Israeli military enforces night curfew in south Lebanon as 26 people killed in Gaza

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Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv's game against Besiktas in the Europa League was played without incident before empty stands in Hungary on Thursday, with the stadium closed to fans over security concerns following violence between Israeli fans and youths of Arab origin in Amsterdam this month.

Maccabi won the game 3-1 on a cold and rainy evening in Debrecen, Hungary's second-largest city. Groups of police patrolled outside the stadium but security levels did not appear overwhelming in the city of around 200,000 residents.

After the match, Maccabi coach Zarko Lazetic said playing in front of an empty stadium without fans is always a struggle for the team.

“We play football because of the fans, to give them some pleasure, some excite(ment) and to be together,” he said.

Israel’s soccer teams play domestic games at home despite the war on Gaza . But European soccer body UEFA has ruled that the war in Gaza means Israel cannot host international games.

The Thursday match was Maccabi’s first in Europe since Israeli football hooligans instigated riots in Amsterdam

Before that match in Amsterdam, a large crowd of Israeli fans chanted racist and genocidal anti-Arab slogans, tore down Palestinian flags and vandalised a Moroccan-owned taxi, prompting revenge attacks from youths of Arab origin.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel would do "everything" to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon after Iran's top diplomat warned it could end its ban on developing one if Western sanctions are reimposed.

The renewed war of words between the Middle East foes came as Iran prepares to hold key nuclear talks with European governments on Friday which have been overshadowed by their joining with Washington to have Tehran censured by the UN atomic watchdog.

"I will do everything to prevent it from becoming a nuclear (power), I will use all the resources that can be used," Netanyahu told Israeli broadcaster Channel 14 in an interview.

Israel is the region's sole, if undeclared, nuclear-armed state. It has long made preventing any rival from matching it its top defence priority.

Netanyahu said Tuesday that the ceasefire that went into effect in Lebanon the following day would allow Israel to focus on Iran. He did not elaborate on what action he envisaged.

Iran launched two missile barrages at Israel over the past year in retaliation for the killing of leaders from Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as an Iranian general.

Israel responded both times with limited attacks on Iran, most recently bombing several military sites on October 26.

Last week's chiding at the International Atomic Energy Agency prompted a defiant response from Tehran, but its officials have since signalled willingness to engage with others ahead of the return of US president-elect Donald Trump, whose last administration pursued a policy of "maximum pressure" against Iran.

Iran insists on its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but according to the IAEA, it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state enriching uranium to 60 percent.

In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, published on the eve of Iran's talks with Britain, France and Germany, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that frustration in Tehran over unmet commitments, such as lifting sanctions, was fuelling debate over whether the country should alter its nuclear policy.

"We have no intention to go further than 60 percent for the time being, and this is our determination right now," he told the British daily.

But, he added, "there is this debate going on in Iran, and mostly among the elites... whether we should change our nuclear doctrine" as so far it has proven to be "insufficient in practice".

British foreign secretary David Lammy said on Wednesday he would continue to talk and meet with Benjamin Netanyahu after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Lammy told parliament's foreign affairs select committee he would comply with the ICC's request to arrest Netanyahu if he entered Britain, insisting he had no choice to ignore the order.

But Lammy said he would continue to talk to Netanyahu and other senior Israeli government officials about issues such as seeking a ceasefire in Gaza and the importance of getting aid into the Palestinian territory.

"I do believe they are important matters that require engagement from those of us in government," Lammy said. "I can't see circumstances under which I would not be speaking to the elected representatives of the Israeli government."

Last week, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence chief Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leader Mohammed al-Deif for alleged war crimes in the Gaza conflict.

Israel, which condemned the ICC decision, said it will contest them.

Lammy said that under British law he has an "obligation" to pass on the warrant request to a domestic court.

"That doesn't allow me any discretion," he said. "I will issue that, transmit that to the courts. Then the courts will make their determination."

France said on Wednesday it believed Netanyahu had immunity to actions by the ICC, given Israel has not signed up to the court statutes.

Israel told the International Criminal Court on Wednesday that it will appeal against arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister.

It also asked the court to suspend the warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant pending the outcome of the appeal, the prime minister's office said in a statement.

The ICC issued the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant last week on suspicion of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Israel's war on Gaza, which has utterly devastated the territory and killed over 44,000 people

The warrants drew furious condemnation from Netanyahu and other Israeli politicians.

The prime minister accused the court of "anti-Semitism" and vowed not to be deterred from "defending" Israel.

"The State of Israel challenges the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the legitimacy of the arrest warrants issued," Netanyahu's office said.

"If the court rejects this request, it will further demonstrate to Israel's friends in the United States and around the world how biased the International Criminal Court is against the State of Israel," it claimed.

The ICC did not make a direct comment on Israel's appeal.

"If requests for appeal are submitted, it would be for the judges to decide," ICC spokesman Fadi El-Abdallah told reporters when asked about the appeal.

The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif. Israel said in early August it had killed Deif in an air strike in southern Gaza in July, but Hamas has not confirmed his death.

The court said on November 21 it had found "reasonable grounds" to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore "criminal responsibility" for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday during an interview with Israeli Channel 14 that he had ordered the military to be prepared for an intense war in Lebanon if the ceasefire's framework is violated.

He added that conditions for reaching a possible deal to secure the release of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip have considerably improved.

Asked about a possible hostage deal, Netanyahu said: "I think the conditions have very much changed for the better."

He did not give specific details.

Netanyahu also vowed he was prepared to do "everything" to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

"I will do everything to prevent it from becoming a nuclear (power), I will use all the resources that can be used," Netanyahu told Channel 14.

The WHO warned Thursday of dire shortages of medicines, food, shelter and fuel in Gaza, especially in the north, demanding that Israel allow in more aid and facilitate humanitarian operations.

The World Health Organization described a "catastrophic" situation on the ground.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that when the war in Gaza erupted more than a year ago, almost all of those displaced by the conflict sheltered in public buildings or with family members.

"Now, 90 percent are living in tents," he told a press conference at the WHO's headquarters in Geneva.

"This leaves them vulnerable to respiratory and other diseases, (while) cold weather, rain and flooding are expected to exacerbate food insecurity and malnutrition," he said.

The situation was particularly dire in the north, where Israel has imposed an intensified siege and carried out deadly airstrikes, a UN-backed assessment this month said famine looms.

Israel is believed to be carrying out a "General's Plan" in northern Gaza, with the intention of killing, starving, or expelling the remaining inhabitants.

The WHO and its partners this week conducted a three-day mission to the north, visiting more than a dozen health facilities.

Tedros said the team had seen "high number of trauma patients and increasing number of patients with chronic diseases needing treatment".

"There are critical shortages of essential medicines."

The WHO is "doing everything we can - everything Israel allows us to do - to deliver health services and supplies", he added.

Out of 22 requested missions to the north in November, only nine had been facilitated, Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the Palestinian territories, told reporters.

He said he hoped a planned mission on Saturday would go ahead to the only two remaining even "minimal" functioning hospitals in the north: Kamal Adwan and Al Awda.

"They are in need for everything," Peeperkorn said.

He described a dire lack of fuel especially, warning that "without fuel there are no humanitarian operations at all".

On a positive note, Peeperkorn said the WHO had facilitated this week the medical evacuation of 17 patients from Gaza to Jordan, 12 of whom would go on to the United States for treatment.

They were among nearly 300 patients who had been able to leave since Israel shuttered Gaza's main Rafah border crossing in early May, Peeperkorn said.

But around 12,000 patients are currently waiting in Gaza to be evacuated for medical reasons, he said, demanding medical corridors out of the territory.

"If we continue at this pace, we will be busy for the next 10 years," he said.

Israeli military strikes killed at least 26 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said, as forces stepped up their bombardment of central areas and tanks pushed deeper into the north and south of the enclave.

The escalation came a day after Israel and Hezbollah began a ceasefire in Lebanon, halting more than a year of hostilities and raising hopes among many Palestinians in Gaza for a similar deal with Hamas, which rules the enclave.

Israel's military campaign has utterly devastated the Palestinian enclave, which is home to 2.3 million people.

"I hope a ceasefire will happen like it did in Lebanon... I just want to take my children to see my land, my house, to see what they did to us, I want to live in safety," said Amal Abu Hmeid, a displaced woman in Gaza.

"God willing we will have a truce," she said, sitting in the courtyard of a school sheltering displaced families in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

The courtyard was filled with dirt and water streamed in from where people did their laundry. Clothes were airing outside classrooms as children played nearby.

"(Life) was beautiful (before the war)... Now there is nothing beautiful, it's all gone. Our houses are gone, our brothers are gone, and no one is left. Now we hardly get... one meal a day. We can’t even get bread," Abu Hmeid told Reuters.

Announcing the Lebanon accord on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said he would now renew his push for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, urging Israel and Hamas to seize the moment.

Months of efforts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress, as Israel thwarts all attempts at agreement, and negotiations are now on hold.

The ceasefire in the parallel conflict between Israel and Hezbollah took effect before dawn on Wednesday, bringing a halt to hostilities that had escalated sharply in recent months and overshadowed the conflict in Gaza.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 44,200 people and displaced nearly all the enclave's population at least once, Gaza officials say. Vast swathes of the territory are in ruins.

On Thursday, the head of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said at least 70 percent of those killed in Gaza were women and children.

New York police arrested a group of pro-Palestine protesters who briefly interrupted the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday by attempting to block the parade route just ahead of the Ronald McDonald float.

The 98th annual parade, televised nationwide, is part of the tradition of America's Thanksgiving holiday, a spectacle of giant balloons of cartoon characters, marching bands and popular music acts performing live.

Thousands line the streets of Manhattan to watch.

"The demonstrators were taken into custody without incident," the New York Police Department said in a statement.

The number of detainees was unknown and charges were pending, the NYPD said.

A line of about 20 protesters sat in the street under a steady rain while others behind them held up a banner saying "Don't celebrate genocide" and "Arms embargo now!" as the smiling Ronald McDonald floated overhead, as seen by photos and videos shared by news outlets.

BREAKING: Macy's Parade DISRUPTED by 30 Protesters on Thanksgiving Parade Route in NYC

Protesters hopped over the barricades and BLOCKED Macy's Thanksgiving parade while chanting "Free Palestine!"

Multiple arrests by the NYPD, yesterday NYC Mayor announced a 'no tolerance'… pic.twitter.com/6IZHZTrLwn

— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) November 28, 2024

 Thousands of people made the crossing back into Lebanon from Syria on the second day of a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, after nearly 14 months of fighting.

At the Jousieh border crossing in the Qusair area of Syria’s Homs province, on Lebanon’s northeastern border, bumper-to-bumper cars lined up on Thursday waiting to be cleared for crossing.

All four lanes were taken up by cars making their way into Lebanon, while those waiting to cross into Syria had to use an offroad.

Of the six border crossings between Lebanon and Syria, two remain functional after Israeli airstrikes forced the others shut. The two countries share a border 375 kilometers (233 miles) long.

Over 600,000 people fleeing Lebanon poured into Syria in the past year, most of them after the war between Israel and Hezbollah escalated in mid-September.

The cross-border flow was a striking reversal in fortunes given that Lebanon is still hosting more than 1 million Syrian refugees who fled the war in their country that began in 2011.

As the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold early Wednesday, thousands of people began their return to Lebanon.

Israel violated the ceasefire with Hezbollah several times on Wednesday and Thursday, the Lebanese army said on Thursday.

The Israeli military said on Thursday it was ending some protective restrictions that had limited the size of gatherings in parts of central and northern Israel.

The change was made following a situational assessment, the military said.

Israel and neighbouring Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire earlier this week but accused each other on Thursday of violating the accord.

The health ministry in Gaza said Thursday that at least 44,330 people have been killed in more than 13 months of war.

The toll includes 48 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 104,933 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7, 2023.

A World Health Organization official voiced optimism on Thursday that some of the health facilities in Lebanon shuttered during more than a year of conflict would soon be operational again, if the ceasefire holds.

"Probably some of our hospitals will take some time, but some hospitals probably will be able to restart very quickly," Abdinasir Abubakar, WHO representative in Lebanon, told an online press conference after a damage assessment this week.

"So we are very hopeful," he added, saying four hospitals in and around Beirut were among those that could restart quickly.

Yemen's Houthis will keep up their attacks on Israel, their leader said on Thursday, two days into a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"The operations from the Yemeni front to support the Palestinian people with missiles and drones towards the Israeli enemy are continuing," Abdulmalik Al-Houthi said on the rebels' Al-Masirah TV station.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Tuesday resulted in 78 deaths, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, bringing the total death toll to 3,961.

Lebanon's parliament Thursday renewed the term of army chief Joseph Aoun, who is seen as a potential presidential candidate in next year's vote.

The parliament has seldom met since Israel’s war with Hezbollah began 14 months ago, and has not convened to try to elect a president since June 2023, leaving the country in a political gridlock.

Thursday’s session is the first since a US-brokered ceasefire came into effect on Wednesday which has left the Lebanese military responsible for ensuring Hezbollah operatives leave the country's south and its facilities dismantled.

The army is expected to receive international aid to help deploy troops to deploy in the south to exert full state control there.

Gen. Joseph Aoun is seen as a likely presidential candidate due to his close relationship with the international community and his hold on an institution that is seen as a rare point of unity in the country facing political and sectarian tensions. 

Lebanon has been without a president since Oct. 31, 2022.

It is unclear whether the decision to renew Aoun's term will impact his chances as Lebanon's next president.

Hezbollah and some of its key allies and their legislators have been skeptical of a Aoun presidency due to his close relationship with Washington.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who spearheaded negotiations with the United States to end the war, also called for parliament to convene on Jan. 9, 2025 to elect a president, the first attempt in almost 19 months.

French special envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, tasked by French President Emmanuel Macron with helping Lebanon break its political deadlock, observed the session before meeting with Berri and later caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Berri, in an address Wednesday, urged political parties to pick a president that will bring Lebanon's rival groups together, in a bid to keep the war-torn and financially battered country from further deteriorating amid fears of internal political tensions between Hezbollah and its political opponents following the war.

The group's opponents, who believe Hezbollah should be completely disarmed, are furious that it made the unilateral decision to go to war with Israel in solidarity with its ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

A female police officer was shot and seriously injured in Jerusalem, according to a new report by Israeli authorities, as cited by Israeli news site Times of Israel.

According to the outlet, the suspect fired at a group of officers before being apprehended and arrested.

The injured officer has been taken to hospital and is in serious condition.

Police have since stated that they are investigating the motive behind the shooting, with Times of Israel reporting that an initial inquiry says that the attack was a criminal act rather than an act of 'terror'.

The Israeli military announced a nighttime curfew in south Lebanon Thursday, a day after a ceasefire with Iran-backed group Hezbollah began.

"It is strictly forbidden to move or travel south of the Litani River starting from 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) until 7:00 am tomorrow (Friday). Those south of the Litani River must remain where they are," military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Thursday he believed the United States would punish the International Criminal Court for having issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister.

Israel has said it will appeal the ICC decision to move against Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.

But during a visit to the Czech Republic, Saar said other countries were also dismayed by the decision, including the United States.

"I tend to believe that in Washington, legislation is going to take place very shortly against the ICC and whoever cooperates with it," Saar told a joint press conference with Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky.

The Israeli military reported firing an interceptor missile near the Lebanon border, mistaking a suspected aerial target.

Israel's Army Radio later clarified the target was “most likely a bird, not a Hezbollah drone.”

Iranian state media reports that Brigadier General Kioumars Pourhashemi, an IRGC commander, was killed in Aleppo by what it termed "Zionist takfiri terrorists."

The incident comes amid deadly clashes between Syrian government forces, backed by Tehran, and armed groups including Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

HTS, considered a "terrorist" group by Iran, attacked positions held by Assad's forces, leaving dozens dead in the past day.

شهادت سردار پورهاشمی مستشار نظامی ارشد ایران در سوریه

روابط عمومی کل سپاه از شهادت سردار سرتیپ دوم پاسدار کیومرث(هاشم) پورهاشمی از مستشاران نظامی ارشد ایران در جنایت آفرینی‌های جدید تروریست‌های تکفیری صهیونیستی در حلب سوریه خبر داد. pic.twitter.com/9WRgF1y8Da

— خبرگزاری ایرنا (@IRNA_1313) November 28, 2024

Germany, France and Britain called on Israel to extend the indemnifications for essential services between Israeli and Palestinian banks for at least a year in a joint statement released by Berlin on Thursday.

In the statement, the foreign ministers of the three countries called on Israel to immediately extend the indemnifications as the deadline of 30 November approaches.

"The issue of cross-border payments must not be leveraged to undermine the Palestinian Authorities," said the statement. 

