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Live blog: Lebanon wants withdrawal of Israeli weapons from country’s south

News Agency nabakhabar — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 14:20:21 +0000

Israel’s genocide in Gaza — now in its 462nd day — has killed over 46,006 Palestinians and wounded 109,378 others. In Lebanon, Israel has killed 4,048 people since October 2023.

Friday, January 10, 2025

1142 GMT — Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati emphasised the need to remove weapons from southern Lebanon, saying the country is embarking on a new phase that should be marked by the return of stability.

During a press conference following his meeting with newly-elected President Joseph Aoun at the presidential palace in Beirut, Mikati revealed that President Aoun had asked him to continue overseeing government affairs until a new administration was formed.

“We discussed the challenges ahead and the presidential speech, which sets the direction for any new government,” Mikati said.

He further explained that the situation in the south was a critical topic during their discussion and that “Israel must swiftly and fully withdraw from southern Lebanon to restore stability.”

“We are now at a point where we must see the removal of weapons from the south of the Litani River and the establishment of peace across the whole of Lebanon,” he affirmed.

More updates

1118 GMT — Director of Gaza’s al-Awda Hospital warns of dire conditions

The director of al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza has raised alarms over the life-threatening conditions faced by patients and medical staff due to targeted attacks by the Israeli army.

Speaking to Anadolu, Mohamed Saleha revealed that Israeli forces had directly fired bullets and bombs at the hospital and its surroundings causing severe damage, including the burning of nearby homes.

Saleha emphasised that the facility, located in Tel al-Zaatar near the Jabalia refugee camp, is now the only operational hospital in northern Gaza following the closure of the Kamal Adwan and Indonesian hospitals due to Israeli bombardment.

“We rely on a small generator to run medical equipment for a few hours daily, limiting surgical procedures to life-saving cases,” he said.

Saleha appealed for urgent medical support, including specialized doctors in orthopaedics and vascular surgery, while criticising the failure of international efforts, including those by the World Health Organization (WHO), to deliver medical supplies due to Israeli restrictions.

1019 GMT — Israeli soldier accused of war crimes faces legal complaint in Sweden

A legal case against Boaz Ben David, an Israeli soldier accused of war crimes during the Gaza war, has been submitted to a Swedish court, the Hind Rajab Foundation has announced.

“The complaint, filed with Swedish authorities, accuses Ben David of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possible acts of genocide during the recent military operations in Gaza,” the foundation said in a statement.

“This move follows growing international calls to hold perpetrators of grave crimes accountable, ensuring justice for victims of the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” it added.

According to the foundation, Ben David, a staff sergeant and sniper with the Latak Platoon of the Spearhead Company, is currently visiting Sweden as a tourist but may leave the country soon.

He is accused of being involved in the indiscriminate targeting of civilians, the destruction of Palestinian homes, and organized violence in Gaza, it added.

0924 GMT — 88 percent of Israelis support hostage exchange deal: poll

A public opinion poll published revealed that 88 percent of Israelis support a hostage exchange agreement as PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party faces declining popularity due to the prolonged war in Gaza.

The poll also indicated that if elections were held today, Netanyahu would struggle to form a government.

His political bloc is projected to secure only 49 seats in the Knesset, compared to 61 seats for the opposition.

This marks a shift from a similar poll conducted last week, which showed Netanyahu’s bloc with 50 seats and the opposition with 60 seats.

According to the poll, Netanyahu’s Likud party would secure 22 seats. The opposition National Unity Party led by Benny Gantz would win 19 seats, while Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party is projected to gain 15 seats. Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid would secure 14 seats.

0500 GMT –– Gaza war toll likely significantly undercounts deaths: study

An official Palestinian tally of direct deaths in the Israel-Hamas war likely undercounted the number of casualties by 41 percent through the middle of 2024 as Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure unravelled, according to a study.

The peer-reviewed statistical analysis published in The Lancet journal was conducted by academics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Yale University and other institutions.

Using a statistical method called capture-recapture analysis, the researchers sought to assess the death toll from Israel’s air and ground campaign in Gaza in the first nine months of the war, between October 2023 and the end of June 2024.

They estimated 64,260 deaths due to traumatic injury during this period, about 41 percent higher than the official Palestinian Health Ministry count. The study said 59.1 percent were women, children and people over the age of 65. It did not provide an estimate of Palestinian combatants among the dead.

More than 46,000 people have been killed in the Gaza war, according to Palestinian health officials.

0412 GMT — Palestinian killed in Khan Younis

A Palestinian was killed and three others were wounded on Friday morning in an Israeli bombardment of Khan Younis city, south of Gaza.

