Patients, staff and displaced leave on foot as Israel orders Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital evacuated

Patients, staff and displaced leave on foot as Israel orders Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital evacuated
Tents and shelters used by displaced Palestinians stand at the yard of Al Shifa hospital during the Israeli ground operation around the hospital, in Gaza City. (REUTERS/File)
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Updated 18 November 2023
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Patients, staff and displaced leave on foot as Israel orders Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital evacuated

Patients, staff and displaced leave on foot as Israel orders Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital evacuated
  • At least 450 patients who were unable to move continue to stay at Al-Shifa Hospital
  • Israel says Hamas operates a base underneath Al-Shifa, a charge the group denies

GAZA CITY: Hundreds of people fled on foot Saturday after Israel’s army ordered the evacuation of Gaza’s main hospital where more than 2,000 patients, medics and displaced people were trapped by the war between Israel and Hamas.

An AFP journalist witnessed the movement, on a road leading south, but health officials in the Hamas-ruled territory said 450 patients unable to be moved remained at Al-Shifa hospital. The facility has become the focus of the war that is entering its seventh week after Hamas’s October 7 attacks on southern Israel.
Israel has been pressing military operations inside the hospital, searching for the Hamas operations center it says lies under the sprawling complex — a charge Hamas denies.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the October 7 attacks which Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw about 240 people taken hostage.
The army’s air and ground campaign has since killed 12,000 people, including 5,000 children, according to the Hamas government which has ruled Gaza since 2007.
In Gaza City on Saturday morning, Israeli troops ordered over loudspeakers the evacuation of the Al-Shifa hospital “in the next hour,” an AFP journalist at the scene reported.
They called the hospital’s director, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, to instruct him to ensure “the evacuation of patients, wounded, the displaced and medical staff, and that they should move on foot toward the seafront,” he told AFP.
Israel has come under mounting pressure to back up its allegations that Hamas is using hospitals as command centers, a charge denied by Hamas, an Islamist movement with an armed wing. Al-Shifa hospital has also rejected the allegation.

The United Nations estimated 2,300 patients, staff and displaced Palestinians were sheltering at Al-Shifa before Israeli troops entered the facility on Wednesday.

Evacuation order

Israel has told Palestinians to move from the north of Gaza for their safety, but deadly air strikes continue to hit central and southern areas of the narrow coastal territory.
“They said the south was safer, so we moved,” Azhar Al-Rifi told AFP.
But her family was caught in another strike that killed seven relatives, including her five-year-old nephew.
Nada Abu Hiya, aged eight, said she suffered the third bombing of the war at the Nuseirat refugee camp on Friday.
“There are bombings everywhere,” she said. “My grandmother is dead, my mother is dead, my grandfather is dead, my uncle is dead, they destroyed our house. Our neighbors’ house is also destroyed and they are all dead.”
Israel has imposed a siege on Gaza, allowing just a trickle of aid in from Egypt but barring most shipments of fuel over concerns Hamas could divert supplies for military purposes.
A first consignment of fuel entered Gaza after Israel’s war cabinet bowed to pressure from its ally the United States and agreed to allow two diesel tankers a day into the Palestinian territory.
“We took that decision to prevent the spread of epidemics,” Israel’s national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said.

Fuel shortage

A two-day blackout caused by fuel shortages ended after a first delivery arrived from Egypt late Friday, but UN officials continued to plead for a ceasefire, warning no part of Gaza is safe.
A senior US official said Washington had exerted huge pressure on Israel for weeks to allow fuel in.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said 70 percent of residents have no access to clean water in south Gaza, where raw sewage has begun to flow on the streets.
Under the deal, 140,000 liters (37,000 gallons) of fuel would be allowed in every 48 hours, of which 20,000 liters will be earmarked for generators to restore the phone network, the US official said.
A communications blackout hampered aid deliveries, UNRWA said. Humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told the UN General Assembly that fuel supplies to the agency so far were “a fraction of what is needed to meet the minimum of our humanitarian responsibilities.”
The Hamas health ministry said 24 patients had died in 48 hours due to the lack of fuel for generators.
In the latest bloodshed, a strike on a residential building in the southern city of Hamad killed 26 people, the director of the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis said.
“I was asleep and we were surprised by the strike. At least 20 bombs were dropped,” Imed Al-Mubasher, 45, told AFP.
His wife Sabrin Mussa said: “All of a sudden, the house caught fire. I found myself with gravel in my mouth and I immediately looked for my husband and daughters.
“I saw human remains everywhere,” and screamed for help, she said.
The Israeli military has yet to respond to a request for comment.

