Israel-Hamas war: Iran rejects European leaders’ call to refrain from retaliatory attacks
Iran rejected a call Tuesday by three European countries urging it to refrain from any retaliatory attacks that would further escalate regional tensions. Iran calls it an “excessive request.”
The leaders of Britain, France and Germany in a joint statement Monday asked Iran and its allies to refrain from retaliation for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Iran has blamed Israel.
The European leaders also endorsed the latest push by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States to broker an agreement to end the Israel-Hamas war. Talks are expected to resume Thursday. And they called for the return of scores of hostages held by Hamas and the “unfettered” delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Mediators have spent months trying to get the sides to agree to a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages captured in its deadly Oct. 7 attack in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, and Israel would withdraw from Gaza.
After more than 10 months of fighting, the Palestinian death toll is nearing 40,000 in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry there.
Here’s the latest:
More than 200 prisoners are evacuated in Lebanon amid concerns about wider war
BEIRUT — Lebanese authorities have evacuated prisoners from police stations in Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon to other parts of the country out of concerns about possible war with Israel, judicial and security officials say.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran after attending the inauguration of the country’s new president, Iran and the militant group said early Wednesday. Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike.
The officials say about 220 prisoners were moved. It comes amid concerns that the ongoing exchange of cross-border fire between Israeli troops and members of the Lebanon-based militant Hezbollah group might expand after Israel killed a top Hezbollah official last month. Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate.
If all-out war breaks out, many fear that Beirut’s southern suburbs and south Lebanon, where Hezbollah has a wide presence, could face intense Israeli airstrikes. The officials say the evacuated prisoners are held on suspicion of committing various crimes such as murder and theft.
Israel launched an airstrike targeting a senior Hezbollah commander it said was responsible for a rocket attack over the weekend.
Israeli strikes kill at least 16 people overnight in Gaza
DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 16 Palestinians, including four women and seven children, and orphaned another four children, Palestinian medical officials said Tuesday.
Ten people were killed in a strike late Monday on a house near the southern city of Khan Yunis, where Israel ordered mass evacuations in recent days, saying it must act against Palestinian militants.
Nasser Hospital, where the bodies were brought, said another four children, including a 3-month-old, were wounded. The infant’s parents and their other five children were among those killed. The parents of the other three wounded children were also killed, according to the hospital’s list of casualties. An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies.
A separate strike near Deir al Balah in central Gaza killed a woman and her 4-day-old twins and their grandmother. Another strike in central Gaza killed a man and his nephew.
An Associated Press reporter counted the bodies at the nearby Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and spoke to the father of the twins, who had planned to register their birth on Tuesday.
Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas because its fighters operate in residential areas. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.
Israeli minister Ben-Gvir visits flashpoint holy site as regional tensions soar
JERUSALEM — Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site Tuesday, in a pilgrimage seen by Muslims as provocative as regional tensions soar.
Tensions over the compound have fueled rounds of violence before. Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist settler leader, last visited the compound in July, which the Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned as a “provocative intrusion” that endangered the fragile status quo regarding the Jerusalem compound.
Ben-Gvir visited the site as Jews marked Tisha B’Av, a day of mourning commemorating the destruction of the biblical Temples. Jews revere the site as the Temple Mount, believed to be the location of the First and Second Temples, and it is a holy site for Muslims as Haram al Sharif or the Noble Sanctuary.
The visit elicited a rebuke from Netanyahu, who said prayers there were a “deviation” from decades-old understandings at the site that prohibit Jewish worship there.
In video released by his office, Ben-Gvir was seen strolling through the compound singing, “The people of Israel live!” while accompanied by dozens of supporters.
One supporter yelled a Jewish prayer, which is not permitted under the longstanding arrangement in place at the site meant to ease regional tensions. Ben-Gvir has said he is changing the policy and, despite previous assurances to the contrary by Netanyahu, he repeated the stance Tuesday, adding that “very large progress” had been made to allow Jewish prayer at the site. Netanyahu said there was no change to the policy.
Iran’s president tells UK prime minister that retaliation is a nation’s right
TEHRAN — Iran’s president told Britain’s prime minister that Tehran considers retaliation against Israel over the July killing of Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh a right, and a way to discourage future aggression.
A Tuesday report by the official IRNA news agency said President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a late Monday phone conversation with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said that a punitive response to an aggressor is “a right of nations and a solution for stopping crimes and aggression.”
Pezeshkian said that the West’s silence about “unprecedented inhumane crime” in Gaza and Israeli attacks elsewhere in the Middle East was “irresponsible” and encouraged Israel to put regional and global security at risk.
The report said the two leaders discussed ways for restoring peace and stability in the region and the world as well as improving bilateral relations, without elaborating.
According to a statement from his office, Starmer said he was deeply concerned by the situation in the region and called on all parties to de-escalate. During the 30-minute call with Pezeshkian, Starmer asked Iran not to attack Israel, adding that war was not in anyone’s interests.
Israel has not confirmed nor denied its role in the July killing of Haniyeh, but Israel earlier pledged to kill him and other Hamas leaders over the group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. The assassination has sparked fears of a wider regional conflict and of a direct confrontation between Israel and Iran if Tehran retaliates.
Iran does not recognize Israel and supports anti-Israeli militant groups including Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Iran also rejected a joint statement from Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz endorsing the latest cease-fire push by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States as an “excessive request.” The European leaders also called for the return of scores of hostages held by Hamas and the “unfettered” delivery of humanitarian aid, and asked Iran and its allies to refrain from retaliation.
“Such demands lack political logic, are entirely contrary to the principles and rules of international law, and represent an excessive request,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said.
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