October 11, 2024
Meanwhile,
Israel's siege on Jabalia 'could last months' as part of north Gaza ethnic
cleansing plan
Key
Points
- US wants "diplomatic understanding" between Israel and Lebanon
- Israeli strike in central Beirut kills 22
- Palestinians kill three Israeli soldiers in Jabalia fighting
Live
Updates
Blinken holds
call with Lebanese speaker of parliament
2 minutes ago
The US secretary
of state held a phone call with Lebanon's speaker of parliament on Friday,
according to Nabih Berri's office.
Earlier in the
day at a news conference in Laos, where Antony Blinken is currently on a visit,
he said the US is "extremely focused" on reaching a "diplomatic
understanding" between Israel and Lebanon, but did not suggest that the US
has pivoted from its previously stated goal of eliminating Hezbollah alongside
Israel.
"Israel has
a right to defend itself against terror attacks coming from Hezbollah, from
Hamas, from anyone else. But it’s also
vitally important that in doing that, they focus on making sure that civilians
are protected and, again, are not being caught in a terrible crossfire. So that’s another area of concern,"
Blinken told reporters.
He added that he
has been in touch with Lebanese officials, and that the US believes that
"the issue of the vacant presidency" in the country should be
"resolved" in order for Lebanon to stand on its feet.
Pentagon urges
'safety of Unifil forces' between Israel and Lebanon demarcation line
1 hour ago
US Secretary of
Defence Lloyd Austin says he told his Israeli counterpart to ensure the safety
of UN peacekeepers along the demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon.
In his phone
call with Yoav Gallant on Friday, Austin said he "urged ensuring the
safety of UNIFIL forces and coordinating efforts to pivot from military
operations to a diplomatic pathway as soon as feasible".
Austin and
Gallant have convened regular phone calls over the past year, sometimes
speaking several times a week.
Two people
killed by Israeli strike on Kafra in southern Lebanon
2 hours ago
Lebanon's army
has said that two people were killed and three others wounded after Israeli
forces struck one of its military posts in southern Lebanon's Kafra.
Israeli military
conducting review after UN peacekeepers attacked in Lebanon
2 hours ago
The Israeli
military said in a statement that it was conducting a thorough review after
being notified of what it described as UN peacekeepers being
"inadvertently" wounded in southern Lebanon.
The United
Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) announced on Friday that two
peacekeepers had been injured near the border with Israel.
A day earlier,
two Indonesian peacekeepers were wounded after Israel fired on the Unifil
headquarters.
Dozens wounded
by Israeli quadcopter attack on school in Jabalia
2 hours ago
Dozens of
Palestinians were wounded after an Israeli quadcopter fired at a school
sheltering displaced people in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, according
to Palestinian civil defence workers cited by Reuters.
Civil defence
crews transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital.
France summons
Israeli ambassador over attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon
2 hours ago
France has
summoned Israel's ambassador to the country to seek an explanation after
Israeli troops fired at positions held by UN peacekeepers, including at the
Naqoura base, in southern Lebanon.
"These
attacks constitute serious violations of international law and must stop
immediately," the French foreign ministry said on Friday.
France has
around 700 troops as part of the Unifil mission. French troops have not been
wounded.
The foreign
ministry said that all warring parties had an obligation to protect
peacekeepers.
Two further UN
peacekeepers injured by Israeli fire in Lebanon
3 hours ago
The United
Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) announced Friday that two
peacekeepers had been injured near the border with Israel.
Already on
Thursday, two Indonesian peacekeepers had been injured after Israel fired on
the Unifil headquarters, provoking an international outcry, with Italy going so
far as to speak of possible "war crimes".
On Friday,
"an Israeli army bulldozer knocked down sections of the protective
wall" of a Unifil position, the force added.
Opinion: Israel
wants to finish the job Washington started after 9/11
4 hours ago
Nearly a decade
ago, a leading Israeli human rights activist divulged to me a private
conversation he’d had a short time earlier with one of Europe’s ambassadors to
Israel. He had clearly been shaken by the exchange.
