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Fatah Terror Faction Claims Double Car Bombing in West Bank
Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members walking in the West Bank with masks and weapons. Photo: Elder of Ziyon.
JNS.org – The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a “militia” of Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction, claimed responsibility on Sunday for Friday’s double car bombings in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank.
In an announcement posted on Telegram, Fatah’s “military” wing hailed the terrorists who carried out the “heroic Hebron operation,” naming them as Zahdi Nidal Abu Afifa and Muhammad Ihsan Yaqin Marqa.
The statement claimed that Friday’s car bombings were a response to “Zionist massacres in the Gaza Strip, the crimes of the occupation in the occupied West Bank and violations against the blessed Al-Aqsa mosque.
“The fighters of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades continue their heroic operations against the forces of the Zionist enemy within the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood,” it said, referring to the Swords of Iron War initiated by Hamas on Oct. 7.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of #Fatah claim responsibility for the weekend bombing attacks in Etzion and Karmei Tzur.
So, will #Abu_Mazen condemn these attacks? pic.twitter.com/G3tuBNGXD0
— Abu Ali Express English (@AbuAliEnglishB1) September 1, 2024
On Saturday, the Hamas terrorist group hailed the previous day’s “double heroic operation” after the car bombers wounded three Israelis. While stopping short of taking responsibility, it called it “a clear message that the resistance will be prolonged and sustained so long as the brutal occupation’s aggression and targeting of our people and land continue.”
In the first attack, a bomb was detonated at a gas station near the Gush Etzion Junction, prompting the IDF to dispatch soldiers to the scene. The terrorist opened fire on the troops, who killed him. A soldier was moderately wounded and an officer was lightly hurt in the exchange.
Shortly thereafter, a terrorist rammed his car through the gate to the nearby town of Karmei Tzur. A security guard drove after the terrorist and crashed into his vehicle, before getting out and shooting and killing him. The terrorist’s car exploded, and the guard was lightly injured in the attack.
On Saturday, security forces raided an explosive manufacturing factory in Hebron that produced the improvised bombs used in Friday’s attacks, the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said in a joint statement on Sunday.
The Israel Defense Forces believes that the Fatah terrorists who carried out the bombings, both from Hebron, coordinated their attacks.
Many members of Israel’s security brass support the Palestinian Authority’s control over parts of the West Bank as a “moderating force,” as opposed to Hamas and other Iran-backed terrorist groups.
Members of Ramallah’s “security forces” have a long history of carrying out terrorist attacks against IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians. Last year, Fatah boasted that most of its “martyrs” served in the Palestinian Authority Security Forces.
On Sunday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order a broad counterterror campaign throughout the West Bank, hours after Palestinian terrorists murdered three police officers in a drive-by shooting near Hebron.
“Gaza, Lebanon, and Judea and Samaria are part of the same Iranian choke ring that seeks to destroy the State of Israel,” Smotrich said. “We are proving in Gaza that there is a military solution to terrorism. We must prove this here in Judea and Samaria and in Lebanon against Hezbollah.”
In the six months of 2024, the West Bank saw more than 500 Arab terrorist attacks each month on average, according to figures Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah the West Bank) published on Aug. 1.
During that time, first responders recorded 3,272 acts of terrorism in the region, including 1,868 cases of rock-throwing, 456 attacks with Molotov cocktails, 299 explosive charges and 109 shootings.
Terrorists have killed 14 people and wounded more than 155 others in the West Bank since the start of the year, the group said.
The post Fatah Terror Faction Claims Double Car Bombing in West Bank first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.