by Mike Smith with Sakher Abou El Oun in Gaza City JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Palestinian militants fired a rocket at Israel late Tuesday despite a ceasefire announced by Hamas, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was prepared for further military action in Gaza. The flare-up began early Monday with a rare long-distance rocket strike from the Gaza Strip that hit a house north of Tel Aviv, wounding seven Israelis. The Israeli military […]
Tag: Palestinian
Israel strikes Gaza after rare missile hits house
by Sakher Abou El Oun GAZA CITY, Palestinian City (AFP) — Israeli air strikes hit sites across the Gaza Strip on Monday in retaliation for a rare rocket attack that hit a house near Tel Aviv, before Hamas said a ceasefire was reached. Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, said Egypt had brokered the ceasefire following the escalation that came just two weeks before Israel’s April 9 elections. Israel, whose strikes began […]
Israeli air strikes hit Gaza after rocket fire, Hamas TV destroyed
by Sakher Abou El Oun with Mike Smith in Jerusalem Agence France Presse GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — Israeli air strikes in Gaza killed three Palestinians and destroyed a Hamas TV building on Monday after a barrage of rocket fire from the enclave, as renewed violence threatened to derail efforts to end months of unrest. The flare-up came after a deadly Israeli special forces operation in the Gaza Strip on Sunday that left Hamas […]
Deadly clash erupts during Israel operation in Gaza
by Sakher Abou El Oun Agence France Presse GAZA CITY, Palestinian (AFP) — An exchange of fire erupted during an Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing six Palestinians and an Israeli soldier, officials said, while potentially dashing hopes that a recent agreement would restore calm. As tensions rose following the clash, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he would cut short his trip to Paris, where he had been attending […]
US pulls out of international accord over Jerusalem embassy case
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States said Wednesday it was quitting an international accord related to the top UN court after the Palestinians challenged the US move of its Israel embassy to Jerusalem. It was the latest attack on the international justice system by the administration of President Donald Trump, who last month at the United Nations virulently rejected the authority of the International Criminal Court. Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, […]
Israel welcomes end of US funding for UN Palestinian refugee agency
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel welcomed Saturday a US decision to end funding for the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), accusing the organisation which supports some five million Palestinians of perpetuating the Middle East conflict. Israel and the United States have accused the nearly 70-year-old agency of maintaining the idea that many Palestinians are refugees with a right to return to the homes from which they fled or were expelled during the 1948 war that accompanied […]
Palestinian anger as US ends funding for UN agency
by Hossam Ezzedine Agence France Presse RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — Palestinians reacted angrily Saturday to a US decision to end all funding for the UN agency that assists millions of refugees, seeing it as a new policy shift aimed at undermining their cause. Washington, which until last year was by far the biggest contributor to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), announced on Friday that it would no longer […]
Palestinian president Abbas suffering from pneumonia, condition improving: officials
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is suffering from pneumonia but his condition is improving, officials said late Monday. “I visited President Abbas in the hospital tonight. He suffers from pneumonia and is treated with antibiotics,” Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli Arab member of parliament, said on Twitter, adding that the 83-year-old’s condition had “markedly improved”. Appearing on official media, Saed Sarahna, the head of the Istishari Arab Hospital near Ramallah in the […]
Egypt opens Gaza border for month of Ramadan: president
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has made a rare decision to open the Rafah crossing with Gaza for a month, allowing Palestinians to cross during the period of Ramadan. The decision to keep the crossing open was taken “to alleviate the suffering” of residents in the Palestinian enclave, Sisi said on Facebook late Thursday. The Rafah crossing is Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world not controlled by Israel, but Egypt […]
Israel launches new air raid on Hamas in Gaza
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel said Thursday it launched an overnight air raid on a Hamas facility in Gaza after gunfire from the territory targeted its soldiers and damaged a building. “The Israeli army struck targets belonging to Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip, including terrorist infrastructure and weapons-making facilities,” the military said in a statement. Palestinian security sources confirmed the target was a Hamas base, saying there were no immediate reports of injuries. On Wednesday, […]
Gaza toll rises to 59 with more protests against Israel planned
by Joe Dyke and Adel Zaanoun Agence France Presse GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — Fresh protests were expected Tuesday a day after Israeli forces killed 59 Palestinians during clashes and protests along the Gaza border against the US embassy opening in Jerusalem in the conflict’s bloodiest day in years. Palestinians on Tuesday mark the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s […]
US blocks call for independent Gaza inquiry at UN: diplomats
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The United States on Monday blocked the adoption of a UN Security Council statement that would have called for an independent probe of deadly violence on the Israel-Gaza border, which erupted as the new US embassy in Jerusalem was opened, diplomats said. “The Security Council expresses its outrage and sorrow at the killing of Palestinian civilians exercising their right to peaceful protest,” read a draft of the statement, a copy […]





