Israelis make five arrests in rampage
TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israeli forces operating in the West Bank on Wednesday arrested five Palestinians accused of involvement in a deadly shooting attack in central Israel the previous night where a Palestinian gunman used an assault rifle to kill five people.
Police identified the shooter as Diaa Hamarsheh, 27, from the Israeli-occupied West Bank village of Yabad. Police shot and killed him late Tuesday, putting an end to the rampage.
In a statement, the military said the suspects were being questioned. The Palestinian Prisoner's Club, a group that represents current and former Palestinian prisoners, said those arrested were Hamarsheh's relatives.
The incident Tuesday was the third attack of its kind ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The previous two attacks, carried out by Arab citizens of Israel have raised concerns of a new round of violence ahead of a sensitive period where three major Muslim, Jewish and Christian holidays converge.
Israel ramped up its security presence both in Israeli cities as well as around the West Bank in a bid to snuff out any further violence. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was set to hold a meeting of his Security Cabinet later Wednesday, after convening his top security officials shortly after Tuesday's attack.
"We are dealing with a new wave of terror," Bennett said in a statement. "As in other waves, we will prevail."
Firms sanctioned after missile attacks
WASHINGTON -- The United States sanctioned Iranian defense companies Wednesday after a spate of ballistic missile attacks on targets in Iraq and the Gulf.
The U.S. and Iran's neighbors blame Iran for a March 13 strike on Irbil, Iraq, and for repeated missile strikes into Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates by Iranian-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen.
On Friday, a Houthi missile strike set ablaze a Saudi Aramco oil storage site, prompting warnings from Saudi leaders that the attacks threatened the stability of the world oil market.
Even as the U.S. carries out indirect negotiations with Iran for reviving limits on Iran's nuclear program, it will keep up penalties against those involved in Iran's ballistic missile production, Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said in announcing the sanctions.
"We will also work with other partners in the region to hold Iran accountable for its actions, including gross violations of the sovereignty of its neighbors," Nelson said in a statement.
Malta urged to accept rescued migrants
ROME -- A German humanitarian group appealed Wednesday for Malta to take in 32 migrants who were rescued off Libya this week by the Ukrainian captain of a container ship.
The migrants were rescued Monday by the crew of a German merchant vessel and transferred to the Sea-Eye 4, which is operated by the German non-governmental organization Sea-Eye. The group hopes Maltese authorities will let the ship dock and disembark the passengers.
The merchant vessel Karina was sailing from Malta to Benghazi, Libya, when the crew became aware of a distress call and pulled the migrants to safety from a human smuggling boat foundering in the Mediterranean in 13-foot-high waves, Sea-Eye said in a statement.
Sea-Eye quoted the Karina's captain, Vasyl Maksymenko, as saying that "the boat was in grave danger of capsizing" when his vessel came to the rescue.
Sea-Eye 4 was about 50 hours away from reaching the stricken boat but later rendezvoused with the Karina and took aboard the rescued passengers, some of whom were suffering from dehydration and hypothermia, the organization said.
A Sea-Eye spokesperson tweeted a "thank you" in Ukrainian for the captain.
Sea-Eye said its ship was aiming to obtain permission to dock in Malta, which has often turned down similar past requests to allow in migrants rescued from unseaworthy boats launched by Libya-based smugglers.
There was no immediate indication if Malta would grant Sea-Eye 4 port access.
Drug trafficker executed in Singapore
SINGAPORE -- A Singaporean man on death row for drug trafficking was hanged Wednesday in the first execution in the city-state in over two years, rights activists said.
Singapore, which has harsh anti-drug laws, had halted executions due to the covid-19 pandemic and last meted out capital punishment in November 2019.
Abdul Kahar Othman, 68, was hanged early Wednesday, anti-death penalty activist Kirsten Han said. The execution occurred despite pleas from rights activists, including the U.N. Human Rights office, to commute Kahar's sentence to life imprisonment. Han and several others held a small vigil outside the prison late Tuesday for Kahar.
Kahar, who came from a poor family and had struggled with drug addiction since he was a teenager, spent more time behind bars than as a free man, Han said. He was released from prison in 2005 after a decade of preventive detention. In 2013, Kahar was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to death two years later.
A member of Israeli Zaka Rescue and Recovery team cleans blood from the site where a gunman opened fire in Bnei Brak, Israel, Tuesday, March 29, 2022. A gunman on a motorcycle opened fire in central Israel late Tuesday, in the second fatal mass shooting rampage this week. The shooter was killed by police. (AP PhotoOded Balilty)
Israeli paramedics work at near a body of a person killed by a gunman in Bnei Brak, Israel, Tuesday, March 29, 2022. The circumstance of the deadly incident in the city east of Tel Aviv were not immediately clear. (AP Photo/Ofer Vaknin) ISRAEL OUT
Israeli Zaka Rescue and Recovery team cleans blood from the site where a gunman opened fire in Bnei Brak, Israel, Tuesday, March 29, 2022. A gunman on a motorcycle opened fire in central Israel late Tuesday, in the second fatal mass shooting rampage this week. The shooter was killed by police. (AP PhotoOded Balilty)
Israeli Zaka Rescue and Recovery team cleans blood from the site where a gunman opened fire in Bnei Brak, Israel, Tuesday, March 29, 2022. A gunman on a motorcycle opened fire in central Israel late Tuesday, in the second fatal mass shooting rampage this week. The shooter was killed by police. (AP PhotoOded Balilty)
A body is removed from the site where a gunman opened fire in Bnei Brak, Israel, Tuesday, March 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Police secure the site where a a gunman opened fire in Bnei Brak, Israel, Tuesday, March 29, 2022. The circumstance of the deadly incident in the city east of Tel Aviv were not immediately clear. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A member of Israeli Zaka Rescue and Recovery team cleans blood and human remains from the site where a gunman opened fire in Bnei Brak, Israel, Tuesday, March 29, 2022. A gunman on a motorcycle opened fire in central Israel late Tuesday, in the second fatal mass shooting rampage this week. The shooter was killed by police. (AP PhotoOded Balilty)
A crowd gathers to watch police working at the site where a a gunman opened fire in Bnei Brak, Israel, Tuesday, March 29, 2022. The circumstance of the deadly incident in the city east of Tel Aviv were not immediately clear. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A member of Israeli Zaka Rescue and Recovery team cleans blood from the site where a gunman opened fire in Bnei Brak, Israel, Tuesday, March 29, 2022. A gunman on a motorcycle opened fire in central Israel late Tuesday, in the second fatal mass shooting rampage this week. The shooter was killed by police. (AP PhotoOded Balilty)