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
Syria and DP World ink $800 million deal for port development
- Syria is seeking to attract foreign investments to boost its struggling economy
CAIRO: The Syrian government and DP World signed a memorandum of understanding worth $800 million to develop Syria’s port of Tartous, Syrian state news agency SANA said on Friday, after the lifting of USsanctions cleared the way for the deal.
The deal to develop, manage and operate a multi-purpose terminal at Tartous includes cooperation in establishing industrial and free trade zones. DP World is a subsidiary of United Arab Emirates investment company Dubai World.
Syria is seeking to attract foreign investments to boost its struggling economy, and the deal was signed in the same week that US President Donald Trump announced plans to lift of sanctions on Syria during a visit to Riyadh.
Trump said he made the decision to lift sanctions after discussions with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, whose governments have both strongly urged the lifting of sanctions.
Trump had also met with Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa ahead of the GCC summit in Riyadh on Wednesday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that Trump intends to issue waivers under the “Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act,” through which Washington imposed stiff sanctions on former President Bashar Assad’s government and secondary sanctions on outside companies or governments that worked with it.
Removing US sanctions that cut Syria off from the global financial system will also clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organizations working in Syria, easing foreign investment and trade as the country rebuilds.
Lebanon’s parliament doubles penalty for celebratory gunfire
- Law change follows injuries during municipal election events
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s parliament on Thursday approved an amendment to the law that aims to curb celebratory gunfire by doubling the penalties for those who fire shots into the air.
The new law imposes stricter penalties for individuals involved in actions that have led to numerous injuries and fatalities in recent years.
The action comes after Lebanese Army Command announced the arrest of eight people as part of efforts to identify those who fired gunshots during last Sunday’s municipal elections in the North Lebanon and Akkar governorates.
Army units, with support from a Directorate of Intelligence patrol, raided the homes of several suspects and seized weapons and ammunition they possessed.
The skies over the North and Akkar governorates were illuminated last Sunday night by gunfire, celebrating candidates’ victories in the municipal elections, where local families traditionally compete for seats on the city councils that govern their affairs.
The celebratory gunfire caused injury to a young man, Mohammed Jihad Khaled, from the town of Ain Al-Dahab in Akkar.
He is still fighting for his life after a bullet struck his head.
He remains in a coma after being moved to the intensive care unit of a hospital.
Journalist Nada Andraos was also injured by celebratory gunfire, as a bullet struck her leg after piercing the car she was in while covering the elections with her team from the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International.
Andraos, who seemed stunned by the incident — especially since the bullet could have struck her head instead of her leg — commented on social media: “In Lebanon, a stray bullet represents the value of life.”
Victims’ families often file lawsuits in court and with security agencies against unidentified people.
Many offenders escape punishment, leading to repeated tragedies where celebratory gunfire accompanies even minor school achievements.
The law prohibiting the firing of firearms into the air specifies that if such actions lead to a person’s illness or incapacity that causes them to miss work for fewer than 10 days, the offender will face a prison sentence of nine months to three years, in addition to a fine ranging from 10 to 15 times the official minimum wage.
MP Wadah Al-Sadiq said that the amendment had increased the penalty duration.
Previously, the penalty ranged from six months to three years; now it begins at one year in prison and can go up to six years.
The final decision will be made by the judge who issues the ruling.
Information Minister Paul Morcos, an international human rights defender, welcomed the amendment.
It serves as an additional deterrent, moving toward prohibiting such practices and ensuring accountability for perpetrators, he said.
Lawyer Imad Al-Masri, who specializes in criminal cases, said: “Any individual who discharges firearms or fireworks in populated areas or in the presence of a crowd, regardless of whether their firearm is licensed, will face a prison sentence of six months to three years.
“Additionally, they will incur a fine ranging from eight to 15 times the official minimum wage.
“The weapon shall be confiscated in all cases, and the perpetrator shall be referred to the military court for trial.”
Al-Masri said that the military court imposes penalties on individuals who fire bullets into the air, ranging from fines to prison sentences of six months to two years.
A judicial source said that the military court has numerous cases related to firing into the air. These offenses are punishable by law and escalate from a misdemeanor to a felony if the shooting results in casualties.
Al-Masri said: “Increasing the penalty is a deterrent if it is accompanied by strict prior measures and the enforcement of immediate prosecution and, most importantly, changing social behavior regarding this dangerous practice.”
Riots continued for a second day in Roumieh Prison, Lebanon’s largest prison, coinciding with the parliamentary session.
Inmates are demanding the approval of a general amnesty law and a reduction in their imprisonment period.
Tensions ran high among both convicts and detainees, some of whom hung symbolic gallows inside their cells as a form of protest.
Lawyer Rabih Qais, the program manager at the Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Civil Peace and a longtime observer of prison affairs, said: “The law proposal submitted by several MPs addresses the issue of delayed trials for detainees.
“Many of these people have spent years in prison, even though the sentences they might receive if tried could be significantly shorter than the time they have already served.”
Qais said Lebanon “evaluates every decision through the lens of sectarian power-sharing.
“As a result, many of those advocating for amnesty are Islamists and individuals from the Baalbek-Hermel region, many of whom are facing in absentia arrest warrants related to clashes with security forces or drug-related offenses.
“This may explain why the draft amnesty law was sent to parliamentary committees. However, what is truly needed is justice for the oppressed.”
Israeli army kills 5 Palestinians in West Bank shootout as Smotrich calls for razing of towns
- The 'terrorists' were killed in a shootout near the settlement where a pregnant woman was killed earlier
- Shootout came as Israel's hardline minister called for razing of Palestinian towns
JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH: Israel’s military killed five Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, hours after a pregnant settler was killed in a shooting, as hard-line pro-settler leaders including a government minister called for Palestinian towns to be razed.
The military said in a statement it had killed five “terrorists” and arrested a sixth who had barricaded themselves in a building in Tamoun, following an exchange of gunfire and the use of shoulder-fired missiles by Israeli soldiers.
The military wing of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad later issued a statement saying five of its members were killed while clashing with Israeli forces that surrounded their house in the town of Tamoun, north of the West Bank.
Tamoun is a Palestinian town about 35 km (22 miles) from the Israeli settlement of Brukhin, near which the heavily pregnant woman, Tzeela Gez, was killed on Wednesday night in a shooting that drew strong condemnation from Israeli leaders.
The military said it was searching for those responsible for Wednesday’s shooting — whom it did not identify — though it was not immediately clear whether the Tamoun operation was linked.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting, which occurred amid one of the largest Israeli military operations in the West Bank in two decades and while the Israeli military bombards Gaza.
Gunfire could be heard in Tamoun on Thursday, while Reuters footage showed flames and black smoke on the top floor of a house as Israeli soldiers stood on the street outside. The Palestinian WAFA news agency said the Israeli military was demolishing the house where the Palestinian men had been killed.
The Israeli military said soldiers had identified the “terrorists” in a building during an overnight operation in Tamoun and the nearby city of Tubas. It recovered rifles used by the militants in the building in Tamoun, it said.
The military also said that three armed individuals had been arrested in Tubas.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the military had taken the bodies of four of the deceased. The local Red Crescent said it had recovered a fifth body from a burning building.
Demand for retribution
Gez, the pregnant woman, was shot near the Brukhin settlement while traveling to hospital with her husband to give birth. She was pronounced dead at the hospital where her baby was delivered by caesarean section, Israeli media reported.
The baby was reportedly in serious but stable condition, while Gez’s husband Hananel was lightly injured.
As retribution, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said the nearby Palestinian towns of Bruqin and az-Zawiya should be destroyed, just as cities in Gaza have been.
“Just as we are flattening Rafah, Khan Younis and Gaza (in the Gaza Strip), we must also flatten the terror nests in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said on social media, employing the term often used in Israel for the West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped security forces would quickly find those responsible for Gez’s death, while President Isaac Herzog expressed his condolences to her family.
The chief of Israel’s general staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, visited the troops searching for Gez’s killer on Thursday near Brukhin.
The Israeli military has killed dozens of Palestinians and destroyed many homes since it launched an operation in January in the West Bank city of Jenin to root out militants.
Those killed have included members of Hamas and other militant groups but also some civilians, including women and children.
Turkiye FM meets Russia delegation in Istanbul
ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s foreign minister was on Thursday meeting with the Russian delegation that is in Istanbul for their first direct peace talks with Ukraine in three years, a ministry source said.
“The meeting between Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and the Russian side, headed by Vladimir Medinsky has started,” the source said of talks taking place at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace.
The talks had been announced earlier in the evening by a foreign ministry spokesman.
Russia and Ukraine had been expected to meet on Thursday in Istanbul for their first direct peace talks in more than three years at the Dolmabahce Palace on the banks of the Bosphorus.
But as the day wore on without any concrete indications of timings, it remained unclear whether the delegations would meet later in the evening or leave it until Friday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in southern Turkish city of Antalya for a NATO summit Thursday, was due in Istanbul on Friday.
He told reporters he would meet Ukraine’s top diplomat, Andriy Sybiga there, while a lower-level US official would meet with the Russian delegation.
The minister was not thought to be part of the Ukrainian delegation to the talks.
Rubio also expressed hope that Turkiye would work to bring the two delegations together.
Earlier on Thursday, Fidan and Rubio held talks on the sidelines of the NATO meeting, with the pair agreeing that “efforts would continue to be made to ensure direct negotiations between the parties,” a source at the Turkish foreign ministry said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in Ankara earlier on Thursday, has sent a pared-down team to the Istanbul talks after Russia showed up with a relatively low-level delegation.
The Ukrainian delegation is headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, while the Russian side is being led by Medinsky, a hawkish adviser to Russia’s Vladimir Putin who has questioned Ukraine’s right to exist and led failed talks in 2022 at the start of the war.
ICC says Libya recognizes authority of war crimes, repression probe
UNITED NATIONS: Libya has accepted the authority of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged war crimes in the country despite not being party to the Rome Statute, the court’s founding treaty, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said Thursday.
“I strongly welcome the courage, the leadership and the decision by the Libyan authorities” to recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction over possible war crimes and repression committed since 2011 until the end of 2027, Khan added.
