DEVELOPING | Palestinian President Abbas says only US can stop Israeli assault on Rafah

Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 34 454

The health ministry in Gaza said Sunday that at least 34 454 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory during nearly seven months of war between Israel and Hamas militants.

The tally includes at least 66 deaths in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 77 575 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war broke out when Hamas militants attacked Israel on 7 October.

-AFP

Palestinian President Abbas says only US can stop Israeli assault on Rafah

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said at a conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Sunday that only the United States could stop Israel attacking the border city of Rafah in Gaza, adding he expected an assault in the next days.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on 7 October in which Israel said 1 200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage. More than 34 000 Palestinians have since been killed, according to the Gaza health ministry, and most of the population displaced.

-Reuters

France to make proposals in Lebanon to prevent war between Hezbollah and Israel

 France's foreign minister said that he would make proposals to Lebanese officials on Sunday aimed at easing tensions between Hezbollah and Israel and preventing a war breaking out.

"If I look at the situation today if there was not a war in Gaza, we could be talking about a war in southern Lebanon given the number of strikes and the impact on the area," Stephane Sejourne said after visiting the United Nations peace keeping force in Naqoura, southern Lebanon.

"I will pass messages and make proposals to the authorities here to stabilize this zone and avoid a war."

-Reuters

Host Saudi warns of economic fallout from Gaza war at global summit

Saudi Arabia on Sunday called for regional "stability", warning of the effects of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war on global economic sentiment at the start of a summit attended by a host of Gaza mediators.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Palestinian leaders and high-ranking officials from other countries trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are on the guest list for the summit in Riyadh, capital of the world's biggest crude oil exporter. The Gaza war along with conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere put "a lot of pressure" on the economic "mood", Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said at one of the first panel discussions of the two-day World Economic Forum (WEF) special meeting.

"I think cool-headed countries and leaders and people need to prevail, and you need to make sure that you actually de-escalate," Jadaan said. "The world is today walking a tightrope right now, trying to balance security and prosperity," Saudi planning minister Faisal al-Ibrahim told a press conference on Saturday previewing the summit. "We meet at a moment when one misjudgement or one miscalculation or one miscommunication will further exacerbate our challenges."

-AFP

Gaza set to dominate Saudi-hosted global economy summit

The war in Gaza and broader Middle East tensions are expected to get top billing at a Saudi-hosted special meeting of the World Economic Forum that begins on Sunday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Palestinian leaders and high-ranking officials from other countries trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are on the guest list for the summit in Riyadh, capital of the world's biggest crude oil exporter. "The world is today walking a tightrope right now, trying to balance security and prosperity," Saudi planning minister Faisal al-Ibrahim told a press conference on Saturday previewing the event.

"We meet at a moment when one misjudgement or one miscalculation or one miscommunication will further exacerbate our challenges."

Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum (WEF), told Saturday's press conference there was "some new momentum now in the talks around the hostages, and also for... a possible way out of the impasse we are faced with in Gaza". However there will be no Israeli participation at the summit and Brende noted that formal mediation involving Qatar and Egypt was unfolding elsewhere.

"This is more an opportunity to have structured discussions" with "the key players", he said. "There will be discussions, of course, on the ongoing humanitarian situation in Gaza" as well as on Iran, which backs Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah group, he added. The gathering "has all the prospects for becoming a very consequential meeting".

The US State Department said that Blinken will "discuss ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza that secures the release of hostages and how it is Hamas that is standing between the Palestinian people and a ceasefire". Hopes that mediators could secure a new truce in Gaza before or during the holy month of Ramadan ultimately came to nothing.

Hamas said it was studying on Saturday the latest Israeli counterproposal regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza, a day after media reports said a delegation from mediator Egypt arrived in Israel in a bid to jump-start stalled negotiations. From the outset Saudi Arabia has worked with other regional and global powers to try to contain the war in Gaza and avoid the type of conflagration that could derail its ambitious economic reform agenda known as Vision 2030.

-AFP

Police clear pro-Palestinian camps at three US universities

Police detained nearly 200 people at three US universities on Saturday as they cleared pro-Palestinian encampments, in the latest campus clashes triggered by protests over Israel's war against Hamas.

On the East Coast, police in Boston detained about 100 people while clearing a protest camp at Northeastern University, with social media posts showing security forces in riot gear and officers loading tents onto the back of a truck. The action was taken after some protesters resorted to "virulent anti-Semitic slurs, including 'Kill the Jews,'" Northeastern University said in a statement on social media platform X.

Arizona State University police arrested 69 people for trespassing after the group set up an "unauthorized encampment" on campus. Arizona State officials said a protest group - "most of whom were not ASU students, faculty or staff" - had set up a camp Friday and then ignored repeated orders to disperse.

Police at Indiana University arrested 23 people as they cleared a campus protest camp, the Indiana Daily Student newspaper reported. Police with shields, batons and other riot gear broke through a line of protesters who had linked arms, tackling those who did not move, the paper said. The campus activists are calling for a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas, as well as for colleges to sever ties with the country and with companies they say profit from the conflict.

The protests have posed a major challenge to university administrators who are trying to balance commitments to free expression with complaints that the rallies have veered into anti-Semitism and hate speech.

Dozens of students remained encamped Saturday at the University of Pennsylvania, despite the college president ordering disbandment after what he said were "credible reports of harassing and intimidating conduct." Meanwhile, Columbia University in New York, where the protests originated, was relatively calm. Officials there announced Friday that they would not be calling police back to campus after more than 100 people were arrested last week.

Canada saw its first campus protest camp spring up Saturday at McGill University. The school in Montreal said such encampments, which are not permitted, increase "the potential for escalation and confrontation, as we have seen at some colleges throughout the US."

-AFP

Hezbollah says fires drones and guided missiles at Israel

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said on Saturday it had targeted northern Israel with drones and guided missiles after cross-border Israeli strikes killed three people, including two of its members.

A statement from the group said it "launched a complex attack using explosive drones and guided missiles on the headquarters of the Al Manara military command and a gathering of forces from the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade". The Israeli army said its Iron Dome air-defence system "successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon into the area of Manara in northern Israel".

The army also "struck the sources of fire" of several anti-tank missiles launched from Lebanon into the Manara border area, it added. Lebanon's National News Agency later reported that an Israeli air strike on a house in Srebbine village had wounded 11 people, one seriously. Earlier on Saturday, Israeli fighter jets "struck a Hezbollah military structure in the area of Qouzah in southern Lebanon," the army said in a statement.

The border between Lebanon and Israel has seen near-daily exchanges of fire since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began nearly seven months ago. In two separate statements earlier Saturday, Hezbollah mourned the deaths of two fighters from the villages of Kfar Kila and Khiam. Overnight Saturday to Sunday Hezbollah said it had launched dozens of rockets at the Israeli military base at Meron, northern Israel.

The group said it was in reprisal for Israeli attacks on civilian homes at several places in southern Lebanon, including Kfar Kila and Srebbine. An Israeli army statement said its Iron Dome system had succeeded in intercepting missiles fired towards northern Israel from Lebanon's al-Manara region. It added that it had fired at "military infrastructure" in the village of Srebbine.

-AFP

Gaza war casts shadow over White House correspondents' dinner

Security was tight on Saturday as the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner kicked off, with President Joe Biden to make what is a traditionally light-hearted address amid protests and boycott calls over the conflict in Gaza.

A long list of VIP guests, including journalists and celebrities from Chris Pine to Molly Ringwald, arrived in black-tie attire as more than 100 protesters outside the Washington Hilton hotel chanted "shame on you" and other slogans while confronting attendees.

At the banquet, in keeping with longstanding tradition - interrupted during the Donald Trump years - Biden was seated on the dais ahead of the evening's comedy roast, this year to be delivered by Colin Jost of "Saturday Night Live." Biden's every move has been shadowed for months by protesters angry over US support for the Israeli military offensive in Gaza. He has been met by shouts of "Genocide Joe" and noisy calls for an immediate ceasefire.

Protesters at one point unfurled an enormous, multi-story Palestinian flag from a window on the hotel's top floor, as others congregated on the road below holding placards, chanting and shouting from bullhorns. More than two dozen Palestinian journalists this week issued an open letter urging their American colleagues to boycott the dinner."You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and uphold journalistic integrity," said the letter. "It is unacceptable to stay silent out of fear or professional concern while journalists in Gaza continue to be detained, tortured and killed for doing our jobs."

According to the New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ), at least 97 journalists - including 92 Palestinians - have been killed since war erupted on 7 October  with Hamas's invasion of southern Israel. At least 16 others have been wounded.

The group Code Pink, part of an anti-war coalition, said it intended to "shut down" the dinner to protest "the complicity of the Biden administration in the targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli military." It said its action would be "nonviolent" but offered no details.

The Washington Metropolitan Police Department told AFP it was "prepared to facilitate any safe and peaceful demonstration" but that guests would also be able to access the event.

-AFP

Israeli soldiers kill two Palestinian gunmen in West Bank, military says

Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian gunmen who opened fire at them from a vehicle in the occupied West Bank, the military said on Saturday.

The military released a photo of two automatic rifles that it said were used by several gunmen to shoot at the soldiers, at an outpost near the flashpoint Palestinian city of Jenin.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said security officials confirmed two deaths and the health ministry said two other men were wounded.

There was no other immediate comment from Palestinian officials in the West Bank, where violence has been on the rise as Israel presses its war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.

- Reuters

Hamas receives latest Israeli proposal amid efforts to revive Gaza talks

Hamas has received Israel’s official response to its latest Gaza ceasefire proposal and the Palestinian group will study the document before submitting a reply, the organisation’s deputy Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement.

“Hamas has received today the official response of the Zionist occupation to the proposal presented to the Egyptian and the Qatari mediators on April 13,” al-Hayya, who is currently based in Qatar, said in a statement published by the group on Saturday.

After more than six months of Israel’s brutal war on the Gaza Strip, negotiations to bring about a ceasefire remain deadlocked, with Hamas sticking to its demands that any agreement with Israel must bring an end to Israel’s war on the Palestinian enclave.

