The issue emerged amid ongoing US-mediated talks in Washington aimed at reducing tensions along the Israeli-Lebanese border following the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Discussions have centered on a proposed “pilot zone” under which Israeli forces would transfer control of certain occupied Lebanese territories to the Lebanese Armed Forces.

A US official claimed Israel had already withdrawn from part of its self-declared buffer zone in southern Lebanon, calling it a significant demonstration of good faith. The official urged the Lebanese army to move into the area and remove Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure, suggesting the model could eventually be expanded across southern Lebanon.

However, senior Israeli defense officials firmly rejected the claim, stating that there had been no withdrawal and that Israeli forces would remain in the buffer zone. Israel’s military also confirmed that troop positions had not changed.

Lebanese military officials likewise disputed reports of any pullback, saying developments on the ground indicated the opposite. They accused Israel of continuing to enforce strict control over the buffer zone, preventing both civilians and Lebanese military personnel from entering.

According to Lebanese officials, disagreements persist over how the pilot zone proposal should be implemented. Beirut wants the initiative to begin within the Israeli-controlled buffer zone and seeks a clear roadmap for a full Israeli withdrawal. Israel, meanwhile, prefers to negotiate individual areas separately and has not committed to a timetable.

Israel established the buffer zone following its conflict with Hezbollah, arguing that it is necessary to protect northern Israeli communities from future attacks. Lebanese authorities maintain that the continued Israeli military presence violates Lebanese sovereignty and delays the return of displaced residents.

The conflicting statements underscore the challenges facing ongoing diplomatic efforts despite signs of progress in US-sponsored negotiations between the two countries.

Israeli bulldozers entered Barta’a to execute the demolition order issued a day earlier, according to the Palestine News Agency. Residents said only eight families managed to remove their belongings before the operation began, while others refused to evacuate their possessions.

Witnesses said residents protested by climbing onto rooftops of the targeted homes in an attempt to prevent the demolitions. Israeli forces later removed the protesters before the buildings were razed.

The demolitions left about 100 Palestinians facing displacement, according to local reports.

The operation comes amid a prolonged Israeli military campaign in and around Jenin. Since launching operations in the city and its refugee camp in January 2025, Israeli forces have displaced more than 20,000 people and destroyed approximately 600 homes, most of them in the Jenin refugee camp.

Israel says structures built without the required permits are subject to demolition under planning and zoning regulations in the occupied territory.

Palestinians and rights groups have long criticized the permit system, arguing that obtaining construction approvals is extremely difficult and that demolitions contribute to displacement and territorial fragmentation in the West Bank.

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has been under Israeli occupation since 1967. Israeli settlement expansion, military operations and demolitions remain central points of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel is facing legal proceedings at both the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice relating to its actions in the Palestinian territories. Israel rejects allegations of war crimes and genocide and has challenged the legitimacy of the cases.

Nearly 1.5 million voters were registered across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, while around 70,000 were eligible to vote in Gaza’s Deir El-Balah area, according to the Ramallah-based Central Elections Commission.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m., with voting taking place under the shadow of continued conflict, institutional paralysis, and long-standing frustration over the absence of national elections.

Footage from Al-Bireh in the West Bank and Deir El-Balah in Gaza showed election workers preparing polling centers as residents arrived to cast ballots in what many described as a symbolic rather than transformative process.

Most electoral lists were aligned with President Mahmoud Abbas’s secular-nationalist Fatah movement or were running as independents.There were no lists affiliated with Hamas, which governs much of Gaza and remains Fatah’s principal political rival.In many municipalities, including Ramallah and Nablus, only one list was submitted, resulting in automatic victory without a contested vote.

Where competition existed, Fatah-backed candidates faced independent lists, some led by figures associated with leftist factions such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.Mahmud Bader, a businessman from Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, said he would vote despite believing the outcome would have little practical effect.

“Whether candidates are independent or partisan, it has no effect and will have no effect or benefit for the city,” he said.“The occupation is the one that rules Tulkarem. It would only be an image shown to the international media — as if we have elections, a state or independence.

”Tulkarem has been under heightened Israeli military pressure, with two adjacent refugee camps remaining under military control for more than a year.In Gaza, the vote in Deir El-Balah marked the first local electoral exercise since Hamas won the 2006 legislative elections and later took control of the enclave in 2007.

Political analysts said the Palestinian Authority’s decision to hold voting only in Deir El-Balah reflected both logistical limits and a cautious test of public sentiment in post-war Gaza.Jamal Al-Fadi, a political scientist at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, said the limited vote served as an “experiment” because there had been no reliable post-war opinion polling.

Deir El-Balah was selected partly because it was one of the few areas in Gaza where much of the population had remained in place and not been displaced during more than two years of war.Farah Shaath, 25, said voting for the first time was emotionally significant despite the extraordinary conditions.

“Although it is unlike any election in the world, it is a confirmation of our continued existence in the Gaza Strip despite everything,” she said.The elections commission said polling staff in Gaza were recruited from civil society groups and that a private security company had been contracted to secure voting centers.

However, a commission source in Gaza said Hamas police insisted on overseeing security around polling stations through unarmed personnel in civilian clothing.

UN coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov praised the organization of the vote, calling it a “credible process” and saying the elections represented an important opportunity for Palestinians to exercise democratic rights during an exceptionally difficult period.

Abbas, now 90, has remained in office for more than two decades without re-election, despite repeated promises of legislative and presidential polls that have yet to materialize.

Saturday’s municipal vote, while limited in scope, reflects both the persistence of Palestinian civic institutions and the deep uncertainty surrounding the future of governance in both Gaza and the West Bank.

Peace Now said Israel’s security cabinet approved the move “secretly” in early April, adding that the new settlements come in addition to 68 others authorized since the government led by Benjamin Netanyahu took office in 2022.

The Israeli defense ministry, which oversees settlement activity in the West Bank, declined to comment on the reports.According to Israeli media, including i24News, 10 of the newly approved sites are existing outposts previously considered illegal under Israeli law but now set to be retroactively legalized.

The remaining 24 settlements have yet to be constructed.News outlet Ynet reported that military chief Eyal Zamir warned during a security cabinet meeting on April 1 that increased operational demands, including the protection of additional settlements, could strain military capacity.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and settlements there are widely considered illegal under international law. More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the territory, excluding East Jerusalem, alongside approximately three million Palestinians.

Settlement expansion has been a consistent policy across successive Israeli governments, but rights groups say approvals, land seizures and settler-related violence have accelerated since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.