Several killed in Israeli attack on UN shelter housing 800 in southern Gaza
UNRWA official fears ‘mass casualties’ after Israeli tank shelling on one of its facilities in Khan Younis. Several people have been killed after a United Nations shelter in Gaza‘s southern city of Khan Younis was shelled by Israeli forces, the Gaza head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said. “Two tank rounds hit building that shelters 800 people – reports now 9 dead and 75 injured,” Thomas White, the Gaza director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said on the social media platform X. Update – attack on Khan Younis Training Centre this afternoon – two tank rounds hit building that shelters 800 people – reports now 9 dead and 75 injured@UNRWA and @WHO team trying to reach the centre – agreed upon route with Israeli Army blocked with earth bank #Gaza — Thomas White (@TomWhiteGaza) January 24, 2024 In a separate post earlier on Wednesday, White said the training centre sheltering displaced families had been set ablaze. The number of victims is expected to rise, as the UN official said the incident had likely caused “mass casualties”. UNRWA spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna, based in Rafah, told Al Jazeera the UN has been trying to send ambulances to the site in coordination with the Israeli army. He said no warning had been issued by the Israeli military prior to the attack. The agency has not been able to access the compound for the past 48 hours due to the presence of Israeli tanks in the area, Abu Hasna said, describing the situation as “very dangerous”. “We tried to coordinate the exit of the IDPs [internally displaced persons] there but did not succeed unfortunately,” he added. Israel has continued intense attacks on Khan Younis, targeting medical facilities, among others. Some 660 attacks on health institutions have been recorded in Gaza. ‘Fire everywhere’ Gaza’s Ministry of Health on Wednesday said the Israeli army isolated the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis after it was encircled and ground troops engaged in close-quarter combat with Hamas fighters. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) also wrote on X that the Israeli army surrounded its headquarters and the El Amal Hospital in the southern city, enforcing restrictions on movement to and from the medical facility. Khan Younis was once designated a “safe zone” for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who evacuated from the northern parts and Gaza City at the start of the war. Israeli soldiers on Monday advanced for the first time into al-Mawasi district near the Mediterranean coast west of Khan Younis. Asmaa Abu Khudair, a Palestinian woman displaced from al-Mawasi to Rafah, said she fled the intense bombardment in the area after the building next to hers was attacked by the Israeli military. “Their aircraft started firing. All of a sudden, balls of fire started to fall on us,” she told Al Jazeera. “The whole area was in flames, fire everywhere. We started running, I pulled out one of my daughters, but my other daughter I couldn’t find.” Abu Khudair said the flames grew bigger and she had to flee without her missing daughter. “Do you understand when I say fire?”, she said in tears. “I lost my daughter. My husband was in his brother’s tent.” “The following day, their bodies were recovered, totally charred,” she added. At least 25,700 people have been killed and 63,740 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the war began on October 7. Adblock test (Why?)
