Israel forges buffer zone inside Gaza at risk to civilians: experts

Damaged buildings stand amid the rubble in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, as seen from Sderot, Israel, February 3, 2024. (REUTERS)
Damaged buildings stand amid the rubble in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, as seen from Sderot, Israel, February 3, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 04 February 2024
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Israel forges buffer zone inside Gaza at risk to civilians: experts

Israel forges buffer zone inside Gaza at risk to civilians: experts
  • Israel launched a withering offensive that has killed at least 27,238 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory

NAHAL OZ, Israel: Israeli forces in Gaza have systematically destroyed buildings in an attempt to create a buffer zone inside the Palestinian territory, experts and rights groups told AFP, raising fears over the civilian cost.
The plan, not publicly confirmed by Israel, appears to entail taking a significant chunk of territory out of the already tiny Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, something experts as well as Israel’s foreign allies have warned against.
Since Hamas militants stormed across the border on October 7, Israeli forces have targeted structures in Gaza within a kilometer (0.6 miles) of the border, said Adi Ben Nun, a professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem who has carried out an analysis of satellite imagery.
More than 30 percent of all buildings in that area have been damaged or destroyed during the war, he said.
Last month, the Israeli army’s deadliest day since the ground invasion began in late October offered a glimpse of the tactics being used to clear the border area.
Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi said at the time that 21 reservists were killed “during a defensive operation in the area separating the Israeli communities from Gaza” to allow for residents’ “safe return.”
The troops had laid out explosives to blow up buildings when they were fired upon by militants, the army said.
Displacement of Gazans including from the border area could breach the laws of war, experts said.
“We are seeing mounting evidence that Israel appears to be rendering large parts of Gaza unlivable,” said Nadia Hardman, a refugee rights expert at Human Rights Watch.
“One very clear example of that may be the buffer zone — this may amount to a war crime.”
When contacted by AFP, the military declined to comment on the buffer zone.

Cecilie Hellestveit, of the Norwegian Academy of International Law, warned of “the prospect of ethnic cleansing, transfer, or lack of rebuilding, so that the Palestinians will eventually be forced out of the area entirely.”
Scrutiny of Israel’s actions in Gaza is likely to be heightened by last month’s International Court of Justice ruling asking Israel to prevent any acts of genocide.
The United States, Israel’s top ally and provider of military aid, has repeatedly said Gaza’s territory should not change and that a buffer zone would breach that principle.
“When it comes to the permanent status of Gaza... we remain clear about not encroaching on its territory,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Rights experts said Israel could use parts of its own territory to create a security zone.
“If the Israeli government wants a buffer zone, it has every right to create one in far larger Israel, but it has no right to seize land in Gaza,” human rights expert Ken Roth, a professor at Princeton University, said on social media.
Border security has become a priority for many Israelis, experts said, and the return to communities near the Gaza border would be seen as a sign that Hamas no longer posed a threat.
In Nahal Oz, a kibbutz barely a kilometer from Gaza that was targeted in the October 7 attack, artillery fire rang out and smoke billowed over the Palestinian territory in the distance.
Like many Israelis who lived along the border before the attack, nearly all of the kibbutz’s 400 residents were evacuated and have yet to return.
“It is still not a place to go back to with children, not yet unfortunately,” Eran Braverman, a 63-year-old farmer, told AFP.
“If there really would be such a (buffer) zone... it could help a lot. I hope it happens.”

Hamas’s attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures, with militants also seizing hostages — dozens of whom Israel says remain in Gaza.
In response, Israel launched a withering offensive that has killed at least 27,238 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Israel in 2005 unilaterally withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza, ending a presence that began in 1967 but maintaining near complete control over the coastal territory’s borders.
A narrow no-go area of varying width was maintained along the full length of the Israel-Gaza border, and the zone immediately beyond it on the Palestinian side has been restricted to cropland.
A crippling blockade since Hamas took power in 2007 was followed shortly after the October 7 attack with an Israeli siege of Gaza.
Egypt operates a buffer zone on its side of the border with the narrow Palestinian territory.
Although Israel decided against installing a buffer zone in the early 2000s, the idea has been revived two decades later, said Hellestveit.
“With the war and the reoccupation of Gaza, this plan from when Israel last had control over Gaza militarily has come back on the table,” she said.
 

