PALESTINE CHRONICLE: Iran said talks with Oman are reshaping navigation through the Strait of Hormuz while warning any US attack would trigger retaliation.

Key Developments

• Iran said talks with Oman are focused on establishing a new navigation mechanism for the Strait of Hormuz, independent of any third party.
• Tehran rejected President Donald Trump’s claims that it had agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or requested a deal with Washington.
• Iran warned that any country facilitating US military action against Iranian infrastructure would face a “legitimate” and proportionate response.

Iran, Oman Negotiating New Hormuz Route as Tehran Warns against US Aggression

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: Five Lebanese soldiers were injured in southern Lebanon after a suspicious object exploded during an army operation, as Israeli forces carried out fresh explosions, shelling, and drone activity.

Key Developments

• Five Lebanese soldiers were injured when a suspicious object exploded in Kafra.
• The Lebanese army said the blast occurred while troops were escorting civilians.
• Israeli forces carried out explosions, shelling, and drone operations across southern Lebanon.
• The incidents mark the latest violations of the US-mediated ceasefire framework.

Israeli Violations Continue in South Lebanon as Blast Injures Five Lebanese Soldiers

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: IRGC said attempts to disarm Hamas have already failed, while vowing that retaliation for the assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh and Iran’s late leader Ali Khamenei is “inevitable.”

Key Takeaways

• The IRGC said efforts to disarm Hamas have ended in “strategic failure.”
• Iran pledged that retaliation for the killings of Ismail Haniyeh and Ali Khamenei is “inevitable” and will be “harsh and decisive.”
• The statement marked the second anniversary of Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran.
• The IRGC accused the US and its allies of complicity in Israel’s actions across Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran.

Iran’s IRGC: Hamas Disarmament Plot Has Failed, Haniyeh Revenge ‘Inevitable’

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: A German appeals court has overturned the conviction of a woman who compared Israel’s actions to those of Nazi Germany on social media.

Key Developments

• A German appeals court acquitted a woman convicted over pro-Palestine Instagram posts comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.
• The court ruled the posts constituted protected political expression rather than unlawful use of Nazi symbols.
• Judges said the images clearly conveyed condemnation of Nazism rather than support for it.
• The ruling overturned a lower court decision imposing a €2,400 fine.

German Court Rules Comparing Israel to Nazi Regime is Protected Speech

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: Israeli occupation forces intensified raids across the occupied West Bank as illegal settlers expanded outposts, attacked communities, and seized more Palestinian land.

Key Developments

• Israeli forces carried out raids, arrests, and incursions across multiple West Bank governorates, firing live ammunition and tear gas during operations.
• Illegal Israeli Jewish settlers established a new settlement outpost near Hebron, sabotaged electricity infrastructure near Nablus, and continued attacks on Palestinian communities.
• Israeli military orders confiscated hundreds of dunams of Palestinian land near al-Bireh to construct settlement roads linking illegal settlements.

Israel Raids West Bank Communities as Illegal Settlers Seize More Palestinian Land

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: US President Donald Trump said he canceled planned military strikes on Iran after requests from Tehran and regional countries to allow more time for negotiations.

Key Developments

• Trump said he halted planned strikes to give diplomacy a chance.
• Mohammed bin Salman urged de-escalation and warned against a broader regional conflict.
• Reports indicate Gulf states intensified diplomatic efforts to prevent a new US attack on Iran.
• Iran warned it was prepared to retaliate against US and Israeli energy infrastructure if attacked.

Trump Halts Planned Iran Strikes as MBS Pushes for Regional De-Escalation

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: Israeli attacks killed at least 17 Palestinians across Gaza as ceasefire violations continued despite announcements of progress toward implementing a new agreement.

Key Developments

• Israeli attacks killed at least 17 Palestinians across Gaza over the past 24 hours, including families, a recently released prisoner, and children.
• Israeli forces also struck a medicines warehouse at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, prompting warnings of an accelerating collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system.
• The attacks continued despite announcements that mediators had reached an agreement on implementing the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire.

Israeli Attacks across Gaza Kill 17 as Ceasefire Violations Continue for 297th Day

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: Behind the image of a stable, modern, and sovereign kingdom lies a system built on dependency, diplomatic duplicity, and the preservation of power. The Moroccan mirage consists precisely in this gap between the official narrative and a reality where proclaimed sovereignty often masks strategic servitude.

