Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has hosted Israel’s Ambassador to Ghana, His Excellency Roey Gilad, in a meeting aimed at strengthening diplomatic relations between the two nations.
The discussions focused on deepening bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest, fostering economic partnerships, and exploring new opportunities for collaboration.
Key parliamentary figures, including Majority Leader Hon. Mahama Ayariga, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Hon. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuye, Deputy Ranking Member Hon. Nana Asafo Adjei Ayeh, and Clerk to Parliament Ebenezer Ahumah Djietror, were present at the meeting.
Speaker Bagbin reiterated Ghana’s commitment to engaging with international partners for sustainable development, emphasizing the role of diplomacy in fostering long-term cooperation.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is deepening as soaring prices worsen the hardships faced by Palestinians following Israel’s decision to halt food and essential supplies to the region.
Aid agencies warn that this restriction threatens to undo the progress made during the six-week ceasefire in preventing widespread famine.
With conditions deteriorating, long lines have formed outside aid distribution centers as residents struggle to access assistance.
The World Food Programme recently disclosed that its food reserves in Gaza are depleted, as all available supplies were distributed during the first phase of the truce to feed the hungry.
Humanitarian groups are now working to prioritize the most vulnerable as dwindling resources make it harder for people to obtain necessities. In Khan Younis, access to basic items like bread has become increasingly difficult.
Bushra Abu Akar, a resident, shared that the last aid she received was just one bag of flour, which does not meet her family’s needs.
“For those who have children, it is not enough to feed them. We need more than that. The situation is very difficult. No one is working. There is no money, there is nothing,” she said.
After more than 16 months of war, the people of Gaza rely entirely on humanitarian convoys for food and other necessities.
According to Khan Younis resident Fares al-Qeisi, conditions had slightly improved under the 42-day ceasefire, but before that, the situation was dire.
“It was famine. You couldn’t satisfy your hunger. You couldn’t find bread. Children would cry in the morning, saying they wanted a piece of bread,” he said.
Hamas’ top political leaderwas killed Wednesday by a predawn airstrike in the Iranian capital, Iran and the militant group said, blaming Israel for a shock assassination that risked escalating into an all-out regional war.
Iran’s supreme leader vowed revenge against Israel.
Israel, which kept silent about the strike, had pledged to kill Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
The strike came just after Haniyeh had attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president in Tehran — and hours after Israel targeted a top commander in Iran’s ally Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
The assassination was potentially explosive amid the region’s volatile, intertwined conflicts because of its target, its timing and the decision to carry it out in Tehran. Most dangerous was the potential to push Iran and Israel into direct confrontation if Iran retaliates. The U.S. and other nations scrambled to prevent a wider, deadlier conflict.
In a statement on his official website, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said revenge was “our duty” and that Israel had “prepared a harsh punishment for itself” by killing “a dear guest in our home.”
Bitter regional rivals, Israel and Iran risked plunging into war earlier this year when Israel hit Iran’s embassy in Damascus in April.
Iran retaliated, and Israel countered in an unprecedented exchange of strikes on each other’s soil, but international efforts succeeded in containing that cycle before it spun out of control.
Haniyeh’s killing also could prompt Hamas to pull out of negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage release deal in the 10-month-old war in Gaza, which U.S. mediators had said were making progress.
And it could inflame already rising tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, which international diplomats were trying to contain after a weekend rocket attack that killed 12 young people in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
Israel carried out a rare strike Tuesday evening in the Lebanese capital that it said killed a top Hezbollah commander allegedly behind the rocket strike.
Hezbollah, which denied any role in the Golan strike, said Wednesday it was searching for the body of Fouad Shukur in the rubble of the building that was hit in a Beirut suburb. The strike killed three women and two children, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
There was no immediate reaction from the White House to Haniyeh’s death. A key question was whether Israel told the U.S., its top ally, ahead of time.
Asked about Haniyeh’s killing, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “This is something we were not aware of or involved in.” Speaking to Channel News Asia, Blinken said he would not speculate about the impact on cease-fire efforts. “But I can tell you that the imperative of getting a cease-fire, the importance that that has for everyone, remains.”
Iran’s United Nations mission has issued a stark warning to Israel, cautioning against any large-scale military actions in Lebanon, which it claims could escalate into a devastating conflict.
In a statement posted on X late Friday, the mission stated, “All options, including full engagement of all Resistance Fronts, are being considered,” referring to Iran-aligned groups across the region.
The statement dismissed Israel’s threats of targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon as “psychological warfare” and “propaganda.”
Tensions along the Israeli-Lebanese border have escalated with daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah since the start of the current conflict in Gaza on October 7.
Concerns of a broader conflict heightened after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated preparations for a “highly sensitive operation” on the Lebanese border.
Israeli military spokespersons confirmed a series of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, including military installations in the Zabqin area and operational infrastructure in Khiam and Odaisseh.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant emphasized Israel’s readiness for any potential conflict with Hezbollah while expressing a preference to avoid war.
Defense experts who looked at pictures of the wreckage from an Israeli bomb that caused a big fire in a camp for Palestinians who had to leave their homes, are wondering why Israel did not use smaller and more accurate weapons when there were so many innocent people close by. They said the bombs were probably made in the US.
The attacks, aimed at Hamas members, killed about 45 people who were staying in a temporary camp in southern Gaza near Rafah. Many countries have criticized the attacks.
Israel is looking into the attack and says the Hamas targets were 17 kilometers (1 mile) away from a place where they are supposed to help people in need. They checked before attacking and thought no civilians would be hurt.
Displaced people were all over the place, and Israel had not told them to leave. Even though the tents that caught on fire were not in the designated safe area, the people living there believed they would be protected.
Israel was attacked by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Israel hasn’t said where the burned tents were in relation to the compound it bombed on Sunday. They shared a satellite image showing some known civilian shelters about 180 meters (600 feet) away. It said that there were no tents nearby, but a fire started unexpectedly and sadly killed people in Gaza.
Israel has not said what bombs it used, but Rear Adm. (Ret) John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the U. S is providing Israel with bombs. Daniel Hagari, who speaks for the Israel Defense Forces, said that they used small bombs that weigh 37 pounds each and that an accidental explosion might have started the fire.
Defense experts said that even small bombs dropped from jets can be dangerous to civilians because they explode and can send pieces flying far away.
Pictures on social media from the tent camp on Monday, verified by The Associated Press, showed a special code on parts of the exploded weapons. This code is used to identify US government suppliers.
Two experts who know about military weapons said that they think the bombs used were probably small, 250-pound bombs made in the United States. They looked at pictures and photos from a satellite to decide.
Even though these bombs are smaller than other weapons the US has given to Israel, they can still cause a lot of damage. The whole 250-pound shell and parts are made to explode and send pieces flying up to 2,000 feet (600 meters) away.
“You have two bombs that can travel up to 600 meters in a crowded space. ” “Trevor Ball, who used to disarm bombs in the Army, said it doesn’t make sense if they’re trying to avoid injuries. ”
Ball said that the serial numbers on the tail kit and shell debris in the photos show that the bombs are 250-pound GBU-39. It’s not common to talk about a bomb’s explosive power, in this case 37 pounds, instead of its total weight, according to Ball and Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps Reserves colonel and senior adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The messy area in Gaza shows that the bombs might have been set to explode before they hit, so they would have killed the people they were meant to but also might have hurt others by accident, according to Ball and Cancian. The pictures showed a little opening where pieces of metal were discovered.
The GBU-39 bomb can be set to explode right away when it hits the ground, making a big hole, or it can be set to explode later to go deeper into a target first.
They can also be programmed to explode in the air just before hitting the target, so they can hit more than one thing. But that place also causes a lot of damage over a wide area, which could explain a second explosion even if weapons or other flammable things were far away, Ball said.
Antony Blinken, who is in charge of the US’s foreign affairs, said that the US is waiting for an investigation in Moldova to find out what weapons were used and how they were used.
Blinken said that even though Israel used a small weapon for targeted attacks on terrorists, it can still have bad unintended results.
The experts in defense said that Israel had other, better choices to use instead of the GBU-39 when there were civilians close by.
“Israelis have used small, accurate drones to launch weapons before. ” These accurate attacks have not caused much damage besides hitting the exact target.
Israel could have used a smaller weapon called the mini-Spike in the strike. This weapon would have made less mess and been more targeted at specific Hamas leaders.
The US did not give Israel a delivery of big bombs because they were worried that Israel would use them in a place with a lot of Palestinians after bombing other parts of Gaza. Now, the same amount of people have left Rafah and are living in temporary tent camps and other places.
The strike on Sunday proved that even the small 250-pound bombs that the US has been giving can be too big to use in refugee areas with a lot of people. Cancian said this.
John Kirby, a person who helps keep the US safe, said on Wednesday that the US is still trying to get information from Israel about the deadly Rafah attack. He refused to talk about the weapons Israel used. But he did say that Israel’s public comments show they want to be more careful and exact when targeting.
Israel sent its soldiers into the city on May 6. This made about 1 million Palestinians leave the city and made the UN’s help in that area very difficult. However, President Joe Biden said Israel has not fully invaded as he has advised them not to.
The Israeli military said on Friday that its forces have been active in many areas of the city. In the beginning, Israel attacked Rafah’s eastern neighborhoods and areas near the Egypt border. Israeli soldiers took control of the border crossing into Egypt on the first day of the attack and have also taken over a road that runs along the Gaza-Egypt border on the Gaza side.
This week, Israeli soldiers went into Rafah’s western area called Tel al-Sultan. There were big fights with Hamas fighters there. People saw it happen.
On Friday, the military said its soldiers in central Rafah found Hamas rocket launchers and tunnels. They also destroyed a place where the group stored weapons. It didn’t say exactly where in central Rafah the operations were happening, but earlier reports and people who saw it happen said it was in the Shaboura refugee camp and other places near the city center.
Palestinian people who left the city are now living in poor tent camps in southern and central Gaza. Approximately 300,000 people are still in the area. Some are in the middle of the city. A UN official said this but asked not to say their name because they are not allowed to talk to the press. Shaina Low, who speaks for the Norwegian Refugee Council, a group that helps people in need, said that many people have gone to live in the countryside in the west of the city near the coast. This area has been hit by Israeli attacks and bombings in the past week, causing deaths.
Israel moved its tanks into Rafah on Tuesday, even though they were told to stop attacking the city by the International Court of Justice. Many Palestinians were hiding in the city to escape the bombing.
The United States, which is very close to Israel, said again that they don’t support a big Israeli attack in Rafah. But they also said they don’t think that kind of attack is happening right now.
Rafah people said that Israeli tanks went into Tel Al-Sultan, Yibna, and near Shaboura but then went back to a safe area near the border with Egypt. This is different from attacks happening in other places.
Israel’s army controlled most of the buffer zone and wants to control it all to stop Hamas from bringing in weapons, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi.
He thought there would be more fighting in Gaza in 2024. Israel does not want to stop fighting or release prisoners.
The Israeli army said three soldiers died and three others were seriously hurt in a battle in southern Gaza. They did not give any more details. Israel’s Kan radio said they were harmed by a bomb that exploded in a building in Rafah.
Health officials in the Palestinian territories said that some people were hurt by Israeli shooting in the eastern part of Rafah and supplies of aid were burned. People who live here said that Israel bombed the area a lot last night and many homes were destroyed. Most people have left because Israel told them to go.
Some people saw robotic tanks shooting guns in the city.
The internet and cell phone service went out in some parts of the east and west due to heavy bombing from Israel. This information was reported by the pro-Hamas Shehab news agency, residents, and other journalists. The Israeli military said they were not sure if the reports were true.
In the northern part of Gaza, tanks fired at some neighborhoods in Gaza City. The military also went further into Jabalia, which is the largest and oldest refugee camp in Gaza. People living there said that many homes were destroyed.
Health care is needed right away: government department.
Gaza’s health ministry said that some hospitals in areas where the army is working have stopped working. Ashraf Al-Qidra, who speaks for the group, asked for safe ways for fuel, medical supplies, and medical teams to get to Rafah and northern Gaza right away.
Qidra said that the Israeli occupation purposely destroyed the healthcare facilities in Rafah and the north and did not provide help for injured people.
About one million Palestinians who were staying in Rafah at the bottom of the Gaza Strip to hide from Israel’s attacks have now left because Israel told them to. This was reported by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA on Tuesday.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has moved its medical teams from the hospital in Al-Mawasi because there are a lot of bombs and artillery in that area.
The World Court said on Friday that Israel did not say how it would keep the people from Rafah safe or give them food, water, and medicine. Israel’s leader said the order allowed the military to take action against Hamas fighters in that area.
In the city of Khan Younis, an Israeli air strike killed three people last night. One of them was Salama Baraka, who used to be a high-ranking police officer in Hamas. Doctors and Hamas media reported this.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said that one of its workers, Issam Aqel, was killed when an Israeli air strike hit his house in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. This brings the total number of staff killed since October 7 to 30, with at least 17 of them being killed while working.
Israel gave their new plan for stopping fighting and releasing hostages to Qatar, and Qatar was supposed to give it to Hamas on Tuesday, according to someone who knows about the situation. Hamas has not said anything yet on Wednesday. They said that there is no point in talking unless Israel stops its attack on Rafah.
More than 36,000 Palestinians have died in Israel’s attacks on Gaza, according to the health ministry in the area.
Israel started a war after militants from Hamas attacked communities in southern Israel on Oct 7. About 1,200 people were killed and over 250 hostages were taken, according to Israeli reports.
Many people in Gaza don’t have enough food because not enough aid is getting through. Aid agencies say Israel is stopping them from delivering food, but Israel says the agencies are to blame.
The aid pier built by the US military off Gaza’s coast broke because of bad weather, so it can’t be used for a while. This is another setback for aid efforts in the area. Two US officials reported this on Tuesday.
Israel is doing some small actions in eastern Rafah near the border between Gaza and Egypt. People in Rafah, a border town, said there was a lot of fighting on Wednesday. Israeli forces are attacking the town, which used to be a safe place for Palestinians. The US and other countries have told Israel not to launch a big attack on the city.
Israeli leaders say their soldiers need to go into Rafah to stop Hamas and free the hostages from the Oct 7 attack that started the war.
The fighting in Rafah has made over 1 million Palestinians leave their homes. Many of them were already forced to leave because of the war between Israel and Hamas. The UN says that many people who have fled the war now live in dirty tent camps and other areas that are destroyed by the war. They don’t have basic things like shelter, food, water, and other things they need to survive.
Israel’s attacks and fighting on the ground in Gaza have caused the deaths of over 36,000 Palestinians. The Health Ministry does not separate between soldiers and regular people.
Three soldiers died in Rafah from the fighting in Gaza, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.
Israeli news said that some soldiers died and got hurt on Tuesday when a trap exploded.
Palestinians said there was a lot of fighting in different parts of Rafah on Wednesday. Israel is making a bigger attack, causing over 1 million people to leave the city. Most people were forced to leave their homes before the war started.
Israel went into Rafah on May 6 to stop Hamas from bringing weapons into Gaza from Egypt. They said they only went a little way into the area. It means that Rafah is the final big area where Hamas is really strong, but the fighters have also gathered in other parts of Gaza.
The military says that around 290 soldiers have died since the ground operation in Gaza started in October.
Urgent help needed in Gaza.
