MP calls out lack of bomb shelters in Arab-Israeli communities

An Israeli sodlier checks the damage inside a flat in the northern Israeli town of Tamra, following an overnight missile attack from Iran on June 15, 2025, where four people, including a child, were reported killed. (AFP)
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Updated 17 June 2025
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MP calls out lack of bomb shelters in Arab-Israeli communities

JERUSALEM: Ayman Odeh, an Israeli member of parliament of Palestinian descent, accused the government on Sunday of failing to provide Arab-Israeli communities with enough shelters after an Iranian missile killed four people in the city of Tamra.

“The state, unfortunately, still distinguishes between blood and blood,” Odeh lamented on X, after touring the city of 37,000 predominantly Arab residents.

A house there was destroyed by a missile launched by Iran overnight in response to Israel’s unprecedented attacks on the Islamic republic’s military and nuclear sites.

“Four civilians were killed yesterday: Manar Al-Qassem Abu Al-Hija Khatib (39), her two daughters Hala (13) and Shada (20), and their relative Manar Diab Khatib (41),” Odeh said, adding that “dozens more” were wounded

Cars and buildings were also damaged by the strike on the community in the Israeli region of Galilee, an AFP journalist at the scene reported.

“Tamra is not a village. It is a city without public shelters,” Odeh said, adding that this was the case for 60 percent of “local authorities” — the Israeli term for communities not officially registered as cities, many of which are Arab-Israeli.

Arab-Israelis are Palestinians who remained in what is now Israel after its creation in 1948, and represent about 20 percent of the country’s population.

The community frequently professes to face discrimination from Israel’s Jewish majority.

With Israel and Iran engaged in their most intense confrontation ever, Odeh, a communist MP for over 10 years, warned of “a threat of unprecedented destruction (that) will not distinguish” between Arabs and Jews.

He also accused the government of “neglect” toward citizens of Palestinian descent.

A video shared on social media Sunday night caused outrage after showing families apparently rejoicing in Hebrew as missiles fell on Tamra.

In some Arab neighborhoods, missiles launched toward Israel have also been welcomed with joy, AFP journalists reported.


Arab coalition warns against military moves undermining de-escalation in Yemen

Updated 57 min 50 sec ago
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Arab coalition warns against military moves undermining de-escalation in Yemen

  • The coalition’s spokesperson, Major General Turki Al-Maliki, said the warning follows a request from Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council to take urgent measures

DUBAI: The Arab coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government warned on Saturday that any military movements undermining de-escalation efforts would be dealt with immediately to protect civilians, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

The coalition’s spokesperson, Major General Turki Al-Maliki, said the warning follows a request from Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council to take urgent measures to protect civilians in Hadramout Governorate amid what he described as serious humanitarian violations by groups affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council.

The statement said the measures are part of ongoing joint Saudi-Emirati efforts to reduce tensions, facilitate the withdrawal of forces, hand over military camps, and enable local authorities to carry out their duties.

Al-Maliki reaffirmed the coalition’s support for Yemen’s internationally recognized government and called on all parties to exercise restraint and engage in peaceful solutions, the agency reported.

The STC has pushed the internationally recognised government from its headquarters in ⁠Aden while claiming broad control across the south this month.

Saudi Arabia has called STC forces to withdraw from areas it seized earlier in December in the eastern provinces of Hadramout and Mahra.