Israel sends rescue planes to Amsterdam after attacks on football fans – Middle East crisis live | Israel #Israel #sends #rescue #planes #Amsterdam #attacks #football #fans #Middle #East #crisis #live #Israel

Key events

Opening summary

Hezbollah said it targeted a naval base near the Israeli city of Haifa with missiles, the second such attack in less than 24 hours.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the group said it targeted the Stella Maris naval base, north west of Haifa, with a missile barrage, “in response to the attacks and massacres committed by the Israeli enemy”.

Meanwhile, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to Amsterdam after “a very violent incident” targeting Israelis citizens, his office said on Friday, after attacks linked to a football game were reported.

Israel’s national security ministry has also urged its citizens in the Dutch city to stay in their hotel rooms after the attacks, the prime minister’s office said in a second statement.

“Fans who went to see a football game, encountered antisemitism and were attacked with unimaginable cruelty just because of their Jewishness and Israeliness,” Israeli security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said in a post on X.

Video on social media showed crowds running through the streets and a man being beaten, reports Reuters.

The Dutch ministry of foreign affairs had no immediate comment on the statements by the Israeli government, according to the news agency.

More on that story in a moment. In other developments:

The US state department’s spokesperson, Matthew Miller, has said the US would continue to pursue a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon until the end of President Biden’s term. Miller said: “We will continue to pursue an end to the war in Gaza, an end to the war in Lebanon, a surge of humanitarian assistance [to Gaza], and that is our duty to pursue those policies right up until noon on 20 January when the president-elect takes office.”
People in Gaza have been pushed “beyond breaking point” with families, widows and children enduring “almost unparalleled suffering”, according to the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Jan Egeland visited Gaza this week and found “scene after scene of absolute despair”, with families torn apart and unable to bury relatives who had died.
Israel’s ousted defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has reportedly said the army has achieved all its objectives in Gaza and that Netanyahu rejected a hostages-for-peace deal against the advice of his own security establishment. Gallant was speaking to hostages’ families on Thursday, two days after being sacked by Netanyahu, and reports of his remarks quickly surfaced in Israeli media.
Donald Trump will as president give Netanyahu a “blank check” in the Middle East, possibly opening the way for all-out war between Israel and Iran, the former CIA director and US defense secretary Leon Panetta predicted. “With regards to the Middle East, I think he’s basically going to give Netanyahu a blank check,” Panetta said of Trump, who won the presidential election this week and will take office again in January.
Footage recorded from a UN vehicle has shown the scale of destruction in northern Gaza. The video, filmed during a UN drive-through on Wednesday, shows roads completely torn up and buildings reduced to rubble.
Human rights organisations say they are gravely concerned that a young Iranian woman arrested for stripping down to her underwear could be subjected to torture after she was transferred to a psychiatric hospital by the authorities. Amnesty International said the situation facing the young woman was “alarming”.