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Israel evacuates 28 villages near boundary with Lebanon
4 hours ago
Israel has begun evacuating 28 villages within 2 km (1 mile) of the boundary with Lebanon, the military said on Monday.
The decision comes amid growing hostilities between Israel on the one hand, and Hezbollah and Lebanon-based Palestinian factions on the other.
Several Israeli soldiers, Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad members have been killed in exchanges of fire since 7 October.
Palestinians and Israelis deny reports of temporary ceasefire
5 hours ago
The press office of the local government in Gaza said in a statement they are not aware of a temporary ceasefire or that the Rafah crossing with Egypt had been reopened.
The statement came after reports on Reuters and and Israeli media said the US, Egypt and Israel agreed to allow the reopening of Rafah crossing from 9 am GMT.
Reuters confirmed that aid trucks on the Egyptian side have yet to enter the besieged strip.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also denied in a statement that a truce was underway.
Rafah border crossing to open Monday, US embassy suggests
8 hours ago
The US embassy to Israel cited media reports that the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip will open at 9am on Monday.
“We anticipate that the situation at the Rafah crossing will remain fluid and unpredictable and it is unclear whether, or for how long, travellers will be permitted to transit the crossing,” the embassy said.
“If you assess it to be safe, you may wish to move closer to the Rafah border crossing – there may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a limited time.”
According to media reports, Egypt will reopen its border crossing to foreign nationals in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Biden condemns killing of six-year-old Palestinian boy
8 hours ago
US President Joe Biden said he was “shocked and sickened” to learn about the murder of a six-year-old Muslim boy with Palestinian roots in Chicago on Saturday.
“This horrific act of hate has no place in America,” Biden said in a statement. “Jill and I were shocked and sickened to learn of the brutal murder of a six-year-old child and the attempted murder of the child’s mother,” he said, referring to First Lady Jill Biden.
Wadea Al-Fayoume, a six-year-old Palestinian Muslim boy was fatally stabbed and his mother seriously injured when their landlord entered their home with a 12-inch military knife on Saturday in Chicago.
According to the police, the family was targeted because of their Islamic beliefs and in reaction to the violence in Palestine and Israel.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker also condemned the killing.
“To take a six year old child’s life in the name of bigotry is nothing short of evil,” Pritzker said in a statement Sunday .“This wasn’t just a murder — it was a hate crime.”
Biden considering trip to Israel: Report
9 hours ago
US President Joe Biden is considering a trip to Israel in the coming days, according to US news outlets.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited Biden to Israel, according to Hebrew media outlets, but the White House hasn’t decided whether to make the trip, the Associated Press and Wall Street Journal reported.
The visit would be a sign of US support for Israel amid the war, but it would also come as Israel prepares for a deadly ground invasion of the besieged Gaza Strip and pummels the enclave with air strikes and artillery.
Biden tells Iran, Hezbollah ‘don’t enter’ Israel-Palestine war
9 hours ago
US President Joe Biden warned Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah not to enter the Israel-Palestine war on Sunday.
“Don’t. Don’t, don’t, don’t,” Biden said in a CBS interview when asked if he had a message for Tehran and Hezbollah.
Biden’s remarks come as the US grows concerned that Hezbollah could enter the war as the exchange of fire along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon intensifies.
On Sunday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing six anti-tank guided missiles into Israel, killing at least one Israeli. Later, the Israeli military released a video of strikes on what it called Hezbollah “military infrastructure” in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that Hezbollah held a meeting at a command centre in Beirut on Sunday to discuss the possibilities of opening a second front against Israel.
“We can’t rule out that Iran would choose to get directly engaged some way,” US National Security advisor Jake Sullivan said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, noting the risk of a second front to the war opening in the north.
He added that the two aircraft carriers the US had dispatched to the eastern Mediterranean were intended to deter Iran and Hezbollah.
“That is part of what has motivated the president’s movement of these assets, to send that clear message of deterrence to make clear that this war should not escalate.”
Israeli strikes described as ‘fire belts’ pound the Gaza Strip
9 hours ago
Israel is pounding the Gaza Strip with massive strikes described as “fire belts” levelling whole blocks, according to Arabic media.
The strikes have been ongoing for eight hours, according to Arabic media.
Six people were reported killed and eight injured by an Israeli strike in Khan Younis that hit a family home, according to Arabic media.
Meanwhile in Gaza City, 7 members of the Palestinian civil defence forces were killed after Israeli strikes hit two of the first responders headquarters as they were going to rescue bombing victims.
Rafah border crossing to reopen Monday: Report
10 hours ago
The Rafah border crossing will open for foreign nationals on Monday, according to NBC news.
The network said that the crossing would open at 9 a.m. on Monday, while ABC News reported the crossing would open for a few hours on Monday.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Sunday on a visit to Cairo that the border crossing between Egypt and the besieged Gaza Strip would be opened soon, although he didn’t specify a timeline.
“We have put in place, Egypt has put in place a lot of material support for people in Gaza, and Rafah will be reopened,” Blinken said.
On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Egypt had refused to allow foreigner passport holders to exit through Rafah unless a deal was struck to allow water, food, medical supplies and other humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.
