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☆ Israeli pro-settler minister formally gains West Bank powers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JERUSALEM, Feb 23 (Reuters) - A far-right Israeli cabinet minister formally gained responsibilities over Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank on Thursday that he said included bringing their legal status closer to that of communities within Israel. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wields a supervisory role for settlers in the Defence Ministry as part of his coalition deal with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, prompting increased U.S. focus on Israel's West Bank policies. Asked to elaborate, a Smotrich spokesperson said: "Equal application of relevant laws - on labour, the environment, et cetera - that are legislated in Lesser Israel." "Lesser Israel" is a term used by ultranationalists like Smotrich - himself a settler - who seek annexation of the West Bank, a biblical and strategic area captured in a 1967 war. Smotrich said he would now also have "total responsibility" over zoning, surveys and sales of West Bank lands for settlers, who number around a half-million among 3.1 million Palestinians.

☆ Israeli troops kill 9 Palestinians in West Bank clash, medics say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Ali Sawafta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] Palestinians clash with Israeli forces during a raid in Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West bank, February 22, 2023. REUTERS/Raneen SawaftaNABLUS, West Bank, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed nine Palestinians, including at least three gunmen and three civilians, and wounded over 90 others during a raid on a flashpoint city in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, witnesses and medical officials said. The Islamic Jihad militant faction said two of its Nablus commanders had been encircled in a house by Israeli troops, triggering a clash that drew in other gunmen. Hamas, another Palestinian militant group that sometimes fights alongside Islamic Jihad, hinted at possible reprisals from the Gaza Strip, a territory that it controls. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are sworn to Israel's destruction but have in the past observed Egyptian-mediated truces with it.

☆ New Israel law allows stripping residency of Palestinians convicted of terrorism
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Maayan Lubell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Israel calls stipends for militants and their families a "pay for slay" policy that encourages violence. Palestinians hail the prisoners as heroes in a struggle against decades of occupation and deserving of support. Under the new law, Palestinians from East Jerusalem who directly or through their families receive stipends from the Palestinian Authority after having been jailed in Israel for security offences, can be deported to the Palestinian territories. It could also apply to some members of Israel's Arab minority, many of whom identify as or with the Palestinians. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the law as "the ugliest form of racism."

☆ U.S., European powers oppose Israeli settlement authorization
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Most world powers view as illegal the settlements Israel has built on land it captured in a 1967 war with Arab powers. Israel disputes that and cites biblical, historical and political links to the West Bank, as well as security interests. With tensions in the West Bank already high, the move has alarmed world powers which fear an even greater escalation of violence. Israeli forces have conducted near daily raids in the West Bank, pursuing a crackdown begun last year in the wake of a spate of deadly Palestinian attacks. This year more than 40 Palestinians, including both militant fighters and civilians, have been killed by Israeli forces.

☆ Explosions rock Gaza, Israel says it hit Hamas rocket factory
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GAZA, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Several explosions rocked the Gaza Strip early on Monday, according to a Reuters witness, as Israel's military said it attacked an underground site used by the Palestinian enclave's Hamas Islamists to manufacture rockets. The air strikes, in which there was no immediate word of casualties, followed what Israel described as its shooting down over the weekend of a rocket that had been fired over the border from Gaza. Hamas cadres seized control of Gaza in 2007 and have fought several wars with Israel there since. Palestinian sources said Israeli ground forces also fired on Hamas border positions on Monday. Sirens sounded in Israeli towns near the Gaza border, warning of possible new rocket launches.

☆ Israel's Netanyahu pledges more action against Palestinian attackers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday promised a stronger Israeli response in dealing with a spate of Palestinian attacks in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, as pressure swelled within his right-wing government to employ more severe tactics. Tensions are also high in the West Bank, where Israeli forces have carried out hundreds of arrests in recent months during near-daily raids that have seen bloody gunbattles with Palestinian militants. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu's far-right national security minister, said however that police had already begun a major enforcement campaign in East Jerusalem that would include measures from handing out traffic tickets to demolishing houses of Palestinian attackers. Speaking in Cairo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestinians were facing a "lethal assault," and repeated a pledge to pursue action against Israel before the United Nations and International Criminal Court. Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta Editing by Frances KerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Israel authorises West Bank outposts, despite U.S. admonition
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JERUSALEM, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Israel granted retroactive authorisation on Sunday to nine Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank and announced mass-construction of new homes within established settlements, moves likely to draw U.S. opposition. Since capturing the West Bank in a 1967 war, it has established 132 settlements, according to the Peace Now watchdog group. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's administration, whose U.S.-sponsored statehood talks with Israel broke down in 2014, said Sunday's announcement should be "condemned and rejected". While welcoming the Netanyahu government's announcement, West Bank settler leader Yossi Dagan urged "a total removal of curbs on construction, to enable construction in full swing". The other Palestinian territory, Gaza, is under Hamas Islamists who reject peacemaking with Israel.

