A prominent Iranian human rights lawyer has begun a hunger strike seeking better prison conditions and the release of political prisoners amid the pandemic, her husband said Thursday.
Reza Khandan told The Associated Press his wife Nasrin Sotoudeh began the strike Tuesday and he feared it would exacerbate her chronic gastrointestinal and foot problems.
Iran has the highest number of virus-related deaths in the region with 19,162 after 174 died since Wednesday. The country reported more than 336,000 confirmed cases as of Thursday.
Sotoudeh, a mother of two, was arrested in 2018 on charges of collusion and propaganda against the system and eventually was sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes. Under the law she must serve at least 12 years, said Khandan.
He said Sotoudeh told authorities she would begin a hunger strike to protest the “lawless atmosphere” in Iran's prisons.
Khandan said Sotoudeh believes political prisoners have been deprived of basic rights such as the right to be furloughed amid the pandemic, choosing their own lawyers and the right to a fair trial.
Khandan said Sotoudeh had a 10-minute phone conversation with him Wednesday. Prisoners are allowed phone calls three times per week.
Earlier this year, the 57-year-old Sotoudeh — known for defending activists, opposition politicians and women prosecuted for removing their headscarves,— held a five-day hunger strike demanding prisoners be released to protect them from the coronavirus.
Following the pandemic, Iran furloughed more than 100,000 prisoners, more than 40% of the country's total. Iran has 210,000 prisoners, 60% of them robbery and drug related.
In 2012, Sotoudeh won the European Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for her work on high-profile cases, including those of convicts on death row for offenses committed as minors.
Following the 2009 post-election turmoil and protests after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Sotoudeh spent some three years in prison.
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press appear to show a new compound of tents being built near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip as the Israeli military signals that it plans an offensive on the city of Rafah.
Khan Younis has been targeted by repeated Israeli military operations over recent weeks. Israel has said it plans to evacuate civilians from Rafah during an anticipated offensive on the southern city, where hundreds of thousands of people have taken refuge during the war, now in its seventh month.
A Palestinian health official later said the tent camp was being set up to house displaced people who are currently sheltering in a hospital and is not related to any impending military operation. Its presence underscores the struggle to find shelter in Gaza, where some 80% of people have fled their homes. More than half of the territory’s population of 2.3 million have sought refuge in Rafah.
On Monday, a failed rocket strike was launched at a base housing U.S.-led coalition forces at Rumalyn, Syria, marking the first time since Feb. 4 that Iranian-backed militias have attacked a U.S. facility in Iraq or Syria, a U.S. defense official said. No personnel were injured in the attack, and no group has claimed responsibility.
The conflict has led to regional unrest, pitting Israel and the U.S. against Iran and allied militant groups across the Middle East. Israel and Iran traded fire directly this month, raising fears of all-out regional war.
The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which the militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
The war in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, around two-thirds of them children and women. It has devastated Gaza’s two largest cities and left a swath of destruction. Around 80% of the territory’s population has fled to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave.
The U.S. Senate could pass a $26 billion aid package as soon as Tuesday that includes around $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza, which experts say is on the brink of famine, as well as billions for Israel. President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.
Currently:
— Satellite photos suggest Iran air defense radar struck during apparent Israeli attack on Isfahan
— Students across the United States are upping their Gaza war protests
— A legal challenge over the UK’s role in arms sales to Israel will go ahead
— Google fires more workers who protested its deal with Israel
— Dutch intelligence sees the wars in Gaza and Ukraine as triggers for terrorist threats
Here is the latest:
UNITED NATIONS — The head of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees says it has never been under as sustained an attack as it is now in an Israeli campaign to dismantle its activities in Gaza and possibly elsewhere in the Mideast.
In UNRWA's 75-year history, it has experienced "absolutely nothing comparable” to the “ferocity” and scope of the current campaign against its Gaza operations, Philippe Lazzarini told reporters Tuesday.
It is happening even as many donors have suspended contributions to UNRWA after Israel alleged that 12 employees of the agency participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel, he said. The U.N.’s internal watchdog is investigating those allegations.
BEIRUT — An Israeli strike on a house in south Lebanon on Tuesday left a woman and a 10-year-old girl dead and six other people, state media and hospital officials said.
