Palestinians | Pakistan

Heavy rain caused flooding in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, swamping the tents of thousands of homeless Palestinians facing the prospect of harsh winter storms without sturdy shelter. The large majority of Gaza’s two million people were forced from their homes during Israel’s two-year ground and air onslaught in the small, crowded enclave triggered by Hamas’ October 2023 attack, with many now living in tents and other basic shelters. A ceasefire has broadly held since mid-October, but the conflict demolished much of heavily built-up Gaza, including basic infrastructure, leaving grim living conditions for most people. “This suffering, this rain — and the low-pressure weather systems haven’t even started yet. It’s only the beginning of winter, and we’re already flooded and humiliated,” Um Ahmed Aowdah said outside her tent as rain pelted down on Tuesday. “We haven’t received new tents or tarps. Our tarp is two years old and our tent is two years old — they’re completely worn out.” Displaced Palestinians shelter at...

At least 25 Palestinians were killed in four Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday in Gaza since a shaky ceasefire took effect in October, health authorities said. Medics said 10 people were killed in the Gaza City suburb of Zeitoun, two in the Shujaiya suburb to the east and the rest in two separate attacks in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military claimed its forces struck Hamas targets across Gaza after members of the Palestinian group fired on its troops in violation of the nearly six-week-old ceasefire. No Israeli forces were injured. Multiple air strikes have pointed to the fragility of the ceasefire. Israel and Hamas have traded blame for what both call violations of the US-brokered truce, the first stage of President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for a post-war Gaza. All three attacks were far beyond an agreed-upon imaginary “yellow line” separating the areas under Israeli and Palestinian control, according to medics, witnesses and Palestinian media. The Zeitoun attack was on a building...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Saturday affirmed “zero-tolerance” for any displacement of Palestinians from the besieged Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the devastating military onslaught by Israel in the territory. The two countries were among the eight Muslim countries that worked with United States President Donald Trump’s administration on a plan to end Israel’s genocide and invasion in Gaza last month. They also joined other key Muslim and Arab states on Friday in expressing support for a US resolution that seeks to deploy an international stabilisation force in Gaza. The prime minister and Jordanian king held a bilateral meeting today at the PM House after the latter arrived in Pakistan for a two-day state visit. A statement issued from the Prime Minister’s Office on the meeting said: “On the issue of Palestine, both leaders acknowledged the unanimity of views and principled positions taken by Pakistan and Jordan regarding the post-war Gaza; zero-tolerance for any displace...

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Saturday that ceasefire in Gaza will help prevent massacre of innocent and unarmed Palestinians and realize the long-standing dream of establishing a Palestinian state.

JERUSALEM: Israel’s military kept up its assault on Gaza City and the wider Gaza Strip on Saturday, dismantling underground shafts and booby-trapped structures in attacks that left 87 Palestinians dead, 70 of them in Gaza City. The civil defence agency said 11 were killed when warplanes struck the Dughmush family in the city’s Al-Sabra neighbourhood. The assault came as 10 countries including Australia, Belgium, Britain and Canada are scheduled to formally recognise an independent Palestinian state on Monday, ahead of the annual gathering at the UN General Assembly. Israel’s intensified military demolition campaign targeting high-rise buildings in Gaza City began this week alongside a ground assault. Its forces, which control Gaza City’s eastern suburbs, have in recent days been pounding the Sheikh Radwan and Tel Al Hawa areas from where they would be positioned to advance on central and western parts of the city, where most of the population is sheltering. Hamas warns lives of Israeli prisoners are in danger...

A FORMER security contractor for controversial new Israel and US-backed aid distribution sites witnessed colleagues opening fire several times on hungry Palestinians who had posed no threat. Speaking to BBC News, the contractor recalled one occasion when a guard had opened fire from a watchtower with a machine gun because a group of women, children and elderly people were moving away from the site too slowly. Although the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has denied the allegations, claiming no civilians ever came under fire at their distribution sites, the BBC recorded 24 incidents where aid seekers were killed in large numbers. The GHF began its operations at the end of May after an 11-week total blockade of Gaza by Israel, during which no food entered the territory. Since it started, Israeli forces have killed more than 400 Palestinians trying to retrieve food aid from its sites, the UN and local doctors say. Guards ‘fire into unarmed crowds, then laugh about it’ Describing the incident where guards fired...

Aid agencies, medics warn Palestinians of famine, collapse of medical services

A countrywide shutdown strike, called by Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) to show solidarity with Palestinians, has led to the closure of major commercial centers across various cities in Pakistan.