Palestine News Today: UK Foreign Secretary Condemns Settlements as EU Weighs Trade Ban
1 September 2026. Your daily round-up of the most important news about Palestine, compiled from international and regional sources. Today: the UK Foreign Secretary condemns Israeli settlements, the EU weighs a ban on settlement goods, the UN cuts food aid over funding gaps, and East Jerusalem schools go on strike. Below, each story in brief, with links to the reporting it is based on.
UK Foreign Secretary Condemns Settlements
The UK Foreign Secretary condemned Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Sources: Al Jazeera
EU Weighs Ban on Settlement Goods
As demolitions and settler attacks continue, the EU is weighing a ban on settlement goods, and Ireland's defence minister urged member states to act.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera
UN Cuts Food Aid Over Funding Crisis
The UN food agency cut aid in the West Bank and Gaza as a US-led drop in Western donations leaves agencies short of money.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera
Three Children Among Four Killed in Gaza City
Three Palestinian children were among four people killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza City.
Sources: Al Jazeera
East Jerusalem Schools Strike
Schools in East Jerusalem went on strike after Israel enforced its curriculum and banned teachers.
Sources: Al Jazeera
WHO Warns of Health Crisis Before Winter
The WHO warned that flooding in the rainy season will worsen Gaza's already poor water quality.
Sources: Al Jazeera
At Least Five Killed, Including Children
At least five people, including children, were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza. An Al Jazeera correspondent described nonstop attacks on Gaza City, while Israel's defence minister said the strikes protected troops.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Destroyed Desalination Plant Deepens Water Crisis
After a newly built desalination plant was destroyed, displaced families in northern Gaza are struggling to find clean drinking water, relying on trucked supplies that arrive irregularly.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Farmers Inspect Bulldozed Olive Trees
Palestinian farmers inspected olive groves bulldozed by Israeli forces, with trees that had produced for decades uprooted in a single morning.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Luxembourg Drops Israel Bonds Approval
Luxembourg let the prospectus for an Israel Bonds issue expire, leaving Israel's future borrowing in EU markets uncertain, Al Jazeera reports.
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. Gaza's health ministry puts the death toll since October 2023 at more than 73,900, with over 174,000 wounded. More than 1,300 of those deaths have come since the ceasefire began.
Sources: Al Jazeera, OCHA
Across the occupied West Bank, the UN counts 275 communities hit by settler attacks in 2026, a pace that has almost equalled last year's record with months still to run. 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.
