Israel PM vows to respond ‘firmly’ to Hezbollah in visit to Lebanon border

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attend a ceremony at an army base near Mitzpe Ramon, Israel. (File/Reuters)
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Updated 03 November 2024
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Israel PM vows to respond ‘firmly’ to Hezbollah in visit to Lebanon border

  • Israel’s military said more than 100 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory on Sunday
  • Hezbollah said it was acting in support of Palestinian militants Hamas

JERUSALEM: Lebanon said Sunday an air strike killed three people near Sidon in the south as more bombs hit the east and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited his country’s northern border.

The latest attacks on eastern Lebanon came after Israel warned it would again hit Hezbollah targets there.

Netanyahu’s office said the premier “visited the Lebanon border today,” his second such trip in a month.

He vowed to respond “firmly” to Hezbollah’s attacks and to prevent the group from rearming, his office said.

“I want to be clear: with or without an agreement, the key to restoring peace and security in the north, the key to bringing our northern residents back home safely, is first and foremost to push Hezbollah back beyond the Litani River, secondly to target any attempt to rearm, and thirdly to respond firmly to any action taken against us,” Netanyahu told soldiers at the border, according to a statement from his office.

It came as Israel’s military said more than 100 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory on Sunday.
Several were intercepted, and some fell in unpopulated areas.
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon have been at war since September 23, when Israel escalated cross-border air raids after a year of tit-for-tat exchanges of fire. A week later it sent in ground troops on “targeted raids.”
Hezbollah said it was acting in support of Palestinian militants Hamas, whose unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7 last year triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
“The Israeli enemy’s raid on Haret Saida resulted in an initial death toll of three people killed and nine others injured,” Lebanon’s health ministry said, referring to a densely populated area near Sidon.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported another Israeli strike south of Sidon, on the town of Ghaziyeh.
That strike hit a residential building, according to an AFP correspondent, who said a child was rescued from the rubble.
NNA said other Israeli strikes hit near a hospital in Tebnine, a town in the south Lebanon district of Bint Jbeil. Tebnine’s major told AFP the hospital was significantly damaged.
Neither the Haret Saida strike nor those in Lebanon’s south were preceded by an Israeli evacuation warning.
Israel’s military did issue a warning for Lebanon’s Baalbek area, which includes east Lebanon’s main city and UNESCO-designated Roman ruins, saying it would be targeting Hezbollah-linked facilities.
An AFP correspondent later reported at least three strikes in the Baalbek area, where Hezbollah holds sway and which has seen heavy air raids in the past few days.
Also on Sunday, Lebanese state media reported the recovery of five bodies from the flashpoint southern town of Khiam.
They were among 21 bodies that have been trapped under rubble in Khiam for around one week, according to the NNA.
The war has killed more than 1,930 people in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.
Israel’s military says 38 soldiers have been killed in the Lebanon campaign since it began ground operations.
Iran and Israel have recently attacked each other directly, heightening fears of even wider conflict.
But Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday said a potential ceasefire with its allies “could affect the intensity and type of our response.”
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had on Saturday warned Israel and the United States they “will definitely receive a tooth-breaking response.”
Israel has warned Iran against responding to its October 26 attack.
On Sunday demonstrators burned Israeli and US flags outside the former American embassy in Tehran to mark the anniversary of the 1979 hostage crisis that has shaped relations between Washington and Tehran ever since.
American B-52 bombers have arrived in the Middle East, the US military said on Saturday, as part of reinforcements being deployed in a warning to Iran.
In Gaza Israel’s military again reported “dozens” of militants killed in the northern Jabalia area where, Israeli forces have since October 6 carried out a major air and ground assault to stop Hamas from regrouping.
In central Gaza on Sunday, people crowded to receive sacks of flour from a distribution point of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Deir el-Balah.
Israel’s parliament last Monday banned UNRWA — the main aid agency in Gaza — from operating in Israel and occupied east Jerusalem, despite international objections.
If implemented, the ban would hit humanitarian work in Gaza, experts say.
The ban came after the United States on October 15 warned Israel it could withhold some of its billions of dollars in military assistance unless it improves aid delivery to Gaza within 30 days.
Also in Deir el-Balah on Sunday, relatives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital mourned a father and son killed during Israeli bombardment.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s military response against Hamas has killed 43,341 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the United Nations consider to be reliable.


Turkish court jails protesters over Erdogan speech disruption

Updated 56 min 25 sec ago
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Turkish court jails protesters over Erdogan speech disruption

  • The protesters said the government was failing to uphold its pro-Palestinian rhetoric
  • The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the group had coordinated their actions inside and outside the venue and sought their detention pending trial

ANKARA: A Turkish court has jailed pending trial nine protesters who disrupted President Tayyip Erdogan’s speech in Istanbul last week, accusing his government of continuing oil exports to Israel despite a publicized embargo.
The incident occurred during Erdogan’s televised address at a forum on Friday, where the protesters said the government was failing to uphold its pro-Palestinian rhetoric.
They chanted slogans such as “Ships are carrying bombs to Gaza” and “Stop fueling genocide.”
Erdogan responded sharply.
“My child, don’t become the mouthpiece of Zionists here. No matter how much you try to provoke by acting as their voice, mouth, and eyes, you will not succeed,” he said.
“Zionists around the world know very well where Tayyip Erdogan stands. But it seems you still haven’t understood.”
Police removed the demonstrators from the event, and prosecutors charged them with insulting the president and participating in an illegal demonstration.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the group had coordinated their actions inside and outside the venue and sought their detention pending trial.
The arrests have drawn strong criticism from opposition politicians and rights advocates. Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel denounced the detentions as a blow to democracy.
“The decision to arrest nine young people who protested Tayyip Erdogan proves the grave situation our country’s democracy has fallen into,” Ozel said.
“These young people were exercising their right to free expression and should be released immediately.”


Israeli leaders applaud Trump pledge on hostages, Gazans fear the worse

Updated 03 December 2024
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Israeli leaders applaud Trump pledge on hostages, Gazans fear the worse

  • Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “This is the way to bring back the hostages: by increasing the pressure and the costs for Hamas and its supporters“
  • Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said simply on X: “Thank you President Trump“

JERUSALEM/CAIRO: Israeli leaders hailed on Tuesday a pledge by US President-elect Donald Trump that there would be “hell to pay” in the Middle East unless hostages held in the Gaza Strip were released ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration.
The reaction in Gaza was less enthusiastic.
Writing on Truth Social, and without naming any group, Trump said the hostages had to be freed by the time he was sworn in.
If his demand was not met, he said: “Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America.”
During their deadly 2023 attack on Israel, Hamas-led militants captured more than 250 people. Some have been released or freed but around half of them are still in Gaza, although at least a third of these are believed to be dead.
Israeli ministers lined up to thank Trump for his hard-hitting words.
“How refreshing it is to hear clear and morally sound statements that do not create a false equivalence or call for addressing ‘both sides’, but rather clarify who are the good and who are the bad,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
“This is the way to bring back the hostages: by increasing the pressure and the costs for Hamas and its supporters, and defeating them, rather than giving in to their absurd demands.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said simply on X: “Thank you President Trump.”
Likewise the families of the missing hostages expressed their gratitude. “It is now evident to all: the time has come. We must bring them home NOW,” the families forum said.

NEGOTIATIONS STALLED
Israel and Hamas have held on-off negotiations since October 2023, but after an initial hostage release in November, little progress has been made with both sides blaming each other.
Responding to Trump’s post, senior Hamas official Basem Naim said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sabotaged all efforts to secure a deal that involved exchanging the hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
“Therefore, we understand (Trump’s) message is directed first at Netanyahu and his government to end this evil game,” he told Reuters.
Gaza political analyst Ramiz Moghani said Trump’s threat was directed at both Hamas and its backer Iran, and warned that it would embolden Israel to not expel Palestinians from swathes of Gaza but also annex the nearby, Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“These statements have serious implications for the Israeli war in Gaza and the West Bank,” he told Reuters.
Mohammed Dahlan, like hundreds of thousands of Gazans, has had to flee his house because of the fighting and is desperate for the war to end. But he said he was shocked by Trump.
“We were hoping that the new administration would bring with it a breakthrough .... but it seems (Trump) is in complete agreement with the Israeli administration and that there are apparently more punitive measures ahead,” he said.


Israel kills 23 people in north Gaza, orders evacuations in south

Updated 03 December 2024
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Israel kills 23 people in north Gaza, orders evacuations in south

  • Medics said eight people had been killed in a series of airstrikes in Beit Lahiya while four others were killed elsewhere in Gaza City
  • An Israeli airstrike later killed two people and wounded others in Jabalia

CAIRO: Israeli military strikes killed at least 23 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, most of them in the town of Beit Lahiya on the northern edge, medics said, as the army issued new evacuation orders in the south of the small enclave.
Medics said eight people had been killed in a series of airstrikes in Beit Lahiya while four others were killed elsewhere in Gaza City.
An Israeli airstrike later killed two people and wounded others in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, in the coastal enclave’s north, medics said.
Another air attack, on Al-Falah School sheltering displaced families in Gaza City’s Zeitoun suburb, killed six people and wounded others, medics said, while in Rafah in the far south, three women were killed by Israeli drone fire, they added.
The Israeli army has been operating in Jabalia and also in the towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun since October. Israeli forces have killed hundreds of militants in the three locations since the operation began, the army has said.
The army says it is targeting regrouping Hamas-led militants who often use civilian buildings including schools and hospitals for operational cover. Hamas denies this, accusing Israeli forces of indiscriminate bombardments.
Hamas and its smaller ally Islamic Jihad have said their fighters have killed several Israeli soldiers in guerrilla-style ambushes since October.
Palestinians have accused Israel’s army of trying to drive people from the northern edge of Gaza with forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone. The army denies this, saying it has returned there to prevent Hamas fighters from renewing operations in an area from which they had been cleared.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said its operations in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun had now been halted for nearly four weeks due to Israeli attacks on their teams as well as fuel shortages.
On Tuesday it said 13 of 27 vehicles in central and southern Gaza were also stuck for lack of fuel. It said 88 members of the Civil Emergency Service had been killed, 304 wounded and 21 detained by Israel since the
war began in October 2023.

