Foreign secretary says move would help to make two-state solution an ‘irreversible’ process
Britain will consider recognising a Palestinian state as part of concerted efforts to bring about an “irreversible” peace settlement, the foreign secretary, David Cameron, has said.
In what would mark a landmark diplomatic moment, he said the move would help to bring about a two-state solution – currently facing trenchant opposition from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Continue reading...Satellite imagery and open-source evidence lay bare the destruction to civilian infrastructure by Israel in its war on Hamas
A Guardian investigation has detailed the mass destruction of buildings and land in three neighbourhoods in Gaza.
Using satellite imagery and open-source evidence, the investigation found damage to more than 250 residential buildings, 17 schools and universities, 16 mosques, three hospitals, three cemeteries and 150 agricultural greenhouses.
Continue reading...Militant Palestinian group begins to rebuild system of governance in north after being driven out by Israeli forces
Hamas militants have returned to northern Gaza, where they are mobilising against Israeli forces and rebuilding a system of governance, aid officials, Gaza residents, analysts and Israeli officials say.
Elsewhere in Gaza, Hamas administrators and police maintain firm control of the south, where much of the population is concentrated, though civil order is breaking down in central regions.
Continue reading...Agencies including Oxfam and Save the Children note Gaza population already facing famine due to Israeli siege and bombardment
International aid agencies have said they are “deeply concerned and outraged” at the “reckless” decision by major donors to cut funding to a UN Palestinian aid agency after Israel accused some of its workers of taking part in Hamas’ 7 October attack.
“We are shocked by the reckless decision to cut a lifeline for an entire population by some of the very countries that had called for aid in Gaza to be stepped up and for humanitarians to be protected while doing their job,” the coalition of 21 agencies, including Oxfam, Save the Children and ActionAid, said in a statement on Monday.
Continue reading...White House spokesman says Biden mulling options as media reports suggest the drone that killed three US service people was confused with a US drone
Medical sources in the West Bank have said that the man killed by Israeli military fire in the village of Yamoun, near Jenin, was 21-year-old Tair Hamo, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported.
As we reported earlier, the Israeli military carried out raids on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin overnight, as well as a nearby town and village.
If we don’t want another October 7, we need to go back home and control [Gaza]. We need to find a legal way to voluntarily emigrate [Palestinians] and impose death sentences on terrorists … I turn to you, prime minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu: this is time for brave decisions.
Continue reading...Proposal is for 45-day pause in fighting and release of 35 Israeli hostages and up to 4,000 Palestinian prisoners
The framework for a deal that could lead to a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza is being put to the Hamas leadership, Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said on Monday.
Speaking after talks in Paris between officials from the US, Qatar, Egypt and Israel, he said: “We are in a better place than we were a few weeks ago.”
Continue reading...President is facing pressure from Republicans after numerous attacks on US bases by Iran’s proxies
The killing of three American soldiers in Jordan and the wounding of dozens more, allegedly by an Iranian-backed group, is a red line that was always likely to be crossed in what is becoming an increasingly dangerous region.
The US had up to this weekend avoided fatalities in more than 150 attacks on its military bases by Iranian proxies since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war after the 7 October attacks, but that luck could not last for ever. The question now is what lies on the far side of that red line.
Continue reading...Strikes reportedly hit farm housing members of Hezbollah and other Iran-backed factions
Israel has struck an Iran-linked site south of the Syrian capital, Damascus, killing several people, two days after regional tensions rose again when three US troops were killed in a drone attack on a military outpost in Jordan.
The Israeli strikes, which also left an unspecified number injured, were not regarded as a direct response to the attack on the Tower 22 base on Jordan’s border with Iraq and Syria.
Continue reading...Lloyd Austin says president ‘will not tolerate attacks on US forces’, but Qatar warns that reprisal attacks could undermine Israel hostage talks
US defense secretary Lloyd Austin has vowed to take “all necessary actions” to defend US troops after Iran-backed militants killed three US troops and wounded dozens more in a drone attack on a US base in Jordan.
“The president and I will not tolerate attacks on US forces and we will take all necessary actions to defend the US and our troops,” Austin said at the Pentagon on Monday.
Continue reading...The group that claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on a US military base in Jordan is a loose coalition of Iranian-backed militias
Three US service personnel were killed and 34 wounded on Sunday after a drone hit a residential quarters at a military outpost in Jordan known as Tower 22, which lies on the border between Iraq and Syria.
It is the first time US soldiers have been killed by hostile fire since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, after an estimated 150 attacks by Iranian-based militias on American bases in Iraq and Syria since 7 October.
Continue reading...Iranian backed militia took credit for attack that injured 34 troops and killed first US soldiers in battle since start of the Gaza conflict
The spectre of a direct US-Iranian military conflict drew closer on Sunday when the US president Joe Biden announced three US servicemen have been killed and more than 34 injured following a drone attack on a US service base on the border of Jordan and Syria. Biden blamed Iranian backed militia mainly based in Iraq for the “despicable” attack and vowed revenge.
