Page 38 - Gaza Conflict

US, 17 other countries urge Hamas to release hostages, end Gaza crisis

The 18 countries all have citizens held by Hamas six months after the Palestinian militant group launched its Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel and killed 1,200 people

Hamas releases video featuring well-known Israeli-American hostage

Hamas released a hostage video on Wednesday showing a well-known Israeli-American man who was among scores of people abducted by the militants in the attack that ignited the war in Gaza. The video was the first sign of life of Hersh Goldberg-Polin since Hamas' October 7 attack on southern Israel, and its release ignited new protests in Jerusalem calling on the government to do more to secure the captives' release. In the video, Goldberg-Polin accused Israel's government of abandoning the people who are being held hostage by Hamas. He also claimed that some 70 captives have been killed in Israel's bombing campaign. Goldberg-Polin was clearly speaking under duress, and the claim could not be independently verified. It was not clear when the video was made. Goldberg-Polin, 23, was at the Tribe of Nova music festival when Hamas launched its attack from nearby Gaza. In the video, Goldberg-Polin is missing part of his left arm. Witnesses said he lost it when attackers tossed grenades int

Pro-Palestinian student protest US colleges' financial ties with Israel

Students at a growing number of US colleges are gathering in protest encampments with a unified demand of their schools: Stop doing business with Israel or any companies that empower its ongoing war in Gaza. The demand has its roots in a decades-old campaign against Israel's policies toward the Palestinians. The movement has taken on new strength as the Israel-Hamas war surpasses the six-month mark and stories of suffering in Gaza have sparked international calls for a cease-fire. Inspired by ongoing protests and the arrests last week of more than 100 students at Columbia University, students from Massachusetts to California are now gathering by the hundreds on campuses, setting up tent camps and pledging to stay put until their demands are met. We want to be visible, said Columbia protest leader Mahmoud Khalil, who noted that students at the university have been pushing for divestment from Israel since 2002. The university should do something about what we're asking for, about the

International law falling apart amid wars in Gaza, Ukraine, says Amnesty

The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned on Wednesday as it published its annual report. The human rights organisation said the most powerful governments, including the United States, Russia and China, have led a global disregard for international rules and values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with civilians in conflicts paying the highest price. Agnes Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general, said the level of violation of international order witnessed in the past year was "unprecedented". "Israel's flagrant disregard for international law is compounded by the failures of its allies to stop the indescribable civilian bloodshed meted out in Gaza," she said. "Many of those allies were the very architects of that post-World War Two system of law." The

Student protests erupt at US campuses as Israel's war in Gaza continues

Pro-Israel groups allege Jewish students faced anti-Semitism, prompting Palestine supporters to deny claim

Israel war cabinet discusses efforts to free hostages held in Gaza

For weeks, international mediators have facilitated talks on a ceasefire and hostage deal. However, the talks have yielded no apparent breakthroughs

Israel condemns expected US sanctions against 'ultra-Orthodox' soldiers

Israeli leaders on Sunday harshly criticized an expected decision by the US to impose sanctions on a unit of ultra-Orthodox soldiers in the Israeli military. The decision, expected as soon as Monday, would mark the first time the US has ever imposed sanctions on a unit inside the Israeli military and further strains relations between the two allies, which have grown increasingly tense during Israel's war in Gaza. While US officials declined to identify the sanctioned unit, Israeli leaders and local media identified it as Netzah Yehuda - an infantry battalion founded roughly a quarter of a century ago to incorporate ultra-Orthodox men into the military. Many religious men receive exemptions from what is supposed to be compulsory service. Israeli leaders condemned the decision as unfair, especially at a time when Israel is at war, and vowed to oppose it. If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit in the IDF, I will fight it with all my might, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya

Gaza war: Israeli strikes on Rafah kill 22 as US advances aid package

Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight killed 13 people, including nine children, health officials said on Sunday, as the United States was on track to approve billions of dollars of additional military aid to its close ally. Israel has carried out near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population of 2.3 million has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. It has also vowed to expand its ground offensive to the city on the border with Egypt despite international calls for restraint, including from the US. The House of Representatives approved a USD 26 billion aid package on Saturday that includes around USD 9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza. The first strike killed a man, his wife and their 3-year-old child, according to the nearby Kuwaiti Hospital, which received the bodies. The woman was pregnant, and the doctors managed to save the baby, the hospital said. The second strike killed eight children and two women, all from the s

Israeli airstrike in Rafah kills at least 9 Palestinians, including 6 kids

An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza's southernmost city killed at least nine people, six of them children, hospital authorities said Saturday, as Israel pursued its nearly seven-month offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory. Israel's war against the Islamic militant group Hamas has led to a dramatic escalation of tensions in an already volatile Middle East. The strike late Friday hit a residential building in the western Tel Sultan neighborhood of the city of Rafah, according to Gaza's civil defense. The bodies of the six children, two women and a man were taken to Rafah's Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital, the hospital's records showed. At the hospital, relatives cried and hugged the bodies of the children, wrapped in white shrouds, as others comforted them. The fatalities included Abdel-Fattah Sobhi Radwan, his wife Najlaa Ahmed Aweidah and their three children, his brother-in-law Ahmed Barhoum said. Barhoum also lost his wife, Rawan Radwan, and their 5-year-old daughter

