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

[Saif]

Gaza rescuers say 22 killed in Israeli strikes

Rescuers in Gaza said 22 people were killed and dozens more wounded in Israeli air strikes across the Palestinian territory on Sunday. Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said seven people were killed in a strike on a home in Jabalia, in the north.

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Gaza rescuers say 22 killed in Israeli strikes
AFP Gaza City, Palestinian Territories
Published: 25 May 2025, 20: 15

Children play around waste in front of the closed UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City, on 20 May 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. AFP

Rescuers in Gaza said 22 people were killed and dozens more wounded in Israeli air strikes across the Palestinian territory on Sunday.

Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said seven people were killed in a strike on a home in Jabalia, in the north.

Some people were still under the debris, he added, as "the civil defence does not have search equipment or heavy equipment to lift the rubble to rescue the wounded and recover the martyrs".

Two more people, including a woman who was seven months pregnant, were killed in an attack targeting tents sheltering displaced people around Nuseirat in central Gaza, he said, adding doctors were unable to save the unborn child.

Also included in the toll were the civil defence's director of operations Ashraf Abu Nar and his wife, who were killed in a strike on their home in Nuseirat, according to Bassal.

Fatal strikes were also recorded around Deir el-Balah in the centre of the territory, Beit Lahia in the north, and the main southern city of Khan Yunis.

In all, civil defence teams recovered "at least 22 martyrs, including a number of children, and dozens of injured" on Sunday, with a number of people still missing, Bassal said.

The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes.

The military has stepped up its Gaza operations in recent days in what it has described as a renewed push to destroy Hamas.

On Saturday afternoon, the military said it had carried out strikes on more than 100 targets throughout Gaza over the past day.

Gaza's health ministry said Sunday that at least 3,785 people had been killed in the territory since a ceasefire collapsed on 18 March, taking the war's overall toll to 53,939, mostly civilians.

Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.​

 

[Saif]

Hamas agrees to US proposal on Gaza ceasefire, Palestinian official says

Hamas has agreed to a proposal by US special envoy Steve Witkoff for a Gaza ceasefire, a Palestinian official close to the group told Reuters on Monday, paving the way for a possible end to the war with Israel. The new proposal, which sees the release of ten hostages and 70 days of truce, was rece

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Hamas agrees to US proposal on Gaza ceasefire, Palestinian official says
REUTERS
Published :
May 26, 2025 20:54
Updated :
May 26, 2025 20:55

A drone view shows displaced Palestinians sheltering in tents set up near the rubble of buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City February 17, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/Files

Hamas has agreed to a proposal by US special envoy Steve Witkoff for a Gaza ceasefire, a Palestinian official close to the group told Reuters on Monday, paving the way for a possible end to the war with Israel.

The new proposal, which sees the release of ten hostages and 70 days of truce, was received by Hamas through mediators.

"The proposal includes the release of ten living Israeli hostages held by Hamas in two groups in return for a 70-day ceasefire and a partial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip," the source said.

The proposal also sees the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners by Israel, including hundreds serving lengthy prison terms.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

On March 18, Israel effectively ended a January ceasefire agreement with Hamas and renewed its military campaign in Gaza. Hamas and allied factions began firing rockets and attacks two days later.

Hamas has said it is willing to free all remaining hostages seized by its gunmen in attacks on communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and agree to a permanent ceasefire if Israel pulls out completely from Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would only be willing to agree to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of hostages, vowing that war can only end once Hamas is eradicated.

Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas militants' cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people by Israeli tallies with 251 hostages abducted into Gaza.

The conflict has killed nearly 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip. Aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread.​

 

[Saif]

Head of US-backed Gaza aid foundation quits as further Israeli airstrikes kill dozens

The head of a U.S.-backed foundation set to begin aid deliveries in Gaza resigned unexpectedly, saying it could not uphold humanitarian principles amidst war, as an Israeli airstrike on a school building killed dozens of Palestinians sheltering inside. Reflecting growing international pressure on

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Head of US-backed Gaza aid foundation quits as further Israeli airstrikes kill dozens

REUTERS
Published :
May 26, 2025 19:43
Updated :
May 26, 2025 19:43

Palestinians inspect the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike, in Gaza City, May 26, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/Files

The head of a U.S.-backed foundation set to begin aid deliveries in Gaza resigned unexpectedly, saying it could not uphold humanitarian principles amidst war, as an Israeli airstrike on a school building killed dozens of Palestinians sheltering inside.

