OSLO: Norway said Thursday it had summoned an Israeli embassy official over Israel’s decision to revoke the diplomatic status of Norwegian envoys to the Palestinian Authority.
Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said he was “surprised” by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz’s announcement earlier Thursday.
“A short while ago, I summoned Israel’s representative to Norway and met her at the foreign ministry to protest against this decision,” Barth Eide told journalists.
The Israeli foreign ministry said it was revoking the diplomatic status of “eight Norwegian diplomats.”
Katz cited Norway’s recent recognition of a Palestinian state and its backing for a pending International Criminal Court case implicating Israeli leaders in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“We have all along expected there may be reactions to the position we have chosen (on the recognition of a Palestinian state), but we are surprised that they chose to do this, and especially right now,” Barth Eide told reporters.
“During my meeting with the Israeli representative I asked for an explanation,” he said, adding that she “was unable to provide one on the spot.”
In a statement issued earlier, Barth Eide had called Israel’s decision an “extreme action” that would “have consequences.”
“The Norwegian government is now evaluating what other measures we will take,” he told reporters.
“Norway is and will always be a friend of Israel and the Israeli people,” Eide said in the statement.
“At the same time, Norway has been clear in our criticism of the occupation (of Palestinian territories), the way in which the war in Gaza has been conducted and the suffering this has inflicted on the Palestinian civilian population,” Eide continued.
Norway summons Israeli envoy over diplomats’ revoked status
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Norway summons Israeli envoy over diplomats’ revoked status
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- “A short while ago, I summoned Israel’s representative to Norway and met her at the foreign ministry to protest against this decision,” Barth Eide said
- The Israeli foreign ministry said it was revoking the diplomatic status of “eight Norwegian diplomats”
Gaza agency says Israeli strike kills 40 in humanitarian zone
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- Hamas denies fighters present at site of Israeli strike in Al-Mawasi
- Israel has killed at least 40,988 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory
CAIRO: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Tuesday that an Israeli strike on a humanitarian zone in the south of the Palestinian territory killed 40 people and wounded 60 others, with the Israeli army saying it had targeted a Hamas command center in the area.
The strike hit Al-Mawasi — in Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis — which was designated a safe zone by the Israeli military early in the war, with tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians seeking refuge there.
However, Israel’s military has occasionally carried out operations in and around the area, including a strike in July that it said killed Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, and which Gaza health authorities said killed more than 90 people.
Gaza civil defense official Mohammed Al-Mughair told AFP early Tuesday that “40 martyrs and 60 injured were recovered and transferred” to nearby hospitals following the overnight strike.
“Our crews are still working to recover 15 missing people as a result of targeting the tents of the displaced in Mawasi, Khan Yunis,” Mughair added.
In a separate statement, civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said that people sheltering in the camp had not been warned of the strike, adding a shortage of tools and equipment was hindering rescue operations.
“More than 20 to 40 tents were completely damaged,” he said, adding the strike left behind “three deep craters.”
“There are entire families who disappeared under the sand in the Mawasi Khan Yunis massacre.”
The Israeli military said in a statement early Tuesday that its aircraft had “struck significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control center embedded inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Yunis.”
“The terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip continue to systematically abuse civilian and humanitarian infrastructure, including the designated Humanitarian Area, to carry out terrorist activity against the State of Israel and IDF troops,” it added.
Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday that claims its fighters were present at the scene of the strike were “a blatant lie.”
Over the course of the war, Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields, an accusation the group denies.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, including some hostages killed in captivity, official Israeli figures show.
Militants seized 251 hostages during the attack, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in the Gaza Strip has so far killed at least 40,988 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The UN human rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once during nearly a year of war, according to the United Nations.
From 1,200 inhabitants per square kilometer before the war, the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone now houses “between 30,000 and 34,000 people per square kilometer,” and its protected area shrank from 50 square kilometers to 41, the UN has calculated.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been mediating in efforts to forge a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, but talks remain stalled.
Hamas is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as part of any deal, but Israel insists troops must remain along the Gaza-Egypt border.
UN convoy in Gaza released after being detained by Israel
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- Heavy damage was caused by bulldozers to the UN armored vehicles,” UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said on X. “All staff & convoy are now released & back safely in the UN base”
UNITED NATIONS/ JERUSALEM: A convoy of United Nations vehicles and staff detained for more than eight hours by Israel in northern Gaza on Monday has been released, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said.
The Israeli military said on Monday it detained the convoy after receiving intelligence indicating that a number of “Palestinian suspects” were aboard and that it wanted to question them.
“The convoy was stopped at gun point just after the Wadi Gaza checkpoint with threats to detain UN staff. Heavy damage was caused by bulldozers to the UN armored vehicles,” UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said on X. “All staff & convoy are now released & back safely in the UN base.”
Earlier, the Israeli military contested the assertion that the convoy was carrying polio vaccines for Gaza’s children, saying instead its purpose was to “exchange UN personnel.”
The campaign to vaccinate 640,000 children in Gaza began on Sept. 1, following confirmation from the World Health Organization (WHO) last month that a baby had been partially paralyzed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.
Lazzarini disputed Israel’s account, saying that the convoy was en route to roll out the vaccination campaign in Gaza City and northern Gaza. He added that he was unsure if the campaign would resume in northern Gaza on Tuesday.
Palestinians’ UN proposal demands Israel leave Gaza and the West Bank in 6 months
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- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told The Associated Press on Monday that International Court of Justice rulings “should be accepted and should be implemented”
- In the sweeping condemnation of Israel’s rule over the lands it captured 57 years ago, the International Court of Justice said Israel had no right to sovereignty over the territories & was violating international laws against acquiring the lands by force
UNITED NATIONS: The Palestinians have circulated a draft UN resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the West Bank within six months.
The proposed General Assembly resolution, which was obtained by The Associated Press, follows a ruling by the top United Nations court in July that said Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end.
In the sweeping condemnation of Israel’s rule over the lands it captured 57 years ago, the International Court of Justice said Israel had no right to sovereignty over the territories and was violating international laws against acquiring the lands by force. It also said Israeli settlement building must stop.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon denounced the resolution and described it as a “reward for terrorism.” He called for the resolution to be rejected.
“Let it be clear: Nothing will stop Israel or deter it from its mission to bring home the hostages and eliminate Hamas,” he said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told The Associated Press on Monday that International Court of Justice rulings “should be accepted and should be implemented.” As for the General Assembly resolution, he said, it’s up to the 193 UN member nations to make a decision.
The draft UN resolution comes as Israel’s military assault on Gaza enters the 11th month after being triggered by the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7 and as violence in the West Bank reaches new highs.
The proposal, if adopted by the 193-member General Assembly, would not be legally binding but the extent of its support would reflect world opinion. There are no vetoes in the assembly, unlike in the 15-member Security Council.
A council diplomat said the Palestinians are aiming for a vote before world leaders of the General Assembly start their annual high-level meetings on Sept. 22. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because discussions on the draft resolution have been private.
The proposal demands that Israel comply with international law, including by immediately withdrawing all military forces from the Palestinian territories.
The draft resolution not only demands an end to all new settlement activity but the evacuation of all settlers and the dismantling of the separation barrier Israel constructed in the West Bank.
And it calls for all Palestinians displaced during Israel’s occupation to be allowed “to return to their original place of residence” and that Israel make reparations “for the damage caused” to all people in the territories.
Israel considers the West Bank to be disputed, the future of which should be decided in negotiations, while it has moved people there in settlements to solidify its hold. It has annexed east Jerusalem in a move that isn’t internationally recognized. It withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but maintained a blockade of the territory after Hamas took power in 2007.
Since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 40,900 Palestinians have been killed there. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.
Meanwhile, settler violence in West Bank has reached new highs, and Israeli military raids on West Bank cities and towns have grown more devastating, killing 692 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Attacks by Palestinian militants on Israelis within the territory also have increased.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for an independent state. The international community generally considers all three areas to be occupied territory.
Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour told the Security Council last month that he planned to introduce a General Assembly resolution in September to enshrine the ICJ ruling. “We are sick and tired of waiting,” he said. “The time for waiting is over.”
The proposed resolution includes other demands, including for Israel to be held accountable for any violations of international law, sanctions against those responsible for maintaining Israel’s presence in the territories, and for countries to halt arms exports to Israel if they’re suspected of being used in the territories.
Charred cars, burning trees after deadly Israeli strikes on Syria
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- The “Israeli strikes... targeted the area of the scientific research center in Masyaf” in Hama province and other sites, destroying “buildings and military centers,” the group said
MASYAF, Syria: Near the usually quiet Syrian town of Masyaf smoke was still billowing from trees while burnt-out cars stood nearby, a day after authorities reported deadly Israeli strikes on military sites.
Syrian health minister Hassan Al-Ghabash told AFP the overnight “Israeli aggression” killed 18 people and wounded 37 others, during a media tour organized by the authorities.
At the entrance to the mountainous town, about 220 kilometers (135 miles) north of the capital Damascus, a partially burned sign read “Masyaf.”
Fire-damaged cars were visible on both sides of the road, with nearby trees still burning and electric cables damaged and tangled, reported an AFP correspondent at the scene.
The raids also blew five large craters in the main road to Masyaf, the correspondent said.
Ambulances were still moving around the area, where one car had been burnt down to its metal frame and a yellow bulldozer was flipped upside down.
Mohammed Akkari, 47, who lives near the site of the strikes with his wife and two children, said they were gripped by fear when their house shook near midnight.
“We had never heard such a sound, a terrifying explosion, my children were terrified,” he told AFP.
At the Masyaf hospital, firefighter Mohammed Shmeil, 36, was being treated for his injured leg and foot.
“What we saw during that incident was something else,” he said, wincing in pain.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said 26 people were killed in what its chief Rami Abdel Rahman said was “one of the most violent Israeli attacks” in years.
The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said the strikes targeted sites “where pro-Iran groups and weapons development experts are stationed.”
The “Israeli strikes... targeted the area of the scientific research center in Masyaf” in Hama province and other sites, destroying “buildings and military centers,” the group said.
He said Iranian experts “developing arms including precision missiles and drones” worked in the government scientific research center that was hit.
Israeli strikes on Syria since 2011 have mainly targeted army positions and Iran-backed fighters including from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes in Syria, but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran, a Damascus ally, to expand its presence in the country.
Israeli raids on Syria surged after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel sparked war in Gaza, then eased somewhat after an April 1 strike blamed on Israel hit the Iranian consular building in Damascus.
In late August, several pro-Iranian fighters were killed in Syria’s central Homs region in strikes attributed to Israel, the Observatory had said.
Days later, the Israeli military said it killed an unspecified number of fighters belonging to Hamas ally Islamic Jihad in a strike in Syria near the Lebanese border.
Edward B. Johnson, the second CIA officer in Iran for the ‘Argo’ rescue mission, dies at age 81
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- Both Johnson and Mendez received the CIA’s Intelligence Star, its second-highest award for valor, for the operation
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Edward B. Johnson, who as a Central Intelligence Agency officer traveled into Iran with a colleague to rescue six American diplomats who fled the 1979 US Embassy takeover in Tehran, has died, the CIA confirmed on Monday. He was 81.
Johnson’s identity for decades had been hidden from the public, with him known only by the pseudonym “Julio” after fellow CIA officer Antonio “Tony” Mendez published a book recounting the operation. The 2012 Academy Award-winning film “Argo,” directed by and starring Ben Affleck, didn’t include the second man on the team.
Yet a painting at the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, offered a faceless acknowledgment of Johnson’s existence. And in 2023, the CIA itself revealed Johnson’s identity in a podcast highlighting the agency’s work to free the diplomats hiding at the Canadian ambassador’s residence in Tehran.
“Working with the six — these are rookies,” Johnson recounted in an interview aired by the podcast. “They were people who were not trained to lie to authorities. They weren’t trained to be clandestine, elusive.”
Johnson died Aug. 27 in his sleep in Virginia after suffering from pneumonia, the CIA told The Associated Press on Monday.
“Ed’s legacy will continue to inspire those who walk the halls of Langley for generations to come,” the agency said in a public statement.
His family in a statement honored him as having “a name that whispered through the corridors of intelligence” through his work.
“He was, at once, the ordinary man next door — husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend — and an extraordinary agent of the state,” they said.
Many specifics about Johnson’s professional life as a spy remain vague, as much of what is known about him publicly comes from the CIA podcast first identifying him, called “The Langley Files.” Johnson, who went by Ed, described coming to the CIA after serving as an infantryman in the US Army. He studied French in university, picked up Spanish from growing up with Cuban and Puerto Rican friends and later learned Arabic after teaching English in Saudi Arabia.
He traveled through Egypt and Jordan and studied at the Sorbonne university before being hired by the CIA. He met his wife, Aileen, while in Paris, his family said.
“It was after after having gotten the on-the-ground experience in the Middle East and the educational experience and the language into play ... that I was considered to be a good candidate,” Johnson said.
Johnson served in the CIA’s Office of Technical Service overseas at the time of the hostage crisis. It began when Islamist students came over the fence at the sprawling US Embassy compound in downtown Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979. While initially planned to be a sit-in like a previous storming, it soon became a 444-day hostage crisis.
Six US Embassy employees, however, had slipped away amid the chaos. They ended up in the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor. Several plans came and went before US President Jimmy Carter agreed to what became known as the “Canadian Caper” — posing the officials as part of a Canadian film crew scouting locations for a fake, knock-off “Star Wars” film called “Argo.”
Armed with Canadian passports, Mendez pretended to be a Canadian while Johnson was “an associate producer representing our production company’s ostensible South American backers,” Mendez later recounted in an internal CIA document. He described Johnson as having “considerable exfiltration experience” during the Cold War with the Soviet Union, without elaborating.
Landing in Tehran on Jan. 25, 1980, the men end up using a local map to try and find the Canadian Embassy. They ended up at the Swedish Embassy — just across the street from the American Embassy, patrolled by armed students. A local embassy guard didn’t understand them, as neither man spoke Iran’s Farsi language — a conscious decision made the CIA not to raise suspicions as their Farsi-language experts might be recognized.
Then one of the student revolutionaries walked over. As a conversation progressed, the men realized the student spoke German after studying abroad for a year. Johnson ended up getting written directions from the student, who even hailed a taxi for them and refused a tip.
“I have to thank the Iranians for being the beacon who got us to the right place,” Johnson said.
The men ended up with the six Americans, providing them scripts, props, fake histories and training on how to pretend to be a film crew. Johnson and Mendez worked on final preparations on the passports and exit slips, the scene represented in the painting at CIA headquarters.
“The biggest thing I think we did was to was to convince them that you can, you can do it — as simple as that,” Johnson remembered.
On Jan. 28, 1980, the CIA officers and the six Americans flew safely out of Tehran on a Swissair flight. Both Johnson and Mendez received the CIA’s Intelligence Star, its second-highest award for valor, for the operation. He retired from the CIA in 1995 and worked as a contractor while exploring a passion in photography, his family said.
“Even as the world celebrated his heroism, he remained a ghost, a figure shrouded in anonymity,” his family said. “For decades, his identity was a closely guarded secret. It was only in the twilight of his life that he finally emerged from the shadows, a legend in his own right.”
Johnson was born July 29, 1943, in Brooklyn. He is survived by his wife, five children, nine grandchildren, other family and friends, his loved ones said.
In the decades since the “Argo” rescue, there’s been a broader reckoning over the CIA’s actions in Iran, particularly the 1953 CIA-led coup that overthrew the country’s prime minister to cement the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. That action lit the fuse for the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the more than four decades of enmity between Tehran and Washington that followed.
The two-part podcast revealing Johnson’s identity acknowledged that, with a CIA historian calling the 1953 coup “one of the exceptions” to the agency’s efforts to bolster democracy worldwide.