Foreign
Haniyeh’s son claims Hamas leader was killed by guided missile that tracked his cell phone
Haniyeh revealed that his father had been using his phone constantly and even used it at 10:15 p.m. the same night he was killed.
Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a guided missile that tracked his cell phone, his son Abdussalam Haniyeh told Saudi Arabia state media Al Arabiya Friday from Doha, Qatar, in an interview.
Haniyeh was killed in Tehran on July 31, and it was reported by the New York Times and independently confirmed by the Jerusalem Post that an explosive device was planted in his room months before he was killed.
The bomb was hidden in June and used cutting-edge remote technology that was also used in the killing of Iran nuclear chief Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, according to the report and the Post’s sources.
Haniyeh’s son told Al Arabiya that this was not the case. “I think the story of an explosive device is completely baseless,” he said. “There were bodyguards and other advisers sitting in a room a few meters away from his room, so it’s clear that if there were an explosive device, the whole place would be blown up,” he added.
“It was a guided missile that tracked his mobile phone that he had placed at night in his room near his head, which was directly hit,” Haniyeh said to Al Arabiya.
Haniyeh stated that his father had been using his phone constantly and even used it at 10:15 p.m. the same night he was killed.
Attending a ceremony in Tehran
“My father was attending an official ceremony, and he was carrying his mobile phone, so the operation was not very complicated,” Haniyeh stated as he explained why his father was an easy target.
“He was in a country to attend the inauguration of the president [Massoud Pezeshkian] along with other delegations, so the security measures cannot be compared to those taken in a hidden area without cell phones,” he explained.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) had initially reported that a short-range projectile carrying about 7 kilograms (15 pounds) of explosive material was fired from outside the building.
Haniyeh concluded the interview by suggesting that he believes the airstrike was carried out with American “cover,” Al Arabiya reported.
Iran has blamed the attack on Israel and has vowed to retaliate, however, Israel has not taken responsibility. The United States has also not confirmed or denied any involvement in the assassination.
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.
Culled from Jerusalem Post
The Defense Ministry will oversee Gaza transfers, with a leader to be appointed soon. Critics warn the program could lead to forced displacement, as no third country has agreed to take in refugees.
As part of the first phase of the plan to relocate Palestinians who wish to leave Gaza for third countries, which appeared to take shape last Wednesday, 70 Gazans with foreign citizenship or family ties abroad departed from southern Israel’s Ramon Airport on a Romanian military plane bound for Europe.
Israeli authorities said they assisted in the evacuation as part of their emigration policy. The group’s departure coincided with renewed military operations in Gaza and mounting international pressure to restore humanitarian aid to the territory.
“We are working with all means to implement the US president’s vision, and we will allow any Gaza resident who wants to move to a third state to do so,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said, referencing a plan developed during Donald Trump’s presidency to promote economic development in the region through population relocation.
Israel’s Security Cabinet approved the establishment of the directorate tasked with assisting Palestinians in Gaza who wish to relocate to third countries, part of a broader emigration initiative advanced by Katz in coordination with the United States.
Over the weekend, the government confirmed the creation of the Voluntary Emigration Bureau, which Katz said would facilitate the “safe and supervised” departure of Gazans in line with Israeli and international law. Palestinian
The logistics behind the transfers
The directorate, operating under the Defense Ministry, will coordinate with international organizations and manage logistics at designated crossings, as well as oversee infrastructure for land, sea, and air transfers.
A candidate to lead the office is expected to be appointed soon.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has proposed an ambitious timeline for relocating up to 10,000 Gazans per day while insisting that budgetary constraints will not hinder the process.
Critics warn the program risks crossing into forced displacement, while no third country has yet publicly agreed to absorb large numbers of refugees.
During the same cabinet session, ministers approved the formal separation of 13 West Bank neighborhoods into independent settlements, escalating tensions over Israeli policy in occupied territories.
An Israeli air strike on the southern city of Khan Younis in Gaza has killed top Hamas political leader Salah al-Bardaweel, a Hamas official has told the BBC.
Locals say the air strike killed both Bardaweel, regarded as Hamas’s highest-ranking political leader, and his wife. Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
The total death toll in Gaza since the war began surpassed 50,000 on Sunday, its Hamas-run health authorities said, with least 30 people killed in Khan Yunis and Rafah so far on Sunday.
Israel resumed heavy strikes on Gaza earlier this week – in effect ending the first phase of a ceasefire that lasted almost two months. It blamed Hamas for rejecting a new US proposal to extend the truce.
Is the war starting again in Gaza?
Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of abandoning the original deal – mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US. It envisaged the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the subsequent release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners – in addition to negotiations to end the war entirely and reconstruct Gaza.
In a statement on Sunday, Hamas said Bardaweel, 66, had been praying along with his wife when an Israeli missile struck their tent.
A father of eight, Bardaweel was one of Hamas’s most prominent political figures.
Born in Khan Younis refugee camp, he was known to be close to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and is considered part of the second generation of Hamas leadership, following the movement’s founders.
He headed the political wing of Hamas’s parliamentary bloc and was re-elected to the group’s political bureau in 2021.
Following the killing of Sinwar and Rawhi Mushtaha during the ongoing war, Bardaweel was regarded as Hamas’s highest-ranking political leader.
The air strike that killed Bardaweel was part of one of the most intense waves of aerial bombardment in southern Gaza since the collapse of the ceasefire agreement last Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told the BBC that Israeli forces were surrounding several of the organisation’s ambulances as they attempted to reach an area hit by an Israeli strike in Rafah.
He added that several paramedics were wounded, and contact had been lost with one of the trapped teams, which has been besieged for weeks.
The Israeli military issued evacuation orders for residents of the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah after the area was hit by heavy shelling and a limited ground assault.
The attack included tank fire from Israeli forces positioned along the Philadelphi Corridor on the border with Egypt, and helicopters also took part in the assault.
Alaa al-Din Sabah, a resident of the neighbourhood, said in a voice message to the BBC: “Bullets are raining down on us like it’s pouring. A woman was shot and is bleeding. Ambulances couldn’t reach her.”
“I can see one of the paramedics lying on the ground, screaming.”
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
More than 49,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says, and there is large-scale destruction to homes and infrastructure in the Strip.
France’s Foreign Ministry expresses in a statement its “deep concern” at the renewed outbreak of fighting in southern Lebanon.
The Quai d’Orsay condemns rocket attacks against Israel from Lebanon over the weekend, while calling on Israel to exercise restraint in its response.
“France reiterates the importance of not compromising the significant progress made in recent months to ensure the security of Israelis and Lebanese people on both sides of the Blue Line,” the statement reads, adding that French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot conveyed these messages to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji.
Gaza relocation plan begins: 70 Gazans depart for Europe
2027: God told me SDP will produce next president – Adebayo
Adebayo apprehensive, tells defectors to SDP to go through legitimate way
Confusion in ISWAP, B’Haram camp, as top commanders eliminated in military’s fire power [Pictures]
Breaking: Bello appoints Ohinoyi of Ebira Chairman, Kogi Council of Chiefs
Amid endless salary cut, Bello takes delivery of Mercedes Benz S class, 2019 model worth N98 million
-
News7 days agoBill to establish National Cashew Production and Research Institute in Kogi passes first reading in Senate
-
News7 days agoShehu Sani debunks Governor Uba Sani’s alleged diversion of LG funds, challenges El-Rufai to publicly tender evidence
-
News7 days agoReport of attack on Wike’s Port Harcourt residence false, misleading – Police
-
News6 days agoPlateau gov’t expresses concern over violence in Shendam LGA, calls for calm
-
Sports1 week agoMerino gives Arsenal win over Chelsea
-
Interview1 week agoSenators Natasha-Akpabio saga should have been resolved privately – Rev. Mrs Emeribe
-
Politics4 days agoOpposition leaders announce coalition to challenge Tinubu in 2027
-
News1 week agoNatasha uncovers arrest plot after reported Akpabio to IPU in New York