Some flights cancelled at Lebanon's Beirut airport; Israel continues pounding Gaza

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The head of the United Nations' Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, says just 14 percent of areas in Gaza are not under "evacuation orders".

"Every other day, the Israeli authorities issue these orders forcing people to flee, creating havoc + panic," Philippe Lazzarini says on X.

"Quite often, people have just a few hours to pack whatever they can & start all over again, mostly on foot or on a crowded donkey cart for those who can afford it.

"Almost everyone in Gaza has been impacted by these orders. Many were forced to flee on average once a month since the war began nine months ago."

Lazzarini adds that a man told UNRWA staff recently that he was "forced to flee twice within 10 hours".

"People continue to search for safety: the most precious, the most nonexistent," UNRWA's chief says.

"This evacuation tactic only brings more misery, fear and suffering for people who have nothing to do with this war.

"The people of #Gaza are not pinballs or chess pieces, they are people."

Currently, only 14 per cent of areas in #Gaza are not under the “evacuation orders”.

Every other day, the Israeli Authorities issue these orders forcing people to flee, creating havoc + panic.

Quite often, people have just a few hours to pack whatever they can & start all over… pic.twitter.com/Ycyr0j8GR9

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 28, 2024

Palestinian media reports say that Israeli military boats bombed the coast of Gaza City in the north of the strip.

Negotiators from Israel, Egypt and Qatar have met CIA Director William Burns in Rome where they discussed what Israel called "clarifications regarding the draft agreement that was conveyed from Israel".

Negotiations on the main issues will continue in coming days, a statement from the Israeli prime minister's office said.

Hamas wants a ceasefire agreement to end the war in Gaza, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says it will stop only once the Palestinian group is defeated.

Israeli public broadcaster Kan said Israel's response to the latest proposal was handed to Washington on Saturday ahead of the expected meeting – the latest effort to reach an agreement after months in which Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for the stalemate.

(Reuters)

Some flights departing or arriving at Beirut airport on Monday have been cancelled, a flight-tracking website shows.

Arrivals cancelled include flights from Copenhagen and Dubai on Lebanese national carrier Middle East Airways and Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines, Flightradar24 indicates.

Departures cancelled include an AJet flight for Turkey's capital Ankara and a Lufthansa flight for the German city of Frankfurt.

It comes amid heightened worry that the Israeli war on Gaza could spread into a full-scale escalation in Lebanon, amid increased tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined to allow around 150 sick Palestinian children to leave Gaza for the UAE to receive treatment, Israel's public broadcaster reports.

Israeli aircraft attacked a home near a mosque in the Al-Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Israeli aircraft have carried out violent raids targeting eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Israeli forces bombed a home east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Hamas's armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, says its fighters, in partnership with Palestinian Islamic Jihad's military branch, the Al-Quds Brigades, were able to snipe an Israeli soldier in eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Israel's President Isaac Herzog there needed to be "immediate steps" towards a Gaza war ceasefire.

"The prime minister said there must be immediate steps towards a ceasefire, so that hostages can be released and more humanitarian aid can get in for those in desperate need," Starmer's office said in a statement released on Sunday.

"The Prime Minister reiterated his ongoing support for Israel's right to self-defence in accordance with international law."

Starmer met Herzog in Paris where both were attending the Olympics.

In a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 7 July shortly after Starmer took office, he "set out the clear and urgent need for a ceasefire", according to a previous British government statement.

Starmer on Sunday said there was no moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas and expressed his condolences for the deaths of five hostages kidnapped during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October whose bodies had recently been recovered.

(Reuters)

The Israeli security cabinet meeting authorised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant to "decide on the manner and timing of the response against" Lebanese group Hezbollah, the premier's office says.

The meeting has finished, Netanyahu's office says on X.

The meeting of the Security Cabinet has concluded. The members of the Cabinet authorized the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister to decide on the manner and timing of the response against the Hezbollah terrorist organization.

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 28, 2024

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that Turkey might enter Israel as it had done in the past in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, though he did not spell out what sort of intervention he was suggesting.

Erdogan, who has been a fierce critic of Israel's offensive on Gaza, started discussing that war during a speech praising his country's defence industry.

