“Missiles overhead.”

As the West Bank watches the Zionists' wars.

Night sky over Occupied Palestine. June 2025. (With permission.)

26 JUNE—Two weeks ago, on Tuesday, 10 June, videos arrived from the West Bank in quick succession, announced by an alarming series of pings. They were sent by Qadir al–Thaer, my friend and correspondent in al–Arroub refugee camp. A volley of rockets from Yemen was flying overhead, on trajectory for the ’48 land, as the Zionist state of Israel is referred to by most Palestinians. Most were intercepted by the once vaunted and now sputtering Iron Dome.

Look at these images (see below). They seem almost quaint when compared with the magnitude and number of Iranian missiles that would soon light up the sky.

Three days later, 13 June, the genocidal regime in Tel Aviv launched its unprovoked war of aggression against Iran. Eight days after that, the U.S. bombed Iran. It has been a head-spinning two weeks, one war crime exceeding the next. And all of it more spectacularly dramatic and consequential—at least for those staging and reporting on our late imperial circus of the deranged—than the last 20 months of genocide in Gaza, which is all but unreported in the Western press.

Palestinians in the West Bank have not forgotten Gaza. For this reason they don’t say much about their own situation and suffering. But suffer they do. A recent text from a friend in Hebron expressed shock and sorrow about the children dying in Gaza, starving to death. He made no mention of his family’s many hardships.

With rockets and missiles overhead—frequently falling out of the sky on top of them—what impact has “the Jewish state’s” latest unhinged aggression had on West Bank Palestinians?

What follows is not in any sense breaking news. Rather, it’s a snapshot—a mere glimpse, nothing close to a complete picture—of life these past two weeks in the West Bank. Except as noted, all of what follows was sent and reported by al–Thaer. With each entry I include the time it was sent from the West Bank, time-stamped EEST, Eastern European Summer Time. The interpolations are mine, provided for clarification.

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Yemen fulfills its obligations

Text, 10 June, 8:16 p.m., EEST: The following video, taken in al–Arroub, shows rockets arriving from Yemen. Maghreb, the sunset call to prayer, can be heard along with the wail of a siren, warning nearby settlers of the impending attack and to take cover in bomb shelters. Meanwhile, Palestinians go about their lives.

Above the camp, Iron Dome interceptor missiles attempt to destroy the incoming projectiles. Near the end of the video a bright flash can be seen on the horizon where rockets were successfully intercepted. Debris from these aerial skirmishes routinely falls upon the people below. Still, Palestinians celebrate Ansar Allah’s attacks. Yemen, fulfilling its legal obligation to intervene in a genocide, has not forgotten Gaza.

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Iran Retaliates

Text, 13 June, 9:49 p.m., EEST: The video below documents Iran’s first retaliatory strike against Israel. Interceptor missiles from the Iron Dome light up the sky.

Text, 13 June, 10:14 p.m., EEST: This video, filmed in Tel Aviv, records a series of Zionist surface-to-air missiles and a successful Iranian strike. It is now illegal to film Iran’s strikes and people who post them are hunted down and arrested.

Text, 13 June, 11:24 p.m., EEST: The following video documents a raid in the camp—an hour earlier missiles were flying overhead. Even as Iran sends missiles into Israel, the I.O.F. continues its mission of terror against indigenous Palestinians. Raids are more frequent and violent as Zionists accelerate their project of ethnic cleansing and vent frustration and anger on civilians. Little of this is ever reported in Western countries.

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Text, 14 June, 11:08 a.m., ESST: This photo is a screenshot of an official alert. Not to be missed: All of historic Palestine is included as part of the Zionist “Home Front,” even as this warning is not meant to protect all of the people living on this land.

Text, 14 June, 2:15 - 2:45 a.m., ESST: A series of audio files arrived while a raid was in progress at al–Arroub. I’ve transcribed them as follows:

They’re in the neighborhood. It’s so difficult to communicate . . . and know where they exactly are. I’m scared . . . I’ve never been . . . They’ve never been this close. And I’m scared because they are now following a new approach. They’re raiding, storming random houses to search the phones and see if anyone filmed the rockets of Iran or if there’s anything on their phones that supports Iran.

