Stormings into Al-Aqsa, settler attacks in the West Bank, and the assassination of a Qassam leader in Gaza

On Tuesday, nearly a thousand Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, coinciding with attacks carried out by settlers on towns in the occupied West Bank.

On Tuesday, several areas in the West Bank witnessed a series of attacks carried out by Israeli settlers, concentrated in the Ramallah and Nablus governorates, and included burning vehicles, homes and tents, throwing stones at vehicles, assaulting citizens, in addition to placing flags and banners and closing some roads.

Storming Al-Aqsa Mosque

Al-Aqsa Mosque witnessed incursions by approximately 966 Israeli settlers from the direction of the Mughariba Gate. They performed rituals, Talmudic prayers, group songs, and applause, amid the presence of Israeli police, according to what was reported by the Palestinian News Agency (Wafa).

The Jerusalem Governorate explained that the raids came on the fourth day of the so-called Jewish “Throne Day,” noting that “the terrorist colonists performed their rituals in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of the occupation police.”

She added that the settlers attacked citizens by beating and dragging them in the Damascus Gate area, and published video clips documenting their attacks on their pages on social networking sites.

The raids coincide with the occupation authorities tightening their military measures in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City, and imposing restrictions on the entry and movement of worshipers. This September witnessed repeated raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque, the last of which was Monday, with the participation of 1,731 settlers.

Ramallah, Al-Bireh and Beitunia

In addition, colonists stormed the town of Surda, north of Ramallah, and the Al-Tira area in the city of Ramallah, and carried out orgies and attacks against citizens and their vehicles. They also placed banners and hung occupation flags in a number of locations.

Local sources reported to the Palestinian News Agency (Wafa) that a group of settlers stormed the main street at the Surda Junction, and placed a banner, while the occupation flags were hung on Al-Awda Square in the Chinese Street area near the Al-Tira neighborhood, and threw stones at citizens’ vehicles, intimidated the citizens, and closed some road junctions.

In the town of Beitunia and the Griot roundabout, west of Ramallah, large numbers of settlers' vehicles stormed the Griot Road under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces, and settlers attacked a number of passing vehicles and threw stones at some of them. The occupation forces also detained two young men and beat them before releasing them.

The settlers were stationed at the Griot Roundabout and raised Israeli flags. In preparation for performing Talmudic rituals in Ain Griot, amidst gunfire by occupation soldiers in the area.

Al-Mughayir village

In the village of Al-Mughayir, northeast of Ramallah, at dawn on Tuesday, settlers burned two vehicles and a tent, tried to burn down a house, and wrote racist slogans on citizens’ homes, while the occupation forces arrested two children during their storming of the village.

Deputy Chairman of the Al-Mughir Village Council, Marzouq Abu Naim, told Wafa that the colonists set fire to two vehicles, one belonging to citizen Jihad Al-Naasan, and the other to citizen Musa Muhammad Abu Alia. They also burned a tent belonging to Abu Alia, wrote racist slogans on his sons’ homes, and prevented citizens from reaching the place and putting out the fires. He added that the occupation forces arrested the two children, Moataz Haitham Abu Naeem and Khaled Arif Abu Alia, both 16 years old, during their storming of the village.

On Monday evening, settlers attacked the home of Abd al-Rahim Haj Muhammad in al-Mughayir, coinciding with the outbreak of confrontations at the entrance to the village, and settlers firing live bullets at young men on the eastern side of it, according to local sources.

On September 26, the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission documented an attack on an ambulance and the theft of agricultural equipment from a sheep farm west of the village, in addition to raiding a house and firing tear gas bombs.

Nablus and Jalud

In Nablus Governorate, at dawn on Tuesday, colonists burned two houses and a vehicle and assaulted an elderly woman during an attack on the town of Jalud, south of Nablus.

The head of the Jaloud village council, Raed Haj Muhammad, said that the settlers attacked two houses belonging to the Al-Toubasi family in the Al-Dhahr area, southeast of the town, after the family was forced to evacuate them about two months ago, and set them on fire. Which led to their burning.

He added that the settlers burned a vehicle belonging to the citizen Mahmoud Al-Toubasi, after informing the family of its return to the two homes in accordance with a decision of the Israeli Supreme Court, but the spread of the settlers in the area led to the family’s evacuation again.

