7 children, 4 women among 29 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike on blockaded Gaza

News Network
May 12, 2023

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Gaza City, Apr 12: A high-profile commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement has been killed when the Israeli military carried out airstrikes against targets in the besieged Gaza Strip, hours after the group announced the death of one of its military leaders in a pre-dawn strike carried out by the regime.

With this the death toll in blockaded Palestinian enclave has mounted to 29 including seven children and four women. 

Meanwhile, retaliatory rocket fire from the Gaza Strip killed one person in the central Israeli city of Rehovot and injured at least two others, Israeli police said. Three others sustained shrapnel injuries elsewhere in Israel.

Cairo was mediating efforts towards a truce between Israel and the Islamic Jihad militant group, while European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for "an immediate comprehensive ceasefire".

The United States stopped short of a clear call for a truce, but State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said the casualties were "tragic and heartbreaking", while urging that steps be "taken to ensure that violence is reduced".

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said "the bloodletting must end now", and the UN warned of "a negative impact on an already difficult humanitarian situation in Gaza".

A source close to Islamic Jihad later disclosed that "a final formula for a ceasefire" was said to be under discussion in Egypt. The Israeli army, however, said just before midnight (2100 GMT) that it was continuing to strike Islamic Jihad targets.

Gaza fighters have fired 620 rockets at Israel since Wednesday, the military said, adding that 179 had been intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system. The army said 25 percent of rockets fired from Gaza fell into the territory itself. 

Shops in Gaza were shuttered and the streets largely abandoned as Israeli military aircraft circled the territory, where several buildings lay in ruins.

Islamic Jihad confirmed it had lost five military leaders in strikes in recent days, including Ahmed Abu Deka -- the deputy of Ali Ghali, commander of a rocket launch unit, who was also killed by Israel on Thursday.

The Israeli army said it had fired at 191 targets across Gaza on Thursday.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said four of its fighters had also been killed.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Thursday evening that it had documented 26 dead on the Palestinian side -- 13 civilians, seven of them children, as well as four members of armed groups and nine others whose status was not yet determined.

In Gaza City's Al-Rimal district, Mamoun Radi, 48, said: "We hope that the wave of escalation will end, but we support revenge for the martyrs.

"Israel assassinated a leader of (Islamic) Jihad at dawn today because it does not want calm."

Across southern Israel, sirens wailed intermittently through the night and on Thursday morning.

Ashkelon resident Miriam Keren, 78, said a Gaza rocket had destroyed a workshop and damaged her house.

"All the shrapnel is in the room; the house was shaken very powerfully, the glasses fell, the walls were damaged," she said.

"Luckily, I have a safe room and I entered it immediately and closed the door.

"This isn't the first time the house was hit but I'm not afraid, neither was I yesterday. You're shocked for a moment, but it's not about fear. It's more unpleasant, very unpleasant."

An Islamic Jihad source said Mohammad al-Hindi, who heads the group's political bureau, arrived in Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian intelligence officials.

An Egyptian source, meanwhile, told AFP a security delegation from Cairo would be in Tel Aviv later Thursday for talks with Israeli officials on a ceasefire.

Israeli officials confirmed Egypt's involvement in attempts to facilitate an understanding between the sides aimed at halting the hostilities.

Both Hamas, which rules Gaza, and Islamic Jihad are considered terrorist groups by Israel and the United States.

This week's Gaza clashes are the worst since a three-day escalation in August killed 49 Palestinians, with no Israeli fatalities.

Violence has also flared in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli army has staged repeated raids against militants that have often flared into street clashes or gun battles.

On Thursday, two Palestinians died from their wounds after being shot by the Israeli army in a raid the day before in the West Bank city of Qabatiya, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The conflict has escalated since veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power late last year, heading a coalition with extreme right and ultra-Orthodox parties.

Israel has also been shaken by its biggest domestic political crisis in decades, as mass protests have flared against plans to reform the justice system that have been spearheaded by Netanyahu, who is also battling corruption charges in court.

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News Network
November 16,2024

Mangaluru: The Kavoor police in Mangaluru, Karnataka, have arrested three individuals from Kerala in connection with two separate cybercrime cases, including one involving extortion under the guise of a "digital arrest."

City Commissioner of Police Anupam Agrawal reported that one of the arrested individuals, Nisar, a resident of Ernakulam district, posed as a CBI officer. He allegedly threatened the complainant with arrest and extorted Rs 68 lakh. A case has been filed under sections 66 (C) and 66 (D) of the IT Act, and sections 308 (2) and 381 (4) of BNS.

