Israel's latest airstrikes in Gaza kill at least 15 including children
Deir Al-Balah (Gaza Strip), Jul 21: Israeli airstrikes killed at least 15 people including women and children overnight in Gaza, according to hospital officials and a body count by an Associated Press journalist on Sunday.
The latest strikes occurred as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to leave Monday for the United States, where he is expected to meet with President Joe Biden and address Congress to make his case for the nine-month war against Hamas while cease-fire negotiations continue.
The already precarious humanitarian conditions inside besieged Gaza have worsened with the discovery of the polio virus as water and sanitation services have suffered for the territory's population of 2.3 million, most of it displaced.
Traces of the virus were found in sewage samples in Gaza. The World Health Organisation has said no one has been treated for symptoms caused by infection.
Israel's military said solders would be vaccinated, and it would work with organisations to bring in vaccines for Palestinians.
Israel's latest airstrikes were in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, where nine people including two children were killed, and the southern city of Khan Younis, where at least six people were killed including two girls. Men and women wept and embraced the small bodies in white shrouds.
“Unknown body of five-month baby” was written on one.
Smoke also rose from the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, but there was no immediate word on casualties.
The war in Gaza has killed more than 38,900 people, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The war began with an assault by Hamas group on southern Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostage. About 120 remain held, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.
Netanyahu has vowed to wipe out Hamas' military and governing capabilities and secure the return of the remaining hostages. Families of hostages and thousands of other Israelis have rallied in weekly demonstrations urging the prime minister to reach a cease-fire deal that would bring loved ones home.
Mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States continue to push Israel and Hamas toward a phased deal that would stop the fighting and free the hostages.
Concerns about a wider regional conflict continue. Israel on Saturday struck the port of Hodeida in Yemen in the first known Israeli strikes there since the war in Gaza began. The strikes, in response to a deadly Houthi drone strike in Tel Aviv, threatened to open a new front as Israel battles Iranian proxies in the region including Hezbollah in neighbouring Lebanon.
On Sunday, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen as the Houthis vowed “impactful strikes".
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Mathura boat capsize tragedy: Death toll climbs to 13
Mathura (UP)(PTI): With the recovery of two more bodies on Sunday, the death toll in the boat capsize incident in the Yamuna river in Mathura has climbed to 13, officials said on Sunday.
Search for three more missing persons is underway.
Superintendent of Police (Rural) Suresh Chandra Rawat said renewed search efforts led to the recovery of the body of a college student, identified as Dinki Bansal, near Devraha Baba Ghat and that of a man identified as Rishabh Sharma approximately 3 km away from the accident site.
The incident occurred on Friday afternoon when a boat carrying over two dozen tourists, primarily from Punjab, hit a floating drum of a pontoon bridge and capsized near Kesi Ghat in Vrindavan.
Most of the victims were from Jagraon and Dugri areas of Ludhiana district.
Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) along with the district administration and local police were actively engaged in the search for the missing pilgrims.
However, strong currents of the Yamuna river and the significant depth of the water at the ghats are proving a hindrance.
Circle Officer (Mant) Sandeep Singh said the Yamuna river stretch extending from Keshi Ghat to Gokul Barrage has been divided into seven sectors.
The search for the missing individuals will now be conducted within this specific 20-square-km zone. A Station House Officer (SHO) has been designated as the in-charge for each sector.
Acting on the orders of the DIG (Agra Range), seven SHOs will oversee operations across the seven sectors of river Yamuna.
Giving details about the operation, Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue) Pankaj Kumar Verma, citing NDRF officials, on Saturday had said although the search for the missing persons is currently focused within a 14-km radius from the spot where the boat had capsized, there is a possibility that they may have been swept much further downstream.
SHO of Vrindavan police station Sanjay Pandey said boat operator Pappu was arrested late on Friday night.
He is accused of failing to provide life jackets to passengers before allowing them to board the boat, and operating the boat at high speed. This resulted in the boat losing control and colliding with a pontoon bridge's drum, which led to the accident, officials said.
Police have registered a case and also arrested the contractor, Narayan Sharma, responsible for the repair work on the pontoon bridge.
Rawat said that on Friday evening, police registered a case under section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the boatman Pappu (alias Dauji) and Sharma, and subsequently arrested them.
According to the case details, Pappu's boat did not have any safety equipment or provisions whatsoever.
Moreover, despite repeated pleas from pilgrims, Pappu operated the boat at high speed. By the time he realised the danger upon approaching the pontoons of the bridge, it was already too late.
Consequently, after colliding with a pontoon drum, the boat lost control and capsized. It has also come to light that he is among those operators who have not obtained the requisite license to operate a boat.
Sharma was carrying out the work of dismantling and reassembling the pontoon bridge without providing any prior notification.
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