Blinken tells Israel civilian toll in Gaza ‘far too high’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. (AP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 09 January 2024
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Blinken tells Israel civilian toll in Gaza ‘far too high’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. (AP)
  • Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on his fourth round of Middle East crisis diplomacy since the conflict broke out
  • He Blinken said the “daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly children, is far too high”

TEL AVIV: Top US diplomat Antony Blinken told Israel Tuesday the toll on Gazan civilians caused by its war against Hamas was “far too high,” urging his ally to alleviate their suffering.
More than three months into the deadliest ever Gaza war, Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on his fourth round of Middle East crisis diplomacy since the conflict broke out.
Blinken reaffirmed US “support for Israel’s right to prevent” a repetition of the unprecedented Hamas attacks of October 7 that sparked the war, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
But Blinken also “stressed the importance of avoiding further civilian harm and protecting civilian infrastructure in Gaza,” said Miller of the Hamas-run territory where a humanitarian crisis is deepening and local health officials have reported more than 23,000 deaths.
Blinken later told a news conference that the “daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly children, is far too high,” and said more food, water and medicine were needed.
Israel has agreed to a UN assessment mission in northern Gaza that would “determine what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return safely,” he said.
Miller said that for the longer term, Blinken in his discussions with Netanyahu “reiterated the need to ensure lasting, sustainable peace for Israel and the region, including by the realization of a Palestinian state.”
Israel “must stop taking steps that undercut Palestinians’ ability to govern themselves effectively,” Blinken said during the news conference.
An AFP correspondent reported intense strikes overnight in Khan Yunis and Rafah, the biggest cities in the south of Gaza which are crowded with internally displaced people.
Israel’s army said its forces had killed 40 militants over the past 24 hours in “expanded ground operations including air strikes” in Khan Yunis, and that troops had seized AK-47 assault rifles, rocket launchers and other weapons.
“No place is safe, we don’t know what to do, may God help us,” Rafah resident Mohammad Hejazy told AFP on Monday.
The Gaza war began after Hamas gunmen launched their unprecedented October 7 attack that resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants of Hamas, considered a “terrorist” group by the United States and European Union, also took around 250 hostages. Israel says 132 of them remain captive, including at least 25 believed to have been killed.
Israel has responded with relentless bombardment and a ground invasion of Gaza that have killed at least 23,210 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The Israeli army says its death toll inside Gaza had risen to 185 after nine soldiers were killed on Monday.
“There has to be a cease-fire, for the hostages, the civilians... all the hundreds and hundreds of innocent people,” Marie-Pascale Radoux, whose Franco-Mexican son Orion is believed held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, told AFP in France.
“There are no words to explain what you feel... from anger to sadness, anxiety, fear, nightmares.”
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, speaking in Qatar on Tuesday, said the October 7 attack “came after an attempt to marginalize the Palestinian cause.”
“Despite the heavy price, the massacres and the war of genocide, it (Israel) failed to achieve any of its goals.”
In further comments, released later by Hamas in Gaza, Haniyeh called on Muslim states “to support the resistance with weapons, because this is... not the battle of the Palestinian people alone.”
The war has displaced most of Gaza’s 2.4 million people, and the United Nations says many are at risk of famine and disease.
The World Health Organization said its ability to provide aid and support Gazan hospitals was “shrinking.”
With only minimal aid entering Gaza, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem charged that “everyone in Gaza is going hungry” as the “direct results of Israel’s declared policy.”
Since the war started, fears have grown of an escalating conflict between Israel and its other regional enemies, a loose alliance of Iran-backed armed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Blinken on Tuesday that intensifying pressure on Iran was “critical” and may prevent a regional escalation, an Israeli government statement said.
Israel has traded cross-border fire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah for three months, and more recently killed senior operatives of the Shiite Muslim militant group as well as of Hamas on Lebanese soil.
Hezbollah on Tuesday announced four of its fighters had been killed.
The Israeli army also said Monday it had killed a “central” Hamas figure in Syria, Hassan Akasha, who had led “terrorist cells which fired rockets... toward Israeli territory.”
As the ground offensive continues, Israel has said it has largely achieved military control over northern Gaza and that the war is entering a new phase.
Army spokesman Daniel Hagari, speaking to The New York Times, said this would involve fewer soldiers and air strikes and that a troop reduction had already begun this month.
Violence has also surged in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli police confirmed three people were killed Monday during a raid on the city of Tulkarem to arrest a “wanted terrorist.”
Israeli army raids and settler attacks in the West Bank have killed at least 333 people since October 7, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry.
Palestinian officials accused Israel of a “brutal crime” after footage shared on social media appeared to show a military vehicle running over a dead militant in Tulkarem.
Israel’s military has not yet responded to AFP requests for comment on the footage.


