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Top UN court says Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called the opinion “historic” and urged states to adhere to it.

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The United Nations' highest court said on Friday that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there are illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible, in its strongest findings to date on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The advisory opinion by judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), known as the World Court, was not binding but carries weight under international law and may weaken support for Israel, Reuters reported.

"Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law," President Nawaf Salam said, reading the findings of a 15-judge panel.

The court said Israel's obligations include paying restitution for harm and "the evacuation of all settlers from existing settlements".

In a swift reaction, Israel's foreign ministry rejected the opinion as "fundamentally wrong" and one-sided, and repeated its stance that a political settlement in the region can only be reached by negotiations.

"The Jewish nation cannot be an occupier in its own land," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

The opinion also angered West Bank settlers as well as politicians such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose nationalist religious party is close to the settler movement and who himself lives in a West Bank settlement.

"The answer to The Hague - Sovereignty now" he said in a post on the social media platform X, in an apparent appeal to formally annex the West Bank.

Israel Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council, one of the largest settler councils, said the ICJ opinion was "contrary to the Bible, morality and international law".

'NO COMPLICITY'

The ICJ opinion also found that the U.N. Security Council, the General Assembly and all states have an obligation not to recognise the occupation as legal nor "render aid or assistance" toward maintaining Israel's presence in the occupied territories.

The United States is Israel's biggest military ally and supporter.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called the opinion "historic" and urged states to adhere to it.

"No aid. No assistance. No complicity. No money, no arms, no trade...no actions of any kind to support Israel's illegal occupation," Palestinian envoy Riyad al-Maliki said outside the court in The Hague.

The case stems from a 2022 request for a legal opinion from the U.N. General Assembly, predating the war in Gaza that began in October.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem - areas of historic Palestine which the Palestinians want for a state - in the 1967 Middle East war and has since built settlements in the West Bank and steadily expanded them.

Israeli leaders argue the territories are not occupied in legal terms because they are on disputed lands, but the United Nations and most of the international community regard them as occupied territory.

In February, more than 50 states presented their views before the court, with Palestinian representatives asking the court to find that Israel must withdraw from all the occupied areas and dismantle illegal settlements.

Israel did not participate in the oral hearings but filed a written statement telling the court that issuing an advisory opinion would be "harmful" to attempts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The majority of states participating asked the court to find the occupation illegal, while a handful, including Canada and Britain, argued it should refuse to give an advisory opinion.

The United States had asked the court not to order the unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territories.

The U.S. position was that the court should issue no decision that could hurt negotiations toward a two-state solution on a "land for peace" principle.

In 2004 the ICJ gave an advisory ruling that an Israeli separation barrier around most of the West Bank was illegal and Israeli settlements were established in breach of international law. Israel dismissed that ruling.

 

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World

Trump safe after assassination attempt thwarted at Florida golf course

The suspect left an AK-47-style assault rifle and other items at the scene and fled in a vehicle and was later arrested

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was safe on Sunday after the Secret Service foiled what the FBI called an apparent assassination attempt while he was golfing on his course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Several Secret Service agents fired on a gunman in bushes near the property line of the golf course after he was spotted a few hundred yards from where Trump was playing, law enforcement officials said.

The suspect left an AK-47-style assault rifle and other items at the scene and fled in a vehicle and was later arrested, Reuters reported.

The apparent attempt on Trump's life came just two months after he was shot at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, sustaining a minor injury to his right ear.

Both incidents highlight the challenges of keeping presidential candidates safe in a hotly contested and polarized campaign with just over seven weeks to go before the Nov. 5 election.

"I would like to thank everyone for your concern and well wishes - It was certainly an interesting day!," Trump said on social media late on Sunday, thanking Secret Service and police for keeping him safe.

CNN, Fox News and The New York Times identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii, citing unidentified law enforcement officials. The FBI declined to comment and Reuters could not independently verify his identity.

It was not clear if or how the suspect knew Trump was playing golf at the time, or what his motive was, but the attempted attack was sure to raise new questions about the level of protection he is given.

