التصنيف: أخبار

Israel should “stop and think” before taking any further action in Rafah, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said – as the UK sanctioned four settlers in the West Bank.

The former prime minister said the UK was “very concerned” about the situation on the Gaza-Egypt border.

Local health officials have said 37 people were killed in strikes on the city.

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Meanwhile, four Israeli settlers in the West Bank accused of human rights abuses were sanctioned by the UK.

Moshe Sharvit, Yinon Levy, Zvi Bar Yosef and Ely Federman are now subject to a UK assets freeze, alongside travel and visa bans.

The Foreign Office said Israel’s “failure to act” had led to “an environment of near total impunity for settler extremists”, with violence in the West Bank reaching record levels in 2023.

Lord Cameron said: “Today’s sanctions place restrictions on those involved in some of the most egregious abuses of human rights. We should be clear about what is happening here.

“Extremist Israeli settlers are threatening Palestinians, often at gunpoint, and forcing them off land that is rightfully theirs.

“This behaviour is illegal and unacceptable. Israel must also take stronger action and put a stop to settler violence. Too often, we see commitments made and undertakings given, but not followed through.

“Extremist settlers, by targeting and attacking Palestinian civilians, are undermining security and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians.”

Sustainable ceasefire calls

On the situation in Rafah, the foreign secretary said it was “impossible to see how you can fight a war amongst these people”, referring to the civilians in Gaza.

“There’s nowhere for them to go,” he added, with the border crossing to Egypt shut.

“We want Israel to stop and think very seriously before it takes any further action.

“Above all, what we want is an immediate pause in the fighting – we want that pause to lead to a ceasefire, a sustainable ceasefire without a return to further fighting.”

The Israeli military said it had conducted a “series of strikes” in southern Gaza on Monday.

It said the strikes had now concluded, without elaborating on the targets or assessing the potential damage or casualties.

Hostages freed

Israel later shared that two hostages had been rescued by special forces from Rafah.

The army named them as Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, both taken from Kibbutz Nir Yizhak in the 7 October Hamas attacks.

Israel says it has expanded its ground operation in southern Gaza to root out Hamas fighters.

On Sunday, US President Joe Biden warned Israel against launching a ground invasion of Rafah without a “credible” plan to protect civilians.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, later appeared defiant, telling the media: “We’re going to do it. We’re going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah.”

Escalating crisis

Mr Netanyahu said the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) believe four Hamas cells are operating inside Rafah.

But he gave assurances that the IDF would only carry out the operation “while providing safe passage for the civilian population”.

Egypt, which operates the border crossing at Rafah, said an offensive would violate international law and risk a refugee crisis spilling into their nation.

Qatar also warned of disaster while Saudi Arabia warned of “very serious repercussions”.

Following the 7 October attacks carried out by Hamas last year, Israel told those in Gaza to move south to areas like Rafah as troops entered the region.

Some 1.4 million Gazans have now relocated there, mostly in makeshift camps or ‘tent cities’.

An Israeli government spokesperson suggested civilians could find refuge in tent camps that are yet to be built, and said the international community was “more than welcome” to send shelter equipment.

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Eylon Levy told Sky News: “We want civilians to get out of harm’s way. We don’t want to come in all guns blazing because we understand how catastrophic that would be.”

Asked where the more than one million civilians in Rafah should go, Mr Levy said: “That is part of the plan that the Israeli army will have to present [to] the prime minister because we take our obligations under international law to keep civilians protected very seriously.

“There are open spaces in Gaza, there are places where it is possible to set up tent encampments so that civilians can get out of harm’s way and not allow Hamas to use them as human shields.”

An artist has defended plans to destroy masterpieces by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt and Andy Warhol with acid if Julian Assange dies in prison.

Andrei Molodkin says he has gathered 16 works of art – which he estimates are collectively worth more than $45m (£42.77m) – in a 29-tonne safe with an “extremely corrosive” substance.

Inside the vault are boxes containing the art and a pneumatic pump connecting two white barrels – one with acid powder and the other with an accelerator that could cause a chemical reaction strong enough to turn the safe’s contents to debris, Molodkin claims.

The project – called “Dead Man’s Switch” – is being backed by Assange’s wife Stella, whose husband is awaiting his final appeal against being extradited to the US, where he faces charges under the Espionage Act.

The Wikileaks founder is wanted in America over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information following the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The 52-year-old denies any wrongdoing.

He has been held in London’s Belmarsh prison for almost five years and will have his final appeal heard at the High Court in London on February 20 and 21.

Assange’s supporters say he faces 175 years in prison if he is extradited. His lawyer claims the Australian’s life “is at risk” if the appeal fails.

Molodkin told Sky News: “In our catastrophic time – when we have so many wars – to destroy art is much more taboo than to destroy the life of a person.

“Since Julian Assange has been in prison… freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of information has started to be more and more repressed. I have this feeling very strongly now.”

The Russian dissident has refused to reveal which pieces of art are inside the safe but says it includes works by Picasso, Rembrandt, Warhol, Jasper Johns, Jannis Kounellis, Robert Rauschenberg, Sarah Lucas, Santiago Sierra, Jake Chapman, and Molodkin himself, among others.

“I believe if something happened and we erased some masterpiece, it will be erased from history – nobody will know which kind of piece it was,” he says.

“We have all the documentation and we photographed all of them.”

The safe will be locked on Friday and it is being kept at Molodkin’s studio in the south of France, the artist says, but he plans for it to be moved to a museum.

Explaining how the “Dead Man’s Switch” works, he says a 24-hour countdown timer must be reset before it reaches zero to prevent the corrosive material from being released.

He says this will be done by “someone close” to Assange confirming he is still alive in prison each day – which will mean the timer can be reactivated.

If Assange is released from prison, the works of art will be returned to their owners, Molodkin adds.

He admits “many collectors are really scared” about the acid going off accidentally but insists the work has been done “very professionally”.

Molodkin says he would feel “no emotion” if the art was destroyed because “freedom is much more important”.

Giampaolo Abbondio, who owns an art gallery in Milan, says he has provided the Picasso artwork for the safe and has signed a non-disclosure agreement preventing him from revealing which one.

He said his first response when he was asked to take part was: “No way”, but he was convinced by Molodkin, who he has known since 2008.

“It got me round to the idea that it’s more relevant for the world to have one Assange than an extra Picasso, so I decided to accept,” Mr Abbondio told Sky News.

“Let’s say I’m an optimist and I’ve lent it. If Assange goes free, I can have it back.

“Picasso can vary from 10,000 to 100 million but I don’t think it’s the number of zeros that makes it more relevant when we’re talking about a human life.”

Artist Franko B says he has provided one of the works which will be kept in the safe.

“It’s a beautiful piece… it’s one of my best pieces,” he told Sky News.

“I thought it was important that I committed something I care about. I didn’t donate something that I found in the corner of my studio. I donated a piece of work that is very dear to me that talks about freedom, censorship.

“It’s important. It’s a small gesture compared to what Assange did and what he’s going through.”

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Mrs Assange, who has two children with her husband, told Sky News: “Which is the greater taboo – destroying art or destroying human life?

“Dead Man’s Switch is a work of art. Julian’s political imprisonment is an act of real terrorism against democracy.

“The true targets here are not just Julian Assange but the public’s right to know, and the future of being able to hold power accountable.

“If democracy wins, the art will be preserved – as will Julian’s life.”

Assange has been held at Belmarsh prison since his arrest in April 2019 after leaving the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had claimed political asylum in June 2012.

The UK government approved Assange’s extradition to the US in June 2022.