This is Beirut

Hamas Official Ghazi Hamad Appears on Al Jazeera after Israel Strike on Doha

This is Beirut, 17/09 21:40 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Ghazi Hamad Hamas Al Jazeera Qatar Israel

Ghazi Hamad, a top official in Hamas, appeared Wednesday in a live interview broadcast by Qatari channel Al Jazeera, in the first appearance of a Hamas leader since the Israeli attack on Doha on September 9. The attack occurred "less than an hour after we began studying the proposal" for a ceasefire in Gaza, he said, referring to a meeting of ...

Palestinians Flee Gaza City Amid Israeli Offensive

This is Beirut, 17/09 19:55 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Gaza Israel Hamas

On foot, by bike, or in vehicles, Palestinians are fleeing Gaza City in large numbers, targeted by a major Israeli military offensive whose bombings killed dozens across the territory on Wednesday. With U.S. support, Israel announced Tuesday the start of a ground and air campaign in Gaza City aimed at destroying the Palestinian Islamist group ...

Israel Warns EU Any Sanctions Will Get 'Appropriate Response'

This is Beirut, 17/09 16:33 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

European Union Israel Palestine Benjamin Netanyahu Hamas Gaza

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Wednesday warned the EU against taking action against Israel, after the bloc's executive proposed curbing trade ties and sanctioning ministers over the Gaza war. "The recommendations of the college of Commissioners led by President (Ursula) von der Leyen are morally and politically distorted," ...

Israel Says Struck More than 150 Targets in Gaza City Since Tuesday

This is Beirut, 17/09 12:05 - Reading : less than a minute

Hamas Israel Palestine Gaza

The Israeli army said it has struck more than 150 targets in Gaza City since launching a major ground offensive on the Gaza Strip's main urban hub early on Tuesday. "Over the past two days, the (Israeli air force) and artillery corps troops struck over 150 terror targets throughout Gaza City in support of the maneuvering troops in the area," the ...

Israel to Open New Route for Gazans Fleeing Besieged City

This is Beirut, 17/09 10:25 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Israel United Nations Gaza Hamas

Israel's army said Wednesday it had opened a temporary new route to allow people to flee Gaza City, a day after launching a major ground assault aimed at crushing Hamas. The Israeli military unleashed a massive bombardment of Gaza City before dawn on Tuesday and pushed its troops deeper into the Gaza Strip's largest urban hub. It came as a ...

Israel's Netanyahu Says Qatar Funds Hamas, Strike 'Justified'

This is Beirut, 16/09 22:19 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Benjamin Netanyahu Donald Trump Israel United States Qatar Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that a strike against Hamas officials in Qatar last week was "justified" by the Gulf state's ties to the group. "Qatar is connected to Hamas; it harbors Hamas; it funds Hamas. It has strong levers (that it could pull), but it chose not to," he said during a press ...

Ankara, Another Tehran?

Mario Chartouni, 16/09 19:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Tehran Damascus Hamas Israel Middle East

The Middle East is going through a major realignment. Iran, long at the center of regional tensions, is losing influence after years of proxy wars and direct confrontations with Israel. This decline does not mean the situation is easing. On the contrary, it creates a strategic opening that another player – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey – ...

U.S. and Qatar Close to Strengthening Defense Ties Following Israeli Strike

This is Beirut, 16/09 16:31 - Reading : less than a minute

US Secretary of State Hamas Israel Marco Rubio

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington and Doha are close to finalizing an enhanced defense cooperation agreement, following last week’s Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar. Qatari officials confirmed that Emir Sheikh Tamim met with Rubio, with spokesman Majed Al Ansari stating the attack “sped up the need for a ...

UN Slams Israel's Qatar Attack as Assault on 'Regional Peace and Stability'

This is Beirut, 16/09 12:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

United Nations Israel Gulf Hamas United States

The United Nations rights chief warned on Tuesday that Israel's airstrike targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar last week threatened regional peace and stability and urged "accountability for unlawful killings". "Israel's strike on negotiators in Doha on September 9 was a shocking breach of international law," Volker Turk told the UN Human Rights ...

Hamas: A Shattered Sham

Mario Chartouni, 15/09 15:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Hamas Gulf Israel Palestine Tehran

Israel’s strike on Hamas leadership in Qatar on Tuesday marked a sharp turning point. For the first time, Israel targeted the political heart of the Islamist movement outside its traditional battlegrounds. In Doha, where Hamas believed it had secured a safe and comfortable refuge, missiles served as a stark reminder that even gilded hotels and ...

UN Rights Council to Debate Israel Attack on Qatar Tuesday

This is Beirut, 15/09 11:57 - Reading : less than a minute

Hamas Israel United Nations

The United Nations Human Rights Council said it would host an urgent debate on Tuesday on Israel's airstrike targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar. The council said on Monday the debate would be convened after it received two official requests, one from Pakistan on behalf of member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the ...

Palestinian Circumlocutions

Charles Chartouni, 15/09 09:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Gaza Hamas Israel Palestine UN

The unending Palestinian saga seems to thrive on power politics entanglements, unwinding political patronages and the externalization of blame without any critical retrospection to figure out the rationale behind the unending cycles of political entrapment and outright instrumentation. We are faced with a behavioral pattern that never belied ...

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