The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they happen.
Belgium to summon Israeli envoy after its development agency in Gaza ‘completely destroyed’
The Belgian foreign ministry says it will summon the Israeli ambassador after the Gaza offices of Belgium’s development agency were “completely destroyed” in a strike.
The office building of @Enabel, the Belgian Agency for Development Cooperation, in #Gaza has been bombed and is completely destroyed.
Attacking civilian buildings is and remains totally unacceptable.
Together with @hadjalahbib, I will summon the Israeli ambassador. pic.twitter.com/CYnsrPhdtA
— Caroline Gennez (@carogennez) February 1, 2024
Egypt said wary Israeli op along ‘Philadelphi Route’ could cause Gazans to flee Strip
Jerusalem has given explicit assurances to Cairo that any military operation along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt will not result in the mass migration of Palestinians to Egyptian territory, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
Citing an Egyptian source familiar with the matter, the broadcaster reports that Egypt’s concerns over the so-called Philadelphi Route are not over an Israeli operation itself, but the prospect that it could cause large numbers of Gazans to flee into the Sinai Peninsula.
After numerous coalition lawmakers attended a conference this week backing the reestablishment of settlements in Gaza, the report says Egypt is increasingly suspicious of the Israeli government’s intentions regarding the migration of Palestinians and is therefore demanding guarantees and not settling for verbal promises.
Aussie police: Pro-Palestinian protesters chanted antisemitic slogans, but not ‘gas the Jews’
SYDNEY — Australian police say a forensic analysis did not find evidence pro-Palestinian protesters chanted “gas the Jews” outside the Sydney Opera House last year, but the investigation found some used antisemitic slogans.
Around 1,000 pro-Palestinian supporters marched through downtown Sydney in October to the city’s iconic Opera House, which the government had illuminated in the colors of the Israeli flag following the October 7 attack by Hamas.
Unverified footage on social media platforms showed a small group lighting flares and chanting some words with the subtitle “gas the Jews.” Police had engaged an independent expert in biometric science to examine the audio-visual files.
“The phrase chanted during that protest … was ‘Where’s the Jews?’ not another phrase as otherwise widely reported,” New South Wales state police Deputy Commissioner Malcolm Lanyon says during a media briefing.
Lanyon says there’s evidence of other “offensive and completely unacceptable” antisemitic statements used by protesters.
“But I think the major contention has been about the phrase that was chanted,” Lanyon says, adding the audio and visuals inspected by the police were not doctored.
People who gave statements to the police that they heard offensive slogans could not source it to any particular individual. Police will continue to investigate if offendes were committed during the protests, Lanyon says.
Russia jokes at hostages’ expense after Israel welcomes band opposed to Ukraine invasion
Russia’s foreign ministry decides to make fun of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, to get back over a Russian-Belarusian band that denounces Moscow’s Ukraine invasion being welcomed in Tel Aviv after they were held in Thailand on immigration charges that had sparked fears they could be deported to Russia and face prison.
Several members of Bi-2 have dual nationalities, including Israeli and Australian.
“We understand the attempts of Israeli diplomats to show that they can free, if not the hostages, then musicians,” the Russian Foreign Ministry writes on Facebook.
Over 130 hostages, mainly civilians, have been held by the Hamas terror group in Gaza for nearly four months. Some have been killed in captivity.
The quip comes at the end of a long post in which Moscow denies having had Thailand do its bidding by detaining the band for a week.
Russian independent media had reported that Moscow’s diplomats were demanding the band be sent to Russia.