Live: HRW’s 'crimes against humanity' claims are 'completely false', says Israel

14/11/2024 - 23:46

Elon Musk met Iran UN ambassador on defusing tension under Trump, per NY Times

Elon Musk, the tech billionaire closely allied with US President-elect Donald Trump, met Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in a bid to defuse tensions between Iran and the United States, The New York Times reported Thursday. 

The newspaper quoted anonymous Iranian sources as describing the meeting between the world's richest person and Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani as "positive."

The two met for more than an hour at a secret location on Monday, the newspaper said.

Neither the Trump transitional team nor Iran's mission to the United Nations immediately confirmed the encounter.

14/11/2024 - 22:46

Lebanon says 12 killed in Israeli strike on civil defence centre near Baalbek

Lebanon said at least 12 people were killed Thursday in an Israeli strike targeting the main civil defence facility in the eastern Baalbek area, with the rescuers counting eight members among the dead.

"The Israeli enemy strike on a civil defence centre in Douris killed 12 people" with body parts recovered and rescue operations ongoing, the Lebanese health ministry said.

It condemned "the second Israeli attack on a health emergency facility in less than two hours" after an earlier attack killed Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers. Civil Defence said "eight personnel from the... Baalbek regional centre were killed".

14/11/2024 - 21:10

Lebanon says Hezbollah-linked rescuers among six killed in Israel strike

Lebanon's health ministry said four Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers were among six dead in an Israeli strike on Thursday that hit their operational base in the country's south.

"The Israeli enemy strike on Arabsalim targeted an Islamic Health Committee Civil Defence centre killing six people including four paramedics," the ministry said in a statement, adding it condemned "the crimes of the Israeli enemy against health workers and health facilities".

14/11/2024 - 21:09

Football-Israeli anthem booed ahead of France v Israel Nations League game

The Israeli anthem was booed and whistled by the Stade de France crowd before Les Bleus' Nations League game against Israel on Thursday.

The match takes place a week after violence in Amsterdam around a Europa League match involving Maccabi Tel Aviv.

14/11/2024 - 20:13

US rejects 'genocide' accusation against Israel

The United States said Thursday it disagreed both with a UN committee's finding that Israeli warfare methods were consistent with "genocide" and a Human Rights Watch allegation of "crimes against humanity" in Gaza.

The United Nations Special Committee's report, which accused Israel of using starvation as a war tactic, "is something we would unequivocally disagree with," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said. 

"We think that that kind of phrasing and those kind of accusations are certainly unfounded," he said.

14/11/2024 - 19:00

Israel says HRW 'crimes against humanity' claims are 'completely false'

Israel on Thursday condemned what it called Human Rights Watch's "completely false" allegations that the country's "forced displacement" of Gazans amounts to a "crime against humanity".

"Time and again, Human Rights Watch's rhetoric regarding Israel's conduct in Gaza is completely false and detached from reality," foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said on X.

14/11/2024 - 18:42

Israel says France 'must' ensure fans' safety at Paris football match

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told his French counterpart that authorities must ensure the safety of Israeli fans, in a phone call Thursday ahead of a Paris football match between France and Israel.

"Israeli fans' security must be assured," Saar told France's top diplomat Jean-Noel Barrot during their first phone call, according to the Israeli foreign ministry. It came a week after Israeli fans were attacked in Amsterdam following a match there.

14/11/2024 - 18:41

UN Force in Lebanon says 2-3 unknown people fired shots in their direction, no one hurt

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said on Thursday that two or three unknown people fired approximately 30 shots in direction of peacekeepers, who fired back and moved to safety.

No one was hurt and an investigation was launched, UNIFIL added in a statement.

14/11/2024 - 18:12

Israeli attacks kill 21 in Lebanon on Wednesday, ministry says, taking total toll to 3,386

Twenty-one people were killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon on Wednesday, bringing the total killed since October last year to at least 3,386, with 14,417 injured, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

14/11/2024 - 17:45

'We will not give in to anti-Semitism', says Macron before France-Israel match

French President Emmanuel Macron said "we will not give in to anti-Semitism" as Israel is preparing to face France in a Nations League football match in Paris later Thursday.

Speaking to broadcaster BFMTV, a few hours before the high-risk football match, he added: "We will not give in to anti-Semitism anywhere, and violence – including in the French Republic – will never prevail, nor will intimidation."

14/11/2024 - 17:06

Lebanon army redeployment in south crucial to war solution, says UN peacekeeping chief

 The UN peacekeeping chief whose force monitors Lebanon's south said redeploying Lebanese troops there is crucial for any solution to more than a year of Hezbollah-Israel clashes that escalated into war in September.

"The redeployment of the Lebanese armed forces is an absolutely central element to any durable settlement," Under Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix told reporters during a briefing in the Beirut area.

14/11/2024 - 16:05

Protests erupt in Paris over pro-Israel gala organized by far-right figures

Protests erupted in Paris on Wednesday against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures in support of Israel. The event, intended to raise funds for the Israeli military, included Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich among its invited guests.

The demonstrations came on the eve of a high-stakes soccer match at France's national stadium against the Israeli national team, overshadowed by tensions around the wars in the Middle East. Authorities in Paris announced that more than 4,000 police officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed for the game.

Smotrich, a vocal advocate of Israeli settlements, had been expected to attend Wednesday's gala, dubbed “Israel is Forever,” which was planned by an association of the same name. The group’s stated goal is to “mobilize French-speaking Zionist forces.”

After days of growing criticism of the event, Smotrich's office confirmed Wednesday that the minister would not travel to Paris to participate.

14/11/2024 - 15:30

Lebanon says at least three killed in Israeli strike on Baalbek

Lebanon's health ministry said at least three people were killed in an Israeli strike Thursday on the main eastern city of Baalbek.

"The Israeli enemy strike... in Baalbek killed three people, in an initial toll," a ministry statement said, adding that "body parts were recovered from the site and their identities are being verified".

14/11/2024 - 15:28

Israeli attacks on Syria's Damascus kill 15, state media says

Fifteen people were killed and 16 injured in Israeli attacks on a number of residential buildings in suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday, state news agency SANA reported, citing a Syrian military source.

One building was located in the suburb of Mazzeh and the other in Qudsaya, west of the capital.

Israeli army radio said the targets of the attack in Damascus were a headquarters of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad and what it described as other assets, without elaborating.

14/11/2024 - 14:24

Four killed in Israeli strike on Damascus, war monitor says

A war monitor said an Israeli strike on an apartment killed four people in the upscale Mazzeh district of Damascus on Thursday, also reporting a similar attack on the capital's outskirts.

"Four people were killed in the Israeli strike on an apartment in Mazzeh, Damascus, with another Israeli strike hitting" a residential building in Qudsaya, Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights, told AFP.

The Mazzeh neighbourhood, home to embassies, United Nations offices and security headquarters, has been the target of previous strikes blamed on Israel. 

Qudsya is located on the outskirts of Damascus.

14/11/2024 - 13:42

Syrian media report Israeli attack on Damascus

Syrian state news agency SANA says early reports indicate that an Israeli strike targeted the Damascus suburb of Mazzeh.

Another Israeli strike hit a residential building in Qudsaya, west of Damascus, state media said.

14/11/2024 - 13:26

Israel says hit roughly 30 targets over 48 hours in south Beirut

The Israeli military says it struck around 30 targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a bastion of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, over the past 48 hours.

"Over the past two days, approximately 30 terror targets were struck in the Dahieh area in Beirut. These strikes were a part of the IDF's ongoing efforts to dismantle and degrade Hezbollah's military capabilities," the military said in a statement.

14/11/2024 - 12:09

Gaza health ministry says war death toll at 43,736

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 43,736 people have been killed in more than 13 months of war in the devastated enclave.

The toll includes 24 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 103,370 people have also been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

14/11/2024 - 11:55

Israeli warfare methods 'consistent with genocide', UN special committee says

A UN committee investigating the war in Gaza has concluded that Israel’s warfare methods are "consistent with the characteristics of genocide", including the use of starvation as a weapon of war.

The UN Special Committee to investigate Israeli practices pointed to the "mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians there". 

14/11/2024 - 11:43

EU top diplomat proposes suspending dialogue with Israel over Gaza war

The EU's outgoing foreign policy chief has urged the bloc to suspend a political dialogue with Israel over human rights concerns in Gaza in a move that is likely to be vetoed by member states, diplomats have said.

Josep Borrell raised his proposal during a meeting of ambassadors on Wednesday, according to four diplomats involved, and is expected to formalise it when EU foreign ministers gather in Brussels early next week.

The foreign policy chief has written to member states to ask them to suspend the EU's political dialogue with Israel – part of a wider agreement governing trade ties – over its conduct of the war in Gaza, one diplomat said.

"It is forcing people to talk about the issues," said the diplomat, adding that "the widespread expectation is that it will not be agreed" – considering that EU foreign policy decisions require unanimity among the 27 member states.

Made "without any forewarning", Borrell's proposal "came as a complete surprise", according to a second diplomat who confirmed that it was "immediately objected to by a large group of member states".

Yesterday's key developments:

• Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad on Wednesday released new video footage of an Israeli national held captive in Gaza, the third featuring hostage Alexander Troufanov.
• IAEA chief Rafael Grossi arrived in Tehran for crucial talks on Iran's nuclear programme, days after Israel warned the Islamic republic was "more exposed than ever to strikes on its nuclear facilities".
• The Israeli army said six of its soldiers were killed "during combat in southern Lebanon" in one of the deadliest days of its ground offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah.
• Israeli defence minister said Israel will not agree on a ceasefire in Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed and withdraws beyond the Litani River

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)

About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:

Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. For more on the health ministry’s casualty figures, click here.