Friday, September 6, 2024
1218 GMT — The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has defended arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that justice must be seen to be done.
In an interview with BBC, Karim Khan said that it was important to show the court would hold all nations to the same standard in relation to alleged war crimes, welcoming the UK government's decision to drop its opposition to the arrest warrants.
In July, the British government reversed its opposition to the ICC seeking an arrest warrant against Netanyahu.
1228 GMT — Hamas releases video of Israeli-American hostage, calls for prisoner swap
Hamas' military wing, the Qassam Brigades, has released a video showing an Israeli-American hostage appealing to the US president and the secretary of state to stop the war on Gaza and help secure his release through a prisoner exchange deal.
"I am asking you, Mr. President Joe Biden and Antony Blinken and all my fellow Americans, citizens – to do everything you can stop the war, stop this madness, and to bring me home now," Hersh Goldberg-Polin said in his final message.
The date of the recording was not provided. Goldberg-Polin was later killed in Israeli airstrikes.
1225 GMT — American activist shot dead by Israeli army in West Bank
An American activist was shot dead by Israeli forces during a protest against illegal Israeli settlements in the town of Beita in the Nablus district of the occupied West Bank.
Fouad Nafaa, the director of Rafidia Hospital, told Anadolu that the woman, who held US citizenship, arrived at the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head.
"We attempted to revive her, but she succumbed to her injuries," Nafaa stated.
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1202 GMT — Ex-Israeli official urges northern Gaza evacuation, aid halt
Former Israeli National Security Council head Meir Ben-Shabbat has urged the evacuation of northern Gaza and the suspension of humanitarian aid, advocating for the area to be declared a closed military zone.
In a statement, Ben-Shabbat, who also chairs the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, said that “remaining in the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt is not enough. We must also evacuate northern Gaza and declare it a closed military zone, stopping the entry of humanitarian aid."
Ben-Shabbat suggested that the US administration under President Joe Biden should support this stance, believing it could advance negotiations on the release of hostages.
He argued that to achieve Israel's war objectives, "control over humanitarian aid entering Gaza must be removed from Hamas. This is its lifeline and the main way it maintains control on the ground."
1121 GMT — Poll: Nearly half of Israelis back Philadelphi Corridor withdrawal for hostage deal
A recent poll has found that 48 percent of Israelis would support withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border in exchange for a hostage swap deal with Hamas.
Conducted by the Lazar Institute and reported by Maariv newspaper, the survey polled 506 Israelis, with a margin of error of 4.4 percent. It showed that while nearly half of respondents were open to relinquishing control of the corridor, 37 percent opposed such a move, and 15 percent remained undecided.
The survey also gauged political preferences, revealing that Netanyahu remains a preferred choice for prime minister, though his popularity has fluctuated compared to other political figures. In a head-to-head matchup with Benny Gantz of the National Unity party, Netanyahu garnered 42 percent support, while Gantz received 40 percent, with 18 percent of respondents undecided.
1109 GMT — Israeli officials sceptical of new Gaza ceasefire proposal
Israeli officials have voiced pessimism about an expected ceasefire proposal designed to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas, as part of ongoing negotiations to secure a hostage exchange and end the conflict in Gaza.
According to Israel's Public Broadcasting Corporation, government sources indicated that the proposal, expected to be unveiled by the end of the week, is unlikely to meet the demands of either side.
"The forthcoming proposal will not be acceptable to both sides,” said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Despite efforts to revive stalled negotiations, insiders suggest there has been little movement in changing the entrenched positions of both Israel and Hamas.
0948 GMT — Military approach not the solution in Gaza: German FM
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said that a military approach alone was not the solution to Israel's Gaza war.
"The past weekend has dramatically demonstrated that a purely military approach is no solution to the situation in Gaza," she told reporters after meeting with her Israeli counterpart Israel Katz in the coastal Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
Baerbock was referring to the recovery of six more dead hostages announced on Sunday.
0853 GMT — 160,000 children vaccinated against polio in southern Gaza: UN
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has announced that its teams vaccinated more than 160,000 children on Thursday, the first day of the second phase of a polio vaccination campaign in southern Gaza.
“Thousands of families went to health facilities to receive vaccines from UNRWA medical teams,” the UN agency said on X.
“Over 160,000 children were reached on the first day of the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza southern areas yesterday,” it added.
