Israel says killed spokesman for Hamas armed wing

Israel said Sunday its forces had killed the spokesman of Hamas’s armed wing in a strike on Gaza a day earlier, the latest fatality in the group’s senior ranks in the nearly two-year war.”Hamas terror spokesperson Abu Obeida was eliminated in Gaza,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said he had been targeted in a strike.Israel has decimated Hamas’s leadership during 23 months of devastating fighting in the Gaza Strip, saying it seeks to eradicate the armed group and return hostages seized by Palestinian militants in their October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war.Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir promised to continue targeting Hamas’s leadership, most of which he said was now abroad.Hamas has not commented on the killing of Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida, whose real name according to the Israeli military is Hudaifa al-Kahlut.Since the war began, he had issued dozens of televised speeches — always appearing in military fatigues and a red keffiyeh scarf to obscure his face — and published audio messages, press releases and social media posts.On the ground, smoke drifted into the sky above Gaza City and residents came to inspect the damage at a tent, crumpled in an overnight strike, with bloodstained blankets strewn in the rubble.Ashraf Abu Amsha, a displaced Palestinian sheltering in the area, said that “horror, fear, destruction, and fire erupted in all the tents.”Israeli forces have been preparing for an offensive to seize Gaza City, the largest urban centre in the Palestinian territory, intensifying bombardments in the area in recent days and warning of imminent evacuation.- ‘Afraid of the night’ -As the Israeli cabinet was expected to meet Sunday to discuss the plans, campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum warned against expanding military operations, fearing they could jeopardise the lives of the remaining captives.Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s 2023 attack, 47 are still being held in Gaza, including 25 the military says are dead.Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, accused the Israeli government of “deciding to sacrifice my living child” and troops by not accepting a proposed truce deal.According to Gaza’s civil defence agency, Israeli strikes and gunfire across the territory on Sunday killed at least 63 people, 24 of whom near aid distribution sites.Iman Rajab, who lives in the displacement camp near Gaza City that residents said was hit by Israel overnight, told AFP that “we are now afraid of the night and of sleeping in our tents”.”We pray to God for the war to end because we are very tired from the displacement, the fear and the hunger,” said Rajab.The vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s more than two million residents have been displaced at least once during the war.The UN estimates that nearly a million people currently live in Gaza City and its surroundings, where famine has been declared.- Top figures killed -Asked for comment by AFP on incidents reported by the civil defence agency, the Israeli military said it was “not aware of casualties” from its fire “adjacent to a humanitarian aid distribution point in central Gaza”.There was no comment on other reported incidents.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.Israel’s killing of Abu Obeida is the latest in a string of attacks targeting senior Hamas figures, including leader Yahya Sinwar who was accused by Israel of masterminding the 2023 attack.Israeli operations have also killed Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh, the head of its armed wing Mohammed Deif, and other commanders and political figures, considerably weakening the Islamist movement.Earlier on Sunday, Hamas confirmed the death of Mohammed Sinwar, Yahya Sinwar’s brother and the group’s presumed leader in Gaza, more than three months after Israel said it had killed him in an air strike.Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 63,459 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

