[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?

[Saif]

‘Humanity must prevail’

The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza entered its 12 month yesterday with little sign of respite for the people of the Palestinian territory or hope for Israeli hostages still held captive.

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‘Humanity must prevail’

An injured Palestinian man takes part in a namaz-e-janaza over the bodies of his family members who were the victims of Israeli bombardment in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip yesterday. Photo: AFP

The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza entered its 12 month yesterday with little sign of respite for the people of the Palestinian territory or hope for Israeli hostages still held captive.

The chances of a truce that would also free hostages held by Hamas in exchange for prisoners held by Israel appear slim, with both sides sticking doggedly to their positions.
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• UN warns of "permanent damage" as Gaza children miss schooling for the second year​
• US, UK spy chiefs issue a joint call for a ceasefire​
• Israeli attacks kill 61 in Gaza in 48 hours​

Hamas is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that troops must remain on a key strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have all been mediating in an effort to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict that authorities in the Gaza say has killed at least 40,939 people.

According to the United Nations human rights office, most of the dead are women and children.

Israel's announcement last Sunday that the bodies of six hostages including a US-Israeli citizen had been recovered shortly after being killed sparked grief and anger in Israel.

Marking the anniversary, UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) chief Philippe Lazzarini posted on X yesterday: "Eleven months. Enough. No one can take this any longer. Humanity must prevail. Ceasefire now."

Meanwhile, the heads of the American and British foreign intelligence agencies yesterday said they are "working ceaselessly" for a cease-fire in Gaza, using a rare joint public statement to press for peace.

CIA Director William Burns and MI6 Chief Richard Moore said their agencies had "exploited our intelligence channels to push hard for restraint and de-escalation."

In an opinion piece for the Financial Times, the two spymasters said a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war "could end the suffering and appalling loss of life of Palestinian civilians and bring home the hostages after 11 months of hellish confinement."

International pressure to end the war was further underlined by Friday's shooting dead in the West Bank of a Turkish-American activist demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the occupied territory.

The family of 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi has demanded an independent investigation into her death, saying yesterday her life "was taken needlessly, unlawfully, and violently by the Israeli military".

The UN rights office said Israeli forces killed Eygi with a "shot in the head".

Ankara said she was killed by "Israeli occupation soldiers", and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the Israeli action as "barbaric".

Washington called her death "tragic", and has pressed its close ally Israel to investigate.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank -- where about 490,000 people live -- are illegal under international law.

Since Hamas's October 7 attack, Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 662 Palestinians in the West Bank which Israel occupied in 1967, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Eygi's death came on the day Israeli forces withdrew from a deadly 10-day raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, where AFP journalists reported residents returning home to widespread destruction.

AFP reporters said several air strikes and shelling rocked gaza overnight and early yesterday.

At least 61 Palestinians have been killed and 162 were injured in the Gaza Strip in the past 48 hours, Palestinian Ministry of Health in the enclave said in the afternoon.

However, Al Jazeera later reported that a total of 24 people were killed in Israeli attacks since the early hours, up from the 18 we reported earlier.

As Gaza enters its second school year without schooling, most of its children are caught up helping their families in the daily struggle to survive amid Israel's devastating campaign.

Children trod barefoot on the dirt roads to carry water in plastic jerricans from distribution points to their families living in tent cities teeming with Palestinians driven from their homes. Others wait at charity kitchens with containers to bring back food.

Humanitarian workers say the extended deprivation of education threatens long-term damage to Gaza's children. Younger children suffer in their cognitive, social and emotional development, and older children are at greater risk of being pulled into work or early marriage, said Tess Ingram, regional spokesperson for UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children.

The longer a child is out of school, the more they are at risk of dropping out permanently and not returning," she said.

Gaza's 625,000 school-age children already missed out on almost an entire year of education. More than 90 percent of Gaza's school buildings have been damaged by Israeli bombardment, many of them run by UNWRA, the UN agency for Palestinians, according to the Global Education Cluster, a grouping of aid organizations led by UNICEF and Save the Children. About 85 percent are so wrecked they need major reconstruction — meaning it could take years before they are usable again. Gaza's universities are also in ruins. Israel contends that Hamas militants operate out of schools.

Some 1.9 million of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes. They have crowded into the sprawling tent camps that lack water or sanitation systems, or UN and government schools now serving as shelters.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza: where sickness can be ‘death sentence’

In Gaza, falling ill can be a death sentence. Cancer patients are waiting to die, polio has returned, and many of the doctors and nurses who might have offered help are dead while the hospitals they worked at have been reduced to rubble.

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Gaza: where sickness can be ‘death sentence’

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• More than 41,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza; 92,000 wounded​
• At least 490 healthcare workers, including 55 specialist doctors, are among those killed​
• Almost all of Gaza's health facility destroyed​
• More than 90pc of children under 5-years-old suffer from infectious diseases​

In Gaza, falling ill can be a death sentence. Cancer patients are waiting to die, polio has returned, and many of the doctors and nurses who might have offered help are dead while the hospitals they worked at have been reduced to rubble.

Doctors and health professionals say that even if the Israel-Hamas war were to stop tomorrow, it will take years to rebuild the healthcare sector and people will continue to die because preventable diseases are not being treated on time.

"People are dying on a daily basis because they cannot get the basic treatment they need," said Riham Jafari, advocacy and communications coordinator at rights group ActionAid Palestine.

Cancer patients "are waiting for their turn to die," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Last week, Israel and Hamas agreed on limited pauses in the fighting to allow children to be vaccinated against polio after a one-year-old baby boy was found to be partially paralysed from the disease, the first case in the crowded strip in 25 years.

But even as crowds gathered in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis for vaccinations on Sept. 5, bombs continued to fall in other areas with Gaza health officials saying an Israeli strike killed five people at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah.

"It will take long and so much effort in order to restore the level of care that we used to have in Gaza," said Mohammed Aghaalkurdi, medical programme lead at Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Every day he sees around 180 children with skin diseases that he "just cannot treat," he said.

"Due to vaccination campaign interruptions, lack of supplies, lack of hygiene items and infection prevention control material, it (healthcare) is just deteriorating."

Since October 7 last year, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's offensive in the enclave, according to the Gaza health ministry, with around 92,000 wounded.

But beyond the death toll from the fighting and airstrikes, people are also succumbing to illnesses that could be cured in normal circumstances.

As with the re-emergence of polio, children will bear the brunt of these long-term consequences, health experts say.

"We are talking about disabilities, we are talking about intellectual disabilities, mental health issues," said Aghaalkurdi.

"Things that will stick to the child until they die."

At least 490 healthcare workers have been killed since the conflict erupted, according to Gaza's health ministry. A Reuters investigation found that 55 highly qualified specialist doctors were among those killed.

With each specialist killed, Gaza has lost a source of knowledge and human connections, a devastating blow on top of the destruction of most of the Strip's hospitals.

Many people have become weak from a lack of food, as prices of basic commodities have more than quadrupled since the conflict began. When they become ill, they are also too frightened to journey to the few remaining hospitals, Jafari said.

Eighty-two percent of children aged between 6 and 23 months have limited access to quality food, according to a report by the Global Network Against Food Crises, and more than 90% of children under 5-years-old suffer from infectious diseases.

Meanwhile, skin diseases are rampant because of a lack of cleaning supplies and hygiene products, Jafari said. In markets, a bottle of shampoo can cost around $50.

Israel has severely restricted the flow of food and aid into Gaza, and humanitarian agencies have warned of the risk of famine.

Waseem Alzaanin, a general practictioner with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, said the lack of drugs, equipment and medical facilities is killing his cancer patients.

Gaza's only cancer centre was destroyed earlier this year, he said, and many of his stage-one cancer patients are now classified as stage-four.

"The most basic requirements are not present. We cannot do anything except give them painkillers and make them comfortable with what life they have left," he said.

