Israel

A Palestinian boy mourns his father, one of three people killed in an Israeli strike on a security post in Gaza. The attack is part of ongoing Israeli violence, despite a fragile ceasefire, which has killed at least 846 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Talks between Lebanese and Israeli delegations to be held in Washington, DC, next week, the official tells Al Jazeera.

The United States is trying to de-escalate Israel’s actions in Lebanon as it pushes for solidifying an ongoing ceasefire and moving to the next phase of negotiations between the two sides, according to a Lebanese official.

The official, who spoke to Al Jazeera Arabic on condition of anonymity, revealed on Thursday the details of the planned second stage of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon after an initial round in Washington, DC, in mid-April, which led to the current status quo of a ceasefire being declared but attacks continuing.

Delegation-level negotiations will begin on May 17 in the US capital, the official said, adding that the talks will address both security and political tracks to resolve issues of a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, borders, prisoners, displaced people and reconstruction.

The Reuters and AFP news agencies, both quoting an unnamed State Department official on Thursday, reported that the upcoming talks are due to be held May 14 and 15.

Israel continued to pound southern Lebanon on Thursday, killing one person and injuring several, according to Lebanese state-run media, a day after it targeted a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The strikes put pressure on the Lebanon ceasefire, which emerged in parallel with a US-Iran truce in the wider war in the Middle East. A halt to Israeli strikes in Lebanon is a key Iranian demand in Tehran’s negotiations with Washington.

No peace agreement: Official

The Lebanese official told Al Jazeera that the country’s presidency has been seeking to discuss a final cessation of hostilities with Israel.

The expected step before May 17 is an extension of the truce and an Israeli commitment to a ceasefire, the official said, adding that the recent attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs was an Israeli message intended to obstruct the negotiation process.

Lebanon is not moving towards signing a peace agreement but towards a nonaggression pact, the official said.

The Lebanon ceasefire, announced on April 16 by US President Donald Trump, has led to a reduction in hostilities. The Beirut area, for example, was not struck by Israel for weeks before Wednesday’s attack.

However, since it went into effect, Israel and Hezbollah have traded accusations of violating the ceasefire in other areas, particularly in southern Lebanon.

More than 2,700 people have been killed in the war in Lebanon since March 2, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said. About 1.2 million people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon, many of them fleeing from southern Lebanon.

Israel has announced 17 soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon along with two civilians in northern Israel.

BEIRUT — A dozen U.S. Democratic Senators have called for the U.S. Central Command to answer questions about American coordination with Israel in declaring broad “ evacuation zones ” in Lebanon and Iran, alleging that the practice may violate international law.

The letter underlines how the Democratic Party — both its leaders and the base — has grown increasingly critical of Israel.

Since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, the Israeli military has regularly issued maps covering large areas of territory along with warnings telling all residents of the zones to flee. Israel had previously used a similar approach in Gaza.

The senators said the sweeping warnings have “been used to permanently displace people and destroy homes and towns” and that some civilians who refused to leave their homes in the areas have been killed by subsequent strikes.

The 12 senators led by Vermont Sen. Peter Welch, in a letter dated May. 4 to CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper that was provided to The Associated Press, state that Israel’s practice of unilaterally declaring mass evacuation warnings in Lebanon and Iran “likely contravene international laws the United States has helped develop around humane warfare.”

The other signatories include senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.

The letter asked the CENTCOM chief whether U.S. forces have coordinated military targets with Israeli forces during the recent war with Iran, whether they provided assistance or intelligence helping Israel’s military to impose the evacuation zones in Lebanon and Iran, and whether CENTCOM signed off on U.S. military support for the targeting of people or infrastructure in the evacuation zones. It also asked whether the U.S. military has reviewed the legality of the practice.

The Israeli military declined to comment when asked about the letter. CENTCOM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the past, Israel has said the evacuation maps aim to keep civilians out of harm’s way. It says Hezbollah has positioned fighters, tunnels and weapons in civilian areas across southern Lebanon, from which it has launched hundreds of drones and missiles — without warning — into northern Israel.

A shift in the party stance

Observers said the move is part of a larger shift in the stance of Democratic Party leaders on U.S. military assistance to Israel. Democrats have also been critical of the Trump administration’s entry into the war on Iran alongside Israel.

The letter came nearly three weeks after more than three dozen Democrats supported an effort by Sanders to block arms sales to Israel, signaling a growing discontent in the party with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the wars in Gaza and Iran.

The two resolutions to block U.S. sales of bulldozers and bombs to Israel were opposed by all Republicans and rejected 40-59 and 36-63.

Jon Finer, former deputy national security adviser under President Joe Biden, said the recent steps by Democratic senators reflect a “growing concern about Israeli conduct of various wars that cause civilian harm and U.S. complicity in that” across the spectrum within the Democratic Party.

Asked why the Democratic Party is taking these steps now and not at the time when the war in Gaza and the Israel-Hezbollah war broke out — when the Democratic Biden administration was in power — Finer said: “our operational integration with Israel appears to be growing, which is part of it, but the truth is the Democratic base has been moving in this direction for some time and Washington has been catching up.”

Andrew Miller, a former senior official on Israel and Palestinian Affairs at the State Department, said the letter “represents a shift among congressional Democrats moving from questions of the legality of Israeli military operations to concerns about the complicity of the U.S. military.”

“It demonstrates that Democrats are taking international law very seriously and that is a welcome development,” Miller said.

The evacuation zones

Israel has issued dozens of evacuation warnings in Lebanon since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2. Over 1 million people in Lebanon have fled their homes during the war.

Israel has also issued similar warnings for Iranians, both during the 12-day Israel-Iran war last year and during the U.S.-Israeli war launched on Iran on Feb. 28. In one case last year they warned 300,000 people in Tehran, Iran’s capital, to evacuate.

On Wednesday, the Israel military’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued an evacuation warning to residents of 12 villages in southern Lebanon saying Hezbollah is using them to launch attacks. The warnings came despite a ceasefire that has been nominally in place since April 17, although Israel and Hezbollah have been carrying daily attacks since then.

The senators said the declaration of evacuation zones does not absolve Israeli and U.S. forces “from the absolute legal responsibility to determine that each individual person or civilian facility targeted by drones, jets, and gunfire is, in fact, a military target.” It said the use of the zones has been linked to “the deaths of thousands of civilians,” describing them as “kill zones.”

In response to questions by the AP last month, the Israeli military said it issues warnings by phone, text, radio broadcast, social media and leaflets dropped from the air, in accordance with the “principles of distinction, proportionality and feasible precautions” under international law.

Mroue writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Julia Frankel contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

Irish Sport for Palestine accuses Israel of engaging ⁠in ‘genocide’ in war on Gaza ahead of UEFA Nations League game.

Leading Irish footballers have joined celebrities in a campaign urging ⁠the Republic of Ireland to boycott a UEFA Nations League match against Israel later this year.

An open letter sent to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) from campaign group Irish Sport for Palestine accuses Israel of engaging ⁠in “genocide” in the war in Gaza and of breaching UEFA and FIFA statutes by allowing teams to play on occupied Palestinian land.

In November 2025, 93 percent of FAI members voted for its leadership to press UEFA to suspend Israel under those statutes, a mandate campaigners say the Irish governing body should “respect and represent”.

Israel has denied that its forces have ‌committed genocide during the war in Gaza.

The letter, entitled “Stop the Game”, was signed by League of Ireland players, former men’s coach Brian Kerr and twice women’s player of the year Louise Quinn.

Irish rock band Fontaines D C, hip-hop trio Kneecap and singer-songwriter Christy Moore were among the other signatories, along with Oscar-nominated actor Stephen Rea.

Ireland are set to host Israel at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on October 4, while a September 27 fixture designated as an Israeli home ⁠match is expected to be staged at a neutral venue.

The letter includes a statement ⁠from Shamrock Rovers captain and Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland chair Roberto Lopes.

“We can’t ignore the humanitarian catastrophe in Palestine; the sheer loss of life there has to take precedence over any sporting consideration,” said Dublin-born Lopes, who is set to play at the ⁠World Cup for Cape Verde in June.

“Ireland has an opportunity here to lead and do what others won’t.”

Israel have played in UEFA competitions since the early 1980s after ⁠being excluded from Asian Football Confederation (AFC) competitions in the 1970s when ⁠several countries refused to play against them.

Ireland’s prime minister Micheal Martin said the two matches against Israel should go ahead.

“We have been critics and have opposed very strongly Israeli government policy within Gaza in particular. We condemned the Hamas attack on Israel which was absolutely horrific,” ‌the taoiseach told The Irish Times.

“I think sport is an area that can be challenging when it crosses into the realm of politics.”

In February, FAI Chief Executive David Courell said the national team had no choice but ‌to ‌fulfil its obligations or risk harming the long-term sporting interests of Irish football, including potential disqualification from future competitions.

A poll by the Irish Football Supporters Partnership found 76 percent of respondents opposed the fixture being played.

US State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggott tells Al Jazeera that the United States is working to create conditions for “good faith conversations” between Lebanon and Israel, while accusing Hezbollah of trying to derail diplomacy through attacks and threats.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Tuesday that Operation Epic Fury – the US-Israeli strikes on Iran which commenced on February 28 and prompted a regional conflict – had concluded as its objectives had been achieved. Washington now prefers “the path of peace”, Rubio said.

On the same day, US President Donald Trump announced that the US military operation to escort stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz – “Project Freedom”, which was launched the day before – had been paused.

So, does this mean the US-Israel war on Iran is over?

What did Rubio say about Operation Epic Fury?

In a media briefing at the White House on Tuesday, Rubio told reporters that Operation Epic Fury was over.

“The Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation,” Rubio said.

“We’re not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What the president would prefer is a deal,” he said, referring to Pakistan’s efforts to arrange direct talks between Iran and the US.

The first round of these, in Islamabad last month, ended without a resolution. Both sides have submitted new proposals since then.

“The on-again, off-again talks with Iran, alongside Trump’s abrupt about turn on ‘Operation Freedom’ to guide vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz has created unwelcome frenzy in the Gulf,” Burcu Ozcelik, a senior research fellow for Middle East security at UK-based think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told Al Jazeera.

“It also reflects the highly fraught and almost frantic diplomatic backchannelling aimed to extract deep concessions from Tehran on the nuclear issue that will lock in commitments that exceed previous conditions, and which will convince the US to lift the blockade on Iranian ports and unlock sanctions relief – thereby effectively ending the war.”

Ozcelik explained that Iran, on the other hand, wants guarantees that this will be the end of the war, rather than just a pause.

What did Trump say about Project Freedom?

The same day, Trump told reporters that Project Freedom had been paused “based on the request” of Pakistan and other countries, and the “fact that Great Progress has been made towards a Complete and Final Agreement” with representatives of Iran.

Project Freedom was the US forces’ operation to escort stranded ships through the Strait of Hormuz that Trump announced the day before. It had appeared to signal a direct challenge to Iran’s closure of the strategic waterway, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies are shipped in peacetime. Iran’s threats to attack ships in the strait have blockaded it since the US-Israel attacks on Iran began. Then, the US announcement of a naval blockade on Iranian ports added to the standoff around the strait.

After Trump announced Project Freedom, Iran said ships trying to use the strait without permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would be fired on, igniting fears of a return to war. His announcement triggered a war of words between the US and Iran, with claims and counterclaims about strikes continuing throughout the day.

First, Iran’s Fars agency claimed it had hit a US warship with drones after it ignored orders to turn back from the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command (CENTCOM) denied a US ship had been struck, however, and instead claimed to have sunk at least six IRGC vessels. Iran denied that. Tehran then published a new map extending its claimed area of control over the strait into UAE waters, raising fears of a new regional confrontation.

The UAE accused Iran of launching strikes on its Fujairah port, the site of an important oil pipeline, which sparked a fire in an oil refinery.

On Tuesday, the US operation had been stopped, according to Trump.

“We have mutually agreed that, while the [US] Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Iran has not immediately responded to this.

Shahram Akbarzadeh, a professor in Middle East and Central Asian politics at Australia’s Deakin University, told Al Jazeera that while it is difficult to determine exactly why Trump has paused Project Freedom, the pause comes against the backdrop of growing antiwar public opinion in the US.

“At the same time, Trump may be losing patience with the war; he says he has time to drag this out,” Akbarzadeh said.

“But in reality, Trump has a short attention span and needs to secure a win – soon. Pausing Project Freedom allows diplomacy to pick up pace, bringing US and Iran closer to a deal that Trump would label as a win.”

Is this the end of the war on Iran?

Not exactly. Akbarzadeh said pausing Project Freedom could serve as “the beginning of the end for the war”.

“We know that the Iranians are desperate for an end, so there is little chance of them resuming attacks on US Navy if Trump sends explicit signals that diplomacy has a green light,” he said.

However, he added, “The problem is that we have been here before. Earlier opportunities were squandered because Israel insisted that the US could get a better deal or because Trump misread the situation and expected the military option to grant him more concessions.”

What happens next?

It is difficult to predict this, but neither side appears to want a return to full-scale war, so both are likely to prioritise a diplomatic way out, Akbarzadeh said.

Still, “neither can afford to be seen as the loser,” he added. “They feel their public image needs to be preserved for their own respective domestic audience. This complicates negotiations and reaching a deal.”

Ozcelik said what happens next “will be determined by what the fractured leadership in Tehran commits to on the nuclear file.

“While it has rejected that talks involve curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme, this type of posturing has aimed to assuage domestic, hard-line and Iranian nationalists who are rattled by the US-Israel strikes and see nuclear issues from a nationalist, sovereign rights perspective.”

She predicted that the United Nations may soon issue a formal condemnation of Iran for unilaterally blockading the Strait of Hormuz.

“But the real pressure, mounting by the day, is the economic one – that shutting the strait is imposing punishing costs on Iran’s economic recovery prospects,” she said.

“Despite rhetoric on resilience and survival, the remaining Iranian leadership is undeniably concerned about the costs of the war. The possibility of renewed military strikes against Iranian critical infrastructure and the destabilising impacts these would inevitably have might be finally forcing Tehran’s hand,” Ozcelik concluded.

As Israel faces growing international isolation over its regional wars, President Isaac Herzog is set to visit two countries in Central America – Panama and Costa Rica – to boost ties.

“President Herzog’s visit to Panama and Costa Rica reflects the importance of Israel’s ties with countries across Latin America and the renewed momentum in Israel’s relations with Central and South American nations,” a statement from the Israeli Foreign Ministry reads.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has prompted an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes, has made it a source of growing opprobrium around the world.

But a handful of countries, most of them led by allies of United States President Donald Trump, have continued to tout their strong ties with Israel, which has sought to maintain those relationships via diplomatic outreach.

What will Herzog’s visit consist of, what will it seek to accomplish, and what can it tell us about Israel’s diplomatic goals in Latin America?

When will the trip take place?

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has said that President Herzog will depart Israel on May 6 for a four-day official visit to Panama and Costa Rica.

Where will Herzog visit, and who will he meet?

The Israeli president will visit Panama first, meeting with President Jose Raul Mulino and government officials before continuing to Costa Rica to attend the inauguration of President-elect Laura Fernandez Delgado.

Herzog was invited to attend the ceremony by the outgoing pro-Israel President Rodrigo Chaves Robles and will also attend a dinner for heads of state. He will also meet with members of the Jewish community in both countries.

What is the significance of a visit by an Israeli president to Panama?

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has said that the Israeli president’s visit to Panama is the “first in history” and will help bolster ties with a country that it calls a “true friend of Israel and a current member of the UN Security Council”.

The meeting between Herzog and Mulino will follow up on discussions on bilateral ties held by the two leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.

Is the trip connected to Panama’s status at the UN?

As Israel faces growing isolation on the world stage, it has sought dependable allies at international fora such as the United Nations, and the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s statement notes Panama’s current two-year term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

While votes in the UN General Assembly have often gone overwhelmingly against Israel in recent years, Panama and Costa Rica have been among those who have joined with Israel and the US or abstained from voting.

Panama and Costa Rica both abstained from a 2024 United Nations resolution calling on Israel to end its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, and Panama was one of just 12 countries to abstain from a September vote in support of a two-state solution.

Herzog’s visit may be an effort to ensure that Panama remains an ally of Israel during its time on the UNSC.

What is Israel’s endgame for this regional tour?

While the United States is, by far, Israel’s most important ally, it has also celebrated partnerships with countries such as the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East and Argentinian President Javier Milei in South America.

Many of Israel’s allies are also close partners of the US, and some countries in Central America — many of them small states that depend on US support and trade — may see a closer partnership with Israel as a means of signalling their alignment with US interests.

Herzog’s visit will seek to strengthen those relationships, with the Foreign Ministry stating that the trip will bolster “strategic partnership between Israel and the countries and peoples of the region” and underscore the status of those countries as important allies.

Israel has celebrated previous steps deepening relations with countries in the region, including a free trade agreement it signed with Costa Rica in December, along with the opening of a trade office in Jerusalem, which Israel claims as its capital but is considered illegally occupied under international law.

The US Department of State expressed support for those agreements, stating that they would “deepen cooperation between Israel and Latin America, grounded in shared interests and real potential for prosperity”.

Is Israel trying to curtail the growing support for the Palestinian cause in Latin America?

Herzog’s trip may also seek to counter outspoken support for Palestine in Latin America, where leaders on the political left, such as Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have emerged as vocal critics of Israel.

President Lula recently condemned Israel’s seizure and detention of participants in a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for Gaza that included Brazilian national Thiago Avila, calling it an “unjustifiable action” that should be roundly condemned.

“The detention of the flotilla activists in international waters had already represented a serious affront to international law,” Lula said.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says ceasefire with Iran remains in place despite growing tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.

A 15-year-old boy, Mahmoud Sahweil, was killed when Israel struck a Gaza police station.

His aunt says he was out selling bread to support his 15-member family. Israel has killed at least 830 Palestinians in Gaza since the October 2025 “ceasefire”.

Members of the now-banned Palestine Action group raided Elbit Systems’ facility in Bristol 10 months into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Four of six British pro-Palestinian activists have been convicted of criminal damage relating to a 2024 raid on a factory operated by Israeli defence firm Elbit, with one of the defendants found guilty of striking a police officer with a sledgehammer.

London’s Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday found Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, guilty. Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, were found not guilty.

Prosecutors said that the six defendants were members of the banned group Palestine Action, which organised the assault on the Elbit Systems UK facility in Bristol, southwest England, in August 2024.

The raid, which prosecutors said caused about one million pounds ($1.36m) of damage, took place about 10 months into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza that began in October 2023.

Palestine Action was later proscribed under “terrorism” law, a decision which was ruled unlawful by London’s High Court, though the group remains banned pending the government’s appeal, which was heard last week.

Acquitted of aggravated burglary

Corner, who prosecutors said struck a police officer with a sledgehammer, was convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Each of the defendants gave evidence in front of the jury, admitting that they damaged Israeli military drones and equipment inside Elbit’s research and development facility in Filton, Bristol – in order to “save lives in Palestine”, according to a statement by their lawyers.

The defence team of the defendants said in a statement: “The defendants already defeated the most serious charges” and “they went into this trial with their heads held high and with the knowledge that no matter the verdict, by destroying Israeli military drones, their action likely saved lives in Palestine”.

Tuesday’s verdicts follow an earlier trial, after which all six defendants were acquitted of aggravated burglary, and the previous jury could not reach verdicts on the criminal damage charges.

Prosecutors later dropped charges of violent disorder against all six defendants.

The UK government proscribed Palestine Action in July, days after its activists sneaked into an air force base in southern England.

Elbit Systems is a defence technology company with about 20,000 staff and revenues of $2bn, according to the firm’s website.

Video from Gaza City shows flames rising after an Israeli strike targeted a group of civilians near Al-Jalaa Roundabout in the Al-Oyoun area in northern Gaza City.

At first sight, last week’s unprovoked attack on a French nun walking along a street in occupied East Jerusalem came without warning. However, for the roughly 180,000 Christians living in Israel – and the 10,000 or so Christians living in East Jerusalem – the attack is the latest in a growing number of incidents of abuse, assault, and intimidation that the community says has increased in tandem with Israel’s turn towards far-right nationalism.

While incidents of violence and arson grab the attention, low-level incidents of spitting, insults, and disparaging graffiti have become a daily experience for many Christians in the area – the majority of them Palestinian – contributing to the desire on the part of nearly half of all the religious community under 30 to leave.

Israeli officials have been quick to condemn the attack on the nun, calling it “despicable” and with “no place” in Israeli society. A man has also been arrested, after the arrest of Israeli soldiers blamed for smashing a Christian statue in southern Lebanon last month.

But ultimately, trust in the Israeli state is thin on the ground, with many of the incidents going unreported, analysts say.

Christians in Israel and East Jerusalem have been present in the area for more than 2,000 years. But they now find themselves attacked by Israelis, just for practicing their faith.

According to the volunteer-run Religious Freedom Data Center (RFDC), in the first three months of this year, Christians reported 31 incidents of harassment, most involving spitting or defacing church property. Last year, analysts with the interreligious Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue tracked 113 known attacks on individuals and church property in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, including 61 physical assaults mainly targeting visible members of the clergy, such as monks, nuns, friars, and priests.

‘It’s definitely increased in the last three years,” said Hana Bendcowsky, programme director at the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations. “Resentment toward Christianity existed in the past as well, but people did not dare express it openly.”

“Over the past three years, the political atmosphere in Israel – where there is less concern about how the world perceives us – has led people to feel more comfortable harassing Christians,” Bendcowsky added. “This broader sense of Israeli isolation, and the reduced concern about international reactions, is also reflected in the way the State of Israel has acted regarding what has taken place in Gaza and southern Lebanon.”

Rising nationalism

Israel’s shift towards ultranationalism, particularly when it comes to policies towards Palestinians, has intensified under the current government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Under his administration, far-right voices that were once at the fringes of Israeli society have become incorporated into its heart, and now play defining roles in government.

Fuelled by a not entirely unfounded sense of impunity, a survey by the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue last year found it was largely ultra-Orthodox and ultra-nationalistic Israelis who were responsible for the majority of attacks on Christians.

“The hate and attempt to harass non-Jews by some of the elements, particularly settler elements, knows no bounds,” Rabbi Arik Ascherman, an Israeli peace activist, told Al Jazeera. “Therefore, anything from spitting, harassing, and desecrating, to government actions to prevent churches from bringing in staff and clergy from abroad…  is simply part of the reality here.”

Bendcowsky noted that “the complexity of Jewish–Christian relations goes back to the early centuries.”

“While some churches have undergone processes of rethinking their attitudes towards Jews and Judaism and have begun a path of healing, this has not yet taken place within Israeli Jewish society,” she said. “In education, the focus is on Jewish victimhood, so the lack of familiarity with Christians, together with the historical memory of Christianity, tends to be negative. In the current political climate, there are those who exploit this as a chance to strike back.”

Incidents are rarely reported, researchers say, with concern over foreign visas, or not wanting to draw attention to the issue, mixing with a profound absence of confidence in the state to take action.

‘There’s an absolute lack of confidence in the police, and I think that’s leading to many of the attacks going unreported,” Bendcowsky said. “Unfortunately, that’s often borne out by the evidence. Unless an incident gains international attention, particularly in the US, it often goes uninvestigated, or investigations are closed without any official conclusion.”

Losing support

High-level international objections to attacks on Christians and Christianity, especially those coming from Israel’s principal backers in the United States, have typically elicited swift responses from the Israeli government.

After viral footage of Israeli soldiers destroying a Christian statue in southern Lebanon sparked international outrage, the Israeli prime minister’s office was swift to publish its own condemnation. And in March, following a backlash from many world leaders, including avowedly pro-Zionist US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, after Israeli police prevented Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, official apologies and “clarifications” were quick in coming. But Israeli military attacks on Christian churches in Gaza and Lebanon have only been acknowledged when international and specifically US sympathy for Israel risks being undermined.

In Israel, Christianity is often associated with the Palestinians – and it is therefore perhaps inevitable that as Israel becomes increasingly unrepentant in its killing of Palestinians and seizure of their land, Palestinian Christians and other Christians in the area will not find themselves spared.

Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, an Israeli analyst with Atlas Global Strategies, said that he has noticed intolerance towards Christians increasing. He noted that along with Israel’s violence in Gaza and the wider region, this is contributing towards Israel’s increasing unpopularity worldwide and in the US, and making it more difficult for Christian supporters of Israel to square their support for the country with its treatment of their co-religionists on the ground, a plight they have ignored for decades.

