Live blog: 'Dangerous' escalation in Lebanon must stop — UN

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

1841 GMT — The UN secretary-general's spokesperson has called for a halt to increased violence in Lebanon between Israeli forces and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, amid fears of a wider conflict.

"The recent escalation is dangerous indeed and should stop," Stephane Dujarric said, noting that peacekeepers from the UN mission in Lebanon had noticed "a concerning shift in the exchanges of fire between the Israeli armed forces and armed groups in Lebanon."

The attacks, he said, included the "targeting of areas far from the Blue Line," the frontier demarcated by the UN in 2000 after Israeli troops withdrew from southern Lebanon.

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1854 GMT — Israel claims Al Jazeera journalist wounded in air strike is a Hamas commander

The Israeli military is accusing a severely wounded journalist for the Qatar-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera of being a Hamas commander, without providing evidence.

Al Jazeera said on Tuesday that two of its journalists, cameraman Ahmad Matar and reporter Ismail Abu Omar, were wounded in an Israeli strike and that Abu Omar had his right foot amputated as a result.

The Israeli military claimed that Abu Omar is a deputy company commander in Hamas’ eastern battalion in the southern city of Khan Younis.

1819 GMT — Netanyahu vows 'powerful' Rafah offensive after civilians leave

Netanyahu has vowed Israeli forces would carry out a "powerful" offensive in Rafah after civilians in the overcrowded south Gaza city are allowed to leave.

"We will fight until complete victory and this includes a powerful action also in Rafah after we allow the civilian population to leave the battle zones," Netanyahu said in a statement issued in Hebrew on his official Telegram account.

1816 GMT — US condemns Israel's demolition of community leader's home in occupied East Jerusalem

The US State Department has said Washington condemns the Israeli demolition of community leader Fakhri Abu Diab's home in occupied East Jerusalem, adding that such actions damage Israel's standing in the world.

"These acts obstruct efforts to advance a durable and lasting peace and security that would benefit not just Palestinians but Israelis," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.

1742 GMT — US expects Israel to allow flour shipment into Gaza: White House

The United States expects Israel to meet its commitment to allow a shipment of flour to be moved into Gaza, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.

Sullivan was responding to a question about an Axios report on Tuesday that said the Israeli government was blocking a flour shipment to Gaza.

1710 GMT — Netanyahu blocks negotiators' return to Egypt for Gaza talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has prevented his country's delegation from returning to Egypt to attend a four-day meeting for a proposed hostage swap deal with Hamas, according to local media.

"Netanyahu did not allow the negotiating team to return to Egypt on Thursday to continue talks on a hostage deal," Israeli Channel 12 reported.

"Netanyahu believes that Hamas must accept the terms set by Israel for making progress," the broadcaster said.

1616 GMT — France's Macron tells Netanyahu Gaza offensive must 'cease'

French President Emmanuel Macron told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Gaza death toll was "intolerable" and Israel's offensive there "must cease", the Elysee said.

In a telephone call, Macron expressed France's "firm opposition" to an Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and stressed that a ceasefire agreement should be reached "without further delay", his office said.

He also said it was imperative to open "all the crossing points" into Gaza in order to deliver aid to the Palestinian territory, his office added.

1615 GMT — Israel destroys Doctors Worldwide clinic in Gaza

A clinic of the Doctors Worldwide in Gaza was destroyed in the attacks of the Israeli army, the association has said in a statement on X.

Since 2015, Doctors Worldwide has been providing health services to the region in the city centre of Gaza, it added, noting that the clinic was destroyed as a result of the Israeli attacks since Oct. 7.

The clinic was evacuated after the start of the Israeli attacks, while the team continues to serve in the south of Gaza at Kuwait Hospital, the statement also said.

1535 GMT — Top Palestinian diplomat pushes to prevent 'imminent' Israeli attack on Gaza's Rafah

The Palestinian foreign minister has said that efforts were underway to prevent an “imminent” Israeli attack on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza and at the same time accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking to extend the war for his political benefit.

Riyad al Malki urged the international community to "stand firm" and "act responsibly" to end the war. He also said there's “collective responsibility” to prevent the war from either dragging on or expanding to the occupied West Bank or neighbouring states like Lebanon.

"We are looking at ways how to prevent that attack on Rafah," Al Malki said after talks with his Greek Cypriot counterpart Constantinos Kombos. “Netanyahu is ... determined that he wants to continue the war for his personal career."

1530 GMT — Russia 'alarmed' by Israeli plans to expand military operation to Rafah

Russia is "extremely alarmed by Israeli statements about the planned expansion of its military operation to the city of Rafah, southern Gaza, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

The implementation of this "dangerous scenario" will lead to "a catastrophic scale of the humanitarian disaster," Zakharova told a press briefing in Moscow.

