JERUSALEM: Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said on Monday he ordered the military to step up preparations for Israel's pending annexation of parts of the West Bank, a plan that could stoke Palestinian violence.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to begin cabinet discussions on July 1 on extending Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley in the West Bank, occupied territory that Palestinians seek for a state.
Gantz's directive appeared to indicate that the centrist politician had either signed on to the move, or at least believed it would be inevitable, given right-wing support in the Netanyahu-led coalition cabinet.
In public remarks to legislators of his centrist Blue and White party, Gantz noted a recent uptick in anti-Israeli violence in the West Bank and the Palestinians' declaration last month that they were ending security cooperation with Israel over the annexation issue.
He said he had subsequently ordered the chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Aviv Kochavi, to "examine all the ramifications and the required preparations" stemming from moving ahead with the peace plan US President Donald Trump announced in January, a blueprint that could ease annexation.
In a separate written statement, Gantz said "preparations by the Israel Defence Forces should be stepped up ahead of pending diplomatic moves regarding the Palestinians".
The Palestinians have rejected Trump's proposal, under which the vast majority of West Bank settlements built by Israel on land captured in the 1967 Middle East war would be incorporated into "contiguous Israeli territory".
The Palestinians and most countries consider such settlements illegal. Israel disputes this.
The Trump plan also envisages a Palestinian state under near-complete Israeli security control, creating what Palestinians leaders say would be an unviable country.
Sami Abu Zuhri, an official with militant group Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip, another part of Palestinians' hoped-for future state, told Reuters: "The call of the occupation army to get ready for annexation of the West Bank is a call for war, and the occupation will regret this crime, and soon realise they are committing a grave mistake."
Israeli defence chief says he's preparing for consequences of West Bank annexations
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Israeli defence chief says he's preparing for consequences of West Bank annexations
- Gantz said he ordered the military to step up preparations for Israel's pending annexation of parts of the West Bank
- Netanyahu has pledged to begin cabinet discussions on July 1 on the plan
AFP demands ‘investigation after freelancer killed in Israeli strike
- It expressed “immense sadness” at the death of the 34-year-old photo and video journalist, who was “a regular contributor to AFP’s production for nearly two years”
PARIS: Agence France-Presse has demanded a “full and transparent investigation” into the death of Abdul Raouf Shaat, a regular contributor to the agency in the Gaza Strip who was killed in an Israeli strike alongside two other Palestinian journalists.
“Far too many local journalists have been killed in Gaza over the past two years while foreign journalists remain unable to enter the territory freely,” the agency said in a statement.
It expressed “immense sadness” at the death of the 34-year-old photo and video journalist, who was “a regular contributor to AFP’s production for nearly two years” and “much loved by the AFP team covering Gaza.”
He was killed on Wednesday along with colleagues Anas Ghneim and Mohammed Salah Qashta in the central Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army said it had targeted the operators of a drone deemed suspicious, adding that the details of the incident were still under review.
Since Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023 sparked the war in Gaza, nearly 220 journalists have been killed by Israel, making the Palestinian territory by far the deadliest place for journalists, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders data.
