israel

Ambassador Yaakoby is based at the embassy in Wellington, New Zealand.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Samoa and Israel in 1977, both countries have continued to maintain cordial relations.

As highlighted in the remarks delivered by the Member of the Council of Deputies and the Ambassador of Israel during the Credential ceremony, Samoa continues to benefit from the MASHAV development cooperation program of Israel through capacity building and training opportunities in the fields of health, agriculture and education.

"Our arrangement for visa travels with Israel has been officially approved by the Cabinet this past week," said Fiame.

Prime Minister Fiame explained that this arrangement was delayed by a few clarifications that were required by both countries and Israel, with regards to immigration laws and provisions. 

"An Israeli travelling to Samoa may stay up to 90 days, we are permitted for up to 60 days of visa free in Israel."

In 2019, Samoa and Israel signed an agreement to allow Samoans to travel to Israel without a visa.

Further pressuring the Israeli leader were images unseen for years in Tel Aviv where police fired stun guns and scuffled with Israeli protesters on a main road during a national "day of disruption" over government plans to overhaul the judiciary.

Reuters reports the head of a pro-settler party in Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition, Smotrich made the comments at a conference on Wednesday amid a spate of deadly Palestinian attacks and Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian health minister warned that the situation was "critical" in Jenin, with many other people injured and ambulances unable to reach them.

The children's ward of a local hospital was hit by Israeli tear gas, she said.

Israel's military released few details, but Israeli media said it had acted to foil "a major attack" by militants.

The Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they were battling Israeli troops in the flashpoint town, where there have been repeated Israeli raids.

Mr Lapid, the leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party and foreign minister, will take over from Naftali Bennett under an existing power-sharing deal.

They formed an unlikely eight-party coalition after last year's election.

However it collapsed last week, clearing the way for fresh polls.

It also creates an opening for Israel's longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to return to office despite being on trial on corruption charges which he denies.

Israel and Switzerland both said they identified one infected person who had recently travelled abroad. Israel is investigating other suspected cases.

Monkeypox does not tend to spread easily between people and the illness is usually mild.

The virus is most common in remote parts of Central and West Africa.

More than 80 cases have been confirmed in the recent outbreak in Europe, the US, Canada and Australia.

The training was aimed at improving delivery of agriculture extension services and introducing new Irrigation and Fertigation Technology to boost farmers’ production and productivity.

They were organised and coordinated by MASHAV Agriculture Training Center (MATC) and Israeli Pacific Food Security Alliance (IPFSA) through Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAT)

More than 5000 migratory cranes have already died at the Hula Nature Reserve, which Environment Minister Tamar Zandberg called "the worst blow to wildlife" in Israel's history.

Local farmers were also being forced to cull half a million chickens, prompting fears of a possible egg shortage.

So far no transmission of the A(H5N1) virus to humans has been reported.

However, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met his national security adviser and other experts on Monday to discuss efforts to stop that from happening.

They believe that the remains uncovered near the city of Ramla represent one of the "last survivors" of a very ancient human group.

The finds consist of a partial skull and jaw from an individual who lived between 140,000 and 120,000 years ago.

Details have been published in the journal Science.

The team members think the individual descended from an earlier species that may have spread out of the region hundreds of thousands of years ago and given rise to Neanderthals in Europe and their equivalents in Asia.

Naftali Bennett said Iran's "regime of brutal hangmen" wants nuclear weapons - something Iran has repeatedly denied.

Diplomats said progress was made in Vienna today to renew the deal, which the US withdrew from under President Trump.

Israel opposes the agreement.

Iran elected hardliner Ebrahim Raisi as its new president on Friday.