Category Archives: Israel

Labour would comply with ICC arrest order for Netanyahu, Lammy reiterates

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Shadow foreign secretary repeats belief in ‘rules-based order’ and also says UK would not seek EU membership

David Lammy has reiterated that Labour would seek to implement an arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu if one was issued by the international criminal court.

Speaking to CNN, the shadow foreign secretary said a Labour government would comply if an order was issued for the arrest of the Israeli prime minister, adding that he expected the response to be the same all over Europe.

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IDF investigates soldiers who tied Palestinian man to vehicle’s bonnet

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Military says conduct seen in video from occupied West Bank city of Jenin ‘does not conform’ to its values

The Israel Defense Forces have said they are investigating an incident in which soldiers strapped a wounded Palestinian man to the bonnet of a military vehicle during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday.

A video circulating on social media showed a man, variously identified as Mujahid Azmi or Fayyad, from the Jabriyat neighbourhood between the towns of Burqin and Jenin, tied to the front of an off-road vehicle that is seen passing two ambulances.

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US withholding arms shipments, says Netanyahu, days after Washington denies claim – as it happened

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Israeli prime minister told his Cabinet that there had been a ‘dramatic drop’ in US weapons deliveries

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Sunday that it had received a report of a distress call from a vessel 96 nautical miles southeast of Nishtun, Yemen, adding that authorities were investigating it.

A drone damaged a merchant ship 65 nautical miles (120km) west of Hodeidah, Yemen, on Saturday. The ship made its way to its next port of call and “all crew members are reported safe”, the UKMTO said in a statement.

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Israeli defence minister flies to US for ‘critical’ talks on Gaza and Lebanon

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Yoav Gallant to meet top officials as Benjamin Netanyahu repeats claim of ‘dramatic drop’ in US arms shipments

Israel’s defence minister has flown to meet senior Biden administration officials in Washington for what he has described as “critical” talks over the twin conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Yoav Gallant, accompanied by the Israel Defense Forces’ deputy chief of staff, will meet the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, as well as the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and Joe Biden’s special envoy, Amos Hochstein.

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Accusations fly as pro-Israel groups spend big to oust progressive House Democrat

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Jamaal Bowman faces challenge from George Latimer in New York primary that has become testy – and expensive

It was one of the hottest days of the year in New York City on Saturday – but as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to the stage in the Bronx, you wouldn’t know it.

At a rally to support Jamaal Bowman, the progressive Democrat facing a primary campaign that has seen pro-Israel lobbying groups pump more than $15m into the race, Ocasio-Cortez was amped up.

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Israel’s Iron Dome risks being overwhelmed in all-out war with Hezbollah, says US

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Militants in Lebanon can fire 3,000 missiles a day, US officials warn as fears grow that the conflict will escalate

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile batteries risk being overwhelmed in the opening strikes of any significantly escalated conflict with Hezbollah.

The assessment delivered by US officials late last week, echoing recent analysis by experts in Israel and the United States, comes amid fears that a war with Hezbollah could be a far more dangerous undertaking than the devastating 2006 second Lebanon war, when Israeli bombing caused huge destruction in Lebanon.

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Israeli forces strap wounded Palestinian man to hood of military jeep

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Verified video shows Jenin resident Mujahed Azmi on vehicle that passes two ambulances during raid

Israeli army forces strapped a wounded Palestinian man to the hood of a military Jeep during an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday.

A video circulating on social media and verified by Reuters showed a Palestinian resident of Jenin, Mujahed Azmi, on the Jeep that passes two ambulances.

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Dozens killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City

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Israeli forces said strikes on densely populated locations were aimed at killing senior Hamas commander

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on two densely populated locations in Gaza City.

According to initial reports in the Israeli media, the bombings were aimed at assassinating a very senior Hamas commander.

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At least 22 Palestinians killed in shelling near Gaza office of Red Cross, agency says

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Territory’s health ministry says Israeli attack targeted tents of displaced people; Israeli military says report ‘under review’

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says 22 people have been killed in a shelling attack that damaged its Gaza office, which is surrounded by hundreds of displaced Palestinians living in tents.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said there were 25 dead and 50 injured in the shelling, which it blamed on Israel. The ministry said Israeli shelling on Friday had “targeted the tents of the displaced in the al-Mawasi area”, which is around the ICRC base.

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‘All day you hear bombs’: on Israel’s northern border as war with Hezbollah looms

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Doctors prepare underground hospital units, people flee their homes and in rural kibbutz tension hangs in the air

Beneath the 800-bed Galilee medical centre in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya, treatment is being conducted in an underground complex beneath the hospital.

About 7km from the border with Lebanon, a frontier visible from the hospital’s car park and already under threat from Hezbollah’s missiles and explosive drones, the doctors are aware that in the event of an escalating war their facility will be on the frontline.

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Cyprus stresses neutrality after Hezbollah threat over Israel war

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Officials say Cyprus is ‘pillar of peace’ amid shock at warning it could become a target for Lebanese group

Cypriots have reacted with shock after threats from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that Cyprus could become a target if it allows Israel to use its territory in any conflict between the two sides, who diplomats fear are on the brink of a fully fledged war.

Despite the EU expressing unreserved support for its easternmost member, it was clear on Thursday that the Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s warning had set off alarm bells in Nicosia where officials insisted the island republic remained a “pillar of peace” in an otherwise volatile region.

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Victoria signed MoU with Israeli defence ministry to share ‘opportunities’ from ‘global tensions’

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The 2022 agreement intended to foster trade relations and ‘support greater collaboration on defence industry objectives’, documents reveal

The Victorian government quietly signed an agreement with Israel’s defence ministry to capitalise on “global tensions” and countries wanting to “protect their national interests” militarily, internal documents reveal.

The 2022 Memorandum of Understanding, signed before the Israel-Gaza war, was intended to foster trade relations and “support greater collaboration on defence industry objectives”, according to Victorian government documents released under freedom of information laws.

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IDF transfers powers in occupied West Bank to pro-settler civil servants

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Transfer to officials led by far-right Bezalel Smotrich removes legal checks on settlement expansion

The Israeli military has quietly handed over significant legal powers in the occupied West Bank to pro-settler civil servants working for the far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich.

An order posted by the Israel Defense Forces on its website on 29 May transfers responsibility for dozens of bylaws at the Civil Administration – the Israeli body governing in the West Bank – from the military to officials led by Smotrich at the defence ministry.

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Activists tell UK arms makers they may face criminal liability over sales to Israel

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Campaign groups write to 20 firms warning of potential war crimes for roles in production of F-35 fighter jets

Campaigners have written to the directors of 20 arms manufacturers based in the UK saying they may face criminal liability for failing to prevent war crimes if their companies continue to sell military equipment to Israel.

Four groups, including the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), have written to directors of arms companies that contribute parts or elements of the F-35 fighter jets used by Israel’s air force as part of the bombing of Gaza.

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Israel-Gaza war: Netanyahu rebukes IDF after army spokesperson warns that Hamas cannot be eliminated – now closed

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Prime minister’s office says the IDF is committed to the defeat of Hamas, after Daniel Hagari said Hamas is an ‘ideology’

French authorities have detained an Iranian citizen after he posted remarks about Israel-Gaza war posted on social media, a police source said on Thursday, in a case his lawyer has denounced as “political” amid tensions between Paris and Tehran.

Bashir Biazar has been described by London-based Iran International television channel as a former official for the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB. Iranian state media call him a “cultural figure”.

There is nothing, in terms of law, that justifies this measure. Bashir Biazar expressed himself on his Instagram account, as anyone could do freely in a state governed by the rule of law.

I think this procedure is political, and politics has no place in law.

The arrest of an Iranian citizen by the French police for having defended the oppressed Palestinian people (is) another scandal for France in the domain of human rights.

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Hezbollah leader: Cyprus will be target if it lets Israel use its territory in conflict

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Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warns of ‘war without rules’ if Israel launches full-scale invasion against Lebanese militia

The leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, warned of a war “without rules or ceilings” in the event of a full-scale Israeli offensive against the Lebanese militia, as he threatened that Cyprus could become a target if it allowed Israel to use its territory in any conflict.

Cyprus and Israel have a bilateral defence cooperation agreement which has seen the countries conduct joint exercises.

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White House disputes Netanyahu’s claim that US is withholding weapons from Israel

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Israeli leader made claim in X post, although Biden administration says it does not ‘know what he is talking about’

The Biden administration has reacted furiously to criticisms by Benjamin Netanyahu that the US is holding back weapons and ammunition from Israel in its war in Gaza, reportedly cancelling a high-level meeting with Israeli officials on Iran in retaliation.

Netanyahu made the claims of a supposedly deliberate weapons delay in a video posted on X in which he implied that Israel’s ability to prevail in the nine-month war with Hamas was being hampered as a result.

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Israel-Gaza war: Hezbollah fires more projectiles at Israel despite warning – as it happened

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Iran-backed militant group fired more than a dozen projectiles into northern Israel, says Israeli army, day after Israel warned of ‘total war’ with group

Agence France-Presse (AFP) report that there have been Israeli airstrikes and clashes between troops and Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday.

Witnesses and the civil defence agency in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip reported Israeli bombardment in western Rafah, where medics said drone strikes and shelling killed at least seven people.

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Israeli foreign minister says decision on all-out war against Hezbollah is near

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Signoff on planning for a Lebanon offensive follows release of Hezbollah drone footage of Haifa in northern Israel

The Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, has said a decision on an all-out war with Hezbollah was coming soon, as Israel generals announced late on Tuesday that they had signed off planning for an offensive into Lebanon.

The escalating rhetoric came after the release of video footage from a Hezbollah surveillance drone’s overflight of the northern city of Haifa, which included images of sensitive sites and civilian neighbourhoods.

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At least 17 killed in Gaza refugee camps after latest Israeli strikes, say medics

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Airstrikes kill Palestinians in historic Nuseirat and Bureij camps as tanks advance into Rafah in south

A series of Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday have resulted in the deaths of at least 17 Palestinians in two of the Gaza Strip’s historic refugee camps, as tanks advanced further into the southern city of Rafah, according to reports from residents and medics.

Nuseirat and Bureij are home to families and descendants of people who fled to Gaza in the 1948 war around the creation of Israel.

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