Israel army says 2 projectiles launched from Gaza after air raid sirens sound
JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said two projectiles were launched from the Gaza Strip on Sunday, shortly after it announced it had commenced 'extensive ground operations' across the besieged Palestinian territory.'Following the sirens that sounded in Kissufim, two projectiles were identified crossing into Israel from the central Gaza Strip,' the army said, adding one was intercepted and the other fell in an open area.
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Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
PM Sharif urges nation to remember Palestinians as Pakistan marks Eid Al-Adha
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday urged the nation to remember the people of Palestine suffering 'ruthless' occupation at the hands of Israel, state-run media reported, as millions of Pakistanis celebrated Eid Al-Adha. Eid Al-Adha is one of the two most important festivals of the Islamic calendar. Muslims mark the Eid Al-Adha holiday by slaughtering animals such as sheep and goats, and the meat is shared among family and friends and donated to the poor. The day began with Sharif and senior officials across the country offering Eid Al-Adha prayers in mosques and praying for Pakistan's progress and prosperity. 'He [Sharif] said today, we must especially remember our Palestinian brothers and sisters who are enduring ruthless and inhumane oppression and hunger,' state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. The Pakistani premier's message comes as the Israeli military presses on with its intensified military campaign in Gaza, issuing an evacuation order for residents of parts of the city on Friday as the Middle East celebrated Eid Al-Adha. The Pakistani prime minister also urged the masses to remember the people in Indian-administered Kashmir, saying that they were involved in a 'just and courageous' struggle for their right to self-determination for decades. In his message to the nation, President Asif Ali Zardari said there was a pressing need to support the underprivileged and marginalized segments of our society. 'Asif Ali Zardari said as a nation, we must support each other, share in each other's sorrows, and work together to build a prosperous and great Pakistan,' Radio Pakistan reported. Pakistan Army's military leadership paid tribute to the 'unwavering resilience' of the Pakistani nation, recognizing the sacrifices of the armed forces, law enforcement agencies, and citizens who continue to uphold the security of the country. 'The Pakistan Armed Forces stand resolutely with the people, united in purpose and steadfast in their sacred duty to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country,' the Inter-Services Public Relations, the military's media wing, said.
Al Arabiya
6 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Israel admits to supporting anti-Hamas armed group in Gaza
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Israel is supporting an armed group in Gaza that opposes the militant group Hamas, following comments by a former minister that Israel had transferred weapons to it. Israeli and Palestinian media have reported that the group Israel has been working with is part of a local Bedouin tribe led by Yasser Abu Shabab. The European Council on Foreign Relations (EFCR) think tank describes Abu Shabab as the leader of a 'criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks.' Knesset member and ex-defense minister Avigdor Liberman had told the Kan public broadcaster that the government, at Netanyahu's direction, was 'giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons.' 'What did Liberman leak? That security sources activated a clan in Gaza that opposes Hamas? What is bad about that?' Netanyahu said in a video posted to social media on Thursday. 'It is only good, it is saving lives of Israeli soldiers.' Michael Milshtein, an expert on Palestinian affairs at the Moshe Dayan Center in Tel Aviv, told AFP that the Abu Shabab clan was part of a Bedouin tribe that spans across the border between Gaza and Egypt's Sinai peninsula. Some of the tribe's members, he said, were involved in 'all kinds of criminal activities, drug smuggling, and things like that.' Army spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin on Friday confirmed the military supported arming local militias in Gaza but remained tight-lipped on the details. 'I can say that we are operating in various ways against Hamas governance,' Defrin said during a televised press conference when questioned on the subject, without elaborating further. 'Gangster' Milshtein said that Abu Shabab had spent time in prison in Gaza and that his clan chiefs had recently denounced him as an Israeli 'collaborator and a gangster.' 'It seems that actually the Shabak (Israeli security agency) or the (military) thought it was a wonderful idea to turn this militia, gang actually, into a proxy, to give them weapons and money and shelter' from army operations, Milshtein said. He added that Hamas killed four members of the gang days ago. The ECFR said Abu Shabab was 'reported to have been previously jailed by Hamas for drug smuggling. His brother is said to have been killed by Hamas during a crackdown against the group's attacks on UN aid convoys.' Israel regularly accuses Hamas, with which it has been at war for nearly 20 months, of looting aid convoys in Gaza. Hamas said the group had 'chosen betrayal and theft as their path' and called on civilians to oppose them. Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, said it had evidence of 'clear coordination between these looting gangs, collaborators with the occupation (Israel), and the enemy army itself in the looting of aid and the fabrication of humanitarian crises that deepen the suffering of' Palestinians. The Popular Forces, as Abu Shabab's group calls itself, said on Facebook it had 'never been, and will never be, a tool of the occupation.' 'Our weapons are simple, outdated and came through the support of our own people,' it added. Milshtein called Israel's decision to arm a group such as Abu Shabab 'a fantasy, not something that you can really describe as a strategy.' 'I really hope it will not end with catastrophe,' he said.
