Israel

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip on Monday, halting entry of food, fuel and supplies to its 2.3 million people as it pounded the Hamas-ruled territory with waves of airstrikes in retaliation for the militants’ bloody weekend incursion.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel on Sunday and launched retaliation strikes that leveled buildings in Gaza, while in northern Israel a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas militants fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of fighters into Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip in an unprecedented surprise early morning attack during a major Jewish holiday Saturday, killing dozens and stunning the country. Israel said it is now at war with Hamas and launched airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.”

06 October 2023; MEMO: An international human rights organisation warned, on Thursday, of a “sharp increase” in violence by Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories “under the political cover of the government Israel”, Anadolu Agency reports.

07 October 2023; MEMO: The Israeli army has declared a “state of readiness” for war after Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip fired an intense barrage of rockets early Saturday toward Israel, reports Israel Broadcasting Authority.

The rocket salvoes were fired from different locations in the enclave but Israel’s Iron Dome defence system intercepted many, according to an Anadolu correspondent.

07 October 2023; MEMO: Hospitals in Israel have confirmed that more than 100 Israelis have been wounded in rocket strikes across south and central Israel, some in critical condition, The Times of Israel reported.

Soraka Medical Centre in Beersheba received 80 wounded, some in very serious condition.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police have arrested an American tourist at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem after he hurled works of art to the floor, defacing two second-century Roman statues.

The vandalism late Thursday raised questions about the safety of Israel’s priceless collections and stirred concern about a rise in attacks on cultural heritage in Jerusalem.

Police identified the suspect as a radical 40-year-old Jewish American tourist and said initial questioning suggested he smashed the statues because he considered them “to be idolatrous and contrary to the Torah.”

05 October 2023; MEMO: Israel's minister in charge of crime and policing, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has said it's not a crime for Israeli Jews to spit on Christians.

The Jewish holiday of Sukkot saw an increase in abuses on Christians by Israelis according to Christian leaders in Jerusalem.

Spitting on people of a minority religion would be considered a hate crime in most countries, but for the Israeli government it is simply 'an old Jewish tradition'.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel has quietly helped fuel Azerbaijan’s campaign to recapture Nagorno-Karabakh, supplying powerful weapons to Azerbaijan ahead of its lightening offensive last month that brought the ethnic Armenian enclave back under its control, officials and experts say.

02 October 2023; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu excluded National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from security discussions attended by most senior Israeli security officials on Sunday, it has been reported. Ben-Gvir’s position includes authority over the police, but this was not a reason for Netanyahu to invite him to the meeting.

"Ben-Gvir has a habit of making problematic proposals"