West Bank

Israel Aug. 4 used a controversial decades-old form of detention without trial against an alleged Jewish extremist for the first time, following an outcry over the death of a Palestinian toddler in an arson attack.

Israel's security cabinet approved on August 2 the detention of  citizens suspected of waging violence against Palestinians without trial in a crackdown aimed at capturing the perpetrators of a lethal West Bank arson attack blamed on Jewish militants. 

Israel faced mounting pressure on Aug. 2 to crack down on Jewish extremists after a firebombing that killed a Palestinian child and the stabbing of six Gay Pride marchers drew widespread outrage.

Suspected Jewish extremists set fire to a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank on July 31, killing an 18-month-old baby and seriously injuring several other family members, an act that Israel's prime minister described as terrorism. 

The Dead Sea is shrinking, and as its waters vanish at a rate of more than one meter a year, hundreds of sinkholes, some the size of a basketball court, some two stories deep, are devouring its shoreline A neglected grove of date palms, their leaves long fallen, trunks drooping in the searing heat at the lowest point on earth, is the latest casualty of a dramatic rise in sinkholes  wreak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 29 approved the "immediate" construction of 300 settler homes in the occupied West Bank as his government came under pressure from right-wing Jewish groups.

Jewish settlers clashed with Israeli police on July 28 as authorities took control of homes being built in the occupied West Bank, after a court ruled that the illegal structures must be demolished.

A Palestinian man fell to his death while trying to escape Israeli forces who were attempting to arrest him in the occupied West Bank early on July 27, Israeli police said.

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian during an arrest operation in the occupied West Bank on July 23, a hospital official said, the second killing within 24 hours.

Falah Abu Maria, 50, was shot in the chest in the village of Beit Omar near the southern city of Hebron, neighbours said.    

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian near the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank on July 22 in clashes following an arrest raid, medical and security sources said.