Tag: Israel

Israeli police say three wounded in Tel Aviv shooting

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A Palestinian gunman opened fire on a crowded street in central Tel Aviv late Thursday, wounding three people before he was shot and killed, Israeli officials said. The shooting came hours after an Israeli military raid killed three Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.

The incidents were the latest violence in a year-long wave of Israel-Palestinian fighting that shows no signs of slowing.

The Tel Aviv shooting occurred on Dizengoff Street, a popular thoroughfare filled with shops and restaurants. The city was filled with people on Thursday night, the start of the Israeli weekend, and as anti-government protests were taking place.

The MADA rescue service said one of the wounded was in critical condition, while Zaka, another medical service, said the shooter was killed.

An image on social media showed what was believed to be the attacker standing in the middle of the road as he pointed a pistol. Dozens of police and rescuers rushed to the scene, which was quickly cordoned off.

Earlier Thursday, three Palestinian militants were killed in a shootout with Israeli troops in the northern West Bank.

Israeli security forces said they raided the village of Jaba to arrest suspects wanted for attacks on Israeli soldiers in the area. The suspects opened fire on Israeli troops, who shot back and killed three people, all affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, police said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the men as Sufyan Fakhoury, 26, Nayef Malaisha, 25 and Ahmed Fashafsha, 22, and said they were shot by Israeli fire during the military operation. A fourth man was hospitalized with a bullet wound to the head, authorities added.

Israeli police released a photo of assault rifles, pistols, ammunition and explosive devices they said troops confiscated in Jaba, just south of the flashpoint city of Jenin. Gunmen shot down an Israeli drone during the clashes, the military said.

The Jaba militant group, a fledgling militia of disillusioned young Palestinians who have taken up guns against Israel’s occupation, said members opened fire and hurled explosive devices at Israeli forces from a sedan — that now sits, smashed and bloodied, in the center of town. Residents said Israeli troops killed members of the group who had been recently incarcerated by Israel and had carried out a recent shooting attack at a nearby checkpoint.

This year has been marked by escalating unrest across the West Bank, as Israeli arrest raids spiral into protracted firefights with armed Palestinians.

On a visit to Israel, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters on Thursday that he discussed concerns over the upsurge in violence in the occupied West Bank with his Israeli counterpart, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The United States was “urging everyone to de-escalate,” the defense secretary said, particularly in the run-up to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which coincides this year with the Jewish holiday of Passover.

“The U.S. remains firmly opposed to acts that could trigger further instability, including settlement expansion and inflammatory rhetoric,” Austin said, adding that he was “especially disturbed” by settler violence against Palestinians. “We will continue to oppose actions that put a two-state solution out of reach.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s far-right government, which took office late last year, has already approved thousands of new settlement homes, legalized unauthorized outposts built partially on private Palestinian land and pledged to further entrench Israeli rule over the occupied territory. Last month, in response to a Palestinian attack that killed two Israelis, a mob of settlers rampaged through the Palestinian town of Hawara and torched dozens of homes and businesses, leaving one man dead.

The Israeli military on Thursday issued a report into the rampage that identified a series of failures, including an insufficient number of soldiers in the area and the need to send reinforcements faster. It said “lessons were drawn” about coordination between the army, police and internal security agents.

“This is a severe incident that took place under our responsibility and should not have happened,” said Israel’s military chief, Lt. Col. Herzi Halevi. “We will draw the necessary lessons and study them to prevent similar events from reoccurring in the future.”

Austin urged for calm even as the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad issued a veiled threat, saying its fighters would respond to the morning raid “to deter the enemy and avenge the blood of the martyrs.” Rocket fire from the Gaza Strip has previously followed violence in the West Bank.

The Jaba armed group includes gunmen from various factions, including Islamic Jihad and the armed offshoot of the nationalist Fatah party. Militants in the village say that Islamic Jihad supports the group and provides members with weapons.

The group is part of a larger trend of emerging armed groups across the West Bank that have been mounting shooting attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians and opening fire during Israeli raids on their towns, defying the increasingly unpopular Palestinian Authority. In areas of the northern West Bank where much of the fighting has been focused, the PA’s control is receding as young Palestinians’ hopes dim for statehood.

The hardscrabble streets of Jaba teemed with young Palestinians in black chanting against the Israeli occupation and firing into the air as they held the bodies of militants aloft.

Yousef Hammour, a 28-year-old in the funeral procession, said Palestinian rage at Israel is only intensifying with the stepped-up arrest raids.

“Everyone’s in shock, everyone’s angry,” said Hammour. “Every single day they’re killing more and more of us. If they attack us, we’ll attack them.”

Earlier in the week, at least six Palestinians were killed in an Israeli raid in the Jenin refugee camp. The Palestinian Health Ministry said that 14-year-old Walid Nasser died Thursday from wounds suffered in Tuesday’s raid.

At least 74 Palestinians, around half of them affiliated with militant groups, have died in Israel’s raids in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. During the same time 14 people, all but one of them civilians, were killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians seek for their future state. In the decades since, more than 700,000 Jewish settlers have moved into dozens of settlements in the West Bank and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, which the international community considers illegal and an obstacle to peace.

(AP)

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Israeli forces raid West Bank, many Palestinians killed

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The Israeli army raided the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on March 7, Palestinian health officials said, leading to a gunbattle that killed at least six Palestinians and wounded a dozen others.

The Israeli military said it had killed the suspected assailant behind the fatal shooting of two Israeli brothers in the northern West Bank town of Hawara last week. Israeli military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss events still unfolding, said that two Israeli soldiers were wounded in the raid, one seriously.

The Jenin brigade, a loosely organised armed group based in the refugee camp, said its militants shot and hurled explosive devices at Israeli soldiers who had surrounded a house in the refugee camp. Videos showed black smoke billowing in the distance after the army fired missiles at the besieged house. The Israeli military said troops responded with live fire to a barrage of gunfire, bricks and improvised explosive devices.

Tuesday’s raid was the latest in a string of deadly arrest operations by the Israeli military in the northern West Bank, as violence surges to its highest levels in years. The raid raised fears of further bloodshed as Israel struggles to contain growing unrest led by young Palestinians in the occupied West Bank who are increasingly taking up arms against Israel’s open-ended occupation, now in its 56th year.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said six people were shot and killed on Tuesday — men ranging in age from 22 to 49 — and 12 others wounded. Israeli security forces identified 49-year-old Abdul Fattah Kharushah as the militant who killed the Israeli brothers in Hawara.

The spokesman of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, denounced the Israeli military for waging “an all-out war” against the Palestinians and for derailing recent efforts to restore stability.

The army said it also operated in the nearby flashpoint city of Nablus to arrest other suspects. Residents of Nablus reported that at least two people were apprehended before the army withdrew.

Over the last year of near-daily Israeli military raids, the densely populated Jenin refugee camp has emerged as a hub of militant activity.

More than 60 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire this year, about half of them militants, according to a tally by The Associated Press. Palestinian attacks against Israelis have killed 14 people within Israel during that same time.


ALSO READ | On the boil: on West Bank violence

Last month, a rare daytime military raid in the Old City of Nablus targeting the Lion’s Den, a recently formed militant group, sparked an hourslong gunfight that left 10 Palestinians dead. Palestinian armed groups said that six of the casualties were militants. Others appeared to be bystanders.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israel’s far-right national security minister joined Jewish revelers in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, dancing with residents from the hard-line settler community as they celebrated the holiday of Purim.

Itamar Ben-Gvir — dressed in a costume combining elements of various uniforms of forces under his command — danced, sang and took selfies with party-goers and soldiers at an event in an Israeli settlement in Hebron. Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist politician in Netanyahu’s new government, lives in an adjacent settlement.

It was the latest show of force by ultranationalist settlers in the occupied West Bank, who have been bolstered by Ben-Gvir and other allies in the new Israeli government. Overnight, settlers injured a Palestinian man in the same Palestinian town where a settler mob burned cars and houses last week.

Hebron is a contested city that is home to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a site considered holy to Muslims, Christians and Jews. Hundreds of hard-line settlers live in fortified enclaves under military protection in the heart of a city of more than 200,000 Palestinians.

Tuesday’s celebration came under heavy security and passed from a settlement to the Israeli-controlled downtown area, where Palestinians have been evicted or forced to close shops over the years.

Ben-Gvir, who leads a small ultranationalist faction in Netanyahu’s government, has been a well-known face in Hebron for many years. Before entering office, he was arrested dozens of times and was once convicted of incitement and supporting a Jewish terrorist group.

Until recently, he hung a photo in his living room of Baruch Goldstein, a radical Jewish settler who in 1994 killed 29 Palestinians during prayers in the tomb, known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque. The shooting happened on Purim that year.


ALSO READ | Palestinians count cost of Israeli reprisals in West Bank

Ben-Gvir, surrounded by bodyguards on Tuesday, is now a prominent figure in Israel’s government, which includes leading members of the settler movement. He held a child and shook hands with the crowd as he explained the significance of his costume. “We love all of you, members of the security forces,” he said.

The celebrations came at a time of heightened tensions between Israelis and Palestinians across the West Bank.

Jewish settlers wounded a Palestinian man in a flashpoint town of Hawara late Monday that was torched in a settler rampage last week, medics said. The town, where a Palestinian shot and killed two Israeli brothers, was the scene of the worst settler-led attack in decades on February 26, as mobs of Israeli settlers set buildings and cars on fire in revenge for the shooting.

Late on Monday, a group of settlers came to the main Hawara thoroughfare in a van, blasting music in what Palestinian officials described as a provocation. Monday evening marked the beginning of Purim, which is typically celebrated with costumes and revelry.

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who monitors Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank, said several Israeli settlers attacked a supermarket. Paramedics said that one man was treated for a head injury.

Security camera footage from near the shop appeared to show Israeli settlers throwing rocks at it, and Palestinians hurling stones back. Outside, Israeli men dressed in black are seen hurling stones and pounding the windows of a car with people inside.

Other footage appeared to show Israeli settlers dancing with soldiers on the main Hawara road, alongside a van emblazoned with the words “Happy Purim”. The army said the soldiers’ conduct was “not aligned with the behaviour expected” and that the incident was under review.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians seek for their future state. In the decades since, more than 500,000 Jewish settlers have moved into dozens of settlements, which the international community considers illegal and an obstacle to peace.

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With West Bank in turmoil, new Palestinian militants emerge

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The stuttering blasts of M-16s shattered the quiet in a West Bank village, surrounded by barley fields and olive groves. Young Palestinian men in Jaba once wanted to farm, residents say, but now, more and more want to fight.

Last week, dozens of them, wearing balaclavas and brandishing rifles with photos of their dead comrades plastered on the clips, burst into a school playground — showcasing Jaba’s new militant group and paying tribute to its founder and another gunman who were killed in an Israeli military raid in February.

Palestinian militants prepare for a military parade. File
| Photo Credit:
AP

“I’d hate to make my parents cry”, said 28-year-old Yousef Hosni Hammour, a close friend of Ezzeddin Hamamrah, the group’s late founder. “But I’m ready to die a martyr.”

Similar scenes are playing out across the West Bank. From the northern Jenin refugee camp to the southern city of Hebron, small groups of disillusioned young Palestinians are taking up guns against Israel’s open-ended occupation, defying Palestinian political leaders whom they scorn as collaborators with Israel.

With fluid and overlapping affiliations, these groups have no clear ideology and operate independently of traditional chains of command — even if they receive support from established militant groups. Fighters from Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other organisations attended last week’s ceremony in Jaba.

In near-daily arrest raids over the past year, Israel has sought to crush the fledgling militias, leading to a surge of deaths and unrest unseen in nearly two decades.

While Israel maintains the escalated raids are meant to prevent future attacks, Palestinians say the intensified violence has helped radicalise men too young to remember the brutal Israeli crackdown on the second Palestinian uprising two decades ago, which served as a deterrent to older Palestinians.

This new generation has grown up uniquely stymied, in a territory riven by infighting and fragmented by barriers and checkpoints.

Palestinian militants take part in a military parade.File

Palestinian militants take part in a military parade.File
| Photo Credit:
AP

More than 60 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem since the start of 2023, after Israel’s most right-wing government in history took office. About half were militants killed in fighting with Israel, according to an Associated Press tally, though the dead have also included stone-throwers and bystanders uninvolved in violence.

At least 15 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks in that time, including two Israelis shot on February 26 in the town of Hawara, just south of Jaba. In response, Israeli settlers torched dozens of buildings — a rampage that also left one Palestinian dead.

“It’s like the new government released the hands of soldiers and settlers, said now they can do whatever they want,” said Jamal Khalili, a member of Jaba’s local council.

At the recent memorial service, children with black militant bands on their foreheads gathered around the gunmen, eager for a glimpse of their heroes.

“The outcome is what you see here,” Khalili added.

Last week, an Israeli military raid in the northern city of Nablus sparked a shootout with Palestinian militants that killed 10 people. The raid targeted the most prominent of the emerging armed groups, the Lion’s Den.

Israeli security officials claim the military has crippled the Nablus-based Lion’s Den over the past few months, killing or arresting most of its key members. But they acknowledge its gunmen, who roam the Old City of Nablus and pump out slick Telegram videos with a carefully honed message of heroic resistance, now inspire new attacks across the territory.

“The Lion’s Den is beginning to become an idea that we see all around,” said an Israeli military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment. Instead of hurling stones or firebombs, militants now mainly open fire, he said, using M-16s often smuggled from Jordan or stolen from Israeli military bases.

The official said the Army was monitoring the Jaba group and others in the northern cities of Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarem. But he acknowledged the Army has difficulty gathering intelligence on the small, loosely organised militant groups.

The Palestinian self-rule government administers parts of the West Bank, and works closely with the Israeli military against its domestic rivals, particularly the militant Hamas group, which runs the Gaza Strip.

With young Palestinians increasingly viewing the Palestinian Authority as an arm of the Israeli security forces rather than the foundation for a future state, Palestinian security forces are loathe to intervene against the budding militias. Palestinian forces now rarely venture into militant strongholds like the Old City of Nablus and the Jenin refugee camp, according to residents and the Israeli military.

Jaba militants said the Palestinian security forces have not cracked down on them. Residents said the group, founded last September, has rapidly grown to some 40-to-50 militants.

Hammour described Palestinian leaders as corrupt and out of touch with regular Palestinians. But, he said, “Our goals are much bigger than creating problems with the Palestinian Authority.”

With the popularity of the PA plummeting, experts say it cannot risk inflaming tensions by arresting widely admired fighters.

The PA “is experiencing a crisis of legitimacy,” said Tahani Mustafa, Palestinian analyst at the International Crisis Group. “There’s a huge disconnect between elites at the top and the groups on the ground”.

