Israel

21 May 2023; MEMO: Tens of thousands of Israelis joined protests across the country, now entering their 20th week, on Saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's contested plans to tighten controls on the Supreme Court, Reuters reports.

The planned overhaul, which would give the government control over naming judges to the Supreme Court and let parliament override many rulings, was paused after opponents organised some of the biggest street protests ever seen in Israel.

JERUSALEM (AP) — An extremist Israeli Cabinet minister visited a sensitive Jerusalem holy site on Sunday at a time of heightened tensions with the Palestinians.

The visit by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, his second known visit since becoming a member of Israel’s most right-leaning government ever, drew condemnations from the Palestinians and Israel’s neighbor Jordan, which acts as the custodian of the site.

20 May 2023; MEMO: Orthodox Jewish parties threatened to quit the coalition government if their budget demands were not met, Hebrew media reported on Friday.

19 May 2023; MEMO: An Israeli army officer serving as a captain was arrested on Wednesday on charges of raping a female officer, reported the Times of Israel.

The officer, whose name has not been made public, will remain in custody until Tuesday when an investigation will confirm if he is suspected of "serious sex offences."

17 May 2023; MEMO: US Ambassador to Israel, Thomas Nides, said the US administration is exerting efforts to normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Anadolu News Agency reports.

In an interview to the Israeli i24 News channel, Nides said the Biden administration is working to expand the Abraham Accords between Israel and Arab countries.

14 May 2023; MEMO: Israel and Palestinian groups in Gaza on Saturday agreed to an Egyptian-mediated cease-fire set to go into effect at 10 p.m., Anadolu reports.

Egyptian media including Al-Qahera News TV quoted Egyptian sources as confirming both sides' commitment to the cease-fire proposal.

"In light of the agreement of both sides, Egypt announces a cease-fire between the Palestinian and the Israeli side has been reached," read the text of the agreement seen by Anadolu.

13 May 2023; MEMO: While the Israeli occupation boasts about targeting military leaders of the Palestinian resistance, the photos and field reports in the Gaza Strip reveal that the assassinations also caused the deaths of dozens of Palestinian civilians, including women and children.

13 May 2023; MEMO: Israel's military has apologised for its killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, after a year of denial of its responsibility for the shooting.

Shireen Abu Akleh, the correspondent who covered the West Bank for Al Jazeera for two decades, was shot in the back of the head while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank city of Jenin last May.

GAZA/JERUSALEM, May 13 (Reuters) - Israel on Saturday ruled out an immediate truce in Gaza, saying the onus was on Palestinian militants to stop launching rockets from an arsenal it suggested could be depleted within days, while its aircraft kept up strikes in the enclave.

"We're not holding ceasefire talks," National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told a municipal event near Jerusalem, adding that Israel's top priority for now was firing on militants.

GAZA/JERUSALEM, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli air force continues striking at militant targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, as hopes for a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas-led militant groups appear to dwindle.

According to a statement released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), several command centers of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) were targeted in a fresh round of airstrikes on Saturday, with mortar shells and rocket launch sites being hit.