Israel says it is acting with ‘sound judgment' in Syria
Earlier, Israeli air strikes targeted governmental buildings, including the army headquarters in the capital, Damascus, and other parts of the country.
'The commanders and soldiers are acting with responsibility, restraint and sound judgement,' said chief of staff Eyal Zamir as he visited the frontier with Syria in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
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Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
Israeli officers say no proof Hamas stole UN aid in Gaza
Two senior Israeli army officers have told The New York Times there is no evidence that Hamas looted UN humanitarian aid in Gaza – directly contradicting a key justification used by the Israeli government to block food deliveries for months to more than two million people. The unnamed officers, along with two other Israeli officials involved in aid oversight, said the UN's aid distribution mechanism, long criticised by Israel, was in fact 'largely effective in providing food to Gaza's desperate and hungry population.' 'For nearly two years, Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid,' the Times reported, noting that this accusation has been repeatedly cited by the Israeli government as the reason for pushing Gaza's besiged population towards famine and restricting humanitarian supplies. However, the officials admitted, 'there was no evidence that Hamas regularly stole from the United Nations, which provided the largest chunk of the aid.' Georgios Petropoulos, who coordinated UN humanitarian efforts with Israeli authorities during the war, voiced frustration over the long-standing accusations. 'For months, we and other organisations were dragged through the mud by accusations that Hamas steals from us,' Petropoulos said.
Gulf Today
an hour ago
- Gulf Today
Families of Americans slain in West Bank lose hope for justice
When Sayfollah Musallet of Tampa, Florida, was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in the West Bank two weeks ago, he became the fourth Palestinian-American killed in the occupied territory since the war in Gaza began. No one has been arrested or charged in Musallet's slaying — and if Israel's track record on the other three deaths is any guide, it seems unlikely to happen. Yet Musallet's father and a growing number of US politicians want to flip the script. "We demand justice,' Kamel Musallet said at his 20-year-old son's funeral earlier this week. "We demand the US government do something about it.' Still, Musallet and relatives of the other Palestinian-Americans say they doubt anyone will be held accountable, either by Israel or the U.S. They believe the first word in their hyphenated identity undercuts the power of the second. And they say Israel and its law enforcement have made them feel like culprits - by imposing travel bans and, in some cases, detaining and interrogating them. The grave of Sayfollah Musallet, who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers while he was visiting family in the West Bank town of Al Mazra as-Sharqiya, is seen. AP Although the Trump administration has stopped short of promising investigations of its own, the US embassy in Jerusalem has urged Israel to investigate the circumstances of each American's death. Writing on X on July 15, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said he'd asked Israel to "aggressively investigate the murder" of Musallet and that "there must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act." Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and 28 other Democratic senators have also called for an investigation. In a letter this week to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Pam Bondi, they pointed to the "repeated lack of accountability" after the deaths of Musallet and other Americans killed in the West Bank. Israel's military, police and Shin Bet domestic security agency did not respond to requests for comment about the Palestinian-Americans' deaths. A memorial poster showing Sayfollah Musallet, who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers, is displayed outside of a bakery in West Bank. AP American-born teenagers Tawfic Abdel Jabbar and Mohammad Khdour were killed in early 2024 by Israeli fire while driving in the West Bank. In April 2025, 14-year-old Amer Rabee, a New Jersey native, was shot in the head at least nine times by Israeli forces, according to his father, as he stood among a grove of green almond trees in his family's village. In the immediate aftermath of both cases, Israeli authorities said that forces had fired on rock throwers, allegations disputed by the families and by testimony obtained by the AP. Israel pledged to investigate the cases further, but has released no new findings. The teens' families told the AP they sought independent investigations by American authorities, expressing doubts that Israel would investigate in good faith. According to the Israeli watchdog group Yesh Din, killings of Palestinians in the West Bank rarely result in investigations - and when they do, indictments are uncommon. Mourners carry the bodies of Sayfollah Musallet and Mohammed Al Shalabi during their funeral in the West Bank village of Al Mazraa a-Sharqiya. AP The US Justice Department has