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

[Sharma Ji]

Gaza is gone, brozuddins.

finito, khallas.

all that remains is driving people out, and then rebuilding moar ashkenaz settler houses and cities.

I'll go when its all ready, sit pool side at the Trump international there and drink a beer.

 

[Saif]

Fresh Israeli aggression on Gaza: Dhaka expresses 'strongest condemnation'

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today issued a press release in this regard

www.thedailystar.net

Fresh Israeli aggression on Gaza: Dhaka expresses 'strongest condemnation'

The government today expressed its strongest condemnation and profound concerns over the resumption of Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today issued a press release in this regard.

The newly restarted offensive has resulted in extensive loss of innocent civilian lives, including children and women, and the further deterioration of the already dire humanitarian situation in the region, the press release said.

The ministry stated that this renewed cycle of violence represents a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and a grievous disregard for established ceasefire agreements.

Bangladesh unequivocally denounces the Israeli occupation forces' continued indiscriminate airstrikes on densely populated civilian areas, which have exacerbated human suffering and inflicted devastating consequences upon the defenseless Palestinian population, the foreign ministry said in the press release.

Through this statement, the government of Bangladesh urged Israel to immediately cease all military operations, exercise maximum restraint, and respect its obligations under international humanitarian law.

Bangladesh further called upon the international community, particularly the United Nations, to take urgent and decisive measures to ensure the cessation of hostilities, protect civilian lives, and facilitate the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to the besieged people of Gaza.

In the press released, the ministry reaffirmed Bangladesh's unwavering support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, and the establishment of an independent and sovereign State of Palestine along the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Bangladesh government also drew attention to the necessity of resuming dialogue aimed at a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in the Middle East, which remains a cornerstone for ensuring regional and global stability.

Bangladesh called upon all parties to prioritise the path of diplomacy and peaceful means to end the senseless violence and suffering that continue to afflict the Palestinian people.

According to the press release, Bangladesh remains committed to working with the international community towards achieving a durable solution to the Palestinian question that is consistent with the principles of international law, United Nations resolutions, and the aspirations of the Palestinian people for peace, dignity, and justice.​

 

[Saif]

Enforce ceasefire in Gaza by any means

Israel has turned the word "ceasefire" into a farce.

www.thedailystar.net

Enforce ceasefire in Gaza by any means
World leaders must take action against Israel’s renewed offensive

VISUAL: STAR

Israel has turned the word "ceasefire" into a farce through its renewed airstrikes on Gaza on Tuesday, killing more than 400 Palestinians, most of them women, children, and the elderly. Its offensive, with a green light from the US, has literally buried the three-phased ceasefire truce announced on January 15 under piles of dead bodies across Gaza.

It is evident now that Israel never intended to honour the truce between itself and Hamas, negotiated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt in May 2024. The first phase of the truce, which began on January 19, ended on March 1. During these 42 days, Hamas released 25 living and eight deceased Israeli hostages, while Israel released about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees and allowed aid trucks into Gaza. However, Israel then refused to proceed to the second phase that called for a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the return of all remaining hostages by Hamas. Instead, it came up with a new plan. Reportedly, White House envoy Steve Witkoff advanced Israel's proposal to Hamas, offering to extend the first phase of the truce—requiring Hamas to release the remaining hostages—without any promise of Israeli troop withdrawal or a permanent ceasefire agreement.

This raises serious questions about Israel's intentions in ending the conflict, especially given its backtracking from the original agreement and its support for President Donald Trump's absurd plan to build a "Middle Eastern Riviera" in Gaza. What Israel is doing amounts to ethnic cleansing—a genocidal plan to create a Gaza without Gazans. After 15 months of relentless strikes that killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, Gazans returned to the rubble of their homes in mid-January, only to face even deadlier attacks now. And by giving Israel the nod for Tuesday's assault, the US has discarded whatever veil of humanitarian standards it once pretended to uphold.