"It is like a death sentence," he added. "Let us not kid ourselves. We have no medical system."​

 

[Saif]

Quarter of Gaza wounded have life-changing injuries: WHO

The World Health Organisation said on Thursday that at least a quarter of those hurt in the war raging in Gaza have suffered ‘life-changing injuries’, many requiring amputations and other...

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Quarter of Gaza wounded have life-changing injuries: WHO
Agence France-Presse . Geneva 12 September, 2024, 22:01

The World Health Organisation said on Thursday that at least a quarter of those hurt in the war raging in Gaza have suffered ‘life-changing injuries’, many requiring amputations and other ‘huge’ rehabilitation needs.

At least 22,500 of the people injured in Gaza in the 11 months since the war erupted will ‘requires rehabilitation services now and for years to come’, the WHO said in a statement.

‘The huge surge in rehabilitation needs occurs in parallel with the on-going decimation of the health system,’ Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative for the Palestinian territories, said in a statement.

According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 41,118 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive following the October 7 attack by Hamas militants, while over 95,000 have been wounded.

The Hamas attack inside Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which also includes hostages killed in captivity.

Pointing to a fresh analysis of the types of injuries resulting from the conflict, the UN health agency said ‘many thousands of women and children’ figured among those badly injured and that many had suffered more than one injury.

It estimated there had overall been between 13,455 and 17,550 ‘severe limb injuries’, which it said were the main driver of the need for rehabilitation.

The report showed that between 3,105 and 4,050 limb amputations had occurred.

Other life-altering injuries including spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and major burn injuries, it said.

At the same time, WHO said only 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are currently even partially functional, while primary health care services are frequently suspended or inaccessible due to insecurity, attacks and repeated evacuation orders.

Gaza’s only limb reconstruction and rehabilitation centre, located in Nasser Medical Complex and supported by WHO ceased functioning last December due to lack of supplies and specialised health workers.

‘Tragically, much of the rehabilitation workforce in Gaza is now displaced,’ the statement said.

Peeperkorn said that ‘patients can’t get the care they need’.

‘Acute rehabilitation services are severely disrupted and specialised care for complex injuries is not available, placing patients’ lives at risk,’ he said.

‘Immediate and long-term support is urgently needed to address the enormous rehabilitation needs.’​

 

[Saif]

US must intervene to stop Gaza carnage

Says ‘helpless’ UN chief as 16 more die in the Palestinian enclave

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US must intervene to stop Gaza carnage
Says ‘helpless’ UN chief as 16 more die in the Palestinian enclave

Reuters file photo

UN chief Antonio Guterres, in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, said that the US must put more pressure on Israel to end its war on Gaza as the violence on the ground raged on today.

The message conveyed by Guterres to the US in the interview with Al Jazeera is that it must intervene, Tamer Qarmout, professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said.

Guterres said the US being "the only superpower that is enabling Israel to continue its war through funding weapons, arms and providing diplomatic protection", he said.

"The message is loud and clear: the US has to intervene", Qarmout quoted the UN chief as saying. "The US administration has been enabling this war to continue for too long."

However, Guterres acknowledged that the demand is very unlikely to be heard.

"I know the American political life sufficiently to know that will not happen," Guterres said.

The UN chief said it is, however, important to keep pressuring the US and make it clear that "the two-state solution must not be undermined".

Meanwhile, medical sources in Gaza yesterday confirmed at least 16 Palestinians' death in Israeli attacks since the early hours of the morning.

This number includes five members of the same family who, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence, were killed in an attack on al-Mawasi in south Gaza this morning. It said two children were among those killed.

Meanwhile, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus today reiterated his "call for a ceasefire, which is critical for rebuilding the health system to cope with escalating needs" in Gaza.

He said on X: "Amid the ongoing hostilities, it is critical to ensure access to all essential health services, including rehabilitation to prevent illness and death."

In the Al-Jazeera interview, Guterres laid bare his helplessness in stopping the war.

"I have no power to stop the war. We have a voice, and that voice has been loud and clear to say from the beginning this war must stop. The suffering of the Palestinian people must stop and the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people must be recognised."

Accusing the Security Council of "systematic failure" in ending the most dramatic conflicts that we face today, the UN chief said, "The geopolitical divide that exists among the major powers has created a situation in which any country or any movement anywhere in the world feels that they can do whatever they want because there will be no punishment."

"We must absolutely reject any prospective annexation of West Bank or the land grabbing or the illegal settlements that move on. The West Bank together with Gaza and East Jerusalem, which is part of the West Bank, must be the state of Palestine in the future," he added.

Meanwhile, one of two US aircraft carrier strike groups deployed to the Middle East in part to deter Iran from carrying out a threatened attack against Israel has departed the region, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

The decision to end the dual-carrier presence came nearly three weeks after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group to remain in the Middle East, even after the arrival of the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to replace it.

The Roosevelt has now departed the Middle East and is headed to the Asia-Pacific region, Major General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, told a news briefing.

In West Bank, the families of Palestinians killed in an air strike in the occupied West Bank city of Tubas held funerals today after Israeli forces withdrew following their latest raid in the territory.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Wednesday that its forces were engaged in a "counter-terrorism operation" in the area of Tubas, in the northern West Bank.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said the military withdrew Thursday evening, allowing the funerals to go ahead.

The four men buried in Tubas today were killed in an air strike at dawn on Wednesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.

A fifth fatality from the same strike was buried on Friday in Tamoun, also in the northern West Bank.

Since the Israeli offensive in Gaza began on October, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces. It also wounded more than 92,000 people.

According to the Palestinian health ministry, at least 679 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by the Israeli military or settlers since October 7.​

 

[Saif]

Deadly Israeli strike on Gaza school draws global condemnation

Israel faced international condemnation Thursday after a strike killed 18 people at a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians in war-torn Gaza, where the Israeli military said it targeted Hamas militants

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Deadly Israeli strike on Gaza school draws global condemnation
AFP Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories
Published: 13 Sep 2024, 09: 57

Palestinians search in the rubble for survivors at the site of an Israeli strike in the Shejaiya suburb east of Gaza City on 12 September, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian militants AFP

Israel faced international condemnation Thursday after a strike killed 18 people at a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians in war-torn Gaza, where the Israeli military said it targeted Hamas militants.

The attack flattened part of the UN-run Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat on Wednesday, leaving only a charred heap of rebar and concrete.

"For the fifth time, Israeli forces bombed the UNRWA-run Al-Jawni School, killing 18 citizens," Gaza civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal wrote on Telegram, referring to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

UNRWA later said six of its staff had been killed in two Israeli strikes on the school and its surroundings, calling it the highest death toll among its team in a single incident.

"Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people," it said on X. "Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target."

UN chief Antonio Guterres branded the strike "totally unacceptable". His spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that women and children were also among the 18 dead.

The Israeli military said it had conducted a "precise strike" on Hamas militants within the school grounds. It did not elaborate on the outcome, but said "numerous steps" were taken to reduce the risk to civilians.

EU outrage

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was "outraged" by the deaths and that the strikes showed a "disregard of the basic principles" of international humanitarian law.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: "We need to see humanitarian sites protected, and that's something that we continue to raise with Israel".

Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said UNRWA had not provided the names of its killed workers, "despite repeated requests".

He said a military inquiry found that "a significant number of the names (of the dead) that have appeared in the media and on social networks are Hamas terrorist operatives".

In response, UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma said the agency was "not aware of any such requests", that it provided Israel each year with a list of its staff and that it "called repeatedly" on Israel and Palestinian militants "to never use civilian facilities for military or fighting purposes".

She said the agency was "not in a position to determine" if the school had been used by Hamas for military purposes, but UNRWA had "repeatedly called for independent investigations" into "these very serious claims".

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said the school was "no longer a school" and had become "a legitimate target" because it was used by Hamas to launch attacks.

UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid into Gaza, has been in crisis since Israel accused a dozen of its 30,000 employees of being involved in the 7-October attacks that sparked the war.

The UN immediately fired the implicated staff members, and a probe found some "neutrality related issues" but stressed Israel had not provided evidence for its main allegations.

'Going through hell'

Survivors of the strike scrambled to recover bodies and belongings from the rubble, saying they had to step over "shredded limbs".

"I can hardly stand up," a man holding a plastic bag of human remains told AFP.

"We've been going through hell for 340 days now," he said.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said after the school strike that at least 220 members of the agency's staff had been killed in the war.

"Humanitarian staff, premises & operations have been blatantly & unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war", he said on X.

Across Gaza, many school buildings have been repurposed to shelter displaced families, with the vast majority of the territory's 2.4 million people repeatedly uprooted by the war.

A UN report published Thursday found that Gaza's economy was now less than one-sixth of the size it had been in 2022.

"It will take decades to bring Gaza back to where it was in October 2023",

UN Trade and Development economist Mutasim Elagraa warned: "It will take decades to bring Gaza back to where it was in October 2023."

No truce breakthrough

In Gaza City, civil defence spokesman Bassal said two children were among seven people killed in two strikes in the Zeitun neighbourhood, while two people were killed in the Jabalia camp.

Medical sources said five people were killed in strikes in the southern province of Khan Yunis.

The bloodshed shows no signs of abating despite months of ceasefire negotiations mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States.

A Hamas delegation met Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Doha on Wednesday, the Palestinian Islamists said, though there was no indication of a breakthrough.

Hamas's 7-October attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. The count includes hostages killed in captivity.

On Thursday, the Israeli military said that the head of the elite Unit 8200, responsible for signals intelligence, Brigadier General Yossi Sariel, would resign over the failure to prevent the attack.

Israel's retaliation has killed at least 41,118 people in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. The UN human rights office says most of the dead have been women or children.​

 

[Saif]

Missile from Yemen hits central Israel

The Iran-aligned Houthis who control northern Yemen yesterday hit central Israel with a missile for the first time and promised more strikes to come in solidarity with the Palestinians.

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Missile from Yemen hits central Israel
Houthis promise more strikes; 24 more Palestinians killed as Israel pounds Gaza

Palestinians mourn over the bodies of five members of Alborno family at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City yesterday, after they were killed in Israeli bombardment of Zeitoun neighbourhood. Photo: AFP

The Iran-aligned Houthis who control northern Yemen yesterday hit central Israel with a missile for the first time and promised more strikes to come in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group struck with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that travelled 2,040 km in just 11 1/2 minutes. Israel's military said the missile fell in an open area and nobody was hurt.

Air raid sirens had sounded in Tel Aviv and across central Israel moments before the missile landed at around 6:35 am local time, sending residents running for shelter. Loud booms were heard, which the military said came from missile interceptors.
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• Hamas vows Israel 'will not enjoy security'​
• 40 projectiles were fired towards Israel from Lebanon​
• Gaza death toll rises to 41,206​

"Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in central Israel, a surface-to-surface missile was identified crossing into central Israel from the east and fell in an open area. No injuries were reported," the Israeli military said.

Reuters saw smoke billowing in an open field in central Israel, though it was not immediately possible to determine if the fire was caused by the missile or interceptor debris.

The Houthis have fired missiles at Israel repeatedly in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians, since the Gaza offensive began with a Hamas attack on Israel in October.

Previously, Houthi missiles have not penetrated deep into Israeli air space, with the only one reported to have hit Israeli territory falling in an open area near the Red Sea port of Eilat in March.

Hamas yesterday vowed that Israel "will not enjoy security" unless it ends its offensive in Gaza.

Apart from missiles, the Houthis have also attacked Israel with drones, including one that hit Tel Aviv for the first time in July, killing a man and wounding four people. That attack prompted Israeli air strikes on Houthi military targets near the port of Hodeidah that killed six and wounded 80.

The Israeli military also said that 40 projectiles were fired towards Israel from Lebanon yesterday and were either intercepted or landed in open areas.

In Gaza, civil defence agency yesterday reported at least three people killed in central Gaza and another around Gaza City when Israeli air strikes hit. Five Palestinians were killed after a school-turned-shelter for displaced civilians was hit by a missile in Gaza City.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 41,206 people have been killed since the Israeli offensive began in October, now in its 12th month. The toll includes 24 deaths in the previous 24 hours, reports AFP.

Months of effort by Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators have failed to secure a truce and hostage release deal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is facing rising anger from critics who accuse him of not doing enough to get the captives home.

On Saturday thousands of people once more took to the streets of Israel's main cities to push the government for a deal.​

 

[Saif]

Staff, teachers fear they are ‘a target’ in Gaza

A senior UN official said Saturday that teachers and other UN staff working in Gaza fear they are now targets after an Israeli air strike hit a school-turned-shelter in the territory this week.

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Staff, teachers fear they are ‘a target’ in Gaza
Says senior UN official after Israeli air strike hits a school-turned-shelter in the Palestinian territory

A senior UN official said Saturday that teachers and other UN staff working in Gaza fear they are now targets after an Israeli air strike hit a school-turned-shelter in the territory this week.

Wednesday's strike on the UN-run Al-Jawni School in central Gaza, which is housing displaced Palestinians, killed 18 people. including six employees of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

It was the deadliest single incident for the agency in more than 11 months of war and drew international condemnation.

"One colleague said that they're not wearing the UNRWA vest anymore because they feel that that turns them into a target," UNRWA senior deputy director Sam Rose told AFP on Saturday after visiting the shelter in Nuseirat.

UNRWA said 220 members of the agency's staff have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza

"Another one said that that morning, their children had stopped them from coming into the shelter," he said in an online interview from Gaza.

The colleagues were gathering for a post-work meal in a classroom when the strike flattened part of the building, leaving only a charred heap of rebar and concrete.

"A son of one of the staff had brought a meal into the building," Rose said, adding the group then debated whether to eat it in the principal's office before settling on what appeared to be a classroom decorated with pictures of scientists.

"They were eating when the bomb hit."

The Israeli military said it had conducted a "precise strike" on Hamas members within the school grounds and had taken steps to reduce the risk to civilians.

The Israeli military published what it said was a list of nine Hamas fighters killed in the Nuseirat strike, including three it said were employees of UNRWA.

An Israeli government spokesman said the school had become "a legitimate target" because it was used by Hamas to launch attacks.

Rose said such statements further battered morale among UN staffers still at the school, where thousands have sought shelter from the offensive that has displaced nearly all of Gaza's 2.4 million population at least once.

"They were particularly angry by the allegations that had been made as to the involvement of their colleagues in extremist and terrorist activities," Rose said.

"They felt that this really was a stain on the memory of dear colleagues, dear friends," he added, describing the mood as "bereft" and "desperate".

UNRWA has said at least 220 members of the agency's staff have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

On Friday, UNRWA announced one of its employees was killed during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, the first such death in the territory in more than a decade.

UNRWA has more than 30,000 employees in the Palestinian territories and elsewhere.

It has been in crisis since Israel accused a dozen of its employees of being involved in the October 7 attack.

The UN immediately fired the implicated staff members, and a probe found some "neutrality related issues" but stressed Israel had not provided evidence for its main allegations.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 41,206 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive that began in October, now in its 12th month.

The toll includes 24 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 95,337 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Saturday that an Israeli air strike hit a house in Gaza City where displaced Palestinians had taken refuge, killing 11 people, while Israel said it struck a Hamas member.

"We have recovered the bodies of 11 martyrs, including four children and three women, after an Israeli warplane hit a three-storey house of the Bustan family," agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.​

 

[Saif]

Israel pounds Gaza as Hamas vows to keep up fight

Gaza medics and rescuers on Monday said Israeli strikes on several homes killed at least 18 people, as Hamas claimed it had ample resources to sustain its fight nearly a year into the war

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Israel pounds Gaza as Hamas vows to keep up fight

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, September 16, 2024. Photo: Retuers/Ramadan Abed

Gaza medics and rescuers on Monday said Israeli strikes on several homes killed at least 18 people, as Hamas claimed it had ample resources to sustain its fight nearly a year into the war.

The latest strikes came as Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that prospects for a halt in fighting with Hezbollah militants along the Lebanon border were dimming, yet again raising fears of a wider regional conflagration.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told AFP during an interview in Istanbul on Sunday: "The resistance has a high ability to continue."

"There were martyrs and there were sacrifices... but in return there was an accumulation of experiences and the recruitment of new generations into the resistance."

His comments came less than a week after Gallant told journalists that Hamas, whose October 7 attack triggered the war, "no longer exists" as a military formation in Gaza.

Deadly fighting raged on in the Gaza Strip on Monday, with survivors seen searching through the debris of crushed buildings following a strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Ten people were killed and 15 others were wounded when an air strike hit the home of the Al-Qassas family in Nuseirat on Monday morning, a medic at Al-Awda hospital, where the bodies were brought, told AFP.

"My house was hit while we were sleeping without any prior warning. There are many martyrs, among them the sons of my family and my little grandsons," said Rashed al-Qassas, a surviving family member.

Gaza's civil defence agency said six Palestinians were killed in a similar air strike during the night on a house belonging to the Bassal family in Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood, a regular target of Israeli military raids since the war began.

Two people were killed in another overnight air strike in Rafah that targeted a house belonging to the Abu Shaar family, the agency said.

Israel-Hezbollah tensions surge

The October 7 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has so far killed at least 41,226 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.

The war has also drawn in Iran-backed fighters from across the region, including in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

Tensions have surged along Israel's northern border with Lebanon, amid fears the violence could explode into an all-our war.

"The possibility for an agreed framework in the northern arena is running out as Hezbollah continues to 'tie itself' to Hamas," Gallant told US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a phone call.

Gallant "reiterated Israel's commitment to the removal of Hezbollah presence in southern Lebanon, and to enabling the safe return of Israel's northern communities to their homes".

Israeli media outlets said Amos Hochstein, the special envoy of US President Joe Biden, arrived in Israel on Monday to help defuse tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since October 7.

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said Saturday his group has "no intention of going to war", but if Israel does "unleash" one "there will be large losses on both sides".

The cross-border violence since early October has killed 623 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also including at least 141 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, authorities have announced the deaths of at least 24 soldiers and 26 civilians.

Huthi strike

Gallant's warning also comes after Yemen's Huthi rebels claimed a rare missile attack on central Israel on Sunday -- an attack that caused no casualties but sparked vows of retaliation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"They should have known by now that we charge a heavy price for any attempt to harm us," the Israeli premier said.

The Huthis said they had "penetrated" Israel's air defences, while Israel said the missile likely fragmented mid-air but was not destroyed.

In July, a Huthi drone strike killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, at least 1,800 kilometres from Yemen.

It prompted retaliatory strikes that caused significant damage and deaths at Yemen's rebel-controlled Hodeida port.

Since November the Huthis have targeted Israel and its perceived interests in stated solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, launching dozens of missile and drone strikes that have disrupted global shipping through vital waterways off Yemen.

In a televised speech, the Huthis' leader said the rebels and their regional allies were "preparing to do even more"."Our operations will continue as long as the aggression and siege on Gaza continue," Abdul Malik al-Huthi said.​

 

[Saif]

Huthis missile hits central Israel in rare attack

A Yemeni rebel missile triggered a rush to shelters in central Israel on Sunday, a rare incident that caused no injuries but again added to regional tensions nearly a year into the Gaza war...

www.newagebd.net

Huthis missile hits central Israel in rare attack
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 15 September, 2024, 23:58

A Yemeni rebel missile triggered a rush to shelters in central Israel on Sunday, a rare incident that caused no injuries but again added to regional tensions nearly a year into the Gaza war.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the rebels will pay a ‘heavy price’.

AFP photographers saw firefighters putting out a brush fire near Lod and broken glass at a train station in Modin, about 20 kilometres southeast of Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial hub, after the attack.

The Huthi rebels claimed the strike.

They are among Iran-backed groups in the Middle East that have been drawn into the conflict after war began in October between Israel and Hamas Palestinian militants in Gaza.

‘The Huthis launched a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen into our territory. They should have known by now that we charge a heavy price for any attempt to harm us,’ Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting, according to a statement from his office.

The rebels had targeted an Israeli ‘military position’ in the Jaffa area, around Tel Aviv, using a ‘ballistic missile that succeeded in reaching its target’, their spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement.

He added that ‘the enemy’s defences failed to intercept it’.

In July, the Huthis claimed a drone strike that penetrated Israel’s intricate air defences and killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, at least 1,800 kilometres from Yemen.

This time, Israel’s military said an initial inquiry indicates the missile fired from Yemen probably fragmented in mid-air.

‘Several interception attempts were made by the Arrow and Iron Dome Aerial Defence Systems, and their results are under review,’ a military statement said.

Sirens sounded, the military said, leading to what local media described as a scramble for shelter in the greater Tel Aviv area.

A paramedic service said several people were slightly injured while ‘on their way to shelters’.

Israeli police said they were at the scene near Shfela, east of Tel Aviv, where a fragment of an air-defence interceptor had come down.

Yemen’s Huthis are targeting Israel and its perceived interests in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Since November, the Huthis have carried out dozens of missile and drone strikes — sometimes killing sailors — on shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

The waterways are vital to global trade.

Huthi missiles last month hit a Greek-flagged tanker carrying more than a million barrels of crude, leaving it ablaze off the coast of the Yemeni port of Hodeida and threatening environmental disaster.

A Greek defence ministry source on Saturday said that the Sounion was being towed northward under military escort in a salvage operation.

After the Huthis’ July attack on Tel Aviv, Israeli warplanes bombed Huthi-controlled Hodeida, destroying much of its fuel storage capacity and killing several people, according to the rebels.

It was Israel’s first claimed strike in Yemen, and on Sunday Netanyahu said it should serve as ‘a reminder’ of the price to be paid.

On Israel’s northern flank, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement has traded regular cross-border fire with Israeli forces in exchanges that threaten to spiral into all-out war.

On Sunday morning about 40 projectiles were fired from Lebanon towards Israel’s Upper Galilee region and the annexed Golan Heights, Israel’s military said.

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said on Saturday his group has ‘no intention of going to war’ but if Israel does ‘unleash’ one ‘there will be large losses on both sides’ and ‘hundreds of thousands more displaced’.

On Sunday Netanyahu said ‘the status quo will not continue’ and ‘a change in the balance of power on our northern border’ is needed.

Hundreds of people, mostly fighters, have already died in Lebanon and dozens, including soldiers and civilians, on the Israeli side.

The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel which began Gaza’s war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 41,206 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide breakdowns of civilian and militant deaths.

Gaza’s civil defence agency on Sunday reported Israeli air strikes killed at least three people in central Gaza and another around Gaza City.

Months of efforts by Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators have failed to secure a truce and hostage release deal. Netanyahu’s government is facing rising anger from critics who accuse him of not doing enough to get the captives home.

On Saturday thousands again took to the streets of Israel’s main cities to push the government for a deal.​

 

[Saif]

‘It is unimaginable’

Nothing justifies Israel’s collective punishment of the people of Gaza as they endure “unimaginable” suffering, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP on Monday.

www.thedailystar.net

‘It is unimaginable’
UN chief condemns ‘collective punishment’ of Palestinians; lashes out at Israel’s handling of its offensive in the devastated territory

Nothing justifies Israel's collective punishment of the people of Gaza as they endure "unimaginable" suffering, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP on Monday.

Guterres lashed out at Israel's handling of its offensive in the devastated Palestinian territory, now almost in its second year, as the UN prepares to host world leaders starting next week.

"It is unimaginable, the level of suffering in Gaza, the level of deaths and destruction have no parallel in everything I've witnessed since (becoming) secretary-general," said Guterres, who has led the embattled international organization since 2017.

"We all condemn the terror attacks made by Hamas, as well as the taking of the hostages, that is an absolute violation of international humanitarian law," he said.

Guterres is not counting on a breakthrough during the General Assembly's high-level week from Sunday

"But the truth is that nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, and that is what we are witnessing in a dramatic way in Gaza," he added, decrying the widespread carnage and hunger blighting Gaza.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 41,252 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive. More than 200 humanitarian workers, mostly UN staff, have also been killed.

"Accountability should be a must" for all civilian deaths, Guterres said acknowledging "serious violations" had been perpetrated by both Israel and Hamas.

Against that backdrop the UN leader has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire, but talks overseen by the United States, Egypt and Qatar remain deadlocked, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of resisting a deal.

"They are endless," Guterres said of the talks, saying it would be "very difficult" to reach a compromise but that he remained hopeful.

With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refusing to return his calls since October, Guterres is not counting on a breakthrough during the General Assembly's high-level week from Sunday when he would typically receive all visiting heads of state and government.

"As far as I understand, it was already said publicly that it is not his intention to ask for any meeting with me. So of course, the meeting will very probably not take place," Guterres said, brushing off the apparent snub.​

 

[Saif]

UNGA demands Israel ends occupation

UN member states voted Wednesday to formally demand an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories within 12 months and the imposition of sanctions for non-compliance.

www.thedailystar.net

UNGA demands Israel ends occupation
Hamas welcomes adoption of non-binding resolution

UN member states voted Wednesday to formally demand an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories within 12 months and the imposition of sanctions for non-compliance.

The non-binding resolution, which Israel claimed would fuel violence, calling it "distorted" and "cynical," is based on an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) saying the occupation since 1967 was "unlawful."

There were 124 votes in favour, 14 against and a notable 43 abstentions, with the Palestinian delegation heralding the adoption as "historic."

Arab countries called the special session just days before dozens of world leaders meet at UN headquarters to address the kick-off of this year's General Assembly.

The resolution -- the first introduced by the Palestinian delegation itself under new rights gained this year -- demands Israel "brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory."

It calls for a withdrawal "no later than 12 months" from the resolution's adoption. A previous draft gave six months, reports AFP.

"The idea is you want to use the pressure of the international community in the General Assembly and the pressure of the historic ruling by the ICJ to force Israel to change its behavior," said Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour on Monday.

Israel firmly rejected the resolution.

"This is what cynical international politics looks like," foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said on X.

Hamas said it "welcomes the adoption", saying it reflected "the international community's solidarity with the Palestinian people's struggle."

The resolution "demands" the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territories, a halt to new settlements, the return of seized land and property, and the possibility of return for displaced Palestinians.​

 

[Saif]

‘These atrocities must end’

Leading United Nations officials demanded on Monday “an end to the appalling human suffering and humanitarian catastrophe” in the Gaza Strip, nearly a year into the Israeli offensive in the Palestinian enclave.

www.thedailystar.net

‘These atrocities must end’
Say top UN officials as Gaza death toll rises to 41,467

Photo: AFP

Leading United Nations officials demanded on Monday "an end to the appalling human suffering and humanitarian catastrophe" in the Gaza Strip, nearly a year into the Israeli offensive in the Palestinian enclave.

"These atrocities must end," they said in a statement signed by the heads of UN agencies that include Unicef and the World Food Programme along with other aid groups as world leaders gathered in New York for the annual UN General Assembly.

"Humanitarians must have safe and unimpeded access to those in need," the statement said. "We cannot do our jobs in the face of overwhelming need and ongoing violence."

The UN has long complained of obstacles to getting aid into Gaza during the war and distributing it amid "total lawlessness" in the besieged Palestinian enclave. Nearly 300 humanitarian aid workers, more than two-thirds of them UN staff, have been killed. "The risk of famine persists with all 2.1 million residents still in urgent need of food and livelihood assistance as humanitarian access remains restricted," the UN officials said.

Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Sierra Leone, Switzerland and the UK said on Monday they would team up to develop a declaration for the protection of humanitarian personnel and invite all countries to sign.​

 

[Saif]

Israel sends scores of bodies to Gaza

Israel yesterday returned the bodies of 88 Palestinians killed in its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which the territory’s health ministry refused to bury before Israel discloses details about who they are and where it killed them.

www.thedailystar.net

Israel sends scores of bodies to Gaza
Palestinians demand details before burying them

The wounded son of Palestinian Hussam Al-ejla, who was killed in an Israeli strike, reacts with his sister next to their father’s body at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip yesterday. The health ministry in Gaza said at least 41,495 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive, now in its 12th month. Photo: REUTERS

Israel yesterday returned the bodies of 88 Palestinians killed in its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which the territory's health ministry refused to bury before Israel discloses details about who they are and where it killed them.

The bodies were brought into Gaza in a container loaded on a truck through an Israeli-controlled crossing, but, according to Palestinian officials.

There was no information provided about the names or ages of the victims or locations where they died.

Health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis refused to receive them and bury them, urging the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC to seek details from Israel.​

 

[LegionnairE]

No offense to bangladesh but you need to have actual power to do these things.

If you can't do anything to change the facts on the ground, why should anybody listen to you?

 

[Saif]

No offense to bangladesh but you need to have actual power to do these things.

If you can't do anything to change the facts on the ground, why should anybody listen to you?

Bangladesh is the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping mission. So, if UN security council decides to deploy UN peacekeepers on the ground to maintain peace in Gaza, Bangladesh will surely be invited to perform the leading role as the UN peacekeepers.

 

[Saif]

15 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school

Civil defence rescuers in Gaza said an Israeli strike on Thursday on a school-turned-shelter killed at least 15 people, with the Israeli military saying it had targeted a Hamas command centre.

www.newagebd.net

15 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school
Agence France-Presse . Palestinian Territories 26 September, 2024, 22:10

Members of Reporters Without Borders hold a banner reading ‘At the rate at which journalists are being killed in Gaza, there will soon be no one left to keep us informed’ and press waistcoats stained with fake blood during an action called by Reporters Without Borders across the world in support of journalists working in the Gaza strip and in tribute to those who died amid the on-going war between Israel and Hamas group, at the Trocadero with the Eiffel Tower in the background, in Paris, on Thursday. | AFP photo

Civil defence rescuers in Gaza said an Israeli strike on Thursday on a school-turned-shelter killed at least 15 people, with the Israeli military saying it had targeted a Hamas command centre.

The vast majority of the besieged Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once by the war, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, with many seeking shelter in school buildings.

Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there were ‘15 martyrs, including children and women, and dozens wounded, some of them seriously, following an Israeli bombardment of Al-Faluja school in Jabalia camp in north Gaza’.

Bassal earlier said the death toll was seven.

The military said it carried out ‘precise strikes’ targeting Hamas militants operating inside what it said was a command-and-control centre at the Al-Faluja school.

AFP was unable to immediately verify what was targeted, and the military statement did not provide information on casualties.

Thursday’s attack was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes on school buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for nearly a year.

A strike on the United Nations-run Al-Jawni School in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said six of its staffers were among the 18 reported fatalities.

The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter — a charge denied by the Palestinian militant group.

At least 41,534 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since the war began, according to data provided by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The United Nations has acknowledged these figures as reliable.

The October 7 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.

