Page 80 - Israel

5,000 new housing units planned for city of Sderot in Northern Gaza

The plan sees the complex surrounding the train station as a central and significant focal point in the region

US, Europe warn Hezbollah to ease strikes on Israel, back off from war

US, European and Arab mediators are pressing to keep stepped-up cross-border attacks between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militants from spiralling into a wider Middle East war that the world has feared for months. Hopes are lagging for a cease-fire anytime soon in Israel's conflict with Hamas in Gaza that would calm attacks by Hezbollah and other Iranian-allied militias. With that in mind, American and European officials are delivering warnings to Hezbollah, which is far stronger than Hamas but seen as overconfident, about taking on the military might of Israel, current and former diplomats say. They are warning that the group should not count on the United States or anyone else being able to hold off Israeli leaders if they decide to execute battle-ready plans for an offensive into Lebanon. And Hezbollah should not count on its fighters' ability to handle whatever would come next. On both sides of the Lebanese border, escalating strikes between Israel and Hezbollah, one of the .

Iran votes to replace Prez killed in chopper crash, but apathy remains high

Iranians were voting Friday in a snap election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month, as public apathy has become pervasive in the Islamic Republic after years of economic woes, mass protests and tensions in the Middle East. Voters face a choice between hard-line candidates and a little-known politician who belongs to Iran's reformist movement that seeks to change its Shiite theocracy from within. As has been the case since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women and those calling for radical change have been barred from the ballot while the vote itself will have no oversight from internationally recognised monitors. The voting comes as wider tensions have gripped the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. In April, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel over the war in Gaza, while militia groups that Tehran arms in the region such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi rebels are engaged in the fight

Israel-Hezbollah conflict: Abandoned houses, scorched forests hint at war

A steady, if ugly, tit-for-tat between Israel and Hezbollah since the October outbreak of the Gaza war has been shifting into something more alarming

Suspected Houthi attacks target ship in Gulf of Aden, Israeli city of Eilat

Suspected attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels early Wednesday targeted a ship in the Gulf of Aden and the southern Israeli port city of Eilat, authorities said. The attacks follow the departure of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower after an eight-month deployment in which the aircraft carrier led the American response to the Houthi assaults. Those attacks have reduced shipping drastically through the route crucial to Asian, Middle East and European markets in a campaign the Houthis say will continue as long as the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip rages. The ship attack happened off the coast of Aden, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The captain of a merchant vessel reported a missile impacted the water in close proximity to the vessel, the UKMTO said. The crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call. The UKMTO did not say if the ship had been damaged. Meanwhile, the Israeli military early Wednesday said a drone f

Israel to roll out plan to replace Hamas in northern Gaza, says official

Said Hanegbi, You cannot completely get Hamas to disappear because it's an idea, a concept

UN tells Israel it will suspend aid ops across Gaza without improved safety

Senior UN officials have told Israel they will suspend aid operations across Gaza unless urgent steps are taken to better protect humanitarian workers, two UN officials say. A UN letter sent to senior Israeli officials this month said Israel must provide UN workers with direct communication with Israeli forces on the ground in Gaza, among other steps, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations with Israeli officials. The UN officials say there has been no final decision on suspending operations across Gaza and that talks with Israelis were ongoing. The UN World Food Program has already suspended aid delivery from a US-built pier in Gaza over security concerns. Israeli military officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Start drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish students into military: Israeli court

Netanyahu's Likud party said the Supreme Court's ruling was 'perplexing', given ongoing efforts in parliament to agree on a new conscription law that would address the problem

Hamas' key weapons operative Muhammad Salah killed in Israeli airstrike

The operation by Israeli Air Force came following IDF intelligence. Salah was part of a project to develop strategic weaponry for the Hamas terrorist organisation

Won't agree to deal that ends war in Gaza, says PM Benjamin Netanyahu

The viability of a US-backed proposal to wind down the 8-month-long war in Gaza was cast into doubt on Monday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would only be willing to agree to a partial cease-fire deal that would not end the war, comments that sparked an uproar from families of hostages held by Hamas. In an interview broadcast late Sunday on Israeli Channel 14, a conservative, pro-Netanyahu station, the Israeli leader said he was prepared to make a partial deal -- this is no secret that will return to us some of the people, referring to the roughly 120 hostages still held in the Gaza Strip. But we are committed to continuing the war after a pause, in order to complete the goal of eliminating Hamas. I'm not willing to give up on that. Netanyahu's comments did not deviate dramatically from what he has said previously about his terms for a deal. But they come at a sensitive time as Israel and Hamas appear to be moving further apart over the latest cease-fire ...

