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US president convenes top advisers as US and Jordanian forces help Israel intercept barrageIran launches attack against Israel – liveIran said it launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles towards Israel on Saturday in a major attack following days of acute tension building up in the region and warnings from the US and elsewhere about a wider conflict erupting.Air attack warning sirens began wailing...

Draft resolution loosens linkage between Gaza ceasefire and hostage release as US tries to claw back leadership on issue at UNWashington’s draft UN security council resolution on Gaza marks a shift in the US position, but it is a nuanced shift, retaining the linkage between a ceasefire and hostage release while loosening that linkage and emphasising that an immediate end to hostilities is the...

Ro Khanna, Biden campaign surrogate, believes US president should take tougher line with ‘insufferably arrogant’ Israeli PMJoe Biden has committed a “strategic mistake” by “bear-hugging” the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as he prosecutes war with Hamas, a leading congressional progressive Democrat and Biden campaign surrogate said.“The bear-hugging of Netanyahu has been a strategic mistake,” Ro Khanna said, accusing the Israeli leader of conducting...

‘You need drivers, trucks and a distribution system that doesn’t exist,’ says president of Refugees International aid advocacy groupThe US plan to build a floating port off the Gaza coast is a bold move, reminiscent of the Mulberry harbours built after D-day in Normandy, but there are serious concerns that what relief it brings will be too little too late for Palestinians facing starvation.“When...

Human rights groups also want to see executive order used to stop US groups from donating millions of dollars each year to settlersThere are growing calls for Joe Biden to use his new executive order sanctioning violent Israeli settlers to also target political leaders, including government ministers, responsible for driving attacks against Palestinians.Pro-Israel groups and others in the US say the order is potentially...

Financial sanctions and visa bans imposed on four individuals as US frustration with Israel growsMiddle East crisis – live updatesJoe Biden has issued an executive order targeting Israeli settlers in the West Bank who have been attacking Palestinians, amid fast-growing frustration in Washington at Israel’s trajectory in the midst of its war in Gaza.The order initially imposes financial sanctions and visa bans against four...

Antony Blinken tells Congress he made second emergency determination covering $147.5m sale for equipmentFor the second time this month the Biden administration is bypassing Congress to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel as Israel continues to prosecute its war against Hamas in Gaza under increasing international criticism.The state department said on Friday that the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, had told Congress that...