Gaza Dispute
Live Reporting
Israeli speaker of the Knesset meets US counterpart in Washington
Amir Ohana, the former Israeli Minister of Justice and Minister of Public Security is currently in the US to rally support among US officials for Israel’s war on Gaza. So far, he has met:
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan
House Speaker Mike Johnson
Thank you, @SpeakerJohnson, for the warm welcome, for your unwavering support for Israel throughout the years and for strengthening the alliance between our nations pic.twitter.com/RaYvbJoY5X
— Amir Ohana - ???? ????? (@AmirOhana) February 7, 2024
Israeli forces drag Palestinian-American woman from home in West Bank
Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian-American woman after breaking into her home and pulling her from her bed in the occupied West Bank, family members told the Associated Press news agency.
Relatives said Israeli soldiers burst into Samaher Esmail’s home, in the town of Silwad, while she was asleep in the early hours of Monday and pulled her out of bed.
A video of the raid and arrest posted to social media by her son showed soldiers surrounding his handcuffed mother and putting her into an armoured vehicle.
“They broke into her house and pulled her out, took her out of her bed,” the woman’s brother, Mubarak Esmail, told the AP. “They didn’t even let her put on her hijab,” he said.
The AP reports that the Israeli military said Esmail was arrested for “incitement on social media”.
Esmail is from Gretna, Louisiana, the same hometown as 17-year-old Palestinian-American Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, who was recently shot dead by Israeli forces in a nearby village in the occupied West Bank.
Our @EdAhmedMitchell: “We call on the State Department to investigate this incident and secure the immediate release of Samaher Esmail before something even worse happens to her..." #CeasefireNOW #WestBank #Gazahttps://t.co/pNjGTBcvI8
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) February 6, 2024
Are boycotts of Israel over Gaza war hurting US brands?
McDonald’s has missed sales targets partly due to boycotts against its products in some parts of the world over its perceived support for Israel, the company says.
The war on Gaza “meaningfully impacted” performance in the last quarter of 2023 in some regions, company officials said on Monday. Sales growth in the Middle East, China and India stood at 0.7 percent in the quarter, far below expectations.
The fast food company is only one of several US brands hit by boycotts and protests over their perceived support for Israel’s war on Gaza. On social media sites, lists circulate of brands accused of supporting Israel although their alleged ties are often not clearly explained.
The push is part of a larger Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign targeting Israel-friendly brands since 2005.
Israeli forces targeted with explosive device in occupied West Bank
Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues are reporting that Israeli forces have stormed the town of Tammun, northeast of the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
They have raided homes in the town, while Palestinian resistance groups have responded by targeting Israeli forces with explosive devices.
Israeli forces have now withdrawn from the cities of Jenin and Tulkarem, where they were conducting raids and destroying infrastructure. One former prisoner was arrested during raids in Jenin.
Blinken to meet ‘one-on-one’ with Israel’s military chief: Report
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to meet privately with the Israeli military’s Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, the Times of Israel reports.
The announcement comes after the Israel’s Hayom newspaper previously reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had initially rebuffed the US’ “unusual” request for a one-on-one meeting between the pair.
A private meeting may be an attempt to gain a more “honest analysis” of the state of the conflict without government officials present, the Times of Israel suggests.
Previous meetings between Blinken and Halevi have only been among Israel’s War Cabinet.
US Republican-led Israel-only funding bill fails
The US House of Representatives has rejected a Republican-led bill to provide $17.6bn in assistance to Israel while a wider bipartisan bill – that would also help Ukraine and ensure more money for US border security – looked to be in trouble as well.
Tuesday’s vote on the Israel bill, which needed a two-thirds majority to advance, went largely along party lines.
Aid for Israel – one of the largest recipients of US foreign aid – has traditionally received strong bipartisan support.
ICJ elects Judge Julia Sebutinde from Uganda as vice president
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has elected Judge Julia Sebutinde from Uganda for a three-year term as vice president.
A former judge at the Special Court for Sierra Leone from 2005 to 2011, Sebutinde has been an ICJ judge since February 2012.
Last month, Sebutinde was the only judge on the 17-member ICJ panel to vote against all six measures adopted in a ruling ordering Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide by its forces in Gaza.
Following the ruling, the government of Uganda issued a statement explaining that Sebutinde’s vote was “her own individual and independent opinion, and does not in any way reflect the position of the government of the Republic of Uganda”.
Sebutinde will serve alongside Lebanon’s Judge Nawaf Salam who was elected as president.
Civilians killed by air strikes on Syria: SANA
The Israeli military has launched air strikes on the city of Homs and its countryside, “killing a number of civilians” and injuring several more, reports Syria’s state-run SANA news agency, citing a military source.
Israeli warplanes fired missiles from north of the Lebanese city of Tripoli at about 3am local time [00:00 GMT], targeting several sites in Homs and the surrounding area, SANA reports.
The attacks targeted Syrian army outposts and the Shayrat Airbase, the Reuters news agency reports, citing local sources.
Israel has escalated its attacks on Syria since October, as regional tensions have grown between Israel and Iran-backed groups in neighbouring Syria and Lebanon.
Argentina’s president visits Western Wall in Jerusalem
Argentina’s newly elected, far-right president Javier Milei has visited the Western Wall – the holiest site in Judaism, also known as the Wailing Wall – in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City as part of a controversial trip to Israel this week.
On the trip, Milei has already expressed strong support for Israel and pledged to cultivate closer ties between the countries, saying he will move Argentina’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Hamas has said the move is “an infringement of the rights of our Palestinian people to their land and a violation of the rules of international law”.
Six people reported killed in Israeli shelling of vehicle in Rafah
Six people were reported killed in the Israeli shelling of a vehicle with a police logo in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, according to reports from Wafa and the French news agency AFP.
Witnesses told the AFP that the six people were travelling in the vehicle which had been securing the passage of an aid truck carrying flour in Rafah’s Khirbat al-Adas neighbourhood.
Photographs from the scene show first responders taking a body covered in blankets to an ambulance. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack when contacted by the AFP.
Houthis fire 6 ballistic missiles at vessels in Red Sea, Gulf of Aden
Houthi fighters in Yemen launched six antiship ballistic missiles at vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden over the course of Tuesday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) reports, with one Greek-owned bulk carrier sustaining damage but being able to continue its journey.
Three of the ballistic missiles were aimed at the MV Star Nasia, sailing under a Marshall Islands flag but Greek-owned, CENTCOM said, with two exploding near the vessel and one shot down by a US Navy destroyer, USS Laboon.
Minor damage was reported but no injuries. “MV Star Nasia remains seaworthy and continuing towards its destination,” CENTCOM said.
Three other antiship missiles fired from Yemen appeared aimed at the UK-owned cargo ship MV Morning Tide. All three hit the water near the vessel and no damage or casualties were reported, CENTCOM said.