An Egyptian delegation visited Israel for discussion with Israeli officials on Friday, looking for a way to restart talks to end the conflict and return remaining captives held in Gaza following the October 7 attacks on southern Israel, an official briefed on the meetings told the French news agency AFP.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said Israel had no new proposals to make, although it was willing to consider a limited truce in which 33 captives would be released by Hamas, instead of the 40 previously under discussion. On Thursday, the United States and 17 other countries appealed to Hamas to release all of its captives as a pathway to end the war.

In a statement issued on Friday, Hamas said it was “open to any ideas or proposals that take into account the needs and rights of our people”.However, the group stuck to its key demand that Israel end its war on Gaza and criticised the joint statement issued by the US and others for not calling for a permanent ceasefire, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

- Aljazeera

Israeli assault on Rafah would bring 'disaster' to Middle East, aid group warns

An Israeli assault on southern Gaza's Rafah area would spell disaster for civilians, not only in Gaza but across the Middle East, the head of an aid group warned on Friday, saying the region faced a "countdown to an even bigger conflict".

Jan Egeland, the Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters that 1.3 million civilians seeking refuge in Rafah - including his aid group's staff - were living in "indescribable fear" of an Israeli offensive.

Israel has stepped up airstrikes on Rafah this week after saying it would evacuate civilians ahead of an all-out assault, despite allies' warnings this could cause mass casualties.

Egeland urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to go through with the operation. "Netanyahu, stop this. It is a disaster not only for the Palestinians, it would be a disaster for Israel. You will have a stain on the Israeli conscience and history forever," he said.

The NRC head spoke to Reuters in Lebanon, where he visited southern villages that he said were caught in a "horrific crossfire" between the Israeli military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. The exchanges of fire have been taking place in parallel with the Gaza war and have intensified in recent days.

"I am just scared that we haven't learned from 2006," said Egeland, referring to the month-long war between Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel that was the two foes' last bloody confrontation, during which he headed the United Nations' relief operations.

"We do not need another war in the Middle East. At the moment, I'm feeling like (this is a) countdown to an even bigger conflict," he said.

Israel has been waging a military campaign for more than six months against the Gaza Strip, saying it aims to eradicate Hamas, the Palestinian group whose 7 October attack on southern Israel killed 1 200 people and saw another 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's campaign has killed more than 34 300 Palestinians, Gaza health authorities say, and laid waste to much of the widely urbanised enclave, displacing most of its 2.3 million people and leaving many with little food, water or medical care.

"Gaza has had a bigger bombardment than even Aleppo, even Raqqa, even Mosul," Egeland said, referring to cities in Syria and Iraq that have been ravaged by fierce bombing campaigns in the last decade.

"We haven't seen it in modern times, which shows that this is indiscriminate."He said a modest improvement in aid deliveries had allowed some bakeries to reopen in Gaza but that, with border crossings still shut, famine was still looming. An attack on Rafah would paralyse aid operations "in an instant", he said.

- Reuters 

Gaza baby rescued from dead mother's womb dies

A baby girl who was delivered from her dying mother's womb in a Gaza hospital following an Israeli airstrike has herself died after just a few days of life, the doctor who was caring for her said on Friday.

The baby had been named Sabreen al-Rouh. The second name means "soul" in Arabic.

Her mother, Sabreen al-Sakani (al-Sheikh), was seriously injured when the Israeli strike hit the family home in Rafah, the southernmost city in the besieged Gaza Strip, on Saturday night.

Her husband, Shukri, and their three-year-old daughter, Malak, were killed.

Sabreen al-Rouh, who was 30-weeks pregnant, was rushed to the Emirati hospital in Rafah. She died of her wounds, but doctors were able to save the baby, delivering her by Caesarean section.

However, the baby suffered respiratory problems and a weak immune system, said Doctor Mohammad Salama, head of the emergency neo-natal unit at Emirati Hospital, who had been caring for Sabreen al-Rouh.

She died on Thursday, and her tiny body was buried in a sandy graveyard in Rafah.

- Reuters 

'They lied': Frustrated Qatar hits back at Israel-Hamas mediation criticism

Criticism of Qatar over its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas has prompted a rare pushback by the Gulf state against its detractors, analysts have said.

Gaza baby saved from dead mother's womb dies

A baby girl who was delivered from her dying mother's womb in a Gaza hospital following an Israeli airstrike has herself died after just a few days of life, the doctor who was caring for her said on Friday. The baby had been named Rouh, meaning Soul.

Her mother, Sabreen Al-Sakani, was seriously injured when the Israeli strike hit the family home in Rafah, the southernmost city in the besieged Gaza Strip, on Saturday night. Her husband Shukri and their three-year-old daughter Malak were killed. Sabreen, who was 30-weeks pregnant, was rushed to the Emirati hospital in Rafah. She died of her wounds but doctors were able to save the baby, delivering her by Caesarean section.

However, the baby suffered respiratory problems and a weak immune system, said Doctor Mohammad Salama, head of the emergency neo-natal unit at Emirati Hospital, who had been caring for Rouh. She died on Thursday. "I and other doctors tried to save her, but she died. For me personally, it was a very difficult and painful day," he told Reuters by phone.

"She was born while her respiratory system wasn't mature, and her immune system was very weak and that is what led to her death. She joined her family as a martyr," Salama said.

