Netanyahu says Israel will control all of Gaza, stop Hamas looting aid
JERUSALEM, May 19 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would control all of Gaza and would prevent the militant Islamist group Hamas from looting aid.
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
US evacuates 79 staff and family from embassy in Israel as more Americans ask how to leave
The U.S. evacuated 79 staff and families from the U.S. Embassy in Israel on Friday as the conflict between Israel and Iran intensifies and growing numbers of private American citizens seek information on how to leave Israel and Iran. An internal State Department memo says the military flight, the second known to have occurred this week, left Tel Aviv for Sofia, Bulgaria, where some or all of the passengers were to get a connecting charter flight to Washington. The document, which was obtained by The Associated Press, also said that more than 6,400 U.S. citizens in Israel had filled out an online form on Friday alone asking for information about when and if the U.S. government would organize evacuation flights. An additional 3,265 people, some of whom may also have competed the form, called an emergency number seeking assistance. The document estimated that between 300 and 500 people per day could need evacuation assistance should the U.S. decide to offer flights or ships to get Americans out, as the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has said is being considered. There are some 700,000 Americans in Israel, many of them dual nationals, according to estimates, although the exact number at any given time is unclear because U.S. citizens are not required to notify the embassy if they are there or when they might leave. Earlier Friday, before the memo was distributed, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters that more than 25,000 Americans had reached out for information on leaving Israel, the West Bank and Iran. She told reporters that those people had sought 'information and support' and were 'seeking guidance' on departing. She would not give a breakdown of where the queries had come from and would not comment on embassy evacuations. In Iran, the document said that at least 84 U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, or Green Card holders, had crossed into neighboring Azerbaijan by land since the conflict began and that an additional 774 had been granted permission to enter as of Friday. Nearly 200 American citizens and Green Card holders are awaiting permission to travel overland from Iran to neighboring Turkmenistan, it said.
Sky News
2 hours ago
- Sky News
Israel 'will not stop' attacks until Iran's nuclear threat is 'dismantled', says Israel's UN ambassador
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations has vowed "we will not stop" attacks on Iran until the "nuclear threat is dismantled" and "its war machine is disarmed". The two countries traded angry accusations at the United Nations Security Council, as its secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned that expansion of the Israel-Iran conflict could "ignite a fire no one can control". Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon vowed: "We will not stop. Not until Iran's nuclear threat is dismantled, not until its war machine is disarmed." 3:49 His Iranian counterpart Amir Saeid Iravani said Iran would continue to respond to Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear sites that Israel sees as part of a weapons programme. Donald Trump is seeking advice about whether to support Israel's military involvement and is expected make a decision in the next two weeks. But he told reporters in New Jersey on Friday that his director of national intelligence (DNI), Tulsi Gabbard, was wrong in suggesting there is no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon. 0:27 Talks between Iranian and European ministers took place on Friday, but the US president was dismissive of the discussions. "Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this one". But he added that he might support a ceasefire between Iran and Israel "depending on the circumstances". Lammy on 'perilous moment' UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy warned "this is a perilous moment, and it is hugely important that we don't see regional escalation of this conflict", after he and his German, French and EU counterparts met Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva. He also referred to the role of the US in potential negotiations: "There is a... short window to find a diplomatic solution for the Iranians to... end their nuclear programme. "We're urging diplomacy. It's important they get back into serious talks with the United States." 1:04 Iran says attacks are 'grave war crimes' But the first face-to-face meeting between Western and Iranian officials since the start of the conflict, did not reveal any indication of an immediate breakthrough. Mr Araghchi described the talks as "a very serious but respectful discussion" but condemned what he called Israel's "atrocities", adding that "Iran will continue exercising its legitimate right of self-defence against the regime". "Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again... once aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed. In this regard, I made it clear that Iran's defence capabilities are not negotiable," he added. Earlier, he called Israel's attacks on nuclear facilities "grave war crimes". On Friday, the Foreign Office announced that UK staff had also been evacuated from Iran, with the embassy continuing to operate remotely. Meanwhile, the UK government has announced it will use charter flights to evacuate Britons stranded in Israel once the country's airspace reopens. Iran wants 'endless negotiations' Jason Brodsky, policy director at the US-based pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran, told Sky News the talks in Geneva would not satisfy the US president. He said: "It seems that the maximum that the Islamic Republic is prepared to give still does not meet the minimum that President Trump is able to accept. "I think the Islamic Republic wants to lure the United States back into an endless negotiating process. They think they can dominate this process and manipulate President Trump. "President Trump has made it very clear that a deadline means a deadline. And he has red lines as well. And his red lines is zero enrichment in Iran." 4:53 Protests over Israeli strikes On Friday, thousands of people protested in Iran's capital Tehran after a week of Israeli strikes which have killed at least 657 people and wounded 2,037 others, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists. Israel's military says 25 fighter jets carried out airstrikes on Friday morning targeting "missile storage and launch infrastructure components" in western Iran. In the Israeli city of Haifa, at least 19 people were wounded by an Iranian missile barrage. UN issues nuclear warning Addressing an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned against attacks on Iran's nuclear reactors. "A direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity," said Rafael Grossi, chief of the UN nuclear watchdog. Israel has not targeted Iran's nuclear reactors, instead focusing its strikes on the country's uranium enrichment sites. Iran has long insisted its nuclear programme is peaceful, although it enriches uranium up to 60%, well beyond the level required for an atomic power station and a step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the IAEA.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Israel-Iran conflict unleashes wave of AI disinformation
