Israel’s decision to expand firearms licensing for Israelis will only escalate tensions and further violence with Palestinians, Volker Türk – the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights – has warned.
“Plans by the Government of Israel to expedite and expand the licensing of firearms, with the stated intention of adding thousands of (Israeli) civilians carrying firearms – coupled with hateful rhetoric – can only lead to further violence and bloodshed,” Türk said in a statement.
“We know from experience that the proliferation of firearms will lead to increased risks of killings and injuries of both Israelis and Palestinians. Therefore, the Israeli authorities must work to reduce the availability of firearms in society,” he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that more Israelis would be permitted firearms licenses last week.
The move comes amid rising tension in the Palestinian territories following an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin last week that left 10 Palestinians dead. Seven Israelis were also killed in a shooting attack in occupied East Jerusalem.
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“Rather than fueling a worsening spiral of violence, I urge all those holding public office or other positions of authority – indeed everyone – to stop using language that incites hatred of the other,” Türk said. “Such fomenting hatred is corrosive for all Israelis, Palestinians, and society.”
The U.N. commissioner noted that 32 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli army fire since the start of the year, while seven Israelis have also been killed.
“The people of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory need their leaders to work – urgently – to create conditions conducive to a political solution to this protracted, untenable situation,” he added.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israelis and Palestinians not to escalate tensions amid the recent surge of violence in the Palestinian territories, as he arrived in Tel Aviv on Monday to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“It’s the responsibility of everyone to take steps to calm tensions rather than inflame them,” the top U.S. diplomat said after landing at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen welcomed Blinken upon arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport.
During his two-day stay, Blinken will also visit the West Bank city of Ramallah for talks with Palestinian officials.
Blinken is the third high-ranking U.S. official to visit the region since the formation of the current Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month after U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and CIA Director William Burns.
According to the State Department, Blinken will discuss with Israeli officials the enduring U.S. support for Israel’s security, particularly against threats from Iran.
The talks will also take up Israel’s deepening integration into the region, Israeli-Palestinian relations and the importance of a two-state solution, and a range of other global and regional issues.
In the West Bank, Blinken will meet with Palestinian President Abbas and senior officials to discuss Israeli-Palestinian relations, political reforms, and further strengthening the U.S. relationship with the Palestinians.
At least seven Israelis were killed in a shooting attack near a synagogue in an Israeli settlement in occupied East Jerusalem Friday night, a day after nine Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin.
The Israeli army killed two Palestinians in a West Bank raid on Monday as it demolished the homes of two Palestinians accused of killing an Israeli soldier, Palestinian officials said.
Clouds of smoke engulfed the small village as two houses were levelled with explosives shortly after sunrise on Monday.
The army later said “a violent riot was instigated” when troops entered the village.
“Rioters burned tyres, shot live fire and hurled rocks, Molotov cocktails and explosive devices at the forces, who responded with riot dispersal means and live fire,” the statement said. “Hits were identified,” it added.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that 18 others were arrested by the Israeli army in overnight raids across the West Bank.
After he was killed, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades — the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’ Fatah party — claimed responsibility.
Ahmed Abed, 23, and Abdul Rahman Subhi Abed, 22, whose family homes were demolished Monday, were also killed in the September clashes in which Falah died.
– New government – Israel regularly destroys the homes of individuals it blames for attacks on Israelis.
But Israel says the practice is effective in deterring some Palestinians from carrying out attacks.
The two deaths are the first in the West Bank for 2023.
According to United Nations data, 2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinians since the 2002-2005 uprising, known as the Second Intifada, with at least 150 Palestinians and 26 Israelis killed across Israel and the West Bank, including Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
The new government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the most right-wing in Israel’s history, has sparked fears of a military escalation in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967.
Two of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, sworn in on Thursday with the rest of the new government, will take charge of critical powers in relation to Palestinians in the West Bank.
An Israeli prosecutor has charged two soldiers for attempting to bomb a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank, in a rare indictment over an offense against Palestinians.
Prosecutors charged the two soldiers with making an explosive device, aggravated intentional assault, intentional harm to property and impeaching the investigation, the Israeli army announced late Thursday. The court ordered the soldiers to remain in detention until a hearing next month. They were arrested on Nov. 28.
The indictment said the two defendants acted out of revenge for the abduction of the body of an Israeli schoolboy in the flashpoint West Bank city of Jenin on Nov. 22.
The seizure of the boy’s body spread alarm among Israel’s Druze community. As anger rose, videos circulated on social media of Druze men threatening to take revenge against Palestinians.
Amid the standoff over Fero’s body, the two defendants – reportedly Druze soldiers – conspired with another soldier to assemble an explosive device, the military said on Thursday. The soldiers identified a Palestinian home near the West Bank city of Bethlehem as their target and lobbed stones at it. A few days later, they threw the explosive into the crowded house “with the intent of starting a fire in the home,” the military added.
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The military said the attack caused no casualties. It said it opened an investigation into the incident following a complaint from the Palestinian homeowner.
The military said it would issue an indictment against the third soldier in the coming days. The three soldiers were not named. The military did not comment on the penalties they could face.
Such a swift military prosecution is highly unusual and underscored the seriousness of the case. Rights groups long have alleged that Israeli military investigations into the killings of Palestinians reflect a pattern of impunity. Earlier this month, Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip over the last five years have been indicted in less than 1% of the 1,260 complaints against them.
Critics have repeatedly accused Israeli forces of using excessive firepower in the West Bank as violence in the occupied territory reaches its highest level in years. The Israeli military has conducted near-daily raids into Palestinian cities and towns, killing more than 150 Palestinians. The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions have also been killed.
