- Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich released a warning that he would do to the Negev and Galilee – areas with large Palestinian populations inside Israel – what he has done to the occupied West Bank by building Jewish settlements there under the slogan “Ahmed is right to be afraid”.
- Israeli journalist Amir Bohbot reported in Walla News that Israel’s military leadership views a ground operation to reoccupy Gaza City as “unavoidable”, with a plan presented by the chief of the Southern Command involving evacuating residents to new “humanitarian zones” but timed for after the October election.
- Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported 32 additional deaths last week, bringing the toll since the October “ceasefire” to at least 1,320 by August 31, and the cumulative death toll since October 2023 to 73,456.
- In the West Bank, settlers’ efforts to forcefully remove Palestinians continued, including in al-Mughayyir where soldiers and masked settlers raided on August 30, shooting four residents and sealing the village’s only entrance while settlers besieged a home and loaded stolen property.
- On August 30, a strike near a bakery west of Deir el-Balah killed Husam Osama Nasir and three-year-old Tim Said Mahmoud Hamdan; on August 31, two Palestinians were killed and several wounded following an airstrike near the Municipality Park in Gaza City.
- A drone struck inside al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital on August 29, wounding three, and hospital officials reported cancer medicines had run out after the strike damaged water tanks and laboratory equipment.
- Gaza’s death toll widened beyond the “targeted assassination” framing to include farmers, delivery workers, fishermen and children.
Israel's right-wing election campaigns are increasingly focused on anti-Palestinian rhetoric, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowing to replicate West Bank settlement policies in the Negev and Galilee, areas with significant Palestinian populations.1
Smotrich's campaign slogan, “Ahmed is right to be afraid,” reflects a broader strategy to galvanize support among right-wing voters by emphasizing security concerns. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has also contributed to this narrative, sharing disturbing imagery of Palestinian prisoners to highlight perceived threats.
These campaign tactics coincide with escalating violence in the region. Reports indicate that Israeli military leadership now considers a ground operation to reoccupy Gaza City as “unavoidable,” with plans to create new “humanitarian zones” for displaced residents post-election.23
The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire, with the Ministry of Health reporting 32 additional deaths last week, raising the cumulative toll since October 2023 to 73,456. Furthermore, 58 percent of Gaza's population is facing critical shelter conditions, according to the UN's OCHA.4
In the West Bank, violence continues as settlers, often backed by Israeli soldiers, forcibly remove Palestinians from their homes, exemplified by recent raids in al-Mughayyir and Beita.5
As the election approaches, the right-wing coalition's focus on anti-Palestinian policies raises concerns about the future of peace and stability in the region.
“Gaza's Ministry of Health reported 32 additional deaths last week, bringing the toll since the October ceasefire to at least 1,320, while 58% of Gaza's population faces 'critical or catastrophic' shelter conditions. Separately, settlers raided al-Mughayyir on August 30, shooting four residents and sealing the village's only entrance.”
