Palestinian Territories:

Hamas called on the United States Thursday to “exert real pressure” on Israel to reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was no deal in the making. The two sides have traded blame over stalling talks for a ceasefire and hostage exchange as Netanyahu faces pressure to seal a deal following the deaths of six Gaza captives.

Hamas’s Qatar-based lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya called on the US to “exert real pressure on Netanyahu and his government” and “abandon their blind bias” towards Israel.

But Netanyahu said there is “not a deal in the making”.

“Unfortunately, it’s not close but we will do everything we can to get them to the point where they do make a deal,” he told US media.

Netanyahu insists that Israel must retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border to prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel started the war.

Hamas is demanding complete Israeli withdrawal from the area and on Thursday said Netanyahu’s position “aims to thwart reaching an agreement”.

The Palestinian militant group says a new deal is unnecessary because they agreed months ago to a truce outlined by Biden.

“We warn against falling into the trap of Netanyahu… who uses negotiations to prolong the aggression against our people,” Hamas said in a statement.

Washington has been pushing a proposal it says could bridge gaps between the warring sides, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying “90 percent is agreed”.

“It’s really incumbent on both parties to get to yes on these remaining issues,” Blinken said during a visit to Haiti.

‘Make them’ sign deal

At Israeli protests in several cities this week, Netanyahu’s critics have blamed him for hostages’ deaths, saying he has refused to make necessary concessions for striking a ceasefire deal.

“We’ll do everything so that all hostages will be with us. And if the leaders don’t want to sign a deal, we’ll make them,” said Gil Dickmann, cousin of Carmel Gat, one of the six hostages whose bodies were found in a Gaza tunnel last week.

Dickmann took part in a rally at Tel Aviv on Thursday evening, where crowds of demonstrators carried symbolic coffins in a procession, an AFP journalist reported.

Key mediator Qatar has said that Israel’s approach was “based on an attempt to falsify facts and mislead world public opinion by repeating lies”.

Such moves “will ultimately lead to the demise of peace efforts”, Qatar’s foreign ministry warned.

The October 7 attack by Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians including some hostages killed in captivity, according to official Israeli figures.

Of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the attack, 97 remain in Gaza including 33 the Israeli military says are dead. Scores were released during a one-week truce in November.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 40,878 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Most of the dead are women and children, according to the UN rights office.

Israel kept up its bombardment overnight into Friday, with an AFP correspondent reporting a huge explosion in the east of Gaza City.

Six people were killed and others wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a house southeast of the city, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Friday.

West Bank deadly assault

While Israel presses its Gaza offensive, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the military should use its “full strength” against Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.

“These terrorist organisations that have various names, whether in Nur al-Shams, Tulkarem, Faraa or Jenin, must be wiped out,” he said, referring to cities and refugee camps where an Israeli military operation is underway.

The Israeli military said Thursday its aircraft “conducted three targeted strikes on armed terrorists” in the Tubas area, which includes Faraa refugee camp.

A strike on a car killed five men aged 21 to 30 and wounded two others, the territory’s health ministry.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said the Israeli military handed over the dead body of a 17-year-old, after medics were prevented from reaching him when he was wounded.

Israel has killed at least 36 Palestinians across the northern West Bank since its assault there started on August 28, according to figures released by the health ministry, including children and militants.

One Israeli soldier was killed in Jenin, where the majority of the Palestinian fatalities have been.

Polio vaccination drive

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has left the territory in ruins, with the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure blamed for the spread of disease.

The humanitarian crisis has led to Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years, prompting a massive vaccination effort launched Sunday with localised “humanitarian pauses” in fighting.

Nearly 200,000 children in central Gaza have received a first dose, the World Health Organization said, and a second stage got underway Thursday in the south, before medics move north.

Louise Wateridge, spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), warned however that the vaccination drive in the south may not reach all children, as some do not reside in the designated zones where Israel has agreed not to strike.

The campaign aims to fully vaccinate more than 640,000 children, with second doses due in about four weeks.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Politics around the world is evolving in ways that both leaders and analysts are finding difficult to assess and respond to. Politicians are scrambling to sustain support as new entrants make inroads into constituencies that have lost faith in the established order. It is in this melee of the old and the new that the grammar of today’s politics is charting a course of its own. Globally, the political elites have never seemed so out of touch as they seem today, unable to respond to the challenge from their streets.

In just the last few days, US President Joe Biden’s credibility saw a free fall, while the UK booted out an accidental, out-of-touch Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and ushered in the Labour Raj at a time when the rest of Europe is moving to the right. The French have given a mandate to the Far Right. Nine months after the terror attacks of October 7, Israel is facing a civil war-like situation, with people demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s resignation even as the nation remains in a state of war on multiple fronts. In Iran, Reformist Masoud Pezeshkian found himself elected as the nation’s new president, beating his hardline conservative rival Saeed Jalili by securing around 53.3% of votes, nine percentage points more than Jalili.

Also Read | Rishi Sunak: For Whom Everything That Could Go Wrong, Went Wrong

A Reformist In Iran, ‘Changemaker’ In UK

Different nations, different challenges, different political arcs, but all facing a moment of political reckoning. Ironically, it is Iran where the recent change of leadership holds the most promise. This is not the first time a reformist has come to power in Iran in a system that has been dominated by the “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei since 1989. The conservatives have controlled all the levers of power and have managed to scuttle earlier reformists like Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani. However, there has been a growing disillusionment with the ruling elites. By criticising Iran’s morality police and promising “unity and cohesion”  as well as an end to Iran’s “isolation” from the world, Pezeshkian talked in a language that appealed to those who want normalcy in a nation that has been on the edge of a precipice for years now.

Rishi Sunak, on the other hand, was not only bogged down by the legacy of his predecessors who had made a mockery of public mandates, but he was also unable to soothe the British public struggling with rising costs of living and a crumbling public services infrastructure. The Conservative Party imploded, and Sunak’s leadership never managed to rise to match the needs of today’s Britain. And so, the Labour Party ended up getting a landslide even without increasing its vote share, thereby taking the United Kingdom in a direction opposite to the rest of Europe, where the Right is ascending.

Close Shave For Macron

In France, President Emmanuel Macron had to call a snap election fearing the resurgence of the nation’s far-right party, the National Rally (RN). Only a last-minute, left-wing tactical adjustment could prevent an outright landslide for the RN. But this should be seen as just a consolation prize, as the RN has greatly increased its representation in Parliament. 

Also Read | Disaster Averted, But Macron Still Faces Big Challenge Ahead

Separately, last month, the European Union elections saw a resurgence of the right in ways few had anticipated, and the triumph of Eurosceptic parties will have serious long-term consequences for the ability of the 27-member bloc to work cohesively.

Concerns About Biden

The world’s eyes, however, are now on the leadership contest in the US, where two old white men are busy damaging the brand of American democracy. Donald Trump, under whose presidency the foundations of the American democratic institutional fabric came close to collapsing, continues to be ahead in the presidential race, as the base of the Republican Party continues to move to the right. Trump’s supporters still view him as an anti-establishment candidate and despite facing a number of charges in the courts, he is hailed as a victim. His greatest advantage is that he has his primary opponent in President Joe Biden, who, after a disastrous debate performance, is having a difficult time convincing his own party about his candidacy. 

Also Read | “He Looks Different”: Wild Theories Over Joe Biden’s Appearance

Old templates no longer apply to the new political climate, where fast-evolving aspirations demand a change in the status quo. Back home in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third consecutive victory and Indian democracy’s continuing resilience underscores the Indian electorate’s ability to make nuanced choices even as the world around it undergoes a dramatic shift. Even so, this global churn has a lesson for Indian political leaders and the larger system.

(Harsh V Pant is Vice President for Studies and Foreign Policy at ORF.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized plans announced by the military on Sunday to hold daily tactical pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into Gaza to facilitate aid delivery into the Palestinian enclave.

The military had announced the daily pauses from 0500 GMT until 1600 GMT in the area from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to the Salah al-Din Road and then northwards.

“When the prime minister heard the reports of an 11-hour humanitarian pause in the morning, he turned to his military secretary and made it clear that this was unacceptable to him,” an Israeli official said.

The military clarified that normal operations would continue in Rafah, the main focus of its operation in southern Gaza, where eight soldiers were killed on Saturday.

The reaction from Netanyahu underlined political tensions over the issue of aid coming into Gaza, where international organisations have warned of a growing humanitarian crisis.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who leads one of the nationalist religious parties in Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, denounced the idea of a tactical pause, saying whoever decided it was a “fool” who should lose their job.

Divisions Between Coalition, Army

The spat was the latest in a series of clashes between members of the coalition and the military over the conduct of the war, now in its ninth month.

It came a week after centrist former general Benny Gantz quit the government, accusing Netanyahu of having no effective strategy in Gaza.

The divisions were laid bare last week in a parliamentary vote on a law on conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant voting against it in defiance of party orders, saying it was insufficient for the needs of the military.

Religious parties in the coalition have strongly opposed conscription for the ultra-Orthodox, drawing widespread anger from many Israelis, which has deepened as the war has gone on.

Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, the head of the military, said on Sunday there was a “definite need” to recruit more soldiers from the fast-growing ultra-Orthodox community.

Reservists Under Strain

Despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire, an agreement to halt the fighting still appears distant, more than eight months since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas fighters on Israel triggered a ground assault on the enclave by Israeli forces.

Since the attack, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners in Israeli communities, Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health ministry figures, and destroyed much of Gaza.

Although opinion polls suggest most Israelis support the government’s aim of destroying Hamas, there have been widespread protests attacking the government for not doing more to bring home around 120 hostages who are still in Gaza after being taken hostage on Oct. 7.

Meanwhile, Palestinian health officials said seven Palestinians were killed in two air strikes on two houses in Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip.

As fighting in Gaza has continued, a lower level conflict across the Israel-Lebanon border is now threatening to spiral into a wider war as near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia have escalated.

In a further sign that fighting in Gaza could drag on, Netanyahu’s government said on Sunday it was extending until Aug. 15 the period it would fund hotels and guest houses for residents evacuated from southern Israeli border towns.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The International Court of Justice, on May 24, ruled that Israel must immediately stop its military offensive in Rafah, the southernmost city of Gaza, where over 1.4 million Palestinians, most of them displaced people, were camping. Two days later, Israel carried out devastating air strikes on Rafah, targeting tent camps of the displaced in areas that were designated as humanitarian corridors, killing at least 45 Palestinians, half of them children, women and older people, creating a global. Outrage.

Hello everyone, this is Stanly Johny, The Hindu’s International Affairs Editor

The Gaza war is in its eighth month. In January, while hearing a genocide case against Israel that was filed by South Africa, the ICJ, the United Nation’s top court, had asked Tel Aviv to take necessary measures to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. It was a momentous ruling, as The Hindu’s Editorial noted on January 29. But the ruling did not have any effect on the way the Jewish state is conducting the war.

On March 25, the UN Security Council demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. But Israel not just continued the war defying the UNSC resolution, but expanded it in May by invading Rafah, displacing the displaced again. 

The ICJ, which refused to order a ceasefire in January, came to the conclusion this month that the Rafah offensive could lead to a complete or partial destruction of the Palestinian population in the city. The court also asked Israel to keep the Rafah crossing with Egypt open for aid delivery and allow UN investigators to gather evidence about alleged war crimes, besides demanding an immediate release of all hostages.

The ICJ ruling came days after the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, claimed that Israeli and Hamas leaders had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, He has sought arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.

None of these developments seem have to deterred Israel. If so, the May 26 Rafah massacre would not have taken place. The ICJ rulings are legally binding, but the world court lacks the mechanisms to implement them. In the 24 hours since the ICJ issued its ruling, Israeli air strikes killed at least 190 civilians across the Gaza Strip, pushing the overall toll since the war began to 36,000. Roughly 80,000 Palestinians have been wounded. Almost all of Gaza’s population has been displaced. The enclave doesn’t enough food, medicines, shelter or medical facilities. And the hungry, sick, displaced and wounded Palestinians, who live in tent camps and UN shelters, continue to be bombed by the Israeli Defence Forces.

Is this way of fighting helping Israel meet its objectives? 

More than seven months after the war began, which was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 cross border attack on Israel in which at least 1,200 people were killed, Tel Aviv seems to be fighting in the dark. When it launched the war, Mr. Netanyahu said he would crush Hamas and release hostages. True, Israel possesses enormous fire power to inflict damage on Gaza and kill Palestinians sleeping inside their tent camps.

But has Israel defeated Hamas? 

Today, Israel is fighting Hamas even in northern and central parts of Gaza where it had earlier declared victory. That Hamas launched rockets into Tel Aviv over the weekend even after seven months of fighting in a besieged enclave raises serious questions about the way the war is being fought. At least 120 hostages, most of them feared dead, are still in Hamas’s captivity.

The war is marked not just by the incompetence of the Israeli Defence Forces but also its cruelty. Its disproportionate use of force on Gaza has turned the strip into a graveyard, as the UN termed it. The world cannot ignore the Palestine question any more and move on, having witnessed this calamity in Gaza and West Bank. Last week’s decision by Norway, Ireland and Spain to recognise the state of Palestine shows how the line of thinking is changing even in the West.

The May 26 Rafah massacre has triggered sharp responses from world leaders, even from Israel’s allies. French President Emmanuel Macron was “outraged” by the attack. Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the “barbaric” attack and vowed to hold Israel accountable. The U.S., Israel’s strongest ally, did not condemn the attack, but asked Israel to do everything to protect civilian lives.    

Mr. Netanyahu appears to be irrationally adamant today. His only focus is on a war that has done little to bolster Israel’s security. Israel has not met its military objectives; its deterrence has been broken twice — first by Hamas and then by Iran ; peace with Arabs stands shattered (Saudi Arabia today says “it is absolutely necessary that Israel accepts that it cannot exist without the existence of a Palestinian State”; it stands isolated in the world, there could be an arrest warrant against Ms netanyahu and Gollant in the coming days; and there IS a ruling by the ICJ against the way it is conducting the war.

As The Hindu noted in an editorial on May 27, by seeking to punish the entire Palestinian population in Gaza for what Hamas did on October 7, Mr. Netanyahu is rendering Israel’s global standing weaker.

Presentation & Script: Stanly Johny

Production : Gayatri Menon

Video: Thamodharan B

Children light candles during a march against Israel and in solidarity with Palestinians in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, on the Mediterranean Sea corniche in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, May 27, 2024. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Monday that a “tragic mistake” had been made after an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah set fire to a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians and killed at least 45 people, according to local officials.
| Photo Credit: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Monday that a “tragic mistake” had been made after an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah set fire to a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians and killed at least 45 people, according to local officials.

Israel has faced surging international criticism over its war with Hamas, with even some of its closest allies, particularly the United States, expressing outrage at civilian deaths.

Israel insists it adheres to international law even as it faces scrutiny in the world’s top courts, one of which last week demanded that it halt the offensive in Rafah.

Israel’s military had earlier said that it launched an investigation into civilian deaths after it struck a Hamas installation and killed two senior militants.

Sunday night’s attack, which appeared to be one of the war’s deadliest, helped push the overall Palestinian death toll in the war above 36,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants in its tally.

“Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night, there was a tragic mistake,” Mr. Netanyahu said Monday in an address to Israel’s parliament.

“We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy,” he said.

Mohammed Abuassa, who rushed to the scene in the northwestern neighbourhood of Tel al-Sultan, said rescuers “pulled out people who were in an unbearable state.” “We pulled out children who were in pieces. We pulled out young and elderly people. The fire in the camp was unreal,” he said.

At least 45 people were killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and the Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service. The ministry said the dead included at least 12 women, eight children and three older adults, with another three bodies burned beyond recognition.

In a separate development, Egypt’s military said one of its soldiers was shot dead during an exchange of fire in the Rafah area, without providing further details.

Israel said it was in contact with Egyptian authorities, and both sides said they were investigating.

Rafah, the southernmost Gaza city on the border with Egypt, had housed more than a million people — about half of Gaza’s population — displaced from other parts of the territory.

Most have fled once again since Israel launched what it called a limited incursion there earlier this month. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps in and around the city.

Mr. Netanyahu says Israel must destroy what he calls Hamas’ last remaining battalions in Rafah. The militant group launched a barrage of rockets Sunday from the city toward heavily populated central Israel, setting off air raid sirens but causing no injuries.

The strike on Rafah brought a new wave of condemnation, even from some of Israel’s close allies.

“These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire,” French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X. Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, in a TV interview, said such bombings are “spreading hatred, rooting hatred that will involve their children and grandchildren.” Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas in attempts to secure a cease-fire and the release of hostages held by Hamas, said the Rafah strike could “complicate” talks.

Negotiations, which appear to be restarting, have faltered repeatedly over Hamas’ demand for a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, terms Israeli leaders have publicly rejected.

Neighbouring Egypt and Jordan, which made peace with Israel decades ago, also condemned the Rafah strike. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry called it a “new and blatant violation of the rules of humanitarian international law.” Jordan’s Foreign Ministry called it a “war crime.” The Israeli military’s top legal official said authorities were examining the strikes and that the military regrets the loss of civilian life. Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi said such incidents occur “in a war of such scope and intensity.”

Speaking to an Israeli lawyers’ conference, Tomer-Yerushalmi said Israel has launched 70 criminal investigations into incidents that aroused suspicions of international law violations, including the deaths of civilians, the conditions at a detention facility holding suspected Palestinian militants and the deaths of some inmates in Israeli custody. She said incidents of “violence, property crimes and looting” were also being examined.

Israel has long maintained it has an independent judiciary capable of investigating and prosecuting abuses. But rights groups say Israeli authorities routinely fail to fully investigate violence against Palestinians and that even when soldiers are held accountable, the punishment is usually light.

Israel has denied allegations of genocide brought against it by South Africa at the International Court of Justice. Last week, the court ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah, a ruling that it has no power to enforce.

Separately, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants against Mr. Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders, over alleged crimes linked to the war.

Israel says it does its best to adhere to the laws of war and says it faces an enemy that makes no such commitment, embeds itself in civilian areas and refuses to release Israeli hostages unconditionally.

Hamas triggered the war with its October 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized some 250 hostages. Hamas still holds about 100 hostages and the remains of around 30 others after most of the rest were released during a cease-fire last year.

Around 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, severe hunger is widespread and UN officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks, at a celebration for Jewish American Heritage Month, in the Rose Garden at the White House, in Washington, U.S., May 20, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

U.S. President Joe Biden strongly defended Israel on Monday, May 21, 2024, saying Israeli forces are not committing genocide in their military campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza in a rejection of criticism from pro-Palestinian protesters.

Also Read: ICC seeks arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes in Palestine; charges Hamas chief for Oct. 7 attack

“What’s happening in Gaza is not genocide. We reject that,” Mr. Biden said at a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House.

Mr. Biden has faced protests at many of his events around the country from pro-Palestinian advocates who have labeled him “Genocide Joe” for his steadfast support for Israel.

In remarks at the White House event, Mr. Biden stressed his belief that Israel was the victim dating back to the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants who killed 1,200 people and took hundreds of hostages.

He said U.S. support for the safety and security of Israelis is “ironclad.”

“We stand with Israel to take out (Hamas leader Yahya) Sinwar and the rest of the butchers of Hamas. We want Hamas defeated. We’re working with Israel to make that happen,” he said.

Negotiations have stalled between Israel and Hamas in trying to gain the freedom of sick, elderly and wounded hostages still held by the militants, but Biden vowed not to give up trying to gain their release.

“We’re going to get them home, we’re going to get ’em home, come hell or high water,” Mr. Biden said.

Mr. Biden has also called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, something that he reiterated in his commencement speech at Morehouse College on Sunday.

Mr. Biden also rejected the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor for saying he had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief over alleged war crimes

The ICC prosecutor on Monday also said he requested arrest warrants for Hamas chief Sinwar and two other Hamas leaders.

Mr. Biden in recent months has faced growing political pressure from his own party over his handling of the Gaza conflict, as the Palestinian death toll climbed to more than 35,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and Israel’s siege has created dire humanitarian conditions in the territory.

Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories:

Israel pummelled northern Gaza with fresh air strikes on Saturday, one week on from the deadliest attack in its history, as it urged Palestinians to flee the area before an expected ground offensive against Hamas commanders.

AFP reporters near the southern Israeli city of Sderot saw troops fire at the densely populated enclave, sending huge plumes of black smoke into the sky.

There was no let-up as night fell, with explosions lighting up the darkness all around.

A stern-looking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wearing a flak jacket, earlier visited troops on the border front line, raising expectations of an imminent invasion.

“Are you ready for what is coming? More is coming,” he is heard telling several soldiers on a video released by his office. He later held security talks with ministers in his emergency government.

There has been no let-up in Israel’s response to the Islamist fighters’ dawn raid, which saw them break through the heavily fortified border and gun down, stab and burn to death more than 1,300 people.

In Gaza, health officials said more than 2,200 people had been killed. As on the Israeli side, most of them were civilians.

But with food, water, fuel and medical supplies running low because of an Israeli blockade, aid agencies are warning of an impending humanitarian crisis.

The Israeli military for the first time said the bodies of some of the dozens of hostages abducted by Hamas in its attacks had been found.

On the diplomatic front, Saudi Arabia pressed for an “immediate ceasefire”, while the United States called on China to use its regional influence to push for calm.

Military operations

Israel, which has likened last week’s attacks to those on September 11, 2001 in the United States, has fired thousands of missiles at northern Gaza.

One air strike killed Ali Qadi, described as “a company commander of the Hamas ‘Nukhba’ commando force” involved in the unprecedented attack, the army said.

“Localised” raids have also taken place, as Israeli troops encircle the Gaza Strip, said army spokesman Jonathan Conricus.

“We will likely evolve into additional significant combat operations,” he added. “When we do so, remember how this started… All of this is Hamas-made.”

But National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi admitted intelligence lapses that failed to spot the attack in advance.

Some 1.1 million people — nearly half the population of 2.4 million — live in the north of Gaza, and aid agencies have said forcing them to move is an impossibility as the war rages.

Exiled Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh accused Israel on Saturday of committing “war crimes” in Gaza and blocking the supply of much-needed aid.

In a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, posted on Hamas group’s website, he called Israel’s cutting off of electricity, water and fuel supplies “barbaric”.

But he ruled out any “displacement” of Gazans, including to Egypt.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which several Western governments, including the United States, have proscribed as a terrorist organisation, and likened to the Islamic State group.

But it maintains that ordinary Palestinians are not their target.

Safe passage 

Israeli military spokesman Richard Hecht urged civilians in northern Gaza, where Hamas’s leadership is based, not to delay in getting out.

He said there was a “window” for safe passage between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm, but did not disclose how many days it would remain open.

Several people, however, were reportedly killed in an Israeli bombardment while heading south on Saturday, according to Hamas officials and witnesses. AFP could not immediately confirm the report.

Gazans, who cannot leave the enclave as it is blockaded by both Israel and Egypt, have packed what belongings they can into bags and suitcases, to trudge through the rubble-strewn streets.

A stream of cars, trucks, three-wheeled vehicles and donkey-drawn carts joined the frantic mass movement south, all loaded with families and their belongings, mattresses, bedding and bags strapped onto the roofs of packed vehicles.

