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Israeli airstrikes kill 38 Palestinians in Gaza as truce negotiating team heads to Qatar

Israeli airstrikes kill 38 Palestinians in Gaza as truce negotiating team heads to Qatar

Independent2 days ago
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 38 Palestinians in Gaza, hospital officials said on Sunday, as Israel was sending a ceasefire negotiating team to Qatar ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's White House visit for talks toward a deal.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who will meet with Netanyahu on Monday, has floated a plan for an initial 60-day ceasefire that would include a partial release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for an increase in humanitarian supplies allowed into Gaza. The proposed truce calls for talks on ending the 21-month war altogether.
Separately, an Israeli official said the security Cabinet late Saturday approved sending aid into northern Gaza, where civilians suffer from acute food shortages. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the decision with the media, declined to give more details.
Northern Gaza has seen just a trickle of aid enter since Israel ended the latest ceasefire in March. The Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation 's closest aid distribution site is near the Netzarim corridor south of Gaza City that separates the territory's north and south.
In Yemen, a spokesperson for the Iran-backed Houthi rebels announced in a prerecorded message that the group had launched ballistic missiles targeting Israel's Ben Gurion airport overnight. Israel's military said they were intercepted.
Israel hits 130 targets across Gaza
Israeli strikes hit two houses in Gaza City, killing 20 Palestinians and wounding 25 others, according to Mohammed Abu Selmia, director of Shifa Hospital, which serves the area.
In southern Gaza, Israeli strikes killed 18 Palestinians in Muwasi, an area on the Mediterranean coast where thousands of displaced people live in tents, officials at Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Younis told The Associated Press. It said two families were among the dead.
'My brother, his wife, his four children, my cousin's son and his daughter. ... Eight people are gone,' said Saqer Abu Al-Kheir as people gathered on the sand for prayers and burials.
Israel's military had no immediate comment on the individual strikes but said it struck 130 targets across Gaza in the past 24 hours. It claimed its strikes targeted Hamas command and control structures, storage facilities, weapons and launchers, and that they killed a number of militants in northern Gaza.
Rift over ending the war
Ahead of the indirect talks with Hamas in Qatar, Netanyahu's office asserted that the militant group was seeking 'unacceptable' changes to the ceasefire proposal.
Hamas, which gave a 'positive' response late Friday to the latest U.S. proposal, has sought guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Previous negotiations have stalled over Hamas demands of guarantees that further negotiations would lead to the war's end, while Netanyahu has insisted Israel would resume fighting to ensure the group's destruction.
The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
The ministry, which is under Gaza's Hamas government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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Ghislaine Maxwell was not Jeffrey Epstein's sole enabler. So why is she the only one in prison?
Ghislaine Maxwell was not Jeffrey Epstein's sole enabler. So why is she the only one in prison?

The Guardian

time14 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

Ghislaine Maxwell was not Jeffrey Epstein's sole enabler. So why is she the only one in prison?

Great news, everyone! We can all stop thinking about Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged with the sex trafficking of minors in 2019 and found dead in his Manhattan jail cell shortly after, apparently of suicide. Great minds have looked into the case and discovered there is nothing more to uncover. So don't waste your time wondering which powerful people might have been part of Epstein's alleged trafficking operation. There's nothing to see here – nothing at all. Case officially closed. That, in essence, was the message from the Trump administration over the weekend. On Sunday, Axios reported on a memo from Trump's justice department and the FBI that concluded there is no evidence that Epstein was involved in blackmailing people, kept a 'client list' or was murdered. Most importantly, the memo said there is no 'evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties'. This is a big deal because Trump and his lackeys have spent a lot of time and energy dangling Epstein-related conspiracy bait in front of their base, constantly insinuating that they're on the verge of revealing the shocking truth about Epstein's network of elite predators. When asked about an Epstein client list (the one that the new memo says is nonexistent) during a February appearance on Fox News, the US attorney general Pam Bondi said: 'It's sitting on my desk right now to review.' Shortly after that interview there was a big to-do where Epstein-obsessed Maga influencers were invited to the White House and given binders titled the Epstein Files, full of information that Bondi promised 'will make you sick'. Shock horror, there was nothing new or notable in those binders and Maga had a meltdown. Now, a second Epstein-induced meltdown is in full swing. Elon Musk, who is back to publicly fighting with Trump, and has threatened to start a new political party, has been firing off jabs about the justice department's Epstein U-turn. On Monday, Musk, who previously accused Trump of being in the Epstein Files, retweeted a post by a woman called Sarah Fields that said: 'If the entire government is protecting paedophiles, it has officially become the government against the people.' Bit late figuring out the Trump administration doesn't work for 'the people' – but hey, welcome to the resistance, Elon! The conservative activist Robby Starbuck is also fuming. 'Pam Bondi said the Epstein client list was on her desk to review for release to the public just a few months ago,' Starbuck tweeted. 'Now the DOJ she leads claims that there's no Epstein client list. Sorry but this is unacceptable … We deserve answers.' It's always fun when the Maga crowd realise what the people they propelled into power are really like. But why are rightwing voices the loudest on this topic? Starbuck is right that the current situation is unacceptable: everyone should be demanding more answers about Epstein. Everyone should be outraged that there is only one person, Ghislaine Maxwell, who has actually faced justice in what was, by all accounts, a vast trafficking operation. Some people have paid in other ways – in 2023 Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $75m (£60m) to settle a lawsuit brought by a group of women who accused it of helping facilitate Epstein's operations – but Maxwell is the only person to have got prison time. There are, it should be said, a lot of ridiculous Epstein-related conspiracy theories circulating. Those obviously should not be indulged. But I'll tell you what is not a conspiracy: the fact that there are a lot of high-status people who are very interested in covering up their association with the disgraced financier. It is not a conspiracy to say the US has a two-tier justice system where rich and powerful people can do terrible things and face no consequences. Earlier this year, Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent Epstein victims, died of suicide. She was the third Epstein accuser who is reported to have died of suicide or a drug overdose. Epstein destroyed countless lives. And he didn't do it alone: he was enabled by 'respectable' people who actively facilitated his crimes. And, more broadly, he was enabled by people who looked the other way, who helped whitewash his reputation, who hobnobbed with him in high society. Those people are still out there, living their best lives. And it is looking increasingly likely they will never be held accountable. Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

