Israel on Saturday announced the end of its closure of the Gaza Strip, imposed after a suicide bombing on Wednesday in which a Palestinian woman killed four Israelis at a busy crossing point into Israel.
A military statement said the lifting of the closure, ordered after a review of the security situation in the strip, meant Palestinian workers and traders could now enter Israel and an industrial zone near the Erez crossing.
PHOTO: EPA
About 15,000 Palestinian workers and another 4,000 merchants from Gaza have permits to cross the Erez checkpoint to reach jobs inside Israel. The number varies with the security situation.
US officials are pressing the Palestinians to find those behind a deadly bomb attack on a US diplomatic convoy three months ago, and warn that lack of progress may harm American aid programs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a Palestinian Cabinet minister said on Saturday.
A senior Palestinian security official involved in the investigation said no substantial leads have emerged.
A US Embassy official said Palestinian authorities have not fully cooperated with the probe into the Oct. 15 roadside blast that ripped apart a diplomatic car in the Gaza Strip and killed three American security guards.
Travel of US officials to the West Bank and Gaza has been suspended since the bombing, an unprecedented attack on Americans in Palestinian areas since the outbreak of fighting more than three years ago.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said he discussed the investigation last week with US officials who told him lack of progress would hamper aid work, though they did not directly threaten to scale back assistance.
"They said they can't get to Gaza and the West Bank and this would affect their work," Erekat said.
"I urged them not to link these two issues," Erekat said, adding that he believes the Palestinians are cooperating fully in the investigation. "I don't think it's appropriate or advisable to cut aid to Gaza and the West Bank in these circumstances."
In jeopardy, Erekat said, is a key US Agency for International Development project to improve access to running water for 2 million Palestinians. USAID, which has funneled US$1.3 billion in economic and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians over the past decade, is scheduled to award contracts next month for the water project, Erekat said.
The US Embassy official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that "we're not entirely satisfied with Palestinian cooperation." He said there has been some progress, "but we want to see more."
He refused to comment on whether American aid would be scaled back.
The US State Department has offered a US$5 million reward for information that leads to the attackers, and teams of FBI explosives and forensics specialists have visited the site of the blast and met with Palestinian security officials.
In the days just after the bombing, Palestinian police detained seven members of a rogue militant group, the Popular Resistance Committees, and briefed the US team on the questioning of the detainees.
A high-ranking Palestinian security official said on Saturday that no new leads have emerged since then.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the hunt was difficult because the assailants were professionals who meticulously planned and executed the attack before vanishing without a trace.
Still, Palestinian officials were giving the case high priority, he said.
Also Saturday, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met with Cyril Svoboda, foreign minister of the Czech Republic, his first high-level visitor in months.
Several European countries have promised to resume high-level contacts with Arafat, whom Israel is trying to isolate at his compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah, said Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath after a nine-nation tour of Europe.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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