Roads in the 40-kilometre (25-mile) long territory were jammed. Those who have already managed to leave have been forced to bed down wherever they can, including on the streets and in UN-run schools.

“The situation is catastrophic,” said Jumaa Nasser, who travelled from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza with his wife, mother and seven children.

“We’ve had no food or sleep. We don’t know what to do. I’ve given my fate up to God,” he told AFP.

International aid agencies, including the UN and Red Cross, plus several foreign diplomats are concerned about the feasibility of the evacuation plan.

“We fear an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” said Ivan Karakashian, of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Hostages

According to the UN, more than 1,300 buildings in Gaza have been destroyed, while local hospitals and their exhausted staff have become overwhelmed with growing numbers of dead and injured.

A potential Israeli ground invasion has also increased fears for the safety of the 150 hostages, including foreigners, that Israel said Hamas seized during its deadly rampage.

Hamas has threatened to kill the hostages one by one for every unannounced Israeli air strike.

A total of 22 have already been killed in bombardments, the Hamas group said, without elaborating.

Israel’s army says it has contacted the families of 120 civilians being held so far. They called for medicines to be transferred to the captives as soon as possible.

US President Joe Biden told US television on Friday that his administration was doing “everything” it could to locate 14 missing Americans.

Egypt and Israel have agreed to let US citizens leave the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, a US official accompanying Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a regional tour told reporters.

Regional concern

The Hamas attack and the war it sparked — Gaza’s fifth in 15 years — have upended Middle Eastern politics, prompting fears that the violence will spread across the volatile region.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh accused Israel of “genocide” in Gaza, while clashes in the occupied West Bank have killed 53 Palestinians in the past week.

Angry protests condemning Israel and supporting the Palestinians in Gaza took place across the Arab world on Friday.

Western capitals, including London, also saw pro-Palestinian marches.

Israel faces the threat of a separate confrontation on its northern border with Lebanon and artillery exchanges have taken place with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in recent days.

On Friday, a Reuters video journalist was killed and six other reporters, from AFP, Reuters and Al-Jazeera, were wounded in shelling that Lebanon blamed on Israeli forces.

Two Lebanese civilians were killed in Israeli shelling of a southern village on Saturday, its mayor told AFP. Hezbollah said one of its fighters was killed by Israeli fire.

The Israeli army said it had also shelled an area across the armistice line with Syria after air raid sirens sounded in two settlements in the annexed Golan Heights.

Blinken, who has told Israel of Washington’s full support for its fightback, said on Saturday he had a “productive” one-hour phone call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

He is seeking Beijing’s help in restoring calm, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

In Beijing, Wang said China wanted urgent peace talks to resolve the situation, a read-out from the foreign ministry said.

Iran — Israel’s long-time arch enemy, which has bankrolled Hamas and celebrated last Saturday’s attack — insists it was not involved.

Saudi Arabia, which has been seeking closer ties with Israel, has put “possible normalisation” talks on hold, a source familiar with the discussions told AFP.

After a meeting with Blinken, Riyadh said it was calling for “an immediate ceasefire in Gaza” and the surrounding area, and for the siege to be lifted to allow aid to get in.

 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shake hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in Amman, Jordan, on October 13, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived, on October 13, at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv to meet with senior government leaders and see firsthand some of the U.S. weapons and security assistance that Washington rapidly delivered to Israel in the first week of its war with the militant Hamas group.

Mr. Austin is the second high-level U.S. official to visit Israel in two days. His quick trip from Brussels, where he was attending a NATO Defence Ministers meeting, comes a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the region on October 12.

Mr. Blinken is continuing the frantic Mideast diplomacy, seeking to avert an expanded regional conflict. Mr. Austin is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant, and the Israeli War Cabinet.

His arrival comes as Israel’s military directed hundreds of thousands of residents in Gaza City to evacuate “for their own safety and protection,” ahead of a feared Israeli ground offensive. Gaza’s Hamas rulers responded by calling on Palestinians to “remain steadfast in your homes and to stand firm” against Israel.

Defence officials travelling with Mr. Austin said he wants to underscore America’s unwavering support for the people of Israel and that the United States is committed to making sure the country has what it needs to defend itself.

A senior defence official said the U.S. has already given Israel small diameter bombs as well as interceptor missiles for its Iron Dome system and more will be delivered. Other munitions are expected to arrive on October 13.

Mr. Austin has spoken nearly daily with Gallant, and directed the rapid shift of the U.S. ships, intelligence support and other assets to Israel and the region.

Within hours after the brutal Hamas attack across the border into Israel, the U.S. moved warships and aircraft to the region.

The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group is already in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and a second carrier was departing on Friday from Virginia, also heading to the region.

Mr. Austin declined to say if the U.S. is doing surveillance flights in the region, but the U.S. is providing intelligence and other planning assistance to the Israelis, including advice on the hostage situation.

