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The office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" in the occupied West Bank. The Health Ministry in Ramallah says Israeli forces have killed 70 people in the territory this year, including 10 children, one woman and two elderly people.
Israel launched an assault on the West Bank two weeks ago under the name "Iron Wall". It has laid siege to cities in the north of the region and paralysed the area’s roads and economy through major restrictions on movement.
A spokesman for Mr Abbas, who earlier called for the UN Security Council to hold a meeting on the operation, said 29 Palestinians have been killed in the territory so far and entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed. “We call on the American administration to intervene before it is too late to stop the ongoing Israeli attack on our people and land, which will lead to an uncontrollable expulsion and escalation,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.
In Jenin, one of the cities worst affected, Israeli forces blew up about 20 buildings in a refugee camp on Sunday. Footage circulating on social media shows a long string of explosions taking place simultaneously, the blasts so powerful that they could be heard in surrounding towns, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
On Monday, the city’s mayor said 50 per cent of the near-abandoned refugee camp is without water, adding that Israeli forces called on residents of a nearby area to leave. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and his allies in the far-right government have thrown their weight behind the military assault. Some Palestinians fear it is a precursor to Israeli land grabs in the region, which have only taken place with US approval.
The escalation in the West Bank comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the US on Monday to meet President Donald Trump, making him the first foreign leader to be hosted at the White House since the new administration came to power in January. The meeting comes at a critical point for the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, which the US views as pivotal to reducing tensions in the region despite significant pressure from members of Mr Netanyahu’s far-right government to scrap the deal and return to fighting.
There are deep fears within Israel’s opposition that during the meetings Mr Netanyahu will try to convince Mr Trump to allow Israel to abandon the agreement after the initial 42-day phase ends, to appease demands from the far right that the country returns to war, over which one party has already left the Israeli coalition.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid implored Mr Trump to maintain the deal, saying on Monday that “there is no political obstacle that prevents [Mr Netanyahu] from reaching the second phase of the deal,” referencing fears that the Prime Minister might make the case to Mr Trump that the Israeli coalition could collapse over internal pressure because of the agreement.
“The deal has a huge majority [of support] among the people, it has a huge majority here in the Knesset and in the political system in Israel,” he added. “The hostage deal will not bring down the government.”
Without specifying the exact subjects up for discussion, Mr Trump said he would be holding “big meetings” with Mr Netanyahu, which are scheduled to take place on Tuesday. “The discussions on the Middle East with Israel and various other countries are progressing,” he added.
Before setting off on Sunday, the Israeli leader told reporters that the new bilateral relationship could “redraw the map [of the Middle East]”.
“Our decisions and the courage of our soldiers have redrawn the map. But I believe that working closely with President Trump, we can redraw it even further, and for the better,” Mr Netanyahu said.
Some members of his cabinet have used his trip to call for the US to help Israel change territorial realities elsewhere. Mr Smotrich, one of the main opponents of the hostage deal, who has threatened to leave the coalition, called on Mr Netanyahu to use the meeting to “strengthen [Israel’s] grip and sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank.
Mr Smotrich, who along with many Israelis celebrated the victory of Mr Trump, described him as “a lover of Israel”. In his previous term in office, Mr Trump recognised Israeli sovereignty over occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied Golan Heights, a record that generated hope within Israel’s settler movement that the US would give its approval to massive Israeli land grabs in the occupied West Bank, and possibly even permit annexation.
