Israel pursued its air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip yesterday, warning civilians that every home storing weaponry was now a target.
Ignoring international calls for restraint, Israel has vowed to continue its Gaza assault, launched to free a captured soldier and stop rocket attacks, "without time limit."
The Israeli army dropped leaf-lets on towns and villages in the Gaza Strip yesterday, warning residents that "anyone who has, or is keeping an arsenal, ammunitions or weapons in their house must destroy it or they will face dangerous consequences."
PHOTO: EPA
After dropping the leaflets written in Arabic language, military officials said that the army was adopting a "new policy" of attacking homes in civilian areas where weapons such as homemade rockets are secretly stored.
A spokeswoman said the army had "specific information that some houses are storing weapons" in Gaza.
"Palestinian terrorist organizations have been using the civilian population as human shields," she claimed.
"We're warning the civilian population because we don't want them to get hurt ... to stay away from such houses and stay away from terrorists," she said.
A short time later, during the army's second day of an operation in the Mughazi refugee camp in central Gaza, Israeli aircraft fired at least one missile toward a group of Palestinians standing in an open area, killing one and wounding five, medics said.
The casualties included a man dressed in militant fatigues but most were civilians living in nearby homes, the medics said.
Earlier, a Palestinian teenager was killed in Mughazi as militants and troops exchanged fire, medics said. It was not immediately clear if he was armed.
A military spokeswoman said that Israeli aircraft attacked two groups of gunmen -- one carrying anti-tank missiles -- approaching ground troops in Mughazi.
Another aerial attack targeted three tunnels in the southern part of Gaza Strip, where ground troops launched a 1km incursion from the Sufa crossing to locate further tunnels, she said.
The Israeli air force also fired missiles at an abandoned police station in Gaza early yesterday. No casualties were reported.
A UN report issued on Wednesday said the Israeli army has carried out 168 airstrikes and fired more than 600 shells into Gaza, while Palestinian militants have fired 177 homemade rockets toward Israel.
The report said 100 Palestinians have been killed since the Gaza offensive began, not counting the nine on Wednesday. Thirty of the 100 were under age 18, the report added.
Most of the Palestinian fatalities were gunmen, officials in Gaza and Israel have said. At least 15 Palestinian civilians have been killed since the Israeli offensive began in Gaza.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
RSS