middle-east
3 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in occupied West Bank; US slams latest settlement expansion
Three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli army raid in a West Bank refugee camp early on Monday, Palestinian health officials said, while the Biden administration sharply condemned Israel's latest act of settlement expansion.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, the three men were killed during a raid in Balata, a refugee camp near the city of Nablus. Six people were wounded, including one who was in critical condition, the ministry said.
The army later confirmed soldiers had raided Balata; it said troops came under fire and killed three Palestinians. Israel has stepped up raids in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks and said Monday's operations netted weapons and an explosives manufacturing operation in a home, which it detonated.
Also Read: Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza trade fire; 2 Palestinians killed in West Bank raid
Meanwhile, the Biden administration issued a sharply worded statement on Sunday criticizing Israel for moving to reestablish settlers at the formerly evacuated outpost of Homesh in northern West Bank.
In March, the Israeli government repealed a 2005 act that dismantled four West Bank settlements. Over the weekend, the top Israeli army general in the West Bank signed an order attaching Homesh to a local settler regional council — a move paving the way for reconstruction of the outpost.
The United States was "deeply troubled" by what U.S. State Department spokesman Mathew Miller said was Israel's illegal policy on the outpost in the occupied territory.
Miller also expressed Washington's concerns about ultranationalist National Security Minister Itmar Ben-Gvir's visit to the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. The contested site is also home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.
Also Read: Israeli army kills 2 Palestinians in West Bank raid
"This holy space should not be used for political purposes, and we call on all parties to respect its sanctity," Miller said in the statement.
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.
Ben-Gvir visited the hilltop compound earlier on Sunday, declaring that "we are in charge," while the Israeli Cabinet held a rare meeting in Jerusalem's Old City to celebrate its control of the area. Ben-Gvir's visit drew condemnations from the Palestinians and Israel's neighbor, Jordan.
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.
More than 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the spring of 2022. About 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.
Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were militants, but stone throwing youths protesting the incursions and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.
Last week, Israelis marked Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israel's capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 Mideast war. Flag-waving nationalists marched through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalem's Old City, some singing racist anti-Arab chants, while hundreds of Jews visited the sensitive hilltop shrine.
Israel also captured 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.
Tensions at the disputed compound have fueled past rounds of violence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, the most right-wing in Israeli history, includes ultra-Orthodox and far-right nationalist parties and has made West Bank settlement construction a top priority.
Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements, home to 700,000 people in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, to be illegal and obstacles to peace.
Earlier this month, fighting also erupted between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip. Israeli strikes killed 33, many of them militants but also women and children. Two people were killed in Israel by militant rocket fire.
Iran executes 3 men over violence during last year’s anti-government protests
Iran on Friday executed three men accused of deadly violence during last year's anti-government protests despite objections from human rights groups.
Mizan, the judiciary's website, announced the executions of Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi, without saying how they were carried out. Authorities say they killed a police officer and two members of the paramilitary Basij group in Isfahan in November during nationwide protests.
Rights groups say the three were subjected to torture, forced into televised confessions and denied due process.
The protests erupted last September after the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by the country's morality police for allegedly violating its strict Islamic dress code. The demonstrations rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the theocracy that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The demonstrations have largely subsided in recent months, though there are still sporadic acts of defiance, including the refusal of a growing number of women to wear the mandatory Islamic headscarf, known as the hijab.
Iran has executed a total of seven people in connection with the protests. Rights groups say they and several others who have been sentenced to death were convicted by secretive state security courts and denied the right to defend themselves.
“The prosecution relied on forced ‘confessions,’ and the indictment was riddled with irregularities that reveal this was a politically motivated case,” Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, said of the three executed on Friday.
The group said Kazemi had called a relative and accused authorities of torturing him by flogging his feet, using a stun gun and threatening him with sexual assault.
London-based Amnesty International also criticized the cases.
“The shocking manner in which the trial and sentencing of these protesters was fast-tracked through Iran’s judicial system amid the use of torture-tainted ‘confessions’, serious procedural flaws and a lack of evidence is another example of the Iranian authorities’ brazen disregard for the rights to life and fair trial,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Iran launched a heavy crackdown on the protests, portraying them — without evidence — as a foreign-backed conspiracy. The protesters said they were fed up after decades of repression and poor governance. Iran's economy has been in a tailspin since the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement and restored crippling sanctions.
