Mourners pray, victims taken to hospital after Israel kills at least 27 people near Gaza aid site
Palestinian health officials and witnesses say Israeli forces fired on people as they headed toward an aid distribution site on Tuesday, killing at least 27, in the third such incident in three days. AP Production by Wafaa Shurafa
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Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Held at gunpoint: BBC team detained by Israeli forces in southern Syria
On the morning of 9 May, I was part of a BBC Arabic team which left the Syrian capital, Damascus, for the southern province of Deraa. From there we planned to go to the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. We wanted to get close to the Syrian territory that has been seized by the Israeli military since December, when Israel's prime minister said it was taking control indefinitely of a demilitarised buffer zone and neighbouring areas following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. We were a team of seven - myself (a British citizen), two Iraqi BBC staff, and four Syrians - three freelancers and one BBC cameraman. Israel says it struck near Syria palace over violence in Druze areas First Druze crossing in 50 years as Israel courts allies in Syria Israeli strikes in Syria a challenge to Turkey We were filming near one of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) observation posts, close to the town of al-Rafeed, when an official from the UN told us that the Israeli side had inquired about our identity and had been informed that we were a BBC crew. We next drove north towards Quneitra city, which has been located inside the buffer zone since a 1974 disengagement agreement between Syria and Israel, which captured the Golan during the 1967 Middle East war. About 200m (660ft) away from the city, an unguarded checkpoint blocked the road. To the side of the checkpoint we spotted Merkava tanks, one of which was flying an Israeli flag. From a nearby tower, two Israeli soldiers were watching us - one of them through binoculars - and my colleague held his BBC ID up for them to see. The BBC has complained to the Israeli military about what happened next to my team, but it has not yet received a response. A minute after we started filming in the area, a white car approached from the other side of the checkpoint. Four Israeli soldiers got out of the car and surrounded us. They pointed their rifles at our heads and ordered us to place the camera on the side of the road. I tried to explain that we were a BBC crew, but things escalated unexpectedly quickly. I was able to send a message to my BBC colleagues in London saying that we had been stopped by the Israeli military before our phones and all equipment were confiscated, more Israeli soldiers arrived in a Humvee military vehicle, and our car was thoroughly searched. The soldiers escorted us through a barrier into the city of Quneitra and stopped at the crossing point that separates Quneitra from the occupied Golan. There, the soldiers began reviewing the footage as we sat in our car, while one pointed his rifle at my head from metres away. After more than two hours, one of the soldiers asked me to step out of the car and speak on a mobile phone. I didn't know who the person on the line was. He spoke broken Arabic. He asked why we were filming Israeli military positions. I told him I was a British BBC journalist and explained to him the nature of our work. I returned to my car, and the rifle was again aimed at my head. After another hour of waiting, one more vehicle arrived. A group of security personnel got out of the car carrying blindfolds and plastic zip ties and asked me to step out first. The lead officer, who spoke fluent Palestinian Arabic dialect, took me by the hand towards one of the rooms at the crossing point which were previously used by the Syrian army. The floor was strewn with broken glass and rubbish. He told me that they would treat me differently - no handcuffs, nor blindfold - unlike the rest of my team. I was in shock. I asked why they were doing this when they knew we were a BBC crew. He said he wanted to help get us out quickly and that we had to comply with their instructions. Moments later, another officer entered and told me to take off all my clothes except my underwear. I initially refused, but they insisted, and threatened me, so I complied. He inspected even inside my underwear, both front and back, searched my clothes, then told me to put them back on and started interrogating me - including personal questions about my children and their ages. When they eventually let me out of the room, I witnessed the horrific scene of my team members, tied up and blindfolded. I pleaded to the officer to release them, and he promised to do so after the interrogations. They were taken one by one to the same room for strip search and questioning. They returned with their hands still bound but not blindfolded. The team's interrogation lasted more than two hours, during which all our phones and laptops were examined, and many photos - including personal ones - were deleted. The officer threatened us with worse consequences if we approached the frontier from the Syrian side again, and said that they know everything about us and would track us down if any hidden or un-deleted photo was ever published. About seven hours after our detention - it was past 21:00 - we were taken by two vehicles, one in front of our car and the other behind us, to a rural area about 2km (1.2 miles) outside Quneitra. There, the vehicles stopped and a bag containing our phones was thrown towards us before the vehicles left. Lost in the dark with no signal, no internet and no idea where we were, we kept driving until we reached a small village. A group of children pointed us to the highway, warning that a wrong turn could draw Israeli fire. Ten tense minutes later, we found the road. Forty-five minutes after that, we were in Damascus. Israel demands complete demilitarisation of southern Syria 'We just need peace': BBC speaks to Syrians watching Israel's incursion Israel seizes Golan buffer zone after Syrian troops leave positions
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
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Cal Poly building vandalized by pro-Palestinian activists; 2 suspects in custody
Cal Poly's Administration Building was vandalized by pro-Palestinian activists Wednesday afternoon. According to an email sent to the Cal Poly campus community from Cal Poly president Jeffrey Armstrong, a group of five individuals entered the university's Financial Aid and Student Accounts office in the Administration Building and spray-painted graffiti on walls, windows, furniture, computers, carpets and floors on Wednesday afternoon. 'Thankfully, no one was physically harmed in the incident, but it was traumatizing for numerous Cal Poly employees and students who were in the office at the time,' Armstrong's statement read. Cal Poly police arrived, causing the five individuals to flee the scene, though two suspects have been identified and are in custody for questioning, Armstrong said. In his statement, Armstrong said there is 'simply zero tolerance' for the individuals' behavior. 'Those participating in violence and criminal activity which endangers other s will be expelled (if they are students), arrested and held fully accountable,' Armstrong's statement read. 'Anyone who views this kind of shortsighted, disgusting and illegal activity as acceptable has no place at Cal Poly and will be rooted out.' Armstrong asked anyone with information related to the incident, including the identities of those responsible, photos, videos or otherwise, to contact the Cal Poly police at 805-756-2281.
Hamilton Spectator
30 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
New Zealand Parliament suspends 3 Māori Party lawmakers for haka protest
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand legislators voted Thursday to enact record suspensions from Parliament for three lawmakers who performed a Māori haka to protest a proposed law. Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke received a seven-day ban and the leaders of her political party, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, were barred for 21 days. Three days had been the longest ban for a lawmaker from New Zealand's Parliament before. The lawmakers from Te Pāti Māori, the Māori Party, performed the haka, a chanting dance of challenge , in November to oppose a widely unpopular bill, now defeated , that they said would reverse Indigenous rights. The protest drew global headlines and provoked months of fraught debate among lawmakers about what the consequences for the lawmakers' actions should be and the place of Māori culture in Parliament. Why the punishment was so strict A committee of the lawmakers' peers in April recommended the lengthy bans. It said the lawmakers were not being punished for the haka, but for striding across the floor of the debating chamber toward their opponents while doing it. Judith Collins, the committee chair, said the lawmakers' behavior was egregious, disruptive and potentially intimidating. Maipi-Clarke, 22, rejected that description Thursday, citing other instances when legislators have left their seats and approached opponents without sanction. The suspended legislators said they are being treated more harshly than others because they are Māori. 'I came into this house to give a voice to the voiceless. Is that the real issue here?' Maipi-Clarke asked Parliament. 'Is that the real intimidation here? Are our voices too loud for this house?' Why this haka was controversial Inside and outside Parliament, the haka has increasingly been welcomed as an important part of New Zealand life. The sacred chant can be a challenge to the viewer but is not violent. As Māori language and culture have become part of mainstream New Zealand in recent years, haka appear in a range of cultural, somber and celebratory settings. They also have rung out in Parliament to welcome the passage of high-profile laws. Some who decried the protest haka in Parliament cited its timing, with Maipi-Clarke beginning the chant as votes were being tallied and causing a brief suspension of proceedings. She has privately apologized for the disruption to Parliament's Speaker, she said Thursday. A few lawmakers urged their peers to consider rewriting rules about what lawmakers could do in Parliament to recognize Māori cultural protocols as accepted forms of protest. One cited changes to allow breastfeeding in the debating chamber as evidence the institution had amended rules before. Who approved the suspensions Normally the parliamentary committee that decides on punishments for errant lawmakers is in agreement on what should happen to them. But panel members were sharply divided over the haka protest and the lengthy punishments were advanced only because the government has more legislators in Parliament than the opposition. One party in the government bloc wanted even longer suspensions and had asked the committee if the Māori party lawmakers could be jailed. Most in opposition rejected any punishment beyond the one-day ban Maipi-Clarke already served. Speaker Gerry Brownlee urged lawmakers last month to negotiate a consensus and ordered a free-ranging debate that would continue until all agreed to put the sanctions to a vote. But no such accord was reached after hours of occasionally emotional speeches in which opposition lawmakers accused the government of undermining democracy by passing such a severe punishment on its opponents. While the bans were certain to pass, even as the debate began Thursday it remained unclear whether opposition lawmakers would filibuster to prevent the suspensions from reaching a vote. By evening, with no one's mind changed, all lawmakers agreed the debate should end. Every government lawmaker voted for the punishments, while all opposition members voted against them. The law that prompted the protest Thursday's debate capped a fraught episode for race relations in New Zealand, beginning with the controversial bill that the Māori Party lawmakers opposed. The measures would have rewritten principles in the country's founding document, a treaty between Māori tribal leaders and representatives of the British Crown signed at the time New Zealand was colonized. The bill's authors were chagrined by moves from Parliament and the courts in recent decades to enshrine the Treaty of Waitangi's promises. Opponents warned of constitutional crisis if the law was passed and tens of thousands of people marched to Parliament last November to oppose it. Despite growing recognition for the treaty, Māori remain disadvantaged on most social and economic metrics compared to non-Māori New Zealanders. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
