Israel-Palestinian conflict

4th Filipino casualty in Israel: Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo reports that another Filipino died in the ongoing conflict in Israel. Manalo has yet to name the fourth Filipino casualty in the ongoing war. 

"I regret to inform the nation that we have received confirmation from the Israeli government of another Filipino casualty in Israel," Manalo says.

"Out of respect for the wishes of the family, we shall be withholding details on the identity of the victim. But we have assured the family of the Government’s full support and assistance," he adds.  — Rosette Adel.

Israel denies reports of "ceasefire" in Gaza, according to the prime minister's office. —Agence France-Presse

The US embassy says it has organized a ship to take Americans out of Israel to Cyprus on Monday.

With Israel moving toward an invasion of the Gaza Strip, the ship will leave from the Israeli port of Haifa for Limassol taking "US nationals and their immediate family members with a valid travel document", the US embassy said in a security alert Sunday.

Tens of thousands of US passport holders live in Israel and 29 have been confirmed killed in the Hamas attacks on October 7. Another 15 are missing and believed to be among hostages held by Hamas since the attacks. — AFP

The Department of Foreign Affairs announces that the government has raised Alert Level 4 in Gaza, which means evacuation for Filipinos there is now mandatory.

The World Health Organization says that forcing thousands of hospital patients to evacuate to already overflowing hospitals in the southern Gaza Strip could be "tantamount to a death sentence".

Israel has warned Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive against Hamas, one week after the deadliest attack in Israel's history.

"WHO strongly condemns Israel's repeated orders for the evacuation of 22 hospitals treating more than 2,000 inpatients in northern Gaza," the UN health agency says in a statement. — AFP

Egypt and Israel have agreed to let US citizens leave the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing on Saturday as Israel carries out strikes against Hamas, a US official said.

The two US partners agreed to keep the sole crossing from Gaza to Egypt open from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm (0900-1400 GMT), said a US official accompanying Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a regional tour, and adding that Qatar spoke with Hamas to encourage cooperation. -- AFP

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 324 people in the past 24 hours alone, including 126 children, the Hamas-controlled health ministry said.

There were 88 women among those killed, it said, adding that 1,018 were wounded over that period. -- AFP

The Israeli army said Saturday it was "very sorry" for the death of a Reuters journalist killed when caught up in cross-border shelling along the frontier with Lebanon.

"We are very sorry for the journalist's death," military spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters when asked about the killing of the Reuters videographer on Friday. The Israeli military did not acknowledge responsibility, however. "We are looking into it," Hecht said of the incident in which six other journalists, including two from AFP, were also injured. -- AFP

Israel army says 'terrorists' killed in foiled entry from Lebanon. -- AFP

A senior military commander of Hamas who headed the Islamist group's aerial operations in Gaza City has been killed in Israeli air strikes, the military said Saturday.

Murad Abu Murad was killed over the past day when fighter jets struck an operational centre of Hamas from where the group carried out its "aerial activity", the military said. There was no immediate confirmationfrom Hamas. -- AFP

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Saturday that a plan by Israel to evacuate more than one million people out of northern Gaza in a single day was "utterly impossible to implement".

Israel warned residents in the area to evacuate before an expected ground offensive against Hamas in retaliation for the deadliest attack in Israel's history.

"I am saying that, representing the official position of the European Union,... (the evacuation plan) is utterly, utterly impossible to implement," Borrell told a press conference in Beijing on the final day of a three-day diplomatic visit to China. -- AFP

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said Friday it would be "fully prepared" to join its Palestinian ally Hamas in the war against Israel when the time is right.

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem spoke as Hamas and Israel traded heavy fire for a seventh day, after hundreds of Hamas gunmen stormed across the border from Gaza into Israel on Saturday and killed more than 1,300 people, most of them civilians.

Israel has retaliated by bombarding Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 1,900 people, also mostly civilians and including more than 600 children, according to the Palestinian health ministry. -- AFP

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations called for a "humanitarian cease-fire" in the Gaza Strip and Israel on Friday, while blaming the United States for the ongoing conflict.

The Russian draft resolution, presented to the Security Council and seen by AFP, calls for an "immediate" ceasefire and the secure release of all hostages, and "strongly condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism."

The document did not specifically name Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza and on Saturday burst through the heavily militarized border into Israel and killed 1,300 people, mostly civilians. -- AFP

Thousands of Palestinians fled to southern Gaza in search of refuge on Saturday after Israel warned them to evacuate before an expected ground offensive against Hamas in retaliation for the deadliest attack in Israel's history.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that nearly a week of fierce bombardment was "just the beginning" as Israel seeks to retaliate against Hamas after their fighters killed more than 1,300 nearly a week ago.

Israeli ground forces made "localised" raids into Gaza in the last 24 hours "to cleanse the area of terrorists and weaponry" and try to find "missing persons", the army said. -- AFP

The World Health Organization reports that the Palestinian health ministry has told them it would be impossible to move vulnerable hospital patients to the south of the Gaza Strip.

"The Palestinian Ministry of Health has informed WHO that is impossible to evacuate vulnerable hospital patients from the north of Gaza," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic tells reporters in Geneva, following Israel's call for 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza to relocate to the south of the territory within 24 hours. —Agence France-Press

At least 13 Israeli and foreign hostages held in the northern Gaza Strip have been killed in Israeli air strikes in the past 24 hours, Hamas's armed wing says Friday.

"Thirteen prisoners... including foreigners" were killed in five locations targeted by Israeli fighter jets, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades says in a statement. — AFP

Beijing's foreign ministry says that three Chinese nationals have been killed in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"To my understanding it has currently been confirmed that three Chinese nationals were unfortunately killed in the conflict," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin tells reporters.

In addition, he says, "two people are uncontactable and a number were injured". — AFP

Palestinian militant group Hamas claim to have released an Israeli woman and her two children it said had been detained during fighting with Israeli forces, but Israeli television networks rejected the announcement.

The Israeli army when contacted says it was checking the claim. — AFP

The Philippines on Wednesday condemns the killing of two Filipinos as a result of Hamas actions against Israel.

“The Philippines is ready to work with other countries towards a long-lasting resolution to the conflict, in accordance with pertinent UN Security Council Resolutions and the general principles of international law,” Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo says.

“The Philippine government will continue to provide all possible assistance to distressed Filipinos nationals in Israel and Palestine.”

Israel says it had largely secured the Gaza border and was evacuating nearby towns where the bodies of 1,500 Hamas militants had been recovered by Tuesday after days of gruelling battles outside the Palestinian enclave.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israel's military campaign following Saturday's surprise onslaught was only the start of a sustained war to destroy Hamas and "change the Middle East".

Fears of a regional conflagration have surged amid expectations of a looming Israeli ground incursion into Gaza, the crowded enclave from where Hamas launched its land, air and sea attack on the Jewish Sabbath. —  AFP

President Joe Biden says Monday that 11 Americans are dead and others are likely being held hostage by the Palestinian militant group Hamas after a surprise attack on Israel using what a US official called "ISIS-level savagery."

As fears grew that the conflict could turn into a regional conflagration, the White House said there was no intention to put US boots on the ground but warned Iran and other actors not to get involved.

Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Britain meanwhile pledged their support for their ally Israel to defend itself as the death toll there rose to 800, while in Gaza, 687 people have died. — AFP

More than 700 Israelis have been killed since Hamas launched its large-scale attack on Israel, according to an updated toll from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Monday.

They also say 2,150 Israelis had been wounded in the attack, which was launched on Saturday morning. The IDF posted the figures on its official account on X, formerly Twitter. — AFP

With its surprise attack against Israel, Hamas has violently shifted the world's eyes back to the Palestinians and dealt a severe blow to momentum to secure a landmark US-brokered deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The Iranian-backed Islamist militants who run the impoverished, blockaded Gaza Strip on Saturday fired thousands of rockets and infiltrated forces into Israel, 50 years after Arab states' assault on Israel during the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel was at war. Just weeks earlier he had brushed aside the Palestinian issue during a speech at the United Nations and said normalization in 2020 with three other Arab nations in the so-called Abraham Accords had "heralded a new age of peace." — AFP

The Philippine Embassy in Israel announces that it will be closed beginning Sunday due to the current "security situation" amid the Palestinian attacks on Israel.

