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Red Cross outraged over killing of medics by Israeli forces in Gaza
The Red Cross movement has expressed outrage that eight Palestinian medics were killed along with six Civil Defence first responders and a UN staff member by Israeli forces in southern Gaza.
Five ambulances, a fire truck and a UN vehicle were struck “one by one” in the al-Hashashin area on 23 March, according to a UN official. The 15 bodies were recovered from a “mass grave” on Sunday, he said.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said a ninth medic was missing and accused Israel of targeting staff.
Israel’s military said troops fired on vehicles “advancing suspiciously” without headlights or emergency signals. It said a Hamas operative and “eight other terrorists” were among those killed.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said in a statement on Sunday that the eight bodies of PRCS medics were retrieved “after seven days of silence and having access denied to the area of Rafah where they were last seen”.
The organisation identified those killed as ambulance officers Mostafa Khufaga, Saleh Muamer and Ezzedine Shaath, and first responder volunteers Mohammad Bahloul, Mohammed al-Heila, Ashraf Abu Labda, Raed al-Sharif and Rifatt Radwan.
It added that ambulance officer Assad al-Nassasra was “still missing”.
“I am heartbroken. These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to wounded people. They were humanitarians,” IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain said.
“They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked.
“Even in the most complex conflict zones, there are rules. These rules of International Humanitarian Law could not be clearer – civilians must be protected; humanitarians must be protected. Health services must be protected.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a separate statement that it was “appalled” that the medics were killed while carrying out their work.
The head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza, Jonathan Whittall, said in a post on X on Sunday that its staff had supported the PRCS and Civil Defence in recovering the 15 bodies of the PRCS medics, Civil Defence first responders and UN staff member from “a mass grave… that was marked with the emergency light from one of their crushed ambulances”.
In a video that was posted online on Monday, Mr Whittall said: “Seven days ago, Civil Defence and PRCS ambulances arrived at the scene. One by one they were hit, they were struck. Their bodies were gathered and buried in this mass grave. We’re digging them out with uniforms, with their gloves on. They were here to save lives. Instead, they ended up in a mass grave.”
“Their vehicles… are crushed and dumped, covered in sand next to us. It’s an absolute horror what has happened here. This should never happen. Healthcare workers should never be a target.”
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), Philippe Lazzarini, said the UN staff member was one of its employees and that the burial of the bodies in “shallow graves” was “a profound violation of human dignity”.
The PRCS said it was devastated by the “massacre of our team”.
“[Israel’s] targeting of Red Crescent medics, despite the protected status of their mission and the Red Crescent emblem can only be considered a war crime punishable under international humanitarian law,” a statement added.
At the funeral for the medics on Monday, the father of Ashraf Abu Labda told the BBC: “They [Israeli troops] targeted the first vehicle, then the second and then the third. They killed them in cold blood.”
“We’ve been trying to look for them for eight days. They refused all co-ordination with Red Crescent, OCHA, or the UN. No-one can hold them accountable. Only God,” Nasser Abu Labda said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that during an operation in southern Gaza on 23 March “several vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights, or emergency signals, their movement was not co-ordinated in advance. Thus, IDF troops opened fire at the suspected vehicles.”
“Following an initial assessment, it was determined that the forces had eliminated a Hamas military operative, Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki, along with eight other terrorists from Hamas and the PIJ [Palestinian Islamic Jihad],” it added.
“Following the strike, the IDF co-ordinated with international organisations to facilitate the evacuation of the bodies.”
A previous IDF statement about the incident said an initial inquiry had determined that “some of the suspicious vehicles that were moving towards the troops were ambulances and fire trucks”. It also condemned what it called the “repeated use of civilian infrastructure by terrorist organisations”.
The IDF has not commented on the whereabouts of the missing PRCS medic. The OCHA said it was not clear if he was dead, had been detained or something else had happened.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim condemned the attack.
“The targeted killing of rescue workers – who are protected under international humanitarian law – constitutes a flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime,” he said.
OCHA spokeswoman Olga Cherevko said there needed to be a full investigation to establish exactly what happened.
“They were aid workers in clearly marked vehicles, so this is why it’s obviously important to get to the bottom of it and get all the facts,” she told the BBC.
When asked about the IDF statements that Hamas and PIJ members had been killed, she said: “There are certain rules that all wars have, and this is why all parties to the conflict have to, obviously, abide by these rules. And this is what we’ve always said… But that doesn’t negate the fact that humanitarian aid workers and emergency responders shouldn’t be targeted.”
The incident in al-Hashashin happened on the same day that the IDF announced that its troops had encircled the nearby Tel al-Sultan area of Rafah and raided what it said was a Hamas command-and-control centre there.
