Category World News

Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, has announced he will visit Gaza in the coming days as part of what he called an “inspection team” to monitor the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas last week.

During an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Witkoff said he would tour two Israeli-held zones in Gaza, as part of an upcoming trip to Israel.

“I’m going to be a part of an inspection team at the Netzarim Corridor and also at the Philadelphia Corridor,” Witkoff said. “That’s where you have outside overseers, sort of making sure that people are safe and people who are entering are not armed, and no one has bad motivations. ”

The Netzarim Corridor separates north and south Gaza and has been occupied by Israeli forces since they invaded the Palestinian enclave in late October 2023. The Philadelphi Corridor runs between southern Gaza and Egypt. Israel’s military took “operational control” of the area in May of last year.

The trip will be the envoy’s first visit to the Middle East since Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal on January 15. Witkoff, a businessman with no previous diplomatic experience, had previously joined the talks in Qatar that led to the deal.

It will also be Witkoff’s first trip since Trump took office on Monday. Since his inauguration, Trump said he has little confidence the agreement will hold. The deal came into effect on Sunday, and a day later, an Israeli sniper killed a child in Rafah, in an incident caught on video.

“We have to make sure that the implementation goes well, because if it goes well, we’ll get into phase two, and we’re going to get a lot more live bodies out,” Witkoff said, referring to Israeli captives held in Gaza.

“And I think that that is what the president’s directive to me and everybody else working in the American government on this is. ”

A three-phase deal

The ceasefire agreement has three phases. Only the implementation of the first phase has begun.

Over the next six weeks, that phase is meant to see a pause in fighting; a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, including from the Netzarim Corridor; and a surge in aid to the enclave.

Fifteen months of war in Gaza has left the enclave levelled and the vast majority of its population displaced. The United Nations has repeatedly warned of imminent famine in northern Gaza, and its experts have compared Israel’s warfare tactics to genocide.

All told, at least 47,107 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. The Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel had killed 1,139 people, with more than 200 taken captive.

The first phase of the ceasefire is also meant to see 33 Israeli captives released from Gaza and about 1,000 Palestinians released from Israeli detention. Three Israeli captives and 90 Palestinian prisoners have so far been released.

The second and third phase have been agreed to in principle, but negotiations on the details remain ongoing. The second phase is expected to see the remaining Israeli captives released in exchange for the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza.

That goal would be at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s previous pledges to maintain control over Gaza’s security indefinitely after the war. Far-right members of Netanyahu’s government have also called for a return to fighting after the first phase is completed.

Details of the third phase are less clear, but they reportedly include plans for multiyear reconstruction in Gaza and the return of captives’ bodies.

The current deal includes no agreements over who will govern Gaza following the war.

‘Not confident’

Witkoff spoke to Fox News a day after Trump told reporters he was “not confident” that the ceasefire agreement would hold.

“That’s not our war. It’s their war. But I’m not confident,” Trump told a reporter during a photo opportunity at the White House. “I looked at a picture of Gaza. Gaza is like a massive demolition site. ”

The US president, whose first term stretched from from 2017 to 2021, had demanded a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel prior to his inauguration day, promising  “hell to pay” if one was not reached.

It was not immediately clear how Trump would respond if Israel were to break from the agreement.

Trump has generally been more amenable to Israeli interests than his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.

Still, the Biden administration pledged “unwavering” support to Israel and refused to leverage the billions of dollars in military support the US provides to Israel in exchange for a ceasefire.

Trump and Biden have both claimed credit for reaching this month’s ceasefire agreement.

As he begins his second term, Trump is expected to expand US support for Israel. His administration, for example, is packed with pro-Israel hawks, including supporters of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Already, he has peeled back Biden-era sanctions on Israeli settler groups accused of violence against Palestinians.

Still, Trump ran on a pledge to be global peacemaker and end conflicts abroad as part of his “America First” agenda.

Speaking on Wednesday, Witkoff credited Trump’s “peace through strength” approach as the driving force behind the ceasefire, while acknowledging the incoming administration was not involved in the “mathematics” that made up the terms of the deal.

Renewed push for normalisation

Witkoff also said he hoped to reignite Israeli-Arab normalisation efforts Trump spearheaded during his first term, in order to make Israel less diplomatically isolated.

The so-called Abraham Accords saw Israel establish diplomatic ties with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan, but the negotiations were widely criticised for sidelining Palestinian interests.

Experts have also said the future of the Abraham Accords has been thrown into doubt amid regional outrage over the war in Gaza.

