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

[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.

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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.

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‘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.

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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.

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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

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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?”

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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.

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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.​