/leftypol/ - Leftist Politically Incorrect

Nice sources… Anyway here's a fun article from /ourgal/ Caitlin Johnstone:
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/07/25/netanyahus-speech-as-american-as-it-gets/

>>483171
>Nice sources…
I haven't opened with anything which wasn't already sourced previously in >>481432.

Civilians are coming under fire across Khan Younis
Tareq Abu Azzoum
Reporting from Deir el-Balah, central Gaza

A Hamas video has emerged, showing its fighters targeting Israeli tanks in Khan Younis with rocket-propelled grenades and antitank missiles.

Palestinian civilians are coming under fire in various areas of the city. At least 28 people have been killed in Khan Younis on Thursday, and more people are being transported to Nasser Hospital today.

Israel has been using quadcopter drones, especially in the central area of the Gaza Strip. Israeli aircrafts are firing at the Bureij refugee camp as its tanks are trying to enter there from the eastern flak.

Civilians are afraid of this ground incursion and fear that if Israel manages to control Bureij, they will then proceed to split the central part of Gaza in two parts.

Qassam Brigades claims hitting Israeli tanks, troops in Gaza City

The armed wing of Hamas says its fighters have struck two Merkava 4 tanks surrounded by Israeli soldiers in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City.

The group said in a Telegram post that Shuwath explosive devices were used in the attack.

Al-Quds Brigades claims attack on Israeli forces around Rafah crossing

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad says its fighters bombarded Israeli soldiers and vehicles stationed around the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza with mortar shells.

The group also said it engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli forces since last night in the east of Khan Younis, using machineguns and antitank shells.

Israel claims to have struck Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon

The Israeli military has claimed its air strikes in southern Lebanon’s Markaba village targeted a Hezbollah military structure.

It said on X that the army targeted another military structure belonging to the Lebanese group in the southern village of Aita al-Shaab.

Hezbollah claims attacks on Israeli positions in Kfarchouba Hills, Shebaa Farms

The Lebanese group says it has hit Israeli military positions in the occupied Lebanese territories with rockets.

The group said on Telegram that the attack on Kfarchouba Hills was carried out at 12:45pm (09:45 GMT) and the strike on the occupied Shebaa Farms took place at 1pm (10:00 GMT).

It did not elaborate on the results of the attacks.

Hezbollah says ‘guided missile’ destroyed Israeli army equipment

The armed group says it used a guided missile to target a “technical system” at an Israeli army site near to the southern Lebanese village of Ramyah.

In a statement on Telegram, the group claimed the missile hit the Israeli military equipment directly and destroyed it.

UK to drop ICC challenge against arrest warrant requests for Netanyahu, Gallant

Britain will not proceed with a challenge on whether the International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

“On the ICC submission … I can confirm the government will not be pursuing [the proposal] in line with our longstanding position that this is a matter for the court to decide on,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson told reporters.

In May, the ICC’s prosecutor said he had requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes during the war on Gaza.

Last month, unsealed court documents showed Britain, an ICC member state, had filed a request with the court to provide written observations on whether the court could exercise “criminal jurisdiction” over Israelis under the Oslo Accords.

But since the previous Conservative government lost the general election, the challenge was not submitted and was left to Starmer’s Labour party to decide.

Gaza children ‘deliberately’ shot, say US medical workers in letter to Biden, Harris

A group of 45 American doctors and nurses who have experience working in Gaza since October have written a letter to US President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris recounting “the massive human toll from Israel’s attack” on the territory.

The multi-faith, multiethnic group said their experience in the warzone made them “uniquely positioned” to comment as the US considered its continued support for Israel’s war on Gaza.

“It is likely that the death toll from this conflict is already greater than 92,000, an astonishing 4.2% of Gaza’s population,” they write, adding that every signatory to the joint letter had treated Palestinian children who “must have been deliberately” targeted for attack.

“Every one of us on a daily basis treated pre-teen children who were shot in the head and chest,” they wrote.

With a few exceptions, “everyone in Gaza is sick, injured, or both”, they added.

UN puts 4th century Gaza monastery on endangered site list

The St Hilarion complex, one of the oldest monasteries in the Middle East, has been put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in danger due to the war in Gaza, the agency says.

UNESCO cited the “imminent threats” it faces and stressed that the site, which dates back to the fourth century, has been placed on the endangered list at the request of Palestinian authorities. It is located near Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

“It’s the only recourse to protect the site from destruction in the current context,” Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, told the AFP news agency.

In December, the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict decided to grant “provisional enhanced protection” – the highest level established by the 1954 Hague Convention – to the site.

Canada to revoke charitable status of Jewish National Fund

The Canada Revenue Agency is revoking the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) of Canada, according to Just Peace Advocates, a human rights group working for Palestinian rights.

The reason given is its “support for military infrastructure in Israel” despite CRA charity guidelines stating clearly that “supporting the armed forces of another country is not” charitable.

“While the Canada Revenue Agency has been too slow in applying its rules towards the Jewish National Fund of Canada, the CRA should be applauded for finally taking action against this powerful organisation,” said Karen Rodman of Just Peace Advocates.

The Jewish National Fund of Canada is one of many Israel-focused charities that have violated revenue agency rules.

Over the past 18 months, detailed complaints have been submitted to the agency asking it to investigate a dozen other Israel-focused charities.

WHO sends more than 1 million polio vaccines to Gaza

The World Health Organization chief says vaccines will be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples.

“While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece for the UK’s The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

WFP forced to reduce food rations in Gaza

The World Food Programme says it has been forced to reduce food rations in Gaza “to ensure broader coverage for newly displaced people”.

In a post on X, it added that supplies are scarce in central and southern Gaza as barely any commercial provisions are going in.

A group of UN experts have blamed Israel for the onset of famine in Gaza, accusing it of carrying out a “targeted starvation campaign”, largely by preventing the delivery of aid, as well as through its relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

France welcomes Israeli president despite criticism as Olympics kick off

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has thanked French President Emmanuel Macron for a “warm welcome” to Paris as the Olympic Games kick off with the opening ceremony later today, amid enhanced security measures for Israeli officials and athletes.

The country’s participation in the games amid its brutal war on Gaza has provoked criticism of Olympics organisers, who have a long history of banning nations deemed to have committed acts that contravene the spirit of the games.

Russia and Belarus will be absent from the competition as a result of the continuing war in Ukraine.

Silence the guns for Olympic Games: UN’s Guterres

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged countries around the world to stop armed conflict as part of “the Olympic truce”, saying during a meeting with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach that the event was a chance for peace.

“I want to express the total support of the United Nations to the IOC,” Guterres said. “We live in a divided world where conflicts are proliferating in a dramatic way – the horrendous suffering in Gaza, the seemingly endless war in Ukraine, terrible suffering from Sudan to the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo], from the Sahel to Myanmar.

“In a moment like this, it is important to say that the first recorded in history, real peace initiative was the Olympic truce.”

The games kick off later today and end on August 11 with the participation of more than 10,500 athletes representing 206 nations and territories, including a Palestinian team. While not a full member of the United Nations, Palestine has an official national Olympic committee.

What’s the upcoming Netanyahu-Trump meeting about?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to attempt mending fences with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during their meeting in Mar-a-Lago later today.

Trump and Netanyahu had a fallout in early 2021 after the Israeli prime minister became one of the first world leaders to congratulate Joe Biden on his presidential election victory, disregarding Trump’s claim that the election had been stolen from him.

Hassan Barari, analyst and professor at Qatar University, has told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu “understands that Trump doesn’t care about the Palestinians but wants a transactional policy whereby he can continue the Abraham Accords“.

On the other hand, the likely Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has suggested that “if she’s elected she will take a different approach on Gaza, and this carries a huge weight [for Netanyahu]”, Barari said.

Israel extends ban on Al Jazeera

The District Court of Tel Aviv has extended Israel’s ban on Al Jazeera Media Network for another 45 days, according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.

Hamas holds Israel responsible for death of Abu Arra

The Palestinian group says it mourns the death of Mustafa Muhammad Abu Arra, a Hamas leader in the occupied West Bank, in Israeli detention.

The group said in a statement that it expressed its condolences to the family and relatives of Abu Arra.

The 63-year-old, who died after being transferred to a hospital from the Ramon jail in southern Israel, was arrested in October last year and had been subjected to torture and deprived of medical treatment, according to the Palestinian authorities.

“We mourn the passing of the leader and prisoner Sheikh Mustafa Muhammad Abu Arra and hold the occupation responsible for his assassination through deliberate medical neglect,” Hamas said in a statement.

“The movement stresses that this heinous crime falls within the framework of the ongoing war of extermination and systematic killings carried out by the occupation,” it added.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/26/israel-war-on-gaza-live-wave-of-air-strikes-hit-southern-northern-cities

Video shows Palestinian fighters target Israeli tanks in southern Gaza

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic have obtained and verified footage that is said to show Hamas fighters using rocket-propelled grenades and powerful explosive devices against Israeli tanks in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.

In one clip, a fighter calmly approaches a stationary Israeli tank and fires a rocket from just metres away, scoring a direct hit.

In another clip, fighters can be seen laying explosive devices to ambush an Israeli tank and a large plume of smoke, which appears to indicate the tank caught fire as a result of the attack.

https://twitter.com/AJA_Palestine/status/1816555525972107421

Israel army says readying ‘decisive’ push against Hezbollah

An Israeli military commander says troops in the country’s north are preparing for “a decisive offensive” against the Lebanese group after months of deadly cross-border exchanges.

Israeli forces have traded near-daily fire with Hezbollah since October 8.

Major General Ori Gordin, Israel’s commanding officer in the north, told soldiers, “We have already eliminated more than 500 terrorists in Lebanon, the great majority of them from Hezbollah,” according to a statement released by the army.

According to an AFP tally, at least 523 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war in Gaza began. Most of them, 342 people, were reportedly Hezbollah fighters, but the tally also includes 104 civilians. Gordin did not mention civilian casualties.

The exchanges of fire have been largely restricted to border areas and have displaced tens of thousands of Lebanese and Israelis.

The Israeli military has “destroyed thousands” of targets across the border, Gordin said. He said soldiers were now preparing “for the transition to offence”.

“When the moment comes and we go on the offensive, it will be a decisive offensive,” Gordin added.

World has failed Palestinians, Palestine’s UN envoy says

Riyad Mansour has slammed the UN Security Council for failing to secure a ceasefire and bring an end to Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.

“We have collectively failed. This council has failed,” the Palestinian envoy said during a special council session on the humanitarian response in Gaza.

“We can continue counting aid trucks and speaking of routes and imagining alternatives, but the only true measure of our success is our ability to alleviate human suffering – and the suffering of Palestinians is Israel’s goal and desire,” Mansour said.

“Whatever solutions you come up with, [Israel] will continue ensuring they fail until it is forced to change course. And the first, indispensable step is an immediate ceasefire.”

Palestine’s Olympic team makes entry into Paris Games

The Palestinian athletes have just made their entry into the Olympic Games on a boat in the Seine.

Much support was shared for Palestine during the Asian Cup in Qatar earlier this year and a similar response during Paris 2024 is expected.

Palestinians protest death of West Bank Hamas leader inside Israeli prison

Palestinians have rallied in Aqqaba near Tubas in the occupied West Bank to condemn the death of a Hamas leader in Israeli custody, Reuters reports.

Mustafa Muhammad Abu Ara, 63, died after he was transferred to a hospital from the Ramon jail in southern Israel due to deteriorating health, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Palestinian Commission for Detainees Affairs said in a statement.

Abu Ara, who was from Aqqaba, was arrested in October last year and subjected to torture and deprived of medical treatment, the organisations said. He is the 19th detainee known to have died in Israeli custody since October 7.

https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1816640013213291006

UN official says Gaza humanitarian delivery system regressing ‘decades back’

Georgios Petropoulos, the head of the Gaza operation for the UN humanitarian affairs office, says the delivery of humanitarian aid in the Palestinian enclave has steadily deteriorated as the war drags on.

He told Al Jazeera that many roads have been destroyed, making it difficult for people to walk and for trucks or even donkey carts to transport supplies.

“We’re at the point where logistics specialists have gone from talking about fuel and trucks to talking about fodder and donkeys. We’re regressing decades back [in terms of] the systems that we have to use to support the people in Gaza,” he said.

Petropoulos added that the UN knows “how to aid people who are in a tragic war. We must be allowed to do so.”

“We have to have an effective supply of aid, effective supply of aid workers. We have to have a health system that works. We have to have communications, and we have to have absolute protection of civilians on all sides of this conflict.”

Hamas refutes Netanyahu’s claim that Israel is not denying aid to Gaza

The group says human rights organisations confirmed that the Israeli military has “used starvation methods, blocked aid, burned and destroyed the Rafah border crossing and killed many humanitarian workers”.

The Rafah border crossing to Egypt has been closed since Israel captured it in early May, blocking what was the only route out of the besieged coastal enclave after Israel’s war on Gaza began.

In a statement on its official Telegram channel, Hamas said that “this clearly disproves Netanyahu’s claims about allowing aid to reach the residents of the Gaza Strip” – a claim he made in a speech before US Congress on Thursday.

The group also called Netanyahu’s “visions” about the future of Gaza “illusions and fantasies”.

In his speech yesterday, Netanyahu gave an outline of a plan for a “de-radicalised” post-war Gaza and touted a potential future alliance between Israel and the US’s Arab allies.

“The Palestinian people alone have the right to determine their fate and decide who governs them,” Hamas said. “They have chosen to rally around the resistance and confront the occupation until it is defeated”.

UNRWA briefing to highlight Gaza plight after Netanyahu’s US Congress address
Kristen Saloomey
Reporting from the United Nations

A briefing by UNRWA is under way at the UN Security Council. Member of the council wanted to highlight the humanitarian situation in Gaza and it’s perhaps no coincidence that Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu is in the US at this time.

Russia, China and Algeria – with Russia holding the presidency of the UNSC at this time – called for this meeting after Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress.

We heard from UNRWA representatives the latest on the dire situation for the people of Gaza, including people’s inability to satisfy their basic needs due to the continued displacement, insecurity and lawlessness.

Washington defers removal of some Lebanese, citing Israel-Hezbollah tensions

The US has decided not to move ahead with removing certain Lebanese citizens from the country, President Joe Biden says, citing humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon amid tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/26/israel-war-on-gaza-live-wave-of-air-strikes-hit-southern-northern-cities

Germany is threatening me with prison for this talk about Palestine
Ali Abunimah gives an incredible rundown of German history, their current crimes against Jews, and their actions of complicity & incitement in the genocide against Palestinians occurring right now.

https://twitter.com/ryangrim/status/1817015532916273435
I don't know when this is from, but IDF soldiers apparently shared this clip of them blowing up Rafah's water reservoir.

>>483191
>An Israeli military commander says troops in the country’s north are preparing for “a decisive offensive” against the Lebanese group after months of deadly cross-border exchanges.
I'm assuming this is nothing more than a minor border skirmish, accompanied by over top rhetoric. However if they do indeed mean a sustained commitment to military operations against Lebanon, it's likely going to compound the losses they have sustained in Gaza already and this will mark the beginning of an accelerated erosion of Zionist hard power project capabilities.

>>483195
But anon didn't you know ?
hamas was tunneling in the water, the reservoir was a human shield, and if Palestinians are allowed to drink water that's a second holocaust.

Four US-UK air raids target Yemen’s Hodeidah airport: Report

Al Masirah television, a Houthi-controlled channel, has reported four raids on Hodeidah International Airport.

It said the facility was targeted in a joint operation hours after four raids on Kamaran Island.

The US and UK militaries have carried out joint attacks against the Houthis since January 12 in response to the Houthi rebel attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.

Israelis hit with sniper fire, rockets, explosives in Gaza City neighbourhood: Monitors

Fighters with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) attacked Israeli forces in the Tal al-Hawa area of Gaza City with sniper fire, rocket-propelled grenades and powerful explosively-formed penetrators on Friday, war monitors report.

PIJ fighters also targeted Israeli forces stationed along the Netzarim Corridor – located south of Gaza City – with mortar shelling, the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) report.

Israeli forces continued “clearing operations” in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis and Rafah cities and Israel’s air force said it carried out 45 strikes against targets in the Strip between Friday and Saturday.

PIJ fighters also launched a barrage of rockets towards southern Israel’s coastal city of Ashkelon, but Israeli authorities said one missile was intercepted and others fell in open areas without causing damage or casualties, the ISW/CTP report in their latest Gaza battlefield assessment.

Qassam Brigades reports fierce clashes in Gaza City

The armed wing of Hamas says its fighters struck an Israeli troop carrier surrounded by soldiers with an al-Yassin 105 rocket in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, south of Gaza City.

Multiple soldiers were killed or wounded in the attack, according to the group’s statement on Telegram.

In a separate incident, the group said it destroyed Israeli forces penetrating to the same neighbourhood with mortar shells.

Hezbollah says ‘direct hit’ achieved on Israeli site

Hezbollah says it has targeted Israeli espionage equipment at the Misgav Am site in northern Israel.

It said it bombed the Al-Jardah point with rockets, confirming that it achieved a “direct hit”.

Earlier the Israeli military said it its naval missile boat shot down a drone launched towards Israel from the direction of Lebanon.

Hezbollah claims attack on Israeli soldiers in Yiftah

Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group has claimed its fighters carried out an air attack against an Israeli army position in the Yiftah settlement on the eastern side of the Lebanon-Israel border.

The group said in a statement on Telegram that a swarm of drones hit the tents of Israeli soldiers, “causing confirmed casualties”.

Al-Quds Brigades says it captured Israeli drone

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad says it took control of an Israeli Evo Max drone while it was carrying out intelligence missions in the east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

A statement on Telegram also said, in conjunction with the Hamas’ Qassam Brigades, al-Quds fighters destroyed with heavy mortar shells an Israeli army headquarters in the Bani Suhaila area in eastern Khan Younis.

More antigovernment protests expected tonight in Israel
Hamdah Salhut

There are going to be antigovernment demonstrations taking place across Irasel tonight, as we see every Satutrday night.

These have been going on for months, with people calling for new leadership, for Netanyahu to be removed from office, for new elections.

And all of it comes on the heels of Netanyahu addressing the US Congress, but not announcing any sort of plan for how to end the war, not announcing anything new when it comes to a ceasefire.

So families of Israeli captives are really furious of the fact that in about two months, it will be a year since the war started. They’re saying enough time has gone by and they’re saying Netanyahu is the reason there hasn’t been a deal.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/27/israels-war-on-gaza-live-hundreds-trapped-in-khan-younis-as-battles-rage

Interesting points (among others): confirmation from inside the state dept. that the US totally ignores human rights except when it can use it cynically as a cudgel.
She confirms that staff were going to attend the anti-Netanyahu protest.
She says many staff see a second Trump win as inevitable.
More details about the amount of UN staff (and their family members) from branches such as UNRWA, UNICEF, the World Food Program, etc. who've been killed in record numbers by Israel, which has also officially labeled UNRWA a terrorist organization.
She says she believes Netanyahu is trying to get congressional approval on a full-scale war with Lebanon, and may likely be trying to enter into a war which results in mass death of Israeli civilians in order to claw back sympathy for Israel.

>>483200
>She says she believes Netanyahu is trying to get congressional approval on a full-scale war with Lebanon, and may likely be trying to enter into a war which results in mass death of Israeli civilians in order to claw back sympathy for Israel.

Zionist logic
<Hitler killed Jews → creation of Israel
therefore
<killing more Jews → more Israel

Normal People Logic
<Israel's endangering it's own population in a attack against Lebanon.

It's not going to work. People did not experience sympathy when the allied forces laid waste to Germany during the last chapters of WW2. Even when actions like the mass-scale-firebombing of German cities were objectively war-crimes. Malicious and stupid is a dangerous cocktail.

Death toll in Majdal Shams rises to 11

The death toll from a rocket that hit a football pitch in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights has killed 11 teenagers and young adults, the Israeli army has said.

The army blamed Hezbollah for the deadly rocket that killed the youngsters aged between 10 and 20 years.

The Lebanese group has denied responsibility. “The Islamic Resistance has no connection to this incident,” it said, referring to its military wing.

Many residents of the town retain Syrian nationality decades after the territory’s occupation in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Military spokesman Daniel Hagari said on X that 11 youngsters were killed in the attack, while the emergency service Magen David Adom said 19 others were wounded.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/27/israels-war-on-gaza-live-hundreds-trapped-in-khan-younis-as-battles-rage

Looks like Israel did a false flag on subjects in land they're illegally occupying.

>>483205
>Looks like Israel did a false flag on subjects in land they're illegally occupying.
That's a definite possibility.

>>483206

Check out the statements which came immediately after:

US condemns attack on Majdal Shams, says support for Israel ‘iron-clad’

The White House has said the missile attack on the Druze village of Majdal Shams, which killed 11 people including children, was “horrific”.

“Our support for Israel’s security is iron-clad and unwavering against all Iranian backed terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said in a statement.

Israel’s Smotrich says ‘Lebanon as a whole’ should pay for Hezbollah attack

Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said Lebanon “as a whole” should pay for the attack on Majdal Shams.

“For the death of small children, Nasrallah should pay with his head,” he said on X, referring to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

“Lebanon as a whole has to pay the price. My position regarding the necessary steps is known. The prime minister must return immediately. It’s time for action!,” he added.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack, while the Lebanese government has called “for an immediate cessation of hostilities”.

Israel’s Gantz says time to strike deal in Gaza, open new front with Lebanon

Former war cabinet member Benny Gantz has said that the time has come to reach a deal in Gaza for the release of captives and open a new front with Hezbollah.

“The government will be afforded wide support from outside the government for any determined and effective response that will restore security to the citizens of the north,” he said on X.

Gantz referred to the victims of the occupied Golan Heights attack as “innocent Israeli children in the Druze village of Majdal Shams”, despite the residents not holding Israeli citizenship.

‘Lebanon should burn,’ Israeli energy minister says

Israel’s Minister of Energy Eli Cohen has said that “Lebanon should burn” after the attack that killed 11 young people in the Druze town of Majdal Shams, in the occupied Golan Heights.

“We must take significant action in the north, which will exact a heavy price on Lebanon and Hezbollah,” Cohen said on X.

“What cruel terrorist organisation shoots at playing children?”, he added, before extending his condolences to all those “who lost their loved ones today”.

www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/27/israels-war-on-gaza-live-hundreds-trapped-in-khan-younis-as-battles-rage

Victims of Majdal Shams attack Syrians, not Israelis

The Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari has condemned the air attack on Majdal Shams, saying that the victims were Israeli citizens.

Mouin Rabbani, an analyst at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies in Montreal, said the statement was incorrect.

“The victims were not Israelis, they were Syrians,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that the Golan Heights were occupied by Israel in 1967 but that the Druze population there does not hold Israeli citizenship.

Israel claimed that the attack was carried out by Hezbollah, which the group has denied. “Israel has for months been threatening a major offensive in Lebanon and the Israeli public also feels strongly that the government should deal with the threat of Hezbollah before a new school year begins in September,” Rabbani said.

It is “entirely plausible”, the analyst added, that the attack will trigger an escalation, for which Netanyahu may have gotten a green light from the US during his trip to Washington, DC.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/27/israels-war-on-gaza-live-hundreds-trapped-in-khan-younis-as-battles-rage

WATCH: Dozens killed in ‘new Israeli massacre’ at Gaza school

The Israeli military attacked a school that was being used as a field hospital and a shelter in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, killing at least 30 Palestinians and wounding dozens, officials said.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reports from Deir el-Balah.

Multiple Israeli air attacks reported in Lebanon
Zeina Khodr
Reporting from Mount Lebanon, Lebanon

We have just received reports of Israeli air attacks on several locations across southern Lebanon.

Explosions have been heard in the southern city of Tyre and surrounding areas.

Three villages close to the border have also been hit. These “front-line villages” have been repeatedly hit during the course of the ongoing confrontations between the Israeli military and Hezbollah.

Fire breaks out in southern Lebanon village

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that Israeli attacks have caused fires to break on the town of Khiam in southern Lebanon.

Other locations hit in the Israeli assault include:

The port city of Tyre in southern Lebanon
The town of Abbassieh, near Tyre
Burj al-Shemali, a municipality near Tyre where a refugee camp for Palestinians is located
A field between the towns of Shmestar and Tarayya in the Bekaa Valley, Hezbollah’s stronghold in eastern Lebanon
The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) said that fires are becoming increasingly common amid the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, with Israel using highly incendiary white phosphorus munitions as well as launching fireballs with catapults to deliberately burn vegetation.

Israeli raids target Shihin in southern Lebanon

Footage verified by Al Jazeera shows an explosion and smoke billowing from Shihin in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel.

Local media outlets showed video of the Israeli raid, which targeted a house and caused material damage to it.

The Lebanese National News Agency said that an Israeli military drone later targeted the town with a second raid.

https://twitter.com/sawtinews/status/1817555142419296539

Rocket from Lebanon hits house in northern Israel

Video posted on X, and verified by Al Jazeera, shows the scene of a rocket strike on the Israeli town of Moshav Shtula.

Several hours ago, Lebanon’s Hezbollah claimed an attack on Israeli army positions “in the Shtula colony and its surroundings”.

The journalist who posted the video did not make mention of any casualties that resulted from this attack, but said that another rocket that fell nearby injured a “foreign worker slightly, in the leg”.

https://twitter.com/yair_kraus/status/1817582214047207756

Hezbollah claims attack on Israeli soldiers in Manara settlement

The Lebanese group has said in a statement that its fighters targeted Israeli soldiers in the Manara settlement, in northern Israel.

The group claimed the attack carried out in support of Gaza “with appropriate weapons” injured an unidentified number of Israeli troops.

Middle East Airlines delays return of some flights

Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines says it postponed the return of some flights from Sunday night to Monday morning without stating an official reason.

However, Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig reports a source at the airline says the reason for the delays is fear of attacks by Israel against targets in Lebanon.

Israel pledged a swift response against Hezbollah in Lebanon after 12 youths were killed by a rocket in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The Lebanese group denied responsibility.

Norway urges citizens to leave Lebanon

The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Beirut has warned on Facebook that “the conflict between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel has escalated”.

“Norwegian authorities remind you of travel tips that encourage all Norwegian citizens to leave the country,” the announcement said.

“In case the situation worsens, travel options outside Lebanon may become limited. In such a situation, the Norwegian Embassy will have very limited resources to assist Norwegian citizens to leave the country.”

Israeli forces shoot boy, obstruct medics as Balata raids continue

Israeli forces shot and wounded a 17-year-old Palestinian boy in the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, before also firing on ambulance crews that tried to help him, according to the Wafa news agency.

The ongoing raid is the fourth Israeli operation in the refugee camp in the past 24 hours, Wafa reported.

In the latest attack, Israeli forces bulldozed parts of the Mall Al Araishi store, the agency said.

In an earlier incursion, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, including a 17-year-old boy. Israeli shelling also wounded a medic who was trying to evacuate those injured in the earlier attacks, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

Palestinian father carries headless child after Israeli bombing

Israeli warplanes targeted a house in Khan Younis city, killing five people including at least four children while wounding others.

Video from the scene shows grisly images of child victims ripped apart by the Israeli bombing. Footage also shows a father carrying the body of his headless child into Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis after the attack.

Al-Quds Brigades says it killed Israeli soldiers in Khan Younis

The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group says it targeted an Israeli military crane and areas around it with heavy mortar fire in the east of the war-battered city.

“[A] helicopter landed in the area to evacuate the dead and wounded soldiers after the crane and its surroundings burned,” a statement on Telegram said, without giving precise figures.

The group said it also bombarded Israeli soldiers and vehicles that penetrated the Bani Suheila cemetery in eastern Khan Younis.

‘Doomed to certain death’: Israel denies people healthcare abroad

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) says Israel continues to bar Gaza patients from travelling abroad for treatment, effectively imposing a death sentence.

It warned of the “catastrophic repercussions” of the continued closure of all Gaza crossings, which is stopping patients and the wounded from getting the medical care they desperately need.

The Rafah border crossing to Egypt has been closed since Israel captured it in early May, blocking what was the only route out of the besieged coastal enclave after Israel’s devastating war on Gaza began.

“This is a grave violation that confirms the genocide being perpetrated against the residents of the Gaza Strip. Whomever is spared death by the war machine will succumb due to the siege imposed,” PCHR said.

“Thousands of wounded and sick people are doomed to certain death because Israel has destroyed the medical system in the Gaza Strip,” the group said.

Ireland, Iraq, Arab League condemn school attack

Here are more international reactions to Israel’s latest attack.

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris condemned the bombing, saying it was a “further demonstration of brutal, unconscionable violence”. He added that targeting an area populated with displaced families is “inhumane and despicable”.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry also denounced the attack and called for global action, saying that “this massacre is a continuation of the hostile acts and crimes committed by the Zionist entity against defenceless civilians”.

The Arab League, meanwhile, criticised the international community’s silence on the Israeli military’s “heinous massacre” and called on the UN Security Council to pressure Israel to end the “genocide”.

Death toll from Golan Heights attack rises to 12

The Israeli military says at least 12 people have been killed in the rocket attack on Majdal Shams. All the victims were aged between 10 and 20.

Earlier, the military also said that the rocket that struck the football pitch was an Iranian-made Falaq-1 and that a Hezbollah commander named Ali Muhammad Yahya had directed the attack from a launching site in Shebaa in southern Lebanon.

As we’ve been reporting, Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack, with Axios, a US news outlet, reporting that the armed group told the UN that the incident was the result of an Israeli anti-rocket interceptor hitting the football pitch.

Why is the Golan Heights of strategic significance?

Mouin Rabbani, a non-resident fellow at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, said the occupied Golan Heights are a “mountain range that allows Israel to threaten the rest of Syria”, including the Syrian capital, Damascus.

“It’s worth recalling that after 1967, Israel built its first settlements not in the West Bank, but in the Golan Heights,” Rabbani told Al Jazeera. “And it annexed the Golan Heights formally in 1980, for which it was condemned by the UN Security Council. There were diplomatic negotiations between Israel and Syria during the 1990s, but these failed because ultimately, Israel was unprepared to accept a comprehensive withdrawal to the pre-June 1967 lines.”

Israel has since built major intelligence installations there, and following the war on Gaza, Hezbollah has launched attacks on these facilities, as part of its effort to support Palestinians under attack in the coastal enclave, Rabbani noted.

“I think there’s another element here,” he added. “As you know, the International Court of Justice recently ruled Israel’s rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including East Jerusalem, to be unlawful and illegal and said it must end immediately. Although the Golan Heights was not part of that case, I think the determinations made by the ICJ about the occupied Palestinian territories apply just as clearly to the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.”

Israel has right to defend itself against Hezbollah: US Senate majority leader

Chuck Schumer has said Israel had the right to defend itself against Hezbollah, when asked about a rocket attack on a football field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 youths.

Israel accused Hezbollah of being behind that attack while the group denied any responsibility for the strike that raised fears of a wider regional war.

“Israel has every right to defend itself against Hezbollah like they do against Hamas,” Schumer told CBS News in an interview.

Ex-general warns against ‘setting entire Middle East on fire’

Retired Israeli Major-General Itzhak Brik says potential escalation with Lebanon’s Hezbollah in the north of the country may lead to “a full-scale regional war and the destruction of our country”.

He told the Maariv newspaper those who seek revenge after the attack on the occupied Golan Heights may drag Israel further into the war with Hezbollah, with rockets targeting residences, power plants, gas platforms, army bases and factories.

“As a result, Israel will suffer very heavy losses and the country will be destroyed. We need an immediate end to the war in Gaza, which in no way leads to the end of Hamas,” said Brik.

“As long as the war in Gaza continues, it is only a matter of time before a full-scale regional war breaks out. We can respond to Hezbollah without setting the entire Middle East on fire.”

As regional tensions surge, Egypt says supporting Lebanon is important

Egypt stressed the importance of supporting Lebanon and “sparing it the scourge of war”, the country’s Foreign Ministry says.

The ministry made its statement during escalating tensions between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Cairo, a mediator in the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza, also warned of the dangers of opening a new war front with Lebanon.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/28/israels-war-on-gaza-live-11-killed-in-israeli-occupied-golan-heights

>>483209
>Check out the statements which came immediately after:
Yeah that's kinda sus

<Israel’s Minister
<“What cruel terrorist organisation shoots at playing children?”
I'm speechless.

Zionism is brain-damage

>>483211
>Retired Israeli Major-General Itzhak Brik says potential escalation with Lebanon’s Hezbollah in the north of the country may lead to “a full-scale regional war and the destruction of our country”.
Voice of reason in a sea of crazy

Families of children killed in Golan attack refuse to meet Netanyahu: Report

According to Haaretz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office unsuccessfully tried to organise a meeting today or tomorrow between the premier and several relatives of the children killed in the rocket strike on Majdal Shams.

The report said that senior members of Netanyahu’s office contacted a few relatives, and were told that the families prefer not to meet the prime minister.

Lebanon’s parliament deputy speaker: ‘We do not want war’

Elias Bou Saab has given an interview to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic, as Israel appears poised to retaliate against Hezbollah for an attack on the occupied Golan Heights yesterday, which killed 12.

Israel blames Hezbollah, the Lebanese political party and paramilitary force, for the attack – a charge it has denied.

Here are a few of the deputy speaker’s key points:

Hezbollah has no interest in bombing the town of Majdal Shams.
The mediators are in constant contact with us and trying to avoid a major escalation.
We do not want war but the Israelis want to cover up what is happening in Gaza by escalation.
US envoy Amos Hochstein is well aware of the difficulty of controlling the fronts while the war on Gaza continues.
Lebanon is united and will be more united if Israel decides to expand its attacks.
Israel must realise that war is not what will bring the residents back to their towns in the north.
If civilian casualties occur or if Beirut and its suburbs are targeted, we will not consider this a measured and limited response.

Qassam, al-Quds Brigades claim series of attacks on Israeli military

The military wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad say their fighters:

Used 114mm short-range Rajoum rockets to target an Israeli military command centre in the Netzarim Corridor, which Israel set up during the war to separate northern Gaza from the south.
Targeted a group of soldiers located south of Gaza City.
Shelled the kibbutz of Nahal Oz and the adjacent military base near the northern Gaza Strip.
Shelled Sderot, the closest Israeli city to the Gaza fence, as well as other cities close to the besieged coastal enclave.
Held back a group of Israeli soldiers invading the eastern part of Khan Younis, south of the Strip.
Shelled a group of soldiers raiding Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis.
Targeted with machinegun fire a military helicopter that was flying low in al-Zana area, east of Khan Younis.
Fired antipersonnel weapons on a group of soldiers stationed inside a house in Tal al-Hawa, south of Gaza City.
Targeted a military personnel carrier with Yasin-105 rockets also in Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood.
Shelled groups of soldiers in Juhr al-Deek in the central Gaza Strip.

More on Israel’s air attacks on Lebanon
Zeina Khodr
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

Let me just give you the list of the areas that have been hit. We have Khiam, Ram al-Thalathine [and] Tayr Harfa – but these three villages are frontline villages. They’re close to the border and they have been repeatedly hit during the course of the ongoing confrontations between the Israeli military and Hezbollah. But we’re getting reports of air strikes deeper inside Lebanon, close to the southern city of Tyre, in the towns of Burj al-Shemali and in Aabbassiyeh.

In Burj al-Shemali, we’re getting reports that a residential building was targeted, and in Aabbassiyeh, we’re getting reports of minor injuries because of glass falling. These two villages have not been evacuated, they’re not considered frontline villages. They’re quite a few kilometres away from the border, but it’s not clear yet what the target was.

This is not the first time Israel has hit locations deep inside Lebanon during the past 10 months, but the Lebanese government issued a statement this evening, condemning all acts of violence against all civilians and calling for the immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts. This is quite significant. It shows you the seriousness of the situation for the Lebanese government to condemn an attack in Israel, despite the fact that this is occupied territory.

Netanyahu authorized by cabinet on to decide on Golan Heights attack response

After the meeting of Israel’s security cabinet ended, Netanyahu’s office said the cabinet “authorised the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister to decide on the manner and timing of the response.”

Lebanon has asked the US to urge restraint from Israel, Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, told Reuters. Bou Habib said the US had asked Lebanon’s government to pass on a message to Hezbollah to show restraint as well.

There are expectations of a strong response following the security cabinet meeting convened by Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.

Israeli security cabinet meetings ends, reports say

Israeli media is reporting that the cabinet, which was convened earlier by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has authorised him and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant to decide on the country’s response to yesterday’s deadly attack on Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israeli news outlet Yedioth Ahronoth reports that the military will take “limited” but strong action against Hezbollah, the group in Lebanon that Israel blames for the attack.

Hezbollah has denied all responsibility.

Netanyahu denies children exit from Gaza to UAE for treatment

According to Israeli media reports, Israel had perviously given approval to allow 150 critically ill children from Gaza to receive treatment in the UAE.

However, following the incident in Majdal Shams, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspended this decision, the reports said.

Tania Hary, executive director at Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, said the children were meant to leave tomorrow via Israel’s Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.

Turkey might enter Israel to help Palestinians: Erdogan

President Tayyip Erdogan has said that Turkey might enter Israel as it had done in the past in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, though he did not spell out what sort of intervention he was suggesting.

Erdogan, who has been a fierce critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, made his statement during a speech praising his country’s defence industry.

“We must be very strong so that Israel can’t do these ridiculous things to Palestine. Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them,” Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling AK Party in his hometown of Rize.

“There is no reason why we cannot do this … We must be strong so that we can take these steps,” Erdogan added in the televised address.

The president appeared to be referring to past actions by Turkey.

In 2020, Turkey sent military personnel to Libya in support of the United Nations-recognised Government of National Accord of Libya.

Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, who heads the Government of National Unity in Tripoli, is backed by Turkey.

Turkey has denied any direct role in Azerbaijan’s military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh, but said last year it was using “all means”, including military training and modernisation, to support its close ally.

Israel’s Katz sends warning to Erdogan after comments

Foreign Minister Israel Katz has responded to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement on possibly entering Israel to defend Palestinians.

“Erdogan follows in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatens to attack Israel,” Katz said on X, referring to the former Iraqi leader.

“Just let him remember what happened there and how it ended.”

Hussein was killed by hanging in 2006 after being sentenced to death by an Iraqi court, convicted of crimes against humanity.