Still, Witkoff said he believed a long elusive normalisation deal with Saudi Arabia could yet be reached. He went even further, saying he believed every country in the region could get “on board” with such a deal.

“My own opinion is that a conditional precedent to normalisation was a ceasefire,” Witkoff said. “We needed to get people believing again. ”

When asked to specify which other countries he thought would be open to a deal, Witkoff pointed to Qatar, praising its role as a mediator in the Gaza negotiations.

Afghans who fled their home country after the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 are pleading for the United States to reconsider a decision cancelling all existing refugee resettlement efforts.

On Wednesday, reactions continued to pour in against an executive order Trump had signed two days prior, on his first day in office.

That order called for the suspension of the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), which processes refugees for resettlement in the country, starting on January 27. All applications and arrivals through the programme have likewise been suspended.

But the sudden halt to USRAP has left Afghan refugees — many already approved to enter the US — in limbo, facing instability and the threat of violence.

Mahnoosh Monir, a former medical student and teacher at a language centre in Afghanistan, fled to Pakistan after the Taliban shut down the school where she worked.

Since taking power, the Taliban has severely restricted women’s rights, even banning their ability to speak in public.

Monir expressed surprise at Trump’s actions in an article published in The Associated Press on Wednesday. She told the news agency women would struggle to “survive” under Taliban rule.

“I didn’t expect this suspension to happen,” Monir said. “A long span of waiting makes us think of very disappointing probabilities, like being sent back to Afghanistan or waiting for a long time in Pakistan as a refugee at risk, which are like nightmares to all of case holders. ”

The US ‘owes Afghans a great debt’

Others questioned whether the US was abdicating its responsibility to the Afghans who supported its military presence in the country for two decades.

Thousands of Afghans had worked with US armed forces and the US-backed government during its two-decade-long war in the country. After the collapse of the US-backed government in August 2021, many feared retaliation from the Taliban and hoped to find safe haven in the US.

“President Trump’s decision to cancel the flights of Afghans and other refugees who were cleared and vetted to come to the United States is cruel, ugly and racist,” Arash Azizzada, co-founder of the US-based advocacy organisation Afghans For a Better Tomorrow, told Al Jazeera via text.

“This decision will ensure that Afghans seeking safety could face being targeted, imprisoned, tortured or even worse under a brutal Taliban rule. The United States owes Afghans a great debt, and we will ensure America pays that debt, long after this administration is over. ”

Another advocacy group, Afghan USRAP Refugees, published an open letter to Trump and members of the US Congress, calling for action.

“Many of us risked our lives to support the U. S. mission as interpreters, contractors, human rights defenders, and allies,” the letter read.

Even across the Afghan border in Pakistan, it warned that refugees faced dangerous conditions.

“In Pakistan, the situation is increasingly untenable. Arbitrary arrests, deportations, and insecurity compound our distress. ”

A great demand

An estimated 15,000 Afghans are currently waiting in neighbouring Pakistan to be approved for resettlement. Some have waited for years and spent countless hours navigating the complex bureaucracy of the US immigration system.

Others have travelled to South America to make the perilous journey north to the US-Mexico border, so they can seek asylum.

The United Nations has called the situation in Afghanistan “one of the world’s most urgent crises”. It projects more than a half million Afghans will need resettlement in 2025.

According to a report from the US Department of State, more than 160,000 Afghans have arrived in the country since August 2021. Still, advocates had criticised the administration of former President Joe Biden for slow-walking decisions on entry.

Trump, who replaced Biden on Monday, had campaigned on a platform of severely  restricting immigration into the US. During his first term, from 2017 to 2021, the Republican leader also implemented a ban on entry for citizens of several Muslim-majority countries, leading critics to dub the policy “the Muslim ban”.

In Monday’s executive order, Trump defended his actions as necessary, depicting the US as overwhelmed with arrivals.

“The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans,” the executive order said.

It is not clear when, or if, USRAP will be resumed. Trump called for a report about the programme at the end of 90 days — and at the end of every 90-day period thereafter, until he determines that the “resumption of the USRAP is in the interests of the United States”.

The announcement has caused anxiety among those in the US, including military service members, with family members still in Afghanistan or in refugee camps.

“I’m just thinking about this all day,” an Afghan American soldier with the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, who spoke to the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity.

United States President Donald Trump has signed a record 26 executive orders on his Inauguration Day. However, some are expected to face hurdles as experts warn they clash with the US Constitution.

