TV News LIES

After spending two consecutive Ramadans behind bars, Leqaa Kordia was freed from US immigration detention on Monday, in what her lawyers have described as a "staggering" $100,000 bond.

Her legal team said the bond was "nonetheless...paid immediately". 

The 33-year-old Palestinian immigrant, whose home is in New Jersey, was released from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, after the Trump administration chose not to challenge what was a third release order by an immigration judge. 

It had previously appealed the first and second orders for her release.

"I’m free! I’m free! Finally, after one year," Kordia said as she walked out to a group of waiting supporters, with a Palestinian keffiyeh draped around her shoulders.

“There is a lot of injustice in this place,” she added. “There is a lot of people that shouldn’t be here in the first place.”

Kordia's cousin, Hamzah Abushaban, told Middle East Eye on Tuesday that Kordia was in relatively good spirits and already at the mosque for Ramadan prayers by Monday evening.

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Israel is set to keep Al-Aqsa Mosque closed through the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr and beyond, Middle East Eye has learnt.

Sources familiar with the occupied East Jerusalem mosque’s affairs said Israeli authorities informed the Islamic Waqf, the body responsible for administering the site, of the decision in recent days.

Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam, was closed by Israeli authorities earlier this month, citing the “security situation” amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The unprecedented closure, particularly during the month of Ramadan, has been condemned by Palestinians as the latest attempt by Israel to exploit security tensions to impose further restrictions and consolidate control over Al-Aqsa.

This has been the first Ramadan since Israel seized East Jerusalem in 1967 that Palestinians have been unable to perform Friday prayers at the mosque.

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Israeli soldiers fired on a car carrying a family in the northern West Bank, killing four people including two children, the Palestinian Authority's Health Ministry said.

The official Palestinian news agency said the family was shot late Saturday after going out to buy new clothes for the coming Eid al-Fitr holiday. Israel said it was investigating the shooting.

The Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service said that Ali and Waed Odeh, and two of their four children, were shot in the head. The Odehs' two surviving children had shrapnel wounds that were examined by first responders once they were granted access, the group said, accusing Israel of delaying ambulances dispatched to the scene.

Israel's military and police said in a joint statement Sunday that forces opened fire after a car accelerated toward them in Tammun. They said the forces were pursuing suspects accused of "terrorist activity" and that the shooting was under investigation.

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Israel has killed three Palestinians and wounded five others, including a child, in separate attacks targeting areas in eastern Gaza City and the northern Gaza, according to medical sources.

Sources told Anadolu agency that the bodies of three young men were taken to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in central Gaza City after a drone strike targeted them on Mushtaha Street in the Shujaiya neighbourhood in the east of the city.

The victims were identified as Mahmoud Saher al-Siqli, 17, Younes Saed Ayad, 17, and Abdullah Taysir Shoumer, 20, the sources said.

In a separate attack, four Palestinians were wounded when an Israeli drone dropped a grenade in the Tuffah neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City.

The wounded were taken to the Palestine Red Crescent Society field hospital in Al-Saraya Square in the city centre.

In northern Gaza, a child sustained moderate wounds after Israeli forces opened fire toward the Halawa camp for displaced persons in the town of Jabalia.

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The United States has filed a declaration of intervention in South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), explicitly rejecting the allegation that the country is committing genocide in Gaza.

The filing was made on Thursday alongside separate interventions by Namibia, Hungary and Fiji, according to a press release issued by the court on Friday.

All four states submitted declarations under Article 63 of the ICJ statute, which allows countries that are parties to a treaty under dispute to intervene in order to present their interpretation of that treaty.

Earlier on Thursday, Iceland and the Netherlands also filed declarations under Article 63.

South Africa filed the case in December 2023, accusing Israel of breaching the Genocide Convention through its military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October that year.

Pretoria argues that Israel's conduct - including mass killings, destruction of infrastructure and the imposition of conditions of life threatening the survival of Palestinians in Gaza - amounts to genocide.

Israel denies the accusation and claims its war is justified by considerations of self-defence. 

The US submission on Thursday stands out among most interventions for directly defending Israel against the accusation brought by South Africa. Taking sides in a case is highly unconventional under Article 63 submissions.

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Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank are reportedly exploiting movement restrictions imposed during the conflict with Iran, leading to increased attacks on Palestinians. Rights groups and medical personnel warn that military roadblocks are impeding ambulances from swiftly reaching victims.

Since the commencement of US and Israeli airstrikes against Iran on 28 February, at least five Palestinians have been killed by settlers in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry. An additional man died after inhaling teargas fired during an attack, as reported by Israeli rights group B'Tselem.

The Israeli military implemented significant curbs on movement on the first day of the conflict, blocking numerous West Bank roads with iron gates and earth mounds, and largely closing crossings with Israel. The military states these measures are preemptive while it conducts airstrikes on Iran and against Lebanese group Hezbollah, which has launched missiles at Israel in solidarity with Tehran.

Palestinians residing in remote West Bank villages describe feeling increasingly vulnerable to settler violence due to these roadblocks. They also note that the Israeli military has continued its frequent raids in Palestinian cities and towns, often resulting in arrests without charge, a practice common even during peacetime.

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