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Reuters reports that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Saturday that Israel is committing “shameless crimes” against children, not combatants.
His comments came a day after an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, killed 31 people, including three children and seven women, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Continue reading...ICC requested arrest warrants for Israeli PM and his defence minister in May for alleged war crimes in Gaza
Israel has submitted an “official challenge” to a request from the international criminal court prosecutor for an arrest warrant against its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
In May the ICC’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, requested the court issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
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A pro-Palestinian protester wearing a keffiyeh scarf has been charged with violating a suburban New York City county’s new law banning face masks in public, reviving fears from opponents that the statute is being used to diminish free speech rights, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Police said the 26-year-old North Bellmore resident was arrested on Sunday afternoon during a protest in front of Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, an orthodox synagogue near the New York City borough of Queens.
According to the AP, Nassau County police department spokesperson Scott Skrynecki said Thursday that officers questioned the man because he had been concealing his face with a keffiyeh, which has become a symbol of support for Palestinian people.
Police on the scene asked him if he was wearing the garment for medical or religious purposes, which are the two major exceptions to the new ban, according to Skrynecki. When the man confirmed he was wearing it in solidarity with Palestinians and not for either of those reasons, he was placed under arrest, Skrynecki said. He was released with a notice to appear in court on 2 October.
The AP reports that videos showing some of the arrest have been shared on social media. They show the man wearing the keffiyeh around his neck as he is led away by officers in handcuffs and continues to lead others in pro-Palestinian chants.
The man did not respond to the AP’s calls and social media messages seeking comment Thursday.
Rachel Hu, a spokesperson for ANSWER Coalition, which organised a rally this week against the arrest, said the man is now seeking legal counsel and will not be commenting on the case until then.
She added that organisers believe the man was targeted as one of the leaders of Pro-Palestinian protest movements on Long Island.
“We feel that this arrest (and this ban overall) was aimed at intimidating known activists to discourage us from using our first amendment right to protest,” Hu wrote in an email.
The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations denounced the arrest as proof that the local law was being used as a “silencing tactic” against Palestinian supporters.
“Barring other criminal misconduct, wearing a keffiyeh or a mask does not make you suspicious,” Lamya Agarwala, supervising attorney for the organisation, said in a statement. “Using this policy to arrest protesters is an affront to our fundamental rights as Americans.”
Skrynecki responded that police officers, as with all laws, “enforce the mask transparency act equally and fairly regardless of the demographics of the defendant”.
A spokesperson for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman didn’t respond to the critiques, according to the AP, but confirmed the Republican, who is Nassau’s first Jewish county executive, was at the synagogue at the time of the protest.
Sunday’s arrest is among the first under the Mask Transparency Act approved by Nassau County’s Republican-controlled legislature and signed into law by Blakeman last month.
The Guardian picture desk has shared a couple of images that show smoke and flames rising after the Israeli army launched attacks on Al Mahmudiyah, located in southern Lebanon.
Continue reading...Republican John Kennedy of Louisiana accuses thinktank director of supporting Hamas in heated hate crime hearing
A congressional hearing on hate crimes drew charges of the bigotry it was meant to address after a Republican senator told the female Muslim head of a thinktank to “hide your head in a bag” and accused her of supporting Hamas and Hezbollah.
John Kennedy, the GOP senator for Louisiana, drew condemnation from Democrats as well as Muslim, Jewish and civil liberties groups for the remark, aimed at Maya Berry, the executive director of the Arab American Institute, at a hearing staged by the Senate judiciary committee.
Continue reading...Detonation of thousands of devices, killing at least nine, could provoke war between Israel and the Lebanese group
It may not have been acknowledged by Israel but the extraordinary, coordinated attack on Hezbollah, blowing up thousands of pagers used by members of the Lebanese group, is almost certainly a Mossad operation. The Israeli intelligence service has been engaged in the assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders for decades but, if its involvement is confirmed, this represents a significant escalation.
Reports continue to come in but, with at least nine dead and about 3,000 wounded in dozens, if not hundreds, of coordinated explosions, the episode demonstrates a ruthless and indiscriminate desire to target Hezbollah. The group had been using pagers as an alternative to mobile phones, which can be tracked and used to pinpoint deadly missile strikes on its commanders.
Continue reading...Five women and four children said to be among dead with strike hitting residential building in crowded Nuseirat camp
At least 16 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes across central Gaza on Sunday night and Monday morning, including five women and four children, Palestinian health officials have said.
Rescuers said an airstrike early on Monday destroyed a residential building in the densely populated Nuseirat refugee camp in the heart of central Gaza, killing at least 10 people, including four women and two children.
Continue reading...Israeli prime minister speaks after Yemen’s Houthis claim responsibility for ballistic missile attack that reached central Israel for the first time
Continue reading...US president Joe Biden and British PM Keir Starmer fear secret arms link-up amid talks in Washington over Ukraine
Britain and the US have raised fears that Russia has shared nuclear secrets with Iran in return for Tehran supplying Moscow with ballistic missiles to bomb Ukraine.
During their summit in Washington DC on Friday, Keir Starmer and US president Joe Biden acknowledged that the two countries were tightening military cooperation at a time when Iran is in the process of enriching enough uranium to complete its long-held goal to build a nuclear bomb.
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The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) disaster risk management teams, in cooperation with the Palestine Ministry of Social Development, distributed food parcels to 11,000 families in Gaza and North Gaza governates, the humanitarian organisation shared on X.
