Iran's intel. min hails Palestinians' Al-Aqsa Storm operation

Undoubtedly, after nearly 80 years of occupation of the mother lands of the oppressed Palestinian nation under the relentless support of the false claimants of human rights such an epic was required in order to avenge the incessant aggression of the Zionists, Khatib said in a statement.

The Iranian intelligence minister also hailed the sacrifices of the Resistance Front’s martyrs including the great efforts of Iran’s top anti-terror commander, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

In order to compensate for this failure, the Zionist enemy has pursued the policy of playing the role of victim and the media is helping it but the Muslim and free nations would not be fooled, he said.

On Saturday, Palestinian Resistance group Hamas launched a large-scale operation with a heavy barrage of rockets in response to the Israeli regime’s desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and increased settler violence. The Israeli regime’s military forces also announced it was launching Operation ‘Iron Swords’ in retaliation for the attack.

On Sunday night, Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted to put the regime officially at war.

Thousands of Palestinian people and Zionists were killed and injured following the clashes.

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Palestine calls Israeli war on Gaza, threat for complete siege 'genocidal'


Riyad Mansour, Palestinian envoy to the United Nations

The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations has issued a vehement condemnation of the Israeli regime’s underway indiscriminate war against the Gaza Strip, and its threat to bring the entire coastal sliver under an all-out siege.

“Such blatant dehumanization and attempts to bomb a people into submission, to use starvation as a method of warfare, and to eradicate their national existence are nothing less than genocidal,” Riyad Mansour wrote in a letter to the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

“These acts constitute war crimes,” he added.

Calling up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists, the Israeli regime has declared a “long” war on Gaza in response to Operation al-Aqsa Storm. Gaza’s resistance movements initiated the operation on Saturday in response to the occupying regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodshed and destruction against Palestinians.

The Israeli war has so far killed 900 Palestinians, including 260 children and 230 women, and injured as many as 4,600 others.

The military campaign has seen the regime leveling entire districts and featured its using banned white phosphorous munitions against densely-populated neighborhoods.

Earlier, Israeli Minister for Military Affairs Yoav Gallant drew international condemnation by announcing a “total blockade” to stop food and fuel from reaching Gaza, home to 2.3 million people. Gallant also said Israel was battling “beastly people.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday said he was “deeply distressed” by Israel’s announcement of the complete siege. “The humanitarian situation in Gaza was extremely dire before these hostilities; now it will only deteriorate exponentially,” Guterres said.

Ministry confirms Israel's deployment of white phosphorous bombs against Gaza



Frame grab from footage posted on X by the official Palestinian Wafa news agency on October 11, 2023, shows residents inspecting Gaza’s al-Karma neighborhood in the aftermath of an Israeli white phosphorous bomb attack.

The health ministry in the Gaza Strip, which has come under an all-out Israeli war, has confirmed the regime’s deployment of banned white phosphorous munitions against a densely populated neighborhood in the coastal sliver.

“Israeli warplanes use internationally #prohibited_white_phosphorus, destroying al-Karama neighborhood,” the official Palestinian Wafa news agency wrote on X on Wednesday, referring to a neighborhood lying in the north of the Palestinian territory.

Calling up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists, the Israeli regime has declared a “long” war on Gaza in response to Operation al-Aqsa Storm.

Gaza’s Hamas and Islamic Jihad resistance movements initiated the operation on Saturday, killing hundreds of Israeli forces and illegal settlers and taking many others among them hostage. The resistance fighters say they waged the operation against the occupying regime in response to its decades-long campaign of bloodshed and destruction against Palestinians.

The Israeli war has so far killed 900 Palestinians, including 260 children and 230 women, and injured as many as 4,600 others.

Reporting on Monday, Iran’s Arabic-language al-Alam news network reported that the regime had started using the banned munitions against Gaza earlier in the day.

The use of white phosphorus shells for direct targeting of enemy positions is illegal under the international law as the practice can amount to war crime and cause widespread fatalities.

This is not the first time that Tel Aviv targets the territory with such weapons.

Israel admitted to “using munitions containing white phosphorus” during its 2008-2009 war on Gaza, but the regime denied violating the international law by insisting that such weapons were not fired into areas populated by civilians.

Israeli–Palestinian conflict is ‘between oppressors and the oppressed’: Pakistan

Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar has condemned Israel’s ongoing atrocities against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip.

“Israel is a cruel and oppressive regime, while Palestine is an oppressed nation,” Kakar said on Tuesday while talking to reporters in Islamabad.

“This is a war between oppressors and the oppressed,” he added, commenting on the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.

He said the Zionist regime is in a state of denial. It does not want to resolve its issues with Palestinians.

Israel has launched incessant bombing attacks on the Gaza Strip, since October 7 when the resistance group launched a blitz into the occupied territories.

More than 900 Palestinians, including 230 women, 260 children and elderly, have been killed and over 4,600 people injured in more than three days of Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Israeli regime officials have also ordered a total blockade of Gaza to compensate for heavy losses suffered during the Hamas operation.

On Monday, Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad censured Western states and their media outlets for their hypocrisy toward the recent Palestinian operation against Israel.

