[VIDEOS] The Palestinian and Israeli conflict

[MenInG]

Two people, including a six-year-old boy, have been killed in a car ramming attack at a bus stop in occupied East Jerusalem, officials say.

The attack happened at Ramot Junction, police said. Unconfirmed reports say the driver was a Palestinian. Police said he was "neutralised on the spot".

Five people were hurt, medics said.

It comes amid a particularly bloody period between Israelis and Palestinians, with a mounting toll from Palestinian attacks and Israeli raids.

Pictures from the scene of the incident on the northern outskirts of the city show a blue Mazda car which had crashed into a pole and come to a standstill on the pavement under a bus shelter.

A volunteer medic with an ambulance service told Israel's Army Radio: "Everyone was lying out, thrown about, in very bad condition."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had "decided to take immediate action to seal and demolish the home of the terrorist", his office said.

 

[MenInG]

JERUSALEM, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy during a raid on a flashpoint town in the occupied West Bank on Sunday that led to clashes with gunmen, medical officials and witnesses said.

An army spokesperson said troops sent into Jenin to detain a suspected militant came under fire and shot back. "We are aware of the report that a number of gunmen were wounded in the exchange of fire," the spokesperson said.

Two Palestinians were wounded, local medical officials said.

The West Bank - one of the areas where Palestinians seek statehood - has seen rising violence since Israel intensified raids last year in response to a series of street attacks in its cities.

 

[Browncaps]

Pompeo claims Israel has biblical right to Palestine

Former secretary of state rejects that Israel is an occupying nation and calls Palestinian president 'known terrorist'

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has claimed that Israel has a biblical right to Palestinian land and that President Mahmoud Abbas is a “known terrorist”.

The comments were made during an episode of the One Decision podcast released early on Thursday.

“[Israel] is not an occupying nation. This land, as an evangelical Christian, I am convinced from my reading of the Bible that 3,000 years onto now, in spite of the denial of so many, is the rightful homeland of the Jewish people,” Pompeo said.

He referred to the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria” during the episode, using the biblical names of the region often used by Israelis to refer to the illegally occupied territory.

Many have speculated whether the former secretary of state, who served during Donald Trump’s administration, will enter the 2024 presidential race.

Pompeo criticised the administration of former president Barack Obama for negotiating with Abbas, who he referred to by his nickname Abu Mazen.

“Our theory of the case was this - what is in America’s best interest? Is it to sit and wait for Abu Mazen, a known terrorist who’s killed lots and lots of people, including Americans, and given those martyrs money, for having done so?” he said, without further elaborations.

“We said that’s just not in America’s best interest.”

Pompeo dismisses Israel judicial concerns
Pompeo declined to support a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, stating instead: “I’m for an outcome that guarantees Israeli security and makes life better for everyone in the region.”

He also dismissed concerns about controversial judicial reforms pushed forward by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition.

“The Israelis are one of the most democratic nations in the world and they’ll continue at it, and this to and fro, these protests you’re seeing, we’ve had protests at our Supreme Court too. People are entitled to their own views,” he said.

In 2019, Pompeo threw out a 1978 State Department legal opinion by declaring that the US did not deem Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank as “inconsistent with international law”.

The following year, Trump announced his Middle East peace plan for Israelis and Palestinians, dubbed the “Deal of the Century”.

The plan - which was condemned across the board by Palestinians - recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, declared the annexation of illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley, and barred Palestinians from the right to resettle in their ancestral homes in Israel.

Last month, Pompeo released a memoir in which he discussed the 2020 US killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, who he compared to a Rembrandt painting, and the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which he claimed was an overblown crisis.

He also spoke of how he tried to “break through” a locked door in Ankara's presidential complex to reach then-Vice President Mike Pence, who was having a longer than expected tete-a-tete with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-pompeo-claims-biblical-right

 

[MenInG]

Ten Palestinians, including an elderly man and several militants, have been killed during an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank, witnesses and Palestinian health officials say.

Explosions and gunfire sounded as troops raided the heart of Nablus, triggering armed clashes with gunmen.

It is understood heavy Israeli fire was directed at a house, killing two senior Palestinian militants inside.

The Israeli military earlier confirmed its troops were operating in Nablus.

Palestinian health officials say a 72-year-old civilian was among those killed outside the besieged house, amid the gun battles.

Video footage showed a body in a street next to bags of bread, in what is usually a busy market area of the old city.

More than 100 people were also wounded by gunfire, according to the health officials. Seven of them are in a critical condition in local hospitals.

A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he condemned the raid and held Israel's government responsible for "this dangerous escalation, which is pushing the region toward tension and an explosion".

The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, warned that it was "monitoring the escalating crimes conducted by the enemy against our people in the occupied West Bank and is running out of patience".

Nablus and nearby Jenin have been a focus of search, arrest and intelligence gathering raids that Israel has intensified over the last year amid a spate of deadly Palestinian attacks.

This latest one comes despite reports this week of an understanding brokered by the US aimed at calming tensions.

So far this year, at least 50 Palestinians - including militants and civilians - have been killed, while 11 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis.

 

[MenInG]

Ramallah, occupied West Bank – Israeli forces have shot and killed a young Palestinian man in the southern occupied West Bank.

Mohammad Jawabreh, 22, was shot in the head during confrontations at the Arroub refugee camp north of Hebron on Thursday afternoon, and succumbed to his wounds on Friday before dawn, local medics said.

