Israel’s war on Gaza decimated transport and even made walking perilous
Gaza City – Every morning, university professor Hassan El-Nabih straps his briefcase and laptop to his bicycle and rides out in search of a place with electricity and an internet connection, hoping to reach his students online. Before Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, a professor on a bicycle was not a common sight. Today, it has become a reality imposed by the war – a practical option, one of the only options, given damaged infrastructure and decimated public transport. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “My car was severely damaged in December 2023 while it was parked in the Shujayea neighbourhood [of Gaza City],” El-Nabih said. “I was visiting relatives when an Israeli air strike struck a nearby building … shattering both windscreens and crippling the engine. With my car unusable and fuel almost impossible to find, I had to adapt.” The genocidal war has severely damaged the besieged enclave’s transport infrastructure, with total losses estimated at roughly $2.5bn. A joint report by the World Bank, the European Union and the United Nations found that about 81 percent of Gaza’s road network has been damaged or destroyed, leaving many areas isolated and basic transport services largely suspended. Before the war, Gaza’s streets were buzzing with cars, motorcycles, buses and taxis, and even those without private vehicles could usually find a ride within minutes. That reality has changed dramatically after more than two years of relentless Israeli bombardment. Many streets are blocked by huge piles of rubble or considered too dangerous to use, making motorised transport difficult, and, in some places, impossible. Advertisement ‘Even walking is difficult’ Abu Mohammed Jundieh, 55, used to work as a driver using his own car, which he lost in the early days of the genocidal war. “That car was my source of income and my only way to get around,” he said, adding that owning a vehicle has now become a distant dream. “Prices are high, fuel is expensive, and even if you find transport, it’s hard to [pay],” he said. “Most of the cash we have is worn out, and drivers often refuse it.” “Sometimes I have to take much longer routes just to reach my destination,” Jundieh said, referring to the destroyed streets. “Even walking is difficult now.” There is also the ever-present threat of Israeli attack, in any type of movement by Palestinians in Gaza, or staying put. The few Palestinians, many with severe medical conditions, allowed to leave during Israel’s partial opening of the Rafah border crossing are having to do so on foot. No new bicycles for sale As its use increased, the bicycle’s status changed from a simple, affordable means of transport to a rare and expensive commodity. On Gaza City’s Jalaa Street, Abu Luay Haniyeh, 52, runs a small bicycle repair shop, its shelves filled with used parts and a few new ones and customers from all walks of life waiting to have their bicycles repaired. There are no new bicycles for sale. “Before the war, selling bicycles was my main business,” Abu Luay said. “Now, repairs are all I can offer.” “People come here every day asking for bicycles, but there’s nothing … Even when a bicycle is available, most people can’t afford it. “A bicycle that sold for less than $200 before the war now costs over $1,000,” he added. With cars and motorcycles largely unusable due to fuel shortages and damage, some residents have turned to hand-pulled carts or limited motorcycle use where fuel is available. For many, however, bicycles have become the most reliable and sometimes the only means of transport. A man carries a child while riding his bicycle along a damaged street in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City [File: Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo] Surviving displacement, finding a source of income Bicycles have also made an appearance in some service sectors, like delivery services. In a large tent on al-Shifa Street, west of Gaza City, is the headquarters of Hamama Delivery. Out front is a row of bicycles, while a few broken-down motorcycles stand off to the side. Abu Nasser al-Yazji, 45, Hamama Delivery’s manager, works from here. The company had been operating for more than 10 years before the war started, using cars and motorcycles to cover the entire Gaza Strip around the clock. Advertisement Today, the fuel shortage has made running vehicles impossible. “We had no choice but to switch entirely to bicycles,” al-Yazji said. “Most of our motorcycles were destroyed, and around 50 of our employees were killed during the war,” he continued. “But as unemployment increased, more people began looking for any kind of work, including delivery. That’s why our workforce actually grew.” Now, delivery drivers have adapted their bicycles by attaching plastic vegetable crates to them as carrier baskets. “We transport all kinds of orders … meals from restaurants, clothing from small shops, or whatever people need. We load everything into plastic crates attached to the bicycles,” al-Yazji said. Because the streets are unlit and difficult to navigate, the company had to cut its delivery hours, no longer able to operate around the clock. Now they deliver for only about 10 hours a day. Among those working with Hamama is Ahmad, 23, who was studying law before the war and is now running deliveries after being unable to continue his studies. “At the beginning, it was physically exhausting,” Ahmad said. “I never imagined I’d be so grateful for owning a bicycle. “In the first days of the war, my mother told me to buy one,” he continued. “She felt movement would soon become impossible.” “During displacement, there are no cars and no transport,” he said. “You move with a few bags, and the bicycle helps you carry them and stay with your family while you’re trying to reach a safer place.” What began as a way to survive displacement later became his only source of income. “Now, securing transport is almost impossible,” Ahmad said. “If you don’t have a bicycle, you’re nearly stuck.” Adblock
Japan snap election: Who’s standing and what’s at stake?
Listen to this article Listen to this article | 4 mins info Japanese voters head to the polls this weekend for a snap election called by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who became the country’s first female prime minister in October last year. While she has only been in power for a few months, Takaichi is enormously popular in Japan and hopes to translate that goodwill into more seats for the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the lower house of parliament. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Here’s what you need to know: When will the election take place, and who will participate? The upcoming vote will be held on Sunday, February 8, for all 465 seats in the House of Representatives. There are more than 1,200 candidates on the ballot, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK World. Parties include the LDP, the new Centrist Reform Alliance, the Japan Innovation Party, the Democratic Party for the People, the Japanese Communist Party and the Conservative Party of Japan, among others. There are approximately 105 million registered voters in Japan. More than 4.5 million have already taken part in early voting, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Monday. What are the key issues for this election? The rising cost of living is front and centre in this election. Consumer prices are on the rise while real wage growth is lagging behind inflation, so paycheques are not going as far as they once did. Japan also has a longstanding problem with slow economic growth. The economy only grew 1.1 percent last year, and it is on track to grow by just 0.7 percent in 2026, according to the IMF. The “goldilocks” rate of economic growth considered healthy for a developed nation is between 2 percent and 3 percent. Advertisement Parties are campaigning on varying strategies to tackle economic concerns, such as cutting Japan’s consumption tax or revising income tax rates. While the governing LDP wants to stimulate growth in the economy, some opposition parties are campaigning for greater welfare and others, like the Japan Innovation Party is pushing for deregulation. Another election concern for some parties is the role of foreigners in a rapidly ageing society. Foreign residents topped 2.5 million in 2025, and they tend to fill major employment gaps, but they are also changing the face of Japan’s once largely homogenous society – much to the chagrin of more conservative voters. The LDP is in favour of “selective” immigration by foreign workers to fill specific labour shortages. It has beefed up immigration regulations, however. What’s at stake in this election? The election will be a significant test for the governing LDP. The party has led Japan almost continuously since the end of World War II, but it has suffered serious setbacks at the polls in recent years because of a series of corruption scandals. The party is hoping for a comeback after losing its majority in both houses. Party members have been implicated in a long-running slush fund scandal over the alleged misuse of campaign funds, and the former prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, was the target of infighting. Takaichi won the post of prime minister in October through an internal leadership race within the LDP and made history as Japan’s first female prime minister. Takaichi has a very high approval rating in recent opinion polls, but she is still governing through a coalition with the Japan Innovation Party. A victory for the LDP now would shore up her position as prime minister. What’s on Takaichi’s agenda? A victory in the lower house would help Takaichi push forward with an agenda of economic reform and expanding Japan’s defences. She also wants to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution – something that has never been done before – citing security concerns like a potential conflict between China, the US and Taiwan. The US is a treaty ally of Japan, while Taiwan is both hugely popular with the Japanese public and geographically close to Japan’s outlying islands. In November, Takaichi angered China when she told Japanese legislators that if China were to use force against Taiwan, which China regards as part of its own territory, the move would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan and could warrant a military response from Tokyo. Adblock test (Why?)
Bangladesh election: Who are the key players and parties?
