An explosion caused by Israeli airstrikes is seen in the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday January 2, 2022. Israel’s military says it launched strikes against militant targets in the Gaza Strip, a day after rockets were fired from the Hamas-ruled territory. AP
An explosion caused by Israeli airstrikes is seen in the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday January 2, 2022. Israel’s military says it launched strikes against militant targets in the Gaza Strip, a day after rockets were fired from the Hamas-ruled territory. AP
An explosion caused by Israeli airstrikes is seen in the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday January 2, 2022. Israel’s military says it launched strikes against militant targets in the Gaza Strip, a day after rockets were fired from the Hamas-ruled territory. AP
An explosion caused by Israeli airstrikes is seen in the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday January 2, 2022. Israel’s military says it launched strikes against militant targets in the Ga

Egypt pushes for calm after flare-up in Gaza hostilities


Soraya Ebrahimi
  • English
  • Arabic

Egyptian officials Sunday pushed for Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip to rein in hostilities and adhere to a ceasefire in place since the war in May 2021.

The Egyptian efforts came a day after Hamas militants launched rockets into the Mediterranean Sea off central Israel, prompting Israel to carry out airstrikes on militant positions in Gaza early Sunday. No casualties were reported.

The Israeli military said it struck “a rocket manufacturing site and military posts” belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip overnight in response to Saturday’s rocket fire.

“Whoever points missiles at Israel bears responsibility,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said at the start of the government’s weekly Cabinet meeting.

On Wednesday, Palestinian militants shot an Israeli contractor working along the border fence and Israel responded with tank fire at militant positions in what was the first exchange of fire in months.

Egyptian officials called on Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza to stop their actions seen by Israel as “provocative,” and for Israel to accelerate arrangements agreed upon as part of the ceasefire, an Egyptian diplomat with knowledge of the ongoing efforts said.

The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter with the media.

“Neither side wants a full-blown war,” the diplomat said. “They just want guarantees and steps on the ground.”

The ceasefire, brokered by Egypt and other mediators, has been fragile but largely held since the 11-day war between Hamas and Israel in May. But the militant group says Israel has not taken serious steps to ease the blockade it imposed on Gaza with Egypt after the Islamic movement seized control of the coastal enclave in 2007.

At the same time, the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group has threatened military action against Israel if a hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner dies. Hisham Abu Hawash, an Islamic Jihad member held by Israel under administrative detention, has staged a hunger strike for over 130 days.

Israel’s controversial policy of administrative detention allows suspects to be held without charge indefinitely. 

Israel says the practice is necessary to keep dangerous suspects in custody without disclosing critical intelligence that could expose sources.

Palestinians and rights groups decry the policy as a violation of due process.

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Updated: January 02, 2022, 9:01 PM`