Robert Malley, the U.S. envoy for Iran, had spoken out against the imminent execution of the three men, calling it “an affront to the human rights and basic dignity of all Iranians" that showed the government “has learned nothing from the protests.”
“The United States will continue to stand with the Iranian people. We are coordinating closely with our allies and partners to expose and confront the Iranian regime’s unremitting human rights abuses,” Malley tweeted on Thursday.
More than 500 people were killed during months of protests, including dozens of members of the security forces. Some 19,000 people were arrested, though many have since been released.
Iran is one of the world's leading executioners. At least 582 people were executed in 2022, up from 333 the previous year. The surge in executions, including for drug violations and vague charges of “enmity against God” and “spreading corruption on earth,” has drawn criticism from U.N. officials and human rights activists.
Syrian president heads to Saudi Arabia for regional summit, sealing country's return to Arab fold
Syrian President Bashar Assad headed to Saudi Arabia on Thursday to attend a regional summit, his first visit to the oil-rich kingdom since Syria's conflict began in 2011, the president's office said.
Assad's attendance at the Arab League summit, which starts Friday, is expected to seal Syria's return to the Arab fold following a 12-year suspension and open a new chapter of relations after more than a decade of tensions.
The 22-member league, which is convening in the Saudi city of Jeddah, recently reinstated Syria and is now poised to welcome Assad, a long-time regional pariah, back into the fold. The Syrian president was officially invited to attend the summit last week.
During Syria's civil war, Saudi Arabia had been a key backer of armed opposition groups attempting to overthrow Assad. However, in recent months, Riyadh has called for dialogue to end the conflict that has killed half a million people and displaced half of Syria's pre-war population.
Assad's troops have taken control of much of Syria thanks to his main allies Russia and Iran that helped tip the balance of power in his favor.
Relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia had been turbulent since Assad took office in 2000, following the death of his late father and former president, Hafaz Assad. The two countries cut relations in 2012, at the height of Syria's conflict. Last week they agreed on reopening their embassies.
In April, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad visited Riyadh and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, visited Damascus and met with Assad. Mekdad also took part in Arab foreign ministers meeting in Jeddah on Wednesday ahead of the summit.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been pushing for peace in the region and over the past months, Riyadh has improved its relations with Iran, restored ties with Syria and is ending the kingdom's yearslong war in Yemen. Iran, a main backer of the Syrian government in the country's conflict, signed an agreement in China in March to resume relations with Saudi Arabia.
The renewed Saudi-Iran ties are expected to have positive effects on Middle East countries where the two support rival groups.
However, investments in war-torn Syria are unlikely as crippling Western sanctions against Assad's government remain in place and could prevent oil-rich Arab countries from rushing to release reconstruction funds.
Washington has been strongly opposed to normalization of relations with Assad, saying a solution to Syria's conflict based on U.N. Security Council resolutions should happen first.
Diplomatic contacts intensified between Damascus and Arab countries following the Feb. 6, earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria killing more than 50,000 people, including over 6,000 in Syria.
Israel deploys heavy police presence ahead of Jerusalem march
Israel deployed over 2,000 police on Thursday for a march by flag-waving Jewish nationalists through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalem’s Old City, a contentious event that comes as tensions are already running high.
Authorities say the beefed up security is a determined effort to ensure the march passes without violence.
Police have decided to allow the thousands of marchers to take the traditional route through the Old City’s Damascus Gate — despite an uptick in Israeli-Palestinian violence over the past year and heavy fighting between Israel and Palestinian in Gaza last week.
Also read: 75th Nakba Day: PM reiterates country's support for Palestinian state
Early Thursday, hundreds of Jews were ascending to a sensitive Jerusalem site holy to both Jews and Muslims as part of the day’s activities, visits the Palestinians view as provocative. Among them was at least one Israeli Cabinet minister from the country's right-wing government, according to Jewish activists leading the visits.
While Israeli officials describe the march as a festive parade, it has been marred by anti-Arab racist chants and violence toward local Palestinians by some of the marchers. Two years ago, it helped spark an 11-day war between Israel and Palestinianin Gaza, and the Hamas group has urged Palestinians to confront the parade this year.
Chief Supt. Yoram Segal, a senior Jerusalem police official, told reporters Wednesday that authorities were determined to prevent violence this time around.
