Israel ramps up strikes on Gaza as US advises delaying ground offensive to allow talks on captives
Rafah (Gaza Strip) (AP): Israel ramped up its airstrikes on Monday in Gaza, where the death toll was rising rapidly, and the United States advised Israel to delay an expected ground invasion to allow more time to negotiate the release of hostages taken by Hamas militants.
A third small aid convoy from Egypt entered Gaza, where the population of 2.3 million has been running out of food, water and medicine under Israel's two-week seal. With Israel still barring entry of fuel, the UN said its distribution of aid would grind to a halt within days when it can no longer fuel its trucks.
Gaza hospitals are struggling to keep generators running to power life-saving medical equipment and incubators for premature babies.
Heavy airstrikes demolished buildings across Gaza, including in areas where Palestinians were told to seek refuge, killing hundreds and sending new waves of wounded into already packed hospitals, according to Palestinian officials and witnesses. After a strike in Gaza City, a woman with blood on her face wept as she clasped the hand of a dead relative. At least three bodies were sprawled on the street, one lying in a gray stream of water.
Israel is widely expected to launch a ground offensive in Gaza, vowing to destroy Hamas after its brutal October 7 rampage into southern Israeli communities. That is raising fears of the war spreading beyond Gaza and Israel, as Iranian-backed fighters in the region are warning of possible escalation, including targeting US forces deployed in the Mideast.
The US has told Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and other groups not to join the fight. Israel has frequently traded fire with Hezbollah, which is armed with tens of thousands of rockets.
Israeli warplanes have struck targets in the occupied West Bank, Syria and Lebanon in recent days.
The US advised Israeli officials that delaying a ground offensive would give Washington more time to work with regional mediators on securing the release of people captured by Hamas during its deadly incursion, according to a US official.
The official, who requested anonymity to discuss the private discussions, said it was unclear how much the argument will "move the needle" on Israeli thinking. Hamas released an American woman and her teenage daughter last week in what it said was a humanitarian gesture mediated by Qatar.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops near Gaza to keep preparing for an offensive "because it will come". He said it will be a combined offensive from air, land and sea but did not give a timeframe.
Tanks and troops have been massed at the Gaza border, and Israel says it has stepped up airstrikes to reduce the risk to troops in the next stages. A ground excursion is likely to dramatically increase casualties in what is already the deadliest by far of five wars fought between Israel and Hamas in less than 15 years.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed mostly civilians slain during the initial Hamas attack. At least 222 people were captured and dragged back to Gaza, including foreigners, the military said Monday, updating a previous figure.
More than 5,000 Palestinians, including some 2,000 minors and around 1,100 women, have been killed, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Monday. That includes the disputed toll from an explosion at a hospital last week. The toll has climbed rapidly in recent days, with the ministry reporting 436 additional deaths in just the last 24 hours.
Israel said it had struck 320 militant targets throughout Gaza over the last 24 hours in preparation for "a maneuver", an apparent reference to a ground operation. The military says it does not target civilians, and that Palestinian militants have fired over 7,000 rockets at Israel since the start of the war.
The Israeli military released footage showing what it said were attacks on Hamas infrastructure. Flashes of yellow light were followed by an explosion as multi-story buildings collapsed or toppled over.
Israel carried out limited ground forays into Gaza. On Sunday, Hamas said it destroyed an Israeli tank and two armored bulldozers inside the territory it has ruled since 2007. The Israeli military said a soldier was killed and three others were wounded by an anti-tank missile during a raid inside Gaza.
The military said the raid was part of efforts to rescue hostages. Hamas hopes to trade the captives for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
On Monday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said 20 trucks entered Gaza carrying food, water, medicine and medical supplies, through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the only way into Gaza not controlled by Israel. It was the third delivery in as many days, each around the same size.
The aid coming in so far is "a drop in the ocean" compared to the needs of the population, said Thomas White, the Gaza director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. The UN has said 20 trucks amounts to 4 per cent of an average day's imports before the war and that hundreds of trucks a day are needed.
White said the agency had only three days of fuel left for its trucks. The supplies coming through Rafah are reloaded onto UNRWA and the Red Crescent trucks to take to hospitals and UN schools, where hundreds of thousands of people are taking shelter, running low on food and largely drinking contaminated water.
An airstrike hit a residential building some 200 metres (yards) from the UN headquarters in Rafah on Monday, killing and wounding several people, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene, underscoring the perils of humanitarian operations.
After a day of intense strikes, Rafah's Abou Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital registered 61 deaths since Monday morning, its spokesperson said. With no room left in the morgue, more half the bodies were lying in the hospital grounds, spokesperson Talaat Barghout said.
More than half the territory's population have fled their homes, and hundreds of thousands are sheltering in UN-run schools and tent camps.
The World Health Organisation said seven hospitals in northern Gaza have been forced to shut down due to damage from strikes, lack of power and supplies, or Israeli evacuation orders.
Israel repeated its calls for people to leave northern Gaza, including by dropping leaflets from the air. It estimated 700,000 have already fled. But hundreds of thousands remain. That would raise the risk of mass civilian casualties in any ground offensive.
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Sheena Bora case: Indrani Mukerjea moves SC, seeks permission to travel abroad
New Delhi, Nov 26: Former media executive Indrani Mukerjea, accused of killing her daughter Sheena Bora, has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court ruling denying her to travel abroad.
A special court on July 19 allowed Mukerjea's plea to travel to Spain and the UK for 10 days between intermittent periods over the next three months.
The CBI approached the high court challenging the order passed by the special court but the high court quashed the special court order on September 27.
Mukerjea has now moved the apex court challenging the high court's verdict.
In her plea filed in the top court through advocate Sana Raees Khan, Mukerjea said she was a British citizen, and sought permission to visit Spain and her home country for "making necessary changes and amendments and taking care of pending work which cannot be transacted without her personal presence".
She argued the activation of a digital certificate was a must for all relevant work and administration in Spain and her physical presence was mandatory.
In its verdict, the high court noted Mukerjea wanted to travel abroad on the ground that she was a British national and was required to execute documents regarding her bank account and perform other work in Spain and the UK.
While setting aside the special court's order, the high court said if Mukerjea wished to perform these works from India, the statutory authorities back home would extend her the necessary support with the assistance of Embassy of Spain and the UK.
Mukerjea was arrested in August 2015 after the murder of Bora came to light. In May 2022, she was granted bail by the Supreme Court.
She has denied the allegations.
Bora (24) was allegedly strangled to death in a car by Mukerjea, her then-driver Shyamvar Rai and former husband Sanjeev Khanna in April 2012 in Mumbai. Her body was then burnt in a forest in the neighbouring Raigad district, according to the prosecution.
Bora was Mukerjea's daughter from her previous relationship.
The killing came to light in 2015 when Rai reportedly revealed about it during interrogation by police after his arrest in a separate case registered under the Arms Act.
Mukerjea's ex-husband Peter Mukerjea was also arrested for allegedly being a part of the conspiracy linked to the murder, probed by the CBI.
All the accused are currently out on bail.