He was admitted to the intensive care unit upon arriving at al-Ahli hospital in the city and remained there until his death.

Jawabreh was a police officer with the Palestinian Authority (PA) and worked in Bethlehem city. He was also an undergraduate student in media technology at the Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie, the school said in a statement mourning him.

Israeli forces have killed 65 Palestinians, including 13 children, this year so far, and injured hundreds of others, making the first two months of 2023 the deadliest for Palestinians compared with the same period since 2000.

The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the “start of this year is the bloodiest in the occupied West Bank since the year 2000, at least. In the past 22 years, we have not recorded this number of martyrs, in the first two months of a year.”

Confrontations with Israeli forces had broken out on Thursday across the occupied West Bank in response to Israel’s killing of 11 Palestinians and wounding more than 100 others in the city of Nablus a day prior, in what was described as a “massacre”.

Among the victims were three elderly men – aged 72, 66 and 61 – and a 16-year-old boy. More than 80 other Palestinians were shot with live ammunition, and hundreds suffered from tear gas inhalation.

Critical condition

Separately, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported late on Thursday night that two Palestinian men had been shot by Israeli settlers who had descended on the Palestinian village of Qusra in Nablus, and are in critical condition.

Armed groups in the besieged Gaza Strip responded to the Israeli army raid in Nablus by launching rockets at Israel late on Wednesday and threatening a wider escalation.

On Thursday, a general strike swept across the entire 1967-occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, with all aspects of daily life coming to a stop in protest to the killings. Confrontations took place in several cities, villages and refugee camps across the occupied West Bank.

The Nablus-based Lions’ Den armed group – whose members were attacked during the Israeli raid – called on men across the occupied Palestinian territory to take to the streets and protest at midnight (22:00 GMT) on Thursday – a call that was heeded by thousands in the cities and villages of Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem, Hebron, Jerusalem, and Qalqilya, among others.

“We know that separation is difficult and that martyrdom chose the youth of this country, but we derive our power from you, we depend on you,” the Lions’ Den said. “During the battle, between the sounds of explosions and bullets, we were searching for your voices, the sound of chants, and every time we heard them, we knew we were on the right path.

“Emerge, as much as possible, into the streets, in every city … so that the world can hear the path our people have chosen,” they continued.

Injuries in Hebron

In confrontations that broke out after Friday prayers, Israeli forces injured at least three Palestinians in the Bab al-Zawiya area of the Old City of Hebron, the Palestinian health ministry said on Friday afternoon.

The ministry said one of the men is in serious condition after being hit in the head with a sound grenade, while the other two had light injuries from sound grenades and rubber-coated bullets.

A march by Palestinians took place on Friday for the 29th anniversary of the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre in 1994, when an Israeli-American settler opened fire inside the mosque at drawn prayers, killing 29 Palestinians and wounding more than 100 others.

Confrontations broke out with Israeli forces in other areas of the occupied West Bank following Friday prayers, including the villages of Qaryout and Beita near Nablus, as well as Beit Einun and Arroub refugee camp near Hebron.

The deadly raid in Nablus on Wednesday marked the highest number of Palestinian fatalities in a single Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank since 2005, according to United Nations figures.

It was also the third major Israeli operation in the West Bank since the start of the year and under Israel’s new extreme right-wing government, which was sworn in, in late December.

Along with the near-daily killings of Palestinians that have persisted for more than a year, the new governing coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been taking unilateral steps such as announcing major illegal settlement building projects, increasing demolitions of Palestinian homes and imposing collective punitive measures against Palestinian prisoners, all of which threaten to cause an explosive situation on the ground.

Al Jazeera

 

[daytrader]

Good step by Jordan and they were able to bring Israel to the table. Maybe there's a solution to this conflict if the US and other western powers stay out of any negotiations.

*********************
Jordan hosts Israel-Palestine talks as violence escalates
Jordanian official says the talks in Red Sea port of Aqaba is part of an effort to halt ‘a security breakdown that could fuel more violence’.
...
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/26/jordan-to-host-israel-palestine-talks-as-violence-escalates

 

[MenInG]

The Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority have announced a joint commitment to take immediate steps to end a surge in violence.

The move has emerged from rare talks in Jordan, also attended by US and Egyptian officials.

The meeting agreed to support confidence-building steps and "to work towards a just and lasting peace".

As the talks took place, a Palestinian gunman shot dead two Israelis in the occupied West Bank.

Israel's government described the killings as "a Palestinian terror attack" and its military said it was pursuing the gunman.

The summit in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba was called following a recent rise in deadly violence that has stoked fears of a wider conflict.

It brought together Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs for the first time in many years. The US president's top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, was also present.

The first point of the summit's communique read: "The two sides [Palestinian and Israeli] affirmed their commitment to all previous agreements between them, and to work towards a just and lasting peace.

"They reaffirmed the necessity of committing to de-escalation on the ground and to prevent further violence."

According to the statement, Israel made a commitment to stop discussing new settlement building for four months. In return, it is understood the Palestinians will not take action against Israel at the UN.

 

[KingKhanWC]

While everyone is upset about Ukraine, they ignore Palestine.

In recent weeks the right wing Zionist government has been murdering more Palestinians than ever.

New laws introduced by them say a 'citizen of Israel' who is Arab will have his/her citizenship revoked and moved. Moving Palestinians from one occupied area to another is their idea of success.

