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

[Saif]

18 more Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes

Gaza’s civil defence agency reported Sunday that overnight Israeli strikes across the Palestinian territory killed at least 18 people, including four displaced individuals who had sought refuge in a tent.

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18 more Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes
Agence France-Presse . Palestinian Territories 15 December, 2024, 22:55

Displaced Palestinian children search in a garbage bin in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday. | AFP photo

Gaza’s civil defence agency reported Sunday that overnight Israeli strikes across the Palestinian territory killed at least 18 people, including four displaced individuals who had sought refuge in a tent.

Agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP that rescuers worked through the night, recovering the bodies of 18 people, while dozens more were injured in the ‘ongoing aggression and Israeli aerial and artillery bombardment’ across Gaza.

Bassal reported that the dead included four people killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a house in central Gaza City.

Another four were killed, and eight injured, when an Israeli missile struck a tent sheltering dozens of displaced people in Deir el-Balah city, in central Gaza.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Sunday that at least 44,976 people have been killed in more than 14 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

The toll includes 46 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 106,759 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

AFP photographs showed heart-wrenching scenes as relatives retrieved the bodies of their loved ones from a hospital in Gaza City, while others lay covered in blankets within the facility’s ward.

On Saturday, Bassal said that Deir el-Balah’s mayor, Diab al-Jaro, was killed in a similar strike.

The Israeli military later claimed responsibility for that strike, accusing Jaro of being ‘an operative in Hamas’s military wing’.

The war has displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million population, with many forced to flee multiple times.

The Israeli military has been conducting a sweeping operation in northern Gaza for several weeks, stating that its objective is to prevent the regrouping of Hamas fighters.

Gaza’s civil defence agency reports that the operation has resulted in hundreds of deaths, while the Israeli military claims it has eliminated dozens of militants.

Medics in Gaza report severe shortages of medicines in hospitals amid the ongoing military assault.

The fighting has also resulted in casualties among healthcare workers, further straining the healthcare system.

‘We are suffering from a shortage of medical staff as a result of the targeting and the martyrdom of a large number of doctors and nurses,’ said Husam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, in a statement to journalists.

Abu Safiya added that Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling have continued to target the hospital and its surrounding areas, exacerbating the crisis and endangering both patients and medical crew.

The Israeli military has denied targeting the hospital directly.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli strikes kill 12 in Gaza

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes Monday across the territory killed at least 12 people, the majority displaced Palestinians taking shelter in a house in the north...

www.newagebd.net

Israeli strikes kill 12 in Gaza
Agence France-Presse . Palestinian Territories 18 December, 2024, 22:35

A Palestinian girl waits for a food portion at a distribution centre south of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, amid the on-going war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. | AFP photo

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes Monday across the territory killed at least 12 people, the majority displaced Palestinians taking shelter in a house in the north.

More than 14 months into the Israel-Hamas war, the violence raged on even as the United States expressed ‘cautious optimism’ about the prospects of reaching a ceasefire in Gaza.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that 10 Palestinians were killed when an Israeli strike at dawn hit a house in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia, where several displaced families had sought refuge.

Later on Wednesday, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia said that ‘gunfire and tank shells’ caused a fire in the intensive care unit, with some patients suffering burns.

Hospital director Hossam Abu Safia said that staff had to quickly move all patients out of the intensive care unit.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the incident.

Elsewhere in northern Gaza, Bassal said a child was killed and several others wounded in a strike that hit a house in Jabalia, where Israeli forces have focused their operations in recent months.

Overnight, a tent in an Israeli-designated safe zone in the southern Gaza Strip was hit, killing one Palestinian, according to the civil defence spokesman.

Parties to long-stalled ceasefire talks said a deal could be secured soon to halt the fighting and release hostages held in Gaza.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday that ‘cautious optimism is a fair way to characterise it, though very much tempered by realism’.

Hamas said the current talks were ‘serious and positive’, while Israeli defence minister Israel Katz described the two sides as closer to a deal than ever before.

The war was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 45,059 people, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.​

 

[Saif]

Prioritise reconstruction of Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon: Prof Yunus

Urges decisive, collective action to end Israeli forces' brutalities

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Prioritise reconstruction of Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon: Prof Yunus
Urges decisive, collective action to end Israeli forces' brutalities

Photo: PID

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus today said it is crucial to move beyond humanitarian interventions and shift focus towards the reconstruction of Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.

"Let D-8 therefore kickstart a process, with an approximate estimation of the costs of reconstruction in Palestine and Lebanon," he said, adding that they can thereon press on formulation of international strategies for resource mobilisation.

The chief adviser made the remarks while delivering the speech during a special session on humanitarian crisis and reconstruction challenges in Gaza and Lebanon on the sidelines of the D-8 Summit.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi chaired the session.

The United Nations has cautioned that removing the 40 million tonnes of rubble left in the wake of Israel's bombardment could take at least 15 years, Yunus said.

