Signature campaign for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan in Latin America

Many institutions, organisations and individuals in Latin America have launched a signature campaign for the freedom of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan.


ANF
BUENOS AIRES
Thursday, 14 November 2024

Following the call of several institutions, organisations and movements, including trade unions, feminist movements and political party representatives, a signature campaign was launched at the Latin American continental level within the framework of the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign launched globally in October 2023. The campaign was announced at a press conference at the CTA-Autonoma Centre in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.

Many MPs, representatives of women's movements, social movements and trade unions attended the conference, where all participants expressed their common demand to take action for the freedom of Öcalan



The organisations that attended the conference and presented messages are as follows: PTP-PCR (Partido del Trabajo y del Pueblo y Partido Comunista Revolucionario) – Party of Labour and People and Revolutionary Communist Party; MST (Movimiento Socialista de los Trabajadores) - Socialist Workers’ Movement; PTS (Partido de los Trabajadores Socialistas) - Socialist Workers’ Party; Partido Obrero - Labour Party; Izquierda Socialista - Socialist Left; Gremial de Abogados - Lawyers' Association; Feministas Abya Yala; APDH (Asamblea Permanente de DDHH) - Permanent Assembly for Human Rights; CTA-Autónoma; Liga por los Derechos del Hombre - League for Human Rights; Encuentro Militante Cachito Fukman - Cachito Fukman Militant Meeting; Asociación Americana de Juristas - American Association of Jurists; Poder Popular - People's Power; Pañuelos en Rebeldía- Scarves in Rebellion.

Leandro Albani made a presentation about the genocide policies against Kurds in four parts of Kurdistan and drew attention to the prison policies of the Iranian state and the death sentence against Kurdish activist Warisha Moradi. He also stated that the dirty war policy of the Turkish state continues in Rojava and that genocide policies are being implemented against the people by destroying civilian areas such as hospitals, schools and food stores.

Speaking on behalf of the Kurdish women's movement, Aida emphasised the importance of Abdullah Öcalan to the Kurdish people.

Felipe, who connected to the conference via Zoom on behalf of ADM, drew attention to the third world war in the Middle East and the strategic importance of the Kurdish people and their geography in the middle of this war.

The conference participants emphasised that mere words are not enough and that actions are important for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan.

82 organisations and 9 individuals from 10 countries participated in the signature campaign on its first day.

Sunken WWII destroyer USS Edsall discovered 82 years after Japanese battle


The USS Edsall, which was sunk during World War II with more than 200 servicemen on board, has been located at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, according to the U.S. Navy. The 314-foot destroyer was called the "dancing mouse" for erratic movements during its final battle with Japanese battleships

Nov. 12 (UPI) -- The wreckage of a U.S. warship, sunk by Japanese forces more than 80 years ago during World War II, has been found at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, according to the U.S. Navy.

The destroyer USS Edsall was located about 200 miles east of Christmas Island by the Royal Australian Navy. The warship was sunk off the coast of Australia on March 1, 1942, three months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. More than 200 servicemen were killed.
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The U.S. Embassy in Australia announced the USS Edsall's discovery Monday in a post on X, as the United States celebrated Veterans Day and Australia honored Remembrance Day.

On Remembrance Day in Australia and Veterans Day in the U.S., we honor those we have lost and those who have served.

Alongside @CN_Australia, Ambassador Kennedy thanks the @Australian_Navy for discovering USS Edsall, sunk off the coast of Australia during WWII. Lest We Forget. pic.twitter.com/haklYuHwQo— U.S. Embassy Australia (@USEmbAustralia) November 11, 2024

"Captain Joshua Nix and his crew fought valiantly, evading 1,400 shells from Japanese battleships and cruisers before being attacked by 26 carrier dive bombers, taking one fatal hit. There were no survivors," U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy said in a statement Monday as she commemorated the servicemen.

Nix's evasive actions to try to save the ship also were commended by the Japanese who said the Edsall performed like a "Japanese dancing mouse," an animal known for its erratic movements.

The Edsall, which was commissioned in 1919, was traveling alone south of Java in 1942, when it encountered the Japanese battleships. The Edsall had been escorting convoys between Australia and Indonesia.

While most of the ship's crew were lost in the sinking, it was revealed during war crimes trials that several survivors were picked up by the Japanese fleet and later executed.

"On behalf of the U.S. Navy, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Royal Australian Navy for locating the final resting place of the destroyer USS Edsall, lost in a valiant battle against the Imperial Japanese Navy in the early days of World War II," Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti wrote in a statement.

"The commanding officer of Edsall lived up to the U.S. Navy tenet, 'Don't give up the ship,' even when faced with overwhelming odds," Franchetti added.

"The wreck of this ship is a hallowed site, serving as a marker for the 185 U.S. Navy personnel and 31 U.S. Army Air Force pilots aboard at the time, almost all of whom were lost when Edsall succumbed to her battle damage."

While the Australian Navy discovered the wreckage in 2023, there had been no confirmation that it was the USS Edsall. Its staff used "advanced robotic and autonomous systems normally used for hydrographic survey capabilities to locate the USS Edsall on the seabed," according to Chief of Navy, Vice Adm. Mark Hammond.

"This Remembrance Day I am honored to acknowledge the role of the Royal Australian Navy in the discovery of the wreck of USS Edsall, a warship that holds a special place in our naval history," Hammond said.

"As we reflect on the legacy of the USS Edsall, we honor the sailors who faced tremendous challenges with bravery and determination. Their stories are an integral part of our shared maritime history and commitment to service," Hammond added.

"We honor their families and hope this discovery will be a reminder of the enduring respect and appreciation we have for their loved ones."

 

Minesweeper Burns and Capsizes Off Japan

Courtesy Fukuoka Coast Guard

Published Nov 10, 2024 9:01 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

On Sunday, a Japanese minesweeper caught fire and capsized off Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, leaving one crewmember injured and one missing. 

At about 1000 hours on Sunday, the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force minesweeper Ukushima departed the Shimonoseki Naval Base for a routine training cruise. At about 0940, a blaze broke out on board, initially reported as an engine room fire. Local television broadcasts from the scene showed smoke pouring from the ship's stacks and engine room vents. 

One crewmember, Petty Officer 3rd Class Tatsunori Koga, 33, was in the engine room at the time of the fire and remains missing. One additional crewmember suffered injuries from smoke inhalation and was evacuated for treatment.

 

Initial firefighting efforts appeared successful and the smoke from the stacks was much reduced, above (Fukuoka Coast Guard)

With assistance from another nearby minesweeper, the Toyoshima, the crew put out the fire. However, it soon reignited, and when it became clear that it would be unsafe to remain aboard, the remaining 36 crewmembers ceased firefighting efforts and evacuated safely to the Toyoshima.  

The Ukushima burned throughout the day, and several explosions were heard onboard. At a press conference at about 2030 hours, JMSDF Chief of Staff Adm. Akira Saito said that the wooden-hulled vessel could potentially sink if the fire continued unabated. 

 

 

Just after midnight, the Ukushima capsized, extinguishing the fire. The ship continued to gradually slip lower in the water through the night, and by 0700 hours on Monday, just the bow was visible above the water, according to NHK. 

