International

Dozens of bodies found in Gaza City neighbourhood, Palestinian rescuers say

Published

5 months ago

July 13, 2024

Home to more than a quarter of Gaza's residents before the war, Gaza City was largely razed to the ground in late 2023 [Omar Al-Qatta/AFP]

Dozens of bodies found in Gaza City neighbourhood, Palestinian rescuers say

The bodies of dozens of Palestinians have been retrieved from the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood after Israeli forces withdrew from parts of Gaza City, Palestinian rescue workers have said.

“The Gaza civil defence teams moved in to rescue survivors. They found dozens killed. Most of those killed are families, women, and children. Some bodies were eaten by dogs,” Gaza’s civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said on Friday.

“At least 60 bodies were counted. Some bodies were buried on the spot. Others were taken to nearby hospitals.”

Israeli forces had entered the neighbourhood this week after ordering civilians to evacuate on Monday.

“Many bodies are still under the rubble. The Israeli forces are stationed nearby and the rescue efforts are interrupted regularly,” Basal said.

The discovery has come after Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood. On Thursday, Basal said civil defence teams recovered dozens of bodies from there, as well, adding that the neighbourhood has become uninhabitable.

“Documented testimonies” have been taken that Israeli forces opened fire on residents in the neighbourhood despite being located on designated evacuation routes, he said.

Home to more than a quarter of Gaza’s residents before the war, Gaza City was largely razed to the ground in late 2023, but hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had returned to homes in the ruins before Israel once again ordered them to leave.

Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs Gaza, accused Israeli forces of “atrocities” and called for international accountability. In a statement, the group accused Israel of committing “heinous abuses” in Gaza City.

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“The atrocities revealed after the terrorist occupation army’s withdrawal from Tal al-Hawa in southwest Gaza City, after days of incursion and intense bombing that targeted all aspects of life, are war crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing,” Hamas said.

It called on the UN and international community to take immediate steps to end a “war of extermination” that Israel is waging against Palestinians.

‘Stalling’ ceasefire talks

As Israeli forces step up attacks in Gaza’s north, they have also continued targeting areas in the besieged enclave’s south.

In Khan Younis, an Israeli air raid killed at least four aid workers from UK humanitarian organisation Al-Khair Foundation.

They were “targeted in a distribution point where they were preparing to distribute aid in Khan Younis,” Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said.

“Al-Khair Foundation has been working in the Gaza Strip since day one, trying to provide people with food assistance, and with a lot of other commodities, and we lost another four aid workers today,” Khoudary said.

This is not the first time that Israeli forces have targeted aid workers. In April, seven people working with the United States-based NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in an Israeli air raid in Gaza.

At the time, Israel’s military said the attack on the WCK team’s convoy was a “grave mistake” and pledged to protect aid workers.

Mediators are still trying to reach a ceasefire deal that would free Israeli captives in return for Palestinians jailed by Israel.

On Friday, a senior Hamas official blamed Israel for a failure to build on the momentum created when the group dropped a key demand in the US-drafted ceasefire offer a week ago to clear the way for a deal.

“Israel hasn’t given a clear stance over Hamas proposal,” the official, who asked not to be named, told the Reuters news agency, accusing Israel of “stalling and wasting time”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he remained committed to the Gaza ceasefire framework and accused Hamas of making demands that contradicted it, without saying what those demands were.

Two Egyptian sources said on Thursday that talks had made progress but security arrangements and ceasefire guarantees were still being worked on.

Dozens of bodies found in Gaza City neighbourhood, Palestinian rescuers say

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

International

Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

Published

13 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

ARAB NEWS

International

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

Published

14 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

15 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.