☆ Palestinian killed by Jewish settler in West Bank, Palestinians say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Ali Sawafta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM, Feb 11 (Reuters) - A Jewish settler fatally shot a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, Palestinian officials said. A number of Jewish settlers carrying pistols and one with a rifle had approached the village of Qrawat Bani Hassan and one fired a shot, killing 27-year-old Mothqal Rayyan, a Palestinian witness told Reuters. According to the witness, the Israeli military arrived but only protected the settlers. The Israeli military said its soldiers had been dispatched to the scene after riots erupted between dozens of Palestinians and Israelis. The military said it was aware of reports that a Palestinian was evacuated to hospital before soldiers arrived and was killed as a result of a gunshot wound.

☆ Five dead in Israeli raid on Palestinian militants in W.Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Ali Sawafta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Bullet holes are pictured on a door at the scene where Israeli forces killed a number of armed fighters during a raid at a refugee camp near the city of Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 6, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamad TorokmanJERICHO, West Bank, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed a number of armed fighters on Monday during a raid on a refugee camp near the occupied West Bank city of Jericho aimed at capturing suspected Hamas militants, the Israeli military said in a statement. Five people were killed, governor of Jericho Jihad Abu al-Assal said, in the raid in Aqbat Jabr refugee camp in southern Jericho and eight were arrested, according to a statement published by official Palestinian news agency WAFA. The Palestinian health ministry said three people had been wounded, one critically, but gave no details on any dead. Ahead of discussions in Cairo with Egyptian officials hoping to prevent further escalation, Haniyeh indicated the raid could impact the talks.

☆ Israeli troops shoot Palestinian man in West Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed a Palestinian man near the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Friday, after the man tried to attack a soldier at a military outpost, the Israeli army said. The Palestinian health ministry said the man was a 25-year-old from the city of Jenin but gave no other details. The Israeli army said the man got out of a car and approached a military outpost near a brigade headquarters, despite being warned off by soldiers who shouted and fired into the air. He attempted to attack one of the soldiers before being shot by another soldier, a statement said. In a separate incident, the army said an Israeli vehicle was fired on near the city of Rawabi, north of Ramallah but no injuries were reported.

Ben-Gvir this week ordered a halt to Palestinian security prisoners working in bread bakeries in two Israeli jails, saying he was cancelling "benefits and indulgences". On Thursday, a state of heightened alert with reinforced staffing levels was imposed, a spokesperson for the prison service said. "He thinks that the prisoners issue is the easiest issue to show he is a serious leader," said Kadora Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society. Unless the standoff is resolved, he said, Palestinian prisoners will hold a mass hunger strike from March 22, at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, traditionally a time of heightened tensions. BOILING POINTIsrael holds about 4,700 political prisoners, around 30 of them women, according to the Palestinian Addameer organisation that supports prisoner rights.

☆ Israeli troops kill nine in Jenin clash with Palestinian gunmen, medics say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Ali Sawafta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] A Palestinian hurls a canister during clashes with Israeli troops during a raid in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank January 26, 2023. REUTERS/Raneen SawaftaJENIN, West Bank, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Israeli commandos killed nine Palestinians, including an elderly woman, and wounded 12 others during clashes with gunmen on Thursday in a flashpoint town in the occupied West Bank, witnesses and medics said. Islamic Jihad confirmed battling the Israeli forces as they carried out the unusually deep raid into Jenin's refugee camp, a militant bastion. If it continues it might not be limited to Jenin," an Islamic Jihad official said. According the ministry, at least 29 Palestinians, including gunmen and civilians, have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since Jan. 1.

