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Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh – The sound of children at play echoes through the verdant lanes of one of the dozens of refugee camps on the outskirts of Cox's Bazar, a densely populated coastal town in southeast Bangladesh. Just for a moment, the sounds manage to soften the harsh living conditions faced by the more than one million people who live here in the world's largest refugee camp. Described as the most persecuted people on the planet, the Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh may now be one of the most forgotten populations in the world, eight years after being ethnically cleansed from their homes in neighbouring Myanmar by a predominantely Buddhist military regime. "Cox's Bazar is ground zero for the impact of budget cuts on people in desperate need," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a visit to the sprawling camps in May. The UN chief's visit followed United States President Donald Trump's gutting of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which has stalled several key projects in the camps, and the United Kingdom announcing cuts to foreign aid in order to increase defence spending.

The Israeli army has demolished several Palestinian homes in the Jenin refugee camp as it continues the deadly raids across the occupied West Bank that it launched on January 21. Explosions echoed throughout the camp overnight as Israeli forces demolished the civilian homes, Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, reported on Friday. Witnesses said Israeli forces reinforced their presence around the camp and conducted intensive drone surveillance. The army also continues to besiege Jenin Governmental Hospital, having bulldozed the main entrance and the main road leading to it earlier in its raids. Earlier this week, it carried out the demolition of residential blocks in Jenin for the first time since 2002, as reported by Jenin Governor Kamal Abu al-Rub.

The Israeli Defense Forces on Sunday released video of Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari crossing into Israeli territory. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a wide-ranging counterterrorism operation in the West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday. The IDF, Israel Security Authority and Israel Border Police announced the operation in a joint statement, but did not give details. Two people were allegedly killed in an Israeli strike that was part of the operation, France 24 reported, citing the Palestinian Health Ministry. An Israeli military source allegedly told the Times of Israel that the operation began with drone strikes and is expected to last for several days.

Israeli troops and military aircraft have killed at least eight Palestinians, including two women and a teenager, in attacks on the Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Seven people were killed in an Israeli drone attack and shooting by troops in the Tulkarem refugee camp, and one person was killed in the nearby Nur Shams camp, the Health Ministry said, following a bloody day of Israeli military raids that began at dawn on Tuesday. The ministry said that two Palestinian women – identified as Khawla Ali Abdullah Abdo, 53, and Bara Khalid Hussein, 30 – and an 18-year-old, Fathi Saeed Salem Obaid, were among the seven people killed in the Israeli attacks on Tulkarem. The official Wafa news agency reported that the teenager died after being shot in the chest and abdomen and the two women were reported killed in drone strikes. The victim in the Nur Shams camp was identified as Mahmoud Muhammad Khaled Amar, who was shot by Israeli soldiers and later found dead on the ground in the camp's Abu Bakr as-Siddiq Mosque neighbourhood, Wafa also reports.

At least 22 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed after Israel launched air and drone attacks across Gaza, while a power outage threatens the lives of more than 100 patients at a hospital in the besieged territory's north. In the latest Israeli attack in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Monday morning, three people were targeted with a missile launched from a drone, instantly killing them, sources told Al Jazeera. "[The victims] were trying to leave their home in search of food in the vicinity of their neighbourhood when they were targeted by a drone," said Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud, reporting from central Deir el-Balah in Gaza. "They were killed right away. Their bodies are still in the street and nobody has the ability to get to the bombed site and remove the bodies from the street."

An Israeli air attack on a car in the occupied West Bank city of Tubas has killed at least five Palestinians and left others wounded, local media and medical workers report. Israel said early on Thursday morning that military aircraft took part in "three different attacks" on Palestinian fighters who "posed a threat" to their forces in the Tubas region. Palestinian medics reported that five people were killed in an Israeli air strike targeting a car and two people were injured, one of whom was critical, according to the Palestinian state news agency, Wafa. The Reuters news agency later reported that the number of those killed in the drone attack had risen to at least six. According to Wafa, the attack was carried out by an armed drone, and Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulance crews brought the bodies of the five deceased men and two wounded people to the Tubas Turkish Government Hospital.

Israel killed three Palestinians in a drone strike on Thursday in Tulkarem, a city and refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. That was during an Israeli raid – a near-daily occurrence in the West Bank – on the Tulkarem refugee camp, during which Israeli troops clashed with fighters from the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, according to fighters in the city. Here's all you need to know about Israeli raids on Tulkarem: News reports say Israeli soldiers were deployed on rooftops and sent bulldozers into the camp to destroy large residential areas. Israel also reportedly set fire to people's homes and prevented local relief workers from putting the fires out. Experts say Israel's tactics during its raids appear to be part of a broader doctrine to collectively punish the population, ostensibly because pockets of armed resistance are fighting back against Israel's ever-entrenching occupation. Israel claims that it is conducting "counter-terrorism" operations.

A general strike has been called across the cities of the occupied West Bank in protest against the assassination of seven members of Hamas, including the deputy head of its political bureau, Saleh al-Arouri. The strike was called by Palestinian armed groups that asked people to stay home on Wednesday and only leave to march in demonstrations against the drone attack on the outskirts of Beirut. The slain men are Saleh al-Arouri, who was also the commander of the Qassam Brigades in the occupied West Bank; Samir Fendi, who commanded the Qassam Brigades in Lebanon; Azzam al-Aqraa, who commanded the Qassam Brigades in southern Lebanon; and members Mahmoud Shaheen, Mohammed al-Rayes, Mohammed Bashasha and Ahmed Hamoud. All seven will be buried in Lebanon. Funerals will be held for Hamoud and Shaheen on Wednesday in the Burj al-Barajneh camp for Palestinian refugees and Taalbaya, respectively.

Along the border wall separating Israel and the Gaza Strip, tens of thousands of soldiers are making the final preparations for a full-scale ground invasion. But soon, the sight of massed troops might seem as much a relic of the past as knights on horseback appear to us now. That's because the wars of the future will not only be fought by humans, but also by machines. Already, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has developed and deployed a staggering arsenal of robotic and autonomous weapons which may soon see their first deployment at scale. From AI-powered turrets and drones to robotic tanks and boats these terrifying weapons will soon play a critical role in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.