A day after visiting Israel to offer the Joe Biden administration’s diplomatic support in person, Mr. Blinken was in Jordan on Friday and held talks with Jordanian King Abdullah II. They did not speak to reporters after the meeting.

Antony Blinken then went on to a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has a home in Amman, the Jordanian capital.

In the meeting with the king, Mr. Blinken discussed Hamas’ attack last Saturday and efforts to release all hostages the militants seized, as well as efforts to “prevent the conflict from widening,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Mr. Blinken “underscored that Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination and discussed ways to address the humanitarian needs of civilians in Gaza while Israel conducts legitimate security operations to defend itself from terrorism.” The monarch rules over a country with a large Palestinian population and has a vested interest in their status while Abbas runs the Palestinian Authority that controls the West Bank.

According to a palace statement, Abdullah stressed the need to open humanitarian corridors for medical aid and relief into Gaza while protecting civilians and working to end the escalation of the conflict.

He appealed against hindering the work of international agencies and warned against any attempts to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza and elsewhere, or to cause their internal displacement.

Earlier on Friday, Israel’s military had told some one million Palestinians living in Gaza to evacuate the north, according to the United Nations — an unprecedented order for almost half the population of the sealed-off territory ahead an expected ground invasion by Israel against the ruling Hamas.

The King also urged for the protection of innocent civilians on all sides, in line with shared human values, international law, and international humanitarian law.

Later Friday, Mr. Blinken is to fly to Doha for meetings with Qatari officials who have close contacts with the Hamas leadership and have been exploring an exchange of Palestinian prisoners in Israel for the release of dozens of Israelis and foreigners taken hostage by Hamas during the unprecedented incursion of the militants into southern Israel last weekend.

Antony Blinken will make a brief stop in Bahrain and end the day in Saudi Arabia, a key player in the Arab world that has been considering normalising ties with Israel, a U.S.-mediated process that is now on hold. He will also travel to the United Arab Emirates and Egypt over the weekend.

All 15 of Israel’s Supreme Court justices appear for the first time in the country’s history to look at the legality of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul, which the government pushed through parliament in July, in Jerusalem, on Sept. 12, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

Israel’s Supreme Court on September 12 opened the first case to look at the legality of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul— deepening a showdown with the far-right government that has bitterly divided the nation and put the country on the brink of a constitutional crisis.

In a sign of the case’s significance, all 15 of Israel’s Supreme Court justices are hearing appeals to the law together for the first time in Israel’s history. A regular panel is made up of three justices, though they sometimes sit on expanded panels. The proceedings were also being livestreamed.

“It’s a historic day,” said Susie Navot, vice president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank that has been critical of the overhaul. “This is the first time we’ve had this kind of hearing.”

Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition, a collection of ultranationalist and ultrareligious lawmakers, launched the overhaul early this year, shortly after taking office. Proponents of the plan say the country’s unelected judiciary, led by the Supreme Court, wields too much power. Critics say the plan to weaken the Supreme Court removes a key safeguard and will concentrate power in the hands of Mr. Netanyahu and his far-right allies.

The hearing on September 12 puts the country’s senior justices in the unprecedented position of deciding whether to accept limits to their own powers. It focuses on the first law passed by parliament in July — a measure that cancels the court’s ability to strike down government decisions it deems to be “unreasonable.” Judges have used the legal standard in the past to prevent government decisions viewed as unsound or corrupt.

The judicial overhaul — which opponents characterize as a profound threat to Israeli democracy — has infuriated Israelis across many segments of society, bringing hundreds of thousands into the streets to march at one protest after another for the past 36 weeks.

The protesters have come largely from the country’s secular middle class. Leading high-tech business figures have threatened to relocate. Perhaps most dramatically, thousands of military reservists have broken with the government and declared their refusal to report for duty over the plan.

Mr. Netanyahu’s supporters tend to be poorer, more religious and live in West Bank settlements or outlying rural areas. Many of his supporters are working-class Mizrahi Jews, with roots in Middle Eastern countries, and have expressed hostility toward what they say is an elitist class of Ashkenazi, or European, Jews.

Late on September 11, tens of thousands of Israeli protesters crowded around the Supreme Court, waving national flags and chanting against the government.

The law passed as an amendment to what in Israel is known as a “Basic Law,” a special piece of legislation that serves as a sort of constitution, which Israel does not have. The court has never struck down a “Basic Law” before but says it has the right to do so. The government says it does not.

In a statement ahead of September 12th’s hearing, Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin said the court “lacks all authority” to review the law.

“It is a fatal blow to democracy and the status of the Knesset,” he said, insisting that lawmakers elected by the public should have the final say over the legislation.

The petitioners asking the court to strike down the law include a handful of civil society groups advocating for human rights and good governance. A ruling is not expected on September 12, but the hearing could hint at the court’s direction.

