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Wednesday, October 02, 2024

(2) Middle East crisis live: Israel bars UN general secretary from entering country; IDF sends more troops to Lebanon



"The Hamas-led Gaza health ministry said Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 41,689 Palestinians and wounded 96,625 since 7 October."

"Middle East crisis live: Israel bars UN general secretary from entering country; IDF sends more troops to Lebanon
Israel declares António Guterres ‘persona non grata’; IDF issues new warnings for residents in southern Lebanon

Palestinian youths inspect a fallen projectile after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel in response to the killings of Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader. Follow live for latest updates.
Palestinian youths inspect a fallen projectile after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel in response to the killings of Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader. Follow live for latest updates. Photograph: Zain Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images
06.25 EDT
Israel declares UN secretary-general António Guterres 'persona non grata' and bans him from entering country

Israel has declared the UN secretary-general António Guterres a “persona non grata” and banned him from entering the country, and said he would be remembered “as a stain on the history of the UN”.

Announcing the decision on social media, Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz said:

Today, I have declared UN secretary-general António Guterres persona non grata in Israel and banned him from entering the country. Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil.

This is a secretary-general who has yet to denounce the massacre and sexual atrocities committed by Hamas murderers on 7 October, nor has he led any efforts to declare them a terrorist organization.

A secretary-general who gives backing to terrorists, rapists, and murderers from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and now Iran – the mothership of global terror – will be remembered as a stain on the history of the UN.

Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without António Guterres.

In October 2023 Guterres said “I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented 7 October acts of terror by Hamas in Israel. Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets. All hostages must be treated humanely and released immediately and without conditions.”

However, he angered Israelis by, in the same speech, saying “It is important to also recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”

Guterres continued on that occasion to say Palestinians “have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

Last month UN members overwhelmingly backed a non-binding motion calling for Israel to end its near six decade long occupation of the Palestinian West Bank territories.

3m ago07.15 EDT
Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant has published a picture of himself visiting Israel’s air defences, which played their part in intercepting Iranian missiles yesterday. Alongside the picture he posted a message saying:

The air defence fighters saved many lives. Thanks to them we can continue our just war, and come to terms with anyone who tries to harm us.

הגעתי הבוקר לאחת מסוללות החץ שהשתתפו אתמול ביירוט המתקפה האיראנית.

לוחמי ההגנה האווירית הצילו חיים רבים, בזכותם נוכל להמשיך במלחמתנו הצודקת, ולבוא חשבון עם כל מי שמנסה לפגוע בנו. pic.twitter.com/yv7IqnXwWz
— יואב גלנט - Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) October 2, 2024
19m ago06.59 EDT
The IDF reports that in the last hour at least 40 projectiles have crossed into Israel from Lebanon. There are no reports of any casualties.

27m ago06.52 EDT
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza, Israel, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon.

Palestinians in Hebron inspect the debris of an Iranian missile intercepted by Israel. Photograph: Mahmoud Illean/AP
An injured Palestinian man hugs his sister after surviving an early morning Israeli airstrike that destroyed their house in Khan Younis, 2 October.

Members of the Palestinian National Security Forces carry the Palestinian-flag-draped body of Samer al-Asali, who was killed in Jericho by falling debris from one of the intercepted projectiles fired overnight by Iran on Israel, the only known fatality. Photograph: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images
A man cleans debris from a restaurant in the aftermath of an Iranian missile attack on Tel Aviv.
Rescuers in Beirut check the destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike.

My colleague Oliver Holmes has put together an explainer on Iran’s attack on Israel …

35m ago06.44 EDT
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, is reported to have departed Tehran for a scheduled visit to Qatar. Qatar has been acting as one of the brokers trying to engineer a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

37m ago06.41 EDT
Israel claims to have destroyed 'over 150 terror infrastructures' during ground operation inside Lebanon

Israel’s military has issued an operational update on its campaign inside Lebanon. In it, the IDF claims to have destroyed “over 150 terror infrastructures” which it says includes “Hezbollah headquarters, weapons storage facilities, and rocket launchers.”

The Israeli military has issued photographs which it says show its troops on the ground in unspecified locations during the Lebanese incursion, as well as rocket launchers and other weaponry it says it found in southern Lebanon.

An IDF handout photo showing troops engaged in an incursion into Lebanon.
An IDF handout photo showing troops engaged in an incursion into Lebanon. Photograph: IDF
An IDF handout photo showing troops engaged in an incursion into Lebanon.
An IDF handout photo showing troops engaged in an incursion into Lebanon. Photograph: IDF
In another image released to the media by Israel’s military, journalists were shown weapons that the IDF claimed were seized Hezbollah weapons, without specifying when and where they were confiscated.

