Israel Says Iran Struck With Missile Armed With Cluster Munitions
Iran's mission to the United Nations declined to respond to the Israeli claim, which was linked to a ballistic missile that struck Or Yehuda, Israel, and nearby towns. No one was killed by the missile or its bomblets, and it was unclear if anyone was injured.
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Cluster munitions have warheads that burst and scatter numerous bomblets, and are known for causing indiscriminate harm to civilians. More than 100 countries have signed on to a 2008 agreement to prohibit them — but Israel and Iran have not adopted the ban, nor have major powers like the United States, Russia, China and India.
Videos and photographs verified by The New York Times show an unexploded bomblet on the patio of an apartment building in Or Yehuda after an Iranian missile barrage on Thursday.
The object, which resembles a narrow artillery shell or rocket warhead, is most likely a submunition similar to those that have armed some Iranian ballistic missiles since 2014, according to Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank.
'The chances of hitting something increase when you have a missile that might not be as pinpoint-accurate as you would like it to be,' Mr. Hinz said in an interview. 'Sometimes you might not need that much destructive force — imagine you want to hit an air-defense or a missile-defense system. These things are not armored, they are pretty soft targets, so just having a geographical spread of the attack could be worth it even if the explosive force and penetrative power is less.'
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Chicago Tribune
5 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
What to expect, and what not to, at the UN meeting on an Israel-Palestinian two-state solution
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly is bringing high-level officials together this week to promote a two-state solution to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict that would place their peoples side by side, living in peace in independent nations. Israel and its close ally the United States are boycotting the two-day meeting, which starts Monday and will be co-chaired by the foreign ministers of France and Saudi Arabia. Israel's right-wing government opposes a two-state solution, and the United States has called the meeting 'counterproductive' to its efforts to end the war in Gaza. France and Saudi Arabia want the meeting to put a spotlight on the two-state solution, which they view as the only viable road map to peace, and to start addressing the steps to get there. The meeting was postponed from late June and downgraded from a four-day meeting of world leaders amid surging tensions in the Middle East, including Israel's 12-day war against Iran and the war in Gaza. 'It was absolutely necessary to restart a political process, the two-state solution process, that is today threatened, more threatened than it has ever been,' French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Sunday on CBS News' 'Face the Nation.' Here's what's useful to know about the upcoming gathering. The idea of dividing the Holy Land goes back decades. When the British mandate over Palestine ended, the U.N. partition plan in 1947 envisioned dividing the territory into Jewish and Arab states. Israel accepted the plan, but upon Israel's declaration of independence the following year, its Arab neighbors declared war and the plan was never implemented. Under a 1949 armistice, Jordan held control over the West Bank and east Jerusalem and Egypt over Gaza. Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those lands for a future independent state alongside Israel, and this idea of a two-state solution based on Israel's pre-1967 boundaries has been the basis of peace talks dating back to the 1990s. The two-state solution has wide international support. The logic behind it is that the populations of Israel, east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza are divided equally between Jews and Palestinians. As President Donald Trump shows off his golf courses for Britain's leader, crisis in Gaza loomsThe establishment of an independent Palestine would leave Israel as a democratic country with a solid Jewish majority and grant the Palestinians their dream of self-determination. France and Saudi Arabia have said they want to put a spotlight on the two-state solution as the only viable path to peace in the Middle East — and they want to see a road map with specific steps, first ending the war in Gaza. Israeli strikes kill at least 36 people in Gaza, officials say, as some aid restrictions are easedThe co-chairs said in a document sent to U.N. members in May that the primary goal of the meeting is to identify actions by 'all relevant actors' to implement the two-state solution — and 'to urgently mobilize the necessary efforts and resources to achieve this aim, through concrete and time-bound commitments.' Saudi diplomat Manal Radwan, who led the country's delegation to the preparatory conference, said the meeting must 'chart a course for action, not reflection.' It must be 'anchored in a credible and irreversible political plan that addresses the root cause of the conflict and offers a real path to peace, dignity and mutual security,' she said. French President Emmanuel Macron has pushed for a broader movement toward a two-state solution in parallel with a recognition of Israel's right to defend itself. He announced late Thursday that France will recognize the state of Palestine officially at the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly in late September. About 145 countries have recognized the state of Palestine. But Macron's announcement, ahead of Monday's meeting and amid increasing global anger over desperately hungry people in Gaza starting to die from starvation, makes France the most important Western power to do so. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects the two-state solution on both nationalistic and security grounds. Netanyahu's religious and nationalist base views the West Bank as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people, while Israeli Jews overwhelmingly consider Jerusalem their eternal capital. The city's eastern side is home to Judaism's holiest site, along with major Christian and Muslim holy places. Hard-line Israelis like Netanyahu believe the Palestinians don't want peace, citing the second Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s, and more recently the Hamas takeover of Gaza two years after Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005. The Hamas takeover led to five wars, including the current and ongoing 21-month conflict. At the same time, Israel also opposes a one-state solution in which Jews could lose their majority. Netanyahu's preference seems to be the status quo, where Israel maintains overall control and Israelis have fuller rights than Palestinians, Israel deepens its control by expanding settlements, and the Palestinian Authority has limited autonomy in pockets of the West Bank. Netanyahu condemned Macron's announcement of Palestinian recognition, saying it 'rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became.' The Palestinians, who label the current arrangement 'apartheid,' accuse Israel of undermining repeated peace initiatives by deepening settlement construction in the West Bank and threatening annexation. That would harm the prospect of a contiguous Palestinian state and their prospects for independence. Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the PLO Executive Committee and close associate of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the meeting will serve as preparation for a presidential summit expected in September. It will take place either in France or at the U.N. on the sidelines of the high-level meeting, U.N. diplomats said. Majdalani said the Palestinians have several goals, first a 'serious international political process leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state.' The Palestinians also want additional international recognition of their state by major countries including Britain. But expect that to happen in September, not at Monday's meeting, Majdalani said. And he said they want economic and financial support for the Palestinian Authority and international support for the reconstruction and recovery of the Gaza Strip. All 193 U.N. member nations have been invited to attend the meeting and a French diplomat said about 40 ministers are expected. The United States and Israel are the only countries who are boycotting. The co-chairs have circulated an outcome document which could be adopted, and there could be some announcements of intentions to recognize a Palestinian state. But with Israel and the United States boycotting, there is no prospect of a breakthrough and the resumption of long-stalled negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on an end to their conflict. Secretary-General António Guterres urged participants after the meeting was announced 'to keep the two-state solution alive.' And he said the international community must not only support a solution where independent states of Palestine and Israel live side-by-side in peace but 'materialize the conditions to make it happen.'
Chicago Tribune
5 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
As President Donald Trump shows off his golf courses for Britain's leader, crisis in Gaza looms
EDINBURGH, Scotland — President Donald Trump once suggested his golf course in Scotland 'furthers' the U.S.-U.K. relationship. Now he's getting the chance to prove it. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting Monday with Trump at a golf property owned by the president's family near Turnberry in southwestern Scotland — then later traveling to Abderdeen, on the country's northeast coast, where there's another Trump golf course and a third is opening soon. During his first term in 2019, Trump posted of his Turnberry property, 'Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship!' Starmer is not a golfer, but toggling between Trump's Scottish courses shows the outsized influence the president puts on properties bearing his name — and on golf's ability to shape geopolitics. However, even as Trump may want to focus on showing off his golf properties, Starmer will try to center the conversation on more urgent global matters. He plans to urge Trump to press Israel to allow more aid into Gaza and attempt to end what Downing St. called 'the unspeakable suffering and starvation' in the territory, while pushing for a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas. Britain, along with France and Germany, has criticized Israel for 'withholding essential humanitarian assistance' as hunger spread in Gaza. Over the weekend, Starmer said Britain will take part in efforts led by Jordan to airdrop aid after Israel temporarily eased restrictions. But British Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds acknowledged Monday that only the U.S. has 'the leverage' to make a real difference in the conflict. Still, asked about the crisis in Gaza on Sunday night, Trump was largely dismissive — focused more on how he's not personally gotten credit for previous attempts to provide food aid. 'It's terrible. You really at least want to have somebody say, 'Thank you,'' Trump said. The president added, 'It makes you feel a little bad when you do that' without what he considered proper acknowledgement. Starmer is under pressure from his Labour Party lawmakers to follow France in recognizing a Palestinian state, a move both Israel and the U.S. have condemned. The British leader says the U.K. supports statehood for the Palestinians but that it must be 'part of a wider plan' for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Israeli strikes kill at least 36 people in Gaza, officials say, as some aid restrictions are easedAlso on Monday's agenda, according to Starmer's office, are efforts to promote a possible peace deal to end fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine — particularly efforts at forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table in the next 50 days. Trump in the past sharply criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for also failing to express enough public gratitude toward U.S. support for his country, taking a similar tack he's now adopting when it comes to aid for Gaza. The president, though, has shifted away from that tone and more sharply criticized Putin and Russia in recent weeks. On Tuesday, Trump will be at the site of his new course near Aberdeen for an official ribbon-cutting. It opens to the public on Aug. 13 and tee times are already for sale — with the course betting that a presidential visit can help boost sales. What to expect, and what not to, at the UN meeting on an Israel-Palestinian two-state solutionProtesters have planned a demonstration in Balmedie, near Trump's existing Aberdeen golf course, after demonstrators took to the streets across Scotland on Saturday to decry the president's visit while he was golfing. Starmer and Trump are likely to find more common ground on trade issues. While China initially responded to Trump's tariff threats by retaliating with high import taxes of its own on U.S. goods, it has since begun negotiating to ease trade tensions. Starmer and his country have taken a far softer approach. He's gone out of his way to work with Trump, flattering the president repeatedly during a February visit to the White House, and teaming up to announce a joint trade framework on tariffs for some key products in May. Starmer and Trump then signed a trade agreement during the G7 summit in Canada that freed the U.K.'s aerospace sector from U.S. tariffs and used quotas to reduce them on auto-related industries from 25% to 10% while increasing the amount of U.S. beef it pledged to import. Discussions with Starmer follow a Trump meeting Sunday with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry course. They announced a trade framework that will put 15% tariffs on most goods from both countries, though many major details remain pending. The president has for months railed against yawning U.S. trade deficits around the globe and sees tariffs as a way to try and close them in a hurry. But the U.S. ran an $11.4 billion trade surplus with Britain last year, meaning it exported more to the U.K. than it imported. Census Bureau figures this year indicate that the surplus could grow. There are still lingering U.S.-Britain trade issues that need fine-tuning. The deal framework from May said British steel would enter the U.S. duty-free, but it continues to face a 25% levy. U.K. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Monday that 'negotiations have been going on on a daily basis' and 'there's a few issues to push a little bit further today,' though he downplayed expectations of a resolution. The leader of Scotland, meanwhile, said he will urge Trump to lift the current 10% tariff on Scotch whisky. First Minister John Swinney said the spirit's 'uniqueness' justified an exemption. Even as some trade details linger and both leaders grapple with increasingly difficult choices in Gaza and Ukraine, however, Starmer's staying on Trump's good side appears to be working — at least so far. 'The U.K. is very well-protected. You know why? Because I like them — that's their ultimate protection,' Trump said during the G7.
CNN
6 minutes ago
- CNN
Leading Israeli human rights group accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza
A leading Israeli human rights group has accused Israel of 'committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,' becoming the first such organization to make the claim. B'Tselem said in a major report released on Monday that it came to that 'unequivocal conclusion' after an 'examination of Israel's policy in the Gaza Strip and its horrific outcomes, together with statements by senior Israeli politicians and military commanders about the goals of the attack.' CNN has reached out to the Israeli government and the military for comment. Israel has consistently argued that it is acting in accordance with international law and that its war in Gaza following the deadly Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023 is one of self-defense. When other, non-Israeli, groups have previously accused the country of committing genocide or genocidal acts, the Israeli government has reacted with anger, strongly rejecting the statements and often responding with claims that the accusations are grounded in antisemitism. B'Tselem said in the 79-page report that the reality on the ground in Gaza 'cannot be justified or explained as an attempt to dismantle the Hamas regime or its military capabilities.' The group said that Israel's onslaught on Gaza includes mass killing – both in direct attacks and through creating catastrophic living conditions – large-scale destruction of infrastructure, destruction of the social fabric, mass arrests and abuse of detainees, and mass forced displacement, including attempts at ethnic cleansing. It added that statements made by senior Israeli decision-makers 'have expressed genocidal intent throughout' the conflict. But while B'Tselem says the Israeli government is responsible for the situation in Gaza, it also accused the international community of enabling genocide. 'Many state leaders, particularly in Europe and the US have not only refrained from effective action to stop the genocide but enabled it – through statements affirming Israel's 'right to self-defense' or active support, including the shipment of weapons and ammunition – which continued even after the International Court of Justice ruled that there was 'plausible risk that Israel's actions amount to genocidal acts,'' it stated. The group said that the sense of fear, rage and desire for revenge which many Israelis felt after the October 7 terror attacks served as 'fertile ground for incitement against Palestinians in general, and Gazans in particular.' Hamas and its allies killed 1,200 people, including children, and kidnapped 251 others to Gaza during the attack – the worst terror attack on Israel since the country's establishment. The report from B'Tselem comes as pressure mounts on Israel over the catastrophic situation in Gaza. Images of children dying of acute malnutrition have provoked global outrage, with the United Kingdom, France and Germany saying last week that the crisis was 'man-made and avoidable.' At the same time, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure from all sides domestically – with protests demanding the end of the war and the release of all hostages growing in strength and frequency, and far-right members of his coalition threatening to collapse the government if he ends the conflict. While B'Tselem is the first Israeli organization to accuse the government of genocide, a number of international groups, organizations and governments have reached the same or similar conclusions in the past. The accusations have always sparked reaction, given their seriousness and the sensitivities around the use of the word genocide, which is defined by the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide as 'acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.' The United Nations Special Committee said last November that Israel's war conduct in Gaza was 'consistent with the characteristics of genocide,' including mass civilian casualties and using starvation as a weapon. Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing 'acts of genocide' against Palestinians in Gaza by depriving them of adequate water supplies last December, while Amnesty International said around the same time that there was 'sufficient evidence' to conclude genocide was happening in the territory. The government of South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel with the International Court of Justice in December 2023, accusing the country of committing genocide in Gaza. Ireland joined South Africa's case earlier this year. Several prominent Israeli individuals have also made the same accusation, including leading genocide expert Omer Bartov who penned an op-ed in the New York Times saying that his 'inescapable conclusion has become that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.' Israeli historian Lee Mordechai made a similar point earlier this month, collating a database of what he said were examples of Israel's war crimes in Gaza and saying that the evidence he had seen 'indicates that one of Israel's very likely objectives' was to 'ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip.'