The Red Cross and Red Crescent are asking for a stop to fighting and for help to reach the people in Gaza who are suffering. This is needed to help civilians who are stuck in the conflict.
“It’s really important,” said IFRC President Kate Forbes in an interview with The Associated Press in the Philippine capital, Manila, where she was going to have some meetings. “First, the government needs to find a way to stop the fighting so we can help both sides with aid. ”
“Some places need help with mental and emotional support, and in others, they need urgent assistance,” said Forbes, who became the leader of the world’s biggest network for helping people in December.
“I’ve said that this is like a fast race and a long race. ” “We need to quickly get help in Gaza for people who are malnourished and don’t have proper sanitation,” she said. “It’s going to take a long time and a lot of help to fix Gaza and help the people there. “
The people saw the tanks near the Al-Awda mosque in Rafah, and they told Reuters. The Israeli military said its soldiers are still working in the Rafah area, but they didn’t say anything about whether they have moved into the city center.
During the night, the military attacked the city with airstrikes and tank fire, even though many people were upset about a previous attack on Sunday that caused a fire in a tent camp, killing at least 45 Palestinians, mostly children, women, and elderly people.
Since the strike, at least 26 more people have been killed by Israeli gunfire in Rafah, according to officials in the area controlled by Hamas militants.
People in Rafah saw the Israeli military bringing in armored vehicles that can be operated from far away. There were no soldiers nearby them. An Israeli army representative did not have an answer right away.
Israel started moving into the border area with Egypt three weeks ago. Tanks went near Rafah and some even went into parts of the eastern districts, but they haven’t gone into the city with full power yet.
Global leaders are saying that there was an attack on Sunday night in a camp where families who had been moved from other places in Gaza had gone for safety. They are asking for the World Court’s order to be followed to stop Israel’s attack.
People who live in Tel Al-Sultan area said that the area where the deadly strike happened on Sunday is still being heavily bombed.
“Bombs are dropping all over Tel Al-Sultan. ” A person who lives in western Rafah said that many families had to leave their homes because there was a lot of shooting happening all night. They spoke about it on a chat app to Reuters.
About one million people have left Rafah because of the Israeli attack since the beginning of May, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
Israel is still attacking despite a decision by the highest UN court to tell them to stop. They say the court’s decision allows them to use military force there.
Spain, Ireland, and Norway will say they accept Palestine as its own country on Tuesday. Israel is not happy about it and feels like it is alone after the long fight in Gaza.
The three countries say they made their decision to help stop the fighting between Israel and Hamas and make a ceasefire happen faster.
Israel attacked Palestine and more than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Israel started the operation because the Hamas-led militants attacked some towns in southern Israel on Oct 7. They killed about 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages, according to Israel.
Israel wants to find and remove Hamas fighters hiding in Rafah and save people who are being held as hostages there.
“On Monday, Miller told the House immigration committee that we have tried really hard, but have not been very successful.”
“We will keep trying to bring our family members to a safe place. ”
He made the comments when people were getting more and more unhappy about the rules put in place a few months ago. The rules were supposed to help Canadians bring their family members from dangerous places in the Gaza Strip and Sudan.
Miller said on Monday that they will process more applications for people leaving Gaza. But they’re not sure if any Palestinians have come to Canada using this program.
Miller has now increased that number to 5,000 applications, and each application can have many family members included.
The department has given 179 permits to people from Gaza through the temporary-resident program as of April 29, but it’s not clear if anyone has come to Canada yet.
The NDP says the government messed up the Gaza and Sudan programs and didn’t learn from problems with helping Afghans after the Taliban took over Kabul.
Family in Canada say they received confusing information from the government in Ottawa about the program. This caused some people to miss the opportunity to leave Rafah using other methods.
A document received through a request for information shows that the Immigration Department thought there would be a lot of applications for the program, even though only 1,000 people were allowed to apply.
In December, Miller signed a memo that said only 1,000 people should come, but we expect a lot more than that.
The memo says that in the 2021 census, 45,905 Canadians identified as having Palestinian background.
Miller said that the program he started in January needs help from the Israeli government agency that organizes work in Palestinian territories, called COGAT. He said this never happened for many months.
“Not long ago, we have received some good signs from the Israeli government that they would recognize this program and process it through COGAT in a timely manner,” said Miller, until the Rafah crossing closed on May 7.
Rafah is a town on the border with Egypt. It’s the only way for people to leave Gaza, but they have to follow strict rules from Israel and Egypt. It has become a safe place for Palestinians escaping attacks by Israel in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Three weeks ago, Israel started an attack in Rafah, even though Canada, the US, and many other countries asked them not to. Israel is saying that Rafah has become an important place for Hamas, a group that has killed many people in Israel. Israel wants to control Rafah to stop Hamas.
On Sunday, people all over the world were very upset after seeing terrible pictures of injured children from bombings and fires in camps where homeless people live. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says that 36,000 people, including fighters, have died in the war.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly repeated her request for a break in fighting on Monday.
“We are very upset about the attacks that killed Palestinian civilians in Rafah,” she wrote on platform X. “We must stop this level of human suffering. ”
“He said it’s really important to think about the politics of the region, especially the talk about Gaza getting emptied, and how it would look if Canada got involved in that. ” “That’s mainly why we didn’t make it last forever. ”
Last spring, there was a war in Sudan. Miller said his relatives might not come to Canada until late fall.
Family members say that officials have mentioned that there have been delays with getting fingerprints and other biometric information. However, Miller said that the Sudan program is more extensive because it includes permanent residency.
Miller said that Ottawa will be taking in 3,250 applications from the Sudan program, and around 7,000 people will be coming to Canada.
He said the number is based on how many things his department and “security partners” can handle, but it might increase.
Families in Palestine are going to the hospital to get their dead ready for burial after a strike set their tents on fire. This has been happening for eight months since the war started.
“Bassam, who lives in Rafah, said on a chat app that Israel is burning down Rafah and no one is trying to stop it. ”
Israeli tanks kept shooting at the eastern and central parts of the city in southern Gaza on Monday. Eight people were killed, according to local health officials.
Israel’s military said that they carried out an air attack on Sunday and they were confident that they hit the leader of the militant group Hamas in the West Bank, as well as another official responsible for attacking Israelis.
On Sunday, it was reported that eight rockets were stopped from hitting their target after being launched from the Rafah area. A minister said that we still need to keep fighting against Hamas.
“The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) feels sorry for any innocent people who were hurt during the war,” stated Major-General Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi at a conference on Monday.
The attack happened in the Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood where many people were staying safe because Israeli soldiers started a ground attack in the east of Rafah over two weeks ago.
Health officials in Gaza, which is run by Hamas, said that more than half of the people who died were women, children, and old people. They also said that more people might die because they are critically ill with severe burns from the fire.
Israel keeps attacking Rafah even though the top UN court told them to stop. They say the court’s ruling allows them to still use military force there.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was very angry about Israel’s recent attacks. Stop these operations. “There are no safe places in Rafah for Palestinian people,” he said on X.
Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock and the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the decision of the International Court of Justice must be followed and honored. “International rules for helping people in need apply to everyone, including Israel’s actions during the war,” Baerbock said.
No place that is safe.
During the day, the camp looked like a mess with burnt tents and twisted metal.
Abed Mohammed Al-Attar said Israel lied about keeping people safe in Rafah’s western areas while sitting next to his relatives’ bodies. His brother, his brother’s wife, and many other family members died in the fire.
The army tells lies. Gaza is not safe. No one is safe, not even kids, old people, or women. “He’s with his wife, they were murdered,” he said.
“Why did this happen to them. Their kids have no parents now. ”
Rafah hospitals and the Red Cross hospital were full, so some injured people were taken to hospitals in Khan Younis for help.
The organization that helps Palestinian refugees at the United Nations said the situation was really terrible. Gaza is a very difficult place to live. Pictures from last night show once again that this is true,” UNRWA wrote on X.
Israel has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians in their attack, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Israel started the operation because militants from Hamas attacked some towns in southern Israel on Oct 7. About 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage, according to Israel.
Israel wants to find and remove Hamas fighters hiding in Rafah and save people who are being kept as hostages in the area.
But it is criticized worldwide for not protecting innocent people.
“Ireland’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said it was very cruel to see the lack of food and refusal to allow enough help, on top of the hunger and starvation. ”
Egypt criticized the Israeli military for purposely bombing the shelters of displaced people. They said it breaks international law.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar both criticized the Israeli attack. Qatar also said that the attack might make it harder to reach a ceasefire and exchange hostages.
Israeli tanks have been moving close to the edge of Rafah, near the crossing from Gaza to Egypt, since May 6. They have also gone into some of the eastern parts of Rafah.
The leader of the European Union’s foreign policy has said on Sunday that Israel needs to follow the decisions of the United Nations’ top court and stop its attack in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. They also asked if the authorities in the West Bank are involved in violence against Palestinians.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa got attention from two EU nations and Norway, who promised to recognize a Palestinian state. Josep Borrell urged Israel to stop withholding tax money meant for the Palestinian authorities.
At the end of the week, many people asked for Israel to change how it fights against Hamas in Gaza. The international community is putting pressure on Israel through court and diplomacy.
Borrell said that Israel has pushed the Palestinians to the edge of a disaster because the situation in Gaza is really bad. The West Bank is in danger and could explode at any moment.
While many people are focused on Gaza, we should also pay attention to what is happening in the West Bank where the Palestinian Authority is located.
We are seeing a lot more violence happening in a cycle. Extremist settlers are attacking aid going to Gaza without any care, and it’s hurting a lot of people. And they have a lot of weapons. “And the question is, who is giving them weapons. And who is not stopping this attack from happening,” Borrel asked.
Borrell said that the violence from the settlers is happening at the same time as Israel is building more settlements and taking more land.
Borrell also disagreed with Israel’s threats to cut off money to the Palestinians. On Wednesday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would stop giving money to the Palestinian Authority from taxes. This could make it hard for them to pay their employees.
In the 1990s, Israel collected taxes for the Palestinians, and then used the money to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority. After the attack by Hamas on Oct 7 that started the war in Gaza, Smotrich stopped sending money. But Israel decided to send the money to Norway, and Norway then sent it to the PA. Smotrich said on Wednesday that he was stopping that agreement.
Borrell said that money that has been unfairly kept should be given back. Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide was beside him when he said this.
Eide was in Brussels to give important papers to Mustafa before Norway formally recognizes Palestine as a state. This action has made Israel very angry, even though it does not have much impact.
Norway, Spain and Ireland will officially recognize a Palestinian state on Tuesday. These countries have been friendly with both Israelis and Palestinians and have supported the idea of a Palestinian state for a long time.
The three nations’ decision to support Palestinian officials is good news for them. They have been trying for many years to create their own country in east Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. These areas were taken over by Israel in the Mideast war in 1967 and they still control them.
âRecognition is really important to us. “It’s the most important thing anyone can do for the Palestinian people,” Mustafa said. “This is really good for us. ”
Around 140 countries, which is more than two-thirds of the United Nations, acknowledge that there is a Palestinian state. However, most of the 27 EU nations still do not recognize it. Some people have said they will know it when the time is good.
The EU, the United States, and Britain, and others support the idea of a separate country for Palestinians next to Israel. They believe it should happen as part of a peaceful agreement.
Belgium, who is in charge of the EU right now, said that the Israeli hostages held by Hamas should be released first and the fighting in Gaza should stop. Other governments support a new plan for two separate states, even though talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down 15 years ago.
On Sunday, Israel was told by the United Nations to stop fighting in Gaza. This put more pressure on Israel, which is already feeling isolated.
A few days ago, the boss lawyer for the International Criminal Court asked to arrest Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Hamas officials.
The fighting in Gaza began when Hamas fighters crossed the border and attacked, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 people as hostages. Israel’s recent attack has led to the deaths of over 35,000 Palestinians, says Gaza’s Health Ministry. It has also created a major crisis and a severe food shortage.
The strike happened two days after the International Court of Justice told Israel to stop its military attack in Rafah. Many people from Gaza were staying in Rafah before Israel’s recent invasion. Many people are still there while many others have left.
Video from the area showed a lot of damage and fire. There was no specific information about the target right away. The Israeli army said they did not know anything was happening in the area. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited Rafah on Sunday to learn about the ongoing military operations there.
A person from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said more people might die as they keep looking for and rescuing people in Rafah’s Tal al-Sultan area. It’s about two kilometers northwest of the city center.
The society said Israel marked the location as a “humanitarian area. ” The neighborhood is part of the areas Israel’s military told people to leave earlier this month.
The airstrike happened a few hours after Hamas fired many rockets from Gaza. The rockets set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv, which hadn’t happened in a long time. This shows that Hamas is strong and determined, even after Israel’s big attack that has been going on for seven months.
The Israeli army said that eight rockets came from Rafah and crossed into Israel. The military stopped some of the missiles, according to a military spokesperson. Daniel Hagari said that the launcher in Rafah was broken.
On Sunday, trucks with aid went into Gaza from southern Israel using a new agreement. This allows them to avoid the Rafah crossing with Egypt because Israeli forces took control of the Palestinian side of it earlier this month. But it wasn’t right away known if charity groups could get to the help because of the fighting.
Egypt does not want to open the Rafah crossing until Palestinians have control of the Gaza side again. It decided to temporarily send traffic through Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing, which is Gaza’s main cargo terminal, after a talk between US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
The Kerem Shalom crossing has been mostly closed because of Israel’s attack in Rafah. Israel said it let hundreds of trucks in, but the United Nations says it’s too dangerous to get the aid.
The UN leader’s spokesperson said that because the humanitarian operation is close to failing, the Israeli authorities need to help bring in and deliver aid from Egypt safely at Kerem Shalom.
The fight between Israel and Hamas has caused the death of almost 36,000 Palestinians, as reported by Gaza’s Health Ministry. They have not separated civilians and fighters in their count. The Health Ministry reported that 81 people who were killed by Israeli attacks had been taken to hospitals in the last day. Israel says that civilians are dying because Hamas is hiding in neighborhoods where many people live.
About 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have left their homes. There are lots of people who are very hungry and United Nations officials are saying that some parts of the area are experiencing famine.
Hamas started the war by attacking Israel on October 7. They killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages. Hamas still has about 100 people captive and the bodies of around 30 others, even though most of the others were let go during a break in fighting last year.
Israel’s leader says the country needs to capture Rafah to defeat Hamas completely. Hamas has moved to other parts of Gaza, where the military has been active. Netanyahu wants to stop them.
The fighting has made things more tense in the part of the West Bank that is controlled by Israel. The Palestinian authorities said that Israeli soldiers killed a 14-year-old boy near the town of Saeer in the southern West Bank on Sunday. The Israeli army said they had to shoot and kill a Palestinian man because he tried to stab Israeli soldiers at Beit Einun Junction.
Aid is having a hard time reaching the southern part of Gaza.
Southern Gaza hasn’t been getting much help since Israel went into Rafah on May 6. Since then, more than one million Palestinians, many of whom were already forced to leave their homes, have left the city.
Egypt’s government-controlled Al-Qahera TV showed video of trucks going into Gaza through Kerem Shalom. Khaled Zayed, the leader of the Egyptian Red Crescent in Sinai, said that on Sunday, they planned to send 200 trucks with aid and four trucks with fuel to Kerem Shalom from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.
