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Finland summons Israeli envoy over Gaza occupation, West Bank settlement plans

Iran Press TV

Friday, 22 August 2025 7:12 AM

Finland's Foreign Ministry has summoned Israel's ambassador to Helsinki in response to Israel's illegal plans to occupy Gaza City and construct new settlements in the occupied West Bank.

In a statement posted on its X account, the ministry said the Israeli envoy was called in to "express Finland's deep concern" over the regime's controversial

It also called for the unhindered access of humanitarian aid to Gaza, where Israel is waging a genocidal war, in line with international law. schemes.

Nearly two years into the genocide in Gaza, the Israeli security cabinet voted on August 8 for the occupation plan, which means more bloodshed and forcible displacement of exhausted and starving Palestinians.

It was initiated and pushed by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid the brutal Gaza onslaught that has killed at least 62,192 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 157,114 others since October 7, 2023.

On August 20, Israel announced it had given final approval for a 3,400-unit settlement construction project in the E1 area, east of al-Quds, which would effectively cut the occupied West Bank in two.

Far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said the plot, which had been frozen for decades, "practically erases" any prospect of a Palestinian state.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the construction project divides the occupied West Bank into "isolated areas and cantons that are disconnected from one another, turning them into something akin to real prisons."

Foreign ministers from 21 countries, including the UK, Australia, Canada and France, denounced the E1 settlement plan as "unacceptable" and "a violation of international law."

"We condemn this decision and call for its immediate reversal in the strongest terms," they said in a joint statement.

The top diplomats cited UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which "reaffirms that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem (al-Quds), has no legal validity".

Additionally, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office summoned the Israeli ambassador to London in a display of criticism, saying the E1 settlement poroject critically undermines the two-state framework.