Israel's approval of 19 new settlements dangerous step, Palestine says

RAMALLAH, Dec 24 (Xinhua/AFP): Israel's decision to establish 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank is a "dangerous step" aimed at tightening control over Palestinian territory, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

The move extends "the policies of apartheid," undermines the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, and destroys "any real prospect of stability," the ministry said in a statement on social media. It added that the decision was part of Israel's efforts to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

On Sunday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a pro-settler politician, said Israel's security cabinet had approved the establishment of 19 new settlements in the West Bank, bringing the number of settlements legalised or approved over the past three years to 69.

Smotrich said the decision was part of a broader push to strengthen Jewish settlements across the West Bank and to prevent "the de facto establishment" of a Palestinian state.

Israel has accelerated settlement approvals since the formation of its current right-wing government, which includes parties that oppose Palestinian statehood and support expanding Israeli control over the territory. The approvals have drawn increased international criticism. Most countries regard Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law, a position Israel disputes.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said earlier this month that such moves continue "to fuel tensions, impede access by Palestinians to their land and threaten the viability of a fully independent, democratic, contiguous and sovereign Palestinian State."

Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and has occupied the territories since.

Israel kills Hamas financial

officer in Gaza

The Israeli army said Wednesday that it had identified a Hamas financial official it killed two weeks ago in a strike in the Gaza Strip.

Abdel Hay Zaqut, a financial official in Hamas's armed wing, on December 13 in the same strike that killed military commander Raed Saad, seen by Israel as one of the architects of Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack.

The Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said on Wednesday that Zaqut was killed while he was in a vehicle alongside Raed Saad in "a joint operation by the Israeli army and the Shin Bet", Israel's internal security agency.

Zaqut "belonged to the financial department of the armed wing" of Hamas, Adraee wrote on X.

"Over the past year, Zaqut was responsible for collecting and transferring tens of millions of dollars to Hamas's armed wing with the aim of continuing the fight against the State of Israel," he said. Hamas's leader for the Gaza Strip, Khalil al-Hayya, confirmed on December 14 the death of Raed Saad and "his companions", though he did not name Zaqut.