Saudi's MBS Issues RARE ULTIMATUM To U.S-Led West; Arab World Unites For Palestine, Blasts Israel
Saudi's MBS Issues RARE ULTIMATUM To U.S-Led West; Arab World Unites For Palestine, Blasts Israel
Source: TOI.in
Arab nations have intensified their demand for an immediate end to the Gaza war and recognition of Palestine. At a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Jordanian capital Amman, Saudi Arabia demanded a political solution to the Palestine issue. At least 31 people were killed and over 150 injured while on their way to receive food in the Gaza Strip. Israel had rejected allegations of its military firing on civilians, and shared a video accusing Hamas of attacking the people.
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Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
27 heading to aid site killed by Israeli forces, say Gaza officials
Israeli forces fired on people as they headed toward an aid distribution site in Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 27, Palestinian health officials and witnesses said, in the third such shooting in three days. The army said it fired 'near a few individual suspects' who left the designated route, approached its forces and ignored warning shots. The near-daily shootings have occurred after an Israeli and US-backed foundation established aid distribution points inside Israeli military zones, a system it says is designed to circumvent Hamas. The United Nations has rejected the new system, saying it doesn't address Gaza's mounting hunger crisis and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon. The Israeli military said it 'fired to drive away suspects." In a statement, army spokesperson Effie Defrin said "the numbers of casualties published by Hamas were exaggerated' but that the incident was being investigated. He said the army is not preventing Palestinians in Gaza from reaching aid in the distribution areas, but rather allowing it. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates the sites, says there has been no violence in or around them. On Tuesday, it acknowledged that the Israeli military was investigating whether civilians were wounded 'after moving beyond the designated safe corridor and into a closed military zone,' in an area that was 'well beyond our secure distribution site.' A spokesperson for the group said it was 'saddened to learn that a number of civilians were injured and killed after moving beyond the designated safe corridor." Gaza's roughly 2 million people are almost completely reliant on international aid because Israel's offensive has destroyed nearly all of Gaza's food production capabilities. Israel imposed a blockade on supplies into Gaza in March, and limited aid began to enter again late last month after pressure from allies and warnings of famine. Witnesses have said the shootings all occurred at the Flag Roundabout, around a kilometer (half-mile) from one of the GHF's distribution sites in the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah. The entire area is an Israeli military zone where journalists have no access outside of army-approved embeds. Yasser Abu Lubda, a 50-year-old displaced person from Rafah, said the shooting started around 4 a.m. Tuesday and he saw several people killed or wounded. Neima al-Aaraj, a woman from Khan Younis, said the Israeli fire was 'indiscriminate." She added that when she managed to reach the distribution site, there was no aid left. 'After the martyrs and wounded, I won't return,' she said. 'Either way we will die.' Rasha al-Nahal, another witness, said that 'there was gunfire from all directions.' She said she counted more than a dozen dead and several wounded along the road. When she reached the distribution site, she found there was no aid left, she said. She gathered pasta from the ground and salvaged rice from a bag that had been dropped and trampled upon. 'We'd rather die than deal with this," she said. "Death is more dignified than what's happening to us.' At least 27 people were killed early Tuesday, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Hisham Mhanna, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, confirmed the toll, saying its field hospital in Rafah received 184 wounded people, 19 of them declared dead on arrival, with eight others later dying of their wounds. The dead were transferred to Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis. Three children and two women were among the dead, according to Mohammed Saqr, head of nursing at the hospital. Hospital director Atef al-Hout said most of the patients had gunshot wounds. An Associated Press reporter who arrived at the Red Cross field hospital at around 6 a.m. saw wounded people being transferred to other hospitals by ambulance. Outside, people were returning from the aid hub, mostly empty-handed, while empty flour bags stained with blood lay on the ground. Jeremy Laurence, a spokesman for the UN human rights office, told reporters it also had information indicating that 27 people were killed. 'Palestinians have been presented the grimmest of choices: die from starvation or risk being killed while trying to access the meager food that is being made available through Israel's militarized humanitarian assistance mechanism,' Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it distributed 21 truckloads of food at the Rafah site on Tuesday, while its other two operational sites were closed. During a ceasefire earlier this year, around 600 aid trucks entered Gaza daily. The Israeli military, meanwhile, said three of its soldiers were killed in northern Gaza, in what appeared to be the deadliest attack on Israel's forces since it ended a ceasefire with Hamas in March. The military said the soldiers, all in their early 20s, died during combat on Monday, without providing details. Israeli media reported they were killed in an explosion in the Jabaliya area. Israel ended the latest ceasefire after Hamas refused to change the agreement to release more hostages sooner. Israeli strikes have killed thousands of Palestinians since then, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Israel says the new aid distribution system is designed to prevent Hamas from stealing aid. The UN says its own ability to deliver aid across Gaza has been hindered by Israeli restrictions, the breakdown of law and order and widespread looting, but that there's no evidence of systematic diversion of aid by Hamas. Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people hostage in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel that ignited the war. They are still holding 58 hostages, a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. The ministry is led by medical professionals but reports to the Hamas-run government. Its toll is seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts, though Israel has challenged its numbers. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. Around 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the Oct. 7 attack, including more than 400 during the fighting inside Gaza. Sirens sounded across Israel late Tuesday night. Israel's army said that two rockets were fired from Syria into open areas in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, marking the first time a strike's been launched toward Israel from Syrian territory since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad. A group calling itself the Mohammed Deif Brigades claimed the attack in a post on Telegram. Little is known about the group, which first surfaced on social media last month. Israel has been suspicious of the Islamist former insurgents who formed the new Syrian government and has launched hundreds of airstrikes on Syria and seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory since Assad's fall. Syrian state TV reported Israeli shelling hit the western countryside of Syria's Daraa province after the rocket launch. Israel's defense minister said it holds Syria's president responsible for every threat and firing towards Israel, and that a 'full response' will come as soon as possible.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Partial opening of Ganga bridge delights commuters
