Israeli forces kill 22 people in Gaza, force new displacement in the north

Israeli forces kill 22 people in Gaza, force new displacement in the north
Palestinians carry bodies after an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, on Nov. 13, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 13 November 2024
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Israeli forces kill 22 people in Gaza, force new displacement in the north

Israeli forces kill 22 people in Gaza, force new displacement in the north
  • Men were held for questioning, while women and children were allowed to continue toward Gaza City, residents and Palestinian medics said
  • “The scenes of the 1948 catastrophe are being repeated. Israel is repeating its massacres, displacement and destruction,” said Saed, 48, a resident of Beit Lahiya

CAIRO: Israeli military strikes killed at least 22 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as Israeli forces deepened their incursion into Beit Hanoun town in the north, forcing most remaining residents to leave.
Residents said Israeli forces besieged shelters housing displaced families and the remaining population, which some estimated at a few thousand, ordering them to head south through a checkpoint separating two towns and a refugee camp in the north from Gaza City.
Men were held for questioning, while women and children were allowed to continue toward Gaza City, residents and Palestinian medics said.
Israel’s campaign in the north of Gaza, and the evacuation of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the area, has fueled claims from Palestinians that it is clearing the area for use as a buffer zone and potentially for a return of Jewish settlers.
“The scenes of the 1948 catastrophe are being repeated. Israel is repeating its massacres, displacement and destruction,” said Saed, 48, a resident of Beit Lahiya, who arrived in Gaza City on Wednesday.
“North Gaza is being turned into a large buffer zone, Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing under the sight and hearing of the impotent world,” he told Reuters via a chat app.
Saed was referring to the 1948 Middle East Arab-Israeli war which gave birth to the state of Israel and saw the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their home towns and villages in what is now Israel.

NO PLANS FOR SETTLERS’ RETURN
The Israeli military has denied any such intention, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he does not want to reverse the 2005 withdrawal of settlers from Gaza. Hard-liners in his government have talked openly about going back.
It said forces have killed hundreds of Hamas militants in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun during its new military offensive, which began more than a month ago. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad armed wing claimed killing several Israeli soldiers during ambushes and anti-tank rocket fire.
Efforts by Arab mediators, Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have so far failed to end the war in Gaza, with Hamas and Israel trading the blame for the lack of progress.
Speaking on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel “has accomplished the goals that it set for itself” by taking out Hamas’ leadership and ensuring the group is unable to launch another massive attack. “This should be a time to end the war,” he said.
“We also need to make sure we have a plan for what follows,” he said, “so that if Israel decides to end the war and we find a way to get the hostages out, we also have a clear plan so that Israel can get out of Gaza and we make sure that Hamas is not going back in.”
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Blinken’s comments showed: “We are facing one enemy and that the US enmity against the Palestinian people is no less than that of the occupation.”
On Tuesday, the United States stressed at the United Nations that “there must be no forcible displacement, nor policy of starvation in Gaza” by Israel, warning such policies would have grave implications under US and international law.
Medics said five people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a group of people outside Kamal Adwan Hospital near Beit Lahiya, while five others were killed in two separate strikes in Nuseirat in central Gaza Strip where the army began a limited raid two days ago.
In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, one man was killed and several others were wounded in an Israeli airstrike, while three Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes in Shejaia suburb of Gaza City, medics added.
Later on Wednesday, an Israeli strike on a house in western Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip killed eight people, medics said.
Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel last October, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 43,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza over the past year, Palestinian health officials say, and Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland of wrecked buildings and piles of rubble, where more than 2 million Gazans are seeking shelter in makeshift tents and facing shortages of food and medicines.


WHO worries about West Bank violence, impact on health care

WHO worries about West Bank violence, impact on health care
Updated 7 sec ago
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WHO worries about West Bank violence, impact on health care

WHO worries about West Bank violence, impact on health care
  • Israel sent tanks into the West Bank for the first time in more than 20 years on Sunday
  • Military ordered to prepare for an ‘extended stay’ to fight Palestinian militant groups
GENEVA: The World Health Organization is deeply concerned about violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the impact of “starkly rising” attacks on health care, its representative in the Palestinian territories said on Tuesday.
Israel sent tanks into the West Bank for the first time in more than 20 years on Sunday and ordered the military to prepare for an “extended stay” to fight Palestinian militant groups in the area’s refugee camps.
“We are deeply concerned about the situation in the West bank and the impact on health,” Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the West Bank and Gaza, told reporters via video link from the Gaza Strip.
“We see the current flashpoints of violence, attacks on health care ... starkly rising in the West Bank.”
Israel did not immediately comment on Peeperkorn’s remarks about attacks affecting health care.
The WHO says there have been 44 attacks this year that affected the provision of health care in the West Bank, with four health care facilities impacted.
Four patients died waiting for an ambulance and eight health workers were injured while attempting to reach patients, it said.
It also said 25 health care workers and patients had been killed and 121 injured in the West Bank from October 7 2023 – the date of the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel that started the Gaza war – to February 14 this year.
The WHO also reported “severe movement restrictions” across the West Bank, including obstacles affecting the movement of ambulances and access for health care workers.
The WHO has provided emergency supplies and trauma kits to some West Bank hospitals, Peeperkorn said.
At least 40,000 Palestinians have left their homes in Jenin and the nearby city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank since Israel began its operation last month after reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza after 15 months of war.
Eighty-two Palestinians were killed in the West Bank between January 1 and February 13, according to the latest WHO figures.

Egypt rejects proposals to displace Palestinians

Egypt rejects proposals to displace Palestinians
Updated 25 February 2025
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Egypt rejects proposals to displace Palestinians

Egypt rejects proposals to displace Palestinians
  • US President Donald Trump has infuriated the Arab world with a plan to permanently displace more than 2 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip

CAIRO: Egypt rejects proposals to displace the Palestinian people in order to not “liquidate” the Palestinian cause and to avoid threatening the national security of countries in the region, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump has angered the Arab world with a plan to permanently displace the population of more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza, assert US control over the territory and turn it into an international beach resort.

Egypt will on March 4 host an emergency Arab League summit set to focus on Arab efforts to counter Trump’s plan and calls for Egypt and Jordan to resettle displaced Palestinians from Gaza. Both countries reject the proposal, citing national security concerns.

Arab leaders held a meeting on Friday in Riyadh attended by Gulf states, Egypt and Jordan. Sources familiar with the discussions said they tackled a mainly Egyptian proposal that could include up to $20 billion in funding over three years from Gulf and Arab states, but there was no official confirmation.

Palestinians fear a repeat of the “Nakba,” or catastrophe, during which hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians were expelled or fled their homeland around the time of the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.


New Syria leader says plans to set up transitional justice committee

New Syria leader says plans to set up transitional justice committee
Updated 16 min 25 sec ago
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New Syria leader says plans to set up transitional justice committee

New Syria leader says plans to set up transitional justice committee
  • The national dialogue conference marks the start of a crucial phase for the country’s future governance

DAMASCUS: Syria’s new interim president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, said he plans to establish a transitional justice committee, in a speech Tuesday after the opening of a national dialogue conference.
Sharaa, whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham toppled longtime president Bashar Assad in December, also emphasized the unity of Syria and the state’s “monopoly” on weapons.
The national dialogue conference, held in the presidential palace in Damascus, marks the start of a crucial phase for the country’s future governance after a devastating civil war.
“Over the past two months, we have worked on pursuing those who committed crimes against Syrians,” Sharaa told the gathering.
“We will work on forming a transitional justice body to restore people’s rights, ensure justice, and, God willing, bring criminals to justice.
“The unity of arms and their monopoly by the state is not a luxury but a duty and an obligation,” the interim leader said.
“Syria is indivisible; it is a complete whole, and its strength lies in its unity.”
Hundreds of people were seen arriving for the conference in footage published by the official SANA news agency, before discussions got underway.


Israeli army says reports of targets in Golan heights based on false identification

Israeli army says reports of targets in Golan heights based on false identification
Updated 25 February 2025
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Israeli army says reports of targets in Golan heights based on false identification

Israeli army says reports of targets in Golan heights based on false identification

DUBAI: ‘The Israeli army said on Tuesday an earlier report of suspected aerial targets in the Golan Heights was the result of false identification.
The army earlier said it had intercepted the suspected targets. It said the incident has ended and was under investigation.


Palestinians struggle to restart their lives in the ruins of Gaza

Palestinians struggle to restart their lives in the ruins of Gaza
Updated 25 February 2025
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Palestinians struggle to restart their lives in the ruins of Gaza

Palestinians struggle to restart their lives in the ruins of Gaza
  • Nearly 600,000 Palestinians flooded back into northern Gaza under the now month-old ceasefire in Gaza
  • The six-week ceasefire is due to end Saturday, and it is uncertain what will happen next