 

 

At a press conference Sunday, Adm. Saito said that a board of inquiry would be set up to determine the cause of the fire. 

Ukushima was a Sugashima-class minesweeper built in 2003. Japan ordered 12 of these small vessels in the 1990s-2000s to fill a need for shallow-water minesweeping operations. They were constructed out of wood to reduce their magnetic signature; non-metallic hulls are common for vessels of this type. 

 

Philippine Coast Guard Triples Fleet With French and Japanese Newbuilds

The Mitsubishi-built, 97-meter cutter BRP Teresa Magbanua (PCG file image)

Published Nov 7, 2024 3:17 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

 

On Thursday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved an order for five 320-foot cutters for the Philippine Coast Guard, bringing the service's orderbook for new patrol vessels to a total of 49 hulls. The orders will roughly triple the service's number of cutters and patrol boats over 100 feet in length. 

The new series of large, oceangoing cutters will be built by a Japanese yard, with financial support from Japan's government. The order will significantly boost Manila's ability to ensure presence and law-enforcement capability in the Spratly Islands, where it regularly faces off with Chinese forces inside the Philippine exclusive economic zone. 

The shipbuilder for the five new 97-meter cutters was not named, but Mitsubishi Shipbuilding has previously delivered two oceangoing patrol vessels of the same size for the PCG, the BRP Teresa Magbanua and Melchora Aquino. Both have seen regular frontline service in the western Philippine Sea, confronting Chinese vessels and escorting outpost supply missions. 

The five-ship order comes hot on the heels of the announcement of a 40-vessel order for 100-foot fast patrol craft, financed by the French government. 20 of these boats will be built in the Philippines, bringing a significant new source of local jobs and business. In addition, France will be backing up the PCG by providing logistical support to sustain the new vessels. 

One likely contender for the project could be OCEA, a French shipbuilder that has pledged to invest in a new shipyard division in the Philippines. The company built the PCG's offshore patrol vessel BRP Gabriela Silang in 2020, and has also delivered four PCG fast patrol boats, BRP Boracay, Panglao, Malamawi and Kalanggaman. 

The value of the 40-boat deal comes to about $440 million, making it the largest single purchase in the Philippine Coast Guard's history, PCG chief Adm. Ronnie Gil Gavan told reporters Thursday. 

"It is a game-changer for us. It will enable the Philippine Coast Guard to have at least two patrol boats in every district, fast enough to reach edges of our socio-economic zone forms to enforce the laws," Adm. Gavan said. "In five years’ time we foresee that we will become the most respected and the most able coast guard [in Southeast Asia]."

Still wrecked from past Israeli raids, hospitals in northern Gaza come under attack again

ISABEL DEBRE, JULIA FRANKEL and LEE KEATH
Sat, November 2, 2024 

FILE - A Palestinian woman reacts over the body of a child as she sits by bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes on Jabaliya refugee camp, at the Indonesian hospital, northern Gaza Strip, Nov. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahmed Alarini, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE - A woman sits on a bed in a room of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Aug. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE - Israeli soldier shows the media an underground tunnel found underneath Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Nov. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE - Palestinian medics treat a wounded person using torchlights after running out of power at the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahiya during the ongoing bombardment of the northern Gaza Strip, Nov. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahmed Alarini, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE - Palestinians walk through the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on April 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS


JERUSALEM (AP) — They were built to be places of healing. But once again, three hospitals in northern Gaza are encircled by Israeli troops and under fire.

Bombardment is pounding around them as Israel wages a new offensive against Hamas fighters that it says have regrouped nearby. As staff scramble to treat waves of wounded, they remain haunted by a war that has seen hospitals targeted with an intensity and overtness rarely seen in modern warfare.

All three were besieged and raided by Israeli troops some 10 months ago. The Kamal Adwan, al-Awda and Indonesian hospitals still have not recovered from the damage, yet are the only hospitals even partially operational in the area.

Medical facilities often come under fire in wars, but combatants usually depict such incidents as accidental or exceptional, since hospitals enjoy special protection under international law. In its yearlong campaign in Gaza, Israel has stood out by carrying out an open campaign on hospitals, besieging and raiding at least 10 of them across the Gaza Strip, some several times, as well as hitting multiple others in strikes.

It has said this is a military necessity in its aim to destroy Hamas after the militants’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. It claims Hamas uses hospitals as “command and control bases” to plan attacks, to shelter fighters and to hide hostages. It argues that nullifies the protections for hospitals.

“If we intend to take down the military infrastructure in the north, we have to take down the philosophy of (using) the hospitals,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said of Hamas during an interview with The Associated Press in January after the first round of hospital raids.

Most prominently, Israel twice raided Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, the biggest medical facility in the strip, producing a video animation depicting it as a major Hamas base, though the evidence it presented remains disputed.

But the focus on Shifa has overshadowed raids on other facilities. The AP spent months gathering accounts of the raids on al-Awda, Indonesian and Kamal Adwan Hospitals, interviewing more than three dozen patients, witnesses and medical and humanitarian workers as well as Israeli officials.

It found that Israel has presented little or even no evidence of a significant Hamas presence in those cases. The AP presented a dossier listing the incidents reported by those it interviewed to the Israeli military spokesman’s office. The office said it could not comment on specific events.

Al-Awda Hospital: ‘A death sentence’

The Israeli military has never made any claims of a Hamas presence at al-Awda. When asked what intelligence led troops to besiege and raid the hospital last year, the military spokesman’s office did not reply.



In recent weeks, the hospital has been paralyzed once again, with Israeli troops fighting in nearby Jabalia refugee camp and no food, water or medical supplies entering areas of northern Gaza. Its director Mohammed Salha said last month that the facility was surrounded by troops and was unable to evacuate six critical patients. Staff were down to eating one meal a day, usually just a flat bread or a bit of rice, he said.

As war-wounded poured in, exhausted surgeons were struggling to treat them. No vascular surgeons or neurosurgeons remain north of Gaza City, so the doctors often resort to amputating shrapnel-shattered limbs to save lives.

“We are reliving the nightmares of November and December of last year, but worse,” Salha said. “We have fewer supplies, fewer doctors and less hope that anything will be done to stop this.”

The military, which did not respond to a specific request for comment on al-Awda hospital, says it takes all possible precautions to prevent civilian casualties.

Last year, fighting was raging around al-Awda when, on Nov. 21, a shell exploded in the facility's operating room. Dr. Mahmoud Abu Nujaila, two other doctors and a patient’s uncle died almost instantly, according to international charity Doctors Without Borders, which said it had informed the Israeli military of its coordinates.

Dr. Mohammed Obeid, Abu Nujaila’s colleague, recalled dodging shellfire inside the hospital complex. Israeli sniper fire killed a nurse and two janitors and wounded a surgeon, hospital officials said.

By Dec. 5, al-Awda was surrounded. For 18 days, coming or going became “a death sentence,” Obeid said.

Survivors and hospital administrators recounted at least four occasions when Israeli drones or snipers killed or badly wounded Palestinians trying to enter. Two women about to give birth were shot and bled to death in the street, staff said. Salha, the administrator, watched gunfire kill his cousin, Souma, and her 6-year-old son as she brought the boy for treatment of wounds.