Targeting hospitals

Israel has come under scrutiny for targeting hospitals in northern Gaza, but says the facilities are being used by Hamas — a claim rejected by the group and medical staff.
The military says it has found rifles, ammunition, explosives and the entrance to a tunnel shaft at the hospital complex, claims that cannot be independently verified.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, without providing details, that there were “strong indications” hostages may have been held at the Shifa facility.
Israel has not recovered hostages at the hospital but said it found the bodies of two kidnapped women not far away.
The remains of kidnapped woman soldier Noa Marciano, 19, were found at “a structure adjacent to Al-Shifa hospital” on Friday, a day after the body of 65-year-old Yehudit Weiss was recovered.
Those held hostage range from infants to octogenarians, and there has been little information on their fate despite ongoing negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt to secure releases.
In Gaza, more than 1.5 million people have been internally displaced, and Israel’s blockade has left civilians facing the “immediate possibility of starvation,” according to World Food Programme head Cindy McCain.
More than half of Gaza’s hospitals are no longer functional due to combat, damage or shortages, and people are waiting four to six hours for half the normal portion of bread.


Houthi court sentences Yemeni women’s rights activist to death

Houthi court sentences Yemeni women’s rights activist to death
Updated 19 sec ago
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Houthi court sentences Yemeni women’s rights activist to death

Houthi court sentences Yemeni women’s rights activist to death
  • Sanaa court sentenced Fatema Saleh Mohammed Al-Arwali, an activist and head of the Yemeni branch of the Arab League’s Arab Women Leadership Council, to death for gathering military intelligence
  • Yemeni officials, as well as local and international rights organizations and activists, severely denounced the death sentence and urged the militia to release Al-Arwali

AL-MUKALLA: A court in Houthi-held Sanaa on Tuesday condemned a women’s rights rights activist to death for spying, sparking an uproar in Yemen and abroad against the Iran-backed militia.

Abdul Majeed Sabra, a Yemeni lawyer, told Arab News that the Specialized Criminal Court of First Instance in Sanaa sentenced Fatema Saleh Mohammed Al-Arwali, an activist and head of the Yemeni branch of the Arab League’s Arab Women Leadership Council, to death for gathering military intelligence and sending key Houthi locations to the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen to be bombed.

The militia had kidnapped Al-Arwali while she was traveling to the southern city of Aden from Houthi-controlled Taiz. She was abducted and family requests to know her whereabouts were ignored.

The Houthis put Al-Arwali on trial early this year, but barred her from receiving legal representation.

Yemeni officials, as well as local and international rights organizations and activists, severely denounced the death sentence and urged the militia to release Al-Arwali and end its harassment of activists.

Dozens of Yemeni activists, lawyers and academics signed an online petition demanding that the Houthis release the activist, adding that her lawyer was barred from the courtroom during the first trial session and Al-Arwali was condemned to a lightless underground detention facility for almost a year.

“We urge that the death sentence imposed on her be overturned. We urge human rights and civil society groups to unite in opposition to this unfair sentencing that undermines justice,” the Yemeni activists said in the petition.

Amnesty International and the Geneva-based SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties also released separate statements criticizing the death sentence and urging the Houthis to free Al-Arwali.

“Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, without exception, and calls on the Houthis to immediately quash Al-Arwali’s death sentence and ensure she promptly receives a fair trial in line with international standards or is immediately released,” the organization said on X.