"It is necessary to do everything possible to prevent such a development of events and our common task is to stop the bloodshed as soon as possible and ensure conditions for establishing sustainable channels of humanitarian assistance to the population of the enclave," she stressed.

1504 GMT — Ceasefire in Gaza 'is our priority' to deliver aid: Erdogan

It is Ankara's priority to establish a ceasefire as soon as possible to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza without any obstacles, Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

In a joint news conference after talks with President Abdel Fattah el Sisi in Cairo, Erdogan said the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza topped the agenda of their talks, adding that Türkiye will continue to cooperate and stand in solidarity with its "Egyptian brothers to stop the bloodshed in Gaza".

Forced depopulation of Gaza is "unacceptable", he added.

1416 GMT — Israel’s Netanyahu seeks to prosecute journalists publishing cabinet leaks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to prosecute journalists who publish details from security cabinet meetings without approval by the military censor.

According to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN, Netanyahu's office wants to make it illegal to publish any leaked information unless it is approved first by the military censor.

"A journalist will not be granted immunity unless he obtains approval from the censor for publishing," the broadcaster said.

1414 GMT — WHO chief concerned over Israel's orders to evacuate Nasser Hospital in Gaza's Khan Younis city

The World Health Organization (WHO) chief has expressed deep concern over Israel's orders to evacuate the Nasser Hospital, the main hospital in Khan Younis city in Gaza, which has been used as a shelter by Palestinians and is currently under Israeli siege.

"Civilians killed, orders to evacuate people seeking shelter, the northern wall demolished: I am alarmed by what is reportedly happening at Nasser Medical Complex in #Gaza after being under siege for around a week," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement on X.

Attacks have reportedly destroyed storage facilities for medical equipment and supplies, he said, adding, "access to the hospital remains obstructed — there is no safe corridor for those in need."

1345 GMT — Israeli strikes in south Lebanon kill four civilians: security source

Israeli strikes in south Lebanon have killed four civilians including two children and wounded nine other people, a Lebanese security source said after Israel announced it "began a series of strikes in Lebanon".

"A woman was killed along with her child and her stepchild in a strike that targeted Sawwaneh," while a fourth civilian was killed in a strike on a building in Adshit, the security source told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

1320 GMT — US says its forces launch strike on missile in Houthi-controlled part of Yemen

US Central Command (CENTCOM) has said its forces launched a strike on a cruise missile that was about to be fired at ships in the Red Sea from an area of Yemen controlled by the Iranian-linked Houthi group.

1213 GMT — Palestinian official 'optimistic' about ICJ's ruling on Israeli occupation

A Palestinian official has sounded optimistic about International Court of Justice (ICJ)'s advisory opinion in favour of Palestine regarding the nature of the Israeli occupation.

"The ICJ actions are consistent with international law," Omar Awadallah, a senior official in the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, said.

"An ICJ verdict will give us new powers to hold states responsible for Israel's actions," he added.

1158 GMT — Israel 'begins series' of air strikes in Lebanon: military

The Israeli military has said its fighter jets "began a series of strikes in Lebanon", raising fears of a war between the two countries after months of cross-border fire.

The military gave no further details of the air strikes, while Lebanese media reported three villages were hit.

The strikes came hours after fire from Lebanon wounded multiple people in northern Israel, according to medics.

1128 GMT — Israeli army forces displaced Palestinians to leave Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis

The Israeli army has forced thousands of Palestinians who were seeking refuge in the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, to leave.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu reporter that the Israeli army ordered the displaced people to leave the hospital under the Israeli soldiers' fire.

The army ordered the displaced people to leave the hospital in one queue and head toward the eastern areas of Khan Younis.

1126 GMT — Rocket attack on Israeli town near border with Lebanon causes casualties

The Israeli military says a rocket attack has wounded eight people in the northern town of Safed, not far from the border with Lebanon.

Israeli media reported that a woman was killed in the attack, but the military did not immediately confirm the reports.

The town, around 12 kilometres (7 miles) from the border is farther south than most of the daily border skirmishes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

1125 GMT — WHO warns assault on Gaza's Rafah would be an 'unfathomable catastrophe'

The World Health Organization has warned that an Israeli military offensive against Rafah in southern Gaza would cause an "unfathomable catastrophe" and push the enclave's health system closer to the brink of collapse.

"Military activities in this area, this densely populated area, would be, of course, an unfathomable catastrophe... and would even further expand the humanitarian disaster beyond imagination," said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

"It will also increase the burden on a completely overburdened... health system on its knees and increase the trauma burden and it would push the health system closer to the brink of collapse," Peeperkorn said.

