The Latest | Israel approved largest land seizure in West Bank in decades, watchdog group says

An anti-settlement watchdog said Wednesday that Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades.

Peace Now said authorities recently approved the appropriation of 12.7 square kilometers (nearly 5 square miles) of land in the Jordan Valley. The group’s data indicate it was the largest single appropriation approved since 1993.

Peace Now said 2024 is by far the peak year for Israeli land seizure in the West Bank.

The land appropriation was likely to worsen already soaring tensions linked to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Violence has surged in the West Bank since the start of the war, with Israel carrying out near-daily military raids that often spark deadly gunbattles with Palestinian militants.

On Tuesday, the United Nations said Palestinians were streaming out of eastern Khan Younis, the second-largest city in Gaza, as an Israeli evacuation order affected roughly 250,000 people. Israel’s military estimated that around 1.9 million people — more than 80% of all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip — are now clustered into the territory’s central region.

Evacuees have been told by Israel to seek refuge in an overcrowded coastal area filled with sprawling tent camps where there are few basic services. The war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and goods to Gaza, and people are totally dependent on humanitarian aid. The top U.N. court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies.

Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.

Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 37,900 people in Gaza, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

Currently:

— A strike kills a family as an Israeli evacuation order sparks panicked flight from a southern Gaza city.

— Hezbollah’s deputy leader says the group would stop fighting with Israel after a Gaza cease-fire.

— Lebanese authorities charge U.S. Embassy shooter with affiliation to militant Islamic State group.

— Iran’s presidential candidates talk economic sanctions and nuclear deal ahead of their runoff election.

— Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.

Here’s the latest:

Israeli strike kills another senior Hezbollah commander as diplomats scramble for calm in Lebanon

BEIRUT — An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed a senior Hezbollah commander on Wednesday as tensions between the two sides boil, a Hezbollah official told The Associated Press.

The strike near the southern coastal city of Tyre took place as global diplomatic efforts have intensified in recent weeks to prevent escalating clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli military from spiraling into an all-out war that could possibly lead to a direct confrontation between Israel and Iran.

A Hezbollah statement identified the commander as Mohammad Naameh Nasser, who went by the name “Abu Naameh,” his nom de guerre. A Hezbollah official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Nasser was the head of the group’s Aziz Unit, one of three regional divisions in southern Lebanon.

Nasser was the most senior official from the Iran-backed group killed since Taleb Sami Abdullah, who was killed in an airstrike June 11.

In a video circulated by local media, residents rushed toward a charred vehicle with a large plume of smoke. Civil Defense said its first responders transported an unnamed wounded person to a hospital.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack.

Hezbollah has launched rockets into northern Israel since a day after the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which sparked the war in Gaza. There have been limited clashes along the tense Israel-Lebanon border almost every day that have gradually escalated, with Hezbollah introducing new weapons in their attacks and Israel striking deeper into Lebanon.

Hezbollah maintains that it will stop its attacks once there is a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. Until then, it says it will keep up the attacks to exert pressure on Israel and the international community. Israeli officials have threatened to launch a larger military operation if Hezbollah doesn't halt its attacks.

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Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb contributed to this report.

Israel approved largest land seizure in West Bank in decades, watchdog says

An anti-settlement watchdog says Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades.

The Israeli group Peace Now said Wednesday that authorities recently approved the appropriation of 12.7 square kilometers (nearly 5 square miles) of land in the Jordan Valley. The group’s data indicate it was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords at the start of the peace process.

The land seizure, which was approved late last month but only publicized on Wednesday, comes after the seizure of 8 square kilometers (roughly 3 square miles) of land in the West Bank in March and 2.6 square kilometers (1 square mile) in February.

That makes 2024 by far the peak year for Israeli land seizure in the West Bank, Peace Now said.

The Palestinians view the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank as the main barrier to any lasting peace agreement and most of the international community considers them illegal or illegitimate. Israel’s government considers the West Bank to be the historical and religious heartland of the Jewish people and is opposed to Palestinian statehood.

1 killed, another wounded in stabbing attack at northern Israel mall

JERUSALEM — One person was killed and another was wounded in a stabbing attack at a shopping mall in northern Israel in what Israeli police say was a terrorist attack.

Gal Zeid, the spokesperson for Israel’s Galilee Medical Center, said doctors pronounced one man dead after failing to resuscitate him. He said another man was admitted to a hospital intensive care unit. The attack took place in the Israeli town of Karmiel.

The police say the assailant was killed. They did not provide details about the suspect.

Palestinians have carried out a number of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks in Israel in recent years, while Israeli forces have launched frequent, deadly military raids in the occupied West Bank. Tensions have soared since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza.