Nasrallah threatens Cyprus, Israel; IDF chief: Hezbollah 'unaware' of all our capabilities (2024)

The U.S. military's on-again, off-again floating pier in Gaza is expected to resume operations on Thursday to unload sorely needed humanitarian aid for Palestinians, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the pier had been re-attached to the shore on Wednesday after being temporarily removed last Friday due to poor sea conditions.

Aid began arriving via the U.S.-built pier on May 17, and the U.N. said it transported 137 trucks of aid to warehouses, some 900 metric tons.

But then rough seas damaged the pier, forcing repairs, and poor weather and security considerations have limited the number of days it has been operational.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced in March the plan to put the pier in place for aid deliveries as famine loomed in Gaza, a Hamas-run enclave of 2.3 million people, during the war between Israel and the Palestinian militants.

The U.S. military estimates the pier will cost more than $200 million for the first 90 days and involve about 1,000 service members.

It is unclear how much longer it will be operational.

Speaking at the Pentagon on Tuesday, spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder declined to say when the military might halt its pier operations altogether. He said the pier has so far allowed for a total of over 3,500 metric tons of aid to reach Gaza's shores.

"With the caveat that this has always been intended to be a temporary pier, I'm not aware at this point of any established date of: 'This is when we're going to stop,'" he told reporters.

"And again, taking a step back here, the big picture: Whether it be by land, sea or air, (the United States is) employing all avenues to get assistance into Gaza."

The U.S. military said on Wednesday it had destroyed one ground control station and one command and control node in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen.

In a statement, the U.S. military's Central Command added its forces also destroyed two Houthi drone boats in the Red Sea.

The Iran-aligned Houthis first launched drone and missile strikes in the key waterway in November in what they say is solidarity with Palestinian militants in Gaza. In over 70 attacks, they have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least three seafarers.

An image, captured by photojournalist Ronen Zvulun for Reuters last week, shows four layers: A sunflower field, a border, bombarded buildings, and blue skies.

Like any photo, it is both revealing and limiting. We see the ruins of Gaza, but not of the kibbutzim frozen after the October 7 massacre behind the photographer. After eight months of war and attrition, the sunflowers bloom again. Some Israelis might say the victory is twofold: The revival and growth of Israel along the death and destruction of the enemy.

Devoid of a political stance, this image suggests that life in Israel goes on detached from the devastation of the Gaza War. Reaching millions of views on X, thousands of pro-Palestinians shared the photo with the phrase "Zone of Interest," referring to the recent Oscar-winning film about the family life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoss in his beautiful home outside the death camp.

The "Zone of Interest" is a German term the Nazis used for the six square miles around Auschwitz, where SS officers lived and worked. In the Oscar-award winning film, the only indication of Jews is the smoke from the crematorium, unveiling the horror next to the idyllic life of the Hoss family and the occasional wail and cry. So comfortable was their life that the commandant's wife refused to leave it and the vast garden she had turned into a patch of paradise when he was reassigned.

Has Israel become a "Zone of Interest" of sorts next to Gaza where its citizens live pleasant lives, in denial of the suffering their state inflicts on Palestinians?

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President Nikos Christodoulides responded to the threat Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah leveled against the country earlier Wednesday, saying "Cyprus remains uninvolved in any military conflicts and positions itself as part of the solution rather than the problem," the Cyprus Mail news outlet reported.

Speaking to reporters at the University of Cyprus' graduation ceremony, Christodoulides stressed the country's role as a "humanitarian facilitator," according to the report. "Our humanitarian corridor is a testament to our commitment to peace and stability," he said. "Cyprus is not part of the problem, it is part of the solution."

Christodoulides said that Cyprus has open diplomatic channels with both the Lebanese and Iranian governments, and assured foreign leaders that his government will address the matter through these channels, according to the report. While he acknowledged that Nasrallah's remarks were "troubling," he "refuted any claims suggesting Cyprus' involvement in military operations."

"Such statements are not pleasant, but they do not reflect reality. Cyprus is not participating in any military engagements," Christodoulides said.

PARIS – Two minors were arrested on suspicion of gang raping and beating a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a suspected antisemitic attack in the Paris area on Saturday.

The two, both aged 13, were brought before a judge on Monday and are being charged with rape. They were placed in a detention center for minors. A third teen is accused of filming the assault, among other offenses.

The attack occurred as the girl and a friend walked through a park on their way to the girl's home in Courbevoie on Saturday evening. The two boys forced her to follow them into an abandoned building, where they were then joined by a third adolescent. They hit her, threw her to the ground and threatened to burn her with a lighter and kill her, while uttering antisemitic slurs, according to French media which cited investigators in Courbevoie and the prosecutor's office in Nanterre, another Paris suburb.

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Australian border authorities stopped at least three Australian citizens who planned to travel to Israel to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, according to a report published by The Guardian on Wednesday.

According to the report, the Australian government is also warning citizens who seek to serve in a foreign country's military "to carefully consider their legal obligations and ensure their conduct does not constitute a criminal offense."

Official sources who declined to be identified told The Guardian that Australian law does not prohibit citizens from serving in a foreign country's armed forces, but the report noted that "the Australian federal police has the power to investigate war crimes and other serious crimes allegedly committed overseas."

Following the recent increase in police violence at Israel's anti-government demonstrations, including two incidents involving medical doctors, where one was injured and another arrested while attempting to treat protestors, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and Ramat Gan's Tel HaShomer Hospital held protests on Wednesday, with another, Rambam Hospital in Haifa releasing a statement of support.

On Tuesday, a group of professors from the Weizmann Institute announced they would be striking the following day as a response to the police's use of excessive force.

In a video posted to X, physics professor Kfir Blum called on his fellow academics to join the strike. "I am disgusted by the increase in police violence against protestors, law-abiding citizens, and medical personnel," Blum said in his recording message.

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The U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday it had conducted an airstrike in Syria that killed a senior Islamic State official and facilitator named Usamah Jamal Muhammad Ibrahim al-Janabi.

"His death will disrupt ISIS's ability to resource and conduct terror attacks," it said in a statement on X.

"There is no indication any civilians were harmed in this strike," the statement continued.