JALAL BWAITEL

Residents of the West Bank urban refugee camp of Nur Shams evacuate their homes and carry their belongings as the Israeli military continues its operation in the area on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Tens of thousands of Palestinians seek shelter after Israeli assaults across the West Bank
Nearly 40,000 Palestinians driven from their homes by Israel’s month-long offensive in the West Bank have scattered across nearby villages and towns, trying to find shelter.
 
Israeli hostages Iair Horn, 46, left, Sagui Dekel Chen, 36, center left, and Alexander Troufanov, 29, right, are escorted by Hamas and islamic Jihad fighters as they are handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Israel and Hamas complete their latest exchange as ceasefire’s first phase has just 2 weeks left
Israel and Hamas have completed the sixth exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners with just over two weeks remaining in the initial phase of their fragile Gaza ceasefire. And U.S.
 
Palestinian police line up next to Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, on Christmas Eve, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Cities worldwide hold subdued Christmas Eve celebrations amid conflicts
Bethlehem is marking another somber Christmas Eve under the shadow of war in Gaza. Manger Square lacked its usual festive lights and crowds of tourists on Tuesday. Instead, the area outside the Nativity Church was quiet.
 
Family members sit next to the grave of Odei, 22, in Jenin, West Bank, Saturday, June 8, 2024. Odei was killed by Israeli forces during a raid inside the Jenin refugee camp. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
As war rages in Gaza, Israel’s crackdown on West Bank insurgency is killing Palestinian youths
As the world’s attention focuses on the far more deadly war in Gaza less than 80 miles away, the Israeli military has intensified its crackdown in the occupied West Bank. Scores of teenagers have been killed, shot and arrested.
 
Palestinians Ribhi Ahmad Battat, left, and Issa Ahmad Battat, residents of the West Bank village of Khirbet Zanuta, take shelter from the midday sun in a cave Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. Ten months after settlers threatened to kill them if they didn't leave their village, some Palestinian residents are finally home, under a rare court order. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Chased away by Israeli settlers, these Palestinians returned to a village in ruins
An entire Palestinian community fled their tiny West Bank village last fall after repeated threats from Israeli settlers with a history of violence.
 
Mourners watch the funeral of Palestinian men who were killed during an Israeli military operation, from a building damaged with bullet holes, in Jenin, West Bank, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Israeli forces appear to withdraw from Jenin. But the operation may not be over
Israeli forces appear to have withdrawn from three refugee camps in the occupied West Bank, after a more than weeklong military operation that has left dozens dead and a trail of destruction.
 
Palestinian boxer Muazzaz Abayat, 37, holds his 2-month-old son Mohammed and daughter Mira, 5, at home in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, days after his release from Israeli prison, frail, disoriented and with no initial memory of his family. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Released Palestinians describe worsening abuses in Israeli prisons
Released Palestinians have described to The Associated Press worsening abuses in Israeli prisons crammed with thousands detained since the war in Gaza began 10 months ago.
 
Palestinian children play by the rubble of buildings that were destroyed during Israeli army operations in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank on May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
In a West Bank refugee camp, Israel’s raids fuel the militancy it tries to stamp out
An Israeli army raid in April set off a near three-day gunbattle with Palestinian militants. By the time it was over, homes had been blasted to rubble and many residents had fled.
 
People walk in Manger Square, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023. World-famous Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem have been put on hold due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Under the shadow of war in Gaza, Jesus’ traditional birthplace is gearing up for a subdued Christmas
Bethlehem is gearing up for a subdued Christmas without the festive lights and customary Christmas tree towering over Manger Square. Officials in Jesus’ traditional birthplace have decided to forgo celebrations due to the Israel-Hamas war.
 
A Red Cross vehicle carrying Israeli hostages drives by at the Gaza Strip crossing into Egypt in Rafah on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Israel and Hamas complete 2nd day of swaps after tense delay, as Gaza cease-fire holds
Hamas militants released 17 hostages, including 13 Israelis, from captivity in the Gaza Strip, while Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners in the latest stage of a four-day cease-fire that has delivered a brief respite from a devastating war between the two enemies.