Page 2 - Palestinian Refugees

Mixed signals from Pakistan

India can afford to bide its time in normalising relations

Israel kills 100 Palestinians in 24 hrs amid hold on cease-fire talks

More than 100 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over a 24-hour period, the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory said Friday. Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh held talks with Egyptian officials about a possible cease-fire in Gaza and an exchange of hostages held by the militants for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, according to a Hamas statement Friday morning. During Hamas' Oct 7 attack on southern Israel, militants killed about 1,200 people and took some 250 hostages. Roughly half of the hostages were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November. About 100 hostages remain in captivity, in addition to the bodies of 30 others who were killed on Oct 7 or died in captivity. Israel's subsequent offensive in Gaza has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians and driven some 80% of the territory's 2.3 million people from their homes. Most heeded Israeli orders to flee south, and around 1.5 million are packed into Rafah near the border with ...

Israel asks Brazil's Prez to apologise for comparing Gaza war to Holocaust

Israel's foreign minister said on Monday that Brazil's president would not be welcome in Israel until he apologises for comments he made comparing Israel's war in Gaza to the Holocaust, accusing him of a very serious antisemitic attack. On Sunday, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that what is happening in the Gaza Strip and to the Palestinian people hasn't been seen in any other moment in history. Actually, it did when Hitler decided to kill the Jews. Lula made the comments while speaking to reporters at the African Union summit in Ethiopia. Foreign Minister Israel Katz summoned the Brazilian ambassador to Israel's national Holocaust museum in Jerusalem on Monday for a reprimand. The things that Lula said when he compared the righteous war of the State of Israel against Hamas, which murdered and massacred the Jews, and Hitler and the Nazis is shameful and unacceptable, Katz said. On Monday evening, Lula recalled Brazil's ambassador to Israel, Frederico Meyer, to the country

UN opens hearings into Israel's occupation of lands sought for Palestine

Historic hearings are opening on Monday at the United Nations' top court into the legality of Israel's 57-year occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state. Palestinian representatives will speak first as the International Court of Justice begins hearing legal arguments following a request submitted by the UN General Assembly for a non-binding advisory opinion into Israel's policies in the occupied territories. Though the case opens at the court's Great Hall of Justice against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, it focuses instead on Israel's open-ended control over the occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip and annexed east Jerusalem. The Palestinian legal team will tell the panel of international judges that Israel has violated the prohibition on territorial conquest by annexing large swaths of occupied land and the Palestinians' right to self-determination, and has imposed a system of racial discrimination and apartheid. We want to hear new words from the court, said Omar ..

Egypt setting up area at Gaza border for Palestinians to take shelter

One of the sources said Egypt was optimistic talks to clinch a ceasefire can avoid any such scenario, but is establishing the area at the border as a temporary and precautionary measure

Palestinians living in US to be shielded from deportation, says White House

The White House has announced that Palestinians living in the US will be shielded from deportation as the Israel-Hamas war continues, citing significantly deteriorated conditions on the ground in Gaza. Palestinians will be covered under what's known as deferred enforced departure, an authority used at a president's discretion. The directive signed by President Joe Biden effectively allows Palestinian immigrants who would otherwise have to leave the United States to stay without the threat of deportation. That protection will last 18 months, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said, and will give Palestinians who qualify a temporary safe haven. "While I remain focused on improving the humanitarian situation, many civilians remain in danger," Biden wrote in the memorandum that accompanied the announcement. Biden's decision comes after more than 100 Democratic lawmakers called on the White House to use either deferred enforced departure or a similar authority, called temporary ...

