“The (Israeli) occupation forces are waging a campaign of systematic destruction of homes and displacement of citizens,” Palestinian Authority spokesman said
RAMALLAH — Palestine called on the US on Wednesday to halt the ongoing Israeli military escalation in the occupied West Bank.
“The (Israeli) occupation forces are waging a campaign of systematic destruction of homes and displacement of citizens,” Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.
The Israeli army has been conducting military operations in the northern West Bank since Jan. 21, killing at least 56 Palestinians and displacing thousands, according to Palestinian officials.
The assault came amid rising tensions in the occupied West Bank, where at least 917 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 others injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Health Ministry.
Abu Rudeineh urged the US administration to intervene to stop the Israeli assaults and “not to encourage Israel to continue its aggression, which will lead to an explosion of the situation in an uncontrollable manner, and everyone will pay the price.’
“The Palestinian people will not accept any plans, whether displacement or an alternative homeland,” he stressed.
US President Donald Trump invoked outrage after suggesting taking over the Gaza Strip and relocating Palestinians elsewhere to develop the enclave into what he called “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Trump’s plan for Palestinian resettlement has been rejected by the Palestinians, Arab countries, and Washington’s Western allies, who say it amounts to ethnic cleansing.
His controversial idea came amid a ceasefire agreement that took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, halting Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed nearly 48,300 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and left the enclave in ruins. — AA
