Large protests continued in Tel Aviv, Israel, for a third consecutive night Tuesday as hundreds took to the streets to call on the government to reach a cease-fire deal that would bring home the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
The protests have come after the Israeli military said six hostages were killed by their captors in Gaza just as troops were closing in on their location. Many Israelis blame Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the mounting number of dead hostages and are calling for a cease-fire agreement to free the remaining hostages.
Meanwhile, the U.S. says it is working on a new cease-fire and hostage deal proposal with its Egyptian and Qatari counterparts. And the United Nations Security Council plans to convene Wednesday to discuss the war.
Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli military announced it had killed a Hamas militant who appeared in a widely viewed video from Oct. 7, where he was seen drinking from a bottle of cola in front of two children wounded in a grenade attack that had just killed their father.
The military identified the militant as Ahmed Fozi Wadia, a commander in a Hamas commando battalion. The Israeli military said aircraft on Saturday struck a compound in Gaza City where Hamas militants were operating, killing eight militants, including Wadia.
Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage in their Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the war in Gaza which is now in its 11th month and has killed more than 40,000 people, according to Gaza health officials.
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U.S. Justice Department charges Hamas leader in connection with Oct. 7 attack
The Justice Department announced criminal charges Tuesday against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other senior militants in connection with the Oct. 7, 2023, rampage in Israel, marking the first effort by American law enforcement to formally call out the masterminds of the attack.
The seven-count criminal complaint filed in federal court in New York City includes charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, resulting in death. It also accuses Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah of providing financial support and weapons, including rockets, that were used in the attack.
The impact of the case may be mostly symbolic given that Sinwar is believed to be hiding out in tunnels and the Justice Department says three of the six defendants named in the complaint are believed now to be dead. The complaint was originally filed under seal in February to give the U.S. time to try to take into custody the then-Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, but was unsealed Tuesday weeks after Haniyeh’s death and because of other developments in the region, the Justice Department said.
Former members of Netanyahu’s cabinet say Israel doesn’t need to control Gaza’s border with Egypt
TEL AVIV, Israel — Two former members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet have rejected the Israeli leader’s claim that Israel must retain control over Gaza’s border with Egypt.
Benny Gantz, a former defense minister and military chief of staff, said Israel should focus on bringing the remaining hostages held in Gaza back home safely. Hamas has demanded an Israeli withdrawal from the area as part of any deal.
Gantz told a news conference Tuesday that Israel has the capability of returning to the “Philadelphi corridor” if needed.
“Philadelphi is an operational challenge, not an existential threat,” he said. “We need to bring back the hostages, even at a heavy cost.”
He was joined by his political partner, Gadi Eisenkot, another former military chief. Both men resigned from the war cabinet in June, accusing Netanyahu of mismanaging the war and putting his own political survival ahead of the country’s interests.
Netanyahu’s office dismissed the criticism. “Those who do not contribute to the victory and the return of our hostages would do better not to interfere,” it said.
Protesters gather in Tel Aviv again to call on government to reach a cease-fire deal
TEL AVIV, Israel — Hundreds of protesters gathered in central Tel Aviv for a third consecutive night, calling on the government to reach a cease-fire deal that would bring home the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
A new wave of protests erupted Sunday after Israel said it recovered the bodies of six hostages who were killed by Hamas militants in captivity. The army said the hostages were killed as soldiers were closing in on the tunnel where they were being held, and forensics experts say they were shot at close range.
Tuesday’s protest took place a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his insistence that Israel retain control of Gaza’s border with Egypt. Hamas has demanded a full Israeli withdrawal as part of any deal.
Protesters say that time is running out to save the hostages still alive in Gaza. Israel estimates that Hamas is holding about 65 living hostages, in addition to the remains of some 35 others.
Emona Or, the sister of hostage Avinatan Or, said the government needs to “make sure that they do everything to bring them back alive, not like we saw people returning this week, God forbid.”
Many protesters held blue and white Israeli flags and yellow flags meant to symbolize solidarity with the hostages. “Seal the deal,” said one poster.
Police briefly scuffled with some protesters, arresting at least one man.
White House working on new cease-fire and hostage deal
WASHINGTON — The White House says it is developing a new cease-fire and hostage deal proposal with its Egyptian and Qatari counterparts to try to bring about an agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza.
National security spokesperson John Kirby said the “executions” of six hostages, including one American, by Hamas, “underscores the sense of urgency” in the talks. Kirby declined to frame the latest proposal as a “final” or “take-it-or-leave-it” offer to the parties, but he also declined to speculate on what might happen if the latest press for a deal wasn’t successful.
Responding to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that Israel would maintain a military presence along the entirety of Gaza’s border with Egypt, Kirby noted that Israel had already agreed that, as part of the first phase of a cease-fire deal, it would pull its troops from densely populated areas, including in the so-called Philadelphi corridor. That has emerged as a late obstacle to an agreement.
“That’s the proposal that Israel had agreed to,” he said.
Kirby declined to address widespread protests inside Israel calling on Netanyahu to reach an agreement, saying, “I’ll let the Israeli people speak for themselves.”
UN Security Council to discuss Israel-Hamas war in the wake of hostage killings
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council will discuss the conflict between Hamas and Israel and the crisis in the Palestinian territories on Wednesday in the wake of the killing of six hostages in Gaza. Even routine bureaucratic questions about the meeting are sparking disagreements between U.N. members.
