Middle East

Carnage, chaos in Gaza: Palestinian death toll from Israeli war surpasses 2,600

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At least 2,670 Palestinians have been killed and 9,600 others wounded as the Israeli regime presses ahead with its bombing campaign against residential neighborhoods in the besieged Gaza Strip.

In a statement on Sunday, the Gaza health ministry said 750 children were among those killed in Israeli aerial assaults on Gaza.

Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman of the ministry, said the Israeli attacks “continue with all brutality” targeting residential neighborhoods and destroying homes “on the heads of the residents.”

Gaza rescue operations “are facing great difficulties” due to the massive destruction in residential neighborhoods and the roads leading to hospitals, he added.

50 Gaza families wiped out

Palestinian Health Minister Mai Alkaila said 50 families have been completely removed from the civil registry and more than 470,000 people displaced as a result of the Israeli strikes on Gaza, home to 2.2 million people.

She described the situation in the besieged coastal sliver as “grave and catastrophic on all levels,” noting that overcrowding, a lack of electricity and water shortages have led to the spread of infectious diseases.

UNRWA raises concern about dire situation in Gaza

Meanwhile, Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), highlighted the critical humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip under heavy Israeli bombardment.

Gaza is rapidly running out of water and electricity, and the population faces severe shortages of food and medicine, he added.

“Gaza is being strangled and it seems that the world right now has lost its humanity. If we look at the issue of water — we all know water is life — Gaza is running out of water, and Gaza is running out of life,” Lazzarini said.

He also called for the lifting of the siege on the Palestinian territory and the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to provide essential supplies such as fuel, water, food, and medicine.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group waged a surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

Hamas said that its operation came in response to Israel’s violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East al-Quds and growing Israeli settler violence.

Middle East

Five-hour ceasefire introduced in southern Gaza Strip: media

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According to TASS, the goal is to make it possible to deliver humanitarian aid to the enclave and allow foreign nationals to leave Gaza.

The ceasefire will take effect at 9:00 a.m. local time (6:00 a.m. GMT); the parties to the conflict have agreed on the need to take such a step.

The report points out that there are at least 100 trucks with aid at the Rafah crossing point on the border between Gaza and Egypt, waiting for a humanitarian corridor to be set up. This is while the Israeli regime’s military still continues to carry out strikes on Gaza.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera quoted Hamas’ media office as saying that it has no information about such a development.

Israeli regime’s forces launched a sustained and forceful military attack against the Gaza Strip in response to a military operation last Saturday by the Palestinian group Hamas in occupied Palestine.

The conflict began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Strom– a multi-pronged surprise attack including a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into occupied Palestine via land, sea, and air.

Hamas said it was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East al-Quds and Zionist settlers’ growing violence against Palestinians.

The Israeli regime’s military launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip in response.

That response was extended into cutting water, food, fuel, and electricity to Gaza in what it describes as a “full siege,” further worsening living conditions in an area that has reeled under a crippling siege since 2007.

MP/PR

Middle East

Raeisi: Israel’s brazen evacuation order in Gaza breaches intl. law

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Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi says Israel’s shameless move to force the people of Gaza to flee their homes runs counter to all international laws and humanitarian principles.

Addressing a cabinet session on Sunday evening, Raeisi strongly condemned the silence of certain countries and international organizations in the face of Israel’s unprecedented and heinous crimes against the oppressed and defenseless people of Palestine

Those who keep silent in the face of Israel’s crimes must be held accountable for their actions and face the judgment of history, he added.

He reiterated the Islamic Republic’s unwavering policy of supporting the people of Palestine.

The Iranian president warned that wasting any second to stop Israel’s bombardment of residential areas in Gaza and to help people access basic commodities would lead to harmful consequences.

He also called on all countries to fulfill their responsibilities vis-à-vis the ongoing situation in Gaza, where the Israeli occupying regime presses ahead with its brutal attacks against civilians.

On October 7, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm deep into the territories occupied by the Israeli regime. The operation involved large-scale air, land, and sea strikes.

The group said the operation was a reaction to the recurring desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds as well as intensified Israeli atrocities against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Israel responded with intensive air strikes on civilian targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 2,670 Palestinians in Gaza and wounding some 10,000 others, according to the territory’s health ministry.

The regime has also intensified the siege of Gaza, leaving the city, home to more than 2.3 million Palestinians, without water, electricity, fuel and internet.

According to reports, Israel also destroyed some 135,000 houses and residential units in Gaza since the beginning of its savage attacks.

In a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron earlier on Sunday, Raeisi said Israel’s actions against Palestinians echo the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis during the Second World War, warning that the dimensions of the war will broaden if the Israeli regime persists with its attacks.

“If the Zionist regime seeks to pay for its defeat through the continuation of these crimes [against Palestinians], the dimensions of the developments will expand,” the Iranian president said.

Middle East

Israeli ground operation in Gaza may result in genocide

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“An Israeli ground operation would undoubtedly cause a large number of civilian casualties, including women and children, which could lead to unprecedented genocide,” the organizations said in a joint statement.

“Both organizations call on the United Nations and the international community to take a firm stand before it is too late to stop the catastrophe unfolding before our eyes,” the statement added.

