GAZA: Israel is preparing a ground invasion of Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday while Israeli shelling killed more Palestinian civilians and international pressure grew to deliver aid and to safeguard hostages held by Hamas.
US President Joe Biden, in remarks looking beyond the war that broke out with an Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian Hamas militants, said the future should include a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.
Israel should be integrated among its Arab neighbors, he said.
“Israelis and Palestinians equally deserve to live side by side in safety, dignity and in peace,” Biden said at a joint press conference in Washington with visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Israeli retaliatory strikes have killed over 6,500 people, the health ministry in the Hamas-run strip said on Wednesday. Reuters has been unable to independently verify the casualty figures of either side.
Biden said he had no notion that the Palestinians were telling the truth about how many had been killed. “I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war.”
In Jerusalem, Netanyahu said the decision on when forces would go into Gaza would be taken by the government’s special war cabinet, but he declined to provide any details on the timing or other information about the operation.
“We have already killed thousands of terrorists and this is only the beginning,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement.
“Simultaneously, we are preparing for a ground invasion. I will not elaborate on when, how or how many. I will also not elaborate on the various calculations we are making, which the public is mostly unaware of and that is how things should be.”
Israeli tanks and troops are massed on the border with Gaza awaiting orders. Israel has called up some 360,000 reservists.
International pressure is growing to delay any invasion of Gaza, not least because of hostages. More than half the estimated 220 hostages held by Hamas have foreign passports from 25 different countries, the Israeli government said.
The Wall Street Journal, citing US and Israeli officials, reported that Israel had agreed to delay invading Gaza for now so that the United States could rush missile defenses to the region to protect US forces there, reflecting its concern about the Gaza war spreading around the Middle East.
US officials have so far persuaded Israel to hold off until US air defense systems can be placed in the region, as early as this week, the Journal said.
Asked about the report, US officials told Reuters that Washington has raised its concerns with Israel that Iran and Iranian-backed Islamist groups could escalate the conflict by attacking US troops in the Middle East. An Israeli incursion into Gaza could be a trigger for Iranian proxies, they said.
As Israel stepped up bombings of south Gaza, violence flared elsewhere in the Middle East and a showdown loomed at the United Nations over aid to Palestinian civilians, hundreds of thousands of whom fled from north to south in the tiny coastal strip.
Israel had warned them it would bombard mainly the north to wipe out Hamas militants.
Among Wednesday’s casualties, an internally displaced person was killed and 44 were injured in an air strike near an United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school in the southern town of Rafah, said the agency, which is responsible for Palestinian refugees in the strip.
The school was sheltering 4,600 people and sustained severe collateral damage, an UNRWA statement said.
The Israeli-Hamas war has already kindled increased conflict well beyond Gaza.
Israeli warplanes struck Syrian army infrastructure in response to rockets fired from Syria, an ally of Iran.
Syrian state media said Israel had killed eight soldiers and wounded seven near the southwestern city of Daraa, and hit Aleppo airport in the northwest, already out of action.
Israel did not accuse the Syrian army of launching rockets but is suspicious of Iran, its arch-enemy which has a significant military and security presence in Syria.
Iran has sought regional ascendancy for decades and backs armed groups in Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere as well as Hamas. It has demanded Israel stop its onslaught on Gaza.
Israel said its forces also hit five squads in south Lebanon preparing attacks. Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah group said 42 of its fighters had been killed since border clashes with Israel resumed after the Gaza war erupted.
The United States and Russia were leading rival calls at the United Nations for a pause in fighting to allow aid into Gaza, where living conditions are harrowing with medical care crippled due to a lack of electricity, and food and clean water scarce.
Limited deliveries of food, medicine and water from Egypt restarted on Saturday through Rafah, the only crossing not controlled by Israel.
In proposals the UN Security Council was expected to consider on Wednesday, the United States was seeking short pauses to allow aid in while Russia advocated a wider cease-fire. Israel has resisted both, arguing that Hamas would only take advantage and create new threats to its civilians.
Israel bombs Gaza, prepares invasion as Biden urges ‘path to peace’
https://arab.news/cq3xa
Israel bombs Gaza, prepares invasion as Biden urges ‘path to peace’
- Israeli retaliatory strikes have killed over 6,500 people in Gaza
- “I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war," Biden says
Health ministry in Gaza says 1,042 killed since Israel resumed strikes
- After a ceasefire that lasted roughly two months, Israel relaunched its military campaign in Gaza on March 18
GAZA CITY: The health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday that 1,042 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since Israel resumed large-scale strikes on March 18.
According to the ministry’s statement, the figure includes 41 people killed in the past 24 hours. It also reported that the overall death toll had reached 50,399 since the war began on October 7, 2023.
After a ceasefire that lasted roughly two months, Israel relaunched its military campaign in Gaza on March 18. Since then, bombardment and new ground assaults that have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry’s count does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says over half those killed are women and children.
Israeli defense firm Elbit gets $130 million European rocket supply deal
- Pro-Palestine activists have repeatedly targeted Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems in the UK
- They accuse the company of supplying weapons used in Israel’s military actions in Gaza and the West Bank
JERUSALEM: Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest defense firm, said on Tuesday it received a $130 million contract to supply advanced rocket munitions to an unnamed European country.
The contract for the Precize and Universal Launching System (PULS), an advanced and versatile artillery rocket system capable of launching a wide range of ammunition types from a single platform, will be performed over three years.
The system, Elbit said, offers precision strike capabilities with a range of up to 300 kilometers.
“As European nations continue to enhance their defense capabilities, the selection of PULS reaffirms its strategic value in modern battlefield scenarios,” said Yehuda Vered, general manager of Elbit Systems Land.
Under the deal, Elbit will supply a variety of advanced rocket systems that are designed to significantly enhance the operational capabilities of the customer’s defense forces.
Pro-Palestine activists have repeatedly targeted Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems in the UK, accusing it of supplying weapons used in Israel’s military actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
The activist group Palestine Action has led these protests, often involving vandalism and direct action against Elbit’s sites. They argue that Elbit profits from war crimes and demand its closure.
Netanyahu reverses decision on new Israel security chief
- Decision to appoint former navy commander Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit as Shin Bet chief reconsidered following criticism, including from a key US senator
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday he had reversed a decision to appoint former navy commander Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit as security agency chief following criticism, including from a key US senator.
“The prime minister thanked Vice Admiral Sharvit for his willingness to be called to duty but informed him that, after further consideration, he intends to examine other candidates,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Netanyahu had announced Sharvit’s appointment on Monday, pushing back against a supreme court decision to freeze his government’s move to dismiss incumbent director Ronen Bar.
The prime minister had announced Bar’s dismissal on March 21, citing an “ongoing lack of trust.” The supreme court swiftly suspended the decision until April 8.
Bar’s dismissal has sparked daily mass protests in Jerusalem, disrupting the city.
On Monday, hours after Sharvit’s appointment was announced, reports began surfacing that he had been among tens of thousands of Israelis who took to the streets in 2023 to oppose the Netanyahu government’s attempts to reform the judiciary.
Israeli media reports also recalled that Sharvit, who served in the military for 36 years, had supported a 2022 water agreement with Lebanon that Netanyahu had opposed.
It was also revealed that the former naval chief had penned an opinion piece criticizing US President Donald Trump’s policies on climate change, prompting staunch Trump ally, Senator Lindsey Graham, to criticize his appointment in a post on X.
“While it is undeniably true that America has no better friend than Israel, the appointment of Eli Sharvit to be the new leader of the Shin Bet is beyond problematic,” Graham wrote on Monday.
“There has never been a better supporter for the State of Israel than President Trump. The statements made by Eli Sharvit about President Trump and his polices will create unnecessary stress at a critical time. My advice to my Israeli friends is change course and do better vetting.”