Dozens Palestinians flee besieged Gaza hospital after weeks of isolation

Palestinians have begun evacuating the main hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, according to videos shared by medics on Wednesday. Weeks of heavy fighting had isolated the medical facility and claimed the lives of several people inside it. The war between Israel and Hamas, now in its fifth month, has devastated Gaza' health sector, with less than half of its hospitals even partially functioning as scores of people are killed and wounded in daily bombardments. Israel accuses the militants of using hospitals and other civilian buildings as cover. Khan Younis is the main target of a rolling ground offensive that Israel has said will soon be expanded to Gaza' southernmost city of Rafah. Some 1.4 million people over half the territory's population are crammed into tent camps and overflowing apartments and shelters in the town on the Egyptian border. The videos showed dozens of Palestinians carrying their belongings in sacks and making their way out of the Nasser Hospital

Highlights of the day Mizoram CM to present state budget on Feb 27

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Fleeing Gaza family killed by Israel along with medics sent to find them

The sound of gunfire crackled over the phone as the teenage girl hid in the car and spoke. An Israeli tank was near the vehicle as she and her family were trying to heed Israel's call to evacuate their home in Gaza. Something had gone horribly wrong. Everyone in the vehicle was dead, the teen said. Everyone but her and her five-year-old female cousin, Hind. "They are shooting at us," 15-year-old Layan told the Palestinian Red Crescent. "The tank is next to me." And then there was a burst of gunfire. She screamed and fell silent. That began a desperate rescue attempt by medics with the Palestinian Red Crescent, one of many during the war in Gaza and one that ended on Saturday with the discovery of their ambulance, blackened and destroyed. The two medics were dead. The Palestinian Red Crescent accused Israeli forces of targeting the ambulance as it pulled up near the family's vehicle. The organisation said it had coordinated the journey with Israeli forces as in the past. There was

Hamas war: Countries halt funding to UNRWA over complicity in Oct 7 attacks

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on the UN to dismiss UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini and vowed to prevent the agency from having a role in post-war Gaza

UN court set to issue ruling in South Africa's genocide case against Israel

Israel is set to hear on Friday whether the United Nations' top court will order it to end its military offensive in Gaza in a provisional ruling while the panel hears a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide. The International Court of Justice's president, Joan E. Donoghue, will read out the highly anticipated decision taken by a panel of 17 judges. The ruling comes at an early stage in South Africa's case alleging that Israel's military action in its war with Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide. Israel vehemently rejects the accusation and has asked the court to throw out the case. South Africa has asked the judges as a matter of extreme urgency to impose so-called provisional measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza while the case proceeds slowly through the court, a process likely to take years. Top of the South African list is a request for the court to order Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza. Israeli government spokesper

Israeli tanks pound hospitals in Khan Younis forcing displaced to flee

Gaza health officials said at least 50 Palestinians had been killed in the past 24 hours in Khan Younis, where Israel has shifted full-blown military operations after starting to pull forces out

Won't recognise Israel without path to Palestinian state: Saudi official

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister says the kingdom will not normalise relations with Israel or contribute to Gaza's reconstruction without a credible pathway to a Palestinian state. Prince Faisal bin Farhan's remarks in an interview with CNN broadcast late Sunday were some of the most direct yet from Saudi officials. It puts them at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has rejected Palestinian statehood and described plans for open-ended military control over Gaza. The dispute over Gaza's future coming as the war still rages with no end in sight pits the United States and its Arab allies against Israel and poses a major obstacle to any plans for postwar governance or reconstruction in Gaza. Before the October 7 Hamas attack that triggered the war, the US had been trying to broker a landmark agreement in which Saudi Arabia would normalise relations with Israel in exchange for US security guarantees, aid in establishing a civilian nuclear programme in the kingdom,

Firmly against Palestinian state in any postwar scenario: Netanyahu to US

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he has told the United States that he opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of any postwar scenario, underscoring the deep divisions between the close allies three months into Israel's assault on Gaza aiming to eliminate its Hamas rulers. The US has called on Israel to scale back its offensive and said that the establishment of a Palestinian state should be part of the day after. But in a nationally broadcast news conference, Netanyahu vowed to press ahead with the offensive until Israel realises a decisive victory over Hamas. He also rejected the idea of Palestinian statehood. He said he had relayed his positions to the Americans. In any future arrangement...Israel needs security control all territory west of the Jordan, Netanyahu told a nationally broadcast news conference. This collides with the idea of sovereignty. What can you do? The prime minister needs to be capable of saying no to our friends, he ..

