News

UN Security Council again delays vote on resolution urging scaled-up humanitarian aid access to Gaza after another day of intense negotiations. More than 576,000 Palestinians in Gaza – about a quarter of the population – face “catastrophic hunger and starvation”, a UN-backed report finds. Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza, with more casualties reported in Rafah, Khan Younis and Nuseirat refugee camp. At least 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. The death toll from Hamas’s attack on Israel stands at nearly 1,140. ‘Battle of narratives’ ongoing between Israel and the UN Luciano Zaccara, associate professor of Gulf politics at Qatar University says “there is a battle of narratives” regarding the positions of Israel and the UN on aid entering Gaza’s southern border. “Israel keeps repeating that they are concerned about the killing of civilians, and they’re concerned about allowing aid to enter into Gaza. International agencies and other governments are blaming Israel for controlling the gate,” Zaccara told Al Jazeera. He added that he does not believe that the delayed vote on a UN Security Council on a resolution urging scaled-up humanitarian aid access to Gaza will change this. “I think there should be more diplomatic efforts conducted by both the UN and Israel to guarantee that the aid entering Gaza is not harming Israel in a way that Israel would withdraw from the support for this resolution,” Zaccara said. “Otherwise, we will come back to zero again.” Click Poll suggests Israelis prefer Biden to Trump as next US president: Report According to a new survey, 40 percent of the people in Israel want US President Joe Biden to be re-elected in 2024, compared to about 26 percent who prefer rival Donald Trump, the Times of Israel reported. The poll showed a big swing among Israelis compared to 2020. Back then, more than 60 percent of them preferred Trump as US president, compared to 17 who backed Biden. The steep decline in support for Trump may be linked to his criticism, among others, of the Israeli military and political leadership for its alleged failures in preventing the October 7. This is the first time in at least two decades where the Israeli public appears to favor a Democratic presidential candidate over a Republican, the Times reported. Click Israeli forces detain eight medical staff members: Red Crescent The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says Israeli forces have released a number of their paramedics, volunteers and women who were arrested yesterday evening in the Jabalia Ambulance Center. Some of them were “beaten and tortured”, it said on X, adding that Israeli forces continue to detain eight medical staff. “The occupation soldiers destroyed the central radio communication device and destroyed all ambulances present in the branch,” PRCS said. Click here to share on social media Ministry of Health director-general critically injured in Israeli attack Hani Mahmoud The northern part of Rafah was subjected to heavy, relentless bombardment where more residential homes have been targeted and destroyed. At least six people in these two residential homes were killed. There is fear people are still under the rubble, that’s why we are expecting the number to go higher within the coming hours. Both eastern and central Khan Younis are becoming the site of major bombardment of artillery shelling. There was constant bombardment last night of all the refugee camps in central Gaza Strip – Bureij, Maghazi as well as Nuseirat. The northern part of Gaza – Jabalia town and Jabalia refugee camp, along with the northern district of Gaza City – were targeted and destroyed. Ministry of Health Director-General Munir al-Bursh was sheltering in his sister’s house, which was targeted. He was critically injured, family members were also injured, but his daughter was killed in the attack on the residential home. Click Beyond Gaza: How Yemen’s Houthis gain from attacking Red Sea ships Justin Salhani Reporting from Beirut A 10-country coalition led by the United States is unlikely to be able to stop Yemen’s Houthi rebels from attacking ships in the Red Sea, but both sides have an interest in avoiding an escalation that could spiral out of control, analysts have told Al Jazeera. Their attacks on commercial and military ships potentially connected to Israel are, according to Houthi officials, aimed at pressuring Israel to end its war on Gaza. The Houthi attacks have been popular domestically in Yemen, allowing the group to recruit new fighters. Read the full story here. Houthi forces boarding the cargo ship Galaxy Leader on Sunday, November 19, 2023, in the Red Sea [Houthi Media Center via AP] Click Israel used ‘one of its biggest and most destructive bombs’ in southern Gaza: Report A visual investigation by The New York Times shows that during the first six weeks of the war in Gaza, Israel used its “one of its biggest and most destructive bombs” in areas in the south of the Strip which the military had indicated as safe for civilians. “The findings reveal that 2,000-pound bombs posed a pervasive threat to civilians seeking safety across south Gaza,” read the report. It added that bombs of that size are “almost never dropped by US forces in densely populated areas anymore,” according to ammunition experts. Asked about the bombs’ use in southern Gaza, the Israeli army told The Times that Israel’s priority was to destroy Hamas and that “questions of this kind will be looked into at a later stage,” the newspaper reported a spokesperson as saying. Click here to share on social media Palestinians to be ‘prevented’ from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque again Friday prayer will start in just a few hours and, as for every weekend since the start of the war, thousands of Palestinians will be prevented from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Al Jazeera’s Sara Khairat says. “Every week there is tear gas, and the reason why is that they are preventing the majority of worshippers from attending the holy prayer – they [Israeli forces] say to reduce clashes as it’s under…

