Category Archives: Palestinian Territories

Jordan in last-ditch effort to prevent Iran retaliating for Haniyeh killing

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Foreign minister’s rare visit to Tehran appears likely to fail given Iranian insistence on making a decisive response

Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, has made a rare visit to Iran in a last-ditch effort to persuade it to hold back from attacking Israel in response to the assassination of the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran last week.

The western ally with a large Palestinian population is facing a tough balancing act as it faces domestic calls to break off relations with Tel Aviv and to stop protecting it after shooting down Iranian missiles aimed at Israel earlier this year.

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Hamas’s leader is dead, Iran vows revenge: can anything stop all-out war in the Middle East?

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The assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran humiliated Iran’s leaders, dashed hopes of a ceasefire and left the heavily armed nations of the Middle East moving inexorably closer to an all-out war they all claim not to want

If Iran’s newly elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian, was hoping for a honeymoon period after his inauguration last week, he must be sadly disappointed. Less than 12 hours after Pezeshkian was sworn in, an explosion, reportedly caused by a remotely controlled bomb, shook an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) compound in central Tehran. The target: Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, an honoured guest at the inauguration, and one of the Middle East’s most wanted. The bomb under the bed killed Haniyeh instantly. Honeymoon over.

Pezeshkian was the surprise winner of last month’s presidential election. Edging out a conservative hardliner favoured by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, he promised to repair tattered ties with the US and Europe. Many hoped his victory would herald a more open, more progressive era and defuse social tensions, especially over the enforced wearing of the hijab, which triggered huge unrest under his predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi.

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Middle East crisis: Iran vows ‘severe’ revenge against Israel as US deploys jets and warships to region – as it happened

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Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters are marching through central London, UK.

Protesters waved banners reading “stop arming Israel”, “ceasefire now” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

This terrorist operation was carried out by firing a short-range projectile with a warhead of about 7 kilograms - causing a strong explosion - from outside the accommodation area.

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US-Israeli soldier posted videos showing detonation of Gaza homes and mosque

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IDF soldiers have shared scores of videos of their conduct in Gaza. The American-Israeli soldier says his videos were ‘taken out of context’

An American-Israeli man deployed in Gaza with a combat engineering unit of Israel’s armed forces posted videos online that show indiscriminate fire at a destroyed building and the detonation of homes and a mosque.

One video posted by the man, Bram Settenbrino, and filmed from the shooter’s viewpoint, shows dozens of rounds being fired into the ruins of a building. Another video shows what appears to be an armored vehicle’s fire-control system trained on a mosque before it is razed to the ground. Others depict the detonation of several homes as soldiers cheer.

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Assassination again shows Netanyahu’s disregard for US-Israel relations

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Hamas killing is further snub to Biden administration, which does not share methods or objectives of Israeli leader

Standing alongside Donald Trump in Florida a week ago, Benjamin Netanyahu was vague on the latest prospect of a ceasefire in the war in Gaza.

“I hope we are going to have a deal. Time will tell,” the Israeli prime minister said, two days after his controversial address to a joint session of the US Congress.

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US bolsters military presence in Middle East as threat of regional escalation intensifies

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Washington is bracing for Iran and its allies to respond to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which Tehran blames on Israel

The US military will deploy additional fighter jets and navy warships to the Middle East, the Pentagon said on Friday, as Washington braces for Iran and its regional allies to make good on a promise to respond to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

After the back-to-back assassinations of Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday and top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut the evening before, international diplomats have scrambled to head off a full-fledged regional war. Rising tensions have spurred a growing list of major airlines into cancelling flights to Tel Aviv or Beirut, including Lufthansa, Delta and Air India.

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Hamas leader buried in Doha as Biden says killing has ‘not helped’ ceasefire efforts

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Iran has vowed revenge for death of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which came hours after killing of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr

Crowds gathered in Doha to bury the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, assassinated in Tehran this week, as the US president, Joe Biden, said the killing had “not helped” efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and warned he was concerned about escalating regional conflict.

Iran has vowed revenge for the humiliating attack in the heart of its capital, which came just hours after Israel killed the top military commander of Hezbollah in an airstrike on Beirut.

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Hezbollah chief says conflict with Israel is in ‘new phase’ after assassinations

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Hassan Nasrallah calls for revenge at funeral of Fuad Shukr as does Iranian president at funeral of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh

The leader of Hezbollah has said that the Lebanese group’s conflict with Israel has entered “a new phase” after the back-to-back assassinations of a senior commander and Hamas’s political chief that risk plunging the Middle East into a regional war.

In a televised address broadcast to about 1,000 mourners at the Beirut funeral of Hezbollah’s second-in-command, Fuad Shukur, Hassan Nasrallah vowed that the powerful Shia militia would seek revenge.

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Middle East crisis: Israel confirms death of Hamas military chief who masterminded 7 October attack – as it happened

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The head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza last month, the Israeli military said on Thursday, a day after the group’s political leader was assassinated in Teheran.

“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) announces that on 13 July 2024, IDF fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Younis, and following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike,” the military said.

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St Andrews rector dismissed from governing body over Israel genocide accusation

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Stella Maris criticises decision to remove her from two roles after she accused Israel of genocide and apartheid

The rector of St Andrews University has been dismissed from the institution’s governing body and her position as a trustee after she accused Israel of genocide and apartheid.

