WASHINGTON: The Biden administration has told Israel that it must work to avoid “significant further displacement” of Palestinian civilians in southern Gaza if it renews its ground campaign aimed at eradicating the Hamas militant group, senior US officials said.
The administration, seeking to avoid more large-scale civilian casualties or mass displacement like that seen before the current temporary pause in the fighting, underscored to the Israelis that they must operate with far greater precision in southern Gaza than they did in the north, the officials said, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.
Amid mounting international and domestic pressure about the rising Palestinian death toll, the White House has begun to put greater pressure on Israel that the manner of the coming campaign must be “carefully thought through,” according to one of the officials. The Israelis have been receptive when administration officials have raised these concerns, the official said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that Israeli Defense Forces will eventually restart military operations after the conclusion of the current, temporary ceasefire that has allowed for an exchange of hostages taken by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The two sides agreed Monday to extend the truce for an additional two days and to continue swapping hostages for prisoners.
President Joe Biden has said he would like to see the pause — which has also allowed a surge of much-needed humanitarian aid to get into Gaza — continue as long as feasible. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return this week to the Middle East as the US hopes to find a way to extend the ceasefire and get more hostages released, the State Department said Monday. It will be his third trip to the region since Israel’s war with Hamas began last month.
Still, Biden and top officials have also been clear-eyed about Israel’s desire to continue operations focused on Hamas that over the last seven weeks have largely focused on the north. They have said they support Israel’s goal of eliminating Hamas’ control over Gaza and the threat it poses to Israeli civilians, but have grown more vocal about the need to protect the lives of Palestinian civilians. Hamas has been known to seek shelter among the territory’s civilian population, and Israeli officials have released videos from northern Gaza of what they said are weapons stockpiles and firing locations placed among civilian infrastructure.
More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on Oct. 7, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. More than 1,200 people have been killed on the Israeli side, mostly civilians killed in the initial attack. At least 77 soldiers have been killed in Israel’s ground offensive.
The US believes roughly 2 million Palestinians are now in south and central Gaza. Biden administration officials have made clear to the Israelis that an already stretched humanitarian support network would be unable to cope with the sort of displacement that those from northern Gaza have endured in Israel’s retaliatory strikes and ground operations.
Biden administration officials have also told the Israelis they expect them to conduct operations in a way that will be “maximally deconflicted” with the operation of humanitarian aid facilities, United Nations-supported shelters and core infrastructure, including electricity and water.
The World Health Organization has warned that the war has caused a burgeoning public health crisis that is a recipe for epidemics as displaced Palestinians have been forced to take shelter in cramped homes and camps.
One administration official said vaccines are among the medical goods flowing into Gaza, but there has also been a focus on potable water supplies and sanitation to prevent outbreaks of typhoid and cholera. To that end, the White House has also pushed to get as much fuel into Gaza as possible — something the Israelis resisted, particularly in the first weeks of war, citing concerns that it would be siphoned by Hamas.
The officials said the US on Tuesday would dispatch the first of three US military humanitarian aid flights to northern Egypt carrying medical supplies, food aid and winter items for Gaza’s civilian population.
US tells Israel any military operation in Gaza must avoid further civilian displacement
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US tells Israel any military operation in Gaza must avoid further civilian displacement
- The US wants Israel to carefully think its military campaign due to mounting pressure caused by Palestinian death toll
- Benjamin Netanyahu has already indicated Israeli forces will restart military operation after the conclusion of ceasefire
Israeli strike on Lebanon kills four Hezbollah fighters, security sources say
- Israeli military did not immediately comment on Thursday’s strikes
- Lebanon’s civil defense rescue force said it had pulled four bodies out of a car that had been scorched by an Israeli strike
BEIRUT: An Israeli air strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed four people on Thursday, according to Lebanon’s civil defense, with security sources saying those killed were members of armed group Hezbollah.
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has rumbled on since October in parallel to the Gaza war, with an escalation this week as both sides intensified their bombardment, fueling concern of a bigger war between the heavily-armed adversaries.
Israel has used artillery, drones and warplanes against targets in southern Lebanon, including to strike fighters from Hezbollah and other armed groups. Fighters in Lebanon have launched rockets and their own drones into northern Israel.
