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

[Saif]

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/world/asia/israel-faces-growing-calls-to-scrap-new-gaza-offensive-plans

Israel faces growing calls to scrap new Gaza offensive plans

REUTERS
Published :
Aug 10, 2025 18:30
Updated :
Aug 10, 2025 18:30

Palestinians carry aid supplies they collected from trucks that entered Gaza through Israel, in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip August 10, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Israel's far-right finance minister has demanded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrap his plan to seize Gaza City in favour of a tougher one, while Italy said on Sunday the plan could result in a "Vietnam" for Israel's army.

Netanyahu's security cabinet, of which the minister, Bezalel Smotrich, is a member, approved the plan by majority on Friday to expand military operations in the shattered Palestinian enclave to try to defeat militant group Hamas.

The move drew a chorus of condemnation within Israel, where thousands of people protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday calling for an immediate ceasefire and release of hostages held by militant group Hamas, as well as abroad.

The United Nations Security Council was expected to meet later on Sunday to discuss the plan, with many countries expressing concern it could worsen already acute hunger among Palestinians.

Netanyahu was expected to give a news conference for international media in Israel and make a televised announcement later in the day. It was not clear what he would say.

Smotrich said he has lost faith in Netanyahu's ability and desire to lead to a victory over Hamas. The new plan, he said in a video on X late on Saturday, was intended to get Hamas back to ceasefire negotiations.

The prime minister and the cabinet have decided to do "more of the same" he said, referring to the fact that Israeli troops have entered the city before and failed to defeat Hamas.

He and other far-right members of Netanyahu's coalition argue that the plan does not go far enough while the army, which opposes military rule in Gaza, has warned it would endanger remaining hostages held by Hamas as well as Israeli troops.

Smotrich stopped short of delivering a clear ultimatum to Netanyahu.

Other far-right coalition allies of Netanyahu have also pushed for total military occupation of Gaza, the annexation of large swaths of the territory and the removal of much of its Palestinian population.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has made similar calls, told Army Radio on Sunday that the plan to take over Gaza City was a good one, as long as it was a first step.

The Israeli military has warned that expanding the offensive could endanger the lives of hostages Hamas is still holding in Gaza, believed to number around 20, and draw its troops into protracted and deadly guerilla warfare.

Italy said Israel should heed its army's warnings.

"The invasion of Gaza risks turning into a Vietnam for Israeli soldiers," Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in an interview with daily Il Messaggero.

He reiterated calls for a United Nations mission led by Arab countries to "reunify the Palestinian state" and said Italy was ready to participate.

The Security Council is likely to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the prospect of its worsening if the Israeli plan goes ahead but there has so far been little appetite among Arab states to send their troops in.

BOY KILLED BY AIRDROP

Israel has already come under mounting pressure over widespread hunger and thirst in the enclave, prompting it to announce a series of new measures to ease aid distribution.

The Israeli military said on Sunday that the contents of nearly 1,900 aid trucks were distributed last week from the Gaza sides of the Kerem Shalom and Zikim border crossings. A spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on the reported figure but the United Nations has said Gaza needs far more aid to come in.

On Saturday, medics said that a 14-year-old boy was killed by an aid airdrop that fell on a tent encampment in central Gaza. A video, verified by Reuters, that went viral on social media, showed the parachuted aid box falling on the teenager who, among many other desperate Palestinians, was awaiting food.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said the new death raised the number of people killed during the airdrops to 23 since the war began, almost two years ago.

"We have repeatedly warned of the dangers of these inhumane methods and have consistently called for the safe and sufficient delivery of aid through land crossings, especially food, infant formula, medicines, and medical supplies," it said.

Five more people, including two children, died of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said, taking the number of deaths from such causes to 217, including 100 children.

The war began on October 7 2023 when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel and killed 1,200 people, and took 251 hostages. Israeli authorities say 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza are alive.

Israel's offensive in Gaza has since killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to health officials, and left much of the territory in ruins.

