanon.

Her visit comes as a cabinet formation process in Lebanon, which is being held on sectarian lines. Hezbollah’s ally, the Amal Movement, has insisted on approving all Shia Muslim ministers, keeping the process in deadlock.

Lebanese officials were reportedly anticipating Ortagus’s harsh remark about Hezbollah.

Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon, Hezbollah’s withdrawal of its fighters and arms, and the deployment of Lebanese troops to the area were all set for 60 days by the United States and France’s ceasefire in late November.

However, Israeli forces have continued to carry out demolition operations in southern Lebanon, and the withdrawal deadline has now been extended to February 18.

Ortagus made reference to the new Friday withdrawal date, but he did not specifically mention the Israeli army’s withdrawal from Lebanese territory.