Hezbollah says attacked Israel naval base with drones, missiles

Hezbollah says attacked Israel naval base with drones, missiles
Updated 17 sec ago
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Hezbollah says attacked Israel naval base with drones, missiles

Hezbollah says attacked Israel naval base with drones, missiles
Hezbollah fighters “targeted the Stella Maris naval base northwest of Haifa,” the group said

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said it targeted a naval base near the Israeli city of Haifa with drones and missiles Wednesday, the fourth attack on the base in as many weeks.
Hezbollah fighters “targeted the Stella Maris naval base northwest of Haifa with a salvo of high-quality missiles and a squadron of attack drones,” the group said in a statement.

Israel’s Netanyahu calls Trump, discusses Iran threat

Israel’s Netanyahu calls Trump, discusses Iran threat
Updated 8 min 35 sec ago
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Israel’s Netanyahu calls Trump, discusses Iran threat

Israel’s Netanyahu calls Trump, discusses Iran threat
  • Trump and Netanyahu agreed to work together for Israel’s security

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Donald Trump on Wednesday after his stunning US election victory and discussed the “Iranian threat” to Israel’s security, his office said.
“The conversation was warm and cordial. The prime minister congratulated Trump on his election victory, and the two agreed to work together for Israel’s security. The two also discussed the Iranian threat,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.


Lebanon files complaint against Israel at UN labor body over deadly pager explosions, minister says

Lebanon files complaint against Israel at UN labor body over deadly pager explosions, minister says
Updated 06 November 2024
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Lebanon files complaint against Israel at UN labor body over deadly pager explosions, minister says

Lebanon files complaint against Israel at UN labor body over deadly pager explosions, minister says
  • Lebanese Labor Minister Moustafa Bayram said he traveled to Geneva to formally file the complaint against Israel at the International Labor Organization
  • Bayram said the casualty count was even higher than first reported

GENEVA: A Lebanese government minister said Wednesday his country was filing a complaint against Israel at the UN’s labor organization over the string of deadly attacks involving exploding pagers, saying workers were among those killed and injured.
The explosions in mid-September were widely blamed on Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. The blasts killed at least 37 people, including two children, wounded more than 3,000 and deeply unsettled even Lebanese who have no Hezbollah affiliation.
Lebanese Labor Minister Moustafa Bayram said he traveled to Geneva to formally file the complaint against Israel at the International Labor Organization, a sprawling UN agency that brings together governments, businesses and workers.
Bayram said the casualty count was even higher than first reported, saying “more than 4,000 civilians fell — between martyrs and injured and maimed — in a few minutes by this attack.”
“This method of warfare and conflicts may open the way for many who are evading international humanitarian law to adopt this method of warfare,” the minister told reporters at the UN compound in Geneva.
“It’s a very dangerous precedent, if not condemned,” he said. “We are in a situation where ordinary objects — objects used in daily life — become dangerous and lethal.”
Speaking in Arabic, Bayram insisted that ILO conventions guarantee the safety and security of workers, who “were in their workplace and had their pagers or walkies-talkies exploding all of a sudden,” according to an interpreter.
“I do not know where the outcome (of the complaint) will go, but at least we raised our voices to say and warn against this dangerous approach that strikes at human relations and leads to more conflicts,” he added.
An ILO spokeswoman said she was not immediately aware of the complaint or what redress might be possible through it.


Hezbollah says tens of thousands of fighters ready to battle Israel

Hezbollah says tens of thousands of fighters ready to battle Israel
Updated 06 November 2024
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Hezbollah says tens of thousands of fighters ready to battle Israel

Hezbollah says tens of thousands of fighters ready to battle Israel
  • The Iran-backed group’s leader also warned that nowhere in Israel would be “off-limits” to attacks
  • “What will stop this... war is the battlefield” he said, citing fighting in south Lebanon and Hezbollah attacks on Israel

