Page 62 - Gaza

Iran launches 3 satellites into space as tensions grip wider Mideast

Iran said Sunday it successfully launched three satellites into space, the latest for a programme that the West says improves Tehran's ballistic missiles. The state-run IRNA news agency said the launch also saw the successful use of Iran's Simorgh rocket, which has had multiple failures in the past. The launch comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel's continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. While Iran has not intervened militarily in the conflict, it has faced increased pressure within its theocracy for action after a deadly Islamic State suicide bombing earlier this month and as proxy groups like Yemen's Houthi rebels conduct attacks linked to the war. Footage released by Iranian state television showed a nighttime launch for the Simorgh rocket. An Associated Press analysis of the footage's details showed that it took place at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran's rural Semnan province. State TV named the launched satellites Mahda, Kayhan-2 and Hatef

Embattled UN agency warns operation in Gaza collapsing over funding cuts

The head of the main UN aid agency in the war-battered Gaza Strip warned late Saturday that its work is collapsing after nine countries decided to suspend funding over allegations that several agency employees participated in the deadly Hamas attack on Israel four months ago. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said he was shocked such decisions were taken as famine looms in the Israel-Hamas war. Palestinians in Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment, he wrote on X. This stains all of us. His warning came a day after he announced he had fired and was investigating several agency employees over allegations that they participated in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war. The United States, which said 12 agency employees were under investigation, immediately suspended funding, followed by several other countries, including Britain, Germany and Italy. The agency, with its 13,000 employees in Gaza, most of them Palestinians, is

Israel must take steps to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, says ICJ

South Africa brought the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) earlier this month, asking it to grant emergency measures to halt the fighting, which has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians

Israel instructs Northern farmers to be prepared for expansion of war

People are also instructed to check the functioning of generators, to increase food stocks and to perform any additional action they think is right in order

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

'Mass casualties' at UN centre as Israel forces advance through Khan Younis

"Dismantling Hamas' military framework in western Khan Yunis is the heart of the logic behind the operation," it said

Houthi authorities order US, British nationals to leave Yemen in one month

The letter also ordered foreign organisations to not hire American and British citizens for Yemen's operations

Israel's rejection of two-state solution threatens global peace: UN chief

The United Nations chief warned Israel on Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's rejection of a two-state solution will indefinitely prolong a conflict that is threatening global peace and emboldening extremists everywhere. In his toughest language yet on the Israeli-Hamas war, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council that the right of the Palestinian people to build their own fully independent state must be recognised by all, and a refusal to accept the two-state solution by any party must be firmly rejected. The alternative of a one-state solution with such a large number of Palestinians inside without any real sense of freedom, rights and dignity will be inconceivable, he said. Guterres also warned that the risks of regional escalation of the conflict are now becoming a reality, pointing to Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Pakistan. He urged all parties to step back from the brink and to consider the horrendous costs of a

Netanyahu mourns loss of 21 soldiers in Gaza, says army will fight on

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has mourned the loss of 21 soldiers in the deadliest single attack in Gaza and says the army will fight on until absolute victory. In a posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, Netanyahu said Monday was one of the hardest days since the outbreak of the war. He says the army will launch an investigation into the attack, in which a militant fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank, setting off a secondary explosion that brought two buildings down on the soldiers. It was the deadliest single attack on Israeli forces in Gaza since the ground operation began. In the posting on Tuesday, Netanyahu wrote: In the name of our heroes, and for our own lives, we will not stop fighting until absolute victory.

Ground forces encircled southern Gaza city of Khan Younis: Israeli military

The Israeli military says its forces have encircled the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The territory's second largest city has seen heavy fighting in recent days, with dozens of Palestinians killed and wounded. Israeli officials have said top Hamas leaders may be hiding in tunnels under the city. Khan Younis is the hometown of Yehya Sinwar, Hamas' top leader in Gaza, whose whereabouts are unknown. The military announced the encirclement in a statement Tuesday.

