On August 31 to September 1 2026, in the Shalala (الشلالة / Shalala) area immediately adjacent to Hebron’s Old City, Israeli settlers moved into the Shalala Street area adjacent to the Old City, accompanied by Israeli forces, who established a security perimeter, in order to establish a new outpost in the heart of the city. **On August 31, 2026 — Day 1:** Israeli settlers arrived in the Shalala Street (شارع الشلالة) area, on the edge of Hebron’s Old City, accompanied and protected by Israeli forces. They brought an excavator and began clearing/leveling a plot of Palestinian land. Soldiers established a perimeter around the site. A young Palestinian man was detained, handcuffed with a plastic zip tie, and forced to sit on the ground. The two detainees in the city of Hebron are: Rajab Zigan and his son Omar. Hebron Mayor Yousef al-Jaabari described the operation as an attempt to establish a new settlement outpost in the heart of the city. He said it was part of a broader plan to strengthen the settlers’ presence in the Old City. **1 September 2026 — Day 2: the land-clearing continued** The settlers brought their own machinery, forced their way into a carpentry workshop, broke its doors, and completely leveled the land next to it. Raef al-Harbawi’s family has rented the workshop for 70 years. Israeli flags were placed on Palestinian properties and along the street. Another resident, Abu Mustafa al-Shyoukhi, said that settler provocations in the area had been continuing for more than six months, with the support of the Israeli army. Badr al-Daour al-Tamimi, head of the Old City committee, said that settlers and the army brought bulldozers onto land they had seized by force, and considered the objective to be the establishment of an outpost that would further suffocate the area and push Palestinian residents to leave. Resident Nidal al-Awiwi warned that the land seizure could effectively empty an entire street of its Palestinian residents, passers-by and visitors. **Broader context:** Hebron Mayor Yousef al-Jaabari warned that Israel aims to seize the Old City and Ibrahimi Mosque and transform its character from a mosque into a synagogue. Hebron’s H2 area, under direct Israeli military control since 1997, is home to around 40,000 Palestinians and nearly 200 settler families, living under separate movement and security regimes. The Ibrahimi Mosque itself is divided between Muslim and Jewish worshippers. Bezalel Smotrich recently announced plans to transfer planning and construction powers at the site to Israeli authorities, while Israel’s Supreme Planning Committee subsequently approved a new building for the Shavei Hebron religious school near Beit Romano settlement. Al-Jaabari said Hebron is being targeted through settlement expansion, Judaization and property confiscation, while municipal officials are pursuing legal action despite their lack of confidence in Israeli courts.

On Augustus 30, 2026, early in the morning, in the Ain al-Saqi area in the town of Birzeit, the Israeli forces demolished two residential buildings, each consisting of 4 floors and with an area of 250 square meters per floor, under the pretext of not having a permit. The owner is Karim Salama al-Nabali. At 08:20, a group of settlers entered the northern outskirts of the town of Birzeit, beat and sprayed pepper gas on journalists while they were covering the press while the occupation forces demolished 2 houses.

On August 31, 2026, the first families arrived to establish Makeda (מקדה), also known as Doran (דורן), in the southern Hebron Hills / southern West Bank, near Adora, established on the lands of the town of Dura. The site is located on the grounds of a former Israeli military post that was abandoned about 21 years ago. A first mobile structure had already been brought to the site in June 2026. The sign displays the logos of the three Settlement Enterprises: 1. The Settlement Division of the WZO 2. Amana 3. Settler Regional Councils (here the Mt. Hebron Regional Council) At the August 31 ceremony, at 22:50, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Settlement and National Missions Minister Orit Strock, and Har Hebron Regional Council head Eliram Azulai were present. Smotrich presented Makeda as part of a broader “security belt” intended to protect Kiryat Gat, Beit Shemesh, the Lachish settlements and the Shfela. The Har Hebron Regional Council says the project was advanced with the assistance of Benjamin Netanyahu, Bezalel Smotrich, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Orit Strock, Amana, the Settlement Division and the Israeli military. The Har Hebron Regional Council explicitly describes Makeda/Doran as the beginning of a new settlement bloc in western Judea.The project is intended to create territorial continuity between existing settlements and the two newly established settlements: Eshkolot → Makeda/Doran → Karmi Yehuda → Telem / Adora. Karmi Yehuda was also physically established in late August, with the first families arriving the previous week. However, it had already been approved earlier as part of the government's package of 34 new settlements announced in 2026. According to the Har Hebron Regional Council, two additional settlements are expected to be established in the coming months/ Maagd (מגד) — south of Negohot and Ma'ale Anav (מעלה ענב) — north of Eshkolot, south of Beit Hagai. Both had already been included in the government's list of 34 new settlements. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that *"as part of the settlement revolution we are leading, we fortify and strengthen the settlement, not with words but with actions. The ascent to the settlement of 'Mikda' is a historic and significant step for settlement. We are building the security strip of Kiryat Gat, Beit Shemesh and the settlements of Lachish and the lowlands. If, God forbid, a left-wing government led by Eisenkot-Lieberman-Golan emerges, they will evacuate the settlements and farms and establish a Palestinian terrorist state. This must not be allowed to happen. I thank the Settlement Directorate and Council President Eliram Azoulai for leading the settlement's rise to the ground".* Settlement Minister Orit Struck added: *"We are in the midst of a huge national response process, in which the people of Israel are building their country again, with their state tools. The establishment of the settlement of Makda in Mount Hebron is another milestone in this vision, a vision that in difficult days some saw it as a distant dream, and today we get to see it grow skin and sinew. The power to fulfill this vision comes from the people of Israel, who chose life, the Land of Israel and settlement".* **Timeline :** 1. December 11, 2025: Israeli Cabinet approves the re-establishment of Doran/Makeda, 2. December 21, 2025: Strock and Azulai participate in a ceremony at the Doran site, 3. June 16, 2026: First mobile structure brought to the site, 4. Late August 2026: First families arrive at Karmi Yehuda, 5. August 31, 2026 First families establish Makeda/Doran; ceremony attended by Smotrich, Strock and Azulai, 6. Coming months: Maagd and Ma'ale Anav expected to be established According to Israel Hayom, *"The new settlement was established on an area where a military post that the IDF had abandoned over two decades ago was once located. He joins the settlement of Karmi Yehuda, where families entered last week. The move is intended to connect the settlement of Eshkolot in the south of Mount Hebron and the settlements of Telam and Adora."*

Noa (נועה) is a new Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank, southeast of Jenin. On August 31? 2026, Israeli authorities formally established Noa south of Ganim and Kadim, on land southeast of Jenin. A ceremony was held with Israeli ministers, Yossi Dogan, and Knesset members. Noa is one of the 34 new settlements approved by the Israeli cabinet on 25 March 2026 on land classified by Israel as state land. Avi Blot, head of the Israeli army’s Central Command, signed 15 land seizure orders in Area A to pave a road linking the illegal settlements of Noa and Emek Dotan On August 28, 2026, mobile homes were being installed at Noa and that bulldozers had been preparing infrastructure for more than a month. On July 29, 2026, the Israeli Central Command commander, Avi Bluth, signed 15 land seizure orders to create a road connecting Noa and Emek Dotan. On August 31, 2026, the first families had already settled there and that the first residential buildings were inaugurated on 31 August. It also connects Noa to the broader effort to re-establish Israeli settlements evacuated during the 2005 disengagement. Noa is now being physically established with roads, infrastructure, mobile homes and founding families. The connection to Emek Dotan is particularly important because the Israeli military has used land-seizure orders to facilitate the connection. **Borader context:** Thi is part of a broader plan to impose new settlement realities on the ground by establishing new settlement communities and expanding existing ones, threatening Palestinian agricultural land and the geographic contiguity between towns and cities in Jenin Governorate and its surrounding areas. According to Dror Etkes: "“Seizure orders in Area A were previously used for military purposes, but now they serve a clear civilian and political goal: connecting settlements,” ... “The seizure orders amount to a deliberate destruction of the Oslo Accords by the Israeli army, acting under political directives,” Etkes said.

On August 28, 2026, an Israeli military drone struck a house under construction in the Harsh Al-Saada on the western outskirts of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, as large numbers of Israeli forces entered the area. Three Palestinians were killed in the strike. Following the attack, additional military reinforcements were deployed at the scene and in several areas of Jenin city. At 16:20, a drone bombed a house under construction in the Horsh al-Saada area in the city of Jenin, with the aim of assassination, leading to the martyrdom of 3 citizens, and their bodies were also detained. It marked the first Israeli airstrike on the West Bank in around 10 months. Freshly released after months of administrative detention in Israeli jails, the Drop Site contributor Mujahed al-Saadi reported that the house was struck with at least two missiles and that Israeli troops deployed to the area immediately after the attack prevented ambulances from reaching the targeted house and detained Palestinian medical workers who arrived on the scene. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that its ambulance crews were called to the site of the drone strike, where Israeli forces detained them upon arrival. Later, soldiers released its crews, forcing them to leave without transporting any of the wounded or dead, and confiscated medical equipment. The PRCS wasn't allowed to transfer them to the hospital while Israeli forces had abducted the three bodies. **Arrest:** Israeli forces abducted the young man Ibrahim Al-Bitawi while he was near the Al-Naseem roundabout in Jenin city. The father and the mother of Qais Ibrahim Mohammad Al-Bitawi were then separately abducted by the Israeli forces in the same village. Another detainee in the city of Jenin was Anas Al-Norsi. **Names of the martyrs:** 1. Qays Ibrahim Mohammad Al-Bitawi, 22, 2. Basil Mohammad Ibrahim Turkman, 26, 3. Momin Mohammad Faris Jaradat, 22, **The Israeli military statement:** The IDF published the aerial footage of the drone strike. It claimed it had carried out a “precise strike” targeting what it described as “several terrorists.” They announced the assassination of the wanted Qais al-Bitawi, along with “additional aides,” after carrying out what it called a “precision attack” in Jenin. The army claimed that Al-Bitawi was an “organization leader” who was allegedly “responsible for local Hamas activity in the Jenin camp,” who “worked to advance numerous operations,” adding that a weapon was found in their vehicle. However, the Islamic resistance movement (Hamas) did not claim Al-Bitawi as a member of its forces, while the Islamic Jihad resistance group released a statement that he was a senior operative of its armed wing. **Israeli political figures’ endorsement:** Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the strike on X: “I commend our forces for the successful elimination of the terrorists in Jenin. Shabbat shalom!” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it also as “an initiative, an attack, and a successful thwarting.” Yisrael Katz, Israel’s Defense Minister, stated that “These are the fruits of the offensive and preemptive policy that we are leading in ‘Judea and Samaria’ (the occupied West Bank),” adding, “We will continue to act forcefully and preemptively and thwart any threat to Israeli citizens, wherever it may be.”

On 25 August 2026, Israeli MK Zvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionist Party entered Madama (مادما), south of Nablus, accompanied by several Israelis and protected by IDF and Border Police forces. He had organized what he called a “memorial tour” of Palestinian villages, including Beita, Burin and Madama, in Areas A and B. The immediate background goes back to 16 August. After the settler-oriented outlet HaKol HaYehudi reported the existence of Palestinian memorials that it described as commemorating militants, Sukkot went to the entrance of Madama and demanded that the army remove them. He said that if they were not removed, he would act himself. The army apparently did not agree to let him demolish them. According to the IDF, Sukkot had formally requested security for his “memorial tour,” but demolition was not part of the approved plan. The IDF says it even recommended postponing the tour because of the security situation and offered instead to document/map the monuments for him. Sukkot nevertheless insisted on going. Then he did exactly what he had threatened to do: Video shows Sukkot holding a hammer/sledgehammer and striking the monument. Another person accompanying him also strikes it while Sukkot films. Israeli military vehicles and soldiers are visible protecting the group. Sukkot himself confirmed the action. His explanation was essentially: “I demanded that the army act to remove the monuments … but unfortunately they remained in place. Therefore, I came myself and acted to remove them.” He described them as monuments commemorating “terrorists” and argued that Palestinians were presenting people who had attacked Israelis and soldiers as heroes to the next generation. The Madama monument appears to commemorate Palestinians killed during the conflict/intifada, including members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. Israeli reporting specifically identifies names including Yamen Tayeb Ali Faraj and Shadi Nassar. Israeli sources say Faraj was involved in an attack in which an Israeli was killed and subsequently exchanged fire with Israeli forces; another person commemorated on the monument, Nassar, was killed after carrying out a suicide bombing near Ariel in 2002. So there is a substantive dispute over what the monument commemorated: Sukkot calls it a “terror monument”; Palestinian/foreign reporting generally describes it as a Palestinian memorial. Sukkot deliberately went to a Palestinian village with the stated intention of removing a monument after the army declined to do it. He used an IDF-protected visit to carry out the destruction himself, apparently outside the authorization given for the visit. That's why the IDF is accusing him not merely of vandalism, but of exploiting military protection to exceed the agreed mandate. **The IDF issued an unusually strong condemnation of Sukkot:** It says the group: “acted deceptively and manipulatively, without authority and in complete violation of the approved framework” and began destroying the monument without authorization. Once soldiers realized what was happening, they contacted their commanders and were ordered to stop the destruction and remove Sukkot and the others from the village. The army also says that operational troops were diverted from their normal missions to provide security for Sukkot, and that this exposed them to unnecessary risk.

