Page 75 - Israel-palestine

'Closing of Kerem Shalom, Rafah set back delivery of humanitarian aid': US

Amid mounting airstrikes, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office reaffirmed the continuation of military operations in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas

University of Chicago removes pro-Palestinian encampments without arrests

Turmoil on campuses began after the Oct 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organisation by the US, and the Jewish state's retaliatory response in Gaza

Israel seizes Gaza's Rafah crossing, US reassures it isn't full invasion

Israeli troops seized control of Gaza's vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday in what the White House described as a limited operation, as fears mount of a full-scale invasion of the southern city and talks with Hamas over a cease-fire and hostage release remain on a knife's edge. The United Nations (UN) warned of a potential collapse of the flow of aid to Palestinians from the closure of the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the other main crossing into Gaza, Kerem Shalom, from Israel, at a time when UN officials say northern Gaza is experiencing full-blown famine. The Israeli foray overnight came after hours of whiplash in the now 7-month-old Israel-Hamas war, with the militant group saying Monday it accepted a cease-fire proposal that Israel insisted fell short of its own core demands. The high-stakes diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope alive for a deal to bring at least a pause in the war, which has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, according to ..

Israeli tanks have rolled into Rafah, Here's what it means for Palestinians

The Israeli tanks that entered the periphery of Rafah early Tuesday stoked global fears that an offensive on Gaza's southernmost city could endanger the more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there. The ground assault dimmed hopes of an immediate cease-fire deal that the US, Egypt and Qatar have spent months pushing for. In the hours before the attack began, Hamas agreed to a cease-fire proposal that the Israeli government swiftly rejected. About 1.3 million Palestinians more than half of Gaza's population are jammed into Rafah and face the prospect of having to evacuate with no good plan for where to find adequate shelter. Here's what we know so far about the operation and evacuation plan. WHERE WILL PALESTINIANS GO? Now that Israel has begun ordering Palestinians to evacuate parts of Rafah, it is sending them to a patch of land whose current inhabitants say is little more than a makeshift tent camp with squalid conditions. On Monday, Israel issued a warning to .

US colleges earlier permissive of protests begin taking tougher stance

Police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the University of Chicago on Tuesday after administrators who had initially adopted a permissive approach said the protest had crossed a line and caused growing concerns about safety. University President Paul Alivisatos acknowledged the school's role as a protector of freedom of speech after officers in riot gear blocked access to the school's Quad but also took an enough-is-enough stance. The university remains a place where dissenting voices have many avenues to express themselves, but we cannot enable an environment where the expression of some dominates and disrupts the healthy functioning of the community for the rest, Alivisatos wrote in a message to the university community. Tensions have continued to ratchet up in standoffs with protesters on campuses across the U.S. and increasingly, in Europe nearly three weeks into a movement launched by a protest at Columbia University. Some colleges cracked down immediately on ...

Highlights of the day: Baba Kalyani rejects claims of nephew, niece seeking HUF partition

Latest news updates: Catch all the news updates from around the world here

Hamas accepts cease-fire proposal for Gaza, but Israel still uncertain

Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but there was no immediate word from Israel, leaving it uncertain whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month-long war in Gaza. It was the first glimmer of hope that a deal might avert further bloodshed. Hours earlier, Israel ordered some 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah, signalling that an attack was imminent. The United States and other key allies of Israel oppose an offensive on Rafah, where around 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza's population, are sheltering. An official familiar with Israeli thinking said Israeli officials were examining the proposal, but the plan approved by Hamas was not the framework Israel proposed. An American official also said the US was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international ...

More civilians will be killed in Rafah despite Israel's claims: Borrell

There are no safe zones in Gaza, EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell told journalists

'Not what we agreed to': Why Israel rejected Hamas' Gaza ceasefire proposal

US State Department still believes Israel-Hamas truce agreement is 'absolutely achievable'

Pro-Palestinian protestors retake MIT protest site, other buildings

A Monday deadline for pro-Palestinian protesters to leave an encampment at Massachusetts Institute of Technology cleared many demonstrators only to have the site retaken while protesters at the Rhode Island School of Design began occupying a building in the ongoing protest movement connected to the Israel-Hamas war. At MIT, protesters were given an afternoon deadline in which to voluntarily leave the protest site or face suspension. Many left, according to an MIT spokesperson, who said protesters breached fencing after the arrival of demonstrators from outside the university. On Monday night, dozens of protesters remained at the encampment in a calmer atmosphere, listening to speakers and chanting before taking a pizza dinner break. Sam Ihns, a graduate student at MIT studying mechanical engineering and a member of MIT Jews for a Ceasefire, said the group has been at the encampment for the past two weeks and that they were calling for an end to the killing in Gaza. Specifically, our

Palestinian, Egyptian officials say Israeli tanks enter Gaza town Rafah

A Palestinian security official and an Egyptian official say Israeli tanks entered the southern Gaza town of Rafah, reaching as close as 200 metres from its crossing with neighbouring Egypt. The Egyptian official said the operation appeared to be limited in scope. He and Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV said Israeli officials informed the Egyptians that the troops would withdraw after completing the operation. The Israeli military declined to comment. On Sunday, Hamas fighters near the Rafah crossing fired mortars into southern Israel, killing four Israeli soldiers. The Egyptian official, located on the Egyptian side of Rafah, and the Palestinian security official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. The Associated Press could not independently verify the scope of the operation. Earlier Monday, Israel's War Cabinet decided to push ahead with a military operation in Rafah, after Hamas announced its acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a .

