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IOM Chief Says Cannot Replace UNRWA but Keen to Step up Support

A destroyed truck that was used by workers of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is loaded onto another truck after it was hit in an Israeli air strike on Salah Al Dine road between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis town southern Gaza Strip, 23 October 2024. (EPA)
A destroyed truck that was used by workers of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is loaded onto another truck after it was hit in an Israeli air strike on Salah Al Dine road between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis town southern Gaza Strip, 23 October 2024. (EPA)
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IOM Chief Says Cannot Replace UNRWA but Keen to Step up Support

A destroyed truck that was used by workers of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is loaded onto another truck after it was hit in an Israeli air strike on Salah Al Dine road between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis town southern Gaza Strip, 23 October 2024. (EPA)
A destroyed truck that was used by workers of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is loaded onto another truck after it was hit in an Israeli air strike on Salah Al Dine road between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis town southern Gaza Strip, 23 October 2024. (EPA)

The head of the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday that the agency was keen to step up its support to people in crisis following the Israeli decision to ban the UN relief agency UNRWA but there was "no way" it can replace its work in Gaza.

"UNRWA is absolutely essential to the people of Gaza, and I don't want to leave anyone with the misimpression that IOM can play that role, because we cannot, but we can provide support to those people who are currently in crisis," IOM Director-General Amy Pope told reporters.

"That is a role that we are very, very keen to play, and one that we will be stepping up with the support of various stakeholders."

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Germany Tells Israeli Government to Stop West Bank Settlement Construction

A general view shows the E1 area, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, between the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, left and the occupied West Bank town of Eizariya, right, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP)
A general view shows the E1 area, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, between the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, left and the occupied West Bank town of Eizariya, right, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP)
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Germany Tells Israeli Government to Stop West Bank Settlement Construction

A general view shows the E1 area, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, between the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, left and the occupied West Bank town of Eizariya, right, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP)
A general view shows the E1 area, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, between the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, left and the occupied West Bank town of Eizariya, right, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP)

Germany on Friday called on the Israeli government to stop settlement construction in the West Bank after Israel's far-right finance minister said work would start on a plan for thousands of home that would divide the Palestinian territory.

Germany "firmly rejects the Israeli government's announcements regarding the approval of thousands of new housing units in Israeli settlements in the West Bank," said a foreign ministry spokesperson in a statement.

Plans for the "E1" settlement and the expansion of Maale Adumim would further restrict the mobility of the Palestinian population in the West Bank by splitting it in half and cutting the area off from East Jerusalem, said the spokesperson.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Thursday that work would start on the long-delayed settlement, a move that his office said would "bury" the idea of a Palestinian state.

In a statement, Smotrich's spokesperson said the minister had approved the plan to build 3,401 houses for Israeli settlers between an existing settlement in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Germany has repeatedly warned the Israeli government to stop settlement construction in the West Bank, which violates international law and UN Security Council resolutions.

Such moves complicate steps towards a negotiated two-state solution and end to Israeli occupation of the West Bank, said the spokesperson.