Under these circumstances, countries that still believe in justice and humanity must not only condemn Israel's crimes but also take action to prevent further loss of lives, using whatever means necessary. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council must wake up and fulfil its mandate to maintain international peace—not as mere observers of an ongoing genocide, but by actively enforcing measures to stop it. We cannot allow a rogue state's refusal to honour a ceasefire agreement to become a death sentence for the Palestinians.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli military says it has begun new ground operation in Gaza

The Israeli military said on Wednesday its forces have resumed ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip, as a second day of airstrikes killed at least 20 Palestinians, according to local health workers. The operations have extended Israel’s control over the Netzarim Corridor,

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Israeli military says it has begun new ground operation in Gaza
REUTERS
Published :
Mar 19, 2025 22:02
Updated :
Mar 19, 2025 22:02

Palestinians make their way to flee their homes, after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for a number of neighborhoods, following heavy Israeli strikes, in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip March 19, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Abd Elhkeem Khaled

The Israeli military said on Wednesday its forces have resumed ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip, as a second day of airstrikes killed at least 20 Palestinians, according to local health workers.

The operations have extended Israel’s control over the Netzarim Corridor, which bisects Gaza, and were a “focused” manoeuvre aimed at creating a partial buffer zone between the north and the south of the enclave, the military said.

The renewed ground operations come a day after more than

400 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes in one of the deadliest days since the beginning of the conflict, shattering a ceasefire has largely held since January.

The United Nations said an Israeli airstrike had killed a foreign staffer and wounded five workers at the site of a U.N. headquarters in central Gaza City on Wednesday. But Israel denied the claim, saying it had hit a Hamas site, where it had detected preparations for firing into Israeli territory.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of the U.N. office for Project Services, said: “Israel knew that this was a U.N. premises, that people were living, staying and working there, it is a compound. It is a very well-known place.”

Israel said its onslaught was “just the beginning”.

Israel and Hamas accuse each other of breaching the truce, which had offered a respite for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents after 17 months of war that has reduced the enclave to rubble and forced most of its population to evacuate multiple times.

The Israeli campaign has killed more than 49,000 people in Gaza, Palestinian health authorities say, and caused a humanitarian crisis with shortages of food, fuel and water.

Israel has accused Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields. Hamas denies this and accuses Israel of indiscriminate bombings.

The war - the most devastating episode in decades of Israel- Palestinian conflict - was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which gunmen killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.​

 

[Saif]

Fleeing civilians fill Gaza roads

Long lines of fleeing civilians filled the roads of Gaza on Wednesday as Israel kept up its renewed bombardment of the territory for a second day despite a chorus of calls from foreign governments to preserve a fragile January ceasefire...

www.newagebd.net

Fleeing civilians fill Gaza roads
Agence France-Presse . Gaza City 19 March, 2025, 23:53

Palestinians leave Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip with their belongings, heading towards Gaza City following Israeli evacuation orders on Wednesday. | AFP photo

Long lines of fleeing civilians filled the roads of Gaza on Wednesday as Israel kept up its renewed bombardment of the territory for a second day despite a chorus of calls from foreign governments to preserve a fragile January ceasefire.

Thousands of protesters massed in Jerusalem, chanting slogans against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who they accuse of undermining democracy and resuming Gaza strikes without regard for hostages.

Protesters shouted ‘You are the head, and you’re to blame’ as well as ‘The blood is on your hands’ at the demonstration near parliament, the largest to take place in Jerusalem for months.

The demonstration was organised by anti-Netanyahu opposition groups protesting the premier’s move to sack Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet internal security agency.

The war death toll updated daily by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory showed an increase of 970 in the space of 48 hours, though AFP could not confirm how many of them were recorded as casualties from the strikes.

Families with young children fled northern Gaza for areas further south, fearing for their lives after Israel urged civilians to leave areas it described as ‘combat zones’.

A Hamas official said the group was open to talks on getting the ceasefire back on track but rejected Israeli demands to renegotiate the three-stage deal agreed with Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators.

