UN General Assembly votes 145-5, allowing President Mahmoud Abbas to address the UNGA next week by video after the US denied him a visa.
Published On 19 Sep 202519 Sep 2025
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The United Nations General Assembly has voted to allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to address its annual gathering of world leaders next week by video link after the United States refused to grant him a visa to travel to New York in person.
“The State of Palestine may submit a prerecorded statement of its President, which will be played in the General Assembly Hall,” said the resolution, which passed on Friday with 145 votes in favour, five opposed, and six abstentions.
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The move comes weeks after the Palestinian Authority urged Washington to reinstate Abbas’s visa so that he could travel to the United States to lead the Palestinian delegation and address the UNGA in person.
Abbas was among 80 Palestinian officials whose visas were revoked by the US State Department, citing national security concerns.
The General Assembly speeches are scheduled to begin on Tuesday after leaders gather on Monday for a summit — hosted by France and Saudi Arabia — that aims to build momentum towards a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
“Gaza is issue number one at the UN General Assembly,” Al Jazeera’s Diplomatic Editor James Bays reported from New York.
“All leaders come here and give their speeches. But on this occasion … Mahmoud Abbas has been denied a visa … which is very unusual.”
Bays said the overwhelming vote in favour of Abbas addressing the UNGA by video was a “snapshot of international opinion on Palestine and Gaza”, and that it showed “very few countries that are backing the side of Israel and the US”.
The Trump administration’s decision has received widespread criticism, with the UN asserting that it violates the Host Country Agreement, under which the US is obligated to permit heads of state and government to travel to New York for annual meetings and diplomatic business.
The US visa curbs come amid growing condemnation of Israel’s war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and a wave of Israeli settler and military violence in the occupied West Bank.
In response to Israel’s devastating attacks over the past nearly two years, an increasing number of countries, mainly in Europe, have announced intentions to back Palestinian statehood at the UN this September.
According to local health officials, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 65,141 people and wounded 165,925 since October 2023, with thousands more believed to be buried in the rubble.
People run for lives from air strikes and explosive-laden ‘robots’, as lifelines collapse in Gaza’s biggest urban centre.
The Israeli army is pushing towards the centre of Gaza City from two directions, “sandwiching” residents and forcing them towards the coast in a bid to drive them out of the enclave’s biggest urban centre.
Israeli army spokesperson Nadav Shoshani told the Reuters news agency on Thursday that infantry, tanks and artillery were advancing on the inner city, backed by the air force, with the aim of applying pressure on the armed group Hamas.
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Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said that the Israeli military was advancing from the northwest and the southeast, “sandwiching people in the middle” and pushing them to the west of the city, where the al-Rashid coastal road leading south is located.
“The attacks on overcrowded neighbourhoods are causing panic and fear, and pushing people literally to run for their lives. We’re seeing waves of people now doing just that,” he said, reporting from Nuseirat in central Gaza.
People in Gaza City told Al Jazeera about nonstop attacks, including “aerial strikes by drones and fighter jets” and detonations from remote-controlled “robots” – unmanned vehicles packed with explosives that the Israeli army has been deploying to blow up neighbourhoods as it advances inwards.
At least 40 people were killed in Gaza City on Thursday, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
Lifelines collapse
Amid the apocalyptic scenes, fleeing families faced the heartbreaking prospect of renewed displacement in a territory devoid of “safe zones”, only this time with the very real possibility that they might never again return home.
Still, many have stayed put. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics claimed that approximately 740,000 people – roughly 35 percent of Gaza’s 2.1 million population – were still in the north of the enclave as of Tuesday.
However, the bureau signalled that numbers could drop, with the continuous Israeli attacks driving more people out and basic services disappearing.
The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) warned on Thursday that Gaza City’s last lifelines were collapsing.
OCHA accused Israel of “systematically blocking” efforts to bring aid to people, citing the closure of the Zikim crossing to Gaza’s famine-stricken north and bans on certain food items.
‘Blatant disregard’
Outside Gaza City, at least 10 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in other parts of the enclave, according to medical sources.
The Israeli military reported that four of its soldiers were killed in the early hours of the morning in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Palestine denounced on social media Israel’s “blatant disregard” for international legal requirements to distinguish between combatants and civilians in its air attacks on Gaza.
The Israeli strikes on internally displaced persons, including as they try to leave Gaza city or seek shelter near hospitals, show the Israeli military’s blatant disregard for the fundamental principle of distinction. Israel has demanded that Palestinian civilians leave Gaza…
As Israel expanded its offensive on Thursday, the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the lifting of restrictions on aid into Gaza, and the return of hostages held by Hamas.
The UK’s permanent representative to the UN, Barbara Woodward, said that “Israel’s reckless expansion of its military operation takes us further away from a deal which could bring the hostages home and end the suffering in Gaza.”
Palestinian activist Saeed Taji Farouky, of Defend Our Juries, says UK free speech is under threat after dawn raids on activist Paddy Friend and others. He warns that peaceful campaigners face terror charges over holding Zoom calls.
UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer got a pat on the back from US President Donald Trump when saying Hamas is a terrorist organisation that can have no place in Palestinian governance. Starmer added that the group is not interested in peace nor a ceasefire.
Sept. 18 (UPI) — Brazil and Chile signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen defense cooperation, focusing on technological development, military equipment manufacturing and logistics modernization.
With the recently signed agreement, Brazil deepens its strategic ties with Chile and expands its role as a key supplier of aircraft, armored vehicles and defense systems to countries such as Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay and now Chile.
In his most recent public address in June, President Gabriel Boric expressed his intention to diversify Chile’s defense trade relations, “to stop depending on the Israeli industry in every area,” in protest against Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
“For Chile, Brazil is a strategic partner. This agreement allows us to make a technological leap and advance in our own military production and logistics capabilities,” Chilean Defense Minister Adriana Delpiano said.
The agreement enables technology transfers from Brazil, particularly in aircraft such as Embraer’s C-390 Millennium, and calls for strengthening logistics capabilities at ports, bases and military transport systems.
The document also provides for the joint manufacturing of strategic components, with the possibility of regional exports, and for military interoperability in joint exercises and international missions.
Brazil’s defense industry is thriving. The country has consolidated its position as a global exporter of defense products and services, with sales to nearly 140 countries worldwide. The sector has become a strategic pillar of the economy, accounting for 3.58% of national GDP and generating about 2.9 million direct and indirect jobs.
Former Chilean Deputy Defense Secretary Gabriel Gaspar said that through Embraer, Brazil has the leading aerospace industry in Latin America. Together with Chile, he added, the two nations have ambitious naval construction plans.
The cooperation framework between the two countries establishes a Bilateral Defense Industry Committee to review collaboration in the naval, aerospace and land sectors, including technical exchanges, joint procurement and local equipment manufacturing.
“The agreement does not arise in isolation. In April 2025, the governments of Chile and Brazil met in Brasília to review common priorities. Among them was the need to strengthen mechanisms for technical and industrial cooperation,” said Humberto García, president of the Chilean Institute of Public Policy.
That same month, Presidents Gabriel Boric and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed 13 bilateral agreements to deepen cooperation in defense, trade, regional security, education, science and technology.
Both leaders described the meeting as a “milestone in the bilateral relationship” and a clear signal that South America seeks to strengthen its own development strategies amid an international landscape increasingly polarized between the United States and China.
“This agreement represents a strategic regional advance for Brazil’s defense industry. It opens opportunities for Chile to acquire Gripen NG fighter jets, KC-390 aircraft, armored vehicles, radar and electronic warfare systems, munitions, air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles and drones. Brazil is growing as many nations seek to diversify from their traditional suppliers,” said Humberto García.
Chile and Brazil are historic allies and partners in several fields. This alliance in particular, said Gabriel Gaspar, would allow South America to reduce its dependence on current arms suppliers and move forward with joint research and projects in technology, artificial intelligence, logistics and other areas. “It is a very promising step for both countries,” he said.
Artists, activists, and performers came together at the Together for Palestine concert at London’s Wembley Arena to show their support for Palestinians and raise funds for humanitarian efforts in Gaza.
Videos show the aftermath of Israeli strikes near two of Gaza’s last functioning hospitals. At least 15 Palestinians were killed outside al-Shifa, while several more died in a separate attack near al-Ahli.
BEIRUT — Cascades of condemnation from friend and foe alike. An array of international organizations and rights groups leveling accusations of genocide and war crimes. Boycotts across a range of sectors and fields.
As Israel begins its ground offensive to occupy Gaza City, defying international and domestic pressure to negotiate a ceasefire with the militant group Hamas, it skirts ever closer to becoming a pariah state.
“Israel is entering diplomatic isolation. We will have to deal with a closed economy,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a Finance Ministry conference Monday, giving a rare admission of the war’s effect on Israel’s international standing.
Netanyahu engaged in damage control on Tuesday, saying that he was talking specifically about Israel’s defense industry and that the wider economy was “strong and innovative.” But by then his words had already spooked markets, spurring a sharp fall in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and a raft of enraged statements from his political enemies.
“We are not Sparta — this vision as presented will make it difficult for us to survive in an evolving global world,” the Israel Business Forum, which represents the heads of around 200 of the Israeli economy’s largest companies, said in a statement. “We are marching towards a political, economic, and social abyss that will endanger our existence in Israel.”
Netanyahu has forged ahead with the ground operation despite repeated warnings from allies and adversaries that it would trigger a humanitarian catastrophe for the hundreds of thousands of people remaining in what was the enclave’s largest urban center.
Visiting the U.S. in July, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, posed alongside Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Sen. Jim Risch (R-Ida.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
(Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)
Even as tanks and armored vehicles streamed into Gaza City’s western neighborhoods, an independent U.N. commission released a report Tuesday concluding that “Israeli authorities and security forces have the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
It was the most recent of a number of international organizations and rights groups accusing Netanyahu’s government of committing genocide. The Israeli government dismissed the commission’s report as “falsehoods.”
The European Commission on Wednesday decided on a partial suspension of a trade agreement between the European Union and Israel. The move could involve imposing tariffs on Israeli goods entering the union.
The measure, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said in a statement Tuesday on X, is aimed at pressuring Israel’s government to change course over the war in Gaza.
Western governments — including some of Israel’s most loyal supporters — castigated the decision to invade, with Germany’s foreign minister slamming it as “the completely wrong path” and France saying the campaign had “no military logic.”
Yvette Cooper, Britain’s foreign secretary, said it was “utterly reckless and appalling,” while Irish President Michael Higgins, a routinely vociferous critic of Israel, said the U.N. must look to exclude countries “practicing genocide and those who are supporting genocide with armaments.”
Meanwhile, many nations — including traditional U.S. allies such as Australia, Britain, Canada and others — are expected to recognize Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in defiance of intense diplomatic pressure from Washington.
Pope Leo XIV weighed in Wednesday on the carnage in Gaza, expressing his “deep solidarity” with Palestinians “who continue to live in fear and survive in unacceptable conditions, being forcibly displaced once again from their lands.” He called for a ceasefire.
Relatives of Palestinians who died following Israeli attacks mourn as the bodies are taken from Al-Shifa Hospital for funerals in Gaza City on Wednesday.
(Khames Alrefi / Anadolu / Getty Images)
Israel’s military pressed on with the offensive Wednesday, leveling buildings in Gaza City’s north, west and south, residents and local reporters said. Palestinian health authorities in the enclave said 50 people had been killed since dawn Wednesday, adding to a death toll that has exceeded 65,000 since Oct. 7, 2023. It will take months to fully occupy Gaza City, Israeli military leaders say.
It’s unclear whether the U.S. supports the ground invasion. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Trump prefers a negotiated settlement, but seemed reluctant to exert any pressure to stop Israel’s incursion. Trump, after professing “I don’t know too much” about the offensive, warned Hamas against using hostages as human shields.
Neighboring Arab nations perceive the ground operation as the latest in a series of moves over the last two years that demonstrate Israel has little interest in peace. Noting the bombings this month of Lebanon, Syria, Qatar and Yemen, they say Israel has become as destabilizing a player in the region as Iran has long been.
Prospects for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between some Arab states and Israel forged during Trump’s first term, appear dimmer than ever. And the United Arab Emirates, a founding and enthusiastic member of the accords, has said the agreements are under threat if Netanyahu goes ahead with plans to annex the occupied West Bank.
The fallout has spread to the cultural arena.
On Tuesday, Spain joined Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia in saying it would boycott the Eurovision contest if Israel were to join. Last week, Flanders Festival Ghent, a Belgian music festival, withdrew its invitation for the Munich Philharmonic to play there because the orchestra’s conductor is Lahav Shani, who is also music director of the Israeli Philharmonic. In August, Israeli actor Gal Gadot blamed “pressure” on Hollywood celebrities to “speak out against Israel” for the paltry box office returns of “Snow White.”
Even Israel’s much-vaunted arms industry, which has used the war in Gaza as proof-of-concept for its wares and has proved to be relatively resistant to opprobrium, is affected.
Though the U.S. remains by far Israel’s largest supplier of weapons, a number of European governments have imposed complete or partial arms embargoes and prevented Israeli manufacturers from participating in defense expos. This week, organizers for the Dubai Air Show, one of the world’s largest aerospace trade events, reportedly barred Israeli defense firms from taking part — reversing a policy in recent years that saw them take pride of place in similar events.
Similarly, beginning next year, Israelis will not be able to attend programs at the Royal College of Defense Studies in London, a prestigious institution that allows enrollment from the British armed services and roughly 50 U.K. partner nations.
“U.K. military educational courses have long been open to personnel from a wide range of countries, with all U.K. military courses emphasizing compliance with international humanitarian law,” the Defense Ministry in London said in a statement Monday. It said the Israeli government’s decision to escalate in Gaza “is wrong.”
“There must be a diplomatic solution to end this war now,” the statement said, “with an immediate ceasefire, the return of the hostages and a surge in humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says there’s a “business plan” to turn Gaza into a “real estate bonanza.” Speaking at an urban renewal conference in Tel Aviv, the far-right minister said he is discussing with the Trump administration how to share the proceeds.
Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, has resigned after nearly fifty years, accusing parent company Unilever of silencing its stance on Israel’s war on Gaza. The decision follows years of tension, including a 2021 move to halt sales in the occupied West Bank.
This is what Palestinians in Gaza City are facing as Israeli forces relentlessly bomb the area as part of the ‘second phase’ of their plan to capture it.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from Gaza City as Israel’s deadly ground invasion in its genocidal war continues.
An Israeli army spokesperson announced on Tuesday a “temporary” evacuation route for Palestinians via Salah al-Din Street, available for just 48 hours.
Avichay Adraee stated on X that residents could move along Salah al-Din Street southwards from Wadi Gaza.
“Transit through this route will be available for 48 hours starting today … and until Friday,” he said.
Israel has repeatedly struck residential areas, schools and hospitals throughout the Gaza Strip during the 23-month conflict.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Nuseirat in central Gaza, said: “More and more Palestinian families are fleeing Gaza City under the threat of Israeli attacks with no guarantees of safety at all.”
“While we’re here, we met friends, relatives and neighbours, and they told us they spent more than thirteen hours to make this difficult journey to the south of the Strip because of the vast overcrowding of roads. People say they’re totally exhausted,” he said.
“We also met a number of dual nationals still stuck in Gaza who said this is the fifth time they were forced to flee from one area to another under the echoes of explosions and the wide-scale mass expulsion orders issued by the Israeli military,” he added.
“Everyone on the ground is going through a serious crisis. It is a systematic policy by Israel to control Palestinian land and reshape it. What is still unfolding is a humanitarian calamity with no safe exits,” Abu Azzoum explained.
An Israeli strike targeted a vehicle carrying displaced Palestinians who were evacuating Gaza City to the south under Israeli forced displacement orders on Tuesday. Injured women and children were filmed being carried away from the burning car, while authorities said multiple people were killed.
Al Jazeera’s James Bays challenged UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres about why he has not referred to Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide. On Tuesday a UN commission of inquiry concluded Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
Fans were prevented from taking Palastine flags into Real Madrid’s stadium on heated night with Marseille fans in Spain.
Published On 16 Sep 202516 Sep 2025
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Spanish police clashed with Marseille fans ahead of the Champions League match between the French club and Real Madrid.
The confrontation began in the Spanish capital on Tuesday, as the fans waited to get into the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium before the game.
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Police in riot gear and horse-riding officers used batons to disperse the French supporters as they apparently tried to move out of the spot allocated for them while waiting outside the Bernabeu gates.
A few thousand French fans were expected for the match, and a heavy police presence was in attendance for the game.
The situation was controlled quickly, and the fans entered the stadium in time for the match.
