Author: Steven Sahiounie

11 Palestinian civilians were Sunday evening killed after Israeli occupation aircraft bombed a house in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip. WAFA correspondents reported that at least 11 people were killed and dozens injured, in addition to a number of missing persons, after Israeli warplanes bombed a house belonging to Al-Hams family inside the Yabna camp in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip. Source: WAFA

Foreign ministers of Gulf countries are convening in Doha for a GCC summit on Tuesday, with the Gaza war expected to top the agenda. The meeting comes three weeks after leaders from the Arab and Muslim world met in Saudi Arabia where they issued a joint statement calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza. But this time, people in the Arab world expect them to take a stronger stance, says Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra. “They are under mounting popular pressure to show that they are going to be more aggressive when it comes to a statement on…

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says it received the trucks from its Egyptian counterpart through Rafah’s border crossing. The trucks are carrying food, water, medical supplies and medicine, it said. About 500 trucks of humanitarian supplies were entering the Gaza Strip every day before the war started on October 7. The United Nations says the current flow of aid is no match for the growing needs of civilians in Gaza. The UN has lobbied for Israel to open the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing near Rafah, which used to handle large quantities of goods before the war. Israel…

Lasting security in the region cannot be achieved at the cost of Palestinian lives, the French president has said French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Israeli authorities to “more precisely define” the end goals of the war with Hamas, while arguing that the stated aim of totally eliminating the Palestinian militant group may result in a years-long conflict. Macron’s comments came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Saturday to continue with the ground offensive in Gaza until “all its objections” are achieved, namely rescuing remaining hostages and completely “obliterating Hamas.” Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the UN COP28 climate…

Israel’s operation in southern Gaza will match its earlier offensive against Hamas in the northern part of the Palestinian enclave, the military chief of staff says. “We fought strongly and thoroughly in the northern Gaza Strip, and we are also doing it now in the southern Gaza,” the Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi said in a statement. Hamas fighters clashed with Israeli troops about 2km (1 mile) from the southern city of Khan Younis. Residents, many of whom moved there to flee earlier attacks, said they could hear tank fire and fear a new Israeli ground offensive is building.…

Qatar’s prime minister is calling for an “immediate, comprehensive and impartial international investigation” into what he called Israeli “crimes in Gaza”. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani told Al Jazeera Qatar will continue its efforts towards facilitating another truce and reaching a permanent ceasefire. A week-long Israel-Hamas truce – brokered by Qatar with the support of Egypt and the United States – led to the release of 80 Israeli captives in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. Source: AlJazeera

Iran has been providing unwavering support for Palestine and Gaza since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in conformity with the Constitution, President Ebrahim Raisi said. Iran’s support for Gaza and Palestine is in total compliance with the Constitution, which has obligated the Islamic government to back the oppressed, Raisi said in an address to a conference on the implementation of the Constitution, held in Tehran on Sunday. He noted that supporting the rights of the Palestinian nation has been a fundamental principle of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy since the victory of the Revolution in 1979. Describing the issue of…

Statistics related to the export of steel in this timespan indicated that the export of iron beams increased from 91,000 tons last year (ended March 20, 2023) to 122,000 tons in the current year, registering a 34 percent rise. Meanwhile, the export of rebar increased from 1,675 thousand tons last year to 1,591 thousand tons in the current year, indicating a five percent decline. In total, Iran exported 2,150 thousand tons of steel products from March 21 to November 22, 2023, showing a 0.3 percent hike compared to the same period of last year. According to the report, Iran exported…

Yemen’s Houthi movement targeted two Israeli ships with an armed drone and a naval missile, a spokesperson for the group’s military says. The two ships, Unity Explorer and Number Nine, were attacked after they rejected warnings from the the Houthis’ navy, he said. The Pentagon said earlier one of its warships in the Red Sea was also targeted. The attack potentially marked a major escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the Middle East linked to the Israel-Hamas war. An unnamed US official told The Associated Press the attack began about 10am in Sanaa, Yemen, and lasted about five…

More than 41,000 have been wounded The death toll from the escalation of the conflict in the Gaza Strip has exceeded 15,500, more than 41,000 have been wounded, Gaza’s health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said. “The number of the victims of the Israeli aggression has reached 15,523. At least 41,316 people have been wounded,” he said in a statemen posted on the ministry’s Facebook account (Facebook is banned in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist). According to the ministry, as many as 291 medics have been killed, 59 ambulances have been destroyed and…