Summary
Here’s a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
US defense secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered two aircraft carrier strike groups to remain in the Middle East, Reuters reports, citing the Pentagon. The announcement was made in the summary of a call between Austin and his Israeli counterpart on Sunday.
Hamas has said it rejects Israel’s new conditions in the ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks, Reuters reports. According to Hamas official Osama Hamdan speaking to Al-Aqsa TV on Sunday, talk of an imminent deal is false.
Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah delivered a public address, saying that the group’s response was delayed for several reasons including mass Israeli and US military mobilisation, Reuters reports. He added, “We will assess the impact of today’s operation. If results are not seen to be enough, we will respond another time.”
Jordan has warned that heightened escalation between Israel and Hezbollah could lead to a “regional war”, echoing comments made by Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, earlier. Foreign ministry spokesperson Sufain Qudah said that Israel’s relentless “aggression” in Gaza and the failure to reach a ceasefire was exposing the region to the dangers of an expansion of the conflict, Jordanian state media reported.
The UN’s Palestine relief agency, Unrwa, has said it will launch a polio vaccination campaign with the World Health Organization, Unicef, and other partners for more than 600,000 children under 10 years old, over the coming days. The UN is appealing to Israel and Hamas for a humanitarian ceasefire to allow humanitarian workers to carry out the immunisation campaign.
Europe’s most senior diplomat will call for sanctions on two far-right Israeli ministers, as the EU battles to rescue its credibility on the Middle East. At a meeting of the EU’s 27 foreign ministers on Thursday, Josep Borrell will make the case for sanctions against Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, two far-right government ministers, whose inflammatory statements and behaviour have drawn international condemnation.
Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has warned America’s top general of the dangers of a major conflict in Lebanon. US air force general, CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Egypt hours after the missile exchange between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group.
A Hezbollah official has said the group’s rocket and drone attack against Israel on Sunday in retaliation for a top commander’s killing last month had been delayed by “political considerations”, Reuters reported. The official said the group had “worked” to make sure its response to the killing of Fuad Shukr on 30 July would not trigger a full-scale war.
British Airways has suspended its flights between London and Tel Aviv following an overnight escalation of hostilities in the Middle East. A spokesperson for the airline said on Sunday: “We’ve been continually monitoring the situation in the Middle East and have taken the operational decision to suspend our flights to and from Tel Aviv up to and including Wednesday, 28 August.
At least 40,405 Palestinian people have been killed and 93,468 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday. The ministry has said thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the enclave.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels praised attacks by Hezbollah on Israel on Sunday and renewed threats to launch their own assault in response to Israeli strikes on a port in Yemen. “We congratulate Hezbollah and its secretary-general on the great and courageous attack carried out by the resistance this morning against the Israeli enemy,” the Houthis said in a statement.
US defense secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered two aircraft carrier strike groups to remain in the Middle East, Reuters reports, citing the Pentagon.
The announcement was made in the summary of a call between Austin and his Israeli counterpart on Sunday.
The Pentagon had initially deployed the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group into the region with a plan to replace the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, Reuters reports.
