Israeli defense minister warns an attack on Iran would be ‘lethal’ and ‘surprising’

The remains of an Emad ballistic missile are displayed at Julis army base in southern Israel on October 9, 2024, days after a missile attack by Iran on Israel. (REUTERS)
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Updated 10 October 2024
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Israeli defense minister warns an attack on Iran would be ‘lethal’ and ‘surprising’

  • US president Joe Biden says he would not support a retaliatory strike on Tehran’s nuclear sites

JERUSALEM: Israel’s defense minister warned on Wednesday that his country’s retaliation for a recent Iranian missile attack will be “lethal” and “surprising,” while the Israeli military pushed ahead with a large-scale operation in northern Gaza and a ground offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah militants.
On the diplomatic front, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden held their first call in seven weeks, with a White House press secretary saying the call included discussions on Israel’s deliberations over how it will respond to Iran’s attack.
“It was direct, it was productive,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of the 30-minute call.
The Israeli operation in northern Gaza left dozens of people dead and threatened to shut down three hospitals over a year into the war with Hamas, Palestinian officials and residents said.
The continuing cycle of destruction and death in Gaza, unleashed by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, comes as Israel expands a weeklong ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon and considers a major retaliatory strike on Iran following Iran’s Oct. 1 missile barrage.
“Our strike will be lethal, precise and above all, surprising. They won’t understand what happened and how. They will see the results,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a speech to troops. “Whoever strikes us will be harmed and pay a price.”
Iran fired dozens of missiles at Israel on Oct. 1 which the United States helped fend off. Biden has said he would not support a retaliatory strike on sites related to Tehran’s nuclear program.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah claimed a rocket attack that killed two people in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. The town’s acting mayor, Ofir Yehezkeli, said the two killed were a couple walking their dogs.

 

Dozens killed in Gaza and survivors fear displacement
In northern Gaza, there was heavy fighting in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, where Israeli forces have carried out several major operations over the course of the war and then returned as militants regroup. The entire north, including Gaza City, has suffered heavy destruction and has been largely isolated by Israeli forces since late last year.
In Gaza, Jabaliya residents said thousands of people have been trapped in their homes since the operation began Sunday, as Israeli jets and drones buzz overhead and troops battle militants in the streets.
“It’s like hell. We can’t get out,” said Mohamed Awda, who lives with his parents and six siblings. He said there were three bodies in the street outside his home that could not be retrieved because of the fighting.
“The quadcopters are everywhere, and they fire at anyone. You can’t even open the window,” he told The Associated Press by phone, speaking over the sound of explosions.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said it recovered 40 bodies from Jabaliya from Sunday until Tuesday, and another 14 from communities farther north. There are likely more bodies under rubble and in areas that can’t be accessed, it said.
Jabaliya residents fear Israel aims to depopulate the north and turn it into a closed military zone or a Jewish settlement. Israel has blocked all roads except for the main highway leading south from Jabaliya, according to residents.
“We are concerned about the displacement to the south,” Ahmed Qamar, who lives in Jabaliya with his wife, children and parents, said in a text message. “People here say clearly that they will die here in northern Gaza and won’t go to southern Gaza.”
Hospitals are under threat
Fadel Naeem, the director of Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City, said it had received dozens of wounded people and bodies from the north. “We declared a state of emergency, suspended scheduled surgeries, and discharged patients whose conditions are stable,” he told AP in a text message.
Israel’s offensive has gutted Gaza’s health sector, forcing most hospitals to shut down and leaving the rest only partially functioning.
Naeem said three hospitals farther north — Kamal Adwan, Awda and the Indonesian Hospital — have become almost inaccessible because of the fighting. The Gaza Health Ministry says the Israeli army has ordered all three to evacuate staff and patients. Meanwhile, no humanitarian aid has entered the north since Oct. 1, according to UN data.
Israel’s authority coordinating humanitarian affairs in Palestinian territories said Israel “has not halted the entry or coordination of humanitarian aid entering from its territory into the northern Gaza Strip.”
Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it fights in residential areas.
Israel ordered the wholesale evacuation of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, in the opening weeks of the war, but hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have remained there. Israel reiterated those instructions over the weekend, telling people to flee south to a humanitarian zone where hundreds of thousands are already crammed into squalid tent camps.
The war began just over a year ago, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. They still hold around 100 hostages, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters. It has said women and children make up over half of the dead. The offensive has also caused staggering destruction across the territory and displaced around 90 percent of the population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting until “total victory” over Hamas and the return of all hostages.
Israel warns Lebanon it could end up like Gaza
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said Lebanon would meet the same fate as Gaza if its people did not rise up against Hezbollah.
Video verified by The Associated Press shows what appears to be a group of Israeli soldiers raising an Israeli flag in a village in southern Lebanon.
In the video, which appears to have been filmed in Maroun A-Ras, three soldiers are seen hoisting up a flag atop a pile of debris. A soldier off camera speaks in Hebrew and refers to the nearby Israeli village of Avivim. The date it was filmed wasn’t immediately known.
The video follows other similar acts that took place throughout Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
An Israeli strike killed four people and wounded another 10 at a hotel sheltering displaced people in the southern Lebanese town of Wardaniyeh on Wednesday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
An Associated Press reporter in a nearby town heard two sonic booms from Israeli jets before the strike. Plumes of smoke rose from the building after the explosion.
In recent weeks Israel has waged a heavy air campaign across large parts of Lebanon, targeting what it says are Hezbollah rocket launchers and other militant sites. A series of strikes had killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders.
The Israeli military said Wednesday that Hezbollah has fired more than 12,000 rockets, missiles and drones at Israel in the past year.
 


