Fears of war on two fronts as Israeli forces mass near Gaza
As huge concentrations of Israeli troops took position along the Gaza border, ready for a ground invasion, exchanges of fire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hizbullah group in south Lebanon intensified on Sunday, raising fears of war on two fronts.
One Israeli resident was killed on the northern border and the Israeli army said dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, nine of which crossed into Israeli territory; five were intercepted by air defence systems, while the rest landed in unpopulated areas. In retaliation, Israeli fighter jets struck Hizbullah military outposts in southern Lebanon.
The exchanges came as Israel continued preparations for a ground invasion of Gaza in the wake of the attack by Hamas, the militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, just over a week ago that killed 1,400 people in Israel.
Israel Hamas conflict
- Netanyahu vows to ‘demolish Hamas’ as conditions in Gaza deteriorate: Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to “demolish Hamas” as his military prepared to move into the Gaza Strip in pursuit of Islamist militants whose deadly rampage through Israeli border towns shocked the world.
- Team identifying bodies from Hamas massacre: ‘For every man in here, there’s a family’: The smell is overpowering as a group of Israeli soldiers and volunteers open the doors of the refrigerated shipping containers. On each side of the containers are steel structures, four shelves high and six rows deep.
- Forty Irish people currently in Gaza, Taoiseach says: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said there are about 40 Irish people currently in Gaza, including aid workers with the United Nations, and Irish-Palestinians who are dual citizens. The Government is working to contact them and provide advice about what to do ahead of the expected Israeli offensive into the territory.
- Violence in Israel and Gaza could spread to European streets if not de-escalated, Varadkar warns: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has called for a de-escalation of the violence in Israel and Gaza, warning of the potential for the conflict to spread to other parts of the region or even on to European streets.
- Former minister denounces ‘third Reich in Dublin’ during pro-Israel rally: The former minister for justice Alan Shatter said that we are seeing “the third Reich on the streets of Dublin” in an address to a rally in support of the state of Israel in Dublin on Sunday.
Opinion
- Why do we comment on things we know nothing about?: It may come as a surprise to you that one of the most popular courses at an Irish university this year is on bullshit. More precisely, the course is about On Bullshit, philosopher Harry Frankfurt’s pithy essay on speech “unconnected to a concern with the truth”. There is so much of the stuff swilling about and clogging up the pipes of public communication. It is something Frankfurt puts down to our increased opportunities today to comment on things of which we have limited understanding, writes Joe Humphreys.
The Big Read
- Miles from Gaza, fear and death stalk West Bank: Ibrahim Wadi and his 26-year-old son travelled to Qusra, a village near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, last Wednesday for the funeral of four Palestinian men killed in a shooting by Israeli settlers. By the afternoon, they too were dead, gunned down by Israeli settlers who descended on the funeral, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Top News Stories
- Drink-driving checks by Garda have halved since pre-pandemic levels: The number of alcohol breath tests carried out at Garda checkpoints has dropped by more than half compared with pre-pandemic levels while the number of gardaí assigned to roads policing is at its lowest level since 2017.
- How does the Garda explain erratic road traffic enforcement and detection trends?: Analysis. Road traffic enforcement – at least in some areas – has fallen as road deaths have increased. Drink-driving, mobile phone use while driving, and speeding are the three main issues in the latest data released to Patrick Costello TD (Green Party) in a series of Dáil questions. So let’s take those one by one, writes Conor Lally.
- Five men die on Ireland’s roads over the weekend: A total of five men have died in separate incidents on Irish roads over the weekend in counties Waterford, Roscommon, Kerry, Louth and Limerick.
- At least 4,000 seriously ill patients may not get vital drugs due to Budget 2024 decision: At least 4,000 seriously ill patients may be unable to access potentially life-saving medicines next year due to the Government’s decision not to provide funding for new drugs in last week’s budget.
- Parents’ reliance on cars a factor in children not taking enough physical activity, study finds: Just one-third of children actively commute to school by walking or cycling, according to a new study that shows the vast majority of pupils are not getting enough daily exercise.
- Check out today's Most Read stories
- Ireland’s weather on Monday: This morning will be mostly cloudy and dry, with just isolated showers. Sunny spells will develop in many areas this afternoon but it will stay cloudy in the south with some patchy light rain or drizzle developing in the southwest. Cool, with highest afternoon temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees, in a light to moderate east to southeast wind.
- Happening today: President Michael D Higgins will address the World Food Forum in Rome, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath will represent Ireland at the October meetings of the Eurogroup and the Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Luxembourg, the Stardust inquest continue and jury selection in the Ashling Murphy murder trial is set to commence.
Rugby World Cup
- All Black magic derails Ireland’s Rugby World Cup dream: The crestfallen Irish squad trundled around the pitch with their socks rolled down in a lap of appreciation towards the estimated 40-50,000 Irish supporters, whose presence was both a comfort and a source of heartbreak at the same time. That, and not doing it for Johnny.
- A competitor until the bitter end, Johnny Sexton bows out: Johnny Sexton attracts the cameras like a matinee idol, invariably box office as a player and as a person, whether happy, sad, smiling, tearful or incandescent, his face a ticker tape of emotions before, during and after Ireland’s World Cup quarter-final defeat to New Zealand at the Stade de France.
- ‘I’m unbelievably proud’: Farrell praises Ireland squad after heartbreaking Rugby World Cup exit: About an hour and a half after the final whistle in a silent Irish dressing room, the players still hadn’t moved from their seats, still hadn’t taken a shower and were still trying to come to terms with probably the most heartbreaking defeat of their careers.
- Peter O’Mahony crestfallen as tough defeat signals end of an era: Like some of the older guard competing in their third or fourth World Cup, Peter O’Mahony has probably played his best rugby and enjoyed this one more than any other.
- France knocked out after South Africa’s epic comeback: Hats off to World Rugby then. Two great semi-finals. Sorry, two great quarter-finals. The ridiculously premature and lop-sided draw may well ensure two eminently predictable semi-finals but, as expected, it led to two contenders for the greatest World Cup quarter-finals.
Culture and Life & Style highlights
- Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal, together at last! They’ve collided, anyhow: In a parallel universe, Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal are eagerly chatting about their performances in Garth Davis’s cerebral science-fiction drama Foe. The Hollywood writers’ strike did for that.
- Oldest rockers in town: The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Debbie Harry and 12 other classic acts still going strong: As Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood release their new album, we pick our favourite over-75s in music
Today's Business
- Potential for power system alerts this winter lower than last year, says EirGrid: There is a lower risk of power system alerts in coming months compared to what was anticipated last year though the balance between supply and demand remains tight, according to EirGrid’s winter outlook report.
- RTÉ misses out on Ireland rugby semi-final bonanza after rights ‘gamble’: RTÉ has missed out on a Rugby World Cup semi-final audience bonanza, while the total advertising revenue it earns from the event will also drop following Ireland’s defeat to New Zealand in the Stade de France on Saturday night.
Picture of the Day
Letters to the Editor
Time for a universal basic income
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Sir, – Budget 2024 left homeless people, the unemployed, carers, and disabled citizens with little or no benefit, consigning them to greater poverty and stress, creating and maintaining division, inequality and injustice. A just, equitable, and cohesive society can be created in Ireland; however, politicians prefer a divided society which maintains the adversarial party system we have and pits citizen against citizen to the detriment of many and the benefit of politicians. A universal basic income of €350 per week would create a seismic shift in our society, benefitting citizen welfare, the economy and cohesiveness in our society. – Yours, etc,
HUGH McDERMOTT, Dromahair, Co Leitrim.
Video & Podcast Highlights
- Michael Lewis on the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried: The one-time crypto billionaire is on trial for fraud
Review of the day
- Women’s stories dragged Ireland kicking and screaming into a better future: An extract from the preface of Irish Times columnist Justine McCarthy’s new book An Eye on Ireland: A Journey Through Social Change: When I had first resolved to become a journalist, reporters were regarded as muckrakers lurking on street corners in upturned raincoat collars and a press pass jammed in the hatband, barely able to scrape together the price of a pint in the early-hours dockers’ bars down on the quays.
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