House Republicans oust Liz Cheney from leadership post - Financial Times

Liz Cheney has been ousted from Republican congressional leadership over her opposition to Donald Trump, the latest dramatic development in an intraparty war over the former US president.

GOP lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to remove Cheney from party leadership in a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning. The vote was held by voice, rather than a recorded ballot.

Cheney, who is a staunch economic and geopolitical conservative, told reporters after Wednesday’s vote that she was ready to “lead the fight” against Trump’s influence in the GOP.

“I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office,” Cheney said. “We have seen the danger that he continues to provoke with his language.”

The vote came a day after Cheney tore into her fellow Republicans for their support of Trump, who continues to repeat false claims that last year’s election was stolen from him.

“Our duty is clear. Every one of us who has sworn the oath must act to prevent the unravelling of our democracy,” Cheney told her fellow lawmakers in a blistering speech on the floor of the US House of Representatives. “Remaining silent, and ignoring the lie, emboldens the liar.”

She added: “I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president’s crusade to undermine our democracy.”

The Wyoming congresswoman’s relationship with fellow Republicans deteriorated after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, which interrupted the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory and left five people dead. Cheney, daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney, was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his role in the riot.

She survived a confidence vote of her peers in February, but her base of support has eroded in recent weeks. The most senior House Republican, Kevin McCarthy, openly campaigned for her removal and said he would support her being replaced by Elise Stefanik, the New York Republican who is loyal to Trump. McCarthy this week wrote to colleagues saying: “It’s clear that we need to make a change.”

Cheney’s expulsion from Republican party leadership underscores the enduring influence Trump has on the GOP heading into next year’s midterm elections, when Republicans will jockey to regain control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina and fierce Trump ally, said Cheney was a “solid conservative and strong voice on national security”, but had taken a stance that was “out of the mainstream of the Republican party”.

Cheney told reporters on Wednesday she did not feel betrayed by her colleagues, but added that the caucus vote was “an indication of where the Republican party is”.

“I think that the party is in a place that we have got to bring it back from, and we have got to get back to a position where we are a party that can fight for conservative principles, that can fight for substance,” she said. “We cannot be dragged backward by the very dangerous lies of a former president.”

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, said Republicans had reached a “new and very dangerous low point”, adding: “Congresswoman Cheney spoke truth to power, and for that, she has been fired.

“Make no mistake,” he added. “The congresswoman and I disagree on so many policy issues. But we both agree that truth matters.”

Despite being banned from most social media platforms, Trump continues to release regular statements through Save America, his fundraising vehicle.

On Wednesday morning, the former president said House Republicans had a “great opportunity” to “rid themselves of a poor leader, a major Democrat talking point, a warmonger and a person with absolutely no personality or heart”, calling Cheney “bad for our country and bad for herself”.

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2021-05-12 15:39:42Z
52781581663055

Israel-Gaza: Fears of war as violence escalates - BBC News

The deadly exchange of fire between Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli military has escalated significantly, with the UN fearing a "full-scale war".

More than 1,000 rockets have now been fired by Palestinian militants over 38 hours, Israel said, most at Tel Aviv.

Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes, destroying two tower blocks in Gaza on Tuesday and Wednesday.

At least 53 Palestinians and six Israelis have been killed since Monday.

That includes 14 Palestinian children caught up in the conflict.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was "gravely concerned" by the ongoing violence.

• Children terrified as locals scramble for cover
• Jeremy Bowen: Old grievances fuel new fighting

An Israeli citizen was killed when an anti-tank guided missile, fired from the northern Gaza Strip, struck a jeep on the border. Three other people were injured.

The Israeli fatalities also reportedly include a 52-year-old father and his 16-year-old daughter who died in the city of Lod near Tel Aviv when a rocket hit their car.

In Gaza five members of one family were killed in an Israeli air strike. Streets are full of rubble where buildings have collapsed and cars have been left crushed or burned.

Israel says it has carried out operations to assassinate senior Hamas officials in Gaza.

Israeli Arabs have staged violent protests in a number of Israeli towns. Lod near Tel Aviv has been put under a state of emergency.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the government would use all its strength to protect Israel from enemies on the outside and rioters on the inside.

EPA

The fighting follows weeks of rising tension stoked by violent confrontations between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters culminating in clashes at a site in Jerusalem that is holy to both Muslims and Jews.

Israel's military says the fighting is the most severe since the conflict in Gaza in 2014.

Of the 1,050 rockets and mortar shells that have now been fired from the Palestinian territory, 850 landed in Israel or were intercepted by its Iron Dome air defence system, and 200 failed to clear the border and landed back in Gaza, the Israeli army said.

Video footage from the city showed rockets streaking through the night sky, some exploding as they were hit by Israeli interceptor missiles.

Loud booms and air-raid sirens were heard across targeted cities, which included Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Modiin and Beersheba, as Palestinian militants tried to overwhelm missile defences.

Anna Ahronheim, the defence and security correspondent of the Jerusalem Post, told the BBC: "To hear hundreds of interceptions and even to hear rockets fall near us was horrifying."

The rocket fire escalated after the two residential tower blocks were brought down in Gaza. Israel said it was targeting rocket launch sites, high-rise buildings, homes and offices used by Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza.

Hamas said it was incensed by "the enemy's targeting of residential towers".

Residents had been warned to evacuate the buildings before the fighter jets attacked, however health officials said there were still civilian deaths.

Reuters

Fady Hanona, a journalist in Gaza City, tweeted a video he said showed explosion after explosion in Gaza on Wednesday morning.

"What is happening is unbelievable," he said. "What we experienced this morning was more war than what we lived during the last three wars."

The international community has urged both sides to end the escalation, amid concerns it could spiral out of control. The UN's Middle East peace envoy, Tor Wennesland, said the sides were "escalating towards a full-scale war".

• What makes Jerusalem so holy?
• The Israel-Palestinian conflict explained
• Are you in Israel or Gaza? Share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

Mr Guterres urged "a redoubling of efforts to restore calm".

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, said she was watching the developments with "great concern" and that there might be crimes being committed under the ICC's guidelines, which focus on crimes against humanity.

US state department spokesman, Ned Price said Israel had the right to defend itself but the Palestinian people also had the right to safety and security.

Spoke with @Gabi_Ashkenazi today about the ongoing situation in Israel including rocket fire emanating from the Gaza Strip. Israelis and Palestinians need to be able to live in safety and security, as well as enjoy equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity, and democracy.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 11, 2021

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said the Israeli strikes were "just the beginning".

"Terror organisations have been hit hard and will continue to be hit because of their decision to hit Israel," he said. "We'll return peace and quiet, for the long term."

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a televised address: "If [Israel] wants to escalate, we are ready for it, and if it wants to stop, we're also ready."

State of emergency

Protests by Israeli Arabs in Lod escalated to full-scale rioting, with protesters throwing stones at police, who responded with stun grenades.

The violence caused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare a state of emergency in the city on Tuesday night. It was the first time the government had used emergency powers over an Arab community since 1966, The Times of Israel said.

Mr Netanyahu, who went to the city to call for calm, warned he would impose a curfew if necessary and said extra security forces had been sent there and to the city of Acre.

"The riots we saw tonight are an unbearable reality. It reminds us of sights from the past of our people and we cannot accept it - certainly not in our country," he said.

• Why an Israeli mayor is warning of civil war

Israeli media reported that synagogues and several businesses had been set on fire, while Reuters news agency said there were reports a car driven by an Arab resident had been stoned.

"All of Israel should know, this is a complete loss of control," Lod Mayor Yair Revivo was quoted as saying by the Times of Israel. "Civil war has erupted in Lod."

Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main international hub and one of the country's busiest, briefly halted flights on Tuesday and an energy pipeline between the cities of Eilat and Ashkelon was hit.

There has also been unrest in other cities with a large Israeli Arab population, as well as in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

It was another hard night for civilians inside Gaza and in Israeli towns on the other side of the border wire. Israel's next decision will be whether to send troops into Gaza.

The best chance of a ceasefire is from outside mediation, most likely through Egypt.

But at the moment, both Israel and Hamas are ramping up their rhetoric as well as continuing missile and rocket strikes.

There has also been trouble in Israeli towns with mixed Jewish-Palestinian populations. Twenty per cent of Israeli citizens are Arabs. The anger about events in Jerusalem and Gaza has caused communal violence and attacks on property.

EPA

What has caused the violence?

The fighting between Israel and Hamas was triggered by days of escalating clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at a holy hilltop compound in East Jerusalem.

