Prospects for West Bank are bleak amid rising violence with world’s eyes on Gaza
Only a few weeks ago, the United Nations released a statement condemning what it described as “day after day of unprecedented bloodshed” against Palestinians in the West Bank.
With global eyes mostly focused on Gaza and increasingly the tense Israel–Lebanon border, life in the West Bank has dramatically deteriorated for Palestinians living there.
Since the Hamas attacks, Israeli security forces have worked to prevent the West Bank from becoming another front in the war, although there is evidence that their draconian approach is actually pushing the area closer to collapse.
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Last year was already the most violent year in the West Bank for decades, even before 7 October, and more than 500 Palestinians have been killed in the Occupied Territories since those attacks.
The IDF regularly launches raids into Palestinian towns, especially Jenin and Tulkarm, to arrest or kill wanted militants – raids which often lead to the deaths of civilians, too.
More military checkpoints have disrupted movement around the region for Palestinians, leading to damaging consequences for the local economy.
Airstrikes, which the IDF hadn’t used as a tactic for twenty years, are now relatively commonplace; almost 50 have been carried out in the West Bank since 7 October.
In the last eight and a half months, Israeli security officials have also arrested more than 9,000 Palestinians, including hundreds of children – around half of them held on what is known as administrative detention – without charge and indefinitely.
So crammed are Israel’s prisons, it’s been reported the IDF and police have been forced to cancel arrest operations because there is no room left.
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Palestinian gunmen at a march in the West Bank this month. Pic: Reuters
The frequency of violence by extremist Israeli settlers on Palestinians has led the US to label some of them terror attacks and impose sanctions against a number of them.
More than 1,000 Palestinians, mainly from herding communities, have been displaced as a result of settler violence.
But it’s not one-sided, as 24 Israelis, some of the soldiers, were killed by Palestinians in 2023, a 15-year high.
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The West Bank has also been the origin of a number of terror attacks since 7 October, some of which were thwarted before they were launched.
Israel also accuses Iran of sending money into the West Bank to incite further violence against Israelis.
Only this weekend an Israeli man was shot and killed in the Palestinian town of Qalqilya.
But the current hard-right Israeli coalition government has taken an unforgiving approach to Palestinians and is looking to take advantage of the current period of conflict.
Approval was given earlier this year for 3,400 new settlement homes to be built, even though Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
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Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler himself, was recently recorded outlining his plans to transfer authority of the West Bank from military to civilian control, effectively annexing it and denying any future possibility of a Palestinian state.
Mr Smotrich said his plans were privately supported by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The minister has also withheld collected tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority, leaving it unable to pay many of its workers and on the brink of financial collapse.
With a ceasefire in Gaza still looking unlikely in the near future, and Mr Netanyahu still refusing to consider a ‘day after’ plan, the prospects for Palestinians in the West Bank are bleak as international attention remains elsewhere.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
Read more from Sky News:
Mass displacement in Gaza – people unsure where to go
Donald Trump picks vaccine sceptic as health secretary
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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