Palestinian officials acknowledge their grip is slipping.

“We fear any of our actions against (these groups) will create a reaction in the street,” said a Palestinian intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

With the Israeli Military stepping up raids, the West Bank’s power structure faltering and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government expanding settlements on occupied land, frustrated Palestinians say they are not in pursuit of any Islamist or political agenda — they simply want to defend their towns and resist Israel’s 55-year-old occupation.

For 28-year-old Mohammed Alawneh, whose two brothers were killed in confrontations with Israeli forces, two decades apart, the Jaba group is a “reaction”. He said he could support peace if it meant the end of the occupation and the formation of a single state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. For now, he said, it’s clear Israel doesn’t want peace.

Hamamrah, the Jaba group’s late Commander, threw stones at the Israeli Army as a teen and later joined an armed offshoot of Fatah, the Party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, according to his mother, Lamia. After 10 agonising months in Israeli prison, he became religious and withdrawn. He spoke of taking revenge.

After his death, Lamia discovered he had helped form the Jaba group and that Islamic Jihad had supplied them with weapons, including the gun Hamamrah fired at Israeli troops on January 14.

The Army chased him into Jaba, killing Hamamrah along with another gunman, Amjad Khleleyah. Their crushed and bloodstained car now sits in the center of Jaba like a macabre monument.

At his funeral, Lamia said Hamamrah’s friends urged her to show pride in a son who became a fighter and inspired the whole village.

But Lamia wept and wept. Her 14-year-old daughter, Malak, now wants die a martyr, too.

“I’m just a mother who lost her son,” she said. “I want this all to stop.”

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Why is Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife at centre of controversy?

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The scene signalled a grave national emergency — dozens of riot police charged through the streets of Tel Aviv as crowds of anti-government protesters howled and roared. Their mission: to rescue Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife from a swanky salon where she was getting her hair done.

The protesters’ Wednesday night siege of the beauty parlour, accompanied by chants of “shame, shame”, cast a spotlight on Mrs. Netanyahu, a divisive figure long been intertwined with her husband’s political career.

She has drawn scorn for a reputation of living a lavish lifestyle at the taxpayers’ expense — an image only reinforced by her decision to get her hair done in the centre of a city wracked by unrest that turned violent Wednesday for the first time.

Israelis have also accused Mrs. Netanyahu, a former air hostess turned educational psychologist, of wielding undue influence over Mr. Netanyahu, pressuring him over political appointments and policy issues.

Here’s a look at what has made Mr. Netanyahu’s wife so controversial over some three decades on the political stage.

Hey, big spender

Mrs. Netanyahu, 64, has garnered sensational headlines over the years for allegedly misappropriating public funds, overspending on household expenses and pocketing gifts from world leaders, among other things.

In 2019, she accepted a plea bargain to settle accusations that she misused $100,000 in public funds to order lavish meals from celebrity chefs at the prime minister’s official residence, although she already had cooks on the government payroll. She also has become entangled in Mr. Netanyahu’s corruption trial, which has precipitated the country’s yearslong political crisis.

In exchange for political favours, Mr. Netanyahu allegedly accepted gifts from billionaire friends that included tens of thousands of dollars in crates of champagne and extravagant jewellery for Mrs. Netanyahu, and struck backroom deals with newspaper publishers aimed at scoring more favourable coverage of his wife.

He denies all wrongdoing. Most recently, a parliamentary committee approved new spending money for the Netanyahus, including an increase of thousands of dollars each year in clothing and makeup expenses for Mrs. Netanyahu.

“The general feeling is that this is a very greedy couple,” said Israeli journalist Amir Oren. “It does have a sort of Marie Antoinette vibe.”

Temper tantrums

Over the years, Mrs. Netanyahu’s household help has consistently accused her of explosive tirades and mistreatment. In one case, a leaked phone conversation surfaced of Mrs. Netanyahu screaming at her publicist about how a gossip column omitted to mention of her educational credentials. In another, the family’s nanny said Mrs. Netanyahu fired her for burning a pot of soup, kicking her onto the curb without her clothes or passport.

Two domestic workers have won damages in lawsuits accusing Mrs. Netanyahu of making their lives miserable. In court testimony, one of them revealed Mrs. Netanyahu’s taste for pink champagne and other expensive luxuries. Friends and staff over the years have shared accounts about Mrs. Netanyahu’s extreme outbursts and unhealthy obsession with cleanliness.

Mr. Netanyahu’s family has depicted themselves as the casualties of a press war. They brought a libel suit against Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister, after he described them as being “mentally ill.”

Calling the shots?

Critics of Mr. Netanyahu’s family have accused Mrs. Netanyahu of interference in the prime minister’s decision-making. Former officials have testified recently in court that Mrs. Netanyahu wielded undue influence over top security appointments.

In January, a retired general testified that Mrs. Netanyahu interviewed him for 45 minutes for the job of the prime minister’s military secretary, after Mr. Netanyahu had left the room. “For the last few years, there has been no appointment of a senior official that was not interviewed or influenced by Sara,” said Gayil Talshir, professor of political science at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

She has been accused of pushing Mr. Netanyahu further to the right and helping drive his government’s determination to overhaul the country’s judiciary — a plan that has prompted some of the largest protests in Israeli history and drawn widespread condemnation from across Israeli society and around the world.

Given her past legal troubles, critics argue, she has just as much stake in the government’s plan to weaken the court system as her husband. Mrs. Netanyahu and her son, Yair — similarly a lightning rod for controversy — have repeatedly incited against Israel’s “elites” – the media, the bureaucrats, the civil servants. Mr. Netanyahu insists that his wife keeps out of affairs of state.

Bad hair day

Because of Mrs. Netanyahu’s public profile, the opposition argues she’s not simply a first lady — but rather, a legitimate political target for the protest movement. Yair Golan, a former general and one-time Meretz party lawmaker, told Kan radio that “with all due respect, Sara Netanyahu is a political figure” and is involved in key appointments and decisions.

Yet the dramatic scenes of police forces, secret service and helicopters called to extract Mrs. Netanyahu from her hair appointment changed the course of “the day of disruption”.

Mr. Netanyahu posted a photo on Twitter that showed him hugging his wife late at night, saying she returned home safe and warning that such “anarchy” would lead to the loss of life.

The incident, which grabbed headlines even after police shocked the country by firing water cannons, stun grenades and tear gas at pro-democracy protesters, once again revealed Mr. Netanyahu to be a master political manipulator, said Talshir.

“He managed to play it well, projecting his wife as the real victim of yesterday’s protest,” she said. “But from the protesters’ point of view, Sara has been crucial in dividing the country and turning it toward autocracy.”

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Israeli settlers rampage after deadly Palestinian attack in West Bank

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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, a crowd of Jewish settlers stood in prayer 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.

The European Union said it was “alarmed by today’s violence” in Huwara, and said “authorities on all sides must intervene now to stop this endless cycle of violence.” The UK’s ambassador to Israel, Neil Wigan, said that “Israel should tackle settler violence, with those responsible brought to justice.”

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, rushed to scene. It said troops were being reinforced in the area as they worked to restore order and search for the shooter.

Ghassan Douglas, a Palestinian official who monitors Israeli settlements in the Nablus region. said that settlers burned at least six houses and dozens of cars in Hawara, and reported attacks on other neighbouring Palestinian villages. He estimated around 400 Jewish settlers took part in the attack.

“I never seen such an attack,” he said.

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.

