Palestinian teenager killed by Israeli minister convoy car

A Palestinian teenager was killed in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday after being hit by a vehicle belonging to the security detail of an Israeli minister, according to reports.

Mohammad Ali al-Jabari, 16, was on his way to school on Highway 60 at the Beit Einun junction when the deadly incident took place at around 6 am local time, according to the Palestinian Wafa agency.

A relative told The New Arab that the teenager was standing by the roadside at the entrance to the Beit Einun area, an entrance that has been closed since Israel began its war on Gaza in October 2023.

Al-Jabari was waiting for a safe opportunity to cross the road, attempting to reach the closed entrance and then bypass it on his bicycle on his way to school, before he was struck by a speeding Israeli vehicle, his relative added.

The Palestinian boy was reportedly struck by a vehicle belonging to the security team of an Israeli government minister, which was headed to occupied Jerusalem.

Initial reports indicated that the vehicle belonged to far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, but his office released a statement denying his presence at the scene.

A security source, cited by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, said the vehicle belonged to a protection unit which was on its way to provide security for Settlement Minister Orit Strook.

Al-Jabari was riding an electric bicycle at the time of the incident and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have opened an investigation into the circumstances of the accident, according to Palestinian and Israeli media.

His body was handed over by Israeli medical teams to the Palestinian Red Crescent and transferred to the Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron, the Palestinian Red Crescent in Hebron director told The New Arab.

Raids, arrests, and violence in the West Bank

Raids and arrests in the occupied West Bank also intensified on Tuesday.

In Bethlehem, Israeli forces arrested two Palestinians from the town of Doha, west of the city. The Palestinian Prisoners Club confirmed the arrest of Majid Ahmad Shrouf, a university professor at Palestine Ahliya University, as well as Zaid Samara, after their homes were raided and searched.

Israeli forces also stormed the town of Huwara, south of Nablus, raiding dozens of homes and conducting field interrogations of residents.

In Hebron, Israeli forces arrested former prisoner Zaid Shaker al-Junaidi after raiding his home in the Ras al-Joura area.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli settlers and soldiers attacked farmers in the town of Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah.

Palestinian media said the farmers were attacked while they were working their land in the Wadi Amar area, and the soldiers and settlers attempted to expel them and prevent them from cultivating their land.

Al-Mughayyir has witnessed heightened violence at the hands of illegal settlers and the Israeli military in recent days.

Farmers have had live fire and tear gas fired at them as they tended to their land, while settlers have gone on to steal and damage properties belonging to them.

Settlers demolished the Al-Malih school in the northern Jordan Valley, as well as surrounding homes. They also raised Israeli flags over depopulated homes and erected new settlement tents on land belonging to the village of Jalud, southeast of Nablus.

Israeli violations continue in Gaza amid ‘difficult’ Hamas talks

In the Gaza Strip, at least four people were killed in the early hours of Tuesday by Israeli airstrikes and gunfire, marking yet more violations of the ceasefire agreement announced in October last year.

The Israeli military killed three Palestinians in an airstrike on the Amal neighbourhood in central Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Their bodies were taken to Nasser Hospital.

In the enclave’s north, a 30-year-old woman was killed, and others were wounded when the Israeli navy opened fire on tents belonging to displaced people in the Salatin area, west of Beit Lahia.

At least 784 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire agreement, while 2,214 others have been wounded.

Since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023, Israeli forces have killed at least 72,560 Palestinians and injured 172,317.

This comes as the self-styled Board of Peace’s lead envoy told Reuters on Monday that talks with Hamas over the group’s disarmament are “not easy”, but said he was “fairly optimistic”.

“We’ve had some very serious discussions with Hamas over the last few weeks; they’re not easy,” Nickolay Mladenov said in an interview during a visit to Brussels.

“I’m fairly optimistic that we will be able to come up with an arrangement that works for all sides and, most importantly, works for the people in Gaza,” he said.

Mladenov said work was “underway” on an implementation plan that would include disarmament, new governance in Gaza, and provisions for an Israeli withdrawal.

“It obviously will take time, but we’re trying to make sure that the arrangements for the implementation of the plan are agreed to as quickly as possible,” the Bulgarian politician said.

Hamas’s disarmament has remained a thorny issue in the ceasefire plan for Gaza proposed by US President Donald Trump, with the group refusing to lay down its arms until Israel fully implements the terms of phase one of the ceasefire, such as withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the guarantee of sufficient aid entering the enclave.

Hamas has previously said it won’t disarm either unless an independent Palestinian state is guaranteed.

Asked about when an agreement could be reached on implementation, Mladenov said: “We have a matter of days, maximum a couple of weeks, that is my assessment, because otherwise we will lose the momentum of what we have, and then every decision will become even more difficult.”

Another major sticking point in ceasefire progress talks, Mladenov said, is the “yellow line” demarcating the territory Israel has occupied since the October ceasefire, which has been moved deeper into the Gaza Strip.

Additionally, Board of Peace representatives held talks with state-owned Dubai multinational DP World about managing supply chains and infrastructure projects in the enclave, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Citing three people familiar with the matter, the paper said the talks centred on prospects for a partnership between DP World and the Board of Peace to run logistics.

These efforts would cover humanitarian aid and other goods entering Gaza, including warehousing, tracking systems and security, it added.

On Monday, following an assessment conducted with the World Bank, the EU and UN said that at least $71.4 billion was needed over the next decade for the recovery and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, ravaged by 24 months of war.

At least $26.3 billion would be required in the first eighteen months to restore essential services, such as education, health, and housing.

More than 80 percent of buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed since the start of Israel’s assault in October 2023.

Experts say that around 61 million tonnes of debris have been generated due to Israel’s military onslaught.