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

[Saif]

Egypt to host talks with Israel, US over Rafah crossing

Egypt will host Israeli and US officials on Sunday to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing, a vital conduit for aid into the besieged Gaza Strip...

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Egypt to host talks with Israel, US over Rafah crossing
Agence France-Presse . Cairo 02 June, 2024, 02:07

Members of the NYPD detain people at the Brooklyn Museum where Pro-Palestinian demonstrators associated with the 'Within Our Lifetime' protest group rallied on Friday in New York City. Demonstrators started at Barclays Center and marched to the Brooklyn Museum where they occupied the inside lobby and the outside demanding that the Brooklyn Museum divest from investments in Israel. | AFP photo

Egypt will host Israeli and US officials on Sunday to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing, a vital conduit for aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, Egyptian state-linked media said.

Al-Qahera News, which has links to Egyptian intelligence, quoted on Saturday a unidentified senior official as saying Cairo was demanding 'a total Israeli withdrawal' from the terminal on Gaza's southern border with Egypt.

'An Egyptian-American-Israeli meeting is scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday) in Cairo to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing', the official said.

The crossing has been closed since Israeli forces seized its Palestinian side in early May, reducing aid flows into the war-torn territory to a trickle.

Since then, Egypt and Israel have blamed each other for the blocking of aid deliveries through Rafah. The Egyptian authorities have refused to coordinate with the Israelis, preferring to work with international or Palestinian bodies.

After talks with US President Joe Biden last month, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi agreed to temporarily divert UN aid to the Kerem Shalom crossing, near Rafah but on Gaza's border with Israel.

Biden on Friday revealed a multi-phase plan for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip proposed by Israel, saying it was 'time for this war to end'.

The official quoted by Al-Qahera said that Egypt was undertaking 'intensive efforts' to 'resume negotiations' for a truce 'in light of the recent American proposition'.​

 

[Saif]

ফিলিস্তিনের প্রতি সংহতি, যুক্তরাজ্যের ‘ডক্টরেট’ ডিগ্রি ফিরিয়ে দিলেন শহিদুল আলম

২০২২ সালের ৮ জুলাই লন্ডনের রয়্যাল ফেস্টিভাল হলে তিনি এই ডিগ্রি গ্রহণ করেন।

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ফিলিস্তিনের প্রতি সংহতি, যুক্তরাজ্যের 'ডক্টরেট' ডিগ্রি ফিরিয়ে দিলেন শহিদুল আলম
২০২২ সালের ৮ জুলাই লন্ডনের রয়্যাল ফেস্টিভাল হলে তিনি এই ডিগ্রি গ্রহণ করেন।

আলোকচিত্রী শহিদুল আলম। ছবি: সংগৃহীত

ফিলিস্তিনের প্রতি সংহতি জানিয়ে যুক্তরাজ্যের ইউনিভার্সিটি অব আর্টস লন্ডনের (ইউএএল) সম্মানসূচক 'ডক্টরেট' ডিগ্রি ফিরিয়ে দিয়েছেন আলোকচিত্রী ও মানবাধিকারকর্মী শহিদুল আলম।

রোববার দৃক পিকচার লাইব্রেরি লিমিটেডের এক সংবাদ বিজ্ঞপ্তিতে এ তথ্য জানানো হয়েছে।

এতে বলা হয়, ফটোগ্রাফি ও অ্যাক্টিভিজমে অসামান্য অবদানের স্বীকৃতিস্বরূপ ইউনিভার্সিটি অব আর্টস লন্ডন শহিদুল আলমকে একটি সম্মানসূচক ডক্টরেট প্রদান করে। ২০২২ সালের ৮ জুলাই লন্ডনের রয়্যাল ফেস্টিভাল হলে তিনি ডিগ্রিটি গ্রহণ করেন।

বিজ্ঞপ্তিতে শহিদুল আলম বলেন, 'সেসময় আর্ট এবং ডিজাইনের ক্ষেত্রে ইউএএল ছিল বিশ্বের শীর্ষ দুই বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের একটি। আমি আনন্দের সঙ্গে ইউএএলের চ্যান্সেলর গ্রেসন পেরির কাছ থেকে ডিগ্রিটি গ্রহণ করেছিলাম, কারণ ইউএএল একাডেমিক স্বাধীনতা এবং মতপ্রকাশের স্বাধীনতার প্রতি প্রতিশ্রুতিবদ্ধ ছিল। গ্রেসন পেরির ভাষায়, বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়টি ছিল বিশ্বে ক্ষমতাশালীদের অশান্তি তৈরি করার বড়সড় কারখানা।'

তিনি বলেন, 'পরবর্তীতে যদিও বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের ভাইস চ্যান্সেলরের দায়িত্ব গ্রহণ করেন জেমস পুরনেল নামে একজন স্বীকৃত জায়নবাদী, কিন্তু ইউএএলের শিক্ষার্থীরা ফিলিস্তিনের সঙ্গে সংহতি প্রদর্শন ও বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় প্রশাসনকে গাজায় যুদ্ধবিরতির আহ্বান জানানোর দাবিতে ব্রিটেনের শিক্ষার্থীদের মধ্যে এগিয়ে আছে দেখে আমি আশ্বস্ত হয়েছিলাম।'

শহিদুল আলম জানান, এই স্বস্তি কেটে যায় যখন তিনি দেখেন যে, ইউএএল প্রশাসন এবং বিশেষ করে বর্তমান ভাইস চ্যান্সেলর শিক্ষার্থীদের অবস্থান থেকে যোজন যোজন দূরে।