“They reaffirmed the necessity of committing to de-escalation on the ground and to prevent further violence,” the Jordanian Foreign Ministry announced.

After nearly a year of fighting that has killed over 200 Palestinians and more than 40 Israelis in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the Jordanian announcement marked a small sign of progress. But the situation on the ground immediately cast those commitments into doubt.

The Palestinians claim the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip – areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war – for a future state. Some 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements as illegal and obstacles to peace.

The West Bank is home to a number of hard-line settlements whose residents frequently vandalize Palestinians land and property. But rarely is the violence so widespread.

Prominent members of Israel’s far-right government called for tough action against the Palestinians.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler leader who lives in the area and has been put in charge of much of Israel’s West Bank policy, called for “striking the cities of terror and its instigators without mercy, with tanks and helicopters.”

Using a phrase that calls for a more heavy-handed response, he said Israel should act “in a way that conveys that the master of the house has gone crazy.”

Late Sunday, however, Smotrich appealed to his fellow settlers to let the army and government do their jobs. “It is forbidden to take the law into your hands and create dangerous anarchy that could spin out of control and cost lives,” he said.

Earlier, in Israeli ministerial committee gave initial approval to a bill that would impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted in deadly attacks. The measure was sent to lawmakers for further debate.

There were also differing interpretations of what exactly was agreed to in Aqaba between the Palestinians and Israelis.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said the representatives agreed to work toward a “just and lasting peace” and had committed to preserving the status quo at Jerusalem’s contested holy site.

Tensions at the site revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif have often spilled over into violence, and two years ago sparked an 11-day war between Israel and the Hamas militant group during Ramadan.

Officials with Israel’s government, the most right-wing in Israeli history, played down Sunday’s meeting.

A senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity under government guidelines, said only that the sides in Jordan agreed to set up a committee to work at renewing security ties with the Palestinians. The Palestinians cut off ties last month after a deadly Israeli military raid in the West Bank.

Netanyahu’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, who led the Israeli delegation said there were “no changes” in Israeli policies and that plans to build thousands of new settlement homes approved last week would not be affected.

He said “there is no settlement freeze” and “there is no restriction on army activity.”

The Jordanian announcement had said Israel pledged not to legalize any more outposts for six months or to approve any new construction in existing settlements for four months.

The Palestinians, meanwhile, said they had presented a long list of grievances, including an end to Israeli settlement construction on occupied lands and a halt to Israeli military raids on Palestinian towns.

Sunday’s shooting in Hawara came days after an Israeli military raid killed 10 Palestinians in the nearby city of Nablus. The shooting occurred on a major highway that serves both Palestinians and Israeli settlers. The two men who were killed were identified as brothers, ages 21 and 19, from the Jewish settlement of Har Bracha.

Hanegbi was joined by the head of Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency who attended the talks in neighbouring Jordan. The head of the Palestinian intelligence services as well as advisers to President Mahmoud Abbas also joined.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who has close ties with the Palestinians, led the discussions, while Egypt, another mediator, and the United States also participated.

In Washington, the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, welcomed the meeting. “We recognize that this meeting was a starting point,” he said, adding that implementation will be critical.”

It was a rare high-level meeting between the sides, illustrating the severity of the crisis and the concerns of increased violence as Ramadan approaches in late March.

In Gaza, Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seeks Israel’s destruction, criticized Sunday’s meeting and called the shooting a “natural reaction” to Israeli incursions in the West Bank.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The Hamas militant group subsequently took control of the territory, and Israel and Egypt maintain a blockade over the territory.

(AP)

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Live: Ukraine raids tycoon’s home, tax office in corruption clampdown

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Ukrainian authorities raided an influential billionaire’s home on Wednesday in what an ally of President Volodymyr Zelensky touted as a sweeping wartime clampdown on corruption that would change the country.  Follow FRANCE 24’s liveblog for all the latest developments. All times are in Paris time (GMT+1).

5:17pm: Ukraine hails French gift of radar as ‘cherry on the cake’

Ukraine‘s defence minister said Wednesday that Ukrainian lives will be saved by a sophisticated air-defence radar that France is supplying and which is powerful enough to spot incoming missiles and exploding drones in the skies over all of Ukraine’s capital and its surrounding region.

The minister, Oleksii Reznikov, was so enthusiastic about what he called Ukraine’s new “electronic eyes” that he quickly coined a nickname for the Ground Master 200 radar – the “Grand Master.”

Speaking through an interpreter at a handover ceremony for the radar with his French counterpart, Reznikov described the French-made GM200 as a “very effective” improvement for Ukraine’s network of about 300 different types of air-defence radars.

5pm: Moscow warns Israel against supplying arms to Ukraine

Russia on Wednesday warned Israel against supplying weapons to Ukraine after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was considering military aid for Kyiv and was willing to mediate in the conflict.

“We say that all countries that supply weapons (to Ukraine) should understand that we will consider these (weapons) to be legitimate targets for Russia’s armed forces,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

Since the beginning of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February last year, Israel has adopted a cautious position towards Moscow, seeking to maintain neutrality

4:48pm: Ukraine has enough gas for winter, minister says

Ukraine has sufficient gas reserves to see it through the winter with 11 billion cubic metres (bcm) in storage as of February 1, the energy minister said on Wednesday.

The country also has about 1.2 million tonnes of coal for its power plants, German Galushchenko said in a statement.

>> Can US shale gas save Europe from its energy crisis?

“These are sufficient volumes to get through and complete this very difficult heating season for our country,” the minister said

3:32pm: Russia calls Macron’s comments on Ukraine arms ‘absurd’

Russia on Wednesday criticised comments by French President Emmanuel Macron, who refused this week to rule out delivering fighter jets to Ukraine but also warned against the risk of escalation.

“Forgive me but this is absurd. Is the president of France really certain that if arms, heavy weapons and aircraft are supplied to the Kyiv regime to conduct combat operations, this will not lead to an escalation of the situation?” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters

3:09pm: Russia unveils Stalin bust ahead of WWII commemorations

A bust of dictator Joseph Stalin was unveiled in the southern Russian city of Volgograd on Wednesday on the eve of commemorations of the Soviet victory in the Battle of Stalingrad.

The bronze bust was unveiled ahead of President Vladimir Putin‘s visit to Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad, on Thursday, for high-profile celebrations that will include a military parade.

Most monuments to Stalin, who presided over purges known as the Great Terror, have been taken down in countries that were once part of the Soviet Union.

1:16pm: Ukraine has gas stocks to see it through the winter, says energy minister

Ukraine has sufficient gas reserves to see it through the winter with some 11 billion cubic metres (bcm) in storage as of February 1, the energy minister said on Wednesday.

The country also has around 1.2 million tonnes of coal for its power plants, German Galushchenko said in a statement. “These are sufficient volumes to get through and complete this very difficult heating season for our country,” the minister said.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said last month the situation in the energy sector remained difficult but under control after a months-long Russian campaign of drone and missile strikes on critical infrastructure that damaged about 40% of the energy system.

1:14pm: Top Ukrainian official confirms raids on homes of billionaire, ex-minister in graft clampdown

A top governing party official confirmed on Wednesday that security officials had raided the homes of one of Ukraine’s richest men and a former interior minister, and said the country would change during the war with Russia.

David Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People party’s parliamentary faction, said there were also searches at Ukraine’s Tax Office and that the management team of the Customs Service would be dismissed.

“The country will change during the war. If someone is not ready for change, then the state itself will come and help them change,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging in app.

