Israel-Gaza war live: troops to move from Gaza to Lebanon border, says Netanyahu as US warns of widening conflict | Israel-Gaza war
Key events
The Greek foreign minister said on Monday that threats from Lebanon were backed by Iran Hezbollah against Cyprus are unacceptable and the EU will stand by the Member States against any such threats.
“It is absolutely unacceptable to make threats against the sovereign state of the EU,” the Greek foreign minister told Reuters George Gerapetritus he told the media upon his arrival in Brussels for a monthly meeting of foreign ministers.
“We stand by Cyprus and we will all stand together in all kinds of global threats coming from terrorist organizations.”
Last week, the head of Hezbollah Syed Hassan Nasrallah warned of a war “without rules or ceilings”, saying “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.”
Cypriot President, Nikos Christodoulides, responded to Hezbollah’s threat by saying: “Cyprus is not part of the problem. Our role, expressed for example through the humanitarian corridor, is recognized not only by the Arab world, but also by the entire international community.
The United Kingdom’s Maritime Merchant Operations Agency (UKMTO) said on Monday it had received a report of an incident 246 nautical miles south-east of Nishtun in Yemen.
Reuters reports that the UKMTO adds that authorities are investigating the incident.
Yemen’s Houthis have repeatedly attacked ships they claim are connected Israel. He says he is doing so in support of the Palestinians as Israel’s attack on Gaza continues.
The EU deployed a naval mission to the area earlier this year, and the US and UK have carried out strikes in Yemen designed to reduce the Houthis’ ability to attack ships.
Welcome and recap
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of Israel-Gaza war and the wider crisis in the Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said fighting in Gaza was entering a less intense phase, which would allow Israel to deploy more forces in the north, near Lebanon.
“Once the intensive phase is over, we will have the opportunity to move some of the forces north.” And we will do that. Primarily for defensive purposes. And secondly, let’s bring our own [evacuated] residents at home,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 14.
His comments came as the top US general said an Israeli offensive in Lebanon has the potential to increase the risk of a wider conflict that draws in Iran and Iran-linked fighters.
Air Force Gen. Charles Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that “Hezbollah is more capable than Hamas in terms of overall capability, number of missiles and things like that. And I would just say that I would see Iran being more inclined to provide more support to Hezbollah,” Brown.
More on that in a bit, first here’s a rundown of the day’s other major news.
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Israel’s defense minister flew to meet senior Biden administration officials in Washington for what he described as “critical” talks on the twin conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Yoav Galant, accompanied by the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forceswill meet with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, as well as Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Joe Biden’s special envoy Amos Hochstein.
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Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile batteries risk being defeated in the opening strikes of any significantly escalating conflict with Hezbollah. The assessment, made by US officials late last week, echoing a recent analysis by experts in Israel and the United States, comes amid concerns that a war with Hezbollah could be a far more dangerous undertaking than the devastating second Lebanon war in 2006. , when Israeli bombing caused massive destruction in Lebanon.
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Israeli troops tied a wounded Palestinian man, Mujahed Azmi, to a military vehicle during an attack on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, the army said on Sunday, admitting that the soldiers had violated operational procedures. Footage of the incident, which happened on Saturday, has gone viral and shows Azmi, a resident of Jenin, attached horizontally to the hood of a military jeep used as a human shield as he drives through a narrow alley.
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Eight Palestinians were killed Sunday in an Israeli airstrike on a training college near Gaza City used to distribute aid, Palestinian witnesses said, as Israeli tanks advanced further toward the southern city of Rafah. The strike affected part of an industrial college run by the UN agency for Palestine refugees Unrwa, witnesses said. Unrwa and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs has called for an independent investigation into the shelling that damaged the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza. In a post on social media, Josep Borrell said the EU condemned the shelling, which also “resulted in dozens of casualties”. The ICRC said on Saturday that heavy-caliber shells “fell meters” from its office and residences, killing at least 25 people. “An independent investigation is needed and those responsible must be held accountable,” Borrell said.
