The Levant Files

By the Editorial Team of TLF Itamar Ben-Gvir's appearance at Al-Aqsa during Sukkot was presented as a religious visit. It was also a show of power. According to Al Jazeera , the Israeli national security minister entered the compound under police protection, and video released by his office showed him taking part in religious rituals. The setting gave the moment its weight. Ben-Gvir is not a private citizen making a pilgrimage. He is the minister responsible for Israel's police. At Al-Aqsa, that distinction is combustible. The compound is administered day to day by the Jordanian-appointed Islamic Waqf under the long-standing status quo. Muslims pray there. Jewish visitors are allowed entry under Israeli control, but public prayer by non-Muslims has long been restricted because of the risk of confrontation. Ben-Gvir's visits have repeatedly pressed against those limits. According to Anadolu Agency , about 1,500 Israeli visitors, including Ben-Gvir, entered the com...

Luciano Zaccara explains how an entire political identity was built around Lionel Messi, even though the Argentinian footballer rarely talks politics. During the 2026 World Cup, Lionel Messi found himself at the centre of a controversy that had little to do with football. Following Argentina’s victory over Algeria, an Algerian television commentator claimed that Messi was protected by a “Jewish lobby,” linking the alleged favouritism toward the Argentine captain to Algeria’s positions on Palestine and Western Sahara. Meanwhile, some pro-Palestinian social media accounts began presenting support for Argentina’s opponents as an anti-Zionist position. The controversy became significant enough for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency to ask explicitly: “Is Lionel Messi a Zionist?” The article compiled a series of episodes connecting Messi with Israel and Jewish organisations over more than a decade. Yet, remarkably, it did not identify a single statement in which Messi described himself as...

By Michel Shehadeh Palestine can no longer be understood as a political island, isolated from the developments unfolding around it. From Gaza and the West Bank to Lebanon, Yemen and Iran, and from the Strait of Hormuz to Bab al-Mandab, war, negotiations, economics and elections are becoming intertwined within a single regional landscape. Pressure exerted in one arena reverberates across another, while maritime corridors, energy markets and ballot boxes have all become part of the same equation of conflict. At the heart of this landscape, Gaza remains an open wound. Siege, hunger, thirst and destruction dominate people’s daily lives, while hundreds of thousands live amid rubble and temporary shelters. Yet the fundamental political question remains unresolved: what comes first — an Israeli withdrawal or the disarmament of the resistance? The resistance insists on the reciprocal and sequential implementation of the agreement, beginning with the completion of its first phase and an Isra...

Israeli settlers stormed the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, according to reports from the ground, as Israeli forces kept the site closed to Palestinians for a second consecutive day and tightened a security cordon around it. The closure began Wednesday, with Israeli forces citing "security measures" tied to Jewish holiday celebrations by settlers. Amjad Karajah, director of Hebron's Awqaf (endowments) department, called it a flagrant violation of the site's sanctity and of Muslims' right to reach their place of worship. Alongside the closure, troops tightened measures around the shrine and shut the checkpoints and electronic gates leading to it, blocking pupils and staff from the Ibrahimi Basic School for Boys and Al-Fayhaa Basic School for Girls; classes at the first were halted entirely and disrupted at the second. Gates into the Old City markets were also closed, and checkpoints at the Jaber, Al-Salaymeh, Ghaith and Wadi Al-Hussein neighbourhoods — all adjacent t...

Over the past week, settler attacks in the occupied Palestine have continued at a punishing pace. On September 13, 2026, dozens of settlers stormed the town of Yasuf near Salfit, firing live ammunition and stoning homes, while a parallel raid on Beita, south of Nablus, saw settlers attack residential areas and main roads under military protection — Israeli forces responded to Palestinian residents defending their homes with tear gas and live fire rather than confronting the attackers. In late August, a CNN crew filming a Palestinian family being forced from their home in Qusra was itself attacked by masked settlers. On September 5, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee called settler attacks "acts of terror" and urged prosecution during a West Bank visit — a notable statement from a normally sympathetic administration, though it has not been matched by policy consequences. The Pattern Three consistent, mutually reinforcing patterns define this wave of violence, according to the UN, H...

