04-01 00:00 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
The crew members, whose ship was seized in December, got their release order a day before the war began.
'Felt close to death': Indian seafarers detained in Iran return home
Eight Indian seafarers who were detained in Iran in December have returned home after weeks of delay caused by the war in the Middle East.
The men were part of an 18-member crew - 16 Indians and one each from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - on a ship seized by Iranian authorities who alleged they were smuggling fuel. The company operating the ship denied this.
Eight crew members returned to India on 10 February. The remaining eight Indians reached home on Sunday after an arduous journey that involved travelling via land to Armenia and then taking a flight via Dubai.
The crew members from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also flew back to their countries from Armenia.
The ship, MT Valiant Roar, operated by Dubai-based Prime Tankers LLC, was seized on 8 December while it was in international waters.
Some of the crew members were taken to a jail in Iran's Bandar Abbas port city, while the others were detained on the vessel.
In January, their families approached a court in India, seeking government intervention, following which India's foreign ministry said it had secured consular access to them.
Eight men returned to India on 10 February, but the others, including five Indians in jail, received their release order only on 27 February.
A day later, the US and Israel began military strikes on Iran, prompting it to retaliate. Flights and border crossings across the region were disrupted.
"The joy of the release order did not last even a few hours," Vijay Kumar, the ship's captain, said as he recalled the ordeal.
Though Iranian authorities returned their passports, the security situation forced the sailors to stay put on the ship in Bandar Abbas.
Kumar said the ship was docked close to an Iranian naval facility, placing them uncomfortably close to potential targets.
"We could only watch helplessly as missiles fell around us through the night," he said.
He added that Iranian authorities had removed key navigation and safety equipment from the ship when they seized it, making it impossible to move to a safer location. BBC News Hindi has contacted Iran's embassy in Delhi for a comment.
On 3 March, the Indian embassy in Tehran evacuated the crew - Kumar said this included the Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi men - from the ship and arranged rooms for them in a hotel in the city.
The BBC has contacted the high commissions of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Delhi for comment.
In Tehran, the situation remained tense.
Ketan Mehta, one of the engineers on the ship, said the threat of missile strikes meant the crew could not sleep in the day or night.
"Every moment felt close to death," said Anil Kumar Singh, the ship's chief engineer.
Crew members said explosions nearby caused the walls of their hotel to shake through the night.
The men said they stayed in the Tehran hotel until the land route out of Iran became accessible. On 15 March, they began travelling towards Iran's border with Armenia, sometimes passing through areas which were being bombed.
They took shelter in Jolfa - an Iranian city located about 60 km (37 miles) from the Armenian border - where they waited for three days before receiving visas.
They crossed into Armenia on 27 March and travelled to the capital, Yerevan, where they spent a night at a hotel. From there, the Indians flew to Dubai and then on to Mumbai city, arriving in the early hours of 29 March.
Masood Alam, one of the crew members, said he was still shaken by the experience.
Alam was due to get married after Eid, which was last week. But the ceremony had to be postponed. His family has now resumed preparations for the wedding and a new date will be fixed soon.
Some crew members alleged they had not been paid for several months and were unsure whether they would return to work with Prime Tankers.
The company's owner Jugwinder Brar has denied the allegations.
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04-01 00:00 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
The new law, passed on Monday, was pushed hard by the far-right and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks face death penalty under new Israeli law
Israel's parliament has approved a law that would make the death penalty the default sentence for Palestinians convicted of deadly terror attacks.
Critics, including UN human rights chief Volker Türk, have described the new law as discriminatory. Türk also said its application would "constitute a war crime".
The new law passed its third and final reading in the Knesset by 62 votes to 48 on Monday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voting in favour.
The bill stipulates that Palestinians convicted in Israeli military courts of carrying out deadly attacks deemed to be "acts of terrorism" would be executed by hanging within 90 days, with a possible postponement of up to 180 days.
In theory, Jewish Israelis could also be executed under the law - but in practice this almost certainly would not happen, as the death penalty could only be carried out where the intention of the attack was to "negate the existence of the state of Israel".
The legislation was pushed hard by the far-right, with the National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir its driving force. After the vote, he posted on X: "We made history!!! We promised. We delivered."
A member of Ben-Gvir's party, Limor Son-Har-Melech, who survived an attack by Palestinian gunmen in which her husband was killed, argued that the law was necessary, citing the example of how one of her husband's killers was later released and went on to take part in the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel.
During the debate in the Knesset, she said: "For years, we endured a cruel cycle of terror, imprisonment, release in reckless deals, and the return of these human monsters to murder Jews again."
But Yair Golan, the leader of opposition Democrats party, criticised the legislation and said it would lead to international sanctions.
"The death penalty law for terrorists is an unnecessary piece of legislation designed to get Ben-Gvir more likes," he said. "It does not contribute one ounce to Israel's security."
Speaking the day after the vote, Turk, the UN's high commissioner for human rights, said the bill was "patently inconsistent with Israel's international law obligations".
"The death penalty is profoundly difficult to reconcile with human dignity, and it raises the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people," he said in a statement.
"Its application in a discriminatory manner would constitute an additional, particularly egregious violation of international law. Its application to residents of the occupied Palestinian territory would constitute a war crime."
Ahead of the vote, the UK, France, Germany and Italy expressed their "deep concern", saying the bill risked "undermining Israel's commitments with regard to democratic principles".
The Palestinian Authority, which administers the West Bank, condemned the law, saying it "seeks to legitimise extrajudicial killing under legislative cover".
And Hamas, which controls Gaza, said in a statement on Monday evening that the approval of the bill "threatens the lives" of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, and called on the international community to "ensure the protection of our prisoners".
Amnesty International urged Israeli authorities to repeal the new law. "Israel is brazenly granting itself carte blanche to execute Palestinians while stripping away the most basic fair-trial safeguards", said Erika Guevara-Rosas, the rights group's senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has already petitioned the country's Supreme Court against the law.
"The law is unconstitutional, discriminatory by design and - for West Bank Palestinians - enacted without legal authority," it said in a statement.
The Supreme Court will now have to consider whether to hear the challenge to the bill.
Israel has only executed two people in its history - one of them the infamous Nazi official Adolf Eichmann, who played an important role in perpetrating the Holocaust.
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
The Israeli PM says Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa had been asked not to enter the church over concerns about Iranian strikes.
Latin Patriarch will have access to Jerusalem holy site after police stopped entry
Israel's prime minister has said the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem will now have "full and immediate access" to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, after police earlier prevented him from celebrating Palm Sunday Mass there.
Benjamin Netanyahu said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, had been asked not to enter out of concern for his safety as Iran had repeatedly targeted Jerusalem's holy sites with missiles.
The decision to block the cardinal from entering Christianity's most sacred site had been criticised by several Western nations.
Israel's police later said it had agreed a "mutual framework" with the Latin Patriarch for Easter celebrations.
On Sunday, Cardinal Pizzaballa and the Reverend Francesco Ielpo were stopped outside the church, believed to be the site of Jesus Christ's crucifixion, as they were planning to hold a Mass to mark the start of Holy Week, Church authorities said.
Cardinal Pizzaballa's office said it was "the first time in centuries" a Latin Patriarch had been turned away from the holy site on Palm Sunday, which marks Christ's return to Jerusalem.
He and Rev Ielpo had been "compelled" to turn back from the church, where Christ was also believed to have been buried and subsequently resurrected, it said.
A statement from the patriarchate on Sunday said: "This incident is a grave precedent and disregards the sensibilities of billions of people around the world, who during this week, look to Jerusalem."
But in a later statement, released on Monday, Cardinal Pizzaballa's office said the matter had been "addressed and resolved" and expressed "sincere gratitude" to Israel's President Isaac Herzog for intervening in the matter.
The cardinal's office said it hoped "appropriate arrangements will continue to be found, enabling prayer to take place in places of worship, particularly in the holy places of all religions".
This was a matter of "profound importance to hundreds of millions of believers", it added.
Before the decision was made to allow Cardinal Pizzaballa full access to the church, Netanyahu had said worshippers of "all faiths" had been asked not to visit sites in Jerusalem's Old City while it was being targeted, and that police had acted out of "special" safety concerns in this instance.
Israeli police said all holy sites in the Old City had been closed to worshippers since the US-Israel war against Iran began on 28 February for security reasons, and that it had rejected the patriarchate's request for an exemption on Palm Sunday.
The traditional Palm Sunday procession into the city had already been cancelled due to restrictions on public gatherings.
Netanyahu said holy sites belonging to Christian, Jewish and Muslim worshippers alike had been "repeatedly targeted" by Iranian missiles in recent days.
"In one strike, missile fragments crashed meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre," he said in a statement on X, adding that Sunday's decision involved "no malicious intent whatsoever".
Then, late on Sunday night, Netanyahu announced he had instructed relevant authorities to grant the Latin Patriarch "full and immediate access" to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre so he can "hold services as he wishes".
Israel's police said on Monday that officers had met Cardinal Pizzaballa to work out how to accomodate Easter ceremonies, and that the Holy Fire - the lighting of a flame at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the Saturday before Easter - would be held in a "symbolic, limited format".
The force added: "This co-ordination ensures that freedom of worship is maintained alongside our shared, primary duty: the protection of human life."
The initial decision to bar the Latin Patriarch from the holy site attracted criticism from several countries, including some of Israel's allies.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said on Sunday that the move to stop the cardinal from accessing the church was "difficult to understand or justify", before crediting the Israeli government for resolving the matter.
A US state department spokesperson later told the BBC that it encouraged the Israeli government to "facilitate the safe observance of Holy Week", while noting "the difficult security conditions in Jerusalem that have arisen from Iran's ongoing, indiscriminate missile attacks".
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticised the lack of access as "an offence not only against believers but against every community that recognises religious freedom".
French President Emmanuel Macron had likewise condemned the move and said it came in the context of "the worrying increase in violations of the status of the holy places in Jerusalem".
"Freedom to hold religious rites in Jerusalem must be ensured for all religions," he said in a statement on X.
And Pope Leo XIV, speaking in Rome on Sunday, paid tribute to "the Christians of the Middle East, who suffer the consequences of a t
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
It is the second fatal incident in the last 24 hours, Unifil says, after Israel expanded its operation against Hezbollah.
Two Indonesian UN peacekeepers killed in explosion in Lebanon
Two Indonesian peacekeepers were killed in southern Lebanon on Monday when an "explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle", the UN agency tasked with policing the region has said.
A third peacekeeper was "severely" injured in the explosion, and a fourth was hurt, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said on Monday.
Initial findings suggest a roadside explosion struck their convoy, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said the following day.
It was the second fatal incident in 24 hours, Unifil noted. A peacekeeper - who was also Indonesian - was killed on Sunday when a projectile, also of unknown origin, exploded in Adchit Al Qusayr, southern Lebanon.
Unifil said it had launched investigations to determine what happened in both incidents.
Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia as well as a political party, has fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for the ongoing US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
In a statement on Telegram, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said the incidents were being "thoroughly reviewed in order to clarify the circumstances and determine whether they resulted from Hezbollah activity or from IDF activity."
"It should be noted these incidents occurred in an active combat area. Therefore, it should not be assumed that incidents in which UNIFIL soldiers were harmed were caused by the IDF."
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said the peacekeepers were "soldiers sent there on behalf of the international community... and everyone needs to ensure that they are protected and never targeted".
He urged Lebanon and Israel to use the Unifil mechanism for dialogue, saying "the bottom line is that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon needs to be respected".
Separately, the IDF said early on Tuesday that four of its soldiers had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon.
Another soldier was severely wounded and a reservist moderately wounded, the IDF said.
Unifil said of the two deaths on Monday: "We extend our sincerest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of those brave peacekeepers who gave their lives in service of peace."
It said under international law, "all actors" had an obligation to ensure the "safety and security" on UN personnel.
"Deliberate attacks" on peacekeepers were "grave violations" of international humanitarian law, Unifil said.
"The human cost of this conflict is far too high. The violence, as we have said before, must end."
After the soldier was killed on Sunday, the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) reaffirmed its commitment to the peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, according to the government-owned news agency Antara.
"We remain committed to carrying out our duties as part of the world peacekeeping mission under the mandate of the United Nations (UN) professionally and responsibly, while prioritising the safety of our soldiers," Major General Aulia Dwi Nasrullah told Antara.
Antara named the soldier killed on Sunday as Chief Private Farizal Rhomadhon.
Unifil was created by the UN Security Council in 1978, and has since served as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon.
The peacekeeping force patrols the "Blue Line" - the de facto border between Lebanon and Israel, in collaboration with the Lebanese army.
Around 339 peacekeepers have been killed since the mission was established.
Despite a November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, brokered after violence flared between the two over the war in Gaza, Israel has conducted near-daily strikes on Hezbollah targets.
It says the armed group has not abided by the terms of the ceasefire - under which Hezbollah was meant to disarm and leave its positions in the south - and has accused Unifil and the Lebanese army of not doing enough to remove its militants from the region.
Since the ceasefire began, 1,238 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry, including 124 children.
Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa did not say who was responsible when speaking at a Commonwealth meeting on Sunday but said the bombing was "an attack on every principle that the UN Charter exists to defend".
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03-30 02:10 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
BBC reports from the funerals of three journalists killed by a targeted attack in southern Lebanon.
Hundreds in Beirut mourn journalists killed in Israeli strike
The BBC's Middle East correspondent Hugo Bachega reports from the funerals of three journalists killed by a targeted attack by Israel in southern Lebanon on Saturday 28 March.
Ali Shoeib, a reporter for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar TV station, was killed in the town of Jezzine alongside reporter Fatima Ftouni and her brother, cameraman Mohamed Ftouni, both from the channel Al Mayadeen, according to the stations.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it had killed Shoeib, describing him as a "terrorist", but provided no evidence to support the claim that he played a military role in the organisation. The Israeli military has not offered any comment on the killings of Fatima and Mahamed Ftoni.
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03-29 11:26 · 中东,中东
Jeremy Bowen: Trump is waging war based on instinct and it isn't working
Jeremy Bowen: Trump is waging war based on instinct and it isn't working
Some old truths about warfare have been knocking on the door of the Oval Office in the month since US President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent US and Israeli warplanes to bomb Iran.
The failure to learn from the past means that Donald Trump now faces a stark choice. If he cannot get a deal with Iran, he can either try to declare a victory that will fool no-one, or escalate the war.
The oldest of the old truths comes from the Prussian military strategist Helmuth von Moltke the Elder: "No plan survives first contact with the enemy." He was writing in 1871, the year Germany was unified as an empire, a moment that was as consequential for the security of Europe as this war might be for the security of the Middle East.
Maybe Trump prefers the boxer Mike Tyson's modern version: "Everyone has a plan until they get hit." Even more relevant for Trump are the words of one of his predecessors, Dwight D. Eisenhower, the American general who commanded the D-Day landings in 1944 and went on to serve two terms as a Republican president of the United States in the 1950s.
Eisenhower's version was "plans are worthless, but planning is everything". He meant that the discipline and process of making plans to fight a war make it possible to change course when the unexpected happens.
For Trump, the unexpected item has been the resilience of the regime in Iran. It seems that he was hoping for a repeat of the US military's lightning-fast kidnap in January of the President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. They are now in prison in New York, facing trial. Maduro's deputy Delcy Rodríguez replaced him as president and is taking orders from Washington.
Hoping for a repeat of the victory over Maduro suggests a yawning lack of comprehension of the differences between Venezuela and Iran.
Eisenhower's adage on thinking ahead came in a speech in 1957. He had been the man in charge of planning and commanding the largest amphibious military operation in history, the invasion of western Europe on D-Day, so he knew what he was talking about.
He went on to explain that when an unexpected emergency arises "the first thing you do is to take all the plans off the top shelf and throw them out the window and start once more. But if you haven't been planning you can't start to work, intelligently at least".
"That is the reason it is so important to plan, to keep yourselves steeped in the character of the problem that you may one day be called upon to solve – or to help to solve."
Far from capitulating or collapsing after Israel and the US killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first air strike of the war, the regime in Tehran is functioning and fighting back. It is playing a weak hand well.
In contrast, Trump has given the impression that he is making it up as he goes along. He follows gut instincts, not the pages of intelligence and strategic advice that other presidents have ploughed through.
Trump's end point
Thirteen days into the war, Trump was asked by Fox News Radio when the war would end. He answered that he did not think that the war "would be long". As for ending it, it would be "when I feel it, feel it in my bones".
He relies on an inner circle of advisers who are in their jobs to back up his decisions and make them happen. Speaking truth to power is not, it seems, in their job description. Relying on the president's instincts rather than a well-worked set of plans – even if they must be adapted or discarded – makes it harder to fight a war. The lack of clear political direction blunts the devastating firepower and effectiveness of the US armed forces.
Four weeks ago, Trump and Netanyahu put their faith in a ferocious bombing campaign that killed not just the supreme leader but his closest advisors and has so far killed 1,464 Iranian civilians, according to HRANA, a US-based group that monitors human rights violations in Iran.
