Palestinians flee Gaza City as Israel begins offensive to take over the Strip's capital
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Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Israel to continue with Gaza City offensive despite talks to free Hamas hostages
Israel will resume negotiations with Hamas for the release of all hostages captured during the October 7 attack, Benjamin Netanyahu has said - but its military will continue its Gaza City offensive despite international outcry. The remarks from Israel's prime minister are the first since Hamas agreed to a temporary ceasefire proposal. Talks will also be with a view to ending the war, but Mr Netanyahu said it must be on "terms acceptable to Israel". In the meantime, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have begun calling medics and international organisations in northern Gaza to encourage them to evacuate to the south ahead of the expanded operation in Gaza City. Many of Israel's closest allies have urged the government to reconsider. Some Israelis fear it could doom the remaining 20 or so living hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the 7 October 2023 attack which ignited the war. Israel plans to call up 60,000 reservists and extend the service of 20,000 more. Speaking to soldiers near Israel's border with Gaza, Mr Netanyahu said he was still set on approving plans for defeating Hamas and capturing Gaza City. "At the same time I have issued instructions to begin immediate negotiations for the release of all our hostages and an end to the war on terms acceptable to Israel," he said. "These two things - defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages - go hand in hand," he added. The latest ceasefire proposal drawn up by Egypt and Qatar is almost identical to an earlier one that Israel accepted before the talks stalled last month. The proposal would include the release of some hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a pullback of Israeli forces and negotiations over a lasting ceasefire. 'Don't tell us where to build' Israeli strikes killed at least 36 Palestinians across Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals, including at a tent camp in Deir al-Balah. Meanwhile, Israel's ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, was summoned to the Foreign Office in response to a controversial West Bank settlement plan which has been given final approval. The project, known as the E1 settlement, would effectively cut off the occupied West Bank from East Jerusalem and divide the territory in two. The UK and 21 international partners have released a statement to condemn the decision "in the strongest terms" calling it "a flagrant breach of international law" and "critically undermining a two-state solution". Ms Hotovely gave Sky News her response to the meeting: "I said we wouldn't tell the British where to build in London. Don't tell us where to build in Jerusalem, our capital. We see E1 as part of Greater Jerusalem." 11:50 UK warns of 'horrifying starvation' The UK has also responded to comments from the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA that famine in Gaza is "deliberate" and being used as an "instrument of war". Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, has called for a "comprehensive [peace] plan to end this misery and get to a long-term settlement". "Israel must immediately and permanently lift all barriers preventing aid reaching the people of Gaza to prevent the horrifying starvation in the Strip continuing," he added. Demand for Gaza media access The Media Freedom Coalition, which includes the UK and 50 other countries, has called on Israel to allow foreign media access into Gaza. In a joint statement, the coalition, which is a partnership of countries working to defend media freedom, urged Israel to "allow immediate independent foreign media access" and "afford protection for journalists operating in Gaza". They said this was in light of the "unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza".
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Army chiefs spend £120million on mobile missile launchers to bolster Britain's air defences
THE Army is buying more mobile missile launchers to bolster Britain's air defences. The £120million deal will get six Land Ceptor launchers which can each fire up to eight missiles that can targets the size of tennis balls at three times the speed of sound up to 60 miles away. 4 4 4 It comes after recent war games showed Britain would be overwhelmed by a Russian missile and drone blitz. The MoD said the Land Ceptor deal would 'bolster national security' and secure 140 jobs. It is part of a government plan to add two Sky Sabre air defence batteries to the seven already in service. Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard said it would double the number of Sky Sabre batteries available to deploy abroad. He said: 'We are equipping our armed forces with state-of-the art equipment to help keep us safe. 'Doubling our deployable Sky Sabre capability will strengthen the UK's air defences, protect UK forces abroad, and deter our adversaries.' 'Not a pretty picture' Each battery consists of three Land Ceptor launchers, a Giraffe radar that detects and tracks incoming missiles, and a command and control centre which can guide up to 24 missiles on to 24 separate targets. The Sun revealed that Russian missiles overwhelmed the UK in a war game based on attacks on Ukraine. Defence chiefs simulated the first night of the war to test the UK's air defences. Air Commodore Blythe Crawford said: 'It was not a pretty picture.' Iron Dome Explained: Inside Israel's envy-of-the-world air defence downing 96% of terror rockets The drills suggested bases would be blown to smithereens and £100 million fighter jets could get blitzed before they could hide. Air Cdre Crawford, head of the RAF's Air and Space Warfare Centre, said it showed the UK 'home base' was no longer safe. The drills used a £36 million wargaming system to test the UK's responses to 'hundreds of different types of munitions' attacking from multiple different directions. It exposed multiple vulnerabilities including a chronic shortage of airfields and a lack of hardened shelters for protect and hide jets on the ground. The