CAIRO – Seven people were killed and four others injured on Friday in a collision between two pickup cars in southern Egypt’s Aswan province, official media reported.
The state-run Ahram newspaper reported that the accident occurred on the Wadi al-Alaqi road in Aswan province, adding that the injured were transferred to nearby hospitals for treatment.
A security source at the Aswan Security Directorate told Xinhua that the accident was caused by excessive speed, which led to a direct collision between the two vehicles.
The source revealed that adding that the two cars carried Egyptian and Sudanese nationals, and relevant authorities are investigating the accident to determine who was responsible for the accident.
Traffic accidents claim thousands of lives in Egypt every year. Most of the accidents were caused by speeding, negligence of traffic rules and laws, and poor maintenance of roads.
Over the past few years, Egypt has been upgrading its traffic infrastructure by building new roads and bridges and repairing old ones to ease traffic and reduce accidents.
JERUSALEM – The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it struck “military strategic capabilities” at the Palmyra and Tiyas (T4) military air bases in central Syria’s Homs Governorate on Friday night.
Israel’s state-owned Kan TV News reported that Israeli air force intelligence had tracked the weapons and strategic capabilities at the bases, which were under the control of the Assad regime and collapsed in early December last year.
According to the channel, Israeli warplanes destroyed these capabilities in a broad strike to continue to maintain the air force’s air superiority in the region.
The IDF added that it will continue to act to remove any threat posed to the citizens of Israel.
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper cited Arab media outlets as saying that two Syrian Defense Ministry personnel were wounded in the attack.
UNITED NATIONS – UN humanitarians are seeking Israel’s assurance of safety, as intensified hostilities have joined aid blockage in severely hampering the delivery of relief into Gaza.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday the United Nations is seeking concrete assurances for the safety of staff and operations in Gaza following the killing of six UN personnel and injury of several others this week, including in the attack on a clearly designated UN compound.
“We demand answers on their behalf and for those who continue the work,” Tom Fletcher, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said Wednesday.
OCHA said the 20-day closure of Gaza crossings to aid deliveries is having a devastating impact on people already facing catastrophic conditions.
“Each passing day further erodes the progress made by the UN and our humanitarian partners during the first six weeks of the ceasefire,” the office said. “OCHA warns that humanitarian operations are now being severely hampered by hostilities. Civilians, including aid workers, and civilian assets have come under attack.”
OCHA warned that as attacks continue across the Gaza Strip, the steady flow of trauma injuries is putting even more pressure on an already shattered healthcare system.
The UN’s humanitarian partners estimate that more than 120,000 Palestinians have been displaced once again this week, driven by intensified attacks and new Israeli evacuation orders across Gaza, OCHA said. “That’s about 6 percent of the surviving population.”
A new evacuation order covering areas in northern Gaza was issued on Friday following reports of rocket fire by Palestinian armed groups.
In the West Bank, OCHA said a rapid survey of movement obstacles across the occupied territory showed nearly 850 checkpoints, gates and other physical barriers, the highest number in any study over the past two decades.
“In just the past three months, three dozen new movement obstacles have been established, most of them following the announcement of the Gaza ceasefire in mid-January,” OCHA said. “Road gates account for a third of all obstacles, and most of them are frequently kept closed.”
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said that Friday marks 60 days since Israel began military operations in Jenin Camp in the West Bank.
He said such large-scale, militarized operations cannot become the new norm in the West Bank. The trend of escalating violence that started before Oct. 7, 2023 must be reversed.
LIMA – A mine collapse in southern Peru has left at least four people dead and four others injured, local media reported Friday.
The accident occurred on March 18 at the Santa Maria-Lunar de Oro mine in La Rinconada, a high-altitude mining town in the Puno region.
According to state news agency Andina, three workers died inside the mine, while a fourth died en route to a medical center.
Rescue operations were carried out under extreme conditions, with teams descending nearly 300 meters to recover the bodies.
Local prosecutor Fredy Condori has launched an investigation into the causes of the collapse and potential liabilities.
Santa Maria-Lunar de Oro is one of many mines in La Rinconada, where miners often work in hazardous conditions. Residents are calling for stricter safety measures to prevent future tragedies.
PANAMA CITY – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake was recorded south of Panama on Friday morning, according to the Institute of Geosciences at the University of Panama.
The quake occurred at 9:50 a.m. local time (1450 GMT), with the epicenter located 78 km off the coast of Coiba. No immediate reports of damage or injuries have been reported.
The Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica also reported the earthquake.
The tremor was strongly felt in southern regions of Costa Rica and mildly in the capital San Jose as well as central parts of the country.
Eli Sharabi, a former Israeli hostage released by Hamas in Gaza last month, holds of a photograph of his wife and two daughters killed by Hamas, as he addresses a meeting of the UN Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York, Mar. 20, 2025. (Reuters)
UNITED NATIONS – Freed Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi, who was beaten, chained and starved while held for 491 days by Hamas, expressed his anger during an appearance at the UN Security Council on Thursday for having to suffer for so long and worry every day about being killed.
“Where was the United Nations? Where was the Red Cross? Where was the world?” Sharabi asked. He challenged the UN’s most powerful body: “If you stand for humanity prove it” by bringing home the 59 hostages still in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be dead.
The fate of the remaining hostages became more uncertain after Israel on Tuesday ended a six-week break in the fighting that had allowed for the return of some hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Sharabi said the council talked about the need to get humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, but he saw Hamas militants eating stolen food from dozens of boxes marked with UN emblems while the hostages starved. They were given maybe a piece of pita and a sip of tea a day, and an occasional dry date, he said.
When he was released on Feb. 8, Sharabi said he weighed 44 kilos (about 97 pounds) — less than the weight of his youngest daughter, who was killed along with his wife and older daughter in Hamas’ surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, along with about 1,200 others. He was among 251 people taken hostage.
The United States in November vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza because it was not linked to an immediate release of the hostages.
The Palestinians and their supporters then went to the 193-member General Assembly, which adopted a resolution in December demanding a ceasefire and reiterating its demand for the release of the hostages. Unlike Security Council resolutions, though, those passed by the General Assembly are nonbinding.
The ceasefire that went into effect in January was shattered on Tuesday with surprise airstrikes on Gaza that killed more than 400 Palestinians, one of the highest death tolls in the nearly 18-month war. Gaza’s Health Ministry said most victims were women and children.
Sharabi’s appearance before the council, the second by a freed hostage, followed an Israeli request last week for a meeting on the plight of the hostages.
Britain’s deputy ambassador James Kariuki called Sharabi’s suffering “beyond the imagination” and said “Hamas must be held accountable for their despicable actions.”
But Kariuki also said the UK condemns Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s “warning of the total destruction of Gaza.” Britain calls for the rapid resurgence of aid to Gaza, an investigation into allegations of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces, and an urgent return to the ceasefire deal, he said.
France’s new UN ambassador, Jérôme Bonnafont, expressed his country’s deepest condolences to Sharabi but also condemned the resumption of Israel’s bombing, saying it will not ensure the release of hostages, and demanded an end to Israel’s humanitarian blockade of Gaza.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky told the council, “Our hearts were filled with sorrow as we listened to the tragic story of Mr. Eli Sharabi,” adding “such brutality can have no justification.”
Polyansky criticized Israel’s leaders for not moving to phase 2 of the ceasefire deal, which calls for the release of all hostages and a permanent end to the fighting. He said it’s difficult to discuss the future when Israel’s military and political leaders appear to have made the choice in favor of war.
Algeria’s UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama, representing the Arab world on the council, called Sharabi a “representative of civil society,” and said “no civilian, irrespective of their background, should endure suffering.”
He then accused Israel of “cherry-picking” international law. He pointed to Israel’s ban on humanitarian aid, fuel and electricity entering Gaza since March 2, its killing of civilians, and the cutoff of the International Committee of the Red Cross’ access to over 9,500 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons since Oct. 7.
After all council members spoke, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, sent “our condolences” to Sharabi over the killing of his loved ones and his prolonged captivity. He said Palestinians “understand this pain because we live it.”
Sharabi made no mention of Israeli actions, except to say that on the morning of Oct. 7, when he heard that militants were inside Kibbutz Be’eri where he lived, he reassured his wife not to worry: “The army will come, they always come.” That morning, they never came.
He told the council he came to speak for 24-year-old Alon Ohel, a fellow hostage whom he left behind in the tunnel, and all others, including his older brother, Yossi, who was killed but whose body remains in Gaza.
People light flares in Istanbul, Turkiye, Thursday, March 20, 2025, as they protest against the arrest of Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. (AP)
ISTANBUL – President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said Turkiye would not be cowed by “street terror” after days of widespread protests over the detention of Istanbul’s powerful opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.
“Turkiye will not surrender to street terror,” Erdogan said, as the main opposition CHP called for nationwide protests later on Friday.