Here is more about the orders signed on Monday and whether they can be implemented:

How do executive orders work?

An executive order is a directive issued by the US president related to the running of the federal government. The orders do not require congressional approval.

How often are they used, and can they be overturned?

Every US president – except William Henry Harrison, whose presidential term started in March 1841 and lasted a month until his death in April 1841 – has issued at least one executive order. Joe Biden, whom Trump has replaced as president, issued 162 orders during his four-year term, 17 of which were signed on Inauguration Day. During Trump’s first term from 2016 to 2020, he signed 220 orders, 14 of which were signed on his Inauguration Day. Trump’s second term marks a record number of executive orders signed on Inauguration Day.

While executive orders do not need approval from Congress, they can be blocked by Congress and the courts. “Congress may pass legislation that might make it difficult, or even impossible, to carry out the order, such as removing funding,” according to the American Bar Association’s website. In 1992, Congress passed a measure nullifying then-President George HW Bush’s executive order that sought to establish a human fetal tissue bank for research.

Executive orders can also face court challenges for being unconstitutional. In 1952, the Supreme Court ruled that then-President Harry Truman could not seize steel mills to ensure production during the Korean War.

Sitting presidents can also reverse executive orders by issuing new ones.

What executive orders did Trump sign on Inauguration Day?

1. Renames Mount Denali and Gulf of Mexico

What the order means:  The order calls for the name of the highest peak in North America, Alaska’s Mount Denali, to revert back to Mount McKinley after former Republican President William McKinley, who never visited Alaska. The name of the peak was changed the first time in 2015 by President Barack Obama from Mount McKinley to Mount Denali, which is the name preferred by Indigenous people and locals in Alaska. Trump’s order also calls for the Gulf of Mexico, a body of water bound by Cuba, Mexico and the US, to be renamed the Gulf of America. Trump wants this change within 30 days of the order.

The complications it might face:  The order has drawn rebuke from politicians in Alaska and Mexico. “Our nation’s tallest mountain, which has been called Denali for thousands of years, must continue to be known by the rightful name bestowed by Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascans, who have stewarded the land since time immemorial,” Lisa Murkowski, a Republican US senator from Alaska, posted on X.

Can it be delivered? : Renaming Denali is procedurally straightforward because it is within US borders. Trump can rename the Gulf of Mexico as well, but the rest of the world does not have to follow suit. There are no international laws that decide what a common maritime space or a disputed territory is called universally.

2. Establishes Department of Government Efficiency to modernise federal technology

What the order means: The order establishes the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an organisation within the president’s executive office overseen by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. The goal of DOGE is to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies”, Trump said in a statement in November.

The complications it might face: Moments after it was signed, legal action was taken against the DOGE order. There are currently four lawsuits against DOGE. The first one – filed in federal court in Washington, DC, by Public Citizen, the State Democracy Defenders Fund and the American Federation of Government Employees – argues that DOGE violates the 1972 Federal Advisory Committee Act and disobeys federal transparency rules on disclosure. Other lawsuits have been filed by the National Security Counselors and Democracy Forward, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Can it be delivered? : It depends on how the legal cases pan out, but it seems Trump was prepared to face litigation over DOGE when he appointed election lawyer William McGinley as general counsel for the project.

3. Reforms federal hiring to prioritise merit, skills and constitutional dedication

What the order means:  Within 120 days of the order, leaders of federal agencies will develop a federal hiring plan, amending how federal employees are hired or fired, emphasising merit-based decisions over political considerations.

The complications it might face: none that we know of so far

Can it be delivered? : yes

4. Ends “diversity, equity and inclusion” initiatives and related programmes in the federal government

What the order means: The federal government’s diversity and inclusion programmes established by the Joe Biden administration will be dismantled. All diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) office staffers will be placed on paid leave from Wednesday and DEI websites will be taken down.

The complications it might face: none that we know of so far

Can it be delivered? : Yes, in fact, many private companies from Walmart to Facebook have also been scaling back on their diversity practices after facing backlash and litigation from conservative groups.

5. Recognises only biological sex in federal policy

What the order means: Federal agencies will only recognise two biological sexes: male and female. “These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,” the order says.

The complications it might face: Previously, when states have tried to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth, they have faced litigation with claims that they are infringing on the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees equal protections to every person. In 2023, a federal judge blocked a law in Tennessee forbidding healthcare workers from administering hormones to minors. The order also rescinds an October 2021 government document supporting intersex students.

