Region

GAZA, Palestinian Territories — Israel kept up its air strikes on Gaza Wednesday as hopes fade for a US-announced ceasefire plan.

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh accused Israel of deliberately undermining negotiations for a truce and hostage release deal because it did not want to end the war.

The health ministry in Gaza said 52 people, most of them women and children, had been killed in Israeli strikes over the previous 24 hours.

The UN humanitarian office OCHA said multiple strikes across Gaza on Tuesday killed and wounded dozens.

The territory's civil defence agency said 30 people had been killed in three strikes in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, one on a UN-run school, another on a house and a third on a mosque.

Talks deadlock 

In southern Gaza, two people were killed in Israeli bombardment of the Shakush area, northwest of Rafah, a medical source at Nasser Hospital said.

At least 90 per cent of Gazans have been forced from their homes, many of them seeking refuge in UN-run schools. Seven of them have been hit by Israeli strikes since July 6.

Nearly 70 per cent of UN-run schools across Gaza have been hit during more than nine months of fighting, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.

"Why do they target us when we are innocent people?" asked Umm Mohammed Al Hasanat, sheltering with her family at a UN-run school in Nuseirat, which was among those hit.

"We do not carry weapons but are just sitting and trying to find safety for ourselves and our children."

Washington has been pushing for a truce deal between Israel and Hamas since President Joe Biden released details of what he said was an Israeli ceasefire roadmap on May 31.

But despite the efforts of Egyptian and Qatari mediators, indirect negotiations between the foes have made no headway.

In a telephone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan late Tuesday, the Hamas leader blamed Israel for the deadlock.

“We dealt positively with the proposals put to us by the mediators but the occupation is avoiding the required outcome and does not want to reach an agreement under which it ends its war,” Haniyeh said.

His comments came after a senior Hamas official said Sunday that the group was withdrawing from the current talks following Israel’s deadly strikes but was ready to return if its attitude changes.

Hostage families demand deal 

The war began with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza including 42 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 38,713 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry.

Critics in Israel, including tens of thousands of demonstrators who have taken to the streets to demand a deal to bring home the hostages, have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war.

The families of five Israeli women soldiers among the hostages said Tuesday they were “begging” the prime minister to “make the deal happen”.

“We are waiting for a face-to-face meeting with you [Netanyahu] to ensure that the negotiations are moving towards a signed deal,” said Ayelet Levy, whose daughter was abducted on October 7.

Meanwhile ultra-Orthodox Jewish protesters fought police near Tel Aviv, hours after the Israeli military said it would begin issuing draft notices for men in the community from Sunday.

Historically exempt from compulsory military service, ultra-Orthodox seminary students are being called up as the Gaza war and a potential conflict with Hizbollah strain the armed forces’ manpower and fuel resentment against those who do not have to serve.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanese official media said separate Israeli strikes on Tuesday in south Lebanon killed five people including three Syrian children, with Hizbollah announcing rocket fire at Israel in retaliation.

"Three Syrian children" were killed "in an enemy raid that targeted farmland in the village of Umm Toot", the National News Agency (NNA) said.

It also said an "enemy" drone strike had targeted a motorcycle on the Kfar Tebnit road elsewhere in south Lebanon, killing two Syrians.

A Lebanese security source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, told AFP that the two Syrians were "civilians" who worked nearby and had been swimming in the area.

The NNA said that "eyewitnesses reported that the motorbike was carrying two people and that when a number of citizens tried to approach the bike... it was subjected to a second strike".

Hizbollah said it launched rounds of “Katyusha rockets” at northern Israel in response to the Israeli strikes.

The group in separate statements mentioned both “the death of two civilians” in Kfar Tebnit and “the horrible massacre in Umm Toot village” as reasons for the retaliatory fire.

The United Nations children’s agency said that “more children are at risk as long as the violence continues.”

“The killing of three more children by an airstrike today as they were reportedly playing in front of their home in south Lebanon is horrific,” UNICEF said on social media platform X.

Hizbollah has traded almost daily fire with Israeli forces in support of ally Hamas since the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said that “approximately 40 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory, some of which were intercepted. No injuries were reported”.

The statement also said the air force “struck a launcher in the area of Blat that was identified firing projectiles towards the Kiryat Shmona area” as well as “a Hizbollah terrorist cell” in the Yarin area, which is close to Umm Toot.

A further 10 projectiles were identified late Tuesday, the military said, while the air force launched strikes against parts of south Lebanon where it said there were Hizbollah sites.

Sirens warning of incoming fire blared overnight in northern Israel, the military said, with no reports of casualties.

In Lebanon, the cross-border violence since October has killed 511 people, mostly fighters but also including at least 104 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, 17 soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed, according to authorities.

The violence, largely restricted to the border area, has raised fears of all-out conflict between the foes, who last went to war in the summer of 2006.

BATTIR, Palestinian Territories — On a hillside near Palestinian landowner Olayan Olayan’s olive groves, young Israeli settlers are hammering out a new, illegal outpost in a UNESCO-protected zone. 

Olayan and his neighbours have long battled attempts to settle the land in Battir, a heritage site in the Israeli-occupied West Bank famed for its ancient stone terraces. 

Israeli construction in the West Bank has boomed since the war began in the Gaza Strip, even though all settlements in the territory are considered illegal under international law.

The new outpost on a Battir hilltop, also not approved by Israel, was served an eviction notice that Olayan’s cousin Ghassan Olayan said has not been enforced because of the Gaza war.

The outpost already has a flagpole, living quarters and a barn for sheep that roam a rocky hill covered by olive trees belonging to Palestinian farmers.

“I ploughed the land and planted it until it bore fruit trees,” said Olayan, who at 83 is older than the state of Israel itself. 

“Some trees were 50 years old, or even more, and suddenly the settlers came and wanted to devour the land and take it from us,” he added, his voice shaky.

Heletz settlement 

Even more concerning to the Olayans than the encroaching outpost is the adjacent, future settlement of Heletz.

Yonatan Mizrahi of settlement watchdog Peace Now said Heletz was among five settlements “deep in Palestinian territory” approved by the Israeli government on June 27.

“It is a settlement that is going to block Battir and in many ways create tension between the neighbours,” he said.

Heletz and the outpost sit inside the UNESCO protection zone for Battir, one of four listed heritage sites in the West Bank.

The UNESCO classification means the village can get technical, legal, and monetary assistance to preserve sites deemed in danger.

In Battir, children splash in the Roman-era fountain that waters the terraces where tomatoes, corn, aubergines and olive trees grow.

The 2,000-year-old dry stone walls supporting the landscape earned the village its cultural inscription in 2014. But the classification has done little to prevent seizures of the surrounding farmland.

Battir’s inhabitants have beaten in court at least three previous Israeli settlement outpost attempts.

But Ghassan Olayan fears the war since the Hamas attacks of October 7 on Israel will make the new, government-approved Heletz more likely to become reality.

Preventing statehood 

According to Olayan, Heletz is intended to link Jerusalem to Gush Etzion, a cluster of settlements deeper in the West Bank.

If that is achieved, Battir and the nearby Palestinian villages would be cut off from Bethlehem and the rest of the West Bank, a process they fear will fragment a future Palestinian state.

“There will be no [territorial] continuity,” said Olayan, leaving only what some observers describe as an archipelago of Palestinian sovereignty.

Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler himself, openly states that preventing Palestinian statehood is the objective.

“We will continue to develop the settlements in order to maintain Israel’s security and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state,” he wrote on the X social media platform after the five latest settlements were approved in June.

In recent months, Israeli forces have blocked a road to Battir, nearly doubling the time it takes to reach Jerusalem just 10 kilometres north.

When asked about the new outpost in Battir, an Israeli security official acknowledged that “an Israeli farm had been established without proper authorisation”.

The official told AFP “the possibility of authorising the farm will be weighed” as the development of Heletz gets under way.

Battir residents “raised several claims that the land belongs to them” but have “not presented documentation to support their position”, according to the official.

Olayan said documents from Ottoman times prove Battir inhabitants’ ownership of the land.

A UNESCO spokesperson said the UN cultural agency’s world heritage committee had been told about “reports of illegal constructions” and that Battir would be discussed at a session in late July.

Olayan fears that sleepy Battir, with its collective life centred around the Roman fountain’s irrigation system allotting each family a specific time slot to irrigate their crops, faces a difficult future.

