Gaza Turmoil
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Hundreds mourn children killed in Israeli strike on south Beirut
Hundreds of mourners have chanted “death to Israel” and “America is the Great Satan” at the funeral of two children killed in an Israeli strike on Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut the day before, AFP reports.
“I feel very angry because the … lives of our children are becoming very cheap,” said Aya Ahmed, 38, a friend of the two killed children’s mother.
“Every mother now is thinking: I could lose my children at any moment because the Israelis have a licence to kill,” said Ahmed
Blinken says US ‘not aware of or involved’ in Hamas chief’s killing
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the United States was “not aware of or involved in” the killing of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, AFP reports.
“I can’t tell you what this means. I can tell you that the imperative of getting a ceasefire, the importance that that has for everyone, remains,” Blinken said, according to a transcript shared by his staff from an interview with Channel News Asia in Singapore.
Blinken, who is visiting Singapore, said a Gaza ceasefire is also key to preventing the conflict from spreading to the rest of the region.
“We’ve been working from day one not only to try to get to a better place in Gaza but also to prevent the conflict from spreading, whether it’s the north with Lebanon and Hezbollah, whether it’s the Red Sea with the Huthis, whether it’s Iran, Syria, Iraq, you name it,” Blinken told a forum in the city state.
Nagasaki decides against inviting Israel to commemorate nuclear bombing of Japan amid strikes in Gaza
The local government in Nagasaki province declared it will not invite Israel to its annual conference to commemorate US nuclear bombing of Japan, Anadolu Agency reports.
Mayor Shiro Suzuki said Israel would “not be invited to the Aug 9 annual peace ceremony,” Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported.
The decision to not invite Israel to the event comes on a day Israel assassinated resistance group Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh at his residence in Iranian capital Tehran.
Killing of Haniyeh could jeopardise efforts to secure truce in Gaza, says Qatar’s PM
The prime minister of Qatar, which has acted as a mediator in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, suggested that the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh could jeopardise efforts to secure a truce in Gaza, Reuters reports.
“Political assassinations and continued targeting of civilians in Gaza while talks continue leads us to ask, how can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on other side?” Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani wrote on X.
Erdogan vows Palestinians' will won't be shattered by 'perfidious assassination'
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the “perfidious assassination” of his close ally and “brother” Haniyeh, and said the killing would not break Palestinians’ will.
“May God have mercy on my brother Ismail Haniyeh, fallen in martyrdom after this odious attack,” Erdogan wrote on X.
“This assassination is a vileness that aims to disrupt the Palestinian cause, Gaza’s noble resistance and our Palestinian siblings’ rightful struggle, to break the will of Palestinians, and to intimidate them.
“However, just as until today, the Zionist barbarism will not reach its goals.”
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Defiant Words: Iranian President's stand on Haniyeh's tragic demise
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran would defend its territorial integrity and dignity.
Here’s the statement released by the state media of Iran:
“Today, dear Iran is mourning its sharer of sorrows and joys, the constant and proud companion of the path of resistance, the brave leader of the Palestinian resistance, the martyr of al-Quds, Haj Ismail Haniyeh. Yesterday I raised his victorious hand and today I have to bury him on my shoulders.
Martyrdom is the art of men of God. The bond between the two proud nations of Iran and Palestine will be stronger than before, and the path of resistance and defense of the oppressed will be followed stronger than ever.
The Islamic Republic of Iran will defend its territorial integrity, honor, dignity and pride, and make the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly action.”
Israel's ground operation claims 255 lives in nine days
At least 255 Palestinians were killed during the nine-day Israeli army ground operation in the southern city of Gaza, the officials said.
They said 42 more bodies were recovered from eastern Khan Younis.
Beirut attack: Israeli strike leaves innocents caught in crossfire
At least three people, including two children, were killed and 74 others sustained multiple injuries in a strike carried out by the Israeli military, Lebanon’s Health Ministry says.
Israeli military tagged the strike as a “targeted assassination operation” against a Hezbollah commander in southern Beirut.
Israeli minister hails Hamas leader's demise
Israel’s Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu said the killing of the Hamas leader “makes the world a little better”.
“No mercy for these mortals,” Eliyahu wrote in a post on X.
“The iron hand that will strike them, is the one that will bring peace and a little comfort and strengthen our ability to live in peace with those who desire peace,” he said.
Israeli military mum on Hamas leader's assassination
The AFP news agency is reporting that the Israeli military has declined to comment on foreign media reports of Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination.
Israeli forces quit east Khan Younis, Palestinians recover dozens of bodies
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Thousands of Palestinians returned to their homes in the ruins of Gaza's main southern city Khan Younis on Tuesday (Jul 30), after Israeli forces ended a week-long incursion there which they said aimed to prevent armed group Hamas from regrouping.
Palestinian rescue workers and civilians collected dead bodies from the streets of the abandoned battle zone, bringing corpses wrapped in rugs to morgues in cars and donkey carts.
Outrage, pro-Hezbollah chants as Israel hits group stronghold
BEIRUT (Lebanon) (AFP) – Anger simmered Tuesday after Israel struck a southern Beirut suburb that is also a Hezbollah stronghold, with young men chanting in support of the group at the site of the strike.
Israel hit Hezbollah's stronghold in retaliation for rocket fire from Lebanon that killed 12 children over the weekend in the occupied Golan Heights, saying it had targeted the commander responsible for the attack.
Iran says Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran.
The statement gave no details on how Haniyeh was killed. State TV reported on his death early Wednesday.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assassination but suspicion immediately fell on Israel, which has vowed to kill Haniyeh and other leaders of Hamas over the group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw some 250 others taken hostage.
Analysts on Iranian state television immediately began blaming Israel for the attack. Israel itself did not immediately comment but it often doesn’t when it comes to assassination carried out by their Mossad intelligence agency.
Israel is suspected of running a yearslong assassination campaign targeting Iranian nuclear scientists and others associated with its atomic program.
Israel targets Hezbollah commander in south Beirut strike
BEIRUT (AFP) - Israel struck Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut on Tuesday (Jul 30) in retaliation for rocket fire from Lebanon that killed 12 children over the weekend, saying it had targeted the commander responsible for the attack.
"The IDF (army) carried out a targeted strike in Beirut on the commander responsible for the murder of the children in Majdal Shams and the killing of numerous additional Israeli civilians," the military said in a statement, referring to the Druze Arab town in the annexed Golan Heights where the children were killed on Saturday.
