World

Israel continues its Gaza attack, killing a journalist and issuing evacuation orders.

Published

7 months ago

March 25, 2025

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As Israel continued its intensified shelling and ground operations in the Palestinian territory, an Israeli airstrike on Monday killed a journalist for Al Jazeera, while the military issued new orders to evacuate portions of northern Gaza.

After negotiations with the Palestinian militant group Hamas failed to extend a ceasefire, Israel resumed heavy airstrikes over Gaza last Tuesday, followed by ground operations.

Israeli military director Avichay Adraee warned of “an early warning before a strike” in the northern region of Jabalia on Monday night.

“Terrorist groups are returning to populated areas and launching rockets from them once more… Following similar warnings for the northern cities of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, Adraee posted on X, “For your safety, head south towards the known shelters immediately.”

Earlier, Gaza’s civil defence organisation said that Hussam Shabat, an Al Jazeera employee, was killed by an Israeli drone attack near a Beit Lahia petrol station on Monday afternoon.

The agency’s spokesperson, Mahmud Bassal, reported that over ten vehicles, including Shabat’s, had been the target of airstrikes in different regions of Gaza.

The Qatari broadcaster announced on its live Arabic channel that “Hussam Shabat, a journalist working with Al Jazeera Mubasher, was martyred in an Israeli strike targeting his car in the northern Gaza Strip.”

Palestinians gathered around the car, which had an Al Jazeera sticker on its windscreen, according to AFPTV footage from the Beit Lahia incident. There was a body on the ground close by.

In October, Israel’s military charged Shabat and five other Palestinian journalists of being militants, a charge he rejected, according to the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Hundreds of people prayed over Shabat’s body, which was still wearing a press flak jacket, at his funeral, which was conducted at the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia.

In tears, family members and coworkers carried the body on a stretcher through streets lined with tents used as shelters by displaced Gazans.

According to the civil defence organisation, Muhammad Mansour, a journalist for Palestine Today TV, which is associated with Islamic Jihad, was murdered in a separate airstrike in the southern part of Gaza.

“A crime added to the record of Israeli terrorism” is how the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate described Shabat and Mansour’s deaths in a statement.

More than 206 journalists and media professionals have been dead since the war began, it added, after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

“Imagine this is your son.”

According to Israeli statistics, the October 7 strike killed 1,218 persons, primarily civilians, whereas the health ministry of the Hamas-run area in Gaza reports that Israel’s retaliation campaign has killed at least 50,082 people, largely civilians.

Israel started bombardment on March 18, killing 730 people, including 57 in the last 24 hours, the health ministry reported Monday.

251 captives were also taken by militants on October 7, 58 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 that the Israeli military claims are dead.

The armed wing of Hamas published a video on Monday in which two Israeli hostages, identified by AFP as Yosef Haim Ohana and Elkana Bohbot, discuss the dangers they have seen since the return of intensive Israeli strikes.

In a statement following the broadcast of the film, Bohbot’s family urged US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ensure the release of the remaining prisoners.

“Imagine this is your son, the father of your grandchild, waiting to see daylight, hearing (Israeli army) bombs, and living in constant fear for his life,” the statement continued, adding that “we want Elkana alive at home and the return of everyone”

– Civilians ‘trapped’ –

Israel’s military reported that it stopped three “projectiles” that were fired from the Gaza Strip Monday night. Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, and Hamas both claimed to have fired rockets against Israel.

Additionally, the military claimed to have intercepted the sixth missile fired from Yemen since hostilities in Gaza resumed.

Later, the Huthis took responsibility for two rockets and declared their intention to “target the occupying entity’s heartland until the aggression stops and the siege on the Gaza Strip is lifted.”

Twelve US airstrikes “in the last few hours” were reported in northwest Yemen by the Huthi news outlet Saba late Monday.

According to the outlet, which cited the local Ministry of Health, a US airstrike on Alrasoul Alaazam Hospital injured two individuals.

Meanwhile, “thousands of civilians” were “trapped under intense Israeli shelling” in the Tal al-Sultan area of Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, according to a statement released Monday by the city’s council.

It further stated that the neighborhood’s health care system had “entirely collapsed” and that all contact had been cut off.

In an effort to “dismantle terrorist infrastructure and eliminate” terrorists in Tal al-Sultan, the military claimed to have surrounded the area on Sunday.

Egypt was outraged when the defence ministry announced the establishment of an administration devoted to the “voluntary departure of Gaza residents to a third country.”

The foreign ministry published a statement on X expressing “its strong condemnation” of the establishment of this body. Egypt shares borders with Israel and Gaza.

World

Trump gives Hamas a “final warning” on the captives.

Published

4 weeks ago

September 8, 2025

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On Sunday, US President Donald Trump issued a “last warning” to Hamas, stating that the Palestinian militant organization must agree to a settlement that will free the prisoners in Gaza.

“My demands have been accepted by the Israelis. It’s time for Hamas to come around too. I’ve told Hamas what will happen if they don’t accept. Trump stated on social media, “This is my last warning,” without providing any other details.

