Page 46 - Gaza Conflict

EAM Jaishankar, Blinken discuss Red Sea attacks, Gaza, Ukraine war

The United States has welcomed the "increased cooperation" with India in defending freedom of navigation in the Red Sea as the two countries discussed "shared concerns" over the reckless Houthi attacks in the region. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Thursday and "discussed the United States and India's shared concerns over the reckless Houthi attacks in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which threaten the free flow of commerce, endanger innocent mariners, and violate international law". State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that Blinken emphasised the Red Sea is a major commercial corridor that facilitates international trade and "welcomed increased cooperation with India in defending freedom of navigation in the region". Jaishankar and Blinken also discussed the Israel-Hamas conflict, efforts to prevent the escalation and increase the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. Blinken also

ICJ opens hearing on Israel's 'genocide' in Gaza as toll mounts to 23,200

Gaza war: South Africa has initially asked the ICJ to order an immediate suspension of Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip

Blinken sees path to Gaza peace, reconstruction after his West Asia tour

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up his latest urgent Mideast tour on Thursday in talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as American officials claimed modest success in getting wide regional support for planning for reconstruction and governance in Gaza after Israel's war with Hamas ends. Blinken secured buy-in from previously reluctant Arab and Muslim nations to begin such planning in discussions with the leaders of Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain over the weeklong mission, his fourth to the Middle East since the war began in October. Each country along with Greece, which Blinken also visited pledged to participate in the general planning, although precise contributions have yet to be determined. On our previous trips here, I think there was a reluctance to talk about some of the day-after issues in terms of long-term stability and security on a regional basis, Blinken told reporters at Cairo's airport after his .

Top UN court set to hear S Africa's allegation of Israeli genocide in Gaza

A legal battle over whether Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide opens Thursday at the United Nations' top court with preliminary hearings into South Africa's call for judges to order an immediate suspension of Israel's military actions. Israel stringently denies the genocide allegation. The case, that is likely to take years to resolve, strikes at the heart of Israel's national identity as a Jewish state created in the aftermath of the Nazi genocide in the Holocaust. It also involves South Africa's identity: Its ruling African National Congress party has long compared Israel's policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to homelands before ending in 1994. Israel normally considers U.N. and international tribunals unfair and biased. But it is sending a strong legal team to the International Court of Justice to defend its military operation launched in the aftermath of the Oct.

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Loss of civilian lives in Gaza war 'clearly unacceptable': India at UNGA

She underlined that India is aware that the immediate trigger was the terror attacks in Israel on October 7, which were shocking and deserve our unequivocal condemnation

US defends veto on Gaza ceasefire, Palestinians demand halt to fighting

The United States defended its veto of a call for the immediate suspension of hostilities in Gaza at a U.N. meeting Tuesday and again faced demands by the Palestinians and many other countries for a cease-fire now in the Israel-Hamas war as well as by a group of rabbis in the gallery. U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood called the Russian-proposed amendment to a Dec. 22 Security Council resolution which it vetoed disconnected from the situation on the ground. The council then adopted a watered-down resolution, with the U.S. abstaining, calling for urgent steps to immediately allow expanded humanitarian aid into Gaza, and to create conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities. Wood called it striking that those urging an end to the conflict have made very few demands of Hamas, following its surprise Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people, to stop hiding behind civilians, lay down its arms, and surrender. And he reiterated ongoing U.S. efforts to ..

Work with moderate Palestinian leaders to rebuild Gaza: Blinken asks Israel

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Israel to work with moderate Palestinian leaders on plans for a post-war Gaza. Israel has so far ruled out calls to allow the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza and instead talked about maintaining open-ended military control over the territory. The US has said a revitalised authority should return to Gaza. Israel must stop taking steps that undercut the Palestinians' ability to govern themselves effectively, Blinken said Tuesday. The authority was ousted from Gaza when Hamas seized power in 2007. Israel must be a partner of the Palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people and living side by side in peace with Israel, he added. He said Arab leaders across the region are ready to assist, but only through a regional approach that includes a pathway to a Palestinian state.

Medics, patients flee southern Gaza hospitals as fighting intensifies: WHO

"We are seeing the health system collapse at a very rapid pace," he added, saying that an estimated 600 patients had fled one facility

Keep hope of Palestinian state alive: Blinken brings Arab message to Israel

International concern has been growing over the huge Palestinian death toll from the Israeli assault on the enclave as well as a humanitarian crisis enveloping hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza

Sri Lanka Navy ready to send ship to Red Sea to protect merchant vessels

The Sri Lanka Navy on Monday said it is ready to send a naval ship to the Red Sea to combat the threat to merchant vessel lines by Houthi rebels, joining countries such as India, in protecting the key waterway for global trade. The announcement comes following last week's orders of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who had declared the cost as Rs 250 million every fortnight. The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched more than 20 attacks on merchant ships in recent weeks, claiming to take revenge against Israel for its military campaign against Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza. These attacks have sharply raised goods' transportation costs between Asia and Europe. Newswire Lanka quoted Navy spokesman Captain Gayan Wickramasuriya as saying that but the exact date of deployment is yet to be confirmed. The vessels would be covering the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and connected sea lanes. Captain Wickramasuriya went on to say that initially one ship would be deployed as pa

Israel ministry to give go-ahead for Elon Musk-owned Starlink this week

Sales will initially be restricted to official bodies, and Starlink agreed not to grant access to humanitarian organizations in the Gaza Strip without the approval of Israel's defense establishment

Drive-by shooting, clashes in West Bank kill 7 Palestinians, 2 Israelis

An Israeli man was fatally shot at a busy intersection in the West Bank on Sunday, hours after a violent confrontation elsewhere in the Israeli-occupied territory left seven Palestinians and a member of Israel's paramilitary border police dead. In Sunday's drive-by shooting, assailants fired through the victim's front windshield, the Magen David Adom rescue service said. Paramedics arriving at the scene in the central West Bank found the man unresponsive in his car. The Israeli army said security forces were searching the area for the shooter. Israeli media reported that security forces found an abandoned car that was likely used to carry out the attack, and the suspect fled on foot. Hours earlier, a deadly confrontation erupted when Israeli security forces were on patrol to search for roadside bombs in Jenin, a town and adjacent refugee camp by the same name in the northern West Bank. A roadside bomb exploded near a vehicle of the paramilitary border police, killing a policewoman

Israeli strikes on Gaza killed 5th member of veteran correspondent's family

An apparent Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinian journalists in southern Gaza on Sunday, including the son of veteran Al Jazeera correspondent Wael Dahdouh, who lost his wife, two other children and a grandson and was nearly killed himself earlier in the war. Dahdouh has continued to report on the fighting between Israel and Hamas even as it has taken a devastating toll on his own family, becoming a symbol for many of the perils faced by Palestinian journalists, dozens of whom have been killed while covering the conflict. Hamza Dahdouh, who was also working for Al Jazeera, and Mustafa Tharaya, a freelance journalist, were killed when a strike hit their car while they were driving from Khan Younis to the southern town of Rafah, according to the media office of the Hamas-run government. Amer Abu Amr, a photojournalist, said in a Facebook post that he and another journalist, Ahmed al-Bursh, survived the strike. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Wael Dahd

Netanyahu declares war won't end until Israel achieves 'all' of its goals

"My government directed the IDF to go to war to eliminate Hamas, return our hostages and ensure that Gaza will never again be a threat to Israel," Netanyahu said

Gaza now 'uninhabitable' due to Israel-Hamas war: UN humanitarian chief

The U.N. humanitarian chief described Gaza on Friday as uninhabitable three months into Israel's war with Hamas, warning that famine was looming and a public health disaster unfolding. In a grim assessment of the devastating impact of Israel's military response to the horrific Hamas attacks on October 7, Martin Griffiths said that Gaza's 2.3 million people face daily threats to their very existence while the world just watches. He said tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children, have been killed or injured, families are sleeping in the open as temperatures plummet, and areas where Palestinians were told to relocate have been bombed. People are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded (and) famine is around the corner, Griffiths said. The few partially functioning hospitals are overwhelmed and critically short of supplies, medical facilities are under relentless attack, infectious diseases are spreading, and amidst the chaos some 180 Palestinian women ar

Problems in Red Sea impacting exports; increasing freight, insurance costs

The escalation of troubles in the Red Sea has started impacting India's exports as shippers have to take longer routes to reach destinations in the US and Europe, an official has said. The situation around the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping route connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean, has escalated due to recent attacks by Yemen-based Houthi militants. Due to these attacks, the shippers are taking consignments through the Cape of Good Hope, resulting in delays of almost 14 days and also higher freight and insurance costs. The issues being faced by the concerned stakeholders were discussed at a high-level meeting in the commerce ministry on January 4. Stakeholders, including traders, shippers, container firms and freight forwarders were there at the meeting. "They told us that freight cost has increased. They have to take a long route now and due to that, the turnaround time has increased. It has increased by 14 days," the official said. Ex

Families in Gaza desparate for food, water; wait in long lines for aid

Stranded in a corner of southern Gaza, members of the Abu Jarad family are clinging to a strict survival routine. They fled their comfortable three-bedroom home in northern Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war broke out nearly three months ago. The 10-person family now squeezes into a 16-square meter (172-square foot) tent on a garbage-strewn sandy plot, part of a sprawling encampment of displaced Palestinians. Every family member is assigned daily tasks, from collecting twigs to build a fire for cooking, to scouring the city's markets for vegetables. But their best efforts can't mask their desperation. At night dogs are hovering over the tents, said Awatif Abu Jarad, an older member of the family. We are living like dogs! Palestinians seeking refuge in southern Gaza say every day has become a struggle to find food, water, medicine and working bathrooms. All the while, they live in fear of Israeli airstrikes and the growing threat of illnesses. Israel's bombardment and ground invasion

Israel lays out vision for next steps of Gaza war ahead of Blinken visit

Israel's defence minister on Thursday laid out his vision for the next phase of the war in Gaza, describing how Israeli forces would shift to an apparently scaled-down "new combat approach" in northern Gaza, while continuing to fight Hamas in the south of the territory "for as long as necessary". Ahead of a visit by the US secretary of state, Yoav Gallant also outlined a proposal for how Gaza would be run once Hamas is defeated, with Israel keeping security control while an undefined, Israeli-guided Palestinian body runs day-to-day administration, and the US and other countries oversee rebuilding. Israel has come under heavy international pressure to spell out a post-war vision but so far has not done so. The issue is likely to be on the agenda in Secretary of State Antony Blinken's talks this weekend in Israel and other countries in the region. The United States has pressed Israel to shift to lower-intensity military operations in Gaza that more precisely target Hamas, after nearly

Israel offers tax incentives to aid housing crisis for war evacuees

Following the start of the "Iron Swords" war the government evacuated more than 100,000 citizens from the areas surrounding Gaza and near the Lebanese border, mainly to hotels