Category Archives: Israel-Hamas war

Control of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza is a key Israeli military and political aim

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Israel justifies attacks saying they are on Hamas bunkers and infrastructure in the area but the assault comes with diplomatic risks

Establishing control over al-Shifa hospital is a key Israeli objective for military and political reasons. The sprawling complex dominates the centre of Gaza City, where Hamas has much of its administrative infrastructure, and is close to the main north-south road that runs along the coast.

Destroying the ability of Hamas to govern Gaza is one of the stated aims of the Israeli offensive.

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18 Israelis injured in Hezbollah missile strikes as border tensions grow

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One person critically hurt after vehicles hit by anti-tank missiles as Israel denies Hezbollah claim it was targeting soldiers

Eighteen Israelis have been injured, one critically, after the Iranian backed Hezbollah militia fired anti-tank missiles from southern Lebanon in a further sign that the skirmishes along the border are steadily escalating.

Several vehicles near the northern community of Dovev were hit in the missile strike, whose victims included Israel Electric Corporation employees who had arrived to repair power lines damaged by previous fire from Lebanon. Hezbollah sources had claimed they were soldiers, an assertion denied by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). The Magen David Adom emergency service said one of the civilians injured in the attack was in a critical condition.

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Police say Suella Braverman’s claims of force’s bias ‘a factor’ in attacks on them

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Officers believe claims made before Saturday’s pro-Palestinian march stoked far-right violence

Suella Braverman’s claims of police bias in the days leading up to Saturday’s pro-Palestinian march were a significant factor in “sustained” far-right attacks on members of the force, officers believe.

One police source with close knowledge of the weekend’s events said the intensity of attacks by far-right supporters on police officers in central London was “unprecedented”. Police believe some were in possession of and high on cocaine.

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UK government challenged over ICC inquiry into Israel’s conduct

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Tories reject international criminal court’s right to investigate war with Hamas but Labour wants an inquiry into potential war crimes

The UK government is being challenged over whether it will join Labour in supporting an international criminal court inquiry into potential war crimes committed by Israel, with the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, calling for all parties to uphold international law.

The ICC prosecutor, Gen Karim Khan, has insisted he has jurisdiction, but under the premiership of Boris Johnson the government said the court had no legal right to interfere.

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Suella Braverman calls for ‘further action’ against pro-Palestine marches

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Home secretary’s rhetoric is dividing Conservative MPs, who are frustrated that Rishi Sunak has not sacked her

Suella Braverman has demanded “further action” against pro-Palestine marches, as centrist Conservative MPs expressed despair at Rishi Sunak’s delay in sacking his rogue home secretary.

One senior backbencher predicted “a lot of noise” from angry colleagues when they return to parliament on Monday, with no signs of imminent action from Sunak after a series of controversies involving Braverman.

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US in ‘ongoing negotiations’ for release of hostages held by Hamas, Sullivan says

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Nine Americans still missing as Hamas says it’s suspending talks amid Israel’s handling of besieged al-Shifa hospital in Gaza

Nine Americans are still missing following the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel, the US national security adviser said on Sunday.

Jake Sullivan, the White House’s chief security adviser, said the US is involved in “ongoing negotiations” for the release of hostages believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza.

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Gulf states fend off call from Iran to arm Palestinians at Riyadh summit

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Iranian president had travelled to Saudi Arabia to try to force a more interventionist approach to Israel-Hamas war

Gulf state leaders have fended off an Iranian-led attempt to call for arming the Palestinians and severing all diplomatic ties with Israel at an extraordinary summit in Riyadh, in a effort to retain control of the region’s diplomatic response to the Israeli assault on Gaza.

Tehran, however, insisted on Sunday that its influence remained through its allied “resistance factions” operating in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. In a further sign that it has no intention of jettisoning a military path, militants near the Israeli border with Lebanon fired anti-tank missiles towards Israel, hitting a number of civilians, according to the Israeli military.

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‘Families want to die together’: relatives count the cost of Gaza airstrikes

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As Israeli missiles rain down on crowded apartment blocks, survivors are left numb as entire family groups are wiped out

The first call informing Fares Alghoul that a relative’s home had been hit by an Israeli airstrike arrived late on a Friday. The internet in Gaza was cut only moments later, forcing him to wait 12 hours to learn the names of the 18 dead. He would have to wait even longer for the confirmation that a further 18 family members stuck under the rubble had also been killed, bringing his family’s death toll to 36.

As a journalist, Alghoul has covered all Gaza’s previous wars but now lives in Canada, where he has had to watch from a distance as generations of his family are wiped out.

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Penny Wong says ‘steps towards ceasefire’ in Israel-Hamas war ‘cannot be one-sided’

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Australian foreign minister calls on Israel to show greater restraint around medical facilities and for Hamas to release hostages

Penny Wong has called for “steps towards” a ceasefire in Gaza, including greater restraint from Israel towards medical facilities and for Hamas to release Israeli hostages.

The Australian foreign minister told ABC’s Insiders she is “deeply concerned” about the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza but steps towards a ceasefire “cannot be one-sided”, because Hamas is yet to release hostages taken in its 7 October attacks.

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Michael Gove mobbed by pro-Palestinian protesters in Victoria station

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Police escort communities secretary as protesters shout ‘Shame on you’ shortly after London station sit-in

Michael Gove has been mobbed by protesters as he walked through London’s Victoria station, moments after a sit-in protest for Palestine ended.

Pro-Palestinian protesters chanted “shame on you” as the communities secretary, escorted by police officers, made his way through the concourse. Video footage posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, shows a number of protesters waving flags and surging towards Gove as Metropolitan police officers pushed them away and shouted at them to “get back”.

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London’s pro-Palestine march live: 126 people arrested as police highlight ‘deeply concerning’ rightwing violence – as it happened

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Met assistant commissioner Matt Twist says nine officers were injured while preventing a violent crowd reaching the Cenotaph

Scores of people have gathered in Hyde Park for a “stewards’ meeting” before the march, the PA Media agency reports.

They are all wearing hi-vis jackets, while many have also donned keffiyehs, Palestinian scarves.

Armistice Day is a moment of solemn national reflection in remembrance of those who have given their lives in service of our country. It’s important that people can use our rail network to safely travel, free from intimidation.

That’s why I have granted consent for the British Transport Police to make orders under section 14A of the Public Order Act 1986 prohibiting planned protests at various London stations today, meaning anyone taking part will be subject to arrest.

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Israel-Hamas war: UN calls Gaza fighting ‘reprehensible’ – as it happened

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This blog has now closed. You can read all our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war here

The al-Shifa hospital director, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, has warned “we are minutes away from imminent death” with patients dying “by the minute”.

Speaking from inside the besieged facility in Gaza City to Al Jazeera, he said:

All I can say is that we’ve started to lose lives. Patients are dying by the minute, victims and wounded are also dying – even babies in the incubators.

We lost a baby in the incubator, we also lost a young man in the intensive care unit.

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Middle East leaders hold emergency summit amid seige on Gaza hospital

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Al-Shifa chief says Israeli troops firing at complex, which has no medical supplies, power or water for thousands trapped inside

Leaders from across the Middle East and surrounding region are meeting in Saudi Arabia for an emergency summit on Gaza, as the territory’s largest hospital remains encircled by Israeli forces, without power, and with strikes “on everything moving inside the complex”, according to staff trapped inside.

“We are totally cut off from the whole world, we are minutes away from imminent death,” Mohammad abu Salmiya, the head of Dar al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, told Al Jazeera.

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Pro-Palestine protesters assemble in London as police jostle with far-right groups

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Organisers say rally on Armistice Day could be one of the largest political marches in British history

Protesters have begun assembling for a pro-Palestinian rally in London that is expected to draw hundreds of thousands on Saturday, while police have jostled with far-right groups attempting to reach the Cenotaph.

Organisers say that the pro-Palestine march, which has been the backdrop to a political row over Suella Braverman’s public criticism of the policing of protests, could be one of the biggest political marches in British history.

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Pro-Israel groups target US lawmakers critical of Gaza war with attack ads

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Rashida Tlaib and other Democratic members of ‘the Squad’ have been targeted but also a libertarian Republican

The pro-Israel lobby in the US is airing attack ads and beginning to back primary opponents to challenge Congress members who are not voting for or supporting Israel’s war on Gaza.

Over the last 10 days, groups that support Israel have launched ads in at least seven districts targeting those who have been particularly vocal in calling attention to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, opposing Israeli military aid or criticizing Israel’s government.

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What would Israel look like under a new leader – and who would benefit?

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Israelis are politically divided, but there’s widespread agreement that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government needs to go

For years, the newspaper Israel Hayom has been known as the “Bibiton”. A Hebrew portmanteau, it means “the paper of Bibi”, the nickname for Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was founded by the late billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson as the mouthpiece for Netanyahu.

Last week, the head of news at the paper, Uri Dagon, signalled a breaking of the ranks, calling on the prime minister to “lead us to victory and then go”, taking aim at the “nonstop political bickering while the war is raging”. In Israel’s fractured and fractious politics, it signalled the cohering of a rare agreement across party lines: the political era of Netanyahu was staggering to its bitter end.

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Israel-Hamas fake news thrives on poorly regulated online platforms

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Claims on X and Telegram include downplaying 7 October Hamas attack and allegations Palestinians are faking scenes of suffering

Disinformation has flourished across a range of online platforms in the month since Hamas launched its bloody attack on Israel, fuelled by weak content regulation on X, formerly Twitter, and Telegram and at times propelled by state actors.

Widely shared faked news and false claims include efforts to downplay the horror of Hamas’s cross-border attack on 7 October through to distasteful allegations that Palestinians, already under heavy bombardment, are faking scenes of violence.

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Macron calls for end to killing of civilians in Gaza as international pressure on Israel grows

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French president’s comments come as aid agency Doctors Without Borders says situation at main Gaza hospital ‘catastrophic’

French president Emmanuel Macron has called on Israel to stop killing babies, women and elderly people in Gaza as the country comes under mounting international pressure, including from its main ally the US, to do more to protect Palestinian civilians.

Macron’s comments came hours before aid agency Doctors Without Borders said it was “extremely concerned” about the safety of patients and medical staff at al-Shifa hospital – the Gaza Strip’s largest – around which fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas was raging on Saturday.

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‘Deeply distressing’: premier condemns violence between Palestine and Israel supporters over Melbourne burger bar fire

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Jacinta Allan asks for increased police presence around Hawthorn Road after authorities break up scuffles near a synagogue close to where the Palestinian-owned burger shop was damaged by a blaze

The Victorian premier has condemned the “deeply distressing” violence that erupted between pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protesters on Friday night, after a suspicious fire at a nearby burger shop in Melbourne’s south-east.

Jacinta Allan said she was briefed on the incident on Saturday morning by Victoria police, and asked for an increased police presence in area around Hawthorn Road in Caulfield.

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Israel kills seven more Hezbollah fighters on border with Lebanon

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Iranian foreign minister says wider regional conflict inevitable as death toll among militant group rises to 78

Israel has killed a further seven Hezbollah fighters on its northern border with Lebanon, taking the total death toll of Hezbollah fighters to 78 since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.

The rising death toll in Lebanon and the killing of 18 Palestinians by Israeli security forces in the West Bank on Thursday prompted the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, to declare that a wider regional escalation of the conflict was inevitable.

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