Palestine Week: Israel's Land Seizures Quiet but Increasingly Brazen

This week, the land-grab campaign once pursued informally by Israeli officials was declared publicly in several places. In Hebron, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the “cancellation” of the 1997 Hebron Agreement, stripping the Palestinian Authority of planning authority over the Old City and the Ibrahimi Mosque.

In Gaza, Israeli television reported that after the U.S. blocked a new ground offensive, Israel chose a strategy officials call “quiet annexation” – pushing control lines westward without formal announcement.

At the Bureij refugee camp, an Israeli airstrike killed Al Jazeera Mubasher cameraman Ahmed Wishah, the 12th network staffer killed in Gaza since October 2023.

Annexation: Quiet and Open

Speaking at the inauguration of the new illegal settlement Doran, Smotrich said Israel had canceled the Hebron Agreement and taken control of planning in the occupied West Bank's H2 area, which includes Israeli settlements and the Ibrahimi Mosque. The Israeli Foreign Ministry later partially denied this, saying the agreement was not canceled but that planning authority was transferred to the Jewish community and the holy site. The Palestinian Authority called the move illegal, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation warned it undermines the city's status, and the U.S. State Department said it “does not support Israeli annexation of the West Bank.”

In Gaza, a parallel annexation process unfolded quietly but deliberately. Israel's Channel 13 reported that after the Trump administration blocked a major ground campaign, Israel opted for “creeping annexation” – expanding the so-called Golden Road westward and conducting periodic incursions. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights estimates Israeli forces now control about 64% of Gaza, up from 53% under the October 10 ceasefire agreement.

The West Bank saw a brazen expansion of the illegal settlement system and the Israeli security apparatus. The Israeli military built its first permanent outpost since the Oslo Accords in Area A – the area under Palestinian administrative control. Bulldozers operated all week to establish a military base and carry out a “Red” barrier cutting off the Jordan Valley from Nablus and Tubas. In a rare operation, Israeli border police destroyed homes in four settlement outposts, but the Israeli Civil Administration also approved 576 new settlement housing units.

Post-Ceasefire Death Toll Exceeds 1,000; Al Jazeera Journalist Killed

More than eight months after a nominal ceasefire, fighting continues. The post-ceasefire death toll exceeded 1,000 on June 17 and reached 1,024 by June 22, with a total of over 73,000 killed since October 2023. On June 20, an airstrike killed three people, including journalist Ahmed Wishah, the 12th Al Jazeera staffer murdered in Gaza. Al Jazeera condemned the incident and rejected the Israeli military’s unsubstantiated claim that Wishah was a Hamas member.

Israel's Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who is detained without charge, in solitary confinement, and showing signs of torture. International pressure mounted: Norway announced plans to ban trade with West Bank settlements, 85 U.S. lawmakers urged Washington to halt the E1 settlement project, and the United Nations warned it could blacklist Israeli settlement groups for serious violations against children. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar cut off contact with the EU's top diplomat after comments comparing Israeli policy to apartheid.

The UN said fuel entering Gaza this week fell short of needs, forcing humanitarian organizations to ration for life-saving services. More than 520 surgeries and endoscopies risk suspension due to a lack of disinfectant. Humanitarian missions are currently funded at only 24% of requirements. UN relief director Tom Fletcher warned that no hospital in Gaza is fully operational and that Gaza is being “kept afloat by stopgap humanitarian fixes and Palestinian endurance.”

Night of the Mosques and the Water War

In highland farming villages and Bedouin pastoral communities, settlers increasingly target two pillars of Palestinian society: mosques and water sources. In the early hours of June 17, in the villages of Jiljiliya and Mazraa al-Nubani, settlers set fire to a mosque and spray-painted Hebrew graffiti reading “Night of the Mosques” – evoking Kristallnacht of 1938. The Israeli military confirmed the attack but named no suspects; eight Arab and Muslim nations condemned it.

Alongside the mosque attacks, systematic assaults on Palestinian water systems continued in the summer heat. For the third straight week, settlers attacked the Bedouin family of Nayef Khalaife, cutting both water and power lines. They used heavy machinery to destroy the main water pipeline of the Umm Safa community, cut pipelines around the Atouf and Khan al-Ahmar communities, and confiscated water tanker trucks. Israeli media cited the figure of 440 unlicensed Palestinian wells, calling it “water terrorism,” while in reality Israel controls shared aquifers under the Oslo Accords, and Israeli settlers enjoy disproportionate water allocations compared to Palestinians.

On June 22, two young Palestinians, Issa Awad (19) and Rida Awad (15), were shot dead near the Karmei Tzur settlement; their bodies were withheld. The Israeli military said the two had thrown firebombs.