He said some 2,500 officers were being deployed throughout the area, both to ensure safety and to react quickly toward any potential violence.
Also read: 31 killed as Israel-Palestine fighting continues, Egypt pushes truce
“We are going to deal harshly with anyone who tries to disturb the peace,” he said. He said past troubles were caused by a tiny minority of people, but said there there would be no tolerance for incitement or violence that could “endanger the people that are along the route or living along the route.”
Segal said police have been working “hand in hand” with Jewish and Palestinian community leaders to keep things peaceful. He also confirmed that there had been a number of pre-emptive arrests of people who were believed to be planning violent disruptions. He declined to elaborate.
The march marks “Jerusalem Day,” which celebrates Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be its eternal capital, but its annexation of the eastern sector, home to the city’s most important holy sites, is not internationally recognized. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as capital of their future state.
Each year, thousands of Israeli nationalists participate in the march, waving blue and white Israeli flags and singing songs. But in some cases, protesters chant anti-Arab slogans as they pass by Palestinian onlookers and businesses.
Israel's national security minister, far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, has joined the march in past years. It was not known whether he would join this year, his first as a Cabinet minister.
On Wednesday, Gaza’s ruling Hamas group called on Palestinians to oppose the parade.
“We ask the people of Jerusalem to mobilize the masses to confront the march of the flags in Jerusalem tomorrow,” said Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas official in Gaza.
Hamas urged Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and inside Israel to “clash with the occupation.” It also said it would hold a demonstration, with people waving Palestinian flags along Gaza’s heavily fortified frontier with Israel.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for the Palestinian president, said allowing the march to snake through the Palestinian areas of the Old City "will only lead to a rise in tension and could lead to an explosion.”
In a test ahead of the parade, about 300 Jews were visiting Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site early Thursday, according to Beyadenu, an activist group that promotes Jewish visits to the site. Police were seen escorting groups of Jewish visitors walking through the compound and several coalition lawmakers also arrived at the site.
The hilltop compound is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, home to the ancient Jewish Temples, and is the holiest site in Judaism. Palestinians revere it as the Noble Sanctuary, and today it is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.
Under longstanding agreements, Jews are permitted to visit the site but not pray there. But an increase in such visits, along with scenes of some Jews quietly praying, have raised concerns among Palestinians that Israel is trying to alter the status quo — a charge Israel denies.
The competing claims to the site lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and often spill over into violence, including the 2021 war between Israel and Hamas.
The parade comes as fighting in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem is at its highest level in two decades. It also comes just days after a cease-fire took effect ending five days of heavy fighting between Israel and the Islamic Jihad group in Gaza.
Hamas stayed on the sidelines during the fighting, and Israel avoided attacking the group in an effort by both sides to contain the violence.
But if unrest erupts in Jerusalem, Hamas could enter the fray. Two years ago, weeks of unrest in Jerusalem erupted into the 11-day war during the parade.
“The resistance is ready to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque and prevent the Judaization of Jerusalem,” al-Masri said.
End/UNB/AP/MB
Arab foreign ministers meet ahead of Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia
Arab foreign ministers met Wednesday in Saudi Arabia ahead of the Arab League's annual summit in the kingdom to discuss the upcoming gathering's agenda and draft resolutions.
This year's summit, starting Friday in the city of Jeddah, will mark the readmittance of war-torn Syria into the 22-member league, after a 12-year suspension. Syria's membership was frozen following Syrian President Bashar Assad's brutal crackdown on the 2011 mass protests against his rule. The country quickly descended into a brutal civil war that has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half of the country's pre-war population of 23 million.
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Wednesday that the region is at a crossroads, facing a host of challenges. He called for cooperation between Arab countries to achieve security, stability, and economic prosperity.
Bin Farhan also welcomed Syria's return, as did the league's Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf.
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad held bilateral meetings this week in the kingdom with several of his counterparts as Damascus continues to appeal for much-needed investment in the war-torn country — crippled by the conflict and Western sanctions — and has moved to restore ties with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq.
Syria's return to the Arab fold comes as Damascus is also trying to amend ties with Turkey, a key backer of the armed Syrian opposition groups in the country's northwest.
But a few Arab countries remain skeptical of Syria's return to the league, primarily Qatar.
Qatar's top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said Wednesday that his country opposes Syria's return but that it doesn't want to stand "against the Arab consensus." Each Arab country, however, can unilaterally normalize relations with Syria, he said.