He explained that the settlers attacked a number of citizens’ homes with stones. This led to the outbreak of confrontations in the area, and the attacks spread to the outskirts of the neighboring town of Qaryut, where the colonists assaulted an elderly woman and tried to burn her house.

The Sarda and Tira areas witness repeated incursions by colonialists, including acts of aggression and the placing of banners and flags of the occupation.

According to data from the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, during the past month the colonists carried out 628 attacks, concentrated in Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate with 157 attacks, followed by Nablus with 137, Hebron with 120, Bethlehem with 73, Tubas with 40, Jenin with 36, and Jerusalem with 31 attacks, according to Wafa.

The head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Muayyad Shaaban, reported that during the year 2025, the occupation forces and settlers carried out about 23,827 attacks against villagers and their property in various governorates, marking a record high number of attacks recorded in one year.

Google Earth has updated its images to show the extent of the massive destruction inflicted on the Gaza Strip, as large areas of it have turned into rubble.

The Israeli war on Gaza resulted in the damage and destruction of the majority of homes, hospitals, schools and buildings in this strip, which has an area of ​​141 square miles and is widely considered one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

Satellite images have previously documented the extent of the destruction, but the new images provide the latest record of the damage to the area.

Benjamin Netanyahu's government did not allow foreign journalists, independent investigators, or many human rights organizations to enter the Strip, while reporters described the scene of the Strip as "burnt ruins of cities that were once teeming with life," leaving Gaza drowned in "ashes and destruction," according to what the British newspaper "The Independent" reported.

Reactions to Google Images

Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, commented on the recent images, saying: “Look at the unprecedented scale of destruction that the world has allowed Israel - the apartheid state - to commit and get away with in Gaza. And know that the killing machine in that destroyed ghetto is still working at its maximum capacity. What a shame.”

Barry Andrews, a member of the European Parliament for the Dublin constituency, wrote: “The updated satellite images of Gaza via Google are hard to believe, and are available for all to see...”

In a related context, Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, told Newsweek magazine yesterday (Monday), saying: “Google images are further evidence of the systematic destruction inflicted on the Gaza Strip, where at least 82 percent of its buildings were destroyed or damaged.” He added: “These images have shocked the world for years, and the question now is: When will they lead to a change in the positions of senior leaders, especially the United States?”

In this context, Nathan Rosser, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, wrote on the “X” platform that these images “reveal the reality of Gaza with terrifying and shocking accuracy.”

A United Nations report, issued last week, concluded that the Gaza Strip is facing the worst economic crisis in its history. The report indicated that 90 percent of working-age Palestinians are unemployed, and that the annual per capita GDP has declined sharply to $212 (equivalent to $0.58 per day).

Earlier this month, the United Nations called for international investigators to be allowed access to all parts of the Gaza Strip to help collect evidence and document alleged violations, as human remains continue to be recovered from under the rubble.

Only 1.5 percent of arable land is now available to Palestinians, while agricultural and industrial activities have decreased by 94 percent.

Tons of rubble

Estimates indicate that there are 60 million tons of rubble spread throughout the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli bombing that affected various parts of the Strip.

Experts believe that removing this rubble may take decades, but the task can be completed within 7 years if the necessary resources are provided.

The World Health Organization estimates that 90 percent of hospitals have been damaged or destroyed. According to the United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT), about 82 percent of the total buildings and more than 90 percent of the housing units were damaged or destroyed.

Unidentified bodies

The Gaza forensics team told The Independent earlier this year that the lack of DNA testing had prevented the identification of hundreds of bodies; At least 1,129 bodies were recovered from under the rubble, without their owners being able to be identified.

Meanwhile, almost all residents remain homeless, with some living amid the rubble of collapsed buildings.

The number of Palestinian deaths as a result of the Israeli war, which is approaching its third year, has exceeded 74,000, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The ministry said that 1,145 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the ceasefire.

At least 21 people were killed earlier this month when a building collapsed on top of Palestinian families who were taking shelter there; The collapse also killed 8 children.

The ruins contain evidence

A CBC News investigation revealed satellite images showing Israel collecting and removing rubble and waste from the Gaza Strip - material that may contain human remains and possible evidence of war crimes - in multiple locations.

A UN expert warned that the rubble removal operations undertaken by Israel may lead to the obliteration of evidence of the horrific crimes committed.

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory had previously stated that the ongoing rubble removal and transfer operations in Gaza must not lead to the obliteration of evidence of the commission of international crimes, or prevent the recovery of the remains of victims and the identification of their identities in the besieged Strip.

Four sources from the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip confirmed on Tuesday that Israel had assassinated the commander of the Northern Brigade of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Izz al-Din al-Bik, following the bombing of an apartment in which he was located in the al-Nasr neighborhood, northwest of Gaza City.

The sources stated, in separate testimonies to Asharq Al-Awsat, that Al-Beik, known by the nickname “Ashmawi,” was killed instantly as a result of being targeted in a raid that targeted the residential apartment with three missiles likely launched by warplanes with the aim of confirming his death.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz announced the operation, confirming Al-Beik's assassination.

The attack occurred at three-thirty in the morning, as witnessed by the Asharq Al-Awsat correspondent, indicating that the fire consumed the apartment and continued to rage for more than half an hour until civil defense crews were able to extinguish it.

It appears that the Israeli army used missiles that caused intense fires with the aim of killing the targeted person, either as a result of the explosion, or as a result of the toxic smoke emanating from those missiles.

The attack occurred in a residential building adjacent to another that had been subjected about two months ago to a similar attack in broad daylight, during which Adham Nisman, the operations commander of the Gaza Brigade, affiliated with the Al-Qassam Brigades, and one of those who had a prominent role in the attack on October 7, 2023, was assassinated.

Previous assassination attempt

Al-Beik was subjected to an assassination attempt at the end of last May, a few days after the assassination of Izz al-Din al-Haddad and Muhammad Odeh, who led the “Al-Qassam Brigades” in the Gaza Strip, respectively, succeeding Muhammad al-Sanwar.

Imad Aslim, deputy commander of the Gaza Brigade and commander of the Olive Brigade, was killed in that raid. Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat at the time that a meeting was supposed to be held between Aslim and Al-Beik, as well as the commander of the new Gaza Brigade, Muhannad Rajab, but the latter two did not arrive at the location when the raid was carried out.

This operation came about two weeks after the assassination of the commander of the Khan Yunis Brigade in Al-Qassam, Muhammad Al-Yazouri, and the commander of the Rafah Brigade, Nael Abu Ubaid.

Who is Albaik?

Izz al-Din al-Bik (48 years old), a resident of the Al-Faluga area in Jabalia Camp, one of the most important Hamas strongholds, has been a prominent activist of the movement for many years. He joined the movement at the end of the nineties, after his commitment to mosques. With the outbreak of the second Al-Aqsa Intifada, he began working in the “Al-Qassam Brigades,” and was active in operations to confront the Israeli incursions into the camp and the town of Beit Lahia in a clear and significant manner. He was one of the first to use “Al-Yassin” anti-armor missiles in confronting a major Israeli military operation that targeted the Jabalia camp in 2004.

Al-Beik led, as Hamas sources told Asharq Al-Awsat, the first special units in the “Al-Qassam” in the Jabalia Camp, which is currently called the “Elite,” and for many years he led the “Imad Aql” (Western) Brigade for the Jabalia Camp area, then he left it and became the commander of the intelligence service in the “Northern Brigade,” before becoming, after the assassination of Ahmed Al-Ghandour in November 2023, the commander of the Northern Brigade.

The sources say that when he was commander of the intelligence service in the Northern Brigade, he was described as the “spoiled boy” of Muhammad Odeh, the commander of the intelligence department in the Gaza Strip at the time, and they had a special relationship, as they were both residents of Jabalia camp.

The sources explain that he led the process of thwarting what was called “the generals’ plan” during the last war, which aimed to displace the residents of the northern Gaza Strip, and he remained steadfast with his fighters in the battles against the Israeli army face to face.

One of the Hamas sources who knows him well says that he was a skilled sniper, and he also took charge of managing operations for a period in the Northern Brigade, and he is one of the popular figures...

Before and during the war, Al-Beik was subjected to several assassination attempts, one of which was inside Jabalia camp in the second half of the last war, and his companion was killed, while he survived.