Gaza, 7-31-24

For today, links to eight reports: from the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, National Public Radio and, via Consortium News, AntiWar.com, and to commentary from Middle East Eye; other articles are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE and VENEZUELA entries for this date are HERE  and HERE.) — MCM

   

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is killed in Iran by an alleged Israeli strike, threatening escalation, by Abby Sewell | AP  BEIRUT — Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a predawn airstrike in the Iranian capital today, Iran and the militant group said, blaming Israel for a shock assassination that risks escalating the conflict even as the U.S. and other nations . . . READ MORE . . . Click HERE for report from Reuters.

   

Who was Ismail Haniyeh and why is his assassination a blow to Hamas? by Samia Nakhoul and Stephen Farrell | Reuters  DUBAI / LONDON — Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader who was killed in Iran, was the tough-talking face of the Palestinian group’s international diplomacy as war raged back in Gaza, where three of his sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike. But despite . . . READ MORE . . . Click HERE for related Reuters report.

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Blinken says Gaza ceasefire is ‘imperative,’ after Hamas chief killing. From AFP. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken refused to comment directly on the killing of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, but said at a forum in Singapore that reaching a ceasefire in Gaza “is the enduring imperative.” READ MORE . . .

   

Hamas says its top leader has been killed in Iran’s capital Tehran. Reported by Jane Arraf Daniel Estrin and Steve Inskeep | NPR  Ismail Haniyeh, who was the Palestinian group’s political leader, was in the Iranian capital for the inauguration of Iran’s new president. Hamas blamed his assassination on Israel. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

   

Hamas accuses Israel of killing its top political leader while he was in Tehran. Reported by Steve Inskeep and James Hider | NPR  Trita Parsi of he Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft talks about the ramifications of the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

   

U.S. veterans tell Harris: End siege of Gaza, by Gerry Condon | AntiWar.com / Consortium News  The national organization Veterans For Peace has written an open letter to Vice President Kamala Harris, asking her to push for an immediate end to the siege of Gaza. It begins: . . . READ MORE . . .

   

Ismail Haniyeh: From a Gaza refugee camp to Hamas leadership, by Huthifa Fayyad | Middle East Eye  Ismail Haniyeh, who served as the fourth Palestinian prime minister and the third political leader of Hamas, has died at the age of 62. Hailing from a family of refugees expelled from historic Palestine . . . READ MORE . . .