“This effort aims to alleviate the ongoing suffering of citizens due to the worsening humanitarian situation in the northern part of the [Gaza] Strip, caused by the shortage of food supplies as the Israeli occupation continues to block the entry of humanitarian aid,” the PRCS wrote on Friday.
Continue reading...Motivated pursuers using advanced technology and brute force have yet to pin down their cautious quarry. Would his death or capture stop the war?
A group of Israel hostages were huddled in a tunnel in Gaza a few days after they had been dragged from their homes on 7 October, when the man who had plotted their abduction appeared out of the subterranean gloom.
His hair and beard were grey and his dark-ringed eyes stared out from under thick black brows. It was a face familiar to them from a thousand broadcasts and newspaper stories: Yahya Sinwar. The Hamas leader in Gaza was the most feared man in Israel, even before he ordered the October raid in which 1,200 people – two-thirds of them civilians – were killed and 250 taken hostage.
Continue reading...Yossi Sariel takes responsibility for military surveillance unit’s role in intelligence failures before Hamas-led assault
The commander of Israel’s military surveillance agency, Unit 8200, has announced his resignation, publicly accepting responsibility for failings that contributed to the deadly 7 October attacks.
Yossi Sariel said on Tuesday that he had informed his superiors of his intention to step down after the completion of an initial investigation into Unit 8200’s role in failures surrounding the Hamas-led assault last year.
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Syrian media is reporting that in addition to killing two people in a drone strike on a vehicle inside Syria, Israeli forces have also shelled the Syrian town of Al-Rafid in the south-east of the country, close to territory controlled by Israel.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said that Israeli attacks have killed at least 34 people and injured 96 over the past 24 hours in the territory.
Continue reading...Israeli military launches inquiry into claims that stories may have been planted as part of disinformation campaign
The Israel Defense Forces have launched an investigation into claims in the Israeli media that the London-based Jewish Chronicle published stories based on “fabricated intelligence” relating to Hamas, amid claims that they may have been planted as part of a disinformation campaign.
Among the most controversial claims published by the Jewish Chronicle, the world’s oldest Jewish newspaper, was the suggestion last week that the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, might be preparing to flee to Iran with Israeli hostages, a suggestion that has also been made by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Continue reading...Unrwa says attack on school sheltering refugees in Nuseirat led to highest death toll among its staff in a single incident
Israel has bombed a UN school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza, killing at least 18 people, including the shelter manager and five other Unrwa staff.
The al-Jaouni school in Nuseirat is home to about 12,000 displaced people, mostly women and children, the UN said. It has been hit five times since the start of the war in Gaza.
Continue reading...At least 19 people killed as missiles hit overcrowded area in attack that Israel says targeted a Hamas command centre
Israeli airstrikes on al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 19 people and injured a further 60, according to witnesses and medical officials in the blockaded Palestinian territory.
At least four missiles hit the overcrowded supposed “safe zone” on the coast in the early hours of Tuesday, causing dozens of tents to catch fire and leaving craters as deep as 9 metres, the civil emergency service said. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in Mawasi, where conditions are dire, after being ordered to move there by the Israeli military.
Continue reading...US secretary of state says Israeli forces need to make ‘fundamental changes’ to operations in occupied West Bank after Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi was shot dead during protest
We’re pausing our blog here. We will return to the live coverage if there are any major updates to bring you.
For now, you can read out full coverage of the search and rescue efforts after the deadly strike on the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone here:
Continue reading...Deputy director of Gaza Civil Emergency Service and four family members killed in Jabalia, say Gaza health officials; three Israeli civilians killed in shooting near Jordan border crossing, says IDF
Here is more on the earlier incident (see 9.08am post) in which three Israelis were killed.
Reuters reports that Israeli authorities said a gunman crossing from Jordan killed the three civilians at the Allenby Bridge border in the occupied West Bank on Sunday before being shot dead by security forces.
A terrorist approached the area of the Allenby Bridge from Jordan in a truck, exited the truck, and opened fire at the Israeli security forces operating at the bridge.
The terrorist was eliminated by the security forces, three Israeli civilians were pronounced dead as a result of the attack.
Continue reading...Palestinians say they have no faith in Israel Defense Forces inquiry into killing as US officials insist Gaza ceasefire is near
US officials have insisted that a ceasefire in Gaza is close even as fighting rages unabated in the blockaded Palestinian territory and violence spirals in the occupied West Bank, where witnesses told the Observer an American-Turkish dual national was killed by Israeli forces on Friday.
William Burns, who is also the US’s chief negotiator in the indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, echoed secretary of state Antony Blinken during a speech in London on Saturday in which he said that “90% of the text had been agreed but the last 10% is always the hardest”.
Continue reading...Bill Burns calls Vladimir Putin a ‘bully’ whose ‘sabre-rattling’ should not always be taken literally
Western leaders should not be intimidated by Kremlin threats of nuclear escalation, the head of the CIA said on Saturday, amid a debate over whether Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles should be used inside Russia.
Bill Burns, on a visit to London alongside the head of MI6, said the US had brushed off a previous Russian nuclear scare in autumn 2022, demonstrating that threats from Moscow should not always be taken literally.
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CIA director William Burns, the chief US negotiator trying to help secure a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages by Hamas, said a more detailed proposal on the ceasefire would be made in the coming days.
“We will make this more detailed proposal, I hope in the next several days, and then we’ll see,” Burns said at an FT event in London on Saturday.
Continue reading...