Equipe de France: Ekitike remplace Cherki, inquiétude pour Saliba et Konaté

Les pépins s’accumulent pour l’équipe de France avant le début des qualifications du Mondial-2026, le forfait de Rayan Cherki ayant profité à Hugo Ekitike alors que les défenseurs William Saliba et Ibrahima Konaté sont sortis sur blessure, lors du choc de Premier League entre Liverpool et Arsenal (1-0) dimanche. Les Bleus commencent leur campagne en vue de la Coupe du monde organisée aux États-Unis, au Mexique et au Canada, vendredi contre l’Ukraine à Wroclaw (Pologne) et enchaîneront avec un match face à l’Islande, le 9 septembre au Parc des Princes.Cherki, indisponible dimanche en Championnat d’Angleterre avec Manchester City, souffre d’une “déchirure du quadriceps gauche”, a précisé la Fédération française de football. “Il est blessé pour deux mois plus ou moins”, a déclaré de son côté l’entraîneur des Citizens Pep Guardiola, à l’issue de la défaite de son équipe à Brighton (2-1).La blessure de l’ex-Lyonnais a permis la promotion d’Ekitike mais celle-ci n’est pas réellement une surprise. L’ancien Parisien, international Espoirs (23 ans), réussit des débuts de rêve avec Liverpool (deux buts en Premier League) après avoir été acheté cet été 95 millions d’euros à Francfort, où il avait flambé la saison dernière (22 buts toutes compétitions confondues). L’attaquant né à Reims possède en outre un profil de N.9 dont ne dispose plus le sélectionneur Didier Deschamps, depuis la retraite internationale d’Olivier Giroud. “Hugo, on le suivait quand il était à Francfort. Qu’il continue à avoir une bonne efficacité avec Liverpool. C’est très bien. Après il y a de la concurrence à ce poste. Je ne suis pas là pour les accumuler mais évidemment qu’il a le potentiel pour être en équipe de France”, avait expliqué Didier Deschamps jeudi en divulguant sa liste de joueurs pour affronter l’Ukraine et l’Islande, dans laquelle ne figurait pas initialement Ekitike.- Coups durs -Mais le sélectionneur n’est peut-être pas au bout de ses peines avant de retrouver les Bleus lundi à Clairefontaine (Yvelines) puisque deux de ses cadres en défense, William Saliba (Arsenal) et Ibrahima Konaté (Liverpool), ont dû céder leur place sur blessure au cours de la rencontre entre les Gunners et les Reds à Anfield dimanche.   Saliba n’est même pas resté cinq minutes sur la pelouse. L’arrière central de 24 ans (28 sélections), déjà forfait en juin pour le “Final Four” de la Ligue des nations, a semblé diminué dans ses mouvements d’entrée et il a demandé à être remplacé après un contact avec Hugo Ekitike.”Il s’est tordu la cheville pendant l’échauffement. Il est venu me voir et m’a dit qu’il pensait pouvoir jouer, mais après les deux premières actions, j’ai vu qu’il n’y arrivait pas et nous avons dû le remplacer”, a dit l’entraîneur d’Arsenal Mikel Arteta à l’issue de la partie. En seconde période, Konaté (26 ans, 23 sélections) a quitté ses coéquipiers en boitant, après s’être blessé à la jambe droite (79e).Ces coups durs pour les Bleus s’ajoutent à l’incertitude concernant l’état d’Ousmane Dembélé (28 ans, 56 sélections, 7 buts). L’attaquant, grand favori pour l’obtention du Ballon d’Or, est sorti à la 70e minute en se tenant l’arrière de la cuisse gauche avec le PSG, samedi à Toulouse en Ligue 1. Il s’était voulu toutefois rassurant après le match. “J’ai ressenti une petite gêne sur la fin, juste avant de sortir. Je vais faire l’IRM. On va voir ce qu’il y a. Mais je ne pense pas que ce soit si grave que ça. Je pense que c’est de la précaution”, a-t-il indiqué sur Ligue 1+.  

Bleus: Saliba et Konaté sortent blessés durant Liverpool-Arsenal

Les défenseurs français Ibrahima Konaté et William Saliba sont sortis sur blessure durant le choc Liverpool-Arsenal qui les opposait, dimanche en championnat d’Angleterre, à la veille du premier rassemblement de la saison des Bleus, pour lequel ils ont été convoqués.Saliba n’est même pas resté cinq minutes sur la pelouse d’Anfield. L’arrière central de 24 ans a semblé diminué dans ses mouvements d’entrée et il a demandé à être remplacé après un contact avec Hugo Ekitike, l’attaquant de Liverpool qu’il était chargé de museler.”Il s’est tordu la cheville pendant l’échauffement. Il est venu me voir et m’a dit qu’il pensait pouvoir jouer, mais après les deux premières actions, j’ai vu qu’il n’y arrivait pas et nous avons dû le remplacer”, a expliqué Mikel Arteta en conférence d’après-match.Cela inquiète l’entraîneur d’Arsenal, “oui”, parce que “quand on ne peut pas jouer un match de cette importance, c’est qu’il y a un problème”.En seconde période, Konaté a lui aussi cédé sa place, en boîtant, après s’être blessé à la jambe droite (79e).Le sélectionneur Didier Deschamps pourrait devoir renoncer à la présence des deux défenseurs centraux, attendus lundi à Clairefontaine, après avoir déjà dû se passer de Rayan Cherki, forfait sur blessure.

Directors who quit US health agency warn it is ‘destroying’ protections

Senior experts who recently resigned in protest from the top US public health agency denounced Sunday growing politicization of the organization, warning of a breakdown in the “firewall” between science and ideology.US President Donald Trump plunged American health policy and scientific rigor deeper into crisis this past week when he fired the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Susan Monarez, after less than one month on the job.Monarez had clashed with vaccine skeptic Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr over his vaccine policy overhaul. Vaccines are safe and effective, according to overwhelming consensus of the scientific community, but critics say the Trump administration has gone out of its way to sow doubt, especially regarding Covid-19 vaccinations.Monarez’s ouster triggered the departure of five other senior CDC officials, including Demetre Daskalakis as director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.”I’ve been worried for months,” Daskalakis told the ABC News Sunday show “This Week, speaking of the impact the gutting of the historically independent CDC agency will have on public health.”The firewall between science and ideology has completely broken down,” he said.Daskalakis added that based on what he has seen since Trump’s January inauguration, and the packing of a critical immunization advisory committee with people who share Kennedy’s skepticism on vaccines, “they’re really moving in an ideologic direction, where they want to see the undoing of vaccination.”Another expert who resigned in protest, doctor Debra Houry, who served as the CDC’s chief medical officer, said she knew of no agency scientist who has briefed Kennedy since he took up his post.”I think it’s going to be very difficult to” trust the CDC moving forward, she told CNN Sunday.As for members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) set to meet in mid-September, Houry warned it will be staffed with people who are “known to be against vaccines.”Kennedy dismissed all members of the influential group and replaced them with his own nominees, in a move that sparked concern in Congress, even among Republicans.- ‘Under assault’ -Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican who chairs the Senate health committee, has called for the indefinite postponement of the September 18 ACIP meeting due to a “lack of scientific process being followed.”Former CDC director Tom Frieden spoke critically of the chaos at the CDC, an institution central to improving American health outcomes for more than 80 years.”Public health is under assault,” he told CNN, pointing to Kennedy’s systematic “undermining” of vaccine infrastructure.”They’re destroying our health protections. We are less safe.”Another former CDC head, Richard Besser, said he worries Americans will be at “incredible risk” when the next health crisis strikes.”With the director being removed, senior leadership leaving, I have great fears for what will happen to this country the next time we face a public health emergency” including the next pandemic, he told ABC News.Progressive Senator Bernie Sanders, who is on the health committee with Cassidy, said in a blistering opinion piece in Sunday’s New York Times that Kennedy’s “longstanding crusade against vaccines” should disqualify him from running the Department of Health and Human Services.Kennedy “is endangering the health of the American people now and into the future. He must resign,” Sanders wrote.

