Page 107 - Israel

UN court to issue ruling on South Africa's case against Israel on Friday

The United Nations' top court will issue a decision on Friday on South Africa's request for interim orders in a genocide case against Israel, including that Israel halt its offensive in Gaza. The decision is a preliminary stage of a case filed by South Africa at the International Court of Justice alleging that Israel's military action in its war with Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide. Israel strongly rejects the accusation and has asked the court to throw out the case. The court announced the timing of the interim ruling on Wednesday. Israel launched its massive air and ground assault on Gaza soon after Hamas militants stormed through Israeli communities on October 7 and killed some 1,200 people, mainly civilians. Israel often boycotts international tribunals and UN investigations, saying they are unfair and biased. But the country's leaders sent a high-level legal team to two days of hearings earlier this month a sign of how seriously they regard the case and and an indication of

Google to help fund Israeli artificial intelligence firms, Palestinian biz

"In the current situation, quite a few startups in Israel are struggling to raise capital from investors and urgently need financial bridging in order to continue operating," Google said in statement

Israel's rejection of two-state solution threatens global peace: UN chief

The United Nations chief warned Israel on Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's rejection of a two-state solution will indefinitely prolong a conflict that is threatening global peace and emboldening extremists everywhere. In his toughest language yet on the Israeli-Hamas war, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council that the right of the Palestinian people to build their own fully independent state must be recognised by all, and a refusal to accept the two-state solution by any party must be firmly rejected. The alternative of a one-state solution with such a large number of Palestinians inside without any real sense of freedom, rights and dignity will be inconceivable, he said. Guterres also warned that the risks of regional escalation of the conflict are now becoming a reality, pointing to Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Pakistan. He urged all parties to step back from the brink and to consider the horrendous costs of a

Netanyahu mourns loss of 21 soldiers in Gaza, says army will fight on

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has mourned the loss of 21 soldiers in the deadliest single attack in Gaza and says the army will fight on until absolute victory. In a posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, Netanyahu said Monday was one of the hardest days since the outbreak of the war. He says the army will launch an investigation into the attack, in which a militant fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank, setting off a secondary explosion that brought two buildings down on the soldiers. It was the deadliest single attack on Israeli forces in Gaza since the ground operation began. In the posting on Tuesday, Netanyahu wrote: In the name of our heroes, and for our own lives, we will not stop fighting until absolute victory.

Ground forces encircled southern Gaza city of Khan Younis: Israeli military

The Israeli military says its forces have encircled the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The territory's second largest city has seen heavy fighting in recent days, with dozens of Palestinians killed and wounded. Israeli officials have said top Hamas leaders may be hiding in tunnels under the city. Khan Younis is the hometown of Yehya Sinwar, Hamas' top leader in Gaza, whose whereabouts are unknown. The military announced the encirclement in a statement Tuesday.

EU pushes for Palestinian statehood, rejecting Netanyahu 's insistence

'The declarations of Benjamin Netanyahu are worrying. There will be a need for a Palestinian state with security guarantees for all,' French Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Sejourne told reporters

Kin of hostages in Gaza storm Israel's parliament asking for release deal

The developments showed the increasing pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has dug in on both fronts

Biden, Netanyahu speak for first time in weeks during war tensions

Their conversation came a day after the Israeli leader rejected calls from the US and Arab nations for the Palestinian Authority to rule Gaza after the war with Hamas

Won't recognise Israel without path to Palestinian state: Saudi official

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister says the kingdom will not normalise relations with Israel or contribute to Gaza's reconstruction without a credible pathway to a Palestinian state. Prince Faisal bin Farhan's remarks in an interview with CNN broadcast late Sunday were some of the most direct yet from Saudi officials. It puts them at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has rejected Palestinian statehood and described plans for open-ended military control over Gaza. The dispute over Gaza's future coming as the war still rages with no end in sight pits the United States and its Arab allies against Israel and poses a major obstacle to any plans for postwar governance or reconstruction in Gaza. Before the October 7 Hamas attack that triggered the war, the US had been trying to broker a landmark agreement in which Saudi Arabia would normalise relations with Israel in exchange for US security guarantees, aid in establishing a civilian nuclear programme in the kingdom,

Netanyahu to Gaza hostage families: Hamas has not made a solid deal offer

"I am saying this as clearly as I can because there are so many incorrect statements which are certainly agonising for you," Netanyahu added

Israel's plan to destroy Hamas not working, peace talks needed: EU officia

EU officials concede that Israeli officials and diplomats currently evince no interest in the so-called two-state solution but insist it is the only option for long-term peace

Death toll soars past 25K in Gaza with no end in sight to Israel-Hamas war

The Palestinian death toll in Gaza from over three months of war between Israel and the territory's Hamas rulers has soared past 25,000, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Sunday. At least 178 bodies were brought to Gaza's hospitals in 24 hours along with nearly 300 wounded people, according to Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra. The war began with Hamas' surprise attack into Israel on October 7, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 hostage, including men, women and children. Israel responded with a three-week air campaign and then a ground invasion into northern Gaza that flattened entire neighbourhoods. Ground operations are now focused on the southern city of Khan Younis and built-up refugee camps in central Gaza dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

