RAMALLAH: Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinian men during a raid in the occupied West Bank early on Saturday, while a third Palestinian died of wounds sustained in a separate Israeli operation two weeks earlier, Palestinian medical officials said.
The two victims were in a vehicle when they were targeted. The deaths bring to 12, including three children, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces so far this year.
The Jenin Brigade said in a statement that the killing of the three young men will not go unpunished.
Mohammad Shtayyeh, Palestinian prime minister, called for international protection from Israeli forces’ “oppression.”
Gaza ruling party Hamas urged Palestinians “to continue resisting the Israeli occupation with all means possible.”
In a statement, it said: “We emphasize that the continued aggressive policy adopted by the fascist Israeli occupation government against the Palestinian people and their lands and holy sites will not grant it a sense of purported security.”
Such a policy, it added, would not succeed in undermining the steadfastness and resilience of Palestinians.
Rawhi Fattouh, president of the Palestinian National Council, said in a statement: “The pace of fascist terrorism in Israel is escalating through the execution and murder policies of the new extremist government.
“The fascist occupation is trying, through its bloody terror, daily executions, continuous aggression on the Palestinian lands, and public threats against our prisoners, to export its internal crises.”
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said that the Israeli “occupation practices extrajudicial killings, field executions, and fires live bullets at Palestinian citizens,” with instructions to “kill and degrade the lives of citizens coming from the political and military echelons of the occupying state.”
It called on the international community and the US administration to exert real pressure on Israel to “stop its bloody escalation against our people.”
The ministry urged the International Criminal Court to quickly complete its investigations, and hold Israel and the perpetrators to account.
An increase in the number of killings indicates that the current year will be worse than 2022, which was considered bloodier than 2021.
Mustafa Al-Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative Movement, denounced the “criminality of the Israeli occupation army, which deliberately executes the Palestinian people in cold blood every day” during its incursions into cities, camps and villages in the West Bank.
However, he said that these daily killings, carried out at the behest of Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s new security minister, and other extremists in the Israeli government, will not slow the pace of resistance.
Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinians protesting against the seizing of Palestinian lands in Zuwaidin, Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, by settlers were halted by Israeli troops, who fired stun grenades and tear gas to break up the demonstration.
Israeli forces set up checkpoints in the area and also detained Mashhour Al-Wahwah, a photographer with the Palestinian Wafa news agency, for several hours.
The latest killings by the Israeli army coincided with a violent escalation of settler attacks on Palestinians.
On Friday afternoon, young settlers attacked a group of Palestinians, accompanied by American, French and Italian activists, who were taking part in a march near Jericho. Some sustained moderate injuries and were treated in hospital.
Palestinians living inside Israel accuse the new Israeli government of seeking to seize Negev (southern Israel) through racist laws, policies and measures aimed at more than 300,000 Bedouin citizens living there.
In 2013, 697 homes were demolished in the Negev, with the number rising to 1,073 in 2014, 982 in 2015, 1,158 in 2016, and 3,000 in 2021.
Palestinian citizens say that Israel considers their presence in the Negev dangerous.
They believe that the escalation of the right-wing Israeli government’s policies will force them into clashes, as happened a year ago.
Yousef Jabarin, a former Knesset member and university law professor, told Arab News that current right-wing ministers in the Israeli government began to incite and intimidate Palestinians in the Negev even before taking office.
He said that Israel has so far refused to recognize more than 40 Palestinian villages and towns there, some of which were built and established before the state of Israel came into being, and refuses to provide them with essential services.
“There is fear that this government will adopt a policy of displacement against the Palestinian residents of the Negev, and the Negev will be a hot spot of friction if the extremists in this government try to implement their plans against the Palestinians in the Negev,” Jabarin said.
Three more Palestinians killed by Israeli forces
https://arab.news/9hbjf
Three more Palestinians killed by Israeli forces
- Negev residents accuse government of trying to force them off their land
- Gaza ruling party Hamas urged Palestinians “to continue resisting the Israeli occupation with all means possible”
Arab Parliament describes Israeli assault on Gaza hospital as ‘war crime’
- Attack is latest in ‘ongoing series of atrocities’ against Palestinians, it says
- Body calls for end to ‘international silence,’ as crisis worsens
LONDON: The Arab Parliament has denounced Israel’s burning of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday as “a new war crime,” following reports that patients, injured civilians and medical staff were forced to evacuate under perilous conditions.
According to witnesses, Israeli troops stormed the hospital, setting large sections ablaze, detained its director and ordered the evacuation of hundreds to the nearby Indonesian Hospital.
The displaced individuals were left in dire conditions, lacking food, water, electricity and medical supplies, witnesses said.
The assault rendered the facility “useless,” worsening Gaza’s already severe health crisis, the Palestinian territory’s health officials said on Saturday.
In a statement on Saturday, the Arab Parliament described the incident as “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law” and called for those responsible to be brought before international courts.
“This crime is added to an ongoing series of atrocities by the occupation forces against Palestinian civilians,” it said.
The Arab Parliament accused Israel of systematically targeting Gaza’s already fragile health infrastructure and said the international community’s silence had emboldened these actions.
“The persistence on the total and complete destruction of the dilapidated health system in the Gaza Strip is a direct result of international silence on its crimes,” it said.
The statement urged the UN Security Council and broader international community to take action, calling for an immediate ceasefire, accountability for alleged war crimes and measures to prevent further humanitarian catastrophes in Gaza.
