PA Threatens Legal Action against US Ambassador to Israel

Rubble from a demolished building is seen in the Silwan neighborhood near Jerusalem. (Wafa)
Rubble from a demolished building is seen in the Silwan neighborhood near Jerusalem. (Wafa)
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PA Threatens Legal Action against US Ambassador to Israel

Rubble from a demolished building is seen in the Silwan neighborhood near Jerusalem. (Wafa)
Rubble from a demolished building is seen in the Silwan neighborhood near Jerusalem. (Wafa)

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is threatening to sue outgoing US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman in international courts for recognizing the City of David settlement project in the city of Jerusalem.

Known as the Silwan neighborhood, the area has been witnessing massive political and settler efforts to Judaize it. It has been called City of David in a blatant effort to rid it of its Palestinian residents, who remain undeterred. The neighborhood has consequently witnessed almost daily clashes between locals and settlers.

In a statement on Tuesday, the PA’s foreign ministry said that all of East Jerusalem is Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, and “it is the eternal capital of the State of Palestine despite Friedman and his outgoing administration, which has deviated from every legal, diplomatic or ethical norm.”

It considered that “Friedman's bigoted statements are a flagrant violation of international legitimacy and its resolutions, and international law and diplomatic traditions.”

The Ministry affirmed that it will take responsibility to follow up on this matter with legal experts and the concerned authorities to discuss the possibility of holding Friedman accountable before international and specialized courts.

At a ceremony Monday, Friedman and Paul Packer, Chairman of the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, dedicated a plaque to honor the City of David.

“I’ve often wondered, what monuments inspired our Founding Fathers?” Friedman asked during the ceremony.

“When the drafters of the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that our Creator had endowed each and every American with certain unalienable rights, what monuments inspired them? I suggest that those monuments are located right here, in the ancient City of Jerusalem,” he added.

Friedman’s observation and recognition were rejected by the PA as “illegal, invalid … and reflects Friedman’s intentions and the dark ideology he tries to attach not only to his country, but to the American constitution and principles, and to employ them for the benefit of the Israeli narrative in Jerusalem.”

Friedman was the first sitting US Ambassador to tour the City of David and has since then visited with numerous senior US officials.



94 Palestinians Killed in Gaza, Including 45 People Waiting for Aid

A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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94 Palestinians Killed in Gaza, Including 45 People Waiting for Aid

A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Airstrikes and shootings killed 94 Palestinians in Gaza overnight, including 45 while attempting to get much-needed humanitarian aid, hospitals and the Health Ministry said Thursday.

Israel’s military did not have immediate comment on the strikes, The Associated Press reported.

Five people were killed while outside sites associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the newly created, secretive American organization backed by Israel to feed the Gaza Strip’s population, while 40 others were killed waiting for aid trucks in other locations across the Gaza Strip.

Dozens of people were killed in airstrikes that pounded the Strip Wednesday night and Thursday morning, including 15 people killed in strikes that hit tents in the sprawling Muwasi zone, where many displaced Palestinians are sheltering, and a strike on a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has passed 57,000, including 223 missing people who have been declared dead. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its death count but says that more than half of the dead are women and children.

The deaths come as Israel and Hamas inch closer to a possible ceasefire that would end the 21-month war.

Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. But Hamas’ response, which emphasized its demand that the war end, raised questions about whether the latest offer could materialize into an actual pause in fighting.

The Israeli military blames Hamas for the civilian casualties because it operates from populated areas. The military said it targeted Hamas members and rocket launchers in northern Gaza that launched rockets towards Israel on Wednesday.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.

The war has left the coastal Palestinian territory in ruins, with much of the urban landscape flattened in the fighting. More than 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced, often multiple times. And the war has sparked a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, leaving hundreds of thousands of people hungry.