‘In the long term, these attacks on Christians are massive,’ Ben-Ephraim told Al Jazeera.

“Older evangelicals may be forgiving, but the young are already turning against Israel,” he said. “This erodes the little support [Israel has] left. So, while current-day leaders like [US President Donald] Trump and Huckabee will pretend this isn’t happening, this will shape an entire generation of religious Christians in a way that Israel does not even begin to imagine.”

The Palestinian National Popular Action Committee have today issued a press statement strongly condemning the Israeli abduction of activists Saif Abu Khashk and Thiago Ávila in international waters near the island of Crete. “This act of maritime piracy,” the Committee said, “is part of a continuing pattern of violations of all international norms and laws.”  The statement said Israel’s cross-border lawlessness comes as no surprise from an occupation that systematically disregards international law. “We hold all those complicit in these crimes, including those who remain silent, fully responsible.” 

It added; “While we hold the occupation fully accountable for the safety of Saif and Thiago, we urgently call on the Governments of Spain and Brazil to intervene immediately to secure their safety and ensure their prompt release.”

The Committee expressed its appreciation and esteem to the two activists, Saif and Thiago, as well as to all participants in the “Sumud Flotilla” who confronted the occupation’s arrogance and piracy with their unarmed presence and firm determination. “These sacrifices reaffirm that the struggle for freedom and justice will continue,” it concluded.

READ: Israeli court extends detention of 2 Gaza-bound flotilla volunteers

The US president has accused some NATO countries of not doing enough to support the US-Israel war on Iran.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says European leaders have “gotten the message” after United States President Donald Trump announced plans to withdraw 5,000 soldiers from Germany.

Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with NATO allies, accusing them of not doing enough to support the US-Israel war on Iran. Speaking on Monday, Rutte acknowledged “disappointment from the US side”.

“European leaders have gotten the message. They heard the message loud and clear,” Rutte said before a European Political Community meeting in Armenia.

“Europeans are stepping up, a bigger role for Europe and a stronger NATO,” he added.

The Pentagon announced the troop withdrawal from Germany on Friday, days after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Iran was humiliating the US during the negotiations aimed at ending the war.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, called the announcement’s timing a “surprise”.

“I think it shows that we have to really strengthen the European pillar in NATO, and we have to really do more,” Kallas said while stressing that “American troops are not in Europe only for protecting European interests but also American interests.”

Over the weekend, NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said officials in the 32-nation military alliance “are working with the US to understand the details of their decision on force posture in Germany”.

‘Dangerous military intervention’

European criticism of the war on Iran has mounted in recent weeks as the conflict sends shockwaves through the global economy due to the continued disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Last week, Merz compared the war to previous military quagmires, such as the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It is, at the moment, a pretty tangled situation,” he said. “And it is costing us a great deal of money. This conflict, this war against Iran, has a direct impact on our economic output.”

Spain has refused to let the US launch attacks on Iran from its airspace or military bases. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has condemned the war as “unjustified” and a “dangerous military intervention” outside the realm of international law.

In response, Trump called Spain “terrible” and threatened to end all trade ties.

Despite this, Rutte said “more and more” European nations were now pre-positioning assets such as minehunters and minesweepers close to the Gulf to be ready for the “next phase” in the war.

He provided no details, and European nations have previously insisted they would not help to police the Strait of Hormuz until the war is over.

Increased defence spending

Many European countries have committed to ramping up defence spending in the face of fears over Trump’s commitment to NATO and Russia’s assault on Ukraine – a push underscored by several leaders in the Armenian capital.

“Europeans are taking their destiny into their own hands, increasing their defence and security spending, and building their own common solutions,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.

“We have to step up our military capabilities to be able to defend and protect ourselves,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters.

The latest escalation between Hezbollah and Israel began in early March following strikes linked to a wider regional conflict involving Iran and the United States. Hezbollah entered the conflict shortly after, positioning itself as part of a broader regional confrontation.

Since then, the group has faced significant battlefield losses, territorial setbacks in southern Lebanon, and growing domestic criticism. Israeli forces have established a buffer zone inside Lebanese territory, while large numbers of civilians have been displaced, particularly from Shiite communities that form Hezbollah’s core support base.

The conflict follows an earlier war that severely weakened Hezbollah, including the killing of its long time leader Hassan Nasrallah. Despite rearming and adapting its tactics, the group now faces mounting pressure on both military and political fronts.

Hezbollah’s Strategic Gamble
Hezbollah officials suggest the decision to re enter conflict was calculated. By aligning more closely with Tehran during a wider regional war, the group aims to ensure Lebanon becomes part of any future negotiations between Iran and the United States.

The expectation is that Iranian leverage could secure a stronger and more lasting ceasefire than previous agreements. However, this strategy carries high risks, especially as Washington has indicated that any deal with Iran may not include Lebanon.

Rising Human and Material Costs
The war has inflicted heavy casualties. Lebanese authorities report thousands killed since March, though the exact number of Hezbollah fighters remains disputed. Reports from within the group suggest losses could be substantial, with some fighters’ bodies still unrecovered in frontline towns.

