Top Palestinian official visits Saudi Arabia for talks on developments in Gaza, West Bank

By Qais Abu Samra and Betul Yilmaz

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - A senior Palestinian official arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday for talks on developments in Gaza and the West Bank.

Hussein Al-Sheikh, the secretary-general of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization arrived in Riyadh to meet with Saudi officials, his office said, without giving details about the duration of his visit.

The visit comes amid difficulties facing negotiations on the second phase of a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas and Israeli military escalation in the occupied West Bank.

At least 64 Palestinians have been killed and thousands displaced in Israeli military raids in the northern West Bank since last month.

Tension has been running high across the West Bank, where at least 927 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Palestinian Authority has warned that the Israeli escalation in the West Bank was part of Tel Aviv’s efforts to annex the occupied territory.

Israel continues to occupy Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese territories and refuses to withdraw or recognize an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital within the pre-1967 borders.

In July, the International Court of Justice declared that Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories is "unlawful," demanding the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.