Author: ALJAZEERA

blinking-dotLive updatesLive updates, Palestinians on Wednesday mark the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel, with many fearing the war on Gaza repeats their painful history on an even more cataclysmic scale. Source link

Israeli military says it is continuing to operate with extreme force in Jabalia city, Jabalia refugee camp, vicinity. Source link

Human Rights Watch says aid workers’ convoys and facilities have been targeted at least eight times since last October.Israeli forces have attacked humanitarian aid convoys and buildings in the Gaza Strip at least eight times since October despite being given coordinates to ensure their protection, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said in a new report. At least 31 aid workers and their companions were killed, the international rights group said in a new report published on Tuesday. “Israeli authorities did not issue advance warnings to any of the aid organisations before the strikes,” the report said. “The eight incidents reveal…

A decision by some major cities in Canada to raise Israeli flags to mark the country’s Independence Day has spurred outrage, with Palestinian rights advocates saying Israel should not be honoured as it wages a deadly military assault on the Gaza Strip. The Israeli flag will be raised in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, as well as in Toronto, the country’s largest city, on Tuesday to mark Israeli Independence Day, also known as Yom Ha’atzmaut. The Ottawa flag-raising will be a private event after a planned public ceremony at city hall drew widespread condemnation. “This decision is based on recent intelligence…

On May 14, 1954, Boeing, now one of the world’s largest commercial aerospace companies, unveiled its first commercial jet-powered passenger plane, the Model 367-80 prototype, at its Renton Field plant on the south shore of Lake Washington in Washington state, where jetliners are still produced today. The 367-80 would eventually be retired on January 22, 1970 but not before its technology had been used to create the famous 707 model – and, later the hugely successful 737. Initially, airlines were cautious about embracing jet technology, citing worries about expense and noise levels among other things. However, the successful test flights…

Arrest of Mahdi Zagrouba comes two days after detention of another lawyer and two journalists.Police in Tunisia’s capital have raided the headquarters of the bar association and arrested a lawyer, according to a report citing witnesses, two days after the detention of another lawyer and two journalists that led to protests. A live broadcast on the Tunmedia website late on Monday showed videos of broken glass doors and toppled chairs while officers arrested lawyer Mahdi Zagrouba, a prominent lawyer known for his opposition to President Kais Saied. Other lawyers could be heard screaming in the background. “It’s a horror scene…

Has the UN really said fewer people were killed by Israel in Gaza? No, is the short answer. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) published on May 8 an infographic that referred to a figure of 34,844 total Palestinian deaths. Below that, it said of the deaths: “24,686 identified as of 30 April as: 10,006 men, 4,959 women, 7,797 children, 1,924 elderly”. The graphic used the Gaza Ministry of Health (MoH) figures and included a note that figures were “Not including more than 10,000 reported missing or under the rubble”. The figures for bodies that…

Qatar says mediation efforts are being hampered by Israel’s offensive on Gaza’s southern city.Israel’s military operation in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah has set ceasefire negotiations with Hamas “backward”, mediator Qatar has said, adding that the talks have lost steam. “Especially in the past few weeks, we have seen some momentum building but unfortunately things didn’t move in the right direction and right now we are on a status of almost a stalemate,” Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani told the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on Tuesday. “Of course, what happened with Rafah has set…

Palestinians will mark the 76th anniversary of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel, an event that is at the core of their national struggle. But in many ways, that experience pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza. Palestinians refer to the anniversary, which they will observe on Wednesday, as the “Nakba”, Arabic for “catastrophe”. Some 700,000 Palestinians, a majority of the pre-war population, fled or were driven from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment. After the war, Israel refused to allow them to return because it would have…

‘Shame and guilt’ drove Major Harrison Mann to quit in November, but he was ‘afraid’ of expressing it earlier.A former officer of the United States Army has explained that his resignation several months ago was prompted by his country’s “unqualified support” for Israel’s war in Gaza. Major Harrison Mann expressed “incredible shame and guilt” in a letter posted on LinkedIn on Monday. He resigned from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in November. Several other US military personnel have quit since the war in Gaza was sparked by an attack on southern Israel by Hamas in October. That operation saw about…