11:14am: Belarus says Russian Iskander missiles now in service

Belarus said on Wednesday that it had taken Russian Iskander ballistic missile systems into service after its operators had received training in Russia.

The missiles are capable of hitting targets at a range of up to 500 km (310 miles), Minsk’s defence ministry said.

“Having completed the theoretical course, the artillerymen carried out practical training at the Belarusian firing ranges,” it added.

10:58am: US has ‘destroyed basis’ for New START arms control treaty, says Kremlin 

Russia said on Wednesday that the United States had destroyed the legal basis for the New START arms control treaty between the two countries, but that the agreement remained “very important” for Russia, regardless of the present situation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding after the United States on Tuesday accused Russia of violating the treaty – the last major pillar of post-Cold War nuclear arms control between the two countries – by refusing to allow inspection activities on its territory.

10:53am: Zelensky aid says talks underway on longe-range missiles

A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday talks were under way on securing longer-range missiles and attack aircraft from foreign partners to help repel Russian forces.

“Each war stage requires certain weapons. Amassing RF’s (Russia’s) reserves in the occupied territories require specifics from  (Ukraine) & partners,” political adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.


10:52am: Kremlin welcomes ‘bounty payments’ offer for destroying Western tanks in Ukraine

The Kremlin on Wednesday welcomed a Russian company’s offer of “bounty payments” for soldiers who destroy Western-made tanks on the battlefield in Ukraine, saying it would spur Russian forces to victory. The Russian company Fores this week offered 5 million roubles ($72,000) in cash to the first soldiers who destroy or capture US-made Abrams or German Leopard 2 tanks in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian troops would “burn” any Western tanks that were delivered to Ukraine, adding the bounties were extra encouragement for Russian soldiers.

10:49am: Kremlin says any new longer-range rockets from US would escalate Ukraine conflict

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that longer-range rockets reportedly included in an upcoming package of military aid from the United States to Ukraine would “escalate” the conflict but not change its course.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also told reporters that there were no plans for Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold talks with US President Joe Biden.

The US package of military aid, worth $2.2 billion, is expected to include longer-range rockets for the first time, two US officials briefed on the matter said on Tuesday.

9:52am: Japan preparing to host online G7 summit to mark anniversary of Ukraine invasion

Japan is preparing to host a Group of Seven (G7) summit meeting online timed to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Kyodo news agency reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed officials.

9:43am: Moscow-installed official says Russian forces encircling Bakhmut

Russian forces are encircling Bakhmut and are battling to take control of the highway that connects the city to the nearby town of Chasiv Yar, a Russian-installed official in eastern Ukraine said on Wednesday.

“Bakhmut is now operationally surrounded, our forces are closing the ring around the city,” said Yan Gagin, an aide to senior Russian-installed official Denis Pushilin. “Fighting for control of the Chasiv Yar-Bakhmut highway is now underway,” he said on state television.

FRANCE 24 could not independently verify these assertions.

Russia claims to have taken control of several locations around Bakhmut, where its troops and mercenaries from the Wagner group have been locked in a battle of attrition with Ukrainian forces for months.

9:33am: Russian journalist sentenced in absentia to 8 years in jail for ‘fake news’

Prominent Russian journalist Alexander Nevzorov was sentenced in absentia to eight years in jail by a Moscow court on Wednesday after it found him guilty of spreading ‘fake news’ about the Russian army, state media reported.

Investigators opened a case against Nevzorov last year for posts on social media in which he accused Russia‘s armed forces of deliberately shelling a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, an assertion Moscow said was false.

Nevzorov’s wife wrote on Instagram in March that she and her husband were in Israel.

8:33am: Spain to send Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine: media

Spain plans to send between four and six Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine, newspaper El Pais reported Wednesday, citing unidentified government sources.

The actual number will depend on the condition of the battle tanks in storage and how many other countries will eventually supply to Ukraine, the sources told El Pais.

A spokesperson for the Spanish defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kyiv secured pledges from the West this month to supply main battle tanks to help fend off Russia’s invasion, with Moscow mounting huge efforts to make incremental advances in eastern Ukraine.

7:43am: Russia claims control of Blahodatne, near Bakhmut

“The latest reports suggest that Russian forces are making a fresh push on two villages, Vuhledar and Pavlivka, some 30km southwest of Donetsk city in eastern Ukraine. At the same time, the Russian defence ministry is claiming that its forces not far from there have captured the village of Blahodatne,” FRANCE 24’s Andrew Hilliar reports from Kyiv.

“We have not been able to independently verify those claims, but looking at the bigger picture, this could all be part of a new Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.”


 

5:45am: Netanyahu considering military aid, mediation for Ukraine

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview aired Tuesday he was considering military aid to Ukraine and was willing to serve as a mediator, following US calls for more active involvement.

Netanyahu was asked in an interview with CNN if Israel could provide assistance to Ukraine such as Iron Dome, the US-backed technology that defends Israel from air attack. “Well, I’m certainly looking into it,” Netanyahu said.

He confirmed that the United States has shifted a little-known stockpile of artillery it stations in Israel to Ukraine and he cast the Jewish state’s own operations against Iran as part of a similar effort. “The US just took a huge chunk of Israel’s munitions and passed it on to Ukraine. Israel also, frankly, acts in ways that I will not itemise here against Iran’s weapons productions which are used against Ukraine,” he said.

He said he was willing to mediate if asked by the parties and the United States. “I’ve been around long enough to know that there has to be a right time and the right circumstances. If they arise, I’ll certainly consider it,” he said.

The remarks come after a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who called for calm following a flare-up of violence between Israel and the Palestinians and also nudged Israel to boost support to Ukraine.

5:26am: US defence firm General Atomics offers to sell advanced drones to Ukraine for one dollar and shipping costs

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that a US defense company, General Atomics, has offered to sell Kyiv two Reaper MQ-9 drones for a dollar as it prepares for an expected Russian offensive.

Under the deal, Kyiv would have to spend about $10 million to ship the aircraft to Ukraine, and about $8 million each year for maintenance, the Journal said, citing a letter from General Atomics to a Ukrainian diplomat.

There was no immediate comment on the report from Washington.

 

© France Médias Monde graphic studio

(FRANCE 24 WITH AFP, AP AND REUTERS)

 



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Blinken expresses ‘sorrow’ over deaths of innocent Palestinians on Ramallah trip

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is wrapping up a two-day visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank on Tuesday with renewed appeals for Israeli-Palestinian calm amid an alarming spike of violence.

Blinken met Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Tuesday, a day after seeing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Standing alongside the Israeli leader, Blinken stressed the importance the Biden administration places on resolving the long-running conflict with a two-state solution.

However, beyond urging a de-escalation of tensions, Blinken offered no new US initiative to do so. There were no signs that Blinken was making progress on even the modest goal of halting the latest wave of violence, much less of addressing the broader issues surrounding peace talks.

After meeting Abbas, Blinken expressed “condolences and sorrow for the innocent Palestinian civilians who have lost their lives in escalating violence over the last year”.

Abbas placed all blame for the spike in violence on Israel and berated the international community for not doing more to pressure Israel.

Cessation of violence only path to peace

“We affirm that the Israeli government is responsible for what is happening today,” he said, adding: “Israel is being overlooked, without deterrence or accountability, as it continues its unilateral operations.”

He called for the “complete cessation” of those operations, saying that would be “the main entry point for returning the political horizon.”

Netanyahu’s far-right government is dominated by hard-liners who oppose Palestinian statehood and are unlikely to make even minimal concessions.

