Palestine Financial News

ANI. The National Conference president also urged the leaders of both India and Pakistan to find a solution to their bilateral issues through dialogue. “(Late former prime minister) Atal Bihari Vajpayee had said that we can change our friends but not our neighbours.

Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to keep up the fight against Hamas militants, but a United Nations humanitarian team leader said Palestinian civilians in Gaza who honor Israeli evacuation orders cannot be guaranteed they will be safe. Netanyahu, who visited Israeli troops in northern Gaza on Monday, told lawmakers from his Likud Party that the war was far from over and dismissed what he cast as media speculation his government might call a halt to the fighting.

Jerusalem: Israel's military on Monday claimed new evidence linking a north Gaza hospital to hostages seized by militants, saying it found the car of a captive mistakenly killed by troops inside the facility. A Toyota Corolla with an Israeli licence plate belonging to the family of Samer El-Talalqa has been found inside the Indonesian hospital, the army said.

Vatican City: Pope Francis said in his Christmas message on Monday that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the "little Jesuses of today" and that Israeli strikes there were reaping an "appalling harvest" of innocent civilians. In his Christmas Day "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and world) address, Francis also called the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants "abominable" and again appealed for the release of around 100 hostages still being held in Gaza.

Israel-Hamas war, Egypt has put forward a proposal that include a ceasefire, a phased hostage release and the creation of a Palestinian government of experts who would administer the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank, said a report by AP citing a senior Egyptian official and a European diplomat. The proposal has been presented to Israel, Hamas, the United States, and the European governments, said the report. According to the report, the proposal calls for an initial ceasefire of up to two weeks during which Palestinian militants would free 40 to 50 hostages, among them women, the sick and the elderly, in return for the release of 120-150 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.

MV Chem Pluto, off the coast of India in Arabian Sea, Iran's foreign ministry rejected "worthless" Washington's accusations. "We declare these claims as completely rejected and worthless," said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani when asked about the US accusations.

By Philip Pullella

Israel-Hamas war: Stepping up its attack against Palestine, Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) conducted some deadly Christmas Day raids against Palestinian targets in the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces conducted overnight raids in Nablus, Jericho, Ramallah, and Bethlehem, areas that hold significance for Christians as they believe Bethlehem is the birthplace of Jesus Christ, as per news platform Al Jazeera.

Jerusalem, a town that is seeing the atrocities of Israel's aerial bombing campaign and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip. Bethlehem fell silent on Monday, with no Christmas tree, no caroling, as the ongoing attack by Israel in West Bank left hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops deserted. Bethlehem, considered the birthplace of Jesus, is now in the middle of a war zone.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Bassam Masoud and Dan Williams

no joy" this Christmas as Israel bombed the besieged Palestinian territory on Monday, with no end in sight to the war that Hamas says has claimed more than 20,000 lives. Festivities were effectively scrapped in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, with few worshippers or tourists on the usually packed streets.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the ‘Sadaiv Atal’ memorial, on his birth anniversary. December 25 marks the birth anniversary of the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a former Prime Minister and prominent leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Pope Francis has kicked off global Christmas celebrations with a call for peace, as Israel's war on Hamas and Russia's invasion of Ukraine cast a shadow over one of the world's favourite holidays. Having said earlier in the day that he was thinking of people «who are suffering from war — we are thinking of Palestine, of Israel, of Ukraine», the pope struck a sombre tone during his Christmas Eve mass.

By Steven Scheer

(Reuters) — A drone launched from Iran struck a chemical tanker in the Indian ocean early on Saturday, the U.S. Department of Defense said.

Pope Francis lamented the war in the Holy Land where Palestinian health officials said airstrikes killed at least 78 people on Christmas Eve in one of the Gaza Strip's deadliest nights in Israel's 11-week-old battle with Hamas. Israeli strikes that began hours before midnight persisted into Christmas Day on Monday. Local residents and Palestinian media said Israel stepped up air and ground shelling against al-Bureij in central Gaza. At least 70 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting Maghazi in central Gaza, health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said, adding that many were women and children. The Israeli army said it was reviewing the report of a Maghazi incident and was committed to minimising harm to civilians.

Mint looks at the crisis, efforts taken to contain it, and its implication for India and the world. The Yemen-based and Iran-backed Houthi militants have fired over 100 drones and missiles at ships belonging to over 35 countries plying the Red Sea. They are doing so ostensibly in support of the Palestinian cause.

Bethlehem will not celebrate Christmas. Devasted by the toll of Israel's pounding of Gaza some 70 km away, Christ's birthtown in the West Bank will not have a single Christmas tree, let alone festivities. On last count, the Hamas-Israel conflict has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians and injured 50,000-plus people.

The U.N. Security Council has passed a new resolution that calls for speeding up aid deliveries into Gaza, but without the original call for an “urgent suspension of hostilities” between Israel and Hamas

Red Sea crisis, shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk Sunday decided to resume voyages through the Suez Canal. This followed the setting up of the multi-national security initiative Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG), led by the US. “As of Sunday 24 December 2023, we have received confirmation that the previously announced multi-national security initiative Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG) has now been set up and deployed to allow maritime commerce to pass through the Red Sea / Gulf of Aden and once again return to using the Suez Canal as a gateway between Asia and Europe, the shipper said in an advisory to its customers. “This is most welcome news for the entire industry and indeed the functionality of global trade. With the OPG initiative in operation, we are preparing to allow for vessels to resume transit through the Red Sea both eastbound and westbound,” it added.

Nvidia and its employees have donated $15 million to Israeli non-profit organisations that are supporting civilians affected by Israel's war with Palestinian militant group Hamas. Thousands of employees from more than 30 countries donated a total of $5 million, which the company matched and doubled to $10 million under a special programme introduced to help those affected by the war, Nvidia said on Sunday.