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Images sent over the news wires show smoke billowing over Beirut after Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital.
Lebanese media is reporting that two people have been killed and six wounded in an Israeli airstrike on Hermel, which is in the north-east of the country near the border with Syria.
Continue reading...Foreign minister says talks continuing over Israel’s stated objectives of pushing Hezbollah away from Israeli border
Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said on Monday that “certain progress” had been made on ceasefire talks in Lebanon, where Israel has been engaged in fighting Hezbollah for more than 13 months.
“We will be ready to be there if we know, first of all, that Hezbollah is not on our border, is north of the Litani River, and that Hezbollah will not be able to arm with new weapons systems,” Saar said.
Continue reading...Allegations against Karim Khan to be examined by outside body ‘to ensure fully independent, impartial and fair process’
The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court will face an external investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, the court’s governing body has said.
In a statement, the president of the body that oversees the ICC said the inquiry would examine the allegations against Karim Khan, which related to his alleged conduct towards a woman who worked for him.
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Lebanon’s National News Agency reports Israeli planes carried out airstrikes again overnight on locations in the south of the country. There are, as yet, no reports of any casualties.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from the Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and Israel.
Continue reading...French president offers ‘fraternity and solidarity’ as Israel discourages wearing of ‘Jewish symbols’ abroad
Emmanuel Macron will attend the France-Israel football match at the Stade de France on Thursday in a gesture of “fraternity and solidarity” after attacks on Jewish fans in Amsterdam last week.
Thousands of extra police will be on duty for the game taking place against a backdrop of high tension caused by the conflict in Gaza.
Continue reading...US government wrote to Israel a month ago threatening sanctions if there was no increase in humanitarian supplies
The amount of aid reaching Gaza has dropped to the lowest level since December, official Israeli figures show, despite the US having issued a 30-day ultimatum last month threatening sanctions if there was no increase in humanitarian supplies reaching the territory.
The ultimatum was delivered on 13 October, so will expire on Tuesday or Wednesday. It is unclear what measures Israel’s apparent failure to fulfil US demands will trigger, but they may include a temporary halt to the supply of some munitions or other military assistance.
Continue reading...City’s police chief says ‘incidents on both sides’ led to violent unrest as ‘around 40’ fined and released
Authorities have released details of the 62 people arrested after violent attacks took place around the football match between Amsterdam’s Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday night.
Violence after the game – described by the Amsterdam mayor, Femke Halsema, as “hit and run attacks” on Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters by “boys on scooters” – provoked international horror.
Continue reading...Gaza’s civil defence agency says 25 people killed, including 13 children, as Israel continues attacks in north of territory
Israeli warplanes carried out more strikes in northern Gaza on Sunday, reportedly destroying a home in the Jabaliya area that had been under siege for weeks, killing and wounding dozens, including many women and children.
The death toll is one of the biggest in a single strike so far in Jabaliya, where hundreds of people have died since a major Israeli operation in the area began last month.
Continue reading...Four suspects still held on suspicion of violent acts and 50 people fined after attacks on football fans
Amsterdam police expect to make more arrests after what authorities called “hateful antisemitic violence” against Israeli football fans, prosecutors said on Saturday.
Four suspects remained detained on Saturday on suspicion of violent acts, including two minors, and 40 people had been fined for public disturbance and 10 for offences including vandalism, prosecutors said.
Continue reading...Wars in Gaza and Lebanon set to intensify after Israeli PM’s position is reinforced by Trump’s victory and ousting of defence minister
Benjamin Netanyahu is set to stay in power in Israel until elections due in 2026 and possibly longer, analysts and officials now believe, after a tumultuous week in which the 75-year-old veteran politician successfully fired his defence minister and was boosted by the results of the US election.
Netanyahu’s newly reinforced position could lead to further intensification of Israel’s campaign in Lebanon, and prolong the conflict in Gaza, critics fear – although the incoming US president Donald Trump has said he wants to swiftly end both wars.
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Israeli air strikes on the Lebanese coastal city of Tyre have now killed seven people.
Reuters reported that Lebanon’s health ministry said the death toll has risen from three to seven after the attack on Friday.
