Palestine State

Bethlehem /PNN/The Central Elections Commission (CEC) stated today, Thursday, that electoral campaigning for the 2026 Local Elections will conclude at 12:00 am tonight, which extended for 14 days, in accordance with the provisions of the law and the electoral process timetable.In a press release, the CEC invited all electoral lists nominated for municipal councils and the candidates nominated for village councils to adhere to ceasing all forms and activities of electoral campaigning according to the deadline, both in the field and via social media. This includes both Friday (electoral silence day) and Saturday (polling day), as it is forbidden to exercise any campaigning activities, as stipulated by the law and the regulating provisions.Moreover, the CEC emphasized that the period of electoral silence aims to provide a calm and neutral environment allowing voters to make their decisions completely free, far from any campaigning influences or pressures, in a way that enhances the integrity of the electoral process and that guarantees equal opportunities for lists and candidates.In conclusion, the CEC stressed the importance of continuing to adhere to the provisions of the law and regulations during polling day, guaranteeing the smooth and organized flow of the electoral process, in a way that contributes to the success of this democratic due and enhances citizens’ confidence and trust in the electoral process and its results.

RAMALLAH / PNN/A 29-year-old Palestinian man died on Wednesday evening after being shot during an attack by Israeli settlers on the town of Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah, according to medical and local sources.The victim, identified as Ouda Atef Ouda Awawda, succumbed to his wounds shortly after arriving at the Palestine Medical Complex, where doctors said he had been critically injured by a gunshot to the back.Local sources said groups of settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, stormed the outskirts of Deir Dibwan and opened live fire toward residents and their homes.Witnesses added that Israeli forces simultaneously sealed off the town’s entrance, restricting movement, before later entering the area with reinforcements and carrying out a wide-scale arrest campaign. Around 30 residents were detained, according to local reports.The incident is part of a recent surge in settler attacks across the Ramallah and Jerusalem areas, amid increased settlement activity and gatherings reported on Wednesday evening. Palestinian officials say such incidents have contributed to a rising death toll in the occupied West Bank, alongside ongoing arrests and what they describe as punitive measures against residents.

Bethlehem/PNN/The Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) said that Israeli authorities are escalating their targeting of women through systematic and ongoing arrest campaigns.In a statement, the PPS said the number of female prisoners has risen to 90 during April, noting that this level had previously been recorded only at the height of mass arrests in the early stages of the war.It explained that most of the detainees are held in Damon Prison, including two minors, a pregnant woman in her third month, 25 administrative detainees, three journalists, two cancer patients, and two women detained before the outbreak of the war.The PPS emphasized that the female prisoners face harsh detention conditions, including starvation, deprivation, medical neglect, and abuse, in addition to solitary confinement and assaults, including the policy of strip searches.He pointed out that most arrests are carried out under the pretext of "incitement," and that the number of women arrested since the start of the war has exceeded 700, including in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and within the 1948 territories, with no accurate statistics available for arrests in Gaza.He added that this escalation comes during one of the bloodiest periods for Palestinian women, amidst ongoing grave violations, including physical and sexual assaults and the detention of women as hostages to pressure their families.

