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Israeli teams will continue meetings on US ceasefire proposals, Netanyahu says
Israeli teams had meetings to discuss the US ceasefire proposals with Lebanon on Thursday and will continue discussions in the days ahead, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday, adding that he appreciated the US efforts.
“Our teams met (Thursday, 26 September) to discuss the US initiative and how we can advance the shared goal of returning people safely to their homes. We will continue those discussions in the coming days,” he said in a statement, reports Reuters.
The comments came after Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said on Thursday there would be no ceasefire in the north, where Israeli jets have been carrying out the heaviest bombardment against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in decades.
On Thursday, after Netanyahu left for New York where he is attending the UN general assembly, his office issued a statement saying the prime minister had ordered Israeli troops to continue fighting with full force in Lebanon.
Reuters reports that Netanyahu’s statement made no reference to the comments of Katz and other Israeli politicians, who have also rejected a ceasefire, saying only that there had been “a lot of misreporting around the US-led ceasefire initiative”.
“Israel shares the aims of the US-led initiative of enabling people along our northern border to return safely and securely to their homes,” the statement said.
“Israel appreciates the US efforts in this regard because the US role is indispensable in advancing stability and security in the region,” it said.
Israeli strikes over the past week have hit hundreds of targets in southern Lebanon and much deeper into the country, killing more than 600 people, reports Reuters.
At the same time, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and missiles at targets in Israel, including one fired at Tel Aviv. Israel’s air defence systems have intercepted many of the missiles, ensuring the damage has been relatively limited.
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Philippines says it will evacuate thousands from Lebanon if Israel invades
The Philippines said on Friday it will evacuate 11,000 citizens from Lebanon the moment Israeli forces cross the border to launch a ground offensive against Hezbollah, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Israeli bombing of Iran-backed Hezbollah strongholds around neighbouring Lebanon has killed hundreds of people this week, while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages.
Israel has rejected a US-backed 21-day ceasefire call, and its military chief has told soldiers to prepare for a possible ground offensive.
“A ground invasion will lead to mandatory repatriation,” foreign undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said at a press conference in Manila, adding the plan was to move thousands out of the country via the sea. He did not provide other details, according to AFP.
📣 ADVISORY 📣
Filipino nationals residing in Lebanon are advised to remain vigilant and stay informed, following recent hostilities in South Lebanon. Please reach out to the Embassy for any concerns.
READ: https://t.co/CIsl5Pub9f
Manila had earlier urged Filipinos to leave Lebanon before airlines stopped flying to Beirut but most of its citizens did not heed the call, Filipino diplomats said.
Millions of Filipinos work overseas – with large numbers concentrated in the Middle East – due to limited job opportunities at home. About 90% of those working in Lebanon are women migrant domestic workers, reports AFP.
“To some of them, getting killed in war is preferable to starving to death,” de Vega said, adding there have so far been no Filipino casualties from the Israeli air campaign against Hezbollah.
After Israel’s war with Hamas erupted last year following the group’s 7 October attack, Manila began voluntary repatriations of its citizens from the areas affected by the fighting.
So far, only 500 Filipinos have taken up the government’s offer to leave Lebanon, De Vega said.
Filipino ambassador to Beirut Raymond Balatbat said 196 Filipinos have fled southern Lebanon, where the Israeli campaign has been concentrated. Most Filipinos working in the country are based in central Lebanon around Beirut, he added.
Anthony Mandap, consul general at the Philippine embassy in Tel Aviv, said there are no plans as of now to repatriate 30,000 Filipinos working in Israel, reports AFP.
The Israeli military said drones and rockets crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon on Friday, as Lebanon’s Hezbollah claimed a rocket attack on the Israeli city of Tiberias (see 9am BST).
The drones infiltrated the coastal area of Rosh HaNikra and were intercepted by the military’s defences, the Israeli military said, adding several rockets were also intercepted.
Israel strike kills 5 Syrian soldiers near Lebanon: state media
An Israeli airstrike on Friday killed five Syrian soldiers near the border with Lebanon, the Syrian state news agency, Sana, reported, citing a military source.
