Jerusalem: United States President Joe Biden says he's very concerned that the violence in the Middle East could escalate, adding that the killing of a top Hamas leader in Iran has not helped efforts to negotiate a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Biden said he'd had a very direct conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. We have the basis for a cease-fire. He should move on it and they should move on it now. Netanyahu has said his country was determined to win nothing less than total victory against Hamas. He also said that Israel hoped for a cease-fire soon and was working for one.
The assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday and senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut on Tuesday risks escalating the fighting into an all-out regional war, with Iran also threatening to respond after the attack on its territory. Israel has vowed to kill Hamas leaders over the group's October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was among the growing voices internationally calling for a cease-fire in recent days, saying that it was the only way to begin to break the cycle of violence and suffering.
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French minister seeks greater security for Jewish communities as tensions escalate
PARIS France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Friday called for increased security measures to protect Jewish communities across the country amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. The risk of action is real, Darmanin said in a note to national and local law enforcement agencies.
He requested greater security around places frequented by Jewish people in France, particularly places of worship and other gatherings for religious services. Darmanin specifically mentioned the many Israeli citizens in France at the time of the Paris Olympics in need of protection as tensions flared up following the assassination of top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in Tehran and in Beirut.
Israel protests after Turkey lowers embassy flag for Haniyeh
JERUSALEM- Israel has summoned Turkey's deputy ambassador for a severe reprimand after the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv lowered its flag to half-staff in a sign of mourning for Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh, the Israeli foreign minister announced.
Israel Katz said on X that his country would not tolerate expressions of mourning for a murderer like Ismail Haniyeh, who led Hamas in committing the atrocities on October 7th and prayed with his associates, wishing success to the murderers.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a national day of mourning for Friday, mandating that flags around the country and at overseas diplomatic missions be lowered to half-staff in honor of Haniyeh. Funeral prayers were being held at mosques around country as well as Istanbul's famed Haghia Sophia.
Katz said: If the embassy representatives wish to mourn, they should go to Turkey and mourn alongside their master, Erdogan, who embraces the terrorist organization Hamas and supports its acts of murder and terror. Turkey's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oncu Keceli responded to Katz on X, saying Israel would not be able to achieve peace by killing negotiators and threatening diplomats. Turkey does not view Hamas as a terrorist organization and has describes it as a liberation movement.
Israel investigates imam at Al-Aqsa Mosque over Haniyeh comments
JERUSALEM Israeli police are investigating comments made Friday by the imam at Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem mourning top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during prayers Friday.
Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran earlier this week in an attack that Iran pinned on Israel. On Friday, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the former mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, said, the people of Jerusalem and the environs of Jerusalem from the pulpit of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque mourn the martyr Ismail Haniyeh. We ask God Almighty to have mercy on him and to grant him a place in His spacious gardens. Sabri also led a funeral prayer in absentia for Haniyeh.
Following the sermon, Israeli police said that they were probing whether the statement constituted incitement. They pledged to act based on the findings. Since the start of the war, Palestinians have been arrested, fired by Israeli employers and expelled from Israeli schools for online speech deemed incendiary by Israeli authorities, rights groups say.
Roughly 30,000 attended prayers Friday, according to the Waqf, the Jordanian-based Muslim religious body that takes care of the Al-Aqsa site. Police banned hundreds of young men from entering the sensitive compound ahead of prayers, a common practice since October 7.