The UN agency said that it will continue vaccinating “as many children as possible” on Friday.
0806 GMT — Israel kills 8 Palestinians, destroys buildings in Gaza
At least eight Palestinians were killed in air strikes by Israeli warplanes targeting two homes in Gaza City on late Thursday and early Friday, according to local sources.
Medical sources at the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital told Anadolu that six bodies were brought to the hospital after an Israeli air strike hit a house in the Zeitoun neighbourhood.
Palestinian medics also reported the death of a woman and her daughter in an Israeli strike that targeted a house in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood, west of Gaza City.
0548 GMT — Israeli artillery strikes kill 6, leave 5 wounded in Gaza City
Israel has shelled various parts of Gaza City, killing many civilians, including women and children, according to WAFA news agency.
Six people were killed and five others were severely wounded when shelling took place near Al Badr Mosque in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, southeast of Gaza, according to Palestinian health sources.
The victims of the attack were Ahmed Nayef Radi, Nayef Ahmed Radi, Naila Ahmed Radi, Alaa Nazir al Naffar, Naila Ali Radi and Shatha Nayef Radi. The injured were sent to al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza.
0552 GMT — Israeli forces assault a Palestinian youth in Ramallah
Israeli forces assaulted a young man in the village of Deir Abu Mashal, north of Ramallah, according to the Palestinian WAFA news agency.
The attack took place in the village of Shuqba at a temporary checkpoint set up by Israeli forces, according to local sources.
The attack by the Israeli soldiers on Bilal Rabah Dar Atta resulted in his fingers being broken. He was immediately transported to a local hospital for treatment.
04:29 GMT — Hundreds march in Tel Aviv to protest against Netanyahu
Hundreds of Israelis have marched silently through the streets of Tel Aviv carrying 27 mock coffins to represent the 27 captives whose bodies were recovered by the Israeli military during the past nearly 11 months of Israeli carnage in besieged Gaza.
The protesters marched through major streets in Tel Aviv at night, solemnly striking a bell as the flag-draped coffins were slowly brought through the streets. The country is reeling from the discovery of the bodies of six Israeli captives, who Hamas says were killed in indiscriminate Israeli strikes.
"Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, sentenced Carmel, my cousin, to death, her and all the hostages," said Gil Dickmann, the cousin of Carmel Gat, one of six hostages killed and whose body was recovered.
03:50 GMT — Blinken says incumbent on Hamas, Israel to remove gaps in truce deal
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said it was incumbent on both Israel and Hamas to say yes on remaining issues to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal even as hawkish Israeli PM Netanyahu again dismissed US claims that a deal was imminent.
"Based on what I have seen, 90% is agreed but there are a few critical issues that remain," including the so-called Philadelphi corridor on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, Blinken said at a press briefing in Haiti.
He said there were also some gaps in the agreement in how Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners are exchanged.
3:00 GMT — Son of prominent jailed fighter among six killed by Israel
Palestinian health officials have said that Israeli strikes in the occupied West Bank killed six people, including the son of a prominent jailed fighter.
Israel said all of those killed were resistance fighters who had been involved in attacks.
A strike overnight in the northern West Bank town of Tubas killed five people, including Mohammed Zubeidi, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, without saying whether they were civilians or fighters.
2:50 GMT — Netanyahu gives starkly different take to US' Gaza truce deal
The Biden administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were sharply at odds over prospects of reaching a deal for a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner release, with Netanyahu saying it was "exactly inaccurate" that a breakthrough was close.
"There's not a deal in the making," Netanyahu said in an interview with "Fox and Friends." His public scepticism comes as US officials said they were working on a revised proposal to address remaining disputes between Israeli and Hamas leaders after the weekend discovery of six dead hostages added urgency to the talks.
National security spokesperson John Kirby reiterated that only disagreements on "implementing details" of a ceasefire proposal need to be hammered out.
02:10 GMT — Trump warns US universities over pro-Palestine protests
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has told Jewish donors that US universities would lose accreditation and federal support over pro-Palestine protests if he is elected to the White House.
"Colleges will and must end the antisemitic propaganda, or they will lose their accreditation and federal support," Trump said, speaking remotely to a crowd of more than 1,000 Republican Jewish Coalition donors in Las Vegas.
For our live updates from Thursday, September 5, 2024, click here.