All politics is ultimately judged by what it conceals of what it promises. For six decades, Morocco has elevated this to an art: silence draped in words, a monarchy that speaks of independence while cultivating dependency, that celebrates sovereignty while ceaselessly negotiating the external conditions of its survival. It invokes the Ummah, then forgets it; exalts Jerusalem in its diplomatic orations, yet deepens its alliances with those who trample it. Arab in language, it becomes, in the time of genocide, the standard-bearer of Zionism in its sub-region. Not through error but through deliberate choice. By design.

This system obeys a single principle: its own duration. To this perpetuation, everything is subordinate — collective memory, solemn commitments, historical loyalties, and even the very idea of political freedom. The throne does not defend a nation: it administers a continuity, a vassal state.

Observers marvel at the apparent contradictions. They cease to be so once one abandons the notion that the nation is the true subject of this policy. The priority is not the national interest but the preservation of the system. What seemed incoherent becomes remarkably coherent.

Read the latest commentary by Mohamed El Mokhtar.

The Moroccan Mirage: Power, Dependency, and the Manufacture of Stability

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: In recent days, an eruption of news on a tiny geographical location known as Ceuta, 250 miles to the east along North Africa’s Mediterranean coast, constituting the EU’s only land border with Africa, has grabbed public attention.

While reports on Ceuta have sought to make sense of the reasons why it has become a migration flashpoint, the politics of hate against Spain driven by the United States, Israel and Morocco is largely under-reported. Undoubtedly, Spain’s increasingly independent position on Gaza has placed it on a collision course with the US-Israeli regional agenda.

Clearly by design, the series of events unfolding across the western Mediterranean suggests that Madrid’s foreign policy choices are carrying geopolitical consequences far beyond the diplomatic arena.

Spain has emerged as one of Europe’s strongest critics of Israel’s genocide and ongoing military campaign in Gaza. It recognized the State of Palestine, called for accountability over alleged war crimes, opposed aspects of military cooperation with Israel, and reportedly refused the use of Spanish bases for offensive operations linked to the conflict with Iran

Read the latest commentary by Iqbal Jassat.

Spain’s Defiance Sparks a New Front: Ceuta and the Geopolitics of Retaliation

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: A New York Times analysis argues that six months of war have left the United States strategically weaker, with Iran retaining leverage over the Strait of Hormuz while America’s allies increasingly question Washington’s credibility and global leadership.

Key Takeaways

• The New York Times says the US has failed to achieve its principal objectives despite months of war.
• Analysts interviewed by the newspaper argue Iran has preserved its most important strategic leverage through the Strait of Hormuz.
• European and Middle Eastern allies are increasingly questioning US reliability as a security guarantor.
• The report concludes the conflict risks becoming another prolonged American war without a clear path to victory.

Trump’s Iran War Is Heading Toward ‘Strategic Defeat’ – NYT Analysis

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: Iran warned it is fully prepared to retaliate against any US or Israeli attack on its infrastructure, saying any aggression would trigger a broad response.

Key Developments

• A senior Iranian security official said Tehran has prepared a comprehensive response plan targeting Israeli critical infrastructure and US energy assets in the region.
• Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned Saudi Arabia that any participation in attacks against Iran would draw a “decisive and proportionate” response.
• The warnings come after reports that Washington is considering new strikes against Iran’s energy infrastructure.

Iran Prepares Broad Retaliation, Araghchi Warns Gulf States over US, Israeli Plans

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: US President Donald Trump is reportedly considering major strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure as Washington and Israel coordinate possible military escalation.

Key Developments

• US media report Trump is weighing strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure, including refineries and power plants, although final approval has not yet been given.
• Axios, CBS News and The Wall Street Journal say Washington and Israel are coordinating possible joint military operations.
• Iran warned that attacks on its energy infrastructure would trigger broad retaliation against US and Israeli strategic assets across the region.

Trump Weighs Major Strikes on Iran’s Energy Infrastructure as US, Israel Coordinate

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir mocked a Palestinian prisoner who described hunger, unsafe water, and psychological suffering in prison.

Key Developments

• Ben-Gvir dismissed complaints about food, water, and mental health during a filmed prison visit.
• The exchange was published by Ben-Gvir on his official Telegram channel.
• Rights groups have repeatedly documented starvation, torture, and medical neglect in Israeli prisons.

‘Prison is Not a Hotel’: Ben-Gvir Mocks Palestinian Woman over Hunger, Depression

Israeli occupation forces intensified attacks across southern Lebanon, days before Lebanese and Israeli officials are due to meet in Rome over the ceasefire.

