Six members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have reportedly been killed at a base which also houses US forces
Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum report for the Guardian:
Shaadi Muqtasen’s family live in the centre of old Hebron, one of the most heavily contested, heavily militarised places in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. For Palestinian residents there, life all but stopped when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October.
Continue reading...Mayor Abdullah Hammoud increases law enforcement near places of worship after piece calls Michigan city the ‘jihad capital’ of US
The mayor of Dearborn has ordered more police officers onto the streets, ramping up law enforcement presence across places of worship and major infrastructure points this weekend following an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal that called the Michigan city the “jihad capital” of the US.
And on Sunday Joe Biden weighed in, denouncing anti-Arab hate and, without referring specifically to the newspaper, saying “it shouldn’t happen to the residents of Dearborn – or any American town.”
Continue reading...More than 127 reportedly killed in bombings, including in Rafah where more than a million people are sheltering
Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed scores of people overnight, as fears grow of the military campaign intensifying in the southern city of Rafah, a tiny pocket of the territory where more than a million people are sheltering.
Amid intensifying divisions in Israel’s government over the war, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was expected to arrive in the region on Sunday, his fifth trip since the militant group attacked Israel on 7 October, killing at least 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage.
Continue reading...Insiders say pressure from the top results in credulous reporting of Israeli claims and silencing of Palestinian perspectives
CNN is facing a backlash from its own staff over editorial policies they say have led to a regurgitation of Israeli propaganda and the censoring of Palestinians perspectives in the network’s coverage of the war in Gaza.
Journalists in CNN newsrooms in the US and overseas say broadcasts have been skewed by management edicts and a story-approval process that has resulted in highly partial coverage of the Hamas massacre on 7 October and Israel’s retaliatory attack on Gaza.
Continue reading...Jake Sullivan says there will be more steps in American response to Jordan drone attack that killed three soldiers
David Cameron, the UK’s foreign secretary, said the Houthi attacks on international shipping “must stop” after the UK joined the US for a third time in conducting a wave of airstrikes on Iran-linked Houthi targets in Yemen.
The former Conservative prime minister said the third wave of joint UK and US airstrikes on Saturday took place after “repeated warnings” for the rebel militant group to cease.
Continue reading...Defence secretary says third joint UK-US assault on Iran-backed group is to protect lives and ‘preserve freedom of navigation’
The UK has joined the US for a third time in conducting a wave of airstrikes on Iran-linked Houthi targets in Yemen.
The defence secretary, Grant Shapps, said the fresh assaults were “not an escalation”, but instead were designed to “protect innocent lives and preserve freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea amid Houthi attacks on boats.
Continue reading...Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing for the package without addressing aid to Ukraine or security for the US-Mexico border
The US House of Representatives plans to vote next week to advance $17.6bn in military aid to Israel without any accompanying spending cuts or assistance for Ukraine, according to Mike Johnson, the chamber’s speaker.
Johnson announced to his fellow House Republicans on Saturday that the vote would take place, while also criticizing a parallel move in the US Senate to pair funding for Israel in its military strikes in Gaza with aid for Ukraine as it fends off Russia’s invasion. The Senate measure also aims to attach a raft of tough border and asylum measures favored by rightwingers to aid for Israel.
Continue reading...Hundreds killed and injured in central Gaza Strip while Palestinians crowd into camps and the city of Rafah
• Middle East crisis – live updates
Israeli forces struck densely populated areas across the middle and southern Gaza Strip in a midnight attack on Friday and early Saturday, killing at least 25 people amid fears of an impending push south by ground troops as pressure builds for a ceasefire deal.
Israeli fighter jets struck Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, as well as the city of Rafah in the south. The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said at least 107 people had been killed and 165 injured overnight.
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At least 13 Iranian-backed fighters have been killed in strikes in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said.
The airstrikes destroyed 17 positions sheltering Iranian militias in Al-Mayadeen and Al-Bokamal near the border between Syria and Iraq, in addition to airstrikes targeting positions near Deir ez-Zor city, it said.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Canberra insider hits back at Amir Maimon who accused Australia of forgetting ‘Hamas culpability’ for 7 October attacks
An Australian government insider has accused the Israeli ambassador of making “shockingly amateurish and counterproductive” comments in a rift over the potential to reinstate funding to a key UN agency.
The Israeli ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said on Friday that Australia had previously backed “a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza that would only help Hamas to reorganise” and now seemed to have forgotten “Hamas’s culpability” for the crisis in the territory.
Continue reading...Some see the US president’s executive order imposing sanctions on settlers who violently attack Palestinians as a bid to win support
Was Joe Biden’s announcement of unprecedented US sanctions against Israeli settlers in occupied Palestine a sign of political weakness at home, or of a newly found willingness to assert American influence over Israel?
