BLOG Netanyahu admits he authorized pager attack on Hezbollah, US official says Hamas is blocking deal

The Israeli army is fighting the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas and other armed organizations in the Gaza Strip, and the Lebanese Islamist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon.

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Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli attack on a house, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, Photo: Reuters
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli attack on a house, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, Photo: Reuters
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Ažurirano: 10.11.2024. 21:48h
Finished
21: 42h

Lebanon's Ministry of Health says three people died in the town of Al Qasr in the Hermel district after an Israeli attack.

They added that two people were wounded in the attack.

20: 08h

Hezbollah claims to have successfully hit the Haifa naval base with drones.

"Today at 16 p.m., an air strike was carried out by a squadron of attack drones on the Haifa naval base... and the targets were hit precisely," the Lebanese militant group said on Telegram.

The Israeli army has not yet commented on this attack.

In addition, Hezbollah said its fighters fired rockets at the Israeli army near the "border wall" in the town of Kfar Kila, in southern Lebanon.

19: 35h

During an appearance on CBS, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that Hamas, not Israel, is standing in the way of a ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel has been accused of obstructing several ceasefire agreements. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that his army must maintain indefinite control over Gaza's southern border with Egypt, a claim that Hamas has flatly rejected.

Israel also killed Hamas's chief negotiator, Ismail Haniyeh, while he was in Iran in July. Hamas is demanding a permanent ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli forces as part of any deal.

Qatar said on Saturday it was suspending its role as a mediator until Hamas and Israel show a "sincere willingness" to return to the negotiating table.

19: 33h

An Israeli attack on a residential building south of Damascus killed seven civilians, the second such attack in less than seven days.

The victims in Sayeda Zeynab district include women and children, and another 20 people were wounded, the Syrian Ministry of Defense said.

Israel did not immediately comment, and last week said its air force had attacked Hezbollah intelligence facilities in the same area.

19: 01h

Dutch police have detained more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters who broke a ban on protests in Amsterdam following clashes this week involving Israeli fans, Al Jazeera reports.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in the capital's Dam Square chanting "Freedom for Palestine" and "Amsterdam says no to genocide", alluding to Israel's war on Gaza.

Detail from Amsterdam
Detail from Amsterdamphoto: REUTERS

A Dutch court today rejected an urgent request to allow a pro-Palestinian protest in Amsterdam, AFP reports, upholding a ban issued by the mayor after clashes between Israeli soccer fans and a group of youths.

The decision by the Amsterdam District Court comes three days after the Dutch capital was rocked by violence between supporters of the Makabi Tel Aviv football club and men on scooters in several parts of the city.

18: 49h

At least 38 people were killed today in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, including 23 in an attack on a town north of Beirut, the country's health ministry said, Beta reports. Israel, which has been at open war against Hezbollah since September 23, has intensified its attacks in recent days on strongholds of the Lebanese Islamist movement, especially in the southern suburbs of Beirut and southern and eastern Lebanon.

18: 43h

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted for the first time that he gave the green light for the pager attack on the Lebanese Hezbollah movement in September, Netanyahu's spokesman Omer Dostri told AFP today.

Speaking during Sunday's cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said he approved the operation, for which no one has yet claimed responsibility, Dostri said, confirming reports in Israeli media.

Devices for transmitting information - pagers and walkie-talkies, used by members of Hezbollah, exploded on September 17 and 18 in the southern suburbs of Beirut, as well as in the south and east of Lebanon, strongholds of the Islamist movement.

The explosions killed 39 people and injured around 3.000 people, the Lebanese authorities said.

Although the operation may have resembled the activities of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, the Israeli authorities have never openly claimed responsibility for the attacks, nor have they mentioned it.

In support of the Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah opened a front against Israel on October 8, 2023, firing daily into Israeli territory from southern Lebanon.

On September 23 of this year, those hostilities turned into an open war with intense Israeli attacks, mainly against strongholds of the Lebanese movement.

On September 30, the Israeli army launched a ground offensive in Lebanon.

More than 2.700 people have been killed in Lebanon since September 23, most of them civilians, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

(BETA)

18: 18h

Israel has defeated Hezbollah, said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz. He assessed that the elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was a "crowning achievement", reports Al Jazeera.

Israel's plan now is to "change the security situation in the north," said the new defense minister, Israel Katz.

"The strikes we struck defeated Hezbollah, and the elimination of Nasrallah is the crown jewel," he said.

Speaking about the Israeli attack on Gaza, Katz said: "We managed to preserve legitimacy and prevent the decisions of international bodies and countries that called us to stop the war unconditionally".

His comments come as Hezbollah continues to fire rockets at Israel and Israeli ground forces face difficulties in capturing territory in southern Lebanon.

18: 12h

At least four people were killed in the attack on the Zgrin-Sayed farm, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced. One person was also injured in the attack.

Earlier, the Ministry of Health announced that an Israeli airstrike on the village of Almat, north of Beirut, killed 23 people, including seven children.

Detail from Lebanon
Detail from Lebanonphoto: REUTERS

Lebanon's health ministry says at least 53 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the country on Saturday.

The death toll has now risen to 3.186, while 14.078 people have been wounded since clashes between Hezbollah and Israel began more than a year ago.

17: 44h

At least 49 Palestinians have been killed across the Gaza Strip since dawn, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

Civil protection teams said 33 children were among the 13 people killed in Israeli attacks in the besieged north, where the Israeli army is waging a month-long offensive.

