aeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wants to move forward with the construction of settlements in the West Bank. Smotrich was quoted as saying the move “buries the idea of a Palestinian state.” The minister plans to approve tenders for the construction of around 3,400 additional settler homes, as reported by the Times of Israel newspaper. In 1967, Israel conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem, among other areas, where more than 700,000 settlers now live among approximately three million Palestinians.
The Israeli settlements there are illegal under international law. Palestinians claim these territories for their own state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The United Nations considers the Israeli settlements a major obstacle to a peace agreement, as they would hardly allow for a contiguous territory for the Palestinians in a possible two-state solution. The two-state solution envisions Israel and an independent Palestinian state coexisting peacefully.
Dozens killed after Israeli attacks According to Palestinian sources, dozens of people have again died in attacks by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip. Roughly half of the deaths reportedly occurred in Gaza City, in the north of the sealed-off coastal enclave, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. The information could not initially be verified. Three children die from malnutrition According to the health authority in the Gaza
Strip, controlled by the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas, eight people, including three children, died as a result of malnutrition. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in New York that from the beginning of the year until August 5, “49 confirmed deaths of children from malnutrition have been reported, including 39 under the age of five.
” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the other hand, recently claimed there is no hunger in Gaza. Repeatedly, there have been reports of deadly incidents near aid distribution points operated by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The foundation is supported by Israel and the United States and began its work in the sealed-off coastal area in May, after Israel ended its nearly three-month blockade on aid deliveries.
