UN experts warn against ‘surging Israeli settler terror’ – as it happened | US-Israel war on Iran
UN experts warn against ‘surging Israeli settler terror’
A team of UN experts has issued a “stark warning about surging Israeli settler terror” in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem and “the existential risk it poses to Palestinian communities’ presence on the land”.
The group of 14, including the UN’s special rapporteur for Palestine, Francesca Albanese, cited a sharp increase in the number of Palestinian casualties in settler attacks this year, saying at least 13 had been killed and close to 500 injured in five months amid the “settler brutality”.
The experts said in a statement:
Relentless attacks by the settler-colonial movement, carried out with the support and acquiescence of the Israeli State, have become a daily terror in Palestinian lives, sowing fear, uncertainty and profound insecurity that inevitably compels the forcible displacement of the indigenous population.
The escalating violence, carried out with full impunity, serves as an instrument of coercion in the hands of the occupying power, facilitating ethnic cleansing.”
The recent escalation of regional hostilities had drawn international attention away from the realities in the occupied territories, the UN team said, and the “displacement of people has slipped further from sight”.
Key events
Closing summary
We’re wrapping up our live coverage of the Middle East crisis for now but we have a full report on the latest, and here’s a recap of the day’s events. Thanks for joining us.
Donald Trump announced Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to “stop shooting” at each other in a mutual de-escalation. Hezbollah had pledged through intermediaries not to attack Israel, and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to pull back any troops preparing to attack Beirut, the US president said.
Lebanon’s embassy in Washington said the agreement would not end the conflict but that it called for Israel to refrain from strikes on Beirut and its southern suburbs controlled by Hezbollah, while the Iran-aligned group would halt its attacks on Israel.
Netanyahu said Israel would continue military operations in southern Lebanon, where ground forces are pushing their deepest incursion in 25 years.
Hostilities in southern Lebanon later appeared to continue, with Hezbollah reportedly claiming several attacks on Israeli targets in the south late on Monday. The Israeli military said early on Tuesday it had intercepted two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel, with no injuries reported.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the militia would support a full ceasefire across all of Lebanon as a precursor to the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Lebanon said it would seek to expand the ceasefire in talks with Israel in Washington DC on Wednesday.
Iranian state media said Tehran was halting indirect peace talks with the US and might end a ceasefire that has largely held since early April, citing the war in Lebanon.
Trump later told CNBC the peace talks had “started to get very boring” and that he “couldn’t care less” if they were over. However, he also told US ABC News he expected there would be a deal with Tehran “over the next week” to extend the truce and reopen the strait of Hormuz.
The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Quds Force threatened to expand its blockade of the strait of Hormuz to the Bab El Mandeb strait, another chokepoint at the mouth of the Red Sea.
Oil prices rose 4% on Monday amid the heightened tensions.
UN chief António Guterres said peacekeepers would be needed in Lebanon after the mandate of the current mission expired at the end of this year – an option likely to face opposition from the US and Israel.
A team of 14 UN experts issued a “stark warning about surging Israeli settler terror” in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem and the “existential risk” it posed to Palestinian communities there.
With news agencies
William Christou
When Hussain Alawieh used to take tourists to Beaufort Castle, they would marvel at the view. The ancient hilltop fort still offered the same sweeping panoramic views of south Lebanon and the Litani River that empires fought over for a millennia.
On Sunday, the view from the castle was obscured by white phosphorus smoke, the toxic incendiary munition providing a smoke screen for advancing Israeli soldiers. Out of the fog rose an Israeli flag, and the castle – for the first time in 26 years – was once again conquered.
In the age of drones and surveillance blimps, the value of the ancient hilltop fort is diminished. But to both Israelis and Lebanese, its capture carried psychological weight in a conflict that for six weeks had ground to a deadlock.
See the full story here:
Further to the last post: Concerns over Unifil’s exit come as Israeli troops are occupying southern Lebanon and as Israel and Lebanon are holding direct negotiations seeking to end their decades of hostilities.
Their next round of talks is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington DC, with Lebanese negotiators reportedly hoping to widen the scope of areas that will not be attacked in the country as they seek a complete ceasefire.
Unifil currently counts about 7,500 peacekeepers from nearly 50 countries, deployed in south Lebanon near the Blue Line. The force has been a buffer between Lebanon and Israel since 1978 although its presence has not prevented repeated outbreaks of conflict.
Several Lebanese sources told AFP that Beirut, which has pledged to disarm Hezbollah, supports maintaining a UN presence after Unifil’s departure.
Lebanon’s ambassador to the UN, Ahmad Arafa, thanked UN chief António Guterres for his report and said:
Recent developments have only heightened Lebanon’s urgent need for continued UN and international assistance, specifically to facilitate an Israeli withdrawal on the one hand, and to enable the state to extend its authority over its entire territory on the other.”
Several members of the security council also support replacing Unifil, particularly China and Russia.
