Page 2 - Palestine Refugees

Israeli strike kills 20 in north Gaza, where Palestinians are without food

An Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza killed at least 20 people, mostly women and children, Palestinian officials said Tuesday, as Palestinians fled Israel's assault. Some said they had hardly eaten, with aid cut off for weeks to the most isolated and heavily destroyed part of the territory. Israel has been waging an offensive in Gaza's northernmost end for weeks, saying it is targeting Hamas militants who regrouped in the area. The UN has said Israel hasn't allowed food and other supplies into the area north of Gaza City since the assault began, even as tens of thousands of people remain there. That has drawn rebukes from the Biden administration, which has warned that US laws might force it to curb military aid to Israel if more aid is not allowed in. The strike late Monday hit a home where several displaced families were sheltering in the town of Beit Lahiya, near the border with Israel, according to Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of the recently raided and barely functioning ..

India stands ready to do more for Palestinian people: India's PR to UN

Harish detailed that India's current development assistance for Palestine amounts to $120 million, which includes a cumulative contribution of $37 million to the UNWRA for Palestine Refugees

Israel must step in if it bans the UN agency that is lifeline for Gaza: UN

The United Nations stressed Tuesday that if Israel puts in place new laws cutting ties with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the Israeli government will have to meet their needs under international law. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that there is no other alternative to the agency, known as UNRWA. It has been a lifeline during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and the Israeli legislation will have devastating consequences for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, he said. The UN agencies for children, health and migration also stressed that UNRWA is the backbone of the world body's operations in Gaza, where people have relied on its emergency food aid and health centers during the more than yearlong war, which has killed tens of thousands and left much of the enclave in ruins. The United Nations is heartened by statements of support for UNRWA from all quarters and countries, U.N. spokesman Stephane .

22 people killed in Israeli strike on school, says Gaza health ministry

Israeli fire killed 22 people in a strike on a school in the north of the enclave, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Saturday. The strike on the school in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City injured another 30, the statement said. Earlier Saturday, the Israeli army said it struck a Hamas command and control centre, which was embedded inside a compound that previously served as a school.

How Israel's Mossad planted explosives in 5,000 Hezbollah's pagers

The pager blasts came at a time of mounting concern about tensions between Israel and Hezbollah

Brown University trustee Edelman resigns over divestment vote on Israel

Brian Clark, a school spokesperson, responded that Edelman has a 'fundamental misunderstanding of the decisions that led to the upcoming vote on divestment'

India supports Israel-Palestine ceasefire as soon as possible: Jaishankar

Describing the current situation in Gaza as India's "foremost concern", External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said that New Delhi supports a ceasefire "as soon as possible" in the region, where Israel and Hamas are engaged in conflict since last 11 months. Jaishankar made the remarks while speaking at the first India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Ministerial Meeting for Strategic Dialogue in the Saudi capital. "The current situation in Gaza is now understandably our foremost concern. India's position in this regard has been principled and consistent. While we condemn acts of terrorism and hostage taking, we are deeply pained by the continuing death of innocent civilians," he said. Jaishankar said that any response must take into account the principles of humanitarian law. "We support a ceasefire as soon as possible," he added. On the larger issue, India has consistently stood for a resolution of the Palestinian issue through a two-state solution, he said. He added that

Large-scale polio vaccinations begin in Gaza after first case in 25 years

Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies on Sunday began a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak in the territory that has been ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war. Authorities plan to vaccinate children in central Gaza until Wednesday before moving on to the more devastated northern and southern parts of the strip. The campaign began with a small number of vaccinations on Saturday and aims to reach about 640,000 children. The World Health Organisation has said Israel agreed to limited pauses in the fighting to facilitate the campaign. There were initial reports of Israeli strikes in central Gaza early Sunday, but it was not immediately known if anyone was killed or wounded. The pause ended Sunday afternoon, according to a schedule released by Israel. Hospitals in Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat confirmed that the campaign had begun. Israel has said the vaccination program will continue through Sept. 9 and last .

One of Gaza's last working hospitals empties out as Israeli forces approach

One of Gaza's last functioning hospitals has been emptying out in recent days as Israel has ordered the evacuation of nearby areas and signalled a possible ground operation in a town that has been largely spared throughout the war, officials said Monday. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah is the main hospital serving central Gaza. The military has not ordered its evacuation, but patients and people sheltering there fear that it may be engulfed in fighting or become the target of an Israeli raid. Israeli forces have invaded several hospitals over the course of the 10-month-old war, accusing Hamas of using them for military purposes, allegations denied by Palestinian health officials. Israeli evacuation orders now cover around 84 per cent of Gaza's territory, according to the United Nations, which estimates that around 90 per cent of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have been forced from their homes. Many have been displaced multiple times, fleeing with what they can carry