তিনি বলেন, 'শিক্ষার্থীরা বারবার বলছেন তাদের কণ্ঠরোধ করা হচ্ছে, তাদের ছকে ফেলা হচ্ছে, তারা উপেক্ষিত। শিক্ষার্থীরা বলছেন পুমা, করনিট, এলভিএমএইচ, লো'রেলসহ ইসরায়েল ওশানোগ্রাফিক অ্যান্ড লিমনোলজিক্যাল রিসার্চ, শেনকার ইঞ্জিনিয়ারিং এবং বেজালেল একাডেমি অব আর্টস অ্যান্ড ডিজাইনসহ অন্যান্য ইসরায়েলি বা ইসরায়েল-অনুষঙ্গী সংস্থা এবং প্রতিষ্ঠানের সঙ্গে পার্টনারশিপের মাধ্যমে ইউএএল ইসরায়েলের দখলদারিত্ব, বর্ণবাদ এবং চলমান গণহত্যার অংশীদার। তারা এই অংশীদারত্বের অবসান দাবি করছে।'

শহিদুল আলম বলেন, 'এই পরিপ্রেক্ষিতে আমি ইউনিভার্সিটি অব আর্টস লন্ডনের সঙ্গে যুক্ত থাকতে চাই না।'

সম্মানসূচক 'ডক্টরেট' ডিগ্রি ফিরিয়ে দেওয়ার বিষয়টি বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়কে আনুষ্ঠানিকভাবে জানিয়েছেন বলেও উল্লেখ করেন তিনি।​

 

[Saif]

Palestinian mothers search for milk

Amira al-Taweel scoured pharmacies in northern Gaza for milk to feed her child, but could not find a single bottle to satisfy his hunger.

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malnutrition hits Gaza
Palestinian mothers search for milk

People take part in a pro-Palestinian rally in Banda Aceh, Indonesia yesterday, as Israel continues to pound Gaza Strip. Photo: REUTERS

Amira al-Taweel scoured pharmacies in northern Gaza for milk to feed her child, but could not find a single bottle to satisfy his hunger.

"Youssef needs treatment and milk, but there' none available in Gaza," the 33-year-old mother told AFP at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in central Gaza where her son was admitted suffering from malnutrition.

"I feed him, but no milk as it's not available. I feed him wheat (flour) which makes him bloated," she said, as Youssef lay on a narrow bed, his frail body receiving desperately needed medication through intravenous tubes in his feet.

At least 32 people, many of them children, have died of malnutrition in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began on October 7.

But aid agencies warn that the situation is even worse when it comes to children. On Saturday, the World Health Organization said that more than four in five children had gone a whole day without eating at least once in 72 hours.

The rise in malnutrition among Gaza's children is largely a result of humanitarian aid that enters the Palestinian territory not reaching its intended destination, aid agencies said.

At Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, mothers were concerned about their malnourished children.

After Youssef and another baby boy, Saif, were admitted, their mothers sat next to them, worrying about how long they could survive on the food the hospital provides.​

 

[Saif]

More than half of Gaza structures damaged

Some 55 percent of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, damaged or possibly damaged since the Israeli offensive began in the Palestinian territory eight months ago, according to preliminary satellite analysis by the UN.

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More than half of Gaza structures damaged
Says UN after preliminary satellite data analysis

Palestinian sisters Samar and Sahar cry as they search for their missing mother Amira Al-Breim at the rubble of a house hit in an Israeli strike, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday. Photo: REUTERS

Some 55 percent of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, damaged or possibly damaged since the Israeli offensive began in the Palestinian territory eight months ago, according to preliminary satellite analysis by the UN.

The analysis showed more than 137,000 buildings affected, UNOSAT, the United Nations satellite analysis agency, said on X, formerly Twitter.

The estimate is based on a satellite image taken on May 3, and compared with images taken in May a year earlier, last September, and on October 15.

The fresh satellite image was also compared to images taken during several dates in November, then again during the first months of this year, UNOSAT said.

The analysis showed more than 137,000 buildings affected: UNOSAT

"According to satellite imagery analysis, UNOSAT identified 36,591 destroyed structures," the agency said in a statement.

In addition, it said it had seen "16,513 severely damaged structures, 47,368 moderately damaged structures, and 36,825 possibly damaged structures for a total of 137,297 structures".

"These correspond to around 55 percent of the total structures in the Gaza Strip and a total of 135,142 estimated damaged housing units," it said.

UNOSAT said the image comparisons showed the governorates of Deir Al-Balah, in the centre, and Gaza, in the north, had suffered the worst damage between April 1 and May 3.

Comparing satellite images on those dates indicated that an additional 2,613 structures had been damaged in Deir Al-Balah, while another 2,368 had been damaged in Gaza governorate in just over a month.

People inspect a damaged building amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces in Houla village near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon yesterday. Hezbollah said yesterday it had launched a squadron of drones towards the headquarters of the Israeli military's Galilee formation. Photo: REUTERS

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/world/israels-attack-on-palestine/news/us-lawmakers-advance-bill-sanction-icc-over-israel-probe-3627166

US lawmakers advance bill to sanction ICC over Israel probe

The International Criminal Court building is seen in The Hague, Netherlands, January 16, 2019. File Photo: Reuters/Piroschka van de Wouw

The US House of Representatives voted Tuesday to advance a largely symbolic bill calling for sanctions on the International Criminal Court after its prosecutor applied for an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Hague-based court's prosecutor has said Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant should be arrested on charges relating to the war in Gaza, along with three leaders of militant group Hamas.

The US House's Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act -- backed by almost every Republican and around a fifth of the Democrats -- would bar US entry for ICC officials involved with the case, revoking their visas and restricting any US-based property transactions.

"Today's vote draws a line in the sand for lawless action by ICC officials," Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.

"The US firmly stands with Israel and refuses to allow international bureaucrats to baselessly issue arrest warrants to Israeli leadership for false crimes."

The legislation is considered a "messaging bill," however, as it is unlikely to be taken up by the Democratic-run Senate and could be vetoed in any case by President Joe Biden, who has said he "strongly opposes" it.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said last month he was seeking warrants for the two Israelis -- as well as Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif -- on suspicions of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The ICC's 124 member states will ultimately decide whether to enforce any warrants issued by its judges. Neither Israel nor the United states are members.

While the White House has criticized the ICC, and Biden called the application for arrest warrants "outrageous," US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said last week that sanctions were not "the right approach."

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller reaffirmed the policy on Tuesday, telling reporters ahead of the vote: "Our position as the administration is we don't support sanctions. We don't believe it is appropriate at this time."

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/diplomacy/news/west-has-double-standards-regarding-palestine-pm-3627126

West has double standards regarding Palestine: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday censured Western countries for their double standards towards innocent Palestinian people.

"Western countries are showing double standard regarding the Palestinians," she said. The prime minister said this while handing over a cheque of Tk 5 crore in aid of the Palestinian people.

Palestine Ambassador Yousef SY Ramadan received the cheque on behalf of his country at PM's official residence Ganabhaban. PM's speech writer M Nazrul Islam briefed reporters after the call on.

Hasina said that Western countries always talk about human rights and education for all. "But they do not bother about the human rights violation of Palestinians, killing innocent people in there, they kept mum here," she said.

The prime minister appreciated the four NATO member countries who recently recognised Palestine as a state. She mentioned that people of Bangladesh have soft corner for the Palestinian people.

She said that people of Bangladesh could realise the pain and sufferings of the Palestinian people from their heart because in 1971 they had gone through same kind of situation.

"We had witnessed same kind of atrocities and killing of innocent people," she said. She recalled her own experience when she was in captivity in 1971 for nine months.

She also talked about her life in exile after the assassination of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. "So we could realise the pain and miseries of the Palestinian people," she said.

She mentioned that in every international forum across the globe she always expressed her concern for the Palestinian people. "In doing so I did not bother about anyone's red eyes," she said.

Ambassador Yousef Ramadan briefly described the miserable situation of his country due to the ongoing Israeli attacks. Ambassador-at-Large Mohammad Ziauddin and PM's Principal Secretary M Tofazzel Hossain Miah were among others present at the meeting.​

 

[Deleted due to Error (Muji Iqbal)]

Can Bangladesh push for two state solution based on 1947 borders.

United Nations Security Council should push for Two State Solution based on 1947 borders.

 

[Saif]

Netanyahu prolonging Gaza war: Biden

US president Joe Biden swiped at Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview with Time magazine published on Tuesday, saying there was ‘every reason’ to conclude the Israeli prime minister...

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Netanyahu prolonging Gaza war: Biden
Agence France-Presse . Washington 04 June, 2024, 22:15

Joe Biden

US president Joe Biden swiped at Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview with Time magazine published on Tuesday, saying there was 'every reason' to conclude the Israeli prime minister was dragging out the Gaza war to save himself politically.

Biden added that he had a 'major disagreement' with Netanyahu over the post-conflict future of Gaza, and said Israel had engaged in 'inappropriate' conduct during the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack.

More broadly, the 81-year-old pitched his case in the interview as better placed than election rival Donald Trump to secure the United States as 'the world power' on issues ranging from Ukraine to Taiwan and Gaza.

Speaking to Time days before his announcement of an Israeli proposal for a Gaza ceasefire deal that Netanyahu greeted coolly, Biden was asked if he believed the Israeli was dragging out the war for political self-preservation.

'There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion,' Biden replied. Biden admitted that he and Netanyahu, who have had tense relations as the death toll in Gaza has soared, were particularly at odds over the need to create a Palestinian state. 'My major disagreement with Netanyahu is, what happens after Gaza's over? What, what does it go back to? Do Israeli forces go back in?' said the Democrat.

'The answer is, if that's the case, it can't work.' The defence of Ukraine against Russia's invasion has been a cornerstone of Biden's foreign policy, and he argued he was better placed than Trump to continue that in a second term.

Biden said the Russian military had been 'freaking decimated' and added: 'Peace looks like making sure Russia never, never, never, never occupies Ukraine.'

He also lashed out at his Republican predecessor, who threatened to tear up longstanding US alliances and reached out to a number of authoritarian leaders while in power. 'All the bad guys are rooting for Trump, man,' Biden said.

'Name me a world leader other than Orban and Putin who think that Trump should be the world leader in the United States of America.'

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

Can Bangladesh push for two state solution based on 1947 borders.

United Nations Security Council should push for Two State Solution based on 1947 borders.

Bangladesh has been pushing for two state solution based on 1967 border by discussing it with United Nation's big players already. Bangladesh has been giving diplomatic support to Palestinian authority to the fullest extent. But Saudi Arabia's dubious role in Palestinian issue is a cause of concern for Palestinians.

 

[Deleted due to Error (Muji Iqbal)]

Bangladesh has been pushing for two state solution based on 1967 border by discussing it with United Nation's big players already. Bangladesh has been giving diplomatic support to Palestinian authority to the fullest extent. But Saudi Arabia's dubious role in Palestinian issue is a cause of concern for Palestinians.

Saudi Arabia will do what is in its national interests. They also know two state solution is the only answer to the problem.

 

[Saif]

Israel bombs Gaza as mediators to discuss truce, hostage plan

Israel’s military pounded central Gaza with heavy air strikes on Wednesday as US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators planned to resume talks on a truce and hostage release deal...

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Israel bombs Gaza as mediators to discuss truce, hostage plan
Agence France-Presse . Bureij, Palestinian Territories 06 June, 2024, 00:09

Israel's military pounded central Gaza with heavy air strikes on Wednesday as US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators planned to resume talks on a truce and hostage release deal.

Tensions were high in annexed east Jerusalem where thousands of police were deployed to guard Israel's annual 'flag march' that has sparked clashes between Jews and Arabs in previous years.

The Israel-Hamas war, raging in Gaza since the Palestinian group's October 7 attack, has revived a global push for Palestinians to be given a state of their own.

Slovenia on Tuesday became the latest country to recognise a state of Palestine, breaking with the long-held view of Western powers that Palestinians can only gain statehood as part of a negotiated peace with Israel.

This follows the same move made last week by Spain, Ireland and Norway.

Their action, which has infuriated Israel, means that 146 out of the 193 UN member states now recognise a Palestinian state.

They include most Middle Eastern, African, Latin American and Asian countries, but not the United States, Canada, the majority of western Europe, Australia, Japan or South Korea.

In April, the United States used its veto at the UN Security Council to prevent a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member state.

Urban combat and shelling rocked Gaza's southern city of Rafah near the Egyptian border, the last area hit by the Israeli ground invasion launched in northern Gaza in late October.

But fighting has also flared again in central areas, where the army said 'troops have started targeted operational activity in the areas of Bureij and eastern Deir al-Balah, both above and below ground'.

'The activity started with a series of air strikes on terror targets, including military compounds, weapons storage facilities and underground infrastructure,' it said.

'During the strikes, several Hamas terrorists were eliminated.'

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

Israel’s strike on UN school in Gaza kills 27

The Israeli military said Thursday it had carried out a deadly strike on a UN school in Gaza that it said housed a Hamas compound, with the militant group saying the attack killed at least 27 people.

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Israel's strike on UN school in Gaza kills 27
Agence France-Presse. Palestinian Territories 06 June, 2024, 11:46

Palestinians take to the road in Al-Maghazi as they flee their displacement camps due to heavy Israeli bombardment of the central Gaza Strip on June 5, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. | AFP Photo

The Israeli military said Thursday it had carried out a deadly strike on a UN school in Gaza that it said housed a Hamas compound, with the militant group saying the attack killed at least 27 people.

The military said it 'eliminated' several 'terrorists' after its jets 'conducted a precise strike on a Hamas compound embedded inside an UNRWA school in the area of Nuseirat', in central Gaza. UNRWA is the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Hamas's media office said the strike killed at least 27 people and wounded dozens more, calling it a 'horrific massacre... that shames humanity'.

Gaza's bloodiest ever war was sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 120 of whom remain in Gaza, including 41 the army says are dead.

Israel's ensuing bombardment and ground offensive have killed at least 36,586 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Israel has faced growing diplomatic isolation over its conduct of the war, with cases against it before two international courts, and several European governments recognising a Palestinian state.

Israel has frequently accused Hamas and its allies in Gaza of using schools, health facilities and other civilian infrastructure as operational centres -- charges the militants deny.

UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, has been in crisis since January, when Israel accused about a dozen of its 13,000 employees in the territory of being involved in the October 7 attack.

Its chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said last week that Israel 'must stop its campaign against UNRWA' in an opinion article published by the New York Times.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

Israel pounds Gaza refugee camp

Israeli forces bombarded a Gaza refugee camp on Friday after a deadly strike on a UN-run school there, as the war sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on...

www.newagebd.net

Israel pounds Gaza refugee camp
Agence France-Presse . Palestinian Territories 08 June, 2024, 00:48

Members of a United Nations investigation team visit a school run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees which was hit during an Israeli army strike the day before, in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip on Friday, amid the on-going conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. | AFP photo

Israeli forces bombarded a Gaza refugee camp on Friday after a deadly strike on a UN-run school there, as the war sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel entered its ninth month.

The conflict has killed thousands, laid waste to much of the Gaza Strip, uprooted most of its 2.4 million population and put them at risk of starvation.

Efforts to mediate the first ceasefire since a week-long pause in November appear to have stalled, only a week after US president Joe Biden offered a new roadmap.

Hamas has yet to respond to Biden's proposal, while Israel has expressed openness to discussions but remains committed to its goal of destroying the Palestinian Islamist group.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, said at least 37 people were killed in Thursday's Israeli strike on the UN-run school in Nuseirat camp.

The Israeli military said its fighter jets killed nine 'terrorists' in three classrooms where about 30 militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad were hiding.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said hundreds of displaced Gazans were sheltering at the school, which was 'hit without prior warning'.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres described the strike as 'horrific', while Egypt's foreign minister Ahmed Abu Zeid condemned what he called the 'deliberate bombing of an UNRWA school'.

'Israeli violations of Palestinian rights continue day after day, in full view of the civilised world,' Zeid said on X.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

Israel kills 210 Gazans to rescue four hostages

Abbas calls for emergency UNSC session on 'bloody massacre'

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Israel kills 210 Gazans to rescue four hostages
Abbas calls for emergency UNSC session on 'bloody massacre'

Israeli tank manoeuvres near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Israel, June 8, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Amir Cohen
Israeli forces rescued four hostages held by Hamas since October in a raid in Gaza today while over 200 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes in the same area, according to Hamas officials, in one of the bloodiest Israeli assaults of the war.

It was not immediately clear if the hostage rescue and the Israeli air assault were part of the same operation but both took place in central Gaza's al-Nuseirat, a densely built-up and often embattled area in the eight-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian territory's ruling Islamist group.

An Israeli military spokesperson said the hostage rescue operation unfolded under fire in the heart of a residential neighbourhood, where he said Hamas had been hiding captives among Gaza civilians under guard by armed militants.

Israeli forces returned fire, including with airstrikes, added the spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari. An Israeli special forces commander was killed during the operation, a police statement said.


Israel named the rescued hostages as Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41. They were taken to hospital for medical checks and were in good health, the military said.

They were all kidnapped from the Nova music festival during the raid by Hamas-led Palestinian groups on Israeli towns and villages near Gaza on Oct 7.

Since then, Israel's bombardment and invasion of Gaza has killed at least 36,801 Palestinians, according to an updated tally by the territory's health ministry today.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

D-8 urges world to up pressure on Israel

An alliance of mostly Muslim-majority countries including Turkey, Egypt and Iran on Saturday demanded full Palestinian membership of the United Nations and greater...

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D-8 urges world to up pressure on Israel
Agence France-Presse . Istanbul 09 June, 2024, 01:02

An alliance of mostly Muslim-majority countries including Turkey, Egypt and Iran on Saturday demanded full Palestinian membership of the United Nations and greater international pressure on Israel amid the Gaza war.

The D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, which also includes Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria and Pakistan, called for an immediate ceasefire in the devastated Palestinian territory, where Israel has been battling Hamas militants for more than eight months.

Foreign ministers from the group meeting in Istanbul called on the United States to lift its veto on full Palestinian UN membership and on all countries to "exert diplomatic, political, economic and legal pressure" on Israel.

They also urged states to ensure Israel complies with the International Court of Justice's decisions, withdraws from the southern Rafah governorate and guarantees the safe entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Denouncing an "ongoing genocide and grave violations of international law", the group called on states to contribute to and join legal proceedings against Israel at international courts.

The eight countries also demanded an end to arms and ammunition deliveries to Israel and that all measures be taken to protect Palestinian civilians, rejecting any attempted forced displacement.

They advocated a two-state solution based on 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital and a guarantee mechanism to protect a future settlement.

The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants from Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups also took 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 41 the army says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 36,801 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.​

 

[Saif]

UN official blasts West’s double standards

The UN’s special rapporteur on the right to housing has rebuked countries he accused of bias on Israel’s offensive on Gaza following a deadly attack by Tel Aviv on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the enclave.

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ISRAEL'S DEADLY ATTACK ON GAZA REFUGEE CAMP
UN official blasts West's double standards

The UN's special rapporteur on the right to housing has rebuked countries he accused of bias on Israel's offensive on Gaza following a deadly attack by Tel Aviv on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the enclave.

"Countries that celebrate the release of four Israeli hostages without saying a word about the hundreds of Palestinians killed and thousands held in arbitrary detention by Israel, have lost moral credibility for generations and don't deserve to be on any UN human rights body," Balakrishnan Rajagopal said on X about the attack that took place on Saturday.

Earlier, the Israeli army announced that it had launched attacks on various locations in the central part of the Gaza Strip and had successfully rescued four captives alive from two different areas.

Citing a US official, CNN reported that an American unit in Israel aided the efforts to rescue the hostages.

US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz were among leaders who greeting their release even as they have also called for a truce.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell welcomed the hostage release and said reports "of another massacre of civilians are appalling... the bloodbath must end immediately".

The Gaza-based Government Media Office said that at least 274 Palestinians were killed and more than 400 injured on Saturday in severe Israeli airstrikes targeting Nuseirat refugee camp, areas east of Deir al-Balah, and al-Bureij and al-Maghazi camps in central Gaza, coinciding with a sudden incursion of vehicles east and northwest of Nuseirat.

More than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the offensive began on October 7, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli offensive, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, reports Middle East Monitor Online.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge.

"My child was crying, afraid of the sound of the plane firing at us," said one Gaza woman, Hadeel Radwan, 32, recounting how they fled the intense combat as she carried her seven-month-old daughter.

"We all felt that we wouldn't survive," she told AFP. Israel's top diplomat rejected unspecified accusations "of war crimes" in the operation.​

 

[Saif]

UN Security Council backs plan for Israel-Hamas ceasefire

The United Nations Security Council on Monday adopted a US-drafted resolution backing a proposal outlined by President Joe Biden for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip

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UN Security Council backs plan for Israel-Hamas ceasefire
Israel attack on Rafah

Smoke rises after an Israeli strike as Israeli forces launch a ground and air operation in the eastern part of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024. FILE PHOTO: REUTERS

The United Nations Security Council on Monday adopted a US-drafted resolution backing a proposal outlined by President Joe Biden for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Russia abstained from the vote, while the remaining 14 council members voted in favor. The US had finalised its text on Sunday after six days of negotiations among the council.

Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire plan on May 31 that he described as an Israeli initiative. Some Security Council members questioned whether Israel had accepted the plan to end the fighting in Gaza.

The resolution welcomes the new ceasefire proposal, "which Israel accepted, calls upon Hamas to also accept it, and urges both parties to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition."

"We're waiting on Hamas to agree to the ceasefire deal it claims to want," US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council before the vote. "With every passing day, needless suffering continues."

The resolution also goes into detail about the proposal, and spells out that "if the negotiations take longer than six weeks for phase one, the ceasefire will still continue as long as negotiations continue."

The council in March demanded for an immediate ceasefire and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas.

For months, negotiators from the US, Egypt and Qatar have been trying to mediate a ceasefire. Hamas says it wants a permanent end to the war in the Gaza Strip and Israeli withdrawal from the enclave of 2.3 million people.

Israel is retaliating against Hamas, which rules Gaza, over an October 7 attack by its militants.

More than 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, according to Israeli tallies. More than 100 hostages are believed to remain captive in Gaza.

Israel launched an air, ground and sea assault on the Palestinian territory, killing more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.​

 

[Saif]

Many in Gaza back to eating ‘one meal per day’

Israel’s relentless bombardment and obstruction of humanitarian efforts are making it nearly impossible for aid agencies to reach starving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

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ISRAELI OFFENSIVE IN PALESTINIAN ENCLAVE
Many in Gaza back to eating 'one meal per day'

Israel's relentless bombardment and obstruction of humanitarian efforts are making it nearly impossible for aid agencies to reach starving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The flow of aid into Gaza has remained scarce, with many people now eating "only one meal per day", said Al Jazeera reporter Hind Khoudary.

"This is not only in the south, but also in the north" of Gaza, said Khoudary, adding that markets are largely empty and what food available is hard to afford for most people.

Khoudary has sent an update from Deir el-Balah's Al-Aqsa Hospital, where she said an extra emergency department has been opened to deal with the massive influx of injured patients.

The hospital, running on just one generator, remains flooded with sick and injured patients, and is performing surgeries on an "hourly basis", she said.

Israeli forces have withdrawn from the eastern part of Deir el-Balah, but civil defence teams were able to bring the bodies of five people who were killed in the area.

Israeli forces take a position in a street during a raid in the al-Faraa camp for Palestinian refugees near Tubas city in the occupied West Bank yesterday. Photo: AFP
There have been a couple of air strikes in the area after the Israeli forces withdrew, as well as intensive artillery shelling throughout the night.

Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud has spoken to residents of the Nuseirat refugee camp who witnessed the Israeli military's operation there on Saturday that killed and injured hundreds of Palestinians.

Anaas Alayan, one resident of the camp, said Israeli special forces committed mass "executions" on the street. "I went down to the street and found bodies everywhere," he told Al Jazeera.

The military, which rescued four Israeli captives during the operation, killed at least 274 Palestinians, including at least 64 children during the day-time assault, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

The camp is now left with a "trail of destruction", according to Mahmoud.

With many of Gaza's water wells and pipelines destroyed in the offensive, accessing water has become a daily struggle for Palestinians in the coastal enclave.

Anas al-Jamal, a pregnant woman in the enclave, tells Al Jazeera she has to leave her home every day to search for water to carry home. "The water scarcity is severely affecting me because I'm supposed to rest and avoid strenuous physical activity," al-Jamal told Al Jazeera. "We're really struggling."

Israel's military offensive has killed at least 37,124 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the territory's health ministry.

The toll includes at least 40 deaths over the past 24 hours, the ministry said yesterday.

The offensive has brought widespread devastation to Gaza and displaced most of its 2.4 million inhabitants, reports AFP.​

 

[Saif]

Baby Ahmad was beheaded by Israel, with a US bomb

AHMAD Al-Najjar was a happy one-year old child from Gaza. He loved trampolines, balls, and cats. Born as the youngest of his four siblings, his father liked to call him ‘bobba’ or ‘baby.’..

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Baby Ahmad was beheaded by Israel, with a US bomb
11 June, 2024, 00:00

Photo of 18-month-old Ahmad Al-Najjar (right), photo of his father holding up his beheaded corpse (left) (screenshot). | Scheerpost.com

On Sunday night, May 26, Ahmad became the symbol of the unspeakable horror of genocide in Gaza after Israel bombed his family tent in north Rafah, writes Seraj Assi

AHMAD Al-Najjar was a happy one-year old child from Gaza. He loved trampolines, balls, and cats. Born as the youngest of his four siblings, his father liked to call him 'bobba' or 'baby.'

On Sunday night, May 26, Ahmad became the symbol of the unspeakable horror of genocide in Gaza after Israel bombed his family tent in north Rafah, killing him along with his mother, Faten, his sister, Houda, and his brother, Arkan. Though he was bombed beyond recognition, Ahmad was the most recognisable victim of the tents massacre in Rafah, which burned alive, beheaded, and killed at least 45 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and wounded hundreds others.

Rafah's tents massacre was one of the most heinous assaults on Palestinian civilians in recent memory. International media and Palestinian sources reported that Israel blitzed the camp where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in tents with seven massive US bombs weighing 2,000 pounds each. Meanwhile, weapons experts told CNN and The New York Times that they identified the remains of Boeing-made GBU-39s in the rubble.

The bombarded refugee tents had been designated by Israel as a 'safe area' for civilians. Rafah was described by UNICEF officials as 'a city of children, who have nowhere safe to go in Gaza.' It was believed to be Gaza's last refuge, and the limit of the Biden administration's 'red line' in Gaza. This grim reality, however, did not prevent the Biden administration from shipping thousands of bombs and weapons to Israel, despite Israel's repeated threats to invade Rafah. As Israeli forces were pounding Rafah's refugee camps, US presidential candidate Nikki Haley was in Israel signing 'finish them' on the very US bombs that were used to slaughter children in Gaza.

It is the children of Gaza who are forced to live the most unspeakable horrors while being denied the same outrage that Israel's invented horrors have generated among US and Western politicians

Widely circulated footage from the massacre showed a night of unspeakable horror: bodies burned to ashes, charred and blackened beyond recognition; beheaded children, decapitated and ripped apart by US bombs; parents clutching their dead and burned children, screaming in horror; rescuers pulling people's charred remains from the burning tents; wounded victims transferred to the hospital with horrific and gruesome injuries.

But the most horrifying footage from that night showed a man holding up what appeared to be the body of a small child who had been beheaded. It belonged to Baby Ahmad, who was wearing black pants and an orange shirt that night. His left leg was also severed in the blast. The family never found Ahmad's head, and they buried him without it. He was put in the same body bag with his sister Houda. His mother and brother Arkan were buried in separate body bags.

His surviving brothers, Muhammad and Yamin, both saw the ravaged body of their little brother that night. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Ahmad's father, Abdel Hafez, and two brothers, the only survivors of the family, speak up about the unspeakable horror they had to endure that night.

'I did not believed he was beheaded in the bombing until I saw it with my own eyes at the Tal As-Sultan clinic,' says Abdel Hafez. 'His head was separated from his body.'

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

Hamas accepts UN-backed Gaza truce plan

Hamas accepts a UN resolution backing a plan to end the war with Israel in Gaza and is ready to negotiate details, a senior official of the Palestinian group said on...

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Hamas accepts UN-backed Gaza truce plan
New Age Desk 12 June, 2024, 00:05

Children wait for food being distributed at a camp for internally displaced people where they live due to the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, amid the on-going conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. | AFP photo

Hamas accepts a UN resolution backing a plan to end the war with Israel in Gaza and is ready to negotiate details, a senior official of the Palestinian group said on Tuesday in what America's top diplomat called 'a hopeful sign,' reports The Algemeiner.

Conversations on plans for Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war ends will continue on Tuesday afternoon and in the next couple of days, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said in Tel Aviv after talks with Israeli leaders. 'It's imperative that we have these plans,' he added.

Blinken met Israeli officials on Tuesday in a push to end the eight-month-old Israeli air and ground war against Hamas in Gaza, a day after president Joe Biden's proposal for a truce was approved by the UN Security Council.

Ahead of Blinken's trip, Israel and Hamas both repeated hardline positions that have undermined previous mediation to end the fighting, while Israel has pressed on with its campaign in central and southern Gaza.

The United States on Tuesday promised more than $400 million in new aid for the Palestinians at an emergency summit in Jordan, where world leaders backed a US push for a ceasefire as the only ultimate solution to help war-ravaged Gaza.

Jordan and Egypt called the urgent talks on the Dead Sea as aid groups warned conditions were worse than ever in Gaza, with virtually the whole population of more than two million people relying on sporadic aid deliveries.

On Tuesday, however, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri, who is based outside Gaza, said the group, which rules the Palestinian enclave, accepted the ceasefire resolution and was ready to negotiate over the details. It was up to Washington to ensure that Israel abides by it, he added.

He said Hamas accepted the formula stipulating the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a swap of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel.

'The US administration is facing a real test to carry out its commitments in compelling the occupation to immediately end the war

in an implementation of the UN Security Council resolution,' Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

Blinken said the Hamas statement was 'a hopeful sign' but definitive word was still needed from the Hamas leadership inside Israeli-besieged Gaza. 'That's what counts, and that's what we don't have yet.'

The war began when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists stormed into southern Israel from Gaza on October 7, killing more than 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 as hostages.

Israel responded with a military campaign in Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas' military and governing capabilities.

Biden's proposal envisages a ceasefire and release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians jailed in Israel in stages, ultimately leading to a permanent end to the war.

Israel has said it will agree only to temporary pauses in the war until Hamas is defeated, while Hamas has countered it will not accept a deal that does not guarantee the war will end.

Blinken, speaking to reporters before departing for neighbouring Jordan, said his talks were also addressing day-after plans for Gaza, including security, governance, and rebuilding the enclave.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.
​

 

[Saif]

When did Hamas commit war crimes?

Israel and Hamas committed war crimes: UN

Report says Israel's actions also constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses

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Israel and Hamas committed war crimes: UN
Report says Israel's actions also constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses

PHOTO: REUTERS

A UN inquiry found on Wednesday that both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes in the early stages of the war in Gaza, and that Israel's actions also constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses.

The findings were from two parallel reports by the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI), one focusing on the October 7 attacks and another on Israel's response.

Israel, which did not cooperate with the commission, dismissed the findings as the result of anti-Israeli bias. Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The war began on October 7 when militants led by Hamas, the Islamist group ruling Gaza, killed 1,200 Israelis and took more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's military retaliation has caused the deaths of more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, displaced most of Gaza's population of 2.3 million, caused widespread hunger, and devastated housing and infrastructure. Negotiators from the US, Egypt and Qatar have been trying for months to mediate a ceasefire and free the hostages, more than 100 of whom are believed to remain captive in Gaza.

Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas' political bureau, said its formal response to a US ceasefire proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden on May 31 was "responsible, serious and positive" and "opens up a wide pathway" for an accord.

But an Israeli official said on Tuesday, on condition of anonymity, that Israel had received the answer via the mediators and that Hamas "changed all of the main and most meaningful parameters" and "rejected the proposal for a hostage release".

The proposal outlined by Biden envisages a ceasefire and phased release of Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians jailed in Israel, ultimately leading to a permanent end to the war.​

 

[Saif]

I stand for humanity, Coca-Cola ad only part of professional work: Zibon

A new advertisement by Coca-Cola Bangladesh added fuel to the fire of this movement.

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I stand for humanity, Coca-Cola ad only part of professional work: Zibon

Photo: Collected

Israel's genocide in Palestine has led to many Muslim countries, including Bangladesh, calling for boycott of 'Israel-backed' products. There is an ongoing social media call to boycott Coca-Cola, as users believe it to be the aforementioned type.

A new advertisement by Coca-Cola Bangladesh added fuel to the fire of this movement. The advertisement, starring Saraf Ahmed Zibon and Shimul Sharma, two popular artistes from the series "Bachelor Point," faced massive criticism on social media. People even assumed that the show's director, Kajal Arefin Ome, directed the advertisement, which he later clarified to the media that he has never directed commercials.

Later on, netizens discovered that actor and filmmaker Zibon directed the advertisement, which led to massive trolling and criticism of him on social media.

Zibon finally broke his silence, posting a status where he defended his involvement in the advertisement.

The actor shared his personal beliefs and the context of making the advertisement. Zibon stated, "I am known to everyone as a director and actor. For the past two decades, I have been involved in showbiz. Recently, Coca-Cola Bangladesh hired me to direct and act in one of their commercials. I only presented the commercial based on the information and data provided by their agency."

He then addressed the negative response following the advertisement's airing.

"After the advertisement aired, I have been receiving a lot of mixed reactions from my fans. With all due respect, I would like to reiterate that this work is only a part of my professional life," stated the actor.

In response to netizens condemning him for allegedly supporting genocide against the people of Palestine, the actor clarified that he does not support anything that goes against human rights.

"In my personal life, I have always stood against any aggression against human rights, and have been respectful of your feelings and opinions. Nowhere in this ad have I taken Israel's side, and I have never been pro-Israel. My heart has always been, and always will be, on the side of justice and humanity," concluded Zibon.

Coca-Cola's recent advertisement in Bangladesh is a stark reminder of the importance of well-executed crisis communication.
Coca-Cola Bangladesh aimed to highlight through the commercial that Coca-Cola is not an Israeli product, showcasing that it has been consumed by people in 190 countries, including Bangladesh, for 138 years.​

 

[Saif]

Hezbollah attacks 9 Israeli military sites with rockets

Lebanon’s Hezbollah said yesterday it had launched rockets and weaponised drones at nine Israeli military sites in a coordinated attack, ramping up hostilities on Lebanon’s southern border for the second consecutive day.

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Hezbollah attacks 9 Israeli military sites with rockets

Lebanon's Hezbollah said yesterday it had launched rockets and weaponised drones at nine Israeli military sites in a coordinated attack, ramping up hostilities on Lebanon's southern border for the second consecutive day.

The attacks were made in retaliation for an Israeli strike on Tuesday that killed a senior Hezbollah field commander.

The group said in a statement it had fired volleys of Katyusha and Falaq rockets at six Israeli military locations. Its Al-Manar television reported more than 100 rockets fired at once.

Hezbollah's statement said it had also launched attack drones at the headquarters of Israel's northern command, an intelligence headquarters and a military barracks.