Can it be delivered? : Yes, but it is likely to face legal challenges.

6. Designates cartels as ‘foreign terrorist organisations’

What the order means: International drug cartels are to be designated as “terrorist organisations”. “In certain portions of Mexico, they function as quasi-governmental entities,” the order says.

The complications it might face: Mexico opposes this order because it creates the threat of US military action against Mexico. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a news conference on Tuesday that her government will cooperate with the US to fight drug trafficking but opposes US intervention on Mexico’s territory. “What we insist on is the defence of our sovereignty and our independence,” she said.

Can it be delivered? : yes.

7. Prioritises US interests in all foreign policy decisions

What the order means: The US will take priority in foreign policy decisions.

The complications it might face: none that we know of so far

Can it be delivered? : yes

8. Strengthens vetting processes to prevent “foreign terrorists” and threats from entering the US

What the order means:  The visa screening process for immigrants will become stricter.

The complications it might face: none that we know of so far

Can it be delivered? : yes

9. Encourages development of Alaska’s resources like oil, gas, and minerals

What the order means:  The order aims to promote the commercial production of Alaska’s natural resources, such as liquefied natural gas, minerals, timber and seafood.

The complications it might face: Environmental groups have criticised this order.

Can it be delivered? : yes

10. Strengthens immigration enforcement

What the order means:  Immigration laws will be strictly enforced.

The complications it might face: None that we know of so far

Can it be delivered? : yes

11. Pauses US foreign aid for 90 days to review and ensure alignment with US interests

What the order means: All international aid programmes will be suspended and reassessed.

The complications it might face: none that we know of so far

Can it be delivered? : yes

12. Declares a national energy emergency to improve US energy supplies

What the order means: The order allows to facilitate the speedy identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of US energy resources, including on federal lands.

The complications it might face: Trump faces criticism from environmental groups over this order.

Can it be delivered? : yes

13. Restores the death penalty for severe federal crimes

What the order means: The Biden administration halted the federal death penalty. In his final days in office, Biden also commuted the death penalty for most people on death row, reducing their sentences to life in prison. With this order, Trump has brought back the federal death penalty, and intends to help states stock up on drugs needed to carry out executions.

The complications it might face: Drugs for lethal injections are difficult to get, and the death penalty faces growing opposition in the US.

Can it be delivered? : The drug shortages pose a challenge.

14. Secures US borders by building more walls and enforcing strict immigration laws

What the order means: It aims to tighten border security by building a physical wall and other barriers “monitored and supported by adequate personnel and technology” and detaining, removing and prosecuting immigrants suspected of violating federal or state laws.

The complications it might face: Trump could face criticism from immigrant rights groups over this order.

Can it be delivered? : yes

15. Blocks birthright citizenship

What the order means: It seeks to end automatic US citizenship for anyone born in the US. Birthright citizens include children of undocumented immigrants and tourists, workers and students in the US on valid visas.

The complications it might face:  Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. ” Eighteen Democratic-governed states have filed a lawsuit in a Massachusetts federal court against this order.

Can it be delivered? : It is extremely difficult for Trump to implement this policy with just an executive order because it contradicts the constitution, according to many experts. Bruce Fein, an American lawyer specialising in constitutional and international law, told Al Jazeera in December that to end birthright citizenship, “an amendment [to the constitution] would be required, which would be DOA [dead on arrival]. ”

16. Stops accepting new refugees temporarily to ensure the asylum programme aligns with US interests

What the order means: The admission of refugees into the US will be suspended.

The complications it might face: Trump’s order is drawing criticism for jeopardising the safety of thousands of Afghan refugees. The order “risks abandoning thousands of Afghan wartime allies who stood alongside US service members during two decades of conflict,” Shawn VanDiver, the president of the Afghan resettlement coalition AfghanEvac, told The New York Times.

Can it be delivered? : yes

17. Removes regulations to boost US energy production and eliminates the “electric vehicle (EV) mandate”

What the order means:  In essence, the order ends a series of a line with other executive orders calling for expanding the energy sector, this order eliminates the electric vehicle “mandate” to “promote true consumer choice”.

The complications it might face: Trump could face criticism from environmental groups over this order.

Can it be delivered? : yes

What the order means:  The order asks the defence secretary within 10 days to deliver a plan “which assigns United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) the mission to seal the borders and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States”.

