The statement was signed by: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Britain.
The joint statement referred to Israel’s decision on December 11 to build 19 new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank, according to an Anadolu correspondent.
The statement added that "unilateral steps" such as intensifying the settlement policy in the West Bank not only violate international law, but also fuel chaos and instability in the region.
He stressed that this Israeli move risks undermining efforts to move to the second phase of the ceasefire process in the Gaza Strip. He also warned that the decision to expand settlements simultaneously risks damaging long-term prospects for peace and security throughout the region.
The 14 countries stressed their opposition to all forms of annexation of Palestinian territory to Israeli sovereignty and to settlement expansion policies. The Israeli government had decided on December 11 to establish 19 new settlements in the West Bank.
There are currently 141 illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as 224 random settlement outposts established by extremist Jewish groups, which are illegal even according to Israeli laws, not to mention their violation of international laws.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday evening, clashes broke out between Palestinians and the Israeli occupation army during raids on various areas in the occupied West Bank, and settlers continued their attacks against Palestinians and their property
In the central West Bank, the Voice of Palestine radio station (government-run) reported clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli army near the entrance to the Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah in the central West Bank, without mentioning any injuries.
In the central West Bank, the radio station reported that the Israeli army raided the villages and towns of Yabrud, Silwad, Kafr Malik, and Turmus Ayya, north of Ramallah. In the northern West Bank, the army raided the town of Beita and the villages of Burin and Madama, south of Nablus, according to the same source.
For its part, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said that an Israeli force “stormed the village of Madma, and fired a barrage of stun grenades and toxic tear gas canisters towards citizens’ homes, and closed the main entrances to the village and prevented citizens from passing through.”
In the southern West Bank, eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli army stormed the town of Sa’ir, north of Hebron, and “fired stun grenades.”
Regarding settler attacks, eyewitnesses told Anadolu that settlers attacked the “Al-Amriyeen” gathering on the outskirts of Al-Mughayyir village, northeast of Ramallah. Palestinian residents confronted them and thwarted the attack, before the army intervened and fired shots at the Palestinians, without any source indicating that injuries were recorded.
Since the start of the two-year war of extermination on Gaza, the Israeli escalation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has led to the martyrdom of at least 1,103Palestinians, the injury of nearly 11,000, and the arrest of more than 21,000, according to Palestinian data.
The genocide that Israel began with American support in Gaza on October 8, 2023, left about 71,000 martyrs and more than 171,000 wounded Palestinians, most of them children and women, as well as massive destruction, with reconstruction costs estimated by the United Nations at about $70 billion.
