30 civilians killed after Netanyahu orders ‘powerful’ attack on Gaza
Trump says ‘nothing’ will jeopardize Gaza ceasefire, Israel ‘should hit back’ if attacked
Gaza City: In less than three weeks after the Gaza ceasefire came into effect, Israel launched air strikes targeting several locations across Gaza, after both Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the fragile truce. According to Gaza's civil defense service, Israeli military killed at least 30 civilians on Tuesday during the strikes.
The Israeli military claimed that the strikes were carried out in retaliation for an alleged Hamas attack on its troops near Rafah, calling it a violation of the ceasefire. In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered “powerful strikes," while Defence Minister Israel Katz described the alleged Hamas assault as “a crossing of a bright red line.”
Hamas, however, denied any involvement, stating that its fighters had “no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah.”
In Washington, US President Donald Trump said that “nothing” would jeopardize the ceasefire, but defended Israel’s right to retaliate. “They killed an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back. And they should hit back,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One. Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, maintained that the truce remained intact despite “small skirmishes.”
Gaza’s civil defence agency reported at least three major air strikes on Tuesday, including one near Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in Gaza, and another that struck a vehicle, killing five people inside.
Tensions also grew over the hostage handover process, a key element of the ceasefire deal. Under the agreement, Hamas was to return 28 sets of remains and 20 living captives. The group was expected to transfer the body of another Israeli hostage on Tuesday, but delayed the handover, citing Israeli “escalation” as a hindrance to recovery operations.
In a statement, Hamas’s armed wing said it had located the bodies of two hostages but did not indicate when they would be returned. Israeli officials later accused Hamas of deception after forensic tests revealed that the remains handed over earlier belonged to a hostage already repatriated two years ago.
“Hamas dug a hole, placed partial remains inside, covered it with dirt, and handed it over to the Red Cross,” said Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem dismissed the allegation, saying the group was still searching for bodies amid widespread devastation caused by Israel’s two-year offensive. “The movement is determined to hand over the bodies of the Israeli captives as soon as possible once they are located,” he said.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
