US claims there are ‘serious concerns’ over Unrwa as agency says Israel has abused detained staff – as it happened (2025)

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Syria’s interior ministry said on Wednesday that 16 security personnel had been killed in clashes that erupted overnight near Damascus, a day after deadly sectarian violence elsewhere near the capital.

“Outlaw groups” attacked government positions and checkpoints near the town of Sahnaya, the ministry said in a statement, killing “11 members of forces from the general security department”, with five more killed in an attack on a different position.

• Elsewhere, Israeli police on Wednesday closed the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway and evacuated residents along the route as brushfires broke out again in an area ravaged by fires a week ago, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP)

• A Swiss ban on Hamas will come into force on 15 May, the federal government said on Wednesday after a parliamentary vote at the end of 2024. The government’s political and security committees submitted a motion to ban Hamas in October 2023, after the group’s deadly attack on Israel that month, said a government statement.

• Israel’s military said it arrested Ali Samoudi, a well-known journalist, in an overnight raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, reports the Associated Press (AP). Samoudi previously worked for international outlets including CNN and Al Jazeera. In 2022, he was injured in the same spray of gunfire that killed prominent Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. US officials say Akleh was shot dead by an Israeli sniper.

• An Iranian man convicted of espionage and intelligence cooperation with Israel was executed on Wednesday, Iranian state media reported. Entangled in a decades-long shadow war with Israel, Iran has put to death many individuals it accuses of having links with Israel’s the Mossad intelligence service and facilitating the latter’s operations in the country, notably assassinations or acts of sabotage meant to undermine its nuclear programme, reports Reuters.

• At least 11 civilians and security officials were killed in ongoing clashes in a town near Damascus on Wednesday, state media reported, the second consecutive day of fighting in Druze-majority areas around Syria’s capital. Reports said fighting had started overnight in the town of Ashrafiah Sahnaya, south-west of Damascus, after unknown gunmen attacked a security checkpoint. An attack on the Druze-majority Damascus suburb of Jaramana a day earlier left at least 10 people dead, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

• Starting with events at the ICJ, where judges are holding a week of hearings to help them formulate an advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations towards UN agencies delivering aid to Palestinians in Gaza. “There are serious concerns about Unrwa’s impartiality, including information that Hamas has used Unrwa facilities and that Unrwa staff participated in the 7 October terrorist attack against Israel,” said Josh Simmons from the US state department legal team, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

• The embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, has accused Israel of abusing dozens of its staff in military detention and using some as human shields. The head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, said that more than 50 staff members, including teachers, doctors and social workers, had been detained and abused since the start of the 18-month-long war in Gaza.

Israel cannot be forced to allow the UN Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa to operate in Gaza, the United States said on Wednesday at a World Court hearing in The Hague.

Israel last year passed a law that banned Unrwa from operating in the country, as it said the organisation had employed members of Hamas who took part in the attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, Reuters reported.

The UN said in August that nine Unrwa staff may have been involved in the assault and had been fired. Another Hamas commander, confirmed by Unrwa as one of its employees, was killed in Gaza in October, according to Israel.

The United Nations General Assembly in December asked the UN’s top court to give an advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations to facilitate aid to Palestinians that is delivered by states and international groups, including the United Nations.

At the third day of hearings on the matter, the US said Israel had the right to determine which organisations could provide basic needs to the population of the occupied Palestinian territories.

At least 11 civilians and security officials were killed in ongoing clashes in a town near Damascus on Wednesday, state media reported, the second consecutive day of fighting in Druze-majority areas around Syria’s capital.

Reports said fighting had started overnight in the town of Ashrafiah Sahnaya, south-west of Damascus, after unknown gunmen attacked a security checkpoint. An attack on the Druze-majority Damascus suburb of Jaramana a day earlier left at least 10 people dead, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Residents reported hearing gunfire, explosions and shelling throughout Wednesday morning. The security forces closed off roads leading to the area and sent reinforcements in an attempt to stop the fighting.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also announced that Israeli forces had struck an “extremist group that was preparing to attack the Druze population south of Damascus”. He said: “Israel will not allow harm to the Druze community in Syria.”

Israel has said it will protect the Druze population in southern Syria, an offer that Syrian Druze have said they did not ask for.

The fighting comes as Syria’s authorities grapple with rising tensions a month after an attack by remnants of the deposed regime of Bashar al-Assad on security forces sparked sectarian massacres in the coastal Latakia governorate which left at least 1,000 people dead.

This week’s clashes are likely to strain the already frosty relationship between the Syrian government and Druze communities, which are engaged in negotiations over their areas’ inclusion in the Syrian state.

Here are some of the latest images coming in via the newswires:

Israeli police on Wednesday closed the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway and evacuated residents along the route as brushfires broke out again in an area ravaged by blazes a week ago, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Communities located about 30km (19 miles) west of Jerusalem were evacuated, Israeli media reported, airing images of firefighting teams battling fierce flames.

Due to the weather conditions, the Israeli minister responsible for arranging national ceremonies, Miri Regev, announced that the main Independence Day event planned for Wednesday evening in Jerualem was cancelled.

High temperatures and strong winds have allowed the fires in wooded areas to spread quickly, prompting evacuations from at least five communities, the police said in a statement.

AFP reports that the emergency services provider, Magen David Adom, said in a statement that “at this stage, there are no reported casualties.”

“Ambulance teams, intensive care units and immediate response vehicles are providing medical support for firefighting operations,” it added.

National security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees Israel’s fire department, said in a statement that he was heading to the affected area, which often sees wildfires at this time of year.

When fires broke out in the same area last week, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called for increased measures to douse the flames and said they must be stopped before reaching Jerusalem, which was eventually the case.

Iranian journalists have warned of a media crackdown after a series of incidents, the most recent an explosion at a munitions company in which one person was killed and two injured.

The explosion on Tuesday, for which there has been no official explanation, occurred in Isfahan, only two days after a thwarted cyber-attack on the communications infrastructure on Sunday, and a huge explosion on Saturday at the strategic southern port of Shahid Rajaee, near Bandar Abbas.

The death toll from the explosion at the port has increased to 65, with more than 1,000 people injured.

Iran has ruled out foreign involvement in the Shahid Rajaee explosion, pointing instead to negligence and strong evidence that unlabelled combustible chemicals, undeclared to customs, were inappropriately stored, leading to a fire and a deadly chain reaction of explosions. An MP who visited the site put the chances of sabotage at 1%.

Suspicion of cover-ups is rife, however, and the filing of criminal charges against media outlets and activists by the Tehran prosecutor’s office has caused journalists in Iran to voice concern about press freedom. Mizan news agency, the judiciary’s official media outlet, said violators would face legal consequences for attempting to publish “illegal news” about the explosion.

One Tehran-based reporter, speaking to the Guardian on condition of anonymity because of safety concerns, said:

Not only were we warned against ground reporting, we were also banned effectively from sharing reports on social media. In face of a tragedy such as this, what is there to hide? Either the death toll is way more than 70, or they are suppressing the real cause of the explosion. Following the filing of charges, our newsrooms are also self-regulating in fear that they’ll be facing legal consequences.

Wednesday’s strike in Syria came as Israel marked its annual Memorial Day to commemorate fallen soldiers, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“On this Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers of the [Israel Defense Forces] IDF, when we honour the great contribution of the Druze community to Israel’s security … we place great importance on fulfilling our commitment to the Druze community in Israel and to protecting their brothers in Syria,” said the statement issued by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

The statement continued:

Israel will not allow harm to befall the Druze community in Syria out of a deep commitment to our Druze brothers in Israel, who share family and historical ties with their Druze brethren in Syria.

The embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, has accused Israel of abusing dozens of its staff in military detention and using some as human shields.

The head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, said that more than 50 staff members, including teachers, doctors and social workers, had been detained and abused since the start of the 18-month-long war in Gaza.

“They have been treated in the most shocking & inhumane way. They reported being beaten + used as human shields,” Lazzarini wrote on X.

Those detained had been subjected to “sleep deprivation, humiliation, threats of harm to them & their families + attacks by dogs … [and] forced confessions”.

UN officials said the reported abuse had taken place both in Gaza and in military detention sites in Israel.

The Israeli military has not responded directly to Lazzarini’s accusation, but has previously denied allegations of widespread abuse in its detention facilities and by its troops.

It has, however, launched investigations into abuse by individual soldiers during the war, and into the use of detainees as human shields, bringing charges against service personnel in some cases.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it acted in accordance with Israeli law and international law, and protects the rights of individuals held in detention facilities under its responsibility.

A Swiss ban on Hamas will come into force on 15 May, the federal government said on Wednesday after a parliamentary vote at the end of 2024.

The government’s political and security committees submitted a motion to ban Hamas in October 2023, after the group’s deadly attack on Israel that month, said a government statement.

The ban is designed to counter the movement’s activities and stop people supporting the group, the statement added, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The law makes it easier for the police to use preventive measures such as entry bans or expulsions as well as facilitating the handling of evidence in criminal relevant cases, said the government.

The law will also make it harder for Hamas to use Switzerland’s financial network for its funding, strengthening the country’s “internal security” and upholding international law, it added.

The Israeli military carried out a warning strike against “extremists” preparing to attack members of the Druze minority in the Syrian town of Sahnaya, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday in a joint statement with defence minister Israel Katz, reports Reuters.

At least 12 people including children were killed overnight in Gaza by Israeli strikes, hospital workers said on Wednesday, reports the Associated Press (AP).

The strikes come after more than two dozen people were killed earlier this week in Gaza City and Beit Lahiya.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) has more on the evidence given by Josh Simmons at the ICJ hearing (see 9.34am)

Simmons, from the US state department legal team, told the judges that Israel has “ample grounds” to question Unrwa’s impartiality.

“Given these concerns, it is clear that Israel has no obligation to permit Unrwa specifically to provide humanitarian assistance,” he said.

“Unrwa is not the only option for providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza,” he added.

A US official on Wednesday told the international court of justice (ICJ) there were “serious concerns” about the impartiality of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa).

ICJ judges are holding a week of hearings to help them formulate an advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations towards UN agencies delivering aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

“There are serious concerns about Unrwa’s impartiality, including information that Hamas has used Unrwa facilities and that Unrwa staff participated in the 7 October terrorist attack against Israel,” said Josh Simmons from the US state department legal team, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Israel banned all cooperation with Unrwa’s activities in Gaza and the occupied West Bank earlier this year, and claims the agency has been infiltrated by Hamas, an allegation that has been fiercely contested.

Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, said a fourth round of nuclear talks with the United States, mediated by Oman, would be held in on Saturday in Rome.

“The next round of negotiations will take place in Rome,” the foreign minister said after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Araghchi said Iranian officials would also meet on Friday with representatives from the UK, France and Germany – all parties to the 2015 nuclear deal.