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‘We’ll get to every terrorist,’ Israeli military commander says after West Bank operation
The Times of Israel is liveblogging Tuesday’s events as they unfold.
Thousands take part in funerals of 3 gunmen killed in firefight with Israeli forces
Thousands of people take part in the Nablus funerals for three gunmen killed in exchanges of fire with Israeli forces this morning, among them terrorist Ibrahim Nablusi of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Mourners chant, fire into the air and call “God is Great” as they lead the bodies to burial.
#watch || A solemn funeral for today's martyrs in Nablus. pic.twitter.com/nGAEvyORti
— Palestine News 24/7 (@PaliNewsBot) August 9, 2022
Israeli officials said Nablusi was part of a squad that had committed several shooting attacks against soldiers and civilians in the West Bank earlier this year. He and other gunmen fired at the troops as they came to arrest him.
Pilot program will let Palestinians fly abroad through Eilat airport
The Israel Airports Authority has announced a pilot program to allow Palestinians to fly abroad through Israel’s Ramon Airport, near Eilat.
Flights to Turkey will run twice a week, in coordination with COGAT, Israel’s liaison to the Palestinians, which will facilitate the passengers’ travel between the West Bank and Ramon airport by bus.
Until now, Palestinians wishing to travel abroad were able to do so only via Jordan.
Taiwan warns China drills show ambitions beyond island
Taiwan warns that Chinese military drills aren’t just a rehearsal for an invasion of the self-governing island but also reflect ambitions to control large swaths of the western Pacific, as Taipei conducts its own exercises to underscore it’s ready to defend itself.
Angered by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan, China has sent military ships and planes across the midline that separates the two sides in the Taiwan Strait and launched missiles into waters surrounding the island. The drills, which began Thursday, have disrupted flights and shipping in one of the busiest zones for global trade.
Ignoring calls to calm tensions, Beijing instead extended the exercises without announcing when they will end.
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu says that beyond aiming to annex the island democracy, which split with the mainland amid civil war in 1949, China wants to establish its dominance in the western Pacific. That would include controlling the East and South China Seas via the Taiwan Strait and imposing a blockade to prevent the US and its allies from aiding Taiwan in the event of an attack, he told a news conference in Taipei.
Kremlin says Kyiv call to ban Russians from West is ‘off the charts’ irrational
The Kremlin says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposal to ban all Russians from Western countries went off the charts and is seen “extremely negatively” in Moscow.
The Ukrainian leader told The Washington Post current Western sanctions against Moscow were too weak, adding the West should close its borders against Russians.
“The irrationality of thinking in this case is off the charts,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters.
“This can only be viewed extremely negatively. Any attempt to isolate Russians or Russia is a process that has no prospects,” Peskov adds.
Shiite Muslims throng Iraqi shrine city to mark Ashura
Hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslims mark the festival of Ashura in Iraq’s holy city of Karbala, the burial place of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.
The emotional event commemorates the 7th century battlefield martyrdom of Hussein, whom Shiites view as the rightful successor to the Prophet Mohammed, the issue at the heart of a schism with Sunni Islam.
To mourn his death in the year 680, Shiite worshipers wearing black cry and beat their chests in unison and some flagellate themselves with swords and knife-edged chains.
Shiites represent more than 10 percent of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims, and Ashura is marked by millions of people from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Iran and Lebanon.
IDF commander after gunmen’s death in Nablus: We’ll get to every terrorist
The Israel Defense Forces’ commander in Nablus says the military “will not allow sanctuary cities” for terrorists in the West Bank.
Samaria Regional Brigade Commander Roy Zweig adds: “We will get to every terrorist and go anywhere we need to.”
He speaks after a morning raid in Nablus saw three Palestinian gunmen killed, including a wanted terrorist who was responsible for several shooting attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians in the West Bank, according to the military.