Northern Gaza is getting help from Israel through two roads that Israel made open because people all over the world were very upset after Israeli attacks killed seven people who were helping with aid in April.
Every day, a few dozen trucks come into Gaza using a pier that the US made. But the pier can’t handle as many trucks as officials had hoped for – they wanted 150 trucks a day. Charitable groups say they need 600 trucks every day.
Israel arrests a man for threatening to start a rebellion.
Israel’s army caught someone they think made a video where a person dressed as a soldier talks about rebelling. In the video, the man said many soldiers were prepared to ignore the defence minister’s idea that Palestinians should rule Gaza after the war. They promised to only be loyal to Netanyahu.
Hagari, who speaks for the military, said that the man is no longer doing reserve duty. The man’s name has not been made public. It was unclear where or when the video was recorded. The prime minister’s office said they don’t support any kind of military disobedience.
United Nations (UN)’ highest judicial authority, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has delivered a significant ruling, demanding that Israel “immediately cease its military offensive in Rafah.”
This decision supports a recent application by South Africa, which called for various actions against Israel, accusing it of escalating what they describe as a genocide.
Israel has strongly denied these accusations and indicated it would disregard any directive to stop its operations.
Government spokesperson David Mencer told the BBC: “There is no power in the world that will push us to commit a public suicide, because that’s what this is, to stop our war against Hamas.”
A Hamas spokesmansaid: “We welcome the decision of the International Court of Justice, which demands that the brutal Zionist entity [Israel] stop its aggression” in Rafah.
Reading the court’s ruling on Friday, presiding judge Nawaz Salam said that “Israel must immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate” which could bring about “the physical destruction” of the Palestinians – alluding to what constitutes genocide under international law.
Israel, he added, must also allow unimpeded access to Gaza to any UN body investigating allegations of genocide.
The ruling also reiterated a requirement for Israel to enable “unhindered provision at scale” of basic services and humanitarian aid for Gaza.
“The humanitarian situation [in Gaza] is now to be characterised as disastrous,” the ruling said. Aid agencies and the UN say insufficient amounts of aid are reaching people in Gaza, which they say is facing famine.
The UN suspended food distribution in Rafah on Tuesday because of the perilous situation there.
Israel says it has made “extensive efforts” t ensure that humanitarian aid is “flowing into Gaza”.
Judge Salam also said that the court found it “deeply troubling” that Israeli hostages were still being held by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, and called for “their immediate and unconditional release”.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid criticised the ruling, calling it an “abject moral failure” that the ICJ did not connect their bombardment of Rafah to the release of the hostages.
He said Israel was forced to defend itself, adding: “There is no country in the world which wouldn’t defend itself against an attack like that.”
Minutes after the ruling was delivered, Israeli warplanes launched a series of airstrikes on the Shaboura camp in central Rafah.
A local activist at Kuwait Hospital nearby informed the BBC that the intensity of the raids prevented rescue teams from reaching the site.
Israel commenced a long-awaited offensive in Rafah approximately three weeks ago, aiming to eliminate the remaining Hamas battalions and asserting that Israeli hostages are being held in the town.
According to the UN, over 800,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah since the offensive began, with about 1.5 million people taking refuge there from conflicts elsewhere in Gaza.
The hearing is part of a case initiated by South Africa at the ICJ in December, accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The case remains ongoing.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza began after Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking 252 hostages back to Gaza.
Since then, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry reports that at least 35,800 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict.
Hamas is still fighting in Gaza, even though they are not as strong as before. They are regrouping in the most damaged areas in northern Gaza and are continuing to launch rockets into nearby Israeli towns.
The highest court of the United Nations will make a decision on Friday about South Africa’s request to stop fighting in Gaza. South Africa says Israel is killing a lot of Palestinians, but Israel says it’s not true.
The war caused tensions in the Red Sea. On Thursday, a missile landed in the water near the important Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but it didn’t cause any damage.
Around 35,000 people from Gaza have died, and the Health Ministry doesn’t say if they were fighters or not.
Israel started fighting in Gaza because Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7. The attack killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250 others.
The Israeli government will give back a camera and broadcasting equipment it took from The Associated Press on Tuesday. This happened after it had stopped the news organization from showing live video of Gaza. People were upset because they thought the government was getting in the way of fair journalism.
The live video of Gaza by the AP was working again on Wednesday in Israel.
The government took away AP equipment in southern Israel because they said it broke a new media law by giving pictures to Al Jazeera on TV.
Israeli leaders used a new rule on May 5 to shut down Al Jazeera, a news company from Qatar, in Israel. They took away its stuff, stopped it from showing news on TV, and made it so people in Israel couldn’t go to its websites.
After Israel took the AP’s equipment, the Biden administration, journalism groups, and an Israeli opposition leader criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and urged them to change their decision.
Karhi said the defense department will check how news sources show live video of Gaza. Officials did not tell AP before that the location of their live camera was a problem. Instead, they kept saying that the pictures were shown live on Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera is a customer of AP. They get live video from AP and other news groups.
Lauren Easton, who is the vice-president of corporate communications at AP, said that while they are happy about this progress, they are still worried about the Israeli government using the foreign broadcaster law and independent journalists being able to work freely in Israel.
Government workers went to AP’s building in Sderot and took their equipment on Tuesday afternoon. They gave the AP a paper signed by Karhi, saying it was breaking the law for foreign broadcasters in the country.
Just before, AP was showing a wide look at the northern part of Gaza. The AP follows Israel’s military rules about what can and cannot be shown on the news. They are not allowed to broadcast information that could put soldiers in danger, like where they are moving. The video showed smoke going up in the area.
Last Thursday, the AP was told to stop broadcasting live, but they said no.
Karhi told Lapid that everyone in the government agreed to a law that says they can take away any device that has Al Jazeera on it.
Journalism groups criticized Israel for taking AP’s equipment, and the Biden administration also pushed back.
“As soon as we found out about the reports, the White House and the State Department quickly talked to Israel’s government at important meetings to show how worried we are and ask them to change this decision,” said Adrienne Watson, who speaks for the National Security Council. “A free press is very important for democracy. The media, including AP, do important work that should be respected. ”
When Israel shut down Al Jazeera’s offices, it raised concerns about press freedom in the country.
Israel has not been good at allowing press freedom during the war, according to the Foreign Press Association. They said this in a statement on Tuesday. “It has stopped foreign reporters from going to Gaza on their own. ”
The live video from Sderot shows us a rare and independent look at what’s happening in Gaza.
Israel and Al Jazeera don’t get along well because Israel thinks the news channel is not fair to their country. Netanyahu said it’s a “terror channel” that spreads hate.
Al Jazeera is one of the few international news companies that has stayed in Gaza during the war. They have been showing airstrikes and crowded hospitals, and they are saying that Israel has been committing massacres. AP is also in Gaza. The Associated Press is also located in Gaza.
In the 2021 war between Israel and Hamas, the army destroyed the building where AP’s Gaza office was located. They said that Hamas had used the building for military reasons. The AP said they didn’t know about Hamas being there, and the army didn’t show any proof to support what they said.
The fighting in Gaza started when Hamas attacked Israel and killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 others. More than 35,000 Palestinians have died according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. They don’t separate civilians and soldiers in their count.
“The Associated Press strongly criticizes the actions of the Israeli government,” said the non-profit news organization in a statement. “We ask the Israeli authorities to give back our equipment and let us start showing live news again. This will help us share important news with many media outlets worldwide. ”
The Israeli military often says that people can’t go to certain areas near Gaza because they are for the military only. The AP’s live feed showed what was happening in Gaza, where it’s hard for journalists to work because Israel and Egypt don’t let them in.
The Associated Press didn’t answer when the media asked for a comment. But the Foreign Press Association said they were worried about the shutdown and taking away of things.
Israel’s action today is a dangerous path to go down. Israel may stop other news organizations from showing live videos of Gaza. The FPA said that it could also let Israel stop the media from covering almost any news event for reasons of security that are not very clear.
Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said that the AP broke a new law by giving news to many clients, including Al Jazeera.
Karhi said in a statement that a camera that was taken away illegally is showing live footage of the northern Gaza Strip on the Aljazeera channel. This includes the actions of the IDF forces and puts our fighters at risk. Last week, the AP agency was warned that they are not allowed to broadcast on Al Jazeera according to the law and government’s decision. But they decided to continue anyway, which is causing harm to the state’s security.
The taken equipment consisted of a camera, stand, two microphones, and transmission gear, according to the statement.
Reporters Without Borders criticized Israel for taking the equipment.
Israel has banned Al Jazeera and is now angry at the AP. “RSF is upset that the news outlet’s camera was taken and the live video of Gaza was stopped because they think the images are being used by Al Jazeera. ”
Israel opposition leader Yair Lapid called the seizure “crazy. ”
He said that this is not Al Jazeera, it’s an American news organization that has won 53 Pulitzer Prizes. This government is acting like it wants to make sure that Israel is rejected by everyone in the world, no matter what. “They became crazy. “
The top lawyer of the world’s main court for serious crimes wants to arrest the leaders of Israel and Hamas, including the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for things they did during their seven-month war.
Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, are not about to be arrested, but the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor’s announcement showed that Israel is more isolated because of the war in Gaza.
The prosecutor in court, Karim Khan, said that Netanyahu, Gallant, and three Hamas leaders, Yehia Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, did very bad things in Gaza and Israel and broke the law.
Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders criticized the action as shameful and against Jewish people. US President Joe Biden also criticized the prosecutor and stood by Israel’s right to protect itself from Hamas.
Three judges will choose if they should give arrest warrants and let a case continue. The judges usually need two months to make these decisions.
Israel is not in the court, so Netanyahu and Gallant are not in trouble right now, even if they have arrest warrants. But if the Israeli leaders are at risk of being arrested, it might be hard for them to go to other countries.
President Biden said it was wrong for the prosecutor to try to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant for the war in Gaza. He also said that Israel and Hamas are not the same and should not be treated as equals.
Hamas also criticized the ICC prosecutor for asking to arrest its leaders, saying it treats the victim and the attacker the same.
Netanyahu is being strongly urged in his own country to end the war as soon as possible. Many Israelis are going to protests every week. They want the government to make a deal to bring back Israeli hostages held by Hamas. They are worried that there is not much time left.
Lately, two other members of his war Cabinet, Gallant and Benny Gantz, said they will quit if Netanyahu doesn’t explain his plan for Gaza after the war.
On Monday, many politicians supported Netanyahu and criticized the ICC prosecutor’s decision. The people who were there were the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, and his two main political opponents, Gantz and opposition leader Yair Lapid.
We don’t know how Khan’s decision will affect how people see Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s popularity has dropped during the war, but if there’s a chance he could be arrested, it might make people support him more. However, his opponents could also criticize him for causing a diplomatic disaster for the country.
Shany said that this will make Netanyahu unpopular, and it will be hard for him to travel to other countries. He said that even if the ICC does not give permission to arrest, other countries may be less willing to help.
The West thinks Hamas is a global terrorist organization. Both Sinwar and Deif are thought to be hiding in Gaza. Haniyeh, the leader of the Islamic militant group, lives in Qatar and often travels around the area. Qatar is not in the ICC like Israel.
The most recent fight between Israel and Hamas started on Oct 7, when fighters from Gaza went into Israel and killed around 1,200 people, mostly innocent people, and held 250 others captive.
Since that time, Israel has been fighting hard to break up Hamas in Gaza. More than 35,000 Palestinians have died in the fighting, and at least half of them were women and children, as estimated by Gaza health officials.
The fighting in Gaza has caused a big problem for the people living there. About 80% of the population have had to leave their homes and many don’t have enough food to eat. The United Nations says this is a very serious situation.
When talking about what Israel is doing, Khan said that using hunger as a weapon of war, along with other attacks and punishments against the people of Gaza, is causing a lot of suffering that everyone can see.
The United Nations and other groups that help people in need have said many times that Israel is stopping aid from getting to people during the war. Israel says it’s not true. They say aid can go to Gaza and they blame the UN for not giving out aid.
Hamas did some bad things on Oct 7. Khan went to the region in December and saw the terrible effects of these attacks. He said the crimes were very wrong.
Hamas fighters killed many people at a dance party and also killed whole families in their homes. “Khan said that these actions require responsibility. ”
South Africa wants to put Israel on trial at the UN and is happy that Khan wants to arrest Israeli and Hamas leaders. “The same rules must be used for everyone to support the international rule of law,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office.
The ICC started in 2002 as a court that prosecutes people who are responsible for very serious crimes like war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and aggression.
The UN General Assembly supported the ICC, but the court works on its own.
Many countries do not agree to let the court make decisions about war crimes, genocide and other crimes. They are Israel, the United States, Russia, and China.
The ICC agreed to let Palestine join in 2015, after Palestine agreed to follow the court’s rules in 2014.
In 2020, the United States President Donald Trump allowed punishments on the ICC prosecutor and another senior prosecutor related to travel and money. The ICC staff were investigating the United States. The soldiers from the United States and its friends may be accused of committing crimes during the war in Afghanistan. President Biden removed the penalties in 2021.
Last year, the court said that Russia’s President Putin is responsible for taking children from Ukraine, so they issued an arrest warrant for him. Russia answered by making its own request for arrest of Khan and ICC judges.
The Prime Minister is getting criticized by his own War Cabinet. His main rival, Benny Gantz, says he will quit the government if a plan isn’t made by June 8 that involves other countries in running Gaza after the war.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan was supposed to talk to important Israeli leaders on Sunday about a big plan the US has. The plan is for Saudi Arabia to agree to Israel and help the Palestinian Authority rule Gaza. In return, the Palestinians would eventually be able to have their own country.
Netanyahu doesn’t want a Palestinian state and said no to the proposals. He wants Israel to have control over security in Gaza and work with Palestinians who are not part of Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.
While people are talking more about planning for after the war, the fighting is still going on and it doesn’t look like it will end anytime soon. Lately, Hamas has come together again in some areas in the north of Gaza that were hit hard by bombings at the beginning of the war. Israeli soldiers had also been in these areas.
An air attack in Nuseirat, a crowded Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza that has been around since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, killed 20 people. This included eight women and four children, as reported by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah, where the bodies were taken.
A different attack on a street in Nuseirat caused the deaths of five more people, as reported by the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service. In Deir al-Balah, a powerful attack caused the death of Zahed al-Houli, who was a high-ranking officer in the police force run by Hamas, and another man, as reported by Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
The Civil Defense says that the attacks hit some houses near Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya and at least 10 people were killed. The rescuers showed a video of them trying to save a woman stuck under collapsed buildings. There were loud explosions and smoke in the background.
In the nearby Jabliya refugee camp, people said there were many bombs and attacks with weapons.
Abdel-Kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old in Jabaliya, said that the situation is really hard. He said that the eastern side has turned into a place where Israeli fighter jets attack anything that moves.
Mahmoud Bassal, who speaks for the Civil Defense, said that rescuers found at least 150 bodies. More than half of them were women and children. This happened after Israel started a mission in Jabaliya last week. He said about 300 houses have been “completely ruined. ”
Israel attacked after Hamas attacked on Oct 7. The Palestinian fighters entered southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 as prisoners.
At least 35,000 Palestinians have died in the war, says Gaza’s Health Ministry. About 80% of the 23 million Palestinians have been forced to move within their area, sometimes more than once.
Israel says it tries not to hurt innocent people and says that Hamas is responsible for the high number of deaths and damage because they put their fighters, tunnels, and rocket launchers in crowded neighborhoods.
