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Tag: Gaza

  • PHOTOS: Excitement as Israeli hostages from Gaza reunite with families

    PHOTOS: Excitement as Israeli hostages from Gaza reunite with families

    The three female hostages released by Hamas have been reunited with their mothers. The freed hostages are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari.

    Ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into force at 0915 GMT after a delay. No fewer than 90 Palestinian prisoners were due to go free on Sunday.

    Aid trucks have started crossing into Gaza even though Israel struck several targets in Gaza before ceasefire took effect.

    The ceasefire agreement calls for 33 of the 98 Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza to go free over a six-week first phase, in return for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

    With the first three having now been released, and are back in Israel, going forward, Hamas is due to release at least three hostages each week.

    All living hostages will be released first, followed by remains of dead hostages. The 33 include women, children, men over 50 and ill and wounded captives. Israel believes most of the 98 hostages are still alive but has received no confirmation from Hamas.

    Meanwhle, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken with the Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing Gal Hirsch.

    “I know, we all know, they have been through hell. They are emerging from darkness into light. They are really going from slavery to freedom,” Netanyahu said. This is a great moment, an emotional moment. Many congratulations,” he added.

    See photos below:

    Ceasefire: Israel releases first 90 Palestinian prisoners

    Similarly, the first 90 Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel under the terms of the Gaza ceasefire deal were freed hours after an agreement took effect on Sunday.

    The prisoners’ release deal is aimed at halting the fighting that has devastated the coastal territory, local media cited Israeli authorities as confirming.

    Local media outlets, including the Times of Israel, cited the prison authority as confirming the release, saying that most of the freed prisoners were women and minors.

    The majority of the detainees come from the West Bank, while others are from East Jerusalem, according to the reports.

    Palestinian media showed footage and pictures of what they said were released prisoners arriving in Ramallah.

    Also on Sunday, the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas released the first three Israeli hostages as part of the ceasefire agreement.

    The three hostages were women – named by the Israeli military as Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher.

    They were transferred by the Palestinian militant group Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Sunday afternoon.

    They were then transferred to Israeli forces and transported to a hospital in Tel Aviv, where they were greeted by family.

    A Hamas spokesman confirmed that four more Israeli hostages would be released next Saturday.

    Part of the deal is to exchange 33 hostages for 1,904 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails over the course of six weeks.

    Following months of stalemate in the 15-month Gaza war, a three-stage ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was brokered on Wednesday.

    The ceasefire caps months-long efforts by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to mediate between the warring parties.

    The first stage of the ceasefire agreement also foresees the Israeli military withdrawing from densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip.

  • Hamas set to release 1st hostages under Gaza ceasefire deal

    Hamas set to release 1st hostages under Gaza ceasefire deal

    The Palestinian militant group Hamas is expected to release the first hostages under a Gaza ceasefire deal on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday.

    This is happening after 15 months of war that demolished the enclave.

    If successful, the ceasefire would halt fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces that has razed much of heavily urbanised Gaza, killed more than 46, 000 people, and displaced most of the enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million several times over, according to local authorities.

    A ceasefire could also ease hostilities in the Middle East, where the Gaza war spread to include Iran and its proxies – Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, and armed groups in Iraq as well as the occupied West Bank.

    In Gaza itself on Friday, Israeli warplanes kept up heavy strikes, and the Civil Emergency Service said at least 101 Palestinians, including 58 women and children, had been killed since the deal was announced on Wednesday.

    Under the six-week first phase of the three-stage deal, Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages, including all women (soldiers and civilians), children, and men over 50.

    Israel will release all Palestinian women and children under 19 detained in Israeli jails by the end of the first phase.

    The total number of Palestinians released will depend on the hostages released and could be between 990 and 1,650 Palestinians, including men, women, and children.

    Hamas said in a statement on Friday that obstacles that arose about the terms of the Gaza ceasefire agreement have been resolved.

    Israel’s acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country’s security cabinet and government.

    In the early hours of Friday, Netanyahu’s office said Israel’s security cabinet would meet to give final approval to the ceasefire accord after the meeting was pushed back from Thursday, raising concerns about delays.

    Ministers were summoned to a full cabinet meeting at 1330 GMT on Friday, an official with knowledge of the situation said, giving ample time for the ceasefire to begin on Sunday and the first hostages to be returned to Israel.

    Israel blamed Hamas for the last-minute hold-up, while Hamas on Thursday said it was committed to the deal, which is scheduled to take effect on Sunday.

    “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was informed by the negotiating team that agreements have been reached on a deal to release the hostages,” his office said in a statement.

    Underscoring the potential obstacles facing a final ceasefire, hardliners in Netanyahu’s coalition have opposed the deal as a capitulation to Hamas, which had controlled Gaza.

    National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to resign if it was approved. However, he said he would not bring down the government.

    His fellow hardliner, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has also threatened to quit the government if it does not go back to war to defeat Hamas after the first six-week phase of the ceasefire was completed.

    Nevertheless, a majority of ministers were expected to back the agreement. In Gaza, the airstrikes continued.

    In the aftermath of one strike on tents housing displaced people, a boy picked through damaged items on the floor littered with canned food and coffee pots.

    That attack killed two people and wounded seven others at an encampment close to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, according to medics.

    Also in Khan Younis, mourners gathered around the body of a man killed in an Israeli strike as women hugged each other and cried.

    “Life has become an unbearable hell,” said resident Jomaa Abed al-Aal.

    There was no comment from the Israeli military on the latest strikes.

    Israel says 98 hostages are still being held in Gaza with about half believed to be alive.

    They include Israelis and non-Israelis. Of the total, 94 were seized in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel and four have been held in Gaza since 2014.

    For the first time, Israeli authorities have officially informed hostage families of the names of the first 33 to be released but it remains unclear how many of those on the list are still alive.

    A group representing families of Israeli hostages in Gaza on Thursday urged Netanyahu to move forward quickly.

    The ceasefire accord emerged on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, Israel’s main supporter.

    As well as the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners, the deal includes a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

    It also paves the way for a surge in humanitarian aid for the coastal strip, where the majority of the population has been displaced and faces hunger, sickness, and cold.

    A World Health Organisation official said on Friday it should be possible to scale up aid imports into Gaza massively to around 600 trucks a day under the terms of the deal.

    The aid surge requires more than a 10-fold daily increase in lorries from the daily average of 51 that UN data shows entered the enclave in early January.

    “I think the possibility is very much there specifically when other crossings will be opened up,” Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told a press briefing in Geneva.

    “This can be built up very rapidly.”

    Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen burst into Israeli border-area communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting over 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

  • Israel set to approve Gaza ceasefire, hostage deal

    Israel set to approve Gaza ceasefire, hostage deal

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday that Israeli cabinet will meet to give final approval to a deal with militant group Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza and a release of hostages.

    In Gaza, Israeli warplanes kept up intense strikes, and Palestinian authorities on Thursday said that at least 86 people were killed in the day after the truce was announced.

    With longstanding divisions apparent among ministers, Israel delayed meetings expected on Thursday when the cabinet was expected to vote on the pact, blaming Hamas for the hold-up.

    However, on Friday, Netanyahu’s office said approval was imminent and the restricted security cabinet is due to meet before a full cabinet meeting to ratify the deal that will be held later.

    “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was informed by the negotiating team that agreements have been reached on a deal to release the hostages,” his office said in a statement.

    It was not immediately clear whether the full cabinet, which must approve the deal for it to take effect, would meet on Friday or Saturday, or whether there would be any delay to the ceasefire, which had been expected to begin on Sunday.

    A 24-hour period is usually given to allow appeals to the Supreme Court and given that the cabinet would not normally meet until Saturday evening after the end of the Jewish day of rest.

    The start of the ceasefire might  be pushed back.

  • Israel denies reports on Gaza truce

    Israel denies reports on Gaza truce

    Israel on Wednesday denied agreeing to a week long ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for a list from Hamas of hostages that the group would release.

