Six people have been killed in Gaza after Israel responded with airstrikes and tank fire to about 250 rockets being fired over the border by Palestinian militants on a day that has put further strain on an already fraying ceasefire.
It was the second day of fighting after a month-long lull in violence around the blockaded enclave and came while leaders of Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, were in Egypt for talks aimed at restoring the ceasefire.
Continue reading...Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticises attacks as six Palestinians and an Israeli civilian die in renewed violence
Turkey’s president has attacked what he called “Israeli terrorism” after the Gaza office for the Turkish state-run news agency was destroyed during the latest round of hostilities between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.
More than 24 hours of heavy fire continued into Sunday, as militants launched rockets out of the strip and Israel responded with air attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to launch more “massive strikes” on Gaza and move tanks, artillery and infantry to the edge of the enclave.
Continue reading...Three fatalities reported in Gaza after Israel respond to 200 rockets fired by Palestinian militant
An infant, her pregnant mother and an adult have been killed in Gaza after Israel responded with airstrikes and tank fire to about 200 rockets being fired over the border by Palestinian militants, further straining an already fraying ceasefire.
Two days of fighting have brought an end to a month-long lull in violence around the blockaded enclave. It came while leaders of Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, were in Egypt for talks aimed at restoring the faltering ceasefire deal.
Continue reading...Israeli air strikes kill two Hamas members before troops shoot two Palestinian protesters, Gaza health ministry says
Israel has killed two Hamas militants in air strikes on Gaza, and two Palestinian protesters have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces along the enclave’s border.
The strikes on Friday were a response to gunfire from southern Gaza that wounded two Israeli soldiers, the Israeli military said.
Continue reading...For as long as she can remember, Mary Giacaman, a Christian Palestinian, has watched the outcome of the Israeli election on TV. “But not this year,” she explained. “It was too depressing, and anyway I knew what would happen.”
This Holy Week, the 56-year-old Catholic will be attending mass each morning as usual at Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity across the square from her olive wood carved souvenir shop; she will spend a festive Easter day with her sons, daughters and six grandchildren. If nothing else, it will be a welcome distraction from a “very bad” election result, which saw a decisive victory for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Continue reading...Election victory gives Israeli PM confidence he will get his way on Iran and Palestine
His supporters call him a magician. And there is truly something uncanny about how Benjamin Netanyahu has conjured up three-way US, Russian and Arab support for his hardline security and nationalist agenda. For a small country, Israel packs an ever bigger punch – and pugnacious Bibi’s likely fifth term presages a new era of escalating confrontation.
First in line for the Netanyahu treatment is Iran. He claimed credit on Monday for Donald Trump’s unprecedented decision to brand Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, including its al-Quds force, a foreign terrorist organisation. The provocative move, akin to singling out the US marine corps for punishment, bought a vengeful riposte from Tehran.
Continue reading...Officials say Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings reopened for first time after days of hostilities
Israeli authorities have reopened the two crossings with the Gaza Strip after days of hostilities in a sign that ceasefire talks may be advancing.
Israeli and Hamas officials who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed on Sunday that the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings were opened for the first time since Monday.
Continue reading...It is difficult not to marvel at the scale of Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal achievement. Israel’s prime minister celebrates 10 consecutive years in power on 31 March. His country’s youngest-ever leader in 1996, he has been re-elected three times since 2009, matching David Ben-Gurion’s record. As matters stand, he has a good chance of winning again in polls on 9 April.
Netanyahu’s political achievement is altogether less marvellous. Under his grimly negative, fearful tutelage, Israeli society has shifted steadily rightwards. Attitudes to a peace settlement with the Palestinians have perceptibly hardened. Thanks in large part to Netanyahu’s uncompromising stance, the issue no longer occupies centre stage as it once did.
Continue reading...Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian man and a teenage boy and shot 10 others at the Gaza frontier, where thousands of Palestinians rallied to mark the first anniversary of a surge of protests, facing off against Israeli forces massed across the frontier. Troops fired tear gas across the border while Palestinian activists clad in bright orange vests tried to keep people away from the border fence
Palestinian man and teenage boy killed by Israeli fire, officials say
Continue reading...Gaza health ministry says 10 other people have been shot as up to 30,000 people stage protests along Israeli border
Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian man and a teenage boy and shot 10 others at the Gaza frontier, at gatherings marking the anniversary of the demonstration movement, the enclave’s ministry of health said.