Yemen’s Houthis claim they shot down another American drone as US strikes pound country
- The reported shootdown over Yemen’s contested Marib governorate came as airstrikes hit around Sanaa and Saada
- The US military acknowledged to The Associated Press being aware of reports of the downing of a Reaper
DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthi militia claimed Tuesday that they shot down another American MQ-9 Reaper drone, even as the US kept up its campaign of intense airstrikes targeting the group.
The reported shootdown over Yemen’s contested Marib governorate came as airstrikes hit around Sanaa, the country’s militia-held capital, and Saada, a stronghold for the Houthis.
US President Donald Trump issued a new warning to both the Houthis and their main benefactor, Iran, describing the group as having “been decimated” by the campaign of strikes that began March 15.
“Many of their Fighters and Leaders are no longer with us,” Trump wrote on his social media website Truth Social. “We hit them every day and night — Harder and harder. Their capabilities that threaten Shipping and the Region are rapidly being destroyed. Our attacks will continue until they are no longer a threat to Freedom of Navigation.”
He added: “The choice for the Houthis is clear: Stop shooting at US ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran.”
Houthis claim they downed another US drone
The militia claimed to have felled a drone in Marib governorate, home to oil and gas fields still under the control of allies to Yemen’s exiled central government. Footage released on social media showed flames in the night, with a Yemeni man claiming a drone had been shot down.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, separately claimed downing the MQ-9 drone in a prerecorded video message.
Saree described the militia targeting the drone with “a suitable locally manufactured missile.” The Houthis have surface-to-air missiles — such as the Iranian missile known as the 358 — capable of downing aircraft.
Iran denies arming the militia, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in sea shipments heading to Yemen for the Shiite Houthi militia despite a United Nations arms embargo.
The US military acknowledged to The Associated Press being aware of reports of the downing of a Reaper, but declined to comment further.
General Atomics Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes over 40,000 feet (12,100 meters) and remain in the air for over 30 hours. The aircraft have been flown by both the US military and the CIA for years over Afghanistan, Iraq and now Yemen.
The Houthis claim they’ve shot down 20 MQ-9s over the country over the years, with 16 downed during the militia’ campaign over the Israel-Hamas war. The US military hasn’t acknowledged the total number of the drones it has lost there.
Intense US bombings began March 15
An Associated Press review has found the new American operation against the Houthis under Trump appears more extensive than those under former President Joe Biden, as the US moves from solely targeting launch sites to firing at ranking personnel as well as dropping bombs in cities.
The new campaign of airstrikes, which the Houthis now say have killed at least 61 people, started after the militia threatened to begin targeting “Israeli” ships again over Israel blocking aid entering the Gaza Strip. The militia have loosely defined what constitutes an Israeli ship, meaning many vessels could be targeted.
The Houthis targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors from November 2023 until January of this year. They also launched attacks targeting American warships, though none has been hit so far.
The attacks greatly raised the Houthis’ profile as they faced economic problems and launched a crackdown targeting dissent and aid workers at home amid Yemen’s decade-long stalemated war, which has torn apart the Arab world’s poorest nation.
Egyptian inmates’ ordeal in Sudan prisons
CAIRO: Prisoners held by the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan spoke on Monday of their ordeal in paramilitary detention centers.
Arrested two months after the country’s civil war began in April 2023, Egyptian traders suspected of spying for the regular army were stripped, tortured and starved, and watched as other inmates died from cholera and malaria.
“You couldn’t go two weeks without falling sick,” said Emad Mouawad, 44, who was held at the notorious Soba prison in southern Khartoum after paramilitary forces raided his home in the city.
At night, swarms of insects crawled over the prisoners. “There was nothing that made you feel human,” he said.
Ahmed Aziz, who was detained with Mouawad, said: “They would bring us hot water mixed with wheat flour. Just sticky, tasteless paste.” Water was either polluted from a well or muddy from the Nile. “If you were sick, you just waited for death,” Aziz said.
Another trader, Mohamed Shaaban, 43, said: “They stripped us naked as the day we were born. Then they beat us, insulted and degraded us.”
Back home in Egypt, the former prisoners are struggling to recover physically and mentally. “We have to try to turn the page and move on,” Shaaban said. “We have to try and forget.”
