Israel Palestinian tensions high after deadly attacks

An Italian tourist was killed and five people were wounded in a car ramming in Tel Aviv on Friday that came hours after two Israeli sisters were killed in a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank.

The attacks, after a night of crossborder strikes in Gaza and Lebanon, added to heightened Israeli-Palestinian tensions following Israeli police raids in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque this week.

The tensions threatened to spiral into a wider conflict overnight as Israel responded to a barrage of rockets by hitting targets linked to the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza and southern Lebanon, but the fighting entered a lull on Friday.

However, the two attacks underlined how volatile the situation remains after successive nights of trouble that have drawn worldwide alarm and calls for calm.

In the latest attack, a car ploughed into a group on a street near a popular bike and walking path on a Tel Aviv promenade. The driver was shot dead by a nearby police officer when he tried to pull a gun, police said.

An Israeli security source identified the assailant as an Arab citizen of Israel from the town of Kafr Qassem.

Reuters video from shortly after the incident showed a white car upside down on the grass of a park. Police cordoned off the area that was brimming with emergency responders.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said the victims were all foreign tourists. Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed that an Italian had been killed and other Italians may have been among the wounded.

Earlier on Friday, two Israeli sisters, aged 20 and 16 with joint British nationality, were killed and their mother wounded in a shooting attack on their car near the Jewish settlement of Hamra in the Jordan Valley.

"Our enemies are putting us to the test again," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after visiting the site of the attack with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

As soldiers hunted for the gunman, Netanyahu ordered border police reserves and additional military forces to be mobilised to confront the wave of attacks.

The U.S. State Department condemned the attacks, saying "the targeting of innocent civilians of any nationality is unconscionable."

FLASHPOINT

No claim of was made for either of Friday's attacks, but Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the blockaded Gaza Strip, praised them and linked them to the tensions around Al-Aqsa mosque.

Friday prayers passed without major incident and apart from some stone-throwing, police said the situation had been quiet.

Twice this week Israeli police have raided the mosque, where hundreds of thousands of worshippers have been praying during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, to dislodge groups they said had barricaded themselves with the aim of causing trouble.

Footage of officers beating worshippers who confronted them aroused concern, even among Israel's allies, and prompted condemnation across the Arab world.

The site in Jerusalem's Old City, holy to both Muslims and Jews, who know it as Temple Mount, has been a longstanding flashpoint, notably over the issue of Jewish visitors defying a ban on non-Muslim prayer in the mosque compound.

Clashes there in 2021 helped set off a 10-day war between Israel and Hamas. The exchange of crossborder fire awakened memories of that conflict, but as the lull in fighting extended on Friday, neither side seemed keen to prolong the fighting.

"Nobody wants an escalation right now," an Israeli army spokesman said. "Quiet will be answered with quiet, at this stage I think, at least in the coming hours."

One official with a Palestinian militant group told Reuters they were ready to keep the calm should Israel do the same, with the group having "made its point". A Qatari official said Qatar was helping international efforts to de-escalate the situation.

Even before the flare-up of the past few days, the West Bank has seen a surge of confrontations in the past several months, with frequent military raids and escalating settler violence amid a spate of attacks by Palestinians.

Since the beginning of the year, at least 18 Israelis and foreigners have been killed in attacks in Israel, around Jerusalem and in the West Bank. In the same period, Israeli forces have killed more than 80 Palestinians, most of them fighters in militant groups but some of them civilians.

In the aftermath of the overnight strikes in Gaza, streets were largely empty except for some taxis and emergency vehicles. In Gaza City's Tufah neighbourhood some houses and a children's hospital were damaged.

Taxi driver Muhanad Abu Neama, 23, said his family barely escaped Israeli air strikes that hit near his house, filling rooms with dirt and debris and damaging his car.

"I could hardly see because of the dust, the dirt covered my sisters' beds and I carried them out one by one," he said.

