ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday condemned a raid by the Israeli military that killed 10 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, calling for a “concrete plan” to rebuild Gaza following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Gunfire and explosions rocked the Jenin refugee camp on Wednesday as the Israeli military continued its large-scale raid for a second day, the AFP news agency reported.
The operation, launched just days after a ceasefire paused more than a year of Israel’s war in Gaza, has killed at least 10 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Israeli officials have said the raid is part of a broader campaign against militants in the West Bank, citing thousands of attack attempts since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.
“[We] unequivocally condemn the latest Israeli raid in the Jenin refugee camp of the West Bank, resulting in killing of ten Palestinians,” Shafqat Ali Khan, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Office, said at a media briefing in Islamabad.
“Such actions potentially undermine the precarious ceasefire in Gaza and international community should take note of it.”
Israeli officials have said the raid is part of a broader campaign against militants in the West Bank. The operation has raised fears of a return of fighting and chaos to occupied Palestinian territories, undermining chances of peace in the region.
Khan said the ceasefire in Gaza was a “milestone” that was achieved through a patient and persistent mediatory role of Egypt, Qatar and the United States.
“We urge the international community to develop a concrete plan for reconstruction of Gaza in line with UNSC [United Nations Security Council] resolutions,” he told reporters.
“We call for accountability of Israeli crimes committed in this brutal war, describing it as an essential element in restoring international legitimacy.”
Israel launched the war on Gaza soon after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas on Israel, killing more than 47,000 Palestinians and laying waste to large swathes of the territory.
Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters.”
The South Asian country has dispatched several relief consignments for Gaza, besides establishing the ‘Prime Minister’s Relief Fund’ that aims to collect public donations for the war-affected people.
Pakistan condemns Israeli raid in West Bank, calls for ‘concrete plan’ for Gaza’s reconstruction
https://arab.news/26ft8
Pakistan condemns Israeli raid in West Bank, calls for ‘concrete plan’ for Gaza’s reconstruction
- Gunfire, explosions rocked the Jenin refugee camp on Wednesday as the Israeli military continued its large-scale raid
- The operation in the West Bank was launched just days after a ceasefire paused more than a year of Israel’s war in Gaza
No casualties as blast derails Jaffar Express train in Pakistan’s south
- Passengers were stranded and railway staffers were clearing the track after blast, official says
- In March 2025, separatist militants hijacked the same train with hundreds of passengers aboard
QUETTA: A blast hit Jaffar Express and derailed four carriages of the passenger train in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province on Monday, officials said, with no casualties reported.
The blast occurred at the Abad railway station when the Peshawar-bound train was on its way to Sindh’s Sukkur city from Quetta, according to Pakistan Railways’ Quetta Division controller Muhammad Kashif.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bomb attack, but passenger trains have often been targeted by Baloch separatist outfits in the restive Balochistan province that borders Sindh.
“Four bogies of the train were derailed due to the intensity of the explosion,” Kashif told Arab News. “No casualty was reported in the latest attack on passenger train.”
Another railway employee, who was aboard the train and requested anonymity, said the train was heading toward Sukkur from Jacobabad when they heard the powerful explosion, which derailed power van among four bogies.
“A small piece of the railway track has been destroyed,” he said, adding that passengers were now standing outside the train and railway staffers were busy clearing the track.
In March last year, fighters belonging to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) separatist group had stormed Jaffar Express with hundreds of passengers on board and took them hostage. The military had rescued them after an hours-long operation that left 33 militants, 23 soldiers, three railway staff and five passengers dead.
The passenger train, which runs between Balochistan’s provincial capital of Quetta and Peshawar in the country’s northwest, had been targeted in at least four bomb attacks last year since the March hijacking, according to an Arab News tally.
Pakistan Railways says it has beefed up security arrangements for passenger trains in the province and increased the number of paramilitary troops on Jaffar Express since the hijacking in March, but militants have continued to target them in the restive region.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s southwestern province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, is the site of a decades-long insurgency waged by Baloch separatist groups who often attack security forces and foreigners, and kidnap government officials.
The separatists accuse the central government of stealing the region’s resources to fund development elsewhere in the country. The Pakistani government denies the allegations and says it is working for the uplift of local communities in Balochistan.