Fire at Turkiye ski resort hotel kills 10, injures 32

Updated 6 sec ago
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Fire at Turkiye ski resort hotel kills 10, injures 32

  • The blaze at the 12-story Grand Kartal hotel, which has wooden cladding, started at 3:27 a.m.
  • The resort is located on top of a mountain range about 170km northwest of Ankara
ISTANBUL: A fire engulfed a hotel at the popular Kartalkaya ski resort in northwestern Turkiye early Tuesday, killing 10 people died and injuring 32 others, the interior minister said.
The blaze at the 12-story Grand Kartal hotel, which has wooden cladding, started at 3:27 a.m. (0027 GMT), Ali Yerlikaya said on X.
Private NTV broadcaster said three people died after jumping from the hotel’s windows.
The resort is located on top of a mountain range about 170 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of the capital Ankara.
The fire, which is believed to have started in the restaurant at around midnight, spread quickly. It was not immediately clear what caused it.
Television footage showed huge plumes of smoke rising into the sky with a snowcapped mountain behind the hotel.
Part of it backs onto a cliff, making it harder for firefighters to tackle the blaze.
Local media said 237 people were staying at the hotel, where the occupancy rate was between 80 and 90 percent due to the school holidays.
Those evacuated were rehoused in nearby hotels.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said six prosecutors had been allocated to investigate the blaze.
The health, interior and culture ministers are expected to visit the site later in the day.

Trump ‘not confident’ Gaza deal will hold

Updated 21 January 2025
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Trump ‘not confident’ Gaza deal will hold

  • Donald Trump however believes Hamas had been ‘weakened’ in the war

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Monday he was not confident a ceasefire deal in Gaza would hold, despite trumpeting his diplomacy to secure it ahead of his inauguration.

Asked by a reporter as he returned to the White House whether the two sides would maintain the truce and move on in the agreement, Trump said, “I’m not confident.”

“That’s not our war; it’s their war. But I’m not confident,” Trump said.

Trump, however, said that he believed Hamas had been “weakened” in the war that began with its unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

“I looked at a picture of Gaza. Gaza is like a massive demolition site,” Trump said.

The property tycoon turned populist politician said that Gaza could see a “fantastic” reconstruction if the plan moves ahead.

