Trump would oppose Israeli annexation of West Bank

Bangla Press Desk: US Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday President Donald Trump would oppose Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank and it would not happen, suggesting a move by Israeli lawmakers toward that end looked like a stupid "political stunt".

A bill applying Israeli law to the West Bank, a move tantamount to annexation of a territory that Palestinians seek for part of a future independent state, won preliminary approval from Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday.

Asked by reporters about the vote, Vance said: "If it was a political stunt, it is a very stupid one, and I personally take some insult to it."

Vance spoke after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that steps toward annexing the territory, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, could endanger Trump's plan to end the Gaza war, which has yielded a shaky ceasefire so far.

"The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of President Trump is that the West Bank will not be annexed. This will always be our policy," Vance said at the end of a two-day visit to Israel.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told a press conference at his ministry in Jerusalem that the annexation vote was a preliminary reading and that the government had so far not decided to advance the measure.

Israel is committed to Trump's Gaza plan, Saar added.

The US has long been Israel's most powerful and staunch major power ally and the Trump administration is particularly close to Israel with considerable sway over its leadership.

Senior White House officials and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner have been visiting Israel seeking to keep alive the 10-day-old truce between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants after two years of ruinous war in Gaza that has upended the Middle East. Rubio is due to arrive in Israel later on Thursday.

Overnight, residents reported almost constant heavy gunfire and tank shelling in eastern areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza and also east of Gaza City in the north of the Palestinian enclave.

Gaza health authorities said Israeli drone fire killed one Palestinian in southern Gaza.

“Gunfire and explosions almost didn’t stop until the morning, my three children woke up and asked me if the war had come back,” said Mohammad Abu Mansour, 40, a farmer living in central Gaza Strip. “When is this all going to end and we regain our normal lives without fears?” he said via a chat app.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the spate of shooting and shelling or the drone fire.

But witnesses said relative calm returned to the coastal territory after daybreak.

The US State Department said Rubio was visiting Israel to support the implementation of Trump's 20-point plan to end Gaza's war and pave the way towards reconstruction, stable governance and possible steps towards Palestinian statehood.

He was preceded by US Vice President JD Vance, who met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. Vance was due to meet Defence Minister Israel Katz and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Thursday before departing.

A bill applying Israeli law to the occupied West Bank, a move tantamount to annexation of land that Palestinians want for an independent state, won preliminary approval from Israel's parliament on Wednesday.

There are around 500,000 Jewish settlers living in settlements across the West Bank. The United Nations and much of the international community consider the settlements illegal under international law.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday said Israel should comply with an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling directing it to ensure Palestinians have the "basic needs" to survive.

"This is a very important decision. And I hope that Israel will abide by it," Guterres said when asked to respond to the ruling.

UN rights expert Francesca Albanese on Wednesday criticised a US-brokered ceasefire plan in Gaza as insufficient to address what she called a "genocide" of the Palestinian people by the United States and Israel.

The plan is "absolutely inadequate and it doesn't comply with international law", said Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The World Health Organization has said 15,000 Palestinians, desperately in need of medical treatment, are awaiting medical evacuation from Gaza, as the Rafah border crossing remains shut despite the ceasefire deal.

BP/SP