In an advisory, the embassy says Filipinos must contact its emergency numbers +972-54-4661188. — Rosette Adel

Italy says Saturday it backed "Israel's right to defend itself" against the "brutal attack" underway after hundreds of rockets were fired on its territory from Gaza.

The government says it "condemns in the strongest terms the terror and the violence underway against innocent civilians", adding: "We back the right of Israel to defend itself". -- AFP

Barrages of rockets were fired from the blockaded Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least one person in Israel, an AFP journalist and medics said.

Rockets streamed across the sky repeatedly after the first launches from multiple locations across Gaza at 06:30 am (0330 GMT), the AFP journalist reported.

The Israeli army warned of sirens across the country's south and central areas, urging the public to stay near bomb shelters. -- AFP

Dozens of rockets were fired from the blockaded Gaza Strip towards Israel on Saturday, an AFP journalist in the Palestinian territory said, as sirens warning of incoming fire blared in Israel.

The rocket fire was launched from multiple locations in Gaza starting at 06:30 am (0330 GMT), the AFP journalist reported.

The Israeli army warned of sirens across the country's south for more than an hour, urging the public to stay near bomb shelters. -- AFP

A Palestinian was shot dead Wednesday in a village in the occupied West Bank that was attacked by Israelis, the Palestinian health ministry and a resident say.

"A martyr arrived at the Palestine Medical Complex from Turmus Ayya after being shot in the chest," the ministry says in a statement.

A resident of Turmus Ayya told AFP around "200 settlers" attacked the Palestinian village, while AFP journalists in the village saw scorched homes, buildings and wounded people being evacuated by ambulance. — AFP

Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians in a large-scale operation Monday in the occupied West Bank that the army labelled an "extensive counterterrorism effort," involving air strikes and hundreds of troops.

The raid, launched under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right government, targeted the northern city of Jenin and was the biggest in the West Bank for years, featuring armoured vehicles, army bulldozers and drones. — AFP

The number of Palestinians killed in an Israeli army operation in the occupied West Bank area of Jenin has increased to five, the Palestinian health ministry announces.

"The number of martyrs has risen to five," the ministry says in a statement. — AFP

The Israeli army says it was striking targets in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin in an "extensive counterterrorism effort" that the Palestinian health ministry said had killed one resident and injured another.

The city of Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp are a regular site of confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.

"One citizen was killed and another seriously injured in the occupation (Israeli) bombing of Jenin," the Palestinian health ministry said. 

The Israeli army said its forces had struck a "joint operations center", which it claimed served as a command post for the "Jenin Brigade", a local militant group. — AFP

The new outbreak of violence in the occupied West Bank could spiral out of control, the UN human rights chief warns.

This week, at least 18 people have been killed in the territory -- in incursions by the Israeli military or attacks by Palestinians or Jewish settlers.

"These latest killings and the violence, along with the inflammatory rhetoric, serve only to drive Israelis and Palestinians deeper into an abyss," Volker Turk said in a statement.

So far this year, more than 200 people have died in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the vast majority of them Palestinians. — AFP

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian army accused of throwing petrol bombs near the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem late Monday, Palestinian officials say.

Zakaria Mohammed al-Zaoul, 20, was "martyred by live occupation (Israeli) bullets to the head, in the town of Husan", the Palestinian health ministry said.

The Israeli military said troops were "on routine activity" in the city, south of Jerusalem, when "a suspect hurled Molotov cocktails" at them.

"The soldiers responded with live fire. A hit was identified," the statement added. — AFP

Israelis started reviving a flashpoint outpost settlement in the occupied West Bank on Monday, AFP journalists said, constructing a building at the site which has drawn international attention.

Using a truck, diggers and an earth roller, work got underway to erect a portable building at the northern West Bank site.

AFP journalists saw Israeli soldiers guarding around 20 people carrying out construction work at the Homesh site, which Israel evacuated nearly two decades ago.

The latest development comes weeks after the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged his government had no plans to reconstruct the site, after a parliamentary vote on the matter sparked ire abroad. — AFP

Three Palestinian fighters were killed in an overnight Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian sources.

In a statement Monday, the Palestinian health ministry identified the three men killed in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus as Muhammad Abu Zaytoun (32), Fathi Abu Rizk (30) and Abdullah Abu Hamdan (24).

The Israeli army did not immediately comment when contacted by AFP. — AFP

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound Sunday, a controversial move by the extreme-right politician amid heightened tensions in annexed east Jerusalem.

The move came three days after Ben-Gvir and tens of thousands of Jewish nationalists marched through the Old City and just over a week into a fragile Gaza ceasefire.

"Jerusalem is our soul," Ben-Gvir wrote on Telegram, alongside a photo of himself at the site in the heart of the Old City. 

"The threats of Hamas will not deter us, I went up to the Temple Mount!" he wrote, using the Jewish name for the site. — AFP

A ceasefire was in effect on the Gaza Strip Sunday, drawing people back into the streets after five days of cross-border exchanges killed at least 34 Palestinians and one Israeli.

The truce got off to a rough start after the final 30 minutes running up to the expected Saturday 10:00 pm (1900 GMT) deadline saw a volley of fire. 

Dozens of rockets were launched from Gaza towards Israel, prompting renewed air strikes, AFP correspondents in the territory said.

Most of the rockets were intercepted by Israeli air defences. — AFP

Israeli air strikes on Gaza killed three Islamic Jihad militant group leaders and 10 others, including several children, Tuesday, officials in the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory say. 

Islamic Jihad vowed to "avenge" the deaths in the pre-dawn raid involving some 40 Israeli aircraft, which hit targets in the crowded coastal territory for nearly two hours from just after 2:00 am (2300 GMT Monday). 

The Gaza health ministry said four children were among those killed and 20 people were wounded, some of them in serious or critical condition, in the attacks which left buildings ablaze and reduced others to rubble. — AFP

Israel launched pre-dawn air strikes on Tuesday against the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, its military announces, with the health ministry of the Hamas-controlled territory saying nine people were killed.

The ministry said that women and children were among the dead, but did not give further details as to the identity of the victims.

An AFP journalist in Gaza saw the top of a building on fire after the strikes as well as ambulances evacuating the victims.

The Israeli army said it had targeted three leaders of Islamic Jihad, which it considers a terrorist organisation. In statements, it identified the targets as Jihad Ghannam and Khalil Al-Bahtani in the Gaza Strip, and Tareq Ezzdine in the West Bank. — AFP

Israeli forces on Sunday demolished a Palestinian primary school in the occupied West Bank, citing safety issues and drawing sharp criticism from the European Union which had funded the project.

Palestinians hurled rocks at Israeli forces who fired tear gas at them as bulldozers moved in on the site at Jabbet al-Dhib village near Bethlehem.

The EU said it was "appalled" after Israeli forces arrived at dawn at the school site, which a Palestinian Authority official said served 45 students and consisted of five classrooms. — AFP

Israel says its security forces shot dead three Palestinians blamed for killing a British-Israeli woman and two of her daughters last month, in a raid in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.

Two suspects in the killings and a third man accused of helping them were killed in a joint operation in Nablus by the army, police and Shin Bet security service, a statement says.

The three men were identified as the "murderers of Leah, Maia and Rina Dee" who died after the April 7 attack on their vehicle near Hamra in the Jordan Valley, the Shin Bet says, using the women's Hebrew names.

The army said troops recovered two M-16 rifles and an AK-47 from the apartment where the suspects were holed up. — AFP

Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank arrested a Palestinian teenager suspected of wounding two Israelis in a shooting in annexed east Jerusalem, the army says.

