Israeli forces evict Jenin families, convert homes into military outposts

Israeli forces evict Jenin families, convert homes into military outposts
A woman speaks with an Israeli army soldier standing outside an armoured vehicle at a cemetery in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, June 6, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 16 June 2025
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Israeli forces evict Jenin families, convert homes into military outposts

Israeli forces evict Jenin families, convert homes into military outposts
  • Houses belonging to the Yaseen family were seized after about 50 people evicted
  • Soldiers ‘roaming the streets, firing live ammunition and tear gas, shutting down businesses and harassing residents,’ says Rummana council head

LONDON: Israeli forces in Jenin have evicted many Palestinian families and converted their homes into military outposts across several villages.

The Israeli activity took place across the occupied West Bank city over the past week.

Mohammad Issa, head of the Aneen village council in the west of Jenin, told Wafa news agency on Monday that Israeli troops stormed two homes belonging to the Yaseen family last Friday and forcibly evicted five families of about 50 people.

The homes were later utilized as military outposts while Israeli forces continued to raid Aneen village daily, deploying armored vehicles, erecting roadblocks and stopping-and-searching residents, Wafa added.

“The presence of soldiers inside residential homes has created a climate of fear and insecurity,” said Issa. “Commercial activity has slowed dramatically as a result.”

Hassan Sbeihat, head of the Rummana village council, told Wafa that Israeli forces had converted 11 homes in the elevated western part of the village into military positions over the last four days.

“Israeli infantry patrols are roaming the streets, firing live ammunition and tear gas, shutting down businesses and harassing residents,” Sbeihat said.

He added that families were forcibly displaced and sought shelter with relatives, with no clear sign of when they might return to their homes.

Aziz Zaid, head of the Nazlat al-Sheikh village council, said that Israeli forces evicted residents Wajdi Fadl Saeed Zaid and Omar Hassan Al-Bari from their homes, which were converted into outposts.

He added that the Israeli military continues to conduct house-to-house searches and physically assault residents, Wafa reported.

Zaid said that Israeli forces closed the village’s western entrance, blocked the main road and closed a pharmacy as well as grocery store.


Trump on Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire deal: will know in 24 hours

Trump on Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire deal: will know in 24 hours
Updated 12 sec ago
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Trump on Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire deal: will know in 24 hours

Trump on Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire deal: will know in 24 hours
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday it would probably be known in 24 hours how Palestinian militant group Hamas would respond to a proposal for a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza.

Darfur civilians ‘face mass atrocities and ethnic violence’

Darfur civilians ‘face mass atrocities and ethnic violence’
Updated 04 July 2025
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Darfur civilians ‘face mass atrocities and ethnic violence’

Darfur civilians ‘face mass atrocities and ethnic violence’
  • Medical charity warns of new threat from escalation in fighting in Sudan civil war

KHARTOUM: Civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan face mass atrocities and ethnic violence in the civil war between the regular army and its paramilitary rivals, the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres warned on Thursday.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have sought to consolidate their power in Darfur since losing control of the capital Khartoum in March. Their predecessor, the Janjaweed militia, was accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago.

The paramilitaries have intensified attacks on El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state which they have besieged since May 2024 in an effort to push the army out of its final stronghold in the region.
“People are not only caught in indiscriminate heavy fighting ... but also actively targeted by the Rapid Support Forces and their allies, notably on the basis of their ethnicity,” said Michel-Olivier Lacharite, Medecins Sans Frontieres’ head of emergencies. There were “threats of a full-blown assault,” on El-Fasher, which is home to hundreds of thousands of people largely cut off from food and water supplies and deprived of access to medical care, he said.


Egypt on alert as giant dam in Ethiopia completed

Egypt on alert as giant dam in Ethiopia completed
Updated 04 July 2025
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Egypt on alert as giant dam in Ethiopia completed

Egypt on alert as giant dam in Ethiopia completed

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia moved on Thursday to reassure Egypt about its water supply after completing work on a controversial giant $4 billion dam on the Blue Nile.

“To our neighbors downstream, our message is clear: the dam is not a threat, but a shared opportunity,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said.

“The energy and development it will generate stand to uplift not just Ethiopia. We believe in shared progress, shared energy, and shared water. Prosperity for one should mean prosperity for all.”

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is 1.8 km wide and 145 meters high, and is Africa's largest hydroelectric project. It can hold 74 billion cubic meters of water and generate more than 5,000 megawatts of power — more than double Ethiopia’s current output. It will begin full operations in September.

Egypt already suffers from severe water scarcity and sees the dam as an existential threat because the country relies on the Nile for 97 percent of its water. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Sudan’s leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan met last week and “stressed their rejection of any unilateral measures in the Blue Nile basin.” They were committed to safeguarding water security in the region, Sisi’s spokesman said.


Explosive drone intercepted near Irbil airport in northern Iraq, security statement says

Explosive drone intercepted near Irbil airport in northern Iraq, security statement says
Updated 03 July 2025
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Explosive drone intercepted near Irbil airport in northern Iraq, security statement says

Explosive drone intercepted near Irbil airport in northern Iraq, security statement says
  • The “Flight operations at the airport continued normally,” the Irbil airport authority said

IRBIL, Iraq: An explosive drone was shot down near Irbil airport in northern Iraq on Thursday, the Iraqi Kurdistan’s counter-terrorism service said in a statement.

There were no casualties reported, according to two security sources.

The “Flight operations at the airport continued normally and the airport was not affected by any damage,” the Irbil airport authority said in a statement.

The incident only caused a temporary delay in the landing of one aircraft, the statement added.


Jordanian and Vatican officials discuss promotion of Petra as destination for Christian pilgrims

Jordanian and Vatican officials discuss promotion of Petra as destination for Christian pilgrims
Updated 03 July 2025
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Jordanian and Vatican officials discuss promotion of Petra as destination for Christian pilgrims

Jordanian and Vatican officials discuss promotion of Petra as destination for Christian pilgrims
  • They say there is a strategic opportunity to integrate the UNESCO World Heritage Site into routes for Christian travelers
  • Head of tourism authority says highlighting Petra’s significance to Christian heritage itineraries could enhance Jordan’s position on global religious tourism map

LONDON: Officials from Jordan and the Vatican met on Thursday to discuss ways in which they can cooperate to advance religious tourism, including the promotion of the ancient city of Petra as a destination for Christian pilgrims.

Fares Braizat, who chairs the board of commissioners of the Petra Development and Tourism Regional Authority, said that highlighting the significance of the UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of Christian heritage itineraries could enhance Jordan’s position on the global religious tourism map.

The country has a number of important Christian sites, the most significant of which is the location on the eastern bank of the Jordan River where Jesus is said to have been baptized by John the Baptist. Several popes have visited it, including Francis and John Paul II.

Archbishop Giovanni Pietro Dal Toso, the Vatican’s ambassador to Jordan, confirmed the interest in collaborating with Jordanian authorities, and praised the nation’s stability and its rich historical and religious heritage.

Both officials acknowledged the strategic opportunity that exists to integrate Petra into pilgrimage routes for Christian travelers, the Jordan News Agency reported.

The Petra tourism authority recently lit up the Colosseum in Rome with the signature colors of the historic Jordanian site to celebrate a twinning agreement as part of a marketing strategy to attract European visitors, and to raise Petra’s profile globally as a premier cultural and spiritual tourism destination.

The Vatican itself is also a major tourism destination, for Christian pilgrims in particular. In 2025 it is expected to welcome between 30 and 35 million visitors during its latest Jubilee Year, a significant ecclesiastical event that takes place every 25 years.