Page 2 - West Bank

Egypt floats plan to end Israel-Hamas war, create transitional govt

Egypt has put forward an ambitious, initial proposal to end the Israel-Hamas war with a cease-fire, a phased hostage release and the creation of a Palestinian government of experts who would administer the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank, a senior Egyptian official and a European diplomat said on Monday. The proposal, worked out with the Gulf nation of Qatar, has been presented to Israel, Hamas, the United States and European governments but still appeared preliminary. It falls short of Israel's professed goal of outright crushing Hamas and would appear not to meet Israel's insistence on keeping military control over Gaza for an extended period after the war. Israel's War Cabinet, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will meet later Monday discuss the hostage situation, among other topics, an Israeli official said, but would not say if they would discuss the Egyptian proposal. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the ...

Israel-Hamas war clouds Christmas eve celebrations in West Bank's Bethlehem

The normally bustling biblical birthplace of Jesus resembled a ghost town on Sunday, as Christmas Eve celebrations in Bethlehem were called off due to the Israel-Hamas war. The festive lights and Christmas tree that normally decorate Manger Square were missing, as were the throngs of foreign tourists and jubilant youth marching bands that gather in the West Bank town each year to mark the holiday. Dozens of Palestinian security forces patrolled the empty square. This year, without the Christmas tree and without lights, there's just darkness, said Brother John Vinh, a Franciscan monk from Vietnam who has lived in Jerusalem for six years. He said he always comes to Bethlehem to mark Christmas, but this year was especially sobering, as he gazed at a nativity scene in Manger Square with a baby Jesus wrapped in a white shroud, reminiscent of the thousands of children killed in the fighting in Gaza. Barbed wire surrounded the scene, the grey rubble reflecting none of the joyous lights and

With world's eyes on Gaza, attacks are on the rise in West Bank now

When Israeli warplanes swooped over the Gaza Strip following Hamas militants' deadly attack on southern Israel, Palestinians say a different kind of war took hold in the occupied West Bank. Overnight, the territory was closed off. Towns were raided, curfews imposed, teenagers arrested, detainees beaten, and villages stormed by Jewish vigilantes. With the world's attention on Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there, the violence of war has also erupted in the West Bank. Israeli settler attacks have surged at an unprecedented rate, according to the United Nations. The escalation has spread fear, deepened despair, and robbed Palestinians of their livelihoods, their homes and, in some cases, their lives. Our lives are hell, said Sabri Boum, a 52-year-old farmer who fortified his windows with metal grills last week to protect his children from settlers he said threw stun grenades in Qaryout, a northern village. It's like I'm in a prison. In six weeks, settlers have killed nine Palestini

Biden stands firm against ceasefire, condemns West Bank violence in op-ed

In the op-ed, Biden also said that a two-state solution is the only solution to the enduring conflict in the region and that, in the meantime, there should be governance under Palestinian Authority

Israeli troops kill 5 Palestinians, including 3 militants, across West Bank

Israeli forces on Friday killed five Palestinians, including three militants, across the West Bank, deepening a surge of violence in the occupied territory that has accompanied Israel's war in the Gaza Strip. The deaths raised to 205 the number of Palestinians killed in West Bank violence since the Gaza war erupted on October 7, making it the deadliest period in the territory since the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s. Israel says the crackdown is aimed at Hamas, the ruling group in Gaza, and other militant groups active in the West Bank. But rights groups say the Israeli tactics, including deadly raids, home demolitions, and arrests, are being carried out with increased frequency. The war erupted on October 7 when Hamas militants in Gaza crossed into Israel and killed at least 1,200 people and kidnapped 240 others. Israel launched a war that has claimed over 11,000 lives in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled territory. At th

Blinken urges united future Palestinian govt for Gaza and West Bank

Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Wednesday for a united and Palestinian-led government for Gaza and the West Bank after the war ends, as a step toward Palestinian statehood. That vision sharpens U.S. differences with ally Israel on what the future should look like for the Palestinian territories once Israel's military campaign against Hamas winds down. Blinken's outline of what Americans think should come next for Gaza also serves as a check on the postwar scenarios floated by officials of Israel's hard-right government and its supporters. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement Monday that Israel's military would likely maintain security control of Gaza for an indefinite period" appears to have heightened U.S. concerns. Any postwar governing plan for Gaza must include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, Blinken told reporters in Japan. He and other top diplomats of the Group of Seven leading industrial ...