At least 12 Palestinians, including four children, were killed after a damaged residential building collapsed in Gaza City on Wednesday, health officials said, as rescue crews continued searching for people believed trapped beneath the rubble. The multi-storey building, located in the al-Sinaa industrial area in southwest Gaza City, had been housing about six families displaced by the war. It collapsed during the morning hours onto its residents and onto tents erected nearby, according to local rescue workers and residents. Shifa Hospital said at least 15 people were injured. The death toll could rise, with dozens reported missing or feared under the debris. Earlier casualty figures differed as rescue operations continued and information emerged from the scene. Videos reviewed by news organisations showed civil defence teams and local residents working through broken concrete and twisted metal. Some survivors, including children, were pulled out while residents helped dig by hand. Witn...

A fetus lost at the Awarta checkpoint, a woman forced to walk through a closed gate mid-labour, two other births forced en route to hospital: as Israel's military tightens its grip on Nablus following deadly clashes near the village of Tal, Palestinian medics say pregnant women are bearing the sharpest edge of a closure regime that has choked the city for four consecutive days.   A pregnant Palestinian woman from the village of Qaryut, south of Nablus, lost her fetus on Monday after Israeli soldiers held her ambulance for more than half an hour at the Awarta military checkpoint, according to paramedic Bashar al-Qaryouti, who spoke to AFP and the Palestinian news agency WAFA. The incident, reported by The National, The New Arab, Al Jazeera and the AFP-sourced HNGN wire, has become the emblematic case of a wider pattern medics describe as pregnant women being repeatedly denied timely passage through Israeli checkpoints amid a sweeping military crackdown around Nablus. According to al...

"Years of lawlessness and impunity for attacks has turned the West Bank into a powder keg waiting to explode, and decisive action is urgently needed." — Sarah Sanbar, Human Rights Watch A localized confrontation between Israeli settlers and local residents in the northern West Bank village of Tell has sparked a major military crackdown and a wave of vigilante violence. Over the past 24 hours, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) deployed five additional combat companies, raided a major hospital in Nablus, and imposed military lockdowns on dozens of Palestinian communities. Simultaneously, Palestinian officials warned that widespread retaliatory arson and assaults by armed Israeli settlers are pushing the region toward an uncontrollable spiral. The Catalyst: Deadly Shootout in Tell The current surge in violence traces back to the morning of Friday, July 24. According to local accounts and witness reports, a group of 25 to 50 Israeli settlers—including armed individuals from the ne...

Israeli forces have launched a sweeping crackdown across the occupied West Bank, carrying out extensive raids and mass arrests in the wake of a deadly confrontation around the Palestinian village of Tell, southwest of Nablus, in which at least four Palestinians and one Israeli were killed. According to Shafaq News, the operation began hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered a “wide-scale” military response. Israeli Raids Across the West Bank As reported by Shafaq News, Israeli troops raided multiple Palestinian towns and villages overnight and into Saturday, including Tell and several communities in the northern and central West Bank, as part of an expanded military operation ordered by Netanyahu and Katz. According to the same report, soldiers stormed dozens of homes in Tell, detained around 50 Palestinian residents, and conducted intensive searches in roughly 70 houses, while additional arrest campaigns were carried out in other localiti...

The occupied West Bank recorded one of its bloodiest 24-hour stretches in months on Thursday and Friday, with at least five people killed — four Palestinians and one Israeli — and more than a dozen others wounded in a cluster of shootings, stabbings, and settler-related clashes concentrated around Nablus. The violence unfolded even as international attention remained fixed on the US-Iran war, underscoring how the West Bank’s slow-burning crisis continues to intensify largely outside the global spotlight. The Last 24 Hours The deadliest incident occurred early Friday near the settlement of Havat Gilad, west of Nablus. According to Israeli military and settler accounts, a group of roughly 60 Israeli hikers — including armed civilian guards — set out from Mount Bracha into Areas A and B of the West Bank, territory normally off-limits to Israeli civilians. Confrontations broke out with Palestinian residents of the nearby village of Tell, reportedly beginning with stone-throwing and escalat...

