Jerusalem: An Israeli was killed and three were wounded in an attack Tuesday at an intersection in the West Bank, Israel’s rescue service said, following a spate of settler attacks on Palestinians across the occupied territory.
The violence came a day after the UN Security Council gave its backing to US President Donald Trump’s blueprint to secure and govern Gaza. Hamas rejected the plan.
The Israeli military said the ramming and stabbing attack took place at the busy Gush Etzion junction south of Jerusalem, a site of many past attacks by Palestinian militants.
Israel’s emergency rescue services said a 30-year-old man died of stab wounds. Three others were hospitalised, including a woman in serious condition and a teenager in moderate condition.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack or how many assailants participated.
Settler violence has flared in the West Bank. In the latest attack Monday, Israeli settlers rampaged through the Palestinian village of al-Jab’a, torching homes and cars. The violence drew a rare condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top leaders.
Israel’s military sent soldiers and police to the village Monday after reports of fires and vandalism. Hours earlier Monday, clashes erupted between Israeli security forces and settlers defending an unauthorised outpost on a nearby hill facing evacuation and demolition on Monday, according to COGAT, the Israeli military body that deals with civilians in the West Bank.
Israeli police said earlier that six suspects were arrested in confrontations during the demolitions, with dozens of settlers were entrenched and throwing stones and metal bars and burning tires.
Netanyahu and Hamas react to UN vote
Netanyahu Tuesday applauded the UN approval of Trump’s plan for postwar Gaza.
“We believe that President Trumps plan will lead to peace and prosperity because it insists upon full demilitarization, disarmament and the deradicalization of Gaza,” Netanyahu’s office wrote on X.
The resolution provides a wide mandate for an international force to provide security in war-devastated Gaza, approves a transitional authority called the Board of Peace to be overseen by Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.
The plan calls for the stabilisation force to ensure “the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups.” It authorises the force “to use all necessary measures to carry out its mandate” in compliance with international law, which is UN language for the use of military force.
Hamas said Monday that the force’s mandate, including disarmament, “strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favour of the occupation.”
It said the resolution did not “meet the level of our Palestinian people’s political and humanitarian demands and rights.”
Hamas demanded that any international force be under UN supervision, deploy only at Gaza’s borders to monitor the ceasefire and operate exclusively with Palestinian institutions.
Palestinian Authority welcomes resolution after statehood is included
The Palestinian Authority welcomed the resolution and said it was ready to immediately implement it, in cooperation with the US, the UN, and other Arab and European states.
Palestinians largely view the PA, which governs semiautonomous zones in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as weak and corrupt. The authority’s security coordination with Israel is extremely unpopular, and many Palestinians see it as a subcontractor of the occupation.
The UN vote came about following nearly two weeks of negotiations, when Arab nations and the Palestinians pressed the United States to strengthen language about Palestinian self-determination.
The proposal still gives no timeline or guarantee for an independent state, only saying it’s possible after advances in the reconstruction of Gaza and reforms of the Palestinian Authority.
The US revised the resolution to say that after those steps, “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”
“The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence,” it adds.
Resolution gains support from Muslim-majority and Arab countries
A key to the resolution’s adoption was support from Arab and other Muslim nations that had been critical for the ceasefire and potentially could contribute to the international force.
The US mission to the United Nations distributed a joint statement Friday with Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan and Turkiye calling for “swift adoption” of the US proposal.
Both Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, and Turkiye said they would work toward a two-state solution, which Netanyahu has opposed.
Turkish officials have previously said Turkiye is ready to contribute to an international force in Gaza despite Israeli opposition to a Turkish presence.
The vote shores up hopes that Gaza’s fragile ceasefire will be maintained following a war set off by Hamas’ surprise attack on southern Israel October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people. Israel’s offensive has killed over 69,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority are women and children.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Tuesday that the international community needed to “work together to take forward the 20 point plan and to turn it into a just and lasting peace.” Cooper called for “urgent action to open all the crossings, lift restrictions and flood Gaza with aid.”
What else the US proposal says
Trump said the members of the Board of Peace will be named in the coming weeks, along with “many more exciting announcements.”
The plan calls for the stabilisation troops to secure Gaza border areas, along with a Palestinian police force that they have trained and vetted.
The force will coordinate with other countries to secure the flow of humanitarian assistance, and should closely consult and cooperate with neighbouring Egypt and Israel.
As the international force establishes control, the resolution says Israeli forces will withdraw from Gaza “based on standards, milestones, and time frames linked to demilitarisation.” These must be agreed to by the stabilisation force, Israeli forces, the US and the guarantors of the ceasefire, it says.