 Lava spewing from a volcano in Iceland appeared to be flowing away from the only nearby town and the intensity of the eruption was dropping, offering hope that homes would be safe even though seismic activity could last months, officials said on Tuesday. The government said flights were unlikely to be affected, quashing international travel concerns lingering after chaos that resulted from the ash cloud caused by an eruption on the north Atlantic island in 2010. The eruption late on Monday on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland spewed lava and smoke more than 100 metres (330 feet) into the air after weeks of intense seismic activity. “The eruption does not present a threat to life,” a government statement said. “There are no disruptions to flights to and from Iceland and international flight corridors remain open.” Authorities last month evacuated the nearly 4,000 inhabitants of the fishing town of Grindavik about 40 km (25 miles) southwest of capital city Reykjavik, allowing them back intermittently to check on homes put at risk by the tremors. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Kristin Maria Birgisdottir, 43, a Grindavik resident who has been evacuated since Nov. 10, at first had a hard time believing it when the volcano erupted. “Everything happened so fast,” said Birgisdottir. “I had already put my kids to sleep, and I was already in bed when I saw someone posted that it had erupted. I took a screenshot, and thought to myself that it was a bad joke.” “We are just waiting for somebody to wake us up or to say cut, the filming is over, because it’s so unreal. It’s hard to believe this is happening,” she later added. Live footage of the eruption showed bright yellow, orange and red lava in sharp contrast against the sky. Some tourists were in awe at the spectacle. “Our BnB hosts sent us a message that the volcano has erupted,” a tourist from the Netherlands who gave his name as Wouter said. “It’s a once in a lifetime for us so we don’t want to miss that … It’s a bit far from here, but you can still see some lava coming up, for us this is amazing.” The eruption opened a 4 km (2.5 mile) fissure. But at its southernmost point, the crack was still 3 km away from Grindavik, Iceland’s Meteorological Office said, and the power of the volcano was decreasing. “The eruption is taking place north of the watershed, so lava does not flow towards Grindavik,” geologist Bjorn Oddson told public broadcaster RUV. Gas pollution could still occur in the area of Reykjavik late on Tuesday or Wednesday morning, officials said. A volcano erupted late on Monday in southwest Iceland, spewing lava and smoke through a four-kilometer-long fissure. BLUE LAGOON A drone picture shows lava spewing from the site of the volcanic eruption north of Grindavik, photographed from Sylingarfell, Iceland, December 19, 2023. REUTERS/Sigurdur Davidsson Acquire Licensing Rights Located between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, among the largest on the planet, Iceland is a seismic hot spot because the plates move in opposite directions. The eruption is about 30 km from Reykjavik. Keflavik international airport is somewhat nearer but remains open. The Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa popular with tourists, has been largely closed since the seismic activity was detected. “It could potentially go on for several months. It could also just stop later today or tomorrow,” said Halldor Geirson, an associate professor at Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland. Lava flows had decreased from 200-250 cubic meters per second in the first two hours of the eruption to around a quarter of that by Tuesday morning. Most of the lava was flowing into an area where there was little infrastructure, Geirson said. That could change. “There is still a threat to Grindavik, for sure. Now the lava is flowing mostly to the north, but it depends on the topography and where the openings are,” he said. In 2010, ash clouds from eruptions at the Eyafjallajokull volcano in the south of Iceland spread over large parts of Europe, grounding some 100,000 flights in Europe and beyond, and forcing hundreds of Icelanders to evacuate their homes. Weather forecasting service AccuWeather said this eruption was very different. “If little to no volcanic ash is lofted into the atmosphere, there may be no impact to aviation,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter said. The 2010 impact on air travel was largely caused by the interaction of magma with the melting water from a glacier, a different scenario to what is happening now. Matthew Watson, professor of volcanoes and climate at the University of Bristol in Britain, said it was “not impossible that there may be some impact on air travel”, although it was unlikely. “This type of eruption doesn’t generally produce much ash, which is what tends to ground planes.” CHRISTMAS AWAY FROM HOME “Unfortunately, the hope that had ignited in the hearts of many about the possibility of celebrating Christmas at home in Grindavik was extinguished when the eruption began yesterday,” Grindavik Mayor Fannar Jonasson said in a statement addressing residents. Hans Vera, 56, originally from Belgium but living in a house just east of Grindavik since 1999, had hoped residents would be allowed to return for good, or as long as is possible on a volcanic island. That all changed when the eruption finally arrived. “I don’t see that in the near future they will let people get close to Grindavik. So we are back in the waiting game,” he said. He described his home near the sea as a winter paradise, and said the prospect of not being able to spend the Christmas holidays there with his family came as a blow. “We are not going to paradise this time around.” Reporting by Tom Little, Louise Rasmussen in Copenhagen, Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm and Terje Solsvik in Oslo; additional reporting by Antoine Demaison for Reuters TV; Writing by Niklas Pollard, Terje Solsvik and Johannes Birkebaek; Editing by David

Among the arrested, 93 were proclaimed offenders and three were included in Red Book which is made for most wanted human traffickers. The FIA shared that the arrested including 94 suspects and facilitators were involved in the Libya/Greece boat accident. This year, 858 cases were registered against human traffickers and 882 cases were investigated and Challans were submitted while 56 human traffickers were convicted. In a bribery case registered by the FIA Gujranwala, a court sentenced the accused to 5 years imprisonment and 29 lakh fine. Strict screening has been started at the Sialkot airport to prevent incidents like Greece. According to the FIA Gujranwala, special training was given to immigration officials regarding passenger profiling. Checking of passengers’ baggage was also ensured in collaboration with other law-enforcement agencies. This year, a crackdown was launched on the elements involved in illegal currency exchange and Hundi. The Gujranwala zone conducted 34 raids on the elements involved in illegal currency exchange. As a result of the raids, 34 cases were registered and 80 accused were arrested. During the raids, 32,191 dollars and other foreign currency worth more than 4 crore 39 lakh rupees were recovered. Rs 14.14 million were also recovered. The arrested were involved in currency exchange without licence. In various inquiries by the Evacuee Trust Property Board, properties worth more than Rs 5 crore 81 lakh were disposed of. This year, the FIA conducted an operation at the Sialkot airport and registered cases against human smugglers by offloading 43 passengers on fake documents. At least 73 accused wanted by law-enforcement agencies were handed over to them. All resources were being used to arrest all the accused, said the FIA spokesperson. Source:https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1140049-gujranwala-fia-arrests-814-suspects

Israeli attacks in Gaza in only one day have killed “around 100” Palestinians and wounded hundreds of others, Gaza’s Health Ministry says. A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) vote on a draft resolution to halt the fighting has been delayed and is now expected on Wednesday. Israel says it has taken control of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israeli army claims that the Hamas force in the area has been “dismantled”. At least 19,667 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7. The death toll from Hamas’s attack on Israel stands at nearly 1,140. Fighting intensified after US Secretary of Defense visited Israel Usaid Siddiqui Hani Mahmoud Reporting from Rafah, southern Gaza Whenever a high-ranking official, whether European or American, comes to the region we see a surge in air attacks and mass bombardment Since the visit of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, we’ve seen more Palestinians being killed at record numbers. More women and children are being killed. More residential buildings and other public facilities – including hospitals and schools – are being destroyed. Every time there is a visit (by a foreign official to the region) people in Gaza make similar observations. That’s why they have been largely skeptical of these latest visits of high American officials to the region. Click Photos: The aftermath of Israeli army strikes on homes in Deir el-Balah [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu] [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu] [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu] [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu] Click Hamas’s political faction, Palestinian rivals discuss post-war Gaza: Report The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that Hamas’s political leaders have been in discussions with their Palestinian rivals about a post-war future for Gaza and the West Bank. Husam Badran, a member of Hamas’s Doha-based