International

Israel expands Gaza ground offensive

Published

1 year ago

December 4, 2023

Israel expands Gaza ground offensive

The Israeli military said Sunday its ground offensive had expanded to every part of Gaza, and it ordered more evacuations in the crowded south while vowing that operations there against Hamas would carry “no less strength” than its shattering ones in the north.

Heavy bombardment followed evacuation orders, and Palestinians said they were running out of places to go in the sealed-off territory bordering Israel and Egypt. Many of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are crammed into the south after Israel ordered civilians to leave the north in the early days of the war, which was sparked by the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack in Israel that killed about 1,200, mostly civilians.

The United Nations estimates that 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced. Nearly 958,000 of them are in 99 U.N. facilities in the south, said Juliette Toma, director of communications at the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.

After dark, gunfire and shelling were heard in the central town of Deir al-Balah as flares lit the sky. In Gaza’s second-largest city of Khan Younis, Israeli drones buzzed overhead. U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk urged an end to the war, saying civilian suffering was “too much to bear.”

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the number of people killed there since Oct. 7 has surpassed 15,500, with more than 41,000 wounded. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths, but said 70% of the dead were women and children.

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A Health Ministry spokesman asserted that hundreds had been killed or wounded since a weeklong cease-fire ended Friday. “The majority of victims are still under the rubble,” Ashraf al-Qidra said.

Fears of a wider conflict intensified. A U.S. warship and multiple commercial ships responded to distress signals from container ships in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed attacks on two ships they described as being linked to Israel but did not acknowledge targeting a U.S. vessel.

Hopes for another temporary truce in Gaza were fading. The cease-fire facilitated the release of dozens of the roughly 240 Gaza-held Israeli and foreign hostages in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. But Israel has called its negotiators home and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war will continue until “all its goals” are achieved. One is to remove Hamas from power in Gaza.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said resuming talks with Israel on further exchanges must be tied to a permanent cease-fire.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told “Face the Nation” on CBS News that the U.S. is “trying to work hour by hour to see if we can get this pause reinstated and get those hostages out.”

“While the pause has been lifted, and no hostage exchanges are going on, what is still going on, importantly, is humanitarian assistance getting in, including fuel, which is critical,” Kirby added.

Israel’s military widened evacuation orders in and around Khan Younis in the south, telling residents of at least five more areas to leave. Residents said the military dropped leaflets calling Khan Younis “a dangerous combat zone” and ordering them to move to the border city of Rafah or a coastal area in the southwest.

But Halima Abdel-Rahman, a widow and mother of four, said she won’t heed such orders anymore. She fled her home in October to an area outside Khan Younis, where she stays with relatives.

“The occupation tells you to go to this area, then they bomb it,” she said by phone. “The reality is that no place is safe in Gaza. They kill people in the north. They kill people in the south.”

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The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has urged Israel to avoid significant new mass displacement and do more to protect civilians. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told Egypt’s president that “under no circumstances” would the U.S. permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, an ongoing siege of Gaza or the redrawing of its borders.

On the ground in Gaza, there was fear and mourning. Outside a Gaza City hospital, a dust-covered boy named Saaed Khalid Shehta dropped to his knees beside the bloodied body of his little brother Mohammad, one of several bodies laid out after people said their street was hit by airstrikes. He kissed him.

“You bury me with him!” the boy cried. A health worker at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital said more than 15 children were killed.

Israel’s military said its fighter jets and helicopters struck targets in Gaza including “tunnel shafts, command centers and weapons storage facilities.” It acknowledged “extensive aerial attacks in the Khan Younis area.”

The bodies of 31 people killed in bombardment of central Gaza were taken to the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, said Omar al-Darawi, a hospital administrative employee. One woman wept, cradling a child’s body. Another carried the body of a baby. Later, hospital workers reported 11 more dead after another airstrike. Bloodied survivors included a child carried in on a mattress.

Outside a hospital morgue in Khan Younis, resident Samy al-Najeila carried the body of a child. He said his sons had been preparing to evacuate their home, “but the occupation didn’t give us any time. The three-floor building was destroyed completely, the whole block was totally destroyed.” He said six of the bodies were his relatives.

“Five people are still under the rubble,” he said. “God help us.”

In a video from the same crowded al-Nasser hospital, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said: “I feel like I’m almost failing in my ability to convey the endless killing of children here.”

Israel says it does not target civilians and has taken measures to protect them, including its evacuation orders. In addition to leaflets, the military has used phone calls and radio and TV broadcasts to urge people to move from specific areas.

Israel says it targets Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighborhoods. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence. Israel says at least 78 of its soldiers have been killed.

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Kirby said that the U.S. is in discussion with Israel “about being careful, precise and deliberate in their targeting and trying to minimize civilian casualties to the maximum extent possible.”

“I think it’s also important for people to remember what they’re up against here. Hamas deliberately shelters themselves inside residential buildings, hospitals and schools,” Kirby said when asked by “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan if the White House has established “red lines” in the terms of U.S. military aid to Israel.

“It’s an added burden that Israel has as a modern military, we recognize that, but it’s also a very difficult burden and obstacle for them to overcome,” Kirby said.

The widening offensive likely will further complicate humanitarian aid to Gaza. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, said 100 aid trucks entered Sunday, but U.N. agencies have said 500 trucks per day on average entered before the war.

The renewed hostilities also heightened concerns for the 137 hostages the Israeli military believes are still being held by Hamas. During the recent truce, 105 hostages were freed, and Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners. Most of those released by both sides were women and children.

Elsewhere in the region, Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said it struck Israeli positions near the tense Lebanon-Israel border. Eight soldiers and three civilians were wounded by Hezbollah fire in the area of Beit Hillel, army radio reported. The military said its artillery struck sources of fire from Lebanon and its fighter jets struck other Hezbollah targets.

Iraqi militants with the Iran-backed umbrella group the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said they struck the Kharab al-Jir U.S. military base in Syria with rockets. A U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said rockets hit Rumalyn Landing Zone in Syria but there were no reports of casualties or damage.

Later Sunday, officials with Iranian-backed militias in Iraq said five militia members were killed in an airstrike blamed on the U.S. near Kirkuk. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. U.S. military officials could not immediately be reached for comment. for comment.

Israel expands Gaza ground offensive

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International

Kemi Badenoch political career may be in danger – Top diplomat

Published

3 hours ago

December 29, 2024

Trends Admin

Kemi Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch political career may be in danger – Top diplomat

Comments by the Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom (UK), Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch, have sparked controversy in Nigeria with many outraged over the Leader of the Conservative Party statements which many interpreted as unpatriotic while some rose in her defence.

The British-Nigerian politician, who previously served in the UK Cabinet under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak from 2022 to 2024, had made remarks that many Nigerians interpreted as offensive.

She replaced the party’s leader and immediate past UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, after winning 57 per cent of party members’ votes to defeat former immigration minister Robert Jenrick.

The election, which saw her emerge as the first Black leader of a UK-wide political party, followed Mr Sunak’s resignation from the position after the party failed in the July general election, which produced Keir Starmer of the Labour Party as the new Prime Minister.

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Her position places her as a potential Prime Minister of the UK.

Speaking with British media recently, Badenoch, who had earlier described her upbringing in Nigeria as being overshadowed by fear and insecurity in a country plagued by corruption, detached herself from Northern Nigeria, which she referred to as a haven for Islamism and Boko Haram.

“I find it interesting that everybody defines me as being Nigerian. I identify less with the country than with the specific ethnicity [Yoruba],” she said.

“I have nothing in common with the people from the north of the country, the Boko Haram where Islamism is.

“Being Yoruba is my true identity, and I refuse to be lumped with northern people of Nigeria, who ‘were our ethnic enemies, all in the name of being called a Nigerian.”

Kemi Badenoch political career may be in danger – Top diplomat

International

Putin apologises over Azerbaijan plane crash reportedly shot down

Published

4 hours ago

December 29, 2024

Trends Admin

Putin apologises over Azerbaijan plane crash reportedly shot down

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has apologised to the president of neighbouring Azerbaijan over the downing of a commercial airliner in Russian airspace, in which 38 people were killed – but stopped short of saying Russia was responsible.

In his first comments on the Christmas Day crash, Putin said the “tragic incident” had occurred when Russian air defence systems were repelling Ukrainian drones.

Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelensky said Russia must “stop spreading disinformation” about the strike.

The plane is believed to have come under fire from Russian air defence as it tried to land in the Russian region of Chechnya – forcing it to divert across the Caspian Sea.

The Azerbaijan Airlines jet then crash-landed near Aktau in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 on board.

Most of the passengers on the flight were from Azerbaijan, with others from Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

It is believed most of those who survived were seated in the plane’s rear.

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Flight J2-8243 had been en route from the Azerbaijan capital of Baku to the Chechen capital of Grozny on 25 December when it came under fire and was forced to divert.

The Kremlin released a statement on Saturday noting Putin had spoken to Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev by phone.

“(President) Vladimir Putin apologised that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” it said.

In the rare publicised apology, Putin also acknowledged the plane had repeatedly tried to land at Grozny airport in Chechnya.

At the time, the cities of Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were “being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defence systems repelled these attacks”, he said.

The Kremlin read-out made no direct admission that the plane had been struck by Russian missiles.

In a statement released a shortly after the Kremlin’s, Ukrainian President Zelensky said the damage to the aircraft’s fuselage was “very reminiscent of an air defence missile strike”, adding that Russia “must provide clear explanations”.

“The key priority now is a thorough investigation that will answer all questions about what really happened.”

