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Israel Kills a Hamas Leader in West Bank, Suspected Hezbollah Member in Lebanon

Israel Kills a Hamas Leader in West Bank, Suspected Hezbollah Member in Lebanon

Asharq Al-Awsat04-03-2025
Hamas mourned the death of Aysar al-Saadi, a senior commander in its al-Qassam Brigades, who was killed Tuesday by an Israeli airstrike in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
Israel has been waging a major military operation in the northern West Bank for over a month. Hamas accused Israel of resorting to aerial bombardments due to its military failures on the ground.
'This new crime will not stop the growing wave of Palestinian resistance,' Hamas said in a statement.
Al-Saadi, who had survived multiple assassination attempts, was targeted amid intense armed clashes between Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces in Jenin, according to the militant group.
In Lebanon, an Israeli drone strike in the country's South killed one person, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Local media outlets said the victim of the strike was a member of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force.
Israel has killed several Hezbollah officials in drone strikes in different parts of Lebanon since the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war ended in late November.
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A Record 383 Aid Workers Were Killed in Global Hotspots in 2024, Nearly Half in Gaza, UN Says
A Record 383 Aid Workers Were Killed in Global Hotspots in 2024, Nearly Half in Gaza, UN Says

Asharq Al-Awsat

time4 hours ago

  • Asharq Al-Awsat

A Record 383 Aid Workers Were Killed in Global Hotspots in 2024, Nearly Half in Gaza, UN Says

A record 383 aid workers were killed in global hotspots in 2024, nearly half of them in Gaza during the war between Israel and Hamas, the UN humanitarian office said Tuesday on the annual day honoring the thousands of people who step into crises to help others. UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said the record number of killings must be a wake-up call to protect civilians caught in conflict and all those trying to help them. 'Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy,' Fletcher said in a statement on World Humanitarian Day. 'As the humanitarian community, we demand — again — that those with power and influence act for humanity, protect civilians and aid workers and hold perpetrators to account.' The Aid Worker Security Database, which has compiled reports since 1997, said the number of killings rose from 293 in 2023 to 383 in 2024, including over 180 in Gaza. Most of the aid workers killed were national staff serving their communities who were attacked while on the job or in their homes, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA. So far this year, the figures show no sign of a reversal of the upward trend, OCHA said. There were 599 major attacks affecting aid workers last year, a sharp increase from 420 in 2023, the database's figures show. The attacks in 2024 also wounded 308 aid workers and saw 125 kidnapped and 45 detained. There have been 245 major attacks in the past seven plus months, and 265 aid workers have been killed, according to the database. One of the deadliest and most horrifying attacks this year took place in the southern Gaza city of Rafah when Israeli troops opened fire before dawn on March 23, killing 15 medics and emergency responders in clearly marked vehicles. Troops bulldozed over the bodies along with their mangled vehicles, burying them in a mass grave. UN and rescue workers were only able to reach the site a week later. 'Even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us and on the people we serve,' the UN's Fletcher said. 'Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end.' According to the database, violence against aid workers increased in 21 countries in 2024 compared with the previous year, with government forces and affiliates the most common perpetrators. The highest number of major attacks last year were in the Palestinian territories with 194, followed by Sudan with 64, South Sudan with 47, Nigeria with 31 and Congo with 27, the database reported. As for killings, Sudan, where civil war is still raging, was second to Gaza and the West Bank with 60 aid workers losing their lives in 2024. That was more than double the 25 aid worker deaths in 2023. Lebanon, where Israel and Hezbollah fought a war last year, saw 20 aid workers killed compared with none in 2023. Ethiopia and Syria each had 14 killings, about double the number in 2023, and Ukraine had 13 aid workers killed in 2024, up from 6 in 2023, according to the database.

