3 Palestinian militants killed in attack on Israeli troops
JERUSALEM — (AP) — Israeli forces shot and killed three Palestinian militants Sunday who opened fire on troops in the occupied West Bank, the military said, the latest bloodshed in a year-long wave of violence in the region. A spasm of Palestinian attacks against Israelis has killed 14 people in 2023. The fresh violence follows an Israeli military raid last week on the West Bank village of Jaba, where three Palestinian militants were killed. It began last spring after a series of Palestinian attacks against Israelis that triggered near-nightly Israeli raids in the West Bank. Palestinian attacks against Israelis during that same time killed 30 people.
wftv.comIsraeli forces kill 3 Palestinian militants in West Bank
JERUSALEM — (AP) — Israeli forces shot and killed three Palestinian militants Sunday who opened fire on troops in the occupied West Bank, the military said, the latest bloodshed in a year-long wave of violence in the region. The fresh violence follows an Israeli military raid last week on the West Bank village of Jaba, where three Palestinian militants were killed. The current round of violence is one of the worst between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank in years. It began last spring after a series of Palestinian attacks against Israelis that triggered near-nightly Israeli raids in the West Bank. Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war.
wftv.comIsrael, Palestinian officials to meet over surge in violence
The head of the Palestinian intelligence services as well as advisers to President Mahmoud Abbas were expected to join. It was also a rare high-level meeting between the sides, coming during a time of rising tensions and after the Palestinians cut security coordination with Israel over the violence. The meeting's Palestinian attendees were confirmed by a Palestinian official. Israel has pledged to continue fighting militants in the West Bank where the Palestinian Authority often has little control. Violence between Israelis and Palestinians has surged since Israel stepped up raids on West Bank cities, towns and villages following a spate of Palestinian attacks last spring.
wftv.comPalestinians: Officials will meet with Israel over violence
It was also a rare high-level meeting between the sides, coming during a time of rising tensions and after the Palestinians cut security coordination with Israel over the violence. The meeting's Palestinian attendees were confirmed by a Palestinian official. Palestinians who oppose any official engagement with Israel said they would protest the meeting, while the Islamic militant Hamas group, which rules the Gaza Strip criticized the meeting. Israel also is led by a far-right government with members that oppose concessions to the Palestinians and favor settlement construction on occupied lands sought by the Palestinians for a future state. Violence between Israelis and Palestinians has surged since Israel stepped up raids on West Bank cities, towns and villages following a spate of Palestinian attacks last spring.
wftv.comAhmed Qureia, top Palestinian negotiator with Israel, dies
RAMALLAH, West Bank — (AP) — Ahmed Qureia, a former Palestinian prime minister and one of the architects of interim peace deals with Israel, has died at age 85. A key player in the 1993 Oslo peace accords, Qureia witnessed the rise of the dream of Palestinian statehood that surged during the negotiations. Born in 1937 in Abu Dis, suburb of east Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, Qureia joined the Fatah movement in 1968. Qureia headed the Palestinian delegation to Oslo, where intensive talks with Israel led to the peace accords in 1993, which created the Palestinian Authority and set up self-rule areas in the Palestinian territories. After Abbas resigned as the PA’s first prime minister in 2003, Arafat replaced him with Qureia.
wftv.comIsraelis and Palestinians have been holding secret talks for weeks: report
Senior aides to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian President Abbas have been in secret talks to de-escalate tensions in the West Bank, according to a new Axios report. Meanwhile the Security Council issued a statement against new settlement building.
foxnews.comUkraine in mind, US frantic to avert Mideast showdown at UN
Neither statement mentioned the proposed U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate halt to Israeli settlements. The U.S. opposes the Palestinian resolution and is almost certain to veto it. But it has also said the same about recent Israeli settlement expansion announcements. Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Ultranationalists who oppose Palestinian statehood comprise a majority of Israel’s new government, which has declared settlement construction a top priority.
wftv.comArab leaders warn Israeli actions threaten regional turmoil
CAIRO — (AP) — Dozens of leaders and senior officials from Arab and Islamic countries warned on Sunday Israeli actions in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank could worsen regional turmoil, as violence surges between Israel and the Palestinians. The high-level gathering came amid one of the deadliest periods of fighting in years in Jerusalem and the neighboring Israeli-occupied territory. Since Israel captured the site in the 1967 Mideast War, Jews have been allowed to visit but not pray there. “The region cannot live in peace, stability, and prosperity without any progress made on the Palestinian cause,” he warned. Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Egyptian, Israeli and Palestinian leaders and urged them to ease tensions.
wftv.comArab leaders condemn Israeli actions in Jerusalem, West Bank
CAIRO — (AP) — Dozens of leaders and senior officials from Arab and Islamic countries Sunday condemned recent Israeli measures in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, where violence has surged between Israel and the Palestinians. Speakers at the meeting condemned Israel's "unilateral measures" in Jerusalem and the West Bank in statements, including home demolitions and expanding settlements. Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. The Cairo gathering came amid one of the deadliest periods of fighting in years in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Egyptian, Israeli and Palestinian leaders and urged them to ease tensions.
wftv.comBlinken calls for Israel-Palestinian calm seem to fall flat
Blinken’s visit came amid one of the deadliest periods of fighting in years in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem. In Ramallah, Blinken was expected to discuss the Palestinian Authority’s decision to halt security coordination with Israel. "It’s not his job.”January has been the deadliest month in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in years. On Friday, a Palestinian gunman killed seven people outside a synagogue in an east Jerusalem settlement. The next morning, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy shot and wounded two Israelis elsewhere in east Jerusalem.
wftv.comBlinken in Mideast renews appeal for Israel-Palestinian calm
Blinken was meeting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Tuesday, a day after seeing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Standing alongside the Israeli leader, Blinken stressed the importance the Biden administration places on resolving the long-running conflict with a two-state solution. Blinken’s visit comes amid one of the deadliest periods of fighting in years in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem. Before heading to the West Bank, Blinken met with Israel's opposition leader, former Prime Minister Yair Lapid. January is shaping up to be the deadliest month in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in years.
wftv.comIsraeli-Palestinian cauldron tests US as Blinken visits
An alarming spike in Israeli-Palestinian violence and sharp responses by both sides are testing the Biden administration as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken plunges into a cauldron of deepening mistrust and anger on visits to Israel and the West Bank this week.
Israeli air raid sirens sound near Gaza after West Bank raid
JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank — (AP) — Air raid sirens have gone off in southern Israel, signalling a possible rocket attack launched from the militant Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The PA already has limited control over scattered enclaves in the West Bank, and almost none over militant strongholds like the Jenin camp. Violent escalations in the West Bank have previously triggered retaliatory rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces in the West Bank and on the Gaza frontier went on heightened alert. Tensions over West Bank violence have spilled into Gaza before.
wftv.comBlinken will travel to Mideast amid US concern over violence
The State Department said Thursday that Blinken would leave Washington on Saturday for stops in Cairo, Jerusalem and Ramallah. The announcement came just hours after an Israeli raid on suspected terrorists in the West Bank city of Jenin that Palestinian officials say killed nine people in the deadliest such incident this year. After the raid on a suspected terrorist hideout, Israel’s defense minister directed forces in the occupied West Bank and on Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip to go on heightened alert. Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have soared since Israel launched the nightly raids in the West Bank last spring, following a spate of Palestinian attacks. The conflict has only intensified this month, as Netanyahu's government came to office and pledged to take a hard line against the Palestinians.
wftv.comHuge crowds of Palestinians mark Fatah anniversary in Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians thronged a Gaza City park Saturday to mark the 58th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah party, a rare show of popularity in the heartland of the militant Hamas group, Fatah’s main rival. The crowds turned Katiba Park into a sea of yellow flags and pictures of Fatah founders and leaders, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his predecessor Yasser Arafat. Hamas, which took over Gaza after routing pro-Abbas forces in 2007, permitted Fatah to hold the rally. While polls indicate Fatah is not that popular, the huge turnout could be seen as a rare opportunity to protest Hamas’ heavy-handed rule in Gaza. Fatah and Hamas, the largest Palestinian factions, remain bitter enemies and repeated Arab attempts to reconcile them failed.
wftv.comClose aide curses Palestinian leader in leaked audio
A top aide to President Mahmoud Abbas was heard in newly released recordings on Tuesday cursing the Palestinian leader and insulting other members of the Palestinian leadership. The purported remarks by Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior official who is seen as a potential successor to the 87-year-old Abbas, gave a glimpse of the bitter infighting inside the Palestinian leadership as several hopefuls try to position themselves for the post-Abbas era. The recordings were released by a news website run by the militant Hamas group, the bitter rival of Abbas’ Fatah party.
news.yahoo.comIsrael to hold remains of deceased Palestinian prisoner
JERUSALEM — (AP) — Israel's defense minister said Wednesday that the remains of a Palestinian prisoner who died a day earlier from lung cancer would not be released for burial. Abu Hamid, 50, was a former leader of the armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party. Hamas has been holding two Israeli captives and the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed during the 2014 Gaza war. Palestinian officials had called for Abu Hamid's release as his health deteriorated in recent months, and on Tuesday blamed Israel for his death. Gantz denied the allegations that Israel had any involvement in Abu Hamid's death.
wftv.comPalestinian activist's family seeks ICC probe into his death
RAMALLAH, West Bank — (AP) — The family of an outspoken critic of the Palestinian Authority who died last year after allegedly being beaten by Palestinian security forces said Thursday it has asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the death. Banat's family said he died after Palestinian security forces arrested him and beat him with batons. “Having lost confidence in the independence of the Palestinian judiciary, Nizar Banat’s family sent a request to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan to investigate their son’s brutal murder and prosecute all those responsible,” the family said in a statement. Banat’s family said it views Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as bearing full responsibility for Banat’s death. Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war.
