Page 21 - Palestine

US vetoes widely supported UNSC resolution on Palestinian statehood

The United States vetoed a widely backed U.N. resolution on Thursday that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for the state of Palestine. The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 12 in favor, the United States opposed and two abstentions. The resolution would have recommended that the 193-member General Assembly, where there are no vetoes, approve Palestine becoming the 194th member of the United Nations. Some 140 countries have already recognized the state of Palestine, so its admission would have been approved. Before the vote, U.S. deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said the United States has been very clear consistently that premature actions in New York even with the best intentions will not achieve statehood for the Palestinian people. This is the second Palestinian attempt for full membership and it comes as the war in Gaza has put the more than 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict at center stage.

Highlights of the day: Magnitude 6.3 earthquake hits western Japan

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Israel finds body of teen whose disappearance sparked deadly settler attack

Israel's army said Saturday the body of a missing Israeli teen has been found in the occupied West Bank after he was killed in a terrorist attack. The disappearance of 14-year-old Binyamin Achimair sparked a large attack by settlers on a Palestinian village on Friday and Saturday. The events marked the latest in escalating violence in the territory at a time when Israel is waging war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The army said security forces were pursuing those suspected of killing the teen. On Friday, one Palestinian man was killed and 25 others were wounded in an attack on the village of Mughayyir, Palestinian health officials said. Israeli troops delayed the ambulance carrying the body of the 26-year-old man for several hours, but it eventually got through. Dozens of settlers returned to the village's outskirts on Saturday, burning two homes and several cars. Palestinian health officials say over 460 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli fire since the war in

Highlights of the day: ED moves court for NBW against AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan

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Palestinians returning to Khan Younis find an unrecognisable city

Streams of Palestinians filed into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Monday to salvage what they could from the vast destruction left in the wake of Israel's offensive, a day after the Israeli military announced it was withdrawing troops from the area. Many came back to the Gaza Strip's second-largest city to find their former hometown unrecognisable. With scores of buildings destroyed or damaged, piles of rubble now sit where apartments and businesses once did. Streets have been bulldozed. Schools and hospitals were damaged by the fighting. Israel sent troops to Khan Younis in December, part of its blistering ground offensive that came in response to a Hamas-led attack on October 7 into southern Israel. Israeli authorities say 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and roughly 250 people taken hostage. The war, now in its seventh month, has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to local health authorities, displaced most of the ...

Oil prices edge lower on Israel-Gaza ceasefire talks after 6 months of war

Brent crude futures dropped 90 cents or 1%, to $90.27 a barrel by 1000 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 86 cents, or about 0.9%, at $86.05

Highlights of the day: Zee to layoff 15% of workforce in a bid to cut costs

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Palestinians seek April vote on UN membership, US says 'peace first'

The Palestinians want the Security Council to vote later this month on their revived request for full membership in the United Nations, despite the United States reiterating Wednesday that Israel and the Palestinians must first negotiate a peace agreement. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, said 140 countries recognise the state of Palestine, and we believe it is high time now for our state to become a full member at the United Nations. The Palestinians are making a fresh bid for UN membership as the war between Israel and Hamas that began Oct 7 nears its sixth month, putting the unresolved decades-old Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the spotlight after years on the back burner. During the Cold War between the former Soviet Union and the United States, Mansour said, countries were blocked from joining the UN, but they all eventually became members, including North Korea. The US doesn't recognise North Korea but didn't block its admission, he said, and asked why conditions

Gaza war has caused $18.5 billion in infrastructure damage, finds study

'The shock to Gaza's economy as a result of the ongoing conflict is one of the largest observed in recent economic history,' according to the report

Palestinians seek full UN membership again, US almost certain to block it

Supporters of the Palestinians' request for full membership in the United Nations asked the UN Security Council on Tuesday to revive their application for admission submitted in 2011. But the United States is again almost certain to block it. The supporters' letter to the council president included the names of 140 countries that have recognised a Palestinian state, including members of the 22-nation Arab Group at the United Nations, the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the 120-member Nonaligned Movement. The Palestinians are making a fresh bid for UN membership as the war between Israel and Hamas that began on Oct 7 nears its sixth month, and the unresolved decades-old Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains in the spotlight after years on the back burner. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered the Palestinian Authority's application to become the 194th member of the United Nations to then Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sept 23, 2011, before addressing world

Highlights of the day: India firmly rejects 'senseless attempts' by China to rename places in Arunachal

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Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza's main hospital after 2-week raid

