Page 9 - Hamas

UN food agency emphasis on Gaza ceasefire after staff come under fire

An Israeli airstrike last month demolished the top floor of a guest house in Gaza where World Food Program international staff were staying, the UN agency's director said Thursday, calling the situation impossibly dangerous for aid workers trying to feed the Palestinian population. The previously undisclosed incident occurred Aug 31 in the Nuseirat refugee camp, just days after WFP temporarily stopped aid deliveries to northern Gaza and halted staff movements when its team came under fire near an Israel checkpoint. "It was always dangerous before. It's become impossibly dangerous now," McCain said. The World Food Programme is in touch with the Israeli Defence Force over the strike on the house where 11 UN employees, including 10 WFP staff, were staying. None was injured and they have been evacuated to Jordan, where McCain met with them this week. The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment. McCain said she has a simple message for Israeli Prime Minister .

Israeli airstrikes hit UN school, homes in Gaza, 34 dead, say hospitals

Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight and Wednesday hit a UN school sheltering displaced Palestinian families as well as two homes, killing at least 34 people, including 19 women and children, hospital officials said. The war in Gaza is now into its 11th month, with tens of thousands of people dead, and international efforts to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and the Hamas militant group have repeatedly stalled as they accuse each other of making additional and unacceptable demands. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops launched raids in several towns backed by airstrikes, continuing a crackdown across the territory that the military says is targeting militants but has wrecked neighbourhoods and killed civilians. One airstrike killed five people the military said were militants threatening its troops. A second strike on a car killed at least three people, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. An attacker crashed a fuel truck into a West Bank bus stop near the Israeli ...

Israeli airstrike hits UN school in Gaza, kills at least 14, says official

An Israeli airstrike killed at least 14 people, including two children, when it hit a UN school sheltering displaced Palestinian families in central Gaza on Wednesday, hospital officials said. The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas militants planning attacks from inside the school, located in the Nuseirat refugee camp. The claim could not be independently confirmed. Officials from Awda Hospital in Nuseirat said they had received 10 dead from the strike, and another four dead were brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. At least one woman and two children were among those killed, and at least 18 people were wounded in the strike, hospital officials said. One of the children was the daughter of Momin Selmi, a member of Gaza's civil defence agency, which works rescuing wounded and bodies after strikes, the agency said in a statement. Selmi hadn't seen his daughter for 10 months, since he remained in north Gaza to keep working while his family fled south, the ...

Temporary truce possible, no commitment on war's end: Israeli defence chief

Israel's defence minister says the window is closing on an opportunity to reach a temporary cease-fire deal with the Hamas militant group that he believes could also bring calm to the country's volatile northern border with Lebanon. Speaking to reporters, Yoav Gallant said that conditions are ripe for at least a six-week pause in fighting that would include the release of many of the hostages held in Gaza. However, he would not commit to a permanent end to the fighting, as Hamas has demanded, raising questions about the feasibility of a deal. Israel should achieve an agreement that will bring about a pause for six weeks and bring back hostages, he said. After that period, he said, we maintain the right to operate and achieve our goals including the destruction of Hamas. The United States, along with mediators Egypt and Qatar, has been working for months to broker a cease-fire to end the devastating war between Israel and Hamas. A main area of disagreement has been Hamas' demand for

Israeli missile strike on Gaza kills at least 40: Palestinian authorities

Israel's military conducted a missile strike early Tuesday that targeted a humanitarian area in the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians there, authorities said. Details about the strike in the Mawasi coastal community just west of Khan Younis that the Israeli military has designated as a humanitarian zone remained unclear. The area is home to many Palestinians displaced by the Israel-Hamas war in which the Israeli military has devastated the wider Gaza Strip after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The Israeli military described the strike as hitting significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command-and-control center, without immediately providing additional evidence. The Palestinian news agency WAFA said dozens had been killed and wounded, without providing precise casualty figures. It described five missiles striking the area, cratering the ground. The Israeli military said it used precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional means it did

SC rejects PIL asking to halt export of arms, military equipments to Israel

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a PIL seeking a direction to the Centre to stop the export of arms and military equipments to Israel which is fighting a war in Gaza, saying the court cannot enter into the domain of the nation's foreign policy. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said the Indian firms, involved in the export of arms, equipments to Israel, may be sued for breach of contractual obligations and hence they cannot be stopped from supplying. "We cannot enter into the nation's foreign policy domain," the bench said. "Can we direct that under the UN's genocide convention you ban the export to Israel...why this restraint. This is because it impacts the foreign policy and we do not know what the impact will be," the CJI said. A PIL was filed by Ashok Kumar Sharma and others through lawyer Prashant Bhushan seeking a direction to the Centre to cancel licences and not to grant new ones to Indian firms exporting arms an

Amid polio vaccination drive Israeli strikes in Gaza kill more than dozen

Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip killed more than a dozen people overnight into Saturday, hospital and local authorities said, as health workers wrapped up the second phase of an urgent polio vaccination campaign designed to prevent a large-scale outbreak. The vaccination drive was launched after health officials confirmed the first polio case in the Palestinian enclave in 25 years, in a 10-month-old boy whose leg is now paralyzed. The nine-day campaign by the UN health agency and partners aims to vaccinate 640,000 children, an ambitious effort during a war that has destroyed Gaza's health care system and much of its infrastructure. The third phase of vaccinations is in the north. Israel, meanwhile, kept up its military offensive. In central Gaza's urban refugee camp of Nuseirat, Al-Awda Hospital said it received the bodies of nine people killed in two separate air raids. One hit a residential building, killing four people and wounding at least 10, while five people were killed in

US, UK intelligence agencies issue joint statement for ceasefire in Gaza

The heads of the American and British foreign intelligence agencies said Saturday they are working ceaselessly for a cease-fire in Gaza, using a rare joint public statement to press for peace. CIA Director William Burns and MI6 Chief Richard Moore said their agencies had exploited our intelligence channels to push hard for restraint and de-escalation. In an opinion piece for the Financial Times, the two spymasters said a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war could end the suffering and appalling loss of life of Palestinian civilians and bring home the hostages after 11 months of hellish confinement. Burns has been heavily involved in efforts to broker an end to the fighting, traveling to Egypt in August for high-level talks aimed at bringing about a hostage deal and at least a temporary halt to the conflict. So far there has been no agreement, though United States officials insist a deal is close. U.S. President Joe Biden said recently that just a couple more issues remain unresolved.

UN hails limited pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow polio vaccinations

United Nations officials on Wednesday hailed limited pauses in the fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow children's polio vaccinations as rare moments of hope in the nearly yearlong war in Gaza. Top U.N. officials on peacebuilding and humanitarian affairs spoke at a meeting requested by Israel, which was backed by its allies, veto-holding permanent council members France, Great Britain and the United States. Israel's ambassador on Wednesday focused on the hostages taken during Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on Israel that launched the war and the recent killing of six captives. Algeria, which sits on the 15-member council until next year, also requested that the U.N. body meet to discuss the broader situation in the Palestinian territories. Both Rosemary DiCarlo, U.N. undersecretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, and Edem Wosornu, director of the Operations and Advocacy Division at the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, spoke about the ...

PIL in SC seeks direction to Centre to halt export of arms to Israel

A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to cancel licences and not to grant new ones to Indian firms exporting arms and other military equipments to Israel, which is fighting a war in Gaza. The PIL, filed through lawyer Prashant Bhushan, has made the union ministry of defence a party, and said, "India is bound by various international laws and treaties that obligate India not to supply military weapons to States guilty of war crimes, as any export could be used in serious violations of international humanitarian law". The plea filed by 11 people, including Ashok Kumar Sharma, a resident of Noida, said the supply of military equipments to Israel by companies, including a public sector enterprise, under the MoD violates India's obligations under international law coupled with Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. "Issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or direction to the respondents, Union of India, through its various organs, to

US charges Hamas chief Sinwar, other leaders over Oct 7 attack on Israel

It also accuses Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah of providing financial support and weapons to Hamas

Israelis go on day-long protests nationwide as anger over hostages builds

The strike was called by the Histadrut labor federation, though a court order ruled Monday that it should end at 2.30 p.m.

