Israel is moving forward with controversial plans to build thousands of new housing units in the occupied West Bank, splitting the territory in two, a scheme far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said would “permanently bury the idea of a Palestinian state.

Israel’s far-right finance minister has announced the final approval of contentious new settlement construction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which Palestinians and rights groups worry will scutt

By Alexander Cornwell MAALE ADUMIM, West Bank/TEL AVIV, (Reuters) -Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced work would start on a long-delayed settlement that would divide the West Bank and cut if off from East Jerusalem,

The U.N. chief has warned Israel that the United Nations has “credible information” of sexual violence and other violations by Israeli forces against detained Palestinians.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has put Israel and Russia “on notice” that their armed forces and security personnel could be listed among parties “credibly suspected” of committing sexual violence in conflict zones.

This warning from the UN comes after the intergovernmental organisation documented “patterns of certain forms of sexual violence” amid the ongoing wars.