They’re outside. They threw a stun grenade at my grandparent’s roof . . . right next to us.

I really hope this nightmare will end soon. Because wallah, here we are tired. I’m tired. Mentally I can’t take this any more. I’m . . . don’t think I’m built for this. Maybe I’m built for some minor small raids in the camp, stun grenades, tear gas, some shooting in the sky. But I’m not built for something big like this. Regional war. Rockets crossing the sky. Drones. Storming houses. Searching phones. Beating people up if they have anything about the rockets in their phones. Checkpoints. Roads blocked. Cities are blocked. It’s been like this for a year and a half now. It’s so draining. I feel like in this year I [aged] five years.

The Arabic word wallah means “I swear to Allah.” It’s a way of emphasizing the truth of what is being said.

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Text, 15 June, 2:54 a.m., ESST: In the following, the camp is completely dark, all house and street lights are off. People whistle and clap, signaling approval of Iran’s strike. On the horizon bright flashes indicate numerous Iranian missiles were intercepted.

Text, 15 June, 2:59 a.m., ESST: The following audio files document a joint attack by Yemen and Iran and the reaction of Palestinians on the ground.

Text, 15 June, 3:03 a.m., ESST: This video shows a direct hit on Tel Aviv during the same barrage described above.

Here, al–Thaer comments on the strike.

Text, 15 June, 8:49 a.m., ESST: “Right above us. Crazy wave,” Thaer texted when he sent the following. He is yelling in Arabic at his siblings to go inside because Iranian rockets were then being intercepted over the camp.

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Text, 16 June, 4:11 a.m., ESST: Screenshot of an alert identifying areas under attack.

Incoming strike alert. (With permission.)

Text, 16 June, 4:23 a.m., ESST: As Fajr, the dawn prayer, sounds in the background incoming rockets are intercepted overhead. You might wonder when these people have the opportunity to sleep. In fact, too often they don’t sleep, which has profoundly negative health impacts.

Text, 16 June, 4:32 a.m., ESST: A few minutes after the missiles pass over al–Arroub, they strike Tel Aviv.

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Text, 18 June, 12:55 a.m., ESST: The following videos show incoming Iranian rockets, one of which was intercepted over the camp, as seen in the second video.

Text, 18 June, 2:14 a.m., ESST: The following audio file was sent during a raid. It documents the first time drones are deployed in the camp. These appear to have been used solely for surveillance. How long, I can’t help but wonder, until weaponized quadcopters are deployed.

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On Thursday, 19 June, I reached out to a friend in the town of Dura. This is a young woman, age 24, who graduated three weeks ago with a degree in pharmacy.

“How has life changed,” I wanted to know, “since the Zionist entity attacked Iran?”

Her reply came as a series of texts:

It’s a little bit chaotic. Gas ran out at a lot of gas stations. People started to panic. Now you have to take a number, like a coupon, if you want to fuel your car. Also, cigarettes have become more expensive—I don’t know what’s the connection!

They closed some checkpoints, as always. Honestly, them being more aggressive on the streets and checkpoints and closing checkpoints for hours and days is their first response to anything.

There was a video of a bride and groom who were trying to cross the checkpoint on their wedding day. They [I.O.F.] didn’t allow them. So the couple left the car behind the checkpoint and walked to the other side.

The road closures are our daily struggle.

In the 48 land it’s harder I think. They are not allowed even to take photos of the missiles. Can you imagine?

Some of the missiles fall here in the West Bank. But people are happy about them. They keep taking photos with the missiles. And when the Iranian missiles appear in the sky people start to calibrate, whistle and clap. It’s such a vibe, wallah.

I have so far received no report of extended food shortages beyond the first two days of the war when shelves were stripped bare. For now, food trucks are allowed to make their deliveries in the early morning. So I’ve been told. With a fragile ceasefire in place it will be interesting see how and if things improve for West Bank Palestinians. Zionist Israel has a long history of using war and conflict to further its goals of land theft and ethnic cleansing. There is every reason to believe the fascist regime in Tel Aviv will use this most recent aggression to accelerate its plans in the West Bank.

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