Kamis, 19 Oktober 2023

Israel-Hamas war live: Israeli military says it ‘continues to attack all the time throughout the Gaza Strip’; Sunak arrives in Tel Aviv - The Guardian

Sunak has told the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, that getting humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza is an important issue.

Speaking as the two met in Jerusalem, the British prime minister said:

Palestinians are victims of what Hamas has done. It’s important that we continue to provide humanitarian access.

Sunak also told Herzog this morning that Israel has the “right to self-defence in line with international law”.

Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, meeting with UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, at the presidential residence in Jerusalem.

Offering a readout of a meeting between the two, a Downing Street spokesperson said the prime minister “expressed his personal condolences for the horrific loss of life in Israel as a result of Hamas’s terrorism”.

They added: “[Sunak] reiterated that the UK stands in solidarity with Israel and firmly believes in the country’s right to self-defence in line with international law.

“The prime minister and President Herzog agreed on the importance of getting urgent humanitarian support to ordinary Palestinians in Gaza who are also suffering. The prime minister welcomed yesterday’s announcement that Israel would not stop aid from entering Gaza. He expressed his sincere hope that further progress could be made on delivering crucial food, water and medicine.”

The spokesperson said Sunak “conveyed his gratitude to President Herzog for the support Israel has provided to British nationals caught up in the attacks, including to the families of those who have been taken hostage”, with the two agreeing to “work tirelessly to secure their release”.

He added: “The prime minister and President Herzog stressed the imperative need to avoid further escalation of violence in the region. They agreed to continue working together to that end.”

The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, meets his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sunak and Netanyahu have just given a short press conference. Here are some of the key quotes and lines.

Netanyahu framed the conflict as a showdown between good and evil, modernity and barbarism, saying that both Israel and the world were facing their “darkest hour”.

He said:

This is a battle of western civilisation, the battle of the free world, the battle for the future. We have here two forces. One is an axis of evil, led by Iran through Hezbollah, Hamas and others, that want to bring back the Middle East to the Middle Ages, to an age of bondage and war and slavery and annihilation. And the other forces – the forces of progress and humanity – that want to push the Middle East into a world of peace and prosperity. We’re on the cusp of expanding that peace – and destroying that move was one of the reasons why this action was taken. We have to resist it and we have to win. Above all, we have to win. We have to release the hostages.

The Israeli PM said the war would be long, adding that although there would be “ups and downs”, the people of Israel had never been more united.

He described Hamas and its allies as “the modern barbarians; the worst monsters on the planet”.

Sunak said Israel had gone through something that “no country; no people should have to endure – least of all Israel”.

He also said that the UK supported Israel’s right to defend itself “in line with international law”, to go after Hamas and to bring back the hostages.

In a reference to concerns over Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks, Sunak added:

Now I know that you are taking every precaution to avoid harming civilians, in direct contrast to the terrorists of Hamas, which seem to put civilians in harm’s way.

The British PM thanked Netanyahu for his support for British nationals “caught up in this horror”, including the hostages.

Sunak referred to Tuesday’s blast at al-Ahli Arab hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip but did not speculate as to who may have been responsible for it. He said:

We’ve seen scenes over the past day that have shocked all of us, particularly in the hospital and we mourn the loss of every innocent life.

Sunak also thanked the Israeli government for its decision to announce the opening up of humanitarian routes into Gaza.

Lack of access to water is one of the biggest challenges in Gaza, according to the international charity Action Against Hunger, which is warning of “a health crisis on the brink of explosion”.

Staff at the charity say overcrowded displacement shelters are close to breaking point. They add that one shelter in Gaza is currently supporting more than 24,000 people and that 60% of the children there are affected by diarrhoea. Some people are are also resorting to open defecation.

Palestinians fetch water in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis.

The UN estimates that there are fewer than 3 litres of water per person each day for the 2.3 million people living in Gaza, half of whom are children who are most at risk from water shortages and diarrhoeal infections – the leading cause of child mortality globally. And that amount is likely to decrease by the day as supplies and fuel used to make water drinkable in the desalination plants are reduced.

