Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said the move showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “actively opposes the work for a two-state solution”.
ADVERTISEMENTNorway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said his government was told that Israel “will no longer facilitate Norwegian diplomats to work in Palestine”.
The move prevents Norway from utilising its representations in occupied territories, such as the one the Scandinavian country opened in the West Bank town of Al Ram in 1995.
“This is an extreme act that primarily affects our ability to help the Palestinian population,” Barth Eide said at a news conference held on Thursday.
Israel has justified the decision, saying it was made in response to what Foreign Minister Israel Katz called Norway’s anti-Israeli conduct including its recognition of a Palestinian state.
“Norway conducts a one-sided policy on the Palestinian issue, and will therefore be removed from the Palestinian issue,” Katz said in a statement.
Israel continues its offensive in Gaza
The decision comes as the Israeli military has ordered another mass evacuation in large areas around Khan Younis in southern Gaza, saying its forces will soon operate there in response to Palestinian rocket fire.
This follows Israeli airstrikes on two schools-turned-shelters in Gaza City which killed at least a dozen people, according to the Palestinian emergency response agency.
The Israeli military said it had targeted Hamas “command and control centres” hidden within the Zahraa and Abdelfattah Hamouda school compounds in eastern Gaza City.
The IDF said it had taken “numerous steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians,” via precision munitions, surveillance and intelligence.
Meanwhile, a Human Rights Watch report claims Israeli soldiers killed at least seven people and severely wounded two when they attacked a home in Gaza City where a Palestinian family was sheltering in December.
The report was based on interviews with two members of the al-Khalidi family who witnessed the attack, and video footage released by the Israeli military that placed forces in the vicinity of the home at the time.
The Israeli military has not yet responded to these allegations.
Tensions continue to rise in the Middle East
Saudi Arabia has branded the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week a “flagrant violation” of international law.
The statement was issued by the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Waleed Elkhereiji, following the meeting of the Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which issued a similar statement the day before.
The statement did not directly blame Israel but referred to Israeli attacks against Palestinians “inside and outside the Palestinian territories”.
Iran has vowed to avenge the assassination of Haniyeh, which was widely blamed on Israel, raising fears of a regional war.