“Battir is a peaceful village and the settlement will only bring trouble,” he said.

DUBAI — The Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) 2024 has unveiled its most extensive and thrilling edition yet, promising a summer filled with endless fun and adventure. Running from June 28 to September 1, DSS 2024 offers a variety of activities, spectacular deals, and entertainment, making Dubai the ultimate summer destination for residents and visitors alike.

 
A season packed with unforgettable experiences

Organised by Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE), DSS 2024 will transform the city into a hub of excitement and discovery. Over 65 days, visitors can enjoy a plethora of events, including:

Gastronomy Delights: Exclusive dining offers at top restaurants across the city.

Highlight destinations and activities

Hotel Boulevard, Autograph Collection: A chic boutique hotel offering luxurious accommodations, diverse dining options, and stunning city views. Perfect for both business and leisure travelers, it is surrounded by art galleries, cafes, and fine dining establishments.

The Green Planet: Dubai’s tropical rainforest, home to over 3,000 species of plants, animals, and birds. The 'Camping in the Rainforest' experience offers interactive activities every weekend from June 1 to October 5, 2024.

Shang Palace, Shangri-La: This Michelin-recommended fine dining Chinese restaurant impresses with its contemporary take on Cantonese cuisine, offering an elegant dining experience.

Dubai Festival City Mall: Featuring the new IMAGINE show, a "Shop & Win" campaign with daily prizes, and a vibrant parade with up to 50 entertainers, this mall promises a summer full of excitement.

Madame Tussauds: Located at Bluewaters Dubai, the wax museum features lifelike replicas of celebrities and world leaders, offering a unique photo opportunity.

Lah Lah Dubai, Zabeel House: An edgy Pan-Asian kitchen with a garden party atmosphere, known for its generous portions and reasonable prices.

La Perle by Dragone: A must-see acrobatic show located in Al Habtoor City, featuring 450 performances a year in a state-of-the-art theatre with a transforming 'aqua-stage'.

Bistro Aamara, VOCO Hotel: A culinary journey inspired by the Silk Route, offering a blend of flavors from the East to the West.

ARTE MUSEUM: An immersive art experience at Dubai Mall, featuring digital artworks across 14 zones themed 'Eternal Nature'.

AYA Universe: Known for its innovative experiential entertainment, AYA Universe recently launched the Star Pool, a massive ball pit surrounded by a 360-degree show of cosmic visuals.

Zenon Dubai: Located at Kempinski Central Avenue, this restaurant combines Mediterranean and Asian cuisine with advanced AI technology, creating a unique dining experience with AI-designed screens displaying live data and artwork.

A summer well spent

With its array of discounts, unique experiences, and thrilling activities, DSS 2024 ensures a summer well spent in Dubai. Whether shopping, dining, or exploring, visitors and residents can look forward to a season of unforgettable memories and great value.

For more information on Dubai Summer Surprises 2024, visit the official website.

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories — Authorities in Gaza said dozens of Palestinians were killed on Tuesday in three separate strikes, as Israel pounded the territory despite renewed US criticism of the high civilian toll.

Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the three air strikes killed at least 44 people and wounded dozens within an hour across the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. Israel said it carried out two of the strikes.

The health ministry said a strike on a fuel station in Al Mawasi in southern Gaza killed 17 people, and the Palestinian Red Crescent said a separate strike at almost the same time on the UN-run Al Razi School in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed five people.

The civil defence agency said the third strike was on a gathering of people near a roundabout in northern Gaza. It did not give a precise toll breakdown.

Hours earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told two senior Israeli officials of Washington's "serious concern" following deadly Israeli strikes in Gaza, his spokesman said.

“We have seen civilian casualties come down from the high points of the conflict... but they still remain unacceptably high,” spokesman Matthew Miller said after Blinken met Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi.

Washington has been pushing for a truce between Israel and Hamas.

But Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said Sunday the group was pulling out of indirect talks for a deal in protest at Israeli “massacres”, including a massive strike on Sunday that Gaza’s health ministry said killed at least 92 people.

Hamas was ready to return to the indirect talks once Israel “demonstrates seriousness in reaching a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal”, he said.

On Tuesday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ramp up pressure on Hamas.

“This is exactly the time to increase the pressure even more, to bring home all the hostages — the living and the dead — and to achieve all the war objectives,” he said. 

The Israeli military said its aircraft struck about “40 terror targets” in Gaza, including “sniping posts, observation posts, Hamas military structures, terror infrastructure, and buildings rigged with explosives”.

It said troops were continuing targeted raids in the southern city of Rafah and in central Gaza.

Palestinian Red Crescent medics said they recovered four bodies from a house outside the southern city of Khan Yunis and another from Nuseirat camp.

Israeli offensive has killed at least 38,713 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry.

Israel’s military has also detained scores of Gazans, who have made allegations of torture, rape and other abuses in custody that Israeli authorities have denied.

Palestinian lawyer Khaled Mahajna said Monday that prisoners had recounted guards using “electric prods” on inmates’ bodies.

In one prisoner’s case, a “fire extinguisher tube was inserted into his buttocks and the fire extinguisher was turned on,” Mahajna said after visiting detained Palestinian journalists.

He said prisoners were handcuffed when they ate the meagre meals provided, while detainees reported widespread disease and untreated wounds.

Five Israeli human rights groups have gone to court over conditions at the Sde Teiman desert camp where Gazans are being held. Israeli officials insist they act within the bounds of international law.

Indirect talks on ending the devastating war have been brokered by Qatar and Egypt, with US support, but months of negotiations have failed to bring a breakthrough.

At the end of May, US President Joe Biden outlined a ceasefire roadmap he said had been drawn up by Israel that triggered an intensification of the talks.

But despite meetings in both Cairo and Doha, there has been no sign of progress on how this might be implemented.

Critics in Israel, including tens of thousands of demonstrators demanding a deal to bring home the hostages, have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war.

The war has forced 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.4 million people to flee their homes. Many have sought refuge in UN-run schools, seven of which have been hit by Israeli strikes since July 6.

“Why do they target us when we are innocent people?” asked Umm Mohammed Al Hasanat, sheltering with her family at a UN-run school in Nuseirat, which was among those hit.

“We do not carry weapons but are just sitting and trying to find safety for ourselves and our children.”

GAZA/RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — The health ministry in the Gaza Strip said on Monday at least 38,664 people have been killed in the war between Israel and Palestinian fighters.

The toll includes 80 new deaths in 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 89,097 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7.

The ministry also updated the toll from an Israeli air strike on a school in central Gaza on Sunday, saying it had increased from 15 dead to 22.

The Abu Araban school was run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and housed "thousands of displaced people", civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP on Sunday.

It was the fifth Israeli strike on a school being used to shelter displaced Palestinians in eight days.

A Hamas official said Sunday that the Palestinian group was withdrawing from Gaza truce talks, as Israeli bombardments hit a school a day after a deadly strike targeting the fighter commander Mohammed Deif.

Speaking after the strike on southern Gaza's Al Mawasi, which the health ministry in the territory said killed at least 92 people, a senior official from Iran-backed Hamas cited Israeli "massacres" as a reason for suspending negotiations.

A second Hamas official said Deif, commander of the Islamist group's military wing, was "well and directly overseeing" operations despite the Israeli bombing raid that the military said was an attempt to kill him.

On Sunday, Israeli forces struck a UN-run school in the central Nuseirat refugee camp that the military said "served as a hideout" for militants.

The civil defence agency in Gaza said 15 people were killed in the strike, the fifth attack in just over a week to hit a school used as shelter by displaced Palestinians.

The first Hamas official, quoting the group’s Qatar-based political chief Ismail Haniyeh, said Israel’s “lack of seriousness, continued policy of procrastination and obstruction, and the ongoing massacres against unarmed civilians” were behind the “decision to halt negotiations”.

But according to the official, Haniyeh told international mediators Hamas was “ready to resume negotiations” when Israel’s government “demonstrates seriousness in reaching a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal”.

Meanwhile, senior officials from the rival Palestinian groups Hamas, which is at war with Israel, and Fateh have agreed to meet in Beijing this month in a renewed bid for reconciliation, officials said on Monday.

The Hamas delegation is to be headed by Haniyeh, while the Fateh representation will be led by deputy head Mahmud Alul, Fateh sources said.

Hamas had no immediate comment.

The two groups have been bitter rivals since Hamas fighters ejected Fateh from the Gaza Strip after deadly clashes that followed Hamas’s resounding victory in a 2006 election.

After seizing control of Gaza in 2007, the Islamist Hamas movement has ruled the territory ever since.

The secularist Fateh movement controls the Palestinian Authority which has partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Several reconciliation bids have failed, but calls have grown since the Hamas October 7 surprise attacks on Israel set off the Gaza war, with violence also soaring in the West Bank where Fateh is based.

China hosted Fateh and Hamas in April but a meeting scheduled for June was postponed.

The representatives are to meet with Chinese officials in Beijing on July 20 and July 21, according to Fateh’s Central Committee Deputy Secretary-General Sabri Saidam.

Before that, a meeting of the two groups could take place, he added.

The goal, said Saidam, “is to end the state of division with a commitment to past agreements and agreeing on a relationship between the Palestinian groups in the next stage”.

Another Fateh executive member also said a joint Fateh-Hamas meeting could be held in Beijing before the official agenda starts.

DIWANIYAH, Iraq — Hundreds of Iraqis in the southern province of Diwaniyah protested on Monday against power cuts and water shortages during the extreme heat of summer, an AFP correspondent said.

Decades of war have left the country's infrastructure in a pitiful state, with power cuts worsening the blistering summer when temperatures often reach 50ºC mostly in southern provinces.

Dozens of villages in Diwaniyah have also suffered for years from water shortages because of a four-year-long drought and reduced river flows.

On Monday, around 500 angry protesters encircled the municipality building in Shafeiya village, burning tyres and chanting for better services.

"We don't have electricity. We used to get it for only two hours [per day], but now it is only one hour and 15 minutes," said protester Youssef Kamel.

"We don't have water or agriculture," he said, adding that "everyone has left to look for jobs" as labourers in the cities.

Last week, hundreds of people also protested outside electricity department offices in Ghamas district, blocking roads and burning tyres.

On Saturday, police used tear gas to disperse protesters, and dozens were briefly detained.

Iraq is the second-largest oil producer in the OPEC cartel, but despite having immense oil and gas reserves, it remains dependent on imports to meet its energy needs.

Neighbouring Iran supplies about a third of its power sector requirements.

Many households have just a few hours of mains electricity per day, and those who can afford it use private generators to keep fridges and air conditioners running.

Anger over corruption, unemployment and blackouts helped to fuel deadly protests from late 2019 to mid-2020.

The protests morphed into an unprecedented anti-government movement, mostly across southern Iraq and in Baghdad, before a security crackdown killed more than 600 people.

DAMASCUS — A Syrian soldier was killed early on Sunday and three others injured in Israeli strikes on several positions in and around Damascus, Syrian state media said.

The Israeli army, meanwhile, said it had targeted a Syrian military command centre as well as targets and infrastructure belonging to the Syrian army and air defence in response to two drones launched towards Israel from Syrian territory.

The statement was a rare acknowledgement by the Israeli military of action in Syria, where it has launched hundreds of strikes since the country's civil war erupted in 2011, which have mainly targeted army positions and Iran-backed fighters.

"A soldier was killed and three others injured following an aerial aggression launched by the Israeli enemy after midnight" on Sunday, Syria's state news agency SANA reported.

The strike "was launched from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights targeting several military positions in the southern region and a residential building in the Kafr Sousa district of Damascus", it added.

It said that aerial defence systems had intercepted and downed a number of missiles "despite their intensity".

The news agency published a photo showing a fire in what appeared to be a crater caused by the blast.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights meanwhile said a Syrian pro-government fighter had been killed and six others injured in Israeli strikes targeting a building in Kafr Sousa and a military headquarters south of Damascus.

The building in Kafr Sousa, which hosted fighters from the so-called “axis of resistance” — Iran-backed armed factions opposed to the US and Israel — was destroyed, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources in Syria.

Local radio station Sham FM had reported “the explosion of a munitions depot following an Israeli attack that targeted a position near the capital”.

“The blasts were very strong and came in succession,” a resident of the eastern Damascus neighbourhood of Mezzeh told AFP, adding that this was followed by “the strong odour of gunpowder”.