Spotlight on the Israel-Palestinian Conflict (May 27 – June 3, 2025)

The IDF in the Gaza Strip

• This past week IDF forces intensified air and ground operations in the Gaza Strip. They attacked hundreds of terrorist targets, primarily belonging to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). The targets included terrorist squads and operatives, including the squad commander responsible for launching anti-tank missiles that killed 21 IDF soldiers in January 2024. Other targets included weapons depots, booby-trapped buildings, tunnels, observation and sniper positions, and command and control centers, some operating from civilian buildings. An Israeli civilian employee of the IDF and three IDF soldiers were killed in two explosions in Jabaliya in northern Gaza (IDF spokesperson, May 27–June 3, 2025).
• On May 30, 2025, the IDF Arabic spokesperson issued a warning for a civilian evacuation in preparation for the expansion of ground operations in northern Gaza. Residents in the northern and eastern areas of Gaza City, including Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, the Jabaliya refugee camp, Jabaliya, and the al-Shejaya and Zeitoun neighborhoods were instructed to evacuate immediately to the western part of the city (IDF Arabic spokesperson’s X account, May 30, 2025). On June 2, 2025, the IDF Arabic spokesperson issued a broad evacuation notice in Khan Yunis and warned that the IDF would operate with force because the terrorist organizations, led by Hamas, continued their activity from civilian areas. Residents were instructed to move west to the al-Mawasi area; the IDF spokesperson stressed that the evacuation order did not apply to al-Amal Hospital (IDF Arabic spokesperson’s X account, June 2, 2025).

     
Right: Evacuation notice for northern Gaza (IDF Arabic spokesperson’s X account, May 30, 2025). Left: Evacuation notice for Khan Yunis (IDF Arabic spokesperson’s X account, June 2, 2025)

• The municipality of al-Khaza’a, east of Khan Yunis, announced that the town had become a “complete disaster area,” buildings had been entirely destroyed and reduced to rubble, and health and education facilities had also been obliterated, with displaced residents “under a barrage of shelling and gunfire” (Shehab News Agency, May 31, 2025). The IDF confirmed that it had completed the demolition of Khirbet al-Khaza’a, from which the Hamas terrorist raid on Kibbutz Nir Oz was launched during the October 7, 2023 attack and massacre (Israeli media, May 31, 2025).
• On May 31, 2025, the IDF confirmed that Muhammad al-Sinwar, head of the Hamas military wing, had been killed in an attack on a command and control complex located under the European Hospital in Khan Yunis on May 13, 2025. Also eliminated in the attack were Muhammad Shabana, Rafah Brigade commander of Hamas’ military wing; and Mahdi Kawara, commander of the South Khan Yunis Battalion (IDF spokesperson, May 31, 2025).
• The Hamas military wing announced the launch of Operation Stones of David. The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for attacking IDF forces with anti-tank missile fire, explosive devices and ambushes in various areas across the Gaza Strip (Telegram channel of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, May 28–30, 2025).

Rocket Fire

• On May 31, 2025, two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at the Israeli communities near the border; the rockets landed in open areas. No casualties or damage was reported (IDF spokesperson and Israeli media, May 31, 2025).

