Recap of developments in occupied West Bank

Israel’s ‘dangerous’ new law is ‘de facto annexation’, Israeli NGO says

An Israeli rights group, Peace Now, has warned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pursuing a “dangerous and irresponsible” policy of dismantling the Palestinian Authority and imposing de facto annexation of the West Bank through a new law concerning the occupied territory.

“Netanyahu promised to topple Hamas in Gaza, but in practice he chose to topple the Palestinian Authority, cancel agreements that Israel signed, and impose de facto annexation on us – completely against the will of the public, Israel’s interests, and the clear position of President Trump,” Peace Now said in a statement.

The group warned that these steps would lead to dangerous escalation and growing international isolation.

Peace Now also accused Netanyahu of using his security cabinet to implement policy without oversight or transparency.

Israel has intensified its military operations in the West Bank since launching its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023. These operations have included killings, arrests, forced displacement and settlement expansion, a trajectory Palestinians say is aimed at paving the way for formal annexation.

At least 1,112 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, about 11,500 wounded and more than 21,000 detained during that period, according to Palestinian estimates.

Palestine requests Arab League meeting over Israeli measures threatening West Bank

Palestine has submitted an urgent request to the Arab League to hold an extraordinary session to discuss the new Israeli measures concerning the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

“The request for this meeting comes in light of the recent aggressive decisions of the Israeli occupation government, which aim to expand colonial settlement, demolish homes, seize private and public lands, and transfer the powers of the Hebron municipality to the so-called ‘Civil Administration’ of the occupation authorities, including harming the status and position of the Ibrahimi Mosque,” Muhannad Al-Aklouk, Palestine’s permanent representative to the league, told Wafa.

“These illegal decisions constitute a continuation of the comprehensive Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, their land, holy sites and properties and a deepening of the policies of annexation and expansion,” he added.

He called on allies to take action to “curb” the Israeli decision.

Eight countries condemn Israel’s West Bank control measures

Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Turkiye have condemned new Israeli measures to tighten control of the occupied West Bank and pave the way for more settlements, which are illegal under international law.

The countries “condemned in the strongest terms the illegal Israeli decisions and measures aimed at imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty”, a Saudi Foreign Ministry statement said.

• The countries “condemned in the strongest terms the illegal Israeli decisions and measures aimed at imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty, entrenching settlement activity, and enforcing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank, thereby accelerating attempts at its illegal annexation and the displacement of the Palestinian people”.
• They “reaffirmed that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory”.
• The ministers “warned against the continued expansionist Israeli policies and illegal measures pursued by the Israeli government in the occupied West Bank, which fuel violence and conflict in the region”.
• They “expressed their absolute rejection of these illegal actions, which constitute a blatant violation of international law, undermine the two-state solution, and represent an assault on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to realise their independent and sovereign state on the 4 June 1967 lines, with occupied Jerusalem as its capital. Such actions also undermine the ongoing efforts for peace and stability in the region.”
• The ministers “affirmed that these illegal measures in the occupied West Bank are null and void and constitute a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions, particularly Resolution 2334, which condemns all Israeli measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character, and status of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, as well as the 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice”.

‘Another step in the wrong direction’: EU on Israel’s West Bank control measures

We have a statement from the EU on Israel’s new measures to expand its control of the West Bank and pave the way for more illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

“The European Union condemns recent decisions by Israel’s security cabinet to expand Israeli control in the West Bank,” EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni told journalists.

“This move is another step in the wrong direction.”

Israel’s new West Bank measures will ‘change the reality on the ground’

The decision by the Israeli government concerning the occupied West Bank is “going to be devastating”, says Muhammad Dahle, a human rights lawyer.

“They basically are actually annexing the West Bank … They’re allowing now Israeli citizens, normal Israeli citizens, to go and purchase land in the West Bank,” Dahle told Al Jazeera, speaking from occupied East Jerusalem.

Common citizens will soon be able to set up private settlement initiatives, whereas in the past, up until now and since 1967, an Israeli citizen needed to go through the lengthy process of setting up a company and obtaining a permit, the lawyer explained.

“Now, they want to change all of this process that has been in place for almost 60 years now, and they want to allow Israeli citizens to go into the so-called real estate market in the West Bank.”

A lot of these deals are also made using forged documents, he added.

“This is going to change the reality on the ground. But that’s not the only change, they are now also, you know, taking [power away] from the [Palestinian Authority] and giving it back to Israeli military commanders.”

How Israel has been seizing Palestinian land for decades

_{An Israeli flag flies near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank}

No public statement from Trump’s administration

We haven’t had a formal statement from the White House responding to this move by Israel.

We certainly have had statements as recently as October 2025 from the White House when there was movement to try and annex the West Bank. It was a red line for President Trump. He said in no way that would occur and if it did, Israel would lose all US support.

Whether it is this administration or previous US administrations, including President Joe Biden’s, there was opposition to this generally because there is a feeling that not only does it undermine international law, but also this is simply going to undermine peace efforts.

UNRWA warns ‘one of the gravest humanitarian crises in recent history’

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) is making an urgent appeal for $1.26bn in funding “to respond to one of the gravest, protracted humanitarian crises in recent history” in occupied Palestinian territory.

UNRWA said Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza coupled with “record levels of violence”, displacement and destruction have left 2.4 million Palestinians across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in need of urgent humanitarian aid.

In the occupied West Bank specifically, more than 32,000 Palestinians remain displaced because of Israeli forces’ operations – the largest displacement crisis since 1967.

⚡ Urgently needed: humanitarian assistance, following more than 2 years of war.

💰 Funding required: US$ 1.26 billion
👩‍👩‍👧‍👦 Serving 2.4 million people
The #Gaza Strip and the occupied #WestBank, including East Jerusalem, are facing one of the gravest, protracted humanitarian… pic.twitter.com/KrKvQWc2uP

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) February 9, 2026

New Israeli measures allow Israel to ‘take land, get rid of people’

Al Jazeera correspondent Nour Odeh says the measures approved by Israel’s security cabinet allow it to “take the land and get rid of the people all at once.”

“Now what will happen is that Palestinian land will be open to the pressure of Israeli settler organisations,” who can employ both funds and intimidation, Oheh said, speaking from Al Jazeera’s studio in Doha.

“We’ve seen when settlers wanted a specific house in Hebron, they targeted the family until it yields or until it cannot longer stay in that place. Palestinians will either be forced out or bought out, but then if that entire building becomes the property of settlers, the surrounding buildings will also pose a threat to them – and on and on it goes.”

Odeh said Hebron is known as the “microcosm of occupation” as it has settler-only roads while Palestinian movement is curtailed. While international law clearly states Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, now “every Palestinian population centre will be threatened by the entry of Israeli settlers”, she added.

Palestinian PM calls on international community to halt Israeli measures

Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa has called on the international community to take serious and concrete steps to halt Israel’s expansionism warning it could repeat the crimes it’s committed the Gaza Strip in the West Bank.

He made the comments in a meeting with representatives from Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Norway, and the Netherlands, Wafa news agency reported.

Mustafa called for international efforts to stabilise the second phase of the Gaza peace process, prevent more war, and accelerate recovery and reconstruction in the Strip.

Israeli army raids Hebron, South Hebron Hills amid settler attacks

A Palestinian man has been wounded while others suffered tear-gas inhalation during an Israeli military incursion in central Hebron, in the south of the occupied West Bank.

Separately, a Palestinian activist told Wafa news agency that Israeli forces stormed a community in the Masafer Yatta area, in the South Hebron Hills, and fired stun grenades and tear gas cannisters at residents.

Two Masafer Yatta residents also were detained by Israeli soldiers after they were attacked by Israeli settlers.

Palestinians have faced a wave of intensified Israeli military and settler violence across the West Bank since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023.

Shipping giant MSC facilitates trade from illegal Israeli settlements through EU

The world’s largest shipping line has been enabling the transport of goods to and from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, as the US and Europe continue to promote trade despite clear responsibilities under international law, a joint investigation by Al Jazeera and the Palestinian Youth Movement reveals.

The Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has regularly shipped cargo from companies based in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, according to commercial documents obtained through US import databases.

Between January 1 and November 22, 2025, lading bills show that MSC facilitated at least 957 shipments of goods from Israeli outposts to the US. Of these shipments, 529 transited through European ports, including 390 in Spain, 115 in Portugal, 22 in the Netherlands, and two in Belgium.

Between January 1 and November 22, 2025, lading bills show that MSC facilitated at least 957 shipments of goods from Israeli outposts to the US. Of these shipments, 529 transited through European ports, including 390 in Spain, 115 in Portugal, 22 in the Netherlands, and two in Belgium.

MSC is privately owned by Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte and his wife, Rafaela Aponte-Diamant, who was born in the Israeli city of Haifa in 1945, then under British rule as Mandatory Palestine.

“Israeli settlements are widely considered illegal under international law, because they are built on occupied territory, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention,” Nicola Perugini, senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Edinburgh, told Al Jazeera. “Commercialising products from these settlements effectively supports the illegal settlements.”

The findings capture a limited portion of the settlement trade, since import and export data from Israel and most European countries is not publicly available. They reveal a reliance on cargo shipping companies and European maritime ports for the transport of a vast range of settlement products, from food items and textiles to skin care and natural stones.

Perugini said states should ban trade with illegal settlements entirely, as it contributes to ongoing violations of international law.

“You cannot normalise the profits of an illegal occupation,” he said.

The trade stands in contrast with a landmark 2024 opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) advising that third states are obliged to “prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.

The ICJ opinion does not directly address the responsibility of private corporations like MSC.

In April, the UN Human Rights Council urged individual corporate actors to “cease contributing to the establishment, maintenance, development or consolidation of Israeli settlements or the exploitation of the natural resources of the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.

Additionally, a 2024 EU directive on corporate sustainability mandates that large companies working in the bloc identify and address adverse human rights and environmental impacts in their operations.

According to UN estimates, settlements in Area C – comprising more than 60 percent of the occupied West Bank that Israel controls – and occupied East Jerusalem contribute about $30bn to the Israeli economy each year.

As Israel enforces administrative and physical barriers that severely limit Palestinian businesses, the West Bank’s economy is understood to have suffered a cumulative loss of $170bn between 2000 and 2024.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/9/shipping-giant-msc-facilitates-trade-from-israeli-settlements-through-eu

Recap of developments in Gaza

Gaza death toll rises as 5 killed by Israeli forces over past day

Israeli attacks also injured 10 Palestinians in the 24-hour reporting period, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The ministry said 581 people have been killed and 1,553 wounded since the “ceasefire” began in October. The death toll since Israel started its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023 has risen to 72,032, with 171,661 injured.

Israeli forces shoot Palestinian farmer dead in central Gaza

Israeli forces have shot farmer Khaled Baraka dead east of Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, local sources told the Wafa news agency.

A new violation of the “ceasefire” brings the total to 582 killings since October 10.

Israel claims to have killed 4 fighters exiting tunnel in Gaza’s Rafah

The Israeli military says it killed four Palestinian fighters who it claimed attacked its troops as the armed men emerged from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah area.

It said none of its troops had been injured in the attack, which it called a “blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement” between Israel and Hamas.

According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, Israel has violated the October 10 “ceasefire” 1,520 times, killing more than 550 Palestinians, including women and children.

In Gaza, freedom of movement became Israel’s tool of control and collective punishment

Under international humanitarian law, freedom of movement is a fundamental right, inseparable from other core protections such as the right to life, food and education.

In Gaza, however, freedom of movement has become a tool of control and collective punishment, administered through a complex system of road closures, permits and guarded land crossings.

During Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, this system became fully entrenched through the control of gateways: who is allowed in and out, when, in what numbers, and what goods may enter or are barred.

A patient in need of medical treatment abroad, a student awaiting an opportunity to study, a family separated across borders, or a wounded war victim on an evacuation list – all ultimately confront the same barrier: Israeli-controlled land crossings.

World ‘leaving behind key ethics’ during genocide: Journalist

Rahma Zein, an Egyptian journalist and consultant for Tech for Palestine, says mainstream media are complicit in the Gaza genocide.

“We’re seeing beheaded bodies, limbs, families being burnt alive and then juxtaposing that is not only media silence, but media complicity,” she told Al Jazeera on the sidelines of the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, Qatar.

Zein added that while the world prides itself on being developed technologically, “it’s a world that’s leaving behind key ethics and key values.”

Referencing the killing of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was shot by Israeli forces as she awaited emergency services after the soldiers killed her family, Zein said: “I’m not so happy if I have the latest AI, but a child is being shot at 355 times and the individual who shot her is allowed to go and travel here and there with full impunity.”

Speaking of big tech companies silencing pro-Palestinian voices, Zein said it was time to “build our own infrastructure, so that we’re no longer apologetic, no longer appeasing”.

