GAZA CITY: At first Hussam Salah Abu Ajwa resisted letting his daughter out to play, but finally he relented so she could zip around on her pink skates near their Gaza City home.
Within two minutes he heard the boom of a strike that made the girl, 10-year-old Tala Abu Ajwa, the latest child fatality in the ongoing war in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands.
“She begged me and said, ‘Please, Daddy, let me go out’. I felt sad because she wanted to play with the girls” in the neighborhood, Hussam told AFP after the strike on Tuesday.
Upon hearing the blast he raced outside, but “when I reached the flat that had been bombed, I found her among the rubble,” he said.
“I recognized her by her roller skates, the only thing that was visible.”
Details of the strike were unclear.
A photograph of Tala has since circulated widely on social media, the skates with white velcro straps and pink wheels sticking out from underneath a white cloth covering her dead body.
Mass wartime displacement and destruction of schools have deprived children across the Gaza Strip of chances for recreation.
More than 70 percent of schools operated by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, have been destroyed or damaged, agency chief Philippe Lazzarini said on X this week.
“The longer children stay out of school, the higher the risk of a lost generation, fueling resentment & extremism,” Lazzarini said.
“With no ceasefire, children are likely to fall prey to exploitation including child labor and recruitment into armed groups.”
For Tala, the problem was more basic: she simply did not like being cooped up indoors all the time, Hussam said.
“She was cheerful and always liked to laugh, and loved to get out of the house,” he said.
“She had lots of dreams. She was always asking me for lots of things and I responded to her requests. She told me. ‘I want a pair of skates’, so I brought them for her.”
The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7 which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians and including hostages killed in captivity, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the attack, 97 remain in Gaza including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 40,878 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
Now that Tala is gone, her parents and brothers are left to marvel at their bad luck, with the strike landing during one of the rare occasions Hussam let one of his children go outside.
“She used to say to me, ‘Why don’t we live like all the other children in the world? I wish we could live a peaceful life. We don’t want wars, Mum. I’ve had enough of wars’,” her mother, Umm Tala, recalled.
“She was one of the best pupils and she excelled, she was very intelligent. She used to say to me: ‘I’d like to be able to go to the park and play.’ She’s dead and so are her wishes.”
Roller-skating girl with ‘lots of dreams’ killed in Gaza strike
https://arab.news/pwtud
Roller-skating girl with ‘lots of dreams’ killed in Gaza strike
- Israeli strike landed during one of the rare occasions Hussam let Tala go outside
- Mass wartime displacement and destruction of schools have deprived children across the Gaza Strip of chances for recreation
Dramatic footage shows moment oil tanker struck by Houthi drone
- Group releases video of explosion engulfing Cordelia Moon as it passed through Red Sea
- Houthis have threatened to ‘escalate military operations’ after Israeli air raids last week
LONDON: Footage has been released of an oil tanker being struck by a Houthi drone vessel in the Red Sea.
The group published a video appearing to show the unmanned boat colliding with the Panama-flagged Cordelia Moon on Tuesday.
In the footage, a large explosion is seen on the vessel’s port side, followed by a plume of smoke engulfing the tanker. Its crew reported no major injuries and that all aboard are safe.
The attack reportedly occurred about 70 miles (110 km) off the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, which is controlled by the militia.
The Houthis later claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said involved eight ballistic and winged missiles, a drone and an unmanned boat.
The US Navy said that the captain of a nearby vessel reported seeing four “splashes” in the water around the Cordelia Moon, believed to have been caused by missiles launched at the tanker missing their target.
Though the Houthis described the Cordelia Moon as a British ship, it is managed by an Indian company called Margao Marine Solutions.
Meanwhile, British security firm Amber reported that a second vessel, sailing under the Liberian flag, was struck by a missile about 97 nautical miles northwest of Hodeidah later that day as it traveled toward the Suez Canal. Its crew also reported no major injuries and that all aboard are safe.
The two attacks represent a return to the targeting of commercial shipping by the Houthis after a brief hiatus in operations.
The group began attacking vessels in the region following Israel’s invasion of Gaza last year.
The Houthis have also launched drone and missile attacks against Israel since the start of hostilities, and on Monday threatened to “escalate military operations” after shooting down a US military drone as it flew over Yemen. That incident followed a series of Israeli air raids over Houthi-occupied Yemen last week, which hit a number of military and oil installations.
Three Lebanese hospitals suspend services amid Israeli bombing: statements
- Sainte Therese Hospital near Beirut’s southern suburbs reported “huge damage” to the building
BEIRUT: Three hospitals in Lebanon including one on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs announced Friday the suspension of work, amid ongoing Israeli bombardment.
In statements carried by the official National News Agency, Sainte Therese Hospital near Beirut’s southern suburbs reported “huge damage” to the building on Thursday due to Israeli bombardment in the vicinity and the subsequent “halt of hospital services,” while two hospitals in the country’s south also said services had stopped.
Israeli military says it has killed around 250 Hezbollah fighters in ground operation
- The military was still assessing the damage caused by airstrikes in southern Beirut
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military estimates it has killed around 250 Hezbollah fighters, including a number of battalion and company commanders, since the start of its ground operation in Lebanon earlier this week, a military spokesperson said on Friday.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said the military was still assessing the damage caused by airstrikes in southern Beirut on Thursday night, which he said targeted Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters.
Iran FM says backs efforts for simultaneous Gaza-Lebanon ceasefire
- “We support the efforts for a ceasefire,” Iran’s FM Abbas Araghchi said
BEIRUT: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday said his country backed efforts for a simultaneous ceasefire with Israel in both the Palestinian territory of Gaza and Lebanon.
“We support the efforts for a ceasefire, provided that first, the rights of the Lebanese people are respected and it is accepted by the (Hezbollah) resistance, and second, that it comes simultaneously with a ceasefire in Gaza,” he said during a visit to Beirut.
Hunted yet unrepentant: Yahya Sinwar remains committed to Israel’s destruction
- For Sinwar, 62, armed struggle remains the only way to force the creation of a Palestinian nation
- Now the conflict has spread to Lebanon, with Israel heavily degrading Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, including killing most of its leadership
GAZA STRIP: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is unrepentant about the Oct. 7 attacks a year ago, people in contact with him say, despite unleashing an Israeli invasion that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, laid waste to his Gaza homeland and rained destruction on ally Hezbollah.
For Sinwar, 62, architect of the Hamas cross-border raids that became the deadliest day in Israel’s history, armed struggle remains the only way to force the creation of a Palestinian nation, four Palestinian officials and two sources from governments in the Middle East said.
The Oct. 7 attacks killed 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and captured 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies, in the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Israel responded by launching a massive offensive, killing 41,600 people and displacing 1.9 million, according to Palestinian health authorities and UN figures.
Now the conflict has spread to Lebanon, with Israel heavily degrading Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, including killing most of its leadership. Hamas patron Tehran is at risk of being pulled into open war with Israel.
Sinwar has drawn Iran and its entire “Axis of Resistance” — comprising Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and Iraqi militias — into conflict with Israel, said Hassan Hassan, an author and researcher on Islamic groups.
“We’re seeing now the ripple effects of Oct.7. Sinwar’s gamble didn’t work,” Hassan said, suggesting that the Axis of Resistance may never recover.
“What Israel did to Hezbollah in two weeks is almost equal to a whole year of degrading Hamas in Gaza. With Hezbollah, three layers of leadership have been eliminated, its military command has been decimated, and its important leader Hassan Nasrallah has been assassinated,” added Hassan.
However, Sinwar’s grip on the Hamas remains unwavering, despite some signs of dissent among Gazans.
He was chosen as the Islamist movement’s overall leader after his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh was killed in July by a suspected Israeli strike during a visit to Tehran. Israel has not confirmed its involvement in the strike.
Operating from the shadows of a network of labyrinthine tunnels under Gaza, two Israeli sources said Sinwar and his brother, also a top commander, appear to have so far survived Israeli airstrikes, which have reportedly killed his deputy Mohammed Deif and other senior leaders.
Dubbed “The Face of Evil” by Israel, Sinwar operates in secrecy, moving constantly and using trusted messengers for non-digital communication, according to three Hamas officials and one regional official. He has not been seen in public since Oct. 7.
Over months of failed ceasefire talks, led by Qatar and Egypt, that focused on swapping prisoners for hostages, Sinwar was the sole decision-maker, three Hamas sources said. Negotiators would wait for days for responses filtered through a secretive chain of messengers.
Hamas and Israel did not respond to requests for comment.
Sinwar’s high tolerance for suffering, both for himself and for the Palestinian people, in the name of a cause, was apparent when he helped negotiate the 2011 exchange of 1,027 prisoners, himself included, for one kidnapped Israeli soldier held in Gaza. The kidnapping by Hamas had led to an Israeli assault on the coastal enclave and thousands of Palestinian deaths. Half a dozen people who know Sinwar told Reuters his resolve was shaped by an impoverished childhood in Gaza’s refugee camps and a brutal 22 years in Israeli custody, including a period in Ashkelon, the town his parents called home before fleeing after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
The question of hostages and prisoner swaps is deeply personal for Sinwar, said all the sources, who requested anonymity to speak freely about sensitive matters. He has vowed to free all Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Sinwar became a member of Hamas soon after its founding in the 1980s, adopting the group’s radical Islamist ideology, which seeks to establish an Islamic state in historic Palestine and opposes Israel’s existence.
