Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar criticized the draft of the final declaration from the upcoming G20 summit in Brazil, calling the text "unbalanced and biased", DPA reported, quoted by BTA.< /strong>
Saar said on the social network "X" that he had called several of his colleagues from G20 countries these days and expressed his dissatisfaction with the project ahead of the two-day meeting that starts tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro.
p>"This was in view of the information we received about a draft joint resolution that is both unbalanced and biased towards Israel," Saar said.
"I stated to my colleagues that a summary statement on the conflict in our region must include recognition of Israel's right to defend itself, a demand for the release of all hostages held by the terrorists of "Hamas" more than 400 days in appalling conditions, and condemning "Hamas" and "Hezbollah," he added. In his words, any statement that does not address these topics will "harm peace and security and only encourage Iran and its proxies to continue causing instability throughout the Middle East.
Israel is not a member of the G-20, and Saudi Arabia is the only Arab country that is part of this format, DPA notes.
Unknown persons fired two flares at the private residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Caesarea, the Israeli police reported, quoted by DPA and BTA.
The flares fell in the yard of the house of the Israeli coast guard leader. At the time, Netanyahu and his family were not in the residence. There was no material damage in the incident, which the police described as "severe".
Many politicians, including opposition leader Yair Lapid and Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog, have expressed alarm over the case.
It is not yet clear whether the flares were fired by demonstrators calling for an agreement with "Hamas" for the release of the hostages being held in the Gaza Strip after there were protests across the country again this evening.
Many Israelis accuse the prime minister of not taking personal responsibility for the political and military mistakes that led to the attack on Israel on October 7 last year. In addition, Netanyahu is being investigated for corruption and his critics accuse him of prolonging the wars in Gaza and Lebanon in order to stay in office, DPA recalls.
The Israeli army reported that at a “large“ a volley of rockets fired by the Lebanese Islamist movement “Hezbollah” in the northwestern Israeli city of Haifa, a synagogue was hit, in which two people were injured, France Press reported.
„This is another clear example of the way in which “Hezbollah” deliberately directs rockets at Israeli civilians“ from neighboring Lebanon, the Israeli army said in a statement, without giving details about the health of the wounded.
In another statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported “about 10 rockets” fired at Haifa Bay, some of which were intercepted.
A spokesman for Magen David Adom, Israel's equivalent of the Red Cross, said in a statement that at this stage its teams in Haifa had not reported casualties from rocket shrapnel, but that five people suffered “serious injuries” when they rushed to the bomb shelters.
The Israeli army also announced the death of one of its soldiers in southern Lebanon, bringing the number of soldiers killed in the fighting with “Hezbollah” since the beginning of the ground offensive in the region on September 30, reached 48.
„Hezbollah“ stated that it hit an Israeli Merkava tank with a rocket, which was located a few kilometers from the border of Lebanese territory, where the Israeli army has been conducting a ground operation since the end of September.
The fighters of “Hezbollah“ hit the tank in the area of the village of Shamaa in southern Lebanon with a guided missile, setting it on fire, the Iran-backed movement said in a statement.
Two leaders of the “Islamic Jihad” were killed in an Israeli strike in Syria on Thursday, the Palestinian wing of the militant organization said, AFP reported.
The strike, which hit the town of Qudsaya near Damascus, killed Abdel Aziz Al Minawi, a member of the group's political wing, and Rasmi Yusuf Abu Issa, who was in charge of foreign relations.
According to a source from “Islamic Jihad“ the Israeli strike on Qudsaya targeted a building that housed one of the group's offices in Syria. A third member of the group also died.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that 23 people, including Palestinian and pro-Iranian fighters, were killed the previous day in Israeli attacks in Syria. Thirteen of them were killed in a strike on buildings in a residential complex for the military in Damascus, and another ten in another attack targeting a “residential complex inhabited by Palestinians” in Qudsaya.
A spokesman for the Israeli army already announced on Thursday that strikes had been carried out in Syria against “military bases of “Islamic Jihad“ - an armed group operating in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog canceled his planned visit to the UN Climate Change Conference in Azerbaijan due to “security reasons”, DPA reported, citing a statement from his office.
Herzog's office did not provide further details about the reasons for canceling the visit.
According to Israeli media, the authorities have concerns about possible Iranian attacks against Israeli citizens and sites in Azerbaijan, which is hosting the 29th Conference (COP 29).
Herzog first traveled on an official visit to Baku in May 2023. The predominantly Muslim country is considered a geostrategic partner of the Israeli government because of its shared border with Iran. Relations between Baku and Tehran are generally cold, DPA notes.
The Yemeni Houthi rebels have attacked with several drones a “key target” in the Israeli port city of Eilat on the Red Sea, the group's spokesman Yahya Saria said today, quoted by Reuters.
The armed group has carried out dozens of attacks on international shipping since last November in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza after the start of the war between Israel and “Hamas”.
„These operations will not stop until the aggression stops, the siege on the Gaza Strip is lifted, and the aggression against Lebanon also stops,”, Saria said in a televised address.
The Houthi attacks have disrupted commercial shipping, forcing shipowners to reroute ships away from the short sea route through the Suez Canal. In response to these attacks, the US and Great Britain have been retaliating against the Houthis since February, according to Reuters.