RAFAH: An Israeli airstrike killed 76 members of an extended family, rescue officials said Saturday, a day after the UN chief warned again that nowhere is safe in Gaza and that Israel’s ongoing offensive is creating “massive obstacles” to the distribution of humanitarian aid.
Friday’s strike on a building in Gaza City was among the deadliest of the Israel-Hamas war, now in its 12th week, said Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense department. He provided a partial list of the names of those killed — 16 heads of households from the Al-Mughrabi family — and said the dead included women and children.
Among the dead were Issam Al-Mughrabi, a veteran employee of UN Development Program, his wife, and their five children.
“The loss of Issam and his family has deeply affected us all. The UN and civilians in Gaza are not a target,” said Achim Steiner, the head of the agency. “This war must end.”
Israel declared war after Hamas militants stormed across the border on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking some 240 hostages. Israel has vowed to keep up the fight until Hamas is destroyed and removed from power in Gaza and all the hostages are freed.
More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war to destroy Hamas and more than 53,000 have been wounded, according to health officials in Gaza, a besieged territory ruled by the Islamic militant group for the past 16 years.
Israel blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll, citing the group’s use of crowded residential areas for military purposes and its tunnels under urban areas. It has unleashed thousands of airstrikes since Oct. 7, and has largely refrained from commenting on specific attacks, including discussing the intended target.
On Friday, the UN Security Council adopted a watered-down resolution that calls for immediately speeding up aid deliveries to desperate civilians in Gaza.
The United States won the removal of a tougher call for an “urgent suspension of hostilities” between Israel and Hamas. It abstained in the vote, as did Russia, which wanted the stronger language. The resolution was the first on the war to make it through the council after the US vetoed two earlier ones calling for humanitarian pauses and a full cease-fire.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his longstanding call for a humanitarian cease-fire. He expressed hope that Friday’s resolution may help this happen but said “much more is needed immediately” to end the ongoing “nightmare” for the people in Gaza.
He told a news conference that it’s a mistake to measure the effectiveness of the humanitarian operation in Gaza by the number of trucks.
“The real problem is that the way Israel is conducting this offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza,” he said. He said the prerequisites for an effective aid operation don’t exist — security, staff that can work in safety, logistical capacity especially trucks, and the resumption of commercial activity.
Israel’s aerial and ground offensive has been one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history, displacing nearly 85 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and leveling wide swaths of the tiny coastal enclave. More than half a million people in Gaza — a quarter of the population — are starving, according to a report this week from the United Nations and other agencies.
Shielded by the Biden administration, Israel has so far resisted international pressure to scale back. The military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said late Friday that forces are widening the ground offensive “to additional areas of the strip, with a focus on the south.” He said operations were also continuing in the northern half of Gaza, including Gaza City, the initial focus of Israel’s ground offensive.
The army said Saturday that it carried out airstrikes against Hamas fighters in several locations of Gaza City. The military says it has killed thousands of Hamas militants, including about 2,000 in the past three weeks, but it has not presented any evidence to back up the claim. It says 139 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive.
In the aftermath of the UN resolution, it was not immediately clear how and when aid deliveries would accelerate. Currently, trucks enter through two crossings — Rafah on the border with Egypt and Kerem Shalom on the border with Israel.
As part of the approved resolution, the US negotiated the removal of language that would have given the UN authority to inspect aid going into Gaza, something Israel says it must continue to do to ensure material does not reach Hamas.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, thanked the US for its support and sharply criticized the UN for its failure to condemn Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. The US vetoed a resolution in October that would have included a condemnation because it didn’t also underline Israel’s right to self-defense.
Hamas said in a statement that the UN resolution should have demanded an immediate halt to Israel’s offensive, and it blamed the United States for pushing “to empty the resolution of its essence” before Friday’s Security Council vote.
