Over 2 million Palestinians starving as 45% of all housing units in Gaza destroyed by Israel

News Network
November 9, 2023

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An independent United Nations expert has said that the systematic bombing of civilian infrastructure and widespread destruction of the besieged Gaza Strip by Israel amounts to a war crime and a crime against humanity. 

The Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, said on Wednesday that the Israeli attacks on targets in the Gaza Strip caused the destruction or damage of 45% of all housing units in the besieged Palestinian enclave. 

He also warned that the destruction comes at a “huge cost in human lives.”

“Carrying out hostilities with the knowledge that they will systematically destroy and damage civilian housing and infrastructure, rendering an entire city – such as Gaza City – uninhabitable for civilians is a war crime,” he added

Rajagopal, the Human Rights Council commissioner, noted that when these actions are “directed against the civilian population, they also amount to crimes against humanity.”

The UN rapporteur stressed that the systematic or widespread bombing of housing, civilian objects and infrastructure is strictly prohibited by international law.

According to the expert, international humanitarian law is based on the distinction between civilian and military targets. He stressed that civilian housing in Israel does not represent military targets.

According to Rajagopal, the Israeli order to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip, which was issued despite the lack of adequate shelter or aid for the displaced, while cutting off water, food, fuel and medicine and repeatedly attacking evacuation routes and “safe” areas, constituted a “cruel and flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”

Also last week, a group of United Nations experts warned time was running out to “prevent genocide and humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza, expressing their deep frustration with Israel’s refusal to halt plans to decimate the besieged Gaza Strip.

They expressed grave concern about the safety of UN and humanitarian workers and hospitals and schools that are providing refuge and life-saving medical services to the people of Gaza.

Operation ‘clearly wrong’: UN chief

Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that the number of civilians killed in Gaza indicates there is something “clearly wrong” with Israel’s military operation.

“There are violations by Hamas when they have human shields. But when one looks at the number of civilians that were killed with the military operations, there is something that is clearly wrong,” Guterres said.

“Every year the highest number of killing of children by any of the actors in all the conflicts that we witness is the maximum in the hundreds,” Guterres added. “We have in a few days in Gaza seen thousands of children killed.”

Israel continues targeting residential areas across Gaza with 214 people killed in the last 24 hours.

The Health Ministry in Gaza said that at least 10,569 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza – including 4,324 children – since October 7.

Over 2 million Palestinians starving 

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights says half of those are children.

Thousands are also struggling to find “even a bite of bread” in Gaza. “People line up for hours at the very few functioning bakeries left,” the group said.

‘Enough is enough’

Martin Griffiths says conditions in the occupied West Bank are becoming “increasingly dire”.

He pointed to rising numbers of Palestinians killed and injured – including children – as well as growing displacement amid Israeli military and settler attacks.

Meanwhile, human rights groups say Israel has dramatically increased its use of administrative detention since the start of the aggression, while also turning a blind eye to cases of torture and degrading treatment in prisons.

Administrative detention is a procedure under which prisoners are held without charges.

Citing local NGOs, they said Israel has detained more than 2,200 Palestinians since October 7.

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News Network
November 12,2024

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The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says its fighters have killed at least 20 Israeli soldiers in northern parts of the besieged Gaza Strip in just two days, in retaliation for the occupying regime’s genocidal war on the Palestinian territory.

In a statement on Monday evening, Hamas said that fighters of its military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, “killed at least five occupation soldiers” in northern parts of the coastal territory earlier in the day.

It added that Hamas fighters also killed 15 Israeli soldiers in the war-ravaged region on Sunday.

The resistance movement’s “qualitative operation … confirms once again the failure of the criminal Zionist entity to suppress and eradicate the Palestinian resistance, which continues to direct qualitative strikes against its terrorist soldiers,” Hamas further said on its Telegram channel.

Palestinians have increased their resistance operations in the face of intensified Israeli aggression in northern Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 over the past weeks.

“Our valiant resistance is waging a war of attrition with the criminal enemy, inflicting daily losses on its soldiers and vehicles, and all of [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s bets and dreams of achieving any of his goals are failing,” the Gaza-based resistance movement added.

Hamas also vowed that Israel’s ongoing crimes and aggression against Gaza would be met with increased resistance and painful strikes, which will continue until the aggression against Palestinians ends and the regime fully withdraws from the blockaded territory.

As the war in Gaza enters its 14th month, the Health Ministry reports that Israeli attacks have killed at least 43,603 Palestinians and wounded 102,929 others.

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News Network
November 22,2024

Mangaluru: A man fell victim to an online scam, losing Rs 1.7 crore after fraudsters posed as officials from TRAI. According to a complaint filed at the CEN police station, the incident began on November 11, when the complainant received a call from an unknown number at 9:49 am.

The caller, claiming to represent TRAI, alleged that another mobile number registered under the complainant's name was involved in illegal activities in Andheri (East), Mumbai. The caller further stated that an FIR was lodged against the complainant for harassment under the guise of marketing. He was instructed to contact Andheri (East) police station immediately or risk his mobile service being deactivated within two hours.

The complainant was subsequently connected to an individual named Pradeep Sawant, who claimed the complainant was implicated in a money laundering scheme linked to the Naresh Goyal fraud case. Sawant alleged that a fraudulent bank account under the complainant's name was opened at Canara Bank, Andheri, and used to purchase a SIM card for illegal activities. He warned that the complainant could face arrest.

Later, the complainant was contacted via WhatsApp video call by individuals posing as Rahul Kumar (a police officer) and Akanksha (a CBI officer). They allegedly sent fabricated CBI documents to his WhatsApp number. The fraudsters demanded money to "resolve" the case. Fearing threats, the complainant allegedly transferred Rs 1.7 crore through RTGS in batches of Rs 53 lakh, Rs 74 lakh, and Rs 44 lakh between November 13 and 19. A case has been registered at the CEN police station and an investigation is ongoing.

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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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