JERUSALEM: The United Nations’ Mideast envoy on Tuesday said a new Israeli law legalizing dozens of unlawful West Bank settler outposts crossed a “very thick red line,” while Israeli rights groups said they would fight to overturn the measure in the Supreme Court.
The explosive law, approved by Israeli lawmakers late Monday night, was the latest in a series of pro-settler steps taken by Israel’s hard-line government since the election of Donald Trump as US president. It is expected to trigger a number of challenges in the Supreme Court, while members of the international community have already begun to condemn it.
The law legalized dozens of outposts home built unlawfully on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. According to the law, Palestinian landowners would be compensated either with money or alternative land, even if they did not agree to give up their property.
Critics say the legislation enshrines into law the theft of Palestinian land. It also marked the first time that the Israeli parliament has imposed Israeli law on Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank. The area, captured by Israel in 1967, is not sovereign Israeli territory and Palestinians there are not Israeli citizens and do not have the right to vote.
Nickolay Mladenov, the UN’s coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said the legislation “opens the floodgates to the potential annexation of the West Bank.” If Israel moves to solidify its control over the area, it would imperil the internationally backed idea of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel as part of a negotiated peace deal, he said.
“It will have a drastic legal consequence for Israel and for the nature of its democracy,” Mladenov said. “It crosses a very, very thick red line.”
Britain’s minister for the Middle East, Tobias Ellwood, condemned the law, saying it “damages Israel’s standing with its international partners.” He spoke a day after Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met with British Prime Minister Theresa May in London.
The law also cast a cloud over a visit to Israel by Turkey’s tourism minister. Israel and Turkey recently repaired ties after a six-year rift, and the tourism minister, Nabi Avci, was visiting as part of that reconciliation.
Asked about the law, Avci said he hoped Israel’s Supreme Court would strike it down. “I think, I hope, that on this issue, the high court will make the right decision, a decision in accordance with international law, a decision in accordance with United Nations decisions,” he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nationalist coalition is dominated by West Bank settlers and their allies. After repeated clashes with President Barack Obama, they have grown emboldened by the election of Trump, who has signaled that he will take a much softer approach toward the settlements than his predecessors or the rest of the international community.
The law was “a first step in a series of measures that we must take in order to make our presence in Judea and Samaria present for years, for decades, for ages,” said Israeli Cabinet Minister Yariv Levin, using the biblical name for the West Bank. “I do believe that our right over our fatherland is something that cannot be denied.”
Since Trump took office last month, Israel has announced plans to build over 6,000 settler homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — occupied territories claimed by the Palestinians.
After ignoring a string of Israeli announcements, the Trump White House last week finally said that settlements “may not be helpful” for peace.
But after the law was passed late Monday, it said only that it would wait for Israel’s courts to rule on the legislation before taking a stance.
Prominent Israeli human rights groups plan to ask the Supreme Court to strike it down. A number of prominent legal experts have said the law will not survive a judicial review, and even Netanyahu’s own attorney general has refused to defend it in court.
“There’s going to be a legal battle against this bill,” said Lior Amihai, spokesman for Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group. He said his group was already preparing its legal challenge, but that it could take about two weeks to file the case.
Netanyahu also expressed misgivings about the law, reportedly saying that it could invite international legal actions against Israel. But under heavy pressure from the Jewish Home party, a coalition partner linked to the settler movement, he reversed course and allowed the bill to pass. Netanyahu was flying home from London late Monday and missed the vote.
Naftali Bennett, head of the Jewish Home party, told Israel’s Army Radio on Tuesday that the goal of the bill was create the same conditions in the settlements as in Israel proper.
“At the end of the day, behind all the talk there is a simple question: what do we want for the future of Israel?” he said.
The Palestinians, meanwhile, have also condemned the vote and urged the international community to punish Israel.
“Nobody can legalize the theft of the Palestinian lands. Building settlements is a crime, building settlements is against all international laws,” said Palestinian Tourism and Antiquities Minister Rula Maayaa. “I think it is time now for the international community to act concretely to stop the Israelis from these crimes.”
The vote passed 60-52 in Israel’s 120-member Knesset. The raucous debate saw opposition lawmakers shouting from their seats at governing coalition lawmakers speaking in favor of the vote. Some spectators in visitors’ seats raised a black cloth in apparent protest.
UN: Israeli settlement law crosses ‘thick red line’
UN: Israeli settlement law crosses ‘thick red line’
Israel destroys Hezbollah tunnel, met with calls for popular resistance
- Secret crossing routes link Damascus to Beirut
- Sixty-seven Syrians deported
BEIRUT: The Israeli military announced its “success in dismantling an underground tunnel in southern Lebanon, measuring 100 meters in length, leading to a hideout belonging to the Radwan Forces of Hezbollah.”
Israeli forces, which have been infiltrating the border area in southern Lebanon since Oct. 1 continue to operate in the country despite the ceasefire agreement, with Saturday marking the beginning of the second month of the specified withdrawal deadline.
While the Israeli military justified its hostile activities in southern Lebanon as “removing threats in line with the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” it said that “the 300th Brigade, in cooperation with the 146th Division and engineering forces, successfully dismantled the mentioned tunnel.”
It added that “the specialized Yahalom Unit, dealing with explosives, secured and inspected the tunnel for threats. During the operations, large quantities of weapons were discovered inside the tunnel, including rifles, machine guns, anti-tank missiles, as well as advanced surveillance systems. All the equipment was confiscated and destroyed, including the tunnel itself.”
The statement mentioned “the discovery of a stockpile of anti-tank missiles and heavy machine-gun positions directed toward Israeli sites near the tunnel.” It also noted that “the tunnel’s path led to a Hezbollah command center containing rocket launch platforms previously used against Israel during the war, as well as large quantities of explosives.”
While the Israeli military continues to encroach upon the border area and prevents residents from accessing the area until further notice in an attempt to establish a buffer zone, anonymous statements circulated on social media calling for “popular resistance.”
Activists supportive of Hezbollah criticized the Lebanese Army and state for not responding to the Israeli incursions into towns and villages and demanded that Hezbollah “arm and train us so we can resist the Israeli occupier and liberate our land with our own hands.”
A statement signed by a group calling itself Youth of the Border Villages declared: “We find ourselves compelled to defend our villages and properties with whatever weapons are available, and we will not accept the continuation of this barbaric, systematic, and brutal aggression by the enemy. We will be forced to launch a southern popular resistance to confront this assault.”
Another statement signed by a group called Youth of Beirut’s Southern Suburb called on “the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, represented by Hezbollah, to fight in defense of the land, the people, and honor.”
The statement referred to the Israeli violations that occurred after the ceasefire agreement was announced and stated that “given what has happened, after consulting with the Lebanese state and receiving no response, and consulting UNIFIL without receiving any answer, we hereby legally, morally, and ethically authorize Hezbollah and demand it to arm and train us so we can resist the Israeli occupier and liberate our land with our own hands.”
However, despite these anonymous calls, the caretaker government, in which Hezbollah is a key partner, continues to affirm its commitment to the “ceasefire agreement and its insistence on implementing Resolution 1701 as a means to stop hostilities against Lebanon.”
Meanwhile, Hezbollah continues to hold funerals for members killed in southern Lebanon.
During the funeral of one in the city of Hermel on Saturday, Hezbollah MP Ihab Hamadeh condemned “the repeated Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.” He held “the Lebanese government and the committee overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire accountable,” asserting that “resistance remains the most effective option to confront the Israeli enemy.”
On the other side of the border, the Lebanese General Security deported 67 Syrians who had entered Lebanese territory illegally through Al-Arida border crossing with Syria in the north.
In a statement, the Internal Security Forces announced that they had “intercepted a bus carrying the Syrians in the Jbeil area. Upon inspection, 67 individuals were found on board, including men, women, and children, one of whom was an infant no older than 40 days. They had been smuggled into Lebanon from Syria to be transported to Beirut.”
Meanwhile, media reports cited a Lebanese security source stating that “Rifaat Assad, uncle of the ousted Syrian president Bashar Assad, departed Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport for Dubai on Tuesday afternoon, accompanied by two individuals on a private jet.”
On Friday, Lebanese General Security detained Rifaat Assad’s granddaughter and her mother at the airport after discovering both were carrying passports that had expired.
Numerous former Assad regime officials have left the country via Lebanon since the fall of the regime. Among those was Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to the deposed leadership , according to Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi.
However, security services arrested a former officer from the 4th Division, belonging to Syria’s Al-Kreidi family, while he was en route to Beirut with $170,000 in his possession.
Meanwhile, security forces are still investigating whether the former head of Syrian Air Force Intelligence, Jamil Hassan — accused by US authorities of committing war crimes during Assad’s rule — is currently in Lebanon.
The Lebanese judiciary received an Interpol request for his arrest, and Prime Minister Najib Mikati affirmed at the time that Lebanon “will cooperate with Interpol’s request.”
Arab Parliament describes Israeli assault on Gaza hospital as ‘war crime’
- Attack is latest in ‘ongoing series of atrocities’ against Palestinians, it says
- Body calls for end to ‘international silence,’ as crisis worsens
LONDON: The Arab Parliament has denounced Israel’s burning of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday as “a new war crime,” following reports that patients, injured civilians and medical staff were forced to evacuate under perilous conditions.
According to witnesses, Israeli troops stormed the hospital, setting large sections ablaze, detained its director and ordered the evacuation of hundreds to the nearby Indonesian Hospital.
