Gazans bury dead after bloodiest day of border protests

Palestinian protesters carry a wounded woman during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Tuesday, on May 15, 2018. (AP)
Updated 15 May 2018
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Gazans bury dead after bloodiest day of border protests

  • A six-week campaign of border protests dubbed “The Great March of Return” has revived calls for refugees to have the right of return to their former lands
  • In Geneva, the UN human rights office condemned what it called the “appalling deadly violence” by Israeli forces

GAZA: Palestinians rallied in Gaza on Tuesday for the funerals of scores of people killed by Israeli troops a day earlier, while on the Gaza-Israel border, Israeli forces took up positions to deal with the expected final day of a Palestinian protest campaign.

Monday’s violence on the border, which took place as the US opened its new embassy in Jerusalem, was the bloodiest for Palestinians since the 2014 Gaza conflict.

The death toll rose to 60 overnight after an eight-month-old baby died from tear gas that her family said she inhaled at a protest camp on Monday. 

More than 2,200 Palestinians were also injured by gunfire or tear gas.

Palestinian leaders have called Monday’s events a massacre, and the Israeli tactic of using live fire against the protesters has drawn worldwide concern and condemnation.

Israel has said it is acting in self-defense to defend its borders and communities. Its main ally the US has backed that stance, with both saying that Hamas, the group that rules the coastal enclave, instigated the violence.

There were fears of further bloodshed as Palestinians planned a further protest to mark the “Nakba,” or “Catastrophe.”

That is the day Palestinians lament the creation of Israel in 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes in violence culminating in war between the newly created Jewish state and its Arab neighbors in 1948.

A six-week campaign of border protests dubbed “The Great March of Return” has revived calls for refugees to have the right of return to their former lands, which now lie inside Israel.

It was unclear whether large crowds would turn up at the border for the climax to the campaign after the heavy fatalities suffered on Monday.

Palestinian medical officials say that 104 Gazans have now died since the start of the protests on March 30. No Israeli casualties have been reported.

Israeli troops were deployed along the border again on Tuesday. The area was relatively quiet early in the day, with many Gazans at the funerals. Protesters are expected to go to the border later.

In Geneva, the UN human rights office condemned what it called the “appalling deadly violence” by Israeli forces and said it was extremely worried about what might happen later.

UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said Israel had a right to defend its borders according to international law, but lethal force must only be used a last resort, and was not justified by Palestinians approaching the Gaza fence.

More than 2 million people are crammed into the narrow Gaza Strip, which is blockaded by Egypt and Israel and suffering a humanitarian crisis.

At the Gaza hospital where the body of eight-month-old Laila Al-Ghandour was being prepared for burial, her grandmother said the child was at one of the tented protest encampments that have been set up a few hundred yards inside the border.

“We were at the tent camp east of Gaza when the Israelis fired lots of tear gas,” Heyam Omar said.

“Suddenly my son cried at me that Lolo was weeping and screaming. I took her further away. When we got back home, the baby stopped crying and I thought she was asleep. I took her to the children’s hospital and the doctor told me she was martyred (dead).”

Most of the protesters stay around the tent camps, but groups of youths have ventured closer to the no-go zone along the fence, risking live fire from Israeli troops to roll burning tires and throw stones.

Some have flown kites carrying containers of petrol that have spread fires on the Israeli side.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered a general strike across the Palestinian Territories on Tuesday and three days of national mourning.

Monday’s protests were fired by the opening ceremony for the new US Embassy in Jerusalem following its relocation from Tel Aviv. The move fulfilled a pledge by US President Donald Trump, who in December recognized the contested city as the Israeli capital.

Palestinians envision East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they hope to establish in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel regards all of Jerusalem, including the eastern sector it captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move that is not recognized internationally, as its “eternal and indivisible capital.”

Most countries say the status of Jerusalem —  a sacred city to Jews, Muslims and Christians —  should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal.

Netanyhau praised Trump’s decisions but Palestinians have said the US can no longer serve as an honest broker in any peace process. Talks aimed a finding a two-state solution to the conflict have been frozen since 2014.

Netanyahu blamed Hamas for the Gaza violence. Hamas denied instigating it but the White House backed Netanyahu.

“The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response,” White House spokesman Raj Shah told reporters.

Trump, in a recorded message on Monday, said he remained committed to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He was represented at the embassy ceremony by his daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, US envoy to the Middle East.

The Trump administration says it has nearly completed a new Israeli-Palestinian peace plan but is undecided on how and when to roll it out.

The US on Monday blocked a Kuwait-drafted UN Security Council statement that would have expressed “outrage and sorrow at the killing of Palestinian civilians” and called for an independent investigation, UN diplomats said.


Major food aid ‘scale-up’ underway to famine-hit Sudan, WFP says

Updated 5 sec ago
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Major food aid ‘scale-up’ underway to famine-hit Sudan, WFP says

“In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month,” said WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli
The WFP fleet will be clearly labelled in the hope that access will be facilitated

GENEVA: More than 700 trucks are on their way to famine-stricken areas of Sudan as part of a major scale-up after clearance came through from the Sudanese government, a World Food Programme spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in conflict since April 2023 that has caused acute hunger and disease across the country. Both sides are accused of impeding aid deliveries, the RSF by looting and the army by bureaucratic delays.
“In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month,” WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli told a press briefing in Geneva.
“We’ve received around 700 clearances from the government in Sudan, from the Humanitarian Aid Commission, to start to move and transport assistance to some of these hard-to-reach areas,” she added, saying the start of the dry season was another factor enabling the scale-up.
The WFP fleet will be clearly labelled in the hope that access will be facilitated, she said.
Some of the food is intended for 14 areas of the country that face famine or are at risk of famine, including Zamzam camp in the Darfur region.
The first food arrived there on Friday prompting cheers from crowds of people who had resorted to eating crushed peanut shells normally fed to animals, Kinzli said.
A second convoy for the camp is currently about 300 km (186 miles) away, she said.
On Monday, the head of Sudan’s sovereign council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, said he would allow the airports in El Obeid, Kadugli, and Damazine — army-controlled areas isolated by the fighting — to serve as humanitarian hubs for UN agencies to facilitate deliveries.

Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs, after an Israeli strike, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, November 26, 2024. Reuters
Updated 52 sec ago
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Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

  • A strike on Beirut hit the Noueiri district with no evacuation warning and killed at least one person, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a preliminary toll

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes pounded a densely-populated part of the Lebanese capital and its southern suburbs on Tuesday, hours ahead of an anticipated announcement of a ceasefire ending hostilities between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
A strike on Beirut hit the Noueiri district with no evacuation warning and killed at least one person, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a preliminary toll.
Minutes later, at least 10 Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs. They began approximately 30 minutes after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for 20 locations in the area, the largest such warning yet.
As the strikes were under way, Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a “widespread attack” on Hezbollah targets across the city.


Germany says Lebanon ceasefire ‘within reach’

Updated 13 min 19 sec ago
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Germany says Lebanon ceasefire ‘within reach’

Baerbock said a proposed ceasefire in the conflict in Lebanon was “within reach“

FIUGGI, Italy: Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Tuesday that an agreement on a proposed ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon was “within reach.”
“A ceasefire and steps toward a political solution along the lines of UN Resolution 1701 are within reach thanks to direct US and French mediation,” Baerbock told reporters on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Italy.

Prospect of Lebanon ceasefire leaves Gazans feeling abandoned

Updated 26 November 2024
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Prospect of Lebanon ceasefire leaves Gazans feeling abandoned

CAIRO: The prospect of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah without a similar deal with Hamas in Gaza has left Palestinians feeling abandoned and fearful that Israel will focus squarely on its onslaught in the enclave.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing missiles at Israel in solidarity with Hamas after the Palestinian militant group attacked Israel in October of 2023, triggering the Gaza war.
Hostilities in Lebanon have drastically escalated in the last two months, with Israel stepping up airstrikes and sending in ground forces to Lebanon’s south and Hezbollah sustaining rocket fire on Israel.
Now Israel looks set to approve a US plan for a ceasefire with Hezbollah when its security cabinet meets on Tuesday, while Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib expressed hope that a ceasefire would be reached by Tuesday night.
While diplomacy focuses on Lebanon, Palestinians feel let down by the world after 14 months of conflict which has devastated the Gaza Strip and killed more than 44,000 people. “It showed Gaza is an orphan, with no support and no mercy from the unjust world,” said Abdel-Ghani, a father of five who only gave a first name.
“I am angry against the world that has failed to bring one solution to the two regions,” Abdel-Ghani. “Maybe, there will be another deal for Gaza, maybe.”
An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire without a deal for Gaza would be a blow to Hamas, whose leaders had hoped the expansion of the war into Lebanon would pressure Israel to reach a comprehensive ceasefire. Hezbollah had insisted that it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza ends, but it dropped that condition.
“We had high hopes that Hezbollah would remain steadfast until the end but it seems they couldn’t,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman, who like most Gazans has been displaced from his home. “We are afraid the Israeli army will now have a free hand in Gaza.”
While a Lebanon deal could leave some Hezbollah commanders in place after Israel killed the heavily armed group’s veteran leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and his successor, Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas completely.
“We hoped the expansion of the war meant one solution for all, but we were left alone in the face of the monstrous (Israeli) occupation,” said Zakeya Rezik, 56, a mother of six.
“Enough is enough, we are exhausted. How many more had to die before they stopped the war? Gaza war must stop, the people are being wiped out, starved, and bombed every day.”


Four bodies recovered from capsized tourist boat off Egypt's Red Sea coast

Updated 16 min 42 sec ago
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Four bodies recovered from capsized tourist boat off Egypt's Red Sea coast

CAIRO: Four bodies were recovered on Tuesday from a tourist boat which capsized off Egypt’s Red Sea coast, and rescue teams were still searching for nine missing people, the Red Sea Governorate said in a statement.
Provincial governor Amr Hanafi said rescue teams had found three people alive, two Belgian tourists and an Egyptian, bringing the total number of survivors to 31.
The boat, the Sea Story, capsized on Monday near the Sataya Reef, carrying 31 tourists and 13 crew on a multi-day diving trip. It was struck by high waves and sank in 5-7 minutes.
Sixteen passengers were believed to have been trapped inside, according to a Red Sea Governorate statement on Monday.
Twenty-eight survivors were rescued with minor injuries, none requiring hospitalization. Survivors were being accommodated in a hotel in Marsa Alam, where authorities were working with embassies and consulates to provide assistance and documentation.
Hanafi said the boat had passed its last safety inspection in March 2024, with no technical issues reported. The boat, owned by an Egyptian national, was 34 meters long and had received a one-year safety certificate from the Maritime Safety Authority.
The incident occurred during rough weather conditions. The Egyptian Red Sea Ports Authority reported wave heights of 3-4 meters (10-13 feet) and wind speeds of 34 knots in the area on Sunday, leading to the closure of maritime traffic.
It was the second boat to sink in the area this year; in June another vessel suffered severe damage from strong waves, though no casualties were reported.
The Red Sea, renowned for its coral reefs and marine life, is a major hub for Egypt’s tourism industry, which plays a critical role in the country’s economy.