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Turkiye condemns West Bank annexation calls by Israeli politicians
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has rejected “in the strongest terms” statements by Israeli politicians and ministers calling for the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
“These irresponsible calls for annexation, coming notably during a period when ceasefire initiatives are ongoing, disregard the principles for a solution that the international community has taken for many years,” the ministry said.
The statement comes as 14 cabinet ministers from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party urged the premier to immediately annex the occupied West Bank.
In a letter addressed to Netanyahu and shared by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on X, the signatories demanded the government “apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) before the end of the Knesset (parliament) summer session”, which is set to end on July 27.
Israel occupied the Palestinian territory in the 1967 war, but it never formally annexed it – a goal long sought by far-right ministers. Yet, after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas and the ensuing war on Gaza, Israeli authorities have been redrawing the map of the Palestinian territory.
High school students among 30 arrested by Israeli forces in West Bank: Monitor
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) says that Israeli forces arrested seven high school students in the occupied West Bank at dawn, hours before they were scheduled to take their exams this morning.
It added that about 30 Palestinians were arrested this morning.
The monitor explained that the arrests were concentrated in the village of Deir Istiya in the north of the occupied West Bank. It added that based on data from the Palestinian Ministry of Education, 67 students have been prevented from taking their exams this year due to their arrest by Israeli authorities.
39 children among 660 arrested by Israel in West Bank last month alone
Israeli forces arrested 660 Palestinians over the past month, including 25 women and 39 children, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office (ASRA).
The organisation said those arrests add to 18,000 made from October 7, 2023, to the end of May this year. During that period, 570 women and girls and about 1,400 minors were arrested, it added.
“The occupation escalated arrests after June 13, coinciding with the aggression against Iran, carrying out mass raids and converting homes into interrogation centres,” the ASRA statement published on Telegram said.
“The occupation arrested more than (300) Palestinians from the West Bank within six days on the pretext of entering Jerusalem without a permit, and arrested (32) Jerusalemites on charges of providing assistance,” it added.