Argentines take to the streets to protest against new austerity measures
The president has said that the austerity measures are due to years of overspending that have resulted in huge debts. Argentine unions have begun a 12-hour strike in the capital to protest against tough economic reforms by President Javier Milei. Wednesday’s demonstration is the most significant show of opposition to Milei’s spending cuts and privatisation plans since he took office last month and pledged to fix an economy dealing with 211 percent inflation. The strike, coordinated by the umbrella union, the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), comes amid scrutiny of Milei’s two significant reforms: the “omnibus” bill going through Congress and a “mega-decree” deregulating the economy. “Milei wants a country where poverty and informal work reaches 90 percent,” union member and national opposition deputy Hugo Yasky said on local radio station Radio Con Vos. “Now there is no job creation. What there is now is widespread misery, people’s desperation, there are no measures to mitigate the damage they are causing.” Demonstrators hold a placard that reads ‘down with the decree’ as they protest near the Pueyrredon Bridge during a one-day national strike, in Buenos Aires, Argentina [Agustin Marcarian/Reuters] Earlier on Wednesday, the omnibus bill was approved by a committee in the lower congressional house, the Chamber of Deputies. The mass strikes began at 12pm (15:00 GMT) and affected transportation, banks, hospitals, and public services. Local airlines said they had been forced to cancel hundreds of fights due to the demonstration. Protesters held placards that read “The homeland is not for sale” and “Eating is not a privilege” as some others held a giant puppet of Milei. Another poster said, “Today’s retirees are yesterday’s workers, stop robbing them!” Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman, reporting from Buenos Aires, said it was “impossible” to determine the number of people attending the protest due to its scale. “There seems to be a kind of unofficial agreement with the strikers and the security minister to allow these huge numbers of people to be here but only if they cannot disrupt traffic,” Newman said. “It’s still very, very tense, and it’s an ongoing situation here, but it’s a huge turnout so far.” Milei’s government said that the austerity measures are due to years of overspending that have left the South American country with huge debts to local and international creditors, including a $44bn deal with the International Monetary Fund. “There is no strike that stops us, there is no threat that intimidates us,” Milei’s security minister and former presidential election rival Patricia Bullrich wrote on X. “It’s mafia unionists, poverty managers, complicit judges and corrupt politicians, all defending their privileges, resisting the change that society chose democratically.” Milei, an economist and former TV pundit, assumed the presidency after a shock win in last year’s general election. Adblock test (Why?)
Sudan’s Hemedti embraced abroad as he terrorises civilians at home
On January 6, Sudanese paramilitary leader Mohamad Hamdan Dagalo, better known as “Hemedti”, visited the memorial in Kigali that commemorates the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Hemedti toured the museum solemnly, his sympathy-filled face belying the fact that his paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are accused of similar atrocities in Sudan’s civil war. Hemedti’s visit to Rwanda was part of a tour to meet African heads of state from late December to early January. South Africa, Uganda, Djibouti, Rwanda and Ethiopia all greeted Hemedti warmly, and Kenya rolled out a red carpet for him. His tour dispelled rumours that he might be seriously wounded or killed in a conflict in which his fighters have killed thousands of civilians across Sudan, seized homes, looted cars, plundered aid, robbed banks and raped indiscriminately as a weapon of war. Despite civilians testifying to these atrocities, Hemedti was received across Africa like a head of state, raising fears that he will keep terrorising civilians with regional backing, local monitors and experts told Al Jazeera. “Any efforts that aim to justify or excuse Hemedti’s crimes are permitting him to continue his massacres,” said Bedour Zakaria, a human rights monitor who survived mass killings in West Darfur and is now in Kampala, Uganda. Accused of crimes, playing statesman In West Darfur, a region on the border with Chad, RSF fighters and allied Arab militias have killed up to 15,000 non-Arabs from the Masalit tribe, according to a soon-to-be-released United Nations report obtained by Al Jazeera. Displaced people get on a truck to flee Wad Madani, Sudan, on December 16, 2023 [AFP] The report said 13 mass graves have been identified in West Darfur since the war between the RSF and the Sudanese army erupted in April. About 550,000 Masalit refugees have also been uprooted from their land to camps in Chad. [BELOW: What does the asterisk refer to?] “Hemedti has committed all of the gravest crimes that you can think of on Masalit land,” said Yousif Gamal*, a human rights monitor from