Global outrage over Gaza journalist deaths as Israel drops West Bank annexation plans
Qatar-based Al Jazeera said four of its journalists were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Sunday, prompting international condemnation. Israel defended the attack, saying it targeted Hamas operations in the area.
The strike comes amid soaring regional tensions. According to The Washington Post, Israel recently abandoned plans to formally annex parts of the occupied West Bank after the United Arab Emirates warned such a move would cross a «red line» and jeopardize the 2020 Abraham Accords.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had considered annexing large sections of the territory, but the warning from Abu Dhabi, a key Arab partner, forced him to remove the issue from his government’s agenda.
The Gaza war, triggered by Hamas’s October 2023 offensive, has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and sparked a deepening humanitarian crisis. Analysts say any annexation would have shattered Israel’s ties with Gulf states and further destabilized the region.
Kursiv Uzbekistan also reports that Qatar has condemned an Israeli airstrike on buildings in Doha housing Hamas’s political leadership, calling it a «flagrant violation of international law» and warning it reserves the right to respond.