Netanyahu’s opponents, including many protesters, say that he is making the war last longer and refusing to agree to a ceasefire that would free hostages, because he wants to avoid being held accountable for the security mistakes that caused the attack.
Surveys say that Gantz, who is in the middle politically, would probably become the leader instead of Netanyahu if elections happen soon. This could lead to Netanyahu being charged for corruption he is accused of for a long time.
Netanyahu says he is not doing this for politics and wants to keep attacking until Hamas is stopped and the people being held captive in Gaza are released. He thinks it’s a waste of time to talk about what will happen after the war while Hamas is still fighting. The fighters have warned people not to work with Israel.
Netanyahu is being pressured by the United States, which is Israel’s closest friend. The United States has been giving important military help and support for the attack, but they are starting to get frustrated with how Israel is handling the war.
The US President Joe Biden’s team stopped a delivery of 3,500 big bombs to southern Gaza. They said they don’t want to give weapons for a big attack on the city of Rafah because they are worried about a big disaster for people living there.
Last week, Israel started a small military operation in Rafah. The government plans to go ahead with selling $1 billion worth of weapons, tank ammunition, vehicles and mortar rounds to Israel.
Sullivan is supposed to go to Israel after meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday. The government is making a big plan for Saudi Arabia to accept Israel and work with other Arab countries to help Gaza. In return, they would get a defense agreement with the US and assistance in starting a civilian nuclear program.
US and Saudi officials say that the agreement needs Israel to agree to a realistic plan for a future Palestinian state, which Netanyahu has refused to do.
In Gantz’s statement, he said he wants to make friendly relationships with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. But he also said “we will not let anyone from another country, whether they are our friends or enemies, make us have a Palestinian state. “
Israeli emergency services said two men got hurt a little in the Galilee area. They were taken to the hospital.
The Israeli army said that on Friday, soldiers saw a Hezbollah launcher in Yaroun that was ready to launch rockets at Israel.
A little while later, an IDF fighter jet attacked and destroyed the launcher, stopping many launches,” the military said.
However, an Israeli airstrikes killed two boys in the town of Al-Najariya in southern Lebanon on Friday, according to Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA).
The two Syrian siblings, Ossama and Hani Al-Khalid, succumbed to their injuries from the air raid, NNA said.
More than 35,300 people have been killed and 79,261 have been injured in the Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The ministry does not mention the number of people who are believed to be missing in Gaza since October 7.
Earlier on Friday morning, people who work to keep others safe and local reporters said that attacks from Israel in the area had caused the deaths of at least 10 people and injured others.
A bombing in the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza killed at least six people. Civil defense officials came and helped evacuate the injured. Fighting has been very heavy in the Jabalya district in northern Gaza lately. A lot of people were hurt and some people died at a hospital in northern Gaza after Israel bombed the area.
People in Jabalya heard continuous gunfire throughout the night from Thursday to Friday.
Salama Maroof, who leads the government media office in Gaza, said on Thursday that the Israeli military had entered Jabalya and blocked off Beit Hanoun in the northeast.
This is the first time the government has said it will send weapons to Israel since it delayed sending 3,500 bombs earlier this month. The government stopped the transfer to prevent Israel from using the bombs in their attack on Rafah in southern Gaza.
The White House is getting criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for helping Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Some people in Joe Biden’s political party want him to stop sending weapons to Israel until they do more to protect Palestinians. Many Republicans disapprove of reducing the support for the military of Israel.
The package being sent has about $700 million for tank bullets, $500 million for military vehicles, and $60 million for mortar rounds, according to congressional aides. They talked but didn’t want to say who they are, about giving weapons to someone, but it’s not official yet.
It was not clear when the arms would be sent. It’s not certain if this delivery is from the delayed foreign aid package, an existing arms sale, or a new sale.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the plans to move the package.
The White House said on Tuesday that Biden would not approve the bill if Congress passed it. The bill is not likely to pass in the Senate where the Democrats are in charge. However, not all House Democrats agree on this, and about twenty-four of them wrote a letter to the Biden administration expressing their worries about stopping the bomb shipment.
One of the people who signed the letter was a representative from New York. Ritchie Torres said he will probably vote for the bill, even though the White House doesn’t support it.
“I usually support laws that help Israel, but if it hurts other important laws, I might not. ”
The White House has been telling different lawmakers and their assistants that they will not approve the new law.
“We really disagree with trying to limit the President from using US security help in line with US foreign policy and national security goals,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre this week. She also said the administration intends to use all the money Congress approved in the national security supplemental package signed into law by Biden last month.
Al Aqsa hospital got 29 bodies from one attack, including 9 children. Al Awda hospital got 11 bodies from the second attack.
The strikes happened around 1 in the morning. According to people who saw it, this happened at 2:45am on Tuesday. For people in the Eastern time zone, it was at 6pm and 7:45pm on Monday.
Rescue workers are still trying to find bodies under the rubble of a four-story building in Nuseirat. The building was destroyed in the first attack. Onlookers said that many people were seeking shelter in the building’s backyard.
A video on CNN showed people who were hurt and killed being taken to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Another video showed the bodies of some children being taken out from the wreckage.
The video showed family members anxiously waiting to see if anyone will be found alive in the rubble. The workers there don’t have the right tools to take away the concrete.
Some of the people who were killed had just come from Rafah, as said by the people who were there.
He told me he put up a tent for his friend Hassan Obeid, who he said is not connected to Hamas or anyone else.
Al Jalees called for Obeid and told him that he stayed to sleep at the house, but it collapsed on everyone inside. He said there are over 50 people trapped, and they are all innocent civilians. One day, God will ask me if I am telling the truth.
Hamdan Karaja said to CNN that his children, girls and boys, are trapped under the collapsed building. “My wife too,”
Karaja said he had seven kids. He said they found his father’s body.
“We have more than 100 people who had to leave their homes, and some of them are in groups of 20 family members. ” They are all stuck under the debris. “We were attacked while we were sleeping, without any warning,” he said.
“We also have tents for people who have been forced to leave their homes in the yard. ” We have 10 people who died here, and 20 people who died there.
Rami Al Aida, who works for the Civil Defense in Central Gaza, said that it’s really hard for crews to do their job because they don’t have enough fuel and equipment. We want to find people who are still alive. We ask all international groups to give the Civil Defense the tools, bulldozers, and fuel they need.
A girl named Sama Alousha said they heard a loud noise around 1am.
“We all got scared and went to see what happened. ” I saw my friend’s house all broken down. We can’t save anyone. “I have five friends stuck under here. ”
One man, who did not give his name, said that he and his family had been moved to different places many times.
“We were forced to leave Shajaiya. ” We went to Khan Younis and then to Rafah, and from Rafah, we came here. My brother got a house here and lived there with his family.
All of a sudden, I got a call telling me that the place where my brother was staying got hit. There are no tools to get them back. They are a family of six people who are not involved in any fighting or war. “My brother, his wife, and four kids. ”
Then he said the names of his brother’s family, but no one answered.
A woman named Um Mahmoud was crying and she said to the reporters, “My brother came to the area from Rafah three days ago because he had to leave his home, and now we don’t know where he is. ” He and his wife and their five kids don’t have any relationships with others. He is a person who had to leave Rafah and is still looking for a place to live in Deir el Balah.
“She said his name was on the list to leave Gaza through the Rafah border, but something unexpected happened. ”
A man named Salah Abu Jarada said his brother also came from the Rafah area. “They were struck by three floors falling on them. ” “They still haven’t been saved. ”
Another attack happened at the UNRWA school in Nuseirat, about two hours after the first one, as reported by people who saw it happen.
Ismail Abu Ghosheh said, “Everything is destroyed, and seven people died. ”
Another man at the school, Najah Abu Daher, said that there is nowhere safe to go. They go with us everywhere we go. My son and three of my family members were all killed. They attacked us in the middle of the night, making children run and breaking glass.
In two TV interviews, Blinken emphasized that the United States thinks Israeli soldiers should leave Gaza. But they are also waiting to see good plans from Israel for keeping the area safe and well-governed after the war.
Hamas is back in some areas of Gaza, and Blinken said that Israel’s strong actions in the southern city of Rafah may make them responsible for dealing with a long-term rebellion.
He said the United States has been working with Arab countries and others for a few weeks to make good plans for keeping Gaza safe, running it well, and fixing it after the damage. But Israel hasn’t shown those plans yet. I’m sorry, I can’t do that. Can you provide me with the text you’d like me to simplify for you. We also need to see that.
Blinken also said that if Israel goes further into Rafah in the south, there may be some success at first, but it could also harm a lot of civilians. This wouldn’t solve the problem of making sure Hamas can’t control Gaza again, which is what both Israel and the US want.
Blinken also said publicly for the first time that a new report from the Biden administration to Congress on Friday found that Israel broke the law by using weapons from the US in Gaza. The report also said that because of war, government officials could not be completely sure about which airstrikes were happening.
Blinken said that when weapons are used, there are worries about the harm done to children, women, and men. He thinks that in some cases, Israel did not follow the international laws that protect people during war. He mentioned the terrible deaths of innocent people.
The war started on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel and killed 1,200 people, most of them were not soldiers. About 250 individuals were captured and held against their will. Israel’s attack has caused the deaths of over 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, as reported by Gaza’s health ministry.
Officials from the US and UN are saying that Israeli rules on sending food since October 7th have caused a severe lack of food in northern Gaza.
Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu are having disagreements about the war, and people in the US are also arguing about supporting Israel. There are protests on college campuses and many Republican lawmakers are saying Biden should give whatever Israel asks for. The problem could have a big impact on who wins the November presidential election.
Biden told CNN in an interview last week that his government won’t give weapons to Israel for attacking Rafah.
Blinken was on CBS show “Face the Nation” and NBC show “Meet the Press. “
When asked if the United Kingdom The UK said they would also stop giving weapons to Israel if they attacked Rafah. But the UK doesn’t give as many weapons to Israel as the US does.
“The UK only gives a small amount of Israel’s weapons and it’s not the main supplier,” Cameron said on the BBC. “We have a system for giving out permits, and we can take them away if it’s believed that there’s a high chance of a major human rights violation happening in other countries. ”
US President Joe Biden said that if Israel attacks Rafah, a major Hamas area in Gaza, then the US won’t give them weapons and military equipment anymore.
The Labour Party and human rights groups in Britain are saying that the UK should also stop selling weapons or parts for weapons used in an attack in Rafah.
On Friday, the US government said that Israel probably broke the rules of war by using weapons from the US in Gaza. However, they said that because of the war, US officials couldn’t be completely sure about the specific airstrikes.
He said this after hearing that the UK might send soldiers to help bring supplies from a pier the US is building.
Cameron said that his government thinks it’s not a good idea to have British soldiers on the beach. Instead, they will probably have someone else deliver the aid.
Israel has said that Rafah is the last place where the militant group is strong, ignoring warnings from the United States and other friends that any big attack there would be really bad for regular people. Hamas has again gathered in some of the parts of Gaza that were badly damaged by Israel’s attacks, even though Israel had said they had removed Hamas from those areas.
Aid workers are having a hard time giving out less and less food and other things to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had to leave their homes because of what Israel says is a small military action in Rafah. The two main entrances to the southern Gaza city are still closed.
On Monday, Abeer Etefa from the World Food Program said that 38 trucks of flour came through the Western Erez Crossing to northern Gaza. Israel said that the crossing will be open on Sunday.
No food has gone into the main crossings in southern Gaza for a whole week.
The border between Gaza and Egypt is closed because Israeli soldiers took control of it a week ago. The fighting in Rafah city is stopping aid groups from getting to the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, even though Israel is saying that supply trucks can come in from its side.
Over the last week, the Israeli military has increased bombing and other activities in Rafah and told people to leave some areas of the city. Israel says it is doing a small operation to find and destroy tunnels and other things that militants use near the border with Egypt.
Israeli soldiers were fighting against Palestinian fighters in Zeitoun and the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. The army had already started big operations in these areas earlier in the war.
Etefa said WFP is giving out food from their last supplies in the areas of Khan Younis and Deir Balah, where many people who left Rafah have gone. In Rafah, only two groups working with WFP were still giving out food, and no bakeries were open in the city.
“She said most distributions have stopped because people had to leave their homes, move away, and no longer have enough food. ” “The situation is getting worse and we can’t keep going like this. ”
Most people in Gaza need help from humanitarian groups to get food and other things they need to live. In Gaza, about 1.1 million Palestinians are struggling with severe hunger because it’s hard to get help from Israel. Some areas in the north are even experiencing a serious famine, according to the UN.
The boss of Kuwait Hospital in Rafah said the doctors and people living nearby have been told to leave. Sohaib al-Hams said that if the hospital is evacuated, it would have very bad results.
Israel has told people in northern Gaza to leave, even though many already left at the beginning of the war.
Mahmoud Shalabi, who works for a charity in the UK, said he was told to move from Beit Lahiya to Gaza City.
“I have gone out of my house many times with my parents who are over 70 years old, my three kids and my wife,” he said. “The experience of fear and being forced to leave home is very difficult to describe. ”
The fighting started when Hamas and other fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct 7. They killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and held 250 more as hostages. Terrorists still have around 100 people as prisoners and the bodies of over 30 others, after letting go most of the others during a temporary break in fighting last year.
Israel had a sad Memorial Day on Monday. They had ceremonies to remember the soldiers who died, including the more than 600 who were killed since Oct 7. Most of the deaths happened in the first attack.
At the beginning of the day at Mount Herzl cemetery near Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to beat Hamas.
We are committed to winning this fight. We made the enemy pay and will continue to make them pay a heavy price for their bad behavior. “We will achieve our goal of winning and bringing all our hostages back home,” he said.
On Monday at 11:00 AM, there was two minutes of silence and four fighter planes flew over Jerusalem and nearby areas. Sirens were also heard.
People who are unhappy with the country’s leaders have been protesting in the streets. They interrupted some ceremonies to show their discontent. Critics say Netanyahu is responsible for the security and intelligence mistakes that led to the attack and for not making a deal with Hamas to let the hostages go.
International talks to stop fighting and free hostages stopped last week when Israel went into Rafah. Israel said no to Hamas’ main request to stop the war and pull its forces out of the area. They think that if they do this, Hamas will take over again and do more attacks like the one on Oct 7.
Netanyahu said he will keep attacking until Israel destroys Hamas’ army and government and gets back all the hostages they took. These are the things he wants to achieve, but they haven’t happened yet.
An Egyptian security source told Reuters that a man was killed because someone wanted to steal from him. The source did not connect the shooting to the victim’s ethnicity.
The Canadian government said that the man who was shot was a resident of Egypt. The ministry and the source did not give any more information.
A new group called “Vanguards of Liberation” said they did the attack in response to Israel’s military actions in Gaza and its plan to take over the Rafah crossing on Egypt’s border with Gaza. It said that the victim, Ziv Kipper, was accused of working for Israeli intelligence.
The claim said that the group responsible for the killing was named after a policeman named Mohamed Salah Ibrahim, who shot three Israeli soldiers before being killed near Egypt’s border with Israel in June 2023, according to a statement from SITE Intelligence group.
The group shared a picture claiming to be of Kipper being shot in his car.
Egyptian security sources said they do not know about the group or if it was involved in the incident.