• This past week the indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas focused on the proposal of United States special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. According to the proposal, a 60-day ceasefire would be declared during which ten live hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages would be released in exchange for an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, the opening of negotiations to end the war and a limited withdrawal of IDF forces, with guarantees from the United States, Egypt and Qatar (Reuters, May 30, 2025).
• After Israel approved the proposal it was transferred to Hamas, and the movement’s leadership was reportedly reviewing the proposal “responsibly in a way that served the interests of the Palestinian people, eased their suffering, and would lead to a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip” (Hamas Telegram channel, May 29, 2025). However, senior Hamas figure Sami Abu Zuhri claimed the terms of the proposal “echoed the Israeli position” (Reuters, May 29, 2025), while Bassem Na’im, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said that Israel’s response “does not meet any of the Palestinian people’s legitimate demands” and fundamentally sought “to establish the occupation and perpetuate the policy of killing and hunger” (Reuters, May 30, 2025).
• On May 31, 2025, Hamas announced that after a round of national consultations, it had submitted its response to the Witkoff proposal to the mediators in a way that would achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of the IDF from the Gaza Strip and the guarantee of aid delivery (Hamas Telegram channel, May 31, 2025). “Hamas sources” said the movement had held intensive contacts and meetings with leaders of Palestinian “factions”^[1] in Qatar and various capitals, including Beirut, to formulate a united Palestinian position. According to the sources, Hamas and the “factions” considered the response positive, although it included several “comments” which needed to be integrated into the proposal to ensure its successful implementation despite all of its “negative aspects.” The sources claimed that all “comments” on the proposal had been unanimously agreed upon by the “factions” (al-Sharq al-Awsat, May 31, 2025).
• Media outlets reported Hamas’ main demands as the ceasefire would last 60 days and the American president would personally announce the agreement and guarantee Israel’s compliance; the release of live hostages would occur in three stages over the 60 days, as would the release of the bodies of dead hostages; humanitarian aid would be delivered to the Gaza Strip immediately after the agreement was approved, facilities would be repaired and the necessary materials would be brought in. Hospitals, schools and bakeries would be restored and become operative as part of a 3- to 5-year plan supervised by various countries and organizations, including Egypt, Qatar and the UN; Gazans would be allowed to move freely through the Rafah Crossing and trade would resume; all Israeli military activity in the Strip would cease upon the agreement’s implementation, flights over the Strip would be restricted and all IDF forces would withdraw to positions held on March 2, 2025; indirect negotiations for a ceasefire would begin on the first day of the agreement and had to be completed within 60 days. After the final agreement was announced and full IDF withdrawal from the Strip was completed, all remaining hostages would be released in exchange for an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners; Hamas also demanded that the United States, Egypt and Qatar commit to maintaining the ceasefire for 60 days and guarantee the continuation of negotiations until a permanent agreement was reached; an independent technocratic committee would begin managing the Strip upon the start of the agreement’s implementation; hostile military actions between Israel and Hamas would cease for a period of 5 to 7 years, under the guarantee of the mediators (al-Mayadeen and al-Sharq al-Awsat, May 31, 2025).
• After Steve Witkoff stated that Hamas’ response was “unacceptable” and demanded the movement accept the original proposal, Hamas condemned his position but said they were still willing to negotiate to end the war:
  • Hamas political bureau member Bassem Na’im said Witkoff’s response was “completely biased” and that the Israeli response “violated all the conditions agreed upon.” He claimed they had not rejected Witkoff’s proposal and accused him of siding with Israel in a way that “undermines the integrity and honesty of the mediation process and represents total bias toward the other side” (CNN Arabic, June 1, 2025).
  • Taher al-Nunu, media advisor to the head of the Hamas political bureau, said they had “fully agreed” to the proposal as originally presented by Witkoff before it was amended and blamed the “occupation” for rejecting the release of “the prisoners” [hostages] in stages. He said they had informed Witkoff that they were ready to begin indirect negotiations for 60 days and were open to talks which would lead to a permanent ceasefire agreement (Palestine Online Telegram channel, June 1, 2025).
  • Senior Hamas figure Mahmoud Mardawi claimed the “occupation” had bypassed the ceasefire proposal agreed upon by “the resistance”^[2] and the United States mediator to “solve its internal problems.” He said they would not hand over “captives” without guarantees for a ceasefire, adding that “without sufficient guarantees, the agreement would be nothing more than ink on paper” (Al Jazeera, June 2, 2025).
• Meanwhile, Hamas faces growing pressure in the Palestinian arena, including from its supporters, to agree to a ceasefire, even a temporary one, in light of the dire situation in the Gaza Strip:
  • Bilal Nizar Riyan, son of senior Hamas figure Nizar Riyan (eliminated in Operation Cast Lead), who currently resides outside the Strip, wrote to the Hamas leadership that “It makes no sense that the mediators present you with a proposal full of loopholes and reservations, and then you go to the media claiming to be ‘studying’ it while your people are being annihilated, killed and uprooted at every moment. Whether your position is one of acceptance or rejection, you must clarify it explicitly and directly to your people in Gaza within hours, not days, because they are the ones who grant you legitimacy through their steadfastness and blood. Silence or ambiguity at a moment like this is unforgivable… Their lives must not be governed by vague wording or diplomatic niceties. If the proposal does not meet minimum requirements, say so clearly, and if you hold a different position, do not leave them with illusions while death hunts them down everywhere” (Bilal Nizar Riyan’s X account, May 30, 2025).
  • The spokesperson for the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said they were confident the “brothers” in the Hamas leadership were aware of the grave dangers the Palestinians would face if a ceasefire were not immediately reached. Therefore, they reiterated their call to the Hamas leadership to intensify its efforts, in coordination with the Arab mediators, to reach an agreement to end the “aggression,” even if only for 60 days, as that would be sufficient time to enable regional and international initiatives to develop the situation in a way that would advance the national goals (DFLP Central Media Telegram channel, May 30, 2025).
  • Fatah spokesperson in Gaza, Mundhir al-Hayek, said even Hamas’ youthful supporters wanted the war to end and realized that Hamas’ negotiating delegation had become ineffective. He called on delegation head Khalil al-Haya to listen to what Hamas youth and families were saying in the streets of Gaza and added that “it seems the Palestinian delegation is still unaware of what is happening in the Strip, not even the members living outside it.” He added that it was a “disaster” if Hamas was making its decisions based on military and strategic commentators appearing on television, because that was far from the reality in the Strip, where people “are living on the streets and cannot find drinking water” (Radio al-Alam, June 1, 2025).

The situation in the Gaza Strip

• The Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) reported that during the week ending May 31, 2025, 579 trucks carrying humanitarian aid had entered the Gaza Strip, bringing flour, food, medical equipment and medications (COGAT’s X account, May 31, 2025). Reportedly more than 340 UN aid trucks had secretly entered the Strip during a two-week period and distributed their contents directly to Gazans through bypass routes designed to prevent Hamas from seizing the aid (Ynet, June 1, 2025).
• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) claimed that Gaza was “the hungriest place on Earth,” stating that the UN was prepared to deliver large-scale aid “immediately.” According to spokesperson Jens Laerke, the UN has about 180,000 mobile units of food and life-saving aid ready to enter the Strip immediately. He said that every hour that passed led to more loss of life and there was a limited window of time to prevent complete collapse (Wafa, May 28, 2025).
• The World Food Programme (WFP) announced its authorization to sell flour and food directly to families in the Gaza Strip had been renewed and it planned to resume flour distribution soon, including in northern Gaza. The WFP that the attacks on aid trucks, warehouses and humanitarian workers, along with the looting of convoys and employing violence against them, posed “obstacles” to delivering and distributing aid safely. The program called on civilians to cooperate to ensure the peaceful and orderly delivery of aid to families across the Strip (Dunia al-Watan, May 28, 2025).
• The Hamas-controlled ministry of health in the Gaza Strip continued to promote the narrative of a paralyzed public health system:
  • Gazan Civil Defense issued an urgent appeal to the World Health Organization and other humanitarian organizations to act immediately to restore emergency services and medical assistance to Rafah. According to the appeal, ambulance service had stopped in March 2025 when the Civil Defense’s only ambulance was destroyed in an IDF attack which killed Civil Defense and Palestinian Red Crescent personnel in Tel al-Sultan. As a result, teams had to use civilian vehicles and even animal-drawn carts to evacuate wounded persons and bodies. Gazan Civil Defense warned that thousands of residents in the southern Strip were left without access to emergency services and called for urgent international assistance to provide ambulances and medical equipment (Sama, May 28, 2025).
  • The Hamas-controlled ministry of health in the Gaza Strip published data on the public health sector to mark the 600^th day of the war. It claimed that 22 of 38 hospitals in the Strip had ceased operations; 30 of 105 first-aid centers remained active; hospital bed occupancy stood at 106%; 47% of basic medicines and 65% of essential medicals were depleted; only 50 of the original 104 operating rooms were functioning “under catastrophic conditions”; 25 of the Strip’s 34 oxygen stations had been destroyed and only 9 were partially operative; 12 of 19 CT machines and all 7 MRI machines had been destroyed; only 49 of the 110 hospital generators were still functioning, and they required urgent maintenance and fuel (Hamas ministry of health Telegram channel, May 28, 2025).
  • Munir al-Barsh, director-general of the Hamas ministry of health in Gaza, claimed that Israel had forced the closure of al-Awda Hospital, the last functioning medical facility in the northern Strip, and the medical staff and patients had to evacuate and thus healthcare services were unavailable for about 400,000 residents of northern Gaza (Anadolu Agency, May 29, 2025).

