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Live blog: Erdogan vows to bring global attention to Israeli ‘war crimes’
Israel’s war on Gaza — now in its 126th day — has killed at least 27,947 Palestinians and wounded 67,459 others, as President Joe Biden says Israel’s response in Gaza is over the top.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters at parliament in Ankara, Turkey / Photo: AP Archive
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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters at parliament in Ankara, Turkey / Photo: AP Archive
Friday, February 9, 2024
1014 GMT — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has underlined Türkiye’s strenuous efforts to draw attention worldwide to Israel’s wrongdoing in over four months of the Gaza conflict.
“We are making intensive efforts to ensure that Israel’s human rights abuses and war crimes are not overlooked on the international stage,” Erdogan said, addressing the 5th General Assembly of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum via video message in Istanbul.
Underscoring the importance of collective diplomatic action among Islamic countries in response to Israel’s oppression in Gaza, Erdogan mentioned ongoing diplomatic efforts to encourage joint responses and solidarity.
Additionally, he reaffirmed Türkiye’s commitment to supporting the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state recognized worldwide.
“We will continue our struggle until an independent, territorially integral Palestinian state is founded based on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as capital,” he said.
Erdogan emphasized the crucial importance of unity among young Muslim people, pointing to the ongoing “massacres” in the Gaza and occupied Palestinian territories since Oct. 7.
“Israeli occupying forces mercilessly martyred over 28,000 Palestinians, including many children and women, in full view of the world,” he said.
Erdogan underscored that places of worship, schools, hospitals, and civilian infrastructure have also been targeted in Israel’s “Nazi-like attacks.”
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0940 GMT — Tensions rise as rockets hit Northern Israel from Lebanon
The Israeli military announced late Thursday that at least 30 rockets fell in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, rockets it said were launched from southern Lebanon, while alarm sirens sounded in the area.
Israeli army radio said that about 30 rockets fell in an open area in Mount Hermon, in the Upper Galilee, without any injuries.
On Thursday, the intensity of cross-border shelling between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Hezbollah party increased along the borders and nearby areas between the two sides.
On the same day, the Israeli army announced the hitting of a series of Hezbollah-affiliated targets in southern Lebanon, as well as an Israeli drone strike on a car in the southern city of Nabatieh.
0914 GMT — Palestinian Health Ministry reports 13 massacres in Gaza
At least 107 Palestinians were killed and 142 others were injured in the last 24 hours as Israel continues its onslaught on the besieged Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
“The Israeli occupation committed 13 massacres against families in Gaza, leaving 107 martyrs and 142 injured during the past 24 hours,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” the statement said.
Flouting the International Court of Justice’s provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on Gaza where at least 27,947 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 67,459 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Israel has pounded Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.
0846 GMT — Israeli Police detain 18, including Canadian nationals, in Khan Younis
Israeli police detained 18 people, including three Canadian nationals from the same family, in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
“An Israeli special force, wearing civilian clothes, arrested the Palestinian Ahmed Hashem Al Agha and his sons Hashem and Baraa, who hold Canadian citizenship,” Ahmed al Agha, dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Palestine, told Anadolu.
Al-Agha said the Israeli force reached the area where the displaced family was staying in the west of Khan Yunis, wearing civilian attire and in civilian vehicles. They also arrested 15 other individuals from the al-Agha family, according to information Anadolu obtained.
The Israeli army has launched a series of intense raids on Khan Younis and its surrounding areas since Jan. 22 as it advanced in the southern and western areas of the city, forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee.
0658 GMT — Israeli warplanes strike Gaza, killing dozens and wounding many
At least 21 Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded in attacks carried out by the Israeli army in Gaza.
According to a report on the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, Israeli warplanes conducted early Friday air strikes in the southern city of Rafah and the central area of Deir al-Balah in Gaza.
As a result of the air strikes targeting residential areas in Rafah and Deir al Balah by Israeli warplanes, at least eight Palestinians, including three children, were killed, and many others were wounded.
In addition, airstrikes by Israeli warplanes in Rafah resulted in the deaths of three members of the al Sayyid family and five members of the al Nahhal family.