Top UN court set to hear S Africa's allegation of Israeli genocide in Gaza

A legal battle over whether Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide opens Thursday at the United Nations' top court with preliminary hearings into South Africa's call for judges to order an immediate suspension of Israel's military actions. Israel stringently denies the genocide allegation. The case, that is likely to take years to resolve, strikes at the heart of Israel's national identity as a Jewish state created in the aftermath of the Nazi genocide in the Holocaust. It also involves South Africa's identity: Its ruling African National Congress party has long compared Israel's policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to homelands before ending in 1994. Israel normally considers U.N. and international tribunals unfair and biased. But it is sending a strong legal team to the International Court of Justice to defend its military operation launched in the aftermath of the Oct.

Work with moderate Palestinian leaders to rebuild Gaza: Blinken asks Israel

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Israel to work with moderate Palestinian leaders on plans for a post-war Gaza. Israel has so far ruled out calls to allow the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza and instead talked about maintaining open-ended military control over the territory. The US has said a revitalised authority should return to Gaza. Israel must stop taking steps that undercut the Palestinians' ability to govern themselves effectively, Blinken said Tuesday. The authority was ousted from Gaza when Hamas seized power in 2007. Israel must be a partner of the Palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people and living side by side in peace with Israel, he added. He said Arab leaders across the region are ready to assist, but only through a regional approach that includes a pathway to a Palestinian state.

US rejects Israel's remarks on resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza

He said that the kind of future the US seeks is that in future, no terror groups are able to threaten Israel and Hamas has no control of Gaza

Pro-Palestinian protesters block airport access roads in NY, Los Angeles

Pro-Palestinian protesters briefly blocked entrance roads to airports in New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday, forcing some travellers to set off on foot to bypass the jammed roadway. As US airlines contended with a rush of holiday travel, the demonstrations snarled traffic on the outskirts of New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. In New York, activists locked arms and held banners demanding an end to the Israel-Hamas war and expanded rights for Palestinians, bringing traffic to a standstill on the expressway leading up to the airport for about 20 minutes. Video posted to social media showed passengers, some carrying suitcases, leaving vehicles behind and stepping over barriers onto the highway median. One woman could be heard saying that she was sorry for what's going on in another country, but she had to get to work, using an obscenity. Twenty-six people were arrested on the roadway, said Steve Burns, a spokesperson for the Port

Palestinians flee north Gaza as Israel opens window for safe passage

Thousands of Palestinians streamed onto Gaza's only highway on Friday, fleeing the combat zone in the north after Israel announced a window for safe passage, as officials in the enclave said the Palestinian death toll surpassed 11,000 people. Amid an intensifying campaign of airstrikes and ground battles in Gaza City, the search for safety in the besieged enclave has grown increasingly desperate. Tens of thousands have walked south, where they face the prospect of ongoing bombardment and dire conditions. Others have crowded into and around hospitals, sleeping in operating rooms and wards. Gaza medical officials accused Israel of striking near hospitals on Friday, though Israel said at least one was the result of a misfired Palestinian rocket. Gaza's largest city is the focus of Israel's campaign to crush Hamas following its deadly Oct. 7 surprise incursion. Early Friday, Israel struck the courtyard and the obstetrics department of Shifa Hospital, where tens of thousands of people a

Hamas war: Amid US' push, Israel open to 'little pauses' in Gaza for aid

After more than a week of public pressure from the US for humanitarian pauses in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has allowed that his government might be open to only little pauses in its assault on Hamas. The Israeli leader sought to play down differences with his country's most vocal backer on the world stage at a time of rising scrutiny of the sharply rising civilian toll of fighting. Netanyahu spoke after President Joe Biden made a direct appeal to him nearly a month into the war seeking to rally support behind securing even limited relief for civilians in the spiralling conflict. The back-and-forth spotlighted the challenges facing Biden and his administration as they seek to manage what is emerging as one of the defining foreign policy crises of his presidency. The US thus far remains focused on keeping the fighting from exploding into a wider regional war and pushing for limited steps to alleviate civilian suffering. But it has remained steadfastly behind Is