The Egyptian foreign ministry has accused “western media” of targeting the country about the Gaza humanitarian crisis.
On the social media site X, formally known as Twitter, the Egyptian foreign minister said the media were “Promoting displacement scenario, holding Egypt responsible for the Crossing closure despite Israeli targeted attacks and refusal of aid entry and recently insinuating Egypt responsibility for obstructing third-country nationals exit.”
It added: “Rafah crossing is open and Egypt is not responsible for obstructing third-country nationals exit.” A subsequent tweet said: “The opportunity is available tomorrow to change course and awaken the conscience.”
It’s just past 6.45pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s where things stand:
Israel security officials have signalled their readiness to embark on a ground offensive into Gaza that they say will be far more comprehensive and ferocious than any previous conflict with Hamas. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, visited troops on the Gaza border on Thursday, telling them: “You see Gaza now from a distance, you will soon see it from inside. The command will come.”
Gallant also said that after Israel destroys the Hamas militant group, the military does not plan to control “life in the Gaza Strip”. The Israeli defence minister’s comments to lawmakers were the first time an Israeli leader discussed its long-term plans for Gaza.
Any escalation of military activities in the Gaza Strip would be “catastrophic” for people there, the UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, said on Friday.
Israel bombarded Gaza early on Friday, hitting areas in the south where Palestinians had been told to seek safety. Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy airstrikes in Khan Younis in the south, and ambulances carrying men, women and children streamed into the town’s Nasser hospital, Gaza’s second largest, which was already overflowing with patients and people seeking shelter.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, flew to the Sinai peninsula in an effort to open a humanitarian route into Gaza, with the first aid delivery expected “in the next day or two”. The border crossing on the Egypt-Gaza border had been due to open on Friday. When the crossing opens, the Israelis will allow 20 aid lorries to enter Gaza in an initial convoy under the Biden deal.
More than 4,000 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October, according to an update from the Hamas-run health authority in Gaza on Friday. 4,137 people have lost their lives, it said, while more than 13,000 people have been injured. More than a million people have been displaced in Gaza, with many heeding Israel’s orders to evacuate the northern part of the sealed-off coastal enclave.
At least 18 people are reported to have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Greek Orthodox church compound in Gaza on Thursday. Palestinian officials said at least 500 Muslims and Christians had taken shelter in the church from Israeli bombardments. The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expressed its “strongest condemnation” of the strike, which it said constituted a war crime.
The Palestinian health ministry says 13 people, including five children, were killed after an Israeli assault on the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank. At least 81 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank since the Gaza conflict erupted on 7 October, according to figures from the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah. One member of the Israeli security forces has also been killed in the territory.
Israel has evacuated its own communities near Gaza and Lebanon and announced plans to evacuate Kiryat Shmona, a town of more than 20,000 residents near the Lebanese border.
The Egyptian foreign ministry has accused “western media” of targeting the country about the Gaza humanitarian crisis.
An Israeli airstrike on Friday targeted three Hezbollah militants near the Lebanese border, Israel’s military said.
The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said two more of its staff have been killed in Gaza, bringing the total number to 16 since the war began.
Most of the 200 or so people kidnapped in Israel by Hamas and taken to the Gaza Strip are still alive, the Israeli military said on Friday. The military said more than 20 hostages were children, while between 10 and 20 were over the age of 60. There are also between 100 and 200 people considered missing since the Hamas attacks, the army added.
Joe Biden has drawn a direct, provocative link between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’s attack on Israel in only the second Oval Office address of his presidency. The White House on Friday asked Congress for nearly $106bn to fund ambitious plans for Ukraine, Israel and US border security, but offered no strategy for securing the money from a broken Congress.
Western officials are voicing mounting concern over the risk of a regional “spillover” from the conflict between Israel and Hamas, as US forces in the region come under repeated drone attack, including in Iraq.
Police in London say they have recorded a 1,353% increase in antisemitic offences this month compared with the same period last year, while Islamophobic offences were up 140% after the attack by Hamas on Israel.
The UK government has said that pro-Palestine marchers attending demonstrations scheduled to take place around the UK this weekend have a right to protest but should “be mindful” of the “fear and distress felt by many families in this country”.
