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Tag: Gaza

  • Israel intentionally starving civilians in Gaza: HRW

    Israel intentionally starving civilians in Gaza: HRW

    The group Human Rights Watch on Monday accused the Israeli government of intentionally starving civilians in Gaza as part of its offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory. 

    “The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, which is a war crime,” the New York-based group charged in a report.

    “Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food and fuel, while wilfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival,” it added.

    The Israeli government hit back at HRW, accusing it of being an “anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli organisation”.

    “Human Rights Watch … did not condemn the attack on Israeli citizens and the massacre of October 7 and has no moral basis to talk about what’s going on in Gaza if they turn a blind eye to the suffering and the human rights of Israelis,” foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat told AFP.

    The deadliest ever Gaza war began with the unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, when the group killed 1,139 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250, according to updated Israeli figures.

    The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory says more than 18,800 people, mostly women and children, have died in Israel’s campaign in Gaza.

    Following months of fierce bombardment and fighting, most of Gaza’s population has been displaced and people are grappling with shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine.

    Israel on Friday approved the “temporary” delivery of much-needed aid to Gaza via its Kerem Shalom crossing.

    A humanitarian aid convoy entered Gaza through the crossing on Sunday, the first since Israel approved the move, an Egyptian Red Crescent official said.

    A total of “79 trucks began entering today,” the official, who is not authorised to speak to the media, said on condition of anonymity.

  • Palestinians forced to loot aid trucks as hunger crisis worsen

    Palestinians forced to loot aid trucks as hunger crisis worsen

    Intensified Israeli attacks on Gaza continue after more than two months since the October 7 attacks.

    Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud from Rafah reported on increasing hunger in the Gaza strip as available resources are not enough to compensate for food requirements and other necessities for the locals who are now on “survival mode”.

    A video from Sunday shows Palestinians jumping onto aid trucks to get their hands on food and other supplies in the Rafah area near the border with Egypt.

    As the aid truck drove by, the locals tried to stop it, climbed up on it, pulling or pushing down containers of food and water, “carrying them off or passing them off to crowds below”.

    Al Jazeera reports that some trucks were guarded by masked people with sticks.

    “The humanitarian situation has become very desperate, not only for the residents of Rafah city but also for the one million displaced Palestinians here who are becoming hungry, thirsty and traumatised as the war pounds on,” said Hani Mahmoud.

    “People are without anything – without a home, without access to food, without water and without medical supplies,” he said.

    “So, the scenes at Rafah crossing are a natural response: When people starve to death, when they are hungry, this is what we will see happening.”

  • Israel faces mounting outrage over Gaza war

    Israel faces mounting outrage over Gaza war

    Gaza Strip (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Israel faced mounting international pressure Monday over the rising civilian death toll and destruction of hospitals in Gaza, as it pressed on with its war in the besieged Palestinian territory.

    The United Nations Security Council was set to vote Monday on a new resolution calling for an “urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities” in Gaza.

    The health ministry says more than 18,800 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s campaign in Gaza. It said dozens were killed in Israeli strikes on Sunday.

    Following months of fierce bombardment and fighting, most of Gaza’s population has also been displaced and people are grappling with shortages of fuel, food, water and medicine.

    Fewer than one-third of Gaza’s hospitals are partly functioning, according to the UN, with the World Health Organization denouncing on Sunday the impact of Israeli operations on two hospitals in the north of the territory.

    WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency was “appalled by the effective destruction” of the Kamal Adwan hospital, where Israeli forces carried out a multi-day operation against Hamas.

    Outside the hospital courtyard, which showed tank and bulldozer tracks, Abu Mohammed, who came to look for his son, stood crying.

    “I don’t know how I will find him,” he said, pointing to the debris.

    The Israeli army pulled out of the hospital on Sunday after an operation lasting several days, claiming it had been used as a command and control centre by Hamas.

    Israel said that before entering the hospital it had negotiated safe passage for the evacuation of most of the people inside.

    The WHO also said Israeli bombing had reduced the emergency department at the Al-Shifa hospital to “a bloodbath”.

    The health ministry said an Israeli strike on Sunday hit Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s main city of Khan Yunis, killing one person and injuring seven others.

    And the ministry said Israeli forces had stormed Al Awda hospital in northern Gaza on Sunday and detained medical staff following several days of siege and bombing.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again vowed to “fight until the end” on Sunday, promising to achieve the aims of eliminating Hamas, freeing all hostages and ensuring that Gaza will never again become “a centre for terrorism”.

    Near Gaza’s northern border crossing at the Israeli city of Erez, the Israeli army said it had uncovered the biggest Hamas tunnel so far.

    An AFP photographer reported that the tunnel was large enough for small vehicles to use.