Strike call in Israel over dead Gaza hostages reflects political divisions

A rare call for a general strike in Israel to protest the failure to return hostages held in Gaza led to closures and other disruptions around the country on Monday, including at its main international airport. But it was ignored in some areas, reflecting deep political divisions. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis poured into the streets late Sunday in grief and anger after six hostages were found dead in Gaza. The families and much of the public blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they could have been returned alive in a deal with Hamas to end the nearly 11-month-old war. But others support Netanyahu's strategy of maintaining military pressure on Hamas, whose October 7 attack into Israel triggered the war. They say it will force the militants to give in to Israeli demands, potentially facilitate rescue operations and ultimately annihilate the group. A labour court ruled that the strike must end by 2:30 pm local time, accepting a petition from the government saying it w

World leaders express shock as six Israeli hostages found dead in Gaza

The deceased hostages have been identified as Hersh Goldberg-Polin (23), Eden Yerushalmi (24), Ori Danino (25), Alex Lobanov (32), Carmel Gat (40), and Almog Sarusi (27)

Protestors in Israel demand ceasefire deal after 6 more captives killed

The protesters chanted Now! Now! and demanded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach a ceasefire deal

Polio vaccine campaign begins in Gaza amid strikes, West Bank still on edge

A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus began on Saturday as Palestinians in both the Hamas-governed coastal enclave and in the occupied West Bank reeled from Israel's ongoing campaigns in both regions. Children in Gaza began receiving vaccines on Saturday, the Strip's health ministry announced in a news conference, a day before the large-scale rollout and planned pause in fighting agreed to by Israel and the United Nations World Health Organisation. Associated Press reporters saw roughly ten infants receiving doses of vaccine in the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis on Saturday afternoon. Hours earlier, Gaza's Health Ministry said hospitals received 89 dead on Saturday, including 26 who died in an overnight Israeli bombardment, and 205 wounded one of the highest daily tallies in months. Meanwhile, parts of the West Bank remained on edge Saturday as Israel's military continued its largescale military campaign, the deadliest since the

Israel, Hamas agree to zoned 3-day pauses for Gaza polio vaccinations: WHO

The WHO confirmed on Aug. 23 that at least one baby has been paralyzed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years

Threat of war with Israel redefines 'normal' life in Lebanon's Beirut

Beirut is used to living with the threat of war, and this was a couple of weeks ago. That threat is now getting more acute

India shares with Israel its concern over escalating situation in West Asia

India and Israel on Wednesday held a key meeting during which the two sides reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral endeavours even as New Delhi shared its concern over the "escalating situation" in West Asia and emphasised "restraint, dialogue, and diplomacy", an official statement said. During the 17th India-Israel Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) hosted here, the two sides also shared views on the prevailing situation in the Indo-Pacific, the Ministry of External Affairs said in the statement. The Indian side was led by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, and the Israeli side by the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yaakov Blitshtein. "Reiterating India's strong and unequivocal condemnation of the October 7 terror attacks on Israel, the Foreign Secretary called for the unconditional and immediate release of all hostages, ceasefire, the need for continued humanitarian assistance, and adherence to international humanitarian law," it said. "At the same time,

Will win war against terror by fighting together, says top Israeli official

Terrorism is a disease that will not stop unless all like-minded nations fight against it, a top Israeli official has said, asserting that his country will win the war against terror amid the escalating tensions in West Asia. Talking to reporters here on Tuesday, Yakoov Blitshtein, Director General of Foreign Affairs of Israel, said it was necessary to put an end to terror in Israel and all other places. "Terrorism is a disease that we must face (fight), not only in Israel but in the entire world. This is a disease that will not stop unless all of us, like-minded countries, fight against it," he said. Referring to the terror attack by Hamas on Israel in October 2023, Blitshtein said the country is in difficult times but shall overcome it. "We will build new cities, new homes and bring back all the citizens to their homes, to their villages, to their kibbutz, to the cities. We will win the war against terrorism," he said. His remarks come after Israel launched a wave of airstrikes