Hospital officials say an Israeli strike on a house in central Gaza killed 22 people, including nine women and children. This is according to a report from AP and we will bring you more as we get it. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel has accepted a new ceasefire proposal presented by US president Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Israeli media reported on Thursday. Palestinian militant group Hamas said earlier that it had received the new proposal from mediators and was studying it. Hamas says it has received US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza from mediators. The statement from the militant group says the proposal is now being studied. Israel has authorised 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, its defence minister has said. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called Israel’s decision a “dangerous escalation”, accusing the government of continuing to drag the region into a “cycle of violence and instability”. An Israeli strike hit the south of Lebanon, killing one man on Thursday. Israel says its attack, which violated a ceasefire agreement, struck a member of the Hezbollah militant group. Lebanon’s health ministry says an “Israeli enemy strike” hit a forested area in Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa, killing one man. The United States’ new envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, called for a non-aggression agreement between Syria and Israel in remarks to Saudi channel Al Arabiya on Thursday. Israel has ordered the evacuation of the Al Awda hospital in Jabalia in northern Gaza, the strip’s health ministry says. The ministry urged the international community to protect Gaza’s health system and uphold international humanitarian law. At least 64 people have been killed since the early hours of this morning by Israeli attacks on Gaza, the Strip’s health ministry says. This means the death toll in Gaza has reached 54,249, the majority of whom were women and children, since the war began in 2023. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has strongly criticised Israel on Thursday, condemning its attacks on the Gaza Strip as “collective punishment of the civilian population.” Palestinians carry aid supplies received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation through an area known as the Netzarim Corridor, central Gaza Strip. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel has accepted a new ceasefire proposal presented by US president Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Israeli media reported on Thursday. Palestinian militant group Hamas said earlier that it had received the new proposal from mediators and was studying it. Hamas says it has received US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza from mediators. The statement from the militant group says the proposal is now being studied. “The Hamas leadership has received Witkoff’s new proposal from the mediators,” the statement says. “It is responsibly studying it in a way that serves the interests of our people, provides relief, and achieves a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.” The proposal stipulates the release of 10 living hostages held in Gaza and the return of the bodies of 18 deceased captives, in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire. The proposal includes the United Nations resuming the provision of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. The text of the agreement will not contain an Israeli promise to end the war. An Israeli strike hit the south of Lebanon, killing one man on Thursday. Israel says its attack, which violated a ceasefire agreement, struck a member of the Hezbollah militant group. Lebanon’s health ministry says an “Israeli enemy strike” hit a forested area in Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa, killing one man. The Israeli army says the man was “a Hezbollah terrorist” operating in southern Lebanon, alleging he was working to restore a site used to manage the group’s “fire and defence array”. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the man was a “municipal employee” tasked with rehabilitating wells when his motorcycle was struck. Israel has continued to ignore a ceasefire deal struck in November with a flurry of attacks. Under the deal, only UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army are meant to operate in the south. Lebanon has urged nations around the world to pressure Israel into halting further attacks and withdrawing its military from the region, which still occupies five areas it deems strategic. The United States’ new envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, called for a non-aggression agreement between Syria and Israel in remarks to Saudi channel Al Arabiya on Thursday. Syria and Israel have been at war for the better part of a century. Since former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December 2023, tensions reignited, and Israel has perpetrated hundreds of military attacks against its long-time enemy. Despite the ongoing fighting, Barrack said the conflict between the two countries was a “solvable problem”. He thinks that Syria and Israel could “start with just a non-aggression agreement, talk about boundaries and borders” to create a new relationship. While touring the Gulf earlier in May, US President Donald Trump eased sanctions on Syria, saying he hoped the country would normalise relations with Israel. “I told him, I hope you’re going to join once you’re straightened out, and