JERUSALEM: Israel’s opposition leader accused the government on Monday of resisting a state probe into the events surrounding Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, after an inconclusive, court-ordered cabinet meeting about a potential inquiry.
The Hamas attack, which triggered more than 15 months of war in the Gaza Strip, was the deadliest in Israeli history. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused accepting responsibility for failures, and his government has suggested that any probe should wait until after the fighting is over.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, speaking in parliament, said that “the government did everything yesterday to bury this commission,” referring to a cabinet meeting late Sunday which ended with no decision on a formal inquiry.
Lapid said that an investigation was needed so that a similar attack “won’t happen again.”
He also accused Netanyahu of having ignored intelligence warnings before of the cross-border attack, and pursuing a policy to “strengthen Hamas” over several years prior to it.
The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Militants also took 251 hostages, of whom 73 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Following appeals from relatives of victims and hostages as well as NGOs, Israel’s supreme court on December 11 demanded the government meet within 60 days to discuss the creation of an inquiry commission.
The government met on the subject on Sunday and took no decision.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday defended the government’s position and said that “in the middle of a war, it is not the right time to investigate.”
A fragile truce since last month has largely halted Israel’s military operations in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, whose health ministry says the war has killed at least 48,208 people in the territory.
Smotrich said that while he was “in favor of investigating” the October 7 attack, he “does not trust” the judiciary — a frequent target of criticism from Netanyahu’s government — with the responsibility.
According to Israeli law, if the government decides to set up a state commission of inquiry, it must inform the president of the Supreme Court, who is then responsible for appointing its members.
Since the 1960s, more than a dozen such commissions have been formed in Israel, notably after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, a 1982 massacre in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon by Israeli-backed militias, and the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.
More recently, state commission was launched into a deadly 2021 stampede in which 45 people lost their lives during a Jewish pilgrimage in Israel’s north.
A bill to form a state commission of inquiry into October 7 was rejected by a majority of lawmakers on January 22.
Israel opposition accuses Netanyahu’s government of ‘burying’ October 7 probe
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Israel opposition accuses Netanyahu’s government of ‘burying’ October 7 probe
- Benjamin Netanyahu's government suggested that any probe should wait until after the fighting in Gaza is over
- Yair Lapid accused Netanyahu of having ignored intelligence warnings of Hamas attack
At least 70 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza, health authorities say
- Medics say Israeli strikes targeted several houses in northern and southern areas of the Gaza Strip
- Since Tuesday, airstrikes have killed 510 Palestinians, with more than half of them women and children
GAZA/CAIRO: At least 70 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza on Thursday, after Israel resumed its bombing campaign on the enclave, a Gaza health official said.
Medics said Israeli strikes targeted several houses in northern and southern areas of the Gaza Strip. There was no immediate comment from Israel.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military said its forces had resumed ground operations in central and southern Gaza, after a ceasefire that had broadly held since January collapsed.
The renewed ground operations came a day after more than 400 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes in one of the deadliest episodes since the beginning of the conflict in October 2023.
Since Tuesday, airstrikes have killed 510 Palestinians, with more than half of them women and children, the health official said.
The Israeli military said its operations extended Israel’s control over the Netzarim Corridor, which bisects Gaza, and were a “focused” maneuver aimed at creating a partial buffer zone between the north and the south of the enclave.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas said the ground operation and the incursion into the Netzarim Corridor were a “new and dangerous violation” of the two-month-old ceasefire agreement. In a statement, the group reaffirmed its commitment to the deal and called on mediators to “assume their responsibilities.”
Speaking to Reuters on Thursday, a Hamas official said mediators had stepped up their efforts with the two warring sides but added that “no breakthrough has yet been made.”
The group has made no clear threats to retaliate.
The war started after Hamas militants attacked Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 and taking more than 250 hostages, by Israeli tallies.
More than 49,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ensuing conflict, according to Gaza’s health authorities, with the enclave reduced to rubble.
Sudan TV says army close to taking control of Presidential Palace from paramilitary RSF group
- Marks a significant shift in the two-year-old conflict that threatens to fracture the country
- The war has led to what the UN calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis
DUBAI: Sudan’s state TV said on Thursday that the army is close to taking control of the Presidential Palace in Khartoum from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, marking a significant shift in the two-year-old conflict that threatens to fracture the country.
Late on Wednesday, heavy clashes erupted near the palace, with explosions heard and airstrikes by the army targeting central Khartoum, witnesses and military sources said.
