Latest news with #Israeli-designated
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Israeli-backed aid sites in Gaza close temporarily after deadly shootings
Advertisement Also on Wednesday, the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza because it was not linked to the release of hostages. The resolution before the UN's most powerful body also did not condemn Hamas' deadly attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which ignited the war, or say the militant group must disarm and withdraw from Gaza — two other US demands. The 14 other members of the 15-nation council voted in favor of the resolution, which described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as 'catastrophic' and called on Israel to lift all restrictions on the delivery of aid to the 2.1 million Palestinians in the territory. The pause in military operations in Gaza came after days in which dozens of Palestinians trying to reach one of the foundation's sites in the southern Gaza city of Rafah were killed after coming under fire, according to local health workers. Advertisement The circumstances of the episodes remain contested. On Tuesday, the Red Cross and Gaza health officials said that at least 27 people had been killed in the second large-scale deadly shooting in recent days. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said a number of civilians had been injured and killed in an area outside the site but did not provide a number. According to the Red Cross, 'The majority of cases suffered gunshot wounds. Again, all responsive patients said they were trying to reach an assistance distribution site.' The Israeli military said its forces had opened fire roughly a third of a mile from the distribution site after they identified 'several suspects moving toward them' and away from the Israeli-designated access route. After they failed to respond to warning shots, troops fired 'near a few individual suspects,' the military said. Brigadier General Effie Defrin, the Israeli military's chief spokesperson, later suggested that the casualty numbers from the incident were inflated but did not provide an alternate toll. He said the Israeli military was investigating. On Sunday, more than 20 Palestinians were killed near an aid site, according to Gaza health officials. An Israeli military official said troops had fired 'warning shots' toward Palestinians roughly a kilometer away, although the Israeli military formally denied shooting civilians 'near or within' the site. But the deadly episodes have further ensnarled the Israeli-backed aid effort, which has come under severe international criticism. Hamish Falconer, a British Foreign Office minister responsible for the Middle East, called for an 'immediate and independent investigation' into the mass casualty events and criticized the new aid system. 'Israel's newly introduced measures for aid delivery are inhumane, foster desperation, and endanger civilians,' he said in Parliament. Advertisement Hunger has become widespread in Gaza after an 80-day Israeli blockade on food, fuel, medicine, and other supplies. The Israeli government began relaxing those restrictions last month and allowed some aid to enter the enclave, much of which has been destroyed during the war. Israel has said that the new aid distribution system, with sites in areas secured by Israeli troops and overseen mainly by US contractors, would prevent the supplies from falling into the hands of Hamas. The United Nations, however, says there is no evidence that Hamas systematically diverted international aid under the previous UN-coordinated distribution framework. The UN and other aid groups have boycotted the initiative and have warned that it could endanger Palestinian civilians by forcing them to travel on foot through a war zone and past Israeli lines. The rollout of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been chaotic. Its executive director resigned hours before the initiative was set to begin operations, and Palestinians pushed through fences at one of the sites last week, prompting Israeli troops to fire warning shots. Huge crowds of hungry Palestinians have been arriving early each morning at the aid sites, often walking for miles in the predawn darkness. Palestinian witnesses have described a violent scramble for whatever boxes of food are available. The foundation has pushed back against much of the criticism, arguing that Hamas is trying to undermine the initiative. In a statement Tuesday, the foundation said more than 100,000 boxes of food had been allocated at the sites. Advertisement
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Netanyahu says Israel killed elusive Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar in recent Gaza strike
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that a recent airstrike killed Mohammed Sinwar, Hamas' elusive de facto leader in Gaza, the latest in a string of assassinations that have dealt a serious blow to the group's top brass but are yet to break its grip on power. Sinwar is the brother of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by the Israeli military in southern Gaza in October. Netanyahu made the announcement during a speech in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, as the country marked 600 days since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. CNN has reached out to Hamas for comment. 'We changed the face of the Middle East, we pushed the terrorists from our territories, we entered the Gaza Strip with force, we eliminated tens of thousands of terrorists, we eliminated (Mohammad) Deif, (Ismail) Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Sinwar,' he told lawmakers. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out a massive strike on the European Hospital in Khan Younis on May 13 — a day after Hamas released Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander. At the time, the IDF said it had struck 'Hamas terrorists in a command-and-control center' in underground infrastructure at the hospital. A senior Israeli official and two sources familiar with the matter told CNN at the time that the strike targeted Mohammed Sinwar. The strike killed several dozen people and wounded dozens more, the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said at the time. Hamas had rejected claims about Sinwar's death at the time, saying in a statement that only it is 'authorized to confirm or deny what is published.' Sinwar's death would deprive Hamas of an able and determined commander. But many analysts say it won't bring the end of the conflict any closer. It may even complicate negotiations with Israel if a new leader doesn't emerge and Hamas mediators are left without a Hamas interlocutor inside Gaza. Israeli officials considered Mohammed Sinwar just as hardline as his brother, Yahya, but much more experienced militarily. According to the IDF, he commanded the group's Khan Younis Brigade until 2016. Since the start of the war, he has remained largely hidden, along with many of Hamas' senior leaders in Gaza. In December 2023, the IDF released video of what it said was Mohammed Sinwar driving through a tunnel in Gaza. In February 2024, the IDF said it had located his office in western Khan Younis. Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Israel has destroyed Hamas' military capacity and ability to govern. To that end, Israel has gone after Hamas' top leaders in Gaza, and Sinwar is the latest target. In July, the IDF killed the group's military leader, Mohammed Deif, in a strike on an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in southern Gaza. Two weeks later, Israel assassinated Hamas' political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. Then, in October, Israeli forces killed Yahya Sinwar in Rafah in southern Gaza. His death left his younger brother, Mohammed, as the de facto leader of Hamas in Gaza, which put him squarely in Israel's crosshairs. Ever since his brother's death, Sinwar had been pre-eminent among the leaders of Hamas' military wing inside Gaza. He was intimately involved in the planning for Hamas' October 7 attacks, which saw more than 1,200 people in Israel killed and another roughly 250 taken hostage. A video of him in the tunnels purportedly leading towards Israeli territory surfaced several weeks after the attacks. By most accounts, Sinwar was ruthlessly determined to keep up the fight, despite the loss of thousands of fighters in Hamas military wing and the deepening suffering of Gaza's civilians, as well as sporadic street protests in Gaza against Hamas. Some commentators believe that Mohammed Sinwar lacked the broader authority enjoyed by Yahya. Haaretz security analyst Amos Harel writes that he shared 'leadership responsibilities in Gaza with Az al-Din al-Haddad, a commander whose power base lies in the north of the Strip.' Muhammad Shehada at the European Council on Foreign Relations says his death would complicate the negotiation process as Hamas reorganizes a shrinking leadership within Gaza. Without those leaders, he says, Hamas becomes more de-centralized and a ceasefire is more difficult to enforce. Avi Issacharoff, a commentator with media outlet Ynet, says if Sinwar is dead 'it may open the door for more pragmatic voices within Hamas' leadership, such as Khalil al-Hayya and others currently involved in negotiations with Qatar and the Americans.' The balance between that leadership and its negotiators abroad has always been hard to assess, but Shehada says the Hamas negotiators 'perfectly represent the movement' and had already made countless concessions on a much-diminished post-conflict role, including allowing an international peacekeeping force and giving up governance. 'They are at their most lenient now' in the face of an Israeli government that is not prepared to negotiate beyond a temporary ceasefire, says Shehada. There is plentiful evidence that Mohammed Sinwar was as hardline as his brother, perhaps even more so. In a rare interview with Al Jazeera in 2021, Sinwar said: 'We know how to identify the pain points of the occupation, how to pressure it.' He was speaking after Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) launched more than 4,000 rockets toward Israel. Speaking in silhouette, Sinwar spoke of expanding Hamas' ambitions. 'Tel Aviv has been placed on the table since the first day of the battle… Striking Tel Aviv is easier than taking a sip of water.' By the time he was killed he had accumulated 30 years of military experience. Sinwar was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in 1975 and was first arrested for militant activities as a teenager. He became the leader of Hamas' Khan Younis brigade and is said to have played a key role in the Hamas operation that captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006, according to the Counter Extremism Project, and in insisting on his brother's release from an Israeli prison in return for Shalit's freedom. Muhammad Shehada says Sinwar lived more in the shadows than his brother and others in Hamas' leadership and had a more rigid security environment, almost to the point of paranoia. 