Gang Arrested for Plotting to Sell Palestinian Land to Israeli Settlement Firms

General view of the Israeli settlement of Efrat, in the occupied West Bank February 7, 2017. (Reuters)
General view of the Israeli settlement of Efrat, in the occupied West Bank February 7, 2017. (Reuters)
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Gang Arrested for Plotting to Sell Palestinian Land to Israeli Settlement Firms

General view of the Israeli settlement of Efrat, in the occupied West Bank February 7, 2017. (Reuters)
General view of the Israeli settlement of Efrat, in the occupied West Bank February 7, 2017. (Reuters)

Palestinian intelligence managed to arrest a gang that was suspected of selling Palestinian property to Israel, a high-ranking intelligence source said on Monday.

The suspects worked as an organized gang. Four of the detainees, including a lawyer, acted as the leaders of this group. They are suspected of planning to sell Palestinian lands to Israeli settlement firms.

The lands are spread in several regions, including Jerusalem, Qalqilya, Nablus and Tulkarm. A 48-year Arab Palestinian broker residing in Israel aided the suspects in their operations.

Palestinian intelligence reported that one of the fugitive suspects, along with the broker, is currently taking shelter in Israel. The cost of the deals, had they been struck, would have reached 8 million Jordanian dinars.

After completing intelligence follow-up procedures, the suspects were arrested and all measures they were taking to complete the deal were stopped. The suspects were referred to the Public Prosecution to carry on legal procedures.

The Palestinian intelligence requested that citizens exercise full caution when selling land, especially in the Israeli-occupied Jerusalem, border regions and areas close to settlements, stressing that citizens should notify relevant authorities regarding any suspicious activity.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.