Bethlehem / PNN/More than 1,000 artists and production companies worldwide have called for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest, scheduled for May in Vienna, in protest against Israel’s participation.The statement, published on the website of the “No Music for Genocide” movement, gathered over 1,100 signatures as of Wednesday, including well-known groups and musicians such as Massive Attack, Kneecap, Macklemore, and Roger Waters.The signatories called for the exclusion of Israel’s public broadcaster “Kan,” which they said has become “complicit in crimes against humanity committed by Israel.”They urged artists and production companies to join the cultural movement rejecting apartheid, occupation, and genocide against Palestinians, and to withdraw their music from Israel.The statement noted that “No Music for Genocide” is a cultural boycott campaign against Israel, saying that more than 1,000 artists and production companies have geo-blocked and removed their works from the territory. It said this comes in response to what it described as the escalation in Gaza, the ongoing occupation and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and apartheid within Israel, as well as global suppression of pro-Palestinian activities and ties between the music industry and the arms sector.It added that the initiative is a step toward responding to Palestinian calls to isolate Israel, stressing that cultural boycotts played a historic role in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.“This tangible act is just one step toward honoring Palestinian demands to isolate and delegitimize apartheid Israel as it kills without consequence on the world stage. The successful cultural boycotts against apartheid South Africa prove that our creative work grants us agency and power. When we wield it together, we add unified pressure to a growing interdependent movement, from Hollywood to the docks of Morocco.”The statement also criticized what it described as double standards in the international response, noting: “No such measures have been taken against Israel (or in support of Palestinians) after decades of illegal occupation, apartheid, and nearly three years of accelerated genocide in Gaza.”The letter said, “Israel has violated the October 2025 ceasefire 1000s of times in Palestine to kill or injure 1000s more Palestinians, just as Israel has repeatedly violated earlier ceasefires in both Palestine and in Lebanon,” adding that it continues to starve and bomb Gaza, steal more land from the occupied West Bank, and institute racist death penalties only applied to Palestinian hostages in Israeli prisons.  It concluded that, “This initiative is borderless and open to all artists and labels who want to boycott. We hope it leads to additional efforts against the music industry's complicity.”The Eurovision Song Contest, marking its 70th edition this year, is facing what has been described as its largest boycott in history due to Israel’s participation. Broadcasters from Spain, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Slovenia have announced their withdrawal, criticizing Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.The countries that withdrew criticized Israel’s ongoing bloody and destructive war on the Gaza Strip.

BEIRUT / PNN /The Lebanese Red Cross announced on Wednesday evening the killing of journalist Amal Khalil in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon while she was carrying out her journalistic work.The Lebanese Ministry of Health said in an earlier statement that Israeli warplanes carried out two airstrikes on the town of At-Tiri in the Bint Jbeil district, killing two people and injuring journalist Zainab Faraj, while efforts were still underway to rescue journalist Amal Khalil from under the rubble.The ministry added that Israeli forces pursued Khalil and her colleague Zainab Faraj, who had taken shelter from the first strike in a nearby house, and targeted the house where they had sought refuge.It stated that when the Lebanese Red Cross arrived to evacuate the wounded, its team was prevented from completing the mission after an ambulance was fired at and a stun grenade was thrown, which obstructed the rescue of Khalil, while Faraj and the bodies of the two other people were later transferred to hospital.The Lebanese Ministry of Health condemned what it described as repeated rejected practices carried out by the Israeli occupation, noting a blatant double violation reflected in the obstruction of efforts to rescue a civilian known for her media activity, as well as the targeting of an ambulance clearly marked with the Red Cross emblem.Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos mourned journalist Amal Khalil, saying that targeting journalists is a criminal act and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, urging the international community and relevant organizations to act to prevent its recurrence.

RAMALLAH /PNN/Two Palestinians, one of them a school student, were killed and four others were injured on Tuesday afternoon by Israeli colonists' gunfire in the village of al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah.The Ministry of Health said the killing of student Aws Hamdi Al-Naasan, 14, and young man Marzouq Abu Naim, 32, while 3 others were injured from live bullets, during an attack by colonists on Al-Mughair Boys School.The Ministry explained that with the killing of Na'san and Abu Na'im, the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank since this morning has risen to four, following the killings of 16-year-old Muhammad Majdi al-Ja'bari, who was run over by a colonist's vehicle in Hebron, and 49-year-old Raja' Fadl Bitawi, who succumbed to injuries sustained from Israeli army gunfire in Jenin nearly two years ago.According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Israeli forces and colonists carried out a total of 1,819 attacks during the month of March, with 1,322 attacks perpetrated by Israeli forces and 497 by settlers.The Commission indicated that the attacks were concentrated primarily in the Hebron Governorate, with 321 attacks, followed by the Nablus Governorate with 315, then the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate with 292, and the Jerusalem Governorate with 203, clearly demonstrating the systematic targeting of these areas.

Brussels / PNN /Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa met on Monday with several European and international officials on the sidelines of donor meetings and the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution meeting in Brussels.The meetings were attended by Minister of Finance and Planning Estephan Salameh and Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Belgium, Luxembourg, and the European Union Amal Jadou Shakaa, and included Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas, European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica, UK Minister of State and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan Hamish Falconer, and High Representative of the Gaza Peace Council Nikolay Mladenov.During the meetings, Mustafa reviewed the latest field developments and the worsening humanitarian and social conditions across the occupied Palestinian Territory amid ongoing occupation measures in the West Bank, including restrictions on freedom of movement, daily incursions, colonists’ violence, land seizures for colonial expansion, and the continued withholding of Palestinian tax revenues for nearly a year.He also addressed the severe conditions in the Gaza Strip, highlighting the deepening humanitarian crisis and acute shortages of essential supplies.The Prime Minister stressed the need to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2803 and relevant international resolutions, intensify relief efforts, restore stability, and prepare for reconstruction.He further underscored the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under the State of Palestine within a single system, law, and legitimate authority, and enabling the Palestinian Authority to fully assume its responsibilities in the Strip.Mustafa called for serious and effective international intervention to halt all Israeli measures that undermine Palestinian efforts, including the release of withheld Palestinian funds.

Madrid / PNN /Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Sunday that Spain will ask the European Union on Tuesday to terminate the association agreement with Israel, which it says is violating international law.Sánchez said during an electoral rally in Andalusia that his government will present a proposal to Europe aimed at ending the EU-Israel association agreement, arguing that a government that violates international law cannot be a partner of the European Union.The EU-Israel Association Agreement, which entered into force in 2000, includes a clause making its implementation conditional on respect for human rights.Spain first challenged the agreement in February 2024, when Sánchez and then Irish Prime Minister sent a joint letter to the European Commission calling for an assessment of Israel’s compliance with its human rights obligations following the start of the war in Gaza.Since then, Sánchez has progressively taken a firmer position towards Israel, particularly amid the war in Lebanon.His statement on Sunday came after Ireland, Slovenia, and Spain sent a letter to the European Commission on Friday requesting a review of the agreement at the upcoming meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council.

JERUSALEM / PNN /The European Union and the United Nations on Monday released a final assessment estimating that Gaza will require $71.4 billion for recovery and reconstruction over the next decade following nearly two years of conflict.The Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA), conducted jointly with the World Bank, found that $26.3 billion will be needed in the first 18 months alone to restore basic services, rebuild key infrastructure and support economic recovery.The report estimated physical damage at $35.2 billion, while economic and social losses reached $22.7 billion.It said housing, health care, education, commerce and agriculture were among the hardest-hit sectors. More than 371,000 housing units were damaged or destroyed, over half of hospitals are no longer functioning, and nearly all schools have been affected. Gaza’s economy has shrunk by 84%, according to the findings.The assessment described the impact on human development as “catastrophic,” estimating that progress has been set back by 77 years. About 1.9 million people have been displaced — many multiple times — and more than 60% of residents have lost their homes. Women, children, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups were identified as bearing the heaviest burden.The RDNA is intended to guide early recovery planning in line with United Nations Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 2803. It stressed that reconstruction efforts must proceed alongside humanitarian assistance, with a phased transition from emergency relief to large-scale rebuilding across both Gaza and the West Bank.The EU and UN said recovery efforts should be led by Palestinians and aligned with governance arrangements under the Palestinian Authority, while supporting a broader political framework based on a two-state solution.They also outlined key conditions for reconstruction, including a sustained ceasefire, secure conditions on the ground, and unhindered humanitarian access. The report highlighted the need for free movement of people and goods, restoration of essential services, a functioning financial system, and clear, accountable governance structures.Additional requirements include debris removal, management of unexploded ordnance, and protection of property rights, alongside rapid international mobilisation of funding and technical support.The EU and UN emphasised that rebuilding Gaza, implementing Resolution 2803, and advancing a two-state solution are “inherently interconnected,” warning that none can succeed in isolation.They said Palestinians “deserve a future grounded in dignity and self-determination,” calling on the international community to act in support of a just and lasting peace.