Smoke billows after a hit from a rocket fired from southern Lebanon over the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel on July 4, 2024. Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it launched more than 200 rockets and explosive drones at Israeli military positions on July 4 as tensions have soared amid the almost nine-months-old war raging in Gaza.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The Lebanese Hezbollah group said it launched over 200 rockets on July 4 at several military bases in Israel in retaliation for a strike that killed one of its senior commanders.

The attack by the Iran-backed militant group was one of the largest in the monthslong conflict along the Lebanon-Israel border, with tensions escalating in recent weeks.

The Israeli military said “numerous projectiles and suspicious aerial targets” had entered its territory from Lebanon, many of which it said were intercepted. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

It said about 200 “projectiles” were launched toward the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and over 20 drones into Israeli territory, but that it had intercepted some of them.

Israel after Hezbollah’s attack struck various towns in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah’s “military structures” in the southern border towns of Ramyeh and Houla. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported an Israeli drone strike of Houla killed at least one person. Israeli jets also broke the sound barrier over the Lebanese capital and other areas in the country.

Israel on July 3 acknowledged that it had killed Mohammad Naameh Nasser, who headed one of Hezbollah’s three regional divisions in southern Lebanon, a day earlier.

Hours after the killing, Hezbollah launched scores of Katyusha rockets and Falaq rockets with heavy warheads into northern Israel and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. It launched more rockets on July 4 and said it had also sent exploding drones into several bases.

Nasser was of great importance to Hezbollah, which said he took part in battles in conflicts in Syria and Iraq from 2011 until 2016 and fought in the group’s last war with Israel in 2006. Two other senior Hezbollah commanders have also been killed.

The U.S. and France are continuing to scramble to prevent the skirmishes from spiraling into an all-out war, which they fear could spillover across the region. Washington in its shuttle diplomatic efforts initially hoped for calm along the Lebanon-Israel border in a deal that is not linked to the war in Gaza. However, since the U.S. has called for Hamas to agree to a cease-fire proposal presented by President Joe Biden, it has said that an end to the war in Gaza would lead to calm in Lebanon and northern Israel as well.

The relatively low-level conflict erupted shortly after the outbreak of the war in Gaza. Hezbollah says it is striking Israel in solidarity with Hamas, another Iran-allied group that ignited the war in Gaza with its Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel. The group’s leadership says it will stop its attacks once there is a cease-fire in Gaza, and that while it does not want war, it is ready for one.

Israeli officials, meanwhile, say they could decide to go to war in Lebanon if efforts for a diplomatic solution fail.

Hezbollah’s retaliation comes a day after a senior adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, Amos Hochstein, met with French President Emmanuel Macron’s Lebanon envoy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, in Paris.

The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border. In northern Israel, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed. In Lebanon, more than 450 people — mostly fighters but also dozens of civilians — have been killed.

Israel sees Hezbollah as its most direct threat and estimates that it has an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles.

In 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war that ended in a draw.

Israeli forces bombed and battled Hamas in Gaza City on Wednesday as tens of thousands of Palestinians scrambled for a safe haven after the army issued an evacuation order for a vast swathe of the territory’s south.

Apache helicopters and Israeli quadcopter drones flew above Gaza City’s Shujaiya district as heavy gunfire echoed through the streets, AFP reporters said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a US media report saying his generals were urging a Gaza truce even with Hamas undefeated, stressing on Tuesday that “this will not happen”.

Military chief Herzi Halevi meanwhile said Israel is engaged in “a long campaign” to destroy Hamas over the October 7 attack and to bring home the hostages held by Palestinian militants.

The United Nations warned that the almost nine-month-old war had “unleashed a maelstrom of human misery” and that the latest evacuation order had plunged yet more Palestinians into “an abyss of suffering”.

Ten days after Netanyahu said the war’s “intense phase” was winding down, the Israeli military again rained down air strikes and artillery fire on militants in the Shujaiya district.

The air force struck “over 50 terror infrastructure sites” across Gaza in 24 hours while ground troops “eliminated terrorists”, located tunnels and found weapons including AK-47 assault rifles, the military said.

Thousands have fled the fighting in Shujaiya, among them Umm Bashar al-Jamal, 42, who was now sheltering in Gaza City’s Yarmouk sports stadium.

“We were displaced five days ago,” she said. “We fled from Shujaiya. We woke up to the sound of tanks. The houses were bulldozed. All our homes!”

The Israeli army — which issued an evacuation order for Shujaiya a week ago — on Monday did the same for a larger area near Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south, raising fears of renewed heavy battles there.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have again taken to the road, many bundling their scant belongings on top of cars or donkey carts as they sought safety elsewhere in the bombed-out wasteland.

– ‘Lives upended’ –

The UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said 250,000 people had been affected by the latest evacuation order that covers southern areas bordering Israel and Egypt.

Almost all patients in the European Gaza Hospital and the Red Cross field hospital decided to flee following the evacuation order, the World Health Organization said.

Though the European Gaza Hospital itself is not under evacuation instructions, the order has impacted operations.

“Now only three patients remain at the European Gaza Hospital and three at the ICRC field hospital,” the WHO said, citing figures from Tuesday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the southern evacuation order covers 117 square kilometres (45 square miles), “making it the largest such order since October”.

The UN humanitarian coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the war had now displaced 80 percent of Gaza’s population.

She also said not enough aid was reaching the besieged territory and that crossings must be reopened, particularly to southern Gaza, to avert a humanitarian disaster.

“Palestinian civilians in Gaza have been plunged into an abyss of suffering, their home lives shattered, their lives upended,” she said. “The war has not merely created the most profound of humanitarian crises. It has unleashed a maelstrom of human misery.”

Amid the war, siege and mass displacement, more than 150,000 people have contracted skin diseases in the squalid conditions, the World Health Organization said.

Wafaa Elwan, a Palestinian mother of seven who now lives in a tent city, said: “We sleep on the ground, on sand where worms come out underneath us.”

She said her five-year-old son, much of whose body was covered in rashes and welts, “can’t sleep through the night because he can’t stop scratching his body”.

– ‘Winds of defeatism’ –

The bloodiest ever Gaza war broke out after Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza including 42 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,953 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

The Israeli military said Wednesday that “operational activities continue throughout the Gaza Strip”.

The Gaza civil defence agency said seven people were killed when a strike hit a family house north of Gaza City.

Another strike killed three people in a car at Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Deir al-Balah area, an AFP reporter said.

The New York Times has quoted Israeli security officials as saying top generals see a truce as the best way to secure the release of the remaining hostages, even if that meant not achieving all of the war goals.

Netanyahu strongly rejected this and vowed Israel would not give in to the “winds of defeatism”.

“The war will end once Israel achieves all of its objectives, including the destruction of Hamas and the release of all of our hostages,” he said.

The United Nations says about one million people have been displaced from Rafah since early May, when Israel began ground operations in pursuit of Hamas militants. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Israel bombed and shelled Gaza on Saturday, witnesses and first responders said, with fallout from the war bringing a resurgence of tensions to the Lebanon border and Yemen.

In the ninth month of war between Palestinian Hamas militants and Israeli forces, the Civil Defence agency in Gaza City reported 10 bodies recovered from Israeli strikes on three separate homes.

In Rafah witnesses reported clashes between militants and Israeli troops in the city’s west, and artillery fire towards a refugee camp in the city centre.

Fears of a broader West Asia conflict have surged again, with Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighters, who are backed by Iran and allied with Hamas, launching waves of rockets and drones against Israeli military targets.

Hezbollah said intense strikes since Wednesday were retaliation for Israel’s killing of one of its commanders.

Israeli forces responded with shelling, the military said, also announcing air strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure across the border.

The fallout from the Gaza war also escalated this week off Yemen.

On Friday the U.S. military said it destroyed two unmanned surface vessels in the Red Sea belonging to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, as well as one drone and seven radars that allowed the rebels to target ships.

In Rafah’s west, militants and Israeli troops clashed while artillery fire struck a refugee camp

This handout satellite image courtesy of Maxar Technologies shows a view of the displacement camp in the Tal al-Sultan area of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, near a UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) facility, on May 29, 2024. A strike on Tal Al-Sultan late on May 26 that Israel said targeted Hamas militants killed 45 people, according to Palestinian officials.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The loss of Palestinian lives in the recent Israeli bombing of Rafah is “heartbreaking”, India said on Thursday.

Nearly 45 Palestinians, including children, were killed when Israeli bombs hit tents housing displaced persons in Rafah on May 26. The Indian stand on the carnage was shared by the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, during the weekly press briefing.

He also highlighted that India had recognised the Palestinian state way back in the late 1980s.

“The heartbreaking loss of civilian lives in the displacement camp in Rafah is a matter of deep concern. We have consistently called for protection of civilian population and respect for international humanitarian law in the ongoing conflict. We also note that the Israeli side has already accepted responsibility for it as a tragic accident and announced an investigation into the incident,” said Mr. Jaiswal.

