Tag: Israeli attack

Israeli military extends regional campaign with strike on Hamas in Qatar

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BEIRUT — Israel announced it conducted “a precise targeted strike” on Hamas’s leadership on Tuesday, without elaborating on the strike’s location even as blasts rang out in the Qatari capital Doha and Qatari authorities condemned the “cowardly Israeli attack.”

The attack comes as Israel is ramping up for a full invasion of Gaza City, even as stalled negotiations with Hamas officials in Doha appeared to have regained some momentum after the weekend.

“The members of the leadership who were struck led the terror organization’s activities for years, and are directly responsible for carrying out the Oct. 7 massacre and waging the war against the State of Israel,” said a statement from the Israeli military.

The statement referred to the date in 2023 when the Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people — two-thirds of them civilians — and kidnapped 251 others to Gaza, according to Israeli figures. More than 64,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, Palestinian authorities say, have been killed in Israel’s subsequent campaign on the enclave.

Videos and television broadcasts showed black smoke rising from a series of buildings in Doha’s Katara district, a normally quiet residential area where Hamas and several of its top-ranking members have lived for years. One video depicts pedestrians in Katara running and screaming in fear as a pair of explosions echo through the neighborhood.

Qatari security personnel were seen swarming the area and setting up roadblocks.

Qatar agreed to host a political office for Hamas at the request of the U.S. government, it says. Hamas is one of several groups it has allowed on its soil as part of its growing reputation as a regional facilitator. It has hosted repeated mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel over the last 23 months of the war.

An unnamed Hamas source speaking to Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera said the attack targeted negotiators meeting to discuss the latest ceasefire proposal issued by President Trump. There were conflicting reports as to whether anyone survived, but the meeting is thought to have included senior Hamas officials Khalil al-Hayya, Khaled Mishaal, Zaher Jabarin and Muhammad Darwish.

In its statement, the Israeli military said “measures were taken in order to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and additional intelligence.”

But Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari, in a furious statement issued on the messaging platform X on Tuesday, described the strike as “a criminal assault [that] constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and norms, and poses a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents in Qatar.”

“While the State of Qatar strongly condemns this assault, it confirms that it will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior and the ongoing disruption of regional security, nor any act that targets its security and sovereignty.”

The strike on Doha adds to a growing list of Arab countries Israel has struck in the last month, emphasizing the Israeli government’s more belligerent post-Oct. 7 strategy against its longtime adversaries in the region. Aside from its expanding campaign in Gaza, the Israeli military has over the last few weeks conducted strikes in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and now Doha.

The attack coincided with the Israeli military issuing an evacuation order encompassing the entire city of Gaza, the first time it has done so in the run-up to its planned full invasion of the largest urban center in the eponymous enclave’s north.

An unnamed White House official told the BBC that the Trump administration was informed ahead of time of the strike on Qatar, which is home to Al Udeid, the largest U.S. base in the Middle East and the regional headquarters for U.S. Central Command. Some 10,000 U.S. troops are stationed there.

An Israeli official, speaking to Israeli broadcaster Channel 12, said President Trump gave the green light for the operation.

But Netanyahu issued a statement on Tuesday saying “today’s action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation. Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility,” the statement said.

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Nabih Bulos

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September 9, 2025
Israeli forces kill pregnant woman and her unborn baby in Gaza City assault

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The Israeli military has killed a pregnant woman and her unborn baby near the Shati refugee camp as it continued its large-scale assault on Gaza City, with several strikes targeting civilians.

Medical sources at Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital said that another child was also killed in the attack on a house near the camp on Monday, according to the Wafa news agency.

The military also continued to pummel the Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods in the south of the city, where more than 1,000 buildings have been levelled since Israel began its push to take over the urban centre last month, killing 10 people on Monday.

Earlier in the day, scenes of chaos played out at a crowded market on Gaza City’s Nasser Street, with locals scattering in all directions amid the debris after an Israeli attack, which killed at least four people and wounded dozens of others.

Reporting from the scene, Al Jazeera’s Moath al-Kahlout said people were panic-stricken.

“They don’t know what to do and where to go. They are trying so hard to find a safer place, but the Israeli army keep attacking every corner in the city,” he said.

Further south, in Deir el-Balah, Israel targeted a group of citizens inside Al-Mazra’a School. Later, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital announced the death of Anas Saeed Abu Mughsib, Wafe reported.

Medical sources said that in total, at least 59 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the Strip on Monday.

‘Man-made famine in the 21st Century’

Already displaced by war multiple times, Gaza City residents now face the twin threats of war and famine.

Hunger caused by Israel’s months-long blockade led to the deaths of three infants on Monday. Children account for more than a third of the nearly 350 deaths from hunger and starvation in the enclave since Israel’s war began in October 2023.

Authorities say the number of humanitarian aid trucks that Israel has allowed into the Strip in the last month has only met 15 percent of the starving population’s needs.

Yet, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a report in August from the world’s leading authority on food crises, the Integrated Food Security Classification (PIC), that famine was under way in Gaza City, calling it an “outright lie”.

On Monday, United Kingdom Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs David Lammy acknowledged the United Nations-backed IPC declaration, saying he was “outraged” by Israel for not allowing enough aid to enter Gaza.

“This is not a natural disaster, it’s a man-made famine in the 21st century,” he said.

“We need a massive, massive humanitarian response to prevent more deaths, crucial NGOs, humanitarians and health workers allowed to operate, and stockpiles of aid on Gaza’s borders released.”

‘Power-hungry ruler’

Meanwhile, in Israel, mourners gathered for the separate funerals of Idan Shtivi and Ilan Weiss, captives taken from Israel during the October 2023 Hamas attack, whose remains were recovered in an Israeli military operation in Gaza last week.

Some expressed anger at the government for not reaching a deal with Hamas to end the fighting and return the remaining captives.

“It’s a horror, it’s profound sadness and grief beyond words to describe the anger, the insult to the hostages, the insult to the fallen, the insult to the soldiers sent once again to Gaza,” mourner Ruti Taro told The Associated Press news agency.

“No one knows why, except for the power-hungry ruler,” he said.

Israeli news site Ynet reported on Monday that Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir had warned of the implications of Netanyahu’s intention to take over Gaza without making any post-war plans.

“You are heading to a military government,” Zamir reportedly told a meeting of the Israeli security cabinet late on Sunday. “Your plan is leading us there. Understand the implications”.

Israel’s war on Gaza has so far killed more than 63,000 Palestinians. About one million inhabitants of Gaza City, many of whom have already been displaced multiple times, are now being forced out under sustained Israeli attacks, with no safe zones to flee to in the enclave.

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September 1, 2025
US says Iranian-American journalist held in Iran as tensions high following Israeli attack on country

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An Iranian-American journalist who once worked for a U.S. government-funded broadcaster is believed to have been detained by Iran for months now, authorities said Sunday, further raising the stakes as Tehran threatens to retaliate over an Israeli attack on the country.Related video above: Israel completed a ‘precise’ airstrikes on Iran last weekThe imprisonment of Reza Valizadeh, acknowledged to The Associated Press by the U.S. State Department, came as Iran marked the 45th anniversary of the American Embassy takeover and hostage crisis on Sunday. It also followed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatening both Israel and the U.S. the day before with “a crushing response” as long-range B-52 bombers reached the Middle East in an attempt to deter Tehran.Valizadeh had worked for Radio Farda, an outlet under Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that’s overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media. In February, he wrote on the social platform X that his family members had been detained in an effort to see him return to Iran.In August, Valizadeh apparently posted two messages suggesting he had returned to Iran despite Radio Farda being viewed by Iran’s theocracy as a hostile outlet.“I arrived in Tehran on March 6, 2024. Before that, I had unfinished negotiations with the (Revolutionary Guard’s) intelligence department,” the message read in part. “Eventually I came back to my country after 13 years without any security guarantee, even a verbal one.”Valizadeh added the name of a man who he claimed belonged to Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. The AP could not verify if the person worked for the ministry.Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Valizadeh had been detained. The Human Rights Activists News Agency, which monitors cases in Iran, said that he had been detained on arrival to the country earlier this year, but later released.He was then rearrested and sent to Evin prison, where he now faces a case in Iran’s Revolutionary Court, which routinely holds closed-door hearings in which defendants face secret evidence, the agency reported. Valizadeh had faced arrest in 2007 as well, it said.The State Department told the AP that it was “aware of reports that this dual U.S.-Iranian citizen has been arrested in Iran” when asked about Valizadeh.“We are working with our Swiss partners who serve as the protecting power for the United States in Iran to gather more information about this case,” the State Department said. “Iran routinely imprisons U.S. citizens and other countries’ citizens unjustly for political purposes. This practice is cruel and contrary to international law.”Iran has not acknowledged detaining Valizadeh. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The Voice of America, another U.S. government-funded media outlet overseen by the Agency for Global Media, first reported the State Department was acknowledging Valizadeh’s detention in Iran.Since the 1979 U.S. Embassy crisis, which saw dozens of hostages released after 444 days in captivity, Iran has used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations with the world. In September 2023, five Americans detained for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians in U.S. custody and for $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.Valizadeh is the first American known to be detained by Iran in the time since.Meanwhile, Iranian state television aired footage Sunday of different cities across the country marking the anniversary of the embassy takeover.Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard, also spoke in Tehran, where he repeated a pledge made the day before by Khamenei.“The resistance front and Iran will equip itself with whatever necessary to confront and defeat the enemy,” he said, referring to the militant groups like Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah backed by Tehran.In Tehran, thousands at the gate of the former U.S. Embassy chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” Some burned flags of the countries and effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.They also carried images of killed top figures of Iran’s allied militant groups including Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Palestinian Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. The crowd in the state-organized rallies chanted they were ready to defend the Palestinians.—Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates —

An Iranian-American journalist who once worked for a U.S. government-funded broadcaster is believed to have been detained by Iran for months now, authorities said Sunday, further raising the stakes as Tehran threatens to retaliate over an Israeli attack on the country.

Related video above: Israel completed a ‘precise’ airstrikes on Iran last week

The imprisonment of Reza Valizadeh, acknowledged to The Associated Press by the U.S. State Department, came as Iran marked the 45th anniversary of the American Embassy takeover and hostage crisis on Sunday. It also followed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatening both Israel and the U.S. the day before with “a crushing response” as long-range B-52 bombers reached the Middle East in an attempt to deter Tehran.

Valizadeh had worked for Radio Farda, an outlet under Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that’s overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media. In February, he wrote on the social platform X that his family members had been detained in an effort to see him return to Iran.

In August, Valizadeh apparently posted two messages suggesting he had returned to Iran despite Radio Farda being viewed by Iran’s theocracy as a hostile outlet.

“I arrived in Tehran on March 6, 2024. Before that, I had unfinished negotiations with the (Revolutionary Guard’s) intelligence department,” the message read in part. “Eventually I came back to my country after 13 years without any security guarantee, even a verbal one.”

Valizadeh added the name of a man who he claimed belonged to Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. The AP could not verify if the person worked for the ministry.

Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Valizadeh had been detained. The Human Rights Activists News Agency, which monitors cases in Iran, said that he had been detained on arrival to the country earlier this year, but later released.

He was then rearrested and sent to Evin prison, where he now faces a case in Iran’s Revolutionary Court, which routinely holds closed-door hearings in which defendants face secret evidence, the agency reported. Valizadeh had faced arrest in 2007 as well, it said.

The State Department told the AP that it was “aware of reports that this dual U.S.-Iranian citizen has been arrested in Iran” when asked about Valizadeh.

“We are working with our Swiss partners who serve as the protecting power for the United States in Iran to gather more information about this case,” the State Department said. “Iran routinely imprisons U.S. citizens and other countries’ citizens unjustly for political purposes. This practice is cruel and contrary to international law.”

Iran has not acknowledged detaining Valizadeh. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Voice of America, another U.S. government-funded media outlet overseen by the Agency for Global Media, first reported the State Department was acknowledging Valizadeh’s detention in Iran.

Since the 1979 U.S. Embassy crisis, which saw dozens of hostages released after 444 days in captivity, Iran has used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations with the world. In September 2023, five Americans detained for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians in U.S. custody and for $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.

Valizadeh is the first American known to be detained by Iran in the time since.

Meanwhile, Iranian state television aired footage Sunday of different cities across the country marking the anniversary of the embassy takeover.

Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard, also spoke in Tehran, where he repeated a pledge made the day before by Khamenei.

“The resistance front and Iran will equip itself with whatever necessary to confront and defeat the enemy,” he said, referring to the militant groups like Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah backed by Tehran.

In Tehran, thousands at the gate of the former U.S. Embassy chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” Some burned flags of the countries and effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

They also carried images of killed top figures of Iran’s allied militant groups including Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Palestinian Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. The crowd in the state-organized rallies chanted they were ready to defend the Palestinians.

—

Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

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November 3, 2024
Israeli attack kills at least 16 at UNRWA school for the displaced in Gaza, ministry says

