Category World News

At least 10 people were queuing for food as a result of Israeli forces’ increased pressure on the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza, according to Palestinian medical personnel, and Israeli forces have ordered people to leave as they continue their ground assault there.

Ten days ago, the Israeli army launched a ground assault in northern Gaza, including in Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahiya. The army has continued to bomb the devastated region, which has seen numerous assaults throughout the year-long conflict, with the aid of warplanes.

More than 400, 000 people remain trapped in the area. After the Israeli military forced evacuations due to security concerns, they have been unable to travel south.

“We have been hit from the air and the ground, non-stop for a week. They want us to leave, they want to punish us for refusing to leave our homes”, Marwa, 26, who fled with her family to a school in Gaza City, told the Reuters news agency.

People feared returning if they traveled south, she said, because they would never be able to.

The Israeli military appeared to be “cutting off North Gaza completely from the rest of the Gaza Strip,” according to the UN Human Rights Office.

The separation of North Gaza raises additional questions about whether Israel will allow civilians to return to their homes, and Palestinians’ repeated requests to leave northern Gaza raise serious issues about large-scale forced displacement of civilians, according to a statement.

As fighting has raged between various Gazan neighborhoods, the renewed assault has highlighted how difficult daily life has become for people living there.

On Monday, Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians queuing for food at a distribution centre, and wounded 40 others, including women and children, according to Palestinian medics, while another eight people were killed in a separate incident in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan district.

The incident was being investigated, according to the Israeli military.

Separately, at least three people were killed in an Israeli attack on a school-turned-shelter in the Jabalia camp, the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported, citing a medical source.

At least four people were killed in an Israeli artillery attack on a home in the same camp later on Monday, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

In the attack, which targeted the al-Sayed family’s home in the camp’s Falloujah neighborhood, several others were hurt, according to the statement.

More than 50 000 people have been displaced and water wells, bakeries, medical facilities, and shelters have been shut down, according to the UN’s description of dire conditions that are still present in Jabalia.

Beyond all justifications

According to his spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, “the intensifying Israeli campaign in northern Gaza has resulted in a significant number of civilian casualties.”

He added to the statement from Dujarric that “He] strongly urges all parties to the conflict to uphold international humanitarian law and that everyone must always respect and protect civilians.”

Hamas claimed that Israel was using force to forcefully relocate the residents of northern Gaza. Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri remarked, “The international community should take action against this war crime.”

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, said the situation in northern Gaza was dire.

According to Abu Azzoum, “Medical sources at Kamal Adwan Hospital claim they are short of essential medical supplies and supplies, including fuel, that will enable operations to be conducted.”

He claimed that as a result of Israeli drone and quadcopter user deaths, healthcare providers are having to deal with “high rates of casualties.”

They are being targeted whether in their homes, in evacuation centres, or simply while “walking the streets of Jabalia”, he said.

Israel has remained closed, preventing food and other supplies from reaching the north, and has continued to stow vital border crossings.

After inspection, Israel claimed on Monday that it allowed 30 trucks carrying food and flour from the UN’s main food agency to pass through the northern crossing. The UN has not confirmed the statement.

Because trucks passing through that crossing do not go directly to the north, according to the UN, it was unclear where the aid went.

Gaza’s Government Media Office has refuted the claim, saying Israel’s “lies” about allowing trucks in are completely false.

The Israeli army has continued to thwart trucks from entering northern Gaza, including Gaza City, according to the office’s statement.

More than 342 people have died in the north since the most recent assault started ten days ago, according to the office, adding that “the area has been under siege and complete lockdown for 170 days.”

“What is happening in northern Gaza is a genocide … the destruction of homes, entire neighbourhoods, infrastructure, schools, hospitals, mosques” is part of a plan to cleanse the area of its inhabitants, it said.

The cutoff and the recent offensive have heightened suspicions that Israel is pursuing an extreme plan that was proposed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to establish a Hamas surrender.

On Monday, Israel continued to bombard other areas of the besieged enclave.

Outside of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, Israeli forces early on Monday attacked a tent camp that housed displaced families. At least four people were killed, and dozens were wounded as a fire ignited.

Rescuers struggled to contain the fire as they battled with social media videos showing them rushing to save people.

Since the assault first started in October of last year, Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked hospitals and shelters in Gaza. They have repeatedly attacked crowded shelters and tent sites in recent months, alleging that armed groups were using them, without providing any proof.

Mohammed Tahir, a surgeon on his third medical mission to Gaza at Al-Aqsa Hospital, said he was in the operating room when he heard the blasts on the nearby school-turned-shelter early on Monday.

Tahir told Al Jazeera that the hospital was “inundated” with casualties, with women, children and men “dying in front of our eyes”.

He claimed that another bombing took place within the hospital’s grounds while he was in the operating room.

Tahir claimed that a hospital’s ability to be attacked in such a grave way goes beyond rationality.

In a race that is increasingly competitive, United States Vice President Kamala Harris has unveiled a number of economic proposals designed to empower and motivate Black men.

On Monday, Harris unveiled an “opportunity agenda for Black men” to increase Black men’s chances of succeeding as a result of her efforts to energize a significant voting bloc. The proposals include a $1 million guarantee for small business loans and a pledge to legalize marijuana for recreational use to ensure Black entrepreneurs have access to the new sector.

They come as the Harris campaign’s focus on losing Black men’s support has gotten worse.

In contrast to the 85 percent who voted for US President Joe Biden in the previous election, 70 percent of Black male voters now say they will support Harris. Younger Black men have been turning away from the Democratic Party frequently because they are angry that their experiences don’t get as much attention in policy as other groups do.

It’s not clear how many of those voters would turn to Harris’s opponent, former President Donald Trump, or simply sit out the election. Trump has been making a point of hiring Black voters because he claims that border crossings could cause them to lose jobs. According to a recent poll conducted by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), more than a quarter of young Black men say they would support Trump in the election.

The Harris campaign stated in a statement that “Black men have long felt that there is so much untapped ambition and leadership within the Black male community.”

The campaign also made the campaign’s suggestions for expanding Black Americans’ access to the cryptocurrency industry and launching a national health equity initiative aimed at addressing conditions like sickle cell anemia, which disproportionately affect the community.

Cedric Richmond, co-chair of the Harris campaign and a former Louisiana congressman who is Black, said Harris wants to build an economy “where Black men are equipped with the tools to thrive: to buy a home, provide for our families, start a business and build wealth”.

Sexism or exasperation?

Harris would become the second Black president and first woman to hold office if she were elected, despite her campaign trail campaign efforts to minimize her identity.

Earlier this week, former President Barack Obama, one of the Democratic Party’s most popular figures, issued an urgent call for Black men to drop “excuses” and vote for Harris, suggesting that the lacklustre support among some may have to do with sexism. The vice president’s support from Black women remains strong, at about 83 percent.

Some Black men, Obama said then, “aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president”.

“I’m sorry, gentlemen. I’ve noticed this, especially with some men who seem to think Trump’s behaviour – the bullying, and the putting people down – is a sign of strength. At a Pennsylvania rally, Obama said, “I am here to tell you that is not what real strength is.” Real strength is based on “standing up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves” and “assisting those who are in need.”

But some Black people took offense to Obama’s remarks.

“It’s wrong to single out Black men when Black men are the most loyal male voting block for Democrats”, Nina Turner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy, said on social media.

Harris has stated to campaign staff that they must hold more rallies and events to put Black men at the center of attention. She wants to emphasize how all of her economic proposals benefit men, even though the new plans are intended to address Black people.

By founding the organization “Hombres con Harris,” the campaign has also been working to increase support among other male voting blocs, including Hispanics. As her campaign has done with the group (“hombres” means “men” in Spanish), Harris’s team plans to organise gender-specific gatherings. For watch parties at NFL and NCAA football games, there are “Black Men Huddle Up” events taking place in battleground states where African-American male celebrities from different races. The campaign says it also intends to run new battleground state testimonial ads with local Black men voices.

A new ad in Philadelphia that appeared to be targeted at the sexism Obama made reference to surfaced on Monday.

“She’s had our back since day one”, said the ad’s narrator. “Let’s be honest and get a reality check. Women know how to make things happen”.

According to Philip Agnew, the founder of the grassroots political organization Black Men Build, the debate over how much misogyny affects some Black men who don’t support him goes against the grain.

According to Agnew, “Being a Black man in the United States is neither an invisible nor a hypervisible thing, and neither of those things is a humanizing viewpoint,” adding that many Americans share his sentiment of exasperation with Black men.

Cheering crowds hailed an 18-year-old Nepali mountaineer as a hero as he returned home on Monday after he broke the record to become the youngest person to summit all 14 of the world’s 8, 000-metre (26, 500-foot) peaks.

Nima Rinji Sherpa reached the summit of Tibet’s 8, 027-metre (26, 335-foot) Shishapangma on October 9, completing his mission to stand on the world’s highest peaks.

On Monday, he returned from China to Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, where scores of people waited to see him.

“I am feeling very happy”, said the young mountaineer, draped in traditional Buddhist scarves and garlands of marigold flowers, as he emerged to loud cheers at the airport.

“Thank you so much, everyone”, he said to his supporters, beaming a wide grin.

Sherpa gave his family a hug and presented him with flowers and scarves in a rush. &nbsp, He later waved to the crowd out of a car sunroof, while proudly holding the national flag.

Nepal’s climbing community welcomed a number of visitors who had already reached the top of 14 peaks.

Summiting all 14 “eight-thousanders” is considered the peak of mountaineering aspirations, with all the peaks located in the Himalayan and neighbouring Karakoram ranges, straddling Nepal, China, Pakistan, Tibet and India.

Climbers cross “death zones” because their oxygen levels are low enough to last a lifetime.

Only about 50 others have succeeded in completing the feat, including Italian climber Reinhold Messner, who did it in 1986.

In the pursuit, numerous renowned climbers pass away.

In the last few years, mountaineers have been expected to reach the “true summit” of every mountain, which many climbers of the previous generation had missed.

Sherpa is no stranger to the mountains, hailing from a family of record-holding climbers, who also now run Nepal’s largest mountaineering expedition company.

Raised in bustling Kathmandu, Sherpa initially preferred to play football or shoot videos.

But two years ago, he put his camera down to pursue mountaineering.

Sherpa, who has already broken numerous records as he has climbed countless peaks, started high-altitude climbing when he was 16 when he climbed Mount Manaslu in August of 2022.

The Himalayan climbing industry’s backbone is thought to be made up of mostly ethnic Sherpas from the valleys around Everest.

They fix ropes, fix ladders, and generally transport the majority of the necessary supplies and food.

They have long been seen as foreign climbers’ backers, but they are now becoming more and more well-known.

Sherpa said in a statement shortly after his final summit that “I want to show the younger generation of Sherpas that they can break the mold of being only support climbers and realize their potential as top-tier athletes, adventurers, and creators.”

“We are not just guides. We are trailblazers”.

Sherpa and other climbers have recently broken records, and they are hoping their accomplishments will inspire the next generation of Nepales.

There has been much rumor about how Tel Aviv will react in response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran following Iran’s missile attack on Israel on October 1. Some observers have suggested that it could hit Iranian oil installations, and others, its nuclear facilities.

The administration of US President Joe Biden appears to be against both options, but it has approved the deployment of THAAD missile defense systems and American troops to Israel, possibly in anticipation of an Israeli strike.

Meanwhile, Biden’s political adversary, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, has egged on Israel to “hit the nuclear first”. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has also suggested the same.

