Page 72 - Israel-palestine

Satellite photos show Palestinians' exodus after Israel's evacuation orders

Newly-released satellite photos reviewed by the Associated Press show a large exodus of Palestinians from the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah earlier this month ahead of a feared Israeli ground invasion there. The photos taken three days apart first on May 5 and then on May 8 show the change on the ground after Israel issued its first evacuation order for the city on May 6. They show that crowded tent camps in the central and northwest regions of the city grew sparse within days of the order. One pair of before-and-after photos shows an area near the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp, one of the camps built for families displaced during the war surrounding the creation of Israel in 1948. In the three days between the photos, at least half of the hundreds of tents cramming the area disappeared, likely from Palestinians packing up and departing. The other pair of photos shows the central Ash Shabourah neighborhood of Rafah city. Tents packing city streets give way to sandy patches. The

Highlights of the day: Airbus, Sidbi to collaborate for financing helicopter purchase in India

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ICC seeks arrest warrants against Israel PM Netanyahu, Hamas head Sinwar

Warrants against Israeli politicians mark the first time the ICC is targeting the top leader of a close US ally

US NSA, Saudi's crown prince meet to discuss 'semi-final' security deal

President Joe Biden's national security adviser met early Sunday with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss what the kingdom described as the semi-final version of a wide-ranging security agreement between the countries. The announcement by the state-run Saudi Press Agency comes as the strategic deal had been upended after Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage back to the Gaza Strip. In the time since, a punishing Israeli airstrike campaign and ground offensive there has killed over 35,000 Palestinians, endangering the security deal that had included Saudi Arabia diplomatically recognising Israel for the first time since its founding in 1948. Saudi state media released no images of Jake Sullivan and Prince Mohammed meeting in Dhahran, a city in the kingdom's far east that's home to its state-run oil giant, the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. known as Saudi Aramco. The semi-final version of the draft strategic agreemen

Pro-Palestine protesters rally in rain in DC to mark painful past, present

Hundreds of protesters rallied within sight of the US Capitol, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans and voicing criticism of the Israeli and American governments as they marked a painful present the war in Gaza and past the exodus of some 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced from what is now Israel when the state was created in 1948. About 400 demonstrators braved steady rains to rally on the National Mall on the 76th anniversary of what is called the Nakba, the Arabic word for catastrophe. In January, thousands of pro-Palestinian activists had gathered in the nation's capital in one of the larger protests in recent memory. There were calls in support of Palestinian rights and an immediate end to Israeli military operations in Gaza. No peace on stolen land and End the killings, stop the crime/Israel out of Palestine, echoed through the crowd. Protesters also focused their anger on President Joe Biden, whom they accuse of feigning concern over the death toll in Gaza. Biden ..

Highlights: Swati Maliwal part of BJP's conspiracy to malign AAP, says Delhi minister Atishi

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First aid shipment sent across newly built US pier into Gaza Strip

Trucks carrying badly needed aid for the Gaza Strip rolled across a newly built US floating pier into the besieged enclave for the first time on Friday as Israeli restrictions on border crossings and heavy fighting hinder food and other supplies reaching people there. The shipment is the first in an operation that American military officials anticipate could scale up to 150 truckloads a day entering the Gaza Strip as Israel presses in on the southern city of Rafah as its 7-month offensive against Hamas rages on. But the US and aid groups also warn that the pier project is not considered a substitute for land deliveries that could bring in all the food, water and fuel needed in Gaza. Before the war, more than 500 truckloads entered Gaza on an average day. The operation's success also remains tenuous due to the risk of militant attack, logistical hurdles and a growing shortage of fuel for the trucks to run due to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip since Hamas' October 7 attack on

Israel to address charges at UN's court post South Africa's cease-fire plea

Israel will respond to charges of genocide at the United Nations' top court on Friday, after South Africa filed an urgent request with the court to order a cease-fire in Gaza. It's the third time that the International Court of Justice, or ICJ, has held hearings on the Israel-Hamas war since South Africa filed proceedings at The Hague-based court in December. On Thursday, South Africa told the court that the situation in Gaza has reached a new and horrific stage, and urged the 15 judges to take urgent action. Israel must totally and unconditionally withdraw from the Gaza Strip, said Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa's ambassador to the Netherlands. South Africa has submitted four requests for the ICJ to investigate Israel. According to the latest request, the country says Israel's military incursion in Rafah threatens the very survival of Palestinians in Gaza. During hearings earlier this year, Israel strongly denied committing genocide in Gaza, saying it does all it can to spare .

