Palestinians Warn against Dozens of Settlement Plans

Palestinian demonstrators break a gate of the Israeli barrier during a protest against Israeli settlements in the outskirts of the village Kafr Thulth near the West Bank town of Qalqilya, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinian demonstrators break a gate of the Israeli barrier during a protest against Israeli settlements in the outskirts of the village Kafr Thulth near the West Bank town of Qalqilya, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
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Palestinians Warn against Dozens of Settlement Plans

Palestinian demonstrators break a gate of the Israeli barrier during a protest against Israeli settlements in the outskirts of the village Kafr Thulth near the West Bank town of Qalqilya, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinian demonstrators break a gate of the Israeli barrier during a protest against Israeli settlements in the outskirts of the village Kafr Thulth near the West Bank town of Qalqilya, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Palestinian parties warned on Saturday that dozens of settlement plans were being implemented at a quick pace to take advantage of the remaining term of US President Donald Trump.

The PLO’s National Office for the Defense of Land and Resistance of Settlement confirmed that the Israeli government holds onto its policy of imposing changes in the remainder of Trump’s term.

The office stated, in its weekly report, that "the end of the year 2020 and the beginning of the new year 2021 witnessed an increase in settlement activities, plans and tenders and attacks on citizens and their properties."

Lands were seized in town of Al-Khader in Basin (8) from the Al-Shifa site, Wadi Al-Hindi and Basin No. (1) from the Umm Al-Tala plot in Artas village, and Basin (4) from the site of Wa'r Abu Mehr and Al-Aqban, and Basin (5) from the meadows site in the village of Tamrah, to the east.

The Israeli Ministry of Interior published an announcement issued by the so-called "Supreme Planning Council of the Civil Administration" regarding a new settlement plan, which stipulates the confiscation of 1,008 dunums of lands from Azzun village in the Qalqilya governorate to build settlements.

The new settlement plan, No. /13/8/115, includes the construction of 1,406 units in the southeast of the "El Fei Menashe" settlement.

In occupied east Jerusalem, the Israeli municipality approved, in its last session, a plan to establish a large dumpsite to collect, sort, and burn waste on private Palestinian land between the settlement of “Ma'ale Adumim” and the “Mishor Adumim” industrial zone, according to the report.



UN Seeks $6 Billion to Ease Hunger Catastrophe in Sudan

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Seeks $6 Billion to Ease Hunger Catastrophe in Sudan

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)

UN officials on Monday asked for $6 billion for Sudan this year from donors to help ease what they called the world's worst ever hunger catastrophe and the mass displacement of people brought on by civil war.

The UN appeal represents a rise of more than 40% from last year's for Sudan at a time when aid budgets around the world are under strain, partly due to a pause in funding announced by US President Donald Trump last month that has affected life-saving programs across the globe.

The UN says the funds are necessary because the impact of the 22-month war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - that has already displaced a fifth of its population and stoked severe hunger among around half its population - looks set to worsen.

World Food Program chief Cindy McCain, speaking via video to a room full of diplomats in Geneva, said: "Sudan is now the epicenter of the world's largest and most severe hunger crisis ever."

She did not provide figures, but Sudan's total population currently stands at about 48 million people. Among previous world famines, the Bengal Famine of 1943 claimed between 2 million and 3 million lives, according to several estimates, while millions are believed to have died in the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-61.

Famine conditions have been reported in at least five locations in Sudan, including displacement camps in Darfur, a UN statement said, and this was set to worsen with continued fighting and the collapse of basic services.

"This is a humanitarian crisis that is truly unprecedented in its scale and its gravity and it demands a response unprecedented in scale and intent," UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said.

One of the famine-stricken camps was attacked by the RSF last week as the group tries to tighten its grip on its Darfur stronghold.

While some aid agencies say they have received waivers from Washington to provide aid in Sudan, uncertainty remains on the extent of coverage for providing famine relief.

The UN plan aims to reach nearly 21 million people within the country, making it the most ambitious humanitarian response so far for 2025, and requires $4.2 billion - the rest being for those displaced by the conflict.