Hello. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong in Washington taking over the live blog. You can contact me at leonie.chao-fong@theguardian.com.
The world’s biggest network of climate change campaign groups has issued a statement calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the end to the occupation of Palestine.
Climate Action Network International, a coalition of more than 1,900 civil society organisations campaigning on the climate crisis in 130 countries, said it condemned “all killing, indiscriminate attacks, civilian hostage taking and arbitrary detention of any civilians”.
Insisting the network stood “in solidarity with Palestinian, Israeli and all families who have lost loved ones in this latest conflict”, the statement, issued on Friday, said:
Our work is motivated by our deep commitment to achieve climate and social justice, and the certainty that this can only be achieved if human rights, everyone’s human rights, are upheld. There can be no climate justice without human rights.
We join the calls for an immediate ceasefire, respect for international humanitarian and human rights’ law, the provision of humanitarian access and support.
There can be no peace without justice. The end of the occupation of Palestine is a precondition to ensure a sustained and long-lasting solution.
CAN’s statement comes nearly a week after Friends of the Earth International released a statement denouncing Israel’s occupation and ongoing assault on Gaza, saying:
This attack on the civilian population of Gaza is a war crime and must stop immediately.
Western officials are voicing mounting concern over the risk of a regional “spillover” from the conflict between Israel and Hamas, as US forces in the region come under repeated drone attack, including in Iraq.
Amid indications that Israel may be poised to launch a major ground offensive into Gaza, and escalating tensions on Israel’s boundary with Lebanon, Iranian proxies in particular appeared to be stepping up their threats.
The Ain al-Asad airbase, which hosts US and other international forces in western Iraq, was targeted by drones and missiles on Thursday evening, according to security sources. Multiple blasts were reportedly heard inside the base.
The Iraqi military said it had closed the area around the base and started a search operation. It was not clear yet whether the attacks had caused casualties or damages.
The assault came after rockets hit another military base hosting US forces near Baghdad’s international airport on Thursday, according to Iraqi police.
US military forces in Iraq were also targeted on Wednesday in two separate drone attacks, with one causing minor injuries to a small number of troops even though the US military managed to intercept the armed drone.
On Wednesday, a drone hit US forces in Syria, resulting in minor injuries, while another one was brought down.
Earlier on Thursday, the USS Carney, a navy destroyer in the northern Red Sea, intercepted three land attack cruise missiles and several drones that were launched by Houthi forces in Yemen.
A Pentagon spokesperson told reporters the missiles were “potentially” headed toward Israel but said the US had not finished its assessment of what they were targeting. The action by the Carney potentially represented the first shots by the US military in the defence of Israel in this conflict.
Lebanon’s national carrier says it is cutting more than half of its flights as tensions along the border with Israel prompt more western countries to warn against travel to Lebanon.
On Friday, Mohammad El-Hout, chairman of Middle East Airlines (MEA), said only eight of the company’s 22 planes would operate as of next week, with the rest of the fleet relocated to other airports.
“More than half of the company’s flights will be cancelled,” Hout said during a televised interview from Beirut’s airport, which was knocked out during the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah group.
The decision came after changes to the company’s insurance coverage after the 7 October Hamas attack, he said.
Other airlines, including Swiss International Air Lines and Germany’s Lufthansa, have already temporarily suspended Beirut flights, as western countries urge their nationals to leave Lebanon.
On Friday, Belgium became the latest country to issue a Lebanon travel advisory, following similar moves by the US, Britain, France, Australia, Canada and other nations.
The White House on Friday asked Congress for nearly $106bn to fund ambitious plans for Ukraine, Israel and US border security, but offered no strategy for securing the money from a broken Congress.
President Joe Biden’s request for the funding comes days after he visited Israel and pledged solidarity as the country bombards Gaza following an attack by Hamas that killed 1,400 people in southern Israel.
By grouping Israel funding with Ukraine, border security, refugee assistance, measures to counter China and other hotly debated priorities, Biden is hoping he has created a must-pass national security spending bill that can win support in a chaotic House of Representatives.
The chamber, which Republicans won control of last year, has been without a leader for more than two weeks.
