JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said Friday that “dozens of Israeli civilians” set fire the previous evening to an aid truck in the occupied West Bank headed for war-torn Gaza.
Local media reported that Israeli settlers were behind the attack, which the army said injured the driver as well as Israeli soldiers.
The incident took place near Kokhav Hashahar, an Israeli settlement in the central West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
According to the army, Israeli soldiers intervened to “separate the Israeli civilians from the attacked Israeli driver” and provided medical assistance.
The group then “responded with violence,” and three Israeli soldiers were “lightly injured,” the army said, condemning “all forms of violence against its soldiers and security forces.”
On Monday, dozens of people blocked and vandalized a convoy of aid trucks driving to the Gaza Strip.
Israeli media identified them as part of a far-right group opposed to allowing aid into Gaza.
The trucks were attacked in Israel, shortly after passing through the Tarqumiya checkpoint from the West Bank.
Images posted on social media show Israeli soldiers watching on as the attackers destroy the aid.
The latest incident comes just hours after the army said on Thursday that the Tarqumia and Beitunia checkpoints “now also function as inspection points for aid” destined for Gaza.
Jordanian authorities said “Israeli extremists” in the West Bank attacked two aid convoys sent on May 1 from Jordan and another convoy of 35 trucks sent on May 7.
Israel has been fighting their bloodiest war ever in Gaza since the Palestinian militants attacked Israel on October 7.
Despite the United Nations warning of looming famine, Israeli authorities have tightly controlled much needed humanitarian aid into Gaza over the course of more than seven months of war.
Very little aid has made it through Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza, and Rafah crossing has been completely shut since Israeli troops took control of the area last week.
Israel has vowed to defeat remaining Hamas forces in the southern city of Rafah, which it says is the last bastion of the group whose October 7 attack triggered the war.
The Hamas attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
More than 35,303 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza since the war broke out, according to data provided by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Israel army says civilians torched Gaza-bound aid truck in West Bank
https://arab.news/rg7xf
Israel army says civilians torched Gaza-bound aid truck in West Bank
- Driver as well as Israel soldiers were injured in the attack
Israeli police detain aide to Netanyahu
- Police did not name the individual, but Israeli media reported it was Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s current chief of staff, who is designated to be Israel’s next ambassador to the UK
JERUSALEM: Israeli police said Sunday they detained a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspected of obstructing an investigation, with local media reporting that it was tied to leaks of military information during the Gaza war.
Police did not name the individual, but Israeli media reported it was Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s current chief of staff, who is designated to be Israel’s next ambassador to the UK.
“This morning, a senior official in the prime minister’s office was detained for questioning... on suspicion of obstructing an investigation,” the police said.
“The suspect... is currently being questioned under caution.”
Former Netanyahu aide Eli Feldstein recently alleged that Braverman tried to obstruct an investigation into a leak of sensitive military information to the foreign press during the war against Hamas in Gaza.
In September 2024, Feldstein leaked a classified document from the Israeli military to the German tabloid Bild, for which he was later arrested and indicted.
The document aimed to prove that Hamas was not interested in a ceasefire deal, and to support Netanyahu’s claim that the hostages captured by Palestinian militants in their October 7, 2023 assault on Israel could only be released through military pressure instead of negotiations.
In an interview with Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, Feldstein said Braverman asked to meet with him soon after the leak.
Braverman informed him that the army had launched a probe into the affair, and said he could “shut down” the investigation, according to Feldstein.
In the same interview, Feldstein said Netanyahu was aware of the leak and was in favor of using the document to drum up public support for the war.
Israeli media reported that police also searched Braverman’s home on Sunday, and that Feldstein was expected to speak with police later in the day regarding Braverman’s suspected involvement in the affair.
Feldstein is also a suspect in the so-called “Qatargate” scandal, in which he and other close associates of Netanyahu are suspected of having been recruited by Qatar to promote the Gulf monarchy’s image in Israel.
Qatar hosts senior Hamas leaders and has played a mediating role between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement during the war in Gaza.
An investigation is under way, and Feldstein, together with another Netanyahu aide, was taken into custody in late March.
In response to Braverman’s questioning by the police on Sunday, opposition leader Yair Lapid called to suspend his appointment as ambassador to the UK.
“In light of the new developments in the Qatargate affair, the appointment of Tzachi Braverman as ambassador to Britain must be immediately suspended,” Lapid wrote on X.
“It is unacceptable that someone suspected of involvement in obstructing a serious security investigation should be the face of Israel in one of the most important countries in Europe.”
Braverman is not suspected of direct involvement in the Qatargate affair, according to Israeli media.
