Key Facts

• Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel canceled parts of the 1997 Hebron Agreement, taking planning control from the Palestinian municipality.
• Israel's Foreign Ministry said a cabinet decision gave Israel planning authority over Jewish settlements and holy sites in Hebron’s H2 zone.
• The Palestinian Authority, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the US State Department said Israel’s actions in Hebron and the West Bank are illegal or opposed.
• Israeli media said a larger Israeli ground attack on Gaza was blocked by the US, leading Israel to quietly expand control ("creeping annexation") westward in Gaza.
• The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said Israeli forces now control about 64% of Gaza, up from 53% under the October 2023 ceasefire terms.
• Israel built its first permanent military post inside Area A of the West Bank, an area meant to be fully under Palestinian control.
• The Israeli Supreme Court recently allowed construction of a barrier in the northern Jordan Valley that will separate Palestinian areas.
• Since October 2023, over 73,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza, with over 1,000 killed since the ceasefire began in October 2023.
• Al Jazeera cameraman Ahmed Wishah was killed in an Israeli strike on the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza this week.