GAZA: More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the territory’s Health Ministry said Thursday.
Israel’s offensive has also wounded 92,401 people and displaced over 85 percent of the population from their homes, the ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its toll.
The announcement came during yet another push from international mediators to broker a ceasefire in the war, now in its 11th month.
The conflict began Oct. 7 after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people — most of them civilians — and dragging roughly 250 hostages to Gaza.
Israel says 111 of the captives have not been released, including the bodies of 39. The hostages include 15 women and two children under the age of 5.
In Gaza, health officials have struggled to fully identify the dead as bodies stream into overwhelmed hospitals and morgues where they say the count is compiled amid the chaos of war and displacement.
In its most recent detailed report on the dead, issued Thursday, the ministry said 40,005 people have been killed. Health officials and civil defense workers say the true toll is likely thousands higher, since many bodies remain buried under the rubble of buildings destroyed in airstrikes.
Israel’s air and ground offensive in Gaza has been one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history.
The bombardment and shelling have killed entire Palestinian families. With cemeteries often unreachable, families fleeing Israeli airstrikes bury their dead wherever possible — in backyards, along roadsides and under the staircases of their homes.
Israel says it aims to eliminate Hamas. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths because militants operate in civilian areas and have built extensive tunnel networks underneath them. Israeli forces have regularly targeted mosques, schools, hospitals and cemeteries where it claims fighters or tunnels are located, often causing civilian casualties.
The fighting has also killed 329 Israeli soldiers. The Israeli military claims around 15,000 Hamas fighters are among those killed in Gaza but has not provided evidence.
Nearly 85 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, fleeing multiple times across the territory to escape ground offensives. During the war, thousands within Israel and in southern Lebanon have also been displaced.
The assault has created a massive humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The entire territory is at high risk of famine and over 495,000 people — more than a fifth of the population — are expected to experience the most severe level of hunger in the next months, according to the latest report by the leading authority on measuring hunger.
Sanitation systems have been destroyed, leaving pools of sewage and towers of garbage in tent camps packed with displaced families.
The offensive likely either damaged or destroyed 59 percent of all structures in Gaza by July 3, including 70 percent of buildings in north Gaza, according to an analysis of satellite data by Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek, experts in mapping damage during war.
The conflict has sparked fears of a wider regional war, with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Israeli military trading fire almost daily over their countries’ border.
More than 500 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, including some 350 Hezbollah members and 50 fighters from other militant groups, with the rest civilians. In Israel, 22 soldiers and 24 civilians have been killed.
Gaza death toll surpasses 40,000, health ministry says
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Gaza death toll surpasses 40,000, health ministry says
- Israel’s offensive has also wounded 92,401 people and displaced over 85 percent of the population from their homes
- The announcement came during yet another push from international mediators to broker a ceasefire
Iran threatens ‘action’ over new Western sanctions
“This action of the three European countries is the continuation of the hostile policy of the West and economic terrorism against the people of Iran, which will face the appropriate and proportionate action of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement late Tuesday.
The three governments had announced they would take steps to cancel air services agreements with Iran and “work toward imposing sanctions on Iran Air.”
“In addition, we will pursue the designations of significant entities and individuals involved with Iran’s ballistic missile program and the transfer of ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia,” they added.
Iran again denied it had delivered any weapons to Russia for use in the Ukraine war.
“Any claim that the Islamic Republic of Iran has sold ballistic missiles to the Russian Federation is completely baseless and false,” Kanani said.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia had received shipments of ballistic missiles from Iran and “will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine.”
He added that dozens of Russian military personnel have received training in Iran on using the Fath-360 missile, which has a range of 120 kilometers (75 miles).
Iran’s president visits Iraq on first foreign trip
- Tehran has been steadily increasing its sway in Iraq since a US-led invasion toppled its enemy Saddam Hussein in 2003
TEHRAN: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday, making an official visit to Iraq, a strategic ally of both Tehran and Washington, Iran’s state media said.
Iraq hosts several Iran-aligned parties and armed groups, as Tehran has steadily increased its sway in the major oil producer since a US-led invasion toppled its enemy Saddam Hussein in 2003.
A rare partner of both the United States and Iran, Iraq hosts 2,500 US troops and has Iran-backed militias linked to its security forces. It has suffered escalating tit-for-tat attacks since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza in October.
“We are planning to sign several agreements,” Iran’s state media quoted Pezeshkian, a relative moderate, as saying ahead of the visit, his first official foreign trip. “We will meet senior Iraqi officials in Baghdad.”
The United States and Iraq have reached an understanding on plans for the withdrawal of US-led coalition forces from Iraq, say sources familiar with the matter.
Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq have repeatedly attacked US troops in the Middle East since the Gaza war began.
State media have said Pezeshkian also plans to visit Iraqi Kurdistan, a region where Iran has carried out strikes in the past, saying it is used as a staging ground for Iranian separatist groups as well as agents of its arch-foe Israel.
Baghdad has tried to tackle Iranian concerns over regional separatist groups, moving to relocate some members in a 2023 security pact with Tehran.
“We have several co-operation areas, including political, regional ... and security issues,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said ahead of the president’s trip, according to state media.
Palestine takes up seat among UN member states in ‘historic moment’ at General Assembly opening session
- UN resolution passed in May recognized Palestine met requirements for membership
- Palestine was granted additional rights at UN, including being seated with member states
NEW YORK CITY: Palestine took up its seat among UN members at the opening session of the organization’s General Assembly on Tuesday.
A UN resolution was passed in May that recognized Palestine met requirements for membership, and requested the Security Council reconsider admitting the state.