1104 GMT — Abbas urges Hamas, to agree on Gaza truce 'quickly'

Palestine's President Mahmud Abbas has pressed Hamas to agree a Gaza deal quickly to avoid "dire consequences", the official Palestinian news agency reported.

"We call on the Hamas movement to quickly complete a prisoner deal, to spare our Palestinian people from the calamity of another catastrophic event with dire consequences, no less dangerous than the Nakba of 1948," Abbas said, referring to the war accompanying the creation of Israel which saw 760,000 Palestinians flee or forced from their homes.

0931 GMT — Death toll in Israel's deadly Gaza onslaught hits 28,576

The death toll in the Israel-besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza has reached a devastating 28,576, with an additional 103 lives lost in the past 24 hours alone as Tel Aviv intensifies its bombardment, the health ministry in Gaza has said.

Israel's war on Gaza, which started on October 7, has left 68,291 others wounded, highlighting the widespread impact and humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.

0833 GMT — Turkish military aircraft delivers humanitarian aid to Gaza

Turkish military aircraft carrying medical humanitarian aid from Türkiye to the besieged Gaza, including 12 expert doctors and nurses, arrived at Al Arish, Egypt, near Gaza.

After the much-needed humanitarian aid is delivered to Palestinians in Gaza, who have been suffering under Israeli restrictions on supplies of necessities, a group of Gazan patients and children needing treatment unavailable in the besieged enclave, accompanied by healthcare workers, will be transported by plane to Ankara.

0832 GMT — Families of Gaza hostages to appeal to ICC against Hamas

About 100 representatives of Gaza hostages flew to The Hague to file a complaint at the International Criminal Court against Hamas.

Palestinian resistance group led by Hamas took around 250 hostages during their operation on Israel on October 7, of which some 130 are still held captive in Gaza, according to Israeli officials.

Twenty-nine of them are believed to be dead.

0809 GMT — Israeli forces raid several cities across occupied West Bank

The Israeli army has raided several cities and areas across the occupied West Bank to arrest Palestinians.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli army raided the cities of Ramallah, Qalqilya, Tubas, Al Khalil, Nablus, Jenin and other areas, and stormed into homes to arrest Palestinians.

In Tubas city, the Israeli army stormed into several homes, triggering clashes with Palestinians, eyewitnesses said.

In Qalqilya city, the raid continued for several hours and live bullets were used to suppress Palestinians who confronted. At least, three Palestinians were arrested by the Israeli army from the city.

Several arrests were also reported in Nablus and Tulkarem cities, according to the eyewitnesses. There have been no reported casualties on the Palestinian side so far.

0748 GMT — Israeli army snipers kill three Palestinians Inside Gaza Hospital

Three Palestinians were killed inside a besieged hospital in Khan Younis, south of Gaza, by Israeli army snipers, the Palestinian health ministry said.

"Three people have been martyred and 10 others injured inside the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis [...] by bullets of the Israeli snipers since yesterday evening," said Ashraf al Qudra, the Health Ministry spokesman, in a statement.

Late on Tuesday, the Israeli army ordered all displaced Palestinians to evacuate the hospital, and allowed medical staff and patients to stay. Eyewitness accounts, however, suggest that the Israeli army continues to open fire on those who try to leave the hospital.

0655 GMT — MSF voices concern over the situation at Nasser Hospital in Gaza

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) voiced deep concern on the situation in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, south of Gaza, as the Israeli army continued its siege and shelling of the health facility.

"We are very worried about the situation unfolding at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis," said MSF in a statement on X.

It called on the Israeli army "to ensure that all medical staff, patients and displaced people are unharmed."

0624 GMT — US reviewing incidents of 'civilian harm' in Gaza war: State Department

Under a new initiative, the US is assessing reports of Israel attacking civilians in its war in Gaza, the State Department said on Tuesday.

"We do seek to thoroughly assess reports of civilian harm by authorised recipients of US-provided defence articles around the world, including under the Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance, the CHIRG," which went into effect last week, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

"We can't comment on the specifics of ongoing reviews, but as we have said before, we are reviewing incidents in the current (Gaza) conflict according to the process set out in the CHIRG," he added.

Under the mechanism, the department is assessing Israel's ongoing offensive in Gaza, Miller confirmed.

0457 GMT — Türkiye urges UN action on Gaza humanitarian situation

Türkiye's permanent representative to the UN warned of a worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Sedat Onal told on Tuesday a meeting of the UN Security Council on the maintenance of international peace and security that "2.2 million people in Gaza live in a state of crisis under relentless bombardment, without sufficient humanitarian aid."

"On top of that, some donors have suspended funding to UNRWA, the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza. The risk of famine in Gaza is alarming," he said.

