ZIONIST IMPERIALISM

Israeli forces’ assault on Qabatiya continues into second day

Members of the Israeli forces take positions during a military raid in the West Bank town of Qabatiya, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (AP)


WAFA
December 27, 2025

Residents of Jenin town forced to evacuate, properties seized

Troops dig up roads, cut electricity supply

RAMALLAH: Israeli troops questioned residents, searched homes and damaged buildings and roads in Qabatiya, south of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, on Saturday as their operation in the town continued for a second day.

Some residents were forced to evacuate as soldiers took over a number of properties, including a school, to use as a base and to hold and question people, the Palestine News Agency WAFA reported.

Bulldozers were used to dig up streets and create roadblocks at key access points, while the electricity supply to several neighborhoods was cut off.

Also on Saturday, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles at the entrance to the town of Bil’in, west of Ramallah, but there were no reports of any injuries to people or damage to property, WAFA said.

The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission reported that Israeli forces and settlers carried out 2,144 attacks in November, mainly in the governorates of Ramallah and Al-Bireh (360), Hebron (348), Bethlehem (342) and Nablus (334).

Since early Saturday, Israeli forces have closed entrances to several villages and towns north and west of Ramallah, including Ni’lin and Kharbatha Bani Harith, causing traffic congestion and making it hard for Palestinians to move around.

Israeli soldiers also closed the Atara military checkpoint, making it harder for Palestinians to travel, especially for those going to and from villages northwest and west of Ramallah and from northern areas. A report by the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission in October said that the number of permanent and temporary checkpoints, including iron gates, across the Palestinian territories had risen to 916.

Israeli authorities have erected 243 iron checkpoint gates since the start of the conflict on Oct. 7, 2023.

On Dec. 20, Israel's military said that they killed a person in Qabatiya who “hurled a block toward the soldiers.”

It later said that the killing was under review, after Palestinian media aired brief security footage in which the youth appears to emerge from an alley and is shot by troops as he approaches them without throwing anything.

An Israeli reservist soldier rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man ​as he prayed on a roadside in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, after earlier firing shots in the area, the Israeli military said.

"Footage was received of an armed individual running over a Palestinian individual," it said in a statement, adding the individual was ‌a reservist ‌and his military service ‌had been terminated.

The ​reservist ‌acted "in severe violation of his authority" and his weapon had been confiscated, the military said.

Israeli forces raid Syrian town in Quneitra countryside

December 27, 2025 

Middle East Monitor

A view of Al Qunaitra, where, over the past year since the fall of the Assad regime, the Israeli army has detained more than 40 people, established nine military bases in and around civilian settlements and strategic hills, and took over approximately 12,000 acres of land in the province in southern Syria on December 17, 2025. [Bakr Al Kasem – Anadolu Agency]

Israeli forces raided a countryside town in Syria’s southwestern province of Quneitra on Saturday in a new violation of the Arab country, according to official Syrian media, Anadolu reports.

The state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV channel reported that Israeli troops entered the town of Jabata al-Khashab with six military vehicles accompanied by an armored personnel carrier.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army or the Syrian authorities on the media report.

On Friday, Israeli forces fired medium-caliber​​​​​​​ machine guns from the Western Tal Ahmar position toward the Eastern Tal Ahmar in the southern rural Quneitra province. No casualties were immediately reported.

Israeli forces have carried out near-daily incursions in southern Syria in recent weeks, particularly in Quneitra province, conducting arrests, setting up checkpoints, and destroying forested areas, actions that have fueled growing local anger toward Israel.

Israeli forces have repeatedly entered Syrian territory and launched airstrikes, killing civilians and destroying Syrian military sites, vehicles, weapons, and ammunition.

After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated a 1974 agreement with Syria.

UN peacekeeper injured from Israeli gunfire near patrol in southern Lebanon

December 27, 2025 

Middle East Monitor

The United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are seen as they have reported that the Israeli army constructed two walls inside Lebanese territory along the border, in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, near the town of Yaroun, Nabatieh, Lebanon on November 15, 2025. [Ramiz Dallah – Anadolu Agency]

A UN peacekeeper was injured by gunfire from Israeli army positions and a bomb explosion in southern Lebanon, the UN mission in the country, UNIFIL, announced Friday, Anadolu reports.

The peacekeeping mission said heavy machine gunfire from Israeli positions south of the Blue Line made impact near a UNIFIL patrol inspecting a roadblock in the village of Bastarra, followed by a grenade explosion nearby.

“The sound of the gunfire and the explosion left one peacekeeper slightly injured with ear concussion,” it added in a statement.​​​​​​​

No damage was reported.

In a separate incident, the UNIFIL said a second patrol carrying out “a routine operational task” in the village of Kfar Shouba also reported machine gunfire from the Israeli side in immediate proximity to their position.

The UN mission said that it had informed the Israeli army in advance about the patrol activities “following usual practice for patrols in sensitive areas near the Blue Line.”

The mission described incidents on or near peacekeepers as “serious violations of Security Council resolution 1701,” reiterating its call on the Israeli army “to cease aggressive behaviour and attacks on or near peacekeepers working for peace and stability along the Blue Line.”

A ceasefire has been in place in Lebanon since November 2024, after more than a year of attacks that killed more than 4,000 people and injured 17,000 others against the backdrop of the Israeli war in Gaza.

At least 335 people have been killed and 973 others wounded in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The Israeli army was supposed to withdraw from southern Lebanon in January 2025 under the ceasefire, but instead only partially pulled out and continues to maintain a military presence at five border outposts.