Israeli forces conduct West Bank raids, 33 Palestinians killed

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

Norway's $1.7 trillion wealth fund may have to divest shares of companies that violate the fund watchdog's new, tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses that aid Israel's operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, according to a report by news agency Reuters.

The Council on Ethics for the world's largest sovereign wealth fund sent an Aug. 30 letter to the finance ministry, seen by Reuters, that summarises the recently expanded definition of unethical corporate behavior. The change has not previously been reported.

The letter did not specify how many nor name companies whose stocks might be sold but suggested it would be a small number, should the board of the central bank, which has the final say, follow recommendations that the council makes.

Read the latest report, written by Reuters journalist Gwladys Fouche, by clicking here.

According to news publication Al Jazeera English, a young man and a child were shot with live bullets during clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces in the city of ad-Dhahiriya, south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces reportedly stormed a football stadium, detaining several young men who were later released.

Meanwhile, additional clashes erupted in the city centre, where the Israeli military used live bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas.

Saudi Arabia has strongly criticised Israel over its stance on the Gaza-Egypt border. In a statement, Riyadh condemned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertions that the Philadelphi Corridor poses a security threat and supported Egypt's demand for Israeli troops to withdraw from the area.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry described Israel's comments on the corridor as having strongly condemned and denounced the position, accusing Israel of making "futile attempts to justify continued violations of international laws and norms."

Israel argues that the corridor is a major route for smuggling, with Netanyahu claiming that withdrawing troops would enable Hamas to re-arm and transport captives out of Gaza.

However, Egypt contends that smuggling is no longer a concern and rejects an Israeli presence on its side of the border.

Saudi Arabia reaffirmed "its solidarity and support for Egypt," according to the statement.

#Statement | Saudi Arabia expresses its strong condemnation and denunciation of the Israeli statements on Philadelphia axis and the absurd attempts to justify the continuous Israeli violations of int’l laws & norms and stresses its solidarity by Egypt against Israeli allegations. pic.twitter.com/qUmZmXVNJB

— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) September 3, 2024

The United States has charged leaders of the Palestinian group Hamas with a raft of "terrorism" offenses, federal court documents unsealed on Tuesday revealed.

Six men -- including Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran on July 31 -- were named in the charging document dated February 1, accused of "conspiracy to provide material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death" along with six other counts.

In response to criticism from former war cabinet member Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s office has outlined what was said to be Israel’s accomplishments since Gantz and his party withdrew from the government and the war cabinet in June.

According to Netanyahu's office, the list of achievements includes the elimination of Hamas’s and Hezbollah’s chief of staff, strikes against the Houthis, the capture of the Philadelphi Corridor (a critical route for Hamas’s armament), and a preemptive attack on Hezbollah that thwarted its plans and destroyed thousands of rockets aimed at the Galilee.

Netanyahu added, "Whoever does not contribute to the victory and the return of the hostages would do well not to interfere."

Patience is running out among United Nations Security Council members and the 15-member body will likely consider taking action if a ceasefire cannot soon be brokered between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Slovenia's UN envoy - council president for September - said on Tuesday.

"There is a raising anxiousness in the council that it has to move one way or the other - either there is a ceasefire or that the council then reflects on what else we can do to bring the ceasefire," said Slovenia's UN Ambassador Samuel Zbogar.

"I'm pretty sure that in September it will have to go ... one way or the other, not because we want (it to), but because I think the patience is out," he told reporters.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday questioned how the warring parties in Gaza could agree to pauses in fighting to allow the vaccination of some 640,000 Palestinian children against polio but not a ceasefire.

"If the parties can act to protect children from a deadly virus ... surely they can and must act to protect children and all innocents from the horrors of war," said his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

The Security Council in June adopted resolution 2735, which backed a three-phase plan, laid out by U.S. President Joe Biden, for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas. But mediation efforts - led by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar - have yet to produce a deal between Israel and Hamas.

The politicial rival of Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised the Israeli prime minister at Tel Aviv's Israel Bar Association’s annual conference on Tuesday night.

Benny Gantz hit back at Netanyahu’s stance on maintaining control over the Philadelphi corridor.

Gantz described some of Netanyahu's arguments as "weighty" and others as "meaningless," but accused the Prime Minister of not being truthful about efforts to secure the return of captives alive.

Gantz expressed that Netanyahu’s actions were unsurprising, noting that during their time in the war cabinet, Netanyahu had repeatedly delayed progress on hostage negotiations, including the initial proposal.

He asserts that Netanyahu has not prioritised the swift return of residents to northern Israel as a war goal.

"It doesn’t surprise me because Netanyahu is focused on political survival, and harms our strategic ties with the United States while Iran is progressing toward a nuclear weapon," Gantz said.

"We must bring back the hostages," Gantz added, "even at a very heavy price."

Alongside Gantz in the press briefing, former Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot emphasised that he takes the issue of the Philadelphi Corridor very seriously.

He also accused Netanyahu of "delegitimising" Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Israeli military officers in his comments regarding control of the Gaza-Egypt border.

Eisenkot also claimed that Netanyahu initially ensured every minister supported the hostage proposal from May 27, but then swiftly reversed his position for political reasons.

On Monday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that Israel must maintain control of the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt.

This stance has been warned to potentially undermine efforts to broker a ceasefire and secure a hostage release deal in the ongoing conflict.

Despite a lack of regular speeches since October 7, Netanyahu addressed the nation on Monday in response to unprecedented protests across Israel calling for a deal, as well as a general strike triggered by the discovery of six murdered hostages in Gaza.

Israel's Prime Minister rejected any notion of making "concessions" in the stalled negotiations or yielding to pressure to end the war, which is nearing its 12th month.

Video shared on social media by Israeli accounts, and verified by multiple media outlets, shows thousands of people in Tel Aviv protesting for a deal to secure the release of captives held in Gaza by Hamas and other groups.

Some of the footage reveals arrests and instances of police assaulting demonstrators.

These protests began over the weekend following the discovery of six more captives who were found dead in the Gaza Strip.

💥 Israelis are finally rising up. Huge crowds in Tel Aviv and elsewhere tonight in the largest anti-govt demonstrations since Oct. 7. pic.twitter.com/1Xne8umQDc

— Yonatan Touval (@Yonatan_Touval) September 1, 2024

The devastated territory's civil defence has reported that nine people were killed following Israeli forces targeting a residential building near a municipal park in central Gaza.

The civil defence added that at least two children and a woman were among those deceased.
 

Israeli forces killed at least 35 Palestinians across Gaza on Tuesday, according to Palestinian officials, as brief pauses in the conflict allowed for the continuation of a polio vaccination campaign for children.

Among the dead were four women in the southern city of Rafah and eight individuals near a hospital in northern Gaza City, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service reported.

Later in the day, an Israeli airstrike targeted a house near Omar al-Mokhtar Street in Gaza City, killing nine Palestinians, according to medics.

Additional casualties were reported in separate airstrikes throughout the territory.

The United States on Tuesday called for urgency and flexibility to finalize an agreement between Israel and Hamas for a truce in Gaza, after the recent deaths of six captives.

"There are dozens of hostages still remaining in Gaza, still waiting for a deal that will bring them home. It is time to finalize that deal," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

The White House also said on Tuesday that the killing of six captives, whose bodies were recovered by Israeli troops over the weekend, underscores the urgency for a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

"Clearly what happened over the weekend underscores how important it is to get this done as quickly as possible," White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters in a briefing, adding that Hamas was responsible for their deaths.

The United States and its allies have been pushing hard to negotiate a ceasefire-for-hostages deal to bring at least a temporary stop to the Gaza conflict in exchange for the release of sick, elderly and wounded hostages.

But an agreement has been elusive. U.S. officials have been working on what some officials call a final proposal, but Kirby was quick to say the United States would not be pushing a "take it or leave it" concept.

"We're working on a proposal that will secure the release of the remaining hostages and will include massive and immediate relief for the people of Gaza and also result in a stoppage of the fighting," he said.

He said he did not have a timeframe on when the proposal would be formally presented.

"We are still in constant consultations with Qatar, Egypt and Israel, and of course, Qatar and Egypt are in touch with Hamas, and we're going to do what we can to get it done," said Kirby.

The United Nations Security Council is set to discuss Israel's ongoing military actions in Gaza and the situation regarding the remaining captives in Gaza, according to Israel's UN ambassador, Danny Danon.

The meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, comes after the recovery of six bodies of captives held in Gaza.

Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon wrote on X early Tuesday that, "following my urgent request, the UN Security Council will finally convene on Wednesday for the first time since the October 7 massacre to hold an official discussion on the hostages."

Malta's UN ambassador Vanessa Frazier responded to Danon online by pointing out that a previous Security Council resolution, adopted on November 15, had already called for the release of all hostages during humanitarian pauses in the conflict.

Malta criticised Israel for not committing to this resolution and accused Danon of spreading misinformation.

Algeria has also requested a meeting to discuss the escalating tensions in the region, which will be included in the discussions on Wednesday.

On 15 Nov the Council adopted a resolution which called for the release of all hostages during humanitarian pauses in fighting. At the time of adoption your representative stated in the Council that Israel will not implement the resolution. Stop spreading misinformation.

— Vanessa Frazier 🧡 (@_VanessaFrazier) September 3, 2024

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described pauses in Israel's war on Gaza to allow children to be vaccinated against polio as a "rare ray of hope and humanity in the cascade of horror," his spokesperson said on Tuesday.

"If the parties can act to protect children from a deadly virus ... surely they can and must act to protect children and all innocents from the horrors of war," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

(Reuters)

Israeli forces killed three people, including a 16-year-old Palestinian girl, in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, as a major Israeli operation in the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm continued for a seventh day.

The girl, identified as Lujain Osama Musleh, was killed in the town of Kafr Dan, just outside Jenin, where Israeli troops have been operating for days and where they demolished a house on Tuesday.

The military gave no immediate details of the incident but said it looked into the report.

Two Palestinians were also killed in the city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said.

(Reuters)

UN human rights chief Volker Turk called Tuesday for an independent investigation into reports that Palestinian armed groups summarily executed six Israeli hostages.

"We are horrified by reports that Palestinian armed groups summarily executed six Israeli hostages, which would constitute a war crime," the UN Human Rights Office said on X, adding that Turk "calls for independent, impartial and transparent investigation and for perpetrators to be held to account".

#Gaza: We are horrified by reports that Palestinian armed groups summarily executed six Israeli hostages, which would constitute a war crime. @volker_turk calls for independent, impartial and transparent investigation and for perpetrators to be held to account.

— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) September 3, 2024

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday the 2025 state budget will feature steep spending cuts as the government tries to balance fiscal responsibility with a need to finance Israel's ongoing war on Gaza.

The minister has been under pressure from the Bank of Israel and investors seeking clarity on fiscal policy for next year. The central bank has been calling for spending cuts, tax hikes, or other ways to generate more revenue. But Smotrich has said that it was wrong to raise taxes during its war.

Speaking at a news conference, Smotrich outlined only his main focus points while formulating the budget, which he said would be ready for a cabinet vote in early October and an initial parliamentary vote in mid-November. Full approval by lawmakers would be at the end of December, he said.

"We are in the longest and most expensive war in Israel's history with expenses of 200 to 250 billion shekels ($54-$68 billion)," Smotrich said.

"We are not limiting war spending and we will support the war effort until victory," he said. "Without victory, there will not be security and without security there will no economy."

(Reuters)

At least 30 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been killed by Israel in a week - according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. 

The toll includes six children and two elderlies. Eighteen were killed in Jenin.

The total number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank is 682 since 7 October.

Israeli forces have reportedly attacked near Al-Aqsa hospital after targeting a side of a residential home only less than a mile away from the southern gate - a journalist at Al Jazeera reports.

Reports also say this coincides as the vaccinations ended for polio.

Jordan has welcomed the UK's decision to suspend some arms licenses to Israel, adding that the suspension needs to expand.

Writing on X, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said: "We urge an expansion of this suspension and call on all countries to impose a complete arms embargo on Israel."

"Unless consequences are real, Netanyahu will not end his aggression on Gaza and the West Bank, and will not stop violating international law and threatening the security of the whole region."

The Uk did right to suspend some arms exports licenses to Israel. We urge an expansion of this suspension and call on all countries to impose a complete arms embargo on Israel. Unless consequences are real, Netanyahu will not end his aggression on Gaza and the West Bank, and…

— Ayman Safadi (@AymanHsafadi) September 3, 2024

A group of journalists were injured after Israeli forces shelled them in Jenin. Wafa reports that four journalists, including two company photographers by Israeli gunfire.

Footage shows a medical team transporting the group in Kafr Dan town, west of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Issam Rimawi (@issam.rimawi)

A rescue mission was underway Monday for an oil tanker still ablaze after being attacked by Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen last month, according to US Central Command.

The Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, which was carrying 150,000 metric tons of crude oil, was hit by the Houthis off the coast of Hodeida on 21 August.

In a post on X, CENTCOM said "salvage efforts are underway" in the southern Red Sea for the disabled vessel, "which is still on fire and threatens the possibility of a major environmental disaster."

The Iran-backed rebels said they had booby-trapped and detonated charges on the ship.

CENTCOM condemned such Houthi attacks as "reckless" and promised to "continue to work with international partners and allies" to protect trade and mitigate environmental impacts in the region.

𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗖𝗿𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗢𝗶𝗹 𝗧𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀

On the morning of Sep. 2, the Iranian-backed Houthis attacked two crude oil tankers, the Panama flagged/owned, Greek operated MV BLUE LAGOON I and the Saudi flagged, owned, and operated MV AMJAD, with two… pic.twitter.com/IdqIVpkRNN

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) September 2, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has slammed the UK's decision to suspend some arms export licenses to Israel.

Writing on X, the office slammed the UK's "shameful" decision that will "embolden" Hamas. 

The office also added that Israel is pursuing a war with "just means, taking unprecedented measures to keep civilians out of harm's way and comporting fully with international law".

"With or without British arms, Israel will win this war and secure our common future."

Days after Hamas executed six Israeli hostages, the UK government suspended thirty arms licenses to Israel.

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 3, 2024

Israeli forces were operating on Tuesday in the northern West Bank, nearly a week into military raids in the occupied territory that the Gaza Health Ministry said killed at least 27.

An Israeli air strike overnight that the military said targeted Palestinians in Tulkarem killed a 15-year-old Palestinian said a hospital source in the city.

In total, "there are 30 martyrs and about 130 wounded in the West Bank since Wednesday," when the Israeli military launched a series of coordinated raids, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.

The toll includes three deaths in the Hebron area in the southern West Bank, in incidents unrelated to the raids in the north.

On the seventh day of Israel's major "counter-terrorism" operation in the northern West Bank, the focus remained in the Jenin area, where, according to the Palestinian health ministry, at least 18 have been killed since Wednesday.

The military on Monday said its forces had killed 14 in Jenin and apprehended "25 terrorists".

Israel has built 25 illegal outposts in the occupied West Bank since 7 October, according to NGO Peace Now.

In their Special Report from their Settlement Watch Team, Peace Now said most of the outposts are agricultural "farms" that are "involved in the land takeover and systematic expulsion of Palestinians from the area".

Over 40,819 Palestinians have been killed and 94,291 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said on Tuesday.

(Reuters)

Germany's Lufthansa LHAG.DE will resume its flights to Tel Aviv on Thursday, according to an update from the company. The company is one of several airlines to alter their schedules amid fears of an escalation in the Middle East conflict.

The airline announced in early August that it was suspending flights to the Israeli city, repeatedly extending the suspension measures until and including 4 September.

Lufthansa emailed a statement late Monday stating that its flights to the Lebanese capital, Beirut, would remain suspended until and including 30 September.

Regional tensions in the Middle East following Israel's war on Gaza and the assassination of Hamas and Hezbollah leads prompted many airlines to suspend flights to the region.

(Reuters)

The chief of the Israeli army, Mah, Gen. Tamir Yadai, is resigning from his position due to personal reasons.

According to the Times of Israel, Yadai will be stepping down in the coming weeks, and it is unclear who will replace him.

The World Health Organisation in Gaza said on Tuesday that, on day three of the mass campaign, it is ahead of its targets for polio vaccinations in Gaza.

Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian territories, told reporters that it had vaccinated over 161,000 children under 10 in the central area in the first two days of its campaign versus a projected 150,000.

"Up until now things are going well," he said. "These humanitarian pauses, up until now they work. We still have ten days to go."

(Reuters)

The Israeli military says it has killed a Hamas member who appeared in a widely viewed video from the 7 October attacks, where he was seen drinking from a bottle of cola in front of two children wounded in a grenade attack that had just killed their father.

