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

[Saif]

‘Humanity must prevail’

The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza entered its 12 month yesterday with little sign of respite for the people of the Palestinian territory or hope for Israeli hostages still held captive.

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‘Humanity must prevail’

An injured Palestinian man takes part in a namaz-e-janaza over the bodies of his family members who were the victims of Israeli bombardment in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip yesterday. Photo: AFP

The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza entered its 12 month yesterday with little sign of respite for the people of the Palestinian territory or hope for Israeli hostages still held captive.

The chances of a truce that would also free hostages held by Hamas in exchange for prisoners held by Israel appear slim, with both sides sticking doggedly to their positions.
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• UN warns of "permanent damage" as Gaza children miss schooling for the second year​
• US, UK spy chiefs issue a joint call for a ceasefire​
• Israeli attacks kill 61 in Gaza in 48 hours​

Hamas is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that troops must remain on a key strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have all been mediating in an effort to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict that authorities in the Gaza say has killed at least 40,939 people.

According to the United Nations human rights office, most of the dead are women and children.

Israel's announcement last Sunday that the bodies of six hostages including a US-Israeli citizen had been recovered shortly after being killed sparked grief and anger in Israel.

Marking the anniversary, UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) chief Philippe Lazzarini posted on X yesterday: "Eleven months. Enough. No one can take this any longer. Humanity must prevail. Ceasefire now."

Meanwhile, the heads of the American and British foreign intelligence agencies yesterday said they are "working ceaselessly" for a cease-fire in Gaza, using a rare joint public statement to press for peace.

CIA Director William Burns and MI6 Chief Richard Moore said their agencies had "exploited our intelligence channels to push hard for restraint and de-escalation."

In an opinion piece for the Financial Times, the two spymasters said a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war "could end the suffering and appalling loss of life of Palestinian civilians and bring home the hostages after 11 months of hellish confinement."

International pressure to end the war was further underlined by Friday's shooting dead in the West Bank of a Turkish-American activist demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the occupied territory.

The family of 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi has demanded an independent investigation into her death, saying yesterday her life "was taken needlessly, unlawfully, and violently by the Israeli military".

The UN rights office said Israeli forces killed Eygi with a "shot in the head".

Ankara said she was killed by "Israeli occupation soldiers", and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the Israeli action as "barbaric".

Washington called her death "tragic", and has pressed its close ally Israel to investigate.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank -- where about 490,000 people live -- are illegal under international law.

Since Hamas's October 7 attack, Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 662 Palestinians in the West Bank which Israel occupied in 1967, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Eygi's death came on the day Israeli forces withdrew from a deadly 10-day raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, where AFP journalists reported residents returning home to widespread destruction.

AFP reporters said several air strikes and shelling rocked gaza overnight and early yesterday.

At least 61 Palestinians have been killed and 162 were injured in the Gaza Strip in the past 48 hours, Palestinian Ministry of Health in the enclave said in the afternoon.

However, Al Jazeera later reported that a total of 24 people were killed in Israeli attacks since the early hours, up from the 18 we reported earlier.

As Gaza enters its second school year without schooling, most of its children are caught up helping their families in the daily struggle to survive amid Israel's devastating campaign.

Children trod barefoot on the dirt roads to carry water in plastic jerricans from distribution points to their families living in tent cities teeming with Palestinians driven from their homes. Others wait at charity kitchens with containers to bring back food.

Humanitarian workers say the extended deprivation of education threatens long-term damage to Gaza's children. Younger children suffer in their cognitive, social and emotional development, and older children are at greater risk of being pulled into work or early marriage, said Tess Ingram, regional spokesperson for UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children.

The longer a child is out of school, the more they are at risk of dropping out permanently and not returning," she said.

Gaza's 625,000 school-age children already missed out on almost an entire year of education. More than 90 percent of Gaza's school buildings have been damaged by Israeli bombardment, many of them run by UNWRA, the UN agency for Palestinians, according to the Global Education Cluster, a grouping of aid organizations led by UNICEF and Save the Children. About 85 percent are so wrecked they need major reconstruction — meaning it could take years before they are usable again. Gaza's universities are also in ruins. Israel contends that Hamas militants operate out of schools.

Some 1.9 million of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes. They have crowded into the sprawling tent camps that lack water or sanitation systems, or UN and government schools now serving as shelters.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza: where sickness can be ‘death sentence’

In Gaza, falling ill can be a death sentence. Cancer patients are waiting to die, polio has returned, and many of the doctors and nurses who might have offered help are dead while the hospitals they worked at have been reduced to rubble.

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Gaza: where sickness can be ‘death sentence’

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• More than 41,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza; 92,000 wounded​
• At least 490 healthcare workers, including 55 specialist doctors, are among those killed​
• Almost all of Gaza's health facility destroyed​
• More than 90pc of children under 5-years-old suffer from infectious diseases​

In Gaza, falling ill can be a death sentence. Cancer patients are waiting to die, polio has returned, and many of the doctors and nurses who might have offered help are dead while the hospitals they worked at have been reduced to rubble.

Doctors and health professionals say that even if the Israel-Hamas war were to stop tomorrow, it will take years to rebuild the healthcare sector and people will continue to die because preventable diseases are not being treated on time.

"People are dying on a daily basis because they cannot get the basic treatment they need," said Riham Jafari, advocacy and communications coordinator at rights group ActionAid Palestine.

Cancer patients "are waiting for their turn to die," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Last week, Israel and Hamas agreed on limited pauses in the fighting to allow children to be vaccinated against polio after a one-year-old baby boy was found to be partially paralysed from the disease, the first case in the crowded strip in 25 years.

But even as crowds gathered in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis for vaccinations on Sept. 5, bombs continued to fall in other areas with Gaza health officials saying an Israeli strike killed five people at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah.

"It will take long and so much effort in order to restore the level of care that we used to have in Gaza," said Mohammed Aghaalkurdi, medical programme lead at Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Every day he sees around 180 children with skin diseases that he "just cannot treat," he said.

"Due to vaccination campaign interruptions, lack of supplies, lack of hygiene items and infection prevention control material, it (healthcare) is just deteriorating."

Since October 7 last year, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's offensive in the enclave, according to the Gaza health ministry, with around 92,000 wounded.

But beyond the death toll from the fighting and airstrikes, people are also succumbing to illnesses that could be cured in normal circumstances.

As with the re-emergence of polio, children will bear the brunt of these long-term consequences, health experts say.

"We are talking about disabilities, we are talking about intellectual disabilities, mental health issues," said Aghaalkurdi.

"Things that will stick to the child until they die."

At least 490 healthcare workers have been killed since the conflict erupted, according to Gaza's health ministry. A Reuters investigation found that 55 highly qualified specialist doctors were among those killed.

With each specialist killed, Gaza has lost a source of knowledge and human connections, a devastating blow on top of the destruction of most of the Strip's hospitals.

Many people have become weak from a lack of food, as prices of basic commodities have more than quadrupled since the conflict began. When they become ill, they are also too frightened to journey to the few remaining hospitals, Jafari said.

Eighty-two percent of children aged between 6 and 23 months have limited access to quality food, according to a report by the Global Network Against Food Crises, and more than 90% of children under 5-years-old suffer from infectious diseases.

Meanwhile, skin diseases are rampant because of a lack of cleaning supplies and hygiene products, Jafari said. In markets, a bottle of shampoo can cost around $50.

Israel has severely restricted the flow of food and aid into Gaza, and humanitarian agencies have warned of the risk of famine.

Waseem Alzaanin, a general practictioner with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, said the lack of drugs, equipment and medical facilities is killing his cancer patients.

Gaza's only cancer centre was destroyed earlier this year, he said, and many of his stage-one cancer patients are now classified as stage-four.

"The most basic requirements are not present. We cannot do anything except give them painkillers and make them comfortable with what life they have left," he said.

"It is like a death sentence," he added. "Let us not kid ourselves. We have no medical system."​

 

[Saif]

Quarter of Gaza wounded have life-changing injuries: WHO

The World Health Organisation said on Thursday that at least a quarter of those hurt in the war raging in Gaza have suffered ‘life-changing injuries’, many requiring amputations and other...

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Quarter of Gaza wounded have life-changing injuries: WHO
Agence France-Presse . Geneva 12 September, 2024, 22:01

The World Health Organisation said on Thursday that at least a quarter of those hurt in the war raging in Gaza have suffered ‘life-changing injuries’, many requiring amputations and other ‘huge’ rehabilitation needs.

At least 22,500 of the people injured in Gaza in the 11 months since the war erupted will ‘requires rehabilitation services now and for years to come’, the WHO said in a statement.

‘The huge surge in rehabilitation needs occurs in parallel with the on-going decimation of the health system,’ Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative for the Palestinian territories, said in a statement.

According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 41,118 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive following the October 7 attack by Hamas militants, while over 95,000 have been wounded.

The Hamas attack inside Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which also includes hostages killed in captivity.

Pointing to a fresh analysis of the types of injuries resulting from the conflict, the UN health agency said ‘many thousands of women and children’ figured among those badly injured and that many had suffered more than one injury.

It estimated there had overall been between 13,455 and 17,550 ‘severe limb injuries’, which it said were the main driver of the need for rehabilitation.

The report showed that between 3,105 and 4,050 limb amputations had occurred.

Other life-altering injuries including spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and major burn injuries, it said.

At the same time, WHO said only 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are currently even partially functional, while primary health care services are frequently suspended or inaccessible due to insecurity, attacks and repeated evacuation orders.

Gaza’s only limb reconstruction and rehabilitation centre, located in Nasser Medical Complex and supported by WHO ceased functioning last December due to lack of supplies and specialised health workers.

‘Tragically, much of the rehabilitation workforce in Gaza is now displaced,’ the statement said.

Peeperkorn said that ‘patients can’t get the care they need’.

‘Acute rehabilitation services are severely disrupted and specialised care for complex injuries is not available, placing patients’ lives at risk,’ he said.

‘Immediate and long-term support is urgently needed to address the enormous rehabilitation needs.’​

 

[Saif]

US must intervene to stop Gaza carnage

Says ‘helpless’ UN chief as 16 more die in the Palestinian enclave

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US must intervene to stop Gaza carnage
Says ‘helpless’ UN chief as 16 more die in the Palestinian enclave

Reuters file photo

UN chief Antonio Guterres, in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, said that the US must put more pressure on Israel to end its war on Gaza as the violence on the ground raged on today.

The message conveyed by Guterres to the US in the interview with Al Jazeera is that it must intervene, Tamer Qarmout, professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said.

Guterres said the US being "the only superpower that is enabling Israel to continue its war through funding weapons, arms and providing diplomatic protection", he said.

"The message is loud and clear: the US has to intervene", Qarmout quoted the UN chief as saying. "The US administration has been enabling this war to continue for too long."

However, Guterres acknowledged that the demand is very unlikely to be heard.

"I know the American political life sufficiently to know that will not happen," Guterres said.

The UN chief said it is, however, important to keep pressuring the US and make it clear that "the two-state solution must not be undermined".

Meanwhile, medical sources in Gaza yesterday confirmed at least 16 Palestinians' death in Israeli attacks since the early hours of the morning.

This number includes five members of the same family who, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence, were killed in an attack on al-Mawasi in south Gaza this morning. It said two children were among those killed.

Meanwhile, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus today reiterated his "call for a ceasefire, which is critical for rebuilding the health system to cope with escalating needs" in Gaza.

He said on X: "Amid the ongoing hostilities, it is critical to ensure access to all essential health services, including rehabilitation to prevent illness and death."

In the Al-Jazeera interview, Guterres laid bare his helplessness in stopping the war.

"I have no power to stop the war. We have a voice, and that voice has been loud and clear to say from the beginning this war must stop. The suffering of the Palestinian people must stop and the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people must be recognised."

Accusing the Security Council of "systematic failure" in ending the most dramatic conflicts that we face today, the UN chief said, "The geopolitical divide that exists among the major powers has created a situation in which any country or any movement anywhere in the world feels that they can do whatever they want because there will be no punishment."

"We must absolutely reject any prospective annexation of West Bank or the land grabbing or the illegal settlements that move on. The West Bank together with Gaza and East Jerusalem, which is part of the West Bank, must be the state of Palestine in the future," he added.

Meanwhile, one of two US aircraft carrier strike groups deployed to the Middle East in part to deter Iran from carrying out a threatened attack against Israel has departed the region, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

The decision to end the dual-carrier presence came nearly three weeks after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group to remain in the Middle East, even after the arrival of the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to replace it.

The Roosevelt has now departed the Middle East and is headed to the Asia-Pacific region, Major General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, told a news briefing.

In West Bank, the families of Palestinians killed in an air strike in the occupied West Bank city of Tubas held funerals today after Israeli forces withdrew following their latest raid in the territory.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Wednesday that its forces were engaged in a "counter-terrorism operation" in the area of Tubas, in the northern West Bank.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said the military withdrew Thursday evening, allowing the funerals to go ahead.

The four men buried in Tubas today were killed in an air strike at dawn on Wednesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.

A fifth fatality from the same strike was buried on Friday in Tamoun, also in the northern West Bank.

Since the Israeli offensive in Gaza began on October, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces. It also wounded more than 92,000 people.

According to the Palestinian health ministry, at least 679 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by the Israeli military or settlers since October 7.​

 

[Saif]

Deadly Israeli strike on Gaza school draws global condemnation

Israel faced international condemnation Thursday after a strike killed 18 people at a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians in war-torn Gaza, where the Israeli military said it targeted Hamas militants

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Deadly Israeli strike on Gaza school draws global condemnation
AFP Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories
Published: 13 Sep 2024, 09: 57

Palestinians search in the rubble for survivors at the site of an Israeli strike in the Shejaiya suburb east of Gaza City on 12 September, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian militants AFP

Israel faced international condemnation Thursday after a strike killed 18 people at a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians in war-torn Gaza, where the Israeli military said it targeted Hamas militants.

The attack flattened part of the UN-run Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat on Wednesday, leaving only a charred heap of rebar and concrete.

"For the fifth time, Israeli forces bombed the UNRWA-run Al-Jawni School, killing 18 citizens," Gaza civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal wrote on Telegram, referring to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

UNRWA later said six of its staff had been killed in two Israeli strikes on the school and its surroundings, calling it the highest death toll among its team in a single incident.

"Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people," it said on X. "Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target."

UN chief Antonio Guterres branded the strike "totally unacceptable". His spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that women and children were also among the 18 dead.

The Israeli military said it had conducted a "precise strike" on Hamas militants within the school grounds. It did not elaborate on the outcome, but said "numerous steps" were taken to reduce the risk to civilians.

EU outrage

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was "outraged" by the deaths and that the strikes showed a "disregard of the basic principles" of international humanitarian law.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: "We need to see humanitarian sites protected, and that's something that we continue to raise with Israel".

Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said UNRWA had not provided the names of its killed workers, "despite repeated requests".

He said a military inquiry found that "a significant number of the names (of the dead) that have appeared in the media and on social networks are Hamas terrorist operatives".

In response, UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma said the agency was "not aware of any such requests", that it provided Israel each year with a list of its staff and that it "called repeatedly" on Israel and Palestinian militants "to never use civilian facilities for military or fighting purposes".

She said the agency was "not in a position to determine" if the school had been used by Hamas for military purposes, but UNRWA had "repeatedly called for independent investigations" into "these very serious claims".

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said the school was "no longer a school" and had become "a legitimate target" because it was used by Hamas to launch attacks.

UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid into Gaza, has been in crisis since Israel accused a dozen of its 30,000 employees of being involved in the 7-October attacks that sparked the war.

The UN immediately fired the implicated staff members, and a probe found some "neutrality related issues" but stressed Israel had not provided evidence for its main allegations.