Trump, Kushner, and other steadfast Israeli supporters are likely unaware of the effects of another Israeli attack that targeted an Iraqi nuclear site, despite the fact that they are happy to support an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

What was largely a peaceful nuclear program was pushed underground by Israel’s bombing of Iraq’s French-built Osiraq nuclear reactor in 1981, which inspired Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to invest in the development of nuclear weapons. A similar outcome is likely to be obtained by an aggressive attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

A ‘ pre-emptive ‘ strike

The USSR built a small nuclear research reactor in the 1960s, giving it some know-how, and then started Iraq’s nuclear program. Iraq expanded its civilian nuclear program with significant French and Italian assistance in the 1970s by purchasing a larger reactor from France, known as Osiraq.

The French government shared this information with Israel’s closest ally, the US, by making sure that technical measures were in place to stop any potential dual use of the reactor. As Israel claimed falsely, Iran, which signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and regularly had its nuclear sites inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was not “on the verge of” developing nuclear weapons.

Nevertheless, the Israeli government, which was facing growing discontent domestically and a potential loss at the approaching legislative elections, decided to proceed with the “pre-emptive” strike.

On June 7, 1981, US-made F-15 and F-16 fighter jets flew from Israel, refuelled mid-air, and carried out a strike on the Osiraq reactor, completely destroying it and killing three Iraqi civilians and one French engineer.

Israelis were stoked by the attack, which gave Prime Minister Menachem Begin a close victory in the elections three weeks later.

A trove of declassified US documents from 2021 demonstrates that Saddam’s nuclear ambitions were strengthened by Israel’s strike rather than its own.

More Iraqi scientists were inspired to work on their country’s nuclear program as a result. In his memoir, Iraqi nuclear scientist Jafar Dhia Jafar observed that “many were forming a line to help end the Jewish state’s monopoly on nuclear weapons in the Middle East.” They proved to be more valuable for Saddam than the reactor’s hardware, which he lost in the attack.

In the years that followed, Saddam’s regime began to coopt up nuclear activities and began contacting nations like Pakistan for assistance in developing nuclear weapons. Additionally, it attempted to rebuild the reactor that had been destroyed.

These efforts slowed down only in the early 1990s due to the first Gulf War, which decimated Iraqi infrastructure, and the subsequent sanctions, which drained state coffers.

The repercussions of an Iranian missile strike

Over the past few years, a number of Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated. Most recently, in November 2020, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a nuclear physicist and high-ranking member of the nuclear programme, was shot dead in an ambush near Tehran. Israel has previously accused Israel of carrying out this murder and other murders.

As a result of the ongoing attacks on Iran’s nuclear program, these assassinations may have killed key cadres, but they have also inspired a new generation of Iranians to pursue nuclear science.

The events since October 7, 2023 have further fuelled this sentiment. A poll conducted between February and May this year revealed that Iran’s public continues to support a peaceful nuclear program with an astounding level, as well as that there is growing public support for the country’s need to acquire nuclear weapons. The survey’s respondents indicated that 69 percent of them would back it.

Clearly, Israel’s actions so far are only increasing Iranian determination to continue its nuclear programme. That determination would be even stronger if it were to strike any of its nuclear facilities. And if we take the example of Iraq, it could stifle Iran’s nuclear program and help it become more advanced.

Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finds himself in his predecessor Begin’s shoes. Additionally, he is in charge of a government that has received a lot of negative feedback, including the one from October 7, 2023. Additionally, he wants to “victory” the Israeli people.

However, Israel won’t win if Netanyahu continues to act in Gaza and Lebanon. What he does in Iran will not. Iran and its allies will be able to quickly regain any skills they lose to careless Israeli strikes due to his strategy, which causes resentment in these nations and throughout the Middle East.

In a massive military exercise, the Chinese military reportedly used warships and aircraft to encircle Taiwan in an effort to deter “independence forces” on the island.