Opponents have accused Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charge he denies, of trying to use the reforms to quash possible judgements against him. The prime minister has rejected the accusation.

Protestors have kept up the pressure with weekly rallies against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who returned to power in December at the head of a coalition with ultra-Orthodox Jewish and extreme-right allies. Police used water canon to break up demonstrators, blocking a highway in the city.

A European envoy blasted Israel over the "proportionality" of the force it uses, as international envoys toured Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank following this week's deadly raid. His remarks echoed UN chief Antonio Guterres who had said, "there was an excessive force used by Israeli forces" in...

Dubai, UAE - Israel ranks in 5th place out of the 167 countries on the index of the world’s healthiest and unhealthiest countries. Singapore was rated as having the top service and state of health globally in 2023.Asia is well represented generally, with the four top places rounded off by Japan,...

NABLUS, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES -  Three Palestinians were killed on Friday in the occupied West Bank, a day after the United Nations urged a "meaningful political process" to stem renewed violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Israeli forces killed two Palestinian fighters when a firefight erupted during an Israeli raid on the northern West...

Israeli soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin were killed during Israel's 2014 invasion of the Gaza Strip, and their remains are in the hands of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas -- although the militant group has never confirmed their deaths. Hamas are also thought to be holding two Israeli civilians who...

The raid, Israel's biggest military operation in years in the West Bank, employed hundreds of troops as well as drone strikes and army bulldozers that ripped up streets. During the raid on the Jenin camp in the West Bank, the army said it had uncovered militant hideouts, arms depots and...

"The recent operation in the occupied West Bank and car ramming attack in Tel Aviv worryingly underscore an all too familiar pattern of events: that violence only begets more violence," Volker Turk said in a statement. Turk said Israeli forces in the West Bank needed to abide by international human...

Civilians and civilian objects must be respected and protected. The Israeli security forces must in particular ensure that the population of Jenin has unhindered access to health services, housing, food and water, the ICRC said. It added that paramedics and first aiders must have free access to the injured to...

Clothing stores, restaurants, tourism establishments and hotels are experiencing a sixty percent drop in business due to intensified violence, an expert tells TRENDS.

The city of Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp are a regular site of confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants. "One citizen was killed and another seriously injured in the occupation (Israeli) bombing of Jenin," the Palestinian health ministry said.

Exhibitions are also scheduled to take place on Saturday in the north and center of the Gaza Strip, where people are normally forbidden to approach and photograph military sites.

Israel has approved buying a third squadron of advanced F-35 fighter jets manufactured by Lockheed Martin in a $3-billion deal, the defense ministry said. Israel is the only Middle East nation with F-35s which is stealth capable and can be used to gather intelligence, strike deep into enemy territory and...

The demonstrators have kept up the pressure with weekly rallies against Netanyahu, who returned to power last December at the head of a coalition with ultra-Orthodox Jewish and extreme-right parties. Although there were no figures immediately available for the number of people who demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday, the...

Citing a military source, Syrian state news agency SANA said that Israel carried out air strikes near the government-held city of Homs. The air strikes hit "some points in the vicinity of the city". Israel, during more than a decade of war in Syria, has launched hundreds of air strikes,...

The armed wing of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas has put its weapons on public display for the first time, drawing hundreds of Palestinians including children. Dressed in black balaclavas and tactical camouflage suits, members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades mingled with young men and women at the exhibition in Gaza...

The Middle East and North Africa region scores only 62.6% in gender parity, and at the current pace, the region will achieve full parity in 152 years, says a latest WEF report.

ABU DHABI, UAE  - Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security for the Government, led a high-level UAE delegation of dozens of participants from leading Emirati entities to Cyber Week 2023 Conference in Israel. Dr. Al Kuwaiti addressed the Cyber Week Conference as a key-note speaker in the main...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had "thrown out" a key provision of his controversial judicial reform plan that has sparked one of the country's biggest ever protest movements. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Netanyahu said he intends to press on with the reforms.

While younger generations in Israel no longer share their predecessors' farming ambitions, the country's agricultural experience wed with its innovative and powerful tech sector yield "many agriculture technologies" that can support farmers into the future, Friedman, a former agriculture ministry official said. One of the biggest challenges facing agriculture, according...

On Sunday, the Ukrainian embassy charged that "the current Israeli government" had "opted for a path of close cooperation with the Russian Federation". It noted a "near absence of Israeli humanitarian assistance to Ukraine" and a recent statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel needed to cooperate with Russia...

The Biden administration has returned to the long-standing US position of calling for a two-state solution with the Palestinians and criticizing settlement expansion under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Washington has stopped short of any substantive effort at negotiating a peace deal, seeing prospects as highly unlikely with Netanyahu.

In a rare acknowledgment, the Israeli army said that it "failed" to prevent an attack by Jewish settlers on a Palestinian village in the West Bank in which one villager was killed. Revenge attacks on Turmus Ayya and other villages followed the killing of four Israelis by Palestinian gunmen on...

With violence escalating between Palestinians and Israelis, Morocco has postponed a meeting of Arab allies of Israel it was due to host this summer. According to the country's Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita a date for the meeting can be worked out when circumstances are more "favorable." The annual meeting was...

A day after the Israeli army killed six Palestinians, four people were killed on Tuesday near a settlement in the occupied West Bank. Around 100 Jewish settlers attacked residents and set fire to olive groves in Huwara, near Nablus. The deaths are the latest in a surge of violence, leaving...

Kazemi alleged that the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Belgium, Italy and Iran's arch-foe Israel were among the countries involved in inciting the protests, according to excerpts of an interview published by state media. Saudi Arabia, with which Iran has recently resumed diplomatic ties after a seven-year rupture,...

UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland issued a warning on Monday against changes made by the Israeli government that will simplify procedures to authorize settlements in the occupied West Bank. The alterations, expected to expedite settlement expansion, have caused international concern.

"Two martyrs and 28 injured as a result of the ongoing (Israeli) aggression on Jenin," a statement from the Palestinian health ministry said, without elaborating on the identity of those killed. Jenin's deputy governor, Kamal Abu al-Rub said, "The army stormed the (Jenin refugee) camp and the city after the dawn...

JERUSALEM- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to advance the government's controversial judicial reforms, which have seen his premiership marred by mass protest against the proposed overhaul."We will come together this week and begin the practical measures," Netanyahu said at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting in...

The "agreement in principle" would see the semiconductor firm build the facility in southern city Kiryat Gat that would open by 2027 and operate at least until 2035, Israel's finance ministry said. As part of the deal, Intel's taxes to Israel would rise from five to 7.5%, the finance ministry...

Beijing has sought to boost its ties in the Middle East, challenging US influence -- efforts that have sparked unease in Washington. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called long-time Palestinian leader Abbas an "old and good friend of the Chinese people" during a regular media briefing last week.

Jerusalem, Undefined - Israeli defense exports hit an all-time high of $12.5 billion last year, with Arab countries that recently established ties accounting for nearly a quarter of purchase contracts, officials said Wednesday.The defense ministry, which oversees and approves the exports of Israel's defense industries, said one quarter of deals were...

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian in a West Bank raid while four Israelis were injured in a separate shooting incident, as fresh violence broke out, officials said. The Palestinian health ministry said 19-year-old Faris Abdel Moneim Mohammed Hashash "was shot dead by the Israeli occupation forces during the aggression against...

Beijing has sought to boost its ties to the Middle East, challenging long-standing US influence there -- efforts that have sparked unease in Washington. In an interview with Chinese state news agency published this week, Palestinian official Abbas Zaki said China and the Palestinians were "friends closer than brothers".

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - The world's nuclear powers, and China in particular, increased investment in their arsenals for a third consecutive year in 2022 amid swelling geopolitical tensions, two reports showed Monday.The world's nine nuclear-armed states jointly spent $82.9 billion on their arsenals last year, with the United States accounting for more...

JERUSALEM -  Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Monday testified at a Jerusalem court in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ongoing corruption trial.His arrival at the court at around 9:00 am (0600 GMT) was confirmed by two AFP journalists.Lapid's testimony forms part of a case in which Netanyahu is accused of...

"At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, president of the state of Palestine Mahmud Abbas will pay a state visit to China from June 13 to 16," foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said. Beijing has positioned itself as a mediator in the Middle East, brokering the restoration of ties between...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Israel is not happy with the restoration of diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh and is actively seeking to disrupt it, Alireza Enayati, Iran's new ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said in an interview with Iran's al-Alam news network.“Many of our friends and brothers welcomed the restoration...

His comments were a rare acknowledgement by a senior Abbas ally of waning fortunes for the party which has dominated the West Bank since Israel and the Palestinians signed the Oslo peace accords in 1993.

Speaking at the opening of a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said his government had sent a "clear message" to Egypt: "We expect that the joint investigation will be exhaustive and thorough."

Blinken's trip will also focus on efforts to end conflicts in Sudan and Yemen, the joint battle against the Islamic State group and the Arab world's relations with Israel. His visit comes at a time of quickly shifting alliances in the Middle East, centered around a China-brokered rapprochement in March...

Iran's Revolutionary Guards unveiled an intermediate range ballistic missile capable of traveling at hypersonic speeds of up to 15 times the speed of sound, state television reported. President Ebrahim Raisi hailed the new missile's hypersonic capability, saying it would boost Iran's "power of deterrence" and "bring peace and stability to...

Israel participated in the event last year, however only as international military observers, without soldiers taking part on the ground. Morocco and Israel have been working to boost cooperation in the military, security, trade and tourism fields since they normalized ties in December 2020.

"The United States has a real national security interest in promoting normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. We believe we can and indeed we must play an integral role in advancing it," Blinken told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful pro-Israel lobby.

Three Israeli soldiers and a member of Egypt's security forces were killed in a rare exchange of fire near the border between the two countries, official sources from both sides said. The Israeli army said an Egyptian assailant shot dead two soldiers " while they secured a military post at...

Neither the army nor the defence ministry commented on their role in Monday's developments at Homesh when contacted by journalists. The United States, Israel's top ally, said this month it was "deeply troubled by the Israeli government's order that allows its citizens to establish a permanent presence in the Homesh...

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he would welcome a resumption of diplomatic relations with Egypt, during a meeting with Oman's visiting Sultan Haitham bin Tarik. Ties between Tehran and Cairo soured following the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran and Egypt's recognition of Israel, the Islamic republic's sworn enemy.

The Israeli military said "suspects fired heavily at the forces, who responded with fire toward the armed men" during a raid in Jenin. Since the start of the year, at least 155 Palestinians, 20 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,...

Since the start of the war in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against regime positions as well as Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces, allies of Damascus and arch-foes of Israel. Israel rarely comments on the strikes on a case-by-case basis, but says it seeks...

Protesters gathered in other major cities, Haifa and Beersheba, as well as at dozens of junctions and locales throughout the country, to decry what they perceive as a threat to Israel's democracy. The government's reform proposals would curtail the authority of the Supreme Court and give politicians greater powers over...