Two-state solution

The bombing of the tents that housed displaced Gazans heightened the global outrage against the ongoing Israeli campaign in the Gaza Strip that has so far killed more than 36,000 people. This incident coincided with Spain, Ireland and Norway granting recognition to the Palestinian state. In response to a question, Mr. Jaiswal reiterated India’s support for a “two-state solution” to the Israel-Palestinian crisis.

“We have long supported a two-state solution, which entails the establishment of a sovereign, viable, and independent state of Palestine within recognised and mutually agreed borders, living side by side with Israel in peace,” said Mr. Jaiswal when asked about the move by Ireland, Norway and Spain.

‘Objective view’ in Pakistan

The official spokesperson also took note of the remarks by former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that Islamabad had violated the 1999 Lahore pact signed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Mr. Sharif on February 21, 1999, However, months later, the Kargil war broke out.

“You are aware of our position on the issue. I need not have to reiterate that. We note that there is an objective view emerging in Pakistan as well on this matter,” Mr. Jaiswal said to a question during the interaction.

Earlier acknowledging that Pakistani missteps in 1999 that hurt the prospects of peace between India and Pakistan, Mr. Sharif said on Wednesday, “On May 28, 1998, Pakistan carried out five nuclear tests. After that Vajpayee saheb came here and we made an agreement. But we violated that agreement….it was our fault,” Mr. Sharif said, after he became the president of the PML-N for six years.  

After taking charge, the former PM, who also participated in the “mini SAARC summit” of May 2014 in Delhi, presented his version of the events that took place in Pakistan over the past three decades. He said the U.S. government under President Bill Clinton tried to stop Pakistan from going nuclear and offered $5 billion for ensuring that, but he had rejected the offer and went ahead with nuclear tests at Chagai range in Balochistan on May 28, 1998, after the Pokhran nuclear blasts by India on May 11, 1998.

India-Pakistan ties have been frozen in animosity since 2016 after India blamed Pakistan-based terror outfits for attacking military installations in Pathankot and Uri, following which India carried out a “surgical strike” along the Line of Control.

Former US President Donald Trump recently slammed the anti-Israel protests erupting across college campuses as a “radical revolution” and vowed to deport foreign student protesters if he wins the upcoming presidential election. According to the Washington Post, Mr Trump, while speaking at a donor event in New York, called the demonstrators part of a “radical revolution” and promised to crush pro-Palestinian protests on US college campuses. He also praised the New York Police Department for clearing the campuses at Columbia University and said other cities needed to follow suit, saying “It (anti-Israel protests) has to be stopped now”. 

“One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave,” Donald Trump said on May 14, the outlet reported citing donors at the event. 

“If you get me elected, and you should really be doing this, if you get me reelected, we’re going to set that movement back 25 or 30 years,” he added. 

Washington Post cited donors who were present at the event. Speaking behind closed doors, the former president also said that he supports Israel’s right to continue “its war on terror” and boasted of his White House policies toward Israel. 

Meanwhile, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt blamed US President Joe Biden for empowering the protesters. “Joe Biden has sided with radical leftist Democrats like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Talib and empowered antisemitic protestors destroying our college campuses and threatening to undermine our democracy,” Ms Leavitt said.

“President Trump will side with Jewish Americans and American citizens, period, and he will not tolerate terrorist sympathizers on our college campuses,” she added. 

Also Read | Millions Share ‘All Eyes On Rafah’ On Instagram: What The Image Means

Previously, Mr Trump had publicly vowed to clamp down on anti-Israel protesters. Weeks after the October 7 Hamas attack, Mr Trump pledged to deport the “Resident aliens” who joined “pro-jihadists protest”. “If you hate America, if you want to abolish Israel, if you sympathize with jihadists, then we don’t want you in our country, and you’re not going to be getting into our country,” Mr Trump said, as per New York Post. 

“I will cancel the student visas of Hamas sympathizers on college campuses and all resident aliens who join in pro-Jihadists protests,” he went on. “Come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” he said. 

In the recent meeting, Mr Trump again supported Israel’s right to continue its attack on Gaza. “But I’m one of the only people that says that now. And a lot of people don’t even know what October 7th is,” he said. 

Displaced Palestinians inspect their tents destroyed by Israel’s bombardment, adjunct to an UNRWA facility west of Rafah city, Gaza Strip, on May 28, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Israeli strikes on Rafah have killed at least 16 Palestinians, first responders said May 28, as residents reported an escalation of fighting in the southern Gaza city.

An Israeli incursion launched in early May has caused nearly 1 million to flee from Rafah, most of whom have already been displaced in the war between Israel and Hamas, and who are now seeking refuge in squalid tent camps and war-ravaged areas.