Humanitarian aid distribution centers

• The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the American company established to distribute humanitarian aid in the Strip, reported that in its first week of activity it had distributed about 5.88 million food packages at four distribution centers in southern and central Gaza. The foundation plans to establish additional centers, including in the northern Strip (Jerusalem Post, June 2, 2025).
• On May 27, 2025, the official first day of distribution, Gazans breached the fences of the GHF’s distribution center in Rafah and began stealing food packages; armed American security guards and IDF forces fired warning shots in the air (Quds News Agency, May 27, 2025). The Hamas government media information office claimed that several Gazans had been wounded by the gunfire and claimed the incident was “proof of the failure of the aid distribution plan” (Hamas government media information office Telegram channel, May 27, 2025). The GHF accused Hamas of erecting roadblocks and delaying the arrival of residents and said the guards had withdrawn during the breach but that distribution resumed shortly thereafter. The IDF denied shooting at the distribution center (Israeli media, May 27, 2025)

• On June 1, 2025, Hamas claimed that at least 25 people had been killed and over 150 injured by IDF gunfire at Gazans who arrived at a humanitarian aid center in western Rafah. Hamas accused Israel of “deliberately committing a crime” to turn aid centers into “hunger traps” and claimed Israel and the United States had committed for “war crimes” (Hamas Telegram channel, June 1, 2025). An initial IDF inquiry determined that no gunfire had been directed at civilians near the aid distribution area in the Gaza Strip. According to the IDF, the reports were false and part of a propaganda campaign initiated by Hamas, which was trying to disrupt food distribution and prevent local residents accessing aid in order to preserve its control over the Strip. The IDF also released videos photographed by a drone which showed armed, masked persons throwing rocks and shooting at Gazans attempting to collect looted humanitarian aid in southern Khan Yunis (IDF spokesperson, June 1, 2025).
• On June 3, 2025, media outlets affiliated with Hamas claimed that at least 27 civilians had been killed and more than 90 injured after “occupation forces” opened fire on “hungry civilians” near a distribution center in western Rafah (Hamas government media information office Telegram channel, June 3, 2025). The IDF reported that troops had identified several suspects approaching them on unauthorized routes. The forces fired warning shots and when the suspects did not retreat, additional fire was directed near them. According to the IDF, the incident occurred approximately half a kilometer from the distribution center. Casualties were reported but the details were still under investigation. The statement emphasized that the IDF does not prevent civilians from accessing aid centers (IDF spokesperson, June 3, 2025).
• Given Hamas’ opposition to Israel’s new food distribution mechanism, the Home Front Telegram channel, which is operated by Hamas’ ministry of interior and national security, warned that any company, institution, organization or individual cooperating with the “Zionist occupation” in promoting the “malicious plan under a humanitarian guise” would be considered traitors and dealt with harshly and without leniency (Shehab agency, May 27, 2025).

Governance

• As aid distribution began at the new centers in the southern Strip and humanitarian aid trucks entered, there were many reports of looting:
  • “Sources on the ground” reported incidents of looting and theft from aid recipients, with the stolen goods sold on the black market for large sums, with a single box of aid reaching prices as high as about $400 (al-Sharq al-Awsat, May 29, 2025).
  • On May 28 and 29, 2025, aid trucks entering central Gaza and two warehouses in the area were looted. On May 28, four people were killed on Salah al-Din Road near the entrance to the al-Maghazi refugee camp after a warehouse was robbed. The attackers were shot by the warehouse’s security personnel, who were forced to retreat after hundreds of people stormed the facility and took everything inside, including warehouse property like solar panels. The World Food Programme (WFP) reported that on May 28, 2025, hundreds of hungry people stormed the al-Ghafri warehouse in Deir al-Balah in search of food which had been prepared for distribution. Preliminary reports indicated that two people had been killed and several others injured (al-Sharq al-Awsat, May 29, 2025; WFP website, May 29, 2025).