New Israeli report says Hamas used sexual violence as a 'weapon of war' in Oct. 7 attack
New Israeli report says Hamas used sexual violence as a 'weapon of war' in Oct. 7 attack

NBC News

time21 minutes ago

  • NBC News

New Israeli report says Hamas used sexual violence as a 'weapon of war' in Oct. 7 attack

Newly released interviews and documentation further bolster evidence that Hamas systematically used sexual violence as a weapon of war during its Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack, according to a report by a group of Israeli gender and law experts unveiled Tuesday. The report, titled "A Quest for Justice," was published by the Dinah Project, a legal research initiative led by law professor and women's rights activist Ruth Halperin-Kaddari of Tel Aviv's Bar-Ilan University, Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas, a lawyer and the former chief military prosecutor at the Israel Defence Forces, and Nava Ben-Or, a former judge and deputy attorney general. Partly funded by the British government and Jewish non-profit organizations, the report contains previously unheard testimony from 15 returned hostages from Gaza, along with a rape survivor from the Nova music festival, one of at least six different locations where Hamas carried out its attacks. It also includes eyewitness testimony from at least 17 different incidents of sexual assault, as well as accounts from first responders, forensic evidence, and audio and visual documentation. The issue of sexual assault and rape during the Oct. 7 attacks is highly emotive and charged, with some in Israel accusing United Nations observers of betraying survivors by downplaying the issue. Meanwhile, some international observers, including a U.N. official appointed to investigate, say that while there is evidence of cases where rape and sexual assault took place, it does not point to those incidents having been systematic or directed by militant leaders. Hamas has denied its militants committed sexual crimes on Oct. 7, 2023. The report states that clear patterns emerged of sexual violence being perpetrated, including victims who were found 'partially or fully naked with their hands tied, often to structures like trees or poles; evidence of gang rapes followed by execution; genital mutilation; and public humiliation.' The details add to and corroborate past reporting on sexual violence that took place during the attacks. The sexual violence "continued in captivity, with many returnees reporting forced nudity, physical and verbal sexual harassment, sexual assaults and threats of forced marriage,' the report adds. The victims also include two returned male hostages who were released in January and February after being held captive for about 500 days, where they were subjected to "sexual humiliation, which included forced nudity and physical abuse when naked," according to the report. In light of the testimonies, the report aims to have the sexual violence acknowledged as crimes against humanity and to hold the perpetrators accountable. Notably, it calls on the U.N. to send a fact-finding mission and blacklist Hamas as a group. 'We hence call upon the U.N. Secretary-General to blacklist Hamas as an organization responsible for the tactical use of sexual violence as a weapon of war,' it states. Reem Alsalem, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said in a statement that she and fellow rapporteurs and experts emphasized that reports of such violence needed to be independently verified and investigated and perpetrators be held accountable. She added that the U.N. special commission appointed to investigate "found patterns indicative of sexual violence against Israeli women at different locations. The Commission was also unable to independently verify specific allegations of sexual and gender-based violence due to Israel's obstruction of its investigations." "It is my understanding that neither the Commission nor any other independent human rights mechanism established that sexual or gender-based violence was committed against Israelis on or since the 7th of October as a systematic tool of war or as a tool of genocide," Alsalem wrote in the statement. The Dinah Project report's findings follow previously published reports by the U.N. and the International Criminal Court on sexual violence and gang rape during the attack. In March 2024, a report compiled by Pramila Patten, the U.N. Special Representative on sexual violence in conflict, stated that it had found 'reasonable grounds' to believe some victims of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 were raped and sexually assaulted. There was 'clear and convincing' information that some of those taken captive were subjected to sexual violence, the U.N. team of experts said in their report, including rape and sexualized torture — violence it said 'may be ongoing.' In December 2023, NBC News published a separate report which reviewed evidence suggesting that dozens of Israeli women were raped, sexually abused or mutilated during the Oct. 7 attack, where more than 1,200 people were killed in Israel. Since then, Israel's ongoing military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 56,000 people and seriously injured thousands more, according to health officials in the enclave. It also comes after a U.N.-backed body, the Human Rights Council, released an extensive report in March this year which accused Israel of 'the systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence' in the Gaza Strip. The report by the found that the widespread destruction of Gaza, the use of heavy explosives in civilian areas, and Israeli attacks on hospitals and health facilities had led to 'disproportionate violence against women and children.'

