Israel-Palestine Conflict Highlights | China says no Security Council meeting Friday on Mideast conflict

No UN Security Council meeting on Friday on Middle East conflict: China
A UN Security Council meeting planned for Friday to discuss the Israel-Palestinian violence will not go ahead, a spokesman for China said.

"There will be no SC meeting tomorrow," the spokesman said Thursday as diplomats said the United States had opposed it.

9:54pm

Germany warns of protests as Gaza conflict intensifies
Authorities warned of further protests in Germany over the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza. On Wednesday, German police detained more than a dozen men in three cities suspected of damaging a synagogue, burning Israeli flags and starting a fire at a Jewish memorial site. "Security agencies expect intensifying protest activities by Palestinians in Germany as well as parts of the leftist movement," an Interior Ministry spokesman said.Some of the suspects in the earlier incidents told police the Israel-Palestinian violence had motivated them to throw stones at a synagogue.

9:45 pm 

Number of Palestinians killed by Israeli air raids in Gaza jumps to 87, including 18 children. At least 530 other Palestinians have been wounded, reports Al Jazeera.

8:51pm

France asks police to ban pro-Palestinian Paris protest
France's interior minister on Thursday asked police to ban a pro-Palestinian protest in Paris this weekend over the conflict with Israel fearing a repeat of clashes during a similar situation in 2014.

Activists had called the protest in the Barbes district of northern Paris to demonstrate against Israel's use of force in the Gaza Strip in response to the rocket fire by militant group Hamas at the Jewish state.

"I have asked the Paris police chief to ban the protests on Saturday linked to the recent tensions in the Middle East," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter.

"Serious disturbances to public order were seen in 2014," he added, urging police chiefs elsewhere in France to also remain vigilant over demonstrations.

8:42pm

Republicans urge Biden to end Iran talks over Hamas rockets
US Republicans on Thursday stepped up calls on President Joe Biden to end talks to return to a nuclear agreement with Iran as the clerical state's ally Hamas fires rockets into Israel. The United States has been holding indirect talks with Iran in Vienna in a bid to return to the 2015 accord that constrained its nuclear program, which UN inspectors said Tehran was complying with until Republican president Donald Trump trashed it in 2018 and imposed sweeping sanctions.

In a letter to Biden, Republican senators said that any sanctions relief would let Iran step up funding for Hamas, which has been firing rockets into Israel in response to the Jewish state's steps in Jerusalem, triggering a massive Israeli air offensive on the Gaza Strip.

"We call on you to immediately end negotiations with Iran, and make clear that sanctions relief will not be provided," said the letter led by Senator Marco Rubio and signed by all but six Senate Republicans.

The Biden administration argues that the 2015 accord negotiated under former president Barack Obama was working in its goal of limiting Iran's nuclear program while the Trump approach failed, with Tehran moving ahead on sensitive work and backing militant allies in the region.

Talks in Vienna, led by the European Union, have been held up by Iran's demands that Biden lift all sanctions imposed by Trump.

8:27pm

Israel calls on UN to condemn attacks from Gaza
Israel called Thursday on the United Nations to condemn what it called "indiscriminate attacks" from Gaza on the Jewish state.

The appeal to the Security Council and Secretary General Antonio Guterres came in a letter published a day after the Palestinians called for an end to Israeli attacks on them, as the two sides engage in an escalating conflict.

"I call upon the international community to unequivocally condemn the indiscriminate attacks by terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip against Israeli civilians and population centers and to support Israel's fundamental right to self-defense," Israel's ambassador to the UN and to the United States, Gilad Erdan, said in the letter.

"The State of Israel is not interested in an escalation. However, Israel has the right and duty to defend its people and sovereignty and will continue to do so vigorously," Erdan added.

7:44pm

Airlines suspend flights to Israel
Israel's escalating conflict with the Palestinians saw several airlines on Thursday suspend services to the Jewish state amid global alarm and diplomatic efforts to halt the spiralling violence. The airlines suspended service include- Dutch Airlines , British Airways, Lufthansa (Germany),  Iberia (Spanish Airline), Lot (Polish Airline)

7:40pm 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, UN chief Guterres urge Israel, Palestinians to 'stop violence'

7:25 pm

Israel's Deputy Envoy on Kerala women who died in Palestinian rocket strike on Israel

We've been in touch with the family. She was talking to her husband when this happened& I can imagine how horrendous it's for the husband. I can only sympathise with what he must be feeling. Ambassador spoke with the family y'day & conveyed his condolences & condolences of entire Israel. We're in touch with the family & with embassy in Tel Aviv that is arranging to have her body flown back to India, to be properly taken care of: Rony Yedidia Clein, Israel's Dy Envoy

5:57pm

Hamas says hit Israel's Ramon Airport, but no confirmation of rocket fire there
Hamas said it fired a rocket towards Israel's Ramon Airport near the Red Sea resort of Eilat, but there were no immediate reports of sirens going off nor an impact in the area. Israel's southern Ramon airport had not been targeted by Palestinian rocket fire and was operating as usual, an Israeli official said. Israel has redirected some flights to Ramon Airport from its main Tel Aviv-area airport, Ben Gurion, due to the security situation. (Reuters)

5:44pm 

Hamas fires a large rocket at Israel's second airport near Eilat, reported AFP.