"We understand that the rubble may contain over 10,000 bodies of the deceased. And this is also contaminated with asbestos," he said.

Yunus said Bangladesh commends the government of Egypt for convening this special session.

"We gather at a time when Israeli aggression and the 14-month long brutal genocide against the Palestinian people continue unabated in the occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Words should suffice little," he said.

To say the least, Yunus said, they are in utter dismay at Israel's blatant disregard to long-held international norms, laws and conventions.

"The ways the hostilities in Lebanon are spreading, there are heightened fears of further escalation. This can lend to dire and long-term consequences for peace and stability across the region, impacting global society and polity, not just economy," he said.

From Cairo, Yunus said, they must voice their unity and unwavering commitment, in solidarity with their Palestinian brothers and sisters, at this existential time in their history.

"Throughout our history, Bangladesh has stood firmly in support of the Palestinian cause. We consistently condemned the illegal occupation and the violent repression carried out by Israel," said the chief adviser.

He said they remain steadfast in advocating a just and lasting solution, through a two-State solution to the crisis, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and harmony.

"Palestine has to emerge as a fully independent and viable State based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital," Yunus said.

"This is what we also articulated in detail before the International Court of Justice this February as the Court finally called Israel's occupation illegal, in its Advisory Opinion," he added.

Bangladeshis are profoundly concerned over the current state of affairs and Palestinians are no expendable people, Yunus said. "Every Palestinian life matters."

The chief adviser said it is not an issue that merely concerns the Muslims.

"Rather, a universal cause where human dignity is tested. It is about universal pledge to protect the vulnerable. It is indeed our moral duty to stand by them, resolutely."

There are around six million Bangladeshi migrant workers and expatriate professionals, across the region, including in Lebanon who have been making significant contributions to the development of the countries across the Middle East, Yunus said.

"Their safety and security are at risk. We call upon all actors and stakeholders, indeed beyond the region, to take decisive and collective actions to end the brutalities unleashed by the Israeli forces," he said.

The massacres in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, are clear violations of international law, and constitute war crimes.

"Those responsible must account. That is why, last November, Bangladesh stood up at the International Criminal Court asking for expeditious investigations into the heinous crimes against humanity," Yunus said.

Such actions on accountability can deter the perpetrators against further and future atrocities, he said.

"Alongside, let us intensify our efforts on realisation of a viable two-state solution," Yunus said.​

 

[Saif]

Israel committing ‘acts of genocide’

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday that Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza by denying them clean water which it says legally amounts to acts of genocide and extermination.

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Israel committing ‘acts of genocide’
Says HRW over restriction of Gaza water supply

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday that Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza by denying them clean water which it says legally amounts to acts of genocide and extermination.

"This policy, inflicted as part of a mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, means Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of extermination, which is ongoing. This policy also amounts to an 'act of genocide' under the Genocide Convention of 1948," Human Rights Watch said in its report.

Israel has repeatedly rejected any accusation of genocide, saying it has respected international law and has a right to defend itself after the cross-border Hamas-led attack from Gaza on October 7, 2023.

MSF accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza

In a statement on X, Israel's foreign ministry wrote: "The truth is the complete opposite of HRW's lies."

Although the report described the deprivation of water as an act of genocide, it noted that proving the crime of genocide against Israeli officials would also require establishing their intent. It cited statements by some senior Israeli officials which it said suggested they "wish to destroy Palestinians" which means the deprivation of water "may amount to the crime of genocide".

In a separate report released yesterday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) accused Israel of causing widespread devastation in Gaza and noted "signs of ethnic cleansing" in the north of the Palestinian territory.

"What we have found is that the Israeli government is intentionally killing Palestinians in Gaza by denying them the water that they need to survive," Lama Fakih, Human Rights Watch Middle East director told a press conference.​

 

[Saif]

Bangladesh firmly supports independent state for Palestinians, says Dr Yunus

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on Thursday conveyed to Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Hussein Al Sheikh that Bangladesh firmly supports an independent state for the Palestinian people and their struggle. "The entire country is united behind the Palestinian peop

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Bangladesh firmly supports independent state for Palestinians, says Dr Yunus
FE ONLINE DESK
Published :
Dec 19, 2024 23:59
Updated :
Dec 19, 2024 23:59

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on Thursday conveyed to Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Hussein Al Sheikh that Bangladesh firmly supports an independent state for the Palestinian people and their struggle.

"The entire country is united behind the Palestinian people and their struggle for freedom," the Chief Adviser said during a meeting on the sideline of the D-8 Summit.

The PLO Secretary General thanked the Chief Adviser, reports UNB.

He also thanked Professor Yunus for his powerful speech at the D-8 Summit supporting the Palestinian causes.

The Chief Adviser gifted a copy of the Art of Triumph, an art book on the wall graffiti and murals of the July mass uprising, to the PLO leader.

Dr Ziad Abu Amer, Executive Member of the PLO, was also present during the meeting.​