On Palestine and Israel, Gandhi’s doublespeak on non-violence
“Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French.” This statement, made in November 1938, as war clouds were hovering over Europe, is perhaps among Mahatma Gandhi’s most widely quoted statements. It is also his most misunderstood statement.
The ongoing Israel-Hamas violence has seen this quote resurrected. Some of those who quote these lines are non-Gandhian to the core and support various forms of political violence. Some cherry-pick and conveniently ignore Gandhi’s other positions; for example, his opposition to the Partition of India and his absence from the Red Fort when Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the national flag. Above all, many may not have read the article — ‘The Jews’ published in Harijan on November 26, 1938 — in its entirety. Indeed, even those who derided him as a member of the bourgeoisie and British agent during the freedom struggle find it useful to quote this statement to explain their position on Palestine. (Read more)
The estimated number of Hamas-held captives killed in Gaza due to Israeli strikes is around 50, Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, said on Thursday. This comes after Israeli ground forces carried out a relatively large incursion into the Gaza Strip overnight to attack Hamas positions.
The French assault vessel Tonnerre was on Thursday heading to the eastern Mediterranean to support hospitals in Gaza that are struggling to cope with the high number of victims of Israeli air strikes as fuel and medical supplies run low.
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President Emmanuel Macron said he was sending the helicopter carrier to help Gazans get access to medicines and care. Israel has been bombarding the Gaza Strip since Hamas's attack on Israeli communities on Oct. 7, which it says killed some 1,400 people. Gaza's health ministry says more than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed in the air strikes and thousands more wounded.
France's Defence Ministry on Thursday described the 199-metre warship's role as one of humanitarian support but it was not immediately clear if that meant delivering medical supplies to the Gaza Strip or also treating wounded Palestinians on board. "The conditions [for providing humanitarian support] have not yet been established. The idea is first to reach the area and then provide as much aid as possible," a Joint Defence Staff spokesperson said. (Reuters)
The foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt and Morocco condemned on Thursday targeting of civilians and violations of international law in Gaza which has been under Israeli bombardment.
Their joint statement mentioned that the right to self-defence does not justify breaking law and neglecting Palestinians' rights. The Arab foreign ministers also condemned forced displacement and collective punishment in Gaza, it added.
Turkey's health minister said on Thursday that he had urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to guarantee the provision of medical services to Gazans hit by the Israel-Hamas war, and that its efforts so far were insufficient.
The WHO vigorously defended its actions, saying it had been striving to get supplies into Gaza since the start of the emergency. NATO member Turkey has so far sent nine cargo planes of aid to Egypt for the Gaza Strip, and offered to set up a field hospital in Egypt to help treat the wounded and fly some to Turkey if necessary. It has condemned Israel's attacks on the Palestinian enclave and called for an immediate ceasefire to allow more humanitarian aid in.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said he had reminded WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a letter sent on Wednesday of the WHO's professional responsibility to help civilians in need and told him that its efforts should be "much greater than what you have done so far". "WHO, with its responsibility of leadership and by taking necessary initiatives urgently, must ensure the safety of healthcare provisions in Gaza," Koca wrote in the letter, which he posted on X, formerly Twitter. (Reuters)
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that Western countries were not adhering to international law in Gaza because the "blood spilled is Muslims' blood," adding that Israeli attacks on Gaza were "barbaric." In a speech at his presidential palace, Erdogan blamed Western countries for providing unconditional support for Israeli attacks instead of calling for restraint. (Reuters)
Israeli efforts to rehabilitate southern communities ravaged by the Oct. 7 Hamas onslaught will take years and go beyond a planned ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet said on Thursday.
Benny Gantz, an ex-general who joined Netanyahu from the opposition in an emergency government, signalled to enemies of Israel other than Hamas that they too risked being destroyed. "The battle against Gazan terror will continue within the strip's territory - going deep, anywhere and at any time required to ensure security for the communities that will be restored and will rebuild the region," he said in a speech.
"The (ground) maneuver will be but one stage of a long process that will include defensive, diplomatic and social aspects that will take years." A long-time political rival of Netanyahu, Gantz said the two-week-old war cabinet was functioning well and making decisions based on calculations relevant to the national crisis. (Reuters)
Israel's envoy in Taipei said on Thursday that Taiwan has been a “good friend” whose support Israel has appreciated, but China's response to the attack by Hamas militants has been “disturbing”.
