Category Archives: Israel

Number of Palestinians fleeing Rafah rises above 150,000 amid Israeli strikes

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People who have already been repeatedly displaced by war describe their plight as they seek safety elsewhere in Gaza

Under a blazing summer sun, tens of thousands of Palestinians fled Israeli bombardment and clashes with Hamas militants in Rafah on Friday, choking roads with donkey carts, bicycles, pickup trucks and wheelchairs.

More than 150,000 people have now left Gaza’s southernmost city since receiving warnings on Monday from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of an imminent military operation, with most moving after airstrikes and fighting intensified later in the week.

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Israel-Gaza war: UN passed resolution for security council to reconsider and support Palestine membership – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest news on this UN vote, you can read our full report:

On a visit to Washington, German defence minister Boris Pistorius expressed “understanding” for the US threat to limit arms supplies to Israel in the event of a full-blown Rafah offensive but stopped short of setting any new red lines on German weapons.

However, he told ZDF public television that Germany must put pressure on Israel “not to go too far” and to “slow down” in its military response to the 7 October attacks. “

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Israel’s isolation grows over war in Gaza and rise in settler violence

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Actions of Netanyahu’s government have sparked international anger and made a long-threatened ‘diplomatic tsunami’ real

Israel is facing a long-threatened “diplomatic tsunami” on multiple fronts over its handling of the war in Gaza and the unprecedented rise in violent settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

Amid almost monthly sanctions announcements from the US and European capitals over settler violence, which have incrementally expanded their scope, the Guardian understands yet more potential targets are under consideration.

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Pro-Israel Pac pours millions into surprise candidate in Maryland primary

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United Democracy Project backing Sarah Elfreth, even with Harry Dunn, former US capitol officer, as fellow Democrat in House race

A pro-Israel lobby group has dropped millions into a Maryland congressional race as tensions remain high over the war in Gaza.

The primary race in the third congressional district, which will be held on Tuesday, has attracted national interest thanks to the candidacy of one Democrat in particular: Harry Dunn. A former US Capitol police officer, Dunn and his colleagues won praise for their actions defending lawmakers against a violent mob of Donald Trump’s supporters on January 6. In his New York Times bestselling memoir, Standing My Ground, Dunn recounted how the insurrectionists repeatedly used the N-word as they attacked him and other Black officers.

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Australia’s support for UN resolution on Palestinian membership ‘not recognition of statehood’

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Penny Wong reiterates support for eventual two-state solution after watered-down resolution passed by general assembly

Australia’s support of a UN vote on Palestinian membership is “the opposite of what Hamas wants”, and is not about recognising Palestine as a state, according to the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong.

The draft resolution was significantly watered down in last-minute negotiations and Australia was among 143 UN general assembly members to pass the resolution calling on the security council to reconsider granting full membership to Palestine.

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UN agency closes East Jerusalem HQ after arson attack by ‘Israeli extremists’

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Unrwa chief says compound has faced a number of attacks, with lives of UN staff at serious risk

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has temporarily closed its East Jerusalem headquarters after weeks of attacks.

“This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the Unrwa headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem,” the head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, tweeted, lamenting that it was the second attack on the compound within days.

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‘We will fight with our fingernails’ says Netanyahu after US threat to curb arms

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Israeli prime minister says country can ‘stand alone’ but later says he hopes US and Israel can overcome differences

Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will stand alone and “fight with our fingernails” in defiance of US threats to further restrict arms deliveries if Israeli forces proceed with an offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was speaking on Thursday after Israeli and Hamas delegations left the ceasefire negotiations in Cairo. It was unclear whether the talks had broken down or simply paused. Hamas said early on Friday that the “ball is now completely” in Israel’s hands, while Israel has claimed that Hamas’s version of a deal fell far short of its requirements.

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Israel qualifies for Eurovision song contest final despite protests

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Thousands had marched against the country’s inclusion in Saturday’s final but Eden Golan’s entry was voted through

Israel has made it through to the final of the Eurovision song contest, setting the stage for a tense and politically charged event in Malmö on Saturday.

At Thursday’s second semi-final in Sweden’s third largest city, viewers from the competing countries backed the Israeli singer Eden Golan as one of the 10 entries to progress.

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More than 100,000 flee Rafah as Israel steps up strikes, says UN

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Deep concern displaced people will return to rubble of former homes without ‘basic essentials necessary for life’

More than 100,000 people have fled Rafah after Israel intensified its bombardment, UN officials have said, in the largest movement of population in Gaza for many months.

Humanitarian officials are tracking the number of people fleeing Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, where more than 1 million people displaced from elsewhere in the territory have been sheltering.

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Does Israel need more US arms for a Rafah offensive?

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Biden’s threat to halt shipments seems to leave some weapon types available to Israel as well as stockpiles and an unaffected air force

The volume of US military aid to Israel since 7 October last year suggests the intensity of the assault on Gaza would not have been possible without the continued supply of American bombs, shells and other munitions, some of which the US president, Joe Biden, is now threatening to halt after seven months of the fighting.

Precise figures are hard to come by, partly because the US is careful to keep shipments below disclosable limits and can rely on old congressional approvals, sometimes dating back many years, to send arms without the need for fresh authorisation. But even the limited disclosure reveals their significance.

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David Cameron says UK will not withhold arms sales to Israel

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Foreign secretary says British weapons position different to US, but UK does not support Rafah invasion without civilian protection plan

David Cameron has said the UK will not be withholding arms sales to Israel, saying its position is not comparable with that of the US, which has paused the delivery of a weapons shipment, since the UK is not a large state-to-state arms supplier to Israel.

