Latest news with #Salhut
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Israeli forces raid foreign exchange shops in occupied West Bank; one dead
Israeli forces have raided money exchanges across the occupied West Bank, using live fire and tear gas as they stormed the city of Nablus, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding more than 30. Exchange shops in the cities of Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron Arrabeh, el-Bireh, Bethlehem, Jenin and Tubas were attacked on Tuesday, residents said. In the northern city of Nablus, Israeli soldiers raided a foreign exchange belonging to the Al-Khaleej company and a gold store, according to local media reports. They also fired smoke bombs in the centre of Jenin, and streets were closed in Tubas and Bethlehem in the occupied Palestinian territory. The Ramallah-based Ministry of Health said one man was killed and eight injured by live ammunition during a raid in Nablus. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it treated 20 people for tear gas inhalation and three injured by rubber bullets. The raids on foreign exchanges came as Israel continued its intensified military campaign in Gaza, killing more than 54,000 Palestinians since the war began on October 7, 2023, as tens of thousands of people starve in the besieged Army Radio on Tuesday said Israel conducted the raids on foreign exchanges on suspicions that the shops supported 'terrorism'. The radio station also said the operation resulted in the confiscation of large amounts of money designated for 'terrorism infrastructure' in the West Bank. 'Israeli forces are taking action against Al-Khaleej Exchange Company due to its connections with terrorist organisations,' a leaflet left by Israeli forces at the company's Ramallah location read. Al Jazeera's Hamdah Salhut said Israeli authorities have not released an official statement yet but an official talked to the Israeli media about the raids. 'This official said earlier that Israel 'believes' – not that it has any evidence or proof – but 'believes' that these cash exchange places are funnelling money to what they call terror organisations,' said Salhut, who was reporting from Amman, Jordan, because Israel has banned Al Jazeera from reporting from Israel and the West Bank. 'The people who own these shops say they were not given any sort of proof by the Israeli military,' she added. Salhut said it was the fourth time such raids have taken place since the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza. 'The first time was in December of 2023 when five different cash exchange places were raided by the Israeli military and they seized nearly $3m,' she said. 'It happened again in August 2024 and again in September of that same year.' Hamas denounced the Israeli raids, saying they 'constitute a new chapter in the occupation's open war against the Palestinian people, their lives, their economy, and all the foundations of their steadfastness and perseverance on their land'. 'These assaults on economic institutions, accompanied by the looting of large sums of money and the confiscation of property, are an extension of the piracy policies adopted by the [Israeli] occupation government,' the Palestinian group said in a statement, adding that the targeted companies were 'operating within the law'. Hamas urged the Palestinian Authority to take measures against the Israeli attacks. Separately, the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement said the raids are 'part of the open war against our people, targeting their very existence and cause'. The group also urged the Palestinian Authority to 'defend' Palestinians from such attacks and 'halt its policy of security coordination' with Israel.
Al Jazeera
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Hamas to release six Israeli captives, hand over four bodies this week
Hamas will release six Israeli captives and hand over the bodies of four others this week as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, the group's leader in the enclave said. Khalil al-Hayya, head of the Palestinian group in Gaza said the handover of the bodies will take place in Gaza on Thursday and that six living Israeli captives will be released on Saturday. 'Hamas has proven, along with the resistance, its seriousness in implementing the agreement with full responsibility,' he said on Tuesday. 'We stress the need to oblige the occupation to implement all provisions of the agreement without procrastination. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that talks in Egypt resulted in an agreement on the release of six living Israeli captives on Saturday as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal with Hamas. Israel will also receive the bodies of four dead captives on Thursday, before another four bodies later next week, the statement said. The first phase of the Gaza truce, which was brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, is due to expire on March 1. Negotiations on the next stages, including a permanent end to the war, have not yet begun. Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera's Hamdah Salhut said the releases could be a major development regarding negotiations on phase two of the ceasefire. 'Hamas said they are doing this because they want the second phase to take place. The Israelis have been asking for this for about a week now, saying they want the bodies of some captives to be released sooner than the end of phase one,' she said. Salhut noted that the bodies of members of the Bibas family were expected to be handed over on Thursday. In November 2023, Hamas announced the family was killed in an Israeli air strike. Husband and father Yarden Bibas was released last month as part of phase one of the ceasefire deal. 