By Middle East Correspondent
LONDON, (The Muslim News): Israeli forces killed at least 12 Palestinians in airstrikes across Gaza on Sunday, as the Palestinian Authority accused Israel of moving to annex vast swathes of the occupied West Bank by registering land as “state property.”
The deaths marked a fresh breach of the October 13 ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Civil Defence, which reported sustained bombardment across the enclave since dawn. A medical source said five people were killed and several wounded when an airstrike hit a group of civilians southwest of Khan Younis. Four more died in a drone strike on a tent sheltering displaced families in the Al-Faluja area west of Jabalia, paramedics and witnesses said.
One Palestinian was killed and others injured near the University College in Tal al-Hawa, southwest of Gaza City, while another died and three were wounded near the western Beit Lahia roundabout in northern Gaza. The identity of the 12th victim was not immediately confirmed.
Separately, the Israeli army carried out extensive demolitions northeast of the Jabalia refugee camp, accompanied by heavy artillery shelling and gunfire.
The 13 October truce had halted Israel’s two-year war, which began on 8 October 2023. Palestinian authorities put the death toll at more than 72,000, with over 171,000 wounded and some 90 per cent of civilian infrastructure destroyed. The UN estimates reconstruction will cost around $70bn. Despite the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 601 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,600 injured in Israeli attacks since it took effect.
Israel to annex more territory in West Bank
In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority said an Israeli government decision to classify large areas of occupied territory as “state property” amounted to “de facto annexation” and a grave violation of international law. In a statement carried by the official news agency Wafa, the Authority said the move constituted “a blatant violation of international law and international legitimacy resolutions” and threatened regional stability.
It described the measure as “an official launch of annexation plans aimed at consolidating the occupation through illegal settlement expansion” and said it represented “a termination of the signed agreements” and a clear breach of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which deems all settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, illegal.
The Authority stressed that unilateral Israeli actions “would not confer legitimacy over Palestinian land and would not change the legal and historical status of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip as occupied territory under international law.” It urged the UN Security Council and the US administration to intervene immediately.
Hamas condemned the decision as “void,” issued by “an illegitimate occupation authority.” The group said the move was “an attempt to impose Judaizing settlement facts by force, in a flagrant violation of international law and relevant UN resolutions,” vowing to “continue to confront all attempts by the occupation to impose annexation, Judaization and displacement plans.”
“The Palestinian people will not allow these colonial projects to pass,” it added, calling on the UN and international actors to take urgent action “to stop the occupation’s aggression and its ongoing violations.”
According to Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, the proposal was submitted by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Defence Minister Israel Katz. The Israel Hayom newspaper reported that “the initial goal is the gradual settlement of 15% of Area C by 2030.”
Under the 1995 Oslo II Accord, Area C — roughly 61 per cent of the West Bank — remains under full Israeli control, with land registration by the Palestinian Authority prohibited. The move is part of a wider package approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet last week aimed at expanding illegal settlement construction and tightening Israeli control. Israeli media reported that the measures include repealing a law barring the sale of West Bank land to settlers, unsealing land ownership records and transferring authority for building permits in a settlement bloc near Hebron from a Palestinian municipality to Israel’s civil administration.
Since October 2023, at least 1,112 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, around 11,500 wounded and more than 21,000 detained, according to Palestinian estimates. In a landmark advisory opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, 21 Palestinians were displaced on Sunday after Israeli forces demolished their family home in the town of Jiyus, north of Qalqilya, according to the Bedouin rights group Al-Baydar. The 160-square-metre house was razed over the alleged lack of a building permit, leaving children and elderly family members without shelter. Israeli authorities require permits for construction in Area C, which Palestinians say are “nearly impossible” to obtain. According to the Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission, Israel carried out 59 demolition operations in January alone, targeting 126 Palestinian structures, including 77 inhabited homes. Forty additional demolition notices were issued, mostly in Hebron.
Tensions also flared in occupied East Jerusalem after an Israeli Knesset member entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard days before the start of Ramadan. Amit Halevi, of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, performed Talmudic prayers at the compound, according to Channel 7.
“Jewish prayers on the Temple Mount [Al-Aqsa Mosque] should not be changed during the month of Ramadan,” Halevi said in a video recorded inside the compound. He added that he would demand Netanyahu and far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir maintain settler incursions during afternoon hours throughout Ramadan.
The Haaretz newspaper reported that since January, Israeli police — acting on Ben-Gvir’s orders — have provided protection to illegal settlers entering the compound.
“Previously, police intervened forcefully in all such activities. Today, they barely intervene and instead allow changes to the status quo, in line with directives from the police commissioner and National Security Minister Ben-Gvir,” the newspaper said. “Loud prayer, singing accompanied by full prostration, and dancing have been permitted at the compound, and more recently, Torah lessons have also been added as part of violations of the status quo.”
Under the longstanding status quo arrangement, the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf administers Al-Aqsa Mosque. Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since 1967 and annexed it in 1980 in a move not recognised internationally.
Violence also extended to Lebanon, where four people were killed on Sunday evening when an Israeli drone struck a vehicle in the eastern town of Majdal Anjar near the Lebanese-Syrian border, despite an existing ceasefire. Lebanon’s National News Agency said the strike targeted a car between the al-Masnaa border crossing and the village of Jdeidet Yabous, with four powerful explosions heard nearby.
The Israeli military said it targeted members of Islamic Jihad in the area. There was no immediate comment from the group. The attack comes amid repeated Israeli violations of a November 2024 ceasefire agreement. Israeli offensives in Lebanon since October 2023 have killed more than 4,000 people and wounded around 17,000, while Israeli forces continue to occupy five hilltops seized during the latest conflict, in addition to other Lebanese territory held for decades.
[Photo: Israeli soldiers stop vehicles and carry out searches during a raid in the Old City of Hebron, in the southern West Bank, on February 16, 2026. During the operation, troops searched homes and prevented Palestinian residents from entering their houses, according to local sources. Photojournalist: Amer Shallodi/AA]
