CrossFireArabia
Two Palestinian children, Mahmoud and Layali, were orphaned during the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Relentless Israeli airstrikes killed Layali’s mother, while army forces executed Mahmoud’s father before his eyes in a blatant violation of humanity. Since October 2023, more than 38,490 children have been orphaned, losing either one or both parents. These children have endured unimaginable suffering during the Israeli war, which lasted for 15 months.
CrossFireArabia
US President Donald Trump’s administration has requested congressional approval for the transfer of approximately $1 billion in bombs and other military equipment to Israel.
The Wall Street Journal, reported that the proposed arms transfers include 4,700 1,000-pound bombs valued at over $700 million, along with Caterpillar-built armored bulldozers worth more than $300 million.
The report added that the request would be paid from the annual US military aid allocated to Israel, which totals $3.3 billion in foreign military financing.
CrossFireArabia
US president Donald Trump praised Gaza’s “phenomenal location” and Mediterranean coastline, raising suspicions that he views the area as prime real estate for investment rather than a homeland for millions of Palestinians.
CrossFireArabia
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said his government is considering offering medical support in Japan to Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, local media reported.
“We’re making efforts to find ways to accept people in Japan who have fallen ill or been injured in Gaza,” Ishiba told a parliamentary session, according to Kyodo News Agency.
He added that Japan will also try to launch a special program for Palestinian students to study at Japanese universities.
Last month during a visit to Malaysia, Ishiba said his country would facilitate the development of Palestine.
Later, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said his government will establish a fund along with Japan to build hospitals, schools and mosques in Gaza which have been destroyed by Israel’s genocidal war since October 2023.
A ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel took hold in Gaza on Jan. 19, halting the war, which has caused widespread destruction and left the enclave in ruins.
Israel’s genocidal war has killed more than 47,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured over 111,600 since Oct. 7, 2023.
The Israeli onslaught on Gaza has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst-ever global humanitarian disasters.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
CrossFireArabia
Hezbollah on Sunday annoucned that the funeral for it longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed in an Israeli attack last year, will take place on Feb. 23 in Beirut.
In a televised statement, Secretary General Naeem Qassem said Nasrallah “was martyred at a time when the conditions were difficult, and there was no possibility for a funeral.”
Nasrallah “was temporarily buried (due to security conditions), and we have now decided to hold a public funeral on Feb. 23,” he added.
Qassem said a funeral will also be held for Sayyid Hashem Safieddine, another senior Hezbollah official who was killed in an Israeli airstrike nearly a week after Nasrallah’s assassination.
He said Safieddine will be buried with the title of secretary-general, confirming for the first time that he had been elected as Nasrallah’s successor before being killed.
“Sayyid Hashem Safieddine will also be mourned as the secretary-general of the party, as four days after Nasrallah’s assassination, we elected Hashem as secretary-general, and we consider him martyred in that capacity,” Qassem said.
The Hezbollah chief said Nasrallah will be buried on the outskirts of Beirut “in a plot of land on the airport road,” while Safieddine will be laid to rest in his hometown of Deir Qanoun in southern Lebanon.
Nasrallah was assassinated by Israel on Sept. 27, 2024 in a series of airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Safieddine was targeted on Oct. 3.
Israel was to complete its army’s withdrawal from Lebanon by Jan. 26 under a ceasefire deal, but it refused and the deadline was extended to Feb. 18.
The truce ended shelling between Israel and the Lebanese group that began in October 2023 after the onslaught in the Gaza Strip commenced, and escalated into a full-scale conflict in September 2024.
The more than a year of fighting killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and injured many others.