Palestine’s news agency, WAFA, confirmed the casualties resulted from an Israeli drone bombing of a gathering of Palestinians in Khan Younis.

0726 GMT — Tel Aviv identifies the body of the Israeli dead captive

Israel confirmed that a hostage found killed in Gaza was Hamza Ziyadne, the son of another hostage, Youssef Ziyadne, found dead alongside him in an underground tunnel near the southern city of Rafah.

The family of Hamza, an Israeli Bedouin taken hostage by Hamas-led fighters alongside his father, had been notified of his death following the conclusion of forensic tests, the Israeli military said.

Earlier this week, it said the bodies of both hostages had been recovered close to those of armed guards from Hamas resistance group or another Palestinian armed group, adding their deaths did not appear to have been recent and it was not yet clear how they had been killed.

0229 GMT — UK aid group calls for release of detained Palestinian health care workers

The UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) has called on the British government to take “urgent action” to protect health care workers in Gaza, including the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was detained last month by Israel.

In a statement, MAP pointed out the increase in Israel’s systematic attacks targeting Gaza’s health system and medical staff, which is “making Palestinian survival impossible.”

“We at MAP are extremely concerned for the life and safety of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all Palestinian health care workers detained by Israeli forces,” said Fikr Shalltoot, MAP’s Gaza director.

2300 GMT — Real ‘progress’ made in Gaza truce talks: Biden

US President Joe Biden has said there was “real progress” in talks for a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas in Palestine’s Gaza, an agreement the US president is pushing for in his last days in office.

“We’re making some real progress, I met with negotiators today,” Biden told reporters at the White House.

2152 GMT — PLO warns of grave repercussions from Israeli laws targeting UNRWA

A senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) warned of severe consequences from two Israeli laws targeting the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) that are set to take effect soon.

The first law, passed in October by Israel’s Knesset, or parliament, bans the UN agency’s operations within Israel. The second revokes a 1967 agreement between Israel and UNRWA.

Ahmed Abu Holi, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said that “implementing these laws could undermine UNRWA’s mandate in the Gaza Strip and the (occupied) West Bank while eliminating its presence in East Jerusalem.”

“This will deprive millions of refugees of vital services, including education, health care and life-saving emergency aid, leading to a humanitarian collapse in Gaza,” he said in a statement on his Facebook page.

2123 GMT — Palestine calls on Christian world to act on Pope’s position regarding Gaza genocide

Palestine urged the global Christian community to translate Pope Francis’ known position on the ongoing humanitarian situation in Gaza into concrete action in the face of Israel’s continued carnage.

In a statement, Palestine’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the Pope’s repeated calls to end the onslaught and alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people.

The ministry emphasised that his advocacy for a resolution based on the two-state solution aligns with international law and humanitarian principles.

“The statements and positions expressed by Pope Francis deserve to be translated into practical steps,” the ministry said, calling on Christian institutions worldwide to heed the Pope’s moral and ethical leadership.

2029 GMT — Israeli army claims to have intercepted drone flying from east

The Israeli army claimed that it intercepted a drone flying from the east toward the western Negev region in southern Israel.

In a statement, the army said, “The Air Force intercepted a drone coming from the east.”

While the Israeli army did not specify the precise origin of the drone launch, Israeli media outlets, including Channel 12, said before the army’s statement that the drone “might have been launched from Yemen.”

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Israel accused of bombing Kamal Adwan Hospital ICU risking patients, medics

News Agency nabakhabar — Sun, 22 Dec 2024 16:23:42 +0000

The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, encircled by Israeli drones and tanks, has pleaded with the international community to intervene to protect the northern Gaza hospital as Israel ordered patients as well as hospital staff to evacuate.

The hospital remains one of the few still operational in the area, where only a handful of doctors remain to treat patients amid a severe shortage or complete depletion of essential medical supplies.

“We are now facing direct bombing of the intensive care unit again,” Dr Hussam Abu Safia said in a video statement on Saturday night, calling on the international community to protect the hospital and its 66 remaining patients as well as medical staff.

“The nursery, maternity, and all departments of the hospital are being targeted by the occupation forces with all types of weapons, including sniper fire, tank shells, and quadcopters,” he added.

“For more than an hour now, shells are raining down on us from every corner, mile, and direction.”

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from nearby Deir el-Balah, said, “What we are seeing now is a deliberate attack on the health facility.”

“The Israeli military has ordered evacuations from the hospital, but they have also created an intimidating environment that makes people feel it’s unsafe to leave.”

Mahmoud added that contact with those besieged at the hospital had been lost overnight.

Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed wounded Palestinians taking shelter in the hospital’s corridors, away from the windows, after Israeli forces opened fire on the facility. Despite that, Mahmoud said, “many injuries” were reported as bullets penetrated the walls, also damaging equipment.

Al Jazeera Arabic correspondents in Gaza also said they lost touch with journalists inside the hospital amid the ongoing assault. According to the channel, al-Awda Hospital located in the Jabalia refugee camp also came under attack.

The relentless Israeli attacks on medical facilities, including Kamal Adwan, drew a response from World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who called it “deeply worrisome”. He urged for an “immediate ceasefire” in the area that has been under siege for more than 70 days.

More than 14 months of nonstop Israeli attacks have devastated the enclave and displaced almost the entire 2.4 million of its population. More than 45,000 people, mostly children and women, have been killed in the offensive that has caused global condemnation.

Israel justifies its deadly attacks as a response to Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, in which nearly 1,100 people were killed and some 250 were taken captive.

Abu Safia said Israeli forces use the pretext that the hospital is a combat zone to justify attacks on the hospital.

“We hold the world responsible for what is occurring and for our repeated appeals,” he said, adding that “there seems to be no response” to the pleas from the international community.

34 Palestinians killed in a day

Gaza health officials said Israel killed 34 Palestinians, including 19 since Sunday dawn, in the past 24 hours.

Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud said Gaza has evolved into “a killing box with attacks around the clock” as four children were among five killed in the Israeli attack on Jabalia on Sunday.

At least eight people, including four children, were killed in yet another attack on a school repurposed as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the war. The Israeli military confirmed Saturday’s attack on the school, saying it targeted a Hamas “command and control centre”.

A woman inspects the damage at the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the Musa bin Nusayr School in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City on Sunday. [Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP]

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation deteriorated in Gaza, particularly in northern areas, which has been under military siege for weeks.

In a statement on X, the World Food Programme said since the siege began in October, it has filed 101 requests with the Israeli authorities to allow delivery of food aid to northern Gaza, including to Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya and Jabalia, but that only three of them had been granted.

Israel has faced accusations of genocide over its blocking of aid and basic necessities to the Gaza Strip. In the latest report, Human Rights Watch said earlier this week that since October last year, Israeli authorities have “deliberately obstructed Palestinians’ access to the adequate amount of water required for survival in the Gaza Strip”.

“Over one million children, the whole population of Gaza is impacted by this war,” Rachel Cummings, Save the Children’s humanitarian director in Gaza, told Al Jazeera.

“We are seeing children deeply affected by this onslaught, but the medium and longer-term impact is terrifying,” she said. “We provide immediate alleviation of suffering, but we know that what we do is a drop in the ocean.”

The continuing attacks come even as Palestinian groups say a ceasefire deal is “closer than ever”.

In a rare joint statement, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said a ceasefire in Gaza and a captive release deal was possible provided Israel does not impose new conditions in negotiations.

On October 7 last year, Palestinian fighters took about 250 captives, of whom 96 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

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Palestinians disappear in large number after encounters with Israeli troops

News Agency nabakhabar — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 11:56:13 +0000

Since last October, the Israeli military has conducted what amounts to a mass sifting of the Palestinian population as it raids homes and shelters.

Reem Ajour says she last saw her husband and then 4-year-old daughter in March when Israeli soldiers raided a family home in northern Gaza.

She is haunted by those chaotic last moments when the soldiers ordered her to leave behind Talal and Masaa, both wounded.

Eight months later, the 23-year-old mother still has no answers about their fate. The military says it does not have them. Troops levelled the house where they were staying soon after the raid.

“I am living and dead at the same time,” she said, breaking down in sobs.

Ajour is one of dozens of Palestinians that a legal group, Hamoked, is helping in their search for family members who went missing after being separated by Israeli soldiers during raids and arrests in Gaza.

Their cases a fraction of the estimated thousands who have gone missing during the 14-month-long war highlight a lack of accountability in how the Israeli military deals with Palestinians during ground attacks in Gaza, Hamoked says.

Israeli troops round up and detain men, from dozens to several hundred at a time, while forcing their families away, toward other parts of Gaza.

When people vanish, it’s nearly impossible to know what happened, Hamoked says.

“We’ve never had a situation of mass forced disappearance from Gaza, with no information provided for weeks and weeks to families,” said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked.

The missing girl

Four-year-old Masaa Ajour was shot, then separated from her mother

The Ajours were sheltering at a home in Gaza City that belonged to Talal’s family after being displaced from their own house earlier in the war. Israeli troops raided the home on March 24, opening fire as they burst in, Ajour said.

Ajour, who was three months pregnant, was shot in the stomach.

Talal was wounded in his leg, bleeding heavily. Masaa lay passed out, shot in the shoulder – though Ajour said she saw her still breathing.

As on12soldier bandaged the little girl’s wound, another pointed his gun in Ajour’s face and told her to head out of Gaza City.

She said she pleaded that she couldn’t leave Masaa and Talal, but the soldier screamed: “Go south!”

With no choice, Ajour collected her younger son and went down to the street. “It was all in a blink of an eye. It was all so fast,” she said. Still bleeding, she walked for two and a half hours, clutching her son.

When they reached a hospital in central Gaza, doctors treated her stomach wound and found her fetus’ pulse. Weeks later, doctors found the pulse had gone. She miscarried.

An ailing cancer patient

Ailing with cancer, Mahmoud Alghrabli disappeared after raid

The last time the Alghrabli family saw their 76-year-old patriarch, Mahmoud Alghrabli, was when Israeli troops stormed their district in Khan Younis on Feb. 4. The soldiers ordered residents out of the area.

The Alghrablis had to carry Mahmoud, suffering from cancer, out of their building on a chair, his son Ahmed Algharbli told the AP.

After detaining some men, the soldiers ordered the rest to leave. Mahmoud Alghrabli made it to a sand mound near the house. Ahmed Algharbli said his brother went to help the father, but soldiers shouted at him to leave.

“He left our father by force, or he would have been shot,” he said.

The family returned a month later. There was no trace of Mahmoud. Ahmed Algharbli said he “walked meter by meter” searching for traces, finding bones but not knowing whose they were. He keeps them wrapped in a piece of cloth at home.

Milena Ansari, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said Israel is obligated under international law to document what happens during every home raid and detention. But the military is not transparent about the information it collects on detainees or on how many it is holding, she said.

Hamoked has asked the military for the whereabouts of 900 missing Palestinians. The military confirmed around 500 of them were detained in Israel. It said it had no record of detaining the other 400.

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Iran fires hundreds of missiles at Israeli regime (+VIDEOS)

News Agency nabakhabar — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 18:25:46 +0000

Much-anticipated Iranian retaliation against Israel has begun as ballistic missiles fired at the occupied Palestinian lands (Israeli regime) on Tuesday evening.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said on Tuesday evening that it had started hitting important military targets with dozens of missiles.

Previously, the Israeli army claimed that Iran had begun launching missiles at occupied Palestine.

Video footages from different cities across Iran like the capital Tehran show that barrage of missiles were fired at against Zionist entity.

Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz, Khorramabad, Arak etc. across Iran have witnessed missiles launched in the sky.

https://dlen.3danews.ir/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/5186610.mp4

Iranian missiles have already hit Tel Aviv and Quds, local Israeli regime’s media say.

In a statement, the IRGC said moments ago that the missile attack was a retaliation for different assassinations carried out by the Zionist enemy and the crimes in Palestine and Lebanon.

“In response to the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah and [IRGC commander Abbas] Nilforoushan, we targeted the heart of the occupied territories,” the IRGC said in a statement.

Iran’s IRGC warned the Israeli regime of more severe Iranian retaliation in case it responds to attack.

Footage shows a barrage of Iranian missiles hitting occupied Israeli territories.

The national Iranian TV said that 200 missiles were fired by Iran.

Israel’s gas platforms in the Mediterranean Sea have reportedly been destroyed following Iran’s missile attack as the following footage shows:

Zionist settlers are left in shock and horror under the rain of Iran’s retaliatory missiles.

This item is being updated…

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US sanctions Israeli group for attacking Gaza aid convoys

News Agency nabakhabar — Sat, 15 Jun 2024 15:00:28 +0000

The United States has imposed sanctions on a “violent extremist” Israeli group for blocking and damaging humanitarian aid convoys to Gaza as the risk of famine increases in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The administration of President Joe Biden on Friday targeted Tzav 9, a group whose stated aim is to prevent any assistance from entering Gaza. It accused the group of looting and setting fire to aid trucks.

“The provision of humanitarian assistance is vital to preventing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza from worsening and to mitigating the risk of famine,” the Department of State said in a statement.

“The government of Israel has a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian convoys transiting Israel and the West Bank en route to Gaza. We will not tolerate acts of sabotage and violence targeting this essential humanitarian assistance.”

The sanctions were announced a day after Israeli media outlets cited Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai as saying far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir pushed to prevent law enforcement from protecting aid convoys to Gaza.

For months, right-wing Israelis have been protesting and blocking roads to prevent aid shipments from reaching Gaza, which is under a suffocating Israeli blockade. The efforts have further strained the flow of desperately needed aid to the territory.

In recent weeks, the protesters have stepped up their attacks on convoys, especially as they go through the occupied West Bank. Last month, they set two aid trucks alight in the Hebron Hills area, an attack the US State Department blamed on Tzav 9.

The sanctions block the group’s assets in the US and largely prohibit American citizens from engaging in transactions with them. They were imposed under an executive order (EO) issued by Biden that set up a legal framework for US penalties against individuals and entities “undermining peace, security and stability” in the occupied West Bank.

Last week, the Biden administration invoked the same order to sanction the Lion’s Den, a Palestinian armed group.

Still, Washington has resisted calls to penalise Israeli officials responsible for abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank, including Ben-Gvir and ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

This month, US Senator Chris Van Hollen urged the Biden administration to use the executive order to target Smotrich.

“In my view, Smotrich should be subject to sanctions under this EO,” Van Hollen said.

The finance minister has withheld taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority, and in March, he declared 800 hectares (1,977 acres) in the West Bank to be Israeli state land.

“You’ve got this person whose stated goal is for essentially Israel to take over the entire West Bank,” Van Hollen told the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), an advocacy organisation that recommended sanctioning Tzav 9, welcomed Friday’s measures and called on Biden to target entities and individuals that help fund and enable the group as well.

“Recent revelations that Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered police to stand down and allow Tzav 9 to block humanitarian aid convoys show how this despicable strategy of starvation is coordinated from young settler activists all the way up to the highest levels of the Israeli government,” Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, director of research for Israel-Palestine at DAWN, said in a statement.

“The US should not continue to ignore Israeli government involvement in these crimes and should apply sanctions to Ben-Gvir next.”

Rights advocates also called on Washington to pressure Israel to lift its siege on Gaza.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that Israel has taken “important steps” in recent months to remove obstacles to aid deliveries in Gaza, but he acknowledged it “can and must do more”.

“It is crucial to speed up the inspection of trucks and reduce backlogs, to provide greater clarity on – and shorten the list of – prohibited goods, to increase visas for aid workers and to process them more quickly,” he said at a Gaza aid conference in Jordan on Tuesday.

Blinken also urged “clearer, more effective channels” to protect humanitarian workers from military operations.

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G7 leaders agree to lend Ukraine billions backed by Russia’s frozen assets. Here’s how it will work

News Agency nabakhabar — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 19:40:59 +0000

Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies have agreed to engineer a $50 billion loan to help Ukraine in its fight for survival. Interest earned on profits from Russia’s frozen central bank assets would be used as collateral.

Details of the deal were being hashed out by G7 leaders at their summit in Italy. The money could reach Kyiv before the end of the year, according to U.S. and French officials who confirmed the agreement before a formal announcement.

Here’s how the plan would work:

Where would the money come from?

Most of the money would be in the form of a loan mostly guaranteed by the U.S. government, backed by profits being earned on roughly $260 billion in immobilized Russian assets. The vast majority of that money is held in European Union nations.

A French official said the loan could be “topped up” with European money or contributions from other countries.

A U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the agreement said the G7 leaders’ official statement due out Friday will leave the door open to trying to confiscate the Russian assets entirely.

Why not just give Ukraine the frozen assets?

For more than a year, officials from multiple countries have debated the legality of confiscating the money and sending it to Ukraine.

The U.S. and its allies immediately froze whatever Russian central bank assets they had access to when Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022. That basically was money being held in banks outside Russia.

The assets are immobilized and cannot be accessed by Moscow, but they still belong to Russia.

While governments can generally freeze property or funds without difficulty, turning them into forfeited assets that can be used for the benefit of Ukraine requires an extra layer of judicial procedure, including a legal basis and adjudication in a court.

The EU instead has set aside the profits being generated by the frozen assets. That pot of money is easier to access.

Separately, the U.S. this year passed a law called the REPO Act — short for the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act — that allows the Biden administration to seize $5 billion in Russian state assets in the U.S. and use them for the benefit of Kyiv. That arrangement is being worked out.

How could the loan be used and how soon?

It will be up to technical experts to work through the details.

Ukraine will be able to spend the money in several areas, including for military, economic and humanitarian needs and reconstruction, the U.S. official said.

President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the goal is “to provide the necessary resources to Ukraine now for its economic energy and other needs so that it’s capable of having the resilience necessary to withstand Russia’s continuing aggression.”

Another goal is to get the money to Ukraine quickly.

The French official, who was not authorized to be publicly named according to French presidential policy, said the details could be worked out “very quickly and in any case, the $50 billion will be disbursed before the end of 2024.”