The LAS and the African Union emphasized that a political settlement based on the two-state solution remains the only guarantee of security and peace, the statement read.

The comments came after the Israeli regime called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists, declaring a “long” war on Gaza in response to Operation al-Aqsa Storm. The operation was launched by the Gaza-based Palestinian Resistance movements last Saturday in response to the occupying regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodshed and destruction against Palestinians.

As many as 2,670 people have been killed and nearly 10,000 others injured since the regime launched its bloody aggression against the coastal territory.

MNA/PR

Middle East

Iran FM warns of dire consequences of Israel’ Gaza strikes

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“In case Israel continues attacking the defenseless people of Gaza, there will be no guarantee that the situation would come under control and the conflict would not spill over,” Amir-Abdollahian said in a meeting with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Sunday.

Those who do not favor the expansion of the current war, the Iranian minister said, must stop Israel’s savagery.

Amir-Abdollahian also censured Washington for its contradictory approach, saying the United States invites others to exercise self-restraint but at the same time evades commitment and ramps up its all-out support for Israel.

The Iranian minister urged Muslim countries to work for an end to the “war crimes committed by the apartheid Zionist regime.”

He reiterated the importance of an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) under the current circumstances.

For his part, the Qatari emir expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and said Qatar’s stance on the Palestinian issue would never change as it prioritizes an end to the crimes of Israel in the besieged enclave.

Meanwhile, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi held a phone call with the Qatari Emir on Saturday night during which he denounced the Israeli aerial assaults on the besieged Gaza Strip as war crimes, calling for an end to the regime’s genocide of Palestinian people.

He also held the US and other allies of Tel Aviv responsible for the atrocities committed by Israel against the Palestinians.

The Israeli regime called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists, declaring a “long” war on Gaza in response to Operation al-Aqsa Storm. The operation was launched by the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movements last Saturday in response to the occupying regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodshed and destruction against Palestinians.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,329 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 9,714 others injured by Israeli strikes.

This comes as more than 420,000 people are displaced within the Gaza Strip. A total of 270,374 out of 423,378 internally displaced people are located in UN shelters and schools.

MNA/

Middle East

Iran will always remain supportive of Resistance

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“The Islamic Republic has always been and will always be supportive of the resistance and against the occupation,” spokesman Nasser Kan’ani said on Sunday.

Tehran, he added, would also continue to remain in favor of “the oppressed and resistant people of Palestine’s obvious and natural rights against the bogus and usurping Israeli regime.”

The comments came after the Israeli regime called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists, declaring a “long” war on Gaza in response to Operation al-Aqsa Storm. The operation was launched by the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movements last Saturday in response to the occupying regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodshed and destruction against Palestinians.

As many as 2,670 people have been killed and nearly 10,000 others injured since the regime launched its bloody aggression against the coastal territory.

MNA/PressTV

Middle East

Israeli regime bombards Hezbollah bases in Lebanon (+VIDEO)

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Zionist media reported that the Zionist regime’s military fighter jets bombed Hezbollah’s military infrastructures on Sunday evening.

Earlier on Sunday, Hezbollah in a statement said that it had targeted five Israeli outposts in the disputed Shebaa Farms area on the Lebanese-Palestinian border with guided missiles and mortar shells.

Hezbollah last week also reported the martyrdom of three of its members due to the Israeli regime’s bombing and military operations.

Israeli regime’s forces launched a sustained and forceful military attack against the Gaza Strip in response to a military operation last Saturday by the Palestinian group Hamas in occupied Palestine.

The conflict began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Strom– a multi-pronged surprise attack including a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel via land, sea, and air.

Hamas said it was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East al-Quds and Zionist settlers’ growing violence against Palestinians.

The Israeli regime’s military launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip in response.

That response was extended into cutting water, food, fuel, and electricity to Gaza in what it describes as a “full siege,” further worsening living conditions in an area that has reeled under a crippling siege since 2007.

At least 2,269 people, including over 700 Palestinian children, have been so far killed and 9,814 others injured since the regime launched its bloody aggression against the coastal territory.

MP/FNA14020723001048

Middle East

‘You Muslims must die!’: US man stabs boy 26 times

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A 71-year-old white man in the US state of Illinois motivated by anti-Palestinian rhetoric has stabbed a 6-year-old Muslim boy 26 times and seriously injured his mother.

The incident happened on Sunday amid US politicians and media’s ceaseless smear campaign against Muslims over Israel’s war against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Officials and Muslim rights activists said the man was charged with hate crimes for stabbing the Palestinian boy to death and wounding his mother, Reuters reported.

The Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement the boy was stabbed with a military-style knife with a 7-inch (18-cm) serrated blade.

The 32-year-old woman was also stabbed multiple times but is expected to survive the attack that occurred on Saturday in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Chicago.

The man reportedly shouted, “You Muslims must die!”

“Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

The suspect, Joseph Czuba, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s office said.

When police arrived at the scene, they said they found Czuba sitting on the ground outside the home with a cut to his forehead. The victims were in a bedroom.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) blamed the Islamophobic rhetoric by politicians and media for the crime.

