China urges citizens in Israel to leave 'as soon as possible'

China has urged its citizens in Israel to leave "as soon as possible", as tensions between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah escalate.

"Currently, the situation along the Israel-Lebanon border is extremely tense, with frequent military conflicts," China's embassy in Israel said in a statement on Sunday.

"The security situation in Israel remains severe, complex, and unpredictable," the statement added.

The embassy urged Chinese citizens in Israel to "return home or relocate to safer areas as soon as possible".

Israel and Hezbollah threatened on Sunday to escalate their cross-border attacks despite international calls for both sides to step back from the brink of all-out war.

An Israeli air strike in a densely populated Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut Friday killed the head of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil.

It came after a series of coordinated communications device blasts on Tuesday and Wednesday across Lebanon that killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000, and which were blamed on Israel.

China last month asked its citizens in Lebanon to leave after an Israeli strike in the country killed a senior Palestinian militant.

Agence France-Presse

Puma to end kit deal with Israeli national football team

BERLIN, Germany -- German sportswear maker Puma said Tuesday it would end a sponsorship deal with the Israeli national football team in a decision made before the beginning of the war in Gaza.

Following a strategy review carried out at the end of 2022, Puma would stop outfitting the Israeli team from next year, the company said.

"While two newly signed national teams –- including a new statement team –- will be announced later this year and in 2024, the contracts of some federations such as Serbia and Israel will expire in 2024," a spokeswoman said in a statement.

"These decisions were taken in 2022 in line with the regular timelines for the design (and) development of the team jerseys," the spokeswoman said.

The deal with Israel, which was signed in 2018, prompted calls to boycott the sportswear brand.

Campaigners accused Puma of endorsing illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank through its deal with the Israeli FA, which includes teams from the occupied Palestinian territory.

The outbreak in October of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, has strengthened longstanding calls to boycott products which support Israel.

The war was triggered when Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 240 hostages -- 137 of whom remain in Gaza, Israeli officials say.

In response, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and began intense bombardments and a ground offensive in Gaza that has killed at least 18,200 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Agence France-Presse

Bethlehem under lockdown after virus cases confirmed

The city of Bethlehem was under lockdown on Friday after the first Palestinian cases of the deadly coronavirus were discovered there and authorities announced a state of emergency.

Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said a total of 16 cases of the COVID-19 illness had been detected in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after nine new cases were discovered in Bethlehem, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported Friday evening.

The Palestinian government announced a month-long state of emergency late Thursday after the first seven cases were identified, while the Israeli defense ministry said it had imposed emergency measures on Bethlehem, with everybody "forbidden from entering or leaving the city".

It added that the lockdown had been imposed "in coordination with the Palestinian Authority".

The Church of the Nativity, built on the site Christians believe was the birthplace of Jesus, was closed on Thursday and along with other sites is expected to be shuttered for a month.

All tourist buses to and from Bethlehem were banned until further notice, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

An AFP journalist saw around 20 buses stuck at a checkpoint run by Israeli personnel at the entrance to the Palestinian city, which is around 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Israeli-controlled Jerusalem.

Witnesses said some tourists in Bethlehem were trying to bypass military controls in order to reach Jerusalem. 

The streets of Bethlehem and Ramallah, where the Palestinian government is based, were near-empty on Friday morning, with most shops closed, AFP journalists said.

Israel controls all entrances to the West Bank from the Jewish state but the Palestinian government has limited autonomy in cities.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh made a special broadcast late Thursday to announce the 30-day lockdown, saying the measures were essential to contain the disease.

All but essential travel between Palestinian governorates was now prohibited, while all schools and educational facilities would close, he said.

Public parks and tourist sites would close while large sporting events, conferences and other major gatherings were cancelled, Shtayyeh added.

The Palestinian health ministry said the cases had first been detected at a hotel in the Bethlehem area.

Church of Nativity disinfected 

The emergency measures came after the first Palestinian cases were confirmed Thursday afternoon.

The seven people initially found to be infected were being treated in quarantine, the Palestinian health ministry had said.

The head of the local health directorate, Imad Shahadeh, told AFP that a group of Greek tourists had visited the hotel in late February, with two later diagnosed with the virus.

A number of suspected cases have since been identified among hotel workers, he said.

Asbed Balian, senior cleric of the Armenian church at the Church of the Nativity, said infected visitors had entered the site.

"People affected by corona visited the church," he told AFP. 

Workmen began spraying disinfectant inside the church on Thursday evening, an AFP photographer said.

COGAT, the Israeli body responsible for civilian activities in the Palestinian Territories, said it was "working closely with the Palestinian Authority" to stem the spread of the virus.

Israel, which so far has 21 confirmed cases, has imposed stringent measures on many European nations in a bid to contain the virus.

It has also scrapped joint military exercises with the United States in Germany.

The Israeli army announced that from noon Friday all forces would be prevented from leaving Israel, whether "on personal trips or on duty".

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Fragment of Jesus' manger arrives in birthplace of Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM - A wooden fragment believed to be from the manger of Jesus arrived in His birthplace of Bethlehem on Saturday amid great ceremony after more than 1,300 years in Europe.

A Palestinian scout band playing bagpipes, drums and saxophones accompanied the relic as it arrived in Manger Square, an AFP reporter said.

Housed in Rome since the seventh century, the relic had been presented to the Franciscan custodians of the Holy Land as a gift from the Vatican.

Worshippers thronged the square as the chief custodian for the Holy Land, Francesco Patton, carried the ornate reliquary housing the relic into the Saint Catherine Church next to the Church of the Nativity, where he led Mass.

On Friday Patton told AFP that the seventh-century Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sophronius, had sent the relic to Rome in around 640 as a gift to Pope Theodore I.

Now the item, about a centimeter wide by 2.5 centimeters (an inch) long, is to be installed "forever" in Bethlehem, he said.

"We venerate the relic because (it) reminds us of the mystery of incarnation, to the fact that the son of God was born of Mary in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago," Patton said.

Bethlehem has planned celebrations stretching until Christmas for the homecoming.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had asked Pope Francis to repatriate the crib fragment during his visit to the Vatican for Middle East peace talks in December 2018, said Palestinian envoy to the Holy See, Issa Kassissieh.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

34 Palestinians dead as Islamic Jihad, Israel stop hostilities across Gaza Strip

GAZA/JERUSALEM - Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad and Israel halted hostilities across the Gaza Strip border on Thursday following efforts mediated by Egypt and the United Nations to end the worst surge in fighting in months.

Islamic Jihad said a truce went into effect at 0330 GMT, about 48 hours after Israel triggered the exchange of fire by killing the Iranian-backed faction's top Gaza commander in an airstrike, deeming him an imminent threat.

Gaza medical officials put the total death toll at 34 Palestinians, almost half of them civilians and including eight children and three women.

On the other side of the Gaza border, hundreds of rocket launches by militants paralyzed much of southern Israel, injuring dozens of people.

Hamas, Gaza's dominant faction, appeared to have stayed out of this round of fighting. That may have helped stem escalation.

An Egyptian official contacted by Reuters confirmed a truce had been reached. The Israeli military eased emergency regulations imposed on areas within range of Gaza rockets.

Islamic Jihad said Israel had accepted its demand to stop both the targeted killing of militants and sometimes lethal army gunfire at weekly Palestinian protests on the Gaza border.

"The ceasefire began under Egyptian sponsorship after the Occupation (Israel) submitted to the conditions set by Islamic Jihad on behalf of Palestinian resistance factions," Islamic Jihad spokesman Musab Al-Braim said.

But Israel said it would observe a more limited quid-pro-quo. "Quiet will be answered with quiet," Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israel's Army Radio.

MISSILE STRIKE

In the deadliest incident of the two-day hostilities, eight members of a Gaza family were killed by an Israeli missile strike shortly before the truce took hold, said medical officials and residents.

They said all were civilians. But Israeli military spokesman Major Avichay Adraee said the head of the family, Rasmi Abu Malhous, who was among the dead, was the commander of Islamic Jihad rocket crews in the central Gaza Strip.

Neighbors left their homes to help rescue workers pull out the bodies of the family, some of which were completely buried in sandy earth. Civilians tried to test the pulse of one body before pulling it out.

Israel's allegation about Rasmi Abu Malhous could not be immediately confirmed by Reuters. Islamic Jihad did not claim him as a member.

Neither the two days of hostilities nor the sudden cessation shifted the dynamics of the underlying core conflict.

While Hamas has been open to long-term ceasefires, like Islamic Jihad it refuses to accept permanent coexistence with Israel.

Gazans are seeking to end years of an Israeli-led blockade. Refugees from the 1948 war of Israel's founding and their descendents make up most of the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza and are seeking the right to return to their former lands.

Israel rejects this as demographic suicide and sees no means of making peace as long as Hamas and Islamic Jihad are armed.

Katz said there would be no change to Israeli military policy in Gaza, contradicting the assertion of Islamic Jihad.

Targeted killings "will not cease," he said, and "the open-fire policy for which the Israel Defence Forces is responsible (at the Gaza border) will not change."

Gaza was mostly quiet at daybreak, with the exception of a lone rocket launch witnessed by a Reuters correspondent and the sounding of sirens in some outlying Israeli towns.

Markets in Gaza reopened as life returned to normal, though people expressed mixed feelings about the truce.

"We responded and made clear our blood was not shed in vain. Also a truce is good because we don't want our people to suffer more under the blockade," said one resident, Mohammad Al-Smairi.

UN mediator Nickolay Mladenov said the Gaza situation remained fragile, tweeting: "All must show maximum restraint and do their part to prevent bloodshed. The Middle East does not need more wars."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Israeli army unveils new 'smart' tank

JERUSALEM - The Israeli army on Thursday revealed details of a new tank it was developing, designed more for use in guerrilla warfare conditions.

The Merkava 4 Barak, scheduled to be operational in three years, will be the latest of the Israeli Merkava tank series, which has traditionally focused on combating the conventional forces of neighboring Arab states.

The military said the new model reflected an understanding that the theatres of conflict it faces are changing. 