The ideology views Israel not only as a political rival but as an occupying force on Muslim land. Seen in this light, hardships and suffering are often interpreted by him and his followers as part of a larger Islamic belief of sacrifice, experts on Islamic movements say.
“What lies behind his resolve is tenacity of ideology, tenacity of goal. He’s ascetic and satisfied with little,” said one senior Hamas official who requested anonymity.
FROM SACKCLOTH TO LEADER
Before the war, Sinwar, would sometimes tell of his early life in Gaza during decades of Israeli occupation, once saying his mother made clothes from empty UN food-aid sacks, according to Gaza resident Wissam Ibrahim, who has met him.
In a semi-autobiographical novel written in prison, Sinwar described scenes of troops bulldozing Palestinian houses, “like a monster crushing its prey’s bones,” before Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
A ruthless enforcer tasked with punishing Palestinians suspected of informing for Israel, Sinwar then made his name as a prison leader, emerging as a street hero from a 22-year Israeli sentence for masterminding the abduction and murder of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians. He then quickly rose to the top of the Hamas ranks.
His understanding of the everyday hardships and brutal realities in Gaza was well-received by Gazans and made people feel at ease, four journalists and three Hamas officials said, despite his fearsome reputation and explosive anger. Sinwar is regarded by Arab and Palestinian officials as the architect of Hamas’ strategy and military capabilities, bolstered through his strong ties with Iran, which he visited in 2012.
Before orchestrating the Oct. 7 raids Sinwar made no secret of his desire to strike his enemy hard.
In a speech the year before, he vowed to send a flood of fighters and rockets to Israel, hinting at a war that would either unite the world to establish a Palestinian state on land Israel occupied in 1967, or leave the Jewish nation isolated on the global stage. By the time of the speech, Sinwar and Deif had already hatched secret plans for the assault. They were even running training drills in public that simulated such an attack.
His goals have not been fulfilled. While the issue is once again at the top of the global agenda, the prospect of a Palestinian nation is as distant as ever. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has categorically rejected a post-war plan for Gaza that would include a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
’HEAD HARDER THAN A ROCK’
Sinwar was arrested in 1988 and sentenced to four life sentences, accused of orchestrating the abduction and murder of two Israeli soldiers and four suspected Palestinian informants.
Nabih Awadah, a former Lebanese Communist militant who was imprisoned with Sinwar in Ashkelon between 1991-95, said the Hamas leader viewed the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority as “disastrous” and a ruse by Israel, which he said would only relinquish Palestinian land “by force, not by negotiations.”
Calling him “willful and dogmatic,” Awadah said Sinwar would light up with joy whenever he heard of attacks against Israelis by Hamas or Lebanon’s Hezbollah group. For him, military confrontation was the only path “to liberating Palestine” from Israeli occupation.
Awadah said Sinwar was an “influential model to all prisoners, even those who were not Islamists or religious.”
Michael Koubi, a former official with Israel’s Shin Bet security agency who interrogated Sinwar for 180 hours in prison, said Sinwar clearly stood out for his ability to intimidate and command.
Koubi once asked the militant, then aged 28 or 29, why he was not already married. “He told me Hamas is my wife, Hamas is my child. Hamas for me is everything.” Sinwar married after his release from prison in 2011 and has three children.
In jail, he continued to pursue Palestinian spies, Awadah said, echoing reports from Shin Bet interrogators.
His sharp instincts and caution allowed him to identify and expose Shin Bet informants infiltrated in the prison, Awadah said.
He said Sinwar’s leadership was pivotal during a hunger strike in 1992, in which he led over 1,000 prisoners to survive solely on water and salt. Sinwar negotiated with prison authorities and refused to settle for partial concessions. He also used his time in prison to learn fluent Hebrew.
Awadah said Sinwar frequently recalled that Ashkelon, where they were imprisoned together, was his family’s ancestral hometown.
When playing table tennis in the courtyard of Ashkelon jail, in present day Israel, Sinwar would often play barefoot, saying he wanted his feet to touch the land of Palestine.
“Sinwar often told us: ‘I’m not in prison; I’m on my land. I am free here, in my country.’”