Continue reading...Gulf state’s government is stopping mediation efforts until warring parties show a ‘sincere willingness’ to reach a deal
The Qatari government has informed the US and Israel it will stop mediation efforts to halt the conflict in Gaza because it no longer thinks the parties are negotiating in good faith.
The Gulf state has concluded that talks have become a political football, and its efforts to facilitate them were generating criticism towards it, according to a diplomatic source briefed on the situation.
Continue reading...‘Looming catastrophe’ will ‘dwarf anything we have seen so far’ in Gaza since 7 October 2023, famine review committee says
There is a “strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas” of the northern Gaza Strip, a committee of global food security experts warned on Friday, as Israel claims to be pursuing a military offensive against Palestinian militant group Hamas in the area.
“Immediate action, within days not weeks, is required from all actors who are directly taking part in the conflict, or have influence on its conduct, to avert and alleviate this catastrophic situation,” the independent Famine Review Committee (FRC) said in a rare alert.
Continue reading...Yechiel Leiter, American-born rightwinger, has called for ultimate Israeli ‘sovereignty’ over West Bank territories
Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a hardline supporter of the war in Gaza and longtime backer of settlements in the West Bank as his ambassador to the US as Israel prepares for the incoming administration of Donald Trump.
Yechiel Leiter, an American-born rightwing publicist and former government aide who immigrated to Israel four decades ago, was announced as Israel’s next ambassador to Washington on Friday. His son, a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, was killed in fighting in northern Gaza last year.
Continue reading...Plane carrying fans home lands in Israel as Amsterdam mayor condemns ‘hit and run’ attacks on visiting supporters
Amsterdam police have made more than 60 arrests after what authorities called “hateful antisemitic violence” against Israeli football fans.
A plane carrying football supporters brought home from the Dutch capital by the Israeli government landed on Friday at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport after the clashes on Thursday, which took place after a Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
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Reuters reports that the Israeli military said on Friday that all Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel have been banned from going to the Netherlands until further notice.
Human rights organisations say they are gravely concerned that a young Iranian woman arrested for stripping down to her underwear could be subjected to torture after she was transferred to a psychiatric hospital by the authorities.
Continue reading...France summons Israeli ambassador over incident at Eleona domain in Jerusalem which is under French control
The French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot has abandoned a visit to a holy site in Jerusalem under French control after armed Israeli police entered the site and briefly arrested two French gendarmes.
France has summoned the Israeli ambassador over the incident, the latest of several controversies involving the Eleona sanctuary on the Mount of Olives, which along with three other sites make up the French national domain in the Holy Land.
Continue reading...Ousted defence minister also quoted as saying Netanyahu rejected peace deal against advice of his security officials
Israel’s ousted defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has reportedly said the army has achieved all its objectives in Gaza and that Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a hostages-for-peace deal against the advice of his own security establishment.
Gallant was speaking to hostages’ families on Thursday, two days after being sacked by Netanyahu, and reports of his remarks quickly surfaced in Israeli media.
Continue reading...Leon Panetta says he also expects US president-elect to favor letting Russia retain control of areas of Ukraine
Donald Trump will as president give Benjamin Netanyahu a “blank check” in the Middle East, possibly opening the way for all-out war between Israel and Iran, the former CIA director and US defense secretary Leon Panetta predicted.
“With regards to the Middle East, I think he’s basically going to give Netanyahu a blank check,” Panetta said of Trump, who won the presidential election this week and will take office again in January.
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Continue reading...Many in Ramallah argue things cannot get any worse but some say US result could add unpredictability to despair
The waiters at Ramallah’s cafes and the tenders of its falafel stands all had more or less the same question: is Donald Trump’s win good or bad? It is a question reserved for outsiders. The Palestinians in the biggest city on the West Bank seem to have already come to a provisional consensus: that the US election result has no real impact here because things could not possibly be worse.
“It will not make a big difference,” said Eyad Barghouti, a retired university teacher, expressing a commonly held view as the Gaza war rages on. “What Biden was doing before with a low profile, Trump will be more vocal about.
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