Israel

JERUSALEM, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- A rocket fired by militants in the Gaza Strip hit southern Israel on Sunday night amidst rising tensions in the region over Washington's Mideast peace plan.

The Israeli military issued a statement saying "one projectile was launched from Gaza towards Israeli territory," adding it fell in an open field.

The rocket triggered sirens in the city of Sderot and the area surrounding the besieged Palestinian enclave.

No casualties or damage were immediately reported.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A U.S. envoy warned Israel on Sunday not to declare sovereignty over West Bank land without Washington’s consent, pushing back against calls for immediate action by ultra-nationalists within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, unveiled on Jan 28, envisages Israel keeping key swathes of the occupied territory where Palestinians seek statehood. But the question of timing has opened up a rare rift between the allies.

09 Feb 2020; MEMO: Israel’s prime minister said his government has begun editing West Bank maps to include areas his country plans to annex, reports Anadolu Agency.  

The move comes after US President Donald Trump released a “deal” to end the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Benjamin Netanyahu said lands that will be part of Israel are at the mapping stage and sovereignty will be applied to all land covered by the map, according to daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian protester was shot dead in the West Bank on Friday as Palestinian and U.S. leaders blamed each other for violence that erupted after President Donald Trump unveiled a Middle East Peace plan that Palestinians rejected as one sided.

Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces have repeatedly clashed since the peace proposals were unveiled by Trump, with Israel’s prime minister at his side.

JERUSALEM, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Israeli border police officers shot dead a Palestinian gunman after he shot and wounded an Israeli policeman in Jerusalem on Thursday, Israeli authorities said.

According to the police, the suspect opened fire at a patrol of Border Police officers near the Lions' Gate in east Jerusalem's Old City, slightly injuring an officer in his hand. "Other officers quickly responded with fire at the assailant and neutralized him," read the statement.

A later statement said he was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity was not immediately clear.

GAZA, Feb 6 (NNN-WAFA) – The Israeli army decided, on Wednesday, to reduce the allowed fishing zone off the Gaza Strip coast from 15 to 10 nautical miles, said Israeli and Palestinian sources.

The office of the Israeli coordinator of the government’s activities in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip said, the permitted area will be reduced to 10 nautical miles.

According to the office, the decision was taken “after security consultations,” following “continued rocket firing and explosive balloons from the Gaza Strip into Israel.”

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A car ran down a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem early on Thursday in a suspected Palestinian attack and, in a separate incident, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian during clashes in the occupied West Bank, authorities said.

Long-simmering Palestinian unrest has been stoked anew by anger at U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, which was embraced by Israel and rejected by the Palestinians when it was announced last week.

01 Feb 2020; MEMO: Israel has imposed a ban on the import of agricultural products from Palestine, local media reported on Friday.

“[Israeli] Defense Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Friday that Israel would implement a ban on importing agricultural products from the Palestinian Authority,” according to Israeli daily Jerusalem Post.

30 Jan 2020; MEMO: Israeli human rights organisation Gisha described the newly-published US “peace plan” as “a plan for ongoing conflict”, in a press release issued yesterday.

According to Gisha, which has a particular focus on freedom of movement for Palestinians living under occupation, the Trump administration’s plan “aims to make permanent a reality of fragmentation, isolation and division in the occupied Palestinian territory”.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said Washington wants Israel to wait until after its March 2 election before making any moves towards settlement annexation in the West Bank following the announcement of a U.S. peace plan.

Kushner, an architect of the peace proposal hailed by Israel and rejected by the Palestinians, raised the stop sign in a video interview, posted on the Internet on Thursday, with GZERO Media, a subsidiary of political risk analysis firm Eurasia Group.