In letter to AFP, Blinken says Gaza journalists must be ‘protected from harm’

In letter to AFP, Blinken says Gaza journalists must be ‘protected from harm’
Relatives and colleagues of two Palestinian journalists Hasouna Slim and Sari Mansoor, killed in an Israeli strike, mourn over their bodies during their funeral in Deir al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 19, 2023. (AFP/File)
Short Url
Updated 13 December 2023
Follow

In letter to AFP, Blinken says Gaza journalists must be ‘protected from harm’

In letter to AFP, Blinken says Gaza journalists must be ‘protected from harm’
  • At least 63 journalists and media workers have been killed since war broke out after Oct. 7, according to Committee to Protect Journalists
  • AFP and other media groups had written to Blinken in October urging help in protecting journalists on the ground in Gaza

PARIS: The United States will always insist on the need to protect journalists reporting from Gaza during the conflict between Israel and Hamas militants, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a letter to Agence France-Presse on Tuesday.
AFP and other international media groups had written to Blinken in late October urging his help in protecting journalists on the ground in Gaza after several were killed since the outbreak of fighting.
“The United States has and will continue to underscore with Israel, and with all countries, that journalists must be protected from harm,” Blinken wrote.
“We stand unequivocally for the protection of journalists during armed conflict and mourn those who have been killed or injured.”
Since the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas began in October, at least 63 journalists and media workers — 56 Palestinian, four Israeli and three Lebanese — have been killed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
AFP and the other media groups also urged Blinken’s help in evacuating their employees from Gaza as Israeli bombards the territory in retaliation for the attack by Hamas on October 7 that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, and saw around 240 hostages taken.
Israel imposed a total shutdown of the territory’s borders on October 9.
“US citizens’ and foreign nationals’ continued safe passage out of Gaza remains our top priority, and we are working with Egypt, the UN, and Israel to facilitate their ability to exit Gaza safely,” Blinken wrote.
Around 100 French lawmakers mainly from left-wing parties on Monday sent a letter to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne also calling for all possible efforts to secure the exit of AFP journalists stranded in Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry on Tuesday updated its death toll since the Gaza war began to 18,412 people, mostly women and children.


US envoy to meet Israel’s Netanyahu on Thursday: spokesman

US envoy to meet Israel’s Netanyahu on Thursday: spokesman
Updated 6 sec ago
Follow

US envoy to meet Israel’s Netanyahu on Thursday: spokesman

US envoy to meet Israel’s Netanyahu on Thursday: spokesman
  • Israeli media outlets reported that Amos Hochstein had arrived in Israel on Wednesday evening

JERUSALEM: US envoy Amos Hochstein, seeking to broker a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war, will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, the premier’s office said.

The announcement by spokesman Omer Dostri came after Israeli media outlets reported that Hochstein had arrived in Israel on Wednesday evening and held talks with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.

The meeting between Hochstein and Netanyahu was scheduled to take place at 12:30 p.m. (1030 GMT), according to a statement from the Israeli leader’s Likud party.

In Beirut on Wednesday, the US envoy met twice with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation efforts on behalf of the Iran-backed Hezbollah armed group.

Wednesday’s meeting “made additional progress, so I will travel from here in a couple hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can,” Hochstein told reporters in the Lebanese capital.

Hochstein had said on Tuesday that an end to the war was “within our grasp.”

Ahead of his arrival, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said: “In any agreement we will reach, we will need to keep the freedom to act if there will be violations.”


Dozens feared dead in Gaza after Israeli strikes

Dozens feared dead in Gaza after Israeli strikes
Updated 27 min 11 sec ago
Follow

Dozens feared dead in Gaza after Israeli strikes

Dozens feared dead in Gaza after Israeli strikes
  • The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll from the resulting war has reached 43,985 people, the majority civilians

Dozens of people were killed or unaccounted for after Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, a hospital director and the civil defense agency said Thursday.
One strike on a residential area near the Kamal Adwan hospital in the territory left “dozens of people” dead or missing, the facility’s director Hossam Abu Safiya told AFP.
The process of retrieving the bodies and wounded continues, he said, adding: “Bodies arrive at the hospital in pieces.”
Another strike was reported in a neighborhood of Gaza City.
“We can confirm that 22 martyrs were transferred (to hospital) after a strike targeted a house” in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.
Since Hamas conducted its October 7, 2023 attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, Israel has been fighting a war in Gaza, which the militant group rules.
It vows to crush Hamas and to bring home the hostages seized by the group during the attack.
Israel is also fighting Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both groups are backed by Israel’s arch-foe Iran.
On Thursday, US envoy Amos Hochstein will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek a truce in the war in Lebanon.
Hochstein’s meetings in Lebanon this week appeared to indicate some progress in efforts to end that war.
On the Gaza front, the United States vetoed on Wednesday a UN Security Council push for a ceasefire that Washington said would have emboldened Hamas.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll from the resulting war has reached 43,985 people, the majority civilians. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.


