Israel and its Iran-aligned foes vow more war after Hamas leader’s death

Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar gestures during an anti-Israel rally in Gaza City, May 24, 2021. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 18 October 2024
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Israel and its Iran-aligned foes vow more war after Hamas leader’s death

  • Israel’s arch-foe and the militants’ main backer Iran also said Sinwar’s death would only fuel “the spirit of resistance“
  • That rhetoric from the warring parties contrasted with Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, who said Sinwar’s death offered a chance for negotiations

JERUSALEM/CAIRO: Pledges from Israel and its enemies Hamas and Hezbollah to keep fighting in Gaza and Lebanon dashed hopes on Friday that the death of Palestinian militant leader Yahya Sinwar might hasten an end to more than a year of escalating war in the Middle East.
Israel’s arch-foe and the militants’ main backer Iran also said Sinwar’s death would only fuel “the spirit of resistance.”
Hamas leader Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the Gaza war, was killed by Israeli soldiers in the Palestinian enclave on Wednesday.
Video showed him tossing a stick at a drone as he sat dying.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his killing a milestone but vowed to keep up the war, which in recent weeks expanded from fighting Hamas in Gaza into an invasion and pursuit of Hezbollah of Lebanon.
“The war, my dear ones, is not yet over,” Netanyahu told Israelis late on Thursday, saying fighting would continue until hostages held by Hamas are released.
“We have before us a great opportunity to stop the axis of evil,” he added, referring to Iran and its militant allies across the region, also in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Hamas said hostages would only be released with a halt of hostilities in Gaza, an Israeli withdrawal and the release of its prisoners. “The martyrdom of our brother, the leader Yahya Sinwar ... will only increase the strength and resolve of Hamas and our resistance,” it said, confirming his death in combat.
That rhetoric from the warring parties contrasted with Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, who said Sinwar’s death offered a chance for negotiations.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Sinwar had been refusing talks. “Can’t predict that that means whoever replaces (Sinwar) will agree to a ceasefire, but it does remove what has been in recent months the chief obstacle to getting one,” he said.
Israel’s government has rejected several attempts by its main ally the US at brokering ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon, pressing on with its wars. Iran has looked largely powerless to match Israel’s military might, including US arms.
One senior diplomat working in Lebanon told Reuters that hopes Sinwar’s death would end the war appeared misplaced.
“We had hoped, really throughout this, that getting rid of Sinwar would be the turning point where the wars would end ... where everyone would be ready to put their weapons down. It appears we were once again mistaken,” the diplomat said.
The conflict has caused the first direct Iranian-Israeli confrontations, including missile attacks on Israel in April and Oct. 1. Netanyahu has vowed to respond to the October attack, which caused little damage. Washington has pressed Israel to limit targets and not strike Iranian energy facilities or nuclear sites.

TRACKED AND KILLED
Sinwar, Hamas’ overall leader following the assassination of political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, was believed to have been hiding in the warren of tunnels Hamas has built under Gaza.
He was killed during a gunbattle on Wednesday by Israeli troops initially unaware they had caught their number one enemy, Israeli officials said.
The military released drone video of what it said was Sinwar, sitting on an armchair and covered in dust inside a destroyed building. He was tracked by the drone as he lay dying, the video showed, desperately throwing a stick.
The Oct. 7, 2023 attacks he masterminded in Israel killed some 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities. Israel has subsequently killed more than 42,000 people, according to Palestinian officials. Its offensive has made most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people homeless, maimed tens of thousands, caused widespread hunger and destroyed hospitals and schools.
Hezbollah, which began firing rockets at Israel in support of its Hamas ally on Oct. 8, is the target of Israel’s intensifying assault on Lebanon, which has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced 1.2 million.
Israel has now killed several of Hamas’ top leaders and in a matter of weeks decapitated the Hezbollah leadership, mainly through air strikes.
The killings have dealt a blow to what anti-Israeli forces call the Axis of Resistance: a group of proxy militant groups that Iran has spent decades supporting across the region.
Iran showed no sign Sinwar’s killing would shift its support. “The spirit of resistance will be strengthened,” its mission to the United Nations said.
Hezbollah was also defiant, announcing “the transition to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with Israel.”
The Israeli military said on Friday it had also killed Muhammad Hassin Ramal, Hezbollah’s commander of the Tayibe area in southern Lebanon.
Families of Israeli hostages said that while the killing of Sinwar was an achievement, it would not be complete while captives are still in Gaza.
Avi Marciano, father of Noa Marciano, who was killed in captivity by Hamas, told Israeli broadcaster KAN that “the monster, the one who took her from me, who had the blood of all our daughters on his hands, finally met the gates of hell.”