Key Takeaways

• Israeli occupation forces carried out widespread explosions, artillery shelling, and drone flights across southern Lebanon.
• Israel said it destroyed tunnels beneath Beaufort Castle using approximately 700 tons of explosives.
• Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri condemned the escalation as a “crime.”
  The attacks came ahead of a new round of ceasefire implementation talks in Rome.

Israel Targets Beaufort Castle with 700 Tons of Explosives amid Lebanon Escalation

Three Palestinians were killed and hospital drug warehouses damaged as Israeli attacks continued despite agreement on Gaza’s next ceasefire phase.

Key Developments

• Israeli strikes killed three Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday.
• The attacks came one day after the announcement of an agreement to implement the ceasefire’s second phase.
• Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israeli forces bombed drug warehouses at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
  Since the ceasefire began, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,220 Palestinians.

Israel Kills Three Palestinians, Bombs Hospital Drug Stores despite Ceasefire Roadmap

PALESTINE CHRONICLE:

A tanker was struck near the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran reiterated that passage through the strategic waterway requires its coordination.

Key Takeaways

UKMTO reported that a tanker was struck by an unidentified projectile near the Strait of Hormuz.
The vessel lost propulsion after damage to its engine room.

No injuries or environmental damage have been reported.

The incident came as Iran reiterated that transit through the Strait remains restricted.

Tanker Hit near Strait of Hormuz amid Rising Maritime Tensions

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: Hamas and their allied armed resistance groups have officially agreed upon a disarmament plan, which could see their forces decommission and store heavy weaponry, yet the Israelis are signaling their refusal already. Behind this disarmament roadmap is an attempt to try and improve the living conditions of Palestinians in Gaza, yet it is almost guaranteed to fail.

A lot of anxiety has spread as a result of the recent announcement that the Palestinian resistance factions have agreed to a disarmament roadmap. Many appear to have misunderstood what has just happened and, as a result, are drawing incorrect conclusions.

From the outset of the so-called ceasefire, reached in October of 2025, there has been enormous amounts of disinformation about the nature of the agreement that was reached. For the sake of this article, it is important to debunk the notion that was pushed by the US and Israeli media, in addition to various political actors, that Hamas had agreed to disarmament. What they had explicitly stated was that they were willing to store their weapons and would only hand them over to the forces of a future Palestinian State.

So-called Phase 2 of the Gaza Ceasefire was supposed to have been reached immediately after the completion of Phase 1. For months, the beginning of the second phase was floated before it was formally announced on January 15 of this year. Despite the talk of multi-billion dollar investments and Jared Kushner’s half-assed PowerPoint presentations that were simply slightly altered versions of previous drafts, predictably, nothing else came of the alleged Phase 2.

Read the latest article by Robert Inlakesh.

Has Hamas Abandoned Armed Resistance? The Reality behind Disarmament Plan

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: On July 19, 2026, in the working-class Pilastro neighborhood of Bologna, a 42-year-old Moroccan-origin man named Abderrahim Fakir died face-down on the asphalt of Via Svevo while police restrained him. The video is unmistakable. Two officers pin him to the ground, forcing his hands behind his back. Pepper spray has already been used. A civilian helps hold his ankles. Fakir’s voice cuts through the footage, raw and desperate: “Basta, aiuto! Basta!” Help. Enough. Medical personnel stand nearby and do not intervene until he has stopped moving. He never gets up.

The images immediately evoked George Floyd. Protesters gathered in Pilastro within hours, kneeling with fists raised, chanting that this was a state killing. The comparison is not rhetorical excess. The mechanics of death — prolonged prone restraint, compression of the chest, a man begging for air while the weight of the state holds him down — are the same. Preliminary autopsy findings report blood in the lungs and clear signs of crushing and compression. The family lawyer has stated that the evidence points to asphyxia from that compression. Full toxicological and histological results will take up to ninety days. Two police officers and four medical workers are under investigation for involuntary manslaughter. Head and facial injuries have also been noted.

Fakir was not an undocumented newcomer. He was a long-term regular resident of Italy and the owner of a small moving company. In the weeks before his death he had sought psychiatric care, first at a hospital emergency room on June 20 and then through visits to a mental health center. The state that failed to protect him in life was present and decisive in the final minutes of it.

This killing did not occur in a vacuum. It takes place against the backdrop of a deliberate and accelerating hardening of the Italian security apparatus under Giorgia Meloni’s government, an apparatus that has spent the last two years systematically expanding the criminalization of protest, dissent, and even youth itself.

Read the latest article by Michael Leonardi.

