Israel-Palestine Conflict Highlights: The conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants continues to escalate. Israeli fighter jets unleashed a series of heavy airstrikes at multiple locations in Gaza City earlier today. This came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled the fourth war with Gaza's Hamas rulers would rage on. Hamas also pressed on, launching rockets from civilian areas in Gaza toward civilian areas in Israel. Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, launched the rocket attacks last week, in retaliation for Israeli police clashes with Palestinians near al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site, in East Jerusalem. According to Israel’s defence forces, more than 2,000 rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israel since the start of the conflict, around half of them intercepted by the ‘Iron Dome’ air defence systems. Civil unrest between Jews and Arabs in Israel itself dealt a strong blow to efforts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's opponents to unseat the Israeli leader after a series of inconclusive elections, giving rise to expectations that Israelis will go to the polls for an unprecedented fifth time in just over two years.
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates | Biden administration approved $735 million arms sale to Israel
President Joe Biden's administration approved the potential sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to Israel, and congressional sources said on Monday that US lawmakers were not expected to object to the deal despite violence between Israel and Palestinian militants.
Three congressional aides said Congress was officially notified of the intended commercial sale on May 5, as part of the regular review process before major foreign weapons sales agreements can go ahead.
Congress was informed of the planned sale in April, as part of the normal informal review process before of the formal notification on May 5. Under US law, the formal notification opens up a 15-day window for Congress to object to the sale, which is not expected despite the ongoing violence. (Reuters)
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates | US blocks third draft UN statement on Mideast violence: Diplomats
The United States on Monday blocked -- for the third time in a week -- the adoption of a joint UN Security Council statement calling for a halt to Israeli-Palestinian violence and the protection of civilians, diplomats said.
The text drafted by China, Tunisia and Norway was submitted late Sunday for approval Monday by the Council's 15 members, as Israeli jets continued to pound the Gaza Strip and the death toll from nearly a week of violence passed 200.
The United States indicated that they "could not currently support an expression" by the Security Council, one diplomat told AFP.
The text, obtained by AFP, called for "de-escalation of the situation, cessation of violence and respect for international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians, especially children."
It voiced the Council's "grave concern" at the Gaza crisis and its "serious concern" regarding the possible eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem, opposing "unilateral actions" likely to further escalate tensions.
The draft also welcomed international efforts to de-escalate the situation, without reference to the United States, and reiterated the Council's support for a negotiated two-state solution allowing Israelis and Palestinians to "live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders." (AFP)
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates | Israeli strikes hit Gaza tunnels as diplomats work for truce
The Israeli military unleashed a wave of heavy airstrikes Monday on the Gaza Strip, saying it destroyed 15 kilometres (9 miles) of militant tunnels and the homes of nine Hamas commanders as international diplomats worked to end the weeklong war that has killed hundreds of people.
Israel has said it intends to press on for now with its attacks against Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, and the United States signalled it would not pressure the two sides for a cease-fire.
The latest attacks destroyed the five-story building housing the Hamas-run Religious Affairs Ministry and killed a top Gaza leader of Islamic Jihad, another militant group whom the Israeli military blamed for some of the thousands of rocket attacks launched at Israel in recent days.
At least 200 Palestinians have been killed in the week of airstrikes, including 59 children and 35 women, with some 1,300 people wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Ten people in Israel, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier, have been killed in the ongoing rocket attacks launched from civilian areas in Gaza toward civilian areas in Israel. (AP)
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates | UN General Assembly to meet over Mideast violence on May 20
The UN General Assembly will meet on Thursday over fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants, General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir said on Monday as the fiercest hostilities in the region in years entered a second week.
Niger and Algeria, chairs of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation group and Arab group in New York, asked the 193-member General Assembly meet publicly "in light of the gravity of the situation and its rapid deterioration."
The 15-member U.N. Security Council met publicly for the first time on Sunday over the flare-up in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
The council has been unable to issue a public statement because the United States - a strong ally of Israel - worries it could harm behind-the-scenes diplomacy. China said on Sunday it would again push the council to try and agree a statement. (Reuters)
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates | Gaza reels under Israeli strikes as violence enters second week
Israeli jets kept pounding Gaza Monday afternoon, as the enclave's residents cowered indoors and the violence that has killed more than 200 people, most of them Palestinians, entered a second week.
Before dawn, within just a few minutes, dozens of Israeli strikes bombarded the crowded Palestinian coastal strip controlled by Islamist group Hamas.
Flames lit up the sky as intense explosions shook Gaza City, sparking widespread power cuts and damaging hundreds of buildings, local authorities said.
Some 3,200 rockets have been fired by Palestinian militants toward Israel since the conflict escalated on May 10 in the heaviest exchange of fire in years, sparked by unrest in Jerusalem. (AFP)
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates | Secretary Blinken indicates no immediate US press for Mideast cease-fire
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken signalled that the United States still was not joining calls for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers as fighting entered its second week, with more than 200 people dead, most of them Palestinians in Gaza.
Blinken's stand comes despite growing pressure from the United States' UN Security Council partners, some Democrats and others for President Joe Biden's administration and other international leaders to wade more deeply into diplomacy to end the worst Israel-Palestinian violence in years and revive long-collapsed mediation for a lasting peace there. (AP)
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates | 6-year-old Gaza girl survives Israeli strike that shattered her family and home
Six-year-old Suzy Eshkuntana woke up alone in Gaza’s largest hospital where she was rushed by rescuers from the rubble of her home, which had been wrecked by a pre-dawn Israeli strike that killed her mother and all four of her siblings.
The young girl, trapped for seven hours under the debris, was reunited in Shifa hospital with her father, who was also being treated for his wounds.
"Forgive me, my daughter. You screamed to me to come to you, but I couldn't come," Riyad Eshkuntana told her after medics brought them together in adjoining beds.
The Palestinian family's home was hit in Israeli air strikes early on Sunday on Gaza City, a wave of attacks that Gaza health officials said killed 42 people including 10 children and raised the death toll in Gaza from a week of bombardment to 192.
Israel says it is attacking the militant Islamist Hamas movement that controls the densely populated Gaza Strip and that along with Islamic Jihad and other militant groups has fired 2,800 rockets towards Israeli cities.
Those rocket barrages have killed 10 people in Israel, including two children. They have also sent millions of Israelis scrambling to "safe rooms" and shelters as rocket warning sirens go off at all hours of the day and night. read more
"The reason we have these casualties is because Hamas is criminally attacking us from civilian neighbourhoods," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. broadcaster CBS. (Reuters)
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates | US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he has not seen any Israeli evidence of Hamas operating in Gaza building
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he has not seen any Israeli evidence of Hamas operating in Gaza office building hit by airstrike over the weekend. Blinken says he has asked Israel for justification for the strike.
Blinken spoke at a news conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, as pressure is increasing on the Biden administration to ask for a ceasefire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel destroyed a building housing The Associated Press and other media, and claimed that Hamas used the building for a military intelligence office.
“Shortly after the strike we did request additional details regarding the justification for it,” Blinken said. He declined to discuss specific intelligence, saying he “will leave it to others to characterize if any information has been shared and our assessment that information.”
But he said, “I have not seen any information provided.”
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates | Turkey urges Pope to back sanctions on Israel
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has asked Pope Francis to support sanctions against Israel, saying Palestinians will continue to be “massacred” as long as the international community does not punish Israel.
During a telephone telephone call Monday with the pope, Erdogan also said that “continued messages and reactions” from Francis in support of Palestinians would be of great importance for the “mobilisation of the Christian world and of the international community,” according to a statement from the Turkish presidential communications directorate
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates | Israeli air strike kills Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza
An Israeli air strike killed a top commander with the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza on Monday, the Israeli military and a source in the group said.
The killing of Hussam Abu Harbeed, Islamic Jihad's northern division commander, was likely to draw a fierce response from the militant group as Israel's fighting also rages on with the enclave's Islamist rulers Hamas.
In a statement confirming it had killed Harbeed, the Israeli military said he "was behind several anti-tank missile terror attacks against Israeli civilians."
The military said those attacks included one on the first day of the current round of fighting that it said had injured a civilian in Israel.
Harbeed had been a commander with Islamic Jihad for 15 years, the military said. (PTI).
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates | China urges US to play constructive role in Gaza diplomacy
China on Monday renewed calls for the US to play a constructive role in ending the conflict in Gaza and stop blocking efforts at the United Nations to demand an end to the bloodshed.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China, as rotating head of the Security Council, has urged a cease-fire and the provision of humanitarian assistance, among other proposals, but that obstruction by “one country” has prevented the council from speaking with one voice.
“We call on the United States to assume its due responsibility and take an impartial position to support the council and play its due role in cooling down the situation and rebuilding trust for a political solution," Zhao said at a daily briefing.
China “strongly condemns" violence against civilians and calls for an end to air strikes, ground attacks, rocket fire and “other actions that aggravate the situation," Zhao said.
