Israel Resumes Construction of Separation Wall in Southern West Bank

Part of the construction work on the separation barrier in the vicinities of Salem village on Israel’s northern border with the West Bank. (DPA)
Part of the construction work on the separation barrier in the vicinities of Salem village on Israel’s northern border with the West Bank. (DPA)
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Israel Resumes Construction of Separation Wall in Southern West Bank

Part of the construction work on the separation barrier in the vicinities of Salem village on Israel’s northern border with the West Bank. (DPA)
Part of the construction work on the separation barrier in the vicinities of Salem village on Israel’s northern border with the West Bank. (DPA)

The Israeli army announced Friday that its forces and engineering units launched the construction work on the southern West Bank section of the separation barrier between the occupied territories in 1948 and 1967.

The army said the step aims to prevent Palestinians from southern Hebron from entering Israel, under the pretext of “preventing and thwarting terrorist operations.”

The military said in a statement that the work has already led to a “significant decrease in the number of illegal infiltrations into Israeli territory.”

It pointed out that 60 engineering vehicles and three battalions were working to build the barrier in the Judean Desert area in the West Bank.

The plan included digging a deep trench over some 20 kilometers to prevent the passage of people and vehicles.

The Israeli army said that five kilometers of the trench have already been dug and other seven-and-a-half kilometers have been prepared, in coordination with the Nature and Parks Authority and the Israel Antiquities Authority.

According to the army, resuming the construction wall is part of its “Waves Breaker” ongoing operation, launched in the West Bank back in March.

Under the operation, Israeli forces carry out large-scale arrests among Palestinians under the pretext of “arresting wanted persons and suspects in security cases and thwarting sabotage acts using public and secret means.”

Dozens of people were detained as part of the campaign, and about 20 were killed, including journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

However, the occupation army described it as a “successful campaign” that led to “a significant decrease in the number of infiltrations in recent weeks through the so-called Seam Zone (the area between the separation fence and Israel).”

Although work has just begun, the army stated that in recent weeks its forces were able to prevent more than 200 vehicles from entering Israel illegally.

It said it arrested dozens of stolen Israeli vehicles, as well as suspected infiltrators who tried to enter Israeli territory without permits.

The army leadership also established a brigade headquarters with specific tasks in the Seam Zone. It comprises two battalions and aims to boost protection along the zone and prevent infiltrators from crossing.

“The construction at the barrier is a clear example of the development of our capabilities. The project was established with the goal of reducing the number of illegal infiltrations into Israel. By working on the barrier, we thwart terrorist attacks,” Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi said in remarks provided by the military.

“Our mission is that there will be zero terrorist attacks, and we will continue to operate as needed to stop this wave of terror and complete the mission,” he said.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Army Chief Aviv Kohavi, and his deputy, Major General Herzi Halevi, have recently toured the area and were briefed on the progress in the construction work.

Kohavi cited the “wave of terrorism that hit Israel,” stressing that his forces responded with force and determination by launching the military operation Waves Breaker, in which all army units, including intelligence, information and communications technology, units and battalions of the Judea and Samaria Division and the Central Command, have taken part.

He affirmed that the operation aims to defend Israeli citizens and prevent terrorist acts.

Israel decided to build the barrier in June 2002, at the height of the second intifada, or uprising.

Eighty-five percent of the still-unfinished barrier is inside the West Bank, carving off nearly 10% of its territory.

The Palestinians view it as an illegal land grab and the International Court of Justice in 2004 said the barrier was “contrary to international law.”

The United Nations estimates that some 150 Palestinian communities have farmland inside the West Bank but west of the barrier. Some 11,000 Palestinians live in this so-called Seam Zone, requiring Israeli permits just to stay in their homes.

The UN also estimates that about 65% of the roughly 710-kilometer (450-mile) structure has been completed.



No Breakthrough in Gaza Talks, Egyptian and Palestinian Sources Say

 Palestinians carry a casualty removed from under the rubble at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip April 13, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians carry a casualty removed from under the rubble at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip April 13, 2025. (Reuters)
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No Breakthrough in Gaza Talks, Egyptian and Palestinian Sources Say

 Palestinians carry a casualty removed from under the rubble at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip April 13, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians carry a casualty removed from under the rubble at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip April 13, 2025. (Reuters)

The latest round of talks in Cairo to restore the defunct Gaza ceasefire and free Israeli hostages ended with no apparent breakthrough, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said on Monday.

The sources said Hamas had stuck to its position that any agreement must lead to an end to the war in Gaza.

Israel, which restarted its military campaign in Gaza last month after a ceasefire agreed in January unraveled, has said it will not end the war until Hamas is stamped out. The group has ruled out any proposal that it lay down its arms.

But despite that fundamental disagreement, the sources said a Hamas delegation led by the group's Gaza Chief Khalil Al-Hayya had shown some flexibility over how many hostages it could free in return for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel should a truce be extended.

An Egyptian source told Reuters the latest proposal to extend the truce would see Hamas free an increased number of hostages. Israeli minister Zeev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet, told Army Radio on Monday that Israel was seeking the release of around 10 hostages, raised from previous Hamas consent to free five.

Hamas has asked for more time to respond to the latest proposal, the Egyptian source said.

"Hamas has no problem, but it wants guarantees Israel agrees to begin the talks on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement" leading to an end to the war, the Egyptian source said.

AIRSTRIKES

Hamas freed 33 Israeli hostages in return for hundreds of Palestinian detainees during the six-week first phase of the ceasefire which began in January. But the second phase, which was meant to begin at the start of March and lead to the end of the war, was never launched.

Since restarting their military campaign last month, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,500 Palestinians, many of them civilians, and uprooted hundreds of thousands, seizing swathes of territory and imposing a total blockade on all supplies to the entire enclave.

Meanwhile, 59 Israeli hostages remain in the hands of Hamas. Israel believes up to 24 of them are alive.

Palestinians say the wave of Israeli attacks since the collapse of the ceasefire has been among the deadliest and most intense of the war, hitting an exhausted population surviving in the enclave's ruins.

In Jabalia, a community on Gaza's northern edge, rescue workers in orange vests were trying to smash through concrete with a sledgehammer to recover bodies buried underneath a building that collapsed in an Israeli strike.

Feet and a hand of one person could be seen under a concrete slab. Men carried a body wrapped in a blanket. Workers at the scene said as many as 25 people had been killed.

The Israeli military said it had struck there against fighters planning an ambush.

In Khan Younis in the south, a camp of makeshift tents had been shredded into piles of debris by an airstrike. Families had returned to poke through the rubbish in search of belongings.

"We used to live in houses. They were destroyed. Now, our tents have been destroyed too. We don't know where to stay," said Ismail al-Raqab, who returned to the area after his family fled the raid before dawn.

EGYPT'S SISI MEETS QATARI EMIR

The leaders of the two Arab countries that have led the ceasefire mediation efforts, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, met in Doha on Sunday. The Egyptian source said Sisi had called for additional international guarantees for a truce agreement, beyond those provided by Egypt and Qatar themselves.

US President Donald Trump, who has backed Israel's decision to resume its campaign and called for the Palestinian population of Gaza to leave the territory, said last week that progress was being made in returning the hostages.

The war was triggered by Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 50,900 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities.