Palestinian | Pakistan

Israel’s hardline finance minister announced on Wednesday a major expansion by more than 2,000 homes of three Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank that Palestinians hope will be part of a future independent state. Most nations consider Israeli settlements there to be illegal under international law and a major obstacle to a two-state solution for long-term peace. Bezalel Smotrich, who holds authority over parts of Israel’s civilian administration in the West Bank, said a planning committee approved the construction of 2,162 new Jewish homes. They include 1,006 units in a new settlement near Jerusalem, 922 near the Palestinian city of Nablus and 234 near Hebron. “We are continuing to build the Land of Israel in practice,” said Smotrich, an ultra-nationalist sanctioned by Britain, France and others who accuse him of inciting violence against Palestinians. Smotrich has denounced the sanctions against him, saying the measures would not change Israeli policy. The new homes would “strengthen our hold on the...

• Foreign Minister Fidan says platform may include Pakistan, Turkiye, S. Arabia, Egypt, Gulf states and potentially Iran • Gaza death toll nears 73,000 with seven more killings in a day TURKIYE’S Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, has said that Israel can join a cooperative “regional platform” if it recognises a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, according to an Al Jazeera report. “If that problem is solved, I think the security of Israel will be very much assisted by the regional countries, too,” he told Nikkei Asia. Fidan said this framework could include Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, other Gulf countries, and “when things come [back to] normal, maybe Iran should also be part of it”. “All the countries in the region should be committing to each other’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and security,” Fidan told Nikkei. These comments come as Turkiye is expected to host a pivotal Nato summit in July in Ankara. On Monday, Trump laid out his vision for expanding the Abraham Accords, a series of no...

Israel’s military on Tuesday announced the dismissal of its former top lawyer, months after she resigned amid a scandal involving a leaked video appearing to show soldiers severely abusing a Palestinian detainee. The case, which sparked international outrage as well as protests within Israel, focused on footage taken at the high-security Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel in 2024. The scandal led to the resignation last year of military advocate general, MG Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who in her resignation letter acknowledged that her office had leaked the abuse video to the media. “From the moment suspicions arose regarding the former Military Advocate General in the ‘Sde Teiman’ affair, the Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, decided to immediately suspend her from IDF service,” the military said in a statement. “In light of the prolonged criminal proceedings, and given the severity of the alleged actions and suspicions, the Chief of the General Staff has decided to dismiss the ...

United States President Donald Trump’s administration threatened to revoke the visas of the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations if the Palestinian ambassador refuses to end his candidacy for the vice presidency of the UN General Assembly, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters. In a cable dated Wednesday, US diplomats in its embassy in Jerusalem are instructed to deliver the message that Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour’s general assembly bid “fuels tensions”, risks undermining Trump’s Gaza peace plan and would therefore face consequences from Washington if it went ahead. “To be clear, we will hold the PA responsible if the Palestinian delegation does not withdraw its VPGA candidacy,” the cable, marked sensitive but unclassified, said, referring to the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank. Among the talking points provided in the cable to US diplomats, the State Department’s September 2025 decision to waive visa sanctions for...

Israel on Thursday threatened to take The New York Times to court over a piece it published denouncing allegedly widespread sexual abuse against Palestinian detainees. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar have ordered the “initiation of a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times”, according to a joint statement issued by their offices. The offices said that the piece by Nicholas Kristof, a prominent opinion columnist, was “one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press, which also received the backing of the newspaper”. Kristof’s investigation is based on testimonies gathered in the Israeli-occupied West Bank from 14 men and women who said that they had been sexually assaulted by Israeli settlers or members of the security forces. The report described “a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children — by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency an...

China called on Friday for Palestinians’ rights to be protected after Israel approved a bill to allow the execution of Palestinians convicted on terror charges for deadly attacks. Under the new law, passed by Israel’s parliament on Monday, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank convicted by military courts of carrying out deadly attacks classified as “terrorism” will face the death penalty as a default sentence. “The legal rights of the Palestinian people should be respected and protected,” China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said when asked about the bill at a press briefing on Friday. “We also hope relevant parties will cease actions that escalate tensions and exacerbate conflict,” she said, without mentioning Israel by name. “China believes that any law should fulfil legal principles such as equality and justice and should not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, religion or nationality or political views,” Mao added. A host of countries have criticised the bill, which was supported by Israeli...

