Overview
- Pope Leo XIV spoke Sunday at his Castel Gandolfo residence and renewed an appeal to stop repeated violence against Palestinian civilians while urging the international community to take action toward a two-state solution.
- Rights groups have documented a recent rise in attacks by Israeli settlers, including reports that settlers surrounded homes and cut water and electricity in villages such as Qusra.
- The Israeli military last week declared the Christian village of Taybeh a closed military zone that bars non-resident Israelis and said the move was intended to protect residents after violent incidents.
- Israel's right-wing coalition has continued settlement construction in the West Bank, a policy that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said aims to block a Palestinian state and that has increased diplomatic tension over the settlements' legality.
- Local clergy and residents say settlers use harassment, property seizures and utility cuts to create a climate of fear that pressures families to leave, and they are calling for an international presence and concrete protection for civilians.