 


Sweden eyes charges against suspect over 2014 killing of Jordan pilot in Syria

Sweden eyes charges against suspect over 2014 killing of Jordan pilot in Syria
Updated 15 sec ago
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Sweden eyes charges against suspect over 2014 killing of Jordan pilot in Syria

Sweden eyes charges against suspect over 2014 killing of Jordan pilot in Syria
  • The suspect has previously been convicted for involvement in attacks in Paris in 2015 and in Brussels in 2016
  • No individuals have so far stood trial for the killing of the Jordanian pilot Mouath Al-Kasaesbeh

STOCKHOLM: Swedish prosecutors have requested the detention of a Swedish man on suspicion of war and terrorism crimes over the killing of a Jordanian air force pilot in Syria a decade ago, they said on Monday.
The man, named in Swedish court documents as Osama Krayem, has previously been convicted for involvement in attacks in Paris in 2015 and in Brussels in 2016.
The Daesh militant group, which once imposed a reign of terror over millions of people in Syria and Iraq, captured Jordanian pilot Mouath Al-Kasaesbeh in December 2014 and later published a video of him being burned alive in a cage.
“The man now requested for detention is suspected of having executed the pilot, together with other perpetrators belonging to IS,” the Swedish Prosecution Authority said in a statement.
The prosecutors said Krayem, 32, alongside others, forced the pilot into the cage. The killing of the pilot violates the laws of war, and the killing and video constitute terrorist activities, they said.
No individuals have so far stood trial for the killing of the Jordanian pilot, the prosecutors said.
Krayem’s Swedish lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sweden will request that Krayem, who is currently held in France, be transferred to Sweden in the case of a trial in the Nordic country, the prosecutors said.
Daesh group controlled swathes of Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2017, and was defeated in its last bastions in Syria in 2019.
Under Swedish legislation, courts can try people for crimes against international law committed abroad.


Gazans begin searching for people under rubble on day two of ceasefire

A view shows Palestinians walking past the rubble of houses and buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes during the war in Gaza.
A view shows Palestinians walking past the rubble of houses and buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes during the war in Gaza.
Updated 20 January 2025
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Gazans begin searching for people under rubble on day two of ceasefire

A view shows Palestinians walking past the rubble of houses and buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes during the war in Gaza.
  • “We are searching for 10,000 martyrs whose bodies remain under the rubble,” said Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson of the Palestinian Civil Emergency Services

GAZA/CAIRO: Palestinians began searching on Monday for thousands of Gazans believed still buried under rubble, as residents expressed shock at the devastation wrought by 15 months of war on the enclave on the second day of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The truce in the 15-month-old conflict, which has laid waste to the Gaza Strip and inflamed the Middle East, took effect on Sunday with the release of the first three hostages held by Hamas and 90 Palestinians freed from Israeli jails.
Now attention is starting to shift to the rebuilding of the coastal enclave which the Israeli military has demolished in retaliation for a Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
That assault killed 1,200 people with around 250 hostages taken into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. In the subsequent conflict, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza’s health ministry says.
“We are searching for 10,000 martyrs whose bodies remain under the rubble,” said Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson of the Palestinian Civil Emergency Services.
At least 2,840 bodies were melted and there were no traces of them, he said.
Displaced Gazan Mohamed Gomaa lost his brother and nephew in the war.
“It was a big shock, and the amount (of people) feeling shocked is countless because of what happened to their homes — it’s destruction, total destruction. It’s not like an earthquake or a flood, no no, what happened is a war of extermination,” he said.
With a growing flow of aid into the Palestinian enclave, residents flocked into markets, with some expressing happiness at the lower prices and the presence of new food items like imported chocolates.
“The prices have gone down, the war is over and the crossing is open to more goods,” said Aya Mohammad-Zaki, a displaced woman from Gaza City, who has been sheltering in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip.
The deal requires 600 truckloads of aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the initial six-week ceasefire, including 50 carrying fuel. Half of the aid trucks would be delivered to the north, where experts have warned famine is imminent.
Warning shots
Residents and medics in Gaza said that for the most part the ceasefire appeared to be holding, although there were isolated incidents. Medics said eight people had been hit by Israeli fire since Monday morning in the southern city of Rafah, without giving details of their condition.
The Israeli military said it fired warning shots against suspects who approached troops deployed according to the ceasefire agreement.
One of the Israeli women hostages released on Sunday, Emily Damari, posted a message on Instagram on Monday.
“I have returned to life, my loved ones,” she wrote, “I am the happiest in the world, to just be,” said Damari, a British-Israeli citizen.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where most of the freed Palestinian detainees returned, Nidaa Zaghebi was finally able to embrace her three children who she had left behind after her arrest by Israeli forces.
Zaghebi’s daughters Sadan and Cilla were in tears as they hugged their mother when she arrived at their home, wearing a crown of flowers and wrapped in a traditional Palestinian scarf.
“I used to dream of them every night, and imagine what they were doing. I know the family here were very supportive and took good care of them, but motherhood overcomes all other feelings,” she told Reuters.
Billions of dollars will be needed to rebuild Gaza after the war. A UN damage assessment released this month showed that clearing over 50 million tons of rubble left in the aftermath of Israel’s bombardment could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2 billion.
A UN report from last year, said rebuilding Gaza’s shattered homes could take at least until 2040, but could drag on for many decades. The debris is believed to be contaminated with asbestos, with some refugee camps struck during the war known to have been built with the material.
A UN Development Programme official said on Sunday that development in Gaza has been set back by 69 years as a result of the conflict.
Israel said its goal in the war was to eradicate Hamas and destroy the tunnel network it built underground.


