Israel intensifies strikes on Gaza as Palestinians left without relief

TNA’s live coverage of the latest from the war on Gaza concludes for today. Join us again tomorrow at 0800 GMT for updates from the besieged Palestinian enclave.

United Nations rights experts warned Monday that Israel risked becoming an international "pariah" over its "genocide" in Gaza, suggesting that the country's UN membership should be called into question.

Several independent UN experts decried what they said was Israel's escalating violence and rights violations in Gaza and the West Bank, its disregard for international court rulings and verbal attacks on the UN itself.

The rapporteurs, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the UN, also slammed Western countries' "double standards" in the devastating war and insisted Israel needed to face consequences for its actions.

"I think that it is unavoidable for Israel to become a pariah in the face of its continuous, relentless vilifying assault on the United Nations, (and) Palestinians," said Francesca Albanese, the UN's special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Albanese, who has repeatedly accused Israel of committing "genocide" in Gaza and who has faced harsh criticism and calls for her dismissal from Israel, asked if the country deserved "to continue to go unpunished for its relentless attacks" on the UN.

"Should there be a consideration of its membership as part of this organisation, which Israel seems to have zero respect for?" she rhetorically asked journalists in Geneva, speaking via video call.

George Katrougalos, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion of democratic and equitable international order, also stressed that Israel be held to the same standards as all countries, and condemned its repeated attacks on critical UN officials or agencies.

"We cannot anymore stand this kind of double standards and hypocrisy," he told reporters.

"I hope that it is not going to continue... I trust that the progressive and democratic citizens of Israel would not let their country become a pariah like South Africa had become during the times of apartheid."

A number of prominent columnists have quit British weekly the Jewish Chronicle after it published contentious claims about Hamas's leader and the remaining Israeli hostages leaving the Gaza Strip.

The story, supposedly based on intelligence sources, claimed a document had been uncovered showing that Yahya Sinwar and the detainees would be smuggled out of the territory into Egypt.

British media industry publication Press Gazette said last August that the JC had lost more than a dozen complaints to the regulator and libel claims since 2018.

Jonathan Freedland, who has contributed to the JC since 1998 and whose father also worked at the newspaper, wrote on X on Sunday that he was cutting ties as a result of the "latest scandal".

"Too often, the JC reads like a partisan, ideological instrument, its judgements political rather than journalistic," he added, calling for greater transparency about its ownership.

Freedland's former colleagues at The Guardian, David Aaronovitch and Hadley Freeman followed suit, while a representative for the writer and broadcaster David Baddiel said he had "no plans" to contribute further to the publication.

The JC last week said it had ended "any association" with the article's author, Elon Perry, whom it said had worked with the Israeli military.

"While we understand he did serve in the [Israeli army], we were not satisfied with some of his claims," it wrote on Friday.

I have today told the editor of the Jewish Chronicle that I can no longer continue my relationship with the paper. Here is my letter to him pic.twitter.com/H5FkXJnv16

— Jonathan Freedland (@Freedland) September 15, 2024

Palestinian media outlets have reported that three Palestinians were killed, and 14 others wounded in an Israeli airstrike targeting a home owned by the Muhareb family near the al-Ihsan Mosque near the Nuseirat refugee camp, located in central Gaza Strip.

This latest attack has added to the mounting toll of casualties in the region as Israeli air raids continue to strike residential areas.

The Nuseirat camp, already heavily impacted by the ongoing conflict, is home to many displaced families living in densely populated conditions, making the humanitarian situation even more dire.

The escalation of attacks continues to raise concerns over civilian safety and access to emergency services in the besieged enclave.

Hamas chief Yehya Sinwar has congratulated the Yemeni Houthi group for its missile attack on Israel and said this sent a message to their foe, the Houthi Al-Massirah TV reported on Monday.

The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control northern Yemen, reached central Israel with a missile on Sunday for the first time, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say Israel would inflict a "heavy price" on them.

"I congratulate you on your success in reaching the depth of the enemy entity," Sinwar said in a letter to Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi.

The Hamas chief said that Israel's plans to neutralize the group had failed.

"I assure you that the resistance is fine. We have prepared ourselves to fight a long battle of attrition," he said.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the group struck with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that travelled 2,040 km (1270 miles) in just 11-1/2 minutes.

An Israeli military official said the missile was hit by an interceptor and fragmented in the air. Missile pieces landed in fields and near a railway station.

There were no direct casualties but nine people were lightly hurt while seeking cover.

The first Palestinian ambassador to Spain presented his credentials on Monday to Spanish King Felipe VI after Madrid in May formally recognised a Palestinian state.

The head of state welcomed Housni Abdel Wahed to the royal palace in Madrid for the traditional ceremony for newly appointed foreign ambassadors to Spain, according to images published by the royal palace on social network X.

Wahed had been the head of the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Madrid since 2022 and he enjoyed a similar status to that of an ambassador but he officially changed rank after Spain along with Ireland and Norway formally recognised a Palestinian state comprising the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The three countries said at the time they hoped their decision would spur other European countries to follow suit and accelerate efforts towards securing a ceasefire in Israel's war on Gaza.

El embajador del Estado de Palestina, Husni M.A. Abdelwahed, hace entrega al Rey de sus Cartas Credenciales.

➡️https://t.co/fyq7qVdLWi pic.twitter.com/wOjB4ZscH8

— Casa de S.M. el Rey (@CasaReal) September 16, 2024

Five people have been killed in an Israeli attack on a bakery in Mawasi, according to local media reports.

The Wafa news agency stated that the strike targeted the al-Sumoud camp, which houses displaced Palestinians.

Several others were injured in the attack, further heightening the humanitarian crisis in the area.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that Tehran would never give up on its missile programme as it needs such deterrence for its security in a region where Iran's arch-foe Israel is able to "drop missiles on Gaza every day".

In a televised news conference, the leader also said Tehran has not sent hypersonic missiles to Yemen's Houthis, a day after the Iran-backed group said a missile it fired at Israel was a hypersonic one.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would inflict a "heavy price" on the Houthis who control northern Yemen, after they reached central Israel with a missile on Sunday for the first time.

"It takes a person a week to travel to Yemen (from Iran), how could this missile have gotten there? We don't have such missiles to provide to Yemen," Pezeshkian said.

However, last year Iran presented what it described as Tehran's first domestically made hypersonic ballistic missile, with state media publishing pictures of the missile named "Fattah" at a ceremony.

⚡️JUST IN

Iranian president rejects claim that Iran is supplying hypersonic missiles to Yemen

Pezeshkian says even Iran doesn't have the missile Yemen fired at Tel Aviv pic.twitter.com/znWSvmVkqE

— Iran Observer (@IranObserver0) September 16, 2024

The Israeli military reported detecting rockets entering the Upper Galilee region from Lebanon.

While some of the rockets were intercepted, others landed in open areas without causing any casualties.

In response, the military released aerial footage showing its air raids targeting Hezbollah buildings in the town of Hula, southern Lebanon.

According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, as cited by state media, the strikes resulted in one fatality and two injuries.

Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for two separate attacks on Israeli positions earlier today.

The group stated that it launched rockets at the Metula site and fired artillery shells at another location along the border, escalating tensions in the region.

Three Palestinians were killed after being targeted by Israeli artillery near Al-Nada Towers in northern Gaza, The New Arab's Arabic sister service Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

Polio vaccination coverage in Gaza has reached 90%, the head of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency said on Monday, adding that the next step was to ensure hundreds of thousands of children got a second dose at the end of the month.

The first round of the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza ended successfully, UNRWA's chief Philippe Lazzarini said, adding that 90% of the enclave's children had received a first dose.

"Parties to the conflict have largely respected the different required "humanitarian pauses" showing that when there is a political will, assistance can be provided without disruption.

"Our next challenge is to provide children with their second dose at the end of September," he wrote on X.

The campaign to vaccinate some 640,000 children in Gaza under 10 years of age against polio, which began on Sept. 1, presented major challenges to UNRWA and its partners due to the ongoing conflict in the devastated territory.

It followed confirmation by the World Health Organization (WHO) last month that a baby had been partially paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the Palestinian territory in 25 years.

More than 446,000 Palestinian children in central and south Gaza were vaccinated earlier this month before a campaign to vaccinate a final 200,000 children in north Gaza began on September 10 despite access restrictions, evacuation orders and shortages of fuel.

