The turbocharged settlement drive threatens to further stoke tensions in the West Bank, which has seen a surge in violence since the Gaza war began on Oct. 7.Palestinians search for bodies and survivors in the rubble of a residential building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu’s government is dominated by settlers and their supporters. The hard-line nationalist finance minister, Bazalel Smotrich, himself a settler, has been put in charge of settlement policy. On Wednesday, Peace Now said Israel approved the largest seizure of land in the West Bank in over three decades.
But until now, neither side appears to have fully embraced it. Hamas suggested “amendments” to the proposal last month, some of which the U.S. said were unworkable, without providing specifics.— he confirmed that the original proposal was an Israeli one but he has also said he would accept only a partial deal, after which Israel would return to its military campaign to destroy Hamas.
Meanwhile, Gaza's Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed by Israel's campaign in Gaza had climbed past 38,000. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count. The first phase calls for a cease-fire, a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of hostages, including women, older people and the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.