Page 21 - Gaza Conflict

Saudi Arabia important factor for stability in West Asia: EAM Jaishankar

EAM Jaishankar emphasised India's commitment to condemning acts of terrorism and hostage-taking while expressing deep concern over the continuing deaths of civilians

Children from Gaza brought to heal wounds now caught in Lebanon conflict

When Zarifa Nawfal's family arrived in Beirut for her wounded daughter's surgery, one of the first things she wanted to do was go to the sea. The Mediterranean had been a constant companion at their home in Gaza before the war. The moment I smelled the sea, I felt at peace inside as if I were in Gaza, she said. But soon their place of refuge reminded her of home in far more distressing ways. Nawfal's 7-year-old daughter, Halima Abou Yassine, is one of a dozen severely wounded Palestinian children brought to Lebanon this year for treatment through a program launched by a British-Palestinian surgeon, Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta. But months after their arrival, Lebanon is itself embroiled in a war some fear will end in Gaza-like destruction. In February, Nawfal was staying with her five children and her mother in an apartment in central Gaza. They had been displaced from their home in the north and Nawfal's husband was missing, likely dead. The children were filling water containers outs

Israeli strikes kill at least 46 people in Gaza Strip, 33 in Lebanon

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 46 people in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, including 11 at a makeshift cafeteria in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone, medics said. In Lebanon, warplanes struck Beirut's southern suburbs and killed 33 people elsewhere in the country on Tuesday. The latest bombardment came as the United States said it would not reduce its military support for Israel after a deadline passed for allowing more humanitarian aid into Gaza. The State Department cited some progress, even as international aid groups said Israel had failed to meet the US demands. In Lebanon, large explosions shook Beirut's southern suburbs an area known as Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah has a significant presence soon after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for 11 houses there. There was no immediate word on casualties. The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure, including command centers and weapons production sites, without providing evidence. Anot

Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 14; fails to meet US demand to allow aid

Palestinian medical officials said two Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 14 people, including two children and a woman. The deaths came as eight international aid groups said in a report on Tuesday that Israel has failed to meet US demands that it allow greater humanitarian access to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where conditions are worse than at any point in the 13-month-old war. A late Monday strike hit a cafeteria in the so-called Muwasi humanitarian zone west of the Gaza city of Khan Younis, killing at least 11 people, including two children, according to officials at Nasser Hospital, where the casualties were taken. Another strike early Tuesday hit a house in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing three people including a woman, according to al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. The Biden administration last month called on Israel to surge more food and other emergency aid into Gaza, setting a 30-day deadline that was expiring Tuesday. It warn

EU High Representative condemns Israeli airstrike on Jabalia in Gaza

He stressed that the use of hunger as a weapon of war contradicts international humanitarian law

Israel begins construction along UN-patrolled demilitarised zone in Syria

Israel has begun a construction project along the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria, apparently laying asphalt for a road right along the frontier, satellite photos analysed by The Associated Press show. Israeli troops have entered the demilitarised zone during the work, the United Nations confirmed to the AP, a violation of the cease-fire rules governing the area. The work, which earlier satellite photos show began in earnest in late September, follows the completion by the Israeli military of new roadways and what appears to be a buffer zone along the Gaza Strip's frontier with Israel. The Israel military also has begun demolishing villages in Lebanon, where United Nations peacekeepers have come under fire. So far, there has been no major violence along the Alpha Line, which delineates the demilitarised zone between Syria and Israeli-occupied territory that UN peacekeepers have patrolled since 1974. Syria, which has been at war wit

Israeli strikes kill dozens in Lebanon, Gaza; Netanyahu, Trump speak

Israeli strikes killed dozens of people including children on Sunday in Lebanon and isolated northern Gaza, as the world watched for signs of how the US election might affect the war against Iranian-backed militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has spoken three times with Donald Trump since Tuesday's election and they see eye-to-eye regarding the Iranian threat and all of its components. Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, is scheduled to meet with US President Joe Biden on Tuesday. The Israeli airstrike in Lebanon killed at least 23 people including seven children in Aalmat village north of Beirut, far from the areas in the east and south where Hezbollah has a major presence. There was no Israeli evacuation warning. There was no immediate Israeli comment. Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel after war broke out in Gaza, in solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Israel retaliated, and a series of escalati

