A rare reckoning took place within Israel’s security establishment this week, as senior officials issued increasingly stark warnings about settler violence in the occupied West Bank. According to Israeli media reports, the commander of Israeli military forces in the West Bank, Major-General Avi Bluth, warned in a closed forum that rising settler attacks could spark a Palestinian uprising, and called the actions of the settlers “a disgrace to the Jewish people”.
Former chief of the Mossad intelligence agency, Tamir Pardo, toured Palestinian villages that had suffered settler attacks and said that what he witnessed reminded him, the son of Holocaust survivors, of anti-Jewish violence in the last century. “What I saw today made me feel ashamed to be Jewish,” he told Israel’s Channel 13.
Yet, even as these warnings circulated, settler attacks widened, new illegal outposts were established, and Israel’s navy intercepted a humanitarian flotilla in international waters. One illustration of the gap between the warnings and the reality on the ground came on Saturday, when the top brass of the Israel Police and the Israel Prison Service attended a 50th birthday celebration for Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, according to Haaretz. Among the attendees were far-right activists convicted for offences related to anti-Palestinian violence.
The violence in the occupied West Bank continued unabated this week. According to reports from Palestinian activist networks, on April 29, Israeli forces shot dead 16-year-old Ibrahim Abd al-Khayat during a raid in Hebron. On May 3, Nayef Samaro was killed by Israeli gunfire during a military raid on Nablus. In Beita, Jewish settlers set up a new illegal outpost, the fifth on the village’s lands. Settlers also closed roads in Yatta and Deir Jarir. On Saturday, settlers attacked Palestinians in multiple locations, wounding at least six people, including a 71-year-old woman.
Israeli forces bulldozed Palestinian agricultural roads in Sinjil, isolating farmland while giving settlers free movement. An order signed by Major-General Bluth declared the seizure of approximately 11 dunams near Khirbet Main for military purposes. On May 4, Israeli forces demolished a two-storey house in Deirat, displacing 25 people. On Friday, a drunk Israeli military reservist opened fire on Palestinian homes in the Arroub refugee camp with his military-issued weapon.
Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich confirmed that he has withheld April’s clearance revenues from the Palestinian Authority – approximately 740 million shekels ($249m) – continuing a now yearlong policy. Bluth had advised the Israeli cabinet that releasing the funds would help lower tensions, but Smotrich has reportedly refused.
In international waters near Greece, the Israeli navy intercepted vessels from the Global Sumud Flotilla, a 58-ship convoy of international activists attempting to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. The navy detained about 175 activists. Flotilla organisers said Israeli forces smashed engines and destroyed navigation equipment, leaving vessels stranded in the path of an approaching storm. Israel said the operation was conducted “peacefully and without casualties” and within international law.
In Gaza, Israeli strikes continued throughout the week. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, on April 28, a nine-year-old was killed in a strike east of Khan Younis, while a paramedic was killed on April 29. On April 30, three Palestinians were killed in a strike near the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City. On May 4, an Israeli drone strike killed at least one person in the Bureij refugee camp. Including that killing, as of May 4, 828 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, and more than 2,342 have been injured, since the October “ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas. More than 72,600 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports still-deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza. According to OCHA’s latest report, operational capacity continues to diminish as vehicles and generators break down beyond repair. The enclave’s Ministry of Health warned that 86 percent of laboratory and blood bank supplies have reached zero stock, threatening surgical operations and emergency interventions.
The Israeli security cabinet met this week to discuss renewing the genocidal war, amid the military’s increasing pressure to do so, after Hamas refused to commit to Israel’s demand of full disarmament. Hamas submitted a counteroffer, insisting that its weapons only be addressed as part of a framework culminating in a Palestinian state. Reuters reported that new maps quietly issued by Israel in mid-March have expanded the restricted zone inside Gaza to nearly two-thirds of the Strip’s territory, raising fears among displaced Palestinians that they could be deemed targets.
Source: www.aljazeera.com