Reflecting growing international pressure on Israel, close ally Germany said its recent attacks in Gaza were inflicting a toll on civilians that could no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas - the Palestinian militant group which ignited the war with its cross-border Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Israel has faced a mounting Western outcry this month as its military launched a new offensive in Gaza, already largely destroyed by Israeli bombardment during 19 months of conflict and where the population of 2 million is at risk of famine.

After nearly three months of blockade, Israeli authorities last week allowed a trickle of aid into the Palestinian enclave. But the few hundred trucks carried only a tiny fraction of the food needed.

Jake Wood, executive director of the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for the past two months, said he resigned as it could not adhere “to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence”.

Wood’s exit on Sunday underscores the confusion surrounding the foundation, which has been boycotted by the United Nations and the aid groups supplying aid to Gaza before Israel imposed a total blockade on the enclave in March.

The groups say the new system will undermine the principle that aid should be overseen by a neutral party. Israel, which floated a similar plan earlier this year, says it will not be involved in distributing aid but it had endorsed the plan and would provide security for it.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which would use private contractors working under a broad Israeli security umbrella, said it would begin deliveries on Monday, with the aim of reaching one million Palestinians by the end of the week.

“We plan to scale up rapidly to serve the full population in the weeks ahead,” it said in a statement.

The Switzerland-registered foundation has been heavily criticised by the United Nations, whose officials have said the private company’s aid distribution plans are insufficient for reaching the more than two million Gazans.

The new operation will rely on four major distribution centres in southern Gaza that will screen families for involvement with Hamas militants, potentially using facial recognition or biometric technology, according to aid officials.

But many details of how the operation will work remain unexplained, and it was not immediately clear whether aid groups that have refused to cooperate with the foundation would still be able to send in trucks.

Hamas condemned the new system, saying it would “replace order with chaos, enforce a policy of engineered starvation of Palestinian civilians, and use food as a weapon during wartime”.

Israel says the system is aimed at separating aid from Hamas, which it accuses of stealing and using food to impose control over the population, a charge rejected by Hamas, which says it protects aid convoys from gangs of armed looters.

CONTINUED AIRSTRIKES

While the aid system is worked out, Israel has continued to carry out strikes across densely populated Gaza, killing at least 45 people on Monday, local health authorities said.

In Gaza City, medics said, 30 Palestinians, including displaced women and children who were seeking shelter in a Gaza City school, were killed in an airstrike. Images shared widely on social media showed what appeared to be badly burned bodies being pulled from the rubble.

Israel’s military confirmed that it had targeted the school. It said that the building was being used as a centre by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants to plan and organise attacks.

Farah Nussair, a survivor of the attack, said “just the tired ones” who needed food and water were in the school.

She added, a child in her lap: “We fled to the south, they bombed us in the south. We returned to the north, they bombed us in the north. We came to schools .... There is no security or safety, neither at schools, nor hospitals - not anywhere.”

Israel’s military said numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians. It did not provide evidence that the school was being used by militants.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking to broadcaster WDR, said he planned to hold a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to tell him “to not overdo it,” though for “historical reasons”, Germany would always be more guarded in its criticism than some European partners.

“Harming the civilian population to such an extent, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism,” Merz said.

Another strike on a house in Jabalia, adjacent to Gaza City, killed at least 15 other people, medics said.

Israel stepped up military operations in the enclave in early May, saying it is seeking to eliminate Hamas’ military and governing capabilities and bring back remaining hostages.

The campaign, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said will end with Israel in complete control of Gaza, has squeezed the population into an ever-narrowing zone in coastal areas and around the southern city of Khan Younis.

The Israeli campaign, triggered after Hamas-led Islamist militants stormed Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, has devastated Gaza and pushed nearly all of its residents from their homes.

The offensive has killed more than 53,000 people in Gaza, many of them civilians, according to its health authorities.​

 

[Saif]

Hamas-led groups execute four for looting aid trucks amid some Gaza dissent

Hamas has executed four men for looting some of the aid trucks that have begun entering Gaza, sources familiar with the incident said on Monday, as a clan leader in southern Gaza issued a challenge to the militant group over guarding the convoys. One source said the four were involved in an incide

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Hamas-led groups execute four for looting aid trucks amid some Gaza dissent

REUTERS
Published :
May 26, 2025 19:02
Updated :
May 26, 2025 19:02

A truck carries humanitarian aid destined for the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, at the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel, November 11, 2024. Photo : REUTERS/Amir Cohen/Files

Hamas has executed four men for looting some of the aid trucks that have begun entering Gaza, sources familiar with the incident said on Monday, as a clan leader in southern Gaza issued a challenge to the militant group over guarding the convoys.

One source said the four were involved in an incident last week when six security officials were killed by an Israeli airstrike as they were working to prevent gang members from hijacking aid trucks.

"The four criminals, who were executed, were involved in the crimes of looting and causing the death of members of a force tasked with securing aid trucks," one of the sources told Reuters.

Seven other suspects were being pursued, according to a statement issued by an umbrella group identifying itself as the "Palestinian Resistance".

Humanitarian assistance began trickling into Gaza last week after Israel yielded to international pressure and lifted a blockade it imposed in early March that has left half a million people facing starvation, according to a global hunger monitor.

Aid groups have said that deliveries have been hampered by looting, but they have blamed Israel for creating a situation in which hundreds of thousands of people have been driven to desperation by the blockade.

Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies, and the issue of control over the aid trucks has been hotly disputed.

Israeli military officials say the security teams put in place by Hamas are there to take delivery of the supplies not to protect them, but it has provided no evidence of Hamas looting since it eased its blockade last week.

Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, has long cracked down hard on signs of dissent among Palestinians in Gaza but it has faced sizeable protests in recent months over the war and faced challenges to its control by armed groups of looters, some of whom it has punished by shooting them in the legs in public.

Yasser Abu Shabab, a leader of a large clan in the Rafah area, now under full Israeli army control, said he was building up a force to secure aid deliveries into some parts of the enclave. He published images of his armed men receiving and organising the traffic of aid trucks.

Hamas, which is unable to operate in the Rafah area where Abu Shabab has some controls, has accused him of looting international aid trucks in previous months and maintaining connections with Israel.

On a Facebook page in his name Abu Shabab denies that he has acted as an alternative to the government or other institutions and rejects accusations of looting.

On the page Abu Shabab is described as a "grassroots leader who stood up against corruption and looting" and who protected aid convoys.

But a Hamas security official called Abu Shabab a "tool used by the Israeli occupation to fragment the Palestinian internal front".

Asked if the UN was working with Abu Shabab, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said it did not pay anyone to guard aid trucks.

"What we do is talk to communities regularly, build trust and engage with the authorities on the urgent need for more aid to come in through more routes and more crossings," the spokesperson said.​

 

[Saif]

Head of US-backed Gaza aid foundation quits as further Israeli airstrikes kill dozens

The head of a U.S.-backed foundation set to begin aid deliveries in Gaza resigned unexpectedly, saying it could not uphold humanitarian principles amidst war, as an Israeli airstrike on a school building killed dozens of Palestinians sheltering inside. Reflecting growing international pressure on

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Head of US-backed Gaza aid foundation quits as further Israeli airstrikes kill dozens

REUTERS
Published :
May 26, 2025 19:43
Updated :
May 26, 2025 19:43

Palestinians inspect the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike, in Gaza City, May 26, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/Files

The head of a U.S.-backed foundation set to begin aid deliveries in Gaza resigned unexpectedly, saying it could not uphold humanitarian principles amidst war, as an Israeli airstrike on a school building killed dozens of Palestinians sheltering inside.

