Russia bans night-time flights over Israel

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Russia has banned its planes from making night-time flights over Israel during the next week, according to the aviation authority, Notam. 
Moscow on Friday prohibited Russian carriers from entering Israeli airspace from 10pm to 4am UTC until Aug 16, when flights are expected to resume.
It comes after Vladimir Putin urged Iran to show restraint and not target civilians with its attack on Israel.
The Russian president’s message to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, was delivered through Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s security council, in meetings with Iranian officials this week.
We’ll be back tomorrow with the latest updates on the war.
An Israeli strike on Friday killed two Hezbollah fighters near the border, a source close to the Lebanese group and Israel’s military said, while drones broadcast anti-Hezbollah messages over south Lebanon.
Residents and local journalists in south Lebanon circulated footage they said showed an Israeli drone flying over the village of Kunin, broadcasting the message in Arabic that the cross-border violence “is thanks to Hezbollah and Hassan Nasrallah”, the group’s chief.
On Thursday evening, residents of the southern town of Bint Jbeil circulated similar videos in which the same message could be heard.
The source close to Hezbollah told AFP the videos were authentic, calling the messages “incitement” against the group.
The UK’s foreign secretary called Friday for Israel and Hamas to “urgently” agree to a ceasefire deal, following a joint statement by the US, Qatar and Egypt calling for negotiations to resume.
“The UK welcomes the tireless efforts of our partners in Qatar, Egypt and the United States,” David Lammy said in a statement.
He added that London “fully endorses their joint statement calling for the immediate resumption of ceasefire negotiations and a hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas”.
A crude oil tanker has reported four attacks off Yemen’s port of Mokha during the last 24 hours, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said on Friday, and the vessel’s manager said the ship and its crew were safe.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea region since November in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.
On Thursday, the captain of the Delta Blue tanker reported that two small craft had approached and fired a rocket-propelled grenade which exploded near the Liberia-flagged vessel some 45 nautical miles south of Mokha.
Each of the two small boats had four people on board, the UKMTO agency said. Hours later, another missile exploded close to the tanker.
Iran has touted a new “undetectable” missile it has developed amid growing fears of a full-blown Middle East war. 
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards said on Friday that its navy has new cruise missiles equipped with highly explosive warheads that are undetectable, state media reported.
The announcement by the country’s most powerful security organisation coincides with escalating tensions in the region after Iran vowed to avenge the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas.
Iran has blamed Israel, while Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
Dozens of countries, academics and rights groups have filed legal arguments either rejecting or supporting the International Criminal Court’s power to issue arrest warrants in its investigation into the war in Gaza and the Oct 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel.
The submissions filed this week come as a panel of judges considers a request by the court’s chief prosecutor for warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, and the recently promoted leaders of Hamas.
The court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, sought warrants in May, accusing Mr Netanyahu, Mr Gallant, and three Hamas leaders — Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh — of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Both Haniyeh and Deif have since been killed. Sinwar, Hamas’ top official in Gaza who masterminded the Oct 7 attacks, was subsequently named the group’s new leader.
Iran’s new president is battling against the hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in an attempt to prevent all-out war with Israel, The Telegraph has learned.
Tehran’s authorities are divided over how to respond to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, in the Iranian capital on July 31.
Top generals within the IRGC are insisting on a direct strike on Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities, focusing on military bases to avoid civilian casualties.
Read the full piece here.
Ursula von der Leyen, the EU president, said Friday that there needs to be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, adding to international pressure for a truce deal between Israel and Hamas.
“We need a ceasefire in Gaza now. That’s the only way to save lives, restore hope for peace, and secure the return of hostages,” Ms von der Leyen wrote on X.
“Thus I strongly support the efforts led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar to help achieve the peace and stability the region needs.”
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, on Friday called for an end to the fighting in Gaza, saying France was lending its “full support” to mediation efforts in the war between Israel and Hamas.
“The war in Gaza must stop,” Mr Macron wrote on X. “This must be clear to everyone.”
An end of hostilities was “crucial for the people of Gaza, for the hostages, and for the stability of the region, which is at stake today”, he wrote.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Israel had agreed to resume Gaza ceasefire talks on Aug 15 at the request of US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
Two Hezbollah fighters were killed in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon earlier today, according to the IDF.
The terrorists were reportedly identified by the 146th Division as they left a building associated with the terror group, with a drone attacking them shortly after.
Hezbollah has not confirmed their deaths. More than 15 rockets were launched from Lebanon at Kiryat Shmona, a city in northern Israel, in the last hour, the IDF told the Times of Israel.
Most of the rockets were intercepted but at least two penetrated into the city, damaging infrastructure, according to the IDF and local authorities.
No injuries have been reported.
Israeli tanks returned to the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Friday, forcing thousands to evacuate as Hamas terrorists continued to attack Israeli troops from the ruins, residents and the military said.
Families fled eastern Khan Younis in vehicles and on foot, belongings heaped on donkey carts and motorcycle rickshaws as they made their slow escape along congested roads.
Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant, in talks with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin, called for a swift agreement to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza, the Israeli military said on Friday.
“While working to secure Israel, minister Gallant raised the importance of swiftly achieving an agreement that will ensure the return of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza,” the military said in a statement, adding the two agreed on “the urgency” of the issue.
The US has warned Iran that attacking Israel could result in “serious” consequences for its economy and newly elected government, according to reports.
US officials also informed Tehran that launching a “significant retaliatory attack against Israel” risks a “major escalation” in regional tensions.
The Biden administration has been pressuring Iran, both through diplomatic channels and by moving military assets to the Middle East, to abandon its plans to attack Israel in retaliation for the killings of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.
Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s newly elected president, came to power last month on a reformist agenda pledging to open Iran to the world, leading his supporters to hope he may be able to deescalate the conflict in the Middle East.
The US warned Tehran on Thursday “that there is a serious risk of consequences for Iran’s economy and the stability of its newly elected government if it goes down that path,” one US official told the Washington Post.
Pakistan would support all efforts to prevent war escalating in the Middle East, its foreign ministry said on Friday, as fears grow of a wider conflict involving Israel and Iran.
The Middle East is bracing for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies following last week’s killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Tehran has blamed the death of Hamas’s political leader on Iranian soil on Israel, which has not confirmed involvement.
“Pakistan will support all efforts to prevent a war in the Middle East,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said at a media briefing. She did not comment on whether Pakistan had been in contact with Washington over the issue.
She denied reports by the Jerusalem Post newspaper that Pakistan was planning to provide Shaheen-III medium-range ballistic missiles to Iran.
In this episode of Battle Lines, we look at how Israel is preparing for a possible war with Iran and a deep dive into how Hamas fights with Middle East Correspondent Jotam Confino. 
We also pop over to Paris to talk to the Telegraph’s Henry Samuel’s and see how the French have been covering the riots and what advice they would give the UK. Plus we get an explainer of the political turmoil in Bangladesh with Sarah Newey.
The US ambassador to Japan skipped a ceremony on Friday marking the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in protest at Israel not being invited.
Rahm Emanuel instead attended a prayer meeting at a Tokyo temple with Israeli ambassador Gilad Cohen and Britain’s Julia Longbottom, who also boycotted the Nagasaki event.
On August 9, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing 74,000 people including many who survived the explosion but died later from radiation exposure.
The bomb fell three days after the first nuclear bomb hit Hiroshima and killed 140,000 people. Japan announced its surrender in the Second World War on August 15, 1945.
Hezbollah is poised to attack Israel even if Iran chooses to avoid direct retaliation for the killings of Ismail Haniyeh and Fuad Shukr, US officials say, writes Paul Nuki, Security Editor.
The terrorist group, based in Lebanon and backed by Iran, is said to desire further revenge for Israel’s assassination of Shukr, its number two, and could strike without warning.
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, feels compelled to avenge the death of his close adviser, said Sima Shine. Mr Shine is a former officer in Mossad, the Israeli security agency, and the head of the Iran program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
Read the full piece here.
Kamala Harris does not support an arms embargo on US ally Israel, a top aide said Thursday, in one of the first substantive statements on her Gaza war policy since her July entry to the 2024 White House race.
The comment came a day after the US vice president was heckled by pro-Palestinian protesters at a rally for the first time since she became the Democratic candidate less than three weeks ago.
Ms Harris also met with groups opposed to the war after the rally in Detroit, Michigan. Participants reportedly said they brought up the issue of halting US arms supplies to Israel.
“She does not support an arms embargo on Israel,” Phil Gordon, Ms Harris’s national security advisor, said on X.
Three attempted attacks likely launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels targeted a merchant vessel off Yemen but caused no injuries or damage, maritime security firm Ambrey said on Friday.
The ship, which had a private security team on board, was approached by a small boat and an unmanned surface vessel (USV) 58 nautical miles from the Houthi-run port city of Hodeida, Ambrey said.
It was the third attack targeting the same ship in under 24 hours, according to Ambrey, which said the ship’s security team destroyed the USV.
The advisory came shortly after the British maritime firm said the ship “was hit by an unmanned aerial vehicle” off Hodeida.
The United States and its Middle Eastern allies demanded Israel and Hamas return to stalled peace talks on the war in Gaza next week, saying there were “no excuses” for further delay.
Leaders of the US, Egypt and Qatar said in a joint statement that “only the details” of carrying out a ceasefire and hostage release remain to be negotiated.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Thursday: “Pursuant to the proposal by the US and the mediators, Israel will – on 15 August – send the negotiations team to a place to be determined in order to finalize the details of the implementation of the framework agreement.”
President Joe Biden, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Egyptian president, and Qatari Emir Tamim al-Thani, mediators in indirect negotiations to end 10 months of devastating war in Gaza, set the talks for Aug 15, to take place in either Doha, Qatar, or Cairo.
A senior US official said only four or five areas of disagreement over implementation remained to be resolved between the two opponents.