‘Hamas has not closed the door on negotiations but we insist there is no need for new agreements,’ Taher al-Nunu said.

‘We have no conditions, but we demand that the occupation be compelled to immediately halt its aggression and war of extermination, and begin the second phase of negotiations.’

Negotiations have stalled over how to proceed with a ceasefire whose first phase expired in early March, with Israel and Hamas disagreeing on whether to move to a new phase intended to bring the war to an end.

Israel and the United States have sought to change the terms of the deal by extending stage one.

That would delay the start of phase two, which was meant to establish a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and was swiftly rejected by Hamas, which demanded full implementation of the original deal.

‘There is no need for new agreements in light of the existing agreement signed by all parties,’ Nunu said.

Israel and the United States have portrayed Hamas’s rejection of an extended stage one as a refusal to release more Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Netanyahu’s office said he ordered the renewed strikes on Gaza after ‘Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages’.

In a televised address late Tuesday, the premier said: ‘Hamas has already felt the strength of our arm in the past 24 hours. And I want to promise you — and them — this is only the beginning.’

The White House said Israel consulted US president Donald Trump’s administration before launching the strikes.

The intense Israeli bombardment sent a stream of new casualties to the few hospitals still functioning in Gaza and triggered fears of a return to full-blown war after two months of relative calm.

Two people, including a United Nations employee, were killed when a UN building in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, was hit, according to a UN source.

One of those killed was employed by the UN Office for Project Services, the source said.

According to a UN statement, ‘an explosive ordnance was dropped or fired at the infrastructure and detonated inside the building.

‘We don’t know at this stage what type it was airdrop weapons, artillery, rocket,’ the statement said.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory blamed Israel, while the Israeli military denied it had struck the UN compound in Deir el-Balah.

AFPTV footage showed UN vehicles and an ambulance transporting three men to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Two of them appeared to have leg injuries and a third had bandages on both arms and abdomen, with traces of blood on his chest.

Thousands of Israelis massed in Jerusalem on Wednesday, accusing Netanyahu of resuming strikes on Gaza without regard for the safety of the remaining hostages.

‘Many people here in Israel are so frustrated with the operation that began yesterday because it’s obvious it will not make Hamas more flexible and bring the release of hostages,’ said Palestinian affairs expert Michael Milshtein of Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Centre.

Governments in the Middle East, Europe and beyond called for the renewwwed hostilities to end.

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said Israel’s raids on Gaza ‘are shattering the tangible hopes of so many Israelis and Palestinians of an end to suffering on all sides’.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she told her Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar that the new strikes on Gaza were ‘unacceptable’.

Both Egypt and Qatar, which brokered the Gaza ceasefire alongside the United States, condemned Israel’s resort to military action.

Israel’s resumption of military operations in Gaza, after it already halted all humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza this month, drew an immediate political dividend for Netanyahu.

The far-right Otzma Yehudit party, which quit his ruling coalition in January in protest at the Gaza ceasefire, rejoined its ranks with its firebrand leader Itamar Ben Gvir again becoming national security minister.

The war began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 49,547 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry.

Of the 251 hostages seized during the attack, 58 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.​

 

[Saif]

Netanyahu bombing Gaza again to save political life

ISRAELI forces have killed more than 400 people in Gaza over the past 24 hours, including more than 100 children, according to Palestinian officials...

www.newagebd.net

Netanyahu bombing Gaza again to save political life
20 March, 2025, 00:00

People mourn victims of Israel’s bombardment in Gaza City on March 18, 2025. | Agence France-Presse/ Omar al-Qattaa

Israel’s resumption of war in the Palestinian enclave has nothing to do with the hostages. It is all about clinging to power, writes Ahmad Tibi

ISRAELI forces have killed more than 400 people in Gaza over the past 24 hours, including more than 100 children, according to Palestinian officials.

Men, women and children are paying with their lives for a war that is not about bringing back the Israeli hostages, but rather about the political survival of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel on March 17 resumed massive bombings of the Gaza Strip, a territory where two million Palestinians have been fasting for Ramadan under inhumane conditions of siege, including severe shortages of water and food.

