Israel: Ramming incident near army base kills one – DW – 10/27/2024

Irancalled for an urgent United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting to condemn Israel’s airstrikes on the country this weekend.

In a letter to the UN chief and the head of the council, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi demanded “an urgent meeting of the UNSC to take a decisive position in condemning this aggression.”

Araghchi added that, though most of the projectiles fired by Israel were intercepted, the attack led to damage at “the target points,” as well as the death of four soldiers. 

Citing diplomats, the Reuters news agency reported that the Security Council is meeting on Monday to discuss Israel’s attack in Iran.

Relatives of the October 7 attack victims interrupted a speech by -Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Israel’s official Hebrew commemoration date for the attacks. 

Calls such as “my father was killed” and “shame on you” were heard as Netanyahu stood in front of the crowd without saying a word.

About 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza over a year after the attacks. Netanyahu and his government have been facing pressure from the hostages’ relatives and Israel’s international allies to reach a truce.

Relatives have been holding large-scale protests to call for release of their loved ones, with some of them saying they think that Netanyahu does not want a deal.

One person was killed and dozens injured when a truck rammed a bus and a transit stop next to an Israeli army base near Tel Aviv on Sunday.

The ramming occurred near the headquarters of the Mossad spy agency..

“All investigative directions are being examined with an emphasis on the suspicion that this is a terror attack,” the Reuters news agency cited the Israeli police as saying.

According to police, the truck driver steered the vehicle, which carried heavyweight baggage, into a group of people who stood at the bus stop. According to Magen David Adum (MDA), the Israeli emergency services, most of the injured were on the bus. 

Israeli media reported that the assailant was an Arab citizen of Israel. Police said he was shot dead by a nearby bystander.

Most of those injured by the ramming were elderly people who came to visit the nearby army base, MDA told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

At least eight people were killed and 25 wounded in an Israeli strike near the coastal city of Sidon in southern Lebanon, the LebaneseHealth Ministry said.

The strike hit a densely populated area, where many internally displaced people from areas further south had relocated, the French AFP news agency reported. The target was an apartment, which was destroyed, AFP added.

Earlier on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces issued a call for residents of 14 Lebanese villages to evacuate. But Harat Saida, which was hit in this strike, was not among them.

The directors of the CIA and Israel’s Mossad will meet Qatar’s prime minister in Doha on Sunday to begin negotiations for a short-term Gaza cease-fire and the release of some hostages by Hamas in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, Reuters report.

The talks aim to get Israel and Islamist militant group Hamas to agree to a cease-fire in Gaza that would last less than a month, with the hope that it would lead to a more permanent agreement. 

As Israel commemorates the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack, the country’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said “painful concessions” were needed to secure the release of the hostages in Gaza. 

“Not all objectives can be reached through military operations alone,” Gallant said.

The Israelimilitary said four soldiers have been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon, with five others being severely wounded. 

According to Israeli media, the four were killed as a result of confronting Hezbollah militants in one of southern Lebanon’s Shiite villages.

The total number of Israeli soldiers killed in the October 7 terrorist attacks in 2023, and the wars that followed in Gaza and Lebanon, stands at 769.
 

IsraeliPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country’s attack on Iran”achieved all its objectives.”

“The air force attacked throughout Iran. We severely harmed Iran’s defense capabilities and its ability to produce missiles that are aimed at us,” Netanyahu said in his first public comments on the strikes.

“We promised we would respond to the Iranian attack and on Saturday we struck,” the Israeli leader added, referring to an earlier Iranian missile barrage targeting Israel.
 

Iran’s parliament convened for a meeting behind closed doors to discuss the country’s response to the Israeli airstrikes on key targets.

The Iranian parliament has limited influence, with the decision making being concentrated in the state leadership headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Speaking about the Israeli attack, Khamenei said it should “neither be downplayed nor exaggerated,” without explicitly calling for a retaliation. 

According to Khamenei, Israel should be made to “understand the strength, will, and initiative of the Iranian nation and its youth,” and that the decision on the country’s possible response should be made by the Iranian authorities.

At least 35 people were injured, some of them seriously, after a truck rammed into a bus and a nearby stop in central Israel, Israeli authorities say.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz said at least 10 of people were seriously injured in the attack.

The circumstances were not immediately clear, but Palestinians have carried out dozens of vehicle-ramming attacks over the years. Israeli police said they are investigating the incident.

The attack took place near the Glilot army base in the city of Ramat Hasharon, some ten kilometers (6.2 miles) to the north of Tel Aviv. 

ftm/wd (Reuters, AFP, AP)