Israeli troops moved into an area of northern Gaza to expand what they call a security zone around the edge of the enclave, the military said yesterday, days after the Israeli government announced plans to seize large areas with an operation in the south.
Soldiers carrying out the operation in Shejaia, a suburb east of Gaza City in the north, were letting civilians out via organized routes, the military said in a statement.
Israel issued evacuation warnings in the area on Thursday and hundreds of residents streamed out, some carrying their belongings as they walked, others on donkey carts and bikes or in vans.
Photo: AP
Gaza health authorities said that Israeli forces killed at least 27 people in an airstrike on a school building in Gaza City where displaced families were sheltering.
The military said the Dar al-Arqam school building in Tuffah neighborhood in Gaza City had been used a command and control center by Hamas militants and accused the fighters of deliberately using civilian infrastructure as bases.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing their homes in the past few days in one of the biggest mass exoduses of the war, as Israeli forces have moved to expand the territory under their control.
On the southern edge of Gaza, Israeli troops have been consolidating around the ruins of the city of Rafah.
Israel has not fully explained its long-term aim for the areas it is now seizing as a security zone.
Gaza residents say they believe the aim is to permanently depopulate swathes of land, including some of Gaza’s last farmland and water infrastructure.
The military said it had killed numerous militants and dismantled infrastructure.
Palestinians say Israel’s ultimate aim is to displace Gaza’s population permanently, in line with a plan announced by US President Donald Trump to turn the enclave into a waterfront resort under US control.
Israel says it would encourage Palestinians who wish to leave voluntarily.
Israeli troops resumed their operation in Gaza on March 18, following a two month truce.
Ministers have said the operation would continue until 59 hostages still held in Gaza are returned.
Hamas says it will free them only under a deal that brings a permanent end to the war.
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen. This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.” The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan. The shift in tone underscores a deterioration
LAW CONSTRAINTS: The US has been pressing allies to send warships to open the Strait, but Tokyo’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz if a ceasefire is reached in the war on Iran, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said yesterday. “If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi said. “This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider.” Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Tokyo to use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) yesterday faced a regional election battle in Rhineland-Palatinate, now held by the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Merz’s CDU has enjoyed a narrow poll lead over the SPD — their coalition partners at the national level — who have ruled the mid-sized state for 35 years. Polling third is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which spells a greater threat to the two centrist parties in several state elections in September in the country’s ex-communist east. The picturesque state of Rhineland-Palatinate, bordering France, Belgium and Luxembourg and with a population of about 4 million,
RSS