Face Down in Bologna: Abderrahim Fakir and Meloni’s Expanding Security State

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: Israel dragged America into another war, then sat back on the spectator bench and watched US taxpayers foot the bill. Borrowed money burned into bombs. Billions more bled out at gas stations and in inflation, all to reopen a strait that was open before Donald was duped into fighting Benjamin’s war. Now Benjamin Netanyahu watches from a safe distance, gloating as missiles fly between the US forces and Iran in a war he spent years pushing Washington to fight.

At home, flag-draped caskets of American soldiers arrived home from a war Israel instigated and American soldiers carried out. In Congress, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stood before the Senate requesting more money to keep the war running. Lawmakers asked to sign the check for a war they never voted to authorize, fought for aims Washington did not set, with no accounting of when — or how— it ends.

In occupied Palestine, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich tells a settler conference that “Israel has no interest in joining the campaign . . . a confined campaign between Iran and the United States is the correct (situation) and best for us (Israel).” In layman’s language, let’s sit and watch Americans die and pay for our war.

Exhibit A: the US military is depleting its own missile-defense stockpiles defending its bases across the region, while Israel hoards its interceptors in reserve. Israel isn’t spending down its stockpile. It’s waiting for the moment American stocks run dry and the Gulf states are left exposed. When that moment comes, Israeli interceptors will become prized leverage, offered to the UAE and the rest of the Gulf at a price.

Read the latest commentary by Jamal Kanj.

From Tehran to Riyadh: How Israel Draws the Red Lines America Can’t Cross

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: A leaked 15-point draft outlines the proposed political, security, and administrative framework governing Gaza’s second post-war phase.

Key Developments

• Quds News obtained a draft setting out the proposed second phase of the Gaza agreement.
  The document links Israeli withdrawal to political and security implementation.
• Governance would transfer to an independent Palestinian National Committee.
• The proposal details reconstruction, policing, weapons, and the role of an international stabilization force.

The Blueprint for Post-War Gaza: Inside the Leaked 15-Point Plan

Palestinian factions marked the second anniversary of Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination, praising his political leadership and reaffirming their commitment to his legacy.

Key Takeaways

• Hamas and other Palestinian factions commemorated the second anniversary of Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination.
• The factions described Haniyeh as a symbol of national unity, resistance, and steadfastness.
• Haniyeh led Hamas’ Political Bureau from 2017 until his assassination in Tehran in 2024.

Hamas, Palestinian Factions Honor Ismail Haniyeh Two Years after Assassination

Millions of Yemenis rallied nationwide, backing continued operations against Saudi Arabia as Riyadh announced plans for a multinational Red Sea coalition.

Key Developments

• Millions participated in rallies across Yemen under the slogan “Blockade for Blockade, Escalation for Escalation.”
• Demonstrators renewed support for Ansarallah leader Sayyed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi and endorsed continued military operations against Saudi Arabia.
• Saudi Arabia announced plans to establish a multinational maritime coalition in the Red Sea.
• Protesters reaffirmed support for Gaza and condemned the recent US-Saudi strikes on Iraq.

Millions Rally across Yemen in Support of ‘Blockade for Blockade’ Policy

PALESTINE CHRONICLE: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun warned Israeli explosions at Beaufort Castle threaten the US-mediated framework agreement and regional stability.

Key Developments

• President Joseph Aoun condemned Israeli explosions at Beaufort Castle as a dangerous escalation.
• Lebanon said the blasts threatened implementation of the US-mediated framework agreement.
• Israeli attacks reportedly generated seismic tremors and damaged nearby villages.
• Aoun urged international guarantors to intervene ahead of framework talks in Rome.

Lebanon Condemns Israeli Blasts at UNESCO Site as Threat to Framework Deal

Israeli forces detained 14 Palestinians as new data documented more than 11,000 Israeli attacks across the occupied West Bank this year.

Key Developments

• Israeli occupation forces detained at least 14 Palestinians during raids across the occupied West Bank.
• Israeli occupation forces continued converting Palestinian homes in Tell into military positions.
• Palestinian authorities recorded 11,074 Israeli military and settler attacks during the first half of 2026.

11,000 Attacks in Six Months: Israel Escalates Assault on the West Bank

The Qassam Brigades released new footage documenting the military career of fallen commander Hamza Amer, known as Gaza’s ‘Elegant Fighter’.