'Going through hell'

Survivors of the strike scrambled to recover bodies and belongings from the rubble, saying they had to step over "shredded limbs".

"I can hardly stand up," a man holding a plastic bag of human remains told AFP.

"We've been going through hell for 340 days now," he said.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said after the school strike that at least 220 members of the agency's staff had been killed in the war.

"Humanitarian staff, premises & operations have been blatantly & unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war", he said on X.

Across Gaza, many school buildings have been repurposed to shelter displaced families, with the vast majority of the territory's 2.4 million people repeatedly uprooted by the war.

A UN report published Thursday found that Gaza's economy was now less than one-sixth of the size it had been in 2022.

"It will take decades to bring Gaza back to where it was in October 2023",

UN Trade and Development economist Mutasim Elagraa warned: "It will take decades to bring Gaza back to where it was in October 2023."

No truce breakthrough

In Gaza City, civil defence spokesman Bassal said two children were among seven people killed in two strikes in the Zeitun neighbourhood, while two people were killed in the Jabalia camp.

Medical sources said five people were killed in strikes in the southern province of Khan Yunis.

The bloodshed shows no signs of abating despite months of ceasefire negotiations mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States.

A Hamas delegation met Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Doha on Wednesday, the Palestinian Islamists said, though there was no indication of a breakthrough.

Hamas's 7-October attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. The count includes hostages killed in captivity.

On Thursday, the Israeli military said that the head of the elite Unit 8200, responsible for signals intelligence, Brigadier General Yossi Sariel, would resign over the failure to prevent the attack.

Israel's retaliation has killed at least 41,118 people in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. The UN human rights office says most of the dead have been women or children.​

 

[Saif]

Missile from Yemen hits central Israel

The Iran-aligned Houthis who control northern Yemen yesterday hit central Israel with a missile for the first time and promised more strikes to come in solidarity with the Palestinians.

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Missile from Yemen hits central Israel
Houthis promise more strikes; 24 more Palestinians killed as Israel pounds Gaza

Palestinians mourn over the bodies of five members of Alborno family at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City yesterday, after they were killed in Israeli bombardment of Zeitoun neighbourhood. Photo: AFP

The Iran-aligned Houthis who control northern Yemen yesterday hit central Israel with a missile for the first time and promised more strikes to come in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group struck with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that travelled 2,040 km in just 11 1/2 minutes. Israel's military said the missile fell in an open area and nobody was hurt.

Air raid sirens had sounded in Tel Aviv and across central Israel moments before the missile landed at around 6:35 am local time, sending residents running for shelter. Loud booms were heard, which the military said came from missile interceptors.
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• Hamas vows Israel 'will not enjoy security'​
• 40 projectiles were fired towards Israel from Lebanon​
• Gaza death toll rises to 41,206​

"Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in central Israel, a surface-to-surface missile was identified crossing into central Israel from the east and fell in an open area. No injuries were reported," the Israeli military said.

Reuters saw smoke billowing in an open field in central Israel, though it was not immediately possible to determine if the fire was caused by the missile or interceptor debris.

The Houthis have fired missiles at Israel repeatedly in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians, since the Gaza offensive began with a Hamas attack on Israel in October.

Previously, Houthi missiles have not penetrated deep into Israeli air space, with the only one reported to have hit Israeli territory falling in an open area near the Red Sea port of Eilat in March.

Hamas yesterday vowed that Israel "will not enjoy security" unless it ends its offensive in Gaza.

Apart from missiles, the Houthis have also attacked Israel with drones, including one that hit Tel Aviv for the first time in July, killing a man and wounding four people. That attack prompted Israeli air strikes on Houthi military targets near the port of Hodeidah that killed six and wounded 80.

The Israeli military also said that 40 projectiles were fired towards Israel from Lebanon yesterday and were either intercepted or landed in open areas.

In Gaza, civil defence agency yesterday reported at least three people killed in central Gaza and another around Gaza City when Israeli air strikes hit. Five Palestinians were killed after a school-turned-shelter for displaced civilians was hit by a missile in Gaza City.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 41,206 people have been killed since the Israeli offensive began in October, now in its 12th month. The toll includes 24 deaths in the previous 24 hours, reports AFP.

Months of effort by Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators have failed to secure a truce and hostage release deal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is facing rising anger from critics who accuse him of not doing enough to get the captives home.

On Saturday thousands of people once more took to the streets of Israel's main cities to push the government for a deal.​

 

[Saif]

Staff, teachers fear they are ‘a target’ in Gaza

A senior UN official said Saturday that teachers and other UN staff working in Gaza fear they are now targets after an Israeli air strike hit a school-turned-shelter in the territory this week.

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Staff, teachers fear they are ‘a target’ in Gaza
Says senior UN official after Israeli air strike hits a school-turned-shelter in the Palestinian territory

A senior UN official said Saturday that teachers and other UN staff working in Gaza fear they are now targets after an Israeli air strike hit a school-turned-shelter in the territory this week.

Wednesday's strike on the UN-run Al-Jawni School in central Gaza, which is housing displaced Palestinians, killed 18 people. including six employees of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

It was the deadliest single incident for the agency in more than 11 months of war and drew international condemnation.

"One colleague said that they're not wearing the UNRWA vest anymore because they feel that that turns them into a target," UNRWA senior deputy director Sam Rose told AFP on Saturday after visiting the shelter in Nuseirat.

UNRWA said 220 members of the agency's staff have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza

"Another one said that that morning, their children had stopped them from coming into the shelter," he said in an online interview from Gaza.

The colleagues were gathering for a post-work meal in a classroom when the strike flattened part of the building, leaving only a charred heap of rebar and concrete.

"A son of one of the staff had brought a meal into the building," Rose said, adding the group then debated whether to eat it in the principal's office before settling on what appeared to be a classroom decorated with pictures of scientists.

"They were eating when the bomb hit."

The Israeli military said it had conducted a "precise strike" on Hamas members within the school grounds and had taken steps to reduce the risk to civilians.

The Israeli military published what it said was a list of nine Hamas fighters killed in the Nuseirat strike, including three it said were employees of UNRWA.

An Israeli government spokesman said the school had become "a legitimate target" because it was used by Hamas to launch attacks.

Rose said such statements further battered morale among UN staffers still at the school, where thousands have sought shelter from the offensive that has displaced nearly all of Gaza's 2.4 million population at least once.

"They were particularly angry by the allegations that had been made as to the involvement of their colleagues in extremist and terrorist activities," Rose said.

"They felt that this really was a stain on the memory of dear colleagues, dear friends," he added, describing the mood as "bereft" and "desperate".

UNRWA has said at least 220 members of the agency's staff have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

On Friday, UNRWA announced one of its employees was killed during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, the first such death in the territory in more than a decade.

UNRWA has more than 30,000 employees in the Palestinian territories and elsewhere.

It has been in crisis since Israel accused a dozen of its employees of being involved in the October 7 attack.

The UN immediately fired the implicated staff members, and a probe found some "neutrality related issues" but stressed Israel had not provided evidence for its main allegations.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 41,206 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive that began in October, now in its 12th month.

The toll includes 24 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 95,337 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Saturday that an Israeli air strike hit a house in Gaza City where displaced Palestinians had taken refuge, killing 11 people, while Israel said it struck a Hamas member.

"We have recovered the bodies of 11 martyrs, including four children and three women, after an Israeli warplane hit a three-storey house of the Bustan family," agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.​

 

[Saif]

Israel pounds Gaza as Hamas vows to keep up fight

Gaza medics and rescuers on Monday said Israeli strikes on several homes killed at least 18 people, as Hamas claimed it had ample resources to sustain its fight nearly a year into the war

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Israel pounds Gaza as Hamas vows to keep up fight

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, September 16, 2024. Photo: Retuers/Ramadan Abed

Gaza medics and rescuers on Monday said Israeli strikes on several homes killed at least 18 people, as Hamas claimed it had ample resources to sustain its fight nearly a year into the war.

The latest strikes came as Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that prospects for a halt in fighting with Hezbollah militants along the Lebanon border were dimming, yet again raising fears of a wider regional conflagration.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told AFP during an interview in Istanbul on Sunday: "The resistance has a high ability to continue."

"There were martyrs and there were sacrifices... but in return there was an accumulation of experiences and the recruitment of new generations into the resistance."

His comments came less than a week after Gallant told journalists that Hamas, whose October 7 attack triggered the war, "no longer exists" as a military formation in Gaza.

Deadly fighting raged on in the Gaza Strip on Monday, with survivors seen searching through the debris of crushed buildings following a strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Ten people were killed and 15 others were wounded when an air strike hit the home of the Al-Qassas family in Nuseirat on Monday morning, a medic at Al-Awda hospital, where the bodies were brought, told AFP.

"My house was hit while we were sleeping without any prior warning. There are many martyrs, among them the sons of my family and my little grandsons," said Rashed al-Qassas, a surviving family member.

Gaza's civil defence agency said six Palestinians were killed in a similar air strike during the night on a house belonging to the Bassal family in Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood, a regular target of Israeli military raids since the war began.

Two people were killed in another overnight air strike in Rafah that targeted a house belonging to the Abu Shaar family, the agency said.

Israel-Hezbollah tensions surge

The October 7 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has so far killed at least 41,226 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.

The war has also drawn in Iran-backed fighters from across the region, including in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

Tensions have surged along Israel's northern border with Lebanon, amid fears the violence could explode into an all-our war.

"The possibility for an agreed framework in the northern arena is running out as Hezbollah continues to 'tie itself' to Hamas," Gallant told US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a phone call.

Gallant "reiterated Israel's commitment to the removal of Hezbollah presence in southern Lebanon, and to enabling the safe return of Israel's northern communities to their homes".

Israeli media outlets said Amos Hochstein, the special envoy of US President Joe Biden, arrived in Israel on Monday to help defuse tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since October 7.

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said Saturday his group has "no intention of going to war", but if Israel does "unleash" one "there will be large losses on both sides".

The cross-border violence since early October has killed 623 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also including at least 141 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, authorities have announced the deaths of at least 24 soldiers and 26 civilians.

Huthi strike

Gallant's warning also comes after Yemen's Huthi rebels claimed a rare missile attack on central Israel on Sunday -- an attack that caused no casualties but sparked vows of retaliation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"They should have known by now that we charge a heavy price for any attempt to harm us," the Israeli premier said.

The Huthis said they had "penetrated" Israel's air defences, while Israel said the missile likely fragmented mid-air but was not destroyed.

In July, a Huthi drone strike killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, at least 1,800 kilometres from Yemen.

It prompted retaliatory strikes that caused significant damage and deaths at Yemen's rebel-controlled Hodeida port.

Since November the Huthis have targeted Israel and its perceived interests in stated solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, launching dozens of missile and drone strikes that have disrupted global shipping through vital waterways off Yemen.

In a televised speech, the Huthis' leader said the rebels and their regional allies were "preparing to do even more"."Our operations will continue as long as the aggression and siege on Gaza continue," Abdul Malik al-Huthi said.​

 

[Saif]

Huthis missile hits central Israel in rare attack

A Yemeni rebel missile triggered a rush to shelters in central Israel on Sunday, a rare incident that caused no injuries but again added to regional tensions nearly a year into the Gaza war...

www.newagebd.net

Huthis missile hits central Israel in rare attack
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 15 September, 2024, 23:58

A Yemeni rebel missile triggered a rush to shelters in central Israel on Sunday, a rare incident that caused no injuries but again added to regional tensions nearly a year into the Gaza war.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the rebels will pay a ‘heavy price’.

AFP photographers saw firefighters putting out a brush fire near Lod and broken glass at a train station in Modin, about 20 kilometres southeast of Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial hub, after the attack.

The Huthi rebels claimed the strike.

They are among Iran-backed groups in the Middle East that have been drawn into the conflict after war began in October between Israel and Hamas Palestinian militants in Gaza.

‘The Huthis launched a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen into our territory. They should have known by now that we charge a heavy price for any attempt to harm us,’ Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting, according to a statement from his office.

The rebels had targeted an Israeli ‘military position’ in the Jaffa area, around Tel Aviv, using a ‘ballistic missile that succeeded in reaching its target’, their spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement.

He added that ‘the enemy’s defences failed to intercept it’.

In July, the Huthis claimed a drone strike that penetrated Israel’s intricate air defences and killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, at least 1,800 kilometres from Yemen.

This time, Israel’s military said an initial inquiry indicates the missile fired from Yemen probably fragmented in mid-air.

‘Several interception attempts were made by the Arrow and Iron Dome Aerial Defence Systems, and their results are under review,’ a military statement said.

Sirens sounded, the military said, leading to what local media described as a scramble for shelter in the greater Tel Aviv area.

A paramedic service said several people were slightly injured while ‘on their way to shelters’.

Israeli police said they were at the scene near Shfela, east of Tel Aviv, where a fragment of an air-defence interceptor had come down.

Yemen’s Huthis are targeting Israel and its perceived interests in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Since November, the Huthis have carried out dozens of missile and drone strikes — sometimes killing sailors — on shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

The waterways are vital to global trade.

Huthi missiles last month hit a Greek-flagged tanker carrying more than a million barrels of crude, leaving it ablaze off the coast of the Yemeni port of Hodeida and threatening environmental disaster.

A Greek defence ministry source on Saturday said that the Sounion was being towed northward under military escort in a salvage operation.

After the Huthis’ July attack on Tel Aviv, Israeli warplanes bombed Huthi-controlled Hodeida, destroying much of its fuel storage capacity and killing several people, according to the rebels.

It was Israel’s first claimed strike in Yemen, and on Sunday Netanyahu said it should serve as ‘a reminder’ of the price to be paid.

On Israel’s northern flank, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement has traded regular cross-border fire with Israeli forces in exchanges that threaten to spiral into all-out war.

On Sunday morning about 40 projectiles were fired from Lebanon towards Israel’s Upper Galilee region and the annexed Golan Heights, Israel’s military said.

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said on Saturday his group has ‘no intention of going to war’ but if Israel does ‘unleash’ one ‘there will be large losses on both sides’ and ‘hundreds of thousands more displaced’.

On Sunday Netanyahu said ‘the status quo will not continue’ and ‘a change in the balance of power on our northern border’ is needed.

Hundreds of people, mostly fighters, have already died in Lebanon and dozens, including soldiers and civilians, on the Israeli side.

The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel which began Gaza’s war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 41,206 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide breakdowns of civilian and militant deaths.

Gaza’s civil defence agency on Sunday reported Israeli air strikes killed at least three people in central Gaza and another around Gaza City.

Months of efforts by Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators have failed to secure a truce and hostage release deal. Netanyahu’s government is facing rising anger from critics who accuse him of not doing enough to get the captives home.

On Saturday thousands again took to the streets of Israel’s main cities to push the government for a deal.​

 

[Saif]

‘It is unimaginable’

Nothing justifies Israel’s collective punishment of the people of Gaza as they endure “unimaginable” suffering, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP on Monday.

www.thedailystar.net

‘It is unimaginable’
UN chief condemns ‘collective punishment’ of Palestinians; lashes out at Israel’s handling of its offensive in the devastated territory

Nothing justifies Israel's collective punishment of the people of Gaza as they endure "unimaginable" suffering, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP on Monday.

Guterres lashed out at Israel's handling of its offensive in the devastated Palestinian territory, now almost in its second year, as the UN prepares to host world leaders starting next week.

"It is unimaginable, the level of suffering in Gaza, the level of deaths and destruction have no parallel in everything I've witnessed since (becoming) secretary-general," said Guterres, who has led the embattled international organization since 2017.

"We all condemn the terror attacks made by Hamas, as well as the taking of the hostages, that is an absolute violation of international humanitarian law," he said.

Guterres is not counting on a breakthrough during the General Assembly's high-level week from Sunday

"But the truth is that nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, and that is what we are witnessing in a dramatic way in Gaza," he added, decrying the widespread carnage and hunger blighting Gaza.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 41,252 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive. More than 200 humanitarian workers, mostly UN staff, have also been killed.

"Accountability should be a must" for all civilian deaths, Guterres said acknowledging "serious violations" had been perpetrated by both Israel and Hamas.

Against that backdrop the UN leader has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire, but talks overseen by the United States, Egypt and Qatar remain deadlocked, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of resisting a deal.

"They are endless," Guterres said of the talks, saying it would be "very difficult" to reach a compromise but that he remained hopeful.

With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refusing to return his calls since October, Guterres is not counting on a breakthrough during the General Assembly's high-level week from Sunday when he would typically receive all visiting heads of state and government.

"As far as I understand, it was already said publicly that it is not his intention to ask for any meeting with me. So of course, the meeting will very probably not take place," Guterres said, brushing off the apparent snub.​

 

[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.

www.thedailystar.net

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.

www.thedailystar.net

‘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.

www.thedailystar.net

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.

www.newagebd.net

15 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school
Agence France-Presse . Palestinian Territories 26 September, 2024, 22:10

Members of Reporters Without Borders hold a banner reading ‘At the rate at which journalists are being killed in Gaza, there will soon be no one left to keep us informed’ and press waistcoats stained with fake blood during an action called by Reporters Without Borders across the world in support of journalists working in the Gaza strip and in tribute to those who died amid the on-going war between Israel and Hamas group, at the Trocadero with the Eiffel Tower in the background, in Paris, on Thursday. | AFP photo

Civil defence rescuers in Gaza said an Israeli strike on Thursday on a school-turned-shelter killed at least 15 people, with the Israeli military saying it had targeted a Hamas command centre.

The vast majority of the besieged Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once by the war, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, with many seeking shelter in school buildings.

Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there were ‘15 martyrs, including children and women, and dozens wounded, some of them seriously, following an Israeli bombardment of Al-Faluja school in Jabalia camp in north Gaza’.

Bassal earlier said the death toll was seven.

The military said it carried out ‘precise strikes’ targeting Hamas militants operating inside what it said was a command-and-control centre at the Al-Faluja school.

AFP was unable to immediately verify what was targeted, and the military statement did not provide information on casualties.

Thursday’s attack was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes on school buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for nearly a year.

A strike on the United Nations-run Al-Jawni School in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said six of its staffers were among the 18 reported fatalities.

The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter — a charge denied by the Palestinian militant group.

At least 41,534 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since the war began, according to data provided by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The United Nations has acknowledged these figures as reliable.

The October 7 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.

Out of 251 people taken hostage that day, 97 are still being held inside the Gaza Strip, including 33 who the Israeli military says are dead.​

 

[Saif]

Leader of Palestinian Authority denounces Israeli Gaza offensive at UN, insists: ‘We will not leave’

The head of the Palestinian Authority denounced Israel and its offensive in the Gaza Strip in front of world leaders Thursday, appealing to other nations to stop what he called a “genocidal war” against a place and people he said had been totally destroyed. Mahmoud Abbas used the rostr

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Leader of Palestinian Authority denounces Israeli Gaza offensive at UN, insists: ‘We will not leave’
AP
Published :
Sep 26, 2024 21:58
Updated :
Sep 26, 2024 21:58

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, at UN headquarters. Photo : AP/Frank Franklin II

The head of the Palestinian Authority denounced Israel and its offensive in the Gaza Strip in front of world leaders Thursday, appealing to other nations to stop what he called a “genocidal war” against a place and people he said had been totally destroyed.

Mahmoud Abbas used the rostrum of the UN General Assembly as he typically does — to criticize Israel. But this was the first time he did so since the Oct 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel that triggered an Israeli military operation that has devastated the occupied Gaza Strip.

Abbas strode to the podium to loud applause and a few unintelligible shouts. His first words were a sentence repeated three times: “We will not leave. We will not leave. We will not leave.”

He accused Israel of destroying Gaza and making it unlivable. And he said that his government should govern post-war Gaza as part of an independent Palestinian state, a vision that Israel’s hardline government rejects.

Abbas has had little influence in Gaza since Hamas overthrew his forces and seized power of the territory in 2007. The US has said a reformed Palestinian Authority should play a future role in Gaza, but Israel does not consider him a reliable partner and has ruled that out.

“Palestine is our homeland. It is the land of our fathers and our grandfathers. It will remain ours. And if anyone were to leave, it would be the occupying usurpers,” he said.

Israel has maintained its military operations are justified and are necessary to defend itself. South Africa has filed a genocide case against Israel in the UN’s top court. Israel rejects the accusations.​

 

[Saif]

Israel's war on Gaza: Yunus calls for immediate and complete ceasefire

Addressing the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, he said the genocide in Gaza continues unabated despite global concerns and condemnation

www.thedailystar.net

Israel's war on Gaza: Yunus calls for immediate and complete ceasefire

Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser of Bangladesh addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, US, September 27, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Eduardo Munoz

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus today called for an immediate and complete ceasefire to protect the Palestinian people from the brutalities, particularly against the children and women.

Addressing the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, he said the genocide in Gaza continues unabated despite global concerns and condemnation.

"The situation in Palestine just does not concern the Arabs or Muslims at large rather the entire humanity. Palestinians are not expendable people. All those responsible for the crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people must be held accountable," said the chief adviser.

He also said international community, including the UN, needs to act in earnest to implement the two-state solution that remains the only path to bring lasting peace in the Middle-East.

Prof Yunus also touched upon two-and-half-year-long war in the Ukraine and urged both sides to pursue dialogue to end the war.

"The war has impacted far and wide, even lending deeper economic implications in Bangladesh. We would urge both sides to pursue dialogue to resolve the differences and end the war," he said.​

 

[Saif]

The unfortunate paradise that was Palestine

What moral standard does a country hold when in war they attack the place they themselves have declared to be a “permanent safe zone?”

www.thedailystar.net

The unfortunate paradise that was Palestine

Palestinians look at the debris of destroyed tents and make shift housing structures following an Israeli military strike on the al-Mawassi camp for internally displaced people (IDP), near the city of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, on July 13, 2024. PHOTO: AFP

Before typing words that will require me to somewhat dissociate from what its spells, let's listen to a tale of a place named al-Mawasi. It was a Palestinian Bedouin town, a slender coastal area, one kilometre wide and 14 kilometres long. The Mediterranean Sea hugging its rough grasslands, the people of al-Mawasi would farm and fish.

In late October last year, the Israeli occupation forces designated al-Mawasi as a "safe area" for fleeing Palestinian civilians, later claiming that it was considered a "permanent safe zone." In an interview with Channel 4 News on February 12, Israeli spokesperson Eylon Levi, when pressed to confirm if displaced civilians would be safe from further bombardment in the declared safe zone, stated that "it will not be safe" until Gaza was free from Hamas.

Gaza's health ministry reported that over 40,000 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in the first 10 months of the war, with many buried under the rubble. On September 18, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution demanding Israel end its occupation of Palestinian territories within a year, with 124 nations in favour, 14 against, and 43 abstaining.

Meanwhile, as per CNN, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering evacuating civilians from northern Gaza to target Hamas and secure the release of hostages. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets have killed hundreds, and Hezbollah retaliated with rocket attacks, including a ballistic missile aimed at Tel Aviv.

While these events occurred, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza, Khan Younis and later Rafah fled to al-Mawasi. The city now consists of makeshift shelters, misery, starvation, disease, and a near-constant threat of attack.

Now amid the recent escalating violence, the US and its allies are calling for a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah as the conflict threatens to engulf Lebanon. The measly number of days is shocking, with all the world leaders clapping for each other, their faces veiled in appropriate gravity, and deciding the fate of a people. How many days has it been since the aftermath of the October 7 attack? It has been almost a year.

There is no language left to describe the assault on Palestinian existence anymore. News keeps rolling like clockwork, every minute bringing a fresh attack that obliterates parts of the tiny little land Palestinians have left.

News has become, at best, just a documentation process. The faith that it will have an impact on the decision-making process of the rulers of the world is almost laughably absurd at this point. It will not jolt people out of their private lives and ignite a worldwide cry loud enough to save what is left of Gaza. Documentation, as of now, is our only means to soothe our conscience.

In February, the IOF attacked al-Mawasi, targeting a safe house for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staff and families, killing two and injuring six. In late May, they bombed the area once more, killing at least 21 Palestinians, including 12 women, just days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to stop its offensive on Rafah. On June 21, the IOF attacked al-Mawasi once more, killing at least 25 Palestinians and injuring 50. "This killing is nothing short of the destruction of Palestinian life," South African lawyer Adila Hassim told the ICJ during a hearing on Israel's genocide case in January.

What moral standard does a country hold when in war they attack the place they themselves have declared to be a "permanent safe zone?" The Israeli authorities are not mincing words, and spokespersons like Eylon Levi are letting the world know exactly what they have in store. And so, newer and fresher courses of annihilation carry on.

The question of Palestine, says Edward Said, is "the contest between an affirmation and a denial." What the Israeli occupation is doing is denying Palestinians the right to exist.

There is a poem by Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish named "Unfortunately, It Was Paradise." He writes, "We journey towards a home that does not halo our head with a special sun./ Mythical women applaud us. A sea for us, a sea against us."

I don't know what this poem would have felt and sounded like if Gaza was a land where children went to school in anticipation of sweet mischief. I see one of these mythical women named Abu Maamar, 36, embracing the body of her five-year-old niece Saly, in a Gaza morgue. She's shielding her grieving face and her niece's dead body from the camera. She draws a line: here, her grief is hers alone.

All I know is that I can disassociate because I'm privileged enough to do so. I know I cannot say "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," without a pulsating tick in the pit of my stomach that says otherwise. I know that al-Mawasi, now a land full of displaced people, may never get back to being the Bedouin town it once was.

Sumaya Mashrufa is sub-editor at The Daily Star.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli strikes kill 11 more Palestinians

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 11 Palestinians, health officials in the enclave said yesterday, as Israeli planes bombarded several northern, central and southern areas.

www.thedailystar.net

Israeli strikes kill 11 more Palestinians

Demonstrators shout slogans as they march against Israeli strikes in Gaza and Lebanon at a protest rally in the central business district of Sydney, Australia yesterday. At least 41,595 Palestinians have been killed and 96,251 others injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since October 7. Photo: AFP

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 11 Palestinians, health officials in the enclave said yesterday, as Israeli planes bombarded several northern, central and southern areas.

A school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip was among buildings hit, killing four people and wounded several others.

The Israeli military said it struck Hamas members operating from a command centre embedded in a compound that had previously served as Um Al-Fahm School. It accused Hamas of exploiting civilian facilities and its population for military purposes, which Hamas denies.

In another strike, three people were killed in a house in Gaza City, medics said. Four others were killed in three separate airstrikes in Nuseirat and Khan Younis in central and southern parts of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces pursued their operations in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, and in Gaza City's suburb of Zeitoun.​

 

[Saif]

Two-thirds of Gaza buildings damaged in war: UN

The last assessment, based on images from early July, determined that 63 per cent of structures in the Palestinian territory had been damaged

en.prothomalo.com

Two-thirds of Gaza buildings damaged in war: UN
Updating its damage assessment, the UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) said very high-resolution imagery collected on 3 and 6 September showed a clear deterioration
AFP
Geneva
Published: 30 Sep 2024, 20: 35

A woman sorts through clothing salvaged from the rubble of a destroyed dress shop in a residential building hit by Israeli bombardment, in the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City on 14 June, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas AFP

Two-thirds of the buildings in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed since the Gaza war began in October 2023, the United Nations said on Monday.

Updating its damage assessment, the UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) said very high-resolution imagery collected on 3 and 6 September showed a clear deterioration.

“This analysis... shows that two-thirds of the total structures in the Gaza Strip have sustained damage,” UNOSAT said.

“Those 66 per cent of damaged buildings in the Gaza Strip account for 163,778 structures in total,” it said.

The last assessment, based on images from early July, determined that 63 per cent of structures in the Palestinian territory had been damaged.

Monday’s update said the damage now included “52,564 structures that have been destroyed; 18,913 severely damaged; 35,591 possibly damaged structures; and 56,710 moderately affected”.

Gaza City has been notably affected, with 36,611 structures destroyed, it added.

UNOSAT and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said that approximately 68 per cent of the permanent crop fields in the Gaza Strip showed “a significant decline in health and density” in September.

Hamas’s unprecedented 7 October attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,615 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable.

Part of the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), Geneva-based UNOSAT says its satellite imagery analysis helps the humanitarian community assess the extent of conflict-related damage and helps shape emergency relief efforts.

“Over the past year, UNOSAT’s team has worked tirelessly to provide the world with precise and timely insights into the impact of the conflict on buildings and infrastructure in Gaza,” said UNITAR’s executive director Nikhil Seth.​

 

[Saif]

Hamas praises 'heroic' missile attacks launched by Iran

Hamas praised on Tuesday what it called Iran's "heroic" missile attacks avenging the deaths of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and Iranian Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan

www.thedailystar.net

Hamas praises 'heroic' missile attacks launched by Iran

Rockets fly in the sky, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from Tel Aviv, Israel, October 1, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad

Hamas praised on Tuesday what it called Iran's "heroic" missile attacks avenging the deaths of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and Iranian Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan.

"We congratulate the heroic rocket launch carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran, on large areas of our occupied territories, in response to the occupation's continuing crimes against the peoples of the region, and in retaliation for the blood of our nation's heroic martyrs," the group said.

Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for Israel's campaign against Tehran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, and Israel vowed a "painful response" against its enemy.

Iran had vowed to retaliate following Israeli strikes that killed the top leadership of its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, including that group's leader Hassan Nasrallah, a towering figure in Iran's network of fighters across the region.

In a statement, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the attack was also in response to Israel's assassination in July of former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, locked in nearly a year of war with Israel, celebrated as they watched dozens of rockets en route to Israel. Some of those rockets fell in the Palestinian enclave after being intercepted by Israel's iron dome, but caused no human losses, witnesses said.

Israeli forces operating in central Gaza opened fire at a gathering of Palestinians, killing at least three people and wounding others, medics said.

Some Palestinian residents said some people tried to approach the road connecting north and south Gaza in an apparent attempt to return to homes from where the Israeli army evicted them, taking advantage of the Iranian attacks.

The Israeli military said it opened fire against a group of Palestinian "suspects" who posed a threat to forces operating in central Gaza and identified that some of them were hit.

"There were no casualties among the forces and the incident is under control," the military statement said.

In Nuseirat, one of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, an Israeli strike hit a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families and killed three people, medics said. Palestinian health officials said Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 43 people on Tuesday.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel almost a year ago, in support of its ally Hamas in the war in Gaza, which began after the militant group staged the deadliest assault in Israel's history on October 7.

The assault, in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, triggered the war that has devastated Gaza, displacing most of its 2.3 million population and killing more than 41,600 people, according to Gaza health authorities.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli strikes across Gaza kill 65 Palestinians

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 65 Palestinians overnight, including in a school sheltering displaced families, medics said, as Israeli tanks advanced in areas of Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.

www.thedailystar.net

Israeli strikes across Gaza kill 65 Palestinians
Dozens injured; tanks carry out raids in Khan Younis

Palestinians look out of a damaged house near the site where Omar Masoud and his family were killed in an Israeli airstrike, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip September 12, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Mahmoud Issa

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 65 Palestinians overnight, including in a school sheltering displaced families, medics said, as Israeli tanks advanced in areas of Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.

Israeli tanks carried out a raid on several areas in eastern and central Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, before partially retreating, leaving at least 40 people killed and dozens wounded, according to the official Voice of Palestine radio and Hamas media.

In Gaza City, at least 22 Palestinians were killed, the medics said. One Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City killed 17 people, while another hit the Al-Amal Orphan Society, which also houses displaced persons, killing at least five others, the medics said.

Later yesterday, an Israeli strike on a school sheltering Palestinian displaced families in Nuseirat in central Gaza killed three people and wounded 15, medics said. The Israeli military said the strike was aimed at Hamas members operating from a command center embedded in the compound that had previously served as the 'Nuseirat Girls' School.

It accused Hamas of exploiting civilian facilities and population for military purposes, a tactic Hamas denies using.

Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 41,689 Palestinians and wounded 96,625 since October 7, the Palestinian enclave's health ministry said yesterday.

The escalation came after Iran launched a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for Israel's campaign against Tehran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, and Israel vowed a "painful response" against its enemy.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip celebrated as they watched dozens of rockets en route to Israel. Some of those rockets fell in the Palestinian enclave after being intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defences, but caused no human losses, witnesses said.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza still bleeds

Intensified Israeli airstrikes on Gaza yesterday killed dozens on the eve of the first anniversary of its offensive in the besieged territory that has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins.

www.thedailystar.net

Gaza still bleeds
Death toll nears 42,000; rallies worldwide call for ceasefire

Intensified Israeli airstrikes on Gaza yesterday killed dozens on the eve of the first anniversary of its offensive in the besieged territory that has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins.

Israel's war on Gaza has since spread as it invaded Lebanon after months of trading fire across the border, raising the fear of a wider conflict in the Middle East with experts saying it risks sucking in major regional and world powers.

As the Israeli invasion enters its second year, tens of thousands of protesters marched in cities around the world calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, a prospect which experts say is unlikely anytime soon.

The marches were held in almost all major cities across Europe, Africa, Australia and the Americas demanding an end to the conflict.

In Washington, more than a thousand protesters demonstrated outside the White House, seeking that the United States, Israel's top military supplier, stop providing weapons and aid to Israel.

One man attempted to set himself on fire, AFP journalists saw, succeeding in lighting his left arm ablaze before bystanders and police extinguished the flames.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas-led fighters streamed across the border from Gaza into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping some 250 others, according to Israeli tallies.

The next day, Israel formally declared war on Hamas.

Since then, indiscriminate Israeli bombardment has damaged or destroyed two thirds of the total structures in the Gaza Strip, The United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) said on September 30. It also damaged or destroyed around 68 percent of cropland and roads.

Only 17 of 36 hospitals remain partially functional, and all suffer from a lack of fuel, medical supplies, and clean water.

According to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), an estimated 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza (more than 90 percent of the population) have been displaced, with many experiencing multiple forced displacements as a result of persistent Israeli relocation orders.

The blockade on humanitarian goods has caused a hunger crisis in the Palestinian enclave and led to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

The offensive has not only destroyed the present day Gaza but also robbed its future as children, who make up almost half of Gaza's entire population, are the primary victims. Of the 42,000 killed in the enclave, at least 16,456 are children.

According to UN, none of them have been able to attend school since October 7. The longer fighting goes on, the greater the chance of losing an entire generation, it said.

The offensive intensified early yesterday with Israeli airstrikes hitting a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip killing at least 26 people and wounding 93 others, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.

Palestinian health officials said at least another 20 people had been killed since Saturday night in northern Gaza, after the army sent tanks into areas there for the first time in months and urged residents to leave.

The Israeli military said it had conducted "precise strikes on Hamas terrorists" who were operating within command and control centres embedded in Ibn Rushd School and the Shuhada al-Aqsa Mosque, in the area of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

Hamas rejects accusations it uses civilian facilities such as schools, hospitals and mosques for military purposes.

Amid the violence, the International Committee of the Red Cross urged all parties to ensure all civilians were protected.

"This is a year marked by heartbreak and unanswered questions. Families have been torn apart, with many loved ones still held against their will. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions have been displaced across the region," it said.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said Israel had struck 27 houses, schools and displacement shelters across Gaza in the past 48 hours.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinians in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, where Israeli forces have been operating since May.

On Saturday, Israeli army issued new evacuation orders in parts of Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, just north of Deir al-Balah, forcing hundreds of families to leave their houses. The military statement said its forces aimed to operate against Hamas fighters who waged attacks from the territory.

Meanwhile, Israeli tanks pushed into the northern Gaza areas of Beit Lahiya and Jabalia overnight, and planes hit several houses, killing at least 20 people, according to medics.

The Israeli military said its forces had encircled the area of Jabalia.

In one air strike, 10 people were killed in one house, and five others in another strike on a second home. Residents described it as one of the worst nights in many months.

"The war is back," said Raed, 52, from Jabalia, before he and his family left for Gaza City yesterday.

"Dozens of explosions from airstrikes and tank shelling shook the ground and buildings, it felt like the early days of the war," he told Reuters via a chat app.

The armed wings of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and smaller factions said fighters were engaged in gunbattles with Israeli forces in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza Strip's eight refugee camps.

Palestinian and UN officials say no place in the enclave is safe, including the humanitarian zones.

Ahead of the anniversary, Israel placed its forces on alert.

Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said at a televised briefing: "We are prepared with increased forces in anticipation for this day", when there could be "attacks on the home front".

In Washington, US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said US will continue to pressure Israel and other players in the Middle East to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza even as advocates say that the United States has not thus far used its leverage over its ally.

Washington's occasional condemnation of Israel over the civilian death toll has mostly been verbal with no substantive change in policy.

President Joe Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire plan for Gaza on May 31 but a deal between Israel and Hamas has not been reached due to gaps in exchanges of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and Israel's demand that it maintain presence in a corridor on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt.

As the war in Gaza enters its second year and a wider Middle East conflict is on the verge of breaking out, one question remains: How, if it at all, does this end?

"I'm not sure that it does end," Mairav Zonszein, senior Israel-Palestine analyst for International Crisis Group, told the ABC.

"At this point, we can't talk just about the war in Gaza, but we have to talk about the war with Hezbollah, and the war in the West Bank … and of course Iran and its proxies."

All of this makes the prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza even less likely, according to Zonszein.

"There's a spectrum," she said.

"It could get much, much worse on several fronts. They're all connected and the connecting theme … is Gaza."​

 

[Saif]

Israel steps up Gaza bombing on war's first anniversary

Hamas, Islamic Jihad fire rockets from Gaza at Tel Aviv, Israeli towns near Gaza border; two people lightly injured

www.thedailystar.net

Israel steps up Gaza bombing on war's first anniversary
Hamas, Islamic Jihad fire rockets from Gaza at Tel Aviv, Israeli towns near Gaza border; two people lightly injured

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike as displaced Palestinians make their way to flee areas in the eastern part of Khan Younis following an Israeli evacuation order, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip October 7, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Hatem Khaled

Israel stepped up its air and ground offensive in Gaza with more attacks on Hamas militants and command posts on Monday, the first anniversary of a war that has destroyed much of the territory and shattered the lives of its people.

For its part, Hamas said it struck Israel's commercial capital Tel Aviv with a missile salvo, setting off sirens in central Israel. Two people were lightly injured, according to the Israeli ambulance service.

The rocket volley signalled Hamas' enduring ability to hit back despite a protracted Israeli military campaign that has seriously degraded its combat capacities, a year after the shock cross-border Hamas incursion into Israel that kindled the war.

Hamas' smaller ally Islamic Jihad said it hit Sderot, Nir Am and other Israeli towns near Gaza with rockets. The Israeli military said it intercepted five rockets fired from Gaza.

Hamas-led militants stormed through Israeli towns and kibbutz villages near the border on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent military campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to the small coastal enclave's health ministry, displaced nearly the entire 2.3 million population, and caused a hunger and health crisis.

Israel says militants fight from the cover of built-up residential areas in the densely populated territory, including schools and hospitals. Hamas denies this.

On Monday, Israeli tanks advanced into Jabalia, the largest of Gaza Strip's eight historic urban refugee camps, after encircling it, residents said. Soon after the rocket volley, the Israeli military expanded evacuation orders in Jabalia to cover areas in the northern towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.

Residents said Israeli forces pounded Jabalia from the air and the ground, and medics said several Palestinians had been killed, with rescuers unable to reach some of the victims.

Later on Monday, Palestinian medics said an Israeli airstrike killed five Palestinians to the west of Jabalia.

ISRAEL TARGETS HOSPITAL COMPOUND

The Israeli military said it killed dozens of militants and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia, saying the operation would continue to prevent Hamas from regrouping.

In the central city of Deir Al-Balah, where a million displaced people are sheltering, an Israeli air strike hit tents inside Al-Aqsa Hospital, wounding 11 people, Palestinian medics said. The Israeli military said it struck at Hamas militants operating from a command centre embedded inside the hospital.

The Israeli army later ordered residents in some eastern neighbourhoods of Khan Younis in southern Gaza to leave their homes, and many families started doing so, loading belongings on donkey carts and rickshaws.

Israelis marked the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack, which has given rise to a multi-front conflict across the Middle East as Israel sharply escalates its campaign against the Iranian-backed militant movement Hezbollah in Lebanon.

US-backed Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt have been unable so far to broker a Gaza ceasefire that could also help defuse the Lebanon hostilities and see the release of hostages held in Gaza as well as many Palestinians jailed by Israel.

Israel and Hamas have traded blame for the failure so far to reach an agreement, with each accusing the other of adding conditions that are impossible to meet.

Hamas wants a deal that ends the war and gets Israeli forces out of Gaza, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed the war can end only with the eradication of Hamas.

In Gaza on Monday, uprooted Palestinian civilians expressed a desperate desire to go back to pre-war lives.

"Before October 7, one had dreams. As a father, I have six children, my biggest burden was how to provide them with homes and get them married. But after October 7, this came to nothing. After 58 years of work for me, same as my father - all of it went to dust and rocks," said Abu Hassan Shaheen.

Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas' political office in exile, urged Arab and Muslim countries on Monday to launch "new fronts of resistance (against Israel) for the sake of freedom and dignity".​

 

[Saif]

The world must do more to stop Israel

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

www.thedailystar.net

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

VISUAL: STAR

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

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

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

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

 

[Saif]

Erdogan says Israel will pay price for ‘genocide’

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

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

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Saif]

Israeli tanks push deeper into Gaza

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

www.thedailystar.net

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Saif]

Israeli strike in Gaza refugee camp kills 17

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

www.newagebd.net

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

AFP file photo

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

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

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

Medics at Al-Awda confirmed the toll.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Saif]

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

 

[Saif]

Nothing new on the Middle Eastern front

The tragedy is that Israel, which resulted from Europe’s guilt over the Holocaust, is becoming a symbol of European oppression and colonisation.

www.thedailystar.net

One year of Israel’s genocide in Gaza
Nothing new on the Middle Eastern front

Israeli soldiers stand by a truck packed with shirtless Palestinian detainees in the Gaza Strip on December 8, 2023. PHOTO: REUTERS

A twist on the title of Erich Maria Remarque's famous 1929 novel about everyday life in the trenches of World War I seems fitting for the first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel. While the media covers each new and surprising development—the killing of Hamas's leader, Ismail Haniyeh, and Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah; Israel's invasion of southern Lebanon; Iran's ballistic-missile attack on Israel—the fact is that things are becoming what they always were. Potentialities that were present from the beginning are being realised.

From a broader historical and philosophical perspective, Israel's critics miss the point when they claim that it is failing in its mission to destroy Hamas, and is merely killing Palestinians and razing Gaza. Recall Israel's strategy before October 7. For years, it ensured that foreign financing reached Hamas in order to keep the Palestinians divided, thus preventing any progress toward a two-state solution.

Of course, Israel is acting in self-defence in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. But much depends on how one defines "self." If Russia occupies part of Ukraine and proclaims it part of Russia, can it then claim self-defence when it crushes those who resist? When Germany invaded Belgium at the start of World War I, a Belgian minister supposedly observed that, "Whatever historians will say later about this war, nobody will able to say that Belgium attacked Germany." Yet since Russia's invasion, respect for settled facts no longer holds. The Kremlin and its allies have become increasingly effective at claiming that Ukraine started the conflict.

Israel's rhetoric is not dissimilar. When the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) launched its "limited ground operation" in Lebanon on October 1, one was reminded of Russia's euphemistic description of its invasion as a "special military operation." In both cases, we can paraphrase Groucho Marx: it may look like war, and it may hurt like war; but don't let that fool you. This really is war.

Again, things are becoming what they always were. In late July, a coterie of Israeli ministers, MPs, journalists, and TV commentators decried an IDF military police raid on the Sde Teiman base in southern Israel, following reports of Israeli reservists abusing Palestinian detainees. The raid and arrests triggered large public protests, even though it was other Israeli reservists who had blown the whistle. Horrified by what they had witnessed, they heroically came forward with allegations that security personnel on the base were torturing Palestinian prisoners by sodomising them with metal rods. Some of the prisoners then bled to death.

Yet rather than being outraged by such atrocities, some Israeli officials were outraged at those prosecuting the case. Consider the following transcript from a debate in the Knesset (parliament), aired by the British journalist Peter Oborne:

Unidentified Israeli MP: "This is insanity, someone in the prosecutor's office thinks it's possible to arrest soldiers for things they do to Nukhba (Hamas Elite Unit) terrorists. We can't continue as usual…"

[Interjection]: "To insert a stick in a person's rectum, is this legitimate?"

MP: "Shut up! Yes, if he is Nukhba, everything is legitimate to do. Everything."

Or consider this clip from a panel discussion on Israeli TV (also shared by Oborne):

First panellist: "Soldiers are suspected of raping a shackled prisoner—this doesn't concern you?"

Second panellist: "I don't give a rat's ass what they do to that Hamas man. The only problem I see is that it's not state policy to abuse detainees. First, they deserve it and it's a great form of revenge. Second, maybe it will act as a deterrent."

Imagine our reaction if all this had happened in Russia. Crazy as it may sound, the best way to account for our moral predicament may be to entertain a conspiracy theory. Almost a year ago, I imagined a phone call between Israeli and Hamas hardliners:

Israeli hardliner: "Hi, do you remember how we discreetly supported you against the Palestine Liberation Organization? Now you owe us a favour: why don't you attack and slaughter some Jews close to Gaza? They're friends to Arabs, peaceniks, so we don't need them. What we need is something to end the civil protests against us, and to distract from the slow ethnic cleansing of the West Bank. The world will be shocked at your brutality, and we will be able to play the victim, achieve national unity, and accelerate ethnic cleansing in the West Bank!"

Hamas hardliner: "Okay, but we need a favour: to avenge our slaughter, you must bomb civilians in Gaza, killing thousands, especially children. That will foment anti-Semitism around the world, which is our true goal!"

Israeli hardliner: "No problem, we also need a resurgence of anti-Semitism, which allows us to keep playing the role of the victim and do whatever we want in self-defence!"

This imaginary scenario is obscene, of course. But recall Robert Harris's novel The Ghost (later a film by Roman Polanski). A ghostwriter for Adam Lang, a former UK prime minister modelled on Tony Blair, discovers that his client has been planted in the Labour Party and manipulated by the CIA all along. Commenting on the book's "shock-horror revelation," a critic for The Observer wrote that it was "so shocking it simply can't be true, though if it were it would certainly explain pretty much everything about the recent history of Great Britain."

Like Harris's invention, my own abhorrent scenario teases out the logic of today's perverse tango: It isn't true, but if it was, it would explain everything. My imaginary phone call is not part of reality, but it is real. Since victims are in principle permitted to strike back, the war gives Israel a chance to pursue ethnic cleansing in Greater Israel. According to Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, the "voluntary migration" of Palestinians in Gaza is the "right humanitarian solution" for the besieged enclave and for the region.

The parallel between Ukraine and Palestine has grown stronger as some key distinctions have become blurred. The pro-Israel West (especially the United States) now frames its support for Ukraine and its support for Israel as two initiatives in the same global war, as if Israel is no different from Ukraine. Meanwhile, on the pseudo-left, many claim that the initial attacks by Russia and Hamas were both justified defensive measures in response to historical provocations and oppression, as if Donetsk is the Russian West Bank.

In the new world order that is emerging, the Gaza war is a nodal point that condenses all the defining antagonisms of the modern era. It is where everything will be decided. "Palestine" today is a universal symbol—a stand-in for all European sins and a font of anti-Semitism.

The tragedy is that Israel, which resulted from Europe's guilt over the Holocaust, is becoming a symbol of European oppression and colonisation. Europeans gave the survivors of that genocide land that other people had inhabited for centuries. It is that original sin which, unexpiated, is once again preventing peace and quiet on the Middle Eastern front.

Slavoj Žižek, professor of philosophy at the European Graduate School, is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London and the author, most recently, of Christian Atheism: How to Be a Real Materialist.​

 

[Saif]

400,000 trapped in northern Gaza

An Israeli military operation in northern Gaza is leaving at least 400,000 Palestinians trapped in the area, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said yesterday.

www.thedailystar.net

400,000 trapped in northern Gaza
Warns head of UNRWA as Israel carries out new strikes; 60 Palestinians killed in 24 hrs

An Israeli military operation in northern Gaza is leaving at least 400,000 Palestinians trapped in the area, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said yesterday.

"Recent evacuation orders from the Israeli Authorities are forcing people to flee again & again, especially from Jabalia Camp. Many are refusing because they know too well that no place anywhere in #Gaza is safe," Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, posted on X.

Lazzarini said some UNRWA shelters and services were being forced to shut down for the first time since the offensive began and that with almost no basic supplies available, hunger was spreading again in northern Gaza.

"This recent military operation also threatens the implementation of the second phase of the #polio vaccination campaign for children," he said.

At least 60 people were killed in Israeli military strikes in the past 24 hours, Palestinian medics said yesterday, as Israeli forces pressed on with a raid on the Jabalia refugee camp in the enclave's north.

The Israeli military says the raid, now in its fifth day, is intended to stop Hamas fighters staging further attacks from Jabalia and to prevent them regrouping.​

 

[Saif]

Israel ramps up Gaza shelling, blocks aid routes

The Israeli army intensified shelling of northern Gaza and closed roads, preventing the delivery of aid, the war-torn Palestinian territory’s civil defence agency said Wednesday.

www.newagebd.net

Israel ramps up Gaza shelling, blocks aid routes
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 10 October, 2024, 00:08

A man carries a child while evacuating in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday amid the on-going war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. | AFP photo

The Israeli army intensified shelling of northern Gaza and closed roads, preventing the delivery of aid, the war-torn Palestinian territory’s civil defence agency said Wednesday.

The army, which said it surrounded Jabalia in northern Gaza at the weekend, issued new evacuation demands on Tuesday, as analysts suggested Hamas was regrouping, despite a year of strikes and fierce fighting.

‘The shelling is intensifying, targeting civilians and their homes, causing significant fear and terror among the residents,’ said Ahmad al-Kahlut, the agency’s director in north Gaza.

The director said the Israeli army also was targeting the northern towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanun along with Jabalia.

‘Roads have been closed, and there has been a continuous siege for the fourth consecutive day, with no supplies entering the North Gaza Governorate,’ Kahlut said.

According to the director, ‘a large number’ of people died in northern Gaza during the fighting.

But he said counting the casualties had been complicated by the ‘difficulty of recovery and access to all areas’.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams had transported three dead and 15 injured from the al-Rafai school in Jabalia, where displaced Gazans had sought shelter.

The civil defence’s Kahlut said his agency had been receiving calls for help from various parts of northern Gaza, but staff had been unable to enter these areas for security reasons.

‘So far, Kamal Adwan Hospital is still operational and is dealing with the injuries that the teams can recover,’ he said, referring to a hospital in Beit Lahia.

Hisham Abu Aoun, head of the intensive care unit for the Friends of the Patient Hospital, said at least six children were evacuated to his hospital in Gaza City.

Amal Nasr, a resident of Jabalia, said her daughter Dana and husband Rami were both injured by gunfire while fleeing the area.

‘My daughter Dana was shot in the neck, and my husband was shot in his leg by the occupation forces’, she said, adding her daughter was taken to a Gaza City hospital and was now in stable condition.

‘I was injured while we were leaving our house. I was shot in the neck and started to bleed’, Dana Nasr said from the Al-Ahli Hospital.

‘There were many injured people in the streets of Jabalia,’ she added.

Gaza’s hospitals are struggling with limited supplies.

The health ministry appealed Tuesday for international help, warning fuel shortages could force hospitals to close.

The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said ‘intensified military operations’ in northern Gaza forced it to halt services.

This included the evacuation of seven UNRWA schools used as shelters by displaced Gazans.

The Israeli army on Wednesday said operations were on-going ‘throughout Gaza’.

It said Israeli troops had ‘eliminated’ 20 Palestinian combatants in the Jabalia area and had dismantled a weapons storage facility a day earlier.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, which include hostages killed in captivity.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed 42,010 people in Gaza, most them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations has described as reliable.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli strike on Gaza school kills 28

Rescuers in Gaza said Israel conducted a deadly air strike Thursday on a school housing families displaced by the war, though the Israeli military said it was a Hamas command centre.

www.newagebd.net

Israeli strike on Gaza school kills 28
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 11 October, 2024, 00:25

Palestinians react outside the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital after an Israeli strike hit a school housing displaced people in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on Thursday, amid the on-going war between Israel and Hamas. | AFP photo

Rescuers in Gaza said Israel conducted a deadly air strike Thursday on a school housing families displaced by the war, though the Israeli military said it was a Hamas command centre.

While Israel has widened its military operations to Lebanon since last month, pounding Hezbollah strongholds around the country and battling militants near the border, it has also escalated in recent days its strikes on Gaza.

The strike on Rafida School in central Gaza, which according to the Palestinian Red Crescent killed 28 people and wounded 54 others, follows the widening of Israeli operations in the north of the territory.

The Israeli army said the strike targeted Palestinian militants operating from a command and control centre ‘embedded inside a compound that previously served as the (Rafida) School’.

Israel accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings and other civilian infrastructure where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter — a charge the Palestinian militants deny.

The Gaza war began on October 7 last year, when Hamas militants stormed across the border and carried out the worst attack in Israeli history.

The militants took 251 people hostage in an attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

According to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, 42,065 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, a majority civilians, figures the UN has described as reliable.

While Israel received international support in its bid to crush Hamas and bring the hostages home, it has faced criticism over its conduct of the war.

Speaking to reporters about the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington was ‘incredibly concerned’ as Israel tightens its siege.

‘We have been making clear to the government of Israel that they have an obligation under international humanitarian law to allow food and water and other needed humanitarian assistance to make it into all parts of Gaza,’ he said.

Israel expanded a military operation around Jabalia in northern Gaza, where about 400,000 people are trapped, according to Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Lazzarini said on X there was ‘no end to hell’ in the area and that ‘recent evacuation orders from the Israeli authorities are forcing people to flee again & again’.

The army surrounded Jabalia and its refugee camp at the weekend and shelled it on Wednesday, preventing the delivery of aid, Gaza’s civil defence agency said.

The United States has also urged Israel to avoid Gaza-like military action in Lebanon, after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it could face ‘destruction’ like the Palestinian territory.

The comments came after a phone call between Netanyahu and US president Joe Biden, their first in seven weeks.

The White House said Biden told Netanyahu to ‘minimise harm’ to civilians in Lebanon, particularly in ‘densely populated areas of Beirut’.

‘There should be no kind of military action in Lebanon that looks anything like Gaza and leaves a result anything like Gaza,’ Miller said.

Israel has since September 23 pounded Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon in a campaign that, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures, has killed more than 1,200 people and displaced more than a million others.

On Thursday, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon accused Israel of firing on an observation tower at its headquarters and wounding two of its members.

The Israel-Hezbollah war was sparked by Hezbollah’s cross-border fire in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, following the October 7 attack.

The Hezbollah attacks forced tens of thousands of Israelis to flee their homes over the past year, and Netanyahu has promised to fight until they can return.

On Tuesday, he said in a video address to the people of Lebanon: ‘You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza.’

‘Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end.’

In Beirut, many people are sleeping out in the streets after Israeli air strikes.

Ahmad, a 77-year-old who did not want to give his family name for fear of reprisals, said he had a message for Hezbollah.

‘If you can’t continue to fight, announce you are withdrawing and that you have lost. There is no shame in losing,’ he said.

But Raed Ayyash, a displaced man from the south of the country, said he hoped Hezbollah would keep fighting.

‘We hope for victory, and we will never give up.’

Biden and Netanyahu’s call had been expected to focus on Israel’s response to last week’s missile barrage by Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas.

Iran fired about 200 missiles at Israel in what it said was retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Most were intercepted by Israel or its allies.

Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said: ‘Our attack on Iran will be deadly, precise and surprising. They will not understand what happened and how it happened.’

Biden has cautioned Israel against attempting to target Iran’s nuclear facilities, which would risk major retaliation, and opposes striking oil installations.

With Hezbollah militants locked in clashes with Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, the group said it destroyed an Israeli tank advancing on the border on Thursday.

A day earlier, two people were killed by suspected Hezbollah rocket fire in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, while Israel intercepted two projectiles fired towards the coastal town of Caesarea, officials said.

Lebanon’s health ministry said at least four people were killed in an Israeli strike on a village southeast of Beirut, an area so far largely spared from Israeli bombing.​

 

[Saif]

Costs of enabling Israel’s Gaza war

THE US government often claims to stand for the rule of law, but this past year has made it painfully clear that this does not apply to Palestinians. The moral, financial, and security costs of US support for Israel’s rapidly expanding wars are adding up for Americans, too...

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Costs of enabling Israel’s Gaza war
Farrah Hassen 11 October, 2024, 00:00

THE US government often claims to stand for the rule of law, but this past year has made it painfully clear that this does not apply to Palestinians. The moral, financial, and security costs of US support for Israel’s rapidly expanding wars are adding up for Americans, too.

Since October 7, 2023, around 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, plus over 700 more in the West Bank. Over 1,100 Israelis have been killed, too. These tragedies are a direct consequence of Israel’s illegal, US-backed occupation of Palestinian territory and its war on Gaza, which must both end immediately.

From the mass killing and maiming of Palestinian civilians to the forced starvation and deliberate destruction of Gaza’s health infrastructure, Palestinians and international experts have warned from the start that Israel is committing a ‘textbook case of genocide’ in Gaza.

Despite the International Court of Justice finding genocide ‘plausible’ and calling on Israel to prevent it and ensure the delivery of lifesaving aid, Israel — like the US — has ignored all of the court’s orders.

The US has enabled this ongoing genocide and other crimes by providing unconditional support for Israel despite mounting atrocities. This has emboldened Israel to expand its assault to Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen as it threatens to drag the US into a wider war with Iran.

None of this is inevitable.

As Israel’s chief supplier of arms, the US has sent billions worth of high-powered explosives since October 7, which have turned up at massacre after massacre committed by Israel’s military. That’s a violation of our own laws barring assistance to forces that commit human rights abuses or block delivery of humanitarian aid, as Israel has done.

‘Our democracy is at stake’ has been an ongoing refrain this election season. But it’s also a threat to our democracy when elected officials ignore the vast majority of their constituents who have rightly demanded a permanent ceasefire and arms embargo on Israel. Instead of listening to voters, our leaders have backed violent crackdowns on protests, which threatens our First Amendment rights.

The costs of war always reverberate at home. Our policymakers have expressed support for the war using racist, dehumanizing rhetoric, which has directly contributed to rising anti-Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim hate crimes, harassment, and discrimination.

And even though most Americans oppose Israel’s war on Gaza, we’re still paying for it.

Brown University’s Costs of War Project estimates that over the past year, the US has spent at least $22.76 billion and counting on Israel’s onslaught in Gaza and other US military operations in the surrounding region. In August, the Biden administration approved an additional $20 billion in arms sales to Israel.

All this comes on top of the $3.8 billion the US already sends Israel in military aid each year. That same $3.8 billion a year could fund 29,915 registered nurses, 394,738 public housing units, or 39,158 elementary school teachers, according to the National Priorities Project.

As our post-Covid safety net continues to crumble, more people are left unable to afford housing, health care, groceries, education, and other basic necessities. Compounding these challenges, more states are battling climate disasters. We desperately need those funds at home, not funding wars and lawlessness abroad.

Nevertheless, many of our elected officials would rather support the military-industrial complex than their own constituents. In a particularly flagrant example, Republican senator Lindsey Graham recently appeared on Fox News to plead for more US weapons for Israel in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which had ravaged his home state of South Carolina.

More than statistics, law, and politics, our nation’s role in the Palestinian genocide should shake our conscience and cause us to question its morality. Are human rights and justice good for some but not others? And can we recognize our complicity in this genocide and not take action to end it?

However one answers these questions, our shared humanity hangs in the balance.

CounterPunch.org, October 10. Farrah Hassen, JD, is a writer, policy analyst, and adjunct professor political science at Cal Poly Pomona.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza shame of humanity, calls for permanent ceasefire: Erdogan

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his attacks on Israel as he arrived in Tirana Thursday, the first stop of a Balkans tour that will also take him to Serbia.

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Gaza shame of humanity, calls for permanent ceasefire: Erdogan
Agence France-Presse . Tirana, Albania 11 October, 2024, 22:02

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his attacks on Israel as he arrived in Tirana Thursday, the first stop of a Balkans tour that will also take him to Serbia.

Repeating his claim that Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted ‘genocide’, he branded it the ‘shame of humanity’, at a joint press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

‘The international community, we must do our best to urgently guarantee a permanent ceasefire and exert the necessary pressure on Israel,’ he added.

‘The genocide that has been going on in Gaza for the past year is the common shame of all humanity,’ he added.

The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

According to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, 42,065 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, mostly civilians. The UN has said the figures are reliable.

Erdogan has branded Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu the ‘butcher of Gaza’ and compared him to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler.

‘The aggression led by the Netanyahu government now threatens the world order beyond the region,’ Erdogan said.

Later Thursday Erdogan, accompanied by Prime Minister Edi Rama, inaugurated the Great Mosque of Tirana.

The largest Muslim place of worship in the Balkans, it has a capacity of up to 10,000 people. The project, funded by Turkey, cost 30 million euros.

Turkey is also a major employer in Albania. As Erdogan said in February, over 600 Turkish companies operate in the country, providing jobs to more than 15,000 workers.

It is also one of the five biggest foreign investors in Albania, he said, with $3.5 billion (3.2 billion euros) committed.

The two NATO member countries also have close military ties, with Turkey supplying Tirana with its Bayraktar TB2 drones.

For the second stage of his tour Erdogan travelled from Albania to Serbia, where he was greeted at Belgrade airport by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Turkey made a diplomatic comeback here in 2017 when Erdogan made a landmark visit to Belgrade.

The five century Ottoman presence in Serbia has traditionally weighed heavily on Belgrade-Ankara relations.

Another source of tension has been Turkey’s historic ties with Serbia’s former breakaway province of Kosovo. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a move Belgrade still refuses to recognise.

Erdogan’s 2017 visit repaired the relationship with Serbia, Belgrade analyst Vuk Vuksanovic said.

But Belgrade was furious last year when Turkey sold drones to Kosovo, something Serbia said was ‘unacceptable’.

The row could however still be patched up, Vuksanovic insisted.

‘I would not be surprised if we see a military deal at the end of this visit,’ he said.

He expected talks in Belgrade on Friday to focus on ‘military cooperation, the position of Turkish companies — and attempts by Belgrade to persuade Ankara to tone down support for Kosovo’.

While the rapprochement is relatively new, economic ties between the two countries are already significant.

Turkish investment in Serbia has rocketed from $1 million to $400 million over the past decade, the Turkey-Serbia business council told Turkey’s Anadolu news agency.

Turkish exports to Serbia hit $2.13 billion in 2022, up from $1.14 billion in 2020, according to official Serbian figures.

Turkish tourists are also important for Serbia, second only to visitor numbers from Bosnia.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli strikes on Jabalia refugee camps kill 19

Israeli military strikes on Gaza overnight killed at least 19 Palestinians, medics said yesterday, while forces continued to push deeper into the Jabalia area, where international relief agencies say thousands of people are trapped.

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Israeli strikes on Jabalia refugee camps kill 19
Say medics as tanks push deeper into the north; Palestinian health officials report around 150 killed in Jabalia over past week officials report around 150 killed in Jabalia over past week.

Displaced Palestinians make their way as they flee areas in the northern Gaza Strip, following an Israeli evacuation order in Gaza City yesterday. Photo: REUTERS

Israeli military strikes on Gaza overnight killed at least 19 Palestinians, medics said yesterday, while forces continued to push deeper into the Jabalia area, where international relief agencies say thousands of people are trapped.

Residents said Israeli forces continued to pound Jabalia, which is in the north of the enclave and is the largest of the enclave's historic refugee camps, from the air and ground.

The Israeli military published new evacuation orders yesterday to two neighbourhoods on the northern edge of Gaza City, which also lies in the north of the enclave, saying the area was a "dangerous combat zone".

In a statement, Gaza's Hamas-run interior ministry urged residents not to relocate within northern areas of the enclave and also to avoid heading south "where the occupation is conducting continued bombing and killing every day in the areas it claims to be safe".

There has been no fresh Israeli comment on deaths but the military said in past days that forces operating in Jabalia and nearby areas killed dozens of militants, located weapons and dismantled military infrastructure.

The operation in this area began a week ago and the military said then it aimed to fight against militants waging attacks and to prevent Hamas from regrouping.

Palestinian health officials put the number of people killed in Jabalia over the past week at around 150.

On Friday, Israeli strikes hit four houses in Jabalia, killing around 20 people and wounding dozens, medics said. The Israeli military has sent troops into the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya as well as Jabalia and ordered residents to evacuate their homes and head to safe areas south of the enclave.

Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in Gaza. They have also voiced concerns over severe shortages of food, fuel, and medical supplies in northern Gaza, and said there is a risk of famine there.

Israeli offensive in Gaza, aimed at eliminating Hamas fighters, has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians since it began a year ago, according to Gaza's health ministry, and has laid waste to the enclave.

The war began after a Hamas-led assault on Oct 7, 2023, on southern Israeli communities in which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

In a statement yesterday, Hamas said Israel's "massacre against the civilians" aimed to punish the residents of Jabalia for refusing to leave their homes. It also said it was a sign of Israel's military failure to defeat the group.

Israel has denied it targets civilians.

The armed wings of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and smaller other factions said their fighters attacked Israeli forces in Jabalia and nearby areas with anti-tank rockets, and mortar fire.

POLIO VACCINATIONS

United Nations officials said on Friday an Israeli offensive and evacuation orders in northern Gaza might affect the second phase of its polio vaccination campaign set to start next week.

The territory's health ministry announced yesterday that the campaign would begin on Monday in central Gaza Strip areas and would last three days before moving to other territories.

Aid groups carried out an initial round of vaccinations last month after a baby was partially paralysed by the type 2 poliovirus in August, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.

As in the first phase, humanitarian pauses in the fighting in Gaza are planned, in order to reach hundreds of thousands of children.​

 

[Saif]

Turkey urges ‘sanctions’ against Israel over Gaza conflict

Turkey’s foreign minister on Tuesday called for sanctions against Israel, urging the international community to cut support over the conflict in the Middle East.

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Turkey urges ‘sanctions’ against Israel over Gaza conflict
Agence France-Presse . Ankara 15 October, 2024, 22:02

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey’s foreign minister on Tuesday called for sanctions against Israel, urging the international community to cut support over the conflict in the Middle East.

‘We have reached the limit of words, diplomacy and international politics. We must start with sanctions,’ foreign minister Hakan Fidan told ruling party delegates at a meeting about the future of Palestine.

Turkey has long been a fierce critic of Israel’s now year-long military campaign in Gaza and its recent deadly push into Lebanon, accusing the United Nations of failing to sanction Israel over the conflicts.

Fidan said Israel had not so far responded to calls to halt the Gaza war, meaning ‘the international community must now resort to legal action. Israel needs to be boycotted,’ he said.

Israel was ‘not paying any price economically, politically, or militarily’ for its actions in Gaza, and the only way that would change was if the world ‘cut off support’.

‘If we cannot, Israel will continue the genocide and massacre in Gaza,’ he said.

Last week, president Recep Tayyip Erdogan again described the Gaza bloodshed as ‘genocide’, saying that the 12 months of conflict was ‘the common shame of all humanity’.

The Gaza war began with Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

According to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, more than 42,300 people have been killed in Gaza since then, mostly civilians. The UN has said the figures are reliable.

Erdogan has branded Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the ‘butcher of Gaza’ and compared him to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler.​

 

[Saif]

‘One state solution is the only long-term solution’

What we're witnessing now in the Middle East is a zero-sum game.

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‘One state solution is the only long-term solution’

People inspect the site of an Israeli air strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut, Lebanon on October 11, 2024. PHOTO: REUTERS

As Israel's expansion of the conflict in Gaza to Lebanon creates havoc in the Middle East, Dr Bashir Saade, Lecturer of Politics and Religion at University of Stirling and author of ''Hizbullah and the Politics of Remembrance,' speaks to Ramisa Rob of The Daily Star in an exclusive interview about what lies ahead and the solution to the geopolitical wildfire in the region.

How would you analyse the escalation of the conflict so far?

This war between Israel and Hezbollah so to speak is largely an information war, similar to 2006 but what has changed now is that Israel has really upped its game in that regard. However, since the 1990s Israel has not been "militarily" able to grab any territories. The last time this happened was in 1982 in Lebanon, and before that, 1967, in Palestine, all of which led to the creation of this axis of resistance such as Hezbollah and Hamas. The killing of Hezbollah General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah was of course related to the pager attacks earlier which created a shock in the system of the organisation. It's definitely all connected and it's definitely a big escalation, but not in the sense of an all-out war yet. Rather, it's the surprise events that have occurred as we were not expecting that Israelis would go that far to kill Nasrallah because that decision to kill such a leader is a large political decision where there must be a greenlight from the powers that be, and a concerted effort to kill such a leader. The political implications of Israel's actions by killing the head of the organisations they're in combat with is essentially shooting down the possibilities of negotiation talks and ceasefires. So Israel has declared their aim to eliminate Hezbollah, the way they did to eliminate Hamas but they largely destroyed infrastructure and killed civilians. What emboldened Israel is the information edge it has and the possibility of killing leaders and getting to Hezbollah through the pager attacks. This emboldened stance had led Israel to move forward with ground invasion. But this is difficult to achieve so that's why Israel tries to win by spreading terror, destroying infrastructure—not just ones where weapons are located—and killing civilians so as to provoke a change in confidence in Lebanon towards Hezbollah and pressure the group to surrender.

I also think Israel is doing what they're doing because Hezbollah and Iran act in a measured and restrained manner and escalate gradually, and in a way they deem appropriate by calculating their military objectives. There's something quite dark about this though: Israel can go to lengths disregarding international law and killing civilians and be immune from accountability in the international stage whereas the resistance has to go to many lengths to ensure they don't kill civilians—not that they want to—or commit any massacres similar to Israel. I didn't think Israel would be so audacious in doing what they did, and in the pace that they've set off, but that being said, I still think on the military ground level not much has changed. Hezbollah is shooting way more targeted rockets, and Israelis are not being able to do much about securing the northern front. The point I am trying to make is that despite what Israel has done much of how Hezbollah is functioning at the military ground level has not drastically changed. Israel is losing soldiers so they're trying to pressurise in different ways like striking civilian areas to force Hezbollah to budge and give up.

Can you unpack the strategies and the games underlying the tit-for-tat exchanges between Iran, its proxies and Israel and the US?

So for Iran, I do think the strikes have been effective as they have been able to show they can destroy important military structures in Israel and their main goal to the opponent, especially the US, is to send a message: Israel should not make it bigger than it is. In terms of their own strategy, since the current regime is fortified by the US from all directions, they do everything to not be attacked. On the other hand, the sole goal of Hezbollah, a guerilla organisation—which is obviously a lot weaker than Israel—is to disrupt Israel's security and make Israel accept a ceasefire in Gaza. Israel is playing a completely different game though. They killed Haniyeh, who was the negotiator for Hamas, and Nasrallah, a moderate and pragmatic person for the resistance, which means Israel is aiming to eliminate the resistance completely because they're not willing to negotiate at all. The Palestinian cause and sovereignty of Lebanon for example does not exist to Israel. If there is a Palestinian cause, Israel wants to decide how it's going to be. The sovereignty of Lebanon, for Israel, is something they can decide the terms of. So for example if Israel takes down Hezbollah—which they can't but let's just hypothetically say they do—then they will take over the south of Lebanon to just colonise the place and that way, they don't lose this opportunity. But if Hezbollah stays, then Israel has to recognise that Lebanon has a national interest, the people have rights and Israel would have to compromise. We are very far from that scenario now because Israel's strategy is to completely eliminate the opponent and force Iran to stop funding the resistance to Israel. But the Iranian strategy on the other hand is to continue funding the axis of resistance, because it's Iran's only way of having power in the region and fending off threats to its national security from a political pragmatic point of view. After the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and Arab states' normalising with Israel, the only option that Iran really has is to keep pursuing these bridges and make allies in order to survive. But Iran's position in the region is defensive to protect its position.

Israel's strategy at the moment is really not sustainable and there's also the internal politics of Netanyahu dragging this on to continue being the Prime Minister and not go to prison. The US, on the other hand, has quietly profited off of this situation because they've always locked heads with Iran. In many ways, it's not in the US interest to directly confront Iran but if a major retaliatory strike happens from the US and Israel, it would be because the US has weighed that a confrontation will not be as damaging but rather draw a theatrical strike from Iran to save face. In other words, this is a zero-sum game. In the long term Israel's elimination strategy will not work because resistance will happen again—someone else will come and they may well be a lot angrier. What Israel and the US have to accept at some point is that in the long term this Zionist project, and apartheid regime cannot continue—which is really what the conflict is all about.

What do you think is the solution to this ongoing conflict in the long term but also, what is the short term solution to achieve that long term solution?

In the long term, I think the only solution is the one state solution—one state that is pluralistic where Muslims, Jews, Christians and just people from all religions live together and there's no stolen land or settlements and where everyone can strive for equality. In the short term, we are obviously very far from this because Israel has the whole world behind them, supporting them, and powerful countries like the US unilaterally funding them to do the opposite. They have the full power and license to defend itself as a Jewish state so as long as that's the rationale, this conflict will continue. The resistance, a force that comes from within to challenge the colonial power to stop it from killing and killing thinking that they can just eliminate the opponent, will continue to just get bigger and bigger. This is exactly what happened in South Africa and Vietnam. You can kill people, but there will always be another generation that's what they will have to get. So say Israel destroys Hamas—which they can't—but there will always be another Hamas or Islamic Jihad and so on. Let's not forget, first it was the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and now it's Hamas, so the cycle has continued and it will continue as long as this structural problem continues. Zionism is the satellite of imperialism, the last experiment of modern day colonialism—first it was by the British and then now it's in the hands of the US—and there will be a time that it will just have to end.​

 

[Saif]

The perfect victim

A FEW weeks ago, I had a meeting with a group of scholars and activists, among whom a few were Palestinians. In the middle of our conversation, someone pointed out that the Palestinians within...

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The perfect victim
by Raudah Yunus 17 October, 2024, 00:00

An aerial photo show heavily damaged buildings after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City in October 2023. | Agence France-Presse/Belal al Sabbagh

A FEW weeks ago, I had a meeting with a group of scholars and activists, among whom a few were Palestinians. In the middle of our conversation, someone pointed out that the Palestinians within the circle had caused great discomfort among some people. They were perceived as too loud and combative, and that their aggressive approach would damage the relationships within the institution instead of bridging them.

One Palestinian activist quickly seized the opportunity and bravely announced:

‘I am tired of having to be polite when speaking about the pain and suffering of my people. I am tired of being told not to be rude, or speak too loudly, when making demands that are completely reasonable for my people. We Palestinians are always expected to behave in a certain way that is deemed appropriate; I have decided that it’s okay NOT to be the perfect victim.’

In another encounter, a pro-Palestinian activist friend had his language corrected because the word he used to describe the Zionist movement was regarded as too harsh. Interestingly, the discussion then quickly shifted to linguistic issues and what certain words could mean — and how and why they should or should not be used — when talking about the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

I could certainly say it was a waste of time and opportunity, and perhaps a deliberate attempt to distract the public attention from the real issue of Israeli occupation and genocide in Palestine to petty issues of language and terminology.

To put it differently, we the victims need to be extremely careful when describing the aggressor; our language must be one that appeases them, is soothing to their ear, and does not cause them discomfort. After all, the big bully has a sensitive heart! Alas, the same rule does not apply to the victim!

The term ‘perfect victim’ refers to an idealised portrayal of a victim who embodies traits that elicit maximum sympathy from others, often characterised by innocence, passivity, and a lack of flaws or aggressive responses. In this framework, victims are expected to respond to their suffering with the utmost restraint, dignity, and forgiveness. Only then can their pain and cause gain legitimacy. A perfect (Palestinian) victim is one that is always patient, smiling, polite, grateful, and optimistic of a better future. They don’t scream, swear, or yell in anger. Nor do they demand retribution or rally on the street.

When they (Palestinians) speak — if they are ever allowed to — they must first start with ‘condemning Hamas’. Ah, the magic words! Only by condemning Hamas can their plight and grievances be validated. This norm places an unfair burden on Palestinians because their legitimacy as victims hinges on their disavowal of any resistance. Such a demand simplifies the complex political landscape and reduces their narratives to mere compliance with external expectations.

The ‘perfect victim’ oddity reinforces the idea that the Palestinian suffering is only valid if they conform to specific viewpoints that align with dominant narratives, effectively silencing their calls for justice and self-determination. This pressure to condemn Hamas diverts public attention from the systemic issues they face, making it difficult for them to advocate for their rights without being judged or dismissed based on their relationship to other political entities.

Other than that, the expectation for Palestinians to embody the ‘perfect victim’ creates a simplistic and one-dimensional narrative. This archetype demands that they respond to violence and oppression with composure, dignity, and calmness, thereby erasing the complexity of their emotions and distorting the reality of their experiences. It simplifies their struggles, framing them in a way that fits into a predetermined narrative of victimhood to be easily and comfortably consumed by outside audiences. This not only invalidates their diverse perspectives but also undermines the urgency of their calls for justice and self-determination. The pressure to conform to this standard suppresses genuine expressions of anger and resistance, which are essential components of their fight for freedom.

The ‘perfect victim’ phenomenon is a form of bias that is often not imposed on other groups facing similar circumstances. For instance, in conflicts around the world, marginalised populations are frequently recognised for their resilience and right to voice dissent, while their struggles are framed within a broader context of justice and self-determination. In contrast, Palestinians are held to a standard that demands unrealistic composure and silence in the face of violence and oppression.