The clashes between the police in Spain and supporters of Olympique de Marseille took place on the streets of Madrid near to Real’s stadium [Rodrigo Jimenez/EPA]
Bernabeu security personnel did not allow fans to enter the stadium with Palestinian flags, enforcing a policy that was in place even before pro-Palestinian protests made headlines for disrupting the Spanish Vuelta cycling race this weekend.
The flags were confiscated from fans who tried to enter with them.
The anti-Israeli government protests disrupted several stages of the three-week-long Vuelta.
Protesters, who demanded that team Israel Premier Tech be expelled from the Grand Tour event, threw barriers onto the road and clashed with police on Sunday to keep the final stage from being completed as originally planned.
A member of the Spanish police on a horse outside the stadium where a heavy security presence was in operation [Mateo Villalba Sanchez/Getty Images]
The Israeli army has subjected Gaza City to its most punishing attacks in two years of war, sending thousands of residents fleeing under bombs and bullets amid fears they might never return, with the United Nations chief calling the offensive “horrendous”.
“Gaza is burning,” Israeli Minister of Defence Israel Katz said on X, as columns of vans and donkey carts laden with furniture, and people on foot carrying the last of their worldly possessions, steamed down the coastal al-Rashid Street against a backdrop of black smoke rising from the destroyed city.
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Many had pledged to stay in the early days of Israel’s takeover plan. But as the military accelerated the pace of its deadly bombing campaign, turning high-rises, homes and civilian infrastructure to rubble, those able to afford the journey are heading south, with no guarantees of a safe zone for shelter.
On Tuesday, the army killed at least 91 people in the city, with health authorities reporting that one of its bombs hit a vehicle carrying people about to escape on the coastal road.
At least 17 of the city’s residential buildings were destroyed, including Aybaki Mosque in the Tuffah neighbourhood to the east, which was targeted by an Israeli warplane.
As the bombs rained down, the Israeli army continued to destroy areas in the north, south and east of the city with explosive-laden robots.
Earlier this month, the rights group Euro-Med Monitor said the army had deployed 15 of these machines, each one capable of destroying up to 20 housing units.
Tanks push into the city
About 1 million Palestinians are known to have returned to Gaza City to live among the ruins after the initial phase of the two-year war, but reports on how many remain vary.
An Israeli army official estimated on Tuesday that approximately 350,000 had fled. But Gaza’s Government Media Office said 350,000 had been displaced to the centre and the west of the city, with 190,000 leaving it altogether.
Either way, those who left faced a bleak future in the south, where the already cramped al-Mawasi camp, filled with people forcibly displaced from the eastern parts of Rafah and Khan Younis, has itself been hit by Israeli strikes.
The Government Media Office noted a trend of reverse displacement, saying on Tuesday that 15,000 had returned to Gaza City after witnessing the dire conditions at al-Mawasi.
As people fled, the Israeli military released aerial footage showing a large number of tanks and other armoured vehicles pushing further into Gaza City.
The Israeli army admitted on Tuesday that it would take “several months” to control Gaza City.
“No matter how long it takes, we will operate in Gaza,” army spokesman Effie Defrin said, as fighting raged in the enclave’s largest urban hub.
At least 106 people were killed across Gaza since dawn on Tuesday, according to medical sources.
‘Specific intent’ to destroy Palestinians
Amid the brutal offensive, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday concluded that Israel’s war on Gaza is a genocide, a landmark moment after nearly two years of war that has killed at least 64,964 people.
Among its findings, it drew on the public statements of Israeli officials to show that Israel had the “dolus specialis” of genocide, or the “specific intent” to destroy Palestinians as a people.
Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the report. “The situation in Gaza today portends a humanitarian catastrophe that cannot tolerate any leniency or delay,” it said on X.
International criticism of Israel is growing, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday calling the war morally, politically and legally intolerable.
France’s Foreign Ministry urged Israel to stop its “destructive campaign, which no longer has any military logic, and to resume negotiations as soon as possible”.
Irish President Michael D Higgins condemned “those who are practising genocide, and those who are supporting genocide with armaments”.
“We must look at their exclusion from the United Nations itself, and we should have no hesitation any longer in relation to ending trade with people who are inflicting this on our fellow human beings,” he said.
In September 2005, Israeli forces pulled out of the Gaza Strip, with the last troops leaving through the al-Karara (Kisufim) and Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossings.
The withdrawal was seen at the time as a historic turning point, raising hopes that nearly four decades of military occupation had come to an end.
But instead of relinquishing control, Israel repositioned itself on Gaza’s edges. It sealed off the territory by land, sea, and air, restricting movement through fence crossings, imposing limits on fishing waters, and keeping watch from above.
In this visual explainer, Al Jazeera breaks down factors that led to then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan, maps the 21 illegal settlements Israel dismantled across Gaza, and explores how their removal paved the way for deeper settlement expansion across the occupied West Bank.
What led up to disengagement?
The idea of the Gaza disengagement was primarily conceived and championed by Sharon.
A strong supporter of Israeli settlements, Sharon began considering a withdrawal from Gaza in the early 2000s, particularly after the outbreak of the second Intifada (2000-05).
The idea was motivated by the high cost of defending isolated settlements, the demographic challenges of ruling over a large Palestinian population, and the strategic goal of consolidating Israel’s hold on larger illegal settlements in the West Bank.
Despite facing intense opposition from within his Likud party and across the political spectrum, Sharon pushed forward the plan, framing it as a strategic move rather than a concession.
The proposal, formally known in Hebrew as the “Hitnatkut” (Disengagement), was announced in December 2003 and eventually approved by the Knesset in October 2004, paving the way for the dismantling of 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the northern West Bank in 2005.
Timeline of Gaza disengagement
June 6, 2004 – The Israeli cabinet votes 14-7 in favour of PM Sharon’s disengagement plan, setting the stage for withdrawal from Gaza.
February 16, 2005 – The Knesset passes the Disengagement Implementation Law, providing the legal framework for evacuations and compensation.
August 15, 2005 – Israeli forces begin dismantling settlements and removing settlers from Gaza.
August 22, 2005 – All 21 settlements in Gaza are emptied, removing about 8,000 settlers.
August 23-24, 2005 – Attention shifts to the northern West Bank, where four settlements (al-Ghanim, Homesh, Kadim, Sanur) are dismantled.
September 12, 2005 – Military jeeps and armoured bulldozers leave through the al-Karara and Beit Hanoon crossing points, ending 38 years of continuous Israeli military presence in the Strip.
Where were the 21 illegal settlements in Gaza?
Following the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel occupied Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula, it intensified settlement building.
Israeli settlements are Jewish-only communities built on Palestinian land. Settlements are illegal under international law because they involve transferring an occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory, which violates the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The first settlement in Gaza after 1967 was Kfar Darom, set up as a combined military-agricultural outpost in 1970 and later converted into a civilian community. It became part of Gush Katif, the largest Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip, located in southern Gaza, where most settlements were concentrated, particularly in the Khan Younis and Rafah governorates.
A bulldozer demolishes houses on August 30, 2005, in the Kfar Darom settlement in the Gaza Strip [File: Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images]
Other settlements included Netzarim, just south of Gaza City, and several sites in northern Gaza. These settlements were heavily protected by the Israeli military and surrounded by buffer zones that restricted Palestinian movement.
Over the next three decades, a total of 21 settlements were built, housing some 8,000 settlers.
Although settlers made up just 0.6 percent of Gaza’s population, they controlled roughly 20 percent of its land, affecting about 1.3 million Palestinians living in the territory at the time.
During Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, it built several corridors named after the settlements they connected, including Netzarim and Morag, two of the territory’s largest and most prominent settlements.
Settlement expansion across the West Bank
Since Israel’s 2005 disengagement from Gaza, settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem has accelerated. Today, there are between 600,000 and 750,000 Israeli settlers living in at least 250 settlements and outposts.
Many of these settlements have expanded while new outposts were set up, often strategically located to control roads, high ground, and key resources, effectively blocking Palestinians from accessing their land and limiting their freedom of movement.
One of Israel’s latest settlement announcements came in August 2025, when Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich approved the construction of about 3,400 housing units in E1, between East Jerusalem and the illegal settlement of Maale Adumim.
E1 is strategically significant, as it forms one of the last geographic links between Bethlehem and Ramallah, and expansion there could undermine plans for a territorially contiguous Palestinian state.
