Demonstrators demonstrated in front of Netanyahu’s house. Israel has killed another Hezbollah commander. More information in the news blog.
19.45: Israeli police on Thursday arrested a protester who broke open the gate to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea and replaced it with his own lock. The 71-year-old suspect from Kiryat Tivon was picked up in his car and taken for questioning.
In the evening, thousands gathered in front of Netanyahu’s house and in Tel Aviv to demand new elections. “In view of the negligence and helplessness of Netanyahu’s government, we are intensifying the pressure with a just and fundamental demand – the return of his mandate to the public,” said the organization Israel Democracy HQ. In the morning, hostage families and women’s rights activists blocked the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv.
16:28: The Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon has reportedly fired “dozens” of rockets at Israel. The militia had previously threatened to launch large-scale attacks on the neighboring country in the event of an Israeli offensive. The Israeli army, in turn, had approved an operational plan for an offensive in Lebanon. Meanwhile, according to eyewitnesses and a correspondent from the AFP news agency, Israel is targeting the center of the Gaza Strip with air strikes and artillery fire.
Hezbollah says the rocket fire from northern Israel was in retaliation for a deadly Israeli attack in the village of Deir Kifa, saying “dozens of Katyusha rockets” were fired at an Israeli facility.
16:01: The Israeli military says it has killed another Hezbollah commander in Lebanon. He was eliminated in a targeted attack on Thursday morning in the area around Deir Kifa in the south of the country, the army said. He was said to have been responsible for planning and carrying out terrorist attacks against Israel and for part of Hezbollah’s ground troops. Hezbollah confirmed his death. In response to the attack in Deir Kifa, the Shiite militia reportedly fired dozens of rockets at targets in northern Israel.
The Lebanese news agency NNA had previously reported that one person had been killed in a drone attack on a car in the affected area. There had also been Israeli attacks on other locations in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military also announced that it had destroyed a rocket launcher on Lebanese soil.
16:03: Independent UN human rights experts are warning companies not to continue supplying weapons and ammunition to Israel. They could thereby commit human rights violations, including crimes against humanity, the experts in Geneva say. They name more than 30 companies and investors who, according to them, invest in arms companies, including the German companies Rheinmetall and ThyssenKrupp and the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation.
“These companies, which supply weapons, parts, components and ammunition to the Israeli armed forces, risk becoming complicit in serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,” the experts write. They point to the International Court of Justice’s call for Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah and the International Criminal Court’s Prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against members of the Israeli government. Therefore, further arms deliveries to Israel could be seen as knowingly supporting operations that violate international human rights and humanitarian law.
3 o’clock: In the USA, accusations by Benjamin Netanyahu have caused a stir. In a video message on the X platform, the Israeli Prime Minister accused the Biden administration of deliberately withholding weapons and ammunition from Israel. In his opinion, the USA wants to hinder the country in its fight against Hamas. According to a report in the Guardian, the accusations have led to a dispute between the two countries.