A wave of disinformation has been unleashed online since Israel began strikes on Iran last week, with dozens of posts reviewed by BBC Verify seeking to amplify the effectiveness of Tehran's analysis found a number of videos - created using artificial intelligence - boasting of Iran's military capabilities, alongside fake clips showing the aftermath of strikes on Israeli targets. The three most viewed fake videos BBC Verify found have collectively amassed over 100 million views across multiple accounts have also shared disinformation online, mainly by recirculating old clips of protests and gatherings in Iran, falsely claiming that they show mounting dissent against the government and support among Iranians for Israel's military launched strikes in Iran on 13 June, leading to several rounds of Iranian missile and drone attacks on Israel. One organisation that analyses open-source imagery described the volume of disinformation online as "astonishing" and accused some "engagement farmers" of seeking to profit from the conflict by sharing misleading content designed to attract attention online."We are seeing everything from unrelated footage from Pakistan, to recycled videos from the October 2024 strikes—some of which have amassed over 20 million views—as well as game clips and AI-generated content being passed off as real events," Geoconfirmed, the online verification group, wrote on accounts have become "super-spreaders" of disinformation, being rewarded with significant growth in their follower count. One pro-Iranian account with no obvious ties to authorities in Tehran - Daily Iran Military - has seen its followers on X grow from just over 700,000 on 13 June to 1.4m by 19 June, an 85% increase in under a is one many obscure accounts that have appeared in people's feeds recently. All have blue ticks, are prolific in messaging and have repeatedly posted disinformation. Because some use seemingly official names, some people have assumed they are authentic accounts, but it is unclear who is actually running the torrent of disinformation marked "the first time we've seen generative AI be used at scale during a conflict," Emmanuelle Saliba, Chief Investigative Officer with the analyst group Get Real, told BBC secretive nuclear site that only a US bomb could hitUS moves 30 jets as Iran attack speculation growsIs the UK about to get dragged into Iran-Israel conflict?Accounts reviewed by BBC Verify frequently shared AI-generated images that appear to be seeking to exaggerate the success of Iran's response to Israel's strikes. One image, which has 27m views, depicted dozens of missiles falling on the city of Tel video purported to show a missile strike on a building in the Israeli city late at night. Ms Saliba said the clips often depict night-time attacks, making them especially difficult to fakes have also focussed on claims of destruction of Israeli F-35 fighter jets, a state-of-the art US-made plane capable of striking ground and air targets. If the barrage of clips were real Iran would have destroyed 15% of Israel's fleet of the fighters, Lisa Kaplan, CEO of the Alethea analyst group, told BBC Verify. We have yet to authenticate any footage of F-35s being shot widely shared post claimed to show a jet damaged after being shot down in the Iranian desert. However, signs of AI manipulation were evident: civilians around the jet were the same size as nearby vehicles, and the sand showed no signs of impact. Another video with 21.1 million views on TikTok claimed to show an Israeli F-35 being shot down by air defences, but the footage actually came from a flight simulator video game. TikTok removed the footage after being approached by BBC Verify. Ms Kaplan said that some of the focus on F-35s was being driven by a network of accounts that Alethea has previously linked to Russian influence noted that Russian influence operations have recently shifted course from trying to undermine support for the war in Ukraine to sowing doubts about the capability of Western - especially American - weaponry."Russia doesn't really have a response to the F-35. So what it can it do? It can seek to undermine support for it within certain countries," Ms Kaplan is also being spread by well-known accounts that have previously weighed in on the Israel-Gaza war and other motivations vary, but experts said some may be attempting to monetise the conflict, with some major social media platforms offering pay-outs to accounts achieving large numbers of contrast, pro-Israeli posts have largely focussed on suggestions that the Iranian government is facing mounting dissent as the strikes continuerAmong them is a widely shared AI-generated video falsely purporting to show Iranians chant "we love Israel" on the streets of in recent days - and as speculation about US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites grows - some accounts have started to post AI-generated images of B-2 bombers over Tehran. The B-2 has attracted close attention since Israel's strikes on Iran started, because it is the only aircraft capable of effectively carrying out an attack on Iran's subterranean nuclear sources in Iran and Israel have shared some of the fake images. State media in Tehran has shared fake footage of strikes and an AI-generated image of a downed F-35 jet, while a post shared by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) received a community note on X for using old, unrelated footage of missile barrages.A lot of the Disinformation reviewed by BBC Verify has been shared on X, with users frequently turning to the platform's AI chatbot - Grok - to establish posts' veracity. However, in some cases Grok insisted that the AI videos were real. One such video showed an endless stream of trucks carrying ballistic missiles emerging from a mountainside complex. Tell-tale signs of AI content included rocks in the video moving of their own accord, Ms Saliba said. But in response to X users, Grok insisted repeatedly that the video was real and cited reports by media outlets including Newsweek and Reuters. "Check trusted news for clarity," the chatbot concluded in several messages.X did not respond to a request from BBC Verify for comment on the Chatbot's videos have also appeared on TikTok and Instagram. In a statement to BBC Verify, TikTok said it proactively enforces community guidelines "which prohibit inaccurate, misleading, or false content" and that it works with independent fact checkers to "verify misleading content". Instagram owner Meta did not respond to a request for comment. While the motivations of those creating online fakes vary, many are shared by ordinary social media Facciani, a researcher at the University of Notre Dame, suggested that disinformation can spread more quickly online when people are faced with binary choices, such as those raised by conflict and politics."That speaks to the broader social and psychological issue of people wanting to re-share things if it aligns with their political identity, and also just in general, more sensationalist emotional content will spread more quickly online." What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?