 

[IAJ]

While everyone is upset about Ukraine, they ignore Palestine.

In recent weeks the right wing Zionist government has been murdering more Palestinians than ever.

New laws introduced by them say a 'citizen of Israel' who is Arab will have his/her citizenship revoked and moved. Moving Palestinians from one occupied area to another is their idea of success.

Yes, clear double standard. But the West will care more about Ukraine for obvious reasons. It's the muslim countries who should stand up for Palestine first and foremost, but they are busy with other things.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Yes, clear double standard. But the West will care more about Ukraine for obvious reasons. It's the muslim countries who should stand up for Palestine first and foremost, but they are busy with other things.

But the west claims it against taking territory by force yet it supports Israel. Tbf Ukrainians have nothing in common with British people, culture is very different, only colour of skin. The reason the governments are supporting Ukraine is not they care for them but a proxy war against Putin, which they are losing.

I support Russia and Putin, they are on the right side of history.

I agree the Muslims nations are a disgrace but any criticism of Israel means sanctions or bombing and destroying the nations as many leaders and their lands have found out.

Muslims only need 10k missiles, Israel will be no more. The time will come one day.

 

[Gilly]

While everyone is upset about Ukraine, they ignore Palestine.

In recent weeks the right wing Zionist government has been murdering more Palestinians than ever.

New laws introduced by them say a 'citizen of Israel' who is Arab will have his/her citizenship revoked and moved. Moving Palestinians from one occupied area to another is their idea of success.

But you yourself ignore about the thousands and thousands of West Papuans being murdered by Indonesia but get upset about Israel. Double standards from you as well.

 

[MenInG]

Scores of Israeli settlers went on a violent rampage in the northern West Bank late Sunday, setting dozens of cars and homes on fire after two settlers were killed by a Palestinian gunman. Palestinian medics said one man was killed and four others were badly wounded in what appeared to be the worst outburst of settler violence in decades.

The deadly shooting, followed by the late-night rampage, immediately raised doubts about Jordan's declaration that Israeli and Palestinian officials had pledged to calm a year-long wave of violence.

Palestinian media said some 30 homes and cars were torched. Photos and video on social media showed large fires burning throughout the town of Hawara — scene of the deadly shooting earlier in the day — and lighting up the sky.

In one video, crowds of Jewish settlers could be heard reciting the Jewish prayer for the dead as they stared at a building in flames. And earlier, a prominent Israeli Cabinet minister and settler leader had called for Israel to strike “without mercy.”

Late Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a 37-year-old man was shot and killed by Israeli fire. The Palestinian Red Crescent medical service said two other people were shot and wounded, a third person was stabbed and a fourth was beaten with an iron bar. Some 95 others were being treated for tear gas inhalation.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he called “the terrorist acts carried out by settlers under the protection of the occupation forces tonight".

“We hold the Israeli government fully responsible,” he added.

As videos of the violence appeared on evening news shows, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed for calm and urged against vigilante violence. “I ask that when blood is boiling and the spirit is hot, don’t take the law into your hands,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.

The Israeli military said its chief of staff, Lt-Gen Herzl Halevi was rushing to the scene and that forces were trying to restore order. Israel's army radio station, citing an anonymous official, said 15 houses and 25 cars had been torched, and that the army evacuated nine Palestinian families from their burning homes.

The rampage occurred shortly after the Jordanian government, which hosted Sunday’s talks at the Red Sea resort of Aqaba, said the sides had agreed to take steps to de-escalate tensions and would meet again next month ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

https://www.msn.com/en-ae/news/othe...tp&cvid=f0060c901ad6481187ccb788f861bdfd&ei=5

 

[Gilly]

Deadly Palestinian attack sparks more West Bank violence
Reuters
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Feb 26 (Reuters) - A Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli brothers as they were driving in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, sparking attacks by Israeli settlers on houses and cars during which one Palestinian was killed, according to officials.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Palestinian attack, which came as Israeli and Palestinian officials met in Jordan to discuss ways of lowering tensions.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middl...nk-settlers-israeli-officials-say-2023-02-26/

 

[daytrader]

Israel and Palestinians agree steps to curb violence
Israel has agreed to stop the authorisation of illegal settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank for six months, a joint statement says.

Israeli and Palestinian officials have pledged to implement measures to de-escalate surging violence after talks in Jordan.

In a joint statement at the end of the meeting in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba on Sunday, Israeli and Palestinian officials said that they would work closely to prevent “further violence” and that they “reaffirmed the necessity of committing to de-escalation on the ground”.

Israel was committed to stop “discussing setting up any new settlement units for four months and stop approving any new settlements for six months”, a joint statement said.

After “thorough and frank discussions”, the Palestinian and Israeli sides “reaffirmed the need to commit to de-escalation on the ground and to prevent further violence”, it said.

...
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023...inians-agree-to-deepen-ties-to-avert-violence

 

[MenInG]

Six Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli army raid in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry has said.

Israel's prime minister said one of the dead had been responsible for killing two Israeli brothers last month.

Their killings, in Hawara further south, led Jewish settlers to rampage through the town in one of the worst such acts in years.

The assault on Hawara drew condemnation from around the world.

The raid on Tuesday afternoon took place in a refugee camp which is a frequent target for Israeli operations against Palestinian militants.

There were reports of heavy exchanges of gunfire, while videos on social media showed smoke billowing from a building and helicopters flying over a long line of military vehicles.