Gaza medics said Israeli fire killed at least six Palestinians on Sunday, four of them in an airstrike in Khan Younis and two more people among crowds seeking aid in central Gaza. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the report.​

 

[Saif]

Thousands protest in Tel Aviv against Israeli govt move to expand Gaza war

Authorities did not provide an official estimate for the size of the crowd, though it dwarfed other recent anti-war rallies.

en.prothomalo.com

Thousands protest in Tel Aviv against Israeli govt move to expand Gaza war
AFP Tel Aviv
Published: 10 Aug 2025, 10: 04

A protester confronts a mounted Israeli policeman attempting to disperse people gathered for a demonstration organised by the families of the Israeli hostages taken captive in the Gaza Strip since the October 2023 calling for action to secure their release, by Azrieli Centre outside the Defence Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on 9 August, 2025 AFP

Thousands took to the streets in Tel Aviv on Saturday to call for an end to the war in Gaza, a day after the Israeli government vowed to expand the conflict and capture Gaza City.

Demonstrators waved signs and held up pictures of hostages still being held in the Palestinian territory as they called on the government to secure their release.

AFP journalists at the rally estimated the number of attendees to be in the tens of thousands, while a group representing the families of hostages said as many as 100,000 people participated.

Authorities did not provide an official estimate for the size of the crowd, though it dwarfed other recent anti-war rallies.

“We will end with a direct message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: if you invade parts of Gaza and the hostages are murdered, we will pursue you in the town squares, in election campaigns and at every time and place,” Shahar Mor Zahiro, the relative of a slain hostage, told AFP.

On Friday, Netanyahu’s security cabinet greenlighted plans for a major operation to seize Gaza City, triggering a wave of domestic and international criticism.

Foreign powers, including some of Israel’s allies, have been pushing for a negotiated ceasefire to secure the hostages’ return and help alleviate a humanitarian crisis in the Strip.

Despite the backlash and rumours of dissent from Israeli military top brass, Netanyahu has remained defiant over the decision.

In a post on social media late Friday, Netanyahu said “we are not going to occupy Gaza—we are going to free Gaza from Hamas”.

The premier has faced regular protests over the course of 22 months of war, with many rallies calling for the government to strike a deal after past truces saw hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.

Out of 251 hostages captured during Hamas’s 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the military says are dead.

‘A new crime’

The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Saturday lambasted Israel’s plan to expand its operations in Gaza.

According to a statement carried by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, PA president Mahmud Abbas said the plan “constitutes a new crime”, and stressed “the urgent need to take action to stop it immediately”.

He also emphasised “the importance of enabling the State of Palestine to assume its full responsibilities in the Gaza Strip”.

In the same meeting that approved the Gaza City plan, the security cabinet adopted a set of principles for ending the war in Gaza that included establishing a new “administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority”.

The PA, conceived as a first step towards a Palestinian state, exercises limited administration over parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, but does not have a presence in Hamas-run Gaza.

A statement issued Saturday by the foreign ministers of Italy, Australia, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom again criticised the decision to occupy Gaza City.

“This will exacerbate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of hostages, and increase the risk of a mass exodus of civilians,” they said.

Russia also condemned the Israeli plan to take control of Gaza City in a statement Saturday.

Implementing such plans “risks worsening the already dramatic situation in the Palestinian enclave, which shows all the signs of a humanitarian disaster”, said a foreign ministry statement.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 37 people were killed by Israeli fire across the territory on Saturday, including 30 civilians who were waiting to collect aid.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, figures the United Nations says are reliable.

Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel—which triggered the war—resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.​

 

[Saif]

Australia will recognise Palestinian state: PM

Australia will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday.

en.prothomalo.com

Australia will recognise Palestinian state: PM
AFP Sydney
Published: 11 Aug 2025, 09: 58

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during a press conference in Canberra on 11 August, 2025. Australia will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on 11 August. AFP

Australia will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday.

"Until Israeli and Palestinian statehood is permanent, peace can only be temporary," he told reporters.

"Australia will recognise the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own."

Several countries, including France, Britian and Canada, have announced plans to recognise statehood for Palestinians since Israel launched a bombardment of Gaza nearly two years ago in response to the Hamas attacks.

Albanese added that he had received assurances from the Palestinian Authority that there would be "no role for the terrorists of Hamas in any future Palestinian state".