The Canadian embassy in Cairo did not answer requests for comments right away.
A person from the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the person who died was both Canadian and Israeli. The Israeli embassy in Cairo is talking to Egyptian officials who are looking into what happened.
The shooting happened on Tuesday when Israeli forces took control of the main border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in Rafah. Over 1 million displaced Palestinians have sought shelter in Rafah during Israel’s seven-month offensive.
Last October, during the war in Gaza, a group of Hamas militants attacked southern Israel. Shortly after, two Israeli tourists and their Egyptian guide were shot and killed in Alexandria. This was the first attack on Israelis in Egypt in a long time.
A policeman who admitted he couldn’t control himself was taken to jail for what happened.
“Many regular people in Gaza have died because of the bombs and other attacks on their neighborhoods,” Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an interview. He stopped sending 2,000-pound bombs last week.
“I told them that if they enter Rafah, I won’t give them the weapons that were used in the past to deal with these kinds of situations,” Biden explained. “So far, they haven’t entered Rafah yet. ”
The president said he might only give weapons to Israel if they do certain things. This is a big change in the fight between Israel and Hamas. And he admitted that American bombs were used to kill innocent people in Gaza. This shows that the United States was involved in the war.
Many people, even those in his party, are telling the president to stop sending weapons to Gaza because of the bad situation there.
Biden said the US will still give Israel weapons to protect itself, but if Israel starts a big attack on Rafah, they won’t get any more shipments of weapons.
“We will keep making sure that Israel is safe with Iron Dome and able to defend against any recent attacks from the Middle East,” he said. “It’s just not right. ” We won’t provide the weapons and artillery shells.
The US has stopped sending big weapons to Israel because they might use them in a place called Rafah, and the US is worried about the people who live there. But they haven’t decided for sure if they will stop the shipment. The government is thinking about selling or moving some weapons to someone else.
Israeli leaders told US leaders that they are very upset about the pause in shipments and the US media talking about the decision.
Biden talked to Netanyahu on the phone on Monday and said that if Israel doesn’t behave better, they might not get any more weapons from the US. This could make their relationship worse. Israel told a lot of people to leave Rafah and bombed near the city’s border.
Biden said Israel hasn’t gone too far in Rafah yet, even though their actions have caused tension in the area.
“They haven’t entered the towns and cities. ” They did the right thing, but it was close to being wrong. “It’s causing problems with Egypt right now, which I’ve worked hard to have a good relationship with and help,” he said.
He told Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders that the US doesn’t fully support operations in crowded areas.
“I told Bibi and the war cabinet that we won’t support them if they attack the population centers,” he said.
The fighting in the Middle East has taken up a lot of Biden’s time recently, even as he focuses on showing Americans what he has done at home. Biden talked in Racine, Wis. , about new plans to invest in the economy and create many new jobs.
In the interview on with the media, he wanted to change how people see the American economy. He talked about how there are lots of new jobs and how the government is working to stop companies from being too greedy. He also said he didn’t believe surveys that said people are still feeling negative about where the country is going.
“We’ve already made changes,” Biden said, when asked if he was running out of time to improve how people feel about his handling of the economy before the election.
Biden said that lots of Americans feel good about their own money situation, even if they don’t feel good about the country’s economy.
“He said that the phone surveys have been ineffective and the polling data has been incorrect. ”
He said that the number of jobs he created after COVID-19 shows that things are getting better for American workers.
“The idea is that things are really bad and we need more jobs. ” “We are in a situation where people can get well-paying jobs,” he said.
However, he admitted that Americans have valid reasons to be concerned, such as the high prices of goods and housing.
“He said people are worried about the rising prices and how it will affect their finances. ”
“That’s why I’m working really hard to make renting cheaper and to have more homes for people to live in,” he continued. “When I began as the leader, many people thought the economy would crash. ” Our economy is the best in the world. Let me say it again – in the whole world.
Canada’s foreign minister criticized Israel’s military operation in Rafah, but said she’s still hopeful that ceasefire talks will succeed.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said that it is not okay for Rafah to be invaded because it would put the lives of women, children, and innocent people in danger.
Israeli leaders said on Monday that the country has given the go-ahead for a military operation in the border city, and they have started attacking targets in the area.
The move happened shortly after Hamas said yes to a peace plan from Egypt and Qatar. But Israel doesn’t think the plan is good enough.
The situation in Palestine is very bad. Most people in the city have had to leave their homes and have no place to go. Joly said this.
Humanitarian aid was stopped because Israel took control of the border on Tuesday. The Prime Minister of Israel said this was an important move to weaken Hamas’ military and economic power.
Around 13 million Palestinians, which is more than half of the people who live in Gaza, are crowded into Rafah and depend on help that comes through the border crossing.
“Many people are stuck there without help, so a lot of innocent people will get hurt,” explained International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen on Tuesday. He said that Canada has always told people not to use the military in Rafah.
“We’re really unhappy that it’s happening. ”
Canada has looked into different ways to help the people in the besieged area, like giving help through a sea port and dropping supplies from the air, according to Hussen.
“He said that we have tried our best. ”
The closure of the border will make it harder for extended family members of Canadians in Gaza to leave.
The government started a visa program to bring people to Canada to be with their families, but they couldn’t help them leave the war zone through the Rafah border. Some people paid a lot of money to private companies to help them leave and go into Egypt.
Miller said that people will probably keep trying to get out, even in a dangerous area, because they need to escape no matter what.
“It’s difficult to guess, but it will probably be even more difficult, I think,” he said.
Last week, Canadian officials told senators they want fighting to stop in Gaza so they can send aid there.
Experts say that Ottawa is in a difficult position because the leaders involved in the conflict are not motivated to end it.
Ottawa is giving money to help bring more food into Gaza, so it will be cheaper and people won’t have to buy it from illegal sellers. Karim Morcos, who works for Canada’s Global Affairs, said this.
He said that flour is very hard to find and costs a lot in the area. Getting it delivered causes fights and stealing.
“UN agencies want to give so much aid that it loses its value,” he said at a meeting last week.
“They want to fill a soccer stadium with aid and let people help themselves. ” That’s the only way they can do it for now, because there is no law and order to protect the deliveries.
Both Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza are not happy with their leaders. Their leaders use the ongoing conflict to divert attention from their unpopularity. This was said by Janice Stein, a foreign-policy expert at the University of Toronto.
Most Israelis want Netanyahu to leave, and there are disagreements among his group of nationalist and religious parties about Iran. Palestinians are very mad at Hamas for putting them in danger during the war without thinking about the people who live there.
Gaza was in a big fight after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7. They killed 1,200 people in Israel, both civilians and soldiers.
The fighting in the area has killed over 30,000 Palestinians, according to health officials.
Stein said that we need to act quickly to make the conflict less intense. If the conflict spreads to more areas, it could have very bad effects on the people who live there.
The attack happened after a lot of fighting in the Israel-Hamas war. The militant group said on Monday that they agreed to a ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar. Israel said that the agreement did not meet their main requests.
The important talks and military tensions gave a small chance for an agreement to stop the 7-month-long war in Gaza.
The Israeli attack last night seemed to be less than the full attack on Rafah that they had planned. It’s not clear if they will do more. The upcoming operation has made people around the world worried about what will happen to the 1. 3 million Palestinians in the city. It also might make the relationship between Israel and the United States worse.
The Israeli 401st Brigade went into the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday morning and now has control of the border point. The military revealed video showing tanks with Israeli flags taking control of the area. The information in the video matched the features of the crossing that we already know about.
The borders between Israel and Gaza, where aid comes in, have been closed for the last two days. The closing of smaller entry points is making it harder to bring in food, medicine, and other supplies to keep the people in Gaza alive. This is especially worrisome because officials say that the northern part of Gaza is already in a state of severe famine.
Jens Laerke, who speaks for the UN’s humanitarian affairs office (OCHA), said that Israeli authorities have refused to let them into the Rafah crossing. He said if there is trouble at Rafah, it could stop the aid from getting to people who need it. The fuel for the aid comes through there, and without it, the aid can’t go anywhere.
“It will make this crisis much worse, and could even lead to a famine,” he said. The Israeli army is not listening to warnings about how this could affect the people and the help efforts in Gaza.
The army attacked Rafah many times last night, and at least 23 Palestinians were killed, including six women and five children, according to hospital records seen by The Associated Press.
Mohamed Abu Amra said his family members were killed when a bomb hit their house while they were sleeping. “We didn’t do anything. ” Please simplify this text. “We do not have Hamas,” he said. “We discovered a fire that was consuming us. ” The house was really messy.
The Israeli military said it took control of the Rafah crossing because they were told it was being used by terrorists. They did not show proof right away, but they said Hamas fighters near the crossing attacked and killed four Israeli soldiers and injured others.
The army said soldiers and planes attacked places in Rafah where they thought Hamas might be.
Spokesperson from Egyptian Foreign Ministry said they can’t comment right now about Israel taking control of the crossing.
Egypt has said that if Rafah is taken over or if Palestinians are forced to leave and go into Egypt, it could harm the peace agreement with Israel that has been important for keeping the region safe.
Israel is planning to attack Rafah. Many people are worried that a lot of civilians will die in the fighting. So far, more than 34,700 Palestinians have been killed in the attacks. Gaza health officials provided this information. The attack destroyed a large part of the land and now people are struggling to find enough food, water, and medicine.
The Rafah operation has made the disagreement between Netanyahu and Biden about how the war is being fought even bigger. Netanyahu says it is important to attack Rafah because it is a big area controlled by Hamas. Israel wants to destroy Hamas after they attacked southern Israel on Oct 7.
During the unexpected attack by Hamas, about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others were taken as hostages to Gaza. Israeli critics say that Netanyahu is worried about his government staying in power because some of the strong supporters in his group might leave if he agrees to a deal before a possible attack on Rafah.
On Monday, Biden called Netanyahu and said that stopping the fighting would be the best way to get back the people still kept by Hamas, which is believed to be about 100 people, and also the bodies of about 30 others.
Israel said it will continue with its operations in Rafah. It did not agree with the cease-fire proposal from Hamas. However, it will send a group to Egypt for further talks.
An Egyptian official and a Western diplomat said that the draft Hamas agreed to had very few changes in the wording compared to the version the US had asked for earlier, which Israel had also approved. The CIA chief William Burns agreed to the changes before sending the draft to the Palestinian group. This was disclosed by an anonymous diplomat and official who was involved in the discussions.
The White House said Burns was talking about Hamas’ response with the Israelis and other officials in the area.
Hamas has agreed to a plan that includes releasing the hostages little by little, as Israeli troops also leave the area. The goal is to have a permanent peace with no more fighting.
In the beginning of the ceasefire, Hamas would let go of 33 hostages, such as women, children, older people, and sick people, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians being released from Israeli prisons, and Israeli forces would leave some areas of Gaza. The groups will talk about the next step. They will let the civilian men and soldiers go, and Israel will leave the rest of Gaza.
Hamas wants the war to stop and for Israel to pull out all its soldiers in exchange for freeing all the hostages. Israeli leaders openly say they won’t stop fighting until the hostages are free and Hamas is gone.
Israeli authorities conducted a raid on a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera as its office, following the government’s decision to shut down the Qatari-owned TV station’s local operations on Sunday, according to an Israeli official and a source from Al Jazeera.
Video footage circulated online showed plainclothes officers dismantling camera equipment in a hotel room, reportedly located in East Jerusalem, as stated by the Al Jazeera source.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet ordered the shutdown of the network for the duration of the Gaza conflict, citing concerns over national security.
Al Jazeera said the move was a “criminal action” and the accusation that the network threatened Israeli security was a “dangerous and ridiculous lie” that put its journalists at risk.
It reserved the right to “pursue every legal step”.
Throughout the war, the network has reported on and criticized Israel’s military operation in Gaza.
“The incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel,” Netanyahu posted on social media following a unanimous cabinet vote.
According to a government statement, Israel’s communications minister has signed orders for immediate action. However, at least one lawmaker supporting the closure noted that Al Jazeera could potentially challenge the decision in court.
The statement outlined measures including the closure of Al Jazeera’s offices in Israel, seizure of broadcast equipment, discontinuation of the channel’s transmission through cable and satellite providers, and blocking access to its websites. There was no mention of Al Jazeera’s operations in Gaza.
Israeli satellite and cable television providers suspended Al Jazeera broadcasts following the government decision.
The Qatari government did not provide an official comment, instead deferring to Al Jazeera. Last month, the network accused Israel of a “series of systematic attacks” aimed at silencing Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera claimed that Israel deliberately targeted and killed several of its journalists, including Samer Abu Daqqa and Hamza AlDahdooh, both of whom died in Gaza during the conflict. Israel has denied targeting journalists.
Established in 1996, Al Jazeera is viewed by Qatar as a means to enhance its global profile.
Petro has already strongly spoken out against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and asked to support South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice.
“Today, the president of our country has decided that we will stop talking to Israel starting tomorrow. ” Petro told people in Bogota that he wants a government with a president who is not genocidal. He was speaking on International Worker’s Day and people marched to support his social and economic reforms.
Countries can’t just ignore what’s happening in Gaza, he said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that Petro is against Jewish people and filled with hatred. He also said that Petro’s action was a way of rewarding the group Hamas, which attacked Israeli military bases and communities on Oct 7. Bolivia stopped talking to Israel at the end of October last year. Other countries in Latin America, like Colombia, Chile, and Honduras, also brought their ambassadors back.
He said Hamas will be responsible if we can’t make a deal work.
Blinken is visiting the region for the seventh time since the war started in October. He is trying to make a deal between Israel and Hamas to avoid Israel invading the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where many Palestinians are staying.
The current discussions seem important, but the two parties still disagree on a key issue – whether the war should stop as part of a possible agreement.
We really want a ceasefire to bring the hostages back home. We want it now. The only reason it might not happen is because of Hamas, said Blinken to Israel’s President Herzog at a meeting in Tel Aviv.
“There is a suggestion that we need to discuss, and as we’ve already mentioned, we don’t want any delays or excuses. ” He said, “It is now the time. ”
Blinken also talked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but we don’t know what they talked about yet.
Before, Blinken briefly said hello to a group of people outside his hotel who were asking for the release of American hostages held by Hamas, after meeting with Herzog and the hostages’ families.
The protesters were saying “SOS, USA, only you can save the day” and “In Blinken we trust, bring them home to us,” as they asked him to help their situation with Netanyahu.
Blinken told the families that there was a good plan on the table and that Hamas needs to agree to it. “We are determined and won’t stop until we reunite you with your loved ones,” he said.
He made these comments at the end of his trip to the region. Before that, he had visited Saudi Arabia and Jordan. He told Hamas to accept the new proposal from Israel, which he thought was very fair.
The State Department said he will go to an Israeli port where help for Gaza is coming in.
The United States has strongly supported Israel’s war since Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct 7. However, it is very upset about the large number of Palestinian civilians who have been hurt in Gaza. It is also very against Israel’s idea to attack Rafah, which is the southernmost city in Gaza. Around 15 million Palestinians have gone to Rafah to escape the fighting in other parts of the territory.
Washington told Israel not to attack in a way that would endanger innocent people.
Netanyahu says he will attack Rafah, which he thinks is the last place where Hamas has control in the coastal area. He said he will do this even if there is no ceasefire agreement.
The deal being talked about will release many hostages in exchange for a six-week break in fighting.
