Netanyahu: Israel prepared for ‘strong action’ in north near Lebanon
Here are the fuller quotes from Benjamin Netanyahu, who was touring northern Israel near the UN-drawn blue line which has separated Lebanon and Israel since 2000 and said that Israel was prepared for strong action in the region. Earlier this week Israel’s military and emergency rescue teams fought large fires set of by rockets fired into Israel.
Reuters reports Netanyahu said:
Whoever thinks that they can harm us and we will sit idly by is making a big mistake. We are prepared for a very strong action in the north. In one way or another we will restore security to the north.
Israel has been almost constantly exchanging fire with anti-Israeli forces in southern Lebanon since 7 October. Tens of thousands of civilians in both countries have been displaced from their homes.
Key events
Summary of the day …
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Israel’s prime minister visited the site where fires broke out in northern Israel earlier this week after rocket attacks launched from Lebanon. Benjamin Netanyahu said “Whoever thinks he can hurt us and we will respond by sitting on our hands is making a big mistake. We are prepared for very intense action in the north. One way or another, we will restore security to the north”. The mayor of the Kiryat Shmona criticised Netanyahu for failing to invite him on the visit to the city, criticising it as “cheap politics during wartime”
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Violent clashes broke out in Jerusalem during the annual Jerusalem flag day march which commemorates the anniversary of Israel taking control and occupying East Jerusalem in 1967. At least two journalists were injured as right-wing Israeli youths marched chanting anti-Arab and anti-Islamic slogans. Israeli peace activists have been taking part in the “flower parade”, where they hand flowers to Palestinian residents as an alternative to the flag march
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Israel is phasing out the use of a military-run detention camp for Palestinians captured during the Gaza war where rights groups alleged there has been abuse of inmates, justice officials said on Wednesday. In late May, Lorenzo Tondo and Quique Kierszenbaum reported for the Guardian that whistleblowers had described harrowing treatment of detainees at the camp. The claims included inmates regularly being kept shackled to hospital beds, blindfolded and forced to wear nappies, and reports of a man having his limb amputated as a result of injuries sustained from constant handcuffing
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The Israeli military said it has started “operational activity” in two areas of central Gaza in a possible broadening of its ground offensive. The military said Wednesday its forces were operating “both above and below ground” in eastern parts of Deir al-Balah and Bureij
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Israel’s government has raised the number of reservists the IDF is authorised to call up from 300,000 to 350,000
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Gaza’s Hamas-led health ministry claimed 36,586 people had been killed and 83,074 wounded in Israeli attacks since 7 October. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict
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Israeli far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Wednesday his party would “disrupt” the ruling coalition until Netanyahu discloses details of the prospective Gaza deal amid renewed truce efforts
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The US embassy in Lebanon has said that it will remain closed for the rest of the day, but expects to open as normal on Thursday. This follows the earlier incident when a gunman opened fire on the compound. They were wounded in an exchange of fire with troops and detained
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Hezbollah said on Wednesday it had targeted Israel’s Iron Dome air-defence system in Ramot Naftali with a guided missile
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Al Jazeera reports that an Israeli court has upheld the government’s ban on it operating in Israel
Al Jazeera reports that an Israeli court has upheld the government’s ban on it operating in Israel.
The US embassy in Lebanon has said that it will remain closed for the rest of the day, but expects to open as normal tomorrow. This follows the earlier incident when a gunman opened fire on the compound. They were wounded in an exchange of fire with troops and detained.
Here are some more images from the flag march in Jerusalem being sent over the newswires.
Nir Hasson of Haaretz has been posting video clips of clashes in Jerusalem to social media.
Kan News in Israel has reported that another journalist has been injured during clashes at the Jerusalem flag day marches. It reports that Haaretz journalist Nir Hasson was attacked in the Old City. Kan reports that national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is expected to make his attendance at the march shortly.
The mayor of the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, which Benjamin Netanyahu visited today, has criticised the prime minister for not inviting him to the visit. Avichai Stern accused Netanyahu of “cheap politics during wartime”.
Al Jazeera reports that earlier four people were killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza City’s Remal neighbourhood. Earlier Gaza’s Hamas-led health ministry claimed 36,586 people had been killed and 83,074 wounded in Israeli attacks since 7 October. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Reuters reports Hezbollah said on Wednesday it had targeted Israel’s Iron Dome air-defence system in Ramot Naftali with a guided missile.
More details soon …
Clashes break out in Jerusalem ahead of flag march
Clashes have broken out in Jerusalem ahead of the flag day march. The Times of India reports they took place just inside the Damascus gate when Israelis threw stones and attacked local residents.
Images appear to show right-wing Israeli activists assaulting a freelance member of the Palestinian press, Saif Kwasmi. Kwasmi was previously detained by Israeli security forces in April, and said he was beaten during that detention.
The provocative Jerusalem Day parade by thousands of Jewish nationalists celebrates Israel’s capture and occupation of East Jerusalem and its holy sites in the 1967 war, a move that is not internationally recognised. It has often featured violent clashes between marchers and Palestinian residents of the Old City, as well as anti-Arab hate speech and vandalism of Palestinian property, although last year’s march passed relatively peacefully.
The Times of Israel reports:
A marcher tried to knock down a Times of Israel reporter’s phone while filming the violence. Protesters chanted “Death to the Arabs.”
Haaretz reports that Israeli minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Knesset member Yitzhak Kreuzer entered the Temple Mount compound along with hundreds of Jewish worshippers.
A gunman who attacked the US embassy near Beirut was shot and captured by Lebanese soldiers after a Wednesday morning shootout that injured an embassy security guard, the military and embassy officials said.
The attack took place as tensions simmered in the tiny Mediterranean country, where months of fighting between Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops has displaced thousands along the border, following years of political deadlock and economic hardship.
Local media reported that there was a gunfight involving at least one attacker, and lasted almost half an hour.
Joe Abdo, who works at a gas station near the compound said he heard “around 15 to 20 rounds of gunfire” while working that morning. “We ran here to see what’s happening and suddenly, the army blocked us from going up,” he told The Associated Press.
A Lebanese security official and two judicial officials familiar with the case said the gunman appeared to be a lone attacker. They identified him as a resident of the eastern Lebanese border town of Majdal Anjar near Syria. Earlier, the Lebanese military identified the suspect as a Syrian national.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not cleared to speak to the press.
The military raided both Majdal Anjar and nearby Suweiri, where they detained relatives of the suspect, but did not find other gunmen or evidence of a possible extremist cell, the officials added.
The suspect was shot in the stomach and leg before being captured and taken to the military hospital in Beirut, according to the officials.
A US Embassy spokesperson said in a statement that one embassy security guard was injured in the attack.
“With respect to his privacy we cannot say more, but we wish him a full recovery,” said the spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations.
Here are the latest images coming across the wires from Gaza:
