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Two Israelis killed in West Bank shooting amid deadly Jenin raids

Two Israelis killed in West Bank shooting amid deadly Jenin raids

Man and woman killed, third man critically injured in checkpoint shooting near Tarqumiyah, south of Hebron. At least two Israeli security personnel have been killed and another injured in a shooting at a checkpoint in Hebron, as Israel brought reinforcements in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin as part of its ongoing deadly raids. The shooting took place as the Israeli army continued its deadly assault on Jenin for a fifth consecutive day killing at least 24 Palestinians. Israel has killed more than 500 people as it intensified operations in the West Bank since it launched war on Gaza on October 7. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the past 11 months. Israeli national emergency service Magen David Adom said on Sunday that a man and a woman were killed and that a third man in his 50s was being transferred to hospital in critical condition following the attack near the Tarqumiyah checkpoint, south of Hebron. The Maariv newspaper reported that the three casualties were policemen working at the Hebron station who were shot at from a Palestinian car driving past. “Attacks so far have been centered around the northern West Bank and in the Jordan Valley area and now we see more of them coming from the south of the West Bank,” Al Jazeera’s Niba Ibrahim, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said. The Israeli army said it was conducting a raid on the Palestinian village of Idna close to the scene of the shooting. Akram Natsheh, a journalist in Hebron, told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces have closed off all roads leading in and out of the southern city while drones have started hovering above it. “There is nothing but tension and apprehension as Israeli forces are coming in and around the entire area – the situation is likely to escalate,” he said. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, six people, including three women, have been arrested in the Hebron area while raids have taken place in the nearby towns of Yatta and Halhul. Palestinians are stopped by Israeli security forces, during an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank [Ammar Awad/Reuters] Meanwhile, Israeli siege on the city of Jenin has left Palestinians with no food, water, electricity and internet access. Local authorities said 70 percent of roads in the Jenin area have been bulldozed. Israeli forces stormed northern cities of Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas backed by tankers, drones and bulldozers as part of its largest operations in the West Bank since the second intifada in 2002. The Israeli army maintains that its intent is to target armed groups there to prevent future attacks. Gun battles have been reported in several locations and Hamas said at least 10 of its fighters, including a top commander, were killed this week. However, the trail of destruction the Israeli army left behind from areas it has withdrawn from, including Tulkarem and Tubas, have raised concerns among residents that the army’s intent is to extend the war in Gaza into the West Bank and to push Palestinians out of their homes. The Israeli army has severely destroyed infrastructures, water pipelines, and the electricity system. “Palestinians say the main goal of this military operation, the largest in more than two decades, is destruction,” Ibrahim said. “They say this is not a security-related necessity. It is to remind Palestinians of the cost they will incur if they choose to resist the Israeli military’s occupation,” she added. Adblock test (Why?)

Kicked out at 18 to live on the streets – a teenage migrant in Spain

Kicked out at 18 to live on the streets – a teenage migrant in Spain

Barcelona, Spain – The morning he turned 18, the Spanish children’s centre that Ilyas* had been sheltering in for two years since he arrived across the border from Morocco unceremoniously kicked him out. He wasn’t even permitted to stay for breakfast. Now that he was an adult, the authorities said; he was on his own. That was on January 30 this year and Ilyas – who doesn’t like to go by his real first name because of the shame he feels at being unemployed and homeless – left the centre for unaccompanied minors in the Spanish Ceuta enclave on the northern tip of Morocco and headed out in search of some other way to survive. The small amount of pocket money a social worker gave him before he left Ceuta’s migrant minors’ centre paid for the ferry to the Spanish mainland port of Algeciras. There, he was approached by local social workers who recommended he travel 98km (61 miles) up to the city of Jerez where a place in a facility for young migrants was vacant, they said. Six months later, Ilyas finally reached Barcelona where he still hopes to find work not just to support himself, but to help his sick father and family back home. But it hasn’t been an easy journey across Spain. One month after arriving in Jerez, the facility staff told him he could not stay any more. That led to living on the streets for several months while he scoured fruitlessly for job opportunities – nobody there wanted to employ a teenage boy from Morocco. Ilyas looks at his phone in search of shelters at Barcelona’s central bus station. He has no place to sleep tonight [Bianca Carrera/Al Jazeera] He finally decided to travel north to the more multicultural Barcelona in the hopes of finding a more sympathetic setting. But, now, Ilyas is broken after weeks of sleeping rough here too. “I am tired of life. I hope, for once, something works out well for me,” he sobs as he steels himself in the morning for another day of searching for somewhere he might have a shower and change his dirty clothes before he goes to ask social services for a place to sleep tonight. Ilyas has been sleeping rough for months now. Despite all of it, though, Ilyas says he does not regret leaving his hometown of Fnideq in Morocco, close to the Spanish border, when he was only 15. “Living on the street is better than living under my parents’ roof knowing that I have no future,” he says. Children and young men living in Morocco’s northern cities at the brink of economic collapse, he says, are born with a desire to migrate “inserted into their hearts”. Fnideq and other border towns have been suffering particularly since Spain closed the border during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and then never renewed the permissions for people to cross daily into Ceuta to work – the main source of local employment for thousands of people in his hometown. “From the second we are born, we know we need to leave this place.” ‘I am tired of life’. Ilyas has been sleeping rough on the streets of cities in Spain for months now. Despite his dire circumstances, he does not regret leaving Morocco [Bianca Carrera/Al Jazeera] ‘The worst night of my life’ At the same hour of the day, Ilyas’s mother, Aseya, 42, is partway through her shift as a cleaner at a restaurant by the sea in Fnideq. She is the holder of one of the remaining few jobs in the town. Aseya works 14 hours every day from 6am to 8pm for a salary of just 100 dirhams ($10.24). Ilyas’s four siblings – Boushra, 17, Zakarya, 12, Adam, 11, and Chaymaa, 8 – sit at one of the restaurant tables for hours waiting for their mother to finish work. They have little else to do. Boushra, the eldest since Ilyas left, takes care of the younger ones while Aseya is in the kitchen. Next year, she will finish high school and dreams of studying engineering in nearby Tetouan. It’s an unlikely dream, however, because of the cost it would involve. “Poor Ilyas,” her mother says softly as she washes dishes. “He used to see us, his parents, sometimes being able to work, sometimes not being able to work and put food on the table. So, he decided he had to do something to change this.” Aseya, Ilyas’s mother, works during the summer in the kitchen of a restaurant by the sea for 14 hours a day, earning 100 dirhams ($10) [Bianca Carrera/Al Jazeera] The day Ilyas left home – May 17, 2021 – Aseya was on one of her long shifts at work. That day marked a rapid deterioration in diplomatic relations between Spain and Morocco when, in a matter of hours, approximately 8,000 Moroccans – mostly men and boys, but some women as well – managed to cross from Morocco to Spain. Thousands of them swam along the coast to Ceuta and walked in off the beach. Ilyas was among the estimated 1,500 children who went. Madrid sent 200 extra police officers to help the 1,200 guarding the border with Morocco, but in the end, only 2,700 people were returned to Morocco. Juan Jesus Vivas, the president of the Spanish territory and a member of the right-wing main opposition People’s Party, described the arrivals as an “invasion”. The land border between the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and the Moroccan town of Fnideq. The number of people who cross early in the morning pales in comparison with the thousands who used to do so every day during the days of cross-border trade between the two sides, before the COVID-19 pandemic [Bianca Carrera/Al Jazeera] Ilyas had jumped at the opportunity when he heard so many were crossing to Spain. But his mother was devastated and furious when she discovered that he had left. “When he heard the news about the border, he went

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 919

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 919

As the war enters its 919th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Sunday, September 1, 2024. Fighting A Russian guided bomb attack killed two people and injured 10 more including children in a village in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. He added that two women were confirmed killed, including one who was pulled out from the rubble. Kharkiv has been facing multiple strikes since the Russian invasion began in February 2022. Russia’s state news agency TASS reports that a fire at Moscow’s oil refinery has been assigned the highest level of complexity. The warning came as Russia reported that it repelled drone attacks in several parts of the country. Moscow has reported that it thwarted a “massive” drone attack on western Russia and another targeting the capital. Bryansk regional governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said at least 26 drones were “identified and destroyed” by the Russian military, without causing any casualties or damage. The Baza Telegram news channel, which is close to Russia’s security services, reported loud blasts were heard near the Konakovo Power Station in the Tver region, one of the largest energy producers in central Russia. Tver Governor Igor Rudenya said five drones were destroyed over his region northwest of the capital. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said a Ukraine-launched drone was destroyed near the Moscow Oil Refinery, which is owned by Gazprom. There was no damage or threat to the refinery’s production process, he said. Mikhail Shuvalov, head of the Kashira city district, said on Telegram that Ukraine also attempted to strike the Kashira Power Plant in the Moscow region with three drones. Independent Russian media outlet Mediazona reported an estimated that more than 66,000 Russian military personnel have died during the war in Ukraine as of August 30. Mediazona said the list has gone up by more than 4,600 in the last four weeks, adding this was not a definitive figure since many soldiers’ deaths are not made public. Politics and diplomacy Ukraine was fully within its rights to launch its surprise offensive into Russia’s Kursk border region as an act of self-defence, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told German newspaper Die Welt. He stressed that Ukraine “has a right to defend itself” and that Russian soldiers, tanks and bases in Kursk “are legitimate targets under international law”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has increased pressure on the United States to let Kyiv strike military targets deep inside Russian territory after his representatives met senior US officials in Washington. In his nightly video address, he said that deadly strikes like the one in Kharkiv that killed six people could be averted only “by striking Russian military airfields, their bases, and the logistics of Russian terror.” Adblock test (Why?)

