Israel

UPDATED: Biden lands in Israel at start of high-stakes Middle East visit

TEL AVIV, July 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday, kicking off a high-stakes trip to the Middle East dominated by efforts to persuade Gulf allies to pump…

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Israel says Biden visit may augur common Mideast market, with Saudis

TEL AVIV, July 11 (Reuters) - Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday he hoped a regional visit by U.S. President Joe Biden this week will lead to a common Middle…

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Israel, Turkey to expand mutual flights in their first aviation deal since 1951

JERUSALEM, July 7 (Reuters) - Israel and Turkey will expand bilateral airline traffic under a new aviation deal to be signed on Thursday, their first since 1951, Israel's Transportation Ministry said. "The…

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Israel, Poland to restore relations strained by Holocaust restitution row

JERUSALEM/WARSAW, July 4 (Reuters) - Israel and Poland have agreed to improve relations that had deteriorated after Warsaw introduced a law last year limiting the ability of Jews to recover World War…

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Israel’s Lapid: from heart-throb to the hot seat

As a TV star and newspaper columnist, Yair Lapid titled his weekly commentary "Being Israeli" - a rhapsody about the politically centrist middle-class that he saw holding together a fractious…

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UPDATED: Israel heads to Nov 1 election with Lapid as caretaker PM

JERUSALEM, June 30 (Reuters) - Israeli lawmakers voted on Thursday to dissolve parliament following the collapse of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's ruling coalition, opening the way for a Nov. 1 election that…

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Israel’s Knesset set to dissolve by midnight triggering snap election

JERUSALEM, June 29 (Reuters) - Israel was headed on Wednesday toward its fifth election in less than four years, plunging it deeper into political uncertainty as it grapples with rising living costs…

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UPDATED: Israeli Knesset votes to dissolve in step towards snap election

JERUSALEM, June 22 (Reuters) - Israel moved closer on Wednesday to its fifth election in less than four years after lawmakers gave an initial nod to dissolve parliament, with a comeback by…

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Israel braces for fifth round of election in less than four years

Two members of Israel's outgoing coalition government vowed on Tuesday (June 21) to prevent a comeback by ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu, their fellow right winger, as the country braced for a fifth…

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Israel says building regional air defence alliance under U.S.

JERUSALEM, June 20 (Reuters) - Israel is building a U.S.-sponsored regional air defence alliance, the Israeli defence minister said on Monday, adding that the apparatus has already foiled attempted Iranian attacks and…

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Israeli forces kill 3 Palestinian gunmen in West Bank

RAMALLAH, West Bank, June 17 (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed three Palestinian gunmen during a fire fight in the occupied West Bank on Friday, Israel's military said. The military said…

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UPDATED: EU, Israel and Egypt sign deal to boost East Med gas exports to Europe

CAIRO/JERUSALEM, June 15 (Reuters) - Israel and Egypt will aim to boost natural gas exports to Europe under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on Wednesday as the continent looks to replace…

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One year in, Israel’s “salvation government” hangs by a thread

One year after ending the record reign of Benjamin Netanyahu following months of political turmoil, Israel's fragile coalition government is teetering on the edge of collapse, raising the prospect of…

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Israel budget deficit almost zero, lowest in 14 years

JERUSALEM, June 9 (Reuters) - Israel's budget deficit fell to 0.04% of gross domestic product in May over the prior 12 months, its lowest level in 14 years, from 0.6% of GDP…

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Israeli PM Bennett on unannounced visit to Abu Dhabi

JERUSALEM, June 9 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday and will meet its president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, an Israeli statement said.…

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Israel prefers diplomacy on Iran but could act alone, Bennett tells IAEA chief

JERUSALEM, June 3 (Reuters) - Israel told the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Friday that it would prefer a diplomatic resolution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme but could take independent action, reiterating a long-standing veiled threat to launch…

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Israeli troops shoot knife-wielding Palestinian woman in West Bank

HEBRON, West Bank, June 1 (Reuters) - A knife-wielding Palestinian woman threatened an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank and was shot on Wednesday, the army said, and a…

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Israel signs major trade deal with Gulf state UAE

Israel signed a free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, its first big trade accord with an Arab state and a move aimed at boosting trade between…