[1/2] Palestinian kids pass a pile of garbage in Al Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 25, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman/File PhotoRAMALLAH, West Bank Jan 25 (Reuters) - Schools, clinics and some municipal services in the West Bank were closed on Wednesday as workers went on strike for a third day amid an escalating funding squeeze on the United Nations agency that pays their wages. Around 3,700 workers in the West Bank joined the strike, demanding an across-the-board pay increase of 200 Jordanian dinars ($281.81) a month from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). "The strike will go on until UNWRA accepts our demands," said Jamal Abdullah, head of the union representing workers paid by the agency in the West Bank. "All indications point out that it is going to be a difficult year," said Adnan Abu Hasna, spokesman of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza City.

☆ Palestinian killed by Israeli in West Bank, Palestinians say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Family members of a Palestinian man, who was killed by Israeli forces after an attempted stabbing, react, near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 21, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar AwadJERUSALEM, Jan 21 (Reuters) - A Palestinian man was killed by an Israeli on Saturday in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said, and the Israeli military said the Palestinian had earlier tried to stab Jewish residents. The Palestinian was trying to commit a stabbing attack against the residents, a statement from the Israeli military said. Violence in the West Bank has surged over the past year, following stepped-up raids by Israel in response to a spate of Palestinian street attacks in its cities. At least 18 Palestinians, including militants and civilians, have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since Jan. 1.

☆ Israeli troops kill two Palestinian gunmen in West Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/4] A Palestinian checks a damaged car where two militants were killed during an Israeli operation, near Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 14, 2023. REUTERS/Raneen SawaftaJENIN, West Bank, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed two Palestinian gunmen in the occupied West Bank on Saturday in what witnesses described as a running skirmish touched off by an army raid near a flashpoint town. Jenin and outlying areas have seen intensified military sweeps following a spate of street attacks in Israeli cities last year. Witnesses said Israeli troops clashed with gunmen before dawn, wounding one. An army spokesperson said troops opened fire on the car after being shot at, and that there were no Israeli casualties.

☆ Israel's Ben-Gvir visits contested Jerusalem holy site, Palestinians protest
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"The Temple Mount is open to all," Ben-Gvir said on Twitter, using the Jewish name for the site. The Palestinian foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns the storming of Al-Aqsa mosque by the extremist minister Ben-Gvir and views it as unprecedented provocation and a dangerous escalation of the conflict". "If Hamas thinks that it can deter me with threats, it should understand that times have changed," Ben-Gvir said on Twitter. But Netanyahu, now in his sixth term as premier, has pledged to preserve the "status quo" around holy sites. The Al-Aqsa compound, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, is Islam's third-holiest site.

☆ Two Palestinians killed in West Bank raids, Palestinians say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Israeli forces demolish the home of Palestinian assailant Ahmad Aabed in Kafr Dan village near Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank January 2, 2023. REUTERS/Raneen SawaftaJERUSALEM, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Two Palestinians, including a 17-year-old, were shot dead during clashes with the Israeli military near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin early on Monday, Palestinian sources said. A statement from the Israeli military confirmed soldiers were operating in the area in order to demolish the home of assailants Israel says were involved in the killing of an Israeli soldier last year. Last year saw the worst levels of violence in the West Bank in more than a decade, much of it concentrated around Nablus and the nearby city of Jenin, with at least 150 Palestinians and more than 20 Israelis killed. Reporting by Emily Rose and Ali Sawafta; Editing by Bradley PerrettOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Palestinians welcome U.N. vote on Israel's occupation as 'a victory'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Ali Sawafta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec 31 (Reuters) - The Palestinians on Saturday welcomed a vote by the United Nations General Assembly requesting that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) provide an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem - areas the Palestinians want for a state - in a 1967 war. Senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh said on Twitter that the vote "reflects the victory of Palestinian diplomacy." The Palestinians have limited rule in the West Bank and East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel in a move not recognized internationally. The new Israeli government has pledged to strengthen its settlements in the West Bank but Netanyahu has given no indication of any imminent steps toward annexing them.

