Palestinians in Jerusalem brace for annual march by nationalist Israelis
The march commemorating Jerusalem Day — which marks Israel's capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Mideast war — was set for later in the day. The event is threatening to inflame tensions that are already rife in the restive city amid nearly 600 days of war in Gaza.
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Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Israel to send IAF jets to aid in extinguishing Cyprus wildfires
'Israel is preparing to provide aerial support to Cyprus in its battle against the fires sweeping the island,' the ministry shared on X. Israel will send Air Force jets to Cyprus to assist in fighting the wildfires on Thursday night, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 'At the direction of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, and in coordination with security and emergency authorities, Israel is preparing to provide aerial support to Cyprus in its battle against the fires sweeping the island,' the ministry wrote. The ministry announced that Sa'ar and Cyprus Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos continue to maintain close and ongoing communication to ensure the aid is delivered and deployed as quickly as possible. The aircraft are scheduled to depart this evening. 'The State of Israel stands with Cyprus, a close friend and neighbor, and remains committed to offering assistance in times of emergency,' the ministry concluded. Cyprus assisted in Israel's wildfires In April, as wildfires spread across Israel, Sa'ar made numerous calls with his international counterparts, including those from Cyprus, to request assistance in combating the wildfires. As part of international aid, Cyprus contributed to the effort with Air Tractor AT-802 planes similar to those used by Israel. This regional cooperation enabled a quicker and more effective response to cross-border emergencies, The Jerusalem Post previously reported. Fire rages across Cyprus and Turkey Firefighters across Turkey and Cyprus battled multiple wildfires on Thursday amid a searing Mediterranean heatwave that has scorched swathes of land and killed 10 firefighters in central Turkey. At least six separate wildfires burned across Turkey and Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli warned that strong winds and scorching heat were creating extremely dangerous conditions. Late on Wednesday, Yumakli said 10 firefighters were killed while battling a fire in the central Eskisehir province, adding that 14 others were injured. Fanned by strong winds, the fire later spread to another central province, Afyonkarahisar, while some towns and villages were evacuated. In the northwestern province of Bilecik, fires raged for a fourth straight day, as firefighters struggled to contain them and evacuated several villages. Some residents were later allowed to return to areas declared safe. "They couldn't intervene. There is no decent road, forests are thick and it's rocky. Helicopters don't work at night, and because they don't work, they couldn't intervene,' said Cemil Karadag, a resident of the village of Selcik. "It engulfed our village from two or three sides, they couldn't intervene ... It spread very quickly with the effect of the wind, but, thank God, (the centre of) our village wasn't damaged that much." In the Black Sea province of Sakarya, a wildfire erupted even as firefighters worked to contain another nearby. A key highway was shut due to the blaze, while some villages and towns were evacuated. Another fire in the neighbouring province of Karabuk, where the UNESCO World Heritage City of Safranbolu is located, quickly grew and led to 10 villages being evacuated, while a sixth blaze raged in the Western province of Manisa.
Los Angeles Times
19 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Ex-U.K. Labor Party leader says he's starting a new left-wing party
LONDON — Former British Labor Party leader Jermy Corbyn said Thursday he is forming a new left-leaning political party to advocate 'mass redistribution of wealth and power' and take on his former colleagues at the ballot box. The new formation has a website — — but does not yet have a name. 'It's your party,' Corbyn said. 'We're going to decide (a name) when we've had all the responses, and so far the response rate has been massive.' Corbyn said he hoped the new party would have its inaugural conference in the fall. Corbyn, 76, led Labor to election defeats in 2017 and 2019, but the veteran socialist campaigner remains popular with many grassroots supporters. and the new party has the potential to further fragment British politics. The long-dominant Labor and Conservative parties now have challengers on both left and right, including the environmentalist Green Party and hard-right Reform UK. Plans for a new party emerged earlier this month when lawmaker Zarah Sultana, who has been suspended from Labor for voting against the government, said she would 'co-lead the founding of a new party' with Corbyn. At the time, Corbyn did not confirm the news. On Thursday he denied the party launch had been messy, saying the process was 'democratic, it's grassroots and it's open.' A longtime supporter of the Palestinians and critic of Israel, Corbyn was suspended from Labor in 2020 after Britain's equalities watchdog found anti-Jewish prejudice had been allowed to spread within Labor while he was leader. He was suspended after failing to fully accept the findings¸ claiming opponents had exaggerated the scale of antisemitism in Labor for 'political reasons.' Corbyn was reelected to Parliament last year as an independent. Prime Minister Keir Starmer succeeded Corbyn as Labor leader in 2020 and dragged the party back toward the political center ground. He dropped Corbyn's opposition to Britain's nuclear weapons, strongly backed sending weapons to Ukraine and stressed the party's commitment to balancing the books. Starmer won a landslide election victory a year ago, but has struggled to maintain unity among Labor lawmakers as the government struggles to get a sluggish economy growing and invest in overstretched public services. He has been forced into a series of U-turns by his own lawmakers, including one on welfare reform that left his authority severely dented. Lawless writes for the Associated Press.