After nearly two years of war, the RSF controls most of the west of Sudan and parts of the capital Khartoum, but has been losing ground in central Sudan to the army.
The two military factions staged a coup in 2021, derailing a transition to civilian rule, and warfare broke out in April 2023 after plans for a new transition triggered violent conflict.
The war has led to what the UN calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with both the RSF and the army accused of widespread human rights abuses.
Israel launches a ground operation to retake part of a key corridor in northern Gaza
- Israel used the Netzarim corridor as a military zone which bisected northern Gaza from the south.
DEIR AL-BALAH: Israel said Wednesday it launched a “limited ground operation” in northern Gaza to retake part of a corridor that bisects the territory, and the country’s defense minister warned that the army plans to step up the attacks that shattered a two-month ceasefire “with an intensity that you have not seen.”
The military said it had retaken part of the Netzarim corridor, which bisects northern Gaza from the south and from where it had withdrawn as part of the ceasefire with Hamas that began in January.
Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Palestinians in Gaza that the army would again order evacuations from combat zones soon, and that its attacks against Hamas would become more fierce if dozens of hostages held for more than 17 months weren’t freed.
The move appeared to deepen a renewed Israeli offensive in Gaza, which shattered a ceasefire with Hamas.
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 436 people, including 183 children and 94 women, have been killed since Israel launched the strikes early Tuesday. It said another 678 people have been wounded.
The military says it only strikes militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas. Gaza’s Health Ministry records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The military said in a statement that as part of the new offensive, it struck dozens of militants and militant sites on Wednesday, including the command center of a Hamas battalion.
The war in Gaza, which was paused in January by an internationally-mediated ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, has been among the deadliest conflicts ever for humanitarian workers, according to the UN.
The resumption of fighting launched by Israel early Tuesday risks plunging the region back into all-out war. It came weeks after the end of the first phase of the ceasefire, during which Israel and Hamas exchanged hostages for prisoners and were set to negotiate an extension to the truce that was meant to bring about an eventual end to the war.
But those negotiations never got off the ground. Hamas has demanded that Israel stick to the terms of the initial ceasefire deal, including a full withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war. Israel, which has vowed to defeat Hamas, has put forward a new proposal that would extend the truce and free more hostages held by Hamas, without a commitment to end the war.
Israel says it intercepted missile launched from Yemen
- Israel’s ambulance service said no serious injuries were reported
Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen early on Thursday as hostilities with the Houthis intensified, amid US President Donald Trump’s threats to punish Iran over its perceived support for the Yemeni militant group.
Sirens sounded across several areas in Israel after the projectile was fired, the military said. The Israeli police said sirens were heard in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
“A missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF prior to crossing into Israeli territory. Sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol,” the Israeli military said in a statement, referring to its air force.
Israel’s ambulance service said no serious injuries were reported.
Yemen’s Houthi militants, undeterred by waves of US strikes since Saturday, fired a ballistic missile toward Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, the group’s military spokesperson said in a televised statement.
The group has recently vowed to escalate their attacks, including those targeting Israel, in response to the US campaign.
US strikes which began on Saturday over the Houthis’ attacks against Red Sea shipping are the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. The US attacks have killed at least 31 people.
Trump also threatened on Monday to hold Iran accountable for any future Houthi attacks, warning of severe consequences. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the Houthis were independent and took their own strategic and operational decisions.
On Tuesday, the Houthis said they had fired a ballistic missile toward Israel and would expand their range of targets in that country in coming days in retaliation for renewed Israeli airstrikes in Gaza after weeks of relative calm.
The Houthis have carried out over 100 attacks on shipping since Israel’s war with Hamas began in late 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Gaza’s Palestinians.
The attacks have disrupted global commerce and prompted the US military to launch a costly campaign to intercept missiles.
The Houthis are part of what has been called the “Axis of Resistance” — an anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance of regional militias including Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and armed groups in Iraq, all backed by Iran.
UK demands transparent probe of Israel strike on Gaza UN building
- “Appalled a UN compound in Gaza was hit this morning,” Lammy wrote on X
LONDON: Britain’s foreign minister David Lammy on Wednesday called for a transparent investigation into an Israeli air strike on a UN building in Gaza.
“Appalled a UN compound in Gaza was hit this morning,” Lammy wrote on X. “This incident must be investigated transparently and those responsible held to account.”