In October last year, Hezbollah began cross-border attacks on Israel in support of its ally Hamas.
In late September, Israel expanded the focus of its war from Gaza to Lebanon, vowing to fight Hezbollah until tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by the cross-border fire are able to return home.
With Hochstein in Lebanon, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Wednesday said that any ceasefire deal must ensure Israel still has the “freedom to act” against Hezbollah.
In a defiant speech, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem threatened to strike Israeli commercial hub Tel Aviv in retaliation for attacks on Lebanon’s capital.
“Israel cannot defeat us and cannot impose its conditions on us,” Qassem said in his televised address.
In Lebanon, Hochstein met with officials including parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah.
On Tuesday, Hochstein said the end of the war was “within our grasp,” and on Wednesday, he said the talks had “made additional progress.”
Since expanding its operations from Gaza to Lebanon in September, Israel has conducted extensive bombing primarily targeting Hezbollah strongholds.
More than 3,544 people in Lebanon have been killed since the clashes began, authorities have said, most since late September. Among them were more than 200 children, according to the United Nations.
Israel has also recently intensified strikes on neighboring Syria, the main conduit of weapons for Hezbollah from its backer Iran.
In the latest attack, a Syria war monitor said 71 pro-Iran fighters were killed in strikes on Palmyra in the east of the country.
Those killed in Wednesday’s strikes included 45 fighters from pro-Iran Syrian groups, 26 foreign fighters, most of them from Iraq, and four from Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the monitor said.
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in the country.


On Thursday, Lebanon’s official National News Agency said strikes hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, Hezbollah’s main bastion, following an evacuation call by the Israeli military.
Strikes also hit south Lebanon, including the border town of Khiam where Israeli troops are pushing to advance, according to the agency.
On Wednesday, Israel said three soldiers had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon — bringing the total fallen to 52 since the start of ground operations on September 30.
The Lebanese army said Israeli fire killed one of its soldiers in the area, after it announced the deaths of three other personnel in a strike.
While not engaged in the ongoing war, the Lebanese army has reported 18 losses since the start of the escalation on September 23.
The Israeli military later said, without mentioning the deaths, that it was looking into reports of Lebanese soldiers wounded by a strike on Tuesday.
“We emphasize that the (Israeli military) is operating precisely against the Hezbollah terrorist organization and is not operating against the Lebanon Armed Forces,” the military told AFP in a statement.
Hezbollah was the only armed group in Lebanon that did not surrender its weapons following the 1975-1990 civil war.
It has maintained a formidable arsenal and holds sway not only on the battlefield but also in Lebanese politics.
The United States, Israel’s top military and political backer, has been pushing for the UN Security Council resolution that ended the last Hezbollah-Israel war in 2006 to form the basis of a new truce.
Under Resolution 1701, Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only armed forces deployed in south Lebanon.


71 fighters killed in Israel strikes on Syria’s Palmyra

71 fighters killed in Israel strikes on Syria’s Palmyra
Updated 31 min 1 sec ago
Follow

71 fighters killed in Israel strikes on Syria’s Palmyra

71 fighters killed in Israel strikes on Syria’s Palmyra

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes killed 71 pro-Iran militants in the Syrian city of Palmyra, with more than a third of them identified as fighters from Iraq and Lebanon, a monitor said Thursday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those killed in Wednesday’s strikes included 45 fighters from pro-Iran Syrian groups, 26 foreign fighters, most of them from the Iraqi Al-Nujaba movement, and four from Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group.
The strikes targeted three sites in the city renowned for its ancient ruins, including one that hit a meeting of pro-Iranian groups with leaders from Al-Nujaba and Hezbollah.
The Observatory, which is based in Britain and relies on a network of sources on the ground across Syria, had previously put the toll from the Israeli strikes on Palmyra at 61 dead.
Syria said the Israeli strikes on the central city killed 36 people and wounded more than 50 others, in the latest toll issued by the defense ministry.
“The Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of the Al-Tanf area, targeting a number of buildings in the city of Palmyra,” it said on Wednesday.
The strikes targeting Palmyra — a modern city adjacent to Greco-Roman ruins — are the deadliest in Syria since a year of cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah intensified in late September.
In a separate statement, the Syrian foreign ministry condemned “in the strongest terms the brutal Israeli aggression against the city of Palmyra, which reflects the continuing crimes of Zionism against the countries of the region and their peoples.”
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in the country.
Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was taken over and pillaged by Daesh terrorists at the height of the Syrian civil war.
The director general of Antiquities and Museums in Syria, Nazir Awad, told AFP the city’s temples “did not suffer any direct damage” during the latest strikes.
“We need to conduct a survey on the ground to confirm these observations,” he added.