the Masalit tribe. “He has even forced [all Masalit] to leave our land and brought new settlers to replace us,” he told Al Jazeera. In what was perhaps a move to polish his image, Hemedti signed an agreement with Taqaddum, a broad civilian coalition self-declared as neutral in the conflict and headed by former Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on January 1. Many members of Taqaddum, including Hamdok, were in the civilian Forces for Freedom and Change, which briefly shared power with the military before being toppled in a coup by the army and RSF in October 2021. Still, they agreed to meet with Hemedti and expressed optimism after the signing. Taqaddum’s agreement with Hemedti said the RSF was willing “to immediately and unconditionally end hostilities” and provide security to civilians and repair basic services in areas under its control. However, so far, the RSF has failed to govern or demonstrate a desire to govern. [embedded content] Two weeks before the Addis Ababa meeting, the RSF captured Wad Madani, Sudan’s second-largest city, plundering it, killing civilians, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and raping. While Hemedti addressed his forces’ rampage in Geneina State, where Wad Madani is located, and said “rogue elements” responsible were being rounded up to be held accountable, abuses continued after the signing, prompting activists in Wad Madani to accuse Taqaddum of abandoning neutrality. “Taqaddum can’t have any legitimacy without the Sudanese people, and the Sudanese people reject the existence of the RSF,” said Mohamad Shendega, spokesperson for the Wad Madani resistance committee, one of many neighbourhood groups spearheading local relief efforts in Sudan. “Taqaddum has to remain neutral and independent of the two warring sides.” Rasha Aoud, spokesperson for Taqaddum, denied accusations that the civilian coalition was compromised. “There is no alliance between Taqaddum and the RSF,” she told Al Jazeera. Jawhara Kanu, a Sudanese expert with the United States Institute for Peace, believes Taqaddum does not have a formal alliance with Hemedti, but she fears “some in Taqaddum are blinded with hysteria and trauma and not able to see that as they fight the Kizan, they are getting closer to the RSF.” Former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok addresses people on the first anniversary of the start of the uprising against Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum on December 25, 2019 [File: Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters] The Kizan is the collective name for figures from former President Omar al-Bashir’s government who are suspected of being embedded in key positions in the army and de facto foreign ministry. Regional initiative Days after the Addis Ababa Declaration was signed, Hamdok and his delegation visited Djibouti, where they urged the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an eight-country regional bloc, to increase its efforts to bring about a meeting between Hemedti and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. On January 18, Hemedti travelled to Entebbe, Uganda, to attend an IGAD summit that had Sudan on the agenda. Al-Burhan was invited by refused to attend, and two days later, the pro-army foreign ministry accused the bloc of “violating Sudan’s sovereignty” and suspended its membership in IGAD. Kanu said al-Burhan’s response was counterproductive. “I believe engaging is always better than disengaging,” she told Al Jazeera. “I think al-Burhan lost more than he won by not going. When you are not at the table, then anything can be said.” I had a meeting today in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, with Dr. Annette Weber, the EU special representative for the Horn of Africa. During our conversation, I briefed Dr. Weber on the reasons behind the war in Sudan, which was initiated by the extremist former regime and its… pic.twitter.com/7OictkZfAY — Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (@GeneralDagllo) January 18, 2024 Zakaria said the regional embrace of Hemedti is part of a broader history of domestic and international players whitewashing the RSF’s image. She referenced Hemedti’s photo-op with the European Union’s Horn of Africa envoy, Annette Webber, during the IGAD summit. “The Europeans pretend they care about human rights, international humanitarian law
Humanitarian aid for Gaza blocked by protests
NewsFeed A crowd of Israelis gathered to stop aid trucks from entering Gaza at the Karam Abu Salem border crossing. Some of the protesters include family members of captives being held by Hamas and are demanding their release come before any more humanitarian aid can cross. Published On 24 Jan 202424 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Drones attack deep in Russia as Medvedev threatens Ukraine’s ‘existence’
