BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Posed with the question “Do you believe in miracles?” at the Women’s European Championship, the Netherlands said it does.
The Dutch likely must beat an in-form France by three clear goals on Sunday to reach the quarterfinals, needing to make up ground after a 4-0 beating by England.
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Netherlands's Victoria Pelova, right, during the Euro 2025, group D, soccer match between England and the Netherlands in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (Michael Buholzer/Keystone via AP)
France head coach Laurent Bonadei and England head coach Sarina Wiegman, left, greet each other before the Euro 2025, group D, soccer match between France and England at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland, Saturday, July 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Netherlands head coach Andries Jonker stands by the touchline during the Euro 2025, group D, soccer match between England and the Netherlands at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Netherlands' Vivianne Miedema reacts after a missed chance to score during the Euro 2025, group D, soccer match between England and the Netherlands at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
“Miracles exist,” Netherlands coach Andries Jonker said in translated comments on Saturday. “After a very heavy 4-0 defeat there is one thing you can do, rise up again.”
The scenario in Group D is that France sits top on six points, and England is expected also to end on six points by beating Wales in the final round of games played at the same time on Sunday evening in Switzerland.
That would leave just one Dutch path to finish runner-up to England in the standings — a big win over France to lift them in a three-way tiebreaker between the six-point teams. The decider would be goal difference for those three teams in games against each other while excluding their results against Wales.
“Remember Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain,” Jonker said, citing the men’s Champions League epic in 2017 that is known in soccer lore as ‘La Remontada,’ the comeback.
Barcelona lost 4-0 in Paris in the first leg of the round of 16, then won 6-1 at home to advance.
“There is no other option,” added Jonker, once an assistant coach at Barcelona, but to deliver an unforgettable game and performance.
France coach Laurent Bonadei saw no disrespect when told of Jonker’s comments — and countered with humor.
“That’s normal, that’s his role,” Bonadei said of his counterpart’s confidence, though noted his own team’s threat after scoring six goals across its two wins so far.
“It's maybe not 3-0 that he needs to win, but 5-2 or 6-3,” said the France coach, whose team needs only a point to top the standings. “It will be a beautiful game. I would prefer to be in our place than theirs.”
Of course, if tournament debutant Wales was to stop England winning — not miraculous, though unlikely after losing to the Netherlands and 4-1 to France — then a win of any kind for the Dutch would be enough to advance.
“Wales is so eager to beat England,” said the Netherlands’ veteran No. 10 Daniëlle van de Donk, who also was asked if she believed in miracles.
“I believe in our team,” van de Donk said in translated comments, “and in football anything is possible.”
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Netherlands's Victoria Pelova, right, during the Euro 2025, group D, soccer match between England and the Netherlands in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (Michael Buholzer/Keystone via AP)
France head coach Laurent Bonadei and England head coach Sarina Wiegman, left, greet each other before the Euro 2025, group D, soccer match between France and England at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland, Saturday, July 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Netherlands head coach Andries Jonker stands by the touchline during the Euro 2025, group D, soccer match between England and the Netherlands at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Netherlands' Vivianne Miedema reacts after a missed chance to score during the Euro 2025, group D, soccer match between England and the Netherlands at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
JERUSALEM (AP) — Over two dozen families from one of the few remaining Palestinian Bedouin villages in the central West Bank have packed up and fled their homes in recent days, saying harassment by Jewish settlers living in unauthorized outposts nearby has grown unbearable.
The village, Ras Ein el-Auja, was originally home to some 700 people from more than 100 families that have lived there for decades.
Twenty-six families already left on Thursday, scattering across the territory in search of safer ground, say rights groups. Several other families were packing up and leaving on Sunday.
“We have been suffering greatly from the settlers. Every day, they come on foot, or on tractors, or on horseback with their sheep into our homes. They enter people’s homes daily,” said Nayef Zayed, a resident, as neighbors took down sheep pens and tin structures.
Israel's military and the local settler governing body in the area did not respond to requests for comment.
Other residents pledged to stay put for the time being. That makes them some of the last Palestinians left in the area, said Sarit Michaeli, international director at B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group helping the residents.
She said that mounting settler violence has already emptied neighboring Palestinian hamlets in the dusty corridor of land stretching from Ramallah in the West to Jericho, along the Jordanian border, in the east.
The area is part of the 60% of the West Bank that has remained under full Israeli control under interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October 2023, over 2,000 Palestinians — at least 44 entire communities — have been expelled by settler violence in the area, B'Tselem says.
The turning point for the village came in December, when settlers put up an outpost about 50 meters (yards) from Palestinian homes on the northwestern flank of the village, said Michaeli and Sam Stein, an activist who has been living in the village for a month.
Settlers strolled easily through the village at night. Sheep and laundry went missing. International activists had to begin escorting children to school to keep them safe.
“The settlers attack us day and night, they have displaced us, they harass us in every way” said Eyad Isaac, another resident. “They intimidate the children and women.”
Michaeli said she’s witnessed settlers walk around the village at night, going into homes to film women and children and tampering with the village’s electricity.
The residents said they call the police frequently to ask for help — but it seldom arrives. Settlement expansion has been promoted by successive Israeli governments over nearly six decades. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which has placed settler leaders in senior positions, has made it a top priority.
That growth has been accompanied by a spike in settler violence, much of it carried out by residents of unauthorized outposts. These outposts often begin with small farms or shepherding that are used to seize land, say Palestinians and anti-settlement activists. United Nations officials warn the trend is changing the map of the West Bank, entrenching Israeli presence in the area.
Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Their presence is viewed by most of the international community as illegal and a major obstacle to peace. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state.
For now, displaced families of the village have dispersed between other villages near the city of Jericho and near Hebron further south, said residents. Some sold their sheep and are trying to move into the cities.
Others are just dismantling their structures without knowing where to go.
"Where will we go? There’s nowhere. We’re scattered,” said Zayed, the resident, “People’s situation is bad. Very bad.”
An Israeli settler herds his flock near his outpost beside the Palestinian village of Ras Ein al-Auja in the West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
A Palestinian resident of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank burns trash, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian children play in the West Bank village of Ras Ein al-Auja, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
