Israeli attacks kill over 70 in Gaza as Smotrich pushes West Bank annexation plan

Turkish authorities on Wednesday said they have banned a planned concert on Friday in Istanbul by Enrico Macias after calls to protest the French singer's pro-Israeli views.

The Istanbul governorate said in a statement that it had wanted to prevent any demonstrations on the sidelines of the concert "against the genocide of the terrorist state Israel in Gaza and its supporters".

The 86-year-old singer told AFP that he has performed in Turkey for 60 years and is "deeply surprised and saddened not to be able to see my audience, with whom I have always shared values of peace and fraternity."

Macias, who was born into a Jewish family in Algeria, has on several occasions defended Israel's lethal actions in Gaza.

"My problem is that I can't stand the violence of the terrorists," he said in an interview on YouTube in August. "And if there was violence on the Israeli side, it was because of Hamas," he said, while saying he had "nothing against the Palestinians."

Macias has lived in France since 1961, where he has contributed to the popularity of Arab-Andalusian music.

Yemen's Houthi-run Foreign Ministry said United Nations officials' legal immunities should not shield espionage activities, days after at least 11 U.N. personnel were arrested in the capital Sanaa.

The U.N. said on Sunday that Houthi rebels raided its premises in Sanaa and arrested U.N. staff following an Israeli strike that killed the prime minister of the Houthi-run government and several other ministers.

The ministry also accused the U.N. of bias, saying it condemned "legal measures taken by the government against spy cells involved in crimes," but failed to denounce the Israeli attack, the Houthi-run news agency Saba reported on Wednesday.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday it intercepted two missiles fired from Yemen, after Houthi rebels vowed to avenge the killing of their prime minister in an Israeli strike last week.

In two separate statements nearly 10 hours apart, the Israeli military said missiles launched from Yemen were intercepted, with air raid sirens activated both times.

Both attacks were claimed by the Houthi rebels.

According to the military, the first launch marked the first time a missile fired from Yemen had triggered sirens in Israel since Houthi prime minister Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi and 11 other senior officials were killed in Israeli strikes on the rebel-held capital Sanaa on Thursday.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said during the day that two missiles were fired at the Tel Aviv area as part of their "initial response to the Israeli aggression against our country".

"Our operations will continue at an escalating pace during the coming period," he added.

Hamas reiterated on Wednesday that it is ready for a comprehensive Gaza deal through which all Israeli captives are released in exchange for the release of an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners.

The group's remarks come shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump called on Hamas to release all 20 captives.

Hamas on Wednesday denounced Israeli forces after they killed 10 civilians from the same family, calling the attack "brutal and bloody".

The civilians belonged to the al-Jarisi family, with their home located in the north of Gaza City, which has seen unprecedented attacks in recent days.

"The criminal Zionist occupation army has continued its barbaric aggression against Gaza City for more than 20 days, escalating the systematic destruction of residential neighbourhoods and bombing homes and tents over the heads of their residents," the Hamas movement said in a statement. 

Israeli forces in Gaza killed at least 73 Palestinians on Wednesday across the enclave, medical sources said.

At least 43 of those killed were located in Gaza City, where Israel has intensified its attacks as it attempts to displace its entire population to occupy the area. 

A gut-wrenching new film about a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last year was given a 23-minute standing ovation after its premiere at the star-studded Venice Film Festival on Wednesday.

"The Voice of Hind Rajab", a docu-drama about real events from January 2024, left much of the audience and many journalists sobbing as it screened for the first time.

Franco-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania and her cast, all dressed in black, were also in tears as they soaked in applause, cheers, and shouts of "Free Palestine! at the 1,032-seat main festival cinema.

"We see that the narrative all around the world is that those dying in Gaza are collateral damage, in the media," Ben Hania told journalists ahead of the premiere.

"And I think this is so dehumanising, and that's why cinema, art, and every kind of expression is very important to give those people a voice and face."

Her film tells the story of Hind Rajab Hamada, who was fleeing the Israeli military in Gaza City with six relatives last year when their car came under fire.

A senior Israeli military official told news agency AFP on Wednesday that authorities estimated that an imminent offensive in the Gaza Strip would displace one million Palestinians, planning a new "humanitarian area" for them.

The vast majority of Gaza's more than two million people have been displaced at least once during nearly two years of war.

The Israeli military has been gearing up to seize Gaza City, the Palestinian territory's largest urban centre, with the United Nations estimating that nearly a million people live in and around the northern city.

A senior official from COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, told AFP that in recent days, "we saw a movement of people from the north to the south."

"Until now, approximately 70,000" Gazans left the north, the official said, briefing journalists on condition of anonymity.

Without giving a specific timeframe, the official said Israeli authorities expected "a million people" to flee south.

In late August, an Israeli military spokesman said the evacuation of Gaza City was "inevitable", while the Red Cross has warned that any Israeli attempt to do so would be impossible in a safe and dignified manner.

The Israeli official told the agency that "we want to identify a humanitarian area" which would be formally announced in the coming days.

British cosmetics chain Lush on Wednesday shut down its UK shops, factories and online sales for the day to protest the devastating humanitarian effects of Israel's war in Gaza.

The international retailer said it displayed signs reading "stop starving Gaza - we are closed in solidarity" across shuttered shop windows.

"Whilst Lush is losing a day of takings, this also means that the UK government is losing a day of tax contributions from Lush and our customers," the company, which sells its products in over 50 countries, said on its website.

Lush said it "shares the anguish that millions of people feel seeing the images of starving people in Gaza" and called for the UK government to end arms sales to Israel.

London has in recent months suspended some export licences to Israel for arms used in Gaza, but some UK-made parts, such as components for Israeli F-35 jets, are still exported there.

Lush, which has over 100 shops in Britain, faced a backlash in 2023 after a Dublin store displayed a sign urging "boycott Israel", which the company called an "isolated" incident.

It has since launched a "Watermelon Slice" soap resembling the fruit which has come to represent solidarity with Palestinians, with the profits going to mental health services for children in Gaza and Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his Belgian counterpart a "weak leader" on Wednesday, slamming his decision to recognise Palestine as a state.

"Belgian Prime Minister (Bart) de Wever is a weak leader who seeks to appease Islamic terrorism by sacrificing Israel. He wants to feed the terrorist crocodile before it devours Belgium," Netanyahu's office said in a post on its official X account.

Belgium on Tuesday became the latest Western country to say it will recognise the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly this month, following similar announcements by Australia, Canada and France.

In a post on X, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said that the decision came "in view of the humanitarian tragedy" unfolding in Gaza, adding that "firm sanctions are being imposed against the Israeli government".

Iran further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels before Israel launched its military attack on June 13, a confidential report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog seen by news agency The Associated Press said Wednesday.

The report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said that as of June 13, Iran had 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 60%, an increase of 32.3 kilograms since the IAEA’s last report in May.

The report stated that this figure is “based on the information provide by Iran, agency verification activities between 17 May 2025 and 12 June 2025 (the day preceding the start of the military attacks), and estimates based on the past operation of the relevant facilities.”

That material is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

The confidential report also stated that as of June 13, Iran’s total enriched uranium stockpile was 9874.9 kilograms, which represents an increase of 627.3 kilograms since the last repot in May.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said that since June 13, it has “not been able to conduct the in-field activities required to collect and verify Iran’s declarations used to estimate the changes to the previously reported stockpile.”

According to the IAEA, approximately 42 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium is theoretically enough to produce one atomic bomb, if enriched further to 90%.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated his calls for Hamas to release all hostages and suggested Israel's war in Gaza would end if they did.

"Tell Hamas to IMMEDIATELY give back all 20 Hostages (Not 2 or 5 or 7!), and things will change rapidly. IT WILL END!," he said in a post on Truth Social.

The director of a new film about a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza told the Venice Film Festival Wednesday she wanted to give "a voice and a face" to victims.

"We've seen that the narrative all around the world is that those dying in Gaza are collateral damage, in the media, and I think this is so dehumanising," Franco-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania told journalists ahead of the world premiere of "The Voice of Hind Rajab".

"And that's why cinema, art, and every kind of expression is very important to give those people a voice and a face."

Gaza has been front and centre at the prestigious event in Venice after a group of filmmakers and others called on festival organisers to more forcefully condemn the war.

Ben Hania's film is one of 21 in the running for the Golden Lion prize.

It tells the true story of the girl who pleaded with emergency services to come and rescue her after Israeli forces killed the rest of her family in their car while evacuating from Gaza in January 2024.

The movie uses the actual audio from phone calls Hind made with the Red Crescent.

"This movie was very important for me because when I heard the first time the voice of Hind Rajab, there was something more than her voice," said Ben Hania.

"It was the very voice of Gaza asking for help and nobody could enter," she added.

"It was like a kind of strong desire and the feeling of anger and helplessness that gave birth to this movie."

Israel's far-right finance minister said on Wednesday that maps were being drawn up for annexing territory in the occupied West Bank, land the Palestinians seek for a state, although it was unclear if he had Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's support.

At a press conference in Jerusalem, Bezalel Smotrich stood before a map that suggested the possible annexation of most of the West Bank with the exception of six large Palestinian cities, including Ramallah and Nablus.

Smotrich said he wanted "maximum territory and minimum (Palestinian) population" to be brought under Israeli sovereignty, urging Netanyahu to accept his plan that is being drawn up by a department under Smotrich's supervision in the Defence Ministry.

"The time has come to apply Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria, to remove once and for all from the agenda the idea of dividing our tiny land and establishing a terror state in its centre," he said, using biblical names widely used in Israel and the administrative name used by the state to describe the area.

"Who can defend a state with such small strategic depth? And this is why the goal of the sovereignty is to remove, once and for all, a Palestinian state from the agenda. And this is done when applying (sovereignty) to all of the territory, other than Arab population centres. I have no interest in letting them enjoy what the state of Israel has to offer," he said.

Smotrich, a settler leader, has long called for annexation of the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and which is among territories the Palestinians seek for a future independent state.

Protesters took to Israel’s streets for what they called a “day of disruption" on Wednesday, denouncing the call-up of tens of thousands of reservists for an offensive that has drawn global condemnation and fueled fears in Israel it could endanger hostages still held in Gaza.

The demonstrations, the latest of their kind to roil Israel, accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet of failing to secure a ceasefire deal and instead intensifying an invasion that hospitals in Gaza say in its initial stages is already accelerating a rise in fatalities.

“We have to take an extreme action so that someone will remember. There’s no such thing as a state abandoning its citizens,” Yael Kuperman, a protester near the Knesset told Israeli public broadcaster Kan.

France on Wednesday condemned an Israeli drone attack near UN Interim Force members in Lebanon, and called for the security of peacekeepers to be respected.

"The protection of the peacekeepers, as well as the security of United Nations personnel, equipment and premises must be ensured," the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that the UN force had "an essential role for the stability of Lebanon and the region".

Syria has interrogated and detained members of its defence and interior ministries suspected of committing abuses against civilians in the predominantly Druze province of Suweida in July, the committee investigating the violence has said.

Hundreds of people were killed in Suweida in violence that began between tribes and Druze factions but which worsened after Syrian troops were dispatched to the area. Bereaved relatives accused government forces of committing execution-style killings on camera.

Syria appointed a committee to investigate the violence on July 31. Its spokesperson Ammar Izzedin told Syrian and regional media outlets on Tuesday night that members of both the interior and defence ministries had been questioned and referred to the judiciary over their suspected involvement in abuses.

Izzedin declined to say how many personnel were detained, but said they were Syrian nationals who carried out the atrocities in an individual capacity.

He told regional broadcaster Al-Hadath the committee had confronted the suspects with "the video footage in which they were seen" committing abuses without specifying what they were.

Izzedin said the footage was "enough" as evidence since the fighters had filmed themselves, but that several had also confessed to committing the abuses after being shown the videos.

"They were detained by the interior and defence ministries to be transferred to the judiciary when the investigations are concluded to be publicly tried for the crimes they committed against Syrians," Izzedin said.

