Israel continues heavy attacks on Gaza City, kills dozens across enclave

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Thousands marched in Vienna to condemn Israel’s war on Gaza, in a protest organised by more than 40 Austrian NGOs.

Demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and banners bearing the names of children killed in the enclave, chanting: "Stop the genocide", "Free Palestine", and "Boycott Israel" as they marched to the Austrian parliament.

Protesters also called on the government to impose sanctions on Israel.

Argentine President Javier Milei will meet with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, on Tuesday as part of his trip to New York, the South American country's presidential press office reported on Saturday.

Milei, who maintains an international policy aligned with the United States and Israel, will also meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, which will be held next week in New York.

The Argentine president reaffirmed this week that his country will open its embassy in Jerusalem next year as a sign of support for Israel. Milei has also repeatedly declared his support for Trump, with whom he has already met since taking office in 2023.

Argentina, which maintains an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, is seeking support for its economic policy at a time when financial markets have suffered severe tensions following the ruling party's defeat in legislative elections in the province of Buenos Aires.

At least 91 Palestinians have been killed across Gaza since dawn, hospital sources told Al Jazeera.

Most of the deaths occurred in Gaza City, where 76 people were killed as Israeli forces pressed an assault on the devastated urban centre.

In al-Sabra, southwest Gaza, 11 members of one family were killed when residential homes were bombed in multiple airstrikes. Local sources said many remain missing and trapped beneath the rubble.

Civil defence teams in Gaza said they recovered three people from the rubble of the Abu Salmiya family home in western Gaza, which was struck by Israel earlier on Sunday. One person remains missing beneath the debris, the agency said.

The house belonged to the family of Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the former director of al-Shifa Hospital.

As reported earlier, several relatives were killed in the attack, including his brother and sister-in-law.

Lebanon said an Israeli strike killed one person in the south on Saturday, the latest deadly attack despite a months-old ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.

An AFP correspondent saw first responders attending the scene in the Marjayoun area, where the partially burnt-out wreckage of a white vehicle sat beside the road.

"The Israeli enemy strike on a vehicle on the Al-Khardali road killed one person," the health ministry said in a statement.

Israel has continued to carry out attacks on Lebanon despite the November truce that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed group.

It has also maintained troops in five areas of the south it deems strategic. The Israeli military has said previous strikes targeted suspected Hezbollah militants or facilities.

On Friday, Israeli strikes killed two people in the south the military said were Hezbollah operatives. A day earlier, the Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in several areas after urging civilians to flee.

Musicians in Berlin marked World Children’s Day with a charity concert honouring children killed in Israel’s war on Gaza.

The Music for Humanity initiative said the event turned the city into "a place of solidarity, humanity, and music".

Performers played classical and traditional Arabic music, while organisers demanded an immediate ceasefire, protection for civilians, and an end to German arms sales to Israel.

UNICEF says more than 50,000 Palestinian children have been killed or wounded since October 2023, with hundreds of thousands now facing severe malnutrition.

The families of Israeli captives held in Gaza are protesting the war and Israel's assault on Gaza City. The mother of Matan Zangauker slammed Netanyahu for the operation, and was quoted by The Times of Israel as saying he "intentionally decided to condemn his citizens to death.

"Netanyahu will forever be remembered as a murderer in order to remain in power," he added.

Israeli settlers have beaten a Palestinian man in the village of al-Halawa near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

An Israeli airstrike on a car near Ain al-Qasab killed a civilian, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.

An Israeli strike on a tent camp in the centre of Gaza City has killed four people and wounded others, according to Al Jazeera, which added that the wounded were brought to the Al-Shifa Hospital.

Israel has asked the US to scale down a military buildup by Egypt in the Sinai, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presenting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Egyptian activities ranging from the building of underground facilities, allegedly for storing missiles, and the extension of runways in the Sinai, according to Axios.

Israeli officials are concerned at the buildup in the province, which has limits on troop numbers by a diplomatic treaty following peace between Egypt and Israel in 1979.

Earlier in the war, however, Israel broke the treaty by invading and militarily occupying Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor, which is meant to be demilitarised under the treaty. 

Egypt itself has increasingly grown concerned at the prospect of the forced displacement of millions of Palestinians into the Sinai by Israel's two-year war on the enclave, which is increasingly being viewed as a genocide internationally. 

Egypt also offered strong words of condemnation and warnings to Israel after its strike on fellow negotiator Qatar this month, prompting reports that Egypt was once again pushing for a NATO-style joint force in the Middle East.

Hamas' armed wing published Saturday "farewell" photographs of most of the remaining hostages in Gaza, warning that Israel's assault on Gaza City could endanger them.

The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades released 46 photographs of hostages on its Telegram channel, each one labelled with the name of Ron Arad, an Israeli air force navigator whose plane went down over southern Lebanon in 1986 during the Lebanese civil war.

"Due to (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's obstinacy and (military chief Eyal) Zamir's submission.... a farewell photograph taken at the start of the operation in Gaza" City, the Brigades wrote alongside the photos.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed on Saturday that Iran would overcome any reimposition of sanctions on it through a so-called "snapback" process, after the UN Security Council voted not to permanently lift sanctions on Tehran.

"Through the 'snapback' they block the road, but it is the brains and the thoughts that open or build the road," Pezeshkian said in remarks carried by state television.

"They cannot stop us. They can strike our Natanz or Fordow (nuclear installations attacked by the US and Israel in June), But they are unaware that it is humans who built and will rebuild Natanz," Pezeshkian said.

The Security Council move came on Friday after Britain, France and Germany launched a 30-day process last month to reimpose sanctions, accusing Tehran of failing to abide by a 2015 deal with world powers aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon.

Iran denies having any such intention.

Saudi Arabia will provide around 1.38 billion riyals ($367.97 million) in economic support to the Yemeni government, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The new grant will be given through the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen with the aim of supporting the government's budget, the source said.

Russia on Saturday slammed the UN Security Council vote to reimpose economic sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme and warned of a risk of an "escalation of tensions".

"The Russian side has repeatedly pointed out the provocative and illegal nature of the actions of the European countries participating in the JCPOA," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

The United Nations Security Council voted Friday, after European pressure, to reimpose the UN sanctions on Iran.

"These actions have nothing to do with diplomacy and lead exclusively to a further escalation of tensions surrounding the Iranian nuclear program," the Russian ministry said.

In August, Moscow warned that the reimposition of sanctions against Iran, its key ally, risked "irreparable consequences".

Austria's foreign minister has appealed to countries not to boycott next year's Eurovision Song Contest - due to be held in Vienna - over Israel's participation and concerns about the war in Gaza.

Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger wrote to colleagues in the six countries on Friday, saying she was concerned about boycotts creating division and not improving the situation in Gaza.

"As foreign minister of the host country, I am deeply concerned about the risk of a rift between the members of the European Broadcasting Union on this issue," she wrote in the letter that has been seen by Reuters.

"Such a rift would only deepen the discord and preclude opportunities for important dialogue between artists and the public – without improving the situation on the ground in Israel and Gaza," Meinl-Reisinger added.

Although conflict and humanitarian suffering could not be ignored, Eurovision was not a suitable arena for sanctions, she wrote.

Gaza's Ministry of Health has released new statistics on the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza, with 34 being killed in the last 24 hours and 200 being injured. The ministry added that two people had died from starvation.

65,208 Palestinians have been killed since Israel's war on Gaza began, with a further 166,271 being injured.

Germany's culture minister on Saturday slammed threats by several European countries to boycott next year's Eurovision song contest if Israel took part as politicising a cultural event.

Spain said this week it would boycott the world's largest live televised music event in May if Israel participated, and Ireland, Slovenia, Iceland and the Netherlands have made similar threats.

"Eurovision was founded to bring nations together through music. Excluding Israel today goes against this fundamental idea and turns a celebration of understanding between peoples into a tribunal," said Wolfram Weimer in a statement.

"It's precisely because Eurovision was born on the ruins of war that it should not become a scene of exclusion."

Austria, which is hosting the next Eurovision, had on Friday expressed regret over the threats.

Other countries like Belgium, Sweden, and Finland are also considering a boycott and have time till December to decide.

51 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, with a drone attack on the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City killing six people, according to Al Jazeera citing Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Jordan has said that the Allenby Crossing from the occupied West Bank to Jordan will reopen after it was shut following an attack that saw two Israeli soldiers killed on Thursday, although the opening will only be available to pedestrian crossings, according to The Times of Israel, citing AlMamlaka TV.

A 29-year-old Palestinian man was injured after being assaulted by Israeli forces in Ya'bad, south of Jenin, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS). 

A PRCS ambulance said it took the man to hospital.

The assault comes amid an Israeli raid on Ya'bad that began on Saturday morning.

Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn have killed 36 Palestinians, including 31 in Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera.

Portugal is the latest country to say it will recognise a State of Palestine amid a French-led initiative to recognise Palestine at the UN's General Assembly on Monday. 

Portugal's Foreign Ministry said it would recognise Palestine on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia, France, Norway and Spain are working to gain support for an emergency aid package in support of the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli occupied West Bank, according to the Times of Israel, following the refusal by Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to transfer tax funds to the PA.

Smotrich's actions have prompted fears that the PA, which administers the West Bank, could collapse, with the four countries agreeing to donate $200 million a month to support the PA for six months.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP Friday the world should not be "intimidated" by Israel and its creeping annexation of the occupied West Bank.

Israel has reportedly threatened to annex the West Bank if Western nations press ahead with a French-led recognition plan at the UN gathering.

But Guterres said, "We should not feel intimidated by the risk of retaliation."

"With or without doing what we are doing, these actions would go on and at least there is a chance to mobilise international community to put pressure for them not to happen," he said.

"What we are witnessing in Gaza is horrendous," Guterres said as Israel threatened "unprecedented force" in its ongoing assault on Gaza City.

"It is the worst level of death and destruction that I've seen my time as Secretary-General, probably my life and the suffering of the Palestinian people cannot be described - famine, total lack of effective health care, people living without adequate shelters in huge concentration areas," he said.

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for annexation of swaths of the West Bank with an aim to "bury the idea of a Palestinian state" after several countries joined the French push on statehood.