GENEVA – One of the largest providers of food aid in Gaza warned on Friday it only has enough flour to distribute for the next six days.
“We can stretch that by giving people less, but we are talking days not weeks,” Sam Rose from the United Nations’ Palestinian relief agency UNRWA told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Central Gaza.
The situation in Gaza is gravely concerning with massive reductions in distribution of aid supplies, UNRWA said.
“Six of 25 bakeries that the World Food Programme were supporting had to close down. There are larger crowds on streets outside bakeries,” Rose added.
“This is the longest period since the start of conflict in October 2023 that no supplies whatsoever have entered Gaza. The progress we made as an aid system over the last six weeks of the ceasefire is being reversed,” Rose added.
Israel in early March blocked the entry of goods into the territory in a standoff over a truce that has halted fighting for the past seven weeks.
The move has led to a hike in prices of essential foods as well as of fuel, forcing many to ration their meals.
UNITED NATIONS – The United States told the UN Security Council on Friday that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was to blame for the deaths in the Gaza Strip since Israel resumed hostilities there.
“Hamas bears full responsibility for the ongoing war in Gaza and for the resumption of hostilities. Every death would have been avoided had Hamas accepted the bridge proposal that the United States offered last Wednesday,” acting US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea told the 15-member council.
Israel effectively abandoned a two-month-old truce three days ago, and has resumed its aerial bombardment and ground campaign, saying it wanted to press the militants to free remaining hostages.
Hamas said on Friday it was reviewing the US proposal to restore the ceasefire.
Of the more than 250 hostages originally seized in Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel — which triggered the war in Gaza — 59 remain in the enclave, 24 of whom are thought to be alive.
Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon told the council that, in recent days, Israel had “eliminated several top Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists.”
Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday alone killed more than 400 Palestinians, with scant let-up since then. “Hamas has a choice,” Danon said.
“They can come back to the table and negotiate, or they can wait and watch their leadership fall, one by one. We will not stop until our people come home, all of them.”
French Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont urged Israel to “unconditionally resume humanitarian aid, to stop the bombing, to stick to the logic of negotiations, however slow they may be, and to stop responding to cruelty with the unleashing of violence.”
Passengers check an information board showing flights canceled due to the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki at Ngurah Rai International Airport on the resort island of Bali, Indonesia on March 21, 2025. (AP)
JAKARTA – At least seven international flights from Indonesia’s resort island Bali have been canceled, an airport official said Friday, after a volcano in the archipelago nation’s east erupted, shooting dark ash eight kilometers into the sky and forcing thousands to evacuate.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,703-meter (5,587-foot) twin-peaked volcano on the tourist island of Flores, erupted for 11 minutes and nine seconds late Thursday, authorities said, raising the volcano’s alert status to the highest level.
As of 9:45 a.m. (0145 GMT) Friday, “seven international flights had been canceled, six of them are Jetstar flights bound to Australia and one Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur,” Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport spokesman, Andadina Dyah, said in a statement.
Several other flights — both domestic and international, including to Thailand, Singapore and Australia — have been delayed, it said.
The local government has declared a 14-day emergency and established a command post to coordinate response efforts, the country’s disaster agency spokesman (BNPB), Abdul Muhari, said in a statement on Friday.
Abdul added that more than 4,700 residents have been evacuated as of Friday and called on those remaining to find a safe location.
“The people are asked to remain in safe locations and follow directives from the regional government,” Abdul said.
The local airport in Maumere, on Flores, the closest to the volcano, has not been affected by the ash, according to the transportation ministry.
“The ash column was observed grey to black with thick intensity,” Indonesia’s volcanology agency said in a statement about the eruption, which began at around 11:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Volcanic ash from the eruption blanketed several nearby villages on Friday.
At least two people were injured, including a man whose roof collapsed under volcanic debris, a local official said.
The agency warned residents of the risk of volcanic mudflows due to heavy rainfall.
The long eruption prompted the country’s geological agency to raise the volcano’s alert level to the highest of the four-tiered system.
Authorities imposed an exclusion zone between seven and eight kilometers (four to five miles) around the volcano, the agency added.
In November, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted multiple times, killing nine people, canceling scores of international flights to the tourist island of Bali and forcing thousands to evacuate.
Laki-Laki, which means “man” in Indonesian, is twinned with a calmer volcano named after the Indonesian word for “woman.”
Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”
JERUSALEM – Israel will annex territories in the Gaza Strip if Hamas refuses to release the remaining hostages, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Friday.
“As Hamas continues its refusal to release the Israeli hostages, it will lose more and more territories to be annexed by Israel. Israel will continue the operation with increasing intensity until the hostages are released,” Katz said in a statement.
Katz added he has instructed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to seize more areas in Gaza, evacuate the population, and expand the security zone around the enclave to protect Israeli communities and IDF soldiers through Israel’s permanent control of the area.
“We are intensifying the fighting with strikes from the air, sea, and land and by expanding the ground maneuver until the hostages are released and Hamas is defeated, using all military and civilian means of pressure,” he stated.
Katz said the methods would include “evacuating the Gaza population to the south and implementing U.S. President (Donald) Trump’s voluntary transfer plan for Gaza residents,” referring to Trump’s controversial proposal in early February to relocate Gaza residents and for the United States to take over the area, which has stirred widespread criticism.
Israel resumed strikes in Gaza on Tuesday after its ceasefire deal with Hamas that began on Jan. 19 unraveled. Israeli troops later launched ground operations in southern, northern, and central Gaza.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza media office, the death toll from the renewed Israeli strikes in Gaza has neared 600, in addition to more than 1,000 wounded.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump “fully supports” Israel’s renewed air and ground assault on Gaza.
CAIRO – At least six people were killed on Friday, including a mother and her two children, in a three-story building collapse in Egypt’s central Asyut province.
According to a statement published on the province’s official Facebook page, the collapse also left 11 persons wounded, who were later transferred by the civil protection forces to the nearest public hospital.
JERUSALEM – The main opposition factions of the Israeli parliament filed a petition with the High Court of Justice on Friday following the Israeli government’s unanimous decision to dismiss Ronen Bar, chief of Israel’s internal security service Shin Bet.
In the petition, four factions — Yesh Atid, National Unity, Yisrael Beiteinu, and the Democrats — requested an order to overturn Bar’s dismissal.
The petition claimed that the “hasty initiation of the dismissal” was taken with a severe conflict of interest by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, based on extraneous considerations, related to Shin Bet’s investigation into Netanyahu’s office, which “clearly indicated the responsibility of the political echelon for the October 7 disaster.”
“These things take on added significance as the prime minister prevents the setup of a state commission of inquiry, and the entire government is openly and knowingly delaying a move that could examine its responsibility for the disaster,” read the petition.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement early Friday morning that the Israeli government has unanimously approved Bar’s dismissal.
Bar’s last day in office is set for April 10, earlier than the initially planned April 20, though he may leave sooner if a replacement is confirmed.
Israeli media said this is the first time in Israel’s history that a Shin Bet head has been removed by the government. The meeting to finalize his dismissal lasted about three and a half hours.
Bar was not present at the meeting but sent a letter condemning the move as being “entirely tainted by conflicts of interest” and a “fundamentally invalid” attempt to obstruct the Shin Bet’s investigation into Qatar’s influence on Netanyahu’s office, local media reported. He referred to an inquiry into ties between Netanyahu’s close aides and the Qatari government. Qatar has played a key role in mediating between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of Israeli hostages. However, Qatar and Israel currently do not have formal diplomatic relations.
TEL AVIV – The Israeli government unanimously approved the dismissal of Shin Bet head Ronen Bar on early Friday. His term will end on April 10, according to Israeli media reports.
A child looks on as people mourn Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, at the European hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 20, 2025. REUTERS
CAIRO/GAZA – At least 91 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in airstrikes across Gaza on Thursday after Israel resumed bombing and ground operations, the enclave’s health ministry said, effectively ditching a two-month-old ceasefire.
After two months of relative calm, Gazans were again fleeing for their lives after Israel effectively abandoned a ceasefire, launching a new all-out air and ground campaign against Gaza’s dominant Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets on residential neighbourhoods, ordering people out of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun towns in the north, the Shejaia district in Gaza City and towns on the eastern outskirts of Khan Younis in the south.
Late on Thursday, Israel’s military said it had begun ground operations in the Shaboura district of Gaza’s southernmost city Rafah, which abuts the Egyptian border.
“War is back, displacement and death are back, will we survive this round?” said Samed Sami, 29, who fled Shejaia to put up a tent for his family in a camp on open ground.
A day after sending tanks into central Gaza, the Israeli military said on Thursday it had also begun conducting ground operations in the north of the densely populated enclave, along the coastal route in Beit Lahiya.
