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War on Gaza

Israel hits Gaza from land, sea and air as Hamas halts talks

A Palestinian woman reacts next to a child after an Israeli air strike on a UN school sheltering displaced people in Nusairat in central Gaza Strip, July 14, 2024. (Reuters)
A Palestinian woman reacts next to a child after an Israeli air strike on a UN school sheltering displaced people in Nusairat in central Gaza Strip, July 14, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 15 July 2024
AFP
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Israel hits Gaza from land, sea and air as Hamas halts talks

A Palestinian woman reacts next to a child after an Israeli air strike on a UN school sheltering displaced people.
  • Eyewitnesses said the Israeli army had shelled the Al-Mughraqa area and the northern outskirts of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza
  • Hamas said on Sunday it was withdrawing from ceasefire talks
Updated 15 July 2024
AFP
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GAZA STRIP: Israel hammered the Gaza Strip from the air, sea and land Monday as the war in the Palestinian territory showed no sign of abating, with Hamas saying it was pulling out of truce talks.
Shells rained down on the neighborhoods of Tal Al-Hawa, Sheikh Ajlin and Al-Sabra in Gaza City, AFP correspondents reported, while eyewitnesses said the Israeli army had shelled the Al-Mughraqa area and the northern outskirts of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Paramedics from the Palestinian Red Crescent said they had retrieved the bodies of five people, including three children, after Israeli air strikes in the Al-Maghazi camp, also in the central Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, eyewitnesses reported Israeli gunship fire east of Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, and shelling and Apache helicopter attacks in western areas of the southernmost city of Rafah.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it was continuing its activity throughout the coastal territory, and said it had conducted raids in Rafah and central Gaza that killed “a number of” militants, as well as air strikes throughout the strip over the past day.
It also said its naval forces had been firing at targets in Gaza.
The relentless bombardments came as prospects dwindled for a truce and hostage release deal being secured any time soon.
Hamas said on Sunday it was withdrawing from ceasefire talks.
The decision followed an Israeli strike targeting the head of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, which the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said killed 92 people.
Deif’s fate remains unknown, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying there was “no certainty” he was dead while a senior Hamas official told AFP that Deif was “well and directly overseeing” operations.
Speaking after the strike on Al-Mawasi, a second senior official from the militant group cited Israeli “massacres” and its attitude to negotiations as a reason for suspending negotiations.
But according to the official, Haniyeh told international mediators Hamas was “ready to resume negotiations” when Israel’s government “demonstrates seriousness in reaching a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal.”
Last week, US President Joe Biden had suggested a deal might be close, saying at a NATO summit that both sides had agreed to a framework he had set out in late May.
Hamas on Monday lashed out at the US, accusing it of supporting “genocide” by supplying Israel with “internationally banned” weapons.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the... American disdain for the blood of the children and women of our Palestinian people... by providing all types of prohibited weapons to the ‘Israeli’ occupation,” a statement from the Hamas government media office said.
Talks between the warring parties have been mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with US support, but months of negotiations have failed to bring a breakthrough.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s surprise October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza including 42 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 38,584 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data provided by the Gaza health ministry.
The war and accompanying siege have devastated the Palestinian territory, destroying much of its infrastructure, leaving the majority of its 2.4 million residents displaced and causing a dire shortage of food, medicines and other basic goods.
Among the devastated facilities have been multiple schools. On Sunday, Israeli forces struck a UN-run school in Nuseirat camp that was being used as a shelter for displaced people but which the military said “served as a hideout” for militants.
The civil defense agency in Gaza said 15 people were killed in the strike, the fifth attack in just over a week to hit a school used as shelter by displaced Palestinians.