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
To the outside world, the scenes of rocket fire, bombing raids and angry protests in West Asia last week may have looked familiar. To the people of Israel and the Gaza Strip, they were anything but routine.
In Pictures | Israel-Palestine conflict: Fear, grief grip Gaza anew amid familiar glare
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
The largely liberal, secular beachside city of Tel Aviv has a reputation for being a hedonistic bubble. But during the past week, the city has been targeted by at least 160 rockets fired out of the Palestinian coastal enclave of Gaza, about 40 miles to the south.
The bombardment of Tel Aviv has been a devastating turn of events for a bustling metropolis that brands itself as Israel’s non-stop party city on the Mediterranean coast and the financial hub of the country.
Over the weekend, incoming alerts and rocket salvos sent crowds of beachgoers running for cover and closed down many of the city’s famed restaurants and bars.
Read the full story here: Tel Aviv, Israel’s bustling financial hub, shaken as rockets rain down
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
Cricket club comes to rescue of Indian researchers in southern Israeli city under attack from HamasA cricket club in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba has come to the rescue of several Indian researchers at the Ben-Gurion University in the Negev southern region, who had been struggling for a proper shelter while being under a complete siege with rockets raining over the country's south during the past one week.
The Beersheba Cricket Club building, a two-storey structure close to the University, which is actually a shelter house with an underground floor, opened its door for the local residents immediately after rockets launched by Palestinian militants started to fall on Israel's southern areas and also extended the kind gesture to Indian researchers at the university who were looking for proper protection during distressed times. (Input from PTI)
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
Speaking at the United Nations Security Council’s meeting, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti expressed deep concern over the recent violence in Jerusalem, Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount and the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.
India urged both sides to refrain from unilaterally changing the status-quo, including in East Jerusalem and neighbouring areas. "Historic status-quo of holy places in Jerusalem must be respected," Tirumurti said, while calling for resumption of a direct dialogue.
Read more here: India reiterates support for ‘just Palestinian cause’ and ‘two-state solution’
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
The 'Iron Dome' is a ground-to-air, short-range air defence system that neutralises enemy rockets and missiles.
The concept was born after the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War when Israel faced thousands of rockets fired by Hezbollah. The missile defence system took years to develop and was tested in combat for the first time in April 2011.
The system has been mainly deployed to intercept short-range missiles and rockets coming in from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
India’s stand at the United NationsAmbassador TS Tirumurti, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations expressed deep concern over the violence in Jerusalem, Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount and the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.
Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting on the Israel-Palestine conflict, Tirumurti said India condemns all violence and destruction and called for immediate de-escalation.
India urged both sides to refrain from unilaterally changing the status-quo, including in East Jerusalem and neighbouring areas. "Historic status-quo of holy places in Jerusalem must be respected," Tirumurti said.
Tirumurti said that direct dialogue must resume immediately and reiterated support for a 'two-state solution'.
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
Hamas attempting to hit Israel's Tamar offshore gas rig with rockets: Local media reportLast week, the Hamas – which controls the Gaza Strip – allegedly fired dozens of rockets toward Israel’s Tamar natural gas rig, according to a report by The Times of Israel. The rig had been drained of fuel and temporarily taken offline when the latest round of fighting started.
The news report adds that none of the rockets came close to hitting the rig, which is protected by a ship-borne ‘Iron Dome’ anti-missile defence system.
The rig is located around 80 kilometres west of Haifa in the Mediterranean Sea.
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates | Death toll:
At least 188 Palestinians have been killed in hundreds of airstrikes in Gaza Strip, including 55 children and 33 women, with 1,230 people wounded.
Eight people in Israel have been killed in rocket attacks launched from Gaza, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates | Israel may move towards ceasefire with Hamas as many military objectives have been met
: Local media reportIsrael may start moving towards a ceasefire as several military objectives have been achieved against the Hamas, according to a news report by Israeli media outlet Walla.
Ceasefire talks could have started yesterday (May 16) and mediated by Egypt, the Hebrew language local news outlet reported.
Military officials believe that airstrikes on Gaza have been successful in reaching specific military goals, the news report cited unnamed Israeli sources as saying.
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
Rocket warning sirens were heard in Holit and Sufa, a pair of collective communities near the Gaza border,
The Times of Israel reported.Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
A little-noticed police action in Jerusalem last month was one of several incidents that led to the current Israel-Palestine crisis.
Read: After years of quiet, Israeli-Palestinian conflict exploded. Why now?
