Page 87 - Israel-palestine

Blasts hit gas pipeline in Iran, official calls it an act of sabotage

Explosions struck a natural gas pipeline in Iran early Wednesday, with an official blaming the blasts on a sabotage and terrorist action in the country as tensions remain high in the Middle East amid Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Details were scarce, though the blasts hit a natural gas pipeline running from Iran's western Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province up north to cities on the Caspian Sea. The roughly 1,270-kilometer (790-mile) pipeline begins in Asaluyeh, a hub for Iran's offshore South Pars gas field. Saeed Aghli, the manager of Iran's gas network control center, told Iranian state television that a sabotage and terrorist action caused explosions along several areas of the line. There are no known insurgent groups operating in that province, home to the Bakhtiari, a branch of Iran's Lur ethnic group. Aghli did not name any suspects in the blasts. In the past, Arab separatists in southwestern Iran have claimed attacks against oil pipelines. However, attacks against

Northern Gaza residents can return once it's clear of militants: Israel

Israel's top general says the army will not allow residents of northern Gaza to return to their homes until the area is completely cleared of militants. At a press conference Tuesday, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi said that although many of the estimated 15,000 Hamas militants originally in northern Gaza had been killed or wounded, rocket launches and attacks against Israeli troops are still occurring there. He says residents will return there when it is safe to return and there are no more terror activities. Northern Gaza was the first target of Israel's ground invasion in late October, after weeks of heavy airstrikes and artillery shelling. Most of the more than 1 million people living there fled in the opening weeks of the war, which has flattened entire neighbourhoods. Israel is now threatening to expand its operation to the southern city of Rafah, where over half of Gaza's population is sheltering. Halevi says the army is weighing different options to evacuate Rafah, though no final ...

US Senate passes $95.3 bn aid package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan

The Senate early Tuesday passed a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, pushing ahead after months of difficult negotiations and growing political divisions in the Republican Party over the role of the United States abroad. The vote came after a small group of Republicans opposed to the $60 billion for Ukraine held the Senate floor through the night, using the final hours of debate to argue that the US should focus on its own problems before sending more money overseas. But 22 Republicans voted with nearly all Democrats to pass the package 70-29, with supporters arguing that abandoning Ukraine could embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and threaten national security across the globe. With this bill, the Senate declares that American leadership will not waiver, will not falter, will not fail, said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who worked closely with Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on the legislation. The bill's passage through the Senate with a ..

UK announces new sanctions on Israeli settlers over 'human rights abuses'

The United Kingdom on Monday announced new sanctions on the four extremist Israeli settlers, who committed alleged human rights abuses against Palestinian communities in the West Bank

Biden pushes for six-week fighting pause in Israel-Hamas hostage deal

"Once Hamas' control of Gaza is over, they must prepare to build a state that accepts peace and does not harbor terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad," Biden said

Israel strikes Rafah after Biden warns to have a plan to protect civilians

A series of Israeli strikes early on Monday hit Rafah, the city on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip where 1.4 million Palestinians have fled to escape fighting elsewhere in the four-month Israel-Hamas war. Israel has been signalling its ground offensive in Gaza may soon target the densely populated city on the Egyptian border. On Sunday, the White House said President Joe Biden had warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel should not conduct a military operation against Hamas in Rafah without a "credible and executable" plan to protect civilians. The strikes hit around Kuwait Hospital early on Monday morning, an AP journalist in Rafah said. Some of those wounded in the strikes had been brought to the hospital. The Israeli military said it struck "terror targets in the area of Shaboura" -- which is a district in Rafah. The military statement said the series of strikes had concluded, without elaborating on the targets or assessing the potential damage or ...

What would be the implications of collapse of Israel-Egypt peace treaty?