Topics: War on Gaza Israel

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Turkish citizens fleeing Lebanon mourn the homes and family left behind

Turkish citizens fleeing Lebanon mourn the homes and family left behind
Updated 7 sec ago
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Turkish citizens fleeing Lebanon mourn the homes and family left behind

Turkish citizens fleeing Lebanon mourn the homes and family left behind
Updated 7 sec ago
The almost 1,000 evacuees napped or sat on camp beds surrounded by the few belongings they could bring
Aid workers on board the vessels distributed sandwiches and refreshments during the 12-hour crossing to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Mersin

ON BOARD THE TCG SANCAKTAR: Eyup Sabri Kirgiz gathered up his loved ones — both family and pets — and with a heavy heart left his beloved city of Beirut behind, after two weeks of deadly airstrikes that had traumatized his family.
The 50-year old Turkish engineer who moved to the Lebanese capital 21 years ago, was living in the Ein Rummaneh neighborhood, close to Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area known as Dahiyeh that has been the target of heavy Israeli airstrikes amid an escalation of the war in the Middle East, this time between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
“For the last two weeks or so, we had been feeling all those bombs as if they were exploding in the house,” said Kirgiz, who along with his Lebanese wife, two children and his mother-in-law was among hundreds of people who were evacuated from Lebanon on Thursday aboard two Turkish navy ships.
“There was no sleep or anything. We would just sit until the morning. You can only sleep when the drones go away. It is impossible to sleep with that drone sound anyway,” Kirgiz told The Associated Press on board the TCG Sancaktar. The AP was the only nongovernment media that was invited aboard the vessels to cover the evacuation operation.
It’s been a year of war. Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel from Lebanon on Oct. 8, 2023, one day after the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel that led to the Israeli offensive in Gaza, and Israel and Hezbollah have been trading attacks since then. But since the fighting escalated in mid-September, more than 1,400 people have been killed in Lebanon and over a million displaced.
The almost 1,000 evacuees — mostly Turkish citizens and their foreign-born spouses — on board the TCG Sancaktar, and its sister landing vessel, the TCG Bayraktar, napped or sat on camp beds surrounded by the few belongings they could bring. Aid workers on board the vessels distributed sandwiches and refreshments during the 12-hour crossing to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Mersin.
Previous Turkish government figures put the number of people to be evacuated at close to 2,000. A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government rules, said some people who had expressed interest in leaving did not show up.
Kirgiz spent much of the journey tending to his dogs, Bella and Ammun — as well as their pet turtle, Coco, which he kept in a shoe-box — to ensure that they did not disturb slumbering fellow passengers.
The air was stuffy, making the journey uncomfortable at times.
A 75-year-old passenger on board the ship was evacuated by helicopter to northern Cyprus after he suffered a heart attack during the voyage. He later died in the hospital, the security official said.
Kirgiz, who describes himself as “the lover of Beirut” said he hopes to return there soon.
“I’ll see what the situation is like in a week or 10 days. I’ll wait for things to calm down a bit. After that, if I think it’s no longer dangerous, I’ll go back. Because I love this place so much. And after, (the plan) is to bring back the family and children,” Kirgiz said.
Turkish-born Dilber Taleb and her Lebanese-born husband Ahmad, who live in Australia, were on holiday in Lebanon when the conflict escalated. They were spending time with Ahmad’s parents so that they could get to know their infant grandson, Khaldun.
Although their neighborhood was not targeted by the Israeli strikes, the couple grabbed the opportunity to leave Lebanon.
“You’re anxious every day. When you are under stress, you worry whether something will happen, whether they will block the road or bomb something. That’s why he wanted to leave Lebanon as soon as possible,” said Dilber Taleb.
Her husband sounded tormented at having to leave his parents behind.
“My parents, they are only Lebanese (nationals), they’re not Turkish citizens or Australian citizens like us,” he said. “But I wish in the future I can take them with us, maybe to Turkiye or to Australia. Because we can’t stay living under this stress.”
Among other passengers on board the vessel was Goncagul Udigwe, her Nigerian husband Callistos and their 7-month-old daughter, Hilda. They had moved to Lebanon, where he ran his own business, just five months ago.
The family decided to leave Lebanon because they feared it would turn into “another Gaza,” she said as the family waited to board the ship in Beirut. Speaking again to AP journalists as she disembarked in Mersin, she felt a rush of relief.
“Right now I am extremely happy that we are reunited (with Turkiye) safe and sound. I am in my own land, I feel safe, I feel at peace.”
Udigwe continued: “But of course, I feel very sorry for those who have to stay there (in Lebanon) because they are not in a good situation at all. They sleep on the sidewalks, in cars. So it’s very difficult. I’ve never seen anything like this before. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my own country.”
The ships arrived back in Turkiye late Thursday and early Friday. The exhausted passengers were bused to another area of the port to pass through immigration checks.
The two ships were part of a convoy of six-vessels that departed Mersin on Wednesday, carrying some 300 tons of humanitarian aid to Lebanon, including food, tents and blankets. AP journalists on board the Sancaktar could hear the sound of drones flying above the ships, while the aid was being unloaded and the evacuees were boarding.

