Eighty-five United Nations member states have jointly condemned Israel’s plan to expand its occupation and register land in the occupied West Bank. On February 17, Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour issued a joint statement on behalf of the countries, calling Israel’s unilateral decision a violation of international law and demanding its immediate cancellation. The plan involves registering land in Area C, which covers about 60 percent of the West Bank, marking the first such move since 1967.

Countries signing the condemnation include Australia, Canada, China, France, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, with the European Union and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation also expressing support. UN Secretary-General António Guterres voiced deep concern, warning that the plan could increase the risk of Palestinian displacement and further destabilize the region. He recalled the 2024 International Court of Justice ruling that declared Israel’s presence and settlements in the West Bank illegal.

The report also noted that a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and two others injured by an explosion from leftover Israeli military ordnance in the Jordan Valley. Observers warned that Israel’s expansion plan could endanger the comprehensive peace initiative aimed at halting the Gaza war.

The Israeli government has approved a proposal to register large areas of the occupied West Bank as state property, marking the first such decision since Israel’s occupation of the territory in 1967, according to the country’s public broadcaster Kan. The Palestinian Authority has strongly condemned the move, describing it as legally invalid and a violation of international law.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the main objective of Israel’s decision is to annex the West Bank and advance settlement expansion. The ministry declared on social media platform X that it rejects any attempt by the occupiers to convert Palestinian land into state property and denounced efforts to legitimize illegal settlements, land theft, and annexation.

The ministry further stated that the decision contradicts United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which deems Israeli settlements in all occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, illegal under international law.

The article from Amar Desh Online, published on February 15, 2026, argues that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza after two years of violence is not the result of natural disaster but of deliberate political and military decisions. It states that global media portrayals focusing on hunger, tents, and aid trucks obscure the underlying causes and shift attention from justice to relief.

According to the report, Israel’s blockade, military assaults, and restrictions on food and reconstruction have created famine-like conditions and widespread destruction. The piece contends that depicting Gaza solely as a humanitarian crisis hides Israel’s responsibility and transforms political crimes into relief issues. It emphasizes that Palestinians have been turned from a people resisting occupation into passive recipients of aid.

The article concludes that humanitarian assistance can keep people alive but cannot restore dignity, sovereignty, or security under a permanent blockade. It asserts that only justice and political accountability, not charity, can address Gaza’s ongoing devastation.

At least eight Palestinians were killed in new Israeli attacks on Gaza despite an existing ceasefire agreement. According to an Al Jazeera report, four people were killed on Sunday in the southern city of Khan Younis when Israeli forces launched strikes beyond the so-called 'yellow line' marking their positions in Gaza. Another four were killed when Israeli forces attacked a tent sheltering displaced people in the Al-Faluja area of northern Gaza, a source at Al-Shifa Hospital said.

Israeli authorities did not immediately comment on the incidents. Gaza authorities stated that since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, Israel has violated it more than 1,500 times. These violations have resulted in at least 591 deaths and 1,590 injuries so far.

The repeated attacks highlight the fragility of the ceasefire and the continuing humanitarian toll on Gaza’s civilian population, according to the information provided by Gaza authorities.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has reported that 90 percent of school buildings in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or completely destroyed during two years of Israeli military aggression. The agency shared this information on Thursday through a post on social media platform X, noting that the few remaining intact schools have been converted into shelters. Children in Gaza are now entirely dependent on temporary classrooms or digital platforms for their education.

UNRWA stated that it is working to support the education of children affected by the ongoing devastation in Gaza. The report comes amid continuing conflict that began after Palestinian resistance groups launched an operation in Israel on October 7, 2023, aimed at breaking the long-standing blockade of Gaza. In response, Israeli forces initiated one of the most intense military campaigns in recent history.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, as of February 11, more than 72,000 people have been killed during the two-year-long Israeli offensive.

Hamas has described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s participation in the Gaza Peace Board as a farce. On Wednesday, Osama Hamdan, a leader of the Palestinian resistance movement, said they had not received any draft proposal from mediators regarding the surrender of weapons. He emphasized that Hamas has not made any formal decision to disarm.

Hamdan reiterated that as long as Israeli occupation continues, resistance will remain a legitimate right. He further stated that the Palestinian people reject any form of externally imposed guardianship. According to him, Hamas has communicated with Indonesia to clarify that any international force’s role must be limited to the borders of the Gaza Strip.

Hamdan added that any international stabilization force should focus on preventing attacks against the Palestinian people.

Hamas has called on international mediators to compel Israel to adhere to the Gaza ceasefire agreement. The Palestinian resistance group’s spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, accused Israel of violating the truce by attacking civilian homes under false pretenses. According to a report by Middle East Monitor, Qassem said Israeli forces were intensifying assaults in Gaza despite ongoing mediation efforts to maintain peace in the region.

The spokesperson alleged that Tel Aviv was ignoring all attempts by mediators to preserve calm in the Gaza Strip and continuing to bomb civilian areas. He emphasized that Israel must be forced to stop breaching the ceasefire agreement. Gaza’s government media office reported that since October, Israel has violated the ceasefire 1,620 times, resulting in 573 deaths and 1,553 injuries.

The repeated violations, as reported by Gaza authorities, have raised concerns about the sustainability of the ceasefire and the effectiveness of mediation efforts aimed at restoring stability in the region.

An Al Jazeera Arabic investigation has reported that Israel’s use of prohibited thermal and thermobaric weapons in Gaza has caused thousands of Palestinians to vanish without trace. The program, aired on Monday, detailed how Civil Defence teams documented 2,842 cases of people who “evaporated” since the war began in October 2023, leaving behind only blood or small fragments. The report cited forensic evidence and eyewitness accounts, including that of Yasmin Mahani, who lost her son in an August 2024 strike on Gaza City’s al-Tabin school.

Experts interviewed in the investigation explained that thermobaric and vacuum bombs generate extreme heat exceeding 3,000 degrees Celsius, capable of vaporizing human tissue. Fragments of U.S.-made GBU-39 bombs were reportedly found at sites where bodies disappeared. Legal analysts said the use of such indiscriminate weapons violates international law and implicates both Israel and its Western suppliers.

Despite international court actions earlier in 2024, including an ICC arrest warrant for Israel’s prime minister, the report said attacks and blockades have continued. Legal scholars described the global justice system as having failed Gaza, while victims’ families continue to search for remains of their loved ones.

Israeli forces carried out new attacks in the Gaza Strip on Monday, violating an existing ceasefire agreement. According to medical sources cited by Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, at least nine Palestinians were killed in the assaults. Three people died when an Israeli strike hit a residential apartment on Al-Nasr Street in western Gaza City, an area not under Israeli military control. Earlier, shelling near Khan Younis injured a fisherman, while gunfire in Beit Lahia killed a 54-year-old man. Another farmer was shot dead in Deir al-Balah, and four others were killed in separate incidents across southern Gaza.

The report noted that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza began in October 2023 and was later halted under a ceasefire agreement. That offensive left about 72,000 Palestinians dead and more than 171,000 injured, with nearly 90 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure destroyed. Since the ceasefire took effect, Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that 581 Palestinians have been killed and at least 1,553 injured in subsequent Israeli attacks.

The renewed violence raises concerns about the fragility of the ceasefire and the ongoing humanitarian toll in Gaza.

Hamas senior leader Khaled Meshaal declared that the group will continue its resistance against Israel’s occupation and will not surrender its weapons. Speaking at a conference in Doha on Sunday, Meshaal said Hamas rejects U.S. and Israeli demands for disarmament and will not accept foreign intervention in Gaza. He emphasized that labeling the resistance movement or its weapons as criminal is unacceptable and asserted that resistance is the right of an occupied people.

The statement comes as a U.S.-mediated ceasefire in Gaza enters its second phase, which envisions a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces and potential demilitarization of the territory, including Hamas’s disarmament. Hamas has repeatedly called disarmament a red line but has indicated it might consider transferring weapons to a future Palestinian governing authority.

According to Israeli officials cited in the report, Hamas still has around 20,000 fighters and approximately 60,000 Kalashnikov rifles in Gaza.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) project coordinator Craig Kenji warned that Israel’s threat to ban the organization from operating in Gaza could remove a critical lifeline for residents. Speaking to Al Jazeera from Gaza’s Al-Mawasi area, Kenji said Israel issued the warning after MSF refused to provide a list and personal details of its staff. He noted that MSF supports about 20 percent of hospital beds in Gaza, handles one-third of all deliveries, and has provided over 800,000 medical consultations annually.

Kenji cautioned that if MSF and other NGOs are forced to leave, Gaza’s clean water crisis would worsen severely. The organization currently distributes more than 4.5 million liters of water daily, equivalent to 65 kilometers of jerry cans lined up each day. He added that without registration, MSF cannot bring in supplies, deploy international staff, or pay local partners for their services.

Kenji emphasized that if MSF’s registration is revoked, continuing operations in Gaza would become nearly impossible.

The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt partially reopened this week after two years of Israeli-imposed closure, allowing a limited number of Palestinians to leave for medical treatment abroad. However, many elderly Palestinians have chosen to remain in Gaza, viewing their decision as an act of resistance and a connection to their homeland. Among them is 73-year-old Kefaya al-Assar, who has been displaced multiple times during Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza and now shelters in a school in Nuseirat. Despite health issues and the destruction of her home in Jabalia, she insists on staying, saying she would rather die on her land than seek treatment abroad.

The reopening of Rafah is part of the second phase of a Gaza ceasefire, though Israeli attacks continue. Amnesty International and HelpAge International report that elderly Gazans face a severe physical and mental health crisis due to Israel’s blockade of aid and medicine. Their research found that most elderly people live in tents, lack access to medication, and often skip meals. Despite these hardships, many, like 85-year-old Nazmeya Radwan, refuse to leave Gaza, citing lifelong displacement since the 1948 Nakba.

The persistence of elderly Palestinians to remain underscores both the humanitarian crisis and the enduring attachment to their homeland amid ongoing conflict and devastation.

The United Nations has reported that more than 900 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of January 2026. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said on Thursday that widespread displacement continues due to settler attacks, destruction, and access restrictions.

According to the UN, Israeli settlers carried out more than 50 attacks between January 20 and the previous Monday, resulting in casualties, property damage, or both. Dujarric also highlighted the worsening humanitarian situation in the blockaded Gaza Strip, where civilian deaths continue to rise.

He reminded all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure during conflicts.

International activists have announced a new and larger maritime mission to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. The initiative, called the 'Global Sumud Flotilla', is scheduled for March and will include around 100 vessels and about 1,000 participants. The plan was unveiled at a meeting held at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa. Organizers described it as the largest civilian humanitarian intervention yet against Israel’s policies concerning Gaza.

Mandla Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela and a participant in a similar mission last year, said the upcoming flotilla will include doctors, human rights activists, and war crimes investigators. Alongside the sea convoy, a land convoy through neighboring Arab countries is also being planned, expected to attract thousands of supporters. In October, Israeli forces seized about 40 vessels from a previous Global Sumud Flotilla and detained around 450 activists, including Mandela and climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Although a ceasefire is currently in place in Gaza, the UN reports that humanitarian aid remains far below the required level. Activists said they will continue efforts to highlight the humanitarian crisis and challenge the blockade despite possible obstacles.

The Global Sumud Aid Flotilla is set to embark for Gaza on March 29 from the port of Barcelona, Spain, in response to the ongoing war and humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory. Organizers announced that this year’s mission will feature broader international participation than previous efforts. The announcement was made during a livestreamed press conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, where activist Sumeira Akdeniz Ordu confirmed that additional ships will join from Tunisia, Italy, and other Mediterranean ports.

According to Ordu, the flotilla will include thousands of participants, among them over one thousand doctors, nurses, and health workers. The mission will also involve eco-builders skilled in sustainable infrastructure and war crimes investigators expected to document human rights violations in Gaza. Organizers emphasized that the flotilla’s goal extends beyond delivering humanitarian aid—it aims to raise global awareness against the blockade imposed on Gaza.

The Global Sumud authorities stated that the initiative, involving citizens, human rights activists, and professionals from multiple countries, seeks to send a clear message of international solidarity with the people of Gaza.