The case is at the heart of a wider contest in Israel between fundamentally different interpretations of democracy. Mr. Netanyahu and his coalition say that as elected representatives, they have a democratic mandate to govern without being hobbled by the court, which they portray as a bastion of the secular, left-leaning elite.

Opponents say that the court is the only check on majority rule in a country with such a weak system of checks and balances — just one house of parliament, a figurehead president and no firm, written constitution.

They say that without the power to review and overturn some government decisions, Mr. Netanyahu’s government could appoint convicted cronies to Cabinet posts, roll back rights for women and minorities, and annex the occupied West Bank — laws that the court with its current powers would be likely to strike down.

“We must remember that democracies don’t die in one day anymore,” Ms. Navot from the Israel Democracy Institute said. “Democracies die slowly, step by step, law by law. And therefore we should be very careful with this kind of judicial overhaul.”

The political survival of Mr. Netanyahu, who returned to power late last year while on trial for corruption, depends on his hard-line, religiously conservative coalition partners who have threatened to rebel if he forestalls the legislation.

Mr. Netanyahu has refused to say clearly whether he would respect a decision by the court to strike down the new law. Some members of his coalition, including Mr. Levin, have hinted that the government could ignore the court’s decision.

Legal experts warn that could spark constitutional crisis, where citizens and the country’s security forces are left to decide whose orders to follow — the parliament’s or the court’s — thrusting the country into uncharted territory.

Welcoming the announcement of the ambitious India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described it as the “largest cooperation project in our history” that will “change the face of the Middle East, Israel, and will affect the entire world”.

The new economic corridor, which many see as an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, was jointly announced on September 9 by the leaders of the U.S., India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi.

In a video message released late on Saturday evening, Mr. Netanyahu said that Israel is at the focus of an unprecedented international project that will link infrastructure from Asia to Europe.

“I welcome the statement that was released today by the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the European Union, as well as France, Italy and Germany,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

“A good week to you, citizens of Israel. This evening, I am pleased to inform you [of] some major news,” the Israeli Prime Minister said.

His message came as hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested on the streets against the government’s judicial overhaul plan they think will undermine the authority of the judiciary.

“Israel is at the focus of an unprecedented international project that will link infrastructure from Asia to Europe. This link will also realise a multi-year vision that will change the face of the Middle East, and Israel, and will affect the entire world,” he said.

“This vision starts in India, passes through the United Arab Emirates [UAE], Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel before reaching Europe,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

The announcement of the ambitious project comes amid discussions around the normalisation of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The two countries do not have diplomatic relations but the Gulf kingdom has been seen to be recently softening its position towards Israel by allowing Israeli airlines to use its air space.

It is said to have also demanded, as per media reports, several concessions from the United States for the normalisation of ties to happen with the Jewish state, some very contentious ones.

“They announced the launch of a pioneering initiative to develop an economic corridor from India, through the Middle East, to Europe. I am pleased to inform you, citizens of Israel, that our country, the State of Israel, will be a central junction in this economic corridor,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

“Our railways and ports will open a new gateway from India, through the Middle East, to Europe, and back – from Europe to India via Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” the Israeli Prime Minister, battling a downturn in the economy in the face of his controversial Judicial overhaul plans, said.

“I would like to thank U.S. President [Joe] Biden and his administration for the major effort that has led us to today’s historic announcement. Several months ago, the U.S. contacted us regarding the realisation of this historic opportunity. Since then, it has held urgent diplomatic contacts in order to bring about today’s breakthrough,” he stressed.

The project reshapes the face of our region and allows a dream to become reality, he said.

The initiative includes the construction of railways, the laying of a hydrogen pipeline, the energy of the future, the laying of fibre optic communications cables, the laying of electricity cables and more infrastructure, the Israeli Prime Minister noted.

“The State of Israel will contribute its capabilities, all of its experience, momentum and commitment, to realise the largest cooperation project in our history. All government ministries will be instructed to join in realizing this dream,” he emphasised.

“I have directed the National Security Council, in the Prime Minister’s Office, to coordinate the staff work and also the close cooperation with the U.S. and other countries in order for this vision to become reality as soon as possible,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

The project will lead us to a new, unique and unprecedented era of global and regional cooperation and involvement.

“Together we will succeed,” Mr. Netanyahu asserted.

With protesters turning up in hundreds of thousands every weekend for the last 36 weeks, Israel faces threats of mass emigration, resignations in critical positions, army desertions, strikes and flight of capital backed by gloomy predictions from prestigious global credit rating agencies.

Mr. Netanyahu has been struggling to show that everything is under control and the economy is stable amid widespread angry protests. He also hinted at the major link project during his trip to Greece and Cyprus early this week to boost the morale of his citizens and supporters.