Israel's defence minister told the United States that prospects for a halt in fighting with Hezbollah along the Lebanon border were dimming, his office said on Monday.

Yoav Gallant told his ally, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, in a call that "the possibility for an agreed framework in the northern arena is running out as Hezbollah continues to 'tie itself' to Hamas", an Israeli defence ministry statement said.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since October 7.

While rounds of talks mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt have been held to try to secure a truce in Gaza, there has been no suggestion of any negotiations to halt the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said Saturday his group has "no intention of going to war", but if Israel does "unleash" one "there will be large losses on both sides".

Israeli settlers have attacked al-Ka’abneh Bedouins School in the Muarrajat area, northwest of Jericho, as reported by Palestinian news agency Wafa.

During the assault, students and teachers were targeted, resulting in several injuries before the attackers were detained.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society attended to three wounded individuals, who were subsequently taken to a hospital.

Since the escalation of the Gaza conflict, at least 704 people, including 159 children, have been killed and over 5,700 injured in Israeli raids and settler attacks across the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has condemned the attack on the school, describing it as part of an ongoing "ethnic cleansing" campaign against Palestinians.

The ministry warned that such "settler terrorism" is likely to provoke further violence, attributing these actions to the official Israeli policy endorsed by the government and overseen by "extremist ministers," including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

A 50-year-old man has been fatally shot in the Bedouin city of Rahat, Israel, according to medics. This incident is the latest in a series of violent crimes affecting the Palestinian community.

Paramedics from the Magen David Adom ambulance service found the man unconscious and without signs of life upon arrival. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Israeli NGO Abraham Initiatives reports that 170 members of the Palestinian community in Israel have been killed in homicides since the start of 2024.

Israeli forces have detained 20 Palestinians, including a child and several former prisoners, since yesterday, as reported by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.

The arrests occurred throughout the occupied West Bank, with reports of threats made against detainees and their families. Since the onset of Israel’s conflict with Gaza last October, at least 10,700 individuals have been arrested in the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem.

Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 41,226 Palestinians and wounded 95,413 since Oct. 7, the Palestinian enclave's health ministry said on Monday. 

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid is scheduled to meet with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan during his visit to the United States on Monday, according to a statement from his office.

The former Israeli prime minister will also meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and several Republican senators, including Lindsay Graham, as part of his diplomatic engagements.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has extended his best wishes to US presidential candidate Donald Trump after an apparent assassination attempt on Sunday, the second such incident in two months.

"Israel is deeply grateful for President Trump’s contributions to our nation's security and prosperity, and we pray for his health and well-being," Katz tweeted.

He also condemned political violence, stating, "We must strongly oppose any efforts to impose political views through threats or violence. Political violence must never be allowed to undermine the American people's right to freely and democratically choose their path."

The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has expressed strong support for the Houthis following their missile strike on Israel, stating that the attack "exposed the weakness and frailty" of the Israeli military "at all levels."

Hezbollah further praised the "courageous decision" made by Yemen’s leadership to retaliate, calling it a genuine reflection of the "unified position of the resistance axis" across multiple fronts.

The group emphasised its ongoing commitment to backing the Palestinian people and their "honourable and valiant resistance" against Israeli aggression.

Israeli forces have targeted the central Nuseirat refugee camp earlier, as the casualty toll continues to rise following the attacks.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that the refugee camp, which has been a frequent target of Israeli attacks, has led to the killing of 10 Palestinians, which includes several women and children.

Saif Mithqal Abu Dawas, aged 27, has succumbed to injuries he sustained earlier this month in a drone strike that took place in Tubas, according to reports from Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The airstrike, which occurred on 5 September, targeted a vehicle and claimed the lives of several others.

Dawas passed away while receiving treatment in a hospital in Jenin. Following his death, the Factions Coordination Committee in Tubas declared a general strike in response to the incident.

Since the conflict in Gaza escalated last year, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 704 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Additionally, over 10,700 individuals have been arrested during this period, reflecting the ongoing tensions in the region.

Yemen's Houthis downed a U.S. MQ-9 drone in Dhamar province, the Iran-aligned group's military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said on Monday.

This comes after a missile launched by Yemen's Hamas-aligned Huthi rebels hit central Israel on Sunday, a rare incident which caused no casualties but added to regional tensions nearly a year into the Gaza war.