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Gulf Today
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Israel retrieves Thai hostage body as 95 more Palestinians killed in Gaza
Israel said on Saturday it retrieved the body of a Thai hostage abducted into the Gaza Strip during the Hamas-led attack that sparked the war, as Israel's military continued its offensive, killing at least 95 people in the past 24 hours, according to Gaza's health ministry. Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry. The offensive has destroyed large parts of Hamas-run Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of roughly 2 million Palestinians. Nattapong Pinta had come to Israel to work in agriculture. Israel's government said he was seized from Kibbutz Nir Oz and killed early in the war, which began on Oct. 7, 2023. Thailand's foreign ministry said the bodies of two other citizens were yet to be retrieved. Thais were the largest group of foreigners held captive. Many lived on the outskirts of southern Israeli kibbutzim and towns, the first places overrun in the attack. Forty-six Thais have been killed during the war, according to the foreign ministry. Mouners pray during the funeral of a Palestinian killed in Rafah, Gaza, on Sunday. Reuters Israel's defence minister said Pinta's body was retrieved from the Rafah area in southern Gaza. The army said he was seized by the Mujahideen Brigades, the small armed group that also took two Israeli-American hostages, Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai, whose bodies were retrieved on Thursday. Israel's military later said it killed the head of the Mujahideen Brigades, As'ad Aby Sharaiya, in Gaza City on Saturday. Fifty-five hostages remain in Gaza. Israel says more than half are dead. Families rallied again Saturday evening in Israel, calling for a ceasefire deal to bring everyone home. Hamas issued an unusual warning about another hostage, Matan Zangauker, saying Israel's military had surrounded the area where he's held and that any harm that came to him during a rescue attempt would be Israel's responsibility. Israel's military didn't immediately comment. "The decision to expand the (military) ground maneuver is at the cost of Matan's life and the lives of all the hostages,' Zangauker's mother, Einav, told the rally in Tel Aviv. A strike in Gaza City killed six members of a family, including two children, according to the Shifa and al-Ahli hospitals. Israel's military said the strike targeted the Mujahideen Brigades leader. "This is the real destruction,' a man said as he carried the body of a small boy from the scene. Four Israeli strikes hit the Muwasi area in southern Gaza between Rafah and Khan Younis. In northern Gaza, a strike hit an apartment, killing seven people including a mother and five children. Their bodies were taken to Shifa hospital. "Stand up, my love,' one weeping woman said, touching the shrouded bodies. Israel said it was responding to Hamas' "barbaric attacks' and dismantling its capabilities. It said it takes all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm. Staff at Nasser hospital, which received the bodies of six people over the past 24 hours, said they were killed while on their way to get food aid. Much of Gaza's population of over 2 million relies on aid after widespread destruction of agriculture as well as a recent Israeli blockade. Experts have warned of famine. Israel's army has warned that the aid distribution area is an active combat zone during nighttime hours. It said several suspects attempted to approach troops operating in the Tel al-Sultan area overnight "in a manner that posed a threat." The army said troops called out, then fired warning shots as the suspects advanced. An army official who couldn't be named in line with military procedures said the shots were fired about a kilometer (half-mile) from the distribution site. Associated Press
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First Post
17-05-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Israel slams UN official for urging action to ‘prevent genocide' in Gaza, UN says it's doing its job
Under international law, genocide is an intent to destroy, in whole or part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. This includes through killings, serious bodily or mental harm and inflicting conditions calculated to bring about physical destruction read more Smoke rises from Gaza following an explosion, as seen from Israel. Reuters Israel on Friday blasted the United Nations aid chief for asking the U.N. Security Council if it would act to 'prevent genocide' in the Gaza Strip, where experts say famine looms after Israel blocked aid deliveries to the Palestinian enclave 75 days ago. While briefing the 15-member body earlier this week, U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said: 'Will you act – decisively – to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law?' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In a letter to Fletcher on Friday, Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon accused him of delivering 'a political sermon' and weaponizing the word genocide against Israel, questioning under what authority he made what Israel viewed as an accusation. 'You had the audacity, in your capacity as a senior U.N. official, to stand before the Security Council and invoke the charge of genocide without evidence, mandate, or restraint,' he wrote. 'It was an utterly inappropriate and deeply irresponsible statement that shattered any notion of neutrality.' Under international law, genocide is an intent to destroy, in whole or part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. This includes through killings, serious bodily or mental harm and inflicting conditions calculated to bring about physical destruction. 'Let us do our work' In a letter to Danon on Friday, Fletcher responded: 'I fervently believe in the U.N. Charter, and in our obligation to act with humanity, independence, impartiality and neutrality. And of course, honesty about what we observe, and are mandated to report.' The war in Gaza was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian militants Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's military campaign has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies, and has blocked all aid to Gaza since March 2, demanding Hamas release all remaining hostages. A global hunger monitor warned on Monday that half a million people face starvation - about a quarter of the population in the enclave. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that 'a lot of people are starving in Gaza.' Fletcher appealed to Israel to lift the aid block, telling Danon there are 9,000 trucks - half of them carrying food - which had all been cleared by COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, and were ready to enter Gaza. 'We have solid plans to distribute to civilians, with verification measures to ensure that aid does not get stolen by Hamas. We showed during the ceasefire that we can deliver at scale,' he wrote. 'Please let us do our work.'
