Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Palestinian boy shot dead by Israeli troops in West Bank refugee camp

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Teenager killed and two others wounded during Israeli arrest operation amid escalating tensions

Israeli troops have fatally shot a 15-year-old Palestinian boy and wounded two other people during an arrest operation in a West Bank refugee camp, as tensions continued to escalate in the occupied territories.

Mohammed Balhan was shot in the head, chest and abdomen in the Aqabat Jabr camp near Jericho, according to local Palestinian official Hani Obeidat, who called it an “unjustifiable crime”. A video showed him lying dead on a stretcher in the hospital, his head bandaged and his mother wailing as she leaned over his body.

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Women not wearing hijab to be banned from Tehran metro – reports

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Iranian state TV shows metro staff stopping women at ticket barriers, in effect barring many from work

Hijab enforcement groups are to be set up on the Tehran metro and women not wearing the hijab will be refused entry, in effect banning some women from work, Iranian state TV has reported.

The move appears to be part of a pattern of government efforts to force Iranian public bodies to take greater responsibility for enforcing the hijab. Many Iranian women, especially in urban centres, have refused to comply with the hijab rules, in a sign that the “women, life, freedom” protests that began in September continue in a more individualised form.

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Crises on multiple fronts threaten Benjamin Netanyahu’s grip on power

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Support for prime minister wanes as his ‘plot to overturn Israel’s democracy’ is seen as threat to national security

On Friday afternoon, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, found himself standing at the side of a remote road in the vast desert valley that runs the length of the occupied West Bank’s frontier with Jordan.

Along with his defence minister, Yoav Galant, Netanyahu was inspecting the scene of a shooting attack earlier in the day that killed British-Israeli sisters Maia and Rina Dee, 20 and 15, and left their 45-year-old mother Lucy fighting for her life. An Israel Defence Forces (IDF) search for the perpetrator is still under way.

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Holiday rites without clashes in Jerusalem but region braces for further violence

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Al-Aqsa mosque compound tensions have triggered cross-border fighting in Gaza and drawn in Lebanon and Syria

Simultaneous Muslim and Jewish holiday rites at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Temple Mount or al-Aqsa mosque compound have passed without major clashes after rare cross-border airstrikes and rocket fire between Israel and Syria overnight, and fears of wider conflict in the Middle East after escalations on multiple fronts.

About 15,000 Jewish worshippers gathered at the Western Wall in occupied East Jerusalem, the holiest site at which Jews can pray, on Sunday morning for a benediction prayer marking Passover. At the same time, thousands of Palestinians performed dawn and midday Muslim prayers at al-Aqsa, an esplanade on the other side of the wall, as part of observances during the holy month of Ramadan. Christian pilgrims also flooded the Old City to mark Easter Sunday, in a rare convergence of celebrations in the three different faiths.

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Israel launches strikes on Syria after rocket fire as violence flares

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Attacks come amid sharply increased Israel-Palestinian tensions following Israeli raids this week on al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem

Israeli jets hit Syrian military targets in response to rockets launched towards Israeli-controlled territory overnight, Israel’s military said, as violence flared again after cross-border exchanges of fire during the week.

State media in Syria reported explosions in the vicinity of the capital Damascus as Israel said its forces continued to hit Syrian territory after six rockets were fired overnight towards the Golan Heights.

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Penny Wong condemns escalating violence and calls for calm in Middle East

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Foreign minister’s comments follow rocket attacks fired into Israel, and police raids on a Jerusalem mosque

Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, has condemned escalating violence and terror attacks in the Middle East.

Her comments follow rocket attacks fired into Israel from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

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British-Israeli sisters killed in West Bank gun attack named

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Rina and Maia Dee, aged 15 and 20, identified on Twitter by Benjamin Netanyahu as mother remains in intensive care

The two British-Israeli sisters killed in a gun attack in the occupied West Bank on Friday have been named as Rina and Maia Dee.

Rina, 15, and Maia, 20, who were born in London, were identified on Twitter by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Iranian police plan to use smart cameras to identify “violators of hijab law”

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Women who break Islamic dress code will be identified, warned on first instance and then taken to court

Police in Iran plan to use smart technology in public places to identify and then penalise women who violate the country’s strict Islamic dress code, the force said on Saturday.

A statement said police would “take action to identify norm-breaking people by using tools and smart cameras in public places and thoroughfares”.

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Tensions run high across Israel after car ramming attack leaves tourist dead

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Further violence feared after Arab-Israeli man drives his vehicle into busy city promenade following a West Bank shooting

On 8 April 2022, a Palestinian gunman entered a crowded bar in Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial capital, and opened fire, killing three people and wounding 10. This weekend, on the anniversary of that attack, an Arab-Israeli man rammed his car into pedestrians on the city’s seaside promenade, killing an Italian tourist and injuring seven more people.

That attack followed a shooting earlier in the day in the north of the occupied West Bank that killed two British-Israeli sisters, aged 15 and 20, and left their 48-year-old mother in critical condition after their car veered off the road.

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Saudi officials arrive in Iran to discuss reopening diplomatic missions

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Visits comes two days after Middle Eastern powers met in China to restore relations

A Saudi delegation arrived in Tehran on Saturday to discuss reopening diplomatic missions with Iran after seven years.

The visit comes two days after the unprecedented meeting between Iran and Saudi Arabia’s heads of diplomacy in China after the two countries agreed to restore diplomatic ties last month.