Mahathir said the narrative run by certain Western states was far from truth given the “seven decades” of atrocities by Israel against the Palestinians.

“Instead of addressing the conflict for what it actually is, they chose to continue with their deceptive narrative that it is an attack on Israel by terrorists,” Mahathir said.

“They are outright lies which have been perpetuated unashamedly by Western leaders and their media,” he said.

“The truth is actually very simple, the Israelis had been committing war crimes, massacres, genocide and unthinkable atrocities against the Palestinians,” he noted.

“These are not one-off acts but rather systematically conducted without respite throughout the seven decades,” Mahathir said.

Pakistan’s caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said on Sunday that Islamabad was deeply concerned by the escalating hostility in the Middle East and the loss of innocent lives.

“We stand in solidarity with Palestinians and call for an immediate end to the violence and oppression by Israeli occupation forces,” Jilani said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“A viable and sovereign State of Palestine must be established on the basis of pre-1967 borders and UN resolutions. The international community needs to intervene to bring an end to the conflict, protect civilians, and work towards a lasting peace in the Middle East,” he added.

Separately, Pakistan’s President Dr. Arif Alvi criticized Israel for suppressing the rights of Palestinians, urging the international community “to play its active role” to ease the tension between Israel and Palestine.

UN: Israel’s total Gaza blockade amounts to war crime


A Palestinian woman who fled her home amid Israeli strikes shelters with her family in a nursery school in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2023. (Photo by Reuters)

The United Nations human rights chief has warned that Israel’s imposition of a total blockade on the Gaza Strip amounts to a war crime and violates international law.

Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement on Tuesday that the blockade “seriously” risks the already dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave.

Turk underscored the limited capacity of medical facilities to operate, especially in light of the growing number of injured. He said Israel’s “imposition of sieges that endanger the lives of civilians by depriving them of goods essential for their survival is prohibited under international humanitarian law.”

“This risks seriously compounding the already dire human rights and humanitarian situation in Gaza, including the capacity of medical facilities to operate, especially in light of increasing numbers of injured,” Turk said, adding that a siege may amount to “collective punishment.”

Separately on Tuesday, UN Human Rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani clarified that such acts may amount to a war crime. Findings of the UN rights chief are based on a review of available material, including from its own monitors on the ground, she added.

Furthermore, UN children’s agency spokesman James Elder sounded alarm over the siege on Gaza.

“UNICEF is extremely alarmed about measures to cut electricity, to cut food, to cut water, to cut fuel from entering Gaza. This will add another layer of suffering to the existing catastrophe faced by families in Gaza.”

Israel launched deadly strikes on the densely-populated Gaza Strip on October 7, after the resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity.

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

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 830 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli bombardment.

Gaza health ministry: 830 Palestinians killed in Israeli bombardment

At least 830 Palestinians, including women, children and elderly, have been killed and over 4,100 injured in more than three days of Israeli bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Tuesday another 18 people were killed and 100 injured in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli officials have ordered a total blockade of Gaza to compensate for heavy losses suffered during Operation Al-Aqsa Storm launched by the resistance movement Hamas on Saturday.

UN Chief Antonio Guterres has already expressed concern over the situation in Gaza, saying the clashes will deteriorate the situation exponentially. He said he was “deeply distressed” by an announcement that Israel will initiate a complete siege of Gaza.

Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister has also written a letter to Guterres on the circumstances in Gaza, asking him to take immediate measures to prevent a mass killing of Gazans at the hands of the Israeli regime.

Hamas missiles strike Ben Gurion Airport

Hamas fired missiles towards the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Resistance fighters also launched new missile strikes on Israeli cities, including Asqalan. Hamas says it has also targeted Tel Aviv itself.

Israeli media said sirens were heard in areas in and around Tel Aviv. The city of Ashdod, south of Tel Aviv, had a similar experience.

Hamas says resistance has more to catch the Israeli enemy off-guard, both in terms of weapon capabilities and the resilience to manage a protracted battle.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasim said the aftermath of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm continues to rattle the regime. He said the regime is seeking to make up for the unprecedented humiliation of its army by targeting more civilians.

Palestinian journalists in West Bank in crosshairs

Omar Nazzal, deputy head of the Palestinian Journalist Union, said attacks on journalists in the West Bank are on the rise. “Journalists are unable to move within the West Bank and between the occupied West Bank and al-Quds due to Israeli restrictions.”

Journalists have also been prevented from doing their work, “all of which are carried out by Israeli authorities to stop them from showing the world the crimes that are being perpetrated against Palestinians,” he said.

The multi-pronged Hamas operation was launched from Gaza in response to weeks of violence against the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the continued presence of Israeli extremists in the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Cutting off Gaza’s water supply 'war crime': Iran official

“Access to safe drinking water is recognized as a human right. The Zionist regime’s decision to cut off water supplies to the residents of Gaza is considered a war crime,” Secretary General of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights Kazem Gharibabadi wrote in a post published on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday.

He further said the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group also cut off water supplies to Syria’s Aleppo city in 2016, after which the United Nations resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator for Syria denounced the move as a war crime.

