Violence against West Bank children surges
UNITED NATIONS/GAZA — Violence against children has surged in recent months in the West Bank, where Israel is conducting a sweeping military operation, as Arab nations banded together against US President Donald Trump's Gaza plan.
UNICEF's regional director Edouard Beigbeder said on Wednesday that 13 Palestinian children have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the year alone, including seven killed following the launch of a large-scale operation by Israel in the north of the territory on Jan 19.
The casualties include a two-and-a-half-year-old child, whose pregnant mother was also injured in the shooting, according to the United Nations children's agency.
"UNICEF condemns all acts of violence against children and calls for the immediate cessation of armed activity across the occupied West Bank," Beigbeder said in a statement.
He said the rising use "of explosive weapons, airstrikes and demolitions in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas Governorates, including in refugee camps and other densely populated areas, has left essential infrastructure severely damaged, disrupting water and electricity supplies".
In total, 195 Palestinian children and three Israeli children have been killed in the West Bank since Hamas launched its brutal attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023, triggering Israel's campaign in Gaza.
That constitutes a 200 percent increase in the number of Palestinian children killed in the territory over the past 16 months compared to the 16 months prior.
The deterioration in the West Bank comes as Arab states have mounted a fierce pushback against Trump's plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan, banding together in a rare united front.
Over the past two weeks, Trump has insisted on his proposal to "just clean out" Gaza, which he says the United States would control, while the enclave's 2.4 million inhabitants would be relocated to Egypt and Jordan.
Staunch opposition
In the face of staunch opposition, he suggested he could halt aid to Cairo and Amman if they refused.
Jordan and Egypt, where Trump wants Palestinians moved, have repeatedly and vehemently rejected the proposal. Jordan's King Abdullah II did so again after he met Trump at the White House on Tuesday.
After his talks with the US president in Washington on Tuesday, the king reiterated his country's "steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank".
Saudi Arabia, which has been engaged in yearslong US-brokered normalization talks, has also drawn a firm line against displacement.
"Arab states cannot be seen as siding with the United States and Israel and supporting a policy of ethnically cleansing Palestinians from Gaza," said Anna Jacobs of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.
Hamas said on Thursday it would release the next group of Israeli hostages as planned, paving the conflict toward resolving a major dispute that threatened the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
The militant group said Egyptian and Qatari mediators have affirmed that they will work to "remove all hurdles," and that it would implement the truce deal.
The statement indicated three more Israeli hostages would be freed Saturday. There was no immediate comment from Israel on Hamas' announcement.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that if Hamas fails to release Israeli hostages by Saturday, the country would resume its fighting and Trump's vision for the US to take over Gaza would become a reality.
"The new Gaza war will be different in intensity from the one before the cease-fire, and it will not end without the defeat of Hamas and the release of all the hostages," Katz said. "It will also allow the realization of Trump's vision for Gaza," Katz said, referring to Trump's relocation plan.
Agencies - Xinhua