US only has 25% of all Patriot missile interceptors needed for Pentagon's military plans
US only has 25% of all Patriot missile interceptors needed for Pentagon's military plans

The Guardian

time21 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

US only has 25% of all Patriot missile interceptors needed for Pentagon's military plans

The United States only has about 25% of the Patriot missile interceptors it needs for all of the Pentagon's military plans after burning through stockpiles in the Middle East in recent months, an alarming depletion that led to the Trump administration freezing the latest transfer of munitions to Ukraine. The stockpile of the Patriot missiles has fallen so low that it raised concern inside the Pentagon that it could jeopardize potential US military operations, and deputy defense secretary, Stephen Feinberg, authorized the transfer to be halted while they reviewed where weapons were being sent. Donald Trump appeared to reverse at least part of that decision on Monday when he told reporters in advance of a dinner at the White House with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would 'send some more weapons' to Ukraine, although he did not disclose whether that would include Patriot systems. Trump also told Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a phone call that he was not responsible for the halt in weapons shipments and that he had directed a review of US weapons stockpiles but didn't order the freeze, according to people briefed on the conversation. But the determination last month to halt the transfer, as described by four people directly familiar with the matter, was based in large part on the Pentagon's global munitions tracker, which is used to generate the minimum level of munitions required to carry out the US military's operations plans. According to the tracker, which is managed by the joint chiefs of staff and the Pentagon's defense security cooperation agency, the stockpiles of a number of critical munitions have been below that floor for several years since the Biden administration started sending military aid to Ukraine. The Trump administration started a review of the depleted level of Patriot missiles and other munitions around February, the people said. Deliberations accelerated after the US deployed more of the interceptors in the Middle East to support the Houthi campaign and to Israel. The situation also became more acute following Trump's move to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities last month, the people said, when the US fired close to 30 Patriot missiles to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles fired in performative retaliation at the Al Udeid base in Qatar. The recent depletion of Patriot missiles and other munitions formed part of the basis of a 'recommendation memo' by Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defense for policy, that outlined several options to conserve weapons and sent to Feinberg's office. Earlier reports said Colby, who has drawn criticism from Democrats for prioritizing shifting resources from the Ukraine conflict in preparation for a potential war with China, had paused the transfer but two of the people said the undersecretary's office lacks the power to make such a unilateral move. The decision was rather made by Feinberg, the former chief executive or Cerberus Capital Management to whom Colby reports, the people said. Defense secretary Pete Hegseth then signed off on Feinberg's determination. But the abrupt pause has come at a critical time for Ukraine, as Russia last week launched its largest aerial offensive to date and Ukraine has limited options to acquire both precision-guided and more basic weapons to hold off increasingly intense Russian attacks. Ukraine is also largely unable to directly buy weapons from defense contractors for its purposes, since a new order is estimated to take years to fulfill, and it would only be completed after the Pentagon had its own orders completed since the defense department is a higher priority customer. Trump's decision to reverse course and allow some defensive munitions to be sent to Ukraine appears to have come amid growing frustration with Russian president Vladimir Putin, who he criticized on Monday for not helping end the war. Spokespeople for the White House and the Pentagon confirmed some transfers would resume at Trump's direction but did not specify whether the weapons being sent to Ukraine would involve munitions at critically low levels. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion 'As Operation Midnight Hammer proved, the American military is stronger than it's ever been. President Trump wants to stop the killing and has pledged to provide Ukraine with additional defensive munitions,' said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly. While Trump has publicly complained about Ukraine aid in financial terms, Feinberg was briefed that the larger problem has been with the ability for the US to manufacture the weapons to quickly backfill the depleted stockpiles, two of the people said. The US has been transferring weapons to Ukraine using two principal channels: through a drawdown of defense department stockpiles, and through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), where the defense department pays contractors to manufacture weapons to go to Ukraine. Both transfer mechanisms was set to have been affected by the freeze, the people said, since the Pentagon is prioritizing replenishing its stockpiles using the same defense contractors being relied upon to build weapons for Ukraine through the USAI program. For the latest weapons shipment to Ukraine, the US had earmarked dozens of Patriot missiles among other munitions including air-to-air Sparrow missiles, Hellfire missiles, GMLRS rocket artillery and anti-tank guns. The principal concern appears to revolve around the Patriot missiles, which the US produces 600 per year but Iran alone has more than 1,000 ballistic missiles remaining it could theoretically use against US bases in the region if the ceasefire with Israel were to break down. The US has also transferred around 2,000 Stinger missiles to Ukraine, which officials estimated to be equivalent to two-and-a-half years of production, and is increasingly used by the US military for its own defense purposes against hostile drones, the people said.

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