A record 383 aid workers were killed in global hotspots in 2024, nearly half in Gaza, UN says
A record 383 aid workers were killed in global hotspots in 2024, nearly half in Gaza, UN says

Arab News

time4 hours ago

  • Arab News

A record 383 aid workers were killed in global hotspots in 2024, nearly half in Gaza, UN says

UNITED NATIONS: A record 383 aid workers were killed in global hotspots in 2024, nearly half of them in Gaza during the war between Israel and Hamas, the UN humanitarian office said Tuesday on the annual day honoring the thousands of people who step into crises to help others. UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said the record number of killings must be a wake-up call to protect civilians caught in conflict and all those trying to help them. 'Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy,' Fletcher said in a statement on World Humanitarian Day. 'As the humanitarian community, we demand – again – that those with power and influence act for humanity, protect civilians and aid workers and hold perpetrators to account.' The Aid Worker Security Database, which has compiled reports since 1997, said the number of killings rose from 293 in 2023 to 383 in 2024, including over 180 in Gaza. Most of the aid workers killed were national staff serving their communities who were attacked while on the job or in their homes, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA. So far this year, the figures show no sign of a reversal of the upward trend, OCHA said. There were 599 major attacks affecting aid workers last year, a sharp increase from the 420 in 2023, the database's figures show. The attacks in 2024 also wounded 308 aid workers and saw 125 kidnapped and 45 detained. There have been 245 major attacks in the past seven plus months, and 265 aid workers have been killed, according to the database. One of the deadliest and most horrifying attacks this year took place in the southern Gaza city of Rafah when Israeli troops opened fire before dawn on March 23, killing 15 medics and emergency responders in clearly marked vehicles. Troops bulldozed over the bodies along with their mangled vehicles, burying them in a mass grave. UN and rescue workers were only able to reach the site a week later. 'Even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us and on the people we serve,' the UN's Fletcher said. 'Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end.' According to the database, violence against aid workers increased in 21 countries in 2024 compared with the previous year, with government forces and affiliates the most common perpetrators. The highest number of major attacks last year were in the Palestinian territories with 194, followed by Sudan with 64, South Sudan with 47, Nigeria with 31 and Congo with 27, the database reported. As for killings, Sudan, where civil war is still raging, was second to Gaza and the West Bank with 60 aid workers losing their lives in 2024. That was more than double the 25 aid worker deaths in 2023. Lebanon, where Israel and Hezbollah militants fought a war last year, saw 20 aid workers killed compared with none in 2023. Ethiopia and Syria each had 14 killings, about double the number in 2023, and Ukraine had 13 aid workers killed in 2024, up from 6 in 2023, according to the database.

Norway wealth fund excludes six companies linked to West Bank, Gaza
Norway wealth fund excludes six companies linked to West Bank, Gaza

Arab News

time13 hours ago

  • Arab News

Norway wealth fund excludes six companies linked to West Bank, Gaza

OSLO/COPENHAGEN: Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, said on Monday it had decided to exclude another six companies with connections to the West Bank and Gaza from its portfolio, following an ethics review of its Israeli $2 trillion wealth fund did not name the companies it had decided to exclude but said these would be made public, along with specific reasons for each company, once the divestments were possibility could be that among them are Israel's five largest banks, which have been under review by the fund's ethical latest exclusions bring to 23 the number of Israeli companies the fund has been divesting from since June 30. That number may rise.'More companies could be excluded,' Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg told the fund holds stakes in 38 Israeli companies, totalling 19 billion crowns ($1.9 billion) in investments, down from 61 companies totalling 23 billion crowns, as of June 30, the fund's operator, Norges Bank Investment Management, said in a letter dated latest announcement follows an urgent review launched this month after reports that the fund had built a stake in an Israeli jet engine group that provides services to Israel's armed forces, including the maintenance of fighter reports spurred a fresh debate about the fund's investments in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories ahead of elections on Sept. 8, with some parties calling for the fund to divest from all Israeli companies, a step the government has ruled parliament in June rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.'This debate helps sharpen our practices,' said say only a complete withdrawal from investing in Israeli companies would protect the fund against possible ethical said that, from now on, the ethics watchdog and NBIM would have more frequent and faster exchanges of information between them to identify problematic companies exclusions from the fund are based on recommendations from the fund's watchdog, though NBIM can also divest from companies if it assesses that a company can pose too much of a risk to the fund, whether the risk is ethical or not.'With more exchanges of information between the Council on Ethics and Norges Bank, it is possible that there could be more divestments of that kind in future,' said Monday, the fund announced it was terminating contracts with all three of its external asset managers who handled some of its Israeli investments.

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