2 children and a woman crushed to death outside Gaza bakery amid food shortage

2 children and a woman crushed to death outside Gaza bakery amid food shortage
Palestinians gather to receive bread from a bakery, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Nov. 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 29 November 2024
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2 children and a woman crushed to death outside Gaza bakery amid food shortage

2 children and a woman crushed to death outside Gaza bakery amid food shortage
  • The bodies of two girls aged 13 and 17 and the 50-year-old woman were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza
  • Osama Abu Laban, the father of one of the girls, wailed over the loss of her life outside the hospital

GAZA: Two children and a woman were crushed to death Friday as a crowd of Palestinians pushed to get bread at a bakery in the Gaza Strip amid a worsening food crisis in the war-ravaged territory, medical officials said.
The bodies of two girls aged 13 and 17 and the 50-year-old woman were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, where a doctor confirmed that they died from suffocation due to crowding at the Al-Banna bakery. Video from The Associated Press showed their bodies placed next to each other on the floor inside the hospital’s morgue.
The flow of food allowed into Gaza by Israel has fallen to nearly its lowest level of almost 14-month-old war for the past two months, according to Israeli official figures. UN and aid officials say hunger and desperation are growing among Gaza’s population, almost all of which relies on humanitarian aid to survive.
Osama Abu Laban, the father of one of the girls, wailed over the loss of her life outside the hospital.
“My wife fell when she heard that she (our daughter) was suffocating. She did not yet know that she was dead,” he told the AP.
Some bakeries in Gaza were closed for several days last week due to a shortage of flour. AP footage taken last week after they reopened showed large crowds of people cramming together, screaming and pushing, at one bakery in Deir Al-Balah.
Palestinians across the Gaza Strip are heavily relying on bakeries and charitable kitchens, with many able to only secure one meal a day for their families.
In Lebanon, thousands of displaced people began returning to their homes this week after a ceasefire was announced between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.
Many found their homes reduced to rubble after intense Israeli airstrikes over the past two months leveled entire neighborhoods in eastern and southern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut. Nearly 1.2 million people have been displaced.
The truce was the first major sign of progress in the region since war began more than a year ago, triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza. For Palestinians in Gaza and families of hostages held in the territory, the ceasefire marked another missed opportunity to end fighting that has stretched on for nearly 14 months.
More than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel has destroyed large parts of Gaza and displaced nearly all of its 2.3 million people.


Hezbollah chief says group will be by Syria’s side amid militant offensive

Hezbollah chief says group will be by Syria’s side amid militant offensive
Updated 6 min 51 sec ago
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Hezbollah chief says group will be by Syria’s side amid militant offensive

Hezbollah chief says group will be by Syria’s side amid militant offensive
  • Qassem denounced “terrorist groups” who want to “destroy Syria again... to bring down the government“
  • He did not elaborate on what sort of support his group might provide

BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said Thursday that his Lebanese militant group, an ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, would be by Damascus’s side as Islamist-led militants press a sweeping offensive.
In a televised address, Qassem denounced “terrorist groups” who want to “destroy Syria again... to bring down the government” and “create chaos.”
“They will not be able to achieve their goals despite what they have done in past days, and we as Hezbollah will be by Syria’s side in thwarting the goals of this aggression as much as we can,” Qassem said.
He did not elaborate on what sort of support his group might provide, but Hezbollah suffered heavy losses in its war with Israel which ended with a fragile ceasefire on November 27, the day the Syria militants launched their offensive.
Qassem accused the United States and Israel of supporting “takfiri” factions, a term the Shiite Muslim group uses to refer to jihadists or supporters of radical Sunni Islam.
Militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria branch, and allied factions launched the surprise attack and have since seized the major cities of Aleppo and Hama.
The militants’ advance in Aleppo province was in an area where pro-Iran groups including Hezbollah had previously had a significant presence, before drawing it down in recent months in the face of the war with Israel.
Hezbollah has openly backed Assad’s forces since 2013.
Hezbollah fighters helped Assad regain territory lost earlier in the civil war which broke out in 2011 after the repression of anti-government protests.


Turkiye’s Erdogan tells UN’s Guterres new phase reached in Syrian conflict, presidency says

Turkiye’s Erdogan tells UN’s Guterres new phase reached in Syrian conflict, presidency says
Updated 05 December 2024
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Turkiye’s Erdogan tells UN’s Guterres new phase reached in Syrian conflict, presidency says

Turkiye’s Erdogan tells UN’s Guterres new phase reached in Syrian conflict, presidency says
  • Syrian militants captured the key city of Hama on Thursday

ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a call on Thursday that a new phase “being managed calmly” has been reached in the Syrian conflict, his office said.
Syrian militants captured the key city of Hama on Thursday, bringing the insurgents a major victory after a lightning advance across northern Syria and dealing a new blow to President Bashar Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.
Erdogan told Guterres that the Syrian government needed to rapidly engage with its people to achieve a political solution, and added Turkiye was working to de-escalate tensions, protect civilians and pave the way for a political solution, his office said in a statement on X.