Out of 251 people taken hostage that day, 97 are still being held inside the Gaza Strip, including 33 who the Israeli military says are dead.​

 

[Saif]

Leader of Palestinian Authority denounces Israeli Gaza offensive at UN, insists: ‘We will not leave’

The head of the Palestinian Authority denounced Israel and its offensive in the Gaza Strip in front of world leaders Thursday, appealing to other nations to stop what he called a “genocidal war” against a place and people he said had been totally destroyed. Mahmoud Abbas used the rostr

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Leader of Palestinian Authority denounces Israeli Gaza offensive at UN, insists: ‘We will not leave’
AP
Published :
Sep 26, 2024 21:58
Updated :
Sep 26, 2024 21:58

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, at UN headquarters. Photo : AP/Frank Franklin II

The head of the Palestinian Authority denounced Israel and its offensive in the Gaza Strip in front of world leaders Thursday, appealing to other nations to stop what he called a “genocidal war” against a place and people he said had been totally destroyed.

Mahmoud Abbas used the rostrum of the UN General Assembly as he typically does — to criticize Israel. But this was the first time he did so since the Oct 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel that triggered an Israeli military operation that has devastated the occupied Gaza Strip.

Abbas strode to the podium to loud applause and a few unintelligible shouts. His first words were a sentence repeated three times: “We will not leave. We will not leave. We will not leave.”

He accused Israel of destroying Gaza and making it unlivable. And he said that his government should govern post-war Gaza as part of an independent Palestinian state, a vision that Israel’s hardline government rejects.

Abbas has had little influence in Gaza since Hamas overthrew his forces and seized power of the territory in 2007. The US has said a reformed Palestinian Authority should play a future role in Gaza, but Israel does not consider him a reliable partner and has ruled that out.

“Palestine is our homeland. It is the land of our fathers and our grandfathers. It will remain ours. And if anyone were to leave, it would be the occupying usurpers,” he said.

Israel has maintained its military operations are justified and are necessary to defend itself. South Africa has filed a genocide case against Israel in the UN’s top court. Israel rejects the accusations.​

 

[Saif]

Israel's war on Gaza: Yunus calls for immediate and complete ceasefire

Addressing the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, he said the genocide in Gaza continues unabated despite global concerns and condemnation

www.thedailystar.net

Israel's war on Gaza: Yunus calls for immediate and complete ceasefire

Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser of Bangladesh addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, US, September 27, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Eduardo Munoz

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus today called for an immediate and complete ceasefire to protect the Palestinian people from the brutalities, particularly against the children and women.

Addressing the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, he said the genocide in Gaza continues unabated despite global concerns and condemnation.

"The situation in Palestine just does not concern the Arabs or Muslims at large rather the entire humanity. Palestinians are not expendable people. All those responsible for the crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people must be held accountable," said the chief adviser.

He also said international community, including the UN, needs to act in earnest to implement the two-state solution that remains the only path to bring lasting peace in the Middle-East.

Prof Yunus also touched upon two-and-half-year-long war in the Ukraine and urged both sides to pursue dialogue to end the war.

"The war has impacted far and wide, even lending deeper economic implications in Bangladesh. We would urge both sides to pursue dialogue to resolve the differences and end the war," he said.​

 

[Saif]

The unfortunate paradise that was Palestine

What moral standard does a country hold when in war they attack the place they themselves have declared to be a “permanent safe zone?”

www.thedailystar.net

The unfortunate paradise that was Palestine

Palestinians look at the debris of destroyed tents and make shift housing structures following an Israeli military strike on the al-Mawassi camp for internally displaced people (IDP), near the city of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, on July 13, 2024. PHOTO: AFP

Before typing words that will require me to somewhat dissociate from what its spells, let's listen to a tale of a place named al-Mawasi. It was a Palestinian Bedouin town, a slender coastal area, one kilometre wide and 14 kilometres long. The Mediterranean Sea hugging its rough grasslands, the people of al-Mawasi would farm and fish.

In late October last year, the Israeli occupation forces designated al-Mawasi as a "safe area" for fleeing Palestinian civilians, later claiming that it was considered a "permanent safe zone." In an interview with Channel 4 News on February 12, Israeli spokesperson Eylon Levi, when pressed to confirm if displaced civilians would be safe from further bombardment in the declared safe zone, stated that "it will not be safe" until Gaza was free from Hamas.

Gaza's health ministry reported that over 40,000 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in the first 10 months of the war, with many buried under the rubble. On September 18, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution demanding Israel end its occupation of Palestinian territories within a year, with 124 nations in favour, 14 against, and 43 abstaining.

Meanwhile, as per CNN, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering evacuating civilians from northern Gaza to target Hamas and secure the release of hostages. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets have killed hundreds, and Hezbollah retaliated with rocket attacks, including a ballistic missile aimed at Tel Aviv.

While these events occurred, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza, Khan Younis and later Rafah fled to al-Mawasi. The city now consists of makeshift shelters, misery, starvation, disease, and a near-constant threat of attack.

Now amid the recent escalating violence, the US and its allies are calling for a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah as the conflict threatens to engulf Lebanon. The measly number of days is shocking, with all the world leaders clapping for each other, their faces veiled in appropriate gravity, and deciding the fate of a people. How many days has it been since the aftermath of the October 7 attack? It has been almost a year.

There is no language left to describe the assault on Palestinian existence anymore. News keeps rolling like clockwork, every minute bringing a fresh attack that obliterates parts of the tiny little land Palestinians have left.

News has become, at best, just a documentation process. The faith that it will have an impact on the decision-making process of the rulers of the world is almost laughably absurd at this point. It will not jolt people out of their private lives and ignite a worldwide cry loud enough to save what is left of Gaza. Documentation, as of now, is our only means to soothe our conscience.

In February, the IOF attacked al-Mawasi, targeting a safe house for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staff and families, killing two and injuring six. In late May, they bombed the area once more, killing at least 21 Palestinians, including 12 women, just days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to stop its offensive on Rafah. On June 21, the IOF attacked al-Mawasi once more, killing at least 25 Palestinians and injuring 50. "This killing is nothing short of the destruction of Palestinian life," South African lawyer Adila Hassim told the ICJ during a hearing on Israel's genocide case in January.

What moral standard does a country hold when in war they attack the place they themselves have declared to be a "permanent safe zone?" The Israeli authorities are not mincing words, and spokespersons like Eylon Levi are letting the world know exactly what they have in store. And so, newer and fresher courses of annihilation carry on.

The question of Palestine, says Edward Said, is "the contest between an affirmation and a denial." What the Israeli occupation is doing is denying Palestinians the right to exist.

There is a poem by Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish named "Unfortunately, It Was Paradise." He writes, "We journey towards a home that does not halo our head with a special sun./ Mythical women applaud us. A sea for us, a sea against us."

I don't know what this poem would have felt and sounded like if Gaza was a land where children went to school in anticipation of sweet mischief. I see one of these mythical women named Abu Maamar, 36, embracing the body of her five-year-old niece Saly, in a Gaza morgue. She's shielding her grieving face and her niece's dead body from the camera. She draws a line: here, her grief is hers alone.

All I know is that I can disassociate because I'm privileged enough to do so. I know I cannot say "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," without a pulsating tick in the pit of my stomach that says otherwise. I know that al-Mawasi, now a land full of displaced people, may never get back to being the Bedouin town it once was.

Sumaya Mashrufa is sub-editor at The Daily Star.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli strikes kill 11 more Palestinians

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 11 Palestinians, health officials in the enclave said yesterday, as Israeli planes bombarded several northern, central and southern areas.

www.thedailystar.net

Israeli strikes kill 11 more Palestinians

Demonstrators shout slogans as they march against Israeli strikes in Gaza and Lebanon at a protest rally in the central business district of Sydney, Australia yesterday. At least 41,595 Palestinians have been killed and 96,251 others injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since October 7. Photo: AFP

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 11 Palestinians, health officials in the enclave said yesterday, as Israeli planes bombarded several northern, central and southern areas.

A school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip was among buildings hit, killing four people and wounded several others.

The Israeli military said it struck Hamas members operating from a command centre embedded in a compound that had previously served as Um Al-Fahm School. It accused Hamas of exploiting civilian facilities and its population for military purposes, which Hamas denies.

In another strike, three people were killed in a house in Gaza City, medics said. Four others were killed in three separate airstrikes in Nuseirat and Khan Younis in central and southern parts of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces pursued their operations in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, and in Gaza City's suburb of Zeitoun.​

 

[Saif]

Two-thirds of Gaza buildings damaged in war: UN

The last assessment, based on images from early July, determined that 63 per cent of structures in the Palestinian territory had been damaged

en.prothomalo.com

Two-thirds of Gaza buildings damaged in war: UN
Updating its damage assessment, the UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) said very high-resolution imagery collected on 3 and 6 September showed a clear deterioration
AFP
Geneva
Published: 30 Sep 2024, 20: 35

A woman sorts through clothing salvaged from the rubble of a destroyed dress shop in a residential building hit by Israeli bombardment, in the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City on 14 June, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas AFP

Two-thirds of the buildings in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed since the Gaza war began in October 2023, the United Nations said on Monday.

Updating its damage assessment, the UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) said very high-resolution imagery collected on 3 and 6 September showed a clear deterioration.

“This analysis... shows that two-thirds of the total structures in the Gaza Strip have sustained damage,” UNOSAT said.

“Those 66 per cent of damaged buildings in the Gaza Strip account for 163,778 structures in total,” it said.

The last assessment, based on images from early July, determined that 63 per cent of structures in the Palestinian territory had been damaged.

Monday’s update said the damage now included “52,564 structures that have been destroyed; 18,913 severely damaged; 35,591 possibly damaged structures; and 56,710 moderately affected”.

Gaza City has been notably affected, with 36,611 structures destroyed, it added.

UNOSAT and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said that approximately 68 per cent of the permanent crop fields in the Gaza Strip showed “a significant decline in health and density” in September.

Hamas’s unprecedented 7 October attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,615 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable.

Part of the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), Geneva-based UNOSAT says its satellite imagery analysis helps the humanitarian community assess the extent of conflict-related damage and helps shape emergency relief efforts.

“Over the past year, UNOSAT’s team has worked tirelessly to provide the world with precise and timely insights into the impact of the conflict on buildings and infrastructure in Gaza,” said UNITAR’s executive director Nikhil Seth.​

 

[Saif]

Hamas praises 'heroic' missile attacks launched by Iran

Hamas praised on Tuesday what it called Iran's "heroic" missile attacks avenging the deaths of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and Iranian Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan

www.thedailystar.net

Hamas praises 'heroic' missile attacks launched by Iran

Rockets fly in the sky, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from Tel Aviv, Israel, October 1, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad

Hamas praised on Tuesday what it called Iran's "heroic" missile attacks avenging the deaths of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and Iranian Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan.

"We congratulate the heroic rocket launch carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran, on large areas of our occupied territories, in response to the occupation's continuing crimes against the peoples of the region, and in retaliation for the blood of our nation's heroic martyrs," the group said.

Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for Israel's campaign against Tehran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, and Israel vowed a "painful response" against its enemy.

Iran had vowed to retaliate following Israeli strikes that killed the top leadership of its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, including that group's leader Hassan Nasrallah, a towering figure in Iran's network of fighters across the region.

In a statement, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the attack was also in response to Israel's assassination in July of former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, locked in nearly a year of war with Israel, celebrated as they watched dozens of rockets en route to Israel. Some of those rockets fell in the Palestinian enclave after being intercepted by Israel's iron dome, but caused no human losses, witnesses said.

Israeli forces operating in central Gaza opened fire at a gathering of Palestinians, killing at least three people and wounding others, medics said.

Some Palestinian residents said some people tried to approach the road connecting north and south Gaza in an apparent attempt to return to homes from where the Israeli army evicted them, taking advantage of the Iranian attacks.

The Israeli military said it opened fire against a group of Palestinian "suspects" who posed a threat to forces operating in central Gaza and identified that some of them were hit.

"There were no casualties among the forces and the incident is under control," the military statement said.

In Nuseirat, one of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, an Israeli strike hit a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families and killed three people, medics said. Palestinian health officials said Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 43 people on Tuesday.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel almost a year ago, in support of its ally Hamas in the war in Gaza, which began after the militant group staged the deadliest assault in Israel's history on October 7.

The assault, in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, triggered the war that has devastated Gaza, displacing most of its 2.3 million population and killing more than 41,600 people, according to Gaza health authorities.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli strikes across Gaza kill 65 Palestinians

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 65 Palestinians overnight, including in a school sheltering displaced families, medics said, as Israeli tanks advanced in areas of Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.

www.thedailystar.net

Israeli strikes across Gaza kill 65 Palestinians
Dozens injured; tanks carry out raids in Khan Younis

Palestinians look out of a damaged house near the site where Omar Masoud and his family were killed in an Israeli airstrike, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip September 12, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Mahmoud Issa

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 65 Palestinians overnight, including in a school sheltering displaced families, medics said, as Israeli tanks advanced in areas of Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.

Israeli tanks carried out a raid on several areas in eastern and central Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, before partially retreating, leaving at least 40 people killed and dozens wounded, according to the official Voice of Palestine radio and Hamas media.

In Gaza City, at least 22 Palestinians were killed, the medics said. One Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City killed 17 people, while another hit the Al-Amal Orphan Society, which also houses displaced persons, killing at least five others, the medics said.

Later yesterday, an Israeli strike on a school sheltering Palestinian displaced families in Nuseirat in central Gaza killed three people and wounded 15, medics said. The Israeli military said the strike was aimed at Hamas members operating from a command center embedded in the compound that had previously served as the 'Nuseirat Girls' School.

It accused Hamas of exploiting civilian facilities and population for military purposes, a tactic Hamas denies using.

Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 41,689 Palestinians and wounded 96,625 since October 7, the Palestinian enclave's health ministry said yesterday.

The escalation came after Iran launched a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for Israel's campaign against Tehran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, and Israel vowed a "painful response" against its enemy.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip celebrated as they watched dozens of rockets en route to Israel. Some of those rockets fell in the Palestinian enclave after being intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defences, but caused no human losses, witnesses said.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza still bleeds

Intensified Israeli airstrikes on Gaza yesterday killed dozens on the eve of the first anniversary of its offensive in the besieged territory that has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins.

www.thedailystar.net

Gaza still bleeds
Death toll nears 42,000; rallies worldwide call for ceasefire

Intensified Israeli airstrikes on Gaza yesterday killed dozens on the eve of the first anniversary of its offensive in the besieged territory that has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins.

Israel's war on Gaza has since spread as it invaded Lebanon after months of trading fire across the border, raising the fear of a wider conflict in the Middle East with experts saying it risks sucking in major regional and world powers.

As the Israeli invasion enters its second year, tens of thousands of protesters marched in cities around the world calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, a prospect which experts say is unlikely anytime soon.

The marches were held in almost all major cities across Europe, Africa, Australia and the Americas demanding an end to the conflict.

In Washington, more than a thousand protesters demonstrated outside the White House, seeking that the United States, Israel's top military supplier, stop providing weapons and aid to Israel.

One man attempted to set himself on fire, AFP journalists saw, succeeding in lighting his left arm ablaze before bystanders and police extinguished the flames.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas-led fighters streamed across the border from Gaza into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping some 250 others, according to Israeli tallies.

The next day, Israel formally declared war on Hamas.

Since then, indiscriminate Israeli bombardment has damaged or destroyed two thirds of the total structures in the Gaza Strip, The United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) said on September 30. It also damaged or destroyed around 68 percent of cropland and roads.

Only 17 of 36 hospitals remain partially functional, and all suffer from a lack of fuel, medical supplies, and clean water.

According to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), an estimated 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza (more than 90 percent of the population) have been displaced, with many experiencing multiple forced displacements as a result of persistent Israeli relocation orders.

The blockade on humanitarian goods has caused a hunger crisis in the Palestinian enclave and led to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

The offensive has not only destroyed the present day Gaza but also robbed its future as children, who make up almost half of Gaza's entire population, are the primary victims. Of the 42,000 killed in the enclave, at least 16,456 are children.

According to UN, none of them have been able to attend school since October 7. The longer fighting goes on, the greater the chance of losing an entire generation, it said.

The offensive intensified early yesterday with Israeli airstrikes hitting a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip killing at least 26 people and wounding 93 others, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.

Palestinian health officials said at least another 20 people had been killed since Saturday night in northern Gaza, after the army sent tanks into areas there for the first time in months and urged residents to leave.

The Israeli military said it had conducted "precise strikes on Hamas terrorists" who were operating within command and control centres embedded in Ibn Rushd School and the Shuhada al-Aqsa Mosque, in the area of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

Hamas rejects accusations it uses civilian facilities such as schools, hospitals and mosques for military purposes.

Amid the violence, the International Committee of the Red Cross urged all parties to ensure all civilians were protected.

"This is a year marked by heartbreak and unanswered questions. Families have been torn apart, with many loved ones still held against their will. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions have been displaced across the region," it said.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said Israel had struck 27 houses, schools and displacement shelters across Gaza in the past 48 hours.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinians in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, where Israeli forces have been operating since May.

On Saturday, Israeli army issued new evacuation orders in parts of Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, just north of Deir al-Balah, forcing hundreds of families to leave their houses. The military statement said its forces aimed to operate against Hamas fighters who waged attacks from the territory.

Meanwhile, Israeli tanks pushed into the northern Gaza areas of Beit Lahiya and Jabalia overnight, and planes hit several houses, killing at least 20 people, according to medics.

The Israeli military said its forces had encircled the area of Jabalia.

In one air strike, 10 people were killed in one house, and five others in another strike on a second home. Residents described it as one of the worst nights in many months.

"The war is back," said Raed, 52, from Jabalia, before he and his family left for Gaza City yesterday.

"Dozens of explosions from airstrikes and tank shelling shook the ground and buildings, it felt like the early days of the war," he told Reuters via a chat app.

The armed wings of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and smaller factions said fighters were engaged in gunbattles with Israeli forces in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza Strip's eight refugee camps.

Palestinian and UN officials say no place in the enclave is safe, including the humanitarian zones.

Ahead of the anniversary, Israel placed its forces on alert.

Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said at a televised briefing: "We are prepared with increased forces in anticipation for this day", when there could be "attacks on the home front".

In Washington, US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said US will continue to pressure Israel and other players in the Middle East to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza even as advocates say that the United States has not thus far used its leverage over its ally.

Washington's occasional condemnation of Israel over the civilian death toll has mostly been verbal with no substantive change in policy.

President Joe Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire plan for Gaza on May 31 but a deal between Israel and Hamas has not been reached due to gaps in exchanges of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and Israel's demand that it maintain presence in a corridor on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt.

As the war in Gaza enters its second year and a wider Middle East conflict is on the verge of breaking out, one question remains: How, if it at all, does this end?

"I'm not sure that it does end," Mairav Zonszein, senior Israel-Palestine analyst for International Crisis Group, told the ABC.

"At this point, we can't talk just about the war in Gaza, but we have to talk about the war with Hezbollah, and the war in the West Bank … and of course Iran and its proxies."

All of this makes the prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza even less likely, according to Zonszein.

"There's a spectrum," she said.

"It could get much, much worse on several fronts. They're all connected and the connecting theme … is Gaza."​

 

[Saif]

Israel steps up Gaza bombing on war's first anniversary

Hamas, Islamic Jihad fire rockets from Gaza at Tel Aviv, Israeli towns near Gaza border; two people lightly injured

www.thedailystar.net

Israel steps up Gaza bombing on war's first anniversary
Hamas, Islamic Jihad fire rockets from Gaza at Tel Aviv, Israeli towns near Gaza border; two people lightly injured

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike as displaced Palestinians make their way to flee areas in the eastern part of Khan Younis following an Israeli evacuation order, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip October 7, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Hatem Khaled

Israel stepped up its air and ground offensive in Gaza with more attacks on Hamas militants and command posts on Monday, the first anniversary of a war that has destroyed much of the territory and shattered the lives of its people.

For its part, Hamas said it struck Israel's commercial capital Tel Aviv with a missile salvo, setting off sirens in central Israel. Two people were lightly injured, according to the Israeli ambulance service.

The rocket volley signalled Hamas' enduring ability to hit back despite a protracted Israeli military campaign that has seriously degraded its combat capacities, a year after the shock cross-border Hamas incursion into Israel that kindled the war.

Hamas' smaller ally Islamic Jihad said it hit Sderot, Nir Am and other Israeli towns near Gaza with rockets. The Israeli military said it intercepted five rockets fired from Gaza.

Hamas-led militants stormed through Israeli towns and kibbutz villages near the border on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent military campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to the small coastal enclave's health ministry, displaced nearly the entire 2.3 million population, and caused a hunger and health crisis.

Israel says militants fight from the cover of built-up residential areas in the densely populated territory, including schools and hospitals. Hamas denies this.

On Monday, Israeli tanks advanced into Jabalia, the largest of Gaza Strip's eight historic urban refugee camps, after encircling it, residents said. Soon after the rocket volley, the Israeli military expanded evacuation orders in Jabalia to cover areas in the northern towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.

Residents said Israeli forces pounded Jabalia from the air and the ground, and medics said several Palestinians had been killed, with rescuers unable to reach some of the victims.

Later on Monday, Palestinian medics said an Israeli airstrike killed five Palestinians to the west of Jabalia.

ISRAEL TARGETS HOSPITAL COMPOUND

The Israeli military said it killed dozens of militants and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia, saying the operation would continue to prevent Hamas from regrouping.

In the central city of Deir Al-Balah, where a million displaced people are sheltering, an Israeli air strike hit tents inside Al-Aqsa Hospital, wounding 11 people, Palestinian medics said. The Israeli military said it struck at Hamas militants operating from a command centre embedded inside the hospital.

The Israeli army later ordered residents in some eastern neighbourhoods of Khan Younis in southern Gaza to leave their homes, and many families started doing so, loading belongings on donkey carts and rickshaws.

Israelis marked the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack, which has given rise to a multi-front conflict across the Middle East as Israel sharply escalates its campaign against the Iranian-backed militant movement Hezbollah in Lebanon.

US-backed Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt have been unable so far to broker a Gaza ceasefire that could also help defuse the Lebanon hostilities and see the release of hostages held in Gaza as well as many Palestinians jailed by Israel.

Israel and Hamas have traded blame for the failure so far to reach an agreement, with each accusing the other of adding conditions that are impossible to meet.

Hamas wants a deal that ends the war and gets Israeli forces out of Gaza, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed the war can end only with the eradication of Hamas.

In Gaza on Monday, uprooted Palestinian civilians expressed a desperate desire to go back to pre-war lives.

"Before October 7, one had dreams. As a father, I have six children, my biggest burden was how to provide them with homes and get them married. But after October 7, this came to nothing. After 58 years of work for me, same as my father - all of it went to dust and rocks," said Abu Hassan Shaheen.

Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas' political office in exile, urged Arab and Muslim countries on Monday to launch "new fronts of resistance (against Israel) for the sake of freedom and dignity".​