An early morning Israeli airstrike killed a young man and injured at least two other people near the northern entrance to Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. The young man was due to be wed in September. **Name of the martyr:** 1. Ismail Abu Foul (25 y/o)

On August 21, 2026, around 11:25, several dozen armed settlers invaded by foot and ATV the Khirbet Harmoush neighborhood of Wadi Sa'ir, north of the Hebron Hills, in the occupied West Bank. They opened fire on residents and their homes, killing a child, wounding an elderly resident, and burning a house and shops containing fodder belonging to resident Ibrahim Mahmoud Shalalda. The Israeli army did not intervene to stop the pogrom and even arrested several residents around 1:30, following the attack: Zain Fawzi Al-Tarwa, Sami Fayez Al-Tarwa, and his brother Osama. Armed with assault rifles, the settlers injured three residents and killed 17-year-old Kareem Shalalda. The teenager later died from his critical gunshot wounds. His father, Sanad Shalaldeh, said about 50 Israeli settlers attacked their home and that one of them shot his son at close range: “My son was standing in front of the house and was doing nothing. Suddenly, about 50 people attacked the house. When he asked them to leave, they shot him in the chest.” Shalaldeh said around 50 Israeli settlers approached the family home and that one of them shot his son at close range. He added that his son was shot while trying to drive the attackers away from the house. He added that two other people were seriously wounded in the attack. During the same attack, Israeli settlers set fire to a Palestinian family home, damaging the house and forcing family members to remain inside during the assault, according to the homeowners. Traces of fire and damage were visible at the home of Nadira Shallaldeh. She said her husband is around 90 years old and questioned why the family was being targeted, adding that her children had previously been forced away from the area. **Name of the martyr:** Karim Sanad Raja Shalalda, 17 years old. **Other casulaty:** The wounded man as a result of gunfire by settlers in the Hamroush area in Wadi Sa’ir is Samir Issa Al-Tarwa, 70 years old. **Testimony of the Owner of attacked home, Nadira Shalaldeh:** [source](https://www.reutersconnect.com/item/israeli-settlers-attack-palestinian-family-home-near-hebron-occupied-west-bank/dGFnOnJldXRlcnMuY29tLDIwMjY6bmV3c21sX09XQU5BQ0FBVklERU8yMDI2MDgyMTQyMjcyMzU5) “We have been living here for nearly 20 years. We have livestock and we have children. Our sons are out in the open, and our daughters are married. They have left us with nothing. They have brought another Nakba upon us.” “Now they say there are settlers coming from Barij… They told me, ‘Go, get away from there.’ I said, ‘Why? I stayed. Me and the old man stayed here.’ When they came, they started shooting. They broke the doors and the windows. What didn’t they do outside? They kept hitting the doors and the windows. They said, ‘Go, go.’ I told our children, ‘Don’t open [the door].’ They said, ‘Go away, go away.’ They did not let the old man enter. They said, ‘If the old man comes in, we will beat you and beat him.’ I mean, I was sitting with the old man. I did not see anything. They kept saying, ‘Go away.’ Our old man is about 90 years old. What can a 90-year-old man do to you? What does he have? Whether we are old or young, what have we done to you?” “Every day, the settler comes by force. He wants you to leave the place and go. The settler comes. They had already driven our children away. The next day, he comes again. I mean, they want us to leave too.” “We have endured, by God. Everything we have is in this house. We do not want to leave it. This house was built through the hard work of all my children. My children worked and worked on it. For 20 years, and now I should leave and hand it over to you? No. I want to die and be buried here. I will not leave it. No matter how much they pressure us, they want the house.” “I mean, who can we complain to? As the saying goes, if your enemy is the ruler, who can you complain to? They are all the same, my son. By God, we have no one but God. And whoever fears God, He will make a way out for him. God willing, things will change. God willing, He will bring back those who are absent and set things right.” **Israeli Police and Army statement** According to The Times of Israel "The Israel Police said it launched an investigation into the incident, including into whether the building on fire had indeed been torched by settlers. The military says that the troops “dispersed the confrontation” and escorted all of the Israelis out of the Palestinian village. “The IDF clarifies that unauthorized excursions endanger those who take part in them, and divert forces from defense and counterterrorism operations in the area,” the army said.

On Augustus 21, 2026, overnight, an Israeli special forces invaded the home of Fathi Khazem, in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, shot and killed him in front of the very eyes of his 12 y/o son, before seizing his body. Fhati Khazem was a prominent Palestinian symbol of resistance who lost two of his sons, in 2022. The first one, Raad Khazem, after he has perpetrated a shoting attack on Israeli civilians in Tel Aviv, the other one when their family home was targeted by a misile during an Israeli revenge raid. Medical and local sources confirmed that Israeli forces shot and killed Fathi Khazem directly inside his home after he resisted an abduction attempt. The attack took place during a military raid in the al-Masarwa neighbourhood of central Jenin. **Mondoweiss investigation:** Early Friday, 21 August, Israeli soldiers raided Fathi Khazem’s apartment in the al-Masarwa neighborhood of Jenin. He was there with his 12-year-old son, Adam. Before entering, soldiers had reportedly forcibly taken a young man from the neighborhood and used him as a human shield. They then blew open the apartment’s front door and stormed inside. Soldiers ordered Khazem to raise his hands, remove his clothes and kneel. Khazem refused to kneel and reportedly said: “Who are you that I should kneel before you?” A verbal confrontation followed. According to Adam and the young man used as a human shield, soldiers then began beating Khazem inside the apartment. Family members told Mondoweiss that Khazem attempted to defend himself, after which soldiers shot him at point-blank range. His 12-year-old son witnessed the execution. Adam and the young man were then confined in the bathroom and forced to strip completely. The young man, who understood Hebrew, said he overheard soldiers discussing whether they should kill him and Adam as well. Khazem's brother Amin said eyewitnesses saw Fathi being shot even after he had already been wounded, describing the killing as a “premeditated crime” and “deliberate assassination. **Testimony of relative** *Speaking about Adam’s condition, another member of the family, Adam’s maternal uncle, told Mondoweiss the 12-year-old remains in severe psychological distress. “Imagine a 12-year-old boy watching his father being killed before his eyes, then stripped of his clothes and locked in a bathroom with a man he doesn’t even know,” the uncle said. “Up until this moment, Adam hasn’t cried or shed a single tear.”* *He added that Adam was deeply attached to his father and accompanied him everywhere. When he saw Israeli soldiers assaulting his father and opening fire, he ran toward them and held up his father’s ID card, hoping they would stop. Instead, they shot his father in the chest and head in front of his eyes.* **Broader context:** Fathi Khazem’s name emerged in April 2022 after his son Raad carried out a shooting attack in Tel Aviv, killing 3 and injuring 6 Israeli civilians, and was subsequentely killed by the Israeli army. In the few hours that followed the killing of his son, Fathi, called “Abu Raad”, went out to receive the crowds of mourners, addressing them loudly and in defiance of the Israeli occupation, declaring his determination to continue resisting Israel until the liberation of Palestine. The Israeli forces had stormed Jenin camp multiple times in the attempt to reach him, including destroying his house (on September 6, 2022) and asking him to surrender himself to them. Abu Raad had never handed himself in. Israel Hayom published a full report on Fathi Khazem 'Abu Raad', titled “The Birth of a New Hero,” commenting on his ability to command the respect of the broad Palestinian public, which “sees him as a leader.” On September 28, 2022, an Israeli special forces unit killed his son, Abdul Rahman Khazem, in a revenge operation against his slain brother, and his father, who had been pursued by the Israeli occupation forces since April 2022. In the same attack, Ahmad Alawneh, 24 years old and worked as a Palestinian Authority (PA) intelligence officer, was killed and his body desecreted by Israeli soldiers. Abdul Khazem and Ahmad Alawneh, were killed when Hazem’s father’s home was hit by a missile. The army then proceeded to encircle the home, during which heavy armed clashes broke out with several Palestinian fighters. His daughter Shaimaa has reportedly been held under administrative detention for more than a year. According to his brother, a Palestinian Authority-brokered understanding with Israel had supposedly guaranteed that Israel would no longer pursue or arrest Fathi, provided he stayed out of public life, left Jenin and made no public statements.

Local sources reported and documented intense gunfire from Israeli artillery on eastern Beit Lahia within the Yellow Line in the first half of the day. The assault lasted until the evening and led to the murder of a child after he was shot in the head. **Name of the martyr:** 1. Ahmad Ramzi Aql (15 y/o) The child brother and father