  Hamas announced on Monday that it is dissolving the body that has governed the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades, formally clearing the way for a Palestinian technocratic committee to take over civilian administration of the war-battered territory. Mohammed al-Farra, head of the "Government Emergency Committee," submitted his resignation, and Hamas said the committee itself has been dissolved, with powers transferred to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a body established under a UN Security Council resolution as part of the US-brokered ceasefire plan. Ismail al-Thawabta, head of Hamas' government media office, said the movement had made "all administrative and legal preparations" for the handover and called for the NCAG, headed by technocrat Ali Shaath, to "enter quickly and assume its national and administrative duties." Hamas also said the roughly 60,000 employees of Gaza's government would be treated as state emplo...

The Mediterranean island of Cyprus, long known as a peaceful holiday destination, has quietly transformed into a high-stakes arena for intelligence operations and shadow warfare. According to well-informed sources within The Levant Files, Israeli authorities have significantly intensified their monitoring of the island, identifying it as a critical theater for tracking regional threats. This shift reflects a broader geopolitical reality: the Republic of Cyprus—and the complex security environment of the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)—has become a focal point for Iran, its proxies, and Israeli counter-intelligence efforts. The Operational Theater Security sources indicate that the primary focus of Israeli intelligence services lies in detecting Palestinian and pro-Palestinian interest groups, as well as tracking Iranian assets operating across the island. The assessment suggests that these actors are attempting to utilize Cyprus as a staging ground for multidime...

A high‑level international meeting on Gaza’s future is set to take place at a resort in Cyprus in late June 2026, as the United States‑led “Gaza Board of Peace” seeks to revive a stalled plan for governance and reconstruction in the territory.  The gathering, expected within days of June 23–24, will bring together representatives from the Board of Peace alongside Palestinian officials and international coordinators. It is being described by participants as a crucial opportunity to “reset” and “recalibrate” efforts after six months of limited progress since the initiative’s launch earlier this year. The Board of Peace, established under a US‑backed framework in January 2026, is tasked with overseeing Gaza’s transition from conflict to reconstruction. Its mandate includes establishing a technocratic Palestinian administration to replace Hamas governance, advancing demilitarisation, and coordinating large‑scale international investment in rebuilding infrastructure. Despite initial opt...

A fierce and increasingly intelligence war is unfolding between Israel and Turkey, transforming the bustling streets of Istanbul into a primary battleground for rival spy agencies. In a dramatic escalation of covert hostilities, both nations have recently pulled back the curtain on extensive espionage networks operating within each other's spheres of influence, highlighting a deepening strategic rivalry that extends far beyond traditional diplomatic friction. Israel Exposes Hamas Command in Turkey The latest salvo in this shadow war came on June 21, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet (Israel’s internal security agency) jointly unveiled a sweeping intelligence operation targeting Hamas operatives based in Turkey.  According to Israeli authorities, the exposed network consists of senior Hamas figures who have been utilizing Turkish soil to direct, fund, and orchestrate military actions against targets in Israel and the West Bank. The Shin Bet identified five key op...

by Dr. Dalal Saeb Erekat On the fourth of June each year, Palestinians recall the last day before the war of 1967 — the day that preceded the Naksa (the Setback), the upheaval that reshaped the face of the region and ushered the Palestinian people into a new phase of military occupation that endures to this day. Fifty-nine years on, the Naksa appears not as a mere event of the past, but as a political, legal, and human reality whose repercussions continue to renew themselves in different forms across the Palestinian land. The 1967 war marked a pivotal turning point in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and produced a clear body of international law embodied in United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. These resolutions affirmed a fundamental principle of international law: that the acquisition of territory by force is inadmissible, and that a just and lasting peace can be achieved only through ending the occupation and respecting the right of peoples to self-determination....