US Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed a recently proposed initiative by France to relaunch a two-state process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, during a press conference in Paris today with other top European diplomatic officials.

“We welcome anybody’s efforts to try to find a way forward,” said Kerry.

“We are listening carefully to the French proposal,” continued Kerry.

Kerry added that reaching a resolution requires an international effort. “There’s no way any one entity or one country or one person is going to resolve this,” Kerry said. “This is going to require the global community.”

At his weekly Cabinet meeting today March 16, 2016, Prime Minister Netanyahu commented on the IDF’s retaliatory strikes in Gaza yesterday in response to rockets launched from Gaza towards Israeli communities located near the border with Gaza.

“Our policy in relation to the Gaza Strip is clear,” said Netanyahu. “Israel will not accept any rocket fire from Gaza into Israel. The IDF responds to any such provocation.”

“Israel holds Hamas responsible for any rocket launching from the Gaza Strip into Israel, as well as the responsibility of of Hamas to prevent any such firing,” added Netanyahu.

Bilal Abu-Ghanem, an Israeli-Arab terrorist who killed three Israelis in a November 2015 attack, refused to confess to murder charges at a Jerusalem District Court hearing, leading to rejection of his plea bargain.

Under the plea bargain, Abu-Ghanem, a resident of Jerusalem’s Jabel Mukaber neighborhood, had agreed to admit to charges of murder and aiding an enemy during a time of war. In exchange, the prosecution was to drop the additional charges of attempted murder. Since Abu-Ghanem refused to confess, the court rejected the plea bargain and postponed the sentencing.

The attack that Abu-Ghanem perpetrated took place in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv. Abu-Ghanem and Bahaa Aliyan, also from eastern Jerusalem, shot toward an Israeli bus and then boarded the bus and started stabbing passengers before being neutralized. Three were murdered in the attack, including American citizen Richard Lakin.

An Israeli was stabbed in his upper body in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City Friday afternoon, March 11. The victim, estimated to be around 29 years old, was moderately injured and is receiving emergency treatment, a Magen David Adom spokesperson said.

Security forces arrested a suspect, an 18-year-old resident of Kafr Kablan, soon after the incident.

A short while ago, a resident of the Havat Gilad outpost in Samaria saw a Palestinian vehicle approaching the community’s southern entrance. Residents immediately arrived to stop and block the vehicle.

IDF soldiers arrived shortly thereafter, who are now handling the situation. Apparently, the Palestinian couple who were riding in the vehicle made an accidental wrong turn.