The partial reopening of Gaza's southern Rafah crossing with Egypt has been marked by chaos and severe restrictions imposed by Israel, as tens of thousands of Palestinians continue to wait for medical evacuation to receive urgent care outside the Gaza Strip. According to U.N. data, only 36 Palestinians in need of medical treatment were allowed to leave Gaza during the first four days of the crossing's reopening. Palestinians permitted to reenter Gaza have also reported abuse and hourslong interrogations. This comes amid growing skepticism over the implementation of the second phase of the Trump-brokered ceasefire, which Israel has repeatedly violated with near-daily attacks across Gaza since the truce took effect in October.

"No one inside Gaza is calling this a ceasefire," says Arwa Damon, former CNN correspondent and the founder of INARA, a nonprofit organization that supports children impacted by war. She says ongoing Israeli restrictions on medical evacuation are essentially a death sentence for many people, including children. "They are either going to end up with permanent injury or they are going to die."

JD Vance Is Booed at Olympics While Thousands Protest U.S. Sending ICE Agents to Games in Italy

With the 2026 Winter Olympics underway in Italy, we speak with writer and academic Jules Boykoff, author of six books about the Olympics, who says Milan is hosting the Games despite widespread public opposition from locals. Boykoff says that while the Olympics have attempted in recent years to institute some "cosmetic" reforms, "they don't get at the core elements that really plague the Olympic Games, and that's overspending, that's the intensification of militarized policing, that's greenwashing, that's corruption, that's the displacement of local populations."

Ex-UN Official EXPOSES Israel's Secret Counter-Protest Tactics Used In America

In October 2023, Craig Mokhiber resigned as director of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights over the UN’s failure to act to stop the genocide in Gaza. Since then, he has been writing and speaking out about Israel’s crimes in Gaza as well as the other wars launched by the US-Israel Axis. This week, we’re focusing on Israel’s secret role in destabilizing Latin America, the Maduro government in Venezuela in particular, and in training ICE.

Useful Idiots: Can you talk about the Israeli regime’s nefarious role in Latin America?

Craig Mokhiber: It’s a long story, the history of the Israeli regime supporting far-right governments and death squads in Latin America and attacking or supporting attacks on progressive governments and movements in the region. And that’s why in her first address after the U.S. attacked Venezuela, the vice president, who’s now the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, said that the attack on the country had “Zionist undertones.”

People of the region are well aware that the hand of the Israeli regime in destabilizing progressive governments has been going on forever. We’re talking about Israeli weapons, Israeli equipment, Israeli surveillance technology, Israeli intelligence cooperation, spying on opposition, and so on. But what’s really sometimes missed in these conversations is that the Israeli regime has been exporting not just weapons and technology and tactics, but it also exports a kind of violent and racist ideology. Ideas that are very right-wing, very Zionist, very militarist, very anti-human rights, obviously deeply anti-Muslim and anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian and anti-left, and this general idea that tries to frame law enforcement as equivalent to military.

That has been a big part of it. And that’s why, after the attack by the US on Venezuela, Israeli regime leaders were absolutely giddy celebrating the attacks on Venezuela and the abduction of the Venezuelan president.

Useful Idiots: What about Israel’s role in U.S. crackdowns against its own citizens?

Craig Mokhiber: This is what I refer to as the Zionist boomerang. This support for Zionism, fascism, apartheid, all of the crimes of the Israeli regime in Palestine, now it’s come back to our own cities. We’re talking about policing tactics that are entirely inconsistent with international human rights standards. You’ve got decades of the US underwriting apartheid, surveillance, repression, and genocide in Palestine. Those practices are now being brought home.

We’ve seen it in the brutal persecution of student protesters. You see it in the distortion of US legislation by Israel. The official adoption of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism as an Israeli tool to try to silence dissent about Israeli abuses. You see it in the wholesale suspension of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in the U.S. on behalf of the Israeli regime.

This is blowback from support for Zionism in Western Asia and you now see it in the corruption of U.S. law enforcement with this continuous structured flow of Israeli weapons and equipment and surveillance technology. A lot of these things come out of Israel’s so-called counterterrorism tactics. And whenever you hear that word counterterrorism, I think we’ve all learned, human rights runs for cover. It’s surveillance, it’s brutal crowd control techniques, racial profiling, intrusive intelligence gathering that’s now touching all of us.

That is a product of this Zionist boomerang. And that alone should terrify everybody who lives in the United States.