Manipur killing: Many injured as RAF fire tear gas shells on students marching to CM’s bungalow

The Palestinian Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip says at least 30 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the northern Gaza Strip city of Jabalia and its refugee camp Friday.

The agency’s spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the Israeli regime targeted Jabalia before 9:40 p.m. local time (1840 GMT) and left “12 dead, including women and children” in the city.

Bassal added that 14 people were still missing and likely trapped under the rubble.

Before that incident, Ahmad al-Kahlut, the director of the agency in northern Gaza, said 18 people had been killed by several Israeli strikes, including hits on “eight schools” in the camp that were serving as shelters for displaced Palestinian people.

The day’s aggression left at least 110 injured, according to figures provided by Bassal and Kahlut.

Human rights organizations have repeatedly warned against Israel’s fresh round of aggression on the Gaza Strip’s northern areas, home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians having sought refuge from the regime’s year-long genocide in the south.

The Israeli regime announced earlier in the week that one of its largest forced displacement orders since October last year, calling for the expulsion of 37 neighborhoods across northern Gaza, which targets over 400,000 Palestinians in the entirety of the blockaded area.

In a statement, the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, said the Israeli regime’s forced expulsion orders in the northern Gaza Strip were turning the war-ravaged besieged area into a “lifeless desert.”

The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor also warned earlier that the Israeli regime was subjecting the northern part of the Gaza Strip to “one of the most violent campaigns of genocide.”

The aggression comes as part of the regime’s October 7, 2023-present war on the coastal sliver, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 42,000 people and wounded over 97,500 others, most of them women and children.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have since been displaced and humanitarian conditions have deteriorated sharply.

Israel’s expulsion plan ‘could last several months’

An Israeli report based on conversations with military officials said the regime is enacting a plan that will effectively ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population in northern Gaza after a siege that could last months.

Conceived by retired Major-General Giora Eiland, the plan aims to empty northern Gaza of its 400,000 residents to make way for a “closed military zone.”

“The general’s plan,” which was launched in an Israeli TV campaign in September, called for the ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza, warning that those that remain will face starvation.

“The right thing to do is to inform the approximately 300,000 residents who remained in the northern Gaza Strip… we are ordering you to leave,” Eiland said last month.

“In a week, the entire territory of the northern Gaza Strip will become military territory.”

According to a report published on Friday in the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the occupation is now implementing a “scaled-down” version of the plan in the Jabalia refugee camp.

Even though the “general’s plan” aims to create conditions to force the population in Jabalia and nearby Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia to flee south, most people have refused to leave their homes so far, the report added.

Hamas ‘remains steadfast’ in face of Jabalia aggression

Hamas political bureau member Izzat al-Rishq said on Friday that the Gaza-based resistance movement “remains steadfast” in the face of the Israeli aggression on the Jabalia refugee camp, which has continued for the past six days.

“Our people’s choice will always remain … steadfastness on the ground, resilience, and resistance against the occupation’s aggression,” Rishq said in a statement.

He characterized the Israeli actions as akin to “Nazi terrorism,” highlighting that “since Oct. 7 of last year, the Israeli army has engaged in various forms of aggression against Palestinians in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and [al-Quds] without achieving any of its violent objectives.”

“Those who hold firmly to their land and defend their rights will have the final word, while this fascist enemy will only reap further disappointment, failure, and defeat, despite international silence and complicity,” he added.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has hailed “the brilliant work of our armed forces” in launching a missile strike on the Tel Aviv area, saying it was “completely legal and legitimate”.

Ayatollah Khamenei delivered a public sermon at the weekly Friday (Jum’a) prayer to a huge number of worshipers gathered at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque in central Tehran.

“The brilliant work of our armed forces was completely legal and legitimate. What our armed forces did was the least punishment for the usurping Zionist regime over the astonishing crimes of this wolf-like regime and rabid dog of America," he said.

Ayatollah Khamenei, “Whatever duty the Islamic Republic has in this regard, it will fulfill with strength and fortitude. We will neither delay nor hurry in carrying out the task."

“What is logical and reasonable and the opinion of the political and military decision makers will be done in the future if necessary just like it was done” on Tuesday, he added.

The prayer in Tehran followed a commemoration ceremony for Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. Ayatollah Khamenei last led Friday prayers in January 2020 after Iran fired missiles at a US army base in Iraq, in response to a strike that martyred anti-terror commander Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani.

Ayatollah Khamenei described Nasrallah "my brother, my dear and my pride, the beloved face of the Islamic world, and the eloquent voice of the nations of the region, [and] the shining jewel of Lebanon".

“I felt it necessary to pay tribute to Mr. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah (May God bless him and grant him peace) in the Friday prayer in Tehran, and to convey some notifications to everyone,” the Leader said.

“The audience of this sermon is the whole Islamic world, but it is specially addressed to the dear nation of Lebanon and Palestine.

“We are all saddened and mournful for the martyrdom of Dear Sayyed. This is a great loss and we are deeply saddened, but our mourning does not mean depression, distress and despair.

