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The United States is expected to announce sanctions against the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda battalion for alleged human rights abuses in the West Bank, according to a report.
It would be the first time the US imposed sanctions on an Israeli military unit and would see a ban on the battalion receiving any kind of US military assistance.
Netzah Yehuda, or “Judea Forever,” is a special unit for ultra-Orthodox Jewish soldiers. It was formed with the aim of integrating a segment of the population that does not normally do military service.
But Israeli media have reported problems in the unit stemming from the hard-line ideology of many of the soldiers.
It came as Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight killed 18 people, including 14 children.
The first strike killed a man, his wife and their 3-year-old child, according to the nearby Kuwaiti Hospital. The woman was pregnant, and the doctors managed to save the baby, the hospital said. Israel has carried out near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has sought refuge.
Iranian president to visit Pakistan in bid to mend ties after missile strikes
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will make an official visit to Pakistan this week, Islamabad said on Sunday, as the two Muslim neighbours seek to mend ties after tit-for-tat missile strikes in January.
The visit, which Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would take place from Monday to Wednesday, had been in doubt as Middle East tensions rose after Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel a week ago and central Iran received what sources said was an Israeli attack on Friday.
Pakistan has signalled since January that Raisi would visit, and the prime minister said last week the visit would take place “very soon”.
Tehran has played down Friday’s apparent Israeli attack and indicated it had no plans for retaliation, a response that appeared gauged towards keeping the Israel-Gaza war from expanding to a regionwide conflict.
US to ‘announce sanctions IDF’s Netzah Yehuda'
The Biden administration is slated to announce sanctions against the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda battalion for alleged human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank, the Axios news site reported on Saturday.
The sanctions will ban the battalion and its members from receiving any kind of military assistance or training, the sources told the US site.
A 1997 law authored by then-Senator Patrick Leahy prohibits US foreign aid and Defense Department training programs from going to foreign security, military and police units credibly alleged to have committed human rights violations.
Netzah Yehuda, or “Judea Forever,” is a special unit for ultra-Orthodox Jewish soldiers. It was formed with the aim of integrating a segment of the population that does not normally do military service.
But Israeli media have reported problems in the unit stemming from the hard-line ideology of many of the soldiers.
Entire family killed in Israeli strike but unborn baby saved by doctors
Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight killed 13 people, including nine children, health officials said.
The first strike killed a man, his wife and their 3-year-old child, according to the nearby Kuwaiti Hospital, which received the bodies. The woman was pregnant, and the doctors managed to save the baby, the hospital said.
The second strike killed eight children and two women, all from the same family, according to hospital records. An airstrike in Rafah the night before killed nine people, including six children.
The Israel-Hamas war has killed over 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, devastated Gaza’s two largest cities and left a swath of destruction across the territory. Around 80% of the population have fled their homes to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave, which experts say is on the brink of famine.
In photos: Students lead protest against Israeli war in Columbia University
Hundreds of students continued their encampment on the campus of Columbia University to protest against the Israeli war in Gaza despite arrests and disciplinary actions from the college authorities.
The majority of protesters faced charges of trespassing as they refused to vacate the area, violating school regulations. Additionally, suspensions were issued.
Thousands of Israelis join anti-government protests calling for new elections
Thousands of Israeli demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday to call for new elections and demand more action from the government to bring the hostages held in Gaza home, in the latest round of protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The protests have continued as the war in Gaza moves through its seventh month and amid growing anger over the government's approach to the 133 Israeli hostages still held by the Islamist movement Hamas.
Surveys indicate that most Israelis blame Netanyahu for the security failures that led to the devastating attack by Hamas fighters on communities in southern Israel on 7 October.
Israel's longest-serving prime minister has repeatedly ruled out early elections, which opinion polls suggest he would lose, saying that to go to the polls in the middle of a war would only reward Hamas.
"We're here to protest against this government that keeps dragging us down, month after month; before October 7th, after October 7th. We kept going down in a spiral," said Yalon Pikman, 58, who attended a march in Tel Aviv.
Hamas-led gunmen seized 253 people during the 7 October attack that killed around 1,200, according to Israeli tallies. Some hostages were freed in a November truce, but efforts to secure another deal appear to have stalled.
Netanyahu has pledged to continue the Israeli campaign in Gaza, which local health authorities say has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, until all the hostages are brought home and Hamas has been destroyed.
Mapped: Where is Isfahan? The target of suspected Israeli strikes against Iran
Watch: Moment huge explosion hits base of Iranian-aligned Iraqi army unit
More than 14 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid on refugee camp, Palestinian authorities say
Israeli forces killed 14 Palestinians during a raid at the Nur al-Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
Among the fatalities, an ambulance driver was killed as he went to pick up wounded from a separate attack by violent Jewish settlers, it added.
Israeli forces began an extended raid in the early hours of Friday in the Nur Shams area, near the flashpoint Palestinian city of Tulkarm and were still exchanging fire with armed fighters well into Saturday.
Israeli military vehicles massed and bursts of gunfire were heard, while at least three drones were seen hovering above Nur Shams, an area housing refugees and their descendants from the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of the state of Israel.
On Saturday, Palestinian health authorities said at least 14 Palestinians, two of whom were identified by Palestinian sources and officials as a gunman and a 16 year-old boy, were killed during the raid, one of the heaviest casualty totals in the West Bank in months. Another man was killed on Friday.
How many nuclear weapons do Israel and Iran have amid fears of wider conflict
On Friday morning, Iranians walked down the streets of Tehran next to posters adorning the country’s national flag with three depictions of missiles being fired from it.
“Israel is as weak as a spider web”, one poster read. Just hours before, explosions were heard over an airbase 200 miles south of the city in Isfahan.
Tehran’s defences had shot down three drones launched from over 1,200 miles away in Israel - said to be part of Netanyahu’s “response” for an earlier attack by Iran which saw over 300 missiles and drones fired at the Jewish state.
Alexander Butler reports:
US House passes $95b Ukraine, Israel aid package
The US House of Representatives has finally passed billions of dollars of aid to Ukraine and Israel amid resistance from Republican hardliners.
A broad $95b legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, was passed yesterday with $26b pledged for Israel.
The Senate is set to begin considering the House-passed bill on Tuesday, with some preliminary votes that afternoon. Final passage was expected sometime next week, which would clear the way for Biden to sign it into law.
The House’s actions during a rare Saturday session put on display some cracks in what generally is solid support for Israel within Congress. Recent months have seen progressive Democrats express anger with Israel‘s government and its conduct of the war in Gaza.
Saturday’s vote, in which the Israel aid was passed 366-58, had 37 Democrats and 21 Republicans in opposition.
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2024-04-21 07:00:17Z
CBMiaWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmluZGVwZW5kZW50LmNvLnVrL25ld3Mvd29ybGQvbWlkZGxlLWVhc3QvaXNyYWVsLWlyYW4tYXR0YWNrLW5ld3MtZ2F6YS11ay1sYXRlc3QtYjI1MzIxMDkuaHRtbNIBAA
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