Beyond the costs of the war, the needs are great.

The World Bank’s latest damage assessment of Ukraine, released in February, estimates that costs for reconstruction and recovery of the nation stand at $486 billion over the next 10 years.

The move to unlock Russia’s assets comes after there was a long delay in Washington by Congress in approving military aid for Ukraine.

At an Atlantic Council event previewing the G7 summit, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, John Herbst, said “the fact that American funding is not quite reliable is a very important additional reason to go that route.”

Who would be on the hook in the case of a default?

If Russia regained control of its frozen assets or if the immobilized funds were not generating enough interest to pay back the loan, “then the question of burden-sharing arises,” according to the French official.

Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said last week that there were worries among European finance ministers that their countries “will be left holding the bag if Ukraine defaults.”

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Does ceasefire in Gaza mean Israeli escalation with Lebanon’s Hezbollah?

News Agency nabakhabar — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 18:14:24 +0000

Hezbollah fired more than 200 missiles and rockets across its southern border on Wednesday in one of its heaviest attacks on northern Israel since the 2006 war.

The day before, Israel had assassinated Taleb Abdullah, the most senior Hezbollah commander killed since October 8.

What happened on Tuesday and Wednesday is the latest intensification of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon, as negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas seem to be coming to a head.

Israel has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, the day Hamas led an attack on Israel, killing 1,139 people and capturing some 240.

Israel faces genocide charges for its actions in Gaza in a case brought to the International Criminal of Justice by South Africa.

Is there a connection?

Analysts told Al Jazeera a Gaza ceasefire could shift Israel’s military focus to Lebanon, where it has exchanged attacks with Hezbollah since the day after October 7.

The exchanges across Lebanon’s southern border are not exactly tit-for-tat.

Al Jazeera found in an April investigation that Israel had launched more than five attacks on Lebanon for every attack from Hezbollah.

Israel has killed about 300 Hezbollah members and more than 70 civilians during this time, while Israel says it has lost about 15 soldiers and 10 civilians.

Israeli war hawks

While tensions are increasing along the border, analysts believe Israel would struggle to widen the war on Lebanon without first a ceasefire in Gaza.

“The Israelis will not enlarge their fight with Lebanon as long as there is [still] one single shot in Gaza,” Tannous Mouawad, a retired brigadier general in the Lebanese army, told Al Jazeera. “When [a ceasefire is achieved in] Gaza, the Israelis will definitely turn towards Lebanon.”

The Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is under domestic pressure tas the school year approaches and more than 90,000 people remain displaced from their homes in northern Israel.

Politicians say Hezbollah needs to be pushed back from the border before civilians can safely return – although many have reportedly decided not to come back.

Netanyahu said last week that Israel is “prepared for a very intense operation” on the border with Lebanon.

“An opinion poll published by [Israeli newspaper] Maariv … showed [that] over 70 percent of Israelis want to do away with Hezbollah,” Karim Emile Bitar, professor of international relations at Saint Joseph’s University in Beirut, told Al Jazeera.

“Several members of the [Israeli] war cabinet also share this hawkish position.”

“We are approaching the point where a decision will have to be made, and the [Israeli military] is prepared and very ready for this decision,” chief of staff of Israel’s army, Herzi Halevi, told military officials in early June.

Negative consequences

A push for war against Hezbollah and Lebanon does not mean an assured victory for Israel.

Bitar said any war would be “extraordinarily counterproductive” and could inflict heavy suffering on both the Lebanese and Israelis.

“[It will not be] a walk in the park [for Israel],” he added. “The idea that they could occupy south Lebanon shows that they have learned nothing from Israeli history.”

Israel invaded south Lebanon in 1978 and 1982 during the country’s civil war, aiming to push out Palestinian groups.

Hezbollah itself, a Lebanese Shia group with close ties to Iran, was formed in 1982 in response to Israel’s invasion.

Israel also occupied south Lebanon from 1985 until 2000, after Hezbollah and other Lebanese forces pushed Israeli troops back across the border.

An invasion would likely give Israel “much more than it bargained for” Bitar said.

Today, Hezbollah is generally believed to be the world’s strongest non-state actor, which means its military capabilities are significantly stronger than those of Hamas.

Until now, it has largely struck military targets near the north of Israel but, analysts say, it striking military targets in areas like Tel Aviv, which is surrounded by civilian infrastructure, would be more problematic for Israel.

“There’s [already] a rift in Israel itself with northern settlers furious at the government,” Amal Saad, author of the book Hizbu’llah Politics and Religion, told Al Jazeera.