The Israeli military did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Thursday’s strikes.
Lebanon’s civil defense rescue force said it had pulled four bodies out of a car that had been scorched by an Israeli strike. Two security sources told Reuters the four killed were members of Hezbollah.
The exchanges of fire have uprooted tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border. In northern Israel, the displacement has prompted calls for firmer military action against Hezbollah.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Wednesday that the next months “may be a hot summer,” saying either a diplomatic deal or military solution was needed to restore security.
The fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has been the most intense since they went to war in 2006.
Hezbollah has repeatedly said that it will cease fire when the Israeli offensive in Gaza stops, but that it is also ready to fight on if Israel continues to attack Lebanon.
Activist in Tunisia arrested as conditions for migrants and their advocates worsen
- Saadia Mosbah, who is Black, was taken into custody and her home was searched
- She was arrested after she posted on social media condemning the racism she faced
TUNIS, Tunisia: An anti-discrimination activist in Tunisia was arrested in a money laundering investigation this week as the dangerous and dire conditions facing migrants and their advocates worsen.
Saadia Mosbah, who is Black, was taken into custody and her home was searched as part of an investigation into the funding for the Mnemty association she runs.
She was arrested after she posted on social media condemning the racism she faced for her work from people accusing her of helping sub-Saharan African migrants, said Bassem Trifi, the president of the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights.
Her arrest was the latest reflection of the problems facing migrants in Tunisia as authorities bolster efforts to police the shoreline where many embark on boats hoping to reach Europe.
In a national security council meeting focused on irregular migration, Tunisian President Kais Saied said Tuesday that associations that receive substantial foreign funds were “traitors and agents” and shouldn’t supplant the state’s role in managing migration and fighting human trafficking.
Fewer migrants have made the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea this year due to weather and beefed-up border security. But human rights groups caution that efforts to curb crossings haven’t protected the tens of thousands of migrants stuck in Tunisia.
More than 80 migrants were arrested in Tunis last week after clashes with law enforcement as they cleared encampments in the capital that were “disturbing the peace,” according to Tunisia’s Radio Mosaique.
Hundreds of migrants had camped near the headquarters of the UN refugee agency and International Organization for Migration, often demanding the agencies repatriate them outside of Tunisia. Law enforcement used heavy machinery to raze their tents and then bused them outside of the city to “an unknown destination,” said Romdhane Ben Amor, a spokesman for the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights.
“Tunisia is deepening the crisis and promoting the idea that there is no solution,” Ben Amor told Radio Mosaique.
An estimated 244 migrants — most of them from outside Tunisia — have died or disappeared along the country’s Mediterranean coastline this year, including 24 whose bodies were found last week, the NGO said.
In a report based on government data released Monday, it noted that the number of migrants without papers boating across the Mediterranean had decreased as Tunisian authorities report an increasing number of interceptions. Such is the case for both migrants from Tunisia and migrants passing through the country en route to Europe.
In April, authorities directly thwarted 209 migration attempts and in total prevented more than 8,200 migrants from reaching Italy, the majority from sub-Saharan African countries. Tunisian Coast Guard have prevented more than 21,000 migrants from reaching Italy this year.
Managing migration to prevent scenes of chaos and despair along Italian shorelines has been a top priority for European leaders, including Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who has visited Tunis four times this year.
North African and European officials have sought to curb human trafficking and better police borders and coastlines to prevent deaths at sea. However, thousands of migrants fleeing conflict, poverty, persecution or hoping for a better life have continued to make the journey. They take boats from the coast north of Sfax, Tunisia’s second-largest city, to Italian islands such as Lampedusa, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) away.
The European Union hopes to limit migration with policies including development assistance, voluntary return and repatriation for migrants and forging closer ties with neighboring governments that police their borders. They have pledged billions of dollars over the past year to countries including Tunisia, Mauritania and Egypt to provide general government aid, migrant services and border patrols.
Though European leaders have hailed a $1.1 billion agreement with Tunisia as a template, Saied has pledged not to allow the country to become a “border guard” for Europe.