After heavy Israeli blows, Hezbollah forges new command for crucial ground war

After heavy Israeli blows, Hezbollah forges new command for crucial ground war
Updated 6 min 15 sec ago
Reuters
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After heavy Israeli blows, Hezbollah forges new command for crucial ground war

After heavy Israeli blows, Hezbollah forges new command for crucial ground war
  • The Iran-backed group still has a considerable stockpile of weapons, including its most powerful precision missiles
  • Hezbollah’s command was disrupted for the first few days after Nasrallah’s Sept. 27 assassination until Shiite militants established a new “operations room” 72 hours later
Updated 6 min 15 sec ago
Reuters

BEIRUT: Hezbollah is preparing for a long war of attrition in south Lebanon, after Israel wiped out its top leadership, with a new military command directing rocket fire and the ground conflict, two sources familiar with its operations said.
Hezbollah has been diminished by three weeks of devastating Israeli blows — most notably the killing of its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Friends and foes alike are now watching how effectively it resists Israeli troops that have crossed into Lebanon with the stated aim of driving it away from the border.
The Iran-backed group still has a considerable stockpile of weapons, including its most powerful precision missiles which it has yet to use, four sources familiar with its operations said, despite waves of airstrikes that Israel says has severely depleted its arsenal.
Hezbollah’s command was disrupted for the first few days after Nasrallah’s Sept. 27 assassination until Shiite militants established a new “operations room” 72 hours later, the two sources — a Hezbollah field commander and a source close to the group — told Reuters.
Nasrallah was killed, along with other Hezbollah leaders and an Iranian commander, when Israel located and bombed his deep bunker below Beirut.
The new command center has kept functioning despite subsequent Israeli attacks, meaning fighters in the south are able to fire rockets and fight according to centrally issued orders, according to the sources, who asked not to be named in order to discuss sensitive matters.
A third source, a senior official close to Hezbollah, said the group was now waging a war of attrition.
Avraham Levine, an analyst with Israeli think-tank Alma, said it should be assumed Hezbollah was “well prepared and waiting” for Israeli troops and that it was no easy target.
“The fact that the chain of command has been damaged does not take away the ability to shoot Israeli communities or try to hit” Israeli forces, Levine told Reuters, describing Hezbollah as “the same powerful terror army we all know.”
Fighters have the flexibility to carry out orders “according to the capabilities of the front,” the Hezbollah field commander said, described the new command as “a narrow circle” in direct contact with the field. It is rare for a Hezbollah field commander to speak to international media. He said the new command operates in total secrecy and gave no further details about its communications or structure. Hezbollah has not named a new leader after Nasrallah, with the most likely successor also killed. The Shiite group’s deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said this week he supported ceasefire efforts, but said the group’s capabilities were intact. Another source familiar with Hezbollah’s operations said the group’s dedicated, fixed-line phone network was “essential” to current communications. Sources have said the network survived attacks on the group’s communications in September.
A statement this week signed by the “operations room of the Islamic Resistance” said fighters were resisting incursions and “watching and listening” to Israeli troops where they least expect it — an apparent reference to concealed Hezbollah positions. The statement, the first public acknowledgment of the existence of a new command, did not name its members or say when and in what context it was established.

