By The Independent (World News) | Created at 2024-10-04 04:10:24 | Updated at 2024-10-07 16:23:44
3 days ago
In Pics: Israel fires barrage of missiles toward Beirut in Lebanon
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar4 October 2024 05:00
Children among 18 killed in Israel’s deadliest attack on West Bank in decades
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 18 people, including children, in the occupied West Bank in one of the deadliest attacks in two decades, the Palestinian health ministry said.
“Eighteen martyrs following the bombing of the Tulkarm camp by the occupation,” the ministry said on Telegram.
Last night’s attack reportedly levelled an entire building. An activist in the area told AFP that the airstrike “hit a cafeteria in a four-storey building”.
He added there were “many victims in the hospital”.
The Israeli military earlier said it conducted a strike in Tulkarm in a joint operation with its Shin Bet security service and killed the head of Hamas in the refugee camp.
It said the strike also killed “multiple other significant terrorists”.
Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Mustafa called the attack a “massacre” and accused Israel of ignoring “global calls for justice”.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar4 October 2024 04:23
Biden says he doesn’t believe there will be an ‘all-out war’
US president Joe Biden said yesterday he did not believe there is going to be an “all-out war” in the Middle East, amid Israel’s assault on Lebanon and Gaza and rising tensions with Iran.
Asked how confident Mr Biden was that such a war can be averted, he told reporters: “How confident are you it’s not going to rain? Look, I don’t believe there is going to be an all-out war. I think we can avoid it.”
“But there is a lot to do yet, a lot to do yet,” he added.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar4 October 2024 04:11
Britons urged to leave Lebanon now – but what are their travel options?
As Israel attacks targets in central Beirut, the UK Foreign Office has run the first evacuation flight from Lebanon to help British citizens, their spouses and children under 18 to leave the country.
The plane from Beirut touched down at Birmingham airport on Wednesday evening carrying “more than 150 British nationals and dependents”, according to the Foreign Office.
More evacuation flights are planned. The government says they “will continue for as long as the security situation allows”.
But the Foreign Office warns: “Do not rely on FCDO being able to evacuate you in an emergency.”
Simon Calder has more.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar4 October 2024 03:56
British man ‘will be stranded in Israel for weeks as there are no flights out’
A British man has said he will be stranded in Israel for weeks because of a lack of commercial flights out of the country to the UK.
Keith Ottaway, 46, originally planned to return to the UK on September 24 after visiting his partner in Israel, but successive flights were cancelled.
He said the next available ticket with Israeli flag carrier airline El Al is not until 21 October.
Sam Hall reports:
Tara Cobham4 October 2024 03:00
UN peacekeepers in Lebanon stay put despite Israel asking them to move
United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon remain in place - despite Israel asking them to move - and provide the only communications link between the countries' militaries, the UN peacekeeping chief said on Thursday.
"Peacekeepers continue to do their best to implement their Security Council mandate in obviously very difficult conditions," UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told reporters, adding that contingency plans were ready for both good and bad outcomes.
The mission, known as UNIFIL, is mandated by the Security Council to help the Lebanese army keep the area free of weapons and armed personnel other than those of the Lebanese state. That has sparked friction with Iran-backed Hezbollah, which effectively controls southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military asked UN peacekeepers earlier this week to prepare to relocate more than 5 km (3 miles) from the border between Israel and Lebanon - known as the Blue Line - "as soon as possible, in order to maintain your safety," according to an excerpt from the message, seen by Reuters.
"The peacekeepers are currently staying in their position, all of them," Lacroix told reporters. "The parties have an obligation to respect the safety of and security of peacekeepers, and I want to insist on that."
Lacroix said UNIFIL was continuing to liaise with both countries, describing the mission as "the only channel of communication" between them. The mission was working to protect civilians and support the safe movement of civilians and delivery of humanitarian aid.
The UN peacekeepers operate between the Litani River in the north and the Blue Line in the south. The mission has more than 10,000 troops from 50 countries and about 800 civilian staff, according to its website.
Israel's military told residents of more than 20 towns in south Lebanon to evacuate their homes immediately on Thursday as it pressed on with its cross-border incursion and struck Hezbollah targets in a suburb of Beirut.
Tara Cobham4 October 2024 02:15
UN Security Council backs Guterres after Israel bars him from country
The United Nations Security Council on Thursday expressed its full support for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after Israel's foreign minister said he was barring him from entering the country.
The 15-member council said in a statement that any decision not to engage with the UN Secretary-General or the United Nations is counterproductive, especially in the context of escalating tensions in the Middle East.
The statement did not name Israel. Such statements by the council are agreed by consensus.
Tara Cobham4 October 2024 01:30
Watch: British man takes shelter as air-raid sirens sound near Tel Aviv in Israel
British man takes shelter as air-raid sirens sound near Tel Aviv in Israel
A British man takes shelter indoors as sirens warn of an imminent attack in Tel Aviv. Keith Ottoway says he is stranded in Israel for weeks because of a lack of commercial flights out of the country to the UK. Mr Ottaway, 46, originally planned to return to the UK on 24 September after visiting his partner in Israel, but successive flights were cancelled. He said the next available ticket with Israeli flag carrier airline El Al is not until 21 October. Mr Ottaway, who lives in south London, said the missiles from Iran that hit Israel on Tuesday night (1 October) were “frightening and scary”.
Tara Cobham4 October 2024 00:45
US backs Israel's operations in Lebanon despite risk of expanding conflict
The Biden administration believes it is appropriate for Israel to continue with its ground and air attacks on Hezbollah for now, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday, even as he acknowledged the risk of the operation in Lebanon expanding beyond Israel's current aims.
Israel sent troops into southern Lebanon on Tuesday after two weeks of intense airstrikes in a worsening conflict that has drawn in Iran and risks sucking in the United States.
Speaking at a regular press briefing, Miller said the nature of all conflicts was "fluid" and "unpredictable" and therefore it was impossible to say how long it would take Israel to achieve its stated goal of clearing Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon, allowing it to return Israelis displaced from their homes across the border by months of rocket fire.
"We do ultimately want to see a ceasefire and diplomatic resolution, but we do think it's appropriate that Israel, at this point, is bringing terrorists to justice," Miller said.
Washington has repeatedly warned Israel against escalating the conflict, but a three-week ceasefire proposal put forward by the US and other countries last week was quickly dismissed by Israel in favor of intensified operations.
More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli attacks, and nearly 2,000 people have been killed since the start of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the last year, most of them in the past two weeks, Lebanese authorities said.
The United States has continued to provide Israel with arms despite tensions during the past year over the conduct of its war in Gaza, which started when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October, 2023.
Washington has raised concerns about the civilian toll of that conflict and at times urged Israel to restrain its forces to calm international outrage.
Tara Cobham4 October 2024 00:00
Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill 37 in past 24 hours, health ministry says
Israeli strikes on Lebanon have left 37 people dead and 151 wounded in the past 24 hours, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement early on Friday.
Tara Cobham3 October 2024 23:20
