Israel clears final hurdle to start settlement construction that would cut the West Bank in two

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has cleared the final hurdle before starting construction on a contentious settlement project near Jerusalem that would effectively cut the West Bank in two, according to a government tender.

The tender, which seeks bids from developers, would clear the way to begin construction of the E1 project.

The anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now first reported the tender. Yoni Mizrahi, who runs the group’s settlement watch division, said initial work could begin within the month.

Settlement development in E1, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, has been under consideration for more than two decades, but was frozen due to U.S. pressure during previous administrations.

The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.

The E1 project is especially contentious because it runs from the outskirts of Jerusalem deep into the occupied West Bank. Critics say it would prevent the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state in the territory.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right politician who oversees settlement policy, has long pushed for the plan to become a reality.

“The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not with slogans but with actions,” he said in August, when Israel gave final approval to the plan. “Every settlement, every neighborhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea.”

The tender, publicly accessible on the website for Israel’s Land Authority, calls for proposals to develop 3,401 housing units. Peace Now says the publication of the tender “reflects an accelerated effort to advance construction in E1.

Syrian and Israeli officials met Tuesday in Paris for U.S.-mediated talks intended to broker a security agreement to defuse tensions between the two countries. A joint statement issued after the meeting said it “centered on respect for Syria’s sovereignty and stability, Israel’s security, and prosperity for both countries.”

It said the two sides have agreed to establish a joint communication cell “to facilitate immediate and ongoing coordination on their intelligence sharing, military de-escalation, diplomatic engagement, and commercial opportunities under the supervision of the United States.” The cell would serve as a platform to address disputes and “prevent misunderstandings,” it said.

In December 2024, insurgents led by Syria’s now interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa ousted the country’s longtime autocratic leader, Bashar Assad, in a lightning offensive.

Al-Sharaa said that he has no desire for a conflict with Israel. But Israel was suspicious of the new Islamist-led leadership and quickly moved to seize control of a formerly U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria set up under a 1974 disengagement agreement. Israel has also launched hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian military facilities and periodic incursions into villages outside the buffer zone, which have sometimes led to violent confrontations with residents.

Syrian officials have said their priority in the talks is the withdrawal of Israeli forces and a return to the 1974 agreement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Tuesday that Israel “stressed the importance of ensuring security for its citizens and preventing threats on its border” and of protecting the Druze minority in Syria, which also comprises a substantial minority in Israel.

The United Nations said that aid groups have enough food on hand to sustain people in Gaza for the first time since the war began more than two years ago.

“The January round is the first since October 2023 in which partners had sufficient stock to meet 100% of the minimum caloric standard,” U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Monday.

More aid has been reaching Gaza since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on Oct. 10.

However, the flow of humanitarian aid remains challenging amid Israel’s recent decision to revoke the licenses of more than three dozen organizations, including such prominent groups as Doctors Without Borders, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Oxfam.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief on Tuesday called on Israel to lift the restrictions to avert deaths from exposure, hunger and a lack of medicines, as thousands of displaced Palestinians return to what is left of their homes.

“To deliver aid rapidly, safely and at the scale required, international NGOs must be able to operate in a sustained and predictable way,” Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, said in a statement from the 27-nation bloc, referring to non-governmental organizations.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Tuesday that 11 people were injured during an Israeli raid at a university in the West Bank.

The president of Birzeit University, speaking at a press conference, said a group of about 20 Israeli military vehicles had stormed the gate and entered the campus. Video obtained by The Associated Press confirmed their presence on campus.

“Unfortunately, targeting the university is a recurring event,” said Talal Shahwan, the school’s president, who said the forces displayed “clear brutality.”

Israeli officials said military and border troops were sent to break up an anticipated gathering and soon found themselves facing a crowd of hundreds of people, some allegedly throwing rocks at them from rooftops.

They said they used targeted fire toward the “main violent individuals.”

A group representing major international media organizations on Tuesday criticized the Israeli government’s latest refusal to allow foreign journalists into Gaza, despite a three-month ceasefire.

Israel has barred the foreign media from entering Gaza since the war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023.

The Foreign Press Association has asked Israel’s Supreme Court to end the ban. After months of delays, the Israeli government this week told the court that it remains opposed to allowing international journalists into Gaza, citing security reasons.

The FPA, which represents dozens of major media organizations, including The Associated Press, expressed “its profound disappointment” with the government’s position and said it hoped judges would soon end the ban.

Palestinians walk amid buildings destroyed by Israeli air and ground operations in Gaza City Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians attend the funeral of Ahmed al-Qudra at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, after he was killed in an Israeli military strike, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians walk amid buildings destroyed by Israeli air and ground operations in Gaza City, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians walk amid buildings destroyed by Israeli air and ground operations in Gaza City Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians walk past a tent camp amid buildings destroyed by Israeli air and ground operations in Gaza City Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

FILE - View of an area near Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says housing units will be built as part of the E1 settlement project, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)

FILE - Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich arrives for a press conference about new settlement construction in the Israel-occupied West Bank near Maale Adumim, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)

FILE - Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich holds a map that shows the E1 settlement project during a press conference near the settlement of Maale Adumim, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he will soon sign an order to pay all Department of Homeland Security employees who have gone without paychecks during the record-long partial government shutdown that has reached 48 days.