Responsibility for Saturday’s attack on Tower 22, a military outpost on the Jordanian Syrian Iraqi borders was claimed by the Iranian backed umbrella group Islamic Resistance, and the US made no attempt to disguise its belief that Iran was ultimately responsible.
Continue reading...US, Qatari, Israeli and Egyptian officials met in Paris and will continue to discuss options
Talks on Sunday initiated by Qatar, the US and Egypt aimed at brokering a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas were “constructive” but meaningful gaps remain, a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office has said.
The statement said the parties would continue to hold discussions this week. “There are still significant gaps in which the parties will continue to discuss this week in additional mutual meetings,” the statement added.
Continue reading...António Guterres says loss of funding from US and others means aid into Gaza for whole of this month cannot be guaranteed
The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, has appealed to the 10 donor countries that have withdrawn funding from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees to reconsider, saying the agency and Palestinians in desperate need should not be penalised due to the alleged acts of a dozen staff.
Guterres said nine UNRWA staff had already been dismissed for alleged involvement in Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October and any UN employee involved in acts of terror would be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.
Continue reading...Countries defunding UNRWA, the main aid distributer in Gaza, accused of collectively punishing more than 2.2 million Palestinians
The Gaza Strip is facing “inevitable famine” because of the decision by western countries to pause funding for the UN’s agency for Palestinian affairs after Israeli accusations that 12 of the group’s employees took part in the Hamas attack on 7 October last year.
Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said on Sunday “famine was imminent” and now “inevitable”, in a comment following the news that the US and nine other countries were suspending additional funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
Continue reading...British warship HMS Diamond targeted in Red Sea but no injuries or serious damage sustained
Grant Shapps said the UK remained “undaunted” after Iran-backed Houthis targeted HMS Diamond in the Red Sea during their latest round of strikes.
The defence secretary’s comments came after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that the Royal Navy warship HMS Diamond “deployed its Sea Viper missile system” to destroy the drone deployed by the Yemen-based Houthi group on Saturday. It said there were no injuries to the crew and no damage to the ship.
Continue reading...This blog has now closed. You can see our full report on the drone attack that killed three US soldiers in Jordan here and our report on western countries’ decision to cut funding to UNRWA here. And see all coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and Middle East crisis here.
The Israeli army on Sunday said special forces were continuing to engage in “intensive battles” in Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Younis, where it claimed troops eliminated “terrorists and located large quantities of weapons”.
Strikes were also carried out in central and northern Gaza, it added.
Continue reading...The blog is now closed, but please see more coverage of the situation in the Middle East here:
Hamas said in a statement that Israel is on a “campaign of incitement” against UN agencies delivering aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, reports Al Jazeera.
The news organisation said the statement highlighted an Israeli accusation of “collusion” between the World Health Organization (WHO) and Hamas, which the UN agency rejected on Friday.
Continue reading...War has led to a crisis in relations in Lod – the town that both Arab and Jewish residents call home
From a distance the market looks like a scene of communal harmony. Jewish and Arab Israelis inspect the piles of pomegranates, oranges, pears and carrots. Israeli flags flap in the winter breeze from the balconies of shabby apartment blocks. A hundred metres away, a synagogue, mosque and Greek Orthodox church share a car park.
The reality is very different. The tension in Lod, a town of 80,000 in the centre of Israel, is palpable. Other than at prayer time, the mosque bolts its metal gates shut. So too do the synagogue and the church. Everybody in the town, which is home to both Jewish and Arab Israelis, is very aware of what might happen if the growing anger, fear and grief among both communities prompted by events of the last four months get out of hand.
Continue reading...US military confirms Houthi attack on Marlin Luanda in Gulf of Aden
The UK government has said Britain and its allies “reserve the right to respond appropriately” after an oil tanker was struck and set alight off the coast of Yemen. The blaze on the British-linked oil tanker was put out after firefighting efforts continued through the night.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed their naval forces had carried out an operation targeting what they described as the “British oil tanker Marlin Luanda” in the Gulf of Aden. Shipping data suggests the vessel sails under the flag of the Marshall Islands.
Continue reading...Senior ministers including Yoav Gallant condemn ruling while Palestinians dismayed it did not go further
Israeli officials have accused the international court of justice of antisemitic bias and expressed dismay that a South African case alleging that the war in Gaza amounts to genocide was not thrown out altogether, after the court issued an emergency interim ruling.
The ruling on Friday said Israel must take “all measures in its power” to prevent acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip but stopped short of calling for a full ceasefire. It ordered six so-called provisional measures to be implemented to protect Palestinians, including orders for Israel to prevent death and destruction and enable the provision of basic services and humanitarian aid to the strip’s trapped population.
Continue reading...