Heavy gun battle in Gaza as Israel steps up ground war – Hamas

Published

6 months ago

October 30, 2023

Heavy gun battle in Gaza as Israel steps up ground war – Hamas

Hamas said it was engaged in “heavy fighting” with Israeli troops on Sunday inside northern Gaza, where besieged residents were again told to flee.

After weeks of ferocious air strikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a new “stage” in what he warned will be a “long and difficult” war.

Israel’s military released a series of images late Sunday purporting to show tanks, armoured personnel carriers, artillery and equipment-laden infantrymen operating inside Palestinian territory.

Hamas said its Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades were already “engaged in heavy fighting… with the invading occupation forces”.

The Israel Defence Forces claimed to have struck more than “450 terror targets, including operational command centres, observation posts, and anti-tank missile launch posts”.

The military also said 31-year-old sergeant Yinon Fleishman was killed in Gaza when his tank overturned.

With a fierce urban war now feared, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari told Palestinian civilians to go south “to a safer area”.

“We are gradually expanding the ground activity and the scope of our forces in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

It is now more than three weeks since Hamas gunmen launched a wave of bloody cross-border raids against homes, communities, farms and security posts inside Israel.

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An estimated 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 239 people were taken hostage, according to the latest Israeli tallies.

Grieving and enraged, Israel has vowed to free the hostages, track down those responsible and “eradicate” Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist movement that has governed Gaza since 2007.

But there is growing international concern about the toll of Israel’s campaign on Gaza’s two-plus million residents.

The territory is under siege, with people unable to leave and only a trickle of humanitarian aid allowed in.

Meanwhile, Israel has carried out one of the most intense bombing campaigns in recent memory.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 8,000 people, mainly civilians, have been killed — half of them children.

– Food, water, medicine –

Inside Gaza’s maze of streets, rubble and hulled-out buildings, there is a growing sense of panic, fear and desperation.

Ibrahim Shandoughli, a 53-year-old from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, asked why he would head south when that area is also being bombed.

“Where do you want us to evacuate to? All the areas are dangerous,” he said.

Etidal al-Masri was among those who did move south.

But even in the border town of Rafah, she still struggles to find even the basics amid shortages of food, water and medicine.

Gazans “must now queue for bread, toilets and even for sleep”, she said.

On Sunday, the desperation appeared to boil over.

The United Nations reported that “thousands of people” had ransacked its warehouses looking for tinned food, flour, oil and hygiene supplies.

The UN also reported that 33 trucks carrying water, food, and medical supplies had entered Gaza from Egypt on October 29.

It is one of the largest deliveries to date, but still far short of the 100 trucks a day that aid groups say is needed.

International Criminal Court lead prosecutor Karim Khan warned Israel on Sunday that preventing access to humanitarian aid could be a “crime”.

– ‘Axis of resistance’ –

In a phone call with Netanyahu on Sunday, US President Joe Biden also underscored the need to “immediately and significantly” increase the flow of aid.

And while the White House has welcomed the gradual return of cell phone and internet services that had been cut for days, it had a sharp warning for Israel’s leaders.

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The “burden” lies with Israel to distinguish between militants and innocent civilians in Gaza, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CNN.

According to the UN, all 10 hospitals in northern Gaza have received evacuation orders — despite sheltering thousands of patients and about 117,000 of the displaced.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has said evacuation is impossible and reported repeated strikes around Al-Quds Hospital in central Gaza.

The head of the World Health Organisation said calls to evacuate Al-Quds Hospital were “deeply concerning”.

“We reiterate – it’s impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.

Mohamed al-Talmas, who has taken shelter in Gaza’s biggest hospital Al-Shifa, said “the ground shook” there with intense Israeli raids.

Israel describes Al-Shifa hospital as a de facto Hamas “command centre” and headquarters.

Washington has also expressed deep concern about the war spilling over, as Israel’s enemies — and in particular an Iran-allied “axis of resistance” — step up actions across the Middle East.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has warned Israel’s “crimes have crossed the red lines, which may force everyone to take action”.