“The Israeli enemy carried out an aerial attack … on one of our military positions near Kfar Yabus on the Syrian-Lebanese border,” Sana quoted the source as saying, adding that five Syrian soldiers were killed and one was wounded.
The raid came a day after the Israeli army said its warplanes struck “infrastructure along the Syria-Lebanon border used by Hezbollah to transfer weapons from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon”.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Israeli warplanes targeted a crossing that links Syria’s Qusayr area to Lebanon, causing “a number of wounded”.
The UK-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground, said it was the first such strike on Syria since Israel intensified its attacks on Lebanon’s Hezbollah this week.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group said its forces fired a salvo of rockets at the Israeli city of Tiberias on Friday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
In a statement, Hezbollah said it was responding to Israel’s “savage” strikes on Lebanese towns and civilians. The Israeli military said drones and projectiles had crossed its territory from Lebanon.
Here are some of the latest images coming in on the newswires:
Ten global unions have filed a complaint urging Israel to pay back wages for more than 200,000 Palestinian workers deprived of salaries since the start of the war in Gaza.
The complaint, lodged at the Labour Organization (ILO) on Friday, seeks unpaid wages and withheld benefits for workers employed in Israel before the 7 October attacks there by fighters from Palestinian militant group Hamas.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the unions cited “millions of dollars of lost income, causing severe financial insecurity … and widespread hardship for the affected workers and their families, who have no access to judicial remedies”.
Israel has ratified the ILO convention on the protection of unpaid wages, which is legally binding on signatories.
According to the complaint, 13,000 workers from the Gaza Strip have not been paid for work done before 7 October.
In addition, nearly 200,000 Palestinian workers from the West Bank have not been allowed to enter Israel since the war erupted nearly one year ago and have not been paid for work done before it began, reports AFP.
The ILO estimates average daily wages for Palestinians employed in Israel under regular work permits at $79 a day, while for informal workers, weekly pay ranged from $565 to $700.
“These workers have experienced widespread wage theft due to the suspension of work permits and the unilateral termination of their contracts,” the unions said.
They include the Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) and the Building and Wood Workers’ (BWI).
AFP reports that the ILO can decide to name a committee to review the complaint and the Israeli government’s response, or in serious cases form an investigative committee.
Nine people killed in Israeli strike on Shebaa town in southern Lebanon, mayor says
An Israeli strike at about 3am local time on Friday killed nine people from the same family in the southern Lebanese border-town of Shebaa, including four children, mayor Mohammad Saab has told Reuters.
No further information was provided.
The House of Commons foreign affairs committee chairwoman has warned a ground invasion by Israel into Lebanon could favour Hezbollah and its legitimacy, reports the Press Association (PA).
Asked about escalating conflict in the Middle East, Emily Thornberry told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
I think that we need to be aware that we have perhaps more clout than we have done recently, and I think we’re in a fairly unique position, so … we are in a position to be able to pull people together.
I think that the UN general assembly meeting at this time means that many other nations can be pulled behind the declaration that has been made, and that will make it stronger.
We don’t know whether or not Israel is bluffing about a ground war. We do know that in 2006 that they got very bogged down, that at the moment they may be ahead because they’re using air power and surprise, but a ground war may well be different.
And actually, the poor Lebanese, who you know many of whom do not want Hezbollah in the bottom of their country, certainly don’t want to have the Israelis. And Hezbollah may well end up with more legitimacy as a result of that ground invasion.”
Israeli teams will continue meetings on US ceasefire proposals, Netanyahu says
Israeli teams had meetings to discuss the US ceasefire proposals with Lebanon on Thursday and will continue discussions in the days ahead, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday, adding that he appreciated the US efforts.
“Our teams met (Thursday, 26 September) to discuss the US initiative and how we can advance the shared goal of returning people safely to their homes. We will continue those discussions in the coming days,” he said in a statement, reports Reuters.
The comments came after Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said on Thursday there would be no ceasefire in the north, where Israeli jets have been carrying out the heaviest bombardment against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in decades.
On Thursday, after Netanyahu left for New York where he is attending the UN general assembly, his office issued a statement saying the prime minister had ordered Israeli troops to continue fighting with full force in Lebanon.