Reflecting growing international pressure on Israel, close ally Germany said its recent attacks in Gaza were inflicting a toll on civilians that could no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas - the Palestinian militant group which ignited the war with its cross-border Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Israel has faced a mounting Western outcry this month as its military launched a new offensive in Gaza, already largely destroyed by Israeli bombardment during 19 months of conflict and where the population of 2 million is at risk of famine.

After nearly three months of blockade, Israeli authorities last week allowed a trickle of aid into the Palestinian enclave. But the few hundred trucks carried only a tiny fraction of the food needed.

Jake Wood, executive director of the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for the past two months, said he resigned as it could not adhere “to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence”.

Wood’s exit on Sunday underscores the confusion surrounding the foundation, which has been boycotted by the United Nations and the aid groups supplying aid to Gaza before Israel imposed a total blockade on the enclave in March.

The groups say the new system will undermine the principle that aid should be overseen by a neutral party. Israel, which floated a similar plan earlier this year, says it will not be involved in distributing aid but it had endorsed the plan and would provide security for it.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which would use private contractors working under a broad Israeli security umbrella, said it would begin deliveries on Monday, with the aim of reaching one million Palestinians by the end of the week.

“We plan to scale up rapidly to serve the full population in the weeks ahead,” it said in a statement.

The Switzerland-registered foundation has been heavily criticised by the United Nations, whose officials have said the private company’s aid distribution plans are insufficient for reaching the more than two million Gazans.

The new operation will rely on four major distribution centres in southern Gaza that will screen families for involvement with Hamas militants, potentially using facial recognition or biometric technology, according to aid officials.

But many details of how the operation will work remain unexplained, and it was not immediately clear whether aid groups that have refused to cooperate with the foundation would still be able to send in trucks.

Hamas condemned the new system, saying it would “replace order with chaos, enforce a policy of engineered starvation of Palestinian civilians, and use food as a weapon during wartime”.

Israel says the system is aimed at separating aid from Hamas, which it accuses of stealing and using food to impose control over the population, a charge rejected by Hamas, which says it protects aid convoys from gangs of armed looters.

CONTINUED AIRSTRIKES

While the aid system is worked out, Israel has continued to carry out strikes across densely populated Gaza, killing at least 45 people on Monday, local health authorities said.

In Gaza City, medics said, 30 Palestinians, including displaced women and children who were seeking shelter in a Gaza City school, were killed in an airstrike. Images shared widely on social media showed what appeared to be badly burned bodies being pulled from the rubble.

Israel’s military confirmed that it had targeted the school. It said that the building was being used as a centre by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants to plan and organise attacks.

Farah Nussair, a survivor of the attack, said “just the tired ones” who needed food and water were in the school.

She added, a child in her lap: “We fled to the south, they bombed us in the south. We returned to the north, they bombed us in the north. We came to schools .... There is no security or safety, neither at schools, nor hospitals - not anywhere.”

Israel’s military said numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians. It did not provide evidence that the school was being used by militants.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking to broadcaster WDR, said he planned to hold a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to tell him “to not overdo it,” though for “historical reasons”, Germany would always be more guarded in its criticism than some European partners.

“Harming the civilian population to such an extent, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism,” Merz said.

Another strike on a house in Jabalia, adjacent to Gaza City, killed at least 15 other people, medics said.

Israel stepped up military operations in the enclave in early May, saying it is seeking to eliminate Hamas’ military and governing capabilities and bring back remaining hostages.

The campaign, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said will end with Israel in complete control of Gaza, has squeezed the population into an ever-narrowing zone in coastal areas and around the southern city of Khan Younis.

The Israeli campaign, triggered after Hamas-led Islamist militants stormed Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, has devastated Gaza and pushed nearly all of its residents from their homes.

The offensive has killed more than 53,000 people in Gaza, many of them civilians, according to its health authorities.​