Hamas, which had not retaliated during the first 48 hours of the renewed Israeli assault, said its fighters fired rockets into Israel. The Israeli military said sirens sounded in the centre of the country after projectiles were launched from Gaza.
Some Gazans said there were no signs yet of preparations by Hamas on the ground to resume fighting.
But an official from one militant group allied to Hamas, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters on Thursday that fighters, including from Hamas, had been put on alert awaiting further instructions.
Fighters had also been told to stop using mobile phones.
With talks having failed to bridge differences over terms to extend the ceasefire, the military resumed its air assaults on Gaza with a massive bombing campaign on Tuesday before sending soldiers in the day after.
HUNDREDS DEAD
It said on Thursday that its forces had been engaged for the past 24 hours in what it described as an operation to expand a buffer zone separating the northern and southern halves of Gaza, known as the Netzarim corridor.
Israel ordered residents to stay away from the Salahuddin road, Gaza’s main north-south route, and said they should travel along the coast instead.
Tuesday’s first day of resumed airstrikes killed more than 400 Palestinians, one of the deadliest days of the 17-month-old conflict, with scant let-up since then.
In a blow to Hamas as it sought to rebuild its administration in Gaza, this week’s strikes have killed some of its top figures, including the de facto Hamas-appointed head of the Gaza government, the chief of security services, his aide, and the deputy head of the Hamas-run justice ministry.
The Islamist group said the Israeli ground operation and the incursion into the Netzarim corridor were a “new and dangerous violation” of the ceasefire agreement. In a statement, it reaffirmed its commitment to the deal and called on mediators to “assume their responsibilities”.
For Israel, a return to full-blown war could prove complicated, some current and former Israeli officials say, amid waning public support and burnout among military reservists.
Protesters accuse Netanyahu of continuing the war for political reasons and endangering the lives of remaining hostages.
A temporary first phase of the ceasefire ended at the start of this month. Hamas wants to move to an agreed second phase, under which Israel would be required to negotiate an end to the war and withdrawal of its troops from Gaza, and Israeli hostages still held there would be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.
Israel has offered only a temporary extension of the truce, cut off all supplies to Gaza and said it was restarting its military campaign to force Hamas to free remaining hostages.
The Israeli military said it had intercepted two missiles fired towards Israel from Yemen on Thursday, one in the early hours and the other in the evening. There were no reports of casualties. Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi forces have occasionally fired missiles at Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
‘WE DON’T WANT DEATH’
The ceasefire had allowed Huda Junaid, her husband and family to return to the site of their destroyed home to camp out in the ruins. But they were now forced to flee again, packing their few remaining belongings into a donkey cart and searching for a new place to pitch their tent near a school.
“We don’t want war, we don’t want death. Enough, we are fed up. There are no longer children in Gaza, all of our children are dead, all of our relatives are dead,” she said.
A child looks on as Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 20, 2025. REUTERS
Speaking to Reuters on Thursday, a Hamas official said mediators had stepped up efforts with the two warring sides but no breakthrough had yet come.
The war began after Hamas militants attacked Israeli communities near the Gaza border in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. More than 49,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ensuing conflict, according to Gaza’s health authorities, with much of the enclave reduced to rubble.
Israelis march on a highway toward Jerusalem to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet internal security service, on Mar. 19, 2025. (AP)
JERUSALEM – Israel’s President Isaac Herzog on Thursday expressed concern over steps being taken by the government, hours before the cabinet was due to fire the domestic security chief in an unprecedented move.
“It is impossible not to be deeply troubled by the harsh reality unfolding before our eyes,” Herzog said in a video statement, stopping short of mentioning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by name.
Earlier this week, Netanyahu announced a return to the war in Gaza, sending in ground troops, after talks on extending the truce with Palestinian militant group Hamas reached an impasse.
“It is unthinkable to resume fighting while still pursuing the sacred mission of bringing our hostages home,” said Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial.
His unusual statement also comes ahead of a state budget vote expected late this month, in which the government proposes raising taxes and cutting education and health funding while ramping up spending in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sector — a plan that has drawn criticism as many ultra-Orthodox do not serve in the army.
“Thousands of reserve duty call-ups have recently been issued, and it is inconceivable to send our sons to the front while simultaneously advancing divisive and controversial initiatives that create deep rifts within our nation,” Herzog said.
Calling on decision-makers to “carefully weigh every step and assess whether it strengthens national resilience,” the president criticized the decision to resume fighting in Gaza while Israeli hostages, including some who are known to be alive, remain in Gaza.
