Category Archives: Israel-Gaza war

Israeli military intelligence chief quits over 7 October attack

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Maj Gen Aharon Haliva is first senior figure to step down over role in deadliest assault in country’s history

The head of Israel’s military intelligence has resigned over the failures surrounding Hamas’s unprecedented attack on 7 October becoming the first senior figure to step down over his role in the deadliest assault in Israel’s history.

Maj Gen Aharon Haliva wrote in his resignation letter: “The intelligence directorate under my command did not live up to the task we were entrusted with.

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US poised to impose sanctions on IDF unit accused of violations in West Bank

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Israeli leaders vow to oppose expected measures under Leahy law against the Netzah Yehuda battalion

A unit of the Israel Defense Forces is facing US sanctions over its treatment of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, even as Congress voted for $26bn in new emergency aid to Israel.

According to reports in the Israeli media, US state department officials have confirmed they are preparing to impose sanctions on the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda battalion, which has been accused of serious human rights violations against Palestinians.

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Professors condemn Columbia crackdown on pro-Palestine students

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Columbia and Barnard chapters of nationwide group issue statement claiming ‘flagrant disregard of shared governance’

The Columbia and Barnard chapters of the American Association of University Professors have issued a joint statement condemning Columbia president Minouche Shafik’s crackdowns on student-led pro-Palestinian protests.

In the statement released on Friday, the chapters said: “We are shocked at her failure to mount any defense of the free inquiry central to the educational mission of a university in a democratic society and at her willingness to appease legislators seeking to interfere in university affairs.”

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Being Jewish ‘should never be seen as provocative’, says Home Office

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Statement comes after Met police apologised for calling antisemitism campaigner ‘openly Jewish’

Being Jewish “should never be seen as provocative”, the government has said after a row over the policing of a pro-Palestine march.

In a video released by Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), the charity’s chief executive, Gideon Falter, who was wearing a kippah skull cap, was told by a Met officer at a pro-Palestine march last Saturday: “You are quite openly Jewish, this is a pro-Palestinian march. I’m not accusing you of anything but I’m worried about the reaction to your presence.”

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Middle East crisis – as it happened: US denies carrying out airstrikes in Iraq after explosion at military base

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‘The United States has not conducted air strikes in Iraq today,’ the US military’s Central Command said

Paul Scruton, Lucy Swan, Iona Serrapica and Alex Olorenshaw have created a visual guide to Friday’s events in Iran via graphics, video and satellite images.

You can take a look at it here:

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Gaza death toll passes 34,000 as Israel and Iran missile strikes grab global attention

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Grim milestone comes as G7 leaders urge Netanyahu not to press ahead with Rafah invasion

The death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza climbed to more than 34,000 on Saturday, with the majority of victims women and children, including at least six killed by an overnight airstrike on a house in Rafah.

The latest grim milestone comes as hope of a ceasefire has dimmed, and global attention has shifted to the dangerous exchange of missile and drone strikes between Iran and Israel.

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Israel is fighting on four fronts – but the defeat may come at home

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The IDF is embroiled in simultaneous conflicts with Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran and in the West Bank – but hadn’t reckoned on the social and political divisions this would cause

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, described the conflict Israel was engaged in as a “multi-front war” earlier this month.

Israeli forces were fighting Hamas inside Gaza and engaged in daily exchanges of fire with Hezbollah on the northern border with Lebanon. A low-level conflict, mainly consisting of airstrikes, was continuing with Iranian-backed forces in Syria. Israel had also been targeted – albeit ineffectively – by drones fired by the Houthis in Yemen.

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Met apologises for calling antisemitism campaigner ‘openly Jewish’

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Police officer had stopped Gideon Falter from walking near pro-Palestinian march while wearing kippah skull cap

The Metropolitan police has apologised after an officer used the term “openly Jewish” to an antisemitism campaigner who was threatened with arrest near a pro-Palestine march.

Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, was wearing a kippah skull cap when he was stopped from crossing the road near the demonstration in the Aldwych area of London last Saturday afternoon.

