Iran arrests rights lawyer after she attended funeral for girl injured in mysterious Metro incident

Iranian authorities arrested a leading human rights lawyer Sunday after she attended the funeral of a teenage girl who died after being injured weeks ago in a mysterious incident on Tehran’s Metro.

The report by the semiofficial Fars news agency, which is close to the country’s security forces, said authorities detained Nasrin Sotoudeh on a charge of violating Iran’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, law.

Many other Iranian news outlets republished the report and said there were multiple arrests at the funeral of Armita Geravanad, who also was not wearing a headscarf at the time she was injured. (AP)

Mission impossible? Biden says Mideast leaders must consider a two-state solution after the war ends

As the 3-week-old Israel-Hamas war enters what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says could be a “long and difficult” new stage, President Joe Biden is calling on Israeli and Arab leaders to think hard about their eventual postwar reality.

It’s one, he argues, where finally finding agreement on a long-sought two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict should be a priority.

“There’s no going back to the status quo as it stood on Oct. 6,” Biden told reporters, referring to the day before Hamas militants attacked Israel and set off the latest war. The White House says Biden conveyed the same message directly to Netanyahu during a telephone call this past week. (AP)

‘Gaza war has entered a new stage and will be long and difficult,’ says Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the nation Saturday night that the military has opened a “second stage” in the war against Hamas by sending ground forces into Gaza and expanding attacks from the ground, air and sea.

Casting the war as a fight for his country’s very survival, he warned that the assault would only intensify ahead of a broad ground invasion into the territory.

“There are moments in which a nation faces two possibilities: to do or die,” Netanyahu said. “We now face that test and I have no doubt how it will end: We will be the victors. We will do and we will be the victors.” (AP)

Hamas says ‘heavy fighting’ in Gaza as Israel boosts ground ops

Hamas said Sunday its fighters were engaged in “heavy fighting” in Gaza where Israel has escalated ground operations, as calls multiply to deliver aid to the Palestinian territory after weeks of siege and bombardment.

World leaders underlined the urgency of increasing aid into the Hamas-controlled territory and protesters worldwide rallied for a ceasefire, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu steeled his nation for a “long and difficult war”. (AFP)

Hezbollah says it downs Israeli drone in south Lebanon

Lebanon’s Hezbollah said on Sunday it shot down an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon with a surface-to-air missile, the first time it has announced such an incident, as clashes on the Lebanese border escalate.

The drone was hit near Khiam, about 5 km (3 miles) from the border with Israel, and was seen falling in Israeli territory, Hezbollah added. Two security sources in Lebanon said it was the first time Hezbollah had announced downing an Israeli drone. (Reuters)

ICC lawyer warns over preventing aid getting to Gaza

International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan said Sunday preventing access to humanitarian could be a crime, after visiting Egypt’s Rafah crossing with Gaza, the main entry point for international aid.

“Impeding relief supplies as provided by the Geneva conventions make constitute a crime within the court jurisdiction,” Khan told reporters in Cairo. (AFP)

US says Israel must protect Gaza civilians as calls for aid grow

Israel must protect innocent Gaza residents by distinguishing between Hamas militants and civilians, the White House warned Sunday, as world leaders stepped up calls for desperately needed humanitarian aid to reach the war-torn Palestinian territory.

Israel has intensified its air and ground operations against Hamas in Gaza following a bloody attack by the Palestinian militant group more than three weeks ago that Israeli authorities say killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians. (AFP)

Israel intensifies Gaza strikes and scours south for Hamas fighters as death toll nears 1,200

Israel’s military scoured the country’s south for Hamas fighters and guarded breaches in its border fence with tanks on Monday, as it pounded the Gaza Strip from the air and mustered for a campaign its prime minister said would destroy “the military and governing capabilities” of the militant group.

More than two days after Hamas launched its unprecedented incursion from Gaza, the military said the fighting had largely died down for now.

The attack caught Israel’s vaunted military and intelligence apparatus completely off guard, bringing heavy battles to its streets for the first time in decades. (PTI)

Israel-Gaza War LIVE: Gaza receives largest aid shipment since Israel-Hamas war began

Gaza on Sunday received the largest aid shipment since the war between Israel and Hamas began, as nearly three dozen trucks entered the region.

The death toll among Palestinians crossed 8,000, mostly women and minors, said the Gaza health ministry. 

Citing humanitarian workers, the report also said that the assistance still fell desperately short of needs after thousands of people broke into warehouses to take flour and basic hygiene products.

The aid warehouse break-ins were “a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza,” said Thomas White, Gaza director for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA. “People are scared, frustrated and desperate.” Read the complete story here.