UN commission finds Syria Alawite killings likely included 'war crimes'
13:30 Beirut Time
Gaza death toll rises as strikes and starvation continue
At least 54 Palestinians, including 22 people seeking aid, have been killed and 831 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza over the past 24 hours, according to the territory's Health Ministry, Al Jazeera reports.
The ministry also reported that four bodies were recovered from the rubble of earlier strikes. During the same period, at least four people died of starvation, bringing the total number of hunger-related deaths to 239, including 106 children.
12:19 Beirut Time
UN says, violence against Alawites in Syria may amount to war crimes
The U.N. commission investigating the violence carried out by Syrian government forces against the Alawite minority in March has found the attacks to be "widespread and systematic," and in some cases, may constitute war crimes.
The commission documented cases of "killings, torture, inhumane treatment of the dead, large-scale looting, and the burning of homes," which led to the displacement of tens of thousands of civilians. These acts, it said, 'include conduct that may amount to war crimes.'
11:43 Beirut Time
Death toll in Gaza rises to 23 since dawn
At least 23 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since dawn, say sources at hospitals in the territory, Al Jazeera reports.
Among the victims were 10 people who were seeking aid, sources said.
11:07 Beirut Time
ICC complaint filed over killings of Palestinian journalists
The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) have filed a complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against those responsible for the killing of Palestinian journalists, including Anas al-Sharif.
The complaint names several senior Israeli military figures, including Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar, Maj.-Gen. Yaniv Asor, a general from Unit 8200, the commander of Palmachim Airbase, the commander of the "Black Snake" squadron, and Col. Avichay Adraee.
09:41 Beirut Time
South Lebanon: Israeli strikes and drone attack
In South Lebanon, an Israeli helicopter dropped a sound bomb near a shepherd close to Shebaa (Hasbaya district) without causing injuries.
The shepherd's nearby parked car was also hit by an Israeli explosive. Later, an Israeli drone struck construction equipment in Yaroun (Bint Jbeil district), again causing no casualties.
Locals in Ainata confirmed the identity of the man killed in a drone strike Wednesday night between Ainata and Haris as Nasser Ghassan Nasrallah, a man in his sixties visiting Lebanon from Africa, who had lost a son in the last Hezbollah-Israel war.
09:39 Beirut Time
Egypt condemns 'Greater Israel' ideology
Egypt's Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli 'Greater Israel' ideology, calling for clarifications. The ministry stressed Egypt's commitment to Middle East peace and denounced this ideology as provocative, destabilizing, and rejecting peace efforts.
This expansionist vision includes Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan, much of Syria and Iraq, parts of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey, and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
09:38 Beirut Time
Israeli Finance Minister to approve controversial West Bank settlement
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich plans to approve construction of over 3,000 housing units in the 'E1' area, linking Jerusalem to Maale Adumim settlement.
This move would split the occupied West Bank in two and 'bury the idea of a Palestinian state,' Smotrich stated.
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Israeli far-right minister confronts prominent Palestinian inmate
Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, published a video on Friday showing him confronting the most high-profile Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody in his prison cell. Marwan Barghouti, a leading member of the Palestinian Fatah party, has spent more than 20 years behind bars after being sentenced for his role in anti-Israeli attacks in the early 2000s. In the clip published by Ben Gvir on X, the minister and two other individuals, including a prison guard, surround Barghouti in a corner of his cell. "You will not defeat us. Whoever harms the people of Israel, whoever kills children, whoever kills women... we will erase them," Ben Gvir says in Hebrew. Barghouti tries to respond but is interrupted by Ben Gvir, who says: "No, you know this. And it's been the case throughout history." The video does not specify where Barghouti is currently being held. Contacted by AFP, sources close to Ben Gvir said the meeting took place "by chance" in Ganot prison in southern Israel during an inspection visit by the minister, but they would not say when the footage was filmed. "This morning I read that various 'senior officials' in the Palestinian Authority didn't quite like what I said to arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti -- may his name be erased," Ben Gvir said in the post accompanying the video on Friday morning. "So I will repeat it again and again, without apology: whoever messes with the people of Israel, whoever murders our children, whoever murders our women – we will wipe them out. With God's help." Barghouti, who is now in his sixties, was arrested in 2002 by Israel and sentenced to life in 2004 on murder charges. Israel considers him a "terrorist" and convicted him over his role in the second intifada, or uprising, from 2000-2005. He often tops opinion polls of popular Palestinian leaders and is sometimes described by his supporters as the "Palestinian Mandela." In a statement released by the state-run Palestinian news agency Wafa, the Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry denounced the confrontation as "an unprecedented provocation." Responding to the video in a post on X, the Palestinian mission to the United Nations said Barghouti was "enduring extremely harsh humanitarian conditions in his solitary confinement cell." It added that he had "lost more than half his weight due to deliberate medical neglect and mistreatment." "At the same time, extremist Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir continues to directly threaten him in an attempt to break his will and resilience." Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas's political bureau, expressed solidarity with Barghouti and said "there is no meaning of savagery left that has not been embodied by" Ben Gvir.