The other four have fixed these violations, said Vedant Patel, who works for the State Department. He did not say how they fixed the problems.
The US hasn’t made a decision yet about giving military help to the last group, which is said to be the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion. The battalion was involved in the death of a Palestinian American man in January 2022.
“We are talking with the Israeli government. ” They have given more information about that unit, and we are still talking about it, Patel said.
Patel mentioned that all these events happened before October 7 and none of them happened in Gaza.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson and said that three units are from the Israel Defense Forces and two are civilian units. He also said that the abuses happened in the West Bank.
The Biden administration is being criticized for giving in to pressure from the Israeli government to not take action against a certain group. Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, strongly disagreed with the reports of possible action by the US.
“Netanyahu said last week that it’s very wrong to punish a unit in the IDF while our soldiers are fighting terrorists. ”
“I will make sure the government takes strong action against these actions,” he said.
Patel said on Monday that he doesn’t believe Israel is getting special treatment by being given more time to provide information before facing punishment.
“I didn’t say anything that goes against the Leahy process,” he said.
Blinken wrote a letter to Johnson saying that one of the IDF units has not fixed their problems yet.
“The Israeli government recognized that this unit did not follow the rules of the IDF. As a result, they were moved from the West Bank to the Golan Heights in 2022,” Blinken wrote, without saying which unit it was.
In 2022, the Netzah Yehuda battalion moved from the West Bank to the Golan Heights. In January 2022, the leader of the group got in trouble because a 78-year-old person, Omar Assad, who was Palestinian American, died of a heart problem after being arrested and tied up. This information comes from the IDF. No soldiers were charged with a crime for Assad’s death.
Blinken wrote in the letter that the Israeli government has given new information about the unit’s status and they will work to find a way to fix the problem.
Patel didn’t say when the US got the new information. A source said that the Israelis told the US about things they did recently that they hadn’t talked about before. The US is now checking if those things are enough to stop aid from being limited.
Patel also did not explain exactly how they will fix the problem.
“The rule is that these countries must take strong action to make sure the responsible person is punished. ” “It varies from country to country,” he said during a press meeting.
Israeli bombings killed 40 Palestinians on Monday. More than half of the dead were in the southern Gaza city of Rafah where bombs hit three houses. Hamas leaders went to Cairo for more talks about bringing peace.
In Gaza City, in the north of the Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes hit two houses. At least six people were killed and many others were injured, according to health officials.
At night, Israel bombed a house in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza and three people, including a journalist, were killed. Hamas and medics reported this. Six more people died in other parts of central Gaza because of airstrikes from Israel.
Israel’s army said that two of its soldiers died in the middle of Gaza on Sunday.
The military part of the Hamas-related Islamic Jihad group shot rockets into Israel on Monday. This shows that the group can still shoot rockets even after Israel attacked them for almost seven months.
When asked about the Rafah strikes, a spokesperson for the Israeli military said that fighter jets hit places where terrorists were in a civilian area in southern Gaza, but did not give more information.
“The IDF will keep stopping terrorist activities and keeping Israeli people safe by following the rules of international law,” the spokesperson said.
Families of those who died in Israeli attacks came to a hospital in Rafah to take the bodies home for burial. Women and men were sad as they said goodbye to their dead relatives who were wrapped in white and black coverings.
The strikes are causing the death of a young baby boy.
His name is Deif-Allah, which means “guest” in Arabic, and he truly was a guest. Abu Taha said, “Our baby boy finally came to visit us after 10 years. We missed him so much. ” Abu Taha held his baby boy’s body, which was wrapped in a white shroud.
Ten people died. This includes a mother, her daughter, her granddaughters, her grandson, her son-in-law, their daughters, and other relatives. “They’ve all left, all 10 of them. ”
On Monday, at a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian Foreign Minister, said that Egypt is hopeful about a plan for a cease-fire and the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip. But Egypt is still waiting for a response from Israel and Hamas about the plan.
“We hope that the proposal has considered the views of both sides and has tried to find a compromise. We are waiting for a final decision,” Shoukry said.
Israel promised to destroy Hamas, which is in charge of Gaza. The military attack has killed 34,488 people and injured 77,643 in Gaza, according to health officials.
The war has made almost all of the 2. 3 million people leave their homes and destroyed much of the area.
The fighting started when Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7th. They killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages, according to Israel.
Israeli leaders are worried that the International Criminal Court might order them to be arrested because many people around the world are upset about the fighting in Gaza. Air attacks happened last night and killed 22 people in a city in the south, according to the hospital’s records.
Nine women and five children were killed in Rafah. One of the children was just 5 days old, according to the records and a reporter from the Associated Press. Israel wants to attack the city but the United States and others say it would be a disaster for the million Palestinians living there.
Recently, Israeli officials have talked about an investigation by the ICC that started three years ago. The investigation is looking into whether there were war crimes during the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. The probe is also investigating Israel building settlements in land that belongs to Palestinians, and that Palestinians want for their own country in the future.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that they told Israeli missions about rumors that warrants might be issued against important political and military leaders. Israel’s Foreign Minister, Katz, stated that if any warrants were issued, it would make Hamas and other militant groups feel encouraged and hopeful.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel will not allow the ICC to weaken its right to defend itself.
“The danger of capturing the soldiers and leaders of the only democratic country in the Middle East and the only Jewish nation in the world is shocking. ” He wrote on platform X that we won’t give in to it.
Israel was not sure what caused their worries. Israel recently said they will allow more help to go into Gaza. This may be to stop any possible action from the ICC.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said during a visit to the region in December that the investigation is progressing quickly and carefully, and they are making sure to base their actions on solid evidence rather than emotions.
Israel and the United States don’t agree with the ICC’s authority, but Israeli officials could still be arrested in other countries if warrants are issued. They would also show disapproval of what Israel is doing, especially when many college campuses in the US are having protests in support of Palestinians.
The International Court of Justice is looking into whether Israel has done very bad things in the current war in Gaza. It might take a long time for them to make a decision. Israel said they didn’t do anything wrong and they think the international courts are unfair.
Israel says that Hamas started the war by attacking them on October 7, and they are accusing Hamas of committing genocide. Terrorists attacked army bases and farms in southern Israel, and killed about 1,200 people, most of them were not soldiers, and they also took about 250 people as hostages.
Israel started a big attack on land, air, and sea, and it has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, many of them are women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Ministry doesn’t separate between people who are fighting and people who are not.
Israel says that many innocent people have died because Hamas fighters are hiding in places where a lot of people live. The military says it has stopped a lot of bad guys, but they haven’t shown any proof.
The fighting made 80% of the 2. 3 million people in Gaza leave their homes. Many towns and cities were destroyed, and northern Gaza is almost out of food.
Israel promised to send its troops into Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are hiding from the fighting in other places. Israel says that Rafah is the final place where Hamas has control, and that there are many fighters there.
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, and his team have been helping Israel with military and political support for their attack. They have asked Israel to not invade Rafah because it could cause a big humanitarian problem. President Biden talked about these worries in a phone call with the leader of Israel, Netanyahu, on Sunday.
Nine women and five children, one of them only 5 days old, were killed in Rafah, according to the records and a reporter from the Associated Press. Israel wants to attack the city, but its best friend, the United States, and other countries have said no many times. They think attacking the city would be really bad for the more than a million Palestinians who live there.
Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, is going to visit Israel on his trip to the region. He started his trip in Saudi Arabia on Monday. He said Israel should do more to let aid into Gaza. But the best way to help the people there is for both sides to agree to stop fighting.
The US, Egypt, and Qatar are trying to make Israel and Hamas agree to a deal they made. This deal would release some hostages and stop the fighting for a while. It is thought that Hamas still has about 100 hostages and the bodies of 30 other people. Some were released last year in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas said it won’t let the rest of the hostages go unless there’s a deal to stop the war. Netanyahu said no to the demand. He wants Israel to keep attacking until Hamas is gone and all the hostages come back.
At a meeting in Saudi Arabia’s capital city, Riyadh, Blinken asked Hamas to agree to a very generous offer from Israel. “He said that the people of Gaza can only have peace if Hamas agrees to stop fighting. “
The evaluation from the government hasn’t been shared with the public yet. It could change if Israel doesn’t do what it’s asked to do. The details were explained in a letter from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to House Speaker Mike Johnson. The media got hold of the letter, but it didn’t have a date on it.
The US will make sure Israel gets all the aid Congress promised without any delays, Blinken wrote.
The claims about each group happened before the war on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel. None of the situations involve attacks on Hamas in Gaza, Iran, or its supporters.
However, some people who criticize the Biden administration may not be happy with the decision because they think Israel is not being punished enough for their military actions in Gaza. These actions have caused a lot of suffering for the civilian population.
He said that the US is not taking clear steps to reduce violence and make peace between Palestinians and Israelis.
The government says it has been fair in looking at human rights violations and did not show favoritism to Israel. They also say that the US sometimes helps other countries to get rid of people who are doing bad things in their military.
“Every situation is unique, and we need to gather the information and follow it closely, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Blinken said to reporters on Monday when asked about the US review.
The Leahy Law is a rule that the US military has to follow. It says they can’t give weapons or training to foreign military units that hurt peoples’ rights.
The law has a special rule for countries that have punished the people in their military unit who did something wrong.
Someone who knows about the process and wants to keep their identity a secret said that the US and Israel have a special agreement. It says that the US has to talk to Israel before making any decisions about the Foreign Assistance Act.
The person said they are still talking to Israel about this issue, and if a military unit doesn’t do the right things, the US will stop giving them aid.
In total, five groups — three military and two civilian — were being checked for breaking human rights rules. According to Blinken’s letter, four have completed the necessary steps to fix the problem.
Israel also admitted that another group of their military had behaved in a way that goes against their rules. In 2022, the unit moved from the West Bank to the Golan Heights, Blinken said.
The Netzah Yehuda battalion is made for very religious Jewish men.
“The Israeli government has shared new information about the unit’s status, and we will work to find a way to fix any problems with the unit,” Blinken said.
“But this won’t change our help for Israel to protect itself from groups like Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah, and other dangers,” he told Johnson, who strongly supports Israel and helped pass a foreign aid bill in Congress this week.
Blinken said that no other groups broke the Leahy Law.
The secretary talked with important Israeli leaders this week after hearing about plans to punish Israeli military units from reports by Axios and ProPublica.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will oppose the Biden administration’s decision, calling it unethical.
More than half of the 2. 3 million people in the area have gone to Rafah for shelter. Israel is doing regular attacks in Rafah as it gets ready for a big fight in the city. In central Gaza, four people died when Israeli tanks fired at them.
A boat in the Gulf of Aden was attacked on Thursday, probably by Yemen’s Houthi rebels because of the Israel-Hamas war.
At the same time, a leader of Hamas said to the Associated Press that the group is okay with stopping fighting with Israel for five years or longer.
The Israel-Hamas war started because of a very unusual event in October. There were 7 attacks in southern Israel. The attackers killed about 1,200 people, mostly innocent civilians, and took about 250 people hostage. Israel says that the militants are still keeping about 100 people against their will and the bodies of over 30 others.
According to local health officials, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war. About two-thirds of them were children and women.
Reliable detectives need to be able to go to the places, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. He also said that more reporters should be able to work safely in Gaza to tell the truth.
Earlier today, the head of UN human rights, Volker Türk, said he was very upset by the destruction of the Shifa medical center in Gaza City and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. He also heard about mass graves being found near these places after the Israelis left.
He asked for fair and clear investigations into the deaths. He said that because of the current culture of getting away with bad things, the investigations should involve people from other countries.
“Hospitals are given extra special protection under the law of war,” Türk said. “Killing innocent people, prisoners, and those who can’t fight back is a serious crime in war. ”
The Israeli army dug up bodies that Palestinians had buried to find the remains of the hostages taken by Hamas during the attack that started the war. The military checked the bodies with respect and gave back the ones that were not from Israeli hostages.
The Israeli military says it attacked and caught many militants who were hiding in two hospital buildings, but this has not been confirmed by others.
The Palestinian civil defense in Gaza found 283 bodies buried in a temporary graveyard at the main hospital in Khan Younis. It was built when Israeli forces surrounded the hospital last month. At that time, people couldn’t bury their dead in a cemetery so they dug graves in the hospital yard instead, according to the group.
The civil defense said that some of the bodies were of people who were killed during the attack on the hospital. Israeli forces went into the hospital and some people were killed.
Palestinian health officials say that the attacks on hospitals have greatly damaged Gaza’s healthcare system, which is already struggling to handle the increasing number of casualties from the six-month long war.
The question of who should do an investigation is still not clear.
Dujarric said that in order for the United Nations to do an investigation, one of its big groups would have to give permission for it.
“I don’t think anyone should judge the results or who did it,” he said. “I believe there should be a thorough investigation with access and credibility. ”
“We found the graves, so we really need to stop fighting and find a way to end this conflict. We also need more help for people who need it, like medicine and food, and we need to make sure hospitals are safe. And we need to free the Israeli hostages,” Dujarric said on Monday.
During the war started by the Hamas attack, about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and around 250 hostages were taken. Israel says that the militants are still keeping about 100 people as hostages and the bodies of over 30 others.
In reply, Israel attacked Gaza to stop Hamas and has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, most of them being children and women, as reported by local health officials. It has destroyed two big cities in Gaza, causing a crisis for people. About 80% of the population have left to go to other places in the enclave.
According to The Associated Press, new tents are being built near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military is getting ready for an attack on the city of Rafah.
Khan Younis has been attacked by the Israeli military many times in the past few weeks. Israel is going to move people out of Rafah because they think there will be fighting in the city. Many people have gone to Rafah for safety during the war, which has been going on for seven months. The army said they didn’t help build the tents.
On Monday, there was a rocket attack on a US-led base in Syria. This was the first time in a while that Iranian-backed groups have attacked a US base in Iraq or Syria, according to a US defense official. No one got hurt in the attack, and no one has said they did it.
The fighting has caused trouble in the area, with Israel and the US fighting against Iran and its supporter fighters in the Middle East. Israel and Iran have been shooting at each other and people are worried that they might start a big war.
The war started because on October 7, Hamas and other militants attacked southern Israel, and killed about 1,200 people, mostly innocent people, and took about 250 hostages. Israel says there are still about 100 people being held by militants and the bodies of over 30 others.
The fighting between Israel and Hamas has caused the deaths of over 34,000 Palestinians, with about two-thirds of them being children and women, according to local health officials. It has caused a lot of damage in the two biggest cities in Gaza and left a wide area of destruction. About 80% of the people in the area have left to go to other places.
Hezbollah, a group from Lebanon, said on Tuesday that it attacked an Israeli base near Acre. This is farther south than where they usually attack. They did this because Israel had bombed and killed one of their officials.
The Israeli military said they killed Hussein Ali Azqul in an airstrike in south Lebanon. They called him an important member of Hezbollah’s aerial defense unit. Hezbollah said in a statement that Azqul has been killed.
Official news and people who saw it happen said the attack happened in a place called Adloun, which is between the cities of Sidon and Tyre on the coast. It’s about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the border with Israel.
Hezbollah and other groups from Lebanon have been fighting with Israeli soldiers along the border for over six months while Israel is also fighting with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Israel often kills specific members of Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon, even in far away places.
Hezbollah said they launched the attack because Israel attacked the town of Adloun and killed Azqul. The attack hit a place about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the border and was the farthest it had been launched since the war started.
