The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they unfold.
Thousands gather for London anti-Israel rally; police arrest four for hate crimes, public disorder
Thousands of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protesters rallied in London today, in the latest demonstration in the British capital demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and more aid for the war-ravaged territory.
The event, organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, began at Russell Square in the city center before attendees marched to Trafalgar Square for a mid-afternoon rally.
A smaller number of demonstrators also turned out for a counter-protest in support of Israel, with lines of police separating the two gatherings.
London has seen numerous large-scale anti-Israel protests since Israel mounted its military response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on October 7, as well as smaller pro-Israel counter-demonstrations.
The rallies for Palestinians have proved contentious, attracting criticism for fueling a hostile environment towards Jewish people. Some ruling Conservative lawmakers have branded them “hate marches.”
Police have made dozens of arrests over those months for antisemitic chanting and banners, promoting a proscribed organization, and assaulting emergency workers.
That included on Saturday, with officers making four arrests for hate crime, public disorder and terrorism offences.
A man was detained for the terror-related offence related to “inviting support for a proscribed organization,” London’s Metropolitan Police say.
Organizers have insisted throughout they are exercising their democratic rights and that law-breakers make up a tiny minority of the sometimes tens of thousands of people who have turned out.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier this month called for officers to take tougher action against protesters at such events, saying they “had descended into intimidation, threats and planned acts of violence”.
Top US general said to lay out Washington’s proposed alternative to Rafah offensive — report
A top US general laid out Washington’s proposal for an alternative to a ground IDF offensive sought by Israel in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah during a recent conversation with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reports tonight.
According to the report, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, conveyed that the US would not “accept” mass civilian casualties in Rafah, given the toll of civilian deaths in north and central Gaza.
The report says Brown summed up Washington’s proposal which includes securing Gaza’s border with Egypt with technological advances to prevent the smuggling of weapons through the Philadelphi Corridor, the isolation of the city of Rafah and the launch of targeted raids, and the establishment of a joint control room to coordinate on the targeted operations.
The conversation occurred last week during a visit to Washington by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Kan reports.
Israel is intent on operating in Rafah, Hamas’s last stronghold in Gaza, to dismantle its last four battalions in the city. Washington and much of the Western world have signaled their opposition to the plan, amid mounting concern for over a million Gazans who have taken refuge in the city from fighting in other areas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Biden administration have been locked in a growing public spat over the potential ground operation in Rafah.
Last week, a plan to send a senior Israeli delegation to Washington to discuss a Rafah offensive was scrapped by Netanyahu after the US abstained from a UN Security Council vote on a resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire, ensuring it would pass.
A US official then said the sides were working on a new date for the inter-agency meeting.
France to advance UNSC resolution calling for ‘permanent’ Gaza ceasefire, two states, release of hostages
France’s top diplomat Stephane Sejourne says his government will put forward a draft resolution at the UN Security Council setting out a “political” settlement of the war.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Cairo, he says the text will include “all the criteria for a two-state solution” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the peace blueprint long championed by the international community but opposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition.
Sejourne was speaking alongside the Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers and together they called for an “immediate and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza and the release of all hostages held by Palestinian terrorists since the October 7 massacre.
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Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Gaza “can endure no more destruction and humanitarian suffering”, and called on Israel to open its land crossings with the Gaza Strip to humanitarian aid.
Nearly all aid into the territory has trickled through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, where world leaders and the United Nations have accused Israel of impeding deliveries due to security inspections.
Israel has blamed the UN and other aid agencies for the crisis and has argued the hold-up is on their side.
On Thursday, Channel 12 reported that France was circulating a UN Security Council draft resolution that calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and recognition of a Palestinian state.
The draft also includes a condemnation of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, unlike the resolution that passed earlier this week, and a call for the release of the hostages taken from Israel on October 7, according to the report.
Israel’s envoy to the UN tells Channel 12 that the French proposal “plays into Hamas’s hands and rewards terrorism.”
The proposal “breaks all the principles of negotiations and advances unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state,” he says, adding that Israel will “strongly oppose this terrible proposal.”
France has advocated for a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, whereas the United States, Israel’s main ally, recently let pass a UN Security Council resolution that calls for a ceasefire during the month of Ramadan and a release of all the hostages.
UN chief condemns explosion in south Lebanon that injured 4 UN peacekeepers
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemns the explosion in southern Lebanon earlier today where four United Nations peacekeepers were hurt in a strike Lebanon has blamed on Israel, and which Israel has denied.
The UN said earlier four of its military observers were wounded when a shell exploded near them. The United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) did not identify the source of the shelling.
Guterres’s office says an investigation by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is underway.
Earlier, two unnamed security sources accused Israel of the strike in comments to Reuters, saying it took place outside the southern Lebanese border town of Rmeish. A source told Reuters the car was carrying three UN technical observers and one Lebanese translator when it was struck.
Israel and Lebanese terror group Hezbollah have been locked in cross-border skirmishes since the start of the war in Gaza, with Hezbollah attacking Israeli towns and military targets on a near-daily basis, claiming it is doing so in support of Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
In the statement, Guterres’s office says the situation on the “Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel since 8 October last year, with daily exchanges of fire between non-state armed groups based in Lebanon and the Israel Defense Forces, continues to be of grave concern,” and that “hostilities are in violation of Security Council resolution 1701” which was intended to resolve the 2006 Lebanon War.
“The impact on civilian areas, with dozens of civilian fatalities reported, destruction of residential and agricultural areas, and displacement of tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Blue Line, is unacceptable,” Guterres’s office says.
These actions “pose a grave threat to the security and stability of Lebanon, Israel, and the region.”
IDF: Fighter jet intercepts ‘suspicious aerial target’ from Syria
The Israel Defense Forces says a fighter jet intercepted “a suspicious aerial target” that was making its way into Israel from Syria.
The target was not detected as having crossed into Israeli territory, the IDF says.
Syrian sources report an alleged Israeli strike in southwestern area of Daraa
Syrian sources are reporting an alleged Israeli airstrike in southwestern Syria, in the Daraa area, according to multiple reports in the Hebrew-language media, which cited no further details.
The strike is not yet reported in Syrian media.