The site is revered by both Muslims, who call it the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), and Jews, for whom it is known as the Temple Mount. Hamas demanded Israel remove police from there and the nearby predominantly Arab district of Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families face eviction by Jewish settlers. Hamas launched rockets when its ultimatum went unheeded.

Palestinian anger had already been stoked by weeks of rising tension in East Jerusalem, inflamed by a series of confrontations with police since the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in mid-April.

It was further fuelled by the threatened eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem by Jewish settlers and Israel's annual celebration of its capture of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war, known as Jerusalem Day.

The fate of the city, with its deep religious and national significance to both sides, lies at the heart of the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict. Israel in effect annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 and considers the entire city its capital, though this is not recognised by the vast majority of other countries.

Palestinians claim the eastern half of Jerusalem as the capital of a hoped-for state of their own.

Are you in Israel or Gaza and affected by these events? Please share your story by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

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If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.

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2021-05-12 13:16:02Z
52781577069323

WHO and global leaders could have averted Covid calamity, experts say - Financial Times

A swift international response could have stopped the 2019 Covid-19 outbreak in China becoming a global catastrophe in 2020, according to a scathing report on the response of world leaders and the World Health Organization to the pandemic.

An expert review by the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, commissioned by the WHO, sets out lessons for preventing future pandemics and makes dozens of recommendations for reform, including more surveillance power for the WHO.

The review does not examine the origins of Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. But it criticises the Chinese authorities and WHO for being too slow to recognise that the virus was spreading between people in Wuhan and then to warn the world about human to human transmission.

“For the future, a precautionary approach should be used from the outset, acknowledging that a respiratory disease may spread from person to person unless and until established otherwise,” the report says.

The panel’s recommendations include a new treaty setting up a Global Health Threats Council; more power for the WHO to investigate and publish information about disease outbreaks without government approval; and new funding for an International Pandemic Financing Facility (IPFF) that could spend $5bn-$10bn a year on preparedness and call on $50bn-$100bn in an emergency.

“The panel is recommending a fundamental transformation designed to ensure commitment at the highest level to a new system . . . on which citizens can rely to keep them safe and healthy,” said its co-chairs, former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former president of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

The panel is scathing about the International Health Regulations, the only legally binding instrument on disease outbreaks. “As currently constructed [they] serve to constrain rather than facilitate rapid action,” the report says. “With respect to travel, it is hard to see that the IHR’s discouragement of restrictions is realistic for pandemics in our highly interconnected age.”

“If travel restrictions had been imposed more quickly and more widely, that would have been a serious inhibition on the rapid transmission of the virus,” Clark told a press briefing ahead of the review’s publication. “We have to realise that we are living in the 21st century and not in medieval times.”

The panel criticises the WHO for not declaring Covid a public health emergency of international concern until January 30. It was officially called a pandemic on March 11.

Mourners in India attend the cremation of a relative who died of Covid-19. The experts’ panel criticised China and the WHO for being too slow to recognise the virus was spreading between humans in Wuhan © PRAKASH SINGH/AFP via Getty

But the strongest criticism was directed at the wealthy nations of Europe and North America for “wasting February 2020” through inaction — leading to “a lost month when many more countries could have taken steps to contain the spread of Sars-Cov-2 and forestall the global health, social and economic catastrophe that continues its grip”.

When the gravity of the crisis was finally acknowledged in March 2020, “there was a mad scramble for PPE, therapeutics and other equipment”, said Clark. “This was compounded by a lack of global leadership.”

To provide leadership in future, the panel calls on the world’s heads of government to set up a Global Health Threats Council and a Pandemic Framework Convention to provide a stronger legal foundation for action. It recommends these are launched at a global summit, a special session of the United Nations General Assembly that should be convened for the purpose later this year.

The council would allocate funds from the IPFF to institutions developing preparedness and response capabilities, including a global platform capable of delivering vaccines, diagnostics, drugs and supplies “swiftly and equitably worldwide — shifting from a market model to one aimed at delivering global public goods”. The facility should be ready to disburse up to $100bn at short notice in the event of another pandemic, the panel says.

Travellers at Miami International Airport in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The panel said fast and widespread curbs on travel would have helped contain the disease © Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images

The review also calls for the authority and financing of the WHO to be strengthened. This would involve increasing the fees paid by member states; “depoliticising recruitment (especially at senior levels) by adhering to criteria of merit and relevant competencies”; improving the performance of its board — which the panel says failed to perform as an executive body during the pandemic — and appointing a director-general with a single seven-year term of office rather than the current renewable five-year terms.

Panel members are talking to heads of government to ensure the measures are implemented. “The shelves of storage rooms in the UN and national capitals are full of reports and reviews of previous health crises,” Sirleaf said. “Had their warnings been heeded, we would have avoided the catastrophe we are in today. This time must be different.”

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2021-05-12 11:15:00Z
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Greece: Husband of murdered Caroline Crouch begged thieves for lives - Metro.co.uk

Caroline Crouch, 20, was murdered after thieves broke into the home she shared with Charalambos Anagnostopoulos, 33 (Picture: Star.gr)

The husband of a British woman murdered during a burglary in Greece has told how he begged the thieves not to hurt his family.

Caroline Crouch, 20, had been upstairs with the couple’s daughter, 11 months, when the thieves broke into their Athens home around 5am. Her husband, Charalambos Anagnostopoulos, 33, known as ‘Babis’, was sleeping downstairs.

He said they tied both of them up and held a gun to their baby’s head. They then demanded ‘where’s the money’, in broken Greek.

The couple had a large amount of cash in the property, as they’d recently bought some land and needed to pay the builders, Mr Anagnostopoulos said. He told them it was hidden in a monopoly box, but they demanded more.

According to I Avgi, a newspaper in Athens, Mr Anagnostopoulos told the police: ‘I heard my wife screaming for help tied to the bed while I was tied to the floor. We screamed not to be hurt. 

‘The baby was crying, my wife was crying and someone or some people were looking through the house to find more money and jewellery. Suddenly they left the room and I couldn’t hear my wife’s voice anymore.’  

She and her husband were both tied up during the raid

A gun was also held to their daughter’s head (Picture: Athena Picture Agency Ltd)

Caroline was strangled to death during the raid. The thieves took around 15,000 euros and 25,000 euros worth of jewellery.

Police officers handling the case have concluded that the perpetrators knew the family had a large amount of cash in their home at the time.

Speaking to Greek TV outside the family home later the same day, Mr Anagnostopoulos said: ‘I wish no one ever goes through what we went through last night. It was a nightmare. 

‘We begged the thieves not to harm us. We told them where the money was and asked them to leave us alone. The police will catch them.’ 

The couple had cash in the house as they needed to pay some builders (Picture: Athena Picture Agency Ltd)

A £250,000 reward for information has now been put forward

A £250,000 reward has been offered for anyone who has information about the burglary. Mr Anagnostopoulos said the men had spoken a foreign language among themselves, but he was not able to identify it.

He called the police around 6am, after the men had fled the scene, and the area was cordoned off. He and the baby were checked over in hospital.

Police say it was likely the thieves kept the couple under surveillance for some time before carrying out the burglary. Officers are now reviewing CCTV footage in the area.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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2021-05-12 10:32:00Z
52781586060991

WHO and global leaders could have averted Covid calamity, experts say - Financial Times

A swift international response could have stopped the 2019 Covid-19 outbreak in China becoming a global catastrophe in 2020, according to a scathing report on the response of world leaders and the World Health Organization to the pandemic.

An expert review by the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, commissioned by the WHO, sets out lessons for preventing future pandemics and makes dozens of recommendations for reform, including more surveillance power for the WHO.

The review does not examine the origins of Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. But it criticises the Chinese authorities and WHO for being too slow to recognise that the virus was spreading between people in Wuhan and then to warn the world about human to human transmission.

“For the future, a precautionary approach should be used from the outset, acknowledging that a respiratory disease may spread from person to person unless and until established otherwise,” the report says.

The panel’s recommendations include a new treaty setting up a Global Health Threats Council; more power for the WHO to investigate and publish information about disease outbreaks without government approval; and new funding for an International Pandemic Financing Facility (IPFF) that could spend $5bn-$10bn a year on preparedness and call on $50bn-$100bn in an emergency.

“The panel is recommending a fundamental transformation designed to ensure commitment at the highest level to a new system . . . on which citizens can rely to keep them safe and healthy,” said its co-chairs, former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former president of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

The panel is scathing about the International Health Regulations, the only legally binding instrument on disease outbreaks. “As currently constructed [they] serve to constrain rather than facilitate rapid action,” the report says. “With respect to travel, it is hard to see that the IHR’s discouragement of restrictions is realistic for pandemics in our highly interconnected age.”

