middle-east
Gunmen ambush a bus carrying Syrian soldiers, killing 20 in the country's east
Gunmen have ambushed a bus carrying Syrian soldiers in the country's east, killing at least 20 and wounding others, opposition activists said Friday.
The Thursday night attack was believed to be carried out by members of the Islamic State group whose sleeper cells in parts of Syria still carry deadly attacks despite their defeat in 2019.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 23 Syrian soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded in the attack on a desert road near the eastern town of Mayadeen in Deir el-Zour province that borders Iraq.
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Another activist collective that covers news in eastern Syria said 20 soldiers were killed and others were wounded.
Syrian state news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying that the attack occurred Thursday night, "killing and wounding a number of soldiers." It gave no further details, nor a breakdown in the casualty numbers.
IS controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq where they declared a caliphate in June 2014. Over the years they lost of the land and were defeated in Iraq in 2017 and two years later in Syria.
In one of their deadliest in a year, IS sleeper cells attacked workers collecting truffles near the central town of Sukhna in February, killing at least 53 people — mostly workers but also some Syrian government security forces.
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Experts who follow Jihadi groups say it is too early to say if the new spate of attacks marks a new resurgence by the extremists that ruled millions of people in Syria and Iraq with terror.
Last week, IS announced the death in Syria of its little-known leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi — who headed the extremist organization since November — and named his successor. He was the fourth to be killed since its founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in 2019 by U.S. troops in northwest Syria.
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6 Turkish soldiers killed in attacks by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq, Ankara says
Turkey's defense ministry said on Thursday that a spate of attacks the previous day and overnight by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq killed at least six Turkish soldiers.
The attacks prompted retaliatory airstrikes that left four members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, dead on Thursday, according to a social media post shared later by the ministry.
The violence is the latest in a monthslong escalation between Turkey and Turkish-backed groups on one side, and Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria on the other.
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Ankara considers the PKK — which has waged a decadeslong insurgency within Turkey — and allied Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq as terrorist organizations. It claims members of the PKK regularly find sanctuary in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
There was no immediate comment from Iraq's central government in Baghdad.
Earlier, authorities in northern Iraq's Kurdish region said two separate Turkish drone strikes on Wednesday in attacks in Iraq's Sulaymaniyah province targeting PKK vehicles killed two insurgents and wounded four.
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Turkey maintains troops in a border region in Iraq and regularly targets what it says are PKK positions there. Last year, it launched a ground and air operation dubbed Claw-Lock, against the PKK in northern Iraq.
Iraqi security officials said Thursday's airstrikes hit positions north of the city of Duhok. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorities to speak to the media.
Turkish Col. Zeki Akturk vowed to avenge the troops killed.
Read: 12 killed in multi-vehicle crash in Turkey’
“Our soldiers will not leave the blood of the martyrs on the ground,” he said at a news conference on Thursday, adding that Turkish forces "will continue their fight against terrorism with the same determination until there is not a single terrorist left.”
Since 1984, the PKK's insurgency within Turkey has killed tens of thousands of people.
Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco reports $30B in Q2 profits, down nearly 40% from last year
Saudi state-run oil giant Aramco said Monday that it made $30 billion in profit in the second quarter, a nearly 40% decline from the same period the previous year that it attributed to lower oil prices.
Total sales stood at just over 400 billion riyals (about $106 billion), down from 562 billion riyals ($150 billion in the second quarter of 2022. In an earnings report filed with the Saudi stock exchange, Aramco said the decrease "mainly reflected the impact of lower crude oil prices and weakening refining and chemicals margins."
The company reported net income of 112.8 billion Saudi riyals ($30 billion) compared to 181.6 billion riyals ($48 billion) in the second quarter of 2022, a decline of 37.8%
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Aramco nevertheless raised its dividend paid out to investors to 110.18 billion riyals ($29.38 billion), compared to $18.8 billion in the second quarter of 2022. The performance-based dividend is partly based on the company's record earnings last year, it said.
"Our strong results reflect our resilience and ability to adapt through market cycles," Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said in a statement accompanying the report.
Last week, Fortune magazine ranked Aramco, officially known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the second biggest company in the world by revenue, behind only Walmart and ahead of Amazon and Apple. The ranking came after the oil company reported a profit of over $160 billion in 2022, the largest ever recorded by a publicly traded firm.