Russia and Ukraine traded deadly aerial attacks on civilian centres in the past week of the war, but Ukraine also scored hits on military and economic infrastructure deep in the Russian heartland, extending its reach to St Petersburg for the first time. Ukrainian military intelligence said it had struck an unspecified military target in St Petersburg on Thursday, using drones launched from Ukrainian soil. Ukrainian strategic industries minister Oleksandr Kamyshin confirmed the attack, telling the World Economic Forum in Davos that the attack was carried out by a Ukrainian-built drone that had travelled 1,250km (780 miles) from Ukrainian soil. Russia’s defence ministry said three drones had been launched and it had downed all three over the Gulf of Finland that day, one near an oil terminal. On Sunday, Ukraine attacked again in several locations, and this time, the evidence of its success was clear. [Al Jazeera] Russian gas producer Novatek said it was suspending operations at a plant and loading terminal in the port of Ust-Luga near St Petersburg, following a fire, which Ukrainian media credited to due to a drone attack, citing Security Service (SBU) sources. Novatek said it had resumed loading on Wednesday, but plant operations could take weeks or months to return to normal, analysts said. This meant the company would lose money, exporting low-value gas condensate rather than processed naphtha, jet fuel and gasoil. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said aerial defences were being strengthened following the attack. Ukraine also claimed to have attacked the Shcheglovsky Val plant in Tula, 150km (93 miles) south of Moscow, which reportedly manufactures the Pantsir-S and Pantsir-S1 air defence systems. Geolocated footage also showed smoke rising from the city of Smolensk, near the Russian border with Belarus, suggesting a possible third attack that day. Ukraine has been developing its own long-range aerial and surface drones at least since the middle of last year, when it attacked several military targets in Crimea and the Black Sea. Unlike donated Western weapons, they do not carry restrictions about their use on Russian soil. [Al Jazeera] Ukrainian National Defence and Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov claimed that Ukraine was among the top three drone manufacturers in the world. Ukraine is suspected of being responsible for the shelling of Donetsk city in its occupied east, which killed at least 27 people on Sunday, although it did not claim the attack. Russia has routinely targeted Ukrainian cities, and did so again with deadly results. Kharkiv bore the heaviest toll. Russian missiles killed 18 people and injured an estimated 130 in various cities on Tuesday, but eight of the dead were in Kharkiv, said its mayor, which suffered three waves of attacks. At least 100 high-rise blocks had been hit in the city. People take shelter in a metro station during an air raid, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv [Thomas Peter/Reuters] Ukraine defended its airspace from the repeated attacks. It shot down 19 out of 20 Shahed drones last Wednesday, 22 out of 33 drones on Thursday, and four out of seven drones on Saturday. In each case, Russia also used a small number of missiles, as it has been doing for months, copying a Ukrainian tactic designed to overload air defence systems. A Pentagon official said these were probing attacks as Russia looked for weaknesses in defences. “They’ve not succeeded so far. Ukrainians have a lot of experience over the last few years on how to cope with these kinds of Russian assaults,” Celeste Wallander, an assistant secretary of defense, told reporters. What made Tuesday’s attack different was that Russia used no drones. It launched 44 missiles of various types, half of which Ukraine intercepted, mostly over Kyiv. No end in sight Ukraine’s Western allies continued to pledge weapons and ammunition, forecasting a third year of war, as defiant Russian rhetoric left little hope of negotiations any time soon. “The existence of Ukraine is mortally dangerous for Ukrainians,” wrote Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s powerful Security Council, on the Telegram messaging app. “The presence of an independent state on historical Russian territories will now be a constant reason for the resumption of hostilities,” he said, elucidating an irredentist policy towards all of Ukraine. “There is a 100 percent probability of a new conflict,” Medvedev said, even if Ukraine entered the EU and NATO. “This could happen in ten or fifty years.” Some in Europe took Russia at its word. [Al Jazeera] “We hear threats from the Kremlin almost every day … so we have to take into account that Vladimir Putin might even attack a NATO country one day,” German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told Tagesspiegel. “Our experts expect a period of five to eight years in which this could be possible,” Pistorius said. It was the latest in a series of ominous warnings. NATO’s military committee chief called for a “warfighting transformation” of NATO two weeks ago. And the commander-in-chief of Sweden, which came a step closer to NATO membership when Turkey’s parliament ratified its bid on Tuesday, last week told Swedes to prepare for war. Even Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who as recently as last September was saying Russia was ready for talks, said Russia “will achieve the goals of its ‘special military operation’ consistently and persistently.” Looking for ammunition Accordingly, Western governments have been stepping up ammunition production. Varying estimates give Russia an advantage of between 5:1 and 10:1 in artillery shells. There is concern that disparity could harm Ukraine’s stout defence. During the past week, for example, Ukraine has retreated some hundreds of yards in Kharkiv, where Russia has been assaulting the front lines relentlessly. European internal market commissioner Thierry Breton said on Saturday that EU defence industries would be capable of producing a million artillery shells a year by April, up to 1.4 million by the end of the year and more next year. Defence industries have complained that they cannot increase production unless governments provide long-term contracts, and NATO on Tuesday made up for some of this