"There is a moment of opportunity here, and Australia will work with the international community to seize it," he said.​

 

[Saif]

Gazans mourn Al Jazeera staff killed by Israel

Gazans gathered on Monday for the funeral of five Al Jazeera staff members and a sixth reporter killed in an Israeli strike, with Israel calling one of them a ‘terrorist’ affiliated with Hamas.

www.newagebd.net

Gazans mourn Al Jazeera staff killed by Israel
Agence France-Presse . Gaza City 12 August, 2025, 00:35

Al Jazeera staff members observe a moment of silence to honour their five colleagues, killed in an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City, at the networks’ headquarters in Doha on Monday. | AFP photo

Gazans gathered on Monday for the funeral of five Al Jazeera staff members and a sixth reporter killed in an Israeli strike, with Israel calling one of them a ‘terrorist’ affiliated with Hamas.

Dozens stood amid bombed-out buildings in the courtyard of Al-Shifa hospital to pay their respects to Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera correspondent aged 28, and four of his colleagues, killed on Sunday.

A sixth journalist, Mohammed Al-Khaldi who worked as a freelance reporter, was also killed in the strike that targeted the Al Jazeera team, according to the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya.

Their bodies, wrapped in white shrouds with their faces exposed, were carried through narrow alleys to their graves by mourners including men wearing blue journalists’ flak jackets.

Israel confirmed it had targeted Sharif, whom it labelled a ‘terrorist’ affiliated with Hamas, saying he ‘posed as a journalist’.

Al Jazeera said its employees were hit in a tent set up for journalists outside the main gate of a hospital in Gaza City.

The four other staff members killed were Mohammed Qreiqeh, also a correspondent, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa.

‘Anas Al-Sharif served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organisation and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF Israeli troops,’ the military said in a statement.

‘The IDF had previously disclosed intelligence information and many documents found in the Gaza Strip, confirming his military affiliation to Hamas,’ it said.

It published a graphic showing what it said was a list of Hamas operatives in northern Gaza, including Sharif’s name, as well as an image of him emblazoned with the word: ‘Eliminated’.

It also published a list it said showed Sharif had been paid $200 by Hamas after an injury, as well as a list it said was a Hamas battalion’s phone directory that included Sharif’s number.

Sharif was one of the channel’s most recognisable faces working on the ground in Gaza, providing daily reports on the now 22-month-old war.

A posthumous message, written in April in case of his death, was published on his account on Monday morning saying he had been silenced and urging people ‘not to forget Gaza’.

According to local journalists who knew him, Sharif had worked at the start of his career with a Hamas communication office, where his role was to publicise events organised by the militant group that has exercised total control over Gaza since 2006.

Following online posts by Israel’s Arabic-language military spokesman Avichay Adraee on Sharif, the Committee to Protect Journalists called in July for his protection, accusing Israel of a ‘pattern’ of labelling journalists militants ‘without providing credible evidence’.

It said the Israeli military had levelled similar accusations against other journalists in Gaza earlier in the war, including other Al Jazeera staff.

‘International law is clear that active combatants are the only justified targets in a war setting, so unless the IDF can demonstrate that Anas al-Sharif was still an active combatant, then there is no justification for his killing,’ Jodie Ginsberg, CPJ’s chief executive, said.

AFP has contacted the Israeli military for comment.

Al Jazeera called the attack that killed Sharif ‘a desperate attempt to silence voices exposing the Israeli occupation’, as it described Sharif as ‘one of Gaza’s bravest journalists’.

It also said it followed ‘repeated incitement and calls by multiple Israeli officials and spokespersons to target the fearless journalist Anas Al Sharif and his colleagues’.

Reporters Without Borders says nearly 200 journalists have been killed in the war so far.

International reporters are prevented from travelling to Gaza by Israel, except on occasional tightly controlled trips with the military.

The strike on the journalists came with criticism mounting over prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to expand the war in the Gaza Strip.

The security cabinet voted last week to conquer the remaining quarter or so of the territory not yet controlled by Israeli troops, including much of Gaza City and Al-Mawasi, the area designated a safe zone by Israel where huge numbers of Palestinians have sought refuge.