jurisdiction to investigate the deaths of its own citizens abroad, but does so after it gets permission from the host government and usually works with the host country's law enforcement. The US embassy in Jerusalem declined to say whether the US has launched independent probes into the killings. A spokesperson for the embassy said in a statement that investigations are "underway' in Israel over the deaths of the four Americans and that its staff is pressing the Israeli authorities to move quickly and transparently. Sen. Van Hollen said that when the U.S deals with Israel it "either doesn't pursue these cases with the vigor necessary, or we don't get any serious cooperation.' "And then instead of demanding cooperation and accountability, we sort of stop - and that's unacceptable. It's unacceptable to allow American citizens to be killed with impunity," the Maryland Democrat said. A man tidies the graves of Sayfollah Musallet, left, and Mohammed Al Shalabi, both of whom were killed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank town of Al Mazra. AP Israel says it holds soldiers and settlers to account under the bounds of the law, and that the lack of indictments does not mean a lack of effort. A prominent recent case was the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist for broadcaster Al Jazeera killed in the West Bank in 2022. An independent U.S. analysis of the circumstances of her death found that fire from an Israeli soldier was "likely responsible' for her killing but said it appeared to be an accident. Despite an Israeli military investigation with similar conclusions, no one was ever disciplined. Rather than a path toward justice, the families of Khdour, Rabee, and Abdel Jabbar say they've faced only challenges since the deaths. Khdour, born in Miami, Florida, was shot and killed in April 2024 while driving in Biddu, a West Bank town near Jerusalem where he lived since age 2. U.S. investigators visited his family after the killing, his family said. Abdel Jabbar was killed while driving down a dirt road close to Al Mazra as-Sharqiya, his village in the northern West Bank. Khdour's cousin, Malek Mansour, the sole witness, told the AP he was questioned by both Israeli and American investigators and repeated his testimony that shots came from a white pickup on Israeli territory. He believes the investigators did not push hard enough to figure out who killed his cousin. "The matter ended like many of those who were martyred (killed),' said Hanan Khdour, Khdour's mother. Two months after the death, Israeli forces raided the family's home and detained Mohammad's brother, Omar Khdour, 23, also an American citizen. Videos taken by family and shared with the AP show Omar Khdour blindfolded and handcuffed as Israeli soldiers in riot gear lead him out of the building and into a military jeep. He said he was threatened during questioning, held from 4 a.m. to 3 p.m., and warned not to pursue the case. Omar Khdour said Israeli soldiers at checkpoints have prevented him from leaving the West Bank to visit Israel or Jerusalem. Two other American fathers of Palestinian-Americans killed since Oct. 7, 2023 reported similar restrictions. Hafeth Abdel Jabbar, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar's father, said he and his wife were blocked from leaving the West Bank for seven months. His son, Amir Abdel Jabbar, 22, remains restricted. The father of Amer Rabee says he and his wife have also been stuck in the West Bank since their son's killing. He showed AP emails from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem in which a consular official told him that Israel had imposed a travel ban on him, though it was unclear why. Israeli authorities did not respond to comment on the detentions or travel restrictions. Rabee said that in a land where violence against Palestinians goes unchecked, his family's American passports amounted to nothing more than a blue book. "We are all American citizens,' Rabee said. "But here, for us, being American means nothing." Associated Press
Gulf Today
2 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Netanyahu, Trump appear to abandon Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Hamas
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump appeared on Friday to abandon Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, both saying it had become clear that the Palestinian fighters did not want a deal. Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, health officials there say, and reduced much of the enclave to ruins. Netanyahu said Israel was now mulling "alternative" options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending Hamas rule in the enclave, where starvation is spreading and most of the population is homeless amid widespread ruin. Trump said he believed Hamas leaders would now be "hunted down", telling reporters: "Hamas really didn't want to make a deal. I think they want to die. And it's very bad. And it got to be to a point where you're going to have to finish the job." The remarks appeared to leave little to no room, at least in the short term, to resume negotiations for a break in the fighting, at a time when international concern is mounting over worsening hunger in war-shattered Gaza. French President Emmanuel Macron, responding