The Israeli public is divided. Some support the onslaught, blindly believing it will bring the hostages home and exact revenge on Hamas. Others, primarily the families of the hostages, warn that Israel’s attacks on Gaza endanger their loved ones.

But despite the claims of Netanyahu and his government, this war has never been about rescuing the hostages.

Israel unilaterally violated the Gaza ceasefire after refusing to proceed to the second phase, which would have secured the release of all remaining hostages. Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected offers from Hamas for their release.

If his government had genuinely prioritised bringing the hostages home, a deal could have been reached long ago. But that would mean ending the war, without which Netanyahu’s coalition would collapse. The fighting has thus become a political tool, carried out under the pretext of security.

Political crisis

NETANYAHU’S resumption of bombing in Gaza indicates that he is willing to go to any lengths to preserve his rule.

It is no coincidence that the March 17th bombardment comes just before a key budget vote, with ultra-Orthodox lawmakers threatening to topple the government if a law excluding their community from conscription is not passed, and former national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir issuing ultimatums.

The resumption of the Gaza war also comes ahead of a massive planned demonstration in Jerusalem that threatens to expose the depth of Israel’s political crisis, and amid growing public calls for a state commission of inquiry into the failures that led to the Hamas attack on October 7 2023.

Netanyahu operates like Procrustes, the cruel figure from Greek mythology who forced his guests to fit into a bed that was never the right size — if they were too tall, he chopped off their legs; if they were too short, he stretched them until they broke. Anyone who came to him was forcibly ‘adjusted’ to the predetermined measurements.

He is willing to burn everything — innocent lives, Israeli societal cohesion, Middle Eastern stability — just to survive one more day in power.

This is precisely how Netanyahu acts. Rather than seeking realistic solutions, he forces reality to bend to his political needs.

Instead of ending the war with a negotiated deal, he is keeping Israel and the hostages trapped in an artificial framework of brutality and destruction. Instead of confronting his failures, he seeks to eliminate any political, military or public criticism.

For the sake of political survival, everything is permitted, from bombing Gaza’s civilian population, to destroying refugee camps in the occupied West Bank and displacing tens of thousands of people.

To cling to power, Netanyahu is willing to fire the Shin Bet chief for investigating the prime minister’s office; to dismantle the judicial system in an attempt to evade a criminal trial that could send him to prison; and to abandon the hostages, despite their families’ desperate pleas.

Cycle of revenge

A LARGE portion of Israeli society is not asking questions. Some blindly believe the endless stream of lies — that more bombings, and the killing of hundreds more civilians, will somehow make a hostage deal materialise. This cruel and futile cycle of revenge is leading Israel into moral and military decline.

This does not just reflect indifference to Palestinian lives. It is also indifference to the lives of the Israeli hostages. Most of the Israeli public does not demand explanations, nor ask why the government has forfeited opportunities to bring the hostages home.

The national media is also complicit. Instead of exposing these manipulations, journalists and commentators collaborate with Netanyahu, enabling him to engineer the public consciousness.

Netanyahu will go down in history as the primary culprit behind the nation’s greatest failure — the man who abandoned his citizens time and again, sabotaged every diplomatic initiative, and perpetuated an occupation that is the root of all evil.

His negligence has evolved into the repeated commission of war crimes, and yet still he continues.

Like Procrustes, Netanyahu is the one setting the rules and imposing them ruthlessly — and in the end, everyone pays the price. Netanyahu is a danger to Israel, a danger to the children of Gaza, and a danger to the world.

Middle East Eye, March 18. Dr. Ahmad Tibi is the chairman of the Ta’al party and a member of the Knesset​

 

[Saif]

Thousands flee as Israel restarts ground ops

Hamas fires at Tel Aviv in first riposte to ‘massacres’ of Gaza civilians

www.thedailystar.net

Thousands flee as Israel restarts ground ops
Hamas fires at Tel Aviv in first riposte to ‘massacres’ of Gaza civilians

A boy sits amid rubble as Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 20, 2025. Photo: Reuters/Hatem Khaled

Israel bombarded Gaza and pressed its ground operations today after issuing what it called a "last warning" for Palestinians to return hostages and remove Hamas from power.

