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Israeli Settlers Believe US Criticism of Expansion a Formality, Plan to Proceed

The new housing projects in the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev in the West Bank (AP)
The new housing projects in the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev in the West Bank (AP)
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Israeli Settlers Believe US Criticism of Expansion a Formality, Plan to Proceed

The new housing projects in the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev in the West Bank (AP)
The new housing projects in the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev in the West Bank (AP)

Israeli Settlements Minister Orit Strock will proceed with her settlement-expanding projects for the benefit of the settlers, considering the US criticism of increasing funding a formality, according to informed sources.

The sources said Strock is happy to collect about $280 million, seeking to allocate another billion from the 2023-2024 budget to strengthen the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria, even if Washington does not like this.

The settlers' website, Channel 7, revealed that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich would allocate vast amounts of money estimated at hundreds of millions under vague items for settlements, most of which are assigned to existing locations north of the Dead Sea, the Jordan Valley, and south of Hebron.

Smotrich is cooperating with the Ministry of the Interior to provide the infrastructure for several projects to bring in tens of thousands of new settlers.

The economic newspaper Calcalist revealed a plan to allocate about $180 million from the 2023-2024 budget to expand the settlements.

The newspaper stated that this money would be deducted from the budget of other ministries, including education, security, and foreign affairs, in addition to a third of the budget allocated to Strock's ministry.

The law enacted in the Knesset provides for the abolition of the "reasonableness law" and will make it easier for the government to push such decisions with such arbitrary standards without the court intervening to cancel it.

On Thursday, the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, met the Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, who is close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The meeting addressed the importance of de-escalating tensions and Washington's commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli conflict with Palestinians.

State Department Deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said that Blinken received the Israeli minister in Washington and told him that "expansion of settlements undermines the geographic viability of a two-state solution, and the US firmly opposes it.

Patel explained that Blinken and Dermer also discussed "regional challenges like the continued threat posed by Iran and its proxies, and they discussed Israel's further integration into the region."

In his press conference, the spokesman was asked about the Netanyahu government's plan, led by Stork, to allocate about $180 million to expand and build illegal settlements and outposts in the West Bank. He asserted the administration's "clear and consistent" opposition to expanding settlements.

"It incites tensions, and further harms trust between the two parties. And we strongly oppose the advancements of settlements and urge Israel to refrain from this activity, including promoting outposts. We take this issue very seriously, and it impinges on the viability of a two-state solution."

Patel said Blinken stressed the importance of Israel and the Palestinians taking positive steps to de-escalate tensions and promote stability in the West Bank.

The two officials also addressed the ongoing efforts to promote Israel's full integration into the Middle East, referring to US efforts to mediate a normalization agreement with Arab countries.

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Arab World

UN: Sudan Faces the World's Worst Humanitarian Crisis as Second Anniversary of War Nears

A Sudanese citizen and a resident of the Shambat neighbourhood of Khartoum, Abdulilah Mohamed, looks at items inside his destroyed and looted home, following his return to his family home after fleeing from civil war as the Sudanese army retakes ground, in the Sharg Elnil area in the state of Khartoum Sudan March 16, 2025. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A Sudanese citizen and a resident of the Shambat neighbourhood of Khartoum, Abdulilah Mohamed, looks at items inside his destroyed and looted home, following his return to his family home after fleeing from civil war as the Sudanese army retakes ground, in the Sharg Elnil area in the state of Khartoum Sudan March 16, 2025. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
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UN: Sudan Faces the World's Worst Humanitarian Crisis as Second Anniversary of War Nears

A Sudanese citizen and a resident of the Shambat neighbourhood of Khartoum, Abdulilah Mohamed, looks at items inside his destroyed and looted home, following his return to his family home after fleeing from civil war as the Sudanese army retakes ground, in the Sharg Elnil area in the state of Khartoum Sudan March 16, 2025. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A Sudanese citizen and a resident of the Shambat neighbourhood of Khartoum, Abdulilah Mohamed, looks at items inside his destroyed and looted home, following his return to his family home after fleeing from civil war as the Sudanese army retakes ground, in the Sharg Elnil area in the state of Khartoum Sudan March 16, 2025. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig

A nearly two-year-old war has engulfed Sudan in the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and led the African country to become the only nation experiencing famine, a senior UN official said Thursday.
Nearly 25 million people — half of Sudan’s population — face extreme hunger, while people are dying in famine-hit areas in western Darfur, said Shaun Hughes, the World Food Program’s emergency coordinator for Sudan and the region.
Sudan plunged into conflict on April 15, 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions, including the vast western Darfur region, The Associated Press said.
Since then, at least 20,000 people have been tallied as being killed, though the number is likely far higher.
“By any metric, this is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis,” Hughes told UN reporters, pointing to over 8 million people displaced within Sudan and 4 million who have fled across borders to seven countries that also face hunger and need humanitarian aid.
Famine was initially confirmed last August in Zamzam camp in North Darfur, where about 500,000 people sought refuge, but Hughes said it has since spread to 10 other areas in Darfur and Kordofan. He said 17 other areas are at risk of famine in coming months.
“The scale of what is unfolding in Sudan threatens to dwarf anything we have seen in decades,” Hughes said.
He warned in a video press conference from Nairobi that “tens of thousands more people will die in Sudan during a third year of war unless WFP and other humanitarian agencies have the access and the resources to reach those in need.”
Late last month, the Sudanese military regained control over Khartoum, a major symbolic victory in the war. But the rival Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group still controls most of Darfur and some other areas.
Hughes said what’s happening in Zamzam camp, which is caught in the conflict, is “horrific” — as is the situation in North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, which has been besieged by the RSF since May 2024. It is the only capital in Darfur that the RSF does not hold.
Hughes said WFP receives daily reports from its humanitarian partners and contacts on the ground in North Darfur “that excess mortality is occurring as a result of the famine.”
While WFP has not been able to reach Zamzam with a convoy since October, he said the agency has been able to help some 400,000 people there, in El Fasher and other camps, by transferring cash digitally into people’s bank accounts so they can buy food and other items. However, this is only possible where markets exist.
Hughes said WFP’s assistance to Sudanese people in need has tripled since mid-2024 and that the agency is now reaching over 3 million per month, mainly through a surge in the use of digital cash transfers.
WFP said it wants to help 7 million people in Sudan in the next six months but needs $650 million.
Hughes was asked whether Trump administration funding cuts were responsible for any of that needed amount. He replied: “All allocations that the US government has made to Sudan remain effective, for which we are grateful.”
WFP said it needs an additional $150 million to help people who have fled to Chad, South Sudan, Central African Republic and elsewhere.
“Without funding we either cut the number of people receiving assistance, or cut the amount of assistance we provide people,” Hughes said. “That’s already happening.”