France’s Macron calls for ‘lasting ceasefire’ in call with Netanyahu
French President Emmanuel Macron has demanded a “lasting ceasefire” in Gaza during a call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his office has said, as an escalating humanitarian crisis grips the Palestinian territory.
“France will work in the coming days in cooperation with Jordan to carry out humanitarian operations in Gaza,” the French presidency added in a statement, according to AFP.
Macron, an ally of Netanyahu since the start of the war triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, told the Israeli premier of his “deepest concern” about civilian deaths and the humanitarian emergency in Gaza.
He also insisted on the importance of measures to end violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank and prevent new planned settlements.
Netanyahu’s office said during the call the prime minister thanked Macron for “France’s involvement in defending freedom of navigation and its willingness to help restore security along Israel’s border with Lebanon”.
Macron has steadily sharpened his criticism of Israel over its Gaza offensive.
Last week he said that Israel’s goal of fighting terrorism did not mean it had to “flatten Gaza”, calling on the government “to stop this response because it is not appropriate, because all lives are worth the same and we defend them”.
Key events
An Israeli teenager has become the first person to be jailed for being a conscientious objector since the latest conflict broke out, the Jerusalem Post has reported.
Tal Mitnick, 18, has been jailed for 30 days after going to an army recruitment centre with a group of protesters to announce his refusal to enlist, the paper reported, adding that he had been given an “exceptionally long” sentence for a first time refuser. It attributed the following statement to him:
I refuse to believe that more violence will bring security, I refuse to take part in a war of revenge. I grew up in a home where life is sacred, where discussion is valued, and where discourse and understanding always come before taking violent measures.
In the world full of corrupt interests in which we live, violence and war are another way to increase support for the government and silence criticism.
We must recognize the fact that after weeks of the ground operation in Gaza, at the end of the day – negotiations, an agreement, brought back the hostages. It was actually military action that caused them to be killed.
Because of the criminal lie that ‘there are no innocent civilians in Gaza,’ even hostages waving a white flag shouting in Hebrew were shot to death.
I don’t want to imagine how many similar cases there were that were not investigated because the victims were born on the wrong side of the fence.
A drone has crashed near a village in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, Israel’s army has said, after an Iraqi armed group with links to Hamas militants claimed responsibility for an attack in the area.
Israeli media reported that a drone probably carrying explosives launched from Syria was shot down late Wednesday evening south of the settlement of Eliad, causing no injuries but some material damage.
The Israeli army told AFP that the drone had crashed near Eliad, but gave no further details.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose formation of pro-Iran armed groups, said in a statement it had hit a “vital target” south of Eliad with “appropriate weaponry”. AFP reported further:
Since the war in Gaza began, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against US and international coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.
Washington has counted 103 attacks against its forces in Iraq and Syria since 17 October, according to a US military official.
Most of those attacks have been claimed by factions of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq that oppose US support for Israel in its war against Hamas.
But the group has so far claimed few direct attacks against Israeli interests.
Israel conquered part of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war before annexing the territory in 1981.
Here are some of the latest images coming to us from Gaza:
Money exchange shops in West Bank raided by Israeli forces, reports say
One Palestinian has been killed and at least 15 injured in raids by the Israeli military targeting money exchange shops in cities in the West Bank, Al Jazeera is reporting.
The broadcaster’s correspondent, Imran Khan, who is in Ramallah, said 10 raids had taken place in cities including Ramallah, al-Bireh, Hebron, Halhul, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem and Jericho.
Israel says the exchange shops are used by the Palestinian resistance movement to finance their activities, according to Khan, who added:
The raid here in Ramallah was unparalleled. I counted at least 20 vehicles entering the city around 1am (23:00 GMT Wednesday). Then there were fierce clashes that broke out in Al-Manara Square, which is in the centre of the city.
There was a controlled explosion around 3am (01:00 GMT). Israeli forces went into a money exchange shop and arrested the owner of the shop.
This was a raid unlike any other we have seen in the centre of Ramallah.
The Israeli army has announced the deaths of three more soldiers in the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number killed in the territory since 7 October to 167.
They were named as Major Dvir David Fima, 32, from Kfar Yonah; Captain (res) Neriya Zisk, 24, from Masu’ot Itzhak; and Sergeant first class (res.) Asaf Pinhas Tubul, 22, from Kiryat Motzkin.
France’s Macron calls for ‘lasting ceasefire’ in call with Netanyahu
French President Emmanuel Macron has demanded a “lasting ceasefire” in Gaza during a call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his office has said, as an escalating humanitarian crisis grips the Palestinian territory.
