Brian The Empire5 days agoShareSaveRushdi Abu AloufGaza correspondentReporting fromCairoEmir NaderBBC NewsReporting fromJerusalemShareSaveAn Israeli air strike on the southern city of Khan Younis in Gaza has killed top Hamas political leader Salah al-Bardaweel, a Hamas official has told the BBC.
Locals say the air strike killed both Bardaweel, regarded as Hamas’s highest-ranking political leader, and his wife. Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
The total death toll in Gaza since the war began surpassed 50,000 on Sunday, its Hamas-run health authorities said, with least 30 people killed in Khan Yunis and Rafah so far on Sunday.
Israel resumed heavy strikes on Gaza earlier this week – in effect ending the first phase of a ceasefire that lasted almost two months. It blamed Hamas for rejecting a new US proposal to extend the truce.
Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of abandoning the original deal – mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US. It envisaged the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the subsequent ..
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5 days agoShareSaveHugo BachegaBBC Middle East correspondentReporting fromBeirutJaroslav LukivBBC NewsReporting fromLondonShareSaveSmoke billows from the site of Israeli strikes in southern LebanonIsrael has carried out multiple air strikes on Lebanon after several rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, in the worst violence since a ceasefire came into effect in November.
The Israeli military said it had hit dozens of rocket launchers and a command centre belonging to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia and political group, in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon’s health ministry said seven people, including a child, were killed and 40 injured in the air strikes.
Several armed groups operate in Lebanon, including Hezbollah and Palestinian factions, and no-one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Hours after the first set of strikes, a second wave of attacks were carried out at night on targets that included what the Israeli military described as command centres, infrastructure sit.. -
3 days agoShareSaveTiffany WertheimerBBC NewsShareSaveIsrael’s defence minister has told the military to “seize additional areas in Gaza” and threatened to permanently occupy parts of it, if Hamas does not free all remaining hostages.
Israel Katz said that the military would continue its ground operation in Gaza “with increasing intensity” until all of the hostages “both living and dead” were returned.
It is thought 24 of the 59 hostages still held in Gaza are alive, but their fate remains in the balance after negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire deal failed to progress.
The fragile ceasefire that had been in place since January ended this week as Israel resumed its ground campaign and bombing of Gaza, killing hundreds of people.
The situation in the Strip has been described as “gravely, gravely concerning” with “absolutely desperate tragedies occurring all over Gaza” by Sam Rose from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa.
Israel and the US have accused Hamas of re.. -
The BBC accompanies the civil defence group as they respond to violence in Syria’s coastal region.
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7 days agoShareSaveEmily Atkinson & Graeme BakerBBC NewsShareSaveRonen Bar was formally dismissed by the Israeli cabinet on ThursdayIsrael’s Supreme Court has issued an injunction to prevent the head of the nation’s security service from being fired by Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli cabinet formally approved the early dismissal of Ronen Bar on Thursday night, over the failure to anticipate the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas.
Netanyahu, the prime minister, said in a video statement last week that he intended to sack Mr Bar, citing an “ongoing distrust” between the two that had “grown over time”.
On Friday, the Supreme Court froze the dismissal until a hearing could be heard on the matter no later than 8 April, according to documents cited in Israeli media.
Ronen Bar was appointed in October 2021 for a five-year term as the chief of the Shin Bet – Israel’s domestic intelligence agency.
His sacking would be the first time in Israel’s history that a government has fired the Shin Bet’s lea.. -
7 days agoShareSaveShareSaveHamas says it launched three rockets at Tel Aviv – the first time the group is known to have fired back since Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza.
Israel said it intercepted one of the missiles and the others fell into uninhabited land.
At least 591 people – including more than 200 children – have been killed since Israel resumed fighting on Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Thursday that it had started a ground operation in the Palestinian territory.
There had been a reprieve from large-scale military action since January, when a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began.
The IDF said late on Thursday that soldiers had begun “conducting ground activity” in Rafah, which lies in the south of the territory near the Egyptian border.
It said in a statement that troops had “dismantled… terrorist infrastructure”, adding that IDF forces were also continuing ground activity in north and ce.. -
7 days agoShareSaveSeher AsafBBC NewsShareSaveOlivier Grondeau, 34, was arrested in southern Iran in October 2022A French tourist detained by Iranian authorities for more than two years has been released and returned to France, President Emmanuel Macron has said.
Olivier Grondeau, 34, is “free” and with his family, Macron wrote on X on Thursday, adding: “We share his family’s immense happiness and relief.”
Mr Grondeau was arrested in southern Iran in October 2022 and sentenced to five years in prison for “conspiracy against the Islamic republic”. His family have always denied the charges.
The Iranian regime has arrested many tourists and dual nationals in recent years, mostly on spying and national security charges.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot posted a picture of Mr Grondeau on a plane returning home on Thursday.
“Held hostage in Iran for 887 days, he has been reunited with his family, loved ones, and his country. It’s a huge relief,” he wrote.
Speaking publicly for the .. -
4 days agoShareSaveGeorge WrightBBC NewsShareSaveThe Houthis say they are acting in support of the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in GazaYemen’s rebel Houthi group has said it has fired a missile at Israel, which was intercepted.
The ballistic missile was fired toward Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, the group’s military spokesperson said in a televised statement.
Sirens sounded in several areas of Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces said. No injuries have been reported and the IDF says the missile was stopped before entering Israel.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defence agency said Israeli strikes early on Thursday have killed at least 10 people.
Israel has extended its ground operations in Gaza, after launching a wave of air strikes that the Hamas-run health ministry says killed more than 430 people in two days.
The air strikes on Thursday reportedly targeted six homes east of Khan Younis, a spokesman for the Hamas-run civil defence agency said, and also injured.. -
8 days agoShareSaveIan AikmanBBC NewsShareSaveSeveral residential buildings have been damaged in air strikes on Deir al-BalahA British bomb disposal expert has been injured in an attack on a UN facility in the Gaza Strip, the charity he works for has said.
The 51-year-old, who was not named, was one of five people injured in an explosion that also killed a UN worker at the facility in Deir al-Balah on Wednesday morning, the Mines Advisory Group said.
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary general, told BBC Newshour a full investigation into the incident would be needed.
The Israeli military has denied reports it targeted the UN compound and has said the explosion was not caused by Israeli fire.
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, confirmed in the Commons that a British national had been injured, adding their family was being offered support.
Lammy called for a “transparent investigation” into the air strike and for “those responsible to be held to account”.
“We strongly .. -
6 days agoShareSaveMegan Fisher and Emir Naderin London and JerusalemShareSaveThe IDF said it had begun “targeted ground activities” in GazaIsrael says it has resumed its ground operations in Gaza, after launching a wave of air strikes that the Hamas-run health ministry says killed more than 430 people in two days.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said troops had moved in up to the Netzarim Corridor, which divides the north and south of the Strip.
The renewed assault on Gaza marks the end of the fragile ceasefire deal that had been in place since January.
Earlier, the UN said two people – including one of its staff – had been killed after an explosion at its compound in Deir al-Balah.
A foreign ministry spokesman said it would launch an investigation, but denied Israel was to blame.
The IDF said it had begun “targeted ground activities” to create what it called a “partial buffer between the north and south” in Gaza.
The BBC has also seen evacuation orders issued by the Israeli milita..