    Media reports claimed the proposed deal would include a six-to-eight-week ceasefire, expanded aid access to the Palestinian enclave, and efforts to rebuild its health system, destroyed by Israeli strikes.

    In return, Israel was said to receive a list of hostages still alive and information about deceased hostages, including the locations of their remains.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the reports as “absolutely false.” In a statement issued by his office, he said Israel has not agreed to a pause in the war in exchange for a list of hostages. He accused Hamas of waging “psychological warfare.”

    The statement came as negotiators met in Doha in renewed efforts to broker an agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the war, which began in October 2023, and to secure the release of approximately 100 hostages still held in Gaza.

  • 14,500 youngsters killed in Gaza

    14,500 youngsters killed in Gaza

    No fewer than 14,500 youngsters have been killed in Gaza in the past 14 months, as humanitarians condemned new deadly airstrikes across the war-torn Strip, including on a UN school-turned-shelter.

    Many thousands more are believed buried under the rubble, according to UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) while no fewer than 45,000 people have been killed in the enclave.

    Images taken at the school in Khan Younis showed the apparent impact point of one shell in a concrete upper floor where people had been living at the time of the attack late Sunday night.

    Meanwhile, famine “continues to loom in the north” and humanitarian access remains “severely restricted”, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, said in a post on social media.

    “Virtually all 1.1 million children in Gaza are in urgent need of protection and mental health support,” she added, amid media reports that Israeli military activity in the last 24 hours has left at least 69 Palestinians dead, from Beit Lahia in the north to Rafah in the south.

    Echoing those concerns, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned that Gazans were now desperately worried about not getting enough to eat.

    In the absence of a ceasefire, “we need to find a way of getting all the food that we have outside Gaza in”, WFP’s Head of Emergency Communications, Jonathan Dumont, said.

    “The devastation is absolutely staggering,” he continued, in an online message from Gaza.

    “There’s no electricity or running water or sewage (treatment). Almost everyone has lost their home. A lot of people are living in tents.

    “We have hot meals, distributions…People come and they get really desperate. You can see it in their faces and you can see it in their eyes. To prevent famine we need to find a way to get a consistent flow of food in.”

    According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, 13 people died and 48 were injured during the Sunday’s night strike.

    “It’s been another very deadly night here in the Gaza Strip, we are waking up every single day to a new horror,” UNRWA Senior Emergency Officer, Louise Wateridge, told UN News on Monday

    “I have been to Nasser Hospital this morning. One of the children I spoke to, her name was Mona, 17 years old.

    “She has very severe injuries to her leg – she had very severe shrapnel wounds – and she was in the hospital with her sister…their mother was crushed to death under the rubble.”

    Another victim, two-year old Julia, suffered severe head trauma and lost her sight in one eye; her five-year-old brother also had a serious head injury.

    Originally from Gaza City, the youngsters and their family “have been forcibly displaced seven or eight times,”Wateridge said.

    “They ended up in the [UNRWA] school, and they’ve been there for the last seven months, and now this – it just feels very hopeless.”

  • Israeli military recovers 6 bodies of hostages from Gaza

    Israeli military recovers 6 bodies of hostages from Gaza

    The bodies of six hostages were recovered from the Gaza Strip in an overnight operation, the Israeli military said on Tuesday morning.

    Their corpses were found in the city of Khan Younis in the south of the coastal territory, the military said.

    The families of the six men have been informed, it said.

    According to media reports, five of the men were between 35 and 80 years old.

    Several had already previously been declared dead by the army.

    The report said that they were all alive when they were abducted.

    According to Israel’s count, the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas still holds 109 hostages, many of whom are likely no longer alive.

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is currently trying to broker an agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict and the release of the hostages.

    Israel has accepted a U.S.-supported proposal to bridge differences between Israel and Hamas, Blinken said on Monday.

    Hamas, however, has not yet agreed to it.

    Hamas and other Palestinian militants abducted a total of 253 people from Israel into Gaza on Oct. 7.