Israel, Hamas must ‘de-escalate, allow humanitarians to operate,’ ICRC DG Robert Mardini tells Arab News

Israel, Hamas must ‘de-escalate, allow humanitarians to operate,’ ICRC DG Robert Mardini tells Arab News
Updated 37 min 3 sec ago
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Israel, Hamas must ‘de-escalate, allow humanitarians to operate,’ ICRC DG Robert Mardini tells Arab News

Israel, Hamas must ‘de-escalate, allow humanitarians to operate,’ ICRC DG Robert Mardini tells Arab News
  • Senior official of International Committee of the Red Cross doubles down on calls to warring sides to respect Geneva Conventions
  • Expresses gratitude for strong Saudi support in Gaza and Sudan, wants humanitarian partnership to climb new heights

RIYADH: Despite the daily efforts of the International Committee of the Red Cross to “step up, to scale up, to send more people on the ground in Gaza,” humanitarians “can only do so much,” according to Robert Mardini, the ICRC’s director general.

He made the comment in the course of an interview on Tuesday with Arab News in Riyadh, where he held a meeting with officials from the Saudi aid agency KSrelief.

“We cannot cope with this magnitude of needs and we want the parties in the conflict, the Israeli side and the Hamas side, to de-escalate and to create the conditions for humanitarians to be able to operate at the level that is required,” Mardini said.

He added that the current level and intensity of fighting in Gaza makes humanitarians’ ability to operate at the levels required “impossible.”

He said: “No meaningful humanitarian response is possible under the current circumstances. This is why we have to, in parallel to doing everything we can to step up the humanitarian response, double down on repeating and reiterating our calls to the parties in the conflict to respect their obligations under the rules of war, the Geneva Conventions.”

Mardini made it clear that as humanitarians, the ICRC will continue to push the limits of the possible to “make a difference for the people in Gaza.”

But while efforts will continue, Mardini said the ICRC can only do so much, “and the responsibility lies within the parties in the conflict.”

He added: “They have the obligations under the Geneva Conventions to protect civilians, to do everything they can to protect civilians, and to de-escalate the conflict; to ensure that there are regular humanitarian pauses to allow humanitarian supplies to get into the Gaza Strip; and to allow humanitarian workers to be able to deliver much-needed humanitarian support to the people in Gaza, and also to give respite to the civilian population, who are living in disastrous conditions, in constant fear of violent death.”

Mardini has no doubt about the immediate requirements: A de-escalation of the conflict, regular humanitarian pauses, and better conditions for civilians.

He said all people in Gaza today were traumatized by what is happening.

Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Rafah. (AP)

When asked about what needs to take place to alleviate the suffering of people in Gaza, he said that humanitarian goods were critical.

“Even before the conflict started on Oct. 7, on average 400 to 500 or 600 trucks a day were getting into the Gaza Strip at the time where it was more or less normal life,” Mardini said.

Now, after nearly two months of fighting, “people (are) being torn apart with thousands killed, tens of thousands severely injured,” and the needs of the region are much greater.

He added: “So, definitely, 200 trucks, which was the maximum reach during the seven-day truce, is only a small fragment, and it’s a drop in an ocean of needs. Trucks alone will not save the people of Gaza.

“What the people of Gaza need now is going back to a normal life, is more respite, is the de-escalation of the conflict. And it’s a political solution that is needed to avoid additional loss of life, and desperation and despair.”

Mardini stressed that although the ICRC is currently trying to receive reasonable security guarantees, “it’s very tough because today, really nowhere is safe in Gaza.”

He said: “Our own teams were in the line of fire. The teams of the Palestine Red Crescent Society were also caught in the line of fire. Many other humanitarians from UNWRA, MSF, also lost their lives in the line of duty.”

Mardini underlined the gravity of the humanitarian situation, adding that the ICRC has a full surgical team working in the European Hospital of Gaza with Palestinian doctors and nurses.

He said: “The testimonies they are giving us are terrifying and horrifying, you know. The sheer number of mass casualties is totally unprecedented.”