Gaza conflict: Hezbollah introduces new weapons, tactics against Israel

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah this week struck a military post in northern Israel using a drone that fired two missiles. The attack wounded three soldiers, one of them seriously, according to the Israeli military. Hezbollah has regularly fired missiles across the border with Israel over the past seven months, but the one on Thursday appears to have been the first successful missile airstrike it has launched from within Israeli airspace. The group has stepped up its attacks on Israel in recent weeks, particularly since the Israeli incursion into the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. It has struck deeper inside Israel and introduced new and more advanced weaponry. This is a method of sending messages on the ground to the Israeli enemy, meaning that this is part of what we have, and if needed we can strike more, said Lebanese political analyst Faisal Abdul-Sater who closely follows Hezbollah. While the cross-border exchanges of fire have been ongoing since early Octobe

South Africa urges UN's top court to order immediate cease-fire in Gaza

South Africa urged the United Nations' top court on Thursday to order a cease-fire in Gaza during hearings over emergency measures to halt Israel's military operation in the enclave's southern city of Rafah. It was the third time the International Court of Justice held hearings on the conflict in Gaza since South Africa filed proceedings in December at the court, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, accusing Israel of genocide. The country's ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, urged the panel of 15 international judges to order Israel to totally and unconditionally withdraw from the Gaza Strip. The court has already found that there is a real and imminent risk to the Palestinian people in Gaza by Israel's military operations. This may well be the last chance for the court to act, said Irish lawyer Blinne N Ghrlaigh, who is part of South Africa's legal team. Judges at the court have broad powers to order a cease-fire and other measures, although the court does not h

California Univ prez suspended for agreement with pro-Palestinian group

The chancellor of the California State University system has suspended the president of its Sonoma campus for announcing an agreement with pro-Palestinian activists to pursue an academic boycott of Israeli institutions as well as divestment strategies. The message by Sonoma State University President Ming-Tung Mike Lee was issued without the appropriate approvals, said Mildred Garca, chancellor of the 23-campus CSU system, in a statement Wednesday. For now, because of this insubordination and consequences it has brought upon the system, President Lee has been placed on administrative l?eave, Garca said. Lee quickly issued an apology for the agreement he announced Tuesday after meetings with students who set up a campus encampment, one of many that have appeared at colleges to protest Israel's actions in the war with Hamas and to press schools to cut ties with Israel and businesses that support it. My goal when meeting with students at the encampment was to explore opportunities to

Highlights of the day: Man whose firm installed billboard that collapsed in Mumbai arrested

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Israel Q1 economic growth rebounds 14.1%, lifted by shopping, building

The recovery in the January to March period was led by large increases in private spending and investment, both of which slid in the fourth quarter

US military completes Gaza Strip pier project, aid to flow soon amidst war

The US military finished installing a floating pier for the Gaza Strip on Thursday, with officials poised to begin ferrying badly needed humanitarian aid into the enclave besieged over seven months of intense fighting in the Israel-Hamas war. The final, overnight construction sets up a complicated delivery process more than two months after US President Joe Biden ordered it to help Palestinians facing starvation as food and other supplies fail to make it in as Israel recently seized the key Rafah border crossing in its push on that southern city on the Egyptian border. Fraught with logistical, weather and security challenges, the maritime route is designed to bolster the amount of aid getting into the Gaza Strip, but it is not considered a substitute for far cheaper land-based deliveries that aid agencies say are much more sustainable. The boatloads of aid will be deposited at a port facility built by the Israelis just southwest of Gaza City and then distributed by aid groups. US ..

Top UN court holds hearing on Israeli military's incursion into Rafah

The United Nations' top court opens two days of hearings on Thursday into a request from South Africa to make sure Israel halts its military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population has sought shelter. It is the fourth time South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice for emergency measures since the nation launched proceedings alleging that Israel's military action in its war with Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide. According to the latest request, the previous preliminary orders by The Hague-based court were not sufficient to address a brutal military attack on the sole remaining refuge for the people of Gaza. Israel has portrayed Rafah as the last stronghold of the militant group, brushing off warnings from the United States and other allies that any major operation there would be catastrophic for civilians. South Africa has asked the court to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah; to take measures to ensure unimpeded acce

Israel forces destroy weapons workshop as Hamas tries to regroup in Gaza

This comes on the heels of Israel killing 15 terrorists in a Hamas command center located inside a UNRWA school

Highlights of the day: Windfall tax on petroleum cut to Rs 5,700 per metric tonne

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US protests: Why are faculty voices muted?

The silence of faculty underscores a shift where the pursuit of academic values takes a back seat to preserving financial interests

Fierce battle between Israel and Hamas-led militants in north, south Gaza

Gaza's Civil Emergency Service and health ministry said rescue teams have been unable to reach areas where the army was operating to respond to calls for help

UN launches probe into first international staff killed by strike in Rafah

The staffer, a retired Indian Army officer named Waibhav Anil Kale, was working with the UN Department of Safety and Security and was on route to the European Hospital in Rafah