Two Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed yesterday after Israeli forces pulled out of Bethlehem, underlining the fragility of a deal seen as a test case for a lasting ceasefire.
The agreement, sealed by Palestinian and Israeli negotiators on Sunday, called for Israel to ease its military clampdown in the West Bank city of Bethlehem and the Gaza Strip in return for a reduction in "terror and violence."
But in a sign of the obstacles that remain, the militant Islamic group Hamas, which rejected the deal and vowed to continue its attacks on Israel, shot dead a soldier guarding a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.
"I turn to the heads of the Palestinians and say that if you don't deal with this, we will," Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Israel Radio.
Israeli troops killed a 15-year-old youth in the same area, and soldiers raiding a refugee camp in the West Bank city of Tulkarm shot dead a man the army said was armed with explosives and had fired at them.
The violence raised questions about whether the new deal, praised by Washington and seen as a pilot for further moves toward a full ceasefire, would meet the same fate as earlier failed efforts to staunch 22 months of bloodshed.
The killings occurred shortly after Israeli forces turned over security control of Bethlehem to the Palestinians. It was one of seven Palestinian-ruled cities seized by Israel in June following a spate of Palestinian suicide bombings.
Mark Sofer, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, said Palestinian security forces would be expected to make a serious effort at reining in militants..
"We do understand that the Palestinians will not be able to do this in a quick fix, a magic solution, one minute," he said. "The first steps were taken yesterday and the operative word now would be, quite simply, control."
Sofer said if Palestinians proved able to curb attacks, army patrols were likely to pull out of other West Bank cities they have reoccupied in recent months.
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
RSS