Israel strikes Gaza, killing 21 including women and children, after saying Hamas violated deal
Deir al-Balah (AP): Israeli strikes pounded Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 21 Palestinians, including two infants, and further rocking a fragile ceasefire deal, hospital officials said.
Israel said it was responding to a militant attack on Israeli soldiers that seriously wounded one.
Deadly Israeli strikes have repeatedly punctuated the truce since it came into effect on October 10, and the escalating Palestinian toll has made many in Gaza say it feels like the war is continuing unabated. Among the Palestinians killed Wednesday were five children, seven women and an on-duty paramedic, according to hospital officials.
“The genocidal war against our people in the Gaza Strip continues,” said Dr Mohamed Abu Selmiya, director of Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, in a Facebook post. “Where is the ceasefire? Where are the mediators?”
Israel strongly denies accusations that it is committing genocide in Gaza. The war began on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led militants poured into southern Israel after a surprise barrage of rockets, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 251.
Deadly strikes have continued despite ceasefire deal
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The deal attempted to halt the more than 2-year-old war between Israel and Hamas. While the heaviest fighting has subsided, it has been marred by repeated flareups of violence.
A total of 556 Palestinians have been killed by Israel and 1,500 wounded since the ceasefire went into effect, according to Gaza health officials, while Israel's military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed.
Israel's military has said its continuing strikes are responses to Hamas violations or militant attacks on its soldiers, but dozens of civilians have died. Eight Arab and Muslim countries, including mediators Egypt and Qatar, recently condemned what they called Israel's “repeated violations” of the deal.
An Israeli military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with military policy, told The Associated Press that Israel's latest attacks were in response to militant gunfire that badly wounded a reservist soldier Wednesday morning.
Early morning strike kills 11, including two children
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Israeli troops fired on a building in the Tuffah neighborhood in north Gaza, killing at least 11 people, most from the same family, said Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies. The dead included two parents, their 10-day-old girl, her 5-month-old cousin and the children's grandmother.
Mourners gathered in the courtyard of Shifa hospital Wednesday morning for funeral prayers.
“What did this child do? …. Why are they killing the children?" asked a relative of the family, Mohammad Jaser.
“We don't understand why this is happening to us. What do we do? Where do we go? This isn't life,” he said.
Two young children were seen kneeling at the body of their father as a woman told them to bid him farewell. A young girl kissed her father's cheeks.
Strikes on Gaza continue into Wednesday afternoon
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Later, an Israeli strike on a family's tent in the southern city of Khan Younis killed three people including a 12-year-old boy, said Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Tank shelling in Gaza City's eastern neighborhood of Zaytoun killed another three Palestinians, according to Shifa Hospital.
A strike on a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis killed at least two people and wounded five others, according to a field hospital run by the Palestinian Red Crescent in the area. The dead included Hussein Hassan Hussein al-Semieri, a paramedic who was on duty at the time, said the hospital.
Thirty-eight Palestinians were wounded in total by the strikes Wednesday, the Gaza health ministry said.
Passage through Rafah border is minimal
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The Rafah border crossing's opening Monday was hailed as a step forward for the fragile ceasefire. But since then, Palestinian passage through the crossing has been marred by delays, interrogations and uncertainty over who would be allowed to cross.
It took the entire day Tuesday for 40 Palestinians to enter Gaza. Around 1 a.m. Wednesday, they finally arrived at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where their families welcomed them. By midday Wednesday, no one else had passed through the crossing.
Three women who crossed into Gaza on Monday told The Associated Press a day later that Israeli troops blindfolded and handcuffed them, then interrogated and threatened them, holding them for several hours before they were released.
Asked about the reports, the Israeli military said that “no incidents of inappropriate conduct, mistreatment, apprehensions, or confiscation of property by the Israeli security establishment are known.”
Ceasefire deal plods forward
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While all fighting has not stopped, some parts of the ceasefire deal have moved forward.
Hamas has released all of the hostages it was holding, and in return Israel has released several thousand Palestinians and is beginning to reopen Rafah. Increased amounts of humanitarian aid have flowed into Gaza and a new technocratic committee has been appointed to administer the territory's daily affairs.
But other key elements of the ceasefire appear to have stalled, including the deployment of an international security force, the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza. The U.S. has given no timeline on when these parts of the deal will wrap up.
Over 71,800 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.
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BJP's Khemchand Singh sworn in as Manipur CM; 2 deputies from Kuki, Naga communities
Imphal (PTI): BJP MLA Yumnam Khemchand Singh on Wednesday became the 13th Chief Minister of Manipur, nearly a year after the resignation of BJP leader N Biren Singh following months of ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities in the state, leading to the imposition of President's Rule.
The 62-year-old leader was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla at a ceremony held at the Lok Bhavan, hours after the President's rule was revoked in the violence-hit Manipur.
BJP MLA Nemcha Kipgen, who belongs to the Kuki community, and Naga People's Front legislator L Dikho took oath as the deputy chief ministers of Manipur.
The formation of the new government comes at a time when the strife-torn state is trying to move forward towards normalcy.
Congratulating Khemchand Singh and his two deputies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "I am confident they will work diligently towards furthering development and prosperity for my sisters and brothers of Manipur."
Manipur has been witnessing ethnic violence since May 3, 2023, after a tribal solidarity march was taken out in the hill districts, in protest against the majority Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Since then, at least 260 people, including members of both the Kuki and Meitei communities as well as security personnel, have been killed in the violence, while thousands become homeless.
Talking to reporters at the Lok Bhavan soon after taking oath, Khemchand Singh said Manipur comprises 36 communities and that the state was taken care of for long by them.
"Our hope now is for all to help in bringing a peaceful atmosphere. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have placed great faith in me, and I want to take that faith forward," the two-time BJP legislator said.
Khemchand Singh is a long-time RSS functionary and an organisation-focused leader who has held key constitutional and ministerial positions in the state.
Apart from politics, he has had a long association with Taekwondo. A black belt holder, he is a former vice-president of the Taekwondo Federation of India and has been involved in the promotion of the sport in the Northeast.
Deputy CM L Dikho told reporters that inclusiveness is the new mantra of the government.
Asked whether action would be taken against armed groups that have issued threats to Kuki legislators participating in government formation, Dikho replied, "Why not?”
The BJP's Govindas Konthoujam and K Loken Singh of NPP were sworn in as ministers. Kipgen took the oath virtually from Manipur Bhavan in New Delhi.
BJP Manipur spokesperson Laimayum Bashanta Sharma said the formation of a new government will pave the way for peace, normalcy and development in the state.
"The formation of a new government will pave the way for peace, normalcy and development in the state once more. We have known the chief minister for such a long time. He is very much in touch with leaders of different communities,” he told PTI.
The restoration of a popular government also says that the Centre knows what is best for Manipur, Sharma told PTI.
A Manipur University professor said, "I just wanted Nemcha Kipgen to come to Imphal. There is no threat to any community in the Imphal valley. Her oath-taking should not have been done virtually from New Delhi. It shows that there is a certain lack of will on the part of the Centre to enforce unity in the state."
During the President's Rule, the state witnessed a decline in gun-firing incidents between the two warring groups. Security forces launched widespread operations in the hills and valley districts of the state against armed miscreants and militants, leading to the arrest of over 1000 of them and recovering more than 3000 arms.