Special military and police forces operating in Nablus overnight "apprehended within a few minutes the terrorist who carried out the shooting attack in Jerusalem yesterday", an army statement says.

The suspect, who is from the Askar refugee camp near Nablus, "linked himself to the incident during the initial inquiry", the army said, adding that he was being held by the Shin Bet internal security service for further questioning. — AFP

Israeli forces killed one Palestinian in a raid on a refugee camp near Jericho in the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Palestinian health ministry says.

The Israeli army says its forces were operating in the Aqabat Jaber camp near Jericho, without providing further details.

In a brief statement, the Palestinian ministry confirmed that one person had been killed "by occupation (Israeli) bullets in Jericho". — AFP

A rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Saturday, the Israeli army and witnesses say.

After sirens sounded in the community of Kibbutz Nahal Oz, close to the border, an army statement says: "One rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory".

It "fell in an open area" and Israel's missile defence systems were not deployed, the statement adds.

Witnesses in Gaza told AFP they saw a single rocket fired from inside the coastal enclave, which is ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the launch from any of the militant groups operating in Gaza. — AFP

Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinian gunmen after they fired at troops in the occupied northern West Bank near Nablus, the army says, as violence in the region continued.

The military says that "gunmen opened fire" at an army position near the Jit junction west of Nablus, with the soldiers responding with "live fire".

"Three armed gunmen were neutralised during the exchange of fire and an additional armed gunman surrendered himself to the forces," the army says in a statement, noting none of the Israeli forces were wounded in the clash.

The soldiers, members of the elite infantry Golani reconnaissance unit, grabbed three M-16 rifles and a pistol used by the Palestinians, the army says. — AFP

Three Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry says, with an Israeli official saying they had opened fire first.

The Palestinian ministry has announced the "martyrdom" of three men shot by Israeli forces in Jaba, near the flashpoint northern city of Jenin.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir praised special police forces for "taking out the despicable terrorists, who opened fire at our fighters". — AFP

France on Monday condemned an attack by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, saying "violence against Palestinian civilians is unacceptable".

France "strongly condemns" the attack  targeting a town where two Israeli brothers were killed, the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that there was a rick that the situation in the West Bank could "deteriorate out of control". -- AFP

An Israeli army raid killed 11 Palestinians including a teenager Wednesday in Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry says, in the deadliest escalation in the occupied West Bank since 2005.

More than 80 Palestinians suffered gunshot wounds, the Palestinian ministry says, in what the Israeli army called a "counter-terrorism" operation, spurring international concern and calls for calm.

Top Palestinian official Hussein Al Sheikh decried the incursion as a "massacre" and called for "international protection for our people".

The Israeli army said the raid targeted militant suspects "in a hideout apartment" accused of shootings in the West Bank. It added troops came under live fire but suffered no casualties. — AFP

A 16-year-old Palestinian died Monday from his wounds almost two weeks after being shot in the head by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says.

The ministry announced the death of "Montaser Mohammad Theeb Shawa, 16, of his wounds, which he sustained two weeks ago by the occupation (Israeli) bullets in Balata camp" in Nablus in the northern West Bank.

The statement adds that the "bullet penetrated his head".

Medical sources at the Rafidia hospital in Nablus said Shawa had been shot on February 8.

The Israeli army said in a statement that "on the evening of February 8... armed gunmen fired at soldiers" who secured Jewish worshippers at Joseph's Tomb, a contested religious site near the Balata refugee camp. — AFP

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and separately with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, reaffirming US support for a "two-state solution" in the region and asking the two to "restore calm."

Blinken spoke by telephone with both men to reaffirm US commitment to "a negotiated two-state solution and opposition to policies that endanger its viability," State Department spokesman Ned Price says.

"The Secretary underscored the urgent need for Israelis and Palestinians to take steps that restore calm and our strong opposition to unilateral measures that would further escalate tensions."

That message followed a decision by Israel's new hard-right government to give retroactive permission to multiple settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank -- a move that drew nearly unanimous criticism among major powers including the United States. — AFP

Israel hit Gaza with air strikes on Monday in response to a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave at the weekend, the army says, as unrest persisted in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent says one person was killed in a pre-dawn Israeli army raid in Nablus in the northern West Bank, the scene of near-relentless violence over the past year.

The army did not immediately comment on the Nablus raid.

But in Gaza, it says it had struck "an underground complex containing raw materials used for the manufacturing of rockets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation". — AFP

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager Sunday in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says, with the army reporting they came under fire during a raid.

The ministry reports that 14-year-old Qusai Radwan Waked died "as a result of being seriously wounded in the abdomen by live fire from the occupation (Israel)" in Jenin, a city in the northern West Bank.

The army says Israeli forces were shot at while they were trying to arrest an alleged Palestinian militant, while "explosive devices and rocks" were also thrown at them.

"We are aware of the reports regarding a number of armed individuals who got injured during the exchange of fire," an army statement says, adding that no troops were hurt. — AFP

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry says.

The ministry announced the death of Hamza Amjad al-Ashqar, 17, who was "killed by a bullet in the face fired by the occupation (Israeli) soldiers during the aggression on Nablus."

The Israeli army says it was "checking" the details of the incident.

A Palestinian security source, who was not authorised to speak to the media, says Ashqar was from the city's Askar refugee camp.

Three people were arrested during the Israeli raid on the city, the source adds. — AFP

Israeli forces seeking to arrest suspects from a recent shooting attack killed on Monday "a number" of armed men during a gunfight in the Palestinian city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank, the army says.

According to the Palestinian health ministry, "three citizens were shot by the Israeli occupation during the attack on Jericho," one of them in critical condition.

The Israeli army says in a statement that "a number of armed assailants were killed after firing toward IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers who were operating in the area."

The army did not say how many people were killed in the Aqabat Jabr camp at the entrance to the city. It reported no casualties among its forces. — AFP

Israel conducted air strikes on the central Gaza Strip early Thursday, according to AFP journalists and witnesses, hours after intercepting a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory. 

New rounds of rockets were fired from Gaza after these strikes, and fresh explosions could be heard from Gaza City at around 3:15 am (0115 GMT). 

In a statement issued at 02:41 (0041 GMT), the Israeli army confirmed it was "striking in the Gaza Strip". 

According to local security sources and witnesses, the first strikes -- at least seven -- hit a training centre of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. The centre is located in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. 

A second round of air strikes by the Israeli army targeted the al-Qassam Brigades' training centre southwest of Gaza City, according to local security sources. — AFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to meet Palestinian leaders Tuesday for his final stop on a Middle East tour aimed at curbing the worst outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence in years. 

After a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Blinken urged both sides to take "urgent steps" to calm tensions and said Washington would work to "restore a sense of security" craved by "Israelis and Palestinians alike".

Israel is reeling from an attack Friday that killed seven civilians outside a synagogue in annexed east Jerusalem, a day after the deadliest army raid in years in the occupied West Bank claimed 10 Palestinian lives.

After landing in Israel on Monday, Blinken also criticised Palestinians who celebrated the funeral attack, saying: "We condemn all those who celebrate... acts of terrorism, that take innocent lives."

He also appeared to chastise Israelis blamed for dozens of incidents of reprisal violence following Friday's shooting in an east Jerusalem settler neighbourhood. — AFP

The Israeli security cabinet announced measures to revoke certain rights of "terrorist families" after two attacks in east Jerusalem, one of which killed seven people near a synagogue.

Meeting late Saturday, the security cabinet "decided on a series of steps to ... exact a price from terrorists and those who support them," according to a statement.

It announced the revocation of the rights to social security of "the families of terrorists that support terrorism" and a discussion on Sunday by the council of ministers of a bill to revoke their Israeli identity cards.

At the start of the meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a "strong" and "swift" response to the Palestinian attacks over the past two days. — AFP

Israel has launched air strikes on Gaza in response to militant rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave, as tensions rose following the deadliest army raid on the occupied West Bank in years.