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US and EU sanctions against Israeli extremists mark pivotal step against far right

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International moves target two high-profile individuals with connections to senior figures in far-right politics

The latest US and EU sanctions against individuals implicated in pro-settler violence in the occupied Palestinian territories represent a significant escalation in international moves against key far-right extremists in Israel.

While previous sanctions announcements have focused on individual settlers implicated in violence – often little known outside Israel – the latest moves mark the targeting of two far more high-profile individuals with connections to senior figures in far-right politics in Israel, including national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

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Muted Iranian reaction to attack provides short-term wins for Netanyahu

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Israeli prime minister’s main concern is his political survival but a multi-front war is still a strong possibility

In the aftermath of Iran’s unprecedented salvo of missiles and drones fired directly at Israel at the weekend, Benny Gantz, a centrist member of the Israeli war cabinet, said the country would respond “in the place, time and manner it chooses”.

That turned out to be explosions in the central Iranian city of Isfahan on Friday morning. Although no Israeli official has claimed responsibility for what seem to have been drone strikes on a military installation, Tehran, which had launched its attack after an airstrike on its consulate in Damascus, has downplayed the incident.

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Muslim and Arab Australians do not feel heard by Labor on war in Gaza, Ed Husic says

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Exclusive: Minister says he has spoken out on Israel’s military operations so others believe ‘their concerns have somewhere … to be vented and aired’

Ed Husic has conceded many Muslim and Arab Australians do not feel the Albanese government has listened to their concerns about the war in Gaza, while saying he is speaking out despite his role as a cabinet minister to amplify their views.

Husic told Guardian Australia he had felt driven to make several public interventions against the scale of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, in part so that people believed “that their concerns have somewhere to go to be vented and aired”.

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Australia ‘extremely concerned’ after Israeli airstrikes on Iran confirmed by US

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Acting foreign minister Katy Gallagher says government is worried about potential for ‘further escalation of conflict in the region’

The Australian government has urged all parties to “exercise restraint and step back” after the US confirmed Israel has launched retaliatory strikes on Iran, bringing the Middle East closer to a regional war.

Officials in Washington said Israeli forces were carrying out military operations against Iran but did not describe the character or scale of those operations. Iranian state media said that drones had been shot down over Isfahan province in the early hours, and showed live shots of morning traffic in Isfahan city after sunrise to show that the situation was calm.

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Middle East crisis live: Israel has carried out an attack on Iran, US officials say, after blasts reported near Isfahan

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US officials say military operation carried out, without giving further details; Iran state media says air defences fired and airspace closed in some areas

It’s 7:24am in Tehran and 6:54 In Tel Aviv. Let’s get a reminder of what we know so far:

US officials have confirmed that Israel has carried out military operations against Iran but did not describe those operations.

The Israeli military has told news agencies including Agence France-Presse and Associated Press: “We don’t have a comment at this time.”

Iran’s state media reported explosions in the central province of Isfahan Friday

Air defence systems over several Iranian cities were activated, state media reported, after the country’s official broadcaster said explosions were heard near the city of Isfahan.

Iran’s Fars news agency reported “three explosions” were heard near the Shekari army airbase in the north-west of Isfahan province, while Iran’s space agency spokesperson Hossein Dalirian said “several” drones had been “successfully shot down”.

Nuclear facilities in Isfahan were reported to be “completely secure”, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported, citing “reliable sources”.

Flights were suspended across swathes of Iran on Friday. “Iran’s air defence has been activated in the skies of several provinces of the country,” Tehran’s official IRNA news agency said.

Mehr news agency reported that “flights to Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz, and airports in the west, northwest and southwest have been suspended.”

Flight-tracking software showed commercial flights avoiding western Iran, including Isfahan, and skirting Tehran to the north and east.

There was no immediate comment from Dubai’s Emirates airline, which was operating several of the planes.

Blasts were also reported in southern Syria, according to a local activist group. “There were strikes on a Syrian army radar position,” said Rayan Maarouf, who runs the Suwayda24 anti-government website that covers news from Sweida province in the south, reports AFP.