Despite that unilateral move announced in a social media post, the funding lapse for some DHS needs is likely to stretch into next week as the House contemplates passing a Senate plan it had previously rejected to fund the bulk of the agency, though not its immigration enforcement operations.

Trump used a similar maneuver to resume pay for the Transportation Security Administration after many employees had called out from work, resulting in long delays at airport security lines for travelers. Trump's latest intervention is expected to apply to other non-law enforcement employees at the department, including many employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard and the agency responsible for coordinating federal cybersecurity efforts.

Trump said their families “have suffered far too long.”

“Nevertheless, help is on the way for our Brave and Patriotic Public Servants who have continued to work hard, and do their part to protect and defend our Country,” Trump said.

There was no legislative resolution Thursday after both the House and Senate met for just a few minutes in pro forma sessions. Nonetheless, the Republican leadership and Trump have coalesced around a plan to fully fund DHS as part of a two-step process. The agreement puts the congressional leaders on the same page for ending the impasse after they had pursued separate paths that resulted in Congress leaving Washington last week for its spring recess without a fix.

During the brief sessions, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., put aside the House plan to fund the entire department for 60 days. Then the House met briefly without taking up the bipartisan Senate plan that had been worked out with Democrats, though Thune is looking toward eventual passage.

“I don’t know the particulars around what the House will do with it,” Thune told reporters. “My assumption is, at some point, hopefully, they’ll move it.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Thune, announced Wednesday that they would return to the Senate measure, which funds most of DHS with the exception of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol. Republicans will try later to fund those agencies through party-line spending legislation that could take months to finish.

Neither outcome is guaranteed, and the strategy could potentially still face opposition from the GOP’s own ranks even though Trump has given his support.

Johnson’s embrace of the two-track plan marks a sharp reversal from less than a week ago, when he derided it as a “joke” and said he was “quite convinced that it can’t be that every Senate Republican read the language of this bill.”

Public backlash was swift after lawmakers left Washington last week without a resolution, with the tabloid website TMZ posting paparazzi-style photos of members at airports and out of town. The regularly scheduled break, while drawing criticism, is typically used by lawmakers to reconnect with constituents and travel abroad.

Johnson now appears to be on board. But securing support from his own conference could prove more difficult after a sizable group of House Republicans blasted the Senate-passed bill last week.

House Republicans held a conference call later Thursday to discuss the next steps. The GOP leadership indicated to lawmakers that it does no expect to recall them to Washington from the spring recess; they are due back April 14.

Lawmakers also heard from White House budget director Russ Vought. The White House is expected to release Trump’s 2027 budget proposal on Friday.

Democrats in both chambers were aligned last week with the Senate's plan, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York blamed House Republicans on Thursday for taking no action on it during the brief morning session.

“The deep division and dysfunction among House Republicans is needlessly extending the DHS shutdown and hurting federal workers who are missing another paycheck,” Schumer said.

Johnson will look to persuade the most conservative lawmakers within his conference to go along with the two-step approach agreed upon with the president, and Trump's latest social media post could help. The president thanked Thune and Johnson for their work, and sought to project Republican unity.

“Republicans are UNIFIED, and moving forward on a plan that will reload funding for our FANTASTIC Border Patrol and Immigration Enforcement Officers,” Trump wrote.

Many in the GOP conference have taken the stand that ICE and the Border Patrol need to be included as part of any funding agreement.

“Let’s make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again,” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., posted on X. “If that’s the vote, I’m a NO.”

Meanwhile, the budget package that Trump wants voted on by June 1 is expected to fund ICE and Border Patrol through the remainder of Trump’s term, as a way to try to ensure those agencies are no longer at risk from Democrats objecting to his immigration enforcement agenda.

Thune acknowledged the potential hurdles to that route, such as efforts to expand the scope of the bill. He said the goal is to keep it “as narrow and focused as possible” in order to pass it “with haste.”

The vast majority of DHS employees have reported to work during the shutdown, but many thousands have gone without pay. As more Transportation Security Administration agents called out from work, there was increasing frustration for air travelers confronted by long waits at some airport security lines. Those bottlenecks appeared to be clearing this week as agents began receiving backpay after Trump signed an executive order.

About 10,000 FEMA workers are being paid because their wages come out of the non-lapsing Disaster Relief Fund. At least 4,000 FEMA employees are furloughed or currently working without pay.

AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks to reporters outside the chamber after passing a measure by unanimous consent that would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, if the House agrees, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., gestures as he speaks to reporters outside the chamber after passing a a measure by unanimous consent that would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security if the House agrees, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill,Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Friday, March 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)