Many are deeply sceptical of the argument that only more military pressure will bring their loved ones back
Eli Albag had been fighting for the release of his daughter from captivity in Gaza for almost a year when he was pelted with eggs and verbally abused.
The father of Liri Albag, who is held hostage by Hamas, was protesting recently outside a political event attended by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the coastal city of Netanya.
Continue reading...Overnight Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, while at least 10 people were reportedly injured after a Hezbollah rocket hit the city of Haifa
Israel will hold memorials for the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks on Monday as the war it launched in response escalates on two fronts, with heavy bombing raids and mass evacuation orders issued in Lebanon and Gaza amid the growing possibility of a retaliatory airstrike against Iran.
As Israelis across the country prepared to mark one year since Hamas launched its devastating attack, a region that has spiralled into unprecedented crisis was on high alert. In Israel, authorities said they were on the lookout for attacks timed to coincide with the anniversary after a gunman opened fire on pedestrians in a central bus station in a city in the Negev desert, killing one and wounding 10 in the second attack in the last week.
Continue reading...This blog has now closed. You can see all our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war: one year on here and all our coverage of the Israel-Lebanon conflict here.
The death toll from the Israeli strike on the Gaza mosque has risen to 24, according to local authorities. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said 93 people were also wounded in the strikes on the mosque and the school, near the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital told the Associated Press that the strike hit a mosque sheltering displaced people. Eyewitnesses told Reuters the same. However Israeli forces say the mosque was being used as a Hamas command and control centre “to plan and carry out terrorist operations against the IDF forces and the State of Israel”, and that it took steps to reduce the chance of harming civilians. An AP reporter counted 18 bodies at the hospital morgue, and said hospital records listed all those killed as men.
Continue reading...Israeli prime minister turns on French counterpart’s continuing efforts towards a ceasefire and end to violence in Lebanon
A call by Emmanuel Macron for a halt in arms supplies to Israel for use in Gaza has been met with an angry rebuttal from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The French president’s comments were directed mainly at the US and were part of continuing French efforts to revive its call for a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Continue reading...A pro-Palestine rally will take place in Hyde Park from 1pm today, after NSW police previously attempted to stop it from happening in federal court. Follow the day’s news live
Australians arrive in Cyprus after being evacuated from Lebanon
Some images are coming through of Australian citizens, residents and their families arriving at Larnaca airport in Cyprus after being evacuated from Beirut yesterday.
This is a tragedy that has been playing out in the Middle East. It is obviously difficult. It is obviously complex.
That is a patent lie, and it’s an intentional lie, and it’s a lie intended to create division within Australian politics and from there, within Australian society.
Continue reading...Opposition leader’s claim Labor is ‘at odds with our allies’ an attempt to sow division, deputy prime minister says
The federal government has hit back at Peter Dutton’s claims that Australia is at odds with its allies over the conflict in the Middle East, characterising this as “an intentional lie” that aims to fuel division.
With more Australians expected to fly out of Lebanon on Sunday as Israel steps up strikes in southern Beirut, the government said it was “deeply anxious” about the “extraordinary loss of innocent life in Gaza” and the prospect of the conflict spreading.
Continue reading...Muslim and Jewish figures join archbishop in first act of high-level solidarity
Muslim and Jewish leaders today unite around an unprecedented joint statement calling the assaults on Israel on 7 October last year “brutal Hamas terrorist attacks” that led to a “devastating war in Gaza and beyond” which together have caused “horrific” human suffering.
Joined by the archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in the first high-level act of inter-faith solidarity in the year-long conflict, they say in a letter to the Observer: “Our faiths and our humanity teach us that we should mourn for all the innocent people who have lost their lives.
Continue reading...Healthcare workers have been displaced and paramedics killed in the south of the country
Three hospitals in south Lebanon were forced to close on Friday after Israeli bombings struck two and the other ran out of supplies, displacing a number of doctors from the area and creating concerns around the state of the Lebanese health sector.
Marjayoun governmental hospital and the Salah Ghandour hospital in Bint Jbeil, large healthcare centres along the eastern and western sections of the Lebanese borders, announced their closure after their premises were struck, killing seven and wounding 14 healthcare workers.
Continue reading...Military also ordering civilians in two Gaza camps to evacuate, while operations in Lebanon continue to ramp up
The Israeli military is expanding its operations on multiple fronts around the anniversary of the 7 October attacks on Monday, including planning for a “significant and serious” retaliation against Iran for last week’s large-scale ballistic missile attack on Israel.
Signs of imminent Israeli retaliation against Iran came as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, called for an international embargo on arms delivered to Israel for use against Gaza, where authorities say more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s year long assault.
Continue reading...Israeli army issued evacuation warnings on Saturday to people in the south of Lebanese capital; Israel says Deir al-Balah mosque in Gaza was Hamas site
At least 41,825 Palestinians have been killed and 96,910 wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the territory’s health authorities said on Saturday.
A South Korean military transport aircraft returned 97 citizens and family members from Lebanon on Saturday as Middle East tensions rise, the foreign ministry said.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary and PM call on nationals and their dependants to evacuate on Sunday’s flight, the last one scheduled for now
A new flight has been chartered by the UK government for British nationals to leave Lebanon on Sunday, amid the growing conflict in the region.
More than 250 UK citizens have left Lebanon on government-chartered flights amid the conflict, the Foreign Office said. The UK chartered a fourth flight to leave Beirut-Rafic Hariri airport in Beirut on Sunday.
Continue reading...Explosions and smoke reported in capital early on Saturday while Hezbollah says clashes continue with Israeli troops in Lebanon border area
A series of explosions were heard over Beirut’s southern suburbs early on Saturday after the Israeli military demanded evacuations for some areas while Hezbollah said it was engaged in continued clashes with Israeli troops in the Lebanon border area.
Israel said on Friday it had targeted the intelligence headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut and was assessing the damage after a series of strikes on senior figures in the militant group that Iran’s supreme leader condemned as counterproductive.
Continue reading...Two charter flights are expected to fly out of Beirut on Saturday as list of people seeking to leave grows
Up to 500 Australians and their close relatives are due to be boarded on to two charter flights out of Beirut on Saturday, amid increased government efforts to expatriate citizens after Israel’s ground incursion into Lebanon’s south.
The first flight was expected to fly out of the Lebanese capital and land in Cyprus at about 11.30am local time (6.30pm AEST). From there, two Qantas flights can take passengers to Sydney on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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Continue reading...President says he does not know whether Israeli PM is delaying peace deal in order to influence US election
Joe Biden had terse words at the White House on Friday for Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he didn’t know whether the Israeli prime minister was holding up a peace deal in the Middle East – where Israel is at war with Hamas in Gaza and on a military offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon – in order to influence the outcome of the 2024 US presidential election.
“No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None. None, none. And I think Bibi should remember that,” Biden said, using Netanyahu’s nickname. He added: “And whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know – but I’m not counting on that.”
Continue reading...This blog is now closed. Our latest live blog is here. See all our Middle East crisis coverage
The Israeli military launched a series of strikes on southern Beirut on Thursday night, in one of the most intense bombardments on the city since the campaign began last week.
A source close to Hezbollah told the AFP news agency that Israel had conducted 11 consecutive strikes on the group’s stronghold in the Lebanese capital.
Continue reading...In rare public address, supreme leader defends missile attack on Israel and makes appeal for Muslim unity
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has vowed that Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza will re-emerge strongly with new leaders, as an Israeli airstrike cut Lebanon’s main route to Syria.
In a rare public sermon in front of tens of thousands in Tehran on Friday, Khamenei defended the “legal and legitimate” ballistic missile attack on Israel this week that Iran has said was in retaliation for the deaths of the Hezbollah secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, and the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Guardian Australia found Coalition politicians cited the 24-hour figure in interviews on at least 12 occasions in August
It was one of the most potent talking points during the Coalition’s campaign against “rushed” visas to Palestinians fleeing Gaza.
“It is not appropriate to give 3,000 tourist visas to people leaving a war zone controlled by a terrorist organisation in an average of 24 hours,” the Liberal senator James Paterson told Sky News on 20 August.
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Continue reading...From general election upsets to protests on the streets, the shockwaves from the Middle East have resonated in Britain
When Shockat Adam, the newly elected independent MP for Leicester South, addressed his supporters at the July election count, he brought his speech to an end with a dedication – not to the constituents of the East Midlands city he now represents, but to people more than 2,000 miles away.
“This is for the people of Gaza”, he said, holding a Palestinian keffiyeh aloft.
Continue reading...One year on, we speak to those who have lost more than 50 relatives and who call some ministers’ support for the Israeli government ‘shameful’
In September 2023, 45-year-old Mohammed Ghalayini travelled to Gaza from Manchester, where he had lived since 2004, to visit family. He was still there on 7 October when Hamas’s attack on Israel killed 1,200 people. In Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza – which to date has killed more than 41,000 people – he and his family were displaced multiple times, faced shortages of food and water, and endured the relentless sound of drones.
Ghalayini is now back in the north of England, but nearly a year into Israel’s war in Gaza, he says every day still brings bad news – whether from family members in WhatsApp messages, or in updates on Facebook, which has become like an “obituary page”. Ghalayini said he feels helpless.
Continue reading...Palestinian security services say attack on Tulkarm refugee camp is deadliest in the territory for 24 years
At least 18 people have been killed in the occupied West Bank in an airstrike on a refugee camp in Tulkarm that the Israeli military has claimed killed a local Hamas leader.
Among the dead, according to Palestinan reports, was a family of four including two children, named as Mohammed Abu Zahra, his wife Sajaa, and their two children, Karam and Sham.
Continue reading...