With the international-led peace process long moribund, Palestinians' hopes of creating an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital, have faded. Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed it as its capital in a move not recognised internationally.

Israel's new hard-right government is set on expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank and includes members who rule out a Palestinian state. Hamas for its part spurns coexistence with Israel.

Tesla luncurkan Model Y baru di Amerika Serikat

Tesla Model Y terbaru. (ANTARA/tesla.com)

Produsen mobil listrik asal Amerika Serikat, Tesla secara diam-diam baru saja menambah varian terbaru Tesla Model Y yang memiliki harga lebih terjangkau.

Arena Ev pada Sabtu mengabarkan bahwa harga Tesla Model Y terbaru itu dibanderol dengan angka 49.990 dolar AS (sekitar Rp. 746 juta) sebelum subsidi. Kendaraan itu juga telah memenuhi syarat untuk kredit pajak federal sebesar 7.500 dolar AS (sekitar Rp. 112 juta).

Banyak yang menyebut bahwa kendaraan akan menjadi pesaing dari model itu sendiri seperti Model Y Long Range yang dijual mulai dari 52.990 dolar AS (sekitar Rp. 791 juta), dan Model Y Performance, yang dijual mulai dari 56.990 dolar AS (sekitar Rp. 851 juta).

Model Y baru itu memiliki catatan waktu 0-60 mph (0-96 kilometer/jam) hanya dalam 5 detik, kecepatan tertinggi dari kendaraan listrik ini mencapai 135 mph (217 kilometer/jam), dan kisaran EPA diperkirakan 269 hingga 279 mil (432 hingga 449 kilometer).

Konsumen dapat memesannya dalam lima pilihan warna seperti Pearl White Multi-Coat sudah termasuk dalam harga, sementara untuk warna Midnight Silver Metallic atau Deep Blue Metallic akan ada tambahan 1.000 dolar AS, Solid Black seharga 1.500 dolar AS, atau Red Multi-Coat seharga 2.000 dolar AS.

Konsumen Tesla juga dapat membeli Autopilot yang ditingkatkan dengan tambahan biaya sebesar 6.000 dolar AS, sedangkan fitur kemampuan mengemudi sendiri penuh yang tidak ada di keduanya akan membuat konsumen menambah biaya sebesar 15.000 dolar AS.

Meski begitu, Tesla belum banyak memberikan informasi mendetil mengenai kendaraan terbarunya itu. Tesla memperkirakan akan mengirimkan kendaraan tersebut pada bulan ini atau Mei untuk pemesanan saat ini.

David Ozora Korban Penganiayaan Mario Dandy Jalani Terapi Stem Cell Hari ini

Potret David bersama Jonathan Latumahina dan Amelia. (Instagram: @mellisa_anggraini1z)

Cristalino David Ozora (17), korban penganiayaan Mario Dandy Satryo (20) menjalani terapi stem cell hari ini. Kondisi David disebut telah siap untuk pengobatan tersebut.

"Jam 09.00 dimulai stem cell sampai 3 jam ke depan. David sehat dan secara medis sangat prima untuk dilakukan penyuntikan 100 juta sel melalui saluran infus," kata perwakilan keluarga, Alto Luger, pada wartawan, pada hari Sabtu, 08/04/2023. Alto mengatakan, stem cell pada David tidak melalui tulang belakang. Hal itu dikarenakan tim dokter menilai kondisi David lebih membaik dibanding sebelumnya.

"Tidak perlu dilakukan melalui tulang belakang karena kondisi kesehatannya sudah sangat baik," ujarnya.

Sebelumnya Alto sempat menyampaikan penyebab David batal menjalani perawatan stem cell pekan kemarin. Alto menyebut pembatalan dilakukan karena David mengalami demam.

"Belum karena Jumat lalu sempat panas sampai 38,4 derajat Celsius. Jadi masih lanjut observasi," kata Alto kepada wartawan, hari Senin, 03/04/2023.

