Israel

Guterres is deeply saddened to learn of increasingly large numbers of casualties, including children, from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, and of Israeli fatalities from rockets launched from Gaza, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, in a statement, Xinhua news agency reported. The secretary-general's thoughts are with the families of the victims, said the statement.

At least 24 people, including nine children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since late Monday in this latest round of violence, Xinhua news agency quoted the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said in a statement. The violence was triggered by spiralling tensions in East Jerusalem over flashpoint holy site the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

"Hamas military wing al-Qassam Brigades struck occupied Jerusalem with a barrage of rockets," Xinhua news agency quoted a spokesman of al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas, as saying on Monday night. "Firing the rockets was a response to the occupier's crimes and aggression against the holy city and harassing our people at Al-Aqsa Mosque and the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah," the spokesman added.

The aim of the contacts is to stop the dangerous escalation of violence against Muslim and Christian holy sites in East Jerusalem, Abbas told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone conversation on Monday. "During this hard time Palestine is passing through, we need to be united to face what is happening in East Jerusalem, end the internal division and form a unity government," Xinhua news agency quoted the Mahmoud Abbas as saying.

"We're very focused on the situation in Israel, West Bank, Gaza, very deeply concerned about the rocket attacks... that need to stop and need to stop immediately," US Secretary of State Antony Blinkensaid on Monday before his meeting with visiting Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, Xinhua news agency reported. He also expressed concerns about "the violence and provocative actions in and around the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount."

The number of tourists who visited Israel last month thus increased to 30,200, from 6,700 in March and only 600 in April 2020, reports Xinhua news agency. This increase came after Israel reopened its skies in mid-March, following a ban on incoming and outgoing flights imposed on January 26.

The Israeli government on Friday decided to ban travel of Israeli citizens to seven countries over high Covid-19 morbidity and fear of the spread of variants of the virus, according to a joint statement issued by Prime Minister's Office and Health Ministry. The seven are Ukraine, Ethiopia, Brazil, South Africa, India, Mexico and Turkey, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Austin was received with military honours before meeting his counterpart Benny Gantz, DPA news agency reported. The Israeli minister is expected to raise the recent negotiations between world powers and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme, saying Israel hoped for a better deal to be agreed in the future.

Five of the protesters were injured by live ammunition from an Israeli army force that stormed the eastern part of the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Friday, Xinhua news agency quoted the sources as saying. Six others were injured by rubber-coated metal bullets fired by Israeli soldiers in the village of al-Mughayyir, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, they added.

"A huge victory to the right-wing and the Likud (party) under my leadership," Netanyahu wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night. He said his right-wing Likud party is "by far" the largest party in Israel, after the polls suggested it won about 31 seats.