Palestine News Today: Investigation: UK Contracts Worth Billions With Firms Tied to Settlements
28 August 2026. Your daily round-up of the most important news about Palestine, compiled from international and regional sources. Today: an Al Jazeera investigation finds billions in UK public contracts with firms linked to illegal settlements, a drone strike kills three in Jenin, and Gaza faces a cash crisis. Below, each story in brief, with links to the reporting it is based on.
UK Has Billions in Contracts With Settlement-Linked Firms
An Al Jazeera investigation found that UK public money is flowing to companies linked to illegal Israeli settlements, with contracts worth billions.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Drone Strike Kills Three in Jenin
An Israeli drone strike killed three Palestinians in Jenin, the first such attack in the West Bank since February 2025.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera
Mladenov Warns Ceasefire Could Collapse
Board of Peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov told Al Jazeera the Gaza ceasefire risks collapse and that a return to war would be devastating.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Gaza's 'Cash Famine'
Israeli restrictions and war damage have created a cash shortage, forcing people in Gaza to rely on unreliable online payments.
Sources: Al Jazeera
New Roadblocks Around Qusra Homes
Three new Israeli gates around Palestinian homes in Qusra have deepened fears after weeks of settler siege.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Five Killed, Including Three From One Family
Israeli strikes killed five people in Gaza, including three members of one family, as Palestinians across the Strip continued to face severe food insecurity.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Gaza's Lifeguards Work With Little More Than a Whistle
Shortages have left Gaza's lifeguards without rescue equipment even as crowds return to the beaches, one of the few places families can still gather. Some patrol with nothing but a whistle and a length of rope.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Children Take Cover Behind a Shopping Trolley
Video from Gaza shows children sheltering behind a shopping trolley during a reported drone attack, an image that circulated widely as evidence of how exposed civilians remain.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Context: Gaza and the West Bank
A year of ceasefire has brought Gaza no rebuilding. Strikes continue, entry restrictions remain, and humanitarian agencies say the shortages of fuel and equipment are now the main obstacle to recovery. 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
Settler violence in the occupied West Bank is at near-record levels, with 275 Palestinian communities affected this year according to the UN, almost matching the whole of 2025. Demolitions continue alongside the attacks: over 1,100 structures have been torn down this year for lacking permits that Israel rarely grants, displacing more than 1,500 people. UNICEF says 98 per cent of Gaza's schools were destroyed or damaged during the war, and more than 90 per cent of the territory lies in ruins, leaving families sheltering in buildings that engineers have assessed as unsafe.
Sources: OCHA
The UN has warned that the risks facing Gaza's civilians grow sharper as winter approaches, with flooding expected in areas where families are living in tents and damaged buildings and where sanitation has already broken down. Accountability efforts continue in parallel: cases before the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, national investigations in several countries, and growing calls for arms embargoes and trade restrictions.
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.