Alto mengatakan David dijadwalkan menjalani stem cell pada akhir pekan ini. Dia menuturkan David masih menjalani perawatan untuk memulihkan kondisi kesehatannya.

"Akhir minggu ini," ujarnya.

Alto mengatakan tim dokter melakukan observasi tambahan untuk memastikan efek apa yang akan diterima David setelah proses stem cell nantinya. Jangan sampai proses tersebut memberikan efek yang buruk terhadap David.

"Tapi intinya adalah untuk melihat lagi proses ini dan melakukan pendalaman terkait efek-efek yang mungkin kontraproduktif terhadap perkembangan David," katanya.

Russia calls on Palestine, Israel to refrain from confrontational steps — MFA

Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters
©Valery Sharifulin/TASS

Russia expresses serious concern about the escalation between Palestine and Israel and calls on the sides of the conflict to refrain from confrontational steps, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The ministry said the latest surge of tensions in the conflict was sparked by clashes in the Al-Aqsa Mosque on April 5.

"The ongoing escalation of violence in the area of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict causes deep concern in Moscow," the ministry said. "We call on the sides that are involved in the conflict to refrain from confrontational steps, act in the interests of preventing further escalation, cessation of violence and the reinstatement of a sustainable ceasefire."

The Foreign Ministry added that Moscow reaffirms the importance of observing the status quo of Jerusalem's holy sites and respecting religious rights amid the ongoing escalation.

"Special discretion in these matters is required now, taking into account the fact that this year the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, Catholic and Orthodox Easter, as well as the Jewish Passover fall on April," the ministry said.

The ministry said that without a clear, "comprehensive solution to this long-standing problem," relapses of violent confrontation are inevitable.

"The key to long-term stabilization of the situation can only be the establishment of a full-fledged negotiation process aimed at developing a compromise formula for the Palestinian-Israeli settlement on a well-known international legal basis," the ministry said.

Erdogan calls for no more escalation between Palestine, Israel

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed concern over the escalation between Palestine and Israel following clashes in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and called on the parties to the conflict to refrain from further escalation and that the international community stand together to defend religious sites.

"Common sense must prevail to prevent another wave of escalation. The international community led by the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation must make efforts within all platforms to protect the status of religious holy sites," the Turkish president’s press service quoted Erdogan as saying during a telephone conversation with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Friday.

The WAFA Palestinian News Agency reported on Tuesday that Israeli law enforcement officers had broken into the Al-Aqsa Mosque and used flash bang grenades, tear gas, rubber bullets and batons. According to the Lebanese Al Mayadeen television channel, more than 400 people were detained. The Israeli police said on Wednesday that dozens of young men in masks had barricaded themselves in the Temple complex, chanting slogans and calling for riots. The police had to intervene.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday that at least 34 rockets had been fired at the Israeli territory from Lebanon. Twenty-five rockets were intercepted by the Israeli air defense system. Later, it was reported that the area around the city of Metula in northern Israel had come under mortar shelling from the Lebanese territory. In response, the Israeli military shelled territories in southern Lebanon, Al Mayadeen reported. According to Israel’s Kan radio station, three HAMAS facilities were attacked in southern Lebanon and more than ten HAMAS facilities were targeted in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Friday.

Israel raids Al-Aqsa mosque sparking Palestinian fury

An Israeli police raid on Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque has sparked fury among Palestinians and condemnation across the Arab world, as well as cross-border strikes in Gaza and fears of yet another escalation.

Witnesses said police beat worshippers and fired rubber-tipped bullets before dawn on Wednesday (April 5).

The clashes come during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when it's common for crowds to spend the night at the mosque, and also on the eve of the Jewish Passover.

Under a longstanding "status quo" arrangement governing the area, only Muslims are allowed to worship at Al-Aqsa.