US vetoes UN resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages

US vetoes UN resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages
Updated 21 November 2024
Follow

US vetoes UN resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages

US vetoes UN resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages
  • Resolution put forward by 10 elected, non-permanent members of the council
  • US was the only one of the 15 members not to vote in favor of it 

NEW YORK CITY: The US on Wednesday used the power of veto it holds as one of the five permanent member of the UN Security Council to block a resolution demanding “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza and “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

The resolution was put forward by the 10 elected, non-permanent members of the council. The US was the only one of the 15 members not to vote in favor of it.

The text of the resolution also called for the “safe and unhindered entry of humanitarian assistance at scale” to Gaza, including besieged areas in the north of the territory, and denounced any attempt to deliberately starve the population there.

More than 44,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel’s war in Gaza began in October last year, and the UN says that in excess of 70 percent of the verified deaths were among women and children. More than 130,000 people have been injured. The UN believes these figures to be an underestimate, given that scores of bodies are thought to be buried under the rubble of destroyed or damaged buildings.

The war has also displaced almost the entire population of the enclave, resulting in a humanitarian catastrophe.

On Monday, the UN’s Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices presented a report to the General Assembly in which it said the methods of warfare employed by Israel in Gaza, including the use of starvation as a weapon, the mass civilian casualties and the life-threatening conditions deliberately inflicted on Palestinians, are consistent with the characteristics of genocide.

After the Security Council failed to adopt the resolution on Wednesday, Majed Bamya, the Palestinian deputy ambassador to the UN, told its members that they were witnessing an attempt “to annihilate a nation” and yet the “very tools designed to respond (to this are) not being used.”

He added: “Maybe for some we have the wrong nationality, the wrong faith, the wrong skin color, but we are humans and we should be treated as such.

“Is there a UN Charter for Israel that is different from the charter you all have? Is there an international law for them? An international law for us? Do they have the right to kill and the only right we have is to die?

“What more can (Israel) do for this council to act under Chapter 7? Or will this council be the last place on earth that cannot recognize a threat to peace when they see it?”

Chapter 7 of the UN Charter relates to action that can be taken by member states in response to threats to peace and acts of aggression.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, told council members: “Today, a shameful attempt to abandon our kidnapped men and women by the UN was prevented. Thanks to the US, we stood firm with our position that there will be no ceasefire without the release of the hostages. We will continue in this struggle until everyone returns home.”

Robert Wood, the deputy US ambassador, said that an unconditional ceasefire would mean acceptance by the Security Council of Hamas remaining in power in Gaza.

“The United States will never accept this,” he added. “Rather than adopting a resolution that emboldens Hamas, let’s instead demand Hamas implement Resolution 2735 without further condition or delay.

“Let’s continue to ensure Israel facilitates additional humanitarian aid into Gaza, and let's work to bring a durable end to the suffering and misery of Hamas’ many victims."

Security Council Resolution 2735, which was adopted in June, calls on Hamas to accept a proposed hostage and ceasefire agreement with Israel.

British envoy Barbara Woodward, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the council this month, expressed regret over the failure of the council to adopt the resolution but vowed to “keep striving, alongside our partners, to bring this war to a close.”

She said: “The deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic and unacceptable. All of Gaza is at risk of famine, and in some areas this is likely to be imminent. Yet the aid reaching civilians remains entirely insufficient to mitigate this unfolding disaster.

“The unthinkable hardship that civilians are already facing in Gaza is set to get even worse as winter approaches.”

Woodward urged Israeli authorities to take “urgent action to alleviate this crisis. International humanitarian law must be respected by all sides.”

China’s ambassador to the UN, Fu Cong, said that even with the imminent threat of famine in Gaza, “the United States always seems to be able to find a justification to defend Israel.” It is a stance that represents a distortion of international humanitarian law, he added.

“People keep learning something new they never knew before was possible, and how low one can stoop. No wonder people feel angry,” said Fu.

“People’s indignation also stems from the fact that the continued supply of weapons from the US (to Israel) has become a decisive factor in the war lasting so long, causing so many casualties and so much destruction.”

He added: “All hostages must be released. An immediate and unconditional ceasefire must be established. Both are important factors. There should be no conditionality. They cannot be linked to each other because facts have shown that Israel’s military operations in Gaza have long exceeded the scope of rescuing hostages.

“Insistence on setting a precondition for ceasefire is tantamount to giving the green light to continuing the war and condoning the continued killing.”

The Algerian ambassador, Amar Bendjama, told the council after the vote: “Today’s message is clear.

“To the Israeli occupying power: You may continue your genocide and collective punishment of the Palestinian people with complete impunity. In this chamber, you enjoy immunity.

“To the Palestinian people: While the majority of the world stands in solidarity with your plight, tragically, others remain indifferent to your suffering.”