"We must be very strong so that Israel can't do these ridiculous things to Palestine. Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them," Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling AK Party in his hometown of Rize.

"There is no reason why we cannot do this… We must be strong so that we can take these steps," Erdogan added in the televised address.

AK Party representatives did not respond to calls asking for more detail on Erdogan's comments. Israel did not immediately make any comment.

The president appeared to be referring to past actions by Turkey.

In 2020, Turkey sent military personnel to Libya in support of the United Nations-recognised Government of National Accord of Libya.

Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Al-Dbeibah, who heads the Government of National Unity in Tripoli, is backed by Turkey.

Turkey has denied any direct role in Azerbaijan's military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh, but said last year it was using "all means", including military training and modernisation, to support its close ally.

(Reuters)

The Palestine Red Crescent Society says on X that the "spread of famine from northern Gaza to all parts" of the coastal enclave "led to the loss of many Palestinians", mostly children.

The spread of famine from nothern #Gaza to all parts of the Strip led to the loss of many lives, most of them are children. #IHL pic.twitter.com/BOrSH2VMTL

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) July 28, 2024

The White House has said that rocket fire that killed 12 young people in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights was "conducted by Lebanese Hezbollah".

Calling the attack "horrific," National Security Council (NSC) spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement that "it was their rocket, and launched from an area they control. It should be universally condemned."

The Israeli military has said the youths were struck on Saturday by an Iranian-made rocket carrying a 50-kilogram (110-pound) warhead that Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group fired at a football field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, also condemned the strike in language similar to that used by the White House.

Harris "has been briefed and is closely monitoring Hezbollah's horrific attack on a soccer field in Majdal Shams," her NSC adviser Phil Gordon wrote on X.

"She condemns this horrific attack and mourns for all those killed and wounded."

Hezbollah has said it had no connection to the incident and pointed the finger at Israel.

"It was not the first time that Israeli batteries and Iron Dome missiles have missed and backfired to hit areas around Majdal Shams and the occupied Syrian Golan," Hezbollah was quoted as saying by the BBC.

Jordan's foreign ministry warns against a dangerous escalation in south Lebanon and the consequences of igniting a new war.

The ministry warns that the escalation in southern Lebanon could lead towards the expansion of the war into a full-scale regional war.

Jordanian foreign ministry spokesperson Sufyan Al-Qudah emphasises the importance of supporting Lebanon, its security and stability, and the safety of its people and institutions.

He stresses the necessity of adhering to United Nations Security Council resolution 1701 to prevent further escalation.

UN Security Council resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, called for an area between the Lebanon-Israel frontier, known as the Blue Line, and the Litani River without any armed personnel save Lebanese government forces and United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon peacekeepers.

Several Palestinians were killed and wounded after Israeli aircraft bombed a home in Gaza City's Al-Sabra neighbourhood, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, the French presidency says in a statement, as Paris seeks to prevent a broader escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.

The presidency says Macron reminded Netanyahu that France was fully committed to doing "everything to avoid a new escalation in the region by passing messages to all parties involved in the conflict".

(Reuters)

Israel demolished buildings near a mosque in the Tel Al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Israel has bombed the town of Al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, a correspondent for The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Palestinian media say that 27 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israeli bombing of Khan Younis in southern Gaza since dawn today.

Hamas's armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, has targeted an Israeli Namer personnel carrier with a Red Arrow guided missile in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Lebanon's caretaker Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib claimed that "Hezbollah is ready to withdraw behind the Litani if Israel stops its violations" during an interview with al-Hadath. 

During the interview he also said that "the outbreak of a wider war is not in the interests of Israel, nor of Lebanon". 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is delaying the transfer of wounded children from Gaza to the UAE for treatment as a result of the strike on the town of Majdal Shams that killed 12, according to Haaretz. 

15 people were killed in two Israeli strikes on Khan Younis according to reports in Al Jazeera. The attacks come after an Israeli strike on Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone killed five people. 

According to Lebanese news outlet LBCI, Israel has decided to conduct retaliatory airstrikes against Hezbollah.

The outlet added that Western diplomats are attempting to prevent Israeli strikes on major population centers, including Beirut in a bid to prevent Hezbollah from responding to the an attack in a significant way.

