Israel has given final approval for 764 new homes in three settlements in the occupied West Bank, drawing condemnation from the Palestinian Authority and highlighting the strain on regional diplomacy as humanitarian aid to Gaza lags far behind targets set under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
The approvals were announced by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an ultra-nationalist who opposes a Palestinian state. Smotrich said that since late 2022, when he took office, 51,370 housing units have been cleared by the government’s Higher Planning Council in the West Bank, territory that Palestinians seek for a future state.
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Palestinian officials urged Washington to push Israel to reverse course. “Washington should urge Israel to reverse their settlement policies, attempts at annexation and expansion, and the theft of Palestinian land, and to compel them to abide by international legitimacy and international law,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The units approved this week are slated for Hashmonaim, just over the Green Line in central Israel, and for Givat Zeev and Beitar Illit near Jerusalem.
Most world powers deem the settlements — built on land Israel captured in the 1967 war — illegal, and numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions call on Israel to halt all settlement activity. “For us, all the settlements are illegal … and they are contrary to all the resolutions of international legitimacy,” said Wasel Abu Yousef, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee. Israel says the communities are critical to its security and cites biblical, historical and political ties to the land.
Violence involving settlers has also escalated. At least 264 incidents targeting Palestinians were recorded in the West Bank in October, the highest monthly total since U.N. officials began tracking such attacks in 2006.
The settlement approvals come as aid deliveries into Gaza fall well short of levels agreed to under a truce with Hamas, according to an Associated Press analysis of the Israeli military’s figures. As part of the ceasefire, Israel agreed to permit 600 trucks of supplies into Gaza each day.
But an average of just 459 trucks a day entered between Oct. 12, when the aid flow restarted, and Dec. 7, AP reported, citing data from COGAT, the Israeli military body that coordinates aid entry. COGAT said roughly 18,000 food trucks crossed the border between the ceasefire taking effect and last Sunday, amounting to 70% of all aid that has entered Gaza since the truce began. It estimates that just over 25,700 trucks with supplies have crossed into the enclave — far below the approximately 33,600 that would have entered by Sunday under the 600-per-day target.
The United Nations and aid groups say the actual volume reaching civilians is far lower than Israeli authorities claim. U.N. data show 6,545 trucks were offloaded at Gaza crossings from the start of the ceasefire through Dec. 7, averaging about 113 per day. A Hamas document provided to AP put the number at 7,333 trucks.
Humanitarian agencies describe a worsening crisis. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said this week there is a “dire” need for more aid, citing bottlenecks created by Israeli restrictions. It listed persistent impediments, including insecurity, customs clearance challenges, delays and denials of cargo at the crossings, and limited routes for transporting supplies within Gaza.
For Gaza’s two million residents, most of whom have been displaced by the war, shortages are acute. Food remains scarce as the territory emerges from famine in parts, and UNICEF recently reported that starving mothers are giving birth to malnourished babies, some of whom have died in hospitals. Winter rains have compounded the hardship, flooding makeshift tent camps and exposing families to the cold without proper supplies.
Israel has temporarily halted all aid entry at least once in response to alleged violations of the ceasefire by Hamas. The moves on settlements and the aid shortfall add to the political and logistical headwinds facing diplomatic efforts to stabilize the conflict and prevent further deterioration.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
