Author: Gulf News Week
Sanctions would.On July 17, the Israeli army bombed the sole Catholic church in Gaza, killing three people and injuring at least 10. The parish priest, Gabriele Romanelli, who used to have almost daily calls with the late Pope Francis, was among the wounded. After the attack, there were statements of condemnation. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called it “unacceptable”. Pope Leo said he was “deeply saddened” by it – a statement many saw as “vague” and “cowardly”. The Israeli government was quick to declare it “regretted” the attack. Amid the global outrage, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem was able to…
Thousands of leaflets dropped over Deir el-Balah, ordering Palestinians to move to a ‘safe zone’ Israel has repeatedly bombed.The Israeli military has issued a new forced evacuation warning for the Palestinians in central Gaza, ordering them to move south to al-Mawasi, an area Israel has regularly attacked despite declaring it a “safe zone”. Thousands of leaflets were dropped over Deir el-Balah on Sunday, telling displaced families living in tents in several densely populated parts of the city to leave immediately. The Israeli military warned of imminent action against Hamas fighters in the area as it continued its deadly attacks on…
Men, women and children seen running in all directions away from Israeli soldiers attacking the desperate aid seekers.Israeli military personnel have pepper-sprayed desperate and starving Palestinian aid seekers at one of the distribution points of the controversial aid agency GHF in Gaza, a video shows. In the 20-second video verified by media’s fact-checking agency Sanad, Israeli troops were seen scattering a crowd with pepper spray at Shakoush in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. The mobile phone video, recorded on July 10 and released on social media late on Saturday, shows three armed soldiers using the pepper spray against the Palestinians at…
Israel has achieved plenty of short-term military gains, but will that outweigh regional, and international, isolation?In the last two years, as well as its war on Gaza and increasingly violent occupation of the West Bank, Israel has launched attacks on Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. The most recent attacks on Syria were launched this week, going so far as to hit the country’s Ministry of Defence. Of course, the Israelis point to their justifications for the attacks on Syria – principally, in Israel’s telling, to defend the Syrian Druze minority. A US-brokered ceasefire has taken effect, but whether it holds…
Children are falling victim to Israel’s starvation strategy aimed at destroying Gaza’s younger generations.I have a big Palestinian family. I grew up in a household full of children: We are eight brothers and sisters. As my older siblings started getting married and having children, our family grew even bigger. Every weekend, our family home would fill up with children’s laughter. I used to wait impatiently for Thursday to come, the day my married sisters would come to visit us with their children. My father would be out shopping, my mother – busy cooking her daughters’ favourite dishes, and I would…
Rescue operations are ongoing south of Shiraz, in Fars province.At least 21 people have been killed after a bus overturned in the south of Iran, state media has reported. Masoud Abed, the head of Fars province’s emergency organisation, said 34 other people were injured in the accident on Saturday south of Shiraz, the province’s capital. Abed said rescue operations are ongoing, and additional information and final figures will be released to the public after the operation is complete and detailed investigations have been carried out. The cause of the incident is under investigation. With nearly 17,000 casualties annually, Iran is…
Attack is first of its kind in months and occurs as PKK has begun disarmament, ending armed campaign against Turkiye.An unidentified drone attack has killed a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and injured another near northern Iraq’s Sulaimaniyah, according to security sources and local officials. The attack on Saturday was the first of its kind in months and occurred as the PKK has begun the first steps towards disarmament, ending its armed campaign against the Turkish state. The drone attack hit a motorbike in the area, according to Iraqi outlet The New Region. The mayor of Penjwen, in…
Israeli intervention ‘reignited tensions’ in the city, with fighting there ‘a dangerous turning point’, President Ahmed al-Sharaa said.Syria’s security forces have begun deploying in the restive southern province of Suwayda, a Ministry of Interior spokesperson has said, where heavy fighting between Druze and Bedouin armed groups and government forces has left hundreds dead, compounded by Israeli military intervention. The deployment on Saturday came hours after the United States announced that Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire, an as yet uncertain truce amidst overnight fighting. Syria’s government announced the ceasefire early on Saturday, saying in a statement it is…
The declaration has been agreed by representatives of both sides in Doha, weeks after talks in Washington.The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the M23 rebel group have signed a declaration of principles in Qatar to end fighting in eastern Congo. The declaration was signed on Saturday between representatives of both sides in Doha. The DRC and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have been engaged in heavy fighting, spurred by M23’s bloody January assault and capture of the DRC’s two largest cities. The decades-long conflict has roots in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, with M23 made up primarily of ethnic Tutsi fighters. The…
US ambassador says truce was ‘supported’ by the US and ’embraced’ by Turkiye, Jordan and Syria’s neighbours.Syria and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire, US ambassador to Turkiye, Tom Barrack, has announced, drawing an uneasy truce between the neighbours after days of air strikes and sectarian bloodshed in Syria’s southwestern Suwayda region. Barrack said in a post on X early on Saturday that the ceasefire between Syria and Israel was “supported” by Washington and “embraced” by Turkiye, Jordan and Syria’s neighbours. In his post announcing the ceasefire, Barrack said the US called “upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down…