Israel

Jerusalem, May 20 (AP-PTI) Israel is at war with Hamas, Jewish-Arab mob violence has erupted inside Israel, and the West Bank is experiencing its deadliest unrest in years. Yet this may all bolster Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Just over a week ago, the longtime Israeli leader's political career seemed all but over. He had failed to form a coalition government following an indecisive parliamentary election, and his political rivals were on the cusp of pushing him out of office.

(Reuters) --- U.S. President Joe Biden pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to reduce tensions in the Gaza conflict on the path to a ceasefire, a White House spokeswoman said.

Netanyahu said earlier he could set a timeframe for an end to 10 days of hostilities as Israel's military pounded the Palestinian enclave with air strikes and Gaza's ruling Hamas militants unleashed new cross-border rocket attacks.

19 May 2021; MEMO: The Israeli Prison Service has transferred senior Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti to the maximum-security Ayalon prison in Ramallah, following a message he issued urging Palestinians to continue resisting the Israeli occupation.

19 May 2021; MEMO: Israel is making approximately $37 million in direct economic losses each day it is bombing Gaza, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has said.

JERUSALEM, May 19 (Xinhua) -- A ceasefire remains elusive for the Israel-Palestine conflict, with the U.S. administration has reportedly approved a 735 million-U.S.-dollar deal of precision-guided weapons to Israel, a move widely seen as "adding fuel to the fire" ravaging the Gaza strip.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, the Washington Post reported on Monday that Congress was officially notified of the proposed sale on May 5, nearly a week before the conflict escalated in Gaza between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.

18 May 2021; MEMO: Israeli rights group B'Tselem has said that Israel is committing war crimes as it is killing blockaded civilians and destroying infrastructure on a massive scale.

JERUSALEM, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza killed two foreigners who work in a packaging factory in southern Israel on Tuesday, Israeli medics said.

Additional seven people were wounded in the incident in the Eshkol Regional Council, one of whom sustained serious injuries, the Magen David Adom emergency health service said in a statement.

Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported that the victims were two males in their 30s, without specifying their nationalities.

17 May 2021; MEMO: International airlines suspended all flights to and from Israel's Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday as rockets fired by Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza hit targets in the vicinity of the airport, it has been reported.

The cancellation of flights has left Israel isolated. Only local airlines Israir and El Al are now operating out of Israel's sole international airport.

17 May 2021; MEMO: A former Israeli Air Force pilot, Yonatan Shapira, has described the Israeli government and army as "terrorist organisations" run by "war criminals."

Captain Shapira who had resigned from the Israeli army in 2003 at the height of the Palestinian Second Intifada explained in an exclusive interview with Anadolu News Agency why he realized after joining the army that he was "part of a terrorist organisation".

16 May 2021; MEMO: Cruise operator Royal Caribbean is cancelling a new line that had been scheduled to run from Israel to Greece and Cyprus from next month, citing regional security concerns, reports Reuters.

The sailings out of Haifa port would have been the first for Royal Caribbean's new ship "Odyssey of the Seas" and were intended to exploit a travel corridor being set up among the three countries for travellers vaccinated against COVID-19.