Israel bombs southern Lebanon

The Israeli military said its fighter jets and helicopters attacked Hezbollah’s buildings and a rocket launcher in the areas of Kfar Kila, Taybeh, Hanine and Yarin in southern Lebanon. The assaults took place overnight.

The military added that its fighter jets attacked another Hezbollah structure in Khirbet Selm, also in southern Lebanon on Sunday.

Drone hits building in Israeli city of Nahariya

A drone launched from Lebanon has struck a high-rise building in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya. The Israeli military said there were no injuries, adding that a second drone entered Israeli airspace, but did not elaborate.

Images showed the blacked-out side of the building and scattered drone parts around the scene, with one video purporting to capture the drone as it was flying over the area.

Sirens sounded in communities across the coastal area, including in Shlomi and Lehman.

Israeli legislator says Beirut’s Dahiyeh ‘will look like Gaza’

Nissim Vaturi, an Israeli legislator from Netanyahu’s Likud party, has said that “it’s a matter of days” before Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah develops into a full-on war.

Speaking to Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, Vaturi laid out his plan for the war, calling for preemptive aerial bombardment lasting for up to five days followed by a ground invasion.

The legislator, who is also a member of Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, claimed that Netanyahu shared his views. “Dahiyeh will look like Gaza, there is no other way,” he added, referring to the southern suburb of Beirut.

If Israel does attack Dahiyeh, it would not be the first time. The Israeli army levelled entire neighbourhoods there in 2006 during the last war with Hezbollah. The suburb is home to hundreds of thousands of people, including many supporters of Hezbollah from southern Lebanon.

Vaturi’s comments come as Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Al Jazeera that Israel has conveyed through mediators that it is not interested in reaching a ceasefire with Lebanon, even if a deal is made to end the war in Gaza.

Israeli opposition leader says military focus needs to shift to Lebanon

Benny Gantz, the head of Israel’s National Unity Alliance, said the Israeli military had crossed a “decisive point” in Gaza and “should concentrate” on its northern border with Lebanon.

“The story of Hamas is old news,” Gantz said, speaking at an event in Washington, DC, according to the AFP news agency. “The story of Iran and its proxies all around the area and what they are trying to do is the real issue.”

Gantz, who quit IsraeI’s war cabinet in June and is Netanyahu’s main political rival, has said the Israeli prime minister is the main obstacle to reaching a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Lebanon’s PM to hold ’emergency’ meeting with Western diplomats on Israel

Lebanon’s caretaker PM Najib Mikati has invited Western diplomats for an “emergency meeting” at the government palace to discuss Israel’s ongoing “violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty and aggressions”.

Mikati called for the meeting after three civil defence volunteers were killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese town of Froun on Friday.

Mikati said the aim of the meeting is “to hold everyone accountable for stopping the ongoing Israeli aggression against Lebanon and to pressure the Israeli enemy, which ignores any law and continues to fuel its crimes against Lebanon and the Lebanese people”.

Russian Jewish activist raises awareness over Israeli attacks in occupied West Bank

Journalist Andrey X moved to Israel thinking he was escaping oppression in his home country of Russia, but has since become an activist against the Israeli occupation in the West Bank.

“Palestinians who are openly doing activism are targeted by both [the Israeli army] and by the settlers,” the journalist told Al Jazeera. “When activists show up with a camera, often times [the settlers] just leave.”

Journalist and West Bank-based activist @the_andrey_x spoke with us about the intense settler violence in the occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/3ZCNZnogaA

— AJ+ (@ajplus) September 9, 2024

Palestinians bid farewell to Aysenur Ezgi Eygi

Mourners have paid their respects to Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, an American-Turkish activist killed by Israeli forces on Friday at a demonstration in the occupied West Bank.

The 26-year-old was taking part in a protest against illegal Israeli settlements on Mount Sbeih in Beita, south of Nablus, on Friday when she was shot.

US expects ‘thorough, transparent’ probe into killing of US-Turkish activist

The United States understands Israel is looking into how Turkish-American citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was killed last week in the occupied West Bank, US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said.

“We expect that process to be thorough, transparent,” Patel said.

Twenty-six-year-old Eygi was taking part in the protest against illegal Israeli settlements on Mount Sbeih in Beita, south of Nablus, on Friday when she was shot.

The governor of Nablus in the occupied West Bank as well as eyewitnesses say she was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper.

Why would Israel? Biden couldn't go through with sanctions against the Netzah Yehuda battalion, responsible for the killing of Omar Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian American, who died in January 2022 after he was detained by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint. No justice was served.

With decades of IDF crimes being white washed by Israel's 'court system', why would the US expect a thorough, transparent probe...

Jordan says King Hussein (Allenby) border crossing to open tomorrow

A spokesman for Jordan’s Public Security Directorate has said that the crossing – also known as Allenby Bridge – will open tomorrow for travellers at 8am local time (05:00 GMT), according to state media.

The spokesman said that commercial trucks will not be permitted to use the crossing for the third consecutive day. The crossing into the occupied West Bank has been closed since Sunday, when an armed man killed three Israeli border guards at the site.

Israeli forces detain at least 12 Palestinians in West Bank overnight

According to a joint statement by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Commission of Detainees Affairs, this number includes one female journalist and several former prisoners.

The detentions occurred during Israeli military raids on Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem, Qalqilya and occupied East Jerusalem, the organisations said.

They added that 20 people were placed under administrative detention – with no trial or evidence of wrongdoing presented. This includes three women from Hebron, two of whom are students.

Israeli forces target Palestinians near Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank

Israeli forces opened live gunfire, targeting the homes of Palestinian citizens in the town of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, citing local sources.

Israeli forces fired live ammunition at houses, as well as light bombs in the area, the agency reported. No injuries were reported.

Elsewhere, in Bethlehem’s village of Husan, Israeli forces seized the rooftop of a house and turned it into a military observation point, Wafa said.

Israel to seize more occupied West Bank land, says local official

Israel has delivered notice of their intention to seize land from the Palestinian villages of Asira al-Qibliya, Burin and Madama, south of Nablus, reports Wafa news agency.

Wafa quoted the head of the Madama village council, Abdullah Ziada, who said that Israeli forces delivered a notice for the appropriation of around 18 dunums (about 18,000 square meters) of land belonging to Palestinians under the pretext of using it for military purposes.

Ziada added that the lands threatened with seizure are located close to the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar.

In July, Israeli authorities green-lighted the largest West Bank land seizure in more than three decades.

Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog group, says that this year is by far the peak year for Israeli land seizures in the occupied West Bank.

Israel’s occupation has ‘catastrophic impact’ on Palestinian generation

Samah Jabr, head of the mental health unit in the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health, has spoken to Al Jazeera about the “catastrophic impact” of Israel’s occupation in both Gaza and the West Bank.

“The traumatic events created by military violence are affecting every Palestinian, and younger minds are more prone to be affected. We see that among children and young people,” she said, speaking from occupied East Jerusalem.

Jabr added that children in the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip are being prevented from attending schools, which are not only meant to be safe places, but also places for cognitive and social stimulation, which “will impact the future of this generation”.

She also said that as soon as a ceasefire is put into place in Gaza, the health and education systems should take priority because “they will create the foundation for a rehabilitation for the Palestinian community affected by war and violence”.

Israel’s onslaught on Gaza students’ education is a crime: Hamas

The group has issued a statement saying that this crime “will not break our people’s will, or erase their identity or take away their national rights”.

On its official Telegram channel, Hamas said the denial of 630,000 students of their right to education is a “deliberate violation to all rights stipulated by international laws, which leaves the international community and UN agencies responsible to put an end to these crimes”.

With the start of the school year in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, without the Gaza Strip, Hamas reiterated: “The Israeli war against schools and educational workers and facilities will not succeed in erasing our children’s Palestinian identity. These crimes will only be met with more perseverance by our people.”

Israel operations worsening ‘calamitous’ West Bank situation: UN’s Turk

Major Israeli raids across the occupied West Bank are worsening an already “calamitous” situation that has been deepened by settler violence, the UN rights chief has said.

Opening a session of the global body’s Human Rights Council in Geneva, Volker Turk decried soaring violence in the West Bank amid major Israeli operations.

“In the West Bank, deadly and destructive operations, some at a scale not witnessed in the last two decades, are worsening a calamitous situation there, already aggravated by serious settler violence,” Turk told the council.

Israel’s military on August 28 launched simultaneous raids across several cities and refugee camps in the northern West Bank, killing at least 36 Palestinians, according to health officials.

Turk also highlighted that nearly 10,000 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons or military facilities, “many arbitrarily”, and said that more than 50 have died “due to inhumane conditions and ill-treatment”.

He also stressed that “ending that war and averting a full-blown regional conflict is an absolute and urgent priority”.

Palestinian UN proposal demands Israel leave Gaza in six months

Palestine has circulated a draft United Nations resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the West Bank within six months.

The Associated Presss obtained the proposed UN General Assembly resolution. It follows a July ruling by the top United Nations court that said Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end.

The Palestinian draft resolution, if adopted, would not be legally binding. It demands that Israel comply with international law, including by immediately withdrawing all military forces from the territories.

The draft resolution not only demands an end to all new settlement activity, but also the evacuation of all settlers and the dismantling of the separation barrier Israel constructed in the West Bank.

It also calls for all Palestinians displaced during Israel’s occupation to be allowed “to return to their original place of residence” and for Israel to make reparations “for the damage caused” to all people in the territories.

Palestine, regional orgs urge UN to revisit ICJ probe

The Arab Group, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the Non-Aligned Movement delivered a letter to the UN to follow up on the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding Israel’s presence in Palestine, Palestinian authorities said.

The groups are calling for the resumption of a special session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to address the matter, Palestine’s mission to the UN said in a post on X.

In July, the court ruled that Israel’s presence in Palestinian territory is illegal, effectively calling for an end to Israel’s occupation.

Today, the Arab Group, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the Non-Aligned Movement delivered a letter to the President of the General Assembly, requesting the resumption of the 10th Emergency Special Session of the GA to follow up on the advisory opinion of the ICJ… pic.twitter.com/8Xvrn72XBc

— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) September 9, 2024

‘Never seen such a level of death and destruction as we are seeing in Gaza’: UN chief

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said in an interview with the AP news agency that the United Nations has offered to monitor any ceasefire in Gaza and demanded an end to what he termed as the worst death and destruction he has seen during his tenure.

Guterres said it is “unrealistic” to think the UN could play a role in Gaza’s future, either by administering the territory or providing a peacekeeping force, because Israel is unlikely to accept that.

But, he said, “the UN will be available to support any ceasefire”.

“The level of suffering we are witnessing in Gaza is unprecedented in my mandate as secretary-general of the United Nations. I’ve never seen such a level of death and destruction as we are seeing in Gaza in the last few months.”

The war has so far killed more than 40,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Israeli mistreatment of Palestinian detainees could amount to ‘sexualized torture’: UN representative

The United Nations’ special representative of the secretary-general on sexual violence in conflict Pramila Patten has said that “disturbing reports of sexual violence and other inhuman and degrading treatment” being perpetrated against Palestinian prisoners “could amount to sexualized torture”.

In a statement, the UN representative said Palestinian men and women are reportedly being subject to “widespread sexual slurs and threats of rape and gang rape, repeated and humiliating strip searches and prolonged forced nudity, beatings and electrocution of genitals and anus, insertion of objects into detainees’ anuses, inappropriate touching of women by both male and female soldiers, and photographing or filming of naked or partially undressed detainees in humiliating positions.”

Special Representative Patten recalled the reported recent case of the Palestinian male detainee who was hospitalised in July with severe injuries including to his rectum, due to sexual violence allegedly perpetrated in the Sde Teiman military base.

“I am particularly concerned about recent attempts by some Israeli political actors, to interfere with ongoing justice processes and/or to justify the use of these methods. Sexual violence and sexualized torture in detention settings must never be normalised,” she said.