The United States and other close allies of Israel have warned against a full-fledged offensive in the city, with the Biden administration saying it would cross a red line and refusing to provide offensive arms for such an undertaking. On May 24, the International Court of Justice called on Israel to halt its Rafah offensive, an order it has no power to enforce.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead, saying Israeli forces must go into Rafah in order to dismantle Hamas and return hostages taken in the October 7 attack that triggered the war.

The latest strikes occurred in the same area where Israel targeted what it said was a Hamas compound on May 26 night. That strike ignited a fire in a camp for displaced Palestinians and killed at least 45 people, according to local health officials, sparking worldwide outrage.

Mr. Netanyahu said there was a “tragic mishap” on May 26 and the military said it was investigating.

Strikes overnight killed a total of 16 people in the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood in northwest Rafah, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Israel says it is carrying out limited operations in eastern Rafah along the Gaza-Egypt border. But residents reported heavy bombardment overnight in western parts of Rafah as well.

“It was a night of horror,” said Abdel-Rahman Abu Ismail, a Palestinian from Gaza City who has been sheltering in Tel al-Sultan since December. He said he heard “constant sounds” of explosions overnight and into May 28 morning, with fighter jets and drones flying over the area.

He said it reminded him of the Israeli invasion of of his neighbourhood of Shijaiyah in Gaza City, where Israel launched a heavy bombing campaign before sending in ground forces in late 2023. “We saw this before,” he said.

Sayed al-Masri, a Rafah resident, said many families have been forced to flee their homes and shelters, with most heading for the crowded Mawasi area, where giant tent camps have been set up on a barren coastline, or to Khan Younis, a southern city that suffered heavy damage during months of fighting.

“The situation is worsening” in Rafah, al-Masri said.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said two medical facilities in Tel al-Sultan have been taken out of service because of intense bombing nearby. Medical Aid for Palestinians, a charity operating throughout the territory, said the Tel al-Sultan medical centre and the Indonesian Field Hospital were under lockdown, with medics, patients and displaced people trapped inside.

Most of Gaza’s hospitals are no longer functioning. The Kuwait Hospital in Rafah shut down on May 27 after a strike near its entrance killed two health workers.

The war began when Hamas and other militants burst into southern Israel in a surprise attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 civilians and abducting around 250. More than 100 were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Israel responded to the October 7 attack with a massive air, land and sea offensive that has killed over 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count. Around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced and United Nations officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.

Children light candles during a march against Israel and in solidarity with Palestinians in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, on the Mediterranean Sea corniche in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, May 27, 2024. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Monday that a “tragic mistake” had been made after an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah set fire to a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians and killed at least 45 people, according to local officials.
| Photo Credit: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Monday that a “tragic mistake” had been made after an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah set fire to a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians and killed at least 45 people, according to local officials.

Israel has faced surging international criticism over its war with Hamas, with even some of its closest allies, particularly the United States, expressing outrage at civilian deaths.

Israel insists it adheres to international law even as it faces scrutiny in the world’s top courts, one of which last week demanded that it halt the offensive in Rafah.

Israel’s military had earlier said that it launched an investigation into civilian deaths after it struck a Hamas installation and killed two senior militants.

Sunday night’s attack, which appeared to be one of the war’s deadliest, helped push the overall Palestinian death toll in the war above 36,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants in its tally.

“Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night, there was a tragic mistake,” Mr. Netanyahu said Monday in an address to Israel’s parliament.

“We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy,” he said.

Mohammed Abuassa, who rushed to the scene in the northwestern neighbourhood of Tel al-Sultan, said rescuers “pulled out people who were in an unbearable state.” “We pulled out children who were in pieces. We pulled out young and elderly people. The fire in the camp was unreal,” he said.

At least 45 people were killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and the Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service. The ministry said the dead included at least 12 women, eight children and three older adults, with another three bodies burned beyond recognition.

In a separate development, Egypt’s military said one of its soldiers was shot dead during an exchange of fire in the Rafah area, without providing further details.

Israel said it was in contact with Egyptian authorities, and both sides said they were investigating.

Rafah, the southernmost Gaza city on the border with Egypt, had housed more than a million people — about half of Gaza’s population — displaced from other parts of the territory.

Most have fled once again since Israel launched what it called a limited incursion there earlier this month. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps in and around the city.

Mr. Netanyahu says Israel must destroy what he calls Hamas’ last remaining battalions in Rafah. The militant group launched a barrage of rockets Sunday from the city toward heavily populated central Israel, setting off air raid sirens but causing no injuries.

The strike on Rafah brought a new wave of condemnation, even from some of Israel’s close allies.

