Netanyahu Vows to Restore Security in Israel after Surging Violence

Demonstrators walk with Israeli flags past a banner depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a protest against his government's plans to reform the judicial system in Tel Aviv, on March 25, 2023. Oded Balilty, AP
Demonstrators walk with Israeli flags past a banner depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a protest against his government's plans to reform the judicial system in Tel Aviv, on March 25, 2023. Oded Balilty, AP
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Netanyahu Vows to Restore Security in Israel after Surging Violence

Demonstrators walk with Israeli flags past a banner depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a protest against his government's plans to reform the judicial system in Tel Aviv, on March 25, 2023. Oded Balilty, AP
Demonstrators walk with Israeli flags past a banner depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a protest against his government's plans to reform the judicial system in Tel Aviv, on March 25, 2023. Oded Balilty, AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to restore security "on all fronts" after surging violence that included rocket fire from Lebanon and Syria and two more deaths on Monday.

Netanyahu also reinstated the defense minister whose firing he announced last month, AFP said.

Heavy clashes, shootings, rocket strikes and a car-ramming attack have marred a period when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan coincides with the Jewish Passover and Christian Easter.

The latest casualties were a Palestinian teenager and a British-Israeli mother who succumbed on Monday to injuries from a West Bank gun attack that earlier killed her two daughters.

The day after Israeli police on Wednesday stormed the prayer hall of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque -- Islam's third-holiest site -- more than 30 rockets were fired from Lebanese soil into Israel.

The Israeli army said the attack was most likely carried out by the Palestinian armed movement Hamas.

Israel then bombarded the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon, targeting "terror infrastructures" it said belonged to Hamas.

"We will not allow the terrorist Hamas to establish itself in Lebanon", by acting on "all fronts", Netanyahu said at a news conference Monday.

Israeli-Palestinian violence had already intensified since Netanyahu's new government took power in December, a coalition with extreme-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.

The latest surge came late last month after he announced a "pause" for dialogue on judicial reform legislation, which split the nation and caused divisions in his government.

Among the political casualties was Yoav Gallant, whom the prime minister dismissed on March 26 after he called for a halt to the legislative process, citing national security concerns and threats by reserve military personnel not to report for duty.

Netanyahu is currently battling very low levels of domestic popularity. A recent survey showed him likely to lose if an election were held now.

At his news conference, Netanyahu said he and Gallant had "difficult disputes" but he had decided to put them in the past.

"Gallant remains in his post and we will continue to work together for the safety of the citizens of Israel," he added.

In Tel Aviv, several hundred protesters took to the streets to denounce the government and condemn the prime minister's speech, according to images broadcast by Israeli television.

West Bank march
Earlier Monday several government ministers joined a protest march by Jewish settlers, held under tight security in the north of the occupied West Bank.

In the latest shooting in the territory, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager, Mohammed Fayez Balhan, 15, and wounded two other people, the Palestinian health ministry said, during what the army described as a raid to arrest a "terror suspect".

The Israeli army confirmed its forces were operating in the Aqabat Jaber camp, the site of previous deadly Israeli raids this year, near Jericho, where soldiers were seeking "to apprehend a terror suspect".

The army said troops responded with live fire after "suspects opened fire toward (soldiers), hurled explosive devices and Molotov cocktails".

A suspect was taken in by security forces, they added.

Clashes erupted when the army entered the camp and surrounded several houses, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. A Palestinian security official told AFP that five individuals had been arrested during the raid.

Hamas said it mourned the "young martyr" and praised those "standing up to this arrogant enemy".

British-Israeli mother dies

The operation came as a Jerusalem hospital confirmed that a British-Israeli woman, Lucy (Leah) Dee, had died after being seriously injured in a shooting attack Friday in the West Bank that killed her two daughters, aged 16 and 20.

Their car came under fire in the Jordan Valley, where Jericho is also located. The families were residents of Efrat, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly tweeted that there could be "no justification" for the "senseless violence".