The Israeli military says it used shoulder-launched missiles as it pursued the wanted man and claims local armed fighters shot at troops from an ambulance.

The Palestinian health ministry listed the dead as five men in their 20s and one man of 49, identified as Abdel Fattah Kharousha.

It is understood that he was a member of the Palestinian militant group Hamas from Nablus and had served time in an Israeli jail. Palestinian sources suggest that he carried out the shooting of the brothers on 26 February. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said two of his sons suspected of assisting with the attack on the brothers were arrested in a simultaneous operation in Nablus on Tuesday.

Hillel Yaniv, 22, and Yagel Yaniv, 20, were killed as they drove through Hawara, about 4 miles (6km) south of Nablus.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a video message, saying Israeli forces had "eliminated the abominable terrorist who murdered [the brothers] in cold blood".

"Our brave warriors operated surgically in the heart of the murderers' den."

A spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said the Israeli government was responsible for "this dangerous escalation", accusing it of waging "all-out war".

Within hours of the brothers' killings, hundreds of Jewish settlers stormed into Hawara in revenge, setting fire to dozens of cars and homes. Palestinian officials said 37-year-old Sameh Aqtash was shot dead by the Israeli army, when soldiers entered their village with settlers, but the Israeli military said it was not involved. More than 100 Palestinians were injured, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The attack on Hawara was one of the most violent incidents of its kind by Jewish settlers, with tensions and violence between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank a constant issue.

BBC

 

[daytrader]

Israeli forces kill four Palestinians in Jenin raid
Army says troops ‘neutralised’ two suspected militants in occupied northern West Bank city

Israeli forces have killed four Palestinians, including a teenager, in the occupied West Bank in the latest deadly raid on Jenin, which Israel said targeted armed suspects.

Dozens of heavily armed masked men fired into the air as they walked through the streets during the funerals of the four dead, including two who Palestinian groups and the Israeli army identified as militants.

The Israeli army initially said troops “neutralised” two suspected militants in the northern West Bank city, accusing them of terrorist activities.

An army spokesperson added: “Armed gunmen fired at the forces and the forces responded with live fire.” One of those killed “was neutralised after attempting to attack the forces with a crowbar”.

The Palestinian health ministry said 23 others had been wounded in the raid, five seriously. It identified those killed as Omar Awadin, 16, Luay al-Zughair, 37, Nidal Khazim, 28 and Youssef Shreem, 29.

Islamic Jihad claimed Khazim as one of its members, and Hamas’s armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said Shreem belonged to their group. The Israeli statement claimed they were both Islamic Jihad members.

...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/17/israeli-forces-palestinians-jenin-raid-west-bank-army

 

[daytrader]

Israeli soldier kills Palestinian in West Bank as violence rises
Fatal shooting comes hours after an Israeli policeman shot dead another Palestinian man near the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem.

An Israeli soldier has shot dead a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank, hours after a policeman killed a medical student at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound.

The Palestinian Authority identified the man killed in the West Bank on Saturday as Mohammad Ra’ed Baradiyah, 24.

Witnesses told the Palestinian Wafa news agency that Baradiyah was shot in his car near the town of Beit Ummar and that medics were denied access to the wounded man.

“Baradiyah was left bleeding helplessly until he died of his wounds,” the agency reported.

The Israeli military said Baradiyah was shot dead after he rammed his car into a group of soldiers. Israeli medics said three people were wounded, two of them seriously.

Earlier on Saturday, Israeli police said they shot dead another Palestinian man at the Chain Gate, an access point to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem. Palestinian worshippers at the entrance to the site said the police shot 26-year-old Mohammad Khaled al-Osaibi at least 10 times after he tried to prevent them from harassing a woman who was on her way to the holy compound.

The police, however, alleged al-Osaibi tried to take a gun from an officer and fired it in a scuffle.

Al-Jazeera

 

[MenInG]

A senior figure in the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, Khader Adnan, has died in an Israeli jail after 86 days on hunger strike.

The Israel Prison Service (IPS) said he was found unconscious early on Tuesday. He was taken to hospital but attempts to resuscitate him failed.

The IPS said he had refused to undergo medical tests and get treatment.

After the death was announced, militants fired at least three rockets from the Gaza Strip, with no one hurt.

Islamic Jihad, which is based in the Gaza Strip, had earlier warned Israel would "pay a heavy price" should he die in jail.

Khader Adnan, 44, had been charged with belonging to a terrorist group and incitement and had been due to stand trial this month.

Adnan was from Jenin in the occupied West Bank, and had been in and out of Israeli detention over the past two decades.

He had been on hunger strike five times.

Before his death, his wife Randa Mousa said he was "refusing any support, refusing medical examinations, he is in a cell with very difficult detention conditions".

The fate of Palestinian prisoners in Israel is a top issue for the Palestinians, who hold Israel responsible for their well-being.

 

[daytrader]

12 killed in latest air raids on Gaza

• At least 12 people have been killed in what Israeli forces said were air attacks on members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement (PIJ).
• The PIJ has announced that three of its leaders — Jihad al-Ghannam, Khalil al-Bahtini, and Tariq Izz al-Deen — were killed in the Israeli attacks along with their wives and some children.
• Israel’s military has advised Israeli residents of communities within 40km (25 miles) of Gaza to stay close to designated bomb shelters.
• Last week, Israeli missiles pounded the Gaza Strip following rockets fired towards Israel in the aftermath of the death of well-known Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan.