'After an assassination attempt in 2003 he vanished, and did not take a public role in his father's funeral' in 2022, according to Michael Barak, head of the Global Jihad Research Program at the International Institute for Counter Terrorism in Israel. The evidence of the past few months suggests he was an able tactician. Time and again, the Israeli military had to return to areas of Gaza it had previously scoured for Hamas fighters. While Hamas has lost as many as 20,000 fighters, according to an assessment by the Israeli military in January, it has maintained its presence in many parts of Gaza, even occasionally firing rockets towards Israel. In a report last month, the International Crisis Group think tank said that despite those losses, Hamas had managed to recruit thousands more fighters. However, Shahada says that the Israeli campaign has seriously degraded Hamas and it is now more of a guerrilla group than a threat to its neighbor. Killing Sinwar won't change that, he says. Despite Sinwar's death, Yaakov Amidror, a former National Security Advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said: 'It is likely that we will need to continue fighting for at least a year, in order to clean the Strip of remnants of Hamas rule, terrorists, and infrastructure.' Only then, Amidror told the Jewish News Syndicate, could a new form of government be introduced to Gaza. Shehada believes that Israel's attempt to kill Sinwar the day after it released US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander will 'make it harder for Hamas to trust anything the mediators or the US says….It's the perfect signal that no amount of guarantees from the mediators will suffice to enforce a ceasefire even if one is reached.' But what happens in Gaza next may depend as much as on the pressure being exerted by Washington on the Israeli government to end the conflict as on the leadership of Hamas. Amos Harel at Haaretz believes that 'whether he lives or dies is no longer the central question. The course of the war now hinges on a different factor entirely: what (US) President (Donald) Trump does next – and whether he succeeds in imposing his terms on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.'
Shafaq News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Netanyahu blasts Western leaders as Gaza casualties mount
Shafaq News/ At least 107 Palestinians were killed and 247 wounded in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, according to local health authorities, as Israeli military operations continue across several areas of the enclave. After nearly three months of restricted access, the United Nations confirmed the entry of 198 aid trucks through the Kerem Shalom crossing—the largest convoy since Israel imposed an 11-week blockade. The shipment included wheat flour, medical supplies, and nutritional aid. An additional 90 truckloads were retrieved during an overnight operation aimed at accelerating distribution. Despite this partial resumption of aid, relief organizations report that access remains severely limited due to ongoing hostilities, complex security conditions, and Israeli-designated delivery routes that delay access to civilians in need. The UN and aid agencies continue to warn of widespread hunger, collapsed infrastructure, and a deteriorating public health system. The deteriorating humanitarian conditions have prompted a rare joint statement from the leaders of France, the United Kingdom, and Canada condemning Israel's military actions in Gaza as 'disgraceful' and threatened 'concrete measures' if hostilities persist and humanitarian access is not restored. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by accusing the three leaders—Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer, and Mark Carney—of emboldening Hamas. In a video statement, he said their remarks amounted to pressure on Israel to 'surrender,' warning that such a stance could allow Hamas to regroup and repeat the October 7 attack. Since that attack, the total Palestinian death toll has reached 53,762, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gaza's Khan Younis latest focus of Israeli forced displacement, bombing
Israel's military has issued another forced displacement order to residents of Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis, threatening an 'unprecedented' assault after launching a wave of deadly strikes on the area and pressing a punishing new ground offensive. The displacement order, posted on X by the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee on Monday, also applies to the nearby areas of Bani Suhaila and Abasan. It calls on Palestinians to move west towards al-Mawasi. 'From this moment, Khan Younis governorate will be considered a dangerous combat zone,' the post read. It comes a day after Israel's military issued a separate displacement order for areas of central Gaza, including the town of al-Qarara, as its expanded offensive continues. The new order also comes as Israeli forces continue to pound the blockaded enclave, where a famine is looming. There have been at least 30 air strikes in the Khan Younis area Monday as Israel hammered the vastly destroyed territory from north to south, killing at least 60 people since dawn, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health. Previous forced evacuation orders throughout Israel's 19-month war have displaced the majority of Gaza's population multiple times. Many Palestinians have been bombarded again after fleeing to Israeli-designated 'safe zones', including al-Mawasi. Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said Monday's displacement order 'signals a potential full-scale attack' in Khan Younis. 'Many families are in a state of chaos. They are trying to get whatever they can from their properties and move to al-Mawasi, where the Israeli military has instructed them to go to,' Abu Azzoum said, adding that an attack targeting al-Mawasi earlier in the day had killed two people. 