“These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire,” French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X. Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, in a TV interview, said such bombings are “spreading hatred, rooting hatred that will involve their children and grandchildren.” Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas in attempts to secure a cease-fire and the release of hostages held by Hamas, said the Rafah strike could “complicate” talks.

Negotiations, which appear to be restarting, have faltered repeatedly over Hamas’ demand for a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, terms Israeli leaders have publicly rejected.

Neighbouring Egypt and Jordan, which made peace with Israel decades ago, also condemned the Rafah strike. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry called it a “new and blatant violation of the rules of humanitarian international law.” Jordan’s Foreign Ministry called it a “war crime.” The Israeli military’s top legal official said authorities were examining the strikes and that the military regrets the loss of civilian life. Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi said such incidents occur “in a war of such scope and intensity.”

Speaking to an Israeli lawyers’ conference, Tomer-Yerushalmi said Israel has launched 70 criminal investigations into incidents that aroused suspicions of international law violations, including the deaths of civilians, the conditions at a detention facility holding suspected Palestinian militants and the deaths of some inmates in Israeli custody. She said incidents of “violence, property crimes and looting” were also being examined.

Israel has long maintained it has an independent judiciary capable of investigating and prosecuting abuses. But rights groups say Israeli authorities routinely fail to fully investigate violence against Palestinians and that even when soldiers are held accountable, the punishment is usually light.

Israel has denied allegations of genocide brought against it by South Africa at the International Court of Justice. Last week, the court ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah, a ruling that it has no power to enforce.

Separately, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants against Mr. Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders, over alleged crimes linked to the war.

Israel says it does its best to adhere to the laws of war and says it faces an enemy that makes no such commitment, embeds itself in civilian areas and refuses to release Israeli hostages unconditionally.

Hamas triggered the war with its October 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized some 250 hostages. Hamas still holds about 100 hostages and the remains of around 30 others after most of the rest were released during a cease-fire last year.

Around 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, severe hunger is widespread and UN officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.

The story so far: Even as Israel continues to attack Southern Gaza’s Rafah, three European nations — Norway, Spain and Ireland — announced their formal recognition of Palestine as a state on May 22. The recognition is expected to take place on May 28. All three countries have urged Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire and allow aid to flow uninterrupted to Gaza.

Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris likened Palestine’s struggle for statehood to Ireland’s fight for Independence from British rule, saying “Today, we use the same language to support the recognition of Palestine as a state” at a Dublin press conference. Ireland also recognised Israel’s right to “exist securely and at peace” with its neighbours, advising against Tel Aviv’s incursion into Rafah and rocket attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah.

Norewegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said there was only one solution for Israelis and Palestinians alike: two states, living side by side, in peace and security. Similarly, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez noted that recognising Palestine was a step in favour of “peace, justice and moral consistency” and not against Israelis.

With the addition of these three nations, 146 of 193 nations in the world now recognise Palestine as a state. In the wake of Israel’s war on Gaza this year, Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados have recognised Palestine as a state. Countries which have not recognised Palestine’s statehood include the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, Italy, United Kingdom and Japan.

Here’s a look at Palestine’s quest for statehood, the countries which recognise it and India’s stance on the two-state question.

Palestine’s statehood journey

1922- 1948: British Mandate and Jewish migration to Palestine

In 1922, the British established a ‘mandate’ expressing support for a national home for Jewish people in Palestine, leading to large-scale migration of Jews from Eastern Europe towards Palestine. The numbers swelled in 1930s and 1940s during the Nazi regime and the World War; the immigrant inflow was opposed by the Arabs who demanded independence for Palestine. Amid continued violence, calls for partition and independence, the British who were ruling the area, roped in the United Nations (UN) to resolve the issue.

1948-1987: Israel-Palestine partition, wars and ceasefire

The UN scrapped the mandate, partitioning Palestine into two independent states – one Arab and one Jewish, with Jerusalem as a separate international entity. In 1948, the Jewish state proclaimed its independence, calling itself Israel and capturing almost 77% of the territory mandated as Palestine by the British, including major areas of Jerusalem after two wars (Palestine war and Arab-Israeli war) with several neighbouring Arab nations. The remaining areas were controlled by Jordan and Egypt and run as an Arab state. Shortly thereafter, large-scale expulsion of Palestinians from Israel-controlled areas occurred, heightening tensions in the area.

Two consecutive wars occurred in 1967 and 1973 between Israel and the Arab coalition (Syria, Egypt and Jordan). In the 1967 war, Israel captured East Jerusalem and West Bank from Jordan, Gaza and Sinai from Egypt and Golan Heights from Syria. It later annexed Golan and East Jerusalem, but retuned Sinai to Egypt in the Camp David Agreement, which followed the 1973 war.