...
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/live...ve-news-12-killed-in-latest-air-raids-on-gaza

 

[MenInG]

GAZA (Reuters) -Israel killed three senior Islamic Jihad commanders in Gaza air strikes, Palestinian officials said, as the Israeli military confirmed it was carrying out an operation against the group before dawn on Tuesday.

Medics said at least six Palestinians were killed in the air strikes, three of whom were civilians, and several more were wounded.

The Israeli military said it targeted three senior commanders of the Islamic Jihad, the second most powerful armed group in the Hamas-ruled, blockaded coastal enclave. Two Islamic Jihad sources confirmed the deaths.

Powerful explosions rocked Gaza and a video circulating on social media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed smoke billowing and flames lighting up the night sky.

Last week, the death of a Palestinian hunger striker in Israeli custody triggered several hours of cross-border fighting between Israel and armed groups in Gaza, in which one Palestinian man was killed.

The air strikes marked the latest incident in more than a year of surging violence, with repeated Israeli military raids and escalating settler violence in the occupied West Bank amid a spate of Palestinian street attacks targeting Israelis. More than 90 Palestinians and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners have been killed since January.

COGAT, a unit in the Israeli defence ministry that coordinates civilian affairs with the Palestinians, said two crossings with Gaza were closed for entry and exit of people and goods until further notice.

In anticipation of rocket fire in response to the killings, the Israeli military released special instructions for Israelis living in towns within 40 kilometres of Gaza, including to remain near bomb shelters from 2:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday until 6 p.m. on Thursday.

 

[MenInG]

Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired barrages of rockets towards Israel, after the Israeli military said it carried out a series of air strikes on Islamic Jihad rocket launchers.

At least one Palestinian has been killed and another wounded, medics say.

There are no reports of any injuries in Israel, where most of the rockets are said to have been intercepted.

It comes a day after 15 people in Gaza were killed in Israeli air strikes, including three Islamic Jihad leaders.

Islamic Jihad swore revenge, but there was no cross-border violence overnight. Instead, the group warned Israel to expect its reaction anywhere, at any moment.

Meanwhile, tensions remain high in the occupied West Bank after Israel carried out arrest raids overnight.

Two Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, who said the pair fired at them.

 

[MenInG]

A pre-dawn Israeli air strike has killed a top Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) commander and two other militants in Gaza.

A warplane attacked an apartment on the fifth floor of a building in Hamad Residential City, near Khan Younis in the south of the territory.

On Wednesday militants in Gaza fired more than 500 rockets at Israel.

The Israeli military hit more than 130 militant targets in Gaza, in the heaviest fighting in nine months.

Twenty-five people have been killed in Gaza since Tuesday morning when Israel began its operation against the PIJ, the Palestinian Ministry of Health there says. Those killed include at least 10 civilians and three other PIJ commanders.

The Israeli military said four people, including three children, had been killed in Gaza by rockets falling short, though this has not been corroborated by Palestinian sources.

There have been no fatalities in Israel, though some rockets have hit homes and buildings. Most have landed in open areas or been intercepted.

The armed wing of the PIJ confirmed that the head of its missile unit, Ali Hassan Ghali, also known as Abu Muhammad, had died in Thursday morning's attack.

The PIJ is the second biggest militant group in Gaza after Hamas, and has been responsible for many of the rocket attacks on Israel in recent years

Israel's military confirmed it had targeted Ghali and what it called two "other Islamic Jihad operatives in Gaza".

They described the commander as a central figure in the PIJ who had been "responsible for the recent rocket barrages launched against Israel".

BBC

 

[MenInG]

The Israeli military has killed two Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders in air strikes in Gaza during a third day of fighting with militants there.

A pre-dawn attack on an apartment in Khan Younis killed the head of PIJ's rocket launching force and two others, who the military said were militants.

In the afternoon, his deputy was killed in a strike in a nearby town.

Militants in Gaza meanwhile fired more rockets and mortars into Israel, as attempts to broker a ceasefire stalled.

Twenty-eight people have been killed and 84 injured in Gaza since Tuesday morning, when Israel began its operation against PIJ with a series of strikes that killed another three of its commanders, health officials there say.

At least 10 civilians are also among the dead, which the United Nations has called unacceptable.

The Israeli military said four people, including three children, were killed in Gaza by rockets falling short on Wednesday, though this has not been corroborated by Palestinian sources. PIJ denied the allegation and accused Israel of trying to evade responsibility for their deaths.

Militants have launched at least 547 rockets and mortars since Wednesday, with 394 crossing into Israeli territory, according to the Israeli military. Some have hit homes, but most have landed in open areas or been intercepted.

There have been no fatalities in Israel, although several people have been injured while rushing to shelters, according to local health officials.

BBC

 

[daytrader]

Israel kills 30 Palestinians in Gaza as violence escalates

Israel has killed 30 Palestinians and injured more than 90 others in air attacks on the Gaza Strip since Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry has said.

The victims include six children and three women as well as the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) rocket force and his deputy.

Palestinian factions in Gaza continued to fire rockets in retaliation from the besieged coastal enclave into Israel, killing one person on Thursday.

Amid mediation efforts by Egypt, neither side seemed ready to douse the worst flare-up since August, now in its third day.

“We are at the height of a campaign, both offensive and defensive,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a videotaped statement issued during a visit to an air base.

