Israel’s conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon are destined to grind on indefinitely
In 2019, Aviv Kochavi, then the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) chief of staff, delivered a bullish speech. The IDF, he proclaimed, is “all about victory”.
Assessing that the primary threats to Israel’s security were from nonstate actors such as Hamas and Hezbollah, Kochavi would the following year usher in a new operational doctrine titled “decisive victory”.
Continue reading...Deaths will likely fuel calls for ceasefire and heighten Israeli public anger over military exemptions for ultra-Orthodox
Eight Israeli soldiers have been killed in a blast that engulfed their armoured vehicle in southern Gaza, in the biggest loss of life for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in a single incident since January.
The deaths came amid continuing fighting around Rafah in which at least 19 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes.
Continue reading...The strike on Tutor from Yemeni militants left the vessel unable to manoeuvre, while one crew member remains missing
The crew of a Greek-owned vessel damaged in an attack by Yemen’s Houthi militants has been evacuated, and the abandoned ship is drifting in the Red Sea, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
One crew member from Tutor, the Liberia-flagged coal carrier, remains missing, officials in the Philippines said, after an attack near the Yemeni port of Hodeidah on Wednesday caused severe flooding and damage to the engine room, leaving the vessel unable to manoeuvre.
Continue reading...Zionist group claims antisemitism as McGill students advertise ‘revolutionary’ summer program at protest camp
A pro-Palestinian student encampment at a prominent Canadian university has announced a “revolutionary youth summer program” with posts featuring photos of masked, armed guerrillas reading communist literature, drawing criticism from a Canadian Zionist organization decrying what it said was metastasizing antisemitism.
The student group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill called for students to sign up for “revolutionary” trainings to be held on the university campus this month. Since April SPHR McGill has been occupying part of the Montreal campus to protest against Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza.
Continue reading...US says Tsav 9 activists have blockaded key crossing, set trucks on fire and injured drivers as hunger spreads inside Gaza
The US state department has imposed sanctions on Tsav 9, “a violent, extremist Israeli group”, for blocking convoys taking humanitarian aid to Gaza, and attacking trucks.
The US said Tsav 9 activists began blockading a key crossing, Kerem Shalom, at the start of the year, and later set trucks on fire and injured drivers and Israel Defense Forces soldiers, as hunger spread inside Gaza.
Continue reading...Speaking to CNN, Hamas spokesperson says any deal to release the hostages would need to include a permanent ceasefire
Fuel shortages are pushing hospitals in Gaza to the “brink of collapse”, with people facing dehydration, disease and starvation, the charity ActionAid has warned.
Dr Mohammad Salha, acting director of al-Awda hospital in northern Gaza, said a lot of services at the hospital were affected by the lack of fuel. In a voice note message, he told ActionAid:
The [World Health Organization] [was] providing fuel and medical supplies and medication.[But] from 22 April [until] now they are not providing because the Israeli [military] refused to [let] the fuel and medical supplies [enter]. So, [for] more than 50 days the hospital is without fuel and medical supplies and the fuel that they are bringing is only [enough] for two weeks.
[As a result] we are decreasing our intervention and we are not running the big generators. We are running the small generators only to recharge the batteries. And [on this] we are doing the surgeries related to life saving.”
Our laboratory is also affected. We can’t do many analyses, related to orthopedic analysis [and] we are dealing with many patients … 70% of people who [are] affected from the Israeli aggression need orthopedic surgery.”
Fuel is absolutely crucial to keep the infrastructure needed to sustain life operational in Gaza. It is shocking that hospitals are having to reduce their services due to shortages and that life-saving equipment could be forced out of action.
The trickle of aid currently entering Gaza is nowhere near enough to meet the enormous and ever-growing humanitarian need.
Continue reading...Osama Hamdan’s comments signal group’s position on ceasefire proposal remains largely unchanged
A senior Hamas official has said the group does not know how many of the Israeli hostages it is holding in Gaza are still alive, as Israeli and Hamas sources set out positions that could undermine the possibility of an imminent ceasefire deal.
The Lebanon-based Hamas official Osama Hamdan said in an interview with CNN that “no one has any idea” how many of the remaining 120 hostages captured on 7 October last year were still alive, amid Israeli estimates that at least a third had died in captivity or were killed when seized.
Continue reading...Spokesperson says ‘the encampment has taken over this shared space to the exclusion of others’
The University of Sydney has ordered students protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza to leave a controversial encampment that has been on the campus since April.
A university spokesperson said on Friday that it had told the encampment’s leadership “we require them to vacate the encampment to allow other students to use the space”.
Continue reading...Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy hold a joint press conference just over two hours behind schedule
Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni has just arrived at the venue.
This is the scene at the Borgo Egnazia resort as G7 leaders are scheduled to begin arriving.