UN secretary general António Guterres has said peacekeepers will be needed in Lebanon after the mandate of the current mission expires at the end of this year – an option likely to face opposition from the US and Israel.
Last August the UN security council – under US pressure – decided to end the mandate of the UN interim force in Lebanon (Unifil) on 31 December 2026. But it asked Guterres to propose options by 1 June to allow UN peacekeepers to remain in Lebanon, particularly to monitor the Blue Line, which stretches for 120km (75 miles) and marks the de facto border between Lebanon and Israel – now the middle of the Israel-Hezbollah war.
In a report to the security council on Monday, Guterres proposes three options ranging from nearly 2,000 to more than 5,500 UN personnel to monitor the ceasefire and support the Lebanese armed forces.
The report, cited by Agence France-Presse, says:
Under all proposed options, a uniformed United Nations presence working to facilitate de-escalation, dialogue, liaison and coordination, and support for the Lebanese Armed Forces, would be necessary… towards the overarching objective of a long-term solution to the conflict.”
UN experts warn against ‘surging Israeli settler terror’
A team of UN experts has issued a “stark warning about surging Israeli settler terror” in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem and “the existential risk it poses to Palestinian communities’ presence on the land”.
The group of 14, including the UN’s special rapporteur for Palestine, Francesca Albanese, cited a sharp increase in the number of Palestinian casualties in settler attacks this year, saying at least 13 had been killed and close to 500 injured in five months amid the “settler brutality”.
The experts said in a statement:
Relentless attacks by the settler-colonial movement, carried out with the support and acquiescence of the Israeli State, have become a daily terror in Palestinian lives, sowing fear, uncertainty and profound insecurity that inevitably compels the forcible displacement of the indigenous population.
The escalating violence, carried out with full impunity, serves as an instrument of coercion in the hands of the occupying power, facilitating ethnic cleansing.”
The recent escalation of regional hostilities had drawn international attention away from the realities in the occupied territories, the UN team said, and the “displacement of people has slipped further from sight”.
Oil prices surge amid tensions
Oil prices have jumped after the latest fighting to threaten the US-Iran ceasefire – but Wall Street doesn’t seem too concerned, with US stocks rising to more records.
The S+P 500 added 0.3% on Monday to its prior all-time high set on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.4% to also set records.
A slight majority of US stocks actually fell, including companies with big fuel bills hurt by higher oil prices, such as airlines, after the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil climbed 4.2% to settle at $94.98.
That clawed back a chunk of Brent’s loss from last week and means it is still well above its price of about $70 before the war, the AP reports.
Rockets fired at northern Israel, says IDF
The Israeli military says it has intercepted two rockets launched from Lebanon into Israel territory.
The IDF also said that after warning a hostile aircraft had infiltrated northern Israel, the suspected target had fallen in Israeli territory near the Lebanese border.
There were no casualties, the military posted on X.
Alerts for rocket and missile fire had earlier been activated, it said.
Hezbollah claims attacks on Israeli targets after Trump statement
Hezbollah claimed several attacks on Israeli targets in south Lebanon late on Monday, hours after Donald Trump said the Iran-backed militia had agreed that “all shooting will stop”.
In one statement, Hezbollah said that in the town of Hadatha, its fighters targeted a Merkava tank with an attack drone, and Israeli troops with “barrages of rockets and artillery shelling”.
In another statement it said its fighters subsequently attacked two Israeli tanks in the same area.
In a third of the statements – which like the others also indicated an attack time of after 11pm (2000 GMT) – Hezbollah said its fighters targeted a Merkava tank in the town of Bayada “with a guided missile”, reports Agence France-Presse.
As mentioned earlier, Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah said the group supported a “full ceasefire on all Lebanese territory”, calling it a precursor to Israeli troops withdrawing from Lebanon.
Before that the Lebanese presidency said Hezbollah had accepted “a reciprocal cessation of attacks”, but Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF would “continue to operate as planned” in southern Lebanon.
Iran’s chief negotiator and speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has said that if “Israeli aggression against Lebanon continues, we will not only halt the path of negotiations, but we will also be in direct confrontation with the enemy”.
Ghalibaf said he had spoken to Nabih Berri, the speaker of parliament in Lebanon, and offered his support.
Earlier in the day Berri reportedly told the Trump administration that Hezbollah was ready for a full and immediate ceasefire with Israel.
More now from Donald Trump’s comments to US ABC News in which he said he expected there would be a deal with Tehran “over the next week” to extend the truce and reopen the strait of Hormuz.
“There was a little glitch today, but I turned that one around very quickly, as you probably noticed earlier,” he said. The glitch, according to Trump, was that Iran was upset about Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, the network is reporting. He continued:
So I spoke with Hezbollah, and I said no shooting, and I talked to Bibi [Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu] and said ‘no shooting’ and they both stopped shooting each other.”
Trump said a peace agreement with Iran could be “even better than a military victory”, the ABC quotes him as saying on Monday.
