Palestinian PM says Israeli raids in Tubas were to seize more land
Palestinian Prime Minister Mustafa has expressed support for Palestinians in Tubas, a city in the occupied West Bank that faced a wide-scale Israeli army offensive late last month.
“What [Tubas] is suffering today is not new but part of ongoing Israeli plans to seize additional areas of land and appropriate resources, depriving our people of their rights and livelihood,” Mustafa told local leaders as he visited the city, according to a report by Palestinian news agency Wafa.
“But with our collective efforts, these plans will fail just as previous attempts did.”
Israel has carried out intensified military raids across the occupied West Bank in the shadow of its genocidal war on Gaza. Israeli operations in Palestinian refugee camps in the north of the territory have forced tens of thousands of people from their homes in what rights groups say is a war crime.
In late November, the Israeli army laid siege to the Tubas governorate in the northeastern West Bank. Residents reported that Israel used Apache helicopters to fire at people as its troops carried out sweeping arrests.
Israelis pushing to re-establish illegal settlements in Gaza
Far-right Israeli settlers are pushing to re-establish illegal settlements in the Gaza Strip as Israel maintains control over half the territory, east of the so-called yellow line.
Israeli media outlets reported that dozens of Israelis “infiltrated” northern Gaza on Wednesday evening, setting up tents and planting an olive tree in an area where the so-called Nisanit settlement previously stood.
“Guys, the whole of the Land of Israel is ours, and after the terrible massacre we experienced, we need to understand this and internalise it and treat the enemy accordingly. Take territory, conquer and settle. The people of Israel are alive,” one of the Israelis said in a video shared online, according to a report by Israel Hayom.
Israel withdrew its illegal settlements from Gaza in 2005 as part of what it called a “disengagement” plan, drawing the ire of far-right Israeli politicians and the country’s settler movement.
Since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, Israeli settlers and their political backers – including far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government – have been calling for settlements to be re-established in the enclave.
At the same time, experts have warned that Israel’s total decimation of Gaza aims to make the area unlivable and push Palestinians out of their homes and communities permanently.