UN agency agreed to help distribute aid to Gaza via sea route, says US

The U.N. World Food Program has agreed to help deliver aid for the starving civilians of Gaza once the U.S. military completes a pier for transporting the humanitarian assistance by sea, U.S. officials said Friday. The involvement of the U.N. agency could help resolve one of the major obstacles facing the U.S.-planned project the reluctance of aid groups to handle on-the-ground distribution of food and other badly needed goods in Gaza absent significant changes by Israel. An Israeli military attack April 1 that killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen intensified international criticism of Israel for failing to provide security for humanitarian workers or allow adequate amounts of aid across its land borders. President Joe Biden, himself facing criticism over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza while supporting Israel's military campaign against Hamas, announced March 8 that the U.S. military would build the temporary pier and causeway, as an alternative to the land ...

The Gaza model of AI

The Gaza model, if one can call it that, will be studied with care and attention to detail by all sorts of agencies as well as military strategists

Rocket assault on Israeli military site by Lebanon's Hezbollah wounds six

The assault, which Hezbollah said was a response to Israel killing a number of its fighters, comes as the Jewish state weighs a response to Iran's missile and drone strikes on Saturday night

US, Israel to hold virtual meeting Thu on Rafah, NSA Sullivan to lead talks

Washington is trying to dissuade the Israelis from retaliatory strikes to avoid inflaming an already tense situation, a second U.S. official said

Gaza war: Israel to make its own decision to defend itself, says Netanyahu

Earlier, Netanyahu's office said that during his meetings with Baerbock and Cameron, Israeli PM "reiterated that Israel would maintain its right to self-defense"

13 dead, several injured after strike at Al-Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza

A graphic video obtained from eyewitness Nihad Owdetallah, showed several casualties lying on the floor

Pro-Palestinian protestors block airports and highways in major US cities

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked roadways in Illinois, California, New York and the Pacific Northwest on Monday, temporarily shutting down travel into some of the nation's most heavily used airports, onto the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges and on a busy West Coast highway. In Chicago, protesters linked arms and blocked lanes of Interstate 190 leading into O'Hare International Airport around 7 am in a demonstration they said was part of a global economic blockade to free Palestine, according to Rifqa Falaneh, one of the organizers. Traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area was snarled for hours as demonstrators shut down all vehicle, pedestrian and bike traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge and chained themselves to 55-gallon drums filled with cement across Interstate 880 in Oakland. Protesters marching into Brooklyn blocked Manhattan-bound traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge. In Eugene, Oregon, protesters blocked Interstate 5, shutting down traffic on the major highway for about 45 ...

Hamas proposes new ceasefire deal, demands six-week break from hostilities

The terror group's draft added that 30 Palestinian prisoners would be released for every Israeli civilian, a steep increase from the 3:1 ratio of the weeklong Nov truce

Over 6,000 Indian workers to reach Israel by May to help labour shortage

More than 6,000 Indian workers will arrive in Israel during April and May to help the country's construction sector meet a labour shortage following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict. They will be will be brought to Israel on "air shuttle" following a joint decision by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office (PMO), finance ministry and the construction and housing ministry on subsidising charter flights, a statement issued by the Israeli government late Wednesday said. The construction industry of Israel employs workers in specific fields where there is a lack of Israeli workers. The largest group of about 80,000 workers came from the Palestinian Authority-controlled West Bank and another 17,000 from the Gaza Strip. But a huge majority of them had their work permit revoked after conflict started in October. The statement said this is the largest number of foreign workers arriving in Israel for the construction sector in a short time". "Thanks to the joint financing of the PMO,

Israel threatens to strike Iran if it launches attack from its territory

Israel's foreign minister threatened Wednesday that its country's forces would strike Iran directly if the Islamic Republic launched an attack from its territory against Israel, as tensions between the rival powers flare following the killings of Iranian generals in a blast at the Iranian consulate in Syria. If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack in Iran, Israel Katz said in a post on X in both Farsi and Hebrew. The remarks came after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reiterated early Wednesday a promise to retaliate against Israel over the attack on its consulate in Damascus earlier this month. Tehran holds Israel responsible for the strike that leveled the building, killing 12 people. Israel has not acknowledged its involvement, though it has been bracing for an Iranian response to the attack, a significant escalation in their long-running shadow war. Khamenei spoke at a prayer ceremony celebrating the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan

'Don't have evidence' of Israel committing genocide in Gaza: Lloyd Austin

Austin referred to the horrors carried out by Hamas on October 7 as a 'war crime' but refrained from calling them a genocide at the hearing on Tuesday