A to Z of the Israel-Palestine conflict
Since Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, conflict in the region has escalated to tragic proportions. This is the latest bloody chapter in the bitter conflict between Israel and Palestine that has been going on since 1948. Here is an alphabetical list of important terms you might come across while reading about the conflict.
Abbas, Mahmoud
The 87-year old Abbas has been the president of the State of Palestine (West Bank) since 2005. The moderate pro-Palestinian voice and critic of Hamas, Abbas has condemned the killing of civilians during the ongoing violence.
Al Aqsa
Al Aqsa refers to the compound of Islamic religious buildings, including the Dome of Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque, in Jerusalem’s Old City. Located adjacent to Christian and Jewish religious sites, it has been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ‘Operation Al Aqsa Storm’ is the name of the recent Hamas operation.
Balfour Declaration
The Declaration was a public statement issued in 1917 by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community. The statement, for the first time, promised British support for a “Jewish national home” in Palestine, at the time a British Mandate. It went on to be the basis of the creation of Israel, 30 years later.
(With inputs from AP and Reuters)
Shin Bet, one of the three principal intelligence agencies in Israel, said that it failed to deter Hamas' attack on the country. Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surpriseattack on Israel on October 7, triggering a conflict in the region.
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said at least six UK citizens had been killed after Hamas militants attacked Israel nine days ago, characterising the incident as a 'pogrom.' 'The terrible nature of these attacks means it is proving difficult to identify many of the deceased but with a heavy heart I can inform the House (of Commons) that at least six British citizens were killed, a further ten are missing, some of whom are feared to be among the dead,' Sunak said. The British PM also called on Israel to take every precaution avoid harm to civilians (Reuters)
Amid rising tensions in the Middle East, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he spoke with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, news agency Reuters reported.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed humanitarian aid in a meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a State Department spokesperson said. "The secretary discussed with Prime Minister Netanyahu the United States' close coordination with the UN and regional partners to facilitate the provision of humanitarian aid to civilians," department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. (Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin entered the fevered diplomatic fray of the Middle East on Monday, speaking to five of the major players including Iran and leading Arab powers in an attempt to secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. Russia, which has relationships with Iran, Hamas, major Arab powers as well as with the Palestinians and with Israel, has repeatedly said the United States and the West have ignored the need for an independent Palestinian state within 1967 borders. Putin spoke to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by telephone, the Kremlin said. He also plans to speak to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it said. (Reuters)
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said it has sent an advance team to Egypt to prepare for a possible opening of a corridor through Rafah to bring humanitarian aid supplies into the Gaza Strip. Amidst Israeli bombardment that has displaced over one million people in the Hamas-ruled region, Gaza is running out of water, food, fuel and essential medicines. (PTI)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the Israeli Knesset, warned Iran and Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah, not to test the country in the north. During his speech at the start of the parliament's winter session, the PM said the world needed to unite to defeat Hamas. 'This is also your war,' he said, comparing Hamas to the Nazis. (AP)
He lost his 20-year-old grandson in the recent attack in Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, two other grandsons are still undergoing compulsory military training while another two have completed their training. Yet, 78-year-old Yossi Oren, a Jew of Indian descent, says he is still ready for the battlefield.