Al Arabiya
7 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Israel army announces four soldiers killed in Gaza, thousands more troops needed
Israel's military announced Friday the deaths of four soldiers in Gaza, saying it needed thousands more troops to press its offensive, just as the premier's coalition faces the prospect of collapse over ultra-Orthodox conscription. News of the soldiers' deaths came as Gaza's civil defense agency reported 38 killed Friday in Israeli attacks across the territory, where Palestinians observed the Eid al-Adha holiday under the shadow of war for a second consecutive year. Military spokesman Effie Defrin said the four soldiers were killed as they 'were operating in the Khan Yunis area, in a compound belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization.' 'Around six in the morning, an explosive device detonated, causing part of the structure to collapse,' he said, adding that five other soldiers were wounded, one of them severely. 'The losses suffered today by the occupation in Khan Younis... illustrate what the occupation forces will face wherever they are present,' said a statement attributed to Abu Obeida, spokesman for the armed of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, while urging the Israeli public to 'force its leaders to end the war of extermination or prepare to receive more of its sons in coffins.' The deaths bring to 429 the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza since the start of the ground offensive in late October 2023. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his condolences to the soldiers' families, saying they 'sacrificed their lives for the safety of all of us.' Israel recently stepped up its Gaza campaign in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack sparked the war. Conscription row Asked by a reporter about the issue of ultra-Orthodox conscription, which has emerged as a thorn in the side of Netanyahu's government, Defrin said 'this is the need of the moment, an operational necessity.' The army was short around 10,000 soldiers, he added, including about 6,000 in combat roles, adding that 'tens of thousands more notices will be issued in the upcoming draft cycle.' The conscription issue has threatened to sink Netanyahu's government, with ultra-Orthodox religious parties warning they will pull out of his coalition if Netanyahu fails to make good on a promise to codify the military exemption for their community in law. At the same time, much of the public has turned against the exemption amid the increasing strain put on reservists' families by repeated call-up orders during the war. In April, a military representative told a parliamentary committee that of 18,000 draft notices sent to ultra-Orthodox individuals, only 232 received a positive response. Netanyahu's office announced shortly after 1:00 am on Friday that he had met with a lawmaker from his Likud party who has recently pushed for a bill aimed at increasing the ultra-Orthodox enlistment and toughening sanctions on those who refuse. The premier's office said 'significant progress was made,' with 'unresolved issues' to be ironed out later. Netanyahu also faced scrutiny after he admitted to supporting an armed group in Gaza that opposes Hamas. Knesset member and ex-defense minister Avigdor Liberman had told the Kan public broadcaster that the government, at Netanyahu's direction, was 'giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons.' The European Council on Foreign Relations think tank describes the group a 'criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks.' 'He wears a white shroud' The humanitarian situation in Gaza, meanwhile, has reached dire lows, with residents enduring severe shortages of food and other essentials, even after a more than two-month Israeli blockade on aid was recently eased. The shortages have made it all but impossible for many Gazans to celebrate Eid al-Adha, which fell on Friday and is traditionally marked with huge family meals and gifts of new clothes. Suad al-Qarra told AFP from Nasser Hospital on Friday that her son never got a chance to wear his new clothes. 'He went to get dressed and there was an explosion,' she said, her soft voice breaking. 'I took him to the hospital and (they) found him dead.' 'They took the children from us,' she continued. 'I bought him Eid clothes yesterday and he didn't wear them, instead he wears a white shroud.' In the Muslim faith, Eid commemorates the sacrifice Ibrahim -- known to Christians and Jews as Abraham -- was about to make by killing his son, before the angel Gabriel intervened and offered him a sheep to sacrifice instead. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday's strikes. Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. According to the Gaza health ministry, at least 4,402 people have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18 after a brief truce, taking the war's overall toll to 54,677, mostly civilians.