Israeli army pressing on with northern Gaza attacks

There is a clear concentration around the north of the Gaza Strip.

One of the latest barrages of strikes hit a residential house in Jabalia, killing six Palestinians, including a woman and two children. The attack left behind a swathe of destruction, with Civil Defence workers trying to recover victims under the rubble.

We have also been hearing from witnesses in the north of the Strip that they have been getting new evacuation orders – but they are saying that they have no other places to go to and they are just moving between neighbourhoods.

Israeli army says UN convoy detained in Gaza

The army says in a brief statement that it has detained a United Nations convoy in northern Gaza, claiming it has intelligence that a “number of Palestinian suspects are present” in it.

The army detained the convoy in order to “question the suspects”, it said, adding that this is not a convoy containing polio vaccines. “The event is not over yet,” the statement concludes.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that the organisation is aware “of an ongoing incident involving UN personnel and vehicles” and was working to establish the facts. He said the top UN priority “is the safety and security of our colleagues” in the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s attack on Syria will be framed as attack on Iranian asset

Israel’s attack on Syria late last night, which killed at least 18 people, will be framed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an attack on an Iranian asset there, according to an analyst who spoke to Al Jazeera.

Countering Iran’s influence in the region is a long-term battle for the Israeli leader, one which extends beyond Hezbollah in Lebanon, said HA Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The international community, meanwhile, is too distracted by bringing about a ceasefire in Gaza and ceasing hostilities along Lebanon’s border to react much to the strike in Syria, despite Israel ramping up its aggression in all parts of the region, Hellyer added

“[Netanyahu’s government] seems to think that the continuation of hostilities and escalation is likely to bring about more benefits for them than de-escalation and … diminishing of hostilities.”

US not probing killing of its citizen Aysenur Eygi in West Bank: Officials

Officials in the United States have said that Washington still does not “know with full certainty what transpired” when a US citizen was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank last week, stressing that they were waiting for the findings of an Israeli investigation.

The US on Monday also appeared to reject calls for an independent investigation into the fatal shooting of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel declined to acknowledge that an Israeli soldier killed Eygi, but he called for the process to “play out and for the facts to be gathered”.

He also urged Israel to “quickly and robustly conduct” its probe and make the findings public but confirmed the administration is not planning to independently investigate the killing – as Eygi’s family requested.

Israel asks US Congress to urge South Africa to drop ICJ genocide case: Report

Israel is lobbying members of the US Congress to press South Africa to drop its legal proceedings in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the war in Gaza, according to an Israeli Foreign Ministry cable obtained by US news outlet Axios.

“We are asking you to immediately work with lawmakers on the federal and state level, with governors and Jewish organisations to put pressure on South Africa to change its policy towards Israel and to make clear that continuing their current actions like supporting Hamas and pushing anti-Israeli moves in international courts will come with a heavy price,” the cable reads, according to Axios.

The Israeli diplomats were urged to ask Congress members to issue public statements condemning South Africa’s actions against Israel, the outlet said.

South Africa has until October 28 to give the court its arguments for continuing the case against Israel over alleged violations of the Genocide Convention throughout the war in Gaza. It first filed the case in December 2023.

Following that, the court held several hearings and issued provisional orders, most recently in May when it called on Israel to stop its military operation in Rafah.

The United States of Israel against the world...

How does that even work when a dozen other countries have already requested to join
https://unric.org/en/south-africa-vs-israel-12-other-countries-intend-to-join-the-icj-case/

EU’s Borrell visits ‘warehouses full of aid’ blocked by Israeli authorities

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says he saw “endless queues of trucks with goods trying to enter Gaza” on a visit to the Egyptian side of Rafah crossing today.

“I heard the frustration of Red Crescent volunteers managing warehouses full of humanitarian aid blocked by Israeli authorities,” Borrell said in a post on X, noting the banned items included medical equipment, tents and sleeping bags.

“This dramatic situation has to be solved by political means,” Borrell added, renewing calls for a ceasefire and the “release of all the hostages”.