Shaza al-Shuraim said labor pains left her no choice but to walk an hour to al-Awda to give birth. She, her mother-in-law and 16-year-old brother-in-law raised flags made of white blouses. “Civilians!” her mother-in-law, Khatam Sharir, kept shouting. Just outside the gate, a burst of gunfire answered, killing Sharir.

On Dec. 23, troops stormed the hospital, ordering men ages 15 to 65 to strip and undergo interrogation in the yard. Mazen Khalidi, whose infected right leg had been amputated, said nurses pleaded with soldiers to let him rest rather than join the blindfolded and handcuffed men outside. They refused, and he hobbled downstairs, his stump bleeding.

“The humiliation scared me more than death,” Khalidi said.

The hospital’s director, Ahmed Muhanna, was seized by Israeli troops; his whereabouts remain unknown. One of Gaza’s leading doctors, orthopedist Adnan al-Bursh, was also detained during the raid and died in Israeli custody in May.

In the wreckage from the November shelling, staff found a message that Abu Nujaila had written on a whiteboard in the previous weeks.

“Whoever stays until the end will tell the story,” it read in English. “We did what we could. Remember us.”

Indonesian Hospital: ‘Patients dying before your eyes’

Several blocks away, on Oct. 18, artillery hit the upper floors of Indonesian Hospital, staff said. People fled for their lives. They'd already been surrounded by Israeli troops, leaving doctors and patients inside without enough food, water and supplies.

“The bombing around us has increased. They’ve paralyzed us," said Edi Wahyudi, an Indonesian volunteer.

Two patients died because of a power outage and lack of supplies, said Muhannad Hadi, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Palestinian territories.

Tamer al-Kurd, a nurse at the hospital, said around 44 patients and only two doctors remain. He said he was so dehydrated he was starting to hallucinate. “People come to me to save them. … I can’t do that by myself, with two doctors,” he said in a voice message, his voice weak. “I’m tired.”

On Saturday, the Israeli military said it had facilitated the evacuation of 29 patients from Indonesian and al-Awda hospitals.

The Indonesian is Northern Gaza’s largest hospital. Today its top floors are charred, its walls pockmarked by shrapnel, its gates strewn with piled-up rubble — all the legacy of Israel's siege in the autumn of 2023.

Before the assault, the Israeli army claimed an underground command-and-control center lay beneath the hospital. It released blurry satellite images of what it said was a tunnel entrance in the yard and a rocket launchpad nearby, outside the hospital compound.

The Indonesia-based group that funds the hospital denied any Hamas presence. “If there’s a tunnel, we would know. We know this building because we built it brick by brick, layer by layer. It’s ridiculous,” Arief Rachman, a hospital manager from the Indonesia-based Medical Emergency Rescue Committee, told the AP last month.

After besieging and raiding the hospital, the military did not mention or show evidence of the underground facility or tunnels it had earlier claimed. When asked if any tunnels were found, the military spokesman's office did not reply.

It released images of two vehicles found in the compound — a pickup truck with military vests and a bloodstained car belonging to an abducted Israeli, suggesting he had been brought to the hospital on Oct. 7. Hamas has said it brought wounded hostages to hospitals for treatment.

During the siege, Israeli shelling crept closer and closer until, on Nov. 20, it hit the Indonesian’s second floor, killing 12 people and wounding dozens, according to staff. Israel said troops responded to “enemy fire” from the hospital but denied using shells.

Gunfire over the next days hit walls and whizzed through intensive care. Explosions sparked fires outside the hospital courtyard where some 1,000 displaced Palestinians sheltered, according to staff. The Israeli military denied targeting the hospital, although it acknowledged nearby bombardment may have damaged it.

For three weeks, wounded poured in — up to 500 a day to a facility with capacity for 200. Supplies hadn’t entered in weeks. Bloodstained linens piled up. Doctors, some working 24-hour shifts, ate a few dates a day. The discovery of moldy flour on Nov. 23 was almost thrilling.

Without medicines or ventilators, there was little doctors could do. Wounds became infected. Doctors said they performed dozens of amputations on infected limbs. Medics estimated a fifth of incoming patients died. At least 60 corpses lay in the courtyard. Others were buried beneath a nearby playground.

“To see patients dying before your eyes because you don’t have the ability to help them, you have to ask yourself: ‘Where is humanity?’” asked Dergham Abu Ibrahim, a volunteer.

Kamal Adwan: ‘This makes no sense’

Kamal Adwan Hospital, once a linchpin of northern Gaza’s health system, was burning on Thursday of last week.

Israeli shells crashed into the third floor, igniting a fire that destroyed medical supplies, according to the World Health Organization, which had delivered the equipment just days before. The artillery hit water tanks and damaged the dialysis unit, badly burning four medics who tried to extinguish the blaze, said the hospital’s director, Hossam Abu Safiya.

In videos pleading for help over the past weeks, Abu Safiya had fought to maintain his composure as Israeli forces surrounded the hospital. But last weekend, there were tears in his eyes.

“Everything we have built, they have burned,” he said, his voice cracking. “They burned our hearts. They killed my son.”

On Oct. 25, Israeli troops stormed the hospital after what an Israeli military official described as an intense fight with militants nearby. During the battle, Israeli fire targeted the hospital’s oxygen tanks because they “can be booby traps,” the official said.

Israeli forces withdrew after three days, during which Palestinian health officials said nearly all of Kamal Adwan's medical workers were detained, an Israeli drone killed at least one doctor and two children in intensive care died when generators stopped working.

Days later, a drone struck Abu Safiya’s son in nearby Jabalia. The 21-year-old had been wounded by Israeli snipers during the first military raid on Kamal Adwan last December. Now he is buried in the yard of the hospital, where just Abu Safiya and one other doctor remain to treat the dozens of wounded pouring in each day from new strikes in Jabalia.

The Israeli military said troops detained 100 people, some who were “posing as medical staff.” Soldiers stripped the men to check for weapons, the military said, before those deemed militants were sent to detention camps. The military claimed that the hospital was "fully operational, with all departments continuing to treat patients.” It released footage of several guns and an RPG launcher with several rounds it said it found inside the hospital.

Kamal Adwan staff say more than 30 medical personnel remain detained, including the head of nursing, who is employed by MedGlobal, an American organization that sends medical teams to disaster regions, and Dr. Mohammed Obeid, the surgeon employed by Doctors without Borders who previously worked at al-Awda Hospital and had moved to Kamal Adwan.

The turmoil echoed Israel’s nine-day siege of Kamal Adwan last December. On Dec. 12, soldiers entered and allowed police dogs to attack staff, patients and others, multiple witnesses said. Ahmed Atbail, a 36-year-old who had sought refuge at the hospital, said he saw a dog bite off one man’s finger.

Witnesses said the troops ordered boys and men, ranging from their mid-teens to 60, to line up outside crouched in the cold, blindfolded and nearly naked for hours of interrogation. “Every time someone lifted their heads, they were beaten,” said Mohammed al-Masri, a lawyer who was detained.