Some Republican lawmakers have grown skeptical of the need to fund Ukraine’s war with Russia, and have threatened to halt government altogether to put an end to debt-fuelled fiscal spending.
“The world is watching and the American people rightly expect their leaders to come together and deliver on these priorities,” said Biden’s budget director, Shalanda Young, in a letter to the acting House speaker, Patrick McHenry. “I urge Congress to address them as part of a comprehensive, bipartisan agreement in the weeks ahead.”
Police in London say they have recorded a 1,353% increase in antisemitic offences this month compared with the same period last year, while Islamophobic offences were up 140% after the attack by Hamas on Israel.
Police in the British capital have ramped up patrols amid growing tensions, but said there had been 218 antisemitic offences between 1 October and 18 October, compared with 15 in the same period in 2022. Islamophobic offences were up to 101, from 42.
“Regrettably, despite the increased presence of officers we have seen a significant increase in hate crime across London,” the Metropolitan police said in a statement.
“This includes abuse directed at individuals or groups in person or online, racially or religiously motivated criminal damage and other offences.”
Officers have made 21 arrests for hate crime offences, including a man detained for defacing posters of missing Israelis and another over Islamophobic graffiti on bus stops.
The Community Security Trust, a charity that advises Britain’s estimated 280,000 Jews on security matters, said it had recorded 457 antisemitic incidents across the UK between Hamas’s attack on 7 October and 18 October.
TellMama, which monitors anti-Muslim incidents, said it had received 200 cases up to 16 October.
“The conflict is having a direct impact on London and Londoners, with increasing cases of abhorrent Islamophobia and antisemitism seen in the capital,” said the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
Pro-Palestine marchers have a right to protest but should “be mindful” of the “fear and distress felt by many families in this country”, says the British government
The British government has said that pro-Palestine marchers attending demonstrations scheduled to take place around the UK this weekend have a right to protest but should “be mindful” of the “fear and distress felt by many families in this country”.
The comments by a spokesperson for Rishi Sunak are a subtle shift in the government’s tone from last week, when the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said there should be a “pause” in such protest after the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas.
“We’re clear that people must remain free to peacefully express their views, and protest is an important part of our democracy, but we also recognise that this is clearly a deeply distressing time for many,” a Downing Street spokesperson told reporters on Friday.
“And we would appeal to everyone across the country and those who are considering joining these protests to be mindful of that – and to consider the fear and distress felt by many families in this country over the distressing events that we’ve seen.”
The comments came as the Metropolitan police said 1,000 officers would be deployed in London for what is expected to be a major protest in the city organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
In a statement, the force said that anyone wearing, carrying or otherwise displaying symbols that are supportive of a banned organisation could be arrested, adding that the same would be true for chanting.
“One particular chant that has been the subject of extensive discussion is: ‘Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea.’ This is a chant that has been frequently heard at pro-Palestinian demonstrations for many years. We are well aware of the strength of feeling in relation to it,” it added.
“While we can envisage scenarios where chanting these words could be unlawful, such as outside a synagogue or Jewish school, or directly at a Jewish person or group intended to intimidate, it is likely that its use in a wider protest setting, such as we anticipate this weekend, would not be an offence and would not result in arrests.”
Board of Deputies of British Jews meets BBC director general
The Board of Deputies of British Jews has put out a statement after a meeting today with Tim Davie, the BBC director general.
The broadcaster has been criticised in recent days for describing Hamas as militants rather than terrorists, and for its initial coverage of Tuesday’s blast at al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza.
The statement reads:
The BBC confirmed it was committed to continued dialogue. It also confirmed it is no longer BBC practice to call Hamas militants. Instead, the BBC describes the group as a proscribed terrorist organisation by the UK government and others, or simply as Hamas.
Marie van der Zyl, the president of the board of deputies, said:
We emphasised our outrage at the refusal of the BBC to describe Hamas’ barbaric actions as terrorism and the damaging, false report of the rocket which killed innocent civilians. We will both continue dialogue as well as pursuing legal avenues.
Germany’s interior minister says Hamas supporters should be deported from the country where possible, adding that authorities would keep a close eye on potential Islamist attackers.
“If we are able to deport Hamas supporters, we must do this,” Nancy Faeser told reporters following talks with officials at the Federal Criminal Police Office.
“Our security authorities have currently placed an even stronger focus on the Islamist scene,” Faeser added, pointing to a recent attack in Brussels as an indication of the threat relating to tensions over the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has flown to the Sinai peninsula in an effort to open a humanitarian route into Gaza, as Israel’s bombardment continued ahead of a looming ground offensive.
The border crossing on the Egypt-Gaza border was due to open on Friday under an agreement Joe Biden believed he had brokered on his one-day visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday. But the US state department said on Thursday that the “modalities” of opening the gate were still being negotiated, and the Egyptian government said it needed more time to repair the bomb-damaged road.
Guterres called for significant deliveries of aid to be let through and for security checks to be speeded up. “We are actively engaging with all parties to make sure conditions for delivering aid are lifted,” he said.
Thousands of Jordanians rally in support of Hamas
Chanting slogans urging Islamist Hamas militants to intensify their strikes on Israel, thousands of Jordanians marched in the capital and around the country on Friday to protest against Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza.
More than 6,000 people took part in the protest in downtown Amman arranged by opposition parties and tribal groups in a kingdom where passions are running high since the escalation of violence between Palestinians and Israel.
“Oh Hamas, hit them with al-Qassam rockets ... Bring the suicide bombers to Tel Aviv,” they chanted, referring to the military wing of Hamas.
In Amman on Friday, several thousand people also gathered near the Israeli embassy, a common spot for anti-Israel protests at times of turmoil in the Palestinian territories.
“No Jewish embassy on Arab land!” protesters chanted.
Riot police blocked roads leading to the fortified embassy complex to keep back demonstrators who gathered around the nearby Kaloti mosque in the capital.
Authorities in Jordan earlier this week quelled rioting around the Israeli embassy and said they would not tolerate any attempt by mobs who sought to exploit anger against Israel to create havoc.
On the outskirts of the capital, hundreds of anti-riot police blocked all roads leading to Jordan Valley opposite the West Bank, where activists had called for large protests.
More than 2,000 protesters who were prevented from heading to the border called on the authorities to allow them to join the fight alongside Hamas.
In the southern city of Karak, hundreds of protesters gathered at a checkpoint on a highway leading to the border chanting pro-Hamas slogans.
Many of Jordan’s 10 million citizens are of Palestinian descent. They or their parents were expelled or fled to Jordan in the fighting that accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948.
They have close ties with family on the other side of the Jordan River in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. (Via Reuters)
The Egyptian foreign ministry has accused “western media” of targeting the country about the Gaza humanitarian crisis.
On the social media site X, formally known as Twitter, the Egyptian foreign minister said the media were “Promoting displacement scenario, holding Egypt responsible for the Crossing closure despite Israeli targeted attacks and refusal of aid entry and recently insinuating Egypt responsibility for obstructing third-country nationals exit.”
It added: “Rafah crossing is open and Egypt is not responsible for obstructing third-country nationals exit.” A subsequent tweet said: “The opportunity is available tomorrow to change course and awaken the conscience.”
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMikgFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVndWFyZGlhbi5jb20vd29ybGQvbGl2ZS8yMDIzL29jdC8yMC9pc3JhZWwtaGFtYXMtd2FyLWxpdmUtam9lLWJpZGVuLWFkZHJlc3MtdGhlLW5hdGlvbi1nYXphLWdyb3VuZC1vZmZlbnNpdmUtaW52YXNpb24tYm9yZGVyLXRyb29wc9IBkgFodHRwczovL2FtcC50aGVndWFyZGlhbi5jb20vd29ybGQvbGl2ZS8yMDIzL29jdC8yMC9pc3JhZWwtaGFtYXMtd2FyLWxpdmUtam9lLWJpZGVuLWFkZHJlc3MtdGhlLW5hdGlvbi1nYXphLWdyb3VuZC1vZmZlbnNpdmUtaW52YXNpb24tYm9yZGVyLXRyb29wcw?oc=5
2023-10-20 14:45:00Z
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