GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: Israeli air strikes and clashes between troops and Palestinian militants rocked Gaza on Wednesday, as Israel’s army warned it had readied an “offensive” against the Lebanese Hezbollah movement on the country’s northern front.
Witnesses and the civil defense agency in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip reported Israeli bombardment in western Rafah, where medics said drone strikes and shelling killed at least seven people.
The Israeli military has announced a daily humanitarian “pause” in fighting on a key road in eastern Rafah, but a UN spokesman said days later that “this has yet to translate into more aid reaching people in need.”
More than eight months of war, sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, have led to dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory and repeated UN warnings of famine.
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been shut since Israeli troops seized its Palestinian side in early May, while nearby Kerem Shalom on the Israeli border “is operating with limited functionality, including because of fighting in the area,” said UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.
He told reporters that in recent weeks, there had been “an improvement” in aid reaching northern Gaza “but a drastic deterioration in the south.”
“Basic commodities are available in markets in southern and central Gaza. But... it’s unaffordable for many people.”
The war has sent tensions soaring across the region, with violence involving Iran-backed Hamas allies.
The Israeli military, which has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah since October, said late Tuesday that “operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated.”
On Wednesday the military said its warplanes had struck Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon overnight, while reporting a drone had infiltrated near the border town of Metula in an attack claimed by Hezbollah and targeting troops.
The Iran-backed group also announced the death of two of its fighters.
Lebanon’s official National News agency reported Israeli strikes on several areas in south Lebanon on Wednesday morning, including on the border village of Khiam, where an AFP photographer saw a large cloud of smoke.
The army’s announcement that its plans for an offensive in Lebanon had been approved, along with a warning from Foreign Minister Israel Katz of Hezbollah’s destruction in a “total war,” came as US envoy Amos Hochstein visited the region to push for de-escalation.
Syrian state media said an Israeli strike on military sites in the country’s south killed an army officer on Wednesday. Israel has not commented on the report.
In Gaza, Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian armed group that has fought alongside Hamas, said its militants were battling troops amid Israeli shelling of western Rafah.
Witnesses reported seeing Israeli military vehicles enter the city’s Saudi neighborhood, followed by nighttime gunbattles.
Parts of central Gaza also saw fighting overnight, with witnesses reporting artillery shelling and heavy gunfire in Gaza City’s Zeitun neighborhood.
The October 7 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
The militants also seized 251 hostages. Of these, 116 remain in Gaza, although the army says 41 are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,396 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.
At least 24 people died over the past day, the ministry said.
A UN report issued Wednesday detailed six “indiscriminate and disproportionate” Israeli strikes that killed at least 218 people in the first two months of the war.
It said the strikes involved “the suspected use” of heavy bombs — a shipment of which the United States had paused in May over concerns Israel might use them in its Rafah assault.
The strikes targeted “densely populated” areas including refugee camps, a school and market, the UN rights office said, making the use of heavy bombs “highly likely to amount to a prohibited indiscriminate attack.”
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said: “The requirement to select means and methods of warfare that avoid, or at the very least minimize to every extent, civilian harm appears to have been consistently violated in Israel’s bombing campaign.”
More than six months since the attacks featured in the report, “there is no clarity as to what happened or steps toward accountability,” Turk said.
Fighting in Gaza’s Rafah as tensions soar on Israel-Lebanon border
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Fighting in Gaza’s Rafah as tensions soar on Israel-Lebanon border
- More than eight months of war have led to dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory
- Israeli army earlier announced that its plans for an offensive in Lebanon had been approved
UK and European allies urge Israel to lift Gaza aid blockade, warn against annexation
- In joint statement delivered at UN Security Council, group said Israeli government’s ongoing obstruction of aid deliveries was “unacceptable”
NEW YORK CITY: The UK and four European allies on Tuesday issued a joint appeal to Israel to immediately lift its blockade on humanitarian aid to Gaza, warning that continued restrictions are placing millions of Palestinian civilians at risk of starvation and undermining prospects for peace
In a joint statement delivered at the United Nations, Britain, France, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia said the Israeli government’s ongoing obstruction of aid deliveries, now entering its third month, was “unacceptable” and risked compounding what UN agencies have described as a looming famine.
“Blocking aid as a ‘pressure lever’ is unacceptable,” the five nations said.
“Palestinian civilians, including children, face starvation… Without an urgent lifting of the aid block, more Palestinians are at risk of dying. Deaths that could easily be avoided.”
The group, which called the emergency Security Council meeting on Gaza, also warned that any Israeli move to annex parts of the territory would breach international law and deepen instability in the region.
“Any attempt by Israel to annex land in Gaza would be unacceptable and violate international law,” the statement read. “Palestinian territory must not be reduced nor subjected to any demographic change.”
