Page 24 - Gaza Conflict

Gaza in ruins after year-long war with Israel; rebuilding may take decades

There are hills of rubble where apartment blocks stood, and pools of sewage-tainted water spreading disease. City streets have been churned into dirt canyons and, in many places, the air is filled with the stench of unrecovered corpses. Israel's yearlong offensive against Hamas, one of the deadliest and most destructive in recent history, has killed more than 41,000 people, a little over half of them women and children, according to local health officials. With no end in sight to the war and no plan for the day after, it is impossible to say when or even if anything will be rebuilt. Even after the fighting stops, hundreds of thousands of people could be stuck living in squalid tent camps for years. Experts say reconstruction could take decades. This war is destruction and misery. It would make the stones cry out, said Shifaa Hejjo, a 60-year-old housewife living in a tent pitched on land where her home once stood. Whoever sees Gaza ... It will make them cry. Israel blames the ...

Hamas in Gaza fire 4 rockets into Israel as mourners mark October 7

Palestinian militants in Gaza fired four rockets into Israel on Monday as mourners marked the anniversary of the Oct 7 attack, without disrupting a nearby ceremony. Hamas also said it attacked Israeli forces in different parts of Gaza. The Israeli military said three rockets were intercepted and a fourth fell in an open area. There were no reports of casualties or damage. The military said it launched a wave of artillery and airstrikes overnight and into Monday to thwart what it said was an imminent attack. It said it targeted Hamas launch posts and underground militant infrastructure. The fighting on the anniversary underscored the militants' resilience in the face of a devastating Israeli offensive that has killed around 42,000 Palestinians, according to local medical officials. It has also destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population. Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel's security fence and stormed into nearby army bases and farming communities

US spends $17.9 bn on Israel as military aid since its war with Gaza began

The United States has spent a record of at least USD 17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began and led to escalating conflict around the Middle East, according to a report for Brown University's Costs of War project, released on the anniversary of Hamas' attacks on Israel. An additional USD 4.86 billion has gone into stepped-up U.S. military operations in the region since the Oct 7, 2023, attacks, researchers said in findings first provided to The Associated Press. That includes the costs of a Navy-led campaign to quell strikes on commercial shipping by Yemen's Houthis, who are carrying them out in solidarity with the fellow Iranian-backed group Hamas. The report completed before Israel opened a second front, this one against Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, in late September is one of the first tallies of estimated U.S. costs as the Biden administration backs Israel in its conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon and seeks to contain hostilities by ...

Thousands join pro-Palestinian rallies around globe as October 7 nears

Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse violent demonstrators in Rome as tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets in major European cities and around the globe Saturday to call for a cease-fire as the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel approached. Huge rallies were held in several European cities, with gatherings expected to continue over the weekend and peak on Monday, the date of the anniversary. In Rome, several thousands demonstrated peacefully Saturday afternoon until a smaller group tried to push the rally toward the center of the city, in spite of a ban by local authorities who refused to authorize protests, citing security concerns. Some protesters, dressed in black and with their faces covered threw stones, bottles and paper bombs at the police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons, eventually dispersing the crowd. At least 30 law enforcement officers and three demonstrators were injured in the clashes, local medi

Israel expands bombardment in Lebanon, hits Beirut suburbs, north region

Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon on Saturday, hitting Beirut's southern suburbs with 12 airstrikes and striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in northern Lebanon for the first time. The attack on the Beddawi refugee camp near the northern city of Tripoli killed an official with Hamas's military wing, along with his wife and two young daughters, the Palesitnian militant group said in a statement. Tripoli is much farther north than the majority of Israel's strikes, which have been concentrated in southern Lebanon and Beirut. Israel has killed several Hamas officials in Lebanon since the Israel-Hamas war began in October last year, in addition to most of the top leadership of Hezbollah. At least six people were killed in more than a dozen Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday, according to National News Agency, Lebanon's official news agency. The Israeli military said special forces were carrying out targeted ground raids against Hezbollah infrastructure in southe

Hamas official Saeed Atallah Ali killed in Israeli strike on refugee camp

An Israeli strike on a refugee camp in north Lebanon has killed Hamas official Saeed Atallah Ali and his family, the militant group said Saturday. The early morning strike came a day after another Israeli airstrike cut off a main highway linking Lebanon with Syria, leaving two huge craters on either side of the road. Israel began a ground incursion Tuesday into Lebanon against the Hezbollah militant group. The Israeli military said nine soldiers have died in the conflict in southern Lebanon. Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas' cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials. Nearly ..

