Shia, Sunni groups to join forces against Israel

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: As thousands of Palestinians fled to southern Gaza in search of refuge Friday after Israel warned them to evacuate before an expected ground offensive against Hamas in retaliation for the deadliest attack in Israel’s history, the Shia group Hezbollah in Lebanon said it was ready to join the Sunni group Hamas at the right time.

The situation prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to warn that Israel risked waging an “unacceptable” siege in Gaza comparable to the Nazi blockade of Leningrad during World War II, and called for mediation. The call to get out came six days after Hamas gunmen burst through the heavily militarised border around the Gaza Strip and killed more than 1,300 people -- most of them civilians. Nearly 1,800 Gazans -- again most of them civilians and including over 580 children -- have been killed in waves of missile strikes on the densely populated enclave, the health ministry said. Hamas took an estimated 150 Israeli, foreign and dual national hostages back to Gaza during its initial attack, according to Israel.

The militant group said that 13 of them had been killed in Israeli air strikes. It has previously said four hostages died in bombardments. In the occupied West Bank, at least nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire during protests supporting Gaza, taking the toll there to 44 since Saturday, the health ministry said. AFP correspondents in Gaza said the Israeli military dropped flyers warning residents to flee “immediately” south of Wadi Gaza, with a map pointing south across a line in the centre of the 40 kilometre-long (25 mile-long) territory. In Gaza, UN officials said the Israeli military had told them the evacuation should be carried out “within the next 24 hours”. The United Nations described the immediate movement of some 1.1 million people -- nearly half of the 2.4 million in the Gaza Strip -- “impossible”. It urgently appealed for the order to be rescinded. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said it is necessary for Gaza residents to “remain steadfast on their land”, warning that any mass displacement of Gazans would spell the end of the Palestinian cause.

Hamas has said Palestinians rejected the evacuation request yet thousands of Gazans were on the move in search of safety, carrying plastic bags of belongings, suitcases on their shoulders and children in their arms. Some walked while others drove, with belongings strapped high to the roofs of their trucks, cars and carts pulled by donkeys. But still, most of the people in the north and in Gaza City have not evacuated. Some of them told me, “Where can we go? Are there any real sheltering facilities in the south?” They were asking because everybody has been following the news, from the south to the north, and they know that there are no safe places anywhere in the Gaza Strip. “Where to go?” asked Umm Hossam, 29, who was among the thousands fleeing. “How long will the strikes and death last? We have no homes left, every area of Gaza is under threat,” she added, her face streaked with tears. More than 423,000 people have already fled their homes, according to the UN, which said the evacuation order could turn what is “already a tragedy into a calamitous situation”.

Turkey’s foreign ministry condemned as “unacceptable” Israel’s ultimatum to Palestinians to evacuate Gaza ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive. “Forcing the 2.5 million residents of Gaza, who have been subject to indiscriminate air strikes for days and deprived of electricity, water and food, to migrate in an extremely limited area is a flagrant violation of international law and is inhumane,” the ministry said. Hospitals are struggling to cope with the dead and wounded from the relentless bombardment, and the health system was already “at a breaking point”, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. Ashraf al-Qudra, from the Gaza health ministry, said hospitals were “starting to lose capacity” and medicine was running out.

The WHO joined other UN bodies in calling for Israel to rescind the evacuation order, saying, “A mass evacuation would be disastrous -- for patients, health workers and other civilians left behind or caught in the mass movement.”

“Vulnerable patients include those who are critically injured or dependent on life support. Moving them amid hostilities puts their lives at immediate risk,” the WHO added.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators are taking to the streets across the Middle East and beyond in support of the Palestinians and to protest the Israeli air strikes. From Jordan to Yemen, people poured onto the streets after Friday prayers. Protests have been reported from Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Venezuela, Japan and Australia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Israel risked waging an “unacceptable” siege in Gaza comparable to the Nazi blockade of Leningrad during World War II, and called for mediation. “Various scenarios are emerging, including the possibility of military and non-military measures being taken against the Gaza Strip comparable to the siege of Leningrad during World War II,” Putin told journalists on a visit to Kyrgyzstan. “We understand what that entails. In my opinion, this is unacceptable. More than two million people live there,” he added. Putin renewed his call for negotiations and offered Moscow as a potential mediator.

As Saudi Arabia termed forced evacuations from Ghaza and Israi attacks on unarmed citizens unacceptable, Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit has denounced Israel’s evacuation order and called it a “forced transfer” that constitutes “a crime”. At a news conference in Ramallah, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokeswoman Tal Heinrich told AFP: “Everything that happens in Gaza is Hamas’s responsibility.” In Jordan, after a meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, King Abdullah II called for “humanitarian corridors” to be opened urgently. Egypt, which runs the Rafah crossing to the south of Gaza, faces the dilemma of accepting refugees with the possibility that Israel may never let them return, weakening Palestinian aspirations for statehood.

Germany Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, visiting Israel said Hamas was using residents as a “shield”. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel has a duty to defend its citizens and that Europe stands by its side in its battle with Hamas. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had asked Israel to take “every possible precaution” to avoid Gaza civilian deaths, and recognised that many families in Gaza are suffering “through no fault of their own”. He confirmed that the US was involved in discussions with Israel and “leading international organisations” to establish “safe areas” in Gaza

Israeli army said “Hamas terrorists are hiding in Gaza City inside tunnels underneath houses and inside buildings populated with innocent civilians.” AFP correspondents said there were “heavy strikes” in the northern Gaza Strip including Al-Shati refugee camp and Gaza City, primarily targeting residential buildings. The Hamas media office also reported Israeli air raids on Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south. The Israeli military said its “fighter jets struck 750 military targets in the northern Gaza Strip overnight. Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions in its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, saying the use of such weapons puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injury. In an apparent rebuttal, the Israeli military said “The current accusation made against the IDF (Israel Defence Force) regarding the use of white phosphorus in Gaza is unequivocally false.

In Geneva, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the unjustifiable “horrific” attacks on Israel could equally not justify “the limitless destruction of Gaza”. A journalist working for Reuters was killed during fighting in Lebanon. Issam was part of a Reuters crew in southern Lebanon that was providing a live signal and images from the ground. Reuters journalists Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh also sustained injuries as part of the incident that killed Issam and are seeking medical care. Al Jazeera said videographer Elie Brakhya and reporter Carmen Joukhadar were also among the wounded.

Israel faces a potential second front in the north after the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon said it was “fully prepared” to join Hamas in the war when the time was right. There has been a cross-border fire in recent days, sparking concern about regional stability and prompting the United States to send additional munitions and its largest aircraft carrier.

Gaza has been under a land, air and sea blockade since 2006 and Israel has vowed not to turn back on water, food and power supplies until all hostages are freed. Norway’s Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt condemned the siege. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said it would be “tantamount to a second Nakba” or “catastrophe”. UNRWA, the UN’s Palestine refugee agency, warns Gaza is quickly becoming a “hell hole”.

Meanwhile, several thousand Pakistani Muslims protested across the country after Friday prayers against Israel’s massive bombardment of Gaza in retaliation to Hamas attacks. Political and religious parties staged dozens of small demonstrations across the cities of Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and the capital Islamabad, where US and Israeli flags were burned. “There is so much tyranny meted out to Palestinians, nobody can tolerate it. It is a waste of life if we don’t stand by the righteous,” said Tahira Khan, a 50-year-old designer who joined one of several protests in Karachi attended by around 2,000 people.

Protester Shahid Husain, 47, said the leaders of Muslim nations were failing to stand up for Palestinians. “We came to the streets to make our rulers realise that they don’t need to be scared of the US and that the public wants them to be on the side of Palestine -- not Israel and America,” he said from Peshawar, where police said around 20 protests were held attended by more than 5,000 people. A few hundred people also gathered in the Afghan cities of Kabul and Jalalabad for pro-Palestinian rallies organised by Taliban authorities. “Palestine you are not alone, we are with you,” one speaker told the crowd. “We are poor, but we will do whatever we can. We can’t do much today but use our feet and stand in your support.”

Meanwhile, different political parties and student organisations staged province-wide protest demonstrations to express sympathy with the Palestinians and express their anger against Israel in Peshawar. The activists of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (UI-F), Jamaat-e-Islami (IJT) and other organisations took to the streets on the call of the respective leadership in almost all the cities of the province to express solidarity with the people of Palestine in their recent war in Gaza.

JUI-F activists brought out a protest procession from Mufti Mahmud Markaz on Ring Road and marched towards Kabotar Chowk, where they staged a public gathering. They were led by their provincial president Maulana Ataur Rahman.

The JI activists staged a protest demonstration on the main GT Road at Hashtnagri. They were led by Prof Mohammad Ibraheem Khan, provincial president of the party.

The IJT activists started a protest rally from Usmania Hostel in Islamia College Peshawar and reached the main Jamrud Road where they staged a gathering. They were led by the campus president of the organisation, Asfandiar Rabbani.

The protests set Israeli flags on fire to express their anger. They also chanted slogans against Israel and the US and in support of the Palestinians.

The speakers on the occasion paid glowing tributes to Palestinians and pledged to support them. which women, children and non-combatant people were massacred against all norms of humanity and principles of war, they said. They also condemned the US for raising voices in support of Israel and terming the Palestinian struggle as a human rights violation. They said that the US itself was the biggest violator of human rights.

The speakers were also concerned about the cold shoulder response by the Muslim rulers in the prevailing circumstances. They urged the Muslim rulers to come forward and own a bold standpoint to openly support the Palestinians in their struggle for freedom.