Page 59 - Gaza

Israel accused of blocking aid to Gazans in violation of a UN court order

Israel has failed to comply with an order by the United Nations' top court to provide urgently needed aid to desperate people in the Gaza Strip, Human Rights Watch said Monday, a month after a landmark ruling in The Hague ordered Israel to moderate its war. In a preliminary response to a South African petition accusing Israel of genocide, the UN's top court ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza. It stopped short of ordering an end to its military offensive that has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe in the tiny Palestinian enclave. Israel vehemently denies the charges against it, saying it is fighting a war in self-defense. One month later and nearly five months into the war, preparations are underway for Israel to expand its ground operation into Rafah, Gaza's southernmost town along the border with Egypt, where 1.4 million Palestinians have flooded into in search of safety. Early Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ..

Israel vows to target Hezbollah even if temporary pause reached with Hamas

Israel's defence minister vowed Sunday to step up attacks on Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group even if a ceasefire is reached with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah, which has been exchanging fire with Israel throughout the war in Gaza, has said it will halt its nearly daily attacks on Israel if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza. But Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that anyone who thinks a temporary ceasefire for Gaza will also apply to the northern front is "mistaken". "We will continue the fire, and we will do so independently from the south, until we achieve our goals," Gallant said. He said there is a simple aim: to push Hezbollah away from the Israeli border, either through a diplomatic agreement or by force. Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas triggered the fighting in Gaza with a deadly attack along Israel's southern border from the Gaza Strip on October 7. Tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border have bee

Tory suspends lawmaker after he claims London mayor controlled by Islamists

The UK's governing Conservative Party has suspended ties with one if its lawmakers after he accused London Mayor Sadiq Khan of being controlled by Islamists, as tensions over the Israel-Hamas war roil British politics. The party said on Saturday that Lee Anderson was suspended after he refused to apologise for remarks made about Khan in a television interview on Friday. The action means that Anderson, a deputy chairman of the Conservatives until last month, will sit in Parliament as an independent. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other senior Conservative leaders had come under increasing pressure to reject the comments, which the chairwoman of the opposition Labour Party called unambiguously racist and Islamophobic. The controversy comes as the Israel-Hamas war fuels tensions in British society. Pro-Palestinian marches in London have regularly drawn hundreds of thousands of demonstrators calling for an immediate cease-fire, even as critics describe the events as antisemitic hate ...

Brazil prez accuses Israel of genocide, doubling down after earlier uproar

Brazil's president alleged Saturday that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians, doubling down on harsh rhetoric after stirring controversy a week earlier by comparing Israel's military offensive in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust. Israel has vehemently pushed back against genocide claims, saying its war is targeting the militant group Hamas, not the Palestinian people. It has held Hamas responsible for civilian deaths, arguing that the group operates from civilian areas. The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said Saturday that the bodies of 92 Palestinians killed in Israeli bombardments were brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours, raising the overall toll in nearly five months of war to 29,606. The total number of wounded rose to nearly 70,000. The ministry's death toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but it has said two-thirds of those killed were children and women. Israel says its troops have killed more than 10,000 Hamas fighters, but has no

Netanyahu seeks open-ended control over security, civilian affairs in Gaza

Israel seeks open-ended control over security and civilian affairs in the Gaza Strip, according to a long-awaited postwar plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was swiftly rejected Friday by Palestinian leaders and runs counter to Washington's vision for the war-ravaged enclave. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the two-page document to his security Cabinet late Thursday for approval. Deep disagreements over Gaza's future have led to increasingly public friction between Israel and the United States, its closest ally. The Biden administration seeks eventual Palestinian governance in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a precursor to Palestinian statehood, an outcome vehemently opposed by Netanyahu and his right-wing government. Netanyahu's plan envisions hand-picked Palestinians in Gaza administering the territory. Separately, cease-fire efforts appeared to gain traction, with mediators to present a new proposal at an expected high-level meeting this weekend

Highlights of the day: Sharad Pawar's party allotted new election symbol

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Israeli strikes across Gaza kill 67 Palestinians in civilian area overnight

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah says it received 44 bodies after multiple strikes in central Gaza. Associated Press reporters saw the bodies arriving in ambulances and private vehicles

Hamas is delivering medication to the 100 hostages in Gaza, says Qatar

The Qatari Foreign Ministry said that Hamas has started delivering medication for the approximately 100 hostages held in Gaza, a month after the medications arrived in Gaza. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dr. Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday evening that Hamas confirmed they had begun to deliver the medications to the hostages in exchange for medicines and humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. France and Qatar mediated a deal in January for the shipment of medicine for dozens of hostages held by Hamas arrived in Gaza. The deal was the first agreement between Israel and the militant group since a weeklong cease-fire in November, but there was no evidence that the medications had arrived. France said it took months to organise the shipment of the medicines. Qatar, which has long served as a mediator with Hamas, helped broker the deal that will provide three months' worth of medication for chronic illnesses for 45 of the hostages, as well as other medicine and vitamins. ..