The plan, which Israeli media reported had triggered bitter disagreement between the government and military leadership, drew condemnation from protesters in Israel and numerous countries, including Israeli allies.

Notably, the plans caused Germany, a major weapons supplier and staunch ally, to suspend shipments to Israel of any arms that could be used in Gaza.

Australia said it would join a growing list of Western nations in recognising a Palestinian state.

Despite the diplomatic reversals, Netanyahu remained defiant.

‘We will win the war, with or without the support of others,’ he told journalists on Sunday.

The United Nations and humanitarian agencies have condemned the planned expansion.

‘If these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza,’ UN assistant secretary general Miroslav Jenca told the Security Council on Sunday.

UN agencies warned last month that famine was unfolding in the territory, with Israel severely restricting the entry of aid.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 61,430 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, figures the United Nations says are reliable.

Hamas’s October, 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.​

 

[Saif]

Let us in: The world needs uncensored reporting from Gaza now

Despite unbearable conditions, danger, hunger, exhaustion, and grief, Palestinian journalists continue to report with extraordinary courage and professionalism.

www.thedailystar.net

Let us in: The world needs uncensored reporting from Gaza now

The Israeli government has enforced a near-total media blackout, barring independent access to Gaza. FILE PHOTO: REUTERS

This week, over 1,000 journalists, media professionals, and press freedom advocates from more than 60 countries have signed a petition demanding immediate, unrestricted access for foreign journalists to the Gaza Strip. The initiative, titled "Freedom to Report," should not need to exist. In a functioning democracy, access to cover a conflict of this magnitude would be a given. Instead, for 22 months, Gaza has remained closed to international media—a closure without precedent in modern warfare.

Among the signatories are some of the most respected and experienced war correspondents in the world, including Christiane Amanpour (CNN), Jeremy Bowen (BBC), Alex Crawford (Sky News), Lyse Doucet (BBC), and Lindsey Hilsum (Channel 4 News). They represent global news organisations and national outlets from every continent, including many from Belgium, and reflect a growing and urgent consensus: journalists are being systematically blocked from doing their jobs.

The Israeli government has enforced a near-total media blackout, barring independent access to Gaza. Since the war began, over 1,139 people have been killed in Israel, including at least 695 civilians during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. By August 2025, more than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians: children, doctors, humanitarian workers, UN staff. Entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed. Millions displaced. There is credible evidence that famine is being weaponised. Allegations of war crimes continue to mount.

The world cannot rely on press releases, government briefings, or second-hand reports. This demands direct, on-the-ground verification by independent international journalists. Foreign media were eventually granted access to cover the October 7 attacks. Yet Gaza remains sealed. The Israeli government has made its position clear: foreign journalists will not be allowed to report freely from inside the territory.

This has become the deadliest war for journalists ever recorded, with nearly 200 killed, overwhelmingly Palestinian. Despite unbearable conditions, danger, hunger, exhaustion, and grief, Palestinian journalists continue to report with extraordinary courage and professionalism. They are making history. But they should not be alone. Our demand is not to replace them, but to stand with them and to help ensure a diverse, independent, and verifiable record of events.

This is not just a humanitarian blackout. It is an information blackout, one that violates the public's right to know and weakens journalism's core role: to hold power accountable. If this blockade on truth persists, it sends a dangerous signal to governments everywhere: that press freedom can be suspended during war, that censorship and narrative control are acceptable tools of state policy.

We are already witnessing this erosion beyond Gaza, a growing wave of global censorship and repression of the press. Gaza is the most urgent case, but it is not the only one. It represents the sharpest edge of a broader threat: the silencing of journalists, the criminalisation of truth, and the creeping normalisation of secrecy over scrutiny.

If the democratic world is serious about defending press freedom, it cannot look away from Gaza. To defend access in Gaza is to defend access everywhere.

We who have covered wars, who have buried friends and colleagues killed while seeking the truth, do not make this demand lightly. We understand the risks. But war zones are where journalism matters most.

This is not a political act. It is not activism. It is journalism. And it is urgent. Let us in. Now.

André Liohn is a photojournalist and coordinator of Freedom to Report initiative.​