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Israel warns against travel to Turkey citing Iran assassination

Israel on Monday warned its citizens against travel to Turkey, citing Iranian threats of revenge for the assassination last week of a Revolutionary Guards colonel. Teheran has blamed Israel for…

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Iranian ‘immunity’ is over, Israeli Prime Minister Bennett says

JERUSALEM, May 29 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday Iran would not go unpunished for instigating attacks through its proxies, speaking a week after the assassination…

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Fears of Iran-Israel escalation after assassination of Revolutionary Guard officer

The brazen daylight assassination of an Iranian military officer in Tehran a week ago has prompted calls for revenge and shined a spotlight on the ongoing shadow war being fought…

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UPDATED: Clashes at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque before contested Israeli flag march

JERUSALEM, May 29 (Reuters) - Israeli police faced off with Palestinians holed up inside Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque on Sunday as hundreds of Jews visited the holy compound ahead of a…

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Benjamin Netanyahu eyes comeback as Israeli government loses majority

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's pugnacious ex-prime minister, is planning a political comeback this Wednesday after the government led by his former protégé lost its majority last week. Mr Netanyahu's Right-wing Likud…

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Photo Story: President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial

The President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola lays a wreath at the Hall of remembrance at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, Israel, on Monday. Metsola is…

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Israeli forces kill Palestinian teen militant during clash

RAMALLAH, West Bank, May 21 (Reuters) - Israeli forces shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian militant in clashes in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday, the Palestinian…

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UPDATED: Police clash with mourners at Palestinian journalist’s funeral

JERUSALEM, May 13 (Reuters) - Israeli police clashed with Palestinian mourners packed around the coffin of killed Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh at the start of her funeral procession…

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UPDATED: Al Jazeera reporter killed during Israeli raid in West Bank

JENIN, West Bank, May 11 (Reuters) - An Al Jazeera reporter was shot dead during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, with Palestinians and the news channel accusing…

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Israel says Putin apologised for foreign minister’s Hitler remarks

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had apologised for his foreign minister's comments claiming Adolf Hitler had Jewish origins. Putin also told Bennett in a…

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Three people killed in suspected Palestinian attack in Elad, Israel

ELAD, Israel, May 6 (Reuters) - At least three people were killed in what police suspect was a Palestinian attack in the central Israeli city of Elad on the country's…

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Israeli Prime Minister Bennett’s family receives another death threat letter and bullet in mail

The family of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has received a death threat and bullet in the mail for the second time this week, the police said. This time the letter…

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Israeli missile strike kills soldiers near Damascus

April 27 (Reuters) - Four Syrian soldiers were killed on Wednesday, Syria's defence ministry said, in an Israeli missile attack on positions near Damascus that a war monitor said had…

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Biden plans to visit Israel in the coming months – Israeli PM’s office

JERUSALEM, April 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden has accepted an invitation from Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to visit Israel and intends to make the trip in the coming months,…

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Easter chants echo in ancient cistern near birthplace of Christianity

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A few steps from Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a small opening leads to an underground cistern where clerics have found the perfect place to practise…

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Palestinians clash with Israeli police at Jerusalem holy site

JERUSALEM, April 22 (Reuters) - At least 31 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli police at Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Friday, Palestinian medics said, the latest outbreak…

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Israeli war planes strike Gaza after rocket attack

GAZA, April 21 (Reuters) - Israel carried out air strikes in central Gaza before dawn on Thursday after a rocket launched from the Palestinian territory landed in Israel, Hamas officials…

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WATCH: Israel fires at Hamas target in Gaza after rocket attack

Israel fired on a target in the Gaza Strip, in response to a rocket attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said early on Tuesday. The rocket attack was the first…

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Israeli police arrest nine as Palestinians seethe over Jerusalem shrine

Israeli riot police faced off with fireworks-hurling Palestinians in the alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday as a visit by Jews to a disputed holy site stoked tensions during…

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Passover, Easter, Ramadan 2022 fall simultaneously

In a rare conjunction, three major holidays of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are occurring at the same time this year. On Friday, Christians commemorated the crucifixion of Jesus, and on…

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UPDATED: Palestinians clash with Israeli police at Jerusalem holy site, 152 injured