Continue reading...UN warns that more than a million people are being forced to flee to areas in which there is little food, water or shelter
Israeli tanks rolled into the western part of Rafah on Thursday as the city came under intense helicopter, drone and artillery fire in what residents described as one of the worst bombardments of the area so far.
The assault on Rafah has driven out more than a million Palestinians who had been sheltering there, forcing them into areas with little or no access to food, water or shelter. The UN has warned that more than a million people are expected to “face death and starvation by the middle of July”.
Continue reading...UN relief agency says authorities are hampering operations by failing to grant requests for access permits
The UN’s relief agency for Palestinians, the largest aid organisation operating in Gaza, has said Israeli authorities are frequently preventing it from delivering aid and hampering its operations in the territory.
“We are getting very few positive responses to our requests for aid delivery and permits to move around Gaza,” said Tamara Alrifai, the director of external relations for Unrwa.
Continue reading...Police look into red paint splattered with possible symbol of Palestinian resistance and banner calling director a Zionist
Police are investigating reports of vandalism after the homes of Jewish leaders and board members, including the director, of the Brooklyn Museum were splattered with red paint early Wednesday.
In images circulating on social media, red paint is visibly splashed across the homes of director Anne Pasternak and several others affiliated with the Brooklyn Museum. Police said five homes – three in Manhattan and two in Brooklyn – were vandalized in the attack.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Israel-Gaza war coverage here
Israel’s military has issued a statement saying that it continues to operate in the central Gaza Strip and in the Rafah area. It claims it is carrying out “intelligence-based, targeted operations” and to have “eliminated a number of armed terrorist cells in close-quarters encounters.”
It says that “Over the past day, the Israeli air force struck and dismantled over 30 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including military structures.”
Continue reading...Parallel reports describe serious crimes during Hamas attack and Israel’s subsequent offensive in Gaza
A UN investigation has accused Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity on and since 7 October, the date of Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel.
The allegations were contained in two parallel reports prepared by a commission of inquiry formed in 2021 by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate human rights violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, chaired by the former UN human rights chief Navi Pillay.
Continue reading...Attack in apparent retaliation for killing of Taleb Abdallah, Lebanese group’s most senior official to die in hostilities
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has launched its biggest salvo of rockets at Israel since the war in Gaza began in retaliation for the killing of a senior field commander, bringing the two sides closer to all-out conflict.
An Israeli airstrike on the village of Jouaiya in southern Lebanon late on Tuesday night killed three Hezbollah operatives as well as Taleb Abdallah, the most senior commander to be killed since hostilities began eight months ago.
Continue reading...Leaders of Scotland’s five main political parties clash during live TV debate
Momentum, the leftwing Labour group set up when Jeremy Corbyn was leader, is not happy about Keir Starmer’s jibe about Corbyn’s manifesto.
Labour’s 2019 manifesto was fully costed.
Keir should know, he stood on it as a member of the shadow cabinet.
How about stopping attacking your own side during an election @Keir_Starmer?
Thousands of academic workers returned to the job after weeks-long strike and vowed more actions to come
Thousands of University of California academic workers who went on strike across six campuses protesting administrators’ response to pro-Palestinian protests returned to the job on Monday under court order, but their union vowed more protests to come.
An Orange county superior court judge late on Friday granted a temporary restraining order sought by the university, which asserted that the walkout stemmed from non-labor issues and that it violated the no-strike clause in the union’s contract.
Continue reading...More ‘grave violations’ committed in occupied territories and Israel than anywhere else in world, report says
More grave violations against children were committed in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel than anywhere else in the world last year, according to a UN report due to be published this week.
The report on children and armed conflict, which has been seen by the Guardian, verified more cases of war crimes against children in the occupied territories and Israel than anywhere else, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Somalia, Nigeria and Sudan.
Continue reading...Official briefed by mediators says that neither Hamas or Israel has yet given a formal response to US-backed plan. This live blog is closed
Israel’s military has said it has intercepted some of a barrage of about 50 projectiles fired towards the Golan Heights from the direction of Lebanon. In a statement the IDF said:
Following the sirens that sounded in northern Israel a short while ago, approximately 50 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into the area of the central Golan Heights. The IDF aerial defense array successfully intercepted a number of the projectiles. The rest of the launches fell in open areas. No injuries were reported.
Continue reading...Hamas was reportedly seeking some amendments to the proposal, as Antony Blinken puts pressure on both sides to accept the deal
The US has said it is “evaluating” Hamas’ formal response to its Gaza ceasefire proposal, as the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, attempts to channel global support for a UN security council resolution backing the proposal into pressure on the Palestinian militant group and Israel.
Late on Tuesday, a Hamas official said they had submitted a response to Egyptian and Qatari mediators, seeking some “amendments”, and that their priority was to bring a “complete stop” to the war. A separate Hamas spokesperson, Jihad Taha, said the response included “amendments that confirm the ceasefire, withdrawal, reconstruction and [prisoner] exchange”.
Continue reading...