Israel-Palestine

In early days of war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas attack, but as the war has dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged

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Israeli warplanes and artillery struck targets in Syria following rare rocket fire from the northeastern neighbour, as Jewish-Muslim tensions reached a peak on Sunday at a volatile Jerusalem shrine with simultaneous religious rituals. Thousands of Jewish worshippers gathered at the city's Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray, for a mass priestly benediction prayer service for the Passover holiday. At the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a walled esplanade above the Western Wall, hundreds of Palestinians performed prayers as part of observances during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Hundreds of Jews also visited the Al-Aqsa compound under heavy police guard Sunday, to whistles and religious chants from Palestinians protesting their presence. Such tours by religious and nationalist Jews have increased in size and frequency over the years, and are viewed with suspicion by many Palestinians who fear that Israel plans one day to take over the site or partition it. Israeli ...

The Israeli military said its forces attacked targets in Syria early Sunday after six rockets were launched from Syrian territory in two batches toward Israel in a rare attack from Israel's northeastern neighbor. After the second barrage of three rockets, Israel initially said it responded with artillery fire into the area in Syria from where the rockets were fired. Later, the military said Israeli fighter jets attacked Syrian army sites, including a compound of Syria's 4th Division and radar and artillery posts. The rocket firings came after days of escalating violence on multiple fronts over tension in Jerusalem and an Israeli police raid on the city's most sensitive holy site. In the second barrage, which was launched early Sunday, two of the rockets crossed the border into Israel, with one being intercepted and the second landing in an open area, the Israeli military said. In the first attack, on Saturday, one rocket landed in a field in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. ...

The Israeli military said three more rockets were launched from Syria toward Israel early Sunday, raising to six the number of missiles fired within hours in a rare attack from Israel's northeastern neighbour. Israel's army said it was retaliating with artillery strikes on the area in Syria from where the rockets were fired at Israel. The rocket firings come after days of escalating violence on multiple fronts over tension in Jerusalem and an Israeli police raid on the city's most sensitive holy site. In the second barrage, two of the rockets crossed the border into Israel, with one being intercepted and the second landing in an open area, the military said. In the first attack, one rocket landed in a field in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Fragments of another destroyed missile fell into Jordanian territory near the Syrian border, Jordan's military reported. There were no reports of casualties. Meanwhile, a Damascus-based Palestinian group loyal to the Syrian regime claimed .

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At least 34 rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanon, of which 25 were successfully intercepted, according to the latest information from the Israeli army

The Israeli military struck targets in the Gaza Strip while Palestinian militants fired barrages of rockets rockets into southern Israel early Friday, with the region edging closer toward war following two days of unrest at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site and a rare rocket attack from neighbouring Lebanon. The fighting comes during a delicate time when Jews are celebrating the Passover holiday and Muslims are marking the Ramadan holy month. Similar tensions spilled over into an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers in 2021. The current round of violence began Wednesday after Israeli police twice raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City. That led Thursday to rocket fire from Gaza and, in a significant escalation, an unusual barrage of nearly three dozen rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his Security Cabinet late Thursday, the military struck what it said were four sites in Gaza belonging to ...

Palestinian militants fired a barrage of rockets early on Thursday, setting off air raid sirens in southern Israel, as violence erupted for the second day in a row during a sensitive period of overlapping holidays. The barrage came after another tense night at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where Israeli police clashed with Muslim worshippers attempting to stay overnight, in defiance of long-standing compromises about management of the compound. The Israeli military said seven rockets launched from the Gaza Strip all exploded in midair. No group claimed responsibility for the barrage. Unrest in the region was less intense than the previous days, but the rocket fire raised fears of a wider conflagration as Jews began the week-long Passover holiday, hundreds of Christians in the Old City gathered for Holy Thursday at the Holy Sepulcher to mark the Last Supper, and Muslims marked the Ramadan holy month. Al-Aqsa is the third-holiest site in Islam and stands o

An Israeli fighter jet downed "an unidentified aircraft" over the Gaza Strip, Israel's military said in a statement

An Israeli good governance group on Sunday asked the country's Supreme Court to punish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allegedly violating a conflict of interest agreement meant to prevent him from dealing with the country's judiciary while he is on trial for corruption. The request by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel intensifies a brewing showdown between Netanyahu's government and the judiciary, which it is trying to overhaul in a contentious plan that has sparked widespread opposition. The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a fierce opponent of the overhaul, asked the court to force Netanyahu to obey the law and sanction him either with a fine or prison time for not doing so, saying he was not above the law. A prime minister who doesn't obey the court and the provisions of the law is privileged and an anarchist, said Eliad Shraga, the head of the group, echoing language used by Netanyahu and his allies against protesting opponents of the overhaul. The