EVACUATION ORDERS
The Israeli army issued evacuation orders on Tuesday to residents in northern districts of Khan Younis, a city in south Gaza, citing the firing of rockets by militants from those areas. The orders, the latest of many, prompted the hurried exodus of families, mostly before dawn, in a westerly direction.
“For your own safety, you must evacuate the area immediately and move to the humanitarian zone,” the army said in a statement on X.
Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in the enclave. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been internally displaced, some as many as 10 times in all.
Israel launched its campaign in the densely populated enclave after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities across the border on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s military campaign has since killed more than 44,400 Palestinians, injured many others, and reduced much of the enclave to rubble.


Retiring UN official laments lack of diplomatic focus on Palestinian state

Updated 03 December 2024
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Retiring UN official laments lack of diplomatic focus on Palestinian state

  • Tor Wennesland, special coordinator for Mideast peace process, criticizes short-term fixes
  • Warns against opponents of Palestinian sovereignty setting terms of debate

LONDON: World leaders have wrongly focused on short-term fixes at the expense of pushing for a Palestinian state, the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process has said.

Tor Wennesland, who is retiring after a four-year tenure, told the New York Times that the international community had focused on improving Gaza’s economy and diplomatic deals between Israel and Arab states, but that these approaches have failed to solve the central issue driving the conflict: the lack of a permanent settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.

“Politics failed. Diplomacy failed. The international community failed. And the parties failed,” he said. “What we have seen is the failure of dealing with the real conflict, the failure of politics and diplomacy.”

Western leaders have failed to convince Israel of the need for Palestinian sovereignty, having been distracted by migration crises, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Wennesland added.

“Politics is what ends war, and diplomacy is what ends war,” he said, adding that international attention has been shifting “toward dealing with the day-to-day humanitarian situation, and with less attention on the politics.”

The perceived decline in the viability of the two-state solution among Western officials risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy as it allows opponents of Palestinian statehood to set the terms of debate, Wennesland said.

“The spoilers have been more effective, determined and fast moving than diplomats and politicians,” he added.


UN chief slams ‘systematic’ looting of Gaza humanitarian aid

Updated 03 December 2024
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UN chief slams ‘systematic’ looting of Gaza humanitarian aid

  • Aid distribution in Gaza is complicated by shortages of fuel, war-damaged roads and looting
  • On Monday, Gaza’s interior ministry said it had carried out a major operation targeting looters
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations chief on Tuesday denounced the “systematic” looting of humanitarian aid in Gaza, a day after the territory’s Hamas authorities said 20 people were killed in a security operation targeting such actions.
“Armed looting has become systematic and must end immediately. It is hindering life saving aid operations and further endangering the lives of our staff,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“However, the use of law enforcement operations must be lawful, necessary and proportionate.”
Israel imposed a total siege on Gaza in the early stages of the war last year, and the UN warned on November 9 that famine was looming in some areas due to a lack of aid.
Aid distribution in Gaza is complicated by shortages of fuel, war-damaged roads and looting, as well as fighting in densely populated areas and the repeated displacement of much of the territory’s 2.4 million people.
Several humanitarian officials have told AFP on condition of anonymity that almost half the aid that enters Gaza is looted, especially basic supplies.
On Monday, Gaza’s interior ministry said it had carried out a major operation targeting looters.
“More than 20 members of gangs involved in stealing aid trucks were killed in a security operation carried out by security forces in cooperation with tribal committees,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said the operation was “the beginning of a broad security campaign that has been long planned and will expand to include everyone involved in the theft of aid trucks.”
On Tuesday, the US-based Washington Post newspaper cited a UN memo as saying some of the gangs were receiving “passive if not active benevolence” or “protection” from the Israel Defense Forces.
Dujarric said he was unaware of the memo, but that the allegation was “fairly alarming” if true.
“The idea that the Israeli forces may be allowing looters or not doing enough to prevent it is frankly, fairly alarming, given the responsibilities of Israel as the occupying power to ensure that humanitarian aid is distributed safely,” he said.