Israel, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan. But Taiwan views Israel as an important democratic partner. Taipei moved quickly to condemn the Oct. 7 attack on the country by Palestinian Hamas militants and offered Taiwan's strong support and sympathy to Israel. Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Israel's de facto ambassador Maya Yaron praised the strong support from Taiwan's government, including from President Tsai Ing-wen.
“Taiwan is really a good friend for Israel and we truly appreciate everything that we receive. I'm in close touch with the foreign minister, I think people are very concerned,” she said. China has condemned violence and attacks on civilians in the conflict and while its foreign minister Wang Yi has declared Israel's actions "beyond the scope of self-defence" he has not named Hamas in his comments. (Reuters)
Russia and China on Wednesday vetoed a US push for the United Nations Security Council to act on the Israel-Hamas conflict by calling for pauses in fighting to allow humanitarian aid access, the protection of civilians and a stop to arming Hamas and other militants in the Gaza Strip.
The United States put forward a draft resolution on Saturday as global outcry grew over a worsening humanitarian crisis and mounting civilian death toll in Gaza. It made the move just days after it vetoed a humanitarian focused draft from Brazil, arguing more time was needed for U.S.-led diplomacy.
The initial US text shocked many diplomats with its bluntness in stating Israel has a right to defend itself and demanding Iran stop exporting arms to militant groups. It did not include a call for humanitarian pauses for aid access. But it largely toned down the final text that was put to the vote.
"We did listen to all of you," US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the 15-member council after the double veto, which she described as disappointing. "Though today's vote was a setback, we must not be deterred."
The World Health Organization has said that it has supplies on standby across the border from Gaza in Egypt. The supplies could provide surgical interventions for 3,700 trauma patients, basic and essential health services for 110,000 people and medical equipment for 20,000 patients suffering from chronic diseases.
“Without fuel, medicines, and health supplies, Gaza’s hospitals are on the precipice of an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe,” the agency wrote on social media. “WHO calls for immediate and uninterrupted access into and across Gaza, so that its ailing health system can be urgently revived.”
“We started the offensive from the air, later on we will also come from the ground…,” Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant was quoted by Reuters as telling his troops near Gaza on October 10. It’s been more than 18 days since the military wing of the radical Palestinian Islamist organisation Hamas mounted the deadliest attack on Israel in decades. But the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are yet to launch their ground invasion into Gaza.
On Wednesday (October 25), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that Israel was preparing for a ground invasion of Gaza, but stopped short of saying when it would happen. The IDF is primed for the assault, its tanks are ready and waiting, and the political leadership is thirsting for revenge. So what’s holding Israel back? There are three likely reasons. Anil Sasi dissects.
Upon reading the statements issued by the Congress leadership about the October 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Israel, I sat in amazement. I couldn’t help reflecting on how a party once flying the flags of satyagraha and ahimsa had explained away a massacre which currently counts 1,400 casualties – mostly civilians – and 4,000 injured.
Of all the Mahatma’s hallowed legacies, the one Congress successfully emulated was his grave insult to the victims of the Holocaust, for which his closest admirers in Israel never forgave him. But while Gandhiji spoke from a misfiring of sincere idealism, shockingly, the Congress party issued their callous statements out of cynical political calculations, or possibly worse, deplorable sympathy towards the butchers. (Read more)
An Israeli ground invasion of Gaza will have to reckon with what lies underground: a labyrinth of tunnels, controlled and operated by Hamas, will be a key battlefield.
The network of approximately 1,300 tunnels is thought to be around 500 km in length, with the deepest lying 70 m underground, DW reported. Most are about 2 m in width and height.
According to John Spencer of the US Military Academy West Point, the sheer scale of the tunnel system underneath Gaza poses a “wicked problem” for which “no perfect solution exists”, and overcoming which, “will require a lot of time.” (Read more)
Britain will convene a meeting of the government's COBRA emergency response committee today to consider its strategy and approach towards Gaza and the Israeli-Hamas conflict, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden told Times Radio.
Britain is pushing for a humanitarian pause to the conflict, for Britons in Gaza to be able to leave safely, and for the release of British hostages.
