Israeli strikes across Gaza hit multiple homes, killing at least 85 Palestinians
Deir al-Balah, Mar 20 (AP): Israeli strikes killed at least 85 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Thursday, according to local health officials. Hours later, Hamas fired three rockets at Israel without causing casualties, in the first such attack since Israel ended their ceasefire with a surprise bombardment of Gaza on Tuesday.
The Israeli military ordered people to evacuate an area in central Gaza near Khan Younis, saying it would operate there in response to rocket fire from Hamas.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military restored a blockade on northern Gaza, including Gaza City, that it had maintained for most of the war. It warned residents against using the main highway to enter or leave the north and said only passage to the south would be allowed on the coastal road.
It also announced an additional ground operation in northern Gaza near the already largely destroyed town of Beit Lahiya, where strikes have killed dozens over the past 24 hours.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returned to what remains of their homes in the north after a ceasefire took hold in January. Israel resumed heavy strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, shattering the truce that had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages.
Israel blamed the renewed fighting on Hamas because the fighter group rejected a new proposal that departed from their signed agreement. The Trump administration, which took credit for helping to broker the ceasefire, has voiced full support for Israel.
More than 400 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday alone, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
The military said three rockets were fired out of Gaza on Thursday, with one intercepted and two falling in open areas. Hamas claimed the attack and said it had targeted Tel Aviv.
Air raid sirens have sounded in central Jerusalem and other parts of Israel after a missile launch from Yemen, the Israeli army announced.
The launch came hours after Israel said it intercepted another missile launched by Yemen's Houthi rebel group.
The Iranian-backed Houthis resumed attacks on Israel this week following the collapse of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The military said it intercepted two missiles launched several hours apart by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Both were intercepted before reaching Israeli airspace, the military said.
Air raid sirens rang out overnight and exploding interceptors were heard in Jerusalem. No injuries were reported. It was the third such attack since the United States began a new campaign of airstrikes against the rebels earlier this week.
One of the strikes on Gaza early Thursday hit the Abu Daqa family's home in Abasan al-Kabira, a village just outside of Khan Younis near the border with Israel. It was inside an area the Israeli military ordered evacuated earlier this week, encompassing most of eastern Gaza.
The strike killed at least 16 people, mostly women and children, according to the nearby European Hospital, which received the dead. Those killed included a father and his seven children, as well as the parents and brother of a month-old baby who survived along with her grandparents.
“Another tough night,” said Hani Awad, who was helping rescuers search for more survivors in the rubble. “The house collapsed over the people's heads.”
Israel's military said Thursday that it killed the head of Hamas' internal security apparatus in an airstrike in Gaza, where Israel says it has struck dozens of fighter group targets.
Israeli ground troops advance
On Wednesday, Israeli ground troops advanced in Gaza for the first time since the ceasefire took hold in January, seizing part of a corridor separating the northern third of the territory from the south. The announcement about passage to the south indicated troops will soon retake full control over what is known as the Netzarim corridor, stretching from the border to the Mediterranean Sea.
Israel, which has also cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza's roughly 2 million Palestinians, has vowed to intensify its operations until Hamas releases the 59 hostages it holds — 35 of whom are believed dead — and gives up control of the territory.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the ceasefire agreement they reached in January after more than a year of mediation by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
Hamas, which does not accept Israel's existence, says it is willing to hand over power to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority or a committee of political independents but will not lay down its arms until Israel ends its decades-long occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state.
A bloody night' for hard-hit northern town
Gaza's Health Ministry said the overnight strikes killed at least 85 people, mostly women and children. Zaher al-Waheidi, the official in charge of records for the ministry, said a total of 592 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since Tuesday.
The Indonesian Hospital said it received 19 bodies after strikes in Beit Lahiya, near the border.
“It was a bloody night for the people of Beit Lahiya,” said Fares Awad, head of the Health Ministry's emergency service in northern Gaza, adding that rescuers were still searching the rubble from homes that were hit. “The situation is catastrophic.”
Beit Lahiya was heavily destroyed and largely depopulated during the first phase of the war before January's ceasefire. On Wednesday, an Israeli strike on a gathering of mourners killed 17 people there, according to health officials.
