As pockets of war multiply across region so does the risk that conflict becomes more contagious and intractable
On Thursday morning the Iranian news website Entekhab ran, without irony, the headline: “Taliban call on Pakistan and Iran to show restraint and urge both sides to settle differences through diplomatic means”.
If proof were needed that a new, more dangerous world order may be upon us, the Taliban cast in the role of advocates for restraint seems conclusive.
Continue reading...US president says Israeli PM not opposed to all two-state solutions after pair talk for first time in nearly a month
Joe Biden has said the creation of an independent state for Palestinians was still possible while Benjamin Netanyahu was still in office, following a call with the Israeli prime minister on Friday.
The US president spoke to Netanyahu for the first time in nearly a month about differences over a future Palestinian state, as well as Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza, where the Palestinian death toll is approaching 25,000, according to local health authorities.
Continue reading...Documents reveal humanitarian law investigation was far more intensive than David Cameron suggested
UK Foreign Office legal advisers were unable to conclude that Israel was in compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL) in its bombardment of Gaza, court documents reveal.
After reviewing specific potential breaches of IHL cited in a report by Amnesty International, the Foreign Office initially concluded it had “serious concerns” about breaches.
Continue reading...Prospect of close combat in overpopulated area ‘deeply concerning’, say aid officials, while Gaza’s largest functioning hospital may have to close
As Israeli forces have moved further into southern Gaza, airstrikes and close-combat fighting are approaching areas crowded with more than a million people seeking refuge from the destruction across the rest of the territory.
The prospect of major operations taking place in territory with such a dense and vulnerable population is “deeply concerning”, say aid officials, who fear Gaza’s largest remaining hospital may have to be closed or evacuated.
Continue reading...Gadi Eisenkot launches blistering attack on Netanyahu’s campaign, saying ‘total victory’ over Hamas is unlikely
A senior minister in the Israeli war cabinet has said that only a ceasefire deal can win the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, and that Israel is unlikely to achieve its aim of “total victory” over the militant Islamist group.
Gadi Eisenkot, a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, launched a blistering attack on the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the campaign against Hamas and failure to take responsibility for the failures that led to the bloody attack into Israel in October that triggered the current conflict.
Continue reading...Tens of thousands with life-threatening illnesses ‘defenceless’ after months without treatment, say doctors
Health services in Gaza are “decimated”, with medical staff exhausted after three months of war forced to extract shrapnel without adequate pain relief, conduct amputations without anaesthetics and watch children die of cancers because of a lack of facilities and medicine.
Dozens of interviews with doctors and medical administrators in Gaza reveal a catastrophic and deteriorating situation as health services struggle to cope with tens of thousands of casualties of the continuing Israeli offensive in the territory and the effects of the acute humanitarian crisis.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed. See all our coverage of the Middle East crisis here
There can be “no security and stability in the region” without a Palestinian state, said the spokesperson for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, reports Associated Press.
The remarks come in response to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection on Thursday of calls by the US to take steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state after the war.
Continue reading...US has military might but rebels can still shut down shipping, spelling prolonged suffering for Yemeni civilians
The latest round of US bombing against Houthi targets in Yemen comes as little surprise, and raises with it the prospect of an extended military campaign affecting a nation already impoverished by years of war.
The assault implies an effective recognition by Washington that any effort to try to completely halt the attacks on western shipping in the southern Red Sea will require repeated intervention because of the Yemeni group’s capacity and determination to resist.
Continue reading...Staff say situation at Nasser hospital ‘catastrophic’ as Israeli strikes hit metres away
Israeli forces have advanced further into southern Gaza’s main city, pounding areas near the territory’s biggest functioning hospital and sparking fears it could be forced to close due to Israeli bombardments and evacuation orders.
Khan Younis residents and medical staff said the fighting had come within metres of Nasser hospital, the biggest hospital still partially working in Gaza, over the past week. It has been receiving hundreds of wounded patients a day since the fighting shifted to the south last month.
Continue reading...Defiant Houthi leader mocks US president and calls for boycott of Israeli goods as Biden tells reporters attacks are ‘going to continue’
The US has carried out a fifth strike against Houthi rebel targets in Yemen, even as Joe Biden acknowledged that bombing the rebels has yet to stop their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
Late on Thursday US warplanes targeted anti-ship missiles that “were aimed into the southern Red Sea and prepared to launch,” according to US Central Command.
