Israel says it detained 100 suspected militants in Gaza hospital raid

The Israeli military said it detained 100 suspected Hamas militants in a raid on a hospital in northern Gaza over the weekend.

Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia on Friday, detaining 44 male staff members, according to the World Health Organization. Palestinian medical workers said the hospital, which was treating about 200 patients, was heavily damaged in the raid.

Israel has raided several hospitals in the Gaza Strip during the year-long war, saying Hamas and other militants are using them for military purposes. Palestinian medical officials deny the accusations and accuse the military of recklessly endangering civilians.

The Israeli military has called on Palestinians to leave northern Gaza, where they have been waging a major offensive for more than three weeks. Earlier this month, the UN said at least 400,000 people were still trapped in the northern Gaza Strip and famine was rampant as the amount of humanitarian aid flowing into the north fell sharply over the past month.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, which do not distinguish between militants and civilians, but say more than half were women and children. The war between Israel and Hamas began after Hamas-led militants cut holes in Israel’s security fence and broke in on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people (mostly civilians) and kidnapping another 250.

Lebanon’s health ministry says the total toll over the past year is more than 2,600 killed and 12,200 wounded. The fighting in Lebanon has forced 1.2 million people to flee their homes, including more than 400,000 children, according to the UN children’s agency. Israeli strikes killed most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership after fighting intensified in September.

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Oil prices fell sharply

Global oil prices fell sharply on Monday after Israel’s retaliatory strike over the weekend targeted Iranian military installations rather than its energy infrastructure, as feared.

Crude oil prices rose sharply around the world on Oct. 2 after Iran fired about 200 missiles at Israel, part of a series of rapidly escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies that threatened to push the Middle East closer to a region-wide war.

Iran is the world’s seventh-largest oil producer, but if conflict in the Middle East spreads, it could draw in some of the world’s biggest energy producers. The United States is the world’s largest oil producer.

Prices for benchmark U.S. crude and international benchmark Brent fell 6% on Monday.

The Israeli military said its planes targeted sites used by Iran to launch missiles at Israel, as well as anti-aircraft missile sites. There was no indication that Iranian oil or nuclear facilities were damaged.

Lavrov said Russia was “doing everything possible” to prevent escalation

MOSCOW — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that Moscow is doing everything possible to prevent further escalation following Israeli strikes on Iran.

Lavrov said that “we are doing everything possible to help end the escalation and defuse the situation.”

“Of course, the Israeli strikes on Iran, which are presented as a response, and that now the response has occurred, we are even, no action is required, this is a difficult situation,” he said. “But we hope that the (UN) Security Council can somehow help calm the situation.”

He noted that “at this stage, the worst-case scenario has been avoided for now,” but added that “there is someone who wants to fan the flames to the point that the United States will intervene.”

Israel says it detained 100 suspected militants in Gaza hospital raid

JERUSALEM – The Israeli military said it detained 100 suspected Hamas militants in a raid on a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip over the weekend.

Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia on Friday, detaining 44 male staff, according to the World Health Organization. Palestinian medical workers said the hospital, which was treating about 200 patients, was heavily damaged in the raid.

Israel has raided several hospitals in the Gaza Strip during the year-long war, saying Hamas and other militants are using them for military purposes. Palestinian medical officials deny the accusations and accuse the military of recklessly endangering civilians.

An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to regulations, said there was heavy fighting around but not inside Kamal Adwan Hospital and that weapons were found inside the facility.

The official said medical personnel were detained and searched because some militants disguised themselves as medics. The official said the military helped international organizations move 88 patients and medical staff to other hospitals in the weeks leading up to the raid, and that during the raid itself, troops brought 30,000 liters of fuel and medicine from international organizations to help keep the facility running.

The Israeli military has called on Palestinians to leave northern Gaza, where they have been waging a major offensive for more than three weeks.

Earlier this month, the UN said at least 400,000 people were still trapped in the northern Gaza Strip and famine was rampant as the amount of humanitarian aid flowing into the north fell sharply over the past month.

— Melanie Liedman

Head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard calls Israeli attack ‘illegitimate and illegal’

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards made his first public comments Monday since Israel attacked the country over the weekend.

