JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he planned to pay a three-hour visit next week to the United Arab Emirates and perhaps to Bahrain, two countries that established formal ties with Israel last year.
Asked in a news briefing whether he would go ahead with a UAE visit next week despite the health crisis in Israel, Netanyahu said in remarks streamed live on his Twitter page: "We postponed the visit ... twice because of (coronavirus) lockdowns.
"It has great security, national and international importance, but it has been shortened, at my request, from three days to three hours."
Netanyahu said he would travel to Abu Dhabi and would also "possibly make a lightning visit to Bahrain" during the brief trip.
He did not give a specific date but Israeli media reports said he would make the trip on Feb. 9.
Israel’s Netanyahu plans brief UAE visit next week
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Israel’s Netanyahu plans brief UAE visit next week
- Netanyahu said he would travel to Abu Dhabi and would also "possibly make a lightning visit to Bahrain"
Israeli forces detonate house of detainee Abu Al-Rab near Jenin
- Abu Al-Rab family received a demolition notice in January
LONDON: Israeli forces detonated a house on Wednesday in the Palestinian town of Qabatiya, located south of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank.
The house belonged to the detainee Ahmed Abu Al-Rab in Qabatiya, according to Wafa news agency.
Israeli forces used explosives to demolish the house, causing damage to several neighboring homes and forcing multiple families to evacuate their residences in the area before the detonation.
The Abu Al-Rab family received a demolition notice in January. Overnight, Israeli forces raided several houses in Qabatiya, arresting multiple individuals before carrying out the demolition, the Wafa added.
It has now been almost a year since Israel launched a military campaign in the Jenin Governorate in retaliation for the bombing of empty buses in Tel Aviv, allegedly carried out by a Palestinian from the area last February. The campaign resulted in the deaths of over 60 Palestinians and the demolition of more than 600 houses, displacing 22,000 people.