Biden, Netanyahu speak as Israeli military tells Gaza people to leave Rafah

The two leaders also discussed efforts to combat antisemitism and mark Holocaust Remembrance Day. The leaders spoke for about 30 minutes, according to an Israeli official

Israel carries out airstrikes on Gaza city of Rafah after evacuation order

Seven months into its war against Hamas, Israel has been threatening to launch incursions in Rafah, which it says harbours thousands of Hamas fighters and potentially dozens of hostages

Ashoka University students ask VC to cut ties with Tel Aviv University

Students at Ashoka University have joined the chorus of protests against the ongoing war in Gaza and have urged the vice-chancellor to end all academic and research collaborations with Israel-based Tel Aviv University. Ashoka University student government, an elected student body, said in a letter to the vice chancellor that the university's collaboration with institutions involved in human rights violations undermines its commitment to justice and human rights. "We are deeply concerned about the ongoing genocide in Palestine in which at least 34,596 Palestinians have lost their lives and 77,816 have been injured due to the Israeli war on Gaza. As the Israeli military's brutality persists...students across universities are now actively calling on their institutions to boycott Israeli universities and exchange programmes, to have open dialogue about the war on Gaza. "The spirit and the results of ongoing protests in the universities in the form of encampments -- embarked on by the ..

Israeli airstrike kills four civilians in southern Lebanon: Report

An Israeli airstrike Sunday in the town of Mays al Jabal in south Lebanon killed four civilians and wounded several others, Lebanese state media and the town's municipality reported. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that the strike took place while a number of the town's residents were inspecting their homes and shops and the damage they sustained in previous strikes. Those attacks came over seven months of near-daily clashes between the Hezbollah militant group and Israeli forces against the backdrop of Israel's war against Hezbollah ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said its jet targeted military infrastructure in the southern Lebanese town belonging to Hezbollah, which has clashed with Israeli troops since October 8. Hezbollah on Sunday said it conducted at least 10 attacks targeting Israeli military positions and surveillance gear near the tense Lebanon-Israel border, while the Israeli military said it identified some 40 missiles that crossed in

Progress in Gaza truce talks, Israel downplays chance of ending war

A delegation of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was in Cairo on Saturday as Egyptian state media reported noticeable progress in cease-fire talks with Israel, though an Israeli official downplayed the prospects for a full end to the war in Gaza. Pressure has mounted to reach a deal halting the nearly 7-month-long war. A top UN official says there is now a full-blown famine in northern Gaza, while Israel insists it will launch an offensive into Rafah, the territory's southernmost city on the border with Egypt, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering. Egyptian and US mediators have reported signs of compromise in recent days, but chances for a cease-fire deal remain entangled with the key question of whether Israel will accept an end to the war without reaching its stated goal of destroying Hamas. Egypt's state-owned Al-Qahera News TV channel said Saturday that a consensus had been reached over many disputed points but did not elaborate. Hamas has called for a ...

Israel briefs US on evacuation of Palestinian civilians ahead of Rafah ops

Israel this week briefed Biden administration officials on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas militants, according to US officials familiar with the talks. The officials, who were not authorised to comment publicly and requested anonymity to speak about the sensitive exchange, said that the plan detailed by the Israelis did not change the US administration's view that moving forward with an operation in Rafah would put too many innocent Palestinian civilians at risk. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to carry out a military operation in Rafah despite warnings from President Joe Biden and other western officials that doing so would result in more civilian deaths and worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis. The Biden administration has said that there could be consequences for Israel should it move forward with the operation without a credible plan to safeguard ...

US colleges strike deals with pro-palestinian protestors to end protests

Anti-war demonstrations ceased this week at a small number of US universities after school leaders struck deals with pro-Palestinian protesters, fending off possible disruptions of final exams and graduation ceremonies. The agreements at schools including Brown, Northwestern and Rutgers stand out amidst the chaotic scenes and 2,400-plus arrests on 46 campuses nationwide since April 17. Tent encampments and building takeovers have disrupted classes at some schools, including Columbia and UCLA. Deals included commitments by universities to review their investments in Israel or hear calls to stop doing business with the longtime US ally. Many protester demands have zeroed in on links to the Israeli military as the war grinds on in Gaza. The agreements to even discuss divestment mark a major shift on an issue that has been controversial for years, with opponents of a long-running campaign to boycott Israel saying it veers into antisemitism. But while the colleges have made concessions .

Air India to resume flight services between Delhi-Tel Aviv on May 16

Air India on Friday said it will resume flight services between Delhi and Tel Aviv on May 16. The airline has temporarily suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv amid tensions in the Middle East. In a post on X, Air India said it will resume "services between Delhi and Tel Aviv with five weekly flights from 16 May, 2024". On April 19, the airline said Tel Aviv flights will remain suspended till April 30. The suspension was later extended till May 15. After nearly five months, the Tata group-owned carrier had recommenced services to the Israeli city on March 3. Tensions remain high in the Middle East due to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Seven months of one-sided war

The support for Israel in Europe and the US is not as unshakable as it may seem