Middle East Standoff
Live Reporting
Israel's creeping control over the West Bank
Israel feels “empowered” to intensify its assaults in the occupied West Bank due to the lack of consequences for its mass onslaught in Gaza, says Tamer Qarmout, assistant professor of public policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.
“Israel is importing the same war tactics it has been using in Gaza into the West Bank to crush the Palestinian resistance, to crush Palestinian liberation aspirations, and most importantly, to collectively punish Palestinian society,” Qarmout told Al Jazeera.
“There is no excuse for the ruthless destruction of civilian infrastructure,” he said, claiming it is part of Israel’s strategy to drive more Palestinians from their homes and ultimately “swallow the entire West Bank”.
A drone strike on a vehicle in the occupied West Bank city of Tubas has killed five Palestinians, including the son of prominent Palestinian prisoner Zakaria Zubeidi.
Deadly strike: A bitter blow to refuge
A deadly Israeli air attack on a tent camp near al-Aqsa Hospital left dozens of tents completely wiped out and displaced people searching for what is left of their belongings.
People sheltering behind the hospital – the largest in central Gaza – say they received no warning ahead of the strike that killed at least four people, including women and children, media reported.
“The attack was sudden in an area that is supposed to be protected,” media said. “The hospital has turned into a graveyard rather than a place of treatment.”
Israel's relentless bombardment killed 18
Israel's relentless bombardment of Gaza on Wednesday resulted in the deaths of at least 18 Palestinians.
Israeli forces kill a boy
Israeli forces shot and killed 16-year-old Palestinian boy in Far’a refugee camp.
Wafa news agency reported that soldiers “fired several bullets at the child, abused him and prevented ambulance crews from reaching him”.
Netanyahu's sticking point halts peace talks: Hamas
Hamas says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not ready to withdraw forces from Gaza’s Philadelphi Corridor.
Hamas claimed this refusal is thwarting a ceasefire deal.
Greta Thunberg arrested at pro-Palestinian protest in Denmark
COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Police on Wednesday arrested a group of pro-Palestinian students including the 21-year-old activist Greta Thunberg who had occupied a building at the University of Copenhagen to protest what they said was the university's continued "cooperation with academic institutions in Israel”.
Greta Thunberg and a group of activists were arrested on Wednesday after occupying a University of Copenhagen building to call for an academic boycott of Israeli universities, Danish media reported.
Lebanon health ministry says woman dead in Israeli strikes
BEIRUT (Lebanon) (AFP) – Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes killed a woman and wounded five other people in the country's south on Wednesday, nearly 11 months since hostilities broke out between Israel and Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, an Iran-backed movement, has exchanged near daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since Palestinian militants Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu says Israel will not leave Gaza border corridor until it is secure
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday (Sep 4) that Israel will only agree to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza that guarantees the border area between southern Gaza and Egypt could never be used as a lifeline for the Palestinian militant movement Hamas.
"Until that happens, we're there," he told a news conference in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu says Hamas 'rejected everything' in Gaza truce talks
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Hamas had rejected all elements of a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza that would help facilitate the release of hostages.
"Hamas has rejected everything... I hope that changes because I want those hostages out," Netanyahu told a news conference, casting doubt on the possibility of a breakthrough one day after the State Department said it was "time to finalise that deal".
