Region

Israel, reeling from the deadliest attack in half a century, formally declared war on Hamas yesterday as the conflict’s death toll surged above 1,000 after the Palestinian group launched a massive surprise assault from Gaza.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu steeled the shocked and grieving nation for a “long and difficult” war after Hamas fired a barrage of rockets at Israel on Saturday and sent a wave of fighters who gunned down civilians and took at least 100 hostages.The bloody escalation sharply heightened Middle East tensions and killed more than 600 people on the Israeli side, the country’s worst losses since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war when it came under attack from a coalition led by Egypt and Syria.“Israel was caught flat-footed by the unprecedented attack,” said Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative. “I’ve heard multiple comparisons to 9/11, and many Israelis are struggling to understand how this could have happened.”In Gaza — which was hammered by Israeli air strikes on 800 targets ahead of what many feared may be a looming ground invasion — officials reported at least 413 deaths, with thousands more wounded across the war zone.US President Joe Biden ordered “additional support for Israel in the face of this unprecedented assault by Hamas,” the White House said.US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington “will be rapidly providing the Israel Defence Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions”.Austin also said he had directed the USS Gerald R Ford, an aircraft carrier, and its accompanying warships to the eastern Mediterranean, and that Washington was augmenting fighter aircraft squadrons in the region.Several foreign countries have reported nationals killed, abducted or missing in the fighting, among them Brazil, Britain, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Nepal, Thailand, Ukraine and the US.Tens of thousands of Israeli forces were deployed to battle holdout Hamas fighters in the south, where the bodies of civilians had been found strewn on roads and in town centres.“The enemy is still on the ground,” said military spokesman Daniel Hagari as a second night fell after the attack, adding that Israel was reinforcing its military strength near the Gaza Strip.Gun battles raged as the Israeli army sought to secure desert regions near the coastal enclave, rescue Israeli hostages and evacuate all areas near Gaza.“We’ll reach each and every community until we kill every fighter in Israel,” vowed Hagari, a day after Hamas fighters launched their shock offensive and surged into Israel using vehicles, boats and motorised paragliders.Shock and dismay gripped Israel after at least 100 citizens were captured by Hamas and abducted into Gaza, with images circulating on social media of bloodied hostages, and distraught relatives pleading for the state to rescue them.Yifat Zailer, 37, said she was horrified to see online video footage from Gaza that showed her female cousin and the woman’s children, aged nine months and three years.“That’s the only confirmation we have,” she said, her voicing breaking with emotion, and adding there was no information on her cousin’s husband and her elderly parents.“After the army took control of the kibbutz, they weren’t at home,” she said. “We assume they were kidnapped... We want to know what their condition is, we want them to return safe. They’re innocent civilians.” Israel also came under attack from the north when Lebanon’s Hezbollah launched guided missiles and artillery shells yesterday “in solidarity” with the unprecedented Hamas offensive, without causing any casualties.Israel responded with artillery strikes across the UN-patrolled border. “We recommend Hezbollah not to come into this,” said army spokesman Richard Hecht. “If they come, we are ready.” Israel was stunned when Hamas launched their multi-pronged offensive on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, raining down at least 3,000 rockets as fighters infiltrated towns and kibbutz communities and stormed an outdoor rave party.Panicked Israeli residents phoned media outlets as they hid in their homes from fighters going door to door and shooting civilians or dragging them away.Global concern has mounted, with Western capitals condemning the attack by Hamas.Israel’s foes have praised the assault, including Iran whose President Ebrahim Raisi voiced support when he spoke with Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders.Anti-Israel protests have flared in Iraq, Pakistan and some other majority Muslim countries, while Germany and France were among nations stepping up security around Jewish temples and schools.TOURISTS KILLEDIn the Egyptian city of Alexandria a police officer opened fire “at random” on Israeli tourists yesterday, killing two of them and their Egyptian guide before he was arrested.Netanyahu — who leads a hard-right coalition government but has received pledges of support from political opponents during Israel’s national emergency — has vowed to turn Hamas hideouts “to rubble” and urged Palestinians there to flee.Schools were closed nationwide and many flights were cancelled to Ben Gurion airport amid the fighting.Hamas has labelled its attack “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” and called on “resistance fighters in the West Bank” and “Arab and Islamic nations” to join the battle.Its attack came half a century after the outbreak of the 1973 conflict called the Yom Kippur war in Israel, sparking bitter recriminations on what was widely seen as an enormous intelligence failure. “There was a very bad failure here,” said Sderot resident Yaakov Shoshani, 70. “The Yom Kippur War was small compared to it, and I was a soldier in the Yom Kippur War.”

The death toll after the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip has risen to 370 and 2200 people are injured.Several bodies were retrieved, including children, due to the shelling carried out by the Israeli warplanes in multiple areas in Gaza, Palestinian medical sources reported on Sunday.The occupation's fighter jets bombarded lands between the towns of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia with dozens of rockets and concussion bombs, north of Gaza.Palestinian sources reported that sounds of major explosions were heard with smoke and flames rising over north of Gaza due to the airstrikes carried out by the Israeli military aircraft which inflicted major devastation upon citizens' property and their close houses.Meanwhile, the Palestinian Ministry of Education decided to suspend the operation of schools on Monday and resort to remote education instead, adding that such decision comes due to the field circumstances witnessed by the Palestinian territories in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.In addition, several Palestinians suffocated in Bethlehem during confrontations with the Israeli occupation forces, with security and local sources reporting that the confrontations were focused on the northern entry of the city, during which the occupation forces fired stun grenades and poison gas leading to many wounds among inhabitants of Al 'Aza camp who were suffocated and subsequently treated in the field.

The Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has called on the international community to immediately intervene and compel the Israeli occupation authorities to uphold their legal responsibility, as an occupier, and act to provide emergency relief to the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip who are suffering from the ravages of blockade and bombardment.Abbas held the Israeli occupation government responsible for cutting the essential supplies from Palestinian people in Gaza, such as water, electricity, and food items, urging the Palestinian government and relevant entities to act immediately and provide the available potential to aid Palestinians.Palestinian people are being exposed to an all-out aggression, assault and murders perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces triggering the essential provision of everything that would alleviate their suffering whether at the levels of public, private or level of civil and charitable institutions through operating relief convoys urgently to mitigate their trauma, he added, pointing out that Gaza won't stand alone in confronting this aggression like other Palestinian territories.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced Sunday that over 20,300 Palestinians have sought refuge in UNRWA-run schools across the Gaza Strip since Saturday.UNRWA Media Advisor Adnan Abu Hasna stated that 44 UNRWA schools, including 28 equipped for housing, have received displaced families from various provinces in Gaza, with the exception of Khan Yunis.He noted that the displaced population have primarily concentrated in northern Gaza, the eastern border, and southern Gaza, with expectations of an increase in their numbers in the coming hours.The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced in a brief statement on Sunday that 313 have died as a result of the ongoing Israeli occupation aggression against the Gaza Strip.

Palestine called for holding an emergency meeting of the Arab League's Council of Arab Foreign Ministers at the earliest possible date to discuss ways to mobilize a political action at the Arab and international levels in order to halt the ongoing Israeli aggression and hold its perpetrators accountable, provide international protection for the Palestinian people, and achieve peace and security based on international law, international legitimacy resolutions, and the Arab Peace Initiative.In statements to Palestinian news agency (WAFA) on Sunday, Palestines Permanent Representative to the Arab League Ambassador Mohannad Aklouk said the urgent meeting comes in light of the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, including the escalation of incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by thousands of settlers and Israeli officials over the past days. This has been followed by an unprecedented escalation in Gaza Strip, with Israeli attacks targeting the killing and terrorizing of civilians, the destruction of residential towers and infrastructure. (QNA)

Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise large-scale attack against Israel yesterday, firing thousands of rockets from Gaza and sending fighters to kill or abduct citizens as Israel retaliated with devastating air strikes.Gun battles raged into the night as at least 70 people were reported killed in Israel, while Gaza authorities released a death toll of 232 in the conflict’s bloodiest escalation in years which also left many hundreds wounded on both sides.“We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the stunned nation as the airforce pounded targets in the blockaded coastal enclave, including several residential tower blocks that were completely destroyed.“The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” the veteran premier vowed after Hamas had launched its first such combined ground, air and sea offensive, half a century after the outbreak of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.The army said in the evening its forces were still engaged in live gun battles in 22 locations, in an ongoing operation labelled “Swords of Iron”, as reservists were being called up.“There are still 22 locations where we are engaging with fighters that came into Israel, from the sea, from the land and from the air,” said army spokesman Richard Hecht, adding that the Hamas attack included a “robust ground invasion”.He said there was a “severe hostage situation in Beeri and also in Ofakim”, two communities in the Negev desert east of Gaza.Hamas earlier released images of several Israelis taken captive, and another Israeli army spokesman, Daniel Hagari, confirmed that “there are kidnapped soldiers and civilians.“I can’t give figures about them at the moment. It’s a war crime committed by Hamas and they will pay the price.” The group started the multi-pronged attack around 6:30am (0330 GMT) with thousands of rockets aimed as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, some bypassing the Iron Dome defence system and hitting buildings.Hamas fighters — travelling in vehicles, boats and motorised paragliders — breached Gaza’s security barrier and attacked nearby Israeli towns and military posts, opening fire on residents and passersby.“Send help, please!” one Israeli woman sheltering with her two-year-old child pleaded as fighters outside opened fire and tried to break into their safe room, Israeli media reported.AFP journalists witnessed attackers gather around a burning Israeli tank, and others driving a seized Israeli military Humvee back into Gaza, where they were met by cheering crowds.Bodies were seen lying on the streets of Sderot near Gaza and inside cars, their windscreens shattered by bullets.“I saw many bodies, of fighters and civilians,” one man who gave his name as Shlomi said, standing beside covered corpses on a road near Gevim Kibbutz in southern Israel.“So many bodies, so many bodies.”Israeli army Major General Ghasan Alyan warned that Hamas had “opened the gates of hell”.An AFP journalist in Gaza saw smoke billowing from the remains of a residential tower which Gaza’s interior ministry said contained 100 apartments and was completely destroyed.Israel’s military said it had warned residents to evacuate before targeting the multi-storey buildings used by Hamas.The aid group Doctors without Borders said one strike had hit the enclave’s Indonesian hospital and an ambulance outside Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, causing multiple deaths.As night fell, Israel’s state-run electricity company cut the power supply to Gaza.The escalation follows months of rising violence, mostly in the occupied West Bank, and tensions around Gaza’s border and at contested holy sites in Jerusalem.Hamas labelled its attack “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” and called on “resistance fighters in the West Bank” as well as in “Arab and Islamic nations” to join the battle.“We decided to put an end to all the crimes of the occupation (Israel),” said its armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, claiming to have fired more than 5,000 rockets.Hecht said Israel had counted more than 3,000 incoming rockets through the day.Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh claimed the group was on the “verge of a great victory and a clear conquest on the Gaza front”. “Enough is enough,” he said in a televised address. “The cycle of intifadas (uprisings) and revolutions in the battle to liberate our land and our prisoners languishing in occupation prisons must be completed.”Air raid sirens wailed across southern and central Israel, as well as in Jerusalem, where multiple incoming rockets were intercepted by air defence systems.In Tel Aviv, a gaping hole was ripped into a building, with residents boarding a bus to seek safety in a hotel.Rocket impacts left cars burning beneath residential buildings in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, north of Gaza.Among the dead was the president of a regional council for Israeli communities northeast of Gaza, who was killed in a gun battle.Schools will remain closed today, the start of the week in Israel.The conflict sparked major disruption at Tel Aviv airport, with American Airlines, Emirates and Ryanair among carriers with cancelled flights.Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, leading to Israel’s crippling blockade of the enclave of 2.3mn people.Israel and Hamas have since fought several wars. The last major military exchange, in May, killed 34 Palestinians and one Israeli.In northern Gaza yesterday, hundreds of people fled their homes, carrying food and blankets, an AFP correspondent said.Across the West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, three Palestinians were killed and around 80 wounded in clashes with Israeli forces and settlers, the Palestinian health ministry and Red Crescent Society said.In Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, some Palestinian residents cheered and blew their car horns as sirens blared.Western capitals condemned the attacks by Hamas. But Hamas drew support from other foes of Israel, with Iran’s supreme leader declaring he was “proud” and Lebanese group Hezbollah praising the “heroic operation”.The US condemned the attacks by “Hamas fighters” and vowed to ensure the key US ally has the means to defend itself.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the attack.UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland warned of “a dangerous precipice” and called on all sides to “pull back from the brink”.

At least 200 Israelis killed and 1,100 wounded; more than 230 killed in Gaza Fighting ongoing at 22 locations inside IsraelGunmen from the Palestinian group Hamas rampaged through Israeli towns Saturday killing and capturing scores of civilians and soldiers in a surprise assault, met by Israel with massive retaliatory air strikes that killed scores in the Gaza Strip.The worst attack on Israel for decades unleashed a war that both sides vowed to escalate. At least 200 Israelis were reported killed and 1,100 wounded by gun battles raging in more than 20 locations inside Israel.In Gaza, health officials reported more than 230 people killed and 1,600 wounded."Our enemy will pay a price the type of which it has never known," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "We are in a war and we will win it".Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the assault that had begun in Gaza would spread to the West Bank and Jerusalem."This was the morning of defeat and humiliation upon our enemy, its soldiers and its settlers," he said in a speech.In Sderot, in southern Israel near Gaza, bodies of Israeli civilians lay strewn across a highway, surrounded by broken glass.Fighting between Israeli troops and hundreds of Palestinian militants was ongoing at "22 locations' inside Israel, an army spokesman said.He said there was a "severe hostage situation in Beeri and also in Ofakim", two Israeli communities near the Gaza border.In Gaza, black smoke and orange flames billowed into the evening sky from a high rise tower hit by an Israeli retaliatory strike. Crowds of mourners carried the bodies of freshly killed militants through the streets, wrapped in green Hamas flags.Gaza's dead and wounded were carried into crumbling and overcrowded hospitals with severe shortages of medical supplies and equipment. The health ministry said 232 people had been killed.By nightfall in southern Israel, residents had yet to be given the all-clear to leave the shelters where they had hidden from the gunmen since the early hours.Hamas said it fired a volley of 150 rockets towards Tel Aviv Saturday evening.Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri told Al Jazeera that the group was holding a big number of Israeli captives, including senior officials. He said Hamas had enough captives to make Israel free all Palestinians in its jails.The Israeli military confirmed Israelis were being held in Gaza. A military spokesman said Israel could mobilise up to hundreds of thousands of reservists and was also prepared for war on its northern front against Lebanon's Hezbollah group.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas underlined the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves in facing the terrorism posed by settlers and the Israeli occupation forces.This came during an emergency leadership meeting he chaired on Saturday that included several Palestinian civilian and security officials.The Palestinian President stressed, during the meeting, the importance of providing the protection for Palestinian people and directed them to provide everything essential to enhance their resilience and steadfastness in the face of the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces and the settlers' gangs.The meeting came following the persistent Israel's bombing of Gaza since Saturday morning, which resulted in the martyrdom of four Palestinians in the Strip.Meanwhile, Israeli media indicated that dozens of Israelis were killed and hundreds were injured as a result of successive and intensive missile barrages fired by the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip since early morning towards settlements and Israeli military sites concurrently with the implementation of amphibious military operation in settlements in Gaza and armed clashes with the occupation's naval forces.A spokesman of the Israeli army stated that the Iron Dome air defense system was activated over the Gaza Strip with sirens following the bombing that targeted a large number of towns south of Tel Aviv to north of the Gaza border.The sirens are still operating in more than 160 areas with the persistent launch of rockets from Gaza towards Israeli settlements.

The Arab League has held the international community responsible for the current situation in the occupied Palestinian territories amid the lack of any real reaction to the provocative policies pursued by the Israeli right wing against Islamic sanctities.In a statement on Saturday, the Arab League added that such policies are entirely against the two-state solution and an attempt to abort the endeavors of establishing the independent Palestinian State on the 1967 borders, calling for stopping the Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip immediately.Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, noted that he has so far warned that the persistent enforcement of extreme and violent policies by Israel is a time bomb that deprives the region of any serious opportunity for stability in the long term, pointing out that the cycle of armed confrontation drags the region away from any real opportunity to achieve stability and peace in the near future.

Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike Saturday on a residential building in the Al-Nasr neighborhood in Gaza City, destroying the entire building, according to reports from the ground. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the Israeli strike, according to Palestinian News Agency (WAFA).The Israeli warplanes fired multiple missiles at a five-story residential building located near the Al-Quds Open University in the Al-Nasr neighborhood, resulting in the complete destruction of the building.The attack on the residential building is the latest in a series of airstrikes that have targeted civilian infrastructure in the enclave, with at least five Palestinians reported killed and many more injured since early Saturday morning.The death toll of the Palestinian martyrs who fell on Saturday in Gaza and the West Bank rose to 11 martyrs, as 10 Palestinians were martyred due to the persistent Israeli shelling since Saturday morning.A Palestinian young man was martyred when the Israeli occupation forces fired live rounds in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.In occupied Jerusalem, several Palestinian citizens were injured while others suffocated during confrontations with the occupation forces at many camps in north Jerusalem. The occupation forces also fired live rounds towards a young man and seriously injured him in his chest while dozens of Palestinians suffocated.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced Saturday that 161 Palestinians were killed while nearly 1,000 persons have been injured since the onset of the Israeli air strikes on Gaza Saturday morning.According to a statement of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the death toll of the Palestinians and the number of injured who have been hospitalised is as follows: in Gaza City alone 35 deaths and approximately 160 injuries, in Khan Yunis 45 killed and approximately 180 injured, in the north 40 deaths and approximately 200 injuries, and in the central region of the Strip 29 killed, .The statement added that there were approximately 311 injuries, while in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, there were 12 martyrs and approximately 80 injuries.The total number of injuries in all Gaza governorates reached 931, while the number of martyrs in all governorates reached 161 until this moment, the statement outlined.This comes on the heels of the persistent Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip since Saturday morning, followed by the Israeli escalation of assaults on Palestinians in various areas in the West Bank with the security measures being entirely enforced in the occupied Jerusalem and the perimeter of Al Aqsa Mosque, as well as military barricades in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that dozens of Israeli people were killed and hundreds were injured as a result of intensive and persistent rocket barrages launched by the Palestinian resistance towards Israeli settlements military sites.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health has declared a state of emergency in all Palestinian hospitals to cope with the repercussions of the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza on Saturday morning. Palestine's Minister of Health, Mai Al Kaila, issued a statement on Saturday instructing the ministry's warehouses and blood banks to supply hospitals with the necessary medical supplies, medications, and blood units.The statement also added that all hospitals in the West Bank are ready to receive the injured from Gaza due to the current Israeli aggression.This comes following the continuous Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since this morning, resulting in the martyrdom of four Palestinians. Israeli media reported the death of dozens of Israelis and the injury of hundreds in successive and intensive rocket attacks launched by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza towards Israeli settlements and military sites, simultaneously with ground landings into settlements near the Gaza border and armed confrontations with the Israeli navy. (QNA)

Turkiye's interior minister said on Sunday two terrorists carried out a bomb attack in front of the ministry buildings in Ankara, adding one of them died in the explosion and the other was "neutralised" by authorities there.Turkish media earlier reported that an explosion was heard near the parliament and ministerial buildings, and broadcasters showed footage of debris scattered on a street near the Interior Ministry.Reuters footage showed soldiers, ambulances, fire trucks and an armoured vehicle gathered near the centre of Turkiye's capital, where police had blocked several nearby roads.Ali Yerlikaya, the interior minister, said on social media platform X that two police officers were slightly injured in the incident at 9:30am."Two terrorists came with a light commercial vehicle in front of the entrance gate of the General Directorate of Security of our Ministry of Internal Affairs and carried out a bomb attack," he said.He added that one blew himself up and the other was "neutralised", which usually means was killed. "Our struggle will continue until the last terrorist is neutralised," Yerlikaya wrote.Ankara's chief prosecutor launched an investigation into what it also called a terrorist attack.Authorities did not identify any specific militant group.

Saudi Arabia yesterday sent its first delegation in three decades to the occupied West Bank to reassure Palestinians it will defend their cause even as it forges closer ties with Israel.In a sign of the thaw, Israel’s Tourism Minister Haim Katz visited Riyadh on the same day, for the first such high-level public mission to the oil-rich kingdom.The United States has urged its Middle East allies Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalise diplomatic relations, following on from similar deals with some other Arab nations.The Palestinians have labelled those agreements a betrayal of their plight and quest for statehood – but Nayef al-Sudairi, who headed the Saudi delegation, sought to reassure them Riyadh stands by their side. “The Palestinian matter is a fundamental pillar,” Sudairi, the new non-resident ambassador to the Palestinians, said after meeting top Palestinian diplomat Riyad al-Maliki in Ramallah for talks and to present his credentials.“And it’s certain that the Arab initiative, which was presented by the kingdom in 2002, is a cornerstone of any upcoming deal.” The 2002 initiative proposed Arab relations with Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from the West Bank, east Jerusalem, Gaza and the Golan Heights, and a just resolution for the Palestinians.Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, 87, last week again stressed strong reservations to Arab countries building ties with Israel. “Those who think that peace can prevail in the Middle East without the Palestinian people enjoying their full, legitimate national rights would be mistaken,” Abbas told the UN General Assembly. Sudairi’s delegation, which crossed overland from Jordan, was the first from Riyadh to visit the West Bank since the 1993 Oslo Accords, which had aimed to pave the way for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.When asked whether there will be a Saudi embassy in Jerusalem, Sudairi recalled there used to be one in the east Jerusalem district of Sheikh Jarrah, and said that “hopefully there will be an embassy there” again.Washington has been leading the talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia on a potential normalisation widely seen as a political game-changer for the Middle East.The talks have covered security guarantees for Saudi Arabia and assistance with a civilian nuclear programme, according to officials familiar with the negotiations.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his deep appreciation for the efforts made by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries regionally and internationally, to achieve peace and reach calm in many issues and files, and their humanitarian and development efforts in the world.This came during a meeting between Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi and the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the UN Headquarters Saturday night, on the sidelines of his participation in the meetings of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 78) in New York, USA. During the meeting, they discussed aspects of cooperation between the GCC and the UN, in addition to the latest international developments of common interest aimed at enhancing international peace and security.In turn, the GCC Secretary-General appreciated the efforts made by the UN General Assembly in coordination and preparation for the UNGA 78. (QNA)

Palestinian Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh Sunday condemned the dangerous Israeli escalation against Palestinian people, their land, and their sanctities, and the continuation of daily killings in all governorates of Palestine, the most recent of which was the killing of the two young men in cold blood in Tulkarm at dawn today.Abu Rudeina added that the Israeli occupation authorities are waging a continuous war against Palestinian people and their capabilities, to implement their plans, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in his speech before the United Nations, in defiance of all resolutions of international legitimacy and international law, which affirmed the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, according to Palestine's news agency (WAFA).He pointed out that the occupation is striving to drag the region into the realm of violence and escalation through its continuous aggression, as well as calls by Jewish extremists to storm al-Aqsa Mosque and storm Birzeit University, forgetting that the Palestinian people will not give up any of their legitimate rights, whatever the cost.The official presidential spokesman stressed that the crimes of the occupation will not deter Palestinian people from continuing their legitimate struggle, until they achieve their goals and aspirations for freedom and establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.Abu Rudeina said that the Israeli response is the greatest evidence of the power of the Palestinian rejection, which was expressed by President Mahmoud Abbas in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly, in which he affirmed that there will be no peace or stability in the region without Palestinian people obtaining their complete legitimate national rights. (QNA)

Tunisian Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar affirmed that his country will not accept "the hidden resettlement of irregular migrants," expressing Tunisia's condemnation of what he described as political or media exploitation of the suffering of victims of irregular migration to serve political agendas.In a speech to the annual general debate of the United Nations General Assembly today, Tunisian Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar said that the phenomenon of illegal immigration has worsened in the region due to the weak levels of development in many countries of the African continent, the prolonged duration of conflicts, and the effects of climate change.He stressed the need to adopt a comprehensive approach to addressing illegal immigration that focuses on addressing the root causes, not just the consequences. He also stressed the need for all parties, from countries of origin, transit, and destination, as well as regional and international organizations, to assume their responsibilities in this regard.Ammar also pointed to the need to complete the path of the "Development and Migration Conference" hosted by the Italian capital Rome in July 2022, on an initiative of Tunisia and Italy. (QNA)

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, discussed bilateral and regional issues, including the Palestinian issue.In a meeting held on the sidelines of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Safadi stressed Jordan's commitment to ending all tensions in the region and developing relations with Iran based on mutual respect, good neighborliness, non-interference in internal affairs, and addressing all tension sources. He pointed to the importance of the security dialogue that the two countries had initiated to achieve this. (QNA)

The Israeli army launched a drone strike on the Gaza Strip yesterday after violent protests in which three Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire, sources on both sides said.The early evening strike is one of a series that have come amid near-daily protests at the border by Palestinians after Israel closed the Erez crossing from Gaza.A drone “struck a military post belonging to the Hamas organisation, adjacent to the area where a violent riot was taking place”, the army said.It added that “shots were fired toward” Israeli soldiers near the border during the strike, without reporting any casualties.A Palestinian security source said that an “Israeli aircraft had targeted a Hamas surveillance site east of Gaza City”, without mentioning any casualties.Earlier in the day, Palestinian demonstrators faced off against Israeli soldiers stationed along the border fence, an AFP journalist reported.Demonstrators set fire to tyres and threw stones at Israeli soldiers.Three Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire, according to the Gaza health ministry.Israel has imposed an air, land and sea blockade on the Palestinian enclave ever since the Hamas seized control in 2007.Thousands of Palestinian workers from Gaza have been prevented from entering Israel by the closure of the Erez crossing, which an Israeli NGO, Gisha, condemned as “collective punishment”.Israel has issued work permits to some 18,500 Gazans, COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, said on Tuesday.Since September 13, six Palestinians have been killed and nearly 100 wounded during violence at the border, according to figures from the health ministry in Gaza.Armed conflict sporadically erupts between Israel and fighters in the Gaza Strip.In May, an exchange of Israeli air strikes and Gaza rocket fire resulted in the deaths of 34 Palestinians and one Israeli.

Nearly two weeks after a flash flood devastated the Libyan port city of Derna, the official death toll keeps rising, passing 3,800 yesterday.A total of 3,845 people are now confirmed to have died, said Mohamed Eljarh, spokesman for the relief committee set up by the authorities in eastern Libya.He said the figure included only those whose burial had been recorded by the health ministry, so it is “expected to rise every day unfortunately”.Bodies buried by residents in the first few days after the disaster struck on the night of September 10-11 had not been included, he said.Officials were working with the community to compile a list of unrecorded burials as well as a register of the missing, who international aid organisations say may number 10,000 or more.Many of the dead are believed to have been swept out to sea, from where their bodies are still washing ashore. Others are thought to be buried beneath the debris that carpets whole neighbourhoods of Derna. More than 43,000 people have been displaced from the city and neighbouring parts of eastern Libya, the International Organisation for Migration said earlier this week.