Chiara Saccardi, officer for the Middle East at Action Against Hunger, said:

Faced with this impossible situation, many Gazan families are resorting to non-drinking water sources, such as agricultural wells. This puts them at imminent risk of dehydration and even an outbreak of infectious diseases such as cholera. Such an epidemic, if it happens, would make this serious crisis an even bigger problem.

An Israeli strike killed the head of the Hamas-led national security forces, Jehad Mheisen, and members of his family in their house in Gaza, according to a Hamas-aligned news agency. (Via Reuters)

The Philippines embassy in Tel Aviv has confirmed the death of another Filipino national, bringing the country’s death toll to four.

The victim, who has not been named, was working as a carer in Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the communities attacked by Hamas on 7 October, the embassy said. Her remains were identified using fingerprint records.

There are around 30,000 Filipinos in Israel, including many who work as carers. A further two Filipino nationals remain missing.

‘I’ve lived through several wars, it’s never been like this, it has never been this brutal’

Palestinians walk over rubble at the site where a girl was killed in Israeli strikes on a house in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Inside Gaza health officials say bombing has so far killed nearly 3,500 people and wounded more than 12,000.

In Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, an area of shops was reduced to rubble as far as the eye could see, with a toddler’s pink cot overturned on the ground, windows blown off a clothing store and damaged vehicles.

Rafat Al-Nakhala, who had sought shelter in there after obeying Israel’s order for civilians to flee Gaza City in the north, said nowhere was safe:

I’m over 70 years old, I’ve lived through several wars, it’s never been like this, it has never been this brutal, no religion and no conscience. Thank God. We only have hope in God, not in any Arab or Muslim country or anyone in the world, except for God.

Footage obtained by Reuters from the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north showed residents digging with their bare hands inside a damaged building to free a small boy and girl trapped under masonry.

The body of a man was hauled out of the ruins on a stretcher as residents tried to light up the site with torches on their mobile phones.

The UN says around half of people in Gaza have been made homeless, still trapped inside the territory, one of the most densely populated places on earth. (Via Reuters)

Scholz attacks Putin’s ‘cynical’ concern for civilians in the Middle East

Olaf Scholz gives a government declaration at the Bundestag

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has slammed Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, for lamenting the fate of civilians in the Israel-Hamas conflict while his army wages war in Ukraine.

Putin has warned that the expected ground offensive would lead to “absolutely unacceptable” civilian casualties. He also described the deadly strike on a hospital in Gaza earlier this week as a “tragedy”.

Scholz told the German parliament on Thursday:

It makes me more than furious to hear the Russian president repeatedly warning that there could be civilian casualties from an armed conflict. It doesn’t get more cynical than that.

International charities urge Sunak to push for an urgent ceasefire during Israel visit

Palestinian emergency services and local citizens search for victims in buildings destroyed during Israeli air raids in the southern Gaza Strip.

More than 60 international charities - including Action Aid UK, Bond, Cafod, Christian Aid, Islamic Relief, Médecins Sans Frontières UK, Oxfam GB and Save the Children UK – have signed a statement calling on the UK government to step up its efforts to secure an urgent ceasefire in Israel and Gaza following the bombing of al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza and the escalating instability and humanitarian crisis in the region:

The horrific blast at al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital in Gaza must serve as a wake-up call to the international community. We urge global leaders to call for an immediate ceasefire.

Without this there can be no safe humanitarian access which would allow NGOs and humanitarian agencies to urgently get food, clean water, and medical supplies into Gaza. Civilians, particularly women, the young and old, and people with disabilities, are already bearing the brunt of this escalating and tragic crisis and must be allowed to move to safety and be protected wherever they are.

The UK prime minister should urgently help secure a ceasefire and uphold UK’s responsibilities to ensure international humanitarian law is adhered to, to prevent further escalation and more lives being lost. It must act now to avoid a wider regional conflict.

Finally, we call on international actors to find a long-term, sustainable, just and peaceful solution for all people across the region.

Sunak has told the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, that getting humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza is an important issue.

Speaking as the two met in Jerusalem, the British prime minister said:

Palestinians are victims of what Hamas has done. It’s important that we continue to provide humanitarian access.

Sunak also told Herzog this morning that Israel has the “right to self-defence in line with international law”.

Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, meeting with UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, at the presidential residence in Jerusalem.

Offering a readout of a meeting between the two, a Downing Street spokesperson said the prime minister “expressed his personal condolences for the horrific loss of life in Israel as a result of Hamas’s terrorism”.

They added: “[Sunak] reiterated that the UK stands in solidarity with Israel and firmly believes in the country’s right to self-defence in line with international law.

“The prime minister and President Herzog agreed on the importance of getting urgent humanitarian support to ordinary Palestinians in Gaza who are also suffering. The prime minister welcomed yesterday’s announcement that Israel would not stop aid from entering Gaza. He expressed his sincere hope that further progress could be made on delivering crucial food, water and medicine.”

The spokesperson said Sunak “conveyed his gratitude to President Herzog for the support Israel has provided to British nationals caught up in the attacks, including to the families of those who have been taken hostage”, with the two agreeing to “work tirelessly to secure their release”.

He added: “The prime minister and President Herzog stressed the imperative need to avoid further escalation of violence in the region. They agreed to continue working together to that end.”

More than 60 Berlin police injured and 174 people arrested at pro-Palestinian protests, city authorities say

Fireworks explode near a police vehicle in Berlin as demonstrators rally to show support for the Palestinian people following the Gaza City hospital blast

Sixty-five police officers were injured at overnight protests in Berlin against Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip, authorities said on Thursday, as demonstrators defied bans on such gatherings.

The officers were “wounded by stones, flammable liquid and acts of resistance,” Berlin police said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

A police spokesperson said 174 people were arrested, including 65 who will be facing investigations.

The gathering had began late Wednesday in Neukölln, a district with a large Arab community.

Bild daily said a call had gone out on Telegram calling on “men” to “turn Neukölln into Gaza. Burn everything”.

As police ordered protesters to disperse, “rubbish bins and obstacles were put on the streets” and “stones and pyrotechnics were thrown” at them, prompting police to respond by firing water-cannon, said authorities.

Since Israel began its relentless bombing raids on Gaza in response to Hamas’s deadly attack on October 7, pro-Palestinian protests have erupted across major German cities despite widespread bans.

The number of antisemitic incidents has also jumped, with a synagogue in Berlin hit by molotov cocktails early Wednesday.

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, on Thursday urged authorities to prevent demonstrations that could degenerate into antisemitic incitement.

Gatherings where “antisemitic slogans are shouted, where the deaths of other human beings are glorified” must be outlawed, said Scholz. (Via Agence France-Presse)

King Abdullah II of Jordan is on his way to Egypt to discuss ways to end “the Israeli aggression on Gaza”

EU interior ministers debate how to manage the impact of the war

A police officer stands in a police facility, right, outside a synagogue in Frankfurt, Germany, early on Thursday.

EU interior ministers are debating how to manage the impact of the war between Israel and Hamas on the bloc, amid heightened security tensions after a firebomb assault on a Berlin synagogue and killings in Belgium and France by suspected Islamist extremists.

Officials from across the 27-nation bloc have expressed concerns about a rise in antisemitic attacks, the radicalisation of young people online, the use of encrypted messaging services by criminals or extremists, and the need to speed up the deportation of people who might pose a public danger.

But calls for an increase in security across the board are also creating deep unease as the solutions being discussed could undermine free movement and the right to assemble in Europe. Italy and Germany, notably, are introducing new border checks.

The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, believes that part of the solution to Europe’s security woes must involve the bloc helping diplomatically and financially to bring an end to years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

“We have learned from history that the most difficult decisions are always taken when we are on the edge of the abyss. I believe that is where we are now: on the edge of the abyss,” Borrell told EU lawmakers on Wednesday.

“When I hear Muslim religious authorities speaking the language of inter-religious conflict and explicitly stating that Europe is a party to this conflict, I feel that the storm clouds are looming,” he said. (Via Associated Press)

The executive committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) – a group of 57 states that describes itself as “the collective voice of the Muslim world” – held an emergency meeting yesterday.

In a strongly-worded communique, the OIC referred to “the crime of genocide” and called on its member states “to apply all feasible and effective diplomatic, legal and deterrent measures, to stop the occupying power Israel’s crimes against humanity.”

Here is the communique in full.

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2023-10-19 04:09:00Z
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