“France will work in the coming days in cooperation with Jordan to carry out humanitarian operations in Gaza,” the French presidency added in a statement, according to AFP.
Macron, an ally of Netanyahu since the start of the war triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, told the Israeli premier of his “deepest concern” about civilian deaths and the humanitarian emergency in Gaza.
He also insisted on the importance of measures to end violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank and prevent new planned settlements.
Netanyahu’s office said during the call the prime minister thanked Macron for “France’s involvement in defending freedom of navigation and its willingness to help restore security along Israel’s border with Lebanon”.
Macron has steadily sharpened his criticism of Israel over its Gaza offensive.
Last week he said that Israel’s goal of fighting terrorism did not mean it had to “flatten Gaza”, calling on the government “to stop this response because it is not appropriate, because all lives are worth the same and we defend them”.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war with me, Helen Livingstone.
French President Emmanuel Macron has demanded a “lasting ceasefire” in Gaza during a call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his office has said, as an escalating humanitarian crisis grips the Palestinian territory.
“France will work in the coming days in cooperation with Jordan to carry out humanitarian operations in Gaza,” the French presidency added in a statement.
Macron, an ally of Netanyahu since the start of the war triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, told the Israeli premier of his “deepest concern” about civilian deaths and the humanitarian emergency in Gaza.
The call came as Israeli warplanes struck central and southern Gaza, including in Khan Younis where 20 Palestinians were killed in a strike near al-Amal hospital according to the Gaza health ministry.
-
The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) has warned that the scale and intensity of ground operations and fighting in Gaza is hindering the delivery of aid to those in need. In a statement on Wednesday, the OCHA said humanitarian operations are “facing increasing operational challenges due to intensified hostilities, insecurity, blocked roads, scarcity of fuel, and extremely limited communications.”
-
Israel launched heavy strikes across central and southern Gaza overnight and into Wednesday after broadening its offensive against Hamas to more areas where the military had told Palestinians to seek shelter earlier in the war. Residents reported heavy bombing in the built-up Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, in the southern city of Khan Younis and in the southern town of Rafah, areas where tens of thousands have sought refuge as much of northern Gaza was pounded to rubble. An Israeli strike killed 20 Palestinians near al-Amal hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, according to a Gaza health ministry spokesperson.
-
At least 21,110 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military action in Gaza since 7 October, according to figures released on Wednesday by the health ministry in the territory. The ministry reported that 55,243 people had been wounded. It said 195 people were killed and 325 injured in the last 24 hours.
-
Six Palestinians were killed and several others wounded on Wednesday after an Israeli operation in a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian ministry of health. According to the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, the six people were killed by Israeli airstrikes on the Nur Shams refugee camp near the town of Tulkarem, where Israeli soldiers were also deployed.
-
Israel’s military chief, Herzi Halevi, has said his forces are “at a very high level of readiness” amid escalating Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon. Israeli war cabinet minister, Benny Gantz, separately said that the situation on the country’s northern border “demands change”, adding that the time for diplomacy “is running out”. Hezbollah claimed on Wednesday morning to have fired 18 rockets into Israel from Lebanon. The IDF said it intercepted some of the rockets. A Hezbollah fighter was killed late Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon along with his brother, a Lebanese-Australian national, and his wife, according to reports.
-
Telecommunications and internet services are being gradually restored in central and southern Gaza, the Palestinian phone service provider, Paltel, has said on Wednesday. Phone and Internet services experienced a “complete breakdown” on Tuesday that was “due to the ongoing offensive”, it said.
-
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned the people of Gaza face “grave peril”. In a statement on Wednesday, the WHO said its teams had undertaken “high-risk” missions to deliver supplies to hospitals in northern and southern Gaza, where they witnessed “intense hostilities in their vicinity, high patient loads and overcrowding.”
-
Israel has responded furiously to comments by Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, comparing Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. Speaking at an awards ceremony in Ankara, Erdoğan said the Israeli prime minister was no different from Hitler and likened Israel’s attacks on Gaza to the treatment of Jewish people by the Nazis. Netanyahu responded by saying the Turkish president should be the last person to lecture Israel. Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said Erdoğan’s remarks were “deeply offensive” to Jewish people around the world.
-
Benjamin Netanyahu has allegedly refused requests from security officials to begin making plans for control and governance of the Gaza Strip after the war ends, according to a report. Multiple requests were conveyed on behalf of the directors of the Mossad, the Shin Bet security agency, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) chief of staff and the defence ministry to arrange a meeting with the prime minister’s office, Israeli media reported. Meanwhile, a White House official has said national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and Israel’s strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, have discussed planning for the day after the Israel-Gaza war, including governance and security in Gaza.