“If travel restrictions had been imposed more quickly and more widely, that would have been a serious inhibition on the rapid transmission of the virus,” Clark told a press briefing ahead of the review’s publication. “We have to realise that we are living in the 21st century and not in medieval times.”

The panel criticises the WHO for not declaring Covid a public health emergency of international concern until January 30. It was officially called a pandemic on March 11.

Mourners in India attend the cremation of a relative who died of Covid-19. The experts’ panel criticised China and the WHO for being too slow to recognise the virus was spreading between humans in Wuhan © PRAKASH SINGH/AFP via Getty

But the strongest criticism was directed at the wealthy nations of Europe and North America for “wasting February 2020” through inaction — leading to “a lost month when many more countries could have taken steps to contain the spread of Sars-Cov-2 and forestall the global health, social and economic catastrophe that continues its grip”.

When the gravity of the crisis was finally acknowledged in March 2020, “there was a mad scramble for PPE, therapeutics and other equipment”, said Clark. “This was compounded by a lack of global leadership.”

To provide leadership in future, the panel calls on the world’s heads of government to set up a Global Health Threats Council and a Pandemic Framework Convention to provide a stronger legal foundation for action. It recommends these are launched at a global summit, a special session of the United Nations General Assembly that should be convened for the purpose later this year.

The council would allocate funds from the IPFF to institutions developing preparedness and response capabilities, including a global platform capable of delivering vaccines, diagnostics, drugs and supplies “swiftly and equitably worldwide — shifting from a market model to one aimed at delivering global public goods”. The facility should be ready to disburse up to $100bn at short notice in the event of another pandemic, the panel says.

Travellers at Miami International Airport in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The panel said fast and widespread curbs on travel would have helped contain the disease © Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images

The review also calls for the authority and financing of the WHO to be strengthened. This would involve increasing the fees paid by member states; “depoliticising recruitment (especially at senior levels) by adhering to criteria of merit and relevant competencies”; improving the performance of its board — which the panel says failed to perform as an executive body during the pandemic — and appointing a director-general with a single seven-year term of office rather than the current renewable five-year terms.

Panel members are talking to heads of government to ensure the measures are implemented. “The shelves of storage rooms in the UN and national capitals are full of reports and reviews of previous health crises,” Sirleaf said. “Had their warnings been heeded, we would have avoided the catastrophe we are in today. This time must be different.”

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2021-05-12 10:07:25Z
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Israel-Gaza: Fears of war as violence escalates - BBC News

The deadly exchange of fire between Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli military has escalated significantly, with the UN fearing a "full-scale war".

More than 1,000 rockets have now been fired by Palestinian militants over 38 hours, Israel said, most at Tel Aviv.

Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes, destroying two tower blocks in Gaza on Tuesday and Wednesday.

At least 43 Palestinians and six Israelis have been killed since Monday.

That includes 13 Palestinian children caught up in the conflict.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was "gravely concerned" by the ongoing violence.

• Children terrified as locals scramble for cover

The latest fatality was an Israeli citizen, who was killed when an anti-tank guided missile, fired from the northern Gaza Strip, struck a jeep on the border. Three other people were injured.

The Israeli fatalities also reportedly include a 52-year-old father and his 16-year-old daughter who died in the city of Lod near Tel Aviv when a rocket hit their car.

In Gaza, the streets are full of rubble where buildings have collapsed and cars are crushed or burned from Israeli air strikes.

Israeli Arabs have also staged violent protests in a number of Israeli towns. Lod near Tel Aviv has been put under a state of emergency.

EPA

The fighting follows weeks of rising tension stoked by violent confrontations between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters at a site in Jerusalem that is holy to both Muslims and Jews.

• Jeremy Bowen: Old grievances fuel new fighting
• Residents react to the latest violence

Israel's military says this is the biggest exchange since 2014.

Of the 1,050 rockets and mortar shells that have now been fired from Gaza, 850 had landed in Israel or were intercepted by its Iron Dome air defence system, and 200 failed to clear the border and landed back in Gaza, the Israeli army said.

Video footage from the city showed rockets streaking through the night sky, some exploding as they were hit by Israeli interceptor missiles.

Loud booms and air-raid sirens were heard across targeted cities, which included Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Modiin, and the southern city of Beersheba, as Palestinian militants tried to overwhelm missile defences.

Anna Ahronheim, the defence and security correspondent of the Jerusalem Post, told the BBC: "To hear hundreds of interceptions and even to hear rockets fall near us was horrifying."

The rocket fire escalated after the two residential tower blocks were brought down in Gaza. Israel said it was targeting rocket launch sites, high-rise buildings, homes and offices used by Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza.

Hamas said it was incensed by "the enemy's targeting of residential towers".

Residents had been warned to evacuate the buildings before the fighter jets attacked, however health officials said there were still civilians deaths.

Reuters

Fady Hanona, a journalist in Gaza City, tweeted a video he said showed explosion after explosion in Gaza on Wednesday morning.

"What is happening is unbelievable," he said. "What we experienced this morning was more war than what we lived during the last three wars."

The international community has urged both sides to end the escalation, amid concerns it could spiral out of control. The UN's Middle East peace envoy, Tor Wennesland, said the sides were "escalating towards a full-scale war".

• What makes Jerusalem so holy?
• The Israel-Palestinian conflict explained
• Are you in Israel or Gaza? Share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

Mr Guterres urged "a redoubling of efforts to restore calm".

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, said she was watching the developments with "great concern" and that there might be crimes being committed under the ICC's guidelines, which focus on crimes against humanity.

US state department spokesman, Ned Price said Israel had the right to defend itself but the Palestinian people also had the right to safety and security.

Spoke with @Gabi_Ashkenazi today about the ongoing situation in Israel including rocket fire emanating from the Gaza Strip. Israelis and Palestinians need to be able to live in safety and security, as well as enjoy equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity, and democracy.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 11, 2021

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said the Israeli strikes were "just the beginning".

"Terror organisations have been hit hard and will continue to be hit because of their decision to hit Israel," he said. "We'll return peace and quiet, for the long term."

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a televised address: "If [Israel] wants to escalate, we are ready for it, and if it wants to stop, we're also ready."

State of emergency

Protests by Israeli Arabs in Lod escalated to full-scale rioting, with protesters throwing rocks at police, who responded with stun grenades.

The violence caused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare a state of emergency in the city on Tuesday night. It was the first time the government had used emergency powers over an Arab community since 1966, The Times of Israel said.

Mr Netanyahu, who went to the city to call for calm, said he would impose a curfew if necessary.

Israeli media reported that synagogues and several businesses had been set on fire, while Reuters news agency said there were reports a car driven by an Arab resident had been stoned.

"All of Israel should know, this is a complete loss of control," Lod Mayor Yair Revivo was quoted as saying by the Times of Israel. "Civil war has erupted in Lod."

EPA

Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main international hub and one of the country's busiest, briefly halted flights on Tuesday and an energy pipeline between the cities of Eilat and Ashkelon was hit.

There has also been unrest in other cities with a large Israeli Arab population, as well as in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

It was another hard night for civilians inside Gaza and in Israeli towns on the other side of the border wire. Israel's next decision will be whether to send troops into Gaza.

The best chance of a ceasefire is from outside mediation, most likely through Egypt.

But at the moment, both Israel and Hamas are ramping up their rhetoric as well as continuing missile and rocket strikes.

There has also been trouble in Israeli towns with mixed Jewish-Palestinian populations. Twenty per cent of Israeli citizens are Arabs. The anger about events in Jerusalem and Gaza has caused communal violence and attacks on property.

What has caused the violence?

The fighting between Israel and Hamas was triggered by days of escalating clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at a holy hilltop compound in East Jerusalem.

The site is revered by both Muslims, who call it the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), and Jews, for whom it is known as the Temple Mount. Hamas demanded Israel remove police from there and the nearby predominantly Arab district of Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families face eviction by Jewish settlers. Hamas launched rockets when its ultimatum went unheeded.

Palestinian anger had already been stoked by weeks of rising tension in East Jerusalem, inflamed by a series of confrontations with police since the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in mid-April.

It was further fuelled by the threatened eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem by Jewish settlers and Israel's annual celebration of its capture of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war, known as Jerusalem Day.

The fate of the city, with its deep religious and national significance to both sides, lies at the heart of the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict. Israel in effect annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 and considers the entire city its capital, though this is not recognised by the vast majority of other countries.

Palestinians claim the eastern half of Jerusalem as the capital of a hoped-for state of their own.

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2021-05-12 10:15:49Z
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