A flashlight and unseen settlers: Photographer conveys West Bank family's nightly watch in 1 photo

TAYBEH, West Bank (AP) — Leo Correa began working in Israel for The Associated Press following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack and joined the staff the next year.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023, settler violence has surged across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with an increase in attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and repeated Israeli military raids.

I visited the Kaabneh family earlier this July on assignment for AP as part of a visual story about life alongside Israeli outposts, on the outskirts of the town of Taybeh. At that time an Israeli settler stepped into the courtyard of their house as another stood next to the fence, trespassing on Palestinian-Bedouin property. Settlers lingered outside talking on their phones and taking videos of the family and also activists, who were there as a protective presence to support the Palestinians.

As part of my work in the region, I have been following the escalation of violence in the Palestinian territories and on Sept. 10 I went back to the same place where the presence of Israeli settlers is part of the routine. The family has reinforced their property with a barbed-wire fence to try to prevent attacks. Every morning and evening, settlers still go around the house, filming with their phones and staying as close as possible. Activists and volunteers stay outside following the settlers’ steps.

Like shadows at dusk, once again settlers came around Nayef Kaabneh’s family home, walking around. Nayef grabbed a flashlight to track their movements while also trying to record them on his phone to document what was happening.

I was with other members of the family when settlers arrived with their sheep and goats around his property, and Nayef began moving up through his courtyard with his flashlight and phone. For them, documenting this in video is an important measure to defend their rights in these circumstances.

He stopped next to me and started filming again. His eyes moved back and forth between the horizon line, where a settler stood, and the screen of his phone making sure he was recording properly.

I started to photograph this moment and crouched down trying to better frame not only Nayef and his nephew but also the fence against the fading light in the sky. I used a 35 mm Zeiss lens at f/1.6.

The settlers, emboldened by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, have ramped up attacks on Palestinian towns and villages, harassing residents and setting homes, mosques and fields on fire.

I think the image works because it makes you question what is going on. When I took the photo, the flashlight partially lit the fence as Nayef’s nephew Muhammad stands next to him helping to spot the settlers. It’s a low-angle frame that helps to emphasize the fence against the fading sky. Standing next to a tree, Nayef is looking through his phone to spot the settlers.

The viewer doesn’t see the settlers, but the image can convey that something is happening beyond the frame.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and in the decades since has built dozens of settlements that are now home to more than 500,000 Jewish settlers living alongside around 2.5 million Palestinians. The U.N. and much of the international community consider them to be illegally occupied, and an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians.

Israel’s military operates in all parts of the West Bank, but rights groups have said the military frequently turns a blind eye to settler violence. The settlers are Israeli citizens, and Israel’s defense minister recently announced plans to fully transfer law enforcement among settlers to the Israeli police.

Correa began with AP as a freelancer in Brazil in 2013. He moved to Senegal in 2020 and later worked on two extended assignments in Ukraine. Correa previously worked for newspapers in Brazil and has a bachelor’s degree in history.

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Nayef uses a flashlight after spotting Israeli settlers outside his Palestinian-Bedouin family's house on the outskirts of the West Bank town of Taybeh, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

CHICAGO (AP) — Skydance-owned Paramount reached a settlement Monday with a group of state attorneys general that had sued to challenge the company’s buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery, effectively paving the way for the mega merger to move forward, a person familiar with the matter told the AP.

The person was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity. Details of the settlement with the states were not immediately available, but were expected to be revealed later in the day.

The coalition of states — including entertainment heavyweights like California and New York — sued to block the $81 billion merger back in July, alleging a Paramount-Warner combo would “extinguish competition” and lead to fewer choices for consumers, particularly movie theatergoers and cable customers across the U.S.

Accompanied by a complaint also filed by the Writers Guild of America, the challenge was headed toward a full antitrust trial set to kick off in March.

Paramount said the allegations were meritless, but previously agreed to delay its transaction well into next year so the case could make its way through court. It then quickly called for a settlement — arguing that it had satisfied all regulatory clearances worldwide (including from the Trump administration’s Justice Department ) and the states’ challenge was its “final obstacle.”

As reports of the states reaching a settlement with Paramount emerged Monday, critics decried the deal — while warning of what further consolidation could mean in an industry already controlled by just a few major players.

“Today, billionaires have yet again bribed, censored, and bullied their way to the top,” Alvaro Bedoya, senior adviser at the American Economic Liberties Project and former FTC commissioner, said in a statement earlier Monday. “Layoffs will follow. People from L.A. to Atlanta will lose their jobs, small businesses will lose their contracts, your cable bill and movie ticket will be even more expensive.”

Sisak reported from New York.

FILE - The Paramount Pictures water tower is seen in Los Angeles on Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)