Israel's Tourism Minister Haim Katz is the first Israeli minister to head an official delegation in Saudi Arabia, where he would attend a United Nations World Tourism Organization event in Riyadh.

The delegation was led by the Saudi non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian territories, Nayef al-Sudairi, who was to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and top Palestinian diplomat Riyad al-Maliki. Sudairi, the oil-rich kingdom's envoy to Jordan, was last month also named for the Palestinian territories post and appointed consul general for...

In recent days, violence has also risen in the Gaza Strip, with Palestinians in the coastal enclave holding protests along the Israeli border fence that have turned violent. The violence in Gaza follows an Israeli announcement late on Sunday that it would keep the Erez border crossing closed. The crossing...

Tel Aviv, Israel - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is considering a trip to the Middle East in October as part of Washington's ongoing efforts to broker a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, according to a report published in The Times of Israel.  The proposed visit would...

The report published on Wednesday by the UK-based organization Save the Children said that nearly 400 children in Gaza, at least two children per day, were denied permits to travel to the West Bank and receive critical treatment in the first six months of 2023.

"The foreign minister and I agreed that we should work together to increase the number of direct flights, the tourism, the trade volume, the investment," Eli Cohen said during a ceremony to inaugurate Israel's new embassy. The embassy in the capital Manama will replace the first embassy Israel opened in...

Israel's defence ministry said its security personnel at the Hashmonaim checkpoint were informed by the army that the truck was coming their way. In a separate statement, Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant offered his condolences to the family of the soldier killed and praised the security forces "for their determined...

The incident comes two days after an Israeli father and son were gunned down at a car wash in the town of Huwara, also in the West Bank, amid rising violence in the territory. The Magen David Adom emergency service said in a statement that a woman was "confirmed dead"...

RAMALLAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Two Israeli civilians were killed in a suspected shooting attack in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the army said. "A suspected shooting attack was carried out at a number of Israeli civilians in the area of the town of Huwara," an army statement said, adding that two...

Jerusalem--The European Union has disbursed $24 million for the payment of social allowances to 71,162 vulnerable Palestinian families through the National Cash Transfer Program. The European Union for the past 17 years has been a steadfast supporter of the Palestinian Authority's (PA) Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), collaborating to ensure...

Dubai, UAE - In a significant policy shift, the Australian government has announced its decision to reinstate the term "Occupied Palestinian Territories." The move comes alongside a renewed commitment to opposing "illegal" Israeli settlements and expressing concerns about obstacles to peace in the region. Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong...

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and its forces regularly make incursions into Palestinian communities.

In a statement, the Israeli army cited Palestinian reports and witnesses as saying clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli civilians who were herding sheep near Burqa village. Both sides threw rocks, the Palestinians let off fireworks and "Israeli civilians shot towards the Palestinians," the army said.

The reconciliation effort is designed to bridge the gap between the parallel governments of Hamas in the blockaded Gaza Strip and of the Palestinian Authority -- controlled by Abbas's secularist Fatah movement -- which administers Palestinian-run areas of the occupied West Bank.

So far this year, violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has killed at least 203 Palestinians, 27 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources on both sides. They include, on the Palestinian side, combatants as well as civilians and, on the Israeli side, three members of the...

NABLUS, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Israeli forces have shot dead a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said on Saturday, in what the army described as a "car ramming attempt" near here. Fawzi Mukhalifa, 18, "was killed by the occupation (Israeli) bullets in the town of Sebastia" late on Friday,...

Until now, Palestinians with United States citizenship could not enter Israel through Ben Gurion airport without obtaining visas, but had to enter through Jordan. Citizens of 40 countries are exempt from visas for short stays in the United States for leisure or business.

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...

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...

Dubai, UAE - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) pledged on Thursday $15 million to support the rebuilding efforts in the Palestinian city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank. The announcement comes in the wake of a major Israeli operation in the area earlier this week, which resulted in significant...

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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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,...

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, said that the three were among the group's "fighters". The health ministry identified the three men killed in an overnight Israeli army raid in the Balata refugee camp as Muhammad Abu Zaytoun, Fathi Abu Rizk and...

