Page 3 - Gaza Firing

Netanyahu orders population of Gaza's Rafah evacuated ahead of invasion

Israel says Rafah is the last remaining Hamas stronghold and it needs to send in troops to complete its war plan against the Islamic militant group

US military drills in Philippines unaffected by focus on Ukraine, Gaza

Combat exercises between the United States and the Philippines involving thousands of forces each year will not be affected by America's focus on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, a US general said Thursday. The Biden administration has been strengthening an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific region to build deterrence and to better counter China, including in any future confrontation over Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea. But there have been concerns that the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict could hamper America's pivot to Asia and the Pacific and divert military resources intended for the region. "Certainly, it does not affect our presence, Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, commanding general of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division, told The Associated Press in an interview late Thursday when asked to comment on those concerns. "If anything, it drives an increased sense of urgency to focus on these partnerships that we've developed decades ago and it'

Still seek complete ceasefire in Gaza, end to Israeli offensive, says Hamas

Hamas says it has responded in a positive spirit to the latest proposal from the US and Mideast mediators for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages. But the militant group said in a statement on Tuesday that it still seeks a comprehensive and complete" cease-fire to end "the aggression against our people". Israel has ruled out the kind of permanent cease-fire sought by the militant group. Qatar's prime minister said on Tuesday that Hamas' reaction to the latest plan for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages was generally positive" as he met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was making his latest visit to the Middle East. Qatar, which has long mediated with Hamas, has been working with the US and Egypt to broker a cease-fire that would involve an extended halt in fighting and the release of the over 100 hostages still held by Hamas after its October 7 cross-border raid that ignited the war nearly four months ago. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman ..

'Good progress' in talks on freeing hostages and Gaza ceasefire: Qatari PM

According to Al Thani, Hamas needs to reach "to a place where they engage positively and constructively in the process"

UN court misrepresented my comments in genocide ruling: Israel's president

Israel's president on Sunday accused the UN world court of misrepresenting his words in a ruling that ordered Israel to take steps to protect Palestinians and prevent a genocide in the Gaza Strip. The court's ruling on Friday cited a series of statements made by Israeli leaders as evidence of incitement and dehumanizing language against Palestinians. They included comments by President Isaac Herzog made just days after the October 7 Hamas cross-border attack that triggered Israel's war against the Islamic militant group. Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people in that attack and took about 250 others hostage. The Israeli offensive has left more than 26,000 Palestinians dead, displaced more than 80 per cent of Gaza's inhabitants and led to a humanitarian crisis in the territory. Talking about Gaza's Palestinians at an October 12 news conference, Herzog said that an entire nation was responsible for the massacre, the report by the International Court of Justice noted. But Herzog s

United Nations fires Gaza staff over claims they joined Hamas attack

A vast majority of UNRWA's 30,000 staff is Palestinian, with 13,000 of those in Gaza. The US State Department said in a statement Friday that 12 UNRWA staff had been accused of links to the attacks

Gaza blames Israeli troops for deadly shooting as crowd waited for aid

Gaza's Health Ministry and witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire as a crowd of Palestinians gathered for humanitarian aid in Gaza City on Thursday, killing at least 20 and wounding dozens. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. The Associated Press could not independently confirm the details of what happened. Witnesses and health officials said the shooting took place at a roundabout on Gaza City's southern edge, where a large crowd had gathered for distribution of food. Footage posted online and confirmed to have been taken on the main road near the roundabout showed hundreds of people fleeing, some carrying boxes of aid, as fire rang out in the background. Men loaded wounded Palestinians onto horse and donkey carts that took off charging down the avenue. At Shifa Hospital, where casualties were treated, Mohammad al-Reafi lay on the floor, his bloodied leg bandaged, as medics worked on other wounded around them. He said Israeli troops fired into the crowd.

Israeli tanks pound hospitals in Khan Younis forcing displaced to flee

Gaza health officials said at least 50 Palestinians had been killed in the past 24 hours in Khan Younis, where Israel has shifted full-blown military operations after starting to pull forces out

Israeli army continues strikes in southern Gaza; 16 dead including kids

An Israeli airstrike on a home killed 16 people, half of them children, in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, medics said early on Thursday. The military continued to strike targets in areas of the besieged territory where it has told civilians to seek refuge. There was meanwhile no word on whether medicines that entered the territory Wednesday as part of a deal brokered by France and Qatar had been distributed to dozens hostages with chronic illnesses who are being held by Hamas. More than 100 days after Hamas triggered the war with its October 7 attack, Israel continues to wage one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history, with the goal of dismantling the militant group that has ruled Gaza since 2007 and returning scores of captives. The war has stoked tensions across the region, threatening to ignite other conflicts. More than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed, some 85 per cent of the narrow coastal territory's 2.3 million people have fled their

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

Israel intensifies Gaza strikes, Hamas fires rockets amid truce talks

Fighting in the Gaza Strip escalated on Thursday with some of the most intense Israeli bombardment of the war and Hamas demonstrated its ability to rocket Tel Aviv

Israeli president says 'two-state solution' not a solution: What is it?

The two-state solution means establishing two separate states for the people of two communities, i.e., Israel for the Jewish and Palestine for the Palestinian people

As fighting empties north Gaza, humanitarian crisis worsens in south

Another 200,000 people have fled northern Gaza since November 5, the U.N. humanitarian office said Tuesday, as Israeli ground forces battle Palestinian militants around hospitals where patients, newborns and medics are stranded with no electricity and dwindling supplies. The humanitarian office, known as OCHA, says only one hospital in the north is capable of receiving patients. All the others are no longer able to function and mostly serve as shelters from the fighting, including Gaza's largest, Shifa, which is surrounded by Israeli troops and where 36 babies are at risk of dying because there is no power for incubators. The war, now in its sixth week, was triggered by Hamas' surprise attack into Israel, in which militants massacred hundreds of civilians and dragged some 240 hostages back to Gaza. Israel launched heavy airstrikes for nearly three weeks before sending troops and tanks into the north. The war has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians and wreaked widespread ...

Israeli troops divide Gaza Strip into two; internet cut for third time

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that the Israeli troops have encircled Gaza City and divided the territory into two, cutting internet and phone lines for the third time since the war began

Israel defence forces seize suicide drones, other weapons in Gaza

On Israel's northern border, the IDF shot down an aerial drone trying to enter from Lebanon. A number of rockets were fired from Lebanon, prompting Israeli retaliatory fire

When will humanity wake up: Priyanka Gandhi on cycle of bloodshed in Gaza

Slamming the cycle of violence in Gaza, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday said there is no international law that has not been violated there and asked when will humanity wake up. According to media reports, the rising death toll in Gaza is unprecedented in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said Thursday that more than 7,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict. In a post in Hindi on X, Priyanka Gandhi said that even after the killing of 7,000 people in Gaza, the cycle of bloodshed and violence has not stopped. Out of these 7,000 people, 3,000 were innocent children, she noted. "There is no international law that has not been trampled upon. There is no such limit which has not been crossed. There is no such rule which has not been flouted," Priyanka Gandhi said. "When will humanity wake up? After losing how many lives. After sacrificing how many children. Does the consciousness of being human remain? Did it ever

'Stop this tragedy immediately': World reacts to blast at Gaza hospital

At least 500 people have been killed in the blast, which officials believe was caused by an Israeli air raid

Israel minister threatens no humanitarian aid to Gaza till abductees return

According to Palestinian sources, over 1,350 people have died and more than 5,000 have been injured as a result of Israel's air raids on the Gaza Strip

Lights out in Gaza: Israeli strikes destroy only power plant in territory

Palestinians in the sealed-off Gaza Strip struggled to find any safe area on Wednesday, as Israeli strikes demolished entire neighbourhoods, hospitals ran low on supplies and the territory's only power plant ran out of fuel, deepening the misery of a war sparked by a stunning and deadly assault by Hamas militants. Airstrikes smashed entire city blocks to rubble in the tiny coastal enclave and left unknown numbers of bodies beneath mounds of debris. The bombardment raged on even though militants are holding an estimated 150 people snatched from Israel soldiers, men, women, children and older adults. Israel has vowed unprecedented retaliation against the Hamas militant group ruling the Palestinian territory after its fighters stormed through the border fence on Saturday and gunned down hundreds of Israelis in their homes, on the streets and at an outdoor music festival. Since then, militants have continued to fire rockets at Israel, including a heavy barrage at the southern town of .

Israel-Gaza war: Death toll up as conflict expands to bordering nations

Israel has reported attacks from other bordering nations as well as internal conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in neighbouring countries as death toll rises and supplied diminish in Gaza