First polio case found in Gaza as Israeli strikes ongoing

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Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi discussed in a phone call with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Friday the results of the ceasefire negotiations hosted by Qatar over the past two days to reach a prisoner exchange deal that would lead to a permanent ceasefire.

According to a statement issued by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, Safadi affirmed the Kingdom's support for the efforts made by Qatar, Egypt and the United States to agree on the prisoner exchange deal, and the need to complete the deal as soon as possible.

Safadi stressed the need to intensify pressure on Israel to stop its aggression on Gaza, and to take deterrent measures consistent with international law.

Jordan plays a key role in the region as an ally with Israel and the Palestinians.

US President Joe Biden warned all sides Friday not to undermine efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza, as he said that a deal was nearing.

Biden said in a statement that Secretary of State Antony Blinken was traveling to the Middle East in part "to underscore that with the comprehensive ceasefire and hostage release deal now in sight, no one in the region should take actions to undermine this process."

Over 170,000 Palestinians were forced to flee again on Friday following surprise evacuation orders from the Israeli military for parts of central Gaza.

The population has been squeezed into the western coastal area al-Mawassi where the majority of people are living in camps.

UN agency OCHA said those who fled today were sheltering in 122 IDP sites. It warned that there is just one month of reserves for supplies to disinfect drinking water.  Israeli bombardment has damaged Gaza's water treatment plants forcing many to use sea water.

An informed source told AFP that the conditions Hamas objected to included keeping Israeli troops on Gaza's border with Egypt, and terms related to the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in exchange for Israeli hostages.

Diplomatic pressure on Israel to agree a truce has increased in recent weeks.

Hamas announced its opposition to what it called "new conditions" from Israel in the latest plan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the mediators to put "pressure" on Hamas "to accept the May 27 principles", referring to Biden's framework.

Western ally Jordan however put the blame squarely on Netanyahu for blocking a deal, with Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi urging pressure "by everyone who wishes to see this through to completion".

Read more here.

Injured Palestinians evacuated from Gaza arrived in Malaysia on Friday to receive further treatment in a scheme organised by the Malaysian government and Egypt, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Forty-one Palestinians aged between eight months and 62 years old flew from Cairo on board two Malaysia Air Force planes.

Wafa reported that the patients were welcomed by Malaysian officials and Palestine's ambassador Walid Abu Ali and Egyptian ambassador Ragai Nasr. Patients family members were also evacuated, according to the report.

Dozens of sick and wounded Palestinians have been barred from leaving Gaza since Israeli forces seized the southern Rafah border crossing in May. The war has decimated the territory's health system with medics struggling to treat the overwhelming number of casualties and a shortage of equipment.

A US official warned Friday that Iran would face "cataclysmic" consequences and derail momentum toward a Gaza truce if it strikes Israel in response to the killing of a top Hamas official.

The United States "would encourage the Iranians -- and I know many are -- not to move down that road, because the consequences could be quite cataclysmic, particularly for Iran," a senior US official told reporters on customary condition of anonymity.

"It was Hamas, a proxy of Iran, that started this war on October 7, and it would be ironic if Iran was do something to basically derail what we think is the best opportunity at a very comprehensive ceasefire and hostage release deal that we have had in many months," the US official said.

Iran has warned Israel of a response to the July 31 strike in Tehran that killed Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, for which Israel is widely suspected but has not claimed responsibility.

Hamas said Friday the Palestinian group rejected "new conditions" in a Gaza ceasefire plan the United States presented after two days of talks with Israeli negotiators in Qatar.

As international pressure mounted for a ceasefire after more than 10 months of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, US President Joe Biden said: "We are closer than we have ever been."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is to travel to Israel this weekend to advance the latest proposal, the State Department said.

"Secretary Blinken will underscore the critical need for all parties in the region to avoid escalation or any other actions that could undermine the ability to finalise an agreement," it said.

The Palestinian health ministry said on Friday that a 10-month-old baby has been diagnosed with polio in the Gaza Strip, which the United Nations says has been free of the disease for 25 years.

"The Ministry of Health recorded the first case of polio in the southern governorates (Gaza) for a 10-month-old child who had not received any polio vaccination dose," a statement said.

A vaccination campaign will start in the "next few days" for children under the age of 10, with support from UNICEF, the ministry added.

UNICEF has provided 1.2 million doses of type II polio vaccine.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy called on all parties to "engage seriously" in ceasefire negotiations and urged for there to be "no delays" or excuses on a joint French-British visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a post on X on Friday, Lammy said he met with Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa.

Only with diplomacy can we end the current cycle of violence in the Middle East and bring lasting peace.@Steph_Sejourne and I met Israeli Foreign Minister @Israel_Katz and Palestinian Authority PM Mustafa, in the first joint UK-France Ministerial visit in over 10 years. pic.twitter.com/ckRZWAaomy

— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) August 16, 2024

Senior Hamas politburo member Izzat al-Rishq said on Friday that the movement backs the UN's request for a seven day pause in fighting to conduct polio vaccinations on children in Gaza.

In a statement, al-Rishq also called for medicine and food for the 2 million Palestinians trapped in the war-torn enclave.

Polio was discovered in Gaza's wastewater last month and humanitarians fear its spread could have devastating consequences for children.

Public services have collapsed following repeated Israeli strikes on wastewater salination plants and water treatment centres.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel this weekend to push forward a Gaza ceasefire deal as the United States tries to bridge the gaps in talks in the region, the State Department said.

Blinken will leave Saturday and seek to "conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees through the bridging proposal" presented Friday during talks in Doha by the United States, a State Department statement said.

Hezbollah said on Friday it struck buildings used by Israeli troops in the border town of Metula in response to ongoing Israeli military strikes on Lebanese villages.

In a post on Telegram, the Shia militant group and Hamas ally said the "Islamic Resistance" targeted buildings used by Israeli enemy soldiers in the Metula settlement with appropriate weapons".

Israeli civilians were evacuated from the border towns after the fighting started last October.

The group has been launching several attacks throughout Friday.

The Israeli army says two drones entered the occupied Golan Heights from Lebanon.

The military adds that one was intercepted while the other exploded in the Kila area, with interception debris causing a fire.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday called for parties to the war in Gaza to provide concrete assurances guaranteeing humanitarian pauses in order for a polio vaccine campaign to be conducted.

Guterres, speaking to reporters at the United Nations, appealed for assurances to be provided right away as he warned that preventing and containing the spread of polio in the enclave would take a massive coordinated and urgent effort.

"Let's be clear: The ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire," Guterres said.

"But in any case, a polio pause is a must. It is impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign with war raging all over."

Guterres said the UN is poised to launch a polio vaccine campaign in Gaza for children under the age of 10, but said the "challenges are grave".

At least 95 percent vaccination coverage will be needed during each of the two rounds of the campaign to prevent polio's spread and reduce its emergence given the devastation in Gaza, Guterres said.

He added that a successful campaign will require the facilitation of transport for vaccines and refrigeration equipment at every step, the entry of polio experts into Gaza, reliable internet and phone services, and other elements.

Gaza's health ministry declared a polio epidemic in the Palestinian enclave last month, blaming Israel's ongoing military offensive.

Polio was detected in sewage in Gaza's Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis governorates, Dr Hamid Jafari, a World Health Organization polio specialist, said during a news conference earlier this month, adding it was possible the virus had been circulating since September.

A senior Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they understood there was at least one confirmed case and two suspected ones among Palestinians in the enclave, adding that there might not be a single humanitarian pause but multiple shorter ones.

The danger is that the threat of disease outbreaks is not confined to Gaza, which the official said was a "contagion time bomb".

The official explained that when the rainy season begins late this autumn, the contaminated raw sewage could be "pushed" down to an aquifer from which Israel, Egypt and Jordan draw water.

(Reuters)

US President Joe Biden on Friday said "we are closer than we've ever been" to a ceasefire in Gaza "but we're not there yet", as talks in the region paused until next week.

"I don't want to jinx anything… we may have something. But we're not there yet," Biden told reporters in the White House's Oval Office.

"It's much, much closer than it was three days ago. So, keep your fingers crossed."

(Reuters)

Lebanese group Hezbollah says it targeted a deployment of Israeli soldiers in the area around a barracks with rocket weapons.

Hezbollah says a direct hit was achieved.

Hamas will not accept "new conditions" from Israel in a proposal put forward during talks in Doha aimed at sealing a ceasefire and captive release in the Gaza war, officials told AFP on Friday.