The UN said on Sunday that an agreement had been reached by Israel, Qatar, Egypt, the US and Israel to reopen the crossing to foreign nationals, but it hadn’t been implemented yet.
There are about 600 US citizens in the Gaza Strip.
Israel threatens to target Gaza’s only power plant if it resumes services
10 hours ago
Israel threatened to target Gaza’s only operational power plant if it resumes services, according to officials at the facility.
Israel has imposed a total blockade on the Gaza Strip. Israel’s Defence Minister has suggested that electricity, fuel and water supply to the besieged enclave will not be restored until Israeli hostages taken by Hamas are released.
Hospitals in the Gaza Strip have been forced to run on generators, but fuel reserves are only expected to last for 24 additional hours, the UN said on Sunday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned that, “hospitals in Gaza risk turning into morgues without electricity.”
Cholera risk rises, as water supply partially resumed
11 hours ago
Israel has partially resumed water supply to the eastern Khan Younis area of the besieged Gaza Strip, the UN said on Sunday.
“The precise volume and impact of this supply is still unclear,” the UN said.
Concerns about dehydration and the outbreak of waterborne diseases, including cholera, remain high given the collapse of water and sanitation services, the UN added.
The last functioning seawater desalination plant shutdown on Sunday due to lack of fuel.
Meanwhile, people have resorted to consuming brackish water extracted from agricultural wells.
600,000 Palestinians displaced by Israeli strikes, UN says
11 hours ago
Israel’s attack on the besieged Gaza Strip has displaced 600,000 Palestinians in the besieged enclave, the United Nations said on Sunday.
That number marks a dramatic escalation in the number displaced from Saturday, which the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said stood at 400,000.
Half of the displaced people are sheltering at UNRWA designated emergency shelters, but the UN says that its hosting capacity in central and southern areas of the Gaza Strip is overstretched.
Due to lack of space, many displaced people are sleeping outdoors, including a “large number of already vulnerable people… children, the elderly, those requiring medical attention, the disabled, and pregnant women.”
Water, food and medicines are now severely limited and frustration and tensions amongst internally displaced persons due to the dire conditions are on the rise, the UN said.
Biden says Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip would be a “big mistake”
11 hours ago
US President Joe Biden said it would be a “big mistake” for Israel to occupy the Gaza Strip again.
The comments are the first time Biden has publicly weighed in on what the results of a looming Israeli ground invasion of the besieged enclave should look like.
“Hamas and the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people,” Biden said in an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” set to air Sunday.
“It would be a mistake” for Israel to occupy Gaza again, he added.
The US has thrown its full weight behind Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip.
In the interview Sunday, Biden continued to support Israel’s attack saying “Israel has to respond” to Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel.
“They have to go after Hamas. Hamas is a bunch of cowards. They are hiding behind civilians. They put their headquarters where civilians are and buildings and the like,” he said.
Biden added that he was confident that “the Israelis are going to do everything in their power to avoid the killing of innocent civilians.”
Israel has killed at least 2,450 people in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Of those killed, 724 are children and 458 are women.
More than 1,300 Israelis were killed and scores of soldiers and civilians taken captive back to Gaza after Hamas launched a surprise multi-front assault on Israel last week.
Spanish minister calls for Netanyahu to be tried for war crimes
12 hours ago
Spain’s Minister of Social Rights said her government should take Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
“Given the attempted genocide being carried out by the State of Israel in Gaza, we propose that the Government of Spain take Netanyahu before the International Criminal Court for war crimes,” Ione Belarra, Spain’s Minister of Social Rights, said on Saturday.
Belarra has been a vocal critic of Israel since it launched its assault on the besieged Gaza Strip after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel.
Last week she criticised “the complicit silence in the face of Israel’s attacks against the Palestinian people”and accused Israel of imposing apartheid on the Palestinian people.
US opposes relocating Palestinians in Egypt, Blinken says
12 hours ago
The US opposes proposals to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Sunday.
The US’s top diplomat told al-Arabiya news that proposals to move Palestinians out of Gaza into the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt were a “nonstarter.”
“We’ve heard, and I’ve heard directly from Palestinian Authority President Abbas and from virtually every other leader that I’ve talked to in the region, that that idea is a nonstarter, and so we do not support it. We believe that people should be able to stay in Gaza, their home,” Blinken said.
Israel has ordered 1.1 million Palestinians to leave northern Gaza with no promise of return to their homes.
One former Israeli diplomat said Palestinians should reside in “tent cities” in the Sinai desert, and live off of aid from the international community “just like for the refugees of Syria.”
State Department warns against public calls for Israeli de-escalation: Report
12 hours ago
High-level officials in the State Department have allegedly circulated email warnings against press statements that could suggest the US was calling for tempering Israeli violence.
According to emails sent on Friday and seen by HuffPost, State Department staff wrote that high-level officials should not issue public statements that include three specific phrases: “de-escalation/ceasefire”, “end to violence/bloodshed” and “restoring calm”.
Earlier on Sunday, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the chamber would push through a military aid package to help Israel. Aid is expected to include additional interceptors for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system and precision munitions.
