Category Archives: Israel

Angry relatives of Hamas captives and ex-hostages confront Netanyahu

Posted on by

Some reportedly called on the Israeli prime minister to resign at meeting on Tuesday

Recently released hostages and relatives of Israelis still held by Hamas in Gaza have confronted Benjamin Netanyahu at an angry meeting in which some of those present reportedly called on the Israeli prime minister to resign.

The meeting on Tuesday was addressed by relatives of those still in captivity and by recently returned hostages, some of whom reportedly described mental and physical abuse at the hands of their captors.

Continue reading...

US imposes visa bans on Israeli settlers responsible for West Bank violence

Posted on by

‘We have underscored to the Israeli government the need to do more,’ Antony Blinken says during announcement

In a rare punitive move against Israel, the US has announced it will impose travel bans on extremist Jewish settlers implicated in recent attacks on Palestinians in theWest Bank.

The secretary of state, Antony Blinken, announced the decision on Tuesday after warning Israel last week that Joe Biden’s administration would be taking action over the attacks. Blinken did not announce individual visa bans, but officials said those would be coming this week and could affect dozens of settlers and their families.

Continue reading...

‘Apocalyptic’ conditions in southern Gaza blocking aid, top UN official says

Posted on by

Martin Griffiths says continuing offensive has ended any possibility of meaningful humanitarian operations

The UN’s top aid official has said the Israeli military campaign in southern Gaza has been just as devastating as in the north, creating “apocalyptic” conditions and ending any possibility of meaningful humanitarian operations.

Martin Griffiths, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said he was speaking on behalf of the entire international aid community in saying the continuing offensive had robbed aid workers of any significant means of helping the 2.3 million people of Gaza, other than to call for an immediate end to the fighting.

Continue reading...

Israel faces difficult phase of war with fighting in north and south Gaza

Posted on by

Israeli forces pushing towards southern city of Khan Younis and engaged in battles for key urban areas in the north

As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were pushing ahead with the second phase of the ground offensive against Hamas, towards the southern city of Khan Younis, it became clear they were still involved in intense combat to control substantial areas of northern Gaza.

Gen Yaron Finkelman, the head of the IDF’s southern command, said on Tuesday: “We are in the most intense day [of fighting] since the beginning of the ground operation in terms of Hamas terrorists killed, the number of encounters with the enemy and the volume of fire our forces use, both from the ground and the air. We intend to continue attacking.”

Continue reading...

Israel is warned on civilian impact as IDF pushes further into southern Gaza

Posted on by

UN and US urge against a repeat of the destruction and displacement its attacks inflicted on northern end of Palestinian territory

Israel has been urged by UN and US officials to avoid a repeat of the devastating impact that its operations in northern Gaza had on civilians as the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) expanded its ground offensive against Hamas further south to the city of Khan Younis.

Philippe Lazzarini, who heads the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza (UNRWA), said the expansion of military operations in southern Gaza was “repeating horrors from past weeks” by displacing people who had already been displaced, overcrowding hospitals and further “strangling the humanitarian operation” due to limited supplies.

Continue reading...

Israel investigates claims investors made millions short-selling before Hamas attacks

Posted on by

US professors detected unusual trading activity on Tel Aviv and US stock exchanges before 7 October

Israeli authorities are investigating claims by US researchers that some investors may have known in advance about the Hamas plan to attack Israel on 7 October and used that information to earn millions of dollars by short-selling Israeli shares.

Research by law professors Robert Jackson Jr from New York University and Joshua Mitts of Columbia University found significant short-selling of shares leading up to the attacks that triggered the war.

Continue reading...

British national, 19, killed while fighting for IDF in Gaza

Posted on by

Binyamin Needham was born in England but moved with his family to Israel at the age of eight

A 19-year-old British national has been killed while fighting for the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza.

Binyamin Needham was one of two soldiers killed during an operation in the north of the territory on Sunday, according to a statement released by the IDF.

Continue reading...

Israel extends ground offensive into southern Gaza, with mission in north ‘almost complete’

Posted on by

Israel orders people to evacuate areas marked on maps online, but move criticised as many in Gaza do not have internet access

Israeli tanks, armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers have entered the southern part of the Gaza Strip near Khan Younis, as an Israeli commander claimed the army had almost completed its mission in the north.

Israeli military vehicles were on the southern section of the main north-to-south road in Gaza, “firing bullets and tank shells at cars and people trying to move through the area”, a witness, Moaz Mohammed, told the AFP news agency.

Continue reading...

White House condemns ‘antisemitic’ rally outside Philadelphia falafel shop

Posted on by

Deputy press secretary says protest at Goldie, owned by American Israeli chef Michael Solomonov, ‘completely unjustifiable’

The White House has condemned events outside an Israeli-style falafel shop in Philadelphia that became the focus of marchers at a “Flood Philly for Gaza” rally who chanted, “You can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” on Sunday.

It was “antisemitic and completely unjustifiable to target restaurants that serve Israeli food over disagreements with Israeli policy”, said the deputy press secretary, Andrew Bates.

Continue reading...

Emmanuel Macron says Israel must define more precisely its Gaza aims

Posted on by

French president says there is no lasting security for Israel if it comes at the cost of Palestinian lives

Emmanuel Macron has ramped up his criticism of Israel’s military strategy, saying its stated objective of the elimination of Hamas could take a decade and stoke “the resentment of all public opinion in the region”.

