Following the first Friday prayers since the start of the Israeli-Hamas war less than a week ago, Jerusalem was explosive on Friday, with clashes outside the Old City near the Palestinian-Israeli border. Yan Boechat has this report from Jerusalem.
A potential Hezbollah attack has prompted the evacuation of some towns in northern Israel. And as Yan Boechat reports for VOA from Metula, Israel, soldiers prepare for what they fear could become a new front while Israel shoots down rockets over the city.
Disinformation spread like wildfire on Saturday, just as rockets and Hamas militants infiltrated Israel.In addition to being fought offline, the conflict is also being fought online.
As missiles pound Gaza and more Israeli victims’ bodies are found in their homes, the dead toll from the Israel-Hamas conflict has risen to more than 2,300 on both sides.
Following the surprise attack against Israel by Hamas, a photo of a mother, father, and three children caught in the crossfire has gone viral on the internet. When the family’s safe room—which was where they were taking refuge—was breached by a Palestinian militant group over the weekend, the family members were killed. The family friend Dor Pundark was in contact with them just before they went silent.
As Israel continuously pounding the Gaza Strip, the families of at least 150 Israeli hostages inside Gaza are growing increasingly terrified, and surrounding areas have been evacuated.
In a Monday press conference in New York, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the deaths that resulted from the weekend’s Hamas strikes and Israeli counterattacks. According to Margaret Besheer, a U.N. correspondent for VOA, Guterres called for a two-state solution to the crisis through negotiation and urged both sides to protect civilians and Hamas to release hostages. Guterres also urged both sides to protect civilians.
On Sunday in Kirkland, Washington State, two rallies faced off. While pro-Palestinian protest participants came to show solidarity for Gaza, Israeli expats gathered to support their country in its war against Hamas.
From a police beating in Memphis to Asians being targeted in California; the suicide bombing of a mosque in Pakistan to renewed
violence in the Middle East
Prior to the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the UN meets Zhang Jun, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations