Listen to this articleListen to this article | 4 minsinfoInternational diplomats have condemned Israel’s push to deepen control over the occupied West Bank and its continued restrictions on supplies of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip during a special United Nations Security Council meeting on Israel-Palestine.Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar told the UNSC on Wednesday that “intensified diplomatic efforts are under way to consolidate the ceasefire, alleviate the suffering of Palestinians and advance implementation of the comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“On the other hand, Israel’s continued ceasefire violations, annexation attempts and illegal actions across the occupied Palestinian territories continue to undermine these efforts and threaten the prospect for a just and lasting peace,” he said.Dar added that recent steps taken by the Israeli government to deepen control over large swaths of land in the West Bank were “gravely disturbing”.His remarks come as dozens of countries, as well as UN experts, have condemned Israel’s West Bank push as a violation of international law and an effort to unlawfully annex the occupied territory.Wednesday’s session at UN headquarters in New York was rescheduled from Thursday to avoid coinciding with a planned meeting of United States President Donald Trump’s so-called Board of Peace in Washington, DC.The UNSC changed the timing of its meeting to accommodate diplomats who planned to attend both events, The Associated Press news agency reported.The overlap is a sign of potential conflicting agendas between the UN’s most powerful body and the board, of which Trump has named himself the indefinite chairman. Advertisement The US president has said he envisions the board having influence “far beyond Gaza”, fuelling concerns that Trump is trying to sideline the UN and enshrine his own “imperial agenda”.Annexation fearsMany Arab and Muslim-majority countries had requested that the UNSC address the Gaza “ceasefire” and Israel’s new illegal settlement project, ahead of Trump’s Board of Peace meeting.Asked what he hoped to see from the back-to-back events, Palestine’s ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said he expected “the international community to stop Israel and end their illegal effort against annexation, whether in Washington or in New York”.Earlier this week, Mansour was joined by dozens of other UN diplomats as he read out a statement on behalf of 80 countries that called on Israel to reverse its latest actions in the West Bank and outlined their “strong opposition to any form of annexation”.On February 8, Israel’s security cabinet greenlighted measures making it easier for Israelis to seize Palestinian land and directly buy property in the West Bank, while expanding Israel’s military control in the area, home to roughly 3.4 million Palestinians.Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said the measures amount to “de facto sovereignty” that will block the establishment of a Palestinian state, while Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich pledged to also “encourage” Palestinian “emigration” out of the territory.The push comes as Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have faced a wave of intensified attacks by Israeli troops and settlers in the shadow of the country’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.On Wednesday, four Palestinians were wounded – two of them with live ammunition – during a settler attack in the village of Mukhmas, near occupied East Jerusalem.Trump’s Gaza planSeveral diplomats addressed the UNSC on Wednesday, stressing the need for Israel to allow more humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians in Gaza, who continue to face Israeli attacks.More than 600 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since a US-brokered “ceasefire” came into effect in the enclave in October, according to the Ministry of Health in …
