Abbas Calls for Int’l Coalition Against Annexation

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas waves in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank on May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman/File Photo
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas waves in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank on May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman/File Photo
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Abbas Calls for Int’l Coalition Against Annexation

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas waves in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank on May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman/File Photo
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas waves in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank on May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman/File Photo

Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Saeb Erekat said that President Mahmoud Abbas instructed the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, to propose to the UN General Assembly the formation of an international coalition against Israeli annexation plans.

Abbas also demanded that an upcoming UN Security Council session be held at the level of foreign ministers instead of the representatives.

The Council will meet on June 24 to discuss Israel’s plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.

Erekat stated that the recent standpoints of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union, Russia and China are clear signs that Palestine has been able to gather an international coalition in support of its cause.

"It's necessary to provide an urgent Arab financial aid to help the Palestinian Authority’s treasury overcome the current difficult conditions," Erekat added.

The US wants the annexation plan to be part of the “Deal of the Century” announced by US President Donald Trump, while other countries fully reject the move.

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman met Thursday Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi to structure an annexation plan that is acceptable by the US administration, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

Another meeting is scheduled Sunday in the attendance of Ashkenazi, Gantz, Friedman, Netanyahu, and Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin.

Likud Minister Tzachi Hanegbi has warned that trouble would surface if Trump backed off from the plan.

Hanegbi stressed that this is the right time to implement the plan.



Israeli Airstrikes Kill 12 in Gaza, But Ground Fighting Less Intense

A Palestinian child plays near an unexploded Israeli missile among the rubble of a destroyed building at Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, 28 September 2024. (EPA)
A Palestinian child plays near an unexploded Israeli missile among the rubble of a destroyed building at Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, 28 September 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Airstrikes Kill 12 in Gaza, But Ground Fighting Less Intense

A Palestinian child plays near an unexploded Israeli missile among the rubble of a destroyed building at Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, 28 September 2024. (EPA)
A Palestinian child plays near an unexploded Israeli missile among the rubble of a destroyed building at Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, 28 September 2024. (EPA)

Israeli airstrikes pounded areas across the Gaza Strip on Monday killing 12, including a journalist and her family, medics said, although the intensity of the ground offensive has subsided as Israel steps up its fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Palestinian health officials said Wafa Al-Udaini, who wrote articles about the war in English advocating the Palestinian viewpoint, was killed when a missile struck her house in the central city of Deir Al-Balah, also killing her husband and their two children, Reuters reported.
There has been no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Udaini's death raised the number of Palestinian journalists killed in the Israeli offensive since Oct. 7 to 174, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.
In another strike, a Palestinian was killed and several were wounded in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, while in the northern town of Beit Hanoun an airstrike killed one man and injured others, medics said.
Later on Monday, an Israeli air strike on a house in Nuseirat, one of Gaza Strip's eight historic refugee camps, killed six people, health officials said.
Some residents said fighting and Israeli military activities in Gaza have declined slightly in the past week as Israel has escalated its military offensive against Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Friday. The group announced Nasrallah's death on Saturday.
While the intensity of the ground offensive has been lower, Israel has kept up its airstrikes in the enclave, they added.
Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel for almost a year, in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza.
In the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities released 12 Palestinians, including Khaled Al-Ser, head of the surgery unit at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, medics and Hamas media said. Palestinians freed by Israel have complained of torture and ill-treatment in Israeli jails, charges Israel denies.
Israel and Hamas have been fighting since gunmen from the Palestinian militant group stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing about 250 hostages, going by Israeli tallies.
Most of Gaza's population of 2.3 million has been displaced by the war, in which more than 41,500 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities.