20 Palestinians waiting for aid distribution killed by Israel fire: Hamas affiliated media
At least 20 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as they waited for aid distribution in the Rafah area, Hamas-affiliated media said on Tuesday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
27 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Trump's travel ban has come full circle
All the build-up around immigration in the last 100 days of the second Donald Trump administration has now culminated in the US President's decision to sign an executive order banning the entry of citizens from 12 countries into the US. These countries are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Trump's executive order lists seven additional countries — Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela — for partial restriction of the entry of nationals. The travel ban, in some ways, overlaps with the one in 2017, which the Joe Biden administration eventually reversed. The renewed ban has new facets. New additions to the list — such as Afghanistan, Myanmar, Republic of the Congo, Haiti, and Turkmenistan — suggest that Trump has focused on entry restrictions on people from regions engulfed in conflict or those reeling from the impact of past ones. This slight shift from the last ban (seen as a 'Muslim' ban) has both security and legal considerations. Trump has invoked national security, counterterrorism, and public safety provisions to justify it. Specifically, Trump has based his decision on Executive Order 14161, signed on January 20: Protecting the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats. It says that the administration 'must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists or other threats to our national security.' The legal basis for the ban appears to be stronger than the last one. It is expected to withstand legal scrutiny because entry restrictions have now been tied to the broader spectrum of illegal immigration, national security, rising gang violence, visa overstay, the possibility of conflict in other countries reaching the shores of the US, and the alleged rise of antisemitism. In what could turn out to be a strong precedent in this case, the US Supreme Court had upheld Trump's travel ban in 2018. Although this move was in the pipeline for months, the recent attack in Boulder, Colorado by an Egyptian immigrant on a group of people protesting for the release of the hostages taken by Hamas, may have hastened the decision. Trump's decision to take action against the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, along with deportations of illegal immigrants with criminal records to high-security prisons in other countries such as El Salvador, also reflects his urgency to revise the socio-political milieu of the US. Trump has referred to Europe as a case in point and how marked changes have ensued in the continent in the last decade due to mass migration, especially from regions of conflict such as Syria. US Vice President J D Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference earlier this year exemplified this policy assertion, along with one to deviate from its historical relationship with Europe. It remains to be seen whether the policies of the second Trump administration are consolidated over successive presidencies or if they will be reversed in the next 30-odd months. Apart from the fact that much of the intended policy changes will be contested in US courts, the first serious test will be the midterm elections. Until then, an oversized executive is certainly redrawing the arc of American politics, both at home and abroad. For a nation built and strengthened by immigrants, some of the Trump administration's immigration and visa policies risk upending the American Dream for millions who look to the US with hope. A policy of bans could also undermine America's competitive edge in skilled labour and manufacturing — especially at a time when Trump is pushing for increased domestic manufacturing and onshoring. While it may be time to revisit some of America's longstanding immigration policies, Trump must be cautious not to compromise security for short-term economic gains, particularly by overlooking states that openly sponsor terrorism, such as Pakistan. The writer is Visiting Fellow, ORF America and Deputy Director, Strategic Studies Programme, ORF
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
35 minutes ago
- First Post
Explained: Is a genocide unfolding in Gaza?
Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack, has killed over 50,500 people, mostly civilians. While Israel maintains it has acted in 'self defence', rights groups, lawyers and some governments are describing the Benjamin Netanyahu-led country's actions as a 'genocide'. What is a genocide, and who can declare one? read more Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, as the Israel-Gaza conflict continues, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, December 4, 2024. File image/Reuters Rights groups, lawyers and some governments are describing the Gaza war as 'genocide' and calling for a ceasefire but Israel, created in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust of Jews, vehemently rejects the explosive term. Israel says it is seeking to wipe out Gaza's Islamist rulers and free its hostages still held in the occupied Palestinian coastal strip since the Hamas militant attack in Israel on October 7, 2023. But Israel's devastating war on Gaza – largely populated by descendants of Palestinian refugees who were expelled from or fled what became Israeli land in 1948 – has killed tens of thousands of civilians and sparked growing global outrage. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The accusation against Israel of genocide has been made with increasing force from quarters ranging from 'Schindler's List' star Ralph Fiennes to Amnesty International and some Israeli historians. What does the legal term really mean and who can decide whether it applies? What is 'genocide'? The word genocide – derived from the Greek word 'genos', for race or tribe, and 'cide', from the Latin for 'to kill' – was coined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin. Lemkin, a Polish Jew who had fled to the United States, used it to describe the crimes committed by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. It was used for the first time within a legal framework by an international military tribunal at Nuremberg to try Nazi leaders for their crimes in 1945. However, those accused were eventually convicted on charges of crimes against humanity. Jewish children were kept alive in Germany's Auschwitz for use in medical experiments. Image courtesy: It has been recognised within international law since 1948 and the advent of the UN Genocide Convention. That text defines genocide as any of five 'acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group'. These five acts include killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births and forcibly transferring children out of the group. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Regardless of the definition, the qualification of 'genocide' has been hugely sensitive over the decades. What is happening in Gaza? Israel's military offensive on Gaza since October 2023 has killed 54,510 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the occupied Palestinian territory. The United Nations said on May 30 that the territory's entire population of more than two million people was at risk of famine, even if Israel said earlier that month it was partially easing the complete blockade on aid it imposed on Gaza on March 2. Palestinian people with empty bowls wait for food at a donation point in Rafah. The widespread hunger and malnutrition in Gaza is catastrophic, UN has said. (Photo: NPR) Despite international calls for an end to the war, a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas remains elusive. The latest war started after Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Of the 251 hostages seized, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says, are dead. Who speaks of 'genocide' in Gaza? In December 2023, South Africa brought a case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations' highest judicial organ, alleging that Israel's Gaza offensive breached the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Israel denies the accusation. In rulings in January, March and May 2024, the ICJ told Israel to do everything possible to 'prevent' acts of genocide during its military operations in Gaza, including urgently to facilitate humanitarian aid to prevent famine. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD While no court has so far ruled that the ongoing conflict is a genocide, human rights groups and international law experts – including several who are Israeli – have used the term to describe it. Amnesty International has accused Israel of carrying out a 'live-streamed genocide' in Gaza, while Human Rights Watch has alleged it is responsible for 'acts of genocide'. Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in Israeli airstrikes on a medical center in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 15, 2025. AP A UN committee in November found Israel's warfare in Gaza was 'consistent with the characteristics of genocide'. And a UN investigation concluded in March that Israel carried out 'genocidal acts' in Gaza through the destruction of the strip's main IVF clinic and other reproductive healthcare facilities. Omer Bartov, an Israeli scholar of the Holocaust, wrote in August last year that 'Israel was engaged in systematic war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocidal actions'. Fellow Israeli historians Amos Goldberg and Daniel Blatman, in January, co-wrote an article in which they said: 'Israel is indeed committing genocide in Gaza.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Western governments have largely refrained from using the word, with France's President Emmanuel Macron saying it was not up to a 'political leader to use to term but up to historians to do so when the time comes'. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used it, as has Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. What does Israel say? Israel alleges it is exercising its right to security and 'self defence', an argument echoed by its staunch ally, the United States. Israel has dismissed accusations of genocide as 'blatant lies' and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the UN Human Rights Council of being 'an antisemitic, corrupt, terror-supporting and irrelevant body'. He has said UN experts should instead focus on 'crimes against humanity and the war crimes committed by the Hamas terrorist organisation in the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust', referring to October 7. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in November issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant over allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Israel's war in Gaza – including starvation as a method of warfare. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. File image/ Reuters It also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif over allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the October 7 attack, but the case against him was dropped in February after confirmation of his death. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan also initially sought warrants against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh but dropped those applications because they had been killed in Israeli attacks. Who decides and when? Thijs Bouwknegt, a genocide expert based in the Netherlands, said the Israeli policy in Gaza seemed to be 'designed to make a civilian population either perish or leave' but a court would have to decide if it was genocide. 'It bears the hallmarks of it, but we still have to wait and see whether it actually was,' he said. In the case of Rwanda, in which the United Nations said extremist Hutus killed some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994, it took a decade for an international tribunal to conclude genocide had happened. It was not until 2007 that the ICJ recognised as genocide the murder by Bosnian Serb forces of almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995 during the Bosnian war. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'The threshold for genocide is nearly impossible to meet,' Bouwknegt explained. 'You have to prove that there was an intent and that there was the only possible explanation for what happened.' Has there been an intent? French-Israeli lawyer Omer Shatz said, 'there is no doubt that war crimes, crimes against humanity are being committed' in Gaza. But he agreed intent was more difficult to prove. Israeli military patrols near the Al Shifa Hospital compound in Gaza City during ground operation against Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip on November 22, 2023. File Photo/ Reuters That is why, after the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Gallant, he filed a report with the court in December arguing they were among eight Israeli officials responsible for 'incitement to genocide in Gaza'. 'If incitement is established, that establishes intent,' he told AFP. His 170-page report lists such alleged incitements, including Gallant at the start of the war saying Israel was fighting 'human animals' in Gaza and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urging 'total extermination' in the Palestinian territory. It cites President Isaac Herzog failing to differentiate between Palestinian militants and civilians when he spoke of 'an entire nation out there that is responsible' for the October 7 attack. Mathilde Philip-Gay, an international law expert, said it was ultimately up to a judge to decide on whether the genocide label applied. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But, she warned: 'International law cannot stop a war.' 'The judiciary will intervene after the war. The qualification (of genocide) is very important for victims but it will come later,' she said. What now? The 1948 Genocide Convention says signatories can call on UN organs 'to take such action… for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide'. But while it implies they should act to stop any such crime from occurring, it does not detail how. Activists have called for an arms embargo and sanctions against Israel. The European Union last month ordered a review of its cooperation deal with Israel and Britain halted trade talks with the government. But the United States and Germany, two major weapons suppliers, are not likely to want to review their relationship with Israel. With inputs from AFP
Hindustan Times
44 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Who were Judi Weinstein and Gadi Haggai? Bodies of US-Israeli couple recovered from Gaza Strip
The bodies of two elderly US-Israeli hostages have been recovered during a 'special operation' conducted by Israel's internal security agency, Shin Bet, and Israeli troops, in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. Judi Weinstein, 70, and Gadi Haggai, 73, were abducted by Hamas during its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. A year ago, they were confirmed to have been killed in captivity. 'Together with all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I extend our heartfelt condolences to the dear families. Our hearts ache for the most terrible loss. May their memory be blessed,' Netanyahu announced on X. 'The heart grieves for the most terrible loss. May their memory be blessed,' he added, thanking the 'fighters and commanders' for the 'successful execution' of bringing their remains home. He also vowed to 'not rest or be silent until we bring all our captives home — the living and the dead alike.'
