DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israeli aircraft struck a sprawling tent camp housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 21 people, according to a local health official, setting off fires in the coastal tent city that Israel has designated a humanitarian zone but which has been repeatedly targeted.
The Israeli military said it struck senior Hamas militants “involved in terrorist activities” in the area, without providing additional details, and said it took precautions to minimize harm to civilians.
The strikes were the latest deadly assault in the war-wracked Gaza Strip, where Israel’s offensive against Hamas is nearly 14 months old and showing no end in sight, despite international efforts to revive negotiations toward a ceasefire.
The Biden administration has pledged to make a new push to get a ceasefire for Gaza after Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah agreed to end more than a year of cross-border fighting. And President-elect Donald Trump demanded in a social media post this week the release of hostages held by Hamas before he is sworn into office in January.
The strike Wednesday in Muwasi, a desolate area with few public services that holds hundreds of thousands of displaced people, also wounded at least 28 people, according to Atif Al-Hout, the director of Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.
An Associated Press journalist at the hospital counted at least 15 bodies, but he said reaching a precise number was difficult because many of the dead were dismembered, some without heads or badly burned.
Videos and photos shared widely on social media showed flames and a column of black smoke rising into the night sky, as well as twisted metal tent frames and shredded fabric. Palestinian men searched through the still-burning wreckage, shouting “Over here guys!” Further away, civilians stood at a distance, observing the destruction.
The military said the strikes had set off secondary explosions, indicating explosives present in the area had detonated. It was not possible to independently confirm the Israeli claims, and the strikes could also have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the camp.
The strikes followed earlier Israeli attacks on other parts of the Gaza Strip that killed eight people, four of them children, according to Palestinian medics. The military said it had struck “terrorist targets” in a series of strikes.
On Wednesday, Israel said its forces recovered the body of one hostage who was captured alive during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, yet who Israel believes was killed by his captors. Israel believes about a third of the remaining 100 hostages are dead.
Israeli strikes on a Gaza tent camp kill at least 21 people, hospital says
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Israeli strikes on a Gaza tent camp kill at least 21 people, hospital says
- The strikes were the latest deadly assault in the war-wracked Gaza Strip, where Israel’s offensive against Hamas is nearly 14 months old and showing no end in sight
Historic decree seeks to end decades of marginalization of Syria’s Kurds
DAMASCUS/RIYADH: A decree issued by President Ahmad Al-Sharaa on Friday marks a historic end to decades of marginalization of Syria’s Kurdish minority and seeks to open a new chapter based on equality and full citizenship in post-liberation Syria.
The presidential action, officially known as Decree No. 13, affirms that Syrian Kurds are an integral part of the national fabric and that their cultural and linguistic identity constitutes an inseparable element of Syria’s inclusive, diverse, and unified national identity.
Al-Sharaa’s move seeks to address the consequences of outdated policies that distorted social bonds and divided citizens.
The decree for the first time grants Kurdish Syrians rights, including recognition of Kurdish identity as part of Syria’s national fabric. It designates Kurdish as a national language alongside Arabic and allows schools to teach it.
Al-Sharaa’s decree came after fierce clashes that broke out last week in the northern city of Aleppo, leaving at least 23 people dead, according to Syria’s health ministry, and forced more than 150,000 to flee the two Kurdish-run pockets of the city. The clashes ended after Kurdish fighters withdrew.
The Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), that controls the country’s northeast, have engaged in months of talks last year to integrate Kurdish-run military and civilian bodies into Syrian state institutions by the end of 2025, but there has been little progress.
The end of an era of exclusion
For more than half a century, Kurds in Syria were subjected to systematic discriminatory policies, most notably following the 1962 census in Hasakah Governorate, which stripped thousands of citizens of their nationality and deprived them of their most basic civil and political rights.
These policies intensified after the now-dissolved Baath Party seized power in 1963, particularly following the 1970 coup led by criminal Hafez al-Assad, entrenching a state of legal and cultural exclusion that persisted for 54 years.
With the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in March 2011, Syrian Kurds actively participated alongside other segments of society. However, the ousted regime exploited certain separatist parties, supplying them with weapons and support in an attempt to sow discord and fragment national unity.
Following victory and liberation, the state moved to correct this course by inviting the Kurdish community to fully integrate into state institutions. This approach was reflected in the signing of the “March 10 Agreement,” which marked an initial milestone on the path toward restoring rights and building a new Syria for all its citizens.
Addressing a sensitive issue through a national approach
Decree No. 13 offers a balanced legal and political response to one of the most sensitive issues in modern Syrian history. It not only restores rights long denied, but also redefines the relationship between the state and its Kurdish citizens, transforming it from one rooted in exclusion to one based on citizenship and partnership.
The decree shifts the Kurdish issue from a framework of conflict to a constitutional and legal context that guarantees meaningful participation without undermining the unity or territorial integrity of the state. It affirms that addressing the legitimate demands of certain segments strengthens, rather than weakens, the state by fostering equal citizenship, respecting cultural diversity, and embracing participatory governance within a single, centralized state.
Core provisions that restore dignity
The decree commits the state to protecting cultural and linguistic diversity, guaranteeing Kurdish citizens the right to preserve their heritage, develop their arts, and promote their mother tongue within the framework of national sovereignty. It recognizes the Kurdish language as a national language and permits its teaching in public and private schools in areas with significant Kurdish populations, either as an elective subject or as part of cultural and educational activities.
It also abolishes all laws and exceptional measures resulting from the 1962 Hasakah census, grants Syrian nationality to citizens of Kurdish origin residing in Syria, including those previously unregistered, and guarantees full equality in rights and duties. In recognition of its national symbolism as a celebration of renewal and fraternity, the decree designates Nowruz Day (21 March) as a paid official holiday throughout the Syrian Arab Republic.
A call for unity and participation
In a speech following the issuance of the decree, President Ahmad al-Sharaa addressed the Kurdish community, urging them not to be drawn into narratives of division and calling on them to return safely to full participation in building a single homeland that embraces all its people. He emphasized that Syria’s future will be built through cooperation and solidarity, not through division or isolation.
The decree presents a pioneering national model for engaging with diversity, grounded not in narrow identities but in inclusive citizenship, justice, and coexistence. The decree lays the foundations for a unified and strong Syria that respects all its components and safeguards its unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.