political bureau, spoke to the WSJ on the outskirts of the Qatari capital. “We don’t fight just because we want to fight. We are not partisans of a zero-sum game,” he said in the interview. “We want the war to end,” he added. “We want to establish a Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem.” Click Israeli raid hits home in central Gaza Israeli forces have destroyed a house near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah. On Tuesday, at least 13 people were reported killed and many wounded in the central Gaza City. Deir el-Balah has come under repeated Israeli assaults since the war began on October 7. Click ‘No safe place’: Jenin’s Freedom Theatre ransacked, vandalised The Freedom Theatre in Jenin, a popular symbol of peace and hope in the occupied West Bank, has experienced many attacks over the years. Most recently, the theatre, which provides artistic programmes for traumatised children in the occupied West Bank, was raided and vandalised on December 13. Its Director Mustafa Sheta and acting trainer Jamal Abu Joas were arrested. The pair are reportedly being detained in Megiddo prison, outside the occupied West Bank, according to an update from Freedom Theatre, which also said this may be in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. You can read more about the importance of this iconic theatre company here. The outside wall of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin bears graffiti including the Star of David and a menorah [Courtesy of Jenin Theatre] Click More injuries, arrests in latest Israeli raids across occupied West Bank Israeli forces carried out another dawn raid targeting the city of Tubas and the town of Tammoun, resulting in injuries and detentions, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. In Tubas, many military vehicles entered the city from the eastern side amid volleys of gunfire, Wafa said. At least two people related to released Palestinian prisoners have been detained. In Tammoun, sources from the Red Crescent said, a 16-year-old was wounded in the firing by Israeli forces, who also bulldozed two homes in the area. Earlier, we also reported about injuries and arrests following separate raids in Nablus and occupied East Jerusalem. Meanwhile, more Israeli raids were carried out in the following areas: Town of Balaa in Tulkarem, where several young men were arrested Town of al-Lubban Asharqiya, south of Nablus Town of al-Yamoun, west of Jenin Town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron [Translation: Sounds of gunfire exchange heard in the background as Israeli forces clashed with Palestinian youths during the storming of the town of al-Yamoun, west of the city of Jenin.] Click ere to share on social media If you’re just joining us It’s almost 7am (05:00 GMT) in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel. Here are some of the key developments overnight: “Without safe water, many more children will die [in] coming days” in Gaza, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell says. Apparent “targeted” killings of journalists in Gaza need to be investigated, Jody Ginsberg, the president of the Committee to Protect Journalists, tells NPR. The Malaysian ban on Israeli shipping vessels is “effective immediately”, the office of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says. The UN Security Council humanitarian resolution vote has been postponed until at least Wednesday morning. Click More casualties reported in Israeli strikes on southern Gaza A video posted on Instagram and verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit, Sanad, showed the arrival of an injured man at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis following the reported strike on a home in al-Shaboura refugee camp in Rafah. According to Abdallah al-Attar, a photojournalist who took the video, the strike hit the Mansour family residence in the centre of Rafah. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera is also following up reports of multiple casualties following a separate strike that targeted a house in the so-called Japanese neighbourhood of Khan Younis. Al Jazeera also received reports of heavy bombardment in the Jabalia neighbourhood in northern Gaza. [Translation: An injured person arrives at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis following an Israeli bombing on al-Shaboura refugee camp.] Click Israeli soldier killed in fighting in Gaza According to the Israeli army, Captain Lior Sivan, 32, was killed in the fighting with Palestinian armed groups in southern Gaza. Sivan was from Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem, and was a combat officer in the 363rd

Around 61 migrants, including women and children, have drowned following a “tragic shipwreck” off the coast of Libya, said the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM). Citing survivor accounts, the IOM’s Libya office said in a post on X that the boat had left the coastal city of Zuwara, situated west of the capital Tripoli and 60 km (37 miles) from the Tunisian border, with around 86 people on board. “The central Mediterranean continues to be one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes,” the UN agency said in the post. CNN has reached out to the UN IOM’s office in Libya for further details. Libya is a key transit point along the Central Mediterranean route. Each year, tens of thousands of people pour across Libya’s borders. Tragedies at sea are not uncommon as many flee conflict, seeking better lives. According to latest figures released by UN refugee agency UNHCR, more than 2,500 people have died or gone missing this year alone in the Central Mediterranean and “numbers in other parts of the world are likely to be very high.” Source:https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/16/africa/libya-shipwreck-migrants-dead-intl-hnk/index.html