Meanwhile, Palestinian attacks using knives, bombs and shootings have killed 29 Israelis in 2022, both soldiers and civilians, Israel’s Foreign Ministry reported.
Most of the Palestinians were killed during Israeli military raids and fighting in the northern West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus. On Friday, the Israeli military said it entered Nablus to arrest Ahmed Massari, a wanted 19-year-old Palestinian militant from the Lion’s Den group, a new militant group led by young fighters from the city.
Palestinians shot at Israeli soldiers and hurled stones and explosive devices at Israeli vehicles, and the Israeli military unleashed tear gas and live fire. The streets were ablaze with gunfire and burning tires.
The Palestinian Health Ministry later reported that eight Palestinians were wounded by flying shrapnel from bullets
Israel’s military says it has filed “severe indictments” against two soldiers who threw an improvised explosive at a Palestinian house in the occupied West Bank in retaliation for the kidnapping of the body of an Israeli teenager last month.
Palestinian fighters had (Watch Video Here) seized the body of an Israeli Druze high schooler from a hospital in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin where he had been taken after a car accident. The body was later returned. The Druze are an Arab religious minority in Israel whose members are conscripted into the armed forces.
“The defendants and an additional soldier assembled an improvised explosive and threw it into a crowded house,” the military said on Thursday. “The act was committed with the intent of starting a fire in the home as a form of revenge for the kidnapping of the body of a young Israeli in Jenin.”
No one in the house was wounded, according to residents.
The third soldier will also be indicted in the coming days, the military said. (Watch Video Here)
The trial and conviction of Israeli soldiers for crimes committed against Palestinians is a rare occurrence as Israeli soldiers very seldom face prosecution.
According to the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, data for the 2019-20 period showed that only 2 percent of complaints filed by Palestinians against Israeli forces for abuse lead to prosecutions.
On the opposite end, almost all of the cases and trials of Palestinians in Israeli military courts – 99.74 percent – end in a conviction. (Watch Video Here)
There has been an intensification of violence in the West Bank since March, with the United Nations labelling 2022 as the deadliest year for Palestinians in the territory since 2006.
Israel intensified the military raids it has long conducted in the West Bank, leading to dozens of killings and hundreds of arrests, after a series of attacks by Palestinians.
Israel also regularly withholds the bodies of Palestinians who die in Israeli prisons, with the intention of using them as bargaining chips during negotiations (Watch Video Here) with armed groups. Palestinians held protests earlier this week in the West Bank calling for the bodies of loved ones to be released.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric announced that his country will inaugurate an embassy in the Palestinian territories, becoming one of the rare Andean nations to have the highest level of diplomatic representation in Palestine.
Chilean Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola confirmed the plan on Thursday but said there was no timeline in place yet and that Chile continues to recognize both Palestine and Israel as legitimate states.
Leftist Boric, who has repeatedly expressed support for the Palestinian people’s demand for an independent state, made the comments at a private ceremony in Santiago hosted by the city’s important Palestinian diaspora.
“I am taking a risk (saying) this… we are going to raise our official representation in Palestine from having a charge d’affaires; now we are going to open an embassy,” Boric said, without giving details on where the embassy would be located.
The Israeli Embassy in Chile did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Palestine’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside of business hours.
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The Palestinian territories include the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and contest control over East Jerusalem. Israel occupied those areas in a 1967 Middle East war and there have been regular clashes since.
The West Bank has experienced some of the worst levels of violence in more than a decade this year, much of it concentrated around Nablus and the nearby city of Jenin, with at least 150 Palestinians and more than 20 Israelis killed.
Israeli forces killed another Palestinian near a flashpoint site on Thursday, underlining the continuing violence in the occupied West Bank that will confront Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s incoming government.
Netanyahu has secured a coalition with religious and ultranationalist partners who oppose Palestinian statehood and want to extend Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Chile’s Boric said the embassy was meant to give Palestinians the representation they deserve and to demand that “international law be respected.”
In September, Boric postponed receiving the credentials of Israel’s new ambassador to Chile after Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager. Israel criticized the decision, saying it “seriously” harmed bilateral ties
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Carlo Ancelotti’s team successfully added to their four cups from 2014 to 2018, and their triumph meant European teams have won the past 10 editions of the tournament.
At least four Palestinians were reported killed in clashes with Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Two brothers were killed by Israeli fire in Kafr Ein, near Ramallah, while a third man died of bullet wounds to the head fired by Israeli troops in Beit Ummar, near the flashpoint city of Hebron, the ministry said.
The health ministry identified the dead brothers as Jawad Abdulrahman Rimawi, 22, and Dhafer Abdul Rahman Rimawi, 21.
In the meanwhile, the Palestinian official news agency Wafa named the dead man from the Beit Ummar area as Mufid Mahmud Khalil, 44.
The man was seriously wounded in the head by Israeli troops while dozens of others were wounded in al-Khalil city, according to Palestinian officials.
The Palestinian Red Crescent previously said the medical teams intervened in 22 people injured in the conflict and that nine of the wounded were hit by live bullets, five by plastic bullets, and eight people were affected by tear gas.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that clashes erupted between Israeli soldiers that raided the town and dozens of Palestinians who tried to prevent them stones, adding that the Israeli army fired live and rubber bullets, and tear gas at the Palestinian youth.
Israeli medics and the army, however, said Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinians and an alleged car-ramming attacker.
The army confirmed its troops had fired on “rioters” who attacked soldiers in two separate clashes in the West Bank overnight.
The 20-year-old woman soldier was “moderately injured and evacuated to a hospital for medical treatment” following the suspected car-ramming north of Jerusalem, the army said.
Jerusalem’s Shaare Tzedek hospital confirmed the alleged attacker had been killed.
The West Bank has suffered spiraling violence this year, with near-daily Israeli army raids leading to scores of deaths – of Palestinian fighters and also civilians – while Jewish settlers have been increasingly targeted by at times deadly Palestinian violence.
Commenting on the Beit Ummar clash, the Israeli army said it had opened fire on “rioters” who “hurled rocks and improvised explosive devices at the soldiers” after two vehicles got stuck during an “operation patrol” in the area.
The Israeli army said “a violent riot was instigated by a number of suspects,” during “routine” overnight activity in the Kafr Ein area.
“The suspects hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails toward the soldiers, who responded with riot dispersal means and live fire,” an army statement said, adding that the military was “aware” of reports of two fatalities.
“The incident is under review,” the army said.
Palestinian Authority civil affairs minister Hussein al Sheikh described the killing of the two brothers as an “execution in cold blood.”
Near the West Bank settlement of Migron, the army reported “a ramming attack”.
The Magen David Adom emergency response agency said its staff treated “a 20-year-old female injured in a car-ramming terror attack,” and took her to Shaare Tzedek hospital.
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Boiling point On Monday, the United Nations envoy for Middle East peace, Tor Wennesland, warned the situation in the West Bank was “reaching a boiling point”.
“High levels of violence in the occupied West Bank and Israel in recent months, including attacks against Israeli and Palestinian civilians, increased use of arms and settler-related violence, have caused grave human suffering,” he told the Security Council.
This week, the army announced it had made more than 3,000 arrests this year as part of Operation Break the Wave, a campaign it launched following a series of deadly attacks against Israeli civilians.
The U.N. says more than 125 Palestinians have been killed across the West Bank this year.
Israel has occupied the territory since the Six-Day War of 1967. An estimated 475,000 Jewish settlers now live in the territory, alongside some 2.9 million Palestinians, in communities considered illegal under international law.
Tuesday’s violence came as veteran hawk Benjamin Netanyahu continued negotiations to form what could be the most right-wing government in Israel’s history, following a general election earlier this month.
On Friday, Netanyahu signed an agreement with lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir that promised the far-right firebrand the new post of national security minister, with responsibility for the border police in the West Bank.
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This was disclosed by the Police Public Relations Officer, Bauchi State Command, Ahmed Wakil, a Superintendent of Police, in a terse Whatsapp message on Sunday.
In a statement marking World Children’s Day, the Palestinian Prisoners Society NGO said Israeli forces rounded up 750 minors in 2022.
“Around 160 children are still in Israeli custody,” the statement said.
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According to the NGO, eight minors, including three girls, are held by Israel’s policy of administrative detention, which allows the arrest of Palestinians without charge or trial.
“Children are subject to all forms of systematic abuses, including torture,” the statement said.
There was no comment from Israeli authorities on the statement.
In 1990, the United Nations set Nov. 20 to celebrate World Children’s Day to commemorate the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959.
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The police said the 250kg bomb was discovered on Tuesday by a contractor working on the third crossing over the River Yare and exploded as workers attempted to diffuse it
A Palestinian youth, shot five days earlier by the Israeli army during a home demolition in the occupied West Bank, succumbed to his wounds Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry has confirmed.
In a statement, the ministry confirmed “the death of the young man, Hamad Mustafa Hussein Abu Jelda, 24, after being shot by the Israeli occupation forces in Jenin camp a few days ago.”
Security sources in Jenin told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Abu Jelda had been shot during an Israeli army raid on Jenin camp last Tuesday to destroy the home of Raad Hazem, who reportedly killed three Israelis in a deadly shooting attack in Tel Aviv.
Pictures of Abu Jelda released by local activists showed him posing with an M16 rifle, though no armed faction has claimed him as a member.
Hazem carried out a shooting spree in Tel Aviv’s busy Dizengoff Street nightlife district on April 7, before being shot dead after a massive manhunt.
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His father Fathi and brother Hamam are both wanted by Israel.
A petition by Hazem’s family to prevent the demolition was rejected by Israel’s supreme court on May 30.
The Tel Aviv shooting was part of a wave of deadly attacks on Israeli targets, mostly by Palestinians. In response, Israel launched near-nightly raids on West Bank towns and cities that have killed dozens of Palestinians.
Last Monday, armed forces chief Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi said “around 1,500 wanted people were arrested and hundreds of attacks prevented” in the operations.
Human rights activists say Israel’s policy of demolishing the homes of suspected attackers amounts to collective punishment, as it can render non-combatants, including children, homeless.
But Israel says the practice is effective in deterring some Palestinians from carrying out attacks.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, when it captured the territory from Jordan.
Israeli forces on Tuesday killed a Palestinian and wounded 16 others during a raid in the occupied West Bank to carry out a home demolition, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
“The outcome of the Israeli aggression on Jenin at dawn today: a 29-year-old martyr and 16 wounded with bullets and shrapnel were admitted to hospitals,” the ministry said.
Palestine’s official news agency Wafa identified the dead man as Mohammed Musa Mohammed Sabaaneh.
The Israeli army, for its part, said it entered Jenin overnight “in order to demolish the residence” of the perpetrator of a deadly shooting attack in Tel Aviv in April.
Raad Hazem killed three Israelis in a shooting spree in Tel Aviv’s busy Dizengoff Street nightlife district on April 7, before being shot dead after a massive manhunt.
His father Fathi Hazem and brother Hamam are both wanted by Israel.
The Tel Aviv shooting was part of a wave of attacks on Israeli targets in which 19 people were killed. Three Israeli Arab attackers also died.
After the series of deadly street attacks, Israel stepped up incursions into the West Bank, many in the city of Jenin.
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Around 100 Palestinians have been killed in the campaign, the Palestinian Health Ministry says, including militants, civilians and people taking part in clashes with Israeli forces.
On Monday, the Israeli military published its final conclusions into the killing of Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May, saying she was likely to have been unintentionally shot by an Israeli soldier.
Abu Akleh, a U.S.-Palestinian citizen, was shot dead on May 11 while covering an Israeli raid in Jenin in circumstances that remain disputed. Her killing triggered international outrage.
Armed forces chief Lieutenant General Aviv Kohavi said Monday, “around 1,500 wanted people were arrested and hundreds of attacks prevented” in the operations.
He added that the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas was “unable” to control certain areas of the West Bank.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the raids.
“The ministry views the systematic Israeli escalation with grave concern and we will follow this crime up with the International Criminal Court and the U.N. Human Rights Council,” it said.
Human rights activists say Israel’s policy of demolishing the homes of suspected attackers amounts to collective punishment, as it can render non-combatants, including children, homeless. But Israel says the practice is effective in deterring some Palestinians from carrying out attacks.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, when it captured the territory from Jordan.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump sent a secret letter to then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, approving his controversial annexation plan of Palestinian territories, according to a report.
The Jerusalem Post said the three-page letter, dated Jan. 26, 2020, says: “Israel would be able to extend sovereignty to parts of the West Bank if Netanyahu agreed to a Palestinian state in the remaining territory.”
Netanyahu received the letter just two days before Trump announced his so-called “deal of the century” to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a plan that was vehemently rejected by the Palestinians.
Peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel collapsed in 2014 due to Tel Aviv’s refusal to release Palestinian detainees and stop settlement building.
Trump’s “deal of the century” refers to Jerusalem as “Israel’s undivided capital” and recognizes Israeli sovereignty over large parts of the occupied West Bank.
The plan involves the establishment of a Balkanized Palestinian state in the form of an archipelago connected by bridges and tunnels.
Palestinian officials say that under the U.S. plan, Israel will annex 30%-40% of the West Bank, including all of East Jerusalem.
Under international pressure, Netanyahu didn’t announce his annexation plan as was scheduled in July 2020, claiming he only delayed its announcement.
Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank will be able to travel to destinations in Türkiye, through the Ramon Airport, at the end of August, Israel’s Airports Authority said Tuesday.
The move is Israel’s latest gesture to Palestinians, following pressure from the United States to ease travel for Palestinians as prospects for reviving long-stalled peace talks and establishing an independent Palestinian state appeared dim. It also follows a weekend of violence, when Israeli rockets killed at least 50 Palestinians, including 15 children, in Gaza.
“We welcome efforts to facilitate travel for the Palestinian people,” a U.S. Embassy spokesperson told Reuters.
But representatives of Palestinians, whose movement is routinely restricted by Israel, said they were not a party to the decision.
“Nobody consulted with us on this matter,” said Wasel Abu Yousef, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization. “What we seek is the return of al-Quds International Airport to operate as the State of Palestine’s airport.”
Palestinians from areas Israel occupied in a 1967 war cannot fly from Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport without special permission. They typically travel to Jordan to catch international flights, a trip that entails crossing through checkpoints and can take hours.
Under the pilot program, the flights will run twice a week starting at the end of August to Istanbul and Antalya on Turkish carriers Atlas and Pegasus and using Airbus A321 aircraft, the airports authority said.
These flights will not be offered to Palestinians from Gaza.
Ramon Airport, which opened in 2019, is about 300 kilometers (185 miles) from Jerusalem and is designed to take any planes rerouted from Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv.
Foreign carriers such as Ryanair, Wizzair and Lufthansa began to fly nonstop to older Eilat airports in 2015 during the winter months after Israel offered airlines 60 euros ($61) per passenger brought on direct flights from abroad.
But the COVID-19 pandemic largely halted those flights.
The airport authority said that for the first time, summer flights to various destinations in Europe from Eilat would start in the coming days. They include Batumi, Georgia and Larnaca, Greek Cyprus on Israeli carrier Arkia, and Warsaw and Katowice on Poland’s Enter Air.
Pegasus in October will fly Israelis to Türkiye with four flights a week, the authority said
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Israel and the Islamic Jihad movement agreed to a truce in Gaza after three days of intense conflict, an Egyptian source said Sunday, as the death toll continued to rise following airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave.
The negotiations raise hopes that Egypt could help broker a deal to end the worst fighting in Gaza since an 11-day war last year devastated the impoverished coastal territory, home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.
Since Friday, Israel has carried out heavy aerial and artillery bombardments in Gaza.
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has said officials were talking with both sides “around the clock” to ease the violence. A security source in Cairo said that Israel “has accepted” a cease-fire, adding that Cairo was waiting for the Palestinian response.
A source from Islamic Jihad said that “discussions are underway at the highest levels towards calm,” but warned that “the resistance will not stop if the occupation’s (Israel) aggression and crimes do not stop.”
Egyptian mediators have proposed a truce to Israel’s attacks on Gaza that would take effect at 10 p.m. (7 p.m. GMT) on Sunday, an Egyptian security source said.
Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 41 Palestinians, including 10 children since the bombardment began three days ago, amid an escalation of tensions following the killing of a senior member of Islamic Jihad just before the weekend.
Ten children were among those killed in the latest “Israeli aggression” since Friday, and 265 people have been wounded, said health authorities in the enclave where several buildings were reduced to rubble.
The fighting is the worst in Gaza since a war last year devastated the besieged coastal territory, home to some 2.3 million Palestinians, and forced Israelis to seek shelter from rockets.