"The enemy won't necessarily be states and armies, but rather an enemy that uses people," Brigadier General Guy Hasson, head of the army's armored corps, said.

The "dual-use" tank contains technologies including a sensor system that gives its commander a full view of the surroundings in his helmet.

The model -- which will also be equipped with a computer system based on artificial intelligence -- is designed to be more secure in the confines of guerilla clashes. 

The Israeli military has been using tanks along the border with Gaza, as tensions have risen during months of protests and clashes that have left over 140 Palestinians dead. 

Israeli tanks have fired on positions belonging to Gaza's rulers Hamas, as well as individuals accused of attempting to infiltrate into Israel.

jjm/del

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Palestinian president to shun Pence over Jerusalem move

Ramallah, Palestinian Territories - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will refuse to meet US Vice President Mike Pence later this month following Washington's controversial policy shift on Jerusalem, an Abbas aide said on Saturday, as protests gripped the Palestinian territories for a third straight day.

   
Retaliatory Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed two Hamas militants before dawn, as unrest simmered over President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital on Wednesday.

Four people have been killed and dozens wounded since Trump announced the move, which drew criticism from every other member of the UN Security Council at an emergency meeting on Friday.

"There will be no meeting with the vice president of America in Palestine," Abbas's diplomatic adviser Majdi al-Khaldi told AFP.

"The United States has crossed all the red lines with the Jerusalem decision," he added.

Egypt's Coptic Pope Tawadros II also cancelled a meeting with Pence, with the church saying it "declines to receive" him in protest at Trump's announcement which failed to take into account the "feelings of millions" of Arabs.

That decision came a day after Ahmed al-Tayeb who heads Al-Azhar, Egypt's top Sunni Muslim institution, also scrapped plans to meet the US vice president over the "unjust and unfair American decision on Jerusalem".

There were fresh clashes on Saturday as Palestinian protesters in the occupied West Bank hurled stones at Israeli troops, who responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds.

In the Gaza Strip, mourners vented their anger at the funerals of two people killed by Israeli troops during clashes at the border fence on Friday and the two Hamas militants killed early on Saturday.

'VIOLENT RIOTS'

An Israeli army statement said "violent riots have erupted at approximately 20 locations" in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip" with protesters throwing rocks, petrol bombs and rolling burning tyres at troops.

It said soldiers responded with unspecified "riot dispersal means", lightly wounding three Palestinians.

In Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, police fired stun grenades to disperse Palestinian demonstrators on the main Salahedin street, an AFP cameraman said.

A police statement said two policemen were slightly injured and six protesters arrested.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said 12 Palestinians were injured by shrapnel from grenades or by blows from police.

INTIFADA CALLS

There have been fears of a much larger escalation of violence after Hamas leader Ismail Haniya called for a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group both renewed that call on Saturday.

Dozens of protesters were wounded by rubber bullets or live fire in clashes in the occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem that followed the main weekly Muslim prayers on Friday.

Tens of thousands also protested in Muslim and Arab countries, including Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan and Malaysia.

Saturday's pre-dawn air strike on a base of Hamas's military wing in Nusseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, was one of several, the Israeli military said.

A statement said the air force "targeted four facilities belonging to the Hamas terror organisation" in Gaza a day after three rocket attacks from the Palestinian enclave into southern Israel.

One rocket hit the southern Israeli town of Sderot although Israeli public radio said it did not explode and did not cause any casualties.

Israel had already responded on Friday night to the first two rockets with air strikes in which the Gaza health ministry said 14 people were wounded, among them women and children.

In an Arabic-language Facebook post on Saturday, a senior Israeli military officer delivered a stern warning to the people of Gaza.

"Continued fire will result in a harsh and painful response from the Israel Defence Forces, so do not test our strength," wrote Major General Yoav Mordechai, head of the defence ministry agency responsible for civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories.

The Hamas health ministry in Gaza said the two men killed in Saturday's strikes were members of the movement's armed wing, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.

US ISOLATED

Trump's decision drew lavish praise from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but has sparked a worldwide diplomatic backlash. 

Five European countries on the Security Council insisted the new US policy was inconsistent with past resolutions, including one that declares east Jerusalem to be Israeli-occupied.

The meeting was requested by eight of the council's 15 members but was largely symbolic as no vote on a resolution was planned because the US wields veto power.

Trump said his defiant move -- making good on a 2016 presidential campaign pledge -- marked the start of a "new approach" to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The decision is likely to impact domestic Palestinian politics, particularly between Abbas's Fatah and the Islamist Hamas, after a decade of bitter enmity now at a key stage in a fragile reconciliation process.

Abbas "will soon take a harder line toward the peace process and a softer line toward Hamas than he otherwise would have," wrote Ghaith al-Omari of the Washington Institute of Near East Policy.

Hamas, which violently seized Gaza from Fatah in 2017, is due to formally hand back power on Sunday.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said in a statement on Saturday that the group "reiterated its commitment to all that has been signed and agreed upon and the completion of the handover".

burs/scw/hc

source: news.abs-cbn.com