The complications it might face: Nnone that we know of so far

Can it be delivered? : yes

19. Revokes security clearances of former officials involved in “election interference”

What the order means:  The order removes the security clearances of 51 former intelligence officials who signed a letter in 2020 saying news reports of Biden’s son Hunter Biden leaving his laptop at a repair shop was part of a Russian misinformation campaign.

The complications it might face: none that we know of so far

Can it be delivered? : yes

20. Makes it easier to remove federal workers in policy roles if they perform poorly or act against policies

What the order means:  This order claims it is about greater accountability and transparency for the federal officials who shape policy decisions. But it would also take away job protections and in theory, allow the administration to fire employees who don’t agree with its policies.

The complications it might face: Lawsuits have been filed against the order.

Can it be delivered? : It depends on what the courts decide.

21. Withdraws US from World Health Organization

What the order means:  The US, one of the largest donors to the WHO, is to withdraw from the United Nations health agency due to its “mishandling” of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The complications it might face: “Trump made a unilateral decision to pull out of WHO. But we joined WHO in 1948 by an Act of Congress. Trump needs Congress’ approval to withdraw,” Professor Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute and chairman of global health law at Georgetown University in Washington DC, posted on X. Gostin added: “I am considering a lawsuit. ”

Can it be delivered? : Legal troubles could get in the way.

22. Pauses enforcement of a ban on TikTok for 75 days to review security concerns

What the order means:  Popular social media app TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, was banned in the US on Sunday through a federal law upheld by the Supreme Court. This order suspends this law for 75 days.

The complications it might face: None that we know of so far

Can it be delivered? : yes

23. Revokes previous executive orders and actions considered harmful

What the order means:  It overturns 78 executive orders made during the Biden administration.

The complications it might face: None that we know of so far

Can it be delivered? : yes

24. Stops federal censorship of speech online

What the order means: The order says it seeks to ensure that federal officials do not infringe on the right to  free speech. The right is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

The complications it might face:  It is unclear how this would impact US agencies that monitor and regulate false information, including the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Can it be delivered? : yes

25. Stops using federal agencies to target political opponents

What the order means: Essentially, the order empowers the attorney general to scrutinise all government departments to identify instances when agencies were used to target Trump and his allies over the past four years.

The complications it might face: None that we know of so far

Can it be delivered? : yes

26. Withdraws the US from the Paris Agreement and other international climate commitments

What the order means:  The US will withdraw from international climate treaties, including the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement calls for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The main goal of the agreement is to prevent long-term global temperatures from warming 1. 5 degrees Celsius (2. 7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times and, if not that, then well below 2C (3. 6F)

The complications it might face: Trump could face criticism from environmental groups over this order.

When the Gaza ceasefire was announced on January 15, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank were overjoyed that Israel’s devastating war on the besieged enclave would finally end.

However, Israeli state violence has quickly escalated across the West Bank in what local monitors and analysts describe as an apparent attempt to formally annex more land.

The sudden uptick in settler attacks and Israeli military operations has frightened Palestinians in the occupied territory, who believe they could now face the same kind of violence meted out to their countrymen and women in Gaza. Israel has killed more than 46,900 Palestinians in Gaza since its war started on the enclave in October 2023.

“We watched a genocide unfold in Gaza for 14 months and nobody in the world did anything to stop it and some people here think we’ll suffer a similar fate,” said Shady Abdullah, a journalist and human rights activist from Tulkarem.

“We all know we fear that the situation could get much worse here in the West Bank,”  he told Al Jazeera.

Shifting battlefield

Hours after the Gaza ceasefire began on January 19, Israel began erecting dozens of new checkpoints in the West Bank to prevent Palestinians from gathering and celebrating the release of political prisoners, who were let go in a swap for Israeli captives held by Hamas as part of the deal.

The checkpoints also prohibited farmers from reaching their farmlands and sealed civilians in entire cities, such as in Hebron and Bethlehem.

Israeli settlers then began expanding illegal outposts in the West Bank and attacking Palestinian villages. Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law, and many of the haphazardly constructed outposts are even illegal under Israeli law, although often little is done to remove them, and many later become formalised.

“The implications of the violence is that it leads to direct or associated displacement and that falls in line with Israel’s objective of preventing any Palestinian state on their land,” said Tahani Mustafa, an expert on Israel-Palestine with International Crisis Group.

In addition, the Israeli army announced plans to carry out major operations in the West Bank, which began on January 21 with a major incursion into Jenin camp, ostensibly to root out armed groups. Israeli raids on the West Bank predated the war on Gaza, but scaled up in violence and intensity with the onset of the war.

“The settler violence and incursions we are seeing … is an indicator of where we are heading now,”  Mustafa told Al Jazeera.

Trade-off?

The uptick in violence has led some to believe that new United States President Donald Trump made a trade-off with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pause the war on Gaza in exchange for stepping up aggression in the West Bank.

“The ceasefire in Gaza – which looks more like a humanitarian pause and “trade of hostages and prisoners” – comes with a price. Israel never ever relinquishes anything without a price to be paid and I think we are seeing that in the West Bank, given the sort of [officials] the Trump administration is composed of,” Mustafa said.

Trump has not indicated that there is any kind of deal with Netanyahu to allow him to increase violence in the West Bank, but he has also refused to commit to a two-state solution, and has nominated several figures who are opposed to Palestinian statehood to prominent positions in his administration.

The potential for an increased crackdown on Palestinian fighters in the West Bank, as well as the growth of illegal settlements and even potential annexation, appears to have incentivised Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to remain in Netanyahu’s frail coalition, rather than pull out and collapse the government as a way to protest the ceasefire in Gaza.

Under Smotrich, Israel has quietly confiscated more land in the West Bank over the last year than it has in the last 20 years combined, according to Peace Now, an Israeli nonprofit monitoring land grabs.

Both Smotrich and the broader settler movement have long viewed the occupied West Bank as an integral part of “greater Israel”, and refer to the territory as Judea and Samaria.

Smotrich’s rapid annexation of the West Bank went largely unnoticed due to the much larger crisis in Gaza, where, in addition to the mass killing of Palestinians, nearly the entire pre-war population of 2. 3 million people were uprooted and displaced.

Settler attacks

Palestinians across the occupied West Bank now say that settlers are stepping up attacks in coordination with the Israeli army to confiscate and seize more land.

On January 20, settlers violently attacked two villages in the northern West Bank, Funduq and Jinasfut, as well as villages further south in Masafer Yatta and around Ramallah.

The settlers set homes and cars ablaze and beat up Palestinians under the full protection and watchful eye of the Israeli army, according to local rights groups.

However, the head of the Israeli army’s Central Command, General Avi Bluth, said in a statement that any “violent riot harms security and the army will not allow it”.

The attacks came during Trump’s inauguration as US president – in one of his first actions as president he reversed sanctions on groups and individuals who the US had previously deemed part of the “extremist settler movement”.

“The aim of the settlers is known,” said Abbas Milhem, the executive director of the Palestinian Farmers Union. “They want to transfer Palestinians outside of the West Bank and annex the land to Israel and impose Israeli law. ”

Ghassan Aleeyan, a Palestinian living in Bethlehem, expressed his frustration to Al Jazeera.

“What these people are doing is illegal, but they don’t care about international law, or Palestinian law or Israeli law,” he told Al Jazeera. “They don’t even care about God’s law. ”

Raid on Jenin

In early December, armed groups in Jenin began clashing with the Palestinian Authority (PA), an administration created as a result of the 1993 Oslo Accords.

The accords jump-started a now-defunct peace process that ostensibly aimed to establish a Palestinian state across the occupied Palestinian territory, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

A key element of the Oslo Accords was tasking the PA with rooting out and disarming armed groups as part of its security coordination with Israel.

But as hopes for statehood faded and Israel entrenched its occupation, a number of neighbourhood armed groups loosely connected with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas and even Fatah – the faction in control of the PA – emerged in Palestinian camps across the West Bank.

With the PA unable to crush the armed groups in Jenin camp, Israel launched a major operation on January 21, which has already killed at least 10 people.

Local monitors told Al Jazeera that Israel is justifying its operation under the guise of buttressing Israel’s security and ensuring that another October 7-style assault does not occur, even though the armed groups in the West Bank are far less capable and organised than Hamas in Gaza.

“We believe Israel’s plan is to attack the north of the West Bank in the same way it did during the second Intifada when it invaded Palestinian camps,” said Murad Jadallah, a human rights monitor with al-Haq, a Palestinian rights group.

Israel previously occupied the Jenin camp for 10 days in 2002, destroying about 400 houses and displacing about a quarter of the residents during the second Intifada in 2002, according to the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA).

Mustafa, from the ICG, believes Israel will conduct more incursions and major military operations across the West Bank in the coming days in an attempt to crush all forms of resistance.

“The battlefield is about to shift from Gaza to the West Bank,” she said.

Today on The Stream:  We ask Syrians  what they think the future holds following the fall of the Assad regime.