GAZA/JERUSALEM: Israeli airstrikes flattened homes in Gaza on Saturday and rocket barrages into southern Israel persisted, raising fears of an escalation in a conflict that has killed at least 15 people in the coastal strip.
The fighting began with Israel’s killing of a senior commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group in a wave of strikes Friday that Israel said were meant to prevent an imminent attack. A 5-year-old girl and two women are among those killed in the strikes.
So far, Hamas, the larger militant group that rules Gaza, appeared to stay on the sidelines of the conflict, keeping its intensity somewhat contained. Israel and Hamas fought a war barely a year ago, one of four major conflicts and several smaller battles over the last 15 years that wreaked a staggering cost to the impoverished territory’s 2 million Palestinian residents.
Whether Hamas continues to stay out of the fight likely depends in part on how much punishment Israel inflicts in Gaza as rocket fire steadily continues.
On Saturday afternoon, Israeli warplanes stepped up strikes with hits on four residential buildings in Gaza City, all locations apparently linked to Islamic Jihad militants. The destruction was the heaviest yet in the current exchange within the densely packed city, but there were no reports of casualties. In each case, the Israeli military warned residents ahead of the strikes.
Another strike Saturday hit a car, killing a 75-year-old woman and wounding six other people.
In one of the strikes, after the warnings, fighter jets dropped two bombs on the house of an Islamic Jihad member. The blast flattened the two-story structure, leaving a large rubble-filled crater, and badly damaged surrounding homes.
Women and children rushed out of the area.
“Warned us? They warned us with rockets and we fled without taking anything,” said Huda Shamalakh, who lived next door. She said 15 people lived in the targeted home.
The lone power plant in Gaza ground to a halt at noon Saturday for lack of fuel as Israel has kept its crossing points into Gaza closed since Tuesday. With the new disruption, Gazans can get only 4 hours of electricity a day, increasing their reliance on private generators and deepening the territory’s chronic power crisis amid peak summer heat.
Throughout the day, Gaza militants regularly launched rounds of rockets into southern Israel, but there were no reports of casualties. Most barrages were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system, hit in empty areas or fell short into Gaza. Rocket shrapnel damaged the roof of a home in the city of Sderot, but the family was in a shelter.
On Friday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a televised speech that “Israel isn’t interested in a broader conflict in Gaza but will not shy away from one either.”
“This government has a zero-tolerance policy for any attempted attacks — of any kind — from Gaza toward Israeli territory,” he said. “Israel will not sit idly by when there are those who are trying to harm its civilians.”
The violence poses an early test for Lapid, who assumed the role of caretaker prime minister ahead of elections in November, when he hopes to keep the position.
Lapid, a centrist former TV host and author, has experience in diplomacy having served as foreign minister in the outgoing government, but has thin security credentials. A conflict with Gaza could burnish his standing and give him a boost as he faces off against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a security hawk who led the country during three of its four wars with Hamas.
Hamas also faces a dilemma in deciding whether to join a new battle barely a year after the last war caused widespread devastation. There has been almost no reconstruction since then, and the isolated coastal territory is mired in poverty, with unemployment hovering around 50 percent. Israel and Egypt have maintained a tight blockade over the territory since the Hamas takeover in 2007.
Egypt on Saturday intensified efforts to prevent escalation, communicating with Israel, the Palestinians and the United States to keep Hamas from joining the fighting, an Egyptian intelligence official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The Palestinian Health Ministry put the toll at 15 killed and said more than 80 were wounded. The ministry did not differentiate between civilians and militants. The Israeli military said early estimates were that around 15 fighters were killed.
The latest round of Israel-Gaza violence was rooted in the arrest earlier this week of a senior Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank, part of a monthlong Israeli military operation in the territory. A teen Islamic Jihad member was also killed in a gunbattle.
Israel then closed roads around Gaza and sent reinforcements to the border, warning of retaliation. On Friday, it killed Islamic Jihad’s commander for northern Gaza, Taiseer Al-Jabari, in a strike on a Gaza City apartment building.