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Those kinds of earnings will come under heightened scrutiny later this year when the United Arab Emirates, another major oil producer, hosts annual U.N. climate talks aimed at getting the world to slash emissions and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.
Aramco benefited from a spike in oil prices last year caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Internationally traded oil peaked at over $120 a barrel in June 2022 before settling in a range of $75 to $85 for much of the past year.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly cut its oil production in recent months and pressed fellow OPEC members to do the same in an attempt to push up prices in the face of weaker demand from China and rising interest rates aimed at combatting inflation.
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The kingdom needs high oil prices to fund Vision 2030, a costly and wide-ranging plan to overhaul its economy and transform itself into a regional hub for business and tourism. The plans include several so-called "gigaprojects," including the construction of a futuristic $500 billion city on the Red Sea coast.
Saudi Arabia is also investing billions of dollars in tourism, entertainment and sports, including on a controversial merger with the PGA Tour and the recruitment of some of soccer's biggest stars to play for local clubs.
Activists accuse the country of trying to "sportswash" a human rights record marred by its involvement in the war in neighboring Yemen, a heavy crackdown on dissent and the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and government critic.
The International Monetary Fund estimates that Saudi Arabia needs an oil price of around $80 a barrel to avoid running a deficit. Benchmark U.S. crude oil for September delivery rose $1.27 to $82.82 a barrel Friday. Brent crude for October delivery rose $1.10 to $86.24 a barrel.
Aramco raised a record $29.4 billion through an initial 2019 public offering in which it sold a tiny sliver of less than 2% of the company to investors.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's day-to-day ruler and the architect of Vision 2030, has transferred 8% of Aramco to the kingdom's $700 billion sovereign wealth fund over the past two years to help shore it up as it funds the massive infrastructure projects.
Thousands take to streets in Gaza in rare public display of discontent with Hamas
Several thousand people briefly took to the streets across the Gaza Strip on Sunday to protest chronic power outages and difficult living conditions, providing a rare public show of discontent with the territory's Hamas government. Hamas security forces quickly dispersed the gatherings.
Marches took place in Gaza City, the southern town of Khan Younis and other locations, chanting "what a shame" and in one place burning Hamas flags, before police moved in and broke up the protests.
Police destroyed mobile phones of people who were filming in Khan Younis, and witnesses said there were several arrests. Dozens of young supporters and opponents of Hamas briefly faced off, throwing stones at one another.
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The demonstrations were organized by a grassroots online movement called "alvirus alsakher," or "the mocking virus." It was not immediately known who is behind the movement.
Hamas rules Gaza with an iron fist, barring most demonstrations and quickly stamping out public displays of dissent.
The Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, prompting Israel and Egypt to impose a crippling blockade on the territory. Israel says the closure is needed to prevent Hamas, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist, from building up its military capabilities.
The closure has devastated Gaza's economy, sent unemployment skyrocketing and led to frequent power outages. During the current heat wave, people have been receiving four to six hours of power a day due to heavy demand.
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"Where is the electricity and where is the gas?" the crowds shouted in Khan Younis. "What a shame. What a shame."
Protesters also criticized Hamas for deducting a roughly $15 fee from monthly $100 stipends given to Gaza's poorest families by the wealthy Gulf state of Qatar.
There was no immediate comment from the Hamas authorities.
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Israeli military fire killed Palestinian teen in occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials say
Israeli military fire killed a 14-year-old Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said Thursday, as an extremist Israeli Cabinet minister visited a sensitive Jerusalem mosque that has been a frequent flashpoint for violence between Israel and the Palestinians.
Itamar Ben-Gvir's visit to the disputed hilltop compound comes as Israel and the Palestinians are locked in a year-and-a-half long bout of fighting and could enflame already surging tensions. It was also likely to draw condemnation from Palestinians who view such visits as provocative. The site is revered by Jews and Muslims, and the competing claims lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Also read: Israeli military kills 3 alleged Palestinian gunmen in volatile West Bank
Early Thursday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said 14-year-old Fares Sharhabil Abu Samra was killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank town of Qalqilya. The Israeli military said Palestinians threw rocks and firebombs at troops, who responded by firing into the air. It said the incident was being reviewed.
Ben-Gvir was joining what will likely to be hundreds of Jews visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to mark the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av, a day of mourning and repentance when Jews reflect on the destruction of the First and Second Temples, key events in Jewish history.
"This is the most important place for the people of Israel which we must return to and show our rule," Ben-Gvir said in a video released by his office, with the golden Dome of the Rock in the background.
