Belgium condemns Israel for trying to annex occupied West Bank
Belgium’s foreign ministry strongly condemned a statement by Israel’s far-right economy minister, Bezalel Smotrich, calling for “exercising sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank.
“Annexation of the West Bank flagrantly violates international law and the rights of the Palestinian people. This unnecessary provocation only further escalates the conflict,” the ministry said.
Earlier today, Hamish Falconer, the UK’s minister for the Middle East and North Africa, also condemned the Israeli move.
UN confirms Palestinians killed, displaced in occupied West Bank
The latest update from the occupied West Bank by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says Israeli forces killed at least 11 Palestinians between November 5 and 11, including three in air strikes.
On November 12, Israeli forces shot and killed an 18-year-old in Nablus, while two Palestinians were killed in Tulkarem two days later. The UN reported that 50 Palestinians, including 23 children, were displaced as nine residential structures were demolished in occupied East Jerusalem.
It noted that the UN Human Rights Office condemned Israeli forces’ “mass arrests, ill-treatment, and gratuitous humiliation of Palestinians during raids in refugee camps and towns” over the past month.
According to the office, Israeli authorities have also reopened multiple checkpoints in the Ramallah governorate in recent weeks, but only for a few hours daily and with “severe access restrictions” in place.