DI KHAN: A major terrorist bid was foiled by police Sunday night in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district. Police said they repelled the attack on Chowanda police check-post around 9:00 pm. They said the terrorists were forced to flee the area as the police began retaliatory firing. Luckily, no casualty took place due to the terrorists’ firing, they maintained. Police launched a search operation to hunt the terrorists. The terrorists were 10 in number as can be seen in the video while fleeing as a result of the retaliatory firing. Geo News has obtained closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage of the Chowanda check-post attack incident. The latest incident comes nearly a week after at least 25 soldiers were martyred in different terrorist incidents including a suicide attack in Dera Ismail Khan district on December 11-12 night, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had said in a statement. The military’s media wing said that heightened terror activities were witnessed in the KP’s region on the night of December 11-12, wherein a total of 27 terrorists were “sent to hell” during various operations. The military’s media wing had said a group of six terrorists attacked a security forces’ post in general area Daraban in DI Khan. It had said the attempt to enter the post was effectively thwarted which forced the terrorists to ram an explosive-laden vehicle into the post, followed by a suicide bombing attack. “The resulting blasts led to the collapse of the building, causing multiple causalities; twenty-three brave soldiers embraced shahadat, while all six terrorists were effectively engaged and sent to hell,” it added. 470 people killed in 1,050 terror attacks in KP The outgoing year witnessed an alarming rise in terror-related incidents in the country in general and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular as at least 470 security personnel and civilians were killed in the province, so far. According to statistics available with Geo News, 470 people were killed in 1,050 terror-related incidents in one year alone. As per the record of the provincial home department and tribal affairs, 698 security personnel and citizens were killed in 1,823 terror-related incidents during the past three years. Seven areas along the Pak-Afghan border in KP remained “terrorism hotspots” during the outgoing year. The areas include Peshawar, Khyber, North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Dera Ismail Khan, Bajaur and Tank. Out of the 1,050 terror-related incidents, 419 were reported in bandobasti, 631 in the erstwhile Fata, 201 in North Waziristan, 169 in Khyber, 121 in South Waziristan, 98 in DI Khan, 62 in Bajaur, 61 each in Tank and Peshawar. Source:https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1139419-video-major-terror-bid-foiled-as-militants-attack-police-in-di-khan

Mass casualties reported in Israeli strikes on the Jabalia and Nuseirat refugee camps; Gaza hospitals continue to be targeted. The WHO describes situation at al-Shifa Hospital “a complete horror scene” and calls the destruction of Kamal Adwan Hospital “appalling”. Hungry and desperate Palestinians are looting aid trucks to get water and food as desperation mounts in southern Gaza’s Rafah City. At least 18,787 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel stands at nearly 1,140. UN Security Council to vote for cessation of hostilities in Gaza The UN Security Council (UNSC) is set to convene later today to vote for a new resolution calling for a suspension in the fighting in Gaza. The draft text “calls for an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access in the Gaza Strip for those in need”. The vote comes after it failed to pass a resolution on December 8 calling an immediate ceasefire due to a US veto. Click WATCH: Why does Israel keep the bodies of Palestinians it killed? Dozens of bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces have been confiscated by Israel in the occupied West Bank since October 7. Human rights organisations fear that many more are being taken away from Gaza, and they may not be returned like several others whose remains have not been returned for years by Israeli authorities. Key events on day 73 of the war on Gaza It’s day 73 of the war on Gaza and this is how things stand: Israeli air attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp killed at least 90 people and wounded more than 100 others. Oil prices rose nearly 1 percent in Asian trade as Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea and lower exports from Russia stoke supply fears. Palestinian officials say the Israeli army holding Ahmed Muhanna, the director of Gaza’s al-Awda Hospital, in an unknown location. The Freedom Theatre in Jenin continues to demand the immediate release of its director, Mustafa