Israel rebuffs calls for ceasefire; Lebanon strike angers Hezbollah - The Straits Times

GAZA/RAMALLAH - Israel on Sunday rebuffed growing international pressure for a ceasefire and said its forces had encircled Gaza City, as the top US diplomat scrambled to contain a crisis that threatened to cause further escalation in neighbouring Lebanon.

Gaza was under “unprecedented bombardment” from Israel on Sunday, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, while Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel said that all communications and Internet services had again been cut.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas joined international calls for an immediate ceasefire at a meeting with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was making an unannounced visit to the occupied West Bank.

After Mr Blinken repeated US concerns that a ceasefire could aid Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled that out unless hostages held by Hamas were released.

“There will be no ceasefire without the return of the hostages. This should be completely removed from the lexicon,” Mr Netanyahu said.

Mr Blinken arrived in Ankara late on Sunday for further talks on the Gaza conflict with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday.

Hours earlier at a pro-Palestinian rally in southern Turkey, police used tear gas and water cannon on hundreds of people who tried to storm an airbase that houses US troops.

Gaza City surrounded

A military spokesman said Israeli forces had surrounded the main city in Gaza.

“They reached the coast in the southern part of Gaza City and they encircled Gaza City,” he said.

Tensions increased with Lebanon as an Israeli strike on a car in the south of the country killed three children and their grandmother, the Lebanese authorities said.

Israel’s chief military spokesman said the military had attacked “terrorist targets of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon” in response to a missile attack against tanks that killed an Israeli citizen.

He added that a Hezbollah drone was shot down.

Hezbollah said it responded by firing rockets at the town of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel. The group said it would never tolerate attacks on civilians and its response would be “firm and strong”.

Sirens sounded across central Israel, and Israeli media reported that rockets had struck areas in and around Tel Aviv. No casualties were reported.

Health officials in Hamas-controlled Gaza said more than 9,770 Palestinians have been killed in the war, which began when Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct 7, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 240 hostages.

Israel said 31 of its soldiers have been killed so far.

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2023-11-05 22:47:00Z
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Abbas presses Blinken to push for Gaza ceasefire as refugee camp is struck overnight - The Straits Times

RAMALLAH, Palestinian territories - US top diplomat Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to the occupied West Bank on Sunday.

He met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who urged him to persuade Israel to agree to a ceasefire, as the death toll in Gaza continues to climb.

A Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson said earlier on Sunday that the Israeli military had struck the Maghazi refugee camp overnight, killing at least 47 people.

In a separate attack, 21 Palestinians from one family, including women and children, were killed in Israeli strikes targeting Gaza overnight, the Health Ministry added.

“We demand that you stop them from committing these crimes immediately,” Mr Abbas told Mr Blinken, demanding an “immediate ceasefire” from Israel.

“There are no words to describe the war of genocide and destruction... (that) our Palestinian people are being subjected (to) in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli war machine, without regard to the rules of international law,” Palestinian news agency Wafa quoted Mr Abbas as telling Mr Blinken.

Foreign ministers from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates met Mr Blinken in Amman on Saturday. They also pushed for Washington to convince Israel to agree to a ceasefire. But Mr Blinken argued that a ceasefire would only allow Hamas to regroup.

He is instead trying to convince Israel to agree to location-specific pauses that would allow much-needed aid to be distributed within Gaza.

“The secretary reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance and resumption of essential services in Gaza, and made clear that Palestinians must not be forcibly displaced,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Mr Abbas has had little sway in Gaza since the Hamas takeover of the enclave in 2007.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas, not civilians, and that the Palestinian group is using residents as human shields.

Gaza health officials said on Sunday that more than 9,770 Palestinians have been killed in the war.

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2023-11-05 10:24:17Z
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China's Li Vows to Boost Imports, Widen Foreign Market Access - Bloomberg

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1. China's Li Vows to Boost Imports, Widen Foreign Market Access  Bloomberg
2. CIIE 2023: Li Qiang promotes Chinese consumers as fix for global economy  South China Morning Post
3. China pledges to expand market access at annual trade fair amid foreign criticism  The Straits Times
4. China will further expand market access, Premier Li says  Nikkei Asia
5. China Premier Li seeks to bolster his country's economic outlook at the Shanghai export fair  The Washington Post
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2023-11-05 09:45:00Z
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Blinken rebuffs Arab states' push for immediate Gaza ceasefire - The Straits Times

GAZA/AMMAN -  Arab leaders publicly pressed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday to secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, hours after Palestinians said an Israeli air strike killed at least 15 people in a United Nations-run school being used as a shelter.

In a rare open display of disagreement, the United States’ top diplomat pushed back as he stood next to his Jordanian and Egyptian counterparts at a press conference, saying a ceasefire would only let Hamas militants regroup.

World and regional powers have failed to reach any consensus on how to deal with the escalating conflict in the four weeks since Israel and Hamas went to war on Oct 7, when the Islamist militant Palestinian group raided Israel from Gaza, in a rampage Israel says killed 1,400 people, with more than 240 others taken hostage.

Israel has since struck Gaza from the air, imposed a siege and launched a ground assault, stirring global alarm at humanitarian conditions in the enclave, Gaza health officials said on Saturday, killing more than 9,488 Palestinians.

Mr Blinken met the Saudi, Qatari, Emirati, Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers in Amman. “Right now we have to make sure that this war stops,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told the press conference afterwards.

Mr Blinken said all were agreed on the need for peace and that the current status quo in Gaza could not hold, but he acknowledged there were differences between Washington and its allies.

“A ceasefire now would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct 7,” said Mr Blinken, who was on his second trip to the region since Israel and Hamas went to war.

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2023-11-04 18:07:12Z
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US reaffirms support for 'humanitarian pauses' in Gaza as Israeli strikes continue - The Straits Times

GAZA/AMMAN, Jordan – Washington’s top diplomat on Saturday heard Arab demands for a ceasefire, as Gaza health officials reported that at least 32 people were killed in three separate Israeli air strikes on an ambulance, hospital and a school serving as a refugee shelter.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed US support for “humanitarian pauses” in fighting between Israel and Hamas to ensure those in the besieged Gaza Strip get help.

“We believe pauses can be a critical mechanism for protecting civilians, for getting aid in, getting foreign nationals out while still enabling Israel to achieve its objectives to defeat Hamas,” he said.

Mr Blinken met the Saudi, Qatari, Emirati and Egyptian foreign ministers, as well as Palestinian representatives in Amman, Jordan.

He said at a news conference after the meeting that about 100 trucks were moving through the border passing in Rafah in southern Gaza, “but that is not nearly enough”.

Mr Blinken said he also discussed with the Arab leaders ongoing efforts to release hostages in Gaza.

Qatari Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, told Mr Blinken efforts to mediate the release of hostages held by Hamas were complicated by the continued bombardment of the enclave Gaza.

The depth of feeling among the Arab nations was evident in the news conference. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza without conditions, while Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi bluntly told Mr Blinken: “Stop this madness.”

Witnesses said an Israeli strike hit Al-Fakhoura school in Jabalia refugee camp, killing and wounding many of the evacuees who had taken shelter there.

At least 15 people died and dozens more were wounded, the head of Al Shifa Hospital, Mr Mohammad Abu Selmeyah, said of the school incident.

Reuters pictures of the aftermath showed broken furniture and other belongings lying on the ground, patches of blood and people crying.

“People were preparing breakfast when suddenly bombing started. I found my two girls, one of them was martyred, and her head was hit, the second was wounded in her leg… the other girl as well was wounded with shrapnel,” one man said in video footage obtained by Reuters.

Nearby, a resident comforted a woman in shock.

One man asked angrily: “Since when has it become normal to strike shelters? This is so unfair.”

Ms Juliette Touma, director of communications for the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, confirmed to Reuters that the UN-run school, which is in the Gaza City area, had been hit.

She said there were children among the casualties, but that UNRWA had not yet been able to verify the exact death toll.

“At least one strike hit the schoolyard where there were tents for displaced families. Another strike hit inside the school where women were baking bread,” Ms Touma said by phone.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said another Israeli missile strike killed two women at the door of the Nasser Children Hospital. Several more people were injured, it added.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on either reported strike, and Reuters was not immediately able to verify any more details.

Hours earlier, Gaza health officials said 15 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on an ambulance on Friday evening that was part of a convoy carrying injured Palestinians at Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al Shifa.

“Upon their arrival at Al Shifa, (Israel) directly targeted the convoy’s second vehicle, committing a terrible massacre that claimed the lives of 15 and wounding more than 60,” Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said.

Israel’s military said it identified and hit an ambulance “being used by a Hamas terrorist cell”, and that a number of Hamas fighters were killed.

“We emphasise that this area is a battle zone. Civilians in the area are repeatedly called upon to evacuate southwards for their own safety,” the military said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry challenged Israel to provide proof the ambulance was carrying militants. Israel said it intended to release additional information.

“The occupation conducted an ugly massacre in which… 15 people were martyred, and 60 other people were wounded, including a number of the displaced,” Mr Al-Qidra said.

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2023-11-04 15:52:19Z
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U.S. special envoy: no record of Hamas blocking or seizing aid - Reuters

AMMAN, Nov 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Special Envoy David Satterfield said on Saturday that U.S. officials had not been told that Hamas is blocking or diverting humanitarian aid flowing into the Gaza Strip amid shortages of food, medicine and fuel.

Speaking to reporters in the Jordanian capital Amman, he said that those distributing aid in Gaza had not reported aid being diverted since trucks resumed crossing the Egypt-controlled Rafah gate on Oct. 21 after diplomatic wrangling to resume the flow.

Those in charge of the aid "do not report to us in this 10 day, 12 day period of assistance delivery, interdiction of or seizure of goods by Hamas," he said.

Between 800,000 to a million people have moved to the south of the Gaza Strip, while 350,000-400,000 remain in the north of the enclave, Satterfield said.

Reporting by Simon Lewis; writing by Omar Abdel-Razek; editing by Jason Neely, Alexandra Hudson

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2023-11-04 11:56:00Z
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Israel strikes Gaza ambulance; Netanyahu rejects ceasefire without hostage release - The Straits Times

GAZA/TEL AVIV/BEIRUT - Israel struck an ambulance near a Gaza hospital on Friday in an attack the military said targeted militants, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls by Washington’s top diplomat for a halt to fighting unless hostages held by Hamas are freed.

Warning Israel and the US of a potential regional war, the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah said fighting on the Israel-Lebanon frontier could escalate further and hinted his Iran-backed group was ready to confront US warships in the region.

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which rules the Palestinian Gaza Strip, after the militant group killed 1,400 people and took more than 240 others hostage in an Oct 7 assault in southern Israel.

The Israeli military has struck Gaza from the air, imposed a siege and launched a ground assault, stirring global alarm at humanitarian conditions in the enclave. Food is scarce, medical services are collapsing and Gaza health officials say more than 9,250 Palestinians have been killed.

Mr Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for the health ministry in Gaza, said 15 people were killed and 60 wounded when Israel struck an ambulance that was part of a convoy at Gaza’s biggest hospital, al-Shifa.

Israel’s military said it had identified and hit an ambulance “being used by a Hamas terrorist cell” in the battle zone, and that a number of Hamas fighters were killed.

Hamas official Izzat El Reshiq said allegations its fighters were present were “baseless”. The military gave no evidence to support its assertion that the ambulance was linked to Hamas but said in a statement it intended to release additional information.

In a separate incident in Gaza City late on Friday, Gaza health officials said several Palestinians were killed and wounded in an Israeli strike on a school where hundreds of people were taking shelter.

Gaza health officials did not provide figures for the dead and injured. The Israeli military did not immediately provide comment on the incident.

In an evening briefing, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that so far in the war Israel had killed 10 Hamas commanders responsible for planning the Oct. 7 attack.

“We killed and eliminated them and will continue to eliminate those who lead the combat against our troops, wherever they may be,” Mr Hagari said.

Israel said 25 Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting in Gaza since the military’s ground operation was expanded a week ago.

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2023-11-03 23:08:00Z
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