In another case, the Kavoor police arrested two men, Sahil K P of Thiruvannur, Kozhikode, and Muhammad Nashath of Mappila Koyilandy, Kerala, in connection with a share trade fraud. The accused are alleged to have deceived the complainant by promising substantial profits from an investment in the stock market. Trusting the fraudsters, the complainant invested Rs 90 lakh, which was subsequently lost. A case has been registered under sections 66 (C) and 66 (D) of the IT Act, and sections 318 (4) and 3 (5) of BNS.

The accused were arrested in Koyilandi and presented before the court. The operation was carried out under the guidance of City Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal, led by Mangaluru North Sub-Division ACP Srikanth K, Kavoor Inspector Raghavendra Byndoor, Kavoor PSI Mallikarjuna Biradara, and staff members Ramanna Shetty, Bhuvaneshwari, Rajappa Kashibai, Praveen N, and Malatesh. 

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News Network
November 21,2024

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Hamas says the Israeli regime’s sole objective lies in “erasing” the entirety of the Palestinian population from across the Palestinian territories.

Khalil al-Hayya, a ranking official with the Gaza Strip-based Palestinian resistance movement, made the remarks to the Palestinian al-Aqsa TV on Wednesday.

“The occupation targets everyone—it strikes hospitals, civil defense, women, children, and the elderly,” he said, adding that the regime sought to “empty Gaza of its residents, and displace the Palestinian people to fulfill its dreams of building a Zionist Jewish state across all of Palestine.”

The remarks came amid the regime’s October 2023-present war of genocide on the coastal sliver that has so far claimed the lives of nearly 44,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

“This unprecedented aggression in modern times evokes scenes from the dark ages of human history, having crossed all red lines and exceeded every expectation of brutality in the modern era,” the Palestinian official lamented.

He also regretted that the regime had added “systematic and dangerous starvation to its aggression, falsely claiming before the world that it allows 250 [aid] trucks into Gaza daily. In reality, the number of trucks is far fewer.”

Hayya, meanwhile, regretted that “scenes of children torn apart, women screaming over their children, and heart-wrenching destruction have failed to stir enough humanity to stop these crimes.”

He decried the United States for vetoing the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions that are aimed at bringing about a potential ceasefire in the war, saying this indicated Washington’s “partnership in the aggression” and a simultaneous siege that the Israeli regime has been enforcing on Gaza.

Addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the official asserted that, despite what the Israeli official is after, Hamas would not hand over the regime’s captives “without [the regime’s] stopping the war.”

He called Netanyahu “the main obstacle” in the way of cessation of the aggression, saying the Israeli premier “blocks any progress for political reasons,” and citing his preventing conclusion of a ceasefire agreement in July.

Hayya also warned that the regime sought to expand the war beyond Gaza, but asserted that its goals are “impossible and will never happen.”

“Today, the enemy exposes its true intentions of extermination and displacement, but it will fail,” he stressed.

“The Palestinian people are resilient and will not surrender, as they believe in their humanitarian and political cause. The enemy and its allies will not succeed in achieving their goals. This steadfast people will endure, and the occupation will not prevail against them.”

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News Network
November 10,2024

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has warned that disciplinary action will be taken against those officials who change the land mutation records and serve eviction notices to farmers under the Waqf Act.

In a letter, the Revenue Department Principal Secretary Rajender Kumar Kataria reminded all regional commissioners and deputy commissioners in the districts that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently had a meeting following complaints about certain land properties being made in favour of the Karnataka Board of Waqfs.

In the meeting it was decided that all the directions issued previously by any government office or authority to change the mutation records has been withdrawn, the letter said.

It added that all the notices served in the past have also been withdrawn and no action should be taken against the farmers who are cultivating on the said land.

On the directions of the chief minister, the previous letters and the latest reminders served on November 7 to the farmers and land owners have been withdraw, the letter said.

"The officials who served reminder-2 despite the chief minister's direction will face appropriate disciplinary action," Kataria said in his letter.

He said he has been instructed to strictly implement the chief minister's direction.

The fresh direction was issued in poll-bound Karnataka, where bypolls to three crucial assembly segments are due on November 13.

Some farmers in Honwad village in Vijayapura in north Karnataka had alleged last month that they were served eviction notices as the Waqf Board claimed rights over it.

Subsequently, complaints started in pouring in from some other parts of the state.

BJP leader Tejasvi Surya on October 25 alleged that Karnataka Waqf Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan directed the deputy commissioners and revenue officials to register lands in favour of the Waqf Board within 15 days, which resulted in confusion.

On Surya's request, the Chairman of the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Jagdambika Pal visited Karnataka on November 7 and met farmers in Hubballi, Vijayapura and Belagavi districts who had alleged that their lands were marked as Waqf properties.

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