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

[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".​

 

[Saif]

The world must do more to stop Israel

Its unjust war on Gaza risks causing an all-out regional conflict

www.thedailystar.net

The world must do more to stop Israel
Its unjust war on Gaza risks causing an all-out regional conflict

VISUAL: STAR

As we mark one year since the start of Israel's devastating war on Gaza, which erupted after the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, it is staggering to think of the massive humanitarian toll and suffering that have since ensued. Over the past 12 months, Gaza has endured relentless ground invasions and airstrikes that have flattened entire neighbourhoods, destroyed vital infrastructure, and driven millions of Gazans from their homes. Even as we write this, reports have emerged of yet another deadly air strikes on a mosque and school housing displaced Palestinians, taking the total death toll to 41,870 with more than 97,000 injured.

All this to achieve what end? Could any end whatsoever justify the use of means that have long passed into the realm of genocide? To this day, Israel stands by its narrative: that its mission in Gaza is to neutralise Hamas. It does not matter that no one is buying into this narrative anymore. Emboldened by the support of its Western allies, Israel is now using the same excuse to ravage Lebanon. This time, its so-called target is Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group that supported Hamas from the beginning. In the end, however, it is the innocent civilians who are having to pay for this, often with their lives. The fast-escalating conflict has now drawn in Syria and Iran through proxy forces, with the latter launching more than 180 missiles towards Israel last week.

At this rate, fears of an all-out regional conflict in the Middle East look increasingly likely. Many have even begun to wonder if World War III is on the horizon, with the US presidential candidate Donald Trump also joining the bandwagon recently, despite himself being a supporter/enabler of Israel's war efforts. This, in other words, only underscores the duplicity of the US and other Western countries. Had they not blindly supported Israel, both militarily and diplomatically, throughout the past year, the Israeli government would not have been so emboldened to act with impunity and cause so much tragedy and destruction. As a BBC expert recently said, there are no "off-ramps" or deterrents convincing enough for Israel "unless the US and other major Western governments make it their business to change the direction of events on the ground."

That being the case, and with Israel showing no signs of heeding the countless warnings by the United Nations or the International Court of Justice, the onus really lies on Israel's Western allies to stop its forever war. They have delayed action for too long. They have consistently ignored calls for halting deliveries of arms feeding Israel's forces of death. That has to stop. One year on from the beginning of Israel's military campaign, they must do something decisive to force it to accept ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon before more territories are pulled into this meaningless conflict, and before it results in more unnecessary casualties.​

 

[Saif]

Erdogan says Israel will pay price for ‘genocide’

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday vowed that Israel would pay a price for the ‘genocide’ in Gaza as he marked the first anniversary of the war in response to the...

www.newagebd.net

Erdogan says Israel will pay price for ‘genocide’
Agence France-Presse . Istanbul 07 October, 2024, 21:58

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday vowed that Israel would pay a price for the ‘genocide’ in Gaza as he marked the first anniversary of the war in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas.

‘It should not be forgotten that Israel will sooner or later pay the price for this genocide that it has been carrying out for a year and is still continuing,’ he said on X, formerly Twitter.

A vocal advocate of the Palestinian cause, including Hamas, Erdogan has often attacked Israel, branding prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu the ‘butcher of Gaza’ and comparing him to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler.

‘Just as Hitler was stopped by an alliance of humanity, Netanyahu and his murder network will be stopped in the same way,’ Erdogan said.

‘A world in which no account is held for the Gaza genocide will never find peace.’

The Turkish leader, who often lauded Hamas as freedom fighters, said what has been massacred before the eyes of the entire world for exactly one year ‘is actually all of humanity, and all of humanity’s hopes for the future’.

Erdogan also criticised the international system’s failure to stop the conflict in Gaza and now in Lebanon and said: ‘Israel’s long-standing policy of genocide, occupation and invasion must now come to an end.’​

 

[Saif]

Israeli tanks push deeper into Gaza

Israel sent tanks deeper into Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday and advised people to leave as it pounded the historic Palestinian refugee camp from the air, residents said.

www.thedailystar.net

Israeli tanks push deeper into Gaza
17 more Palestinians killed in 24 hours

Israel sent tanks deeper into Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday and advised people to leave as it pounded the historic Palestinian refugee camp from the air, residents said.

Palestinian medics said casualties had been reported in Jabalia but that they were unable to reach areas under fire.

"Jabalia is being wiped out," was repeated in many messages posted on social media by residents of Gaza.

Palestinian health officials did not immediately provide new casualty figures but said 17 civilians had been killed in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours. Israel's military said one soldier had been killed in combat in northern Gaza.

The Israeli army issued new evacuation orders to residents of Jabalia and nearby Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, telling them to head to a humanitarian-designated zone in Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza Strip.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli strike in Gaza refugee camp kills 17

Gaza’s civil defence agency on Tuesday said an Israeli strike killed at least 17 people at a refugee camp in the centre of the territory, as Israel’s military targets Hamas positions.

www.newagebd.net

Israeli strike in Gaza refugee camp kills 17
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 08 October, 2024, 22:35

AFP file photo

Gaza’s civil defence agency on Tuesday said an Israeli strike killed at least 17 people at a refugee camp in the centre of the territory, as Israel’s military targets Hamas positions.

‘The civil defence teams recovered 17 martyrs, including children, and several others who were wounded from the three-story home of the Abdul Hadi family, which was bombed by a missile from an (Israeli) warplane in Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza,’ agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said in a statement.

Bassal said the bodies of those killed and the wounded were taken to Al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat camp and to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the city of Deir el-Balah.

Medics at Al-Awda confirmed the toll.

Bassal earlier said that several air strikes rocked central and northern Gaza since the early hours of Tuesday.

Witnesses and rescuers also said Israeli military operations continued in Jabaliya, where troops launched a ground assault in recent days.

Over the past day, Israeli forces killed ‘approximately 20 terrorists’ in air strikes in Jabaliya, the military said in a statement, adding troops also dismantled a weapons storage facility in the area.

On Sunday, the military said troops had encircled Jabaliya in response to indications Hamas was regrouping there despite a year of strikes and fierce fighting.

In recent months, troops have returned to several areas across the Palestinian territory where they had previously conducted operations against Hamas, only to find militants rebuilding.

Many residents of Jabaliya fled from their homes or tents as Israeli warplanes bombarded the area.

Iman Abu Najm, 33, left her home as the latest Israeli attack began in Jabaliya. ‘The shelling was relentless, children were screaming, people were panicking in the streets, and gunfire was targeting houses and people,’ she told AFP, describing the chaos that unfolded during the air strikes.

She said many people were ‘trapped in their homes, unable to leave as intense gunfire continued’.

In a separate statement, the military announced it had killed three Hamas militants who had participated in the October 7 attack.

They were killed in an air strike on September 30 that struck a school in Daraj Tuffah area.​

 

[Saif]

বাংলাদেশের মিলিটারি একাডেমিতে কমিশন হলো ৭ ফিলিস্তিনি তরুণের (Seven Palestinians got commission from Bangladesh Military Academy)