“It’s not a simple thing. You’re talking about a real large country … making a deal. Tremendous hostility, really.
So it’s not an easy thing for them. It’s actually not easy from our standpoint either. But we’re getting what we need to get.”
As for when the memorandum of understanding to reopen the strait would be completed and agreed to, Trump said: “I think you’re talking about over the next week.” He said he had not agreed to it yet because “I still have to get a few more points”, the report says.
Trump urges Israel and Hezbollah to stop fighting ‘for eternity’’
Donald Trump has urged Israel and Hezbollah to stop fighting “for ETERNITY”, reiterating that he spoke to both parties on Monday and they agreed to stop shooting at each other.
He wrote on his Truth Social platform:
I had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu today, asking him not to go into a major raid of Beirut, Lebanon. He turned his Troops around. Thank you Bibi! I also had a conversation with Representatives of the Leaders of Hezbollah, and they agreed to stop shooting at Israel, and its soldiers. Likewise, Israel agreed to stop shooting at them. Let’s see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!
Trump says he thinks there will be an Iran deal ‘over the next week’
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has told ABC News that he thinks there will be a deal with Iran to extend the ceasefire and reopen the strait of Hormuz “over the next week“, according to a post from the outlet on X.
It comes after the US president claimed on his Truth Social platform earlier that “talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
But, as we’ve been reporting, Iranian state media reported on Monday that Tehran had suspended message exchanges with Washington amid Israel’s continued assault on Lebanon.
Trump’s latest comments also appear at odds with what he has told other outlets on Monday, including that he “couldn’t care less” if talks with Iran are over, and “it’s fine if they’re done talking.”
As my colleagues note in this report, both Israeli officials and Hezbollah have made statements that cast doubt on the durability on the agreement announced by Donald Trump.
The Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah said the group refused a partial truce offer to spare Beirut in exchange for an end to Hezbollah attacks on Israel.
While, in a statement on X, Benjamin Netanyahu said he told Trump that Israel would attack Beirut if Hezbollah did not stop attacking Israel and its citizens, adding that Israel will continue to operate “as planned” in southern Lebanon.
Both Israel and Hezbollah continued attacking each other in south Lebanon after Trump’s statement.
Israel carried out airstrikes outside Nabatieh, while Hezbollah said it struck a group of Israeli soldiers outside Beaufort Castle.
Hezbollah supports ‘full ceasefire’ on all Lebanese territory, says MP
Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah has said that the group supports a “full ceasefire on all Lebanese territory”.
The ceasefire would be a precursor to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, Fadlallah added in comments made to the al-Manar broadcaster, as reported by Al Jazeera.
Earlier, the Lebanese presidency said that Hezbollah had accepted “a reciprocal cessation of attacks”, but Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF would “continue to operate as planned” in southern Lebanon.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s minister of national security, has urged Benjamin Netanyahu to tell Donald Trump “no” – and to strike Hezbollah anyway.
Writing on X, he said:
Mr Prime Minister,
You said that a strong prime minister tells the President of the United States – ‘yes’ when possible, and ‘no’ – when necessary.
This is the time to tell our friend, President Trump – ‘no’.
Now is the time to do what is required and necessary to strike Hezbollah, to unleash the hands of our fighters, and to restore security to the north.
Netanyahu says Israel will strike Beirut if Hezbollah doesn’t stop attacks and will continue operations in southern Lebanon
And now we have Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response.
Netanyahu said that he told Donald Trump that his country would strike Beirut if Hezbollah doesn’t stop attacking Israel.
“I spoke this evening with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our towns and our citizens, Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement released by his office.
He added: “Our position on this remains unchanged. At the same time, the IDF will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon.”
Lebanon’s US embassy says Hezbollah accepted US proposal on ‘mutual cessation of attacks’
But before I bring you that, we have a statement from the Lebanese embassy in Washington, via the X account of office of Joseph Aoun, the president of Lebanon.
“The Lebanese authorities [have] received confirmation of Hezbollah’s agreement to the US proposal, which calls for a reciprocal cessation of attacks,” the statement reads.
“Under the proposed arrangement, Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs would cease in exchange for Hezbollah refraining from carrying out attacks against Israel, with the ceasefire framework to be expanded to encompass all Lebanese territories.”
The statement added that Donald Trump held a call with Lebanon’s ambassador to the US, Nada Maawad, and informed her “that he had obtained the approval of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the proposed arrangement”.
“Ambassador Maawad relayed the outcomes of the discussions to President Aoun, who in turn notified Hezbollah of them,” it goes on. (It’s unclear if this is what Trump was referring to when he said he had had a “very good call” with Hezbollah “through highly placed representatives”.)
Referring to upcoming negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, the statement ends: “The scheduled negotiation meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday are set to convene to discuss this progress and build upon it.”
We’re now getting lines through from Hezbollah via Reuters regarding Trump’s announcement a short while ago that Israel and the Lebanon-based militant group have agreed not to attack each other. I’ll bring you more details here as I get them.