The United Nations condoled and expressed apologies to India over the killing of a former Indian Army officer, who died in war-torn Rafah in Gaza when the vehicle he was travelling in was attacked by shots fired from what it believes was an Israeli tank. Colonel Waibhav Anil Kale, 46, who retired prematurely from the Indian Army in 2022, joined the world body as a Security Coordination Officer in the UN Department of Safety and Security (DSS) two months ago. He was killed, and another DSS staffer from Jordan was injured when their UN-marked vehicle was struck when they were travelling to the European Hospital in war-torn Rafah in Gaza on Monday morning. Kale, who had commanded the 11 Jammu & Kashmir Rifles in Kashmir, is the "first international casualty" for the world body since the Israel-Hamas conflict started last year. We also express our apologies and our condolences to the Government and people of India, Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio ...
Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale on Wednesday wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, urging that the government strongly condemn the killing of a former Indian Army officer in Gaza. Col Waibhav Anil Kale, 46, who took premature retirement from the Indian Army in 2022, had joined one of the UN agencies three weeks ago. He was killed in war-torn Rafah in Gaza on Monday morning, becoming the "first international casualty" for the world body since the Israel-Hamas conflict started last year. "It is shocking that a retired Indian Army colonel was killed by Israel in Gaza and the shameless Modi Govt hasn't uttered a single word," Gokhale said in a post on X, where he shared the letter written to the External Affairs Minister. Gokhale said the former Army officer was travelling in a clearly-marked UN vehicle when he was killed. "It is clear from reports that Col. Kale was killed when his convoy was attacked in a strike by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). There is ...
The International Criminal Court's prosecutor faced demands Tuesday for speedy action against Israeli leaders and a blistering Russian attack over the ICC's arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin stemming from Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Karim Khan responded by telling the UN Security Council that he will not be swayed or intimidated as his team investigates possible war crimes or crimes against humanity in Gaza and the Palestinian territories as well as in Ukraine. Libya's UN ambassador, Taher El-Sonni, told Khan that if the Libyan cases the ICC is investigating are so complex that they won't be completed until the end of 2025, he should allocate the court's efforts to the war in Gaza. El-Sonni claimed genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are being perpetrated by Israeli forces. The world expects the ICC to be courageous and to issue arrest warrants against officials of the Israeli regime who have repeated again and again that they want to commit genocidal actio
A US official who declined to be identified told Reuters that Israel promised not to make a major move in Rafah without advising Washington
The Biden administration has told key lawmakers it would send more than USD 1 billion in additional arms and ammunition to Israel, three congressional aides have said. But it was not immediately known how soon the weapons would be delivered. It's the first arms shipment to Israel to be revealed since the administration put another arms transfer, consisting of 3,500 bombs of up to 2,000 pounds each, on hold this month. The Biden administration, citing concern for civilian casualties in Gaza, has said it paused that bomb transfer to keep Israel from using those particular munitions in its offensive in the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah. The package disclosed Tuesday includes about USD 700 million for tank ammunition, USD 500 million in tactical vehicles, and USD 60 million in mortar rounds, the congressional aides said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an arms transfer that has not yet been made public. There was no immediate indication of when the arms would be .
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Highlighting the October 7 attack on Israel, Kamboj also asserted that the Hamas attack on Israel also deserves equivocal condemnation of the forum
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Lindsey Graham, a Republican Senator and a staunch supporter of Israel, criticised President Joe Biden for pausing the delivery of 3000 heavy bombs to Israel
Trump further claimed that the very same people who are funding the violent campus uprisings are also funding Joe Biden's campaign
A tiny contingent of Duke University graduates opposed pro-Israel comedian Jerry Seinfeld speaking at their commencement in North Carolina on Sunday, with about 30 of the 7,000 students leaving their seats and chanting free Palestine amid a mix of boos and cheers. Some waved the red, green, black, and white Palestinian flag. Seinfeld, whose namesake sitcom was one of the most popular in US television history, was there to receive an honorary doctorate from the university. The stand-up turned actor, who stars in the new Netflix movie Unfrosted, has publicly supported Israel since it invaded Gaza to dismantle Hamas after the organisation attacked the country and killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7. The ensuing war has killed nearly 35,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants. Students at campuses across the US responded this spring by setting up encampments and ..
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has delivered some of the Biden administration's strongest public criticism yet of Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza, saying Israeli tactics have meant a horrible loss of life of innocent civilians but failed to neutralise Hamas leaders and fighters and could drive a lasting insurgency. In a pair of TV interviews, Blinken underscored that the United States believes Israeli forces should get out of Gaza, but also is waiting to see credible plans from Israel for security and governance in the territory after the war. Hamas has reemerged in parts of Gaza, Blinken said, and that heavy action by Israeli forces in the southern city of Rafah risks leaving America's closest Mideast ally holding the bag on an enduring insurgency." He said the United States has worked with Arab countries and others for weeks on developing credible plans for security, for governance, for rebuilding' in Gaza, but we haven't seen that come from Israel. ... We need to see that,
This comes after the Israeli military ordered the immediate evacuation of several more neighbourhoods in eastern Rafah as the Israeli military steps up its operations in the southern Gazan city
Old foes Turkiye and Greece will test a five-month-old friendship initiative on Monday when Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visits Ankara. The two NATO members, which share decades of mutual animosity, a tense border and disputed waters, agreed to sideline disputes last December. Instead, they're focusing on trade and energy, repairing cultural ties and a long list of other items placed on the so-called positive agenda. Here's a look at what the two sides hope to achieve and the disputes that have plagued ties in the past: FOCUSING ON A POSITIVE AGENDA Mitsotakis is to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday as part of efforts to improve ties following the solidarity Athens showed Ankara after a devastating earthquake hit southern Turkiye last year. The two leaders have sharp differences over the Israeli-Hamas war, but are keen to hold back further instability in the eastern Mediterranean as conflict also continues to rage in Ukraine. We alwa
This comes after Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams left Cairo, Egypt without a deal earlier this week
Hamas released a video saying that Nadav Popplewell, who was taken hostage from the southern Israeli community of Kibbutz Nirim, died after being wounded in an Israeli strike in Gaza
Israel ordered new evacuations in Gaza's southern city of Rafah on Saturday as it prepared to expand its operation, saying it was also moving into an area in northern Gaza where Hamas has regrouped. Fighting is escalating across the enclave with heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of Rafah, leaving the crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and forcing more than 110,000 people to flee north. Israel's move into Rafah has so far been short of the full-scale invasion that it has planned. The United Nations and other agencies have warned for weeks that an Israeli assault on Rafah, which borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties. More than 1.4 million Palestinians half of Gaza's population have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israel's offensives elsewhere. Army spokesman, Avichay Adraee, told Palestinians in Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya
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The UN General Assembly is expected to vote Friday on a resolution that would grant new rights and privileges to Palestine and call on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations. The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent, and U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood made clear Thursday the Biden administration is opposed to the assembly resolution. Under the U.N. Charter, prospective members of the United Nations must be peace-loving, and the Security Council must recommend their admission to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine became a U.N. non-member observer state in 2012. We've been very clear from the beginning there is a process for obtaining full membership in the United Nations, and this effort by some of the Arab countries
Netanyahu spoke after President Joe Biden said the United States would not provide offensive weapons for Israel's long-promised assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah