US offers diplomatic services in West Bank settlement for first time. Critics warn it’s ‘normalizing annexation’

https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/25/middleeast/us-israel-diplomatic-services-west-bank-annexation-intl

The US embassy in Israel has announced its first-ever event offering diplomatic services in a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The announcement on Tuesday said consular offices would provide “routine passport services” to American citizens in the settlement of Efrat, south of Jerusalem, in a one-day event on Friday. The embassy said the outreach effort was part of the “Freedom 250” initiative to reach all American citizens.

This move appears to signal further US legitimization of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which is considered by much of the international community as land for a future Palestinian state.

It breaks with decades of US foreign policy, which has held that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are an obstacle to peace. But President Donald Trump is no stranger to such dramatic shifts in American policy. During his first administration, the US reversed its longstanding position on settlements when then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said they were not inconsistent with international law.

Consular events will also be held in the Palestinian city of Ramallah and the settlement of Beitar Illit in the West Bank, as well as the cities of Jerusalem, Haifa, Netanya and Beit Shemesh, though no dates have been announced.

Israel’s foreign ministry celebrated the announcement as a “historic decision” to “extend consular services to American citizens in Judea and Samaria,” using the biblical term for the West Bank.

Xavier Abu Eid, a former spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization’s negotiations department, said on social media: “Five months after President Trump said that he is against annexation, his representatives on the ground are providing services inside Israeli settlements, effectively treating all the land as part of Israel. Normalizing annexation step by step.”

Just days ago, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told conservative commentator Tucker Carlson that it would be “fine” if Israel took over much of the Middle East. Asked if Israel should be allowed to take over land extending as far as the Euphrates River in Iraq, Huckabee said, “It would be fine if they took it all,” before adding, “I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here today.”

Family of UN rapporteur Albanese sues Trump administration over sanctions

The family of United Nations human rights rapporteur Francesca Albanese has sued the administration of United States President Donald Trump over the sanctions it imposed upon her.

Albanese’s husband and child filed the lawsuit on Thursday. It argues that the sanctions are an effort to punish Albanese for bringing attention to rights abuses Israel has perpetuated against Palestinians.

Since 2022, Albanese, a legal scholar, has served as the special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, where she monitors human rights abuses against Palestinians. The UN Human Rights Council selected her for the position.

The Trump administration, however, sanctioned her last July, calling her “unfit” for her role and accusing her of “biased and malicious activities” against the US and its ally, Israel.

It also highlighted her work with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which — after considering the recommendations of Albanese and other experts — issued an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes in Gaza.

Albanese’s family, however, defended her comments as an expression of free speech, protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

“Francesca’s expression of her views about the facts as she has found them in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and about the work of the ICC is core First Amendment activity,” the lawsuit says.

A wider campaign in the US

Sanctions generally freeze the US-based assets of an individual and prevent anyone else in the US from doing business with them. Since returning for a second term, Trump has used sanctions as penalties for several critics of Israeli and US actions, even beyond Albanese.

Last June, the Trump administration sanctioned four ICC judges for taking “illegitimate and baseless actions” against the US and Israel. Then, in August, two more ICC judges, plus two prosecutors, were also slapped with sanctions. As recently as December, another pair of ICC judges were added to the list for their involvement in the investigation of alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

A growing number of scholars, rights groups and international organisations have said that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide. Israel and the US, however, have largely refuted that assessment. They have also questioned whether the ICC has jurisdiction in their countries. Though the US and Israel are not party to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding document, both have been accused of rights abuses in countries that are members.

In Albanese’s case, the US government has accused the rapporteur of anti-Semitism and criticised her for pushing for boycotts of US companies implicated in Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.

“We will not tolerate these campaigns of political and economic warfare, which threaten our national interests and sovereignty,” the US State Department said in its sanctions announcement.

But Albanese has indicated that she remains committed to her work regardless of the disruptions to her life. “My daughter is American. I’ve been living in the US, and I have some assets there. So of course, it’s going to harm me,” Albanese said after the sanctions announcement.

“What can I do? I did everything I did in good faith, and knowing that, my commitment to justice is more important than personal interests.”

Solidarity with Palestinians questioned as Indonesian troops set for Gaza

Indonesia is preparing to send 1,000 soldiers to Gaza within weeks, the first contingent of some 8,000 personnel that Jakarta has pledged to deploy to the Palestinian territory as part of an International Stabilization Force (ISF) under United States President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.

Indonesian army spokesperson Brigadier General Donny Pramono told news media the first troops are preparing to reach the enclave by April, and the majority will be on the ground in Gaza by June.

But as the hasty deployment approaches, some Indonesians are questioning what role their armed forces will play in the mission amid Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian territory.

Indonesia is a seasoned participant in United Nations-led peacekeeping missions, but critics fear that without oversight by the UN, Indonesian forces could be used as “pawns” by the US – Israel’s foremost ally – to control Palestinians in Gaza and formalise the occupation of the enclave.

“We are afraid that Indonesia will be used as the buffer to control the Palestinians,” Shofwan Al Banna Choiruzzad, an associate professor at the University of Indonesia, told Al Jazeera.

“Indonesia has built a reputation in Palestine as one of the most active partners on the ground. It would be very painful for both Palestinians and Indonesians if they see the Indonesian army becoming an instrument of the occupation,” Shofwan said.

“The worry is that Indonesia will only be a shock absorber,” he said. 

“Indonesia will only be an actor which is used to establish legitimacy [for Israel’s occupation], and worse.”

Complicating matters further is the fact that Indonesia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel owing to its long support for the Palestinian cause.

“Indonesia needs to make clear that it will not be in the sectors which risk confrontation with Palestinian factions, [and] it will also not be in the Israeli-controlled areas – because that will require operational coordination with the Israeli army, which means practical recognition of Israel,” Shofwan said.

‘Palestinians are seen as objects’

University of Indonesia’s Shofwan said the Board of Peace and its approach to Gaza is fundamentally “colonial”.

“It is designed to achieve negative peace without putting the rights and voices of Palestinians at the centre, and Palestinians are seen as objects,” he said. “They are seen to be something that needs to be controlled. There are no restraints towards Israel at all, so the design is very colonial,” Shofwan added.

Earlier this month, shortly after Prabowo signed on to the Board of Peace, representatives from some 40 civil society and religious groups in Indonesia met the president to discuss the Gaza mission, Indonesia’s state news agency Antara reported at the time.

Prabowo told the groups he was prepared to withdraw from the Board of Peace if it “fails to advance the goal of an independent Palestine”, Antara reported, citing Muhammad Cholil Nafis, vice chairman of Indonesia’s top Islamic advisory body.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also emphasised that the country’s troops will be in Gaza “solely to support Palestine’s recovery and its fight for independence and sovereignty”. In addition to deploying troops to Gaza, Indonesia will also focus on humanitarian assistance and send several hospital ships.

‘It’s about maintaining optics’

Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, director of the Indonesia-MENA desk at the Centre for Economic and Law Studies in Jakarta, told Al Jazeera that he believes Prabowo has been trying to get Trump’s attention.

The US president has a track record of responding to assertive and transactional leadership, and once said he gets along better with world leaders “the tougher and meaner they are”. Courting China and Russia was one step towards Prabowo getting US attention, while signing on to the Board of Peace and deploying Indonesian troops to Gaza was another, Rakhmat said.

In the mix of motivations for joining the board, Prabowo may also have been hoping for a better trade deal with the US after Trump unleashed trade tariffs last year. The White House initially planned to levy a “reciprocal” tariff of 32 percent on Indonesian exports, which was later cut down to 19 percent.

The Indonesian president late last week signed a formal trade deal with Trump on the sidelines of the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington, DC. The deal kept tariff rates at 19 percent, while Indonesia agreed to cut tariffs on 99 percent of its US imports. It is still unclear how the deal will be impacted by a landmark ruling on Friday from the US Supreme Court striking down the legal basis for many of Trump’s tariffs.

Rakhmat fears Prabowo’s ambition makes it less likely that he will push back if something goes wrong in the Gaza operation and Palestinians are negatively impacted. He told Al Jazeera that Prabowo will likely “condemn” any operational drift in the Gaza plan, rather than withdraw completely from the Board of Peace.

“People will expect more, but looking at his past behaviours, it is unlikely he will do something extraordinary,” Rakhmat said. The Indonesian president “wants to have a good image among major powers. It’s about maintaining optics”, he said.

Israeli attacks on police sites kill six in southern, central Gaza


_{A mosque, destroyed during Israel's more than two-year genocidal war, is surrounded by tents for displaced Palestinians, in Gaza City, on February 15}

At least six Palestinians have been killed in Israeli drone attacks targeting two police posts in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip and the al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis in the south, as Israel presses on with its more than two-year genocidal war on the devastated enclave.

The attacks overnight into Friday were condemned by Hamas as undermining mediator efforts during a “ceasefire” phase that Israel has violated almost daily since October 10.

Medical sources at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis reported the arrival of four bodies and several wounded individuals following an Israeli military strike on a police checkpoint at the al-Maslakh intersection in al-Mawasi. The sources said that the strike occurred in an area outside the Israeli military’s control, and described the condition of some of the wounded as critical.

In the central Gaza Strip, two Palestinians were killed and others were injured in a similar Israeli drone strike that targeted a police post at the entrance to the Bureij refugee camp.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said that the rising number of deaths as a result of the ongoing Israeli bombardment across the Gaza Strip reflects “the Zionist occupation’s blatant disregard for the efforts of mediators, and its complete disregard for the Peace Council and its role”.