Babies freezing to death due to cold weather and lack of shelter in Gaza, says UNRWA chief
- Philippe Lazzarini issued stark warning about dire humanitarian situation in Gaza
LONDON: Freezing temperatures and a lack of basic supplies in Gaza are threatening lives amid Israel’s ongoing assault on the enclave, a United Nations official warned on Saturday.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, issued a stark warning about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where he said babies and infants were succumbing to the cold due to the region’s harsh winter weather and inadequate shelter.
“Meanwhile, blankets, mattresses, and other winter supplies have been stuck in the region for months waiting for approval to get into Gaza,” Lazzarini wrote on X.
He also emphasized the urgent need for the immediate provision of essential winter supplies and reiterated calls for a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to reach those in need.
The World Food Program has also highlighted the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza. The agency reported that it has only managed to deliver about a third of the food required to support the population.
“Hunger is everywhere in Gaza,” the WFP stated in a post on X. The agency echoed calls for the restoration of law and order, safe and sustained humanitarian access, and an immediate ceasefire to alleviate the suffering.
UN agencies continue to urge swift international action to address the urgent needs of Gaza’s vulnerable population.
Egypt completes trial run of new Suez Canal channel extension
- Suez Canal Authority says two ships passed through a new stretch of the canal’s two-way section
- Revenue from the waterway has plunged since Yemen’s Houthi militants began attacking vessels in the Red Sea
CAIRO: Egypt said on Saturday it had successfully tested a new 10km channel near the southern end of the Suez Canal, even as its revenue from the waterway has plunged since Yemen’s Houthi militants began attacking vessels in the Red Sea.
The Suez Canal Authority said in a statement that during a trial run two ships passed through a new stretch of the canal’s two-way section without incident.
Following the 2021 grounding of the container ship Ever Given that blocked the vital waterway for six days, Egypt accelerated plans to extend the second channel in the southern reaches of the canal and widen the existing channel.
Its revenue from the waterway, the gateway to the shortest route between Europe and Asia, has nevertheless tumbled since Yemen’s Houthi militants began attacking ships in the Red Sea in November 2023 in what they say is solidarity with Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said on Thursday that due to “regional challenges,” the country had lost approximately $7 billion in Suez Canal revenue in 2024, marking more than a 60 percent drop from 2023.
According to the Suez Canal Authority, the latest expansion extends the total length of the canal’s two-way section to 82 km from a previous 72 km. The canal is 193 km long in total.
“This expansion will boost the canal’s capacity by an additional 6 to 8 ships daily and enhance its ability to handle potential emergencies,” the Suez Canal Authority said in its statement.
Earlier this year, Egypt said that it was considering an additional expansion project separate to the 10 km channel extension.
Houthi rebels say new air raids hit northern Yemen
- Houthis say raids hit the Buhais area of Hajjah province’s Medi district
SANAA: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said new air raids hit the country’s north on Saturday, shortly after they claimed responsibility for a missile attack on Israel.
A Houthi military statement said the raids were carried out in the Buhais area of Hajjah province’s Medi district, blaming “US-British aggression.”
There was no immediate comment from London or Washington.
The Houthis made the same claim about a raid they said hit a park in the capital Sanaa on Friday.
Hostilities have also flared between the rebels and Israel in recent days after a series of Houthi missile attacks prompted deadly Israeli air strikes in rebel-held areas on Thursday.
Six people were killed, including four at Sanaa airport, where World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was waiting for a flight.
On Saturday, the Houthis claimed they had “successfully” targeted the Nevatim base south of Jerusalem with a ballistic missile.
The Israelis had earlier said a missile launched from Yemen was shot down.
The Houthis, part of the “axis of resistance” of Iran-allied groups, have been firing at Israel and ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in solidarity with Palestinians since the war in the Gaza Strip broke out last year.
Lebanon returns 70 officers and soldiers to Syria, security official says
- Many senior Syrian officials and people close to Bashar Assad have fled the country to Lebanon
Lebanon expelled around 70 Syrian officers and soldiers on Saturday, returning them to Syria after they crossed into the country illegally via informal routes, a Lebanese security official and a war monitor said.
Many senior Syrian officials and people close to the former ruling family of Bashar Assad fled the country to neighboring Lebanon after Assad’s regime was toppled on Dec 8.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a London-based organization with sources in Syria, and the Lebanese security official said Syrian military personnel of various ranks had been sent back via Lebanon’s northern Arida crossing.
SOHR and the security official said the returnees were detained by Syria’s new ruling authorities after crossing the border.
The new administration has been undertaking a major security crackdown in recent days on what they say are “remnants” of the Assad regime. Several of the cities and towns concerned, including in Homs and Tartous provinces, are near the porous border with Lebanon.
The Lebanese security official said the Syrian officers and soldiers were found in a truck in the northern coastal city of Jbeil after an inspection by local officials.
Lebanese and Syrian government officials did not immediately respond to written requests for comment on the incident.
Reuters reported that they included Rifaat Assad, an uncle of Assad charged in Switzerland with war crimes over the bloody suppression of a revolt in 1982.
Earlier this month, Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said top Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban had flown out of Beirut after entering Lebanon legally. In an interview with Al Arabiya, Mawlawi said other Syrian officials had entered Lebanon illegally and were being pursued.