-Reuters

Students block Paris' Sciences Po university over Gaza war

Students blocked access to Paris' prestigious Sciences Po university over the war in Gaza on Friday, demanding the institution condemn Israel's actions, in a protest that echoed similar demonstrations on US campuses.

Chanting their support for the Palestinians, the students displayed Palestinian flags at windows and over the building's entrance. Several wore the black-and-white keffiyeh head scarf that has become an emblem of solidarity with Gaza. "When we see what is happening in the United States, and now in Australia, we're really hoping it will catch on here in France, the academic world has a role to play," said 22-year-old Hicham, a masters student in human rights and humanitarian studies at Sciences Po.

The students, he said, want Sciences Po to condemn Israel's actions."We're very happy that (students at) more and more universities are getting mobilised," said 20-year old Zoe, a masters student in public administration at Sciences Po. "We hope that will spread to all universities and beyond ... we won't give in until the genocide in Gaza ends."

Science Po officials did not reply to a request for comment. On Wednesday night, police removed a first group of students that had blocked Sciences Po, French media said, which was condemned by left-wing politicians.

Renewed clashes between police and students opposed to Israel's war in Gaza broke out on U.S campuses Thursday, raising questions about forceful methods being used to shut down protests that have intensified since mass arrests at Columbia University last week.

-Reuters

Israeli army says missile fire kills civilian near Lebanon

The Israeli army said Friday a civilian was killed near the country's northern border with Lebanon, as near-daily exchanges of fire with Hezbollah rage. Both sides have stepped up attacks this week, with Hezbollah increasing rocket fire and Israel saying it had carried out "offensive action" across southern Lebanon.

The violence has fuelled fears of all-out conflict between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, which last went to war in 2006. "Overnight, terrorists fired anti-tank missiles toward the area of Har Dov in northern Israel," the Israeli army said, referring to the disputed Shebaa Farms district.

"As a result, an Israeli civilian doing infrastructure work was injured and he was later pronounced dead."

Israeli media reported that the victim was an Arab-Israeli truck driver. Police told AFP they had not identified the body, but said it was the only one found after a truck was hit. Hezbollah said it had destroyed two Israeli vehicles in the Kfarshuba hills overnight in a "complex ambush" on a convoy using missiles and artillery.

The Israeli army did not comment directly on the claim. It said Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah targets around Shebaa village in southern Lebanon including a weapons store and a launcher, while soldiers "fired to remove a threat in the area.

"It said fighter jets also "struck Hezbollah operational infrastructure in the area of Kfarshuba and a military compound in the area of Ain El Tineh in southern Lebanon." Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that Shebaa village, Kfarshuba and Helta were targeted by "more than 150 Israeli shells", leaving homes damaged.

-AFP

Hamas 'serious' about captives' release but not without Gaza ceasefire

Palestinian group Hamas has said it remains committed to achieving an agreement with Israel to end the war on Gaza, but only if its conditions including a lasting ceasefire are met. Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the group’s political bureau, said that Hamas "is serious about releasing Israeli captives within the framework of an agreement" that also ensures the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

He told Al Jazeera Arabic in a televised interview on Thursday that Hamas will not accept a truce without a permanent ceasefire and a complete halt of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 34 000 people – mainly women and children – since the current conflict started in October.

An "unhindered return" of Palestinians across the besieged enclave to their homes, along with the reconstruction of Gaza and "an end to the crippling siege" imposed on it were among the four conditions that al-Hayya reiterated. Hamas had submitted its response to a United States amendment on 13 April and is still waiting for a reply from Israel and the mediating parties, he said.

Talks on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have been in limbo with the two sides showing few signs that they are ready to compromise on their demands, but international mediators – Qatar, the United States and Egypt – have been engaged in intense behind-the-scenes talks to secure a deal. Top Israeli officials have repeatedly called Hamas’s demands "delusional" and have said an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip would amount to losing the war.

Egypt has asked for a follow-up meeting with Israel in renewed efforts to mediate a deal, two Egyptian security sources told the Reuters news agency.

Egyptian, Israeli and US officials reportedly held in-person and remote meetings on Wednesday that sought concessions to break the deadlock in the months-long negotiations, and a meeting between Egyptian and Israeli officials is expected to take place on Friday in Cairo.

Aljazeera

Ahead of feared Rafah invasion, Palestinians mourn bombardment dead

Palestinians mourned people killed in Israeli bombardment of Rafah, the crowded southern Gaza city where Israel says it is advancing plans for a ground invasion. Global concern has mounted over the looming operation against Hamas militants in Rafah, where much of Gaza's population has sought refuge from more than six months of war.

Aid groups warn any invasion would add to already-catastrophic conditions for Gaza's 2.4 million people. Israeli officials have vowed to enter Rafah, near the Egyptian border, but even before any ground operation the area has been regularly bombed. Rafah resident Abu Abdallah said "a very powerful strike" hit a house where displaced Gazans were sheltering.

"This is not a life," he told AFP. "We can no longer live in our home, our neighbourhood, or walk anywhere. The war has been going on for too long."At the city's Al-Najjar Hospital on Thursday, among the mourners were two men crouching, grief-stricken, in front of a white body bag. Belgium said an Israeli strike on Rafah killed Abdallah Nabhan, 33, who worked for its Enabel development agency.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said Israel's war cabinet was meeting on Thursday "to discuss how to destroy the last battalions of Hamas". Several Israeli media outlets, citing unnamed officials, said the cabinet discussed a new plan for a truce and hostage release, ahead of a visit planned for Friday by an Egyptian delegation.

Qatar, Egypt and the United States have mediated truce and hostage-release talks, so far without success since a one-week halt to the fighting in November.

-AFP

Columbia University drops deadline for dismantling pro-Palestinian protest camp

Columbia University retreated in a statement late Thursday from a midnight (04:00 GMT Friday) deadline for pro-Palestinian protesters to abandon an encampment there as more college campuses in the United States battled to prevent occupations from taking hold.

"The talks have shown progress and are continuing as planned," the office of Columbia University president Minouche Shafik said "We have our demands; they have theirs."

-AFP

80 000 to 100 000 Gazans crossed into Egypt since 7 October: envoy

Between 80,000 and 100,000 Palestinians have crossed into Egypt from Gaza since the start of the war triggered by Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel, the Palestinian ambassador to Cairo said Thursday.

Ambassador Diab Allouh told AFP that they had made their way over the frontier without specifying how. The Rafah border crossing is the sole entry and exit point to Gaza, not directly under the control of Israeli forces.

- AFP

US, 17 other countries urge Hamas to release hostages, end Gaza crisis, senior US official says

The United States and 17 other countries on Thursday will call on Hamas to release hostages as a pathway to end the crisis in Gaza, a senior US administration official said.

"We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza now for over 200 days," a statement released by the countries will say, according to the official, who called the joint statement an extraordinary display of unanimity.

- Reuters

More than 100 arrested at US university pro-Palestinian protests

More than 100 people were arrested Wednesday at two universities in California and Texas, officials said, after pro-Palestinian protests erupted across US campuses this week. Demonstrations flared at the University of Southern California's (USC) Los Angeles campus, where 93 people were arrested for trespassing, and at the University of Texas (UT) in Austin, where 34 were arrested, according to authorities.

The tense standoffs were among the latest on-campus confrontations between law enforcement, including police in riot gear, and banner-wielding students outraged at the mounting death toll in Israel's war against Palestinian militant group Hamas.

USC said on social media site X at around midnight that the protest had ended and the campus would remain "closed until further notice." "Students, faculty, staff, and people with business on campus may enter with proper identification," the university said.

Los Angeles police officers went to the campus on Wednesday afternoon and "assisted the university in effecting trespass arrests" when protesters refused to leave, Captain Kelly Muniz told reporters. The LAPD said there were no reports of injuries and patrols would remain in the area on Thursday.

-AFP

Hezbollah denies Israel claim it killed half of commanders in south

Hezbollah denied on Thursday an Israeli claim that it had killed half of the Iran-backed Lebanese group's commanders in the south of the country, saying only a handful were slain. The Lebanese group has been exchanging near-daily fire with the Israeli army since the day after its Palestinian ally Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October.

Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday that "half of Hezbollah's commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated" in the months of cross-border violence sparked by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza." The other half are in hiding and abandoning the field to IDF (Israeli army) operations," he added, without specifying how many.

A Hezbollah source who spoke on condition of anonymity rejected the claim. The source told AFP that the number of slain Hezbollah members who "hold a certain level of responsibility does not exceed the number of fingers on one hand". The source said Gallant's claim was "untrue and baseless" and designed to "raise the morale of the collapsed (Israeli) army".

Israel has frequently claimed to have killed local Hezbollah commanders in targeted strikes, but the group has only confirmed a few were high-level members, referring to the rest as fighters in their statements.

-AFP

Health ministry in Gaza says war death toll at 34 305

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday that at least 34 305 people have been killed in the territory during more than six months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

The tally includes at least 43 deaths in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 77 293 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on 7 October.

-AFP

Yemen's Houthis launch attacks on US, Israeli vessels as warships defend

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi armed group says it attacked US and Israeli vessels, with a Western coalition of warships defending amid the continuing fallout from the war on Gaza. Yahya Saree, the group’s military spokesman, said in a video address late on Wednesday that the Houthis hit the Maersk Yorktown cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden.

The US military confirmed that the Houthis launched an antiship ballistic missile from their territory towards the vessel, which it identified as a "US-flagged, owned, and operated vessel with 18 US and four Greek crew members". "There were no injuries or damage reported by US, coalition, or commercial ships," the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

The Greek Ministry of National Defence said on Thursday that one of the country’s military ships serving in the European Union’s naval mission to counter the Houthis in the Red Sea intercepted two drones launched towards a commercial ship from Yemen. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) had earlier confirmed an incident some 72 nautical miles (133km) southeast of the port of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden.

Saree said the group targeted the Israeli ship MSC Veracruz in the Indian Ocean and launched projectiles at a US warship. The US military said within two hours of the attack on the Maersk Yorktown, its forces "successfully engaged and destroyed" four drones over Yemen. "These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US, coalition, and merchant vessels," it said.

-Aljazeera

93 arrested at LA university campus protest for trespassing, says police

Ninety-three people were arrested on Wednesday at the University of Southern California's Los Angeles campus for trespassing, police said, after pro-Palestinian protests erupted across US campuses this week.

"93 arrests" were made for trespassing, the Los Angeles Police Department wrote on social media platform X. "No reports of any injuries. Patrols will remain in the area through tomorrow."

-AFP

Hezbollah, state media say Israeli drone strike hits east Lebanon

State media and a Hezbollah source said one person was wounded Thursday in an Israeli drone attack on eastern Lebanon following a flare-up in cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israel.

It came a day after Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israeli forces were carrying out "offensive action" across southern Lebanon, as cross-border fire intensified. "An Israeli drone attack hit a truck carrying fuel" for Hezbollah in the village of Duris, just southwest of the Bekaa Valley city of Baalbek, a Hezbollah source told AFP. The strike struck the truck driver, said the source, with the official National News Agency (NNA) confirming the report.

Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire in the south of Lebanon since the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas militants erupted in October. An Israeli army statement early Thursday said targets hit in southern Lebanon were in the area of Maroun el-Ras, Markaba and Alma al-Shaab, and included a Hezbollah observation post. On Wednesday Israel's defence minister said in a statement that "many forces are deployed on the border and IDF (military) forces are carrying out offensive action currently throughout southern Lebanon".

He also said, without elaborating, that "half of Hezbollah's commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated" in months of violence. The Israeli army also said Wednesday that it had struck 40 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

-AFP

Malala Yousafzai vows support for Gaza after backlash

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai on Thursday condemned Israel and reaffirmed her support for Palestinians in Gaza, after a backlash in her native Pakistan over a Broadway musical she co-produced with former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Yousafzai, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, has been condemned by some for partnering with Clinton, an outspoken supporter of Israel's war against Hamas. The musical, titled "Suffs," depicts the American women's suffrage campaign for the right to vote in the 20th century and has been playing in New York since last week.

"I want there to be no confusion about my support for the people of Gaza," Yousafzai wrote on X, the former Twitter. "We do not need to see more dead bodies, bombed schools and starving children to understand that a ceasefire is urgent and necessary."

She added: "I have and will continue to condemn the Israeli government for its violations of international law and war crimes."Pakistan has seen many fiercely emotional pro-Palestinian protests since the war in Gaza began last October. Yusafzai's "theatre collaboration with Hillary Clinton - who stands for America's unequivocal support for genocide of Palestinians - is a huge blow to her credibility as a human rights activist," popular Pakistani columnist Mehr Tarar wrote on social media platform X on Wednesday.

"I consider it utterly tragic." Whilst Clinton has backed a military campaign to remove Hamas and rejected demands for a ceasefire, she has also explicitly called for protections for Palestinian civilians. Yousafzai has publicly condemned the civilian casualties and called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The New York Times reported the 26-year-old wore a red-and-black pin to the "Suffs" premier last Thursday, signifying her support for a ceasefire. But author and academic Nida Kirmani said on X that Yousafzai's decision to partner with Clinton was "maddening and heartbreaking at the same time. What an utter disappointment."

-AFP

Pro-Palestinian protests spread at US universities

Spiraling pro-Palestinian protests that are rocking universities across the United States spread to more campuses on Wednesday, triggering suggestions from a senior Republican leader that the National Guard could be brought in.

The comments from House Speaker Mike Johnson are likely to evoke strong emotions in a country where the 1970 killing by National Guardsmen of unarmed students protesting the Vietnam war lives on in folk memory. Demonstrations erupted at the University of Southern California on Wednesday, and in Texas, where a tense stand-off developed between students and police in riot gear, with more than 20 people detained. It was the latest confrontation between law enforcement and students angry at the mounting death toll in Israel's war against Hamas.

The movement began at Columbia University in New York where dozens of arrest were made last week after university authorities called in police to quell an occupation that Jewish students said was threatening and anti-Semitic. Johnson told reporters at Columbia that if the demonstrations were not contained quickly it would be "an appropriate time for the National Guard." He said he intended to demand US President Joe Biden "take action," and warned that the demonstrations "place a target on the backs of Jewish students in the United States."

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden backed free speech."

Texas deployed police in riot gear at the University of Texas in Austin where hundreds of protesters staged a boisterous walkout, chanting "down with occupation." Police said they had arrested more than 20 people, with the state's governor Greg Abbott urging swift punishment.

Police were on scene in Los Angeles after hundreds of students began what they called an occupation on the campus of the University of Southern California. The university said it was closing the campus to outside visitors, though classes and other activities would continue. Students have also launched protests at schools including Yale, MIT, UC Berkeley, the University of Michigan and Brown. Social media images showed an encampment taking shape at Harvard University. Classes were moved online and other on-campus activities cancelled at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, after protesters barricaded themselves in a campus building.

NBC reported that the FBI is coordinating with universities over anti-Semitic threats and possible violence in connection with the ongoing wave of protests.

-AFP

Biden says Israel must allow aid to Palestinians 'without delay'

President Joe Biden on Wednesday demanded that new humanitarian aid be allowed to immediately reach Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as key US ally Israel fights Hamas there.

"We're going to immediately secure that aid and surge it... including food, medical supplies, clean water," Biden said after signing a massive military aid bill for Israel and Ukraine, which also included $1 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza.

"Israel must make sure all this aid reaches the Palestinians in Gaza without delay," he said.

- AFP

Israeli military poised to take Rafah, awaits government approval, defence official says

Israel's military has conducted all necessary preparations to take Rafah, which it deems the last Hamas bastion in the Gaza Strip, and can launch an operation the moment it gets government approval, a senior defence official told Reuters on Wednesday.

- Reuters

Israeli military says it hit 40 Hezbollah targets southern Lebanon

The Israeli military said on Wednesday Israeli fighter jets and artillery had hit 40 targets linked to Hezbollah fighters around Ayta ash Shab in southern Lebanon, as an escalation in cross border strikes in recent days continued.

It said the targets included storage facilities and weapons and other infrastructure.

- Reuters

Health ministry in Gaza says war death toll at 34 262

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Wednesday that at least 34 262 people have been killed in the territory during more than six months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

The tally includes at least 79 deaths in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 77 229 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on 7 October.

- AFP

Gaza could surpass famine thresholds in six weeks, WFP official says

The Gaza Strip could surpass famine thresholds of food insecurity, malnutrition and mortality in six weeks, an official from the World Food Programme said on Wednesday.

"We are getting closer by the day to a famine situation," said Gian Caro Cirri, Geneva director of the World Food Programme (WFP). "There is reasonable evidence that all three famine thresholds - food insecurity, malnutrition and mortality -- will be passed in the next six weeks."

A UN-backed report published in March said that famine was imminent and likely to occur by May in northern Gaza and could spread across the enclave by July. On Tuesday, a US official said the risk of famine in Gaza, especially in the north, was very high. Cirri was speaking at the launch of a report by the Global Network Against Food Crises, an alliance of humanitarian and development actors including United Nations agencies, the World Bank, the European Union and the United States.

In its report, the network described the 2024 outlook for the Middle East and Africa as extremely concerning due to the Gaza war and restricted humanitarian access, as well as the risk of the conflict spreading elsewhere in the region. "As for Gaza, the conflict makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to reach affected people," Cirri said. "We need to scale up massively our assistance... But under the current conditions, I'm afraid the situation will further deteriorate."

The United Nations has long complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it throughout Gaza in the six months since Israel began an aerial and ground offensive against Gaza's ruling Islamist militant group Hamas. Israel has denied hindering supplies of humanitarian aid and blames aid agencies for inefficiencies in distribution.

Cirri said that the only way to steer clear of famine in Gaza was to ensure immediate and daily deliveries of food supplies. "They've been selling off their belongings to buy food. They are most of the time destitute," he said.

"And clearly some of them are dying of hunger."

-Reuters

Some Palestinians forced to flee homes as Israel pounds northern Gaza

Some Palestinian civilians were fleeing their homes in northern Gaza on Wednesday just weeks after returning because of an Israeli bombardment which they said was as intense as at the start of the war.

Much of the shelling was focused for a second day on Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of Gaza, where the Israeli military gave evacuation orders to four neighbourhoods on Tuesday, warning they were in a "dangerous combat zone". After a few weeks of relative calm, Israel intensified its attacks overnight on Monday, focusing on areas, particularly in the north, from where it had previously withdrawn many of its troops, saying Hamas was no longer in control.

Israeli media said Israel was also poised to send troops into the southern town of Rafah, which it regards as Hamas' last bastion. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office and the Israeli military spokesperson's office had no immediate comment on the media reports. 

Overnight, two people were killed in a strike on a house in the southern city of Rafah, four were killed when a missile hit a group standing outside a supermarket in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp and one was killed in a strike on a house in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, Palestinian health officials said.

Residents in northern Gaza and suburbs of Gaza City also reported heavy shelling. "We don't know why this is all happening. Is it because we returned home and we finally got some aid through after months of starvation and the Israelis didn't like that?" said Mohammad Jamal, 29, a resident of Gaza City, near Zeitoun, one of Gaza's oldest suburbs."It is as if the war started again. As if it is just happening, they burnt up the place," he told Reuters via a chat app.Asked about Wednesday's developments, the Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Israel said its operations in Beit Lahiya targeted areas from where the armed wing of Hamas-aligned Islamic Jihad had launched rockets at two Israeli border settlements on Tuesday. Additional targets, including operational tunnel shafts, military structures and a launcher containing rockets ready to be fired at Israel were also struck, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement late on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, residents also reported shelling in central Gaza around Al-Nuseirat and Khan Younis, a city in the south from where troops withdrew earlier this month. In one incident, Al-Nuseirat residents said an army helicopter landed near the camp and engaged in gun battles with fighters. The area then came under heavy tank fire. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the report.

-Reuters

Iran, Pakistan urge U.N Security Council to take action against Israel

Iran and Pakistan called on the United Nations Security Council in a joint statement issued on Wednesday to take action against Israel, saying it had "illegally" targeted neighbouring countries and foreign diplomatic facilities.

The joint statement, released by Pakistan's foreign ministry, followed a three-day visit to the country by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East. Explosions were heard last Friday over the Iranian city of Isfahan in what sources said was an Israeli attack. However, Tehran played down the incident and said it had no plans for retaliation.

"Recognizing that the irresponsible act of the Israeli regime forces was a major escalation in an already volatile region, both sides called on the UN Security Council to prevent the Israeli regime from its adventurism in the region and its illegal acts attacking its neighbours...," Iran and Pakistan said in their joint statement. Muslim neighbours Iran and Pakistan are seeking to mend ties after unprecedented tit-for-tat military strikes this year.

Raisi, who wrapped up his visit and flew on to Sri Lanka on Wednesday, vowed to boost trade between Iran and Pakistan to $10 billion a year. During his visit to Pakistan, Raisi was quoted by Iran's official IRNA news agency as saying any further Israeli attack on Iranian territory could radically change the dynamics and result in there being nothing left of the "Zionist regime".

On 13 April, Tehran launched a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel in what it said was retaliation for Israel's suspected deadly strike on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus on 1 April, but almost all were shot down. Pakistan has previously called for de-escalation by "all parties". Iran and Pakistan vowed during Raisi's visit to boost trade and energy cooperation, including on a major gas pipeline deal that has faced delays due to geopolitical issues and international sanctions.

-Reuters

Lebanon's Hezbollah says fired 'dozens' of rockets at Israel

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said it fired a fresh barrage of rockets across the border on Wednesday after a strike blamed on Israel killed two civilians. The group had already fired rockets at northern Israel late on Tuesday "in response" to the civilian deaths.

Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily fire with the Israeli army since its ally Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October, triggering war in Gaza. It has stepped up its rocket fire on Israeli military bases in recent days.

Hezbollah fighters fired "dozens of Katyusha rockets" at a border village in northern Israel "as part of the response to the Israeli enemy's attacks on... civilian homes," the group said in a statement.

On Tuesday, rescue teams said an Israeli strike on a house in the southern village of Hanin killed a woman in her fifties and a girl from the same family. Since 7 October, at least 380 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also 72 civilians, according to an AFP tally. Israel says 11 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed on its side of the border.

-AFP

Israeli media predict offensive in Gaza's Rafah soon

Israel is poised to send troops into Rafah, the Gazan city it sees as the last bastion of Hamas, Israeli media reported on Wednesday, saying preparations were under way to evacuate war-displaced Palestinian civilians who have been sheltering there.

The Rafah sweep, postponed for several weeks amid disputes with Washington, will happen "very soon," the mass-circulation Israel Hayom newspaper said, citing a decision by the Israeli government after ceasefire talks with Hamas stalled. Several other Israeli media outlets carried similar reports. Some noted footage on social media that appeared to show the erection of a tent city for Rafah evacuees.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office and the Israeli military spokesperson's office had no immediate comment. Abutting the Egyptian border, Rafah's population has been swollen by more than a million Palestinians who fled other parts of the Gaza Strip during the more than half-year-old war. Their fate worries Western powers as well as Cairo, which has ruled out any influx of refugees into Egyptian Sinai. Israel, under pressure given the war's spiralling humanitarian toll, has pledged to take measures to safeguard Rafah civilians.

The Netanyahu government says Rafah is home to four intact Hamas combat battalions which, it says, have been reinforced by thousands of the Islamist militant group's retreating fighters. Victory in the Gaza war, launched after Hamas' 7 October attack in southern Israel, would be impossible without taking Rafah, crushing Hamas and recovering any hostages which might be held there, the Netanyahu government says. Hamas does not comment on its deployments.

In a speech on Tuesday marking the 200th day of the war, Hamas armed wing spokesperson Abu Ubaida said Israel has achieved only "humiliation and defeat" in a campaign that Gaza medical officials say has killed more than 34 000 Palestinians.

-Reuters

Germany to resume cooperation with Palestinian UNRWA agency

The German government plans to resume cooperation with the UN agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) in Gaza, the foreign and development ministries said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

The decision follows an investigation by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna into whether some UNRWA employees were involved in the 7 October attack by Hamas. The Colonna-led review of the agency's neutrality on Monday concluded Israel had yet to back up its accusations that hundreds of UNRWA staff were operatives in Gaza terrorist groups.

The German ministries urged UNRWA to swiftly implement the report's recommendations, including strengthening its internal audit function and improving external oversight of project management.

"In support of these reforms, the German government will soon continue its cooperation with UNRWA in Gaza, as Australia, Canada, Sweden and Japan, among others, have already done," said the ministries in the statement.

-Reuters

Israel says US military aid sends 'strong message' to enemies

Israel said Wednesday the US Senate approval of $13 billion in military aid sent a "strong message" to its enemies, with strikes pummelling Gaza in its war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Fears are rising that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon follow through on repeated threats to send troops into the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where 1.5 million people are sheltering, many in makeshift encampments. Israel says Rafah is the "last" major Hamas stronghold, but aid groups warn any invasion would create an "apocalyptic situation".

Early Wednesday, hospital and security sources in Gaza reported Israeli air strikes in Rafah, as well as the central Nuseirat refugee camp. "Everybody seems to be on a countdown to war across the largest displacement camp on Earth, which is Rafah," Norwegian Refugee Council chief Jan Egeland told AFP.

Israel's foreign minister on Wednesday thanked the US Senate for approving the military aid package hot on the heels of the House of Representatives. "The Israel aid package that now passed both houses of Congress is a clear testament to the strength of our alliance and sends a strong message to all our enemies," Israel Katz posted on social media site X.

-AFP