   
Crowds of Palestinians storm WFP’s al-Ghafri warehouses in al-Zuwaida
(Telegram channel of journalist Safinaz al-Louh, May 28, 2025)

• • The WFP reported that all 77 flour trucks which entered Gaza on May 30 and 31, 2025, were looted “mainly by hungry people trying to feed their families.” Nahed Shakhibar, head of the Gaza Transport Companies Association, said that 20 trucks carrying flour were looted near Netzarim in central Gaza and about 50 flour trucks were emptied in Khan Yunis (WFP X account, May 31, 2025; CNN Arabic, May 31, 2025).
  • Armed men attacked the al-Sahaba Market and the al-Saraya area in the al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City, looting goods from shops, taking food and more in the possession of several civilians. A masked, armed Hamas security force reportedly opened fire at the gangs and took control of the situation with support from merchants and civilians. Shortly thereafter, an Israeli UAV allegedly attacked the security personnel, killing six (al-Sharq al-Awsat, May 29, 2025). The Hamas ministry of interior reported that several policemen stationed at the al-Saraya junction in central Gaza City to confront a group of thieves were killed in the Israeli attack, along with several bystanders (Gaza ministry of interior Telegram channel, May 29, 2025).
  • The field hospital operated by the American organization International Medical Corps was looted, with all its contents, including the tires and battery of the ambulance, stolen (Russia Today website, May 30, 2025).

     
The field hospital after the looting (Russia Today website, May 30, 2025)

• Amid the growing chaos, the internal enforcement measures imposed by Hamas security forces in the Gaza Strip escalated sharply. The Sahem Unit, defined as a specialized ground operations security force, operated in the central market of the al-Nuseirat refugee camp to locate vendors selling stolen aid boxes. Several suspects were arrested and items suspected of being stolen were confiscated. Five men accused of attempting to rob public aid were apprehended at the gate of the al-Maghazi refugee camp and executed on the spot by security forces without a formal legal process. Five other thieves who were arrested in the al-Shejaya neighborhood in eastern Gaza after entering homes and stealing property were reportedly severely punished by having their legs broken and being shot “as a deterrent.” Such actions cause concern among Gazans, who are worried by the risk of a descent into anarchy on the one hand, and on the other, the potential for unchecked violence from governing forces seeking to maintain control and order amid social collapse (al-Siyad Telegram channel, May 28, 2025).
• On June 3, 2025, there were reports of further executions of suspects accused of theft, drug trafficking and collaboration with Israel. It was also reported that the Sahem Unit operated in several key areas, confiscated weapons, burned stalls and injured suspects. The unit made it clear that no pardon would be given to traitors or profiteers exploiting the crisis in the Strip (al-Siyad Telegram channel, June 3, 2025).
• After sources in Gaza reported that Yasser Abu Shabab and his men were helping Israel bring aid into the Strip, the Abu Shabab family issued an official statement disowning Yasser and the armed group he led in Rafah. The family claimed it had initially believed the activity was purely humanitarian but in light of new information suggesting he was involved in undercover Israeli operations, they disavowed him and all family members who acted with him and called for his pursuit and said that as far as they were concerned he could be killed. Subsequently, Sheikh Salem al-Soufi, a tribal leader in the Negev and Gaza Strip, issued a similar statement on behalf of the Bedouin tribes, noting the revocation of tribal protection for anyone involved in looting or collaboration with the “enemy” (al-Siyad Telegram channel, May 30, 2025).

