Abbas doubles down on halt to PA-Israel security coordination

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has doubled down on the PA's decision to halt security coordination with Israel.

Abbas on Sunday chaired a security forces meeting following a surge in Israeli brutality against Palestinians, the PA's official news agency WAFA reported.

Abbas said at the meeting: "The Israeli occupation's government bears full responsibility [for the escalation] because it violates the resolutions of international legitimacy and takes unilateral measures that violate the signed agreements and all international references and laws."

He said that the decisions taken by the PA - including the halting of security cooperation - "protect the rights and national interests" of the Palestinians, WAFA reported.

The PA said it was halting security coordination with Israel on 26 January, the day Israeli forces massacred Palestinians in a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

The raid killed 10 Palestinians, including one who died later from injuries.

There have been 41 Palestinians killed so far in 2023, largely at the hands of Israeli forces, including five on Monday in a West Bank refugee camp close to Jericho city.

Last year was the deadliest since 2004, with around 150 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The day after the Jenin massacre, a Palestinian gunman killed seven people in the illegal settlement of Neve Yaakov in occupied East Jerusalem.

On Saturday, thousands of Palestinian mourners turned out in the Jenin province village of Al-Judeida, the hometown of a 26-year-old new father killed by Israeli forces the day before.

Abdullah Sami Qalalweh was shot dead by Israeli troops near the town of Hawara, south of Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.

Agencies contributed to this report.