Hamas expressed its readiness to “immediately sit at the negotiating table” in a statement issued shortly after, citing “some ideas from the American side aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement.”

White House envoy Steve Witkoff delivered Hamas a fresh ceasefire and hostage-resolution plan for Gaza last week, according to U.S. news agency Axios.

Although the White House has not disclosed any information on the plan, Trump stated late Sunday that “you’ll be hearing about it pretty soon,” painting a favorable picture of the talks.

“We had some excellent conversations. “There could be positive outcomes,” he informed reporters. “I think we’re going to have a deal on Gaza very soon.”

Trump sent Hamas a similar ultimatum in early March, stating that if it did not immediately release all surviving captives and give over the corpses of the murdered hostages, “it is OVER for you.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an Israeli advocacy organization, hailed the US president’s most recent action as a “true breakthrough.”

During the catastrophic October 7, 2023, onslaught on Israel, Hamas forces captured 251 prisoners, with 47 reportedly remaining in Gaza.

According to the Israeli military, 25 of them have died. Israel is requesting that their remains be returned.

– Assault on Gaza City –

Trump and Hamas’ remarks coincided with Israel’s army bombing a residential skyscraper in Gaza City on Sunday, the third in as many days, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that the military was “deepening” its attack on the strategic city.

When the Al-Roya tower was struck, witness Mohammed Al-Nazli told AFP that it “felt like an earthquake.”

Israeli bombardment on Sunday killed at least 48 Palestinians, according to Mahmud Bassal, spokesperson for the Gaza civil defense department.

Under the same pretext that Hamas had utilized them as observation posts, the air force has destroyed two other residential high-rises.

About 100,000 people have already fled Gaza City, according to Netanyahu, who blamed Hamas for attempting to obstruct evacuations and for using civilians as “human shields.”

Concerns that the already terrible humanitarian situation for Palestinians residing in the region may worsen have been heightened by the escalation.

Fearing for the safety of hostages said to be held in Gaza City, Israeli demonstrators flocked to the streets on Saturday to demand that their government revoke the decision to take the city.

According to an AFP count based on Israeli data, 1,219 persons were killed in the October 7, 2023 strike, the majority of them were civilians.

According to the United Nations-reliable health ministry numbers in Hamas-run Gaza, Israel’s retaliatory operation has killed at least 64,368 Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilians.

AFP is unable to independently confirm the tolls and information supplied by the Israeli military or the civil defense service because to media restrictions in Gaza and access issues in several regions.

World

Modi of India claims that relations with the US are still “very positive.”

Published

1 month ago

September 6, 2025

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Following US President Donald Trump’s reaffirmation of their personal friendship and his downplaying of his previous comments about “losing India” to China, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that Washington and New Delhi still had “very positive” connections.

The trade comes amid tensions after Washington accused New Delhi of supporting Moscow’s murderous attacks on Ukraine by buying Russian oil and levied tariffs of up to 50% on Indian goods.

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Right-wing populists Trump and Modi, however, have been close since the US president’s first term.

Modi wrote on X that India and the US had a “very positive and forward-looking comprehensive and global strategic partnership” and that he “deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump’s sentiments and positive assessment of our ties.”

Trump previously declared to reporters that he “will always be friends with Modi of course.”

“The relationship between the United States and India is unique. Trump downplayed his earlier comments about “losing India” to China, saying, “There is nothing to worry about.”

Trump previously declared to reporters that he “will always be friends with Modi of course.”

“The relationship between the United States and India is unique. Trump downplayed his earlier comments about “losing India” to China, saying, “There is nothing to worry about.”

A thaw between the two Asian giants was indicated last week when Modi made his first trip to China in seven years to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting.

Trump has come off as annoyed in New Delhi as he tries to claim credit for his alleged Nobel Prize-worthy diplomacy in mediating peace between India and Pakistan after the two nuclear-armed neighbors engaged in their deadliest confrontation in decades in May.

Since then, India, which vehemently opposes any outside intervention on Kashmir, has ignored Trump.

World

Toyota cuts its profit forecast because of US tariffs.

Published

2 months ago

August 7, 2025

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The impact of US tariffs caused Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota to lower its year net profit prediction on Thursday to 2.66 trillion yen ($18.06 billion).

“Due to the impact of US tariffs and other factors, actual results showed decreased operating income, and the forecast has been revised downward,” the business stated in a statement. In Tokyo afternoon trading, its stock dropped 0.6 percent.

Japan and its vital auto industry suffered a serious setback in April when the Trump administration levied a 25 percent tax on Japanese automobile imports into the US.

In July, Tokyo and Washington announced a trade agreement that would reduce that tax to 15 percent and offer some relief to the industry, although it is unclear when that agreement will go into effect.

Additionally, it is unclear if the vehicle tax and other “reciprocal” levies will be capped at 15 percent or if they will be added to the ones that were already in place prior to Trump’s trade war.

Due to an existing 2.5 percent tax on the auto industry, the current duty is 27.5 percent.

Revenues in Toyota’s first quarter from April to June were up 3.5 percent, but net income decreased by 36 percent.