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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has frozen plans to demolish a strategically located Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank that has captured the world's attention, his office said Sunday.
"The intention is to give a chance to the negotiations and offers we have received from various forums, including in recent days," Netanyahu's office said about Khan al-Ahmar.
Israeli authorities said the small village, located east of Jerusalem along a road leading to the Dead Sea, had been built illegally and had given residents until the beginning of the month from October to expel and demolish structures.
The fate of Khan al-Ahmar has aroused the concern of the international community, the European countries having asked Israel not to advance in its demolition projects.
On Wednesday, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court warned that Israel's "forced evacuation" project could be a war crime.
The residents refused to leave alone and Israel was preparing the expulsion of the inhabitants and the demolition of the village.
The decision to evict the village followed years of legal battles and after negotiations, attempts to reach agreement on another resettlement site failed.
The planned destruction of Bedouin village Khan al-Ahmar in the West Bank triggered protests