At least five Palestinians were killed and several others were wounded in an attack by Israeli warplanes on a kindergarten where displaced persons sought refuge in the Ez-Zawayda area, located in the central part of Gaza.
0623 GMT — Washington voices concerns over Rafah assault
Israel conducted fresh strikes on southern Gaza’s overcrowded border town of Rafah, where more than a million displaced Palestinians have sought shelter, with key backer the United States warning of a looming “disaster”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has ordered troops to “prepare to operate” in Rafah, the last major town in the Gaza Strip that Israeli ground troops have yet to enter.
The Palestinian territory’s health ministry said early Friday that more than 100 people were killed during the night, including at least eight in Rafah.
The Palestinian Red Crescent meanwhile said three children had died in a strike on Rafah.
A State Department spokesman said Thursday that the United States did not support an Israeli operation in Rafah, with President Joe Biden later telling reporters he considered Israel’s conduct of its war against Hamas to be “over the top.”
State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said Washington had “yet to see any evidence of serious planning” for a Rafah ground operation.
Noting Rafah was also a crucial entry point for humanitarian aid, he added such an assault was “not something we’d support”. “To conduct such an operation right now with no planning and little thought… would be a disaster,” he said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken conveyed Washington’s concerns to Netanyahu directly during talks on Wednesday in Jerusalem, Patel said.
0326 GMT — Israeli forces target Hezbollah in southern Lebanon
The Israeli army has said that it struck Hezbollah-affiliated targets in southern Lebanon, including a truck carrying weapons and military infrastructure.
The army said Thursday in a statement that its forces “responded to strikes that were carried out from southern Lebanon towards Israeli territory and targeted the sources of the fire with artillery shells.”
“Israeli air defence fighters intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed Lebanese territory,” it added.
Tensions have escalated along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah since early October, in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.
0200 GMT — US strikes Houthi missile positions in Yemen: CENTCOM
The United States military has confirmed its forces conducted multiple strikes against Houthi missile systems.
Beginning early Thursday Sanaa time, US Central Command forces “conducted seven self-defence strikes against four Houthi unmanned surface vessels [USV] and seven mobile anti-ship cruise missiles that were prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea,” CENTCOM said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“CENTCOM identified these missiles and USVs in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined they presented an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region,” it said.
0141 GMT — Biden calls Israel’s Gaza response ‘over the top’
Israel’s military response in besieged Gaza to the October 7 surprise blitz by Hamas has been “over the top,” US President Joe Biden said.
“I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, has been over the top,” the 81-year-old Democrat told reporters at the White House.
“I’ve been pushing really hard, really hard to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”
0048 GMT — UK minister says devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza ‘unfolding before our very eyes’
Britain’s minister for the Middle East Lord Tariq Ahmad pointed to the “growing humanitarian crisis” in besieged Gaza in remarks before the House of Lords, saying the suffering is unfolding “before our very eyes.”
“What is very clear [is that] ordinary people are suffering. Palestinian civilians are facing a devastating and growing humanitarian crisis. Indeed, it’s unfolding before our very eyes,” Lord Ahmad told those present.
Member of the House of Lords Baroness Hussein-Ece reminded that more than 27,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks, and compared to the number of Israelis killed on October 7, she said it is at least 20 times higher and more than 200 times as many children.
“The death toll in 17 weeks [in Gaza] is 15 times the rate of the killing of civilians in Ukraine in over 18 months,” she noted.
2338 GMT — Saudi Arabia hosts meeting of Arab foreign ministers on Gaza
Saudi Arabia hosted a meeting of Arab foreign ministers to consult on developments in besieged Gaza.
“Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan received Arab ministers participating in the consultative ministerial meeting on events in Gaza,” the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a post on X, without providing further details.
The ministry shared images of bin Farhan receiving his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi, Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, Qatari counterpart Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and United Arab Emirates counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in addition to the Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hussein al-Sheikh.
Later, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X that “their Highnesses and Excellencies, the Ministers emphasised the necessity of ending the war on the Gaza Strip and achieving an immediate and complete ceasefire, ensuring the protection of civilians according to international humanitarian law.”
For our live updates from Thursday, February 8, click here.
SOURCE: TRTWORLD AND AGENCIES