The intervention follows the Israeli Security Cabinet’s recent approval of plans to expand its military operations in Gaza, a move the European countries said would only add to Palestinian suffering while doing little to secure the return of hostages still held by Hamas.
“We strongly oppose both these actions,” the statement said, referring to the blockade and the expansion of military activity. “They do nothing to serve the long-term interests of peace and security in the region — nor to secure the safe return of the hostages.”
The five governments welcomed the recent release of Edan Alexander, an Israeli-American hostage held by Hamas since October 7, but reiterated demands for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining captives.
“Their suffering must end,” they said. “Hamas must have no future role in Gaza or be in a position to threaten Israel.”
The joint statement also expressed concern over proposals to create a new aid delivery mechanism in Gaza that, according to the UN, would fail to meet established humanitarian principles.
“Humanitarian aid must never be used as a political tool or military tactic,” the countries warned. “Any model for distributing humanitarian aid must be independent, impartial and neutral, and in line with international law.”
They emphasized that international humanitarian law obliged Israel to allow “safe, rapid and unimpeded” access for humanitarian assistance, adding: “Gaza is not an exception.”
The group condemned recent attacks on humanitarian personnel, including the killing of Palestinian Red Crescent workers and a strike on a UN compound on March 19, which they called “outrageous.”
“At least 418 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began,” the statement noted. “That is at least 418 too many.”
The countries urged Israel to complete and publish the findings of its investigation into the UN compound incident and to “take concrete action to ensure this can never happen again.”
Looking ahead, the five nations reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and renewed efforts toward a two-state solution, backing France and Saudi Arabia’s plans to host an international conference on the issue in New York next month.
“This is the only way to achieve long-term peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis,” the statement concluded.
WHO warns of permanent impact of hunger on a generation of Gazans
GENEVA: Malnutrition rates are rising in Gaza, emergency treatments to counter it are running out and hunger could have a lasting impact on “an entire generation,” a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday.
Israel has blockaded supplies into the enclave since early March, when it resumed its devastating military campaign against Hamas, and a global hunger monitor on Monday warned that half a million people there faced starvation.
WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory Rik Peeperkorn said he had seen children who looked years younger than their age and visited a north Gaza hospital where over 20 percent of children screened suffered from acute malnutrition.
“What we see is an increasing trend in generalized acute malnutrition,” Peeperkorn told a press briefing by video link from Deir Al-Balah. “I’ve seen a child that’s five years old, and you would say it was two-and-a-half.”
“Without enough nutritious food, clean water and access to health care, an entire generation will be permanently affected,” he said, warning of stunting and impaired cognitive development.
The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency Philippe Lazzarini told the BBC that he thought Israel was denying food and aid to civilians as a weapon of war.
The WHO criticized it in a statement late on Monday as “grossly inadequate” to meet the population’s immediate needs.
Due to the blockade, WHO only has enough stocks to treat 500 children with acute malnutrition, which is only a fraction of what is needed, Peeperkorn said.
Already, 55 children have died of acute malnutrition, he said.
UN aid chief slams Israel’s Gaza aid plan as ‘cynical sideshow’
- “We have rigorous mechanisms to ensure our aid gets to civilians and not to Hamas, but Israel denies us access,” said Fletcher
- No aid has been delivered to Gaza since March 2
UNITED NATIONS: United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher on Tuesday said an Israeli plan aid distribution in the Gaza Strip was a “cynical sideshow, a deliberate distraction, a fig leaf for further violence and displacement” of Palestinians in the enclave.
He told the UN Security Council that no food, medicine, water or tents have entered the war-torn Palestinian enclave for more than 10 weeks.
“We can save hundreds of thousands of survivors. We have rigorous mechanisms to ensure our aid gets to civilians and not to Hamas, but Israel denies us access, placing the objective of depopulating Gaza before the lives of civilians,” said Fletcher.
No aid has been delivered to Gaza since March 2. Israel has said it would not allow the entry of goods and supplies into Gaza until Palestinian militant group Hamas releases all remaining hostages.
At the end of last month the UN World Food Programme said it had run out of food stocks in Gaza, and US President Donald Trump said that he pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow the delivery of food and medicine.
Fletcher said the UN has met more than a dozen times with Israeli authorities to discuss their proposed aid distribution model “to find a way to make it possible,” stressing the minimum conditions needed for UN involvement. Those included the ability to deliver aid to all those in need wherever they are.
“The Israeli-designed distribution modality is not the answer,” he told the 15-member council.
“It forces further displacement. It exposes thousands of people to harm ... It restricts aid to only one part of Gaza while leaving other dire needs unmet. It makes aid conditional on political and military aims. It makes starvation a bargaining chip,” Fletcher said.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, met with UN agencies and international aid groups in early April and proposed “a structured monitoring and aid entry mechanism.”
“The mechanism is designed to support aid organizations, enhance oversight and accountability, and ensure that assistance reaches the civilian population in need, rather than being diverted and stolen by Hamas,” COGAT posted on X on April 3.
The war in Gaza was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 52,700 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities.
Syria says US lifting of sanctions ‘pivotal turning point’
- Syria welcomed US President Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on the country
- Celebrations broke out in the capital Damascus and across the country
DAMASCUS: Syria on Tuesday welcomed US President Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on the country, calling it a “pivotal turning point,” as celebrations broke out in Damascus.
The Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement that the country welcomed Trump’s announcement, calling it a “pivotal turning point for the Syrian people, as we seek to emerge from a long and painful chapter of war.”
“The removal of those sanctions offers a vital opportunity for Syria to pursue stability, self-sufficiency, and meaningful national reconstruction, led by and for the Syrian people,” the statement added.
In a speech given in Riyadh amidst Trump’s trip to the Middle East, the US president said he “will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.”
Ever since overthrowing longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December, Syria’s new rulers have been pushing Western states to lift sanctions imposed on the country largely during the former president’s rule.
During his visit to Paris last week, Syrian interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa said there was no justification for maintaining European sanctions imposed against the Assad government.
“These sanctions were imposed on the previous regime because of the crimes it committed, and this regime is gone,” Sharaa said in a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.
“With the removal of the regime, these sanctions should be removed as well, and there is no justification for keeping the sanctions,” he added.
US sanctions have isolated Syria from the global financial system and imposed a range of economic restrictions on the government throughout more than a decade of civil war.
The lingering sanctions have widely been seen as a major obstacle to Syria’s economic recovery and post-war reconstruction.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani expressed “gratitude” to Saudi Arabia for its role in pushing for the lifting of the sanctions.
Celebration across Syria
Finance Minister Mohammed Barnieh said Trump’s lifting of sanctions “will help Syria in building its institutions, providing essential services to the people and will create great opportunities to attract investment and restore confidence in Syria’s future.”
Syrians met the news with joy and celebration, with dozens of men, women and children gathering in Damascus’s Umayyad Square. They blasted music while others drove by in their cars waving Syrian flags.
“My joy is great, this decision will definitely affect the entire country positively. Construction will return, the displaced will return, and prices will go down,” said Huda Qassar, a 33-year-old English language teacher, celebrating with her compatriots.
In the northern province of Idlib, manufacturer Bassam Al-Ahmed, 39, said he was very happy about the lifting of US sanctions.
“It is the right of the Syrian people, after 14 years of war and 50 years of the Assads’ oppression, to live through stability and safety,” he said.
“The most important thing is economic stability, which cannot be achieved without lifting American sanctions to increase investment opportunities within Syria and encourage people to work, in addition to securing raw materials and many products that Syria has been deprived of due to sanctions,” he added.
Iran says it’s open to temporary uranium enrichment limits
- Iran described Sunday’s talks as “difficult but useful” while a senior US official said Washington was “encouraged” and both sides confirmed plans for future negotiations
TEHRAN: Iran is open to accepting temporary limits on its uranium enrichment, its deputy foreign minister said Tuesday, while adding that talks with the US have yet to address such specifics.
Tehran and Washington on Sunday held their fourth round of nuclear talks, which kicked off last month, marking their highest-level contact since the US in 2018 pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal.
“For a limited period of time, we can accept a series of restrictions on the level and volume of enrichment,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi.
“We have not yet gone into details about the level and volume of enrichment,” he said, quoted by Tasnim news agency.
Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 percent purity — far above the 3.67 percent limit set in the 2015 deal but below the 90 percent needed for weapons-grade material.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that Iran was the only country in the world without nuclear weapons that enriches uranium to that level.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at the latest talks that the right to enrich uranium was “non-negotiable,” while US chief negotiator Steve Witkoff called it a “red line.”
The Islamic republic began rolling back its commitments to the deal a year after the US withdrawal.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has revived his “maximum pressure” approach against Tehran. While backing nuclear diplomacy, he also warned of potential military action if it fails.
Iran described Sunday’s talks as “difficult but useful” while a senior US official said Washington was “encouraged” and both sides confirmed plans for future negotiations.
The talks are being held in “full coordination” with the supreme leader, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said, according to a presidency statement on Tuesday.
“In the negotiations, we will not retreat from our principles in any way, but at the same time, we do not want tensions,” he added.
Also on Tuesday, Iran’s atomic energy agency chief, Mohammad Eslami, described the country’s nuclear industry as its “wealth and strength,” according to ISNA news agency.
Despite the talks, Washington has continued to impose sanctions targeting Iran’s nuclear program and oil industry, with the latest announced on Monday.
“There is no doubt that there is a lot of pressure on us,” said Ali Larijani, a close adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, while noting that not all of Iran’s problems were due to the sanctions.