International activity to “lift the siege” on the Gaza Strip

• An international coalition of labor unions, human rights organizations and solidarity movements from over 32 countries announced an initiative called the Global March to Gaza, whose objective was reaching the Strip on foot as a protest and solidarity action. According to Saif Abu Kishk, head of the International Coalition against the Israeli Occupation, the march aims to stop the “mass killing of the Palestinian people,” demand the immediate entry of humanitarian aid and call for an end to the ongoing “siege” on the Gaza Strip, which has lasted for approximately 20 months (alresala.net Telegram channel, May 30, 2025).
• On June 1, 2025, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition announced that the ship Madleen had sailed from the port of Catania in Sicily en route to the Gaza Strip carrying humanitarian aid and “international human rights defenders” as a “direct challenge to the illegal blockade” imposed by Israel. Among the 12 passengers are Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, European Parliament member Rima Hassan and Palestinian-American legal expert Huwaida Arraf (Freedom Flotilla Coalition website, June 1, 2025).

• Mundhir al-Hayek, Fatah spokesman in the Gaza Strip, said they had explained to Hamas that the movement had to step aside from governance and allow the Palestinian Authority (PA) to take the reins in order to “save our people.” He added that if Hamas claimed it did not want to rule the Gaza Strip, it had to transfer authority to the PA and declare that it rejected the existence of an administrative committee or aid committee, international forces or American management (Radio al-Alam, June 1, 2025).
• Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, called on Hamas to transfer its remaining authority in the Gaza Strip to the PA and to hand over the negotiation portfolio to the PLO, which he said was “the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,” since it was a general national issue, not one of a specific faction. Majdalani said that calls from Gazans for the return of PA rule represented a popular movement which had been ongoing for months to oppose the war and Hamas rule, which he claimed was responsible for leading the people into wars which devastated the Gaza Strip. He added that Hamas continued to “cling to illusions” about the possibility of reaching a deal that would preserve its rule in Gaza, while what was required was for it to relinquish its power, conduct a comprehensive political review and integrate into the PLO as part of the Palestinian political system (Voice of Palestine Radio, June 2, 2025).

• Ali Akbar Velayati, advisor to Iran’s supreme leader for international affairs, met in Tehran with representatives of Hamas and the PIJ in Iran to discuss recent developments in “Palestine,” particularly in the Gaza Strip. Velayati expressed the solidarity of the “resistance axis”^[3] and praised the “Palestinian resistance’s military achievements,” calling them “a rare event in Islamic history,” emphasizing that the State of Israel was “fated to disappear.” Hamas representative Khaled al-Qaddoumi thanked Iran for its political and popular support and said that despite 19 months of “crimes and killing,” the Palestinian people continued to stand firm. He added that American and Israeli plans for “forced migration” would fail. PIJ representative Nasser Abu Sharif noted the unity of the Islamic world around the “Palestinian cause” and declared that “Palestine belongs to its people, and no force can uproot them from it” (Hamas Telegram channel, May 28, 2025).

• The head of the Hamas political bureau in Gaza, Khalil al-Haya, who leads the Hamas delegation in the ceasefire negotiations, spoke with Turkish Intelligence Minister Ibrahim Kalin about recent political developments and the ceasefire proposal submitted by Steve Witkoff. Al-Haya reiterated Hamas’ demand for a comprehensive ceasefire, the entry of humanitarian aid and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and outlined “details of the ongoing crimes against Palestinians.” Kalin expressed Turkey’s commitment to work toward a full ceasefire and an end to the “hunger policy” in the Gaza Strip (Hamas Telegram channel, June 1, 2025).

Terrorist attacks

• This past week no terrorist attacks were carried out.

Counterterrorism activities

• This past week Israeli security forces continued their counterterrorism operation in northern Samaria, in addition to ongoing operations in other areas across Judea and Samaria. They detained wanted persons, neutralized a terrorist who threw rocks, confiscated weapons and ammunition, and seized almost $2 million for terrorism financing during a major raid on currency exchange businesses. In Nablus the forces demolished the home of the perpetrator of a suicide attack in Tel Aviv in August 2024 (IDF spokesperson, May 27 to June 3, 2025).
• Palestinian media reported four people killed by Israeli security forces gunfire (Wafa, May 27 to June 3, 2025). Nahed al-Shawish, head of the Popular Committee in the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm, claimed that 5,000 families had been “displaced” from the Nur Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps since the start of the wide-scale Israeli security operation in January 2025 (Wafa, June 2, 2025).
• An indictment was filed against two Israeli citizens, one from Pedaya, a moshav in central Israel not far from Rehovot, and the other from east Jerusalem, for transferring hundreds of tons of dual-use materials to the PA territories, which were used to manufacture explosive devices during the Gaza Strip War. According to the indictment, the two collaborated with PA residents to transfer the prohibited materials without permits, falsified shipping documents and concealed the identities of the destinations. The materials were later sold to agricultural supply stores, making it impossible to verify their civilian use (Ministry of Justice spokesperson, June 1, 2025).