White House says it is making progress on Gaza ceasefire as talks continue

The White House said on Friday that cease-fire talks in Cairo have been constructive and will continue over the weekend as the US and Mideast allies continue to press Israel and Hamas to forge an agreement. CIA Director William Burns and Brett McGurk, a senior adviser on the Middle East to President Joe Biden, are leading the US side of negotiations that began on Thursday amid major differences between Israel and Hamas over Israel's insistence that it maintain forces in two strategic corridors in Gaza. There has been progress made, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said, We need now for both sides to come together and work towards implementation. Kirby did not detail where progress had been made, but he did insist that there's been momentum in the conversations among the mediators from the US, Israel and Hamas's interlocutors Egypt and Qatar. Diplomatic efforts have redoubled as fears grow of a wider regional war after the recent targeted killings of leaders of the

Israeli strikes on Gaza leave children orphaned, parents childless

Reem Abu Hayyah, just three months old, was the only member of her family to survive an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip late Monday. A few miles (kilometres) to the north, Mohamed Abuel-Qomasan lost his wife and their twin babies -- just four days old -- in another strike. More than 10 months into its war with Hamas, Israel's relentless bombardment of the isolated territory has wiped out extended families. It has left parents without children and children without parents or siblings. And some of the sole survivors are so young they will have no memory of those they lost. The Israeli strike late Monday destroyed a home near the southern city of Khan Younis, killing 10 people. The dead included Abu Hayyah's parents and five siblings, ranging in age from 5 to 12, as well as the parents of three other children. All four children were wounded in the strike. There is no one left except this baby, said her aunt, Soad Abu Hayyah. Since this morning, we have been trying to feed her ...

Israeli officials consider letting EU, Palestinians control Rafah crossing

The US, United Nations and Arab states have urged Israel to reopen it to enable more supplies of food, fuel and medicine to get to Palestinian civilians in Gaza

Alleging rocket attack on its territory, Israel hits Hamas sites in Gaza

Among the targets that were attacked were a weapons warehouse, apartments used as operations control centers and other terrorist infrastructures

Pro-Israel posters pasted, black ink thrown outside Owaisi's home in Delhi

A group of five men pasted posters outside the residence of AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi here on Thursday evening, demanding his suspension from the Lok Sabha, officials said. According to a police officer, four-five men reached Owaisi's 34 Ashoka Road residence located in Central Delhi and pasted three posters at the entry gate and wall of the house about 9 pm. The lines like 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', 'I stand with Israel' and 'Owaisi should be suspended' were written on the posters. A purported video of the incident surfaced online in which one of the miscreants said that youth of the country should be united against the politician, who does not say "bharat mata ki jai". The Delhi Police however, reached the spot and removed the posters. By then, the men had gone away, an officer said. A police officer said they are trying to identify the people and legal action will be taken against them. Owaisi's saying "Jai Palestine" while taking oath as a member of the Lok Sabha had sparke

Israeli strikes on tent camps near Rafah kill 25, injure 50, say officials

Israeli forces shelled tent camps for displaced Palestinians north of Rafah on Friday, killing at least 25 people and wounding another 50 according to Gaza's Heath Ministry and emergency workers, in the latest deadly attack in the tiny Palestinian territory where hundreds of thousands have fled fighting between Israel and Hamas. According to Ahmed Radwan, a spokesperson for the Civil Defense first responders in Rafah, witnesses told rescue workers about the shelling at two locations in a coastal area that has become filled with tents. The Health Ministry reported the number of people killed and wounded in the attacks. The locations of the attacks provided by Civil Defense were just outside an Israeli-designated safe zone. The Israeli military said they were looking into the strikes at the reported coordinates. Israel has previously bombed locations in the vicinity of the humanitarian zone in Muwasi, a rural area on the Mediterranean coast that has filled with sprawling tent camps in

Palestinians to mark 76 yrs of dispossession as larger catastrophe unfolds

Palestinians on Wednesday will mark the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel, an event that is at the core of their national struggle. But in many ways, that experience pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza. Palestinians refer to it as the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe. Some 700,000 Palestinians a majority of the prewar population fled or were driven from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel's establishment. After the war, Israel refused to allow them to return because it would have resulted in a Palestinian majority within its borders. Instead, they became a seemingly permanent refugee community that now numbers some 6 million, with most living in slum-like urban refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. In Gaza, the refugees and their descendants make up around three-quarters of the population. Israel's rejection of what Palestinians say is their right of return ha

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 ..

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 ...

Israel renews warnings to Palestinians against returning to northern Gaza

The Israeli military renewed warnings on Monday for Palestinians in Gaza not to return to the embattled territory's north, a day after Gaza hospital officials said five people were killed as throngs of displaced residents tried to reach their homes in the war-torn area. Northern Gaza was an early target of Israel's war against Hamas and vast parts of it have been flattened, forcing much of the area's population to flee south. While around 250,000 people are said to be living in the north, the Israeli military has prevented most displaced people from returning throughout the six-month-long war, saying the area is an active battle zone. The military has reduced the number of troops it has in Gaza and has said it has loosened Hamas' control over the north, but Israel is still carrying out airstrikes and targeted operations in the area against what it says are reorganizing militants, most prominently at Gaza's main hospital, Shifa, which is in ruins after a two-week raid and fighting las

Israeli deal didn't meet Palestine's demands, yet it's under review: Hamas

Israel and Hamas sent teams to Egypt on Sunday for talks that included Qatari and Egyptian mediators as well as CIA Director William Burns