Eat more beef than chicken, mutton, fish, says senior BJP Minister

The Israeli regime is forcibly evacuating Palestinians from the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip amid the prospect of its widely-discouraged ground invasion.

“The estimate is around 100,000 people,” an Israeli military spokesman told journalists on Monday when asked how many people were being evacuated.

International organizations, including the United Nations, have repeatedly warned the regime against invading the city, citing its hosting around 1.5 million Palestinian refugees.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a ground assault on Rafah would “put the final nail in the coffin” for humanitarian aid operations in the Gaza Strip.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also said, “Any ground operation would mean more suffering and death,” with an official saying “It could be a slaughter of civilians.”

Multiple aid agencies, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, have likewise warned against a Rafah offensive.

The NRC said such an invasion “would profoundly exacerbate the already catastrophic levels of need and the humanitarian emergency for millions of civilians with nowhere left to go.”

The official alleged Hamas had killed three Israeli forces on Sunday, attacking them from Rafah.

The evacuation order came a sat least 22 people lost their lives in the regime’s airstrikes killed in Rafah earlier on Monday.

Rafah’s evacuation “is part of our plans to dismantle Hamas,” the Israeli spokesman added, referring to the Palestinian resistance movement that has been defending Gaza in the face of the war.

The Palestinians have fled there from the ravages of a war that the regime began waging against Gaza on October 7, following a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups.

At least 34,683 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 78,018 others injured so far during the brutal military onslaught.

On Friday, Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on carrying out a ground invasion of Rafah was a key stumbling block in negotiations aimed at a truce agreement.

The Israeli premier has said the regime would go ahead with invading the city “with or without” a truce.

Hamas has, however, asserted that the regime has failed to defeat the resistance during the war.

Hamas says the Israeli regime’s bombing of the Gaza Strip, which is enduring a genocidal Israeli war, has killed 70 percent of the Zionist captives, who have been held by the Palestinian resistance movement since an October operation.

Khalil al-Hayya, deputy chief of Hamas’ Political Bureau, announced the information in an interview with Lebanon’s al-Manar television network on Thursday.

“The Zionist enemy wants to recover the remaining captives by force, killing them by bombing,” he said.

Around 250 people were taken captive on October 7 last year during Al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by Gaza’s resistance groups.

At least 35,272 Palestinians have died in an Israeli war of genocide that began following the operation.

Hamas released 105 of the captives during a week-long truce in late November.

Hamas recently agreed to another truce proposal enabling cessation of the Israeli aggression and release of the rest of the captives. The Israeli regime, however, rejected the proposal.

The Hamas’ official said, “The latest proposal presented to us comes very close to our demands, but the enemy has not respected the proposal or the mediators.”

Al-Hayya reiterated the movement’s demands, saying any potential truce agreement had to mandate a complete and comprehensive cessation of the Israeli aggression, withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza, and then a captive exchange deal.

‘Victory is our ally’

The Hamas’ official pointed to the Israeli regime’s failure to realize its war goals, including defeating the resistance.

“After eight months of aggression, the enemy has failed to eradicate the resistance in Gaza despite all the actions of the occupation,” he said.

“The resistance has rebuilt itself and can adapt its capabilities to face the occupation,” the official said, asserting, “The resistance is capable of enduring for many months and will continue to defend its people as long as the battle is ongoing.”

“The resistance has the ability to continue because it is right, and victory is our ally, while the enemy will face defeat.”

Thanking regional resistance

Elsewhere in his remarks, al-Hayya expressed gratitude towards the regional resistance groups for the pro-Palestinian operations that they have been carrying out against Israeli targets and those associated with the occupying regime.

“The fronts in Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq support Gaza and link the cessation of [their] operations to the end of aggression on Gaza,” he said.

“When we meet with the resistance forces in the region, we affirm that the battle is one.”

Bengaluru: BJP leader Anantkumar Hegde represented Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha segment in Karnataka for six terms and now gynecologist Anjali Nimbalkar is putting up a spirited fight seeking to turn the tide and "deliver" it for the Congress.

Dr Nimbalkar is taking on former Karnataka Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, who replaced Hegde, in this BJP stronghold.

A former Congress MLA, she lost the Assembly elections from Khanapur in Belagavi district last year.

The 62-year-old Kageri, a six-term MLA and a former minister, was also defeated in the Assembly polls from Sirsi.

"In the past 30 years, the voice of Uttara Kannada was not spoken and not even a single question was asked in the Parliament," Nimbalkar said in an apparent dig at Hegde.

If elected, she said her focus is to address the local issues related to forest dwellers, getting them 'patra' for their own land -- a battle they have been fighting for long.

Also on her priority list is getting a multispecialty hospital in Kumta as per people's demand, generating employment and focusing on tourism for the overall development of Uttara Kannada.

"Issues related to forest dwellers -- they want a 'patra' for their own land -- we will try and put forth these issues in the first session itself and we will see to it that maximum applications which are pending with the Central government get cleared during the first session itself," she said in an interview.

"So, our thing is that at least 50 per cent of the jobs should be given to the local Kannadigas in the Central schemes which are implemented in the district," she said.

Noting that Uttara Kannada has a combination of both beaches and temples, Nimbalkar said the district can be developed internationally in a much higher scale than "what actually Goa or Kerala is".

The Congress candidate is also banking on the five guarantee schemes launched by the Siddaramaiah-led government in Karnataka and the promises made by party in its manifesto at the national level.

Responding to a question, she expressed happiness that the Congress has fielded a total of six women candidates out of 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka.

While campaigning, Nimbalkar said she was overwhelmed to see a large number of people, especially women, turning up for her rallies despite the intense heat in Uttara Kannada.

"They are very happy that the Congress has given a woman candidate and an educated candidate who herself is a doctor and a gynecologist. So they are excited that, yes, she can be our voice in the Parliament who can fight for our rights," the 47-year-old said.

"I have worked as an MLA (Khanapur), so they have seen my work in the Assembly and the expectations are like, yes, she will be the one who will be speaking for us and that faith is seen in their eyes," she said.

Nimbalkar strongly believes that when women enter any field, it brings a different perspective - be it in terms of management, policy formulation or even as homemakers.

Uttara Kannada is among the 14 constituencies going for polls in Karnataka under second phase on May 7.

Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha seats and the first phase of polling was held on April 26.