1 2 Varanasi: Wait is almost over for Ring Road to become operational as National Highway Authority of India has opened one side of the bridge on Ganga, a three-lane road for light vehicles. Daily commuters, who used to spend over two hours to reach their destination between Varanasi and Chandauli, will now complete the journey in half an hour. The second lane of the bridge will be complete by Dec, after which heavy vehicle movement will commence. Under package-II of Ring Road phase-II project, the 27km section, including a Rs 949-crore 1.8km six-lane bridge on Ganga, was proposed. "We have left no stone unturned to ensure at least one side of the bridge with a three-lane road became operational by Jun 1 and we succeeded in completion of western side of the three-lane road on the bridge and work is in progress on eastern side to complete the other three-lane road by Dec," Pankaj Kumar Mishra, NHAI's project director for Varanasi, told TOI on Monday. Except for the bridge, he said, most of the work of package-II was complete. Deadline to complete the bridge was extended repeatedly over past three years, due to which, pressure was mounting on the agency. "We not only made three lanes of western side of the bridge commutable but also opened it for light vehicles," said Mishra, adding that heavy vehicles were not allowed in order to keep traffic manageable as work is in progress on eastern portion. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Jülich: GEERS sucht 700 Testhörer für Hörgeräte ohne Zuzahlung GEERS Undo Allowing light vehicles has brought relief to thousands, reducing their travel time by up to two hours. "Next target is to finish the work by Dec 31 and make the bridge fully operational," said Mishra. The deadline for completion of the package was Feb 2022, but it kept extending for reasons ranging from a change in initial diagram of the bridge made after studying flood level to decision to increase length, time period as well as budget of the project. The height of the bridge is 30 metres to ensure movement was not affected during floods. Covid-induced lockdown, delay in shifting of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd pipeline, high tension wires and other utilities, long spells of flood in Ganga and delay in acquisition of land kept the package-II work incomplete. Commuters are advised to move with caution on this bridge, starting at Babhanpura in Sandaha area of Varanasi and ends at Sultanipur village in Chandauli, as work is still in progress. The dividers are being painted. Outer railing on the Ganga bridge is underway and might take up to a fortnight to complete. On the other lane, placing of girders and laying of asphalt is due. Bridge that crossed several delays The ring road project was announced in 2000 by then Atal Bihari Vajpayee govt but was given the green light only after BJP-led NDA govt returned to power at Centre in 2014. In 2015, NHAI launched phase-I of the project in the 16.55 km area between Harahua on NH-56 and Sandaha on NH-29. Phase-I was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Nov 2018. In Oct 2021, the Prime Minister inaugurated the ring road phase-II package-I connecting Varanasi-Allahabad (National Highway-2) and Varanasi-Lucknow (NH-56). Despite beginning with package-I and repeated extensions in deadline for completion, package-II of the project to connect NH-29 with NH-2 in Chandauli could not be completed. Six more months are sought by NHAI to fully operationalise ring road's package-II. Connecting districts & neighbouring states Thousands of vehicles travelling towards Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal from Kanpur, Prayagraj, Lucknow, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Ballia, Mau, Bhadohi, Mirzapur and Azamgarh will not need to enter the city. This will reduce significantly traffic load on roads leading to the city as well as the Mohansarai-Chandauli bypass.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Israel military says 2 projectiles crossed from Syria, fell in open spaces
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he held Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa responsible after the military said two projectiles launched from Syria on Tuesday. "We consider the president of Syria directly responsible for any threat and fire toward the State of Israel, and a full response will come soon," Katz said. Syria and Israel have recently engaged in direct talks to ease tensions, a significant development in relations between states that have been on opposite sides of conflict in the Middle East for decades. The Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement that reports of the launches towards the Israeli side "have not been verified yet," reiterating that Syria has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region, the state news agency SANA reported. However, it was not immediately clear who was responsible for the projectiles. "We believe that there are many parties that may seek to destabilize the region to achieve their own interests," the ministry added. The Israeli military earlier said that two projectiles crossed from Syria towards Israel and fell in open areas. Several Arab and Palestinian media outlets circulated a claim of responsibility from a little-known group named "Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades," an apparent reference to Hamas' military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024. Reuters could not independently verify the statement. The Israeli army shortly after said it attacked southern Syria with artillery fire following the projectiles that were launched on Israel. Syrian state media said Israel struck an area in the southern Daraa province, an attack the Syrian foreign ministry later said resulted in "significant human and material losses." Local residents said Israeli mortars were striking the Wadi Yarmouk area, west of Daraa province, near the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The area has witnessed increased tensions in recent weeks, including reported Israeli military incursions into nearby villages, where residents have reportedly been barred from sowing their crops. Israel has waged a campaign of aerial bombardment that destroyed much of the country's military infrastructure that intensified under the new leadership. It also has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and taken more territory in the aftermath of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December, citing lingering concerns over the extremist past of the country's new rulers. Around the same time that Israel reported the projectiles from Syria, the military said it intercepted a missile from Yemen. Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said they targeted Israel's Jaffa with a ballistic missile. The group has been launching attacks against Israel in what they say is in support of Palestinians during the Israeli war in Gaza.