A security source told Reuters that involved firing at least 30 attack drones at once, making it the group's largest drone attack to date in the eight-month-old Israeli offensive in Gaza.

The group said yesterday's attack was in response to the killing. It had already carried out at least eight attacks on Wednesday in retaliation.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 300 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon - more than it lost in 2006, when the sides last fought a major war, according to a Reuters tally.​

 

[Saif]

Battles rage in Rafah

Israeli helicopters struck Gaza’s Rafah on Thursday, residents said, with Hamas militants reporting street battles in the southern city after top US diplomat...

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Battles rage in Rafah
Agence France-Presse . Palestinian Territories 14 June, 2024, 00:18

| AFP photo

Israeli helicopters struck Gaza's Rafah on Thursday, residents said, with Hamas militants reporting street battles in the southern city after top US diplomat Antony Blinken said a truce was still possible.

But the war raged on, and tensions soared on Israel's northern border with more attacks by Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah forces targeting military positions.

Israel, which has traded near-daily fire with Hamas ally Hezbollah since the start of the Gaza war, said it would respond 'with force'.

Israeli ground forces have been operating in Rafah since early May, despite widespread alarm over the fate of Palestinian civilians there, including in a ruling by the International Court of Justice later that month.

Western areas of Rafah came under heavy fire on Thursday from the air, sea and land, residents said.

'There was very intense fire from warplanes, Apaches (helicopters) and quadcopters, in addition to Israeli artillery and military battle ships, all of which were striking the area west of Rafah,' one told AFP.

Hamas said its fighters were battling Israeli troops on the streets in the city, near the besieged Gaza Strip's border with Egypt.

The Gaza war began after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

The militants also seized 251 hostages. Of these, 116 remain in Gaza although the army says 41 are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has left at least 37,232 people dead in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry.

The latest toll includes at least 30 more deaths over the previous day, it said.

Efforts to reach a truce stalled when Israel began ground operations in Rafah, but US president Joe Biden in late May launched a new effort to secure a deal.

On Monday the UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution supporting the plan.

Blinken, in Doha on Wednesday to promote Biden's ceasefire roadmap, said Washington would work with regional partners to 'close the deal'.

Hamas responded to mediators Qatar and Egypt late Tuesday. Blinken said some of its proposed amendments 'are workable and some are not'.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the group sought 'a permanent ceasefire and complete withdrawal' of Israeli troops from Gaza, demands repeatedly rejected by Israel.

The plan includes a six-week ceasefire, a hostage-prisoner exchange and Gaza reconstruction.

It would be the first truce since a week-long November pause in fighting saw hostages freed and Palestinians released from Israeli jails.

Blinken said Israel was behind the plan, but Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government has far-right members strongly opposed to the deal, has not publicly endorsed it.

Blinken expressed hopes that an agreement could be reached.

'We have to see over the course of the coming days whether those gaps are bridgeable,' he said.

A UN investigation concluded Wednesday that Israel had committed crimes against humanity during the war, while Israeli and Palestinian armed groups had both committed war crimes.

The independent Commission of Inquiry's report is the first in-depth investigation by UN experts into Gaza's bloodiest-ever war.

Israel's foreign ministry dismissed it as 'biased and tainted by a distinct anti-Israeli agenda'.

The war has led to widespread destruction, with hospitals out of service and the UN warning of famine.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli strikes hit Gaza as truce talks fail to progress

Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Friday as truce talks with Hamas members failed to progress and tensions surged on Israel’s northern border with...

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Israeli strikes hit Gaza as truce talks fail to progress
Agence France-Presse . Palestinian Territories 15 June, 2024, 00:27

Women search the rubble of a destroyed dress shop in a residential building hit by Israeli bombardment, in the Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City on Friday, amid the on-going conflict between Israel and Hamas. | AFP photo

Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Friday as truce talks with Hamas members failed to progress and tensions surged on Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

Witnesses reported the strikes in various parts of the Gaza Strip in the morning, particularly the centre.

At Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah, men gathered over the body of an 11-year-old boy who died during bombardment of nearby Bureij refugee camp.

In a black singlet, the child lay on a floor smeared with fresh blood, a white bandage covering the top half of his face, AFP images showed.

Israel's military on Friday said troops continued operations in central Gaza, where warplanes had struck a militant cell and 'military structure' in the Zeitun area.

After projectiles were fired from northern Gaza into southern Israel on Thursday night, artillery and aircraft hit the launch sites, the army said.

The war began after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

The militants also seized 251 hostages. Of these, 116 remain in Gaza, although the army says 41 are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has left at least 37,232 people dead in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled

territory.

Fears of a broader Middle East conflict have surged again, with Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighters, who are backed by Iran, launching waves of rockets against Israeli military targets on Wednesday and Thursday.

Hezbollah said the strikes were retaliation for the Israeli killing of one of its commanders.

Sirens sounded on Friday morning in northern Israel, where police said munitions had fallen in the Kiryat Shmona area, with no immediate sign of victims.

Since the Gaza war began, Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire, which have escalated.

During a Middle East trip this week to push a Gaza ceasefire proposal, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said 'the best way' to help resolve the Hezbollah-Israel violence was 'a resolution of the conflict in Gaza and getting a ceasefire'.

At the G7 summit in Italy, US president Joe Biden called Hamas 'the biggest hang-up so far' to reaching a deal on a Gaza truce and hostage release.

Blinken has said Israel backs the plan, but Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose far-right government allies are strongly opposed, has not publicly endorsed it.

In Jerusalem on Thursday, a student-led protest near Israel's parliament urged the government to secure an agreement to bring the remaining hostages home.

'Ceasefire now,' read one banner.

Similar demonstrations have regularly occurred in Tel Aviv.

Biden's roadmap for the first truce since a week-long pause and hostage-prisoner release in November includes a six-week ceasefire, an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and Gaza's reconstruction.

On Monday, the United Nations Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution supporting the plan.

The World Health Organisation said more than 8,000 children aged under five in Gaza had been treated for acute malnutrition.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​