It was not clear what the intended target of the strike in the town of Hanin was. Israeli officials did not immediately comment.
Earlier Tuesday, an Israeli strike on a car in the Lebanese town of Adloun killed a Hezbollah official whom the Israeli army described as a “significant” operative in Hezbollah’s aerial defense unit.
In response, Hezbollah said it had launched an attack on an Israeli base near the city of Acre, considerably farther south than the areas it usually strikes. The Israeli military said in a statement that it had “successfully intercepted two suspicious aerial targets off the northern coast.”
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and allied groups have been clashing with Israeli forces along the border for more than six months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
More than 300 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon during that time, including about 50 civilians.
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations’ top human rights official says he is “horrified” by the destruction of two major hospitals raided by Israeli troops in Gaza.
Volker Türk also expressed concern about the reported discovery of mass graves in and around the Shifa medical center in Gaza City and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
In a statement issued Tuesday, he called for independent and transparent investigations into the deaths, saying that “given the prevailing climate of impunity, this should include international investigators.”
The Israeli military said its forces were searching for the remains of hostages captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war when they exhumed bodies that Palestinians had buried. The military said bodies were examined in a respectful manner and returned to their place.
The Israeli military says it killed or detained hundreds of militants who had taken shelter inside the two hospital complexes, claims that could not be independently verified.
Palestinian health officials say the raids have destroyed Gaza’s health sector as it deals with the mounting toll from more than six months of war.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing says time is running out for reaching a deal to release hostages held by the militant group.
The spokesman, known as Abu Obeida, said in a video statement carried by the Al Jazeera network on Tuesday that “the ball is in the court” of Israel, but that “time grows short and the opportunities are dwindling.”
He suggested the hostages could meet the same fate as Ron Arad. The Israeli airman is still missing after being captured by militants in Lebanon in 1986.
Hamas captured around 250 hostages during its wide-ranging assault into Israel on Oct. 7, in which militants also killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. The attack triggered the war in Gaza, which has killed over 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
Hamas and other militants are still believed to be holding around 100 hostages and the remains of around 30 others. Most of the other hostages were freed in November in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent months trying to broker another cease-fire and hostage release. Those talks have stalled, with Hamas demanding an end to the war and Israel vowing to continue its offensive until it destroys the militant group.
Abu Obeida struck a defiant tone in the video statement, saying “the enemy has not achieved anything in the last 200 days except for massacres, destruction and killing.”
CAIRO — Ireland’s top diplomat has condemned Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing of Gaza,” saying the civilian toll of its war against Hamas is “unacceptable.”
Speaking in a joint news conference with his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Micheál Martin said the killing of women and children is “unconscionable.”
He mentioned an airstrike over the weekend on Gaza’s southern city of Rafah that killed 17 children and two women from the same extended family.
“The women and children that are being killed. It’s unconscionable,” he said. “It’s very difficult for me personally as a human being to comprehend that level of barbarity, there can be no justification for it, in my view.”
The minister called for a cease-fire, the release of all hostages captured by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war, and flooding the strip with humanitarian aid.
It’s “unacceptable that hostages are taken in this manner,” he said. “And again, we have consistently condemned the taking of hostages.”
BEIRUT — The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said Tuesday afternoon it had launched an attack on an Israeli base near the city of Acre, considerably farther south than the areas it usually targets, in response to an Israeli airstrike that killed of one of its officials.
The Israeli military said in a statement earlier Tuesday that it had killed Hussein Ali Azqul in an airstrike in south Lebanon and described him as a “significant” operative in Hezbollah’s aerial defense unit. Hezbollah confirmed in a statement that Azqul had been killed.
State media and witnesses said the strike happened in the area of Adloun, between the coastal cities of Sidon and Tyre, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the border with Israel.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and allied groups have been clashing with Israeli forces along the border for more than six months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has regularly carried out targeted killings of Hezbollah and Hamas members in Lebanon, sometimes in areas far from the border.
Hezbollah said the strike it launched was “in response to the Israeli aggression on the town of Adloun” and the “assassination” of Azqul. It said the strike targeted a location about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the border and was the deepest it had launched since the outbreak of the war.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it had “successfully intercepted two suspicious aerial targets off the northern coast.”