Key Takeaways

• The Qassam Brigades released a new installment of its ‘Moons of the Flood’ series featuring Hamza Amer.
• Amer became widely known after footage showed him firing a Yassin-105 launcher while wearing a black coat and white sneakers.
• The video traces his military career, final testament, and family legacy within the Palestinian resistance.

‘Elegant Fighter’ Hamza Amer Featured in New Qassam Documentary Video

Trump announced a Hamas disarmament agreement, while Palestinian factions emphasized that implementation depends on Israel’s withdrawal and reconstruction.

Key Developments

• Trump announced an agreement providing for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.
• Hamas said implementation is conditional on Israel’s phased withdrawal and reconstruction of Gaza.
• Islamic Jihad said reports of a finalized agreement were inaccurate and voiced reservations.
• The implementation paper stipulates that Palestinian weapons will remain under Palestinian control throughout the process.

‘Inaccurate’ – Palestinian Factions Reject Trump’s Account of Gaza Agreement

Iran announced another drone strike on a US base in Kuwait as reports emerged that Washington is reducing its military presence.

Key Developments

• Iran said it targeted Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base in Kuwait with explosive drones.
• The Wall Street Journal reported the Pentagon has begun reducing its military presence in Kuwait.
• Iranian officials said continued US attacks will only strengthen Iran’s resolve.

Iran Targets Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base as Pentagon Scales Back Kuwait Deployment

Entitled Our Knives Will Save US: Dispatches from a White Mountain Apache Chef (2026), this memoir traces the life of Nephi Craig, executive chef of Café Gozhóó in Whiteriver, Arizona, on the White Mountain Apache Tribe’s homeland.

Craig’s route to his current career was not easy. Through “working with the Indigenous cultivars that [had] long served [his] people,” such as “seasoning with acorns, popping amaranth, or brewing wild tea” (p. xv), he was able to overcome the generational trauma that afflicts so many of his people.

Documenting the role that food sovereignty plays crosses many borders, including that of Occupied Palestine today. In “Freekeh and Fellahin: A Symbiotic Relationship of Sumud,” Amany Ahmad looks at the ways that the Zionist project aimed to transform the Palestinian population of predominantly self-sufficient fellahin (peasant class land workers) from “subsistence producers into captive consumers.”

In the late spring of 2023, Ahmad accompanied Umm Maghareb, now a rare example of a once common fellaha, and part of a community network of fellahin producers, makers and craftspeople, as she carried out the ancient practice of harvesting and producing freekeh, a nutritious wheat product that could be dried and stored as insurance against drought, heavy rain, or locusts destroying the later crop of wheat.

Read the latest article by Benay Blend.

‘Our Knives Will Save Us’: On the Importance of Indigenous Food Sovereignty

PALESTINE CHRONICLE:

The fall of the International Criminal Court’s former prosecutor will go down in history as a dark chapter – while an effort has been made to make this about Karim Khan, it never had much to do with him at all.

In May of last year, an Israeli-British defense lawyer linked to a Netanyahu adviser, named Nicholas Kaufman, had informed the then ICC prosecutor Karim Khan that Israel was willing to put a deal on the table for him.

In exchange for the prosecutor withdrawing his arrest warrants against Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the proposal was allowing him and the court itself to survive.

Khan was made clear that in the event that he did not bow to Tel Aviv’s demands, he would be “destroyed”. In fact, something else was made even clearer: if he decided to go in the direction of pursuing arrest warrants against Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, “all options are off the table”. “They will destroy you, and they will destroy the court”, the Israeli-British lawyer made it clear.

Read the latest article by Robert Inlakesh.

Karim Khan and the Targeted Assassination of the ICC

Satellite imagery corroborates Iranian strikes on US bases as Tehran warns Israel may launch false-flag operations to widen the conflict.

Key Developments

• Satellite imagery corroborates Iranian strikes on US bases in Kuwait and Jordan.
• Iran also announced new drone strikes on the US Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain.
• Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned of Israeli “false-flag operations” following the Damietta Port drone attack.
• Tehran says it will continue responding to US attacks while warning regional states against escalation.

Satellite Evidence Supports IRGC Base Strike Claims amid Iran’s ‘False-Flag’ Warning

Three Palestinians, including two children, were killed and several others injured in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight.

Key Takeaways

• Three Palestinians, including two children, were killed in Israeli attacks in central and southern Gaza.
• Multiple airstrikes and drone attacks wounded civilians in Gaza City and Khan Yunis.
• Gaza authorities say Israeli ceasefire violations have killed 1,209 Palestinians since October 11, 2025.

Three Palestinians, Including Two Children, Killed in Israeli Attacks on Gaza