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War and hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers live in Israeli-approved settlements there which are considered illegal under international law.

Hundreds of Israelis marched Monday in the north of the West Bank, pushing for state approval of an Israeli settler outpost.

Several government ministers -- including Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir -- appeared at the march to Eviatar, whose residents agreed to leave in 2021 while officials examined their case.

Addressing the crowd, Ben-Gvir said "the response to terror is to build" settlements.

Violence has flared anew since Israeli police stormed the prayer hall of Al-Aqsa mosque in a pre-dawn operation aimed at dislodging "law-breaking youths and masked agitators" they said had barricaded themselves inside.

Late Friday, an Italian tourist was killed and seven others wounded in a car-ramming attack in Tel Aviv.

The Israeli army also said it had launched strikes on targets in Syria Sunday after rockets fired from there landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The conflict has this year claimed the lives of at least 94 Palestinians, 19 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian, according to an AFP count based on Israeli and Palestinian official sources.

These figures include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, including minors, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, including minors, and three members of the Arab minority.



Zelenskyy Visits Canada to Seek Further Military Support for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (archive)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (archive)
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Zelenskyy Visits Canada to Seek Further Military Support for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (archive)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (archive)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Canada on Thursday for talks with Prime Minister Mark Carney, his latest international trip aimed at locking in future support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine is under pressure from Russia’s air war, which is using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to pierce defenses. Moscow’s attacks have targeted Ukraine’s power grid ahead of the upcoming winter as part of its campaign to demoralize civilians, Ukrainian officials say.

“The main focus will be on supporting Ukraine in protecting our skies and preparing for the winter,” Zelenskyy said of his Canada trip in a social media post. “We will discuss how to strengthen our resilience, support our people, and ensure that Ukraine has the capabilities it needs to defend itself.”

Canada and European countries are sending their own weaponry to Ukraine and are also buying American weapons for Kyiv under the so-called Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL. The United States under President Donald Trump has stopped donating weapons to Ukraine, The Associated Press said.

Recent US efforts to stop the more than four years of fighting have delivered no significant breakthrough, although Washington-brokered talks between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv are expected to continue.

Zelenskyy’s arrival on Wednesday night in Calgary, Alberta, came the day after his flight from Moldova to Norway was delayed when authorities closed Moldova’s airspace because of a drone incursion.

The aerial drone battle between Russia and Ukraine has grown in scale since Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022. Ukraine’s neighbors Romania and Moldova, and other European countries, have reported repeated drone incursions.

Ukraine's drones now reach targets in Siberia, officials say

A Ukrainian sea drone wounded 28 people, including two children, on the waterfront in the Russian city of Sochi, local officials said. They said that beach infrastructure had been damaged but did not provide further details.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Thursday that its forces shot down 448 Ukrainian drones overnight. The drones were destroyed over 13 Russian regions, as well as the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black and Caspian seas, the ministry said.

Falling debris from a Ukrainian drone set fire to a home in Russia’s southwestern Voronezh region, killing one woman and wounding two other people, local Gov. Alexander Gusev said Thursday.

Ukrainian forces struck eight Russian infrastructure targets supporting the war effort over the past 24 hours, including a refinery in the Yamalo-Nenets region and a port in Dagestan, Zelenskyy said Thursday.

Targets in the Moscow, Voronezh, Astrakhan and Bryansk regions were also hit, he said.

Those targets were hundreds of kilometers (miles) apart, underlining the scope and scale of Ukraine's domestically developed long-range drone technology that has unsettled Russia.

The previous day, Ukrainian forces struck an oil refinery more than 3,000 kilometers (1,800 miles) from Ukraine in Siberia, Ukraine’s General Staff said, confirming earlier reports.

Meantime, Russian forces launched 149 drones, many of them jet-propelled, at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said Thursday.

One person was killed and two others wounded in a Russian drone attack on the Kyiv region on Thursday morning, regional head Tymur Tkachenko said.

At least 16 other civilians were wounded in other Ukrainian regions, according to local authorities.


'Heavy Casualties' in Fire on Foreign-flagged Ship at China Port

Representation photo: China Fire and Rescue personnel arrive at Trishuli camp after inspecting the tunnel site in Rasuwa, in the aftermath of flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 31, 2026. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)
Representation photo: China Fire and Rescue personnel arrive at Trishuli camp after inspecting the tunnel site in Rasuwa, in the aftermath of flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 31, 2026. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)
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'Heavy Casualties' in Fire on Foreign-flagged Ship at China Port

Representation photo: China Fire and Rescue personnel arrive at Trishuli camp after inspecting the tunnel site in Rasuwa, in the aftermath of flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 31, 2026. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)
Representation photo: China Fire and Rescue personnel arrive at Trishuli camp after inspecting the tunnel site in Rasuwa, in the aftermath of flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 31, 2026. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)

A fire on a foreign-flagged cargo ship docked in an eastern Chinese port caused "heavy casualties" on Thursday, state media said, with President Xi Jinping calling for urgent search and rescue operations.

"A foreign cargo ship of Beihai Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. in Qingdao, Shandong Province, caught fire during its port call for maintenance, causing heavy casualties," state news agency Xinhua said.

Xinhua did not specify the number of casualties or the cause of the fire, said AFP.

Xi "stressed the need to urgently search for missing persons... and strictly hold those responsible to account", it added.

State media said that the fire broke out at around 11:15 am (0315 GMT). It was not clear whether it had already been extinguished.

Premier Li Qiang also urged the search and rescue of "trapped" people, and for those injured to receive medical treatment, "and strictly prevent secondary disasters".

Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding is a major shipyard that operates as a subsidiary of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation.

Xi warned that "all regions and relevant departments must draw profound lessons from this incident, thoroughly investigate and rectify all types of fire hazards".


US Military Says It Struck Vessel in Caribbean, Killing Three

This screen grab from a video posted by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on his X account on October 24, 2025, shows what Hegseth says is US military forces conducting a strike on a vessel being operated by Tren de Aragua trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea in on October 23, 2025. (Photo by HANDOUT / US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's X Account / AFP)
This screen grab from a video posted by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on his X account on October 24, 2025, shows what Hegseth says is US military forces conducting a strike on a vessel being operated by Tren de Aragua trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea in on October 23, 2025. (Photo by HANDOUT / US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's X Account / AFP)
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US Military Says It Struck Vessel in Caribbean, Killing Three

This screen grab from a video posted by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on his X account on October 24, 2025, shows what Hegseth says is US military forces conducting a strike on a vessel being operated by Tren de Aragua trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea in on October 23, 2025. (Photo by HANDOUT / US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's X Account / AFP)
This screen grab from a video posted by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on his X account on October 24, 2025, shows what Hegseth says is US military forces conducting a strike on a vessel being operated by Tren de Aragua trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea in on October 23, 2025. (Photo by HANDOUT / US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's X Account / AFP)

The US military said on Wednesday three people were killed in a strike on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea, the latest in a series of attacks that Washington says target "narco-terrorists" but human rights groups condemn as extrajudicial ‌killings, Reuters said.

DETAILS:

* US Southern ‌Command said on ‌X ⁠it "executed a lethal kinetic strike ⁠on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean."

* It cited "confirmed intelligence" to allege the vessel's active involvement in narco-trafficking, without providing more details.

* The US military said three people, ‌whom it ‌called "narco-terrorists," were killed.

* President Donald Trump's ‌administration has said the vessels it ‌has struck since September 2025 were transporting narcotics.

* The US military's strikes on such vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern ‌Pacific have killed more than 220 people.

* Experts and rights ⁠advocates, ⁠both in the US and globally, have questioned the legality of the strikes.

* Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and independent UN experts have called the strikes unlawful extrajudicial killings.

* The American Civil Liberties Union has cast the assertions by the Trump administration against those it targets as "unsubstantiated, fear-mongering claims."