'The Israeli military had said they had great concerns over the fate of the mother and her two children, but did not confirm whether they were killed. Hamas now confirms they will be releasing the bodies,' Salhut added. Former director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry Alon Liel, pointed out that Hamas returning bodies of the Israeli captives to the Red Cross, 'could have a devastating effect on the Israeli public.' He said it would be a day of mourning in Israel which would shock the people. 'But it is still better than getting nothing from Hamas. We would love to have all the living hostages and the bodies back in Israel as soon as possible,' Liel said. Israel seeks 'maximum flexibility' in talks Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal in Gaza on January 19, after more than 460 days of a war that has devastated the Palestinian territory. However, Israel has violated the ceasefire in Gaza 266 times, killing at least 132 people, Palestinian security sources told Al Jazeera on Tuesday. Since the ceasefire took effect, Israeli leaders have also discussed the possibility of an imminent return to fighting in Gaza, with far-right ministers in Netanyahu's cabinet pushing for a military occupation of the enclave, while US President Donald Trump has called for the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera, said Israel is looking for 'maximum flexibility' in advance of potential talks over the second phase of the truce deal with Hamas. 'On the one hand, there are whispers that at least some in the Israeli government want to move to phase two of the Gaza ceasefire and [US President] Donald Trump's Middle East envoy said he is confident there will be a phase two. All of that seems to be positive,' Elmasry said. 'On the other hand, Israel and the US are in a way talking from both sides of their mouth because they're still talking about the complete eradication of Hamas and Trump's forced expulsion and ethnic cleansing plan for Gaza,' Elmasry added. On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that Israel will begin negotiations 'this week' on the second phase of the ceasefire deal in Gaza. 'We had yesterday night a security cabinet meeting. We decided to open negotiations on the second phase. It will happen this week,' Saar said of the talks, which were originally supposed to start on February 3. He added that Israel demands 'a total demilitarisation of Gaza and no presence of the Palestinian Authority'.
Al Jazeera
06-02-2025
- Health
- Al Jazeera
Violent Israeli raids forcibly displace 26,000 Palestinians in West Bank
Thousands of Palestinians have been displaced and dozens of homes have been demolished after more than two weeks of deadly Israeli siege and raids in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, including Jenin refugee camp. 'The Israeli army says they have launched a 'counterterrorism' operation to combat armed Palestinian fighters. But if you look at what is going on, you have 26,000 Palestinians who have been forcibly displaced, forced to leave their homes,' said Al Jazeera's Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, Jordan. 'The Israeli army has detonated homes in Jenin, Tulkarem and now Nablus. The army says some of these homes were used for military infrastructure but did not provide any sort of evidence to prove those claims. 'The Israeli army is levelling residential blocks, mirroring essentially what they have been doing in Gaza, detonating homes and killing many Palestinians,' Salhut said. The Israeli military has destroyed vast swaths of Gaza and killed more than 47,000 people, including at least 25,000 children and women, although authorities in Gaza updated the death toll to 61,709 earlier this week to account for the 14,222 people missing and presumed dead. Israeli forces have killed more than 70 people, including 10 children, in the occupied West Bank since the start of the year, the Palestinian Ministry of Health says. At least 38 people have been killed in Jenin alone, according to the ministry's tally released on Monday. 'Since Gaza ceasefire was announced on January 19 it [Israel] has conducted large scale operations across West Bank, saying it was also one of the goals of the war to combat armed Palestinians. But Palestinians say it's the civilians who are facing the brunt of Israeli army incursions,' the Al Jazeera correspondent said. 'The Army has put up so many additional checkpoints throughout the territory that it has become nearly impossible for Palestinians to move around, they cannot go to school, they cannot go to work, they cannot go to hospital.' In a new report, Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said that the healthcare system in the occupied West Bank has been in 'a state of perpetual emergency' since October 2023. 'A dramatic escalation in violence, marked by prolonged Israeli military incursions and stricter movement restrictions … have severely hindered access to essential services, particularly healthcare, exacerbating already dire living conditions for many Palestinians,' it said. The report examined 'the attacks and the obstructions of healthcare in a context of, what has been described by the ICJ (International Criminal Court) as segregation and apartheid'. It revealed 'a pattern of systematic interference by Israeli forces and settlers in emergency healthcare delivery'. The Palestinian Health Ministry says Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 884 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Gaza war began on October 7, 2023.