Yemen’s Houthis say to limit attacks in the Red Sea corridor

Yemen’s Houthis say to limit attacks in the Red Sea corridor
Updated 20 January 2025
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Yemen’s Houthis say to limit attacks in the Red Sea corridor

Yemen’s Houthis say to limit attacks in the Red Sea corridor
  • Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Gaza conflict erupted in October 2023

DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthi militia have signaled they will limit their attacks in the Red Sea corridor to only Israeli-affiliated ships as a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took hold.
The Houthis made the announcement in an email sent to shippers and others on Sunday. The Houthis separately planned a military statement on Monday, likely about the decision.
The Houthis, through their Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center, made the announcement by saying it was “stopping sanctions” on the other vessels it has previously targeted since it started attacks in November 2023.
The Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023, after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage.
The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate US- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.


China ‘welcomes’ Gaza ceasefire coming into effect

China ‘welcomes’ Gaza ceasefire coming into effect
Updated 20 January 2025
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China ‘welcomes’ Gaza ceasefire coming into effect

China ‘welcomes’ Gaza ceasefire coming into effect
  • China has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and supportive of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict

BEJING: China on Monday hailed the start of a long-awaited truce aimed at ending more than 15 months of war in Gaza.
A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas formally entered into force on Sunday, paving the way for the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages.
A spokeswoman for Beijing’s foreign ministry said “China welcomes the Gaza ceasefire agreement coming into effect.”
“We hope that the agreement will be fully and continuously implemented, and that a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire in Gaza will be achieved,” Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing.
“China will continue to work with the international community to promote peace and stability in the Middle East,” she said.
China has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and supportive of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
It has positioned itself as a more neutral actor on the conflict than its rival the United States, but has repeatedly called on Israel to end what it calls humanitarian disasters in Gaza.
Last summer, China hosted rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah in Beijing, where they signed an agreement to form a “national unity government” in Gaza after the end of hostilities.


UAE launches largest Gaza aid operation as truce starts

UAE launches largest Gaza aid operation as truce starts
Updated 20 January 2025
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UAE launches largest Gaza aid operation as truce starts

UAE launches largest Gaza aid operation as truce starts
  • 20 trucks carry essential food supplies, winter clothing and basic necessities 

DUBAI: The UAE has launched its largest relief operation in Gaza, under Operation Chivalrous Knight 3, as the Hamas-Israel ceasefire took effect on Sunday.

A convoy of 20 trucks carried over 200 tonnes of essential humanitarian aid including food, winter clothing and other basic necessities for Palestinian families impacted by Israel’s war on Gaza.

To date, Operation Chivalrous Knight 3 has already sent 156 convoys to Gaza, amounting to about 29,784 tonnes of humanitarian aid.

This aid has significantly alleviated the challenging circumstances faced by Gaza’s residents, particularly the most vulnerable groups, by meeting their basic needs, state news agency WAM reported.

Operation Chivalrous Knight 3 has been in operation for over 441 days and has overseen over 500 planeloads of aid, five transport ships, and more than 2,500 trucks from Egypt into Gaza, WAM added.

The UAE’s projects include a field hospital in Gaza, and a floating hospital in Arish, Egypt.

In addition, the country has overseen water supply projects including the construction of desalination plants in Rafah, Egypt, and the “Birds of Goodness” initiative, which involves airdropping aid to areas inaccessible by land, notably in northern Gaza.