Israel's finance minister approves settlement to ‘bury the idea of a Palestinian state'
It was not immediately clear if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed the plan to revive the long-frozen E1 scheme, which Palestinians and world powers have said would lop the West Bank in two and will likely draw international fury.
In a statement headlined "Burying the idea of a Palestinian state," Smotrich's spokesperson said the minister would give a press conference later on Thursday about the plan to build 3,401 houses for Israeli settlers between an existing settlement in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Israel had frozen construction plans there since 2012 because of objections from the United States, European allies and other world powers who considered the project a threat to any future peace deal with the Palestinians.
In Gaza
On Wednesday Israeli gunfire killed at least 25 people seeking aid in Gaza, health officials and witnesses said, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again called for what he refers to as the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the war-ravaged territory.
Witnesses and staff at Nasser and Awda hospitals, which received the bodies, said people were shot on their way to aid distribution sites or while awaiting convoys entering Gaza.
Netanyahu wants to realise Donald Trump 's vision of relocating much of Gaza's population of over two million people through what he refers to as "voluntary migration" — and what critics have warned could be ethnic cleansing.
"Give them the opportunity to leave! First, from combat zones, and also from the strip if they want," Netanyahu said in an interview aired Tuesday with Israeli TV station i24 to discuss the planned offensive in areas that include Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people shelter.
Ceasefire
Efforts to revive ceasefire talks have resumed after apparently breaking down last month. Hamas and Egyptian officials met Wednesday in Cairo, according to Hamas official Taher al-Nounou.
Israel has no plans to send its negotiating team to talks in Cairo, Netanyahu's office said.
Israel's plans to widen its military offensive against Hamas to parts of Gaza it does not yet control have sparked condemnation at home and abroad, and could be intended to raise pressure on Hamas to reach a ceasefire.
The militants still hold 50 hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war. Israel believes around 20 are still alive. Families fear a new offensive endangers them.
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Israel approves long-blocked settlement to ‘bury the idea of a Palestinian state'
Israeli far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich has approved plans for a settlement that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, a move his office said would bury the idea of a Palestinian state. It was not immediately clear if Benjamin Netanyahu backed the plan to revive the long-frozen E1 scheme, which Palestinians and world powers have said would lop the West Bank in two and will likely draw international fury. In a statement headlined "Burying the idea of a Palestinian state," Smotrich's spokesperson said more details would be given later about the plan to build 3,401 houses for Israeli settlers between an existing settlement in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Israel had frozen construction plans there since 2012 because of objections from the United States, European allies and other world powers who considered the project a threat to any future peace deal with the Palestinians. It came as more than 100 agencies and charities warned that Israel's rules for aid groups working in Gaza and occupied West Bank will block much-needed relief, and replace independent organizations with those that serve Israel's political and military agenda. The mounting backlash over aid restrictions and the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza have been cited by several countries as a factor in their moves toward recognizing Palestinian statehood. the groups, including Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders and CARE, were responding to registration rules announced by Israel in March that require organizations to hand over full lists of their donors and Palestinian staff for vetting. They contend doing so could endanger their staff and give Israel broad grounds to block aid if groups are deemed to be "delegitimizing" the country or supporting boycotts or divestment. The groups stressed that most of them have not been able to deliver 'a single truck' of life-saving assistance since Israel implemented a blockade in March. Their letter called on other countries and donors to pressure Israel 'to end the weaponization of aid, including through bureaucratic obstruction.' COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, denied the claims in the letter; it said 380 trucks entered Gaza on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on Thursday that dehydration is increasing in Gaza amid limited water supplies and a heatwave that has pushed temperatures above 40 Celsius. Hospitals throughout Gaza reported casualties from Israeli strikes, including eight deaths in Gaza City. As European countries amplify their criticisms of Israel and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, some are expanding evacuations. Italy's foreign affairs ministry said it received 114 Palestinian evacuees from Gaza on Wednesday, including 31 children suffering from either severe injuries and amputations or serious diseases. Netanyahu