 

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Houthi missile reaches central Israel for first time, no injuries reported

At a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the Houthis should have known that Israel would exact a “heavy price” for attacks on Israel.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would inflict a "heavy price" on the Iran-aligned Houthis who control northern Yemen, after they reached central Israel with a missile on Sunday for the first time, Reuters reported.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group struck with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that travelled 2,040 km (1270 miles) in just 11 1/2 minutes.

An Israeli military official said the missile was hit by an interceptor and fragmented in the air, rather than being completely destroyed.

Air raid sirens had sounded in Tel Aviv and across central Israel moments before the impact at around 6:35 a.m. local time (0335 GMT), sending residents running for shelter. Loud booms were heard, read the report.

Missile pieces landed in fields and near a railway station. There were no direct casualties, but nine people were lightly hurt while seeking cover. Reuters saw smoke billowing in an open field in central Israel.

At a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the Houthis should have known that Israel would exact a "heavy price" for attacks on Israel.

"Whoever needs a reminder of that is invited to visit the Hodeida port," Netanyahu said, referring to an Israeli retaliatory air strike against Yemen in July for a Houthi drone that hit Tel Aviv.

The Houthis have fired missiles and drones at Israel repeatedly in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians, since the Gaza war began with a Hamas attack on Israel in October, Reuters reported.

The drone that hit Tel Aviv for the first time in July killed a man and wounded four people. Israeli air strikes in response on Houthi military targets near the port of Hodeidah killed six and wounded 80.

Previously, Houthi missiles have not penetrated deep into Israeli air space, with the only one reported to have hit Israeli territory falling in an open area near the Red Sea port of Eilat in March.

Israel should expect more strikes in the future "as we approach the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 operation, including responding to its aggression on the city of Hodeidah," Houthis spokesperson Sarea said.

The deputy head of the Houthi's media office, Nasruddin Amer, said in a post on X on Sunday that the missile had reached Israel after "20 missiles failed to intercept" it, describing it as the "beginning".

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Trump pledges to deport Haitians in Ohio city if elected

President Joe Biden urged the attacks on the Haitian community to cease

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pledged on Friday to conduct mass deportations of Haitian immigrants from the Ohio city of Springfield, even though the majority of them are in the United States legally.

The city for days has found itself at the center of a social media maelstrom after right-wing agitators latched onto false claims that Haitian arrivals were eating household pets, Reuters reported.

"We will do large deportations in Springfield, Ohio," Trump said at a press conference at his golf resort near Los Angeles.

The majority of the 15,000 Haitians in Springfield are there legally. Trump's longstanding pledge to conduct mass deportations usually refers to those in the country illegally.

Trump did not repeat the assertion he made during Tuesday's presidential debate with Democrat Kamala Harris that immigrants were eating dogs and cats, remarks that have been widely mocked.

Two elementary schools were evacuated and one middle school in Springfield was closed on Friday after anonymous bomb threats were made against the community for the second day in a row, according to ABC News.

At the White House, President Joe Biden urged the attacks on the Haitian community to cease.

"It's simply wrong. There's no place in America. This has to stop - what he's doing. It has to stop," Biden said.

The Biden administration extended Temporary Protected Status to hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the United States in June, a decades-old program that protects legal immigrants from deportation and gives them work permits.

Gang wars in Haiti have displaced over half a million people and nearly five million are facing severe food insecurity.

Trump has cited the tensions in Springfield as another example of the need for hardline immigration policies. The influx of Haitians has boosted the economy but also has strained social services.

"I'm angry about illegal Haitian migrants taking over Springfield, Ohio. You see that mess, don't you?" Trump said at a rally in Las Vegas, later on Friday.
"I'm angry about young American girls being raped and murdered by savage criminal aliens that come into our country very easily, but very illegally," he added later in his speech.

Haitian community leaders across the United States said the Republican candidate's remarks could put lives at risk and further inflame tensions in Springfield.

"We need help, not hate," Springfield's mayor Rob Rue told ABC News.

City officials say they have received no credible reports of anybody eating household animals. Karen Graves, a city spokesperson, said she was not aware of recent hate crimes targeting Haitian residents but that some had been victims of "crimes of opportunity," such as property theft.

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