21 countries denounce Israel’s West Bank settlement plan
A major Israeli plan for building 3,400 housing units in the occupied West Bank — seen as slicing the territory in two — has been condemned as “unacceptable” and a “violation of international law” in a joint statement by 21 countries, including the UK and France, according to AFP.
Foreign ministers from these nations demanded the plan be “immediately canceled.”
They warned that the construction "compromises our shared commitment to peace and prosperity in the Middle East," and the criticism also came from Canada, Spain, and Italy. The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, was among the signatories.
The group also called on Israel to halt settlement construction and lift financial restrictions on the Palestinian Authority.
That wraps up today’s live coverage — see you tomorrow morning!
21 countries denounce Israel’s West Bank settlement plan
A major Israeli plan for building 3,400 housing units in the occupied West Bank — seen as slicing the territory in two — has been condemned as “unacceptable” and a “violation of international law” in a joint statement by 21 countries, including the UK and France, according to AFP.
Foreign ministers from these nations demanded the plan be “immediately canceled.”
They warned that the construction "compromises our shared commitment to peace and prosperity in the Middle East," and the criticism also came from Canada, Spain, and Italy. The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, was among the signatories.
The group also called on Israel to halt settlement construction and lift financial restrictions on the Palestinian Authority.
In the evening, an Israeli drone dropped a sound bomb on the town of Maroun al-Ras (Bint Jbeil district), according to our correspondent in the South.
Qatar-funded Hamad Hospital in Gaza says it has received the bodies of three people killed and treated 91 others who were wounded while attempting to access humanitarian aid in the northern Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reports.
According to the hospital, Israeli forces opened fire on the group, marking a new escalation in the ongoing assault on civilians and aid distribution points.
Netanyahu orders immediate hostage negotiations alongside Gaza City offensive
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in a video address, as reported by Haaretz, that he had approved military plans “to take control of Gaza City in order to defeat Hamas.”
“At the same time, I instructed the immediate start of negotiations to secure the release of all our hostages and to end the war under conditions acceptable to Israel,” he added.
“These two objectives — defeating Hamas and freeing our hostages — go hand in hand,” the left-leaning Israeli daily quoted him as saying.
Gaza Health Ministry rejects Israeli call to evacuate hospitals southward
Gaza’s Health Ministry, under Hamas control, said Thursday it had rejected Israeli military demands to evacuate hospitals in Gaza City to the south of the Strip, ahead of a potential ground assault.
In a statement, the ministry said it “rejects any measure that would further weaken what remains of the healthcare system after its systematic destruction” by Israeli forces. The comments came in response to Israeli requests to shift medical services and resources from the Gaza governorate to southern areas.
“Such a move would deprive over a million people of their right to medical care and place the lives of residents, patients, and the wounded in immediate danger,” the ministry added, calling on international and U.N. bodies to step in and protect the remnants of the health system.
US envoy Tom Barrack welcomes start of disarmament in Palestinian camps
Tom Barrack congratulated the Lebanese government and the Palestinian movement Fateh on X .
His comments followed Thursday’s announcement by a Lebanese-Palestinian committee that the disarmament process had begun, based on an agreement reached in May.
(Credit: Photo provided by our correspondent Muntasser Abdallah.)
An Israeli drone dropped suspicious objects on an excavator working for the South Council, which is tasked with clearing debris in the village of Meis al-Jabal, in the Marjeyoun district, our correspondent in the South reports.
The objects, described as plastic gloves filled with a red liquid resembling blood, exploded upon impact.
Disarmament of Palestinian camps in Lebanon: Nawaf Salam ‘welcomes the launch of the process’
“I welcome the launch of the process to hand over Palestinian weapons, which began today in the Burj al-Barajneh camp in Beirut, where an initial batch of arms was handed over and placed under the custody of the Lebanese Army,” Salam wrote on X.
“This operation will continue in the coming weeks with further handovers from Burj al-Barajneh and other camps,” he added.
Gaza: Civil Defense reports 48 killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire
Gaza’s Civil Defense reported at least 48 people were killed Thursday by Israeli airstrikes and shelling across the Palestinian territory — including 26 in Gaza City and its surroundings, which the Israeli army is preparing to storm.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army — which regularly disputes casualty figures from Gaza’s Civil Defense — had not commented as of Thursday evening.
Ten people were reportedly killed in airstrikes on the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, according to Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal.
That neighborhood, along with adjacent Zeitoun, has been heavily bombarded by the Israeli army in recent days. The military was tasked by the government in early August with taking full control of Gaza City, a densely populated urban area seen as one of Hamas’s last strongholds in the Palestinian enclave.
Gaza’s Media Office says, over 9,000 civilians killed in 'Gideon’s Chariot' offensive since May
Israel’s “Gideon’s Chariot” ground operation, launched in May, has resulted in the deaths of 9,073 unarmed civilians and 36,900 wounded, according to a statement from Gaza’s Government Media Office published on Telegram and cited by Al Jazeera.
The office said the toll includes 2,358 children, 1,088 women, and 455 elderly people. The remaining victims were described as men “shot in cold blood” while seeking humanitarian aid at GHF aid distribution points or during the arrival of aid convoys into Gaza.
“We demand that the international community take serious and effective action to stop these massacres committed by the occupation and hold it accountable, in accordance with the provisions of international humanitarian law,” the statement concluded.
Gaza: Israeli army warns hospitals and NGOs to prepare to evacuate northern Gaza
The Israeli army called on hospitals and international organizations operating in northern Gaza to prepare to evacuate to the south ahead of a planned offensive to take control of Gaza City and its surroundings, according to a statement.
“As part of preparations (...) for the safety of the population, officers (...) made initial warning calls two days ago [Tuesday] to medical officials and international organizations in the northern Gaza Strip to prepare for the evacuation of the population to the south,” the army statement said, as quoted by AFP.
The man killed in Deir Siryan was a member of Hezbollah's al-Radwan unit, according to the Israeli army
The Israeli army claimed to have killed a member of Hezbollah's elite “al-Radwan” unit in its strike on Deir Siryan in southern Lebanon this morning. According to a message posted on his X account, Arabic-speaking army spokesman Avichay Adraee said that the man killed “was operating in the Deir Siryan area.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross considers the intensification of hostilities in the Gaza Strip to be “intolerable,” its spokesperson said Thursday.
“The intensification of hostilities in Gaza means more deaths, more displacement, more destruction, and more panic,” said Christian Cardon, spokesperson for the Geneva-based organization, in a message to AFP.
“Gaza is a closed space from which no one can escape... and where access to healthcare, food, and drinking water is dwindling,” he emphasized, noting also that “meanwhile, the safety of humanitarian workers is deteriorating by the hour.”
Israel is ramping up its already incessant military attacks on Gaza, after it had blocked the entry of all humanitarian aid into the enclave for months.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced that an Israeli citizen imprisoned in Lebanon has been repatriated following negotiations conducted in collaboration with the Red Cross.
According to Haaretz, citing Netanyahu's office, the released Israeli citizen had been detained in Lebanon “for a year.”
Iran launched its first military exercise since the end of its 12-day war with Israel in June, the Associated Press reported citing the Iranian state television.
According to the report, navy vessels launched missiles at targets at sea in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean as part of the "Sustainable Power 1404" exercise. The vessels would also fire cruise missiles at targets and use drones over the open water.
Iran’s navy, estimated to have some 18,000 personnel, apparently avoided any major attack during the June war.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said two Palestinians were killed by “famine and malnutrition in the past 24 hours,” brought on by Israel's blockade on humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, according to Al Jazeera.
The latest count brings the total number of hunger-related deaths in the enclave over the course of Israel’s war on Gaza to 271, including 112 children.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health confirmed that one person was killed in the Israeli drone strike on Deir Siryan.
Washington sanctions four ICC judges
The United States’ decision to impose sanctions on four judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), announced Tuesday by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on grounds of the court’s alleged “politicization,” has sparked widespread controversy and criticism, particularly from France. Israel, however, welcomed the move.
The sanctions target Canadian judge Kimberly Prost; French judge Nicolas Guillou, who is involved in the case concerning an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and two deputy prosecutors, Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal. They were sanctioned for “directly participating in the ICC’s efforts to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute U.S. or Israeli nationals without the consent of either country,” Rubio said in a statement.
Hamas: Gaza offensive plan shows Israel’s “flagrant disregard” for mediation efforts
Hamas said Wednesday that Israel’s plan to conquer Gaza City, for which the government recalled 60,000 reservists, demonstrates Israel’s “flagrant disregard” for cease-fire mediation efforts.
The group added that while it had agreed to the latest proposal put forward by mediators, Israel “insists on continuing its barbaric war.” By failing to respond to the proposal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “shows he is the real obstacle to any agreement, that he does not care about the lives of [Israeli hostages] and that he has no serious intention of recovering them,” the statement read.
South Lebanon: Israeli overnight strikes on Hosh, Ansar and Deir al-Zahrani
Overnight, the Israeli army carried out several strikes on southern Lebanon, including the outskirts of Ansar (Nabatieh) at around 10:30 p.m. According to L'Orient Today's south Lebanon correspondent, the attacks were carried out with ground-to-ground missiles fired from Israeli territory — the first time these weapons have been used since the Nov. 27, 2024, cease-fire.
Another strike with the same type of projectile later targeted the “al-Ras” area in Deir al-Zahrani (Nabatieh). Residents reported seeing the missiles in the sky.
Earlier, an Israeli airstrike on Hosh (Sour) injured seven people. The targeted apartment had already been struck previously.
Also during the night, automatic gunfire was launched from the Rweissat al-Alam site on the disputed Kfar Shuba hills toward the village of Kfar Shuba (Hasbaya) in the eastern sector of the border.
The Israeli army later said it had struck “infrastructure, weapons depots and a rocket launcher” in southern Lebanon, without specifying locations or the type of munitions used.
South Lebanon: An Israeli drone strike near a construction vehicle in Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil).
South Lebanon: One killed in Israeli drone strike on motorcycle in Deir Siriane
Around 7 a.m., an Israeli drone targeted a scooter in Deir Siryan, in Marjayoun district, killing its driver, our correspondent in southern Lebanon reported. Israeli drones continued to fly over the area after the strike.
According to local information, the victim was identified as Salim Salman al-Khatib. Two of his brothers were previously killed in Israeli attacks.
Good morning, thank you for joining us for today's live coverage of the Gaza war, the fragile cease-fire in Lebanon and the developments in the region.
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