Palestinian officials say Israeli strikes have killed 22 people in northern Gaza
Deir al-Balah (AP): Israeli strikes on northern Gaza have killed at least 22 people, Palestinian medical officials said.
The Gaza Health Ministry's emergency service said that 11 women and two children were among those killed in the strikes late Saturday on several homes and buildings in the northern town of Beit Lahiya. It said another 15 people were wounded and that the death toll could rise.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel has been waging a massive air and ground offensive in northern Gaza for the last three weeks, after saying that Hamas had regrouped there. Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled to Gaza City in the latest wave of displacement in the yearlong war.
Israel is still carrying out daily strikes across Gaza, even as it wages war with the Hezbollah group in Lebanon. On Saturday, Israeli warplanes attacked Iran — which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah — in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack earlier this month.
The cascading conflicts have raised fears of an all-out regional war pitting Israel and the United States against Iran and its proxies, which also include the Houthi rebels in Yemen and armed groups in Syria and Iraq.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to the local Health Ministry. It says more than half of those killed were women and children.
The offensive has devastated much of the impoverished coastal territory and displaced around 90 per cent of its population, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands of people have crowded into squalid tent camps along the coast, and aid groups say hunger is rampant.
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Karnataka Governor gives assent to legislation against ‘honour killing’ in inter-caste marriages
Bengaluru: The government has brought into force the Karnataka Freedom of Choice in Marriage and Prevention and Prohibition of Crimes in the name of honour and tradition (Eva Nammava Eva Nammava) Act, 2026, intended to restrict ‘honour killings’ in inter-caste marriages.
According to The Indian Express, the legislation received assent from Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot on April 9 and was officially notified in the state gazette on April 10. The law had been passed unanimously by the state legislature last month.
The Bill was proposed by the Congress government in the wake of caste-linked ‘honour killings’ in the state, including the December 21, 2025, murder near Hubli of a 20-year-old Lingayat woman by her father for marrying a man from another caste.
The phrase ‘Eva Nammava Eva Nammava’ in the title is in reference to the message of universal humanity that the Lingayat saint Basavanna espoused. Basavanna, who rebelled against the caste system to lay the foundation of the Lingayat faith system, an amalgamation of all castes, used the words meaning ‘he is a part of me’ to say all people are one.
Under the new law, crimes committed in the name of ‘honour’, including murder, assault, threats, and social boycott, are specifically addressed with stringent punishments. ‘Honour killing’ offences carry a minimum imprisonment of five years, while serious assaults attract at least three years in jail.
The new law defines the social boycott of inter-caste couples as forcible eviction to remote corners of villages, refusal to provide services, refusal to provide work, refusal to conduct business, denial of loans and admissions to schools, and makes it punishable.
In the case of ‘honour killings’ per se, the new law prescribes a minimum imprisonment of five years, and in the case of assaults, a prison term that is not less than three years for serious injury and two years for minor injuries.
The offences under the proposed law are cognisable and non-bailable, which means police can carry out arrests without court permissions after taking up a case.
The legislation follows several reported inter-caste relationship-related killings in Karnataka in 2025, including cases in Raichur and another involving 18-year-old Kavita.
The law to protect the freedom of choice in marriages is among several social bills that the Congress government has brought out in line with its policies for the backward and downtrodden communities in the state.