to the deteriorating humanitarian situation, announced that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognise an independent Palestinian state. US President Donald Trump gestures while boarding Air Force One, as he departs for Scotland, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, on Friday. Reuters Britain and Germany said they were not yet ready to do so but later joined France in calling for an immediate ceasefire. British Prime Minister Keith Starmer said his government would recognise a Palestinian state only as part of a negotiated peace deal. Trump dismissed Macron's move. "What he says doesn't matter," he said. "He's a very good guy. I like him, but that statement doesn't carry weight." Israel and the United States withdrew their delegations on Thursday from the ceasefire talks in Qatar, hours after Hamas submitted its response to a truce proposal. Sources initially said on Thursday that the Israeli withdrawal was only for consultations and did not necessarily mean the talks had reached a crisis. But Netanyahu's remarks suggested Israel's position had hardened overnight. US envoy Steve Witkoff said Hamas was to blame for the impasse, and Netanyahu said Witkoff had got it right. Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said on Facebook that the talks had been constructive, and criticised Witkoff's remarks as aimed at exerting pressure on Israel's behalf. "What we have presented - with full awareness and understanding of the complexity of the situation - we believe could lead to a deal if the enemy had the will to reach one," he said. Mediators Qatar and Egypt said there had been some progress in the latest round of talks. They said suspensions were a normal part of the process and they were committed to continuing to try to reach a ceasefire in partnership with the US. A member of the Chilean Palestinian community takes part in a caravan in support of Palestinians, in Santiago, on Friday. AP The proposed ceasefire would suspend fighting for 60 days, allow more aid into Gaza, and free some of the 50 remaining hostages held by fighters in return for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel. It has been held up by disagreement over how far Israel should withdraw its troops and the future beyond the 60 days if no permanent agreement is reached. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister in Netanyahu's coalition, welcomed Netanyahu's step, calling for a total halt of aid to Gaza and complete conquest of the enclave, adding in a post on X: "Total annihilation of Hamas, encourage emigration, (Jewish) settlement." Mass Hunger International aid organisations say mass hunger has now arrived among Gaza's 2.2 million people, with stocks running out after Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March, then reopened it in May but with new restrictions. The Israeli military said on Friday it had agreed to let countries airdrop aid into Gaza. Hamas dismissed this as a stunt. "The Gaza Strip does not need flying aerobatics, it needs an open humanitarian corridor and a steady daily flow of aid trucks to save what remains of the lives of besieged, starving civilians,' Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, told Reuters. A protester holds a placard reading "Freedom is coming" and picturing the Palestinian flag during a demonstration outside Downing Street gates, in central London, on July 25, 2025, called by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign group to protest against the ongoing food shortages in the Gaza Strip. AFP Gaza medical authorities said nine more Palestinians had died over the past 24 hours from malnutrition or starvation. Dozens have died in the past few weeks as hunger worsens. Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza and accuses the United Nations of failing to distribute it, in what the Israeli foreign ministry called on Friday "a deliberate ploy to defame Israel". The United Nations says it is operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions. United Nations agencies said on Friday that supplies were running out in Gaza of specialised therapeutic food to save the lives of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher also has demanded that Israel provide evidence for its accusations that staff with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs were affiliated with Hamas, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The ceasefire talks have been accompanied by continuing Israeli offensives. Palestinian health officials said Israeli airstrikes and gunfire had killed at least 21 people across the enclave on Friday, including five killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City. In the city, residents carried the body of journalist Adam Abu Harbid through the streets wrapped in a white shroud, his blue flak jacket marked PRESS draped across his body. He was killed overnight in a strike on tents housing displaced people. Mahmoud Awadia, another journalist attending the funeral, said the Israelis were deliberately trying to kill reporters. Israel denies intentionally targeting journalists. Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed Israeli towns near the border, killing some 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages on October 7, 2023. Reuters
