Gaza, West Bank and Lebanon disputes widen pressure around Israeli action
A Gaza police chief was killed in a drone strike, West Bank families remained besieged by settlers, and Lebanese Americans sued Washington over arms transfers to Israel.
Geopolitics··Morning
Gaza City’s police chief killed after air raids resume
Al Jazeera reports that an Israeli drone fired three missiles at a vehicle on al-Rashid Street southwest of Gaza City on Thursday, killing Colonel Jamal Abu Kamil, the 43-year-old head of the city’s civil police, and critically wounding two people. The Israeli military said it struck to remove a threat and called him a Hamas commander without presenting evidence, while Gaza’s police force said Abu Kamil was committed to his police duties and had no connection to other activities. The killing came a day after Israel ended a week-long pause in air raids that had begun on 3 August. A separate strike on a motorbike in Khan Younis the same day killed Huthaifa Kawari and critically wounded another person. Gaza’s health ministry says more than 1,250 Palestinians have been killed in near-daily attacks since the ceasefire agreed in October 2025, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a US-backed peace plan on 9 August, saying forces would stay until Hamas was genuinely disarmed. The disputed identity of the dead officer and the resumption of strikes keep civilian and policing pressure high in Gaza.[1]
Settlers keep two West Bank families trapped in Qusra
The BBC reports that the Israeli military said it would deploy additional troops to the occupied West Bank after failing to remove settlers who have trapped the Abu Ridi and Hassan families in their homes on the edge of Qusra since Sunday. The families’ water and power were cut off and their food stocks were running low; the village has been declared a closed military zone. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said his embassy had asked Israel to remove the settlers, calling them Israeli terrorists and posting on X that actions meant to intimidate and harass the family were disgusting. Qusay Abu Ridi, one of the trapped residents, told the BBC the house was attacked again overnight; his brother, who owns the property, is a Palestinian-American businessman who had complained to the US embassy. An attempt to dislodge the settlers on Wednesday failed, with security forces using tear gas and stun grenades; the army said the first soldiers at the scene, who prayed with the settlers, would be disciplined. The failure to free the homes, followed by a promise of more troops, shows how settler siege and delayed enforcement are compounding civilian pressure outside Gaza as well.[2]
Lebanese Americans take US arms policy to court
Al Jazeera reports that the Arab American Civil Rights League and 16 individuals filed suit on Tuesday in US District Court in Michigan against Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the companies Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Caterpillar. The plaintiffs argue that US funds and weapons sent to Israel breach the Leahy Law, which bars military assistance to foreign forces credibly linked to gross human rights violations. All the plaintiffs are US citizens with property in Lebanon. Nasser Beydoun, a Michigan businessman and politician, alleges that Israeli forces destroyed his family home in Bint Jbeil without any military necessity or justification. Nabih Ayad, the lawyer who heads the league, said the law is very clear and has been enforced around the world, but that when it comes to Israel there is zero enforcement. The filing seeks class-action status on behalf of tens of thousands of Lebanese Americans whose property was damaged. No response from the named companies or the State Department was reported. Set beside the Gaza drone strike and the Qusra siege, the Michigan case shifts the same week’s disputes over Israeli action into a US courtroom over arms transfers and property loss across Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.[3], [1], [2]
