West Bank

October 23, 2024 11:17 PM

Main points from the BRICS declaration

Below are the key points from the Kazan declaration issued by the BRICS group after a summit in Russia. ON UKRAINE: "We emphasize that all states should act consistently with the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and interrelation. We note with appreciation relevant proposals of mediation and good offices, aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy." ON THE MIDDLE EAST: "We reiterate our grave concern at the deterioration of the si...

October 18, 2024 5:22 PM

UN denounces Israel’s use of ‘war-like’ tactics in West Bank

The United Nations humanitarian office on Friday denounced Israel's use of what it described as "war-like" tactics against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, saying nine Palestinians had been killed there in a week. OCHA also voiced concern about Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians and olive trees during the annual October-November harvest, saying it was affecting the economic lifeline of tens of thousands of Palestinian families. "Israeli forces have been using lethal, war-like ...

October 3, 2024 7:50 PM

Israel kills Hamas militant once jailed for role in West Bank lynchings

Israel has killed Abdel-Aziz Salha, a West Bank Hamas militant who had been jailed for life for taking part in the lynching of two Israeli reservists in Ramallah in 2000 but later deported to Gaza in a prisoner swap, Hamas media and medics said. Salha was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent inside Al-Aklouk School, which shelters displaced Palestinians, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip earlier on Thursday, medics said. There was no immediate Israeli comment on Salha's death or w...

August 28, 2024 8:16 PM

At least nine Palestinians killed as Israel mounts major West Bank operation

At least nine Palestinians were killed on Wednesday, Palestinian authorities said, as Israeli forces raided the flashpoint cities of Jenin and Tulkarm as well as other areas in the occupied West Bank in a major operation involving helicopters and drones. The assault, one of the largest seen in the West Bank for months, followed a series of smaller raids in the area over recent weeks as Israeli forces sought to crush groups of fighters from Palestinian militant groups. With Israeli forces battl...

July 26, 2024 4:36 PM

WHO sends over 1 mln polio vaccines to Gaza to protect children

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday. "While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's T...

July 16, 2024 11:19 PM

Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 57, Palestinian health officials say

Israeli forces battled Hamas-led fighters in several parts of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, and Palestinian health officials said at least 57 people were killed in Israeli bombardments of southern and central areas. The Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas has accused Israel of stepping up attacks in Gaza to try to derail efforts by Arab mediators and the United States to reach a ceasefire deal. Israel says it is trying to root out Hamas fighters. In Rafah, a southern border city where Israe...

June 27, 2024 7:49 PM

Israel storms Gaza City neighbourhood, orders Palestinians to go south

Israel stormed a neighbourhood in Gaza City on Thursday, telling Palestinians as the tanks moved in that they must move south, and bombed the southern city of Rafah in what it says are the final stages of an operation against Hamas militants there. Residents of the Shejaia neighbourhood in Gaza City said they were taken by surprise by tanks rolling in and firing in the early afternoon, with drones also attacking after overnight bombing. "It sounded as if the war is restarting, a series of bomb...

June 8, 2024 5:57 PM

Israel rescues four hostages in Gaza; Palestinians say 50 dead in Israeli assault

The Israeli military said it rescued four hostages held since October in a raid in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday while Palestinian officials said an Israeli attack in the same area killed more than 50 people. It was not immediately clear if the hostage rescue and the deadly Israeli assault were part of the same operation but both took place in al-Nuseirat, an often embattled area in the eight-month-old war between Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas. The Israeli military named the rescued host...

June 6, 2024 12:30 PM

Diminished Hamas switches to full insurgent mode in Gaza

Hamas has seen about half its forces wiped out in eight months of war and is relying on hit-and-run insurgent tactics to frustrate Israel's attempts to take control of Gaza, U.S. and Israeli officials told Reuters. The enclave's ruling group has been reduced to between 9,000 and 12,000 fighters, according to three senior U.S. officials familiar with battlefield developments, down from American estimates of 20,000-25,000 before the conflict. By contrast, Israel says it has lost almost 30...

May 7, 2024 5:27 PM

Israel says it has taken control of Gaza side of Rafah Crossing amid truce talks

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had taken operational control of the Palestinian side of Gaza's southern Rafah Crossing, which borders Egypt and has been pivotal for the delivery of aid and exit of injured people in the Gaza war. The military said forces were scanning the area in the morning after launching a ground and air operation in part of eastern Rafah on Monday night, amid diplomatic efforts abroad to achieve a new truce. The Gaza Crossings Authority said in a statement that I...