East Jerusalem

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said he would work to close the Jerusalem offices of al-Jazeera, accusing the Qatar-based television news network of inciting recent violence in the city.

A top aide to US President Donald Trump was due in Israel Monday in a bid to ease tensions over new security measures at a highly sensitive Jerusalem holy site, a US official said, according to Al Arabia. 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says the Palestinian leadership will freeze all contact with Israel as mass protests over new Israeli security measures rage at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

At least three Palestinians were killed and hundreds more injured on Friday.

Turkey has condemned Israel for proceeding with the approval process for additional units in "illegal settlements" in East Jerusalem, despite Palestinian and international opposition.

Israel has decried a UNESCO resolution rejecting its sovereignty over Jerusalem and condemning Israeli "archaeological excavations" in Jerusalem's Old City.

In a statement on July 5, the Israeli Foreign Ministry described the resolution as "irrelevant, absurd and pathetic."

Israel has advanced plans for a further 1,500 homes in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, Peace Now said yesterday, the second such announcement in a week.

More than 3,000 units have been advanced this week, a spokeswoman for the NGO that tracks settlement building in the Palestinian territory told AFP.

U.S. President Donald Trump vowed on May 3 to do "whatever is necessary" to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians as he hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House, but gave no sign of how he could revive long-stalled negotiations.

The Israeli ambassador to the UK has named a British woman stabbed to death in Jerusalem as Hannah Bladon.

Israel’s ambassador to London Mark Regev tweeted: “My thoughts are with the family and friends of UK student Hannah Bladon, who was murdered in a senseless act of terror in Jerusalem today.”

Israel approved building permits on Jan. 22 for hundreds of homes in three East Jerusalem settlements, two days after U.S. President Donald Trump took office, expecting him to row back on the last administration's criticism of such projects. 

AP Photo/ Jae C. Hong

BELGRADE - US President-elect Donald Trump stepped up his criticism of the UN after a resolution condemning Israel over West Bank settlements passed in the Security Council, with the US abstaining. Trump, who takes office in three weeks, called for a veto.