Palestinian residents say the Israeli military has withdrawn from Gaza's main hospital after a two-week raid, leaving behind a vast swath of destruction. Hundreds of people returned to Shifa Hospital and the surrounding area after the withdrawal early Monday, where they found bodies inside and outside of the facility. The military has described the raid as one of the most successful operations of the nearly six-month war, saying it killed scores of Hamas and other militants, as well as seizing valuable intelligence. Mohammed Mahdi, who was among those who returned, described a scene of total destruction. He said several buildings had been burned down. He counted six bodies in the area, including two in the hospital courtyard. Another resident, Yahia Abu Auf, said there were still patients, medical workers and displaced people sheltering inside the medical compound. He said several patients had been taken to the nearby Ahli Hospital. He said army bulldozers had plowed over a makeshi

US welcomes new Palestinian govt following its call for political reform

The United States has welcomed the formation of a new Palestinian autonomy government, signalling it is accepting the revised Cabinet lineup as a step toward Palestinian political reform. The Biden administration has called for revitalising the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority in hopes that it can also administer the Gaza Strip once the Israel-Hamas war ends. The war erupted nearly six months ago, triggered by an October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel. In a statement late Friday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the United States looks forward to working with the new group of ministers to deliver on credible reforms. A revitalised PA is essential to delivering results for the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza and establishing the conditions for stability in the broader region, Miller said. The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It is headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has not faced a

ICJ orders Israel to open land crossings for aid into Gaza amid war

The top United Nations court on Thursday ordered Israel to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including opening more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel and other supplies into the war-ravaged enclave. The International Court of Justice issued two new so-called provisional measures in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of acts of genocide in its military campaign launched after the October 7 attacks by Hamas. Israel denies it is committing genocide. It says its military campaign is self defence and aimed at Hamas, not the Palestinian people. Thursday's order came after South Africa sought more provisional measures, including a cease-fire, citing starvation in Gaza. Israel urged the court not to issue new orders. In its legally binding order, the court told Israel to take measures "without delay" to ensure "the unhindered provision" of basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies. It also ...

Underlying fact is that Palestinians have been denied homeland: Jaishankar

Hamas launched a horrific terror attack in Israel on October 7 killing more than 1200 people and holding more than 250 people as hostages, out of which over 100 are still in captivity

Highlights: Congress releases 7th list of five candidates for LS polls

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Israeli airstrikes hit several sites in southern Syria, soldier wounded

Israeli airstrikes hit several sites in southern Syria early Sunday wounding a soldier, Syrian state media reported. State news agency SANA, citing an unnamed military official, said air defences shot down some of the missiles, which came from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights at around 12:42 a.m. local time. The strikes led to material losses and the wounding of a soldier, the statement said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said Israeli strikes also hit two military sites in the Qalamoun mountains northeast of Damascus, an area where the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has operations. One of the targets was a weapons shipment, the observatory said. The observatory said the strikes represented the 24th time Israel has struck inside Syria since the beginning of 2024. They have killed 43 fighters with various groups including Hezbollah and Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and nine civilians. There was no .

'Singapore will do everything to extend help to those affected in Gaza'

Singapore's Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam said on Saturday that his country would do whatever best possible to extend help to those affected in Gaza amidst the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Speaking at Soka Kindergarten in Tampines on the east coast of the prosperous city-state, where volunteers had gathered to pack supplies for children in Gaza, Shanmugam said that the continued efforts to those affected in Gaza showed who exactly Singapore is as a society, the Channel News Asia reported. "The continued efforts to raise funds and send aid to Gaza are a demonstration of who we are as a society, coming together across different religious groups to try and help," said Shanmugam. Interfaith non-profit group Humanity Matters organised the event, ahead of a possible ceasefire in Gaza. The group aimed to assemble 5,000 comfort packs, each comprising a backpack, an inflatable pillow, vitamin gummies, snack treats, a water bottle, a stress ball and a stuffed toy, according to the .

Hamas vows to press on with Gaza ceasefire talks as situation worsens

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday it was in the hands of Hamas whether to accept a deal on the table for a ceasefire in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages

Palestinian death toll from Israel-Hamas war climbs to 30,717: Gaza

Gaza's Health Ministry says the Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war has climbed to 30,717. It said on Wednesday that 86 bodies were brought to local hospitals in the last 24 hours, in addition to 113 wounded people. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and maintains detailed casualty records. Its figures from previous wars have largely matched those of the United Nations, independent experts and even Israeli counts. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tallies, but says women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed. It says the real toll is higher as there are bodies buried in the rubble from Israeli airstrikes and in areas that paramedics cannot access. It says over 72,000 people have been wounded in the war. Israel says it has killed over 10,000 Hamas fighters, without providing evidence. The war began after Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel on October 7, in which Palestinian militants kil