Raining rockets down on a populated city could be a way “to deepen preexisting divides and showcase what the rest of Israel can look like,” she said. “Israel cannot tolerate a fraction of what Gaza or Lebanon can.”

In recent weeks, Hezbollah has also used new weapons not previously utilised on the battlefield, including anti-aircraft missiles, which it claimed forced Israeli fighter jets to retreat.

This move was “symbolic”, according to Saad, because it “challenged Israeli’s aerial supremacy”. Hezbollah has also downed a number of Israeli drones in recent weeks.

Of course, a wider war in Lebanon could come with serious consequences for both Israel and Lebanon.

US officials have warned that an escalation against Hezbollah could draw in Iran and other allied forces in the region.

And Lebanon, with its collapsed economy, would surely be left in an even worse state. A war would bring “extra large destruction by Israel on Lebanon”, said Mouawad, the retired brigadier general.

“Lebanon cannot afford its consequences.”

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Qatar’s prime minister says there is a clear and firm call to end the war in Gaza

News Agency nabakhabar — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 19:30:08 +0000

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Wednesday that there is a clear and firm call to end the war in Gaza.

The current proposal for a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave is the best way to bridge gaps between Hamas and Israel, he added.

“We are witnessing a shift in this conflict in the recent period and there is a clear and firm call to end this war,” Sheikh Mohammed said during a press conference in Doha with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Asked about Israel and Hamas’ commitment to the current proposal, he said both sides need to be pressured to reach an agreement and both have been counterproductive.

Blinken vowed to keep pressing to seal a Gaza ceasefire deal, saying that not all Hamas demands were acceptable but voicing hope that gaps could be closed.

Consulting with key mediator Qatar on the Hamas response to President Joe Biden’s plan, Blinken said Hamas could have given a “clear and simple yes” but voiced guarded hope for moving forward.

Of the demands of Hamas, Blinken said “some of the changes are workable, some are not.”

“We’re determined to try to bridge the gaps. And I believe those gaps are bridgeable,” Blinken said. “That doesn’t mean they will be bridged because, ultimately, Hamas has to decide,” he said.

“The longer this goes on, the more people will suffer, and it’s time for the haggling to stop.”

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Israel committed crimes against humanity in Gaza: UN-backed report

News Agency nabakhabar — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 15:40:27 +0000

Israel committed crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza, including the crime of “extermination,” an independent UN investigation concludes.

Israeli authorities are responsible for “war crimes and crimes against humanity committed” during the military attacks in Gaza since October 7, 2023, a UN-backed commission said in a new report.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry found that Israeli authorities are responsible for “the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or wilful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and outrages upon personal dignity.”

The commission found that “the crimes against humanity of extermination, gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys, murder, forcible transfer, and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment” were also committed.

The extensive civilian casualties and widespread destruction of civilian objects and infrastructure in Gaza were “the inevitable result of a strategy undertaken with intent to cause maximum damage, disregarding the principles of distinction, proportionality and adequate precautions.”

The intentional use of heavy weapons with large destructive capacity in densely populated areas constitutes “an intentional and direct attack on the civilian population,” it added.

Regarding the statements made by Israeli officials, the report said their remarks “amounted to incitement and may constitute other serious international crimes,” adding that direct and public incitement to genocide is a crime under international law whenever perpetrated.

The commission also evaluated the evacuation orders issued by Israel, calling them “insufficient, unclear and conflicting, and did not provide adequate time for safe evacuations.”

“Furthermore, the evacuation routes and the areas designated as safe were consistently attacked by Israeli forces,” it said and added: “All of this, the Commission determined, amounted to forcible transfer.”

Israel also imposed a “total siege,” which “amounts to collective punishment” against the civilian population, according to the commission.

“Israeli authorities have weaponised the siege and used the provision of life-sustaining necessities, including by severing water, food, electricity, fuel and humanitarian assistance, for strategic and political gains.”

It stressed that the siege has “disproportionately impacted” pregnant women and persons with disabilities, with “serious harm inflicted on children leading to preventable child deaths from starvation including newborns.”

Regarding the acts in the occupied West Bank, the commission found that Israel committed “acts of sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment and outrages upon personal dignity, all of which are war crimes.”

Moreover, the commission determined that the Israeli government, as well as the Israeli military, “permitted, fostered and instigated” a pattern of settler aggression directed against Palestinian communities within the occupied West Bank.

UN inquiry to Israel, Hamas

In its recommendations, the commission urged Israel to take immediate action, including implementing a ceasefire, ending the blockade of Gaza, ensuring delivery of humanitarian supplies, and ceasing attacks on civilians and infrastructure.