'The repeated issuance of evacuation orders has shattered any sense of safety for Palestinians,' Abu Azzoum said. Israeli forces carried out a massive operation earlier in the war that left much of Khan Younis in ruins. Al-Mawasi, where tens of thousands of people have fled, has also been repeatedly targeted by deadly Israeli strikes. Under the newly launched air and ground offensive, Israel said it plans to displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and secure limited aid distribution inside the territory – something that has been widely criticised by aid groups and the United Nations. In a video message on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military is to 'take control of the entire territory of the Gaza Strip'.He said a plan to let 'minimal' aid into Gaza is aimed at alleviating pressure from allies, who, he said, cannot tolerate 'images of … mass hunger'. It remains unclear when the aid will be allowed to enter the Palestinian territory, where two million Palestinians are 'starving', UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned. Israel has kept Gaza under a total blockade since early March, pushing the population there into famine as the healthcare system remains under Israeli attack and is quickly crumbling as its access to medical equipment, supplies and fuel has been cut off. Meanwhile, the al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, a Palestinian group in Gaza, has confirmed that one of its commanders, Ahmed Sarhan, was killed in Khan Younis. Sarhan was killed in an undercover operation backed by Israeli drones and jets early on Monday. The group said Israeli special forces tried to capture the commander, but he was killed in a shootout after he fought back.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hamas releases U.S.-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander
Hamas said it had released Edan Alexander, believed to be the last living U.S. citizen held hostage in Gaza, Monday as President Trump departed Washington for a trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The Israel Defense Forces said a hostage had been transferred to the Red Cross and was being transported to the IDF in Gaza. Hamas, a U.S. and Israeli-designated terrorist group, said Sunday evening that it would release Alexander without conditions in the hope of working toward a lasting ceasefire in Gaza and renewing the flow of vital humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory. Alexander, who is now 21, grew up in New Jersey before moving to Israel, where he was serving in the Israeli military on Oct. 7, 2023 when he was abducted during the Hamas-orchestrated attack that sparked the war in Gaza. In February, CBS News spoke to Alexander's mother, Yael, who said she was doing all she could to fight for her son's release and keep going for her other children. "It's not easy, but you know what, I'm taking strength from my kids to be ok and to wake up every morning and to put clothes on… to smile for them, to hug them, to tell them how much I love them and to give them also a lot of hope that Edan is okay." The Hostages and Missing Families Forum welcomed the news of Alexander's release and said they'd be organizing a march at the U.S. embassy in Israel on Monday to demand "a breakthrough and comprehensive agreement" to bring the remaining hostages home. President Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed to CBS News that he'd be traveling to the region ahead of Alexander's release, and local media said he had arrived earlier on Monday. Hamas said Sunday the decision to release Alexander came after "contacts with the U.S. administration over the past few days," and that the group was ready to "immediately begin intensive negotiations to exert serious efforts to reach a final agreement to end the war, establish a mutually agreed-upon prisoner exchange, and have the Gaza Strip administered by an independent professional body. This would ensure long-term calm and stability, along with reconstruction and the lifting of the blockade." In a post on his own Truth Social platform, President Trump called the move "a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators - Qatar and Egypt - to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones. Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict." The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement saying "Israel did not commit to any ceasefire or to the release of terrorists, but only to a safe corridor that would allow for Idan's release." Israel's government uses that spelling of Alexander's first name. "We are in critical days when Hamas is faced with a deal that will allow for the release of our hostages," the prime minister's office said. "Negotiations will continue under fire and while preparations are being made to intensify the fighting." Israel has been preventing the entry of food and medical aid into Gaza for nearly three months, with aid groups saying malnutrition is rising across the enclave. Food security experts said in a report published Monday that the population of Gaza was facing a critical risk of famine. "The entire population is facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with half a million people (one in five) facing starvation" the group Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said in a report. "With the announced expansion of military operations throughout the Gaza Strip, the persistent inability of humanitarian agencies to access populations in dire need, an anticipated escalation in hostilities, and the continued mass displacement of people, the risk of Famine in the Gaza Strip is not just possible - It is increasingly likely." Also on Monday, Israeli strikes were reported on a school-turned-shelter in the area of Jabaliya in Gaza, killing 16 people - mainly women and children - according to the Hamas-run ministry of health there. Josh's mom on making a move What will Pope Leo XIV mean for the Church? Hamas releases Edan Alexander, last known living U.S.-Israeli hostage | Special Report