The displaced individuals were left in dire conditions, lacking food, water, electricity and medical supplies, witnesses said.
The assault rendered the facility “useless,” worsening Gaza’s already severe health crisis, the Palestinian territory’s health officials said on Saturday.
In a statement on Saturday, the Arab Parliament described the incident as “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law” and called for those responsible to be brought before international courts.
“This crime is added to an ongoing series of atrocities by the occupation forces against Palestinian civilians,” it said.
The Arab Parliament accused Israel of systematically targeting Gaza’s already fragile health infrastructure and said the international community’s silence had emboldened these actions.
“The persistence on the total and complete destruction of the dilapidated health system in the Gaza Strip is a direct result of international silence on its crimes,” it said.
The statement urged the UN Security Council and broader international community to take action, calling for an immediate ceasefire, accountability for alleged war crimes and measures to prevent further humanitarian catastrophes in Gaza.
Babies freezing to death due to cold weather and lack of shelter in Gaza, says UNRWA chief
- Philippe Lazzarini issued stark warning about dire humanitarian situation in Gaza
LONDON: Freezing temperatures and a lack of basic supplies in Gaza are threatening lives amid Israel’s ongoing assault on the enclave, a United Nations official warned on Saturday.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, issued a stark warning about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where he said babies and infants were succumbing to the cold due to the region’s harsh winter weather and inadequate shelter.
“Meanwhile, blankets, mattresses, and other winter supplies have been stuck in the region for months waiting for approval to get into Gaza,” Lazzarini wrote on X.
He also emphasized the urgent need for the immediate provision of essential winter supplies and reiterated calls for a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to reach those in need.
The World Food Program has also highlighted the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza. The agency reported that it has only managed to deliver about a third of the food required to support the population.
“Hunger is everywhere in Gaza,” the WFP stated in a post on X. The agency echoed calls for the restoration of law and order, safe and sustained humanitarian access, and an immediate ceasefire to alleviate the suffering.
UN agencies continue to urge swift international action to address the urgent needs of Gaza’s vulnerable population.
Egypt completes trial run of new Suez Canal channel extension
- Suez Canal Authority says two ships passed through a new stretch of the canal’s two-way section
- Revenue from the waterway has plunged since Yemen’s Houthi militants began attacking vessels in the Red Sea
CAIRO: Egypt said on Saturday it had successfully tested a new 10km channel near the southern end of the Suez Canal, even as its revenue from the waterway has plunged since Yemen’s Houthi militants began attacking vessels in the Red Sea.
The Suez Canal Authority said in a statement that during a trial run two ships passed through a new stretch of the canal’s two-way section without incident.
Following the 2021 grounding of the container ship Ever Given that blocked the vital waterway for six days, Egypt accelerated plans to extend the second channel in the southern reaches of the canal and widen the existing channel.
Its revenue from the waterway, the gateway to the shortest route between Europe and Asia, has nevertheless tumbled since Yemen’s Houthi militants began attacking ships in the Red Sea in November 2023 in what they say is solidarity with Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said on Thursday that due to “regional challenges,” the country had lost approximately $7 billion in Suez Canal revenue in 2024, marking more than a 60 percent drop from 2023.
According to the Suez Canal Authority, the latest expansion extends the total length of the canal’s two-way section to 82 km from a previous 72 km. The canal is 193 km long in total.
“This expansion will boost the canal’s capacity by an additional 6 to 8 ships daily and enhance its ability to handle potential emergencies,” the Suez Canal Authority said in its statement.
Earlier this year, Egypt said that it was considering an additional expansion project separate to the 10 km channel extension.
Houthi rebels say new air raids hit northern Yemen
- Houthis say raids hit the Buhais area of Hajjah province’s Medi district
SANAA: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said new air raids hit the country’s north on Saturday, shortly after they claimed responsibility for a missile attack on Israel.
A Houthi military statement said the raids were carried out in the Buhais area of Hajjah province’s Medi district, blaming “US-British aggression.”
There was no immediate comment from London or Washington.
The Houthis made the same claim about a raid they said hit a park in the capital Sanaa on Friday.
Hostilities have also flared between the rebels and Israel in recent days after a series of Houthi missile attacks prompted deadly Israeli air strikes in rebel-held areas on Thursday.
Six people were killed, including four at Sanaa airport, where World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was waiting for a flight.
On Saturday, the Houthis claimed they had “successfully” targeted the Nevatim base south of Jerusalem with a ballistic missile.
The Israelis had earlier said a missile launched from Yemen was shot down.
The Houthis, part of the “axis of resistance” of Iran-allied groups, have been firing at Israel and ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in solidarity with Palestinians since the war in the Gaza Strip broke out last year.