One year into war, every aspect of life in Israel remains impacted

At a busy Tel Aviv entertainment district, diners spill into outdoor seating and clink glasses as music fills the air. There's laughter, there's life. But all around the patrons, staring down from lampposts and shop windows, are pictures of hostages held in Gaza, stark reminders that Israel is at war and forever scarred by the deadliest attack in its history. As Israel's war with Hamas reaches its one-year mark, it can seem on the surface that much of life in the country has returned to normal. But with many still reeling from Hamas' October 7 attack, hostages remaining in captivity and a new front of warwith Hezbollah in the north, many Israelis feel depressed, despondent and angry as the war stretches into its second year. Uncertainty over the future has cast a pall over virtually every part of daily life, even as people try to maintain a sense of normalcy. The conversation about the situation is always there," said activist Zeev Engelmayer, whose daily postcard project featuring

The mother of all bear markets in equities is dead: Shankar Sharma

We have mastered the art of neutering the 'bear market villains' - speculation, inflation, war, disease - we have dealt with them all, Sharma said

What will Iran do if Israel responds to missile attack? Here's what we know

Israel was initially contemplating an attack on Iran's nuclear or oil facilities as retaliation for Tuesday's missile salvo, which involved nearly 200 ballistic missiles

As Israel pressures Iran, Khamenei to give first Friday sermon in 5 years

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will lead Friday prayers for the first time in nearly five years, honouring slain Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah, killed in Israeli airstrikes on September 27

Markets in the times of war: Sharp correction and then a swift recovery

Stock market today: Events such as a war do present a buying opportunity for long-term investors, analysts said

Biden says Israel has right to hit Iran back, but sets one big condition

US President Joe Biden has affirmed Israel's right to retaliate to Tuesday's Iranian missile attack, while the Israeli Cabinet has delayed its response in a bid to coordinate with Washington

Food supply to Gaza falls sharply as Israel introduces new custom rules

The new customs rule applies to truck convoys chartered by the United Nations to take aid from Jordan to Gaza via Israel

51 killed in Israeli strikes on southern Gaza, claim Palestinian officials

Israeli strikes killed at least 51 people in southern Gaza overnight, including women and children, as the military launched ground operations in the hard-hit city of Khan Younis, Palestinian medical officials said Wednesday. Israel has continued to strike what it says are militant targets across Gaza nearly a year after Hamas' October 7 attack ignited the war there, and even as attention has shifted to Lebanon and Iran. Israel has launched ground operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Tehran fired ballistic missiles on Israel late Tuesday. Separately, Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with Israeli troops in the Lebanese border town of Odaisseh, forcing them to retreat. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military or independent confirmation of the fighting, which would mark the first ground combat since Israeli troops crossed the border this week. Israeli media reported infantry and tank units operating in southern Lebanon after the military sent thousands of ..

'A masterstroke': Indian Army chief on Israel's Hezbollah pager attack

Last month, 3,000 pagers used by Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, exploded after a coded message was sent to them

Attack by Houthi rebels target ship in Red Sea as Gaza war intensifies

A suspected attack Tuesday by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the Red Sea, likely marking their first assault on commercial shipping in weeks as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to become a regional conflict. The attack comes as Israeli ground forces entered Lebanon after days of Israeli airstrikes that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top leaders and the earlier explosions of sabotaged electronic devices used by the Shiite militia. The Houthis had threatened escalating military operations targeting Israel on Monday after they apparently shot down a US military drone flying over the country. The attack Tuesday morning took place some 110 kilometres off the port city of Hodeida in the Red Sea, which has become a battlefield for shippers since the Houthis began their campaign targeting ships travelling through a waterway that once saw USD 1 trillion a year of cargo pass through it. A captain on a ship saw four splashes near his vessel, the British military's .

India has major role for peace in Gaza, Ukraine: UK Labour Party Councillor

On conflict in Palestine, he said, 'It's high time that the powers, that is the Anglo-American alliance, stepped in and called for an immediate ceasefire because that is something needed urgently'

Iran not to send forces to Lebanon, Gaza as Israel hints at new ground op

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has reportedly implied that Israel is gearing up for a ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon

Israeli strike on northern Gaza school kills 11, injures 22 others

An Israeli airstrike hit a school sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza on Thursday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 22, including women and children, the territory's Health Ministry said. The Israeli military confirmed it struck the school in the Jabalia refugee camp, saying it was targeting Hamas militants inside who were planning attacks on Israeli troops. The claim couldn't be independently confirmed. Footage from the al-Falouja School showed rescue workers rushing casualties out of the school compound amid widespread debris and crowds of people. One video showed men wrapping a mangled, severed torso in a plastic sheet and putting body parts into a cooler. Gaza's Health Ministry didn't immediately say how many of the casualties were women and children. Israeli forces have repeatedly struck schools, saying Hamas fighters use them as command centres to plan attacks. The military says it uses precision weapons to avoid civilian casualties. The ..

Lebanon fears Gaza-like devastation as Israel ramps up airstrikes

When she first heard about the evacuation warnings Israel was sending to residents of Lebanon, Aline Naser's thoughts immediately turned to Gaza. For the past year, the 26-year-old Beirut resident has been following with horror the reports about besieged Palestinians in the Gaza Strip ordered to move from one place to the other, fleeing to humanitarian zones only to be bombed and ordered to leave again. The Israeli calls for Lebanese citizens to evacuate ahead of a widening air campaign, delivered via mobile phone alerts, calls and leaflets this week, seemed chillingly familiar. It's definitely something on the back of my mind, and we don't really know where exactly is safe, she said. Almost a year after the start of its war in Gaza, Israel has turned its focus on Lebanon, significantly ratcheting up its campaign against its archenemy Hezbollah. Among many in Lebanon, there is fear that Israel's military operations in Lebanon would follow the same Gaza playbook: Evacuation orders,