Israel said it had carried out at least two rounds of strikes targeting Hamas Islamists, following waves of rocket launches towards southern Israel. 

There were no reported injuries on either side and most of the Gaza rockets were intercepted by Israel's air defence system. 

No Palestinian group in Gaza has claimed responsibility for the rockets, but both Hamas and Islamic Jihad had vowed to respond to Thursday's Israeli raid in the West Bank, which killed nine people. — AFP

Some 40 countries have called on Israel to lift sanctions it imposed on the Palestinian Authority earlier this month over its push to get the UN's top court to issue an advisory opinion on the Israeli occupation.

On December 30, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution requesting an opinion from the International Court of Justice on the issue of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

In retaliation, Israel announced a series of sanctions, including financial ones, on January 6 against the Palestinian Authority to make it "pay the price" for pushing for the resolution.

In a statement to journalists, some 40 United Nations member states, reaffirming their "unwavering support" for the ICJ and international law, expressed "deep concern regarding the Israeli government's decision to impose punitive measures against the Palestinian people, leadership and civil society following the request by the General Assembly" to the court.

"Regardless of each country's position on the resolution, we reject punitive measures in response to a request for an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, and more broadly in response to a General Assembly resolution, and call for their immediate reversal," the members say. — AFP

Past the sandbags and anti-tank obstacles in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, theatre director Mustafa Sheta ponders the fate of Palestinian thespians.

"We are under a very abnormal situation," Sheta told AFP at the camp's Freedom Theatre.

The streets were silent that December day as residents had called a public strike to protest Israeli forces killing a 16-year-old Palestinian girl in Jenin hours earlier.

With Israeli forces raiding Jenin repeatedly in recent months, engaging in gunfights with Palestinian militants, the Freedom Theatre's ability to provide residents with respite is under growing strain.

In 2011, the theatre's well-known Israeli-Palestinian director Juliano Mer-Khamis was gunned down in Jenin's refugee camp, in an attack that remains unsolved.

Other Palestinian cultural institutions across the West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem or Israel also face many obstacles.

"It's not like you have a clear plan in your schedule... you need to prepare for different scenarios," said Sheta, 42. -- AFP

Israeli and Palestinian envoys to the United Nations trade heated barbs at a Security Council meeting over the controversial visit by an Israeli minister to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, calls the session "pathetic" and "absurd" while the Palestinian envoy accuses the Jewish state of acting "with absolute contempt."

The 15-member Council discussed the visit, which has enraged Palestinians, at UN headquarters in New York following a request by the United Arab Emirates and China.

Ahead of the session, Israel's permanent representative to the world body, Gilad Erdan, tells reporters there was "absolutely no reason" for the meeting to be held.

"To hold a Security Council session on a non-event is truly absurd," he says. — AFP

The Israeli army killed a Palestinian child Thursday in the West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry said, where armed clashes broke out between militants and Israeli forces.

The health ministry announced "Amer Abu Zeitoun, 16, was killed by a bullet in the head fired by the occupation (Israeli) soldiers during the aggression on Nablus at dawn today".

The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request by AFP to comment on the overnight operation.

In a statement the Lions' Den, a local Palestinian militant group, said its fighters had been involved in the overnight clashes in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus.

Zeitoun is the fourth Palestinian killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the start of the year. — AFP

The Israeli army killed two Palestinians in a West Bank raid on Monday, Palestinian officials said, as it demolished the homes of two Palestinians accused of killing an Israeli soldier.

The Palestinian health ministry announced the deaths of "Mohammad Samer Hoshieh, 22, after being shot in the chest, and Fuad Mohammad Abed, 25, after being shot in the abdomen and thigh" during a raid by the Israeli army in Jenin.

Israeli soldiers had entered the village of Kafr Dan in Jenin "in order to demolish the residences of the assailants who were involved in the shooting adjacent to the Gilboa (Jalame) Crossing, in which Major Bar Falah was killed," Israel's military said

The army gave no immediate comment on the deaths. — AFP

A teenage Palestinian girl was found shot dead on the roof of her house after an Israeli raid in the occupied West bank, official Palestinian sources said Monday.

Israel's army said troops had exchanged fire with suspects in the area. 

Without commenting specifically, the army said it was "aware of reports regarding a killed Palestinian female" and the incident "is under review".

The Palestinian health ministry identified the girl as Jana Zakarna, who lived in Jenin, a city in the northern West Bank that is home to many militants and has been targeted by near daily Israeli operations since March. 

The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, said Zakarna, 16, was "shot in the head by Israeli soldiers while on the roof of her house."  — AFP

Israeli troops killed three Palestinians on Thursday in their latest deadly raid on the flashpoint city of Jenin, Palestinian health officials said, as violence surges in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces have made near-daily raids across the territory in recent months, many of them deadly, following a series of lethal attacks on Israelis.

The Palestinian health ministry said three people were killed "by bullets from the Israeli occupation during its aggression in Jenin at dawn today".

The Israeli military said troops entered Jenin to detain people "suspected of involvement in terrorist activity".

"The soldiers operated while being targeted with direct fire and responded with live fire," the army said in a statement. — AFP

Officials say the body of an Israeli killed in a car accident was "taken" by Palestinian militants from a West Bank Hospital Tuesday, as a teenager was killed in clashes between the army and militants.

The Israeli army say the body of an 18-year-old Israeli-Druze who died in a "serious road accident" in the West Bank was "taken" from a hospital in Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian militant factions in the north of the occupied West Bank.

Local sources tell AFP the body was in the hands of an armed group. — AFP

Israeli troops killed a Palestinian on Wednesday after he seriously injured a soldier with a van, authorities said, as votes were counted in an Israeli general election.

The army said the man was "neutralised" in the shooting at the Maccabim checkpoint, near the Israeli town of Modiin. The Palestinian health ministry later confirmed he had been killed.

"The assailant got out of his vehicle with an axe to attack the officer, who fired at the attacker and neutralised him," the army said. "The officer was seriously injured and taken to hospital."

The Palestinian health ministry identified the dead man as Habas Rayan, 54. — AFP

Four Palestinians were killed and nearly 20 others injured early Tuesday in raids by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry says. 

"There are three dead and 19 wounded, three of them seriously, by Israeli fire in Nablus," the ministry says in a brief statement referring to a city in the occupied West Bank. 

The ministry later reported that another Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire, this time in Ramallah, home to the Palestinian Authority's headquarters in the central West Bank.

The Israeli army confirmed in a joint statement with police and intelligence agencies that they had conducted a large-scale night operation in Nablus, raiding a "hideout apartment... that was used as a headquarters and explosives manufacturing site". — AFP  

Amnesty International has called for an International Criminal Court (ICC) probe into possible war crimes committed in August by both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants during deadly fighting in Gaza.

Thirty-one civilians were among the 49 Palestinians killed in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip during the three-day conflict, the global rights group said in a new report.

The London-based organisation pressed the ICC to "urgently investigate any apparent war crimes committed during the August 2022 Israeli offensive" in the Palestinian enclave.

"Amnesty International has collected and analysed new evidence of unlawful attacks, including possible war crimes, committed by both Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups," it says. — AFP

A Palestinian was shot dead and at least two others wounded Wednesday by Israeli forces during an operation near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Alaa Zaghal, 21, "died of a bullet wound to the head fired by the occupation (Israeli) army", a statement read.

Two journalists were also hurt during the clashes, an AFP journalist at the scene witnessed.

Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, said the two journalists were employees of state television network Palestine TV. — AFP

A Palestinian man died Sunday of an Israeli army gunshot wound sustained during clashes the day before in a village of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Two Palestinians were critically wounded by gunfire in the clashes Saturday in Qarawat Bani Hassan, near the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank, according to the ministry.

It said Mujahed Dawood, 30, died in hospital of his injuries.

The army said in a statement that "suspects hurled rocks" at soldiers who responded to "a violent riot" with live fire.

More than 100 Palestinian fighters and civilians have been killed since the start of the year, the heaviest toll in the West Bank for nearly seven years, according to the United Nations.

Violence has surged amid near daily West Bank raids and a rise in attacks on Israeli troops. -- AFP

Two Palestinians were killed Friday during an Israeli raid in the flashpoint city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

"Two martyrs arrived at the Jenin government hospital," the ministry said, as the Israeli military announced an ongoing operation in the city's refugee camp.

The army did not immediately comment on the deaths when contacted by AFP. — AFP

Israeli forces were hunting the assailant behind an attack that killed a soldier at an east Jerusalem checkpoint, authorities said Sunday, hours after two Palestinian teenagers were shot dead in an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank. 

The Israeli army said a soldier had been "killed as a result of being critically injured by a shooting attack" that police said had taken place at a checkpoint in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem near Shuafat Palestinian refugee camp.

The soldier was identified by the army as Noa Lazar, 18. She had served in the military police.

Another Israeli, a 30-year-old man, was taken to Hadassah hospital in serious condition after being shot in the head, the medical centre said in a statement.

Two additional border police officers were lightly wounded by shrapnel, police said. — AFP

Two Palestinians were shot dead Monday by Israeli forces during an operation near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The ministry was informed of the "martyrdom of two citizens (whose identities are not yet known), after the occupation opened fire on them, near Jalazun refugee camp," it said in a statement.

The Israeli army said it had "neutralised" two "suspects" after they "attempted to carry out a ramming attack against IDF soldiers". — AFP

Two Palestinians were shot dead Monday by Israeli forces during an operation near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says.

The ministry was informed of the "martyrdom of two citizens (whose identities are not yet known), after the occupation opened fire on them, near Jalazun refugee camp," it says in a statement.

The Israeli army said it had "neutralised" two "suspects" after they "attempted to carry out a ramming attack against IDF soldiers". — AFP

An Israeli raid targeting alleged militants in a West Bank flashpoint killed three Palestinians Wednesday, including the brother of a man blamed for a deadly attack in Tel Aviv.

The violence was the latest to hit Jenin, in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, an area that has seen near daily clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen since an escalation that began in March. 

The Palestinian health ministry recorded three dead and 44 wounded by live fire in the latest Israeli operation.

Among them was Abed Hazem, whose brother Raad was named as the killer of three Israelis in a shooting spree in Tel Aviv's busy nightlife district in April.

Raad Hazem was shot dead after a massive Israeli manhunt. Israeli forces have been pursuing Abed and Raad's father Fathi for months. 

The army only immediately confirmed two deaths during an operation it said targeted "two suspects involved in a number of recent shooting attacks". -- AFP

A Palestinian teenager was killed Thursday during clashes with the Israeli army near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, medical sources say.

Uday Salah, 17, was "killed by a bullet to the head fired by the Israeli occupation soldiers in Kafr Dan, Jenin governorate", the Palestinian health ministry says.

The Israeli army says its forces were "mapping out the homes of the terrorists who killed Major Bar Falah and arresting suspects throughout the West Bank".

Falah was killed on Wednesday in clashes near the Jalameh checkpoint, north of Jenin, which also killed Palestinians Ahmed Abed and Abdul Rahman Abed. — AFP

An Israeli soldier and two Palestinians were killed in clashes early Wednesday near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, an area hit by waves of recent deadly unrest.

Israel's army said a major "was killed overnight during operational activity adjacent to the Gilboa Crossing during an exchange of fire with Palestinian terrorists".

The Palestinian health ministry confirmed "the martyrdom of the two young men" in clashes near the checkpoint known to Palestinians as Jalameh, north of Jenin.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa identified the dead Palestinians as Ahmed Ayman Ibrahim Abed, 23, and Abdul Rahman Hani Subhi Abed, 22, originally from the village of Kufr Dan outside Jenin.

The Jalameh checkpoint is a major throughfare for goods coming into the West Bank from Israel. -- AFP

An Israeli soldier and two Palestinians were killed in clashes early Wednesday near a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, the army and the Palestinian health ministry say.

"An IDF (army) officer was killed overnight during operational activity adjacent to the Gilboa Crossing during an exchange of fire with Palestinian terrorists," an army statement says.

The Palestinian health ministry confirms "the martyrdom of the two young men" in clashes near the checkpoint known to Palestinians as Jalameh, north of Jenin.

Palestinian official news agency Wafa identifies the dead Palestinians as Ahmed Ayman Ibrahim Abed, 23, and Abdul Rahman Hani Subhi Abed, 22. — AFP

A 19 year-old Palestinian was shot dead by the Israeli army early Monday in Qabatiya, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

"Taher Mohamed Zakarneh was shot dead by the occupation (Israeli) bullets in Qabatiya," a Palestinian health ministry statement said.

He died after being "hospitalised with a bullet to the head, a bullet to the right foot, a bullet to the left thigh, and burns", the statement added.

The Israeli army said it had "conducted counterterrorism activity in the city of Jenin and in the town of Qabatiya and apprehended five wanted individuals suspected of terrorist activity".

"During the activity, violent riots were instigated. The rioters hurled rocks, explosive devices and Molotov cocktails at the forces and shots were heard in the area," the statement added.

"The soldiers responded with live fire, hits were identified," it said. — AFP

The Hamas Islamist movement ruling the Gaza Strip announced on Sunday that it executed five Palestinians, including two for "collaboration" with Israel.

The executions for collaboration are the first carried out in the coastal Palestinian enclave for more than five years.

"On Sunday morning, the death sentence was carried out against two condemned over collaboration with the occupation (Israel), and three others in criminal cases," Hamas said in a statement.

It added that the defendants had previously been given "their full rights to defend themselves".

Hamas's interior ministry provided the initials and years of birth of the five executed Palestinians, but did not give their full names.

The two executed over "collaboration" with Israel were two men born in 1978 and 1968. — AFP

Israeli security forces said they had killed a Palestinian man who had tried to stab their officers during a home raid in east Jerusalem early Monday.

"A suspect who tried to stab our fighters was neutralised," police said, adding that the man, identified by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA as Mohammed al-Shaham, 21, had died in an Israeli military hospital.

Jerusalem Border Police had launched the raid to locate weapons in Kafr Aqab village, which is part of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem but located on the West Bank side of the security barrier.

The man's father, Ibrahim al-Shaham, said border police had "shot his son in the head at point-blank range," according to WAFA.

The father claimed the officers had "then left him bleeding on the ground for 40 minutes before arresting him and later announcing his death," WAFA reported.

Police did not say whether they found any weapons in the house. -- AFP

Seven people were injured, two of them critically, after a shooting attack on a bus in Jerusalem's Old City, Israeli police and medics said early Sunday.

"The police were informed of a shooting of a bus ... Police have cordoned off the scene and are searching for a suspect who fled," the police said. 

Israel's emergency medical services, the Magen David Adom (MDA), called the incident a "terror attack in the Old City".

"We were on scene very quickly. On Ma'ale Hashalom St. we saw a passenger bus standing in the middle of the road, bystanders called us to treat two males around 30 years old who were on the bus with gunshot wounds," MDA paramedics said in a statement.

Bus driver Daniel Kanievsky said the attack occurred near King David's Tomb.

"I was coming from the Western Wall. The bus was full of passengers. I stopped at the station of the Tomb of David. At this moment starts the shootings. Two people outside I see falling, two inside were bleeding. Everybody panicked," he told reporters at the scene.

Since March, 19 people — mostly Israeli civilians inside Israel — have been killed in attacks mostly by Palestinians. Three Israeli Arab attackers were also killed. 

In the aftermath, Israeli authorities increased operations in the occupied West Bank. 

More than 50 Palestinians have been killed, including fighters and civilians, in operations and incidents in the West Bank since then. — AFP

At least 30 Palestinians were wounded in heavy clashes Tuesday as Israeli troops raided a house in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, two days after deadly fighting in Gaza was halted by a truce.