It was a warm handshake between the unlikeliest of statesmen, conducted under the beaming gaze of President Jimmy Carter. Sunlight streamed through the trees at Camp David, Maryland, as Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin solidified a landmark agreement that has allowed over 40 years of peace between Israel and Egypt. It has served as an important source of stability in a volatile region. That peace has held through two Palestinian uprisings and a series of wars between Israel and Hamas. But now, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to send Israeli troops into Rafah, a city in Gaza on the border with Egypt, the Egyptian government is threatening to void the agreement. Here's a look at the history of the treaty and what could happen if it is nullified. HOW DID THE TREATY ORIGINATE? It was 1977, and Begin, Israel's new prime minister, opposed ceding any of the land Israel had conquered a decade earlier in the 1967 Mideast war. Those lands

West Bank settler population grew nearly 3%, Gaza war could give new push

The population of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank grew nearly 3 per cent in 2023, according to a new report based on population statistics from the Israeli government. The report, released on Sunday by the pro-settler group WestBankJewishPopulationStats.com, found the settler population jumped to 517,407 as of December 31, from 502,991 a year earlier. The settler population has grown over 15 per cent in the last five years, the report said. Last year, it passed the half-million mark, a major threshold. This year's report predicted "accelerated growth" in the coming years, claiming the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, which triggered the current war in Gaza, persuaded many Israelis who were formerly opposed to settlement-building on occupied land to change positions. "Serious cracks have indeed developed in the wall of opposition to Jewish settlement of the West Bank," it said. Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war

Biden asks Israel to not press into Rafah without plan to protect civilians

Israel shouldn't go ahead with a military operation in the densely populated Gaza border town of Rafah without a credible plan to protect civilians, President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, the White House said. They spoke after two Egyptian officials and a Western diplomat said Egypt threatened to suspend its peace treaty with Israel if Israeli troops are sent into Rafah, where Egypt fears fighting could force the closure of the besieged territory's main aid supply route. The threat to suspend the Camp David Accords, a cornerstone of regional stability for nearly a half-century, came after Netanyahu said sending troops into Rafah was necessary to win the four-month war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas. He asserted that Hamas still has four battalions there. Over half of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have fled to Rafah to escape fighting in other areas, and they are packed into sprawling tent camps and UN-run shelters near the border. Egyp

Highlights of the day Mizoram CM to present state budget on Feb 27

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Israel's finance minister criticises Moody's credit rating downgrade

Israel's finance minister on Sunday slammed the decision by financial ratings agency Moody's to downgrade Israel's credit rating, saying the announcement is a political manifesto that did not include serious economic claims. Moody's dropped the rating on Israel's debt on Friday, warning that the ongoing war in Gaza and a possible war in the north with Hezbollah could adversely affect Israel's economy. It is the first time Moody's has lowered Israel's credit rating, which is used by investors to measure the riskiness of investing in a global entity or government. Moody's downgraded Israel from A1 to A2 and said the outlook for the country's economy was negative. The A2 rating nonetheless continues to carry relatively low risk, according to Moody's. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich angrily dismissed the decision. The announcement reflects a lack of confidence in Israel's security and national strength, and also a lack of confidence in the righteousness of Israel's path against its ..

UAE warns Israel against launching military operation in Rafah, Gaza

The Ministry reaffirmed the UAE's position, calling for a return to negotiations to achieve the two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state

Fleeing Gaza family killed by Israel along with medics sent to find them

The sound of gunfire crackled over the phone as the teenage girl hid in the car and spoke. An Israeli tank was near the vehicle as she and her family were trying to heed Israel's call to evacuate their home in Gaza. Something had gone horribly wrong. Everyone in the vehicle was dead, the teen said. Everyone but her and her five-year-old female cousin, Hind. "They are shooting at us," 15-year-old Layan told the Palestinian Red Crescent. "The tank is next to me." And then there was a burst of gunfire. She screamed and fell silent. That began a desperate rescue attempt by medics with the Palestinian Red Crescent, one of many during the war in Gaza and one that ended on Saturday with the discovery of their ambulance, blackened and destroyed. The two medics were dead. The Palestinian Red Crescent accused Israeli forces of targeting the ambulance as it pulled up near the family's vehicle. The organisation said it had coordinated the journey with Israeli forces as in the past. There was