wants to realise Donald Trump 's vision of relocating much of Gaza's population of over two million people through what he refers to as "voluntary migration" — and what critics have warned could be ethnic cleansing. "Give them the opportunity to leave! First, from combat zones, and also from the strip if they want," Netanyahu said in an interview aired Tuesday with Israeli TV station i24 to discuss the planned offensive in areas that include Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people shelter. Efforts to revive ceasefire talks have resumed after apparently breaking down last month. Hamas and Egyptian officials met Wednesday in Cairo, according to Hamas official Taher al-Nounou. Israel has no plans to send its negotiating team to talks in Cairo, Netanyahu's office said. Israel's plans to widen its military offensive against Hamas to parts of Gaza it does not yet control have sparked condemnation at home and abroad, and could be intended to raise pressure on Hamas to reach a ceasefire. The militants still hold 50 hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war. Israel believes around 20 are still alive. Families fear a new offensive endangers them.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Trump: Journalists should be allowed into Gaza
WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would like to see journalists gain access to Gaza to see humanitarian efforts. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza since the start of its war in October 2023, unless they are under Israeli military escort. "I'd like to see that happen. Sure," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "I would be very fine with journalists going. And it's a very dangerous position to be in, as you know, if you're a journalist, but I would like to see it."
Rhyl Journal
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Israel announces West Bank settlement that ‘could imperil Palestinian state'
Palestinians and rights groups worry the move will scuttle plans for a future Palestinian state by effectively cutting the West Bank into two separate parts. The announcement comes as many countries, including Australia France, and Canada said they would recognise a Palestinian state in September. 'This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognise and no one to recognise,' said finance minister Bezalel Smotrich during a ceremony on Thursday. 'Anyone in the world who tries today to recognise a Palestinian state — will receive an answer from us on the ground.' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet publicly commented on the plan, but he has touted it in the past. Development in E1, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, has been under consideration for more than two decades, but was frozen due to US pressure during previous administrations. On Thursday, Mr Smotrich praised President Donald Trump and US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee as 'true friends of Israel as we have never had before'. The E1 plan is expected to receive final approval August 20, capping off 20 years of bureaucratic wrangling. The planning committee on August 6 rejected all of the petitions to stop the construction filed by rights groups and activists. While some bureaucratic steps remain, if the process moves quickly, infrastructure work could begin in the next few months and construction of homes could start in around a year. The approval is a 'colonial, expansionist, and racist move', Ahmed al Deek, the political adviser to the minister of Palestinian Foreign Affairs, told The Associated Press on Thursday. 'It falls within the framework of the extremist Israeli government's plans to undermine any possibility of establishing a Palestinian state on the ground, to fragment the West Bank, and to separate its southern part from the centre and the north,' Mr al Deek said. Rights groups also swiftly condemned the plan. Peace Now called it 'deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution' which is 'guaranteeing many more years of bloodshed'. The announcement comes as the Palestinian Authority and Arab countries condemned Mr Netanyahu's statement in an interview on Tuesday that he was 'very' attached to the vision of a 'Greater Israel'. He did not elaborate, but supporters of the idea believe that Israel should control not only the occupied West Bank but parts of Arab countries. Israel's plans to expand settlements are part of an increasingly difficult reality for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as the world's attention focuses on Gaza. There have been marked increases in settler attacks against Palestinians, evictions from Palestinian towns and checkpoints that choke freedom of movement. There also have been several Palestinian attacks on Israelis during the course of the war. More than 700,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and obstacles to peace. Israel's government is dominated by religious and ultranationalist politicians with close ties to the settlement movement. Mr Smotrich, previously a firebrand settler leader, has been granted cabinet-level authority over settlement policies and vowed to double the settler population in the West Bank. Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians claim all three territories for a future independent state. Israel has annexed east Jerusalem and claims it as part of its capital, which is not internationally recognised. It says the West Bank is disputed territory whose fate should be determined through negotiations, while Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
