Palestinian Authority & Gaza Strip

Terrorist groups in Gaza set on gradual escalation in violence with Israel, Hezbollah-aligned newspaper reports. Terror organizations refusing Israeli demands Gaza's rehabilitation be conditioned on return of Israeli captives, fallen soldiers, according to report.

While the cause of the blast was still uncertain, the IDF signals it wasn't involved, calling the incident an "internal" matter in Gaza.

Relatives of Nizar Banat, who was one of President Mahmoud Abbas's biggest critics and died in police custody, say the official cause of death is being withheld from them.

"Israel proposed an outline whereby the money from Qatar will be allotted via coupons instead of cash, and we do not agree to that," says a senior Hamas official.

The measure is based on a 2018 law under which Israel can deduct tax revenues it collects on behalf of the PA in order to prevent them from reaching terrorists.

Those receiving funds will receive cards for withdrawing money from the PA postal bank using ATM machines. The PA's "pay-for-slay" policy is a widely condemned practice that takes a growing cut of Ramallah's budget – funded by donor countries in the West and the Arab world – every year.

In its footnotes on four of 18 textbooks the EU sought to belatedly include in the study, researchers from the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Germany noted they had been unable to locate the books in the PA education system's digital library.

Report released this week by international body says 11-day operation in May caused $190 million in economic losses, and demolished or damaged over 4,000 homes in Gaza.