“It is a kind of mourning for the Master of Martyrs Hussein ibn Ali. It is enlivening, instructive, motivating, and hopeful,” the Leader said, referring to Imam Hussein (AS), the third Imam of Shia Muslims.

Ayatollah Khamenei said though Nasrallah's body has left this world, “his true personality, his soul, his way, and his expressive voice are still among us and will be with us forever”.

“He was the high flag of resistance against oppressive and predatory demons - an eloquent voice and a brave defender of the oppressed. He was a source of encouragement and valor for fighters and rights seekers. His popularity and influence had gone beyond Lebanon, Iran and Arab countries, and now his martyrdom will increase this influence.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said all Muslims are bound to “pay their debt to the wounded and bloody Lebanon”.

“Hezbollah and the Martyr Sayyed, by defending Gaza and Jihad for Al-Aqsa Mosque and striking the usurping and tyrannical regime, took a step in the path of vital service to the entire region and the entire Islamic world,” the Leader said.

The relentless defense of the Lebanese people for the Palestinians, he said, is “legal, reasonable, logical and legitimate, and no one has the right to criticize them for entering this battle”.

By the same token, the Al-Aqsa Storm operation of Palestinian fighters inside the Israeli occupied territories in October 2023 was “right and internationally legal”, he added.

“The Palestinian nation has the right to stand against the aggressors, and no court has the right to protest to the Palestinian nation for standing against the usurping enemy of Palestine.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said the adamance of the US and its allies on protecting Israel is a “cover for the deadly policy of turning the usurping regime into their tool to take over all the resources of this region and use it in major global conflicts”.

“Their policy is to turn the regime into a gateway for the export of energy from the region to the Western world and the import of goods and technology from the West to the region.

“This tells us that every attack on the regime by anyone and every group is a service to the entire region and to the entire humanity.

“This Zionist and American dream is definitely a false and impossible fantasy. The regime is the evil tree uprooted from the earth, which according to divine truth has no abode,” he added.

The Zionist regime, the Leader said, has kept itself afloat simply by being injected American support, adding the situation will not last long.

“Today, the Zionist criminal gang itself has come to the conclusion that they will never win over Hamas and Hezbollah."

The Leader called on Muslims to unite against the world’s arrogant powers and transgressors who are still following their policy of divide and conquer with all kinds of tricks in the Islamic states.

“The policy of the Qur'an is that Muslim nations and groups should have solidarity, and if you have this solidarity, divine wisdom will support you and you will overcome all obstacles and win over all enemies."

The Leader said the time has come for the Islamic Ummah to overcome the plots of the enemies.

"The enemy of the Iranian nation is the same enemy of the Palestinian nation, the Lebanese nation, the Iraqi nation, the Egyptian nation, the Syrian nation and the Yemeni nation. The enemy is one.”

The shocking assassination of politician Baba Siddique right outside his son Zeeshan's office in Mumbai has sparked nationwide outrage and concern. Mumbai, a city with a dark history of gangland violence, has witnessed yet another brutal incident, reviving memories of an era dominated by fear and crime.

Mumbai’s Dark History of Gangster Violence

In the late '80s and '90s, Mumbai was infamous for its notorious underworld figures such as Dawood Ibrahim, Abu Salem, and Chhota Rajan. The city was plagued by shootouts and attacks, often targeting rival gangsters, politicians, and Bollywood personalities. Extortion was the primary source of income for these criminals.

T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar's assassination and the shooting of filmmaker Rakesh Roshan right outside his office were among the high-profile cases that rocked the city. Although police efforts in the form of encounter killings had significantly reduced this menace, recent incidents such as shootings outside Salman Khan's residence and now, the killing of Baba Siddique, serve as a grim reminder that the city is not yet free from its violent past.

Who Are the Shooters?

The Mumbai Police have arrested two suspects linked to the murder of Baba Siddique. Gurmail Singh from Haryana and Dharamraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh were apprehended, while the third shooter, identified as Shiva Gautam, remains on the run. Investigations are ongoing to bring the absconding suspect to justice.

How Long Were the Shooters in Mumbai?

According to police interrogations, the shooters had been residing in Mumbai for almost a month before executing the attack. They rented a house in Kurla, a suburb of Mumbai, paying approximately Rs 14,000 a month. The trio reportedly received the weapons for the crime through a human courier just two weeks before the murder. The police have recovered the 9mm pistols used in the attack, along with 28 live cartridges.

Payment for the Murder

Sources have revealed that the hired shooters were each paid Rs 50,000 to carry out the assassination of Baba Siddique. This chilling revelation has further underscored the calculated nature of the crime.

How Was the Attack Executed?

On the day of the murder, the killers arrived on a scooter at the scene and patiently waited for their target. A collaborator kept them updated on Siddique's movements. When Baba Siddique arrived, six bullets were fired, four of which hit him in the chest, tragically ending the life of the veteran politician.

This case has not only rattled the city of Mumbai but also reopened discussions about safety, law enforcement, and the lingering threat of organized crime in the city of dreams.