“Whoever comes to harm us – his blood is forfeit.”

The deaths of Ali Ghali and Ahmed Abu Daqqa brought to five the number of senior figures from PIJ killed since Israel began attacking Gaza early on Tuesday.

Egypt said it was trying to secure a truce but so far, its efforts have proved futile.

Cairo, which hosted senior PIJ official Mohammad al-Hindi for talks, was circumspect about prospects for a ceasefire.

“Egypt’s efforts to calm things down and resume the political process have not yet borne fruit,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters.

Meeting Jordanian, French and German counterparts in Berlin, Shoukry urged “peace-sponsoring countries to intervene and stop the attacks” and said Israel must “stop the unilateral measures that aim to destroy the future of the Palestinian state”.

Among terms for a truce, PIJ wants an end to Israeli assassinations of its leaders.

“Islamic Jihad is demanding that if there is to be a ceasefire, Israel must commit to not assassinate any more of their leaders. This is something Israel says it’s not going to do. We’ve seen five of their leaders over the course of the past two days assassinated by Israel and they’re saying they have the right to do that,” said Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Jamjoom.

Israel appears to be hoping the PIJ, depleted of rockets and commanders, would halt hostilities unilaterally.

Al Jazeera

 

[MenInG]

GAZA/JERUSALEM, May 13 (Reuters) - Israel and the militant Islamic Jihad group in Gaza have agreed a truce that will go into effect at 10 p.m. (1900 GMT), Palestinian officials said, signalling an end to the worst episode of cross-border fire since a 10-day war in 2021.

Egypt, which brokered the ceasefire, called on all sides to adhere to the agreement, Egypt's Al-Qahera News television channel reported.

"In the light of the agreement of the Palestinian and the Israeli side, Egypt announces a ceasefire between the Palestinian and the Israeli side has been reached," a text of the agreement seen by Reuters read, and added the truce would begin at 10 p.m.

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"The two sides will abide by the ceasefire which will include an end to targeting civilians, house demolition, an end to targeting individuals immediately when the ceasefire goes into effect," it said.

Islamic Jihad confirmed a truce had been reached. "We declare our acceptance of the Egyptian announcement and we will abide by it as long as the occupation (Israel) abides by it," the group's spokesman Dawoud Shehab said.

There was no immediate confirmation from Israel, which rarely acknowledges such agreements with Palestinian militant groups it designates as terrorist organisations.

Even as the truce was being finalised, the two sides kept up firing, with air raid sirens sounding as far as Tel Aviv's suburbs and Israel's military announcing it had hit six operational command posts of Islamic Jihad.

Israel launched the latest round of airstrikes in the early hours of Tuesday, announcing that it was targeting Islamic Jihad commanders who had planned attacks in Israel.

In response, the Iranian-backed group fired more than 1,000 rockets, sending Israelis fleeing into bomb shelters.

During the five days of the campaign, Israel killed six senior Islamic Jihad commanders and destroyed a number of military installations.

But at least 10 civilians, including women and children, were also killed in Gaza during the fighting and two people - an Israeli woman and a Palestinian labourer - were killed by Palestinian rocket fire in Israel.

Islamic Jihad spurns coexistence with Israel and preaches its destruction. Top ministers of Israel's religious nationalist government rule out any state sought by Palestinians in territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

 

[KingKhanWC]

The scenes from Palestine are once again tragic, heartbreaking, which make one very angry.

The extremist government in Israel is taking advantage of world events to unleash their evil crimes.

 

[daytrader]

Palestine’s Abbas calls on UN to ‘suspend’ Israel as Nakba marked
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas insists that Israel must respect UN resolutions on Palestine or cease as a UN member.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has urged the United Nations to suspend Israel’s membership in the world body unless it ends its aggression against Palestinians and implements UN resolutions establishing separate Israeli and Palestinian states as well as the return of Palestinian refugees.

Abbas spoke on Monday during the first official UN commemoration of the flight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from what is now Israel amid the violence of the partition of Palestine 75 years ago.

More than 760,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes in 1948 when Israel was created, an event Palestinians call Nakba — or catastrophe — and marked each year on May 15.

In an hourlong emotion-filled speech, Abbas asked the world’s nations why more than 1,000 resolutions adopted by UN bodies regarding the Palestinians had never been implemented.

He held up a letter from Israel’s foreign minister, Moshe Sharett, after resolutions were adopted in 1947 and 1948 promising to implement them and said: “Either they do respect these obligations, or they stop becoming a member.”

...
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023...calls-on-un-to-suspend-israel-as-nakba-marked

 

[MenInG]

JENIN/HOMESH, West Bank (Reuters) -Israeli forces killed a Palestinian security officer during clashes in the occupied West Bank flashpoint city of Jenin on Monday, the Palestinian Fatah faction said in a statement.

The Israeli military said its forces had come under heavy Palestinian fire while seeking the arrest of security suspects in Jenin and had returned fire at the gunmen.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party identified the officer as Ashraf Sheikh Ibrahim, saying he had died "as he confronted the aggression and the occupation's storming of the city of Jenin".

In another part of the West Bank on Monday, Jewish settlers inaugurated a seminary in a settler outpost, drawing Palestinian condemnation and a reiteration of concern by the U.S.

In a video posted on social media, settler leader Yossi Dagan recited a Jewish benediction at the entrance to the Homesh seminary school, a large white prefabricated shack at the top of a West Bank hill.