    Some of them were freed through a prisoner exchange, and a few hostages were able to be rescued by the Israeli army albeit at high cost.

    The Israeli army albeit did that to the Palestinian civilian population during these military operations, for which Israel has faced international criticism.

  • UK election: Pro-Gaza candidates defeat Labour in several seats

    UK election: Pro-Gaza candidates defeat Labour in several seats

    While the Labour Party’s position on Gaza has not dented its landslide UK general election win, several of its candidates lost to independent challengers campaigning on a pro-Palestine platform.

    Labour leader Keir Starmer was also heckled with shouts of “Free Palestine’’ both at the polling station in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency.

    At the election count, he was declared to have won his seat.

    Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth was unseated by an independent in Leicester South.

    Ashworth, the shadow paymaster general who has made media appearances for the party during Labour’s election campaign, was defeated by independent candidate Shockat Adam.

    His main policies included “standing for global peace and justice,’’ and he wrote on his website;.

    “I will champion Leicester’s values of global peace and justice, which have been neglected by the current government.

    “Our constituency MP refused to vote for a ceasefire to end the bloodshed in Gaza, resulting in the needless deaths of thousands of innocent civilians.’’

    In Dewsbury and Batley, independent candidate Iqbal Mohamed, whose key focus areas include a ceasefire and peace agreement in Gaza, beat the Labour candidate Heather Iqbal.

    In Blackburn, Labour’s Kate Hollern lost to Adnan Hussain, who said in his online statement to voters.

    “I promise to make your concerns against the injustice being inflicted against the people of Gaza be heard in the places where our so-called representatives failed.’’

    Labour’s Jess Phillips narrowly managed to hold onto her Birmingham Yardley seat, scraping 11,275 votes compared to the 10,582 won by Workers Party candidate Jody McIntyre.

    But in Birmingham Perry Barr, Labour’s Khalid Mahmood lost the seat to independent Ayoub Khan by 507 votes.

    Birmingham Live previously reported Khan was one of several candidates in the city who wanted to stand in the election “with a strong emphasis on the Gaza situation.”

    Labour’s Paul Waugh meanwhile won Rochdale from Workers Party leader George Galloway, just months after he won the seat in a shock by-election dominated by the Gaza war.

    Galloway, a former Labour and Respect member, swept to victory in Rochdale in February gaining almost 40 per cent of the vote.

    Palestine has been a major theme of Galloway’s political career, throughout which he has voiced ferocious opposition to British and U.S. foreign policies.

    Both are in the Middle East and, more recently, in their support for Ukraine.

    Ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn meanwhile ran as an independent and successfully retained his long-held seat of Islington North in London.

    He beat his Labour rival by more than 7,000 votes.

    He has long been a pro-Palestine voice and his platform included demanding an end to the occupation of Palestinian Territories.

    Independent candidate Faiza Shaheen blamed Labour for letting former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith win in Chingford and Woodford Green, saying the vote was split between her and her Labour challenger.

    Shaheen was dropped by Labour as its candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green after liking a series of posts on social media platform X that allegedly downplayed anti-Semitism allegations.

    She wrote on X: “our vote was a combination of those appalled by how I was treated, those who took issue with having an imposed candidate who didn’t know us.

    Those who were never going to vote Labour after Starmer’s stance on Gaza, and those that have never voted before.

    “Labour split the vote the moment they deselected me.’’

    Starmer’s position on the Gaza conflict has previously caused unease among some in his party, with the leader facing criticism for not calling for an immediate ceasefire sooner.

    In its manifesto, the Labour party committed to recognising a Palestinian state.

    The Labour Party faced setbacks in the local elections in some previously safe areas, particularly those with large Muslim populations.

  • Biden asserts what’s happening in Gaza ‘is not genocide’

    Biden asserts what’s happening in Gaza ‘is not genocide’

    U.S. President Joe Biden has rejected accusations against the Israeli leadership that it is committing genocide in its fight against Palestinian militant organisation, Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

    “Contrary to allegations against Israel made by the International Court of Justice, what’s happening is not genocide. We reject that,” Biden said.