An array of political parties and alliances will be vying for seats in the Bangladesh Parliament on February 12 in the country’s first election since the ousting of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024. About 127 million registered voters are eligible to cast votes to elect 350 members of the Jatiya Sangsad, the country’s parliament. The South Asian country has been in the hands of a caretaker government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus since August 2024, when a student-led uprising ended Hasina’s long rule. Hasina ordered troops to crack down on protesters, killing 1,400 people. She has since been sentenced to death by a special tribunal in Bangladesh for the brutal crackdown, but remains in exile in India, and her Awami League party has been banned from political activity. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Besides the election on February 12, Bangladesh will also hold a referendum on the July National Charter 2025 – a document drafted following the student protests, setting the foundation for future governance of the country. The two biggest groups competing for parliamentary seats across the country’s 300 constituencies are the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which is leading a coalition of 10 parties, and Jamaat-e-Islami (JIB), which heads an 11-party alliance, including the National Citizen Party, a group formed by students who led the anti-Hasina movement in 2024. The Awami League, which dominated Bangladeshi politics for decades, has been barred from fielding candidates. Besides the two main blocs, the Islami Andolan Bangladesh, which broke away from the JIB-led alliance, and the Jatiya Party, a longtime ally of Hasina’s Awami League, are contesting independently. Advertisement Here is a look at the main political parties and their leaders vying for parliament seats this year, and the key players influencing the election. Bangladesh Nationalist Party Led by Tarique Rahman, the son of the late former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, the BNP is seen as one of the main contenders in the upcoming elections. The party was founded in 1978 by Ziaur Rahman, Tarique’s father and one of the leading military figures of the country’s independence war against Pakistan in 1971, on the principles of Bangladeshi nationalism. According to the BNP website, this is an “ideology that recognises the right of Bangladeshis from all walks of life, irrespective of their ethnicity, gender or race”. As a centre-right political party, the BNP has been a popular political force in the country for decades and has traditionally exchanged power with the Awami League. For four decades after Ziaur Rahman’s assassination in 1981, his wife and Tarique’s father, Khaleda Zia, led the party. Khaleda served as the country’s first female prime minister from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006. In that period, Jamaat was an ally of the BNP as they together fought against Hasina’s Awami League. After Hasina came back to power in 2009 – she had also ruled between 1996 and 2001 – the BNP faced the wrath of her government over corruption charges, and Khaleda was put under house arrest in 2018 in two related cases. She was acquitted of all charges after Hasina’s departure in 2024. Since Hasina’s ousting in 2024, the BNP has risen again as a political frontrunner. A December survey by the United States-based International Republican Institute indicated the BNP had the support of 33 percent of respondents. That was also the only month when the BNP — seeking to position itself as a liberal force ahead of the elections — broke its alliance with Jamaat. Polls show Jamaat just marginally behind the BNP in popular support. Tarique, 60, had been living in London, United Kingdom, since he fled Bangladesh in 2008 over what he called politically motivated persecution. He arrived in Dhaka on December 25, 2025 to take over the BNP leadership ahead of his mother Khaleda’s death on December 30. “We will build a Bangladesh that a mother dreams of,” he said in December after returning to the country and calling on citizens from the hills and plains – Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians – to join him in creating a secure and inclusive nation. In election rallies, he has pledged to improve the country’s infrastructure, among other promises. Advertisement “If elected, the healthcare system will be improved, a flyover will be constructed in Sherpur, permanent embankments will be built in the river erosion areas of Dhunat, and the youth will be made self-reliant through the establishment of IT education institutions,” he said. According to Khandakar Tahmid Rejwan, lecturer in global studies and governance at the Independent University, Bangladesh, since Rahman’s return, the BNP has become more organised. “The party has basically revived with a newfound spirit in both its central and grassroots-level leadership,” he said. “Typical objections against BNP and affiliated party activists, like [allegations of] extortion … have also significantly declined. Top leaders of the central committee have also been comparatively cautious to avoid any statement that might create popular