Iran warns of 'pre-emptive action' against Israel

Iran has warned of a possible "pre-emptive action" against Israel "in the coming hours", as Israel readies for a ground offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Tehran has repeatedly warned that a ground invasion of the long-blockaded Gaza would be met with a response from other fronts -- prompting fears of a wider conflict that could draw in other countries.

"The possibility of pre-emptive action by the resistance axis is expected in the coming hours," Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a live broadcast to state TV, as he referred to his meeting with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday.

Earlier Monday, Iran's top diplomat and president, Ebrahim Raisi had said time was running out to reach a political solution and warned against the expansion of the Israel-Hamas war to other fronts.

Amir-Abdollahian said Monday that "the resistance leaders" will not allow Israel "to do whatever it wants in Gaza".

"If we don't defend Gaza today, tomorrow we have to defend against these (phosphorus) bombs in the children's hospital of our own country," he added.

Israel declared war on the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas a day after waves of its fighters broke through Gaza's heavily militarised border with Israel on October 7 and killed over 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

Israel has responded by pummelling the Gaza Strip with non-stop air and artillery strikes that have flattened neighbourhoods and killed at least 2,750 people in Gaza, mostly civilians.

Iran celebrated the Hamas assault but insisted it was not involved.

The Monday remarks come as Israel prepares for a ground invasion into the Gaza Strip, where fears for Palestinians trapped in the heavily-bombarded enclave have grown since Israel launched its aerial campaign.

Since its Islamic revolution in 1979, Iran has made support for Palestinians one of the pillars of its ideology.

 

UNSC rejects Russian resolution on Israel war

The UN Security Council on Monday rejected a Russian resolution condemning spiraling violence in the Middle East, with delegates refusing to back a motion that did not single out Hamas for its surprise attack on Israel that left at least 1,400 people dead.

The council huddled as Israel readied for an expected ground assault on the Gaza Strip, after air and artillery strikes that officials say have killed at least 2,750 people.

It also came as the White House said President Joe Biden would visit Israel on Wednesday, in a visit that is designed to balance support for a key ally with calls for restraint in its operations in Gaza.

Just four countries voted with Russia on its proposed  text. Four others -- including the US -- voted against, while six abstained.

A second text proposed by Brazil with unequivocal language condeming the Islamist group appeared to have broader support, and was expected to come to the vote on Tuesday evening, diplomats said.

Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said despite the failure, the resolution had spurred the council to action.

"It has contributed to launching a substantive discussion in the Security Council on this topic. Without our encouragement, everything would probably have been limited to empty discussions," he said.

The United Kingdom, which joined the US in voting down the Russian proposal, criticized Moscow's lack of consultation, and accused Russia of not making a serious attempt to find consensus.

"We cannot support a resolution which fails to condemn Hamas’ terror attacks," Barbara Woodward told the council.

Israel's Gilad Erdan said the Security Council, which has not adopted a resolution on the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories since 2016, stood at "one of its most pivotal crossroads" since its founding in the aftermath of World War II.

"Will the council support the fight for civilization? or will it incentivize the genocide of Jihadists who aim to murder all the infidels?" he said.

"For a body dedicated to security, this shouldn't even be a question.

"The first step this council must take before any calls for aid, calm or restraint is to designate Hamas as the murderous terror organization that it is."

Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour said the council had a moral duty to act in a bid to restrain an Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip he said was claiming 12 lives every hour.

"Don't send the signal that the Palestinian lives don't matter," he said.

"Don't dare say Israel is not responsible for the bombs it is dropping over their heads.

"What is happening in Gaza is not a military operation. It is a full scale assault against our people. It is massacres against innocent civilians."

Israel has cut off supplies of water and power to the isolated Gaza strip, and warned more than a million people to leave the north of the densely populated enclave.

The UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees has warned that the Gaza Strip faces an "unprecedented human catastrophe" if water and other vital supplies are not restored.

 

 

Blinken announces Biden visit to Israel and aid progress

US President Joe Biden will pay a solidarity visit to Israel on Wednesday following the Hamas attacks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced, as he cited progress persuading the US ally to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip.

The top US diplomat spent nearly eight hours in talks at Israel's defence ministry negotiating with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to crush Hamas after the deadliest attack in Israel's 75-year history.

The conflict intruded firsthand on the talks as air sirens went off. Blinken, Netanyahu and aides took shelter in a bunker for five minutes, with waiting journalists ushered down a stairwell, before the US-backed Iron Dome system destroyed the incoming rocket.

