Israel-Gaza war live: Netanyahu rebukes IDF after army spokesperson warns that Hamas cannot be eliminated | Israel-Gaza war

French authorities have detained an Iranian citizen after he posted remarks about Israel-Gaza war posted on social media, a police source said Thursday, in a case his lawyer has branded “political” amid tensions between Paris and Tehran.

Bashir Biazar is described by the London-based TV channel Iran International as a former employee of Iran’s state-run IRIB television. Iranian state media called him a “cultural figure”.

Biazar was detained in the eastern French city of Dijon and is now being held in administrative detention – a measure taken before possible deportation – in the northern city of Metz.

In Paris, a police source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that “expulsion proceedings” had been launched against Biazar, “in particular because he publicly made anti-French remarks”, without specifying their nature.

Biazar has been active on social media in recent months, making remarks strongly supportive of the Palestinians amid the war between them Israel and the armed group Hamas in Gaza.

His French lawyer Rashid Lemoudaa told AFP:

From the point of view of the law, there is nothing to justify this measure. Bashir Biazar expressed himself on his Instagram account, as anyone could do freely in a rule of law country.

I believe that this procedure is political and politics has no place in the law.

Three French citizens, described by Paris as “state hostages”, are imprisoned in Iran.

The head of Iran’s Supreme Council for Human Rights, Kazem Gharibabadi, told X:

The arrest of an Iranian national by the French police for defending the oppressed Palestinian people (is) another human rights scandal for France.

More than 37,431 Palestinians have been killed and 85,653 wounded in Israel’s military offensive against Gaza since October 7Gaza’s health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Peter Beaumont

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has warned of a war “without rules or ceilings” in the event of a full-scale Israeli offensive against the Lebanese militia, threatening that Cyprus could become a target if it allows Israel to use its territory in any conflict.

Cyprus and Israel have a bilateral defense cooperation agreement under which the countries conduct joint exercises.

“Opening Cypriot airports and bases for the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is part of the war and the resistance will deal with it as part of the war,” the Hezbollah chief said.

Nikos Christodoulides, the island’s president, responded on Wednesday evening: “Cyprus remains uninvolved in military conflicts and positions itself as part of the solution, not part of the problem.”

He sought to highlight the humanitarian role the EU’s easternmost country has played in the Middle East, facilitating the opening of a sea corridor to transport desperately needed aid to Gaza.

“Our humanitarian corridor is proof of our commitment to peace and stability,” he told reporters at a university graduation ceremony in Cyprus.

He added: “Such statements are not pleasant, but they do not reflect reality. Cyprus is not involved in any hostilities.

Christodoulides said the threat would be made through diplomatic channels.

Israeli forces attacked areas in the central Gaza Strip overnight, killing three people and wounding dozens of others, medics said, while tanks deepened their push into Rafah in the south, residents said.

Israeli jets struck a house in al-Nuseirat camp, killing two people and injuring 12 others, while tanks shelled areas in al-Maghazi and al-Bureij camps, injuring scores of other people, health officials said. Nusseirat, Maghazi and Bureij are three of the eight historic refugee camps in Gaza.

In Deir al-Balah, a city full of displaced people in the central Gaza Strip, an Israeli airstrike killed one Palestinian and wounded several others on Thursday, medics said.

Israel’s military said on Wednesday that forces were continuing operations in the enclave targeting militants and military infrastructure in what it described as “precision, intelligence-based” activities, Reuters reported.

The US Army Floating Pier again, and again, and again Gaza is expected to resume operations on Thursday to offload much-needed humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, two US officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the jetty was reattached to the shore on Wednesday after being temporarily removed last Friday due to poor sea conditions.

Aid began arriving via the US-built jetty on May 17, and the UN said it had transported 137 truckloads of aid to warehouses, about 900 metric tons.

But then rough seas damaged the pier, necessitating repairs, and bad weather and security concerns limited the number of days it operated.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of Israel-Gaza war and the wider crisis in the Middle East.

Israel’s government said the IDF was committed to destroying Hamas after a senior IDF spokesman said the militant group in Gaza was an “ideology” that could not be eliminated.

“Let’s say we will Hamas disappearing is throwing sand in people’s eyes. If we don’t provide an alternative, we will end up with Hamas,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told Israel’s Channel 13.

His comments were quickly dismissed by the office of Benjamin Netanyahu, whose office said that Gaza the offensive will not end until Hamas is defeated.

“The Policy and Security Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Netanyahu, has identified as one of the objectives of the war the destruction of Hamas’ military and governmental capacity,” his office said in a statement, adding that “IS is of course committed to this.”

In a separate statement on its Telegram channel, the military clarified that Hagari addressed Hamas “as an ideology … and his statements are clear and explicit.”

More on that in a bit, first here’s a recap of the day’s other highlights.

• The leader of Hezbollahwarned Syed Hassan Nasrallah war “without rules or ceilings” in the event of a full-scale Israeli offensive against the Lebanese militia, as he threatened that Cyprus could become a target if it allowed Israel to use its territory in any conflict. Cyprus and Israel have a bilateral defense cooperation agreement under which the countries conduct joint exercises.

• In a report released on Wednesday, the UN Office for Human Rights (OHCHR) concluded that Israel’s use of heavy bombs in Gaza raises “serious concerns” under the laws of war. The OHCHR provided details of six Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip that it said were emblematic of a worrying pattern involving the alleged use of up to 2,000-pound bombs on residential buildings, a school, refugee camps and a market.

• In its reports, the OHCHR also said that Israeli forces may have repeatedly violated basic principles of the laws of war and failed to distinguish between civilians and combatants in their military campaign in the Gaza Strip. “The requirement to choose means and methods of waging war that avoid or at least minimize civilian harm to any extent appears to have been consistently violated in Israel’s bombing campaign,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.

• Israel’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva characterized the OHCHR’s analysis as “factually, legally and methodologically flawed.” The Israeli diplomatic mission said: “Since the OHCHR has at best a partial factual picture, any attempt to reach legal conclusions is fundamentally flawed.”

• There were Israeli airstrikes and clashes between troops and Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday. Witnesses and the civil defense agency in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip reported an Israeli bombardment in western Rafah, where medics said drone attacks and shelling killed at least seven people.

• Israel sent a column of tanks into the Zeytun neighborhood of Gaza City and residents reported heavy fire from tanks and warplanes, but also the sounds of gunfire with Hamas-led fighters.