UN World Food Programme suspends aid amid chaos, violence in northern Gaza

The United Nations' World Food Programme announced a pause in food and aid deliveries to northern Gaza on Tuesday after its drivers faced gunfire and violence from desperate residents swarming the trucks. The convoys faced complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order, according to a statement from the WFP. WFP had attempted to resume aid deliveries in northern Gaza after a three-week pause following a strike on an aid convoy from the Israeli military. The WFP said 1 in 6 children under age 2 are acutely malnourished and people are dying of hunger-related cases, and the situation is even more dire in northern Gaza. In these past two days our teams witnessed unprecedented levels of desperation, the WFP said. Hamas's government media office described the WFP decision as a death sentence for hundreds of thousands of people who are in the northern half of Gaza. The office called for the WFP to withdraw its decisions and for all UN agencies to return and avert catastrop

US proposes UN resolution calling for 'temporary ceasefire' in Gaza

Notably, Israel is planning to carry out a ground operation in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have fled over the course of the conflict

US warns against Israeli assault on Rafah in draft UN Security Council text

The US has so far been reluctant to back cease-fire proposals in the four-month old conflict, though it has tried to broker a deal under which Hamas would release hostages from Gaza

US vetoes UN resolution demanding immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza

The UN Security Council on Tuesday failed to adopt a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war after a veto by the US. The 15-nation Council met Tuesday to vote on the latest resolution in the Israel-Hamas conflict that was put forward by Algeria on behalf of Arab States. The resolution demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire that must be respected by all parties. The resolution got 13 votes in favour and an abstention by the UK but could not be adopted since the US voted against the draft by casting its veto. Commenting on the Algerian-proposed draft resolution on the situation in the Middle East ahead of the vote, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that Washington is working on a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, which would bring an immediate and sustained period of calm to Gaza for at least six weeks, and from which we could then take the time and the steps to build a more enduring peace. She had said that the deal ...

Israel orders evacuations in Gaza, where UN says children are malnourished

Israel ordered new evacuations from parts of Gaza City on Tuesday, as a study led by the UN children's agency found that one in six children are acutely malnourished in the isolated and largely devastated north of the territory, where the city is located. The report finds deepening misery across the territory, where Israel's air and ground offensive, launched in response to Hamas' Oct 7 attack, has killed over 29,000 Palestinians, obliterated entire neighborhoods and displaced more than 80% of the population. Israel has vowed to expand the offensive to the Gaza Strip's southernmost city of Rafah, where more than half of the territory's population of 2.3 million has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. Many have crowded into sprawling tent camps and overflowing UN-run shelters near the Egyptian border. On Tuesday, the military ordered the evacuation of the Zaytoun and Turkoman neighbourhoods on the southern edge of Gaza City, an indication that Palestinian militants are still putti

US proposes UN resolution supporting temporary ceasefire in Gaza: Report

Washington traditionally shields its ally Israel from UN

Israel's economy takes deep dive in Q4 with 19.4% GDP drop amid Gaza war

"The contraction of the economy in the fourth quarter of 2023 was directly affected by the outbreak of the Iron Swords War on October 7," the statistic bureau said

Over 29,000 Palestinians killed in Israel-Hamas war: Gaza health ministry

Gaza's Health Ministry says more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said on Monday that 107 bodies were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours. That brings the total number of fatalities to 29,092 since the start of the war. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its records, but says most of those killed were women and children. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage. More than 100 captives were released during a weeklong ceasefire in November in exchange for 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

UNSC to vote Tuesday on resolution demanding Gaza ceasefire, US to use veto

The UN Security Council is expected to vote on Tuesday on an Arab-backed resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, which the United States announced it will veto. Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, put the draft resolution in a final form that can be voted on. Council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly, said the vote will take place Tuesday morning. In addition to a ceasefire, the final Algerian draft, obtained by The Associated Press, reiterates council demands that Israel and Hamas scrupulously comply with international law, especially the protection of civilians, and rejects the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians. The draft also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages taken by Hamas during their surprise October 7 attacks in southern Israel. Some 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken captive, with over 100 still believed to be held in Gaza.

Israel strikes Gaza as US says it will block another cease-fire resolution

Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 18 people overnight and into Sunday, according to medics and witnesses, as the United States said it would veto another draft UN cease-fire resolution. The US, Israel's top ally, instead hopes to broker a cease-fire agreement and hostage release between Israel and Hamas, and envisions a wider resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed back, calling Hamas' demands delusional and rejecting US and international calls for a pathway to Palestinian statehood. Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until total victory over Hamas and to expand it to Gaza's southernmost town of Rafah, where more than half the enclave's population of 2.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. An airstrike in Rafah overnight killed six people, including a woman and three children, and another strike killed five men in the southern city of Khan Younis, the main target of the ...

Increasing number of nations view 2-state solution as urgent: EAM on Gaza

India maintained for many decades that there should be a two-state solution to the Palestine issue and an increasing number of nations are now not only endorsing it but considering it as "more urgent" than before, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday amid concerns over the prevailing situation in Gaza. Jaishankar made the remarks at an interactive session at a security conference in Munich in presence of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. The external affairs minister described the October 7 attacks on Israeli cities by Hamas as "terrorism" but at the same time, referring to Tel Aviv's response, said Israel has an international obligation to observe the humanitarian law. Jaishankar said it is important that Israel should have been very mindful of civilian casualties. Explaining New Delhi's position on the conflict, he said there are different dimensions to it, and broadly classified them into four points. "Number

Egypt builds a wall near Gaza as Israeli offensive on Rafah looms

Egypt is building a wall and is leveling land near its border with the Gaza Strip ahead of a planned Israeli offensive targeting the border city of Rafah, satellite images analyzed Friday by The Associated Press show. Egypt, which has not publicly acknowledged the construction, repeatedly has warned Israel not to forcibly expel the over 1 million Palestinians now displaced in Rafah across the border into its territory while it battles the militant group Hamas for a fifth month. However, the preparations on the Egyptian side of the border in the Sinai Peninsula suggest Cairo is preparing for just that scenario, something that could threatened its 1979 peace deal with Israel that's been a linchpin for regional security. The Egyptian government did not respond to requests for comment Friday from the AP. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Feb. 11 issued a statement warning Israel over its possible Rafah offensive and its displacement of the Palestinian people. The satellite images, taken