Robert Mardini, director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, being interviewed by Arab News Assistant Editor-in Chief Noor Nugali. (AN Photo/Abdulrhman Bin Alshuhub)

According to the Hamas-run government media office in Gaza, fighting has claimed more than 16,000 lives since the start of the war. While a humanitarian pause was reached on Nov. 24, it ended on Dec. 1, with Israeli forces resuming combat operations.

Mardini said: “The resumption of the fighting in the Gaza Strip is taking its toll on the civilian population, which has been through impossible hardship over the past almost two months.”

Mardini described the testimonies he has heard from ICRC colleagues on the ground in the Gaza Strip operating in a hospital and supporting the Palestine Red Crescent Society volunteers as “horrendous.”

He added: “People are living in difficult circumstances. The families have been separated. Thousands are getting into hospitals.”

He said that hospitals were so overcrowded with the sick, injured, and those seeking shelter that treatment had become difficult. He added that such overcrowding, complicated by shortages of water and medicine, may lead to the spread of disease.

“Doctors are facing impossible choices of who to save, who will make it, who won’t be able to make it, because of the very limited medical supplies, the lack of fuel,” he said.

He added that civilians were in areas, “the so-called safe zones,” adding that “(they) are not really safe, because there are no safe places in the Gaza Strip today.”

Commenting on his meeting with Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, KSrelief’s supervisor general, during which they discussed the situation in Gaza, he said: “The King Salman Center is a very solid partner of ICRC.

“We have discussed ways and means to step up the humanitarian response. I expressed also our gratitude at ICRC for the very strong support of the King Salman Center, which has recently contributed through funding for our humanitarian endeavors in the Gaza Strip, as it did several months ago to our work in Sudan.”

When asked about the application of the law of armed conflict, which was put in place to set the conduct of military operations and provide protection for the victims of conflict, Mardini asserted that “the law of armed conflict actually works.”

He said: “We have a demonstration of this every day. Every day, an ICRC surgeon is able to save a life.

Commenting on his meeting with Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, KSrelief’s supervisor general, Mardini, right, said: “I expressed also our gratitude at ICRC for the very strong support of the King Salman Center, which has recently contributed through funding for our humanitarian endeavors in the Gaza Strip.” (Supplied)

“Every day, a Palestine Red Crescent volunteer is able to evacuate the severely injured from our hospital to the other. Every day. And we have seen this over the past seven days. The ICRC managed to facilitate the release of hostages in Gaza and Palestinian detainees in Israel to their families in Ramallah.

“These are the laws of war in action. These are the laws of war working.”

Elaborating on the point, he said that when the law of armed conflict works, it “prevents harm from happening in the first place … The laws of war are the ultimate safety net to uphold dignity in war. They should be supported; they should be respected by parties in the conflict.”

Discussing the role of the ICRC in aiding hostage situations, he described the agency as a “neutral intermediary.”

He said: “The ICRC has a dialogue with all sides of the conflict. And when the hostages were taken, we did three things. We first called for their immediate release, because civilian hostages should not be taken in armed conflict.”

He went on to add that the ICRC checked the health status of hostages and ensured they were able to communicate with their families.

He said: “I have to hope that the two parties will continue to negotiate for further releases of hostages and Palestinian detainees. And we are certainly ready to renew these types of operations, of course, provided the conditions are acceptable for the safety of hostages and detainees, and our own staff.”

He added: “We need to keep hope alive. I think it’s important civilians, on both sides of this front line, still have hope. And they deserve better conditions than they have today.”


