Last updated:November 23, 2024, 12:08 PM IST

Seymour Hersh on his Substack blog said that Israel will soon formally announce that it has taken over the Palestinian West Bank.

Palestinian boys ride bicycles as they watch Israeli military vehicles during an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (PICTURE: REUTERS)

The Israeli leadership will formally annex the West Bank in the near future, as early as two weeks, veteran journalist Seymour Hersh claimed. Hersh, who also revealed the alleged US role in the Nord Stream pipeline blasts, said there are also calls for northern Gaza to be “handed over” to Israeli settlers.

“I was told this week by a well-informed Washington official that the Israeli leadership will formally annex the West Bank in the very near future — perhaps two weeks,” Hersh wrote in his journal. Substack column.

He said Israelis hope “that decisive step will end once and for all all talk of a two-state solution and will convince some in the skeptical Arab world to reconsider funding the planned reconstruction of Gaza”.

Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Gaza war broke out on October 7 last year after Hamas attacked Israel, and since then Israeli forces have carried out several raids on the Jenin refugee camp, a known stronghold for militant groups.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 777 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.

Palestinian attacks on Israelis have also killed at least 24 people in the West Bank during the same period, according to official Israeli figures.

Israel has held the West Bank since 1967. The area is also under partial control of the Palestinian Authority, with Israel retaining military and civilian authority over some regions. The West Bank is divided into Areas A, B and C, with varying levels of Palestinian and Israeli control.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), led by President Mahmoud Abbas, controls Areas A and B, while Israel controls Area C, which includes most of the West Bank’s settlements.

“This will be the new phase, and suddenly the world’s attention will go away from Gaza and Lebanon. And everyone will be talking about the annexation of the West Bank in a month or two,” Hersh quoted a source as saying in his column.

Place:

Washington DC, United States (US)