Sheta, and acting teacher, Jamal Abu Joas. On Sunday, Israel’s military rejected claims that its forces “murdered” two women who were sheltering in a Catholic church in Gaza. Read our complete list of key events here. A man inspects the damage in a room following Israeli bombardment at Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip [AFP] Click here to share on social media Khan Younis hospital latest health facility targeted by Israeli forces Hani Mahmoud Reporting from Rafah, southern Gaza Nasser Hospital is increasingly becoming a war zone amid a surge in Israeli attacks in the eastern part of Khan Younis as well as in the central part where the hospital is located. The building hosting the maternity ward is believed to be housing thousands of evacuees and displaced Palestinians who came from different parts of Khan Younis to seek shelter. In the last 48 hours, a bomb fell near the building but did not explode, causing a great deal of panic. Three people were injured as a result. Overnight, the building was directly targeted by a missile that destroyed parts of it and damaged medical equipment. There are reports of a young girl being killed and several others critically injured. Once again, we are seeing a hospital that is not only serving as a health facility but also as a shelter, coming under direct attack from Israeli forces.  A view of damage after Israeli army hit the pediatric department of Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s Khan Younis city [Belal Khaled/Anadolu/Getty Images] Click Aftermath of Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital We’ve been reporting on an Israeli attack on the Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. Hani al-Aar, a Palestinian journalist, has shared footage of the aftermath of the attack, The video, verified by Al Jazeera, shows the impact of the shelling as well as the destruction inside the hospital, where there is a large number of injured and displaced Palestinians from across the Gaza Strip. Palestinians’ message to the world: ‘Stop sleeping and get up’ Our colleague Anas al-Sharif has spoken to people in Gaza seeking shelter and treatment at a medical centre in Jabalia al-Balad. Many of them are women and children. “They are targeting innocent children,” one person said, carrying his son in his arms. “We are hosting poor, helpless and displaced people who can’t find a place at the schools. Israeli forces have targeted all of us inside our house.” Another Palestinian accused Israeli forces of committing “genocide”. “Our message to the world is that enough is enough … stop sleeping and get up. Don’t you feel that we are part of humanity?” he said. A medical professional at the hospital said the healthcare system in northern Gaza has collapsed and called for an “immediate ceasefire”. “The medical teams are exhausted. The situation is catastrophic. We are facing a genocide.” Click Father of killed captive accuses Israeli soldier of knowing ‘who he was dealing with’ Avi Shamriz, the father of one of the three captives mistakenly killed by Israeli forces in northern Gaza, has accused the soldier who shot at them of knowing what he was doing. “It was clear that he knew who he was dealing with,” Shamriz was reported as saying by Israeli media. Alon Shamriz, along with two other captives, was killed after more than two months of being held by Hamas fighters as he moved towards the soldiers shirtless and waving a white cloth. The incident triggered fury and condemnation among the families of the remaining captives, reigniting calls for the war cabinet to spell out a clear plan for their release. Click Oil prices rise after Houthi attacks in Red Sea Oil prices have risen nearly 1 percent in Asian trade, as Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea and lower exports from Russia stoke supply fears. Brent crude futures climbed 0.4 percent to $76.87 a barrel on Monday morning, while US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5 percent to $71.77 a barrel. Attacks on ships by Yemen’s

One person was killed and four injured during 24 hours of Russian bombardment of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the regional military administration. Local resident Elena Rodik, 62, reacts while showing her damaged apartment inside a house hit by recent shelling in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, December 12, 2023. (Reuters) Ukraine came under heavy attacks from the air and from cyberspace Tuesday, local officials said, as nearly 600 Russian shells, rockets and other projectiles rained down on a southern region and unidentified hackers knocked out the phone and internet services of the country’s biggest telecom provider. One person was killed and four injured during 24 hours of Russian bombardment of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the regional military administration. The number of projectiles fired at Kherson was the highest number for at least the past two weeks, though local authorities have said between 200-500 are commonly launched against the region every day. Also Read | How Russia is winning the war in Ukraine Long-range barrages have been a feature of the 21-month war. As winter sets in and hampers troop movements on both sides, artillery, missiles and drones are playing an increasing role. Meanwhile, Ukrainian telecom provider Kyivstar said it came under a “powerful” attack by hackers. The company serves more than 24 million mobile customers across the country. “The war with Russia has many dimensions, and one of them is in cyberspace,” Kyivstar Director-General Oleksandr Komarov said in a video statement. “Unfortunately, this morning Kyivstar became the target of a powerful hacker attack, as a result of which communication services and internet access are temporarily unavailable,” he said. Also Read | Over 1,000 ‘opaque fleet’ tankers involved in Russian oil trade since G7 price caps took effect: Vortexa The company gave no estimate for when services might be restored. It said its specialists were working with law enforcement agencies and special state services on solving the problem. Also, a Ukrainian online bank said it fought off a massive distributed denial-of-service attack on Tuesday. A DDoS attack employs a network of distributed computers to direct junk traffic at the target site in an effort to render it unusable. In other developments, Ukraine claimed to have captured a tactically important hill in the Donetsk region, where the front line has barely budged since 2014. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on social media that his troops had taken the foothold, which provides a vantage point over the front line near Pivdenne, a mining town to the northwest of the Donetsk city of Horlivka. Source:https://indianexpress.com/article/world/russia-blasts-ukraine-hackers-strike-phone-internet-9065503/

ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Thursday sentenced Shahnawaz Amir to death and imposed a penalty of Rs1 million in Sarah Inam’s murder case. The verdict was reserved on December 9 last week by Sessions Judge Nasir Javaid Rana. However, the court acquitted the Shahnawaz’s mother, Samina Shah, due to lack of evidence. She was indicted in December last year by the sessions court and was named co-accused in the case. The proceedings of the case lasted for more than a year and three different judges conducted the hearings. Additional Sessions Judge Islamabad Muhammad Atta Rabbani and Azam Khan also heard the murder case. Sarah, a 37-year-old economist, was allegedly murdered with dumbbells by her husband Shahnawaz Amir, who is the son of journalist Ayaz Amir, in Islamabad’s Chak Shahzad area on September 23, 2022. Shahnawaz was detained by the police from a farmhouse in Islamabad’s Chak Shahzad area for being a suspect in his wife’s murder and later confessed to killing her, saying he “thought” his spouse was having an affair. The couple was married for just three months. The next day, a trial court approved the arrest warrants of Ayaz Amir and his former wife Sameena Shah, as the two were nominated as suspects by Sarah’s family. Amir was arrested while his former wife later acquired pre-arrest bail. In the police report registered following the murder, an additional clause of Section 109 (punishment for abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code was added at the request of Sarah’s uncles — Colonel (retd) Ikram and Zia-ur-Rahim — who have blamed Ayaz and his former wife for their daughter-in-law’s murder. The petitioners maintained that Sameena was living at the farmhouse where Sarah was murdered. However, during a hearing on September 27, an Islamabad court discharged Ayaz Amir from the case citing “no evidence” against him in Sarah’s murder. On February 6, Shahnawaz was indicted in the case involving the possession of a Kalashnikov firearm that was obtained illegally and he pleaded not guilty to the charge. However, on November 27, the court granted the benefit of the doubt to Shahnawaz and acquitted him in the case. The court highlighted the prosecution’s failure to prove its charges against the accused, terming its evidence “doubtful”. It should be noted that the police had registered a separate case related to the recovery of a Kalashnikov from the suspect. Last month in October, the prime suspect rejected all evidence submitted by the prosecution against him, terming it “baseless”. Who was Sarah Inam? Sarah Inam, 37, was a Canadian national and a successful economist who worked with Deloitte and USAID at different points in her career. She was married to Shahnawaz for just three months before being murdered. She had a master’s degree from the University of Waterloo and was currently employed in the government sector in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as per friends and family. Sarah is survived by her father, mother and two elder brothers. Source:https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1138147-sarah-inam-murder-caseshahnawaz-amir-sentenced-to-death-in-sarah-inam-murder-case

