Latest news with #IsraelConflict
CBS News
35 minutes ago
- Politics
- CBS News
South Florida families concerned for loved ones stuck in Israel due to Mideast conflict
The conflict between Israel and Iran is personal for Rabbi Yossie Harlig. "My daughter is there now and now they've closed down the airports, there's no way of getting out," Harlig said. The rabbi said his 20-year-old daughter Toba Harlig went to study in northern Israel. She has already tried to leave, but hasn't been able to. "She had a flight to come back home and then got canceled and the missiles started raining again," Harlig said. The rabbi said it's typical for Jewish young adults like his daughter to want to learn about their heritage. He said Toba has been in Israel since September 2024 and this is not the only conflict she has seen. "She was woken up many times in the middle of the night having to run to bomb shelters, she had 30 seconds to make it to a bomb shelter," he said. "It definitely was a culture shock at first," Daniella Krasney, a 20-year-old University of Miami student in Israel, said. Living in a war zone has its challenges Krasney is majoring in journalism and after only one month of her internship in Tel Aviv, she witnessed an international conflict. "I am American, I'm not Israeli, I'm not used to this sort of stuff. It's definitely a little nerve wracking and I'm sure anybody living through a war zone can attest. Even before the conflict with Iran, you have a minute and a half to get to bomb shelters," she said. Leaving Israel presents challenges There are no flights in or out of Israel right now. Krasney plans to take a ferry from Tel Aviv to Cyprus on Friday morning. She will then fly to South Florida. As for Harlig, the Grey Bull Rescue Foundation will help her leave Israel over the weekend. "I feel a little bit more comfortable as a dad that these people are former soldiers," Harlig said. "The plan is on Sunday, they are going to take her to the Jordanian border, take her to the airport, get her on a plane to go to Cyprus, then get on another plane to flight to Tampa." Americans stranded in Israel can fill out an emergency evacuation form from Grey Bull Rescue, a Tampa nonprofit that helps rescue citizens in conflict zones.
Al Jazeera
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Iran, Europe to hold first meeting since Israel conflict began
Iran will hold talks with the United Kingdom, France and Germany in Geneva on Friday in an attempt to prevent an escalation in its conflict with Israel, after United States President Donald Trump said he would decide within two weeks whether to join the assault on Tehran. 'We will meet with the European delegation in Geneva on Friday,' Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a statement, carried by state news agency IRNA. European diplomats confirmed the planned talks in Switzerland, set to involve French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, and European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. Kallas and the ministers from the three European countries – known as the E3 – spoke to Araghchi earlier this week and discussed the need to return to the negotiating table and avoid further escalation. At Iran's suggestion, the two sides agreed to meet face-to-face. French President Emmanuel Macron said European nations were planning to suggest a negotiated solution to end the conflict. On Wednesday, he asked his foreign minister to draw up an initiative with 'close partners' to that end. Speaking in Paris after talks on the crisis with the Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Thursday, Barrot said the three nations 'stand ready to bring our competence and experience on this matter'. 'We are ready to take part in negotiations aimed at obtaining from Iran a lasting rollback of its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes,' he added. The UK's Lammy was scheduled to travel to Switzerland following his visit to Washington, DC, where he met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. 'We are determined that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon … A window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution,' Lammy said in a statement. Kallas, in coordination with European countries, has insisted that diplomacy remains the best path towards ensuring that Iran does not develop a nuclear bomb. Israel has repeatedly said its series of strikes is a preemptive move to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Iran denies it is building nuclear weapons and insists that its nuclear programme is peaceful. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it has found no evidence that Iran was building such weapons. The ramping up of diplomatic efforts comes as Trump said he is weighing military action against Iran's nuclear facilities. Trump said on Thursday he would make up his mind within two weeks on whether Washington will get directly involved militarily in the conflict, given the 'substantial chance' for renewed diplomatic negotiations over Tehran's nuclear programme. Iran's well-defended Fordow uranium enrichment facility, which is buried under a mountain, is widely considered to be out of reach of all but the US's so-called 'bunker-buster' bombs. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he trusted that Trump would 'do what's best for America'. 'I can tell you that they're already helping a lot,' he told reporters in Beersheba. The talks will be held in Geneva, where an initial accord between Iran and world powers to curb its nuclear programme in return for lifting sanctions was struck in 2013, before a comprehensive deal in 2015. Trump left the Iran nuclear deal during his first term as president in 2018, defying last-ditch diplomatic efforts by his European allies to convince him otherwise. Negotiations between Iran and the US had been taking place when Israel launched what it called Operation Rising Lion against Iran's nuclear facilities and ballistic capabilities on June 12. The conflict erupted with a surprise wave of Israeli attacks targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites and killing top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 1,300 wounded since Israel launched a surprise wave of air raids against Iran a week ago, according to the US-based rights group Human Rights Activists. In Israel, at least 24 people have been killed and hundreds of others wounded in Iranian attacks, according to Israeli health authorities.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Iran launches new attack on southern Israel
A fire erupted and cars were ablaze following an Iranian attack in southern Israel on Friday. Earlier on Friday, the Israeli army said that "sirens sounded in several areas across Israel following the identification of missiles launched from Iran' towards Israel.
Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
I'm an Australian living in Israel and am staying put: What I'm about to say sounds awful - but it's the brutal reality over here right now
An Australian family choosing to stay in Israel despite the threat of Iranian missile attacks have revealed how their children are coping with the ongoing bombings. Australian mother-of-three Emily Gian and her family are among those who have decided to stay put in Israel, where they live and work, despite the risks. Ms Gian moved to Yehud, a city in central Israel about 12km east of Tel Aviv, just months before Hamas launched a terror attack on the country on October 7, 2023. She said that day, which claimed the lives of about 1,200 Israelis, 'caught the whole country off-guard' but the latest conflict with Iran was 'on a whole new level'. 'It's been hundreds of missiles at a time... The protocol for the earlier rockets that were coming from Hamas was to go into a shelter for ten minutes, then you could come out,' she told Sunrise. 'But here it's going into the shelter and stay there until you get told you can come out.' Unlike earlier conflicts with Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, Ms Gian said the strikes from Iran came with the added fear the nation was believed to be working on nuclear weapons. Despite having spent recent days in and out of underground bunkers, Ms Gian said her kids had come to live with their new circumstances. 'It sounds awful, they're not desensitised to it but they're kind of used to it. 'They know what to do. They've done it before. It's like a fire drill, the more times that you practise it, the easier it is to be able to do it.' Meanwhile, other Aussies are making making a mad dash for the border under the threat of overhead missile fire amid lengthy delays. Alan and his wife, who arrived in Tel Aviv to visit family less than a week ago, are among then. Waiting at the Allenby border crossing into neighbouring Jordan on Thursday, the Australian said he could be stuck there for hours as cars and trucks surrounded him bumper-to-bumper. 'But when you've been in and out of bomb shelters four to five times a night and having the stress of going through what we've gone through, we decided we had to pull out all stops to get out,' he told AAP. He and his wife were offered seats on a bus arranged by Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs into Jordan but decided to make their own way after airports shuttered following Israel's strikes on Iran, which triggered waves of retaliatory missile fire. 'If you took the bus, you have to arrange everything yourself from the Jordanian border to get where you wanted to go (in) different parts of Jordan,' he said. 'We felt we would be very vulnerable and it would take a lot of time.' So they organised a private car which picked the pair up at 6.30am on Thursday to take them across the border in a 12 to 13-hour trip. 'If we left later, the queue would have been six hours and you can't be guaranteed you'll necessarily get across the border,' said Alan, who asked that his surname not be used. On the other side, they have arranged to be picked up with their visas before heading to Amman Airport for their flight home. Australian authorities evacuated the first group of citizens across a land border out of Israel on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said. Israeli Ambassador Amir Maimon said he was 'assisting the Australian government in every possible way' to get people out. Evacuation was riskier in Iran, where the advice for Australians was to shelter if there was no opportunity to leave safely. Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the government was working on contingencies including repatriation flights once the skies reopened. Amid concerns the US could enter the conflict, about 1200 Australians in Israel have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs for help to leave, while 1500 Australians and family members have sought help to leave Iran. The conflict began on Friday after Israel moved to wipe out Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program, claiming the Islamic republic was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons.
The Independent
13 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Lammy to meet Iranian foreign minister as Trump steps back from military action
David Lammy will travel to Geneva on Friday for talks with the Iranian foreign minister and European allies as the UK presses for a diplomatic solution to the Israel-Iran conflict. The Foreign Secretary is set to meet Abbas Araghchi alongside his counterparts from France, Germany and the EU as he seeks to negotiate a settlement before US President Donald Trump decides on whether to take military action against Tehran. In a statement read by his press secretary on Thursday, Mr Trump said there was still 'a substantial chance of negotiations' and said he would make a decision on deploying US forces 'within the next two weeks'. Mr Trump had previously said he 'may' join Israeli strikes against Iran and its nuclear programme, but added: 'I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do.' Friday's meeting with the so-called E3 countries follows Mr Lammy's visit to Washington, where he met US secretary of state Marco Rubio in the White House on Thursday evening to discuss 'how a deal could avoid a deepening conflict'. The Foreign Secretary said: 'The situation in the Middle East remains perilous. We are determined that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon.' Adding that a 'window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution', Mr Lammy said: 'Now is the time to put a stop to the grave scenes in the Middle East and prevent a regional escalation that would benefit no one.' Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had urged the US to step back from military action, saying there was a 'real risk of escalation'. It remains unclear whether the UK would join any military action, although there has been speculation that US involvement could require using the British-controlled base on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands. The B-2 stealth bombers based there are capable of carrying specialised 'bunker buster' bombs which could be used against Iran's underground nuclear facility at Fordo. Attorney General Lord Hermer is reported to have raised legal concerns about any British involvement in the conflict beyond defending its allies, which could limit the extent of any support for the US if Mr Trump decides to act militarily. Meanwhile, two Labour backbenchers pushed for a 'fresh, tough approach' to Tehran. Jon Pearce and Mike Tapp, chairman and vice-chairman respectively of Labour Friends of Israel, said the UK urgently needed 'a multifaceted diplomatic, economic and national security plan to guard against the Iranian threat and force the regime to change course'. Writing in The Daily Telegraph, the pair called for tighter sanctions on Iran, the proscription of the country's Revolutionary Guard Corps and a 'comprehensive diplomatic solution' that 'eliminates once and for all' Iran's nuclear threat.
