Israel OKs Ben-Gvir’s ‘national guard’ but hedges on his powers

JERUSALEM: Israel authorized on Sunday a national guard sought by far-right security chief Itamar Ben-Gvir to focus on Arab unrest, but held off on giving him direct command after political rivals voiced concern the force could become a sectarian “militia.”
The previous government began setting up an auxiliary police force to tackle internal violence following pro-Palestinian protests in mixed Jewish-Arab areas during the Gaza war of May 2021. That government fell before the new force was finalized.



Arab towns in Israel hit by general strike over fatal shooting of doctor at Al-Aqsa

RAMALLAH: A general strike and day of mourning was on Sunday observed in Palestinian towns throughout Israel following Saturday’s killing by Israeli police of Dr. Mohammed Al-Osaibi at the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The strike involved workers from Arab local authority shops, the Arab public education system, and other facilities.

Galilee, the Triangle, and the Negev were at the center of protests. Al-Osaibi, from Hura — a Bedouin village in southern Israel — was shot dead at the entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem early on Saturday.




Israeli forces kill two West Bank gunmen, down Hamas drone over Gaza

JERUSALEM: Israeli forces killed two Palestinian gunmen during a clash in the occupied West Bank on Monday, militant factions and medics said, and shot down a drone over the Gaza Strip that the ruling Islamist group Hamas claimed as part of its arsenal.
Tensions have been running high as Muslims mark the Ramadan holy fast month during a surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence.
The latest shootings happened during a raid by the Israeli military in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.



Israeli strikes in Syria’s Homs province wound five soldiers

Sun, 2023-04-02 03:08

BEIRUT: Israeli airstrikes hit several sites in Syria’s Homs province early Sunday, wounding five soldiers, Syrian state media reported.
It marked the ninth time Israel has struck targets in Syria since the beginning of the year, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitor.
State news agency SANA, citing military sources, said the strikes had targeted sites in the city of Homs and surrounding countryside. Syrian air defenses intercepted the missiles and shot down some of them, it said.

Israeli F-15 fighter jets perform during an air show over the beach in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv on May 5, 2022, as Israel marks Independence Day (Yom HaAtzmaut), 74 years since the establishment of the Jewish state. (AFP)
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Yemen truce ‘broadly holding’ but fragile, says UN envoy

ID: 
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Sun, 2023-04-02 16:07

AL-MUKALLA: The UN-brokered truce between Yemen’s warring factions is “broadly holding” but still in danger of collapsing amid intense fighting in Marib and Shabwa, the organization’s envoy says. 

On the first anniversary of the deal, Hans Grundberg said that the government and the Iran-backed Houthis had mostly stuck to its terms. He warned however that the current rise in hostilities might lead to it unraveling.

Swedish diplomat Hans Grundberg speaks at the UN. (@UN)
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