The Israeli military said on Thursday that it had dropped charges against five soldiers accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee at the high-security Sde Teiman prison, a case that had sparked widespread outrage. “In light of significant developments since the filing of the indictment in the Sde Teiman case, the military advocate general decided today to order the cancellation of the indictment against the five defendants,” the military said. In February 2025, the military announced that five reservists had been charged over the alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee in July 2024 at the Sde Teiman detention centre near the Gaza Strip. At the time, the army said the soldiers were accused of “acting against the detainee with severe violence, including stabbing the detainee’s buttocks with a sharp object, which had penetrated near the detainee’s rectum”. A video of the soldiers sexually assaulting the Palestinian detainee had also surfaced. Explaining the decision to drop the charges, the military sai...

London police said on Saturday a man had been charged with criminal damage for graffitiing a statue of Britain’s World War II prime minister Winston Churchill with pro-Palestinian slogans. The monument in the central Parliament Square was smeared with red paint early on Friday and “Zionist war criminal” among the slogans written on it. The Metropolitan Police said Caspar San Giorgio, 38, of no fixed address, was charged early on Saturday, some 24 hours after his arrest. He had been detained within minutes of officers being alerted to the incident, according to the force. He was due to appear at a London magistrates’ court later on Saturday. The words “free Palestine” and “stop the genocide” were also sprayed on the statue, which workers cleaned off on Friday. The incident prompted Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office to call the damage “completely abhorrent” and commend police for the swift arrest. “Churchill was a great Briton,” a spokesman said. The 3.6 metre Churchill statue has been vandalised a number of...

Muslim and European countries, including Pakistan, on Wednesday condemned Israeli attempts aimed at the “unacceptable de facto annexation” of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. A joint statement by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Brazil, France, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Egypt, Pakistan, Luxembourg, Norway, Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, the League of Arab States and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said that recent changes made by Israel to reclaim land in the occupied West Bank as “state property” are “wide-ranging” and accelerate illegal settlement activity and further entrench Israeli administration. Earlier this month, the Israeli government approved a proposal to register large areas of the occupied West Bank as “state property” for the first time since the Israeli occupation of the territory in 1967, in clear violation of international law, which states that an occupying power cannot confiscate land in occupied territories....

Pakistan has dispatched a special aircraft carrying 100 tons of tents to provide relief assistance to the Palestinian people.

Israel said on Sunday it was terminating the humanitarian operations of the international charity Doctors Without Borders in Gaza after the organisation failed to provide a list of its Palestinian staff. “The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism is moving to terminate the activities of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the Gaza Strip,” the ministry said. The decision follows “MSF’s failure to submit lists of local employees, a requirement applicable to all humanitarian organisations operating in the region”, it added, stating that the group will cease its work and leave Gaza by February 28. In December, the ministry announced it would prevent 37 aid organisations, including MSF, from operating in Gaza from March 1 for failing to provide detailed information about their Palestinian staff. It had alleged that two MSF employees had links with Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which the medical charity vehemently denies. On Sunday, the ministry said MSF had committed in early January ...

Pakistan has told the UN Security Council that the realisation of Palestinian statehood through a credible, time-bound political process remains the central objective of international efforts. Speaking at a Security Council open debate on the Palestinian question on Wednesday, Pakistan emphasised that the establishment of “an independent, sovereign, and contiguous state of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital” is the ultimate goal supported by the international community and essential for regional stability. Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said the unresolved Palestinian question lies at the heart of Middle East instability. He highlighted decades of Israeli occupation marked by dispossession, repression, and the denial of Palestinians’ inalienable rights, including self-determination. Referring to continued Israeli aggression in Gaza, Ahmad noted that over the past two years, the crisis has escalated to an unprece...

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was backing the newly appointed “Palestinian Technocratic Government” in Gaza, where Washington has announced the launch of a second phase in a ceasefire that went into effect in October but remains fragile. “I am backing a newly appointed Palestinian Technocratic Government, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, supported by the Board’s High Representative, to govern Gaza during its transition,” Trump said on social media. Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas signed off in October on Trump’s plan, which says the Palestinian technocratic body will be overseen by an international so-called “Board of Peace” that is meant to supervise Gaza’s governance for a transitional period. In another post, Trump said the “Board of Peace,” of which Trump himself is the chair, was formed, and its members would be announced shortly. Israel and Hamas have accused each other of ceasefire violations in Gaza, where, since the start of the truce in October, over 440 ...

NEW DELHI: Police in India-occupied Kashmir summoned a local cricketer for questioning on Friday after a video showing him wearing a helmet bearing a Palestinian flag sparked online outrage. According to the Indian Express newspaper, police initiated a 14-day preliminary inquiry after the video circulated on social media, purportedly showing Furqanul Haq, a resident of Pulwama, wearing the helmet during a local league match in Jammu. Police said the inquiry was ordered in view of the “sensitivity of the matter and its potential public order implications” and would examine the facts, the cricketer’s intent, and any possible linkages. Under the law, police can conduct preliminary inquiries with prior permission from a deputy superintendent of police for cognisable offences punishable by three to seven years of imprisonment. The controversy occurred during a match of the Jammu and Kashmir Champions League at Muthi, 10 kilometres from Jammu, after Furqan walked in to bat for his team, JK Eleven Kings, against Jam...

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday adopted a resolution calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied Palestinian territory, with Pakistan, which voted in favour of the text, reiterating that Palestinians must be allowed to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination. The resolution, titled ‘Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine’, was adopted with 151 countries voting in favour, 11 voting against and 11 abstaining, according to the summary posted by the UN. According to the summary, the UNGA, through the resolution, “stressed the need for urgent, collective efforts to launch credible negotiations on all final status issues in the Middle East peace process and called for the timely convening of an international conference in Moscow — as envisioned by Security Council resolution 1850 (2008) — to advance a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement”. “The Assembly also called on both parties to act responsibly, urgently reverse negative trends and create the co...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday said Pakistan was ready to commit its troops to the Gaza peace force, but distanced the country from any role in disarming the Palestinian resistance group Hamas. A cornerstone of the United States-brokered Gaza Peace Agreement is the establishment of the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), composed mainly of troops from Muslim-majority countries. According to officials close to the discussions, an announcement is expected soon from the federal government regarding the decision. Officials familiar with the deliberations, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said discussions within the government and military establishment were at an “advanced stage”. According to them, the tone of internal consultations suggests that Islamabad is inclined to take part in the mission. Last week, the UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted a US-drafted resolution endorsing President Donald Trump’s plan to end the conflict in Gaza. The ...

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Tuesday his country wanted to normalise relations with Israel through US President Donald Trump’s Abraham Accords, but first needed a “clear path” to Palestinian statehood. “We want to be part of the Abraham Accords. But we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path to a two-state solution,” the prince said in the Oval Office alongside Trump. “We’re going to work on that, to be sure that we can prepare the right situation as soon as possible,” he added. Trump said that he received a “positive response” from the Saudi crown prince about joining the Abraham Accords. The US president made the remarks in response to a question during a joint press conference with the Saudi Crown Prince, also known as MBS, during his visit to Washington. View this post on Instagram When asked about selling F-35 stealth fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, Trump replied in the affirmative, adding that they would be “pretty similar” to those owned by Israel, the jet’s sole operator in the M...

Gaza’s Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday said it had received the bodies of 15 Palestinian prisoners under the US-brokered ceasefire exchange deal. “The tenth batch of the bodies of Palestinian martyrs has arrived at Nasser Medical Complex in the Gaza Strip, numbering 15 martyrs,” the hospital said in a statement, noting that 285 bodies were received under the agreement in total. They were returned in exchange for the latest hostage body handed back from Gaza on Tuesday, that of Israeli-American soldier Itay Chen. Under the terms of the US-brokered agreement in effect since October 10, Israel returns 15 bodies of Palestinians for every body it receives of an Israeli hostage who had been held in Gaza. At the start of the truce, Hamas held 48 hostages in Gaza — 20 alive and 28 deceased. The militants have since released all the surviving captives, as well as 21 of the deceased’s remains. Israel has accused Hamas of dragging its feet in returning the bodies of deceased hostages, whi...

Israel’s coordinator for hostages and missing persons said on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports a bill that would authorise the execution of Palestinian prisoners. The far-right Jewish Power party, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, submitted the bill, which will go to a first reading in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) on Wednesday. The draft law states: “The death penalty shall be imposed on any person who intentionally, or through indifference, causes the death of an Israeli citizen out of racist motives, hatred, or intent to harm the State of Israel.” Bills in Israel must pass three readings in the Knesset to become law. Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported that Coordinator Gal Hirsch told the Knesset’s National Security Committee on Monday that Netanyahu had expressed support for the measure. Hirsch said he had previously opposed the bill “because of the risk it posed to the lives of the living hostages in Gaza”. “The hostages are now alive, and therefore my oppos...

The former advocate general of the Israeli military, who had resigned last week after admitting to leaking a video to the media that allegedly showed Israeli soldiers raping a Palestinian prisoner, was arrested hours after she was reported to have gone missing, according to the The Times of Israel. Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi had resigned from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) over a criminal inquiry into the leaking of a video that allegedly showed soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee arrested during the Gaza conflict. She said that she was stepping down because she had approved the video’s leak in August last year. In a report on Sunday, the Times of Israel said that Tomer-Yerushalmi was reported missing by her family, which prompted a search by authorities. “The large search, involving police, rescue forces, and the military, was carried out after she was unreachable for several hours, and her car was later found at Hatzuk Beach near Tel Aviv. Hebrew media outlets reported that she had l...