Israel's overnight killing of a wheelchair-bound Hamas leader -- and the death of a second Palestinian at the same house -- drew sharp Palestinian criticism and threats of a new round of reprisals yesterday.
Despite the latest violence, senior Israeli and Palestinian officials planned to hold more talks yesterday on a possible Israeli troop pullback beginning in the Gaza Strip.
The sides agreed late Wednesday that Israel would release another US$14 million of the hundreds of millions in tax money it has been withholding from the Palestinians. Israel handed over one installment recently to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority.
In Gaza yesterday, Hamas spokesman Abdel Aziz Rantisi said the death late Wednesday of one of the group's leaders, Nasser Jerar, "will not pass without strong punishment."
Israeli forces knocked down the house where they located Jerar in the West Bank town of Tubas and he was buried by the rubble, the military and residents said.
In a statement, the military said Jerar had continued his Hamas activities despite losing both legs and an arm while trying to plant a bomb in May last year. It said Jerar recruited suicide bombers and was planning a bombing aimed at bringing down an unidentified high-rise building in Israel.
The military gave a local Palestinian resident a bulletproof vest and ordered him to go to the house and tell the 44-year-old Jerar to surrender, the army and Palestinian witnesses said.
But as the man, Nidal Daraghmeh, 19, was approaching the house, he was hit by gunfire, the army said.
Palestinians charged that Israeli gunfire killed him, while the army said that he was hit by gunfire from inside the house.
The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem charged that soldiers used Daraghmeh as a "human shield."
The army said it was trying to prevent civilian deaths by having Daraghmeh warn any civilians who may have been in the house with Jerar.
After the shooting, Israel tore down the house with Jerar inside.
Meanwhile, Israel on Wednesday indicted Marwan Barghouthi, one of the top leaders of the Palestinian uprising, over the killings of scores of Israelis in a revolt which the handcuffed prisoner vowed would be victorious.
"The intifada will win," a defiant Barghouthi shouted in Hebrew at reporters who packed a Tel Aviv District Court where Israel is conducting its first civilian trial of a major player in the nearly two-year-old uprising for independence.
Israel was expected to use the proceedings against Barghouthi, charismatic leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in the West Bank, as a showcase for allegations that groups linked to the Palestinian president are tainted by terrorism.
But legal analysts say the case could boomerang against Israel as Barghouthi's Palestinian lawyers could use the media spotlight to present their client as the victim of a politically motivated bid to discredit the Palestinian Authority.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS