31/03/2025

MONDAY | MAR 31, 2025

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Ukraine accuses Russia of ‘war crime’ after hospital attack KYIV: Ukraine accused Russia of committing a “war crime” during its weekend attack on the city of Kharkiv, as the US-backed ceasefire efforts continue to prove elusive. Chubenko, confirmed two deaths and said another 30 people were wounded, including children. reports, there are casualties among the military personnel who were undergoing treatment,” it said.

Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission on Saturday said that Israeli authorities have seized more than 5,180ha of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank since Oct 7, 2023. In a statement marking the anniversary of Land Day, the commission reported that since the start of the war in Gaza, Israel has issued 13 military orders to establish buffer zones around illegal settlements and has created 60 new Iran police disperse pro-hijab protesters TEHRAN: Iranian police have dispersed a weeks-long sit-in by demonstrators supporting the mandatory head covering for women, state media reported, after authorities deemed the gathering illegal. The demonstrators, largely women in black full-body robes, staged the sit-in since last month outside the parliament building in Tehran. Since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, women have been required to conceal their hair in public. However, increasing numbers, particularly in major cities including the capital Tehran, have pushed the boundaries by allowing the covering to slide back. The protesters were calling for the implementation of a Bill imposing tougher penalties on women who refuse to wear the covering, known as a hijab . Parliament approved the Bill in September 2023. It triggered heated debate in the country, was not submitted to the government for final approval, and has since been shelved. “After numerous negotiations with the relevant authorities and the protesters, they were requested to disperse and refrain from causing disruption, blocking roads, and creating traffic congestion for citizens,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said on Saturday. “A large number of the protesters complied with the police order and left the area but unfortunately a small number (around 30 individuals) resisted,” Mizan said. It published a video showing an altercation between the demonstrators and security forces ordering them to leave the area. Irna news agency said the “illegal” sit-in had been in place for around 48 days. Officially known as the “Law on Supporting the Family through the Promotion of the Culture of Chastity and Hijab”, the Bill would have imposed tougher penalties on women who refuse to wear the mandatory hijab . It also required significant fines and prison sentences for those deemed to be promoting “nudity” or “indecency”. Parliament passed the Bill around a year after mass demonstrations began in Iran triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd. She had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women. Increasing numbers of women have flouted the law since then. Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani in January said the Bill was shelved as it “could have had serious social consequences”. – AFP

dragging out talks with no intention of halting its offensive. “America’s proposal for an unconditional ceasefire has been on the table without an adequate response from Russia,” Zelensky said in his evening address on Saturday. Both Moscow and Kyiv agreed to the concept of a Black Sea truce following talks with US officials last week, but Russia said the deal would not enter into force until the West lifted certain sanctions. – AFP

According to the emergency medical services, the “massive attack” reduced one home to a fiery ruin and damaged other houses, office buildings, cars and garages. The Ukrainian army said that a military hospital building and nearby residential buildings “were damaged by a Shahed drone”. “According to preliminary

Ukraine accused Russia of having carried out a “war crime” and “violating the norms of international humanitarian law”. The strikes come as the US pushes for a speedy end to the war. Moscow has rejected a joint US Ukrainian proposal for an unconditional and full ceasefire, while Ukraine has accused Russia of

Six strikes hit the northeastern border city on Saturday and early yesterday, wounding personnel undergoing treatment at a military hospital and killing at least two people in a residential building. A spokesperson for the Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office, Dmytro

Hamas agrees to Gaza ceasefire proposal

o Israel submits counter-proposals

airstrike yesterday on a house and a tent sheltering displaced people killed at least eight, including five children. The strike occurred as both Hamas and Israel acknowledged receiving a new truce proposal from mediators aimed at halting hostilities in Gaza. “There are eight martyrs, including five children, following a pre-dawn Israeli airstrike on a house and a tent sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis,” said Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency. – Bernama/AFP into force on Jan 19 after 15 months of war and involved a halt to fighting, the release of some of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and the freeing of some Palestinian prisoners. Phase two of the three-phase deal is intended to focus on agreements on the release of the remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Hamas says any proposals must allow the launch of the second phase, while Israel has offered to expand the first 42-day phase. In response to calls on Hamas to disarm by Israel and the United States, Hayya said the group’s arsenal was a red line and that it would not disarm as long as the “Israeli” occupation exists. Israel and the US say Hamas must not have a role in post-war Gaza arrangements. Israeli military strikes on Gaza continued on Saturday, killing at least 20 Palestinians across the enclave, health authorities said. The Israeli military said it had begun “ground activity” in the Jneina neighbourhood of the Rafah area to expand what it described as the security zone in southern Gaza. On March 18, Israel resumed bombing and ground operations in Gaza, which it said were intended to increase pressure on Hamas to free hostages. It has since issued evacuation orders to tens of thousands of residents in several areas in the northern and southern Gaza Strip, citing rocket firing into Israeli territories. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli offensive in Gaza. – Reuters

is holding each week, the sources said. The Israeli prime minister’s office said it had held consultations according to the proposal that was received from the mediators, and that Israel had conveyed to the mediators a counter-proposal in full coordination with the United States. Reuters asked the prime minister’s office if it had also agreed to the ceasefire proposal but it did not immediately respond. The first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went

Hayya said in a televised speech. “We hope that the (Israeli) occupation will not undermine (it),” said Hayya, who leads the Hamas negotiating team in indirect talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza that erupted in October 2023. Security sources told Reuters on Thursday that Egypt had received positive indications from Israel over a new ceasefire proposal that would include a transitional phase. The proposal suggests Hamas release five of the Israeli hostages it

CAIRO: Hamas has agreed to a Gaza ceasefire proposal it received two days ago from mediators Egypt and Qatar, the group’s chief said on Saturday. “Two days ago, we received a proposal from the mediators in Egypt and Qatar. We dealt with it positively and accepted it,” Khalil al

Displaced children in Khan Younis hold trays of traditional sweets for celebrations marking the end of the fasting month. – REUTERSPIC

Israel seized 5,180ha in West Bank over two years: Commission ISTANBUL: The Palestinian The Palestinian

commission reported that 770,000 illegal Israeli settlers now reside across 180 illegal settlements and 256 outposts in the occupied West Bank. Tension has been running high across the occupied West Bank, where at least 939 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the onslaught on Gaza on Oct 7, 2023. Meanwhile, Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that an Israeli

more than 2,388ha have been taken under the claim of “state land”, making it the largest land confiscation in over three decades. The statement also highlighted the Israeli demolition campaign targeting Palestinian buildings. In 2023, Israeli authorities issued 939 demolition orders, with 60% of them concentrated in Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Jerusalem. There were 684 demolitions, mostly in Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablus and Jericho.

illegal settler outposts across the occupied West Bank. Of the 4,856ha confiscated, 4,613ha were seized last year under various pretexts, including the designation of land as nature reserves, state land and military zones. Land Day, observed annually on March 30, commemorates the events of 1976, when Israel seized large tracts of land from Palestinian citizens, leading to mass protests that resulted in several deaths and injuries. According to the commission,