But Jewish visitors have increasingly prayed more or less openly at the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

The third holiest site in Islam, Al-Aqsa saw clashes that set off war in 2021 between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.

At least nine rockets were fired from Gaza overnight, prompting Israeli air strikes on what it said were Hamas weapons-production sites.

Witnesses said Israeli tanks also shelled Hamas positions along the border fence in the southern part of the Gaza strip.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the Palestinians would not let the incident pass.

"What happened in Al-Aqsa mosque, the Israel forces' assaults' on the worshippers is a crime and is a violation of all human rights and laws, and the occupation should be held responsible for it and for it's repercussions, because our people will not let this pass without a response to the terrorizing of the worshippers, worshippers who were safe in the house of God."

The Palestinian Red Crescent said 12 Palestinians were wounded at Al-Aqsa, and Israeli forces were preventing its medics from reaching the area.

Israeli police said in a statement masked agitators locked themselves inside the mosque with fireworks, sticks and stones, forcing security units to enter the compound.

Israeli authorities say attack kills one, wounds 6 in Tel Aviv

Israeli authorities said late Friday that at least one person was killed and six were wounded in a suspected attack in Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial hub.

The exact nature of the attack was not immediately clear, but the Foreign Ministry referred to it as a “terror attack,” a term Israeli officials use for assaults by Palestinians.

A car rammed into a group of people near a popular seaside park before flipping over, police said. Israel’s rescue service said a 30-year-old man was killed, while four other people were receiving medical treatment for mild to moderate injuries.

A general view of the scene of a shooting attack in Tel Aviv, Israel April 7, 2023. (Reuters)

Police said they shot the driver of the car. The driver’s condition was uncertain, but social media videos shows a body on the ground beside an overturned car while multiple gunshots ring out

The attack came against the backdrop of heightened tensions after Israeli airstrikes on Palestinian militant targets in both Lebanon and Gaza, as well as a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank that killed two Israelis. That followed days of violence and unrest in Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, the compound of the Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City.

The Hamas militant group that rules Gaza praised the attack in Tel Aviv as a response to Israel’s “crimes against Al-Aqsa Mosque and worshippers.”

Shooting attack in Tel Aviv, three wounded

An attacker opened fire in central Tel Aviv on Thursday in a suspected shooting attack, wounding three people, before being “neutralized” by Israeli police, officials said.

Large numbers of police and medical workers rushed to Dizengoff street, a main drag in the heart of the city, where the gunman carried out the attack. A streetside restaurant was left empty after customers apparently fled the scene mid-meal, Reuters footage showed.

“The suspect was neutralized by police officers,” according to a police statement. Three people were wounded, including one in serious condition, it said.

There were no immediate details about the circumstances of the shooting, though police said initial signs were that it was an attack.

Two Israeli-British sisters killed in West Bank shooting attack

Two Israeli sisters were killed on Friday in a shooting attack on their car in the occupied West Bank, Israeli authorities said.

The attack took place with Israel on high alert in Jerusalem after a day of violence along the Lebanese and Gaza borders.

Israel’s military said soldiers had arrived at the scene of a reported collision between Israeli and Palestinian vehicles near the Jewish settlement of Hamra and saw the Israeli car, with three people in it, had been shot up.

Two sisters, aged 16 and 20, died and their mother sustained serious wounds, officials said.

The sisters were also British citizens, according to Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. It called for all parties to de-escalate tensions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting the scene, said: “Vile and heartless terrorists murdered two young sisters.”

“Our forces are operating in the field in hot pursuit of the terrorists. It is only a matter of time, and not much time, that we will hold them accountable,” he said. Palestinian Islamist group Hamas praised the attack, but stopped short of claiming responsibility.

China's Saudi-Iran Deal Indicates US No Longer Pulling Mideast Strings

© AP Photo / Nournews

Saudi Arabia and Iran held a high-level meeting in Beijing on April 6 and signed an agreement to reopen embassies and consulates following a breakthrough deal to end years of hostilities last month, mediated by China.