New York Times
21 minutes ago
- New York Times
As Starvation Rises, Israeli Minister Says Israel Is ‘Driving Out' Gazans
Amid rising starvation in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli government minister said on Thursday that Israel had no duty to alleviate hunger in the territory and was seeking to expel its population. Amichay Eliyahu, a far-right lawmaker who leads Israel's Heritage Ministry, said in a radio interview that 'there is no nation that feeds its enemies,' adding that 'the British didn't feed the Nazis, nor did the Americans feed the Japanese, nor do the Russians feed the Ukrainians now.' He concluded that the government was 'rushing toward Gaza being wiped out,' while also 'driving out the population that educated its people on the ideas of 'Mein Kampf,'' an antisemitic text written by Adolf Hitler. The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment on whether Mr. Eliyahu's remarks had represented the government's official position. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity to comment on Israel's political leadership, said Mr. Eliyahu's comments did not reflect military policy. Mr. Eliyahu oversees historical and archaeological sites and institutions in Israel and has no authority over the Israeli military. He does not participate in meetings of a small group of ministers who oversee security decisions. His office did not reply to requests for clarification. Mr. Eliyahu's comments were swiftly condemned by Israeli opposition politicians, who said the minister did not represent the Israeli mainstream. Polling suggests a majority of Israelis favor reaching a cease-fire to release hostages held by Hamas. Mr. Eliyahu's interview came amid increasing cases of starvation in Gaza. Israel — which controls all access to Gaza — blocked all food deliveries to the enclave between early March and late May. While Israel now allows some food into Gaza, it has drastically reduced the number of places from which food is distributed, forcing Palestinians to receive food aid from a handful of sites that are hard to access. In a crude form of crowd control, Israeli soldiers have repeatedly shot and killed scores of Palestinians along routes leading to the new food distribution sites, forcing civilians to choose between the risk of gunfire and the risk of starvation. After initially dismissing the reports of starvation, Mr. Eliyahu appeared to recognize its occurrence by blaming Hamas for it. 'We are starving them? They are starving them!' Mr. Eliyahu said in an interview with Kol Barama, a radio station popular among ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israelis. 'The day they return the hostages, there will be no hunger there,' he said. While Mr. Eliyahu's comments echo some made by other members of Mr. Netanyahu's ruling coalition, they were criticized by politicians outside the government. Yair Lapid, the centrist leader of Israel's political opposition, said in a public statement that Mr. Eliyahu's comments were 'a moral stain and a public diplomacy disaster. Israel will never convince the world of the justness of our war against terror as long as we are led by an extremist minority government with ministers who glorify blood and death.' Mr. Lapid added that Israeli soldiers 'do not fight, die, and get injured to erase a civilian population. They fight to return the hostages and ensure Israel's security.' A large majority of Israelis support a diplomatic deal to free the hostages held in Gaza, instead of continued military efforts to defeat Hamas, according to recent polling. Protesters were expected to gather in Tel Aviv on Thursday night to call for an immediate cease-fire and hostage release deal. Early in the war, Mr. Eliyahu attracted global attention for suggesting that Israel might drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza. Mr. Netanyahu condemned those comments and suspended him from the cabinet, before swiftly reinstating him. Myra Noveck contributed reporting.