    Israel said the tunnel cost millions of dollars and took years to construct, featuring rails, electricity, drainage and a communications network.

    The Israeli army said five soldiers were killed on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 126 in the Gaza Strip since ground operations began in late October.

    Calls for truce

    The Israeli government has come under growing pressure from the international community to pause the fighting and do more to protect civilians.

    The United Nations estimates that 1.9 million Gazans — around 80 percent — have been displaced by the war.

    “I would not be surprised if people start dying of hunger, or a combination of hunger, disease, weak immunity,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

    Gazans have also faced repeated communications outages but on Sunday Gaza’s main telecoms firm said mobile and internet service had been gradually restored.

    French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna was in Israel on Sunday, where she called for an “immediate and durable” truce.

    France separately condemned an Israel bombardment that killed one of its foreign ministry officials in Gaza.

    Qatar, which helped mediate a truce last month that saw 80 Israeli hostages exchanged for 240 jailed Palestinians, said there were “ongoing diplomatic efforts to renew the humanitarian pause”.

    But Hamas said on Telegram it was “against any negotiations for the exchange of prisoners until the aggression against our people ceases completely”.

    US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in Kuwait on Monday as part of a regional trip that will include stops in Israel and Qatar, which brokered a previous ceasefire deal.

    Syria strikes

    Israel carried out air strikes near Damascus on Sunday, wounding two Syrian soldiers, the Syrian defence ministry said.

    Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants are exchanging regular fire across Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.

    Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels, saying they want to pressure Israel, have launched attacks on passing vessels in the vital Red Sea shipping zone, forcing major companies to redirect vessels.

  • IDF ‘accidentally’ killed three Israeli hostages

    IDF ‘accidentally’ killed three Israeli hostages

    Israeli troops “mistakenly” killed three Israeli hostages in the course of combat with Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Friday.

    The incident took place in Shejaiye, a densely populated area in northern Gaza.

    Israeli forces “mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat,” the military said in a statement. “As a result, the troops fired toward them and they were killed.”

    “During searches and checks in the area in which the incident occurred, suspicion arose over the identities of the deceased,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a briefing on Friday.

    “Their bodies were transferred to Israeli territory for examination, after which it was confirmed that they were three Israeli hostages.”

    Identified as Samer Talalka, Yotam Haim and Alon Shimriz, these captives were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7.

    The three are believed to have escaped their captors or had been “left behind” because of the fighting in the area, Hagari explained what the IDF so far believes.

    Israeli soldiers are now being instructed to “exercise additional caution” when confrontating people in civilian clothes, another IDF spokesperson, Jonathan Conricus, said.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deemed the incident as an “unbearable tragedy”, adding that Israel will “learn the lessons” of the incident.

    “Along with all the people of Israel, I bow my head with deep sorrow and mourn the death of three of our dear sons who were kidnapped,” he said.

  • After losing his family, Wael Dahdouh targeted in Israeli attack

    After losing his family, Wael Dahdouh targeted in Israeli attack

    Al Jazeera journalist Wael Dahdouh is currently in critical condition after being targeted by Israel in a reported targeted attack while he was covering news near Haifa school in Khan Younis.

    Another journalist was also reportedly severely injured in the attack. On October 25, Wael Aldahdouh, one of the most prolific journalists in Gaza, buried his wife, son, daughter, and grandson, who had been killed in an Israeli air raid that hit the house they were sheltering in.

  • CNN’s Clarissa Ward first Western reporter to enter Gaza without Israeli supervision

    CNN’s Clarissa Ward first Western reporter to enter Gaza without Israeli supervision

    CNN’s chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward has become the first Western journalist to have gone into the Gaza Strip without the Israel Defense Forces’ supervision, reporting from sight what she deemed “absolute horror.”

    Ward entered the besieged strip on Wednesday with UAE medical volunteers and visited a field hospital setup by the Gulf country.

    “Even in that brief window, you really got a sense of the absolute horrors that have been taking place in Gaza,” she said speaking to CNN.

    “I can honestly say I don’t think we’ve ever seen it quite on this scale.” she expressed while reviewing the destruction she witnessed.

    International coverage of Gaza depends on reports from Palestinian journalists, aid teams, health workers, and social media because of Israel’s entry bans.

    As of yet, at least 63 journalists have been killed since October 7 in Israeli airstrikes.

    Ward was initially accused of staging a video in which she can be seen trying to seek a safe place from attacks during live coverage near the Israel-Gaza border. CNN, however, rebutted these assertions, contending the authenticity of the video.

  • Huda Beauty’s founder willing to risk her business for truth and justice

    Huda Beauty’s founder willing to risk her business for truth and justice

    Huda Kattan, the founder of Huda Beauty, posted a video on December 11, stating that she will “not be intimidated” by the backlash she has faced for speaking up against Israeli atrocities in Gaza.

    “I am speaking on behalf of humanity, and I will not be intimidated,” Kattan said in her video.

    “We can’t be afraid to lose anything; we have to trust the process. If we lose something, something else will come to us the right way because we are doing good work — I believe that wholeheartedly,” she said.

    She also asserted that she is willing to risk her business for what’s right and fair.

    “I am willing to risk my entire business, everything that I have on that, in search of the truth and justice,” Kattan stressed.

    “I’m not antisemitic; I’m not anti any people and never will be. I stand against that,” Kattan added, pointing at the attempts being made to redefine terms related to genocide and that Israel is jeopardizing Jewish people.

    @hudaheidi #freepalestine #fyp #foryou @Huda Beauty @Huda ♬ كلام عينيه – شيرين
  • Turkish member of parliament suffers heart attack during speech

    Turkish member of parliament suffers heart attack during speech

    Turkish member of parliament Hasan Bitmez suffered a heart attack while delivering a passionate speech against the government’s policy towards Israel, reports Al-Jazeera.


    Hasan, 54, collapsed in the parliament while addressing the House. He was taken to a hospital in Ankara where he died two days later, on Thursday. He was a member of the Islamist Saadet Partisi or Felicity Party.


    In his speech, Hasan called out President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government for the duplicity of its policies, “You allow ships to go to Israel, and you shamelessly call it trade. … You are Israel’s accomplice.” He criticised Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in his speech on Tuesday and raised a poster on the podium that said, “Murderer Israel; collaborator AKP.”


    Hasan delivered a 20-minute-long speech before collapsing where he warned the President by saying, “Even if you escape the torment of history, you will not be able to escape the wrath of God.” He was immediately given first-aid after the coronary episode.

    Hasan, a prominent figure of the opposition, graduated from Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, worked for Islamic nongovernmental groups and was chairman of the Centre for Islamic Union Research.


    His speech accused the government of continuing friendly economic relations with Israel during its assault on Gaza, which has killed nearly 19,000 Gazans.


    As he delivered the speech, he was mocked by AK Party members.

  • Pakistani Ambassador at UN lauded for Palestine resolution speech

    Pakistani Ambassador at UN lauded for Palestine resolution speech

    Pakistani Ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, delivered a strong statement on the war that is taking place in Gaza during the 10th Emergency Special Session on December 12.

    https://youtu.be/Rv8CfifXcOo?si=GOBY3v-Vbsp6BVxE


    He expressed Pakistan’s allegiance to the resolution submitted by the Arab and Islamic countries proposing an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and release of all hostages. Ambassador Munir also criticised America, one of the permanent members, for vetoing that resolution. Calling out the friend of Israel, for proposing an amendment that “condemns one side while exonerating the other”. He called it “unfair and inequitable”.


    The Pakistani ambassador reminded the world that Israel has dropped 25,000 tons of explosives on Gaza which is nearly equivalent to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He stressed that “Israel’s goal is not to erase Hamas, this is a war against the Palestinian people, not just to erase people but to erase the entire idea of Palestine. It is the same as racial slaughter conducted by settler colonial power in the past.”


    Munir Akram ended the speech by calling out the UN that its duty should not be “to justify the genocide that is taking place.”


    Riyad Mansour, Palestinian Ambassador to the UN, especially thanked the Pakistani Ambassador for his stance and the effective speech by calling him a lawyer of the Palestinian cause in the tenth emergency session. He said that Ambassador Munir Akram shredded to pieces the amendments proposed in favour of perpetrators. He praised the Pakistani Ambassador stating that due to his efforts “even one of the opposing countries voted in favour of the resolution today”.


    Member states then adopted a resolution demanding an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and well as “ensuring humanitarian access”.


    It passed with a large majority of 153 in favour and 10 against, with 23 abstentions.

  • Yemenis turn captured Israeli-linked cargo ship into tourist attraction for locals

    Yemenis turn captured Israeli-linked cargo ship into tourist attraction for locals

    Yemen’s Houthi movement has lately attacked and captured a number of Israeli-linked ships crossing through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait — a pathway for the world’s oil shipment.

    Among the captured ships was an Israeli-linked cargo ship known as Galaxy Leader.

    Yemenis are now utilising the ship as a tourist spot for the locals.

    Visitors can be seen enjoying themselves as they dance, make videos and take pictures.

    Houthis have been targeting Israeli-linked ships following the failure of the international community to ensure a ceasefire in Gaza where more than 18,000 people have been killed because of heavy Israeli attacks and blockade of humanitarian aid.