An Israeli army raid in Jenin, ongoing since the early hours of Tuesday, has killed at least 10 Palestinians. UNRWA says that 288 Palestinians sheltering in its facilities in Gaza have been killed since October 7. It confirmed that one more staff member had been killed, bringing the total number of deaths among UNRWA staff since October 7 to 135. Exclusive footage obtained by Al Jazeera shows bodies piled up inside a school in northern Gaza, with family members saying the dead had been shot at point blank range. At least 18,608 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel stands at 1,147. Graphic: Almost half of Gaza’s population now in Rafah Click here to share on social media Qassam Brigades says it killed at least 10 Israeli solders in Shujayea The Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, has said that its fighters targeted Israeli forces in the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City with “highly explosive devices”. The group said in a statement on Telegram that the attack killed at least 10 Israeli soldiers. The Qassam Brigades also said that its forces attacked four Israeli Merkava tanks and four military personnel carriers in the Sheikh Radwan area of Gaza City. It added that its fighters used al-Yassin 105 rockets in the attack. Click Photos: The aftermath of Israeli strikes in Khan Younis [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] Click Israeli army says it killed ‘many’ fighters in Gaza The Israeli army said fighting continued in Gaza in the past day – in particular, in Shujayea and Jabalia in the north of the enclave, and Khan Younis in the south. Soldiers killed “many terrorists in the north of the Gaza Strip in the past day,” said a statement in Hebrew by the army on X. In one incident, the armed forces detected Hamas fighters “observing its soldiers, fired at them and eliminated them,” the statement said. In another case, the army located and destroyed overnight a firing position in a school complex that served as a base of Hamas’s Shujayea battalion. In Khan Younis, soldiers conducted raids in various locations and found a variety of weapons, including grenades and rifles, and destroyed two shafts, a rocket launch pit and a weapons warehouse. Click Nearly half of Israeli munitions used in Gaza are unguided ‘dumb bombs’: Report Nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in Gaza have been unguided, otherwise known as “dumb bombs,” according to a new US intelligence assessment reported by CNN. The US news outlet said the assessment was compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and described to CNN by three sources who have seen it. About 40 to 45 percent of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions Israel has used have been unguided and the rest have been precision-guided munitions, the CNN report added. “Dumb bombs” do not contain a guidance system and they usually follow a ballistic trajectory or are dropped from aircraft. On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden warned that Israel risks losing international support over its “indiscriminate bombing” of civilians. Click MBS, Sullivan hold talks on peace efforts for Israel and Palestine: White House White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in Saudi Arabia to discuss efforts to create a sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians, according to the White House. “They discussed a number of bilateral and regional matters, including ongoing efforts to create new conditions for an enduring and sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” a White House statement said. They also discussed the humanitarian response in Gaza, including how to increase the flow of critical aid to the Palestinian enclave, it added. Click here to share on social media Iran warns against proposed US-backed Red Sea force Iran’s defence minister has warned that a proposed US-backed multinational task force to protect shipping in the Red Sea would face “extraordinary problems”, Iranian media reported. “Nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance,” Mohammad Reza Ashtiani told the official Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA). “If they make such an irrational move, they will be faced with extraordinary problems.” The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have staged attacks on ships they claim had links to Israel. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters last week that Washington was in talks with “other countries” over forming a maritime task force to ensure the safe passage of ships in the Red Sea, but did not give further details. Click Israeli captives’ families want government talks with Hamas Alan Fisher Reporting from the occupied East Jerusalem The families of those who are being held captive in Gaza have demanded an urgent meeting and explanation from Netanyahu, wondering why he is not exploring every single angle to get a ceasefire and the release of more hostages. According to various reports, two out of three in Israel’s war cabinet decided that it was not a good idea to send someone from Mossad to Qatar to start talking about the release of captives – only former Deputy Prime Minister Benny Gantz was in favour of doing so. What was said is that the war cabinet thinks they should continue with their show of force in Gaza and force Hamas to the negotiating table. They believe that is a way to negotiate – from a position of strength. But it is clear that the families of the captives want some answers, and they would like to see someone from Israel head to Qatar to at least examine the possibility of getting more of the captives out of Gaza sooner rather than later. Click here to share on social media Jenin death toll rises to 11 amid Israeli military raid: Report A young man has died from his wounds following an Israeli military raid on the West Bank city of Jenin for the third day in a row, Wafa news agency reported, citing the Palestinian Health Ministry. This