5:17 pm

Fear replaces holiday joy in Gaza as fight with Israel escalates
Streets across the Gaza enclave during Eid al-Fitr would normally fill up with smartly dressed Palestinians sharing sweets and greetings to mark the start of the Muslim holiday. "This Eid is different. This Eid comes with bombing, fear and horror," said 44-year-old Fahd Ramadan, heading briskly home in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza, after a heavy night of Israeli airstrikes during the fiercest flare-up in years.

After leaving his house on Thursday morning to join others in traditional prayers, Ramadan stopped briefly on his way back as he passed the rubble of a building destroyed in the fighting.

Rockets and missiles in dizzying numbers have been exchanged since Monday between Hamas militants in Gaza and Israel's military across the enclave's boundary after the latest tensions related to land ownership in Jerusalem erupted into conflict. In Gaza, a narrow strip of heavily built-up land that is crammed with 2 million people, the usual excitement has turned to mourn for some, with medics putting the death toll in the enclave at 83 so far this week. Seven people have been killed in Israel, the military says, amid the heaviest exchanges since a war in 2014.

03.52 pm

Israel orders 'massive reinforcement' to quell internal violence
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz ordered a "massive reinforcement" of security forces to help contain deadly internal unrest that has rocked mixed Jewish and Arab communities across the country.

"We are in an emergency situation due to the national violence and it is now necessary to have a massive reinforcement of forces on the ground, and they are to be sent immediately to enforce law and order," he said.

He specified the forces would be reservists from Israel's border police, a force that largely operates in the occupied West Bank. (AFP)

03.31

Lufthansa suspends flights to Tel Aviv through Friday
German airline Lufthansa on Thursday said it was suspending all flights to Tel Aviv through Friday, May 14, due to an escalating conflict in Israel.

"Lufthansa is closely monitoring the current situation in Israel and continues to maintain a close exchange with the authorities, security service providers and our own staff on the ground," the company said in a statement.

Lufthansa said it expected flights to Israel to resume on Saturday, May 15. (Reuters)

03.15

Gal Gadot criticised after she calls for 'solution' to Israel-Palestine conflict
Hollywood star Gal Gadot came under fire on social media after she posted a message of peace in the wake of the latest round of fighting between Israel and Palestine. Gadot, a former Israeli Defence Forces fighter, posted a statement on Twitter, saying it breaks her heart to her see her "country is at war".

"My heart breaks. My country is at war. I worry for my family, my friends. I worry for my people. This is a vicious cycle that has been going on for far too long," the 36-year-old actor wrote. The "Wonder Woman" star said both Israel and its "neighbour" deserve to live as "free and safe" nations.

"I pray for the victims and their families, I pray for this unimaginable hostility to end, I pray for our leaders to find the solution so we could live side by side in peace. I pray for better days," Gadot added.

However, her post on Twitter was flooded with replies that criticised her of being a "propaganda" tool for Israel, given her past military service record.

02.50 pm

Gaza death toll from Israel strikes rises to 83: Hamas health ministry
The death toll from more than two days of Israeli strikes on Gaza has risen to 83, the health ministry controlled by the territory's Islamist rulers Hamas said Thursday.

The dead included 17 children, while 487 people have been wounded, the ministry said.

The Israeli military said it had struck Gaza more than 600 times since Monday evening while Hamas has fired more than 1,600 rockets towards Israel. (AFP)

02.25 pm

Nowhere to run: Fear in Gaza grows amid conflict with Israel
Screams and flying debris enveloped Umm Majed al-Rayyes as explosions hurled her from her bed in Gaza City. Groping in the dark, the 50-year-old grabbed her four children and ran as Israeli bombs struck their apartment building Wednesday, shattering windows, ripping doors to splinters and blasting away concrete.

While casualties mounted this week in the most severe outbreak of violence between Israel and the Gaza Strip since a 2014 war, al-Rayyes and other Palestinians in the line of fire faced an all-too-familiar question: Where should we go?

This whole territory is a tiny place. It's a prison. Everywhere you go, you're a target, al-Rayyes said by phone from a neighbor's house, where she sought refuge with her teenage sons and daughters and a few bags of clothes after the Israeli airstrike that she says came without warning.