The Israeli army has said the entire “senior leadership of the military wing of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza has been neutralized,” and Prime Minister Yair Lapid vowed Sunday that “the operation will continue as long as necessary.”
Israel has maintained an illegal blockade on the impoverished enclave since 2007, the year Hamas took power.
In early May, tensions in Israel and Palestine flared into the worst disturbances since 2017 when Israeli riot police clashed with large crowds of Palestinians on the last Friday of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Nightly unrest since then at the Al-Aqsa compound in occupied East Jerusalem left more than 700 Palestinians wounded, drawing international calls for de-escalation and sharp rebukes from across the Muslim world.
Tensions in the area reached an all-time high in May.
The situation in occupied Palestine was so dire that a senior official from the United Nations warned that the two countries were “heading towards a full-scale war.”
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An independent commission of inquiry set up by the UN Human Rights Council after the 2021 Israeli assault on the besieged Gaza Strip said Israel must do more than end the occupation of land that Palestinian leaders want for a future state.
“Ending the occupation alone will not be sufficient,” according to the report released on Tuesday, urging that additional action be taken to ensure the equal enjoyment of human rights for Palestinians.
The report cites evidence that Israel has “no intention of ending the occupation”.
Israel is pursuing “complete control” over what the report calls the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which was taken by Israel in a 1967 war and later annexed in a move never recognised by the international community.
The Israeli government, the commission said, has been “acting to alter the demography through the maintenance of a repressive environment for Palestinians and a favourable environment for Israeli settlers”.
Citing an Israeli law denying naturalisation to Palestinians married to Israeli citizens, the report accuses Israel of affording “different civil status, rights and legal protection” for Palestinian citizens of Israel.
More than 700,000 Israeli settlers now live in settlements and outposts across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which is home to more than three million Palestinians. The Israeli settlements are fortified, Jewish-only housing complexes that are considered illegal under international law.
Leading human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have equated Israeli policies against Palestinians to apartheid.
‘Root causes’ of the conflict The UN inquiry and report was prompted by the 11-day Israeli military offensive in May 2021 during which more than 260 Palestinians in Gaza were killed, and 13 people died in Israel.
In May 2021, Hamas fired rockets towards Israel after Israeli forces cracked down on Palestinian worshippers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound – Islam’s third holiest site – where dozens were injured and detained. It also followed an Israeli court decision to forcibly expel Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah, a neighbourhood in East Jerusalem.
The inquiry’s mandate included investigation of alleged human rights abuses before and after Israel’s onslaught against Gaza, and sought to also investigate the “root causes” of the conflict.
Hamas welcomed the report and urged the prosecution of Israeli leaders in what it said were “crimes” against the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian Authority also praised the report and called for accountability “in a manner that puts an end to Israel’s impunity”.
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the report “a waste of money and effort” that amounted to a witch-hunt.
Israel boycotted the inquiry, accusing it of bias and barred entry to its investigators to Israel and Palestinian territories, leading investigators to collect testimonies from Geneva and Jordan.
The report will be discussed at the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council next week. The United States quit the Council in 2018 over what it described as its “chronic bias” against Israel and only fully rejoined this year.
The commission, headed by former UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, and is the first to have an “ongoing” mandate from the UN rights body.
Proponents say the commission is needed to keep tabs on persistent injustices faced by Palestinians under decades of Israeli occupation
Six Palestinian detainees were sentenced on Sunday to an additional five years in prison for a 2021 escape through a tunnel from a maximum-security jail facility in northern Israel.
The six, already serving life terms for anti-Israeli attacks, escaped on Sept. 6 last year from Gilbao prison through a tunnel dug under a sink.
Hailed as “heroes” by the Palestinians, their escape triggered a massive manhunt by army reinforcements and drones before their capture two weeks later.
Apart from the extra prison sentences, the court also slapped the six prisoners with a fine of 5,000 shekels (nearly $160), the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)-run Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs said in a statement.
“My client told the court he did not regret the escape because he had nothing to lose,” one of the prisoners’ lawyer, Raslan Mahajana, told reporters.
Five of the detainees are members of the Islamic Jihad group, while the sixth is a member of the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The jailbreak has brought Israel’s prison service under fire and prompted the government to launch an investigation.
Israeli troops shot and killed a teenage Palestinian boy as they raided the northern city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry and local media said.
The health ministry identified the dead teen as Amjad al-Fayyed, 17. It said an 18-year-old Palestinian was in a critical condition after being wounded by Israeli gunfire.
“A 17-year-old boy was killed and an 18-year-old was critically wounded by the Israeli occupation’s bullets during its aggression on Jenin,” the ministry said in a statement.
Local media reported confrontations erupted outside Jenin’s refugee camp when Israeli forces stormed the area, and al-Fayyed was hit by about a dozen rounds fired into the upper part of his body.
The Israeli military said Palestinian suspects fired on its soldiers and threw fire bombs at them. “The soldiers responded with live fire toward the suspects. Hits were identified,” the military said.
It was not immediately clear whether the teen killed was one of those suspects.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group described the teenager as one of its members and said he had taken part in the fighting against the Israeli soldiers. Photos circulated on social media showed him holding a rifle.
A hub of armed Palestinian groups, the Jenin area has been repeatedly raided by Israeli forces since a wave of attacks in late March, with many of the perpetrators coming from there. Operations to track down suspects and clashes with Palestinians have often turned deadly for both sides.
‘Thorough and transparent’ investigation Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned the killing.
“We warn against the consequences of the occupation’s continued crimes against our people. We urge the international community to condemn them and hold the perpetrators accountable,” Shtayyeh said in a statement.
Immediately after the announcement of al-Fayyed’s killing, a march began in front of Ibn Sina Hospital in the city, in which mourners carried his body on their shoulders and roamed the streets.
The number of Palestinians killed in Jenin since the beginning of 2022 has reached 20.
Israel says it carries out “counterterrorism activities” to detain wanted fighters and planners of recent deadly attacks in the occupied West Bank and Israel.
On May 11, Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran Palestinian-American journalist for Al Jazeera Media Network was killed by Israeli forces while covering an Israeli raid in Jenin. Israel accused Palestinian fighters of firing at the journalist but backtracked later.
On Thursday, the Israeli military announced it will not conduct an investigation, saying a probe that treats Israeli soldiers as suspects will lead to opposition within Israeli society.
The US State Department renewed calls for a “thorough and transparent” investigation, but stopped short of calling for an independent probe.
Israeli police assaulted Palestinian mourners in the funeral procession of slain Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on Friday in occupied East Jerusalem.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the Israeli police attacked the funeral procession as it started from the French hospital in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
They added that the Israeli police surrounded the mourners and used stun grenades and batons to assault the pallbearers carrying Abu Akleh’s casket.
The Israeli police allowed a few Palestinians to accompany her casket to Jerusalem’s Old City, where she will be buried at the Mount Zion Protestant Cemetery.
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Veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was covering Israeli military raids near the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank when she was shot dead on Wednesday. Palestinian officials and the Doha-based network say she was targeted by Israeli forces.
Abu Akleh’s death has drawn widespread condemnation. Video footage from the moments after she was shot showed Abu Akleh, 51, wearing a blue vest marked “Press”.
At least two of her colleagues who were with her said that they had come under Israeli sniper fire and that they were not close to militants.
Israel, which has voiced regret at Abu Akleh’s death has proposed a joint investigation with the Palestinians, asking them to provide the bullet for examination.
The Palestinians have rejected the Israeli request. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday said Israel was fully responsible and called for an international investigation
Israeli riot police on Friday pushed and beat pallbearers at the funeral for slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, causing them to briefly drop the casket in a shocking start to a procession that turned into perhaps the largest display of Palestinian nationalism in Jerusalem in a generation.
The scenes of Israeli violence were likely to add to the sense of grief and outrage across the Arab world that has followed the death of Abu Akleh, who witnesses say was killed by Israeli troops Wednesday during a raid in the occupied West Bank. They also illustrated the deep sensitivities over East Jerusalem – which is claimed by both Israel and Palestine and has sparked repeated rounds of violence.
Abu Akleh, 51, was a household name across the Arab world, synonymous with Al Jazeera’s coverage of life under Israeli occupation, which is well into its sixth decade with no end in sight. A 25-year veteran of the satellite channel, she was revered by Palestinians as a local hero.
Thousands of people, many waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Palestine! Palestine!” attended the funeral. It was believed to be the largest Palestinian funeral in Jerusalem since Faisal Husseini, a Palestinian leader and scion of a prominent family, died in 2001.
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Ahead of the burial, a large crowd gathered to escort her casket from an East Jerusalem hospital to a Catholic church in the nearby Old City. Many of the mourners held Palestinian flags, and the crowd began shouting, “We sacrifice our soul and blood for you, Shireen.”
Shortly after, Israel police attacked, pushing and clubbing mourners. As the helmeted riot police approached, they hit pallbearers, causing one man to lose control of the casket as it dropped toward the ground. Police ripped Palestinian flags out of people’s hands and fired stun grenades to disperse the crowd.
Abu Akleh’s brother, Tony, said the scenes “prove that Shireen’s reports and honest words … had a powerful impact.”
Al Jazeera correspondent Givara Budeiri said the police crackdown was like killing Abu Akleh again. “It seems her voice isn’t silent,” she said during a report by the broadcaster.
East Jerusalem, home to the city’s most important Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. It claims all of the city as its eternal capital and has annexed the eastern sector in a move that is not internationally recognized.
Palestine claims East Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state. Israel routinely clamps down on any displays of support for Palestinian statehood. The conflicting claims to East Jerusalem often spill over into violence, helping fuel an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza militants last year and more recently sparking weeks of unrest at the city’s most sensitive holy site.
Outside of prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israel rarely allows large Palestinian gatherings in East Jerusalem and routinely clamps down on any displays of support for Palestinian statehood.
Police claimed the crowd at the hospital was chanting “nationalist incitement,” ignored calls to stop and threw stones at them. “The policemen were forced to act,” police said. They issued a video in which a commander outside the hospital warns the crowd that police will come in if they don’t stop their incitement and “nationalist songs.”
An Israeli official said the details of the funeral had been coordinated with the family ahead of time to ensure it would run smoothly, but that “masses began gathering around the hearse of Shireen Abu Akleh and chaos ensued,” preventing the procession from going along its intended route. The official speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Earlier this week, Abu Akleh’s brother said the original arrangement was to move the casket in a hearse from the hospital to the church, and that after the service, it would be carried through the streets to the cemetery. It was not immediately clear why those plans had changed and pallbearers emerged from the hospital carrying the casket.
Al Jazeera said in a statement that the police action “violates all international norms and rights.”
“Israeli occupation forces attacked those mourning the late Shireen Abu Akhleh after storming the French hospital in Jerusalem, where they severely beat the pallbearers,” it said. The network added that it remains committed to covering the news and will not be deterred.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the images “deeply disturbing.”
The focus should be “marking the memory of a remarkable journalist who lost her life,” Psaki said. “We regret the intrusion into what should have been a peaceful procession,” she added.
During a Rose Garden event, U.S. President Joe Biden was asked whether he condemns the Israeli police actions at the funeral, and he replied: “I don’t know all the details, but I know it has to be investigated.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “was deeply disturbed by the confrontations between Israeli security forces and Palestinians gathered at St. Joseph Hospital, and the behavior of some police present at the scene,” according to a statement from his deputy spokesperson, Farhan Haq.