government sold off scores of airfields and watered-down the RAF 's powers to commandeer civilian runways. The UK has no Iron Dome-style air defence system to protect the home nations from incoming missiles. The Armed Forces rely on RAF Typhoons, which scramble from RAF Lossiemouth, to shoot down incoming drones and cruise missiles. The only British missiles that could intercept Russian ballistic missiles are based onboard the Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyers. 4 The Sky Sabre system is for short and medium range missile defence. It is designed to intercept aircraft, helicopters and air launched missiles. Air Cdr Crawford warned in April Britain had got lax by standing at the edge of Europe and "feeling as though the rest of the continent stood between us and the enemy". He said: " Ukraine has made us all sit up.' Speaking at London 's Rusi think tank he said that for decades military planners had assumed they were 'safe to operate from the home base because most of the wars we've been fighting have been overseas'. He said: 'We need to reverse that thinking and assume that from here on, we're under threat in the home base now as well.' The drill took place on a simulator known as Gladiator after Russia launched its full scale invasion in 2022. But the results have not been revealed until now. Addressing an Air and Missile Defence Conference at London-based RUSI think tank, Air Cmdr Crawford said: "We loaded night one of Ukraine into that synthetic environment and played it out against the UK and as you can imagine it was not a pretty picture. 'It reinforced the fact that we really need to get after this.' The drills were stopped before bases were hit but it triggered an urgent review of the RAF's resilience. There is a worst case scenario where things we hold dear, parts of the UK, are within range of Russian missiles. Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston Since then Typhoon jets have practised landing on ice and motorways in Finland – as they would have to do if their bases were under attack. Sweden's Grippen fighter jet and Soviet MiG and Sukhoi jets were designed to land on motorways. They deliberately built their roads to be strong enough – and straight enough – for fighter jets to land. Speaking before the war in Ukraine, former RAF boss Mike Wigston said pilots needed to practise scrambling at zero notice to prepare for a war with Russia. He said RAF Typhoons and F-35B Lightning jets would have to land on motorways, race tracks and car parks if they held proper fleet dispersal drills for the first time since the Cold War. The plans would see squadrons scatter into 'fighting fours' to cut the risk whole fleets could be wiped out in a single strike. Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston said it was his duty to prepare for a 'worst case scenario'. Speaking in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where the US Pacific fleet was decimated by a surprise attack in 1941, he said: 'There is a worst case scenario where things we hold dear, parts of the UK, are within range of Russian missiles.' He added: 'It sounds a bit Cold Warry, but there is a pressing requirement to remember how to do it.' RAF pilots practised dispersing to Boscombe Down, in Wiltshire. The former World War Two airfield is used to test prototype aircraft but hasn't been used by an operational squadron for more than 30 years. A defence source said having more airfields made it easier to launch deception plans so that enemies are uncertain where the RAF jets are based. But they warned cost-cutting drives had hamstrung the RAF's military effectiveness.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Exclusive: Military options for Ukraine discussed by US, European national security advisers
Aug 21 (Reuters) - Military chiefs from the United States and a number of European countries on Thursday presented options to their national security advisers for providing security guarantees to Ukraine, officials said. This followed U.S. President Donald Trump's pledge to help protect the country under any deal to end Russia's 3-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine. A Pentagon statement said U.S. and European planners had developed the military options for "appropriate consideration" by allied national security advisers. Reuters was first to report that the military leaders were preparing the options. The chiefs of defense for the United States, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and Ukraine met in Washington, D.C., between Tuesday and Thursday. A source familiar with the matter said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as Trump's national security adviser, held a conference call on Thursday with his European counterparts to discuss the options. Final details must still be worked out, the source said, but European countries would provide "the lion's share" of any forces involved in security guarantees for Ukraine. That echoed Vice President JD Vance's comment on Wednesday that Europe would need to shoulder "the lion's share" of the costs of the operation. "The planning work continues," said the source, adding that Washington still was "determining the scope of its role." Trump has said he will not deploy U.S. troops in Ukraine but has left the door open to other U.S. military involvement, including air support. One option was sending European forces to Ukraine but putting the United States in charge of their command and control, sources have told Reuters. U.S. air support could come in a variety of ways, including providing more air defense systems to Ukraine and enforcing a no-fly zone with U.S. fighter jets. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have both supported troop deployments as part of a coalition of the willing, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also signaling openness to his country's participation. The head of Germany's soldiers' union said on Thursday that European NATO leaders must face the reality that tens of thousands of troops would need to be deployed in a Ukraine peace force for the long term. Trump has pressed for a quick end to Europe's deadliest war in 80 years, and Kyiv and its allies have worried he could seek to force an agreement on Russia's terms.
