The Israeli military said today that it had intercepted a rocket fired from Yemen after sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and numerous places in central Israel.
The military said the rocket was intercepted before it entered Israeli territory, but Agence France-Presse journalists in Jerusalem heard multiple detonations.
This is the sixth rocket attack from Yemen that the Israeli military said it had intercepted since Israel broke a nearly two-month ceasefire with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Tuesday last week and resumed its bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Shortly after the start of the Gaza war, sparked by a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels confirmed that they were acting in solidarity with the Palestinians, and carried out dozens of missile attacks on Israel as well as in the Red Sea, a major global shipping lane, in attacks on ships they believe have ties to Israel.
These attacks were halted when a ceasefire in Gaza came into effect on January 19, but the Houthis have vowed to step them up again as Israel continues its strikes on Gaza.
(BETA)
The strikes that hit the UN compound in Gaza last week, killing one of its Bulgarian employees, were carried out by an Israeli tank, a UN spokesman said today, announcing a reduction in the number of international staff of the world organization in Gaza.
"According to the information currently available, the strikes that hit a group of UN buildings in Deir al-Balah on March 19 were caused by an Israeli tank," said Stephane Dujarric.
A Bulgarian UN employee was killed in the attacks, which Israel has denied any responsibility for. Six other UN employees from France, Moldova, North Macedonia, the United Kingdom, and a Palestinian were seriously injured.
"The location of the UN compound is well known to the parties to the conflict," the spokesman said, stressing that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had strongly condemned the attacks and called for a comprehensive and independent investigation.
Israel said last week it was investigating the circumstances of the death of a Bulgarian UN official. The Israeli military denied targeting the UN compound in Deir el-Balah, and a military spokesman said there was no operational activity in the area.
In this context, and at a time when Israel has continued airstrikes and ground operations in the Gaza Strip, breaking the ceasefire that had been in effect since January 19, the UN has decided, for security reasons, to reduce its presence in the Palestinian territory, Dujarric said today.
This means that the number of UN international staff in the Gaza Strip, which is about thirty people out of about 100, will be temporarily reduced by one third and possibly more, he said.
This applies primarily to staff from UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Food Program and the UN Humanitarian Office (Ocha).
He stressed, however, that the UN is not leaving Gaza, and recalled the crucial presence of around 13.000 employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. (BETA)
US strikes on Yemen's Houthi rebels killed one person and wounded dozens more today, the rebels said.
The US has been bombing the Houthis for 10 days, part of US President Donald Trump's campaign targeting rebel groups that are hindering maritime trade in the Red Sea.
So far, the US has not offered any details about the strikes, although Trump's national security adviser Mike Walz said yesterday that the strikes "removed key leadership of the Houthi movement."
A US strike yesterday hit a building in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, killing one person and wounding 13, the SABA news agency reported, citing health officials.
(BETA)
The Health Ministry of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip announced today that 24 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in the past 57 hours.
Israel broke the ceasefire and resumed bombing the Gaza Strip on March 18, since which time, according to new Hamas figures, 730 people have been killed.
Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, 50.082 people have been killed and 113.408 people have been wounded.
(BETA)
Gaza's Civil Defense Agency said it had lost contact with six of its members who had gone on a rescue mission in the southern city of Rafah, Al Jazeera reported.
They and members of the Palestine Red Crescent Society went to Rafah on Sunday after Israeli troops entered the al-Hashashin area, west of Rafah, and there were casualties.
They have had no contact with them since then, the agency said in a statement.
German authorities today expressed "extreme concern" over reports of a large number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip following the resumption of Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territory.
"This is extremely worrying because it not only prevents the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza, but also means that the humanitarian situation in the camps is once again catastrophic," said German Foreign Ministry spokesman Christian Wagner, who called on the Israeli government to restore access to humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
"It is now very clear that we must quickly return to negotiations and the ceasefire that existed before," Wagner added, after Israel broke a ceasefire with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas a week ago, following a two-month ceasefire.
Since the resumption of Israeli military operations on March 18, at least 673 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Hamas movement's Health Ministry said.
Berlin also strongly condemned the Israeli government's decision on Sunday to recognize 13 new settlements among its settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The decision "pave the way for the expansion of settlement policies, encourages the division of Palestine and actively undermines the two-state solution," Wagner added.
(BETA)
Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip killed around 25 Palestinians today, including women and children, according to local hospitals.
A few days ago, Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas with a surprise bombing of Gaza, which killed hundreds of people.
