Middle East: Israel launches Deir al-Balah ground offensive – DW – 07/21/2025
It is the first time Israel has launched a ground offensive in Deir al-Balah in the 21 months since it began its attacks in the region in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attacks.
On Sunday, the Israeli military warned of imminent action against Hamas fighters in the area. An army spokesman called on residents to leave the area in a post in Arabic on X.
The Israeli military continues "to operate with intensity to eliminate terrorists and to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the area and is expanding its activities into new areas," the army said in a statement. "For your safety, immediately evacuate southward toward Al-Mawasi."
Situated in the southwest of the embattled area, Al-Mawasi was designated by Israel as a "humanitarian zone" earlier in the war. However, Israel has since attacked there multiple times, with its military saying it was targeting Hamas facilities.
Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned the mass displacement order had dealt "yet another devastating blow" to the Gaza Strip.
Initial estimates indicated that between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area when Sunday's order was given, including some
30,000 people sheltering in 57 displacement sites, OCHA said in a statement.
Israel has launched a ground offensive in Deir al-Balah, a city in central Gaza.
This comes after the Israeli military warned of imminent action against Hamas fighters in the area and issued evacuation orders.
Follow along as DW brings you the latest reports, explainers and analysis on developments across the Middle East.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Int'l Business Times
2 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Lebanese Militant Released After 40 Years In French Jail
One of France's longest-held inmates, the pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, was released from prison and is due to be deported on Friday, after more than 40 years behind bars for the killings of two diplomats. At around 3:40 am (01:30 GMT), a convoy of six vehicles left the Lannemezan penitentiary with lights flashing, AFP journalists saw. A source close to the case confirmed to AFP that 74-year-old Abdallah had left the prison. Abdallah was detained in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement in the murders of US military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris. The Paris Court of Appeal had ordered his release "effective July 25" on the condition that he leave French territory and never return. While he had been eligible for release since 1999, his previous requests were denied with the United States -- a civil party to the case -- consistently opposing him leaving prison. Inmates serving life sentences in France are typically freed after fewer than 30 years. Once out of prison, Abdallah is set to be transported to the Tarbes airport where a police plane will take him to Roissy for a flight to Beirut, according to a source close to the case. Abdallah's lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, visited for a final time on Thursday. "He seemed very happy about his upcoming release, even though he knows he is returning to the Middle East in an extremely tough context for Lebanese and Palestinian populations," Chalanset told AFP. AFP visited Abdallah last week after the court's release decision, accompanying a lawmaker to the detention centre. The founder of the Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Factions (FARL) -- a long-disbanded Marxist anti-Israel group -- said for more than four decades he had continued to be a "militant with a struggle". After his arrest in 1984, French police discovered submachine guns and transceiver stations in one of his Paris apartments. The appeals judges also found the length of his detention "disproportionate" to the crimes and given his age. Abdallah's family said they plan to meet him at Beirut airport's "honour lounge" before heading to their hometown of Kobayat in northern Lebanon where a reception is planned. Pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah is one of the longest-serving prisoners in France AFP
DW
11 hours ago
- DW
Nuclear negotiations with Iran: What can we expect? – DW – 07/24/2025
On Friday, Germany, France and the UK will negotiate with Iran in Istanbul about the future of its nuclear program. The stakes are high for Iran. There is much at stake when representatives from Germany, France and the United Kingdom meet their counterparts from Iran in Istanbul on Friday to negotiate the future of Iran's nuclear program. If the talks fail, Iran risks a new wave of sanctions. Questions remain about the technical status of Iran's nuclear program after the attacks by Israel and the US on Iranian nuclear facilities in June. Or whether Iran can continue its program at all. The limited information available does not appear to support claims by US President Donald Trump that Iran's nuclear facilities and nuclear program have been "totally obliterated," said Hamidreza Azizi, an Iran expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). In his view, Iran would likely be able to resume its enrichment program to a certain extent in the short to medium term. He estimates that the country still has much of the highly enriched uranium it stockpiled over the past few years. "Iran has not been deprived of its ability to enrich uranium," Azizi told DW. "So far, there has been no indication that Iran has actively taken steps to restart its program, but such a move would be more a matter of political decision-making, as well as military and security considerations, rather than technical capability." Michael Brzoska, a political scientist at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, took a slightly different stance. He said it is likely to have become technically much more difficult for Iran to continnue enriching the uranium that is still available to a level suitable to make nuclear weapons. The centrifuges required for enrichment have probably been damaged to such an extent that they can no longer be used, Brzoska said. "Although it cannot be ruled out that there could be hidden centrifuges in other locations, there is currently no information on this." In order to exert pressure on Iran, Germany, France and the UK agreed with the US in mid-July this year to set Iran a deadline for reaching a nuclear agreement. This expires at the end of August. If no agreement is reached by then, the European partners plan to automatically reinstate previous UN sanctions against Tehran. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video It is entirely possible that the Iranian leadership is reconsidering its current strategy, Brzoska believes. Iran has repeatedly denied that it wants to use its nuclear program for military purposes. "But its behavior, especially the high-level enrichment of uranium, has brought it ever closer to this possibility," the expert pointed out. "And it has thus sparked fear among other states."Iran is currently sending out "mixed signals," Azizi told DW, explaining that Iranian officials, including the president and foreign minister, continue to insist that Iran remains open to diplomatic engagement. At the same time, he sees no indication that Iran is willing to soften its positions on other contentious issues, such as domestic uranium enrichment or its support for non-state actors in the region. "The leadership seems to be trying to buy time and avoid a renewed escalation until they determine how to address the various problems at hand," Azizi said. However, Iran's time is limited due to the end-of-August deadline jointly set by Germany, France, the UK and the US. After this date, the UN sanctions, which were lifted in 2016 as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the nuclear agreement, could once again be imposed. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The agreement contains a mechanism known as the "snapback," which entitles each of the states the signed at the time — the US, the UK, France, China, Russia, Germany and the EU — to launch a procedure that would automatically lead to the reintroduction of all UN sanctions against Iran after 30 days. The US withdrew from the agreement in 2018, under Trump's first administration, so it cannot initiate this mechanism. However, talks in mid-July show that the three European states have been coordinating closely with Washington. The US, meanwhile, has imposed its own sanctions against Iran. These target specific sectors of the economy, such as oil exports and banking transactions, and also include sanctions against third countries and companies that do business with Iran. In this respect, the outcome of the upcoming talks is highly important for Iran, said Brzoska. "Sanctions imposed by the US will ultimately be more important from an Iranian perspective. However, the snapback mechanism is likely to prompt a whole series of states to impose economic restrictions on Iran." These restrictions would affect oil exports, for example, as well as the transfer of so-called dual-use technologies, that is, technology that can also be used for military purposes. "Iran is therefore likely to work towards ensuring that the Europeans do not reapply this mechanism," Brzoska said. Beyond the possibility of not activating the snapback agreement, however, the three European states have no other incentives, or carrots, to offer Iran, said Azizi. This could make reaching an agreement more difficult, he believes. "The best we can realistically expect from the upcoming talks is that both sides might agree to extend the deadline for triggering the snapback mechanism, allowing more time for diplomacy and a potential diplomatic resolution."
Int'l Business Times
11 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
France Will Recognise State Of Palestine: Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday his country would formally recognise a Palestinian state during a UN meeting in September, the most powerful European nation to announce such a move. At least 142 countries now recognise or plan to recognise Palestinian statehood, according to an AFP tally -- though Israel and the United States strongly oppose the moves. Several countries have announced plans to recognise statehood for the Palestinians since Israel launched a bombardment of Gaza in 2023 in response to the October 7 attacks. Macron's announcement drew immediate anger from Israel, with Deputy Prime Minister Yariv Levin labelling it a "shameless decision" that would be a "direct aid to terrorism". Senior Palestinian Authority official Hussein al-Sheikh welcomed the move, saying it "reflects France's commitment to international law and its support for the Palestinian people's rights to self-determination and the establishment of our independent state". International concern is growing about the plight of the more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where the fighting has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis and warnings of mass starvation. Israel has rejected accusations it is responsible for Gaza's deepening hunger crisis, which the World Health Organization has called "man-made" and France blamed on an Israeli "blockade". Macron said the "urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and rescue the civilian population". "We must finally build the State of Palestine, ensure its viability and enable it, by accepting its demilitarisation and fully recognising Israel, to contribute to the security of all in the Middle East," he wrote on social media. He said he intended to make the announcement at the UN General Assembly in September. While France would be the most significant European power to recognise a Palestinian state, others have hinted they could do the same. Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced he would hold a call with counterparts in Germany and France on efforts to stop the fighting on Friday, adding that a ceasefire would "put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state". Norway, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia all announced recognition following the outbreak of the Gaza conflict, along with several other non-European countries. Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed 59,587 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