Israeli and Palestinian officials were meeting on Sunday in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh in a bid to ease tensions between the sides and rein in a spiral of violence ahead of a sensitive holiday period beginning this week. But as the talks continued, Israeli officials said two people were wounded, one seriously, in a West Bank shooting attack that immediately raised questions about the prospects for the new talks. The meeting was the second attempt by the sides, shepherded by regional allies Egypt and Jordan as well as the US, to end a year-long spasm of violence that has seen more than 200 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire and more than 40 Israelis or foreigners killed in Palestinian attacks. Whatever progress emerged out of the previous meeting in Jordan late last month, which ended with pledges to de-escalate tensions, was quickly derailed when a new burst of violence erupted on the same day. A Palestinian gunman shot and killed two Israelis in the occupied West

A group of European countries expressed grave concern Saturday that recent violence in the West Bank could derail efforts to rekindle peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians as they called on both sides to restore calm. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain issued a joint statement condemning attacks against both Israelis and Palestinians following an outbreak of violence that left three people dead in the occupied West Bank town of Hawara. These acts can lead nowhere, except to more violence, the European nations said. Those responsible must face full accountability and legal prosecution. All unilateral actions that threaten peace and incitement to violence must cease.'' Scores of Israeli settlers rampaged through Hawara on Feb. 26, 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 one of the worst outbreaks of settler violen

The Israeli military said Palestinian militants fired six rockets from the Gaza Strip toward the country's south early Thursday, hours after an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank triggered a fierce gunbattle in which 11 Palestinians were killed. The rocket attacks, which were not immediately claimed by Palestinian militant groups, appear to be triggered by the Wednesday morning raid in Nablus. The Israeli military said Aar defenses intercepted five of the rockets which were fired toward the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot. One missile landed in an open field. There were no reports of damage or casualties. Among the dead in Nablus were three Palestinian men, ages 72, 66 and 61, and a 16-year-old boy, according to health officials. Scores of others were wounded. It was one of the bloodiest battles in nearly a year of fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and raised the likelihood of further bloodshed. Israeli police said they were on heightened alert, while the Hamas ..

A total of 10 Palestinians were killed and 102 others injured in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry

The Security Council reiterates the obligation of all parties regarding the pursuit of accountability for all acts of violence targeting civilians

A Palestinian teen was killed Tuesday during an Israeli army raid in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank, Palestinian officials said. The death was the latest in an almost year-long surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence that shows no signs of abating. The Israeli military said it carried out raids across the occupied West Bank overnight, and that during an operation in the Faraa refugee camp, a person approached troops with an explosive device. The army said that soldiers shot the person. The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported that local residents clashed with Israeli soldiers, who shot at them. The Palestinian Health Ministry said that Mahmoud Al-Aydi, 17, died from a bullet wound to the head. Tensions have mounted for months as Israel has conducted nightly arrest raids in the West Bank, which were prompted by a spate of Palestinian attacks on Israelis last spring. Some 30 people were killed in Israel by Palestinians in 2022, and at least 12 others died in atta

Tens of thousands of Israelis on Monday protested outside the parliament building in a show of force against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as his government formally launched its contentious plan to overhaul the country's legal system. The boisterous demonstration outside the Knesset, coupled with a stormy committee vote inside the building, appeared to deepen the divisions over Netanyahu's program. The plan has triggered weeks of mass protests, prompted condemnations from wide swaths of Israeli society and drawn a statement of concern from President Joe Biden. Netanyahu and his allies say the country's unelected judges have too much power and need to be reined in. His opponents say that Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, has a deep conflict of interest. They say his planned overhaul will destroy the country's democratic checks and balances and is a poorly disguised plot to make his criminal case go away. Monday's demonstration was the largest to take place in t

Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered Saturday for a weekly demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu government's proposed judicial overhauls, which opponents say threaten Israel's democratic values. The protesters marched at two locations in the central coastal city of Tel Aviv, waving flags and chanting slogans against the justice minister. Doctors fighting for the life of democracy, read a banner raised by a doctor at the Tel Aviv protest. The protest is the fifth against the new government, a coalition of ultra-Orthodox and far-right nationalist parties that took office in December. The government launched proposals to weaken the Supreme Court by giving parliament the power to overturn court decisions with a simple majority vote. It also wants to give parliament control over the appointment of judges and reduce the independence of legal advisers. Smaller protests were reported in several Israeli cities.

'The matter is very simple. Blinken came here to pressure the Palestinian leadership to not adopt any decision against the security cooperation with Israel'