People run for their lives from Khan Younis in Gaza
NewsFeed Palestinians are fleeing Khan Younis in south Gaza where Israeli forces say they have encircled the city and dozens of people have been killed in recent attacks. Published On 24 Jan 202424 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Sri Lanka Parliament passes bill to regulate online content
Sri Lanka’s Parliament has passed a hastily proposed bill to regulate online content, sparking criticism from rights groups and opposition politicians that the government is trying to crack down on dissent and stifle freedom of speech ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections this year. The measure was passed on Wednesday by a 108-62 vote, the speaker announced. Under the Online Safety Bill, content creators deemed to be posting “illegal” material by a five-member commission will be punished with jail sentences. It also holds companies such as Google, Facebook and X accountable for content posted on their platforms. President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government said the bill, presented to the legislature just one day before Wednesday’s vote, was aimed at battling cybercrimes, including child abuse, data theft and online fraud. The country logged 8,000 cybercrimes last year, said Public Security Minister Tiran Alles, who denied the legislation would impact freedom of speech. “It is not to suppress the media or the opposition. … Any complaint will be taken up by the commission, who will be appointed by the president, and they will decide how to act,” Alles said. Human Rights Watch criticised the bill, warning that members of the Online Safety Commission would have arbitrary powers to “decide what online speech is ‘false’ or ‘harmful’, remove content, restrict and prohibit internet access, and prosecute individuals and organizations”. Offenses under the bill carry hefty fines and prison sentences of up to five years, the international rights group said. Protests After Wednesday’s vote, a small group of activists and opposition members protested outside parliament. Harsha de Silva, a lawmaker from the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya, told parliament the legislation was “a threat to our democracy”. “This will have a severe negative impact on expanding e-commerce in Sri Lanka, to provide jobs to our youth and help our economy, which is in desperate need of growth.” On Tuesday, when lawmakers started debating the bill, Eran Wickramaratne, also from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, said he did not understand why the government was in such a hurry to pass it. “We should take more time and have a better approach to passing laws that are this significant,” he said. The Asian Internet Coalition (AIC), which has Apple, Amazon, Google and Yahoo as members, warned that the bill was a “draconian system to stifle dissent”, and said it “could undermine the potential growth of Sri Lanka’s digital economy”. “We unequivocally stand by our position that the Online Safety Bill, in its current form, is unworkable and would undermine potential growth and foreign direct investment into Sri Lanka’s digital economy,” the AIC said in a statement. Turmoil Wickremesinghe came to power in 2022 after months-long protests over economic turmoil and poor governance toppled the previous prime minister and president. Since taking the helm, he has been accused of stifling dissent. In 2002, he declared a state of emergency, granting sweeping powers to the military and promising to take a tough line against “trouble makers”. Several protest leaders were arrested in what critics called a “witch-hunt”. Police detain protesters during an anti-government march in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on September 24, 2022, while the country was in its worst economic crisis in decades due to a lack of foreign reserves, resulting in severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and imported goods[File: Chamila Karunarathne/EPA-EFE] The United Nations condemned the president’s “misuse of emergency measures”, saying they impinged “on the legitimate exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression”. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also criticised a proposed counterterrorism law granting sweeping powers to the police and military to conduct searches and arrest people with “inadequate judicial oversight”. Elections are expected to be held in the autumn. Adblock test (Why?)