The two leaders were expecting a quick victory. Both challenged Iranians to follow up their bombs with a popular uprising to topple the regime.
Iran's obduracy
But the regime in Tehran still stands, still fights back and Trump is finding out why his predecessors were never prepared to join Netanyahu in a war of choice to destroy the Islamic Republic. Opponents of the regime have not risen up. They're all too aware that in January government forces killed thousands of protesters. Official warnings have been broadcast telling anyone thinking of trying to repeat the protests that they will be treated as enemies of the state.
The Iranian regime is an obdurate, ruthless, well-organised adversary. Founded after the 1979 revolution that overthrew the Shah, it was then forged in the deadly misery of the eight-year war with Iraq. The regime is built on institutions, not individuals, and reinforced by iron-clad religious beliefs and an ideology of martyrdom. That means that killin
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03-29 00:00 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
The BBC's Hugo Bachega speaks to families in Beirut as more than a million people have been displaced in Lebanon.
'Our home is gone': BBC speaks to displaced families in Lebanon
More than a million people have been displaced in Lebanon as the US-Israel war with Iran continues to impact the wider region.
It comes after Israel issued evacuation orders for large parts of the south. Israel intensified its campaign against the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon after it fired rockets into northern Israel earlier this month. Hezbollah has continued firing rockets at Israel since then.
With shelters overwhelmed, many families are sleeping in their cars or in open areas in makeshift tents, under extreme weather conditions. Among them children and pregnant women.
Most of the families have come from areas where Hezbollah enjoys significant support including Beirut's southern suburbs known as Dahieh.
One child told the BBC he felt "ashamed" to be sleeping in the streets after his family were forced to flee their home in Beirut.
The BBC's Middle East Correspondent, Hugo Bachega, spoke to some of the hundreds of displaced families about the reality of living in Lebanon amid the conflict.
Filmed and edited by Neha Sharma
Produced by Samantha Granville, Neha Sharma and Angie Mrad
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03-29 00:00 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
With the world focused on the Iran war, there is increasing uncertainty about what happens next for Gaza.
Gaza peace doubts deepen as attention shifts to Iran
Nearly six months after a fragile ceasefire came into force in Gaza, Palestinians in this war-torn territory are still struggling.
In the markets, there are again shortages of some goods and rising prices – with merchants saying supplies brought in from Israel have been disrupted by the new war in the region.
"What does the war between Iran and Israel have to do with us? Prices have doubled here. Goods aren't coming in like before," says a shopper, Hassan Faqawi, despairingly. "In this situation, the whole world is focused on Iran, America and Israel, and Gaza is forgotten."
While world attention has turned to the Iran war, there is increasing uncertainty about what happens in Gaza at a crucial stage in President Trump's 20-point peace plan, which halted the fighting in October last year.
In the past week at the UN Security Council, the High Representative for Gaza on the US-led Board of Peace, Nickolay Mladenov, laid out a detailed plan for Palestinian armed groups to decommission their weapons - linking compliance to the start of reconstruction.
But a Palestinian official familiar with Hamas affairs told the BBC it was likely that Hamas, whose October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war, would reject the proposals. That raises the prospect of a return to a full-force military offensive with Israel's prime minister demanding that Hamas disarms "either the easy way or the hard way."
Heavy rain in recent weeks caused sewage systems to overflow in crowded tent camps.
Although the Trump plan pledged the immediate resumption of "full aid" to Gaza, with rehabilitation of essential infrastructure - for water, sewage and electricity - as well as the equipment needed to clear rubble, humanitarian agencies say much more needs to be done. Reconstruction materials are not yet allowed by Israel to enter, on the grounds that they could be used by Hamas to build tunnels and weaponry.
"You know a huge amount of our effort is spent negotiating for the smallest crumbs, like a crossing to reopen or a few litres of fuel. So, progress towards recovery is limited and almost not there, really," says Bushra Khalidi, Policy Lead for Oxfam, based in Ramallah.
"We're not seeing large-scale debris removal, we're not seeing proper rehabilitation of underground infrastructure, and there's still nowhere near enough fuel to run power systems. So, this is basic survival in Gaza."
In a statement to the BBC, Cogat, the Israeli army body responsible for managing the crossings, denied there were aid shortages and accused Hamas of exploiting resources.
Despite a ceasefire, Israeli air strikes in Gaza have continued. Dozens of Palestinians – including children – have been killed since the outbreak of the Iran war at the end of February. Israel says it is targeting Hamas, with commanders of its military wing and police officers among the dead.
