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Israel to OK New Homes for West Bank Settlers, Palestinians

A Jewish settler walks past Israeli settlement construction sites around Givat Zeev and Ramat Givat Zeev in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near Jerusalem June 30, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
A Jewish settler walks past Israeli settlement construction sites around Givat Zeev and Ramat Givat Zeev in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near Jerusalem June 30, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
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Israel to OK New Homes for West Bank Settlers, Palestinians

A Jewish settler walks past Israeli settlement construction sites around Givat Zeev and Ramat Givat Zeev in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near Jerusalem June 30, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
A Jewish settler walks past Israeli settlement construction sites around Givat Zeev and Ramat Givat Zeev in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near Jerusalem June 30, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Israel is set to approve construction of new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank but in a rare step will also grant permits for Palestinian housing construction, Reuters reported an Israeli security official as saying on Wednesday.

The planned permits for Palestinian housing in West Bank territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war appeared aimed at blunting US and international criticism of Israeli settlement construction, assailed by Palestinians and viewed by most countries as illegal.

The settlement approvals, expected next week, would be the first by new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's government since he and his cross-partisan coalition replaced longtime leader Benjamin Netanyahu in June.

Some 2,000 settler units are expected to be approved next week, the Israeli security official said. Around 1,000 Palestinian homes will be approved for construction in areas under complete Israeli military control, the official said.

Around 650 of the Palestinian homes will be near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, with approximately 150 in the central city of Bethlehem and another 150 further south.

There was no immediate comment from the Palestinians, who seek the West Bank, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, for a future state. Bennett's office did not provide comment on the settlement and Palestinian housing plans. The story was widely reported in the Israeli media.

The administration of US President Joe Biden, which took office in January, has warned against actions by Israel or the Palestinians that could undermine the viability of the two-state solution, including settlement construction.

Biden has sought to repair relations with the Palestinians which plummeted under former President Donald Trump, who embraced Israel's settlements.

CIA director William Burns was due to meet with Palestinian officials in Ramallah on Thursday, following earlier talks with Bennett, who is expected to meet Biden in Washington later this month.

The Palestinians and many countries regard Israel's settlements as illegal under the Geneva Conventions that bar settling on land captured in war.

Israel disputes this, citing security needs and biblical, historical and political connections to the land.

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Arab World

After 'Blank Ballot' Round, Hamas Resumes Vote for New Leader

Hamas leaders, from right: Rawhi Mushtaha, Saleh al-Arouri and Ismail Haniyeh (all of whom were killed), alongside Khaled Meshaal and Khalil al-Hayya (file photo - Hamas-affiliated media).
Hamas leaders, from right: Rawhi Mushtaha, Saleh al-Arouri and Ismail Haniyeh (all of whom were killed), alongside Khaled Meshaal and Khalil al-Hayya (file photo - Hamas-affiliated media).
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After 'Blank Ballot' Round, Hamas Resumes Vote for New Leader

Hamas leaders, from right: Rawhi Mushtaha, Saleh al-Arouri and Ismail Haniyeh (all of whom were killed), alongside Khaled Meshaal and Khalil al-Hayya (file photo - Hamas-affiliated media).
Hamas leaders, from right: Rawhi Mushtaha, Saleh al-Arouri and Ismail Haniyeh (all of whom were killed), alongside Khaled Meshaal and Khalil al-Hayya (file photo - Hamas-affiliated media).

Hamas has resumed voting to elect the head of its political bureau, the movement’s highest leadership position, after an initial round last month failed to produce a winner. The process was delayed after some voters submitted blank ballots rather than backing any candidate.

Former political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal and Khalil al-Hayya, the movement’s chief in Gaza and head of its negotiating team in ceasefire talks, are competing for the post.

Two Hamas sources in Gaza told Asharq Al-Awsat that voting in the runoff round has begun in the enclave. One source said eligible voters are participating through a more secretive and complex process because of difficult security conditions and ongoing targeted killings.

Hamas is facing its most severe crisis since its founding in 1987. Israeli operations launched after the October 7, 2023 attack have targeted the movement across multiple levels and branches, creating significant organizational and financial challenges.

The two sources, speaking separately, said ballots are being delivered to eligible voters in sealed envelopes. After selecting a candidate, voters return their ballots through channels governed by strict security procedures designed to protect both participants and those overseeing the election process.

The political bureau chief is elected by the movement’s Shura Council, a 71-member body representing Hamas’s three main constituencies: Gaza, the West Bank, and the external leadership. The council had 50 members about a decade ago, but its size was later expanded following amendments to the movement’s internal regulations.

The sources said voting is also expected to take place in the West Bank and among Hamas officials abroad, although neither could confirm whether the process has already begun in those arenas.

Fighters of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, stand guard as they search for the bodies of Israeli hostages alongside Red Cross workers in Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, 01 December 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

A More Secretive Runoff

On May 16, Hamas announced that the first round of voting had failed to determine a winner and said a second round would be held in accordance with the movement’s internal rules.

Under Hamas regulations, the runoff was expected to take place within 20 days. However, sources within the movement said security and political developments, including assassinations in Gaza and meetings between Hamas leaders abroad and regional mediators, delayed the process. They said the new round is being conducted under tighter secrecy than the first to prevent security breaches or media leaks.

Hamas leaders agreed to elect only a political bureau chief for now, postponing broader elections for the political bureau, the Shura Council, and other administrative bodies until early next year.

Israel killed Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July 2024. He was succeeded by Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in Gaza in October of the same year.

For roughly the past year and a half, Hamas has been run by a collective leadership council. Earlier this year, the movement launched a new effort to elect a leader to serve out the remainder of the current political bureau’s term, which was due to end in 2025 but was extended by an additional year, pending broader elections expected late this year or early next year.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on May 21 that some voters had cast blank ballots as a way of declining to endorse either candidate, al-Hayya or Meshaal. According to the sources, this was the first known instance of blank ballots being used in a vote for the movement’s top leadership post.

At the time, some sources interpreted the blank ballots as a sign of dissatisfaction with both candidates and possibly with the movement’s handling of certain issues, as well as an effort to encourage the emergence of a younger generation of leaders. Others said the move was not necessarily directed at the candidates themselves but reflected broader objections to some existing policies, or a preference for postponing the election of an interim leader until comprehensive elections are held and the current leadership council remains in place.

Arab World

Trump Says Syria ‘Will Do the Job’ with Hezbollah if Israel Unable

A Hezbollah flag flutters amid rubble of destroyed buildings, in Deir Qanoun al-Nahr, Tyre district, southern Lebanon, June 15, 2026. (Reuters)
A Hezbollah flag flutters amid rubble of destroyed buildings, in Deir Qanoun al-Nahr, Tyre district, southern Lebanon, June 15, 2026. (Reuters)
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Trump Says Syria ‘Will Do the Job’ with Hezbollah if Israel Unable

A Hezbollah flag flutters amid rubble of destroyed buildings, in Deir Qanoun al-Nahr, Tyre district, southern Lebanon, June 15, 2026. (Reuters)
A Hezbollah flag flutters amid rubble of destroyed buildings, in Deir Qanoun al-Nahr, Tyre district, southern Lebanon, June 15, 2026. (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he had suggested to Israel that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa should deal with Lebanon's Tehran-backed Hezbollah group as the Israeli campaign was causing too many casualties.

Praising Sharaa as doing an "amazing job", Trump said at a G7 summit: "If Israel can't do the job (against Hezbollah) without killing everyone else, than he (Sharaa) will do the job. Syria will do the job."

Sharaa last week quelled renewed speculation that Syria could become involved in the war in Lebanon, saying reports that Damascus intends to intervene militarily are “mere rumors.”

Sources in Damascus told Asharq Al-Awsat at the time: “So far, there has been no official US request to Damascus related to any form of Syrian military intervention in Lebanon.”

They said Tom Barrack, Trump’s envoy to Syria and Iraq and Washington’s ambassador in Ankara, had previously asked Damascus “to take a clear, explicit and serious position against Hezbollah.”

They added that “entering the quagmire of war and sending military forces unilaterally is completely ruled out,” and that it was “very, very early” to discuss the possibility of Syrian forces entering Lebanon in support of the Lebanese army.

Syria’s Interior Ministry said, “Lebanon is a sovereign state and not a backyard, as the former regime viewed it,” stressing that “coordination with Lebanon is the basic pillar for any assistance Syria provides to Lebanon.”

Brigadier General Hassan Abdul Ghani, commander of the Border Guard Forces in the Syrian Arab Army, met last Thursday with a Lebanese army delegation headed by liaison official Brigadier General Michel Boutros.

The talks focused mainly on “enhancing cooperation and coordination between the two sides in border control and combating smuggling activities, in a way that contributes to strengthening border security between the two countries.”

Arab World

Israeli Supreme Court Rejects Appeal for Release of Gaza Doctor Held without Charge

Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, who was captured by the Israeli military in Gaza in late 2024 and still held in detention, appears via video link at the Israeli Supreme Court hearing in Jerusalem, June 10, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, who was captured by the Israeli military in Gaza in late 2024 and still held in detention, appears via video link at the Israeli Supreme Court hearing in Jerusalem, June 10, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israeli Supreme Court Rejects Appeal for Release of Gaza Doctor Held without Charge

Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, who was captured by the Israeli military in Gaza in late 2024 and still held in detention, appears via video link at the Israeli Supreme Court hearing in Jerusalem, June 10, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, who was captured by the Israeli military in Gaza in late 2024 and still held in detention, appears via video link at the Israeli Supreme Court hearing in Jerusalem, June 10, 2026. (Reuters)

Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal to release a prominent Palestinian doctor who has been held without charge since he was captured in Gaza in late 2024.

Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital, is among at least 14 doctors from Gaza who have been detained in Israel without charge for more than a ‌year.

The court based ‌its decision on "confidential materials" that were ‌not ⁠shared with Abu ⁠Safiya or his lawyer, Naji Abbas, director of the Prisoners and Detainees Department at the Israeli rights organization Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI), told Reuters on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the Supreme Court declined to comment.

"The message sent by this ⁠decision is unmistakable: a medical professional can ‌be deprived of ‌his liberty indefinitely without being charged and without the authorities ‌presenting evidence against him in open court," Abbas ‌said in a statement.

Abu Safiya's lawyer and human rights groups say the medic has been denied sufficient food and assaulted in prison.

Israel's prison service has denied ‌the allegations.

Abu Safiya appeared by video link at a Supreme Court hearing ⁠in Jerusalem ⁠last Wednesday, looking noticeably thinner.

For the past 13 days, Abu Safiya has also been held in solitary confinement, PHRI said.

The Israeli military has accused Abu Safiya of being a member of the Palestinian group Hamas. It has not provided evidence and Gaza's health ministry and Hamas have denied the allegation.

In 2023, Abu Safiya was among the doctors who refused to leave the dozens of newborn infants they were treating after the Israeli military ordered them to leave.