The president signed the executive order imposing financial and travel sanctions on settlers who violently attack Palestinians shortly before a campaign rally in the swing state of Michigan, where the largest Arab American population in the country has rounded on Biden over his largely blanket support for Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Continue reading...Qatar says Hamas ‘received proposal positively’, while Unicef says 17,000 Gaza children left unaccompanied
Israel and Hamas appear to be inching closer towards a deal for a ceasefire and a release of some of the hostages still being held by the militant group in Gaza, while the UN children’s agency has warned that 17,000 children have been left without families or been separated from them by the conflict.
Qatar, which has been mediating between Israel and Hamas, indicated that the militant group had given its initial support for a deal after weeks of delicate and secretive negotiations.
Continue reading...Defence minister Yoav Gallant’s announcement comes despite presence of more than 1 million civilians in city
Saudi Arabia would be willing to accept a political commitment from Israel to create a Palestinian state, rather than anything more binding, in a bid to get a defence pact with Washington approved before the US presidential election, three sources have told Reuters. The news agency reports:
Months of US-led diplomacy to get Saudi Arabia to normalise relations with Israel and recognise the country for the first time were shelved by Riyadh in October in the face of mounting Arab anger over the war in Gaza.
But Saudi Arabia is increasingly keen to shore up its security and ward off threats from rival Iran so the kingdom can forge ahead with its ambitious plan to transform its economy and attract huge foreign investment, two regional sources said.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary suggests after a ceasefire, UK would not need to wait for end of what could be years of talks on a two-state solution
The UK could officially recognise a Palestinian state after a ceasefire in Gaza without waiting for the outcome of what could be years of talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a two-state solution, David Cameron has said.
Speaking during a visit Thursday to Lebanon intended to tamp down regional tensions, the British foreign secretary said no recognition could come while Hamas remained in Gaza, but that it could take place while Israeli negotiations with Palestinian leaders were continuing.
Continue reading...Two ministers said to have suggested move as part of efforts to free hostages and weaken Hamas, which they claim hijacks supplies
Ministers in Israel’s war cabinet are reportedly considering limiting the amount of aid reaching Gaza, as rightwing protesters disrupt the entry of trucks carrying desperately needed humanitarian supplies to the besieged Palestinian territory.
Benny Gantz, a retired general who joined the emergency wartime government formed by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after 7 October, and Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief of staff and war cabinet observer, suggested temporarily limiting aid to weaken Hamas, Israel’s Channel 12 reported late on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Financial sanctions and visa bans imposed on four individuals as US frustration with Israel grows
Joe Biden has issued an executive order targeting Israeli settlers in the West Bank who have been attacking Palestinians, amid fast-growing frustration in Washington at Israel’s trajectory in the midst of its war in Gaza.
The order initially imposes financial sanctions and visa bans against four individuals, and US officials said they were evaluating whether to punish others involved in attacks that have intensified during the Israel-Hamas war.
Continue reading...Supply chain difficulties have led to job losses and cuts in purchasing and stocks, S&P Global poll shows
Britain’s factories have been hit by disruption caused by Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea that led to shipping delays and contributed to rising costs, as the boss of Adidas warned about “exploding” global freight rates.
UK manufacturers have experienced growing supply chain difficulties, as the Red Sea crisis led to the rerouting of deliveries of raw materials, components and other goods away from the Suez Canal, a survey has shown.
Continue reading...But federal judge in California says lawsuit aimed at stopping US military support for Israel is outside court’s jurisdiction
A federal court in California has ruled that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza “plausibly” amounts to genocide, but dismissed a case aimed at stopping US military support for Israel as being outside the court’s jurisdiction.
“There are rare cases in which the preferred outcome is inaccessible to the court. This is one of those cases,” the US district court in the northern district of California ruled. “The court is bound by precedent and the division of our coordinate branches of government to abstain from exercising jurisdiction in this matter.
Continue reading...This blog is now closing. You can read all our coverage of the Middle East and the Israel-Gaza war here.
Israeli media reports that Hamas representatives are again conducting talks in Cairo on the outlines of a possible hostage deal, with Egypt and Qatar mediating.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that two Palestinian men have been shot and wounded overnight by Israeli security forces during a raid on the Isreali-occupied West Bank city of Tubas.
Continue reading...Findings suggest Jordan is relying on cyberweapon to quash dissent and its use is ‘staggeringly widespread’
About three dozen journalists, lawyers and human rights workers in Jordan have been targeted by authorities using powerful spyware made by Israel’s NSO Group amid a broad crackdown on press freedoms and political participation, according to a report by the lobbying group Access Now.
The information suggests the Jordanian government has used the Israeli cyberweapon against members of civil society, including at least one American citizen living in Jordan, between 2019 and September 2023.
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