Since Hamas’s attack on October 7, Iran-backed groups have launched attacks from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

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Skirmishes have intensified on the Israeli-Lebanese border with Iran-backed Hamas ally Hezbollah.

On Sunday militants in south Lebanon fired rockets towards Israel, which has responded with strikes.

The Israel Defense Forces also said they had “struck military infrastructure in Syrian territory” in response to launches “toward Israeli territory.”

– ‘Psychological games’ –

Inside Israel, where shocked residents still face daily rocket attacks, much of the focus is on the hostages abducted by Hamas.

Hamas has released four prisoners and offered to release more as part of a swap for Palestinians detained in Israel.

It has also claimed “almost 50” hostages were killed by Israeli strikes — a claim that was impossible to verify but has caused anguish to those praying for their loved ones to return.

“We demanded that no action be taken that endangers the fate of our family members,” said Meirav Leshem Gonen, the mother of hostage Romi Gonen.

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant accused Hamas of playing “psychological games”.

“Hamas is cynically using those who are dear to us – they understand the pain and the pressure,” he said.

Heavy gun battle in Gaza as Israel steps up ground war – Hamas

(AFP)

Related Topics:Featured Gaza Hamas Israel

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Dam collapses, death toll rises in Brazil floods

Published

7 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Trends Admin

The municipality of Encantado has turned into a river, as residents have been desperately trying to move to higher ground (Reuters)

Dam collapses, death toll rises in Brazil floods

A hydroelectric dam has collapsed in southern Brazil after days of heavy rains that triggered massive flooding, killing more than 30 people.

Officials say another 60 people are missing in Rio Grande do Sul state.

About 15,000 residents have fled their homes since Saturday. At least 500,000 people are without power and clean water across the state.

The burst dam triggered a two-metre (6.6ft) wave, causing panic and further damage in the already flooded areas.

The dam is located between the municipality of Cotiporã and the city of Bento Gonçalves.

The extreme weather has been caused by a rare combination of hotter than average temperatures, high humidity and strong winds.

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Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has visited the region, promising help from the central government.

Earlier, state Governor Eduardo Leite pleaded for urgent assistance, saying that “we need to rescue hundreds of people in dozens of municipalities”.

Helicopters have been deployed to search for stranded people.

In some areas, the flooding is so severe that helicopters have been unable to land and have had to winch residents to safety.

In the Candelária municipality, residents took to the roofs of their homes as their houses filled with water.

Meteorologists have predicted further rains to fall in the region as a cold front moves across it.

Last year, more than 30 people were killed in a cyclone in Rio Grande do Sul.

Brazil’s National Institute of Meteorology attributed the increased intensity and frequency of rainfall to the climate phenomenon El Niño.

Dam collapses, death toll rises in Brazil floods

BBC

US students slam Biden’s comments on Gaza encampments

Published

8 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Trends Admin

U.S. President Joe Biden

US students slam Biden’s comments on Gaza encampments

President Joe Biden says “order must prevail” on university campuses in the United States, just hours after police raided and dismantled another protest encampment in support of Palestinians.

In a brief news conference on Thursday, Biden said both the right to free speech and the rule of law “must be upheld” but stressed that “violent protest is not protected”.

“Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduation — none of this is a peaceful protest. Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not a peaceful protest,” he said.

“Dissent is essential to democracy, but dissent must never lead to disorder or to denying the rights of others so students can finish the semester and their college education,” Biden continued. “There’s a right to protest but not the right to cause chaos.”

Biden’s comments came shortly after police arrested at least 132 student protesters at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), early on Thursday and cleared out an encampment.

UCLA is among the dozens of US universities where students have set up camps over the past few weeks to demand an end to Israel’s war in Gaza. Many are also calling for their schools to divest from any firms complicit in Israeli abuses.

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The protests have been met with a fierce backlash from university administrators, as well as pro-Israel lawmakers and groups.

On Thursday, students and other observers quickly slammed Biden’s statement as failing to recognise that US colleges and universities have called heavily armed police forces onto their campuses to disperse non-violent demonstrations.

The recent arrests of students and faculty at UCLA and New York’s Columbia University, among other campuses, have drawn widespread condemnation.