Oil prices surged more than three per cent in early Asian trade on Friday after the reports of explosions.

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US vetoes Palestinian request for full UN membership

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Washington blocks security council resolution supported by 12 member countries, with two abstentions including UK

The US has vetoed a Palestinian request to the United Nations security council for full UN membership, blocking the world body’s recognition of a Palestinian state.

The vote in the 15-member security council was 12 in favor, the US opposed and two abstentions, the UK and Switzerland.

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Israel still plans to launch Rafah assault, Netanyahu tells western diplomats

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Prime minister also seeks to assure allies Israel’s response to Iran will be measured, as officials urge him to focus on ceasefire deal

Benjamin Netanyahu has told western diplomats that he will go ahead with a ground offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza, and has also suggested that Israel’s anticipated reprisal for Iran’s missile and drone salvo will be aimed at Iranian interests rather than Tehran’s proxies.

The Israeli leader has sought to assure anxious allies that Israel’s response to Iran will be measured, while also claiming he will flood Gaza with aid and ensure that civilians and aid agencies are given ample opportunity to flee Rafah, the last relative refuge for at least 1.4 million displaced Palestinians.

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Writers withdraw from PEN America literary awards in support of Gaza

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Authors and translators say PEN America has ‘had no criticism of American complicity in the bombardment of Gaza’, in stark contrast to other national centres of the organisation

Thirty-one authors and translators have withdrawn their work from consideration for or declined PEN America’s 2024 literary awards over the organisation’s “failure to protect” Palestinian writers in Gaza.

Nine out of 10 longlistees for the PEN/Jean Stein book award, worth $75,000 (£60,143), have withdrawn their books. Christina Sharpe, Catherine Lacey and Joseph Earl Thomas are among the withdrawing writers.

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War, grief and hope: the stories behind the World Press Photo award-winners

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Images from Gaza, Ukraine, Madagascar and the US border chosen by global jury from more than 60,000 entries

• World Press Photo winners 2024 – in pictures

Photographs documenting the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, migration, family and dementia have topped this year’s World Press Photo awards – one of the world’s most prestigious photography competitions.

Mohammed Salem, Lee-Ann Olwage, Alejandro Cegarra, and Julia Kochetova have been announced as the winners of this year’s competition, which is run by the World Press Photo Foundation – an independent, not-for-profit organisation that celebrates the importance of press and documentary photography.

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Middle East crisis: UN security council to vote on granting membership to Palestine – as it happened

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UN due to vote on Thursday on bid for full membership by Palestine in move the US is expected to block

The EU has edged closer to calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East after a meeting of the 27 bloc leaders last night.

Leaders have struggled to agree language from the outset of the conflict, engaging in torturous discussions over whether they should use the word ceasefire, pause, or pauses in the first official bloc-wide declaration in October.

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Israel reportedly deploys extra weapons for assumed Rafah offensive

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IDF confirms buying thousands of tents for evacuation, raising fears over long-threatened attack

Israel has reportedly deployed extra artillery and armoured personnel carriers to the Gaza Strip periphery, suggesting that the military is preparing for its long-threatened ground offensive on Rafah, the only place of relative safety for at least 1.4 million displaced Palestinian civilians.

Israeli daily Ma’ariv also said on Wednesday that troops had been put on alert and “the governing principle of the operation” had been approved by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) general staff and Yoav Gallant, the defence minister. The IDF declined to comment on the reports.

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Israel ‘making decision to act’ after Iran attack, says Cameron on Jerusalem visit

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UK foreign secretary is probably first non-Israeli politician to admit military reprisal is inevitable but urges Israel not to escalate

David Cameron has said it is clear Israel is “making a decision to act” in response to last weekend’s Iranian mass drone and ballistic missile attack, as Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off calls for restraint and said his country would make its own decisions about how to defend itself.

Lord Cameron, the UK foreign secretary, speaking on a visit to Jerusalem, said he hoped the Israeli response would be carried out in a way that minimised escalation.

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