JERUSALEM: The European Union on Thursday condemned Israeli measures against three Palestinian schools in the occupied West Bank days before classes restart following the summer holidays.
On Monday, a kindergarten structure in a Bedouin Arab community in the eastern West Bank was confiscated, while overnight Tuesday a small primary school was demolished in the southern West Bank.
Solar panels used to power another school were also removed.
Some Palestinian children returned to school this week, while others are due to return in the coming days.
Israeli officials say the structures did not have proper permits.
Many such projects are built by European NGOs with funding from the European Union.
The EU, in a statement, expressed “strong concern about the recent confiscations of Palestinian school structures undertaken by Israel in Bedouin communities in the occupied West Bank.”
“Every child has the right to safe access to education and states have an obligation to protect, respect and fulfil this right, by ensuring that schools are inviolable safe spaces for children.”
Palestinian premier Rami Hamdallah said the confiscations were “a deliberate policy of the Israeli authorities to pressure Palestinian communities to leave, in order to confiscate their land and build additional settlements.”
COGAT, the Israeli agency that oversees civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, told AFP that the buildings were built without the necessary permits.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and has built settlements, considered illegal by the international community, for hundreds of thousands of Israelis.
EU condemns Israeli demolition of Palestinian schools
EU condemns Israeli demolition of Palestinian schools
Israel army ‘temporarily suspends’ strike on south Lebanon
- The Israeli military issued a warning earlier on Saturday announcing an imminent strike and warning people in the Yanuh area of south Lebanon to evacuate immediately
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it would “temporarily” suspend a strike planned for Saturday that was intended to target what it described as Hezbollah military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
A November 2024 ceasefire sought to end over a year of fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, which broke out after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
But Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah members and infrastructure to stop the group from rearming.
The Israeli military issued a warning earlier on Saturday announcing an imminent strike and warning people in the Yanuh area of south Lebanon to evacuate immediately.
But later Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said “the strike was temporarily suspended,” adding that the military “continues to monitor the target.”
The suspension came after the Lebanese army “requested access again to the specified site... and to address the breach of the agreement,” he said on X.
Adraee added that the military would “not allow” Hezbollah to “redeploy or rearm.”
The year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism includes the United Nations, the United States and France.
A Lebanese security source said the army had previously tried to search the building that the Israeli military wanted to target but could not because of objections from residents.
But the source told AFP that the Lebanese army was able to enter and search the building after returning a second time, because residents “felt threatened,” adding that they were evacuated over fears of a strike.
