Category: 2. Middle East

The Israeli occupation army and illegal settlers stepped up their attacks against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank today.

According to witnesses, army forces raided Baqa Al-Hatab village in eastern Qalqilya city and demolished a Palestinian family home.

Meanwhile, a group of illegal settlers set fire to a Palestinian-owned vehicle and tried to set a mosque ablaze near the towns of Osarin and Aqraba near Nablus city.

Local sources said illegal settlers…

A French opposition lawmaker yesterday called on his government to expel Israel’s ambassador and close the Israeli embassy in Paris after Israeli occupation forces opened fire near foreign diplomats at the entrance to a West Bank refugee camp earlier in the day.

Thomas Porte, a member of the left-wing La France Insoumise party, wrote on X, “Israeli war criminals shoot diplomats, including a Frenchman… and France summons the Israeli ambassador,”…

Denmark yesterday called on the international community to collectively exert pressure on Israel to lift restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza, reported the state news media outlet DR.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, addressing parliament, said: “Blocking humanitarian aid is and will remain wrong. Therefore, we must apply greater pressure on Israel. We have been discussing this within the EU over the past few days.”

She added: “The humanitarian…

China today called for a “full investigation” into shots fired by Israeli occupation soldiers at a delegation of diplomats visiting the occupied West Bank, urging Tel Aviv against any “escalatory move”.

“We are closely following the incident. China firmly opposes any move that threatens the safety and security of the diplomatic personnel,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a live-streamed news conference in Beijing.

Beijing “calls for full…

Irish rappers Kneecap on Thursday denied supporting a proscribed group and vowed to defend themselves after a singer was charged with a “terror” offence for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a London concert.

The Iran-backed Lebanese force Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas are banned in the UK and it is an offence to support them.

“We deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves. This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction,” the band said…

The Israeli occupation army claimed to have intercepted a missile from Yemen today, as tension continues to escalate over Tel Aviv’s deadly war on the Gaza Strip.

Army spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X that the missile triggered air-raid sirens in some areas in central Israel.

No injuries were reported.

There was no immediate confirmation from Yemen’s Houthi group of the Israeli claim.

In recent weeks, the Houthis have stepped up its missile and drone…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday dismissed speculation of a falling out with the US administration following a visit to the Gulf by US President Donald Trump that left out Israel, Reuters reports.

Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates resulted in a series of big ticket business deals but fuelled widespread media commentary pointing out that Israel, Washington’s closest ally in the region, had not been…

An armed group briefly held the governor of Syria’s Suwayda province hostage at the Town Hall yesterday, demanding and securing the release of an imprisoned associate, Syria’s Information Ministry said in a statement.

Reuters reported that the assailants stormed the government building at gunpoint, sealed its gates, and detained Governor Mustafa Al-Bakour, along with employees and security guards, the ministry stated.

Later on, the prisoner, who was…

Detained Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil must be allowed to meet with his wife, a federal judge ruled yesterday according to Reuters.

The order by US District Judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark, New Jersey, comes after Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdalla, said US Immigration and Customs Enforcement denied her request to meet with Khalil at the detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, where he has been held for more than two months.

Two Israeli embassy staffers were killed by a lone gunman in Washington, DC, last night, Reuters reported. Police have arrested a suspect, officials said.

The two were shot and killed as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in the area of 3rd and F Streets in Northwest, a part of central Washington that is about 1.3 miles from the White House.

Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said a man shot at a group of four people with a handgun,…