Israel’s U.N. ambassador Danny Danon’s wrote on X early Tuesday that, “following my urgent request, the UN Security Council will finally convene on Wednesday for the first time since the October 7 massacre to hold an official discussion on the hostages.”
The U.N. ambassador from Malta, which served as Security Council president in April, wrote back to Danon on X that the council had adopted a Nov. 15 resolution that called for the release of all the hostages during humanitarian pauses in the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
“At the time of adoption your representative stated in the Council that Israel will not implement the resolution,” she wrote. “Stop spreading misinformation.”
France, the United Kingdom and the United States backed Israel’s request for a Security Council meeting. Israel wrote in a press release Tuesday that “the Security Council must condemn the terrorist organization Hamas and demand the immediate release of the abductees.”
Algeria, another Security Council member, separately requested a meeting on the Middle East crisis that will be part of Wednesday’s meeting.
The Israeli Health Ministry said autopsies had determined the hostages were shot at close range and died on Thursday or Friday. The army said the bodies were recovered from a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
US Marines assigned to USS Wasp have shore leave canceled after attack on 2 Marines in Turkey
WASHINGTON — U.S. Marines assigned to the USS Wasp amphibious warship that is in port in Turkey have had their shore leave canceled following an attack on two Marines during a port visit to Izmir, a U.S. defense official told The Associated Press.
The Wasp has been sailing in the eastern Mediterranean in a show of support for Israel and to be able to come to Israel’s defense if the war in Gaza escalates into a larger regional conflict.
A second military official said that no changes are anticipated to the Wasp’s in-port schedule. The official didn’t have further details to share on what prompted the attack on Monday, saying that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) was still looking into it.
Both officials spoke Tuesday on the condition of anonymity to provide details not made public.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Monday that authorities detained 15 members of an anti-American youth organization who physically assaulted two U.S. military personnel in the city of Izmir.
— By Tara Copp
Brawl among fans stops a soccer game
TEL AVIV, Israel — An Arab soccer team in Israel said on Tuesday that a fight at a soccer game earlier in the week could set a “dangerous precedent” for racism in Israeli soccer.
Israel police said Sunday they arrested 12 fans who burst onto the soccer field and started fighting during the Israeli national anthem at a game in southern Israel.
According to media reports, some fans of Bnei Sakhnin, a team from an Arab city in northern Israel, turned their backs during the anthem. It prompted dozens of fans of the Beersheba team to storm the field with poles and started brawling with supporters of the rival team.
The players from Bnei Sakhnin left the field and refused to start the game. It was scheduled as the country was reeling from the news of the killing of six hostages who had been held nearly 11 months in Gaza, and an attack in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that killed three police officers the same morning.
Bnei Sakhnin Chairman Muhammad Abu Younes said during a news conference on Tuesday that the security guards should have prevented the fans from storming the field, and that his team did not want to play in the tense atmosphere.
Both teams are expected to face penalties from the Israel Football Association.
Alona Barkat, the Hapoel Beersheba owner, told reporters that she does not justify how her team fans behaved, but Sunday was an exceptionally tense day and “all of our hearts were broken.” She said the fans expected everyone in the stadium to respect the anthem of Israel “as a minimum.”
Netanyahu criticizes decision by UK government to suspend some arms exports to Israel
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday slammed a decision by the British government to suspend some arms exports to Israel over the risk that they could be used to violate international law.
In a thread on his English account on the social platform X, Netanyahu called the move “shameful” and said it would not “change Israel’s determination to defeat Hamas.”
“With or without British arms, Israel will win this war,” he wrote.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government announced the suspension Monday. The move has limited military impact but it is intended to increase pressure by Israel’s frustrated allies for an end to the war in Gaza.
The United Kingdom is among a number of Israel’s longstanding allies whose governments are under growing pressure to halt weapons exports because of the toll of the nearly 11-month-old conflict in Gaza. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians in its toll.
British firms sell a relatively small amount of weapons and components to Israel compared to major suppliers such as the U.S. and Germany. But the U.K. is one of Israel’s closest allies, so the decision carries some symbolic significance.
Israel says it closely adheres to international law in its campaign against Hamas, which launched an attack that killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage on Oct. 7 that sparked the war.
WHO says polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has reached one-quarter of children targeted in 2 days
GENEVA — The World Health Organization says a “wildly complex” polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has already reached more than one-quarter of all children targeted across the strip in the first two days of its rollout.
Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, said more than 161,000 children have been vaccinated out of the 640,000 targeted under a humanitarian pause that is “area specific” – with the first phase now underway in central Gaza.
“We surpassed the estimated target,” he told reporters at a U.N. briefing in Geneva by videoconference from Gaza. “Until now, things are going well … This is only the third day. We still have 10 days to go at least.”
Peeperkorn said more than 500 teams had fanned out across Gaza as part of the campaign against an outbreak of vaccine-derived polio in Gaza. WHO has said Israel agreed to limited pauses in the fighting to facilitate the campaign.
Lufthansa will resume flights to Tel Aviv later this week
BERLIN — German airline Lufthansa will resume flights to Tel Aviv in Israel later this week. The company announced Tuesday that it would offer flights to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport starting on Thursday.
Flights to the Lebanese capital, Beirut, will remain suspended until Sept. 30 for all airlines in the Lufthansa Group, which also includes Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings.
Flights to Amman in Jordan and Erbil in Iraq resumed on Aug. 27.
Lufthansa had canceled its connections at the beginning of last month due to rising tensions in the region.
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