Must never lose sight of how essential the two-state solution is: Sunak

"We must never lose sight of how essential the two-state solution is. So we'll work together with our international partners to bring renewed energy and creativity to this effort," the UK PM said

Aid convoy reaches Gaza as Israel attacks targets in Syria, West Bank

The second aid convoy destined for desperate Palestinian civilians reached Gaza on Sunday, as Israel widened its attacks to include targets in Syria and the occupied West Bank and the Israeli prime minister warned Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group that if it launches its own war, we will cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine. For days, Israel has been on the verge of launching a ground offensive in Gaza following Hamas' brutal October 7 rampage through a series of Israeli communities. Tanks and troops have been massed at the Gaza border, waiting for the command to cross. Israel's military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the country had increased airstrikes across Gaza to hit targets that would reduce the risk to troops in the next stage of the war. Fears of a widening war grew as Israeli warplanes struck targets across Gaza, two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants. Israel has traded fire with Hezbollah militants si

Tensions high in occupied West Bank as Israel fears 'third front'

More than 80 Palestinians have been killed in West Bank violence since October 7 and Israel has arre­sted more than 900 people

US President announces $100 mn in humanitarian aid for Gaza, West Bank

The US President further said that Israel has agreed to move the humanitarian assistance from Egypt to Gaza

Israel-Hamas clash: Violence fuels growing tensions in occupied West Bank

While the world is focused on the war in Gaza, tensions have risen in the occupied West Bank, where 54 Palestinians were killed over the past week in clashes with Israeli troops, arrest raids and attacks by Jewish settlers. U.N. monitors said it was the deadliest week for Palestinians in the territory since at least 2005. Since Hamas' deadly mass incursion into southern Israel, in which militants killed over 1,300 people and captured around 150, Israeli forces have held the West Bank under a tight grip, closing crossings into the territory and checkpoints between cities, measures they say are aimed at preventing attacks. Friday was a particularly deadly day, with 16 Palestinians killed in different incidents in the West Bank. The military says it has arrested 220 people in raids across the West Bank, including 130 Hamas operatives, since last weekend's attack. Hamas militants are present in the West Bank, but largely operate underground because of Israel's tight grip on the ...

Israel-Gaza war: Death toll up as conflict expands to bordering nations

Israel has reported attacks from other bordering nations as well as internal conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in neighbouring countries as death toll rises and supplied diminish in Gaza

Israel-Palestine war: Here's a look at the history of the conflict

Here's a timeline of the moments of the world's most acrimonious conflict

Israeli military raid kills 2 Palestinians in West Bank, say officials

Two Palestinians were killed during an Israeli military raid Sunday in the northern West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, the latest bloodshed in a surge of violence during a sensitive Jewish holiday period. The Israeli military said it moved into the Nour Shams refugee camp, near the town of Tulkarem, to destroy what it described as a militant command center and bomb-storage facility in a building. It said that engineering units detonated a number of bombs planted under roads, and that militants opened fire and hurled explosives, as troops responded with live fire. The Palestinian Health Ministry said two men Asid Abu Ali, 21, and Abdulrahman Abu Daghash, 32 were killed by Israeli fire. The raid caused heavy damage to roads and the suspected building. Israel has been carrying out stepped-up military raids, primarily in the northern West Bank, for the past year and a half in what it says is a campaign to root out Palestinian militants and thwart future attacks. But ...

