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Hamas Rocket Attack from Gaza Sets off Air Raid Sirens in Tel Aviv for First Time in Months

29 December 2020, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Rockets are fired during a military drill organized by the Hamas. (dpa)
29 December 2020, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Rockets are fired during a military drill organized by the Hamas. (dpa)
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Hamas Rocket Attack from Gaza Sets off Air Raid Sirens in Tel Aviv for First Time in Months

29 December 2020, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Rockets are fired during a military drill organized by the Hamas. (dpa)
29 December 2020, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Rockets are fired during a military drill organized by the Hamas. (dpa)

Hamas fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza that set off air raid sirens as far away as Tel Aviv for the first time in months on Sunday in a show of resilience more than seven months into Israel's massive air, sea and ground offensive.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in what appeared to be the first long-range rocket attack from Gaza since January. Hamas’ military wing claimed the attack.

Palestinian fighters have sporadically fired rockets and mortar rounds at communities along the Gaza border, and the military arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group later Sunday said it fired rockets at nearby communities.

The Israeli military said eight projectiles crossed into Israel after being launched from the area of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where Israeli forces recently launched an incursion. It said “a number” of the projectiles were intercepted.

Earlier Sunday, aid trucks entered Gaza from southern Israel under a new agreement to bypass the Rafah crossing with Egypt after Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side of it earlier this month. But it was not immediately clear if humanitarian groups could access the aid because of fighting.

The war between Israel and Hamas has killed nearly 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its count. The Health Ministry said the bodies of 81 people killed by Israeli strikes had been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours.

Around 80% of Gaza's 2.3 million people have fled their homes, severe hunger is widespread and UN officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.

Hamas triggered the war with its Oct. 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized some 250 hostages. Hamas still holds some 100 hostages and the remains of around 30 others after most of the rest were released during a ceasefire last year.

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Sudani is ‘Proud of Press Freedoms’ in Iraq Despite UN Accusations

Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani speaks on Sunday at the 155th anniversary of the Iraqi Press Day, held by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate in Baghdad (Iraqi Government)
Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani speaks on Sunday at the 155th anniversary of the Iraqi Press Day, held by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate in Baghdad (Iraqi Government)
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Sudani is ‘Proud of Press Freedoms’ in Iraq Despite UN Accusations

Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani speaks on Sunday at the 155th anniversary of the Iraqi Press Day, held by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate in Baghdad (Iraqi Government)
Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani speaks on Sunday at the 155th anniversary of the Iraqi Press Day, held by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate in Baghdad (Iraqi Government)

Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani said on Sunday that he is proud that there are no journalists detained or prisoners of conscience in his country.
Speaking at the 155th anniversary of the Iraqi Press Day, held by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate in Baghdad, the PM said, “The press has a role in defending the new Iraq and exposing terrorism.”
Sudani’s statements came in the wake of a “very pessimistic” report recently issued by the United Nations Human Rights Council regarding Iraq.
But the PM said his government worked to provide a safe environment to ensure that journalists can perform their role without harassment or abuse.
Sudani’s government, the eighth since 1998, is accused of exercising “the most restrictive” measures on press freedom.
Sudani had kicked off his premiership by filing a lawsuit against academic and political analyst Mohammed Nana’ who, in a television show, had accused him of being unable to run the country.
Nana’ was imprisoned and then released on bail in March 2023. He was arrested again in January 2024 by two militants dressed in civilian clothes.
Sudani’s lawyer had later announced that he was pardoned.
Also, Sudani’s government is accused of imposing restrictive measures on journalists who criticize his policies. The PM prevents them from appearing on state-owned and private TV channels.
In addition to those accusations, the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner said last week that it was alarmed by the high number of executions publicly reported in Iraq since 2016, nearly 400, including 30 this year, and the explicit political commitment to continue implementing death sentences.
It said this comes “in total disregard” to the reported irregularities in the administration of justice, cases of enforced disappearances, and torture-tainted confessions, which led to these unfair sentences.
The UN Special Rapporteurs said that not only are death row prisoners subjected to severe psychological pain and suffering due to the lack of information about the date of execution, but they are also reportedly tortured and suffer other forms of ill-treatment in the notorious al-Nasiriyah prison, including lack of access to adequate food and clean drinking water.
In response, the Iraqi government on Friday said it reviewed the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and that Sudani directed the formation of a committee consisting of the Justice Minister, the PM’s Advisor for Human Rights and the Head of the Human Rights Department at the Foreign Ministry, a representative of the Presidency, a representative of the Public Prosecution, and a representative of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee as an observer, to prepare the official documented response of the government to what was stated in the High Commissioner's report.
In a statement, the government said it adopts human rights principles and humanitarian standards in enforcing justice and implementing rulings in accordance with the law based on divine justice and what the society has approved through its constitutional legislative institutions.
“We have continued with this principle, despite the extent of the crimes committed by terrorism against our people, and despite the brutal attacks that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, and set an unprecedented example of sophistication in crime and shedding the blood of the defenseless,” it added.
But former member of the Human Rights Commission, Ali Al Bayati wrote in a post on X last Friday that he regrets the statement issued by the Iraqi government, saying that it was “a quick and emotional reaction rather than a professional response.”