"We will discuss the hostages and we'll discuss the wider situation in the region and we will also discuss ... securing humanitarian aid," Dowden, who will chair the meeting, said in a separate interview with Sky News. (Reuters)
North Korea's foreign ministry accused Israel of bombing a hospital in the Gaza Strip on Oct 17., saying it had openly committed a war crime "under the undisguised patronage of the United States".
In a statement carried on state-run news agency KCNA, a ministry spokesman also blamed the United States for "giving Israel a green light to massacre Palestinians without any worries" by supplying it with weapons and military support, including deploying aircraft carriers in the Middle East.
"This shows that the US is an accomplice who connived at and fostered Israel's genocide," the spokesman said. The foreign ministry statement did not give any evidence to support its comments. (Reuters)
The news agency Reuters is running a live video feed of the ongoing situation at the Israel-Gaza border. Watch here.
Israeli ground forces carried out a relatively large incursion into the Gaza Strip overnight to attack Hamas positions, Israel's Army Radio reported on Thursday.
It described the raid as larger than previously carried out during the Gaza war, now in its third week. (Reuters)
More than half the estimated 220 hostages held by Palestinian group Hamas have foreign passports from 25 different countries, including 54 Thai nationals, the Israeli government said, adding that 328 people from 40 countries were confirmed as dead or missing after the surprise Oct. 7 attack by Hamas fighters on southern Israel. In all, an estimated 1,400 people were killed in the assault.
Israel said 138 of the hostages had foreign passports, including 15 Argentinians, 12 Germans, 12 Americans, six French and six Russians. Many were believed to have had dual Israeli nationality, however some, like the Thais and five Nepalese hostages, almost certainly did not. There was also one Chinese hostage, one Sri Lankan, two from Tanzania and two from the Philippines.
Among other foreign nations that suffered heavy losses were the United States, with 34 killed and five missing, Ukraine, with 25 killed and two missing, France, with 23 killed and one missing, and Russia with 23 killed and four missing. Five Chinese citizens were killed and one was missing, while Nepal had five killed and five missing. (Reuters)
These images provided by Maxar Technologies shows northern Gaza's Atatra city before and after it was damaged in Israeli airstrikes.
The time has come for India to proscribe Hamas as a terrorist organisation like many other nations have done, Israeli ambassador Naor Gilon said on Wednesday.
The Israeli envoy, at an interaction with journalists, also thanked India for its “100 per cent” support to Israel in its anti-terror operations against Hamas.
Gilon said Israel has conveyed to relevant Indian authorities on declaring Hamas as a terrorist organisation following its brutal attack on Israel on October 7. At the same time, he indicated that the matter was taken up earlier as well. (Read more)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement that Israel was "preparing for a ground invasion. I will not elaborate on when, how or how many."
"We will keep striking in Gaza in order to achieve the goals of the war," Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said. "Every strike strengthens us and improves our situation ahead of the next stages in the war."
Israeli tanks and troops are massed on the border with Gaza awaiting orders. Israel has called up 3.6 lakh reservists. International pressure is growing to delay any invasion of Gaza, not least because of hostages. More than half the estimated 220 hostages held by Hamas have foreign passports from 25 different countries, the Israeli government said. Many were believed to have had dual Israeli nationality. (Reuters)
Al Jazeera's chief correspondent in the Gaza Strip, Wael Dahdouh, was helping broadcast live images of the besieged territory's night sky when he received the devastating news: His wife, son, and daughter had all been killed in an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday.
Moments later, the Qatari-based satellite channel switched to footage of Dahdouh entering al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza before giving way to grief as he peered over the body of his dead son.
“They take revenge on us in our children?” he said, kneeling over his son's bloodied body, still wearing his protective press vest from that day's work. Dahdouh's grandson also was declared dead two hours later, the network reported. (AP)
Amid uproar over his remarks that attacks by Hamas “did not happen in a vacuum”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday expressed shock at the “misinterpretations” of his comments and asserted it was necessary to set the record straight that he was not justifying acts of terror by Hamas.
“I am shocked by the misinterpretations by some of my statement yesterday in the Security Council – as if I was justifying acts of terror by Hamas. This is false. It was the opposite,” Guterres told reporters at the UN Security Council stakeout here.
“I believe it was necessary to set the record straight – especially out of respect to the victims and to their families,” he said. (Read More)
Amid the continuing tensions between Israel and Hamas, Air India on Wednesday extended the suspension of its scheduled flights to Tel Aviv till November 2.
The airline has not operated a scheduled flight to and from Tel Aviv since October 7. During this month, the airline operated a few chartered flights to Tel Aviv from the national capital under the government's Operation Ajay to bring back Indians who wished to come back from Israel against the backdrop of the escalating conflict.
Israel has agreed to delay an expected invasion of Gaza for now so that the United States can rush missile defences to the region to protect its troops there, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing U.S. and Israeli officials.
Israel is also taking into account in its planning the effort to supply humanitarian aid to civilians inside Gaza, as well as diplomatic efforts to free hostages held by Hamas militants, the report said.
Threats to U.S. troops were of paramount concern, it said.
The U.S. military and other officials believe their forces will be targeted by militant groups once the invasion of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory starts.
The United States is hurrying to deploy nearly a dozen air-defence systems to the region, according to the Journal.
Reuters reported on Monday that Washington advised Israel to hold off on a ground assault in the Gaza Strip and is keeping Qatar - a broker with the Palestinian militants - apprised of those talks as its tries to free more hostages and prepare for a possible wider regional war. (Reuters)
In a joint press conference in Cairo on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that humanitarian aid must enter Gaza without obstacles.
Macron said that it was essential to get fuel supplies to hospitals, adding that a French navy ship would arrive soon to help bring support to Gaza hospitals and that a plane will arrive in Egypt with key supplies.
He also said that a two-state solution was necessary for peace in the Middle East.
Sisi said he had agreed with Macron to work to contain the crisis in Gaza, introduce aid and seek to prevent other parties from entering the conflict.
He added that Macron understood that any displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza strip towards Egyptian territory would be "extremely dangerous".
- inputs from Reuters
Israel on Wednesday rejected Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's assertion that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was "not a terrorist organization".
"Israel wholeheartedly rejects the Turkish president's harsh words about the terrorist organization Hamas," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat wrote on social media platform X.
"Even the Turkish president's attempt to defend the terrorist organization and his inciting words will not change the horrors that the whole world has seen," Haiat wrote. (Reuters)
An Israeli ground invasion of Gaza will have to reckon with what lies underground: a labyrinth of tunnels, controlled and operated by Hamas, will be a key battlefield.
The network of approximately 1,300 tunnels is thought to be around 500 km in length, with the deepest lying 70 m underground, DW reported. Most are about 2 m in width and height.
According to John Spencer of the US Military Academy West Point, the sheer scale of the tunnel system underneath Gaza poses a “wicked problem” for which “no perfect solution exists”, and overcoming which, “will require a lot of time.”
We look at when and why these tunnels came into existence, what they are used for, and why they pose such a challenge to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). (Read the full explainer here)
During a session at the UN Security Council addressing the Israel Gaza conflict, Indian Ambassador R Ravindra conveyed India's deep concern regarding the deteriorating security situation and significant civilian casualties in the ongoing conflict. The ambassador unequivocally condemned the October 7th terror attacks in Israel and expressed India's solidarity with Israel during that crisis. India also offered heartfelt condolences to the victims' families and sent humanitarian aid, including medicines and equipment, to Palestine.
India reiterated its support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine issue, emphasizing the establishment of a sovereign, independent, and viable state of Palestine alongside Israel within secure and recognized borders, considering Israel's legitimate security concerns. India reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the Palestinian people through bilateral development partnerships covering various sectors, and stressed the importance of creating conducive conditions for the resumption of peace talks.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' recent speech at the United Nations Security Council meeting, where he expressed deep concern over the "relentless bombardment" of Gaza by Israeli forces and urged parties to step back from the brink of further violence, has sparked controversy in Israel. Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, posted a demand for Guterres' resignation, accusing him of showing understanding for the harm caused to civilians. Israel's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eli Cohen, also reportedly canceled a meeting with Guterres in response to the remarks. Guterres' speech has intensified tensions and drawn strong reactions from the Israeli government.
More Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in the past few weeks than in any similar period in at least the past 15 years, according to Palestinian health authorities and historical data from the United Nations.