Daesh group claims first attack on Syrian government forces since Assad’s fall

Updated 4 sec ago
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Daesh group claims first attack on Syrian government forces since Assad’s fall

  • Daesh, which once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq, is opposed to the new authority in Damascus led by President Ahmad Al-Sharaa
  • Daesh was defeated in Syria in March 2019 when SDF fighters captured the last sliver of land that the extremists controlled
BEIRUT: The Daesh group has claimed responsibility for two attacks in southern Syria, including one on government forces that an opposition war monitor described as the first on the Syrian army to be adopted by the extremists since the fall of Bashar Assad.
In two separate statements issued late Thursday, Daesh said that in the first attack, a bomb was detonated targeting a “vehicle of the apostate regime,” leaving seven soldiers dead or wounded. It said the attack occurred “last Thursday,” or May 22, in the Al-Safa area in the desert of the southern province of Sweida.
Daesh said that the second attack occurred this week in a nearby area during which a bomb targeted members of the US-backed Free Syrian Army, claiming that it killed one fighter and wounded three.
There was no comment from the government on the claim of the attack and a spokesperson for the Free Syrian Army didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by The Associated Press.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the attack on government forces killed one civilian and wounded three soldiers, describing it as the first such attack to be claimed by Daesh against Syrian forces since the fall of the 54-year Assad family’s rule in December.
Daesh, which once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq, is opposed to the new authority in Damascus led by President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who was once the head of Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria and fought battles against Daesh.
Over the past several months, Daesh has claimed responsibility for attacks against the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast.
Daesh was defeated in Syria in March 2019 when SDF fighters captured the last sliver of land that the extremists controlled. Since then, its sleeper cells have carried out deadly attacks, mainly in eastern and northeast Syria.
In January, state media reported that intelligence officials in Syria’s post-Assad government thwarted a plan by Daesh to set off a bomb at a Shiite Muslim shrine south of Damascus.
Al-Sharaa met with US President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia earlier this month during which the American leader said that Washington would work on lifting crippling economic sanctions imposed on Damascus since the days of Assad.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement after the meeting that Trump urged Al-Sharaa to diplomatically recognize Israel, “tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria” and help the US stop any resurgence of the Daesh group.

Israel far-right minister says ‘time to go in with full force’ in Gaza

Updated 30 May 2025
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Israel far-right minister says ‘time to go in with full force’ in Gaza

  • Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said Friday it was time to use “full force” in Gaza, after Hamas said a new US-backed truce proposal failed to meet its demands

JERUSALEM: Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said Friday it was time to use “full force” in Gaza, after Hamas said a new US-backed truce proposal failed to meet its demands.
“Mr Prime Minister, after Hamas rejected the deal proposal again — there are no more excuses,” Ben Gvir said on his Telegram channel. “The confusion, the shuffling and the weakness must end. We have already missed too many opportunities. It is time to go in with full force, without blinking, to destroy, and kill Hamas to the last one.”


Macron: France may toughen stance on Israel if it continues blocking Gaza aid

Updated 30 May 2025
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Macron: France may toughen stance on Israel if it continues blocking Gaza aid

  • French leader: ‘The humanitarian blockade is creating a situation that is untenable on the ground’
  • Under growing international pressure, Israel partially ended an 11-week long aid blockade on Gaza 10 days ago

SINGAPORE: France could harden its position on Israel if it continues to block humanitarian aid to Gaza, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday, reiterating that Paris was committed to a two-state solution to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

“The humanitarian blockade is creating a situation that is untenable on the ground,” Macron said at a joint press conference in Singapore with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

“And so, if there is no response that meets the humanitarian situation in the coming hours and days, obviously, we will have to toughen our collective position,” Macron said, adding that France may consider applying sanctions against Israeli settlers.

“But I still hope that the government of Israel will change its stance and that we will finally have a humanitarian response.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has hit back at growing international pressure over the war in Gaza, the deadliest fighting in decades of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

Macron was in Singapore on a state visit and he will also deliver the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier security forum, which runs this year from May 30-June 1.

Deep differences between Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel have stymied previous attempts to restore a ceasefire that broke down in March.

Under growing international pressure, Israel partially ended an 11-week long aid blockade on Gaza 10 days ago. It has allowed a limited amount of relief to be delivered via two avenues — the United Nations or the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

The French president said Paris is commaitted to working toward a political solution and reiterated his support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Macron is leaning toward recognizing a Palestinian state, diplomats and experts say, a move that could infuriate Israel and deepen Western splits.

French officials are weighing up the move ahead of a United Nations conference, which France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting between June 17-20, to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel’s security.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to a Hamas attack in its south on October 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 Israelis taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

The war since then has killed around 54,000 Palestinians, Palestinian health authorities say, more than in any other of the countless rounds of fighting between the two sides.


China, Japan close to resuming seafood imports after Fukushima ban

Updated 30 May 2025
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China, Japan close to resuming seafood imports after Fukushima ban

  • In 2023, Japan began gradually releasing treated wastewater from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean
  • The move was backed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but drew sharp criticism from Beijing

BEIJIG: China and Japan said Friday they were moving closer to ending a years-long dispute over Tokyo’s handling of nuclear wastewater that prompted Beijing to ban imports of Japanese seafood.

In 2023, Japan began gradually releasing treated wastewater from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.

The move was backed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but drew sharp criticism from Beijing, which banned Japanese seafood imports as a result.

China indicated on Friday that it was edging closer to lifting the ban, saying talks with Japanese officials in Beijing this week had “achieved substantial progress.”

“So far this year, the two sides have carried out several rounds of technical exchanges,” Beijing’s customs administration said in a statement, without giving further details.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Beijing and Tokyo had “reached an agreement on the technical requirements necessary to resume exports of fishery products to China.”

“Exports to China will resume as soon as the re-registration process for export-related facilities is completed,” Hayashi said on Friday.

“We regard this as a major milestone,” he told a press conference.

China previously said it had found no abnormalities in seawater and marine life samples it independently collected near the Fukushima plant in February, but indicated more tests were needed before revoking the ban.

In 2011, a huge earthquake triggered a deadly tsunami that swamped the Fukushima nuclear facility and pushed three of its six reactors into meltdown.

China, whose ties with Japan have long been strained by Tokyo’s imperial legacy, vociferously opposed the release of the treated wastewater, casting it as environmentally irresponsible.


Witnesses in Gaza describe more chaos at food distribution sites

Updated 30 May 2025
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Witnesses in Gaza describe more chaos at food distribution sites

  • Multiple witnesses on Thursday reported a free-for-all of people grabbing aid, and they said Israeli troops opened fire to control crowds.
  • Witnesses said it was Israeli troops who fired the projectiles to clear large crowds of Palestinians after the center ran out of supplies

