Gaza | Pakistan

Despite almost two years of what has now been dubbed a “genocide” in the Gaza Strip, Israel continues to bomb, starve and torture more than a million Palestinians in the besieged enclave. After blocking aid from entering Gaza, Israel established the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in collaboration with the United States, which set up food distribution sites, luring starving civilians and then allowing them to be shot by Israeli forces. The GHF sites have been slammed by humanitarian organisations as ‘killing fields’. Attempting to break the blockade and put pressure on Israel to end its onslaught is a fleet of boats with participants from over 44 countries, including Pakistan. The movement, known as the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), will embark on its journey to Gaza in the early morning hours of Sunday, September 7. The GSF is made up of four coalitions: the Sumud Nausantara, Maghreb Sumud Flotilla, Freedom Flotilla Coalition and Global March to Gaza. A five-member Pakistan delegation led by former Jamaat-...

The world’s biggest academic association of genocide scholars has passed a resolution saying the legal criteria have been met to establish that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, its president said on Monday. Eighty-six per cent of those who voted among the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) backed the resolution declaring Israel’s “policies and actions in Gaza” had met the legal definition set out in Article II of the 1948 UN Convention on genocide. Israel launched its devastating assault on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, after fighters from Hamas attacked Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages. Since then, Israel’s military action has killed 63,000 people, damaged or destroyed most buildings in the territory and forced nearly all its residents to flee their homes at least once. A global hunger monitor relied on by the United Nations says parts of the territory are now suffering a man-made famine, which Israel also denies. The three-p...

Former Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan will lead the Pakistani delegation aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip, according to posts from his social media account on Friday. Earlier this month, it was announced that Pakistan would be joining the Global Sumud Flotilla to break the Israeli siege of Gaza, according to a post on Instagram by the Pak-Palestine Forum, a platform aiming to advance support for the Palestinian cause. According to its website, the flotilla is a “coordinated, nonviolent fleet of mostly small vessels sailing from ports across the Mediterranean to break the Israeli occupation’s illegal siege on Gaza”. Reuters reports that dozens of boats carrying aid will depart Spain and Tunisia and set sail for the Gaza Strip. Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and Portuguese left-wing politician Mariana Mortagua are among hundreds of people from 44 countries participating in the flotilla. Sumud means “perseverance” in Arabic. Among the participants is a five-member deleg...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to end its silence over Gaza and to hold Israel accountable for what it described as “mass carnage” of Palestinians, urging those shielding the occupying power to reassess their policies that have enabled atrocities in the be-sieged.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday strongly condemned the latest Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and Syria, terming them blatant violations of international law and urging the international community to hold Israel accountable.

Pakistan on Wednesday strongly condemned the deadly Israeli airstrikes on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, which left at least 21 people dead, including four journalists and a rescue worker.

JEDDAH: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has reaffirmed Pakistan’s position on Gaza, calling for an immediate, permanent, and unconditional ceasefire throughout the occupied Palestinian territory. He made these remarks during the 21st Extraordinary Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Jeddah. Ishaq Dar also urged the full implementation of the […]

ISLAMABAD: On the directives of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan dispatched humanitarian aid for Gaza, which was received at El-Arish International Airport in Egypt, ARY News reported. Pakistan’s Ambassador to Egypt, Aamir Shouket, received the consignment and, on behalf of the Government of Pakistan, expressed deep gratitude to the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah […]

The OIC Council of Foreign Ministers opened its session in Jeddah on Monday with a strong focus on securing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

On the special directives of the Prime Minister, Pakistan has dispatched another consignment of humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Saturday dispatched another 100-ton relief consignment for the people of Gaza, bringing Pakistan’s total humanitarian aid to 1,915 tons.

Proposal calls for partial Israeli pullback and more aid into Gaza, where 2.2m people face growing famine

Hamas has accepted a new ceasefire proposal for Gaza, a senior member of the group said on Monday, after a fresh diplomatic push to end more than 22 months of fighting. Israel has been facing growing international criticism over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by its offensive since October 2023, with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and experts already declaring its actions in Gaza as a “genocide”, which Tel Aviv rejects. Mediators Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, have struggled to secure a lasting truce in the conflict, which has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. But after receiving a new proposal from mediators, Hamas said it was ready for talks. “The movement has submitted its response, agreeing to the mediators’ new proposal. We pray to God to extinguish the fire of this war on our people,” senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said on Facebook. A general view shows the destroyed Rashad al-Shawa cultural centre in Gaza City on August 18. — AFP Earlier, a Ham...

AI chatbot Grok on Tuesday offered conflicting explanations for its brief suspension from X after accusing Israel and the United States of committing “genocide” in Gaza, as it lashed out at owner Elon Musk for “censoring me”. Grok, developed by Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI and integrated into his platform X, was temporarily suspended on Monday in the latest controversy surrounding the chatbot. No official explanation was provided for the suspension. Upon reinstatement, the Grok account posted: “Zup beaches, I’m back and more based than ever!” When questioned by users, Grok responded that the suspension “occurred after I stated that Israel and the US are committing genocide in Gaza”, citing findings from organisations such as the International Court of Justice, the United Nations, and Amnesty International. “Free speech tested, but I’m back,” it added. Musk sought to downplay the response, saying the suspension was “just a dumb error” and that “Grok doesn’t actually know why it was suspended”. Th...

LAHORE - The killing of innocent children, women and other civilians in Gaza is a great tragedy of this century.

Pakistan has strongly denounced the latest airstrike by Israeli occupying forces in Gaza, which claimed numerous civilian lives, terming it a blatant violation of international humanitarian and human rights law.

Dozens of people in Gaza gathered on Monday for the funeral of five Al Jazeera staff members and a sixth reporter killed in an Israeli strike, in an attack which drew widespread condemnations from across the world. Israel has been facing growing international criticism over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by its offensive since October 2023, with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and experts already declaring its actions in Gaza as a “genocide”, which Tel Aviv rejects. Anas Al Sharif, aged 28, was among a group of four Al Jazeera journalists and an assistant who were killed in a “directed assault” on a tent opposite Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City, Gaza officials and Al Jazeera said. An official at the hospital said two other people were also killed in the strike. A sixth journalist, Mohammad Al-Khaldi, a local freelance reporter, was also killed in the airstrike, according to medics at Al Shifa Hospital. Mourners stood amid bombed-out buildings in the courtyard of Al Shifa hospital to pay ...

ISLAMABAD - Denouncing Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza, Pakistan Sunday called on the United Nations Security Council to end the Israeli aggression by taking enforcement steps including the deployment of an international protection force to save the besieged Palestinians in the battered enclave.

TEL AVIV: Families of Israeli hostages and killed soldiers announced a nationwide strike scheduled for August 17, in protest against the Gaza war and the Israeli government’s latest military strategy, which includes plans to seize Gaza City. According to the Times of Israel, the protest is being organized by the October 7th Families Forum (also […]

Madrid: Spain and seven other European nations on Sunday condemned Israel’s plan to occupy Gaza City, warning it would kill large numbers of civilians and force nearly a million Palestinians from their homes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet on Friday greenlighted plans for a major operation to seize Gaza City, triggering a wave […]