Bombs to buzzing beaches: Sri Lanka sees tourism surge after long crisis
Colombo, Sri Lanka – Devmith Kaggodarachchi’s beachfront hotel in the southwestern coastal town of Hikkaduwa, a tourist hotspot 136km (85 miles) from the capital Colombo, is nearing full capacity. The three-star hotel, with air-conditioned rooms and private balconies looking into the Indian Ocean, is busy serving tourists visiting for the Christmas season. That is not how it’s been for Sri Lanka’s tourism industry over the past four years. Tourist arrivals dropped drastically in 2019 after bombings in three luxury hotels and three churches on Easter killed more than 250 people. The COVID-19 pandemic hit before Sri Lanka had a chance to recover. The country’s economic and political turmoil in 2022 – when its then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family had to flee, and essential commodities like fuel became almost impossible for everyday people to secure – further pushed tourists away from Sri Lanka. But a concerted promotional drive to attract foreign visitors, aided by geopolitical tensions unrelated to the country, appears to finally be bearing fruit, offering the nation an engine of revenue that could play a pivotal role in helping Sri Lanka’s economy recover. In 2023, Sri Lanka recorded more than 1.3 million tourist arrivals by the second week of December, official data show. It is the first time arrivals have crossed the 1 million mark in four years. More than 150,000 tourists visited in November, the highest monthly tally since March 2020. “Tourists are trusting us now. After going back to their country, they talk good about us. Business is good at the moment,” Kaggodarachchi told Al Jazeera. “Our hotel can serve about 150 tourists at a time. At the moment, there are 130”. Most tourists who have visited this year are from India, which hosted three roadshows promoting Sri Lanka’s tourism sector in April. But the Russian war in Ukraine has helped Sri Lanka too. Russia is the second-highest source of tourists to the country this year, at a time Russian tourists are not welcome in many other nations. “There were limitations on countries Russians could visit. They could visit Sri Lanka. We had that advantage,” Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Chairman Priantha Fernando told Al Jazeera. Encouraging numbers, but higher revenue needed Industry stakeholders say that while higher tourist arrivals are a positive sign, there is a need to attract high-spending tourists to generate more revenue for the economy. President Ranil Wickremesinghe has also urged the tourism sector to improve its products and services to cater to high-end tourists. From January to November, tourism contributed $1.8bn in revenue – an increase of 78 percent compared with the same period last year. Tourism is Sri Lanka’s third-largest source of foreign exchange. On average, a tourist spends $181 daily, according to government data. Suranga Silva, a professor in tourism economics at the University of Colombo, suggested that Sri Lanka could use its uninhabited islands to boost high-end tourism by offering exclusivity. “If we can develop our islands as high-end tourist destinations, we can get tourists to spend more than $1000 daily. The service must be worth what they pay,” Silva told Al Jazeera. Research published in 2018 identified at least 87 islands in Sri Lankan territory. Many are neglected and can be used to develop tourist resorts, bird sanctuaries and scenic attractions, the research found. “Only luxury hotels aren’t enough. Tourists should be given a valuable tour package including domestic charter flights to take them to these locations,” Silva said. In 2021, the World Economic Forum ranked Sri Lanka 74th among 117 countries on its Travel and Tourism Development Index, which measures factors and policies that enable the development of the travel and tourism sector. “Right now, there is no advantage for any foreign investor to invest in Sri Lanka,” Fernando, the tourism authority chairperson, conceded. “These are the things we have to look at and come up with policies that will facilitate greater investment.” “I feel it will be 2029 by the time we receive 5 million tourists, of which half at least spend $500 a day”. ‘Don’t kill the goose that lays golden eggs’ But even as Colombo promotes the country’s tourism internationally, many businesses in the sector fear that the government is at the same time weakening their ability to compete for global travellers. From January 2024, the Sri Lankan government will lift an exemption on value-added tax (VAT), which it had extended to tourism operators in 2020. “Our industry generates foreign exchange revenue quickly. So, our request is to exempt us from VAT,” Rohan Abeywickrama, the president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Tourism, told Al Jazeera. Sri Lanka’s parliament recently voted to increase VAT from 15 to 18 percent, adding to the concerns of the sector. That is to meet tax collection targets agreed with the International Monetary Fund which is offering the government a $2.9bn bailout package to tide over the country’s worst economic crisis since independence. Businesses catering to tourists are already paying a Tourism Development Levy, Income Tax and Turnover Tax. “When all these taxes are imposed on us, our production costs go up. So we become an expensive tourist destination,” Abeywickrama, an industry veteran who is also on the government’s tourism advisory committee, said. “Tourism is driven by the private sector and is important to generate revenue. So the government must protect us and encourage us to remain in business. They shouldn’t kill the goose that lays golden eggs”. The tourism sector is also asking the government to provide relief on their mounting debt and the multiple electricity and water tariff hikes imposed since last year. Tour operators and safari four-wheel drive drivers say they have to put up with old vehicles as the government banned vehicle imports in early 2020 to control dollar outflows. “The vehicle fleet is over 15 to 20 years old, which is a challenge with more breakdowns and high cost of repairs,” Nishad Wijetunga, the president of the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO), told Al Jazeera. “Vehicle