Israeli forces and settlers have killed 95 Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the Hamas attacks on October 7, health officials said, a surge in violence in what was already a particularly deadly year in the West Bank. One Israeli soldier was also killed in clashes.
Most of the Palestinian deaths in the West Bank have been in clashes with Israeli forces, while others were the result of settler attacks. (Read More)
According to a Reuters report, The United Nations Security Council will vote later on Wednesday on rival proposals by the United States and Russia for action on the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip, diplomats said.
Both countries seek UN Security Council resolutions to address shortages of food, water, medical supplies and electricity in Gaza. But the United States has called for pauses to allow aid to enter Gaza, while Russia wants a humanitarian ceasefire.
As the Israeli army gathers tanks at the Gaza Strip border for a threatened invasion aimed at crushing Hamas, experts are warning that the country’s troops could face some of the fiercest street-to-street combat since World War II in Gaza City and other densely packed areas.
Urban warfare studies and American officials offer dire comparisons to Iraq: Think of Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004, the most intense battles that U.S. troops had faced since Vietnam; or the nine-month fight to defeat the Islamic State group in Mosul, Iraq, in 2016, which led to 10,000 civilian deaths. Then multiply the destructive toll, possibly exponentially.
Hamas has three to five times as many fighters — perhaps 40,000 in all — as the Islamic State had in Mosul. It can draw reserves from a young, restive population and has international support from countries like Iran. (Click here to read more)
According to a Reuters news report, at least 6,546 Palestinians, including 2,704 children, were killed and 17,439 wounded in Israeli strikes since October 7, the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said on Wednesday.
In the past 24 hours, 756 Palestinians including 344 children were killed in Israeli strikes, the ministry said.
An Israeli air strike targeted Aleppo's airport in northern Syria on Wednesday, the Lebanese pro-Iranian al-Mayadeen TV station reported.
There has been no official confirmation by Syrian state media. The airport has been out of service since Oct. 22 due to an Israeli missile attack. (Reuters)
Posting on its X account, the World Health Organisation in Palestine said that it has documented a total of 171 attacks on the Palestinian territory since October 7. "Total 493 people have been killed in health attacks including 16 health workers on duty," the organisation posted on X.
Qatar’s foreign minister says that hostage negotiations with Hamas over the more than 200 people it took hostage during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel continue.
Regarding the progress on the hostage negotiation, it’s still ongoing,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as Qatar’s prime minister said.
“If we compare where we started and where we are right now, there is some progress and some breakthrough and we will remain hopeful. The negotiations are still ongoing and at any moment in time, I think that if we are able to get along between the two parties, I think we will see some breakthroughs hopefully soon.” (AP)
The Israeli military sounded sirens in the northern Carmel region on Wedneday, warning of possible incoming rockets or drones, but there were no immediate reports of any casualties.
The Carmel, near the port city of Haifa, is about 145 km (90 miles) from the Gaza Strip, where an Israel-Hamas war is now in its third week. It is also 42 km (26 miles) from the border with Lebanon, across which Israel has exchanged fire with Hezbollah. (Reuters)
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the militant Hamas group isn't a terror organization, but a “liberation group” trying to protect its lands and citizens.
In an address to his ruling party’s legislators on Wednesday, Erdogan also said he has cancelled plans to visit Israel as part of his country’s policy of normalizing its relations with the Jewish state, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “misused our goodwill.”
He also described Israel’s action in Gaza as one of the “bloodiest, most disgusting and most savage attacks in history.”
“We have no problem with the Israeli state, but we never have, and never will, accept the atrocities committed by Israel and the fact that it acts as an organization rather than a state,” he said.
- Inputs from AP
Qatar's prime minister said today that there is some progress on hostage negotiations following Palestinian militant group Hamas taking more than 200 hostages during its Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said he hopes there will be breakthroughs on hostage releases "soon".
"The number of children killed in Gaza exceeds the number of children killed in Ukraine, but we have not seen the same reaction," Sheikh Mohammed who is also the minister of foreign affairs, added in a press conference with the Turkish foreign minister in Doha. (Reuters)
The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah met top leaders of the Palestinian militant factions Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and discussed what their alliance must do to "achieve a real victory for the resistance", Hezbollah said today.
Part of an Iran-backed regional alliance, the heavily armed Hezbollah has had daily exchanges of fire with Israeli forces along the Israeli-Lebanese frontier since war broke out between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7.
The meeting involved Hezbollah's Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri and Islamic Jihad chief Ziad al-Nakhala, Hezbollah said in a statement. It did not say when the meeting took place.
"An assessment was made of the international positions being taken and what the parties of the Axis of Resistance must do ... to realise a real victory for the resistance in Gaza and Palestinian and to halt the brutal aggression," Hezbollah said. "There was agreement on continuing the coordination." (Reuters)
Nearly 6 lakh internally displaced people are sheltering in 150 facilities of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) in Gaza, while at least 40 UNRWA installations have been impacted, the UN agency posted today on the social media platform X.
"Our shelters are four times over their capacities - many people are sleeping in the streets as current facilities are overwhelmed," the agency added. (Reuters)
The Israeli military accused Iran today of having ordered recent attacks by Tehran-backed militias in Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon, and said Israel was jointly monitoring the region with its US ally.
In a televised briefing, chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Iran was currently providing Hamas in Gaza with intelligence, and was also helping stoke anti-Israel sentiment globally with an online messaging campaign. (Reuters)
The innocent population of Palestinians cannot be collateral damage as Israel pursues its right to go after Hamas, Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister has warned even as he admitted “different strands of opinion” within the European Union (EU) on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
In an interaction on the sidelines of the Global Ireland Summit in Dublin on Tuesday, Micheal Martin told reporters that Europe is united in condemning Hamas but any Israeli response has to be within the parameters of humanitarian law.
“I unreservedly condemn the attack by Hamas on Israel. Israel absolutely has the right to self-defence; to defend itself and its people in response to this heinous attack by Hamas,” said Martin. “The issue is how, what methodology to use and proportionality; the population can't be collateral damage to the degree that it is now with the death of Gazan civilians – men, women and children, possibly doctors, nurses and medical staff working in hospitals,” he said. (PTI)
At the United Nations, the United States and Russia put forward rival plans on humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians. Washington has called for pauses in the fighting and Russia wants a humanitarian ceasefire. A pause is generally considered less formal and shorter than a ceasefire.
"The whole world is expecting from the Security Council a call for a swift and unconditional ceasefire," Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council. Arab states firmly back a call for a humanitarian ceasefire amid widespread destruction in Gaza.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week also called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
"While we remain opposed to a ceasefire, we think humanitarian pauses linked to the delivery of aid that still allow Israel to conduct military operations to defend itself are worth consideration," a senior US official said. (Reuters)
Jordan's Queen Rania has lashed out at the 'glaring double standard' of the Western mainstream media in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, for failing to condemn civilian deaths in Tel Aviv's bombardment of Gaza as the conflict threatens to destabilise relations between the United States and Arab leaders, CNN.
'The people all around the Middle East, including in Jordan, we are just shocked and disappointed by the world's reaction to this catastrophe that is unfolding. In the last couple of weeks, we have seen a glaring double standard in the world,' Queen Rania said on Amanpour & Co, in a video interview from the Jordanian capital, Amman.
The Jordanian royal said that when 'October 7 happened' the world 'immediately and unequivocally' supported Israel and its right to defend itself but in the last couple of weeks, 'we're seeing silence in the world.' The 53-year-old queen who has for long been a vocal advocate for the rights of Palestinian people said that it was 'for the first time in modern history that there is such human suffering and the world is not even calling for a ceasefire.' Queen Rania said there was a feeling that the Western world is 'complicit' in the mass death of civilians. (ANI)
The New Jersey Air National Guard’s 119 Expeditionary Fighter Squadron arrived in the Middle East yesterday, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters. The squadron has F-16 fighter jets, and officials would not say where exactly it went.
Ryder also said the US is preparing for an increase in violence, noting that there have already been at least 13 attacks against troops and installations in Iraq and Syria.
“What we are seeing is the prospect for more significant escalation against US forces and personnel across the region in the very near term coming from Iranian proxy forces and ultimately from Iran,” he said during a Pentagon briefing. He added that the US won’t hesitate to take action if needed to protect its forces and interests in the region. (AP)
US President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed the conflict between Israel and Hamas during a phone call, the White House said on Tuesday.
The two leaders spoke about "ongoing diplomatic and military efforts to deter state and non-state actors from widening the conflict" and agreed to pursue "broader diplomatic efforts to maintain stability across the region and prevent the conflict from expanding," according to the White House.