he said yes. But they have a lot of work to do,” he said of Sharaa. He also called Sharaa a “young, attractive guy” with a “very strong past”. The Israeli backed logistics group, Gaza Humanitarian Foundations, opened a third aid distribution site in the Palestinian enclave on Thursday, claiming that since beginning operations on Monday, it has handed out about 1,838,182 meals. “Operations will continue scaling across all four sites, with plans to build additional sites across Gaza, including in the northern region, in the weeks ahead,” the foundation said in a statement via the Reuters news agency. The foundation has been criticised for overseeing a chaotic distribution process compared to United Nations-backed initiatives in the past. Israel has ordered the evacuation of the Al Awda Hospital in Jabalia in northern Gaza, the strip’s health ministry says. The ministry urged the international community to protect Gaza’s health system and uphold international humanitarian law. The evacuation order follows several explosions reportedly occurring at a food distribution area in the south. Hamish Falconer, the UK’s minister for the Middle East has criticised the Israeli government’s decision to approve 22 new settlements in the illegally occupied West Bank. Falconer posted on X that the plans were a “deliberate obstacle to Palestinian statehood”. “The UK condemns these actions,” he said. “Settlements are illegal under international law, further imperil the two-state solution, and do not protect Israel.” Low-resolution satellite imagery has revealed the extent of Rafah’s destruction. Two of the images date from December 2023 and 2024. In 2023, the southern Gaza governorate appears green, with its buildings intact. By the same time the following year, the visible ashen-grey colour indicates buildings that have been flattened or damaged. Significant parts of Rafah were already showing signs of structural damage in satellite imagery prior to Israel’s major offensive in 2024. By the end of October 2023, approximately 4.2% to 5.2% of buildings in Rafah had sustained damage. Bellingcat analysis found that, of around 670 buildings in Rafah’s eastern Tal al-Sultan area, only 224 remained standing. Israel launched a major offensive in May 2024 despite widespread international opposition. By that point, Rafah was hosting half of Gaza’s population, which had been pushed south. The scale of damage to the Rafah governorate escalated significantly. According to satellite data from the United Nations (UNOSAT), the area recorded the “highest number of newly damaged structures” since July, at 3,289. By September 2024, an estimated 16,526 buildings had been damaged in Rafah, and 23,467 across the entire governorate. In April, Gaza’s media office reported that approximately 90% of Rafah’s buildings had been destroyed, adding that around 12,000 square metres had been razed by the Israeli military. By April 2025, satellite images show Rafah appearing in an entirely different colour. Here we’ve zoomed in and used higher-resolution imagery of central Rafah City in November 2023 and October 2025. At least 64 people have been killed since the early hours of this morning by Israeli attacks on Gaza, the Strip’s health ministry says. This means the death toll in Gaza has reached 54,249, the majority of whom were women and children, since the war began in 2023. Criminals looting aid intended for Gaza are doing so with “active or passive” Israeli military protection, Muhammad Shehada, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, has told Sky News. Shehada says looting gangs are operating openly in IDF controlled areas, saying the activity occurs in front of Israeli tanks and military vehicles. “The criminals and drug dealers that are looting the vast majority of aid are operating with either active or passive IDF protection,” he says. He adds that Israel allows in 20% of what Gazans need to subsist on a day-to-day basis in an “engineered policy of starvation.” “Israel is using the ‘Hamas looting’ talking point as merely a pretext to externalise blame for its deliberate starvation policy in Gaza.” Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has strongly criticised Israel on Thursday, condemning its attacks on the Gaza strip as “collective punishment of the civilian population.” Lavrov said “measures taken by Israel” in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas “constitute collective punishment of the civilian population,” calling what was happening in Gaza “incomprehensible and indescribable”. Here is some video footage of the distressing scenes yesterday which saw crowds of Palestinians burst into a UN warehouse in Deir al-Balah. The tragic incident, which resulted in the death of four people, occurred after aid had begun to into the territory on the brink of famine. US envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, said on Thursday that the United States believes peace between Syria and Israel is achievable, suggesting it should commence with a non-aggression agreement and a definition of borders and boundaries. Barrack said that president Donald Trump would declare that Syria is not a state sponsor of terrorism. People walk as Palestinians receive aid supplies from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, near an area of Gaza known as the Netzarim corridor, earlier today. Here’s a summary of today’s stories developing in the Palestinian territories. Israel has authorised 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, its defence minister has said. Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli attacks killed 44 people on Thursday, including 23 in an attack on a home in the centre of the Palestinian territory. “Forty-four people have been killed in Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip,” civil defence official Mohammad Al-Mughayyir told the Agence France-Presse news agency. “Twenty-three people were killed, others injured and several (are) missing following an Israeli strike on the Qreinawi family’s home east of Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.” Israel Katz said the settlement decision “strengthens our hold on Judea and Samaria,” using the biblical term for the West Bank, “anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel, and constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism.” Israeli Defence minister Israel Katz, whose critics have accused him of using genocidal language directed at civilians in Gaza, said: “The decision to establish 22 new settlements in the West Bank strengthens our presence in the area and affirms our commitment to ensuring security for the population centres of Israel,” Katz said. “It is a step toward reinforcing our eastern axis and addressing ongoing security challenges. “We’re not leaving areas we’ve conquered,” says Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Smotrich voiced his disapproval of the new US proposal for a phased ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas. “I object to giving a lifeline to Hamas,” Smotrich tells Radio 103FM. “Hamas is in distress. The new [Israeli-backed] system for handing out aid cuts off Hamas from the residents. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, called Israel’s decision a “dangerous escalation”, accusing the government of continuing to drag the region into a “cycle of violence and instability”. Today, we’ve been reporting on the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. My colleagues, Andrew Roth in Washington and Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem, have reported that a US charity has accused a controversial US and Israeli-backed group distributing food supplies in Gaza of using its logo without permission Images sent out by GHF this week showed shipments bearing a label from Rahma Worldwide, a US charity based in Michigan, as part of its first distribution of food to sites inside Gaza. “We noticed images of our food boxes with logo being distributed without Rahma’s direct involvement,” the group said in a statement. “Rahma did not authorise such distribution, and none of our team was permitted to participate in this process.” Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli attacks killed 44 people on Thursday, including 23 in an attack on a home in the centre of the Palestinian territory. “Forty-four people have been killed in Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip,” civil defence official Mohammad Al-Mughayyir told the Agence France-Presse news agency. “Twenty-three people were killed, others injured and several (are) missing following an Israeli strike on the Qreinawi family’s home east of Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.” The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, said that Israel has brought Gaza to the “most dangerous stage of starvation,” and that the effects will last for generations, reports the Wafa News agency. He added that the emergency unfolding in Gaza constitutes “genocide, starvation, a crime against humanity, and a gross violation of human rights.” Fakhri said: Israel’s plan has always been to inflict the greatest possible damage and destruction, and to inflict the highest possible death toll, in order to achieve its primary goal: to occupy and annex all of Gaza. Israel has declared its intentions from the beginning of the war, in one form or another. The situation is constantly worsening, and we are witnessing a tangible and systematic escalation of violence by Israel. Israel has completely blocked, restricted, or deliberately attacked humanitarian aid convoys. Now, what we are witnessing is the most dangerous phase of the starvation campaign. The most important thing to remember is that the numbers we have now are always far lower than the reality, because international journalists are not allowed in, and a very limited number of aid workers are allowed to work there. So we know that the reality is much worse than we can imagine. Everyone knows that what is happening is genocide. We were among the first to expose the famine resulting from the Israeli starvation campaign. The International Court of Justice recognized the risk of genocide, and the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, including the use of starvation as a weapon of war. The UN rapporteur stressed the urgent need to allow humanitarian aid convoys into Gaza, saying: “This is what must happen, and it must happen now.” A new US proposal would see the release of 10 living hostages held in Gaza and the return of the bodies of 18 deceased captives, in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel. The proposal includes the United Nations resuming providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.The text of the agreement will not contain an Israeli promise to end the war, said the official. The news comes as US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff said Wednesday that he has “very good feelings” about the chances for reaching a temporary ceasefire. “We’re on the precipice of sending out a new term sheet that hopefully will be