Israel winding down Gaza operations, Lebanon war could be next: Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the current phase of fighting against Hamas in Gaza is winding down, setting the stage for Israel to send more troops to its northern border to confront the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The comments threatened to further heighten the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah at a time when they appear to be moving closer to war. Netanyahu also signaled that there is no end in sight for the grinding war in Gaza. The Israeli leader said in a lengthy TV interview that while the army is close to completing its current ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, that would not mean the war against Hamas is over. But he said fewer troops would be needed in Gaza, freeing up forces to battle Hezbollah. We will have the possibility of transferring some of our forces north, and we will do that, he told Israel's Channel 14, a pro-Netanyahu TV channel, in an interview that was frequently interrupted by applause from the studi

Visitors to Israel have new stop on their tours: Hamas' destruction site

A new kind of tourism has emerged in Israel in the months since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. For celebrities, politicians, influencers and others, no trip is complete without a somber visit to the devastated south that absorbed the brunt of the assault near the border with Gaza. Jerry Seinfeld, Elon Musk, Michael Douglas, former presidential candidate Nikki Haley, and Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are a few who have visited, at times posing for photos in front of burned-out homes. Many Israelis, including soldiers and security officials, are also visiting on organized trips. It's our personal story, but it's also the story of all of the state of Israel, said Irit Lahav, spokeswoman for Kibbutz Nir Oz, who gives many of the tours. A quarter of the approximately 400 Nir Oz residents fell victim to the attack. Hamas militants killed more than 20 and kidnapped over 80. In the dining hall, a wall of post office boxes is plastered with stickers red for killed, black for kidnapped, blue for ...

Houthi forces strike vessel in Red sea using drone, officials say

The drone attack happened around dawn off the coast of the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said

PM Netanyahu reiterates 'dramatic drop' in US weapon supplies to Israel

Netanyahu has not specified what weapons were being held up by the US

Israeli offensive into Lebanon risks Iranian response: US military

The top U.S. military officer said Sunday that an Israeli military offensive into Lebanon will risk an Iranian response in defense of Hezbollah, triggering a broader war that could put U.S. forces in the region in danger. Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iran would be more inclined to support Hezbollah." He added Tehran supports Hamas, but would give greater backing to Hezbollah particularly if they felt that Hezbollah was being significantly threatened. Brown spoke to reporters as he traveled to Botswana for a meeting of African defense ministers. Israeli officials have threatened a military offensive in Lebanon if there is no negotiated end to push Hezbollah away from the border. Just days ago, Israel's military said it had approved and validated plans for an offensive in Lebanon, even as the U.S. works to prevent the months of cross-border attacks from spiraling into a full-blown war. U.S. officials have tried to broker a diplomatic solution t

Netanyahu claims US is withholding arms shipments, days after latter denies

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday that there had been a dramatic drop in US weapons deliveries for Israel's war effort in Gaza, doubling down on a claim that the Biden administration has denied and underscoring the growing strains between the two allies. Netanyahu told his Cabinet that the drop had occurred four months ago, without specifying which weapons, saying only that certain items arrived sporadically but the munitions at large remained behind." The spat highlights how high tensions have surged between Israel and Washington over the war in Gaza, particularly surrounding the Israeli military's conduct in the beleaguered territory and the harm to civilian life there. President Joe Biden has delayed delivering certain heavy bombs since May over those concerns, but his administration fought back last week against Netanyahu's charges that other shipments had also been affected. Netanyahu told the Cabinet that he was driven to release a video in .

Thousands protest, demand new elections, return of hostages in Israel

Some protesters held signs demanding early elections, and others held banners calling for an end to the fighting in Gaza

At least 39 people killed in Israeli strikes across northern Gaza: Reports

At least 39 people were killed by Israeli air strikes across northern Gaza on Saturday, according to Palestinian and hospital officials. Fadel Naem, director of the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, told The Associated Press that more than three dozen bodies arrived at the hospital. The Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency group active in Gaza, said it pulled approximately the same number of bodies from a building hit by an Israeli strike in an eastern neighbourhood of Gaza City. The group said its emergency workers were also digging for survivors at the site of another strike in Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. Israel said Saturday that its fighter jets struck two Hamas military sites in the Gaza City area but did not elaborate further. The deaths come a day after at least 25 people were killed in strikes on tent camps and 50 wounded near the southern city of Rafah. Israel said Saturday that it was continuing to operate in central and southern Gaza and has pushed ahead with

Israeli found dead after being shot in West Bank as deadly strikes hit Gaza

An Israeli was shot dead in a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank Saturday morning, Israel's army said, while deadly strikes rocked northern Gaza. The army said the Israeli man was pronounced dead after being shot in the town of Qalqilya, and that Israeli troops were currently operating in the area. Israeli forces shot dead two militants in the same West Bank town on Friday. Violence has flared in the the West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last October. Since then, at least 549 Palestinians in the territory have been killed by Israeli fire, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which tracks the killings. Over the same period, Palestinians in the West Bank have killed at least nine Israelis, including five soldiers, according to UN data. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Civil Defence, an emergency group active in Gaza, said they pulled 19 bodies from a building hit by an Israeli strike in an eastern neighbourhood of Gaza City on Saturday. The group said its emerge

Israeli strikes on tent camps near Rafah kill 25, injure 50, say officials

Israeli forces shelled tent camps for displaced Palestinians north of Rafah on Friday, killing at least 25 people and wounding another 50 according to Gaza's Heath Ministry and emergency workers, in the latest deadly attack in the tiny Palestinian territory where hundreds of thousands have fled fighting between Israel and Hamas. According to Ahmed Radwan, a spokesperson for the Civil Defense first responders in Rafah, witnesses told rescue workers about the shelling at two locations in a coastal area that has become filled with tents. The Health Ministry reported the number of people killed and wounded in the attacks. The locations of the attacks provided by Civil Defense were just outside an Israeli-designated safe zone. The Israeli military said they were looking into the strikes at the reported coordinates. Israel has previously bombed locations in the vicinity of the humanitarian zone in Muwasi, a rural area on the Mediterranean coast that has filled with sprawling tent camps in