For that to happen from Qatar's perspective, Syria needs to go "through a just and comprehensive solution" to its conflict, Sheikh Mohammed added.
The summit also comes as Arab governments are scrambling to resolve the conflict in Sudan between the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The fighting in the East African country, which broke out in mid-April, has left over 600 people dead and displaced tens of thousands.
In Wednesday's meeting, top diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Algeria called for a cease-fire in Sudan and an end to the escalating violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
UN to commemorate Palestinians' 1948 flight from Israel for the first time
For the first time, the United Nations will officially commemorate the flight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from what is now Israel on the 75th anniversary of their exodus — an action stemming from the U.N.'s partition of British-ruled Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is headlining Monday's U.N. commemoration of what Palestinians call the "Nakba" or "catastrophe."
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, called the U.N. observance "historic" and significant because the General Assembly played a key role in the partition of Palestine.
"It's acknowledging the responsibility of the U.N. of not being able to resolve this catastrophe for the Palestinian people for 75 years," Mansour told a group of U.N. reporters recently.
He said "the catastrophe to the Palestinian people is still ongoing:" The Palestinians still don't have an independent state, and they don't have the right to return to their homes as called for in a General Assembly resolution adopted in December 1948.
Israel's U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, condemned the commemoration, calling it an "abominable event" and a "blatant attempt to distort history." He said those who attend will be condoning antisemitism and giving a green light to Palestinians "to continue exploiting international organs to promote their libelous narrative."
The General Assembly, which had 57 member nations in 1947, approved the resolution dividing Palestine by a vote of 33-13 with 10 abstentions. The Jewish side accepted the U.N. partition plan and after the British mandate expired in 1948, Israel declared its independence. The Arabs rejected the plan and neighboring Arab countries launched a war against the Jewish state.
The Nakba commemorates the estimated 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes in 1948.
The fate of these refugees and their descendants — estimated at over 5 million across the Middle East — remains a major disputed issue in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel rejects demands for a mass return of refugees to long-lost homes, saying it would threaten the country's Jewish character.
As the 75th anniversary approached, the now 193-member General Assembly approved a resolution last Nov. 30 by a vote of 90-30 with 47 abstentions requesting the U.N. Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People organize a high-level event on May 15 to commemorate the Nakba.
The United States was among the countries that joined Israel in voting against the resolution, and the U.S. Mission said no American diplomat will attend Monday's commemoration.
Explaining why a U.N. commemoration took so long, Mansour told The Associated Press on Friday that the Palestinians have moved cautiously at the United Nations since the General Assembly raised their status in 2012 from a non-member observer to a non-member observer state.
U.N. recognition as a state enabled the Palestinians to join treaties, take cases against Israel's occupation to the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, which is the U.N.'s highest tribunal, and in 2019 to chair the Group of 77, the U.N. coalition of 134 mainly developing nations and China, he said.
At the 70th anniversary of the 1948 exodus five years ago, Mansour said, "the word Nakba was used in a General Assembly resolution for the first time," and Abbas then gave instructions to obtain a mandate from the U.N. to commemorate the 75th anniversary.
The Nakba commemoration comes as Israeli-Palestinian fighting has intensified and protests over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government and its plan to overhaul Israel's judiciary show no sign of abating. Israel's polarization and the Netanyahu government's extremist positions have also sparked growing international concern.
Mansour said Friday that Palestinian refugees "are being forcibly removed from their homes and forcibly transferred by Israel at an unprecedented rate," reminiscent of 1948.
In a speech to the U.N. Security Council on April 25, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Malki said "it is time to bring the Nakba to an end," stressing that the Palestinians have suffered from the most protracted refugee crisis in the world and "the longest occupation of an entire territory in modern history."
He was sharply critical of the U.N. and the wider international community for adopting resolutions that make demands and call for action— but doing nothing to implement them. He said if the international community made Israel's occupation costly, "I can assure you it will come to an end."
Malki renewed his call for countries that haven't yet recognized the state of Palestine "to do so as a means to salvage the moribund two-state solution." He also urged countries to support the Palestinian request for full membership in the United Nations, which would demonstrate international support for a two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians lived side-by-side in peace.
To hurt Israel economically, Malki urged countries to ban products from Israeli settlements and trade with settlements, to "sanction those who collect funds for settlements and those who advocate for them and those who advance them," and to list settler organizations that carry out killings and burnings as "terrorist organizations."
And he urged the international community to take Israel to the International Court of Justice. The General Assembly asked the court in December to give its opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, a move denounced by Israel.
Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza trade fire; 2 Palestinians killed in West Bank raid
Israel and Palestinian militants unleashed salvos of fire for a fifth day on Saturday, with the Islamic Jihad militant group launching dozens more rockets and the Israeli military pounding targets inside the Gaza Strip.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in Gaza or Israel on Saturday. But in a reminder of the combustible situation in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military raided the Balata refugee camp near the northern city of Nablus, sparking a firefight that killed two Palestinians. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the two as 32-year-old Said Mesha and 19-year-old Adnan Araj. At least three other Palestinians were wounded in the raid, the latest of near-daily Israeli arrest operations against suspected militants in the territory.
Meanwhile, hopes for an imminent cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were fading as the Israeli military early Saturday bombed an apartment belonging to Islamic Jihad commander Mohammed Abu Al Atta, among other targets. Islamic Jihad militants fired a barrage of rockets toward southern Israel, where tens of thousands of Israelis were instructed to remain close to safe rooms and bomb shelters. Hundreds of residents near the border were evacuated to hotels farther north.
Israeli officials told media that Egyptian-led efforts to broker a cease-fire were still underway but that Israel has ruled out the conditions presented by Islamic Jihad in the talks. Israel has said only that quiet will be answered with quiet, while Islamic Jihad has been reportedly pressing Israel to agree to halt targeted assassinations, among other demands. If the rocket fire continues from Gaza, Israeli officials told local media, “the strikes (on Gaza) will continue and intensify.”
The hostilities erupted on Tuesday when Israel targeted and killed three senior Islamic Jihad commanders who it said were responsible for firing rockets toward the country last week. At least 10 civilians, including women, young children and uninvolved neighbors were killed in those initial strikes, which drew regional condemnation.
Over the past few days, Israel has conducted more airstrikes, killing other senior Islamic Jihad commanders and destroying their command centers and rocket-launching sites. On Friday, Israel killed Iyad al-Hassani, an Islamic Jihad commander who had replaced a leader of the group's military operations killed in a Tuesday airstrike.
The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported 33 Palestinians killed — six of them children — and over 147 wounded.
On Saturday, Palestinians ventured out to assess the damage wrought by Israeli warplanes and salvage whatever they could. One man carefully pulled documents out from under the rubble. Another carried away a mattress.
Four homes in densely populated residential neighborhoods were reduced to dust in the pre-dawn attacks. The Israeli military alleged the targeted homes belonged to or were used by Islamic Jihad militants. The residents denied the army's claims and said they had no idea why their homes were targeted.
“We have no rocket launching pads at all. This is a residential area,” said Awni Obaid, beside the debris of what was his three-story house in the central town of Deir al-Balah.
The nearby house of his relative, Jehad Obaid, was also leveled. He had been standing some hundred meters away when his apartment was bombed.
“I felt like vomiting because of the dust,” he said. "This is extraordinary hatred. They claim they don’t strike at children, but what we see is craziness, destruction.”
Islamic Jihad has retaliated by firing a thousand rockets toward southern and central Israel. On Friday, the group escalated its assaults and fired rockets toward Jerusalem, setting off air raid sirens in the Israeli settlements south of the contested capital. Most of the rockets have fallen short or been intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome aerial defense system. But one on Thursday penetrated missile defenses and sliced through a house in the central city of Rehovot, killing an 80-year-old woman and wounding several others.
Hamas, the larger militant group that has controlled Gaza since seizing power in 2007, has praised Islamic Jihad's strikes but remained on the sidelines, according to Israeli military officials, limiting the scope of the conflict. As the de facto government held responsible for the abysmal conditions in the blockaded Gaza Strip, Hamas has recently tried to keep a lid on its conflict with Israel. Islamic Jihad, on the other hand, a more ideological and unruly militant group wedded to violence, has taken the lead in the past few rounds of fighting with Israel.
On Saturday, the deadly Israeli raid into the Balata refugee camp turned the focus of the conflict back to the long-simmering West Bank. Residents said that Israeli forces besieged a militant hideout, sharing footage of a large explosion and smoke billowing from the crowded camp. Ejected bullet casings littered the alleys. Blood soaked the streets.