Texas governor signs law allowing arrest of suspected illegal migrants
Republican Greg Abbott claims US President Joe Biden has left state to ‘fend for itself’ as he signs controversial bill. The governor of Texas has signed a law allowing state authorities to arrest and deport people suspected of illegally crossing the border between the United States and Mexico. Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s endorsement of Senate Bill 4 on Monday set up a potential legal battle with the federal government, which is usually tasked with enforcing immigration laws. Abbott, who signed the bill in a ceremony in the border town of Brownsville, accused President Joe Biden of doing nothing to stop a “tidal wave of illegal entry” into Texas and claimed the measure would cut unauthorised arrivals by 50-75 percent. “Biden’s deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself,” Abbott said, describing the consequences of unauthorised entry under the measure as “so extreme that the people being smuggled by the cartels, they will not want to be coming into the state of Texas”. Under the new law, Texas state police will be able to arrest anyone suspected of crossing the border illegally and local judges will be authorised to order them to leave the country. Critics have cast the law as the most extreme attempt by state authorities to regulate immigration since a 2010 Arizona law that was largely struck down by the US Supreme Court. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas said on Monday it would challenge the measure in court, arguing it “overrides federal immigration law” and “fuels racial profiling”. More than 20 congressional Democrats also signed a letter urging the US Justice Department to take legal action to block the measure. Record numbers of migrants have been picked for unauthorised entry from Mexico since Biden took office in 2021, with more than half of the 5.8 million arrests taking place in Texas and neighbouring New Mexico. Former President Donald Trump, who Abbot has backed to be the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election, has made immigration a key plank of his bid to retake the White House. During a visit to Edinburg, Texas near the US-Mexico border last month, Trump claimed that the US had the most unsecure border in the history of the world and that the country was being “invaded”. On Saturday, Trump said immigrants coming to the US were “poisoning the blood of our country,” drawing a sharp rebuke from the White House. “Echoing the grotesque rhetoric of fascists and violent white supremacists and threatening to oppress those who disagree with the government are dangerous attacks on the dignity and rights of all Americans, on our democracy, and on public safety,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 664
As the war enters its 664th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Tuesday, December 19, 2023. Fighting Ukraine’s Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said the situation on the front line was not at a stalemate, after suggesting last month that it was a possibility. He declined to comment on the coming counteroffensive operations. “This is a war. I can’t say what I plan, what we should do. Otherwise, it will be a show, not a war,” Ukraine’s RBC media quoted him as saying. Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, a senior army general who has led counteroffensives against the Russians, told the Reuters news agency that front-line troops faced shortages of artillery shells – particularly Soviet-era 122mm and 152mm ammunition – and had scaled back some military operations because of a shortfall of foreign assistance. Zaluzhnyi criticised the president’s decision to fire regional military draft office chiefs. “These were professionals, they knew how to do this, and they are gone,” Interfax Ukraine cited him as saying. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired the country’s regional military recruitment heads in August in a corruption crackdown. Politics and diplomacy Zelenskyy said new sanctions imposed on Moscow by the European Union would “truly reduce” Russia’s ability to finance its invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s diplomatic mission to the EU said the latest action showed previous efforts had failed. The 12th package of sanctions includes a ban on Russian-origin diamonds, additional import and export bans, and a tightening of the rules to close loopholes and combat sanctions circumvention, the EU said. The Russian government added the prominent writer Grigory Chkhartishvili – known by his pen name Boris Akunin – to a register of “terrorists and extremists” after he criticised the invasion of Ukraine. The 67-year-old is known for his historical detective novels and his longstanding criticism of President Vladimir Putin. Weapons United States President Joe Biden said he was planning one more military aid package for Ukraine this month and that further assistance would require agreement in Congress. The Alphen Group, made up of more than 40 former top US and NATO diplomats and defence officials, urged the US Congress to approve new aid for Ukraine, warning that if Ukraine failed to win, it would not only be disastrous for Ukraine but also threaten the security of the US and its allies. Republicans earlier this month blocked an emergency spending bill including billions of dollars of aid for Ukraine, demanding tougher steps to control immigration at the US-Mexico border. Denmark set aside 1.8 billion Danish crowns ($264m) to help finance a Swedish initiative to donate CV90 armoured combat vehicles to Ukraine, the Danish Defence Ministry said in a statement. Adblock test (Why?)
