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Syria forces deploy in Damascus suburb after deadly unrest

The forces of Syria's new authorities deployed Sunday in a Damascus suburb following deadly clashes with Druze gunmen, state media said amid tensions after Israeli demands to protect the minority group.

Jaramana, a mostly Druze and Christian suburb of the capital, saw a fatal shooting at a checkpoint on Friday, followed a day later by clashes between security forces and local gunmen tasked with protecting the area, according to a war monitor.

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Netanyahu thanks Trump for weapons to 'finish the job' against Iran axis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for sending munitions held up by the previous administration, which would help "finish the job against Iran's terror axis".

Netanyahu has long expressed his opposition to Iran, its nuclear program and its proxies, which include Palestinian militant group Hamas with which Israel has been fighting in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.

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1 killed and 4 wounded in stabbing attack in Haifa

A 70-year-old man was killed and four other people were wounded in a stabbing attack Monday in the northern Israeli city of Haifa. Israeli authorities said the assailant was killed.

Israel's police said the perpetrator was a member of Israel's Druze Arab minority who recently returned from abroad.

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Israel tells army to prepare to defend a Druze community outside Syria's capital

Israel's defense ministry said the military has been instructed to prepare to defend a Druze settlement in the suburbs of Damascus, asserting that the minority it has vowed to protect was "under attack" by Syrian forces.

The statement, citing an order from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, follows an Israeli warning last weekend that the forces of neighboring Syria's new government and the insurgent group that led last year's ouster of former President Bashar Assad should not enter the area south of Damascus.

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Israel cuts off aid to Gaza in attempt to pressure Hamas to accept new ceasefire proposal

Israel stopped the entry of all goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip on Sunday and warned of "additional consequences" if Hamas does not accept a new proposal for an extension of the first phase of a fragile ceasefire.

Hamas accused Israel of trying to derail the truce and said its decision to cut off aid was "cheap extortion, a war crime and a blatant attack on the (ceasefire) agreement." Both sides stopped short of saying the ceasefire had ended.

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Uncertainty looms as first phase of Gaza truce due to expire

The first phase of the Israel-Hamas truce is drawing to a close on Saturday, but negotiations on the next stage, which should secure a permanent ceasefire, have so far been inconclusive.

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Trump administration approves major nearly $3 billion arms sale to Israel

The Trump administration has approved a major nearly $3 billion arms sale to Israel, bypassing a normal congressional review to provide the country with more of the 2,000-pound bombs that it has used in the war against Hamas in Gaza.

In a series of notifications sent to Congress late Friday, the State Department said it had signed off on the sale of more than 35,500 MK 84 and BLU-117 bombs and 4,000 Predator warheads worth $2.04 billion.

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8 Israelis arrested for spitting at churches in Jerusalem

Israeli police said Friday they arrested eight people for spitting at churches in Jerusalem’s Old City, as religious tensions threatened to flare in the contested capital.

Grainy security video released by the police showed two young Jewish men in a procession, who appeared to be spitting on the ground.

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Germany says Israel must 'better protect civilians' in West Bank

Israel must "better protect civilians and civilian infrastructure" in its military operation in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, the German foreign ministry said Friday.

It called for the 40,000 people displaced by Israel's "Iron Wall" operation to be "allowed back to their homes as soon as possible", adding "the Israeli government's plans to deploy the Israeli army in the Jenin refugee camp on a long-term basis are unacceptable".

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Hamas urges pressure on Israel to start next phase of Gaza ceasefire

Hamas on Friday urged the international community to pressure Israel to enter the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire "without delay", a day before the first phase expires.

"We call on the international community to pressure the Zionist occupation (Israel) to fully commit to its role in the agreement and immediately enter the second phase of the agreement without any delay or prevarication," Hamas said in a statement.

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