Israeli strike kills 76 members in one Gaza family, rescue officials say as combat expands in south
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Israeli strike kills 76 members in one Gaza family, rescue officials say as combat expands in south
- More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war to destroy Hamas and more than 53,000 have been wounded
- Friday’s strike on a building in Gaza City was among the deadliest of the Israel-Hamas war
Israel hits ports, energy sites in Yemen after missile intercepted
- Raids ‘targeted two central power plants’ in Yemen’s capital Sanaa
- The Houthi militants have said they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians
JERUSALEM: Israel said Thursday it struck ports and energy infrastructure it alleges are used by Houthi militants, after intercepting a missile fired by the group.
Israel’s military said it “conducted precise strikes on Houthi military targets in Yemen — including ports and energy infrastructure in Sanaa, which the Houthis have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military actions.”
The announcement came shortly after Israel said it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen.
Al-Masira, a media channel belonging to the Houthis, said a series of “aggressive raids” were launched in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah.
It reported raids that “targeted two central power plants” in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, while in Hodeidah it said “the enemy launched four aggressive raids targeting the port... and two raids targeting” an oil facility.
The strikes were the second time this week that Israel’s military has intercepted a missile from Yemen.
On Monday, the Houthis claimed a missile launch they said was aimed at “a military target of the Israeli enemy in the occupied area of Yaffa” — a reference to Israel’s Tel Aviv area.
Also Monday, an Israeli navy missile boat intercepted a drone in the Mediterranean after it was launched from Yemen, the military said.
The Houthi militants have said they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and pledged Monday to continue operations “until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege is lifted.”
On December 9, a drone claimed by Houthis exploded on the top floor of a residential building in the central Israel city of Yavne, causing no casualties.
In July, a Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv killed an Israeli civilian, prompting retaliatory strikes on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.
The Houthis have also regularly targeted shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, leading to retaliatory strikes on Houthi targets by United States and sometimes British forces.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the group had become a “global threat,” pointing to Iran’s support for the militants.
“We will continue to act against anyone, anyone in the Middle East, that threatens the state of Israel,” he said.
Israeli army says intercepted missile fired from Yemen
JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said sirens sounded across central Israel as it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen on Thursday.
The Israeli Air Force “intercepted one missile that was launched from Yemen before it crossed into Israeli territory,” said a statement from the army, adding that there could be “falling debris from the interception.”
Blinken says Syria’s HTS should learn from Taliban isolation
- Blinken called for a “non-sectarian” Syrian government that protects minorities and addresses security concerns, including keeping the fight against the Daesh group
NEW YORK: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Wednesday on Syria’s triumphant HTS rebels to follow through on promises of inclusion, saying it can learn a lesson from the isolation of Afghanistan’s Taliban.
The Islamist movement rooted in Al-Qaeda and supported by Turkiye has promised to protect minorities since its lightning offensive toppled strongman Bashar Assad this month following years of stalemate.
“The Taliban projected a more moderate face, or at least tried to, in taking over Afghanistan, and then its true colors came out. The result is it remains terribly isolated around the world,” Blinken said at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
After some initial overtures to the West, the Taliban reimposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law that includes barring women and girls from secondary school and university.
“So if you’re the emerging group in Syria,” Blinken said, “if you don’t want that isolation, then there’s certain things that you have to do in moving the country forward.”
Blinken called for a “non-sectarian” Syrian government that protects minorities and addresses security concerns, including keeping the fight against the Daesh group and removing lingering chemical weapons stockpiles.
Blinken said that HTS can also learn lessons from Assad on the need to reach a political settlement with other groups.
“Assad’s utter refusal to engage in any kind of political process is one of the things that sealed his downfall,” Blinken said.HTS
UN humanitarian chief urges massive aid boost for Syria: AFP interview
- “Across the country, the needs are huge. Seven in 10 people are needing support right now,” Fletcher told AFP in a telephone interview as he visited Syria
DAMASCUS: Visiting UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called Wednesday for a massive aid boost for Syria to respond to “this moment of hope” after the ouster of longtime strongman Bashar Assad.
“Across the country, the needs are huge. Seven in 10 people are needing support right now,” Fletcher told AFP in a telephone interview as he visited Syria.
“I want to scale up massively international support, but that now depends on donors. The Syria fund has been historically, shamefully underfunded and now there is this opportunity,” he said.