Speaking at 3:00 am Tuesday (0000 GMT), Blinken announced that Biden, who has spoken in emotional terms of support for Israel, would visit on Wednesday.

"The president will reaffirm United States solidarity with Israel and our ironclad commitment to its security," Blinken said.

"Israel has the right and indeed the duty to defend its people from Hamas and other terrorists and to prevent future attacks," Blinken said.

Biden will hear a first-hand account on Israel's military needs and work with Congress to fulfil them, Blinken said.

Biden will visit Tel Aviv, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in Washington. He also announced that Biden would travel onward to Jordan to see King Abdullah II, a key US partner, as well as Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Blinken met all three leaders on a six-nation swing through the Arab world in the three days between two visits to Israel.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday thanked the United States for its support, which has also included a visit by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the deployment of two US aircraft carriers to the Mediterranean.

"Let me tell you, Mr Secretary, this will be a long war, the price will be high, but we are going to win -- for Israel, for the Jewish people and for the values that both countries believe in," Gallant told Blinken.

- Developing plan for civilians -

Israel declared war on Hamas after the Islamist group's fighters broke through the heavily fortified border and shot, stabbed and burned to death more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

Israel has responded with relentless bombing, killing around 2,750 people, the majority ordinary Palestinians, in the impoverished Gaza Strip which it has long blockaded.

Blinken, like Biden, has vowed unwavering support for Israel and steered clear of pressing for a ceasefire.

But Blinken's aides acknowledged that he also heard wide concern in the Arab world over the people of impoverished Gaza, which is run by Hamas.

Blinken said that Israel promised to work with the United States on letting in foreign assistance.

He said the two sides agreed to "develop a plan" on foreign assistance. Officials did not set a timeline but expected David Satterfield, a veteran former US ambassador who started a new job Monday coordinating humanitarian aid, to work out details.

Biden hopes to "hear from Israel how it will conduct its operations in a way that minimises civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hamas," Blinken said.

He said the two sides were discussing the "possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm's way."

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been closed despite US efforts, with drivers fearful that Israel will strike them for suspicions they are helping Hamas, which receives weapons smuggled from Iran's clerical state.

Blinken said the United States shared Israel's concerns about Hamas and would take action if it stops or diverts aid.

The Biden administration earlier persuaded Israel to restore water partially after earlier vows by Israeli leaders to cut off all water, food and energy following the attacks.

 

Around half a million Israelis displaced inside Israel

Around 500,000 Israelis have been evacuated and displaced in the 10 days since Hamas unleashed the bloodiest attack in the country's history, the Israeli military said Tuesday.

"There are about half a million internally displaced Israelis at the time," Jonathan Conricus, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said in an online briefing.

He pointed out that all communities around the Gaza Strip had been evacuated, as had more than 20 communities along Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

The evacuations follow the brutal surprise attack by Hamas fighters, who broke through the heavily fortified border on October 7 and killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

It was the worst attack in the country's 75-year history. Israel's relentless series of retaliatory air strikes in the Gaza Strip have flattened neighbourhoods, killing at least 2,750, most of them ordinary Palestinians.

More than one million people have been displaced inside the densely populated Palestinian territory, as Israel prepares for a full-blown ground offensive against Hamas.

Many of the people in Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip had initially "evacuated on their own merit and at their own initiative", Conricus said, adding that since then "all of the communities around the Gaza Strip have been evacuated as per government directives".

"We don't want civilians near the combat zone," he said, stressing that "we want to protect civilians, first and foremost ours, against the horrible effects of war".

Israel's army has also been evacuating residents living along its northern border with Lebanon, amid rising tensions with the Hezbollah militant group.

An Israeli civilian and an army officer were killed Sunday in missile attacks from Lebanon, and the army carried out retaliatory strikes and attacked the militant group's infrastructure.

The move affects thousands of people living in 28 communities.

Many had already left the area after repeated cross-border fire in recent days has claimed lives on both sides of the UN-patrolled border between Lebanon and Israel which remain technically at war.

Those evacuated had found "temporary refuge with friends and family in central Israel", Conricus said.

Those areas "are deemed safer, although they are also under constant rocket attacks and have to be in shelters", he said.

"We are talking about a significant humanitarian situation in Israel," he said, acknowledging though that "the situation in Gaza is worse.

"I wouldn't want to swap tables for even a second."