Category Archives: Palestinian Territories

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Israeli forces strap wounded Palestinian man to hood of military jeep

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Dozens killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Israeli talk of war with Hezbollah almost certainly fresh attempt at deterrence

Posted on by

Risk is that miscalculation leads to sudden conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which is far more powerful than Hamas

A warning from Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, that a decision on “all-out war” with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon is coming soon is almost certainly a fresh attempt at deterrence on his part – not least because both sides well understand how devastating full hostilities would be.

The reality is that Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, is a more powerful adversary than Hamas in Gaza. It is estimated to have between 30,000 and 50,000 fighters available and a similar number in reserve – plus between 120,000 and 200,000 unguided missiles and rockets, plus attack and reconnaissance drones.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Israel-Gaza war: 17 Palestinians reportedly killed by double Israeli strike on Nuseirat refugee camp – as it happened

Posted on by

Al-Jazeera reporter says it has been ‘another bloody night across central Gaza’ with attack on camp housing families evacuated from Rafah

The UN human rights chief on Tuesday warned that the rights situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was drastically deteriorating, while there had been “unconscionable death and suffering” in Gaza.

Reuters reports Volker Türk, UN high commissioner for human rights, said “The situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is dramatically deteriorating.”

Continue reading...

Dua Lipa says criticism of Israeli war in Gaza was for ‘greater good’

Posted on by

Singer due to headline Glastonbury embraces risk of backlash over ‘Israeli genocide’ post on Instagram

The pop star and soon-to-be Glastonbury headliner Dua Lipa has said she is willing to risk a backlash over political statements after she recently described military operations in Gaza as “Israeli genocide”.

In an interview with the Radio Times, the 28-year-old said she repeatedly checked herself before making a statement, but did so if she felt it was for the “greater good” and worth the risk.

Continue reading...

Benjamin Netanyahu dissolves Israel’s war cabinet – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is closed

Hostilities continue in Rafah and southern Gaza despite the Israeli military’s announcement on Sunday of tactical pauses in operations to allow humanitarian aid to enter, Reuters reports Unrwa chief Philippe Lazzarini, told the media in Oslo on Monday.

In its latest operational update, Israel’s military has claimed it is still operating in the Rafah area of Gaza, where it says “IDF troops located numerous weapons and struck a number of structures rigged with explosives that posed a threat to the forces.”

Continue reading...

Benjamin Netanyahu dissolves Israeli war cabinet

Posted on by

Move is apparent rebuff to far right and attempt to tighten grip on decision-making over Hamas and Hezbollah

Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the Israeli war cabinet that had been overseeing the conflict in Gaza, rebuffing his far-right allies who had been seeking seats, and apparently moving to solidify his grasp on decision-making over the fighting with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah across the Lebanese border.

The prime minister announced the move to ministers, saying the war cabinet had been established as part of an agreement in which the moderate politician Benny Gantz and his National Unity party joined an emergency coalition last year.

Continue reading...

Israeli military announces daily ‘tactical pause’ in southern Gaza to allow in aid

Posted on by

Eleven-hour window to allow in aid via Kerem Shalom crossing will take place every day until further notice, military says

The Israeli army has said it will observe a limited daily “tactical pause” along one of the main roads in the Gaza Strip to allow delivery of increased quantities of humanitarian aid, as UN agencies have suspended deliveries from a US-built pier.

The Israel Defense Forces, however, added that the pause should not be seen as a “cessation of hostilities in the southern Gaza Strip”.

Continue reading...

UK ‘morally incoherent’ for sending arms to Israel and aid to Gaza, says Oxfam chief

Posted on by

Exclusive: Charity granted permission to intervene after ministers rejected calls to suspend weapon sales

Supplying arms to Israel while simultaneously providing humanitarian aid to Gaza is “intellectually and morally incoherent”, the head of Oxfam GB has said.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 37,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Israel and Hamas have both been accused of breaking international law.

Continue reading...

Israel is fighting a war on two fronts. No end is in sight for either one | Peter Beaumont

Posted on by

Israel’s conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon are destined to grind on indefinitely

In 2019, Aviv Kochavi, then the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) chief of staff, delivered a bullish speech. The IDF, he proclaimed, is “all about victory”.

Assessing that the primary threats to Israel’s security were from nonstate actors such as Hamas and Hezbollah, Kochavi would the following year usher in a new operational doctrine titled “decisive victory”.

Continue reading...