An Israeli helicopter yesterday fired a missile into a village in north Gaza where army forces have been trying to root out Palestinian militant rocket squads, but no casualties were reported, witnesses said.
The reported attack occurred in Tal al-Zatar village close to the town of Beit Hanoun, the scene of an open-ended Israeli incursion to suppress Hamas militants who have been firing crude rockets over the fenced border into nearby Israel.
Israeli military sources declined to confirm a missile strike but said army units were trying at the time to repulse an approaching group of armed militants.
Israeli tanks and infantry moved into the Beit Hanoun area a month ago and have razed farmland used by Hamas as cover for firing rockets. But the mobile-rocket squads have shifted positions and kept targeting the Israeli town of Sderot.
As a result, Israel expanded the incursion westward on Tuesday night to the edge of the large Jabalya refugee camp in the hope of driving the rocket squads out of range of Sderot.
The army push towards Jabalya triggered pre-dawn clashes with militants yesterday in which at least four Palestinians were wounded, Palestinian medics said.
Witnesses reported hearing heavy machine-gun fire from Israeli tanks and helicopters in the densely populated district.
They said Israeli bulldozers were moving in to flatten more property in what the army calls attempts to deprive militants of concealed firing points, but which Palestinians call collective punishment due to the extensive destruction left behind.
Sderot has been hit almost daily by the generally inaccurate Qassam rockets, but casualties have been few in number.
Hamas issued a videotape on Tuesday, broadcast by al-Arabiya satellite TV, in which it swore to keep raining rockets on Sderot unless Israel ended its 37-year occupation of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon aims to evacuate Jewish settlers from occupied parts of Gaza next year under his "disengagement plan," but vows to crush militants first to prevent them claiming victory.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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