Aid groups accuse Israel of ‘weaponising starvation' in Gaza
Signed by Oxfam, Medicines Sans Frontiers and others, the letter accuses the current aid distribution system run by the secretive new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation of 'weaponising starvation'.
Israel claimed it needed to stop Hamas stealing food and denied its restricting supplies.
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Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Hezbollah warns Lebanon 'will have no life' if state moves against it
BEIRUT, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Hezbollah raised the spectre of civil war on Friday with a warning there would be "no life" in Lebanon if the government sought to confront or eliminate the Iran-backed group. The government wants to control arms in line with a U.S.-backed plan following Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah which was founded four decades ago with the backing of Tehran's Revolutionary Guards. But the group is resisting pressure to disarm, saying that cannot happen until Israel ends its strikes and occupation of a southern strip of Lebanon that had been a Hezbollah stronghold. "This is our nation together. We live in dignity together, and we build its sovereignty together - or Lebanon will have no life if you stand on the other side and try to confront us and eliminate us," its leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech. Israel has dealt Hezbollah heavy blows in the last two years, killing many of its top brass including former leader Hassan Nasrallah and 5,000 of its fighters, and destroying much of its arsenal. The Lebanese cabinet last week tasked the army with confining weapons only to state security forces, a move that has outraged Hezbollah. Qassem accused the government of implementing an "American-Israeli order to eliminate the resistance, even if that leads to civil war and internal strife." However, he said Hezbollah and the Amal movement, its Shi'ite Muslim ally, had decided to delay any street protests while there was still scope for talks. "There is still room for discussion, for adjustments, and for a political resolution before the situation escalates to a confrontation no one wants," Qassem said. "But if it is imposed on us, we are ready, and we have no other choice ... At that point, there will be a protest in the street, all across Lebanon, that will reach the American embassy." The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, which left parts of Lebanon in ruins, erupted in October 2023 when the group opened fire at Israeli positions along the southern border in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas at the start of the Gaza war. Hezbollah and Amal still retain influence politically, appointing Shi'ite ministers to cabinet and holding the Shi'ite seats in parliament. But for the first time in years, they do not hold a "blocking third" of cabinet, enabling them to veto government decisions in the past. Hezbollah retains strong support among the Shi'ite community in Lebanon, but calls for its disarmament across the rest of society have grown.
The Herald Scotland
8 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Solomon Pena jailed over gun attacks on Dems' homes in New Mexico
"Violence and intimidation have no place in our elections," said Ryan Ellison, the U.S. Attorney for New Mexico. "This sentence shows that through the tireless work of our agents and prosecutors, we will protect our democracy and bring offenders to justice." Accomplices Jose Trujillo and Demetrio Trujillo pleaded guilty last year on similar charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. They were sentenced to a collective 18 years in prison. While in custody, Pena tried offering fellow inmates money and a vehicle in exchange for killing the pair, federal officials said. An attorney for Pena did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. "Across the country, we have seen a disturbing uptick in politically-motivated violence over the last several years," State Representative Javier Martinez, one of the targeted lawmakers, told USA TODAY in a statement. "Every single elected leader, regardless of the office we hold or the party we belong to, must speak up against this violence and the dangerous misinformation that fuels it." What did Solomon Pena do? Pena ran during the 2022 midterm elections for a New Mexico House of Representatives seat covering parts of Albuquerque. He lost to the Democratic incumbent Miguel P. Garcia, with around 2,000 votes to Garcia's 5,700, according to the state election results. Pena attempted to pressure the county board of commissioners to refuse to certify the election results, and when that failed, he turned to violence, prosecutors said. He orchestrated attacks on Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa, New Mexico state Representative Javier Martinez, former Bernalillo County Commissioner, New Mexico state Senator Debbie O'Malley, and New Mexico state Senator Linda Lopez. All are Democrats. The attacks occurred between Dec. 4, 2022, and Jan. 3, 2023. The bullets fired in the assaults hit houses, cars, and even passed inside the bedroom of a 10-year-old girl, according to court filings and statements from police. Barboa previously told USA TODAY that she laid blame for the attack on President Donald Trump. "People don't think that voice from the White House will reach all the way down to someone like Solomon Pena, but it does," Barboa said, recalling seeing the damage done by the bullets that whizzed through her living room and kitchen. "That year, for the whole entire year, we had election deniers coming to every meeting." Related: Court papers reveal details on former Republican candidate linked to shootings at New Mexico lawmakers' homes Political attacks in the U.S. Pena's sentencing comes amid a year that's seen deadly attacks against politicians. Minnesota state Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman were assassinated at their home in June. Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, were also attacked the same night at their home. Vance Boelter, 57, has been charged in connection with the attacks. In May, Israeli Embassy staffers were shot and killed in Washington, D.C. Elias Rodriguez, 31, has been charged with their murders as well as with a hate crime resulting in death motivated by the "actual and perceived national origin of any person." Staffers Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, were about to be engaged to be married. Contributing: Reuters
STV News
17 hours ago
- STV News
Israel announces West Bank settlement that will 'bury' idea of Palestinian state
Israel is developing plans to build thousands of new housing units in the occupied West Bank, in a move that would 'permanently bury the idea of a Palestinian state', Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said. The E1 settlement project, which seeks to connect Jerusalem to the settlement of Maale Adumim and essentially split the West Bank in two, would effectively make it impossible to create a future Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem. The announcement comes as an increasing number of countries, including the UK, France and Canada, are announcing they would recognise a Palestinian state from September. Smotrich presented the advances in the project as Israel's response to those announcements. The project has been in the works for two decades, but progress has been frozen due to strong international opposition. Smitroch announced on Thursday that approval for 3,401 new houses was currently pending, with final approval expected next week. An area in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says housing units will be built. / Credit: AP He was speaking at press conference held at a planned construction site. 'They will talk about a Palestinian dream, and we will continue to build a Jewish reality,' Smotrich said. 'This reality is what will permanently bury the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognise and no one to recognise.' He has repeatedly lobbied Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the occupied West Bank and apply Israeli sovereignty to the entire territory. Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. Palestinian officials were quick to criticise the plans. In a statement, the presidency of the Palestinian National Council described them as a 'systemic plan to steal land, Judaize it, and impose biblical and Talmudic facts on the conflict'. Palestinian Speaker Rawhi Fattouh said the 'colonial plan falls within the policy of creeping annexation' of the West Bank, which is accompanied by settler violence against Palestinians. Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now described the E1 plan as 'deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution'. All petitions to stop the construction were rejected by the planning committee on August 6. Palestinians in the West Bank Israel's plans for construction in the West Bank are contributing to increasingly difficult circumstances for Palestinians living in the West Bank as much of the focus is instead on Gaza, around 40 kilometres away from the occupied territory. Attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have increased since October 7, 2023, while evictions from towns and an increased number of checkpoints have made life harder for those living there. More than 700,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians for a future state. Would this be legal? Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law. But during the first Trump administration, the State Department reversed longstanding US policy and ruled settlements were 'not inconsistent' with international law. The Biden administration left this new policy in place. Could other countries take in displaced Palestinians? Prime Minister Netanyahu has said there are talks underway with a number of countries about taking in Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza. South Sudan, Somaliland, Ethiopia, Libya and Indonesia are all involved in those talks, according to a senior Israeli official who spoke to ITV News' American partner CNN. In exchange for taking in some of Gaza's population of more than two million people, the official said the countries are looking for 'significant financial and international compensation'. But the countries have not individually confirmed what part they could play. On Wednesday, South Sudan rejected a report that it was in discussions about the resettlement of Palestinians, saying in a statement the reports were 'baseless and do not reflect the official position' of the country. Somaliland also said there were no such talks earlier in the year. Last week Indonesia said it was ready to take in 2,000 Palestinians from Gaza for treatment but that they would return to Gaza once they recovered. Netanyahu has never given a detailed vision of what will happen to Gaza after the war but has repeatedly advocated for resettling displaced Palestinians in other countries, particularly after President Donald Trump floated the idea in January. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