Harris’s support for Israel ‘ironclad’ after attack on Golan Heights

US Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for Israel’s security is “ironclad,” her national security adviser Phil Gordon says, adding that she has been briefed and is closely monitoring a rocket attack on a football ground in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

…

“Israel continues to face severe threats to its security, and the Vice President’s support for Israel’s security is ironclad,” Gordon said in a statement.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/28/israels-war-on-gaza-live-11-killed-in-israeli-occupied-golan-heights

>>483216
>According to Haaretz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office unsuccessfully tried to organise a meeting today or tomorrow between the premier and several relatives of the children killed in the rocket strike on Majdal Shams.
<Make war that gets children killed
<Ask the parents of said children whether they want to help with war-propaganda.
<get told to fuck off

The sheer level of callousness. If they keep trying to instrumentalize their victims in this way, eventually one of these is going to say yes to whack Netanyahu in front of the press while screaming vengeance

Useful Idiots Monday Mourning with Katie Halper & Aaron Mate 07/29/2024

Israeli army fighting Palestinians north of Jerusalem: Wafa

The Israeli army is fighting with Palestinians in the town of al-Issawiya, north of Jerusalem, the Wafa news agency reported.

The confrontations began as the military stormed a medical centre in the town, Wafa reported, citing local sources.

One man, identified as Muhammad Yasser Darwish, was arrested.

More countries issue travel warnings for Lebanon

We reported earlier that the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Beirut encouraged all Norwegian citizens to leave Lebanon amid escalating tensions with Israel.

The Irish government also said that it “strongly advises all Irish citizens currently in Lebanon to leave now, while commercial options remain available.”

“In light of the unpredictability of the situation, events could escalate throughout the country with very little warning. This could affect exit routes out of Lebanon,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

The US Embassy in Beirut told its citizens to “monitor their flight status closely, to be aware that itineraries could change with little or no warning, and to make alternate plans” after Lebanon’s MEA company changed its flight schedule citing security concerns.

“The security environment in Lebanon remains complex and can change quickly,” it added.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/28/israels-war-on-gaza-live-11-killed-in-israeli-occupied-golan-heights

Demonstrators try to breach Israeli base after soldiers detained on abuse suspicion

Local media is reporting protests outside of the Beit Lid military base, where Israeli soldiers were transported after they were detained earlier today, suspected of committing violations, including sexual abuse, against Palestinian prisoners at the Sde Teiman prison.

Israel’s Kann news said that demonstrations tried to break into the base, in support of the accused soldiers.

https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/1817969240655437997

Israel continues attacks on southern Lebanon

Video and photos posted on social media by a local rescue organisation show smoke rising from an attack on a car in the town of Kunin, in the south of the country.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reports that two people were wounded in the attack, one seriously.

Elsewhere in south Lebanon, an attack occurred on the town of Shebaa, heavily damaging a house and vehicles parked nearby, scenes from the ground show. We do not have information on casualties that resulted from this attack, but we will keep you updated.

Al-Quds Brigades claims attacks on Israeli forces in Khan Younis

The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group says it has struck separate groups of Israeli vehicles and soldiers in the northeast and east of the city in southern Gaza.

Separately, the group said a sniper shot down an Israeli soldier in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood in the southwest of Gaza City.

Hamas says Netanyahu keeps stalling truce deal

The Palestinian group says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has added new conditions and demands to a US ceasefire proposal, following the latest round of talks in Rome conducted through mediators.

The group said in a statement that the Israeli ceasefire response to the proposal showed that Netanyahu was stalling to avoid reaching an agreement.

“It is clear from what the mediators conveyed that Netanyahu has returned to his strategy of procrastination, evasion, and avoiding reaching an agreement by setting new conditions and demands,” Hamas added.

It accused Netanyahu of retreating from a proposal previously presented by the mediators, which it said had already been based on an “Israeli paper”.

Sde Teiman protests an endorsement of ‘brutal abuse of Palestinians’, NGO says

Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence has said that protesters – including far-right politicians who are supporting arrested soldiers suspected of the sexual abuse of a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman prison – are “essentially issuing a full-throated endorsement of unimaginably brutal abuse of Palestinians”.

In a statement on X, the NGO also described the dire conditions in the prison for Palestinian prisoners.

“Tens of dead detainees; Indefinite restraints resulting in amputations; medical procedures with no anaesthesia; sleep deprivation; brutal beatings; sexual torture,” it said.

Egyptian FM calls Lebanese PM over Israeli threats

Najib Mikati’s office says that he received a phone call from Badr Abdelatty, Egypt’s foreign minister, during which the pair discussed the situation in Lebanon “in light of the recent Israeli threats and the ongoing aggression against southern Lebanon”.

Mikati’s office said that the FM expressed Egypt’s solidarity with and support for Lebanon, and its rejection of any attack on it.

“This position has been communicated to all concerned, stressing that only the political solution can end crises and wars,” the Egytpain FM was quoted as saying.

Israel has vowed to act against Lebanon and Hezbollah, the political party and armed paramilitary organisation, for a deadly attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday.

Hezbollah denies responsibility for this attack.

Iran warns of ‘serious consequences’ for Israel if it attacks Lebanon

Any possible Israeli attack on Lebanon “will have serious consequences for Israel”, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a phone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Iran’s state media reported on Monday.

“We are willing to improve our relations with France on the basis of mutual trust,” Pezeshkian added in his conversation with Macron.

Macron spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, the French presidency said, as Paris seeks to prevent a broader escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.

The presidency said Macron had reminded Netanyahu that France was fully committed to doing “everything to avoid a new escalation in the region by passing messages to all parties involved in the conflict”.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/29/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-forces-palestinians-into-14-of-gaza-un

Full report: Polio epidemic declared in Gaza

Gaza’s health ministry has declared a polio epidemic across the Palestinian enclave, blaming Israel’s devastating military offensive for the spread of the deadly virus.

In a statement on Telegram, the ministry on Monday said the situation “poses a health threat to the residents of Gaza and neighbouring countries” – the latest sign of a worsening public health emergency caused by Israel’s war on the besieged territory.

read more:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/29/polio-epidemic-declared-in-gaza-in-latest-sign-of-worsening-health-crisis

Israeli soldiers blew up Rafah’s main drinking water tank: Report

The Israeli army is investigating a video posted by its own soldiers showing the explosion of the tank which constitutes a violation of international law, according to the Haaretz newspaper.

The suspected crime was carried out by the soldiers of the 401st Brigade last week with the approval of the brigade’s commanders, the report said.

It said one of the soldiers uploaded a recording of the explosion to social media, alongside the caption: “Destruction of the Tal as-Sultan water reservoir in honour of Shabbat,” in reference to Saturday, the Jewish day of rest.

The initial probe will determine whether the Investigating Military Police (MIP) needs to investigate the case, the Israeli newspaper said.

https://twitter.com/ytirawi/status/1816965332952555683

More on Israeli destruction of Rafah’s main water tank

We have reported earlier that a preliminary investigation is under way in Israel into the video posted by an Israeli soldier, showing the troops blowing up Rafah’s main drinking water tank last week.

Since then, Rafah Mayor Ahmed al-Sufi has commented about the attack which constituted “a crime against humanity”, saying the Israeli troops destroyed not only the tank but also a water well in the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood, west of Rafah. The destruction exacerbated the water crisis in the southern city, he added.

“The documented scenes of the occupation soldiers blowing up the Canada water tank, which was feeding the Rafah water network with 3,000 m3 per day, and the Canada Well, which operates at an operational capacity of 180 m3/hour, and the soldiers’ boasting while carrying out their mission reveal the truth of their goals of destroying everything that exists and destroying the necessities of life and their disregard for international laws,” he said in a statement.

He added that the total cost of constructing the tank and well amounted to $1.7m.

Al-Sufi appealed to international community “to quickly intervene to stop the occupation’s crimes against the Palestinian people” and open the border crossings to bring in spare parts and machinery to repair the water network and the sewage network.

Israeli protesters storm military court

We’ve been reporting on a backlash in Israel against the detentions and investigation of nine soldiers accused of abuse of Palestinian prisoners at the Sde Teiman prison.

According to Israeli media, protesters have now entered a court building at the Beit Lid military base.

Video shared by Israeli Army Radio shows scenes from the court:

https://twitter.com/GLZRadio/status/1817979627530231945

Hezbollah announces strike on Israeli army site

The Lebanese group says it has attacked the “al-Raheb site” in northern Israel with guided missiles.

The group said on Telegram the targeting was carried out in support of the people in Gaza and in response to “the aggression and assassination” in the town of Chaqra, where two of its members were killed earlier today.

Less than an hour ago, Hezbollah had said it conducted a separate rocket attack on the “al-Baghdadi site” in northern Israel.

Cyprus on standby to help if civilian evacuations needed

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos says Cyprus is on standby to assist in the evacuation of civilians from the Middle East if the standoff between Israel and Hezbollah escalates.

Speaking to reporters, he said Cypriot authorities have had an emergency response mechanism in place for a possible evacuation of civilians since the start of the war.

“We have established the manner in which the scheme will operate, if needed,” Kombos said.

Hezbollah begins moving missiles amid Israel threat: Report

An official with the Lebanese group has told AP that Hezbollah’s stance has not changed and that it does not want a full-blown war with Israel.

The official added, however, that if a war breaks out, it will fight without limits.

The official, who spoke to the news agency on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military activities, said Hezbollah, since Sunday, has started moving some of its “smart precision-guided missiles” to use if needed.

Hezbollah’s move comes as Israel threatens to launch a “harsh” attack on Lebanon following the weekend strike that killed 12 children in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Netanyahu visits rocket attack site in occupied Golan Heights

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has visited the site of a deadly rocket attack in the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Reporting about the visit, he said on X that Israel’s “response will come, and it will be hard”, reiterating that Lebanon’s Hezbollah was behind the attack that killed 12 youth despite the armed group’s denial of any involvement.

He told the Druze community of the region not to lose hope “in the face of the acts of harassment by the evil axis of Iran and Hezbollah”.

Earlier, there were reports of hundreds of Majdal Shams residents objecting to Netanyahu’s visit, trying to prevent him from entering the town and calling him a fascist and a criminal.

The news outlet Israel Hayom broadcast a video, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency, in which residents of the town were heard making angry chants against Netanyahu and demanding that he leave.

https://twitter.com/IsraelHayomHeb/status/1817895313346089039

Royal Jordanian suspends flights to Beirut

Jordan’s flag carrier Royal Jordanian has suspended flights to Beirut scheduled for today and tomorrow, according to the kingdom’s public broadcaster, citing a statement from the airline.

The airline said evaluation was ongoing regarding flights scheduled for tomorrow, Jordanian TV reported.

Earlier, German airline Lufthansa said it had suspended services to the Lebanese capital until August 5.

More Beirut flight suspensions

Air France and low-cost carrier Transavia France have suspended their flights between Paris and Beirut due to the “security situation” in Lebanon, according to the companies.

The announcement, which follows a similar decision by Germany’s Lufthansa, comes a day after Israel decided to hit back after a rocket fire killed 12 people in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights.

Lebanese group Hezbollah, blamed by Israel for the attack, has denied responsibility.

Turkish official accuses Israel of threatening Erdogan

Fahrettin Altun, the head of communications for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has accused the Israeli government of trying to “hide your war crimes” by targeting Erdogan after he seemingly threatened to invade Israel.

He said on social media platform X that those who threaten the president “do so at their own peril”.

In televised remarks to ruling party officials yesterday night, Erdogan had said: “Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them [Israel].”

In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Erdogan “follows in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatens to attack Israel”.

Hezbollah mourns 2 members killed in southern Lebanon

The Lebanese group says two of its members – Abbas Muhammad Salami and Abbas Fadi Hijazi – have been killed.

Salami, also known as Zain al-Abidin, was a 33-year-old from the town of Khirbet Silm, who lived in the town of Chaqra in southern Lebanon.

Hijazi, also known as Abbas al-Hurr, was a 29-year-old from the town of Majdal Selem, also in southern Lebanon.

The announcement comes shortly after two people were confirmed killed in an Israeli drone attack on a motorcycle and a car on a road between the towns of Meiss el-Jabal and Chaqra in southern Lebanon.

The drone strikes also injured three other people, including a child, according to the Lebanese media outlets.

Lebanon braces for Israeli response to Majdal Shams attack
Zeina Khodr
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

Some airlines have rescheduled overnight flights, delaying them to morning. Some airlines have cancelled them altogether.

It is unusual. The confrontations between the Israeli military and Hezbollah have been going on for 10 months now and this is the first time that the flight cancellations have happened.

The Beirut airport is still busy. Some people are leaving the country but this is not a mass evacuation, at least not yet. We have spoken to people here. Some families have told us that they are leaving the country earlier than planned due to the security situation, due to the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

People here are bracing themselves, expecting the Israeli response to the rocket attack in Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Some people are speculating that the Beirut airport could be the target of the Israeli military because it was one of the first targets during the previous war in 2006.

The Israeli media are talking about a significant, strong and harsh response, but a limited one as well. Whatever it could be, it is Hezbollah’s response that will decide if the conflict can be contained.

Hezbollah evacuates some positions in Lebanon, Syria: Report

Hezbollah and its affiliated groups have evacuated some positions in parts of Lebanon and Syria after Israel promised to exact a “heavy price” over the deadly rocket attack on the occupied Golan Heights, according to AFP.

A source close to the Lebanese armed group told AFP that “Hezbollah has evacuated some positions in the south and in the Bekaa Valley [in the east] that it thinks could be a target for Israel”.

In Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said pro-Iran groups and Hezbollah-affiliated fighters have “evacuated their positions” south of the capital, Damascus, and in the surrounding countryside, as well as in parts of the Syrian-controlled Golan Heights, in anticipation of “potential Israeli airstrikes”.

Turkey compares Netanyahu to Hitler as tensions rise

More on the war of words between Israel and Turkey.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying “just as the end of the genocidal Hitler came, so too will be the end of the genocidal Netanyahu,” according to the official Anadolu Agency.

“Just as the genocidal Nazis were held accountable, those who seek to destroy the Palestinians will also be held accountable,” the statement continued.

“Humanity will stand with the Palestinians. You will not be able to destroy the Palestinians,” it added.

The statement came after Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded to remarks by the Turkish president in which he suggested Turkey should enter Israel to help the Palestinians. Katz said, “Erdogan was following in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein […] Just let him remember what happened there and how it ended.”

Outrage after Harris, Australia’s Wong refer to Majdal Shams as ‘Israeli’ town

Legal experts have criticised statements from US Vice President Kamala Harris and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong that described Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights as an Israeli town, although it is located in a territory that is internationally recognised as part of Syria.

Israel occupied two-thirds of the strategic Golan Heights plateau after capturing it in the Six-Day War in 1967, and annexed the territory in 1981.

Adil Haque, a law professor at Rutgers University, said Harris’s condemnation of the attack on the Golan Heights was “entirely appropriate” but “recognition of Israel’s illegal annexation of the Golan Heights is not”.

In Australia, Rawan Arraf, the executive director of the Australian Centre for International Justice, quoted Wong’s tweet and said: “Majdal Shams is not an ‘Israeli’ town. It is a Syrian town in the occupied Syrian Golan […] is Australia into recognising annexed illegally occupied territory now? Would that apply to Crimea and eastern Ukraine?”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/29/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-forces-palestinians-into-14-of-gaza-un

Church housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza City bombed

Al Jazeera’s correspondent reports that a number of Palestinians have been injured when the Israeli army bombed St Porphyrius Church in northern Gaza.

Exact casualty numbers are not available at this time, but we will bring you updates on this attack as information comes in.

Israel’s foreign minister calls on NATO to expel Turkey

Israel’s foreign minister has called on NATO to expel Turkey as a member of the military alliance in a move likely to further raise tensions between the countries.

“In light of Turkish President Erdogan’s threats to invade Israel and his dangerous rhetoric, Foreign Minister Israel Katz instructed diplomats … to urgently engage with all NATO members, calling for the condemnation of Turkey and demanding its expulsion from the regional alliance,” the Foreign Ministry said.

On Sunday, Erdogan said Turkey might enter Israel as it had done in the past in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh although he did not spell out what sort of intervention he was suggesting.

“We must be very strong so that Israel can’t do these ridiculous things to Palestine. Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them,” Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling AK Party in his hometown of Rize.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/29/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-forces-palestinians-into-14-of-gaza-un

Full report: Israeli far-right politicians protest arrest of soldiers suspected of abuse

Dozens of Israeli protesters, including far-right members of the Knesset, have clashed with military police after at least nine soldiers suspected of abusing a Palestinian prisoner were detained for questioning from the Sde Teiman detention facility in southern Israel.

The protesters waved Israeli flags and stormed through the facility’s gate on Monday to try to prevent the soldiers’ detention as they chanted “shame”. They defended the soldiers, saying they were doing their duty. Several Israeli civilians rushed to lend support to the soldiers, according to media reports.

Some unsuccessfully tried to break into the facility. One soldier was quoted as saying by the Haaretz newspaper that some members of the military directed pepper spray at the military police who came to detain the soldiers.

Demonstrators also tried to breach the Beit Lid military base, where the soldiers were transported, according to local media.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/29/israeli-far-right-politicians-protest-arrest-of-soldiers-suspected-of-abuse

>>483226
>The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement
>“Just as the genocidal Nazis were held accountable, those who seek to destroy the Palestinians will also be held accountable,” the statement continued.
>“Humanity will stand with the Palestinians. You will not be able to destroy the Palestinians,” it added.

I know it's proly just fiery speeches, still, it feels nice to hear the sound of justice from officialdom.

Gaza War Sit Rep Day 297: Israel Unravels
This one's full of bangers.

Rights group slams US’s Kirby for Golan Heights comments

Earlier today, during a news conference, US National Security Advisor John Kirby suggested that the Golan Heights, an area occupied by Israel since 1967, is part of Israel’s territory.

The Arab American Institute says in a statement that those comments are “dangerous”, and represent the first indication that the administration of President Joe Biden accepts and endorses the decision of former President Trump to recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the territory.

Trump’s move made the US the first country to recognise Israel’s right to hold the Golan Heights.

“Rules-based order does not allow for the illegal annexation of occupied land – whether in Ukraine – or Syria, Palestine and Lebanon” the group’s statement reads.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/29/israeli-far-right-politicians-protest-arrest-of-soldiers-suspected-of-abuse

ICJ ruling on Israel’s occupation leaves US facing a hard choice

On July 19, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory ruling pertaining to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Much will go into analysing that ruling, but there is one big question that needs to be asked: How is this reminder of international law, and its position on Israel’s occupation, going to reverberate in the United States particularly, and the West more widely?

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/7/29/the-icj-opinion-on-israels-occupation-leaves-the-us-facing-a-hard-choice

Civil Defence: About 300 killed in Khan Younis during Israeli assault

A large number of bodies were decomposed when recovered after the nine-day Israeli army incursion in and around the southern Gaza city, the emergency rescue agency says on Telegram.

“Our crews are still searching for missing persons,” it said, adding that 31 homes were bombed while inhabited by Palestinians.

Earlier, Gaza’s Government Media Office said at least 255 people were killed during the ground invasion. It’s unclear why there’s a discrepancy in the data.

Rockets target Israeli forces in northern Gaza, Palestinian snipers hit in south: Monitors

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighters attacked Israeli forces operating in neighbourhoods to the south of Gaza City with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, and fired rockets at troops deployed on the Netzarim Corridor further to the south, war monitors report.

In southern Gaza’s Rafah city, Hamas fired a “Red Arrow” guided missile at an Israeli armoured vehicle on Monday, according to US-based defence think tanks the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP).

A combined Hamas-PIJ sniper attack also targeted an Israeli soldier in eastern Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip and another joint Hamas-PIJ sniper team fired on an Israeli soldier in the Bani Suheila area of the city, according to the latest ISW-CTP battlefield report.

Hezbollah claims to have repelled Israeli warplanes

Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group claims its air defence unit has repelled Israeli warplanes that broke the sound barrier over the Lebanese airspace.

The group said on Telegram that the aircraft were forced “to retreat behind the borders inside occupied Palestine”.

Attacks, discrimination against US Muslims, Palestinians jumps 70% in first half of 2024: CAIR

Attacks and cases of discrimination against Muslims and Palestinians in the United States rose by about 70 percent from January to June, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

CAIR said it received 4,951 complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian incidents, which is a steep rise compared with the same period last year, Reuters reports. CAIR documented 8,061 complaints in the whole of 2023.

Most of the complaints were in the categories of immigration and asylum, employment discrimination, education discrimination and hate crimes, the advocacy group said.

Serious incidents against Muslims and Palestinians in the US in the nine months since Israel’s war on Gaza began include the fatal stabbing of a six-year-old Palestinian-American child in Illinois in October. The stabbing in February of a Palestinian-American man in Texas. The shooting of three students of Palestinian descent in Vermont in November, and the attempted drowning of a three-year-old Palestinian-American girl in May.

Australia holds public hearings into genocide bill amendment

Australian senator Lidia Thorpe says public hearings being held today are considering gaps in Australian law that affect Palestinians and Indigenous people seeking accountability for the crime of genocide.

In a statement before the hearings, Thorpe said her proposed amendment to the Australian Genocide Bill would remove the “fiat power” that allows the Attorney General to “block prosecution of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity from proceeding in Australian courts.”

“My Bill helps get political interference out of our legal system, and gives victims and survivors of these most heinous crimes a better chance at justice,” said Thorpe, who is an Indigenous Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung senator from the state of Victoria.

“Whether you’re a Palestinian Australian who has seen your family murdered in Gaza, or a Black [Indigenous] mother wanting to hold this government to account for the ongoing removal of First Nations children, my bill will give people in this country a better chance for justice”, she said.

Sde Teiman ‘torture’ one of ‘thousands of crimes’ in Israeli prisons: Palestinian prisoners group

The head of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, Abdullah al-Zaghari, has addressed reports of torture and sexual assault at Israel’s Sde Teiman detention camp, saying it represents “one of thousands of crimes” against Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

Al-Zaghari said in a statement on social media that Palestinian prisoners have recounted “killing, torture, rape, starvation, and humiliation” in Israeli prisons, describing their treatment as part of an “organised war of extermination against our people”.

The report from Sde Teiman led to the arrest of nine Israeli soldiers, but Al-Zaghari cautioned against treating it as an isolated incident that could be attributed to individual prison guards, noting that the actions were also reflected in statements from senior Israeli ministers such as Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society has “documented many testimonies” of similar crimes committed against Palestinians at several Israeli prisons, including, notably, Negev Prison, he added, renewing calls for an international investigation and an “immediate and urgent intervention to put an end to the crimes of torture”.

Israeli soldiers suspected of abuse to be brought to military court: Reports

Nine Israeli soldiers arrested on suspicion of abusing a Palestinian prisoner will be brought for a hearing later today to the Camp Gur military court, according to Israeli media.

The suspects are accused of severe violence, including acts of sodomy, which caused the Palestinian man to be hospitalised, the Israeli media reports said.

Palestinian rights groups have documented widespread abuse inside Israeli prisons even before Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza nearly 10 months ago.

The Israeli military police made the arrests yesterday at the Sde Teiman military base, prompting the country’s far-right politicians and their supporters to storm the facility in protest.

Greece’s Aegean Airlines cancels flights to Beirut until August 1

“We are constantly evaluating the developments following the instructions of the competent authorities,” the airline said.

The announcement comes amid fears of an all-out regional war as the Israeli army promised to respond after 12 members of the Druze community were killed on Saturday in the deadliest attack against civilian casualties on Israeli soil since the start of the war in Gaza.

Israel blamed the assault on Hezbollah, which denied any involvement. Yet the group claimed responsibility for other strikes on the same day in areas nearby.

Some observers noted the deadly attack could have been a miscalculation as Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire on a near-daily basis since October 7. While the clashes have largely remained confined to border areas, they have gradually increased in intensity.

Leaders of Hamas, PIJ meet Iran’s supreme leader in Tehran

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has hosted a Palestinian delegation headed by Ziyad al-Nakhalah, the secretary-general of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas.

That’s according to Iran’s IRNA news agency. It also reported that the Palestinian officials were in Tehran for the inauguration ceremony of President Masoud Pezeshkian.

https://twitter.com/IRNA_1313/status/1818196821077889321

Israel’s defence minister seeks probe into Ben-Gvir’s role in Sde Teiman ordeal

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to investigate whether the country’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir prevented or delayed police from stopping protesters who stormed the Sde Teiman military facility yesterday.

The members of Ben-Gvir’s party took part in the incident that started in protest of the detention of nine Israeli soldiers suspected of severely abusing a Palestinian detainee. Later, the protesters also tried to breach the Beit Lid military base, where the suspects were transported.

In an open letter, Gallant called on Netanyahu to examine “if the minister of national security prevented or delayed the police from responding to the violent incidents that members of his party took part in”.

Canada protesters block armoured vehicle company over Israel links

A coalition of demonstrators from across the Toronto region have blocked employees from entering the Roshel Armored Vehicles facility in Brampton, Canada, over its alleged ties to Israeli weapons companies.

The protesters demanded the Canadian government deny arms export permits that Roshel is seeking to send armoured vehicles to Israel and instead implement a full weapons embargo.

“I have witnessed armoured vehicles identical to the ones here in the parking lot at Roshel being used to kidnap my family members and my friends in the West Bank more times than I can count,” said Adham, a protester with the Palestinian Youth Movement who didn’t give his surname.

“I myself was beaten physically and tortured psychologically as a 10-year-old simply for being outside when [Israeli] soldiers raided my neighbourhood in Tulkarem refugee camp using these vehicles. As someone who has been living in Brampton for over 10 years, I was absolutely horrified to find out that there is a factory that manufactures and exports armoured vehicles to Israel so close to my house.”

https://twitter.com/WBWCanada/status/1818231505258230173

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/30/israels-war-on-gaza-live-ceasefire-needed-to-stop-polio-who

New Larry Wilkerson interview on Israel, Lebanon, and "greater Israel."

>>483241
Wow, i didn't know the social fabric of Israel had degenerated to such an extend, that the Knesset is debating about what kinds of rape are acceptable.

Beirut has been attacked.

https://x.com/sahouraxo/status/1818334325076902378

Israeli military says it carried out strike on Beirut

The military says the attack targeted a Hezbollah commander responsible for a deadly hit on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights “and the killing of numerous additional Israeli civilians”.

Hezbollah has denied Israeli claims that it carried out the attack on a football field, killing several children.

I see people in Beirut panicking after the explosion
Zeina Khodr
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

In the last few minutes, a large explosion took place in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Hezbollah’s heartland in the Lebanese capital.

We do not know if this was an air strike or a drone strike, but it seems to be a targeted surgical strike.

This appears to be the promised response by the Israeli military against Hezbollah. It is blaming the armed group for killing civilians on Saturday in Majdal Shams, an attack that Hezbollah denied responsibility for.

Lebanon was bracing for this response, but earlier today, a high-ranking Hezbollah official said that no matter what kind of strike Israel carries out, Hezbollah will respond.

Hezbollah’s response will determine the trajectory of a conflict which is now in its 10 months, triggered by the war on Gaza, which has been largely confined to the border area. This strike really changes the nature of this conflict and where we could be heading.

As I drive in the Lebanese capital. I see people panicking, talking on the phone, trying to find out more about what has just happened in the last few minutes.

Click here to share on social media

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/30/israels-war-on-gaza-live-ceasefire-needed-to-stop-polio-who

Heavy traffic and panic in southern Beirut
Ali Hashem
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

I’m in the southern suburbs of Beirut and the explosion took place around 30 minutes ago.

It was clear that a drone attacked an apartment in an area where Hezbollah functions widely.

It’s very heavy traffic right now. Everyone is trying to rush to their houses. Ambulances are rushing to the scene of the attack.

Everybody heard the explosion here, and it’s causing a lot of panic.

This is not a war, for the moment, but it could be the beginning of a series of attacks, Israel is saying, in retaliation to the attack on Majdal Shams.

What’s going to happen next is the big question. Has the Israeli threat to attack Hezbollah ended here? Or is this just the beginning?

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/30/israel-lebanon-tensions-live-israel-strikes-building-in-beirut-suburbs

>>483250
The Zionists want to kick off a regional war to draw in the US. Whether they get it, idk.
I guess Lebanon will only retaliate in kind and destroy some buildings in Tel Aviv, but not go further.

Hezbollah sources saying targeted commander survived attack
Zeina Khodr
Reporting from Haret Hreik neighbourhood, Beirut

We are in the southern suburbs of Beirut just a few metres from where the building was hit in the attack. As you can imagine, the situation is quite tense.

Now, Hezbollah sources are saying that Muhsin Shukr has survived this assassination attempt earlier. Israeli messaging is that this was their promised response, their response to the rocket attack on Saturday in the town of Majdal Shams that killed civilians.

What will Hezbollah do? The very fact that there are reports that this high-ranking commander has survived could mean that there could be a different response. It could be a very different situation, for example, if he was killed.

This was in a densely populated area. And we’re getting reports that a woman was killed. So the dust needs to settle before we can give you all the details. But this was a military target, which means that Israel is trying to stay within the unwritten rules of engagement of their ongoing confrontation with Hezbollah.

Still, earlier today, a high-ranking Hezbollah source told us that no matter what the strike, no matter if it’s limited in nature, it will be considered an act of aggression, and that Hezbollah will respond.

So we are at a tipping point in this conflict and we still do not know the trajectory of this conflict.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/30/israel-lebanon-tensions-live-israel-strikes-building-in-beirut-suburbs

Lebanon PM condemns ‘blatant Israeli aggression’ on Beirut

Lebanon’s prime minister has denounced the Israeli attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs, days after Israel promised to retaliate for deadly rocket fire from Lebanon on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Najib Mikati “condemned the blatant Israeli aggression on the southern suburbs of Beirut”, the prime minister’s office said in a statement, describing it as a “criminal act” in a “series of aggressive operations killing civilians in clear and explicit violation of international law”.

State media in Lebanon: One killed in Israeli strike on Beirut

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) says that a female civilian was killed when Israel bombed a building in Haret Hreik, in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital.

“Sixty-eight civilians were injured, five of whom were critically injured, while the rest suffered moderate to minor injuries. Most of them were treated in emergency departments and were discharged from hospitals,” the NNA added.

The hospitals that treated the patients were named as “Bahman Hospital, Al-Sahel Hospital, Al-Rasoul Al-Aazam Hospital, Al-Zahraa Hospital, Al-Jeitaoui University Hospital”.

US was offering $5m for info on target of Israeli strike

The US State Department had been offering $5m for information on Muhsin Shukr, also known as Fuad Shukr, prior to Israel’s attack today.

Hezbollah sources say Shukr survived the attack, although his fate remains unclear.

The US, in a listing explaining the reward, described Shukr as a senior advisor on military affairs to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

It also said he “played a central role” in the 1983 bombing of a US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 US soldiers.

Kamala Harris says Israel has ‘right to defend itself’ after Beirut strike

Kamala Harris has commented on the Israeli strike south of Beirut, saying that “Israel has a right to defend itself”.

“I unequivocally support Israel’s right to remain secure and to defend the security of Israel,” Harris said as she travelled to Atlanta, Georgia for a campaign event.

“What we know, in particular, is it has the right to defend itself against the terrorist organisation, which is exactly what Hezbollah is,” she said.

“But all of that being said, we still must work on a diplomatic solution to end these attacks and we will continue to do that work.”

Satellite photos shows destruction of Tal as-Sultan reservoir

On Monday, the Israeli army admitted that its soldiers were responsible for the bombing of a reservoir in Tal as-Sultan, which provided drinking water for Palestinians in Rafah.

The UN Human Rights Office commented on the incident, saying that under international humanitarian law, it is “strictly prohibited” to attack infrastructure essential to the survival of the civilian population, including water supplies.

Rafah Mayor Ahmed al-Sufi called the attack “a crime against humanity”, saying the Israeli troops destroyed not only the tank but also a water well in the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood, west of Rafah. The destruction exacerbated the water crisis in the southern city, he added.

The photos below show the well before and after the Israeli attack.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/30/israel-lebanon-tensions-live-israel-strikes-building-in-beirut-suburbs

Lebanon says three killed in Beirut strike

Lebanon’s health ministry says three people, including two children, have been killed and 74 wounded in the Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The “non-final toll of the Israeli aggression on the southern suburbs of Beirut… is three martyrs, including a woman, a girl and a boy”.

The ministry added that “the search for missing persons under the rubble continues”.

Israeli military says it killed Shukr

In a statement, the Israeli military stated that it had killed Fuad Shukr in “a targeted intelligence-based elimination”.

It also claimed that Shukr was the head of Hezbollah’s strategic unit and Hezbollah leader Nasrallah’s “right-hand man” who was his “advisor for planning and directing wartime operations”.

The Israeli military added that he was the commander responsible for Saturday’s attack on Majdal Shams that killed a dozen people.

Hezbollah says that Shukr survived the attack and the group has denied responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams.

UN’s Lebanon envoy ‘deeply concerned’ by Israeli strike on Beirut

The UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon has voiced concern after the Israeli strike on Beirut which she said resulted in multiple civilian casualties.

UN Special Coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert underscores once again that there is no such thing as a military solution” to the ongoing conflict, the envoy’s office said in a statement.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/30/israel-lebanon-tensions-live-israel-strikes-building-in-beirut-suburbs

US carries out ‘self-defence’ strikes in Iraq as regional tensions grow

The US military has carried out “self-defence” strikes in Iraq, the Reuters news agency reports, as regional tensions grow after Israel claimed it had assassinated a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon.

An anonymous US official told Reuters that the strike, the first by US forces in Iraq since February, was carried out because of a threat to coalition forces stationed there.

Blasts at a military base south of Baghdad hosting several Iran-aligned armed groups killed four people and injured three on Tuesday. It’s not immediately clear if this is the same incident as the US strikes.

On Tuesday, the Israeli army said it carried out a “precision strike” in southern Beirut targeting Hezbollah commander Mushin Shukr, in an attack that also killed three civilians.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/31/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-hits-beirut-in-assassination-operation

Far-right mobs attack Israeli journalists covering Sde Teiman protest

Israeli journalists have reported being attacked on Tuesday as they covered protests by far-right demonstrators at the Sde Teiman detention centre in southern Israel, the Haaretz newspaper reports.

Ilana Curiel, a journalist for Israeli news site Ynet, said she was left “in tears” after being physically and verbally assaulted.

“[The protesters] shoved me, spit on me and called me a slut, an ‘Arabs’ whore, a traitor. They dropped my phone twice,” she said.

Channel 12 News reporter Ori Isaac was also struck, spit on, and verbally attacked, according to Israeli media watchdog The Seventh Eye.

Demonstrators stormed Sde Teiman to protest the arrest of nine Israeli soldiers accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee at the military facility, which was set up following the launch of Israel’s war on Gaza in October.

Scuffles also broke out between demonstrators and Israeli soldiers in a separate protest at a military court in the Beit Lid army base.

Lebanon plans to file complaint to UN following the Israeli strike on Beirut

Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry has said that it plans to file a complaint to the United Nations following an Israeli strike in the south of Beirut which killed at least three civilians, including two children.

Israel claims it killed a Hezbollah commander in the strike, while the Iran-backed group says he survived.

Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey reports from the UN:

Israel intensified attacks on Gaza civilians after ‘historic’ ICJ ruling: UN experts

As we reported earlier, a group of 39 independent UN human rights experts have released a statement saying “Israel must stop acting as if uniquely above the law” and “immediately comply” with a recent “historic” ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Here’s more from the expert’s statement:

“Since the Court ruling on 19 July, Israel has intensified attacks on the civilian population in Gaza and their natural resources,” the experts said.

Three days after the ICJ ruling, Israeli ground forces began a nine-day ground invasion of eastern Khan Younis, killing 255 people, according to Gaza officials.

The Israeli army also admitted this week that it bombed a reservoir that provided drinking water for Palestinians in Rafah, one of dozens of water sources Palestinians officials say Israeli forces have destroyed this month.

The UN experts also called for an arms embargo on Israel and “targeted sanctions…on Israeli individuals and entities involved in illegal occupation and racial segregation and apartheid policies.”

Iran calls on UNSC to act on Israel’s ‘violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty’

Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, has urged the UN Security Council to take “immediate action” after Israel’s attack on Beirut, which he described as a “blatant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty” and international law.

Iravani said that Israel is “desperate” to “divert international attention from the root causes of the current situation”, which is Israel’s war on Gaza.

“The occupying regime cannot deny its responsibility for the ongoing atrocities and barbaric massacres against innocent people in Gaza,” he wrote.

Israel has said the attack on Beirut, which Lebanese officials said killed a woman and two children, targeted Hezbollah commander Muhsin Shukr.

The attack comes three days after Israel blamed Hezbollah for a rocket attack that killed 12 children and teenagers in Majdal Shams, in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/31/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-hits-beirut-in-assassination-operation

Hamas leaders assassinated by Israel in the past

January 1996: Israel assassinated Hamas military leader Yahya Ayyash in Gaza’s Beit Lahiya.
March 2004: Hamas spiritual leader and founder Sheikh Amhed Yasin was killed by Israeli strike in Gaza.
April 2004: Yasin’s successor and Hamas co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi was killed by Israeli helicopter missile strike in Gaza City.
January 2024: Senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri was killed in an Israeli drone strike in Beirut.
July 2024: Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political chief, assassinated in Iran’s capital, Tehran.

General strike declared in West Bank cities

Palestinian resistance groups have called for a “comprehensive strike” and mass demonstrations in various cities in the occupied West Bank to protest against Haniyeh’s assassination, according to local media reports.

Strikes have been called in cities including Ramallah and Nablus, where the An-Najah University also released a statement calling for the “suspension of work hours to mourn” Haniyeh.

We will bring you more on this soon.

The big question is, how will Iran respond?
Ali Hashem
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

Just a few months ago when Israel targeted the Iranian consulate in Syria, we saw Iran respond on April 14 with an attack on Israel with more than 300 drones and missiles. The United States and Israel knew the attack was coming but it was a major event in the region.

Now, given the fact that Haniyeh, an Iranian guest, was killed on Iranian soil, the big question is, what will Iran do? The repercussions are going to be big for the whole region. This could mean an Iranian attack on Israel. I cannot imagine what will happen next.

Mahmoud Abbas condemns killing of Haniyeh, calls on Palestinians to unite

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, describing the killing as a cowardly act and a dangerous development, the Wafa news agency reports.

Abbas also called on Palestinians “to unite, be patient and steadfast in the face of the Israeli occupation”, Wafa said.

Haniyeh was in Tehran for swearing-in of Iran’s new president

As we’ve been reporting, Haniyeh had travelled to Tehran to attend the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday.

The two leaders were pictured together in official photographs released by the Iranian presidency.

Pezeshkian was sworn in as Iran’s ninth president after his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May.

Haniyeh’s assassination heightens regional tensions
Ali Hashem
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

Haniyeh was in the Iranian capital, Tehran, to participate in the inauguration of Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian, and we understand that a rocket was launched at the residence he was staying in.

This makes matters very complicated.

Haniyeh was killed in Tehran. And this may escalate the whole situation in the region, especially as it comes in conjunction with the targeting of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr here in Beirut. We don’t know his state for the moment. Hezbollah did not issue a statement.

So now the big question is, what’s going to happen? What will the repercussions be? Where is the region going to go? This may force Iran to retaliate. Haniyeh was killed on its soil. So we are facing a very complicated situation.

How will Haniyeh’s assassination affect Gaza war?
Hani Mahmoud
Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Gaza

It’s quite difficult to predict what may happen next.

It could result in a much more grave situation and the Israeli military could escalate the war across the Gaza Strip.

But on the other hand, we’ve heard Netanyahu repeatedly insist on getting to the top leadership of Hamas and so this could be the absolute victory he’s been searching for.

Ismail Haniyeh is a well-known figure among Israelis, too. We’ve heard in the past that if the Israeli military is able to get to a prominent figure, this could put an end to this war. And so, Haniyeh’s assassination could increase Israeli public pressure on Netanyahu to end the war as the top leadership of Hamas has been eliminated, achieving one of the main objectives of the war.

Senior Hamas spokesperson calls Haniyeh assassination ‘grave escalation’

Senior Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri has described the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as a “grave escalation that will not achieve its goals”, the Reuters news agency reports.

Zuhri has also reportedly said Hamas will wage “open war to liberate Jerusalem” and the group is “ready to pay various prices” to do so, according to local media reports.

A Hamas statement said Haniyeh was killed in a “treacherous Zionist raid” on his residence in the Iranian capital Tehran. The Israeli government is yet to issue an official statement on the attack.

Haniyeh’s assassination ‘will not go unpunished’, says Hamas official

The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh is a “cowardly act that will not go unpunished”, Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV has quoted senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk as saying.

Hamas’s full statement on Haniyeh assassination
Palestinian group Hamas has released a statement regarding the assassination of its political leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran. Here it is in full:

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful (And do not think that those who are killed in the way of Allah are dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, receiving provision.)

The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas mourns to our great Palestinian people, to the Arab and Islamic nation, and to all the free people of the world: Brother, leader, martyr, Mujahid Ismail Haniyeh.

The head of the movement, who was killed in a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran, after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president. To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return. And it is a jihad, victory or martyrdom.

Hamas chief and bodyguard killed in attack on residence

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Ismail Haniyeh was killed in his Tehran residence along with one of his bodyguards, according to local media reports.

“The residence of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political office of Hamas Islamic Resistance, was hit in Tehran, and as a result of this incident, him and one of his bodyguards were martyred,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Sepah news website said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it’s ‘investigating’ Haniyeh assassination

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has released a statement saying it is investigating the assassination of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh at his residence in Iran’s capital Tehran.

Earlier, we reported that Hamas had said Haniyeh was killed in “a treacherous Zionist raid” alongside one of his bodyguards.

We will bring you updates on this incident when we have them.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/31/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-hits-beirut-in-assassination-operation

Air attack targeted Haniyeh in early hours of morning: Reports

Iranian media are reporting that the Hamas leader was killed by an “airborne guided projectile” that hit the residence where he was staying in the north of the capital, Tehran.

According to reports, the attack took place at about 2am local time (22:30 GMT on Tuesday) at a special residence for military veterans in the north of the city.

Failure to protect Haniyeh may prompt Tehran to take action

Abas Aslani, a fellow at the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran, spoke to Al Jazeera a little earlier about the security implications for Iran after the assassination in its capital city of Hamas’s political chief Haniyeh.

“What happened in Tehran was a bad thing for the Iranian security apparatus…and that’s why Iran will somehow feel it has to respond to this,” Aslani told Al Jazeera.

“This is not good news for the security apparatus in Tehran,” Aslani said.

“That’s why I think a retaliation or a response from the Iranian side might be inevitable… But I’m not quite sure about the quality [of any response] yet,” he said.

“I think it is yet to be determined,” he added.

“But this was, from a security perspective, very significant for Iran.”

Hezbollah says Shukr’s fate is not yet known

The Lebanese armed group has issued a preliminary statement on the Israeli attack on Beirut.

It said its commander Fuad Shukr, also known as Hajj Mohsen, was present in the building at the time of the attack, but said his fate is not yet known.

The attack caused “significant destruction to several floors of the building”, it said.

“Since the incident, civil defence teams have been diligently working to remove the rubble, albeit slowly due to the condition of the destroyed floors. We are still awaiting the outcome of this operation concerning the fate of the esteemed leader and other citizens in this location to act accordingly,” it added.

Earlier, Israel claimed to have killed the Hezbollah commander, but sources from the Lebanese armed group claim he had survived.

Russia calls killing of Hamas leader ‘unacceptable political murder’, RIA reports

The killing of Hamas’s chief political leader Ismail Haniyeh is “an absolutely unacceptable political murder”, a deputy Russian foreign minister told the RIA Novosti state news agency on Wednesday.

“This is an absolutely unacceptable political murder, and it will lead to further escalation of tensions,” Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted as saying.

Turkey condemns Haniyeh’s ‘heinous’ assassination

The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying Haniyeh’s killing “once again demonstrates that Israel’s Netanyahu government has no intention of achieving peace”, according to the Anadolu news agency.

“[The] region will face much larger conflicts if [the] international community does not take action to stop Israel,” the ministry added.

Iran’s National Security Council meets to discuss response: Report

Members of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council along with senior commanders from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have convened a meeting to discuss the country’s response to Haniyeh’s assassination, the Reuters news agency reports.

Hamas has blamed Israel for the attack, which occurred at Haniyeh’s residence in the Iranian capital, Tehran. One of his bodyguards was also killed in the attack.

Israel is yet to comment on the incident.

Islamic Jihad responds to Haniyeh’s assassination

The Palestinian group’s Deputy Secretary-General Muhammad al-Hindi told Lebanese TV station Al Mayadeen:

“This assassination is not only directed at the Palestinian resistance and Hamas, in particular, but it is also directed at Iran.

“Israel is on the verge of collapse, and its reactions reflect confusion and inability to achieve any of its goals.

“Israel is facing such resistance for the first time in its history.”

Palestinian Islamic Jihad is an ally of Hamas and took part in the October 7 attacks on Israel.

Prospects for a ceasefire more distant than ever

Haniyeh was a political figure, and a pragmatic one.

He was known for maintaining very positive relations with Palestinian leaders from all factions – a reason why we have seen a rush of expression of solidarity.

One would expect that the hardliners in Hamas would now be in a better position to dictate its agenda. It would be very difficult to see that the talks that were trying to keep the ceasefire alive would have any traction at this point.

Maybe there wouldn’t be a dramatic change in the dynamics on the ground in Gaza when it comes to fighting, but certainly the prospects of a ceasefire urgently needed … are more distant than they have ever been.

Yemen’s Houthi say killing of Hamas’s Haniyeh a ‘terrorist crime’

Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau, said the assassination of the Hamas leader was a “heinous terrorist crime” and “a flagrant violation of laws and ideal values”.

Staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, Houthi fighters in Yemen have launched attacks for months on shipping linked to Israel in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The Houthis say their campaign will end when Israel ends its war on Gaza.

Israeli forces bomb al-Mawasi, Gaza City, Jabalia

Israel’s military kept up its relentless attacks across the Gaza Strip overnight, bombing and shelling al-Mawasi and Abasan al-Kabira in the south and Gaza City and Jabalia in the north, the Wafa news agency reported.

A number of Palestinians were killed and wounded in the attacks, the agency said, without specifying the exact toll.

Israeli forces have killed at least 39,400 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/31/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-hits-beirut-in-assassination-operation

Haniyeh’s son pledges to keep fighting for freedom

Abdul Salam Haniyeh said his father’s killing will not end Palestinians’ resistance against Israel.

“My father survived four assassination attempts during his patriotic journey, and today Allah has granted him the martyrdom that he always wished for,” the younger Haniyeh said. “He was very keen to establish national unity and strived for the unity of all Palestinian factions and we affirm that this assassination will not deter the resistance, which will fight until freedom is achieved.”

Dozens of Haniyeh family members killed since October 7

Before his assassination, Haniyeh’s family members based in Gaza have been targeted by Israel.

In June, 10 members of his family were killed in an Israeli air strike in northern Gaza’s Shati refugee camp. Back then, the Hamas leader said that more than 60 of his family members had been killed since the start of the war on October 7.

In April, three of his sons – Hazem, Amir and Mohammad – were killed when the car they were driving in was bombed in Gaza’s Shati camp.

Four of Haniyeh’s grandchildren, three girls and a boy, were also killed in the attack, according to Hamas.

China condemns Haniyeh’s assassination

Lin Jian, the spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, condemned the Hamas leader’s death and said Beijing is “deeply concerned that this incident may lead to further instability in the regional situation”.

Lin added that “Gaza should achieve a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire as soon as possible”.

China, which has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, hosted rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah in Beijing earlier this month. At that meeting, the two sides signed an agreement to form a “national unity government” in post-war Gaza.

Iran’s president vows to make Israel ‘regret cowardly action’

Masoud Pezeshkian has issued a statement saying Tehran will defend its territorial integrity and dignity.

Here’s the full statement released by the state media:

“Today, dear Iran is mourning its sharer of sorrows and joys, the constant and proud companion of the path of resistance, the brave leader of the Palestinian resistance, the martyr of al-Quds, Haj Ismail Haniyeh. Yesterday I raised his victorious hand and today I have to bury him on my shoulders.

Martyrdom is the art of men of God. The bond between the two proud nations of Iran and Palestine will be stronger than before, and the path of resistance and defense of the oppressed will be followed stronger than ever.

The Islamic Republic of Iran will defend its territorial integrity, honour, dignity and pride, and make the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly action.”

Hezbollah confirms death of commander targeted by Israel in Beirut

In an official statement on its Telegram channel, the Lebanese political party and paramilitary group has confirmed the death of Fuad Shukr, a senior military figure in its organisation.

Shukr was targeted by Israel yesterday in an air strike on Beirut’s Haret Hreik neighbourhood, which killed at least five people and injured dozens.

Israel blames Shukr for an attack on the occupied Golan Heights over the weekend that killed 12 children and teenagers, and said his targeting was in response to this attack.

EU calls for ‘maximum restraint’ after Hamas chief killing

The European Union has urged all sides to avoid escalation after Hamas said its political leader Ismail Haniyeh had been killed by an Israeli strike on Iran’s capital.

“We call on all parties to exert maximum restraint and avoid any further escalation,” EU spokesperson Peter Stano said. “No country and no nation stand to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.”

UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting over Hamas chief killing

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting later today after Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed by an air strike on Iran’s capital, the Russian presidency of the council has said.

The meeting, requested by Iran and supported by representatives of Russia, China and Algeria, is scheduled for 20:00 GMT, said a spokesperson for the Russian presidency, which holds the rotating leadership of the council.

‘Israeli army knew they were journalists’

Ismail al-Thawabteh, head of the Government Media Office in Gaza, says despite the military’s knowledge of the identity of the two Al Jazeera reporters, “it still executed them in a heinous, barbaric way”.

In a show of solidarity with Palestinian journalists and media professionals at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, he said: “This raises the number of journalists and media personnel killed to 165. They were killed so the truth can’t be seen.”

“We denounce these continuous crimes against the media, and we hold Israel’s occupation responsible for their killings, and we hold the US administration responsible as well for giving Israel the green light to assassinate Palestinian journalists with US weaponry and missiles.”

Death toll from Israeli air strike in Beirut rises to five
Zeina Khodr
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

Lebanon’s Health Ministry has announced that five civilians have been killed in an attack that targeted one of Hezbollah’s top commanders.

What we understand from sources is that his body has been found, but an official announcement has yet to be made. The Lebanese armed forces confirmed this morning that he was in the building that was targeted late yesterday.

Hezbollah has not said how it will respond, but we might see a coordinated response from Iran and its regional allies following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh this morning in Tehran.

Haniyeh ‘gave up his life for religion and country’: Hamas official

Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya says the group’s political leader “gave up his life for his religion and country”.

“He died in exceptional circumstances, and he will be missed by his people and the nation,” al-Hayya told Al Jazeera.

He said Haniyeh was meeting delegations and was an official visitor and guest of Iran at the time of his killing.

“He was not in a secret hiding place or far from the limelight, and his assassination was not a military success or an intelligence achievement. The Qassam Brigades will not let Haniyeh’s assassination go without retribution,” he said, referring to Hamas’s armed wing.

Response to assassination will be ‘special operation’: Iran

The Permanent Mission of Iran to the United Nations has posted a message on X saying that the “response to an assassination will indeed be special operations—harder and intended to instill deep regret in the perpetrator”.

The message comes in apparent reference to the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, as he was visiting to congratulate the new president on winning the elections.

Iran’s president has promised to make Israel “regret [its] cowardly action”, as Supreme Leader Khamenei said avenging Haniyeh’s killing is Tehran’s duty.

Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei to pray over Haniyeh’s body

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will lead a pray over the body of Ismail Haniyeh at Tehran University to start his funeral procession, reports Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency.

After prayers at 8:30am local time (05:00 GMT), the procession will head toward Azadi (Freedom) Square. Haniyeh’s body will then be flown to Doha for burial.

Khamenei only leads prayers for senior departed figures including President Ebrahim Raisi, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp generals, and members assassinated by Israel in Syria in April, and US-assassinated Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.

Turkish leaders viewed Haniyeh as key peace broker for Gaza
Sinem Koseoglu
Reporting from Istanbul, Turkey

Turkey has been very vocal about Israel’s war on Gaza, criticising Israel and saying that they are trying to drag the region into war.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his partners in the cabinet have sent a strong message of condemnation since news of the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh broke this morning.

Turkish politicians view Haniyeh as a dedicated figure who has tirelessly worked to broker a ceasefire, frequently travelling between Doha and Istanbul. He is regarded as a brother by many Turkish politicians close to the AK Party.

With that said, Turkey is still trying to understand why this took place, how it happened, especially why in Tehran, given the situation and the fact that he was there for the inauguration of the new Iranian president.

Erdogan strongly criticised the US Congress for applauding Netanyahu’s speech, with AK Party members claiming that Netanyahu’s actions were an attempt to save himself by inciting a regional war, demonstrating that Israel is not committed to peace.

We’ve also heard that Haniyeh was officially invited by the Turkish government to deliver a speech in their parliament about the situation in Gaza, and he was indeed scheduled to travel to Turkey after the visit to Tehran. That, of course, will not be taking place now.

‘They killed peace, not Ismail Haniyeh’

War-weary Palestinians in Gaza are mourning the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

“This man could have signed the prisoner exchange deal with the Israelis,” said Saleh al-Shannar, who was displaced from his home in northern Gaza. “Why did they kill him? They killed peace, not Ismail Haniyeh.”

Nour Abu Salam, a displaced woman, said the killing shows Israel doesn’t want to end the war and establish peace in the region.

“By assassinating Haniyeh, they are destroying everything,” she said.

Hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators marched through Ramallah in the occupied West Bank in protest against the killing. They carried dozens of green Hamas flags and chanted, “The people want Qassam Brigades,” a reference to the group’s military wing.

Open support in Ramallah for Hamas is rare. Ramallah is the administrative capital of the occupied West Bank and is governed by the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority – long at odds with Hamas over the governance of the two Palestinian territories.

Sri Lanka’s Wickremesinghe condemns killing of Hamas chief

Sri Lankan media reports say President Ranil Wickremesinghe has expressed his strong condemnation of Haniyeh’s killing.

Wickremesinghe reportedly made the comments during a meeting with former provincial council members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) & the United National Party (UNP) today.

According to his media division, Wickremesinghe said that unequivocally he would never condone such actions.

Egypt says Israeli escalation indicates no political will for ceasefire

A statement from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry has said the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, along with the lack of progress in the ceasefire talks, complicates the situation.

‘Eliminated’: Israeli media office highlights killing of Haniyeh

Despite the lack of official confirmation by Israeli authorities, the Israeli government press office posted a photo on its Facebook page of Ismail Haniyeh with “Eliminated” written across his head.

“Eliminated: Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas highest-ranking leader was killed in a precise strike in Tehran, Iran,” it said in a Facebook post.

The post – visible for more than an hour – was removed earlier this morning. Israel has not officially commented on the Hamas leader’s killing.

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US ‘not aware of or involved in’ Hamas chief’s killing: Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that the United States was “not aware of or involved in” the killing of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.

“This is something we were not aware of or involved in,” Blinken said, according to a transcript shared by his staff from an interview with Channel News Asia in Singapore.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/31/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-hits-beirut-in-assassination-operation

Shock, anger: Palestinians in Gaza react to Haniyeh’s assassination
Maram Humaid

Deir el-Balah, Gaza – Palestinians living in displacement camps in the central Gaza Strip expressed sadness and despair after the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

“Ismail Haniyeh was a Palestinian leader, not just a Hamas leader. His loss is immense for us,” Saleh al-Shannat, 67, told Al Jazeera.

Through his work on a mediation committee that resolves local disputes, al-Shannat met and knew Haniyeh. “I knew him personally. He never turned away questions and always sought to serve the people and their interests.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/7/31/shock-anger-palestinians-in-gaza-react-to-haniyehs-assassination

Haniyeh killing flagrant violation of international laws: Iraq

Iraq has also condemned “in the strongest terms” the assassination of the Hamas chief.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said the “aggressive operation is a flagrant violation of international laws and a threat” to regional security and stability.

“It expresses its full solidarity with the Palestinian people and their leadership in these difficult moments, calling on the international community to assume its responsibilities and take the necessary measures to stop the repeated attacks and violations of the sovereignty of states,” the ministry added.

‘Can mediation succeed when one side assassinates negotiator?’: Qatar PM

The prime minister of Qatar, which has acted as a mediator in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, has questioned the chances for negotiations to succeed following the assassination of Haniyeh.

“How can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on X.

“Peace needs serious partners & a global stance against the disregard for human life,” he added.

Pakistan slams Israeli ‘adventurism’ in the region

The government of Pakistan has joined the chorus of countries condemning the assassination of the Hamas political leader, slamming Israel’s “adventurism in the region” and warning about the risk of an escalation.

“Pakistan views with serious concern the growing Israeli adventurism in the region,” read a statement from its Foreign Ministry.

It warned that Israel’s “latest acts constitute a dangerous escalation in an already volatile region and undermine efforts for peace”.

The ministry also condemned the timing of the “reckless act”, which coincided with the inauguration of Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian – an event attended by several foreign dignitaries.

Haniyeh body to be transferred to Qatar after funeral in Iran

Following the funeral ceremony in Tehran, the body of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh will be transferred tomorrow to Doha, the group said in a statement on its Telegram channel.

He will be buried in the Qatari capital on Friday, it added.

Qassam Brigades responds to Haniyeh’s assassination

Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, has issued a statement, calling the killing a “dangerous event” that will have “major repercussions across the entire region”.

Here’s a translation of its statement:

“With the highest expressions of pride and honour, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades announce to our struggling Palestinian people, our Arab and Islamic nations, and the free people of the world, the martyrdom of the leader Ismail Abdul Salam Haniyeh, commander of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas. He was martyred following a cowardly Zionist assassination operation targeting his residence in Tehran. In response to this Nazi crime, we affirm the following points:

Firstly, the leader and fighter “Abu al-Abd” ascended after a life filled with dedication, struggle, and sacrifices. Throughout his journey, he accompanied the various stages of the movement’s development and struggle, leaving clear contributions and marks at different points. He gave much to the Palestinian cause and played a significant role in strengthening the resistance, unifying the efforts of the nation, and directing the compass towards Jerusalem. His life culminated in martyrdom during the noblest battle, “Al-Aqsa Flood,” fought by our people and the free ones of our nation in defence of Al-Aqsa and the sanctities.

Secondly, the criminal assassination of the leader Haniyeh in the heart of the Iranian capital is a significant and dangerous event that shifts the battle to new dimensions and will have major repercussions across the entire region. The enemy miscalculated by expanding the scope of aggression, assassinating resistance leaders in various arenas, and violating the sovereignty of regional states. The criminal Netanyahu, blinded by delusions of grandeur, is driving the occupation entity toward the abyss, accelerating its collapse and permanent removal from Palestinian land.

Thirdly, this Zionist recklessness must end, and the rampant enemy must be curbed, with its meddling hand restrained to prevent further aggression. The continuous crimes of the enemy across various fronts sound an alarm for all nations and peoples of the region, compelling everyone to support and back the resistance in Palestine. This resistance serves as the front-line defence for the entire nation, which is why the enemy strives to crush and subdue it to focus on larger aggression against the nations and peoples of the region.

Fourthly, the blood of our leader Ismail Haniyeh, mingling today with the blood of Gaza’s children, women, youth, and elders, and with the blood of our people and fighters, underscores that the resistance and its leaders are at the heart of the battle alongside their people. This precious blood will not be shed in vain but will illuminate the path to liberation. The enemy will pay for its aggression with its own blood in Gaza, the West Bank, and within its borders, wherever our fighters reach by God’s will.”

Intelligence used in assassination ‘suggests possible help of the US’

Al Jazeera’s Defence Editor Alex Gatopoulos says the intelligence used to locate and assassinate Haniyeh “suggests the possible help of the US”.

“Intelligence is key. Any weapon in the world is only as good as the intelligence that guides it. It can be as accurate as it likes,” Gatopoulos said.

Technical intelligence would have supplied a location, “something they would have to act on quickly … [The US] obviously has the means and ability to collect this kind of intelligence,” he said.

The Mossad and Iranian dissidents are used for information on the ground, he added. “The means by which he died are almost irrelevant because it’s the intelligence that guided it.”

Iran announces 3 days of public mourning

After the assassination of Hamas political leader Haniyeh, Iran will observe three days of public mourning, the state-run IRNA news agency says.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the “criminal and terrorist Zionist regime” faces “severe punishment”, adding Iran considers it “a duty to avenge the blood” of the Hamas leader.

Netanyahu’s government wants a regional war: Palestinian legislator

Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian politician and the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, says Haniyeh’s assassination marks a “grave development” that could spark a regional war.

“What you have in Israel now is a fascist government in every sense of the word, … and Israel is now trying to push the whole region into a global confrontation. What Netanyahu did is a clear indication that he wants a regional war and he wants to drag the United States into a confrontation with Iran, not only with Palestinians,” Barghouti said from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank

“What is most surprising is to hear a person like this secretary of defence from the United States, Lloyd Austin, saying that the United States will defend Israel. They’re allowing Israel to act as a criminal fascist, attacking and killing people in Lebanon, attacking and killing people in Tehran, attacking and killing Palestinians, committing terrible war crimes like genocide and collective punishment ,and yet they want to defend the criminal, the aggressor,” he said.

“That is really very serious, and it shows that the United States has no wisdom whatsoever in responding to what Netanyahu is doing.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/31/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-hits-beirut-in-assassination-operation

Lebanon warns UNSC that war would ‘spread to the whole world’

Lebanon’s Charges d’Affaires for the UN, Hadi Hachem, has warned the UNSC that a conflict in the Middle East would have global repercussions.

He said that while the exact circumstances behind the attack on Majdal Shams were still unknown, it could have taken place because “Israel has occupied the area since 1967” while failing to implement numerous UN resolutions calling for it to withdraw from the Golan Heights and other occupied territories.

“Israel’s claim that it seeks to protect the population it occupies is a display of hypocrisy,” Hachem said.

“The real goal of Israel is to prolong and escalate the hostilities and it is ironic that the killer of tens of thousands of children in Gaza sheds tears for the children of the occupied Syrian Golan.”

Hachem also warned the international community to prevent the outbreak of a regional conflict. “What starts in the Middle East will spread to the whole world,” he said.

More reactions from UN Security Council members

Here are what some of the members of the UN Security Council said at the emergency meeting on the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh:

China: “This act was a blatant attempt to sabotage peace efforts. [China urges Israel] to halt all its military operations in Gaza and immediately stop its collective punishment of the people in Gaza.”
France: “We call for the utmost responsibility and restraint in order to avoid a regional conflagration.”
Guyana: “The history of colonialism has shown us, Mr President, that no people consent to subjugation and certainly not of the kind that Israel has visited on the Palestinian people. The desire for freedom is innate.”
Malta: “Efforts towards an immediate and permanent ceasefire to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza must not cease.”
Russia: The “political assassination [of Ismail Haniyeh] … strikes a serious blow, primarily for the mediated negotiations between Hamas and Israel aimed at a ceasefire in Gaza.”

Syria says Golan Heights attack ‘weaponised’ by Israel

Syria’s UN ambassador Koussay al-Dahhak has dismissed as “lies” claims that a rocket attack on Majdal Shams, in the occupied Golan Heights, targeted Israel’s population.

“Syria reiterates that Syrian Arab Golan is and has always been Syrian Arab territory,” al-Dahhak said, adding that the Druze community that lives in the area has long rejected Israeli citizenship.

The attack was nonetheless “weaponised by Israel to continue its aggression on the states of the region”, he added.

Al-Dahhak also contested Israel’s claim that it is defending itself. “Syria reiterates that an occupying entity cannot claim that they are defending themselves,” he said.

Haniyeh’s assassination shows Israel intends to expand the war to the entire region: Iran

The Iranian ambassador to the UN has addressed the UN Security Council. Here are the main points made by Amir Saeid Iravani during the emergency meeting:

Haniyeh’s assassination is another manifestation of Israel’s decades-long pattern of terrorism and sabotage targeting Palestinians and their supporters.
Israel was also pursuing the political goal of disrupting the first day of Iran’s new government.
Iran condemns in the strongest possible terms this terrorist act and the most serious violation of international law and national security.
This is a serious breach of peace and security that requires immediate action by the UN Security Council.
It also suggests that Israel’s intention is to expand the war to the entire region.

March in support of Palestine in Tunisian city of Sfax

We reported earlier of pro-Palestine demonstrations being held in Tunis.

Tunisian activists on Wednesday also turned up in large numbers for a march in support of Gaza in the streets of the southeastern city of Sfax.

The participants waved the Palestinian flag and the flags of the resistance factions and chanted slogans in support of the Palestinian cause.

Israel ‘must be stopped’, Palestinian official tells UNSC

Feda Abdelhady Nasser, the deputy permanent observer of the State of Palestine to the UN, has told the Security Council that “Israel has been the oppressor, tormentor and murderer of Palestinians for decades, and it is the longstanding destabiliser of our region”.

“It must be stopped,” she said. “We call once again with utmost urgency on the Security Council, General Assembly and all law-abiding, peace-loving nations to act forthwith to bring a halt to the horrific, criminal Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people and on our region.”

Nasser demanded accountability for the killing of Haniyeh and for the “murder and injury of over 130,000 Palestinian children, women and men across these past 300 days of horror and hell in Gaza”.

“The international community has a choice to make – let it be for peace and security, do not let Israel drag us all to the abyss,” she added.

UK resolute in support to Israel and its ‘right to defend itself’

Barbara Woodward, UK ambassador to the UN, has told the UNSC that the UK is resolute in its support for Israel and its “right to defend itself in line with international humanitarian law”.

Woodward cited the drone strike by Yemen’s Houthi group on Tel Aviv earlier this month and the rocket attack on Majdal Shams on Sunday as evidence of Iran’s destabilising action.

“We have repeatedly been clear in this council of Iran’s role in destabilising the region through its use of proxies, including Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis. This must cease,” the UK ambassador said.

“The attempt of Iran and its proxies to use the war in Gaza as justification for further violence is perverse, and we reject it entirely.”

US ‘not aware or involved in’ killing of Haniyeh

Wood, who is addressing the UN Security Council on behalf of the US, says Washington was “not aware of or involved in the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh”.

“We have no independent confirmation as to Hamas’s claims regarding his death,” the US official said. “It is best not to speculate on the impact that these events will have. A broader war is neither imminent or inevitable.”

Wood urged the UNSC to pressure Iran to stop escalating its attacks on Israel through its proxies, as well as arming and financing “terrorist groups”.

US calls on UNSC to stand with Israel

Robert Wood, US deputy ambassador to the UN, has taken the floor at the Security Council.

The US has again blamed Hezbollah for the rocket attack on a football field in Majdal Shams on Sunday, despite the Lebanese group having denied responsibility.

“We call on the Security Council to send an unambiguous message to Hezbollah by standing with Israel as it defends itself against Hezbollah’s repeated attacks,” Wood said.

He added that other Iranian-backed groups have been conducting “brazen attacks” that endanger regional peace.

If Iran does not abide by UNSC resolutions, then the body must consider taking additional measures to “hold Iran accountable and address repeated action by its terrorist proxies”, he said.

Pro-Palestine demonstrations take place in Istanbul

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters have marched through the streets of Istanbul after Haniyeh’s killing.

Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran earlier today.

Turkey condemned the assassination, saying the attack aimed to spread the Israeli war in Gaza on a regional level.

“It has been revealed once again that the government of Netanyahu has no intention of achieving peace,” Turkey’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Although the strike on Haniyeh was widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel, Israel made no claim of responsibility and said it would make no comment on the killing.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/31/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-hits-beirut-in-assassination-operation

Alarm raised at UN Security Council over risk of all-out war in region

Japan’s deputy UN representative, Shino Mitsuko, pushed for increased international efforts to prevent a regional conflict at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, which was called in response to the assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah officials in Iran and Lebanon.

“We fear the region is at the brink of all-out war,” Mitsuko told the meeting in New York on Wednesday evening.

The assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran occurred less than 24 hours after Hezbollah’s most senior military commander, Fuad Shukr, was killed in an Israeli missile strike, described as an “assassination operation”, in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Fu Cong, China’s ambassador to the UN, told the council meeting that failure to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza was responsible for worsening regional tensions.

“Countries with major influence must put more pressure and work more vigorously … to put out the flames of war in Gaza,” he said.

Funeral for Ismail Haniyeh begins in Tehran

The funeral for Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh has begun in Tehran, Iran, with an address from Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

“Martyr Ismail Haniyeh was the voice of the Palestinian people all over the world,” Ghalibaf said. “He was not only a leader. He was the wise man.”

Ghalibaf added that Haniyeh’s assassination, in Tehran, on Wednesday, would not go unanswered.

“Our reply will be there. At the right time and the right place. It is difficult for us to have our guest being targeted and assassinated on our soil,” he said.

PM Albanese joins calls for Australians to leave Lebanon

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged his country’s citizens in Lebanon to leave, as the possibility of an all-out conflict with Israel looms.

“I take the opportunity to say to Australians: Do not travel to Lebanon at the moment,” Albanese told reporters in Sydney.

“There is a risk that the Beirut airport might not be open for commercial flights and given the numbers of people who are there, there’s no guarantee that we can just guarantee that people will be able to come home through other means if that airport is shut,” he said.

Earlier, we reported that Foreign Minister Penny Wong told Australians that “now is the time to leave” Lebanon.

The warnings come amid heightened tensions following Israel’s assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran’s capital Tehran.

Australia is home to almost 250,000 people with Lebanese ancestry, one of the largest populations outside Lebanon.

Australia appears to backtrack after FM refers to Golan Heights town as ‘Israeli’

Australia has not changed its position on the occupied Golan Heights, the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs has clarified, after Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong described Majdal Shams as an “Israeli town”.

Wong erroneously referred to the Druze town as “Israeli” in a post on X condemning the recent missile strike that killed 12 young people at a football match in the Israeli-occupied territory.

“There is no change in our position that the Golan Heights are occupied by Israel, as determined by the UN Security Council,” a department spokesperson told the Guardian Australia newspaper.

“Our longstanding position is that the Golan Heights are a matter for Israel and Syria to determine through negotiations in the context of a comprehensive peace settlement,” the spokesperson added.

Trump says Schumer is a ‘proud member of Hamas’

At a campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Republican presidential nominee repeated a bizarre claim that one of the top officials in the Democratic Party, Chuck Schumer, is a member of the Palestinian movement.

“Chuck Schumer has become a Palestinian. Yes. Can you believe it? He has become a proud member of Hamas,” Trump said at the event, and pointing out that Schumer had last week refused to shake the Israeli prime minister’s hand.

Schumer, who is Jewish, attended Netanyahu’s address to Congress but did not shake his hand, telling the CBS news network he had “serious disagreements with the way Benjamin Netanyahu has conducted” his policies.

This is not the first time that Trump has called a top Democrat “Palestinian”, with advocates describing his use of the term as a slur as “blatantly racist”.

Israel is a ‘rogue state’, wants to destabilise the region: ex-PLO leader

Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian political leader and a former member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee, said Israel’s “gangster style assassination and extrajudicial executions” are designed to “inflame the whole region”.

The killings of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut, Lebanon, were carried out to “sabotage any chances” of a ceasefire deal in Gaza and regional de-escalation, Ashrawi said.

“These are attacks not just on the capitals of sovereign states but also on significant leaders to ensure total provocation [and] destabilisation,” she wrote on social media.

“Israel is a rogue state that represents a real [and] present danger globally,” she said.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/1/israel-war-on-gaza-live-fears-of-regional-war-after-israeli-assassinations

Israel says Hamas commander Mohammed Deif killed

Israel’s military says it has intelligence confirmation that Hamas commander Mohammed Deif was killed in a July 13 air strike targeting him.

The attack, which hit tents housing displaced people in al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, killed more than 90 people, but there was no confirmation at the time Deif was among them. Hamas said he had evaded the assault.

Now Israel says it can confirm Deif was killed.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/1/israel-war-on-gaza-live-fears-of-regional-war-after-israeli-assassinations

It's unclear whether or not this is true, but they're bringing it out again. At the time of the July 13th massacre, Hamas denied that Deif was killed, and Israel initially claimed he had been, but then admitted they were unsure. It's possible that he actually was or that Israel is just claiming it again after the assassination of Haniyeh for propaganda.

Nasrallah to speak at funeral of slain Hezbollah commander
Assed Baig
Reporting from Marjayoun, southern Lebanon

We understand a procession for killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr will take place later today starting south of Beirut. Shukr’s family and members of Hezbollah will take part and receive condolences. There will be a farewell ceremony after the funeral, concluded by a speech by Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.

Shukr was a major figure with Hezbollah, from one of its founding generations. He fought against the Israeli invasion in the 1980s and in fact, was injured in 1982. Since the start of this conflict in October, he has been involved in the support front for Gaza. His killing is a significant loss for Hezbollah, but there will be considerable support for him during the funeral.

Hezbollah has said Nasrallah will outline the group’s political position during his speech. In previous remarks, Nasrallah has issued threats to Israel, saying if they attack Lebanon, then Hezbollah will retaliate. Specifically, Nasrallah said if Israel hits cities here [in Lebanon], then Hezbollah will hit cities in Israel, that if Israel hits villages here, then Hezbollah will hit [Israeli] settlements. People will be watching for any indication of what Hezbollah’s response will be. There is no doubt this is a possible next stage of this conflict.

China hopes Palestinian factions can create an independent state soon

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson makes this statement while addressing a question on the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.

“China earnestly looks forward to all Palestinian factions, on the basis of internal reconciliation, create an independent Palestinian state as soon as possible,” Lin Jian said during a regular press briefing.

No comment from Hamas yet on Deif

There has been no immediate confirmation from the Palestinian group about the Israeli army’s claim that it has killed Hamas military commander Deif in a July 13 strike.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/1/israel-war-on-gaza-live-fears-of-regional-war-after-israeli-assassinations

Amb. Chas Freeman: Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh - New Devastating Escalations - Neutrality Studies

‘They may kill Haniyeh but not his ideas’: Malaysia’s Mahathir

Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has issued a statement mourning Haniyeh’s assassination, saying Israel had killed the “great man” because it “feared and hated everything he stood for”.

Mahathir, who served as Malaysia’s premier for 24 years between 1981 and 2020, described Haniyeh as “a soft-spoken man, yet with the heart of a lion”.

“His courage to stand up for his people obviously stemmed from a clear conscience and guided by a moral compass that is based on humanity and religious conviction,” Mahathir said.

“They may kill Mr Haniyeh but not his ideas and what he stood for,” he said.

Malaysia asks Meta for explanation over removal of PM Anwar’s Facebook post

Malaysia’s Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has said he has asked META.O for an explanation as to why a Facebook post by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim marking the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was removed from the platform.

Earlier, we reported that Anwar had described actions by Meta Platforms META.O as cowardly after the removal of his Facebook post featuring a recording of his phone call with a Hamas official offering his condolences over Haniyeh’s death.

Meta has yet to respond, Fadzil told reporters.

Haniyeh given ‘same treatment’ in funeral as late Iranian president

The fact that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran has made his death all the more painful for the host nation and will likely push it to deliver a fiercer response, said Foad Izadi, an associate professor of world studies at Tehran University.

“When you have a high-ranking official assassinated in the capital city, this is a shock,” Izadi told Al Jazeera.

To honour Haniyeh’s life, Iran is giving him “the same treatment as Ebrahim Raisi”, the late Iranian president who died in a plane crash in May.

“This is something for the history books,” he said.

‘The nation today is carrying his coffin’: Hamas official addresses Haniyeh funeral

Khalil al-Hayya, the deputy head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has addressed the funeral service of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

“The nation today is carrying his coffin, and the nation today is raising the flag of jihad [struggle] and resistance towards the goal of liberating Palestine and Jerusalem,” al-Hayya said.

“With the faith of our country and the Palestinian soul, we are sure that the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh will bring anger towards this Zionist entity from the entire people of the world.”

Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei leads prayers at Haniyeh’s funeral

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has led funeral prayers at a memorial for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital, Tehran, according to the state-run Press TV.

Following prayers, the procession is set to head towards Azadi (Freedom) Square. Haniyeh’s body will then be flown to Doha for burial.

Haniyeh was assassinated at his accommodation in Tehran on Wednesday. Hamas has blamed Israel for the attack.

Indonesian president condemns Hamas leader’s ‘murder’

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has labelled Wednesday’s assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh “murder”.

“That was violence, a murder that is intolerable, and took place in the sovereign area of Iran,” he said in a speech at the Jakarta Convention Center.

“I suppose all, including Indonesia, strongly condemn violence and murder like that,” he said.

Hamas has accused Israel of carrying out the strike on Haniyeh’s residence in Iran’s capital Tehran. Israel has yet to claim responsibility.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/1/israel-war-on-gaza-live-fears-of-regional-war-after-israeli-assassinations

>>483284
>vid related
Interesting, Freeman thinks Iran might retaliate with it's own counter-assassinations. I guess that's plausible.

