Skip to main content

Israeli occupier attacks threaten historic Christian presence in West Bank town

In Taybeh, one of the few Palestinian communities with a Christian majority in the occupied West Bank, fears are growing that Israeli occupier attacks on farmland and property could push more families to emigrate, threatening the town’s demographic character and historic Christian presence. Local officials and clergy warned of the impact of rising violence by Israeli occupiers, which has coincided with worsening living and economic conditions in the town. Taybeh, east of Ramallah, is one of the few Palestinian towns in the West Bank that still has a Christian majority, according to church and local accounts. Residents say the town’s Christian roots go back thousands of years. Residents say the attacks have deepened fears in the town, even as they stress their determination to remain on their land. Also Read: Pakistan raises red flag over illegal settlements in West Bank, calls for Israel accountability In recent years, Israeli occupiers have established several ill...
Post a Comment

Israel strikes kill at least 60 in Gaza amid heaviest attacks in weeks

Israeli strikes killed at least 60 people across Gaza on Monday in some of the heaviest attacks in weeks, as Israeli officials prepared to travel to Washington for a new ceasefire push by U.S. President Donald Trump. A day after Trump called to "Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back," Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was en route to Washington for talks on Gaza and Iran, according to an Israeli official and a source familiar with the matter. Dermer is expected to begin meetings with Trump administration officials on Tuesday, the Washington source said. But on the ground in the Palestinian enclave, there was no sign of the fighting letting up. The Israeli military issued evacuation orders on Monday to residents in large districts in the northern Gaza Strip, triggering a new wave of displacement. "Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes," said Salah, 60, a father of five from Gaza City. "In the news, we hear a ceasefire is near. On the ground, we see death and hear explosions." "Look at us, we are not just numbers and not just pictures. Every day martyrs like this," said displaced woman Amani Swalha, standing in the rubble of a Gaza City school hit in a strike. "It is our right to live, and to live with dignity, not like this in humiliation." Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of the Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said. At least 58 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, health authorities reported, including 10 in Zeitoun and at least 13 southwest of Gaza City. Medics said most of the 13 were hit by gunfire, though residents also reported an airstrike. Twenty-two people, including women, children, and a local journalist, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a beachfront cafe in Gaza City, medics said. The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate said more than 220 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023. The Israeli military said it struck militant targets in northern Gaza, including command and control centers, after taking steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians. There was no immediate word from Israel on the reported casualties southwest of Gaza or the beachfront cafe attack. The bombardment followed new evacuation orders to vast areas in the north, where Israeli forces had previously operated and left widespread destruction. The military ordered residents to move south, saying it planned to target Hamas militants operating in northern Gaza, including central Gaza City. 'Make the Deal' Alongside talks on Gaza ceasefire prospects, Dermer also plans to discuss Netanyahu's possible visit to the White House in the coming weeks, according to the source familiar with the matter. Netanyahu’s security cabinet in Israel was also expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza. On Friday, Israel's military chief said the current ground operation was close to achieving its goals. On Sunday, Netanyahu said new opportunities had emerged for recovering the hostages, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive. Palestinian and Egyptian sources familiar with the ceasefire talks said mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up contact with both sides, but no date has been set for a new round of negotiations. A Hamas official said progress depends on Israel agreeing to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. Israel says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down arms. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel has accepted a U.S.-proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage deal, placing the onus on Hamas. "Israel is serious in its will to reach a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza," Saar told reporters. Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, speaking in Jerusalem, said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was "unbearable." "The suffering of civilians is increasingly burdening Israel’s relations with Europe. A ceasefire must be agreed upon," she said, calling for the unconditional release of hostages by Hamas and for Israel to allow the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel says it continues to allow aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing it. Hamas denies the accusation and accuses Israel of using hunger as a weapon against Gaza’s population. The U.S. has proposed a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release half the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the remains of Palestinian dead. The remaining hostages would be released as part of a broader agreement to end the war. The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 251 hostages to Gaza in a surprise assault—Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's military response has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health authorities. Nearly all of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been displaced, and the enclave faces a deepening humanitarian crisis. More than 80% of the territory is now either a militarized zone or under evacuation orders, according to the United Nations.

from Latest World News, International News | Breaking World News https://ift.tt/w8zCDAY
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

At least 32 miners dead after bridge fails at cobalt site in southeast DR Congo

A bridge collapsed at a cobalt mine in southeast Democratic Republic of Congo killing at least 32 wildcat miners, a regional government official said Sunday. The bridge came down Saturday onto a flooded zone at the mine in Lualaba province, Roy Kaumba Mayonde, the provincial interior minister, told reporters. He said 32 bodies had been recovered and more were being searched for. The DRC produces more than 70 percent of the world supply of cobalt, which is essential for batteries used in electric cars, many laptop computers and mobile phones. More than 200,000 people are estimated to be working in giant illegal cobalt mines in the giant central African country. Local authorities said the bridge collapsed at the Kalando mine, about 42 kilometres (26 miles) southeast of the Lualaba provincial capital, Kolwezi. "Despite a formal ban on access to the site because of the heavy rain and the risk of a landslide, wildcat miners forced their way into the quarry," said Mayonde. He said ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Indian devotees splurge on jets, gold idols as Hindu temple opens

The private jet parking lots at airports near the Indian city of Ayodhya are full and the shops have run out of gold-plated idols, as wealthy devotees prepare for the invite-only opening ceremony of one of Hinduism's holiest temples. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani are among the 8,000 or so attendees at Monday's inauguration event for the Ram Temple, which devotees believe is built on the birthplace of Lord Ram, a sacred Hindu deity. The construction of the temple, which began after the Supreme Court awarded the site to Hindus in 2019 more than two decades after a Hindu mob razed a mosque there, triggering deadly riots, fulfils a key campaign promise of Modi and his Hindu nationalist party. Read BJP-promised temple transforms Ayodhya: Muslims, locals feel neglected The opening ceremony, organised by the trust that built the temple, comes months before a national election which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is widely expected to w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Indian opposition supporters detained ahead of protest at Modi's home

Police in the Indian capital detained dozens of opposition supporters on Tuesday as they attempted to march to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence to protest against last week's arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal, a key opposition leader whose Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has governed the national capital territory for a decade, was arrested by the financial crime-fighting agency on corruption charges relating to the city's liquor policy, weeks before India begins voting in general elections on April 19. He was remanded to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate until March 28, with the lawyer for the agency arguing he was the "kingpin" in the case and needed to be interrogated. Kejriwal's party, all of whose main leaders are now imprisoned in connection with the case, says he has been "falsely arrested" in a "fabricated case". The federal government and Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deny political interfere...
Post a Comment
Read more