International

73 killed in Israeli fresh attack on Gaza

Published

1 month ago

October 20, 2024

73 killed in Israeli fresh attack on Gaza

Israeli strikes have killed at least 73 people, including women and children, in the city of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, the strip’s Hamas-run authorities say.

Dozens of others are injured and many are still trapped under the rubble after the bombing late on Saturday night, officials added.

Israel said it was checking reports of casualties but said the figures published by Hamas authorities were “exaggerated” and did not match information held by its military.

Fighting also continues to be reported in southern Lebanon as well as the south of Beirut on Sunday morning, where smoke was seen rising above the city.

Israel said its air force had attacked “about 175 terrorist targets” in Gaza and Lebanon over the past day.

The Hamas-run government media office said the bombing in Beit Lahia on Saturday night hit “crowded” residential areas, and that 73 people had been killed – a number also reported by Gaza’s civil defence agency. The BBC cannot independently verify the figures.

According to Palestinian news agency Wafa, an entire residential complex was destroyed in the strikes.

Rescue efforts in Beit Lahia are currently hampered due to communications and internet services being severed in the region, Gaza health officials added.

The latest strikes come just hours after reports of heavy gunfire from Israeli troops at the Indonesian Hospital in the city.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the BBC it had struck a “Hamas terror target” and was “doing everything possible to avoid causing harm to civilians”.

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It said the casualties given by the Hamas office were “exaggerated” and said such sources had “proven to be sorely unreliable in previous incidents.”

Israel began a renewed military offensive in northern Gaza in early October, saying it is trying to prevent Hamas from regrouping in the area.

In particular, Israeli forces have surrounded and bombarded the densely-populated Jabalia area, which includes an urban refugee camp – with at least 33 people reported killed in a strike late on Friday.

Humanitarian groups have warned that virtually no aid has entered the area in the past few weeks. Israel’s own statistics show that aid deliveries to Gaza as a whole have collapsed when compared with the same period in September.

The UN’s top humanitarian official, Joyce Msuya, said on Saturday that Palestinians in northern Gaza are enduring “unspeakable horrors” and called for these “atrocities” to stop.

Israel has repeatedly denied it is preventing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza but the US has told it to boost access or risk having some American military assistance cut off.

Meanwhile, Israel carried out at least a dozen air strikes on Beirut on Saturday, in the heaviest attack the Lebanese capital has witnessed in more than a week.

Damage and casualties were still being assessed, but at least one multi-storey building in the city’s southern suburbs had been completely destroyed.

The Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah’s weapons storage facilities and its intelligence headquarters command centre in Dahieh.

Smoke was seen rising from southern Beirut in the early hours of Sunday after Israel’s military ordered the immediate evacuation of two neighbourhoods in the area.

The IDF told civilians they were “located near facilities and interests affiliated with Hezbollah, which the IDF will work against in the near future”.

73 killed in Israeli fresh attack on Gaza

BBC

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International

Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

Published

4 hours ago

November 26, 2024

Trends Admin

Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes pounded a densely-populated part of the Lebanese capital and its southern suburbs on Tuesday, hours ahead of an anticipated announcement of a ceasefire ending hostilities between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

A strike on Beirut hit the Noueiri district with no evacuation warning and killed at least one person, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a preliminary toll.

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Minutes later, at least 10 Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs. They began approximately 30 minutes after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for 20 locations in the area, the largest such warning yet.

As the strikes were under way, Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a “widespread attack” on Hezbollah targets across the city.

Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

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International

Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him

Published

5 hours ago

November 26, 2024

Trends Admin

President-elect Donald Trump

Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has fiercely criticised the legal cases brought against him, calling them “empty and lawless”.

He accused Democrats of weaponising the judicial system to target him as a political opponent.

In a strongly worded statement, Trump alleged that over $100 million in taxpayer money had been wasted in what he described as a politically driven effort to undermine his influence.

“Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before,” he said, pointing to high-profile prosecutors, including Georgia’s Fani Willis and New York Attorney General Letitia James, as key figures in what he called a “political hijacking.”

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Trump also accused Willis of colluding with Nathan Wade, whom he described as “her lover” and lacking the experience to handle such cases.

He claimed Wade was paid “millions,” allegedly enabling lavish trips and cruises.

Letitia James, who is pursuing a civil fraud case against Trump, was also criticised.

Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him

International

US-based Nigerians get 30-year sentence over $3.5m romance scam

Published

5 hours ago

November 26, 2024

Trends Admin

US-based Nigerians get 30-year sentence over $3.5m romance scam

A United States federal jury sentenced two Nigerians, Anthony Ibekie and Samuel Aniukwu, to 30 years in prison for scamming certain US citizens $3,500,000.

This was mentioned in a news statement made public on the US Department of Justice website on Monday.

According to the statement, the Nigerians, Ibekie and Aniukwu mislead their victims by informing them that they had received big inheritances that required payment to claim.

The couple would then ask their victims to transfer money, promising to refund them after the inheritances were claimed.

It also stated that the duo carried out romance scams by establishing romantic relationships with their victims and demanding them to send money after they had built trust in their victims.

It read, “An undercover law enforcement investigation has resulted in federal prison sentences for two Nigerian nationals residing in the Chicago suburbs who conducted online inheritance scams and other fraud schemes.

“Using aliases, Anthony Emeka Ibekie and Samuel Aniukwu communicated with victims throughout the United States, convincing them they had received substantial inheritances and needed to send money to individuals associated with the defendants in order to claim it.

“In addition to the inheritance scam, the pair carried out an online romance scam that involved communicating with victims via social media and dating websites, building trust with the victims through a purported online romance, and convincing them to send money to a predetermined recipient. Aniukwu and Ibekie also orchestrated a ‘business email compromise’ scam that targeted corporate email accounts.

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“The fraud schemes were uncovered by a covert law enforcement investigation. The scams resulted in losses to victims of at least $3.5 million.”

According to the statement, after being arraigned on 14 charges, the duo pleaded guilty to their different alterations.

Following their guilty pleas, Ibekie was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday, and Aniukwu was sentenced to 10 years in prison on November 8.

The statement continued, “A federal jury earlier this year convicted Ibekie, 59, of Oswego, Illinois, on all 14 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, making false statements to a bank, and passport fraud. U.S. District Judge Steven C. Seeger on Thursday sentenced Ibekie to 20 years in federal prison.

“Aniukwu, 50, of Romeoville, Illinois, pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and money laundering charges. Judge Seeger on Nov. 8, 2024, sentenced Aniukwu to 10 years in prison.”

Meanwhile, Jennifer Gosha, an accomplice of the Nigerians and a US citizen, is expected to be sentenced on December 18 after pleading guilty.

“A third defendant, Jennifer Gosha, 52, a U.S. citizen from Oak Park, Ill., pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges of wire fraud and making false statements to a federal agent. Gosha is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Seeger on December 18, 2024,” the statement concluded.