Blinken’s visit comes amid one of the deadliest periods of fighting in years in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem. The violence has further complicated the administration’s already difficult attempts to find common ground with Netanyahu’s government.

In Ramallah, Blinken was expected to discuss the Palestinian Authority’s decision to halt security coordination with Israel. The security ties, which in the past are believed to have helped contain violence, are deeply unpopular among everyday Palestinians, who accuse Abbas of acting as a subcontractor for the Israeli military.

Before heading to the West Bank, Blinken met with Israel’s opposition leader, former Prime Minister Yair Lapid.

Blinken calls for equality

“The secretary conveyed his concern over the deteriorating security situation in the West Bank and the need for urgent action to prevent greater loss of life. Secretary Blinken reiterated that Israelis and Palestinians deserve to have equal measures of security, prosperity and freedom,” his office said.

Following a meeting with Blinken on Monday, Netanyahu made only passing reference to the Palestinians and focused instead on Iran, which he believes is his most urgent security priority.

Netanyahu’s coalition partners also gave a cool reception to Blinken’s comments.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the ultranationalist Jewish Power party, vowed to push forward with punitive measures against the Palestinians in response to a pair of shootings in east Jerusalem over the weekend. Ben-Gvir has pledged to demolish Palestinian homes and hand out more weapons to Israeli civilians.

Cabinet Minister Orit Strock, another ultranationalist, objected to comments by Blinken that were seen as criticising the Israeli government’s plan to overhaul the country’s judicial system and weaken the Supreme Court.

During his appearance with Netanyahu, Blinken voiced “support for core democratic principles and institutions,” including “the equal administration of justice for all, the equal rights of minority groups, the rule of law.” Critics say Netanyahu’s plan will weaken the country’s judicial system and destroy its democratic system of checks and balances.

US medddling in Israeli affairs

Speaking to the Kan public broadcaster, Strok accused Blinken of meddling in internal Israeli affairs.

“We’re not the 51st or 52nd state of the US, and he didn’t need to interfere in internal disputes in the state of Israel,” she said. “It’s not his job.”

Before leaving Jerusalem for Ramallah, Blinken met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant who repeated the prime minister’s concern about Iran.

“Your visit comes at a critical time,” Gallant said. “It sends a clear message to the region: the United States and Israel are united facing Iran or anyone threatening peace and stability in the region.”

Blinken agreed about unity when confronting Iran and preventing it from acquiring nuclear weapons. He said the U.S. commitment to Israel’s security remains ‘ironclad’ but suggested there was more on his agenda. “We have a lot on our hands in this moment and so I couldn’t see you at a better time,” he said.

January is shaping up to be the deadliest month in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in years. Some 35 Palestinians have been killed in fighting, including 10 who were killed in an Israeli military raid in the flashpoint town of Jenin last Thursday.

On Friday, a Palestinian gunman killed seven people outside a synagogue in an east Jerusalem settlement on Friday. The next morning, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy shot and wounded two Israelis elsewhere in east Jerusalem.

Israel’s options may be limited. Both shooters are believed to have acted individually and were not part of organized militant groups, and punitive steps against the broader population such as those promoted by Ben-Gvir could risk triggering even more violence. Israel has also pledged to “strengthen” West Bank settlements.

No progress

The US, like most of the international community, considers Israeli settlements on lands claimed by the Palestinians for their state as obstacles to peace. However, the Biden administration has yet to restore a decades-old legal opinion that the settlements are “illegitimate” that had been rescinded under former President Donald Trump.

Nor has it made any progress on its stated intent to re-open the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, which had been the main conduit for engagement with the Palestinians before Trump closed it. The closure was part of his decision to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to the contested city of Jerusalem, a step that infuriated the Palestinians.

The violence comes after months of Israeli arrest raids in the West Bank, which were launched after a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis in the spring of 2022 that killed 19 people.

But it has spiked this month during the first weeks of Netanyahu’s new far-right government, which has promised to take a tough stance against the Palestinians and ramp up settlement construction.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AFP)

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Israel to ‘strengthen’ settlements after shooting attacks

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday announced a series of punitive steps against the Palestinians, including plans to beef up Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, in response to a pair of shooting attacks that killed seven Israelis and wounded five others.

The announcement cast a cloud over a visit next week by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and threatened to further raise tensions following one of the bloodiest months in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in several years.

Netanyahu’s Security Cabinet, which is filled by hard-line politicians aligned with the West Bank settlement movement, approved the measures in the wake of a pair of shootings that included an attack outside an east Jerusalem synagogue on Friday night in which seven people were killed.

Netanyahu’s office said the Security Cabinet agreed to seal off the attacker’s home immediately ahead of its demolition. It also plans to cancel social security benefits for the families of attackers, make it easier for Israelis to get gun licenses and step up efforts to collect illegal weapons.

The announcement said that in response to public Palestinian celebrations over the attack, Israel would take new steps to “strengthen the settlements” this week. It gave no further details.

There was no immediate response from Washington. The Biden administration, which condemned the shooting, opposes settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the West Bank — lands sought by the Palestinians for a future state. The topic is likely to be high on the agenda as Blinken arrives Monday for talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials.

The weekend shootings followed a deadly Israeli raid in the West Bank on Thursday that killed nine Palestinians, most of them militants. In response, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a barrage of rockets into Israel, triggering a series of Israeli airstrikes in response. In all, 32 Palestinians have been killed in fighting this month.

Early Sunday, the Israeli military said that security guards in the West Bank settlement of Kedumim had shot a Palestinian who was armed with a handgun and released a photo of what it said was the weapon. There were no further details on the incident or the alleged attacker’s condition.

It remains unclear whether the Israeli steps will be effective. The attackers in the weekend shootings, including a 13-year-old boy, both appear to have acted alone and were not part of organized militant groups.

In addition, Netanyahu could come under pressure from members of his government, a collection of religious and ultranationalist politicians, to take even tougher action. Such steps could risk triggering more violence and potentially drag in the Hamas militant group in Gaza.

“If it’s even possible to put this violent genie back into the bottle, even for a little while, this would require the reinforcement and proper deployment of forces … and carefully managing the crisis without being guided by the widespread calls for revenge,” wrote Amos Harel, the defense affairs commentator for the Haaretz newspaper.

Friday’s shooting, outside a synagogue in east Jerusalem on the Jewish Sabbath, left seven Israelis dead and three wounded before the gunman was killed by police. It was the deadliest attack on Israelis in 15 years.

Authorities published the names of four of the victims. They included 14-year-old Asher Natan; Eli Mizrahi, 48, and his wife Natali, 45; and Rafael Ben Eliyahu, 56. Funerals for some victims were scheduled Saturday night.

Mourners lit memorial candles near the synagogue on Saturday evening, and in a sign of the charged atmosphere, a crowd assaulted an Israeli TV crew that came to the area, chanting “leftists go home.”

Ella Sakovich, an aunt of Natali Mizrahi, said that her niece had been celebrating the Jewish Sabbath with her husband and his father when they heard gunfire outside on Friday night.

“While eating, she and her husband wanted to help and went out of the house to treat the wounded; they shot both of them,” Sakovich said in a statement released by Hadassah Hospital, where Natali Mizrahi worked serving food to patients.

In response to the shooting, Israeli police beefed up activities throughout east Jerusalem and said they had arrested 42 people, including family members, who were connected to the shooter.