Jabbet Al-Dhib , Palestinian Territories -- Israeli forces on Sunday demolished a Palestinian primary school in the occupied West Bank, citing safety issues and drawing sharp criticism from the European Union which had funded the project. Palestinians hurled rocks at Israeli forces who fired tear gas at them as bulldozers moved...

Israel transferred a Jordanian member of parliament to Amman's authorities, weeks after arresting him for attempting to smuggle pistols, rifles and gold into the occupied West Bank, officials said. Imad Adwan was detained at the Israel-administered Allenby (King Hussein) crossing between Jordan and the West Bank on April 22.

Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, as the army claimed to have targeted the perpetrators of a "shooting attack". "Two martyrs, shot by the occupation (Israeli forces) arrived at Thabet Thabet government hospital," in Tulkarm, the health ministry said in a...

Jordan's foreign ministry said that Israel has arrested Imad Adwan, a member of parliament, suspected of smuggling weapons and gold into the occupied West Bank. The ministry said that Amman is following the case and that he has been arrested "for interrogation in a case concerning alleged smuggling of quantities...

"(We're a) group of people that wants to end the situation of violence and the hatred between members of the two populations," said Khaled Abu Awad, the Palestinian partner in the initiative. Alaa, a 25-year-old Palestinian from Jerusalem, said he was attending for the first time and did not feel...

NABLUS, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Israeli forces shot and wounded seven people in a raid Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said as the Israeli army confirmed an operation was underway. The ministry reported "six minor injuries from live fire" reached Jenin governmental hospital, while another person shot...

The pro-Palestinian rallies follow months of unrest in Iran sparked by the September death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young women arrested for an alleged breach of strict dress rules. The rallies, an annual fixture since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, are held on the last Friday of Ramadan.

Jerusalem, Undefined - Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Israel's defense minister Yoav Gallant said. "I commend the actions of the soldiers who eliminated two terrorists who opened fire on them near Elon Moreh" an illegal Jewish settlement near the West Bank city of Nablus,...

Mohammed Fayez Balhan, 15, was killed after being shot "with live occupation (Israeli) bullets in the head, chest and abdomen", the Palestinian ministry said. An earlier statement said two people were injured by "occupation (Israeli) bullets".

VATICAN CITY, HOLY SEE - Pope Francis underlined his "deep concern" over a flare-up in tensions between Israel and Palestinians, as he led Easter Mass on Sunday. He said the renewed violence "threatens the desired climate of trust and mutual respect needed to resume dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians," as he...

Israeli forces have carried out a number of deadly raids in the The raid came two days after a peak in violence that saw two killed in confrontations with Israeli forces, amid fears of escalation in the conflict during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. In a Monday statement, the...

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and "reaffirmed the importance of the enduring US– Israel bilateral relationship. The top US diplomat "emphasized the importance of refraining from unilateral actions that exacerbate tensions," a statement said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the parliamentary vote scraps "a discriminatory and humiliating law, that prohibited Jews from living in areas in northern Samaria, which is part of our historic homeland," using the biblical name for the northern West Bank.

The parliamentary vote notably paves the way for Israeli authorities to formally allow settlers to return to Homesh, the only one of the four sites whose residents were forcibly removed before their homes were demolished. Most governments around the world consider all Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories as illegal...

Cairo, Egypt - Israeli and Palestinian officials were holding talks in Egypt on Sunday "to restore calm" after a surge in deadly violence in the occupied West Bank, Egypt's foreign ministry said. The meeting, which follows similar talks last month in Jordan where both sides pledged to prevent more violence, comes...

The Palestinian health ministry announced the death of Yazan Omar Jamil Khasib, 23, who died "after the occupation (Israel) opened fire on him at the northern entrance of Al-Bireh" city near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army said "soldiers spotted a suspect and asked him to identify...

Thirty houses were burned and damaged, according to local officials, after dozens of Israeli settlers set them ablaze. Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's finance minister and an extreme-right settler, later said "Huwara needs to be wiped out", sparking widespread condemnation, including from the UAE, the UN, the United States and France.