Meanwhile, Egypt presented a new proposal to restore the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The proposal states that Hamas will release five live hostages, including an American-Israeli citizen, in exchange for Israeli permission to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and a week-long ceasefire, an Egyptian official said today.
Under the proposal, Israel would also release several hundred Palestinian prisoners.
A Hamas official said the group had "responded positively" to the proposal, without elaborating on details.
(BETA)
The Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee and the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaia Kalas, condemned in a joint statement the continued conflict and the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza, and called for an immediate return to full implementation of the ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages and prisoners.
After yesterday's meeting in Cairo, they emphasized the need for progress towards the second phase of the agreement, with the aim of its full implementation, including the release of all hostages, a permanent end to the conflict and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2735, according to a statement provided to the media by the Palestinian Embassy in Montenegro.
"The parties also called for full respect for international humanitarian law and international law. They stressed that this includes ensuring rapid, sustainable and unhindered humanitarian access and the provision of humanitarian assistance on a large scale in Gaza. In this context, they demanded the lifting of all restrictions that hinder the delivery of humanitarian assistance, as well as the immediate return of all essential supplies to the Gaza Strip, including electricity supply, which includes water desalination plants," the statement said.
The Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee and Kalas welcomed the Arab Plan for Reconstruction and Reconstruction and stressed that this plan ensures that the Palestinian people remain in their territory, and in this context, they expressly rejected any expulsion or exile of the Palestinian people from their territory, Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and warned of the serious consequences that would result from such actions. They stressed the importance of supporting the Conference on the Early Reconstruction and Reconstruction of Gaza, which will be held in Cairo with the participation of relevant stakeholders, and called on the international community to work on mobilizing the resources that will be announced during the conference, in order to address the catastrophic situation in Gaza, the statement said.
"The parties stressed the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority (PA) and supporting the PA in assuming all its responsibilities in Gaza, in order to effectively carry out its role in governing both Gaza and the West Bank. They stressed the need to respect and preserve the territorial integrity and unity of the occupied Palestinian territory," the statement added.
They expressed deep concern about Israeli military incursions into the occupied West Bank, firmly rejected any attempts at annexation and unilateral measures, and reiterated their full commitment to a political solution to the conflict based on a two-state solution.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the head of the Shin Bet security service, whose dismissal was blocked by the Supreme Court on Friday, of conducting an investigation into far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir without his consent.
"The claim that the prime minister authorized Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to gather evidence against Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is another lie that has been exposed," the prime minister's office said in a statement.
Channel 12 TV reported that the Internal Security Agency (Shin Bet) had been conducting a "secret investigation" for several months into the infiltration of far-right elements within the police and into Minister Ben Gvir.
"The published document, which contains an explicit directive from the head of the Shin Bet to collect evidence against politicians, is similar to dark regimes, undermines the foundations of democracy and aims to overthrow the right-wing government," the Israeli prime minister's office added in a statement.
Ben Gwir called Ronen Barr a "criminal" and "a liar who is now trying to deny his attempted conspiracy against elected officials in a democratic country, even after the documents were revealed to the public and the world," on the social network X.
The Israeli Supreme Court on Friday suspended the government's previous decision to dismiss Ronen Bar, whose announcement of his dismissal has reignited deep divisions in Israeli society.
The government, one of the most right-wing in Israeli history, previously announced the dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet, in whom Netanyahu claims he no longer trusts.
(BETA)
The European Union's (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaia Kallas, stated last night upon her arrival in Israel that the suffering must end in the Gaza Strip.
Kaia Kalas said she would seek an "immediate return" to the ceasefire agreement to stop the "destruction of the Gaza Strip."
The Palestine Solidarity Movement, with the help of international humanitarian organizations, organized the humanitarian action "Human Story", during which around 12.000 euros in donations from Montenegrin citizens have been collected to help the residents of the Gaza Strip.
From that money, hot meals were successfully distributed in the field, the movement announced, noting that the donation collection campaign will continue until March 27th.
The non-governmental organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced today that the situation of Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military operation in the northern occupied West Bank is extremely precarious.
These "forcibly displaced people" are in an "extremely precarious situation," said a statement from MSF, an organization active on the ground distributing personal hygiene kits and food parcels.
On January 21, two days after the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip came into effect, the Israeli army launched an operation against Palestinian armed groups in the northern West Bank.
According to the United Nations, this offensive displaced around 40.000 residents.
Displaced Palestinians are "deprived of adequate shelter and access to healthcare," according to MSF.
MSF's director of operations, Brice de la Vigne, said that "people cannot return to their homes because Israeli forces have blocked access to the camps, destroying houses and infrastructure."
(BETA)
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