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Israel targets Gaza tunnels, Palestinian rocket attacks persist

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Israel fired artillery and mounted extensive air strikes on Friday against a network of Palestinian militant tunnels under Gaza, amid persistent rocket attacks on Israeli towns.

The largest Israeli operation against a specific target since the conflict began included 160 aircraft as well as tanks and artillery firing from outside the Gaza Strip, Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said.

Rocket barrages against southern Israel swiftly followed the 40-minute pre-dawn offensive on the fifth day of the most serious fighting between Israel and Gaza militants since 2014.

A woman and her three children were killed in Gaza, health officials in the north of the enclave said, and their bodies were recovered from the rubble of their home. An elderly woman in Israel died while on her way to a shelter to shield from the rocket attacks.

Gaza’s ruling Hamas group launched the rocket attacks at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in retaliation for Israeli police clashes with Palestinians near Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

At least 119 people have been killed in Gaza, including 31 children and 19 women, and 830 others wounded, Palestinian medical officials said.

The death toll in Israel stood at eight: a soldier patrolling the Gaza border, six Israeli civilians – including two children – and an Indian worker, Israeli authorities said.

The head of the International Criminal Court warned that individuals involved in the bloodshed may be targeted by its investigation into alleged war crimes in earlier bouts of the conflict.

In northern and eastern parts of Gaza, the sound of artillery fire and explosions echoed early on Friday.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said there were reports of more than 200 housing units destroyed or severely damaged and hundreds of people seeking shelter in schools in northern Gaza.

Israel says it makes every effort to preserve civilian life, including warning in advance of attacks.

“What we were targeting is an elaborate system of tunnels that spans underneath Gaza, mostly in the north but not limited to, and is a network that the operatives of Hamas use in order to move, in order to hide, for cover,” Conricus told foreign reporters.

“We refer to (it) as the Metro,” he said, adding that a final assessment on the outcome of the operation was pending.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday the campaign “will take more time”. Israeli officials said Hamas, Gaza’s most powerful Islamist militant group, must be dealt a strong deterring blow before any ceasefire.

U.S. President Joe Biden called on Thursday for a de-escalation of the violence, saying he wanted to see a significant reduction in rocket attacks.

TENSIONS IN ISRAEL

The hostilities have fuelled tension between Israeli Jews and the country’s 21% Arab minority. Violence continued in mixed communities overnight after street fighting and tit-for-tat attacks that prompted Israel’s president to warn of civil war.

“They say Gaza is spiraling out of control, but what is happening here scares me more,” said Majd Abado, an Arab resident of the mixed city of Acre, where people from both communities said they were afraid to leave their homes.

Israel’s military said a Palestinian tried to stab a soldier near the West Bank city of Ramallah. The soldier shot the attacker. Palestinian health officials said the man was killed.

The Israeli military’s build-up of forces on the Gaza border has raised speculation about a possible repeat of ground invasions during the Israel-Gaza wars in 2014 and 2009. But an incursion looked unlikely, given Israel’s reluctance to risk a sharp increase in military casualties on Hamas turf.

The U.N. Security Council will publicly discuss the worsening violence on Sunday, diplomats said after the United States had objected to a meeting on Friday.

Truce efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations had yet to deliver a sign of progress.

The Israeli military has put the number of militants killed in Israeli attacks at between 80 and 90. It said that so far, some 1,800 rockets have been fired at Israel, of which 430 fell short in Gaza or malfunctioned.

On the Israeli political front, Netanyahu’s chances to remain in power after an inconclusive March 23 election appeared to improve significantly after his main rival, centrist Yair Lapid, suffered a major setback in efforts to form a government.

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Pakistani PM urges IEA to rein in terrorist groups

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Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that it’s a sad reality that the soil of neighbouring Afghanistan is being used for terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.

“Afghanistan is our brotherly country and the two countries are neighbours by nature. We have to live as good neighbours. It’s up to us how we live cordially and in a friendly way. We have asked the Afghan interim government several times that the Afghan soil should not be used as per the Doha agreement against Pakistan and its interests,” Shehbaz told the media during his visit to London, Geo News reported on Sunday.

“Sadly, terror groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) and other terror groups are operating from Afghanistan. They have killed innocent people inside Pakistan. These sacrifices of Pakistanis will not go in vain. My advice to Afghanistan is to rein in these terrorist groups.”

Pakistani officials have repeatedly claimed that Afghan soil is being used in attacks against Pakistan.

The Islamic Emirate, however, has denied the allegations, saying Afghanistan is not responsible for Pakistan’s “security failure”.

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Pakistan’s Punjab CM calls for ‘human response’ to Afghan girls’ education ban

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Maryam Nawaz, the chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province, on Saturday expressed regret over the educational restrictions on girls in Afghanistan, calling on the international community to address the issue.

Speaking at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey, Maryam stressed that no society progresses without investing in the welfare of women and children.

“Innocent children lie under the rubble in Palestine. Girls in Afghanistan are denied access to schools. The children of Kashmir are victims of oppression. In Sudan, they walk miles for food. These are not isolated issues—they demand collective human response,” she said.

The Islamic Emirate has suspended education of girls beyond sixth grade.

This policy has been widely criticised internationally.

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IEA Supreme Leader defends public executions, says its as ‘part of Islam’

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The Supreme Leader of the islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) Hibatullah Akhundzada has defended public executions and said these are an integral part of Islam.

In a voice clip reportedly taped during a speech at a seminar for Hajj instructors in Kandahar on Saturday, Akhundzada said: “We must carry out disciplinary measures, perform prayers and acts of worship. We must enter Islam completely. Islam is not just limited to a few rituals; it is a comprehensive system of all divine commands.”

Not a single command of Islam should be left unfulfilled, he is heard saying on the voice clip, which was posted to X by the IEA’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

God had commanded people to pray and to enforce his punishments, said Akhundzada, adding that the IEA did not wage war for power or wealth but rather to “implement Islamic law”. He rejected criticism of the executions.

This comes after widespread condemnation following the execution by firing squad on Friday of four men convicted of murder.

Akhundzada has previously rejected the need for Western laws in Afghanistan.

He said Saturday: “Yesterday, executions were carried out. You saw how much protest was raised in the world, and said that they [IEA] kill people, that they are oppressors, that they terrorize people. They call this terror; they call this against Sharia; but this is a Sharia order to take revenge. One order is to implement the orders of Allah. One order is to impose punishments,” said Akhundzada.
He added that the Islamic Emirate is facing a great test but they will not bargain with the world over Islam, religion, and the Prophet (PBUH).

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