BEIRUT: Hezbollah said Wednesday that tens of thousands of its militants were ready to fight Israel, adding that the US election result would have no bearing on the war in Lebanon.
The Iran-backed group’s leader also warned that nowhere in Israel would be “off-limits” to attacks, as the Israeli military said about 120 projectiles had been fired across the border on Wednesday.
The Israeli military struck Hezbollah’s main bastion of south Beirut after issuing an evacuation warning.
Israel and Hezbollah have been at war since late September, when the Israeli military widened the focus of its war in Gaza to securing its northern border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah began launching low-intensity cross-border attacks on Israel last year, in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack.
Efforts to end the war in Gaza that was sparked by the Hamas attack have yet to bear fruit, and the war in Lebanon has killed nearly 2,000 people, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.
“We have tens of thousands of trained resistance combatants” ready to fight, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech marking 40 days since his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a strike.
The address was aired after Donald Trump’s victory in the US election was announced, but had been recorded earlier.
He said the result in the race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris would have no impact on any possible ceasefire deal for Lebanon.
“We don’t base our expectations for a halt of the aggression on political developments,” he said.
“Whether Harris wins or Trump wins, it means nothing to us.
“What will stop this... war is the battlefield” he said, citing fighting in south Lebanon and Hezbollah attacks on Israel.
Earlier on Wednesday, Hezbollah said it targeted a military base near Israel’s main airport close to commercial hub Tel Aviv, an attack that Israel’s Airports Authority said did not disrupt operations.
Earlier Wednesday, Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported Israeli air strikes on the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon and the southern city of Nabatiyeh.
An AFP correspondent in the eastern city of Baalbek reported intense strikes in and around the city.
The speech was Qassem’s second since he was named Hezbollah secretary-general last week.
Israel is “betting on prolonging the war so it becomes a war of attrition... We are ready,” he said.
He also called for Lebanese sovereignty to be safeguarded in any truce talks.
Qassem demanded explanations from the Lebanese army after Israeli naval commandos seized a man from north Lebanon on Saturday who they said was a senior Hezbollah operative.
He said the operation was “a great offense to Lebanon” and a “violation” of its sovereignty.
On Tuesday, a Lebanese judicial official told AFP that Israeli commandos used a speedboat equipped with advanced devices capable of jamming UN peacekeepers’ radars for the operation, according to a preliminary probe.
The UN Maritime Task Force has helped the Lebanese military to monitor territorial waters and prevent the entry of arms or related material by sea since 2006, according to the mission’s website.
In Gaza, where the 13-month war has had a devastating impact, people were desperate for a solution and voiced hope Trump might be able to offer one.
Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,391 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry the United Nations considers reliable.
“We were displaced, killed... there’s nothing left for us, we want peace,” said Mamdouh Al-Jadba, who was displaced to Gaza City from Jabalia.
“I hope Trump finds a solution, we need someone strong like Trump to end the war and save us, enough, God, this is enough,” the 60-year-old told AFP.
Umm Ahmed Harb, from the Al-Shaaf area east of Gaza City, was also counting on Trump to “stand by our side” and end the territory’s suffering.
“God willing the war will end, not for our sake but for the sake of our young children who are innocent,” she told AFP.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his part feted Trump’s return as “history’s greatest comeback.”
“Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America. This is a huge victory!” Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office.
The United States is Israel’s top ally and military backer, and the election came at a critical time for the Middle East.
While maintaining the steady flow of aid to Israel, US President Joe Biden’s administration had for months piled pressure on Netanyahu to agree to a truce.
Analysts say Netanyahu had been hoping for a Trump return, given their longstanding personal friendship as well as the former president’s hawkishness on Israel’s arch-foe Iran.


Iran plays down importance of US election, voices readiness for confrontation

Iran plays down importance of US election, voices readiness for confrontation
Updated 06 November 2024
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Iran plays down importance of US election, voices readiness for confrontation

Iran plays down importance of US election, voices readiness for confrontation
  • Arab and Western officials tell Reuters Trump may reimpose “maximum pressure policy” through more sanctions on Iran
  • They fear Trump may also empower Israel to strike Iranian nuclear sites and conduct assassinations

DUBAI: Iranians’ livelihoods will not be affected by the US elections, government spokesperson Fatemeh MoHajjerani was reported as saying on Wednesday after Donald Trump claimed victory in the presidential vote.
Arab and Western officials have told Reuters Trump may reimpose his “maximum pressure policy” through heightened sanctions on Iran’s oil industry and empower Israel to strike its nuclear sites and conduct assassinations.
“The US elections are not really our business. Our policies are steady and don’t change based on individuals. We made the necessary predictions before and there will not be change in people’s livelihoods,” MoHajjerani said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
The Revolutionary Guards did not directly react to Trump’s claimed electoral victory but said Tehran and its allied armed groups in the region are ready for confrontation with Israel.
“The Zionists do not have the power to confront us and they must wait for our response... our depots have enough weapons for that,” the Guards’ deputy chief Ali Fadavi said on Wednesday, as Tehran is expected to respond to Israel’s Oct. 25 strikes on its territory which killed four soldiers.
He added Tehran does not rule out a potential US-Israel pre-emptive strike to prevent it from retaliating against Israel.
In his first term, Trump re-applied sanctions on Iran after he withdrew from a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and world powers that had curtailed Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for economic benefits.
The reinstatement of US sanctions in 2018 hit Iran’s oil exports, slashing government revenues and forcing it to take unpopular steps, such as increasing taxes and running big budget deficits, policies that have kept annual inflation close to 40 percent.
Iran’s national currency has weakened at the prospect of a Trump presidency, reaching an all-time low of 700,000 rials to the US dollar on the free market, according to Iranian currency tracking website Bonbast.com.