JERUSALEM // Israel deployed extra forces to its border with Gaza on Thursday after continued Palestinian rocket fire and heightened tensions following the suspected revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager in Jerusalem.
“We are moving and we have moved forces in order to serve defence activities and forward preparation, but we have no interest in escalation,” an army spokesman said.
The Israeli armed forces chief Lt Gen Benny Gantz sent a similar message in comments tweeted by the army. “We are looking for calm, not escalation, but if Hamas chooses to act against us we shall be ready,” he said.
Israeli warplanes pounded targets inside the Gaza Strip on Thursday and militants hit back with 16 rockets.
In east Jerusalem's Shuafat neighbourhood, masked Palestinians hurled stones and fireworks at Israeli police and sent burning car tyres rolling along streets in a second day of protest over the kidnap and murder of 17-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir.
Many believe his was a copycat killing following the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank last month.
Israel police said the motive for the Abu Khdeir’s killing was still not clear and have not said how he died.
His family’s lawyer, Muhannad Jbara, , said the police had been in touch late on Wednesday to formally confirm that the body found in a west Jerusalem forest was that of their son.
He said the boy’s body had been burnt “beyond recognition”.
It was not known when he would be buried.
In clashes on Wednesday, 232 Palestinians were injured, 178 of them in Shuafat alone, said Dr Amin Abu Ghazali of the Red Crescent in east Jerusalem.
Of that number, 187 were wounded by rubber bullets and six by live ammunition, he said.
Although police were still trying to identify the body at a forensics lab, Abu Khdeir’s family set up a mourning tent near a mosque in east Jerusalem. Some 100 people crowded into the tent, including the grand mufti of Jerusalem to pay their condolences.
The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the killing as “despicable” and urged both sides “not to take the law into their own hands”.
One of the families of the three murdered Israeli teens described it as a “horrendous act”.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas demanded that Mr Netanyahu act against revenge attacks and called for Abu Khdeir’s killers to be caught and punished.
Four Israeli soldiers who allegedly used social media to call for revenge and to “annihilate terrorists” were jailed for 10 days by the military.
But the Islamist Hamas movement, whom Israel has blamed for the kidnap and murder of the three teenagers in June, said it held Mr Netanyahu’s government directly responsible for the killing of Abu Khder.
“You will pay the price for your crimes,” it said.
Gaza militants fired 20 rockets at southern Israel on Wednesday, one of which hit a house in Sderot, the army said. No one was injured.
The army said another 16 rockets had hit the Israeli south since midnight on Wednesday, one of which struck a second house in Sderot.
Overnight, the Israeli air force staged 15 strikes on "Hamas targets", among them concealed rocket launchers, weapons storage facilities and militant activity sites, a statement said.
Palestinian medics said 11 people were wounded, one of them seriously.
In Jerusalem, police threw up a security cordon around Shuafat, fearing more violence after the results of the autopsy on Abu Khder, which were expected later on Thursday.
An Israeli military spokesman said security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian president Mr Abbas’s forces in the West Bank was continuing in order to “limit points of friction” ahead of the first Friday of Ramadan, which is expected to be tense because of the developments.
Thousands of Palestinians normally enter Jerusalem to pray at Al Aqsa Mosque.
* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
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3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
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Bantamweight
Siyovush Gulmomdov (TJK) bt Rey Nacionales (PHI) by decision.
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Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) bt Hussein Fakhir Abed (SYR) by submission.
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Omar Hussein (JOR) bt Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) by decision.
Strawweight (Female)
Seo Ye-dam (KOR) bt Weronika Zygmunt (POL) by decision.
Featherweight
Kaan Ofli (TUR) bt Walid Laidi (ALG) by TKO.
Lightweight
Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW) bt Leandro Martins (BRA) by TKO.
Welterweight
Ahmad Labban (LEB) bt Sofiane Benchohra (ALG) by TKO.
Bantamweight
Jaures Dea (CAM) v Nawras Abzakh (JOR) no contest.
Lightweight
Mohammed Yahya (UAE) bt Glen Ranillo (PHI) by TKO round 1.
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) bt Aidan Aguilera (AUS) by TKO round 1.
Welterweight
Mounir Lazzez (TUN) bt Sasha Palatkinov (HKG) by TKO round 1.
Featherweight title bout
Romando Dy (PHI) v Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) by KO round 1.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
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strategies
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AT4 Ultimate, as tested
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Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
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TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
SERIES SCHEDULE
First Test, Galle International Stadium
July 26-30
Second Test, Sinhalese Sports Club Ground
August 3-7
Third Test, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
August 12-16
First ODI, Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium
August 20
Second ODI, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
August 24
Third ODI, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
August 27
Fourth ODI, R Premadasa Stadium
August 31
Fifth ODI, R Premadasa Stadium
September 3
T20, R Premadasa Stadium
September 6
New Zealand 21 British & Irish Lions 24
New Zealand
Penalties: Barrett (7)
British & Irish Lions
Tries: Faletau, Murray
Penalties: Farrell (4)
Conversions: Farrell
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