This double standard not only perpetuates harmful stereotypes but also delegitimises their experiences, suggesting that their grievances are less valid or less worthy of empathy. In addition, it reinforces a narrative that undermines their humanity, while other groups are afforded the complexity and nuance of their struggles.

For instance, many indigenous groups around the world, such as Native Americans in the United States or First Nations in Canada, have historically faced violence, displacement, and cultural erasure. Their movements for land rights, sovereignty, and cultural preservation are often supported, and their anger and resistance are celebrated and recognised as a sign of pain and trauma inflicted upon them.

Similarly, in our contemporary time, pro-Ukraine activists are encouraged to voice their grievances passionately, demand the cessation of war, and speak out against the Russian invasion. There is no need for sugarcoating, nor are they required to condemn any party among themselves first and foremost. Their expressions of anger are often seen as justified responses to oppression that deserve instant solidarity and support.

This stands in stark contrast to the way Palestinian expressions of dissent are received; Palestinian advocates are often times labelled as hostile or confrontational at best and extremist at worst. They are frequently viewed only through the lens of victimhood.

Harkening back to the two anecdotes I shared earlier, it is our duty to dismantle the ‘perfect victim’ mentality wherever it manifests. When someone tells you or a pro-Palestinian friend to tone down, behave better, or adopt greater diplomacy, know that it is mostly likely just another ploy to silence legitimate voices by patronising the nature of response ‘allowed’ for the victim. What it does is shift the focus to the victim’s demeanour instead of centring the conversation on the actual issue.

Likewise, the next time someone tells you or a pro-Palestinian friend to use more polite expressions — or start criticising your choice of words — know that this is another lame tactic of distraction. Fearing to address the elephant in the room, they want to drag you into arguments on language use and terminologies that will eventually drain your energy and time.

If someone asks you to ‘condemn Hamas’ before anything else, know that this is a form of bullying and intimidation. The aim is to discredit you and ‘change the agenda’ by imposing the unacceptability of any forms of resistance before the victim is considered worth listening to.

It is completely okay not to be the perfect victim. In fact, there is no such thing.

Raudah M Yunus is a writer, researcher and social activist. She is pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin, USA.​

 

[Saif]

Israel military confirms killing of Hamas chief Sinwar

The Israeli military on Thursday announced the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by its forces in southern Gaza the previous day

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Israel military confirms killing of Hamas chief Sinwar

Yahya Sinwar. Photo: AFP/File

The Israeli military on Thursday announced the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by its forces in southern Gaza the previous day.

The Israeli military "confirms that after a year-long pursuit, yesterday (Wednesday), October 16, 2024, IDF (military) soldiers from the Southern Command eliminated Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist organisation, in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip," it said in a statement.

"The dozens of operations carried out by the IDF and the ISA (Shin Bet internal security agency) over the last year, and in recent weeks in the area where he was eliminated, restricted Yahya Sinwar's operational movement as he was pursued by the forces and led to his elimination," the military added.

"IDF soldiers of the 828th Brigade (Bislach) operating in the area identified and eliminated three terrorists. After completing the process of identifying the body, it can be confirmed that Yahya Sinwar was eliminated".

Israel accuses Sinwar, 61, of being the mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war, along with Hamas's military chief Mohammed Deif.

The Israeli military has said Deif was killed in a strike earlier this year though the Palestinian group has not confirmed it.

Sinwar in August replaced Hamas's former chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran on July 31. Israel has not commented on Haniyeh's death.

The Hamas attack last year resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people on Israeli soil, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed 42,438 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN acknowledges the figures to be reliable.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli strike on Jabalia shelter kills at least 28

At least 28 Palestinians including children were killed yesterday in an Israeli strike on a shelter in the northern Gaza Strip, a Gaza health ministry official said, while Israel said the attack targeted tens of militants at the site.

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Israeli strike on Jabalia shelter kills at least 28

At least 28 Palestinians including children were killed yesterday in an Israeli strike on a shelter in the northern Gaza Strip, a Gaza health ministry official said, while Israel said the attack targeted tens of militants at the site.

Dozens were also injured in the strike, said the official, Medhat Abbas, adding: "There is no water to extinguish the fire. There is nothing. This is a massacre."

"Civilians and children are being killed, burned under fire," said Abbas.

The Israeli military said in a statement the strike targeted militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups, who operated from within the Abu Hussein School in Jabalia that had been serving as a shelter for displaced people.

It said dozens of militants were present inside the compound when the strike took place, and provided the names of at least 12 of them, which Reuters could not immediately verify.

The military said it took precautions to mitigate harm to civilians and accused Hamas of using them as human shields - a practice Hamas denies.

Hamas said in a statement that allegations there were fighters at the school were "nothing but lies", adding this was "a systematic policy of the enemy to justify its crime."

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office put the number of dead at the school at 28. It said 160 people were wounded in the attack.

Earlier, Palestinian health officials said at least 11 Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli strikes in Gaza City, while several others were killed in central and southern Gaza areas.

Footage circulated by Palestinian media of the Abu Hussein School and which Reuters couldn't immediately verify, showed smoke coming from tents that caught fire, as many displaced people evacuated casualties including children to ambulances.

Residents of Jabalia, in northern Gaza, said Israeli forces blew up clusters of houses firing from the air, from tanks and by placing bombs in buildings then detonating them remotely.

The area has been a focus for the Israeli military for the past two weeks, which says it is trying to stop Hamas fighters from regrouping for more attacks.

Residents said Israeli forces had effectively isolated Beit Hanoun, Jabalia, and Beit Lahiya in the far north of the enclave from Gaza City, blocking movement except for those families heeding evacuation orders and leaving the three towns.

"We have written our death notes, and we are not leaving Jabalia," one resident told Reuters via a chat app.

"The occupation (Israel) is punishing us for not leaving our houses in the early days of the war, and we are not going now either. They are blowing up houses, and roads, and are starving us but we die once and we don't lose our pride," the father of four said, refusing to give his name, fearing Israeli reprisal.

The Israeli military said on Thursday that it seized many weapons in the area, some of which were stashed in a school, and that its forces have killed dozens of militants in airstrikes and combat at close quarters, as troops try to root out Hamas forces operating in the rubble.

Northern Gaza, which had been home to well over half the territory's 2.3 million people, was bombed to rubble in the first phase of Israel's assault on the territory a year ago, after the Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel by Hamas-led fighters, who killed 1,200 people and captured 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel's offensive so far, according to Gaza's health authorities.

The United States has told Israel that it must take steps to improve the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza in 30 days or face potential restrictions on military aid.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss expanding humanitarian aid to Gaza, officials said, with aid likely to increase soon.

ACCESS FOR AID

The U.N. has long complained of obstacles to getting aid into Gaza and distributing it throughout the war zone, blaming impediments on Israel and lawlessness. The U.N. said no food aid entered northern Gaza between Oct. 2 and Oct. 15.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military unit that oversees aid and commercial shipments said 50 trucks entered northern Gaza.

Ismail Al-Thawabta, the director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, said Israeli comments about allowing aid into the enclave were misleading.

He said the Israeli military has maintained a comprehensive siege on the far north of Gaza for 170 consecutive days, closing all humanitarian access points. He said 342 people had been killed in the Israeli assault over the last 10 days.

Israel says that its evacuation orders have been issued to ensure people's safety and separate them from militants and denies they are part of a systematic clearance plan.​

 

[Saif]

3,45,000 Gazans face ‘catastrophic’ hunger this winter

Some 3,45,000 Gazans face ‘catastrophic’ levels of hunger this winter after aid deliveries fell, a UN-backed assessment said Thursday, warning of the persistent risk of...

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3,45,000 Gazans face ‘catastrophic’ hunger this winter
Agence France-Presse . Rome 17 October, 2024, 22:22

A displaced Palestinian boy carries a pot full of food, offered by a charity, in Gaza’s Al-Shati refugee camp on Thursday, amid the on-going war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the besieged Palestinian territory. | AFP photo

Some 3,45,000 Gazans face ‘catastrophic’ levels of hunger this winter after aid deliveries fell, a UN-backed assessment said Thursday, warning of the persistent risk of famine across the Palestinian territory.

This is up from the 1,33,000 people currently categorised as experiencing ‘catastrophic food insecurity’, according to a classification compiled by UN agencies and NGOs.

A surge in humanitarian assistance this summer had brought some relief to Gazans, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report said, but September saw the lowest volume of commercial and humanitarian supplies entering Gaza since March.

As a result, it projected that the number of people experiencing catastrophic food insecurity — IPC Phase 5 — between November 2024 and April 2025 to reach 345,000, or 16 per cent of the population.

The recent ‘sharp decline’ in aid ‘will profoundly limit the ability of families to feed themselves and access essential goods and services in the coming months, unless reversed’, the report said.

The United States warned Israel on Tuesday that it could withhold some of its billions of dollars in military assistance unless it improves aid delivery to the Gaza Strip within 30 days.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, also warned Wednesday of the risk of famine in the territory, where vast areas have been devastated by Israel’s retaliatory assault launched after the October 7 attack last year by Hamas.

‘The risk of famine between November 2024 and April 2025 persists as long as conflict continues, and humanitarian access is restricted,’ the IPC report said.

‘The extreme concentration of population in an ever-shrinking area, living in improvised shelters with intermittent access to humanitarian supplies and services, elevates the risk of epidemic outbreaks and deterioration into a catastrophe of unprecedented magnitude.

Intensified Israeli attacks and fresh evacuation orders were ‘already increasing the likelihood of this worst-case scenario occurring’, the report added.

An estimated 60,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children aged between six months and four years old are expected between November and April.

‘To curb acute hunger and malnutrition, we must act now,’ said Beth Bechdol, deputy director-general of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

She said it was necessary to ‘immediately cease hostilities, restore humanitarian access to deliver critical and essential food aid and agricultural inputs in time for the upcoming winter crop planting season... to allow them to grow food’.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, had said Wednesday that a lack of aid was not the problem, blaming Hamas for hijacking and stealing deliveries.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza ‘hell on Earth’ for one million children

The one million children in Gaza are living a ‘hell on Earth’, the UN said on Friday, with around 40 children having been killed there every day over the past year.

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Gaza ‘hell on Earth’ for one million children
Agence France-Presse . Geneva 18 October, 2024, 22:19

| AFP file photo

The one million children in Gaza are living a ‘hell on Earth’, the UN said on Friday, with around 40 children having been killed there every day over the past year.

More than a year into Israel’s war against Hamas in the besieged Palestinian territory ‘children continue to suffer unspeakable daily harm’, said James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF.

‘Gaza is the real-world embodiment of hell on Earth for its one million children,’ he told reporters in Geneva. ‘And it’s getting worse, day by day.’

Since Hamas’s deadly October 7 attack inside Israel, which sparked the war, ‘conservative’ estimates put the death toll among children in Gaza at over 14,100, Elder said.

That means that ‘on a conservative measure, around 35 to 40 girls and boys are killed every day in Gaza, since October 7’, he said.

Elder said the numbers — provided by authorities in Hamas-run Gaza, who put the total death toll at over 42,400 — were unfortunately trustworthy.

‘There are many, many more under the rubble,’ he added.

And those who have survived the daily airstrikes and military operations have often faced harrowing conditions, he said. Children were being repeatedly displaced by violence and frequent evacuation orders even as ‘deprivation grips all of Gaza’.

‘Where would children and their families go? They are not safe in schools and shelters. They are not safe in hospitals. And they are certainly not safe in overcrowded camp sites,’ he said.

Elder described the experience of a seven-year-old girl named Qamar, who was struck in the foot during an attack on Jabaliya camp in northern Gaza.

Taken to a hospital that was then placed under a 20-day siege, she could not be moved or get the treatment she needed for her growing infection, and her leg was amputated.

‘In any vaguely normal situation, this little girl’s leg would never have needed to be amputated,’ said Elder.

Faced with fresh evacuation orders from Israel, the girl, her mother and her sister, who was also injured, were forced to move south, on foot.

‘They now live in a ripped tent, surrounded by stagnant water,’ Elder said, adding that Qamar was ‘of course deeply traumatised’, and without access to prosthetics.

UNICEF had already warned that Gaza had become ‘a graveyard for thousands of children’ a year ago, he said.

Last December, the agency had declared Gaza ‘the most dangerous place in the world to be a child’.

‘Day after day, for more than a year now, that brutal evidence-based reality is reinforced,’ Elder added, describing a feeling of ‘deja vu, but with even darker shadows’.

‘If this level of horror doesn’t stir our humanity and drive us to act, then whatever will?’​

 

[Saif]

Sinwar death brings no respite for Gazans

The killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar brought no respite for Palestinians in Gaza, as Israeli air strikes and shelling continued unabated in the territory already devastated by...

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Sinwar death brings no respite for Gazans
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 18 October, 2024, 22:25

A young Palestinian girl holds up a portrait of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during a rally in Ramallah, in the occupied-West Bank on Friday. | AFP photo

The killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar brought no respite for Palestinians in Gaza, as Israeli air strikes and shelling continued unabated in the territory already devastated by more than a year of war.

Despite repeated vows that eliminating Sinwar was a key war aim for Israel, raids continued in the besieged enclave in the hours after Israel announced the death of the militant leader they have long accused of masterminding the October 7 attacks last year.

Following a strike at dawn, Gaza’s civil defence agency said rescuers recovered the bodies of three Palestinian children from the rubble of their home in the north of the territory.

‘We always thought that when this moment arrived the war would end and our lives would return to normal,’ Jemaa Abou Mendi, a 21-year-old Gaza resident, said.

‘But unfortunately, the reality on the ground is quite the opposite. The war has not stopped, and the killings continue unabated.’

Large swathes of northern Gaza remained under siege by Israeli forces, with road closures preventing the delivery of supplies to the area — despite warnings from the United States that failure to end the blockade could trigger a reduction in arms deliveries to Israel.

‘While we hear that delivery of aid will increase, people in Gaza are not feeling any difference,’ Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, wrote on X.

‘They continue to be trapped, hungry and sick often under heavy bombardment.’

As news of the death of Sinwar sunk in, many in Gaza saw little reason for the Israeli army to press on with its war in the territory.

‘If Sinwar’s assassination was one of the objectives of this war, well, today they have killed Yahya Sinwar,’ said Mustafa Al-Zaeem, a 47-year-old resident from the Rimal neighbourhood in western Gaza City.

‘Enough death, enough hunger, enough siege. Enough thirst and starvation, enough bodies and blood.’

Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures that includes hostages killed in captivity.

Militants also took 251 people hostage during the attack. Ninety-seven remain in Gaza, including 34 who Israeli officials say are dead.

Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas and bring back the hostages has killed 42,500 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures which the UN considers reliable.

US president Joe Biden said on Friday he impressed on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a conversation to ‘also make this moment an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in Gaza without Hamas’.

Pressure has also been mounting in Israel to leverage the killing of Sinwar into a tangible plan to secure the release of the remaining hostages held captive in Gaza.

Israeli president Isaac Herzog and Netanyahu met on Friday to discuss the aftermath of Sinwar’s death, including the hostages.

A statement released by the presidency said that ‘a significant window of opportunity opened — including the promotion of the return of the hostages and the elimination of Hamas’.

Late Thursday, Netanyahu vowed that those who helped free the hostage in Gaza would be spared.

‘Whoever lays down his weapon and returns our hostages — we will allow him to go on living,’ he said.

But in Gaza, some remained sceptical over the fate of the hostages and what any deal would entail for their future.

‘Today, Israel is lost and will be searching for the hostages,’ said Zaeem.

Others saw little reason to trust Netanyahu and only feared more war.