Also read: Israeli forces kill 2 wanted Palestinians in shootout in the occupied West Bank
Ben-Gvir, a former West Bank settler leader and far-right activist who years ago was convicted of incitement and supporting a Jewish terror group, now serves as Israel's national security minister, overseeing the country's police force.
Thursday was Ben-Gvir's third known visit to the contested site since becoming a minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government. The site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism, where the biblical Temples once stood. Today, it is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.
His visit could enflame already surging tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, who have been engaged in a monthslong round of fighting that has sparked the worst violence in nearly two decades in the West Bank.
Also read: Israel launches most intense military operation in West Bank in years; at least 8 Palestinians dead
Since early last year, Israel has been staging near-nightly raids into Palestinian areas which it says are meant to stamp out militancy and thwart future attacks. More than 160 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting this year, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
The military says most of those killed have been fighters. But stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. At least 26 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis since the start of 2023.
Under longstanding arrangements, Jews are permitted to visit the site, but not to pray there. But in recent years, a growing number of Jewish visitors have begun to quietly pray, raising fears among Palestinians that Israel is plotting to divide or take over the site. Ben-Gvir has long called for increased Jewish access.
Israel captured east Jerusalem, where the compound lies, along with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state, with east Jerusalem as its capital. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move unrecognized by most of the international community and considers the city its undivided, permanent capital.
Netanyahu's government, consisting of ultranationalists and West Bank settlement supporters like Ben-Gvir, has intensified steps to solidify Israel's hold on territories that Palestinians seek for a future state, angering Israel's top ally, the United States, and dimming hopes for Palestinian statehood.
Israeli military kills 3 alleged Palestinian gunmen in volatile West Bank
The Israeli military said it shot and killed three alleged Palestinian gunmen in the northern occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the latest bloodshed in one of the most violent stretches of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in years.
Israeli security forces said they opened fire at Palestinian militants who had shot at them from a car in the West Bank city of Nablus, the territory’s commercial capital and a major focus of the Israeli military’s recently stepped-up raids. In the hilly neighborhood of al-Tur shortly after the shooting, Israeli forces inspected a shattered black Skoda surrounded by spent bullet casings.
Palestinian media described the Israeli killing of the gunmen as an ambush following the militants’ attempted attack on Israeli forces near a Jewish settlement overlooking Nablus. The Israeli military said it confiscated three M-16 rifles and other equipment from their car.
Read: Palestinian gunman opens fire on a car in the occupied West Bank wounding 3, including 2 girls
Israeli-Palestinian fighting has surged in the territory, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians seek the occupied West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, for a hoped-for future state.
In recent months, the West Bank has witnessed a volatile mix of the rise of local armed Palestinian groups carrying out frequent shooting attacks against Israelis and near-daily Israeli military raids that have increasingly turned deadly. Earlier this month, Israel’s most forceful incursion into the West Bank in nearly two decades killed 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier.
Heightening tensions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right, ultranationalist coalition has rejected talks with the Palestinian leadership, sought to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank and pushed for a more aggressive response to Palestinian militant attacks.
Read: Israeli forces kill 2 wanted Palestinians in shootout in the occupied West Bank
Late Monday, Palestinian militants said they opened fire at a bus carrying Israeli settlers near the Palestinian town of Hawara, just south of Nablus, without causing casualties. The Israeli military said it was setting up checkpoints to search for the suspects. A little-known armed group from the area calling itself the “Dawn Brigade” claimed responsibility for the shooting.
So far this year, over 150 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank – the highest death toll in over a decade. Nearly half of them were affiliated with militant groups and killed in fighting during Israeli military raids, but stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions as well as innocent bystanders have also been killed.
Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis have killed at least 25 people this year.
Fierce protests have been rocking Israel for months. What's fueling them?
Oceans of Israeli flags, steady drumbeats, cries of "Democracy!" Water cannons, police on horseback, protesters dragged off the ground.
For seven straight months, tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets in the most sustained and intense demonstrations the country has ever seen.
The protesters are part of a grassroots movement that rose out of opposition to a contentious judicial overhaul spearheaded by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies.
The overhaul calls for sweeping changes aimed at curbing the powers of the judiciary, from limiting the Supreme Court's ability to challenge parliamentary decisions, to changing the way judges are selected.
While the government says the overhaul is needed to reduce the powers of unelected judges, protesters, who make up a wide cross section of Israeli society, say the overhaul will push Israel toward autocracy.
With a key portion of the overhaul nearing a final vote early next week, protesters are vowing further "days of disruption" and calling for strikes and general unrest.
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Here's a look at why they are still protesting, months into the government's efforts:
WHAT'S IN THE OVERHAUL?
Netanyahu's ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox religious allies say the package is meant to restore power to elected officials. Critics say it is a power grab fueled by various personal and political grievances by Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, and his partners, who want to deepen Israel's control of the occupied West Bank and perpetuate controversial draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men.
The proposals include a bill that would allow a simple majority in parliament to overturn Supreme Court decisions. Another would give parliament the final say in selecting judges.
On Monday, parliament is expected to vote on a key bill that would prevent the Supreme Court from striking down government decisions on the basis that they are "unreasonable."
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Proponents say the current "reasonability" standard gives judges excessive powers over decision making by elected officials. But critics say that removing the standard, which is invoked only in rare cases, would allow the government to pass arbitrary decisions, make improper appointments or firings and open the door to corruption.
Protesters say Netanyahu and his allies want to change the law so they can appoint cronies to government posts — and particularly so that they can fire the country's independent attorney general, according to Amir Fuchs, a senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank. Supporters see Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara as a bulwark against the overhaul.
The measures "make it more difficult to conduct oversight" over arbitrary decisions of elected officials, said Yohanan Plesner, the institute's president. "This is one chapter of a broader plan and program of the government to weaken the checks and balances."
In a speech Thursday, Netanyahu dismissed accusations that the plan would destroy Israel's democratic foundations as absurd. "This is an attempt to mislead you over something that has no basis in reality," he said.
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WHY ARE THERE STILL PROTESTS?
Netanyahu's government took office in December and almost immediately unveiled its plans to weaken Israel's Supreme Court.
Protests sprang up in major cities, business leaders balked at the plan and, perhaps most critically, military reservists in Israel's air force and other key units threatened to stop reporting for duty if it passed.
The protests prompted Netanyahu to pause the overhaul in March and enter talks with opposition lawmakers. After talks broke down last month, Netanyahu announced in June the overhaul would move forward.
Protesters accuse Netanyahu of changing tactics, but not his broader goals, by moving forward in a slower and more measured way in a bid to lull the protesters and dull their opposition.
"The government got smarter," said Josh Drill, a spokesman for the protest movement. "They saw the fallout of trying to ram the overhaul through, and they decided instead to do it piece by piece."
Protests have intensified as the coalition's efforts to make the overhaul into law have moved forward.
On Tuesday, protesters crippled the city's main highway and blocked train stations, and thousands of people marched nearly 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem over the weekend ahead of Monday's vote.
WHY ARE PROTESTERS SO DETERMINED TO PROTECT THE JUDICIARY?
With a relatively weak system of checks and balances, the judiciary plays a large role in checking executive power in Israel.
In the U.S. for example, Congress has two houses that operate independently of the president and can limit his power. But in Israel, the prime minister and his majority coalition in parliament work in tandem.
That leaves the judiciary as "the only check on governmental power," according to constitutional law professor Amichai Cohen.
Israel also has minimal local governance and lacks a formal constitution. This means that most of the power is centralized in parliament, Cohen said. The "basic laws" — foundational laws that experts describe as a sort of informal constitution — can be changed at any time by a bare majority.
With the overhaul, Cohen said, the Israeli parliament now threatens to further consolidate its power by weakening the judiciary.
"The government can do whatever it wants, because it controls the ability to change even the basic laws," Cohen said.
Historically, the Israeli judiciary has played a role in protecting the rights of minorities, from Palestinian citizens of Israel to noncitizens and African asylum seekers, Cohen said.
By weakening the judiciary, critics say, Israel's government — led by a male-dominated coalition whose members have advocated full annexation of the occupied West Bank, discriminating against LGBTQ+ people and Palestinian citizens of Israel, and limiting the rights of women — will be granted near-total control.
"It will be a hollow democracy," said Fuchs.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Over the weekend, Israeli media reported that the country's defense minister, Yoav Gallant, alarmed by the growing refusals to serve in the military, was pushing for a delay in Monday's vote. It was unclear if others would join him.
If the "reasonability" bill is passed, it will mark the first major part of the legislation to become law.
