‘Need your blessings, not interference in politics’: DKS tells swamijis amid leadership row, asks Cong leaders to shout mouth

The Israeli military has completely destroyed 70 percent of buildings in the Jabalia refugee camp as the occupying regime continues with its deadly aggression against northern Gaza. 

Amos Harel, a military affairs analyst, wrote in the Israeli daily Haaretz on Sunday that the Jabalia refugee camp has become a “ghost town” amid Israel’s deadly offensive in the area.

“As far as the eye can see lie miles and miles of destroyed homes. It's hard to look away from the devastated remains of Jabalia's refugee camp in northern Gaza,” Harel said.

“I could see that even the few buildings that are still standing were badly damaged,” he added.

Harel went on to say that the Israeli military has operated in the area twice before, but this time the camp was torn down.

“Jabalia has become a ghost town. Outside, you mainly see pack after pack of stray dogs roaming around and hunting for scraps of food,” he said.

The Israeli regime dispatched tanks again to northern Gaza last month in what it said was aimed at combating members of the Palestinian resistance movement launching retaliatory strikes, and preventing them from regrouping.

The towns of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia have been besieged for more than 40 days, without food, water, medicine, or aid, and under constant bombing, shelling, and drone attacks.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after Hamas-led resistance groups waged the surprise Operation al-Aqsa Flood against the occupying entity in response to its decades-long campaign of devastation against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed 45,227 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 107,573 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

The Tel Aviv regime has also imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

Separately on Sunday, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said its fighters hit a group of nine Israeli soldiers who had taken refuge inside a house in the west of the Jabalia refugee camp.

It made the remarks in a statement on Telegram, noting that several Israeli forces were killed and wounded in the attack which was carried out with a TBG (thermobaric) rocket.

Qassam Brigades further noted that its fighters had killed an Israeli soldier from a long distance in the central area of the Jabalia camp.

Qassam Brigades has been daily carrying out military operations against the Israeli occupation forces since October 7 last year.

On Thursday, Qassam Brigades said its fighters stabbed at close range an Israeli officer and three soldiers at the Jabalia refugee camp, resulting in their deaths.

The retaliatory operation came following another attack on Wednesday, when Hamas fighters killed five Israeli soldiers in central Jabalia, also at close range.

Angry BJP lawmakers stormed Assembly Speaker U T Khader’s chambers at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, escalating tensions after the ruling Congress turned the tables on the saffron party over the Panchamasali Lingayat community’s reservation issue.

The friction began when Congress MLA Vijayanand Kashappanavar, a Panchamasali Lingayat, was allowed to criticise the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government’s controversial decision to scrap the 4 per cent Muslim quota, reallocating it equally to Lingayats and Vokkaligas. Kashappanavar slammed the BJP’s move, accusing it of being a mere election gimmick.

“The previous BJP government created two new reservation categories, 2C for Vokkaligas and 2D for Lingayats, just before the 2023 Assembly elections,” Kashappanavar said. “When challenged in the Supreme Court, the BJP government admitted it would not implement the decision. They announced it for votes but backtracked in court, misleading Panchamasali seer Basava Jaya Mrityunjaya Swami.”

Adding fuel to the fire, Kashappanavar alleged that RSS members had incited violence during a protest for enhanced Panchamasali Lingayat reservation. This claim enraged BJP lawmakers, who demanded the comment be expunged. However, Speaker Khader permitted Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda to read aloud the BJP government’s affidavit to the Supreme Court.

“If the Panchamasali Lingayat community has faced injustice, it is because of the BJP,” Gowda declared, sparking further protests from the opposition. BJP leaders accused Khader of being “one-sided” and disregarding a point of order raised by BJP MLA V Sunil Kumar.

When Khader adjourned the session for lunch, the confrontation boiled over. Opposition Leader R Ashoka, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra, MLAs Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, Sunil Kumar, and others barged into Khader’s chambers. Chaos ensued as shouting and hollering echoed through the halls, prompting marshalls to intervene.

“The Speaker was warned that if he continued behaving this way, we would boycott the session,” Narayan stated afterward.

Minister of military affairs Israel Katz has ordered Israeli troops to "prepare to remain" throughout the winter in Syria including the strategic Jabal al-Shaykh mountain which they occupied after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. 

In an announcement on Friday, Katz said he had issued the order during an assessment the previous day with the Israeli army's chief of staff Herzi Halevi, and other officers.

"Due to the situation in Syria, it is of critical security importance to maintain our presence at the summit of Mount Hermon [Jabal al-Shaykh], and everything must be done to ensure the (army's) readiness on-site to enable the troops to stay there despite the challenging weather conditions," he said.

Israel started its push to grab more Syrian land on Sunday, after foreign-backed militants led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) announced the fall of President Assad’s government following a rapid two-week onslaught.

Israeli forces seized the so-called buffer zone, which separates the occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria, in violation of a 1974 disengagement agreement. The occupation forces have entered several towns in Quneitra, forcibly evacuating residents. 

They occupied the summit of Jabal al-Shaykh which provides an observation point for areas in Syria and Lebanon. It rises to 9,232 feet (2,814 meters) and is the highest point on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Israeli troops have advanced beyond the so-called buffer zone toward Damascus, with the regime's warplanes conducting hundreds of aerial assaults on Syria.

Katz had earlier said that the regime was planning a "sterile defense zone" in southern Syria. Several regional countries said Israel is taking advantage of the chaotic situation in Syria to expand its occupation of the Arab state.

Israeli soldiers entered the town of al-Hurriya in Quneitra province on Thursday. Local sources said Israeli forces also carried out a forced evacuation of the residents of the village of Rasem al-Ruwadi in the region. 

On Wednesday evening, Israeli forces stormed the towns of Ruwaihinah and Umm Batna in the central countryside of Quneitra as well.

Residents of the town said the occupying regime forces asked them to evacuate their homes to annex them to the so-called buffer zones. The incursion involved tanks and infantry units, during which several houses were searched. 

Many Syrians and others watching the fast-moving pace of events say Netanyahu is using this moment of change in their country to permanently seize further territory.

“They are saying they will give it back, but they are already occupying the Golan Heights which they haven’t given back. What would make you believe they will give this back?” Haid Haid, a senior consulting associate fellow at Chatham House, told Middle East Eye. 

Israel has wiped out Syrian naval vessels, sea-to-sea missiles, helicopters and planes, including the entire fleet of MiG-29 fighter jets and stockpiles of ammunition in attacks on at least five air bases.

Reports say Israel and militant groups in Syria have previously come to successful arrangements whereby Israel provided emergency aid and medical care to militants so long as the groups did not attack the Zionist regime.

In a note to correspondents issued on Thursday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he is "deeply concerned" over "extensive violations" of Syrian sovereignty.

The UN chief also said he is "particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria." 

He further stressed that the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement between Israel and Syria “remains in force” and that it must be upheld by "ending all unauthorized presence in the area of separation and refraining from any action that would undermine the ceasefire and stability in Golan.”