Reporters block Ghana team bus to demand answers after AFCON failure
NewsFeed See the moment reporters blocked Ghana’s bus to demand answers after the team’s draw against Mozambique left them heading for a group stage exit from AFCON. Results in other games meant they were subsequently knocked out and manager Chris Hughton was sacked. Published On 24 Jan 202424 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Biden speech interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters
NewsFeed See the moment US president Joe Biden was interrupted by protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, as he spoke at a rally in Virginia. Published On 24 Jan 202424 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Thai court clears former PM hopeful Pita of violating election law
Pita Limjaroenrat, who led his reformist party to victory on wave of youth support, also reinstated as a lawmaker. Thailand’s Constitutional Court has found Pita Limjaroenrat, the popular politician who was blocked from becoming prime minister, not guilty of violating election law and allowed him to be reinstated as a lawmaker. On Wednesday, the court ruled by eight votes to one that Pita had not broken rules banning members of parliament from owning shares in media companies. The case revolved around shares in ITV television station, which has not broadcast since 2007. Pita has said he inherited the shares from his father when he died. His Move Forward Party, which was a surprise winner in parliamentary elections in May, fought on a progressive platform viewed as a threat to royalists and the military. But he was targeted by conservative politicians after unelected senators blocked him from becoming premier. In July, the court temporarily suspended Pita from parliament after accepting a complaint against him alleging he was unqualified to run in the elections over the issue of holding shares in the media company. He later resigned as party leader. The same court on Wednesday deemed the company had no broadcast concession and should not be considered a mass media organisation. “ITV was not operating as a media company on the day the party submitted the respondent’s name for election,” judge Punya Udchachon said in reading the court’s verdict. “Holding the shares did not violate the law. The court has ruled his MP status has not ended.” Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, reporting from Bangkok, said Pita still had ambitions for the top job. “I did ask him … while he was leaving whether he did still have ambitions for that post. He said he still did. He was still the party’s nominee for prime minister.” Move Forward soared to victory on the promise of ending business monopolies and reforming a draconian law meting out long prison terms to anyone insulting the monarchy. After nearly a decade of military-controlled government, the win reflected a strong mandate for change. “They won the elections, they were forced into opposition. I think they’re pretty happy to sit back for this term, but they’re still a very major political force. Voters in Thailand are still very hungry for the reform they voted for,” Al Jazeera’s Cheng said. Too early to celebrate? The victory will have come as a boost to the Harvard-educated politician viewed as a threat to the status quo, whose party has harnessed the power of social media to attract massive support from young, urban and liberal voters. After the ruling, Pita said he aimed to return to parliament “as soon as possible”, though it was not clear when this would be. “We are asking the parliament when I am allowed to be back in – there is a discrepancy between two organisations, the court and the parliament. When I am allowed, I will be there,” he told reporters. But more challenges lie in wait. The same court will next week decide whether Move Forward’s reformist policies are unconstitutional, constituting an attempt to “overthrow the democratic regime of government with the king as the head of state”. In particular, plans to scrap the law penalising defamation of Thailand’s royal family are in the line of fire. Critics say the lese majeste law, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, is often abused as a political weapon. Both cases have been brought by conservative politicians, part of a two-decade battle for power in Thailand pitting a nexus of royalists, military and old money families against parties elected on populist or progressive platforms. Move Forward’s current leader, Chaithawat Tulathon, has said that an unfavourable ruling next week could be used to advance future cases against them that could lead to the party’s dissolution. Move Forward’s predecessor, the Future Forward party, was dissolved by a Constitutional Court ruling in 2020. Supporters of the party have said the cases typify the sort of dirty tricks that have long been used by the ruling conservative establishment to hamper or oust political rivals, utilising the courts and nominally independent state agencies such as the Election Commission as legal weapons. Adblock test (Why?)