Some US airlines have announced flights to Tel Aviv will remain suspended
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Qantas has paused its non-stop flights from Perth to London and rerouted the alternative route to avoid airspace over the Middle East as the region braces for an Iranian attack on Israel.
On Thursday, Qantas confirmed that for the second time this year it has had to pause the QF9 route due to hostilities between Iran and Israel, after it took the same precaution in April.
Israel has vowed to eliminate new Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of the 7 October attack, whose appointment further inflamed regional tensions as the Gaza war entered its 11th month on Wednesday.
Top Muslim diplomats on Wednesday said Israel was “fully responsible” for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and warned it could destabilise the region. The declaration came at the end of an extraordinary meeting of the Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called in part by Iran, which has vowed to retaliate for the attack on Haniyeh, setting the Middle East on edge.
The EU, France and UK have condemned a senior Israeli minister for suggesting it might be “justified and moral” to starve people in Gaza. The comments from Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, in which he said “no one in the world will allow us to starve two million people, even though it might be justified and moral in order to free the hostages”, sparked international outrage.
The US state department said Israel must fully investigate allegations of sexual abuse against Palestinian detainees by its soldiers. Asked about a video aired by Israel’s Channel 12 that appeared to show soldiers taking a detainee out of sight of surveillance cameras to carry out abuses, spokesperson Matthew Miller said US officials had reviewed the video. “We have seen the video, and reports of sexual abuse of detainees are horrific,” Miller said. “There ought to be zero tolerance for sexual abuse, rape of any detainee, period … If there are detainees who have been sexually assaulted or raped, the government of Israel, the IDF need to fully investigate those actions.”
The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders Wednesday for an area in northern Gaza that was heavily bombed at the start of the war, 10 months ago.
Continue reading… World news | The Guardian
