Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett
Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett has called for the “liquidation” of the Hamas leadership in Gaza and the destruction of the group’s missile-production capacity, Israeli daily Maariv reported on Friday.
According to the newspaper, Bennett said Israel should “do what we did in Judea and Samaria” -- a reference to the occupied West Bank, where Israel has arrested and, in some cases, assassinated Hamas leaders, including lawmakers.
In response to remarks by Gaza-based Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who threatened Israel with missile attacks if the latter struck Gaza, Bennett said: “Our priority now is to degrade Hamas’s ability to attack us.”
Ten Palestinians were injured by Israeli troops on Friday while taking part in a demonstration against Israeli settlement-building near the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to activists.According to a statement released by a local popular resistance committee, troops used teargas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters.Friday’s demonstration was held to protest Israeli plans to build Jewish-only settler units on Palestinian land near the village of Ras Karkar on Ramallah’s outskirts.According to Palestinian figures, more than 700,000 Israeli Jews now live on 196 settlements (built with the Israeli government’s approval) -- and more than 200 settler outposts (built without government approval) -- across the occupied West Bank.International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there as illegal.
Israel troops hurt 10 Palestinians during Ramallah demo
Israeli soldiers fired live rounds at Palestinian protesters, injuring 52 on the 23rd Friday of anti-occupation rallies that began in March.In a statement, Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinians were injured at the eastern Gaza border.A volunteer medical worker and a 10-year-old child were in serious condition, the statement said, adding 188 Palestinians had also been affected by teargas.The protesters are demanding the “right of return” to their homes and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.They are also demanding an end to Israel’s 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its 2 million inhabitants of basic commodities.Since the Gaza rallies began on March 30, more than 170 Palestinian protesters have been martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.Video: Israeli forces intervene in Palestinian protesters in Ramallah19 Palestinians martyred in August: Research centerIsrael would pay ‘heavy price’ for Gaza war: LiebermanIsraeli army arrests 16 Palestinians in West Bank raids
Israeli troops fire on Gaza protesters, wounding 52