"Israeli army and special forces are surrounding the house of a wanted man in Nablus. There is exchange of fire," the army said in a statement.

At least 30 Palestinians were wounded and at least one was in serious condition, according to the Red Crescent.

Palestinians traded gunfire with the Israeli army in the old city of Nablus, an AFP correspondent reported.

Clashes with the Israeli army also broke out in other parts of Nablus, as Palestinians hurled stones at the troops.

Heavy gunfire was heard from the ongoing clashes, as dozens of Israeli military vehicles brought traffic in one of the West Bank's largest cities to a standstill.

Israeli security forces have conducted near-daily operations in the West Bank in recent months, focusing on militants from the Islamic Jihad group.

On Friday, Israel launched what it called a "pre-emptive" aerial and artillery bombardment of Islamic Jihad positions in the Gaza Strip, leading militants in the coastal enclave to fire more than a thousand rockets in retaliation, according to the army.

An Egypt-brokered ceasefire reached Sunday ended three days of intense fighting that killed 46 Palestinians, 16 of them children, and wounded 360, according to Gaza's health ministry. -- AFP

The death toll from violence in Gaza has risen to 29, including six children, the health ministry in the Palestinian enclave said Sunday, correcting a previous statement.

Earlier the ministry had put the number of people killed at 32, but a further ministry statement brought the number down to 29, including six children and four women.

The health ministry also said that 253 people in Gaza had been wounded since the hostilities with Israel broke out on Friday. 

The violence is the worst in Gaza since a war last year that devastated the impoverished territory home to some 2.3 million Palestinians and forced countless Israelis to seek shelter from rockets. 

Israel has said it was necessary to launch a "preemptive" operation against Islamic Jihad, as the group had been planning an imminent attack following days of tensions along the border with Gaza.

Islamic Jihad is aligned with Hamas but often acts independently. Both are blacklisted as terrorist organisations by much of the West. -- AFP

Two Palestinians were killed overnight during an Israeli army operation in the West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry said early Sunday.

They were identified as Muhamad Azizi, 25, and Abdul Rahman Jamal Suleiman Sobh, 28, by the ministry — which also reported six injured, including two in serious condition. — AFP

A Palestinian man was killed by the Israeli military during a raid in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Rafiq Riyad Ghannem, 20, was "shot by the occupation (Israeli army)" near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, the ministry said in a statement, adding that he was killed in the town of Jaba.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Sunday, a 17-year-old Palestinian died after being shot a day earlier in another Israeli army raid in the same town.

At least 50 Palestinians have been killed since late March, mostly in the West Bank, among them suspected militants and non-combatants.

Israeli security forces have launched near-daily raids in the West Bank following a spate of attacks in Israel in recent months. -- AFP

Israeli troops shot dead a teen in the West Bank on Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said, the fourth Palestinian killed in the occupied territory in two days.

The ministry identified the slain Palestinian as 17-year-old Odeh Odeh, who was hit in the chest by what it said was an Israeli bullet near the village of Al-Madiya, west of Ramallah.

The Israeli army said "three suspects threw a firebomb" at soldiers "operating near the security barrier" adjacent to Al-Madiya. — AFP

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian woman after she approached a soldier with a knife in the southern West Bank, the army said Wednesday, with Palestinian officials pronouncing her dead.

A statement from the army said the "attempted stabbing" took place near Al Aroub camp, north of the city of Hebron. 

"An assailant armed with a knife advanced toward an IDF soldier who was conducting routine security activity on Route 60. The soldiers responded with live fire," the army said.

"No IDF injuries were reported." — AFP

Jerusalem is bracing for a controversial "flag march" by Israelis on Sunday that has sparked warnings of a new escalation from Palestinian factions.

The "March of the Flags" threatens to exacerbate weeks of tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, and comes as Israel marks "Jerusalem Day", commemorating the city's unification following the capture of east Jerusalem in 1967.

Some 3,000 policemen are to be deployed ahead of the march, due to begin at 4:00 pm (1300 GMT). — AFP

Israel reopened on Sunday its only crossing with the Gaza Strip to Palestinian workers nearly two weeks after closing it over unrest, the defense ministry said.

"Following an assessment of the security situation, it has been decided... to open Erez Crossing for passage of workers and permit holders from the Gaza Strip into Israel, beginning Sunday," said COGAT, a unit of the Israeli defense ministry responsible for Palestinian civil affairs.

The crossing is used by 12,000 Palestinians with permits to enter Israel for work.

Israel had closed the crossing on May 3 ahead of Israel's national memorial and independence days, and amid Palestinian violence in the occupied West Bank, although the Gaza front was quiet.

Israel and Hamas, the militant rulers of the impoverished coastal enclave, have fought repeatedly over the last 15 years, most recently in May last year.

Israeli authorities feared tensions and violence in and around Jerusalem during April, when Muslims observed the holy fasting month of Ramadan, would bring another conflict with Gaza, but that did not happen. — AFP

A proposal by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees to delegate some services to other United Nations agencies has sparked outrage among Palestinians, who have warned of a plot to "dismantle" the body. 

UNRWA is "not just about the delivery of services", said Muhammed Shehada from the Swiss-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.

"As long as UNRWA is there, it's a reminder that the international community has a responsibility to solve the issue of Palestinian refugees," he told AFP. — AFP

Israel will re-open its only crossing from Gaza for workers two days after closing it, the defence ministry said Monday, following a lull in rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave.

"Following a security assessment, it has been decided... that as of tomorrow... labourers and merchants will again be permitted to enter Israel from Gaza through the Erez crossing," said COGAT, a unit of the Israeli defence ministry responsible for Palestinian civil affairs.

The crossing is used by 12,000 Palestinians with permits to enter Israel for work. — AFP

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Sunday that Israel was "committed" to the status quo that prevents Jews praying at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the epicentre of repeated clashes.

His comments follow violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories that has killed 38 people since late March, with tensions further fuelled by the clashes in Jerusalem and exchanges of fire between Israel and the Gaza Strip Palestinian enclave.

"Muslims pray on the Temple Mount, non-Muslims only visit," Lapid said, using the Jewish term for the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the holiest place in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam. — AFP

The United Nations voices "deep concern" at the escalating violence between Israel and the Palestinians, as clashes erupted Friday again at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

"We are deeply concerned by the escalating violence in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel over the past month," says Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. — AFP

Palestinian militants fired volleys of rockets from Gaza into Israel, which responded with air strikes in the early hours of Thursday in the biggest escalation since an 11-day war last year.

A rocket from Gaza on Wednesday evening fell harmlessly in a garden in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, police said.

Israel struck back in central Gaza after midnight, witnesses and security sources said, prompting further launches of at least four rockets by militants in the besieged territory.

Israel said its jets had targeted a military post and a tunnel complex "containing raw chemicals used for the manufacturing of rocket engines". 

Hamas, the Islamist movement which rules the Gaza Strip, said it had fired surface-to-air rockets at Israeli planes.

The exchanges come after nearly a month of deadly violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories, focused on Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Israeli police said Thursday that dozens of rioters had thrown stones and petrol bombs from the mosque.

"A violent splinter group is stopping Muslim worshippers from entering the mosque and causing damage to the site," the police alleged.

Seven Palestinians, all residents of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, had been arrested on suspicion of taking part in "violent incidents" on Wednesday, it added. -- AFP

Israeli jets strike Gaza early Thursday morning, witnesses and security sources said, hours after militants in the Palestinian enclave fired a rocket into the Jewish state.

The strikes, the second in 48 hours after a previous rocket strike, were concentrated on the centre of the blockaded coastal territory, they say. — AFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urges Israeli and Palestinian leaders Tuesday to "end the cycle of violence" after a sharp escalation in tensions between the two sides in recent days.

In separate calls with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Blinken stressed "the importance of Israelis and Palestinians working to end the cycle of violence in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza by exercising restraint and refraining from actions that escalate tensions," the State Department says. — AFP

Israel carried out strikes early Tuesday in the Gaza Strip after a rocket was fired from the Palestinian enclave into Israel, witnesses and its ruling Islamist movement said.

Israeli aircraft hit the southern Gaza Strip, witnesses said, while the armed wing of Hamas announced that it fired on Israeli planes.

"Congratulations to the men of the resistance who confronted the fighter jets with our anti-aircraft defence," Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement, claiming the Israeli raid hit "empty sites". — AFP

Clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police wounded ten protesters on Sunday morning in and around Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the site of major clashes two days earlier.

Early on Sunday morning, "hundreds" of Palestinian demonstrators started gathering piles of stones, shortly before the arrival of Jewish visitors to the site, the police said.

Jews are allowed at certain times to visit -- but not to pray -- at the site, also known as Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism and third-holiest in Islam.

The police said its forces had entered the compound in order to "remove" the demonstrators and "re-establish order".

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its medics had treated ten wounded.

"Eight people were wounded in the (police) incursion and two others by rubber-coated bullets," it said, adding that three were taken to hospital. -- AFP

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian in the city of Nablus on the fifth day of military operations in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said Wednesday. 

"The young man, Muhammad Hassan Muhammad Assaf, 34, died after being shot in the chest by the Israeli occupation army during the aggression on the city of Nablus," the ministry said.

The Israeli army did not immediately comment but said earlier that troops were "conducting counterterrorist operations" in Nablus and other West Bank cities. — AFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemns what he calls a "terrorist attack" Tuesday near Tel Aviv that killed five people, calling a recent spate of gun and knife violence in Israel "unacceptable."

"We strongly condemn today's terrorist attack in Bnei Brak, Israel, that killed five innocent victims," Blinken says, adding that "this violence is unacceptable. Israelis — like all people around the world — should be able to live in peace and without fear." — AFP

Gun attacks in two different locations in an Israeli town near Tel Aviv killed at least two people on Tuesday, emergency responders said.

"Five were wounded in two separate locations of Bnei Brak, of whom two died," said Eli Bin, the head of the Magen David Adom emergency responders. Bnei Brak is an ultra-orthodox town near Tel Aviv. — AFP

Israeli troops killed a second Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Alaa Shaham, in his twenties, was killed in Qalandiya, outside Jerusalem, by a "live round to the head," a health ministry statement said.

Earlier, Israeli troops killed a 16-year-old in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank, the ministry said. — AFP

Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Sunday after he threw Molotov cocktails at a military post, the army said.

Israeli soldiers "acted to stop the attack by firing at one of the suspects" near Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, an army statement said, adding that "the suspect was hit and later succumbed to his wounds."

It said another suspect managed to flee. — AFP

An Israeli woman wounded in rocket fire from Gaza during last May's conflict between Israel and the Palestinian enclave's Islamist rulers Hamas died of her wounds Sunday, the army said. 

"Hamas fired 4500+ rockets at Israeli civilians over 11 days in May 2021," the Israeli military said in a statement.

One of the rockets wounded "Holocaust survivor Naomi Pearlman," it said. "Today, she sadly succumbed to those injuries and became another victim of Hamas terrorism." — AFP

Israeli police were in a standoff Monday with a Palestinian man who carried a gas cannister on the roof of his home in a Jerusalem flashpoint as his family faced eviction.

Israeli media reported that Mohammed Salhiya had threatened to set himself on fire if the eviction order from Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem was carried out. 

Salhiya, whose family has been facing an eviction threat since 2017, was on the roof of his home with a large gas cannister, police and an AFP journalist said. — AFP

A Palestinian man who reportedly fired on Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank Wednesday was shot dead by Israeli forces returning fire, the army and Palestinian health ministry said. 

The Palestinian health ministry said Mohammed Issa Abbas, 26, died after being shot in the back by Israeli forces in the al-Amari refugee camp in Ramallah. Israel's army said its troops "responded with fire and hit (an) assailant" who had fired at troops from a vehicle. — AFP

The South African government says on Sunday it was dissociating itself from a decision by the reigning Miss SA to take part in the annual Miss Universe in Israel.

The decision comes after growing calls for the reigning Miss South Africa to boycott the pageant over Israeli's alleged atrocities against Palestine. 

Local beauty pageant organisers have been adamant that the recently crowned Miss SA Lalela Mswane should go.

"It has proven difficult to persuade the Miss SA pageant organisers to reconsider their decision to partake in the Miss Universe event," the arts and culture ministry says in a statement. — AFP

A Palestinian was killed Sunday by Israeli gunfire near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, amid reports of heavy clashes in the area. 

The ministry said a Palestinian man from the village of Borqin west of Jenin who had been shot with a live bullet died from his wounds after reaching hospital. 

Israeli public radio Kan reported early Sunday that troops were involved in gun battles with armed Palestinians near Jenin, which broke out as the army moved in to arrest "suspects" in the area. 

An Israeli army spokesman told AFP it would comment on the incident later Sunday morning. 

The Jenin governorate is a flashpoint area in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

Four Palestinians were killed in Jenin refugee camp last month by Israeli forces during heavy clashes.  — AFP

Israel launched airstrikes against Gaza on Monday night, the army says, retaliating after incendiary balloons launched from the blockaded Palestinian enclave had started fires.

Blaming Hamas for the balloons, the Israeli army says it had targeted locations belonging to the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip. 

"Overnight, IDF fighter jets struck a Hamas rocket manufacturing workshop, as well as a Hamas military compound in Khan Yunis," the Israeli army says in a statement. 

"The strikes were in response to Hamas launching incendiary balloons into Israeli territory," the statement adds. — AFP

About 20 Palestinians were injured in unrest with Israeli forces at Gaza's border on Wednesday, medical sources said, but the protest was more muted than a weekend demonstration that left dozens wounded.

Israel's army had reinforced its Gaza division following Saturday's border violence, that left an Israeli officer in critical condition from a gunshot wound and killed a 32-year-old Palestinian.

There were indications that Hamas Islamists, who have ruled the Israeli-blockaded strip since 2007, wanted to prevent Wednesday's protest from escalating. — AFP

Israel hit Islamist militant sites in Gaza with air strikes on Friday in retaliation for incendiary balloon launches from the Palestinian enclave, in the latest unrest since a ceasefire ended May's conflict.

Security sources with Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Israeli-blockaded Gaza, said the strikes hit training sites. There were no injuries reported. 

A statement from Israel's army said: "In response to the arson balloons fired towards Israeli territory today, (military) fighter jets struck... a weapons manufacturing site belonging to the Hamas terror organisation."

On Thursday, Israel's fire service said that incendiary balloon launches from Gaza had sparked four minor fires in the southern Eshkol region, on the Gaza border. 

The blazes were "small and not dangerous" and were quickly brought under control, a statement from the fire service said. — AFP

More than 1,000 rally in Washington in support of  Palestinians and calling for an end to US aid to Israel.

The demonstration on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial came as a ceasefire that ended 11 days of intense fighting between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip has so far held.

"We are hoping to send a clear message to the United States government that the days of supporting the Israeli state without repercussions are over," one of the demonstrators, 39-year-old Washington lawyer Sharif Silmi, says as he stood in the crowd where many protesters held red, white, green and black Palestinian flags. —  AFP

The United States' Secretary of State Antony Blinken departs Monday for a Middle East trip aimed at consolidating the ceasefire that brought 11 days of deadly bombardment between Israel and Hamas to a halt.

"Secretary Blinken will meet with Israeli leaders about our ironclad commitment to Israel's security," US President Joe Biden said in a statement. 

"He will continue our administration's efforts to rebuild ties to, and support for, the Palestinian people and leaders, after years of neglect." —  AFP

The UN Security Council calls for "full adherence to the ceasefire" in the conflict between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in its first statement since violence erupted on May 10.

Security Council members also stress "the immediate need for humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian civilian population, particularly in Gaza."