Reuters reports that Netanyahu’s statement made no reference to the comments of Katz and other Israeli politicians, who have also rejected a ceasefire, saying only that there had been “a lot of misreporting around the US-led ceasefire initiative”.
“Israel shares the aims of the US-led initiative of enabling people along our northern border to return safely and securely to their homes,” the statement said.
“Israel appreciates the US efforts in this regard because the US role is indispensable in advancing stability and security in the region,” it said.
Israeli strikes over the past week have hit hundreds of targets in southern Lebanon and much deeper into the country, killing more than 600 people, reports Reuters.
At the same time, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and missiles at targets in Israel, including one fired at Tel Aviv. Israel’s air defence systems have intercepted many of the missiles, ensuring the damage has been relatively limited.
Australian PM urges Netanyahu to 'listen to the international community' amid fears of escalating conflict with Hezbollah
Daniel Hurst
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has urged his Israeli counterpart to “listen to the international community” amid fears of an escalating conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, also declared that the world “cannot allow any party to obstruct” peace in the Middle East as she pressed for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.
Speaking hours after the Israeli government rejected growing international calls to agree to a three-week ceasefire with Hezbollah, Albanese had a sharp message for Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I say to prime minister Netanyahu that he needs to listen to the international community, just like the other players in that region need to listen to the international community,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“The calls are very clear when you have the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, other nations all calling for a de-escalation of this conflict.”
In New York, Wong addressed the UN security council and emphasised the urgent need for “de-escalation” and “dialogue”.
“Hezbollah are terrorists that have not complied with security council resolution 1701, but Lebanese civilians should not pay the price,” Wong said.
“Lebanon cannot become the next Gaza. Just as in Gaza, Australia calls for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon.”
In a pointed message to Israel, Wong said: “War has rules – even when confronting terrorists; even when defending borders.”
Israeli and US officials meet to discuss US-backed ceasefire proposal with Hezbollah
Israeli and US officials have met to discuss a US-backed ceasefire proposal with Hezbollah, the office of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late on Thursday.
The meetings – which happened in New York on the sidelines of the UN general assembly, would continue in the days ahead, Netanyahu’s office said, adding that they appreciated the US efforts.
The statement came after Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said on Thursday there would be no ceasefire in the north, where Israeli jets have been carrying out the heaviest bombardment against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in decades.
On Thursday, after Netanyahu left for New York where he is attending the UN general assembly, his office issued a statement saying the prime minister had ordered Israeli troops to continue fighting with full force in Lebanon.
More on that in a moment, but first here is a summary of the day’s other main events:
Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel “will not stop” its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon despite calls from the US, France and other allies for an immediate three-week ceasefire. The Israeli prime minister told reporters that his government’s policy was clear as he landed in New York on Thursday. “We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force, and we will not stop until we reach all our goals,” Netanyahu said.
The US and France called for a 21-day temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah to make way for broader negotiations. A joint statement calling for “a diplomatic settlement” of the crisis was also endorsed by the UK, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. It called for an urgent cessation of hostilities, which presented “an unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation”.
Lebanon’s minister for foreign affairs, Abdallah Bouhabib, has said his country is enduring a crisis that “threatens its very existence”. Speaking at the UN general assembly, he has said that his government welcomed yesterday’s ceasefire plan raised by the US and France – and demanded it be implemented.
US officials hope to persuade Netanyahu to accept the ceasefire proposal by the time he addresses the UN general assembly on Friday. They argue that a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could also provide a breathing space in which to revive long-stalled negotiations with Israel and Hamas over the release of Israeli hostages in return for a truce in Gaza. Hezbollah has yet to respond to the call for a truce, although it and its backer, Iran, have previously insisted it would halt its strikes only if there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israeli airstrikes continued in Lebanon on Thursday, in which health authorities said 92 people had been killed. Two people were killed and 15 others injured, including a woman in critical condition, after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Thursday, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Israel said it carried out a strike that it said killed one of the heads of the Hezbollah air force unit, Mohammad Surur. Hezbollah later confirmed his death.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement said it had targeted the northern Israeli town of Safed with dozens of rockets on Thursday in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Later on Thursday, air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and across central Israel. The IDF said the sirens were triggered by a missile fired from Yemen, which it said was intercepted by Israel’s Arrow missile defence system.