‘What we see is that Netanyahu’s focus is on Gaza — on killing, destruction, and eradication, as the bombings and massacres continue across Gaza,’ said Mohammad Al-Omari, a 32-year-old from Al-Fakhura in northern Gaza.

‘What we fear most is the continuation of this cursed war.’​

 

[Saif]

Hamas mourns Sinwar, vows no hostage release

Hamas vowed on Friday it would not release the hostages it seized during its October 7 attack on Israel until the Gaza war ends, as it mourned the death of its leader, Yahya Sinwar.

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Hamas mourns Sinwar, vows no hostage release
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 19 October, 2024, 00:55

A young Palestinian boy holds up a portrait of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during a rally in Ramallah, in the Occupied-West Bank on Friday. | AFP photo

Hamas vowed on Friday it would not release the hostages it seized during its October 7 attack on Israel until the Gaza war ends, as it mourned the death of its leader, Yahya Sinwar.

‘We mourn the great leader, the martyred brother, Yahya Sinwar, Abu Ibrahim,’ Qatar-based Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said in a recorded video statement.

The hostages ‘will not return unless the aggression against our people in Gaza stops, there is a complete withdrawal from it, and our heroic prisoners are released from the occupation’s prisons,’ he added.

Hamas’s confirmation of the death of Sinwar, the mastermind of the deadliest attack in Israeli history, came a day after Israel dealt a massive blow to the group with the announcement of his death.

Hamas sparked the year-long war in Gaza by staging the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

During the attack, militants took 251 people hostage back into Gaza. Ninety-seven remain there, including 34 who Israeli officials say are dead.

Chief of Hamas in Gaza at the time of the attack, Sinwar became the militant group’s overall leader after the killing in July of its political chief, Ismail Haniyeh.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Sinwar’s killing an ‘important landmark in the decline of the evil rule of Hamas’, adding that while it did not spell the end of the war, it was ‘the beginning of the end’.

In Gaza, there was little hope Sinwar’s killing would bring an end to the war.

‘We always thought that when this moment arrived the war would end and our lives would return to

normal,’ Jemaa Abou Mendi, a 21-year-old Gaza resident, said.

‘But unfortunately, the reality on the ground is quite the opposite. The war has not stopped, and the killings continue unabated.’

Israel conducted air strikes on Gaza on Friday, with several raids overnight and early morning pummelling the territory, according to an AFP journalist on the ground.

According to Gaza’s civil defence agency, rescuers recovered the bodies of three Palestinian children from the rubble of their home in the north of the territory after it was hit at dawn.

The Israeli military said it was pressing its operation in Jabalia, one of the focuses of the fighting in recent weeks, and where strikes on Thursday killed at least 14 people, according to two hospitals.

A UN-backed assessment has found some 3,45,000 Gazans face ‘catastrophic’ levels of hunger this winter.

Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas and bring back the hostages seized by militants has killed 42,500 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures which the UN considers reliable.

With the civilian toll in Gaza mounting, Israel has faced criticism over its conduct of the war, including from the United States.

Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi vowed to keep fighting ‘until we capture all the terrorists involved in the October 7 massacre and bring all the hostages home’.

Some Israelis hailed the news of Sinwar’s death as a sign of better things to come.

Attending a Tel Aviv rally demanding the hostages’ release, 60-year-old Sisil, who gave only her first name, said his killing presented a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ for ‘a hostage deal to end the war’.

US president Joe Biden, whose government is Israel’s top arms provider, said Sinwar’s death was a ‘moment of justice’ and ‘an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in Gaza without Hamas’.

Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum urged the Israeli government and international mediators to leverage ‘this major achievement to secure hostages’ return’.

According to a statement from Netanyahu’s office, Biden called to congratulate him on Sinwar’s killing, with the two leaders vowing to seize ‘an opportunity to promote the release of the hostages’.

With Hamas already weakened more than a year into the Gaza war, Sinwar’s death deals an immense blow to the organisation, but whether it will trigger a shift in its own strategy is unclear.

It is also unclear whether his successor will be named in Qatar, where Hamas’s political leadership has long been based, or in Gaza, the focus of the fighting.

The Israeli military said Sinwar was killed in a firefight in southern Gaza’s Rafah, near the Egyptian border, while being tracked by a drone.

It released drone footage of what it said was Sinwar’s final moments, with the video showing a wounded militant throwing an object at the drone.

Israel is also fighting a war in Lebanon, where Hamas ally Hezbollah opened a front by launching cross-border strikes that forced tens of thousands of Israelis to flee their homes.

Hezbollah said Thursday it was launching a new phase in its war against Israel, and that it had used precision-guided missiles against troops for the first time.

The war since late September has left at least 1,418 people dead in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.

The Israeli military has announced the deaths of 19 soldiers in combat in southern Lebanon.

The war has also drawn in other Iran-aligned armed groups, including in Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

Iran on October 1 conducted a missile strike on Israel, for which Israel has vowed to retaliate.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday said Sinwar will remain an inspiration for militants fighting Israel across the region.

‘His fate — beautifully pictured in his last image — is not a deterrent but a source of inspiration for resistance fighters across the region, Palestinian and non-Palestinian,’ Araghchi said on X.

Hezbollah and Yemen’s Huthi rebels both mourned the death of Sinwar, vowing continued support for their Palestinian ally Hamas.​

 

[Saif]

UN expert accuses West of gagging speech over Gaza

Protest crackdowns, banned marches, media workers at risk -- a UN expert on Friday accused Western nations and Israel of freedom of speech violations in the year since the Gaza war broke out.

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UN expert accuses West of gagging speech over Gaza
Agence France-Presse . United Nations 19 October, 2024, 22:44

Protest crackdowns, banned marches, media workers at risk -- a UN expert on Friday accused Western nations and Israel of freedom of speech violations in the year since the Gaza war broke out.

‘No conflict in recent times has threatened freedom of expression so seriously or so far beyond its borders than Gaza,’ UN special rapporteur Irene Khan told reporters as she presented her report, ‘Global threats to freedom of expression arising from the conflict in Gaza.’

The Bangladeshi human rights lawyer, who has been the special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression since 2020, notably cited crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests in Western democracies in the early months of the war.

On US university campuses, protests were ‘harshly’ repressed, she said, alluding to the use of riot police to dislodge encampments.

In Europe, she noted that Germany had imposed a ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations last October, with some restrictions still in place on such protests in various Germans regions, but ‘never on any pro-Israeli’ rallies.

‘There have been all sorts of other restrictions also made in terms of slogans or scarves and so on,’ she said.

France attempted a similar blanket ban last year but was stymied by courts, and now makes assessments on a case-by-case basis, she said, noting Belgium and Canada have similar approaches.

She also pointed to ‘targeted assassinations of journalists’ in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

‘We all know the deliberate killing of a journalist is a war crime,’ she said, lamenting the ‘impunity’ with which such deaths have been met in the recent conflict and years prior.

The killing of journalists, destruction of press facilities, denying access to international media, banning Al Jazeera, and other actions by Israel, ‘seem to indicate the strategy of the Israeli authorities to silence critical journalism and obstruct documentation of possible international crimes,’ she said.

Hamas sparked the war in Gaza by staging the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

During the attack, militants took 251 hostages back into Gaza. Ninety-seven remain there, including 34 who Israeli officials say are dead.

Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas and bring back the hostages has killed 42,500 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures which the UN considers reliable.​

 

[Saif]

Israel drops leaflets over Gaza showing Sinwar's body and message to Hamas

Israeli planes dropped leaflets over southern Gaza on Saturday showing a picture of the dead Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar with the message that "Hamas will no longer rule Gaza", echoing language used by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The move came as Israeli military strikes killed at leas

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Israel drops leaflets over Gaza showing Sinwar's body and message to Hamas
REUTERS
Published :
Oct 19, 2024 22:32
Updated :
Oct 19, 2024 22:32

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Al Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, October 19, 2024. Photo : REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Israeli planes dropped leaflets over southern Gaza on Saturday showing a picture of the dead Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar with the message that "Hamas will no longer rule Gaza", echoing language used by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The move came as Israeli military strikes killed at least 32 people across the Gaza Strip and tightened a siege around hospitals in Jabalia in the north of the enclave, Palestinian health officials said.

“Whoever drops the weapon and hands over the hostages will be allowed to leave and live in peace," the leaflet, written in Arabic, read, according to residents of the southern city of Khan Younis and images circulating online.

The leaflet's wording was from a statement by Netanyahu on Thursday after Sinwar was killed by Israeli soldiers operating in Rafah, in the south near the Egyptian border, on Wednesday.

The Oct 7 attack Sinwar planned on Israeli communities a year ago killed around 1,200 people, with another 253 dragged back to Gaza as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent war has devastated Gaza, killing more than 42,500 Palestinians, with another 10,000 uncounted dead thought to lie under the rubble, Gaza health authorities say.

In the central Gaza Strip camp of Al-Maghzai, an Israeli strike on a house killed 11 people, while another strike at the nearby camp of Nuseirat killed four others.

Five other people were killed in two separate strikes in the south Gaza cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, medics said, while seven Palestinians were killed in the Shati camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

Late on Friday, medics said 33 people, mostly women and children, were killed and 85 others were wounded in Israeli strikes that destroyed at least three houses in Jabalia.

The Israeli military said it was unaware of that incident.

It said forces were continuing operations against Hamas across the enclave, killing several gunmen in Rafah and Jabalia and dismantling military infrastructure. Palestinian medics said five people were killed in Jabalia on Saturday.

EVACUATION ORDERS

Residents and medics said Israeli forces had tightened their siege on Jabalia, the largest of the enclave's eight historic camps, which it encircled by also sending tanks to nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and issuing evacuation orders to residents.

Israeli officials said evacuation orders were aimed at separating Hamas fighters from civilians and denied that there was any systematic plan to clear civilians out of Jabalia or other northern areas.

Residents and medical officials said Israeli forces were bombing houses and besieging hospitals, preventing medical and food supplies from entering to force them to leave the camp.

Health officials said they refused orders by the Israeli army to evacuate the hospital or leave the patients, many in a critical condition, unattended.

"The Israeli occupation is intensifying its targeting of the health system in the northern Gaza Strip, by besieging and directly targeting the Indonesian Hospital, Kamal Adwan Hospital, and Al-Awda Hospital during the past hours and its insistence on putting them out of service," the Gaza health ministry said.

It said two patients in intensive care at the Indonesian Hospital died "as a result of the hospital's siege and the power outage and medical supplies".

Israel's military said the troops operating in the area had been "briefed on the importance of mitigating harm to civilians and medical infrastructure".

"It is emphasized that the hospital continues to operate without disruption and in full capacity, and there was no intentional fire directed at it," it said.​

 

[Saif]

At least 73 killed in Israel strike in Gaza

An Israeli air strike on a residential area killed at least 73 Palestinians in Beit Lahia in the territory's north. Israel said it struck a "Hamas terror target".

en.prothomalo.com

At least 73 killed in Israel strike in Gaza
AFP
Gaza Strip, Palestine
Published: 20 Oct 2024, 09: 03

Displaced Palestinians, ordered by the Israeli army to leave the school in Beit Lahia where they were sheltered, arrive in Gaza City on 19 October, 2024. AFP

Gaza's civil defence agency said Sunday that an Israeli air strike on a residential area killed at least 73 Palestinians in Beit Lahia in the territory's north. Israel said it struck a "Hamas terror target".

"Our civil defence crews recovered 73 martyrs and a large number of wounded as a result of the Israeli air force targeting a residential area... in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza," Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency told AFP.

"There are still martyrs under the rubble," he added.

Bassal said residences of several families had been hit in the strike, which happened late on Saturday.

Gaza government media office confirmed the toll, saying the dead included women and children as the strike had hit a "densely populated residential area".

Israel's military disputed the toll figure given by Gaza authorities.

It said its initial examination indicated that the numbers "do not align with the information held by the IDF (army), the precise munitions used, and the accuracy of the strike on a Hamas terror target".

It did not offer other details as to who the target of the strike was.

Israel, vowing to stop Hamas militants from regrouping in northern Gaza, launched a major air and ground assault on October 6, tightening its siege on the war-battered area and sending tens of thousands of people fleeing.

Prior to the latest strike, the operation had already killed more than 400 people in north Gaza, Bassal told AFP earlier on Saturday.​

 

[Saif]

WHO to evacuate 1,000 Gazan women, children

Up to 1,000 women and children needing medical care will shortly be evacuated from Gaza to Europe, the head of the World Health Organization’s Europe branch said in comments published yesterday.

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WHO to evacuate 1,000 Gazan women, children

Up to 1,000 women and children needing medical care will shortly be evacuated from Gaza to Europe, the head of the World Health Organization's Europe branch said in comments published yesterday.

Israel, which is besieging the war-devastated Palestinian territory, "is committed to 1,000 more medical evacuations within the next months to the European Union," Hans Kluge said in an interview with AFP.

He said the evacuations would be facilitated by the WHO -- the United Nations' health agency -- and the European countries involved.

On Thursday, UN investigators said Israel was deliberately targeting health facilities in Gaza, and killing and torturing medical personnel there, accusing the country of "crimes against humanity".

Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, said in May that around 10,000 people needed evacuating from Gaza for urgent medical care.

The WHO Europe has already facilitated 600 medical evacuations from Gaza to seven European countries since the latest war began there in October 2023.

"This would never have happened if we did not keep the dialogue (open)," Kluge said.

"The same (is true) for Ukraine," he added. "I keep the dialogue (open) with all partners.

"Now, 15,000 HIV-AIDS patients in Donbas, the occupied territories (of Ukraine), are getting HIV-AIDS medications," the 55-year-old Belgian said in English, stressing the importance of "not politicising health".

"The most important medicine is peace," he said, noting that healthcare workers had to be allowed to do their jobs in conflict zones.

'OUTRAGE EVERY TIME'

Around 2,000 attacks have been registered on health centres in Ukraine since Russia's invasion in February 2022, according to the WHO

"There may be a kind of acceptance almost but this should cause outrage every single time," he said.

"We will always continue to condemn this in the strongest possible terms."

Kluge expressed concern ahead of Ukraine's third winter of war.

"Eighty percent of the civilian energy grid is damaged or destroyed. We saw it in the hospitals, surgeons operating with a lamp on their heads," he said.

"It will be a very, very tough" winter.

Despite strains on Europe's healthcare systems, he said the 53 countries that make up the WHO European region -- which includes central Asian countries -- were able to come together to prepare for future pandemics.

"In Europe, we did our homework," he said.

GLOBAL PANDEMIC TREATY?

"What we need is a pandemic treaty globally, because even if we do our share, we're never going to stop bugs entering our continent."

A European strategy for pandemics is due to be presented on October 31.

At the same time, the WHO is urging its members to "manage and prepare for the next crisis, while ensuring continuation of essential basic health services" in order to avoid another "rupture" like that which occurred during the Covid pandemic.

Ensuring the security of national health care systems is crucial and should be a priority, he said.

"A minimum of 25 out of 53 countries during the past five years had at least one big health emergency event big enough to test the country's security," he said.

The pandemic has left its mark on Europeans, which Kluge hopes to erase during his next mandate.

"The Covid-19 pandemic set us back two years on non-communicable diseases," he said, requiring countries to double down on diagnosing and treating multidrug resistant tuberculosis, testing for uterus and cervical cancer, and vaccinations.

In addition, Kluge said he also wanted to address worrying trends, such as the health of young people and growing inequalities between men and women.

"It's very clear. We see that the lockdowns during Covid-19 led to a 25-percent increase in anxiety and depression orders," he lamented.

"Twenty-six percent of the women between 15 and 49 years in my region report, at least one time in their lifetime experienced intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence," he said.

Kluge has headed the WHO Europe since February 2020 and is expected to be re-elected at the end of October.​