Israeli drone strike kills two, injures others in Sidon, Lebanon

An Israeli drone struck a car near Lebanon's southern port city of Sidon on Saturday, killing at least two people and wounding two others, security officials said. The strike came as tensions across the Middle East grow with the Israel-Hamas war, a drone attack last month that killed three US troops in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border, and attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on vessels passing through the Red Sea. The drone strike near the coastal town of Jadra took place about 60 kilometres from the Israeli border, making it one of the farthest inside Lebanon since violence erupted along the Lebanon-Israel border on October 8. An Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the target of the strike in Sidon was Hamas official Basel Saleh, who was "injured to an unknown extent". The official said Saleh was responsible for enlistment of new Hamas recruits in Gaza and the West Bank. Two Lebanese security officials said the strike damaged a c

PM Netanyahu directs military to plan evacuation of population from Rafah

Rafah, a southern Gaza city, currently houses more than 1.3 million people. The majority of the people, who are living there are basically evacuees from other parts of Gaza

Biden order attaches human rights conditions to US military aid for Israel

A new directive by President Joe Biden appeared to ease a split among Democrats over his military support for Israel's war in Gaza, with lawmakers on Friday praising the order authorizing a swift cutoff of military aid to countries that violate international protections of civilians. For Biden, the commitment to conditioning U.S. military aid for Israel and other allies and strategic partners will help him shore up support among center-left Senate Democrats for his proposed $95 billion supplemental assistance package, which is aimed primarily at military aid for Ukraine in its war with Russia and for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Democratic senators on Friday called Biden's directive meant to bring breadth, oversight, deadlines and teeth to efforts to ensure foreign governments don't use U.S. military aid against civilians historic. This is a sea-change in terms of how you approach U.S. military aid and its impact on civilians, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said.

Israel hit with first ever downgrade as Moody's cites impact of war

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision does not reflect the state of the country's economy

Israeli strikes kill 9 after Biden calls Israel's approach 'over the top'

At least nine people, including children and women, were killed in Israeli airstrikes overnight into Friday in the central area of the Gaza Strip and in the southern city of Rafah on the border with Egypt, witnesses and hospital officials said. The overnight airstrikes came hours after US President Joe Biden said Thursday that he considers Israel's conduct of the war to be over the top. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, left Israel on Thursday as the divide grows between the two close allies on the way forward. More than half of Gaza's 2.3 million population has been driven by Israel's military offensive toward the border with Egypt. Unable to leave the tiny Palestinian territory, many are living in makeshift tent camps or overflowing UN-run shelters. The Palestinian death toll from the war has surpassed 27,840 people, the Health Ministry in Gaza said. A quarter of Gaza's residents are starving. The war began with Hamas' Oct 7 assault into Israel, in which militants kille

Netanyahu orders population of Gaza's Rafah evacuated ahead of invasion

Israel says Rafah is the last remaining Hamas stronghold and it needs to send in troops to complete its war plan against the Islamic militant group

As Israeli strikes kills 13 in Gaza, US Prez Biden calls it 'over the top'

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 13 people in Rafah in the Gaza Strip after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas' cease-fire terms and vowed to expand the offensive into the southern Gaza town. President Joe Biden called Israel's military response in Gaza over the top and said he continues to work tirelessly to press Israel and Hamas to agree on an extended pause in fighting. I am of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in the Gaza Strip has been over the top, Biden told reporters in an exchange on Thursday evening after delivering remarks on a special counsel report on his handling of classified documents. Biden has been under political pressure to mend any rifts with voters he might need, especially in the Arab American community, where he has faced increased backlash for his vocal support of Israel's war in Gaza. On Thursday, he sent emissaries to a suburb of Detroit, where the nation's largest concentration of Arab Americans resides. More than h