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🔴 Live: Biden promises Israel ‘ironclad’ support against Iran reprisals
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday promised “ironclad” support for Israel as Iran threatens reprisals over a strike that levelled an Iranian consulate building in Damascus and killed two generals. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments on the Israel-Hamas war.
Issued on: 11/04/2024 – 04:00
1 min
US President Joe Biden said he had told Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that Washington’s “commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad”.
US President Joe Biden said he had told Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that Washington’s “commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad” at a news conference on April 10, 2024. © Jim Watson, AFP
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FRANCE 24
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Summary:
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday promised “ironclad” support for Israel as Iran threatens reprisals over a strike that levelled an Iranian consulate building in Damascus and killed two generals in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk called the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Iraq to ask them to deliver a message to Iran urging it to lower tensions with Israel following the suspected Israeli strike on Iran’s consulate building in Syria, a source with knowledge of the situation said to Reuters.
The US military on Thursday said it had shot down 11 drones belonging to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels after the group claimed it had targeted Israeli and American ships off the Gulf of Aden.
At least 33,482 Palestinians have been killed and 76,049 wounded since Israel began its offensive on Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. Around 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
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Netanyahu not consulted on killing of Haniyeh’s sons, Israeli media say
Israeli forces killed three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an air strike in Gaza without consulting senior commanders or political leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
Quoting senior Israeli officials, Walla news agency said neither Netanyahu nor Defence Minister Yoav Gallant had been told in advance of the strike, which was coordinated by the Israeli military and the Shin Bet intelligence service.
It said Amir, Mohammad and Hazem Haniyeh had been targeted as fighters and not because they were the sons of Hamas’s political leader. The Israeli military did not comment on reports that four of Haniyeh’s grandchildren had also been killed.
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Israel slams Irish prime minister for not mentioning Gaza hostages
Israel’s foreign ministry on Thursday denounced Ireland’s new prime minister Simon Harris for not mentioning the hostages held by militants in Gaza during a speech to the Irish parliament.
Israel is also furious with Ireland over its intention to recognise a Palestinian state and to intervene in the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Harris—who was sworn in on Tuesday—“forgot” to “mention the 133 Israeli hostages who have been rotting in Hamas tunnels for the past six months,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
It said Ireland was also “planning to award additional prizes to terrorism” by backing South Africa, which it called “the legal arm of the Hamas terrorist organisation, and the possible recognition of a Palestinian state in the future.”
“After the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust… there are those in Ireland who persist on being on the wrong side of history,” the statement added.
Harris, 37, Ireland’s youngest-ever premier, told the Irish parliament Tuesday that “innocent children, women and men are being starved and slaughtered” in Gaza.
“We have not been silent on the unforgiveable terrorist actions of Hamas on October 7, nor can we be silent on the disproportionate reaction of the Israeli government,” said the leader of the centre-right Fine Gael party.
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Russian foreign ministry tells citizens not to travel to the Middle East
Russia’s foreign ministry told citizens on Thursday that they should refrain from travelling to the Middle East, especially to Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories.
“The tense situation in the Middle East region persists,” said the foreign ministry, which first issued such travel advice in October when it urged Russians not to visit Israel and the Palestinian Territories after Hamas attacked Israel.
“The situation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone, as well as in the area of the ‘Blue Line’ between Lebanon and Israel, remains unstable.”
“We strongly recommend that Russian citizens refrain from travelling to the region, especially to Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories, except in cases of extreme necessity,” it said.
Russia said the security situation in Jordan remained stable.
The United States and its allies believe major missile or drone strikes by Iran or its proxies against military and government targets in Israel are imminent, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing US and Israeli security sources.
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Lufthansa suspends Tehran flights as Mideast countries, US on alert for possible Iranian retaliation against Israel
German airline Lufthansa said on Wednesday it had suspended flights to Tehran due to the situation in the Middle East, which is on alert for possible Iranian retaliation for a suspected Israeli air strike on Iran’s embassy in Syria.
An Iranian news agency briefly stoked tensions when it published an Arabic report on X saying all airspace over Tehran had been closed for military drills. The agency then removed the report and denied it had issued such news.
Countries in the region and the United States have been on high alert and preparing for a possible attack by Iran since April 1 when Israeli warplanes were suspected of bombing the Iranian embassy compound in Syria.
Lufthansa said it suspended flights to and from Tehran from April 6 until probably April 11.
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Hamas leader Haniyeh says no change in truce position after three sons killed in Israeli strike
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh insisted that the death of three of his sons in an Israeli air strike would not influence truce talks in Gaza, as bombardments on Thursday rocked the Palestinian territory.
Israel confirmed the killings, which came as talks in Cairo for a temporary ceasefire and hostage release deal drag on without signs of a breakthrough.
Speaking to Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, Haniyeh suggested that the strike, which also killed four of his grandchildren, was an attempt to shift Hamas’s negotiating stance.
“If they think that this will force Hamas to change its positions, they are delusional,” he said.
US President Joe Biden said Hamas “needs to move” on the latest truce proposal, which the militant group has said it is studying.
Israel’s main international ally the United States has also been ramping up pressure on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to agree to a truce, increase the amount of aid flowing into the besieged Gaza Strip and abandon plans to invade the southern city of Rafah.
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US forces destroy 11 drones linked to Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, says military
The United States military said Thursday it had destroyed 11 drones belonging to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, after the group claimed it had targeted Israeli and American ships off the Gulf of Aden.
The US Central Command said on X that its forces had shot down three drones launched from Houthi-controlled areas on Wednesday morning, and “engaged and destroyed” eight drones later the same day.
“It was determined the UAVs presented an imminent threat to US, coalition, and merchant vessels in the region,” the statement said, using the acronym for unmanned aerial vehicles or drones.
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Biden promises Israel ‘ironclad’ support as Iran threatens reprisals for consulate strike
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday promised “ironclad” support for Israel as Iran threatens reprisals over a strike that levelled an Iranian consulate building in Damascus and killed two generals, which Tehran has blamed on Israel.
Biden’s promise comes despite his public criticism of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu over the toll on Gaza civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas, especially after a strike killed seven aid workers.
Iran is “threatening to launch a significant attack on Israel”, Biden told a news conference.
“As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” Biden said.
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US Middle East envoy asked foreign ministers in the region to mediate with Iran, reports Reuters
The US Middle East envoy called the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Iraq to ask them to deliver a message to Iran urging it to lower tensions with Israel following a suspected Israeli air strike on Iran’s embassy in Syria, a source with knowledge of the situation said to Reuters.
Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, asked the officials to contact the Iranian foreign minister to convey a message that Iran should de-escalate with Israel, which they did, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Iran’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Iraq spoke on the phone with Iran’s foreign minister and discussed regional tensions.
The White House declined to comment.
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Yesterday’s key developments
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told lawmakers in Madrid that recognition of Palestinian statehood is “in Europe’s geopolitical interests”.
Relatives and official Hamas media said that three sons of Ismail Haniyeh, the Islamist militant group’s leader, were killed in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army said early Wednesday it had carried out bombardments on positions of the Lebanese group Hezbollah in Syria in a bid to thwart its “entrenchment” in the country.
US President Joe Biden said Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Gaza policy was a “mistake” and urged Israel to call for a ceasefire in an interview aired Tuesday.
About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.
The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN’s counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