US finds both sides in Sudan conflict have committed atrocities in Darfur

US finds both sides in Sudan conflict have committed atrocities in Darfur
Updated 34 min 32 sec ago
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US finds both sides in Sudan conflict have committed atrocities in Darfur

US finds both sides in Sudan conflict have committed atrocities in Darfur
  • Fighting that began in Khartoum earlier this year has descended into ethnic violence in recent weeks

WASHINGTON D.C.: The Biden administration said Wednesday it has determined that both sides in the ongoing conflict in Sudan have committed atrocities in the African nation's western region of Darfur and elsewhere, saying the fighting “has caused grievous human suffering.”
The State Department said the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces are responsible for either war crimes or crimes against humanity, or both, in Darfur, where fighting that began in the capital earlier this year has descended into ethnic violence in recent weeks.
“Based on the State Department’s careful analysis of the law and available facts, I have determined that members of the SAF and the RSF have committed war crimes in Sudan,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “I have also determined that members of the RSF and allied militias have committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.”
The finding does not include sanctions being imposed on leaders or members of either side but creates the authority for the US to impose them.
“This determination provides force and renewed urgency to African and international efforts to end the violence, address the humanitarian and human rights crisis, and work towards meaningful justice for victims and the affected communities that ends decades of impunity,” Blinken said. “Today’s determination does not preclude the possibility of future determinations as additional information about the parties’ actions becomes available.”
The Biden administration has already imposed sanctions on RSF and Sudanese army officials for their actions in other parts of the country, including Khartoum, the capital.
On Monday, the administration imposed sanctions on three Sudanese men accused of undermining “peace, security and stability.” Those sanctions freeze all property and assets held by Taha Osman Ahmed al-Hussein, Salah Abdallah Mohamed Salah and Mohamed Etta al-Moula Abbas in US jurisdictions.
All three held senior government positions under former autocratic President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan for 30 years. They were forced out of public office after al-Bashir was toppled in a popular uprising in 2019.
The sanctions were the latest the US has imposed on Sudanese leaders and companies in recent months.
In September, the US imposed sanctions on Abdel-Rahim Hamdan Dagalo — brother of the RSF leader — for alleged acts of violence and human rights abuses committed by the paramilitary.
In June, the US placed sanctions on four key companies either linked to or owned by the army and the RSF. In addition, it put visa restrictions on officials from both Sudanese sides, as well as other leaders affiliated with al-Bashir, but didn’t specify who was affected.
Sudan plunged into chaos in April when long-simmering tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Force paramilitary commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo escalated into open warfare.
The conflict had killed up to 9,000 people by October, according to the United Nations. However, activists and doctors groups say the real figure is far higher.
In Darfur, which was the site of a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s, the conflict has morphed into ethnic violence, with the RSF and allied Arab militias attacking ethnic African groups, according to rights groups and the UN.


Lebanon complains to Security Council about Israel’s targeting of Lebanese army

Lebanon complains to Security Council about Israel’s targeting of Lebanese army
Updated 06 December 2023
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Lebanon complains to Security Council about Israel’s targeting of Lebanese army

Lebanon complains to Security Council about Israel’s targeting of Lebanese army
  • French foreign ministry calls on ‘all parties to exercise maximum restraint to prevent the outbreak of regional conflict’
  • FM Abdallah Bou Habib said that he ‘instructed the Lebanese mission to the UN to submit a complaint against Israel in response to the targeting of the Lebanese army’

BEIRUT: Israeli bombing of a residential building in the Lebanese border town of Mays Al-Jabal has killed one person and injured two others.

Following a night of violence, the public square in Mays Al-Jabal resembled a war zone. The town and its surroundings were relentlessly bombarded for hours, extending well into the night. The vicinity of Mays Al-Jabal Hospital experienced intense artillery shelling. The Israeli army used artillery and internationally prohibited phosphorus shells.

From Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning, Hezbollah launched 14 military operations against Israeli military sites. The actions were in response to an Israeli airstrike that resulted in the death of a Lebanese army soldier and the injury of three others at an army center in the Al-Adisa border area.

The French foreign ministry expressed its regret on Wednesday over the Israeli strike that claimed the life of a Lebanese soldier. It stressed “the need for all parties to exercise maximum restraint to prevent the outbreak of a regional conflict.”

Lebanese caretaker foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, said that he “instructed the Lebanese mission to the United Nations to submit a new complaint to the Security Council against Israel in response to Israel’s targeting of the Lebanese army, which caused the martyrdom of a soldier and the injury of others.”

In the complaint, Bou Habib stated that “Israel is actively violating Lebanon’s sovereignty and attacking it on land, sea and air while refraining from implementing international resolutions, especially Resolution 425.”

UNIFIL forces warned of “the rapid increase in violence on the Lebanese-Israeli border, which could lead to serious consequences for people on both sides of the Blue Border Line.”

After Israel targeted a Lebanese army post, UNIFIL said in a statement: “This is the first time that a Lebanese soldier has been killed during this critical period. The Lebanese army did not engage in the conflict with Israel.”

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee claimed that “a threat was detected from inside a Hezbollah reconnaissance complex and the firing of shells near the Nabi Aweida-Al-Adisa area on the Lebanese border.” He added that “members of the Lebanese army were not the targets of the Israeli raid.”

Adraee expressed “the Israeli army’s regret for the incident,” and claimed that the army was “investigating the circumstances.”

Hostilities between the Israeli army and Hezbollah continued at a low level but remained confined to a geographical border area. According to Israeli Channel 12, the missile fire that was launched from Lebanon hit “an Israeli army position in Mount Hermon.”

In the morning, the Israeli army attacked a house in the town of Aita Al-Shaab. Three shells were fired from a Merkava tank from the Pranit barracks. No casualties reported. The same house had been bombed previously.

The Israeli artillery targeted the outskirts of Yaroun and Maroun Al-Ras, as well as the towns of Khiam, Fardis, Rashaya Al-Fukhar, Helta Farm, the outskirts of Kfar Shuba, and Al-Salamia Farm on the outskirts of Al-Mari village in Hasbaya District. The areas surrounding the towns of Tayr Harfa and Shehine were also subjected to artillery shelling.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said that “military drones bombed the headquarters of Hezbollah’s operations command and infrastructure.”

Hezbollah announced that it had targeted “an Israeli radar site and investigated direct hits.” ‏

Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rai is scheduled to visit Christian towns in the border region on Thursday.

During their monthly meeting on Wednesday, the Maronite bishops expressed their “deep sadness regarding the ongoing war in Gaza, with its terrible tragedies and horrific calamities.”

The bishops denounced “opening new fronts in southern Lebanon by any Palestinian faction because it is a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty as an independent state.”

They affirmed their adherence to the principle that “the decision on war and peace must be in the hands of the Lebanese state alone because of its repercussions on the entire Lebanese people.”


Egypt condemns Israel’s decision to build new settlement in East Jerusalem

Egypt condemns Israel’s decision to build new settlement in East Jerusalem
Updated 06 December 2023
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Egypt condemns Israel’s decision to build new settlement in East Jerusalem

Egypt condemns Israel’s decision to build new settlement in East Jerusalem
  • First settlement plan to be fully approved by the Israeli government since 2012
  • About 700,000 Israeli settlers are living in 164 settlements and 116 outposts in the occupied West Bank

CAIRO: Egypt has condemned Israel’s decision to build a new settlement in occupied East Jerusalem.

According to left-wing Israeli organization Ir Amim, which monitors the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in Jerusalem, it is the first settlement plan to be fully approved by the Israeli government since 2012.

In a statement, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry called the move “a new blatant violation of international decisions and the UN Security Council resolutions regarding the illegitimacy of Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

The ministry stressed Egypt’s categorical rejection of the Israeli settlement policies in the entire occupied territories, including East Jerusalem, and its repeated attempts to undermine the existing legal, historical, and demographic context in an effort to separate parts of the land from its Palestinian surroundings.

It demanded that Israel halt its illegal settlement activities.

The statement reiterated Egypt’s call to influential international parties, including the UN and its relevant bodies, to shoulder their responsibilities in protecting the rights of the Palestinian people and to halt unilateral Israeli settlement operations that undermine the foundations of peace.

The statement stressed the need for Israel to stop exploiting the world’s preoccupation with the war it is waging against the Palestinian people in Gaza to intensify its illegal practices in the West Bank, including settlement activities.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.

About 700,000 Israeli settlers are living in 164 settlements and 116 outposts in the occupied West Bank, adjacent to East Jerusalem.