Nicolas de Riviere, France’s permanent representative to the UN, lamented the latest failure by the council to help bring an end to the war.

“France voted in favor of this resolution and deeply regrets that the (Security Council) remains unable to speak with one voice on the situation in the Middle East.”

The Russian envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, directly addressed his US counterpart and accused him of being responsible for the deaths “of tens of thousands of innocent civilians (and) the suffering of hostages and illegally detained Palestinians.”

He added: “It was very interesting to hear the American representative today, in the wake of the vote, say that the resolution does not contain provisions on the release of hostages. Well, it does contain such a provision. Perhaps the US representative should read through the resolution before voting against it.”


Fierce battles in southern Lebanon amid ceasefire talk

Fierce battles in southern Lebanon amid ceasefire talk
Updated 20 November 2024
Follow

Fierce battles in southern Lebanon amid ceasefire talk

Fierce battles in southern Lebanon amid ceasefire talk
  • Hochstein hints at truce, while Hezbollah rejects ‘ending war on enemy terms’
  • Israeli airstrikes continued to hit southern towns, from Kfarshuba and Rashaya Al-Fakhar to Tyre, Nabatieh and Adloun

BEIRUT: Israeli troops raised their flag over the Lebanese town of Chamaa, about 5 kilometers from the border, as they pushed deep into a second line of Lebanese villages.

Elsewhere, fierce battles with Hezbollah fighters took place on Wednesday as Israeli forces advanced toward the strategic coastal town of Biyyadah.

The Israeli moves coincided with an announcement by US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut that “additional progress” had been made on the US proposal for a ceasefire.

Hochstein expressed hope that a “conclusion can be reached” after he travels to Israel for talks.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and his adviser Ali Hamdan, tasked by Hezbollah with leading external negotiations, held several rounds of discussions with Hochstein in the parliamentary headquarters and at the US Embassy in Awkar.

On Wednesday afternoon, Hochstein said: “(We have) made additional progress, so I will travel from here in a couple of hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can.”

Israeli media reported that Hochstein will hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah described the US proposal as “a document of mutual commitments between the Lebanese and Israeli sides concerning the mechanism for ceasing fire under the framework of implementing Resolution 1701.”

He added: “We are facing indirect negotiations with the enemy over a document of commitments, somewhat similar to what happened in 2006 but under different circumstances. We are handling the proposals based on fundamental principles tied to our sovereignty and the protection of our land and people.”

Fadlallah said that Hezbollah remains active on the ground and said that “the war will not conclude by imposing the enemy’s conditions.”

Leaked information regarding the discussions indicated that Hezbollah agreed to include a US party in the monitoring committee for the implementation of the resolution, rather than the British or Germans.

The committee is expected to include representatives from Washington, Paris, an Arab country, potentially Egypt, and the UN.

Hochstein oversaw meetings on the ceasefire proposals that included former President Michel Aoun at his residence, and Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces party, at his home.

Meanwhile, confrontations in southern Lebanon intensified amid protests from UNIFIL forces and other participating countries regarding the targeting of their positions, and the injuring of peacekeeping soldiers by both Israel and Hezbollah.

The leadership of UNIFIL said on Tuesday that “peacekeeping forces and their facilities were targeted in three separate incidents in southern Lebanon, resulting in injuries to six peacekeepers. Four Ghanaian soldiers were injured by a missile while performing their duties, which was likely launched by non-governmental entities within Lebanon, striking their base  east of the town of Ramiayh.”

UNIFIL said that despite these challenges, peacekeeping forces will remain in their locations, and continue to monitor and report violations of Resolution 1701.

As Israeli attacks targeted the Lebanese army for the second day in a row, Lebanon announced the death of four of its soldiers.

Three were killed in a  attack on their post in Sarafand on Tuesday, while a fourth was killed by an Israeli strike on a medical army vehicle on the road linking Burj Al-Muluk and Qalaa.

The Israeli army claimed that it “killed two Hezbollah leaders responsible for missile attacks that targeted northern Israel, including the commander of the Lebanese coastal sector’s anti-tank unit.”

It also revealed late on Tuesday that Ali Munir Shaito, who is in charge of Hezbollah’s southern front in Syria, was the target of last Sunday’s airstrike on Beirut’s Mar Elias district.

Israeli airstrikes continued to hit southern towns, from Kfarshuba and Rashaya Al-Fakhar to Tyre, Nabatieh and Adloun.

However, Beirut and its southern suburb had a second day of cautious calm.

According to the Lebanese Foreign Ministry complaint to the Security Council, a total of 27 civil defense personnel have been killed by Israeli attacks, while 76 have been injured.

As of Tuesday, the death toll in the overall Israeli war on Lebanon reached 3,544, along with 15,036 injuries.