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

[Saif]

Israel would let 150,000 Gazans return north in potential truce, officials say

Israel has agreed in Gaza war ceasefire talks in Egypt to concessions about the return of Palestinians to the north of the enclave, but believes Islamist group Hamas does not want to strike a deal, Israeli officials said on Wednesday. Two officials with knowledge of the talks said that under a US

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Israel would let 150,000 Gazans return north in potential truce, officials say
Published :
Apr 10, 2024 22:28
Updated :
Apr 10, 2024 22:28

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike as Palestinians fleeing north Gaza due to Israel's military offensive move southward, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at the central Gaza Strip on March 15, 2024 — Reuters/File

Israel has agreed in Gaza war ceasefire talks in Egypt to concessions about the return of Palestinians to the north of the enclave, but believes Islamist group Hamas does not want to strike a deal, Israeli officials said on Wednesday.

Two officials with knowledge of the talks said that under a US proposal for a truce, Israel would allow the return of 150,000 Palestinians to north Gaza with no security checks.

In return, they said, Hamas would be required to give a list of female, elderly and sick hostages it still holds alive.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined to comment. Hamas said on Tuesday that the latest proposal passed on by Eqyptian and Qatari mediators did not meet demands, but that it would study it further before responding.

Israel's assessment is that Hamas does not want to strike a deal yet, the two Israeli officials said.

In the seventh month of the war, Hamas wants an end to the Israeli military offensive, a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and permission for displaced Palestinians to return home.

Israel's immediate aim is to secure the release of hostages seized by Hamas in its Oct. 7 cross-border rampage.

It says it will not end the war until Hamas no longer controls Gaza or threatens Israel militarily.

More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli offensive began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with most of the 2.3 million population displaced and much of the enclave laid to waste.

Israel pulled back most ground forces from southern Gaza this week after months of fighting, but still says it plans to launch an assault on Rafah, on Gaza's southern border with Egypt, where more than half of Gazans are now sheltering.

Netanyahu has said civilians will be evacuated from Rafah before Israeli forces pursue Hamas' remaining battalions there, but that pledge has done little to calm international alarm.

The war began when Hamas led an attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage. Around 130 are still being held incommunicado in Gaza, Israel says.​

 

[Saif]

No liberal Jews live in Israel. Jews living in Israel are all extremists. I want Israel to be eradicated from Middle East because if Israel exists then they would gobble up the entire Middle East (including Mecca and Medina) with the help of the West. Israel is expansionist so needs to be eradicated from Middle East.

 

[Saif]

Bangladesh protesters want steps against Israel, justice for Palestine

Leaders of Palestine Solidarity Committee Bangladesh on Thursday urged the world community to be vocal and take steps against Israel to stop aggressions in Palestine and mass killings there....

www.newagebd.net

Bangladesh protesters want steps against Israel, justice for Palestine
Staff Correspondent | Published: 00:24, Apr 12,2024

This photo taken on April 11, 2024 shows that the Palestine Solidarity Committee Bangladesh forms a human chain in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka. The protesters urge the world community to be vocal and take steps against Israel to stop aggressions in Palestine and mass killings there. – Md Saurav.

Leaders of Palestine Solidarity Committee Bangladesh on Thursday urged the world community to be vocal and take steps against Israel to stop aggressions in Palestine and mass killings there.

Addressing a human chain in Dhaka, the Palestine Solidarity Committee Bangladesh, a combine of some left leaning political parties, urged the world community to expel Israel from the United Nations and ensure justice for Palestinians.

The organization formed the human chain in front of the National Press Club, where a member of the committee and central leader of Revolutionary Communist League, Harun Or Rashid, chaired.

Harun Or Rashid called on the world community to be vocal to stop Israeli aggression in Palestine and said that formation of a free state could be solution of the conflict.

Democratic Revolutionary Party general secretary Mushrefa Mishu said that Israeli army had killed several hundred unarmed Palestinians in recent conflict.

Coordinator of Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist), Masud Rana, said that Israel was getting patronization from imperialist American government.

Communist Party of Bangladesh central leader Abdullah Kafee Ratan, SPB central leader Khalequzzaman Lipon spoke at the human chain.​

 

[Saif]

Duplicitous US Policy on the Gaza massacre

THE incessant waves of the brutal and ruthless Israeli war, or rather the Palestinian massacre in the Gaza Strip, now in its sixth month, have finally reached Washington...

www.newagebd.net

Duplicitous US Policy on the Gaza massacre
Published: 00:00, Apr 09,2024

— New Eastern Outlook

Prominent Jewish American senator Chuck Schumer broke with long-standing tradition and delivered sharp criticism from the Senate floor against the Israeli government, taking Israel, as well as the political establishment in the US, by surprise when he called Netanyahu an 'obstacle to peace' in the Middle East, writes Viktor Mikhin

THE incessant waves of the brutal and ruthless Israeli war, or rather the Palestinian massacre in the Gaza Strip, now in its sixth month, have finally reached Washington. It happened in Congress in an event that took many by surprise and deepened the rift between the two major political parties. It is well known that the Congress has been one of Israel's main bulwarks for decades, providing political support for Israeli policy on many fronts. This includes the Arab-Israeli conflict, the creeping annexation of the occupied West Bank, and the illegal siege that successive Israeli governments have imposed on Gaza since 2007.

Chuck Schumer's speech on Netanyahu's policy

HOWEVER, on March 14, prominent Jewish American Senator Chuck Schumer (Democrat, New York), the Senate majority leader, broke with long-standing tradition and delivered a sharp criticism from the Senate floor against the Israeli government led by the country's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He apparently took Israel, as well as the political establishment in Washington and the US media, by surprise when he called Netanyahu an 'obstacle to peace' in the region, commenting on how Israel is conducting military operations in Gaza and blocking humanitarian aid to starving Palestinian civilians.

Schumer said Netanyahu 'has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel,' causing support for Israel around the world to plummet to historic lows. He also criticised Israel's ruling coalition government for the same reasons. 'The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7. The world has changed — radically — since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past,' he said, adding that after five months of war, 'it is clear that Israelis need to take stock of the situation and ask: Must we change course?' According to the US Senator, at this critical juncture, new elections are the only way to ensure a healthy and open decision-making process about Israel's future, while so many Israelis have lost confidence in the vision for the direction of their government.

It is rare that a US Senator, especially a Democrat from New York, has spoken so boldly and sharply about the Israeli government. And of course, the speech provoked a storm of indignation. Senator Mitch McConnell (Republican of Kentucky), the Senate minority leader, went on the offensive, attacking Schumer and expressing extreme prejudice and unfettered support for Israel. In his view, the main obstacles to peace are 'genocidal terrorists such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad,' as well as corrupt PA leaders who have repeatedly rejected the peace agreements of several Israeli governments.

It is interesting that according to the New York Times, Schumer called US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan the day before his speech to ask if achieving a temporary pause in military operations in Gaza, releasing hostages and allowing more humanitarian aid into Gaza would jeopardise ongoing negotiations. J. Sullivan, in his characteristic cowboy manner, replied that 'there would be no problem.' What is really going on in Gaza, the National Security Advisor can best learn from the world's media, which daily print heartbreaking reports of Palestinian old men, women and children dying of starvation.

No fundamental disagreement between Biden and Netanyahu

IN THE context of the palpable differences between US president Joe Biden and Netanyahu that have been building up over the past month, the position taken by the Senator from New York is not much different from that of the White House and Biden on how Israel is handling the war in Gaza and what will happen after the war comes to an end. This reflects some of the frustration the administration has had with Netanyahu's verbal rejection of the two-state solution. In fact, Biden and his administration are committed to preventing the creation of an independent Palestinian state, and therein they stand in solidarity with Israel's leadership.

Another fact confirming this position, i.e. the unconditional US support for Israel, is the statement of White House spokesman John Kirby on March 15. In particular, he indirectly conveyed an encouraging message to Israel, as well as to its supporters in Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, that the Biden administration is 'going to keep supporting Israel.' He said, 'We're going to keep urging them to reduce civilian casualties, and we're going to keep working to get a temporary ceasefire in place.'

However, no one has yet seen an American plan for a ceasefire in Gaza. Moreover, on the same day, news from Israel indicated that Netanyahu had approved plans to attack Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The US administration said it could not support such an attack in the absence of a 'credible and implementable' plan to save hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Rafah from danger. Although the Israelis said they had such a plan, on March 15 the same White House announced that it had not seen it. It is interesting to wonder what the US position will be when the Israeli army launches its offensive in Rafah and thousands of innocent civilians are killed as a result, in addition to the 31,000 Palestinians in Gaza who have already been killed and the more than 71,000 who have been wounded since last October. One should not expect much from the Biden administration. Perhaps there will be minor restrictions on arms exports to Israel, and perhaps the US will, as usual, abstain from voting on the draft resolution to be introduced in the UN Security Council calling for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza.

In his speech, Schumer said, and many Americans fully agree with him, that the world has changed 'radically' since last October. However, unwavering US support for Israel did not affect this change. The relationship between the US and Israel, on the one hand, and Arab countries, on the other, also does not reflect the changing world and the transformed regional scene in light of Israel's barbaric assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

While hosting Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar at the White House on March 15, Biden agreed with his Irish guest in Washington to celebrate St Patrick's Day on March 17. At the same time, the US president pompously declared that he wanted a quick ceasefire in Gaza to deliver food and medicine to the Strip and to free Israeli hostages. As the saying goes, it is hard to credit now, though fresh is its renown. The facts and life itself will show how sincere the administration and Biden himself are in wanting to achieve such a result in the coming months in a very difficult election cycle in the United States.

New Eastern Outlook, April 8. Viktor Mikhin, corresponding member of RANS and writes for the online magazine 'New Eastern Outlook'​

 

[Saif]

Norway ready to recognise Palestinian state

Norway is ready to recognise a Palestinian state together with other countries, its prime minister said on Friday. In November, Norway’s parliament adopted a proposal for the country to be prepared to recognise an independent Palestinian state...

www.newagebd.net

Norway ready to recognise Palestinian state
Agence France-Presse . Oslo, Norway | Published: 20:46, Apr 12,2024 | Updated: 21:01, Apr 12,2024

Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Stoere (R) and Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez address a press conference during a bilateral meeting in Oslo on Friday. —AFP photo

Norway is ready to recognise a Palestinian state together with other countries, its prime minister said on Friday while hosting Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez, who is seeking support for the cause.

Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Store told reporters that such a decision would need to be taken in close coordination with 'like-minded countries'.

'Norway stands ready to recognise the state of Palestine,' Store told a joint press conference with Sanchez.

'We have not set a firm timetable,' Store added.

In November, Norway's parliament adopted a government proposal for the country to be prepared to recognise an independent Palestinian state.

Norway also hosted Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at the beginning of the 1990s, which led to the Oslo Accords.

Sanchez is currently on a tour of Poland, Norway and Ireland this week to drum up support for the recognition of a Palestinian state, according to a Spanish government spokesperson.

On March 22, Spain issued a statement with Ireland, Malta and Slovenia on the sidelines of an EU leaders summit, saying they were 'ready to recognise Palestine' in a move that would happen when 'the circumstances are right'.

In the past week, Sanchez told reporters travelling with him on his Middle East tour that he hoped it would happen by the end of June.

Store on Friday said that he welcomed Sanchez's initiative to consult among countries to 'strengthen coordination'.

'We will intensify that coordination in the weeks to come,' Store said.

The Spanish leader has repeatedly angered Israel with his outspoken comments since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.

The war in the Gaza Strip erupted after Hamas's unprecedented attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel's offensive has killed at least 33,634 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.​

 

[Saif]

Israel’s ‘human shields’ lie

ONE aspect of the recent revelations about the IDF’s Lavender AI system that’s not getting enough consideration is the fact that it is completely devastating to the narrative that Israel has been...

www.newagebd.net

Israel's 'human shields' lie
Published: 00:00, Apr 08,2024

March on Washington for Gaza on Jan 13. — Consortium News/Diane Krauthamer

Israel is not being 'forced' to kill Palestinian children, it is knowingly doing so, writes Caitlin Johnstone

ONE aspect of the recent revelations about the IDF's Lavender AI system that's not getting enough consideration is the fact that it is completely devastating to the narrative that Israel has been killing so many civilians in Gaza because Hamas uses 'human shields.'

If you missed this story, a major report from +972 revealed that Israel has been using an AI system called Lavender to compile kill lists of suspected members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad which have been carried out with hardly any human verification.

One automated system, psychopathically named 'Where's Daddy?' tracks suspects to their homes so that they can be killed along with their entire families. The IDF has been knowingly killing 15 to 20 civilians at a time to kill one junior Hamas operative, and up to 100 civilians at a time to take out a senior official.

+972's Yuval Abraham writes the following:

'Moreover, the Israeli army systematically attacked the targeted individuals while they were in their homes — usually at night while their whole families were present — rather than during the course of military activity. According to the sources, this was because, from what they regarded as an intelligence standpoint, it was easier to locate the individuals in their private houses. Additional automated systems, including one called "Where's Daddy?" also revealed here for the first time, were used specifically to track the targeted individuals and carry out bombings when they had entered their family's residences.'

(Another +972 report by Abraham back in November revealed that IDF AI systems ensure that the Israeli military is fully aware of every child it's going to be killing in each airstrike, and that it deliberately targets civilian infrastructure as a matter of policy.)

When questioned about these systems by +972, the IDF spokesperson responded that:

'Hamas places its operatives and military assets in the heart of the civilian population, systematically uses the civilian population as human shields, and conducts fighting from within civilian structures, including sensitive sites such as hospitals, mosques, schools and UN facilities. The IDF is bound by and acts according to international law, directing its attacks only at military targets and military operatives.'

The 'human shields' narrative that's become so popular in Israel apologia insists that the reason the IDF kills so many civilians in its attacks on Gaza is because Hamas intentionally surrounds itself with non-combatants as a strategy to make the innocent Israelis reluctant to drop bombs on them.

But as the Intercept's Ryan Grim recently observed on Twitter, this is soundly refuted by the revelation that Israel has been intentionally waiting to target suspected Hamas members when it knows they'll be surrounded by civilians.

'Israel's argument that they kill so many civilians because Hamas uses "human shields" is torn apart by the revelation that the IDF prefers to attack its 'targets' when they are at home with their families,' tweeted Grim. 'It is not Hamas using human shields, it is Israel deliberately hunting families.'

'A human shield is only a shield if your enemy values human life and seeks to minimise civilian deaths', Grim adds. 'Israel deliberately maximizes the number of civilians it can kill by waiting until a target is with his entire family. Palestinians are not shields to Israel, they are all targets.'

This is such an important point. Advocates for Palestine like Abby Martin have for years been presenting compelling arguments against Israel's 'human shields' claims, and common sense shows that the presence of civilians is clearly not a deterrent to Israeli airstrikes, but because of these +972 revelations the lie has now been thoroughly, irrefutably debunked.

Civilians aren't getting killed because Hamas hides behind them, civilians are getting killed because the IDF waits until suspected Hamas members are around civilians to target them with high-powered military explosives.

A popular quote attributed to former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir says, 'Someday we may be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our children, but we will never forgive them for making us kill their children.'

You see this quote pop up all the time in varying iterations, shared approvingly by Israel apologists around the world as though it's something wise and brilliant instead of a horrific defence of murdering children. But it turns out this morally depraved quote isn't even true by the most generous of interpretations: Israel isn't being 'forced' to kill Palestinian children, it is knowingly choosing to.

The 'human shields' narrative is just one more instance in which Israel pretends to be the victim while actually being the victimizer.

They lied about beheaded babies so that they could get away with murdering babies. They lied about mass rapes so that they could get away with committing rape. They lied about Hamas using civilians as human shields so that they could kill civilians.

They lie about being victims so that they can victimise.

Consortiumnews.com, April 6. Caitlin Johnstone is a journalist, poet, and utopia prepper.​

 

[Saif]

Iran seizes huge cargo ship after threats to close Strait of Hormuz

Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, days after Tehran said it could close the crucial shipping route and warned it would retaliate for an Israeli strike on its Syria consulate

www.thedailystar.net

Iran seizes huge cargo ship after threats to close Strait of Hormuz
Iran must release ship 'immediately': US

An official slides down a rope during a helicopter raid on MSC Aries ship at sea in this screen grab obtained from a social media video released on April 13, 2024. Video obtained by Reuters/via REUTERS
Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, days after Tehran said it could close the crucial shipping route and warned it would retaliate for an Israeli strike on its Syria consulate.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that a Guards helicopter had boarded and taken into Iranian waters the Portuguese flagged MSC Aries, saying it was linked to Israel.

MSC, which operates the Aries, confirmed Iran had seized the ship and said it was working "with the relevant authorities" for its safe return and the wellbeing of its 25 crew.

MSC leases the Aries from Gortal Shipping, an affiliate of Zodiac Maritime, Zodiac said in a statement, adding that MSC is responsible for all the vessel's activities. Zodiac is partly owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.

Video on Iranian news channels purporting to show the seizure included a figure abseiling from a helicopter on to a ship. Reuters was able to verify that the ship in the video was the MSC Aries but not the date it was recorded.

The incident comes amid rising regional tensions since the start of Israel's campaign in Gaza in October, with Israel or its ally the United States clashing repeatedly with Iranian-aligned groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Iran has threatened to retaliate for suspected Israeli airstrikes on its consulate in Syria's capital Damascus on April 1 that killed seven Revolutionary Guards officers including two senior commanders.

The White House on Saturday called on Iran to immediately release a British-owned ship it seized near the Strait of Hormuz, as Middle East tensions soar and fears mount over a retaliatory attack on Israel.

"We call on Iran to release the vessel and its international crew immediately," said National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson. "Seizing a civilian vessel without provocation is a blatant violation of international law, and an act of piracy by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps."

US President Joe Biden said on Friday he expected Iran to attack Israel "sooner, rather than later" and warned Tehran not to do so.

Israel's military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said "Iran will bear consequences for choosing to escalate this situation any further", in response to reports of the seizure of MSC Aries.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Tehran of piracy.

ESCALATION

On Tuesday the naval head of the Revolutionary Guards, Alireza Tangsiri, said it could close the Strait of Hormuz, which lies between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, if deemed necessary.

He said Iran viewed as a threat Israel's presence in the UAE, with which Israel established diplomatic relations in 2020 as part of the "Abraham Accords" mediated by the United States.Analyst Hasan Alhasan of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said if the seizure of the MSC Aries was in retaliation for Israel's strike on Iran's Damascus consulate, it showed a desire to save face without a wider escalation.

"Iran may be trying to play on fears that it could obstruct shipping through the strait, a passageway of greater significance to global oil and gas supplies than the Red Sea," he said.

"If Iran were to limit itself to seizing commercial vessels linked to Israel then it would minimise the risk of an all-out conflict but damage its own credibility," he added.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi group has disrupted global trade with attacks on shipping in the Red Sea for months, saying it is aiming at vessels linked to Israel in retaliation for Israel's campaign in Gaza.

The United States and Britain have carried out strikes against Houthi targets in response to the attacks on shipping.

The Joint Maritime Information Center, run by a Western-led naval coalition, said vessels intending to navigate the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important energy routes, should exercise caution and not loiter.​

 

[Saif]

Not one has lived without water

BY NOVEMBER 2023, it was already clear that the Israeli government had begun to deny Palestinians in Gaza access to water...

www.newagebd.net

Not one has lived without water
Vijay Prashad | Published: 00:00, Apr 06,2024

— Dissident Voice

BY NOVEMBER 2023, it was already clear that the Israeli government had begun to deny Palestinians in Gaza access to water. 'Every hour that passes with Israel preventing the provision of safe drinking water in the Gaza strip, in brazen breach of international law, puts Gazans at risk of dying of thirst and diseases related to the lack of safe drinking water', said Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, UN special rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. 'Israel', he noted, 'must stop using water as a weapon of war'. Before Israel's most recent attack on Gaza, 97 percent of the water in Gaza's only coastal aquifer was already unsafe for human consumption based on World Health Organisation standards. Over the course of its many attacks, Israel has all but destroyed Gaza's water purification system and prevented the entry of materials and chemicals needed for repair.

In early October 2023, Israeli officials indicated that they would use their control over Gaza's water systems as a means to perpetrate a genocide. As Israeli Major General Ghassan Alian, the head of the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, said on 10 October, 'Human beasts are dealt with accordingly. Israel has imposed a total blockade on Gaza. No electricity, no water, just damage. You wanted hell, you will get hell'. On March 19, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Palestine Jamie McGoldrick noted that Gaza needed 'spare parts for water and sanitation systems' as well as 'chemicals to treat water', since the 'lack of these critical items is one of the key drivers of the malnutrition crisis'. 'Malnutrition crisis' is one way to talk about a famine.

The assault on Gaza — whose entire population is 'currently facing high levels of acute food insecurity', according to Oxfam and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification — has sharpened the contradictions that strike the world's people with force. A UN report released on World Water Day (March 22) shows that, as of 2022, 2.2 billion people have no access to safely managed drinking water, that four out of five people in rural areas lack basic drinking water, and that 3.5 billion people do not have sanitation systems. As a consequence, every day, over a thousand children under the age of five die from diseases linked to inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene. These children are among the 1.4 million people who die every year due to these deficiencies. The UN report notes that, since women and girls are the primary collectors of water, they spend more of their time finding water when water systems deteriorate due to inadequate or non-existent infrastructure or droughts exacerbated by climate change. This has resulted in higher dropout rates for girls in school.

A 2023 study by UN Women describes the perils of the water crisis for women and girls:

'Inequalities in access to safe drinking water and sanitation do not affect everyone equally. The greater need for privacy during menstruation, for example, means women and girls and other people who menstruate may access shared sanitation facilities less frequently than people who do not, which increases the likelihood of urinary and reproductive tract infections. Where safe and secure facilities are not available, choices to use facilities are often limited to dawn and dusk, which exposes at-risk groups to violence.'

The lack of access to public toilets is by itself a serious danger to women in cities across the world, such as Dhaka, Bangladesh, where there is one public toilet for every 200,000 people.

Access to drinking water is being further constricted by the climate catastrophe. For instance, a warming ocean means glacier melt, which lifts the sea levels and allows salt water to contaminate underground aquifers more easily. Meanwhile, with less snowfall, there is less water in reservoirs, which means less water to drink and use for agriculture. Already, as the UN Water report shows, we are seeing increased droughts that now impact at least 1.4 billion people directly.

According to the United Nations, half of the world's population experiences severe water scarcity for at least part of the year, while one quarter faces 'extremely high' levels of water stress. 'Climate change is projected to increase the frequency and severity of these phenomena, with acute risks for social stability', the UN notes. The issue of social stability is key, since droughts have been forcing tens of millions of people into flight and starvation.

Climate change is certainly a major driver of the water crisis, but so is the rules-based international order. Capitalist governments must not be allowed to point to an ahistorical notion of climate change as an excuse to shirk their responsibility in creating the water crisis. For instance, over the past several decades, governments across the world have neglected to upgrade wastewater treatment facilities. Consequently, 42% of household wastewater is not treated properly, which damages ecosystems and aquifers. Even more damning is the fact that only 11 per cent of domestic and industrial wastewater is being reused.

Increased investment in wastewater treatment would reduce the amount of pollution that enters water sources and allow for better harnessing of the freshwater available to us on the planet. There are several sensible policies that could be adopted to immediately address the water crisis, such as those proposed by UN Water to protect coastal mangroves and wetlands; harvest rainwater; reuse wastewater; and protect groundwater. But these are precisely the kinds of policies that are opposed by capitalist firms, whose profit line is improved by the destruction of nature.

In March 2018, we launched our second dossier, Cities Without Water. It is worthwhile to reflect on what we showed then, six years ago:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Technical Paper VI (IPCC, June 2008) is on climate change and water. The scientific consensus in this document is that the changes in weather patterns — induced by carbon-intensive capitalism — have a negative effect on the water cycle. Areas where there will be higher rainfall might not see more groundwater due to the velocity of the rain, which will create a rapid movement of water to the oceans. Such high velocity rainfall neither refills aquifers (natural water sources), nor does it allow water to be stored by humans. The scientists also predict higher rates of drought in regions such as the Mediterranean and Southern Africa. It is this technical report that put forward the number that over a billion people will suffer from water scarcity.

For the past decade, the United Nations Environmental Programme has warned about the growth of water-intensive lifestyles and of water pollution. Both of these — lifestyles and pollution — are consequences of the spread of capitalist social relations and capitalist productive mechanisms across the planet. In terms of lifestyle use, the average resident in the United States consumes between 300 and 600 litres of water per day. This is a misleading figure. It does not mean that individuals consume such high amounts of water. Much of this water is used by water-intensive agriculture and by water-intensive industrial production, including energy production. The World Health Organisation recommends per person usage of 20 litres of water per day for basic hygiene and food preparation. The gap between the two is not accidental. It is about a water-intensive lifestyle — use of washing machines and dishwashers, washing of cars and watering of gardens, as well as the use of water by factories and factory farms.

Water pollution is a serious problem. In Esquel, Argentina, the people saw that the contaminants from corporate gold mining were ruining their drinking water. 'Water is worth more than gold' (El agua vale más que el oro), they said. Ruthless techniques of extraction by mining corporations (by use of cyanide) and of cultivation by agribusiness (by use of fertilisers and pesticides) have ruined reservoirs of clean water. Their blue gold, say the people of Esquel, is more important than real gold. They held a public assembly in 2003 that asserted their right to their water against the interests of the private corporations.

It is worth pointing out that the amount of water it would take to support 4.7 billion people at the WHO daily minimum would be 9.5 billion litres — the exact amount used every day to water the world's golf courses. The water used by 60,000 villages in Thailand, for instance, is used to water one golf course in Thailand. These are the priorities of our current system.

In other words, watering golf courses is more important than providing piped water to the thousand children under the age of five who die every day due to water deprivation. Those are the values of the capitalist system.

DissidentVoice.org, April 4. Vijay Prashad, an Indian historian and journalist, is author of 25 books, including The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World and The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South.​

 

[Saif]

Israel presses on in Gaza as world awaits response to Iran attack

Israel struck war-battered Gaza overnight, Hamas and witnesses said on Monday, as world leaders urged de-escalation awaiting Israel’s reaction to Iran’s unprecedented attack that heightened...

www.newagebd.net

Israel presses on in Gaza as world awaits response to Iran attack
Agence France-Presse . Palestinian Territories 16 April, 2024, 00:19

People search through the rubble of a collapsed building in the eastern side of the Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on Monday amid the on-going conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas group. | AFP photo

Israel struck war-battered Gaza overnight, Hamas and witnesses said on Monday, as world leaders urged de-escalation awaiting Israel's reaction to Iran's unprecedented attack that heightened fears of wider conflict.

World powers have urged restraint after Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel late Saturday, though the Israeli military has said nearly all were intercepted.

Tehran's first direct assault on Israel, in retaliation for a deadly April 1 strike on its Damascus consulate, followed months of violence across the region involving Iranian proxies and allies who say they act in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with his war cabinet on Sunday, but no decision has been made on how or when Israel could respond to the Iran attack, local media said, reporting another meeting planned later on Monday.

Tensions in Iran 'weaken the regime and rather serve Israel', the newspaper Israel Hayom said, adding that this suggested Israeli leaders would not rush to retaliate.

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi has warned that a 'reckless' Israeli move would spark a 'much stronger response', while foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Monday that Western nations should 'appreciate Iran's restraint' in recent months.

Tehran has insisted the attack on Israel was an act of 'self-defence' after the Damascus strike that killed seven Revolutionary Guards including two generals.

The Israeli military said it would not be distracted from its war against Tehran-backed Hamas in Gaza, triggered by the Palestinian armed group's October 7 attack.

'Even while under attack from Iran, we have not lost sight of our critical mission in Gaza to rescue our hostages from the hands of Iran's proxy Hamas,' military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said late Sunday.

As mediators eye a deal to halt the fighting, fears persisted over Israeli plans to send ground troops into Rafah, a far-southern city where the majority of Gaza's 2.4 million people have taken refuge.

'Hamas is still holding our hostages in Gaza,' Hagari said of the roughly 130 people, including 34 presumed dead, who Israel says remain in the hands of Palestinian militants since the Hamas attack.

'We also have hostages in Rafah, and we will do everything we can to bring them back home,' the military spokesman told a briefing.

The army said it was calling up 'two reserve brigades for operational activities', about a week after withdrawing most ground troops from Gaza.

The Hamas government media office said Israeli aircraft and tanks launched 'dozens' of strikes overnight on central Gaza, reporting several casualties.

Witnesses said that strikes hit the Nuseirat refugee camp, with clashes also reported in other areas of central and northern Gaza.

Hamas's attack that sparked the fighting resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,729 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Sunday following the Iranian attack, where secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned the region was 'on the brink' of war.

'Neither the region nor the world can afford more war,' the UN chief said.

'Now is the time to defuse and de-escalate.'

G7 leaders also condemned Iran's attack and called for 'restraint' on all sides, European Council president Charles Michel wrote on X after a video conference on Sunday.

French president Emmanuel Macron said Monday his government would help do everything to avoid a 'conflagration' in the Middle East.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz said that after Israel's 'success' in intercepting the Iranian launches, 'our advice is to contribute to de-escalation'.

Israel's top ally the United States has also urged caution and calm.

'We don't want to see this escalate,' White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told NBC.

After the attack, US president Joe Biden reaffirmed the Washington's 'ironclad' support for Israel.

However a senior US official said Biden had also told Netanyahu that his administration would not offer military support for any retaliation on Iran.

Word of the impending attack prompted Israel to close schools and announce restrictions on public gatherings, with the army saying early Monday that those measures were being lifted for most of the country.

In Iran, airports in the capital and elsewhere reopened on Monday, state media said.

Fears of a wider regional conflict propelled stock markets lower on Monday.

More than six months of war have led to dire humanitarian conditions in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Rumours of a reopened Israeli checkpoint on the coastal road from the territory's south to Gaza City sent thousands of Palestinians heading north on Sunday, despite Israel denying it was open.

Attempting the journey back to northern Gaza, displaced resident Basma Salman said, 'even if it my house was destroyed, I want to go there. I couldn't stay in the south.'

'It's overcrowded. We couldn't even take a fresh breath of air there. It was completely terrible.'

In Khan Yunis, southern Gaza's main city, civil defence teams said they had retrieved at least 18 bodies from under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

Responding late Saturday to the latest truce plan presented by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, Hamas said it insists on 'a permanent ceasefire' and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Israel's Mossad spy agency called this a 'rejection' of the proposal, accusing Hamas of 'continuing to exploit the tension with Iran'.

But the United States said mediation efforts continue.

'We're not considering diplomacy dead there,' said the National Security Council's Kirby.

'There's a new deal on the table It is a good deal' that would see some hostages released, fighting halted and more humanitarian relief into Gaza, he said.​

 

[Saif]

UN to launch $2.8b global appeal for Gaza, West Bank

The United Nations on Wednesday will launch a $2.8 billion appeal for donations this year to help the war-ravaged population of the Gaza Strip as well as West Bank Palestinians

www.thedailystar.net

UN to launch $2.8b global appeal for Gaza, West Bank

Photo: AFP People walk amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis, on the southern Gaza Strip on April 16, 2024.

The United Nations on Wednesday will launch a $2.8 billion appeal for donations this year to help the war-ravaged population of the Gaza Strip as well as West Bank Palestinians, a senior agency official said.

The "flash appeal" addresses humanitarian funding needs through the end of 2024, according to Andrea De Domenico, head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Palestinian territories.

"With the entire humanitarian community we will appeal for $2.8 billion to support the three million people identified across the West Bank and Gaza," he said Tuesday in a video press conference.

"Of course 90 percent of it is for Gaza," De Domenico added.

He noted that "the original request was for $4 billion but considering the limited ability to deliver (aid) and the space that we have to do so we have really focused on the highest priority."

Days after the unprecedented Israeli offensive in Gaza on October 7, the United Nations launched an initial emergency appeal for $294 million.

That appeal was modified in early November and raised to $1.2 billion to meet the most urgent needs of 2.2 million people in Gaza and another 500,000 in the West Bank in 2023.

The United Nations has warned that thousands of Gazans face famine, particularly in the north of the territory where distribution of food and aid has been limited.​

 

[Saif]

Erdogan urges Palestinian unity after meeting Hamas chief

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Palestinians to unite amid Israel’s war in Gaza following hours-long talks with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in...

www.newagebd.net

Erdogan urges Palestinian unity after meeting Hamas chief
Agence France-Presse . Istanbul 21 April, 2024, 01:08

Relatives mourn during a funeral ceremony for Damian Sobol, a member of the US-based food charity World Central Kitchen, killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza, at the cemetery in his home town of Przemysl, Poland, on Saturday. | AFP photo

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Palestinians to unite amid Israel's war in Gaza following hours-long talks with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul on Saturday, his office said.

Erdogan has sought but failed to establish a foothold as a mediator in the Gaza conflict that has roiled the Middle East since October 7.

Tensions in the region are running high as the Hamas-run Palestinian territory braces for a new Israeli offensive and a reported Israeli attack on Iran.

Erdogan called on Palestinians to unite following the talks at the Dolmabahce palace, on the banks of the Bosphorus strait, that Turkish media reports said lasted more than two and a half hours.

'It is vital that Palestinians act with unity in this process. The strongest response to Israel and the path to victory lie in unity and integrity,' Erdogan said according to a Turkish presidency statement.

Hamas, designated a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and Israel, is a rival of the Fatah faction that rules the semi-autonomous Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.

As soaring tensions between Iran and Israel stoke fears of a wider regional war, Erdogan said recent events should not allow Israel to 'gain ground and that it is important to act in a way that keeps attention on Gaza'.

With Qatar saying it will reassess its role as a mediator between Hamas and Israel, Erdogan sent Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to Doha on Wednesday in a new sign that he wants a role.

'Even if only I, Tayyip Erdogan, remain, I will continue as long as God gives me my life, to defend the Palestinian struggle and to be the voice of the oppressed Palestinian people,' the president said Wednesday when he announced Haniyeh's visit.

Hamas has had an office in Turkey since 2011 when Turkey helped secure the agreement for the group to free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Erdogan has maintained links with Haniyeh, who has been a frequent visitor.

Fidan was a past head of Turkish intelligence and the country provided information and passports to Hamas officials, including Haniyeh, according to Sinan Ciddi, a Turkey specialist at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington. This has never been confirmed by Turkish authorities, however.

If Qatar withdraws from mediation efforts, Turkey could seek to increase its mediation profile based on its Hamas links.

Fidan on Saturday held talks with visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, with both men emphasising the need to deliver more humanitarian aid to devastated Gaza where the threat of famine looms.

Turkey is one of Gaza's main humanitarian aid partners, sending 45,000 tonnes of supplies and medicine in the region.

Israel has said it is preparing an offensive against the Gazan city of Rafah and the reported Israeli attack on the Iranian province of Isfahan, following Iran's direct attack on Israel, has only clouded hopes of a peace breakthrough.

But Erdogan can only expect a 'very limited' role because of his outspoken condemnation of Israel and its actions in Gaza, according to Ciddi.

Last year, the Turkish leader likened the tactics of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to those of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and called Israel a 'terrorist state' because of its offensive against Hamas after the militant group's October 7 attacks on Israel.

Ciddi said Erdogan would not be welcome in Israel and at most might be able to pass messages between Palestinian and Israel negotiators.

The unprecedented Hamas attacks that sparked the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Militants also took about 250 hostages. Israel estimates 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 34,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.​

 

[Saif]

Israel holds Palestinian economy captive: analysts

The Gaza offensive is speeding up Israel’s “annexation” of the Palestinian economy, say analysts, who argue it has been hobbled for decades by agreements that followed the Oslo peace accords.

www.thedailystar.net

Israel holds Palestinian economy captive: analysts

A Palestinian man waits for news of his daughter as rescue workers search for survivors under the rubble of a building hit in an overnight Israeli bombing in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday. Photo: AFP

The Gaza offensive is speeding up Israel's "annexation" of the Palestinian economy, say analysts, who argue it has been hobbled for decades by agreements that followed the Oslo peace accords.

While the Israel's offensive raging since October 7 has devastated swathes of Gaza, it has also hit the public finances and wider economy of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israel is tightening the noose on the Palestinian Authority, which rules parts of the West Bank, by withholding tax revenues it collects on its behalf, economist Adel Samara told AFP.

Palestinian livelihoods have also been hurt by bans on labourers crossing into Israel, and by a sharp downturn in tourism in the violence-plagued territory, including a quiet Christmas season in Bethlehem.

Samara said that "technically speaking, there is no Palestinian economy under Israeli occupation -- our economy has been effectively annexed by Israel's".

The Palestinian economy is largely governed by the 1994 Paris Protocol, which granted sole control over the territories' borders to Israel, and with it the right to collect import duties and value-added tax for the Palestinian Authority.

Israel has repeatedly leveraged this power to deprive the authority of much-needed revenues.

But the Gaza offensive has further tightened Israel's grip, Samara said, with the bulk of customs duties withheld.

"Without these funds, the Palestinian Authority struggles to pay the salaries of its civil servants and its running costs," said Taher al-Labadi, a researcher at the French Institute for the Near East.

In February, Norway reportedly transferred to the Palestinian Authority about $115 million from Israel following a deal to release some of the frozen taxes.

Almost all Palestinian workers have also been forbidden from entering Israel for work, driving up unemployment across the territories.

The Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa bemoaned an "unprecedented financial crisis" during which his government's deficit had soared to $7 billion, more than a third of the territories' GDP according to the latest budgetary figures.​

 

[Saif]

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/world/israeli-strikes-on-southern-gaza-city-of-rafah-kill-22-mostly-children

Israeli strikes on southern Gaza city of Rafah kill 22, mostly children
AP
Published :
Apr 21, 2024 20:07
Updated :
Apr 21, 2024 20:07

Palestinians look at damages following an Israeli raid at Nur Shams camp, in Tulkarm, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on April 21, 2024 — Reuters photo

Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight killed 22 people, including 18 children, health officials said Sunday, as the United States was on track to approve billions of dollars of additional military aid to its close ally.

Israel has carried out near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population of 2.3 million has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. It has also vowed to expand its ground offensive to the city on the border with Egypt despite international calls for restraint, including from the US.

The House of Representatives approved a $26 billion aid package on Saturday that includes around $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza.

The first strike killed a man, his wife and their 3-year-old child, according to the nearby Kuwaiti Hospital, which received the bodies. The woman was pregnant and the doctors managed to save the baby, the hospital said.

The second strike killed 17 children and two women, all from the same extended family, according to hospital records. First responders were still searching the rubble. An airstrike in Rafah the night before killed nine people, including six children.

Mohammed al-Beheiri said his daughter, Rasha, and her six children, ranging in age from 18 months to 16 years, were among those killed overnight and into Sunday. Her husband's second wife and their three children were still under the rubble, al-Beheiri said.

The Israel-Hamas war has killed over 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, devastated Gaza's two largest cities and left a swath of destruction across the territory. Around 80% of the population have fled their homes to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave, which experts say is on the brink of famine.

The conflict, now in its seventh month, has sparked regional unrest pitting Israel and the U.S. against Iran and allied militant groups across the Middle East. Israel and Iran traded fire directly earlier this month, raising fears of all-out war between the longtime foes.

Tensions have also spiked in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli troops killed two Palestinians who the military says attacked a checkpoint with a knife and a gun near the southern West Bank town of Hebron early Sunday. The Palestinian Health Ministry said the two killed were 18 and 19 years old, from the same family. No Israeli forces were wounded, the army said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service meanwhile said it has recovered a total of 14 bodies from an Israeli raid in the Nur Shams urban refugee camp in the West Bank that began late Thursday. Those killed include three militants from the Islamic Jihad group and a 15-year-old boy. The military says it killed 10 militants in the camp and arrested eight suspects. Nine Israeli soldiers and officers were wounded.

In a separate incident in the West Bank, an Israeli man was wounded in an explosion Sunday, the Magen David Adom rescue service said. A video circulating online shows a man approaching a Palestinian flag that had been planted in a field. When he kicks it, it appears to trigger an explosive device.

At least 469 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Most have been killed during Israeli military arrest raids, which often trigger gunbattles, or in violent protests.

The war in Gaza was sparked by an unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which Hamas and other militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

Thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to call for new elections to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a deal with Hamas to release the hostages. Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed and all the hostages are returned.

The war has killed at least 34,097 Palestinians and wounded another 76,980, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count but says at least two-thirds have been children and women. It also says the real toll is likely higher as many bodies are stuck beneath the rubble left by airstrikes or are in areas that are unreachable for medics.

Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militants fight in dense, residential neighborhoods, but the military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children. The military says it has killed over 13,000 Hamas fighters, without providing evidence.​

 

[Saif]

Hezbollah downs Israeli drone

Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Sunday it downed an Israeli drone that was on a combat mission in southern Lebanon.

www.thedailystar.net

Hezbollah downs Israeli drone

A wounded Palestinian woman is escorted to an ambulance before she is transported to hospital after an Israeli strike on al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip yesterday. Photo: AFP

Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Sunday it downed an Israeli drone that was on a combat mission in southern Lebanon.

The drone that was brought down above the Al Aishiyeh area in southern Lebanon was "waging its attacks on our steadfast people," a statement said by the group said.

Israeli forces and Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for over six months in parallel to the Gaza war, in the most serious hostilities since they fought a major war in 2006.

Hezbollah said the drone was an Israeli Hermes 450, a multi-payload drone made by Elbit Systems, an Israel-based weapons manufacturer. The fighting has fuelled concern about risk of further escalation.

At least 370 Lebanese, including more than 240 Hezbollah fighters and 68 civilians, have been killed in the fighting according to a Reuters tally. Eighteen Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed on the Israeli side of the border, according to Israeli tallies.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli military intelligence chief resigns as Gaza pounded

Israel’s military intelligence chief has resigned after taking responsibility for failures leading to the Hamas attack on October 7, the military said on Monday, as Israel carried out more shelling in war-battered Gaza overnight...

www.newagebd.net

Israeli military intelligence chief resigns as Gaza pounded
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 23 April, 2024, 00:26

Israel's military intelligence chief has resigned after taking responsibility for failures leading to the Hamas attack on October 7, the military said on Monday, as Israel carried out more shelling in war-battered Gaza overnight.

General Aharon Haliva is the first top Israeli official to step down for failing to prevent the Hamas attack, which triggered the war in Gaza and brought the government and military under intense scrutiny in Israel.

'The intelligence division under my command did not live up to the task we were entrusted with,' Haliva said in his resignation letter. 'I carry that black day with me ever since.'

Israel has meanwhile lashed out at reports that its top ally the United States was considering sanctioning the military's ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion over alleged human rights abuses in the West Bank from before the war.

'At a time when our soldiers are fighting the monsters of terror, the intention to impose a sanction on a unit in the IDF (army) is the height of absurdity and a moral low,' prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on X.

Netanyahu said late Sunday that the Israeli military would increase military pressure to 'deliver additional and painful blows' to Hamas in the coming days, without elaborating further.

The prime minister has repeatedly said Israel will launch a ground assault on Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah, despite international concern about the majority of the territory's population who have taken refuge there.

The promise of more military pressure came amid growing global opposition to Israel's offensive in Gaza, which has turned vasts areas of the territory into rubble and sparked a dire humanitarian crisis including fears of famine.

Gaza was hit by heavy shelling overnight, with strikes reported in several areas in the centre and south of the besieged territory, an AFP correspondent said on Monday.

Doctors at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in the Gaza city of Deir El Balah said that six people were wounded in an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza, while three more were injured by a separate strike on the Al-Bureij refugee camp.

Israel's allies including Washington have warned against sending troops into Rafah, fearing huge civilian casualties in the only major Gaza city yet to be invaded during the offensive.

More than 1.5 million of the 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza are estimated to have taken refuge in Rafah. However thousands are believed to have headed north since Israel withdrew most of its troops from Gaza earlier this month.

The Israeli army has said the city is Hamas's last major stronghold and that some of the hostages taken on October 7 were being held there.

This week, during the Jewish holiday of Passover which begins on Monday night, 'it will be 200 days of captivity for the hostages,' Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

'The chief of staff has approved the next steps for the war,' he added, without offering details.

At least 16 people, mostly children, were killed in Israeli strikes on two Rafah homes over the weekend, according to Gaza's civil defence agency.

Gaza's crossings and borders authority meanwhile said that 34 Palestinian detainees had been released from Israeli prison since Monday morning. Authority spokesman Hisham Adwan said some of the prisoners showed 'signs of torture'.

In the main southern city of Khan Yunis, Gaza's civil defence agency said on Sunday that its teams had discovered at least 50 bodies buried in the courtyard of a hospital previously raided by Israel.

Spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that the agency was 'waiting for all graves to be exhumed in order to give a final number' of bodies unearthed from the courtyard of the Nasser Medical Complex.

Israel's military said it was checking the reports.

In the occupied West Bank, where violence has surged since the Gaza war began, a funeral procession was held on Sunday for 13 Palestinians killed during an Israeli raid on the Nur Shams refugee camp.

The Israeli army said it had killed 10 militants in a three-day 'counterterrorism' raid on Nur Shams, but residents in the camp gave a different account.

Niaz Zandeq, 40, said his son Jehad was shot dead by an Israeli soldier on his 15th birthday.

Neighbours said troops told Jehad to leave his uncle's house.

'The minute he came out, they opened fire, hitting him directly in the head,' Zandeq said through tears. 'He was unarmed.'

The Israeli army has not responded to residents' allegations.

The army also said a suspect has been arrested over the death of Israeli teenager Benjamin Achimeir, whose disappearance sparked violent raids in the West Bank earlier this month.

In Jerusalem, two civilians received minor injuries in a car-ramming attack on Monday. Israeli police said they had arrested two suspects who fled the scene on foot.

Hamas's October 7 attack that triggered the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,151 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Israel estimates that 129 captives remain in Gaza, including 34 who the military says are dead.

Some relatives of the hostages have urged families celebrating Passover to leave an empty chair at their seder table with a picture of a hostage.

'How can we celebrate such a holiday while people are still without their freedom, still waiting to be liberated?' asked Mai Albini, whose grandfather Chaim Peri was taken hostage on October 7.​