An Israeli military spokesman said the strikes were in response to an “imminent threat” from two militant squads armed with anti-tank missiles.
Other Israeli strikes overnight largely hit on the outskirts of Gaza City or in rural areas, targeting what Israel said were rocket launchers, rocket building sites and Islamic Jihad camps.
Overnight, Israeli media showed the skies above southern and central Israel lighting up with rockets and interceptors from Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system.
The UN special envoy to the region, Tor Wennesland, said: “The launching of rockets must cease immediately, and I call on all sides to avoid further escalation.”
Defense Minister Benny Gantz approved an order to call up 25,000 reserve soldiers if needed while the military announced a “special situation” on the home front, with schools closed and limits placed on activities in communities within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of the border.
Hamas seized power in Gaza from rival Palestinian forces in 2007, two years after Israel withdrew from the coastal strip. Its most recent war with Israel was in May 2021. Tensions soared again earlier this year following a wave of attacks inside Israel, near-daily military operations in the West Bank and tensions at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.
Iran-backed Islamic Jihad is smaller than Hamas but largely shares its ideology. Both groups oppose Israel’s existence and have carried out scores of deadly attacks over the years, including the firing of rockets into Israel.
Air strikes, rocket attacks push Israel, Gaza into second day of fighting
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Air strikes, rocket attacks push Israel, Gaza into second day of fighting
- Early on Saturday Israel broadened its operation against Islamic Jihad, a group that is aligned with Hamas but often acts independently
Argentina withdraws from UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon
He declined to comment on the reason for their departure, referring the question to Argentina’s government
GENEVA: Argentina has notified the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon of its withdrawal from the force, a UNIFIL spokesperson said on Tuesday, in the first sign of cracks in the unity of the mission following attacks it has blamed on Israel.
The 10,000-strong peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL is deployed in southern Lebanon to monitor the demarcation line with Israel, an area where there have been hostilities between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters for over a year.
“Argentina has asked its officers to go back (to Argentina),” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said in response to a question about a newspaper report.
He declined to comment on the reason for their departure, referring the question to Argentina’s government.
Argentina is one of 48 countries contributing peacekeepers to UNIFIL, with a total of three staff currently in Lebanon, a UN website showed. It did not immediately respond to Tenenti’s comments.
UNIFIL has previously referred to “unacceptable pressures being exerted on the mission through various channels.”
Peacekeepers have refused to leave their posts despite more than 20 injuries in the past two months and damage to facilities which UNIFIL blames on the Israeli military.
Israel has denied such incidents are deliberate attacks. Israel says UN troops provide a human shield for Hezbollah fighters and has told UNIFIL to evacuate from southern Lebanon for its own safety — a request that the force has rejected.
Tenenti said there was no broader indication of declining support for the mission.
“The idea is to stay. So there is no discussion of withdrawing at all,” he said.
He said that its monitoring activities were “very, very limited” because of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict and repairs to some of its facilities.
“We’re still working on fixing some of the positions, but this has been definitely a very difficult moment, because we’ve been deliberately attacked by the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) in recent months, and we’re doing our utmost to rebuild the areas,” he said.
Israel’s military did not immediately comment on Tenenti’s remarks.
Italy says Hezbollah staged UN base attack it had blamed on Israel
- The UNIFIL force has complained of increasing attacks since Israel started its campaign targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon
BEIRUT: Italy’s defense minister said Tuesday that the Hezbollah group staged an attack on a UN peacekeeping base in Lebanon that it initially blamed on Israel.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto had said in Brussels that Israeli forces staged the new attack on the UN base in the Lebanese town of Chamaa. But a defense ministry source said that Crosetto “did not have the right information” when he spoke. “Hezbollah was responsible for the attack,” the source told AFP.
The UNIFIL force has complained of increasing attacks since Israel started its campaign targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,544 people and wounded 15,036 in Lebanon since October 2023, with 28 fatalities reported on Monday, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Israeli settler group slams US sanctions over West Bank
- A statement by the group said the sanctions “result from baseless slander directed at Amana by hostile and extremist elements“
- “Had the US administration bothered to verify the claims... it would have found them to be factually unfounded and refrained from taking action against us”
JERUSALEM: Israeli organization Amana, a movement that backs developing settlements in the occupied West Bank, on Tuesday denounced sanctions imposed on it by the United States the previous day.
A statement by the group said the sanctions “result from baseless slander directed at Amana by hostile and extremist elements.”
“Had the US administration bothered to verify the claims... it would have found them to be factually unfounded and refrained from taking action against us,” the statement said.
US authorities said Monday they would impose sanctions on Amana and its construction branch Binyanei Bar Amana, as well as others who have “ties to violent actors in the West Bank.”
“Amana is a key part of the Israeli extremist settlement movement and maintains ties to various persons previously sanctioned by the US government and its partners for perpetrating violence in the West Bank,” the US Treasury said.
“More broadly, Amana strategically uses farming outposts, which it supports through financing, loans, and building infrastructure, to expand settlements and seize land,” it added.
All settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, are illegal under international law.
Settlement outposts are built by private actors including Amana, and are also illegal under Israeli law.
The new sanctions will block Amana assets in the United States and prevent financial transactions between it and US-based individuals and institutions.
Several Israeli settlers have already been the target of US sanctions.
Amana was founded in 1979 to develop the Jewish presence in the West Bank, the northern Israel region of Galilee and in the Negev region in the south.
It has founded and developed dozens of settlements and settlement outposts since then.
“We are confident that with the change of administration in Washington, and with proper and necessary action by the Israeli government, all sanctions will be lifted,” Amana said Tuesday of US President-elect Donald Trump’s perceived leniency toward Israeli actions.
Yossi Dagan, Shomron Regional Council president, in charge of settlements in the northern West Bank, called the sanctions move “the final act of the Biden administration, which is cynical and hostile toward the Near East’s only democracy.”
Violence in the West Bank, particularly in the north, has soared since the war in the Gaza Strip broke out on October 7 last year after Palestinian militants Hamas attacked southern Israel.
The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA), said in its latest report that 300 incidents involving settlers occurred in the West Bank between October 1 and November 4.
Not counting annexed east Jerusalem, about 490,000 settlers live in the West Bank, which is home to three million Palestinians.
French minister on Gulf tour says Lebanon’s army needs support
- “I have reiterated to each counterpart that we need them to support the Lebanese armed forces,” Sebastien Lecornu said
- “We will have to think about more operational support on the military side“
ABU DHABI: France’s defense minister said Lebanon’s armed forces need more support as he completed a Gulf tour on Tuesday, saying they will be crucial for securing border areas after Israel’s war with Hezbollah.
As efforts toward a ceasefire increase, Sebastien Lecornu told AFP that he had raised the prospect of “operational support” for the Lebanese armed forces during his trip.
“I have reiterated to each counterpart that we need them to support the Lebanese armed forces,” he said after visits to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
“Both in the central role they play in welfare matters, and in the security aspect. We will have to think about more operational support on the military side.”
Lecornu was speaking in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi before meeting President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed at the end of his three-country tour.
Diplomatic efforts are intensifying to secure a ceasefire based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The resolution called for the deployment of Lebanese government forces and United Nations peacekeeping force UNIFIL in areas south of Lebanon’s Litani River near the Israeli border, as well as the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
“There isn’t a better solution at this stage than to respect Resolution 1701 and to support the Lebanese armed forces,” Lecornu said.
But “to secure the border between Israel and Lebanon, and to reinforce Lebanon’s sovereignty, the armed forces must be properly armed,” he added.
The Lebanese army is envisioned as having a greater role in maintaining stability along the border in the event of a ceasefire, though it currently struggles to meet the basic needs of its 80,000 soldiers.
It has previously received financial assistance from Qatar and the United States to pay salaries.
Last month, a conference in Paris raised $200 million to support the Lebanese armed forces, on top of $800 million in humanitarian aid for the country.
