This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Israeli military vehicles patrol on street during a raid on Salam Neighborhood in Nablus, West Bank on May 29, 2025. [Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency]
The Israeli army said Friday it reinforced its forces in the occupied West Bank with two additional military battalions, Anadolu reports.
“According to the situation assessment, a decision was made to reinforce two battalions in the Central Command sector,” the army said in a statement, according to the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
The “Central Command sector” refers to the West Bank, said the newspaper.
The Israeli army did not clarify the actual number of troops currently on the ground in the occupied West Bank, nor did it disclose the reasons behind the escalatory step of reinforcing forces with two battalions.
However, it noted: “Throughout the war, continuous situation assessments are being conducted, and accordingly, the necessary order of battle is determined for fulfilling operational missions in various sectors.”
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, at least 996 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
In a landmark opinion last July, 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.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Palestinian families begin fleeing again from shelters near the Al-Mawasi area as the Israeli army expands its ground offensive and tanks reach southwestern Khan Yunis, Gaza, marking their first displacement in nearly a year and a half, on July 10, 2025. [Hani Alshaer – Anadolu Agency]
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) condemned on Friday Israel’s plan to forcibly displace Palestinians in Gaza towards the southern city of Rafah, warning that the move would create “massive concentration camps” and worsen the humanitarian crisis, Anadolu reports.
Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s director of communications, told Al Jazeera English that the agency “categorically refuses any forced displacement of any population.”
“If it happens, it will push further tens of thousands of people who have already been displaced many, many times during this current war but also over the generations, further south and from there into the unknown,” Touma said.
“What needs to happen right now is to focus on reaching a ceasefire and allowing UNRWA to bring in much-needed supplies,” she said.
Touma said UNRWA has “over 6,000 trucks in Egypt and Jordan full of medicines that are soon expiring, food that is also going off, we have hygiene supplies.”
“All we are saying is lift the siege, get a ceasefire, allow UNRWA and other UN organizations to do our work,” she added.
Earlier, the UN raised alarm over continued mass displacement in the Gaza Strip and warned that more than 700,000 people have been uprooted since the end of the ceasefire in March.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he instructed the army to prepare a plan to relocate all Palestinians to what he called a “humanitarian city” on the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza.
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, killing nearly 57,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and a spread of disease.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad bin Hasan delivers opening remarks during the 32nd ASEAN Regional Forum in-conjunction with the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministerial Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 11, 2025. [Syaiful Redzuan – Anadolu Agency]
Southeast Asian bloc on Friday urged an end to the genocide of Palestinians by an “emboldened” Israel, adding that they welcome all efforts for peace in the Middle East, Anadolu reports.
“The longest conflict of modern history, rooted in the unjust and illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territory, must be brought to an end,” Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said at the start of the 15th East Asia Summit of Foreign Ministers in Kuala Lumpur, speaking on behalf of the bloc.
“Eighty years of impunity have emboldened Israel to the extent of openly committing genocide, including through mass starvation that includes babies and children,” he stressed.
“This is unacceptable. It must not be allowed to continue. It must stop,” he added, according to an official transcript of his speech on the Malaysian Foreign Ministry website.
He noted that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) supports and welcomes all initiatives aimed at achieving peace, including those in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Malaysia is current chair of the bloc.
The Israeli army has killed nearly 57,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has devastated the enclave and led to food shortages and the spread of disease.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
“Capitalism brings war, popular struggles build peace.” Solidarity action with workers at Paris airport, June 2025. Source: BDS France-Paris/Facebook
Worker-led actions to block military and dual-use cargo to Israel continue across Europe, defying government support for occupation and genocide.
A growing number of logistics and transport workers, along with trade unions across Europe, are taking action against military shipments to Israel as it continues its genocide in the Gaza Strip. One of the most recent examples is the refusal by airport workers in Paris, primarily organized by the trade unions SUD Aérien and CGT Roissy, to deal with military cargo destined for Israel.
“As workers in the aviation sector, we categorically refuse to participate, directly or indirectly, in logistical operations that could contribute to the crimes currently being committed in Gaza,” SUD Aérien stated.
French workers have also called for similar blockades in other locations, expressing their solidarity with Palestinians. “Refusing to transport military equipment to Israel is an act of resistance and dignity with the Palestinian people,” read a joint statement from rail, air, and transport unions in June. “We will not stay silent in the face of the collective punishment of an entire people.”
This is not the first time French transport workers have disrupted shipments to the Israeli occupation. Earlier in June, SUD Aérien called for a boycott of Elbit Systems cargo through the same Paris airport, while dockworkers in Fos-sur-Mer, near Marseille, refused to handle similar freight. Workers’ pressure has escalated to the point that leaders of major union confederations felt compelled to publicly urge the French government to act and prevent similar shipments.
However, prospects for action from President Emmanuel Macron remain slim, so trade unions are instead urging workers to take matters into their own hands by refusing to handle military or dual-use cargo. “No hierarchy, no contract, no silence can justify participation in acts that everyone knows to be unjust or inhumane,” SUD Aérien said. “We call on all workers, unionized or not, to refuse to load this cargo, to assert their right to conscience, and to refuse to be complicit in this policy of death.”
Similar appeals can be found circulating in Piraeus, the port of Athens, where dockworkers have organized several actions to prevent arms shipments. Their union ENEDEP is now calling for broader mobilization, including students, workers, and community groups, ahead of the expected passage of the ship Ever Golden, bound for Israel. According to ENEDEP, Ever Golden, scheduled to dock in Athens on Monday, July 14, is carrying military-grade steel which will be used in attacks on Palestinians. “This cargo will be used to continue the slaughter of civilians, the bombing of hospitals, schools, children, infants, and women,” the union wrote.
ENEDEP has urged the public to gather at the port Monday morning to demonstrate widespread opposition to Greece’s facilitation of arms transfers. “Our goal is to block the unloading and prevent the transfer of this deadly cargo,” they stated. “We will not stain our hands with blood, we will not become accomplices.”
Efforts to halt arms shipments to Israel are also ongoing in Sweden, Italy, and Britain, among others. In the United Kingdom, workers from various sectors had taken direct action against Elbit Systems and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems through the group Palestine Action, recently proscribed by the Labour government. In Sweden, dockworkers previously voted for a full-scale embargo on military equipment to and from Israel.
In Italy, dockworkers in Genoa and the wider membership of the union Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) have organized actions to obstruct military cargo – most recently at the airport in Brescia. During that mobilization, USB emphasized that workers continue to repudiate war and highlighted an ongoing campaign to support the right to strike in cases involving the handling of military material, as well as the right to conscientious objection in research institutions, universities, and schools.
Through all these actions, workers are making clear that they reject being made complicit in genocide by employers or governments. “Our job is not to transport war,” SUD Aérien stated, echoing the sentiment of other unions. “Our solidarity is with the oppressed, not with war criminals.”
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Vote Labour for Genocide.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Vote Labour for Genocide.
![Israeli military vehicles patrol on street during a raid on Salam Neighborhood in Nablus, West Bank on May 29, 2025. [Nedal Eshtayah - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/AA-20250529-38117708-38117701-ISRAELI_ARMY_RAIDS_IN_NABLUS-1-1.jpg?fit=920%2C613&ssl=1)
![Palestinian families begin fleeing again from shelters near the Al-Mawasi area as the Israeli army expands its ground offensive and tanks reach southwestern Khan Yunis, Gaza, marking their first displacement in nearly a year and a half, on July 10, 2025. [Hani Alshaer - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AA-20250710-38527688-38527676-ISRAELI_OFFENSIVE_DISPLACES_FAMILIES_IN_KHAN_YUNIS-1-1.jpg?fit=920%2C613&ssl=1)