India’s Manisha Kalyan: From a village in Punjab to European football
Mumbai, India – In the quiet embrace of a small Indian village, where dreams are often whispered against the backdrop of simplicity, emerged a football prodigy destined for greatness. Meet Manisha Kalyan, the young Indian football sensation whose long journey from the narrow lanes of Muggowal in Punjab to the illustrious stage of the UEFA Women’s Champions League is nothing short of a remarkable odyssey. Kalyan participated in athletics and basketball during her school days before football captured her heart. Daring to dream beyond the confines of her rural beginnings, she made the cut for India in 2019, at the age of 17. Last year, Kalyan received the golden opportunity to sign with the Cypriot club Apollon Ladies. A rare chance for Indian footballers, given the country’s ranking of 65 in women’s FIFA rankings and 102 in men’s. “I made the right decision to join Apollon because I am improving and learning new things here,” Kalyan told Al Jazeera from Limassol. “Even before I was called up for India, I dreamt of playing abroad because when you begin playing abroad at an early age, you can improve and contribute more to the national team.” Kalyan signed for Apollon after playing for three Indian clubs, including Gokulam Kerala, with whom she won the top-tier Indian Women’s League twice. Known for her speed and ability to adapt to several positions, Kalyan has been recognised as one of the best Indian players in recent times. The All India Football Federation named her the Women’s Player of the Year in 2021-22 and 2022-23 and she was also part of the India team that won gold at the South Asian Games in 2019. Kalyan shot to fame in 2021 after she became the first Indian to score a goal against Brazil in a friendly match, which India lost 6-1. She rates it as the most special goal of her career. 𝐀𝐈𝐅𝐅 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐-𝟐𝟑 🏆 ꜱʀ. ᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ʏᴇᴀʀ 🥇 Lallianzuala Chhangte (Men)Manisha Kalyan (Women)#IndianFootball ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/9oIIiCn1Mj — Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) July 4, 2023 ‘If you’re quiet, you won’t get the ball’ The offer from Apollon did not come as a surprise for Kalyan, who revealed she had been attracting interest from foreign clubs since that goal against Brazil. Even though Kalyan was over the moon to receive interest from Apollon, she had very little knowledge about what she was signing up for. “When I decided to sign for Apollon, I did not know much about Cyprus. I did a bit of research about the club and the country and felt it would be a good call. I had seen some of the matches from the Cypriot First Division and knew Apollon had played in the Women’s Champions League, where I wanted to participate,” she said. A language barrier and some cultural differences made Kalyan’s start to life in Cyprus difficult but she slowly found her way. “At the time I joined, I didn’t understand English as much as I do now and couldn’t talk much with my teammates, which was difficult,” Kalyan recalled. “Now that I can speak a bit of English, I have built a connection with them. I think communication is important both on and off the field because if you’re quiet during games, you won’t get the ball. Once I started to communicate during the games, things improved.” Kalyan’s dream to play in the Women’s Champions League came true last August when she featured against Latvia’s SFK Riga in the qualifying round. Then in September, she added another feather to her cap by becoming the first Indian to score in the Women’s Champions League when she found the net against Georgia’s FC Samegrelo in the qualifiers. Coming on as a second-half substitute in that game, Kalyan scored a stunning left-footed goal from inside the box. “Having the chance to play and score in the Women’s Champions League has been the best part of my life,” Kalyan said. “I was quite happy at the time, but now I have bigger goals. I want to improve individually in the next year and perform better for India.” #IndianFootballersAbroad#ManishaKalyan Watch Manisha Kalyan’s historic UEFA Champions League goal from another angle, in Greek commentary This goal made her the first Indian Footballer to score in UEFA Women’s Champions League with a 3-0 win over Samegrelo 🇬🇪 ©️- CYTA Sports pic.twitter.com/HF9n0sXixI — Indian Football Fan (@FootbalIndiaFan) September 17, 2023 ‘Modern left-back’ Since joining Apollon, Kalyan has transitioned from an attacker to a defender. In India, while playing for Sethu or Gokulam Kerala, Kalyan would feature on the wings or as a striker, but she has been deployed as a left-back at Apollon. “She is a very good modern