Man killed by Israel troops after march marking 1948 ‘Nakba’

Man killed by Israel troops after march marking 1948 ‘Nakba’
Mourners and relatives cry during the funeral of Palestinian Ayser Mohammad Safi, in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank after he was killed during clashes with the Israeli army. (AFP)
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Updated 15 May 2024
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Man killed by Israel troops after march marking 1948 ‘Nakba’

Man killed by Israel troops after march marking 1948 ‘Nakba’
  • The man killed was 20-year-old Ayser Muhammad Safi, a student at Birzeit University

RAMLLAH: Palestinian officials said Israeli troops killed a man on Wednesday as clashes broke out after a West Bank march commemorating the mass displacement of Palestinians in the “Nakba” of 1948.
“A young man was killed by occupation bullets at the northern entrance of the city of Al-Bireh,” an Israeli checkpoint at the outskirts of Ramallah, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said the man killed was 20-year-old Ayser Muhammad Safi, a student at Birzeit University, reporting that he was shot in the neck during a confrontation between a group of young men and Israeli forces.
Witnesses on site told AFP they had seen a group of male students from Birzeit University gather a short distance from the Al-Bireh entrance, where they were preparing to begin protesting when Israeli troops moved in.
During the confrontation, Israeli forces fired some kind of gas and sound grenades at the protesters, Wafa reported.
After the confrontation, AFP saw the body of a young man, his head in bloody bandages and his body wrapped in a blue sheet, being carried from a Ramallah hospital to the nearby morgue, as dozens of people crowded around.
Amid chants of “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest), many women in tears screamed out as his body passed by, and one young woman fainted.
Birzeit University immediately released a picture of the young man against the backdrop of a Palestinian flag and a message saying his family, the university administration, staff and students “mourn with great pride and honor its martyr” Safi, a student at the physical education department.
Wednesday’s clash happened shortly after the annual march in Ramallah commemorating the 76th anniversary of what Palestinians consider the “Nakba,” or catastrophe, when around 760,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes during the war that led to Israel’s creation.
Against the backdrop of the ongoing war raging in Gaza, Israel has carried out near daily raids in the West Bank in what it says is a bid to thwart militant groups.
At least 499 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the territory since October 7, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah.
According to the Shin Bet internal security agency, at least 20 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks over the same period.
The West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, is home to about 490,000 Israeli settlers who live in communities considered illegal under international law.


Middle East conflicts to leave ‘lasting scars’: IMF

Middle East conflicts to leave ‘lasting scars’: IMF
Updated 31 October 2024
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Middle East conflicts to leave ‘lasting scars’: IMF

Middle East conflicts to leave ‘lasting scars’: IMF
  • IMF lowers its predicted growth for the Middle East and Central Asia to 2.1 percent for 2024
  • IMF forecasts for Lebanon, where conflict with Israel has sharply escalated this month, have been suspended

DUBAI: Gaza, Lebanon and Sudan will take decades to recover from the conflicts raging on their soil, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday after downgrading the region’s growth forecast.
Israel’s military actions against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Sudan’s civil war would have enduring impacts, the IMF said.
“The damage caused by these conflicts will leave lasting scars at their epicenters for decades,” the global lender said in a statement.
The IMF has lowered its predicted growth for the Middle East and Central Asia to 2.1 percent for 2024, a drop of 0.6 percent due to the wars and lower oil production.
Depending on the conflicts, growth should rise to 4.0 percent next year, according to the IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook which was compiled in September.
“This year has been challenging with conflicts causing devastating human suffering and lasting economic damage,” Jihad Azour, the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department director, told reporters in Dubai.
“The recent escalation in Lebanon has greatly increased the uncertainty in the whole MENA region.”
IMF forecasts for Lebanon, where conflict with Israel has sharply escalated this month, have been suspended. But “conservative” estimates show a 9.0-10 percent contraction this year, Azour said.
“The impact (on Lebanon) will be severe and it will depend how long this conflict will last,” said the former Lebanese finance minister.
Saudi-led oil cuts through the OPEC+ group, aimed at propping up prices, “are contributing to sluggish near-term growth in many economies,” the IMF said.
For the region’s oil exporters, “medium-term growth is projected to moderate, as economic diversification reforms will take time to yield results,” it added.
Downside risks continue to dominate, the lender said, including fluctuating commodity prices, conflicts and climate shocks.


Syria state media report Israel strikes on town near Lebanon border

Syria state media report Israel strikes on town near Lebanon border
Updated 31 October 2024
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Syria state media report Israel strikes on town near Lebanon border

Syria state media report Israel strikes on town near Lebanon border

DAMASCUS: Syrian state media said Israeli strikes hit the town of Qusayr near the Lebanese border on Thursday, the latest in a series of raids in the area.
“An Israeli aggression targeted the Qusayr area in the southern Homs countryside,” causing “material damage to the industrial city and some residential neighborhoods,” the official SANA news agency said.


Doctors Without Borders surgeon detained by Israel in north Gaza hospital raid

Doctors Without Borders surgeon detained by Israel in north Gaza hospital raid
Updated 31 October 2024
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Doctors Without Borders surgeon detained by Israel in north Gaza hospital raid

Doctors Without Borders surgeon detained by Israel in north Gaza hospital raid
  • Mohammed Obeid, an MSF orthopaedic surgeon working at Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza, was detained during an Israeli military raid on the site on Oct. 26, MSF said

GENEVA: Medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Thursday that one of its doctors working in a north Gaza hospital has been detained by Israeli forces.
Mohammed Obeid, an MSF orthopaedic surgeon working at Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza, was detained during an Israeli military raid on the site on Oct. 26, MSF said.
“We are extremely alarmed by the detention of our colleague,” it said.
“We call for the safety and the protection of our colleague, and for all medical staff in Gaza who work under impossible conditions and are facing horrific violence as they try to provide care.”


Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel

Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel
Updated 31 October 2024
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Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel

Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel
  • Egypt says it destroyed tunnel networks leading to Gaza years ago and created a buffer zone and border fortifications that prevent smuggling

DUBAI: Israel’s military said on Thursday it shot down a drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel on Wednesday.
Israeli officials have said during the war in Gaza that Palestinian armed group Hamas used tunnels running under the border into Egypt’s Sinai region to smuggle arms.
Egypt says it destroyed tunnel networks leading to Gaza years ago and created a buffer zone and border fortifications that prevent smuggling.
Earlier in October, the Israeli military also said it foiled a weapon smuggling attempt from Egypt after downing a drone carrying guns and bullets.


Israeli couple arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: police

Israeli couple arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: police
Updated 31 October 2024
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Israeli couple arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: police

Israeli couple arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: police
  • Israeli police charge Goliev couple carried out surveillance of sensitive Israeli sites

JERUSALEM: Israeli police said Thursday they had arrested an Israeli couple on suspicion of spying for Iran, barely a week after two groups allegedly working for Tehran were detained.
“The thwarting of Iran’s efforts to recruit Israelis continues,” said a statement from the police and Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet.
The two Israelis, a couple from the central city of Lod, had been involved in gathering intelligence on “national infrastructures, security sites and tracking a female academic,” the statement alleged.
“Rafael and Lala Goliev... residents of Lod, were arrested after they carried out tasks on behalf of an Iranian cell that recruits Israelis from the Caucasus countries in Israel.”
Police charged that the couple were recruited by Elshan (Elhan) Agayev, an Azerbaijani national acting on behalf of Iranian officials. It was unclear if Agayev is based in Israel.
They alleged that the Golievs carried out surveillance of sensitive Israeli sites, including the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, and collected intelligence on an academic working at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
Thursday’s announcement comes little more than a week after Israeli security services said they had uncovered two other suspected spy rings.
On October 22, Israeli police said they had arrested a group of seven Palestinians from Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem they suspected of planning attacks for Iran.
A day earlier, police said they had arrested seven Israeli citizens from the city of Haifa on suspicion of carrying out hundreds of spy missions on Iran’s orders.
The previous week, two other Israelis were charged with various offenses after they were allegedly approached by Iranian agents and asked to carry out spy missions.
In September, an Israeli identified as Mordechai Maman from the coastal city of Ashkelon, was arrested on suspicion of being recruited by Iran to plot the assassination of top officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel is currently engaged in a multi-front conflict with Iran-backed groups including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.