Palestine was granted additional rights at the UN, including being seated with member states, the right to introduce proposals and agenda items, and participate in committees, but it has not been granted the right to vote.
Tuesday’s symbolic event met with support from the Egyptian delegation, which tabled a point of order to point out the “historic moment,” but it was opposed by the Israelis, who raised a counter point of order.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the 79th session was opening amid the backdrop of a “world in trouble,” but stressed that member states could work together to do something about it.
He said: “From day one, the United Nations has been the place for multilateral solutions, grounded in collaboration, dialog, diplomacy and the United Nations Charter.
“And it has been the place where respect for one another, and for the dignity and human rights that belong to every member of the human family, are brought to life. As we welcome this 79th session, these tasks now fall to you.
“This is the place where solutions are made and we need solutions across the board.”
He addressed a range of topics, including economic progress, climate change and artificial intelligence.
He added: “Step by step, solution by solution, we can rebuild trust and faith in one another, and in what we can accomplish through collaboration and solidarity.
“The values that have brought us together since 1945 are more essential than ever. In confronting the challenges before us, (the UN General Assembly) remains an indispensable tool and a vital pathway toward a peaceful and just future for all people.”
The session was presided over by Philemon Yang of Cameroon, who was elected president of the General Assembly earlier this year.
Yang outlined the topics he expected to dominate discussions at this year’s assembly, including working toward peace and security, climate change, sustainable development, global health and human rights.
This year’s General Debate, which will run from Sept. 24 to 30, boasts the theme “Leaving no one behind: Acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations.”
As well as the debate, there will be a Summit of the Future, which will aim to secure a negotiated “Pact for the Future” designed to boost global cooperation to tackle current challenges effectively for future generations.
There will also be high-level meetings on topics as wide-ranging as the elimination of nuclear weapons; addressing the threat posed by rising sea levels; and strengthening global health systems against antimicrobial resistance.
Palestinian medics say five killed in Israeli strikes on West Bank
- The five people were killed “as a result of Israeli air strikes (on) a group of citizens in Tubas”
- The drone fire occurred near a mosque in the Tubas region around dawn
RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Israeli strikes in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday killed five Palestinians, while the Israeli military said it hit a “terrorist cell.”
The five people were killed “as a result of Israeli air strikes (on) a group of citizens in Tubas,” Palestinian Red Crescent spokesman Ahmed Jibril told AFP, adding that the dead were “transferred to the Turkish government hospital in Tubas.”
According to the Red Crescent, the drone fire occurred near a mosque in the Tubas region around dawn.
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that its forces were “currently conducting counterterrorism activity in the area of Tubas and Tamun” and that one of its aircraft “struck an armed terrorist cell” during an operation in Tubas in the northern West Bank. It did not provide any toll.
An eyewitness told AFP that Israeli forces were “storming the city of Tubas and the town of Tammun to the east.”
At the end of August, Israel launched a large-scale offensive across the northern West Bank, including the Tubas area, fighting Palestinian militants and leaving widespread destruction.
Last week, Palestinian medics said an Israeli air strike on a car in Tubas killed five people.
The Israeli army said at the time it had conducted “three targeted strikes on armed terrorists” and that the dead included Muhammad Zakaria Zubeidi, “a significant terrorist from the Jenin area,” also in the northern West Bank.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and has ramped up deadly raids in the territory since Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, at least 698 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by the Israeli military and settlers since October 7.
At least 23 Israelis, including security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks in the territory during the same period, according to Israeli officials.
Iraq security officials report explosion at US-led coalition airport base
- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was expected in Iraq on Wednesday in his first trip abroad since taking office in July
BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces said an explosion was heard at a US-led coalition’s military base at the Baghdad international airport late Tuesday, a day before Iran’s president was due to visit.
“At 23:00 (2000 GMT) an explosion was heard inside Baghdad International Airport in the area occupied by international coalition advisers,” according to a statement posted on social media platform X by the spokesman for the Joint Operations Command, Iraqi Major General Tahseen Al Khafaji.
“Iraqi security forces were unable ... to determine the origin of the explosion, which has not been claimed,” according to the statement, which was attributed to Iraqi security forces and also published by state news agency INA.
Air traffic was unaffected and no flights were interrupted, it added.
A senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that “two Katyusha-type rockets” had caused the explosion.
“One fell on the wall of the Iraqi anti-terrorist forces compound. The second was inside the base hosting the international anti-jihadist coalition led by Washington,” said the official.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was expected in Iraq on Wednesday in his first trip abroad since taking office in July.
Relations between Iran and Iraq, both Shiite-majority countries, have grown closer over the past two decades.
Tehran is one of Iraq’s leading trade partners and wields considerable political influence in Baghdad where its Iraqi allies dominate parliament and the current government.
A spokesperson for the Iranian-backed Ketaeb Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades) armed group in Iraq slammed what he called “an attack” that aimed to “disrupt the Iranian president’s visit to Baghdad.”
In a post on X, the spokesperson Jaafar Al-Husseini called on the Iraqi security services to identify the perpetrators.
Over the past year, US-led coalition forces have been targeted dozens of times with drones and rocket fire in both Iraq and Syria as violence related to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has drawn in Iran-backed armed groups across the Middle East.
US forces have carried out multiple retaliatory strikes against these groups in both countries.
To defuse the situation and spare Iraq from the fallout of regional tensions, the United States and Iraq have been negotiating a phased pull-out of US-led anti-jihadist forces.
The United States has deployed around 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the international coalition against the Daesh group.
Iraqi security forces say they are capable of tackling IS remnants unassisted, as the group poses no significant threat.
