Israeli PM's Office: Netanyahu 'Successfully Underwent Routine Colonoscopy'
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu successfully underwent a routine colonoscopy this morning at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem," a statement from his office said.
It comes after the United States said Thursday Israel had approved a new Gaza ceasefire proposal submitted to Hamas, but the Palestinian militant group said it failed to satisfy its demands.
Netanyahu's government has hit back at growing international pressure over the war in Gaza, the deadliest fighting in decades of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
The war has killed around 54,000 Palestinians, Palestinian health authorities say, more than in any other of the countless rounds of fighting between the two sides.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
23 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
Russia's Putin says UAE is one of the appropriate places to meet Trump
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the suitable places to hold a meeting with United States President Donald Trump. Putin said that he was not 'on the whole' against meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, adding that 'certain conditions should be created' for such a meeting. He stressed that the current situation was 'far' from being ready for it.
Arab News
23 minutes ago
- Arab News
Sri Lankan activists call on govt to revoke visa-free policy for Israeli nationals
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan activists are calling on President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to revoke the government's decision to grant visa-free entry to Israeli nationals, a policy they say contradicts the island nation's long-standing solidarity with Palestine. Sri Lanka has moved to extend its visa-free entry policy to tourists from 40 countries, including Israel, to attract more tourists and speed up the country's economic recovery, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath announced last month. The decision to include Israel was swiftly opposed by members of Sri Lanka's civil society, who demanded that Dissanayake exclude Israelis from the policy. Sri Lankans have also taken to the streets to protest the government's decision, including a demonstration outside the presidential secretariat in Colombo on Tuesday, and a similar rally in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week. Thanzeela Ousman, who participated in Tuesday's protest, told Arab News: 'This (visa-free) policy was introduced while the world is witnessing what many, including even Israeli human rights organizations, are calling a genocide in Gaza. 'These groups are urging the international community to impose political and economic pressure on Israel to stop the violence. Instead, our government is offering free access to Israeli nationals, effectively rewarding an aggressive state. 'At the very minimum, Sri Lanka should suspend this visa-free policy and re-evaluate all ties with Israel. We should be aligning with global calls for (a) ceasefire, humanitarian access, and justice, not offering red carpets.' Swasthika Arulingam, a Sri Lankan lawyer and human rights activist, said that since Israel has mandatory military service for citizens over 18, effectively making most of them members of the Israel Defense Forces, the visa policy was a matter of national security. 'This is a terrible policy for the country … When they are being encouraged to come to a tourist area in Sri Lanka, that itself is a national security concern because they're fighting in a foreign army,' she told Arab News. Arulingam also highlighted how the Sri Lankan government has recognized Palestine as a state since 1988 and voted to support numerous UN resolutions opposing Israel. 'They can't maintain a duplicity by essentially inviting the same IDF soldiers who are committing war crimes to the Palestinian people — committing genocide — to come to Sri Lanka for recreation. When you do that, you are directly complicit in the genocide,' she said. 'During the 1940s, it would have been like inviting the Nazis to come and have a holiday camp in Sri Lanka … It's very similar to that.' Concerns over tourists from Israel have been growing in Sri Lanka. The government has vowed to crack down on reported illegal activities carried out by Israeli tourists in the coastal town of Arugam Bay earlier this year, following a series of complaints regarding their arrival in the country. Civil society groups have protested and petitioned for special screenings of Israelis, after at least one Israeli tourist was identified as a soldier accused of war crimes. Israel has killed more than 61,100 Palestinians and wounded over 151,400 since October 2023. The true death toll is feared to be much higher, with research published in The Lancet medical journal in January estimating an underreporting of deaths by 41 percent. The study says the toll may be higher, as it does not include deaths caused by starvation, injury and lack of access to healthcare, caused by the Israeli military's destruction of most of Gaza's infrastructure and the blocking of medical and food aid. In a letter to Dissanayake, lawmaker Mujeebur Rahman described the government's decision to include Israel in the visa-free policy as a 'shameful decision.' 'This allows credibly accused war criminals to enter our motherland and possibly escape justice. It is further alarming to note that Palestine is not among the nations that can enter Sri Lanka without a visa. This is not what is expected from the leadership of a country that has consistently supported a free Palestine,' he wrote. 'Your government's decision to open the country without due diligence, scrutiny and vetting to IDF members, war criminals, criminal settlers in (the) occupied West Bank and Zionist extremists will inevitably land you and Sri Lanka among the international rejects complicit in the genocide. This will certainly outweigh the currency you expect to gain from tourism.' Despite the protests, Sri Lankan activists say there has been no response from the government. Shaamil Hussein, a member of the Free Palestine Movement of Sri Lanka, told Arab News: 'Many Sri Lankans over here … empathize with the Palestinian struggle for justice and self-determination. 'By allowing visa-free entry for Israelis, the government may be seen as compromising its historical support for Palestine.' 'It's vital for Sri Lanka to maintain its principal stance against injustice and oppression.'