The Israeli military said the targeted apartment harbored militants who had planned attacks against Israeli soldiers and manufactured improvised explosive devices. It said the fiery blast erupted after Israeli security forces detonated explosives inside the hideout. The two Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces opened fire on a group of gunmen who were shooting at them, the military said.
Israeli-Palestinian fighting has surged in the West Bank under Israel’s most right-wing government in history. Since the start of the year, 111 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied territory, at least half of them affiliated with militant groups, according to a tally by The Associated Press — the highest death toll in some two decades. In that time, 20 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
31 killed as Israel-Palestine fighting continues, Egypt pushes truce
Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed two militant commanders Thursday, while a 70-year-old man was killed by Palestinian rocket fire in the first fatality inside Israel amid the current wave of fighting. The continuing bloodshed, which has left 30 Palestinians dead, came despite Egyptian efforts to broker a cease-fire.
It has been the worst bout of fighting between Israel and Palestinian fighters in Gaza in months, with at least 10 civilians — mostly women and children — among the dead. The conflagration, now in its fourth day, comes at a time of soaring tensions and spiking violence over the past year in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian militants launched unrelenting rocket barrages into Israel throughout the day. One rocket struck an apartment block in the central Israeli city of Rehovot, killing a 70-year-old man, the MADA rescue service said. It said four others were moderately wounded.
Earlier Thursday, Israeli military pressed ahead with its strikes against the Islamic Jihad militant group and said a senior commander in charge of the group's rocket launching force, Ali Ghali, was killed when his apartment was hit.
Later in the day, Israel said it killed another Islamic Jihad commander who was meant to replace Ghali in southern Gaza. Islamic Jihad confirmed the man, Ahmed Abu Daqqa, was one of its commanders.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said at total of 30 people had have been killed since the fighting erupted. An Associated Press tally showed that among the dead were 14 militants, including at least five Islamic Jihad commanders; 10 civilians; and six others, including four who Israel says were killed in failed rocket launches, whose affiliation remained uncertain.
Late Thursday, the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights said its preliminary investigations indicated that three Palestinians, including two children aged 8 and 16, died when "homemade rockets had fallen short" inside Gaza in three incidents. It said 26 other people were wounded in these cases.
Military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told Israeli Army Radio that two other militants were also killed in the early morning strike, although no group immediately claimed them as members, and that the rest of the building remained intact.
"The apartment was targeted in a very precise way," Hagari said. "I hope this leads to a reduction, a blow and a disruption of the Islamic Jihad rocket abilities."
The strikes targeted the top floor of a building in a residential, Qatari-built complex in southern Gaza Strip. The pre-dawn airstrike in the city of Khan Younis caused damage to three surrounding buildings. The complex, known as Hamad City, consists of several tall buildings and thousands of housing units. The strike created panic among residents, with falling debris and shattered glass littering the streets.
"My children started crying. I did not see anything because of the dust, broken glasses, and debris," said Abdullah Hemaid, who lives across from the targeted building.
Islamic Jihad said Ghali was a commander in charge of its rocket squad and a member of its armed group's decision-making body. The group has said it will only cease fire if Israel agrees to halt targeted killings of its fighters.
The current round of fighting erupted overnight Tuesday when Israel killed three senior Islamic Jihad commanders in near-simultaneous airstrikes.
On Wednesday, a state-run Egyptian TV station announced that Egypt, a frequent mediator between the sides, had brokered a cease-fire. But with the violence continuing late Thursday, there was still no breakthrough.
The Israeli military says that in its strikes on some 150 targets, it has zeroed in on militants with what it says are precision strikes. But children, among them a 4-year-old, were also killed.
Hagari, the military spokesman, told Army Radio that a quarter of the rockets launched have fallen in Gaza, killing at least four, including a 10-year-old girl, two 16-year-olds and a 51-year-old man. That claim could not immediately be independently confirmed.
Efforts to mediate a cease-fire were still underway Thursday with top Islamic Jihad political bureau member Mohamad al-Hindi arriving to Cairo to discuss details. A delegation of Egyptian mediators also was traveling to Israel, according to Israeli press reports.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that "despite our strenuous efforts, these efforts still have not yielded the desired fruits and results."
Israeli officials declined to comment.
The initial Israeli airstrikes set off a burst of rocket fire on Wednesday that triggered air-raid sirens throughout southern and central Israel.
The military said more than 500 rockets have been fired toward Israel. It said most were intercepted by Israel's missile defense system or fell in open areas.
Damage was reported when rockets slammed into buildings that were empty because residents had fled the area. Three buildings in the southern town of Sderot were struck Thursday, officials said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Israel says the airstrikes are a response to a barrage of rocket fire launched last week by Islamic Jihad in response to the death of one of its West Bank members from a hunger strike while in Israeli custody.
Israel has come under international criticism for the high civilian toll. In past conflicts, rights groups have accused Israel of committing war crimes due to high civilian deaths. Israel says it does its utmost to avoid civilian casualties and holds militant groups responsible because they operate in heavily populated residential areas. It also says militants fire rockets indiscriminately at Israeli communities.
Hagari said Israel does its best to avoid harming civilians and that under international norms, there was a "proportionate ratio" of combatants to noncombatants among the dead in Gaza.
In signs that both sides were trying to show restraint, Israel has avoided attacks on the ruling Hamas militant group, targeting only the smaller and more militant Islamic Jihad. Hamas, which has much more to lose than Islamic Jihad, also has remained on the sidelines.
Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and numerous smaller engagements since the Islamic militant group took control of Gaza in 2007.
The army said that schools would remain closed and restrictions on large gatherings would remain in place in southern Israel until at least Friday. Residents were instructed to stay near bomb shelters.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, where Israeli-Palestinian violence has surged over the past year, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a 30-year-old man died after he was shot by Israeli troops in a raid on Wednesday, and that a 66-year-old Palestinian man died after he was shot during a gun battle between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in a refugee camp near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem on Thursday.
The Israeli army said it has arrested 25 suspected Islamic Jihad members in West Bank raids in recent days.
Long-haul carrier Emirates sees highest-ever profit in 2022 of $2.9B after pandemic grounded flights
Long-haul carrier Emirates saw its most-profit year ever in 2022, earning $2.9 billion after bouncing back from the coronavirus pandemic shutting down global aviation, the airline announced Thursday.
The carrier's revival comes as Dubai, which owns the airline, has seen property prices skyrocket and people flood into the city-state in the United Arab Emirates as it lifted pandemic restrictions quickly and welcomed Russians fleeing Moscow's war on Ukraine.
Emirates' annual report put revenue for the carrier at $29 billion in 2022, up 81% from 2021's figures of $16 billion. That drastic swing comes after the airline reported a $1.1 billion loss in 2021.
The city-state, one of seven hereditarily ruled, autocratic sheikhdoms that make up the UAE, provided Emirates a nearly $4 billion bailout in the depths of the pandemic. Even today as travel has bounced back, the carrier still has some of its double-decker Airbus A380s still parked, awaiting mechanics to be able to fly again.
“We had anticipated the strong return of travel, and as the last travel restrictions lifted and triggered a tide of demand, we were ready to expand our operations quickly and safely to serve our customers," Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the chairman and chief executive of Emirates, said in a statement.
Earlier Thursday, Emirates announced it would create a $200 million fund for research and development projects aimed at reducing the use of fossil fuels in commercial aviation. The airline said the funding would be distributed over three years.
“It’s clear that with the current pathways available to airlines in terms of emissions reduction, our industry won’t be able to hit net zero targets in the prescribed timeline,” airline President Tim Clark said in a statement. “We believe our industry needs better solutions, and that’s why we’re looking to partner with leading organizations."
Emirates separately will aim to use so-called sustainable aviation fuel as well when possible — though it remains incredibly scarce in the market. In January, the airline successfully flew a Boeing 777 on a test flight with one of its two engines entirely powered by the fuel.
The announcement also comes ahead of Dubai hosting the COP28 climate talks in November.
Israel says airstrike killed another militant commander in Gaza as fighting goes on
Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed a fourth militant commander on Thursday, raising the death toll from the latest burst of fighting to 25. Israel braced for more rocket fire amid reports of faltering Egyptian attempts to broker a cease-fire.
It has been the worst bout of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza in months, and among the dead were also women and children. The conflagration comes at a time of soaring tensions and spiking violence over the past year in the occupied West Bank.
Early on Thursday, the Israeli military carried out strikes against the Islamic Jihad militant group and said a senior commander in charge of the group's rocket launching force, Ali Ghali, was killed when his apartment was hit.
