Iran attack: Tehran warns of 'severe' retaliation to any new Israeli attack

It's time for the international community to act, said Qatar's prime minister and head of foreign affairs.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman bin Jassim Al Thani reiterated his condemnation today of "the policy of collective punishment against the Palestinian people." During a news conference, Al Thani said the current circle of conflicts in the region has a "direct relationship of this to escalation and war on the Gaza Strip."

He urged the international community to work to stop the war in Gaza and "the continuous targeting of the Palestinian people and their killing in this way, as well as the policy of siege and starvation against them and the use of humanitarian aid as a tool for political exploitation."

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group based in Lebanon, injured at least 14 IDF soldiers in strikes on Israel today, a day after two of the group's militia commanders were killed.

The news comes as world leaders urge restraint and express concern that the Israel-Hamas war will spill into a wider regional conflict.

Columbia University’s president strongly denounced antisemitism during a congressional hearing today, saying that after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, “the world changed, and so did my focus.”

“Antisemitism has no place on our campus, and I am personally committed to doing everything I can to confront it directly,” President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik told the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce. “Israel was brutally attacked by Hamas terrorists, and very soon it became clear that these horrific events would ignite fear and anguish across our campus.”

Shafik faced questions about her handling of antisemitism on campus after the attack alongside two members of Columbia’s board of trustees and the head of its antisemitism task force. She faced particular scrutiny over how the university handled faculty members who made comments about Hamas that were perceived as antisemitic.

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Netanyahu said Israel will respond to Iran’s retaliatory strikes last weekend as President Joe Biden calls for restraint.

Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi was critical of Netanyahu, saying he "should not be allowed to drag the U.S. and other Western powers into a war with Iran."

"Jordan will not be a battleground," Safadi said. "We are in the middle of the fire."

Italy’s foreign minister says Rome would be willing to contribute troops to any possible U.N. peacekeeping force in Gaza, even though no such proposal is on the table and Israel has rejected the idea.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani suggested that a U.N. force under Arab command could help provide security if Israel and Palestinians make headway on an eventual two-state solution. He said the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon could be the model.

“If there is the solution and for a short time we need the presence of the United Nations under Arab control, we are ready for sending Italian soldiers,” Tajani said ahead of a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in Capri.

Netanyahu has ruled out a foreign peacekeeping force in Gaza after the war, saying only Israel is capable of keeping the territory demilitarized.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the rural area today where 14-year-old Binyamin Ahimeir was found dead, a slaying that ignited a new wave of violence between Palestinians and Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

"We will apprehend the murderers and bring them to justice," Gallant said.

Binyamin was found Saturday, a day after he was reported missing, and the circumstances of his death are under investigation. The Israeli authorities said he was killed in a "terrorist attack" but have not provided additional details.

His death incensed Israeli settlers, sparking violence that resulted in at least two Palestinians' being fatally shot by settlers, as well as numerous injuries. The U.S. State Department condemned the killing of Binyamin and expressed concern about the "violence against Palestinian civilians and their property that ensued."

Netanyahu rejected warnings of famine in Gaza today, even as the enclave faces a humanitarian crisis with an acute shortage of food and basic supplies.

“Israel goes above and beyond on the humanitarian issue,” Netanyahu’s office quoted him in a statement as saying after he met with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.

Israel has faced mounting pressure from its allies and aid organizations to increase the flow of supplies to the besieged strip.

When an Israeli shell struck Gaza’s largest fertility clinic in December, the explosion blasted the lids off five liquid nitrogen tanks stored in a corner of the embryology unit.

As the ultra-cold liquid evaporated, the temperature inside the tanks rose, destroying more than 4,000 embryos, as well as 1,000 more specimens of sperm and unfertilized eggs, stored at Gaza City’s Al Basma IVF centre.

Around 10,000 Palestinian women have been killed in Gaza since the war began six months ago, U.N. Women said yesterday in a statement.

Of those, 6,000 were mothers, whose deaths left 19,000 children orphaned, it said, adding the women who have survived "have been displaced, widowed, and facing starvation."

"This devastating differentiated impact continues to make the war on Gaza also a war on women," it said.