Prior to Saturday, the Kremlin had refused to say whether it was involved in the crash with authorities saying they were awaiting investigation results.

But Russian aviation authorities had earlier in the week said the situation in the region was “very complicated” due to Ukrainian drone strikes.

Aviation experts and others in Azerbaijan believe the plane’s GPS systems were affected by electronic jamming and it was then damaged by shrapnel from Russian air defence missile blasts.

Survivors had previously reported hearing loud bangs before the plane crashed, suggesting it had been targeted.

Azerbaijan had not officially accused Russia this week, but the country’s transport minister said the plane was subject to “external interference” and was damaged inside and out as it tried to land.

US defence officials on Friday had also said they believed Russia was responsible for the downing.

Moscow noted that Russian investigators had launched a criminal investigation. Azerbaijan had already announced it would launch an investigation.

The Kremlin said that Azeri, Kazakh and Russian agencies were “working closely at the site of the disaster in Aktau region”.

Even before Putin’s message on Saturday was released, several airlines from Azerbaijan had already begun suspending flights to most Russian cities.

The suspension will remain in place until the investigation into the crash is complete, one airline said.

International

BREAKING: Plane skids off runway in South Korea, killing at least 120

Published

5 hours ago

December 29, 2024

Trends Admin

BREAKING: Plane skids off runway in South Korea, killing at least 120

AP – A passenger plane burst into flames Sunday after it skid off a runway at a South Korean airport and slammed into a concrete fence when its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy, killing at least 120 people, officials said, in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters.

The National Fire Agency said rescuers raced to pull people from the Jeju Air passenger plane carrying 181 people at the airport in the town of Muan, about 290 kilometers (180 miles) south of Seoul. The Transport Ministry identified the plane as a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet and said the crash happened at 9:03 a.m. local time.

At least 120 people — 57 women, 54 men and nine others whose genders weren’t immediately identifiable — died in the fire, the South Korea fire agency said. The death toll is expected to rise further as the rest of the people aboard the plane remain missing about six hours after the incident.

Emergency workers pulled out two people, both crew members, to safety, and local health officials said they remain conscious. The fire agency deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the fire, it said.

Footage of the crash aired by YTN television showed the Jeju Air plane skidding across the airstrip, apparently with its landing gear still closed, and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the facility. Other local TV stations aired footage showing thick pillows of black smoke billowing from the plane engulfed with flames.

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Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station, told a televised briefing that rescue workers are continuing to search for bodies scattered by the crash impact. The plane was completely destroyed, with only the tail assembly remaining recognizable among the wreckage, he said.

Workers were looking into various possibilities about what caused the crash, including whether the aircraft was struck by birds that caused mechanical problems, Lee said. Senior Transport Ministry official Joo Jong-wan separately told reporters that government investigators arrived at the site to investigate the cause of the crash and fire.

Emergency officials in Muan said the plane’s landing gear appeared to have malfunctioned. The Transport Ministry said the plane was returning from Bangkok and its passengers include two Thai nationals.

Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed deep condolences to the families of those affected by the accident through a post on social platform X. Paetongtarn said she had ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide assistance immediately.

Kerati Kijmanawat, the director of the Airports of Thailand, confirmed in a statement that Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 departed from Suvarnabhumi Airport with no reports of abnormal conditions in the airspace or on the runway.

Jeju Air in a statement expressed its “deep apology” over the crash and said it will do its “utmost to manage the aftermath of the accident.”

In a televised news conference, Kim E-bae, Jeju Air’s president, deeply bowed with other senior company officials as he apologized to bereaved families and said he feels “full responsibility” for the incident. Kim said the company hadn’t identified any mechanical problems in the aircraft following regular checkups and that he would wait for the results of government investigations into the cause of the incident.

Boeing said in a statement on X that it was in contact with Jeju Air and is ready to support the company in dealing with the crash.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew,” Boeing said.

It’s one of the deadliest disasters in South Korea’s aviation history. The last time South Korea suffered a large-scale air disaster was in 1997, when a Korean Airline plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 people on board. In 2013, an Asiana Airlines plane crash-landed in San Francisco, killing three and injuring approximately 200.

Sunday’s accident was also one of the worst landing mishaps since a July 2007 crash that killed all 187 people on board and 12 others on the ground when an Airbus A320 slid off a slick airstrip in Sao Paulo and collided with a nearby building, according to data compiled by the Flight Safety Foundation, a nonprofit group aimed at improving air safety. In 2010, 158 people died when an Air India Express aircraft overshot a runway in Mangalore, India, and plummeted into a gorge before erupting into flames, according to the safety foundation.

The incident came as South Korea is embroiled into a huge political crisis triggered by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s stunning imposition of martial law and ensuing impeachment. Last Friday, South Korean lawmakers impeached acting President Han Duck-soo and suspended his duties, leading Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok to take over.