left-back, someone who likes to attack,” said Apollon coach Andreas Matthaiou. “In my opinion, good players can play everywhere. “She is very fast and fires very good crosses from the left. She can run throughout for 90 minutes and technically she is good, too.” Having taken over the team earlier this month, Matthaiou described Kalyan as a “hard worker” and a “quick learner”. “I am very happy with her,” he said. Indian women’s football expert Anirudh Menon believes Kalyan’s journey is already a “success story” for the country, which has seen very few women play in top-tier leagues overseas, especially in Europe. India’s all-time top-scorer Bala Devi is the highest profile player to play in Europe, having represented top-tier Scottish club Rangers, while others have played in the lower leagues in Europe or top divisions in small Asian countries such as Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal. “Bala Devi is arguably the best women’s player India has produced, and she got the opportunity only when she turned 30. So if she couldn’t play abroad in her prime, it was quite unlikely that anybody else could have,” Menon said. Poor game time for women The Indian women’s national team is ranked higher than their male counterparts, but they still receive fewer opportunities. The Indian Women’s League (IWL) usually lasts for
How Beijing is changing the way it involves itself in Taiwan’s election
A few months after Taiwanese NGO worker Cynthia Iunn bought a book titled If China Attacks from a Taiwanese bookstore in February, she started to get calls from strange numbers. In the middle of May, she decided to answer one of them. “I ended up talking to three different people and although they pretended to be from Taiwan, they were very clearly Chinese,” Iunn told Al Jazeera. Initially, she thought it was a scam and expected the conversation to eventually turn to her credit card information or bank details. Instead, Iunn was surprised when the person on the other end revealed that they knew her full name, the name of the book she had ordered in February and where she had ordered it from. According to Iunn, they were curious about what she thought of If China Attacks and why she had bought the book in the first place. “They also wanted me to know that the book contained inappropriate and sensitive content and was a piece of propaganda,” she recalled. The person also told her that in the event of a war between China and Taiwan, Taiwanese forces would be no match for the Chinese military. At that point, Iunn realised that she was being subjected to Chinese cognitive warfare. Beijing considers Taiwan to be part of China and has not ruled out using force to achieve its goal of bringing the self-ruled democratic island under its control. The best way to avoid a war, Iunn was told, would be for her to vote for the opposition party, Kuomintang (KMT), rather than the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the presidential and legislative elections that will take place on January 13. The KMT wants friendlier relations between Taiwan and China while Beijing has refused to engage in dialogue with the DPP, which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claims is “separatist”. The DPP rejects such accusations and says it is up to the people of Taiwan to choose their leaders and their future. Beijing portrays Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen as a “separatist”. She was first elected in 2016 and returned in a landslide four years later. She says it’s up to the people of Taiwan to decide their future [File: Sam Yeh/AFP] Iunn found the call itself ridiculous but it also left her concerned that the callers had been able to collect so much personal information about her. “It felt like a message to people like me from the CCP, saying that we know who you are and we know you are against China,” Iunn said. “And that is quite frightening.” Making the ‘right choice’ Beijing has made it no secret that it is taking an active stance regarding the Taiwanese election. Chinese officials have called the election a “choice between peace and war”, a slogan used by the KMT, and urged the people of Taiwan to make the “right choice”. During a sit-down in February in China between the head of Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Song Tao, and KMT deputy chairman, Hsia Li-yan, Tao told Hsia that China was willing to forge closer relations with the party. Meanwhile, the CCP has refused to engage in dialogue with the DPP administration of incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen since she was first elected in 2016. Instead, Beijing has bypassed the Taiwanese government to engage directly with local Taiwanese leaders and officials. Earlier this year, the Chinese authorities