Stella Maris criticised the decision to remove her from the two roles, which came after the university commissioned an investigation into an email she sent in November to all St Andrews students calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

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Two Al-Jazeera reporters killed as Israeli airstrike hits car in northern Gaza

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Correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul, 27, cameraman Rami al-Rifi and a child died in blast, says satellite news network

Two Al-Jazeera reporters have been killed in an Israeli strike in northern Gaza, the satellite news network said – the latest Palestinian journalists working with the Qatari network to be killed in the war-torn enclave.

A 27-year-old correspondent, Ismail al-Ghoul; a cameraman, Rami al-Rifi; and a child who was not identified were killed in a blast that struck the car in which the three were travelling in Gaza City, according to the network and the emergency and ambulance service, which helps recover and transport casualties to hospitals across Gaza.

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Fears of escalation mount after Israeli killings of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders

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Iran vows revenge after airstrikes kill Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on same day as commander killed in Beirut

Iran has vowed revenge after airstrikes killed the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut in the space of 12 hours, as the dual Israeli assassinations crushed hopes for an imminent Gaza ceasefire and fuelled fears of a “dangerous escalation” in the region.

Israel did not directly claim the attack on Haniyeh, but there was little doubt among the country’s enemies, and its own politicians and analysts, about who was responsible.

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Who are the Hamas and Hezbollah leaders killed since 7 October attack?

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Israel has launched series of targeted strikes after vowing to kill all operatives who planned last year’s assault

The airstrikes on the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran early on Wednesday morning, and on the Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut late on Tuesday were the latest in a series of targeted assassinations across the region.

Israel, which has not claimed responsibility for both attacks, has vowed to kill all Hamas leaders responsible for the 7 October 2023 attack and go after senior commanders from Iran and its militant allies.

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Humiliation of Haniyeh’s killing creates early crisis for Iran’s new president

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Masoud Pezeshkian hoped to improve relations with the west, but calls for armed response will be hard to ignore

Avenging the assassination of the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, is now Tehran’s duty as his killing occurred while he was a “dear guest” on Iranian soil, the country’s supreme leader has warned in his first reaction to the killing.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described Haniyeh’s killing, which Tehran views as a provocation designed to escalate the conflict in the Middle East, as a “bitter and difficult incident that happened in the territory of the Islamic republic”.

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Two US airlines suspend flights to Tel Aviv – as it happened

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This blog has now closed. You can read our full report on the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukur here

The death of Haniyeh is damaging to Hamas, but he was not involved in the military operations on the ground in Gaza, and the group has survived past assassinations of its leadership.

In 2004, Israel killed both Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin and co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in attacks in Gaza.

This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas and the will of our people and achieve fake goals. We confirm that this escalation will fail to achieve its objectives.

Hamas is a concept and an institution and not persons. Hamas will continue on this path regardless of the sacrifices and we are confident of victory.

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Iran vows revenge after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Tehran

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Death came hours after Israel said it killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut, fuelling fears of regional conflict

Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was killed by a strike in Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday morning, only hours after Israel said it had killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

The dual assassinations are heavy blows to Hamas and Hezbollah, but also raise the stakes for Iran, which backs both groups and vowed revenge. They will fuel growing fears that the war in Gaza could escalate into a broader regional conflict.

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‘Deep moral deterioration’ being normalised in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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Ministers and mobs protesting at arrests for torture of Palestinians shows diminishing respect for rule of law and human dignity

The far-right mob attack on two Israel Defense Forces bases in support of soldiers accused of sexually torturing a detainee did not come out of the blue – the parallels to a 2016 incident were immediately obvious.

In March that year, Elor Azaria, an IDF soldier serving in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, calmly walked over to Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, an injured Palestinian knife attacker lying on the ground, and shot him in the head. A video of the killing released by a human rights group led to political uproar.

Both the political and military establishments in Israel have been willing to deny or turn a blind eye to the repeated allegations of torture at Sde Teiman

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Middle East crisis: Israeli military said 10 rockets had been fired from Lebanon and that one of them hit kibbutz HaGoshrim – as it happened

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An Israeli civilian has been killed by rocket fired from Lebanon, Israel’s N12 news channel is reporting.

David Lammy has reiterated a warning to British citizens in Lebanon.

“My message to British nationals in Lebanon is clear – leave,” he said.

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Israeli inquest into alleged abuse of Palestinian detainees sparks far-right fury

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Arrest of IDF reservists suspected of abuse prompts confrontation at notorious detention base and outcry from MPs

An investigation by the Israeli military into the alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee at a notorious military detention camp for prisoners captured in Gaza has sparked protests from members of Israel’s far right.

The Israeli military said on Monday the office of its advocate general ordered an inquiry “following suspected substantial abuse of a detainee” at the Sde Teiman facility, which holds Palestinian detainees, including alleged members of Hamas’s elite Nukhba forces involved in the 7 October attack.

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Tanker carrying jet fuel for Israel must not dock in Gibraltar, say MPs

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Campaigners say overseas territory will be complicit in breach of international law if US vessel stops there

There is an overwhelming case for the UK to intervene to stop a US oil tanker carrying 300,000 barrels of jet fuel for use by Israel in Gaza from docking in Gibraltar, according to a letter from a cross-party group of MPs addressed to David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary.

Protests in Spain led by trade unionists and political activists have already resulted in the owners of the Overseas Santorini abandoning plans to dock in the Spanish port of Algeciras. According to Marine Traffic, the ship is now destined to reach Gibraltar at 3pm UK time on Tuesday.

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