JERUSALEM: The Israeli military has approved permission for Israelis to return to three former West Bank settlements they had been banned from entering since an evacuation ordered in 2005, the defense ministry said on Wednesday.
The three settlements, Sa-nur, Ganim and Kadim, are located near the Palestinian cities of Jenin and Nablus, both of which are strongholds of armed militant groups in the northern West Bank.
A fourth settlement, Homesh, was cleared for entry last year after parliament passed an amendment to the so-called “disengagement law” of 2005. Permission from the military, which has overall control of the West Bank, was required for any return to the other three former settlements.
The military announced the move on the day three European states said they would formally recognize the State of Palestine, and as Israel’s military offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas continued in the Gaza Strip.
It took the decision despite international pressure on Israel to curb settlement expansion in the West Bank, which Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state alongside Gaza.
“The Jewish hold on Judea and Samaria guarantees security, the application of the law to cancel disengagement will lead to the development of settlement and provide security to residents of the area,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement, using the Biblical names for the West Bank that are often used in Israel.
There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority.
Last year’s amendment to the disengagement law was seen as opening the way to re-establishing former West Bank settlements evacuated in 2005 under a plan overseen by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Under the plan, which was opposed by the settler movement at the time, all 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza were ordered to be evacuated. Most settlements in the West Bank were unaffected apart from the four that will now be accessible again.
More than 500,000 Jewish settlers are now estimated to be living in the West Bank, part of territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, with a further 200,000 living in East Jerusalem.
For Palestinians and most of the international community, the settlements are considered illegal. Israel disputes this, citing the Jewish people’s historical, biblical and political links to the area as well as security considerations.
Despite international opposition, settlements have continued to expand strongly under successive Israeli governments.
Israel allows return to three evacuated West Bank settlements
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Israel allows return to three evacuated West Bank settlements
- The military announced the move on the day three European states said they would formally recognize the State of Palestine
- A fourth settlement, Homesh, was cleared for entry last year
Officials try to identify 18 bodies in deadly Iraq shopping mall fire
- The Corniche Hypermarket mall in the town of Kut in Wasit province had opened just days before the blaze
- Officials said that most of those who died were trapped on the upper floors of the five-story building
An Iraqi medical official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment said the final death toll was 63, including 18 bodies that could not be identified due to the severity of the burns and would undergo DNA testing.
The Corniche Hypermarket mall in the town of Kut in Wasit province, a five-story building containing restaurants, shops and a supermarket, had opened just days before the blaze, which officials said broke out late Wednesday on the second floor in an area selling perfume and cosmetics.
Civil defense crews were able to rescue 45 people from the burning building. Officials said that most of those who died were trapped on the upper floors.
While the cause of the fire has not yet been determined, officials blamed lack of safety standards in the building for the scale of the tragedy.
Provincial Gov. Mohammed Al-Miyahi has said that the building owner did not implement fire safety measures and had not applied for required permits.
The provincial council of Wasit on Thursday voted to form committees to carry out building safety inspections and to suspend the director of Kut municipality and the director of occupational safety until investigations into the fire are complete.
Al-Miyahi said Thursday that legal complaints had been filed against the building owner and shopping center owner, who could not be reached for comment. The governor said in a press conference that the son of the shopping center owner and other members of his family were among the victims in the blaze.
Poor building standards have often contributed to tragic fires in Iraq. In July 2021, a blaze at a hospital in the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah that killed between 60 to 92 people was determined to have been fueled by highly flammable, low-cost type of “sandwich panel” cladding that is illegal in Iraq.
In 2023, more than 100 people died in a fire at a wedding hall in the predominantly Christian area of Hamdaniya in Nineveh province after the ceiling panels above a pyrotechnic machine burst into flames.
A Libyan accused of war crimes has been arrested in Germany, ICC says
- El Hishri will remain in Germany until his transfer to The Hague
- The ICC thanked German authorities for their cooperation
Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri was allegedly one of the most senior officials at Miriga Prison in Tripoli where thousands of people were detained. He was arrested Wednesday based on a warrant issued by the court on July 10.
“He is suspected of having committed directly himself, ordered or overseen crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, rape and sexual violence, allegedly committed in Libya from February 2015 to early 2020,” the ICC said in a statement.
El Hishri will remain in custody in Germany until legal proceedings to have him transported to The Hague are completed.
The court relies on other countries to execute its arrest warrants. It paid tribute to German authorities for detaining El Hishri.
“I thank the national authorities for their strong and consistent cooperation with the Court, including leading to this recent arrest,” ICC Registrar Osvaldo Zavala Giler said in a statement.
The United Nations Security Council called on the ICC to open an investigation in Libya in 2011 amid violence that led to the toppling of Muammar Qaddafi and morphed into a crippling civil war. The court issued a warrant for the longtime Libyan strongman, but he was killed by rebels before he could be detained.
The court has arrest warrants out for eight other Libyan suspects, including one of Qaddafi’s sons. Earlier this year, authorities in Libya accepted the court’s jurisdiction over the country from 2011 through to the end of 2027.
Head of UN rights office urges accountability for killings in Syria’s Sweida
- UN human rights office said it had received credible reports of widespread rights violations during the fighting
- Reports of summary executions, kidnappings and destruction of private property by security forces and individuals
GENEVA: The head of the United Nations human rights office called on Friday for Syria’s interim authorities to ensure accountability and justice for killings and rights violations in the southern city of Sweida.
Syria’s government sent troops this week to the predominantly Druze city to quell fighting between Bedouins and Druze, but the violence grew until a ceasefire was declared.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said it had received credible reports of widespread rights violations during the fighting.
