The occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip need to be connected under a “revamped and revitalised” Palestinian Authority government, Sullivan said in an interview on Israeli TV.
He was to discuss the Palestinian Authority and holding “extremist” Jewish settlers accountable for violence against Palestinians when he visits Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Friday, a US official said.
Israeli troops killed a youth at a hospital and read out Jewish prayers at a mosque in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin during raids that Palestinian authorities said on Thursday killed 12 people. Israel said it captured dozens of militants.
The Palestinian government criticised the operation inside Jenin as a “dangerous escalation” and in a statement said the desecration of the mosque by some Israeli troops fanned religious tension.
Israel’s army said it would discipline the soldiers.
Palestinians see the West Bank as central to a future independent state. Allies of Israel backing its war against Hamas militants in Israeli-occupied Gaza have urged restraint, including punishing Israeli settlers in the West Bank accused of armed attacks on Palestinians.
Violence had been worsening in the West Bank even before the Oct 7 Hamas assault on Israel.
Danish shipping company Maersk on Friday denied a claim by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which did not provide evidence, that the militia carried out a drone strike on a Maersk vessel sailing towards Israel.
Maersk on Thursday said ship Maersk Gibraltar was targeted by a missile while travelling from Salalah, Oman, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and that the crew and vessel were reported safe.
Source: CNA