"With God's help ... there will be many more new settlements in northern Samaria," he said, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name. The new school was moved off privately owned Palestinian land to a new spot on the same hilltop around 150 metres away.

Repeating last week's U.S. response, a State Department spokesperson said Washington was "deeply troubled" by the Israeli government’s recent order that allows its citizens to establish a permanent presence in the Homesh outpost, calling it inconsistent with previous Israeli commitments.

"The expansion of settlements undermines the geographic viability of a two-state solution, exacerbates tensions, and further harms trust between the parties," the spokesperson said.

Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group representing some of the Palestinian landowners, said that in its new location the seminary obstructs access to their property.

VIOLENCE ESCALATES

U.S.-led peace talks aimed at establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza broke down in 2014 and show little sign of revival, and Israeli-Palestinian violence has escalated over the past year.

Most countries deem Israel's settlements illegal - a view Israel disputes. Palestinians say they eat away at the land they want for a future state and cite growing violence by settlers.

Abbas said Homesh must be removed. "Statements of condemnation are no longer enough in the face of the (Israeli) extremist right-wing government," said his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh.

In a bid to quell international concern, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel has no intention of building any new settlements as his nationalist-religious government has vowed to bolster existing ones.

Spokespeople for Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on whether any of them had authorized the establishment of the new Homesh seminary.

"I think there are times when it's preferable to talk less and do more," Smotrich told reporters at a meeting of his pro-settler Jewish Zionism party, when asked who was behind the decision on Homesh.

Last week, Smotrich, who holds some West Bank powers, said Homesh had been officially added to settlement council land in order to work out a new building plan for the seminary school.

 

[MenInG]

The United States is seeking more information from the Israeli government about the decision that soldiers will not be criminally prosecuted over the death of a Palestinian-American man, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Wednesday.

Israeli forces detained 78-year-old Omar As'ad at a makeshift checkpoint in his West Bank hometown of Jiljilya last January. Israel's military advocate general said on Tuesday that soldiers who left As'ad outside overnight after detaining him and who was later found dead will not be criminally prosecuted but will face disciplinary measures.

 

[daytrader]

Israel to ramp up settlement expansion in occupied West Bank
The finance minister was granted sweeping powers to expedite construction, bypassing measures in place for 27 years.

Israel’s hardline coalition government has approved plans for thousands of new housing units in the occupied West Bank and given the far-right finance minister sweeping powers to expedite the construction of illegal settlements, bypassing measures that have been in place for 27 years.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ratified the move in the cabinet, allowing pro-settler Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to bypass the six-stage process for building settlements, which are considered illegal under international law, said Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan in West Jerusalem.

The deal between Netanyahu and Smotrich was on the cards for a while, Khan said, adding that it enables the finance minister to “effectively take over the entire illegal settlement-building process”.

Smotrich said: “We will continue to develop the settlement project and strengthen Israeli control of the territory.”

The plans for the approval of 4,560 housing units in various areas of the West Bank were included on the agenda of Israel’s Supreme Planning Council that meets next week.

Various factions expressed deep concerns that the entire West Bank could soon come under Israeli control.

...
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/18/israeli-minister-given-sweeping-settlement-building-powers

 

[daytrader]

UN chief tells Israel to halt illegal settlements in Palestine
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says construction of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory driving ‘tensions and violence’.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Israel to immediately “cease all settlement activities” in occupied Palestinian territory, describing Israel’s plans to advance the building of Israeli settlements as driving “tensions and violence” and being a major obstacle to a lasting peace.

The UN chief’s comments come after five Palestinians were killed – including a 15-year-old boy – and more than 90 were wounded in the fiercest clashes in years which erupted when Israeli forces raided the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Monday.

In the first such instance in almost 20 years, Israel sent helicopter gunships which fired rockets at targets in Jenin camp while Palestinian fighters fought for hours with small arms and explosive devices that disabled several Israeli military vehicles, trapping troops inside. Eight Israeli soldiers were wounded in the clashes that last nearly 10 hours, according to witnesses.

“The Secretary-General reiterates that settlements are a flagrant violation of international law,” Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the secretary general, said in a statement on Monday.

...
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023...rael-to-halt-illegal-settlements-in-palestine

 

[MenInG]

Four Israelis have been killed in a shooting attack near a settlement in the occupied West Bank, paramedics say.

Another four people were injured, one of them seriously, when gunmen opened fire at a petrol station outside Eli, about 16km (10 miles) south of Nablus.

Israel's military said one gunman was "neutralised" at the scene and troops were pursuing additional suspects.

The military also reportedly activated a possible infiltration alert in Eli and warned residents to stay indoors.

A paramedic with the Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service, Motty Dahan, said in a statement that when he and his colleagues arrived at the scene they saw a "complex site".

"Seven victims had gunshot wounds, some in the gas station and some in a nearby restaurant," he added.

"We performed medical checks and began providing medical treatment, three of the victims were evacuated in MDA [Mobile Intensive Care Units] to hospital, and unfortunately four of the victims were pronounced dead."

 

[MenInG]

Three Palestinian militants have been killed in a rare Israeli drone strike in the occupied West Bank, amid escalating violence in the territory.

The Israeli military said it targeted "a terrorist cell inside a suspicious vehicle" that carried out a shooting attack near Jalama on Wednesday night.

It was the first such strike in the West Bank since 2006, it added.