Qassem added, in a statement, that Israel is continuing its war of extermination against the Palestinian people, despite some changes to form and method, indicating that “the talk of the guarantor states about stopping the war lacks any real substance on the ground”.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said, “It has been a bloody night. Israeli forces carried out a series of deadly air strikes, this time primarily focusing on police checkpoints that have been deployed too close to areas where armed militias are operating in the eastern communities of the Gaza Strip, in particular in … Khan Younis and Bureij refugee camp.

“Six police members have been killed as a result … But also here, the timing and location are critically reshaping the whole equation between both sides. Israel has made clear that Israel will not be responsible for reorganising the remnants of life in Gaza. That’s why we can see that any kind of restoration of previous services, including police… will be thwarted,” he added.


Rafah crossings and aid still far below minimum

The Gaza Crossings and Borders Authority on Friday reported that 50 Palestinians travelled through the Rafah crossing into Egypt on Thursday including 13 patients and 37 companions., while 41 citizens returned to to Gaza.

There has been a trickle of human movement in either direction since Israel partially opened the crossing. Thousands of Palestinians require urgent medical attention outside of the devastated enclave but Israel is severely restricting their exit.

The authority also reported 286 trucks entered Gaza Thursday, including 174 commercial trucks and 112 carrying aid. That’s far below the 600 aid truck required daily to meet the needs of a population still suffering hunger, and a painful Ramadan, due to Israel’s blockade.

Aid organisations facing expulsion deadline

Meanwhile, Israel has ordered 37 aid groups to halt operations in the occupied territory unless they hand over personal details about Palestinian staff by this Sunday, March 1 – a move described as having potentially devastating consequences for Palestinians.

The organisations warn that complying could put employees at risk, compromise humanitarian neutrality and violate European data protection rules.

Seventeen international NGOs, including Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and CARE International, have challenged the order in Israel’s Supreme Court, saying they could be forced to stop operations.

Abu Azzoum said, “This could mark a major turning point for the humanitarian response system in Gaza.” Aid groups may be forced to suspend operations entirely if the order stands, he added.

Oxfam International said on Tuesday that the forced closure of aid operations in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory could begin as early as Saturday. “The effect would be immediate, extending well beyond individual organisations to the wider humanitarian system,” Oxfam warned.

“In Gaza, families remain dependent on external assistance amid continuing restrictions on aid entry and renewed strikes in densely populated areas,” it said in a statement. “In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, military incursions, demolitions, displacement, settlement expansion and settler violence are driving rising humanitarian needs,” it added.

Pressure from Israel on international humanitarian groups has been growing for years and escalated sharply after October 7, 2023.

US citizens’ support for Israel at historic low over Gaza genocide: Poll

In a report published on Friday, the polling agency said 41 percent of Americans now say they sympathise more with Palestinians, while 36 percent remain more favourable to the Israelis. By contrast, before the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel in October 2023 and the ensuing genocidal war waged by Israel in Gaza, 54 percent of Americans sympathised more with Israel and 31 percent with Palestine.

• Democrats’ sympathies haven’t changed significantly over the past year, having already flipped strongly towards the Palestinians in 2025 after first tilting that way in 2023. Currently, 65 percent of Democrats say their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, while 17 percent say they sympathise more with the Israelis.
• Driving the shift this year, the report says, is the substantial movement among independents who have now joined Democrats in supporting Palestinians. By 41 percent to 30 percent, independents say they sympathise more with the Palestinians than the Israelis, whereas in all prior years, they were more sympathetic towards the Israelis, including by 42 percent to 34 percent last year.
• Seven in 10 Republicans say they sympathise more with the Israelis, while 13 percent go with the Palestinians. Still, the Republican support for Israel has declined by a 10-point record since 2024, to its lowest level since 2004. Support for Israel has become deeply contentious in the conservative party, including driving a wedge within the far-right conservative MAGA movement. Some of its representatives, such as former Fox news host-turned popular podcaster Tucker Carlson, have become critical of what they say is Israel’s excessive influence over US politics.
• Age gap: For the first time in Gallup’s surveys since 2001, a majority of US citizens aged between 18 and 34 are more sympathetic to the Palestinian people. Meanwhile, 23 percent of young adults say they sympathise more with the Israelis, a record low for the age group. Sympathy for Israel has dropped from 45 percent last year to 28 percent. Among adults older than 55, 49 percent sympathise more with the Israelis and 31% with the Palestinians, the first time since 2005 that less than half of older Americans have said they sympathise more with the Israelis.

While support fell at a faster rate following the war, the trend had started going downwards since 2019 due to the “cumulative effect of gradual changes in US attitudes since then”, read the report.