exempted a southeastern Taiwanese county from an import ban on Taiwanese custard apples. The exemption came through after a KMT commissioner from the county visited China twice. More than a thousand local Taiwanese leaders have headed to China lately – many more than in the lead-up to the last national election. Recently, district prosecutors’ offices across Taiwan have opened investigations into hundreds of these cases as evidence suggests that Beijing has either partly or fully covered the expenses of these trips. Prominent public figures have also been the targets of alleged Chinese activities leading up to the election. In October, China’s state-run Global Times reported that Chinese authorities had launched a tax probe into the activities of Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn which generates about 70 percent of its revenue from products made in China. The announcement came two months after billionaire founder and former Foxconn CEO Terry Gou had declared his own independent run for president – a move that the Global Times suggested would split the opposition camp and favour of the “secessionist ruling DPP”. After the tax probe became public, Terry Gou cancelled several campaign events and a few weeks later, dropped out of the race. Also in October, the Chinese authorities extended an investigation into “Taiwan’s trade barriers against China” until January 12 – the day before the election. William Lai, Taiwan’s vice president, is the ruling DPP’s presidential candidate in the election and leading the polls [File: Ann Wang/Reuters] According to Fang-Yu Chen, an assistant professor at Soochow University in Taipei who researches political relations between China and Taiwan, such decisions so close to the election are no coincidence. “This is part of an organised Chinese effort to create chaos, stoke distrust and spread dissatisfaction with the current DPP government,” Chen said. Online campaigns This is not the first time there have been reports of increasing activity directed at Taiwan in the run-up to an election. Interference efforts were also reported in the local elections in 2018 and the presidential election in 2020. As in previous polls, this time’s efforts involve cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns. Google warned in early December of a huge increase in Chinese cyberattacks over the past six months directed at Taiwan’s defence sector, private industries and government. In August, Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, cracked down on a Chinese influence campaign involving more than 7,500 accounts across different platforms in the company’s largest such operation to date. Many of the accounts were targeting Taiwan. There have also been cases of TikTok being used to spread disinformation among Taiwanese users while also monitoring their
More than 100 people killed in earthquake in northwest China
The shallow 6.2 magnitude quake struck during the night near the border of Gansu and Qinghai provinces, sending people rushing out onto the street. More than 100 people have been killed after an earthquake hit northwestern China while many people were asleep. The earthquake, measured at 6.2 according to state news agency Xinhua, struck in Gansu Province near the border with Qinghai, causing significant damage, state media reported on Tuesday. Residents rushed out onto the street as buildings collapsed and dozens of people were injured, the state broadcaster CCTV said, citing the provincial earthquake relief headquarters. According to CCTV, at least 100 people were killed in Gansu and 11 people in the city of Haidong in Qinghai. Haidong is situated close to the epicentre about 100km (60 miles) southwest of Gansu Province’s capital, Lanzhou. Rescue work was under way with Chinese President Xi Jinping calling for “all-out efforts” in the search and relief work. Power and water supplies were disrupted in some villages, Xinhua said. The US Geological Survey reported the quake was a magnitude 5.9, while the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said it was a magnitude 6.1. The earthquake struck at a depth of 10km (6 miles) at 11:59 pm local time on Monday (15:59 GMT), according to the USGS, which initially reported the magnitude at 6.0. Gansu has a population of about 26 million people and includes part of the Gobi Desert. Earthquakes are not uncommon in China. In September 2022, a 6.6-magnitude quake hit Sichuan Province leaving almost 100 dead. A 7.9-magnitude quake in Sichuan in 2008 left more than 87,000 people dead or missing, including 5,335 children who were in school at the time it happened. At least 242,000 people were killed in 1976 after an earthquake struck Tangshan in the worst natural disaster in Chinese history. Adblock test (Why?)