CAIR identified the boy as Wadea Al-Fayoume and said the woman, Hanaan Shahin, was his mother.

“We are shocked and disturbed to learn that a landlord in Chicago expressing anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian views broke into a Muslim family’s apartment and attacked them with a knife, injuring the mother and killing her 6-year-old son, Wadea Al-Fayoume,” CAIR said on the social media platform X.

“The Islamophobic rhetoric and anti-Palestinian racism being spread by politicians, media outlets, and social media platforms must stop,” CAIR added.

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Saturday warned the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference to stay vigilant “in this heightened environment.”

“There’s no question we’re seeing an increase in reported threats, and we’ve got to be on the lookout, especially for lone actors who may take inspiration from recent events to commit violence of their own,” Wray told the conference in San Diego, according to the FBI website.

Pakistani American activist Dr. Shireen Bangash wrote on X, “The hate-spitting US media is directly responsible for the murder of this 6-year-old Muslim boy in Chicago.”

She added that she hopes the Editorial Boards of CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, New York Times and BBC “must be very pleased with their Islamophobic performances.”

Democratic Representative Ilan Omar called the heinous act “unspeakable.”

 

Middle East

Intl. law being skewed in favor of Israel, Ex-Malaysia FM suggests

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Malaysia’s former foreign minister has said the international law was being applied unequally when it comes to treating the Israel regime’s ongoing war crimes against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“It is the hypocrisy of the international order and the international system to apply the international law on an unequal basis,” Syed Hamid Albar told Press TV on Friday.

“If it is done by the Israelis it is alright. Israelis are allowed to murder, Israelis are allowed to commit killings…on the basis that ‘they are defending themselves,'” he added.

“Even if you try to be fair and rational…if you want to take an action against your enemy, it must be proportionate to the damage that the enemy has caused [you],” Albar noted.

“But in this particular case, there is no similarity,” he said, adding, “Israel is above the law.”

The comments came after the Israeli regime called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists, declaring a “long” war on Gaza in response to Operation al-Aqsa Storm. The operation was launched by the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movements last Saturday in response to the occupying regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodshed and destruction against Palestinians.

As many as 2,670 people have been so far killed and nearly 10,000 others injured since the regime launched its bloody aggression against the coastal territory.

Israel’s military campaign has seen the regime leveling entire districts and using banned white phosphorous munitions against densely-populated neighborhoods of Gaza.

The regime is simultaneously imposing an all-out siege on the Palestinian territory, choking up the flow of foodstuff, medicines, and fuel, while disrupting Gaza’s supply of water and electricity.

The former Malaysian top diplomat, meanwhile, condemned the Israeli regime for “committing state terrorism,” saying, considering the enormity of the regime’s atrocities in Gaza, “It is a very big joke when you talk about ‘the right to self-defense.'”

Middle East

Pope Francis calls for humanitarian corridors in besieged Gaza

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Pope Francis has called for the establishment of humanitarian corridors to allow the delivery of essentials to the besieged Gaza Strip, which is under heavy Israeli bombardment.  

The pontiff made remarks at his weekly address at St. Peter’s Square on Sunday.

“Humanitarian law must be respected, especially in Gaza, where it is urgent and necessary to guarantee humanitarian corridors and help the population,” said the Pope.

Pope Francis strongly urged “that children, the sick, the elderly, women and all civilians should not fall victim to the conflict”.

On October 7, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched multi-pronged strikes on Israel and penetrated deep into the territories occupied by the regime for decades. Operation Al-Aqsa Storm took Israel by surprise. It was a response to the regime’s recurrent desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque and decade-long atrocities against the Palestinians.

Israel responded by indiscriminate bombardment of civilian buildings and infrastructure and imposing a total siege on the Strip. Gaza, home to more than 2.3 million Palestinians, has been running vitally low on fuel, electricity, water and food.

So far, Israel has killed more than 2,450 Palestinians, including women and children, in Gaza.

The Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has now reached its 9th day.

Israeli energy minister Israel Katz said on Monday that he had instructed authorities to cut the water supply to the Gaza Strip. 

The move came after Israeli minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant decided to impose a “complete” siege on Gaza, saying no electricity, food, water or fuel would reach the Strip.

 Israel has already closed all crossings with the Gaza Strip in both directions.

Israel also later ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate the area within 24 hours, in what is viewed as a precursor of a ground invasion by the occupying entity after suffering a serious setback by the Palestinian resistance groups over the past few days.

In a statement released on Friday, Israel’s military called on all people living north of the Gaza Strip, which amounts to more than one million, to relocate south. 

The Israeli military said it would operate “significantly” in Gaza City in the coming days and civilians would only be able to return when another announcement was made. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that crucial life-saving supplies, including fuel, food and water, must be allowed into Gaza.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric has also said: “Civilians need to be protected. We do not want to see a mass exodus of Gazans.” “We need rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access now.” 

In recent days, Some regional countries have discussed the idea of delivering humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. 

The Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million people, is under a years-long siege by the Israeli regime.

Reports indicate that people in Gaza have no desire to leave despite the Israeli blockade and living through five brutal wars since 2008.