GCC condemns continued Israeli occupation settlement plans in the West Bank

The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Jassem Al-Bedaiwi, condemned the Israeli occupation authorities’ continuation of their settlement plans in the occupied West Bank, including the E1 settlement project. In a statement yesterday, Al-Bedaiwi affirmed that proceeding with these plans constitutes a blatant challenge to international legitimacy and a systematic undermining of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. He noted that such practices by Israeli occupation forces would undermine prospects for achieving peace and threaten international and regional efforts aimed at establishing an independent Palestinian state.

He called on the international community to take a serious and responsible stance to halt these settlement policies and plans and to counter any measures aimed at altering the geographic and demographic reality of the occupied Palestinian territories. Al-Bedaiwi reiterated the GCC’s firm and supportive position regarding the Palestinian people’s right to establish their independent state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative and relevant international legitimacy resolutions.

On another front, Egyptian Foreign Minister Dr. Badr Abdelatty affirmed his country’s full support for the Palestinian Authority and its national institutions, emphasizing the importance of enabling it to fulfill its responsibilities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a press release that this came during a telephone conversation between Dr. Abdelatty and Palestinian Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Mustafa, as part of continuous consultation and coordination regarding recent developments in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The statement clarified that the call addressed developments in the Gaza Strip and the Egyptian efforts, in coordination with mediators, to advance the implementation of the road map and the requirements of the US President’s peace plan, including the Israeli occupation’s withdrawal from the Strip, ensuring the flow of humanitarian aid, initiating early recovery and reconstruction, as well as the entry of the National Authority for the Management of Gaza into the Strip and the deployment of an international stabilization force, all of which would contribute to consolidating stability and creating conditions for a just and comprehensive political solution.

It added that the two sides discussed serious developments in the West Bank, where Abdelatty condemned illegal settlement expansion, the escalating violence by settlers, and attacks against Palestinians and their property, warning of the dangers posed by the E1 settlement project due to its threat to the geographic contiguity of Palestinian lands and the isolation of East Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings. In this regard, the Egyptian Foreign Minister reiterated his country’s firm rejection of any attempts to annex Palestinian territories, displace Palestinians, or alter the legal and demographic status of the occupied lands, which would entrench a policy of facts on the ground and undermine prospects for establishing a Palestinian state.

For his part, the Palestinian Prime Minister expressed appreciation, according to the statement, for Egypt’s steadfast and supportive role regarding the Palestinian cause and the efforts undertaken by Egypt to support the Palestinian Authority and its national institutions and to defend the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. He emphasized his commitment to continuing close coordination and consultation with Egypt regarding various developments in the coming period.

This came as health authorities in Gaza announced the death of a Palestinian and injuries to several others at varying degrees following an Israeli occupation aircraft strike that targeted the courtyard of a house in Deir al-Balah city in the central Strip. Health authorities stated in a press comment that medical rescue teams recovered the body of a martyr and several injured persons following a strike on a house in Deir al-Balah in the central Strip.

Eyewitnesses told KUNA that a powerful explosion shook Deir al-Balah city as a result of the strike that targeted the house’s courtyard, amid a state of panic and fear among displaced Palestinians. They added that ambulance crews transported the martyr and the injured to Al-Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah for treatment, while the nature and number of injuries were not immediately known.

This strike comes amid a wave of massacres witnessed by the Gaza Strip in recent days, as part of a series of Israeli breaches of the ceasefire agreement.

Meanwhile, UN humanitarian organizations expressed deep concern over the lethal violence perpetrated by settlers in the occupied West Bank and the use of live ammunition by Israeli forces in law enforcement operations targeting Palestinians. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that two Palestinians were killed on Friday in two separate incidents linked to Israeli forces.

It added, “In an attack by Israeli settlers on a Palestinian gathering in the Hebron Governorate, a Palestinian youth was shot dead, another was seriously injured, a house was set on fire, and other houses were damaged.”

Regarding the second incident, OCHA reported that Israeli forces fired and killed a Palestinian man in his home in Jenin city. It stressed the need to “protect Palestinians throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, in accordance with international law, and to hold those responsible for these violations accountable.”