Palestinian first responders said they found three bodies in a burned-out car but soldiers prevented their removal.

Palestinian news agency Wafa identified them as Mohammed Bashar Uweis, 28, Suhayb Adnan al-Ghoul, 27, and Ashraf Murad Saadi, 17, and said they were all from the city of Jenin.

The militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) said Ghoul and Saadi were its fighters, while Uweis was from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, the armed wing of the Fatah movement.

PIJ warned Israel's leaders that they would "bear responsibility for their stupid decision to strike these operatives with drones and... keep their bodies".

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant tweeted: "We'll take an attacking and proactive approach against terror, we'll use all means at our disposal and exact the heaviest price from every terrorist."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its soldiers identified a vehicle carrying gunmen who had carried out a shooting at a checkpoint near Jalama, a town about 3.5km (2 miles) north of Jenin.

"The terrorist cell [had] carried out a number of shooting attacks toward communities in Judea and Samaria lately," it added, using the biblical term that Israel uses to refer to the West Bank.

"Following the identification of the terrorist cell, an IDF UAV [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle] fired toward the cell and thwarted them."

Witnesses said they heard gunfire shortly before the strike.

"After the sound of the bullets, I was sitting with my children and we decided to go inside because we thought there were clashes or something like that," resident Nasser Torokman told Reuters news agency.

"Later on, we heard a sound of a strong explosion. The first rocket fell and I saw that there was fire in the area and a burning car."

Video footage posted on social media showed what appeared to be several emergency vehicles near the burning wreck of the car targeted in the strike.

The drone strike came hours after a Palestinian man was shot dead during a rampage by hundreds of Israeli settlers who torched homes and cars in the town of Turmusaya, about 50km to the south.

The Palestinian health ministry said the man was shot dead by Israeli forces "while confronting the settlers". Israel's paramilitary border police said its forces were securing firefighters when residents "rioted" and troops fired at a man who shot at them.

The attack on Turmusaya followed the funeral in a nearby settlement a 17-year-old boy who was among four Israelis shot dead by two Palestinian gunmen from Hamas at a petrol station and restaurant on Tuesday.

Hamas, in turn, said that shooting was a response to an Israeli military raid in Jenin on Monday during which seven Palestinians were killed.

It saw the IDF's first use of an Apache attack helicopter in the West Bank in years. The helicopter fired missiles at militants who had targeted troop carriers with explosives, wounding seven soldiers.

 

[daytrader]

UN slams Israel’s use of ‘advanced military weaponry’ in Jenin
Israeli forces stormed the Jenin refugee camp on Monday to arrest two suspects.

The violence in the occupied West Bank “risks spiralling out of control”, according to the United Nations human rights chief who condemned Israel’s use of deadly force in a raid in the Jenin refugee camp that killed at least seven Palestinians, including children.

Israeli forces stormed the Jenin refugee camp on Monday to arrest two suspects.

What followed was a 20-year first: the use of helicopter gunships in the occupied West Bank, with the gunships pummelling the camp and, in addition to the deaths, injuring 91 people.

The UN’s Volker Turk made the remarks on Friday, warning that the situation was deteriorating sharply due to the use of heavy weaponry, urging Israel to stop the violence.

“This week’s violence in the occupied West Bank risks spiralling out of control, fuelled by strident political rhetoric, and an escalation in the use of advanced military weaponry by Israel,” Turk said in a statement.

He added that the raid was a “major intensification of the use of weaponry more generally associated with the conduct of armed hostilities, rather than a law enforcement situation”.

He called the air strikes with helicopter gunships a “major intensification of the use of weaponry more generally associated with the conduct of armed hostilities, rather than a law enforcement situation”.

Turk called on Israel to abide by international law, also adding that the current situation serves “only to drive Israelis and Palestinians deeper into an abyss”.

“Israel must urgently reset its policies and actions in the West Bank in line with international human rights standards, including protecting and respecting the right to life,” Turk said.

A day after the deadly raid, Palestinian gunmen killed four Israeli settlers at a petrol station between the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Nablus.

Hours after that shooting, Israeli settlers stormed through Palestinian towns, torching property and smashing cars, killing one Palestinian man.

...
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/23/un-slams-israels-use-of-advanced-military-weaponry-in-jenin

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Israeli military attacks Gaza Strip amid protests at border.

At least 22 people have been injured in attacks targeting Hamas’s security outposts in the besieged enclave.

The Israeli military has said its forces have conducted air attacks on the blockaded Gaza Strip, where protesters have had confrontations for days with Israeli troops along the separation fence.

The military said the drone strikes targeted two military posts belonging to Hamas movement governing the Gaza Strip, while a tank hit another post from which shots were fired on troops confronting protesters.

The Hamas-affiliated radio station Aqsa said two people had been wounded in the strikes.

In al-Maghazi refugee camp, El Sayed said drones had appeared overhead in a matter of minutes, dropping stun grenades and tear gas canisters on the heavily populated area.

Meanwhile, tanks positioned on the border shot artillery shells at the Palestinian enclave, the correspondent said.

“It seems that Israel is responding to the incendiary balloons sent by the protesters across the border,” she said.

The protesters were evacuating the area as a result of the attacks, the reporter added.

At least 22 people have been injured, according to the Ministry of Health.

Israeli military attacks Gaza Strip amid protests at border

At least 22 people have been injured in attacks targeting Hamas’s security outposts in the besieged enclave.

www.aljazeera.com