Rob Radwan

The Muhammad al-Durrah incident occurred on 30 September 2000 in Gaza amid the start of the Second Intifada. Footage showed the boy and his father under fire; the source of the shots remains disputed, with initial IDF responsibility later retracted amid conflicting investigations. One week later, on 7 October 2000, Hezbollah carried out a cross-border raid near Shebaa Farms, capturing three IDF soldiers (who died). Nasrallah timed and named the operation after al-Durrah to support the Intifada. In a 2004 exchange, Israel returned the bodies for hundreds of prisoners, including many Palestinians.

No. Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority have not endorsed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They stayed neutral, refused Western requests to condemn it, and maintained close ties with Moscow. Abbas backed Putin’s calls for a negotiated settlement and criticized Western double standards comparing the war to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but issued no statement supporting the military action itself.