However Iran has so far used every one of these retaliations as a means to demonstrate some military capability. The retaliation for the murdered general Suleiman (might have gotten that name wrong) a few years ago, showed off a medium range high precision missiles hitting a US base in Iraq. The retaliation for the destroyed Consulate was a demonstration of missiles able to penetrate the Isreal's iron dome.

That is not consistent with somebody playing tit for tat. This is consistent with somebody using political opportunities for crossing off points on a agenda.

They have so far not demonstrated their anti-ship missiles, they might cripple an Israeli navy ship.

US spy plane spotted off Syria, Lebanon, Israel

The flight-tracking service FlightRadar24 has documented a US Navy reconnaissance plane flying off the coasts of Syria, Lebanon and Israel for more than four hours after the Israeli attack on Beirut and the assassination in Tehran escalated tensions in the region.

The navigational data verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency, Sanad, showed the EP-3E Aries II Orion arriving on the coast of Israel at about 10am (07:00 GMT) from Chania airport on the Greek island of Crete.

The aircraft gathers tactical intelligence and makes it available to commanders almost instantly.

Iran, allies to meet today to discuss retaliation for Haniyeh killing: Report

High-level Iranian officials are set to meet with Tehran’s allies in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen later today to review potential responses to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, reports Reuters.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has pledged to deliver “harsh punishment” for the killing of Haniyeh on Iranian soil, which Iran blames on Israel, fueling concerns of a wider regional war.

Hamas member says no confirmation of Israeli claim of Deif’s killing

In a post on Telegram, Hamas member Izzat al-Rashq says there is no confirmation over the Israeli claim that it killed Deif last month.

“Confirming or denying the martyrdom of any of the Qassam leaders is a matter for the leadership of the Qassam Brigades and the leadership of the movement,” the post said.

“Unless either of them announced, none of the news published in the media or by any other party can be confirmed.”

Victims of Israeli strike in Lebanon identified as farm workers

We reported earlier on an Israeli air strike that killed four Syrians in southern Lebanon.

The victims of the strike in the village of Shama have been identified by emergency services as farm workers.

AFP news agency reported that those killed were members of the same family.

Five Lebanese nationals were also wounded in the attack, with the country’s health ministry stating that the death toll could rise.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/1/israel-war-on-gaza-live-fears-of-regional-war-after-israeli-assassinations

What countries has Israel attacked since October 7?

According to an analysis of data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), Israel is responsible for 17,081 incidents of air/drone raids, shelling/missile attacks, remote explosives and property destruction in eight countries since October 7, including the occupied Palestinian territory, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Iran and Iraq.

A majority of these attacks were on the Palestinian territory, specifically the Gaza Strip, with 10,389 incidents accounting for more than 60 percent of the total offensives.

There were at least 6,544 incidents of Israeli attacks on Lebanon (38 percent), followed by Syria with 144 such incidents recorded.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/1/what-countries-has-israel-attacked-since-october-7

Blinken playing ‘children’s game’ with calls for Gaza ceasefire

Gideon Levy, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, has told Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv that the recent call for a Gaza ceasefire by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken were “empty words”.

“If Blinken and the US administration would have liked this war to be over, this war would be over,” he said. “Continuing to supply Israel with weapons and to beg Israel to stop the war is quite a farce. This is not international relations, this is a children’s game.”

Levy also said Netanyahu did not want to end the war, and that was the reason behind the assassinations in Tehran and Beirut.

Speaking about the Israeli public mood, he said there was no panic about the possible response from Iran and Lebanon against Israel “even though maybe there is a reason for panic”.

“Israelis are very cautious. There are reports of more Israelis buying more products and preparing themselves, but it’s not a big wave of running to the shops and taking everything,” he said. “People think that we are facing the unknown.”

US Muslim rights group slams Biden for inaction over Israeli land grabs

The US-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has slammed the Biden administration over its failure to respond to surging Israeli seizures of Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank.

Earlier today, Israeli authorities announced they would expropriate 790 hectares (1,950 acres) of land near the occupied West Bank village of Salfit, for use by an illegal Israeli settlement.

“The Biden administration’s continued silence on the daily massacres and other war crimes in Gaza, and on the de facto annexation of the West Bank, sends the clear message to the far-right Israeli government that it will never be held accountable for any action it takes, no matter how illegal or immoral,” CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement.

“This silence in the face of genocide must end.”

Biden pledges continued support for Israel

In a call with Netanyahu, Biden has pledged the US’s continued support for Israel as concerns grow of an escalating conflict with Hezbollah and other groups in the region, even as critics say the US should be using its leverage to bring the war in Gaza to an end.

A readout released by the White House says Kamala Harris also joined the call.

Thousands mourn Hamas leader Haniyeh in Iran amid calls for revenge
Maziar Motamedi
Reporting from Tehran, Iran

Thousands have poured into the streets of Tehran to join the funeral procession of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as Iran weighs its options after promising to avenge his assassination.

The bodies of Haniyeh and his bodyguard, who was killed alongside him in a strike blamed on Israel, were marched amid chants in the capital. Flags of Palestine, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Hamas were seen as organisers handed out posters of Haniyeh.

Banners honoured the Palestinian leader and the late Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated by a United States strike in 2020, among others.

“Avenging the blood of the guest is with the host, the world is waiting,” read the headline of the ultraconservative Keyhan newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Iran’s supreme leader.

“We must give a strong response to Israel, anything less would make many people unhappy,” 46-year-old Hamid Hajian, who attended the funeral procession, told Al Jazeera.

Pakistan declares day of mourning for Haniyeh

Pakistan will hold a day of mourning on Friday for slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had earlier called the assassination a “barbaric act” that violated international law.

In a news release on Wednesday, the country’s foreign ministry denounced what it called “Israeli adventurism” that undermines efforts to secure a ceasefire. Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the city of Rawalpindi in support of Haniyeh that evening.

Last month, an adviser to Prime Minister Sharif called Netanyahu a “terrorist and a perpetrator of war crimes”.

Turkey to hold day of mourning for Haniyeh

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared Friday a day of mourning for slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

“A national day of mourning will be declared tomorrow in solidarity with the Palestinian cause and in solidarity with our Palestinian brothers and sisters,” Erdogan said in a social media post today.

Reuters news agency reported that Erdogan will also attend Haniyeh’s funeral, which will be taking place in Qatar.

Earlier today, Pakistan also declared Friday as a day of mourning for Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran.

Israel does not want ceasefire in Gaza, Erdogan tells Biden

Turkey’s President Erdogan told his US counterpart Biden that Israel does not want a ceasefire in Gaza, adding that Haniyeh’s killing “dealt a heavy blow” to ceasefire efforts.

Erdogan added that Netanyahu’s government has shown “at every step” that it does not want a ceasefire, and his recent address to the US Congress prompted “deep disappointment” in Turkey and the world.

Israel’s foreign minister threatens Hezbollah chief

Israel’s foreign minister has taken to social media to threaten Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, as concerns mount that fighting across the region could escalate.

“Hassan Nasrallah, stop the boasting speeches, threats, and lies before you pay a heavy price,” said Israel Katz in a post showing Nasrallah side-by-side with recently assassinated Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.

“We will act with full force to restore security to the residents of the north.”

Hezbollah launches rockets towards Israel

Hezbollah says it has launched dozens of rockets on northern Israel.

A short while ago, warning sirens sounded in northern Israel, the Israeli military said.

We will bring you more on this as soon as we can.

Demonstrations continue in Tel Aviv for captives held in Gaza

Shouting slogans and waving flags, hundreds of Israelis marched in Tel Aviv to demand the government bring back captives held in Gaza.

…

The forum called on the Netanyahu government to sign a truce deal that will ensure the captives are freed.

Israeli public confidence boosted after assassinations

Alon Liel, former director of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, says the Israeli security establishment has regained some public confidence since the intelligence failures that led to the October 7 attack.

“The Israeli government, Netanyahu, had an unbelievable political week, with the speech in US Congress and now with these two assassinations,” Liel told Al Jazeera, referring to the killing of Fuad Shukr in Beirut and of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

“What happened in the past three days is changing the mood in Israel because it is considered a big military success and the public remembered the catastrophe of October 7, so it’s balancing a little bit the image of the security establishment,” Liel said.

Haniyeh’s killing testament to Israel’s intelligence penetration of Iran

The assassination of Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah’s Fuad Shukr in Beirut underscores Israel’s impressive intelligence-gathering efforts in those countries, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara says, adding that Iran maintains a large network of regional allies.

“Israel has achieved a major intelligence and tactical victory against Iran and against Hezbollah,” he said, adding that the intelligence gathering necessary for such an operation was a “testimony to Israel’s capacity for strategic strikes”.

Israeli attack on journalists’ car also killed teenage cyclist delivering food to elderly

Israel’s deadly attack on the car of Al Jazeera staff has also killed Khaled Saed al-Shawa, a 17-year-old riding a bicycle “to do good”.

UN calls on Israel to stop killing journalists

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has reiterated its calls for the Israeli army “to minimize the impact of military operations on civilians in Gaza and to end the killing of journalists”.

The comments came in a statement published in reaction to the killing of Al Jazeera’s Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi in an Israeli drone strike on their car yesterday.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/1/israel-war-on-gaza-live-fears-of-regional-war-after-israeli-assassinations

Hamas calls for day of ‘roaring anger’ to honour Haniyeh

The group has called on people to honour its political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday.

In a statement, Hamas asked that people pray for Haniyeh “after Friday prayers in all mosques, in loyalty to him, his message, and the blood of the martyrs”.

The Hamas statement also called on people “to launch marches of roaring anger from every mosque, denouncing the cowardly crime of assassination, and condemning the continuation of war, genocide against our people in the Gaza Strip, in defence of our land, our sanctity, and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque”.

Qatar is to hold funeral ceremonies later today for Haniyeh.

New US military deployment to Israel likely to be ‘high-end’ defence capabilities: Analyst

David Des Roches, of the National Defense University in Washington, DC, said US President Joe Biden’s announcement of new US military deployment to boost Israeli security would likely focus on “high-end” defence capabilities.

The White House said on Thursday evening that Biden held a call with Israel’s Netanyahu in which “the president discussed efforts to support Israel’s defence against threats, including against ballistic missiles and drones, to include new defensive US military deployments”.

“Historically when the United States provides its actual forces in supporting Israel, it’s usually in a high-end defensive role,” Des Roches told Al Jazeera.

That has included the provision of Patriot ground-to-air missile batteries previously and more recently air-to-air and and ship-borne anti-missile capabilities to track and defeat Iranian drones and missiles during Tehran’s strike against Israel on April 13, Des Roches said.

Jordan, Iran foreign ministers hold call amid ‘dangerous escalation’ in region

Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister, has spoken with Iran’s acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani about ways to “protect the region from the catastrophic consequences” of regional escalation.

Denouncing the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran – which has been blamed on Israel, Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said Safadi and his Iranian counterpart discussed stopping the “aggression against Gaza”, which was the first step towards de-escalation.

The two ministers also discussed the repercussions of Haniyeh’s assassination “which Jordan condemned as an escalatory crime and a violation of international law”, the ministry said.

In a post on social media, Bagheri Kani said he also spoke with the foreign ministers of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Oman, Russia, Algeria, and senior UN and EU officials.

“While strongly condemning the terrorist act of the Zionist regime in martyring Ismail Haniyeh, I warned about the consequences of continuing the crimes of the occupying regime,” Bagheri Kani said.

More Palestinian properties demolished in the West Bank: UN

Demolitions of Palestinian-owned property have been reported in the occupied West Bank’s Beit ‘Anan village, located to the northwest of Jerusalem, and the Al Baqa‘a village, east of Hebron, the UN reports.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) also reports that in the week between July 23 and 29, Israeli authorities demolished or forced the demolition of 30 Palestinian-owned properties, resulting in 57 people, including 25 children, being left displaced from their place of residence.

Since October 7, Israeli authorities have overseen or carried out the demolition of 1,311 Palestinian-owned structures across the occupied West Bank, resulting in the displacement of almost 3,000 people, including 1,310 children.

Sweden, Slovenia tell citizens to avoid travel to Israel

Sweden’s Foreign Ministry said it was tightening its travel advice for Israel and Palestine due to the “serious” security situation in the Middle East which “could quickly get worse”.

“From now on, all travel to both countries is strictly advised against,” the ministry said in a social media post shared by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

Slovenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said on Thursday that “due to the situation” in Israel, “we advise against all travel for security reasons”.

“There is the risk of rocket attacks from Lebanon and Gaza and the possibility of an escalation of tensions. The danger of attacks and threats from Iran has increased,” the ministry said.

Biden says killing of Hamas leader not helpful for ceasefire

US President Joe Biden has said the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh will not help ceasefire negotiations between the Palestinian group and Israel.

Speaking at Joint Base Andrews in the US state of Maryland, where a plane landed late on Thursday carrying detainees released by Russia, Biden said he had a “direct conversation” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the killing.

Haniyeh was killed in his accommodation in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Wednesday, in an assassination widely blamed on Israel.

Israel is yet to claim responsibility.

More on the Australian government review of World Central Kitchen deaths

Earlier, we reported that an Australian government review into the Israeli military’s killing in Gaza of several aid workers from US-based NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) concluded that “serious failures” such as “mistaken identification” resulted in their deaths.

The Australian review also said Israeli forces launched missiles at the convoy after mistakenly believing Hamas fighters had hijacked it. The armed personnel they saw were, in fact, locally-contracted security guards.

Australian Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, who travelled to Israel to investigate the deaths, said “controls failed, leading to errors in decision making and a misidentification”.

“Based on the information available to me, it is my assessment that the [Israeli military] strike on the WCK aid workers was not knowingly or deliberately directed against the WCK,” he said.

(anon's note: lol)

Day 300 of Israel’s ‘genocide’ in Gaza a ‘blight on all humanity’, says scholar

Marking the 300th day of Israel’s war on Gaza today, Palestinian-American scholar Noura Erakat said it was “maddening and shameful” that the world had not been able to stop one of the “grossest, most blatant colonial genocides”.

In a post on social media, Erakat said Israel’s genocide in Gaza has featured the use of advanced weapons as well as the spread of disease, “poisoning of the earth” as well as sexual assault and torture.

Israel’s genocide must be remembered for what it is, Erakat said, adding “we cannot afford to lose the next battle over narrative”.

“A blight on all humanity, to ascribe shame to all who let it happen [and] glory to those who fought so that the future indeed ensures: never again,” she said.

Haniyeh to be buried in Qatar

Qatar is to hold funeral ceremonies later today for Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh after his assassination in Tehran in an attack widely blamed on Israel.

Haniyeh had resided in the Qatari capital Doha along with other members of the Hamas political office.

The AFP news agency reports that he will be buried at a cemetery in Lusail, north of Doha, following funeral prayers at the Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque – the country’s largest.

Hamas announced that “Arab and Islamic leaders” as well as representatives of other Palestinian factions and members of the public would attend the events.

Thousands of mourners paid their respects to the slain Hamas leader at a public funeral ceremony in Tehran on Thursday where Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers.

Turkey and Pakistan have announced a day of mourning today in honour of Haniyeh, while Hamas has called for a “day of furious rage” to coincide with the burial of their top political official.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/2/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-wants-gaza-war-to-engulf-region-turkey

Turkey restricts Instagram after ‘censorship’ of Haniyeh posts

Turkey has shut off access to Instagram, according to its national communications authority, after a top government official slammed the social media platform for “censoring” Hamas-related content.

The communications authority said in a post on its website that “instagram.com has been blocked by a decision on the date of 02/08/2024”, without giving a reason for the block.

On Wednesday, the Turkish presidency’s communications director, Fahrettin Altun, accused Instagram of blocking condolence posts on the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

“This is censorship, pure and simple,” Altun wrote on X, noting that Instagram had not cited any policy violations for its decision to block the content.

“We will continue to defend freedom of expression against these platforms, which have repeatedly shown that they serve the global system of exploitation and injustice,” Altun said.

“We will stand by our Palestinian brothers at every opportunity and on every platform,” he said.

Fatah’s vice chairman to attend Haniyeh funeral in Qatar

A high-level delegation from Fatah, including its vice chairman Mahmoud al-Aloul, will attend the funeral procession for Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh today in Doha.

Hamas and Fatah, the two main Palestinian political parties in the Palestinian territory, have been bitter rivals since conflict arose in 2006, after which Hamas seized control of Gaza.

Last week, the two parties and 12 other Palestinian factions signed a “national unity” agreement in Beijing, China, aimed at maintaining Palestinian control over Gaza once Israel’s war on the enclave concludes. The agreement marked a key turning point in internal Palestinian relations.

Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, is also reported to have left Ramallah for Qatar with a delegation.

‘Despair’ in Gaza after 300 days of war, Haniyeh assassination
Hani Mahmoud
Reporting from Deir el-Balah, central Gaza

After 300 days of continued killing and destruction across the Gaza Strip … the general mood here is filled with despair and depression.

People were hoping that at some point negotiations were going to make some sort of progress to end this madness – the mass killing of innocent people across the Gaza Strip.

The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has not affected Israel’s war conduct.

What we’re seeing here is more killing and destruction.

Yesterday evening, there was an attack on a school turned shelter for displaced people. It was struck by at least three missiles. The third one was fired as people tried to get into the school to rescue those hit by the first two missiles.

The facility has been completely destroyed.

Elsewhere, the Israeli military continued with its strikes as well. There doesn’t seem to be an end to this genocide.

The mood across the Gaza Strip is one of despair.

Palestinian fighters detonate house-borne IED in attack on Israeli forces

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighters attacked Israeli forces in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, while PIJ detonated a house-borne improvised explosive device (HBIED) that targeted Israeli troops, war monitors report.

US-based think tanks the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said Palestinian fighters have now engaged Israeli forces for seven consecutive days in Tal al-Hawa, though Israel has not commented on its operations in the area.

Israeli forces deployed to the Netzarim Corridor, south of Gaza City, also came under what is now near-daily attacks on Thursday, and Hamas and PIJ fighters fired antitank guided missiles at Israeli armour in Rafah city in the south, the ISW-CTP said in their joint report.

Italy’s ITA Airways suspends flights to and from Tel Aviv

Italy’s ITA Airways is suspending flights to and from Israel’s Tel Aviv “due to the geopolitical developments in the Middle East and to ensure the safety of its passengers and crews”, the airline said in a statement on its website.

Flights have been suspended until August 6, it added.

A number of airlines, including Lufthansa, have cancelled or suspended flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut, Lebanon, amid the increase in regional tensions following the assassination of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Palestinian factions show unity after Haniyeh assassination
Nour Odeh
Reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank

A senior delegation from Fatah will be participating in Ismail Haniyeh’s funeral procession in Doha later today, including the movement’s number two, Mahmoud al-Aloul. That is in the context of widespread Palestinian condemnation of this political assassination.

Assassination is a longstanding Israeli policy, and it has touched and marked all Palestinian factions, including Fatah. So, all political differences are set aside for this moment of unity. This is expected and demanded from the Palestinian public, who are furious with this kind of targeting and who have been watching their fellow Palestinians slaughtered at an industrial scale for the past few months.

Having said that, looks could be deceiving in the occupied West Bank. You won’t see large-scale protests there most likely. You won’t see the kind of fury from the public that one expects.

But we have to keep in mind two things: First, Israel’s occupation has changed the dynamics of movement in the West Bank. Over 500 different checkpoints dissect and fragment the territory. Second, Israel is going after people for posting things online, including condolences over the death of people like Ismail Haniyeh or even fellow Palestinians they may be related to or friends with.

There’s a lot of fear and muted fear in the West Bank that we might not see translated on the streets today.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/2/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-wants-gaza-war-to-engulf-region-turkey

Israel summons Turkish deputy ambassador over half-mast flag incident

We reported earlier that the Turkish embassy has flown its flag at half-mast, as the funeral of assassinated Hamas political head Ismail Haniyeh takes place in Doha.

Israel’s foreign minister, Isreal Katz, says on X that he ordered the summoning of Turkey’s deputy ambassador to Israel for a “stern reprimand” over the incident.

“The State of Israel will not accept expressions of participation in mourning for a murderer like Ismail Haniyeh who was the head of the Hamas terrorist organization”, Katz wrote.

Flying official flags at half-mast is seen as a sign of respect, usually marking sombre occasions.

Emotions were running high at Haniyeh’s funeral

There were leaders of the different Palestinian factions, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and some of the important Palestinian diaspora figures.

I have seen dozens of representatives of NGOs as well because Hamas is vitally seen as a Palestinian resistance movement that is trying to pave the way for the state of Palestine.

So, contrary to the main rhetoric of the Israelis or some of the Western countries, Hamas is widely seen as a legitimate voice of the Palestinians.

That’s why they have seen people from all walks of life, politicians and ordinary people, coming here and paying their respects to Ismail Haniyeh.

He had been a prominent figure, an important face of the Palestinian resistance.

He was not just respected by Hamas members or those who have sympathy for Hamas, but he was seen as a very dignified voice of the whole Palestinian cause.

Haniyeh will be ‘hard to replace’

Hamas will have a tough time replacing Haniyeh due to his strong ties with Arab allies and central role in ceasefire negotiations, said Beirut-based Middle East analyst Sami Nader.

As Hamas’s political chief, Haniyeh gave the group a more “moderate profile” and succeeded in improving ties with many Arab governments with whom relations had been tense, Nader told Al Jazeera. During the Gaza war, he also played a leading role in ceasefire negotiations.

Picking a successor will be further complicated by the fact that Haniyeh’s deputy, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in January this year in a Beirut air strike, noted Nader.

Israeli military claims to have killed senior member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad

The Israeli forces say Mohammed al-Jabari was the deputy head of weapons manufacturing for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

It said he was responsible for “financing weapons manufacturing infrastructure” for the group in northern Gaza, the distribution of salaries and funds, “and was part of attempts to restore the Islamic Jihad’s rocket manufacturing capabilities and infrastructure”.

There has been no comment yet from the PIJ on these claims.

Tough task ahead for Iranian committee probing Haniyeh assassination
Dorsa Jabbari
Reporting from Tehran, Iran

Iran has formed a special committee including members of the country’s intelligence forces, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and police force to investigate the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh. As we understand, they are just beginning the investigation.

What is clear is that the committee is going to have to answer many tough questions about one of the biggest intelligence and security failures in the country’s recent history.

The one thing we know – which we’ve heard from high-ranking Iranian officials across different bodies – is that the country is going to [deliver] a very harsh response [to the assassination]. What that is going to look like is unclear, but a point made by the IRGC specifically is that it is not going to be a response just by Iran.

Of course, we expect Iran to respond to Israel directly, but it’s becoming more and more apparent that Iran is going to have the so-called “resistance front” assisting it in whatever type of attack it carries out. We expect a response in the coming days.

People flock to Doha mosque to pay respects to Haniyeh

Crowds of people are arriving at Doha’s Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque, also known as the Qatar State Grand Mosque, ahead of funeral prayers for Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh.

Heavy security measures are in place at the scene, with attendees being searched and prohibited from bringing phones into the service, reports Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar outside the mosque in the Qatari capital.

After funeral prayers, which dozens of state dignitaries are expected to attend, Haniyeh’s body will be taken to a cemetery in Lusail, north of Doha, to be laid to rest, said Serdar.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/2/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-wants-gaza-war-to-engulf-region-turkey

>>483291
>Turkey has shut off access to Instagram, according to its national communications authority, after a top government official slammed the social media platform for “censoring” Hamas-related content.
>“We will continue to defend freedom of expression against these platforms, which have repeatedly shown that they serve the global system of exploitation and injustice,” Altun said.

I get it fuck instagram for doing this but
Censoring a website for censoring speech ?
Why not promote the fuck out of a website that doesn't censor and get a user-switch-stampede going instead ?

>Italy’s ITA Airways is suspending flights to and from Israel’s Tel Aviv “due to the geopolitical developments in the Middle East and to ensure the safety of its passengers and crews”, the airline said in a statement on its website.
>A number of airlines, including Lufthansa, have cancelled or suspended flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut, Lebanon, amid the increase in regional tensions following the assassination of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Seems reasonable enough as a precaution, but this is also making it harder for people trying to flee Israel. Isreal has been suffering skill and brain drain. Which might force it to reconsider it's hostile foreign policy.

>>483293
Turkstagram coming soon

Hezbollah claims missile attack on Israeli military position

On Telegram, the Lebanese political party and paramilitary group says that its fighters attacked the al-Marj site of the Israeli army, hitting it directly.

Yesterday, the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, announced that Israel should expect a large military response for its attack on Beirut Tuesday that killed senior military figure Fouad Shukr.

Israeli military claims southern Lebanon strike, drone interception

The Israeli military has released aerial footage of what it says was an air raid on the area of Bleida in southern Lebanon, claiming that it killed two members of Hezbollah.

It added that the fighters were identified and hit after rocket launches were made from the area earlier today.

Israeli fighter jets also successfully intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” that crossed from Lebanon into the occupied Golan Heights, it said, adding that a fire was caused as a result of falling shrapnel, but there were no casualties.

UNIFIL says it cannot attribute responsibility for Majdal Shams incident

Andrea Tenenti, the spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping troops in Lebanon, says the attack that killed 12 people in Syria’s occupied Golan Heights falls outside the force’s operations.

Israel had blamed Hezbollah for the explosion, but the Lebanese group has vehemently denied the allegation.

“UNIFIL is not in the position to attribute the responsibility of the tragic incident in Majdal Shams,” Tenenti said, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

Tenenti’s comments come after some media outlets falsely reported that a UNIFIL investigation found Hezbollah to be responsible for the attack.

Itamar Ben-Gvir says al-Aqsa imam detained

Israel’s national security minister says Imam Ekrima Sabri has been detained after accusations that he delivered a sermon eulogising slain Hamas leader Haniyeh.

“My policy towards instigators is clear – zero tolerance,” Ben-Gvir said in a social media post.

Haniyeh burial under way
Resul Serdar Atas
Reporting from Doha, Qatar

Haniyeh’s coffin has been taken to the Lusail royal cemetery.

Access there is quite restricted. Those at the cemetery include some state dignitaries, members of the Qatari royal family and most importantly, members of Haniyeh’s family. The remainder of Haniyeh’s family, that is, because 12 members of his immediate family have been killed by Israeli attacks over the last 10 months. Overall, he said 60 of his family members had been killed in the war since October 7.

Now, Haniyeh’s body is being buried. That final farewell is under way.

Anger, uncertainty at commemoration of Haniyeh in Beirut
Zeina Khodr
reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

We are in one of Beirut’s neighbourhoods where Hamas is organising a symbolic funeral for their leader, Ismail Haniyeh.

Hamas does have military security and political representation in Lebanon. It is an ally of Hezbollah.

Hezbollah and Hamas are members of the Iranian-led regional alliance. This alliance is promising to respond to what they are calling Israel’s aggressions.

Whether it’s the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, they blame Israel for that killing; whether it’s the killing of Hezbollah’s top commander on Tuesday night, Israel claimed responsibility for that, for that assassination; or whether it is the targeting of Yemen’s port of Hodeidah.

Lebanon today is commemorating the slain leader of Hamas, and there are pictures here of Hamas’s number two, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut in January.

So there is a lot of anger here. If you talk to people here, they say it, “is only going to strengthen our will to resist. This is the only path. This is the only way forward.”

But there is also no doubt that there is also a lot of concern. You talk to people here, and they believe that this conflict could widen. We heard from Hezbollah’s leader Nasrallah yesterday, promising a strong response to the killing of their chief of staff, but at the same time, he stopped short of declaring all-out war.

So it’s mixed feelings regarding what comes next.

Message from Hamas’s Khalil al-Hayya: Haniyeh’s blood will ‘bring victory’

Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s deputy head in Gaza, is among the group’s senior officials attending Ismail Haniyeh’s funeral in Doha.

Al-Hayya, seen as a possible successor to Haniyeh, conveyed a message to several of Haniyeh’s relatives at the ceremony: “We are sure that his [Haniyeh’s] blood will bring out victory, dignity and liberation,” he said.

Al-Hayya also emphasised that Haniyeh was “no better or dearer” than the thousands of children killed in Gaza during the war, reported the Associated Press news agency.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, some 39,480 Palestinians have been killed, more than 16,000 of them children.

France tells nationals visiting Iran to leave ‘as soon as possible’

The country’s foreign ministry has urged its nationals visiting Iran to leave immediately “Due to the increased risk of a military escalation in the region”.

Iran has promised to avenge the assassination in Tehran of Hamas’s political leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh, which it blames on Israel, prompting fears of further regional conflagration.

France advised its nationals still in Iran “to leave as soon as possible” in light of the current tensions.

Poland warns against travel to Lebanon, Israel and Iran

Amid fears of a wider Middle East war, Poland has advised its citizens against travelling to Lebanon, Israel and Iran, according to updated guidance.

“In connection with a growing number of Polish tourists visiting Lebanon, Israel and Iran, we want to repeat that we have long advised against any kind of travel to this region,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the social media platform X.

“The unstable security situation makes it possible to believe that it will be more and more difficult to leave the three countries,” the ministry added.

Archbishop of Canterbury urges respect for ICJ ruling against Israeli occupation

The Church of England’s spiritual head has urged governments to respect the findings of the United Nations top court that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal, saying the law should not be upheld in a “selective manner”.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said in an advisory opinion last month that the occupation should be withdrawn as soon as possible.

Justin Welby – who also heads the worldwide Anglican Communion – said in a statement the ICJ opinion had made it clear the occupation is “unlawful” and must end.

“At a time when the world is marked by increasing violations of international law … it is imperative governments around the world reaffirm their unwavering commitment to all decisions by the ICJ, irrespective of the situation,” Welby said.

He added that it was clear to him from many visits in recent decades the “system of military rule” imposed by successive Israeli governments in occupied Palestinian territory was one of “systemic discrimination”.

Israeli navy says it completed test of LRAD long-range defence system

The Israeli navy completed this week a successful test of the LRAD long-rang interceptor, which is meant to take out a variety of threats, including cruise missiles and rockets, the military has said.

The test was carried out with Israel on high alert for possible attacks from Iran and its allies in the region – in retaliation to the killing of Haniyeh in Iran and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

Hamas says will remain solid and maintain its line

Hamas official Mohammad Nazzal has said that Hamas “will remain solid and maintain the rights of its people and will not make concessions that divide (lessen) the balance of the Palestinian people”.

At a mourning house for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha, Nazal said: “Netanyahu believes that the assassination of Haniyeh can break the will of the Palestinian people and resistance at the negotiation table and outside [it]. Netanyahu is delusional.”

“Hamas is an institutionalised movement with legislative institutions, and it is the decision-maker in dealing with any event that take place within the movement, so I assure the public opinion that Hamas will maintain its line,” he added.

“The leading institutions of Hamas will certainly discuss what happened with Haniyeh and will take the appropriate decisions regarding the management of the movement’s affairs during the next phase.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/2/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-wants-gaza-war-to-engulf-region-turkey

Pentagon to send more military assets to Middle East

The Pentagon says the US military will deploy additional fighters and Navy warships to the region amid growing anticipation about possible Iranian retaliation against Israel for the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran.

We will bring you more details on this as they become available.

More on US bolstering its military presence in Middle East

The Pentagon has said it is adjusting its force posture to “increase support for the defense of Israel and to ensure the United States is prepared to respond to various contingencies”.

It said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered additional ballistic missile defence-capable cruisers and destroyers to the US European Command and Middle East-based US Central Command regions.

“The Department is also taking steps to increase our readiness to deploy additional land-based ballistic missile defense,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

“The Secretary has also ordered the deployment of an additional fighter squadron to the Middle East, reinforcing our defensive air support capability.”

Israeli airstrike targets Lebanon-Syria border region

The Israeli military has struck an area near the border between Lebanon and Syria.

“A hostile air raid targeted a truck carrying food in the Hawsh al-Sayed Ali area on the Lebanese-Syrian border, without causing any injuries,” reported Lebanon’s National News Agency.

https://twitter.com/LebanonTrend_/status/1819476011215442147

Hamas official rejects claim Haniyeh was killed with a bomb

The representative of Hamas in Tehran has refuted reports that Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a bomb planted in his room long before his arrival in the Iranian capital.

Khaled Qaddoumi said he was in the building where the Palestinian leader was assassinated on the fourth floor, as quoted by a report in the London-based news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

“It was clear from the appearance of the place after the attack and from the body of the martyred leader Ismail Haniyeh that the targeting was carried out by an airborne projectile,” he said, adding that he will not discuss further details as Iran is still investigating.

Qaddoumi said a wall and the ceiling of the room Haniyeh was staying in had collapsed due to the severity of the impact of the projectile.

The New York Times has reported, citing unidentified Middle East officials, that Haniyeh was killed by a bomb placed in his usual residence in Tehran two months before the assassination.

'Possible Kamala Harris VP pick faces criticism for anti-Palestinian op-ed'

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is said to be among the frontrunners to be Harris’s running mate, is facing rebuke for an article he wrote when he was in college in which he said Palestinians are “too battle-minded” to have peace with Israel.

The op-ed, first exposed by the Philadelphia Inquirer, played down the prospect of solving the conflict after White House talks between then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1993.

“Palestinians will not coexist peacefully,” Shapiro wrote in the article. “They do not have the capabilities to establish their own homeland and make it successful even with the aid of Israel and the United States. They are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own.”

The would-be governor also wrote that Arafat was in danger of being assassinated “by his fellow belligerent Arabs”. But it was Rabin who was killed by a fellow Israeli in 1995.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Action said Shapiro’s comment was disqualifying.

“The racist, anti-Palestinian views Governor Shapiro clearly expressed are deeply disturbing and should disqualify him from further consideration as the 2024 Democratic [vice] president nominee,” the group said in a statement.

AIPAC says US must ‘stand with Israel’ against Iran

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has suggested that Washington and its allies should support Israel in retaliating to a possible Iranian response to the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran.

“As Iran plans an attack that could cause mass destruction in Israel and spark a regional war, America and our allies must work together to deter Iran by demonstrating that we will stand with Israel as it responds to any strikes by the Iranian regime and its proxies,” the pro-Israel lobby group said in a message to supporters.

AIPAC has spent tens of millions of dollars in recent US elections to help defeat candidates critical of Israel.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/2/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-wants-gaza-war-to-engulf-region-turkey

Iran rounds up dozens in hunt for Haniyeh’s assassins: Report

Iran has detained dozens of people, including military and intelligence officers, as part of its investigation into the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, according to a US media report.

Also in custody are staff at the Tehran guesthouse where Haniyeh was killed early on Wednesday, The New York Times reports, quoting two Iranians “familiar” with the investigation.

Security agents stormed the guesthouse, which is owned by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and placed all staff “under quarantine, arrested some, and confiscated all electronic devices, including personal phones”, sources told the newspaper.

Agents are also zeroing in on Iran’s airports in the hunt for perpetrators, who they believe are members of Israeli intelligence and are still in the country, the sources said.

US aircraft carrier arrives in the Strait of Hormuz: Report

Israeli Army Radio reports that the US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt has arrived in the Strait of Hormuz, just 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) from the coast of Iran, amid fears of Iranian retaliation for the killings of Hamas’s political leader in Tehran and a Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the Middle East and areas under US European Command, as well as a new fighter squadron to the Middle East.

In April, the US, UK, France, and Jordan helped shoot down missiles and drones fired by Iran at Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike on Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus.

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said on Friday that “the Department of Defense continues to take steps to mitigate the possibility of regional escalation by Iran or Iran’s partners and proxies”.

Four occupants ‘dismembered’ by Israeli air strike on car near Tulkarem
Nida Ibrahim
Reporting from Ramallah, occupied West Bank

Palestinians we’ve been speaking to say that the air strike targeted a vehicle. According to locals, [it was carrying] fighters and one of them is believed to be a head of the Qassam Brigades.

Medical sources who we’ve been speaking to in the Tulkarem area said they received the body of a Palestinian, and four people were dismembered – body parts – as a result of the strike.

Tension has been already spiralling in that area as Israeli forces say they are looking for the leaders of the battalion in the Tulkarem area. This is a developing story and we are still collecting details.

It’s another day under Israeli occupation. Another day with Israeli forces raiding different cities in the occupied West Bank arresting people and destroying parts of the infrastructure – the roads, water lines, electricity lines in different areas.

We’ve seen them raiding Nablus, Jenin, Bethlehem, even here near a refugee camp in Ramallah.

Let’s not forget that since the war started, raids by the Israeli forces on the occupied West Bank have been intensifying and amounting to almost 40 raids per day in different cities, refugee camps and villages.

Sweden shuttering Beirut embassy

Sweden is closing its Beirut embassy and evacuating its staff, as concerns grow that the Gaza war could spiral into regional conflict.

Sweden’s FM Tobias Billstrom announced the move in comments to Swedish Radio, saying embassy staff had been told to leave Beirut for Cyprus and that the ministry was planning to temporarily relocate its diplomatic mission.

The decision had been taken “initially for the month of August but may be extended depending on the security situation”, said Billstrom.

The embassy closure comes after numerous Western nations, including Sweden, issued travel warnings urging their citizens to leave Lebanon.

Drone targets car in Lebanon’s Tyre: Reports

A drone strike has hit a car in southern Lebanon’s Tyre district, causing casualties, reports Lebanon’s National News Agency.

The attack took place between the southern towns of Wadi Jilou and Bazouriyeh, it said.

Footage of the attack’s aftermath, shared on X by Lebanon’s An-Nahar news site, shows an ambulance and a large crowd gathered near the wreckage as a fire burns on the side of the street.

We’ll bring you more on this attack as we have it.

https://twitter.com/Annahar/status/1819642417328366050

‘Complete siege’ on Tulkarem
Israeli forces have intensified their raid on the occupied West Bank city, hours after an air strike on a car killed at least five people.

Military bulldozers were seen entering the camp along with soldiers.

Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reports that the Israeli bulldozers are “wreaking havoc” on infrastructure in the city, damaging roads, homes and businesses.

Drones can be heard flying at low altitude.

Stay here for more updates on this raid

Israel’s military claims to destroy missile launch sites in Gaza

In its latest war update, Israel’s military says it has struck a “significant number of” targets in Gaza in the past day.

Among them are a tunnel and missile launch site in Rafah, and a Hamas weapons depot and another missile launch site in central Gaza, it said.

Israel’s military did not list any casualties from these strikes, but as we’ve been reporting, its forces carried out a string of overnight strikes in Gaza that killed civilians, including a mother and her child in Bureij refugee camp.

Israel’s ‘slow progress’ in Rafah due to Palestinian resistance: Monitors

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades fired mortar shells at Israeli forces operating along the Netzarim Corridor and Israeli soldiers continued to battle in Rafah city where their ground operation “has been delayed” by the tenacity of Palestinian resistance, war monitors report.

According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP), Israel’s ground offensive in the southern city has been “delayed for several weeks due to slow progress in degrading the Rafah Brigade”.

On Friday, Palestinian fighters launched at least 20 rockets towards southern Israel from an area between Rafah and Khan Younis where Israeli troops are currently operating, the US-based think tanks said.

To the west of Rafah, in the al-Brahama neighbourhood, fighters with the National Resistance Brigades used anti-personnel landmines to target Israeli soldiers, according to latest ISW-CTP joint Gaza report.

Israeli forces shoot tear gas at journalists in Tulkarem

Footage posted on Palestinian social media channels show Israeli forces firing tear gas at clearly-marked journalists covering the Israeli military raid in Tulkarem.

In one of the videos, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency, two Israeli soldiers are seen firing tear gas canisters near a crowd of journalists, who cough as they inhale smoke while documenting the scene.

Israel’s military has regularly attacked journalists during the war, killing at least 111 of them, according to preliminary figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/3/israels-war-on-gaza-live-us-sends-ships-jets-to-region-as-tension-soars

Israel’s attack on shelter school a huge massacre
Anas al-Sharif
Reporting from Gaza City

Israeli jets targeted a school in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood where thousands of displaced Palestinians have taken refuge.

It was directly targeted and as you can see people, including children, have been torn to pieces.

While we were documenting the massacre inside this school, the displaced people received calls from the Israeli military ordering them to evacuate the building immediately, because it was going to be targeted again.

The bodies of the victims are still in the schoolyard, in the classrooms and even in the surrounding areas. Until this moment, no one has been able to retrieve the bodies from inside the school.

Bodies are everywhere. The medics are retrieving them and there are body parts everywhere. It’s a huge massacre. The school has been completely destroyed.

Israelis protest near homes of Netanyahu, Gallant

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents relatives of captives still held in Gaza, earlier cancelled its weekly rally in Tel Aviv but called for other demonstrations.

Protesters gathered outside the home of Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv, and the residence of Shas party leader Aryeh Deri in Jerusalem.

Separately, in another weekly protest, hundreds of antigovernment protesters gathered outside Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea.

Yemenis demonstrate in Sanaa in support of Palestinians

Thousands of Yemenis, including supporters of the Houthi group, demonstrated in capital Sanaa again on the “day of rage” of Palestinians following Haniyeh’s assassination.

Many Yemenis had also joined marches on Friday while holding up posters of the assassinated Palestinian leader and Hezbollah’s Fuad Shukr.

https://twitter.com/TvAlmasirah/status/1819781500239229296

Israeli settlers attack Palestinians, burn olive trees in occupied West Bank

Six Palestinians have been injured after Israeli settlers attacked residents of the al-Mughayyir village in the occupied West Bank.

The settlers set fire to Palestinian farmers’ tents, leading to confrontations that injured the residents.

Israeli settlers also set fire to dozens of olive trees in the town of Surif, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, under the protection of the Israeli army. Gunfire was heard at the scene.

Wafa news agency quoted Hazem Ghnimat, the head of the local municipality, as saying that settlers attacked residents’ homes and burned 40 olive trees. It reported no injuries.

‘Small explosion in proximity’ of ship off Yemen’s Aden

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations confirms in an update on the incident earlier some 170 nautical miles (315km) off the Yemeni city of Aden that a ship was attacked.

“The master of a merchant vessel reports the armed security team observed a small explosion in close proximity to the vessel,” it says, adding that there was no damage and the crew are safe.

The Houthis in Yemen have not reported any attacks so far today.

Qassam, al-Quds Brigades claim series of attacks on Israeli military in Gaza

The military wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad say their fighters have:

shelled a group of soldiers in the Netzarim Corridor, which Israel set up during the war to separate northern Gaza from the south;
destroyed an Israeli military vehicle during an incursion east of Khan Younis;
exchanged fire with Israeli soldiers east of Rafah;
targeted two military personnel carriers, military bulldozers and a Merkava tank east of Rafah, and;
shot a soldier with sniper fire east of Rafah.

UK goverment tells British nationals in Lebanon to ‘leave now’

The UK government has urged its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country immediately amid fears of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah and a broader regional conflict.

Foreign Minister David Lammy said in a statement, “Tensions are high, and the situation could deteriorate rapidly.”

“While we are working round the clock to strengthen our consular presence in Lebanon, my message to British nationals there is clear – leave now.”

Israeli military report ‘numerous projectiles’ from Lebanon

In its latest war update, Israel’s military says one of the projectiles hit the area of Avivim in northern Israel but that no injuries have been reported.

It said its forces had struck the sources of the fire and “additional targets to remove threats”.

Moroccans protest after Hamas leader’s killing

Thousands of Moroccans are protesting in Rabat in support of Palestinians and in condemnation of diplomatic normalisation with Israel, holding portraits of killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Waving Palestinian flags, and brandishing pictures of Haniyeh and a cardboard coffin adorned with his image, thousands of people marched to the parliament building with black-and-white keffiyeh scarves – symbols of the Palestinian cause – draped across their shoulders.

“Greetings from Rabat to our Gazan friends and to the Al-Qassam [Brigades]”, the crowd chanted, referring to the armed wing of Hamas.

“The people want the end of normalisation”, they also chanted, a message also carried on their placards.

Some in the crowd burned an Israeli flag.

Since the beginning of the war on Gaza on October 7, several large demonstrations have taken place in Morocco calling for the end of normalisation, while open opposition to diplomatic ties had previously been limited.

Morocco established official ties in Israel in 2020 as part of the US-led Abraham Accords.

The North African kingdom has officially called for “the immediate, complete and permanent halt to the Israeli war on Gaza”, but has not publicly discussed undoing normalisation.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/2/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-wants-gaza-war-to-engulf-region-turkey?update=3089972

>>483318
that vid on the adl was informative

>Israeli settlers also set fire to dozens of olive trees
Because Hamas are tree elves that use the oil from the olives to make the Zionists slip and fall.

A call for collective global action in support of Palestinian prisoners
Qadura Fares

Since October 7, Palestinian detainees have faced horrific crimes.

Shortly after Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced that Israel was cutting off food, water, electricity and fuel to Gaza, effectively announcing the start of the genocide, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir launched his own war against Palestinian political prisoners and detainees held in Israeli jails and camps, by declaring a policy of “overcrowding”.

Israel must be held accountable for the crimes it is committing against Palestinians in detention camps and prisons.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/8/3/a-call-for-collective-global-action-in-support-of-palestinian-prisoners

Power station on fire in Lebanon after Israeli drone strike: Report

A major fire has broken out in a electricity conversion station at a water utility site in the southern Lebanese town of Taybeh after an Israeli drone strike on the facility.

That’s according to a report by Lebanon’s National News Agency quoting the state electricity company, Electricite du Liban (EDL).

https://twitter.com/Lebanon24/status/1820044094657196207

Hezbollah claims two attacks on Israeli military sites near Lebanon border

Hezbollah has claimed a shelling attack on Israel’s Birkat Risha military outpost near the Lebanese border.

The group did not elaborate on the results on the afternoon attack, which came 20 minutes before a rocket attack on another Israeli military site near the Manara kibbutz in northern Israel.

The results of that attack are also not clear. There was no immediate information from the Israeli army.

The cross-border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah have become a daily occurrence since the war erupted in Gaza.

Hezbollah has said it will stop its assaults on Israeli military positions only after a permanent ceasefire is achieved in the Palestinian enclave.

France tells citizens living in Iran to temporarily leave

We reported earlier that France’s Foreign Ministry had urged French citizens in Lebanon to leave the country, given the danger of military escalation in the Middle East.

The ministry has now recommended that French citizens residing in Iran temporarily leave the country, as well, citing the risk of its airspace being closed.

Qassam Brigades commander among nine killed in Israeli attacks on Tulkarem
Nida Ibrahim reporting from Bal'a in the occupied West Bank

There are no bodies here in Tulkarem, only some remains – an experience many in the occupied West Bank know all too well.

The Israeli army said it used a drone in the attack on a group of fighters in Tulkarem.

It took hours for Palestinian medical teams to be able to identify the bodies. One was that of Haitham Blaidi, the leader of the Qassam Brigades in Tulkarem.

Which countries have issued travel advisory on Lebanon?

France joins a growing number of countries advising its citizens to leave Lebanon amid threat of a regional escalation.

Here’s the name of countries that have issued advisory:

France
United States
United Kingdom
The Netherlands
Canada
India
Jordan
Saudi Arabia
Germany
Ireland
Norway
Sweden
Belgium
Denmark
Australia
Russia
Spain

‘Our streets flooded with crimes’: Opposition leader slams Ben-Gvir

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has slammed Itamar Ben-Gvir for his record as national security minister.

“Since he took office, our streets have been flooded with crimes and operations,” Lapid said on X. “By all standards, personal security is in a state of collapse, the police are at rock bottom more than ever, the only thing he does is press interviews, deception and provocations from morning to evening,” he added.

Lapid’s comments came after two people were killed in a stabbing attack near Tel Aviv. Ben-Gvir rushed to the scene where he lauded his controversial weapons’ distribution policy and urged residents to pick up arms.

In the wake of the October 7 attack, the far-right minister has eased distribution of guns to Israelis, including settlers, and has significantly relaxed the country’s gun control laws.

US candidate Jill Stein considering vocal Palestine advocates for VP spot
Ali Harb
Reporting from Washington, DC, US

The Green Party’s presidential candidate Jill Stein is considering three Palestinian rights advocates, including two Arab Americans, to be her running mate in the upcoming elections, her campaign has confirmed.

The candidates are Abed Ayoub, the executive director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC); Amer Zahr, a Palestinian American activist; and Jacqueline Luqman, a journalist and activist.

All three have been vocal critics of Israel and the US’s unflinching support for the war on Gaza. Stein, a physician and activist, herself is a longtime supporter of Palestinian rights.

The Stein campaign said the vice presidential announcement will be made during a livestreamed rally on Thursday.

‘Biden realised Netanyahu lied about captive deal’: Report (anon's note: …)
A senior official in the administration of President Joe Biden has told Israeli daily Haaretz that Netanyahu is ungrateful towards the US and disregards the significant amount of aid it has provided to Israel throughout the past 10 months of war.

The official also described the last two conversations between the two men – one during a White House meeting some 10 days ago, the other over the phone last week – as difficult and tense, according to Haaretz.

“Biden realised that Netanyahu was lying to him about the hostages,” the official told the publication.

“He’s not saying it publicly yet, but in the meeting between them, he specifically told him, ‘Stop bull*ing me.'”

The official said the US is preparing to help Israel in the face of an Iranian and Hezbollah response to last week’s assassinations in Beirut and Tehran but stressed there would be no support for actions that further expand the scope of the conflict.

“Netanyahu is trying to prolong the war instead of focusing on how to get to a hostage deal,” the official said. “It’s making it harder for us to continue supporting Israel over time.”

Haaretz said the Israeli prime minister responded to the reports about the tense discussions with Biden through a press release attributed to his office that said: “The prime minister does not interfere in American politics and will work with whoever is elected president, just as he also expects the Americans not to interfere in Israeli politics.”

Saudi urges citizens to leave Lebanon ‘immediately’

Saudi Arabia has called on its citizens to leave Lebanon without delay.

The Saudi embassy in Beirut said in a statement posted on X that it was “following closely the developments in south Lebanon”, near the border with Israel, and “reiterating its call for Saudi nationals to leave Lebanon’s territory immediately”.

Houthis down US drone over Saada in Yemen: Report

Yemen’s Houthi group has downed a US MQ-9 drone over the country’s northern Saada province, two sources from the group told Reuters news agency.

The attack would be the first to be claimed by the Iran-aligned group since Israel carried out an air strike targeting the port of Hodeidah, considered an economic lifeline of Yemen.

Majority of casualties in school bombings are children: Palestinian Civil Defence
Mahmoud Basal, the spokesman of the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza, says the Israeli forces have committed “a massacre in every sense of the word” by bombing the Al Nasr and Hassan Salama schools.

He described the scenes of the attacks as “difficult and tragic” with children accounting for 80 percent of those killed and wounded.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/4/israels-war-on-gaza-live-body-parts-everywhere-as-israel-bombs-shelter

Israeli media reporting GPS disruptions in Tel Aviv

Israel’s media outlet Haaretz is reporting that residents of the Greater Tel Aviv area are experiencing “heavy disruptions to location-based apps”.

The report said the disruption was “a move most likely initiated by Israel as it prepares for Hezbollah and Iranian strikes”.

‘Our blood is one’: Blood donation campaign launched in West Bank for Gaza

The Palestinian health ministry has launched a blood donation campaign for the people of Gaza, the Wafa news agency reports.

Announcing the blood drive in Ramallah, Health Minister Majid Abu Ramadan said that the campaign titled “Our blood is one” will be “active at all blood banks within the ministry’s hospitals, as well as through a mobile blood bank vehicle” in the occupied West Bank.

The blood will be transferred to Gaza, where more than 90,000 have been injured in the Israeli offensive since October 7.

Israel seizes $26m tax funds meant for Palestinian Authority

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has ordered the seizure of about 100 million shekels ($26m) of tax funds meant to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority.

He says the money will be given to the families of Israeli victims of “terror” inflicted by Palestinians.

Pope Francis says assassinations ‘never a solution’

Pope Francis has once again appealed to all sides to resume negotiations to achieve an “immediate ceasefire in Gaza and on all fronts”.

The pope also denounced “attacks, even targeted ones, and killings” in an address to thousands of pilgrims and tourists in St Peter’s Square.

Such attacks “can never be a solution”, he said, adding that they “do not help us walk in the path of justice, the path of peace, but generate even more hatred and revenge”.

Families of British officials at Beirut embassy ‘temporarily withdrawn’

The UK Foreign Office reports that it has evacuated the families of officials working at the British embassy in the Lebanese capital.

It also renewed its warning to all British nationals in Lebanon to “leave now while commercial travel is still available”.

Situation at Beirut Airport this morning

A video posted online showed severe congestion at Beirut airport after a number of airlines cancelled scheduled flights to and from the Lebanese capital due to the tense situation in the region.

More than 75 flights have been cancelled at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut since last Thursday, and 228 flights have been delayed.

https://twitter.com/YousefAljassem/status/1820004401311797601

Houthis display downed US-made drone with partly damaged missiles

Houthi fighters have released a video of the remains of the US-made MQ-9 Reaper attack and reconnaissance drone that they claimed was downed while engaged in “hostile activity” over Yemen’s capital Sanaa.

One fighter, in the video, notes how petrol is dripping from the destroyed drone and shows how some of its missiles remain partly intact.

https://twitter.com/MMY1444/status/1820127748343451667

Houthis claim attack on cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree says that the Yemeni group hit the Groton – a Liberia-flagged cargo ship – in the Gulf of Aden “with a number of ballistic missiles”.

Late on Saturday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported that an unnamed cargo ship was attacked twice off Yemen’s coast, with at least one missile hitting the ship.

Saree also confirmed reports that the group has downed a US-made MQ-9 Reaper attack and surveillance drone, marking the seventh such drone shot down since the start of the war on Gaza.

Hezbollah says it shelled Israeli military site near Malkia

Hezbollah says it shelled Israel’s military site near the Malkia settlement in the north.

Its statement on Telegram did not elaborate on the result of the attack.

Hezbollah has frequently said that its attacks on northern Israel will cease once Israel ends its war on Gaza.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/4/israels-war-on-gaza-live-body-parts-everywhere-as-israel-bombs-shelter

>>483336
>GPS disruptions in Tel Aviv
>the disruption was “a move most likely initiated by Israel as it prepares for Hezbollah and Iranian strikes”.
for what purpose are they doing that ?
Don't missiles use inertial navigation plus optical navigation (a camera that looks down at the ground and compares it to a map)

Rumors say the Russians have moved a bunch of fighter jets to Iran.

What's that about ?

>>483338
Idk, but when you have blatant military propaganda trying to normalize drafting soldiers on random subreddits, I think we have reasons to be worried.

>>483342
>when you have blatant military propaganda trying to normalize drafting soldiers on random subreddits
To be honest this may not be related to the middle eastern powder-keg, they might just be trying recruitment strategies. The chances of convincing many people to get their limbs blown off in foreign sand like it's 2003 again, are low. People no longuer identify the endless-war-gang as the country that can call for service

>I think we have reasons to be worried.
You are correct about that.

The US has recently managed to bully the Germans to accept medium-range nuclear missile silos from the Nihilistic Aggression Terror Organization. So the Russians are probably considering giving the Iranians nukes. That might temper the war-lust of the Zionators in the present and eventually serve as a bargaining chip to mutually dismantle a few missile silos.

Hezbollah claims drone attack on northern Israel

Hezbollah said it attacked the barracks of the Israeli military’s 91st Division in Ayelet HaShahar with a squadron of drones. The Lebanese group claimed Israeli soldiers were killed and wounded in the direct hit.

The Israeli military confirmed the attack, which it described as a rocket strike, and said two soldiers were “moderately wounded”.

Gaza officials say Israeli forces took 2,000 bodies over course of war

Gaza’s Government Media Office says that Israeli forces have taken 2,000 bodies from cemeteries throughout the course of the war, and that some corpses have been handed back in ways that “desecrated the bodies” of those killed.

“Over the course of 304 days of the genocide, the occupation has kidnapped more than 2,000 bodies of martyrs and dead people from dozens of cemeteries in the governorates of the Gaza Strip, which the occupation bulldozed with bulldozers and military vehicles and turned their graves over, in a scene that violates humanity and human feelings,” the statement reads.

“The Israeli occupation army desecrates the dignity of the bodies of 89 martyrs, handing them over as skeletons and decomposed corpses.”

Ultra-Orthodox men clash with Israeli police at recruiting office

Ultra-Orthodox Israeli men are protesting at an army recruiting office in Tel Hashomer against a plan to draft members of the community into the army.

In June, the Supreme Court decided that the army would now enlist draft-age ultra-Orthodox into the military despite previously being exempt from the mandatory conscription, as the war on Gaza continues and the tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border intensifies.

According to the Times of Israel, 900 previously exempted students are expected to show up at the recruitment offices later today. Protests are also expected to grow later in the day.

https://twitter.com/kann_news/status/1820329228727955724

Japan urges citizens to leave Lebanon

The Japanese Foreign Ministry has issued a travel warning advising its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country due to the rising tensions in the Middle East.

Many other countries made a similar announcement for their citizens.

It comes in anticipation of a response to the Israeli attacks that killed Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

Iran, Hezbollah could begin Israel attack as early as Monday: Report

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has told his counterparts from the G7 that an attack on Israel by Iran and Hezbollah could begin as early as Monday, according to Axios.

Citing three unnamed sources briefed on developments, the US media outlet says Blinken convened a conference call to coordinate with US allies and put diplomatic pressure on Iran and Hezbollah to minimise their retaliation over last week’s killings of Haniyeh and top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.

Israel forces set fire to Nablus market: Reports

Israeli forces have thrown burning tyres into the central fruit and vegetable market known as hisbeh in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, causing a large fire to break out there, according to Palestinian media.

Quds News published a video of the blaze on X, while the Wafa news agency said the fire broke out at the western facade of the market.

https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1820232533469962401

US personnel injured in strike on base in Iraq

Reuters news agency is reporting that US personnel were injured in a suspected rocket attack on the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq.

Citing three unnamed US officials, the report states that “several” personnel were injured.

Isfahan explosion-like sounds were ‘training exercises’: Iran’s IRGC

Multiple loud explosions were heard in Isfahan in central Iran in the past few hours in a tense night across the Middle East.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says in a statement that the sounds were a result of training exercises for commandos enrolled at Amir Al-Momenin University of Military Sciences and Technology.

Mohammad Reza Jannesari, the political and security deputy for the province, also confirmed to state media that the sounds were related to a drill.

OIC to hold emergency meeting this week

An emergency meeting of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers is to be held in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

The meeting in Jeddah will include discussions on the “crimes of the Israeli occupation” and the “assassination of
Haniyeh” the Saudi-based OIC said.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said in Tehran that Iran requested the meeting alongside Pakistan.

‘Panic is on the way’: Iran’s IRGC teases missiles in message to Israel

Media affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran are widely sharing a clip made by the group’s media that hints at a large-scale direct attack on Israel using missiles and drones.

Flags of Lebanon’s Hezbollah can also be seen in the video, which promises “panic is on the way” to Israel. Dozens of missiles and drones can then be seen launched in unison.

One of the drones can be seen bearing the name Jaffa, which is what Yemen’s Houthis called their drone that hit Tel Aviv on July 19 in a first-of-its-kind attack that killed one person and left 10 injured.

The X account of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reposted a quote with a bloody depiction of Israeli leaders.

https://twitter.com/Khamenei_fa/status/1820546294198440140

Israel says killing of Hezbollah commander ‘significant blow’ to group’s ability

The Israeli military has claimed responsibility for the assassination of the Hezbollah operative that the Lebanese group confirmed was killed today.

It released aerial footage of a drone strike on a motorcycle purportedly in the southern Lebanon village of Aabba, adding that Ali Jamal al-Din Jawad was a commander in the Radwan unit of Hezbollah.

It said the assassination will deal a “significant blow” to Hezbollah’s ability to carry out attacks on Israel.

The Israeli military also claimed an air strike on a building used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Kfar Kila.

It reported that multiple explosive-laden drones have been launched from Lebanon today, with several making impact in the Mount Meron area but inflicting no casualties.

Israeli military rejects that most Hamas fighting capability still in play

The Israeli military has rejected findings of a CNN investigation that says only three Hamas battalions have been rendered unable to launch military operations in Gaza.

“From the intelligence and findings on the ground, most of the Hamas Brigades have been dismantled. It is estimated that most of the battalions are at a low level of competency and can no longer function as a military framework,” the military said in response to an inquiry cited by the Times of Israel.

The investigation found that eight of the 24 Hamas battalions are still able to carry out missions, with a further 13 battalions “degraded” but still partly operational despite 10 months of non-stop Israeli attacks.

Doctors Without Borders says Israeli strikes on medical facilities ‘unacceptable’

The group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says strikes targeting displaced people sheltering in tents in the Al-Aqsa Hospital compound on August 4 are part of a larger trend of Israeli strikes on medical facilities.

Gaza health authorities said five people were killed and 18 wounded in the attack.

In a social media post, MSF noted a March 31 Israeli strike on Al-Aqsa Hospital compound and another strike near the main entrance of the emergency department on July 22.

Qassam Brigades claims Israeli casualties in booby-trapped tunnel explosion

The armed wing of Hamas says its fighters succeeded in blowing up a tunnel rigged with explosives in the southern part of the Gaza Strip with an Israeli unit in the vicinity.

The Qassam Brigades added that it killed and wounded soldiers in the attack that took place in a neighbourhood east of Rafah.

The group had earlier released a video showing its fighters carrying out mortar attacks in the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood west of Rafah.

https://twitter.com/AJA_Palestine/status/1820483756890714367

Netanyahu faces growing clamour as clock ticks for Gaza captives

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a growing chorus of sceptics who worry he’s not interested in a deal with Hamas to return the captives back to Israel.

“We’re actually very concerned and worried that there is no time,” Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat is among the captives, told AFP news agency.

Critics say Netanyahu, who is facing a corruption trial, prefers to prolong the conflict rather than agree to a deal that could upset his hardline coalition partners and tip him out of office.

“The hostages have no time and it seems like some people in Israel, including the prime minister, are taking their time,” Dickmann said.

Israeli media reports say gov’t ‘confident’ of US backing in event of retaliatory strikes

The Jewish Insider news outlet is reporting that Israel is “confident” that the US will stand by its side amid preparations for retaliation by Iran and Hezbollah.

Citing Israeli officials, the report said there could be a cooperative effort on the part of Israel and allies such as the US and the UK to intercept as many missiles as possible, as occurred during a previous attack by Iran in April.

Despite reports of antipathy between Netanyahu and the administration of US President Joe Biden, the United States has thus far refused to consider steps such as suspending arms transfers to Israel, ignoring calls to use US leverage to bring Israel’s war on Gaza to an end.

Erdogan’s slams ‘digital fascism’ targeting Palestinians

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has attacked social media platforms for censoring photographs of Palestinian victims in Gaza as Ankara negotiates with Instagram to reinstate access after cutting it on August 2.

“They cannot even tolerate photographs of Palestinian martyrs and immediately ban them,” Erdogan said at a human rights event. “We are confronted with a digital fascism that is disguised as freedom.”

Erdogan also called Israel a “blood-thirsty genocide network” and vowed that Turkey will not be deterred from standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

This comes as Turkey confirmed it will officially submit its petition to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday.

UN says nine employees ‘may have been involved’ in October 7 attack

The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) says nine UNRWA staff members “may have been involved” in the October 7 attack, adding that they have been fired.

OIOS released its findings from its investigation of 19 UNRWA staff amid allegations of their involvement in the armed attacks in southern Israel.

“In one case, no evidence was obtained by OIOS to support the allegations of the staff member’s involvement, while in nine other cases, the evidence obtained by OIOS was insufficient to support the staff member’s involvement.

“In respect of the remaining nine cases, the evidence obtained by OIOS indicated that the UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the armed attacks of 7 October 2023. The employment of these individuals will be terminated in the interests of the Agency”.

In January, Israel accused UNRWA staff members of abetting the October 7 attack on Israel.

In April, an independent review for the UN headed by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna found that Israel has not presented credible evidence to support its claims that UNRWA staff were members of “terrorist” groups.

‘Unclear’ if report will close chapter on UNRWA allegations

Following a United Nations finding that nine employees may have taken part in the October 7 attacks, it is not clear whether the findings will impact funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Several countries paused donations following allegations by Israel, but later resumed them after Israel refused to provide evidence for its allegations.

“All but one country have resumed funding to UNRWA. The one that hasn’t has been the US,” Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo said, reporting from the UN.

“This report will probably close the chapter, because I do not see any of these countries that have resumed funding to UNRWA now revoking it again.”

Israeli military says CENTCOM commander in Israel for ‘joint preparations’

The Israeli military has said that US CENTCOM Commander General Michael Erik Kurilla arrived in Israel today for “joint preparations” as the countries brace for retaliation by Iran and Hezbollah.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) oversees United States military activities in the Middle East.

“The commanders held a joint situational assessment on security and strategic issues, as well as joint preparations in the region, as part of the response to threats in the Middle East,” the Israeli military said in a social media post.

“The [Israeli army] will continue to deepen its relationship with the US Armed Forces stemming from a commitment to strengthening regional stability and coordination between the two militaries.”

US Congress member Cori Bush latest to face pro-Israel lobby spending

Missouri state representative Cori Bush has been an outspoken critic of United States support for Israel during the war on Gaza. She has also been vocal about the influence of the pro-Israel lobby group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Tomorrow, she will become the latest progressive in the US legislature to test whether she can overcome a deluge of AIPAC spending as she faces her challenger, prosecutor Wesley Bell, in the Democratic primary in Missouri.

AIPAC’s associated super PAC, the United Democracy Project, has spent more than $8.4m to unseat Bush, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data. The race comes after the group injected a record $14.5m to support the successful challenge of New York Congress member Jamaal Bowman, who, like Bush, is among a group of congressional progressives known as the “squad”.

Critics say money from groups such as AIPAC, which has largely embraced the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, distort local races by flooding the airwaves with attack ads funded by individuals outside of the district or the Democratic Party.

“This is only the beginning,” Bush has told AP. “Because if they can unseat me, then they’re going to continue to come after more Democrats.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/5/israels-war-on-gaza-live-80-of-victims-of-school-bombings-are-children

Key takeaways from B’Tselem’s report on Israel’s ‘torture camps’

The Israeli human rights group collected testimonies from 55 Palestinians, including 21 from the Gaza Strip, who had been held in Israeli prisons since October 7.

The detainees spoke to B’Tselem following their release – here are some details:

The B’Tselem report reveals that more than a dozen Israeli prison facilities were converted into a network of camps “dedicated to the abuse of inmates” following October 7.
“Such spaces, in which every inmate is intentionally condemned to severe, relentless pain and suffering, operate in fact as torture camps,” it said.
The violations include “frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation; deliberate starvation; forced unhygienic conditions; sleep deprivation; prohibition on, and punitive measures for, religious worship; confiscation of all communal and personal belongings; and denial of adequate medical treatment”.
B’Tselem said at least 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October 7. Some 48 of them were from Gaza.
The report said that detainee testimonies demonstrate “a systemic, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners”. This policy, it said, is implemented under the direction of Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, with the full support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
B’Tselem also noted that the number of Palestinians held in Israeli jails has doubled to 9,623 since the war on Gaza began.

48% of Israelis support preemptive strike against Iran, Hezbollah: Poll

A poll by Israel’s 103FM radio has found that close to half of the public (48 percent) are in favour of a preemptive strike against Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Some 34 percent of Israelis, however, support a strike only if Israel is attacked first, according to the poll.

Since the killing last week of several Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, including Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Israel has been bracing for an expected retaliatory attack from Iran and its allies.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has promised that Iran will deliver “harsh punishment”.

Hezbollah claims attack on Israel’s Avivim

The Lebanese group said it targeted a building used by Israeli soldiers in the village of Avivim near Lebanon’s Blue Line border with Israel.

The announcement came after the Israeli military said it intercepted a projectile over Kerem Ben Zimra and Gush Halav, towns that are near Avivim in the Upper Galilee.

Israeli reservists fail polygraph probing sexual abuse allegations: Report

Two Israeli reservists suspected of sexually abusing a Palestinian prisoner have failed a polygraph test about the allegations, reports Israel’s Channel 12.

The soldiers, among five still detained over sexual abuse allegations at Israel’s Sde Teiman facility, denied committing or covering up an act of sexual assault during the polygraph examination, but the examiner deemed their responses deceptive, said the report.

The allegations against the reservists have divided Israeli society, with a group of far-right activists storming the facility they were held at last week demanding their release.

Hezbollah claims strikes on Israeli military units

Hezbollah has confirmed it carried out an air attack in northern Israel that caused casualties.

In a statement, the Lebanese group said it fired a series of drones at the headquarters of Israel’s Golani Brigade, an infantry brigade, and the headquarters of its Egoz Unit, an elite commando unit, located in the Shraga barracks near the Lebanese border.

The attacks “hit their targets accurately and achieved casualties”, said the group, adding that its response for the killing of Fuad Shukr, a senior military commander, in an Israeli strike on Beirut last week is “yet to come”.

Meanwhile, The Times of Israel reports that two people have been injured, one critically, in the nearby town of Mazra’a from drone impact.

UN probe into UNRWA not given full access to Israeli evidence
Gabriel Elizondo
Reporting from New York, US

The UN is saying that nine UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the October 7th attacks on Israel, but the key word is “may”.

The UN admitted that it does not have conclusive 100 percent evidence and that the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services was never given full access to Israel’s evidence that it claims it has against the UN personnel.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ordered this internal review shortly after Israel levelled its claims against UNRWA personnel in late January. Now, because of legal and confidentiality reasons, this OIOS report will not be made public.

Meanwhile, since October 7, more than 200 UNRWA personnel have been killed due to Israel’s continued bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

US says it will respond at ‘its choosing’ after attack on US forces in Iraq
Heidi Zhou-Castro
Reporting from Washington, DC, US

The US is very concerned, particularly now, with this strike on the al-Assad base in Iraq.

President Biden has been briefed by his national security team on that attack. According to the White House’s press office, the president discussed steps the US is taking to defend its forces and respond in a manner of its choosing and place.

This comes just as the Pentagon also released information that, over the last 24 hours, US troops detected and destroyed what appeared to be a several-pronged Houthis strike towards US and coalition forces and merchant vessels.

That included the US destroying five drones over the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, as well as a drone ship, and an antiship ballistic missile in the Red Sea. All of this, the US is attributing to the Houthis.

While the US is very concerned about de-escalating the situation in the region, it appears the opposite is happening. Even so, there are still diplomatic efforts ongoing.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is speaking with his G7 counterparts on Sunday and trying to put some last-minute diplomatic pressure to minimise any sort of retaliation that may come from Iran and its proxies.

Meta apologises, restores Malaysian PM’s condolence posts over killing of Haniyeh

Meta Platforms has apologised for removing content from Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Facebook and Instagram accounts related to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh last week.

“We apologise for an operational error where content from the Prime Minister’s Facebook and Instagram Pages were removed, and the content has since been restored with the correct newsworthy label,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters.

Members of the Prime Minister’s Office and the country’s communications minister met with Meta representatives on Monday to seek an explanation as to why the posts by the prime minister expressing condolences after the killing of Haniyeh were removed.

The Prime Minister’s Office said the social media company’s actions were “discriminatory, unjust, and a blatant suppression of free expression”.

Delta suspends flights between New York and Tel Aviv

The US airline said it is pausing flights between New York and the Israeli city of Tel Aviv through August 31 “due to ongoing conflict in the region”.

Earlier, Germany’s Lufthansa also suspended its flights to Israel’s Tel Aviv, Iran’s Tehran, and Lebanon’s Beirut until August 12.

The moves come as several countries including Turkey, Japan, the US, the United Kingdom and France asked their citizens to leave Lebanon amid Iran’s threats to attack Israel over the assassinations of Hamas’s Haniyeh and Hezbollah’s military commander Fuad Shukr.

China urges ‘caution’ in travel to Lebanon

The Chinese embassy in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, issued a statement telling Chinese citizens to travel to the country with caution citing a “grim and complex” security situation.

The embassy also called on Chinese nationals and institutions in Lebanon to stay on high alert and strengthen safety precautions.

Abbas to visit Russia on August 12-14: Report

Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency, citing a diplomatic source, said the Palestinian president is expected to visit the country from August 12 to 14 and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 13.

Abbas told RIA the main goal of his visit was to “hold consultations and exchange opinions on the latest developments in the Palestinian and international arenas, and to coordinate positions and strengthen bilateral relations in all areas”.

Israeli police officer injured in checkpoint stabbing: Reports

Israeli media is reporting a stabbing attack at a checkpoint south of Jerusalem.

Israel’s Kan broadcaster said that an Israeli police officer was lightly injured in the attack and that the perpetrator has been killed.

We’ll bring you more information as the story develops.

Japan urges its citizens not to travel to Israel

Japan’s Foreign Ministry has issued a travel alert urging its citizens not to visit Israel, citing rising tensions in the Middle East.

On Monday, the ministry urged Japanese nationals in Lebanon to leave the country, joining other nations such as France, the UK and the US in asking citizens to leave.

Hezbollah ‘showing it is able to target population centres’
Zein Basravi
Reporting from Amman, Jordan

Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government.

The timing of this is very significant. What has happened does represent a kind of escalation. Israel will find it very concerning that Hezbollah was able to launch what has been described as a swarm of drones into its territory, very quickly and very deep into areas where it normally targets the military. Now, it is showing it is able to target population centres further and further inside northern Israel.

The mayor of Naharyia [which was targeted in the attack]… has demanded retaliation not just against Hezbollah, but also against Beirut, showing that this can only escalate and continue to get worse.

The fact that the Iron Dome wasn’t able to track except for one drone – Israeli forces say they intercepted only one of a number of aerial vehicles – does reflect the fact that Hezbollah is growing more capable.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/6/israel-war-on-gaza-live-at-least-40-palestinians-killed-over-past-24-hours

>>483365
>preemptive strike against Iran
They already committed an act of war by assassinating that diplomat, Haniyeh was his name i think, if they launch another attack, it will be a double-provocation. That must mean they really want to make this war happen.

>>483369
They already committed an act of war by bombing that Iranian embassy.

Sinwar named Hamas’s new chief

Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s top leader in Gaza, has been named by the Palestinian group as its new leader following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Israelis continue to protest detention of soldiers suspected of raping Palestinian prisoner

Israelis are demonstrating in front of the military court at the Beit Lid base in the centre of the country, to protest the continued detention of five reserve soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner in Sde Teiman prison in the Negev desert.

Last week, dozens of Israeli protesters, including far-right members of the Knesset, clashed with military police after at least nine soldiers suspected of abusing a Palestinian prisoner were detained for questioning.

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said the demonstration comes ahead of the start of a court hearing on the third extension of the detention of the five soldiers.

Demonstrators chanted slogans such as “This is the state of the Jews and it precedes democracy” and called for the release of the accused soldiers.

As Israel experiences yet another violent demonstration outside one of its military bases, opposition leader Yair Lapid has taken to X to condemn the country’s government, saying it “harms the functioning of the army and endangers national security”.

“Netanyahu, as usual in moments of truth, disappeared,” Lapid wrote.

Ultra-Orthodox Israelis clash with police over military conscription

Local media reports that clashes have broken out for a second day between ultra-Orthodox Israelis protesting military conscription and police forces.

Hundreds have gathered outside a recruiting office in Tel Hashomer in protest against a plan to draft members of the community into the army.

A Supreme Court ruling on June 25 said the Israeli government must enlist draft-age ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jews into the military, overturning a de facto exemption that had been in place since the country’s founding 76 years ago.

Israel’s Iron Dome malfunctions a common theme since war on Gaza
Hamdah Salhut
Reporting from Amman, Jordan

The failures within Israel’s defence systems, which are supposed to be ironclad, is significant here.

Initially, the army said it intercepted one of the drones but the others were able to make an impact.

There have been 17 total casualties, among them a fatality. A statement by the Israeli military confirmed it is investigating an Iron Dome missile that launched, malfunctioned and ended up hitting a highway.

We do not know if the fatality was from the interceptor or the drone itself, but this shows that the Israeli military is already overwhelmed with the war in Gaza and is expecting some sort of retaliation from Iran.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has said that military cooperation and coordination with the US is critical here in order to combat an attack like that.

Woman fined in Germany for using ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’

A 22-year-old woman has been fined by a court in Berlin for chanting the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” days after the October 7 attacks.

The Tiergarten District Court handed the woman a 600 euro ($655) fine for “condoning a criminal act” by using the phrase at a demonstration in the Berlin neighbourhood of Neukolln on October 11.

The judge explained that the use of the slogan so soon after the October 7 attacks effectively constituted an endorsement of the attack and a denial of Israel’s right to exist.

The slogan calls for the establishment of a free Palestinian state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

German police have sought to crack down on the use of the phrase, which Israel has described as anti-Semitic.

Israel army confirms death of last missing person from October 7 attack

The Israeli military has confirmed that Bilha Yinon, the last person listed as missing in the October 7 Hamas attack, was killed on that day.

“Today, [Israeli forces] representatives officially informed the family of Bilha Yinon that she is no longer alive,” the military said in a statement.

An estimated 1,139 people were killed in the attacks on and more than 200 were taken captive.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/6/israel-war-on-gaza-live-at-least-40-palestinians-killed-over-past-24-hours

Analysis from Larry Wilkerson

>>483386
That's fucked up

Turkey submits request to join genocide case against Israel in UN court: Report

Turkey has filed a formal request with the International Court of Justice to join South Africa’s genocide lawsuit against Israel, Turkey’s state-run news agency reports.

Turkey’s ambassador to The Netherlands submitted a declaration of intervention at the UN court in The Hague, Anadolu Agency reported.

Turkey, one of the fiercest critics of Israel’s actions in Gaza, becomes the latest nation to seek to participate in the case.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Israel of genocide, called for it to be punished in international courts and criticized Western nations for backing Israel.

Israel has strongly rejected accusations of genocide.

Majority of Americans oppose sending US forces to defend Israel: Poll

The survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found that 56 percent of the American public opposes sending US troops to defend Israel if it is attacked by Iran.

The poll was conducted between June 21 and July 1.

Among Democrats and Independents, the percentage of those opposing the move was higher. But a slim majority of Republicans (53 percent) said they would favour US forces defending Israel in this scenario.

Most Americans favour US taking part in Israel, Palestine peacekeeping force: Poll

More from the survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs:

The poll suggested that while the majority of the American public opposed sending US troops to defend Israel, most of them favoured soldiers taking part in a peacekeeping force in Israel and Palestine.

Some 54 percent favoured the deployment of US troops to enforce a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians, with 62 percent of Democrats saying they agreed with such a decision. About 51 percent of Independents and 48 percent of Republicans also said they favoured such a move.

Hezbollah attacks Israeli military outpost

The armed Lebanese group says on its Telegram channel that its fighters targeted the Jal al-Allam site with artillery shells.

This comes one day after a drone “swarm” attack launched by Hezbollah penetrated deep into Israeli territory, some 20km, injuring Israeli civilians.

It also comes in the context of an anticipated response from Hezbollah to the killing of its military commander Fuad Shukr in a strike on Beirut last week.

Yesterday, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah said that a reply to this attack is surely coming, and that the delay in its response so far is part of its psychological warfare.

Why did Hamas elect Sinwar as its leader?
Marwan Bishara

Yahya Sinwar faces huge challenges and a huge responsibility, especially at a time of war or genocide against his own people, while he is hiding in the tunnels in Gaza.

It’s very important to note that in the past six years, from 2017 to 2023, until the October 7 attacks, it was Sinwar who governed the Gaza Strip.

Gaza – a coastal enclave of 2 million people – was a well-run machine, despite the Israeli siege. Some people argue that it was better governed than the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, in terms of everything from water to sewerage and electricity to security and order, as well as education and healthcare.

For Israel, Sinwar is the devil incarnate. For the past 10 months, the Netanyahu government has assassinated his character so well that he is now known in the world as a sort of a new Hitler, because of the October 7 operation that he led.

But once again, what happens in Gaza is a reaction to Israel’s actions.

The election of Sinwar has come as a reaction to Haniyeh’s assassination. Reactions are in general not strategy, right?

And so much of what happens in Palestine comes as a reaction to the continuous Israeli oppression, occupation and colonisation, and – as of late – genocide. And the reaction by the Palestinians is electing a very defiant, a very steadfast leader who spent many years in Israeli jails. And who today, after 10 months of genocide, is even more popular among Palestinians than before.

Western ambassadors skipping Nagasaki memorial because Israel not invited

Ambassadors from the US, UK, EU, France, Germany, Italy, Australia and Canada will not attend Japan’s memorial service for the bombing of Nagasaki on Friday because Israel is not invited, reports the AFP news agency.

Nagasaki’s mayor Shiro Suzuk said it had not extended an invitation to Israel’s ambassador Gilad Cohen because of fears it could prompt Gaza war protests, emphasising the need for a “sombre atmosphere”.

But a spokesperson for the US embassy in Japan said that decision had “politicised the event”, which US ambassador Rahm Emanuel will not attend.

Instead, the US and other Western countries are set to send lower-level delegations as representatives, reported AFP.

Iran boosting air defences: Report

Iran is bolstering its air defences with more radar, missile and drone systems, reports the country’s official IRNA news agency.

The build-up comes as Iran, along with its regional allies, is expected to wage a major attack on Israel in retaliation for the recent killings of senior Hamas and Hezbollah figures abroad.

Israel wages more attacks in north, central Gaza: Report

In addition to its deadly bombing of an apartment in Gaza City, Israel’s military has waged several more attacks throughout the enclave, according to Wafa. They include:

open firing on homes in the Bureij camp, injuring numerous civilians
bombing a home at the entrance of the Nuseirat camp
firing artillery towards Gaza City’s Tal al-Hawa and Zeitoun neighbourhoods
shelling an area near Wadi Gaza Bridge, northwest of the Nuseirat camp

Report: Israeli army preparing for Beit Hanoon operation

Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 reports that Israeli forces are preparing for a “large-scale” ground operation in the Gaza City neighbourhood, in the north of the Strip.

Last night, the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for Palestinians in the “Beit Hanoun area, the Manshiyya and Sheikh Zayed neighbourhoods” via its Arabic language spokesman, saying that citizens should leave to “known shelters” in the centre of Gaza City.

Israel frequently bombs facilities used as shelters for displaced Palestinians in Gaza, including schools run by the United Nations.

This news comes after rockets were fired towards Israel from these areas of Gaza City yesterday.

Video shows Hamas fighters target Israeli tanks with rockets, IEDs in Rafah city

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic have obtained and verified video footage of Hamas fighters planning and carrying out attacks on Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles in Rafah City in southern Gaza.

In one clip, a Palestinian fighter runs up to a stationary armoured vehicle, places an improvised explosive device (IED) at its rear and then runs back for cover as the bomb detonates.

In a second clip, an Israeli tank is targeted with a rocket-propelled grenade fired by a Hamas fighter from inside the upper floor of a bombed-out building.

https://twitter.com/AJA_Palestine/status/1820928581452562718

Israeli forces blow up Fatah building in Balata camp: Report

Israeli forces have raided the Balata camp east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank and blown up the regional headquarters of the Fatah movement, reports Wafa news agency.

The forces stormed into the camp with bulldozers, entering from the eastern part of al-Quds Street, and fired sound cannons and tear gas. They carried out raids on numerous homes in addition to targeting the Fatah building, said Wafa.

As we reported earlier, Israel’s military also carried out a separate raid on the nearby town of Beit Furik, injuring three Palestinians, including two teenagers, with live gunfire.

Germany calls on citizens not to wait for evacuation from Lebanon

Rumours of a possible evacuation operation from Lebanon have given German citizens there a false sense of security, a German Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday, urging them to leave the country immediately.

“The time now has come to leave Lebanon,” the spokesperson said, calling on citizens to organise their own exit even if this means travelling via Turkey or paying high prices for flights.

A spokesperson for the Defence Ministry declined to give details on preparations for possible evacuations in the event of an escalation in the Middle East conflict.

US charity suspends aid work in south Lebanon

The aid group Action Against Hunger said it is temporarily pausing activities in southern Lebanon due to “the recent escalation of violence”, including the “devastating” air raid that killed a Hezbollah commander in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

“The violence is taking an intolerable toll on civilian lives, and we urge all parties to respect international humanitarian law, ensuring the protection of civilians and the work of humanitarian organizations like ours,” said Action Against Hunger country director Suzanne Takkenberg.

The nongovernmental organisation said its programmes are continuing in the rest of the country.

Israeli medic describes ‘horrifying’ sexual abuse of Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman

An Israeli medical staffer has spoken to The Wall Street Journal about the “shocking” condition of the Palestinian detainee whose sexual abuse at Israel’s Sde Teiman prison triggered a military investigation last week.

The staffer said the detainee’s wounds were so severe they required surgery.

The life-threatening injuries included broken ribs, “obvious signs of assault” to the abdomen and chest, and a severe injury to the rectum most likely caused by the insertion of a foreign object, the staffer said.

“It was pretty horrifying,” the staffer was quoted as saying. “It’s just setting the bar so low that I don’t know how we can deteriorate more morally. I was aware things like that could happen but I’ve never witnessed anything like that.”

WSJ, citing lawyers and medics, said the case only came about because the victim was transferred to a civilian hospital and people treating him had raised concerns.

Houthis congratulate Sinwar

The official spokesman for the Yemeni group Mohammed Abdulsalam has extended the Houthis support for the newly appointed political leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar.

“We ask God Almighty to grant the leader Sinwar support and guidance to carry out this responsibility in this historic phase of the confrontation with the Israeli enemy”, he said in a statement.

Sinwar’s leadership was announced yesterday by Hamas, roughly one week after Ismail Haniyeh, the former head of the group’s political bureau, was assassinated in Tehran.

US legislator critical of Israel’s war on Gaza loses primary

Progressive Congresswoman Cori Bush has lost the Democratic Party’s primary contest in the state of Missouri, AP reported, after a pro-Israel lobby spent $8.5m to remove her over her criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza.

With nearly all ballots counted from Tuesday’s vote, Bush won 45.8 percent while her rival, St Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, won 51 percent, according to AP.

Bell’s campaign had received a big financial boost from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) through its super political action committee, United Democracy Project (UDP).

In June, the Super PAC also spent $15m in June to defeat another progressive congressman, Jamaal Bowman.

Bowman lost to George Latimer, a pro-Israel "centrist."

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/7/israel-war-on-gaza-live-concentrated-bombing-attacks-target-central-gaza

>>483389
Yep!

Mohammad Marandi and the Duran crew on how Iran is going to respond to Israel's recent provocation.

https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=iRHRoN9ATvU

Dialogue Works - Analysis by former US ambassador Chas Freeman

Iran responds to reports it may hold off on Israel attack

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic asked the Iranian mission to the UN about reports Iran may hold off on a retaliatory attack over Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination if Israel agrees to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Here’s their full response:

“We have pursued two priorities simultaneously: first, establishing a durable ceasefire in Gaza and the withdrawal of the occupiers from this territory; second, punishing the aggressor for the assassination of the martyr, Haniyeh, preventing the recurrence of the Israeli regime’s terrorist aggressions, and making the Zionists regret embarking on such a trajectory.”

World Central Kitchen says Palestinian staff killed in Gaza

The US-based aid group said a Palestinian staff member has been killed in Gaza, four months after Israel killed seven of its employees in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.

WCK identified the staff member as Nadi Sallout, saying in a post on X that he was “an integral member of our warehouse team from the early days of our response in Rafah and a humanitarian at his very core”.

The organisation said it is still learning the details of Sallout’s death but believes he was off duty at the time he was killed near Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

Biden administration sued over sanctions for Israeli settlers

Pro-Israel advocacy groups and dual US-Israeli citizens have filed a lawsuit challenging President Joe Biden’s order subjecting individuals involved in settler violence in the West Bank to financial and immigration sanctions.

The complaint filed in Amarillo, Texas, says the executive order that Biden issued in February violates the plaintiffs’ free-speech rights under the US Constitution and illegally interferes with the exercise of their religious beliefs.

The organisations behind the lawsuit include Texans for Israel, a Christian nonprofit, Israeli nonprofit Regavim, the groups’ leaders, and two dual US-Israeli citizens who live in the West Bank and say they oppose the “two-state solution” favoured by the Biden administration. The wife of one of the US-Israeli citizens was sanctioned by the US.

Biden’s executive order allows federal agencies to impose financial sanctions and visa restrictions against individuals who attack or intimidate Palestinians or seize their property.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/7/israel-war-on-gaza-live-concentrated-bombing-attacks-target-central-gaza

Continuing rocket attacks on Israel prompts latest evacuation order for North Gaza: Monitors

The latest Israeli military evacuation orders for northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoon followed just hours after Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighters fired three rockets from the area towards Israel’s cities of Ashkelon and Sderot, war monitors report.

Israel’s military said it would respond “forcefully and immediately” to Tuesday’s rocket barrage by PIJ, which also targeted Israel’s Nir Am area, according to US-based think tanks the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP).

While Israeli forces have conducted regular “low intensity clearing operations” over recent months in Beit Hanoon, there have been indications since March that Palestinian fighters had re-entered the area, according to the latest joint report from the ISW-CTP.

Israel revokes accreditation for Norwegian diplomats

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has revoked the diplomatic accreditation of eight Norwegian diplomats based in Tel Aviv who dealt with the Palestinian Authority.

A Foreign Ministry statement said the move was in response to “a flurry of recent anti-Israel and unilateral steps taken by the government of Norway”, including recognising a Palestinian state and recent “severe comments by senior Norwegian officials”.

The Norwegian ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem and informed that the diplomats would have their accreditation revoked in seven days and their visas in three months.

Israel bans imam Ekrima Sabri from Al-Aqsa Mosque for 6 more months

Israel has extended its ban on Al-Aqsa Mosque’s speaker Ekrima Sabri, restricting his access to the mosque and its courtyards for six more months, his lawyer tells Al Jazeera.

Sabri was detained on August 2 on suspicion of inciting “terrorism” after he mourned assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at the mosque.

Sabri, 85, the former grand mufti of Jerusalem and current head of its Supreme Islamic Council, called Haniyeh a “martyr” at the mosque in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, his lawyer Hamzeh Qutteineh said at the time.

At the time, he was also banned from entering the mosque until August 8.

Palestinian Foreign Ministry demands ICC arrest warrant for Israel’s Smotrich

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has released a statement demanding punitive action against Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister.

Smotrich suggested earlier this week that Israel should allow the starvation of two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and that it would be justified, but that the international community would not allow it.

“Smotrich’s statements are an explicit admission of adopting and bragging about the policy of genocide,” the ministry’s statement said, adding that the comments are a “direct expression of the ugliest forms of fascism.”

The ministry said that Smotrich issued a direct challenge to international law and the International Criminal Court in his statements, and that the court should respond with an arrest warrant.

‘Uncommitted’ campaign wants Harris to clarify stance on Gaza war

Leaders of the “Uncommitted” protest-vote movement in Michigan have said they will not endorse Harris – who replaced Biden atop the Democratic presidential ticket – until she clarifies her stance on a ceasefire in Gaza as well as weapons transfers to Israel.

The campaign – which gained national attention by urging voters to cast “Uncommitted” ballots in a message to Biden during the Democratic Party’s primaries earlier this year – is particularly influential in the battleground state of Michigan.

More than 700,000 Americans, including 100,000 in Michigan, heeded the campaign’s call, and it is set to send 30 delegates to the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Abbas Alawieh, a co-founder of the movement, told reporters in Dearborn that the campaign wants to know how Harris’s policy “is outwardly different from the disastrous policy that we’ve seen unfold over the last nine months”.

He added that the uncommitted movement would not endorse Harris for president unless she “[tells] us where she stands on Gaza and on the issue of weapons transfers specifically, so that we know what message we can take back to the voters that we mobilise here in Michigan”.

Pro-Palestine protesters heckle Kamala Harris at Detroit rally

The Democratic presidential nominee was speaking in Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday evening when half a dozen protesters began chanting, “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide. We won’t vote for genocide,” according to US media.

The interruptions were the first Harris has encountered at a rally since she replaced US President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket, NBC News reported.

Harris responded to the protesters by saying, “I’m here because we believe in democracy. Everyone’s voice matters, but I am speaking now. I am speaking now.”

As the protest continued, Harris’s tone became more forceful.

“You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking,” she said.

Israeli forces blow up home of slain Palestinian in occupied West Bank

Soldiers stormed the town of Dura at dawn, located south of Hebron, and surrounded the home of the late Moamen Fayez al-Masalma, who was shot dead by Israeli forces in April, the Wafa news agency reports.

Forcing those inside the house to leave, the Israelis planted explosives on the building’s interior walls and the detonation destroyed the house. A vehicle owned by a local Palestinian was also destroyed during the raid on the town, Wafa said.

Demolishing the homes of Palestinians suspected of carrying out attacks on Israelis is a long-held practice of the military, which human rights groups say is a policy of “collective punishment” that may amount to war crimes.

Israeli rights group releases video clips of settler attacks in occupied West Bank

Yesh Din, which works on rights issues in the occupied territory, said the footage shows Israeli settlers attacking a Palestinian home with rocks and setting fire to a seating area in front of a Palestinian home. In a second clip, cars are set alight in a car park in the Palestinian village of Yatma, located south of Nablus.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in the seven days up to Monday this week, Israeli settlers carried out 27 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied territory resulting in 17 people injured, including two children, and damage to property.

Since October 7 and this week, the UN has recorded 1,143 settler attacks on Palestinians, including 114 that led to death and injuries, and 964 cases of property damage. Settler violence has also displaced about 1,500 Palestinians, including 720 children, the UN said.

https://twitter.com/Yesh_Din/status/1821144548996788575

Israeli protesters disrupt court hearing into abuse at Sde Teiman prison

Protesters shouting “shame” and “we are the sovereign” forced the Israeli Supreme Court to briefly suspend a hearing into a petition to close down the Sde Teiman prison, where Palestinian prisoners and Israeli doctors have accused Israeli soldiers of carrying out severe torture, including sexual abuse.

The protesters began disrupting the proceedings on Wednesday when a lawyer for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) argued that Sde Teiman should be closed permanently over repeated allegations of detainee abuse, the Times of Israel and the Associated Press news agency reports.

The protesters were removed from the court and after the hearing resumed the judges asked the state’s lawyer for greater clarity on the conditions in which Palestinians prisoners are being held.

State lawyer Aner Helman said there are currently about 30 Palestinians at Sde Teiman and that “core principles” of Israeli laws on detaining combatants were being upheld. He said that an upgraded facility will be opened at the site on September 5.

The ACRI’s lawyer, however, rejected the claims, saying: “We’re not talking about a new facility, it’s the same place, in which [the same] things have been happening since October.”

UN expert rebukes Germany’s staunch support of Israel amid ICC war crimes probe

The UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory has called out Germany’s staunch defence of Israel amid its war on Gaza, saying “it’s time to wake up to reality”.

In a post on social media related to Germany’s submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC) challenging a request for warrants seeking the arrest of Israeli leaders over alleged war crimes in Gaza, Francesca Albanese asked: “How can this be forgiven?”

While Germany could stay “silent in the corner of history, you are doing all you can to make it wrong, once again,” the UN rapporteur said.

“I understand. The pressure you have been under. The Holocaust that the Third Reich committed and most ordinary Germans let happen (other Europeans also watched idle or supported it). The sense of guilt. Its collective dimension,” Albanese wrote.

Germany, she added, was torn between supporting the primacy of international laws and “the security of Israel (or its apartheid?)”.

Israel’s budget deficit climbs

Israel’s budget deficit was 8.1 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in the 12 months until the end of July, equivalent to $2.2bn, according to preliminary figures from the Finance Ministry cited by The Times of Israel.

This is close to double the deficit it posted at the end of 2023, which was equivalent to 4.2 percent of its GDP and over Israel’s target deficit of 6.6 percent for 2024.

Israel has spent tens of billions on the war in Gaza since October, widening the deficit. From 2023 to 2025, the total military and civilian costs of the war to Israel is projected to be 253 billion shekels ($67bn), Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron warned at the end of May.

Ryanair cancels all flights to Israel until August 23: Report

That’s according to local newspaper Israel Hayom. The Irish low-cost airline had already notified Israeli passengers about the flight cancellations but there was no information about the duration of the measure.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/8/israels-war-on-gaza-live-victims-burn-as-tents-bombed-in-khan-younis

‘Israeli air strikes’ hit near airport in Syria

Local media reports from Syria indicate that explosions heard near the Shayrat Airbase in Homs were caused by Israeli air raids.

The Israeli military has not commented on the news, which has also been cited by Iranian state media.

Four injured in Israeli attack on Syria: Syrian state media

Syrian state media has now reported on the air raid blamed on Israel we mentioned earlier, saying that four military personnel had been injured.

The state media report said that an Israeli air raid had targeted Syria’s central region.

More details on Syria air strikes

According to local media reports, the Israeli air strikes targeted an ammunition depot southeast of Homs, in the vicinity of al-Shayrat Airport.

Loud noises continued following the strikes as a result of the continued explosion of the ammunition.

A number of civilian casualties have also been reported in a village near the airport, due to material being launched from the ammunition depot as a result of the explosions.

The airport has been used by the Russian air force since late 2015.

US, Egypt and Qatar invite Israel, Hamas to resume talks next week

A statement from the leaders of the three mediating countries invited Israel and Hamas to resume ceasefire talks on August 15 in either Doha or Cairo.

Both cities have hosted previous ceasefire talks, which have for months failed to result in a deal.

“It is time to conclude a ceasefire agreement and release hostages and prisoners,” the statement said.

(anon's note: lol)

Ship targeted with RPG by men on fast boats: UKMTO

The British maritime security agency reports that the ship that was targeted off the coast of Yemen was attacked by eight people aboard two small boats, who fired an RPG, leading to an explosion near the vessel.

“The vessel and crew are safe,” according to UKMTO, citing the master of the unnamed ship.

Houthis to work with ‘Axis of Resistance’ members

Yemen’s Houthis will coordinate with other members of the “Axis of Resistance” in any joint operation, the group’s leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi says, using the name that Iran and its regional allies use for groups aligned with Tehran.

He said any decision to respond to Israeli attacks would be made by the axis as a whole.

F-22 Raptor fighter jets arrive in the Middle East

The US military says some of its best fighter jets have arrived in the Middle East as the region awaits a retaliation by Iran and its “axis of resistance” against Israel.

The “force posture changes” have also seen the US military bring in more troops and weapons, including aircraft carriers, destroyers and missiles to the region to defend Israel.

Israel ‘working to block’ sanctions on violent settlers: Netanyahu

The Israeli prime minister held a meeting earlier today in Tel Aviv with council heads from illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank to discuss their concerns about the potential impacts of Western sanctions imposed on a limited number of violent settlers and organisations.

Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted as saying by his office that the Israeli military has been carrying out “very important work” in the occupied territory in recent months – in reference to daily raids that lead to the arrest and killing of Palestinians.

“We are working to block this. It is an issue for the entire State of Israel, not just Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu said about the sanctions, using the Israeli name for the occupied West Bank.

Kamala Harris ‘does not support’ Israel arms embargo

The national security adviser for US presidential nominee Kamala Harris emphasises that she does not support putting an end to arms transfers to Israel amid the war on Gaza.

“She does not support an arms embargo on Israel,” writes Phil Gordon on X, adding that Harris will always be committed to protecting Israel as the country expects a retaliation by Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to assassinations in Tehran and Beirut.

The statement comes amid calls for transparency on the stance of the incumbent vice president on US support for the deadly war. Harris has not personally commented on the arms transfers that have persisted despite US weapons being used to kill civilians in Gaza.

Trump warns of world war during speech

Former US President – and the Republican nominee for this year’s presidential election – Donald Trump spoke during a news conference in Florida.

In a meandering speech in which he touched on several topics, and repeatedly attacked his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump also briefly touched on the Middle East, saying that the October 7 attack on Israel would not have happened under his watch.

Amid a number of other proclamations on the state of the US and the world, Trump also warned of an imminent world war.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/8/israels-war-on-gaza-live-victims-burn-as-tents-bombed-in-khan-younis

>>483405
Something that nobody appears to be considering is that Iran could blow up huge stretches of the wall around Gaza that is blocking the aid transports from entering. They would get international approval for doing something that lessens the plight of the Palestinians and they'd fuck over Netanyahu's scheme for depopulating Gaza.

>>483413
There might be concern that flying debris could hit Palestinians with such a series of missile strikes. Gaza is a very small place.

Masked Israeli soldier defends rape of Palestinian prisoner on TV

A masked Israeli soldier has appeared on a live television programme to “defend the good name” of the Israeli military after multiple soldiers were detained for raping a Palestinian prisoner.

The assault, which took place in the infamous Sde Teiman detention centre and was filmed by security cameras, continues to cause controversy inside Israel, with many backing the arrested soldiers, despite the horrific crimes they are accused of.

The Israeli military earlier today said there is “reasonable suspicion” the soldiers are guilty of what they are accused of, and extended their detention until Sunday.

https://twitter.com/redstreamnet/status/1821553325667463575

Hamas, PFLP emphasise ‘national unity’ after Doha meeting

Leaders from Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) met in Qatar’s capital today on the sidelines of an event held to commemorate assassinated Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh.

Hamas, which selected Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar as its new political head, says in a statement that relations between the two Palestinian movements “have been strengthened over the recent years due to the shared and convergent vision on the national issue, the resistance project, and the Palestinian issue in general”.

The group adds that both movements agreed on the necessity of “going beyond the state of stagnation in which the national reality has been stuck for years, and meet the needs and aspirations of our people to stop the war of extermination and establish a fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and the right of return for Palestinian refugees”.

This comes amid a wider Palestinian push for unity that led to an agreement being signed by 14 groups in China’s Beijing.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/8/israels-war-on-gaza-live-victims-burn-as-tents-bombed-in-khan-younis

3 Columbia university deans resign over alleged ‘antisemitic’ text messages

Three deans at the University of Columbia have resigned after engaging in what the New York school’s administration described as email exchanges making reference to “ancient antisemitic tropes”, a college spokesperson said.

The three deans in question – Cristen Kromm, former dean of undergraduate student life; Matthew Patashnick, former associate dean for student and family support; and Susan Chang-Kim, former vice dean and chief administrative officer – had earlier been placed on leave.

The message exchanges, which took place during a campus event on May 31 called “Jewish Life on Campus: Past, Present, and Future”, followed weeks of student-led demonstrations at Columbia and other US college campuses protesting Israel’s war on Gaza.

The exchanges, which were revealed when an attendee took a photo of one of the dean’s phone screens, were described as dismissive and mocking. They described Jewish students as asserting their “privilege” and accused a panellist at the event of using the conversation for personal financial gain.

“This incident revealed behaviour and sentiments that were not only unprofessional, but also, disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes,” the university said in July.

The three deans who resigned have not publicly commented on their decision.

US military destroys Houthi missiles, ground control station in Yemen

The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) has said that it destroyed two antiship cruise missiles and one ground control station in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

US forces also destroyed one Houthi uncrewed surface vessel in the Red Sea, it added.

Iran would face ‘significant’ consequences if it attacks Israel: US official

A senior US administration official has warned Iran that it would face “significant” consequences if it decides to attack Israel, the Reuters news agency reports.

The official, which Reuters did not name, said an Iranian attack would jeopardise Gaza ceasefire talks and result in consequences that would severely impact Iran’s economy.

Tensions have been high and a retaliatory attack is expected against Israel following the recent assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Israeli troops fighting underground in Khan Younis, says military

Israeli troops have begun combat operations around Khan Younis, where Israel’s military ordered several neighbourhoods to evacuate yesterday.

In its latest war update, the military said its troops were clashing with fighters “both above and below ground” in the Khan Younis area and rooting out military infrastructure.

The military also said its air force waged more than 30 strikes on Hamas targets, which it claims killed numerous fighters who had fired on Israeli troops.

As we’ve been reporting, Israel’s latest attacks throughout Gaza have killed many civilians, including women and children sheltering in several Gaza City schools yesterday, according to the enclave’s civil defence.

Hezbollah raises ‘flag of revenge’ in south Lebanon, signalling response to Israel’s actions

The war of words between Hezbollah and Israel is intensifying, and there are growing fears that months of cross-border strikes between the two sides could escalate into an all-out war.

Hezbollah says its attacks on Israeli military sites are in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Israel’s recent assassination of numerous Hezbollah commanders, as well as the killing of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, has the region bracing for what’s to come.

Palestinian fighters manufacture IEDs from unexploded Israeli bombs: Monitors

The Israeli military’s latest orders for people to evacuate from central and eastern Khan Younis in Gaza’s south marks the third time that Israel’s forces have deployed to carry out “clearing operations” as Palestinian fighters reinfiltrate territory after such operations end, war monitors report.

Hamas fighters operating in Khan Younis are also manufacturing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) using unexploded Israeli bombs salvaged from the battlefield, US-based defence think tanks the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and Critical Threats Project report (CTP).

On Monday, Hamas fighters said they used a reconstituted bomb from an Israeli F-16 fighter jet to attack Israeli forces east of Khan Younis, according to the latest joint ISW-CTP report.

Fighters with Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired rockets on Thursday at Israeli forces deployed along the Netzarim Corridor, located to the south of Gaza City, the ISW-CTP also reported.

Pregnant woman among 7 killed by Israelis in possible Gaza City ‘war crime’: HRW

Israeli soldiers stormed a home in Gaza City in December, throwing grenades and firing assault rifles in an attack that killed at least seven people, including a pregnant woman, and left a five-year-old seriously injured, Human Rights Watch has said in a new report calling for a probe of the possible war crime.

Witnesses to the slaughter of the family said the Israeli soldiers also “shot a blind 73-year-old man after securing the building and forcing all other family members out”.

“They decimated a Palestinian family and orphaned a small child who may never be able to walk again,” HRW’s Belkis Wille said in the report.

“This incident highlights the deadly cost of Israeli forces’ failure to safeguard, and in some cases to apparently target civilian lives in Gaza, including children,” Wille said.

United Airlines suspends flights to Tel Aviv for foreseeable future

United Airlines announced on Thursday that it has suspended all flights to Tel Aviv for the foreseeable future, and will only resume them once it’s safe for customers and crew.

The Chicago-based airline had already suspended its Newark to Tel Aviv route on July 31, citing security concerns.

Rival airline Delta has also halted its flights between New York and Tel Aviv until August 31, while Germany’s Lufthansa has suspended flights to the Israeli city, Tehran in Iran, and Beirut in Lebanon until August 12.

Airlines are stopping flights as fears grow about the potential for a wider regional conflict following the recent assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/9/israels-war-on-gaza-live-mediators-push-ceasefire-as-israel-bombs-schools

>>483413
I haven't watched the video yet, but there was just one very ambiguous statement from Iran which kind of got me thinking how amazing it would be if they didn't attack Israel directly and instead used the tension to get international support to push against Israel. I think I might convert to Islam if that happened. I don't think it will, but I'll be incredibly impressed - so far the delay of WWIII has depended pretty much entirely on Iran's self restraint, which is an astounding enough thing on its own, even if they do strike back, which I expect they will, but perhaps more measured than such a horrible attack by Israel on their soil would ordinarily warrant. Could you imagine if all those flights were canceled, all those boats were moved, and Iran just… openly said "Ok, Israel assassinated Hamas's negotiator on our soil, on the day of our current president's inauguration, and we're not going to assassinate anyone in response. All these precautions that have been taken by the US & Israel have been to try to shield the Zionist entity from the consequences of its own crimes, not because of anything we were going to do," and make some broad appeal to countries around the world (and US military personnel if they can reach 'em) to completely abandon any remaining ties to Israel. 'Course, the US & UK (and probably Germany) would just pretend like it didn't happen even if the Ayatollah cut the fucking moon in half, but maybe Iran could throw something in their appeal which would work for some other countries.

Iran hitting the walls would also be an incredibly good thing as long as they were thorough.

>>483414
That's stupid, anon. Like, dumb.

>>483416
>how amazing it would be if they didn't attack Israel directly and instead used the tension to get international support to push against Israel
I guess that's possible but it's a big ask, it'll take something big like a arms-embargo against Israel

The political game that is being played is about Israel's ability to attack without reprisals. The Iranians probably will not tolerate that any longer. Iran is more powerful than Israel and they are able to impose that every engagement costs Israel more than it gains.

>not going to assassinate anyone in response.
I doubt that Iran will do political assassinations, because that's not effective. Iran wants Israel to moderate it's hostility. Assassinations lead to the exact opposite result.

>Iran hitting the walls would also be an incredibly good thing
So many Tear down this wall memes.

Politically it likely would screw Netanyahu because he no longer could credibly pretend to conquer Gaza, that would be an excellent result. A bunch of rabbit Zionists might try to plug the perimeter and likely die when the holes get "double tapped", it is a low bloodshed option, but not a no bloodshed option.

>as long as they were thorough.
That's probably not a good strategy, they would be wasting ammunition, they only need to make as many holes in the wall until Israel no longer can plug them.

>>483414
>There might be concern that flying debris
Yeah people need to step away from the wall while it's being pummeled.
>Gaza is a very small place.
It is, but not that small.

Air India pausing Israel flights until end of October: Report

Air India has begun issuing notices that it will postpone flights to Israel until the end of October, reports Israel’s Arutz Sheva news site.

The airline had earlier this month announced it was cancelling flights to and from Tel Aviv through August 8.

Air India is among more than a dozen international airlines that have paused flights to Israel this month, as regional tensions soar and Israel braces for expected strikes from Iran and its allies.

US set to release $3.5bn to Israel for weapons, equipment: Report

The US is slated to release $3.5bn to Israel to spend on weapons and military equipment, CNN has reported, citing officials familiar with the matter.

The money is part of a $14.1bn spending bill that was passed by Congress in April.

“The funding is essentially money Israel can use to buy advanced weapons systems and other equipment from the US through the Foreign Military Financing program,” CNN said.

The move comes as tensions are running high in the region and as Israel braces for a potential retaliatory attack by Iran.

Biden admin says Netzah Yehuda battalion can still receive US assistance

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has now confirmed that the Biden administration will not sanction the Israeli military unit.

Miller said in an email to Reuters that after new information provided by Israel, the US has determined that alleged human rights violations carried out by the Netzah Yehuda battalion have been “effectively remediated”.

Miller added that the military unit could continue to receive US security assistance following the determination.

The US had called for a criminal investigation after battalion soldiers were accused of being involved in the death of an elderly Palestinian-American man, Omar Assad, in the occupied West Bank in 2022.

Before receiving new information in April, Washington was reportedly intending to designate the unit under a US law that prohibits military assistance to those committing gross human rights violations.

For more on that legislation, known as the Leahy Law, read our explainer here.

Palestinian Mission to the UK hails fund’s Israeli assets divestment

In a statement, the Palestinian Mission to the UK has hailed the 80 million British pounds ($102m) divestment by the country’s biggest private pension fund from Israeli assets.

“We welcome this principled policy as it moves us a step closer to peace and justice in the region,” it said, referring to the move by Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), and urged others to also “adopt an ethical investment policy in line with domestic and international law” and follow the fund’s “principled and effective” decision.

USS manages investments worth 79 billion pounds ($100.8bn) in total and has more than 500,000 members.

Gaza war tearing apart close-knit society: UNRWA’s Lazzarini

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warns that the war on Gaza is not only destroying the besieged and bombarded territory’s infrastructure but also ripping apart its “whole community”.

On top of the “brick and stone” being torn apart, so are the “once closely-tied society and kinship”, Lazzarini wrote in a post on X.

“With a ceasefire comes equally the urgency to rebuild the social fabric and community ties,” the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said.

Former State Department official slams decision on Netzah Yehuda battalion

Charles Blaha, a former director of the US State Department’s Office of Security and Human Rights, says the Biden administration’s decision to allow the Netzah Yehuda battalion to receive military assistance “appears directly contrary” to US law.

Among other things, the office oversees the implementation of the Leahy Law, which mandates the cutoff of US assistance to military units involved in human rights violations.

In a column for the legal forum, Just Security, Blaha, who directed the office from 2016 to 2023, said the State Department’s decision “strongly suggests that the US position is likely a result, in significant part, of pressure by Prime Minister Netanyahu”.

He added that it also raises questions about “the value the Department places on the lives of not just Palestinians, but Palestinian Americans as well”.

US Muslim group urges Blinken to resign over refusal to sanction Israeli army unit

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) says the US secretary of state has “knowingly violated US law by backtracking” on plans to sanction the Netzah Yehuda battalion over rights abuse allegations.

The Israeli military unit “has clearly committed gross human rights violations using US weapons”, CAIR Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement.

“Secretary Blinken’s cowardly, morally reprehensible and blatantly illegal decision confirms what numerous State Department whistleblowers have said: he is disregarding the conclusions of career diplomats, as well as experts on federal and international law,” Mitchell said.

“Secretary Blinken is now as much of a war criminal as the war criminal he will continue to arm, Israeli defense minister Gallant, and he should resign his office in disgrace.”

As we reported earlier, the State Department said today that Netzah Yehuda could continue to receive US security assistance after Washington determined – based on information provided by Israel – that alleged violations carried out by the unit had been “effectively remediated”.

As we reported earlier, Netzah Yehuda soldiers fatally detained an elderly Palestinian-American man in the occupied West Bank in 2022, prompting calls for justice and accountability.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/9/israels-war-on-gaza-live-mediators-push-ceasefire-as-israel-bombs-schools

More than 100 reported killed in Israeli attack on school in Gaza City

Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues are reporting that more than 100 people have been killed following an Israeli attack on a school in the centre of Gaza City.

The bomb struck at dawn during morning prayers in the Daraj neighbourhood. Local media is reporting that a fire has broken out at the school and rescue teams are working to contain it.

We will bring updates on this story when we have them.

Bombed prayer hall had about 250 people inside: Reports

There were about 250 people inside the prayer hall at a school in Gaza City when it was struck by Israeli bombs at dawn this morning, according to local media reports, citing witness accounts.

Earlier, we reported that at least 100 people have been reported killed and dozens injured in an Israeli attack on the school housing displaced people in Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood.

Witness accounts suggest many of the dead and injured are civilians, including women, children and the elderly.

The Israeli military claims the school was sheltering “terrorists” and was serving as a Hamas headquarters.

Israeli rockets hit during prayers

Three rockets hit the school as people were attending morning prayers inside the building, which is used as a shelter for displaced people, according to reports from residents of Gaza.

US troops attacked by drone in Syria, no injuries reported

A US official has confirmed that the country’s troops have been attacked in northeastern Syria with a drone, the Reuters news agency reports.

There have been no reports of injuries to US personnel following the attack, which took place at Rumalyn Landing Zone, the US official said on condition of anonymity.

“Medical evaluations are ongoing. We are currently conducting a damage assessment,” the official said.

No group has claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack yet. On Monday, five US personnel were injured in a rocket attack blamed on Iran-backed proxies at the Ain al-Assad airbase in western Iraq.

At least 3 children confirmed dead in Israeli attack on tent in Deir el-Balah

Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues report that at least three children were among four people killed by an Israeli bombing of a tent near the al-Mazra’a School, east of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

Footage authenticated by Al Jazeera’s verification unit shows frantic scenes as rescue crews transport the dead and wounded to hospital.

https://twitter.com/AJA_Palestine/status/1822075894158258400

Israel committing genocide ‘one school at a time’: UN special rapporteur

Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has issued a statement condemning the world’s “indifference” to mass bloodshed in Gaza following this morning’s attack on the al-Tabin school.

“Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one ‘safe zone’ at the time”, Albanese wrote in a post on X.

“May the Palestinians forgive us for our collective inability to protect them, honouring the most basic meaning of international law.”

Father of Israeli captive held in Gaza: Netanyahu’s attacks thwart ceasefire hopes

Hagai Angrest, the father of an Israeli who was taken captive by Hamas, says that while he is sure Netanyahu wants the return of the captives held in Gaza, he takes actions that appease far-right members of Israel’s government and scuttle hopes of a deal being reached.

“Every time a deal is offered and the time comes, he [Netanyahu] conducts operations that fail the deal directly,” Angrest said in comments carried by Israeli television.

Angrest was referring to the Israeli attack on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City that killed more than 100 people before ceasefire talks are scheduled to resume next week.

“We know that there are two ministers in the government who are putting pressure on the prime minister to ruin the deal. There are ministers who are thirsty for blood, and they don’t care about my son and the rest of the prisoners, and they have no problem if they return in coffins,” he continued.

He referred to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, two far-right members of Netanyahu’s government who make no secret about their opposition to any kind of captive release deal and their desire to continue the assault on Gaza.

Israel used 2,000-pound bombs to hit Daraj school: Gaza media office

Ismail al-Thawabta, head of Gaza’s Government Media Office, has told Al Jazeera that the Israeli army used three bombs weighing 2,000 pounds (907kg) each in its attack on the al-Tabin school in Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood.

The attack has killed at least 100 people by the most recent count, with that number expected to rise as al-Ahli Hospital struggles to cope with the severe injuries that resulted from the attack.

Al-Thawabta added that Israel was aware of the presence of displaced people inside the school.

Rocket fire from Gaza continues to take aim at Israel: Monitors

Palestinian fighters carried out at least three rocket attacks targeting sites in southern Israel on Friday, according to US-based defence monitors.

One salvo was intercepted by Israel’s “Iron Dome” missile system near the city of Ashkelon, north of Gaza, and two rockets landed in open areas to the east of the Palestinian territory in the Kissufim and Ein HaShlosha region, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) reported.

Despite 10 months of war in Gaza, Israeli forces have been unable to stop rocket attacks from Gaza targeting Israel and are engaged now in “re-clearing” areas of the Palestinian territory which they claimed – months ago – had been emptied of Palestinian resistance.

The ISW-CTP reported earlier this week that Israel’s latest mass evacuation order for northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoon area was prompted by a rocket attack by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which targeted Israel’s Ashkelon and Sderot cities. By Thursday, at least 18 rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israel over the previous week, the ISW-CTP said.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/10/israels-war-on-gaza-live-70000-flee-new-israeli-operation-in-khan-younis

Save the Children: Israel commits ‘worst attack on school’ since Gaza war began

Tamer Kirolos, a regional director for Save the Children, calls Israel’s attack on al-Tabin school in Gaza City, which killed more than 100 people, the “deadliest attack on a school since last October”.

“It is devastating to see the toll this has taken, including so many children and people at the school for dawn prayers,” Kirolos said.

Many children were reported killed and injured in this morning’s attack on Gaza City, and Kirolos said “children make up around 40 percent of the population and of people killed and injured since October” in the Strip.

“Civilians, children, must be protected. An immediate definitive ceasefire is the only foreseeable way that will happen,” he added.

Biden ‘could have stopped the genocide’: Leader of Balad Party

In a post on X, Sami Abou Shehadeh, leader of the Balad Party in Israel, says that although US President Joe Biden “could have stopped the genocide” instead “, he just released 3.5 billion for more weapons to kill civilians”.

He also stated that “there’s no opposition among Israeli Zionist parties to the genocide” and that “the latest debate in Israeli Jewish society is about whether they have the right to rape prisoners or not”.

“The Palestinian people remains under attack in all fronts, including Palestinian citizens of Israel,” he said, adding, “Netanyahu, without any opposition, is destabilizing the region, preparing to destroy Lebanon and making sure that Egypt, Jordan (countries that signed bilateral agreements with Tel Aviv) and others are weakened”.

Shehadeh concludes the post by asking, “If the ICC (International Criminal Court) doesn’t take action now, then when?”

In May, the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Hezbollah confirms ‘squadrons of attack drones’ used on northern Israel

A short while ago, we reported that Hezbollah fired multiple rockets and drones at Israel.

The Lebanese group now says the attack drones were in response to the assassination of a Hamas official in the coastal city of Sidon on Friday.

It said it hit the Michve Alon air base, adding that the drones inflicted “confirmed casualties”.

Gaza’s Health Ministry revises number of wounded

The ministry originally reported that 91,702 Palestinians have been wounded in the territory since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza on October 7.

It has now revised its figure of wounded to 92,002.

Survivors of previous strikes on evacuation centres among those killed in Gaza City school attack
Hani Mahmoud
Reporting from Khan Younis, Gaza

It’s hard to keep up with Israeli atrocities committed everywhere across the Gaza Strip.

We have confirmed reports that among those killed in the attacks earlier at dawn were, in fact, survivors of past attacks in different evacuation centres within the span of the past 10 days.

They had lost family members, they were on their own and they were seeking shelter and protection at this particular school-turned-evacuation centre.

After losing entire families in other schools in the eastern part of Gaza City, they were then killed.

That means entire families are being obliterated and wiped off the Civil Registry across the Gaza Strip.

This is the same pattern that the Israeli military started in the early weeks of this war.

Houthis say new ceasefire proposal ‘provides political cover’ for Israel

The political office of Houthis, or Ansar Allah, in Yemen condemned the “new Zionist massacre” on the school in the Daraj neighbourhood of northern Gaza.

It says in a statement that the new proposal by the US, Qatar and Egypt as mediators for Israel and Hamas to negotiate once again for a ceasefire agreement “provides the leaders of the Israeli enemy entity with political cover” for more military action across the region.

“We renew our covenant and loyalty with Palestine, its people and its resistance, that Yemen continues in its solidarity and popular support and in the military escalation,” the group’s political office said.

Al Jazeera condemns the Israeli incitement against its correspondent Anas Al-Sharif and staff in Gaza

In light of the statement made by the Israeli military spokesperson, Al Jazeera Media Network views this as a blatant act of intimidation and incitement against our colleague Anas Al-Sharif. Such remarks are not only an attack on Anas’s character and integrity but also a clear attempt to stifle the truth and silence those who are courageously reporting from Gaza.

Al Jazeera remains committed to supporting its journalists as they continue to uphold the principles of free and fair reporting, despite the dangers they face. Al Jazeera will not be intimidated, and will continue shining a light on the realities of the conflict, ensuring that the world hears the voices of those who are suffering.

Anas Al-Sharif, like many of his brave colleagues, is committed to uncovering and sharing the realities of the situation on the ground, no matter how difficult or dangerous it may be. His work is driven by a deep responsibility to the people of Gaza and to the truth, rather than any political agenda.

Journalists like Anas report on the human suffering they witness, ensuring the world sees the consequences of violence and conflict. The claim that he is part of a “media charade” ignores the fact that his coverage gives voice to the voiceless and brings global attention to the lives of those massacred.

It is crucial to recognise the risks these journalists take and the immense personal toll it has on them. Anas has seen the aftermath of horrific events, including the killing of over 100 civilians today, and yet, he continues to report with integrity and courage.

Al Jazeera calls on the international community to stand in solidarity with Anas Al-Sharif and all journalists who risk their lives to bring the reality of Gaza to the world. We hold the Israeli government fully responsible for Anas’s safety and warn that this rhetoric signals an intention to target him, just as they did with Ismail Al Ghoul and Rami Al Rifi, in a bid to conceal the truth of what is happening in Gaza.

Trust in Israeli gov’t almost non-existent: Ex-Egyptian diplomat

Hussein Haridy, a former Egyptian assistant foreign minister, says he expects the deadly Israeli attack on the Gaza school earlier today to affect the talks that the mediating countries have proposed to take place on August 15 either in Cairo or Doha.

Speaking on a personal capacity, he told Al Jazeera that his “trust and confidence in the Israeli government is almost non-existent”, further noting that it was unclear what level of authority the delegation that Israel was planning to send to the negotiations would have.

“Is this delegation empowered to sign the deal proposed by the mediators, as their communique stated, or [is Israel] just sending a delegation to just listen to what the mediators have to say?” Haridy asked.

Biden must respond to Israel’s ‘act of state terrorism’: CAIR

The Council on American Islamic Relations says the Israeli attack on the Gaza City school was not only an attack on Palestinians but an attack on their religion – especially as it occurred during dawn prayers.

“If President Biden gives a damn about human life, he will respond to this act of state terrorism by immediately stopping the flow of weapons to the Israeli government and forcing Netanyahu to agree to the ceasefire deal that he keeps sabotaging,” the US-based civil rights group said.

‘The US government is the guarantor of the axis of Zionist extremism’

Former Israeli government adviser Daniel Levy tells Al Jazeera that the $3.5bn US military finance package for Israel shows the “dishonesty and duplicity of the US administration”.

The US government “has been telling us that the only problem is Hamas” but now it is beginning to acknowledge “deceit” in the fact that Netanyahu does “not want the ceasefire”, Levy said.

He said the US government is showing “humiliating weakness” when it stated that Biden “got really angry” with Netanyahu but then handed him $3.5bn in arms.

“We have to see that it’s not just weakness. It’s also ideological alignment. The US government is the guarantor of the axis of Zionist extremism,” he said. “They may not like some of the details, but this is what they are backing.”

Levy said US support of Israel plays into geopolitical tensions when Washington warns Iran not to arm its proxies but at the same time continues to support Israel and, therefore, contributes to regional instability.

France condemns Gaza school attack

France has condemned “in the firmest of terms” an Israeli attack on a school housing displaced people in Gaza that rescuers say has killed more than 100 people.

“For several weeks, school buildings have been repeatedly targeted with an intolerable number of civilian victims,” France’s Foreign Ministry said. “Israel must respect international humanitarian law.”

Russia urges Israel to cease attacks on civilians in Gaza

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has condemned the deadly Israeli air strike on al-Tabin school in Gaza City.

In a statement, Zakharova emphasised that such attacks undermine international efforts to de-escalate the war and reach an urgent ceasefire and prisoner-captive exchange.

She noted these attacks on Gaza, which result in civilian casualties, appear to be systematic and called on Israel to stop targeting civilian sites. “We believe there is no and can be no justification for such actions,” Zakharova said.

PA calls on US to end support for Israeli onslaught on Gaza

A spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, has urged Israel’s ally Washington to put an end to “blind support that leads to the killing of thousands of innocent civilians, including children, women, and the elderly”.

Abu Rudeineh’s statement released by the official Wafa news agency comes hours after Israeli forces bombed a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City, killing more than 100 people.

The spokesman said that “this heinous crime” comes on the heels of the Biden administration’s allocation of $3.5m to Israel for weapons, making Washington “directly responsible for this massacre, and for the continuation of the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip for the tenth month running”.

Displaced Palestinians forced to live in prison cells

Video posted by a Palestinian journalist on Instagram and verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit shows Asdaa Prison in Khan Younis, where families whose homes have been destroyed in Israeli attacks have taken up residence.

We’ve been reporting on Israel’s latest assault on the city in southern Gaza, which has displaced 60,000 to 70,000 Palestinians, according to a UN count.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-dGiifNO-y/

Arab, Islamic world must unite against Israel, top Hamas official urges

Hamas’s deputy head in Gaza, Khalil al-Haya, has spoken to Al Jazeera Arabic after Israel’s attack on Gaza City’s al-Tabin school, which has killed more than 100 people.

During the interview, al-Haya accused Israel’s military of “massacring” women and children in the bombardment, which he said was evidence of it trying to wipe Palestinians out of the enclave.

He said the attack merited an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council and called on Arab and Muslim countries to unite against Israel, including by closing their embassies in the country.

Finally, al-Haya said Hamas would continue to fulfill its “duty” to defend Palestinian people, who he claimed were united around the group.

Israel’s military claimed it bombed al-Tabin school, which was housing displaced people, because it was being used as an “active compound” for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Hamas in a statement rejected the allegations as false and “excuses to target civilians”.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/10/israels-war-on-gaza-live-70000-flee-new-israeli-operation-in-khan-younis

>>483428
>He also stated that “there’s no opposition among Israeli Zionist parties to the genocide” and that “the latest debate in Israeli Jewish society is about whether they have the right to rape prisoners or not”.
I thought shit like this had been committed to the dustbin of history. Kinda makes one wonder what it takes to keep that behavioral malfunction binned.

>“The Palestinian people remains under attack in all fronts, including Palestinian citizens of Israel,” he said, adding, “Netanyahu, without any opposition, is destabilizing the region, preparing to destroy Lebanon and making sure that Egypt, Jordan (countries that signed bilateral agreements with Tel Aviv) and others are weakened”.
This is not correct, Genocideyahu is ramming Israel into a war of self-mutilation, for selfish personal reasons . While it will kill many people and destroy lots of stuff, the end result will be a unified Arab world and total defeat for Isreal. It'll be an epic boon for China because they're the ones that can supply the means for rebuilding the region after the war. US geopolitical strategists must be asleep.

Qassam Brigades reports close quarters fighting with Israeli forces in Rafah

The armed wing of Hamas reports that its fighters continue to engage in “zero distance” fighting with Israeli forces that are trying to expand a ground invasion in the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood west of Rafah in southern Gaza.

Qassam Brigades said its fighters hit Israeli forces “that had fortified inside the Indonesian Hospital” in the neighbourhood with anti-fortification and antipersonnel shells and inflicting casualties.

It reports another attack on the so-called Netzarim Corridor using rockets, and said several rockets were fired at Israeli forces gathered east of Khan Younis.

Qassam Brigades claims an attack on a D9 Israeli military bulldozer using a Yassin-105 anti-armour shell east of Rafah as well.

The group also released a video that showed how it spotted two Israeli soldiers inside a building in Tal as-Sultan before blowing up two explosive shells that were hidden inside the building.

https://twitter.com/AJA_Palestine/status/1822321279535300640

Hezbollah says second drone swarm targeted Israeli soldiers

The armed Lebanese group says it launched two “squadrons of attack drones” on northern Israel earlier today, with the second targeting a gathering of Israeli soldiers “in the vicinity of the Birkat Risha site” and achieving a hit.

The first batch of the drones had targeted the Michve Alon military base.

Hezbollah has claimed a total of 10 attacks today, with earlier strikes also using a barrage of rockets and a guided missile.

Israeli military confirms ‘damage’ after Hezbollah drone attacks

The Israeli military confirms in a statement that almost all of the explosive-laden drones launched earlier by Hezbollah punched through its defence systems but inflicted no casualties.

One of the unspecified number of drones was intercepted, while others impacted areas in northern Israel causing damage, it said without elaborating.

The Israeli military also released aerial footage to report a series of air raids across southern Lebanon today, purportedly to hit Hezbollah structures and operatives.

Aita al-Shaab, Khiam and Bilda along the border were some of the areas targeted by the Israeli military.

Harris aid calls for ‘credible investigation’ on sexual abuse in Israeli prisons

The national security adviser to Kamala Harris says he is troubled by reports of sexual abuse against Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

The allegations “require swift and credible investigation”, he said, adding that “perpetrators of sexual violence everywhere must be held to account”.

This comes after a group of Israeli soldiers were filmed raping a Palestinian prisoner, an incident that Harris has not personally commented on.

Israel will never ‘negotiate in good faith’

The Palestine mission to the UN wrote in a letter to the Security Council that the Israeli military has committed “another massacre of displaced civilians” following the attack on a school in Gaza.

“The Security Council cannot remain paralysed waiting for Israel to suddenly decide to respect international law when it is loudly telling and showing the world that it does not respect the Charter,” reads the letter.

Ambassador Riyad Mansour wrote that by now it should be clear that “Israel does not want a ceasefire and will never negotiate in good faith”.

“Stop this Israeli genocide on the Palestinian people. Stop this illegal, immoral, criminal occupation and its savage attempts to exterminate our people.”

Israelis rally against Netanyahu’s gov’t, call for deal to release captives

Hundreds of Israeli protesters have gathered in Tel Aviv demanding a deal to release all captives held in Gaza, and against Netanyahu’s government.

Many waved the Israeli flag and chanted as they called for a Hamas-Israel deal to be finalised.

Protesters criticised the government’s handling of the war in Gaza and the increasing tension with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Egypt, the US and Qatar have scheduled a new round of ceasefire negotiations for August 15, as fears grow of a broader conflict involving Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

‘Arms embargo now’, says Uncommitted Movement after Harris speech

The Uncommitted Movement in the US that has been refusing to vote to show displeasure with Washington’s handling of the war on Gaza believes an arms embargo is the only way to show support for Palestinian civilians.

“Being pro-ceasefire must mean committing to not send another bomb dropped on Palestinians in Gaza,” the movement said in a post on X.

This comes after Kamala Harris told pro-Palestinian demonstrators in a rally speech that “now is the time” to achieve a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement amid the latest US push, as the administration prepares to send more funds to Israel to purchase weapons.

Jordan says it will not be a battlefield

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has said that the country would not be a battlefield for any party, adding that Jordan will not allow the violation of its airspace.

Safadi’s comments come at a time when Iran and Hezbollah are expected to retaliate for the assassinations of two leading figures: Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran, and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Demonstrators in Jordan condemn deadly Israeli air attacks on Gaza school

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have once more protested in Jordan after the Israeli military attack on the al-Tabin school which killed about 100 Palestinians.

https://twitter.com/AJA_Palestine/status/1822370096150360186

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/10/israels-war-on-gaza-live-70000-flee-new-israeli-operation-in-khan-younis

Palestinian president to visit Russia amid calls for ceasefire

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Moscow next week to discuss the war in Gaza with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the Palestinian ambassador in Moscow says.

Russia’s state-run news agency TASS quoted Ambassador Abdel Hafiz Nofal as saying Abbas will arrive on Monday and meet Putin on Tuesday.

Nofal said the two leaders would discuss events in Gaza since the October 7 attacks on Israel.

He added: “We have a very difficult situation, and Russia is a country that is close to us. We need to consult each other.”

Haniyeh’s killing violated Iran’s sovereignty: China’s top diplomat

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says his country supports Iran in defending its “sovereignty, security and national dignity”, according to a statement by the ministry.

In a phone call with Iran’s acting foreign minister, Wang repeated Beijing’s condemnation of the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, saying the strike had violated Iran’s sovereignty and threatened regional stability.

Wang told Ali Bagheri Kani that Haniyeh’s killing “directly undermined the Gaza ceasefire negotiation process and undermined regional peace and stability”, China’s Foreign Ministry said.

Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of carrying out a strike that killed Haniyeh on July 31. Israel has not claimed or denied responsibility for the killing. Iran has promised to “harshly punish” Israel over the assassination.

Demonstrators in New York City call for captive deal

A group of Israeli and US demonstrators gathered in Central Park to renew their call for a Gaza ceasefire deal that would bring the Israeli captives back.

“Seal the deal,” they demanded after the US, Egypt and Qatar called on Israel and Hamas to come in for another round of negotiations that would secure an agreement putting an end to the deadly war.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/12/israels-war-on-gaza-live-1-8-of-enclaves-population-killed-since-oct-7

US’s Austin deploys submarine to Middle East, tells aircraft carrier to accelerate its transit

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the deployment of a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and told the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft Carrier Strike Group to speed up its journey to the region.

The moves come as Israel and the US watch out for an Iran-led retaliatory attack over the assassination of Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah’s Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

The Pentagon, in a statement, said Austin spoke with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and reiterated Washington’s commitment “to take every possible step to defend Israel”. Reinforcing this commitment, the Pentagon chief ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, equipped with F-35C fighters, “to accelerate its transit” to the Middle East and ordered the USS Georgia (SSGN 729) guided missile submarine to the area, the statement said.

Hezbollah claims rocket attack on northern Israel

The Lebanese armed group said it fired a “barrage” of Katyusha rockets at the new headquarters of the Israeli military’s 146th Division in Ga’aton in the Galilee, according to Al Mayadeen television.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it detected 30 projectiles fired from Lebanon and that it was striking the sources of the fire.

Israeli air force suspends travel abroad for personnel

The force issued the order as the region braces for possible attacks on Israel by Iran and its allies after the killing of Hamas and Hezbollah commanders.

Safety instructions from the military for the general public remained unchanged, the Israeli army said.

Swiss extends flight suspensions to Tel Aviv, Beirut until August 21

Swiss International Air Lines says the airspace over Iran, Iraq and Israel will be avoided until August 21.

The airline also reissued a previous statement about extending flight suspensions until August 13.

Iran, Hezbollah engaged in ‘extensive psychological warfare’

Rami Khouri, director of global engagement at the American University of Beirut, says there are expectations from the US, Israel and people in Lebanon that Hezbollah and Iran’s retaliation will be a “big attack”.

“The Iranians and Hezbollah are being very coy about this, really what they’re doing is pretty extensive psychological warfare more than anything else right now, keeping the Israelis on edge,” Khouri told Al Jazeera.

“Not just the Israeli army which is quite stretched and exhausted and still hasn’t achieved its objectives in Gaza, but the Israeli population and the Israeli economy, all of these things are being hit very badly.”

He added that this is one of the things Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, had said previously, that the Lebanese group’s strategy was to keep “doing small things to keep the Israelis deployed militarily in the north”.

Qassam Brigades says it killed Israeli settler in occupied West Bank

Israeli security forces say one settler has been shot dead after gunmen opened fire at passing vehicles in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, has claimed responsibility for the shooting. Another Israeli settler was injured in the attack, near an illegal settlement in the Jordan Valley.

The Israeli military chief of staff visited the scene of the shooting attack, and Israeli forces have carried out raids in several Palestinian villages following the shooting.

Key takeaways from Hamas statement on truce talks

The group asks mediators to present a plan based on previously held talks instead of attempting to start new negotiations.
Hamas says it wants a plan “based on [US President Joe] Biden’s May 31 ceasefire proposal, the framework laid out by mediators Qatar and Egypt on May 6, and UN Security Council Resolution 2735“.
The movement says it has been “keen to make the efforts of the mediating brothers in Egypt and Qatar successful, to reach a ceasefire agreement and end the war of genocide against our people”.
“[Hamas] emphasises its position that it [Israel] is not serious about a permanent ceasefire, and its aggressive practices against our people were practical evidence of that.”

Israeli interceptor missile damages house in northern Israel: Report

Israel’s Ynet News is reporting that an Israeli interceptor missile landed on the roof of a house in the northern Avdon moshav as the country’s air defences tried to shoot down a barrage of rockets fired by Hezbollah.

The residents of the house had not been told to evacuate, Ynet said in a news alert. “Damage was caused to the roof, no alarm was activated at the scene,” it added.

US decision to move carrier group, submarine to Middle East raises eyebrows
Shihab Rattansi
Reporting from Washington DC, US

I will say that the readout we received from the Pentagon of Lloyd Austin’s call with the defence minister of Israel is raising a lot of eyebrows, for various reasons.

First of all, it says that Austin has ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to accelerate its transit to the Central Command area of responsibility. Now, when this carrier group left Guam at the beginning of August, we understood that it was heading to the Red Sea. It was going to take a couple of weeks and was expected to arrive by next Friday, at the very earliest. It’s not entirely clear how much they could actually accelerate its passage to the area that it’s being deployed to before next Friday. But certainly, the word accelerate has raised eyebrows.

The readout also says this carrier group will be adding to the capabilities already provided by the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Group. Now, when it set off, it was supposed to be relieving the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier group. But apparently, it would seem now that the Roosevelt carrier group isn’t going anywhere. That’ll be a big disappointment to those on board. It’s one of the many carrier groups that have been on multiple deployments, and extended deployments. So it’s not going anywhere as well, so that’s also quite interesting.

And additionally, the secretary ordered the USS Georgia guided missile submarine to the Central Command region. The reason that is raising eyebrows is the US never talks about where its submarines are. They keep that completely secret.

So clearly, that would be a message to someone in the region. You can take your own guesses as to whom.

All these carrier groups, we understand, are capable of ballistic missile defence, meaning they can shoot down missiles, projectiles. We know that that’s what the Israelis and the Americans are fearing – but still it’s not clear whether a lot of this hardware, or at least the carrier groups, will get there before the end of the week.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/12/israels-war-on-gaza-live-1-8-of-enclaves-population-killed-since-oct-7

"Hamas terrorists who raped our women" has the same energy as "Jews, who made us lose World War I" at this point.

Iran’s president says Tehran has ‘right to respond’ to attacks

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his country has “the right to respond” to any aggression after a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was urging de-escalation amid soaring tensions with Israel.

According to a statement published by the official news agency IRNA following the call, Pezeshkian said: “While emphasising diplomatic solutions to issues, Iran will never give in to pressure, to sanctions and bullying and considers it has the right to respond to aggressors in accordance with international norms.”

Iran and Lebanese group Hezbollah are expected to retaliate for the Israeli assassinations of Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran last month, and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, who was killed in Beirut.

Iran shows long-range drones at Russian event, state news reports

Iran had put its long-range Mohajer-10 drones on show at a defence exhibit in Russia, Iran’s official news agency reports.

IRNA said the advanced system was on display at the Army 2024 International Military-Technical Forum, which runs from August 12 to 14 near Russia’s capital.

The show comes at a time when Iran and Hezbollah are expected to retaliate for the Israeli assassinations of Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran, and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, who was assassinated in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Iran released details of the Mohajer-10 system in August last year, saying it had an enhanced flight range, duration and payload.

A video accompanying that report showed the drone alongside other military hardware, with text saying “prepare your shelters” in Hebrew and Persian.

Qassam Brigades and al-Quds Brigades claim series of attacks on Israeli targets

The military wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad say their fighters have:

Detonated mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in an area patrolled by Israeli soldiers in the town of al-Qarara, north of Khan Younis, leading to an unspecified number of deaths and injuries
Shot an Israeli soldier with sniper fire in the Tal as-Sultan area, west of Rafah City
Shelled a group of soldiers and military vehicles east of Khan Younis
Shot an Israeli soldier with sniper fire in az-Zanna, east of Khan Younis

Jordan rejects Israeli claim weapons smuggled to West Bank through its territory

“No amount of disinformation by radical Israeli officials spreading lies, including about Jordan, will change the fact that Israel’s continued aggression on Gaza … [is] the biggest threat to regional security,” Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, has said.

In a post on X, Safadi added: “The facts about the horrors this most radical of Israeli governments is bringing upon innocent Palestinian[s] … and the threat of its illegal actions and radical policies to the security and stability of [the] region are so clear and documented. No propaganda campaigns, no lies, no fabrications can cover that.”

Safadi’s comments follow allegations by Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hamas fighters in Lebanon are smuggling “weapons and funds into Jordan with the aim of destabilising the regime”.

Katz claimed on X that these weapons and money are then smuggled across the eastern border, flooding the occupied West Bank, particularly refugee camps, and aiming to create a “pro-Iranian Islamic terror front”.

Biden, European leaders tell Iran to ‘stand down’: Statement

US President Joe Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom have issued a joint statement urging Iran to “stand down” regarding its threats of a retaliatory attack on Israel.

“We called on Iran to stand down its ongoing threats of a military attack against Israel and discussed the serious consequences for regional security should such an attack take place,” the leaders said after speaking together by phone.

The call comes at a time when Iran and Hezbollah are expected to hit targets in Israel in response to the assassination of a Hezbollah commander in Beirut and Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.

US lifts restrictions on Saudi weapons sales, with eye on resolving Gaza

The United States has confirmed it would resume sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, as Washington hopes for it to play a role in resolving the war on Gaza.

More than three years after imposing limits on human rights grounds on sales to Saudi Arabia, the US said it would resume “in regular order, with appropriate congressional notification and consultation”.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has repeatedly travelled to Saudi Arabia to discuss a package of US incentives if the kingdom recognises Israel.

Saudi Arabia has reportedly sought US security guarantees, a continued flow of weapons and potentially civilian nuclear capabilities in return for recognition.

Saudi Arabia cooperated with the US, along with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, in repelling an Iranian missile and drone barrage on Israel in April in response to a deadly Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in Syria.

Media watchdog expresses concern for Al Jazeera reporter’s safety

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned for Anas al-Sharif, Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent in northern Gaza, after an Israel military spokesperson accused him of “presenting a lie” in his coverage of Israel’s air strike on al-Tabin School on August 10.

The Israeli military claimed al-Sharif was “‘covering up’ for Hamas and Islamic Jihad after Israel killed dozens in its strike on a Gaza City school complex,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna.

The strike killed some 100 people in a building housing Palestinians displaced by the war on the besieged enclave.

“Al Jazeera journalists have been paying a devastating price for documenting the war. They and all journalists should be protected and allowed to work freely,” Martinez de la Serna said.

Israel claims Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were operating from a mosque in the school complex.

Al-Sharif has been threatened previously over his work and his father was killed on December 11, 2023, in an Israeli air strike on the family home in Jabalia.

CPJ has documented the killing of at least seven journalists and media workers affiliated with Al Jazeera – which Israel has banned from operating inside Israel – since October 7.

Israeli army spokesman says investigating Hamas’s statement on captive killed

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari says the army is investigating a statement by Hamas’s armed wing announcing the death of an Israeli captive in Gaza and the wounding of two others in a separate incident.

“At this point, we do not have any intelligence … that allows us to refute or confirm the claims of Hamas,” Hagari said in a post on X.

Israeli evacuation orders force closure of WFP warehouse

The UN’s World Food Programme said it has paused operations and evacuated all staff at a warehouse containing 1,401 metric tonnes of supplies in Deir el-Balah due to recent Israeli evacuation orders.

“Only one WFP warehouse is accessible covering 3,158 mt of different commodities, insufficient to meet the August cycle of requirements,” the UN’s food agency said.

Lawsuit alleges US citizen added to ‘no-fly’ list for Palestine advocacy

A new lawsuit alleges that two Palestinian American men were profiled by the US government for their pro-Palestine advocacy.

The lawsuit, filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), alleges that Mustafa Zeidan was added to the notorious “no-fly list” after organising community protests in southern California, where he lives.

He had been travelling to Jordan regularly to visit his ailing mother before being denied boarding at Los Angeles International Airport on March 28.

He was later informed that he had been added to the list because he had been identified “as an individual who may be a threat to civil aviation or national security”, the lawsuit says.

The claim also says Osama Abu Irshaid, the executive director of Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action), was repeatedly interrogated by federal agents during a recent trip to Jordan.

Beyond the “harassing and intrusive questions”, the agents confiscated his phone, which has never been returned, the suit says.

The lawsuit names US Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas among the defendants.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/12/israels-war-on-gaza-live-1-8-of-enclaves-population-killed-since-oct-7

>>483449
>“We called on Iran to stand down its ongoing threats of a military attack against Israel and discussed the serious consequences for regional security
From the Iranian point of view there is no security as long as Israel gets to assassinate political figures it doesn't like.

>added to the notorious “no-fly list” after organizing community protests
Zionists are playing a dangerous politics game of revoking the airplane privileges for people with different political convictions. Eventually this is going to be done to them.

Only Gaza truce can delay Iran’s Israel response: Reuters

A ceasefire deal stemming from hoped-for talks this week would hold Iran back from direct retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on its soil, three senior Iranian officials tell the agency.

One of the sources, a senior Iranian security official, reportedly said Iran, along with allies such as Hezbollah, would launch a direct attack if the Gaza talks fail or it perceives Israel is dragging out negotiations.

The sources did not say how long Iran would allow for talks to progress before responding, Reuters says.

Two senior sources close to Lebanon’s Hezbollah said Tehran would give the negotiations a chance but would not give up its intentions to retaliate.

A ceasefire in Gaza would give Iran cover for a smaller “symbolic” response, one of the sources said.

Iran has promised a severe response to Haniyeh’s killing, which took place as he visited Tehran late last month and which it blamed on Israel. Israel has neither confirmed or denied its involvement.

Reports in Israeli media that Iran’s retaliatory strike ‘imminent’
Hamdah Salhut
Reporting from Amman, Jordan

Al Jazeera is reporting from outside of Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government

The Israeli military said it can neither confirm nor deny the claims made by Hamas that one Israeli captive was killed and two injured. They say they are looking to gather intelligence on the ground about the captives, just as they have been trying to do so over the last 10 months.

But all of this comes as the war is well beyond its 10th month and Israel is preparing for some sort of retaliation by the Iranians, by Hezbollah and even perhaps the Houthis in Yemen.

Israeli officials have been speaking anonymously to the Israeli media, saying the attack is imminent based on their intelligence and the country’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has been holding near-daily security and situational assessments on Israel’s preparedness and readiness.

The Israeli military also conducted a drill in the northern part of the country. It was the largest drill of its kind since the war began and essentially simulated a full-out war with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Yoav Gallant says that Israel is ready to act in unprecedented ways as they have significant capabilities and that they are ready to make the switch from defence to offence in an instant.

Fitch downgrades Israel’s credit rating

The credit ratings agency cut Israel’s credit rating to A from A+, citing worsening geopolitical risks as the war on Gaza drags on.

It also kept the rating outlook negative, meaning a further downgrade is possible.

“In our view, the conflict in Gaza could last well into 2025 and there are risks of it broadening to other fronts,” Fitch said in a statement.

“In addition to human losses, it could result in significant additional military spending, destruction of infrastructure and more sustained damage to economic activity and investment, leading to a further deterioration of Israel’s credit metrics.”

UNSC’s inability to address Gaza crisis hurts its legitimacy

Maya Ungar, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the UN Security Council’s failure to bring an end to Israel’s war on Gaza is undermining its authority.

She noted that the council has now called 24 special sessions on Palestine since October 7.

“Twenty-four sessions, yet very little that the Security Council has actually been able to do. That’s significant and it’s something that will continue to hurt and undermine the legitimacy of the Security Council, you know, far past when a ceasefire is reached in Gaza,” she told Al Jazeera.

“I think one of the biggest takeaways, which many member states have been shouting from the rooftops, is a need for reform of the Security Council. We’re in a situation where the Security Council is clearly not working to maintain international peace and security as it was mandated to do.”

Nearby explosion reported by ship off coast of Yemen: UKMTO

The UK’s maritime security agency has issued an incident alert following an explosion near a vessel travelling 63 nautical miles (about 116km) southwest of Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah.

According to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) alert, the crew and vessel, which was not named, are reported to be safe and are continuing on to their next port of call.

Ships transiting the area were told to be cautious and report any suspicious activity.

Houthi fighters in Yemen have carried out months of drone and missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden they say have links to Israel. Staunch supporters of the Palestinian cause, the Houthis say their attacks will stop when Israel ends its war on Gaza.

Gaza, Ukraine conflicts increasing Geneva Conventions violations: Red Cross

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says that the Geneva Conventions – which were established to protect civilians, the wounded and detainees during wartime – are being widely ignored.

Marking the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the conventions, ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric said that international humanitarian law is “under strain” as more than 120 armed conflicts are raging around the world.

“More than ever, the world must recommit to this robust, protective framework for armed conflict. One that follows the premise of protecting life instead of justifying death,” Spoljaric said.

Israel to manufacture heavy bombs domestically: Report

Frustrated by interruptions in some arms shipments during the war, Israel plans to manufacture more weaponry at home, including heavy bombs, reports local newspaper Israel Hayom.

One weapon it will focus its production efforts on is a 1-tonne, unguided “dumb” bomb similar to the US-made Mark 84 – but the process could take several years, according to the newspaper. In May, the US suspended delivery of this bomb type over concerns it would be used during Israel’s invasion of Rafah.

In addition, Israel also plans to ramp up domestic production of armaments such as tank ammunition and shells, the report says.

House arrest requested for Israeli soldiers accused in prison rape case

Israel’s military prosecution has requested that five Israeli soldiers accused of gang-raping a Palestinian detainee be released to house arrest while the investigation into them continues, said the military in a statement.

The request would keep the soldiers under detention until August 22, according to the military.

The Times of Israel, quoting the soldiers’ defence team, reported the house arrest arrangement is part of an agreement struck between the prosecution and defence, to be presented before a military court later today.

As we’ve reported, five Israeli soldiers are under investigation for allegedly gang-raping a Palestinian at the Sde Teiman detention centre in the Negev desert.

The case is backed up by a video of soldiers at the facility allegedly abusing a Palestinian, who was left hospitalised and unable to walk, according to Israeli media.

Putin tells Abbas: ‘We are doing everything to support Palestine’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has held talks with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas, who is in Russia for a visit.

Russia’s state-run TASS news agency said Putin warmly welcomed Abbas and stressed the two countries’ “deep ties”.

“Everyone knows that today, unfortunately, Russia must defend its interests, protect its people with weapons in hand, but what is happening in the Middle East, what is happening in Palestine, certainly does not go unnoticed on our part,” TASS quoted Putin as saying.

“We are concerned above all about civilian losses,” Putin added, according to Russian state television. “We are doing everything … to support Palestine and the Palestinian people.”

The Russian leader also stressed Russia’s commitment to the creation of a “full-pledged Palestinian state”, which he said was necessary for long-term peace in the region, according to TASS.

Israel’s Lapid blasts Ben-Gvir for Al-Aqsa Mosque march

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has condemned Ben-Gvir for joining Israeli far-right activists at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

In a post on X, Lapid said Ben-Gvir was endangering the safety of Israeli citizens and security forces with his Al-Aqsa Mosque “campaign”.

“This group of irresponsible extremists in the government is actively trying to drag Israel into a full-scale regional war,” Lapid said. “These people are unfit to govern a country.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/13/israels-war-on-gaza-live-10-killed-in-israeli-bombing-of-khan-younis-home

WATCH: Israeli protesters rally for ‘the right to rape’ prisoners

Protesters, politicians and TV commentators in Israel are defending the right of soldiers to mistreat and even rape Palestinian prisoners in detention.

The show of support follows the gang rape of a male detainee by a group of Israeli reservists.

Qassam Brigades say they struck Tel Aviv with rockets

Hamas’s armed wing has said it targeted the coastal Israeli city and its “environs” with two M-90 rockets, which have a range of 90 km.

In a statement on its official Telegram channel, the Brigades said “it was in retaliation for the massacres and forced displacement perpetrated by Israel”.

No casualties reported in rocket attack on Tel Aviv: Israeli media

According to local news reports, explosions were heard in Tel Aviv but there were no reports of casualties.

We will continue to bring you more updates on this developing story.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/13/israels-war-on-gaza-live-10-killed-in-israeli-bombing-of-khan-younis-home

>>483464
>Israeli protesters rally for ‘the right to rape’ prisoners
>Protesters, politicians and TV commentators in Israel are defending the right of soldiers to mistreat and even rape Palestinian prisoners in detention.

This is so comically evil, it's hard to fathom.

I sometimes wonder. There is a very small possibility that the powers that be decided that Israel would be sacrificed the same way that Ukraine was. And that driving these people insane was the way to facilitate it.

All those politicians and TV people must understand how PR works, they must understand how irredeemable this makes Israel in the eyes of the world.

Maybe it's naive of me to postulate external manipulation and this is just the ugly reality how societies self destruct.

US clears $20bn in arms sales for Israel

As we reported earlier, the US has approved more than $20bn worth of weapons sales to Israel.

The deal includes fighter jets, missiles, tank shells and explosives, as well as tactical military vehicles.

The move comes despite concerns that Israeli forces are routinely violating international law in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and as Israel prepares for retaliation from Iran and Hezbollah following the assassinations of high-level Hamas and Hezbollah officials.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/13/us-clears-20bn-in-arms-sales-for-israel-as-atrocities-continue-in-gaza

Iran holds military drill

Iran is holding a military drill in the north of the country, reports Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency.

The drill is due to take place on Tuesday evening from 7:30-8:30pm local time (16:00-17:00 GMT) in Iran’s Gilan province on the Caspian Sea. It was designed to boost the defensive readiness of the army’s naval forces, Mehr cited a local official as saying.

It is Iran’s second reported military drill in three days.

This comes at a time when Iran is expected to retaliate against Israel for its assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month.

Israeli authorities detain head of the Palestine Olympic Committee

Jibril Rajoub, who is also a member of Fatah’s Central Committee, was stopped by the Israelis upon his return from the Paris Olympics on his way to the occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency reported.

The 71-year-old was searched, had his passport confiscated and was summoned for questioning at Ofer military compound near Ramallah on Thursday.

Rajoub has previously been threatened with imprisonment by some members of the Israeli government for campaigning to bar Israel from the Olympics and football World Cup because of its violations of the Olympic Charter and FIFA regulations against apartheid in sports.

In May, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz threatened to revoke his travel pass.

“We will work to thwart his plans, and if he doesn’t stop, we will imprison him in the Muqataa [presidential compound in Ramallah], where he will be left to play stanga by himself between the walls,” said Katz, referring to a popular Israeli street game involving a football.

Eight US soldiers wounded in last week’s drone attack in Syria

The drone attack on a military base in Syria last week injured eight US soldiers, according to the Pentagon.

Air Force spokesperson Major General Patrick Ryder told reporters the eight soldiers were treated for traumatic brain injury and smoke inhalation, adding that three personnel have already returned to duty.

There are currently about 900 US military personnel operating in Syria and about 2,500 more stationed in Iraq. The US is facing pushback for its military presence in both countries. The soldiers’ stated mission is to fight ISIL (ISIS) and “extremism”.

Israel closes Rafah aid route after alleged Hamas attack

The Israeli military says it has temporarily closed a route in Rafah, which is used to deliver humanitarian aid, after claiming that Hamas fighters opened fire in the area.

It said the area “has become an active combat zone” but did not provide any further details.

This comes after Hamas fired two rockets at Tel Aviv, with the Israeli military saying one fell in the sea off the central city and the other did not reach Israel.

The UN and international aid organisations continue to report that the Israeli military regularly and significantly hampers the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza and that the aid that has come through Rafah bordering Egypt has been far lower than needs in the enclave.

Group says two accused of ‘terrorism’ still held without charge by UK

The Palestine Action network of activists says that two of its members continue to be held by the UK government without any “terrorism” charges specifically introduced even though they were detained along with five others under the country’s Terrorism Act.

“This not only vindicates the activists but proves the state was abusing their powers by holding them under draconian laws – all in a bid to protect an arms firm perpetrating genocide,” the organisation said.

British counterterrorism police charged seven people with violent disorder over a break-in at a building belonging to Israeli defence firm Elbit in southwest England.

Jewish group shuts down Los Angeles freeway in war protest

IfNotNow, the US-based Jewish group that is against US support for the war on Gaza, reports that demonstrators shut down a freeway in Los Angeles in protest of the war.

https://twitter.com/IfNotNowOrg/status/1823407070118297736

Biden expects Iran to hold off on attack if ceasefire agreed

Asked by reporters if he expects Iran to hold off on carrying out a retaliatory strike against Israel if a Gaza ceasefire deal is achieved, US President Joe Biden responded by saying “That’s my expectation.”

The US, Egypt and Qatar are convening a summit aimed at finalising a ceasefire deal and the release of captives on Thursday.

Israel is sending a delegation, but Prime Minister Netanyahu is criticised even inside Israel for presenting demands aimed at thwarting a deal. Hamas has said both sides have already agreed to a deal and mediators need to present ways to implement it.

F-15s, missiles, shells: Latest US weapons sales to Israel

Here are the weapons sales to Israel that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has just approved.

Some, including the fighter jets, could take years to deliver while equipment like tank shells could arrive immediately.

50 F-15IA AND F-15I+ aircraft for $18.82bn
Nearly 33,000 tank cartridges for $774.1m
Modified M1148A1P2 family of medium tactical vehicles for $583.1m
Advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles for an estimated $102.5m
120mm high explosive mortar cartridges for $61.1m

Algeria asks UN Security Council to ‘act firmly’ in support of the Palestinians

Algeria’s representative at the United Nations, Amar Bendjama, has been addressing the UN Security Council’s urgent meeting over Israel’s August 10 attack on the al-Tabin School in Gaza City, which killed more than 100 Palestinians.

“This is not how the council should address the Palestinians’ plea… [and] quest for justice,” Bendjama said.

“Our council has the legal and moral, [and] primary responsibility to act firmly to shoulder its mandate in preserving international peace and security.”

Bendjama called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and expressed Algeria’s support of mediation efforts led by Qatar, Egypt and the US.

“There is no room for delaying or overcomplicating negotiations by adding new conditionalities or new demands,” he said.

Israeli authorities issue stop-work orders to West Bank houses

Israeli authorities issued stop-work orders to more than 15 houses in the Jabal al-Nu’eima area, north of Jericho in the occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency reported.

Mahmoud Masharfa, a PA official who focuses on illegal settlement in Jericho and the Jordan Valley, said that the houses – between 15 and 20 in number – are already occupied.

Masharfa said these orders “come as part of the Israeli policy of collective punishment against Palestinians and to seize more land for settlement expansion”.

Hamas releases video of Tel Aviv rocket strike, claims more attacks

Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, has released a video showing its fighters preparing the two rockets that were fired at Tel Aviv earlier today.

The video shows the long-range rockets, which the Israeli military said did not make impact inside Israel, being prepared with makeshift launchers.

The group also said its fighters launched a barrage of mortar shells at Israeli forces in the eastern part of Khan Younis and destroyed a Merkava tank using a planted explosive device in the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood west of Rafah.

https://twitter.com/AJA_Palestine/status/1823408111308112062

Israeli settlers attack activists and herders in occupied West Bank

Israeli settlers attacked sheepherders and activists who were accompanying them for safety in the village of Susya in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, Wafa news agency reported.

Locals told Wafa that the settlers attacked the herders and physically assaulted international peace activists who were trying to help them and document the attacks.

The settlers broke a camera belonging to one of the activists and told the group to leave the area.

Houthis condemn Israel’s ‘criminal plans’ after Al-Aqsa Mosque storming

The political bureau of the Houthis has strongly condemned the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which it said considers a “blatant violation of the sanctities of Islam”.

“We warn against all systematic and repeated Jewish steps that occur in full view of the international community,” it said in a statement, adding that Muslims “will not allow any of the enemy’s criminal plans to pass against Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Islamic identity therein”.

The Houthi political bureau added that “the enemy’s persistence in its crimes” will only persuade more Muslims to stand up in support of Palestinians.

Flour sent by Ukraine enters Gaza Strip

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that the 1,000 tonnes of flour Kyiv sent to Gaza with the help of the World Food Programme has arrived in the besieged coastal enclave.

“Bread baked from this flour is being distributed to families in need. It will be enough to feed 100,000 people for a month,” the ministry said on X.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/13/israels-war-on-gaza-live-10-killed-in-israeli-bombing-of-khan-younis-home

Attached clip is graphic.

US exhibiting ‘many red flags for genocidal processes’: Lemkin Institute

A prominent US-based multinational NGO reports that it is “deeply concerned by the devaluation of life in and by the United States” as it shows a plethora of genocidal red flags.

According to the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, those include “extreme political divisiveness, institutional ossification and breakdown, political corruption, dependence on special interests, a highly militarised security sector, and widespread pessimism as well as popular disengagement from a political system that is increasingly unresponsive to the needs of ordinary people”.

“It is never in the interest of a state to commit genocide domestically, to countenance the rise of genocidal ideologies and groups, or to aid, abet, condone, or give diplomatic cover to genocide overseas,” the institute says.

It also calls on the US, among other things, to create anti-genocide mechanisms and dialogue at the national level, challenge the dominance of military spending, agree to adhere to its own laws on military support for foreign countries, and become a member of the International Criminal Court.

Israelis march on Al-Aqsa Mosque for second day

Crowds of Israelis have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for the second straight day and performed Talmudic rituals there, reports the Wafa news agency.

Yesterday, thousands of Israelis, watched by security forces, marched on the holy site and performed Jewish religious rites, which are banned at the location. Among the activists was far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who told the crowd Israel was making progress in establishing “sovereignty” there.

The minister’s visit was denounced by numerous Arab states as well as the US, which said he had “demonstrated blatant disregard for the historic status quo” of Jerusalem’s holy sites.

US military says Houthi ‘vessels’ destroyed

The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said it destroyed two Houthi vessels in the Red Sea over the past 24 hours.

Long-range Hamas rockets launched from site near Israeli forces: Monitors

The two long-range rockets fired at Israel’s Tel Aviv were launched from a site just 1.5km (0.93 miles) from where Israeli forces were operating in the east of Khan Younis on Tuesday, war monitors report.

One of the Hamas rockets landed in the Mediterranean off the Israeli coast with the sound of the explosion heard in Tel Aviv. The second rocket failed and did not enter Israeli territory.

According to US-based think tanks the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP), the Israeli military issued mass evacuation orders for Gaza’s Bani Suheila area – the rocket launch site – hours after the M90 rockets were fired at Tel Aviv.

The rocket fire marks the first targeting of Tel Aviv since May by Hamas and comes as Palestinian fighters continue near-daily launches of short-range rockets into Israel despite more than 10 months of grinding war in Gaza.

Though Hamas’s long-range rocket supply is dwindling, Israel’s military assesses that it is still capable of attacking targets in central Israel or occupied Jerusalem, the ISW-CTP report.



Thousands of Israeli soldiers treated for PTSD since October 7: Report
At least 10,056 Israeli soldiers have received rehabilitation care since the Gaza war broke out, reports The Times of Israel, citing the Defence Ministry’s rehabilitation department.

More than one-third of those soldiers -about 3,500 – have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other mental health issues, according to ministry figures cited by The Times of Israel.

Thirty-seven percent of them have limb injuries, it added.

Food aid entering south Gaza drops to lowest level since October

A US-based famine monitoring agency says the amount of humanitarian food supplies entering Gaza through crossings in the south were at their lowest levels in July since Israel’s war on the enclave began.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) said that only 724 humanitarian trucks with food or mixed items entered through the Karem Abu Salem crossing in July. They carried roughly 5,035 to 5,566 metric tonnes of supplies.

A further 54,764 to 60,529 metric tonnes of food supplies carried on commercial trucks also entered through the crossing, but the network said that increased “commercial cargo entry into Gaza may not necessarily translate to improved food availability and access within Gaza, particularly given low household purchasing power”.

Several rockets fired towards US base in Syria amid regional tension: Report

The Reuters news agency is reporting that an Iran-backed armed group fired six rockets towards a US airbase in a gas field in Syria’s Deir al-Zor province, but the projectiles did not hit the facility.

The agency cited two US officials and a security source.

The attack comes as the Pentagon reported that eight of its personnel were injured in a drone strike on another base in Syria last week. Seven US personnel were also wounded in a rocket attack on the Ain al-Assad base in Iraq last week.

The uptick in attacks on US troops comes as the world awaits an Iran-led retaliatory attack against Israel over the assassination of Hamas’s Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah’s Shukr in Beirut.

Father of slain twins says he did not get the chance to celebrate their birth

We’ve been reporting on Israel’s killing of four-day-old Palestinian twins in the city of Khan Younis.

Mohamed Mahdi Abu al-Kumsan, the twins’ father, spoke to Al Jazeera about their death.

“I went to get my children’s birth certificates. My wife gave birth days ago and I did not have the opportunity to celebrate their birth. She had a c-section and she was very tired. She was unable to leave the house,” al-Kumsan said.

Muhammad left his family at home and returned with the children’s birth certificates to find they had all been killed. The twins – Aisel and Aisar Abu al-Kumsan – were buried in the same body bag as their mother, who was a doctor.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said that a total of 115 infants who were born after Israel launched its war on Gaza have been killed due to the “bombing and the aggression”.

Iran says it is not involved in Gaza ceasefire talks

The Associated Press news agency is reporting that Iran is not considering sending representatives to the upcoming negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Iran’s mission to the UN told the AP in a statement:

“We have not engaged in the indirect cease-fire negotiations between Hamas and the regime, facilitated by Egypt, Qatar, and the US, and hold no intention for involvement in such negotiations.”

The statement comes as the US pushes for a ceasefire in the hopes that such a deal will prevent Iran and its allies from launching retaliatory attacks against Israel following the assassination of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

12 arrested at ultra-Orthodox protest against military draft

At least 12 people have been arrested after hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews protested in northern Israel against being drafted into the military.

Demonstrators gathered near the Michve Alon military training base, according to national broadcaster Kann, after they were summoned to report to a recruitment centre.

Israeli police said in a statement that the protesters “blocked traffic routes and lit a fire near the gates” of the military base, according to the Times of Israel.

The demonstration also reportedly turned violent, with participants throwing objects at police and soldiers guarding the base.

Israel approves new settlement on Palestinian UNESCO site near Bethlehem

Israel has approved a new settlement on a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the occupied West Bank, its far-right finance minister has said.

Bezalel Smotrich, who also heads civil affairs at the Defence Ministry, said his office had “completed its work and published a plan for the new Nahal Heletz settlement in Gush Etzion”, a bloc of settlements south of Jerusalem.

All of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission.

…

The Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now denounced the plan, calling it a “wholesale attack” on an area “renowned for its ancient terraces and sophisticated irrigation systems, evidence of thousands of years of human activity”.

Some 700,000 Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

Abbas says Russia is fair mediator, should take part in peace negotiations: Report

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has blamed the US for trying to box Russia out of Middle East peace talks and says Moscow should play a rule in such negotiations.

Speaking to Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency while visiting Moscow, Abbas said Russia “has always sought and is seeking ways to resolve the issue peacefully”.

“America has always wanted to exclude Russia from this process,” Abbas added. “We do not accept under any circumstances the exclusion of Russia from any format for a Middle East settlement because it has a truly fair position on the Middle East issue, based on international law.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/14/israels-war-on-gaza-live-un-told-israel-ignoring-global-outrage-over-gaza

Dimitri Lascaris - Israel vs. The Resistance: Waiting Is Part of the Punishment

Video shows Israeli troops taking body of killed Palestinian in Tammun

As we reported, Israeli forces have seized the bodies of four Palestinians killed in Tammun in the occupied West Bank.

Footage shared on a Palestinian social media account, verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad, appears to show Israeli troops dragging one of the dead bodies on the road before slinging it into the back of a military vehicle.

Israel regularly withholds the bodies of killed Palestinians it accuses of acts of violence, in what it claims is a form of deterrence.

This footage was deemed too graphic for inclusion on this live page.

Norway urges states to endorse declaration on student, school protection in war

At a UN Security Council discussion yesterday, Norway noted that in 2021, the council unanimously adopted Resolution 2601, which condemned attacks and threats of attack against schools, educational facilities and civilians connected with schools.

“The Safe School Declaration is endorsed by 120 states,” Norway said, urging all states to endorse it.

The declaration is an intergovernmental political commitment that allows states to support protecting students, teachers, schools, and universities from attack during times of armed conflict.

Several killed in ‘Israeli attack’ on southern Lebanese town

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said an “Israeli enemy” attack on the southern town of Marjayoun killed two people and wounded four, noting the toll was provisional.

The official National News Agency said an “enemy drone targeted a car” in the town square, a usually busy area with shops.

“This is a first for Marjayoun. While surrounding areas have been hit in the past, but Marjayoun itself, the centre, has never been hit,” said Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig, reporting from the site of the attack.

“This will come as a shock to many people.”

Earlier, we reported that at least one person was killed in the southern town of Blida in another Israeli attack.

Hezbollah launches rocket attack on Kiryat Shmona after Lebanon attack

Rockets have hit Israel’s Kiryat Shmona after its army bombed a crowded area in Lebanon’s al-Abbassieh that targeted a motorcycle.

Hezbollah said it launched a volley of Katyusha rockets on the northern Israeli area in retaliation, with local authorities reporting damage but no casualties.

Hezbollah has claimed seven attacks on Israeli positions today, with another using “squadrons of suicide drones” to hit a gathering of soldiers along the border.

More injured in Israel’s Lebanon attack, including children

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says in an update about the Israeli air raid on al-Abbassieh in southern Lebanon that the number of injured has risen to 17, with four in critical condition.

In a statement cited by the country’s state-run National News Agency, it reports that 12 of the wounded are Lebanese, four are Syrians, and one is a Palestinian.

A 17-year-old boy is among the critically wounded, with other emergency cases including a 16-year-old boy, an eight-year-old girl and a Lebanese woman.

The Israeli military, which has carried out numerous air raids and assassinations in Lebanon since the start of the war on Gaza, has not commented on the al-Abbassieh air raid.

Netanyahu will lose more than Sinwar if there is a Gaza ceasefire: Professor

Menachem Klein, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, says the Israeli army is trying to solve the “problem” of having a high number of wounded soldiers by drafting the ultra-Orthodox.

“Not only the military soldiers fighting in Gaza face a problem, but the whole society is exhausted and suffers from post-trauma,” he told Al Jazeera from West Jerusalem. “This explains much of the Israeli public disregard about the heavy casualties the Israeli military inflicted and the war crimes it implemented in the Gaza Strip.”

Klein said the Gaza ceasefire talks not only represent an issue of negotiations between Israel, Hamas and mediators, but a power struggle within Israel.

“My reading is that at this point, the person that faces more losses than Sinwar by agreeing to ceasefire is Netanyahu,” he said about the Hamas and Israeli leaders.

“If Netanyahu makes a deal, he will be domestically seen as surrendering to pressure from Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and the General Staff of the army. I’m afraid he’s ready to take a gamble and face the risk of Hezbollah and Iran’s retaliation.”

AFC condemns Israel’s detention of Palestinian football chief

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has denounced Israeli authorities for detaining Jibril Rajoub, the president of the Palestine Olympic Committee and Palestine Football Association (PFA).

We reported yesterday that Rajoub was detained by Israeli forces as he returned to the occupied West Bank via Amman.

Although he was released, his passport was confiscated, and he has been summoned for further questioning on Thursday.

The AFC said it was “alarmed by the violation of Rajoub’s fundamental rights, particularly his freedom of movement to conduct his duties as a sports leader, especially as the president of the PFA”.

Rajoub has previously been threatened with imprisonment by some members of the Israeli government for campaigning to bar Israel from the Olympics and football World Cup because of its violations of the Olympic Charter and FIFA regulations against apartheid in sports.

Israel attacked ‘nearly every inch of Gaza with US-made bombs’

Jewish Voice for Peace, a US-based advocacy group, has made a map of the more than 70,000 bombs that Israel has dropped on the Gaza Strip since October 7 using UN satellite data.

“With the US as its collaborator, the Israeli military is carrying out the goal of Zionism: the complete and total ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land,” the group says.

“The US isn’t just allowing the Israeli government to commit a genocide, it’s actively assisting it. It’s well past time for a weapons embargo. We demand a complete end to US funding, arming, and backing of the state of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.”

https://twitter.com/jvplive/status/1823451645478347040

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/14/israels-war-on-gaza-live-un-told-israel-ignoring-global-outrage-over-gaza

Israel has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7: Ministry

In an official update, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says that 40,005 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since the war began.

It added that 92,401 people were wounded in the same period.

632 killed in occupied West Bank since October 7

The killing of two Palestinian men in the Balata refugee camp this morning has brought the total number of those killed in the occupied territory since October 7 to 632, said the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Among the victims are 142 children, nine women, and seven elderly people, said the ministry in a statement.

Palestinian officials say Israel intensifying espionage efforts

An official with the Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza has spoken to Al Jazeera about the espionage efforts by Israeli forces in the coastal enclave.

Here is a translated summary of what he said:

Israel has intensified attempts to bring down citizens in the espionage process in order to gather information about the resistance.
The security services arrested a number of people involved in cooperation with Israel and are under investigation.
Israeli officials impersonate relief organisations to collect information and blackmail citizens in light of the famine.
A number of those who were contacted were threatened with the bombing of their homes and the killing of their families.
The security services confront Israeli intelligence and its methods of trapping citizens into collaboration.
We call on citizens in the various areas of the Gaza Strip to beware of Israel’s methods and deception.

Israeli rabbis denounce Jewish prayers at Al-Aqsa compound

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir drew global condemnation when he and about 3,000 Jewish worshippers defied on Tuesday a longstanding ban on non-Muslim prayer at the occupied East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount.

“These are thugs in religious garb who only inflame tensions,” Rabbi David Cohen, a member of a policy-making body linked to one of two ultra-Orthodox parties in Israel’s ruling coalition, said in a joint video statement.

Four other leading rabbis followed by many Orthodox Jews made similar comments.

“It is strictly forbidden to enter the Temple Mount,” said Avigdor Nebenzahl, rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem. The compound, Islam’s third-holiest site, has become a symbol of Palestinian national identity.

The UN denounced Ben-Gvir, calling the move “unduly provocative”. Meanwhile, the US criticised the security minister, saying he had hurt efforts for talks towards a Gaza ceasefire.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/14/israels-war-on-gaza-live-un-told-israel-ignoring-global-outrage-over-gaza

Palestinian armed groups collaborating in combined mortar attacks in Gaza: Monitors

Palestinian armed groups have continued to attack Israeli forces, command posts and supply lines along the Netzarim Corridor south of Gaza City, with fighters from three separate groups firing mortar shells at the Israeli-built military access road on Monday, monitors report.

The corridor – which cuts through the Gaza Strip east to west and was built by the Israelis to allow for the rapid deployment of troops – has come under daily attack over recent weeks, US-based defence think tanks the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) report.

In southern Khan Younis, fighters with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Mujahideen Brigades carried out a combined mortar attack on Israeli forces operating in the east of the city, the ISW-CTP report, while the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades mortared troops operating in the nearby az-Zanna area.

The National Resistance Brigades also mortared Israeli soldiers near the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday.

UNRWA rebuilds critical water well in Khan Younis

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has restored a major water well in Khan Younis that was destroyed months ago by Israeli military operations.

The well now serves as the largest supply of drinking water for displaced Palestinians in the area, pumping out more than 500 cubic metres (17,657 cubic feet) of water per day, said the agency.

Despite its impact, water access in most of Gaza remains scarce, with many families “forced to travel huge distances in sweltering temperatures for such a basic need”, said UNRWA spokeswoman Louise Wateridge.

“Others are not able to access [clean drinking water] at all, forcing them to survive on dirty water,” she added.

https://twitter.com/UNRWA/status/1823992980639810030

Group of US rabbis urge Netanyahu to sign ceasefire deal

The 99 rabbis and cantors “urgently” called on the Israeli prime minister and all relevant parties to “finalise the deal on the table – outlined by President Biden and endorsed by Qatar, Egypt and the UN Security Council – and to bring much-needed relief to those suffering”, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The rabbis said Jewish people in Israel and the global diaspora cannot start healing until the 115 captives held by Hamas in Gaza are returned home.

“Time is running out, and we must seize this opportunity to restore hope to the region,” the group said in a statement.

“Every day that the hostages are held in Gaza is a day that hope is diminished. It’s time to restore that hope to its full glory, reunite the hostages with their families and the entire Jewish people by sealing this deal,” they added.

Columbia University president resigns following campus turmoil over Gaza war

Minouche Shafik said she has resigned effective immediately, a decision that comes almost four months after overseeing the university’s much-criticised handling of student protests against Israel’s war on Gaza.

Shafik acknowledged the Gaza protests in her resignation statement that was emailed to staff and students late on Wednesday.

“It has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community. This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community,” Shafik said.

“Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead,” she said.

Shafik, who was named president of the university last year and was the first woman to take on the role, said she will return to the UK to lead an effort by the foreign secretary’s office to review the government’s approach to international development and how to improve capability.

Hamas says truce talks must focus on Biden’s UN-backed proposal

On the eve of ceasefire talks in Qatar, Hamas has again said that it wants Israel to stick to the original truce proposal which US President Joe Biden announced in July and which has been backed by the United Nations Security Council.

Osama Hamdan, a Hamas political official, told Al Jazeera:

“We expect to be told by the mediators that Israel has accepted what is being offered and any meeting should be based on talking about implementation mechanisms and setting deadlines rather than negotiating something new.

“Otherwise Hamas finds no reason to participate.”

As a reminder, Biden’s plan, which he said was proposed by Israel, included a temporary ceasefire until all Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza and the release of some captives.

In the second stage, Hamas and Israel would begin negotiations for a permanent end to hostilities. Reconstruction in the Gaza Strip and an end to the war are part of the third and last stage.

Israel, however, has since added new demands.

It wants to be allowed to resume fighting in Gaza after the temporary truce ends. It also wants to retain control of the Rafah border crossing and Philadelphi Corridor – the buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza which facilitates aid deliveries.

Red Sea attacks contribute to profits fall for Dubai-based port operator

Dubai-based port operator DP World reports its half-year profits fell by nearly 60 percent, in part over the continuing attacks by Yemen’s Houthis over the war on Gaza that have affected shipping through the Red Sea.

DP World reported profits of $265m this year, down from $651m at the same time last year. DP World Group’s chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, acknowledged that the Red Sea disruptions affected the firm’s revenues.

“The year 2024 has been marked by a deteriorating geopolitical environment and disruptions to global supply chains due to the Red Sea crisis,” he said in a statement, according to AP news agency.

IRGC member dies in Iran after being wounded in Israeli air strike in Syria

The commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has confirmed that a member of the elite force who was wounded in an Israeli air strike in Syria has died.

Hossein Salami said in a statement carried by state media that Colonel Ahmadreza Afshari, a member of the IRGC’s aerospace division, succumbed to his wounds.

According to the commander, Afshari died today after being transferred to Iran for medical treatment after being targeted in an air raid in the first half of the Iranian month of Mordad, which will end on Wednesday.

Netanyahu denies Trump call

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has denied a US media report that Netanyahu spoke by phone yesterday with US presidential candidate Donald Trump about Gaza ceasefire negotiations.

“Contrary to media reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not speak yesterday with former President Donald Trump,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office.

US news outlet Axios had reported that the two leaders spoke by phone about the upcoming ceasefire negotiations, with one source quoted by the media saying Trump “intended to encourage Netanyahu to take the deal”, but did not know if he had actually relayed this message.

Forty settlers attempt to enter Gaza Strip: Report

Israeli broadcaster Channel 7 reports that 40 Israeli settlers tried to enter the Strip from the Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossing in northern Gaza.

The media outlet says that they were intercepted by Israeli security services and transported from the area, and that seven of them were detained for questioning.

Scuffles in New York after pro-Palestine protesters disrupt Harris campaign event

Police in New York City have scuffled with and arrested several pro-Palestine protesters in the borough of Harlem after the demonstrators disrupted a campaign event for the Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, according to activists and media reports.

The activist group Within Our Lifetime, which organised the protest, said in a post on X that the police “ruthlessly beat and arrested protesters in Harlem” after they held a “noise” demonstration to disrupt the Democratic Party’s campaign launch event for Harris.

“They waited until the event ended and the cameras left, then began to attack us with batons, tasers and pepper spray,” the group said.

There was no immediate comment from the New York police.

According to US’s Fox News and Israel’s i24News, the confrontations took place after the protesters stormed an afterparty following the event and set off smoke bombs in the area.



Israeli protesters demanding ceasefire deal arrested

Israeli police this morning have arrested four demonstrators, demanding an immediate deal for the exchange of captives held in Gaza, in front of the Jerusalem home of Economy Minister Nir Barkat.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz said that the demonstrators blocked the entrance to the parking garage of Barkat’s house, leading to their arrest.

The demonstrators chanted slogans including “deal now”, “bring them all back now” and “no economy, no security. The government must be changed”.

Netanyahu turned Israel into ‘pariah state’, says Israeli general

A retired Israeli general has accused Prime Minister Netanyahu of intentionally misleading the public about the Gaza war for his own personal interests.

In an op-ed for Israel’s Maariv newspaper, General Yitzhak Brik said that despite being aware that Israel’s military cannot fully root out Hamas during the war, Netanyahu has continued to insist on marching towards total victory so he can stay in power.

“Neither the well-being of the people nor the security of the state concerns Netanyahu, but only his personal survival at any cost,” wrote Brik.

He added: “The almost year-long conflict has caused us to lose our standing in the world. The state of Israel has become a pariah state, isolated and regarded with disdain, and even our closest friends in Europe are turning their backs on us.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/15/israel-war-on-gaza-live-no-respite-from-attacks-as-truce-talks-scheduled

>>483488
>vid related
That guy thinks Iran might already have a nuke. My guess is that Iran probably has all the parts to build one, but they won't bring it online to establish deterrence until they have tried everything else first.

If they have a nuke the most hardcore move is to hide it inside of Gaza, wait for the fascists to complete the ethnic cleansing and claim their "beach-front property". Then the last actually existing expression of colonial power evaporates.

Leave-behind-nukes was considered as a contingency during the cold war, it was ultimately rejected because it would have meant mass evacuations. But in case of an ethnic cleansing, that consideration would no longer apply.

I would rate the likely-hood of that scenario relatively low, because nukes are really obvious devices on account of having a distinctive radioactive signature. Sneaking one into Gaza would be nightmare difficulty.

Maybe it's time to restrain Israel's aggression so that considerations of this type go back to being insanity of the historic type.

Gaza real death toll likely to top 50,000, Hamas media office says

The official death toll in Gaza has surpassed 40,000, but another 10,000 people remain missing under the rubble of collapsed buildings, the Hamas government media office has said at a press conference.

It said the official death toll only included casualties that had been brought to hospitals but that more bodies were yet to be retrieved, meaning the real number of deaths may surpass 50,000.

It added that 92,401 people had been injured, many of whom could not receive medical treatment due to the collapse of the health system.

US, UK forces hit western Yemen, Houthi media reports

Houthi-affiliated media Al Masirah says UK and US jets have carried out a raid on the as-Salif district in Hodeidah province.

The US has led a coalition in attacks on Yemen’s Houthis over the group’s campaign to target shipping owned by Israel, or linked to Israeli ports, traversing the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The Houthis say the attacks on Israel-linked shipping will stop when Israel ends its war on Gaza.

Don’t return to Israel without ceasefire deal, protester tells negotiators

In Tel Aviv, families and supporters of some of the captives held in Gaza are protesting outside the headquarters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party.

“To the negotiating team – if a deal is not signed today or in the coming days at this summit, do not return to Israel. You have no reason to return to Israel without a deal,” Reuters quoted Yotam Cohen, whose brother Nimrod Cohen is a captive in Gaza, as saying.

US colleges brace for a resurgence in protests against war in Gaza

As students return to colleges across the United States, administrators are bracing for a resurgence in activism against the war in Gaza, and some schools are adopting rules to limit the kind of protests that swept campuses earlier this year.

Some of the new rules imposed by universities include banning encampments, limiting the duration of demonstrations, allowing protests only in designated spaces and restricting campus access to those with university identification. Critics say some of the measures will curtail free speech.

At Harvard University, a draft document obtained by the student newspaper during the summer break showed the college was considering prohibitions on overnight camping, chalk messages and unapproved signage.

Nevertheless, Mahmoud Khalil, a lead negotiator working on behalf of Columbia student protesters, said he fully expected protests, including possible encampments, to resume when students return.

“As long as Columbia continues to invest and to benefit from the Israeli apartheid, the students will continue their activism on campus in so many different ways,” he said.

US imposes sanctions targeting Houthi, Hezbollah trade

The United States has issued more sanctions targeting Houthi and Hezbollah trade networks as it increases pressure on Iranian-backed groups.

The US Treasury Department in a statement said it targeted companies, individuals and vessels accused of being involved in the shipment of Iranian commodities, including oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to Yemen and the United Arab Emirates on behalf of a Houthi financial official’s network.

It also targeted Hezbollah shipments of LPG, including through the designation of a Hong Kong-based ship manager and operator as well as several tankers.

“Today’s action underscores our continued commitment to disrupting Iran’s primary source of funding to its regional terrorist proxies like Lebanese [Hezbollah] and the Houthis,” Treasury’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley Smith, said in a statement.

“Our message is clear: those who seek to finance these groups’ destabilising activities will be held to account”.

Israel’s president condemns settler attack on West Bank village

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has condemned the storming of the village of Jit, in the occupied West Bank, saying it harmed the “name and position of Israel in the world during a particularly sensitive and difficult period”.

Masked settlers torched homes and opened fire on Palestinians, according to Israeli and Palestinian media, killing at least one person and severely injuring one other.

“This is not our way and certainly not the way of Torah and Judaism,” Herzog said, calling for law enforcement officials to act against the perpetrators.

Herzog added that the attack had been carried out by an extreme minority that “harms the law-abiding settler population and the settlement as a whole”.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank, deemed illegal under international law, are often cited as the main barrier to any lasting peace with Palestinians under a two-state solution.

(anon's note: sure, Isaac…)

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/15/israel-war-on-gaza-live-no-respite-from-attacks-as-truce-talks-scheduled

Israel expects UK, French support in potential attack against Iran

Israel’s foreign minister says Israel expects Britain and France to join it in attacking Iran if Tehran hits Israel.

Israel Katz relayed the message directly during a meeting with French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who are visiting Israel, the AFP news agency reported.

“If Iran attacks, we expect the coalition to join Israel not only in defence but also in attacking significant targets in Iran,” Katz told his French and UK counterparts.

Hezbollah says it hits Israeli troops in northern Israel

The Lebanese group says on Telegram that it has struck Israeli soldiers at the Birkat Risha military site with “guided weapons”.

It added that it hit them directly and caused “confirmed causalities”.

No ‘positive signals’ yet from ceasefire talks: Hamas spokesman

Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan has spoken with Al Jazeera about the status of ongoing ceasefire talks in Doha.

He said that Hamas, which is not directly participating in the talks, does not yet have a clear picture of where the negotiations stand, but that its officials have no reason to believe Israel is sending any positive signals.

“Mediators are still talking about bridging the gaps, but it is clear that the Israeli side is adding more conditions, talking about new issues,” said Hamdan. “I believe they are trying to undermine the process.”

Specifically, Hamdan pushed back on the prospect of Israel maintaining security control over Gaza’s Philadelphi Corridor, saying Hamas continued to demand a “complete withdrawal” from the Strip, which it had previously received assurances from mediators of.

If Israel relays any “positive signals”, Hamas would be willing to participate in the talks, but that has not happened yet, said Hamdan.

‘Clock is ticking’ for Harris: Pro-Palestinian activist

A coalition of about 200 social justice organisations are planning to march at the US Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago on Monday, protesting one of the thorniest electoral issues – Washington’s aid to Israel.

Hatem Abudayyeh, spokesperson for the March on the DNC coalition, told Reuters dozens of coalition group leaders met after President Joe Biden ended his campaign but decided to go ahead with the rally nonetheless.

The Abandon Biden campaign group believes his replacement, Vice President Kamala Harris, bears responsibility for Gaza’s humanitarian crisis but is not yet launching an Abandon Harris campaign, spokesperson Hudhayfah Ahmad was quoted as saying by the agency.

The group will be in Chicago and watching for changes to the Democratic Party’s position on Israel-Palestine.

“We’re going to give [Harris] a lot more grace than we gave Joe Biden,” Ahmad said. “However, I will emphasise, the clock is ticking and our patience is running out.”

Iran, Hezbollah could try to assassinate Israeli security officials: Report

Members of Israel’s security cabinet have been warned that Iran and Hezbollah may attempt to assassinate top Israeli security officials, reports Israel’s Ynet news site.

Targets could include Israeli ministers, parliament members, current or former military officers, or intelligence officials, according to the report.

Israel’s Shin Bet spy agency is on heightened alert due to the threat, said Ynet.

The warning comes as Israel braces for an expected attack from Iran and its allies, who have promised to retaliate for the assassination of Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.

Hezbollah releases video threatening Israel with missile attacks

Hezbollah has released a video appearing to show an elaborate underground military site equipped with heavy missiles and launchers.

In the four-minute video, armed men are seen setting up the missiles in the winding tunnel-like facility as the voice of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah appears to play in the background.

“Missiles are placed, deployed and focused on targets,” the voice says.

“If Israel imposes a war on Lebanon, Israel will face a destiny and reality it didn’t expect,” it says.

Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich’s remarks on settler attack ‘performative’
Zein Basravi
Reporting from Amman, Jordan

Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government.

We’ve heard from Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who himself lives in a settlement not far from where [the Israeli settler attack] took place last night [near Qalqilya].

He said: “The actions of the settlers are not connected in any way to the settlement enterprise or to settlers there.” He described what happened as acts by “criminals who should be dealt with by the law enforcement authorities”.

This might seem on the surface to be a bit of sympathy from a far-right settler minister in the Israeli government, but you have to go on and read what else he said.

He said: “We build and develop the settlements in a legal and stately manner.” He added that “criminal anarchist violence has absolutely nothing to do with the work of settlements”.

This clearly illustrates that Smotrich is more interested in Israelis on his turf in a sense. His comments are not a show of sympathy for the loss of Palestinian life or property.

We also have to remember what Smotrich said last year when a similar attack took place on the Palestinian town of Huwara. Smotrich said that Huwara “needs to be wiped out” and that “the state of Israel should do it”.

So these comments that seem to strike a little bit of balance on the surface simply aren’t that. If anything, they are performative.

Hamas calls on West Bank to ‘rise up in anger’ after deadly settler rampage

Hamas has offered condolences to a Palestinian killed during a nighttime Israeli settler attack in the occupied West Bank, saying the assault is part of Israel’s “fascist extermination plans”.

“We call on our people in all governorates of the West Bank to rise up in anger to deter the settlers and repel their terrorist attacks,” said Hamas in a statement.

Israel’s “policy of incursions, assassinations and unleashing settler gangs will only increase our people’s adherence to their land and holy sites”, it added.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/16/israel-war-on-gaza-live-children-killed-in-israeli-attack-on-jabalia-camp