In strategic bind, Israel weighs freeing hostages against destroying Hamas

Government's two main goals are mutually incompatible, say military commanders

Israeli airstrike on Syria kills at least 5 Iranian advisers: Officials

An Israeli strike on the Syrian capital, Damascus, destroyed Saturday a building used by Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard killing and wounding 10 people, state media outlets and an official with an Iran-backed group said. An opposition war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said at least five people were killed in the missile attack that struck when officials from Iran-backed groups were holding a meeting. State-TV reported that the Israeli aggression targeted a residential building in the tightly guarded western Damascus neighbourhood of Mazzeh, home to several diplomatic missions, including the Lebanese and Iranian embassies. An official with an Iran-backed group in the Middle East told The Associated Press that the building was used by Revolutionary Guard officials, adding that the Israeli missiles destroyed the whole building and that 10 were either killed or wounded in the attack. The strike came amid widening tensions in the region and the Israeli ...

Israel's Netanyahu rejects any Palestinian sovereignty in post-war Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes any form of Palestinian sovereignty in post-war Gaza, his office said Saturday, appearing to rebuff US President Joe Biden's suggestion that creative solutions could bridge wide gaps between the two leaders' views on Palestinian statehood. In a sign of the pressures Netanyahu's government faces at home and abroad over the war, a protest outside the prime minister's home grew as more people joined a group representing families of the more than 100 remaining hostages held by Hamas and other militant groups. The families are demanding the government take bold steps to free the hostages, fearing that Israel's military activity in Gaza further endangers their lives. Netanyahu is also under heat to appease members of his right-wing ruling coalition by intensifying the war against Hamas, which governs Gaza, and must contend with calls for restraint from the United States, its closest ally. A statement from the prime minister's office said

Iran launches satellite that is part of Western-criticised programme

Iran on said Saturday it had conducted a successful satellite launch into its highest orbit yet, the latest for a program the West fears improves Tehran's ballistic missiles. The announcement comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel's ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and just days after Iran and Pakistan engaged in tit-for-tat airstrikes in each others' countries. The Soraya satellite was placed in an orbit at some 750 kilometers (460 miles) above the Earth's surface with a three-stage rocket, the state-run IRNA news agency said. It did not immediately acknowledge what the satellite did. The launch was part of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' space programme alongside Iran's civilian space program, the report said. There was no immediate independent confirmation Iran had successfully put the satellite in orbit. The United States has previously said Iran's satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no ...

Relatives of hostages held by Hamas protest outside Netanyahu's home

Relatives of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza protested on Saturday outside the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing frustration over his government's seeming lack of progress in getting the more than 100 captives released as the war in Gaza drags on. A group representing families of the hostages said they had "begged for 105 days" and now demanded that the government show leadership and take bold steps to free the hostages. A member of Israel's War Cabinet has called a cease-fire the only way to secure their release, a comment that implied criticism of Israel's current strategy. The protest outside the prime minister's home and the remark by former Israeli army chief Gadi Eisenkot were among signs of growing strife in Israel over the direction of the war in its fourth month. Netanyahu has said he will push for complete victory against Hamas but has not outlined how he would achieve it. Critics have accused him of preventing a Cabinet-level debate about a ...

Women and children main victims of Israel-Hamas war with 16,000 killed: UN

Women and children are the main victims in the Israel-Hamas war, with some 16,000 killed and an estimated two mothers losing their lives every hour since Hamas' surprise attack on Israel, the United Nations agency promoting gender equality said Friday. As a result of the more than 100-day conflict, UN Women added, at least 3,000 women may have become widows and heads of households and at least 10,000 children may have lost their fathers. In a report released Friday, the agency pointed to gender inequality and the burden on women fleeing the fighting with children and being displaced again and again. Of the territory's 2.3 million population, it said, 1.9 million are displaced and close to one million are women and girls seeking shelter and safety. UN Women's executive director, Sima Bahous, said this is a cruel inversion of fighting during the 15 years before the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. Previously, she said, 67% of all civilians killed in Gaza and the West Bank were men and less the

Biden-Netanyahu hold talks after almost a month, discuss two-state solution

The US President also discussed the ongoing efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages under Hamas captivity and reviewed the situation in Gaza

US strikes Yemen sixth time, as Israel's war in Gaza raises tensions

The US fighter jets struck Houthi rebel sites in Yemen for the sixth time Friday, taking out anti-ship missile launchers that were prepared to fire, according to a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing military operations. The Iranian-backed Houthi militants say their attacks on global shipping in the Red Sea corridor are aimed at stopping Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Now in its fourth month, the war has raised the temperature on tensions across the Middle East. In Israel, a member of the country's War Cabinet said only a cease-fire deal can win the release of dozens of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. The televised comments by former army chief Gadi Eisenkot on Thursday were the latest sign of a growing rift among political and military leaders over the direction of Israel's war. Gaza's Health Ministry says more than 24,400 Palestinians have died in the conflict, and the United Nations says a quarter of the 2.3 million people trapped in Gaza