Wednesday, February 19, 2025
0801 GMT — The Israeli army has completely destroyed some 50 homes and 280 shops in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank as part of its ongoing military offensive, a Palestinian official has said.
Speaking to Anadolu, Tulkarem Deputy Governor Faisal Salama said the Israeli army is "working to reshape the features and geography of the Tulkarem camp through extensive demolition of Palestinian properties."
He added that what's happening in Tulkarem camp is "a systematic occupation plan, through which new roads are opened on the ruins of the buildings."
Salama described the Israeli military raid in Tulkarem as "a massacre and an illegal plan carried out amid Arab and international silence."
1102 GMT — Israel indicts five reservists over alleged prisoner abuse
The Israeli military prosecutor has filed indictments against five reservists, alleging severe abuse and injury of a Palestinian prisoner at Sde Teiman prison, that included cracked ribs, a punctured lung and a torn rectum, the military has said.
The incident took place on July 5th, 2024, while the five reservists were serving in the prison in the Negev desert.
According to the indictment, the soldiers are accused of carrying out the abuse during a search of the victim, in which he was cuffed at the hands and ankles and blindfolded.
"The indictment charges the accused with acting against the detainee with severe violence, including stabbing the detainee’s bottom with a sharp object, which had penetrated near the detainee's rectum," the military said in a statement.
1037 GMT — UAE tells US it rejects displacement of Palestinians
The United Arab Emirates leader told the United States' secretary of state that his country rejects a proposal to displace Palestinians from their land, the Emirati state news agency WAM has reported.
President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's comments came after US President Donald Trump proposed a US takeover of Gaza and displacing its Palestinian inhabitants in Jordan and Egypt, prompting widespread opposition among Arab countries and Western allies.
Nahyan told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a meeting in Abu Dhabi that it was important to link the reconstruction of Gaza to a path leading to "a comprehensive and lasting peace based on the two-state solution" to the Israel-Palestinian issue.
1036 GMT — Palestine calls on US to stop Israel's military escalation in West Bank
Palestine has called on the US to halt the ongoing Israeli military escalation in the occupied West Bank.
“The (Israeli) occupation forces are waging a campaign of systematic destruction of homes and displacement of citizens,” Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.
The Israeli army has been conducting military assaults in the northern West Bank since January 21, killing at least 56 Palestinians and displacing thousands, according to Palestinian officials.
0855 GMT — Netanyahu appoints advisor with Trump ties to lead ceasefire talks
An Israeli official has said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a close confidant to lead negotiations for the second stage of the ceasefire with Hamas.
The official says that Cabinet Minister Ron Dermer will head the Israeli team. Previous talks have been led by the heads of the Mossad and Shin Bet security agencies.
Talks have not yet started on the second stage, which is meant to include an end to the war, the return of all hostages and the Israeli pullout from Gaza.
0825 GMT — Israel denies entry of heavy machinery for Gaza rubble removal
Israel has only allowed six small machines to remove rubble from Gaza while preventing the entry of hundreds more that are desperately needed for the coastal enclave devastated by Israeli forces during their genocidal war against Palestinians, an official has said.
Ismail Thawabteh, director of the Palestinian Media Office in Gaza, said that Israel allowed only six small machines into Gaza, some of which required maintenance and spare parts to function.
"The Gaza Strip needs 500 heavy equipment units, including bulldozers, excavators, cranes, and others," he added.
0248 GMT — Lebanon recovers 23 bodies following Israeli withdrawal
Lebanon's civil defense said that it recovered the bodies of 23 people from towns in its southern region following the partial withdrawal of Israeli army under a ceasefire agreement.
In a statement, the civil defence said its rescue teams, working in coordination with the Lebanese army, are conducting search and field assessment operations in areas affected by Israeli attacks.
The teams recovered 14 bodies in the town of Meiss El Jabal, three in Markaba, three in Kfarkela and three in Odaisseh, according to the statement.
0225 GMT — Hamas rejects disarmament, expulsion from Gaza amid ceasefire talks
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas said that it rejects any efforts to disarm it or remove it from besieged Gaza, emphasising that any future arrangements for the territory must be decided through a national Palestinian consensus.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem called Israel's objective to expel the group from Gaza "silly psychological warfare."
"The removal of the resistance from Gaza or its disarmament is unacceptable," he said in a statement.
0001 GMT — Israel's genocidal war on Gaza fuels record level of anti-Muslim hatred in UK
The number of anti-Muslim incidents in Britain rose to a new high in 2024, according to data compiled by monitoring organisation Tell MAMA, which said the war in Gaza had "super-fuelled" online hate.
Tell MAMA said it verified 5,837 anti-Muslim hate cases - a mix of both online and in-person incidents — last year, compared with 3,767 cases the year before and 2,201 in 2022.