On Thursday, thousands of Israelis braved the rain and plunging temperatures in Jerusalem to protest the decision to return to war which they see as forsaking the hostages.
The protesters also voiced opposition to Netanyahu’s bid to oust Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet internal security agency.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, the government’s legal adviser threatened by a separate bid to remove her from her watchdog role, said the plan to dismiss Bar was likely illegal.
Bar was meant to end his tenure only next year, and if approved by the government, he would become the first Shin Bet chief in Israel’s history to be dismissed early.
“Unfortunately, we are witnessing a series of unilateral actions, and I am deeply concerned about their impact on our national resilience,” Herzog said, calling on the government to take note of the thousands protesting.
Israel’s military said it struck military sites in east and south Lebanon on Thursday, in its latest attack despite a November ceasefire that ended a war against militant group Hezbollah. (X/@DR_Nemer313)
JERUSALEM – Israel’s military said it struck military sites in east and south Lebanon on Thursday, in its latest attack despite a November ceasefire that ended a war against militant group Hezbollah.
“A short while ago, the IDF (military) struck a military site containing an underground terrorist infrastructure site in the Bekaa area in Lebanon, as well as a military site containing rocket launchers in southern Lebanon in which Hezbollah activity has been identified,” the military said in a statement.
Lebanese state media on Thursday reported Israeli strikes on the country’s south and east.
The state-run National News Agency said “enemy aircraft” struck “the eastern slopes of the mountain range within the town of Janta in the Bekaa,” as well as “the outskirts of the town of Taraya, west of Baalbek,” also in the east.
Four missiles were fired in the Nabatiyeh area of southern Lebanon, NNA said.
Fresh attacks hit two areas of rebel-held Yemen, the Iran-backed Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV station reported on Thursday, blaming “US aggression”. (X/@CENTCOM/Reuters)
SANAA – Fresh attacks hit two areas of militant-held Yemen, the Iran-backed Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV station reported on Thursday, blaming “US aggression.”
Four strikes hit Hodeida governorate on the Red Sea, and a further attack hit Saada in the north, the birthplace of the Houthi movement, Al-Masirah said.
The attacks came around the same time that Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen for the second time in a day.
The Houthis have reported several rounds of US attacks since Saturday, when a heavy bombardment targeting senior figures killed 53 people, according to the militant group.
In return, the Houthis have repeatedly attacked a US aircraft carrier battle group and twice announced missile launches at Israeli targets.
The US attacks are aimed at stamping out months of strikes by the Houthis on Red Sea shipping during the Gaza war that have crippled the vital trade route.
JERUSALEM – Israel’s military said it intercepted two missiles launched from Yemen on Thursday after US President Donald Trump threatened to punish Iran over its perceived support for Yemeni Houthi militants.
Warning sirens sounded in Jerusalem and the nearby Israeli-occupied West Bank after the second missile was fired later in the day, the military said, adding that it was intercepted before it entered Israeli territory.
The military said it also downed a missile launched from Yemen earlier in the day after sirens blared in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Israel’s national ambulance service Magen David Adom said it received no reports of casualties following both launches.
The Houthis, undeterred by waves of US strikes since Saturday, fired a ballistic missile toward Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, the group’s military spokesperson said in a televised statement earlier on Thursday.
The group has recently vowed to escalate attacks, including those targeting Israel, in response to the US campaign.
US strikes that began on Saturday over Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping amount to the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. The US attacks have killed at least 50 people.
Yemen’s Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported at least four US strikes on the Al Mina district of the Red Sea city of Hodeidah on Thursday, an area which houses a major port and the headquarters of Houthi naval forces.
Al Masirah TV reported another strike on Al-Safra district of Saada which, according to Yemeni sources, houses weapons storage and training sites, and is considered one of the group’s most important and heavily fortified military strongholds.
NEW DELHI – Indian forces killed at least 30 Maoist rebels Thursday in one of the deadliest jungle clashes since the government ramped up efforts to crush the long-running insurgency.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in the decades-long “Naxalite” rebellion, whose members say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized people in India’s resource-rich central regions. An Indian paramilitary soldier was also killed in one of two separate skirmishes that broke out in central Chhattisgarh state, both of which carried on through the day, according to police.
Bastar Inspector General of Police Sundarraj Pattilingam told AFP that the soldier had been killed during a skirmish that broke out in Bijapur district, where 26 guerrillas had also been killed.
Another four rebels were killed in a separate clash in the state’s south. Searches at both battle sites saw security forces recovering caches of arms and ammunition from both areas.
