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.


German parliament speaker visits Gaza

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German parliament speaker visits Gaza

BERLIN: The speaker of Germany’s lower house of parliament briefly visited the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the body said.
Julia Kloeckner spent “about an hour in the part of Gaza controlled by Israeli army forces,” parliament said, becoming the first German official to visit the territory since Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023 that sparked the devastating war.
Since the start of the conflict, Israel has drastically restricted access to the densely populated coastal strip.
In a statement shared by her office, Kloeckner said it was essential for politicians to have access to “reliable assessments of the situation” in Gaza.
“I expressly welcome the fact that Israel has now, for the first time, granted me, a parliamentary observer, access to the Gaza Strip,” she said.
However, she was only able to gain a “limited insight” into the situation on the ground during her trip, she said.
Kloeckner appealed to Israel to “continue on this path of openness” and emphasized that the so-called yellow line, which designates Israeli military zones inside the Gaza Strip, must “not become a permanent barrier.”
The German Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
Germany has been one of Israel’s staunchest supporters as the European power seeks to atone for the legacy of the Holocaust.
But in recent months, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has occasionally delivered sharp critiques of Israeli policy as German public opinion turns against Israel’s actions in Gaza.
In August, Germany imposed a partial arms embargo on Israel, which was lifted in November after the announcement of what has proved to be a fragile ceasefire for Gaza.
Merz visited Israel in December and reaffirmed Germany’s support.
But in a sign of lingering tension, Germany’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday criticized Israeli plans to tighten control over the occupied West Bank as a step toward “de facto annexation.”