Syria state media says air defenses shoot down two ‘enemy’ drones over Damascus

Syria state media says air defenses shoot down two ‘enemy’ drones over Damascus
Updated 05 December 2024
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Syria state media says air defenses shoot down two ‘enemy’ drones over Damascus

Syria state media says air defenses shoot down two ‘enemy’ drones over Damascus
  • “Our air defenses confronted enemy drone aircraft in the skies over Damascus,” the statement said

DAMASCUS: Syrian air defenses shot down two “enemy” drones over Damascus on Thursday, state news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.
“A short time ago, our air defenses confronted enemy drone aircraft in the skies over Damascus,” the statement from the military source said, adding that “two aircraft were shot down, without any human or material losses.”


‘Can’t leave them to it’: ex-child soldier urges help for Sudan kids

‘Can’t leave them to it’: ex-child soldier urges help for Sudan kids
Updated 05 December 2024
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‘Can’t leave them to it’: ex-child soldier urges help for Sudan kids

‘Can’t leave them to it’: ex-child soldier urges help for Sudan kids
  • The United Nations warned earlier this year that “an entire generation could be destroyed,” with millions facing disease and malnutrition
  • During a visit this week to the eastern city of Port Sudan, UNICEF goodwill ambassador Ishmael Beah met with displaced children and families

NAIROBI: A former child soldier has urged the world to do more to help children devastated by Sudan’s brutal civil war, telling AFP on Thursday that “we can’t just leave them to it.”
Since April 2023, the conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands, and displaced almost 11 million — among them five million children.
The United Nations warned earlier this year that “an entire generation could be destroyed,” with millions facing disease and malnutrition.
During a visit this week to the eastern city of Port Sudan, UNICEF goodwill ambassador Ishmael Beah — who was himself forcibly recruited into a Sierra Leone militia aged just 13 — met with displaced children and families.
“This collapse has really devastated a lot of their lives,” he told AFP in Nairobi shortly after the visit.
“It’s been difficult to constantly see what I experienced so many years ago is still happening to people.”
Beah described the plight of one woman he met, whose cousin and his wife were shot and killed after trying to defend themselves, leaving their child an orphan.
“So she took that child and basically ran with that child,” he said, describing it as just one case of remarkable resilience that he encountered.
“There are a lot of stories of rape and people being killed and constant bombardment, and people just running,” he added.
“It’s that restlessness and constant travel, the walking, and particularly for the girls, also then encountering checkpoints,” he said.
“There is a lot of rape.”
Beah said he had expected people’s spirits to be broken, but that was not what he found.
He said many of the young people he met were tough and, armed with the Internet, keen to share their own stories with the world.
“The message that all of them repeated over and over again was: ‘Can the world please help to end the war?’
“’We don’t care how they do it, but let it stop.’“


Israel army spokesman regrets remarks on bill linked to ex-Netanyahu aide

Israel army spokesman regrets remarks on bill linked to ex-Netanyahu aide
Updated 05 December 2024
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Israel army spokesman regrets remarks on bill linked to ex-Netanyahu aide

Israel army spokesman regrets remarks on bill linked to ex-Netanyahu aide
  • Hagari said the legal amendment considered by lawmakers was “dangerous for the army and the country’s security“
  • Hagari was swiftly reprimanded by Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi, and apologized in a message on social media site X

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, has apologized for publicly criticizing a bill that would protect soldiers who disclose classified information to the prime minister.
Hagari, in a press conference on Wednesday, said the legal amendment considered by lawmakers was “dangerous for the army and the country’s security.”
The bill, which passed a preliminary reading in Israel’s parliament, aims to prevent the prosecution of soldiers or defense officials who disclose classified documents to the prime minister or the defense minister even if they do so without authorization.
Lawmakers and media outlets have dubbed it “Feldstein law,” after Eli Feldstein, a former aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has been charged with harming state security by transferring classified information.
The bill was drawn up in response to a domestic scandal over the alleged leaking of confidential material to foreign media to benefit Netanyahu, over which Feldstein has been charged.
Hagari said the bill was “very dangerous because it could allow any subordinate member of the IDF (Israeli military) to steal intelligence on their own initiative.”
The spokesman, who hardly ever comments on domestic politics, added that the bill would “endanger people’s lives and the lives of soldiers.”
Hagari was swiftly reprimanded by Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi, and apologized in a message on social media site X.
“In my statement this evening in response to questions, I expressed myself in a manner that exceeded my authority as the spokesman for the army, and I have been reprimanded for that by the chief of staff,” he said.
“The State of Israel is a democratic country and the IDF is subordinate to the political leadership.”
Netanyahu welcomed Hagari’s reprimand, saying in a statement late Wednesday that “in a democratic country, the army must not intervene in political affairs and certainly not criticize legislation.”
Hagari has become a familiar face to many Israelis with his frequent televised press briefings since the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian group Hamas triggered war in the Gaza Strip.
He was previously reprimanded by the government in June after referring to the idea that Hamas could be eliminated in Gaza as “smoke and mirrors” in a televised interview.