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Sunday that Israel had the right to defend itself against Hezbollah, when asked about a rocket attack on a football field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teenagers.

Israel accused the Iran-backed group of being behind that attack while Hezbollah denied any responsibility for the strike that raised fears of a wider regional war.

"Israel has every right to defend itself against Hezbollah like they do against Hamas," Schumer told CBS News in an interview.

(Reuters)

Lebanon's Middle East Airlines (MEA) said in a statement on Sunday it has delayed the return of some flights from Sunday night to Monday morning, without stating a reason.

Israel vowed swift retaliation against the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon on Sunday after 12 children and teenagers were killed by a rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah denied responsibility.

(Reuters)

Egypt stressed the importance of supporting Lebanon and "sparing it the scourge of war", the country's foreign ministry said on Sunday amid escalating tensions between Israel and the Iran-aligned Lebanese Hezbollah group.

Cairo, a mediator in the ongoing Gaza war, also warned of the dangers of opening new war front with Lebanon.

(Reuters)

The UK on Sunday condemned the rocket attack on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, which killed 12 people, and said it was "deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation and destabilisation".

In a statement on X, Foreign Secretary David Lammy also said the UK's new Labour government has been clear that Lebanon's Hezbollah movement "must cease their attacks" on Israel.

The UK condemns the strike in Golan Heights that has tragically claimed at least 12 lives.

We are deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation and destabilisation.

We have been clear Hizballah must cease their attacks.

— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) July 28, 2024

An Israeli airstrike has killed at least three people in the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone, according to Al Jazeera. 

France condemned on Sunday the earlier rocket attack in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and called on all parties to exercise restraint.

"France condemns in the strongest possible terms the attack which hit the Druze community in Majdal Shams," said a statement from the French foreign ministry.

"France demands that everything possible be done to avoid a new military escalation and we will continue work with the relevant parties on this," it added.

France added it continued to advise its citizens not to go to Lebanon, Israel or the Palestinian territories

(Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from his US trip on Sunday and swiftly headed for a security cabinet meeting after deadly rocket fire killed 12 youths in the Golan Heights.

"The prime minister's plane has landed in Israel. He is now making his way to the defence ministry" for the meeting, Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) posted a video on X of its paramedics issuing first aid and transporting a wounded person to hospital in Gaza City as Israeli strikes on the city continue.

🚑The Palestine Red Crescent teams provided first aid to an injured person on Haddad Street in the industrial area of #Gaza City and transported him to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
📷Filmed by volunteer: Yousef Khader pic.twitter.com/guYqUQpTzK

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) July 28, 2024

Hezbollah was on high alert on Sunday, two security sources told Reuters, as tensions spiralled following a deadly attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that Israel blamed on the Lebanese armed group.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack. The security sources said Hezbollah had preemptively cleared out some key sites in both Lebanon's south and the eastern Bekaa Valley in the event of a possible attack by Israel.

(Reuters)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that there was "every indication" that Lebanese militant group Hezbollah was behind a rocket strike in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 young people.

"Every indication is that indeed the rocket was from Hezbollah. We stand by Israel's right to defend its citizens from terrorist attacks," Blinken told reporters in Japan.

"We are determined to bring the Gaza conflict to a close. It's gone on for far too long. It's cost far too many lives. We want to see Israelis, we want to see Palestinians, we want to see Lebanese live free from the threat of conflict and violence," Blinken said.

"We're in conversations with the government of Israel. And again, I emphasise its right to defend its citizens and our determination to make sure that they're able to do that," he said in Tokyo.

"But we also don't want to see the conflict escalating. We don't want to see a spread. That has been one of our goals from day one, from October 7 on, and we'll continue to do that.

"But again, the best way to do that in a sustained way is to get the ceasefire in Gaza that we're working so hard on virtually every minute of the day," he said.

The Lebanese government has asked the United States to urge restraint from Israel, Lebanon's foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Reuters on Sunday, as tensions build following an attack blamed on Hezbollah that killed 12 children and teenagers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Bou Habib said the US had asked the Lebanese government to pass on a message to Hezbollah to show restraint as well. Hezbollah has denied involvement in the attack. Israel has vowed swift retaliation. 