Best of BS Opinion: Reconfiguration of global trade and FDI & more

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

Gaza's expanding footprint

The conflict is getting unpredictable

UAE urges US to support immediate ceasefire of Israel's attacks in Gaza

President Joe Biden's administration has refrained from demanding a halt to the Israeli military campaign and vetoed a UN Security Council demand for a ceasefire put forward by the UAE in December

Israel's Netanyahu rejects any Palestinian sovereignty in post-war Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes any form of Palestinian sovereignty in post-war Gaza, his office said Saturday, appearing to rebuff US President Joe Biden's suggestion that creative solutions could bridge wide gaps between the two leaders' views on Palestinian statehood. In a sign of the pressures Netanyahu's government faces at home and abroad over the war, a protest outside the prime minister's home grew as more people joined a group representing families of the more than 100 remaining hostages held by Hamas and other militant groups. The families are demanding the government take bold steps to free the hostages, fearing that Israel's military activity in Gaza further endangers their lives. Netanyahu is also under heat to appease members of his right-wing ruling coalition by intensifying the war against Hamas, which governs Gaza, and must contend with calls for restraint from the United States, its closest ally. A statement from the prime minister's office said

Relatives of hostages held by Hamas protest outside Netanyahu's home

Relatives of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza protested on Saturday outside the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing frustration over his government's seeming lack of progress in getting the more than 100 captives released as the war in Gaza drags on. A group representing families of the hostages said they had "begged for 105 days" and now demanded that the government show leadership and take bold steps to free the hostages. A member of Israel's War Cabinet has called a cease-fire the only way to secure their release, a comment that implied criticism of Israel's current strategy. The protest outside the prime minister's home and the remark by former Israeli army chief Gadi Eisenkot were among signs of growing strife in Israel over the direction of the war in its fourth month. Netanyahu has said he will push for complete victory against Hamas but has not outlined how he would achieve it. Critics have accused him of preventing a Cabinet-level debate about a ...

EAM holds detailed discussions with Palestinian counterpart in Uganda

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday met with Palestine's Foreign Minister Dr Riyad al-Maliki here and held a detailed and comprehensive discussion on the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip. Jaishankar is here in the Ugandan capital to attend the two-day Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, which began on Friday. Good to meet with Palestinian FM Dr Riyad al-Maliki in Kampala this afternoon. ... Had a detailed and comprehensive discussion on the ongoing conflict in Gaza, Jaishankar posted on X along with a photo of the meeting. Exchanged views on its humanitarian and political dimensions. Reiterated India's support for a two-state solution ... Agreed to remain in touch, he further said. The meeting comes a day after Jaishankar, in his address at the NAM summit, reiterated India's support for a two-state solution. Right now, the conflict in Gaza is understandably uppermost in our minds. This humanitarian crisis requires a sustainable solution that gives immediate relief

Women and children main victims of Israel-Hamas war with 16,000 killed: UN

Women and children are the main victims in the Israel-Hamas war, with some 16,000 killed and an estimated two mothers losing their lives every hour since Hamas' surprise attack on Israel, the United Nations agency promoting gender equality said Friday. As a result of the more than 100-day conflict, UN Women added, at least 3,000 women may have become widows and heads of households and at least 10,000 children may have lost their fathers. In a report released Friday, the agency pointed to gender inequality and the burden on women fleeing the fighting with children and being displaced again and again. Of the territory's 2.3 million population, it said, 1.9 million are displaced and close to one million are women and girls seeking shelter and safety. UN Women's executive director, Sima Bahous, said this is a cruel inversion of fighting during the 15 years before the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. Previously, she said, 67% of all civilians killed in Gaza and the West Bank were men and less the

US strikes Yemen sixth time, as Israel's war in Gaza raises tensions

The US fighter jets struck Houthi rebel sites in Yemen for the sixth time Friday, taking out anti-ship missile launchers that were prepared to fire, according to a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing military operations. The Iranian-backed Houthi militants say their attacks on global shipping in the Red Sea corridor are aimed at stopping Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Now in its fourth month, the war has raised the temperature on tensions across the Middle East. In Israel, a member of the country's War Cabinet said only a cease-fire deal can win the release of dozens of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. The televised comments by former army chief Gadi Eisenkot on Thursday were the latest sign of a growing rift among political and military leaders over the direction of Israel's war. Gaza's Health Ministry says more than 24,400 Palestinians have died in the conflict, and the United Nations says a quarter of the 2.3 million people trapped in Gaza

Israeli tanks renew push towards biggest hospital still working in Gaza

People inside Khan Younis' Nasser Hospital, forced to house displaced Gazans as well as patients, reported hearing shellfire from tanks advancing into the west of the city

Two sides of political Islam

Depending on one's viewpoint, global political Islam is either at its strongest or weakest. But the real unwinnable wars are between Islamic states