General Hossein Salami, in a message of condolences to Iran’s regular armed forces, called the Israeli strike “illegitimate and illegal.” The attack on Saturday killed four Iranian air defense soldiers as well as one civilian, Iranian state media reported.

The attack was “a sign of Israel’s miscalculation and ineptitude” on the battlefield against Iran-backed militants, “especially in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.”

“The bitter consequences will be beyond the imagination of the occupiers,” Salami added, referring to Israel.

Iraq filed a protest with the UN, claiming that Israel violated its airspace as a result of the Iranian attack

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq has submitted a memorandum of protest to the United Nations Secretary-General and the U.N. Security Council saying Israel violated its airspace in an attack on Iran over the weekend, the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. .

The statement said that Israeli “aggressor aircraft violated Iraqi airspace and sovereignty and used Iraqi airspace to launch an attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran on October 26.”

He added that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani had instructed the Iraqi Foreign Minister to discuss the issue with the United States. The two countries recently reached an agreement to begin winding down the mission of the U.S.-led coalition formed to fight the Islamic State militant group and withdrawing many of the U.S. troops that remain in the country.

On Sunday, the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah issued a statement accusing the United States of coordinating with Israel to use Iraqi airspace to attack Iran and threatening retaliation against American forces.

UN Security Council calls emergency meeting at Iran’s request

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting Monday afternoon at Iran’s request over Israeli air strikes on that country.

Switzerland, which holds the council’s rotating presidency, announced the meeting on Sunday and said the Iranian request was supported by Russia, China and Algeria, the Arab representative on the council.

Social platform X has suspended a new account on behalf of Iran’s Supreme Leader

Social platform X has blocked a new account on behalf of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who posted messages in Hebrew.

The account was suspended early Monday morning with a brief note added: “X suspends accounts that violate X’s rules.” What exactly the violation was was not immediately clear. The social network, owned by Elon Musk, did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

The move comes after Israel openly attacked Iran for the first time this weekend. Khamenei said in a speech on Sunday that Israel’s strikes – in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack this month – “should neither be exaggerated nor minimized” but stopped short of calling for retaliation.

X’s account opened on Sunday with a message in Hebrew: “In the name of God, the merciful,” a standard Islamic greeting.

Khamenei’s office has maintained multiple accounts for the 85-year-old supreme leader on X over the years and has posted messages in different languages ​​in the past.

The second message matched Khamenei’s speech on Sunday and was posted to his English account as follows: “The Zionists are making a miscalculation regarding Iran. They don’t know Iran. They have still failed to properly understand the strength, initiative and determination of the Iranian people.” The message referred to Saturday’s Israeli attack on Iran.

This is not the first time Khamenei has seen himself suspended or removed from social media. In February, Meta deleted the supreme leader’s Facebook and Instagram accounts over his support for the militant group Hamas following its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Social media platforms such as X and Facebook have been blocked in Iran for years, requiring Iranians to use virtual private networks to access them.

Iranian President vows to respond ‘appropriately’ to Israeli strikes

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says his country will respond to Israel “in an appropriate manner” after Israel openly attacked Iranian military targets for the first time this weekend.

“We do not seek war, but we will defend the rights of our nation and country and respond accordingly to the aggression of the Zionist regime,” state television quoted Pezeshkian as saying on Sunday.

Pezeshkian also said that the United States promised Iran to stop the war in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon if Iran shows restraint. “They promised to end the war in response to our restraint, but they did not keep their word,” he said.

The Iranian president also warned that tensions would rise if Israeli aggression continued, adding: “We know that the United States encourages Israel to commit these atrocities.”

Iran says Israeli attack killed civilian

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran announced Sunday that an Israeli attack on the country had killed a civilian, without providing any details about the circumstances of his death.

State news agency IRNA identified the deceased as Allahverdi Rahimpour and said he lived in a suburb in southwest Tehran.

Without revealing details of what he did or where he was killed, IRNA stressed that he was not a member of Iran’s armed forces.

Iran has so far provided few details about the attack and the damage it caused.