Israel-Palestine conflict highlights: EU vows to boost efforts to end Israeli-Palestinian fighting

President Joe Biden's administration approved the potential sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to Israel, and congressional sources said on Monday that US lawmakers were not expected to object to the deal despite violence between Israel and Palestinian militants.

. The head of Sudan's civilian-military ruling council defended Monday his country's move to normalise ties with Israel, saying it "has nothing to do with the Palestinians' right to their own state."

The remarks, by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, came amid a deadly flare-up of violence between Israel and the Palestinians that has killed more than 200 people, mostly residents of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

Four Arab countries -- Sudan, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain -- last year normalised, or pledged to normalise, relations with the Jewish state. - AFP

. German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the current escalation in the Mideast conflict and emphasised Germany's solidarity with Israel and the country's right to self-defence.

. The European Union will redouble its efforts to end the upsurge in violence between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants, and seek progress during a special meeting of its foreign ministers Tuesday, the bloc said.

The EU also called the weekend destruction of a building housing major international media “extremely worrying” and said safe working conditions for journalists were essential. - AP

. The protection of health workers and infrastructure is "imperative in all circumstances" the World Health Organization chief said Monday, condemning the escalating violence between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza.

"Health workers and infrastructure should always be protected and I call for leaders on all sides to ensure respect for these vital humanitarian laws," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. - AFP

. Last night (Sunday), IDF troops spotted a number of Lebanese suspects approaching the security fence.

IDF soldiers that were deployed in a number of places along the security fence spotted the suspects and distanced them. It appears that the suspects were unarmed.

Following searches this morning in the area, damage to the security fence was identified.

The IDF views any attempt to breach Israel's sovereignty with great severity, and will continue to operate in both overt and covert ways in the area.

. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged Israel and Palestinians to "protect civilians, especially children", reiterating that Israel "as a democracy has an extra burden" to do so.

"We'll continue to conduct intensive diplomacy to bring this current cycle of violence to an end" and "we are ready to lend support, if the parties seek a ceasefire", Blinken told a press conference in Copenhagen.

He reiterated Washington's support for Israel's right "to defend itself", stressing there was "no equivalence between a terrorist group indiscriminately firing rockets at civilians and a country defending its people from those attacks." - AFP

. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged all parties in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to protect civilians and said the United States is working intensively to an end to the violence.

"We have been working around the clock through diplomatic channels to try to bring an end to the conflict," Blinken said at a joint briefing with Denmark's foreign minister in Copenhagen. - Reuters

. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said Monday it was providing emergency assistance for more than 51,000 people in northern Gaza and appealed for $46 million for its work in the region.

Israeli air strikes hammered the Gaza Strip Monday after a week of violence that has killed more than 200 people, the large majority Palestinian, despite international calls for de-escalation.

"For people who have lost or fled their homes, one of the most pressing needs at the moment is food," said WFP country director Samer AbdelJaber in a statement issued by the Rome-based agency. - AFP

. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday urged Pope Francis to help end what he called Israel's "massacre" of Palestinians, which should be punished with sanctions, his office said.

. The statement read, "As of 7:00, since the beginning of operation "Guardian of the Walls", approximately 3,150 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip at Israeli territory, of which approximately 460 failed launches fell in the Gaza Strip." "The Iron Dome Air Defense System has an intercept rate of approximately 90%," it added

. The Associated Press' top editor is calling for an independent investigation into the Israeli airstrike that targeted and destroyed a Gaza City building housing the AP, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media, saying the public deserves to know the facts.

(PTI)

. Canadian police used tear gas Sunday following clashes between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters in Montreal, as the worst violence in years raged between the Jewish state and Islamist militants.

Several hundred demonstrators, draped in Israeli flags, had gathered in a central Montreal square to express solidarity with the Jewish state.

Although the protest had begun peacefully, tensions ratcheted up with the arrival of pro-Palestinian demonstrators andclashessoon broke out.

(AFP)

. Tel Aviv’s city hall launched a playful social media campaign this month declaring itself a vaccinated city eager to welcome back international travelers on their first post-coronavirus trips abroad.

That was before the rockets began to strike.

. Twenty-seven days before the first rocket was fired from Gaza this week, a squad of Israeli police officers entered the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, brushed the Palestinian attendants aside and strode across its vast limestone courtyard. Then they cut the cables to the loudspeakers that broadcast prayers to the faithful from four medieval minarets.

. The Israeli Defense Forces issued a statement to say that nine additional residences belonging to high ranking commanders in the Hamas terror organization that were used as terror infrastructure were struck. "The residences that were struck were used as terror infrastructure. Some of the residences were used to store weapons," the statement read.

The statement mentioned the residences it struck. "Among the Hamas terror organization commander's residences that were struck: the residence of the Beit Hanoun battalion commander, the residence of the Beit Hanoun company commander, the residence of a company commander in the Sabara battalion in the city of Gaza and the residence of a company commander in the Shati battalion."

A home in Shejaiya used by Hamas military intelligence was also targeted.

. The Israeli military said that an attack on a militant tunnel system in Gaza on Sunday had caused civilian houses to collapse, causing unintended civilian casualities. Aircraft struck at a tunnel system used by the Islamist militant group Hamas under a road in Gaza City, the military said in a statement.

. Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group faced mounting international calls for a ceasefire in hostilities that entered their second week on Monday with no end in sight.

. Amid escalating tensions between Gaza and Israel, India on Sunday urged "both sides" to show extreme restraint and refrain from attempts to unilaterally change the existing status-quo, underlining that “immediate de-escalation" is the need of the hour.

. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday defended the strike on the Gaza tower that housed the Associated Press and Al Jazeera bureaus, alleging it also hosted a Palestinian "terrorist" intelligence office.

Israel-Palestine conflict highlights: EU vows to boost efforts to end Israeli-Palestinian fighting

'Biden administration approved $735 million arms sale to Israel'

Sudan's Burhan defends normalisation of ties with Israel

Angela Merkel, Benjamin Netanyahu speak about Mideast conflict

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