'Serves no purpose': Why Qatar won't mediate between Israel and Hamas

Officials say Qatar has decided to suspend its key mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel. However, Qatar is highly likely to return to the efforts if both sides show serious political willingness to reach a deal on the war in Gaza, according to one official. A diplomatic source briefed on the matter said both Israel and Hamas, along with the United States, were informed after the decision was made. The source added that as a consequence, the Hamas political office no longer serves its purpose in Qatar. The announcement comes after growing frustration with the lack of progress on a cease-fire deal.

Two Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 13, say Palestinian officials

Two separate Israeli strikes killed at least 13 people, including women and children, in Gaza on Saturday, Palestinian medical officials said, as Israel announced the first delivery of aid in weeks to the war-battered northern Gaza. One of the strikes hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City's eastern Tufah neighbourhood, killing at least six people, Gaza's Health Ministry said. Two local journalists, a pregnant woman and a child were among the dead, the ministry said. The Israeli army said the strike targeted a militant belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, offering no evidence or further detail. Another seven people were killed when an Israeli strike hit a tent in the southern city of Khan Younis where displaced people were sheltering, according to Nasser Hospital. It said the dead included two women and a child. The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the blast. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid

WHO chief warns of imminent famine in North Gaza, calls to scale up efforts

He gave a call for an immediate scale-up and safe access for humanitarian aid, primarily food and medicines to tackle severe malnutrition

Israel Defence Forces to open Kissufim crossing to facilitate aid in Gaza

Kissufim is a small border crossing into southern Gaza near Kibbutz Kissufim, one of the sites attacked by Hamas

Israeli strike kills 20 in north Gaza, where Palestinians are without food

An Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza killed at least 20 people, mostly women and children, Palestinian officials said Tuesday, as Palestinians fled Israel's assault. Some said they had hardly eaten, with aid cut off for weeks to the most isolated and heavily destroyed part of the territory. Israel has been waging an offensive in Gaza's northernmost end for weeks, saying it is targeting Hamas militants who regrouped in the area. The UN has said Israel hasn't allowed food and other supplies into the area north of Gaza City since the assault began, even as tens of thousands of people remain there. That has drawn rebukes from the Biden administration, which has warned that US laws might force it to curb military aid to Israel if more aid is not allowed in. The strike late Monday hit a home where several displaced families were sheltering in the town of Beit Lahiya, near the border with Israel, according to Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of the recently raided and barely functioning ..

Israeli airstrike kills 20 people in North Gaza, say Palestinian officials

Palestinian medical officials say an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip has killed at least 20 people, mostly women and children. Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of a nearby hospital that received the casualties, said the strike late Monday hit a home in the town of Beit Lahiya where multiple families were sheltering. The dead included eight women and six children, according to a list provided by the Gaza Health Ministry's emergency service. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel has been waging a massive offensive in northern Gaza which was already the most isolated and heavily destroyed part of the territory for nearly a month. It has ordered the complete evacuation of Beit Lahiya, the nearby town of Beit Hanoun and the urban Jabaliya refugee camp, and has allowed almost no humanitarian aid into the area for over a month. Tens of thousands of people have fled to nearby Gaza City in the latest wave of displacement in the war, which began whe

Israel terminates agreement with UNRWA, agency providing aid in Gaza

Israel said on Monday it had terminated the agreement facilitating the work of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the main aid provider in Gaza, in what appeared to be a step to implement legislation passed last month that would sever ties with the agency and prevent it from operating in Israel. Israel says the agency, known as UNRWA, has been infiltrated by Hamas. UNRWA denies the allegations and says it takes measures to ensure its neutrality. On Sunday, Israel said its troops had carried out a ground raid into Syria to seize a Syrian it accuses of working with Iran. It was the first time in the current war that Israel announced its troops operated in Syrian territory. Despite growing pressure from the United States and others in the international community for a cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon, intensified Israeli strikes against the Hezbollah militant group are expanding beyond Lebanon's border areas. Israel is also fighting a seemingly endless war against Hamas in northern

Israeli forces capture senior Hezbollah operative in north Lebanon

An Israeli military official said Saturday that Israeli naval forces captured a senior Hezbollah operative in north Lebanon. The operation took place in the northern Lebanese town of Batroun, the official said without providing the name of the person they detained. Earlier on Saturday, Lebanese authorities said it was investigating whether Israel was behind the capture of a Lebanese sea captain who was taken away by a group of armed men who had landed on the coast of Batroun on Friday. The operative has been transferred to Israeli territory and is currently being investigated, the official said.

Indian embassy in constant touch with diaspora in Israel, says MEA

The Ministry of External Affairs expressed its concern on the recent developments in West Asia after precision strike of Israel on Iran's military sites

Israel pummels Gaza, Lebanon, killing dozens in latest waves of airstrikes

Israel launched waves of deadly airstrikes across Lebanon and Gaza that killed at least 24 people in Lebanon's northeast on Friday, according to the state-run National News Agency, and transformed once-bustling neighbourhood blocks in Beirut into smoldering ruins. Meanwhile in central Gaza, Palestinians recovered the bodies of 25 people killed in a barrage of Israeli attacks that began Thursday, hospital officials said. Israel said it targeted Hamas infrastructure near the Nuseirat refugee camp. The latest violence comes against the backdrop of the Biden administration's renewed diplomatic push days before the US election to reach temporary cease-fire deals. Israel has stepped up its war against Hamas' remaining fighters in Gaza, pulverizing areas in the north and raising fears of worsening humanitarian conditions for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians still there. Israel has broadened its strikes in Lebanon to bigger urban hubs in recent weeks after initially targeted smalle

Singapore urges all parties to reach ceasefire in Gaza, release hostages

Singapore has urged all parties in the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict to reach a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and immediately release of all hostages unconditionally. Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan also expressed Singapore's "deep concern" over the Israeli Parliament's recent legislation that bans UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA from operating in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem. The law was passed on October 28. The concern is how it "will hamper or hinder the essential work of UN agencies in providing relief to the people in Gaza and beyond", he said. "Singapore commends the work of Unicef, UNRWA and the other UN agencies for the essential role they provided and continue to provide for life-saving support in Gaza," he said, ahead of a ceremony that saw local charity Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation (RLAF) handing over SGD700,000 to UN children's agency Unicef. "We urge all parties to adhere to international law, including that we respect and protect the individual

Apocalyptic situation unfolding in North Gaza amid ongoing attacks: UN

Amid the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, the United Nations on Friday said that the "situation unfolding in North Gaza is apocalyptic" and said that the area continues to reel under the continuous attacks and is being denied basic aid and life-saving supplies.Sharing a post on X, the UN wrote, "The situation unfolding in North Gaza is apocalyptic.""UN & civil society leaders urge Israel to cease its assault on Gaza and on the humanitarians trying to help. They reiterate their call to everyone fighting to protect civilians," the post added.UN's Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) further urged parties engaged in conflict in Gaza to protect civilians and called on Israel to stop its attack on Gaza and on the humanitarians trying to help the residents of Gaza.Created by the United Nations General Assembly in 1991, the IASC is the longest-standing and highest-level humanitarian coordination forum of the United Nations system.In a statement, the IASC said, "We the leaders of 15

Israeli strikes kill 25 persons in central Gaza, 13 people in Lebanon

The death toll from Israeli strikes in the central Gaza Strip rose to 25, including five children, as more bodies were recovered, while officials said that 13 people were killed in airstrikes in Lebanon on Friday. Sixteen people had initially been reported killed in two strikes on Thursday on the Gaza Strip's central Nuseirat refugee camp, but officials from the Al-Aqsa hospital said bodies continued to be brought in. Overall, the hospital said they had received 21 dead from the strikes, including some transferred from the Awda hospital, where they had been brought the day before. One of the strikes killed an 18-month-old and his 10-year-old sister the children's mother was missing as of Friday while the father was killed by an Israeli airstrike four months ago, the family told The Associated Press at Aqsa hospital. Strikes on a motorcycle in Zuwaida and on a house in Deir al-Balah on Friday killed four more people, the hospital officials said, bringing the overall toll to 25. Th