Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday that recognition of a Palestinian state is “in Europe’s geopolitical interests” while speaking with lawmakers in Madrid. Sanchez’s comment comes as Israeli strikes hit Gaza as Muslims marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan and a day after an interview aired in which US President Joe Biden labelled Israel’s approach to the war a “mistake”. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments on the Israel-Hamas war.
Summary:
- Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday told lawmakers in Madrid that recognition of Palestinian statehood is “in Europe’s geopolitical interests”.
- The Israeli army said early Wednesday it had carried out bombardments on positions of the Lebanese group Hezbollah in Syria in a bid to thwart its “entrenchment” in the country.
- US President Joe Biden said Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Gaza policy was a “mistake” and urged Israel to call for a ceasefire in an interview aired Tuesday.
- Hamas said Tuesday it was considering a new truce proposal as the latest round of negotiations in Cairo continued but said the plan did not meet any of its demands.
- At least 33,482 Palestinians have been killed and 76,049 wounded since Israel began its offensive on Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. Around 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
Israel threatens to strike Iran directly if Iran launches attack from its territory
Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz threatened Wednesday that his country’s forces would strike Iran directly if it launched an attack from its territory against Israel.
His comments came amid heightened tensions between the rival powers following the killings of Iranian generals in a strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria earlier this month.
“If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack in Iran,” Katz said in a post on X in both Farsi and Hebrew.
Earlier Wednesday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reiterated a promise to retaliate against Israel over the attack on its consulate in Damascus.
Tehran holds Israel responsible for the strike that levelled the building and killed 12 people. Israel has not acknowledged its involvement, though it has been bracing for an Iranian response to the attack.
an hour agoAt least 33,482 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed during the Israel-Hamas war, says health ministry
Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 33,482 Palestinians and wounded 76,049 since October 7, the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry said on Wednesday.
At least 122 Palestinians have been killed and 56 wounded in the past 24 hours, the ministry’s statement added.
an hour agoIsraeli strikes hit Gaza as Palestinian Muslims observe Eid al-Fitr holiday
Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Wednesday as Palestinian Muslims marked the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan amid the ruins of the territory, which has been devastated by more than six months of war since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks.
Gazans did their best to celebrate Eid al-Fitr in driving rain as the war raged on, with 14 killed, including children, in a strike on their home, the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry said.
The Israeli military said it struck several targets on the first day of the holiday, with a jet hitting a rocket launch site and troops killing a “terrorist cell” in close quarters fighting.
An AFP photographer witnessed the aftermath of the bombing of the home in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Family members clutched the bodies of dead children at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in nearby Deir el-Balah.
There was no immediate comment on the bombing from the Israeli army.
4 hours agoIsrael’s ‘disproportionate response’ in Gaza is a global threat, says Spain’s Sanchez
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned Wednesday that Israel’s “disproportionate response” in the Gaza war with Hamas risks “destabilising the Middle East, and as a consequence, the entire world”.
Sanchez also insisted that the recognition of a Palestinian state, long resisted by Israel and its key allies, is “in Europe’s geopolitical interests”.
Sanchez had already raised the subject of statehood during a visit last week to Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, when he indicated that Spain could recognise Palestine as a nation by the end of June.
“The international community cannot help the Palestinian state if it does not recognise its existence,” Sanchez told lawmakers in Madrid on Wednesday.
Since the start of the war in Gaza more than six months ago, the socialist premier has pushed for Europe to accord such recognition.
In late March, Sanchez signed a joint statement alongside his Irish, Maltese and Slovenian counterparts announcing they were ready “to recognise Palestine” if that could help bring about a resolution to the conflict.
Read more on FRANCE 24: In a divided Europe, Spain emerges as a champion of Palestinian statehood
6 hours agoIran’s Khamenei reiterates promise to retaliate against Israel over killings of generals
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reiterated on Wednesday a promise to retaliate against Israel over the killings of Iranian generals in Syria.
Khamenei spoke at a prayer ceremony celebrating the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, saying the air strike that demolished Iran’s consulate in Syria earlier this month was “wrongdoing” against a diplomatic post that is considered Iranian territory.
“When they attack our consulate section it looked like they attacked our territory,” Khamenei said. “The evil regime must be punished, and it will be punished.”
The strike killed 12 people: seven Iranian Revolutionary Guard members, four Syrians and a Hezbollah militia member. Israel has not acknowledged its involvement, though it has been bracing for an Iranian response to the attack that was a significant escalation in their long-running shadow war.
Iranian state TV broadcast Khamenei’s remarks live. He did not elaborate on the way Iran would retaliate.
Read more on FRANCE 24: The Israeli raid on Damascus, an ‘unprecedented’ escalation of tensions
8 hours agoAustralian foreign minister faces criticism after suggesting Australia could recognise a Palestinian state
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong is facing criticism after she raised the prospect of Australia recognising a Palestinian state.
Wong said in a speech late Tuesday that recognising Palestinian statehood could be the only way to end the cycle of violence in the Middle East and build momentum towards a two-state solution amid ongoing conflict between Palestinians and Israel. She said Wednesday she wasn’t changing Australia’s position, but was starting a conversation.
“We’ve made no such decision. The discussion I want to have is to look at what is happening in the international community where there is the very important debate about how it is we secure long-lasting peace in a region which has known so much conflict,” Wong told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Wong said Hamas must free hostages and that the militant group would have no place in a Palestinian state. She also said there needed to be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire so that aid could be delivered to Gaza. And she urged Israel not to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah because of the risk to civilians.
8 hours agoIsrael due to respond to Supreme Court petition on Gaza aid
Israel faces a Wednesday deadline to present to the country’s Supreme Court measures to increase aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, where hunger is continuing to spread after more than six months of war.
Five nonprofit groups have taken the state to court, accusing authorities of restricting the entry of relief items and failing to respect their “obligations as an occupying power” to provide basic necessities to Gazans.
Israel, which has been fighting militants in the Hamas-ruled territory since the October 7 attacks, has insisted it does not limit aid supplies and blames shortages on a lack of distribution by aid agencies and charities within Gaza.
“Contrary to Israel’s claims that there was no limit on entry of aid to Gaza, several policy choices are hindering” aid delivery, said Miriam Marmur, of rights group Gisha, one of the plaintiffs.
10 hours agoBiden says Netanyahu’s approach to war in Gaza is a ‘mistake’
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s approach to the war in Gaza is a “mistake”, US President Joe Biden said in an interview published on Tuesday, offering further criticism of Israel’s handling of the conflict.
“I think what he’s doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his approach,” Biden said in comments to Univision, a US Spanish-language TV network.
Biden has also previously called Israel’s bombing in Gaza “indiscriminate” and its military actions “over the top.”
The White House said last week that the president, in a call with Netanyahu, threatened to condition US support for Israel’s offensive on it taking concrete steps to protect aid workers and civilians. That call followed an Israeli air strike that killed seven staff members of the World Central Kitchen aid group.
“What I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country,” Biden said in the interview that aired Tuesday.
11 hours agoNetanyahu tells military recruits that Israel will eliminate Hamas, ‘including in Rafah’
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday told new military recruits that “we will compete the elimination of the Hamas battalions, including in Rafah. There’s no force in the world that will stop us”.
Click on the video to watch the full report.
11 hours agoUS military says it destroyed Houthi missile likely fired at ship in Gulf of Aden
The US military says that it has destroyed an inbound anti-ship ballistic missile over the Gulf of Aden that was launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels and likely targeting the MV Yorktown.
US Central Command said on X that there were no injuries or damage reported to US, coalition or commercial ships in the incident.
11 hours agoBlinken says Israel hasn’t told US of any specific date for Rafah ground invasion
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said Israel has not apprised the US of any specific date for the start of a major offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but added that American and Israeli officials remained in contact to try to ensure that “any kind of major military operation doesn’t do real harm to civilians”.
Blinken spoke a day after Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed that a date had been set to invade Rafah. The US, Israel’s closest ally, says a ground operation into the southern Gaza city, where more than 1 million people are seeking refuge, would be a mistake and has demanded to see a credible plan to protect civilians.
Yesterday’s key developments
- Israel will complete the elimination of Hamas’s brigades, including in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and nothing will prevent it, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said.
- The Israeli army said that 468 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza Tuesday, the highest number in a single day since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7.
- US Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power acknowledged that humanitarian aid into Gaza had risen sharply in the past few days, and said the higher level of aid should be sustained and increased further.
- Turkey announced restrictions on exports to Israel until a ceasefire in Gaza, Ankara’s first significant measure against Israel after six months of war. Israel said it would respond with its own restrictions on products from Turkey.
- An in-person meeting of Israeli and US officials on the planned operation in the Gaza city of Rafah will take place in a couple of weeks, the White House said.
About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.
The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN’s counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
Issued on: Modified:
Sources from: FRANCE24.COM
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