Entire communities in southern Lebanon have been devastated, with villages destroyed and new graves appearing rapidly after ceasefire periods. Displacement has also intensified sectarian tensions, as affected populations seek refuge in other regions where resentment toward Hezbollah is growing.

Domestic Political Fallout
Inside Lebanon, opposition to Hezbollah’s armed status has hardened. Critics argue that its actions continue to expose the country to repeated wars. In a significant shift, the Lebanese government has engaged in direct talks with Israel, a move Hezbollah strongly opposes.

The government has also taken steps to limit Hezbollah’s military role, including banning its armed activities earlier this year. However, enforcing such measures remains difficult given the group’s entrenched influence and the risk of internal conflict.

Continuing Clashes Despite Ceasefire
Although a ceasefire announced in mid April reduced large scale fighting, hostilities have not fully stopped. Both sides continue to exchange strikes in southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah has dismissed the truce as ineffective due to ongoing Israeli attacks.

Israel maintains that its operations are necessary to eliminate threats to its northern regions and has indicated that dismantling Hezbollah’s military capacity will be central to any long term agreement.

Analysis
Hezbollah’s current position reflects a complex mix of resilience and vulnerability. While it has demonstrated the ability to regroup and continue fighting, this alone does not translate into strategic success. The group is increasingly constrained by battlefield losses, internal Lebanese opposition, and uncertainty over external support.

Its reliance on Iran introduces another layer of risk. If a broader agreement between Tehran and Washington excludes Lebanon, Hezbollah may find itself bearing the costs of a war without securing meaningful political gains.

At the same time, Israel appears determined to reshape the security landscape in southern Lebanon, potentially prolonging the conflict. Without a comprehensive regional settlement, the most likely outcome is a prolonged stalemate marked by intermittent violence and continued suffering on both sides.

With information from Reuters.

Two activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla arrived in the Netherlands after being released from Israeli custody. The flotilla was intercepted in international waters while carrying aid to the Gaza Strip. Two of their fellow activists remain in Israel for questioning.

Iran protests as Trump announces ‘Project Freedom’ to escort stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz.

After years of high-tempo operations in the Middle East, the Israeli Air Force is set to get two new fighter squadrons, one each of the F-15IA and the stealthy F-35I Adir. This will bring the total of F-35I squadrons to four and will add a second squadron of F-15IAs. While the numbers involved were not stated, the IAF has recently bolstered its fighter inventory in the form of 25-aircraft squadrons. This is almost certain to be the case here, too, which would provide the service with an additional 25 examples of each type, for an eventual inventory total of 100 F-35Is and 50 F-15IAs.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense confirmed on its official social media channels that, over the weekend, the country’s Ministerial Committee on Procurement approved its plan to simultaneously procure two new fighter squadrons.

“The scope of the deals is estimated at tens of billions of shekels and includes the integration of the squadrons into the Air Force, comprehensive support, spare parts, and logistics,” the ministry said.

In a statement today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referenced the two new squadrons. He also noted that, as part of Israel’s investment in military independence through domestic production of armaments and defense technology, the country “will develop groundbreaking Israeli-made aircraft.” He provided no further details about this project, although a fighter, along the lines of the failed Lavi, or even more likely, some kind of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) type drone, is a possibility, as are different types of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms. We also know of the existence of at least one secretive Israeli drone, referred to as RA-01 and used for covert missions, and further developments along these lines should not be ruled out. We are trying to get clarity on this aspect of the announcement.

Now that the acquisition has been approved by the Ministerial Committee, the Director General of the Ministry of Defense has authorized its procurement delegation in the United States to proceed with signing the deals with U.S. government and military officials “in the near future.”

Neither a delivery timeline nor the likely costs of the deals have been specified.

In a statement, Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz explained that the two-squadron procurement is driven by “operational lessons learned from the campaign against Iran [that] require us to accelerate our force buildup.”

Israel and the United States launched airstrikes on Iran on February 28, but a ceasefire has been in place since April 8. While the U.S. Navy maintains a blockade of ⁠Iranian ports, the IDF remains heavily engaged in fighting in Lebanon.

According to Katz, the Israeli campaign against Iran, Operation Lion’s Roar, “again demonstrated the power of the Air Force and its crucial role in safeguarding the security of the State of Israel. The operational lessons learned from this campaign compel us to continue accelerating our force development to ensure the Air Force’s superiority in the decades to come.”

As well as operations against Iran, Israeli aircraft have also conducted strikes against Iranian-backed Hamas militants in Gaza and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon following the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. Long-range strikes have also been flown against targets in Syria and Yemen in recent years.

“The procurement of these squadrons is a central part of the ‘Magen Israel’ program, which is designed to ensure the Israel Defense Forces maintains a sustained qualitative edge,” Katz added. “Our mission is clear: to stay one step ahead of our enemies.”

Magen Israel — Israeli Shield in Hebrew — includes other investments, too. As well as the new additional new fighters, it will provide funding for what is described as “a technological leap forward in the development and integration of autonomous flight capabilities, next-generation advanced defense systems, and the establishment of Israeli military superiority — both defensive and offensive — in space.”

The Magen Israel initiative has been approved by Prime Minister Netanyahu and the defense minister and will provide a budget of close to $120 billion over the next 10 years. Some of the funding for the new aircraft will almost certainly come from the United States, which delivers billions of dollars in military funding to Israel each year, largely tied to American weapons. Since October 7, 2023, Washington has surged tens of billions of dollars more, fast-tracking arms to the IDF.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Amir Baram, the director general of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, described the procurement as the “first and central step in implementing […] force buildup for a challenging security decade.”

“In the face of evolving threats in the region and alongside immediate procurement for wartime needs, we are committed to acting now to ensure the IDF’s military superiority even a decade from now and beyond,” Baram continued. “Operation Lion’s Roar has once again demonstrated the crucial importance of the strategic partnership between Israel and the U.S. and the need for advanced air power. The combination of the two squadrons’ distinct capabilities will provide the Air Force with full flexibility to address a wide range of combat scenarios.”

Israel signed a contract, with a ceiling of $8.58 billion, for its first 25 F-15IAs in December last year. These will be the first new Eagles that the country has acquired since 1999, when it received the last of its 25 F-15I Ra’am jets.

That contract covered the design, integration, instrumentation, test, production, and delivery of 25 new F-15IAs, with an option for an additional 25, which Israel will now exercise.

Work on the first batch of F-15IAs is expected to be completed by the end of 2035. The aircraft will almost certainly feature extensive Israeli-specific modifications, as was the case with previous Eagles, especially when it comes to electronic warfare, weapons, and communications systems.

In August 2024, Israel was given U.S. approval to buy as many as 50 F-15IAs, as well as upgrade its existing F-15Is as part of an overall package valued at $18.82 billion that you can read about here.

In the past, the Israeli Ministry of Defense has said that deliveries of the F-15IAs would start in 2031, with between four and six aircraft being supplied annually.

The status of the plan to upgrade the F-15I fleet is unclear, but the additional F-15IAs will likely be earmarked for replacing the older F-15A-to-D Baz, two squadrons of which are still active.

The Baz is used for both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions, but these are mainly very old jets, with the first examples having seen combat as long ago as 1979. These jets have been successively upgraded and also bolstered through transfers from U.S. Air Force stocks. They have also been heavily employed in recent combat operations.

The Baz fleet is highly illustrative of the fact that the IAF has been working at a considerable tempo for the last few years, something that has clearly put immense stress and additional hours on its fighters, some of which are 50 years old.

For Israel, the F-15 in general is prized for its long range and impressive stores-carrying capabilities. As well as significant ‘magazine depth,’ the latest versions of the F-15 also have a notable ability to carry outsize weapons, including hypersonic missiles, another feature of the jet that will be of particular interest to Israel. The IAF is increasingly reliant upon air-launched ballistic missiles and other air-launched standoff weapons, for which the F-15 is an ideal launch platform.

The Baz is used for both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions, but these are mainly very old jets, with the first examples having seen combat as long ago as 1979. Successively upgraded and also bolstered through transfers from U.S. Air Force stocks, these jets remain very valuable to the Israeli Air Force, as demonstrated by their prominent role in recent combat operations.

Meanwhile, the F-35I is increasingly becoming a mainstay of the IAF for a range of combat missions both in close proximity to Israel and over much greater distances.

In 2023, Israel opted to buy a third squadron of F-35Is, covering 25 more jets worth approximately $3 billion, and expand the Adir fleet to 75 aircraft. This batch of jets is scheduled to be delivered starting in 2028.

Israel announced in May 2018 that it had become the first operator to use the jet on offensive operations and, since then, it has also recorded success in aerial combat against Iranian drones.

In recent months, the IAF’s two Adir squadrons have demonstrated the jet’s flexibility by scoring the F-35’s first aerial victory against a crewed aircraft, bringing down an Iranian Yak-130 Mitten combat trainer over Tehran. The type has also been flying strike sorties, including with external ordnance, demonstrating the F-35’s so-called ‘beast mode,’ featuring heavier loads on underwing pylons.

Carrying external stores erodes the F-35’s valuable stealth characteristics in return for providing a considerably larger payload. For many of the kinds of missions that the IAF flies, especially against opposition with little to no meaningful air defense capabilities, such a tradeoff is well worthwhile.

As we have described in the past, there are strong arguments for Israel to pursue a policy of procuring a mix of fighters:

“Buying the F-15IA and F-35I will provide the Israeli Air Force with two complementary platforms, both of which are among the most capable anywhere in the world, especially when it comes to long-range strike. Israeli F-15s, in particular, are also used for forward networking and command and control nodes, vital for managing long-range operations. On the other hand, both the F-15IA and F-35I are also more than efficient for air defense, including against drone threats, as well as air-to-ground operations closer to Israel, such as the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.”