Britain on Tuesday struck a free trade agreement with India, its biggest such deal since leaving the European Union, after negotiations relaunched in February following US tariff threats.Britain has sought to bolster trade ties across the world since it left the EU at the start of the decade under Brexit, a need that became more …
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Israeli warplanes bombed the airport in Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa on Tuesday, the latest retaliation for a missile strike by the Iran-backed Huthis that targeted Israel’s main airport.Plumes of thick, black smoke were seen billowing from the airport area after a series of strikes shook the impoverished Arab country’s capital.Residents reported power outages in Sanaa and the Huthi-controlled port city of Hodeida, after the Israelis struck three electricity stations in and around the capital, according to the rebels.Israel’s military said it took the airport “fully” out of action after hitting runways and aircraft. There were no immediate reports of casualties.A previous Israeli attack on the airport in December killed six people, according to Huthi media.Israel has now launched two volleys of strikes after a Huthi missile penetrated the perimeter of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport for the first time on Sunday, leaving a large crater and wounding six people.Huthi authorities said that on Monday four people were killed and 35 wounded as Israel’s initial reprisal strikes hit a cement factory and targets in Hodeida.On Tuesday, the Israeli military said in a statement that its “fighter jets struck and dismantled Huthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sanaa, fully disabling the airport”.”Flight runways, aircraft and infrastructure at the airport were struck.”Israel targeted the airport because it “served as a central hub for the Huthi terrorist regime to transfer weapons and operatives”, the statement said.Just before Tuesday’s attacks, Israel’s military urged Yemeni civilians to “immediately” evacuate the airport and “stay away from the area”.”Failing to evacuate may put you at risk,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X in Arabic.- ‘Grave escalation’ -The Huthis promised to hit back.The “aggression will not pass without a response and Yemen will not be discouraged from its stance in support of Gaza”, the Huthi political bureau said in a statement.The Huthis have been attacking Israel and shipping in the Red Sea trade route since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.Yemen, much of it under Huthi control for more than a decade, has already been under sustained US attack since mid-March, when the US military began near-daily strikes after months of sporadic raids.The latest exchanges come as regional tensions soar anew over Israel’s plan to expand military operations in the Gaza Strip and displace much of the besieged territory’s population.The Huthis blamed both Israel and its ally the United States for the latest strikes. While Israel claimed responsibility, US officials have denied any involvement.”US forces did not participate in the Israeli strikes on Yemen today,” a US defence official told AFP on Tuesday.As well as the airport and power stations, the latest raids also hit a cement factory in Amran, rebel media said.They may not be the last. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said retaliation “will not happen in one bang, but there will be many bangs”.Hans Grundberg, the United Nations’ special envoy for Yemen, called the exchange of strikes “a grave escalation in an already fragile and volatile regional context”.”I once again urge all stakeholders to exercise the utmost restraint and refrain from escalatory actions that risk inflicting further suffering on civilians,” he posted on X.Israel says it has targeted Yemen five times since July 2024, with Huthi authorities reporting a total of 29 people killed. Israel’s army regularly intercepts missiles from Yemen.Sanaa’s airport, which reopened to international flights in 2022 after a six-year blockade by the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Huthis, offers a regular service to Jordan on the home-grown Yemenia airline.
Hamas on Tuesday dismissed as pointless ceasefire talks with Israel, accusing it of waging a “hunger war” on Gaza, where famine looms, as the Israeli military prepared for a broader assault.The comments from Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim followed Israel’s approval of a military plan involving the long-term “conquest of the Gaza Strip”, according to an Israeli official.Nearly all of the Palestinian territory’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once during the war, sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. A two-month Israeli blockade since early March has worsened the humanitarian crisis.”There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip,” senior Hamas official Naim told AFP.The former Gaza health minister said the world must pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to end the “crimes of hunger, thirst, and killings”.Qatar, a key mediator in the conflict, said that “our efforts remain ongoing” despite major obstacle to a ceasefire.Israel’s military has said the expanded operations approved by the security cabinet on Sunday would include displacing “most” of Gaza’s population.Before that phase begins, a senior Israeli security source has said that the timing of troop deployments allowed a “window of opportunity” for a possible hostage deal coinciding with US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East next week.Israel’s military resumed its offensive on the Gaza Strip on March 18, ending a two-month truce that saw a surge in aid into the war-ravaged territory and the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Tuesday that six Palestinians including a young girl were killed in Israeli dawn attacks.- ‘Dust and destruction’ -Moaz Hamdan, who lost family members in a strike in Nuseirat in central Gaza, said he was awoken by “a very large explosion”.The whole area was “covered in dust and destruction”, he said. “We were unable to rescue the wounded.”The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 2,507 people had been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in mid-March, bringing the overall death toll from the war to 52,615.Hamas’s 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Out of the 251 people abducted by militants that day, 58 are still held in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the Gaza Strip should be “entirely destroyed” and its inhabitants “leave in great numbers to third countries” after the war.His comments came a day after United Nations spokesman Farhan Haq said that “Gaza is, and must remain, an integral part of a future Palestinian state.”For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the “Nakba”, or catastrophe — the mass displacement in the war that led to Israel’s creation in 1948.- ‘No aid’ -The UN and aid organisations have repeatedly warned of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, exacerbated by the total blockade since early March, heightening fears of famine.The United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA accused Israel of trying to “weaponise” the flow of aid into Gaza.”There’s no aid to distribute anymore because the aid operation has been strangled,” OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said.Israeli military spokesman Effie Defrin said the planned offensive approved by the cabinet would include “moving most of the population of the Gaza Strip… to protect them”.Hundreds of Israelis demonstrated Monday outside parliament in Jerusalem to express their opposition to the government plan.Israeli President Isaac Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, urged leaders to “go the extra mile, make an extra effort, take the extra step, so that we can see our hostages home immediately.”China said it opposed Israel’s military actions in Gaza and was “highly concerned” by the situation, urging all parties to “effectively implement the ceasefire agreement”.French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Paris “very strongly” condemns Israel’s planned offensive, calling it “unacceptable”, and adding that its government was “in violation of humanitarian law”.bur-az-mib-csp/ami
Four Palestinian photographers from Agence France-Presse (AFP) were finalists for their Gaza coverage in the “Breaking News Photography” category of the Pulitzer Prize, the most prestigious awards in US journalism.The jury for the award, presented on Monday by Columbia University in New York, praised the “powerful images” from Gaza by Mahmud Hams, Omar Al-Qattaa, Said Khatib and Bashar Taleb.The AFP photographers’ work encapsulated “the enduring humanity of the people of Gaza amid widespread destruction and loss,” they said.The Pulitzer nomination crowns an exceptional year for Hams, who also won the News award at the Visa pour l’Image festival in Perpignan and the Bayeux Calvados Prize for war correspondents — two of the most prestigious international awards in photojournalism.AFP has provided uninterrupted coverage of the war in Gaza since 2023, when Hamas launched its attack against Israel on October 7, with teams on both sides of the border to guarantee rigorous and impartial information.AFP’s local journalists are working in perilous conditions in Gaza to document the consequences of the war on civilians.Since the start of the war, virtually no journalist has been able to cross into Gaza, which borders Israel and Egypt.”This recognition is a tribute not only to the talent and bravery of these photographers, but also to AFP’s steadfast commitment to documenting events with accuracy and integrity, wherever they unfold,” Phil Chetwynd, AFP’s global news director, said in a statement.”We are deeply grateful to Mahmud, Omar, Said, and Bashar, whose work gives voice to those caught in the heart of the conflict,” he added.
Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood on Tuesday said two of his forthcoming shows with Israeli-born rock musician Dudu Tassa had been cancelled due to “credible threats”.The guitarist and keyboardist had been due to perform two dates with Tassa in the western English city of Bristol and in London in June.A pro-Palestinian activist movement that advocates political and economic action against Israel over its treatment of Palestinians welcomed the announcement.”Palestinians welcome the cancellation of both of their UK shows. We reiterate our call for all venues to refuse to programme this complicit event that can only artwash genocide,” the PACBI-BDS movement, which had campaigned against the performances, said on X.Announcing the axing of the shows, Greenwood, Tassa and their musicians said the “venues and their blameless staff have received enough credible threats to conclude that it’s not safe to proceed”. The letter posted on X said the decision would be “hailed as a victory by the campaigners… but we see nothing to celebrate and don’t find anything positive has been achieved”.”Forcing musicians not to perform and denying people who want to hear them an opportunity to do so is self-evidently a method of censorship and silencing,” it said.”We believe art exists above and beyond politics…artists should be free to express themselves regardless of their citizenship or their religion -– and certainly regardless of the decisions made by their governments,” it added.The letter comes after Irish rappers Kneecap had several concerts cancelled.British counter terrorism police last week launched an investigation into online videos of the Irish band after it denied supporting Hamas and Hezbollah or inciting violence against UK politicians.The police probe came as nearly 40 other groups and artists rallied around Kneecap with a joint statement in which they said that “as artists, we feel the need to register our opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom”.Greenwood and his fellow musicians added: “We have no judgement to pass on Kneecap but note how sad it is that those supporting their freedom of expression are the same ones most determined to restrict ours.”Radiohead performed in Tel Aviv in 2017 despite being urged to cancel as part of a cultural boycott.”Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government,” Yorke wrote on Twitter at the time. “We’ve played in Israel for over 20 years through a succession of governments, some more liberal than others. As we have in America,” he said.”We don’t endorse Netanyahu any more than Trump, but we still play in America,” he added.
Israel’s military has called up tens of thousands of reservists for its planned expanded offensive in Gaza, which an official said entails the “conquest” of the Palestinian territory.With one of the best equipped armies in the world, what forces are available to Israel?A large part of the adult population has completed military service and they are required to remain reservists until at least the age of 41, depending on rank and branch of service.But it is not compulsory for reservists to respond to the call-up.Israel’s army has 169,500 soldiers, both conscripts and professionals, according to the Military Balance annual report by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). It also has 465,000 reservists.In January 2024, 295,000 reservists and 45,000 volunteers joined to take part in the war triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, according to the latest available army figures.Brigadier General Rami Abudraham, head of planning for ground forces, told a parliamentary committee on Monday that the voluntary mobilisation rate for reservists is more than 75 percent.”It’s more than a miracle… after a year and a half of war,” he said.According to the Mediterranean Foundation for Strategic Studies (FMES), Israel’s army has 12 ground divisions and five independent brigades — such as paratroopers or commandos.An Israeli army division has between 13,000 and 20,000 troops and a brigade between 3,000 and 7,000, according to experts. Israel’s Air Force has 316 combat aircraft, including 175 that can operate within a radius of more than 1,000 kilometres, according to the IISS.By comparison, Britain’s Royal Air Force has 146 fighter jets.The IISS also says that Israel has five submarines, seven small warships known as corvettes and 42 patrol boats, including eight able to fire missiles. Israel has never confirmed or denied that it has nuclear weapons, but according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) it has 90 nuclear warheads.- No shortage of soldiers -Since the Hamas attack in October 2023, Israel has operated on several fronts outside Gaza.These include the West Bank, a separate Palestinian territory which Israel has occupied since 1967, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen from where Iran-backed Huthi rebels have launched missile and drone attacks, and Iran itself, which directly attacked Israel twice in 2024.In Lebanon, a November ceasefire agreement ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah.But Israel has maintained several positions in south Lebanon and continues to carry out deadly strikes inside the country.Since Islamist-led forces ousted Syria’s former president Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against military targets there also. It has also sent troops into the demilitarised buffer zone in the Golan Heights — much of which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 war.The Huthis, who control swathes of Yemen including the capital Sanaa, have launched missiles and drones at Israel throughout the Gaza war, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians.Israel has responded with several retaliatory strikes.”There is no problem with a shortage of soldiers,” former brigadier general Yossi Kuperwasser, an expert at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), told AFP.He said operations in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen do not currently require the mobilisation of reserve forces.”On most fronts, the army does not need to mobilise many men and there are enough soldiers and reservists for the upcoming operation in Gaza,” he added.