While Hamas publicly welcomed the creation of a new 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee - an apolitical body to temporarily run Gaza - and pledged to hand over governance, there are signs that the group is reasserting its authority.
Sources told the BBC that the Hamas Interior Ministry has restructured its executive apparatus, appointing new police directors, setting up temporary headquarters and detention facilities and deploying new security patrols.
Witnesses say masked men in military style uniforms have set up dozens of checkpoints, stopping and searching vehicles and passers-by after nine o'clock at night.
Meanwhile, traders and shopkeepers complain that Hamas has imposed heavy taxes on goods and services – pushing up prices in Gaza even further.
Gazans express frustration with the situation.
"Unfortunately, no-one is controlling Gaza right now except Hamas," says a displaced woman, Hanaa. "We pray to God that peace will be imposed, and that the national committee will come and control Gaza."
Speaking to the BBC, a senior official in the National Committee for Gaza Administration, which reports to Trump's Board of Peace, said: "There is no date yet for a return to Gaza."
At the UN on Tuesday, Nikolay Mladenov, High Representative for Gaza on the Board of Peace, laid out what he said was a comprehensive framework to decommission the weapons of Palestinian armed groups - starting with "the most dangerous weapons, rockets, heavy munitions, explosive devices and assault rifles."
"The laying down of arms by militant actors would represent a decisive break from cycles of violence that have defined life in Gaza for decades," he said. "For the people of Gaza, the implications are profound: Israeli military withdrawal and reconstruction at scale."
Mladenov told the Security Council that the choice was between "a renewed war, or a new beginning".
The Palestinian source close to Hamas who spoke to the BBC said that the group had received proposals to disarm in exchange for the phased pullout of Israeli troops from Gaza over a period of six to nin
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03-29 00:00 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
Jawad Younes and his uncle Ragheb were laid to rest on Saturday after their family compound was hit a day earlier.
Tears and defiance as Lebanese family bury child, 11, killed in Israeli strike
A funeral has been held in a southern Lebanese village for an 11-year-old boy and his uncle who were killed in an Israeli air strike.
Jawad Younes and 41-year-old Ragheb Younes were laid to rest in Saksakiyeh on Saturday after their family compound was hit a day earlier.
They are among the latest casualties in Israel's offensive against the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, after the group fired rockets into Israel earlier this month amid the war between the US and Israel against Iran.
Lebanese health officials say more than 1,100 people have been killed since the escalation began, with civilians increasingly caught in the crossfire.
The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on the intended target of the strike that hit the Younes family compound.
Hundreds gathered in Saksakiyeh town centre for Jawad and Ragheb's funeral.
Women dressed in black robes wailed over the bodies, one of which was draped in Hezbollah's yellow flag - a reflection of the group's support in this largely Shia area.
Malak Meslmani, Jawad's mother, sat beside her son's body with tears streaming down her face.
"My son is gentle and pure," she told the BBC.
"He loved the idea of martyrdom, and when he grew up, he wanted to be with the resistance.
"He wanted to resist the enemy Israel who killed him."
As the funeral procession made its way to the grave site, the sound of Israeli air strikes echoed in the distance. Plumes of smoke rose above nearby hilltops.
The strike on the Younes family home happened shortly after 13:00 (11:00 GMT) on Friday. Jawad's father, Hussein Younes, said his son had been playing football with his nine cousins at the time.
Standing in front of the ruins of his home, Jawad's father threw his hands in the air, and shouted: "I don't know! I don't know!", when asked why the Israeli military had targeted the house.
"If this was a military base, no kids would be here," he told the BBC.
The BBC spoke to multiple members of the family and local council members who all said the family had no involvement with Hezbollah militarily.
Five people survived the attack, and those wounded were taken to a nearby hospital. Among them was Jawad's aunt, Zeinab.
"Before it happened, me and my husband were inside," she said, speaking through tears from her hospital bed.
"We didn't see anything, and we didn't hear anything... Then I found myself under a pile of rubble."
Zeinab is being treated for a broken spine and a fractured leg. Doctors say they are hopeful she will walk again, but she is likely to require extensive surgery.
She said there had been no warning ahead of the strike, and that the family would have fled had they been alerted.
Jaward and Ragheb's burial comes just a day after another family in the same neighbourhood buried two children and their mother. They were also killed in Israeli bombardment amid another wave of deadly strikes across southern Lebanon.
On Saturday, three Lebanese journalists were killed in a targeted Israeli strike on their media vehicle, their employers said.
Ali Shoeib, a well-known correspondent for Al Manar TV, a station affiliated with Hezbollah, was killed alongside reporter Fatima Ftouni and cameraman Mohamed Ftouni from the channel Al Mayadeen, according to the stations.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it had killed Shoeib, describing him as a "terrorist" from Iranian-backed Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force who had "operated for years under the guise of a journalist".
The IDF provided no evidence to support its claim that Shoeib had a military role. It did not comment on the deaths of Fatima or Mohamed Ftouni.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the strike a "brazen crime" that violated all norms under which journalists should be protected during war.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has previously accused Israel of repeatedly killing media professionals while alleging they were militants without providing credible evidence.
Also on Saturday, an Israeli air strike killed five paramedics in the town of Zoutar. Human rights groups say Israel's repeated attacks on healthcare workers in Lebanon could amount to war crimes.
Since 2 March, Israeli air strikes have battered towns and villages across Lebanon, while ground forces continue to advance in the south as part of an ongoing offensive. Israel says its operations are aimed at Hezbollah targets, but civilians are frequently among those killed.
On Friday, the UN's refugee agency warned that Lebanon was facing a worsening humanitarian crisis that could become catastrophic, with more than one million people now displaced.
Lebanon remains trapped in a cycle of violence, with Israel and Hezbollah both vowing to continue the fight despite the mounting human cost.
Many, like the surviving members of the Younes family, say they are willing to pay the price.
"We are not afraid of the war, because we are not afraid of death," Zainab's son Ali sa
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03-29 00:00 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
There are fears the Iranian proxy may attack shipping in the Red Sea, adding to global economic woes.
Iran-backed Houthis join war with attack against Israel
The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen say they have launched a barrage of missiles against Israel - the first since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran.
The group said in a statement that it had targeted "sensitive Israeli military sites" and vowed to continue such attacks. Israel said it had shot down two missiles coming from Yemen.
The entry of the powerful Iranian proxy into the conflict raises fears of further disruption to the world economy as the armed group has capacity to attack shipping in the Red Sea.
Houthis consider themselves to be part of a so-called "axis of resistance" that also includes other groups financed by Iran, such as the Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that began 12 years ago, when the Houthis seized control of the country's north-west from the internationally recognised government and a Saudi-led coalition supported by the US intervened in an effort to restore its rule.
Crucially, they control the Yemen's Red Sea coastline.
The involvement of the group in the conflict that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February had been largely expected.
Prior to launching Saturday's attack, their military spokesman issued a statement saying their hands were "on the trigger for direct military intervention" if any countries joined the US-Israeli strikes or the Red Sea was used for military operations against Iran.
A few hours later, they confirmed they had launched "a salvo of ballistic missiles" and attacks would continue "until the aggression against all resistance fronts ceases" - an apparent reference to Israel's escalation of operations against the Hezbollah.
Later on Saturday, the Houthis said a second wave of missiles and drones had been launched against Israel.
US and Israeli attacks against Iran have continued unabated, even as US President Donald Trump says he has postponed a threatened attack on Iran's power plants if it does not reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz to shipping by 6 April.
About 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes through the waterway.
Its closure has caused the price of oil to skyrocket and has raised concerns that a prolonged blockage could raise energy prices - and even lead to a severe contraction in the economies of many countries.
Trump says Iran is desperate to reach a deal to end the war and is involved in talks with the US to do so - which Tehran denies.
There is a large distance between Israel and Yemen, and Israel has been successful in intercepting Houthi missiles in the past.
But the armed group has previously attacked vessels in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which ships use to access the Red Sea and, ultimately, the Suez Canal from the Indian Ocean.
From November 2023 to early 2025, the Houthis launched almost 200 attacks on ships in the Red Sea, damaging over 30 vessels and hijacking at least one.
The attacks forced even major shipping companies to stop using the Red Sea - through which almost 15% of global seaborne trade usually passes - and take a much longer route around southern Africa instead.
The US and UK carried out air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen in January 2024 and in March 2025 following the attacks.
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran has forced Saudi Arabia to divert oil through a pipeline to its Red Sea coast, with shipments bound for the Asian market then sailing south past Yemen - making Bal al-Mandab the main channel for these shipments.
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