“It’s a phenomenal location on the sea — best weather. You know, everything’s good. It’s like, some beautiful things could be done with it,” he said.

Israel and Hamas on Sunday began implementing a ceasefire deal that included the exchange of hostages and prisoners.

The plan was originally outlined by then president Joe Biden in May and was pushed through after unusual joint diplomacy by Biden and Trump envoys.

Trump, while pushing for the deal, has also made clear he will steadfastly support Israel.

In one of his first acts, he revoked sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank imposed by the Biden administration over attacks against Palestinians.


Syria’s de facto leader congratulates Trump, looks forward to improving relations

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. (AFP)
Updated 21 January 2025
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Syria’s de facto leader congratulates Trump, looks forward to improving relations

  • In early January, Washington issued a sanctions exemption for transactions with governing institutions in Syria for six months in an effort to ease the flow of humanitarian assistance

CAIRO: Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa congratulated US President Donald Trump on his inauguration in a statement on Monday, saying he is looking forward to improving relations between the two countries.
“We are confident that he is the leader to bring peace to the Middle East and restore stability to the region,” he said.
The US, Britain, the European Union and others imposed tough sanctions on Syria after a crackdown by ousted President Bashar Assad on pro-democracy protests in 2011 that spiralled into civil war.
In early January, Washington issued a sanctions exemption for transactions with governing institutions in Syria for six months in an effort to ease the flow of humanitarian assistance.
Syria welcomed the move, but has urged a complete lifting of sanctions to support its recovery.

 

 


Over 900 aid trucks enter Gaza on 2nd day of truce: UN

Updated 21 January 2025
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Over 900 aid trucks enter Gaza on 2nd day of truce: UN

  • The ceasefire agreement calls for 600 trucks to cross into Gaza per day

UNITED NATIONS, United States: More than 900 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Monday, the United Nations said, exceeding the daily target outlined in the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
“Humanitarian aid continues to move into the Gaza Strip as part of a prepared surge to increase support to survivors,” the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA) said.
“Today, 915 trucks crossed into Gaza, according to information received through engagement with Israeli authorities and the guarantors for the ceasefire agreement.”
Throughout conflict in Gaza, the UN has denounced obstacles restricting the flow and distribution of aid into the battered Palestinian territory.
On Sunday, the day the ceasefire came into force, 630 trucks entered Gaza.
An initial 42-day truce between Israel and Hamas is meant to enable a surge of sorely needed aid for Gaza after 15 months of war.
The ceasefire agreement calls for 600 trucks to cross into Gaza per day.


Hamas ‘ready for dialogue’ with Trump administration, senior official says

Updated 21 January 2025
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Hamas ‘ready for dialogue’ with Trump administration, senior official says

  • Mousa Abu Marzouk, 74, currently based in Qatar, is native of Gaza, former resident of Virginia
  • It is unclear whether statement reflects broad consensus among militant group in Gaza Strip

LONDON: The Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip is ready to engage in dialogue with the US and its new administration under Donald Trump, according to one of its senior officials Mousa Abu Marzouk.

Abu Marzouk, who is a member of Hamas’ political office, told The New York Times on Sunday that the group was “prepared for a dialogue with America and to achieve understanding on everything.”

Abu Marzouk, 74, who is currently based in Qatar, is a native of Gaza and a former resident of Virginia.

His statement came hours after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in the Gaza Strip, coinciding with the inauguration of a new administration in the White House.

It is unclear whether Abu Marzouk’s words reflect a broad consensus among the militant group in Gaza, which launched a cross-border attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The US has classified Hamas as a terrorist organization since 1997.

Abu Marzouk told The New York Times that Hamas was prepared to welcome an envoy from the Trump administration to the Gaza Strip.

He said: “He can come and see the people and try to understand their feelings and wishes, so that the American position can be based on the interests of all the parties and not only one party.”

Abu Marzouk praised Trump for helping to secure the ceasefire agreement in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, adding that “without President Trump’s insistence on ending the war and his dispatching of a decisive representative, this deal wouldn’t have happened.”