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said on Thursday that the ICC had "no justification" for issuing arrests warrants for Israeli leaders, in a joint press conference with Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky.

Saar told news agency Reuters Israel has appealed the decision and that it sets a dangerous precedent.

The foreign minister also said Israel would finish the war in Gaza when it "achieves its objectives" of returning hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza and ensuring the Iranian-backed group no longer controls the strip.

Saar said Israel does not intend to control civilian life in Gaza and that he believes peace is "inevitable" but can't be based on "illusions."

Lebanon's military deployed troops and tanks across the country's south on Thursday as a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war largely held for a second day.

A Lebanese army source told news agency AFP its forces were "conducting patrols and setting up checkpoints" south of the Litani River without advancing into areas where Israeli forces were still present.

In the border village of Qlaaya, residents threw rice and flowers to celebrate the arrival of Lebanese soldiers.

"We only want the Lebanese army," chanted the residents of the Christian-majority village, as they clapped and cheered for the troops and waved the Lebanese red, white and green flag.

Since the ceasefire took effect on Wednesday, tens of thousands of Lebanese who fled their homes have headed back to their towns and villages, only to find scenes of devastation.

Islamic Relief urges that Lebanon's ceasefire must enable recovery and relief for those affected by violence, facilitating displaced communities' return home.

While shelters in Mount Lebanon are closing as residents return, doubts remain about the truce's durability.

The organisation reaffirmed its commitment to providing aid and expressed hope for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel's military said on Thursday that an arrival of suspects, was detected in several areas in southern Lebanon, and called it a violation of a ceasefire with Hezbollah. 

Lebanon's parliament will meet on January 9 to elect a new president, seeking to end more than two years without a head of state, official media reported Thursday, a day after an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire began.

"Speaker Nabih Berri called a parliament session to elect a president of the republic on January 9," the official National News Agency reported.

Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, with neither of the two main blocs -- the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its opponents -- having the majority required to elect one, and unable to reach a consensus.

On Wednesday after the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said: "I hope this will be a new page for Lebanon, I hope the coming days will lead to the election of a president."

Berri, who led ceasefire talks on behalf of ally Hezbollah, also called Wednesday for the country to "quickly elect a president".

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said in a speech earlier this month that after the war, Hezbollah would "bring an effective contribution to the election of a president".

By convention, the presidency goes to a Maronite Christian, the premiership is reserved for a Sunni Muslim and the post of parliament speaker goes to a Shiite Muslim.

Israeli tank fire hit three towns along Lebanon's southeast border with Israel on Thursday, Lebanese security sources and state media said, a day after a ceasefire barring "offensive military operations" came into force.

Tank fire struck Markaba, Wazzani and Kfarchouba, all of which lie within two kilometres of the Blue Line demarcating the border between Lebanon and Israel. One of the security sources said two people were wounded in Markaba.

Israeli troops remain stationed within Lebanese territory in towns along the border, and on Thursday morning the Israeli military urged residents of towns along the border strip not to return yet for their own safety.

The three towns hit on Thursday morning lie within that strip.

There was no immediate comment on the tank rounds from Hezbollah or Israel, who had been fighting for over a year in parallel with the Gaza war.

A day after the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire began, Lebanese state media reported that Israeli forces fired on Markaba's central square, wounding two civilians.

The injured were taken to hospital for treatment, according to the NNA.

Further updates are awaited.

Al Jazeera English reports that an Israeli attack targeted a residential building in northern Nuseirat, located in central Gaza- killing nine Palestinians.

More updates to come.

An Egyptian security delegation to travel to Israel on Thursday in effort to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal, two Egyptian security sources told news agency Reuters. 

The man who hanged Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962, Shalom Nagar, has died, Israeli media reported on Wednesday.

Adolf Eichmann, one of the main architects of the "Final Solution" aimed at wiping out Europe's Jews, was tried by an Israeli court in April 1961 after being abducted from Argentina.

He was hanged on May 31, 1962 at Ramleh prison near Tel Aviv, the only person ever to be executed in Israel.

Nagar was a prison service employee at the time and chosen to hang Eichmann.

Eichmann, 55 at the time of his trial, had organised the logistics of the Final Solution that sent some six million Jews to their deaths during World War II.

Born in Yemen, Nagar moved to Israel in 1948 and became religious after leaving the prison service.

A documentary film was made about Nagar in 2011.