Israel's "new" conditions include keeping troops inside Gaza along its border with Egypt, an informed source said, while Hamas demands "a complete ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Strip, a normal return of the displaced and an exchange deal" without restrictions, the source said.

Senior officials from the US, Egyptian, and Qatari governments will meet in Cairo before the end of next week, aiming to conclude a Gaza ceasefire agreement under terms proposed today, the three countries say.

"Over the last 48 hours in Doha, senior officials from our governments have engaged in intensive talks as mediators aiming to conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees," the US, Egypt, and Qatar say in a statement.

"These talks were serious and constructive and were conducted in a positive atmosphere."

The statement says that earlier today, the US with Egyptian and Qatari support put forward to Israel and Hamas a "bridging proposal" in line with principles set out by President Joe Biden on 31 May and in a UN Security Council resolution.

"This proposal builds on areas of agreement over the past week, and bridges remaining gaps in the manner that allows for a swift implementation of the deal," the statement adds.

It says technical work will continue over the coming days on the implementation details.

The statement recalls previous joint remarks in which Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said last week: "There is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay. It is time to release the hostages, begin the ceasefire, and implement this agreement."

Today's statement says: "The path is now set for that outcome, saving lives, bringing relief to the people of Gaza, and de-escalating regional tensions."

Joint Statement from the United States, Egypt, and Qatar#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/A7myXPKsh3

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) August 16, 2024

More than 100 journalists, news outlets, and press freedom organisations have called on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to back an arms embargo on Israel.

A letter sent to Blinken was signed by 113 journalists including Jonathan Cook, 20 news outlets including Mondoweiss, and the Courage Foundation and six other press freedom organisations.

"As journalists, publications and press freedom groups in solidarity with the courageous Palestinian journalists of Gaza, we call on you to do more to protect journalists and show unwavering support for free and independent media by supporting an arms embargo against Israel," read the letter, dated to Thursday.

"Israel has gone to great lengths to suppress media coverage of its war in Gaza, imposing military censorship on both its own journalists and international reporters operating in the country; and, with Egypt's help, blocking all foreign journalists from Gaza.

"Israel shut down Al Jazeera, raided its office, seized its equipment, and blocked its broadcasts and website within Israel.

"The world relies only on the Palestinian journalists in Gaza to report the truth about the war and Israel's widespread violations of international law."

The letter added that Israel's "deliberate targeting" of these journalists appears "intended to impose a near blackout on coverage of its assault on Gaza".

The letter said that during the war Israel has also killed journalists outside the Gaza Strip, pointing to an October incident in which Israeli tank fire killed Reuters' Issam Abdallah in Lebanon.

"The US is providing the weapons Israel continually uses to target Palestinian journalists in Gaza," the letter adds.

"This is a violation of international law and US domestic law.

"We urge you to immediately cease the transfer of all weapons to Israel."

The armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) says it fired a barrage of rockets at Israeli gatherings in the Netzarim axis, which splits Gaza in two, in response to Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.

The PFLP's armed wing is called the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades.

Heavy helicopter gunfire resumes north of Hamad Residential City in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Thursday said one of its colonels has died of wounds suffered in an airstrike it blamed on the US-led coalition in Syria.

Ahmadreza Afshari of the IRGC's "aerospace advisory forces" in Syria was "martyred because of injuries caused by aerial bombardment", Guards' chief Hossein Salami said in a statement carried by state news agency IRNA.

The colonel was transferred from Syria to Iran for treatment following the airstrike, the statement said, indicating the incident occurred two to three weeks ago.

In late July, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said an airstrike killed three pro-Iran fighters in Syria's Deir Az-Zour province, where Iran wields significant influence.

The area is regularly targeted by Israel and sometimes by the United States.

Responsibility for the strike was not immediately claimed.

A spokesman for the US-led military coalition formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State jihadist group said at the time that "neither the coalition nor US forces carried out overnight strikes" in Deir Az-Zour.

Sounds of gunfire can be heard from Israeli vehicles and quadcopter drones east of Deir Al-Balah in southern Gaza, amid fierce confrontations with Palestinian fighters.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told his French and British counterparts Friday that his country expects support "in attacking" Iran if it strikes Israel.

"If Iran attacks, we expect the coalition to join Israel not only in defence but also in attacking significant targets in Iran," Katz told his French and UK counterparts during their visit to Israel.

The United Nations asked for breaks in the Gaza war for seven days to vaccinate more than 640,000 children against polio, which has been discovered in the territory's wastewater.

