The Chhattisgarh

Tag: Palestinians

  • Hamas accuses Israel of ‘planned massacre’ after over 70 Palestinians killed in Gaza City |

    Over 70 Palestinians were killed in a violent incident in Gaza City on Friday, with a Hamas official accusing Israeli authorities of orchestrating a “planned massacre,” as reported by Al Jazeera.

    Ismail al-Thawabta, Director-General of the Hamas Government Media Office, claimed that the Israeli military directed thousands of Palestinians in eastern Gaza City to move to western and southern neighbourhoods and then opened fire on them once they arrived.

    He further disclosed that rescue crews have recovered 70 bodies from the Tal al-Hawa area, and at least 50 people remain missing, according to al-Thawabta.

    “Some displaced people were pointing to the Israeli army, carrying white flags and saying, ‘We are not fighters; we are displaced.’ But the Israeli occupation army executed these displaced people with cold blood,” al-Thawabta said.

    “The Israeli army was planning to carry out that massacre in Tal al-Hawa.”

    He called on the international community to pressure Israel to end its “war of extermination” against Palestinians.

    United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric condemned the recovery of the bodies in Gaza City, calling it “yet another tragic example of the toll on civilians” in the ongoing conflict.

    This incident adds to a series of devastating events that have caused significant loss of life and displacement in Gaza.

    According to reports, the death toll from the incident has risen to over 70, with many others injured. The UN has reiterated its call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages taken during the conflict.

    “While this conflict is going on, it is not only impossible to give people the medical support they need, the food they need, the shelter they need, but also the dignified burial that they need,” Dujarric said.

    The spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres added that there will be “a need for accountability” when the conflict in Gaza ends. “But right now, people are hungry. People need water. People need medical help. And that’s what we’re trying to do in the middle of a combat zone,” he said.

    Since Israel’s war on Gaza erupted in October, the West Bank has also seen a surge in violence.

    According to Palestinian officials, at least 553 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank, and 9,510 have been detained.

    About 3 million Palestinians live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where more than 500,000 Israelis reside in over 100 settlements.

  • ‘By Next Monday We’ll Have A Ceasefire’: US President Biden On Israel-Hamas conflict | world news

    US President Joe Biden highlighted that he hopes there will be a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict by “next Monday,” as reported by CNN.

    He further said that we are close to it but it’s not done yet. “Well, I hope by the beginning of the weekend, I mean, the end of the weekend,” Biden said after being asked when a ceasefire might start. “My national security adviser tells me that we’re close. We’re close, it’s not done yet. And my hope is that by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire,” Biden added. Earlier on Monday, according to CNN, Hamas backed off some key demands in the negotiations for a hostage deal and paused the fighting in Gaza following Israeli accusations that its position was “delusional”.

    It brought the negotiating parties closer to an initial agreement that could halt the fighting and see a group of Israeli hostages released, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

    Following the meeting held in Paris between the US, Egyptian, and Israeli intelligence chiefs and the Qatari prime minister, a senior Biden administration official said, “The major obstacles have been resolved in terms of Hamas insisting on a full withdrawal of Israeli forces and an end the war.”

    “Hamas’ requirements for the number of Palestinians (prisoners that) would have to be freed have declined,” the official added. Meanwhile, a diplomatic source familiar with the discussions said that Hamas softened its position ahead of an agreement on the first phase of a deal, according to CNN.

    However, it is expected that more challenging hurdles will emerge later when complex issues like Hamas releasing male IDF hostages and an end to the war are discussed. Furthermore, those involved in the discussions said that an agreement would likely be implemented in multiple phases and once an initial deal is made, it could lead to a truce lasting for as long as six weeks with a group of Israeli hostages released, including women, children, the elderly and the sick, in exchange for a smaller number of Palestinian prisoners than Hamas had initially demanded.

    According to CNN, the second phase is where discussions are expected to get even more complicated. Reportedly, Israeli leaders have made it clear that they intend to launch a military offensive into Rafah, while in an earlier proposal, Hamas said they want to use a second phase to discuss “the requirements necessary for the continuation of the mutual cessation of military operations.” .”

    Earlier on Sunday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the Paris meeting resulted in “an understanding among the four of them about what the basic contours of a hostage deal for a temporary ceasefire would look like.”

    “There will have to be indirect discussions by Qatar and Egypt with Hamas because ultimately they will have to agree to release the hostages. That work is underway. And we hope that in the coming days, we can drive to a point where there is actually a firm and final agreement on this issue. But we will have to wait and see,” he added.

  • Israel To Directly Deliver Humanitarian Aid Via Northern Gaza, Bypassing Hamas | world news

    To bypass Hamas, Israeli humanitarian aid to Gaza will be delivered through a reopened crossing on the northeastern side of the Strip, Israel’s War Cabinet decided.

    Till now, humanitarian aid has passed through either the Kerem Shalom crossing or Egypt’s Rafah crossing. Both are on the southern end of Gaza, next to Rafah, where Hamas reportedly has four battalions. Hamas has been hijacking trucks carrying food, water, medicine, fuel and other aid.

    In the coming days, deliveries to areas of Gaza under Israeli control will be routed through the site of the old Karni crossing, near Kibbutz Nahal Oz. Karni was a cargo terminal that opened in 1994 after the signing of the Oslo Accords.

    It was closed in 2011 for security reasons as deliveries were increasingly routed through the larger and more modern Kerem Shalom crossing. Israel demolished Karni’s remaining structures in 2022.

    Humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza are unpopular among Israelis.

    For weeks, protesters chanting “Don’t feed Hamas” have tried to disrupt the aid trucks at the Kerem Shalom crossing and other points where the deliveries are inspected.

    Netanyahu has defended the aid transfers, saying a degree of aid is necessary to continue the war to free hostages and remove Hamas from control of Gaza.

    At least 1,200 people were killed and 240 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the remaining 134 hostages, Israel recently declared 31 of them dead.