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Palestinians prepare for Ramadan in the shadow of Gaza war

Palestinians prepare for Ramadan in the shadow of Gaza war

PALESTINIANS prepared for Ramadan in a sombre mood with heightened security measures by Israeli police and the spectre of war and hunger in Gaza overshadowing the normally festive Muslim holy month as talks to secure a ceasefire stalled. Thousands of police have been deployed around the narrow streets of the Old City in Jerusalem, where tens of thousands of worshippers are expected every day at the Al Aqsa mosque compound, one of the holiest sites in Islam. The area considered the most sacred place by Jews who know it as Temple Mount, has been a longstanding flashpoint for trouble and was one…
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‘Sea of bodies’ in Israel, scores dead in Gaza as shock Hamas attack unleashes war

‘Sea of bodies’ in Israel, scores dead in Gaza as shock Hamas attack unleashes war

GUNMEN from the Palestinian group Hamas rampaged through Israeli towns killing and capturing scores of civilians and soldiers in a surprise assault, met by Israel with massive retaliatory air strikes that killed scores in the Gaza Strip. The worst attack on Israel for decades unleashed a war that both sides vowed to escalate. At least 200 Israelis were reported killed and 1,100 wounded by gunbattles raging in more than 20 locations inside Israel. In Gaza, health officials reported more than 230 people killed and 1,600 wounded. "Our enemy will pay a price the type of which it has never known," Prime Minister…
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DRC Congo to move its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, Israeli prime minister says

DRC Congo to move its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, Israeli prime minister says

DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo will move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Netanyahu, who met Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi during the U.N. General Assembly, announced in a statement that Israel would also be opening an embassy in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Only a handful of countries have their embassies in Jerusalem, with most others maintaining their diplomatic representation in the coastal city of Tel Aviv, Israel's main economic hub. While Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there, most of the…
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Palestinian rockets fired towards Jerusalem, Israel kills militant leader

Palestinian rockets fired towards Jerusalem, Israel kills militant leader

A Palestinian armed group fired rockets towards Jerusalem for the first time in fighting this week, and Israel killed another militant leader with its air strikes in Gaza, while Egypt tried to forge a ceasefire. Rocket sirens sounded in the town of Beit Shemesh and elsewhere in the hills outside Jerusalem, ending a 12-hour lull in fighting. Brief explosions could be heard in Jerusalem, possibly from Israeli missile defences intercepting the rockets. The Israeli military said two rockets had been fired toward the Jerusalem area but did not confirm if they were intercepted. Local media reported that air defences shot…
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Israel blames Hamas for multiple rockets launched from Lebanon

Israel blames Hamas for multiple rockets launched from Lebanon

HENRIETTE CHACAR and MAYA GEBEILY ISRAEL blamed the Islamist group Hamas for a volley of more than 30 rockets fired from Lebanon, following escalating tensions after Israeli police raids on the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem this week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to hold a meeting of the security cabinet to decide a response to the attack, the biggest rocket attack from Lebanon since 2006, when Israel fought a war with the heavily armed Hezbollah movement. "No one should test us, we will take all necessary measures to defend our country and people," Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on…
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Palestinian teenager dreamt of being a chef before attack, teachers say

Palestinian teenager dreamt of being a chef before attack, teachers say

HENRIETTE CHACAR IN the middle of last week, 13-year-old Palestinian Mahmoud Aleiwat was pressing his teachers for the school report he needed so he could go to a Jerusalem college to train as a chef. Three days later, he was lying unconscious in a hospital accused of opening fire at a group of Israeli passers-by in Jerusalem's Silwan district. Two people were critically wounded and Aleiwat was shot and wounded by one of the group. Police have not publicly named a suspect but his lawyer said they accuse Aleiwat of opening fire and attempted murder, accusations his family rejects. Police,…
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Analysis: Israel and Palestinians risk deeper conflict in a distracted world

Analysis: Israel and Palestinians risk deeper conflict in a distracted world

HENRIETTE CHACAR and NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI AFTER the bloodshed in Jerusalem and the West Bank and a month since Israel's most right-wing government took office, Israel and the Palestinians risk sliding into a cycle of wider confrontation with pressure on both sides for retaliation, analysts say. A Palestinian gunman shot dead seven people near a synagogue in Jerusalem's outskirts on Friday evening, a day after Israeli forces carried out a raid on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin which killed 10 people including seven gunmen. Israel said on Saturday it was sending army reinforcements to the West Bank and promised…
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Seven killed in synagogue attack as West Bank violence spirals

Seven killed in synagogue attack as West Bank violence spirals

JAMES MACKENZIE and NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI A gunman killed at least seven people and wounded 10 others in a synagogue on the outskirts of Jerusalem in an attack that heightened fears of a spiral in violence, a day after the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank in years. Police said the gunman arrived at around 8.15 p.m. and opened fire, hitting a number of people before he was killed by police. TV footage showed several victims lying in the road outside the synagogue being tended to by emergency workers. The attack, which police described as a "terrorist incident", underlined fears…
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Germany calls Al Aqsa visit by new Israeli minister a provocation

Germany calls Al Aqsa visit by new Israeli minister a provocation

GERMANY rejects unilateral steps that endanger the status quo on the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, said a foreign ministry spokesperson, calling a visit there by Israel's new far-right national security minister a provocation. "We expect the new Israeli government to commit to a continuation of the tried and tested practice around the holy sites in Jerusalem and to put a stop to further deliberate provocations," said the spokesperson at a regular government news conference. The Israeli minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, briefly visited the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Tuesday, a site also revered by Jews, angering the Palestinians and…
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Palestinians clash with Israeli police at Jerusalem holy site, 152 injured

Palestinians clash with Israeli police at Jerusalem holy site, 152 injured

AT least 152 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli riot police inside Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the latest outbreak in a recent upsurge of violence that has raised fears of a slide back to wider conflict. Most of the Palestinian injuries were incurred from rubber bullets, stun grenades and beatings with police batons, the Palestine Red Crescent said, at the most sensitive site in the generations-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli security forces have been on high alert after a series of deadly Arab street attacks throughout the country over the past two weeks. Confrontations at the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem's…
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