No end in sight to the 17-month war
US President Donald Trump's administration reiterated its support for Israel on Thursday.
“The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages there would be all hell to pay,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Hundreds of Israelis gathered outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem on Thursday to protest his handling of the hostage crisis and his plan to fire the country's head of internal security. Police used a water canon to disperse the crowd after protesters tried to break through police barricades.
A mass march and demonstration Wednesday outside the Israeli parliament continued into the late evening hours and ended with several arrests.
The war began when Hamas-led group stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.
Most of the hostages have been freed in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies of dozens more.
Israel's retaliatory offensive, among the deadliest and most destructive in recent history, has killed more than 49,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 Hamas members, without providing evidence.
The war at its height displaced around 90 per cent of Gaza's population and has caused vast destruction across the territory.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
“Full prepared..going to win,” Congress MP KC Venugopal ahead of Kerala polls
EC not functioning as a neutral institution: Venugopal
Congress MP K. C. Venugopal on Monday raised concerns over the election schedule announced by the Election Commission of India for the upcoming Kerala Assembly election, questioning the timing of the poll dates and alleging that the schedule leaves limited time for campaigning.
Speaking to news agency ANI in Delhi after the poll panel announced elections in five states and Union Territories, Venugopal said that the Congress and the United Democratic Front (UDF) are fully prepared for the elections and confident of victory. At the same time, he questioned the pattern of dates announced by the Election Commission.
“We are fully prepared, we are going to win the elections... You can see how the Election Commission has set the dates. The first phase of elections is on the 9th, nominations are due until the 23rd, scrutiny is on the 24th, nominations can be withdrawn until the 26th, and after that, there are 11 days for campaigning,” he said.
“As for Kerala, there is Easter and Good Friday in the first week...The Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier... The counting date is on May 4th, so what was the point of holding elections in Kerala so early? What is their intention behind holding elections on the same day in Kerala, Puducherry, and Assam?... We are confident that we will win, but the people of the country are seeing the biased attitude of the Election Commission...,” he added.
He further stated that his party was ready for elections irrespective of the dates announced by the poll body.
“We are going to win the election. India's strategy has been set up. And we are all ready for winning this election. But one thing as far as declaring election, even though they are giving only for five days, we are going to win the election. We have no problem,” he said.
Detailing the poll schedule while questioning the time available for campaigning, he stated, “but you can see the pattern of date which the election commission announced. Yesterday they declared election, and today they notified us. The first phase of election on April 9th, filing of nomination will be over on the 23rd of this month, 24th scrutiny, 26th withdrawal of nomination. After 26, four plus seven, 11 days campaign.”
“As far as Kerala is concerned, April first week is a holy week. The holiday week means, Good Friday is there. Nobody will do anything on Good Friday. Easter is the big festival. These festivals are natural, you have to see that. Among the 11 days, working days, two, three days will go for holidays. Then hardly seven, eight days for campaigning in this election for candidates,” the Congress MP questioned.
The Congress leader said the Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier if there was a need for an early election schedule.
Questioning the urgency behind placing Kerala in the first phase of polling, he added that the counting date is much later.
“Which is the date of counting? Fourth May. Then what is the urgency of putting Kerala in the first phase without giving sufficient time for candidates? And putting Kerala, Puducherry, Assam together, what is the intention behind that?” Venugopal questioned.
He also alleged that the Election Commission was not functioning as a neutral institution.
“The Election commission is completely losing that capacity as a neutral player. You can see 14 of our prime minister's programs over and on the 15th they announce the election, 16th notification comes,” he said.
Venugopal further stated that such tactics would not affect the Congress’ prospects in the election.
“They think that this type of techniques and tactics, because of these techniques and tactics, UDF is going to lose, and Congress is going to lose. This is their complete dream only. This is not going to happen. We are very much confident at any cost, whether they are not giving any time also, we are going to win the election,” he said.
“But the people of India are watching this. The tricks of the election commission. To restrict the campaign, people of India are watching. This I want to bring into the notice of the nation. That's all,” Venugopal said.
The Election Commission of India on Sunday announced the schedule for the Kerala Assembly election. Polling in the state will be held in a single phase on April 9 while the counting of votes is scheduled to take place on May 4.
