UAE warns against Israeli annexation of West Bank as strikes in Gaza
kill 31
[September 04, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA, SAM METZ and JON GAMBRELL
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday
warned that any Israeli move to annex the occupied West Bank would be a
“red line,” without specifying its possible impact on the landmark
normalization accord between the two countries.
The warning came as Israel pressed ahead with the initial stages of its
latest major offensive, in famine-stricken Gaza City. Israeli strikes
across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Wednesday killed at least 31
people, according to local hospitals.
Israelis took part in nationwide demonstrations to protest the call-up
of 60,000 reserves for the expanded operation, which has sparked global
condemnation and left the country increasingly isolated.
The demonstrators accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of
prolonging the fighting for political purposes instead of reaching a
ceasefire deal with Hamas that would free hostages taken in the Oct. 7,
2023, attack that ignited the war.
A rare warning from the UAE
The UAE was the driving force behind the 2020 Abraham Accords brokered
by U.S. President Donald Trump, in which it and three other Arab
countries forged ties with Israel. Trump has said he hopes to expand the
accords in his second term, potentially to include regional power Saudi
Arabia.
Anwar Gargash, a senior Emirati diplomat, wrote on the social platform X
that “annexation is a red line.”
He linked to a Times of Israel story that quoted another Emirati
diplomat, Lana Nusseibeh, as saying annexation would "severely undermine
the vision and spirit of (Abraham) Accords, end the pursuit of regional
integration and would alter the widely shared consensus on what the
trajectory of this conflict should be -- two states living side by side
in peace, prosperity and security.”
It was unclear what action, if any, the UAE might take, and the Emirati
Foreign Ministry did not respond to questions seeking clarification.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the
1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories to form
their future state. Israel's current government is staunchly opposed to
Palestinian statehood and supports eventual annexation of much of the
West Bank.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich held a news conference
Wednesday in which he unveiled a map showing annexation of most of the
West Bank, with six Palestinian cities left with limited autonomy,
according to local media. It's unclear if his plan has Netanyahu's
backing.
The Palestinians and much of the international community say annexation
would all but end any remaining possibility of a two-state solution,
which is widely seen internationally as the only way to resolve the
decades-old conflict.
Palestinians face more displacement as strikes continue
Israeli strikes on Gaza City killed at least 15 people, including two
children and four women, according to Shifa Hospital and Al-Quds
Hospital, where the bodies were taken. An additional 16 people were
killed in southern Gaza, including 10 who were seeking humanitarian aid,
according to Nasser Hospital.
Israel says it only targets militants and takes measures to spare
civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants
operate in densely populated areas.
Israel says that Gaza City — the largest Palestinian city in either the
besieged strip or the occupied West Bank — remains a Hamas stronghold,
even after several major raids earlier in the war.
Israel has intensified air and ground assaults on the outskirts of Gaza
City, according to humanitarian groups that coordinate assistance for
the displaced.
Site Management Cluster, one such group, said Wednesday that families
were trapped by the prohibitively high cost of moving, logistical
hurdles and a lack of places to go.
"Palestinians are also reluctant to move due to the fear of not being
able to return or exhaustion from repeated displacement,” it said.
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Demonstrators wave signs and shout slogans during a protest
demanding the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas and
calling for the end of the war in the Gaza Strip, in Jerusalem,
Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Death toll mounts from war and hunger
The twin threats of combat and famine, Palestinians and aid workers
say, are only growing more acute for families in Gaza City, many of
whom have been displaced multiple times during the nearly two-year
war.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday that five adults and one
child died from malnutrition over the past day, bringing the total
toll to 367, including 131 children throughout the war. Experts
blame Israel's ongoing offensive and its blockade for the starvation
crisis. Netanyahu has denied there is starvation in Gaza, despite
testimonies, data and findings from leading experts suggesting
otherwise.
The ministry reported on Tuesday that a total of 63,633 Palestinians
have been killed by Israeli fire, including more than 2,300 seeking
aid, since the start of the war. Part of the Hamas-run government
but staffed by medical professionals, the ministry doesn’t
differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but
says women and children make up around half the dead.
U.N. agencies and many independent experts consider the ministry's
figures to be the most reliable estimate of war casualties. Israel
disputes them, but hasn’t provided its own toll.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in
the Oct. 7 attack and took 251 people hostage. Forty-eight are still
being held in Gaza, around 20 of them believed to be alive, after
most of the rest were returned in ceasefires or other deals.
Israel raids another Palestinian bookshop in Jerusalem
Israeli police arrested the owner of a popular Palestinian cafe and
bookshop in east Jerusalem, his attorney said.
Tony Sabella, owner of The Gateway cafe in the Old City, was taken
to a nearby police station and was still detained hours later, said
Nasser Odeh, his lawyer, adding that the police did not have an
arrest warrant. They confiscated five books, according to Odeh, who
said the arrest was part of a “clear effort to crush intellectual
production in the city.”
Gateway is the third Palestinian-owned bookstore to be raided by
Israeli forces this year. The police did not immediately respond to
a request for comment.
The day before, Israeli police and plainclothes officers spent over
an hour in the shop, photographing books about the conflict. They
told the owner he could not sell the books in Israel and ordered him
to the police station on Thursday. An Associated Press reporter
witnessed the encounter.
The cafe is a mainstay for diplomats, journalists and writers in
Jerusalem.
Israel says Hamas plotted to assassinate far-right Cabinet
minister
In a separate development, Israel’s internal security agency said it
recently arrested a Hamas cell in the West Bank suspected of
plotting to assassinate Israel’s far-right National Security
Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The Shin Bet agency said the suspects were found with drones that
they had planned to rig with explosives. It did not specify how many
people were arrested, and it was unclear how far the alleged plot
had advanced.
___
Metz reported from Jerusalem and Gambrell from Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. Associated Press writers Julia Frankel in Jerusalem and
Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.
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