The commission called on Tel Aviv to “comply fully” with its legal obligations set forth in the International Court of Justice orders on provisional measures issued on January 26, March 28 and May 24 and, in particular, allow the commission access to Gaza to conduct investigations.

It also recommended that all state parties to the Rome Statute cooperate fully with the International Criminal Court.

“Israel must immediately stop its military operations and attacks in Gaza, including the assault on Rafah, which has cost the lives of hundreds of civilians and again displaced hundreds of thousands of people to unsafe locations without basic services and humanitarian assistance,” Navi Pillay, chair of the commission, said in a press release.

In relation to October 7, 2023 attack in Israel, the commission found that the military wing of Hamas and six other Palestinian armed groups, are responsible for “the war crimes of intentionally directing attacks against civilians, murder or wilful killing, torture, inhuman or cruel treatment, destroying or seizing the property of an adversary, outrages upon personal dignity, and taking hostages, including children.”

It urged the government of the State of Palestine and the de-facto authorities in Gaza to “immediately cease all rocket attacks on Israel, unconditionally release all hostages, and thoroughly and impartially investigate violations and prosecute those responsible for crimes, including those committed on and since 7 October by members of Palestinian non-State armed groups in Israel.”

The commission’s report will be presented to the Human Rights Council’s 56th session on June 19 in Geneva.

It is based on interviews with victims and witnesses conducted remotely and during a mission to Türkiye and Egypt, with thousands of open-source items verified through advanced forensic analysis, hundreds of submissions, satellite imagery, and forensic medical reports, according to the commission.

“Israel obstructed the commission’s investigations and prevented its access to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” it noted.

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Blinken headed for Middle East to push Gaza ceasefire plan

News Agency nabakhabar — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 17:10:27 +0000

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to arrive in the Middle East to push the latest proposal for a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza. The top United States diplomat is expected to visit Egypt and Israel on Monday as he launches his eighth tour of the region in as many months, before continuing to Jordan and Qatar.

He will seek support for the latest draft of the ceasefire deal presented by President Joe Biden 10 days ago, which the US also hopes to put to a vote at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

However, with neither Israel nor Hamas having fully endorsed the plan, fighting continues, with air raids hitting across the Gaza Strip overnight on Sunday and Monday morning.

In Cairo, Blinken will meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi before visiting Israel for a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

As well as pressing the ceasefire proposal, the US official is set to discuss the reopening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, a vital point for aid shipments into Gaza that Israel seized amid its ground invasion of the south of the enclave last month.

Categorical and permanent

Biden outlined on May 31 a three-phase proposal to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that he said was presented by Israel. However, neither Israel nor Hamas has fully endorsed the plan, with negotiations ongoing.

A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, urged the US on Monday to press Israel to end the war.

“We call upon the US administration to put pressure on the occupation to stop the war on Gaza and the Hamas movement is ready to deal positively with any initiative that secures an end to the war,” he said.

The proposal includes the exchange of Palestinian prisoners with Israeli captives, withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, return of displaced Palestinians to their homes across the enclave, and a plan to reconstruct the territory, much of which has been destroyed since October 7.

More than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war and about 84,000 injured, mostly women and children.

The trip comes as Washington has been working on multiple drafts of a resolution it aims to put to a vote at the UNSC to back up the proposal.

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi said that the latest version of the proposal differs in some significant ways from previous efforts.

“First of all, it explicitly states that Israel has accepted the ceasefire deal. A previous version only said that a ceasefire deal was acceptable to Israel,” he noted.

It also explicitly states that any ceasefire will continue after six weeks, and be renewed as long as negotiations continue.

“But it’s still not a categorical, permanent ceasefire. That’s what some members of the Security Council want,” Rattansi said.

Continued bombardment

Blinken’s trip comes two days after the Israeli military killed at least 274 Palestinians and wounded 698 more in Nuseirat in central Gaza as part of an operation that led to the release of four Israelis from Hamas captivity.

Hamas claimed that three more unnamed captives, including one holding US citizenship, were killed by Israeli forces during the raid, which was denied by Israel.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military continued its bombardment on sites across Gaza. Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said bodies continue to arrive at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, threatening to overwhelm the only operating hospital in the area.

Late on Sunday, Benny Gantz announced he was resigning as Israeli war cabinet minister. While the move is unlikely to threaten the Netanyahu administration immediately, it will make him even more reliant on far-right allies.

Blinken has previously met Gantz during visits to Israel, but it is unclear if a visit is scheduled on Monday.

The eighth regional tour since the start of the war by the US diplomat also comes as tensions are boiling in border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, with both sides signaling they are ready for war after eight months of border fighting.

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