Israel Police Say Demolished Home of Palestinian Attacker in East Jerusalem 

Smoke billows as the family house of Palestinian Khayri Alqam, a gunman who killed seven people in an attack at synagogue on January 27, 2023, is demolished at the Arab east Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Tur, on November 15, 2023. (AFP)
Smoke billows as the family house of Palestinian Khayri Alqam, a gunman who killed seven people in an attack at synagogue on January 27, 2023, is demolished at the Arab east Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Tur, on November 15, 2023. (AFP)
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Israel Police Say Demolished Home of Palestinian Attacker in East Jerusalem 

Smoke billows as the family house of Palestinian Khayri Alqam, a gunman who killed seven people in an attack at synagogue on January 27, 2023, is demolished at the Arab east Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Tur, on November 15, 2023. (AFP)
Smoke billows as the family house of Palestinian Khayri Alqam, a gunman who killed seven people in an attack at synagogue on January 27, 2023, is demolished at the Arab east Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Tur, on November 15, 2023. (AFP)

Israeli police said Wednesday they had demolished the home of a Palestinian who killed seven Israelis and a Ukrainian near a synagogue in a settlement in annexed east Jerusalem.

Khayri Alqam was shot dead in the January 27 attack and his family later received a demolition order for their apartment, under a long-standing policy to punish the families of Palestinians who kill Israelis.

At the time, the United Nations said the shooting in Neve Yaakov was the deadliest attack on Israelis since 2008.

The Alqam home in the al-Tur neighborhood was sealed within 48 hours of the shooting, with relatives forced to clear out their belongings and leave.

Israel occupied east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognized internationally.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extreme-right coalition partners moved in January to further punish the families of Palestinian attackers, such as by removing their social security rights.

Khayri Alqam shared the name of his grandfather, who was killed in 1998, allegedly by an Israeli extremist.

An Israeli man was arrested in 2010 for that attack and a series of other murders of Palestinians, although he was later released and ultimately no one was convicted over the killing.



Most Intense Fighting for Years Rocks Libyan Capital 

Libyans walk past a burnt vehicle after Monday evening clashes between armed militias in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP)
Libyans walk past a burnt vehicle after Monday evening clashes between armed militias in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP)
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Most Intense Fighting for Years Rocks Libyan Capital 

Libyans walk past a burnt vehicle after Monday evening clashes between armed militias in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP)
Libyans walk past a burnt vehicle after Monday evening clashes between armed militias in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP)

The most intense clashes for years rocked Tripoli for a second night and continued into Wednesday morning, witnesses in the Libyan capital said, after Monday's killing of a major militia leader set off fighting between rival factions.

The United Nations Libya mission UNSMIL said it was "deeply alarmed by the escalating violence in densely populated neighborhoods of Tripoli" and urgently called for a ceasefire.

The latest unrest in Libya's capital could consolidate the power of Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, head of the divided country's Government of National Unity (GNU).

Libya has had little stability since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ousted longtime ruler Moammar al-Gaddafi and the country split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions, though an outbreak of major warfare paused with a truce in 2020.

While eastern Libya has been dominated for a decade by commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA), control in Tripoli and western Libya has been splintered among numerous armed factions.

Dbeibah on Tuesday ordered the dismantling of what he called irregular armed groups.

That announcement followed Monday's killing of major militia chief Abdulghani Kikli, widely known as Ghaniwa, and the sudden defeat of his Stabilization Support Apparatus (SSA) group by factions aligned with Dbeibah.

The seizure of SSA territory in Libya by the Dbeibah-allied factions, the 444 and 111 Brigades, indicated a major concentration of power in the fragmented capital, leaving the Special Deterrence Force (Rada) as the last big faction not closely tied to the GNU head.