Page 5 - aruba-today-20230207

A5
WORLD NEWS Tuesday 7 February 2023
Israeli troops kill 5 Palestinian gunmen in West Bank raid

By IMAD ISSEID and Mahmoud Abbas’ office
TIA GOLDENBERG said. Jihad Abu al-Assal,
Associated Press the governor of Jericho
AQABAT JABR, West Bank and the Jordan Valley, said
(AP) — Israeli forces killed the military was holding on
five Palestinian gunmen to the gunmen’s bodies.
linked to the Islamic militant The Palestinian Health Min-
Hamas group in a raid on istry later confirmed that
refugee camp in the oc- five Palestinians had been
cupied West Bank on Mon- killed.
day, the latest bloodshed Speaking at an event at
in the region that will likely the site of a recent deadly
further exacerbate ten- Palestinian shooting attack,
sions. Netanyahu confirmed ear-
The Palestinian president’s lier reports by Israeli security
office called the violence officials that five gunmen
a crime, urging the United were killed.
States to pressure Israel to Hamas said all five of those
hold back on its incursions. killed were members of
The military said the raid its armed wing. Hamas
was meant to apprehend spokesman Hazem Qassem
a militant cell that staged said the violence would be
a botched shooting attack met with a response.
on a restaurant in a Jew- Palestinian protesters block the main road with burning tires in the West Bank city of Jericho, “Our people and their re-
ish settlement in the West Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. sistance will not delay in re-
Bank. Associated Press sponding to this crime,” he
The violence extends one bat Jabr refugee camp to which rules the Gaza Strip a gun battle erupted. The said.
of the deadliest periods apprehend the suspects and has elements in the military said several of the The raid comes days af-
in years in the West Bank behind a failed shooting West Bank as well. gunmen who were killed ter an earlier incursion in
and comes during the first attack last month at a West The military said it was were involved in the at- the Aqabat Jabr camp,
weeks of Israel’s new gov- Bank restaurant, where at- searching Monday for the tempted attack on the res- which is near the Palestin-
ernment, its most right-wing tackers allegedly were militant cell behind the taurant. ian city of Jericho, a des-
ever, which has promised thwarted by a weapon shooting that it said had “The new Israeli govern- ert oasis in an area of the
to take a tough stance malfunction. The attackers sealed itself inside a home ment is continuing its series West Bank that rarely sees
against the Palestinians. then fled the scene, the mil- in the refugee camp. Dur- of crimes against our Pales- such unrest, where troops
The Israeli military said it itary said, adding that they ing the search, troops en- tinian people,” a statement were also searching for the
was operating in the Aqa- were members of Hamas, countered gunmen and from Palestinian President suspects.q

Pakistan blocks Wikipedia, says it hurt Muslim sentiments

By MUNIR AHMED date religious minorities joins us in a commitment tion and a mockery of the after TikTok assured Pakistan
Associated Press and settle personal scores. to knowledge as a human country’s commitment to it would remove immoral
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Paki- The Pakistan Telecom- right and restores access to uphold its human rights ob- content and also block
stan’s media regulator said munication Authority says @Wikipedia and Wikimedia ligations. In the past, Paki- users who upload “unlaw-
Monday it blocked Wikipe- it blocked Wikipedia be- projects promptly, so that stan briefly banned TikTok ful content.” The app was
dia services in the country cause a 48-hour deadline the people of Pakistan can twice for allegedly upload- downloaded millions of
for hurting Muslim senti- to remove the content was continue to receive and ing “immoral, obscene and times in Pakistan when the
ment by not removing pur- ignored, according to a share knowledge with the vulgar” content. ban was imposed in 2020
portedly blasphemous con- spokesperson. “Such things world.” Mohsin Raza Khan, But the ban was later lifted and 2021.q
tent from the site. Critics hurt the sentiments of Mus- a Pakistani social media
denounced Islamabad’s lims,” said Malahat Obaid, expert, said it is easy to up-
action, saying it was a blow from the regulator. date or replace Wikipedia
to digital rights. She said Pakistani authori- material deemed sacrile-
Under Pakistan’s controver- ties were in talks with Wiki- gious or offensive for Mus-
sial blasphemy laws, any- pedia officials and the ban lims so blocking the site is
one found guilty of insulting could be lifted if the plat- not the answer. “Pakistan’s
Islam or its figures can be form completely removes media regulator and other
sentenced to death, al- anti-Islam content. authorities should try to find
though the country has yet Hours later, Pakistan’s Infor- some viable technical so-
to carry out capital punish- mation Minister Marriyum lution to such problems as
ment for blasphemy. Aurangzeb said that pre- blasphemous content is
But even allegations of the mier Shahbaz Sharif had or- available everywhere,” he
offense are often enough dered the immediate resto- said. “It is equal to a drop in
to provoke mob violence ration of Wikipedia, a move the ocean of knowledge.”
and even deadly attacks. welcomed by Pakistanis. The Lahore-based Digital
International and domestic The Wikimedia Foundation Rights Foundation earlier A computer screen displays a notice blocking the Wikipedia
rights groups say that accu- on Saturday confirmed the called the Wikipedia ban website through an online news site in Islamabad, Pakistan,
sations of blasphemy have ban, saying: “We hope that an affront to Pakistanis’ Monday, Feb. 6, 2023.
often been used to intimi- the Pakistan government right to access informa- Associated Press