UN agencies want to provide novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) to children under 10 starting later this month, the World Health Organization said.

"Without the humanitarian pauses, the delivery of the campaign will not be possible," it added.

Forty-one Palestinian civilians who suffered various injuries in the war on Gaza were flown to Malaysia on Friday for treatment, officials said.

The Palestinians, aged between eight months and 62 years, were flown to the majority-Muslim nation from the Egyptian capital Cairo onboard two Malaysian air force transport aircraft.

"We carried out this mission purely on humanitarian considerations, and to show our solidarity against what is happening to the people of Palestine," Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin told a news conference after receiving the patients.

"It also shows our nation's stand against this inhumane genocide."

Nordin said the injured were selected after a "careful evaluation" to ensure they were fit for the 19-hour flight that made a stopover in Karachi, Pakistan.

The injured were accompanied by 86 family members or next of kin.

The Mujahideen Brigades, a Palestinian armed group, says a barrel bomb exploded on an Israeli M113 personnel carrier east of Rafah in southern Gaza.

The Mujihadeen Brigades is the military branch of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement.

The European Union says it condemns Israeli settler attacks in the occupied West Bank town of Jit, saying they "aimed at terrorising Palestinian civilians".

"Day after day, in an almost total impunity, Israeli settlers fuel violence in the occupied West Bank, contributing to endanger any chance of peace," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell adds on X.

"The Israeli government must stop these unacceptable actions immediately.

"I confirm my intention to table a proposal for EU sanctions against violent settlers' enablers, including some [of the] Israeli government's members."

We condemn settlers attacks in Jit, aimed at terrorising Palestinian civilians.

Day after day, in an almost total impunity, Israeli settlers fuel violence in the occupied West Bank, contributing to endanger any chance of peace. 1/2

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) August 16, 2024

The UN's Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, says families have "nowhere to go" after the new Israeli evacuation orders in Gaza.

"Once again, fear spreads as families have nowhere to go," UNRWA says on X.

"People remain trapped in an endless nightmare of death and destruction on a staggering scale."

UNRWA notes that the Israeli evacuation orders have been issued "even inside the so-called 'humanitarian zone'".

#Gaza: New evacuation orders have been issued by Israeli authorities, even inside the so-called “humanitarian zone”.

Once again, fear spreads as families have nowhere to go. People remain trapped in an endless nightmare of death and destruction on a staggering scale. pic.twitter.com/Myi6z6Ix87

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 16, 2024

Palestine's foreign ministry on Friday described a Jewish settler attack on Palestinians in a village of the Israeli-occupied West Bank as "organised state terrorism".

The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry said one person was killed by gunshots fired by settlers and another was seriously wounded during the attack on Thursday night in Jit, in the north of the Palestinian territory.

The unrest was condemned by Israeli leaders.

The Israeli army ordered a fresh evacuation of areas in southern and central Gaza previously designated as a so-called humanitarian safe zone on Friday, claiming the areas had been used by Hamas as a base for firing mortars and rockets towards Israel.

It said warning flyers and text messages had been sent out in the area north of the southern city of Khan Younis and in the eastern part of Deir Al-Balah, where tens of thousands of people have sought shelter.

"The advance warning to civilians is being issued in order to mitigate harm to the civilian population and to enable civilians to move away from the combat zone," the military said in a statement.

Earlier the military claimed it had hit an area in Khan Younis from where rockets were fired towards the community of Kissufim on Thursday, finding weapons including shoulder-fired missiles and explosives.

(Reuters)

Israeli artillery targeted the town of Abasan Al-Jadeeda east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Israeli artillery has targeted the area around a mosque and UNRWA schools in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society says children in Gaza suffering anxiety and fear because of the war have prompted it to organise a psychosocial first aid camp in shelters.

"Through various activities, the camp brings smiles to their faces and helps alleviate their distress," the humanitarian group adds on social media platform X.

Children in the #Gaza Strip suffering from anxiety and fear due to the ongoing war have inspired the Palestine Red Crescent Society to organize a Psychosocial First Aid (PFA) Camp in Khan Yunis and other shelters. Through various activities, the camp brings smiles to their faces…

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) August 15, 2024

At least 20 people have been killed in raids hitting a number of homes in Khan Younis in southern Gaza in the past hours, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.