Iceland volcano erupts weeks after thousands evacuated from nearby town
Iceland has been on high alert for an eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula after weeks of intense seismic activity. A volcano in southwest Iceland has erupted, spewing lava and smoke across a wide area weeks after nearly 4,000 residents of a nearby town were evacuated amid intense seismic activity. “At 22:17 this evening, a volcanic eruption began north of Grindavik on the Reykjanes peninsula,” Iceland’s Meteorological Office said on Monday. The livestreamed footage of the eruption showed glowing orange lava rising into the night sky, surrounded by billowing red smoke. “A Coast Guard helicopter will take off shortly to confirm the exact location and size of the eruption,” the IMO said. Iceland has been on high alert for a potential eruption after thousands of small earthquakes rattled the region about 40km (25 miles) south of the capital Reykjavik prompting the evacuation of the fishing town of Grindavik and the closure of the nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa. The crack in the earth’s surface was about 3.5km (2.1 miles) long and had grown rapidly, the Met Office said. Some 100 to 200 cubic metres (3,530 to 7,060 cubic feet) of lava emerged per second, several times more than in previous eruptions in the area, Icelandic seismologist Kristin Jonsdottir told the public broadcaster RUV. Local police said they had raised their alert level as a result of the outbreak and the country’s civil defence warned the public not to approach the area while emergency personnel assessed the situation. Reykjanes is a volcanic and seismic hotspot southwest of Iceland’s capital Reykjavik. In March 2021, lava fountains erupted from a 500-750-metre-long (1,640-2,460-foot-long) fissure in the ground in the Fagradalsfjall volcanic system. After Monday’s eruption, the Keflavik International Airport remained open, albeit with numerous delays listed for arrivals and departures. Iceland is home to 33 active volcano systems, the highest number in Europe. It straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack in the ocean floor separating the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. Adblock test (Why?)
Austin says US support for Israel unshakeable as Gaza ceasefire calls grow
Lloyd Austin says US support ‘unshakeable’, urges Israel to do more to protect civilians and increase aid supplies. United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says Washington will continue to support Israel in its war with Hamas but urged its ally to do more to protect civilians in Gaza amid growing calls for a ceasefire. Speaking alongside Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv on Monday, Austin said US support for Israel was “unshakeable”, as the death toll from the Israeli assault on Gaza surpassed 19,000, according to Palestinian health authorities. Austin said he had discussed with Gallant how to reduce harm to civilians trapped in the battlefield. They also talked about a transition from major combat to a lower-intensity conflict. “In any campaign, there will be phases,” Austin said. “We will also continue to urge the protection of civilians during conflict and to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” Austin said. While the US provides Israel with weapons and diplomatic support, it has recently sharpened its tone towards Netanyahu’s government. Last week President Joe Biden said Israel risked losing international support because of what he called its “indiscriminate” bombing. Austin, however, offered reassurance on Monday, saying: “American support for Israel security is unshakable. Israel is not alone.” Gallant meanwhile said Israel would gradually transition to the next phase of its operations in Gaza and displaced people would likely be able to return first to the north of the enclave. Austin’s visit came amid growing concern from foreign governments and international organisations over civilian deaths in Gaza and a deepening humanitarian crisis. Earlier, the international human rights organisation Human Rights Watch said that Israel was “deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food and fuel,” to people in Gaza and “using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare”. The Israeli assault on Gaza began after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel and took about 240 others captive, according to Israeli authorities. Israel’s relentless bombardment and ground invasion has killed at least 19,453 people, most of them women and children, according to Palestinian health authorities, and levelled entire neighbourhoods and displaced more than 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has supported Israel’s campaign, said on Monday that “too many civilians” have been killed in the fighting, and expressed support for a “sustainable ceasefire”. While Austin has said that more aid must be delivered to the people of Gaza, the US has found itself increasingly isolated over its stance on the war between Israel and Hamas. Last week, the US cast one of the few dissenting votes against a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a ceasefire that passed with overwhelming support. The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold a ceasefire vote on Monday, after the US also vetoed a previous resolution. International leaders have also voiced concern over the possibility of a wider regional escalation as the war drags on. Austin said on Monday that the US was leading efforts to address a series of attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebel group that have disrupted commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Iran-backed group says the attacks are an effort to pressure Israel to halt its attacks on Gaza. “In the Red Sea, we’re leading a multinational maritime task force to uphold the bedrock principle of freedom of navigation,” Austin said. The Pentagon chief also warned against greater involvement by the powerful Iran-backed group Hezbollah, which has traded fire with Israel from southern Lebanon since the fighting began but has thus far avoided a larger confrontation. US officials have said that William Burns, the director of the CIA, the US intelligence agency, is meeting with his Israeli counterpart and the prime minister of Qatar to discuss a potential deal to secure the release of additional captives held by Hamas. A previous deal, which Qatar and Egypt helped to mediate, secured a seven-day truce and the release of dozens of captives in exchange for the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Adblock test (Why?)
