Deadly Israel siege of northern Gaza as Hezbollah returns fire
- Death toll expected to rise with more than 87 Palestinians killed or missing after Israeli air strikes on northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, as rescuers pull bodies and survivors from the concrete debris of destroyed homes.
- The Israeli military pounds the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, with attacks on an alleged Hezbollah intelligence headquarters, although residents say civilian residences were hit.
Is Israel starving Palestinians out of Gaza?
Intolerable and catastrophic. That’s how the UN’s top humanitarian official describes the siege of northern Gaza.
Israel is accused of carrying out a plan to end Palestinian resistance by starving people to force them out of the area. Can the “Generals’ Plan” succeed?
‘Genocide unfolding in northern Gaza in its clearest form’: PA
Israel is pushing Palestinians in northern Gaza to “certain death” in its deadly offensive and siege on the area, the Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry says.
“The occupation army is forcing residents of northern Gaza to either flee under bombardment or face killing in what resembles a circle of certain death,” it said in a statement.
“Genocide is unfolding in northern Gaza in its clearest form – in full view of the world – marked by siege, starvation, forced displacement, destruction of buildings, aerial bombardment, targeting of health centres, and mass killings.”
The failure of the international community to stop this “war of extermination has emboldened Israel to continue its deadly campaign”, the ministry added.
US ‘wary of Israel going too far’ in Middle East wars
Hezbollah’s losses in recent weeks in Israeli attacks have left Lebanon in a “tug of war between Iran and the United States”, says Michael Young of the Carnegie Middle East Center think tank.
“The Israelis with the Americans … are trying to use military force to try to transform the balance of power in Lebanon to their advantage. There are no signs that the Iranians are going to accept this without a fight.”
Kim Ghattas, the author of Black Wave, a book on the Saudi-Iran rivalry, said: “Lebanon is caught between Iran and Hezbollah on the one hand, and Israel and the US on the other.” But “Washington’s vision doesn’t necessarily align with Israel’s in terms of war goals and tactics”, she noted.
“The US would certainly like to see a weakening of Hezbollah, maybe even the disarming of the group,” said Ghattas, “but it is wary of Israel going too far with the military campaign.”
Leak of US intelligence on Israel-Iran under investigation: House speaker
US House Speaker Mike Johnson says there’s an investigation under way into the leak of classified US intelligence documents related to Israel’s preparations to launch an attack on Iran.
Speaking to CNN, Johnson said: “There’s a classified-level briefing … we are following it closely.” He did not provide details on the briefing.
The documents first appeared online Friday via a channel on Telegram, claiming they had been leaked by someone in the US intelligence community, then later the US Defense Department. The information appeared entirely gathered through the use of satellite image analysis.