outrage. Significantly, the people are flocking in thousands to hear from Rahman at his electoral rally, even late at midnight,” he said. Rejwan added that it is widely believed that Rahman is the only man who can currently unite Bangladesh with an “inclusive vision”, unlike his Jamaat rivals, who have failed to address any clear stance or acknowledge what are seen by many as their restrictive policies towards women and religious minorities. Jamaat-e-Islami The party was founded in 1941 by Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi during British rule in India. In 1971, during Bangladesh’s war of independence, Jamaat supported staying with Pakistan, and was banned after the country won its freedom. But in 1979, four years after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who had fought for Bangladesh’s independence and is seen by many as the country’s founding father, BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, who was the country’s president at the time, lifted the ban. Ziaur Rahman was also assassinated in 1981. Over the next two decades, Jamaat developed into a significant political force. It supported
Bharat Taxi to be rolled out across India in next 3 years: Amit Shah
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Hegseth says National Guard members shot in DC ambush by Afghan national will receive Purple Heart
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Friday that two West Virginia National Guard members — Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe — who were shot in an ambush-style attack near the White House late last year, will receive the Purple Heart. Calling the Nov. 26 incident “a terrible thing” and saying the troops were “attacked by a radical,” Hegseth made the announcement while speaking at a National Guard reenlistment ceremony at the Washington Monument, where he administered the oath of enlistment to more than 100 Guardsmen from nine states serving in Washington, D.C. “And we had a terrible thing happen a number of months ago,” Hegseth said. “Andrew Wolfe, Sarah Beckstrom, one lost, one recovered, thank God, in miraculous ways. Both soon to be Purple Heart recipients because they were attacked by a radical.” The remarks mark the first public confirmation from Hegseth that the service members will receive the Purple Heart, one of the nation’s oldest military decorations, awarded to those killed or wounded by enemy action. AFGHAN NATIONAL ACCUSED IN DC NATIONAL GUARD SHOOTING PLEADS NOT GUILTY, PROSECUTORS MAY SEEK DEATH PENALTY The Purple Heart traces its origins to the American Revolution, when George Washington established the Badge of Military Merit in 1782, to recognize enlisted soldiers wounded or killed in service. The modern Purple Heart was revived in 1932, and is awarded in the name of the president to U.S. service members wounded or killed by enemy action. Beckstrom, 20, and Wolfe, 24, were shot just blocks from the White House in what officials described as an ambush-style attack. Beckstrom died a day after the shooting. Wolfe was seriously wounded and continues to recover. BONDI DESCRIBES WOUNDED NATIONAL GUARDSMAN AS A ‘MIRACLE,’ SAYS ‘HE’S ABLE TO OPEN BOTH EYES’ The accused gunman, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, faces nine charges related to the shooting, including first-degree murder while armed and assault with intent to kill while armed. He has pleaded not guilty. In a statement posted on X, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey thanked Hegseth for the announcement and said the recognition was long overdue. “I thank Secretary @PeteHegseth for announcing that U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe will soon receive the Purple Heart, an honor that reflects their courage and sacrifice in defense of our nation,” Morrisey wrote. Morrisey said he formally requested the Purple Heart awards Dec. 19, adding that the announcement “brings long-overdue honor to their service, offers meaning and reassurance to their families, and stands as a solemn reminder that West Virginia will never forget those who sacrifice in defense of others.” Hegseth’s remarks Friday came during a ceremony honoring the National Guard’s ongoing security mission in the nation’s capital. According to a War Department news release, more than 100 Guardsmen from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and West Virginia reenlisted Friday as part of the mission. REP BRIAN MAST: CONGRESS HAS THE PERFECT WAY TO HONOR OUR NATION’S FALLEN HEROES Those troops are among more than 2,600 National Guard members currently deployed in Washington at the direction of President Donald Trump in support of the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, which was established in August 2025 after the president declared a crime emergency in the city. Addressing the Guardsmen, Hegseth described their service in Washington as “front lines” duty. “This is not an easy assignment. It’s the real deal. It’s front lines,” he said. “You’ve done it, and you’ve done well.” The Army could not immediately provide comment after being reached by Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf and Fox News’ Jake Gibson contributed to this story.