(Reuters)

Thousands of Druze men and women, many dressed in black, arrived for the funeral Sunday of several of the 12 youths killed in a rocket attack on the Israeli annexed Golan Heights the day before.

The Israeli military said they were struck by an Iranian-made rocket carrying a 50-kilogram warhead that Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group fired at a football field in the Druze Arab town of Majdal Shams. Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the strike.

Local authorities said the dead were aged between 10 and 16 years.

Druze follow an offshoot of Shia Islam. Early on Sunday morning, Druze women gathered around the coffins covered in white shrouds ahead of the funeral.

Several women dressed in black abayas cried as they laid flowers on the caskets, an AFP correspondent reported.

Many held pink flowers, while hundreds of men dressed in traditional Druze attire, including white caps topped with red, arrived for the ceremonies.

"Every night, every day, every minute we are worried. It's been like this for 10 months," Laith, a 42-year-old nurse who gave only his first name, told AFP.

"Everybody you see here is worried all the time," he said. "We are so very sad. We lost children, children playing soccer."

Under scorching sun, religious leaders led hundreds at a prayer meeting in a local municipal building, with the entire town at a standstill. Shops closed, and checkpoints were set up at the entrance of every village in the Golan.

The health ministry in Gaza said on Sunday that at least 39,324 people have been killed, and a further 90,830 had been wounded by Israel in its attacks on the enclave.

The toll includes 66 deaths in 24 hours, according to ministry figures.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Sunday condemned what she said was the "deplorable" rocket attack on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, which killed 12 people, and called for "cool heads" in response.

"The perfidious attacks must stop immediately. It is important to act with cool heads. Far too many people have died already in this conflict," Baerbock wrote on X in reference to the Gaza war, which risks spreading to Lebanon.

Israeli aircraft struck targets in the Baalbek district of Baalbek-Hermel province, according to Lebanon National News Agency.

The agency said that a drone hit a house near the town of Taraiyya with two missiles this morning.

Iran on Sunday warned Israel that any new military "adventures" in Lebanon could lead to "unforeseen consequences", following a deadly rocket strike in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights blamed on Tehran-backed Hezbollah.

"Any ignorant action of the Zionist regime can lead to the broadening of the scope of instability, insecurity and war in the region," said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani.

He added that Israel will be responsible for "the unforeseen consequences and reactions to such stupid behaviour".

Hezbollah, which on Saturday claimed multiple attacks on Israeli military positions following a deadly raid on southern Lebanon, has denied responsibility for the rocket fire that Israeli authorities said killed 12 people including children in the Druze town of Majdal Shams.

Kanani accused Israel of pinning the blame on Hezbollah "to divert public opinion and world attention from its massive crimes" in the Gaza Strip, where war has raged since October 7.

He added that Israel "does not have the least moral authority to comment" on the deaths in Majdal Shams, on the Golan Heights which the country has seized from Syria in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognised by the United Nations.

Israel's foreign ministry said Sunday that Hezbollah had "crossed all red lines" with a rocket strike blamed on the Lebanese armed group that killed 12 youngsters on the annexed Golan Heights.

"Saturday's massacre constitutes the crossing of all red lines by Hezbollah. This is not an army fighting another army, rather it is a terrorist organisation deliberately shooting at civilians," the ministry said in a statement.

Iran-backed Hezbollah, which on Saturday claimed multiple attacks on Israeli military positions following a deadly raid on southern Lebanon, has denied responsibility for the strike that hit the Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams.

The foreign ministry said "an Iranian rocket" caused the deaths of "our boys and girls".

"Hezbollah is the only terror organisation which has those (rockets) in its arsenal", it said.

"Israel will exercise its right and duty to act in self-defence and will respond to the massacre."

The military said the rocket attack killed 12 people aged between 10 and 20 years when they were hit on a football field in Majdal Shams, a Druze town where many residents have not accepted Israeli nationality since the Golan Heights was seized from Syria in 1967.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was returning early from a visit to the United States, vowed that "Israel will not let this murderous attack go unanswered".

He was due to head a security committee meeting later on Sunday, his office said.