Topics: Battlefield Lebanon Israel Hezbollah Lebanon

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EU urges Turkiye to probe claims of refugee abuse, forced deportations

EU urges Turkiye to probe claims of refugee abuse, forced deportations
Updated 27 min 1 sec ago
AFP
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EU urges Turkiye to probe claims of refugee abuse, forced deportations

EU urges Turkiye to probe claims of refugee abuse, forced deportations
  • The EU has thrown billions of euros at Turkiye to stem the flow of migrants to Europe
  • Dozens of migrants accused Turkish officials of abuses in EU-funded detention centers and forced returns to Afghanistan and Syria
Updated 27 min 1 sec ago
AFP

BRUSSLES: The European Union on Friday called on Turkiye to investigate claims of abuse of refugees in EU-funded centers, and forced deportations to Afghanistan and Syria reported by a journalism consortium.
The EU has thrown billions of euros at Turkiye to stem the flow of migrants to Europe, including millions spent to support Ankara with border security and asylum processing.
In Friday’s wide-ranging investigation by Lighthouse Reports with outlets including Der Spiegel, Le Monde and Politico, dozens of migrants accused Turkish officials of abuses in EU-funded detention centers and forced returns to Afghanistan and Syria.
They also reported that the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, “repeatedly ignored warnings” from civil society, diplomats, and “even its own staff” as the EU provided funding for the centers housing migrants.
But a commission spokesperson said “the enforcement and the protection of these formal rights remain the responsibility” of Turkiye.
“It is the responsibility of the Turkish authorities to thoroughly investigate allegations of wrongdoing, and we urge them to do so,” spokesperson Ana Pisonero said.
“If we receive evidence of breaches of human rights or other fundamental values related to any EU-funded program, then of course, we will address the situation,” she told reporters in Brussels.
The EU has provided nearly 10 billion euros ($11 billion) to Turkiye to support the country with migration since 2012, Pisonero said, and has promised an extra one billion euros for this year.
Ankara and Brussels inked a controversial deal in 2016 in which the EU offered money in exchange for irregular migrants reaching Europe to be returned to Turkiye.
Human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized the EU’s approach to migration.
“Outsourcing migration to third countries does not absolve EU of its responsibilities and (the) European Commission must ensure no EU funds are used to violate human rights,” Amnesty EU said on X.
Migration is set to be at the heart of discussions between the EU’s 27 leaders on Thursday and Friday during a summit in Brussels.
The bloc’s interior ministers on Thursday discussed ways to tackle the issue including controversial plans to set up dedicated return centers outside the bloc.
Italy has already pushed ahead with a similar plan after striking a deal earlier this year with Albania for the country to hold and process migrants there.

Topics: Turkiye EU Migration migrants

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Somalia says it welcomes Egypt’s offer to deploy peacekeepers there

Somalia says it welcomes Egypt’s offer to deploy peacekeepers there
Updated 11 October 2024
AP
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Somalia says it welcomes Egypt’s offer to deploy peacekeepers there

Somalia says it welcomes Egypt’s offer to deploy peacekeepers there
  • Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Thursday attended a summit in the Eritrean capital, Asmara
  • Somali authorities said at the end of the summit that they welcome Egypt’s offer to deploy troops in Somalia as part of a stabilization force
Updated 11 October 2024
AP