    On Monday, International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan applied for arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Joav Galant for alleged crimes against humanity.

    The request for warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant relates to alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip beginning on October 8, a day after Hamas militants launched their unprecedented attack on Israel.

    Among the allegations are “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population,” a statement from Khan’s office said.

    Arrest warrants were also requested for the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yehya al-Sinwar, and other representatives of the militant organisation.

    South Africa has repeatedly called on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to take action against Israel and accused the country of genocide.

    In urgent rulings, the UN judges have obliged Israel to do everything possible to prevent genocide and to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

  • NCPC to transport Christian pilgrims to holy land in June – Adegbite

    NCPC to transport Christian pilgrims to holy land in June – Adegbite

    The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), Bishop Stephen Adegbite, has revealed that the transporting of Christian pilgrims to the Holy land will start in June.

    Adegbite disclosed this at a ceremony to mark his 100 days in office at the Commission’s Headquarters in Abuja.

    “By the grace of God, we will begin the transporting of pilgrims next month, that is, in the month of June,” he said.

    Following fears that had griped pilgrims to travel for the exercise, the Executive Secretary assured  pilgrims of safety in Israel.

    The NCPC boss, who just returned from a trip to Israel, stressed that Nigerian pilgrims had been assured of their  safety during the exercise.

    “We just received a letter from the Minister of Interior, Israel, that pilgrimage has returned to Israel and everywhere is saved in Israel.

    “Henceforth, the destination of pilgrimage for intended Pilgrims is now Israel and Jerusalem.

    “And that is why when you finish your exercise, you will be called JP, meaning Jerusalem Pilgrimage. The land of Israel is a blessed land, and God will continue to bless it,” he said.

    Adegbite also condemned the crisis going on in Gaza, adding that a lot of innocent children and young people who do not know anything about terrorism were suffering.

    “We do not support or encourage the crisis going on in Gaza. The crisis must stop because innocent children are suffering.

    “I have been to Jerusalem for over 24 years now and no year I return without outstanding testimonies, and likewise, you too will return with testimony, and the grace of God will be sufficient for us all,” he said.

    Adegbite also announced that the commission had awarded Gov. Hope Uzodinma of Imo as the ‘Best Christian Pilgrimage Governor’ in 2023.

    The Executive Secretary said that the governor’s gesture of sponsoring a large number of christians to the Holy Land was unprecedented, not only in  but in the whole of Nigeria.

    He said that by virtue of being the first Christian Pilgrimage Governor for the year 2023, he had become the first Christian Pilgrimage Ambassador in Nigeria.

    “In Christian Pilgrimage, what he did last year amazed all of us. He sponsored 1,000 pilgrims to the Holy Land

    “We really appreciate what he has done. We will like to encourage him to do more for the people.

    “We must appreciate what he has done, and this will encourage other governors,” the Executive Secretary said.

    Highlight of the event was the unveiling of a book containing the achievements of the Executive Secretary in the past 100 days in office and the launch of a slogan for the commission.

     

  • UN chief condemns killing of security staff in Gaza

    UN chief condemns killing of security staff in Gaza

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the killing of a staff member of the UN Department of Safety and Security (DSS).

    The staff died and another was injured when their UN vehicle was struck as they travelled to the European Hospital in Rafah, Gaza.

    The 53-year-old senior projects officer was killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike in the central town of Deir Al Balah, after leaving Rafah.

    UN deputy spokesperson, Farhan Haq, told journalists in New York on Monday that the Guterres called for a full investigation into the attacks

    “With the conflict in Gaza continuing to take a heavy toll – not only on civilians, but also on humanitarian workers – the Secretary-General reiterates his urgent appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and for the release of all hostages,” he said.

    Answering questions from journalists, Haq said that the UN was still gathering information on the incident.

    He later confirmed that the security personnel killed was an international staff member, marking the first such UN death in the Gaza conflict.

    Separately, UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA reported that another of its staff members had been killed in the war, bringing the total number to 188.