Israel Advances Settlement Funding and Military Post in West Bank
France barred Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and sanctioned settler networks. Amnesty International accused Israel of state-sponsored ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.
middleeasteye.netForeign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot cited Smotrich's promotion of West Bank annexation, resettlement of Gaza, and economic measures affecting the Palestinian Authority. The same day, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Norway, coordinating with Australia and New Zealand, sanctioned networks financing settler violence.
June 10, Amnesty International accused Israel of a years-long, state-sponsored campaign of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank aimed at accelerating annexation. The Israeli military rejected the accusation. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN Security Council that settler violence averaged six attacks per day and displacement reached levels not seen since 1967.
Within days, the Israeli cabinet moved to fund 69 settlements in a plan worth $388 million while bypassing standard planning procedures, according to Peace Now. The government has approved or legalized 103 settlements since late 2022, 51 of them new, with many in the South Hebron Hills and Jordan Valley.
On June 11, the Israeli military announced it would establish a permanent post in Jenin refugee camp, the first standing presence inside Area A since the Oslo Accords.
Mash'al northwest of Ramallah, settlers erected a second tent on June 15 after villagers dismantled the first, injuring four Palestinians, one critically, while Israeli forces fired tear gas and live ammunition. Settlers expanded outposts near al-Taybeh, Sinjil, and south of Nablus, seizing hundreds of dunums of land.
On June 14, 50 to 60 masked armed settlers attacked Deir Dibwan and Burqa, torching six vehicles, partially burning a home, and setting fire to mosque entrances.
Israeli authorities issued demolition orders against 13 structures in al-Deirat and six in Khallet al-Hamous near Yatta, and demolished homes and a poultry slaughterhouse supporting 50 people. On June 15, forces demolished two family homes housing 25 people, two agricultural sheds, a perimeter wall, and a 130-cubic-metre water well east of Yatta.