In the fifth month of the conflict, Onal said the Council is still unable to stop the manmade catastrophe.

0413 GMT — Israeli assault on Rafah disregards ICJ order: South Africa

South Africa's deputy permanent representative to the UN has expressed concern over a possible Israeli assault on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, which is home to more than 1 million people seeking refuge from Israel's war on the enclave.

"The announcement of expanded military operations in Rafah, which has turned into a de facto refugee camp, further perpetuates the displacement of Palestinians and threatens civilians' almost non-existent livelihoods," Marthinus van Schalkwyk told Tuesday a UN Security Council meeting on the maintenance of international peace and security.

This completely disregards the order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued on January 26, he added.

His remarks came after South Africa asked the ICJ to urgently assess Israel's intentions to expand its invasion in Rafah, urging it to consider whether it required the court to use its power to prevent a further breach of Palestinians' rights.

0407 GMT — Israeli delegation leaves Cairo talks amidst efforts to halt Israel's war

An Israeli delegation has left talks in Cairo Israeli and US media reported.

Israeli intelligence chief David Barnea met CIA Director William Burns in the Egyptian capital for talks on a Qatari-brokered plan to temporarily halt fighting in Gaza.

The negotiations, which also involved Qatar's prime minister and Egyptian officials, were part of an intensifying effort to secure a ceasefire before Israel proceeds with a full-scale ground invasion into the southern city of Rafah, where more than half of the territory's population has fled.

0345 GMT — Excessive restrictions on peaceful protests unjustified: UN special rapporteurs

UN special rapporteurs have emphasised the vital importance of countries allowing peaceful protests to be held to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, end atrocities against the Palestinian people and halt serious human rights violations.

In a joint statement issued by UN rapporteurs, they said excessive restrictions imposed on a civil society striving to protect human rights and uphold respect for international humanitarian law in the context of the Israeli war in Gaza are not justified.

The statement highlighted that such actions contravene states' obligations to prevent genocide and atrocities under international law.

0331 GMT — Al Qassam Brigades target Israeli military vehicles in Gaza

The Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, has said that they targeted Israeli military vehicles and detonated tunnel openings in Gaza.

In separate statements, they said they targeted an Israeli Merkava tank and a military bulldozer using locally made Yasin 105 shells in the Qarara area of Khan Younis

They also detonated three booby-trapped tunnel openings targeting Israeli infantry forces in the same area, resulting in casualties. The fighters also targeted an Israeli armoured personnel carrier with a Yasin 105 shell in the same area.

According to the statements, Al Qassam fighters engaged in a clash with an Israeli infantry force consisting of seven soldiers at point-blank range in the same area, resulting in casualties.

0032 GMT — Jordan's king reiterates calls for ceasefire during US visit

Jordan's King Abdullah II affirmed the necessity of ending Israel's war on besieged Gaza and protecting civilians during a visit to the US.

"The international community, especially influential countries, must play their role in preventing the escalation of the conflict in the region,'' King Abdullah said during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the capital, Washington, DC, according to a statement by the royal court.

He reiterated Jordan's ''full rejection of any attempts [by Israel] to displace Palestinians from their land, reoccupy parts of Gaza, or to establish buffer zones therein,'' the statement added.

The king also warned of "the repercussions of an Israeli attack on [the city of] Rafah, which houses 1.5 million people.''

2304 GMT — UNRWA faces impending halt to operations in Gaza due to funding crisis: official

The European representative of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) issued a stark warning about its operations in besieged Gaza, saying that unless funding decisions are reversed, it will be forced to halt its activities in a matter of weeks.

Highlighting the dire situation in the city of Rafah in the south of the blockaded Palestinian enclave, Marta Lorenzo, director of the UNRWA Representative Office for Europe, emphasised that the suspension of funding from certain countries has left UNRWA on the brink of closure in besieged Gaza.

Drawing attention to the plight of Palestinians grappling with hunger and disease while being trapped in the south, Lorenzo underscored the urgent need for effective humanitarian assistance, citing a recent decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the Netherlands, calling for immediate action.

2222 GMT — Anadolu to host panel probing Israeli war crimes in Gaza through lens of int'l law

Anadolu news agency will host a panel next week that will discuss war crimes committed by Israel, which will be analysed through the lens of international criminal law.

The panel, titled "Genocide in Gaza: New Evidence," will be held at Anadolu's headquarters in the Turkish capital, Ankara and will extensively examine all dimensions of the case at the International Court of Justice [ICJ] in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Additionally, new evidence of war crimes in besieged Gaza following ICJ rulings will be disclosed to the public during the event.

The panel will feature journalists and academics.

For our live updates from Tuesday, February 13, click here.