17: 43h

The police chief in the French capital has announced a ban on Palestinian flags at the Stade de France during the upcoming League of Nations match between the French national team and the Israeli team.

"There must be no politically motivated messages in the stadiums, including Palestinian flags. Only the French and Israeli flags will be present in the stadium," Laurent Nunez said in an interview with French media.

17: 43h

The Lebanese militant group said it had targeted Avital, a town in Syria's occupied Golan Heights, with rockets, describing it as a "technical and electronic intelligence center".

Hezbollah said its fighters also targeted a gathering of Israeli forces on the Kahil plateau, on the eastern outskirts of the southern Lebanese city of Marun Al Ras.

16: 05h

An Israeli airstrike targeted a residential building in the Sayeda Zeinab district south of Damascus today, the Syrian state news agency said. It was not immediately clear if there were any victims.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against targets inside parts of Syria controlled by its government in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or comments on these strikes. Attacks often target Syrian forces or Iranian-backed groups.

16: 03h

Israeli media Haaretz quoted Benjamin Netanyahu as speaking about military actions during today's cabinet meeting.

"When I wanted to eliminate Nasrallah or enter Rafah and carry out similar actions, there were those in the cabinet who opposed it. One of the arguments was American opposition to that move. I did not agree and I went all the way," said the Israeli the prime minister, according to Harec.

Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than three decades, was killed in a series of Israeli attacks on the group's underground headquarters in Beirut in late September.

In May, despite warnings of catastrophic humanitarian consequences, Israel continued its offensive in Rafah, defying an order by the UN's highest court to halt the attack, which it said was exacerbating an already "catastrophic" humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.

15: 42h

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that in the last few days he spoke with the newly elected US President Donald Trump three times, with the aim of strengthening the strong alliance between Israel and the United States of America.

"These were good and very important talks. We agree on the Iranian threat in all its aspects, as well as the danger it represents. We also recognize the great opportunities before Israel, in the field of peace and its expansion, as well as in other areas," Netanyahu said. in a statement to the public, reports the Guardian.

15: 39h

A Dutch court today rejected an urgent request to allow a pro-Palestinian protest in Amsterdam, AFP reports, upholding a ban issued by the mayor after clashes between Israeli soccer fans and a group of youths.

The decision by the Amsterdam District Court comes three days after the Dutch capital was rocked by violence between supporters of the Makabi Tel Aviv football club and men on scooters in several parts of the city.

Five Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were briefly hospitalized after the attack.

Amsterdam police ordered the gathered protesters to leave Dam Square, which is located in the center of the city, and said they would arrest people who refused to leave, the city of Amsterdam announced on social network X.

AFP reports that police in Amsterdam have begun arresting pro-Palestinian protesters, but it is not yet known how many arrests have been made. Police in riot gear intervened against protesters who were shouting slogans and holding banners.

High security measures are being prepared in France for the Nations League match between France and Israel at the Stade de France in Paris on Thursday.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez described the event as high-risk and announced that 4.000 gendarmes would be present around the stadium, on public transport and throughout Paris.

15: 37h

At least 23 people, including seven children, were killed and six others injured in an Israeli airstrike in Alamat, Lebanon, the country's health ministry said in a revised death toll, likely to rise throughout the day.

Detail from Lebanon
Detail from Lebanonphoto: REUTERS

The ministry said earlier that at least 20 people, including three children, were killed in the attack.

15: 29h

Israeli forces detained at least 10 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank overnight, the Palestinian Authority for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society said.

According to a report by the Palestinian news agency Wafa, the arrests were made in several areas in the occupied West Bank, including the cities of Jenin, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Tubas and Jerusalem.

Israeli forces destroyed property and threatened prisoners, including ex-prisoners who had already spent time in Israeli prisons — and their families during "violent home invasions," Wafa reported. Some Israeli soldiers reportedly searched homes and destroyed personal belongings.

It is estimated that at least 11.600 Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since last October.

Human rights groups and international organizations have accused Israeli authorities of widespread abuse of prisoners arrested during raids in the West Bank, the Guardian reports.

They describe alleged abuse and degrading treatment, including keeping prisoners blindfolded and handcuffed in cramped cages, as well as beatings, intimidation and harassment.

15: 28h

At least 43.603 Palestinians have been killed and 102.929 injured in Israeli air strikes on Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Of that number, 51 Palestinians were killed and 164 were injured in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.

Palestinians in Gaza mourn the dead
Palestinians in Gaza mourn the deadphoto: REUTERS

Gaza's health ministry earlier said thousands of other dead were likely still under the rubble.

14: 49h

Lebanon's Ministry of Health announced today that at least 20 people were killed in an Israeli attack on the Shiite town of Almat, in the predominantly Christian area of ​​Jbeil, north of Beirut.

"In the Israeli attack, twenty people were killed, including three children, and six were wounded," the agencies reported a new balance of victims in that attack.

At first it was said that 12 people had died. Meanwhile, the search for survivors in the ruins continues.

The official Lebanese media reported earlier on the Israeli attack on a house in the capital of eastern Lebanon, Baalbek. The attack was not preceded by a warning from the Israeli army to evacuate residents.

"An enemy plane carried out an attack on a house in the Al-Lakis neighborhood of the city," the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

(Beta)

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