The military on Tuesday identified the member as Ahmed Fozi Wadia, a commander in a Hamas commando battalion and a member of a paragliding unit. It said Wadia flew into the community of Netiv HaAsara on a paraglider before launching the attack on civilians there.

In a video of the attack on the Taasa family home, which was screened for journalists, diplomats and lawmakers around the world by Israeli officials, Gil Taasa is seen running to a shelter with his two boys when a grenade is thrown in. Taasa jumped on the grenade and was killed, and his sons were wounded. The member, now identified by the military as Wadia, is then seen standing over the wounded boys and drinking cola from their fridge.

The military said aircraft struck a compound in Gaza City on Saturday where Hamas members were allegedly operating, killing eight militants, including Wadia.

The military said the compound that was hit was near the Al-Ahli hospital but said the hospital itself was not hit. The Health Ministry in Gaza reported a strike on the hospital grounds on Saturday and said it killed three people.

Britain's chief rabbi criticised the government's decision to suspend some arms export licences to Israel only a few days after the killing of six Israeli captives in Gaza.

"It beggars belief that the British government, a close strategic ally of Israel, has announced a partial suspension of arms licences," Ephraim Mirvis said on X.

He said the move would bolster unfounded claims that Israel was in breach of international humanitarian law.

"Sadly, this announcement will serve to encourage our shared enemies," Mirvis said. "It will not help to secure the release of the remaining 101 hostages, nor contribute to the peaceful future we wish and pray for, for all people in the region and beyond."

Britain's foreign minister, David Lammy, said on Monday that the government had suspended 30 of 350 British arms export licences with Israel due to a risk the equipment could be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.

(Reuters)

It beggars belief that the British government, a close strategic ally of Israel, has announced a partial suspension of arms licences, at a time when Israel is fighting a war for its very survival on seven fronts forced upon it on the 7th October, and at the very moment when six…

— Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis (@chiefrabbi) September 2, 2024

Britain's defence minister, John Healey, said the country's suspension of 30 of its 350 arms export licences to Israel will not threaten Israel's ability to defend itself.

"It will not have a material impact on Israel's security," he told Times Radio on Tuesday, the day after the suspension was announced.

(Reuters)

Hamas strongly condemned Israeli forces' targeting of journalists covering the military operation in Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

In a Telegram post on Monday, the group said Israel’s “direct shooting at journalists is a systematic state terrorism practised against journalists, aiming to obscure the truth and prevent journalists from performing their duty of conveying the suffering of our people and the brutal crimes they are being subjected to at the hands of the Nazi occupation government”.

The statement hailed what it described as the courage of journalists covering developments in Gaza and the West Bank, calling on all international press institutions to condemn “the occupation’s repeated crimes against Palestinian journalists”.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Monday that the Israeli army had “opened fire on journalists, injuring two of them” in Jenin.

According to the Gaza media ministry, 172 journalists have been killed in the enclave since the start of the war.

Families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza called for more protests on Tuesday demanding a hostage-release deal after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was insisting on a key condition that has become the main sticking point in ceasefire negotiations.

At a news conference on Monday, Netanyahu reiterated his demand to keep Israeli troops along the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt, asserting that the measure was necessary to prevent arms smuggling to Hamas.

The condition has been rejected by Hamas and Egypt.

Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other locations in a continued surge of protests that has followed the recovery of the bodies of six hostages from the Gaza Strip.

The protesters are demanding an immediate captives-release deal, accusing Netanyahu of sabotaging truce talks in order to preserve his governing coalition with far-right partners opposed to halting Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

The spokesman for Hamas's military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said that the group had issued new instructions to its members guarding Israeli captives in Gaza.

"We tell everyone clearly that after the Nuseirat incident, new instructions were issued to the mujahideen charged with guarding the prisoners regarding how to deal with them if the occupation army approaches their place of detention," Abu Ubaida said in a Telegram post.

He held the Israeli prime minister and army responsible for the killing of captives "after they deliberately disrupted any prisoner swap deal".

"Netanyahu's insistence on releasing the prisoners through military pressure instead of concluding a deal will mean that they will be returned to their families in shrouds, and their families will have to choose [whether they want them] dead or alive," the spokesman added.

Abu Ubaida was not clear about what new commands had been sent to its guards.