Palestinian official accuses Israel of 'mass detention' in West Bank

Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh on Tuesday accused Israel of turning Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps in the West Bank into "mass detention camps," citing checkpoints, iron gates and the uprooting of olive trees.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization's Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said Israeli authorities had issued four military orders targeting the removal of wild vegetation and the uprooting of trees from more than 438 dunams of Palestinian-owned land in Jenin, Ramallah and Al-Bireh.

Tree-removal orders have risen sharply in 2026, the commission said, with 51 orders covering about 2,093 dunams so far, already exceeding 2025's full-year figure of 47 orders covering 1,613 dunams.

Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank now number 898, including 146 iron gates installed since October 7, 2023, according to commission statistics.

Al-Sheikh called on countries to intervene to "protect the Palestinian people from racism and ethnic cleansing," and urged the UN to adopt measures obliging Israel to "halt all its measures." Eight countries urge Israel to fulfill Gaza plan obligations Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Türkiye, Pakistan and Indonesia have called on Israel to immediately fulfill its commitments under the first phase of the Gaza peace plan, including safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid and rehabilitation of critical infrastructure, according to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed US President Donald Trump's claims of having secured peace in Gaza in an address to the 81st UN General Assembly on Tuesday, saying not a single humanitarian corridor had been reopened in the enclave despite the proclaimed peace.

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes continue.

According to local and medical sources, two Palestinians were killed and others injured on Tuesday in an airstrike on a gathering near a coffee shop in the Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City.

Gaza's health authorities said five Palestinians were killed and 25 injured over the past 24 hours.

The death toll since October 7, 2023, has risen to 73,919, with 174,977 injured. (With input from agencies)