“The Syrian people are trying to come home when it’s safe to do so, to rebuild their country, to rebuild their communities and their lives.
“We have to get behind them and to respond to this moment of hope. And if we don’t do that quickly, then I fear that this window will close.”
Half of Syria’s population were forced from their homes during nearly 14 years of civil war, with millions finding refuge abroad.
UN officials have said a $4 billion appeal for Syria aid is less than a third funded.
“There are massive humanitarian needs... water, food, shelter... There are needs in terms of government services, health, education, and then there are longer term rebuilding needs, development needs,” Fletcher said.
“We’ve got to be ambitious in our ask of donors.
“The Syrian people demand that we deliver, and they’re right to demand that we deliver,” he said. “The world hasn’t delivered for the Syrian people for more than a decade.”
As part of his visit, Fletcher met representatives of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist rebel group which spearheaded the offensive that toppled Assad, including its leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa and interim prime minister Mohammad Al-Bashir.
Fletcher said he received “the strongest possible reassurances” from Syria’s new administration that aid workers would have the necessary access on the ground.
“We need unhindered, unfettered access to the people that we’re here to serve. We need the crossings open so we can get massive amounts of aid through... We need to ensure that humanitarian workers can go where they need to go without restriction, with protection,” he said.
“I received the strongest possible reassurances from the top of that caretaker administration that they will give us that support that we need. Let’s test that now in the period ahead.”
Assad’s government had long imposed restrictions on humanitarian organizations and on aid distribution in areas of the country outside its control.
Fletcher said that the coming period would be “a test for the UN, which hasn’t been able to deliver what we wanted to over a decade now... Can we scale up? Can we gain people’s trust?
“But it’s also a test for the new administration,” he added. “Can they guarantee us a more permissive environment than we had under the Assad regime?
“I believe that we can work in that partnership, but it’s a huge test for all of us.”
Turkish FM rejects Trump claim of Ankara ‘takeover’ in Syria
ISTANBUL: Turkiye on Wednesday rejected US President-elect Donald Trump’s claim that the rebel ouster of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad was an “unfriendly takeover” by Ankara.
“We wouldn’t call it a takeover, because it would be a grave mistake to present what’s been happening in Syria” in those terms, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told broadcaster Al Jazeera in an interview.
“For Syrian people, it is not a takeover. I think if there is any takeover, it’s the will of the Syrian people which is taking over now.”
Assad fled to Russia after a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) wrested city after city from his control until the rebels reached the Syrian capital earlier this month.
On Monday, Trump said “the people that went in (to Syria) are controlled by Turkiye and that’s ok.”
“Turkiye did an unfriendly takeover, without a lot of lives being lost,” the billionaire businessman told reporters.
Since the early days of the anti-Assad revolt that erupted in 2011, Turkiye has been seen as a key backer of the opposition to his rule.
It has hosted political dissenters as well as millions of refugees and also backed rebel groups fighting the army.
Fidan said it would be incorrect to characterise Turkiye as the power that would rule Syria in the end.
“I think that would be the last thing that we want to see, because we are drawing huge lessons from what’s been happening in our region, because the culture of domination itself has destroyed our region,” he said.
“Therefore, it is not Turkish domination, not Iranian domination, not Arab domination, but cooperation should be essential,” he added.
“Our solidarity with Syrian people shouldn’t be characterised or defined today as if we are actually ruling Syria. I think that would be wrong.”
In the same interview Fidan warned Syria’s new rulers to address the issue of Kurdish forces in the country, whom Ankara brands “terrorists.”
“There is a new administration in Damascus now. I think, this is primarily their concern now,” minister Hakan Fidan said.
“So, I think if they are going to, if they address this issue properly, so there would be no reason for us to intervene.”
Fidan was responding to a question amid growing rumors that Turkiye could launch an offensive on the Kurdish-held border town of Kobani, also known as Ain Al-Arab.
Local witnesses told AFP there has been an increase in the number of soldiers patrolling on the Turkish side of the border but no “unusual military activity.”
Ankara has staged multiple operations against Kurdish forces since 2016, and Turkish-backed groups have captured several Kurdish-held towns in the north in recent weeks.