delivered later today,” Witkoff told reporters in the Oval Office. “The president is going to review it.” “I have some very good feelings about getting to… a temporary ceasefire and a long-term, peaceful resolution of that conflict,” Witkoff said. Earlier this week, Hamas said it had reached an agreement with Witkoff on a “general framework” and now awaited a “final response.” US President Donald Trump said the situation in Gaza is “very nasty” but, referring to the ongoing ceasefire talks, he added “We’re doing very well. We’ll see how all that works out.” We’ve been reporting on Israel’s expansion of the West Bank. My colleague Lorenzo Tondo has this full report on today’s developments, which include Israel’s announcement to build 22 new illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. The motion was said to have been put forward by the far-right defence minister, Israel Katz, and finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, which is considered illegal under international law. Katz said the settlement decision “strengthens our hold on Judea and Samaria”, using the biblical term for the West Bank, “anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel, and constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism.” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called Israel’s decision a “dangerous escalation”, accusing the government of continuing to drag the region into a “cycle of violence and instability”. “This extremist Israeli government is trying by all means to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” he told Reuters, urging US president Donald Trump’s administration to intervene. Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri condemned the announcement and called on the United States and the European Union to take action. “The announcement of the building of 22 new settlements in the West Bank is part of the war led by Netanyahu against the Palestinian people,” Abu Zuhri told Reuters. Gaza civil defence says 44 killed in Israel strikes Thursday, the AFP reports. More to follow. More now from the Israeli government on its announcement of its increased settlements in the West Bank In a statement on Telegram, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party said it was a “once-in-a-generation decision”, with the initiative led by Smotrich and Katz. “The decision also includes the establishment of four communities along the eastern border with Jordan, as part of strengthening Israel’s eastern backbone, national security and strategic grip on the area,” it said. The party published a map showing the 22 sites spread across the territory. Two of the proposed settlements in Homesh and Sa-Nur are significant as, strictly speaking, they are re-settlements, because they were evacuated in 2005 as part of Israel’s disengagement from Gaza. Thursday’s announcement was made ahead of an international conference convened to discuss the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Supporters of the idea say its viability is being undermined by the increasing number of illegal Israeli-backed settlements in the West Bank. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has urged Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire with Hamas mediated by a US envoy. “Israel must publicly and immediately accept the outline published this morning by American mediator Steve Witkoff,” Lapid posted on X. “I remind Netanyahu: He has a full safety net from me to accept the outline, even if [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir and [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich try to torpedo it.” On Wednesday night, Hamas announced it had settled on an agreement with Witkoff on a plan for a long-term ceasefire, including a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the free entry of humanitarian aid. Witkoff was later seen speaking next to US President Donald Trump and announced he had created “a new term sheet” for Trump’s approval, the Axios news agency reports. A baby who was delivered after his mother died during Hamas’ attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 has died. He has “fought to live” until today, the IDF said. “A mother murdered on her way to give life and a baby who never got the chance to live it. “Hamas celebrated the attack. And this is who we fight.” “It is with great sadness and pain that we learned this morning of the death of baby Ravid Chaim, son of Tzeela and Hananel Gez,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “There are no words that can offer consolation for the murder of a newborn baby along with his mother.” Meanwhile, three Palestinian children were slaughtered by Israeli airstrikes overnight, according to local hospitals. Palestinians in the West Bank are sharing their stories of being exiled from their homes by occupying forces as Israel announces 22 new illegal settlements in the region. Salaam Ka’abneh, a lifelong resident of the Bedouin village of Ras al-Ayn in the Jordan Valley, told Sky News that even though he and his family have lived on the land for over half a century, he fears they could be forcibly evicted by Israeli “settlers”. Ka’abneh said: About a year and four months ago, settlers cut off our access to water and grazing land. They also stole more than 2,000 sheep from us in the Tel Al-Auja compound. We face daily assaults, day and night. They terrorise our children and women, throwing stones, firing bullets, and creating chaos with their vehicles. We are under siege. We no longer have access to pasture or water, and our sheep remain caged.” Sarit Michaeli of B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, told Sky that Israel doesn’t hold settlers accountable. On the contrary - settlers know that if they act violently, they’ll receive support from all branches of the government. There’s full impunity. In fact, it’s more accurate to say settlers function as a branch of the government. In response to the Israeli Cabinet’s decision to establish 22 new settlements, Israeli NGO Peace Now tells the Guardian that the annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is Israel’s “central goal.” The Cabinet’s decision to establish 22 new settlements—the most extensive move of its kind since the Oslo Accords, under which Israel committed not to establish new settlements—will dramatically reshape the West Bank and further entrench the occupation. At a time when both the Israeli public and the international community are calling for an immediate end to the war, the government is making clear—again and without restraint—that it prefers deepening the occupation and advancing de facto annexation over pursuing peace.” A detailed analysis of the newly announced settlements will be published shortly. My colleague Bethan McKernan has written about her time as the Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent. Three days before Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, I was helping friends who live in Gaza City gather armfuls of guava in their orchard in Beit Hanoun, in the north of the Strip, when something strange happened. Hamid and Rania* had bought the small plot the year before. It was overgrown, but over the changing seasons they’d worked hard on their expensive acquisition. I called it the secret garden, a tiny oasis in the midst of the dry, dirty misery of Gaza. As well as guava, there were apple, fig, lemon, orange and olive trees. The couple planted grapefruit and pomegranate saplings, and dug vegetable beds for tomatoes, herbs and spices. Rania also put in yellow and red chrysanthemums in flowerpots made out of stacks of worn-out car tyres. Read more about Bethan’s experiences here… Human rights groups and anti-settlement NGOs say a slide towards at least de facto annexation of the occupied West Bank has quickened since the war in Gaza began following Hamas’s attack on Israel back in October 2023. “The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise: the annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal,” the Peace Now group said in a statement. They added that the move “will dramatically reshape the West Bank and further entrench the occupation”. In an announcement, Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Yoel Smotrich, preemptively defended the move, arguing: “We have not taken a foreign land, but the heritage of our ancestors.” Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, delivered an emotional address to the security council. He broke down in tears as he described the suffering of Palestinian children and the ongoing war in Gaza. He slammed his fist on the table, pausing his speech, and told the summit: “I have grandchildren, I know what they mean to their families.” It has been 600 days since the war in Gaza began, killing more than 54,000 Palestinians Here are the latest pictures from the West Bank, courtesy of the newswires Israeli strikes killed at least 13 Palestinians overnight in Gaza, the Associated Press reports. According to local hospitals, Four were killed in a strike on a car in Gaza City late Wednesday, and another eight, including two women and three children, were killed in a strike on a home in Jabaliya. A strike on a built-up refugee camp in central Gaza killed one person and wounded 18. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants are embedded in populated areas. Here’s a reminder of what the World Food Programme has said about the desperate humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza. The WFP says 100% of people in Gaza face acute levels of food insecurity; 70,000 children in the region are expected to require urgent treatment for acute malnutrition; $265 million is needed for WFP operations in Gaza and the West Bank from March to August 2025, and famine threatens people across the region as violence intensifies, border crossings remain closed and food is dangerously scarce. The WFP calls on the prioritisation of civilians by allowing adequate aid into Gaza immediately. More information is available on their website. Responding to the chaos surrounding distributing aid in Gaza, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) say they are concerned that new aid mechanisms will prevent humanitarian aid to be delivered in the region in a way that conforms to established humanitarian principles like independence, impartiality and humanity. In a statement on Thursday an ICRC spokesperson said: The ICRC cannot work under any mechanism that doesn’t allow us to uphold those principles and our modalities of work. The ICRC and other humanitarian organizations have decades of experience in distributing aid safely and with dignity. Humanitarian aid should not be politicized nor militarized. This erodes the neutrality required to ensure assistance is delivered based solely on need, not political or military agendas. The level of need in Gaza right now is overwhelming, and aid needs to be allowed to enter immediately and without impediment. Aid must reach those who need it most, irrespective of where they are in Gaza, safely and with dignity. The ICRC remains committed to responding to the humanitarian needs in Gaza, provided this can be done in line with its core humanitarian principles. The ICRC manages and distributes humanitarian supplies directly to conflict-affected persons or together with our partners, so we can verify where items go. Our deliveries of aid into Gaza are conducted in full transparency with all relevant authorities. Given the immense need for humanitarian assistance on the ground, we urgently call on authorities to speed up the process to deliver life-saving aid and to help facilitate a safe environment for delivery.” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has voiced his disapproval of the new US proposal for a phased ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas. “I object to giving a lifeline to Hamas,” Smotrich tells Radio 103FM. “Hamas is in distress. The new [Israeli-backed] system for handing out aid cuts off Hamas from the residents. “We’re not leaving areas we’ve conquered,” IDF strikes on Gazan refugee camp kill 19, health ministry says A series of “major” Israeli strikes on residential buildings in Bureij refugee camp have killed 19 people, bringing today’s death toll to at least 37, Al Jazeera reports. This is a developing story. More to follow. In his 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth renders a rich plot to assassinate Charles de Gaulle, the French president. The conspirators are pied-noirs, the term used to describe Frenchmen born in Algeria during the colonial occupation there. They grieve De Gaulle’s exit from north Africa, which they regard as a betrayal. Unable to remain in the former colony, they return home – dejected and emasculated – and murderous. In many ways, the pied-noirs regard themselves as being more French than the French… Here’s some background information on the conflict in the West Bank courtesy of the Associated Press: Israel has already built well over 100 settlements across the territory that are home to some 500,000 settlers. The settlements range from small hilltop outposts to fully developed communities with apartment blocks, shopping malls, factories and public parks. The West Bank is home to three million Palestinians, who live under Israeli military rule with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority administering population centres. The settlers have Israeli citizenship. Israel has accelerated settlement construction in recent years — long before Hamas’ October 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza — confining Palestinians to smaller and smaller areas of the West Bank and making the prospect of establishing a viable, independent state even more remote. The top United Nations court ruled last year that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and called on it to end, and for settlement construction to stop immediately. Israel denounced the non-binding opinion by a 15-judge panel of the International Court of Justice, saying the territories are part of the historic homeland of the Jewish people. During his first term, President Donald Trump’s administration broke with decades of U.S. foreign policy by supporting Israel’s claims to territory seized by force and taking steps to legitimize the settlements. Former President Joe Biden, like most of his predecessors, opposed the settlements but applied little pressure to Israel to curb their growth. Driven by Defence Minister Israel Katz and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, the decision will look to renew illegal settlement activity in northern Samaria and build new settlements on the Jordan Valley border. Defence minister Katz, whose critics have accused him of using genocidal language directed at civilians in Gaza, said: The decision to establish 22 new settlements in the West Bank strengthens our presence in the area and affirms our commitment to ensuring security for the population centres of Israel,” Katz said. “It is a step toward reinforcing our eastern axis and addressing ongoing security challenges. Welcome to our ongoing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East Israel has authorised 22 Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, its defence minister has said. Israel Katz said the settlement decision “strengthens our hold on Judea and Samaria,” using the biblical term for the West Bank, “anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel, and constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism.” Israel has already built well over 100 settlements across the territory that are home to some 500,000 settlers. We’ll be bringing you more on this shortly. In other developments: Four people have died as thousands of starving Palestinians burst into a United Nations warehouse in Deir al-Balah in Gaza. Two were fatally crushed and two others died of gunshot wounds, health officials said. It was not immediately clear if Israeli forces, private contractors or others had opened fire. Donald Trump has claimed he warned Israel against attacking Iran because he believed he was very close to a deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme. As part of that deal US inspectors will be given unparalleled access to sites to ensure the country is not planning to build a nuclear bomb. Thousands of family members of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza held protests across the country, blocking traffic and calling for a deal securing the release of their loved ones from captivity and an end to the conflict.
Author: Tom Ambrose (now) and Daniel Lavelle (earlier)