But later Saturday, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy opened fire elsewhere in east Jerusalem, wounding an Israeli man and his son, ages 47 and 23, paramedics said. Both were fully conscious and in moderate to serious condition in the hospital, the medics added.

As police rushed to the scene, two passers-by with licensed weapons shot and overpowered the 13-year-old attacker, police said. Police confiscated his handgun and took the wounded teen to a hospital.

Blinken is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday. The Biden administration condemned Friday night’s shooting and has called for calm on all sides, but given few details on how it expects to promote these goals.

The attacks pose a pivotal test for Israel’s new far-right government.

Both Palestinian attackers behind the shootings on Friday and Saturday came from east Jerusalem.

Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem hold permanent residency status, allowing them to work and move freely throughout Israel, but they suffer from subpar public services and are not allowed to vote in national elections.

Residency rights can be stripped if a Palestinian is found to live outside the city for an extended period or in certain security cases.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war.

The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future independent state. Israel has annexed east Jerusalem in a step that is not internationally recognized and considers the entire city to be its undivided capital.

Israel’s new firebrand minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has presented himself as an enforcer of law and order and grabbed headlines for his promises to take even stronger action against the Palestinians.

Speaking to reporters at a hospital where victims were being treated, Ben-Gvir said he wanted the home of the gunman in Friday’s attack to be sealed off immediately as a punitive measure and lashed out at Israel’s attorney general for delaying his order.

Overhauling Israel’s justice system, including the attorney general’s office, has been at the top of the agenda of the new government, which says unelected judges and jurists have overwhelming powers.

The divisive issue helped fuel weekly protests by Israelis who say the sweeping proposed changes would weaken the Supreme Court and undermine democracy.

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in the central city of Tel Aviv Saturday evening for a new protest. Some raised banners describing Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir as “a threat to world peace.”

The marchers also held a moment of silence in memory of Jerusalem shooting victims.

The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, meanwhile, upheld its decision to halt security coordination with Israel to protest the deadly raid in Jenin.

After a meeting headed by President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority called on international community and the U.S. administration to force Israel to halt its raids in the West Bank.

Last year, as the Israeli military intensified its arrest raids following a string of deadly Palestinian attacks within Israel, at least 150 Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem. It was the highest annual death toll for more than a decade and a half. Over 30 people were killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis last year, according to Israeli figures.

Israel says most of the dead were militants. But youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in the confrontations also have been killed.

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New shooting in east Jerusalem, hours after synagogue attack left seven dead

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An assailant shot and wounded at least two people in east Jerusalem on Saturday, Israeli medics said, hours after a Palestinian gunman killed seven outside a synagogue in one of the deadliest such attacks in years.

Police said the suspect was “neutralised” following the latest gun attack in the Silwan neighbourhood, just outside Jerusalem’s old, walled city.

It came a day after one of the deadliest army raids in the occupied West Bank in roughly two decades, as well as rocket fire from militants in the Gaza Strip and Israeli retaliatory air strikes.

A Palestinian gunman opened fire outside an east Jerusalem synagogue Friday night, killing seven people, including a 70-year-old woman, and wounding three others before he was shot and killed by police, officials said. It was the deadliest attack on Israelis in years and raised the likelihood of more bloodshed. 

The attack, which occurred as residents were observing the Jewish sabbath, came a day after an Israeli military raid killed nine Palestinians in the West Bank. Friday’s shooting set off celebrations in both the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, where people fired guns into the air, honked horns and distributed sweets.

The burst of violence, which also included a rocket barrage from Gaza and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes, has posed an early challenge for Israel’s new government, which is dominated by ultranationalists who have pushed for a hard line against Palestinian violence. It also cast a cloud over a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region Sunday.

Addressing reporters at Israel’s national police headquarters, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had held a security assessment and decided on “immediate actions.” He said he would convene his Security Cabinet on Saturday night, after the end of the sabbath, to discuss a further response. 

Netanyahu declined to elaborate but said Israel would act with “determination and composure.” He called on the public not to take the law into their own hands.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the US strongly condemned the attack and was “shocked and saddened by the loss of life,” noting it came on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

US officials said later Friday that President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu to offer US support to the government and people of Israel, calling the shootings “an attack against the civilised world.” “The President stressed the iron-clad US commitment to Israel’s security,” the White House said of the call. 

Israeli police said the shootings occurred in Neve Yaakov, a settlement with a large ultra-Orthodox population, and that the gunman fled in a car. Police said they chased after him and after an exchange of fire, killed him.

Jerusalem police chief Doron Turjeman confirmed seven deaths, in addition to the shooter, and said three people were wounded.

Police identified the attacker as a 21-year-old east Jerusalem resident who apparently acted alone.

There has been no indication that he had prior involvement in militant activity or was a member of an established Palestinian armed group. Turjeman promised an “aggressive and significant” effort to track down anyone who helped him.  

In a statement, police said they had arrested “42 people for questioning” overnight, “some of them members of the terrorist’s family”. 

Others detained included residents of the gunman’s neighbourhood, police said.

Police also released a photo of the pistol it said was used by the attacker. 

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant huddled with Israel’s military chief and other top security officials and instructed them to assist police and strengthen defenses near Jerusalem and for Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

“Israel’s defense establishment will operate decisively and forcefully against terror and will reach anyone involved in the attack,” Gallant said. 

Israel’s MADA rescue service said that those killed included five men and two women, among them several who were 60 or older. Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital said a 15-year-old boy was recovering from surgery.

The attack was the deadliest on Israelis since a 2008 shooting killed eight people in a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem, according to the foreign ministry. Given the location and timing, it threatened to trigger a tough response from Israel.

Overnight Thursday, Gaza militants fired several rockets into southern Israel, with all of them either intercepted or landing in open areas. Israel responded with airstrikes on targets in Gaza. No casualties were reported, and calm had appeared to be taking hold before Friday night’s shooting.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. In Gaza, Hazem Qassem, spokesman for the ruling Hamas militant group, said the attack was “a revenge and natural response” to the deadly military raid Thursday.

Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group, also issued a statement on Saturday, praising the attack.  

At several locations across the Gaza Strip, dozens of Palestinians gathered in spontaneous demonstrations to celebrate the Jerusalem attack, with some coming out of dessert shops with large trays of sweets to distribute. 

In downtown Gaza City, celebratory gunfire could be heard, as cars honked and calls of “God is great!” wafted from mosque loudspeakers. In various West Bank towns, Palestinians launched fireworks.

The attack escalated tensions that were already heightened following Thursday’s raid in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin, where nine people, including at least seven militants and a 61-year-old woman, were killed. It was the deadliest single raid in the West Bank in two decades. A 10th Palestinian was killed in separate fighting near Jerusalem.

Angry Palestinians marched Friday as they buried the last of those killed a day earlier.

Scuffles between Israeli forces and Palestinian protesters erupted after the funeral for a 22-year-old Palestinian north of Jerusalem and elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, but calm prevailed in the contested capital and in the blockaded Gaza Strip for most of the day.

That suddenly dissolved with the east Jerusalem shooting, described as “horrific and heartbreaking” by Yair Lapid, the opposition leader and former prime minister.

Neve Yaakov is a religious Jewish settlement that Israel considers to be a neighborhood of its capital. Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians seek east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, as a capital of their future state.

Blinken’s trip will probably now focus heavily on lowering tensions. He is likely to discuss the underlying causes of the conflict, the agenda of Israel’s new far-right government and the Palestinian Authority’s decision to halt security coordination with Israel in response to the Jenin raid.

The Biden administration has been deeply engaged with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in recent days, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, underscoring the “urgent need here for all parties to deescalate to prevent the further loss of civilian life and to work together to improve the security situation in the West Bank.”

Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and several smaller skirmishes since the militant group seized power in Gaza from rival forces in 2007.

Tensions have soared since Israel stepped up raids in the West Bank last spring, following a series of Palestinian attacks.

Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 2022, making it the deadliest year in those territories since 2004, according to leading Israeli rights group B’Tselem. Last year, 30 people were killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.

So far this year, 30 Palestinians have been killed, according to a count by The Associated Press.

Israel says most of the dead were militants. But youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in the confrontations also have been killed.

Israel says its raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart attacks. The Palestinians say they further entrench Israel’s 55-year, open-ended occupation of the West Bank, captured along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war.

(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and Reuters)

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Israel hits Gaza with airstrikes after rockets intercepted

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Two rockets were fired from Gaza early Friday and Israel responded with airstrikes on the territory, further escalating tensions. Israeli forces on Thursday killed nine Palestinians — including at least seven militants and a 61-year-old woman — in the deadliest single incident in the occupied West Bank in two decades, Palestinian officials said.

The Israeli military said both rockets were intercepted by its Iron Dome missile defense system. It was the first such attack from the militant Hamas-ruled territory since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power at the head of a far-right government that has pledged a tough line against Palestinian militancy.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the Israeli airstrikes.

The raid in the Jenin refugee camp and the rocket fire increases the risk of a major flare-up in Israeli-Palestinian fighting and casts a shadow on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s expected trip to the region next week.

Raising the stakes, the Palestinian Authority said it would halt the ties that its security forces maintain with Israel in a shared effort to contain Islamic militants. Previous threats have been short-lived, in part because of the benefits the authority enjoys from the relationship and also due to U.S. and Israeli pressure to maintain it.

The PA already has limited control over scattered enclaves in the West Bank, and almost none over militant strongholds like the Jenin camp. But the announcement could pave the way for Israel to step up operations it says are needed to prevent attacks.

Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, had earlier threatened revenge for the raid. Violent escalations in the West Bank have previously triggered retaliatory rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, which in turn has brought Israeli airstrikes down on the isolated and impoverished territory.

The Israeli strikes early Friday targeted training sites for Palestinian militant groups, the military said. Witnesses and local media reported that Israeli drones fired two missiles at a militant base in central Gaza Strip. The drone strikes usually serve as a warning for larger airstrikes by fighter jets.

On Thursday, Israeli forces went on heightened alert as Palestinians filled the streets across the West Bank, chanting in solidarity with Jenin. President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning, and in the refugee camp, residents dug a mass grave for the dead.

PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Abbas had decided to cut security coordination in “light of the repeated aggression against our people, and the undermining of signed agreements,” referring to commitments from the Oslo peace process in the 1990s. He also said the Palestinians planned to file complaints with the U.N. Security Council, International Criminal Court and other international bodies.

The PA last cut security coordination with Israel in 2020, over Netanyahu’s drive to annex the occupied West Bank, which would make a future Palestinian state all but impossible. But six months later, the PA resumed cooperation, signaling the financial importance of the relationship and the Palestinians’ relief at the election of President Joe Biden.

Barbara Leaf, the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, said the administration was deeply concerned about the situation and that civilian casualties reported in Jenin were “quite regrettable.” But she also said the Palestinian announcement to suspend security ties was a mistake.

“Obviously, we don’t think this is the right step to take at this moment,” she told reporters, saying the Palestinian vow to bring the matter to the U.N. and the International Criminal Court was problematic.

“We want to see them move back in the other direction,” she said, adding: “They need to engage with each other.”

There have been no serious peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians in well over a decade.

Thursday’s gun battle that left nine dead and 20 wounded erupted when Israel’s military conducted a rare daytime operation in the Jenin camp that it said was meant to prevent an imminent attack on Israelis. The camp, where the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group has a major foothold, has been a focus of near-nightly Israeli arrest raids.

Hamas’ armed wing claimed four of the dead as members, while Islamic Jihad said three others belonged to the group. An earlier statement from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a militia loosely affiliated with Abbas’ secular Fatah party, claimed one of the dead was a fighter named Izz al-Din Salahat, but it was unclear if he was among those seven militants.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the 61-year-old woman killed as Magda Obaid, and the Israeli military said it was looking into reports of her death.

The Israeli military circulated aerial video it said was taken during the battle, showing what appeared to be Palestinians on rooftops hurling stones and firebombs on Israeli forces below. At least one Palestinian can be seen opening fire from a rooftop.

Later in the day, Israeli forces fatally shot a 22-year-old and wounded two others, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, as Palestinians confronted Israeli troops north of Jerusalem to protest Thursday’s raid. Israel’s paramilitary Border Police said they opened fire on Palestinians who launched fireworks at them from close range.

Tensions have soared since Israel stepped up raids in the West Bank last spring, following a series of Palestinian attacks.

Israel’s new national security minister, far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, who seeks to grant legal immunity to Israeli soldiers who shoot Palestinians, posted a video of himself beaming triumphantly and congratulating security forces.

The raid left a trail of destruction in Jenin. A two-story building, apparently the operation’s target, was a charred wreck. The military said it entered the building to detonate explosives.

Palestinian Health Minister May Al-Kaila said paramedics struggled to reach the wounded during the fighting, while Akram Rajoub, the governor of Jenin, said the military prevented emergency workers from evacuating them.

Both accused the military of firing tear gas at the pediatric ward of a hospital, causing children to choke. Video at the hospital showed women carrying children into a corridor.

The military said forces closed roads to aid the operation, which may have complicated rescue efforts, and that tear gas had likely wafted into the hospital from nearby clashes.

The Israeli rights group B’Tselem said Thursday marked the single bloodiest West Bank incursion since 2002, at the height of an intense wave of violence known as the Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, which left scars still visible in Jenin.

“We ask that the international community help the Palestinians against this extremist right-wing government and protect our citizens,” said Rajoub, the Jenin governor.

U.N. Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said he was “deeply alarmed and saddened” by the violence. Condemnations came from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Turkey, which recently reestablished full diplomatic ties with Israel, as well as from neighboring Jordan.

Saudi Arabia criticized the raid, saying it rejected the “serious violations of international law by the Israeli occupation forces.” Qatar, Kuwait and Oman added condemnations.

Tensions over West Bank violence have spilled into Gaza before.

“The response of the resistance to what happened today in Jenin camp will not be delayed,” top Hamas official Saleh Arouri warned on Thursday, hours before the rockets were launched.

The Islamic Jihad branch in the coastal enclave has repeatedly fought against Israel, most recently in a fierce three-day clash last summer that killed dozens of Palestinians and disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis.

Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem last year, making 2022 the deadliest in those territories since 2004, according to B’Tselem. So far this year, 30 Palestinians have been killed.

Israel says most of the dead were militants. But youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in the confrontations also have been killed. So far this year, not including Thursday, one-third of the Palestinians killed by Israeli troops or civilians had ties to armed groups.

Last year, 30 people were killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.

Israel says its raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart attacks. The Palestinians say they further entrench Israel’s 55-year, open-ended occupation of the West Bank, which Israel captured along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians claim those territories for their hoped-for state.

Israel has established dozens of settlements in the West Bank that now house 5,00,000 people. The Palestinians and much of the international community view settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace, even as talks to end the conflict have been moribund for over a decade.

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