GENEVA: The massive Hamas attack on Israel cannot justify the “limitless destruction” of the Gaza Strip, the Red Cross said on Friday, as it called for pauses in the fighting.
Its statement came as Israel’s army warned residents in north Gaza to flee south ahead of an expected ground offensive.
“Nothing can justify the horrific attacks Israel suffered last weekend,” said a statement from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

LONDON: Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad on Friday stressed the importance of providing humanitarian relief, food, water, electricity, medical aid, and civilian protection in the Gaza Strip, state-run news agency BNA reported.

During a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the capital, Manama, he emphasised his country’s support for the de-escalation of violence and peace efforts to promote regional security and stability.

NEW YORK CITY: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday said that moving more than 1 million Palestinians through an overcrowded war zone that is under blockade to an area that is short of food, water and shelter would be “extremely dangerous and simply not possible.” He stopped short of calling on Israel to halt its assault on the besieged territory but said “even wars have rules.”

LONDON: A Cambridge University professor has been accused of racism for comments about a pro-Palestine demonstration.

The university’s Palestine Solidarity Society and Middle Eastern North African Society said Dr. James Orr’s comments about protests in central London, of which he said “Import the Arab world, become the Arab world,” were “obviously racist.”

Orr, a member of the Faculty of Divinity, made the remarks on social media below a video of demonstrators praying on Kensington High Street in the capital, waving Palestinian flags and setting off flares.

CAIRO: Israel’s call Friday for half of the Gaza Strip’s population to evacuate south is hiking Egypt’s fears of a massive influx of refugees across the heavily fortified border into its territory.
Since Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel sparked a massive retaliation in Gaza, Egypt’s leadership has frantically tried to negotiate the entry of humanitarian aid through its crossing into the Palestinian territory — partially in hopes of averting an exodus into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Officials say its efforts have received no response from Israel.