Iran vows 'devastating, unified' revenge on enemy for any act of aggression

Rafah, a city along the border of the Gaza Strip and Egypt, has entirely been “wiped off the map” by Israel’s brutal campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing, says the Gaza government media office.

The media office said Sunday in a statement on X that the southern city of Gaza has entirely been demolished to make way for Israel to turn it into a “closed military operations zone."

The statement said Israel’s military forces have been carrying out “horrific massacres against defenseless civilians” in Rafah, creating a “full-fledged humanitarian disaster.”

According to the officials, Israeli forces have destroyed over 90% of homes—more than 20,000 buildings in Rafah.

All of the historical buildings, archaeological sites, museums, modern homes, the civilian infrastructure, the shops, cafes, restaurants, hospitals, schools, and universities have been demolished.

The officials said the regime's forces have also demolished 22 of 24 water wells, including a large water treatment plant and facility that was built 25 years ago by the Canadian government.

“Tens of thousands of families” are now without safe drinking water, and over 85% of the sewage system has been destroyed, raising fears of disease outbreaks, said the statement.

At least 12 medical centers are out of service, including Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital, which was reportedly blown up by an explosive robot.

Rafah is “uninhabitable,” now, the media office said.

The Israeli military’s goal, it said, is to “empty the land of its people and alter its geographic and demographic features.”

Rafah, a city that was built over 3,300 years ago, had a population of 171,889. As recently as February, 1.4 million Palestinians took shelter there as a result of Israel’s forced displacement of the population in northern parts of the besieged enclave.

The city, which was once designated as a "safe zone" by Israel's military, has now been reduced to rubble. The regime's military has now seized the ruins of Rafah and ordered every survivor out, to expand its "security buffer zone" along Gaza's borders.

Riyadh, April 12: In a welcome move for Indian expatriates and other foreign residents in Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom has introduced a new online service that allows residents to update their passport information without visiting the General Directorate of Passports (Jawazat). The service is available through the widely used Absher platform.

This initiative comes as a major time-saver for Indian expats, especially those renewing their passports, as it eliminates the need for lengthy in-person appointments and physical document submissions at Jawazat offices.

Who Can Use the Service?

The online update feature is available to expatriates aged 18 and above. Once a passport is renewed, Indian expats can log in to Absher (via their employers account), navigate to My Services, select Passport, and then access Resident Identity Services to update the relevant information.

A clear photo of the new passport must be uploaded. The system automatically extracts the passport number and expiry date using advanced digital recognition tools.

Before submitting, users are required to pledge that:

• The old passport has not been lost.
• There are no reports of absence from work.
• There are no pending traffic violations linked to the resident's Iqama.
• There are no security-related restrictions on the expat or the employer.

Important for Indian Families

If family members previously listed on the old passport have been issued individual passports, the online service cannot be used. In such cases, a personal visit to Jawazat is necessary to complete the update.

Likewise, if the passport is lost, the expat must report the loss and update information directly at the Jawazat office. Any misuse or incorrect submission will result in accountability under Saudi law, including potential charges of forgery.

Fee Details

To avail this convenience, a nominal fee of SR69 (including VAT) is applicable for each passport update request.

Why It Matters

With over 2 million Indians living and working in Saudi Arabia, this digital service is expected to ease the bureaucratic burden and save time for thousands of individuals who previously had to navigate crowded offices and long wait times. It also enhances accuracy and ensures smoother processing for both employees and employers.

Indian community associations have welcomed the move, calling it a step forward in digital convenience and administrative efficiency for expatriates.

New Israeli strikes have killed over a dozen people, including seven children, in the besieged territory as the regime is pressing ahead with its bloody military onslaught against Palestinians.

Gaza's civil defense agency said the bodies of 10 people, including seven children, were brought to the hospital following an Israeli airstrike that targeted the al-Farra family home in central Khan Younis.

Witnesses reported continuous and intensive Israeli tank fire in the city. 

Moreover, one Palestinian was killed and four others were wounded following an aerial attack on a group of civilians in Rafah.

In central Gaza, Israeli drones struck a group of civilians in Deir el-Balah, following which a number of casualties were transferred to the al-Aqsa Hospital.

Two more people killed in an Israeli strike that targeted a group of civilians in the al-Atatra area in the northern city of Beit Lahia.

On Friday morning, the Israeli military released an “urgent and serious” evacuation notice for residents living in various neighborhoods east of Gaza City.

The United Nations on Friday said its analysis of 36 recent Israeli strikes in Gaza showed only women and children were killed and decried the human cost of the war.

Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani cited an April 6 strike on a residential building of the Abu Issa family in Deir al-Balah, which reportedly killed one girl, four women, and one four-year-old boy.

Even the areas where Palestinians were being instructed to go in the expanding number of Israeli "evacuation orders" were also being subjected to attacks, she said.

Israel has said its troops are seizing "large areas" in Gaza and incorporating them into buffer zones cleared of their inhabitants.

The UN rights office warned that expanding Israeli evacuation orders are resulting in the "forcible transfer" of people into ever-shrinking spaces in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

"Let us be clear, these so-called evacuation orders are actually displacement orders, leading to displacement of the population of Gaza into ever shrinking spaces," Shamdasani said.

"The permanently displacing the civilian population within occupied territories amounts to forcible transfer, which is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and it is a crime against humanity."

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Shamsadani said between March 18 and April 9, there were some 224 incidents of Israeli strikes on residential buildings and tents for internally displaced people.

"In some 36 strikes about which the UN Human Rights Office corroborated information, the fatalities recorded so far were only women and children," she said.

"Overall, a large percentage of fatalities are children and women, according to information recorded by our Office," she added.