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Hezbollah and Israel pull back from the brink – but spectre of conflict looms

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The rocket attack that followed air strikes and mosque raids failed to provoke all-out war, but it must surely be inevitable

The groves of southern Lebanon had been quiet for nearly 17 years. But as farmers tended to orange trees and banana crops on Thursday, rocket men lurked among them, readying the biggest barrage fired into Israel since the war of 2006 and taking a startled region to the precipice of another conflict that leaders on both sides of the border fear will be worse than all before them.

Familiar sights of streaks through a clear blue sky, sirens and billowing smoke from impact sites were soon replaced by fear and trepidation. In Beirut and Tel Aviv, an escalation seemed imminent. But as a troubling afternoon wore on, the apocalyptic showdown between Hezbollah and Israel that had been widely predicted started to fizzle. Rhetoric was of measured responses. Israel was content to blame Palestinian groups and put a distance between them and Hezbollah. War could wait, for now.

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At least 20 missing after boat attempting to cross Mediterranean sinks off Tunisia

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Latest incident comes amid sharp rise in numbers trying to leave crisis-hit north African country

At least 20 people were missing on Saturday after their boat sank off Tunisia as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, amid a sharp rise in boats setting off from the north African country.

The coastguard rescued 17 other people from the same boat off the southern city of Sfax, two of whom were in critical condition, said a local judge, Faouzi Masmousdi.

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Israeli government calls up reservists after car attack in Tel Aviv

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Police to deploy extra battalions in city centres as Benjamin Netanyahu also directs army to mobilise additional forces

Israel began calling up police and army reservists on Saturday after separate attacks killed three people, including an Italian tourist and two British-Israeli sisters, in Tel Aviv and the West Bank.

Despite appeals for restraint, violence has surged since Israeli police clashed with Palestinians inside Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque on Wednesday, with Israel bombarding Gaza and Lebanon in response to rocket fire by Palestinian militants.

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Violence in Tel Aviv leaves one dead and five injured

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Italian tourist dies and Britons among injured after driver rams people near beach, Israeli officials report

An Italian man has died and five other British and Italian tourists have been injured in an attack in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv, the latest episode of violence after several days of rising tensions sparked fears of a broader conflagration in the region.

The 30-year-old Italian died from a gunshot wound, Israel’s rescue service said on Friday night, the Jewish holy day. At the same time, Israeli police said a car had been driven into people near the beach, and that the driver had been shot and killed.

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UAE refuses to extradite brothers accused of corruption in South Africa

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UAE accused of non-cooperation by South Africa after court rules against extraditing tycoons Atul and Rajesh Gupta

South Africa said on Friday it had learned with “shock and dismay” that the United Arab Emirates had turned down its request to extradite two brothers accused of orchestrating industrial-scale corruption.

The justice minister, Ronald Lamola, bluntly accused the UAE of “non-cooperation” after being informed late on Thursday of a court ruling against extraditing the tycoons Atul and Rajesh Gupta.

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Two British sisters killed and mother injured in West Bank shooting

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Sisters, believed to have migrated from the UK, died after car was shot at and crashed on Friday

Two sisters with British nationality have been killed and their mother seriously injured in a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank, keeping the region on edge even as the situation on Israel’s borders appeared to ease after Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip overnight.

The sisters were killed when their car crashed after it was shot at in the north of the territory on Friday, Israeli media reported. Local authorities said they were 16 and 20 years old, and their mother 48. The family have not yet been officially named due to a pause in some Israeli police procedures for the Jewish holy day, Shabbat.

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Israel launches airstrikes in Lebanon and Gaza Strip after ‘biggest rocket salvo since 2006’

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Rocket fire from Gaza and Lebanon and second Israeli raid on al-Aqsa mosque stoke fears of further escalation

Israeli jets hit sites in Lebanon and Gaza early on Friday, in retaliation for rocket attacks it blamed on the Islamist group Hamas, as tensions following police raids on the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem this week threatened to spiral out of control.

Two explosions were heard in Gaza late on Thursday. It was not immediately clear what had been targeted but Israel said its jets hit targets including tunnels and weapons manufacturing sites of Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the blockaded southern coastal strip.

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Rocket fire from​ Lebanon and​ Gaza​​ ​hits Israel​ after​ second al-Aqsa mosque raid

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Israeli army says salvo fired from Lebanese territory, after officers entered religious compound to remove worshippers

Rocket fire from Gaza and Lebanon and a second Israeli police raid on Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque in as many nights have stoked fears of further escalation in the region during a sensitive period of overlapping religious holidays.

On Thursday afternoon, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the biggest salvo of rockets since the 2006 war had been fired from Lebanese territory into northern Israel. Most of the 34 projectiles were intercepted, but there were two minor injuries and a fire.

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Saudi Arabia and Iran work to restore relations as foreign ministers meet

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Faisal bin Farhan and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Beijing for talks after Chinese-brokered agreement

The Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers have met for the first time in seven years, weeks after the two countries came to an agreement, brokered by Chinese officials, to restore diplomatic relations.

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Iran’s Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met in Beijing to discuss the reopening of embassies, the appointment of ambassadors and a planned visit to Saudi Arabia by Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s president. They also discussed resuming flights between the two countries and issuing travel visas for each others’ citizens.

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Israeli hospitals scramble to comply with ‘chametz law’ for Passover

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New law bans people from taking leavened food made from grain into medical centres during Jewish holiday

Passover celebrations in Israel this year are once again being overshadowed by a row over the consumption of leavened food such as bread in public buildings, in a symbolic fight about the role of religion in the state.

Last week, the Knesset passed the “chametz law”, which bans people from taking leavened food made from grain into hospitals during Passover. The law, sponsored by an ultra-Orthodox party, is in accordance with traditional Jewish teachings stipulating that observant Jews cannot eat chametz or have it in their homes during the week-long holiday.

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