He told local outlet Syria TV that the committee was keen to act swiftly to arrest the suspects even as it continued its investigative work. 

Israeli moves to annex parts of the occupied West Bank are a "red line" for the United Arab Emirates, one of the few Arab countries to recognise Israel, a senior official said on Wednesday.

"Annexation of the West Bank would constitute a red line for the UAE," said Lana Nusseibeh, assistant minister for political affairs, said in a statement.

At least 21,000 children in Gaza have been disabled since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, 2023, a United Nations committee said Wednesday.

Around 40,500 children have suffered "new war-related injuries" in the nearly two years since the war erupted, with more than half of them left disabled, said the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Israeli forces conducted a series of violent overnight raids across the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

In the town of Qabatiya, near Jenin, soldiers carried out field interrogations and arrested six people.

In Jericho, forces opened fire with live ammunition, injuring two Palestinians.

In al-Khader, near Bethlehem, troops demolished two houses and fired tear gas to disperse residents who tried to intervene. Meanwhile, in nearby Bayt Jala, they raided a family home and arrested one man. Another young man was detained in the town of Bal’a, near Tulkarem.

Haaretz reported that Jerusalem police confirmed the Shin Bet security agency is taking part in the investigation into Wednesday’s protest-related arson attacks, which saw a car, tyres, and several rubbish bins set ablaze, forcing residents to evacuate their homes.

“This is crossing a red line,” police told the outlet.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on X that the arson attacks near the prime minister’s residence were “terrorist” acts allegedly supported and encouraged by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, whom he called “the criminal who wants to burn the country down.”

Earlier in the day, activists demanding the release of hostages set tyres and cans alight near the National Library and the Prime Minister’s residence, leading to a car catching fire.

Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces near the GHF aid distribution site in Rafah, while several others seeking assistance were wounded, Al Jazeera English reported on Wednesday.

In a separate incident, AJE additionally reported that an Israeli strike west of Nuseirat in central Gaza left five people injured.

Protesters gather near Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem, calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza in a deal to end the nearly two-year-long fighting.

According to Israeli news publication Haaretz, Israeli police reported that several trash bins and tires were set on fire in Jerusalem neighborhoods, which led to parked cars being damaged as residents were instructed to evacuate from buildings.

Haaretz added that no casualties were confirmed, as the outlet reported that police and emergency services were dispatched to the scene and the fires have been extinguished. 

The Israeli military has reported that a missile fired from Yemen was successfully intercepted.

The Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, have not yet commented. The group has, however, carried out dozens of drone and missile attacks against Israel and its allies in support of the Palestinians.

Israel’s Defence Ministry has confirmed that its “Ofek 19” observation satellite is now in orbit and transmitting data, following its launch yesterday.

Defence Minister Israel Katz used the announcement to issue a warning, stating that the satellite – equipped with high-resolution surveillance capabilities – served as a message to Israel’s enemies.

Gaza’s Health Ministry has reported that six people, including a child, have died of “famine and malnutrition” within the past 24 hours.

According to the ministry, this raises the total number of hunger-related deaths during the war in Gaza- where Israel continues to impose severe restrictions on aid access- to 367, among them 131 children.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon said Wednesday that Israeli drones dropped four grenades near peacekeepers in "one of the most serious attacks" on its personnel since a November ceasefire.

The truce ended more than a year of hostilities and two months of open war between Israel and Lebanese group Hezbollah, but the United Nations has reported several attacks on its positions in south Lebanon since.

"Yesterday morning, Israel Defense Forces drones dropped four grenades close to UNIFIL peacekeepers working to clear roadblocks hindering access to a UN position," the force said, referring to the Israeli military.

"One grenade impacted within 20 metres and three within approximately 100 metres of UN personnel and vehicles," it added.

The Israeli army did not immediately respond.

The UN force said the strike was "one of the most serious attacks on UNIFIL personnel and assets since the cessation of hostilities agreement of last November".

Under the term of the agreement, UNIFIL has been assisting the Lebanese army to dismantle Hezbollah military infrastructure in the south as its deploys across the region.