Israel expanded the focus of its operations from Gaza to Lebanon in late September, vowing to secure its northern border to allow tens of thousands of people displaced by cross-border fire to return home.
Since the clashes began with Hezbollah attacks on Israel, more than 3,510 people in Lebanon have been killed, according to authorities there, with most fatalities recorded since late September.
The Lebanese government says it is ready to deploy the army to the border to safeguard a ceasefire, and plans to recruit 1,500 more soldiers.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said last month that 4,500 military personnel were in the south and that he wanted to raise their number to 7,000-11,000.
Lecornu’s tour also comes two weeks before French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Saudi Arabia for a visit focused on defense and investment in new technologies.
Hamas-led force targets gangs looting Gaza aid convoys
- The new force has staged repeated operations, ambushing looters and killing some in armed clashes
- After nearly 100 trucks were looted last week Hamas attacked an armed group gathering near a crossing where aid trucks usually enter
CAIRO: Fighters from Hamas and other Gaza factions have formed an armed force to prevent gangs pillaging aid convoys in the embattled territory, residents and sources close to the group said, after a big increase in the looting of scarce supplies.
Since being formed this month amid rising public anger at aid seizures and price gouging, the new force has staged repeated operations, ambushing looters and killing some in armed clashes, the sources said.
Hamas’ efforts to take a lead in securing aid supplies point to the difficulties Israel will face in a post-war Gaza, with few obvious alternatives to a group it has been trying to destroy for over a year and which it says can have no governing role.
Israel accuses Hamas of hijacking aid. The group denies that and accuses Israel of trying to foment anarchy in Gaza by targeting police guarding aid convoys.
A spokesperson for Israel’s military did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment on Hamas units fighting looters.
Amid the chaos of the war, armed gangs have increasingly raided supply convoys, hijacking trucks and selling the looted stock in Gaza markets at exorbitant prices.
As well as driving anger at the Israeli military, the shortages had also prompted questions of Hamas for its seeming inability to stop the gangs.
“We are all against the bandits and looters so we can live and eat ... now you are obliged to buy from a thief,” said Diyaa Al-Nasara, speaking near a funeral for a Hamas fighter killed in clashes with looters.
The new anti-looting force, formed of well-equipped fighters from Hamas and allied groups, has been named “The Popular and Revolutionary Committees” and is ready to open fire on hijackers who do not surrender, one of the sources, a Hamas government official, said.
The official, who declined to be named because Hamas would not authorize him to speak about it, said the group operated across central and southern Gaza and had carried out at least 15 missions so far, including killing some armed gangsters.
WIDESPREAD HUNGER
Thirteen months into Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza, launched in response to the deadly Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, major shortages of food, medicine and other goods are causing widespread hunger and suffering among civilians.
Israel put commercial goods imports on hold last month and only aid trucks have entered Gaza since then, carrying a fraction of what relief groups say is needed for a territory where most people have lost their homes and have little money.
“It’s getting harder and harder to get the aid in,” said WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris after a series of looting incidents over the weekend.
Before the war, a sack of flour sold for $10 or $15 and a kilogram of milk powder for 30 shekels. Now the flour costs $100 and the milk powder 300 shekels, traders said.
Some people in Gaza say they want Hamas to target looters.
“There is a campaign against thieves, we see that. If the campaign continues and aid flows, the prices will go down because the stolen aid appears in the markets at high cost,” said Shaban, a displaced Gaza City engineer, now living in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
After nearly 100 trucks were looted last week Hamas attacked an armed group gathering near a crossing where aid trucks usually enter, opened heavy fire, killing at least 20 of them, according to residents and the Hamas Aqsa television.
Witnesses described another firefight on Saturday when Hamas fighters in two cars chased men suspected of looting who were in another vehicle, resulting in the death of the suspects.
The Hamas official said the force showed that the group’s governance in Gaza continued.
“Hamas as a movement exists, whether someone likes it or not. Hamas as a government exists too, not as strong as it used to be, but it exists and its personnel are trying to serve the people everywhere in the areas of displacement,” he said.