In the 1974 UN General Assembly, the body reaffirmed the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, national independence, sovereignty, and return. It also awarded the political coalition Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) the status of observer in the UN Assembly. However, tensions continued as militant wings of the PLO indulged in attacks against Israeli civilians and terror attacks on Israeli territories, leading to Israeli offensive against Palestinians in 1980s.

1988-2000: Palestine declares Independence

A breakthrough was achieved when PLO chairman Yasser Arafat acknowledged Israel’s right to exist and accepted a two-state solution to the decades-long conflict. On November 15, 1988, PLO adopted the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in its National Council meeting in Algiers, electing Mr. Arafat as the first President of Palestine. Under his leadership, the PLO engaged in several negotiations with the Israeli government — the 1991 Madrid Conference, 1993 Oslo Accords and the 2000 Camp David Summit. These talks led to partial withdrawal of Israeli forces, recognition of PLO as Palestine’s representative in bilateral talks, release of prisoners and establishment of a Palestine administration for self-rule in Gaza and West Bank. But the actual promise of the Oslo Accords, the creation of an independent, sovereign Palestine state, never materialised.

2001-Present: Rise of Hamas, Palestine’s UN membership bid

In 2007, the militant group Hamas snatched control of Gaza, after its elected government was dissolved by the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel imposed an illegal blockade on Gaza in response, and Israel and Hamas have fought several wars ever since.

Tel Aviv also began expanding settlements in the West Bank while it withdrew all settlements from the Gaza Strip. As negotiations between Israel and Palestine broke down in 2010, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas applied to the UN for Palestine’s membership to the international body in 2011. Since then, the international body is yet to grant Palestine full membership. Recently, the UN Assembly adopted a resolution qualifying Palestine’s application with 143 votes favouring it, nine against and twenty-five abstaining from voting— the closest Palestine has gotten to membership.

 Which countries recognise Palestine and when?

1988-89: Recognition on declaration of Independence

When Palestine first declared Independence, several Muslim nations, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Oman, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, and Qatar recognised Palestine. Similarly, Asian nations like India, Laos, Indonesia, China, Russia, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and North Korea recognised Palestine along with African nations like Algeria, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, Libya, Chad, Sudan, Madagascar, Mozambique, Botswana, and Namibia.

Several Eastern European nations like Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia too recognised Palestine once it declared its independence. However, the West was more hesitant.

Most of these nations have cited the Palestinian people’s right to a state and PLO’s legitimate representation of the Palestinian people as the reasons they have recognised Palestine as a state. Several believe that the two-state solution is the only viable option for long-term peace in the region, and hence view Palestine’s recognition as a state as imperative.

1990s-2010: Other African nations recognise Palestine

With the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, other African nations like Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Malawi recognised Palestine as a state. Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Philippines, too recognised Palestine as a state.

The 90s and early 2000s (prior to Hamas’s election victory in the Palestinian territories) was the most stable period in Israel-Palestine negotiations, though Israel’s occupation and settlements continued. Mr. Arafat himself enjoyed cordial relations with many African leaders; several African leaders have drawn parallels to the plight of enslaved or colonised Africans to that of Palestinians living under Israeli rule, making the state’s recognition a natural step. While almost all African nations recognise Palestine, condemnation of Israel’s attack on Gaza has not been uniform in the continent, indicating Israel’s growing influence in Africa.

2011-Present: Latin America’s ‘pink tide’ pushes the Palestinian cause

With Palestine applying for membership in the United Nations, many South American nations began recognising Palestine as a state. Several reports attribute this wave of recognition to the ‘pink tide’ — the rise of Left governments in elections. In 2010-11, Latin American nations like Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador, Uruguay and Paraguay recognised Palestine.

In the late 2010s, when Left governments were elected in Mexico, Columbia, Honduras, and Bolivia, a second wave of recognitions for Palestine flowed — with Mexico being the latest to recognise it in 2023.

The rise of Left politics in Latin America has escalated anti-US sentiments in some of these nations. After Tel Aviv waged war on Gaza, the heads of Latin American states have been most vocal in their condemnation. Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, and Argentina censured Israel’s actions, with some even severing diplomatic relations with Israel.

According to international relations expert Mauricio Jaramillo, Latin America, which has usually maintained close relations with Israel, is sympathetic to the Palestine cause due to its own experience in the Cold War. Several military dictatorships backed by the US were propped up in Latin America during the Cold War, suppressing Leftist politics.

In Western Europe, Sweden (2014) and Iceland (2011) remain the only nations which have formally recognised Palestine as a state. Some western nations have hitherto held fast to the stance that Palestinian statehood was the prize for a final peace agreement in the region. However, UK Foreign minister David Cameron has indicated that the recognition of Palestinian statehood by European nations could come earlier, to help drive momentum towards a political settlement. Even France voted for Palestine’s membership to the UN in the general assembly on May 10.

However, the biggest hurdle towards recognition remains the US, which vetoed Palestine’s bid for full UN membership in April. It has privately discussed the issue with European allies but seeks clarity as to what the recognition of Palestine would mean in terms of policy, a report in the BBC suggested.

 What is India’s stance on Palestine?

In 1947, India opposed the partition of historical Palestine at the UN. It also remained a strong supporter of the Palestine cause. It became the first non-Arab nation to recognize the PLO as a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. On its declaration of Independence, India recognised Palestine as a nation and opened its Representative office to the Palestine Authority in Gaza in 1996, later shifted to Ramallah in 2003.

India has always voted in favour of UN membership for Palestine, backing the state’s latest bid in a draft U.N. General Assembly resolution. In a first for an Indian state head, President Pranab Mukherjee visited Palestine in October 2015, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi followed in February 2018. Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas has visited India in 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2017.

In the Israel-Palestine dispute, India has always supported “a negotiated two-state solution towards establishing a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine within secure and recognised borders, living side by side in peace with Israel.” In the wake of the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, India condemned the attack and called for de-escalation and peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy. Seeking the release of prisoners on both sides, India has called for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ between Hamas and Israel as the death toll rose to alarmingly high levels.

Rocket sirens sounded across central Israel, including in Tel Aviv, for the first time in months on May 26, as Hamas claimed to have fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza.

The militants have continued to fire projectiles at communities around Gaza more than seven months into the war but have not fired longer-range rockets in months. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the latest barrage.

Earlier on Sunday, aid trucks entered Gaza from southern Israel through a new agreement to bypass the Rafah crossing with Egypt after Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side of it earlier this month. But was unclear if humanitarian groups would be able to access the aid because of ongoing fighting in the area.

Egypt refuses to reopen its side of the Rafah crossing until control of the Gaza side is handed back to Palestinians. It agreed to temporarily divert traffic through Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing, Gaza’s main cargo terminal, after a call between US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

But that crossing has been largely inaccessible because of fighting linked to Israel’s offensive in the nearby city of Rafah. Israel says it has allowed hundreds of trucks to enter, but United Nations agencies say it is usually too dangerous to retrieve the aid on the other side.

The war between Israel and Hamas, now in its eighth month, has killed nearly 36,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. Around 80% of the population’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, severe hunger is widespread and UN officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.

Hamas triggered the war with its Oct 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized some 250 hostages. Hamas is still holding some 100 hostages and the remains of around 30 others after most of the rest were released during a cease-fire last year.

Hamas claimed to have captured an Israeli soldier during fighting in northern Gaza and released video late Saturday showing a wounded man being dragged through a tunnel. The Israeli military denied any of its soldiers had been captured, and Hamas did not provide any other evidence to substantiate its claim.

In a separate development, the Israeli military said it had detained a suspect over a widely circulated video in which a man dressed as an Israeli soldier threatens mutiny. In the video, the man said tens of thousands of soldiers were ready to disobey Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over his suggestion that Palestinians should govern Gaza after the war and pledged loyalty to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alone.

It was not clear if the man was on active duty, or when or where the video was made. Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son, had shared the video on social media, sparking criticism from political opponents. The prime minister’s office released a brief statement condemning all forms of military subordination.

Southern Gaza is largely cut off from aid

Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera TV aired footage of what it said were trucks entering Gaza through Kerem Shalom. Khaled Zayed, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in the Sinai Peninsula, which handles the delivery of aid from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, told The Associated Press that 200 aid trucks and four fuel trucks are scheduled to be sent to Kerem Shalom on Sunday.

It was not immediately clear if the UN was able to retrieve the aid from the Gaza side.

Southern Gaza has been largely cut off from aid since Israel launched what it says is a limited incursion into Rafah on May 6. Since then, over 1 million Palestinians have fled the city, with most having already been displaced from other parts of the besieged territory.

Northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli troops for months and where the UN’s World Food Programme says famine is already underway, is still receiving aid through two land routes that Israel opened in the face of worldwide outrage after Israeli strikes killed seven aid workers in April.

A few dozen trucks have also been entering Gaza daily through a US-built floating pier, but its capacity remains far below the 150 trucks a day that officials had hoped for. Aid groups say the territory needs a total of 600 trucks a day to meet colossal humanitarian needs.

