Israel bombs Gaza school, 29 Palestinians killed amid truce talks – Newstrends
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Israel bombs Gaza school, 29 Palestinians killed amid truce talks

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Israel bombs Gaza school, 29 Palestinians killed amid truce talks

Israel’s military has ramped up attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 77 Palestinians, including dozens sheltering at a school, in one of the deadliest days the enclave has endured in recent weeks.

The attacks on Tuesday came as Hamas warned that the stepped-up Israeli offensive could jeopardise mediated ceasefire talks, a new round of which is set to begin in the capital of Qatar, Doha.

In the town of Abbasan, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, an Israeli air attack on the al-Awdah school killed at least 30 people and wounded 53, most of them women and children, according to Palestinian medics.

Exclusive footage from the school, obtained by Al Jazeera, shows young Palestinians playing football in the building’s yard as dozens of people watch on. Then, a loud explosion is heard, sending people running for cover.

A Palestinian boy told Al Jazeera he lost several relatives in the attack. “We were sitting and a missile fell and destroyed everything,” he said, sobbing. “I lost my uncle, my cousins and my relatives.”

The Israeli military has said it was looking into the report.

Elsewhere in Gaza, Israeli forces also bombed the central Bureij camp, killing at least 17 people, 14 of whom were children. Israeli forces also raided a house in central Deir el-Balah, killing three more people.

Hamas described the attack on the al-Awda school an “extension of the war of extermination against our people by the Zionist terrorist government” and called on people in Arab and Muslim nations to escalate protests against the war.

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Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, also condemned the attack, saying in a post on X, “For how long are innocent civilians going to bear the brunt of this conflict?”

He added, “It is imperative to immediately reach a ceasefire to bring respite to hundreds of stranded civilians, free all the hostages, deliver the needed humanitarian aid.”

Renewed push for ceasefire

The attacks come as CIA director William Burns and Israel’s Mossad chief David Barnea prepare to travel to Qatar on Wednesday, after Burns held talks with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo, seeking to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The renewed efforts come after Hamas made concessions last week, including dropping a key demand that Israel commit upfront to an end to the war before signing a ceasefire agreement. Instead, Hamas said it would push for the move in negotiations planned during an initial six-week ceasefire.

But Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the group, said on Monday that Israel’s escalating assault has threatened talks at a crucial time and could bring negotiations “back to square one”.

Haniyeh, who spoke with Qatari and Egyptian mediators, issued a statement warning “of the disastrous repercussions of what is happening in Gaza City, Rafah and other areas across the Gaza Strip”.

He stressed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “his army bear full responsibility for the collapse of this negotiation path”.

Meanwhile, in northern Gaza City, residents said Israeli tanks were pushing into the Tal al-Hawa, Shujayea and Sabra neighbourhoods, shelling roads and buildings, and forcing them to flee their homes. This was followed by Israeli military orders to evacuate several districts in eastern and western Gaza City posted on social media, which included these neighbourhoods.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said that its crews received dozens of humanitarian distress calls from Gaza City but were unable to help due to the intensity of the bombing there.

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The armed wings of Hamas and its ally, Islamic Jihad, said their fighters were batting Israeli forces with machineguns, mortar fire and antitank missiles, killing and wounding Israeli soldiers. Israel’s military has not commented on casualties but said its soldiers were engaged in close-quarters combat with Hamas fighters.

Videos on social media showed families packed onto donkey carts and in the backs of trucks piled with mattresses and other belongings making their way through Gaza City’s streets to flee areas under Israeli evacuation orders.

“Gaza City is being wiped out. This is what is happening. Israel is forcing us to leave homes under fire,” Um Tamer, a mother of seven, told Reuters via a chat app. She said it was the seventh time her family had fled their house in Gaza City in the north of the enclave and one of Israel’s first targets at the start of the war in October.

“We can’t take it any more, enough of death and humiliation. End the war now,” she said.

The UN Human Rights Office said it was “appalled” at the way civilians, many of whom have been displaced multiple times, have been ordered to head to areas where “military operations are ongoing and where civilians continue to be killed and injured”.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said that all of its medical clinics were out of service in Gaza City due to the Israeli evacuation orders that have driven thousands of people westward towards the Mediterranean and to the south.

Jagan Chapagain, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said on the social media platform X that “the closure of these vital medical facilities exacerbates an already dire healthcare system”.

“These clinics and medical points are often the only lifeline for many civilians.”

At least 38,243 people have been killed and 88,243 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October. The death toll in Israel from the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 is estimated at 1,139, with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.

Israel bombs Gaza school, 29 Palestinians killed amid truce talks

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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Woman’s dog digs up infant body reportedly buried alive by 22-year-old granddaughter in garden

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Chiara Petrolini and the garden

Woman’s dog digs up infant body reportedly buried alive by 22-year-old granddaughter in garden

A local babysitter had two newborn babies buried in her garden, an investigation into infanticide revealed.

Chiara Petrolini, 22, was arrested after DNA tests allegedly confirmed she was the mother of one of the infants, a boy, found buried in her garden.

Petrolini, who lived with her parents, was described as a “model university student” and was holidaying in New York when the grim discovery was made by authorities. The investigation into the garden in the quiet commune of Vignale di Traversetolo near Parmer in Italy began last month, August, when Petrolini’s grandmother’s dog unearthed a body.

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The baby had been buried alive, as indicated by “soil found in the lungs” according to a leaked autopsy report.

Last week, a second body was discovered, but no details about that infant’s de@th have been disclosed yet.

The autopsy of the first baby revealed that the father was Petrolini’s 22 year old boyfriend, named locally as Emanuele.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the second body was found after Petrolini confessed to the police.

She is currently in custody on suspicion of infanticide and has reportedly claimed that she acted alone without anyone else’s knowledge.

Woman’s dog digs up infant body reportedly buried alive by 22-year-old granddaughter in garden

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UK invests £1.9m in West African economies

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UK Minister for Africa, Lord Collins

UK invests £1.9m in West African economies

The UK government’s West Africa Research and Innovation Hub (WARIH) has launched ‘Sankore’ to support economic growth by strengthening technology and innovation across West Africa, in close partnership with country governments.

UK Minister for Africa, Lord Collins, announced the call for creative proposals for the project from non-profit organisations (including UN Agencies) at a press conference on Tuesday in Accra.

The Sankore call for proposals will support the UK government’s partnership with the Government in Nigeria and Ghana on science, technology and innovation, facilitate commercialisation of innovative solutions, improve innovation policy and enhance government digital service delivery.

Named after a West African medieval center of learning, Sankore will establish new partnerships worth up to £1.9 Million with non-profit organisations (including UN agencies) in Ghana or Nigeria.

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At the launch of the call for proposals, the UK Minister for Africa said: “This initiative is all about how we can work together to strengthen the global technology sector, creating opportunities for rapidly growing economies with lots of potential to compete on the world stage.

“The Sankore grant fosters partnerships at its heart, with a strong message that we go far when we go together.”

Nigeria’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, said: “Sankore project is a pivotal opportunity for Nigeria to enhance its innovation landscape, by strengthening industry-science linkages and developing an enabling policy environment.

“This partnership underscores our shared commitment to developing practical solutions that lead to sustainable and inclusive growth.”

Also commenting, the British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Jonny Baxter, said: “Sankore exemplifies the UK’s commitment to driving innovation and sustainable development in Nigeria.

“The project will strengthen partnerships between businesses and innovators as well as drive the development of innovative solutions that address critical gaps in priority economic sectors.

UK invests £1.9m in West African economies

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Hamas chief says they’re ready for ‘long war’ in Gaza

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Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar

Hamas chief says they’re ready for ‘long war’ in Gaza

Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories: Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar said Monday the Palestinian group had the resources to sustain its fight against Israel, with support from Iran-backed regional allies, nearly a year into the Gaza war.
Sinwar, who last month replaced slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, said in a letter to the group’s Yemeni allies that “we have prepared ourselves to fight a long war of attrition.”
Deadly fighting raged on in the besieged Gaza Strip, where medics and rescuers said Monday that Israeli strikes — which the military has not commented on — killed at least two dozen people.
The latest strikes came as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that prospects for a halt in fighting with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon were dimming, yet again raising fears of a wider regional conflagration.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told AFP at the weekend the group “has a high ability to continue” fighting despite losses, noting “the recruitment of new generations” to replace killed militants.
Gallant last week said Hamas, whose October 7 attack triggered the war, “no longer exists” as a military formation in Gaza.
Sinwar, in his letter to Yemen’s Houthis, threatened that Iran-aligned groups in Gaza and elsewhere in the region including Lebanon and Iraq would “break the enemy’s political will” after more than 11 months of war.
“Our combined efforts with you” and with groups in Lebanon and Iraq “will break this enemy and inflict defeat on it,” Sinwar said.
Independent UN rights experts meanwhile warned that Israel risked international isolation over its actions in Gaza and called on Western countries to ensure accountability.
Spain, which recently joined several European countries in formally recognizing the State of Palestine, is due to host Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday, an official in his office told AFP.
Abbas, who is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and holds little sway in Gaza, is set to meet Spanish King Felipe VI and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, before heading to New York for the UN General Assembly.

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The October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,226 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
Tensions have surged along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, amid fears the violence could explode into an all-out war.
“The possibility for an agreement is running out as Hezbollah continues to tie itself to Hamas and refuses to end the conflict,” Gallant told visiting US envoy Amos Hochstein, a defense ministry statement said.
Israeli media outlets said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was considering firing Gallant, one of several officials who have been at odds with the veteran leader on war policy. Netanyahu’s office denied the reports.
Netanyahu told Hochstein later Monday he seeks a “fundamental change” in the security situation on Israel’s northern border.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since October in stated support of ally Hamas.
Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said Saturday his group has “no intention of going to war,” but if Israel does “unleash” one “there will be large losses on both sides.”
The violence has killed hundreds of mostly fighters in Lebanon, and dozens of civilians and soldiers on the Israeli side.

In central Gaza, survivors scoured debris Monday after a strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Ten people were killed and 15 were wounded when an air strike hit the Al-Qassas family home in Nuseirat in the morning, said a medic at Al-Awda Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
“My house was hit while we were sleeping without any prior warning,” said survivor Rashed Al-Qassas.
Gaza’s civil defense said six Palestinians were killed in a similar strike at night on a house belonging to the Bassal family in Gaza City’s Zeitun neighborhood.
Emergency services later reported six more deaths, with Al-Awda Hospital saying it received the bodies of three people killed in Israeli strikes on Nuseirat.
The Gaza war has drawn in Iran-backed Hamas allies across the Middle East, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis, whose maritime attacks have disrupted global shipping through vital waterways off Yemen.
On Sunday the rebels claimed a rare missile attack on central Israel which caused no casualties, prompting Netanyahu to warn that they would pay “a heavy price for any attempt to harm us.”
In a televised speech, the Houthis’ leader said the rebels and their regional allies were “preparing to do even more.”
“Our operations will continue as long as the aggression and siege on Gaza continue,” Abdul Malik Al-Houthi said.

 

Hamas chief says they’re ready for ‘long war’ in Gaza

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