The statement received backing from the US delegation — which had blocked earlier drafts — only after the removal of a paragraph condemning the violence, a sensitive issue since it raised the question of blame. —  AFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Middle East "in the coming days," the State Department said Thursday after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire halting 11 days of fighting.

Blinken spoke with his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi, who "welcomed Secretary Blinken's planned travel to the region, where the secretary will meet with Israeli, Palestinian, and regional counterparts in the coming days to discuss recovery efforts and working together to build better futures for Israelis and Palestinians," State Department spokesman Ned Price said. — AFP

Ceasefire between Israel, Hamas officially comes into force. — AFP

The UN Human Rights Council says Thursday it would hold a special session on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, amid deadly violence between Israel and armed Palestinian groups in Gaza.

The session, planned for next Thursday, will address "the grave human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem," the council says in a statement.

The session was requested by Pakistan, which is the coordinator of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the Palestinian authorities, it says. —  AFP

Israel's army says it fired artillery shells towards southern Lebanon after four rockets were launched on Wednesday from Lebanese territory towards the Jewish state.

"Four rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory. The Iron Dome Aerial Defence System intercepted one of them and the rest most likely fell in open areas," it says in a statement, adding that in response army "artillery are striking a number of targets in Lebanese territory." — AFP

The Israel-Gaza conflict is pushing the whole region "in the wrong direction," Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said Tuesday, calling for an end to the violence.

"This all pushes us absolutely in the wrong direction. It means that we are making a path toward a sustainable peace more difficult," bin Farhan told AFP, as the international community steps up its diplomatic efforts to push for de-escalation.

The conflict is "empowering the extremists," he added.

"It empowers the most intolerant voices in our region and makes (finding) a path to real peace harder," he added, speaking on the sideline of summits in France on Sudan and Africa.

"We have to all work together to encourage all the parties to engage (seriously), he said. "First of all, to de-escalate, to stop the violence and then to engage in serious peace talks toward a final settlement."

That final settlement "must include a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital," Saudi Arabia's top diplomat stressed. — AFP

Israeli jets kept up a barrage of air strikes against the Palestinian enclave of Gaza Monday evening, as a week of violence that has killed more than 200 people pushed world leaders to step up mediation.

Air strikes sent dust clouds billowing into the skyline, as the Hamas militant group that controls the besieged and densely populated coastal strip threatened more rocket strikes on Tel Aviv if bombing of residential areas does not stop.

In a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday night, US President Joe Biden said he backed a ceasefire, shortly after diplomats said Washington had blocked a third draft of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to the violence.

Gaza resident Roba Abu al-Awf, 20, said she was bracing for a rough night.

"We have nothing to do but sit at home," she said. "Death could come at any moment — the bombing is crazy and indiscriminate." — AFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged Israel and Palestinians to "protect civilians, especially children", reiterating that Israel "as a democracy has an extra burden" to do so.

"We'll continue to conduct intensive diplomacy to bring this current cycle of violence to an end" and "we are ready to lend support, if the parties seek a ceasefire", Blinken told a press conference in Copenhagen. —  AFP

Israeli warplanes bombarded the Gaza Strip overnight Sunday to Monday, said witnesses in the Palestinian enclave, from where armed groups have launched rockets into the Jewish state.

"IDF fighter jets are striking terror targets in the Gaza Strip," the Israeli army said in a statement in the first hours of Sunday. 

Dozens of missiles crashed into different parts of the densely populated coastal territory, AFP journalists said. —  AFP

Israeli air strikes on Gaza killed 17 Palestinians Sunday, raising the death toll in the crowded coastal enclave since bombardments escalated last Monday to 174, Gaza's health ministry said.

Among the people killed are 47 children, it said. In Israel, 10 people have been killed in total, with barrages of rockets fired from Gaza. —  AFP

Israeli air strikes hit the home of Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas' political wing in the Gaza Strip, the army said Sunday, but without saying if he was killed.

"Among the targets struck are the residences of Yahya Sinwar, Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau in Gaza, as well as of his brother, Muhammad Sinwar, Head of Logistics and Manpower for Hamas," Israel's army said in a statement, releasing a video showing plumes of smoke and intense damage.

"Both residences served as military infrastructure for the Hamas terror organisation." —  AFP

Canada stresses "the fundamental importance of protecting journalists" following an Israeli attack on a building housing international media in Gaza, and called for "immediate steps" to end the violence.

Foreign Minister Marc Garneau says Canada was following the situation in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza "with grave concern" and urged "all parties to take immediate steps to end the violence, deescalate tensions, protect all civilians, refugees, journalists and media workers."

He reiterates "the fundamental importance of protecting journalists," stressing they "must be free to do their work." —  AFP

US President Joe Biden expresses his "grave concern" over violence in Israel and Gaza in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Saturday while separately telling Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas that Hamas must "cease firing rockets."

Speaking on the sixth day of a paroxysm of Israeli-Palestinian violence that has left scores dead or wounded, Biden expresses his "strong support" for Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks by "Hamas and other terrorist groups," in his call with Netanyahu, while also emphasizing his clear concern over the deadly flare-up and casualties on both sides.

"He condemned these indiscriminate attacks against towns and cities across Israel," the White House statement says. —  AFP

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "dismayed" by civilian casualties in Gaza and "deeply disturbed" by Israel's strike on a building containing international media outlets, a spokesman said in a statement released Saturday.

Guterres was "deeply disturbed by the destruction by an Israeli airstrike today of a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed the offices of several international media organizations," his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in the statement.

He was also "dismayed" by the "increasing number of civilian casualties, including the death of ten members of the same family, including children, as a result of an Israeli airstrike last night," Dujarric continued. —  AFP

The Philippines expresses concern over the recent violence in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

"The Philippines urges all parties to exercise restraint and seek dialogue to de-escalate tensions and avoid further actions that could affect future Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations," the Department of Foreign Affairs says in a statement.

??READ?? #DFAStatement: On the recent violence in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip

Also found in this link ????????https://t.co/xo1xMe2Ykc#DFAForgingAhead pic.twitter.com/dYbMtEKwPh

— DFA Philippines (@DFAPHL) May 12, 2021

A man and a girl were killed Wednesday in the Israeli town of Lod after the car they were in was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, Israeli police said.

The girl, whose age was not given, was killed immediately, and the man in his forties was declared dead at the hospital, said the police. They did not specify whether the two were related. The new deaths take the number of people killed in Israel by rocket strikes from Gaza since Monday to five. —  AFP

Spiralling violence between Israel and Hamas Islamists who control Gaza is "escalating towards a full-scale war," the UN envoy for Middle East Peace said Tuesday. 

"Stop the fire immediately," Tor Wennesland said after a day that saw Palestinian militant groups fire more than 600 rockets towards Israel, which responded with hundreds of air strikes. 

"We're escalating towards a full-scale war. Leaders on all sides have to take the responsibility of de-escalation," Wennesland said.  —  AFP

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said Tuesday that Israeli strikes so far on Palestinian targets in Gaza were "just the beginning," after Hamas Islamists launched a barrage of rockets towards Tel Aviv.

"There are many targets," to hit in Gaza, Gantz said following Israeli strikes on hundreds of targets in the territory since Monday evening.

"This is just the beginning," he said. "Terror organisations have been hit hard and will continue to be hit because of their decision to hit Israel. We'll return peace and quiet, for the long term." —  AFP

An Israeli woman was killed by rocket fire near Tel Aviv on Tuesday after Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas launched a barrage of projectiles towards Israel's economic hub, police said.

"One woman killed in the city of Rishon Letzion in rocket strike," Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. —  AFP

More than 100 rockets were fired Monday from Gaza towards Israel by multiple Palestinian armed groups, Hamas Islamists who control the blockaded enclave said. 

The Israeli army had earlier confirmed at least 45 rocket launches, most targeting areas near the Gaza border, but seven were directed towards Jerusalem. 

The army later sent an update that the rocket fired had continued through the night. No Israeli fatalities have been reported. —  AFP