Hamas said it fired rockets at Israeli commercial hub Tel Aviv today in its first military response to the growing civilian death toll from Israel's resumption of air and ground operations in Gaza.

Israel said it had closed off the territory's main north-south route as troops expanded the ground operations they resumed on Wednesday.

Gaza's civil defence agency said 504 people had been killed so far in the Israeli assault, including more than 190 children. Its previous death toll was at least 470.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said it fired rockets at Tel Aviv in response to Israel's "massacres" of Gaza civilians.

The Israeli army said it intercepted one projectile fired from Gaza and that two others struck an uninhabited area.

After weeks of stalemate, Israel resumed its air campaign early Tuesday with a wave of deadly strikes that drew widespread condemnation.

The offensive shattered a relative calm that had pervaded in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory since a ceasefire took hold on January 19.

At the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, grieving families knelt by the bodies of their loved ones enveloped in blood-stained white shrouds.

"We want a ceasefire! We want a ceasefire!" one of them, Mohammed Hussein, told AFPTV, appealing for the international community to stop the killing.

"We are defenceless Palestinian people," he added.

Today, the Israeli army banned traffic on the territory's main north-south artery.

Palestinians were seen fleeing south along Salaheddin Road near the Nusseirat refugee camp atop donkey-drawn carts piled high with belongings.

"Over the past 24 hours, IDF soldiers have begun a targeted ground operation in the central and southern Gaza Strip in order to expand the security zone between the northern and southern parts," army spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.

Movement along Salaheddin Road between the north and south of the Gaza Strip is prohibited "for your safety", he said.

"Instead, travel from northern Gaza to the south is possible via the Al-Rashid coastal road," Adraee added, without spelling out whether that meant movement from south to north was banned.

The first stage of the ceasefire expired early this month amid deadlock over next steps.

Israel rejected negotiations for a promised second stage, calling instead for the return of all of its remaining hostages under an extended first stage.

That would have meant delaying talks on a lasting ceasefire, and was rejected by Hamas as an attempt to renegotiate the original deal.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Thursday deplored "an endless unleashing of the most inhumane ordeals" on the people of Gaza since Israel resumed its military offensive.

"Israeli Forces bombardment continues from air & sea for the third day," Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X. "Under our daily watch, people in Gaza are again & again going through their worst nightmare."

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Israel's latest strikes on Gaza a "catastrophic crime" and said the United States "shares responsiblity".

The overall death toll in Gaza since the start of the Israeli offensive stands at 49,617, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.​

 

[Saif]

Huthis will be ‘annihilated’

US President Donald Trump said Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels “will be completely annihilated,” warning Tehran against continuing aid for the group amid an ongoing US military campaign against them.

www.thedailystar.net

Huthis will be ‘annihilated’
Says Trump; Khamenei says US strikes must stop

US President Donald Trump said Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels "will be completely annihilated," warning Tehran against continuing aid for the group amid an ongoing US military campaign against them.

"Iran must stop the sending of these Supplies IMMEDIATELY. Let the Houthis fight it out themselves. Either way they lose, but this way they lose quickly," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

The Republican referenced reports that Iran "has lessened its intensity on Military Equipment and General Support" for the Huthis, though added "they are still sending large levels of Supplies."

"Tremendous damage has been inflicted upon the Houthi barbarians, and watch how it will get progressively worse -- It's not even a fair fight, and never will be. They will be completely annihilated!" his post continued.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday said that deadly US strikes on the Huthi rebels in Yemen were a "crime that must be stopped".

The United States said its strikes on Yemen targeted and killed several top Huthi officials, while the Huthi-run health ministry said they left dead 53 people and wounded nearly 100.​