WASHINGTON: The United States is extremely concerned by the levels of violence in Israel and the West Bank and is concerned that a raid by Israeli forces there could set back efforts at restoring calm, the State Department said on Wednesday.
State Department spokesman Ned Price told a regular press briefing that Washington recognized Israel’s security concerns but was deeply concerned by the large number of injuries and loss of civilian life.

WASHINGTON: With the success of the US-brokered maritime border agreement with Israel, Lebanon could be on the path to economic recovery, said Amos Hochstein, US special presidential coordinator for global infrastructure and energy security.

Hochstein, the primary mediator of the agreement, was speaking at an event on Wednesday organized by the US institute of Peace in Washington D.C. and attended by Arab News.

BEIRUT: A small earthquake that struck South Lebanon early on Wednesday sparked widespread panic as residents ran from their homes barefoot, with many saying they “feared for their children’s lives.”
The 4.3-magnitude tremor, the latest in a series of minor quakes, hit the coastline near the southern city of Sidon shortly after 8 a.m., further terrifying Lebanese still recovering from the shock of twin earthquakes that devastated large areas of Turkiye and Syria over two weeks ago.

RAMALLAH: Israeli troops killed 10 Palestinians on Wednesday in an hourslong raid on the occupied West Bank city of Nablus that also left more than 100 people with gunshot wounds, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The Israeli army said the raid targeted militant suspects “in a hideout apartment” who were accused of shootings in the West Bank. Three of the suspects — two from the Lion’s Den militant group and one from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad — were killed, it added.

GENEVA: The United Nations’ human rights chief on Tuesday voiced concern that a proposed overhaul of Israel’s judicial system would “drastically undermine” the ability of the judiciary to uphold human rights and the rule of law.
Israel’s parliament is pushing ahead with changes promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist government which it says are needed to rein in activist judges who intervene in politics.