“Like every other Israeli citizen, I have undergone military training and served in the military for three years from 1964. Everyone is ready to go to battle for the country. If the country wants, I would don the uniform at this age,” says Oren, who lives near Jerusalem. Read More here
In India, opposition leaders, including Mani Shankar Aiyar, Manoj Jha, KC Tyagi and others, issued a joint statement after meeting the Palestinian envoy in Delhi. The leaders expressed "deep concern" for the ongoing crisis and strongly comdemned "the indiscriminate bombing of Palestinians" in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden postponed his visit to Colorado, the White House said just a few hours before he was set to take off for the trip. Instead, Biden is expected to hold a series of high-level meetings with aides on Israel and the growing humanitarian concerns in Gaza. The Democratic president is weighing a decision to visit the region in a powerful symbol of support for Israel following the October 7 attack by Hamas that killed more than 1,400 people including at least 30 US citizens. (PTI)
Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah said that has started destroying surveillance cameras on several Israeli army posts along the country's border. Hezbollah’s military media arm released a video showing snipers shooting at and destroying surveillance cameras placed on five points along the Lebanon-Israel border including one outside the Israeli town of Metula he militant group appears to want to prevent the Israeli army from monitoring movements on the Lebanese side of the border. (AP)
Half of Israeli hotel rooms are being used to house families evacuated from communities near the Gaza Strip, which caught in a cross-border war between Hamas and Israel, the Head of Israel Hotel Association said. Israel has 56,000 hotel rooms and 28,000 are being provided to evacuees with the state footing the bill, said association chief executive Yael Danieli. She told a parliamentary panel debating compensation for residents impacted by the war that an additional 27,000 from border towns near Lebanon were expected. (Reuters)
With no ceasefire allowing passage of aid and evacuation of foreign passport holders decided upon yet, Palestinians with dual citizenship have gathered outside Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the hope of getting permission to leave Gaza, which is being raided by Israeli air strikes continuously. Here's what the situation at the Rafah border looks like.
(Photo courtesy: Reuters)
After reports of a ceasefire allowing aid supply and evacuation of foreign passport holders through from Egypt to Gaza were denied by both Israel and Hamas, the former has said that Israel was not cooperating on the same. Egypt says the Rafah crossing, a potentially vital opening for supplies to enter the besieged Palestinian enclave, is not officially closed but is inoperable due to Israeli air strikes on the Gaza side. "There is an urgent need to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza," Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters, adding that talks with Israel had not been fruitful. (Reuters)
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7 triggering a conflict in the region, said today that the latter had not resumed water supply to the Gaza strip, therefore leading to residents drinking unhealthy water, news agency Reuters reported. Israel has launched a series of air strikes on Gaza since the Hamas attack.
The Israeli authorities have warned of a possible armed infiltration in Metulla city located in Northern Israel, news agency Reuters reported the country's Kan radio station as saying.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will travel to Israel, on Tuesday, the German dpa news agency and other media reported, as Western nations step up their efforts to avoid an escalation of the Middle East conflict. Scholz is scheduled to depart for Israel following his meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah in Berlin on Tuesday, dpa reported, and would then travel onwards to Egypt. However, a government spokesperson declined to comment on the reported travel plans. (Reuters)
Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry Monday said that Israel has not made a decision allowing the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to open. Egypt has aimed since the conflict broke out to keep the Rafah crossing operational, Shoukry said, calling the situation faced by the Palestinian people in Gaza "dangerous". (Reuters)
Israel has killed 11 Palestinian journalists in air strikes in Gaza since Oct. 7, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said on Monday. (Reuters)
The delivery of medical and humanitarian aid and limited evacuations through the only entry to Gaza not controlled by Israel remained uncertain, with Egyptian sources claiming a temporary deal had been struck, while Israel and Hamas said no deal was in place. Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said in Cairo on Sunday that the Rafah crossing between Egypt's Sinai peninsula and Gaza would be reopened and a mechanism agreed with Israel to deliver aid. (Reuters)
As Gaza prepares for an imminent ground invasion, health ministry official Ashraf Al-Qidra wonders how hospitals will cope. As the number of overwhelming number of patients seeking medical help continues to increase, hospitals are running short on medicines and fuel due to the blockade. Hospitals across the enclave have only 24 hours more of fuel reserves, putting thousands of patients at risk, the U.N. humanitarian office (OCHA) said on Monday. (AP)
Tedros Adhanom, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said Monday that WHO's planeload of medical supplies had reached near Egypt's Rafah on Saturday, adding that they are working with partnersto transport them into Gaza today. Adhanom took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to express relief at reports of a ceasefire allowing life-saving supplies to enter into Gaza from Egypt.
China is providing emergency humanitarian aid to United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the Palestinian National Authority, according to its state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV). CCTV quoted the China International Development Cooperation Agency as saying that the aid is aimed at alleviating the situation in Gaza and to address the urgent need for basic necessities like food and medical care. (Reuters)
Thirty Americans have been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas, the US State Department has said.
"At this time, we can confirm the deaths of 30 US citizens. We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and to the families of all those affected," the State Department said in a statement released Sunday. It added that 13 missing citizens and has been in contact with their families.
“The US government is working around the clock to determine their whereabouts and is working with the Israeli government on every aspect of the hostage crisis, including sharing intelligence and deploying experts from across the United States government to advise the Israeli government on hostage recovery efforts,” the statement said. (AP)
As many as 199 people are being held hostage in the Gaza Strip, said the Israeli military today, but did not specify who is holding them hostage or what their nationalities are.
IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that their families have been notified, as per a report in The Times of Israel. "We are making valiant efforts to try to understand where the hostages are in Gaza, and we have such information," he said, adding, "We will not carry out an attack that would endanger our people."
Several UN-flagged trucks were leaving the southern Gaza Strip on Monday in the direction of a meeting point of the Palestinian enclave's borders with Israel and Egypt, a Reuters TV staffer said.
The trucks initially appeared to be en route to the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border but their course later appeared to take them in the direction of Kerem Shalom, an Israeli border crossing close to the Egyptian frontier. (Reuters)
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) has unveiled a video in which they designate Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as the "direct enemy of the State of Israel." In the video, Israel alleges that Sinwar has played a central role in orchestrating terrorist attacks and was involved in the abduction of two Israelis and four Palestinians back in 1998.
Meanwhile, hospitals in the Gaza Strip are set to run out of fuel in the next 24 hours, warned the UN’s humanitarian office, days after Israel cut off fuel, water, food and electricity supply to its neighbour in retaliation for the Hamas attack last week.
At least 2,750 people have been killed in the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since October 7, as per the local health ministry, said Reuters.
The Israeli army is evacuating residents from over two dozen communities along the Lebanon border, reported local media today.
Israel-based Haaretz media house said that 28 communities located within 2 km of the Lebanese border are being moved to hotels and guest houses at the Israeli government's expense.
In the latest chapter of bloodshed in the Israel-Palestine dispute, the Israeli military has ordered thousands of civilians to leave Gaza City as it prepares for a possible ground offensive.
While the modern contours of the Israel-Palestine conflict are well-known — Palestinians saying Israel was forcibly established on their homeland, Israel claiming it has every right to exist on its Biblical homeland — how did the Jewish migration to ‘Israel’ first begin? Before the official declaration in May 1948 of the creation of Israel, how was the stage set for it? What was the role played by the British and other Arab powers? (Read more)
? Blinken says Rafah crossing along the Egypt-Gaza border will reopen to allow humanitarian aid in
? Reserves of fuel at all hospitals across the Gaza Strip are expected to last only around 24 more hours, says UN
? More than 1,000 people estimated to be missing under rubble in the Gaza Strip
? Israel says 600,000 Palestinians have left north Gaza
? Iran's foreign minister issues warning to Israel amid fears of spillover (Reuters)
An Israeli occupation of Gaza would be a big mistake, US President Joe Biden said, adding that “Hamas and the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people.”
Biden was speaking with Scott Pelly on CBS News’s ‘The 60 Minutes Interview’ program on Sunday. He said that he supports the establishment of a humanitarian corridor for supplies and aid to be brought into Gaza, and added that he does not support the Israeli occupation of Gaza. (Read more)
UN chief Antonio Guterres has called on Hamas to immediately release all hostages without conditions and urged Israel to allow rapid and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip.
“In this dramatic moment, as we are on the verge of the abyss in the Middle East, it is my duty as Secretary-General of the United Nations to make two strong humanitarian appeals,” Guterres said in a statement on Sunday.
The UN chief sounded a dire warning, saying: “Gaza is running out of water, electricity and other essential supplies.” He noted that the United Nations has stocks available of food, water, non-food items, medical supplies and fuel, located in Egypt, Jordan, the West Bank and Israel and these goods can be dispatched within hours. “To ensure delivery, our selfless staff on the ground, along with NGO partners, need to be able to bring these supplies into and throughout Gaza safely, and without impediment to deliver to those in need,” Guterres said. (PTI)
Walking down the posh neighbourhood of Humayun Road near Khan Market, one is likely to miss the inconspicuous gates leading to Delhi’s only synagogue. Serving around 15 Jewish families in the capital, along with diplomats and tourists, the synagogue has quietly coexisted amongst the grand houses of this South Delhi neighbourhood since the 1950s.
Behind the gates, the Judah Hyam synagogue features a powder blue facade, adorned with Star of David motifs above its entrance.
At the centre of the prayer room, you will find the bimah, an elevated platform, with a tivah or a reader’s desk, adorned with opulent ochre and cream throws with gold embroidery. (Read more)
An Illinois man was charged with hate crimes for stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy to death and wounding his mother in an attack that targeted them for their religion and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas, officials and Muslim rights activists said on Sunday.
The boy was stabbed 26 times with a military-style knife with a 7-inch (18-cm) serrated blade, the Will County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. The 32-year-old woman had multiple stab wounds and is expected to survive the attack that occurred on Saturday in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Chicago.
US President Joe Biden said the boy's family were Palestinian Muslims who "came to America seeking what we all seek - a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace." "This horrific act of hate has no place in America," Biden said in a statement. (Read more)
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean in a move widely seen as a deterrent to Iran and Hezbollah.
The announcement came just after Austin completed his visit to Israel where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant In a statement, Austin said this is being done "as part of our effort to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts towards widening this war following Hamas's attack on Israel." The Strike Group includes the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, guided-missile destroyers USS Gravely and USS Mason, and Carrier Air Wing 3, with nine aircraft squadrons, and embarked headquarters staff.
The Eisenhower CSG will join the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, which arrived on Wednesday. The Ford CSG includes the USS Normandy, USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney and USS Roosevelt. Earlier in the week, the US Air Force announced deployment to the region of squadrons of F-15, F-16 and A-10 fighter aircraft. (ANI)
Eight days ago, Ori Nachmani and his wife were on vacation in Japan when he heard that the Palestinian militant group Hamas had infiltrated Israel and carried out large-scale killings, targeting mostly unarmed civilians.
Shaken and restless, the sturdy 44-year-old said his first instinct was to return home and be a part of his country’s response to the attacks.
“When I saw the images and heard about the news of the attacks, I just couldn’t sleep. Although I was thousands of kilometres away, I wanted to be with my brothers, fighting against Hamas,” Nachmani told The Indian Express. (Read more)
The Israeli Defence Army released a video today where a dedicated special unit "Oketz" was seen rescuing a mother and her son who had been confined in a shelter during the Hamas massacre. The special unit delivers a message to the mother and her son that they are safe.
THE 10 gunmen from Gaza knew exactly how to find the Israeli intelligence hub — and how to get inside.
After crossing into Israel, they headed east on five motorcycles, two gunmen on each vehicle, shooting at passing civilian cars as they pressed forward.
Ten miles later, they veered off the road into a stretch of woodland, dismounting outside an unmanned gate to a military base. They blew open the barrier with a small explosive charge, entered the base and paused to take a group selfie. Then they shot dead an unarmed Israeli soldier dressed in a T-shirt. (Read more)
The United Nations Peacekeeping Force’s headquarters in Naqoura, Lebanon has been hit by a rocket, a statement by the peacekeeping force said.
“Today we are observing intense exchanges of fire in several areas along the Blue Line between Lebanese territory and Israel. There have been impacts on both sides of the Blue line. Our headquarters in Naqoura was hit by a rocket and we are working to verify from where. Our peacekeepers were not in shelters at the time. Fortunately, no one was hurt,” the statement read.
“We continue to actively engage with authorities on both sides of the Blue Line to de-escalate the situation, but regrettably despite our efforts military escalation continues. We urge all the parties involved to cease fire and allow us, as peacekeepers, to help find solutions. No one wants to see more people hurt or killed,” it read further.
“We remind all the parties involved that attacks against civilians or UN personnel are violations of international law that may amount to war crimes,” it said.
Gaza's Health Ministry on Sunday informed that at least 2,670 Palestinians have been killed and 9,600 wounded since Israel launched its attack on the Gaza Strip on the ninth day of conflict.
According to Reuters news agency, US Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer today said that he along with his colleagues would lead the effort in the Senate to provide Israel with the support required to fully defend itself. “We will work to assemble the most generous package possible for Israeli aid, without waiting for the House of Representatives,” he said.
“We also told Israeli leaders that it is important to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza,” he said further.
Iran warned Israel of escalation if it failed to end aggressions against Palestinians, with its foreign minister saying other parties in the region were ready to act, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday.
"If the Zionist aggressions do not stop, the hands of all parties in the region are on the trigger," Hossein Amirabdollahian was quoted as saying. (Reuters)
Gaza's Health Ministry on Sunday informed that at least 2,450 Palestinians have been killed and 9,200 wounded since Israel launched its attack on the Gaza Strip on the ninth day of conflict.
Health officials in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip have resorted to storing the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli air strikes in ice cream freezer trucks because moving them to hospitals is too risky and cemeteries are short of space.
“The hospital morgue can only take 10 bodies, so we have brought in ice cream freezers from the ice cream factories in order to store the huge numbers of martyrs,” said Dr. Yasser Ali of the Shuhada Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir Al-Balah.
“Even with these freezers, the number (of the dead) exceeds the capacity of this main morgue of the hospital, and alternative ones, and between 20 and 30 bodies are being kept in tents too,” said Ali, as he opened the doors of the freezers to show the white-shrouded bodies inside.
Authorities in Gaza said Israeli air strikes had killed more than 2,300 people, a quarter of them children, with nearly 10,000 wounded so far. Hospitals are running short of supplies and struggling to cope with growing numbers of wounded. (Reuters)
Israel’s Energy Minister on Sunday said that the decision to renew water supplies to parts of southern Gaza was agreed on between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden.
Energy Minister Israel Katz said that the decision to partially renew water supplies was in line with Israeli policy, which is to tighten a blockade on the Hamas-ruled territory.
Al Qassam Brigades - the armed wing of Hamas - on Sunday said that it fired 20 rockets from Lebanon on two Israeli settlements.
Separately, Lebanon's Hezbollah also said it had targeted barracks in Israel's Hanita with guided missiles and said it had inflicted casualties on "the enemy ranks".
Egypt's president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel's reaction to Hamas' attack went beyond self-defence and amounted to collective punishment.
In televised comments during a meeting with Blinken in Cairo on Sunday, Sisi also said he rejects the targeting of any civilians in the ongoing conflict. (Reuters)
According to a Reuters news report, the Israeli Defence Minister said that the country has no interest in waging a war on its northern front.
Cross-border clashes between Lebanon and Israel had intensified on Sunday, with the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group firing rockets and Israeli forces responding with shelling. The Israeli army also reported a shooting at one of its border posts. The fighting has killed at least one person on the Israeli side and wounded several on both sides of the border.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a CNN interview on Sunday that Israeli officials have informed him that water pipes in southern Gaza have been turned back on.
On CNN's "State of the Union," Sullivan said Israeli officials informed him of the development in the last hour. (Reuters)
According to a news report in Reuters, rocket sirens are sounding throughout Northeastern Israel.
The Israeli military said on Sunday it would continue to allow Gazans to evacuate south ahead of an expected ground assault by its forces on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for unprecedented attacks by Hamas militants eight days ago.
The army said hundreds of thousands had already moved south as Israel carried out the most intense bombardment the enclave has ever seen in response to the killing of 1,300 people in Israel, including 279 Israeli soldiers. (Reuters)
As the Israel-Hamas war drags on for over a week, Thomas L Friedman, in an Opinion piece for the New York Times, states that the reason for Hamas's actions, which it won't admit is that it saw how Israel was being more accepted by the Arab world and soon possibly by the birthplace of Islam, Saudi Arabia.
"Iran was being cornered by President Joe Biden’s Middle East diplomacy, and Palestinians feared being left behind. So Hamas essentially said, “OK, Jews, we will go where we have never gone before. We will launch an all-out attack from Gaza that won’t stop with soldiers but will murder your grandparents and slaughter your babies. We know it’s crazy, but we are willing to risk it to force you to outcrazy us, with the hope that the fires will burn up all Arab-Israeli normalization in the process," he wrote.
"Yes, if you think Israel is now crazy, it is because Hamas punched it in the face, humiliated it and then poked out one eye. So now Israel believes it must restore its deterrence by proving that it can outcrazy Hamas’ latest craziness, Freidman wrote further.
As the Israel-Hamas war drags on for over a week, Thomas L Friedman, in an Opinion piece for the New York Times, writes a comparison between the conflict Israel had with Hezbollah back in 2006 to the current war with Hamas.
“Hezbollah killed three and kidnapping two Israeli soldiers in 2006 and Hamas brutally killed more than 1,300 and abducted some 150 Israeli civilians, including older people, babies and toddlers, in addition to soldiers. In 2006, Israel essentially responded to Hezbollah: “You think you can just do crazy stuff like kidnap our people and we will treat this as a little border dispute. We may look Western, but the modern Jewish state has survived as ‘a villa in the jungle’”.
Friedman further wrote how the Israeli air force relentlessly pounded the homes and offices of Hezbollah’s leadership in the southern suburbs of Beirut throughout the 34 days of the war, as well as key bridges into and out of the city and Beirut International Airport. “Hezbollah’s leaders and their families and neighbors paid a very personal price” he wrote.
Freidman said that Israel did take a hit in terms of its global image because of the carnage it inflicted in Beirut, it was not nearly as isolated in the world or the Middle East over the short term or long run as Hezbollah had hoped.
As the Israel-Hamas war drags on for over a week, Thomas L Friedman, in an Opinion piece for the New York Times, writes on the retaliation by the Jewish state following last Saturday’s attack. In the piece, he recounts of what has been common about Israel’s last two major wars. “They were both started by nonstate actors backed by Iran — Hezbollah from Lebanon in 2006 and Hamas from Gaza now — after Israel had withdrawn from their territories. And they both began with bold border-crossing assaults — Hezbollah killing three and kidnapping two Israeli soldiers in 2006 and Hamas brutally killing more than 1,300 and abducting some 150 Israeli civilians, including older people, babies and toddlers, in addition to soldiers,” he wrote.
He added: “That similarity is not a coincidence. Both assaults were designed to challenge emerging trends in the Arab world of accepting Israel’s existence in the region. And most critically, the result of these surprise, deadly attacks across relatively stable borders was that they drove Israel crazy.”
Russia has asked the United Nations Security Council to vote Monday on a draft resolution on the Israel-Hamas conflict that calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and condemns violence against civilians and all acts of terrorism.
Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said no changes had been made to the text since it was given to the 15-member body on Friday and that he expected the vote to be scheduled for 3 p.m. EDT/1900 GMT on Monday. (Reuters)
According to a Reuters report, the Israeli military has said that there are sirens going off in the Tel Aviv area, warning of possible incoming rockets.
Tensions escalate in the Israel-Gaza conflict with rocket attacks on Tel Aviv and southern Israel. Israel's IDF reports the initiation of civilian evacuations from Gaza, while Hamas issues warnings against leaving the Gaza Strip and restricts civilian movement. Amid conflicting claims, a Hamas official dismisses the relocation warning as "fake propaganda" and urges citizens not to be swayed. The situation in the ongoing conflict remains complex and dynamic.
Britain remains supportive of Israel's right to defend itself but has urged it to show restraint in any military action against Palestinian militant group Hamas in order to minimise harm to civilians, foreign minister James Cleverly said.
Speaking to the media on Sunday, Cleverly said he had raised the need to minimise civilian casualties in conversations with the Israeli government. "Restraint, discipline - these are the hallmarks of the Israeli defence force that I want to see," Cleverly told Sky News.
"Of course, we respect Israel's right to self-defence ... We've said do everything you can to minimise civilian casualties. Do everything you can to prevent Hamas getting what they want, which is this to escalate into a wider regional conflict." (Reuters)