While eyes are on Gaza, push to annex West Bank accelerates

While attention at home and abroad has been diverted by the Gaza war, Israel’s far-right government has made a major leap towards annexing the occupied West Bank over the past year, creating 43 new outposts and confiscating huge swathes of land , according to  Israeli and Palestinian observers.

They predict even greater acceleration towards Israeli supremacy and sovereignty during the next year with the advent of the second Trump administration and the consolidation of Israeli administrative changes that facilitate land poaching and settlement activity.

“Israel has been moving faster than ever in increasing the Jewish presence,” said Ghassan Khatib a former Palestinian Authority Labor minister who teaches at Bir Zeit University.