The two also affirmed the importance of working towards a sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians as soon as the crisis subsides, "building on" the work that was already underway between Saudi Arabia and the United States over recent months before the outbreak of the Gaza war. (ANI)
Israeli forces on an overnight raid in the occupied West Bank came under fire by a group of Palestinians whom the military then hit with a drone, the Israeli military said today, and Palestinian officials said three people were killed.
The military said armed Palestinians "fired and hurled explosive devices" at its forces in Jenin refugee camp, in the northern West Bank. The military then struck them with a drone, and "hits were identified", it added.
The drone fired at least two projectiles, the Palestinian Authority's official news agency WAFA reported, citing sources in the camp. Three people were killed and more than 20 others injured, WAFA reported, citing Wissam Bakr, director of Jenin Governmental Hospital. (Reuters)
Born in the Gaza Strip, Adnan Abu Hasna, spokesperson of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, survived an air strike in which the UNRWA building in Gaza City was damaged. He has since moved to Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Speaking to The Indian Express, Abu Hasna, in his 50s, said at least 35 UNRWA staff have been killed since October 7.
Edited excerpts:
What’s the situation in Gaza right now?
It’s really difficult. You can see — everything is collapsing, it is lack of everything. First of all, there is no electricity in Gaza. We had electricity outage four days after the escalation. We are suffering, there is no drinkable water… People are drinking directly from the wells, without any water treatment, because there is no fuel.
Hospitals are nearly collapsing, food is disappearing from the markets and the UNRWA chief just announced that we only have enough fuel for three days. If Gaza does not get fuel supply, our operations will stop. This means other sectors related to us, like desalination plants, sewage system, hospitals, will also stop. So we are reaching catastrophe in a few days. (Read more)
On October 7, when Hamas began its devastating attack on Israel, Yocheved Lifshitz was one among the many who were taken hostage into Gaza. On Tuesday, she and another woman were released after their two-week captivity in the Palestinian enclave, leaving around 220 hostages still in Hamas’s hands.
“I’ve been through hell, we didn’t think or know we would get to this situation,” the 85-year-old told reporters, seated in a wheelchair outside the Tel Aviv hospital where she was taken following her release, according to CNN.
Explaining how the kidnapping took place, she said in Hebrew, “I was kidnapped on a motorbike on my side while they were driving toward Gaza,” Lifschitz said. Her daughter explained how her head lay on one side of the motorbike while her feet dangled from the other. (Read more)
UN chief Antonio Guterres on Tuesday asserted that no party to an armed conflict is above international humanitarian law as he expressed deep alarm over the “relentless bombardment” of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip by Israeli forces and appealed to all to “pull back from the brink” before the violence escalates even further.
The Security Council ministerial meeting, held under the Brazilian President of the Council, was attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Israel’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Eli Cohen, Palestine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Riyad Al-Maliki, Brazil’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira and France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna among others. (Read more)
Israel's military said its jets struck Syrian army infrastructure and mortar launchers early on Wednesday in what it described as a response to rocket launches from Syria toward Israel.
The military said it had identified two rocket launches from Syria that had landed in open areas late on Tuesday, and that it had responded with artillery fire at the sources of the launches.
In a further response, the military said its fighter jets "struck military infrastructure and mortar launchers belonging to the Syrian Army". (Reuters)
Amidst reports of an imminent ground invasion of Gaza by Israel, US President Joe Biden has said that Israel can make its own decisions, as the US firmly backs its ally while urging caution.
Biden made the comment on Tuesday in response to a question while posing for a picture with the visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. “Are you urging Israel to delay its ground invasion?” Biden was asked, to which he replied, “The Israelis can make their own decisions.”
Last week, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant laid out the Jewish nation's plan to change the “security regime" in Gaza-- implying Hamas' removal — and said the plan was designed in three stages. (PTI)
Ambassador R Ravindra, India's Deputy Permanent Representative (DPR) to the United Nations, today underlined New Delhi's efforts to send humanitarian assistance to civilians in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, saying that it has sent 38 tons of food and critical medical equipment to the region.
Ravindra made the statement while representing India at the United Nations Security Council Open-debate on the "situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question". (ANI)