Saudi Gazette
an hour ago
- Saudi Gazette
Israel using US munitions to ‘indiscriminately' attack Gaza school shelters: Human Rights Watch
WASHINGTON — The Israeli military has 'illegally and indiscriminately' used US munitions to attack school shelters in Gaza, killing hundreds of people, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says. The US-based campaigners' report, 'Gaza: Israeli School Strikes Magnify Civilian Peril,' was published Thursday. Israel's campaign following the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023 has made the vast majority of Gaza's 2.1 million people homeless – forcing many to flee their neighborhoods in search of civilian infrastructure. Israel has frequently said its strikes on school facilities in Gaza target embedded Hamas fighters. But HRW said it only found seven instances where the military published details of alleged militants killed – and highlighted two strikes, which killed nearly 50 people, where they found no evidence of any military target. Such attacks would violate international law because schools and other educational facilities are civilian objects and protected from attack, HRW said. They lose that protection when used for military purposes or are occupied by military forces. But the use of schools to house civilians does not alter their legal status. HRW called on the US and other governments to halt arms sales to Israel, given the 'clear risk' that weapons might be used to commit or facilitate 'serious violations' of international humanitarian law.' Washington's supply of arms to Israel has made the US 'complicit' in their lawful use, the group said.'Israeli strikes on schools sheltering displaced families provide a window into the widespread carnage that Israeli forces have carried out in Gaza,' Gerry Simpson, associate crisis, conflict and arms director at HRW, said in the report.'Other governments should not tolerate this horrendous slaughter of Palestinians merely seeking safety,' added Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it 'operates exclusively on the grounds of military necessity and in strict accordance with international law.''It must be emphasized that the report blatantly ignores Hamas' systematic pattern of unlawfully embedding its' military assets, including weapons and ammunition in, beneath, and in proximity to densely populated civilian areas, and cynically exploits civilian infrastructure for terror purposes,' the IDF added.'Specifically, it has been well documented that Hamas exploits schools and UNRWA facilities for its military activities by building military networks beneath and within schools; establishing command-and-control centers within them, launching attacks toward IDF forces from them, and imprisoning hostages in them.'The military said it takes 'feasible precautions' to mitigate harm to civilians as much as possible and 'regrets any harm caused to uninvolved civilians.'Israeli attacks on school shelters in Gaza have killed at least 836 Palestinians and injured another 2,527 people, as of July 18, HRW reported, citing the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).HRW investigated two such attacks where it identified the use of US munitions. The agency said it reviewed satellite imagery, photos, and videos of the attacks and their aftermath, as well as social media and interviews with has previously reported on the use of US weaponry in deadly strikes and has reached out to the State Department for comment on the HRW July 27, 2024, the Israeli military launched at least three strikes on the Khadija girls' school in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza. At least 15 people were on September 21, Israel struck Al-Zeitoun school, northern Gaza. At least 34 people were killed.'Can you imagine, a building full of displaced people leveled in the blink of an eye?' a journalist cited in the HRW report said. 'I saw people with serious and more minor injuries, and then saw human remains on the ground.'The allegations chimed with repeated human rights warnings that Israel's 22-month bombing and siege has rendered much of the enclave said attacks on school shelters have diminished access to refuge, exacerbated reconstruction challenges, and disrupted education among a pre-war population of more than 2.2 million people – where half of those are under the age of least 97% of schools in Gaza have sustained damage, the UNICEF-led Education Cluster reported in August. Efforts to rebuild destroyed homes in Gaza could take until 2040, the UN said in May. The level of destruction is so extensive that it would require external assistance on a scale not seen since 1948, the agency least 61,158 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the Ministry of Health there reported on Wednesday. At least 193 people have starved to death, including 96 children, the ministry Palestinian student told CNN that days spent going to university have been replaced by a brutal struggle for survival repeated displacement, and severe hunger.'The war came and destroyed everything,' Raghad Ezzat Hamouda, 20, told CNN on Wednesday.'I lost my ambitions and dreams,' added Hamouda, who is displaced with nine family members in Tal Al-Hawa, central Gaza. 'Gaza has become uninhabitable. (There are) no homes, no schools, no universities, no infrastructure... Just ashes.' — CNN
