Israel attacks Gaza church, kills dozens across besieged territory
Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed at least 25 people so far today, including two elderly people in a strike on the only Catholic church in the besieged territory.
In Syria, government forces are withdrawing from the southern region of Suwayda as part of a ceasefire agreed with the Druze minority.Israeli church attack kills 60-year-old janitor, 84-year-old woman
We have more information on the two people killed in the Israeli attack on Gaza Catholic church: the parish’s 60-year-old janitor and an 84-year-old woman who was receiving psychosocial support inside a Caritas tent in the church compound, according to the Catholic charity Caritas Jerusalem.Israel’s Syria strike: A show of ‘regional strength’ and a nod to Druze ‘influence’
Meron Rapoport, editor of the Israeli news site Local Call, says two main political calculations factored into the Israeli decision to strike Syria: responding to the pressure from the Israeli Druze community and showing that Israeli has become the dominating power in the region.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, he said Israel’s Druze community “play quite an important role in the Israeli army” and “are very vocal in supporting brothers” in Syria.
This is something that Israel “cannot ignore because they serve in such high places in the army”, Rapoport added.
“But it is also part of Israel trying to show it is the hegemonic power in the Middle East, that everything in the region should be played according to its will, especially in Syria which is becoming a sort of playground for Israel,” he said.
“It wants Syria weak and divided and it seems it is getting what it wants.”Number of people killed in Gaza rises
The number of people killed in Israeli attacks so far today across the Gaza Strip has now risen to at least 25, according to medical sources.
Netanyahu facing divisions in Israel after Syria strikes
Netanyahu is accused within Israel of recklessness in attacking Damascus and of attempting to buy time in order not to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
The head of the opposition, Yair Lapid, said that while he has a lot of respect for Israeli Druze, what Netanyahu did was irresponsible and not strategic. Some experts within the intelligence community have made similar comments.
But there is a lot of focus in Israeli media on what the Israeli Druze leaders are saying and how they appreciate what Netanyahu is doing.
The leaders of the sect in Israel have welcomed the military intervention, completely sidelining the Druze community of the occupied Syrian Golan, who identify as Syrians and have rejected Israel’s exploitation of their plight to achieve territorial expansion.
The UK celebrities rallying for Gaza
Egyptian British actor Khaled Abdalla remembers sitting on his father’s shoulders as a three-year-old, peering over a sea of heads and waving flags as chants of “free Palestine” rose around him.
It was the early 1980s, a time when hearing “Palestine” was rare in the UK. The details of those moments in Glasgow are faint, but he remembers how important the protest felt to his father and the crowds around them.
Decades later, Abdalla – most known for his roles in The Kite Runner and The Crown – is still marching. But now he carries the weight of his public platform.
“After October 7, my first act was at The Crown premiere in LA, with ‘Ceasefire Now’ written on my hand,” he said. “I didn’t know if that would immediately terminate my career. But it opened up a space far more positive than I expected. In standing up, I found my people, and my people found me.”
Since then, Abdalla has used every stage he can. At the Emmys, he wrote “Never Again” on his palm before stepping onto the red carpet.
“Each time I’ve done something like that, there has been fear,” he said, adding that while being cancelled does not worry him, he sometimes feels uncertain about how his protests might be received. “My first protest was on my father’s shoulders when I was three. I don’t want that to be the fate of my grandchildren.”
