Tag: Gaza

• Over 1m people fled north Gaza so far, says UN

Hopes for a brief ceasefire in southern Gaza to allow foreign passport holders to leave the besieged Palestinian enclave and aid to be brought in were dashed yesterday.

 This came up as Israeli bombardments were intensifying ahead of an expected ground invasion.

 Residents of Hamas-ruled Gaza said the overnight strikes were the heaviest yet in nine days of conflict. Many houses were flattened and the death toll rose inexorably, they said.

 Diplomatic efforts have been underway to get aid into the enclave, which has endured unrelenting Israeli bombing since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants that killed 1,300 people, the bloodiest single day in the state’s 75-year history.

 Israel has imposed a full blockade and is preparing a ground invasion to enter Gaza and destroy Hamas, which has continued to fire rockets at Israel since its brief cross-border assault.

 Yesterday, rocket-warning sirens sounded in several towns in southern Israel, the Israeli military said.

 Israeli troops and tanks are already massed on the border.

 Authorities in Gaza said at least 2,750 people had so far been killed by the Israeli strikes, a quarter of them children, and nearly 10,000 wounded. A further 1,000 people were missing and believed to be under rubble.

 As the humanitarian crisis deepened, with food, fuel and water running short, hundreds of tonnes of aid from several countries have been held up in Egypt pending a deal for its safe delivery to Gaza and the evacuation of some foreign passport holders through the Rafah border crossing.

 Yesterday, Egyptian security sources had told Reuters that an agreement had been reached to open the crossing to allow aid into the enclave.

 However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement,  “there is currently no truce and humanitarian aid in Gaza in exchange for getting foreigners out”.

 Chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari also said there was no Gaza ceasefire and that Israel was continuing its attacks.

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 Hamas official Izzat El Reshiq told Reuters that there was “no truth” to the reports about the opening of the crossing with Egypt or a temporary ceasefire.

Egypt has said the crossing remained open from the Egyptian side in recent days but was rendered inoperable due to Israeli bombardments on the Palestinian side.

The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said yesterday that over one million people have fled from the northern Gaza Strip to the south of the coastal enclave ahead of an expected Israeli ground invasion.

 “My main concern right now is to get aid into Gaza,” Griffiths said.

 It was of utmost importance to help the people on the move as well as those already in southern Gaza, “because they won’t get out of Gaza,” he said.

 Griffiths plans to travel to Cairo today to negotiate with senior Egyptian officials on opening the southern border with Gaza for aid deliveries.

He said the UN was engaged in “hourly” negotiations with Israel about aid access.

 His main message was “urgency” in view of the increasingly poor supply situation in the Gaza Strip.

 Egypt yesteday said Israel was not cooperating with the delivery of aid into Gaza and evacuations of foreign passport holders via the only entry, leaving hundreds of tonnes of supplies stuck.

 Cairo said the Rafah crossing, a potentially vital opening for desperately needed supplies into the besieged Palestinian enclave, was not officially closed but inoperable due to Israeli air strikes on the Gaza side.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, told reporters that, “there is an urgent need to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” adding that talks with Israel had not been fruitful.

“Until now the Israeli government has not taken a position on opening the Rafah crossing from the Gaza side to allow the entrance of assistance and exit of citizens of third countries,” said Shoukry.

 More than two million Gazans have been under siege since Israel launched an intense bombardment and blockade in retaliation for an assault by the Hamas Islamist militants.

 Two Egyptian security sources had told Reuters a ceasefire in southern Gaza to last several hours had been agreed for Monday morning to facilitate aid and evacuations at Rafah.

 However, Israel denied that.

 “There is currently no truce and humanitarian aid in Gaza in exchange for getting foreigners out,” a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

 Hamas official, Izzat El-Reshiq, told Reuters the same.

 On the ground at Rafah, one source said there had been no bombardments on Monday and that the Egyptian side of the crossing was ready.

• Hezbollah fires on Israel after members killed

Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), commonly referred to as Shiites, demonstrated their support for Palestinians in the wake of Israel’s retaliatory assault on the Gaza Strip and Hamas fighters.

The Shiites protesters were observed displaying the Palestinian national flag at the well-known Banex Plaza and concluded their demonstration at the traffic light along Ahmadu Bello Way.

They chanted anti-Israeli slogans and symbolically burned the Israeli national flag to convey their frustration. Israel had initiated the bombardment of the Gaza Strip after Hamas initiated a surprise attack, resulting in the loss of lives among Israeli civilians.

The protesters urged Nigerians to speak out and stand in solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians while celebrating the successes achieved by the Palestinian people.

In a statement issued by Sheikh Sidi Munir Sokoto on behalf of the movement, said, “Palestine launched Al-Aqsa Flood to respond to the recent attacks by the Israel Occupation Forces on al-Aqsa mosque and the Gaza refugee camp.

 “We are demonstrating in solidarity with Palestine for the success recorded in the Al-Aqsa Flood operation against the state of Israel. Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, located at the heart of Jerusalem’s old city, is the third holiest site in Islam. Supporting the struggle for the freedom of Palestine is not only for Muslims alone, but for all people of conscience.

“Operation Al-Aqsa Flood was also in response to the Israeli Occupation Forces 16-year blockade of Gaza, raids inside West Bank cities over the past year, violence at al-Aqsa, increasing attacks by state of Israel on Palestinians, and the growth of settlements.

“Israel is in breach of international law, and the Palestinians are fighting to liberate their homeland from 75 years of Israeli oppression and terrorism.”

Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah, yesterday fired a barrage of rockets into Israel after at least three of its members were killed during an Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon amid soaring tensions on Israel’s northern border.

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Hezbollah in a statement yesterday said it had fired rockets and mortars on two Israeli military posts in the Galilee. The Israeli military said it identified a number of “launches” from Lebanon into Israel, without any injuries. It said it was responding with artillery fire onto Lebanon.

Hezbollah, the most formidable member of a regional network of armed groups supported by Iran, confirmed in statements on Monday that Israeli shelling had killed at least three of its members.

The Associated Press news agency identified those killed as Hussam Mohammad Ibrahim, Ali Raef Ftouni, and Ali Hassan Hodroj.

Hezbollah said that those killed had been “martyred as a result of the Zionist aggression on south Lebanon Monday afternoon”.

The Israeli military began shelling southern Lebanon after a cross-border raid claimed by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group.

The Israeli army said soldiers backed by helicopters killed at least two gunmen who crossed the frontier.

Questions continue to loom about whether Hezbollah, a sophisticated fighting force with an arsenal of long-range missiles, will enter the war between Israel and the armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, which governs the besieged Gaza Strip. Doing so would elevate the current conflict into a two-front war for Israel, long considered a nightmare scenario by the country’s military establishment.

The Reuters news outlet reported that a spokesperson for the United Nations peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon-Israel border said its head Major General Aroldo Lazaro was “in contact with the involved parties, urging them to exercise maximum restraint”.

Hezbollah and Israel exchanged fire on Sunday, with Hezbollah firing missiles on Israeli positions in Shebaa Farms, which is claimed by Lebanon and was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, in “solidarity” with the Palestinians.