Continue reading...PM rebuts White House by saying all territory west of Jordan River would be under Israeli security control
Israel’s prime minister has told the Biden White House that he rejects any moves to establish a Palestinian state when Israel ends its offensive against Gaza, and that all territory west of the Jordan River would be under Israeli security control.
Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to obstruct the establishment of a Palestinian state throughout his political career, despite occasional lukewarm endorsements of the idea.
Continue reading...Israel is in sixth place after the Committee to Protect Journalists recorded 18 Palestinian journalists in its jails
Israel has joined a notorious band of authoritarian states with a history of imprisoning journalists by detaining Palestinian reporters without trial since the beginning of the latest war in Gaza.
A report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released on Thursday said that for the first time Israel figures in its list of “worst jailers of journalists”, putting it on a par with Iran.
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While Iran has taken low-level action against Balochistan in the past, Tuesday’s strikes were unusually heavy-handed and Thursday’s retaliatory bombings were the first time that Pakistan has responded with comprehensive military action against its neighbour.
Sources in Islamabad said the decision was taken after heavy political and military pressure on the top army leadership to show strength against Tehran.
Continue reading...Drone and missile attacks in Sistan and Balochistan province come after Iran struck sites inside Pakistan
Pakistan has launched retaliatory strikes against militants in Iran in response to attacks by Tehran that targeted sites within Pakistan’s borders, heightening fears of further instability across the Middle East and surrounding region.
A statement by Pakistan’s foreign office early on Thursday said it had undertaken “a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts” in the Sistan and Balochistan province of Iran, adding that “a number of terrorists were killed during the intelligence-based operation”.
Continue reading...As tensions in the Middle East continue to rise, this week John Harris speaks to Niku Jafarnia of Human Rights Watch about the regional conflicts. The Rwanda bill passed its third reading and Pippa Crerar, the Guardian’s political editor, reveals what happened behind the scenes. And the former No 10 adviser Gavin Barwell talks about the increasingly vicious struggles within the Conservative party
Archive: GB News
Continue reading...US missile strikes came after a bulk carrier was hit by Houthi drones in the Gulf of Aden
The US military has fired another wave of missile strikes against Houthi-controlled sites, marking the fourth time in a week that it has directly targeted the group in Yemen.
The strikes were launched from the Red Sea, hitting more than a dozen sites – the officials told the AP news agency – and came after a drone launched from areas controlled by the Houthis hit a US-owned vessel in the Gulf of Aden.
Continue reading...Deaths inside Tulkarem refugee camp and near Balata camp are latest in an explosion of violence in the Palestinian territory since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza
A new wave of violence has swept the occupied West Bank, with a series of major raids launched by the Israeli military across much of the territory.
Ten people were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank on Wednesday, Palestinian officials have said, one of the highest single daily death tolls for many months.
Continue reading...Decision means Yemeni group’s funds will be frozen in US and members are banned from the country
US Navy Seals boarded a boat heading for Yemen and seized Iranian-made missile components and other weaponry bound for Houthi forces, in an operation in which two Seal commandos went missing, the US military has said.
US Central Command (Centcom) posted pictures of the missile parts on X, including what appeared to be the components of a complete small missile, rocket motors and guidance systems, as well as a photograph of the small cargo vessel that was allegedly carrying the arms.
Continue reading...Shipment of medicine has arrived in Egypt on way to conflict zone under deal brokered by Qatar and France
A shipment of medicine for Israeli hostages and Palestinian civilians has arrived in Egypt on its way to Gaza under a deal mediated by Qatar and France, as fighting continues across much of the territory after a deadly night of bombardments.
The agreement marks the first significant progress in indirect talks between Israel and Hamas since December, when a short-lived ceasefire collapsed.
Continue reading...Iran claims attack in south-west Balochistan province destroyed two strongholds of Sunni militant group
Iranian military officials were hailing one of the biggest projections of force in its recent history as Pakistan warned Tehran of “serious consequences” to a “completely unacceptable” attack in Pakistan’s Balochistan that left six dead or injured including two children.
Iran said its attack mounted on Tuesday using “precision missile and drone strikes”, destroyed two strongholds of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl in the Koh-e-Sabz area of Pakistan’s south-west Balochistan province.
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