Israeli regime’s energy minister said on Monday that he had instructed authorities to cut water supply to the Gaza Strip.

He said electricity and fuel supplies were cut off from Gaza two days ago.

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WFP launches emergency program to assist 600,000 Palestinians


A WFP worker is seen in the besieged Gaza Strip.

 

The World Food Program (WFP) says it has launched an emergency action plan to provide critical food aid for a further 600,000 Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.

The agency is appealing for $17.3 million in the next four weeks to provide critical food help for a total of 800,000, said a WFP spokeswoman on Tuesday.

The agency is already helping close to 200,000 people in Palestine.

The spokeswoman did not specify how many of these people were in Gaza, which has been placed under a total siege by Israel since Saturday.

She said “the city is running out of critical resources like food, water, and electricity, with damaged infrastructure severely impeding both food production and distribution networks.”

The Rome-based agency also echoed a call by the World Health Organization (WHO) for a humanitarian corridor to provide aid to Gaza.

Israel has closed all crossings into the Gaza Strip in the wake of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm the resistance movement Hamas launched against the regime on Saturday.

On Monday, the regime ordered a total siege of the strip, cutting off food, water and electricity supplies to the land home to over two million Palestinians.

In a statement on Tuesday, the United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk denounced Israel’s total siege. “The imposition of sieges that endanger the lives of civilians by depriving them of goods essential for their survival is prohibited under international humanitarian law.”

“The siege risks seriously compounding the already dire human rights and humanitarian situation in Gaza.”

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Joseph Borell also said on Tuesday that the bloc’s foreign ministers had urged Israel not to cut “water, food, or electricity” to Gaza. The EU is one of Israel’s benefactors.

 

Iran FM talks with different counterparts on Palestine

“In the continuation of the consultations with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Russia and Kuwait, we exchanged views on the latest developments in the region and Palestine,” Hossein Amir-Abdollahian wrote in a post on his X account.

“To Mr. Sameh Shoukry, my counterpart in Egypt,I declared Iran’s readiness to send urgent medical and humanitarian aid, especially food and water to Gaza, in coordination with the Red Cross and the United Nations.”

“I also warned against the increased awath of the Muslims in the world against the Zionist apartheid regime in case of the continuation of the war crimes of this occupying regime in laying the siege, cutting off water and electricity supply, sanctioning medicine and medical equipment and barbaric killing of the residents of Gaza and the West Bank,” the top Iranian diplomat added. 

According to a readout of the phone call with Sergey Lavrov published on the Iranian foreign ministry’s website, the two foreign ministers of Iran and Russia discussed Palestine situation, bilateral issues and bilateral agreement between Tehran and Moscow.

Iran FM talks with different counterparts on Palestine

“What is happening in the Palestinian lands is a response to Netanyahu’s extremism and the injustice done to the Palestinian people,” Amir-Abdollahian told Lavrov.

Referring to the barbaric and inhumane actions of the Zionist regime in cutting off water and electricity and preventing the delivery of food and medicine to the people of Gaza, Amir Abdollahian emphasized that the occupying regime is seeking to massacre the resistant people of Gaza with these actions.

The top Iranian diplomat also reviewed the latest status of agreements and documents signed between the two countries.

Russian minister, for his part, condemned the actions of the Zionist regime and emphasized the need to stop the conflicts as soon as possible and declare a ceasefire between the two sides.

Lavrov said that, “In recent years, we have seen many successes in the region; including the normalization of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the normalization of relations with Syria, as well as the resumption of relations between Syria and Turkey, all of which have been done without the involvement of the United States.”

He emphasized that the Americans are trying to bring all the issues in the region under their control while the countries of the region have the initiative in their hands.

He also pointed to the agreements made between the two countries and emphasized accelerating the implementation process of those agreements.

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Harvard students blame ‘apartheid regime’ of Israel for recent brutality

A coalition of 34 Harvard University student organizations have condemned Israel’s bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip.

In a statement published on Monday, the students said they “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”

The statement said “the apartheid regime is the only one to blame.”

The organizations signing the letter included Muslim and Palestinian support groups as well as others named for a variety of backgrounds including the Harvard Jews for Liberation and the African-American Resistance Organization.

Harvard has produced eight former presidents and four of the nine current Supreme Court justices.

Harvard University alumni, however, criticized the pro-Palestinian statement and urged the university to take action against the signatories.

Lawrence Summers, the former US Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton and former university president, was one of several Harvard graduates to criticize the current Harvard leadership for failing to declare clear support for Israel.

On Sunday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams drew fire for promoting violence and Islamophobia over his remarks referring to pro-Palestine protesters as “extremists.” Hundreds of people marched in Manhattan to express support for Palestine.

Israel has ignited the war machine against the Palestinians in the wake of a surprise major operation by the resistance movement Hamas against the occupiers.

The multi-pronged operation was launched from Gaza on Saturday in response to weeks of violence against the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the continued presence of Israeli extremists in the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Independent observers believe Washington and its Western allies have been active partners to Israeli crimes against the Palestinians.

In a sign of direct involvement, the US announced it was sending additional weapons and munitions to Israel and moving an aircraft carrier to eastern Mediterranean closer to the occupied territories.