What could stop Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians?

The Israeli PM’s remark comes amid signs of growing tension between Israel and the UK’s Labour government.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has referred to the United Kingdom as the “Islamic Republic of Britain”, a dig at one of Israel’s historically closest European allies.Netanyahu made the remark on the Israeli podcast Melech Blitzer Haim that aired on Thursday as he objected to British media coverage of Israel.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Trump says relationship is good even as Netanyahu rejects Gaza peace planlist 2 of 3US diplomat calls Israeli settler siege of West Bank homes ‘act of terror’list 3 of 3How the US far-right weaponised ‘inshallah’ against Abdul El-Sayedend of listAs an example, Netanyahu pointed to British writer Randolph Churchill, who he praised for his “positive” coverage of Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. Netanyahu then added sarcastically: “Go find that in Britain today, which you could call the Islamic Republic of Britain,” according to translated comments published by Israeli media.Later in the podcast, Netanyahu appeared to reference comments made by JD Vance in 2022 that the UK may constitute the first nuclear-armed “Islamist country”.“Someone said the first Islamic republic with nuclear weapons will be the Islamic Republic of Britain,” Netanyahu said.“We are making sure there won’t be another one here, in Iran,” he added.‘Does not speak for British Jews’A British and Irish Jewish group criticised the Israeli prime minister’s comments as hateful and divisive.“At a time when antisemitism, anti-Muslim hatred and social division are causing real fear across our country, language of this kind is dangerous and irresponsible,” said Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Lev, co-leads of the Movement for Progressive Judaism.“Prime Minister Netanyahu does not speak for British Jews. His words do not represent us,” they said.Despite traditionally strong ties, tensions between the Israeli and British governments have grown since the progressive Labour Party took power in the UK in 2024.Under former Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the UK paused free trade talks with Israel and suspended some arms export licences.Like France, the UK has also imposed sanctions on far-right Israeli cabinet members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.Last year, the UK joined allies, including France and Canada, in recognising a Palestinian state.British Prime Minister Andy Burnham recently apologised for Labour’s initial response to Israel’s actions in Gaza, saying the party was too slow to call for a ceasefire.“That is why we need to do more, which includes looking at further sanctions on those involved in the violence in Gaza but also looking at measures to ban trading goods with illegal settlements,” said Burnham. “We’ve got to do more to put pressure on the Israeli government.”

Russia has attacked Ukraine with ballistic missiles and drones, killing two people and leaving at least 21 injured after strikes across Kyiv and the surrounding area, authorities say.The head of Kyiv's military administration, Timur Tkachenko, said the "enemy is once again massively attacking the Kyiv region".During the attack, which started after midnight on Wednesday, air raid alerts were in place for more than an hour as waves of ballistic missiles hit the city and its outskirts. Kyiv officials said a woman was killed and regional authorities said another person was killed in Bucha, west of the city. At least 21others have been injured in areas around Kyiv, authorities say."The enemy is once again deliberately striking civilians and civilian infrastructure," Kyiv's military administration said.There has been no comment from Russia.Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said there were fears people could be trapped under rubble after strikes on the centre of the city.Tkachenko said "the consequences of the enemy attack are being recorded in the Bucha, Brovary, and Fastiv districts of the region"."I urge everyone - do not ignore air raid sirens. Take care of yourselves, your loved ones, and your family," he added.Russia has intensified attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks, while Ukraine has also increased its attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure, including power facilities.It has also repeatedly targeted depots of the Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries. Five people were killed and 10 wounded in the Moscow region on Tuesday morning in the most recent strikes on Wildberries warehouses.The day before, Russian officials say seven people were killed and 58 injured in a drone attack on a busy beach in the southern Krasnodar region as tourists look on.Ukraine, meanwhile, expressed outrage over a video showing a man chased by a drone in Kherson, calling it a deliberate "hunt" and "safari" targeting civilians.Both sides have denied deliberately targeting civilians.Ukraine has urged allies for more US-made Patriot missile interceptors to defend against Russian ballistic attacks.

At least nine people have been killed in Russian ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv, local officials said.A further 28 people were injured in the attack on the Ukrainian capital on Saturday morning, according to the country's State Emergency Service.Moscow has escalated deadly ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv recently, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to say that missile interceptors are urgently needed.The strikes come two days after a suspected Russian cruise missile landed in Poland during a widespread attack on Ukraine that killed at least eight people, including six members of one family.Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the capital had come under a ballistic missile attack on Saturday, with AFP reporting more than 10 explosions. Fires broke out across the city and power cuts were reported in some areas.Klitschko said a residential building in Shevchenkivskyi was partially destroyed, trapping people inside. The emergency services said at least seven people were killed in a strike in the Darnytskyi district. Another 14 were injured, including two children, it reported.In Solomyanskyi district, two people died and eight were injured, including two children, as a five-storey residential building was partially destroyed, officials said.

The US president said Israel would withdraw from Gaza "as disarmament is completed" and called the agreement "a critical step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government". "The International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors," he said in a post on Truth Social.Trump said the agreement marked a "major milestone in the implementation of the Trump 20-Point Plan", and he thanked mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey. A US official, asked on a call with reporters about how hopeful the US is that Israel will agree to withdraw from Gaza once Hamas has disarmed, said, "We're not asking Israel to do anything other than agree to the 20-point plan that they agreed to, initially. And so we're very confident they will adhere to it." If Israel decides not to withdraw, Trump would be "very disappointed", the official said. The official said the US believes Israel would continue to be a good partner.The BBC has seen the agreement, which provides for the inventorying and storage of Hamas's remaining heavy weapons under Palestinian supervision. This potentially removes the most significant obstacle to advancing the Trump-backed peace initiative for Gaza. US officials said smaller groups in Gaza would be disarmed first, before Hamas begins dismantling what they described as its state-like military infrastructure of tunnels, weapons depots and production facilities - a process they acknowledged would take considerably longer.The officials said the plan was deliberately built on "zero trust" and with verification, with neither Hamas nor Israel moving to the next phase until the other has fulfilled its commitments.According to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, at least 1,168 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect last October.Four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Palestinian attacks in Gaza over the same period.Cairo is set to host a meeting "soon" of the Gaza truce mediators, which also include the United States, Qatar and Turkey, state-linked Al-Qahera News reported early Friday.Earlier in the day, unnamed sources who spoke to Reuters reported that talks between the mediators and Hamas leaders in Cairo on implementing the US-brokered Gaza peace plan had made rare progress, but an Israeli official said the proposed terms were not satisfactory.Following Trump's announcement, the Times of Israel reported, citing an unnamed source, that the agreement had been signed between negotiators from Hamas as well as the board and mediating countries. But it said that "an Israeli office" issued a statement saying the disarmament proposal did not meet Jerusalem's demands. Earlier in the day, Israeli media reported that Israel was opposed to a deal that was being discussed with Hamas. In April this year, Hamas rejected the disarmament plan of a top figure in Trump's Gaza peace efforts, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC.Earlier this month, Hamas elected a new leader, Khalil al-Hayya. He replaced Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by the Israeli military in Gaza in October 2024. As the chief negotiator for Hamas, Hayya led the group's delegations at indirect ceasefire talks, meeting mediators in Egypt and Qatar.The BBC reported earlier this year that the board was originally thought to be aimed at helping end the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and oversee reconstruction. But its proposed charter does not mention the Palestinian territory and appears to be designed to supplant functions of the UN.Hamas led an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.Israel responded by launching a massive military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 73,290 people have been killed, including 21,280 children, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are consi

Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi cancels first official trip to Saudi Arabia in protest.Iraq’s National Security Council has condemned Wednesday’s Saudi-US strikes against the Iran-backed Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), which killed at least 20 members of the Iraqi paramilitary group.The council meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, called the attacks on PMF bases in seven Iraqi provinces “a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and the sanctity of its lands”.“An aggression”, according to a statement shared on X, “in contravention of the principles of international law and the United Nations Charter”.“Any transgression or compromise of Iraq’s security and sovereignty will not be tolerated under any circumstances”, it said.Iraq’s National Security Council holds an emergency meeting to discuss the Saudi-US attacks. Baghdad, Iraq, July 29, 2026 [Media Office of the Prime Minister/Handout/Reuters]Saudi Arabia and US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the joint air strikes targeted Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq responsible for attacks on American troops and Saudi energy infrastructure.The Saudi Ministry of Defence said in a statement that the strikes were “in response ⁠to recent drone attacks” and that Saudi air defences had “intercepted and destroyed several drones that attempted to target petroleum facilities in the Eastern Province and Riyadh regions… launched from Iraqi territory and carried out by Iran-aligned terrorist militias”.The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella coalition of self-proclaimed resistance groups backed by Iran, had denied any role in the attacks on Saudi Arabia, saying the Saudi claims were “fabrications” and that “any foolish Saudi action will be met with a harsh response”.Damaged structures at the site of a strike in Bartella in the northern Iraqi Nineveh province on July 29, 2026 [AFP]The joint Saudi-US attacks, from the Iraqi cities of Kirkuk in the north to Basra in the south, killed at least 20 PMF members and at least four advisers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to Iranian and Iraqi media reports.Iraqi Prime Minister al-Zaidi was due in the Saudi capital on Thursday, his first visit since taking office, but the visit has been cancelled following the attacks.Baghdad has complained that US-Saudi “aggression has hindered investigation efforts regarding the alleged targeting of Saudi Arabia”.“We demand evidence and proof regarding the launch of attacks from Iraq, and no party has provided any evidence,” the spokesperson for the commander-in-chief for Iraq’s armed forces told the Iraqi News Agency.A mourner reacts by the Iraqi flag-draped grave of Hussein Abbas al-Tamimi, who was killed in Diyala, central Iraq, by Saudi-US strikes on July 29, 2026 [AFP]Funerals were held in Mosul for some of the PMF fighters killed, with mourners calling for revenge. There is also anger on the streets of the capital, Baghdad, where PMF supporters rallied, demanding the expulsion of the Saudi ambassador.In a statement, the Iran-aligned Iraqi paramilitary group Kataib Hezbollah said it would give the Iraqi government until August 6 to demonstrate it can defend Iraq’s sovereignty.The group said an immediate response to the US-Saudi attack is “inevitable”.

Israeli settlers have set fire to two mosques, as well as cars and agricultural land in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials say, as tensions in the territory continue to flare. The latest attacks come two days after a clash between settlers and Palestinians near the village of Tal, which left four Palestinians and two Israelis dead.Both sides accused the other of provoking the violence. The confrontation has further inflamed the situation in the West Bank, which has seen ever growing violence by extremist settlers against Palestinians, encouraged by far-right elements in the current Israeli government.Palestinian reports say that two villages in the occupied West Bank came under attack from settlers overnight, with cars vandalised, property stolen and hate graffiti spray painted on walls.The mayor of Qusra said that settlers set fire to a mosque that was under construction.Abdul Azim Wadi said that settlers spray painted graffiti that included the word "revenge" on the walls of the mosque.The Israeli military has said that troops were sent to Qusra and that police would investigate and collect evidence.Palestinian officials say that in a separate incident, settlers set fire to another mosque in the village of Kour and sprayed slogans on its walls.Since the deadly clash on Friday in Tal, Palestinians say that there have been multiple settler attacks on villages across the West Bank.The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has carried out raids and arrested more than 130 individuals over the weekend in what it has called a "counter-terrorism" operation.The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the incident in Tal by vowing to take "powerful action".That includes the possible demolition of the homes of two of the Palestinians who were allegedly involved.Kaied Ahmad Turabi, from Miami, was visiting his parents and sister in the village when the attack happened. He was filmed fighting with settlers on a neighbour's porch.He was just out of hospital when he spoke to the BBC. He had a large black eye, several cuts and bruises, and a wound on his head that he said had needed 12 stitches."I worked all my life with Jewish people, but these people... they all had covered faces, all of them had a lot of stuff – sticks, and things in their pockets. They came ready," he said.Hours later, we were with residents watching the back entrance to the village when settlers were spotted on its outskirts again.We watched dozens of young men stream up the road, answering a call to barricade and defend the village.Israeli soldiers stood guard to separate the groups, as the settlers slowly melted away.For the Palestinians, it was a different method of crowd control - tear gas fired repeatedly to push them back down the road.Some young men ran through clouds of gas to try and bury the cannisters with soil, or kick them away to chants of "Palestine, Palestine", as the soldiers steadily advanced.Israel's military said on Sunday it was working to prevent "incidents of nationalist crime" - its term for attacks by extremist Israeli settlers there.But while Israeli leaders publicly condemn extremist violence, they have overseen a rapid growth in the wildcat settlement outposts that human rights groups say are fuelling attacks on Palestinians.Israel's prime minister said he would speed up the establishment and legalisation of farm outposts in the West Bank, in response to the killing of Israelis in Tal on Friday.New Israeli outposts have already appeared in the area since then - one near Sarra is visible from the main road.There has been a sharp increase in settler attacks in the West Bank in recent months.It has drawn international condemnation, but shown little or no sign of being reversed.The situation had already deteriorated before the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.But since the subsequent war waged by Israel against Hamas in Gaza erupted, settler violence in the West Bank has escalated.The UN says 1,114 Palestinians have