Israel Is Ramping up Annexation of West Bank, UN Rights Chief Says 

Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
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Israel Is Ramping up Annexation of West Bank, UN Rights Chief Says 

Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)

Israel has significantly expanded and consolidated settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of the steady integration of these territories into the State of Israel, in breach of international law, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday.

The report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council later this month comes amid growing fears of annexation amid US policy shifts under President Donald Trump and new settler outposts in areas of the West Bank seen as part of a future Palestinian state.

"The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime," UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement accompanying the report, urging the international community to take meaningful action on Israel’s advancing settlement.

"Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers," he said.

Israel disengaged from the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year, alleging a chronic anti-Israeli bias. Its military says it is conducting counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank and targeting suspected militants.



At Least 7 Sudanese Migrants Found Dead after Being Stranded in Libyan Desert

A view from the Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya, where two approximately 7,000-year-old Pastoral Neolithic female individuals were buried, is seen in this handout photo released on April 2, 2025. Archaeological Mission in the Sahara, Sapienza University of Rome/Handout via REUTERS
A view from the Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya, where two approximately 7,000-year-old Pastoral Neolithic female individuals were buried, is seen in this handout photo released on April 2, 2025. Archaeological Mission in the Sahara, Sapienza University of Rome/Handout via REUTERS
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At Least 7 Sudanese Migrants Found Dead after Being Stranded in Libyan Desert

A view from the Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya, where two approximately 7,000-year-old Pastoral Neolithic female individuals were buried, is seen in this handout photo released on April 2, 2025. Archaeological Mission in the Sahara, Sapienza University of Rome/Handout via REUTERS
A view from the Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya, where two approximately 7,000-year-old Pastoral Neolithic female individuals were buried, is seen in this handout photo released on April 2, 2025. Archaeological Mission in the Sahara, Sapienza University of Rome/Handout via REUTERS

At least seven Sudanese migrants were found dead on Friday after their vehicle broke down and left them stranded for days deep in the Libyan desert, according to an ambulance service official.

The car was carrying 34 Sudanese when it broke down some after crossing Libya's border from Chad and onto a deserted path often used by smugglers, Ebrahim Belhassan, director of the Kufra Ambulance and Emergency Services, told The Associated Press.

They were discovered in the sand dunes after 11 days, having run out of food and water, he said.

"The survivors were almost about to die. They are severely dehydrated and exhibiting signs of distress and trauma with such circumstances and given that they’re seeing those around them dying and they know if they will die next,” he said. The 22 rescued, including five children, were transferred to Kufra for further medical checkups.

Five people are missing, but Belhassan said hopes were slim they would survive on foot in a vast desert.

A smuggler who found them alerted emergency crews, Belhassan said.

Libya, which shares borders with six nations and has a long coastline along the Mediterranean, is a main transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East to seek better lives in Europe. The International Organization for Migration estimates around 787,000 migrants and refugees from various nationalities lived in Libya as of 2024.

During last year, the Kufra ambulance service responded to emergencies involving more than 260 Sudanese migrants found in the desert, Belhassan said.