NUSEIRAT: Chaos erupted again Thursday as tens of thousands of desperate Palestinians in the Gaza Strip tried to collect food from distribution sites run by a new US- and Israeli-backed foundation. Multiple witnesses reported a free-for-all of people grabbing aid, and they said Israeli troops opened fire to control crowds.
In central Gaza, Associated Press video showed smoke bombs arching through the air around a distribution center, and gunfire was audible as an Israeli tank moved nearby. Witnesses said it was Israeli troops who fired the projectiles to clear large crowds of Palestinians after the center ran out of supplies Thursday.
“I came to get a sack of flour … a sardine tin or anything,” said Mahmoud Ismael, a man on crutches from an earlier leg injury who said he walked for miles to get to the center, only to leave empty-handed.
“There is no food in my house, and I can’t get food for my children,” he said.
Turmoil has plagued the aid system launched this week by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs three distribution centers in the territory. Israel has slated GHF to take over food distribution in Gaza despite opposition from the United Nations and most humanitarian groups.
Over the past three days, there have been reports of gunfire at GHF centers, and Gaza health officials have said at least one person has been killed and dozens wounded.
The Israeli military said it has facilitated the entry of nearly 1,000 truckloads of supplies into Gaza recently and accused the UN of failing to distribute the goods. It claimed Hamas was responsible for the crisis by stealing aid and refusing to release the remaining hostages.
The military’s spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effei Defrin, said the army will continue “to provide for the humanitarian needs of the civilian population while taking necessary steps to ensure that the aid does not reach the hands of Hamas.”
With media not allowed to access the centers, the circumstances remain unclear. The distribution points are guarded by armed private contractors, and Israeli forces are positioned in the vicinity. On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it fired warning shots to control a crowd outside one center.
Dr. Khaled Elserr, a surgeon at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, told the AP he treated two people wounded at distribution centers on Thursday — a 17-year-old girl and a man in his 20s. Both had gunshot wounds in the chest and stomach, he said, adding that other casualties had come in from the centers but that he did not have an exact number.
In a statement Thursday, GHF said no shots had been fired at any of its distribution centers the past three days and there have been no casualties, saying reports of deaths “originated from Hamas.”
Separately on Thursday, Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 34 people, according to local health officials. Israel said it would establish 22 more Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Most of the international community views settlements as illegal and an obstacle to resolving the decades-old conflict.
Turmoil at aid distribution sites
Hunger and malnutrition have mounted among Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians since Israel barred entry of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies nearly three months ago, allowing a trickle of aid in only the past two weeks.
GHF has opened hubs in three locations – two in the far south around the city of Rafah, and the other in central Gaza near the Netzarim corridor, a strip of territory controlled by Israeli forces. The large crowds have to walk miles to reach the locations.
More than a dozen Palestinians described chaos at all three Thursday.
At one of the Rafah sites near the Morag Corridor, another Israeli-held strip, one man told the AP he and his cousin arrived at 5:30 a.m., and found thousands of people massed outside, waiting to be let in. When it was opened, the crowd flowed into an outdoor area ringed by barbed wire and earth berms, where pallets of food boxes had been left.
Armed contractors stood on the berms watching, and beyond them Israeli troops and tanks were visible, said the 41-year-old man, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his first name, Shehada, for fear of reprisals. The crowd descended on the food boxes, and pushing and shoving got out of control, he said.
Shehada said the contractors pulled back and Israeli troops shot at people’s feet. His cousin was wounded in the left foot, he said. “The gunfire was very intense,” he said. “The sand was jumping all around us.”
At the other Rafah site, several people told AP of a similar scene of pallets of food boxes left on the ground for the crowds to take whatever they could with no control by staff. Mohammad Abu-Elinin, said “gangs” carried off cartloads of flour bags and multiple aid boxes.
Samira Z’urob said by the time she arrived at 6.a.m, “the thieves had stolen people’s aid.” When she begged, one person gave her a bag of pasta and a can of beans. “I said, Thank God, and took it to my children,” she said. “I haven’t had flour for more than a week.”
Another woman, Heba Joda, said people tore down metal fences and took wooden pallets. When the food boxes ran out, staff told people to leave, then fired sound grenades to disperse them, she said.
As people fled through a nearby roundabout outside the center, Israeli troops fired gunshots, causing a panic, she said. Abu-Elinin said he saw one man wounded by shrapnel.
At the center in central Gaza, witnesses told the AP that Israeli troops fired tear gas and smoke grenades to disperse the crowds when aid ran out. AP video showed crowds of people returning from the site, some with carts full of boxes and many with nothing.
Aisha Na’na said all she managed to grab were some sticks to use as firewood. “We had come to get food for our children, but it was all in vain — we returned with nothing,” she said.
Israel says the GHF system will replace the massive aid operation that the UN and other aid groups have carried out throughout the war. It says the new mechanism is necessary, accusing Hamas of siphoning off large amounts of aid. The UN denies that significant diversion takes place.
In its statement Thursday, GHF said it has distributed more than 32,200 boxes of food since Monday. It says each box, which contains basics like sugar, lentils, pasta and rice, can make 58 meals. It said it will scale up to start operations at a fourth center and will build additional hubs in the weeks ahead.
The UN and other aid groups have refused to participate in the mechanism, saying it violates humanitarian principles. They say it allows Israel to use food as a weapon, forcing people to move to the hubs, potentially emptying large swaths of Gaza. They also say it cannot meet the massive needs of the population.
Israel has allowed in some trucks of aid for the UN to distribute, but the UN has struggled to deliver the material amid looting and Israeli military restrictions.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday that Israeli authorities hadn’t given permission for UN trucks to move to the border to retrieve the arriving supplies for the previous three days.