Fuchs predicted the law would be appealed to the Supreme Court. If the court strikes it down, Netanyahu's coalition will have to decide whether to accept the ruling. That could set the stage for a "constitutional crisis."
In the meantime, the protests that have rocked the country for seven months will likely grow in intensity.
Israeli PM Netanyahu discharged from hospital
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was discharged on Sunday after an overnight hospital stay for check-ups and monitoring following a dizzy spell.
Netanyahu, 73, was rushed to Sheba Medical Center on Saturday after feeling mild dizziness. His office said he had left the hospital around midday after stating earlier that his test results were normal and that he was feeling “very good.”
The medical center said Netanyahu was in “excellent” condition after a series of tests, including cardiovascular ones.
Read: Israeli forces kill 2 wanted Palestinians in shootout in the occupied West Bank
Netanyahu's office said he had spent the previous day at the Sea of Galilee, a popular vacation spot in northern Israel where temperatures climbed to about 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) amid a stifling country-wide heat wave. After a series of tests, the initial assessment was that the veteran Israeli leader was dehydrated.
After being hospitalized, Netanyahu released a video on social media last night. Smiling, he said that he had been out in the sun on Friday without wearing a hat and without water. “Not a good idea,” he said.
Doctors ordered him to remain in the hospital overnight for further observation, and his weekly Cabinet meeting was delayed by a day and rescheduled for Monday, his office said.
Netanyahu is Israel's longest-serving leader. He has served multiple terms stretching over 15 years in office. His current far-right government, a collection of religious and ultranationalist parties, took office last December.
Read: Israel launches most intense military operation in West Bank in years; at least 8 Palestinians dead
Netanyahu is said to be in generally good health, though he was briefly hospitalized last October after feeling unwell during prayers on Yom Kippur, a day when observant Jews fast.
The Israeli leader faces pressure on multiple fronts.
He is on trial for multiple corruption charges in a case that has bitterly divided the nation. His government's hard-line policies toward Palestinians have drawn international criticism and antagonized relations with the United States, Israel's closest and most important ally.
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At home, tens of thousands of Israelis have held weekly demonstrations against Netanyahu's government to protest his plan to overhaul the country's judiciary.
Netanyahu's allies say the plan is needed to rein in the power of unelected judges. But his opponents say the plan will destroy the country's fragile system of checks and balances and concentrate power in the hands of Netanyahu and his allies.
Palestinian gunman opens fire on a car in the occupied West Bank wounding 3, including 2 girls
A Palestinian gunman opened fire on a car in the occupied West Bank on Sunday wounding three Israelis, including two girls, before fleeing, Israeli authorities said.
The bloodshed was the latest in a relentless cycle of violence that has gripped the region, driving up the death toll and sparking the worst fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank in nearly two decades.
The Israeli military said the gunman opened fire on a car from a passing vehicle. Israel's rescue service MDA said three Israelis were wounded, including a 35-year-old with gunshot wounds in serious but stable condition. Two girls, aged 9 and 14, were lightly wounded by flying debris.
Israeli forces kill 2 wanted Palestinians in shootout in the occupied West Bank
The military said forces were on the lookout for the assailant.
Fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank intensified early last year when Israel launched near-nightly raids into Palestinian areas in the West Bank in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israelis.
The violence has spiked this year, with more than 150 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the start of 2023 in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
Israeli says most of those killed have been militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting the raids and others not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.
At least 26 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis during that time.
Israel launches most intense military operation in West Bank in years; at least 8 Palestinians dead
Israel says the raids are essential to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians see the violence as a natural response to 56 years of occupation, including stepped-up settlement construction by Israel's government and increased violence by Jewish settlers.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Palestinians seek those territories for their hoped-for independent state.
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Israeli PM Netanyahu hospitalised
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday was rushed to a hospital, where he was assessed to be in “good condition” as he underwent a medical evaluation, his office said. Initial tests determined the Israeli leader was suffering from dehydration.
Read: Israeli forces kill 2 wanted Palestinians in shootout in the occupied West Bank
A statement from Netanyahu’s office said that he had spent Friday enjoying Israel’s Sea of Galilee at a time of high summer temperatures. It said he felt dizzy and his doctor instructed him to go to Sheba Hospital, near the coastal city of Tel Aviv.
Read: Israel presses on with hunt for West Bank militants. The death toll rises to 10 and civilians flee
The statement said initial tests found everything to be sound, and that it appeared Netanyahu was suffering from dehydration. It said doctors had ordered further tests.