A member of IDF service personnel displays what Israel’s military described as a seized Hezbollah weapon.
A member of IDF service personnel displays what Israel’s military described as a seized Hezbollah weapon. Photograph: Jalaa Marey/AFP/Getty Images
The claims have not been independently verified.
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Hezbollah has claimed that it has inflicted casualties on Israeli troops it engaged in Maroun al-Ras, a Lebanese village in the south of the country which is opposite Avivim and Yir’on in Israel.

Since Monday Israeli troops have been carrying out what the IDF has described as a “limited” operation inside Lebanon, the first time Israeli troops have invaded the neighbouring country since the 2006 war.

50m ago06.29 EDT
One strange story that has been floating around today was social media rumours that Israel’s ambassador to Cyprus had been kidnapped. He has not, but Oren Anolik has felt the need to publish a video denying the story, describing it as “a very creative way to make the whole world call me and text me and wish me a happy new Jewish year!”

I am hearing that some fake news about me circulating. Let me assure you I am fine. It seems that someone came up with a very creative way to make the whole world call me and text me and wish me a happy new Jewish year! pic.twitter.com/pPcVSOs3XS
— Oren Anolik 🇮🇱 (@OrenAnolik) October 2, 2024
Israel declares UN secretary-general António Guterres 'persona non grata' and bans him from entering country

Israel has declared the UN secretary-general António Guterres a “persona non grata” and banned him from entering the country, and said he would be remembered “as a stain on the history of the UN”.

Announcing the decision on social media, Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz said:

Today, I have declared UN secretary-general António Guterres persona non grata in Israel and banned him from entering the country. Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil.

This is a secretary-general who has yet to denounce the massacre and sexual atrocities committed by Hamas murderers on 7 October, nor has he led any efforts to declare them a terrorist organization.

A secretary-general who gives backing to terrorists, rapists, and murderers from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and now Iran – the mothership of global terror – will be remembered as a stain on the history of the UN.

Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without António Guterres.

In October 2023 Guterres said “I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented 7 October acts of terror by Hamas in Israel. Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets. All hostages must be treated humanely and released immediately and without conditions.”

However, he angered Israelis by, in the same speech, saying “It is important to also recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”

Guterres continued on that occasion to say Palestinians “have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

Last month UN members overwhelmingly backed a non-binding motion calling for Israel to end its near six decade long occupation of the Palestinian West Bank territories.

The Times of Israel reports that overnight the IDF mounted an operation in Israeli-occupied Hebron in the West Bank “to measure the homes of the Palestinian terrorists who carried out the deadly shooting and stabbing attack in Jaffa, ahead of potential demolitions.”

Describing the same operation, Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that five people were detained, and that three Palestinian paramedics were injured by Israeli security forces who “severely beat” them.

The claims have not been independently verified.

Death toll from Israeli military offensive in Gaza Strip rises to 41,689 according to health ministry figures

It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.

A man stands by a vehicle carrying the body of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, 2 October.
A man stands by a vehicle carrying the body of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, 2 October. Photograph: Hatem Khaled/Reuters
2h ago05.42 EDT
In more diplomatic reaction to yesterday’s missile strikes by Iran, only the second time the country has directly attacked Israel, and Israel’s ongoing miltary campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon, Russia has said the situation in the Middle East is developing in “the most alarming direction” and called on all sides to exercise restraint.

Reuters also reports that Egypt’s cabinet has condemned what it called a “dangerous” Israeli escalation in southern Lebanon, and rejected any attempts to impose a “new situation” on the ground that violates Lebanese sovereignty.

Saudi Arabia’s economy minister meanwhile, speaking in Berlin, said his country is hoping for de-escalation and dialogue.

Hezbollah has claimed to have carried out several attacks on Israeli forces involved in the IDF operation in the north of Israel which has seen Israel deploy ground troops into Lebanon for the first time since 2006.

Reporting for Al Jazeera from Hasbaiyya in Lebanon, Imran Khan writes:

Israeli forces came into Lebanese territory [in the town of Odaisseh] but were repelled in ground fighting. It was an ambush that forced the Israelis back. Hezbollah also bombed the Shtula settlement, where Israeli forces are staging on the border, and hit a large infantry force in the Misgav Am settlement with missiles and artillery.

The claims have not been independently verified. Al Jazeera has been banned from operating inside Israel by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

The Sky News security and defence editor Deborah Haynes has posted another video from northern Israel, close to the UN-drawn blue line that separates the country from Lebanon, in which can clearly be heard an ongoing exchange of fire.

A lot of outgoing artillery rounds being fired by Israeli military into Lebanon. We are on Israeli side of the border. We could hear helicopter gunship also opening fire - you can hear artillery on this pic.twitter.com/5lCuW1F8Ki
— Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) October 2, 2024

China’s state-owned news agency Xinhua reports that over 200 Chinese nationals have been evacuated from Lebanon. The Lebanese government has staed that a fifth of the country’s population – about one million people – have been displaced from their homes by Israeli airstrikes.

Middle East crisis live: Israel bars UN general secretary from entering country; IDF sends more troops to Lebanon

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