"Iran has been trying to reestablish relations with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states for a number of years, as made evident in President Rouhani’s 2019 proposal called the Hormuz Peace Endeavor, or HOPE," Mehran Kamrava, professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, told Sputnik.

"President Raisi came to office declaring that improving relations with Iran’s Arab neighbors was also a top priority. The question then becomes: Why did the Saudis decide on normalization of relations now?"

As per Kamrava, a few factors are at play here: first, the Iranians may help the Saudis to settle their longstanding conflict with the Houthis in Yemen; second, Saudi Arabia has realized that Iran is "a permanent neighbor, whereas the United States is an impermanent friend."

Both Tehran and Riyadh were interested in ending hostilities, echoed Iranian-American activist and scholar Leila Zand.

"So on one hand we have Iran that is suffering from the financial conditions that they are dealing with due to sanctions and they want to break the isolation and come back to the community, the international community," Zand told Sputnik. "On the other hand, we have Saudi Arabia looking for the project they have for 2030 year [Vision 2030 – Sputnik]. (…) Both of these sides make them to just be ready for a direct negotiation and direct dialogue. And I guess it has the positive consequences and positive impact for the whole region, not for if not only for the two nations."

On March 10, Iran and Saudi Arabia announced that they had agreed to re-establish diplomatic ties after years of hostilities. At the time, the two Middle Eastern powers signaled their intent to re-open their respective embassies and re-implement a 22-year old security pact under which Tehran and Riyadh agreed to cooperate on terrorism, drug-smuggling and money-laundering.

China's Role as Peace Broker

The breakthrough became China's first major diplomatic victory in the Middle Eastern region which has long been considered Washington's domain of influence.

"This is certainly a significant accomplishment for Chinese diplomacy, and perhaps the start of a more proactive diplomatic posture that China will take in future regional issues in the Persian Gulf and the broader Middle East," said Kamrava.

The professor admitted that Beijing's mediation of the Middle Eastern row had come out of the blue: "China has traditionally not been a diplomatic presence in the Middle East, and this is an important development," he noted.

The professor admitted that Beijing's mediation of the Middle Eastern row had come out of the blue: "China has traditionally not been a diplomatic presence in the Middle East, and this is an important development," he noted.

Earlier, Beijing maintained working relations with both powers. In March 2021, China concluded a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement with Iran. "Both Iran and Saudi Arabia, of course, trade a great deal with China, and therefore there is significant influence that China can bring to bear on both states," the professor noted.

"The major difference between China and the United States seems to be in the relatively hands-off approach that China is adopting. One doesn’t see Chinese officials linking their diplomacy with calling for regime change, as the United States has so often done. However, this does not mean that China will necessarily be able to resolve other conflicts, simply because of the very complex nature of some of these. However, any fair diplomatic method should be encouraged," M. V. Ramana, the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and the director of the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia, told Sputnik.

Beijing has its own interest in mediating peace in the troublesome Middle Eastern region: on the one hand, it needs interrupted energy deliveries from the Persian Gulf; on the other hand, the region plays an important part in Beijing's ambitious Belt and Road Project.

"China is building the New Silk Road, that's going to take Iran through the Middle East onto Europe," Ahmed Al Ibrahim, a Riyadh-based political analyst, told Sputnik. "So this is also something that to look forward to, economically in order, basically, to zero that whole region's problem. So China has a lot to do with that, and China wants to give to the region the trust that America has not given, and they want it to work."

China sees peace as a vital condition for both domestic and global economic development. To that end, the Chinese leadership issued the country's new Global Security Initiative. The document, which was published in late February, lays out practical measures to address current security challenges and maintain peace around the world.