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Israeli police later escorted the casket in a black van, ripping Palestinian flags off the vehicle as it made its way to the church.
“We die for Palestine to live!” crowds chanted. “Our beloved home!”
Later, they sang the Palestinian national anthem and chanted “Palestine, Palestine!” before her body was buried in a cemetery outside the Old City.
Her grave was decorated with a Palestinian flag and flowers. The Palestinian Ambassador to the U.K. Husam Zomlot, and Al Jazeera’s bureau chief, Walid Al-Omari, placed flowers on the grave.
Salah Zuheika, a 70-year-old Palestinian, called Abu Akleh “the daughter of Jerusalem,” and said the huge crowds were a “reward” for her love of the city.
“We already miss her, but what had happened today in the city will not be forgotten,” he said.
Abu Akleh was a member of the small Palestinian Christian community in the Holy Land. Palestinian Christians and Muslims marched alongside one another Friday in a show of unity.
She was shot in the head during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank town of Jenin. But the circumstances of the shooting remain in dispute.
The Palestinians say army fire killed her, while the Israeli military said Friday that she was killed during an exchange with fire with Palestinian militants. It said it could not determine who was responsible for her death without a ballistic analysis.
“The conclusion of the interim investigation is that it is not possible to determine the source of the fire that hit and killed the reporter,” the military said.
Israel has called for a joint investigation with the Palestinian Authority (PA) and for it to hand over the bullet for forensic analysis to determine who fired the fatal round. The PA has refused, saying it will conduct its own investigation and send the results to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is already investigating possible Israeli war crimes.
Reporters who were with Abu Akleh, including one who was shot and wounded, said there were no clashes or militants in the immediate area. All of them were wearing protective equipment that clearly identified them as reporters.
The PA and Al Jazeera, which has long had a strained relationship with Israel, have accused Israel of deliberately killing Abu Akleh. Israel denies the accusations.
Rights groups say Israel rarely follows through on investigations into the killing of Palestinians by its security forces and hands down lenient punishments on the rare occasions when it does. This case, however, drew heavy scrutiny because Abu Akleh was well-known and also a U.S. citizen.
Palestinians from in and around Jenin have carried out deadly attacks in Israel in recent weeks, and Israel has launched near daily arrest raids in the area, often igniting gunbattles with militants.
Israeli troops pushed into Jenin again early Friday, sparking renewed fighting.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said 13 Palestinians were wounded. The Israeli military said that Palestinians opened fire when its forces went in to arrest suspected militants. Police said a 47-year-old member of a special Israeli commando unit was killed
The Israeli military is increasingly accepting the possibility that one of its soldiers killed veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, with reports emerging that Israel is investigating the likelihood that one of its soldiers shot her during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
The Palestinian-American Abu Akleh was in Jenin on Wednesday reporting on the raid when she was killed by Israeli forces, according to Al Jazeera, as well as multiple witnesses at the scene, who said that there was no confrontation with Palestinian fighters at the time of the shooting.
The admission that an Israeli soldier could be responsible is evidence that the Israelis are backtracking from their initial position that it was likely that Palestinian fighters in Jenin killed Abu Akleh.
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A video widely disseminated by the Israeli government, including Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, which showed Palestinians firing in Jenin has now been proven to have not been filmed in Abu Akleh’s vicinity when she was killed.
Israel is conducting an investigation into Abu Akleh’s killing, Israeli army sources told the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post newspapers.
According to the Washington Post, a senior Israeli army official on Thursday said that the military was investigating three separate incidents involving its soldiers during the time of Abu Akleh’s killing.
“A soldier with a rifle and a very good aiming system was shooting towards a terrorist with an M16, in very good condition, very clear picture, that was shooting on our troops. What we are checking now is the location of Shireen,” the official told the Washington Post, adding that “this was the most probable [scenario] to be involved in the death of Shireen”.
The official also said that military investigators had taken rifles from Israeli soldiers involved in the fighting to make them available for ballistic testing.
Meanwhile, a senior Israeli military official also told the Wall Street Journal that the army was investigating one incident in which there was a possibility of an Israeli soldier’s bullet being responsible for Abu Akleh’s killing.
The official “acknowledged a bullet could have deflected off the ground or a wall and struck Ms. Abu Akleh”, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Journalists who were with Abu Akleh, including one who was shot and wounded, said Israeli forces fired upon them even though they were clearly identifiable as reporters.
Israel is also calling for a joint investigation with the Palestinian Authority (PA), which administers parts of the West Bank and cooperates with it on security.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas angrily rejected that proposal, saying “we hold the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for killing her”.
“They cannot hide the truth with this crime,” Abbas said in an address as her body lay in state with a Palestinian flag draped over it in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority has its headquarters.
“They are the ones who committed the crime, and because we do not trust them, we will immediately go to the International Criminal Court,” Abbas said.
The European Union has urged an “independent” probe while the United States demanded the killing be “transparently investigated”, calls echoed by United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet.
In a statement, Al Jazeera said that Abu Akleh had been “assassinated in cold blood” and called on the international community to hold Israeli forces responsible.
Aside from Abu Akleh, another Al Jazeera journalist, Ali al-Samoudi, was also wounded by a bullet to the back at the scene. He is now in a stable condition.
Abu Akleh is to be laid to rest on Friday in her hometown of Jerusalem, after her body was carried in a procession from Jenin to Jerusalem, via Nablus and Ramallah, over the three days since Wednesday
Family, friends and mourners, some who had never met her personally, gathered at the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Virgin for Abu Akleh’s funeral.
Bells rang out as a procession walked from the church to Mount Zion Protestant Cemetery, where Abu Akleh would be buried.
Earlier, Israeli forces beat mourners, including those carrying Abu Akleh’s coffin, near St Louis French Hospital, nearly making them drop the body.
Somali journalists have held protests to condemn the killing of Abu Akleh.
Journalists including representatives from the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) and Somali Media Association (SOMA) demonstrated at the Maka al-Mukarama street in the capital Mogadishu.
Thousands of mourners, some hoisting Palestinian flags and chanting “Palestine, Palestine,” have attended the funeral in Jerusalem for veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who witnesses say was shot and killed by Israeli forces earlier this week while covering a military raid in the occupied West Bank.
Police eventually allowed the family to drive the casket to a Catholic church in the Old City, which was packed with mourners, before sealing off the hospital and firing tear gas at scores of protesters.
Thousands of mourners gathered at the cemetery, waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Palestine, Palestine.”
UN human rights experts have condemned the killing of Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, and called for a prompt, transparent, thorough and independent investigation into her death.
“The killing of Abu Akleh is another serious attack on media freedom and freedom of expression, amid the escalation of violence in the occupied West Bank,” said experts at the UN human right special procedures said in a statement.
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“We demand a prompt, independent, impartial, effective, thorough and transparent investigation into the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, in full compliance with the Revised United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions (The Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death).
We urge the Israeli and Palestinian authorities and other stakeholders to cooperate with such an investigation,” it added.
The experts said Abu Akleh’s killing was a continuation of increasing attacks on media workers, particularly Palestinian journalists.
Israeli forces killed an Al-Jazeera reporter in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin on Wednesday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
It said Shireen Abu Akleh, a well-known Palestinian reporter for the broadcaster’s Arabic language channel, was shot and died soon afterward. Another Palestinian journalist working for the Jerusalem-based Al-Quds newspaper was wounded but in stable condition.
The Health Ministry said the reporters were hit by Israeli fire. In video footage of the incident, Abu Akleh can be seen wearing a blue flak jacket clearly marked with the word “PRESS.”
The Israeli military said its forces came under attack with heavy gunfire and explosives while operating in Jenin, and that they fired back. The military said it is “investigating the event and looking into the possibility that the journalists were hit by the Palestinian gunmen.”
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Abu Akleh, 51, was born in Jerusalem. She began working for Al Jazeera in 1997 and regularly reported on camera from across the Palestinian territories.
Israel has carried out near-daily raids in the occupied West Bank in recent weeks amid a series of deadly attacks inside Israel, many of them carried out by Palestinians from in and around Jenin. The town, and particularly its refugee camp, has long been known as a militant bastion.
Israelis have long been critical of Al-Jazeera’s coverage, but authorities generally allow its journalists to operate freely. Another Al-Jazeera reporter, Givara Budeiri, was briefly detained last year during a protest in Jerusalem and treated for a broken hand, which her employer blamed on rough treatment by police.
Rejected offer Israel said it had proposed a joint investigation and autopsy with the Palestinian Authority (PA), which refused the offer.
The PA, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security matters, condemned what it said was a “shocking crime” committed by Israeli forces.
Samoudi, who was working as her producer, told The Associated Press (AP) they were among a group of seven reporters who went to cover the raid early Wednesday. He said they were all wearing protective gear that clearly marked them as reporters, and they passed by Israeli troops so the soldiers would know that they were there.
He said the first shot missed them, then a second struck him, and a third killed Abu Akleh. He said there were no militants or other civilians in the area – only the reporters and the army. He said the military’s suggestion that they were shot by militants was a “complete lie.”
Shaza Hanaysheh, a journalist with a Palestinian news website who was also among the reporters, gave a similar account in an interview with Al-Jazeera’s Arabic channel, saying there were no clashes or shooting in the immediate area.
She said that when the shots rang out she and Abu Akleh ran toward a tree to take shelter.
“I reached the tree before Shireen. She fell on the ground,” Hanaysheh said. “Every time I extended my hand toward Shireen, the soldiers fired at us.”
Al-Jazeera accuses Israel The Qatar-based network interrupted its broadcast to announce her death. The channel accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing its veteran journalist. In a statement, it said Abu Akleh was “assassinated in cold blood” by Israeli forces.
“We pledge to prosecute the perpetrators legally, no matter how hard they try to cover up their crime, and bring them to justice,” Al-Jazeera vowed.
It termed the killing as a “heinous crime, which intends to only prevent the media from conducting their duty.”
“Al-Jazeera holds the Israeli government and the occupation forces responsible for the killing of Shireen,” it said, going on to call on the international community “to condemn and hold the Israeli occupation forces accountable for their intentional targeting and killing” of the reporter.
The United Nations, the United States and European Union called for a thorough investigation into the death of the veteran Al-Jazeera journalist.
“I strongly condemn the killing of Al Jazeera’s reporter, Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot with live fire this morning while covering an Israeli security forces’ operation in Jenin, in occupied West Bank,” U.N. special envoy for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland said on Twitter.
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“I call for an immediate and thorough investigation and for those responsible to be held accountable. Media workers should never be targeted,” he added.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides also called for investigating the reporter’s death.
“I encourage a thorough investigation into the circumstances of her death and the injury of at least one other journalist today in Jenin,” Nides tweeted.
A similar call for investigation was echoed by the U.S. Palestinian Affairs Unit.
“We encourage a thorough investigation into her death and the injury of fellow journalist, Ali Al-Samoudi,” it added.
The EU delegation to the Palestinians said it was “shocked by the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was reporting on ISF incursions in Jenin.”
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