The military later published footage of men exiting the hospital. Al-Masri identified himself in the footage. He said soldiers staged the images, ordering men to lay down rifles belonging to the hospital guards as if they were militants surrendering. Israel said all photos released are authentic and that it apprehended dozens of suspected militants.

As they released some of the men after interrogation, soldiers fired on them as they tried to reenter the hospital, wounding five, three detainees said. Ahmed Abu Hajjaj recalled hearing bursts of gunfire as he made his way back in the dark. “I thought, this makes no sense — who would they be shooting at?”

Witnesses also said a bulldozer lumbered into the hospital compound, plowing into buildings. Abu Safiya, Abu Hajjaj and al-Masri described being held by soldiers inside the hospital as they heard people screaming outside.

After the soldiers withdrew, the men saw the bulldozer had crushed tents that previously sheltered some 2,500 people. Most of the displaced had evacuated, but Abu Safiya said he found bodies of four people crushed, with splints from recent treatment in the hospital still on their limbs.

Asked about the incident, the Israeli military spokesman’s office said: “Lies were spread on social media” about troops’ activities at the hospital. It said bodies were discovered that had been buried previously, unrelated to the military’s activities.

Later, the military said Hamas used the hospital as a command center but produced no evidence. It said soldiers uncovered weapons, but it showed footage only of a single pistol.

The hospital’s director, Dr. Ahmed al-Kahlout, remains in Israeli custody. The military released footage of him under interrogation saying he was a Hamas agent and that militants were based in the hospital. His colleagues said he spoke under duress.

The fallout

Hagari, the military spokesperson, said hospitals “provide a life of their own ... to the (Hamas) war system.” He said hospitals were linked to tunnels allowing fighters movement. “And when you take it, they have no way to move. Not from the south to the north.”

Despite often suggesting hospitals are linked to Hamas' underground networks, the military has shown only one tunnel shaft from all the hospitals it raided — one leading to Shifa's grounds.

In a report last month, a U.N. investigation commission determined that “Israel has implemented a concerted policy to destroy the health-care system of Gaza.” It described Israeli actions at hospitals as “collective punishment against the Palestinians in Gaza.”

Some patients now fear hospitals, refusing to go to them or leaving before treatment is complete. “They are places of death,” Ahmed al-Qamar, a 35-year-old economist in Jabalia refugee camp, said of his fear of taking his children to the hospital. “You can feel it.”

Zaher Sahloul, the president of MedGlobal who has also worked in Gaza during the war, said the sense of safety that should surround hospitals has been destroyed.

 

U.S. Navy Plans to Extend Service of its Oldest Destroyers Into the 2030s

USS Cole's service life will be extended by five years (USN file image)

Published Oct 31, 2024 11:15 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

 

The U.S. Navy has announced plans to briefly extend the service lives of 12 of its oldest Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The decision means that almost all of the Flight I Arleigh Burkes will stay in service for an extra one to five years, adding nearly 50 ship-years and nearly 1,100 vertical launch cells of missile capacity for naval planners into the mid-2030s. 

“Today’s budget constrained environment requires the Navy to make prioritized investments to keep more ready players on the field,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said. “The Navy is actively pulling the right levers to maintain and grow its battle force inventory to support the United States’ global interests in peace and to win decisively in conflict.”

In a statement, the service said that the decision was based on the material condition of each ship and the practicality of making repairs and upgrades. All of the covered vessels would be expected to age out of service in 2028-32.

The duration of planned life extension for each vessel varies from one year (USS Stethem and Carney) to three years (USS Barry and USS The Sullivans) to five (USS John Paul Jones, Curtis Wilbur, Stout, John S. McCain, Laboon, Paul Hamilton, Gonzalez and Cole). The service previously announced life extensions for USS Arleigh Burke, Mitscher, Milius, Ramage and Benfold. 

Notably missing from the life extension list are USS Russell and USS Fitzgerald, the only ships between DDG 51-69 that have not been named. The two newest Flight I hulls, USS Hopper and USS Ross, are also absent. 

The Flight I Arleigh Burkes date back to the 1990s, and they went through a midlife modernization refit beginning in 2010. During the newly-announced life extension, some might be candidates for additional bolt-on upgrades, like the canister-launched Naval Strike Missile.

The retention of the Flight I Arleigh Burkes will help to plug a much-discussed missile gap. Workforce, shipyard and design office delays have pushed the first Constellation-class frigate back by three years. Meanwhile, the long-serving Ticonderoga-class cruisers - which can carry up to 120 missiles each - are in deteriorating condition and will soon retire. The longest-serving Ticonderogas are nearly 40 years old, and the last few are scheduled to decommission by 2027.  

“Extending these highly-capable, well-maintained destroyers will further bolster our numbers as new construction warships join the Fleet,” Secretary of the Navy Del Toro said in a statement today. “It also speaks to their enduring role in projecting power globally, and most recently in the Red Sea, their proven ability to defend themselves, as well as our allies, partners and friends from missile and drone attacks.”

 

Blue Monday

Holidays and days of the week correlate with varying suicide risk globally

University of Tokyo

 

image: 

Locations of the 740 sites in 26 countries included in the study and the percentage of suicide counts on Mondays during the study period.

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Credit: ©2024 Lee, Kang, et al. CC-BY-ND

Researchers found suicide risk varies by day of the week and holiday, with certain days correlating to higher risk globally. They used data from 1971 to 2019 and from 740 locations in 26 countries, collected from the Multi-City Multi-Country Collaborative Research Network database to assess short term variations in suicide risk related to the day of the week and national holidays. They found Mondays and New Year’s Day universally correlated with elevated risk, whereas weekends and other public holidays, or the days after them, varied by region. These findings could help both individuals and mental health professionals.

Every year, millions of people the world over suffer the loss of someone due to suicide. In 2019 alone, over 700,000 lives were lost to suicide, according to the World Health Organization, and it ranks as the fourth-biggest killer amongst 15- to 29-year-olds, ahead of even malaria. The factors behind one’s reason for suicide are known to be various, ranging from individual to social factors. But it has also been known for some time that certain time patterns seem to affect suicide rates.

“Our study examines how the risk of suicide varies by day of the week and compares holidays, such as New Year’s Day, Christmas and national holidays, to regular days,” said Associate Professor Yoonhee Kim from the Department of Global Environmental Health at the University of Tokyo. “We found that Mondays and New Year's Day were associated with a higher risk of suicide in most countries, likely due to increased stress corresponding to the start of new cycles. However, the risk on Christmas was generally less pronounced and varied across regions. Other national holidays, aside from New Year's Day and Christmas, were generally linked to a lower risk of suicide.”

Previous studies on this very sensitive topic mainly focused on individual countries, and typically Western cultures. However, Kim and her team felt inspired to perform a study that compares results across global regions with different lifestyles and cultures using a consistent method — their logic being, by applying a consistent approach across multiple countries, it could provide clearer, more directly comparable results. For example, suicide risks were lower on weekends in many countries in North America, Asia and Europe, but increased in South and Central American countries, Finland and South Africa.

“We hypothesize this may be linked to differing weekend drinking cultures, though further studies are needed because other factors, such as religion and work conditions, might also play a role,” said Kim.

Although their findings provide novel scientific evidence from an international perspective, this is an observational study with several limitations. The team hopes further studies, including those more in depth and with broader interdisciplinary clinical aspects will be conducted to validate findings. The study also considers only a selection of locations within a selection of countries; but despite this, the results have important implications for suicide studies and relevant public health policies.

“We must be aware of temporal fluctuations in risk and pay close attention to them. This awareness is crucial not only for vulnerable populations, but also for those working in mental health services,” concluded Kim. “By recognizing periods of higher risk, such as around certain days of the week and holidays, both individuals and mental health professionals can take preventive actions, provide timely support and create a safer environment for the vulnerable.”

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Journal article:

Whanhee Lee, Cinoo Kang, Chaerin Park, Michelle L Bell, Ben Armstrong, Dominic Roye, Masahiro Hashizume, Antonio Gasparrini, Aurelio Tobias, Francesco Sera, Yasushi Honda, Aleš Urban, Jan Kyselý, Carmen Íñiguez, Niilo Ryti, Yuming Guo, Shilu Tong, Micheline de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coelho, Eric Lavigne, Francesca de'Donato, Yue Leon Guo, Joel Schwartz, Alexandra Schneider, Susanne Breitner, Yeonseung Chung, Sooin Kim, Eunhee Ha, Ho Kim, Yoonhee Kim, “Association of holidays and the day of the week with suicide risk: multicountry, two stage, time series study”, The BMJ, http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-077262

 

Useful links:
Department of Global Environmental Health
https://sites.google.com/m.u-tokyo.ac.jp/envhealth
Department of Global Health Policy
https://www.ghp.m.u-tokyo.ac.jp/
Graduate School of Medicine
https://www.m.u-tokyo.ac.jp/english/

Research contact:
Associate Professor Yoonhee Kim
Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo,
7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan
yoonheekim@m.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Press contact:
Mr. Rohan Mehra
Public Relations Group, The University of Tokyo,
7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan
press-releases.adm@gs.mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp

About The University of Tokyo:

The University of Tokyo is Japan's leading university and one of the world's top research universities. The vast research output of some 6,000 researchers is published in the world's top journals across the arts and sciences. Our vibrant student body of around 15,000 undergraduate and 15,000 graduate students includes over 4,000 international students. Find out more at www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/ or follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @UTokyo_News_en.

---

Journal

BMJ

DOI

10.1136/bmj-2024-077262 

Method of Research

Meta-analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Association of holidays and the day of the week with suicide risk: multicountry, two stage, time series study

US Navy apologizes for the 1882 obliteration of a Tlingit village in Alaska

It was Oct. 26, 1882, in Angoon, a Tlingit village of about 420 people in the southeastern Alaska panhandle. Now, 142 years later, the perpetrator of the bombardment — the U.S. Navy —has apologized.

MARK THIESSEN
Updated Sat, October 26, 2024 

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, Commander of Navy Region Northwest Rear Adm. Mark Sucato is gifted a canoe paddle by Leonard John, Raven Clan, Native Village of Angoon, following the One People Canoe Society's welcoming ceremony to kick off the annual Juneau Maritime Festival on May 4, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska.

 (Chief Mass Communication Spc. Gretchen Albrecht/U.S. Navy via AP)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Shells fell on the Alaska Native village as winter approached, and then sailors landed and burned what was left of homes, food caches and canoes. Conditions grew so dire in the following months that elders sacrificed their own lives to spare food for surviving children.

It was Oct. 26, 1882, in Angoon, a Tlingit village of about 420 people in the southeastern Alaska panhandle. Now, 142 years later, the perpetrator of the bombardment — the U.S. Navy —has apologized.

Rear Adm. Mark Sucato, the commander of the Navy's northwest region, issued the apology during an at-times emotional ceremony Saturday, the anniversary of the atrocity.

“The Navy recognizes the pain and suffering inflicted upon the Tlingit people, and we acknowledge these wrongful actions resulted in the loss of life, the loss of resources, the loss of culture, and created and inflicted intergenerational trauma on these clans,” he said during the ceremony, which was livestreamed from Angoon. “The Navy takes the significance of this action very, very seriously and knows an apology is long overdue.”

While the rebuilt Angoon received $90,000 in a settlement with the Department of Interior in 1973, village leaders have for decades sought an apology as well, beginning each yearly remembrance by asking three times, “Is there anyone here from the Navy to apologize?"

“You can imagine the generations of people that have died since 1882 that have wondered what had happened, why it happened, and wanted an apology of some sort, because in our minds, we didn’t do anything wrong,” said Daniel Johnson Jr., a tribal head in Angoon.

The attack was one of a series of conflicts between the American military and Alaska Natives in the years after the U.S. bought the territory from Russia in 1867. The U.S. Navy issued an apology last month for destroying the nearby village of Kake in 1869, and the Army has indicated that it plans to apologize for shelling Wrangell, also in southeast Alaska, that year, though no date has been set.

The Navy acknowledges the actions it undertook or ordered in Angoon and Kake caused deaths, a loss of resources and multigenerational trauma, Navy civilian spokesperson Julianne Leinenveber said in an email prior to the event.

“An apology is not only warranted, but long overdue,” she said.

Today, Angoon remains a quaint village of about 420 people, with colorful old homes and totem poles clustered on the west side of Admiralty Island, accessible by ferry or float plane, in the Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest. The residents are vastly outnumbered by brown bears, and the village in recent years has strived to foster its ecotourism industry. Bald eagles and humpback whales abound, and the salmon and halibut fishing is excellent.

Accounts vary as to what prompted its destruction, but they generally begin with the accidental death of a Tlingit shaman, Tith Klane. Klane was killed when a harpoon gun exploded on a whaling ship owned by his employer, the North West Trading Co.

The Navy's version says tribal members forced the vessel to shore, possibly took hostages and, in accordance with their customs, demanded 200 blankets in compensation.

The company declined to provide the blankets and ordered the Tlingits to return to work. Instead, in sorrow, they painted their faces with coal tar and tallow — something the company’s employees took as a precursor to an insurrection. The company’s superintendent then sought help from Naval Cmdr. E.C. Merriman, the top U.S. official in Alaska, saying a Tlingit uprising threatened the lives and property of white residents.

The Tlingit version contends the boat's crew, which included Tlingit members, likely remained with the vessel out of respect, planning to attend the funeral, and that no hostages were taken. Johnson said the tribe never would have demanded compensation so soon after the death.

Merriman arrived on Oct. 25 and insisted the tribe provide 400 blankets by noon the next day as punishment for disobedience. When the Tlingits turned over just 81, Merriman attacked, destroying 12 clan houses, smaller homes, canoes and the village’s food stores.

Six children died in the attack, and "there’s untold numbers of elderly and infants who died that winter of both cold, exposure and hunger,” Johnson said.

Billy Jones, Tith Klane’s nephew, was 13 when Angoon was destroyed. Around 1950, he recorded two interviews, and his account was later included in a booklet prepared for the 100th anniversary of the bombing in 1982.

“They left us homeless on the beach,” Jones said.