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
Palestinian media has reported that Israel had struck a factory in northern Gaza earlier today. Video on social media showed a column of thick black smoke rising into the air. There were no immediate reports of casualties on either side of the border. (Input from Reuters)
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
As violence flares within Israel and on a day in which Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City killed at least 42 people, it was business as usual for a senior Israeli tourism official in Dubai, United Arab Emirates as she promoted the country as a must-see destination for Muslim visitors.
It might seem an odd proposition at an odd time given that major airlines have suspended flights to Israel amid the flare-up in violence and while the spread of coronavirus remains a threat.
Read the full story here - A tough sell: In Dubai amid clash, Israel promotes tourism
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
The
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said on Twitter that the country’s fighter jets “neutralised 9.3 miles (nearly 15 kilometres) of the Hamas 'Metro' terror tunnel system overnight”.Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
Calls mount for Israel-Gaza ceasefire, greater US effortsThe United Nations Security Council diplomats and Muslim foreign ministers convened emergency weekend meetings to demand a stop to civilian bloodshed as Israeli warplanes carried out the deadliest single attacks in nearly a week of Hamas rocket barrages and Israeli airstrikes.
Representatives of Muslim nations met yesterday to demand Israel halt attacks that are killing Palestinian civilians in the crowded Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan called on “the international community to take urgent action to immediately stop military operations.” (Input from The Associated Press)
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
A video showing a 10-year-old Gaza girl weeping in front of a building reduced to rubble, and asking "Why do we deserve this?" has drawn the attention of scores of netizens.
The clip gives an insight into the brutality of the Israel-Palestine conflict and shows how children are among the worst-affected due to the violent flare-up.
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
The largely liberal, secular beachside city of Tel Aviv has a reputation for being a hedonistic bubble. But during the past week, the city has been targeted by at least 160 rockets fired out of the Palestinian coastal enclave of Gaza, about 40 miles to the south.
The bombardment of Tel Aviv has been a devastating turn of events for a bustling metropolis that brands itself as Israel’s non-stop party city on the Mediterranean coast and the financial hub of the country.
Over the weekend, incoming alerts and rocket salvos sent crowds of beachgoers running for cover and closed down many of the city’s famed restaurants and bars.
Read the full story here: Tel Aviv, Israel’s bustling financial hub, shaken as rockets rain down
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
Jordan's king says diplomacy under way to halt Israel's military campaignJordan's King Abdullah said yesterday that his kingdom was involved in intensive diplomacy to halt what he characterised as an Israeli military escalation in the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence in years.
The monarch, whose ruling family has custodianship of Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem, did not elaborate on the diplomacy, which was communicated via a news flash on state media.
Jordanian government officials told Reuters the pro-Western kingdom is leading a diplomatic campaign with the US and its European allies to put pressure on Israel to end its air and artillery barrage on Gaza. (Input from Reuters)
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
US President Joe Biden has said his administration is working with all parties towards achieving a sustained calm.
"We also believe Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live in safety and security and enjoy equal measure of freedom, prosperity and democracy," Biden said in a pre-taped video aired at an event marking the Muslim Eid holiday yesterday. (Input from Reuters)
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
Misinformation has flourished on Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and other social media about the violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
Read: Lies on social media inflame Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
The 'Iron Dome' is a ground-to-air, short-range air defence system that neutralises enemy rockets and missiles.
The concept was born after the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War when Israel faced thousands of rockets fired by Hezbollah. The missile defence system took years to develop and was tested in combat for the first time in April 2011.
The system has been mainly deployed to intercept short-range missiles and rockets coming in from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates | US Secretary of State Antony Blinken:
“Had an important conversation today with Saudi Foreign Minister @FaisalbinFarhan (Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud) about the need to calm tensions in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza. We agreed we must continue our ongoing outreach to halt the current violence and lamentable loss of life from the crisis.”
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
On US network CBS' ‘Face the Nation’ programme, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu defended another Israeli air strike a day earlier that destroyed a 12-storey building where the Associated Press and the Al Jazeera TV network had offices.
Netanyahu said the structure also housed the militant group's intelligence office and was thus a legitimate target. He said Israel had passed information about the building to US authorities. A US intelligence official did not respond to a request for comment by the Reuters. (Input from Reuters)
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates |
Israeli warplanes unleashed a series of heavy airstrikes at several locations of Gaza City on early May 17, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signalled the fourth war with Gaza's Hamas rulers would rage on.
Explosions rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes in an attack that was heavier, on a wider area and lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed — the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence between Israel and the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza. The earlier Israeli airstrikes flattened three buildings.
Read more here: Israel stages new round of heavy airstrikes on Gaza City
Israel-Palestine Conflict LIVE Updates: Hello and welcome to Moneycontrol’s LIVE coverage of the latest round of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
