World
Israel launches dozens of Gaza strikes as fighting enters second week
Israel launched dozens of air strikes on Gaza and Hamas militants in the Palestinian enclave fired rocket barrages at Israeli cities as fighting spilled into a second week on Monday amid mounting international calls for a ceasefire.
But there was no sign of any imminent end to the most serious hostilities in years between Israel and the Hamas Islamists who rule the densely-populated enclave, where 2 million Palestinians live, Reuters reported.
Roads, security buildings, militants’ training camps and houses were bombed in Israeli attacks that seemed to be focused on Gaza City, witnesses said. The sound of explosions echoed in many part of the Palestinian enclave overnight.
The Israeli military said that after rockets were fired at the Israeli cities of Beersheba and Ashkelon, its fighter jets struck nine residences belonging to high-ranking Hamas commanders. Some of the homes, it said, were used for weapons storage.
There were no immediate reports of casualties on either side of the border.
World concern had already deepened after an Israeli air strike in Gaza that destroyed several homes on Sunday and which Palestinian health officials said killed 42 people, including 10 children, and persistent rocket attacks on Israeli towns, Reuters reported.
Injecting more urgency into Washington’s calls for calm, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote on Twitter: “All parties need to deescalate tensions – the violence must end immediately”, after he spoke with Egypt’s foreign minister about ongoing violence in Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
At a U.N. Security Council meeting on Sunday, the United States said it has made clear to Israel, the Palestinians and others that it is ready to offer support “should the parties seek a ceasefire”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s campaign in Gaza was continuing at “full force”, and that deterrence had to be achieved to prevent future conflict with Hamas, Reuters reported.
“We are acting now, for as long as necessary, to restore calm and quiet to you, Israel’s citizens. It will take time,” Netanyahu said in a televised address after his security Cabinet met on Sunday.
The Gaza Health Ministry put the death toll since the hostilities flared at 197, including 58 children and 34 women. Ten people have been killed in Israel, including two children, Israeli authorities say.
Hamas began its rocket assault last Monday after weeks of tensions over a court case to evict several Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, and in retaliation for Israeli police clashes with Palestinians near the city’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
World
Israel’s Netanyahu says Iran tried to kill one of his sons
It was not immediately clear which of his sons he was referring to. Netanyahu’s elder son, Yair, lives in Miami.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Iran had tried to kill one of his sons, but gave no details about when the alleged plot took place, which son was targeted or how close it came to being carried out, Reuters reported.
Netanyahu’s allegation underscores the heightened tensions since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began in February, during which Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian leaders were killed.
Netanyahu, whose coalition is trailing in opinion polls two months before an October 27 general election, made the claim in a telephone interview with Israel’s Channel 14. He was responding to reports that one of Israel’s security agencies had refused to provide protection for a political rival ahead of the nationwide vote.
“As for my sons. Here, I think there is something quite unbelievable, yes. Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to kill, to murder one of my sons,” Netanyahu told the conservative channel known for its favourable coverage of the government.
“Iran tried to murder one of my sons, and therefore this security protection is not a luxury,” he said, without providing any further details about the alleged plot or how close it came to being carried out.
It was not immediately clear which of his sons he was referring to. Netanyahu’s elder son, Yair, lives in Miami.
Iran’s mission at the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the accusation.
Netanyahu also said he had told the Shin Bet security agency chief David Zini that appropriate security should be provided for any prime ministerial candidate.
Israeli media had reported earlier that Zini declined to provide security for Gadi Eisenkot and told the country’s election authority there was no plot to harm him, read the report.
Eisenkot’s party is projected to win the largest number of seats in the election, although Israeli governments are usually formed through coalitions among multiple parties rather than by a single party winning a parliamentary majority outright.
World
Norway to give over $9 billion to Ukraine in 2027
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and leaders from across the Nordic and Baltic region are visiting Kyiv on Sunday in a show of support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.
Norway plans to give another 85 billion Norwegian crowns ($9.2 billion) in financial support to Ukraine in the 2027 fiscal year, in line with the amount given in 2026, the Nordic country’s government said in a statement on Sunday.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and leaders from across the Nordic and Baltic region are visiting Kyiv on Sunday in a show of support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.
Norway plans to give another 85 billion Norwegian crowns ($9.2 billion) in financial support to Ukraine in the 2027 fiscal year, in line with the amount given in 2026, the Nordic country’s government said in a statement on Sunday.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and leaders from across the Nordic and Baltic region are visiting Kyiv on Sunday in a show of support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.
Russia and Ukraine are both ramping up drone campaigns aiming to cripple each other’s economic infrastructure, often striking targets far beyond the frontlines of the war started by Moscow, as fighting on the battlefield grinds toward the 4-1/2-year mark.
World
Israel strikes southern Syria; Damascus condemns attack
Israeli troops continue to operate in southern Syria, and Israel occupies territory in southwest Syria it seized after the toppling of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
Israel said it targeted a “terrorist” in southern Syria on Saturday in what Syria’s foreign ministry said was a drone strike on a civilian vehicle on the outskirts of Damascus in a “blatant” violation of its territory.
The Syrian foreign ministry said the drone had hit a civilian car on a road near Beit Jinn village in the countryside west of the capital, which caused injuries amongst civilians.
Syrian state TV reported one person was injured.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it fired in southern Syria toward what it described as a terrorist, whose activity posed an immediate threat to its soldiers. It did not say how it fired.
Tensions between Israel and Syria flared up this week after Israel bombed an airbase in the northwest on Tuesday, an escalation U.S. special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, called “unnecessary.”
Syria’s foreign ministry said the strike was part of a pattern of repeated Israeli attacks on Syrian territory, and was a “blatant violation” of its sovereignty. It held Israel accountable for the consequences of such actions.
Israeli troops continue to operate in southern Syria, and Israel occupies territory in southwest Syria it seized after the toppling of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
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