The foreign secretary added that the UK did not support a large-scale invasion of Rafah unless it saw a plan that protects civilians, a position the UK has repeated for the past month.

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Students across Europe hold Gaza war protests in run-up to UN vote on Palestinian statehood

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Police arrested dozens of people in Amsterdam, with university occupations continuing in Netherlands, Belgium and Spain

Thirty-two people were arrested as Dutch police broke up a Gaza war protest at the University of Amsterdam, in a second day of unrest over the conflict. Police said the offences included public violence, vandalism and assault.

Video captured by Reuters appeared to show officers in riot gear striking protesters and police knocking down makeshift barricades of desks, bricks and wooden pallets that seemingly had been used to set off fire extinguishers in hopes of pushing them back. The footage appeared to also show police dragging several students away as hundreds shouted: “Shame on you!”

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Israel-Gaza war live: Israeli officials criticise ‘very disappointing’ threat from Joe Biden to stop arms supplies

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Gilad Erdan says move by Joe Biden stems from political pressure after campus protests and with US election coming soon

At least 34,844 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza and 78,404 Palestinians injured, according to the territory’s health ministry. Thousands more are believed to be buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings. Here are some of the latest images from Gaza:

Israel’s national security minister presented himself before the television cameras to make a statement on Sunday, shortly after leaving a meeting with the country’s prime minister.

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Ben Houchen says Tory party in state of chaos and ‘ultimately’ Sunak has to take blame – UK politics live

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Tees Valley mayor hailed by PM after re-election says route to Tory electoral recovery is ‘getting narrower by the day’

Having seen a fuller version of what Ben Houchen, the Conservative Tees Valley mayor, said on BBC Radio Tees this morning, I have beefed up the post at 10.16am and changed the headline. Houchen did says Rishi Sunak ultimately had to take the blame for the state of “chaos” the Tory party is in.

Victoria Prentis, the attorney general, told the Commons that Britain continues to view its arms sales to Israel as legal a day after US president Joe Biden warned he would pause the delivery of bombs because they had been previously used to kill Palestinian civilians.

I can say that the foreign secretary has reviewed the most recent advice from the IHL cell, and that has informed his decision that there isn’t a clear risk that the items exported from the UK might be used to commit or to facilitate a serious violation of IHL. That leaves our position on export licences unchanged, but that position is kept under review.

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US will stop supplying some weapons to Israel if it invades Rafah, Biden warns

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US president publicly warns that his administration will not provide the weapons for an offensive on Rafah

Joe Biden has issued a blunt warning to Israel that his administration will stop supplying bombs and artillery shells if its military pushes ahead with an offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, in what could mark the start of a turning point in relations between the two countries.

The US president delivered the warning in a television interview in which he brushed aside Israeli and Republican complaints and made clear his administration would not provide the weapons for an offensive on Rafah, which the US, the UN and other aid agencies warn would trigger a humanitarian disaster.

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Biden seeks to pull rank in US-Israel relationship – a trial of strength beckons

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The decision to place a weapons shipment on hold sends a message to Netanyahu that the US dog is beginning to regain control of its tail

In placing a hold on a shipment of US-made bombs to Israel, and warning there could be more restrictions to come, Joe Biden is sending a message to Benjamin Netanyahu that his administration is no longer prepared to be a dog wagged by its own tail.

Netanyahu’s repeated defiance of US warnings not to pursue an offensive on Rafah had been based on an assumption that curbing the US weapons supply could inflict more political damage on Biden than on the Israeli prime minister, and that Netanyahu could cause havoc for the president at home at the height of an election year.

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US signals to Israel more arms shipments could be paused over Rafah offensive

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Move would mark significant pivot in relations as pressure builds on Israel to pull back from attack

US officials have signalled to Israel that more arms shipments could be delayed if the Israeli military pushes ahead with an offensive in Rafah, Gaza, in what would mark the start of a major pivot in relations between the two countries.

Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, confirmed on Wednesday that the Biden administration had paused the supply of thousands of large bombs to Israel, in opposition to apparent moves by the Israelis to invade the city.

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Rafah hospitals in danger of being overwhelmed, say Gaza doctors

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Patients said to have been moved on donkey carts from evacuated hospital, in situation described as ‘catastrophic’

Hospitals in Rafah risk being overwhelmed by a wave of sick and injured people if the fighting there intensifies and routes into Gaza remain impassible, doctors and medical officials in the city say.

Medics and patients hastily evacuated the Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital, one of the few remaining functioning hospitals in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, on Tuesday after the Israeli army seized the nearby border crossing with Egypt in a dawn raid.

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US paused weapons shipment to Israel amid concern over Rafah, senior US official says

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Rafah’s mayor says city ‘stands on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe’ as pressure builds on Israel to pull back from attack

The Biden administration paused the supply of thousands of large bombs to Israel last week in opposition to apparent moves by the Israelis to invade the Gaza city of Rafah.

Confirming the move on Wednesday, Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, said: “We’ve been very clear … from the very beginning that Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians that are in that battle space.

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No sign of breakthrough in hostage and ceasefire talks, Israeli official says; Kerem Shalom aid crossing reopens – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

Israel was reopening the Kerem Shalom crossing on its border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, reports the Reuters news agency citing a statement from the Israeli agency in charge of it said.

According to the statement, aid trucks routed through from Egypt were already undergoing security inspections there.

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