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

[Saif]

Israeli protesters step up push for Gaza truce deal

Israeli protesters chanting ‘we will not give up’ marched through Tel Aviv on Sunday, the second consecutive day of demonstrations in a stepped-up push for a deal to free...

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Israeli protesters step up push for Gaza truce deal
Agence France-Presse . Tel Aviv 08 July, 2024, 00:51

Women in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv take part in a demonstration for the release of hostages still held by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. | AFP photo

Israeli protesters chanting 'we will not give up' marched through Tel Aviv on Sunday, the second consecutive day of demonstrations in a stepped-up push for a deal to free hostages in Gaza.

A nationwide 'disruption day' began at 6:29 am, corresponding to the start of Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel that set off the war.

After nine months of fighting, Israel says 116 captives are still held by militants in Gaza, including 42 the military says are dead.

'Enough is enough,' said Orly Nativ, a 57-year-old social worker from Tel Aviv who joined the hundreds of flag-wielding demonstrators.

They stopped traffic at an intersection in Tel Aviv, calling for the government to secure a deal to free the hostages still held by Palestinian militants Hamas.

'The government doesn't care what the people think, and they don't do anything to bring back our sisters and brothers from Gaza and take care of us and take care of what happened after October 7th,' Nativ said.

Another demonstrator, Yoni Peleg, called it 'a last cry out for help from the entire country to help us end the war, help us get our people.'

In Jerusalem, police stepped up security around Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence before a planned rally there.

The night before, thousands of anti-government demonstrators blocked a highway in Tel Aviv. Some clashed with police on horseback before officers deployed water canon to force people from the road.

Protest organisers estimated around 176,000 people had by 9:00pm filled a Tel Aviv intersection which they call 'Democracy Square'. That would make it one of the biggest demonstrations since the war began.

Large protests, also demanding elections, have taken place across the Israeli city every Saturday night, with smaller ones thoughout the country to put pressure on Netanyahu's government to bring the hostages home.

The protests come as indirect truce negotiations between Israel and Hamas have regained momentum after months of failed diplomacy.

Netanyahu has consistently opposed any deal that allows Hamas to survive.

But pressure is mounting as families tire of arguing their loved ones' lives are worth more than declaring victory over Hamas.

'For the first time in many months, we feel there is a spark of hope,' Sachar Mor, a relative of hostage Ofer Kalderon, said at a separate rally held by the hostage families on Saturday night.

'This is an opportunity that cannot be missed.'

The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Of the 251 hostages seized by militants on that day, Israeli forces have rescued seven of them alive, and 80 Israelis were freed during the war's only truce, which lasted one week in November.

In response to the October 7 attack, Israel's military offensive has killed at least 38,153 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.​

 

[Saif]

Stranded aid trucks deepen Gaza hunger crisis

Hundreds of trucks loaded with food and water have been stranded on a scorching Egyptian road, some for nearly two months, awaiting permission to deliver the much needed humanitarian supplies to Gaza.

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Stranded aid trucks deepen Gaza hunger crisis

Hundreds of trucks loaded with food and water have been stranded on a scorching Egyptian road, some for nearly two months, awaiting permission to deliver the much needed humanitarian supplies to Gaza.

About 50 kilometres from the Gaza border, trucks carrying flour, water and other aid line a dusty road in both directions. The drivers say they have been waiting for several weeks in the searing Egyptian summer heat.

The standstill is exacerbating Gaza's dire humanitarian crisis after nine months of offensive. Aid groups warn there is a high risk of famine across the besieged coastal territory.

The truck drivers, parked on the outskirts of the Egyptian city of al-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula, say they have been unable to deliver humanitarian supplies ever since Israel expanded its offensive on the Gaza-Egypt border in May. Some food has had to be discarded, they said.

"I swear to God, before this load, we came here and stood for more than 50 days and eventually the load was returned because it had expired," said truck driver Elsayed el-Nabawi. Israeli military started its assault on the southern Gazan city of Rafah in May.​

 

[Saif]

Famine has spread throughout Gaza

The recent deaths of several more children from malnutrition in the Gaza Strip indicate that famine has spread throughout the enclave, a group of independent human rights experts mandated by the United Nations said yesterday.

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Famine has spread throughout Gaza
Say UN experts after recent deaths of several more children from malnutrition

Palestinians collect water from a Unicef tanker in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip yesterday. Israel pushed on with a major military offensive in Gaza City that the UN said has once again displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians. Photo: REUTERS

The recent deaths of several more children from malnutrition in the Gaza Strip indicate that famine has spread throughout the enclave, a group of independent human rights experts mandated by the United Nations said yesterday.

Gaza health authorities say at least 33 children have died of malnutrition, mostly in northern areas which had until recently faced the brunt of the Israeli military campaign.

Since early May, the offensive has spread to southern Gaza, hitting aid flows into the enclave amid restrictions by Israel, which has accused UN agencies of failing to distribute supplies efficiently.

In yesterday's statement, the group of 11 rights experts cited the deaths of three children aged 13, 9-years-old and six months from malnutrition in the southern area of Khan Younis and the central area of Deir Al-Balah since the end of May.


"With the death of these children from starvation despite medical treatment in central Gaza, there is no doubt that famine has spread from northern Gaza into central and southern Gaza," the experts said.

Their statement, signed by experts including the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, condemned "Israel's intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people".

Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva said the statement amounted to "misinformation".

"Israel has continuously scaled up its coordination and assistance in the delivery of humanitarian aid across the Gaza Strip, recently connecting its power line to the Gaza water desalination plant," it added.​

 

[Saif]

Israel continues onslaught on eve of new truce talks

Israeli forces in war-ravaged Gaza City pushed on with a major offensive on Tuesday that has again displaced Palestinians, as UN experts said children were dying in a ‘starvation campaign’...

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Israel continues onslaught on eve of new truce talks
Agence France-Presse . Palestine 09 July, 2024, 23:37

Israeli forces in war-ravaged Gaza City pushed on with a major offensive on Tuesday that has again displaced Palestinians, as UN experts said children were dying in a 'starvation campaign'.

Troops, tanks and fighter jets swooped on Gaza's biggest urban area on the eve of new contacts in Qatar aiming for an eventual hostage-prisoner exchange and a truce in the war raging into its 10th month.

CIA director William Burns and Israel's Mossad chief David Barnea are due to travel to Qatar on Wednesday, after Burns held talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo.

Hamas has accused Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of deliberately escalating fighting in Gaza City and Rafah, in the territory's south, to thwart an agreement.

The Islamist group's Qatar-based political chief Ismail Haniyeh said he had made 'urgent contact' with mediators, warning that the 'catastrophic consequences' of the latest battles could 'reset the negotiation process to square one'.

Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, described the fighting in Gaza City in recent days as 'the most intense in months'.

Militants were fighting with rockets, mortars and explosives, it said.

After almost two weeks of battles in Gaza City's eastern Shujaiya district, Israeli forces have extended the fighting into the city's east, west and south.

Residents reported helicopter strikes, 'explosions and numerous gun battles' in the city's southwest.

The United Nations said tens of thousands of civilians have been affected by the surge in fighting since the first of three evacuation orders for Gaza City was declared on June 27.

Thousands were seen marching down dusty roads past bombed-out buildings, with mothers carrying babies and others packing belongings onto donkey carts.

The UN Human Rights Office said it was 'appalled' at the way civilians, many of whom have been displaced multiple times, have been ordered to head to areas where 'military operations are ongoing and where civilians continue to be killed and injured'.

Gaza City residents have now been told to move south to Deir al-Balah, which the UN office said 'is already seriously overcrowded' with displaced Palestinians.

Separately, independent UN rights experts accused Israel of carrying out a 'targeted starvation campaign' that has resulted in the deaths of Gazan children.

'Israel's intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence,' the experts said in a statement.

'Thirty-four Palestinians have died from malnutrition since October 7, the majority being children,' said the experts, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations.

Israeli military offensive has killed at least 38,243 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

The toll includes at least 50 killed over the past 24 hours, said a ministry statement on Tuesday.

Qatar and Egypt, supported by the United States, have been engaged in months of behind-the-scenes contacts to start truce talks and organise an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Hamas has signalled that it would drop its insistence on a 'complete' ceasefire — which Israel had repeatedly rejected — as a condition for starting talks.

Netanyahu's has set out conditions for talks, including that 'any deal will allow Israel to return and fight until all the goals of the war are achieved', including the destruction of Hamas.

As the Gaza war has raged on, Israel has also exchanged regular cross-border fire with Lebanon's Hezbollah, allies of Hamas, heightening fears of an all-out war.

Hezbollah on Tuesday released a video showing aerial surveillance footage it said was taken over intelligence and military positions in the Israeli-annexed Syrian Golan Heights.

The Lebanese government has supported the implementation of Resolution 1701, which called for armed personnel to pull back north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border with Israel.​

 

[Saif]

Israel orders Gaza evacuation after 29 killed at schools

Israel’s army dropped thousands of leaflets over war-torn Gaza City on Wednesday urging all residents to flee a heavy offensive through the main city of the besieged Palestinian territory...

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Israel orders Gaza evacuation after 29 killed at schools
Agence France-Presse . Palestine 11 July, 2024, 01:18

Israel's army dropped thousands of leaflets over war-torn Gaza City on Wednesday urging all residents to flee a heavy offensive through the main city of the besieged Palestinian territory.

The leaflets, addressed to 'everyone in Gaza City', set out designated escape routes and warned that the urban area, which had a pre-war population of over half a million, would 'remain a dangerous combat zone'.

Across Gaza, deadly strikes have hit four schools in four days, sparking rebukes from France and Germany which both labelled the attacks 'unacceptable'.

'We call for these strikes to be fully investigated,' said the French foreign ministry, highlighting a deadly strike on Tuesday on a school near the southern city of Khan Yunis.

'It is unacceptable that schools, especially those housing civilians displaced by the fighting, should be targeted.'

A deadly strike hit a school turned shelter in southern Gaza on Tuesday as Israeli forces in the war-ravaged territory's main city pushed on with a major offensive that has again displaced Palestinians.

A hospital source in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza said at least 29 people were killed when the school was hit in nearby Abasan.

Three previous Israeli strikes since Saturday on schools across Gaza used by displaced Palestinians have killed a total of at least 20 people, according to officials and rescuers.​