The Israeli military stopped two suspicious flying objects over the northern coast.
With strong support, the US gave $61 billion to Ukraine to show they support them in their war. Lawmakers are trying to give more US support to Ukraine soon. Some politicians clapped and waved Ukraine’s flags in the House.
Help for Israel and other friends also got accepted by big margins, and a plan to control TikTok also got approved. Different groups came together to support these bills. The entire package will be sent to the Senate, and they might approve it as early as Tuesday. The President of the United States, Joe Biden, said he will sign it right away.
“I did my job here, and I think history will see it as a good thing,” said tired House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is putting his own job at risk to get the package passed.
Biden said thanks to Johnson, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, and the lawmakers from both parties who voted to prioritize our national security.
“I want the Senate to send this package to me fast so I can sign it and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to help them in battle,” said the president.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said he was thankful to both political parties in the House and particularly to Speaker Mike Johnson for the decision that he believes is the right choice for history.
“Thank you, America. ” he said on X.
The US Congress showed a lot of activity after months of not getting things done. The Republicans, who have the most power, are arguing about giving aid to Ukraine. They can’t agree because they are divided on the issue. Johnson needed the support of Democrats to make sure that the first big money package for Ukraine got approved. It included funding for the military and for humanitarian aid. The last time a similar package was approved was in December 2022.
The morning started with a serious discussion. Both Republican and Democratic leaders came together to urge quick approval of a plan to support our allies and keep the United States strong in the world. Many people are in the visitor area of the House watching.
“The whole world is watching us, and future generations will decide if what we do is right. ” CongressmanMichael McCaul, a politician from Texas, is in charge of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Going through the House made it easier for Biden to get the money he asked for. He first asked for it in October when Ukraine needed more military supplies.
The Republican-led House had a hard time deciding what to do about helping Ukraine. They wanted to make sure that any help to Ukraine was connected to changes at the U.S-MexicoBut then, they said no to a plan from the Senate that included those changes.
Getting to the end has been really hard for Johnson. It has tested his strength and his support from Republicans. Some are now openly telling him to step down as speaker. Congressional leaders voted on an important decision that could change history. They see it as a necessary sacrifice because US allies are facing wars and threats from Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific region.
“Today, we’re making history with the decisions we make in this House. It can be hard to see the impact of these votes right away, but they will have a big effect in the future,” explained New York Rep Gregory Meeks, a leading Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “This is a very important moment in history. ”
The people against it, especially the strong conservative Republicans who support Johnson, said the US should work on problems at home like domestic border security and the country’s growing debt. They also said we shouldn’t spend more money on making weapons for other countries, because most of that money goes to American defense companies.
Yet, many world leaders have visited Congress in the past few months, including Zelenskyy and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. They are asking lawmakers to approve the aid. Around the world, many people were doubting if America was really committed to its allies because of the delay.
One of Biden’s main foreign policy goals is to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from taking over more land in Europe. After having private conversations with Johnson, the president agreed to support Johnson’s plan. This allowed the Democrats to help clear the steps needed for a final vote.
“We all have a duty as Americans to protect democracy, no matter our political party,” said Jeffries during the debate.
Most Democrats will probably support helping Ukraine, but some progressive Democrats will probably vote against helping Israel because they want the bombing of Gaza to stop.
Also, Donald Trump, who is expected to be the Republican nominee for president, has been influential in the debate. He has been expressing his opinions through social media and phone calls with lawmakers, and is shifting the Republican Party to a more isolationist position with his “America First” politics.
Ukraine used to get strong support from both political parties in Congress for its defense, but now many Republicans are against giving more help as the war goes on for a third year. Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene tried to remove the money, but it didn’t work.
The very conservative House Freedom Caucus criticized the legislation as an “America Last” foreign wars package and encouraged lawmakers to go against Republican leadership and oppose it because the bills did not have border security measures.
Johnson’s control over being the speaker is becoming less strong. Three Republicans, led by Greene, are supporting a motion to have a vote on removing the speaker. Encouraged by far-right figures, more and more politicians, including Reps, are joining her. Paul Gosar from Arizona and Thomas Massie from Kentucky are asking Johnson to agree to step down on his own.
The package had many things Republicans wanted, which Democrats agreed to or were okay with. Some suggestions have been made. They want the US to take Russia’s frozen bank money to help Ukraine. They also want to punish Iran, Russia, China, and criminal groups that sell fentanyl. Plus, they want to make the company that owns TikTok sell its part to someone else within a year. If they don’t, TikTok might be banned in the US.
However, the strong effort to pass the bills in Congress shows that it’s not just about politics, but also about what’s really happening in Ukraine. Important people who are in charge of the country’s safety are worried about the war in Ukraine. Russia is winning the war because Ukrainian forces don’t have enough soldiers or weapons.
Senate leader Chuck Schumer said that the Senate will start voting on the package on Tuesday. He added that our friends around the world have been waiting for this.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said we need to act quickly. He is working to get support from his party members. “It’s time for the Senate to make history again. “
Maj Gen Aharon Haliva resigned because of Hamas’ attack. More top security officials in Israel might also resign. The attack by militants breached Israel’s border defences, and they went through Israeli communities without being stopped for hours. They killed 1,200 people, most of them were civilians, and took about 250 hostages into Gaza. The attack started the war with Hamas in Gaza, which has been going on for seven months.
“My team didn’t do a good job on the task we were given. ” I cannot forget that bad day. I think about it every day and every night. “I will always have the terrible pain from the war with me,” Haliva wrote in his resignation letter from the military.
Haliva, along with other military and security leaders, were expected to quit because of the big mistakes that happened on Oct 7 and how intense it was.
But it’s not clear when the resignations will happen because Israel is still fighting with Hamas in Gaza and battling with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the north. Relations are very tense between Iran and its enemy after they attacked each other. Some military experts believe that quitting when Israel is fighting on different fronts is not a good decision and could make Israel look weak.
Soon after the attack, Haliva said that he takes responsibility for not stopping the assault because he is in charge of giving the government and military important information to keep them safe.
Haliva and others have taken responsibility for not stopping the attack, but others like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have not fully admitted their role in allowing the attack to happen. He said he will answer tough questions but has not directly accepted responsibility. He hasn’t said he will resign, even though people are protesting for elections to happen soon.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said he’s glad the person resigned and thinks it was the right thing to do.
Hamas surprised Israel and its strong security by attacking on a Jewish holiday. Most Jews in Israel trust their military, but that trust was broken when Hamas attacked. The resignation might help build back some of the trust.
The attack started a really bad war that has killed over 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza, as reported by the local health ministry. The government’s report doesn’t separate fighters from non-fighters, but it says at least two-thirds of the people who died are children and women.
The war has caused a lot of damage in Gaza’s two biggest cities. 80% of the people there have had to leave and go to other parts of the area. The fighting has led to a big problem with people not having enough food, and people are saying that a famine might happen soon.
The attack also caused a lot of fear and concern in the area. Apart from Hezbollah and Iran, there is also tension in the area controlled by Israel in the West Bank, as well as in cities and towns within Israel.
Israeli police said a car hit people in Jerusalem on Monday and injured three lightly. A security camera showed two men leaving the car with a rifle before running away. The police said they took the two men into custody.
The US is thinking about putting sanctions on a part of the Israeli military. This would be the first time this has happened. It could make relations between the US and Israel even worse, which have already been getting tense because of Israel’s war in Gaza.
US officials did not say which group was punished, but Israeli leaders and local media said it was Netzah Yehuda, an infantry group that was started about 25 years ago to include ultra-religious men in the military. Many religious men do not have to do compulsory service because they have special permission.
Israeli leaders said the decision was not fair, especially because Israel is at war. They promised to fight against it.
“I will strongly oppose anyone who tries to place sanctions on a part of the IDF,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netzah Yehuda, also known as Judea Forever, has its roots in the West Bank, which is under Israeli control. Some of its members have been tied to mistreatment of Palestinians. It is only a small part of Israel’s military in the area.
A Palestinian medical exam found that 78-year-old Omar Assad had existing health problems, but also had a heart attack due to some kind of violent incident.
The doctors found marks on his head, redness on his wrists from being tied up, and bleeding in his eyelids from being blindfolded very tightly. An inquiry by the military found that Israeli soldiers thought Assad was sleeping when they removed the cables from his hands. They didn’t give him any medical aid when they saw that he wasn’t responding and they left without making sure he was alive.
Assad had been in the US for 40 years. After the US government complained, the Israeli military admitted that the incident was very serious and unfortunate. They said it happened because the soldiers made bad decisions and behaved badly. They punished one officer and moved two others to different jobs because of what happened.
However, the army chose not to press charges because they couldn’t prove that their actions directly caused the death of the US citizen.
Investigations found that soldiers had to hold Assad down because he was very resistant. Assad’s family doesn’t believe that a 78-year-old who is sick should be treated so harshly.
During all the noise with the US, Israel moved Netzah Yehuda from the West Bank to northern Israel in late 2022. The group of soldiers was sent to the southern border near Hamas’ war after Oct 7 attacks.
On Sunday, the army said that its soldiers from Netzah Yehuda are helping in the fighting in Gaza.
“The battalion is doing their job well and bravely following the rules and laws,” they said. It was said that if the unit is punished, its effects will be looked at again.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Friday that he has decided to release the results of reviews on allegations that some Israeli military units broke the rules for getting aid from the US.
Two people who work for the US government said that the US announcement may happen on Monday.
The officials checked five Israeli groups and all of them except one were found to have fixed the problems. The Leahy Law is a rule made by a former Senator. Patrick Leahy is stopping the United States from giving money to armies in other countries if they have done bad things to people’s rights.
Sergeant Major Nadav Nissim Miranda, a reservist in the Netzah Yehuda unit, said that Assad’s death was a sad event, but it was also something unusual. He told Channel 12 TV that attacking the battalion would make it harder to convince religious men to join the military.
However, Yesh Din, an organization that helps with legal issues in Israel, said that this is not the only case like this. It said that the unit called Netzah Yehuda has the highest number of soldiers convicted for hurting Palestinians or damaging their property since 2010. About one out of every five soldiers comes from this unit.
The US review started before the Hamas war and is not related to recent Israeli actions in Gaza or the West Bank. There has been a lot of deadly violence in the area since the Gaza war began. The US has recently made a rule that punishes aggressive settlers.
Gadi Shamni, a former general who used to lead the military in the West Bank, said the main issue with the unit is that it was always only sent to the West Bank. Fighting between soldiers and Palestinians and settlers and Palestinians has increased there in recent years. On the other hand, he said that different groups often take turns going in and out of the dangerous area.
He said that the constant fighting and violence had made the soldiers very tired. However, he said that punishing the whole group is unfair and it would be better to focus on certain people or leaders.
Ori Givati, the director of advocacy at Breaking the Silence, a group of former Israeli soldiers who criticize Israel’s occupation, said the problems are more serious than just one unit.
He said soldiers often use their power to hurt Palestinians and get away with it, which is causing more incidents like Assad’s death.
Israeli extremists strongly criticized the anticipated decision of the US. Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who strongly supports his country, said the US did something very wrong. Tally Gotliv, a member of Netanyahu’s political party, also accused the US of hating Jewish people.
Even the leader of the other political party, ex-Prime Minister Yair Lapid, said no to the idea.
He said it was a mistake to have sanctions and we need to get rid of them. He also said the problem is more about politics than the military.
The fighting between Israel and the militant group Hamas has made the Middle East more tense, especially between Israel and Iran. Now all eyes are on Rafah, a place where more than half of Gaza’s 2. 3 million people live. Many of them had to leave their homes because of the fighting in other parts of Gaza.
The attack on Friday hit the Tel Sultan neighborhood in Rafah, according to Gaza’s civil defense. At al-Najjar hospital, where dead bodies are kept, family members cried and hugged the bodies of children covered in white cloth. “Hamza my dear. ” The grandma said, “Your hair looks very nice. ”
Abdel-Fattah Sobhi Radwan, his wife Najlaa Ahmed Aweidah, and their three kids died, according to his brother-in-law Ahmed Barhoum. Barhoum’s wife, Rawan Radwan, and their five-year-old daughter, Alaa, died.
Barhoum told The Associated Press that this world doesn’t have good values and morals. He was crying as he gently rocked Alaa’s body. “They attacked a house where people who had to leave their homes lived, including women and children. ” Only women and children died as martyrs.
Some people from Rafah near the border with Egypt left their homes after being told to by the Israeli army. “Hey, they’re going to attack at 3:40. ” It is happening. It is going on. “Can you tell me the time. ” someone askedA few minutes later, there was a strike. It was not clear if anyone died right away.
On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike hit a house in a refugee camp in central Gaza. At least one man was killed and two others were injured. This information was given by authorities at the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, where an AP journalist saw the casualties.
The war started on Oct 7 when Hamas and other militant groups attacked southern Israel. About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, died and around 250 were kidnapped and taken to Gaza. Israel says that there are still around 130 people being held in Gaza, even though more than 30 have been killed.
At least 34,049 Palestinians have died and 76,901 have been injured in the war. In the last 24 hours, 37 bodies of people killed by Israeli attacks were taken to hospitals. The health authorities in charge of Hamas don’t separate between fighters and regular people when counting the casualties. They say that at least two-thirds of the casualties are children and women.
Israel says that Hamas is responsible for the deaths of innocent people, because it hides among civilians.
The war has made tensions between neighboring regions get worse and worse. On Friday, Israel and Iran, who are enemies, downplayed a possible Israeli attack near a big air base and nuclear site in central Iran. This shows they were stepping back from a potential full-scale war. Last week, Iran shot a lot of missiles at Israel because they were angry that Israel had allegedly killed two Iranian generals in Syria.
Israel is still fighting with groups supported by Iran. They often shoot rockets and fly drones back and forth over the border between Lebanon and Israel. This is with a group called Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran. Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are supported by Iran, have attacked merchant ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to show support for Palestinians in Gaza.
There is also a lot of tension in the West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that 12 people were found dead on Saturday in a refugee camp, bringing the total number of deaths to 13 since the Israeli military operation started on Thursday night. It means they were killed because the occupation attacked them.
The Islamic Jihad group said that three of their members have died. Another person who got killed was a 15-year-old boy. The Israeli army reported that its soldiers killed 10 fighters in the camp and nearby areas, and also arrested eight suspects. Nine soldiers and officers were hurt, the report stated.
Since October, Israeli forces have killed at least 469 Palestinians from east Jerusalem and the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
In another part of the West Bank, the ministry reported that an ambulance driver was killed near Sawiya town while trying to help Palestinians who were hurt in fights with Israeli settlers. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that Mohammed Musa got shot in the chest. A bunch of settlers started attacking people a week ago because an Israeli teenager went missing and was found dead.
Google has let go of 28 workers after they protested against the technology Google is giving to the Israeli government during the Gaza war. This has made the situation even more tense around the controversial deal.
The problem at Google is about a project called “Project Nimbus” which is a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2021 to provide cloud computing and artificial intelligence services to the Israeli government by Google and Amazon.
The protests are mostly being arranged by a group called No Tech For Apartheid. Google says Nimbus is not being used in weapons or intelligence gathering.
Google said they fired 28 people because their behavior was not acceptable, it stopped other people from doing their work and made the environment scary. The company in Mountain View, California, said it is still looking into what happened during the protests. This means that more employees might still lose their jobs.
No Tech For Apartheid wrote in a blog that Google was lying about what happened during a “peaceful sit-in” in its offices. They said that many other workers who weren’t protesting supported the sit-in.
No Tech For Apartheid says that Google values its $1.2 billion contract with the harmful Israeli government and military more than its own workers. This is a clear act of retaliation.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post on Thursday that employees will have to be more careful as the company works harder to make its AI technology better. This is an important time for the industry and for people.
“This is a place for work, not for causing trouble with coworkers or making them feel scared, trying to use the company for personal reasons, or arguing about things that cause problems or talking about politics,” Pichai wrote. “This is a very important moment for our company and we can’t afford to be distracted. ”
Some Google workers are mad about a contract in the cloud computing division. It is managed by Thomas Kurian, a former Oracle executive.
Kurian has been leading Google’s cloud computing team, which is now one of the company’s fastest growing. They made $33 billion in revenue last year, which is 26% more than in 2022. Many different companies and governments from all over the world use Google’s cloud computing services.
One group of Google workers protested and as a result, Google stopped working with the US military on a project called “Project Maven” in 2018. This project involved helping the military by analyzing videos.
Despite some concerns from within the company, Google has continued to be successful and make money. It makes most of its money from ads on the internet. Its main search engine is a big part of this.
Alphabet Inc, which is Google’s parent company, made a profit of $74 billion last year and now has 182,000 employees around the world. This is 83,000 more employees than in 2018 when it stopped working on Project Maven
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who led the meeting of rich countries’ ministers, said the United States gave the information at a meeting on Friday morning. The information was changed at the last minute to deal with the suspected attack.
On Friday, Iran shot down flying machines near Isfahan. It was a possible Israeli attack in response to Tehran’s big drone and missile attack on the country last weekend.
Tajani said the US told the G7 ministers that Israel had told them about the drones at the last minute. “But the US did not tell anyone about the attack. ” It was just some information.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he didn’t want to talk about the claim, but he made it clear that the US didn’t take part in any attack and wants to reduce the tension in the area.
“I’m not going to talk about that, but I can say that the United States has not been part of any attacks,” Blinken said.
Asked about the relationship between the US and Israel, Blinken said that Israel makes its own choices and the US is dedicated to keeping it safe.
“We promise to support Israel in protecting itself and helping in its defense when needed. We recently helped Israel fend off an attack by Iranian drones and missiles. “
“Israel has made its decisions, and we promise to protect and support them,” Blinken said.
Tajani said the G7 partners shared information on Friday about what they knew about the situation in Iran. He said he talked to the Italian embassies in Tel Aviv and Tehran on the phone and found out that the Italians in Isfahan were all okay.
“The weather seems nicer today compared to last night,” he said.
After a three-day meeting, the ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States agreed that they want the parties involved to stop things from getting worse.
The statement said it supported Israel’s safety and strongly condemned Iran for attacking Israel in April. It also mentioned the seizure of a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We are prepared to use more penalties or do other things to respond to any more attempts to cause unrest,” the document said.
The group told Iran not to give ballistic missiles and related technology to Russia.
In the fighting in Gaza, the group asked Hamas to let go of the people they are holding and told Israel to follow the rules of international law and treat people with kindness.
The G7 countries said they don’t want a big war in Rafah because it would hurt the people who live there. They think more help should be sent to Gaza.
“The G7 has worked and will continue working to reduce tensions,” Tajani said in a press conference at the end. He said that would mean reducing tensions, stopping fighting, freeing hostages, and helping the Palestinian people.
A drone attack by Israel on Iran’s air base and nuclear site near the city of Isfahan was met with defense from Iranian troops on Friday morning. This was in response to Iran’s earlier drone and missile attack on Israel.
No Iranian leader said Israel was responsible for the attack, and the Israeli military did not reply when asked for a comment. Tensions have been high since the Saturday attack on Israel, as it is fighting against Hamas in Gaza and targeting Iran in Syria.
Antonio Tajani, the Foreign Minister of Italy, said at the G7 meeting in Capri that the US got new information from Israel about the attack on Isfahan just before it happened.
US officials did not want to talk about it as of early Friday, but American TV networks said that Israel was responsible for the attack, citing unnamed US officials. The New York Times reported that Israeli officials, who did not give their names, said the attack happened on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 85th birthday. Israeli leaders suggested that their country had launched an attack.
“Air defence weapons were fired in many areas because drones were seen in the sky, according to state television. ” The leader of the Iranian army, General. Abdolrahim Mousavi said that the crew aimed at many things flying in the air.
Mousavi said that the explosion in Isfahan’s sky this morning was because the air defense systems shot at a suspicious object, but it didn’t cause any damage. Some people said the drones might be quadcopters – small drones with four rotors that you can buy.
Tasnim shared a video from one of its reporters in Isfahan, showing two anti-aircraft gun positions. The area is near a site in Isfahan where Iran converts uranium, and the details in the video match the features of the site.
We heard gunshots at 4:45. He said that nothing was happening. “It was the air defense, those guys you’re watching, and also over there. ”
In Isfahan, there is a place with three small research reactors from China. They also make fuel and do other things for Iran’s civilian nuclear program.
Isfahan is a place in Iran where important places related to Iran’s nuclear program are located. One of these places is the Natanz enrichment site, which is underground. This site has been attacked multiple times, and it is believed that these attacks were carried out by Israel.
The government TV said all nuclear sites in the area are “completely safe. ” The United Nations’ nuclear agency also said there is no damage to Iran’s nuclear sites after the incident.
The IAEA is asking everyone to be very careful and saying that nuclear facilities should never be attacked in wars.
Iran is making really strong uranium for weapons because their deal with other countries fell apart when Donald Trump stopped it in 2018.
Iran says they are using their program for peace, but Western nations and the IAEA claim that Tehran had a secret military weapons program until 2003. The IAEA is telling us that Iran has enough enriched uranium to make many nuclear weapons if they want to. But the U. Sis also worried about this. The intelligence community says that Tehran is not currently trying to make a bomb.
Iran stopped all commercial flights in Tehran and surrounding western and central regions. Iran started offering regular flight service again, the officials said.
During the time of the event in Iran, Syria’s state-controlled SANA news agency reported that Israel launched a missile attack on an air defense unit in the southern part of Syria and caused damage. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in Britain said that the strike hit a military radar used by the government forces. “We are not sure if anyone was hurt,” the Observatory stated.
In Iraq, people in Baghdad heard explosions, but they didn’t know where they were coming from. Iran-supported groups have a strong presence in Iraq.
The event in Iran on Friday made people worried that the conflict in the Middle East could get worse. This is because Iranian-backed rebels from Yemen have been attacking ships in the region.
The UK’s naval operation center warned ships in the area that there may be more drones flying in the sky.
“There is no evidence that commercial ships are the planned target,” it said.
The Houthis have attacked ships at least 53 times, taken one ship, and sunk another since November, according to the US Maritime Administration.
Houthi attacks have decreased in recent weeks because the rebels are being attacked by the U. Sand other countries in Yemen. Also, fewer ships are traveling through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden because of the danger.
The supposed attack scared energy markets for a short time, causing the price of Brent crude to briefly go above $90 before dropping again on Friday.
However, the Iranian government’s media tried to make the situation seem less serious by showing a peaceful morning in Isfahan after the incident. This could be done on purpose, especially because Iranian officials have been warning for days that they would strike back if Israel attacked them first.
Iran is still saying they didn’t do it and if nothing else happens, both sides can calm down for now. Sanam Vakil, from Chatham House, said this.
At the same time, it seems like Israel attacked Iran with drones. Iranian soldiers shot back to protect an air base and a nuclear site near Isfahan. It came almost a week after Tehran’s surprising drone and missile attack on Israel.
Israel shot a missile at an air defense unit in southern Syria, causing damage. This was reported by the state-run SANA news agency quoting the military statement on Friday.
Israel had promised to react to Iran’s big attack over the weekend, which made people in the area worried that there might be more fighting after months of conflict in Gaza. Allies have told Israel to not react strongly to the attack.
Struggles between neighboring areas have gotten worse since the beginning of the most recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in October. In 2007, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups supported by Iran, launched an attack across the border that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others. Israel attacked Gaza and caused a lot of destruction. More than 33,900 people have been killed, according to local health officials.
Italy’s foreign minister said that Israel warned us at the last moment.
The US told the G7 countries that it got new information from Israel about a drone mission in Iran at the last minute.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said that the United States gave some information at a meeting, but they had to change it at the last minute to talk about the suspected attack. Tajani said the US told the G7 ministers that Israel informed them about the drones at the last minute. “The US did not share the attack, they just provided information about it. ”
He said all Italians living in Iran were safe and had no issues.
The leader of Germany says that everyone needs to make sure that the situation doesn’t get worse.
German leader Olaf Scholz wants everyone in the Middle East to work together to prevent things from getting worse. But he and his government are not saying much about what happened in Iran last night.
Scholz said at a gathering on the North Sea island of Norderney Friday that there were reports of more “military activity” during the night.
He said, “I don’t want to talk more about it. We all need to make sure the war doesn’t get worse in the near future. ”
Scholz said that Germany will have discussions with “all our friends and allies” about making a situation less tense.
When asked about reports of an Israeli attack, Scholz’s spokesperson, Steffen Hebestreit, said in Berlin that he doesn’t have any information to add.
G7 leaders are talking about imposing more punishment on Iran.
Antonio Tajani, the leader of the meeting of rich countries’ ministers, said they had to change the agenda on Friday to talk about the newest things happening.
On Friday, Iran used air defences to protect a big air base and a nuclear site near Isfahan city after seeing drones. They were thought to be involved in an Israeli attack as a response to Tehran’s drone and missile attack on the country last weekend.
Tajani didn’t talk about the incident right away, but he said that G7 ministers were upset by Iran’s attack on Israel and asked both sides to calm down.
“The goal of politics is to reduce tensions,” Tajani said during a news conference at the end of the meeting.
One person told the media that the US was not part of the attack but was told about it by Israel before it happened.
Iran’s Fars news agency said there were three explosions near a military base in the city of Isfahan. An Iranian leader told Reuters that there was no missile attack and the explosions happened because Iran’s defense systems were turned on.
Iranian TV said that three drones were seen in the sky over Isfahan shortly after midnight. The defense system turned on and shot down the drones in the sky.
The person who reports news later said that everything was okay in Isfahan and there were no explosions on the ground.
The Israeli army did not say anything about the reports.
Israel had promised to fight back after Iran launched a big attack over the weekend with lots of drones and missiles. This was in response to Israel’s suspected attack on Iran’s embassy in Syria. Many of the drones and missiles from Iran were shot down before they could reach Israel.
Experts are worried that the fighting between Israel and Gaza could spread to other nearby countries.
The President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, told Israel that if they attacked Iran, Iran would hit back hard.
Iran told the United Nations Security Council that it wants Israel to stop any more military actions against them. The UN secretary-general said the Middle East is in a very dangerous time.
Stocks and bond returns from Asian countries went down on Friday, while safe and secure currencies, gold, and oil prices went up. Brent crude oil prices went up by two percent to $88. 86 per barrelThe dollar also went up by one percent, while S&P 500 futures went down by one percent.
Iran’s TV said that the nuclear sites, where Iran has been working, are safe. Iran says it’s for peaceful purposes, but the West thinks it’s for making a weapon.
The Natanz nuclear site is the main place where Iran works with uranium. It is located in Isfahan province.
The airports in Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan were closed until 7 am GMT. Flights in the western half of Iran have been cleared, according to the FlightRadar24 website. The closures could be extended.
According to FlightRadar24, some flights going to Tehran from Turkish Airlines and Emirates were turning back and going back to where they started. A plane from Iran that was flying from Rome to Tehran had to change course and land in Ankara, Turkey.
FlightRadar24 showed that airlines like Emirates, flydubai, Turkish Air, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, and Belavia were still flying over the part of Iran’s airspace that was still open on Friday morning.
Israel started attacking Gaza because Hamas, a group in Palestine, attacked Israel on October 7 and killed 1,200 people, according to Israel’s count. Israel’s attack on Gaza has caused the deaths of more than 33,000 Palestinian people, as reported by the local health ministry.
“Iran-backed groups from Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq have said they support the Palestinians and have started attacking in their favor. “
Senioradministration officials have disclosed that the White House has cautioned Israel against engaging in retaliatory strikes on Iran, asserting that the US will not partake in such actions.
The warning comes in the wake of Iran’s launch of over 300 drones and missiles at Israel overnight, purportedly in retaliation for an April 1 strike on its consulate in Syria. Despite the onslaught, Israeli, US, and allied forces managed to intercept nearly all incoming weapons before they could reach their intended targets.
According to reports, President Joe Biden emphasised to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the importance of carefully considering and strategizing their response to this unprecedented attack, marking Iran’s first direct assault on Israel.
The official added that the Biden administration believes Israel “got the best of it” in the exchange, which began when senior Iranian military commanders were killed at an Iranian consular building in Syria.
US officials highlight that approximately 99% of the missiles, drones, and cruise missiles launched during Iran’s retaliatory operation were successfully shot down or intercepted, underscoring Israeli military superiority over Iran.
Throughout the attack, US aircraft and naval vessels played a pivotal role in thwarting Iranian projectiles, with over 80 drones and at least six ballistic missiles neutralised by US aircraft, vessels, or air defence forces over Iraq.
Additionally, US Central Command (Centcom) disclosed that seven drones and a ballistic missile were intercepted as they prepared for launch from Yemen, further illustrating the effectiveness of US defence capabilities in the region.
A conversation took place between Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu at a time “of heightened emotion” just after the attack, which included about 100 ballistic missiles simultaneously flying towards Israel.
During the call, the two leaders had a discussion “about how to slow things down and think through things”, with Mr Biden emphasising that Israel has “gotten the best of it”.
The official declined to say, however, whether the White House warned against a significant response, saying only that “it is a calculation the Israelis have to make”.
Throughout a series of television appearances on US networks earlier in the day, national security spokesman John Kirby reiterated the US’s commitment to avoiding a broader conflict, stressing that this message has been communicated clearly to Israel and Iran through diplomatic channels.
While affirming continued support for Israel’s defence, both Kirby and senior administration officials emphasised that the US will not participate in any Israeli response.
This stance has drawn criticism from some US lawmakers and former officials across the political spectrum.
Ohio Republican Representative Mike Turner, chair of the House intelligence committee, condemned Kirby’s remarks on de-escalation, asserting that they were misguided.
“It is already escalating, and the administration needs to respond,” he said on NBC.
And John Bolton, who served as national security adviser under President Donald Trump, said the US should join Israel if it chooses to launch a retaliatory attack on Iran’s nuclear programme.
“I think it [Israel] can destroy or disable a very substantial part [of the programme], if not totally,” he told NewsNation. “Frankly, if Israel is prepared to go after Iran’s nuclear programme, the United States should proudly join them.”
In the wake of Iran’s attack on Israel, Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, said that the body would “try again” to pass military aid for Israel.
Previous attempts to send more aid to Israel have stalled amid Democratic calls that the aid package should also include assistance for Taiwan and Ukraine.
“If it wasn’t for US security assistance, we could be facing a major regional war,” he said. “That supplement and the ones for Ukraine and Taiwan are in our national security interest. It is not charity. It’s part of the US national defence.”
