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.



Mayotte Authorities Fear Hunger and Disease; Race to Help Cyclone Survivors

 French military members prepare supplies to be transported to Mayotte, in the aftermath of Cyclone Chido, at the military airbase 181 in Sainte Marie in Reunion Island, France, December 17, 2024. (Reuters)
French military members prepare supplies to be transported to Mayotte, in the aftermath of Cyclone Chido, at the military airbase 181 in Sainte Marie in Reunion Island, France, December 17, 2024. (Reuters)
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Mayotte Authorities Fear Hunger and Disease; Race to Help Cyclone Survivors

 French military members prepare supplies to be transported to Mayotte, in the aftermath of Cyclone Chido, at the military airbase 181 in Sainte Marie in Reunion Island, France, December 17, 2024. (Reuters)
French military members prepare supplies to be transported to Mayotte, in the aftermath of Cyclone Chido, at the military airbase 181 in Sainte Marie in Reunion Island, France, December 17, 2024. (Reuters)

Authorities in Mayotte were racing on Tuesday to get food and water to residents stricken by the weekend's devastating cyclone and fighting to stop hunger, disease and lawlessness spreading in the French overseas territory, officials said.

Hundreds or even thousands could be dead in the wreckage of Cyclone Chido, they said. The storm laid waste to large parts of the archipelago off east Africa, which is France's poorest overseas territory.

With many areas still inaccessible, it could take days to determine the full extent of damage and deaths. So far, 22 deaths and more than 1,400 injuries have been confirmed, Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, the mayor of the capital Mamoudzou, told Radio France Internationale on Tuesday morning.

"The priority today is water and food," Soumaila said. "There are people who have unfortunately died where the bodies are starting to decompose that can create a sanitary problem."

"We don't have electricity. When night falls, there are people who take advantage of that situation."

Rescue workers have been searching for survivors amid the debris of shantytowns that were bowled over by 200 kph (124 mph) winds.

Several people have been rescued in Mamoudzou, Sitti-Rouzat Soilhi, a communications officer for the city government, told Reuters, adding that more than 700 security personnel had been mobilized to aid residents and reinforce security.

French President Emmanuel Macron said after an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday evening that he would visit Mayotte in the "coming days".

Mayotte is a major destination for undocumented immigrants from the nearby Comoros islands, of which Moroni is the capital, and has been grappling with unrest in recent years. More than three-quarters of its roughly 321,000 people live in relative poverty.

Chido was the strongest storm to strike Mayotte in more than 90 years, French weather service Meteo France said.