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An Israeli attack has killed at least 16 Palestinians and injured 50 others at UNRWA’s Al-Jaouni school sheltering displaced people in al-Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Saturday.Video above: Palestinians displaced from Gaza’s Khan Younis struggle for survivalCNN cannot independently verify the ministry’s numbers.A displaced man at the school told CNN children were among the injured.“There was a swing here, swings were here, (children) were playing. What was their fault?” he said as he held his little daughter. “We barely found this place in the school, but even the school is not safe.”CNN video shows several injured children arriving at a nearby hospital following the attack.The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday militants were operating in structures located in the school area.“This location served as a hideout and operational infrastructure from which attacks against IDF (Israel Defense Forces) troops operating in the Gaza Strip were directed and carried out,” the statement added.CNN cannot independently verify the Israeli military’s claim.UNRWA Communication Director Juliette Touma told CNN UNRWA does not have all the information yet, adding that half of UNRWA’s facilities in Gaza have been hit since October 7.“At least 500 people sheltering in those (UNRWA) facilities have been killed, many were women and children,” she added.The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said it “condemned in the strongest terms” the attack on the UNRWA building, which it said “houses thousands of displaced civilians.”Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the strike and what it called Israel’s “clear disregard for the rules of international law,” saying that humanitarian facilities and shelters must be protected under international law.The news comes just as it appeared some progress was being made in long-stalled hostage release and truce negotiations. A senior Hamas official told CNN the militant group was ready to reconsider its insistence that Israel commit to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza before signing an agreement that would usher in a temporary truce and begin a process to release hostages.Meanwhile, the near-weekly demonstrations against the Israeli government continued on Saturday. Thousands gathered in Tel Aviv’s Democracy Square to call for new elections and the release of hostages amid discontent with how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has handled issues including the war in Gaza.Israeli police said in a statement that two protesters were arrested at the Tel Aviv demonstration, citing violations of public order and unsafe behavior, including “lighting bonfires on the road.”The police said they deployed large forces to maintain security and order and dispersed the demonstration after protesters illegally gathered on Menachem Begin Road and tried to block it, despite initial approval for the protest.Protesters waved Israeli flags and held signs criticizing Netanyahu, while police used water cannons to disperse demonstrators blocking the traffic on the Ayalon Highway.“After most of the protesters dispersed naturally and in light of the violations of order by a handful of protesters, the police had to declare an illegal demonstration,” the police said.“During the dispersal of the rioters, the police arrested two suspects.”The Israeli police further warned that it “will act with zero tolerance towards those who disrupt the order and will not listen to the policemen’s instructions.”The chairman of Israel’s National Unity and former war cabinet minister, Benny Gantz, was seen participating in a rally calling for the return of the hostages.The often-weekly demonstrations have yet to change the political landscape, and Netanyahu still controls a stable majority in parliament.Additional reporting by Hamdi Alkhshali and Ibrahim Dahman.

An Israeli attack has killed at least 16 Palestinians and injured 50 others at UNRWA’s Al-Jaouni school sheltering displaced people in al-Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Saturday.

Video above: Palestinians displaced from Gaza’s Khan Younis struggle for survival

CNN cannot independently verify the ministry’s numbers.

A displaced man at the school told CNN children were among the injured.

“There was a swing here, swings were here, (children) were playing. What was their fault?” he said as he held his little daughter. “We barely found this place in the school, but even the school is not safe.”

CNN video shows several injured children arriving at a nearby hospital following the attack.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday militants were operating in structures located in the school area.

“This location served as a hideout and operational infrastructure from which attacks against IDF (Israel Defense Forces) troops operating in the Gaza Strip were directed and carried out,” the statement added.

CNN cannot independently verify the Israeli military’s claim.

UNRWA Communication Director Juliette Touma told CNN UNRWA does not have all the information yet, adding that half of UNRWA’s facilities in Gaza have been hit since October 7.

“At least 500 people sheltering in those (UNRWA) facilities have been killed, many were women and children,” she added.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said it “condemned in the strongest terms” the attack on the UNRWA building, which it said “houses thousands of displaced civilians.”

Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the strike and what it called Israel’s “clear disregard for the rules of international law,” saying that humanitarian facilities and shelters must be protected under international law.

The news comes just as it appeared some progress was being made in long-stalled hostage release and truce negotiations. A senior Hamas official told CNN the militant group was ready to reconsider its insistence that Israel commit to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza before signing an agreement that would usher in a temporary truce and begin a process to release hostages.

Meanwhile, the near-weekly demonstrations against the Israeli government continued on Saturday. Thousands gathered in Tel Aviv’s Democracy Square to call for new elections and the release of hostages amid discontent with how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has handled issues including the war in Gaza.

Israeli police said in a statement that two protesters were arrested at the Tel Aviv demonstration, citing violations of public order and unsafe behavior, including “lighting bonfires on the road.”

The police said they deployed large forces to maintain security and order and dispersed the demonstration after protesters illegally gathered on Menachem Begin Road and tried to block it, despite initial approval for the protest.

Protesters waved Israeli flags and held signs criticizing Netanyahu, while police used water cannons to disperse demonstrators blocking the traffic on the Ayalon Highway.

“After most of the protesters dispersed naturally and in light of the violations of order by a handful of protesters, the police had to declare an illegal demonstration,” the police said.

“During the dispersal of the rioters, the police arrested two suspects.”

The Israeli police further warned that it “will act with zero tolerance towards those who disrupt the order and will not listen to the policemen’s instructions.”

The chairman of Israel’s National Unity and former war cabinet minister, Benny Gantz, was seen participating in a rally calling for the return of the hostages.

The often-weekly demonstrations have yet to change the political landscape, and Netanyahu still controls a stable majority in parliament.

Additional reporting by Hamdi Alkhshali and Ibrahim Dahman.

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July 7, 2024