Balance of power: Five races that could decide control of the House in November

Balance of power: Five races that could decide control of the House in November

As the presidential race heats up with less than three months until Election Day, candidates in smaller-scale races across the country are also sprinting to the November finish line. Those include the 435 races that will decide control of the House of Representatives next year. “I feel sort of bullish for Republicans right now,” veteran GOP strategist Doug Heye told Fox News Digital. “This [presidential] race, especially in the swing states, is going to be so close that, to me, mitigates some of the ‘If Trump wins, Republicans keep the House, if Harris wins, Democrats take it back’ – that mitigates it for me to some extent.” Democratic strategist Joel Rubin, on the other hand, was confident in his party’s redistricting wins and renewed political enthusiasm since Vice President Kamala Harris took over the mantle from President Biden last month. KEY SENATOR REPORTEDLY BEHIND HARRIS’ RISE TO POWER WITHHOLDS HIS ENDORSEMENT FOR PRESIDENT “These 35, 40 swing districts, I think about 18 to 20 are Biden wins in red seats. So the map looks promising,” Rubin said. “And the thing that’s distinct now from a month ago, obviously, is Democratic enthusiasm . . . I do think Democrats can take back the House with these kinds of numbers and these kinds of structural gains.” And with ever-shrinking margins in the House in recent years, it’s likely control of the House will come down to just several key races, five of which Fox News Digital highlighted below: Freshman Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., is running against former Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones in the New York suburbs just north of the Big Apple. His district is among several that Biden won in 2020, and Democrats see an opening to win it back. Both Jones and Lawler have sought to paint each other as radicals, each tying his rival to the most unpopular policy stances in their respective parties.  Lawler, for his part, has been ranked among the most bipartisan lawmakers in the 118th Congress. FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: FIVE THEMES EMERGE IN THE BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE GAVEL Jones, meanwhile, has reshaped himself closer to the center, going so far as to endorse the primary opponent of a former progressive anti-Israel colleague, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, which earned him ire from that faction of House Democrats. “I think that’s a really important one, that’s a potential pickup for Democrats against a moderate, well-regarded Republican – but in a district that had been blue, and there are . . . seats that Democrats lost in New York that we should not have lost two years ago – and that was the difference between minority and the majority,” Rubin said. Heye said, “I’m betting on Lawler, he’s a good fit for that district. And I think there are still some divisions on the Democratic side.” Both Republicans and Democrats are looking at a portion of the Washington, D.C., suburbs in Virginia as a chance for victory in a district that Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., is vacating to run for governor. The Democrat running is Eugene Vindman, the brother of Alexander Vindman, whose congressional testimony sparked the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump. On the GOP side is Derrick Anderson, an attorney and former Special Forces Green Beret. Spanberger won in 2017 by defeating a Tea Party Republican, and the GOP is eyeing a chance to take the seat back. FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: THREE GOVERNOR’S RACES TO WATCH ON ELECTION NIGHT “If I were designing, like, a prototype Democrat to run in a swing district, Spanberger is who I would design – perfect for that district, but she’s not running again. So that makes it harder for Democrats, and I know outside groups are putting money into [that race],” said Heye. Rubin defended Vindman, pointing out both he and Spanberger were relevant to the national security space between his military experience and her time in the FBI. “I think this is one where he can build off the Spanberger brand,” he said. Another competitive seat will be the one being vacated by Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., at the end of this year.  The central Michigan district has grown more conservative in recent years, according to Bridge Michigan, though Biden eked out a 2% victory there over Trump in 2020. That race is between Democratic State Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet and former Trump administration appointee Paul Junge. Heye said of the open seat there and in Virginia, “What I’ve been hearing for a while now… is that the open seats have become a liability for Democrats with their math in taking back the House.” Maryland’s 6th congressional district could be Republicans’ best pickup opportunity in an otherwise majority-blue state, with Democratic Rep. David Trone leaving at the end of this year. April Delaney, whose husband John Delaney held the Seat from 2013 to 2017, is running on the Democratic side against Republican former state delegate Neil Parrott. The district leans blue, but a Washington Post story on the race pointed out that it also has 141,000 unaffiliated voters who could decide the outcome. Rubin noted he was supportive of Delaney’s bid but conceded that having popular former governor Larry Hogan on the ballot for Senate could inspire more middle-of-the-road people to vote Republican in state congressional races. Heye said he was also growing confident about Republicans’ chances in Alaska, where its lone congressional seat will be decided using ranked-choice voting. “In Alaska, [Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola] could win, but to do so, she’s going to have to massively over-perform,” the GOP strategist said. “If we’re talking two weeks ago, I would say Republicans are split, ranked-choice voting, the Democrats win. That framework doesn’t exist anymore.” The general election was meant to be a three-way race between Peltola, Republican Nick Begich, and Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom.  Republicans have consolidated in recent days, however, with House GOP leadership getting behind Begich and Dahlstrom dropping out of the race. Peltola, a moderate Democrat, is generally well-liked in