JERICHO, West Bank — Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man early Tuesday in the West Bank city of Jericho, an eyewitness and Palestinian officials said.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the man as Shadi Jalaita, 44, and said he suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.
His uncle, Shafiq Jalaita, said the man had been outside of his home watching an Israeli military raid taking place at a neighbor’s house in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Suddenly, three gunshots rang out, he said.
“The third bullet hit his chest and came out of his back,” Jalaita said.
The Israeli army has not commented on the shooting.
The Health Ministry said a child also was shot in the stomach in Jericho and was in critical condition. No further details were available.
Violence has surged in the West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7. Since then, at least 487 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the territory, the Ramallah-based Health Ministry said.
DOHA, Qatar — Qatar is in a “reevaluation phase” when it comes to trying to mediate talks between Israel and Hamas over a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
“We need to see seriousness from everyone,” Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, told a news conference Tuesday.
He also said discussions were ongoing about Hamas’ ongoing presence in Qatar.
The militant group has had a political office in Doha, Qatar, for years, but the Wall Street Journal has reported in recent days that Hamas could leave the country as the talks remain deadlocked. Hamas has denied that the group was considering leaving Qatar.
— Associated Press writer Lujain Jo contributed to this report.
The United Nations’ human rights chief is renewing a warning against a large-scale Israeli offensive in the city of Rafah and decrying recent Israeli strikes on the city.
Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said that a large incursion into Rafah “would risk more deaths, injuries and displacement on a large scale – even further atrocity crimes, for which those responsible would be held accountable,” his office said in a statement.
Türk deplored three strikes in Rafah in recent days that reportedly killed mostly women and children. He said that “the world’s leaders stand united on the imperative of protecting the civilian population trapped in Rafah.”
Israel has carried out near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has sought refuge. It has also vowed to expand its ground offensive against the Hamas militant group to the city on the border with Egypt despite calls for restraint, including from the U.S.
BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on a car in southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed a Hezbollah official.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it had killed Hussein Ali Azqul in the strike and described him as a “significant” operative in Hezbollah’s aerial defense unit. Hezbollah confirmed in a statement that Azqul had been killed.
State media and witnesses said the strike happened in the area of Adloun, between the coastal cities of Sidon and Tyre, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the border with Israel.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and allied groups have been clashing with Israeli forces along the border for more than six months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has regularly carried out targeted killings of Hezbollah and Hamas members in Lebanon, sometimes in areas far from the border.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Tuesday the bodies of 32 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to local hospitals over the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 59 wounded, it said in its daily report.
That brings the overall Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war to at least 34,183, the ministry said. Another 77,143 have been injured, it said.
The Health Ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its tallies, but has said that women and children make up around two thirds of those killed.
The Israeli military says it has killed 13,000 militants, without providing evidence to back up the claim.
BEIRUT — An apparent Israeli airstrike on a car in southern Lebanon killed at least one person Tuesday, officials said.
State media and witnesses said the strike happened in the area of Adloun, between the coastal cities of Sidon and Tyre, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the border with Israel.
It was not immediately clear who was killed.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and allied groups have been clashing with Israeli forces along the border for more than six months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on Tuesday’s strike. Israel has regularly carried out targeted killings of Hezbollah and Hamas members in Lebanon, sometimes in areas far from the border.
JERUSALEM — Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press appear to show a new compound of tents being built near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli military signals that it plans an offensive targeting the city of Rafah.
Images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by the AP show the tent compound starting to be fully under construction on April 16 just west of Khan Younis. Images taken Sunday show the tent compound has grown.
Dr. Saleh al-Hams, director of the nursery department at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, said the tents were being set up to house displaced people who are currently sheltering in the hospital, where their presence in packed corridors hinders the provision of health care.
He said the tent compound is not related to any potential military operation.
The Israeli military said Tuesday that it was not involved in the tent construction near Khan Younis.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened “additional painful blows” targeting Hamas over the stalling of talks aimed at freeing the remaining hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
That could include the long-threatened attack on Rafah, where half of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people have fled. The U.S., Israel’s main ally, has repeatedly said any military operation needs to protect civilians.
Netanyahu has said he would order the military to evacuate civilians from Rafah for the offensive, but it is not clear where they could go.
— Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell contributed to this report.
This combination aerial images provided by Maxar Technologies, shows an area before a tent camp was built near Khan Younis in Gaza on April 7, 2024, left, and after the tents were built on April 23, 2024. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)
This image provided by Maxar Technologies, shows a rows of tents built near Khan Younis in Gaza on April 23, 2024. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)
This combination aerial images provided by Maxar Technologies, shows an area before a tent camp was built near Rafah in Gaza on April 7, 2024, left, and after the tents were built on April 23, 2024. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)
This image provided by Maxar Technologies, shows a rows of tents built near Rafah in Gaza on April 23, 2024. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners bury the body of Palestinian Shadi Jalaita, 44, at the cemetery, during his funeral in the West Bank city of Jericho Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man early Tuesday in the West Bank city of Jericho, an eyewitness and Palestinian officials said. The Palestinian Health Ministry said he suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Family and supporters of hostages held in the Gaza Strip hold up their hands, painted red to symbolize blood, to call for the captives' release and to mark 200 days since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 cross-border attack, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Mother of Palestinian Shadi Jalaita, 44, cries upon the arrival of her son's body at the family house for the last look during his funeral in the West Bank city of Jericho Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man early Tuesday in the West Bank city of Jericho, an eyewitness and Palestinian officials said. The Palestinian Health Ministry said he suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Mourners react while they take the last look at the body of Palestinian Shadi Jalaita, 44 during his funeral in the West Bank city of Jericho Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man early Tuesday in the West Bank city of Jericho, an eyewitness and Palestinian officials said. The Palestinian Health Ministry said he suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Family and supporters of hostages held in the Gaza Strip hold up their hands, painted red to symbolize blood, to call for the captives' release and to mark 200 days since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 cross-border attack, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Family and supporters of hostages held in the Gaza Strip hold up their hands, painted red to symbolize blood, to call for the captives' release and to mark 200 days since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 cross-border attack, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Family and supporters of hostages held in the Gaza Strip hold up their hands, painted red to symbolize blood, to call for the captives' release and to mark 200 days since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 cross-border attack, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Family and supporters of hostages held in the Gaza Strip hold up their hands, painted red to symbolize blood, to call for the captives' release and to mark 200 days since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 cross-border attack, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows tents being constructed near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Satellite photos analyzed Tuesday by The Associated Press appear to show a new compound of tents being built near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli military continues to signal it plans an offensive targeting the city of Rafah. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows tents being constructed near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Satellite photos analyzed Tuesday, April 23, 2024 by The Associated Press appear to show a new compound of tents being built near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli military continues to signal it plans an offensive targeting the city of Rafah. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows tents and other makeshift housing built up around the area of the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp Saturday, April 20, 2024, amid Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Tel al-Sultan is part of the wider urban Rafah refugee camp, one of eight in the Gaza Strip that were built for families displaced during the war surrounding the creation of Israel in 1948. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows tents being constructed near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Satellite photos analyzed Tuesday, April 23 by The Associated Press appear to show a new compound of tents being built near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli military continues to signal it plans an offensive targeting the city of Rafah. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
FILE - A Russian-made S-300 air defense system sits on display for the annual Defense Week, marking the 37th anniversary of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, at Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran, Sept. 24, 2017. Satellite photos taken Monday suggest an apparent Israeli retaliatory strike targeting Iran's central city of Isfahan hit a radar system for a Russian-made air defense battery, contradicting repeated denials by officials in Tehran in the time since the assault. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
Burn marks surround what analysts identify as a radar system for a Russian-made S-300 missile battery, center, near an international airport and air base is seen in Isfahan, Iran, Monday, April 22, 2024. Satellite photos taken Monday suggest an apparent Israeli retaliatory strike targeting Iran's central city of Isfahan hit a radar system for a Russian-made air defense battery, contradicting repeated denials by officials in Tehran in the time since the assault. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
The Latest | Tent compound rises in Khan Younis as Israel prepares for Rafah offensive
A missile defense site near an international airport and air base is seen in Isfahan, Iran, Monday, April 22, 2024. Satellite photos taken Monday suggest an apparent Israeli retaliatory strike targeting Iran's central city of Isfahan hit a radar system for a Russian-made air defense battery, contradicting repeated denials by officials in Tehran in the time since the assault. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
The Latest | Tent compound rises in Khan Younis as Israel prepares for Rafah offensive
