Live Updates: Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets at occupied Golan Heights

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

11:00 GMT — Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets at occupied Golan Heights

The attack comes a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with fellow mediators from Egypt and Qatar as he pressed ahead with the latest diplomatic mission to secure a ceasefire in the war in Gaza, even as Hamas and Israel signalled that challenges remain.

Israeli first responders in occupied Golan Heights said they treated a 30-year-old man who was moderately wounded with shrapnel injuries in Wednesday’s attack. One house was engulfed in flames, and firefighters said they prevented a bigger tragedy by stopping a gas leak.

Hezbollah said the attack was in response to an Israeli strike deep into Lebanon on Tuesday night that killed one and injured 19.

09:14 GMT — Turkish foreign minister, US counterpart discuss ceasefire talks

Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his US counterpart Antony Blinken discussed the latest status of the ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

In a phone call requested from the US side, Fidan and Blinken also discussed developments in the region, a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.

The US, Egypt and Qatar announced last week following ceasefire talks in Doha that they had presented Israel and Hamas with what they called a "bridging proposal" to further narrow "remaining gaps in the manner that allows for a swift implementation of the deal."

07:40 GMT — Commercial ship 'not under command' after attack in Red Sea

A commercial ship travelling through the Red Sea came under repeated attack Wednesday, leaving the vessel “not under command” in an assault suspected to have been carried out by Yemen's Houthis, the British military said.

Few details were immediately available about the attack, though it comes during the Houthis' monthslong campaign targeting ships over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The attack saw men on small boats first open fire with small arms some 140 kilometres west of the Houthi-held Yemeni port city of Hudaida, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said.

05:56 GMT — 4 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid on gathering in Rafah

At least four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a gathering in northwestern Rafah, southern Gaza.

"Four martyrs arrived (at the hospital) as a result of an Israeli airstrike on a gathering of people in Rafah city," a medical source at the Nasser Hospital said.

Witnesses said the strike targeted the Shakoush neighbourhood, which is home to thousands of displaced people

04:30 GMT — Pro-Palestine protesters arrested in Chicago

More than a dozen pro-Palestine demonstrators have been arrested during a protest that began outside the Israeli consulate and spilled out onto the surrounding streets on the second night of the Democratic National Convention.

The intense confrontations with officers began minutes into the demonstration, after some protesters – many dressed in black, their faces covered – charged at a line of police that had blocked the group from marching.

A man in Chicago Bulls hat, his face covered by a balaclava, called on protesters to "shut down the DNC."

03:40 GMT — Blinken seeks Gaza truce but Netanyahu sabotages deal

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken has said in Qatar that there was no time to waste to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal as he wrapped up a Middle East tour.

"Time is of the essence" for a truce deal, Blinken told reporters at Doha airport as he prepared to fly back to Washington, adding that the United States rejects a "long-term" Israeli occupation in besieged Gaza.

He added the United States, Egypt and Qatar will do everything possible to get Hamas resistance group on board with the"bridging proposal."

03:00 GMT — Anti-Israel hackers release troves of classified data: Haaretz

Anti-Israel hackers have released extensive amounts of classified data amid Israel’s struggle to contain leaks, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

The leaks, according to the newspaper, involve tens of thousands of sensitive documents and emails stolen from Israeli institutions, including the Justice Ministry.

The attacks, which began on October 7, 2023, have targeted a wide range of entities, from military and defense contractors to hospitals and government ministries. The scale of the breach has overwhelmed Israel's cybersecurity infrastructure.

02:30 GMT — Netanyahu accused of sabotaging talks

Some members involved in the ongoing talks for a hostage release-ceasefire deal have accused Netanyahu of intentionally sabotaging the negotiations after he was said to have told the hawkish Tikva and Gvura forums that "Israel won't leave the Philadelphi Corridor and the Netzarim Corridor under any circumstances," the KAN public broadcaster said.

"Netanyahu's statement is intended to blow up the negotiations, there's no other way about it," the source told KAN.

"The prime minister knows that we are in a critical period during which we're working on solutions for the Philadelphi Corridor and Netzarim ahead of the next summit."

2:10 GMT — Israeli strikes kill 4 in Lebanon

Lebanon has said four people were killed in Israeli strikes in the country's south, while Hezbollah said it launched barrages of rockets and drones at Israeli troops.

Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian resistance group Hamas, has traded near daily cross-border fire with Israeli troops since the Gaza war began in October.

But fears of a major escalation have grown in recent weeks after the Israeli killing of a top Hezbollah commander.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said "Israeli enemy strikes on the village of Dhayra" killed four people and wounded two others, after earlier reporting two dead.

For our live updates from Tuesday, August 20, 2024, click here.