JERUSALEM, April 15 (Reuters) - At least 152 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli riot police inside Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Friday, the latest outbreak in a recent upsurge of…

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Church of the Holy Sepulchre’s ancient altar rediscovered

JERUSALEM, April 13 (Reuters) - Pressed against a wall in a back corridor of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a stone slab bore testimony only to the graffiti etched…

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Israel and West Bank on edge after more bloodshed

Israeli forces killed two Palestinian women after one ran towards troops and the other stabbed a soldier in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, Israeli security officials said. With violence surging after…

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UPDATED: Israeli forces shoot Palestinian who killed two in Tel Aviv bar

JERUSALEM, April 8 (Reuters) - A Palestinian who killed two people in a Tel Aviv bar was shot to death on Friday by Israeli security forces after an hours-long manhunt…

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Second booster shields elderly from COVID but protection wanes quickly – Israeli study

April 6 (Reuters) - A fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine lowered rates of COVID-19 among the elderly but the protection against infection appeared short-lived, a large study in Israel has found. The second…

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Israel says UAE free trade deal reached

JERUSALEM, April 1 (Reuters) - Israel and the United Arab Emirates have concluded negotiations for a free trade agreement, Israel's Economy Ministry and the UAE foreign trade minister said on Friday, after formally establishing ties…

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Israeli forces on West Bank raid kill two Palestinians during clashes

RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 31 (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed at least two Palestinians on Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said, in clashes that erupted during a raid in the…

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Five killed in latest deadly attack in Israel

An Arab gunman killed at least five people in a Tel Aviv suburb on Tuesday night before he was fatally shot, the national ambulance service said, in the third deadly…

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Israel’s U.S., Arab partners close ranks on Iran and urge Palestine talks

The top diplomats of the United States and four Arab countries convened in Israel on Monday in a display of unity against Iran but also used the rare summit to…

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Two Arab gunmen kill two police officers in Israel and are shot dead – Israeli officials

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Two Arab gunmen killed two police officers on a city street in Israel on Sunday and were then shot dead, as the U.S. secretary of state and three…

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Blinken to attend Israeli-Arab summit, eyes Iran and Ukraine in Mideast tour

JERUSALEM, March 27 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken kicks off a Middle East trip on Sunday in Israel, where he will take part in a rare Arab-Israeli summit and…

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Israel to host ‘historic’ regional summit next week

JERUSALEM, March 25 (Reuters) - Israel will host a "historic" five-way regional conference next week, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said on Friday, as talks to revive a nuclear deal with…

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Iran says it thwarted nuclear site sabotage it ascribes to Israel

Iranian state television said its security forces had thwarted a planned sabotage at the country's major Fordow nuclear site by a network it accused Israel of recruiting. It said the…

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Israel insists no haven for sanctioned Russians as Abramovich jet in Israel

JERUSALEM, March 14 (Reuters) - A jet suspected to be used by sanctioned oligarch Roman Abramovich was in Israel on Monday, but the foreign minister said the country was not…

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Israel, Ukraine deny report Bennett recommended yielding to Russian demands

LVIV, Ukraine, March 12 (Reuters) - A top Ukrainian adviser and an Israeli official on Saturday pushed back against a media report suggesting Israel tried to nudge Ukraine into caving to Russian…

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Israel’s Knesset passes law barring Palestinian spouses

Israel’s parliament on Thursday passed a law denying naturalization to Palestinians from the occupied West Bank or Gaza married to Israeli citizens, forcing thousands of Palestinian families to either emigrate…

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Israeli forces kill 2 Palestinian attackers -Israeli officials

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -A Palestinian stabbed and wounded an Israeli policeman in Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday and was then killed when officers opened fire at him, a police spokesperson said.…

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Bennett says Israel will try to mediate on Ukraine even if prospect slim

JERUSALEM, March 6 (Reuters) - Israel will continue trying to mediate between Russia and Ukraine even if success seems unlikely, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday after returning from surprise talks…

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Israel sends aid to Ukraine but PM stays quiet on possible mediation role

JERUSALEM, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday his government was proceeding "with moderation and responsibility" on a conflict testing its ties to Kyiv and Moscow. Speaking on…

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