16/09/2026

WEDNESDAY | SEPT 16, 2026

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Uncovered remains in Gaza raise concerns of war crimes o Israel rejects allegations

Saudi Arabia warns of firm response SANAA: Saudi Arabia warned yesterday it will react “firmly” to Houthis, after a series of attacks carried out by the Yemeni rebels using ballistic missiles and drones wounded 13 civilians. The Houthis have been engaged in renewed fighting with Saudi-backed government forces since Yemen’s civil war reignited in July, when the group declared a maritime blockade on Riyadh and began targeting its ships in the Red Sea. The group seized control of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait last week. It has also targeted the oil infrastructure of Saudi Arabia. A Houthi strike in western Yemen on Monday killed eight soldiers from government forces, according to two military sources. The Houthis claimed a new “large scale” attack using “dozens of ballistic missiles and drones” against the King Khalid airbase in Khamis Mushait, in southern Saudi Arabia. The Riyadh-led coalition confirmed there had been missile and drone attacks the previous day on Khamis Mushait, Abha and Taif, reporting 13 wounded. Riyadh responded with more than 50 strikes, as it had the day before, according to the Houthis. The coalition said it would deal with the attacks “firmly to protect the sovereignty of the Kingdom”. Hazem al-Assad from the Houthis’ politburo said the “Yemeni response will continue and escalate as long as they (Saudi Arabia) persist in their aggression”. The renewed fighting in Yemen comes as the wider regional war remains at a stalemate. US President Donald Trump on Monday said he was open to holding talks with Iran. Iran’s top security chief Mohsen Rezaei said on X that “there will be no negotiations until Iran’s conditions are met. That is all there is to it”. – AFP US military low on ammunition WASHINGTON: The US Defence Department’s inspector general revealed on Monday that the United States is facing a shortfall in ammunition. In a first-of-its-kind mandatory report to Congress, the inspector said that between Feb 28 and June 30, Operation Epic Fury (OEF) had an estimated cost of US$33.4 billion (RM136 billion), with US$22.3 billion of that spent on expended munitions alone. The report noted “the munitions expenditure on OEF has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks”. It also lists losses to the American fleet, including four F-15s destroyed, one F-35 damaged, seven KC-135 tanker aircraft damaged and 30 Reaper drones destroyed. CNN has previously reported shortages of long-range guided missiles and air defence interceptors had affected Trump’s strategy in the conflict with Iran. During the first 24 hours of war against Iran, the United States struck more than 1,000 targets, US Central Command has said. The report notes that “Iranian strikes damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan”. – AFP

and that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields in densely populated areas, an accusation Hamas denies. The UN rights chief called for international investigators to be granted access to all parts of Gaza to help preserve evidence, citing legal proceedings examining conduct during the war. Israel has blocked the entry of heavy machinery needed to remove rubble, according to Turk’s statement. Francesca Albanese, the UN expert on the Palestinian territories, has said evidence should be gathered and human remains identified before full clearance starts. This month, the Palestinian Civil Defence said 96 bodies and human remains had been recovered from a single site in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City. – Reuters

The Palestinian Civil Defence says more than 630 bodies and human remains have been recovered from beneath destroyed buildings across Gaza since November last year. Palestinian authorities estimate more than 8,000 people remain buried in the wreckage. Turk said he feared the remains recovered so far could be “only the tip of the iceberg”, noting that large parts of Gaza had been flattened by Israeli bombing or later demolition and clearance operations. He also accused Israel of continuing to level some areas of Gaza where its forces remain deployed, saying bulldozers were operating “with no respect for the dead under the rubble”. More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military campaign. Israel says it has gone to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties

NEW YORK: Mahmoud Khalil and other pro-Palestinian student activists sued Columbia University on Monday, accusing it of being deliberately indifferent to years of pervasive harassment because of their advocacy. Khalil became a face of the Trump administration crackdown on students’ pro-Palestinian protests after US immigration agents arrested him in March 2025 in the lobby of his university residence, though he was a lawful permanent resident, or green card holder, and not accused of a crime. The complaint filed in Manhattan federal court by Khalil, the SIPA Palestine Working Group and its president, Mohammad Zubairi, said Columbia violated federal civil rights law through its failure to protect students from threats, doxxing and other harassment based on their perceived Arab or Muslim ancestry, or their advocacy for Palestinian rights. The war in Gaza still sparks fierce debate at schools including Columbia, where the central pedestrian walkway across campus has been closed for nearly three years as the university tries to balance safety concerns against the desire for greater normalcy and openness. At a press conference at Columbia announcing the lawsuit, Khalil said the university exhibited a “rotten, institutionalised anti Palestinian bigotry” entrenched in every department and backed by its board of trustees. “We are suing because no student, regardless of their background, should go through the hell that Columbia put us through over all these years,” Khalil said. Columbia declined to comment GENEVA: of hundreds of bodies from the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes in Gaza during the war that began nearly three years ago has raised fresh concerns about possible war crimes, the UN human rights chief said yesterday. Volker Turk said the remains of what appeared to be entire families were being unearthed from sites destroyed during Israeli attacks, adding that many victims were women and children. “It is heartbreaking that the loved ones of those missing for so long are only now having their worst fears confirmed,” he said in a statement. He said the discoveries revived concerns raised in a 2024 UN report that found Israeli strikes on The recovery

residential buildings and other civilian sites during the early weeks of the war may have violated international humanitarian law. The Israeli Prime Minister’s office and Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel has repeatedly rejected allegations that it targets civilians and says it acted in accordance with international law. Israel’s assault on Gaza has generated around 61 million tonnes of wreckage and debris that could take seven years to clear, according to the United Nations. A US-brokered ceasefire brought an end to full-scale fighting last October, but has failed to halt regular Israeli strikes as both sides accuse each other of violating the truce.

Columbia sued for alleged failure to protect students

Activists standing outside Columbia University gates on Monday. – REUTERSPIC

released on bail. Khalil still faces possible deportation, after a federal appeals court in Philadelphia said a district court judge lacked jurisdiction when he ordered Khalil’s release from custody last year. SIPA is short for Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, where Khalil had been a graduate student. Khalil also sued Columbia in March 2025, less than one week after his arrest, challenging the university’s disclosure of student disciplinary records to a House of Representatives committee. – Reuters

military or government conduct as subject to discipline. “Defendants’ failure to respond to Mr Khalil’s, Mr Zubairi’s, and other PWG members’ legitimate reports of ongoing harassment and violence, and the retaliatory actions they actively took in response to these reports, placed PWG members at risk of violence and caused sustained, ongoing harm,” the complaint said. Khalil is an Algerian citizen born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria. He spent 104 days in a Louisiana jail following his arrest, missing the birth of his first child, before being

on the lawsuit, but a spokeswoman said: “Creating a campus environment where every member of our community feels welcome, supported, and safe is fundamental to who we are as a university. It is also a responsibility we take seriously.” Khalil said he began reporting harassment during the spring semester in 2023, several months before Israel went to war in Gaza. The complaint said that instead of investigating reported harassment, Columbia treated pro Palestinian protests as “security risks”and revised its policies to treat any on-campus criticism of Israel’s