JENIN, Palestinian Territories: Israeli troops on Tuesday killed six Palestinians in Jenin including an alleged militant accused of killing two Israelis, the latest deadly raid in a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian health ministry said six men had been killed, one aged 49 and the rest in their 20s, in clashes that the army said included soldiers launching shoulder-fired rockets amid ferocious gunfire.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, called the use of rockets in the Jenin refugee camp — the scene of frequent clashes in the northern West Bank — an act of “all-out war,” Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Witnesses said Israeli troops entered the camp and surrounded a house as a group of militants fought back, with the army reporting “explosive devices and blocks” were hurled at their soldiers.
An AFP photographer saw thick plumes of smoke rising from the building.
The Jenin Brigade, a militant group in the camp, said on one of their Telegram channels that their gunmen fought “violent clashes” with Israeli forces.
Among those killed was Abdel-Fatah Hussein Khroushah, 49, who the Israeli army called a “terrorist operative” from the Islamist movement Hamas and accused of killing two Israeli settlers in the Palestinian town of Hawara on February 26.
At least 26 Palestinians were wounded during Tuesday’s raid, the Palestinian health ministry said, three of them with serious injuries. The army said two soldiers were lightly wounded.
Sirens rang out Tuesday night in Nir Am, a small Israeli town just a few kilometers from the Gaza Strip, after a rocket was fired from the Hamas-controlled territory, the Israeli military said.
“A rocket launch was identified which seems to have exploded inside the Gaza Strip,” the army said in a brief statement.
It is the most recent in a string of fatal military operations in the Palestinian territory, which Israel has occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967.
After fighting stopped, an AFP journalist who entered the wreckage of the house where Khroushah had been saw blackened walls riddled with bullet holes and entire walls blasted down.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message troops had “eliminated the abhorrent terrorist,” referring to Khroushah.
“Our brave soldiers acted with surgical precision in the heart of the murderers’ lair,” Netanyahu added. “Whoever harms us will pay the price.”
The Palestinian presidency spokesman Abu Rudeineh said Israel was “responsible for this dangerous escalation which threatens to inflame the situation and destroy all efforts aimed at restoring stability.”
Last month, Israeli and Palestinian officials pledged in a joint statement to “prevent further violence” and “commit to de-escalation” following talks in neighboring Jordan.
On Tuesday, Jordan foreign ministry spokesman Sinan Majali condemned what he called Israeli “aggression,” warning it “will lead to further deterioration (and) widen the cycles of violence.”
Hamas condemned the killing of the six Palestinians, which it said would only make Palestinians “more determined to confront the Israeli occupation and Israeli settler militias.”
Islamic Jihad and Abbas’ Fatah movement issued similar condemnations, but also hinted that Palestinian security forces took part in the fight against Israeli troops.
The Israeli army and Shin Bet domestic security agency said Tuesday they had carried out a separate raid in a refugee camp in the city of Nablus and arrested two of Khroushah’s sons “suspected of aiding and planning in the terror attack.”
Witnesses in Nablus, south of Jenin, said three men had been arrested.
The Israeli raids came amid celebrations for the Jewish holiday of Purim and against a backdrop of rising tensions since the beginning of the year, coinciding with Netanyahu’s hard-right government taking office in December.
Some fear further violence, particularly around Jerusalem’s holy sites during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which begins in late March, and the Jewish holiday of Passover in April.
The killing of the two settlers — brothers Yagel Yaniv, 20, and Hallel Yaniv, 22 — in Hawara took place hours after the Jordan summit.
Hundreds of rampaging Israeli settlers later torched Palestinian homes and cars in the West Bank town.
Since the start of the year, the conflict has claimed the lives of 71 Palestinian adults and children, including militants and civilians.
Thirteen Israeli adults and children, including members of the security forces and civilians, and one Ukrainian civilian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.
Israeli forces kill six Palestinians including wanted militant in Jenin raid
https://arab.news/5nrrz
Israeli forces kill six Palestinians including wanted militant in Jenin raid
- Israeli troops enter refugee camp and surround a house as a group of militants fought back
- It is the most recent in a string of fatal military operations in the Palestinian territory
Saudi Arabia and Qatar to host football World Cup playoffs
- Group winners will take two automatic places at 2026 tournament finals in North America
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and Qatar will host the Asian qualifying playoffs for the 2026 World Cup, the Asian Football Confederation said on Friday.
The third and fourth-placed teams from the qualifiers that ended last week — Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Iraq, Oman, Qatar and the UAE — will form two groups of three teams and play from Oct. 8 to 14. The draw will take place on July 17.
Group winners will take the two remaining automatic places at the World Cup finals in the US, Canada and Mexico. The runners-up from each group will play two matches on Nov. 13 and 18, with the winners qualifying for the inter-confederation playoffs
Meanwhile this year’s Saudi Super Cup featuring Al-Ittihad, Al-Qadisiyah, Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr will be held in Hong Kong, football chiefs said on Friday. Matches will take place from Aug. 19-23 at the 40,000-seat Hong Kong Stadium.
“This represents a qualitative shift for the tournament, which has achieved remarkable success,” Saudi Football Federation secretary general Ibrahim Al-Qassim said.