Rosita Worl, the president of Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau, described how some elders that winter “walked into the forest” — meaning they died, sacrificing themselves so the younger people would have more food.

Even though the Navy’s written history conflicts with the Tlingit oral tradition, the Navy defers to the tribe’s account “out of respect for the long-lasting impacts these tragic incidents had on the affected clans,” said Leinenveber, the Navy spokesperson.

Tlingit leaders were so stunned when Navy officials told them, during a Zoom call in May, that the apology would finally be forthcoming that no one spoke for five minutes, Johnson said.

Eunice James, of Juneau, a descendant of Tith Klane, said she hopes the apology helps her family and the entire community heal. She expects his presence at the ceremony.

 

U.S. Navy Sub Gets Public Award for Top-Secret Mission

USS Washington returns to Portsmouth, Sept. 2024 (USN)

Published Oct 22, 2024 7:44 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

 

The Navy has awarded a submarine crew a high-profile public commendation for a mission that it cannot disclose. USS Washington, a Virginia-class fast attack sub based in Norfolk, has been awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for long-endurance secret missions it carried out on a deployment to Europe. It is far from the first time that the Navy has celebrated the covert activities of the submarine force, which has racked up dozens of top honors for unspecified missions that usually - but not always - remain concealed in the depths. 

In a statement, the Navy gave hints about the circumstances and the importance of the intelligence operation, but not the location or the objectives. Vice Adm. Rob Gaucher, commander of Submarine Forces, said that Washington's crew entered high risk environments on "vital national level missions." 

They obtained "sensitive and unique intelligence information" over the course of three unusually long missions and 37,000 nautical miles of transit time. The sub set a new record for days on station for any East Coast sub deployment, thanks to careful husbanding of stores, and the crew stayed on task through "long periods without readily accessible support."

"The crew spent countless hours on training, maintenance, and certification," said Senior Chief Machinist’s Mate Austin Gilbert, Washington’s chief enlisted officer. "While deployed, their resiliency was crucial to their success."

The sub's area of operation was not explicitly disclosed, but it called at Faslane and again at Grotsund, a fjord near Tromso in Norway's Arctic north. USS Washington was also awarded the new Arctic Service Medal for "exceptional service and dedication during operations in the strategic Arctic region."

The "silent service" has racked up many Presidential Unit Citations over the years, and a famous intelligence-gathering sub holds the service-wide record. USS Parche, the most decorated vessel in Navy history, racked up 10 of them over 30 years in service (along with dozens of other awards). Parche was one of several heavily-modified attack subs outfitted to wiretap Soviet subsea cables, a task she famously performed within Russian territorial waters in the Sea of Okhotsk.

Two peacekeepers injured as Israel attacks UN base in Lebanon

The casualties in the latest attack bring the v! 6 total figure to 2,169 killed and 10,212  wounded over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon

UN Peacekeepers (PHOTO CREDIT: Aljazeera)

byKabir Yusuf
October 10, 2024

The United Nations (UN) has warned of a humanitarian law breach after two peacekeepers were injured when Israel attacked a UN base in southern Lebanon.

Israeli forces have “repeatedly hit” UN positions in the last 24 hours, including “deliberately” firing at security cameras, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said.

UNIFIL said, “Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law”, adding that it was following up with the Israeli military.

Also, in the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes on central Beirut on Thursday night, Lebanon’s health ministry said 22 people were killed and 117 others injured.
Rescue efforts are still ongoing, the Lebanese ministry said.

One of the strikes hit the lower half of an eight-story apartment building in the area of Ras al-Nabaa, according to the Guardian.

The second strike, in the area of Burj Abi Haidar, collapsed an entire building, which was engulfed in flames.

There was no immediate statement from the Israeli military, which has launched frequent strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs in recent weeks.

Also on Thursday, Hezbollah said it had fired a missile salvo at Israeli forces as they were trying to pull casualties out of the Ras al-Naqoura area, and they were directly hit.

Earlier, the Israeli military confirmed its troops opened fire in the area of the UN peacekeeping mission’s base in southern Lebanon. In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Hezbollah fighters operate from within and near civilian areas in southern Lebanon, including areas near UNIFIL posts.

Israel then issued a “recommendation” advising UNIFIL to move north. Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, said in a statement reported by Reuters: “Our recommendation is that Unifil relocate 5 km (3 miles) north to avoid danger as fighting intensifies and while the situation along the Blue Line remains volatile as a result of Hezbollah’s aggression.”

He added that Israel “has no desire to be in Lebanon, but it will do what is necessary” to force Hezbollah away from its northern border, so that its 70,000 residents can return to their homes in northern Israel.

The casualties in the latest attack bring the total figure to 2,169 killed and 10,212 wounded over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, AP reported.

The report also recorded 61 airstrikes and incidents of shelling in the past day, mostly concentrated in southern Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut and the Bekaa Valley.

READ ALSO: Israeli Attack: Nigerian govt advises citizens to leave Lebanon

About 1,000 centres – including educational complexes, vocational institutes, universities and other institutions – are sheltering 186,400 people displaced by the Israeli offensive in Lebanon, the report said.

Among these shelters, 822 have reached full capacity. Overall, the total number of displaced individuals in Lebanon stands at 1.2 million.

Global outcry against Israeli fire on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

In response to the recent Israeli fire on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, which resulted in injuries to two personnel, global leaders have expressed outrage and called for accountability.


UN peacekeepers are present in south Lebanon to support a return to stability under a 2006 Security Council mandate.

 / Photo: AA


UN peacekeepers in Lebanon said Israeli fire on their headquarters in the south left two Blue Helmets injured, as they accused Israel of "repeatedly" hitting their positions.


"This morning, two peacekeepers were injured after an IDF Merkava tank fired its weapon toward an observation tower at UNIFIL's headquarters in Naqura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall," the mission said, using an acronym for the Israeli military.

UN peacekeepers are present in south Lebanon to support a return to stability under a 2006 Security Council mandate. Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of Security Council resolution 1701.


Here are some of the reactions to Israel's recent attack:

Türkiye

Türkiye has condemned Israel’s attacks targeting the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

"Israel's attack on UN forces, following its massacres of civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, is a manifestation of its perception that its crimes go unpunished . The international community is obligated to ensure that Israel abides by international law," a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

The statement said Türkiye contributes to UNIFIL's Maritime Task Force with one corvette/frigate and five personnel stationed at the UN force’s headquarters.

It added that Türkiye will continue to bolster all initiatives that aim to foster peace in the region in line with international law.


EU

The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell has condemned Israel's "inadmissible act, for which there is no justification,” adding that another "line has been dangerously crossed in Lebanon.”

“The EU reiterates its full support to UNIFIL, to its UNSC-mandated mission & its troops,” he added.


Finland

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo strongly reacted to Israel's military attacks, describing the firing at the UN troops as “highly condemnable,” and calling for a thorough investigation, national broadcaster Yle reported.

“The case is very serious,” he was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.


Italy


Italy summoned the Israeli envoy to Rome because of the shelling of UN troops in southern Lebanon, according to a statement by the prime minister’s office.


“The Italian Government has formally protested to the Israeli authorities and has firmly reiterated that what is happening near the UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon) contingent base is unacceptable. In this regard, the government, through the Defense Minister (Guido Crosetto) has summoned the Ambassador of Israel to Italy,” according to the statement.


It noted Italian contributions to efforts to stabilise the region, in line with the UN mandate and reiterated the fundamental role of UNIFIL in southern Lebanon, saying the country continues to work to stop the hostilities and a de-escalation of the region.


Netherlands


The Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof expressed "great concern" over the escalation in the Middle East and called for a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Together with international partners, the Netherlands will continue to press for a diplomatic solution, Schoof pledged.

"A ceasefire and full implementation of the relevant UN resolutions – including the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, such as Hezbollah – is necessary for the security and stability of the region," Schoof said, adding that "Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel must stop."


Spain

Spain also strongly condemned the Israeli shots that have hit the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqura.

Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the country demands the parties respect UNIFIL troops and that their safety must be guaranteed.

"Attacks on peacekeeping operations are a very serious violation of International Humanitarian Law and Security Council Resolution 1701," it said.


Ireland


Ireland's taoiseach (prime minister) said he was "deeply concerned" by reports that Israel's attack, saying: "Firing on peacekeepers can never be tolerated or acceptable. The Blue Helmet worn by UN peacekeepers must be sacrosanct."

At least 22 killed in airstrikes in central Beirut, with Israel also firing on UN peacekeepers

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli airstrikes hit different areas of central Beirut on Thursday evening, killing at least 22 people, Lebanon’s health ministry said, leaving two neighborhoods smoldering and further escalating Israel’s bloody conflict with Iran-bac

Bilal Hussein, Wafaa Shurafa And Samy Magdy,
The Associated Press

A man uses his mobile phone as flames and smoke rise at the scene of buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli airstrikes hit different areas of central Beirut on Thursday evening, killing at least 22 people, Lebanon’s health ministry said, leaving two neighborhoods smoldering and further escalating Israel’s bloody conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

The air raid on central Beirut — the deadliest in over a year of war — apparently targeted two residential buildings in separate neighborhoods simultaneously, according to an AP photographer at the scene. It brought down one eight-story building and wiped out the lower floors of the other.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported strikes. Israeli airstrikes have been far more common in Beirut’s tightly packed southern suburbs, where Hezbollah bases many of its operations.

After the strikes, Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV reported that an attempt to kill Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the group, had failed. It said that Safa had not been inside of either of the targeted buildings.

Thursday's strikes followed a year of tit-for-tat exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel that boiled over into all-out war in recent weeks, with Israel carrying out waves of heavy strikes across Lebanon and launching a ground invasion. Hezbollah has expanded its rocket fire to more populated areas deeper inside Israel, causing few casualties but disrupting daily life.

The attack came the same day as Israeli forces fired on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon and wounded two of them, drawing widespread condemnation and prompting Italy's Defense Ministry to summon Israel’s ambassador in protest.

Israeli strikes hit central Beirut

Witnesses reported a large number of ambulances and people gathering in the rubble of two Beirut sites that were hit, in the Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood and Burj Abi Haidar area.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said 22 people were killed and 117 others wounded, without elaborating on their identities. Recent Israeli airstrikes in neighborhoods adjoining Beirut, in particular the densely populated southern suburbs, have killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and other senior commanders.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in support of Hamas and the Palestinians, drawing Israeli airstrikes in retaliation.

Hezbollah kept up rocket fire into Israel on Thursday, setting off air raid sirens in parts of northern Israel. Several drones heading toward Israel were intercepted, the military said.

Iran — which supports Hamas, Hezbollah and other armed groups across the region — launched some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel last week in retaliation for the killing of top Hamas and Hezbollah militants.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday that its response to the Iranian missile attack will be “lethal” and “surprising,” without providing further details, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with President Joe Biden.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Israel’s security cabinet would convene Thursday night to discuss the country’s response.

Before the latest Beirut strikes, Lebanon’s crisis response unit said Israeli attacks over the past day had killed 28 people, bringing the total to 2,169 killed in Lebanon since the war erupted last October.

Hezbollah attacks have killed 28 civilians in northern Israel since the war began, as well as 39 Israeli soldiers, both in northern Israel since October 2023 and in southern Lebanon since Israel launched its ground invasion on Sept. 30. Israel says the invasion, so far focused on a narrow strip along the border, aims to push militants back so that tens of thousands of Israelis can return to their homes in the north.

UN peacekeepers caught in intensified fighting in Lebanon

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said in a statement that its headquarters and positions “have been repeatedly hit" by Israeli forces.

It said an Israeli tank “directly” fired on an observation tower at the force’s headquarters in the town of Naqoura, Lebanon, and that soldiers had attacked a bunker near where peacekeepers were sheltering, damaging vehicles and a communication system. It said an Israeli drone was seen flying to the bunker’s entrance.

The two UNIFIL troops wounded in the attacks and hospitalized are Indonesian, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.

The Israeli military acknowledged opening fire at a U.N. base in southern Lebanon on Thursday and said it had ordered the peacekeepers to “remain in protected spaces.”

Later Thursday, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said 300 peacekeepers in frontline positions on southern Lebanon’s border have been temporarily moved to larger bases, and plans to move another 200 will depend on security conditions as the conflict escalates. Jean-Pierre Lacroix told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that peacekeepers with UNIFIL are staying in their positions, but because of air and ground attacks they cannot conduct patrols.

UNIFIL, which has more than 10,000 peacekeepers from dozens of countries, was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion. The United Nations expanded its mission following the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, allowing peacekeepers to patrol a buffer zone set up along the border.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of establishing militant infrastructure along the border in violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, sharply condemned Israeli strikes that hit UNIFIL positions as “an inadmissible act, for which there is no justification.”

From Italy, which has about 1,000 soldiers deployed as part of UNIFIL, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto went further, claimed Israel deliberately targeted the UNIFIL base in southern Lebanon in strikes that “could constitute war crimes.”

Several other countries, including France, Spain and Jordan, also denounced the Israeli attacks.

The U.N. peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said last week that peacekeepers would stay in their positions on Lebanon’s southern border despite Israel’s request to vacate areas before it launched its ground operation against Hezbollah.

Crosetto added: “The U.N. and Italy cannot accept orders from the Israeli government."

Aid group says staff killed in strike on school

Even as attention has shifted to Israel’s close combat with Hezbollah in Lebanon and rising tensions with Iran, Israel has continued to strike at what it says are Palestinian militant targets across the Gaza Strip.

Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza killed at least 27 people, Palestinian medical officials said. The Israeli military said it targeted Palestinian militants, but people sheltering there said the strike hit a meeting of aid workers.

The dead included a child and seven women, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were brought. An Associated Press reporter saw ambulances streaming into the hospital and counted the bodies, many of which arrived in pieces.

The Israeli military said it targeted a militant center inside the school, without providing evidence. Israel has repeatedly attacked schools that were turned into shelters in Gaza, accusing militants of taking cover in them.

“There were no militants. There was no Hamas,” said Iftikhar Hamouda, who had fled from northern Gaza earlier in the war.

“We headed to tents. They bombed the tents ... In the streets, they bombed us. In the markets, they bombed us. In the schools, they bombed us,” she said. “Where should we go?”