US would control Gaza, displace all its people under new plan: report

The entire population of Gaza would be relocated and the United States would take control of the Palestinian territory under a plan being considered by the Trump administration, the Washington Post reported Sunday.The enclave reduced to rubble in Israel’s war prompted by the Hamas attack of 2023 would be transformed into a trusteeship administered by the United States for at least 10 years, the newspaper said.Another goal of the plan modeled on President Donald Trump’s stated vision of making it the “Riviera of the Middle East” is to transform Gaza — land which the Palestinians want to be part of a future state — into a tourism resort and high tech hub, said the Post, which viewed a 38-page prospectus outlining the initiative.It calls for at least temporary relocation of all of Gaza’s population of two million, either through “voluntary” departures to another country or into restricted, secured zones inside the enclave during reconstruction, the newspaper said.Gaza residents who own land would be given a digital token by the trust in exchange for the right to develop their property. Recipients can use this token to start a new life somewhere else or eventually redeem it for an apartment in one of six to eight new “AI-powered, smart cities” to be built in Gaza, according to the plan.The Post quoted people familiar with the trust’s planning and with administration deliberations over postwar Gaza.The State Department did not immediately reply to an AFP request for comment. Trump stunned the world earlier this year when he suggested the United States should take control of the Gaza Strip, clear out all its people and build seaside real estate.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the proposal, which was heavily criticized by many European and Arab states.Trump chaired a meeting last week on postwar plans for Gaza but the White House did not release a read-out afterward or announce any decisions.The body that would administer Gaza under the plan now being considered would be called the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust, or GREAT Trust, said the Post. The Post said the proposal was developed by some of the same Israelis who created the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distributing food inside the enclave amid much criticism from aid groups and the United Nations.On July 22, the UN rights office said Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid in Gaza since the GHF started operations, nearly three-quarters of them in the vicinity of GHF sites.

US would control Gaza, displace all its people under new plan: report

The entire population of Gaza would be relocated and the United States would take control of the Palestinian territory under a plan being considered by the Trump administration, the Washington Post reported Sunday.The enclave reduced to rubble in Israel’s war prompted by the Hamas attack of 2023 would be transformed into a trusteeship administered by the United States for at least 10 years, the newspaper said.Another goal of the plan modeled on President Donald Trump’s stated vision of making it the “Riviera of the Middle East” is to transform Gaza — land which the Palestinians want to be part of a future state — into a tourism resort and high tech hub, said the Post, which viewed a 38-page prospectus outlining the initiative.It calls for at least temporary relocation of all of Gaza’s population of two million, either through “voluntary” departures to another country or into restricted, secured zones inside the enclave during reconstruction, the newspaper said.Gaza residents who own land would be given a digital token by the trust in exchange for the right to develop their property. Recipients can use this token to start a new life somewhere else or eventually redeem it for an apartment in one of six to eight new “AI-powered, smart cities” to be built in Gaza, according to the plan.The Post quoted people familiar with the trust’s planning and with administration deliberations over postwar Gaza.The State Department did not immediately reply to an AFP request for comment. Trump stunned the world earlier this year when he suggested the United States should take control of the Gaza Strip, clear out all its people and build seaside real estate.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the proposal, which was heavily criticized by many European and Arab states.Trump chaired a meeting last week on postwar plans for Gaza but the White House did not release a read-out afterward or announce any decisions.The body that would administer Gaza under the plan now being considered would be called the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust, or GREAT Trust, said the Post. The Post said the proposal was developed by some of the same Israelis who created the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distributing food inside the enclave amid much criticism from aid groups and the United Nations.On July 22, the UN rights office said Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid in Gaza since the GHF started operations, nearly three-quarters of them in the vicinity of GHF sites.