Netanyahu resists pressure to end war

Mr. Netanyahu has said Israel must take over Rafah in order to eliminate Hamas’ last remaining battalions and achieve its goal of “total victory” over the militants, who have recently regrouped in other parts of Gaza where the military had already operated.

Mr. Netanyahu faces growing pressure from the Israeli public to make a deal with Hamas to free the remaining hostages, something Hamas has refused to do without guarantees for an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops. Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have ruled that out.

Scuffles broke out between Israeli police and protesters in Tel Aviv on Saturday after thousands gathered to demonstrate against the government and demand the return of the hostages. The protesters called for Netanyahu’s resignation and demanded new elections.

International pressure is also growing, as the war leaves Israel increasingly isolated on the world stage.

Last week, three European countries announced they would recognize a Palestinian state, and the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders.

On Friday, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to end its military offensive in Rafah. The top United Nations court also said Israel must give war crimes investigators access to Gaza.

Israel is unlikely to comply with the orders, and has sharply condemned the ICC’s move toward arrest warrants for its leaders. Israel says it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in dense, residential areas.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday that the bodies of 81 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to local hospitals over the past 24 hours. That brings the overall Palestinian death toll from the war to at least 35,984. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its count.

The Israeli government has said that 14,000 militants and 16,000 civilians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, without providing evidence.

Palestinians are waiting for aid trucks to cross in central Gaza Strip on Sunday, May 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Aid trucks entered Gaza from southern Israel on Sunday through a new agreement to bypass the Rafah crossing with Egypt after Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side of it earlier this month. But was unclear if humanitarian groups would be able to access the aid because of ongoing fighting in the area.

Egypt refuses to reopen its side of the Rafah crossing until control of the Gaza side is handed back to Palestinians. It agreed to temporarily divert traffic through Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing, Gaza’s main cargo terminal, after a call between US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

But that crossing has been largely inaccessible because of fighting linked to Israel’s offensive in the nearby city of Rafah. Israel says it has allowed hundreds of trucks to enter, but United Nations agencies say it is usually too dangerous to retrieve the aid on the other side.

The war between Israel and Hamas, now in its eighth month, has killed over 35,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its count. Around 80 per cent of the population’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, severe hunger is widespread and UN officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.

Also Read : Watch | Israel’s Rafah invasion | Explained

Hamas triggered the war with its October 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized some 250 hostages. Hamas is still holding some 100 hostages and the remains of around 30 others after most of the rest were released during a cease-fire last year.

Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera TV aired footage of what it said were trucks entering Gaza through Kerem Shalom. Khaled Zayed, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in the Sinai Peninsula, which handles the delivery of aid from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, told The Associated Press that 200 aid trucks and four fuel trucks are scheduled to be sent to Kerem Shalom on Sunday.

It was not immediately clear if the U.N. was able to retrieve the aid from the Gaza side.

Southern Gaza has been largely cut off from aid since Israel launched what it says is a limited incursion into Rafah on May 6. Since then, over 1 million Palestinians have fled the city, with most having already been displaced from other parts of the besieged territory.

Northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli troops for months and where the UN’s World Food Program says famine is already underway, is still receiving aid through two land routes that Israel opened in the face of worldwide outrage after Israeli strikes killed seven aid workers in April.

A few dozen trucks have also been entering Gaza daily through a US-built floating pier, but its capacity remains far below the 150 trucks a day that officials had hoped for. Aid groups say the territory needs a total of 600 trucks a day to meet colossal humanitarian needs.

Stormy weather sent a strip of docking and a small US military vessel ashore near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod on Saturday. The US Central Command said four of its vessels were affected by rough seas with two of them anchoring near the pier off the Gaza coast and another two in Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel must take over Rafah in order to eliminate Hamas’ last remaining battalions and achieve its goal of “total victory” over the militants, who have recently regrouped in other parts of Gaza where the military had already operated.

Netanyahu faces growing pressure from the Israeli public to make a deal with Hamas to free the remaining hostages, something Hamas has refused to do without guarantees for an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops. Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have ruled that out.

Scuffles broke out between Israeli police and protesters in Tel Aviv on Saturday after thousands gathered to demonstrate against the government and demand the return of the hostages. The protesters called for Netanyahu’s resignation and demanded new elections.

International pressure is also growing, as the war leaves Israel increasingly isolated on the world stage.

Last week, three European countries announced they would recognize a Palestinian state, and the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders.

On Friday, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to end its military offensive in Rafah. The top United Nations court also said Israel must give war crimes investigators access to Gaza.

Israel is unlikely to comply with the orders, and has sharply condemned the ICC’s move toward arrest warrants for its leaders. Israel says it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in dense, residential areas.