Israel's offensive in Gaza started after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, when militants stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not specify between militants and civilians. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

___

Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Magdy reported from Cairo. Edith Lederer contributed from New York.

___

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.

Bilal Hussein, Wafaa Shurafa And Samy Magdy, The Associated Press

Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon could be 'war crimes,': Italy's defense chief

'These are extremely serious violations of the norms of international law, not justified by any military reason,' says Guido Crosetto

Burak Bir |11.10.2024 -

The 120-kilometer-long Blue Line border between Israel and Lebanon

LONDON

Italy's defense minister said Thursday that Israeli army fire on the positions of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon could be “war crimes,” adding there could be no justification for it.

"The hostile acts carried out and repeated by the Israeli forces could constitute war crimes," Guido Crosetto said at a news conference in Rome.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said earlier that its headquarters in Naqoura and other sites have been repeatedly shelled by Israeli forces, leaving two peacekeepers injured.

Earlier Thursday, Crosetto summoned the Israeli ambassador to Italy because of the "unacceptable" attack.

"These are extremely serious violations of the norms of international law, not justified by any military reason," Crosetto noted, reported by Italian news agency, ANSA.

Crosetto said he told the Israeli ambassador that Italy "cannot take orders from the Israeli government."

Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,323 people, injuring over 3,700 others, and displacing more than 1.2 million.

The aerial campaign is an escalation in a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Tel Aviv’s brutal offensive against the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 42,000 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching a ground invasion into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1.

UN bases in Lebanon hit by artillery more than 100 times in past year, official says

Israeli forces have asked U.N. peacekeepers to withdraw.

ByDavid Brennan
October 10, 2024

Spanish peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) coordinate their patrol with 
-/AFP via Getty Images

ABC News correspondent Patrick Reevell has the latest from the war in the Middle East.

LONDON -- United Nations peacekeeping bases in southern Lebanon have been hit by artillery fire around 100 times since the cross-border war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group began in October 2023, an official with the mission said.

Some of the U.N. bases hit have sustained damage within the compounds, Andrea Tenenti, the spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, told ABC News shortly before the mission said two of its peacekeepers were injured by Israeli firing on Thursday.

UNIFIL said in a statement that the IDF fired on three bases in southern Lebanon. The attacks included tank fire on an observation tower at the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura which injured two peacekeepers. "Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law," UNIFIL said.

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement to ABC News that it instructed UNIFIL troops to "remain in protected spaces" during their operation in Naqoura, "following which the forces opened fire in the area." The unit did not comment on the two injured UNIFIL peacekeepers. Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the U.N., suggested Thursday that UNIFIL troops should move around 3 miles north from their current positions "to avoid danger as fighting intensifies and while the situation along the Blue Line remains volatile as a result of Hezbollah's aggression."

The security situation is "really concerning" for the 2,000 or so U.N. personnel deployed to the south of the country, Tenenti said, with nearby fighting between Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah troops near-constant.

U.N. commanders are in contact with both the IDF and Hezbollah, but Tenenti said they do not always receive advance warning of attacks.


An Israeli army tank is transported amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in northern Is...Show more
Ammar Awad/Reuters

"We don't always receive information about shelling," he said. "At the moment, it's ongoing. As for the last few days, the level of alert has been very high."

The IDF did not respond to an ABC News' request for comment. IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said this month that Lebanon and UNIFIL have "failed to enforce" a 2006 United Nations Security Council resolution prohibiting Hezbollah's presence in southern Lebanon.

Tenenti said that for the last 48 hours UNIFIL troops have been at their highest of three alert levels. "Level 3 means that you're inside bunkers, you sleep inside the bunkers," he said. "You have to wear protection 24/7, so it's not easy."

Level three reflects "active shelling," he added. "For the last 48 hours, most of the areas in the south of Lebanon in our compounds have been at Level 3."

In Lebanon's no man's land

U.N. troops have been active in Lebanon since 1978, when the U.N. Security Council created UNIFIL to confirm Israel's withdrawal from the area and help Beirut reestablish control.

Since 2006, UNIFIL has been tasked with monitoring the cessation of cross-border hostilities following the last significant cross-border conflict between the IDF and Hezbollah and supporting the planned -- but ultimately unrealized -- Hezbollah withdrawal from the area and the redeployment of the Lebanese Army in its place. That plan was set out by U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.

Israel's nascent military operation into southern Lebanon came after almost a year of cross-border fire. Hezbollah began new attacks on Oct. 8, 2023, in support of Hamas' attack a day earlier in southern Israel.


This combination created on Oct. 9, 2024 of two Planet Labs PBC satellite pictures show the arrival of militar...Show more
-/Planet Labs PBC/AFP via Getty Images

Hezbollah rockets and drones prompted tens of thousands of Israelis to flee border regions. Their safe return has become a prime war goal for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his government and his political rivals.

UNIFIL is present at 29 positions within around 3 miles of the Israel-Lebanon border, or "Blue Line." Those positions are manned by around 2,000 troops, with the total UNIFIL in-country strength made up of 10,400 personnel drawn from 50 countries.

Advancing Israeli forces asked UNIFIL troops to abandon their positions, but commanders refused. Tenenti said the requests have stopped, though Israeli officials continue to warn that they cannot guarantee the safety of peacekeepers in the area.

"It's important to have the U.N. flag flying close to the Blue Line and our area of operations," Tenenti said. "But definitely the situation now is way more challenging because of the intensity of the shelling, of the bombing that is not only daily, but continuously."

IDF troops and tanks have been fighting right outside the gates of at least one UNIFIL compound. Israeli forces were "a few meters away" from Irish peacekeepers at the Maroun al-Ras compound in southwest Lebanon this week, Tenenti said.

"I understand that some of the IDF troops left the area close to Maroun al-Ras where the Irish troops are positioned, but it's still a concern for all the other contingents and all the other positions along the line," he said.

Their presence, he added, endangers U.N. troops, undermines UNIFIL's ability to enforce its mission and limits its efforts to assist local communities facing evacuation orders and massive Israeli bombardment.

UNIFIL troops are helping those they can, Tenenti said. "I understand that just now we were able to provide water to some of the villages close to the Blue Line," he said. "We are hoping that this will continue, and not only continue but increase."

UNIFIL is also pressing for "humanitarian corridors" and safe access for the Lebanese Red Cross and U.N. agencies to enter into some of the villages, Tenenti added.

Most U.N. positions are prepared with at least two weeks of supplies, Tenenti said, meaning supply missions through the battlefield are required. "So far, we have been able to resupply all the bases, all the positions, whenever there was a need," he said.

UNIFIL commanders inform both sides of planned supply runs, he added. Sometimes one or both sides will warn against the plans. "But on other occasions, we have no response at all. And that's very dangerous," Tenenti said.

Meanwhile, Israel's ground incursion continues to expand under the cover of punishing air and artillery strikes. The IDF's ultimate goals remain unclear.

"The situation is changing by the minute, and so far, the advance is still not too far from the Blue Line," Tenenti said. "Things are changing very, very fast."

ABC News' Camilla Alcini and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.