09/09/2025

TUESDAY | SEPT 9, 2025

9

Rules of war shredded

Hamas to return all 48 remaining living and dead hostages on the first day of a ceasefire, during which negotiations would be held to end the war. Hamas has long said it intended to hold onto at least some hostages until negotiations were complete. It said in a statement it was committed to releasing all hostages with a “clear announcement of an end to the war” and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Residents of Gaza City said Israeli forces pounded several districts from the air and ground, and detonated decommissioned armoured vehicles laden with explosives, destroying clusters of homes in the Sheikh Radwan, Zeitoun, and Tuffah neighbourhoods. Among at least 12 Palestinians reported killed in Gaza yesterday was Osama Balousha, a journalist for Palestinian media. – Reuters Five shot dead in East Jerusalem JERUSALEM: Gunmen opened fire at a bus stop in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem yesterday, killing five people and wounding several others. Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA) said there were five victims dead in the shooting attack, updating an earlier toll of four. Police said the two gunmen were also killed. MDA said seven other people were in serious condition. The dead included a man “about 50 years old and three men aged around 30”, a statement from MDA said. The late morning attack took place at the Ramot Junction on Yigal Street, and left about 15 people wounded, an earlier statement by MDA said. Paramedic Fadi Dekaidek, who was at the scene, said the attack was “severe”. “The wounded were lying on the road and sidewalk near a bus stop, some of them unconscious,” he said in a statement issued by MDA. Police said the attackers had opened fire towards a bus stop after arriving in a vehicle. “A security officer and a civilian at the scene responded immediately, returned fire, and neutralised the attackers,“ they said in a statement. A police spokesperson said there were two assailants involved, with the force later confirming both were pronounced dead at the scene. – AFP

o Erosion of international law, says rights chief GENEVA: The UN human rights chief warned yesterday that international law and the rules of war – the foundation of peace and global order – are being ripped up. In his opening address to the UN Human Rights Council’s 60th session, Volker Turk warned that “disturbing trends that undercut our rights are gaining ground across the world”.

of peace, our global order and our daily lives, from trade rules to the global internet, to our fundamental rights”. “But several governments are disregarding, disrespecting and disengaging from it,” he said, cautioning that “when states ignore violations of the law, they become normalised”. Without naming countries, Turk also warned that “some states are becoming an extension of their ruler’s personal power”. At the same time, he condemned “the retreat by some states from frameworks, institutions and international agreements”. He highlighted, among other things, sanctions imposed by Washington on judges and prosecutors of the International Criminal Court and Russia’s issuing of arrest warrants against them – as well as US sanctions on the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. “Gradually, the web of global and regional cooperation, carefully crafted over decades for the common good, is being weakened,” he warned. “We cannot return to the outdated thinking and approaches that led to two World Wars.” – AFP

He condemned a “troubling erosion of international law”, warning that the long-established rules of war are being shredded, with virtually no accountability”. He pointed to a blatant disregard for international law in conflicts, including in Ukraine, the civil war in Sudan and the devastating war Israel is waging on Gaza. Turk also voiced alarm at a broader “glorification of violence”. Speaking just days after China hosted a massive military parade and after President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Defence to be renamed the Department of War, Turk lamented that “pro-war propaganda is everywhere, from military parades to ramped-up rhetoric”. “Sadly, there are no Peace parades or Ministries of Peace.” The UN rights chief stressed that international law is “the foundation

Turk voiced alarm at a broader glorification of violence. – REUTERSPIC

Norway votes in tight election OSLO: Norwegians began voting yesterday in an election where President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the war in Ukraine could give a boost to the government led by Labour Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

Israel vows ‘hurricane’ of strikes CAIRO: Israel said it would ramp up airstrikes on Gaza yesterday in a “mighty hurricane”, to serve as a last warning to Hamas that it will destroy the enclave unless fighters accept a demand from President Donald Trump to free all hostages and surrender.

Store has a slight lead in opinion polls and analysts said geopolitical uncertainties could push voters to back the perceived stability of a sitting administration. Much of the campaigning however has focused on domestic issues including the cost of living, healthcare, inequality, education and the possibility of abolishing a wealth tax, which has divided the two main camps. With the political landscape fragmented, the outcome will depend on which of the nine major parties will clear the 4% threshold required to get seats in parliament. An average of polls has the Labour Party and its allies securing 88 of the 169 seats in Norway’s parliament, the Storting, according to www.pollofpolls.no. A record 1.9 million Norwegians, over 47% of the electorate, have already voted early. “Stability is really important. The security situation in the world is quite unstable, it’s quite an unstable world,” said pensioner Olav Hetland. With many voters wanting to maintain the status quo, political scientist Johannes Bergh said Store’s long experience in global affairs – his first stint as foreign minister began 20 years ago – could be an advantage. “The fact that Donald Trump was elected president in the United States, the talk about tariffs, and international trade is much more

Residents said Israeli forces bombed Gaza City from the air and blew up armoured vehicles in its streets. Hamas said it was studying the latest ceasefire proposal, delivered on Sunday with a warning from Trump’s that it was the group’s “last chance”. “A mighty hurricane will hit the skies of Gaza City today, and the roofs of the terror towers will shake,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote on X. “This is a final warning ... Release the hostages and lay down your weapons or Gaza will be destroyed, and you will be annihilated,” he wrote. According to a senior Israeli official, the latest US proposal for Gaza calls for

(From left) Store, Solberg and Listhaug at a debate on Sunday. – NTB/AFPPIC

left parties, along with most Norwegians. The far left wants the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the biggest in the world, to divest from Israel, which Labour opposes. Julie Myrene, a 32-year-old working with customer support for a car brand, said her vote was influenced by the need to reduce taxes, “because a lot of wealthy Norwegians have moved out”. The right-wing bloc is also divided, with the Conservatives of former prime minister Erna Solberg overtaken by the anti-immigration Progress Party in opinion polls. Solberg is battling with Progress Party’s Sylvi Listhaug to be the bloc’s prime minister if it secures a majority. The right-wing bloc also comprises two small centre-right parties including the Liberals, who are at odds with the Progress Party on over the European Union and immigration. – AFP

uncertain, there’s a war in Ukraine – all of those international issues make voters rally around the sitting government,” Bergh said. Norway, a Nato member, shares a border with Russia in the Arctic and its economy is highly dependent on exports. Store, who runs a single-party minority government, was also boosted earlier this year by the collapse of its unpopular coalition with the agrarian Centre Party and the return to government of popular ex-Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg. Store is likely to need all four of the other left-leaning parties to secure a majority in parliament. But the left-wing bloc itself is divided over issues including oil drilling, which Labour wants to continue while the Greens insist on phasing it out. Both parties favour close ties with the European Union and eventually want to join the bloc, but that is opposed by the Centre and the far

A building collapses after an airstrike in Gaza City on Sunday. – REUTERSPIC