Israel/Palästina

Arab and Muslim nations on Sunday sharply condemned remarks by the United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee after he suggested Israel could claim large parts of the Middle East based on a biblical reading. … In a joint statement released on Sunday, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, the Palestinian Authority, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council, denounced the remarks.

At the inaugural Board of Peace summit on February 19, Kazakhstan promised substantial funding to be administered through the World Bank’s Gaza Reconstruction and Development Fund. It also said it would deploy troops to an International Stabilization Force (ISF), including security personnel and a field hospital staffed by military medical experts. By doing so, Kazakhstan joins a small group of countries such as Indonesia, Kosovo, and Albania, that have publicly promised peacekeepers.

US Major General Jasper Jeffers said the Gaza “International Stabilization Force” will first deploy to Rafah and hopes to eventually have 20,000 soldiers. Indonesia, which has pledged 8,000 troops, will serve as deputy commander of the force.

U.S. President Donald Trump told the first meeting of his Board of Peace on Thursday that nations had contributed $7 billion to a Gaza reconstruction fund that aims to rebuild the enclave once Hamas disarms, an objective that is far from becoming a reality.

Members of the UN Security Council have warned that Israel's efforts to expand control in the West Bank posed a threat to prospects of a two-state solution. The situation is "deteriorating rapidly" in the occupied West Bank, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo said in a briefing late on Wednesday.

The UN has the funds and capacity to scale up relief and reconstruction operations in Gaza but does not have the necessary access to carry out these vital tasks, Alexander De Croo, the head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), told journalists on Tuesday.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on Wednesday for Israel to rescind recent measures to expand control over Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank. “This is yet another step by the Israeli authorities towards rendering a viable Palestinian State impossible, in violation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,” he said. 

Indonesia says it is preparing up to 8,000 soldiers for deployment to Gaza, the first country to do so as part of phase two of the ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States late last year. The army chief of staff, General Maruli Simanjuntak, said training for the soldiers had already begun, and that they would focus on medical and engineering roles in Gaza. Indonesia has joined President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, which was announced last month.

Fresh airstrikes and shelling across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours have put civilians at renewed risk and compounded months of hardship, the UN said on Tuesday, warning that humanitarian needs continue to outpace access and capacity.

At least 24 people were killed by Israeli fire in Gaza on Wednesday after fighting resumed in several areas of the coastal enclave, according to the territory's health authority.