Mourners give condolences to Mohammad Abu Siyam, the daddy of Palestinian-American Nasrallah Abu Siyam, 19, who in response to the Palestinian Well being Ministry was shot by settlers on Wednesday evening, throughout his funeral within the West Financial institution village of Mukhmas, east of Ramallah, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026.
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MUKHMAS, West Financial institution — Israeli settlers within the occupied West Financial institution shot and killed a Palestinian American man throughout an assault on a village, the Palestinian Well being Ministry and a witness mentioned Thursday.
Raed Abu Ali, a resident of Mukhmas, mentioned a bunch of settlers got here to the village Wednesday afternoon the place they attacked a farmer, prompting clashes after residents intervened. Israeli forces later arrived, and in the course of the violence armed settlers killed 19-year-old Nasrallah Abu Siyam and injured a number of others.
Abu Ali mentioned that the military shot tear fuel, sound grenades and stay ammunition. Israel’s navy acknowledged utilizing what it referred to as “riot dispersal methods” after receiving experiences of Palestinians throwing rocks however denied that its forces fired in the course of the clashes.
“When the settlers saw the army, they were encouraged and started shooting live bullets,” Abu Ali mentioned. He added that they clubbed these injured with sticks after they’d fallen to the bottom.
The Palestinian Ministry of Well being confirmed Abu Siyam’s loss of life from important wounds sustained Wednesday afternoon close to the village east of Ramallah.
Abu Siyam’s killing is the most recent in a surge in violence within the occupied West Financial institution. Israeli forces and settlers killed 240 Palestinians final 12 months, in response to the United Nations Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Palestinians killed 17 Israelis over the identical interval, six of whom have been troopers. The Palestinian Authority’s Wall and Settlement Resistance Fee mentioned Abu Siyam was the primary Palestinian killed by settlers in 2026.
Mukhmas and its surrounding space — most of which lies below Israeli civil and navy administration — have turn into a scorching spot for settler assaults, together with arson and assaults, in addition to the development of outposts that Israeli legislation considers unlawful.
The Israeli navy mentioned late Wednesday that unnamed suspects shot at Palestinians, who have been later evacuated for medical therapy. It didn’t say whether or not any have been arrested.
Abu Siyam’s mom instructed The Related Press that he was an American citizen, making him the second Palestinian American particular person to be killed by Israeli settlers in lower than a 12 months.
A U.S. embassy spokesperson mentioned they “condemn this violence.”
Palestinians and rights teams say authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers or maintain them accountable for violence.
It is a locator map of Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
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UN says Israel’s acts in West Financial institution could also be ethnic cleaning
The U.N. human rights workplace on Thursday accused Israel of conflict crimes and mentioned practices that displace Palestinians and alter the demographic composition of the occupied West Financial institution “raise concerns over ethnic cleansing.”
The Workplace of the Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights, citing findings collected November 2024 to October 2025, mentioned Israel was engaged in “concerted and accelerating effort to consolidate annexation” whereas sustaining a system “to maintain oppression and domination of Palestinians.”
Residents of Palestinian villages and herding communities have been more and more displaced as Israeli settlements and outposts broaden. For the reason that begin of the Israel–Hamas conflict, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem says about 45 Palestinian communities have been emptied out utterly amid Israeli demolition orders and settler assaults.
Moreover, the workplace mentioned Israeli navy operations within the northern West Financial institution “employed means and methods designed for warfare” together with deadly airstrikes and forcibly transferring civilians from their houses. It additionally mentioned Israel “forbade” residents from returning to their houses in northern West Financial institution refugee camps. The operation, which Israel mentioned was aimed in opposition to militants, displaced tens of hundreds of Palestinians.
The report additionally accused Palestinian safety forces of utilizing pointless deadly drive in the identical areas, killing at the very least eight folks, and famous that the Palestinian Authority had engaged in “intimidation, detention and ill-treatment of journalists, human rights defenders and other individuals deemed critical of its rule.”
Neither Israel’s Overseas Ministry nor the Palestinian Authority responded to requests for remark. Israel has repeatedly accused the U.N. rights workplace of anti-Israel bias.
Final 12 months, the U.N. human rights monitor warned of what it referred to as “an unfolding genocide in Gaza” with “conditions of life increasingly incompatible with (Palestinians’) continued existence.” Their report on Thursday additionally warned of demographic shifts in Gaza elevating considerations of ethnic cleaning.
Report finds imprisoned Palestinian journalists have been tortured
The Committee to Defend Journalists mentioned that dozens of Palestinian journalists who have been detained in Israel in the course of the conflict in Gaza skilled situations together with bodily assaults, compelled stress positions, sensory deprivation, sexual violence and medical neglect.
CPJ documented the detention of at the very least 94 Palestinian journalists and one media employee in the course of the conflict, from the West Financial institution, Gaza and Israel Thirty are nonetheless in custody, CPJ mentioned.
Half of the journalists, the report discovered, have been by no means charged with against the law and have been held below Israel’s administrative detention system, which permits for suspects deemed safety dangers to be held for six months and might be renewed indefinitely.
Israel’s jail providers didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark concerning the report, however rejected an identical report in January about situations for Palestinian prisoners as “false allegations,” contending it operates lawfully, is topic to oversight and opinions complaints.
UN growth chief says eradicating Gaza rubble will take 7 years
The huge destruction throughout Gaza will take at the very least seven years simply to take away the rubble, in response to the United Nations Improvement Program.
Alexander De Croo, the previous Belgian prime minister who simply returned from Gaza, mentioned that the UNDP had eliminated simply 0.5% of the rubble and folks in Gaza are experiencing “the worst living conditions that I have ever seen.”
De Croo mentioned 90% of Gaza’s 2.2 million folks stay in “very, very rudimentary tents” in the midst of the rubble, which poses well being risks and a hazard from exploding weapons.
He mentioned UNDP has been in a position to construct 500 improved housing items, and has 4,000 extra which can be prepared, however estimates the true want is 200,000 to 300,000 items. The items are meant for use briefly whereas reconstruction takes place. He referred to as on Israel to broaden entry for items and objects wanted for reconstruction and the personal sector to start growth.
