International
Israel bombs UNRWA school in Gaza, kills 32 displaced Palestinians
![](https://newstrends.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/A-man-embraces-an-injured-child-as-a-medic-speaks-to-a-woman-following-Israeli-bombardment-on-Bureij.jpg)
Israel bombs UNRWA school in Gaza, kills 32 displaced Palestinians
Israeli forces have bombed a United Nations-linked school in central Gaza, killing at least 32 displaced Palestinians and injuring dozens more, according to officials and local media.
Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, condemned the predawn attack on Thursday as a “horrible massacre” and said many women and children were among those killed and wounded.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency put the death toll at 32.
The agency said that thousands of displaced Palestinians were sheltering at the Nuseirat camp’s al-Sardi school, which is linked to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), when it came under attack.
Ismail al-Thawabta, a spokesman for Gaza’s Government Media Office, said “huge numbers of dead and wounded” were arriving at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza.
“This horrible massacre committed by the Israeli occupation is clear evidence of genocide, ethnic cleansing against civilians, including women and children and displaced people in the Gaza Strip,” he told reporters.
The dead and wounded were overwhelming the hospital, “which is filled with wounded patients three times beyond its clinical capacity”, he added. “This portends a real disaster that will lead to an even greater increase in the number of martyrs.”
‘Apocalyptic’ violence
Israel’s military confirmed the bombing, saying its fighter jets struck a “Hamas compound embedded inside an UNRWA school in the area of Nuseirat”. It claimed the bombing “eliminated terrorists who were planning to carry out attacks” against its forces.
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Hamas rejected the Israeli statement.
“The occupation uses lying to the public opinion through false, fabricated stories to justify the brutal crime it conducted against dozens of displaced people,” al-Thawabta told the Reuters news agency.
The attack on al-Sardi came as Israeli forces stepped up their bombardment of Gaza even as the United States and mediators continued to press ahead with an effort to secure a ceasefire deal.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said prior to the latest attack on Nuseirat, Israeli forces had killed at least 102 people in 24 hours. These included attacks on the Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps, also located in central Gaza.
Doctors Without Borders, in a statement earlier on Wednesday, described the situation in Gaza as “apocalyptic”. The group, which is known by its French acronym MSF, said the Al-Aqsa Hospital had received 70 dead people and more than 300 injured since Tuesday, and that the majority of the casualties were women and children.
“The odour of blood in the hospital’s emergency room this morning was unbearable. There are people lying everywhere, on the floor, outside … bodies were being brought in plastic bags. The situation is overwhelming,” said Karin Huster, an MSF official.
The “insane escalation of violence” across the Gaza Strip and the closure of the Rafah border crossing – which has halted most humanitarian deliveries into the Palestinian enclave – has stretched the health system to the “point of collapse”, she said.
“This man-made catastrophe needs to stop now,” she added.
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At least 36,586 Palestinians have been killed and 83,074 have been wounded in Israel’s eight-month war on Gaza. The brutal assault, which some countries and UN experts say amounts to genocide, began after Hamas fighters launched attacks inside Israel on October 7 of last year, killing at least 1,139 people and taking dozens of others captive.
Ceasefire talks
Efforts to end the war have so far made little headway, however.
William Burns, the director of the CIA, was in Qatar’s capital, Doha, on Wednesday to discuss a three-phase truce proposal touted last week by US President Joe Biden. The first phase calls for a six-week ceasefire, during which Hamas would free some of the captives and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s population centres and negotiations would continue for a permanent truce.
Regional and international powers have backed the proposal, but sticking points remain. Hamas has insisted on a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Israel, however, has rejected those demands, saying it is prepared to discuss only temporary pauses until Hamas is defeated.
Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, on Wednesday reiterated the group’s stance.
“The movement and factions of the resistance will deal seriously and positively with any agreement that is based on a comprehensive ending of the aggression and the complete withdrawal and prisoners swap,” he said.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said there would be no halt to the fighting.
“Any negotiations with Hamas would be conducted only under fire,” Gallant was quoted as saying as he flew on board a plane to inspect the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Israel bombs UNRWA school in Gaza, kills 32 displaced Palestinians
International
19 killed in Mexican gang fight
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19 killed in Mexican gang fight
Mexican officials investigating footages shared on social media showing bodies in a dumper truck have found 19 corpses in La Concordia, in the southern state of Chiapas.
The victims were all male, clad in black, and wearing tactical vests similar to those worn by Mexico’s strong criminal organisations.
The majority of the dead were recovered inside the truck’s rear, with three more discovered on a nearby dirt track. Everyone had bullet wounds.
Crime gangs have infiltrated the region, which is crisscrossed by transit routes used by migrants making their way north to the United States.
Criminal groups extort money from migrants and utilise the routes to transfer firearms, ammunition, and drugs from adjacent Guatemala into Mexico.
Officials discovered Guatemalan identity papers on four of the deceased. Members of the Chiapas prosecutor’s office were alerted to a video posted on social media on June 28.
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In it, individuals acting as Sinaloa cartel members reveal the victims in the truck, alleging they are from a rival group operating on the Guatemala-Mexico border.
The next day, neighbours discovered the dead near the village of La Concordia and reported their whereabouts to the police.
The Chiapas prosecutor’s office stated that the deceased were likely part of an organisation known as the “Chiapas and Guatemala cartel.”.
The terrible discovery comes amid a spate of gang-related violence in La Concordia and surrounding areas. Last month, gunmen shot and killed a woman campaigning for mayor of La Concordia, along with five other individuals.
Locals have recalled having to hide in their homes for days as gun battles raged on the streets as different gangs competed for territory.
Hundreds have left their houses. The Mexican government says it has sent members of the National Guard and the army to the area.
However, people have previously stated that they feel abandoned and that the cartels will return as soon as the federal forces depart.
19 killed in Mexican gang fight
International
Kuwait flight hostages sue British Airways, UK govt
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Kuwait flight hostages sue British Airways, UK govt
Passengers and crew held hostage after a 1990 British Airways flight landed are suing the airline and the UK government for “deliberately endangering” them.
They claim BA and the government knew Iraq had invaded Kuwait before the plane they were travelling on landed in the country.
The 367 passengers and crew of BA Flight 149 were taken hostage, and some were mistreated, seriously sexually assaulted and kept in near-starvation conditions.
The claimants believe those on board were put at risk so an intelligence-gathering mission could take place, an allegation which has been denied for 30 years.
Ninety-four people, either passengers or crew on board Flight 149 or BA crew already in Kuwait awaiting deployment, are behind the civil action alleging the UK government and BA were guilty of negligence and joint misfeasance in public office.
It is the latest step in a long battle to get answers as to what happened during Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
On the evening of 1 August 1990, BA Flight 149 took off from London’s Heathrow Airport with a planned stop in Kuwait on its way to Malaysia.
Iraqi troops were already massing on the border with Kuwait ahead of an invasion of the country that night. But the flight was not diverted from stopping in Kuwait.
The claimants say no other airline allowed its planes to land after the invasion began. By the time Flight 149 landed on the morning of 2 August, there was rocket fire near the airport as Iraqi forces took control.
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The plane was evacuated and unable to take off. Those on board were taken hostage.
Some were released quickly, but others suffered mistreatment and were used by Iraq as human shields at key facilities to try to prevent Western forces bombing them.
Passengers and crew held hostage after a 1990 British Airways flight landed are suing the airline and the UK government for “deliberately endangering” them.
They claim BA and the government knew Iraq had invaded Kuwait before the plane they were travelling on landed in the country.
The 367 passengers and crew of BA Flight 149 were taken hostage, and some were mistreated, seriously sexually assaulted and kept in near-starvation conditions.
The claimants believe those on board were put at risk so an intelligence-gathering mission could take place, an allegation which has been denied for 30 years.
Ninety-four people, either passengers or crew on board Flight 149 or BA crew already in Kuwait awaiting deployment, are behind the civil action alleging the UK government and BA were guilty of negligence and joint misfeasance in public office.
It is the latest step in a long battle to get answers as to what happened during Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
On the evening of 1 August 1990, BA Flight 149 took off from London’s Heathrow Airport with a planned stop in Kuwait on its way to Malaysia.
Iraqi troops were already massing on the border with Kuwait ahead of an invasion of the country that night. But the flight was not diverted from stopping in Kuwait.
The claimants say no other airline allowed its planes to land after the invasion began. By the time Flight 149 landed on the morning of 2 August, there was rocket fire near the airport as Iraqi forces took control.
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- Six Palestinians killed as Israeli forces pound southern, northern Gaza
The plane was evacuated and unable to take off. Those on board were taken hostage.
Some were released quickly, but others suffered mistreatment and were used by Iraq as human shields at key facilities to try to prevent Western forces bombing them.
At the centre of the claim is the allegation the UK government and BA received a series of warnings during the night but did not act on them.
It is alleged that one reason for this was the desire of the government to insert a special forces team who could carry out reconnaissance within the country.
Stephen Davis wrote a book about the incident and says he has interviewed members of the team anonymously.
He believes the authorities did not expect the airport to fall to invading Iraqi forces so quickly and the intention was for the men to disembark before the plane went on to its next destination.
The BA cabin services director on the flight previously told the BBC that a British man in military uniform greeted him at the plane’s door on arrival in Kuwait.
The man said he had come to meet 10 men on the flight who had boarded at Heathrow. They were brought to the front, disembarked and were never seen again. But by then, it was too late for the plane to leave.
A UK official serving in the Kuwait embassy at the time previously said he believed there had been a “deniable” operation to hastily put boots on the ground without the full knowledge of the embassy.
Anthony Paice was responsible for political intelligence, a role widely assumed to be cover for MI6.
“I am convinced that the military intelligence exploitation of British Airways Flight 149 did take place, despite repeated official denials,” he told the BBC in his first interview in 2021.
In November 2021, the Foreign Office admitted that Parliament and the public were misled for decades about Flight 149.
Newly released files revealed the British ambassador in Kuwait did warn the Foreign Office about the invasion, but BA was not told.
However, then-Foreign Secretary Liz Truss reiterated earlier denials that the flight was being used for a secret intelligence mission.
“There must be closure and accountability to erase this shameful stain on the UK’s conscience,” said Matthew Jury, from the law firm behind the claim, McCue Jury and Partners.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said the government did not comment on ongoing legal matters. BA did not respond to a request for comment.
Kuwait flight hostages sue British Airways, UK govt
BBC
International
Six Palestinians killed as Israeli forces pound southern, northern Gaza
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Six Palestinians killed as Israeli forces pound southern, northern Gaza
At least six Palestinians have been killed in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), and several homes have been destroyed as Israeli forces pushed deeper into the city and pressed further into Shujayea in northern Gaza.
Israeli tanks, which re-entered Shujayea four days ago, fired shells towards several houses, leaving families trapped inside and unable to leave, residents said.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that “60,000 to 80,000 people were displaced” from Shujayea in recent days.
For those who remain, “our lives have become hell”, said 50-year-old resident Siham al-Shawa.
She told the AFP news agency that people were trapped as strikes could happen “anywhere” and “it is difficult to get out of the neighbourhood under fire”.
“We do not know where to go to protect ourselves,” she said.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said residents who managed to flee the neighbourhood say the scale of destruction is “massive”.
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