Israel hits home of alleged Palestinian attacker; tension in West Bank

Israeli security forces on Tuesday demolished the West Bank home of a Palestinian man accused of carrying out a deadly shooting attack earlier this year, the military said, the latest incursion to fuel tensions in the occupied territory. Israel's decades-old tactic of leveling the family homes of alleged Palestinian assailants has drawn intense criticism from human rights groups, which call it collective punishment prohibited under international law. Opponents of the policy also raise questions about its efficacy, arguing that leveling the residences of often uninvolved parents, spouses and children of alleged assailants and leaving them homeless only fuels an unrelenting cycle of hatred and bloodshed. Israel defends such home demolitions as a deterrent meant to prevent future attacks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government, which has taken a hard line against the Palestinians, has vowed to ramp up home demolitions of Palestinian attackers as violence spirals in t

Israeli military kills 3 alleged Palestinian gunmen in volatile West Bank

The Israeli military said it shot and killed three alleged Palestinian gunmen in the northern occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the latest bloodshed in one of the most violent stretches of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in years. Israeli security forces said they opened fire at Palestinian militants who had shot at them from a car in the West Bank city of Nablus, the territory's commercial capital and a major focus of the Israeli military's recently stepped-up raids. In the hilly neighbourhood of al-Tur shortly after the shooting, Israeli forces inspected a shattered black Skoda surrounded by spent bullet casings. Palestinian media described the Israeli killing of the gunmen as an ambush following the militants' attempted attack on Israeli forces near a Jewish settlement overlooking Nablus. The Israeli military said it confiscated three M-16 rifles and other equipment from their car. Israeli-Palestinian fighting has surged in the territory, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 19

Israeli army fire kills Palestinian man during clashes at West Bank shrine

Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man near a shrine in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, in the latest bloodshed in a cycle of violence that has gripped the region. The months of fighting with rising fatalities have shown no signs of abating and has become the worst violence between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank in nearly two decades. Thursday's shooting took place as Israeli forces escorted Israeli worshippers, including the Israeli police chief and the head of the local Jewish settler council, to a site known as the biblical Joseph's Tomb in the Palestinian city of Nablus. The shrine has long been a flashpoint for clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops. Nablus has also become a central point of violence in the current escalation. The Israeli military said that during the visit, suspects opened fire and threw explosives, rocks and burning tires at troops, who returned fire. Palestinian news agency Wafa identi

Palestinian kills Israeli soldier in West Bank day after Israel's raid

A Hamas militant on Thursday opened fire near an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, killing an Israeli soldier, a day after Israeli forces withdrew from the largest military operation in the West Bank in two decades. The Palestinian attacker was shot and killed by Israeli forces, the army said. The shooting came on the heels of the Israeli withdrawal from the nearby Jenin refugee camp after a two-day offensive meant to crack down on Palestinian militants. The operation destroyed the camp's narrow roads and alleyways, sent thousands of people fleeing their homes and killed 12 Palestinians. One Israeli soldier also was killed. Thursday's shooting near the West Bank settlement of Kedumim raised questions about the effectiveness of the Israeli raid, which came after nearly a year and a half of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed in the area. It also could prompt calls from members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government for additional military incursions. Finan

Israel withdraws troops from West Bank, warns 2-day raid is not a one-off

The Israeli military withdrew its troops from a militant stronghold in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, ending an intense two-day operation that killed at least 13 Palestinians, drove thousands of people from their homes and left a wide swath of damage in its wake. One Israeli soldier was also killed. The army claimed to have inflicted heavy damage on militant groups in the Jenin refugee camp in an operation that included a series of airstrikes and hundreds of ground troops. But it remained unclear whether there would be any long-lasting effect after nearly a year and a half of heavy fighting in the West Bank. Ahead of the withdrawal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to carry out similar operations if needed. At these moments we are completing the mission, and I can say that our extensive operation in Jenin is not a one-off, he said during a visit to a military post on the outskirts of Jenin. We will eradicate terrorism wherever we see it and we will strike at ..

Israel launches biggest incursion in West Bank in 20 yrs, kills at least 8

Troops remained inside the Jenin refugee camp at midday on Monday, pushing ahead with the largest operation in the area during more than a year of fighting