Is the US complicit in the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza?
As Israel continues its assault on Gaza, there is growing concern over humanitarian conditions in the besieged enclave. Before the Israel-Hamas war, more than 500 aid trucks entered Gaza every day through the Karem Abu Salem crossing with Israel and the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Those deliveries halted when Israel imposed a complete blockade on October 7 after Hamas carried out attacks on southern Israel. Israel has temporarily reopened the route through Karem Abu Salem, called Kerem Shalom by Israel, to allow in more humanitarian aid. At least 24 trucks have been allowed through – but the deliveries are far short of fulfilling the needs of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. Should the United States, a staunch ally of Israel, be doing more to help the Palestinians? And how complicit is Washington in the humanitarian catastrophe that has unfolded? Presenter: Cyril Vanier Guests: Robert Hunter – senior fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University Khaled Elgindy – senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and its director of Palestine and Israel-Palestinian affairs Zeina Ashrawi Hutchison – director of development and expansion at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Adblock test (Why?)
Hamas video shows elderly Israeli captives pleading for release
The Qassam Brigades releases the one-minute video, titled Don’t Let Us Grow Old Here, on its Telegram account. Hamas has posted a video of three elderly Israeli captives pleading for their immediate release. The Palestinian group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, posted the one-minute video, titled Don’t Let Us Grow Old Here, on its Telegram account on Monday. The men – identified by Israeli officials as 79-year-old Chaim Peri, 80-year-old Yoram Metzger and 84-year-old Amiram Cooper – were taken to Gaza on October 7 when Hamas launched attacks inside Israeli territory, killing 1,147 people and taking about 240 captives. Nearly half of those captives were released as part of a weeklong truce between Israel and Hamas last month. In the video, Peri, seated between the two other captives, said in Hebrew that he was being held along with other elderly hostages with chronic illnesses and that their conditions were harsh. “We are the generation who built the foundation for the creation of Israel. We are the ones who started the IDF military. We don’t understand why we have been abandoned here,” he said, referring to the Israeli armed forces. “You have to release us from here. It does not matter at what cost. We don’t want to be casualties as a direct result of the IDF military air strikes. Release us with no conditions,” he added. The video concludes with the three men saying in unison: “Don’t let us grow old here.” Israeli media reported the three hostages came from the Nir Oz kibbutz along the Israeli border, which was targeted in the October 7 attacks. Peri was at his house in Nir Oz during the attack, Israeli media reports said. He tried to repel the gunmen while hiding his wife behind a sofa, his son told the Reuters news agency. He eventually gave himself up to save his wife, who remained hidden, the report said. Outrage over captives in Israel The Israeli military said Hamas had released a “criminal, terrorist video”. “Chaim, Yoram and Amiram, I hope that you hear me this evening,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing. “Know this – we are doing everything, everything, in order to return you back safely.” Israel has in the past labelled such videos as a form of psychological warfare by Hamas. After the release of the latest video, families of Israelis held captive by Hamas in Gaza protested outside Israeli Ministry of Defense headquarters in Tel Aviv, demanding the immediate release of their loved ones. The protest came amid growing outrage within Israel after the Israeli military last week admitted it mistakenly shot dead three Israeli captives in Gaza despite them waving a white flag. Al Jazeera correspondent Sara Khairat, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, said the video released by Hamas sends a “strong message”. “[The video] is going to do two things: help the people know that they are alive even though it’s still not clear when it was filmed, and it will also put a lot more pressure on the Israeli government, which is already in hot waters for the death of three captives last week and at a time when the demonstrations are continuing,” she said. Meanwhile, as diplomatic efforts continue to end the war in Gaza and release prisoners taken on both sides, the Israeli military has intensified its bombardment of the enclave, killing nearly 19,500 people since October 7 – most of them women and children. The air and ground strikes on Gaza have flattened the besieged enclave, burying thousands of people under the rubble. In absence of the required aid not being allowed to flow into the strip, international aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian disaster with widespread hunger and spread of diseases. Human Rights Watched has accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Adblock test (Why?)