Palestine News Today: Masafer Yatta Children Return to School Under Demolition Threat
27 August 2026. Your daily round-up of the most important news about Palestine, compiled from international and regional sources. Today: children in Masafer Yatta go back to schools that may be demolished, Palestinians bury artist Sliman Mansour, and settlers target Palestinian factories. Below, each story in brief, with links to the reporting it is based on.
Back to School Under Threat in Masafer Yatta
As the school year begins, children in Masafer Yatta face the threat that their schools will be demolished.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Palestinians Bury Sliman Mansour
Palestinians mourned the artist behind "Camel of Hardship", Sliman Mansour, at a public funeral in the West Bank.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Settlers Target Palestinian Factories
Settler attacks on Palestinian factories aim to drive workers off the land and threaten to collapse the fragile Palestinian economy.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Three Killed as Kite Threats Renewed
Three people were killed in Gaza as Israel's defence minister renewed threats to expel residents from areas where kites or balloons are flown.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Qusra Residents Fear a Permanent Presence
Israeli forces installed three new metal gates near the besieged Palestinian homes in Qusra, and residents say they fear the structures signal a permanent presence that will cut them off for good.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Israel Is Not Heading for Civil War
Israel's bitter political divisions obscure a broad consensus on Jewish supremacy, occupation and military force, Al Jazeera's analysis argues, warning against reading the crisis as a coming civil war.
Sources: Al Jazeera
A Sunken Ship Splits Israel's Right
The wreck of the Altalena has fuelled a rivalry between Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir, each claiming to be the true heir of the Irgun militia ahead of October's election.
Sources: Al Jazeera
The Bigger Picture
The truce agreed in October 2025 stopped the full-scale offensive but not the killing. Attacks have continued, and restrictions on what can enter Gaza still block any meaningful reconstruction. More than 73,900 Palestinians have been killed and over 174,000 wounded in Gaza since October 2023, according to the health ministry, with well over a thousand of those deaths recorded since the truce.
Sources: Al Jazeera, OCHA
The West Bank has seen its own escalation. UN figures show 275 Palestinian communities affected by settler attacks in 2026, close to last year's record of 279 and the highest since monitoring started in 2006. More than 1,100 Palestinian structures have been demolished this year for lacking building permits, displacing over 1,500 people, more than a third of the 4,300 Palestinians displaced in the West Bank in 2026. Almost every school in Gaza has been damaged or destroyed, and with more than 90 per cent of buildings in ruins, people are living in structures that engineers warn could come down.
Sources: OCHA
Aid agencies warn that the shortages are now structural rather than temporary: without heavy machinery, fuel and engine oil, rubble cannot be cleared, water networks cannot be repaired, and search and rescue work is slowed for days. At the United Nations, the two-state solution remains the stated goal of the Secretary-General and most member states, even as settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank continues and Palestinian officials describe it as creeping annexation.
Sources: OCHA
Palestine News is published every day on Free Palestine Store. Each item summarises reporting from the named outlets in our own words; follow the source links for full coverage.
