Pakistani intelligence officials said the missile strike targeted a hideout of anti-government fighters in the Babar Raghazi area of North Waziristan on Saturday.

But local security officials told Al Jazeera that those killed in the attack were all civilians.

Unmanned drones are often the weapon of choice for the United States as it targets the Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in remote, rugged areas along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. But the US military has rarely confirmed the attacks.

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What future for the "Greater Land of Israel"?

Six decades after its founding, Israel has grown into one of the world's top 20 industrial states, with GNP (General National Product) superior to all its neighbours combined.

With an estimated 200 nuclear warheads, and one of the most advanced air forces in the world, Israel promotes itself as the Middle East's most powerful military and one of the world's five leading arms exporters.

Priding itself on being a Western-type democracy; Israel has always sought close relations with empires and superpowers, underlining its estrangement within its own region.

Thanks to decades of preferential treatment by Western superpowers, Israel has had its cake and eaten it too. It has occupied, annexed and exploited Palestinian and Arab lands with impunity, and at the same time received over $100bn as the West's foremost ally in the Middle East.
Israel's control over the Occupied Territories has radicalised its own society and identity as much as it has deformed that of the Palestinians. And yet, despite all, Israel's borders remain undrawn, its capital unrecognised, its Jewishness unaccepted, and its security in question.

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For seven years, Saeed Darwish of Bethlehem has had to apply for an Israeli permit to be able to live in his own home in a part of the city that Israel says is under its jurisdiction.

But a month ago, Israeli authorities decided not to renew his permit, leaving the family's sole breadwinner stranded.

Now, Darwish must decide whether to stay in his home or go to work and risk being denied permission to return.

Al Jazeera's Nisreen El-Shamayleh reports from the occupied West Bank.