Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to fight any impending US sanction on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) amid a slump in bilateral ties following the Israeli military onslaught in the Gaza Strip.
President Joe Biden’s administration is expected to sanction a unit of IDF after a ProPublica investigation claimed that the State Department sat for months on evidence of serious human rights abuses.
The investigation published on Wednesday revealed that an internal State Department investigation had, months ago, identified several Israeli police and military units facing credible accusations of violating human rights, including allegations of torture.
It’s an investigation required by law, with the panel having been set up as part of the so-called “Leahy law”, which prohibits US funding from going to military or security units found to have committed atrocities.
This comes amid an Al Jazeera report of bodies being recovered from a mass grave inside the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza’s Khan Younis.
“In the hospital courtyard, civil defence members and paramedics have retrieved 180 bodies buried in this mass grave by the Israeli military. The bodies include elderly women, children and young men,” the outlet reported, quoting its reporter and Palestinian emergency services from Khan Younis.
Key Points
Show latest update
In video: Israeli protesters carry mock coffins in call to release Gaza hostages
Israeli protesters carry mock coffins in call to release Gaza hostages
Israeli protesters carried mock coffins in a call for the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. The protesters demanded that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government make a deal with Hamas to secure the release of the remaining hostages or else it should resign. On 7 October 2023, more than 250 Israelis were kidnapped into Gaza by Hamas in a surprise terror attack. The Israeli government believes that in the more than 200 days since then, only 100 are still alive with the remains of 30 others still thought to be held by militants.
Namita Singh22 April 2024 06:30
US expected to sanction IDF unit over alleged human rights abuses
A unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is expected to be sanctioned by the Biden administration this week after a ProPublica investigation claimed that the State Department sat for months on evidence of serious human rights abuses.
Namita Singh22 April 2024 06:15
Recap: Watch as Sunak calls for ‘calm heads’ to prevail after reports of Israel attack on Iran
Matt Mathers22 April 2024 06:00
Palestinian baby delivered after Israeli strike kills mother in Gaza
Sabreen Jouda came into the world seconds after her mother left it.
Sabreen’s father was killed. Her 4-year-old sister was killed. Her mother was killed.
But emergency responders learned that her mother, Sabreen al-Sakani, was 30 weeks pregnant. In a rush at the Kuwaiti hospital where the bodies were taken, medical workers performed an emergency cesarean section.
Namita Singh22 April 2024 05:30
What Israel’s suspected strike inside Iran tells us about Netanyahu
Namita Singh22 April 2024 05:10
Iraqi forces search for ‘outlaw elements’ firing missile in Syria
Iraqi security forces in the western Nineveh province area were searching for “outlaw elements” who fired missiles across the border into Syria late yesterday, targeting a base for US-led coalition forces, Iraq’s Security Media Cell said.
The searchers had found and destroyed a missile launcher, the statement added. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the reported attack.
Major General Tahseen al-Khafaji, head of the Security Media Cell, said about five missiles were launched across the border but it was unclear if they had hit or caused any damage at the targeted base.
The US officials did not comment on whether any US facility had been specifically targeted. One official said a coalition fighter destroyed a launcher in self-defence after reports of a failed rocket attack near a coalition base at Rumalyn, Syria.
No US personnel were injured, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that were not yet public.
Namita Singh22 April 2024 04:50
Satellite images reveal limited damage to Israeli airbase
Iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles that sought to overwhelm Israel’s air defences in the 13 April attack – the first on Israel by a foreign power since Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein launched Scud missiles at Israel in the 1991 Gulf War.
However, Israeli air defences and fighter jets, backed by the US, the UK and neighbouring Jordan, shot down the vast majority of the incoming fire.
Satellite images analysed by the Associated Press showed the Iranian attack caused only minor damage at the Nevatim air base in southern Israel, including taking a chunk out of a taxiway that Israel quickly repaired.
Iran’s attack came in response to a suspected Israeli strike on 1 April targeting a consular building next to the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria, which killed two Guard generals and others.
“Today, thanks to the work done by our armed forces, the Revolutionary Guard, the army, the police, each in its own way, praise be to Allah the image of the country around the world has become commendable,” said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, despite Iran facing public anger over its economy and crackdowns on dissent.
Namita Singh22 April 2024 04:28
Iran’s supreme leader tacitly acknowledges that Tehran hit little in its attack on Israel
Iran’s supreme leader yesterday dismissed any discussion of whether Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel hit anything there, a tacit acknowledgment that despite launching a major assault, few projectiles actually made it through to their targets.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments before senior military leaders didn’t touch on the apparent Israeli retaliatory strike on Friday on the central city of Isfahan, even though air defences opened fire and Iran grounded commercial flights across much of the country.
Mr Khamenei, 85, made the comments in a meeting attended by the top ranks of Iran’s regular military, police and paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a powerful force within its Shiite theocracy.
“Debates by the other party about how many missiles were fired, how many of them hit the target and how many didn’t, these are of secondary importance,” Khamenei said in remarks aired by state television.
“The main issue is the emergence of the Iranian nation and Iranian military’s will in an important international arena. This is what matters.”
Analysts believe both Iran and Israel, regional archrivals locked in a shadow war for years, are trying to dial back tensions following a series of escalatory attacks between them as the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip rages on and inflames the wider region.
Namita Singh22 April 2024 04:15
Recap: Watch as explosions heard and blast of light seen over Iran city in suspected Israel attack
Watch: Explosions seen over Iran city as Israel launches missile attack
Footage released from Iran shows flashes over the skies of Isfahan following reports of multiple explosions heard near the city of Isfahan. The footage released by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on their social media channel on Friday (19 April) shows flashes over the skies of Isfahan, following reports of explosions in the city. The Independent is unable to independently verify the content, date, and conditions under which this was filmed. Multiple explosions were heard near a military base in Isfahan, according to reports from Iranian semi-official FARS news.
Matt Mathers22 April 2024 04:00
Rockets fired from Iraq towards US military base in Syria, security sources say
At least five rockets were launched from Iraq’s town of Zummar towards a US military base in northeastern Syria yesterday, two Iraqi security sources and a US official told Reuters.
The attack against US forces is the first since early February when Iranian-backed groups in Iraq stopped their attacks against US troops.
It comes a day after Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani returned from a visit to the United States, where he met with president Joe Biden at the White House.
A post on a Telegram group affiliated with Kataib Hezbollah said armed factions in Iraq had decided to resume attacks after a near-three month pause after seeing little progress on talks to end the US-led military coalition in the country.
Another popular Telegram group close to Kataib Hezbollah, Sabreen News, later said there had been no official statement by the Iran-backed faction.
A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said more than five rockets were fired from Iraq towards troops at a coalition base in Rumalyn, Syria, but no US. personnel were injured.
Namita Singh22 April 2024 03:53