Military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told Israeli Army Radio that two other militants were also killed in the strike, although no group immediately claimed them as members, and that the rest of the building remained intact. “The apartment was targeted in a very precise way," Hagari said. “I hope this leads to a reduction, a blow and a disruption of the Islamic Jihad rocket abilities.”
According to Palestinian media reports, the strikes targeted the top floor of a building in a residential, Qatari-built complex in southern Gaza Strip, killing at least two people, including the commander. The Health Ministry in Gaza said 25 people have been killed since the fighting erupted.
Islamic Jihad said Ghali was a commander in charge of its rocket squad and a member of its armed group’s decision-making body. The group has said it will only cease fire if Israel agrees to halt targeted killings of its fighters.
Following intense fighting on Wednesday, when rockets rained down on southern and central Israel and airstrikes pounded Gaza, a state-run Egyptian TV station announced that Egypt, a frequent mediator between the sides, had brokered a cease-fire. But with the violence continuing into the early hours of Thursday, it appeared neither side was backing down.
The Israeli military says that in its strikes on some 150 targets it has zeroed in on militants with what it says are precision strikes, but children, among them a 4-year-old, were also killed. Hagari, the military spokesman, told Army Radio that a quarter of the rockets launched during this round of fighting fell in Gaza, killing at least four, including a 10-year-old girl, two 16-year-olds and a 51-year-old man. That claim could not immediately be independently confirmed.
In a televised prime-time address on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Israel had dealt a harsh blow to the militants. But he cautioned: "This round is not over.”
“We say to the terrorists and those who send them: We see you everywhere. You can't hide, and we choose the place and time to strike you,” he said, adding that Israel would also decide when calm is restored.
The initial Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday that set off the exchange of fire killed three senior Islamic Jihad militants in their homes and at least 10 civilians — most of them women and children. The Israeli military has said its attacks were focused on Islamic Jihad militant infrastructure in the coastal enclave and that it would investigate any civilian deaths.
Those strikes set off a burst of rocket fire on Wednesday that triggered air-raid sirens throughout southern and central Israel. Damage was reported when rockets slammed into buildings that were empty because residents had fled the area. The military said more than 500 rockets were fired toward Israel. It said most were intercepted by Israel's missile defense system or fell in open areas.
Israel says the airstrikes are a response to a barrage of rocket fire launched last week by Islamic Jihad in response to the death of one of its members from a hunger strike while in Israeli custody.
Israel has come under international criticism for the high civilian toll, which included wives of two of the militant commanders, some of their children and a dentist who lived in one of the targeted buildings along with his wife and son.
In past conflicts, rights groups have accused Israel of committing war crimes due to high civilian deaths. Israel says it does its utmost to avoid civilian casualties and holds militant groups responsible because they operate in heavily populated residential areas.
The latest outburst was the heaviest fighting between the sides in months, pushing the region closer toward a full-blown war. But in signs that both sides were trying to show restraint, Israel avoided attacks on the ruling Hamas militant group, targeting only the smaller and more militant Islamic Jihad faction. Hamas, meanwhile, appeared to remain on the sidelines.
Israel says it is trying to avoid conflict with Hamas, the more powerful militant group that rules Gaza, and limit the fighting to Islamic Jihad.
Israel and Hamas have fought four wars since the Islamic militant group took control of Gaza in 2007.
Late Wednesday, Egypt's Extra News television channel, which has close ties to Egyptian security agencies, said the Egyptian intelligence had brokered a cease-fire. Israeli officials confirmed that Egypt was trying to facilitate a cease-fire. Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes diplomacy, they said Israel would evaluate the situation based on actions on the ground, not declarations.
Islamic Jihad said it would continue firing rockets. Mohamad al-Hindi, an official with the group, said a sticking point in the talks was that the Palestinians wanted an Israeli commitment to stop targeted killing operations, such as the ones that killed three top Islamic Jihad commanders early Tuesday.
As rockets streaked through the sky, Israeli TV stations showed air defense systems intercepting rockets above the skies of Tel Aviv. In the nearby suburb of Ramat Gan, people lay face-down on the ground as they took cover.
The army said that schools would remain closed and restrictions on large gatherings would remain in place in southern Israel until at least Friday. Residents were instructed to stay near bomb shelters.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, where Israeli-Palestinian violence has surged over the past year, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a 30-year-old man died after he was shot by Israeli troops in a raid on Wednesday.