wftv.comPalestinian officials say house fire in Gaza Strip kills 21
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — (AP) — A fire set off by stored gasoline in a residential building killed 21 people Thursday evening in a refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, the territory's Hamas rulers said, in one of the deadliest incidents in recent years outside the violence stemming from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The blaze erupted on the third floor of a three-story building in the crowded Jabaliya camp, according to the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The Civil Defense in Gaza, which is run by Hamas, attributed the cause of the fire to gasoline that was being stored in the building. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas offered condolences to the families of the dead and declared Friday a day of mourning. COGAT, the Israeli body controlling the Erez Crossing with the Gaza Strip, did not comment.
wftv.comPalestinians join huge Fatah rally in Gaza Strip amid rift
Tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have marked the anniversary of the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat — a rare public show of support for the Fatah faction in the heartland of its Islamist rival, the militant Hamas group
washingtonpost.comUN: 2022 likely deadliest for Palestinians in West Bank
The U.N. Mideast envoy says 2022 is on course to be the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since the U.N. started tracking fatalities in 2005 and called for immediate action to calm “an explosive situation” and move toward renewing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
2 Palestinians killed by Israel; military alleges ambush
Five Palestinians were killed at the time, including a leader of the militia, which calls itself Lions' Den. More than 125 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year. The fighting has surged since a series of Palestinian attacks killed 19 people in Israel in the spring. The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. The Palestinians want the West Bank to form the main part of their future state.
wftv.comIsraeli troops raid gunmen's hideout; 5 Palestinians killed
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid told Kan public radio that Wadie Houh, a leader of the Lion’s Den group, was killed in a shootout with Israeli troops overnight. In Tuesday's raid, Israeli forces blew up an explosives lab in an apartment in Nablus, the military said. More than 125 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year. The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. The Palestinians want the West Bank to form the main part of their future state.
wftv.comIsraeli troops raid gunmen's hideout; 5 Palestinians killed
Israeli forces raided a stronghold of an armed group in the occupied West Bank's second-largest city, blowing up a bomb lab and engaging in a firefight, the military said Tuesday. Five Palestinians were killed and 20 were wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The overnight raid in the old city, or kasbah, of Nablus, was one of the deadliest in the West Bank in 2022 and comes at a time of escalating tensions.
news.yahoo.comEU, Israel hold high-level talks for first time in a decade
BRUSSELS — (AP) — The European Union and Israel on Monday held high-level talks for the first time in a decade, with the Europeans keen to press Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on how to put a two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians into place. We want the resumption of a political process that can lead to a two-state solution and a comprehensive regional peace,” Borrell said. Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank is now in its 55th year. The last real peace talks ended in 2009, and critics say growing Israeli settlements in the West Bank and elsewhere undermine any hopes for a two-state solution. The Palestinians seek all of the West Bank along with Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, for a future state.
wftv.comUN envoy: Israel defies UN resolution on halting settlements
The U.N. Mideast envoy says Israel continued its defiance of a 2016 U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate halt to all settlement activity in lands the Palestinians want for their future state, advancing plans for construction of nearly 2,000 housing units in the last three months
washingtonpost.comUN envoy: Israel defies UN resolution on halting settlements
Israel continued its defiance of a 2016 U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate halt to all settlement activity in lands the Palestinians want for their future state, advancing plans for construction of nearly 2,000 housing units in the last three months, the U.N. Mideast envoy said Wednesday. Tor Wennesland told the council that no progress was made by Israelis and Palestinians on other demands in the resolution -- preventing all violence against civilians, refraining from acts of provocation, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric, distinguishing between Israeli territory and territories occupied since the 1967 war, and exerting “collective efforts to launch credible negotiations.”
news.yahoo.comRegional fights take stage at UN where Ukraine has dominated
UNITED NATIONS — (AP) — Two of the world's most persistent conflicts punctuated debate at the United Nations on Friday, as the annual gathering of world leaders deviated from the dominating issue of the war in Ukraine. Sharif urged world leaders and the U.N. to “play their rightful role” in resolving the fight and said India “must take credible steps” too. After days of world leaders returning again and again to Ukraine, Sharif and Abbas provided a reminder of the other problems facing the international community. The United Nations,” he said in a speech more than three times the 15-minute limit leaders are asked to respect. “He won’t stop at Ukraine if we don’t stop him now,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Friday.
wftv.comAbbas says hope of peace with Israel 'waning'
UNITED NATIONS — (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday that hope of peace with Israel was "waning," as the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations took a brief foray from the dominating issue of the war in Ukraine. “Our confidence in achieving a peace based on justice and international law is waning, due to the Israeli occupation policies,” he said. “Do you want to kill what remains of hope in our souls?”Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank is now in its 55th year. The United Nations,” he said. Abbas has staked his political legitimacy abroad and at home on his commitment to a negotiated peace deal with Israel.
wftv.comBlinken set to see Israelis, Arabs wary about Iran, Ukraine
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will try to use his three-nation tour of the Middle East and North Africa to reassure wary Israelis and Arabs that the Biden administration is committed to the region’s security at a time when Washington is confronting multiple foreign policy challenges.