But in his brief address, Biden did not comment on university policies or the use of force by police. Nor did he remark on reports that pro-Israel demonstrators had attacked pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the UCLA encampment this week.

Instead, he said there is no place on college campuses for “anti-Semitism or threats of violence against Jewish students”. Student demonstrators, however, have rejected accusations that their encampments are anti-Semitic or pose a threat.

“There’s a [sense of] disappointment, but there’s no surprise,” Kali, a student protester at George Washington University in Washington, DC, said of Biden’s remarks.

“For the Biden administration to demonise us in this way is honestly incredibly disappointing,” Kali told Al Jazeera. “It paints a target on the backs of Arab, Muslim, Palestinian, anti-Zionist youth.”

Political blowback

Biden has faced months of widespread anger and mass protests over his unwavering support for Israel during the Gaza war.

More than 34,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since early October. The besieged enclave faces a dire humanitarian crisis, and the top United Nations court said the war has spurred a plausible risk of genocide.

The US president, who is seeking re-election in November, also faces growing disapproval among young voters.

Biden’s approval rating stands at 28 percent among voters under age 30, according to a Pew Research Center survey released last week.

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A recent CNN poll also showed that a staggering 81 percent of voters younger than 35 disapprove of Biden’s handling of Israel’s war on Gaza.

The Democratic president’s support for Israel, condemnation of the student protests, and silence on the mass arrests and violence against demonstrators may fuel young people’s apathy — if not antipathy — towards him, experts said.

“The Democrats can’t really afford to give people more reasons to vote against Biden, and this actually becomes one,” Omar Wasow, assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley, told Al Jazeera.

‘Losing an entire generation’

Experts say young voters could be key to Biden’s prospects in November, as he faces a likely rematch against his 2020 rival, Republican Donald Trump.

In a close race, as the November election is expected to be, low turnout could spell trouble for the Democratic incumbent.

Hasan Pyarali — the Muslim Caucus chairperson for College Democrats of America, the university arm of the Democratic Party — told Al Jazeera he was disappointed by Biden’s comments on Thursday.

“In our point of view, it’s not just good policy to oppose the genocide; it’s good politics. He has done neither, and we’re really disappointed to see that,” said Pyarali, a senior at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

He added that it was especially disheartening to hear Biden say he would not reconsider his Middle East policy as a result of the student protests.

“We’re here to make it known that if he doesn’t change course, there’s a real risk that we [Democrats] lose 2024,” Pyarali said.

He also said the prospect of Trump winning in November would not be enough to convince young voters to vote for Biden. “It’s not on us to make sure that Trump doesn’t come back; it’s on Biden and his campaign,” he said.

“It’s now on him to go forward. If he wants to continue down the path that is unpopular, unjust and genocidal, he certainly can — he’s the president of the United States. But it’s at the peril of essentially losing an entire generation of voters and also risking the 2024 election.”

US students slam Biden’s comments on Gaza encampments

Al Jazeera

International

Gaza: Police arrest 2,000 pro-Palestine protesters on US campuses

Published

8 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Trends Admin

Gaza: Police arrest 2,000 pro-Palestine protesters on US campuses

Police have arrested more than 2,000 people during pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses across the United States in recent weeks, according to an Associated Press tally Thursday.

Demonstrations – and arrests – have occurred in almost every corner of the nation. But in the last 24 hours, they’ve drawn the most attention at the University of California, Los Angeles, where chaotic scenes played out early Thursday when officers in riot gear surged against a crowd of demonstrators.

Hundreds of protesters at UCLA defied orders to leave, some forming human chains as police fired flash-bangs to break up the crowds.

At least 200 people were arrested, said Sgt. Alejandro Rubio of the California Highway Patrol, citing data from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Rubio said they were being booked at the county jails complex near downtown Los Angeles. UCLA police will determine what charges to bring.

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Later Thursday morning, workers removed barricades and dismantled the protesters’ fortified encampment. Bulldozers scooped up bags of trash and tents. Some buildings were covered in graffiti.

Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in a student movement unlike any other this century.

The demonstrations began at Columbia University on April 17, with students calling for an end to the Israel-Hamas war, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there. Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages in an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.