In an attempt to limit the huge numbers of casualties at previous rallies, Egypt has sought to broker an unofficial agreement between Hamas, the strip’s rulers who have backed the rallies, and Israel.
Continue reading...Israeli fire on demonstrations at the frontier has devastated the lives of thousands.
Continue reading...UN says 194 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire and close to 29,000 wounded in past 12 months
Gaza is on edge before a planned Saturday protest to mark the anniversary of mass rallies along its frontier, after a year in which Israeli soldiers have shot thousands of people.
Related: A year of bloodshed at Gaza border protests
Continue reading...The longtime enemies have developed a fiery pattern of trading rockets for airstrikes
It has become a near-monthly event with a predictable pattern – rockets from Gaza are traded for Israeli airstrikes. Palestinians cower in basements while Israelis hide in bomb shelters. Each flare-up signals the threat of full-blown war, but the next day it is usually over.
Israel and Hamas – the Palestinian faction that rules Gaza Strip on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean between Israel and Egypt – have fallen into a bloody and fiery dance over the past year.
Continue reading...Israeli forces and Hamas exchanged rocket fire on Monday night amid fears of a new conflict in Gaza.
Israeli forces carried out strikes against what they called “Hamas terror targets” across the Gaza Strip, after an earlier rocket attack that destroyed a family home and wounded seven people in a neighbourhood north of Tel Aviv. The army also said it was reinforcing troops along the Gaza border and calling up reserves.
Continue reading...Publisher says Atef Abu Saif, also a spokesperson for Fatah, almost killed by masked men
A UK publisher has condemned an attack by masked men in Gaza on a Palestinian writer and political figure, Atef Abu Saif, accusing the assailants of deliberately breaking his fingers.
Comma Press, a not-for-profit publisher that worked with Abu Saif, said that the beating on Monday night had almost killed him.
Continue reading...Policy will be to vote against claims of rights abuses by Israel brought under special protocol
The UK will oppose motions criticising rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza that are brought to the UN’s human rights council under a special procedure dedicated to Israel’s behaviour in the occupied territories, Jeremy Hunt has said.
The move is likely to delight the Trump administration, which quit the human rights council in June last year, citing its approach to Israel. It also appears aimed at cementing the Conservative party’s relations with pro-Israel sections of the British Jewish community at a time when the Labour party is mired in criticism of its handling of antisemitism complaints.
Continue reading...No group immediately claims attack as Israeli army says no damage or injuries reported
Militants in Gaza have fired two rockets towards Tel Aviv, the first such attack since the war between Israel and Hamas in 2014.
Rocket sirens wailed in the densely populated Mediterranean city on Thursday evening, alerting residents to rush to bomb shelters. Videos posted online by locals showed empty streets and captured the blare of “code red” sirens, used to warn of imminent attacks.
Continue reading...Khaled al-Nairab belongs to a generation in Gaza who have spent their entire lives in the fenced-off enclave.
On the surface, Nairab can live a somewhat normal existence in between rounds of bombings. But like all young people in Gaza, the 22-year-old rapper has no real control over his life as the ongoing land, sea and air blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt affects even the simplest task.
Continue reading...Anger and frustration for generation of Palestinians who have spent their entire lives in the fenced-off territory
Cruising south along Israel’s coastal highway, there are almost no signs that you are approaching Gaza. Two million people live trapped on a thin slice of land along the Mediterranean, but someone could easily drive right past and miss it altogether.
For visitors to the strip, restricted mainly to diplomats, aid workers and journalists, the last stop in Israel is a service station, where Red Sea-bound tourists and commuters sip lattes and eat chocolate croissants at an American-style coffeehouse. Walking back to their cars, they may glimpse the only hint of Gaza’s existence – a white orb high in the southern sky, a tethered surveillance balloon that provides the Israeli army with a 24-hour overhead view of the enclave.
Continue reading...Inquiry accuses army of killing demonstrators ‘who were not posing an imminent threat’
UN investigators have accused Israeli soldiers of intentionally firing on civilians and said they may have committed war crimes in their lethal response to Palestinian demonstrations in Gaza.
The independent Commission of Inquiry, set up last year by the UN’s human rights council, said Israeli forces killed 189 people and shot more than 6,100 others with live ammunition near the fence that divides the two territories.
Continue reading...