Sirens sound in Israel after Yemen 'projectile' launch: Army
"Sirens sounded in several areas in Israel following a projectile that was launched from Yemen," the military said, moments after saying air defence systems were "operating to intercept the threat."
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L'Orient-Le Jour
8 hours ago
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US confirms death of American in West Bank
The U.S. State Department on Sunday confirmed an American citizen had died this week in the West Bank, with family and Palestinian officials attributing his death to arson by Israeli settlers. The Palestinian Authority and witnesses reported on Thursday that Israeli settlers had set fire to homes and cars in the West Bank village of Silwad, the latest attack in the occupied territory. Khamis Ayyad, 41, died from smoke inhalation due to the fires, the Palestinian health ministry said. Speaking Friday at a press conference in Chicago, Ayyad's family said he had moved to the West Bank several years ago with his wife and children, but continued to work for an American company. He is at least the second American citizen killed in West Bank settler violence in July, after a 20-year-old man was beaten to death while visiting family in the town of Sinjil. Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, demanded Israel investigate that killing, calling it a "criminal and terrorist act," but has yet to comment on the death of Ayyad. Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said "several suspects ... set fire to property and vehicles in the Silwad area," but forces dispatched to the scene were unable to identify them. It added that Israeli police had launched an investigation. Asked for comment on the latest death, a State Department spokesperson said, "We can confirm the death of a U.S. citizen in the town of Silwad in the West Bank," without naming Ayyad. "We condemn criminal violence by any party in the West Bank," the spokesperson said, on condition of anonymity. The West Bank is home to some three million Palestinians, who live alongside about 500,000 Israeli settlers. Violence in the territory has surged throughout the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel.
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Israel says ground troops conducted raids in Syria
Israel's military said Sunday ground troops had operated in southern Syria, seizing weapons and questioning individuals suspected of arms trafficking, in the latest cross-border raid since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December. A military statement said that troops had completed overnight "a mission involving on-site questioning of several suspects involved in weapons trafficking in the Hader area in southern Syria," near the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. "Troops entered four locations simultaneously and located numerous weapons that the suspects had been trafficking," the statement said. Footage released by the military showed uniformed Israeli troops in armoured vehicles and on foot operating at night. An Israeli army division remains "deployed in the area, continuing to operate and prevent the entrenchment of any terrorist elements in Syria, with the aim of protecting Israeli civilians, and in particular, the residents of the Golan Heights," the military said. As an Islamist-led offensive late last year toppled Syrian President Assad, Israel deployed troops to the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights, which has separated Israeli and Syrian forces following their 1973 war. In July, Israel bombed Syrian government forces in the capital Damascus and in Sweida province to force their withdrawal from the southern region amid a wave of sectarian violence. Israel said it was acting in defence of the Druze community, but some diplomats and analysts say its goal is to weaken the Syrian military and keep the forces of the new government away from the frontier. Israel launched hundreds of strikes on military sites following Asaad's overthrow in December, saying at the time it wanted to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities it considers jihadists. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the demilitarization of southern Syria.
Nahar Net
2 days ago
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Israel army chief warns of combat 'without rest' unless hostages are freed
Israel's top general has warned that there will be no respite in fighting in Gaza if negotiations fail to quickly secure the release of hostages held in the Palestinian territory. "I estimate that in the coming days we will know whether we can reach an agreement for the release of our hostages," said army chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, according to a military statement. "If not, the combat will continue without rest," he said, during remarks to officers inside Gaza on Friday. Footage released by the Israeli military showed Zamir meeting soldiers and officers in a command centre. Of the 251 people who were kidnapped from Israel during Hamas's attack in October 2023, 49 remain in Gaza, 27 of them dead, according to the military. Palestinian armed groups this week released two videos of hostages looking emaciated and weak. Negotiations -- mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar -- to secure a ceasefire and their release broke down last month, and some in Israel have called for tougher military action. This comes against the backdrop of growing pressure -- both internationally and domestically, including from many of the hostages' families -- to resume efforts to secure a ceasefire in the nearly 22-month conflict. Aid agencies have meanwhile warned that Gaza's population is facing a catastrophic famine, triggered by Israeli restrictions on aid. Zamir nonetheless rejected these allegations out of hand. "The current campaign of false accusations of intentional starvation is a deliberate, timed, and deceitful attempt to accuse the IDF (military), a moral army, of war crimes," he said. "The ones responsible for the killing and suffering of the residents in the Gaza Strip is Hamas." Hamas's 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures. A total of 898 Israeli soldiers have also been killed since ground troops were sent into Gaza, according to the military. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,332 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, deemed reliable by the U.N.