International activity

• PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas held a virtual meeting with the foreign ministers of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain, as well as Arab League secretary general Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who were in Amman. The meeting was also attended by PA Deputy Chairman Hussein al-Sheikh and PA Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa. They discussed the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and efforts to reach a ceasefire, and expressed opposition to the “displacement plan.” Mahmoud Abbas said the PA supported an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and from the beginning had declared the need to release the hostages to “stop Palestinian bloodshed and achieve the release of prisoners.” He called on Hamas to relinquish its rule and align with PLO policy if it wanted to become a political faction within the PLO. He said the participation of Arab ministers in the international peace conference to be held in New York on June 17, 2025, would be “significant,” and he hoped for broad Arab and international presence “to support the Palestinian cause and achieve international recognition of a Palestinian state” (Wafa, June 1, 2025).
• The virtual meeting was held after Israel prevented the visit of the Arab foreign ministers’ delegation to Ramallah. PA Deputy Chairman Hussein al-Sheikh called Israel’s decision “dangerous, arrogant and provocative,” adding that the PA and Arab countries were discussing possible responses. A joint statement by the foreign ministers’ delegation said that the ban was a “blatant violation” of Israel’s commitments, a demonstration of disregard for international law and a continuation of the “siege” policy on the Palestinian people and its legitimate leadership, in a way that also undermined the chances of achieving peace (Radio Alam, May 31, 2025).

Reactions to Israel’s plan for construction in Judea and Samaria

• The Palestinians condemned the Israeli Security Cabinet’s decision to approve the construction of 22 new settlements in Judea and Samaria:
  • Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said the decision was “dangerous escalation which challenged legitimacy and international law” and was an Israeli attempt “to drag the region further into a cycle of violence and instability.” He added that “the extremist right-wing government must stop destabilizing” Judea and Samaria and the region. He called on the American administration to intervene seriously and immediately to stop “Israel’s interference” in the region’s fate before it was too late, and to compel Israel to abide by international law and stop its “war on all Palestinian territories” (Wafa, May 27, 2025).
  • Hamas said the decision was further proof that the “criminal Zionist occupation” continued to impose a situation on the ground and accelerate the “Judaization of Palestinian land” through an “annexation project.” Hamas added called it a blatant challenge to international will and a “gross violation” of international law and UN resolutions (Hamas Telegram channel, May 29, 2025).
  • The PIJ described the Israeli plan as a “new war crime” carried out alongside the “deliberate killing” in the Gaza Strip. It claimed the plan was part of ongoing “annexation and attempts to expel West Bank residents as part of a messianic vision, based on apartheid and ethnic cleansing.” It also called the decision “a slap in the face” of anyone who believed in a political solution or international pressure (PIJ Telegram channel, May 29, 2025).

Palestinian security force activity

• The PA security forces in Jenin arrested Ahmad Abu Hamameh and Hamouda Al-Kanafshah from the village of al-Silah al-Harithiyah, both wanted by Israel (al-Shaheed, May 31, 2025; Telegram channel of jenencamb, May 31, 2025).
• PIJ announced the death of Ahmad Abu al-Najaj (al-Safouri), a terrorist operative in its Jenin Battalion, claiming he died after being tortured to death in a PA security prison in Ramallah. The organization accused the PA security forces of coordinating with Israel, persecuting opponents and abusing detainees, while the Gaza Strip was “suffering from killing, hunger and tents burning with people inside.” Abu al-Najaj’s family rejected the PA’s claim that he committed suicide and stated that the PA refused to release the body or conduct an autopsy (PIJ Telegram channel, June 1, 2025).