JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH: Israel said on Sunday it would test a bullet that killed a Palestinian-American journalist to determine whether one of its soldiers shot her and said a US observer would be present for the procedure that could deliver results within hours.
The Palestinians, who on Saturday handed over the bullet to a US security coordinator, said they had been assured that Israel would not take part in the ballistics.
Washington has yet to comment. The United States has a holiday weekend to mark July 4.
The May 11 death of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, and feuding between the sides as to the circumstances, have overshadowed a visit by US President Joe Biden due this month.
The Palestinians accuse the Israeli military of killing her deliberately. Israel denies this, saying Abu Akleh may have been hit by errant army fire or by one of the Palestinian gunmen who were clashing with its forces.
“The (ballistic) test will not be American. The test will be an Israeli test, with an American presence throughout,” said Israeli military spokesman Brig.-General Ran Kochav.
“In the coming days or hours it will be become clear whether it was even us who killed her, accidentally, or whether it was the Palestinian gunmen,” he told Army Radio. “If we killed her, we will take responsibility and feel regret for what happened.”
Akram Al-Khatib, general prosecutor for the Palestinian Authority, said the test would take place at the US Embassy in Jerusalem.
“We got guarantees from the American coordinator that the examination will be conducted by them and that the Israeli side will not take part,” Al-Khatib told Voice of Palestine radio, adding that he expected the bullet to be returned on Sunday.
An embassy spokesperson said: “We don’t have anything new at this time.”
Biden is expected to hold separate meetings with Palestinian and Israeli leaders on July 13-16. The Abu Akleh case will be a diplomatic and domestic test for new Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid.
Israeli Deputy Internal Security Minister Yoav Segalovitz said Lapid had been involved in “managing the arrival and transfer of this bullet.”
“It will take a few days to conduct a ballistic test, with several experts, to ensure that there is an unequivocal assessment,” Segalovitz told Army Radio.
Israel says it will test bullet that killed reporter, Palestinians disagree
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Israel says it will test bullet that killed reporter, Palestinians disagree
Ground incursion needed to destroy Hamas in Rafah, Netanyahu says
Briefing lawmakers, Netanyahu said he had made “supremely clear” to US President Joe Biden “that we are determined to complete the elimination of these (Hamas) battalions in Rafah, and there’s no way to do that except by going in on the ground.”
Egypt’s El-Sisi congratulates Putin on election win
CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi congratulated Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Tuesday on his landslide re-election, his spokesman said.
El-Sisi “extended his sincere congratulations” to Putin, whose election for a fifth term with 87.28 percent of the vote “reflects the confidence of the Russian people,” according to the presidency’s statement.
El-Sisi “wished him success and the Russian people further progress and prosperity.”
Putin had run effectively unchallenged in the election, with only loyalist candidates allowed on the ballot in a process that Washington dismissed as “incredibly undemocratic.”
El-Sisi had himself won a third term with 89.6 percent of the vote in a December election in which he ran against a small field of relative unknowns.
Since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Cairo has maintained close ties with Putin, despite calls by Western allies to stand with Ukraine.
Egypt has contented itself with calls for peace as it has prioritized its own economic interests.
The Arab world’s most populous country has long been heavily dependent on food imports, most of which came from Russia or Ukraine before the war.
Their disruption by the conflict sent prices soaring in a massive blow to the Egyptian economy that has left Cairo in a delicate balancing act.
In an online ceremony in January, El-Sisi and Putin hailed a “new phase” in the countries’ relations as they launched construction of a fourth generating unit at Egypt’s first nuclear power plant, Al-Dabaa, built by Russia’s state atomic energy corporation Rosatom.
Tunisia-Libya border crossing closed due to clashes
- Libya’s interior ministry said “outlaws” had attacked the border, which sees Libyans often going to Tunisia for medical treatment
TUNIS: Tunisia and Libya have closed a major border crossing at Ras Jdir due to armed clashes, Tunisian state TV and Libyan authorities said.
Libya’s interior ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that “outlaws” had attacked the border, which sees a large flow of Libyans often going to Tunisia for medical treatment and trucks with goods coming in the opposite direction.
“This action carried out by these outlaw groups will not be tolerated, and legal measures and the most severe penalties will be taken against those involved,” the Tripoli-based ministry said, without giving further details.
Libya has had little peace since a 2011 uprising and is split between eastern and western factions, with rival administrations governing each area.
Unverified footage on social media showed a burning vehicle at Ras Jdir and people running, with the sound of gunfire.
The ministry said on Sunday it had deployed security forces at the border to combat smuggling and insecurity.
Tunisia’s Tataouine Radio said late on Monday that Tunisia closed the crossing for the safety of citizens going to Libya.
Qatar: An Israeli operation in Rafah will result in ‘atrocities’ that have not been seen
DOHA: An Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah would result in major destruction and “atrocities” that have not been seen in the conflict, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday.
Qatar is cautiously optimistic about the Gaza ceasefire talks, he added during a press conference in Doha.
UN reports a 35 percent increase in people affected by violence in South Sudan
- There is a 35 percent increase in the number of victims reported from the previous quarter
- Violence caused by ethnic tensions and disputes over resources such as land has increased in various parts of the country
The UN Mission in South Sudan, or UNMISS, documented 233 incidents of violence affecting 862 people. Of that, 406 were killed, 293 were injured, 100 were abducted and 63 subjected to conflict-related sexual violence, it said in a report released Monday.
It was a 35 percent increase in the number of victims reported from the previous quarter.
South Sudan is to hold elections later this year, the first since a 2018 peace deal between President Salva Kiir and his former rival, Riek Machar, that ended a five-year conflict that killed hundreds of thousands.
Violence caused by ethnic tensions and disputes over resources such as land has increased in various parts of the country in recent months, particularly in the oil-rich region of Abyei.
The head of UNMISS, Nicholas Haysom, said it is “doing all it can to prevent violence and build peace in the affected areas” and urged the South Sudan government to intervene and “resolve underlying grievances and build peace.”
It said it has conducted at least 10,000 peacekeeping patrols by land, air and boat over the past year.
South Sudan, one of the world’s youngest nations, also suffers from drought and flooding, making living conditions difficult for residents.
The World Food Program in its latest country brief said South Sudan “continues to face a dire humanitarian crisis” due to violence, economic instability, climate change and an influx of people fleeing the conflict in neighboring Sudan.