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip: When night falls over northern Gaza, much of the cityscape of collapsed buildings and piled wreckage turns pitch black. Living inside the ruins of their home, Rawya Tamboura’s young sons get afraid of the dark, so she turns on a flashlight and her phone’s light to comfort them, for as long as the batteries last.
Displaced for most of the 16-month-long war, Tamboura is back in her house. But it is still a frustrating shell of a life, she says: There is no running water, electricity, heat or services, and no tools to clear the rubble around them.
Nearly 600,000 Palestinians flooded back into northern Gaza under the now month-old ceasefire in Gaza, according to the United Nations. After initial relief and joy at being back at their homes – even if damaged or destroyed – they now face the reality of living in the wreckage for the foreseeable future.
“Some people wish the war had never ended, feeling it would have been better to be killed,” Tamboura said. “I don’t know what we’ll do long-term. My brain stopped planning for the future.”
The six-week ceasefire is due to end Saturday, and it’s uncertain what will happen next. There are efforts to extend the calm as the next phase is negotiated. If fighting erupts again, those who returned to the north could find themselves once again in the middle of it.
A massive rebuilding job has no way to start
A report last week by the World Bank, UN and European Union estimated it will cost some $53 billion to rebuild Gaza after entire neighborhoods were decimated by Israel’s bombardment and offensives against Hamas militants. At the moment, there is almost no capacity or funding to start significant rebuilding.
A priority is making Gaza immediately livable. Earlier in February, Hamas threatened to hold up hostage releases unless more tents and temporary shelters were allowed into Gaza. It then reversed and accelerated hostage releases after Israel agreed to let in mobile homes and construction equipment.
Humanitarian agencies have stepped up services, setting up free kitchens and water delivery stations, and distributing tents and tarps to hundreds of thousands across Gaza, according to the UN
President Donald Trump turned up the pressure by calling for the entire population of Gaza to be removed permanently so the US can take over the territory and redevelop it for others. Rejecting the proposal, Palestinians say they want help to rebuild for themselves.
Gaza City’s municipality started fixing some water lines and clearing rubble from streets, said a spokesperson, Asem Alnabih. But it lacks heavy equipment. Only a few of its 40 bulldozers and five dump trucks still work, he said. Gaza is filled with over 50 million tons of rubble that would take 100 trucks working at full capacity over 15 years to clear away, the UN estimates.
Families try to get by day by day
Tamboura’s house in the northern town of Beit Lahiya was destroyed by an airstrike early in the war, so she and her family lived in the nearby Indonesian Hospital, where she worked as a nurse.
After the ceasefire, they moved back into the only room in her house that was semi-intact. The ceiling is partially collapsed, the walls are cracked; the surviving fridge and sink are useless with no water or electricity. They stack their sheets and blankets in a corner.
Tamboura said her 12-year-old son lugs heavy containers of water twice a day from distribution stations. They also have to find firewood for cooking. The influx of aid means there is food in the markets and prices went down, but it remains expensive, she said.
With the Indonesian Hospital too damaged to function, Tamboura walks an hour each day to work at the Kamal Adwan Hospital. She charges her and her husband’s phones using the hospital generator.
Many of Tamboura’s relatives returned to find nothing left of their homes, so they live in tents on or next to the rubble that gets blown away by winter winds or flooded during rains, she said.
Asmaa Dwaima and her family returned to Gaza City but had to rent an apartment because their home in the Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood was destroyed. It was only weeks after returning that she went to visit their four-story house, now a pile of flattened and burned wreckage.
“I couldn’t come here because I was afraid. I had an image of my house in my mind – its beauty, and warmth. ... I was afraid to face this truth,” the 25-year-old dentist said. “They don’t just destroy stone, they are destroying us and our identity.”
Her family had to rebuild the house once before, when it was leveled by airstrikes during a round of fighting between Israel and Hamas in 2014, she said. For the time being, they have no means to rebuild now.
“We need to remove the rubble because we want to pull out clothes and some of our belongings,” she said. “We need heavy equipment … There are no bricks or other construction tools and, if available, it’s extremely expensive.”
Desperation is growing
Tess Ingram, a spokesperson with UNICEF who visited northern Gaza since the ceasefire, said the families she met are “grieving the lives that they used to live as they begin to rebuild.”
Their desperation, she said, “is becoming more intense.”
Huda Skaik, a 20-year-old student, is sharing a room with her three siblings and parents at her grandparents’ house in Gaza City. It’s an improvement from life in the tent camps of central Gaza where they were displaced for much of the war, she said. There, they had to live among strangers, and their tent was washed away by rain. At least here they have walls and are with family, she said.
Before the war interrupted, Skaik had just started studying English literature at Gaza’s Islamic University. She is now enrolled in online classes the university is organizing. But the Internet is feeble, and her electricity relies on solar panels that don’t always work.
“The worst part is that we’re just now grasping that we lost it all,” she said. “The destruction is massive, but I’m trying to remain positive.”