Israeli forces
\non Sunday fought “intensive battles” with Hamas militants in southern Gaza,
\nthe army said, as the CIA’s chief met with Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari
\nofficials for ceasefire talks.<\/p>\n
Three United States troops were killed by a drone strike in the Jordan-Syria
\nborder area. It was the first loss of American military lives to hostile fire
\nsince the war began, further raising fears of broader conflict.<\/p>\n
As fighting raged, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded for
\ncontinued support for UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian
\nrefugees, which is threatened by a fierce row over alleged staff involvement
\nin Hamas’s October 7 attack that started the war.<\/p>\n
Following the Israeli accusations, several of the agency’s top donors
\nincluding the United States and Germany halted funding to UNRWA, which has
\nbeen at the heart of humanitarian efforts in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Guterres called on donor states to guarantee the flow of vital aid to the
\nbesieged Gaza Strip, saying “the dire needs of the desperate populations they
\nserve must be met.”<\/p>\n
The Israeli army reported heavy fighting in Gaza’s main southern city of Khan
\nYunis, the current focus of the battle.<\/p>\n
The health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory said at least 24 people were
\nkilled Sunday in Israeli strikes on Khan Yunis, where the sound of gunfire
\nreverberated throughout the day.<\/p>\n
An Israeli air strike on a house in north Gaza’s Shati refugee camp killed 10
\npeople, the ministry said late Sunday, after the Israeli army reported
\nstrikes in the north and centre of Gaza.<\/p>\n
William Burns, the Central Intelligence Agency director, met in Paris with
\ntop Egyptian, Israeli and Qatari officials.<\/p>\n
Israel reported “constructive” discussions. A statement from the office of
\nPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “significant gaps” remained and more
\ntalks were expected in the coming days.<\/p>\n
A security source had confirmed to AFP that United States President Joe Biden
\nwas sending Burns to try to negotiate the release of remaining Hamas-held
\nIsraeli hostages in exchange for a ceasefire.<\/p>\n
– ‘There will be famine’ –<\/p>\n
More than three months of war have led to a spiralling humanitarian crisis
\nand mass displacement. The UN says more than one million people are squeezed
\ninto an area near the Egyptian border.<\/p>\n
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian
\nterritories, warned that suspending UNRWA funding “overtly defies” an order
\nissued Friday by the International Court of Justice to allow more aid into
\nGaza.<\/p>\n
The UN’s top court also said Israel must prevent genocidal acts in its war
\nwith Hamas, but stopped short of calling for an end to the fighting.<\/p>\n
UNRWA on Friday said it had fired several employees over Israel’s accusations
\nthat some of its staff were involved in the October 7 attack, which resulted
\nin about 1,140 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of
\nofficial figures.<\/p>\n
Militants also seized around 250 hostages, of whom Israel says around 132
\nremain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 dead captives.<\/p>\n
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas in response. Its military offensive has killed
\nat least 26,422 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to
\nthe Gaza health ministry.<\/p>\n
Bassam al-Masry, displaced from north Gaza to Rafah in the far south, said if
\naid was cut off it would be “a major disaster” and “there will be famine.”<\/p>\n
Guterres said the “abhorrent alleged acts” of some UNRWA staff should not
\nmean that its thousands of other humanitarian workers should be penalised.<\/p>\n
“I strongly appeal to the governments that have suspended their contributions
\nto, at least, guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s operations,” Guterres said.<\/p>\n
– ‘Lifeline’ –<\/p>\n
The agency’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, warned in a social media post that
\nfunding cuts meant its operation in Gaza was close to collapse.<\/p>\n
Israel’s envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, charged that funding for UNRWA “will
\nbe used for terrorism” and urged donors to await “a comprehensive
\ninvestigation of the organisation”.<\/p>\n
Norway, “a major donor to UNRWA… has decided to continue its funding”,
\nForeign Minister Espen Barth Eide announced in a statement.<\/p>\n
He said Oslo “expects full transparency” from the agency while stressing that
\n“UNRWA is a lifeline” for many Gazans.<\/p>\n
“We should not collectively punish millions of people.”<\/p>\n
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social
\nmedia platform X that “cutting off funding will only hurt the people of Gaza
\nwho desperately need support”.<\/p>\n
The Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel, where aid is inspected and sent
\ninto Gaza, was blocked on Sunday by protesters including the families of
\nhostages, Israeli officials said.<\/p>\n
In another protest, thousands of advocates of Israel’s resettlement of Gaza,
\nincluding some far-right cabinet ministers, gathered in Jerusalem on Sunday
\nand urged Netanyahu to make their contentious dream a reality.<\/p>\n
The prime minister in official statements has rejected resettlement in the
\nPalestinian territory.<\/p>\n
He has also faced mounting demonstrations, and calls for early elections,
\nover his failure to bring home most of the hostages.<\/p>\n
US President Biden blamed Iran-backed militants for the deadly strike on
\nAmerican forces, which the military’s Central Command said wounded 25 others.<\/p>\n
Since Israel’s war against Iran-backed Hamas began, a loose alliance of Iran-
\nlinked armed groups has claimed many of the dozens of attacks that have
\ntargeted US and allied troops in Iraq and Syria. The foreign troops are part
\nof an anti-jihadist coalition.<\/p>\n
(APP\/BSS)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israeli forces on Sunday fought “intensive battles” with Hamas militants in southern Gaza, the army said, as the CIA’s chief met with Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials for ceasefire talks. Three United States troops were killed by a drone strike in the Jordan-Syria border area. It was the first loss of American military lives to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8701,"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8699\/revisions\/8701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}