Israel pounds Gaza after Biden outlines ceasefire plan

Israel pounds Gaza after Biden outlines ceasefire plan
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip on May 31, 2024. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,284 people in Gaza, mostly civilians. (AP)
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Updated 01 June 2024
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Israel pounds Gaza after Biden outlines ceasefire plan

Israel pounds Gaza after Biden outlines ceasefire plan
  • Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu insists on Hamas ‘destruction as part of plan to end Gaza war
  • UN chief ‘strongly hopes’ latest development would lead to an agreement for lasting peace

RAFAH, Palestinian Territories: Israeli forces hammered Rafah in southern Gaza with tanks and artillery Saturday, hours after US President Joe Biden said Israel was offering a new roadmap toward a full ceasefire.

Shortly after Biden’s announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted his country would still pursue the war until it had reached all its aims, including the destruction of Hamas.

Netanyahu on Saturday insisted on Hamas’s destruction as part of an Israeli plan presented by US President Joe Biden to end the Gaza war.

“Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,” the Israeli leader said in a statement.

“Under the proposal, Israel will continue to insist these conditions are met before a permanent ceasefire is put in place.

“The notion that Israel will agree to a permanent ceasefire before these conditions are fulfilled is a non-starter,” Netanyahu added.

Israel’s opposition leader on Saturday urged Netanyahu to heed US President Joe Biden’s call for a Gaza truce under which Hamas would free hostages, and offered to support the government should far-right coalition partners bolt.

“The government of Israel cannot ignore President Biden’s consequential speech. There is a deal on the table and it should made,” Yair Lapid said in an X post.

“I remind Netanyahu that he has a safety net from us for a hostage-release deal if (Itamar) Ben-Gvir and (Bezalel) Smotrich leave the government.”

The Palestinian militant group, meanwhile, said it “considers positively” the plan laid out by Biden.

In his first major address outlining a possible end to the conflict, the US president said Israel’s three-stage offer would begin with a six-week phase that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza.

It would also see the “release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded, in exchange for (the) release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.”

Israel and the Palestinians would then negotiate during those six weeks for a lasting ceasefire — but the truce would continue while the talks remained underway, Biden said.

The US leader urged Hamas to accept the Israeli offer. “It’s time for this war to end, for the day after to begin,” he said, in comments echoed by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.

Hamas in a statement on Friday evening said it “considers positively” Biden’s speech regarding “a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, reconstruction and the exchange of prisoners.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called his counterparts from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye on Friday to press the deal.

UN chief Antonio Guterres “strongly hopes” the latest development “will lead to an agreement by the parties for lasting peace,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the Israeli offer “provides a glimpse of hope and a possible path out of the war’s deadlock,” while EU chief Ursula von der Leyen welcomed a “balanced and realistic” approach to end the bloodshed.

But Netanyahu took issue with Biden’s presentation of what was on the table, insisting the transition from one stage to the next in the proposed roadmap was “conditional” and crafted to allow Israel to maintain its war aims.

“The prime minister authorized the negotiating team to present an outline for achieving (the return of hostages), while insisting that the war will not end until all of its goals are achieved,” Netanyahu’s office said.

Those aims included “the return of all our hostages and the elimination of Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities,” it added.

“The exact outline proposed by Israel, including the conditional transition from stage to stage, allows Israel to maintain these principles.”

Israel has repeatedly vowed to destroy Hamas since the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7.

Israel sent tanks and troops into Rafah in early May, ignoring concerns over the safety of displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering in the city on the Egyptian border.

Before the Rafah offensive began, the United Nations said up to 1.4 million people were sheltering in the city.

Since then, one million have fled the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said.

The Israeli seizure of the Rafah crossing has further slowed sporadic deliveries of aid for Gaza’s 2.4 million people and effectively shuttered the territory’s main exit point.

Israel said last week that aid deliveries had been stepped up.

But Blinken acknowledged on Friday that the humanitarian situation was “dire” despite US efforts to bring in more assistance.

The World Food Programme said daily life had become “apocalyptic” in parts of southern Gaza since Israel began its assault on Rafah in early May.

The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,284 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

In northern Gaza, witnesses said that after carrying out a three-week operation in the town of Jabalia and its neighboring refugee camp, troops had ordered residents of nearby Beit Hanun to evacuate ahead of an imminent assault.

The Israeli army said troops “completed their mission in eastern Jabalia and began preparation for continued operations in the Gaza Strip.”

with Reuters


44,330 Gazans killed in more than 13 months of war

44,330 Gazans killed in more than 13 months of war
Updated 29 November 2024
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44,330 Gazans killed in more than 13 months of war

44,330 Gazans killed in more than 13 months of war
  • Medics said Israeli military strikes killed at least 17 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday

GAZA CITY: The Health Ministry in Gaza said on Thursday that at least 44,330 people have been killed in more than 13 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The toll includes 48 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 104,933 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Medics said Israeli military strikes killed at least 17 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday as forces stepped up bombardments on central areas and pushed tanks deeper in the north and south of the enclave.
Six people were killed in two separate airstrikes on a house and near the hospital of Kamal Adwan in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, while four others were killed when an Israeli strike hit a motorcycle in Khan Younis in the south.

In Nuseirat, one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, Israeli planes carried out several airstrikes, destroying a multi-floor building and hitting roads outside mosques.
At least seven people were killed in some of those strikes, health officials said.
Medics said at least two people, a woman and a child, were killed in tank shelling that hit western areas of Nuseirat, while an air strike killed five others in a house nearby. In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, tanks pushed deeper into the northern-west area of the city, residents said.
Months of attempts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress, and negotiations are now on hold.


Royal Jordanian, Ethiopian Airlines to resume flights to Lebanon, Gulf carriers delay decisions

Royal Jordanian, Ethiopian Airlines to resume flights to Lebanon, Gulf carriers delay decisions
Updated 28 November 2024
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Royal Jordanian, Ethiopian Airlines to resume flights to Lebanon, Gulf carriers delay decisions

Royal Jordanian, Ethiopian Airlines to resume flights to Lebanon, Gulf carriers delay decisions
  • Both airlines announce service resumption in coming days, but most foreign airlines remain wary as they monitor stability of truce
  • Lebanon’s ATTAL president says ‘7-8 companies expected to return in coming days’

LONDON: Royal Jordanian, and Ethiopian Airlines have announced the resumption of flights to Beirut following the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah that took effect on Wednesday.

However, most Gulf and European airlines are delaying any immediate return to Lebanese airspace as they monitor the stability of the truce.

Jordan’s flag carrier, Royal Jordanian, will restart flights to Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport on Sunday after halting operations in late August amid escalating hostilities. CEO Samer Majali confirmed on Thursday that services would resume following the ceasefire.

Ethiopian Airlines has also reopened bookings for flights to Beirut, with services scheduled to resume on Dec. 10.

But despite these developments, most international airlines remain cautious.

Fadi Al-Hassan, director of Beirut Airport, told LBCI that Arab and foreign carriers were expected to gradually resume operations in the coming weeks, especially as the holiday season approaches.

However, Jean Abboud, president of the Association of Travel and Tourist Agents in Lebanon, predicted a slower return.

Abboud said in a statement that he expects “the return of some companies within a few days, which do not exceed seven to eight companies out of about 60 companies,” adding that many carriers were eyeing early 2025 to resume operations.

Airline updates

  • Emirates: Flights to and from Beirut remain canceled until Dec. 31.
  • Etihad Airways, Saudia, Air Arabia, Oman Air, Qatar Airways: Suspensions extend until early January 2025.
  • Lufthansa Group (including Eurowings): Flights to Beirut suspended until Feb. 28, 2025.
  • Air France-KLM: Services to Beirut suspended until Jan. 5, 2025, and Tel Aviv until Dec. 31, 2024.
  • Aegean Air: Flights to Beirut from Athens, London, and Milan are suspended until April 1, 2025.

At present, Middle East Airlines remains the sole carrier operating flights to and from Beirut, having maintained operations despite intense Israeli airstrikes near the airport.

The airline serves all major Gulf and European hubs, but flights are fully booked in the coming days as Lebanese expatriates rush to return home following the ceasefire announcement.

The upcoming Christmas season has also driven a surge in demand, offering a glimmer of hope for a country reeling from widespread destruction and an escalating economic crisis.

With the conflict having severely impacted Lebanon’s tourism sector, the holiday season could provide a much-needed lifeline for the struggling economy.

The resumption of additional services is expected to depend on whether the ceasefire holds and the overall security situation stabilizes.


UK signs deals with Iraq aimed at curbing irregular immigration

Britain’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Iraq’s Minister of Interior Abdul Amir Al-Shimmari.
Britain’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Iraq’s Minister of Interior Abdul Amir Al-Shimmari.
Updated 28 November 2024
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UK signs deals with Iraq aimed at curbing irregular immigration

Britain’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Iraq’s Minister of Interior Abdul Amir Al-Shimmari.
  • “Organized criminals operate across borders, so law enforcement needs to operate across borders too,” Cooper said
  • Pacts include a joint UK-Iraq “statement on border security” committing both countries to work more closely in tackling people smuggling and border security

LONDON: The UK government said Thursday it had struck a “world-first security agreement” and other cooperation deals with Iraq to target people-smuggling gangs and strengthen its border security.
Interior minister Yvette Cooper said the pacts sent “a clear signal to the criminal smuggling gangs that we are determined to work across the globe to go after them.”
They follow a visit this week by Cooper to Iraq and its autonomous Kurdistan region, when she met federal and regional government officials.
“Organized criminals operate across borders, so law enforcement needs to operate across borders too,” she said in a statement.
Cooper noted people-smuggling gangs’ operations “stretch back through Northern France, Germany, across Europe, to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and beyond.”
“The increasingly global nature of organized immigration crime means that even countries that are thousands of miles apart must work more closely together,” she added.
The pacts include a joint UK-Iraq “statement on border security” committing both countries to work more closely in tackling people smuggling and border security.
The two countries signed another statement on migration to speed up the returns of people who have no right to be in the UK and help reintegration programs to support returnees.
As part of the agreements, London will also provide up to £300,000 ($380,000) for Iraqi law enforcement training in border security.
It will be focused on countering organized immigration crime and narcotics, and increasing the capacity and capability of Iraq’s border enforcement.
The UK has pledged another £200,000 to support projects in the Kurdistan region, “which will enhance capabilities concerning irregular migration and border security, including a new taskforce.”
Other measures within the agreements include a communications campaign “to counter the misinformation and myths that people-smugglers post online.”
Cooper’s interior ministry said collectively they were “the biggest operational package to tackle serious organized crime and people smuggling between the two countries ever.”


Some Lebanon hospitals look set to restart quickly after ceasefire, WHO says

Some Lebanon hospitals look set to restart quickly after ceasefire, WHO says
Updated 28 November 2024
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Some Lebanon hospitals look set to restart quickly after ceasefire, WHO says

Some Lebanon hospitals look set to restart quickly after ceasefire, WHO says
  • “Probably some of our hospitals will take some time,” Abdinasir Abubakar, WHO representative in Lebanon said

GENEVA: A World Health Organization official voiced optimism on Thursday that some of the health facilities in Lebanon shuttered during more than a year of conflict would soon be operational again, if the ceasefire holds.
“Probably some of our hospitals will take some time, but some hospitals probably will be able to restart very quickly,” Abdinasir Abubakar, WHO representative in Lebanon, told an online press conference after a damage assessment this week.
“So we are very hopeful,” he added, saying four hospitals in and around Beirut were among those that could restart quickly.


Lebanon says 2 hurt as Israeli troops fire on people returning south after truce with Hezbollah

Lebanon says 2 hurt as Israeli troops fire on people returning south after truce with Hezbollah
Updated 28 November 2024
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Lebanon says 2 hurt as Israeli troops fire on people returning south after truce with Hezbollah

Lebanon says 2 hurt as Israeli troops fire on people returning south after truce with Hezbollah
  • Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded by Israeli fire in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details
  • It said Israel fired artillery in three other locations near the border

BEIRUT: At least two people were wounded by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon on Thursday, according to state media. The Israeli military said it had fired at people trying to return to certain areas on the second day of a ceasefire with Hezbollah.
The agreement, brokered by the United States and France, includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah militants are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded by Israeli fire in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. It said Israel fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese militant group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.