"Since Xi Jinping became president ten years ago, China has been on a 365-days-a-year diplomatic onslaught across every nook and cranny on Earth, while being one of KSA’s most loyal hydrocarbon customers," Jeff J. Brown, author of The China Trilogy, editor at China Rising Radio Sinoland and co-founder and curator of the Bioweapon Truth Commission, told Sputnik. "Thus, official and commercial ties are underestimated by the West and off the mainstream radar. What pushed China to move into the limelight is, of course, the West’s self-inflicted disaster in Ukraine and the global majority’s refusal to heed NATO’s sanctions. In any case, Chinese relations have always been about mutual benefit and respect, going back millennia."

US Losing Grip in Middle East

The Saudi-Iranian deal brokered by China is a clear indication that Washington is losing its grip in the Middle East and elsewhere in the word, according to Mehran Kamrava.

"The American influence in the Middle East, and elsewhere in the world, is on the decline, and Saudi Arabia’s decision to normalize ties with Iran is definitely an indication of that," Kamrava said. "By itself, Iran-Saudi normalization does not indicate the emergence of a multipolar world, so Saudi Arabia is still likely to remain fundamentally in the American orbit. But what we do see is a greater degree of willingness to defy implicit, and perhaps even explicit, American wishes and strategic objectives."

One should bear in mind that up until nowadays the United States has been the only power where it called itself as a mediator in various areas in the Middle East, including Israel, Palestine, for Egypt, noted Leila Zand.

However, the Trump administration damaged relations with Tehran, while his successor, Joe Biden, almost ruined ties with the Saudi royals, most notably, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. OPEC+'s latest decision to further cut oil production was seen by some observers as a slap in the face of the Biden administration.

"Saudi Arabia felt that it needed to work for their own interests," Zand noted. "And from the perspective of the US, when as an American, my American part is looking at that and I don't like what has happened because it shows that my country was not diplomatically equipped and was not a good mediator. It was not a peacemaker in order to build the relationship between the countries."

To complicate matters further, the US has been dragged into internal power struggle and failing to manifest itself as an influential player in the region, according to Al Ibrahim.

"The US influence in the Middle East has declined, not because the Middle East is trying, or the GCC country or Saudi Arabia is trying to go away from the United States," said the Riyadh-based analyst. "No, it's the United States who is pulling out of the region for many reasons (...) [but] also the conflict internally between the Democrats and the Republicans who are so divided."

Washington is by no means enthusiastic about China's growing influence in the Middle East. Instead of hailing the settlement process between Iran and Saudi Arabia, some DC-based scholars lamented the fact that the Iran-Saudi Arabia détente could complicate efforts by the US and Israel to "strengthen a regional alliance to confront Iran" referring to Tehran's nuclear program.

Last year, the Biden administration largely froze negotiations over the revival of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, which Washington unilaterally tore apart. Then-US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 even though Tehran fully observed the accord. In response, Iran started to loosen the requirements of the deal concerning the enrichment of uranium.

On April 3, Axios reported that the Biden administration had recently been in discussion with its European and Israeli partners about striking a deal with Iran that would include some sanctions relief in exchange for Tehran freezing parts of its nuclear program. The effort followed the International Atomic Energy Agency's February report alleging that Iran had amassed 87.5 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium.

It appears that the newly brokered Saudi-Iran détente could prompt the Biden administration to bring the issue of negotiations with Tehran back on the table after Washington suspended the nuclear talks and openly supported protests against the Iranian government last year. Meanwhile, it's likely that China may help diplomatically resolve other longstanding conflicts in the Middle East, according to Jeff J. Brown. However, it will take time, he added.

"The KSA-Iran détente should be followed by similar agreements with the other Gulf State monarchies," Brown said, projecting that a new world order will take shape with the Global South playing an important role in it. "Thanks to the geopolitical catalyst in Ukraine, with Washington and Brussels making one god-awful mistake after another, this is inspiring Africa, Latin America, Asia and Oceania to start standing tall against 500 years of colonial imperialism and shout, 'Look, the Western king wears no clothes'!"