Three Palestinian Hamas militants were killed in an Israeli helicopter missile strike near a major Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank yesterday, Palestinian witnesses said.
The witnesses said three missiles were fired at a car in a mountainous area between the settlement of Ariel and the Palestinian town of Salfit.
"I saw two helicopters firing three missiles in the area of Wadi al-Shaer [mountain], then they sprayed the area with heavy machine gunfire. Usually men wanted by Israel hide there," local resident al-Watheq Billah, said.
Minutes later, Israeli helicopters over Gaza City launched a missile into a car, tearing it apart and killing two Hamas militants inside. The missile strikes were part of a heavy Israeli offensive against militants launched after a rocket attack from Gaza killed a woman in nearby Israel on Thursday and an Islamic Jihad suicide bombing that killed five Israelis on Tuesday.
Palestinian security forces and Hamas militants exchanged fire in a crowded Gaza City neighborhood yesterday, and at least two people were killed and 25 wounded in some of the worst fighting among Palestinians in recent years. Palestinian troops were placed on high alert.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, struggling to rescue a five-month-old truce, has been under intense pressure from Israel and the US to crack down on militants. The tough Palestinian police action yesterday suggested a possible shift in Palestinian policy, though Abbas was reluctant in the past to confront the militants. Palestinian security chief Nasser Yousef said that his forces will "not hesitate" to restore law and order, and ordered rocket attacks to be stopped by all means.
A defiant Hamas demanded that Abbas fire Yousef, who was a top commander during the bloodiest clash between Hamas and security forces so far -- a 1994 confrontation outside a mosque in which 15 Hamas supporters were killed by Palestinian police fire.
Abbas was at his Gaza City office during yesterday's fighting, and it was not clear whether he would meet with leaders of militant groups in an effort to defuse tensions. Sakher Bseisso, a Cabinet minister involved in contacts with Hamas in the past, said the militants were leaving Abbas little choice but to crack down.
"Hamas is trying to impose its control on the ground," he said.
Yesterday's clashes erupted in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood, after security forces searched for militants suspected of firing rockets at Israeli towns. Militants torched a police station, and set a police armored personnel carrier and three jeeps on fire. Thick black smoke from burning tires rose from the neighborhood, as masked Hamas gunmen stood guard outside the police station. A teenager and a child were killed in the fighting, and at least 25 people were wounded, including six policemen and 19 civilians, hospital officials said.
After heavy gunfire exchanges yesterday morning, police pulled out of Zeitoun, while masked gunmen took up positions on street corners and rooftops. Hundreds of civilians were watching the fighting.
Yesterday's clashes came just hours after a rocket fired from Gaza killed an Israeli woman and Israel retaliated with helicopter missile strikes on several targets in Gaza. Yesterday morning, six more rockets hit in and around the Israeli border town of Sderot, causing no injuries. If fighting spins out of control, it could overshadow the planned Israeli withdrawal from Gaza next month. Israel has said it would not pull out of Gaza under fire.
The confrontations between police and militants began in northern Gaza on Thursday evening, when police said they tried to stop a Hamas squad from firing rockets at nearby Israeli towns. A firefight erupted, and five Hamas militants were wounded. In response, dozens of Hamas gunmen attacked a Palestinian police post in a different area, firing machine guns, hurling grenades and setting two police cruisers on fire.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS