Live: Israeli tanks enter Lebanese border village, Macron calls for 'immediate' end to ceasefire violations

29/11/2024 - 14:44

Israeli tanks enter Lebanese border village, state news says

Four Israeli tanks have entered the western side of the Lebanese border village of Khiyam, Lebanon's official news agency said on Friday, following a ceasefire that took effect on Wednesday.

29/11/2024 - 14:38

Gaza in anarchy as public order falls apart, UN says

The Gaza Strip has descended into anarchy, with hunger soaring, looting rampant and rising numbers of rapes in shelters as public order falls apart, the United Nations said on Friday.

Palestinians are suffering "on a scale that has to be seen to be truly grasped", Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territories, said after concluding his latest visit to the devastated Palestinian territory.

"This time I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger," Sunghay told a media briefing in Geneva, via video-link from Amman.

"The anarchy in Gaza we warned about months ago is here," he said.

29/11/2024 - 14:01

Woman and children crushed to death at Gaza bakery amid food shortage

Two children and a woman were crushed to death Friday as a crowd of Palestinians pushed to get bread at a bakery in the Gaza Strip amid a worsening food crisis in the war-ravaged territory, medical officials said.

The children and the 50-year-old were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where a doctor confirmed that they died from suffocation due to crowding at the al-Banna bakery.

The flow of food allowed into Gaza by Israel has fallen to nearly its lowest level of almost 14-month-old war for the past two months, according to Israeli official figures. UN and aid officials say hunger and desperation are growing among Gaza’s population, almost all of which relies on humanitarian aid to survive.

Some bakeries in Gaza were closed for several days last week due to a shortage of flour. AP footage taken last week after they reopened showed large crowds of people cramming together, screaming and pushing, at one bakery in Deir al-Balah.

Palestinians across the Gaza Strip are heavily relying on bakeries and charitable kitchens, with many able to only secure one meal a day for their families.

29/11/2024 - 13:54

Iran blames rebel attacks in Syria on Israel, US

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has denounced recent rebel attacks in Syria as “a US-Zionist plan following the Zionist regime’s defeat in Lebanon and Palestine”, Iran’s state media reported.

In a phone call with his Syrian counterpart, Araqchi reiterated Iran’s support to the Syrian government, the media said.

On Wednesday, Syrian rebels, backed up by their Turkish allies, staged a lightning offensive against Syrian troops, quickly advancing in the northwest. By Friday, they had seized more than 50 villages and towns and begun shelling Syria’s second city Aleppo.

Read more about the rebel offensive here:

29/11/2024 - 13:08

Israeli bus attacked in West Bank, several people injured

A man opened fire on an Israeli bus near the Jewish settlement of Ariel in the occupied West Bank, wounding at least eight people, before he was killed by Israeli troops, the military and emergency services said.

Israel’s MDA medical service said four people suffered gunshot wounds, with three in a serious condition, while four others were hurt by flying glass.

There was no initial information about the identity of the attacker.

Violence has surged across the West Bank since the start of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza in October last year.

Dozens of Israelis have been killed in Palestinian street attacks, Israeli authorities said, while hundreds of Palestinians – including armed fighters, stone-throwing youths and civilian bystanders – have died in clashes with Israeli security forces.

29/11/2024 - 13:05

Gaza death toll climbs to 44,363, health ministry says

At least 44,363 Palestinians have been killed and 105,070 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since October 7, 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement.

29/11/2024 - 13:03

Iran to begin enriching uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges, UN watchdog says

Iran will begin enriching uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges at its two main nuclear facilities at Fordo and Natanz, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said, further raising tensions over Tehran’s programme as it enriches at near weapons-grade levels.

The notice from the International Atomic Energy Agency only mentioned Iran enriching uranium with new centrifuges to 5 percent purity, far lower than the 60 percent it currently does — likely signalling that it still wants to negotiate with the West and the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

However, it remains unclear how Trump will approach Iran once he enters office, particularly as it continues to threaten to attack Israel amid its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and just after a ceasefire started in its campaign in Lebanon. Trump withdrew America from the accord in 2018, setting in motion a series of attacks and incidents across the wider Mideast.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the IAEA report. Tehran had threatened to rapidly advance its program after the Board of Governors at the IAEA condemned Iran at a meeting in November for failing to cooperate fully with the agency.

In a statement, the IAEA outlined the plans Iran informed it of, which include feeding uranium into multiple cascades of its advanced IR-2M, IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges.

29/11/2024 - 11:25

Israel releases dozens of detained Palestinians

Israeli authorities have released around 30 Palestinians whom it had detained during the ongoing offensive in Gaza in the past months. The released arrived at a hospital in southern Gaza for medical checkups, medics said.

Freed Palestinians, detained during the war, have complained of ill-treatment and torture in Israeli detention after they were released, but Israel denies torture.

29/11/2024 - 11:23

• Israeli tanks retreat from central Gaza camp, medics say 30 killed
• Lebanese residents banned by Israeli army to return to several villages in south
• Gaza death toll climbs to 44,363, health ministry says

29/11/2024 - 11:23

Israeli tanks retreat from central Gaza camp, medics say 30 killed

Israeli military strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians overnight in the Gaza Strip, most of them in the Nuseirat camp at the centre of the enclave, medics said after some tanks pulled back from an area they had raided.

Medics said they had recovered 19 bodies of Palestinians killed in the northern areas of Nuseirat, one of the enclave’s eight long-standing refugee camps.

Some tanks remained active in the western area of the camp and the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said teams were unable to respond to distress calls from residents trapped inside their houses.

The rest were killed in the northern and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, medics added. There was no fresh statement by the Israeli military, but on Thursday it said its forces were continuing to “strike terror targets as part of the operational activity in the Gaza Strip”.

29/11/2024 - 11:10

Dutch highest court advised to uphold ruling on export ban of F-35 components to Israel

The Supreme Court of the Netherlands, the country’s highest court, on Friday was advised by its advocate general to uphold the ruling saying the Dutch State must put an end to export of F-35 components to Israel.

In February, The Hague Court of Appeal ordered the government to block those exports over concerns they were being used to violate international law during the war in Gaza, prompting the government to then say it would go to the Supreme court.

“According to the advocate general (of the Supreme Court), the Court of Appeal was justified in finding that there is a clear risk that Israel’s F-35 fighter jets are being used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip,” the court’s adviser said.  

29/11/2024 - 11:09

France envoy urges Lebanon to pick president

France’s special envoy said it was urgent for Lebanon to elect a president, after a parliamentary vote to end over two years without a head of state was announced for January.

Jean-Yves Le Drian’s visit to Lebanon came just two days after the start of the fragile ceasefire to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

“I came to Lebanon immediately after the ceasefire announcement to signal France’s support for its full implementation and to stress the urgent need, more than ever, to elect a president and restart the institutional process,” he told AFP.

He said he was in support Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri recent announcement of a presidential election to be held on January 9.

Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun’s term ended in October 2022, with neither of the two main blocs — the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its opponents — having the majority required to elect one. However, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said in a wartime speech that Hezbollah would “bring an effective contribution to the election of a president”.

29/11/2024 - 07:17

Iran to hold nuclear talks with Europeans

Iran is set to hold talks with Britain, France and Germany in Geneva on Friday over its nuclear programme, less than two months before Donald Trump returns as US president.

The meeting is shrouded in discretion, with the countries’ foreign ministries giving away few details on what they will discuss — or even where the talks are taking place.

Iranian diplomat Majid Takht-Ravanchi, the political deputy to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, will represent Iran in the talks, which follow on from a meeting in New York in September.

Laying the groundwork on Thursday, Takht-Ravanchi and deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Kazem Gharibabadi met with Enrique Mora, deputy secretary general of the European Union’s foreign affairs arm.

Mora said on X that they held a “frank exchange ... on Iran’s military support to Russia that has to stop, the nuclear issue that needs a diplomatic solution, regional tensions (important to avoid further escalation from all sides) and human rights”.

29/11/2024 - 07:06

Lebanese residents banned by Israeli army to return to several villages in south

Lebanese residents are prohibited from moving south to a line of villages and their surroundings until further notice, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on X on Friday.

Israel said it opened fire on Thursday towards what it called “suspects” with vehicles arriving at several areas in the southern zone, saying it was a breach of the truce with Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, which came into effect on Wednesday.

29/11/2024 - 06:59

Morning, and welcome to our liveblog on the conflict in the Middle East.

Yesterday's key developments:

• The Israeli army warned Lebanese from returning to homes south of the ‘Blue Line’ zone near the Israeli border.
• The Israeli air force said it struck a Hezbollah facility in southern Lebanon.
• At least 26 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip.

• Israel and Hezbollah accused each other of violating the ceasefire: Hezbollah said Israel had fired at civilians in southern Lebanon, while Israel said Hezbollah suspects had breached the no-go zones in the same area.

   

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, and Reteurs)

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.