In Gaza, a crowded coastal enclave of 2 million people, there are no air raid sirens or safe houses. Temporary United Nations shelters have come under attack in previous years of conflict. In the past two days, Israeli airstrikes brought down three huge towers housing important Hamas offices and some businesses after the Israeli military fired warning shots, allowing occupants to flee. (AP)

01.50 pm

Weary Gaza marks Muslim feast as violence spreads in Israel
Weary Palestinians on Thursday prepared for a somber feast marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, as Gaza braced for more Israeli airstrikes and communal violence raged across Israel after weeks of protests and violence in Jerusalem.

Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of a month of daylong fasting, is usually a festive time when families shop for new clothes and gather for large feasts.

But in Gaza residents are bracing for more devastation as militants fire one barrage of rockets after another and Israel carries out waves of bone-rattling airstrikes, sending plumes of smoke rising into the air. Since the rockets began Monday, Israel has toppled two high-rise apartment buildings housing Hamas facilities after warning civilians to evacuate.

Hamas, the Islamic militant group that seized power in Gaza from rival Palestinian forces in 2007, urged the faithful to mark communal Eid prayers inside their homes or the nearest mosques instead of out in the open, as is traditional.

01.17 pm

Israel masses troops along Gaza as rocket fire, air strikes escalate
Israel was preparing ground troops along the Gaza border on Thursday and Hamas launched rocket barrages at southern Israel as the fiercest hostilities in years dragged on with no end in sight.

Sirens blared in Tel Aviv overnight and the sound of rockets being shot down by Israel's Iron Dome system filled the sky, sending thousands of Israelis to shelters.

By dawn on Thursday, Israel had renewed its air strikes on the Palestinian coastal enclave, destroying a six-storey residential building in the middle of Gaza City. (Reuters)

01.00 pm

Palestinians in Gaza mark Eid Al Fitr
12.55 pm

UN Security Council to hold new meeting on Israel-Palestinian clashes Friday
Tunisia, Norway and China have requested another emergency UN Security Council meeting be scheduled Friday on the worsening hostilities between Israel and Palestinians, despite ongoing US resistance for the body to take a role in the conflict.

The session would be public and would include participation by Israel and the Palestinians, diplomats told AFP Wednesday.

The Council has already held two closed-door videoconferences since Monday, with the United States -- a close Israel ally -- opposing adoption of a joint declaration, which it said would not "help de-escalate" the situation. (AFP)

12.44 pm

12.25 pm

Turkey calls on Muslims to take clear stance over Gaza
Muslim countries must show a united and clear stance over Israel's conflict with the Islamist Hamas movement in Gaza, Turkey's vice president, Fuat Oktay, said on Thursday, criticising world powers for condemning violence without acting.

"What we desire is that active measures are taken," Oktay told reporters after morning prayers marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. "There are decisions taken repeatedly at the United Nations, there are condemnations. But unfortunately no result has been obtained, because a clear stance is not displayed," he added. (Reuters)

12.21 pm Violence upends Joe Biden's Israel-Palestinian outlook
The surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence has flummoxed the Biden administration in its first four months as it attempts to craft a Middle East policy it believes will be more durable and fairer than that of its predecessor.

Israelis and Palestinians alike have denounced the Biden administration’s call for all sides to step back following clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in east Jerusalem that escalated into rocket attacks on Israel from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and retaliatory strikes from Israel’s military. Continue reading...

12.16 pm

Why the Al-Aqsa Mosque has often been a site of conflict
The violence that spread from Jerusalem to cities across Israel and the Palestinian territories, leaving at least 60 dead so far, has both historical and contemporary roots. In recent weeks, tension has flared over the eviction of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities blocking access to the important Damascus Gate plaza during Ramadan, and a march of thousands of Israeli ultranationalists through the city on May 6 in celebration of “Jerusalem Day,” which marks the capture of East Jerusalem in 1967. Click here to read more...

12.07

3 biggest US airlines are suspending flights to Israel
American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines have suspended flights to Israel amid rising violence in the conflict between Israel and Palestinians.

United Airlines cancelled flights from Chicago, Newark and San Francisco through Saturday. A spokeswoman said United will let customers booked on Tel Aviv flights through May 25 change their itineraries without paying a higher fare.

American Airlines cancelled its daily flight from New York to Tel Aviv on Wednesday and Thursday and offered to put passengers on flights at later dates, according to an airline spokesman. Delta canceled flights from New York to Tel Aviv through Thursday. (AP)

12.04 pm

Gaza rockets prompt diversion of Tel Aviv flights
All passenger flights to Israel's Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv were being diverted to a southern airport amid persistent rocket fire from Gaza, the airports authority said.

It said guidelines were in place for passenger planes to land at Ramon airport near the southern resort city of Eilat from early Thursday.