In his strongest warning yet, the French president said at the weekend that the Israeli authorities needed to “define more precisely” their aims in Gaza, adding that the proper response to a terrorist group was not “to bomb the entirety of civilian capabilities”.

Continue reading...

Girl, 12, held hostage in Gaza for 50 days ‘won’t let father out of her sight’

Posted on by

Hen Avigdori says daughter Noam sometimes wakes up screaming as doctors report trauma among released Israeli children

The father of a 12-year-old girl who was held hostage in Gaza for 50 days has said she sometimes wakes in the night screaming and will not let him out of her sight.

Hen Avigdori’s daughter Noam and wife, Sharon, were held with other relatives in a single room in Gaza after being abducted from the Be’eri kibbutz on 7 October.

Continue reading...

The Israeli army says it has fired on Hezbollah in Lebanon in response to attacks on Monday – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed. See our Full report here: Israel extends ground offensive into southern Gaza

A volunteer with the Palestinian Red Crescent has been killed in an Israeli strike on the al-Faluja neighbourhood north-east of Gaza City, the organisation has said on X.

Osama Tayeh was killed at his home, the Red Crescent said, while employee Muhammad Abu Rukba was injured in the attack.

Continue reading...

IDF claims to have found 800 tunnel shafts – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog has now closed. Follow our new liveblog here

Al Jazeera is carrying a quote from Unicef’s global spokesperson, James Elder, who had this to say about conditions inside al-Nassar hospital in Khan Younis:

Everywhere you turn to, there are children with third-degree burns, shrapnel wounds, brain injuries and broken bones. Mothers crying over children who look as if they are hours away from death. It seems like a death zone right now.

The UKTMO has received a report of Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) activity including a potential explosion in the vicinity of the Bab el Mandeb originating from the direction of Yemen.

Vessels in the vicinity are advised to follow industry guidance on loitering munitions and advised to exercise caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO.

Continue reading...

Israel says its ground forces are operating across ‘all of Gaza’

Posted on by

IDF spokesperson says ‘troops coming face-to-face with terrorists and killing them’

Israel continued with its intense bombing campaign across the north and south of Gaza for a third day since the end of the truce with Hamas, killing hundreds of Palestinians in a 24-hour period, according to local officials.

On Sunday night, the Israeli military also said it has expanded its ground operation to all of Gaza. “The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] continues to extend its ground operation against Hamas centres in all of the Gaza Strip,” spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters in Tel Aviv. “The forces are coming face-to-face with terrorists and killing them.”

Continue reading...

Dozens attend protest in Tel Aviv against Israeli bombardment of Gaza

Posted on by

Demonstration is first time abductees’ families have come together with other activists

Dozens of people attended a noisy fringe protest in Tel Aviv on Saturday night outside the Israeli military’s headquarters, protesting against the renewed bombardment on Gaza that they blame for the halt in the release of the estimated 130 hostages still held by Hamas.

The group gathered after the regular weekly rally demanding the release of all the hostages held by Hamas, and marched around the Israel Defense Force’s Kirya military base demanding an urgent meeting with the country’s war cabinet and pressing for a ceasefire.

Continue reading...

Israel ‘using Hamas prisoners to track down terror chiefs’

Posted on by

As pressure grows on Israel to avoid civilian deaths, IDF believes killing leaders will collapse organisation

The Israeli military’s coming push into southern Gaza is driven by the belief that intelligence gleaned from hundreds of militants captured during the fighting in the north will allow them to find and kill leaders of Hamas.

Israel’s politicians and generals believe that taking out top commanders – and leader Yahya Sinwar – is their best chance of forcing the collapse of an organisation that is deeply embedded in Gaza, after nearly two decades controlling the enclave.

Continue reading...

As the ceasefire ends, a question from history lingers: will Israel win the battle but lose the war against Hamas?

Posted on by

One lesson from the 1982 Lebanon war is that Israel’s enemy only needs to survive against superior firepower to gain an advantage

The scene is one familiar from many conflicts. Soldiers line up to get food from an outdoor canteen, weapons slung haphazardly over their shoulders, boots muddy, shirts undone. An armoured personnel carrier clanks by, the roar of its engine temporarily drowning out the boom of artillery. Officers shout orders. Tired men jump down from dusty vehicles and swear.

Even during the recent ceasefire, the rear areas of the massive Israeli military offensive in Gaza were busy. So too was Hamas, which used the seven-day pause in hostilities to reorganise its battered forces and reconstitute some of its degraded capabilities.

Continue reading...

Israeli grid maps make life in Gaza ‘macabre game of Battleships’, say aid workers

Posted on by

Online system designed to order precise evacuations inaccessible to those without power or network access

• Israel-Hamas war – live updates

Israel’s new grid system for targeted evacuation warnings in southern Gaza risks turning life in the territory into a “macabre game of Battleships”, aid workers have warned.

When Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza after a week-long ceasefire deal collapsed, it immediately signalled plans to intensify attacks on the south of the territory, in areas where Palestinian civilians had previously been urged to take shelter.

Continue reading...

Two Revolutionary Guards members killed by Israeli strike in Syria, says Iran

Posted on by

Airstrikes near Damascus follow end to seven-day pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza Strip

Two Iranian Revolutionary Guards members serving as military advisers in Syria have been killed in an Israeli attack, Iranian state media has said.

Strikes near the Syrian capital of Damascus came less than 24 hours after the end of a seven-day pause in fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Continue reading...