These included reports of summary executions, kidnappings and destruction of private property by security forces and individuals linked to Syria’s interim authorities, as well as other armed elements including Druze and Bedouins.
“This bloodshed and the violence must stop, and the protection of all people must be the utmost priority, in line with international human rights law,” OHCHR High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement.
At least 13 people were unlawfully killed in one recorded incident on July 15 when affiliates of the interim authorities opened fire at a family gathering, the OHCHR said. Six men were summarily executed near their homes the same day.
“My Office has received accounts of distressed Syrians who are living in fear for their lives and those of their loved ones,” Turk said.
Israel carried out airstrikes on Damascus on Wednesday and also hit government forces in the south, demanding they withdraw and saying it aimed to protect Syrian Druze – part of a small but influential minority with followers in Lebanon and Israel.
Turk shared his concern following reports of civilian casualties following Israeli airstrikes on Sweida, Daraa in the southwest, and on the center of Damascus.
Israel denies reports of overnight strikes in Syria
- Israel on Friday denied reports on the Syrian state news agency that it had conducted further air strikes near the Druze-majority city of Sweida late the previous day
JERUSALEM: Israel on Friday denied reports on the Syrian state news agency that it had conducted further air strikes near the Druze-majority city of Sweida late the previous day.
“The (Israeli military) is not aware of overnight strikes in Syria,” a spokesperson told AFP.
Israel bombed the Syrian army in Sweida and Damascus earlier this week to pressure the Islamist-led government to withdraw its troops from the Druze heartland around Sweida following deadly sectarian clashes. Syrian troops pulled out on Thursday.
Syria troops quit Druze heartland after violence leaves nearly 600 dead
- Syrian troops on Thursday pulled out of the Druze heartland of Sweida on the orders of the Islamist-led government, following days of deadly clashes that killed nearly 600 people
SWEIDA: Syrian troops on Thursday pulled out of the Druze heartland of Sweida on the orders of the Islamist-led government, following days of deadly clashes that killed nearly 600 people, according to a war monitor.
The southern province has been gripped by deadly sectarian bloodshed since Sunday, with hundreds reportedly killed in clashes pitting Druze fighters against Sunni Bedouin tribes and the army and its allies.
The city of Sweida was desolate on Thursday, AFP correspondents on the ground reported, with shops looted, homes burnt and bodies in the streets.
“What I saw of the city looked as if it had just emerged from a flood or a natural disaster,” Hanadi Obeid, a 39-year-old doctor, told AFP.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa said in a televised speech that community leaders would resume control over security in Sweida “based on the supreme national interest,” after the deployment of government troops on Tuesday fueled the intercommunal bloodshed and prompted Israeli military intervention.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 594 people had been killed in clashes in Sweida province since Sunday.
The UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA, said that “nearly 2,000 families have been displaced” by the violence across the province.
Israel had hammered government troops with air strikes during their brief deployment in Sweida and also struck targets in and around the capital Damascus, including the military headquarters, warning that its attacks would intensify until the government pulled back.
The Observatory reported that three people were killed in Damascus by the Israeli strikes.
Syria’s state-run news agency SANA later reported the first Israeli attack on the area since government forces withdrew, with strikes on the outskirts of Sweida.
The Syrian presidency meanwhile accused Druze fighters in Sweida of violating the ceasefire that led to the withdrawal of government forces.
In a statement, the presidency accused “outlaw forces” of violating the agreement through “horrific violence” against civilians.
The presidency also warned against “continued blatant Israeli interference in Syria’s internal affairs, which only leads to further chaos and destruction and further complicates the regional situation.”
Sharaa, whose Islamist-led interim government has had troubled relations with minority groups since it toppled longtime president Bashar Assad in December, pledged to protect the Druze, a religious minority.
“We are keen on holding accountable those who transgressed and abused our Druze people, as they are under the protection and responsibility of the state,” said Sharaa, whose Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham movement was once linked to Al-Qaeda.
More than 1,700 mostly Alawite civilians were massacred in their heartland on the Mediterranean coast in March, with government-affiliated groups blamed for most of the killings.
Government forces also battled Druze fighters in Sweida and near Damascus in April and May, leaving more than 100 people dead.
Government troops had entered Sweida on Tuesday with the stated aim of overseeing a truce, following days of deadly sectarian clashes.
But witnesses said that government forces instead joined the Bedouin in attacking Druze fighters and civilians.
The Syrian president also hit out at Israel’s military intervention, saying that it would have pushed “matters to a large-scale escalation, except for the effective intervention of American, Arab and Turkish mediation, which saved the region from an unknown fate.”
The United States — a close ally of Israel that has been trying to reboot its relationship with Syria — said late Wednesday that an agreement had been reached to restore calm in the area, urging “all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made.”
A US State Department spokesperson said that Washington “did not support (the) recent Israeli strikes.”
Foreign ministers from 11 countries in the region, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye, affirmed their support for the Syrian government in a joint statement released by the United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry on Thursday.
They strongly condemned the Israeli attacks, describing them as a “blatant violation of international law and a flagrant assault on Syria’s sovereignty,” the statement said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the ceasefire was a result of his country’s “powerful action.”
Israel, which has its own Druze community, has presented itself as a defender of the group, although some analysts say that is a pretext for pursuing its own military goal of keeping Syrian government forces away from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Dozens of Druze gathered in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Thursday, hoping to catch a glimpse of relatives on the Syrian-held side who might try to cross the barbed-wire frontier.
Qamar Abu Saleh, a 36-year-old educator, said that some people “opened the fence and entered, and people from Syria also started crossing here.”
“It was like a dream, and we still can’t believe it happened.”
