West Bank | DD News

October 24, 2025 9:41 AM

Trump dismisses bid by some Israeli lawmakers to annex West Bank

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday dismissed an effort by some Israeli lawmakers to push forward with annexation of the occupied West Bank, saying Israel is "not going to do anything with the West Bank." A bill applying Israeli law to the West Bank, a move tantamount to annexation of a territory that Palestinians seek for part of a future independent state, won preliminary approval by Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said earlier during a visit to Israel that T...

October 2, 2025 10:20 AM

Israel stops 13 Gaza aid boats, organisers say, sparking international criticism

Israeli forces have stopped 13 boats carrying foreign activists and aid bound for Gaza, but 30 boats are continuing to sail towards the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave, flotilla organisers said on Thursday. A video from the Israeli foreign ministry verified by Reuters showed the most prominent of the flotilla's passengers, Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, sitting on a deck surrounded by soldiers. "Several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla have been safely stopped and their passenge...

September 26, 2025 9:31 AM

‘Time to stop’: Trump vows Israel will not annex West Bank

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, rejecting calls from some far-right politicians in Israel who want to extend sovereignty over the area and snuff out hopes for a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced some pressure from allies to annex the West Bank, prompting alarm among Arab leaders, opens new tab, some of whom met on Tuesday with Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. I...

September 23, 2025 10:48 PM

Israel seeks permanent Gaza control and Jewish majority in West Bank, UN inquiry says

The Israeli government has shown a clear intent to establish permanent control over Gaza and to ensure a Jewish majority in the occupied West Bank, a United Nations commission said in a report on Tuesday. The U.N. report details Israeli authorities' extensive, systematic demolition of civilian infrastructure in Gaza's corridors and buffer zone - resulting in Israel expanding control to 75% of the Gaza Strip by July this year. "Israeli forces have also intentionally altered the geography of Gaz...

September 18, 2025 4:54 PM

UAE could downgrade diplomatic ties if Israel annexes West Bank

The United Arab Emirates could downgrade diplomatic ties with Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government annexes part or all of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Reuters reported citing three sources on the Gulf Arab state's deliberations. UAE is one of just a few Arab states with diplomatic relations with Israel and downgrading ties would be a major setback for the Abraham Accords - a signature foreign policy achievement of U.S. President Donald Trump and Netanyahu. Israel's gover...

September 8, 2025 4:00 PM

UN human rights chief condemns ‘mass killing’ of Palestinians in Gaza

The United Nations human rights chief condemned Israel on Monday for its "mass killing" of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and "hindering of sufficient lifesaving aid", saying the country had a case to answer before the International Court of Justice. Volker Turk, who heads the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR), stopped short of describing the Gaza war as an unfolding genocide, as hundreds of U.N. staff had urged him to do. But in his opening address to the 6...

September 3, 2025 5:09 PM

UAE official warns West Bank settlement plans ‘red line’ for Abu Dhabi

The United Arab Emirates warned Israel on Wednesday that any annexation of the West Bank would constitute a red line for Abu Dhabi that would severely undermine the spirit of the Abraham Accords that normalised relations between the two countries. "From the very beginning, we viewed the Accords as a way to enable our continued support for the Palestinian people and their legitimate aspiration for an independent state," Lana Nusseibeh, Assistant Minister for Political Affairs and Envoy of the Mi...

September 1, 2025 10:11 AM

Israel mulls West Bank annexation in response to moves to recognise Palestine

Israel is considering annexation in the occupied West Bank as a possible response to France and other countries recognising a Palestinian state, according to three Israeli officials and the idea will be discussed further on Sunday, another official said. Extension of Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank - de facto annexation of land captured in the 1967 Middle East war - was on the agenda for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet meeting late on Sunday that is expected to focus o...

May 29, 2025 4:15 PM

Israel announces new West Bank settlements despite sanctions threat

Israel's government has approved 22 new Jewish settlements in the occupied-West Bank, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Thursday, a move that could deepen divisions with some allies, who have threatened sanctions over further expansion. Far-right Smotrich, an advocate for Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, wrote on X that the new settlements would be located in the northern area of the West Bank, without specifying where. Israeli media cited the Defense Ministry as saying that amo...

February 25, 2025 2:35 PM

West Bank Palestinians fear Gaza-style clearance as Israel squeezes Jenin camp

Israeli bulldozers have demolished large areas of the now virtually empty Jenin refugee camp and appear to be carving wide roadways through its once-crowded warren of alleyways, echoing tactics already employed in Gaza as troops prepare for a long-term stay. At least 40,000 Palestinians have left their homes in Jenin and the nearby city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank since Israel began its operation just a day after reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza after 15 months of war. "Jenin is...