Alarm sirens are sounding in Israel, Hezbollah is firing rockets at the country. Iran is stepping up its threats against Israel. All developments in the news blog.
20:01: Britain is withdrawing the families of embassy staff in Beirut due to the unstable security situation in Lebanon. “We are deeply concerned about the highly unstable security situation in Lebanon,” says a Foreign Office spokesman. Additional consular officers, border guards and military personnel have been deployed to the region. “We have also temporarily withdrawn the families of officials working at the British Embassy in Beirut. All British nationals should leave Lebanon now while commercial routes still exist.”
16:25: According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, at least 30 people were killed in an Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip. They were refugees who had sought shelter in two schools.
According to the Israeli military, the air strike was aimed at Hamas military structures set up there. Fighters from the Palestinian organization were operating from there, the military said. Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using civilian facilities for military purposes. Hamas has denied this.
12.38 pm: In view of the threat of an Iranian retaliatory strike against Israel, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi has traveled to Tehran. In talks with Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, he wants to dissuade the country from military action against Israel, according to local media reports.
According to official sources from Cairo, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdel-Atti also urged Kani in a telephone conversation that all parties must exercise calm and restraint so that the situation in the Middle East does not get out of control. According to Iranian media reports, Iran has so far rejected all attempts at mediation.
11.31 am: The Middle East could be facing a new escalation of violence. US and Israeli officials expect an attack from Iran in a matter of hours. Read more here.
11.24 am: CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter has called for the German army to participate in a US-led coalition to protect Israel. “In view of the looming Iranian attack, the German government must finally wake up and offer Israel military support to defend itself,” he told “Spiegel”. “It is conceivable that fighter jets from friendly nations could be refueled, but also that the German army could use its own Eurofighters, for example to defend against Iranian drones.”
“If Israel’s security is really a German matter of state, the federal government, and in particular the Federal Chancellery, must finally pursue realpolitik instead of continuing to nurture romantic hopes,” says Kiesewetter. “That is why the federal government should not wait until Israel asks it for help, but should offer it on its own initiative and promote it in the Bundestag now.”
9.46 am: The number of victims is rising following the knife attack in Cholon. Israeli health authorities report that a 70-year-old man has died of his injuries in hospital. Two other injured people are still being treated in a clinic.
8.01 am: At least one person has died in a knife attack in the Israeli city of Cholon, south of Tel Aviv. The attack was a 66-year-old woman. She died at the scene. Three other people – men aged 26, 68 and 70 – were injured and taken to hospital. The perpetrator was shot dead by security forces. Police have identified him as a Palestinian from the city of Salfit in the West Bank.
7.32 am: France has asked its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country because of the risk of military escalation in the Middle East. This was announced by the Foreign Ministry in Paris in a new travel warning. The ministry also reiterated that it advises against travel to Lebanon. Other countries such as Germany and Great Britain have also already asked their citizens to leave Lebanon.