☆ Israel's Ben-Gvir, in leaked audio, cautious on far-right agenda in government
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

But Ben-Gvir, now a lawyer, says his positions have become more moderate. A soldier was suspended on Friday after being videotaped warning pro-Palestinian activists in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron: "Ben-Gvir will sort this place out." "Every bill you propose has very, very broad consequences and impacts," Ben-Gvir says in the recording. Queried by Army Radio, Ben-Gvir verified the recording. Palestinians and Jordan regard Jewish prayer there as a major provocation.

☆ Twin blasts in Jerusalem kill one in suspected Palestinian attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Maayan Lubell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"There has not been such a coordinated attack in Jerusalem for many years," police spokesman Eli Levi told Army Radio. [1/6] A damaged bus is seen following an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem November 23, 2022. In Gaza, a spokesman for Palestinian militant group Hamas praised the Jerusalem explosions but stopped short of claiming responsibility. The coordinated blasts appeared to be a step up from a string of mostly Palestinian lone-wolf stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks this year. But families of slain Palestinian militants whose remains are in Israeli custody called for an exchange of corpses.

☆ Palestinian kills three in West Bank as Israeli politics veer rightward
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Emily Rose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Members of an emergency response team and Israeli forces work at the scene of an attack, at the Ariel Industrial Zone in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 15, 2022. Much of the focus is on the West Bank, which Israel - in the face of foreign censure - has peppered with Jewish settlements, deeming the land a biblical birthright and security bulwark. The Religious Zionism party, led by hardline West Bank settlers, placed third in Israel's Nov. 1 election, making it the likely no. "Only an iron fist will cut down terrorism," Religious Zionism co-head Itamar Ben-Gvir tweeted about the Ariel attack, adding that he would demand looser open-fire rules for soldiers. He was licensed to work in the industrial zone and had no known militant affiliations, according to Israeli officials.

☆ Israeli troops kill Palestinian woman in car, say incident under review
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] A Palestinian man is seen through the damaged window of a car near the scene of an incident near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 14, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamad TorokmanRAMALLAH, West Bank, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed a Palestinian woman in the occupied West Bank on Monday, medics said, in an incident in which the military said the soldiers opened fire on a vehicle that was accelerating towards them. Palestinian medics said a 19-year-old woman from Hebron was shot dead. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said a 26-year-old man with her was detained by the troops. The incident is under review," the spokesperson said, without giving details on casualties or arrests.

☆ Palestinian leader says he must deal with Netanyahu despite no peace prospects
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday he would have to deal with Benjamin Netanyahu, the former Israeli Prime Minister who won reelection this month, even though he believed Netanyahu was not interested in making peace. He is a man who doesn't believe in peace but I have no other choice but to deal with him," Abbas told Palestine Television. The Palestinian leader, whose authority has limited control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said there must be a peaceful resolution to the decades-long conflict. "I have a problem with Israel, Israel occupies my land and my country. Who is the prime minister?

☆ Two Palestinians killed in separate incidents with Israeli forces, Palestinians say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Emily Rose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Relatives of Palestinian Mahdi Hashash mourn during his funeral in Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 9, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamad TorokmanJERUSALEM, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Two Palestinians died in separate incidents with Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said, the latest in a wave of violence that has intensified in recent months. A 15-year-old Palestinian militant was killed during a firefight with Israeli soldiers in Nablus and a Palestinian man succumbed to his wounds after Israeli forces fired at him near Jenin, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said in a statement its forces followed standard operating procedures, including the use of live fire, after spotting a suspect vandalising the fence. The West Bank city of Nablus has been an epicentre for clashes between Palestinian militant groups and Israeli forces in recent months.

HILLTOP, West Bank, Nov 7 (Reuters) - High atop a rocky hill in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers exhilarated by a resounding right-wing election triumph surveyed a landscape dotted with Palestinian villages, scouting new spots to put down roots. But among ideological settlers who see themselves as pioneers redeeming Biblical heartland promised by God, hopes are already high for budgets, construction and infrastructure to keep their enterprise thriving. "I sense a chill down my spine coming back to the very places where my ancestors lived," said Baruch Gordon from the settlement of Bet El, where Religious Zionism election banners dot the streets. More than 450,000 people, or less than 5% of Israel's population, are Jewish settlers in the West Bank, home to about 3 million Palestinians who exercise limited self-rule there. About 80% of Bet El's votes went to Religious Zionism, data from the Knesset's election committee showed, and almost 10% to Netanyahu's Likud.

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