Trump says Iran has ‘second chance’ to come to nuclear deal after Israeli strikes devastate Tehran
- Trump, in the hours before the Israeli attack on Iran, still appeared hopeful in public comments that there would be more time for diplomacy
- Iran late Friday launched hundreds of ballistic missiles toward Israel after firing dozens of drones earlier in the day
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Friday urged Iran to quickly reach an agreement on curbing its nuclear program as Israel vowed to continue its bombardment of the country.
Trumped framed the volatile moment in the Middle East as a possible “second chance” for Iran’s leadership to avoid further destruction “before there is nothing left and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire.”
The Republican president pressed on Iran as he met his national security team in the Situation Room to discuss the tricky path forward following Israel’s devastating strikes, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to keep up for “as many days as it takes” to decapitate Iran’s nuclear program.
The White House said it had no involvement in the strikes, but Trump highlighted that Israel used its deep arsenal of weaponry provided by the US to target Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz and the country’s ballistic missile program, as well as top nuclear scientists and officials.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he had warned Iran’s leaders that “it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come — And they know how to use it.”
Just hours before Israel launched its strikes on Iran early Friday, Trump was still holding onto tattered threads of hope that the long-simmering dispute could be resolved without military action. Now, he’ll be tested anew on his ability to make good on a campaign promise to disentangle the US from foreign conflicts.
In the aftermath of the Israeli strikes, the US is shifting its military resources, including ships, in the Middle East as it looks to guard against possible retaliatory attacks by Tehran, according to two US officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The Navy has directed the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner to begin sailing toward the Eastern Mediterranean and has directed a second destroyer to begin moving forward, so it can be available if requested by the White House.
As Israel stepped up planning for strikes in recent weeks, Iran had signaled the United States would be held responsible in the event of an Israeli attack. The warning was issued by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi even as he engaged in talks with Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.
Friday’s strikes came as Trump planned to dispatch Witkoff to Oman on Sunday for the next round of talks with the Iranian foreign minister.
Witkoff still plans to go to Oman this weekend for talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, but it’s unclear if the Iranians will participate, according to US officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private diplomatic discussions.
The president made a series of phone calls Friday to US television news anchors to renew his calls on Iran to curb its nuclear program.
CNN’s Dana Bash said Trump told her the Iranians “should now come to the table” and get a deal done. And Trump told NBC News that Iranian officials are “calling me to speak” but didn’t provide further detail.
Trump also spoke Friday with British Prime Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron about the evolving situation, as well as Netanyahu.
Meanwhile, oil prices leapt and stocks fell on worries that the escalating violence could impact the flow of crude around the world, along with the global economy.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, offered rare words of Democratic praise for the Trump administration after the attack “for prioritizing diplomacy” and “refraining from participating” in the military strikes. But he also expressed deep concern about what the Israeli strikes could mean for US personnel in the region.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who’s on Democrats’ shortlist for top 2028 White House contenders, said if Israel can set back Iran’s nuclear program with the strikes “it’s probably a good day for the world.”
“But make no mistake: We do not want an all-out war in the Middle East,” Shapiro said. “That’s not only bad for the Middle East, it’s destabilizing for the globe, and it’s something that I hope will not occur.”
Iran late Friday launched hundreds of ballistic missiles toward Israel after firing dozens of drones earlier in the day. The US military assisted Israel intercept the missiles fired by Iran in the retaliatory attack.
Trump, in the hours before the Israeli attack on Iran, still appeared hopeful in public comments that there would be more time for diplomacy.
But it was clear to the administration that Israel was edging toward taking military action against Iran. The State Department and US military on Wednesday directed a voluntary evacuation of nonessential personnel and their loved ones from some US diplomatic outposts in the Middle East.
Before Israel launched the strikes, some of Trump’s strongest supporters were raising concerns about what another expansive conflict in the Mideast could mean for the Republican president, who ran on a promise to quickly end the brutal wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
Trump has struggled to find an endgame to either of those conflicts and to make good on two of his biggest foreign policy campaign promises.
And after criticizing President Joe Biden during last year’s campaign for preventing Israel from carrying out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, Trump found himself making the case to the Israelis to give diplomacy a chance.
The push by the Trump administration to persuade Tehran to give up its nuclear program came after the US and other world powers in 2015 reached a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limited Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
But Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the Obama administration-brokered agreement in 2018, calling it the “worst deal ever.”
The way forward is even more clouded now.
“No issue currently divides the right as much as foreign policy,” Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA and an ally of the Trump White House, posted on X on Thursday. “I’m very concerned based on (everything) I’ve seen in the grassroots the last few months that this will cause a massive schism in MAGA and potentially disrupt our momentum and our insanely successful Presidency.”
Netanyahu calls on Iranians to unite against ‘evil and oppressive regime’
- “As we achieve our objective, we are also clearing the path for you to achieve your freedom,” he said
- Iran called the attack “a declaration of war” and threatened to retaliate by opening “the gates of hell” on Israel
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Iranians Friday to unite against what he described as an “evil and oppressive regime,” telling them Israel was engaged in “one of the greatest military operations in history.”
“The time has come for the Iranian people to unite around its flag and its historic legacy, by standing up for your freedom from the evil and oppressive regime,” Netanyahu said in a video statement after Israel struck over 200 military and nuclear sites in the Islamic republic.
“We are in the midst of one of the greatest military operations in history, Operation Rising Lion,” he added.
“As we achieve our objective, we are also clearing the path for you to achieve your freedom,” he said, referring to Israeli strikes that hit targets across Iran, including nuclear sites, killing several top military commanders and nuclear scientists.
“The regime does not know what hit them, or what will hit them. It has never been weaker,” Netanyahu said in his video published shortly after a salvo of Iranian missiles reached Israel.
“Our fight is against the murderous Islamic regime that oppresses and impoverishes you,” he said, adding: “This is your opportunity to stand up and let your voices be heard.”
Netanyahu also promised that “more is on the way,” having said earlier that Israel’s attack on Iran would “continue for as many days as it takes.”
Iran called the attack “a declaration of war” and threatened to retaliate by opening “the gates of hell” on Israel.
It first sent about 100 drones toward Israel, many of which were intercepted before reaching the country.
The drones were followed by dozens of missiles, some of which caused physical damage in Israeli cities, and injured at least seven people, according to first responders.
King Salman orders support for stranded Iranian Hajj pilgrims
- Hajj ministry tasked with providing support to Iranians stuck in the Kingdom
RIYADH: King Salman has directed Saudi authorities to ensure that Iranian pilgrims in the Kingdom are provided all the necessary support until it’s safe for them to return home.
On Friday, Israel launched an early morning attack on Iranian nuclear sites and assassinated nuclear scientists and military chiefs in a major escalation in tensions, prompting Tehran to close its airspace.
The plan to help the stranded pilgrims was put forward to the king by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has been task with the responsibility of ensuring the Iranian pilgrims get the necessary support.
The Hajj, a key pillar of Islam, concluded last week with over 1.6m pilgrims taking part, with authorities calling it a success.
Tens of thousands of Iranians attend the Hajj each year.
Iran on Friday retaliated to the attack by targeting Tel Aviv, prompting fears of a prolonged and more dangerous exchanges between the two countries.
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has failed in its mission, UN says
- Medics say hospitals are inundated with people wounded while trying to obtain food amid hunger crisis
GENEVA: The US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been a failure from a humanitarian standpoint, the UN said on Friday.
The UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.
“GHF, I think it’s fair to say, has been, from a principled humanitarian standpoint, a failure,” Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told a press briefing in Geneva.
“They are not doing what a humanitarian operation should do, which is providing aid to people where they are, safely and securely.
“We have the operation ready to roll with food and other supplies ready. We have them in the region; they are pre-cleared by the Israelis.
“We need the borders open to get in, and of course, we need the safety and security and some resemblance of law and order inside Gaza to distribute it.”
An officially private effort with opaque funding and backed by Israel, GHF began operations on May 26 after Israel completely cut off supplies into Gaza for more than two months, sparking warnings of mass famine.
GHF claimed on Thursday it had distributed nearly 2.6 million meals on Thursday and more than 18.6 million to date.
The Palestinian Authority said internet and fixed-line communication services were down in Gaza on Thursday following an attack on the territory’s last fiber optic cable, which it blamed on Israel.
“There was and still is a massive comms blackout,” said Laerke.
“If there is no communication, it really is damaging” for aid services, he said.
“There is an active effort to try to fix it, of course, and everybody is looking into that, because things kind of ground to a halt when these things happen.”
The distribution of food and basic supplies in the blockaded and war-ravaged Gaza has become increasingly fraught and perilous, exacerbating the territory’s deep hunger crisis.
The GHF said a bus carrying its staff to a distribution site near the southern city of Khan Younis was “brutally attacked by Hamas” around 10 p.m. on Wednesday.
Israel charged that Hamas was “weaponizing suffering in Gaza” after the US and the GHF accused the Palestinian group of killing its aid workers in the territory.
Asked to respond to the GHF accusation, the Hamas government media office in Gaza said GHF was a “filthy tool” of Israeli forces and was being used to “lure civilians into death traps.”
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach GHF distribution points since they began operating in late May, according to Gaza’s civil defense agency.
The agency said another 21 people were killed while waiting for aid on Thursday, adding that they were among 29 people across the territory who were killed by Israeli fire.
Contacted by AFP about reports of a deadly incident near an aid distribution point close to the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, the Israeli military said it had “conducted warning shots hundreds of meters from the aid distribution site, prior to its opening hours.”
Gaza medics have said hospitals are being inundated with people wounded while trying to obtain food.
At Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital on Wednesday, the emergency department said it had received dozens of people who had been killed or wounded while waiting for aid in recent days, including 200 in a single day.
“Many Gazans went to the Nabulsi and Netzarim areas to receive aid and were shot at and shelled with tanks,” said Mutaz Harara, head of Al-Shifa’s emergency department.
But with few medical supplies and no operating theaters, “many patients died while waiting for their turn,” he said.
The war has caused major damage to infrastructure across Gaza, including water mains, telecommunication cables, power lines, and roads.