MOGADISHU: Somalia says Egypt has offered to deploy peacekeeping troops to the Horn of Africa nation in a security partnership that is emerging as the mandate of a long-time group of African Union peacekeepers winds down.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Thursday attended a summit in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, where he and the leaders of Somalia and Eritrea pledged strong cooperation in regional security.
Somali authorities said in a statement at the end of the summit that they welcomed Egypt’s offer to deploy troops in Somalia as part of a stabilization force when the present African Union force disbands in December.
The statement said the leaders welcomed the African Union Peace and Security Council’s decision to launch the African Union Mission to Support Stabilization in Somalia, or AUSSOM, under whose mandate the Egyptians or others would be deployed.
A separate statement following the summit signed by representatives of Somalia, Egypt and Eritrea asserted Somalia’s sovereign right to determine the composition, tasks and deployment timeline for the AUSSOM troops.
Somalia’s federal government has been supported by an African Union peacekeeping mission since 2007 in fighting the Islamic extremist group Al-Shabab, which has ties with Al-Qaeda and is responsible for deadly attacks in the country.
The summit in Asmara followed a period of tensions in the region stemming from disputes pitting Ethiopia against others.
The first dispute — between Ethiopia and Egypt — is over Ethiopia’s construction of a $4 billion dam on the Blue Nile, a key tributary of the Nile River. Egypt fears it will have a devastating effect on water and irrigation supplies downstream in Egypt unless Ethiopia takes its needs into account. Ethiopia plans to use the dam to generate badly needed electricity.
The second dispute — between Ethiopia and Somalia — is over Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland.
Somalia has sought to block landlocked Ethiopia’s ongoing efforts to gain access to the Red Sea via a contentious agreement with Somaliland to lease a stretch of land along its coastline, where Ethiopia would establish a marine force base. In return, Ethiopia would recognize Somaliland as an independent country, according to Somaliland authorities.
Somaliland seceded from Somalia more than 30 years ago but is not recognized by the African Union or the United Nations as an independent state. Somalia still considers Somaliland part of its territory.

Topics: Somalia Egypt Sudan

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Second round of Gaza polio vaccination ‘more complicated’: UN

Second round of Gaza polio vaccination ‘more complicated’: UN
Updated 11 October 2024
AFP
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Second round of Gaza polio vaccination ‘more complicated’: UN

Second round of Gaza polio vaccination ‘more complicated’: UN
  • The vaccination campaign began after the first confirmed polio case in 25 years was reported in the besieged Gaza Strip
Updated 11 October 2024
AFP

GENEVA: A campaign starting next week to give hundreds of thousands of children in war-stricken Gaza the necessary second dose of polio vaccine will be “more complicated” than the first round, the UN said Friday.
The United Nations agencies for health and for children said they were gearing up to start providing follow-up doses to some 591,700 children under the age of 10 across Gaza from Monday.
That follows a first vaccination round implemented from September 1 to 12, which Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s representative for the Palestinian territories, hailed Friday as “a massive achievement.”
The vaccination campaign began after the first confirmed polio case in 25 years was reported in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Like the last round, the upcoming campaign will take part in three phases, aided by localized “humanitarian pauses” in fighting: first in central Gaza, then in the south and finally in the hardest-to reach north of the territory.
Speaking via video-link from Jerusalem, Peeperkorn told reporters he had “confidence” in the hundreds of teams ready to roll out the second stage of the campaign.
But he acknowledged he was “concerned about the developments in the north,” where Israel has dramatically escalated its operations and has issued a string of evacuation orders.
“We are concerned,” agreed Jean Gough of UNICEF.
“The conditions on the ground are really more complicated this time,” she told the briefing, also speaking from Jerusalem.
She emphasized the need to fully vaccinate at least 90 percent of children to ensure polio does not spread.
“It will be absolutely critical that not only the localized humanitarian pauses are respected in the north, but also that people are not forced to move from one area to another,” she said.
Gough stressed that the UN had held numerous meetings with Israeli authorities and had received confirmation from Cogat, an Israeli government agency, that the humanitarian pauses would be implemented.
“This worked in the last round and we are confident” it will work again, she said.
“It is difficult, but it is possible.”
The Gaza war began on October 7 last year, when Hamas militants stormed across the border and carried out the worst attack in Israeli history.
The militants took 251 people hostage in an attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
According to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, 42,065 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, a majority civilians, figures the UN has described as reliable.

Topics: War on Gaza Gaza UN public health Polio WHO

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