The ambassador’s
country was then widely seen as one of the most sympathetic in the West to the
Palestinian people. The Israeli activist had expressed concerns about Europe’s
inaction in the face of relentless Israeli attacks on Palestinian rights and systematic
violations of international law.
At the time,
Israel was enforcing a lengthy siege on Gaza that had deprived more than two
million people there of the essentials of life, and it had repeatedly bombed
urban areas, killing hundreds of civilians.
In the occupied
West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israel had intensified its expansion of illegal
Jewish settlements, leading to a surge in violence from settler militias and
the Israeli army. Palestinians were being killed and driven off their land.
The activist
asked the ambassador a simple question: What would Israel need to do for his
government to act against it? Where was the red line?
The ambassador
paused as he thought hard. And then, with a shrug of the shoulders, he
responded: there was nothing Israel could do. There was no red line.
A decade ago,
that comment might have been interpreted as evasive. A year into Israel’s
erasure of Gaza, it sounds utterly prophetic.
There is no red
line. And more importantly, there never has been.
Getting rid of
Unrwa almost an objective of Gaza war, agency's chief says
5 hours ago
Philippe
Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa),
said on Friday it has almost been an objective of the ongoing Israeli war on
Gaza to get rid of the agency, adding that Unrwa will have clarity on funding
from the United States in the beginning of 2025.
Reporting by
Reuters
Gaza death toll
tops 42,100, with 61 killed in past day
5 hours ago
Israeli forces
have killed at least 61 Palestinians and wounded 231 in the past 24 hours,
according to the Palestinian health ministry.
This brings the
death toll since 7 October 2023 to 42,126, with more than 98,117 wounded and an
estimated 10,000 still missing, likely dead and buried under rubble.
Health officials
report that over 60 percent of the victims are children and women.
Lebanon's
caretaker PM denounces attack on UN peacekeepers as a crime
6 hours ago
Lebanese
caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati denounced what he said was an attack on
the Unifil peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon on Friday as a crime.
He also said he
had discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon with US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken.
Reporting by
Reuters
Gaza's cultural
and religious heritage lies in ruins after a year of attacks by Israel
6 hours ago
The devastation
of Israel’s war on Gaza has not spared the besieged strip's cultural heritage
and museums, mosques, churches, and archaeological sites have been destroyed or
heavily damaged.
As of September,
Unesco confirmed damage to 69 cultural heritage sites since the war started on
7 October 2023.
These include 10
religious sites, 43 buildings of historical and artistic interest, two
repositories of movable cultural property, six monuments, one museum, and seven
archaeological sites.
Unesco told
Middle East Eye that its preliminary assessment using satellite imagery shows
that out of these sites, 29 per cent (20 sites) appear destroyed, 20 per cent
(14 sites) severely damaged, and 51 per cent (35 sites) moderately damaged.
The UN agency
said that it has only been able to conduct remote assessments of the damage due
to the war. That could mean the extent of the damage on the ground may be more
severe.
Over 100 medics
and emergency workers killed in Lebanon: UN rights office
7 hours ago
The UN human
rights office said on Friday that over 100 medics and emergency workers had
been killed in Lebanon since the Israeli assault began a year ago.
"In all,
over 100 medical and emergency workers have been killed across Lebanon since
October last year," spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a UN briefing
without giving details of when or where they were killed.
Reporting by
Reuters
Gaza situation
'like Japan 80 years ago': Nobel peace winner Nihon Hidankyo
7 hours ago
The situation
for children in Gaza is similar to the situation in Japan at the end of World
War II, the co-head of new Nobel Peace Prize winner Nihon Hidankyo said Friday.
"In Gaza,
children in blood are being held. It's like in Japan 80 years ago,"
Toshiyuki Mimaki told a news conference in Tokyo.
Reporting by AFP
Spain's Sanchez
calls for ending weapons exports to Israel
7 hours ago
Spanish Prime
Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday called on the international community to stop
selling weapons to Israel.
Sanchez also
condemned Israel's attacks against the United Nations' peacekeeping force in
Lebanon.
"Let me at
this point criticise and condemn the attacks that the Israeli armed forces are
carrying out on the United Nations mission in Lebanon," Sanchez said after
meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Reporting by
Reuters
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