Israel authorizes more settlements in the occupied West Bank. Strikes on Gaza kill 13, officials say

JERUSALEM AP Israel commented Thursday it would establish Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank including the legalization of outposts already built without administration authorization Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip meanwhile killed at least people overnight local soundness bureaucrats commented Israel captured the West Bank along with Gaza and east Jerusalem in the Mideast war and the Palestinians want all three territories for their future state Majority of of the international society views settlements as illegal and an obstacle to resolving the decades-old conflict Defense Minister Israel Katz revealed the settlement decision strengthens our hold on Judea and Samaria using the biblical term for the West Bank anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel and constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism He added it was also a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel Israel has already built well over settlements across the territory that are home to particular settlers The settlements range from small hilltop outposts to fully developed communities with apartment blocks shopping malls factories and constituents parks The West Bank is home to million Palestinians who live under Israeli military rule with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority administering population centers The settlers have Israeli citizenship Israel has accelerated settlement construction in latest years long before Hamas Oct attack ignited the war in Gaza confining Palestinians to smaller and smaller areas of the West Bank and making the prospect of establishing a viable independent state even more remote During his first term President Donald Trump s administration broke with decades of U S foreign procedures by supporting Israel s alleges to territory seized by force and taking initiatives to legitimize the settlements Former President Joe Biden like the bulk of his predecessors opposed the settlements but applied little pressure to Israel to curb their upsurge The top United Nations court ruled last year that Israel s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and called on it to end and for settlement construction to stop without delay Israel denounced the non-binding opinion by a -judge panel of the International Court of Justice saying the territories are part of the historic homeland of the Jewish people Calls for settlements in war-ravaged Gaza Israel withdrew its settlements from the Gaza Strip in but leading figures in the current cabinet have called for them to be re-established and for much of the Palestinian population of the territory to be resettled elsewhere through what they describe as voluntary emigration Palestinians view such plans as a blueprint for their forcible expulsion from their homeland and experts say the plans would likely violate international law Israel now controls more than of Gaza according to Yaakov Garb a professor of environmental studies at Ben Gurion University who has examined Israeli-Palestinian land use patterns for decades The area includes buffer zones along the confines with Israel as well as the southern city of Rafah which is now mostly uninhabited and other large areas that Israel has ordered to be evacuated The war began with Hamas Oct attack in which militants stormed into Israel killing several people mostly civilians and abducting Hamas still holds hostages around a third of them alive after largest part of the rest were distributed in ceasefire agreements Israeli forces have rescued eight and recovered dozens of bodies Israel s retaliatory offensive has killed over Palestinians mostly women and children according to Gaza s Healthcare Ministry which does not say how numerous of the dead were civilians or combatants Israeli strikes killed at least Palestinians overnight in Gaza according to local hospitals Four were killed in a strike on a car in Gaza City late Wednesday and another eight including two women and three children were killed in a strike on a home in Jabaliya A strike on a built-up refugee camp in central Gaza killed one person and wounded There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military which says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants are embedded in populated areas