Less than one-third as many migrants have reached Italy in 2024 as had at this point last year, according to May 8 figures from Italy’s Interior Ministry. The UN refugee agency reported that more than 24,000 migrants traveled from Tunisia to Italy in the first four months of 2023 while less than 8,000 had successfully made the journey over the same time period this year.
Yemen’s Houthis say they targeted ships in Gulf of Aden, Indian Ocean
- The group also targeted the MSC VITTORIA in the Indian Ocean and again in the Gulf of Aden
DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthis on Thursday claimed two missile attacks in the Gulf of Aden on two Panama-flagged container ships that caused no damage, while also saying they targeted a ship in the Indian Ocean in a previously unreported assault.
The claims by Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree come as the tempo of the militia attacks have waned in recent weeks as they’ve been targeted by repeated airstrikes launched by a US-led coalition warship in waterways crucial to international trade. The Houthis insist their assaults will continue as long as Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip goes on.
Saree in a prerecorded statement claimed attacks on the MSC Diego and MSC Gina. The Joint Maritime Information Center, a US-led coalition of nations operating in the Mideast, said those two missile attacks happened early Tuesday.
“Neither were hit and all crew on board are safe,” the center said. “The vessels were last reported proceeding to next port of call.”
The center added that the vessels were “likely targeted due to perceived Israeli affiliation.”
Both vessels were operating for Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Co., which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Saree did not say why it took the militia two day to claim the attacks. He also claimed the Houthis targeted the MSC Vittoria, another container ship, in the Indian Ocean. An attack on that vessel, however, has not been acknowledged by any authorities.
The Houthis say their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are aimed at pressuring Israel to end its war against Hamas in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sunk another since November, according to the US Maritime Administration. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat.
Monitor, Iraqi group say Israel hits facilities in Syria
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “Israeli air strikes targeted a cultural center” and a “training facility” of the Iraqi Al-Nujaba movement
- Three members of the Iraqi group were wounded
BEIRUT: Israeli strikes on Syria early Thursday targeted facilities belonging to Iraq’s Al-Nujaba armed movement, a war monitor and the pro-Iran group said, with Damascus saying an unidentified building was attacked.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the outbreak of the civil war in its northern neighbor in 2011, mainly against army positions and Iran-backed fighters.
But the strikes increased after Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip began on October 7, when the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group launched an unprecedented assault on Israel.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “Israeli air strikes targeted a cultural center” and a “training facility” of the Iraqi Al-Nujaba movement in the Sayyida Zeinab area south of Damascus.
Three members of the group were wounded according to the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.
A source within the Iraqi faction, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed that a “cultural center” belonging to the group was destroyed in the “Israeli” attack, but reported no casualties.
Al-Nujaba does “not have a declared military base in Syria,” the source added.
Syria’s defense ministry said that “at around 3:20 am today, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of the occupied Syria Golan Heights targeting a building in the Damascus countryside.”
The attack caused “some material damage,” said the statement carried by state media, adding that air defense systems shot down some of the missiles.
The Sayyida Zeinab area is home to an important Shiite Muslim shrine that is protected by pro-Iran groups, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, alongside the Syrian army, according to the Observatory.
The Al-Nujaba movement is part of a pro-Iran alliance in Iraq that Washington has blamed for numerous attacks on its forces.
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes on Syria, but has repeatedly said it will not allow its arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there.
An April 1 raid blamed on Israel levelled Tehran’s consulate in Damascus and killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals.
That strike prompted Iran to launch a first-ever direct missile and drone attack against Israel on April 13-14 that sent regional tensions spiralling.
‘Constant terror’ in key Darfur city as fighting closes in
- Experts have warned Sudan is at risk of breaking apart
PORT SUDAN: Sudanese shop owner Ishaq Mohammed has been trapped in his home for a month, sheltering from violence in El-Fasher, the last major city in the country’s vast Darfur region not under paramilitary control.
For more than a year, Sudan has suffered a war between the army, headed by the country’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Experts have warned the northeast African country is at risk of breaking apart.
According to the United Nations, Sudan “is experiencing a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions,” with famine threatening and more than 8.7 million people uprooted — more than anywhere else in the world.
Among the war’s many horrors, Darfur has already seen some of the worst. Now, experts and residents are bracing for more.
“We’re living in constant terror,” Mohammed told AFP by telephone, as the UN, world leaders and aid groups voice fears of carnage in the North Darfur state capital of 1.5 million people.
“We can’t move for the bombardments,” Mohammed said.
The RSF has seized four out of five state capitals in Darfur, a region about the size of France and home to around one quarter of Sudan’s 48 million people.
“We’re under a total siege,” another resident, Ahmed Adam, told AFP in a text message that got through despite a near-total communications blackout in Darfur.
“There’s no way in or out of the city that’s not controlled by the RSF,” he said.
For months, El-Fasher was protected by a fragile peace.
But unrest has soared since last month when the city’s two most powerful armed groups — which had helped to keep the peace there — pledged to fight alongside the army.
Since then, El-Fasher and the surrounding countryside have seen “systematic burning of entire villages in rural areas, escalating air bombardments... and a tightening siege,” according to Toby Harward, the UN’s deputy humanitarian coordinator for Sudan.
At least 23 communities in North Darfur have been burned in apparent arson, Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab found in a report last week.
The war’s overall death toll, however, remains unclear, a factor “that captures just how invisible and horrific this war is,” Tom Perriello, US special envoy for Sudan, told a congressional committee on May 1.
While figures of 15,000-30,000 have been mentioned, “some think it’s at 150,000,” Perriello said.
UN experts reported up to 15,000 people killed in the West Darfur capital El-Geneina alone.
Members of the non-Arab Massalit ethnic group in El-Geneina last year were targeted for killing and other abuses by the RSF and allied militias, forcing an exodus to neighboring Chad, which the UN says is hosting more than 745,000 people from Sudan.
The International Criminal Court, currently investigating ethnic-based killings primarily by the RSF in Darfur, says it has “grounds to believe” both sides are committing atrocities in the war.
As El-Fasher is home to both Arab and African communities, an all-out battle for control of the city causing massive civilian bloodshed “would lead to revenge attacks across the five Darfur states and beyond Darfur’s borders,” said Harward.
In late April, United States ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned that El-Fasher “is on the precipice of a large-scale massacre.”
Eyewitnesses report fighting “is now inside” the nearby Abu Shouk camp, established 20 years ago for people displaced by ethnic violence committed by the Janjaweed militia, which led to ICC war crimes charges.
The Janjaweed later evolved into the RSF.
“Everyone who hasn’t managed to leave is trapped at home,” camp resident Issa Abdelrahman told AFP.
“People are running out of food, and no one can get to them.”
According to UN experts, the RSF has repeatedly besieged and set fire to villages and displacement camps in Darfur.
Their siege of El-Fasher has halted aid convoys and commercial trade, Harward said.
Shortages have also hit the El-Fasher Southern Hospital — the city’s only remaining medical facility, where personnel are “completely exhausted,” a medical source told AFP.
Requesting anonymity for fear of both sides’ well-documented targeting of medics, the source said “some doctors haven’t left the hospital in over a month,” tirelessly treating gunshot wounds, bombardment injuries and child malnutrition.
The Darfur region was already facing widespread hunger, but now “people are resorting to consuming grass and peanut shells,” according to Michael Dunford, the World Food Programme’s regional director for Eastern Africa.
Yet it is difficult for them to flee.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said encirclement of El-Fasher by armed groups and restrictions on movement along key roads “are limiting families from leaving.”
Early this year the RSF declared victories across Sudan, but the army has since mounted defenses in key locations.
The RSF has for months threatened an attack on El-Fasher but has held off, in large part due to the locally brokered truce.
They also seem to have been deterred by “heightened international demands and warnings,” according to Amjad Farid, a Sudanese political analyst and former aide to ex-civilian prime minister Abdalla Hamdok.
But these warnings are “falling on deaf ears,” Harward says.
With the US having announced an imminent resumption of peace talks in Saudi Arabia, Farid said the RSF has focused anew on El-Fasher.
“These are negotiations the militia cannot enter from a position of weakness,” Farid told AFP.
