Palestinians - The African Mirror

Dec

2023

As Israel pounds southern Gaza, Biden warns it is losing support

ISRAELI tanks and warplanes bombarded the Gaza Strip, killing dozens of Palestinians, and U.S. President Joe Biden warned Israel it was losing international support because of its "indiscriminate" bombing of civilians in its war against Hamas militants. In a further sign of world concern over the conduct of the conflict, now in its third month, Australia, Canada and New Zealand said they supported international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire. They expressed alarm at the plight of civilians in Gaza. At the United Nations, the 193-member U.N. General Assembly was preparing to vote on a resolution calling for a ceasefire. Diplomats said it…

Dec

2023

By ARAFAT BARBAKH and MOHAMMED SALEM

Israel presses ground offensive in southern Gaza, air strikes intensify

WORLD

INTENSE Israeli air strikes hit the south of the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, including in areas where Israel had told people to seek shelter, residents and journalists on the ground said. Israeli troops and tanks also pressed the ground campaign against Hamas militants in the south of the enclave after having largely gained control of the now-devastated north. Early on Monday, Israel ordered Palestinians to leave parts of Gaza's main southern city, Khan Younis. But residents said that areas which they had been told to go to were also coming under fire. Israel's military posted a…

Dec

2023

By ARAFAT BARBAKH and NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI

Israeli bombing of Gaza intensifies, refugee camp reported hit

WORLD

ISRAELI forces bombed wide areas of the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, as civilians in the besieged territory sought shelter in an ever-shrinking area of the south. The Hamas Palestinian militant group said its fighters clashed with Israeli troops about 2 km (1 mile) from the southern city of Khan Younis, as residents said they feared a fresh Israeli ground offensive was building there. There was no immediate comment from Israel. The Jabalia refugee camp in the north of the Hamas-ruled enclave was among the sites hit reported hit from the air. A Gazan health ministry spokesperson…

Nov

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and JAMES MACKENZIE

Israeli air strikes kill dozens in south Gaza ahead of offensive

WORLD

ISRAELI air strikes on residential blocks in south Gaza killed at least 47 Palestinians, medics said after Israel again warned civilians to relocate as it girds for an onslaught against Hamas in the enclave's south after subduing the north. The head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said on Saturday it had received "horrifying" images and footage of scores of people killed and wounded in an attack on a UNRWA school in the Israeli-occupied north. "These attacks cannot become commonplace, they must stop. A humanitarian ceasefire cannot wait any longer," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on social media platform…

Nov

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and DAN WILLIAMS

Israel-Hamas war: Palestinians dig mass grave inside Israeli-encircled Gaza hospital

WORLD

PALESTINIANS trapped inside Gaza's biggest hospital were digging a mass grave to bury patients who died under Israeli encirclement and said no plan was in place to evacuate babies despite Israel announcing an offer to send portable incubators. Israeli forces have surrounded Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital which they say sits atop an underground headquarters of Hamas militants. Hamas, Gaza's ruling Islamist group, denies fighters are present and says 650 patients and 5,000-7,000 other civilians are trapped inside the hospital grounds, under constant fire from snipers and drones. It says 40 patients have died in recent days, including three premature babies…

Nov

2023

By The African Mirror

Evacuations from Gaza Strip resume through Egypt’s Rafah crossing

NEWS

EVACUATIONS from the Gaza Strip into Egypt for foreign passport holders and Palestinians needing medical treatment resumed through the Rafah crossing after being suspended for a day, Egyptian security and medical sources said. Departures from Rafah, the only crossing to the besieged enclave that does not border Israel, had been paused on Wednesday for a second time following bombardments on the route within Gaza leading to the border. The Red Cross said its convoy escorting medical evacuees on Tuesday had been targeted, prompting it to pause the escorts. On Thursday, two sources said that 695 foreign passport holders and dependents, including Egyptians, were able to cross.…

Nov

2023

By ANDREW MACASKILL and ESTELLE SHIRBON

Open hatred of Jews surges globally, inflamed by Gaza war

WORLD

IN Los Angeles, a man screaming "kill Jews" attempts to break into a family's home. In London, girls in a playground are told they are "stinking Jews" and should stay off the slide. In China, posts likening Jews to parasites, vampires or snakes proliferate on social media, attracting thousands of "likes". These are examples of incidents of antisemitism, which have surged globally since the attack by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel on October 7 and the subsequent war on the Islamist group launched by Israel in the Gaza Strip. "This is the scariest time to be Jewish since World War Two.…

Oct

2023

By YUSRI MOHAMED, NADINE AWADALLA and TALA RAMADAN

Gaza aid stuck as Egypt says Israel not cooperating

NEWS

EGYPT said that Israel was not cooperating with the delivery of aid into Gaza and evacuations of foreign passport holders via the only entry it does not wholly control, leaving hundreds of tonnes of supplies stuck. Cairo says the Rafah crossing, a potentially vital opening for desperately needed supplies into the Israeli-besieged Palestinian enclave, is not officially closed but is inoperable due to Israeli air strikes on the Gaza side. As Israel's bombardment and siege of Gaza has intensified, the territory's 2.3 million residents have been left without power, pushing health and water services to the brink of collapse, with fuel…

Oct

2023

By SULEIMAN AL-KHALIDI and MAYA GEBEILY

Arab states say Palestinians must stay on their land as war escalates

WORLD

CALLS for a humanitarian corridor or an escape route for Palestinians from Gaza as a conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has escalated have drawn a blunt reaction from Arab neighbours. Egypt, the only Arab state to share a border with Gaza, and Jordan, which is next to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, have both warned against Palestinians being forced off their land. It reflects deep Arab fears that Israel's latest war with Hamas in Gaza could spark a new wave of permanent displacement from the land where Palestinians want to build a future state. "This is the cause of all causes, the…

Oct

2023

By The African Mirror

What’s the Israel-Palestinian conflict about? The origin of wars explained

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE fighting between Israel and Hamas, which launched a surprise attack on Saturday, is the latest in seven decades of war and conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that has drawn in outside powers and destabilised the wider Middle East. WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OF THE CONFLICT? The conflict pits Israeli demands for security in what it has long regarded as a hostile region against Palestinian aspirations for a state of their own. Israel's founding father David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the modern State of Israel on May 14, 1948, establishing a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution and seeking a national home…