On Monday, the IDF issued a sweeping new evacuation order for the entire Rafah region, telling all residents to head towards the nearby al-Mawasi humanitarian zone for their safety.
The IDF’s Arabic spokesperson warned that it was “returning to fight with great force to eliminate the capabilities of terrorist organizations in these areas”.
Israel launched its first major operation in Rafah last May, leaving large parts of it in ruins. However, tens of thousands of people returned to what was left of their homes in the city during the recent two-month-long ceasefire.
Israel renewed its aerial bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza on 18 March after the first phase of the ceasefire deal came to an end and negotiations on a second phase of the deal stalled.
At least 1,001 people have since been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 back to Gaza as hostages.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response, during which more than 50,350 people have been killed, the Gaza health ministry says.
[BBC]
In his third IPL match, the 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi brought down to their knees seasoned pros from the best bowling unit in the tournament, some of whom have been playing for longer than he has lived.
The youngest T20 centurion, among the youngest handful centurions in all representative cricket, the second quickest century in the IPL in 35 balls, joint-most sixes – 11 – for an Indian in an IPL innings, highest boundary percentage in a T20 ton, with 94 of his runs coming in boundaries, Suryavanshi knocked off plenty of records. Oh, did we mention that it sealed the chase of 210 in 15.5 overs, the fastest successful chase of 200-plus in an IPL match, after Rajasthan Royals (RR) had lost three straight chases despite bossing 35 overs of those matches?
Suryavanshi’s opening partner Yashaswi Jaiswal played a lovely unbeaten T20 innings of 70 off 40, but he was the first one to admit he was left in the background by “one of the best innings I have seen”.
Suryavanshi tried to hit boundaries off 26 out of the 38 balls he faced. He nailed 15 of those attempts, but also got 25 off the 11 false shots when he tried to attack. The most impressive was a six over long-off off a slower hard-length ball from the tall Prasidh Krishna.
A perfect mix of intent, skill and luck. All at an age when most kids are dreaming of doing exactly what he did. Or do they even dare dream so high?
Surely, there must be teams thinking it is a matter of two wickets, and GT can be toppled. Yet their top three keep churning out runs while making them look easy and risk-averse. At the end of the 20 overs, GT had all their top three in the top six run getters in IPL 2025.
B Sai Sudarshan regained his orange cap, but he wasn’t quite at his most fluent. Dropped on nine, he was dismissed for 39 off 30, but thanks to Shubman Gill’s quick start, GT still had 93 in 10.2 overs. This was the fifth stand of 50 or more for the pair in just nine innings.
Sai Sudharsan’s wicket brought a period of lull created by Wanindu Hasaranga’s three boundaryless overs. There was a period of four overs for 23 runs, which Gill broke with two sixes off Yudhvir Singh’s pace in the 14th over. Immediately after that, Jos Buttler who had got off to a slow start of 7 off 10 balls, laid into Hasaranga first and then compatriot Jofra Archer.
Hasaranga’s figures were rearranged to 4-0-39-0, and Archer went for 19 in the 18th over. Thought RR pulled things back with just 21 runs off the two last overs, not many gave them a chance of avoiding being knocked out.
It might be tempting to think that RR had nothing to lose, which freed Suryavanshi up, but we have seen enough of him in the first two games to know he doesn’t need any external freedom. His first act of disdain came in the first over, off the second legal delivery he faced. Mohammed Siraj, rejuvenated after a break from international cricket, 12 wickets to his name, bowled on a good length, not half-volley, but Suryavanshi launched him over long-on.
At the start of the second over, Jaiswal was dropped, and he celebrated it with a six and three fours by the end of the third over. That was the last time Jaiswal enjoyed any kind of lead. Ishant Sharma was bowling that one extra over to Ricky Ponting in the Perth Test back in 2007-08. Suryavanshi was born in 2011.
Ishant tried to bounce the kid, the kid hooked him for six. He overpitched slightly, and Suryavanshi whipped him over midwicket. Ishant did him in with a slower one, but the momentum of charging down and his amazing bat speed put enough in the mis-hit to clear mid-off. Then he played the regulation cut so hard that the top edge flew over straight third for a six.
Missing Gill because of back spasms in the second innings, GT were being led by Rashid Khan, who went to the offspin of Washington Sundar to the two left-hand batters. At 21, Washington was helping India win the Gabba Test and with that the most ridiculous Test series win of all time. There are levels to it, he was being shown now. Pull, sweep, inside-out drive over cover, and we had the youngest IPL half-centurion of all time, and the quickest this season, in 17 balls.
Prasidh and Rashid brought some sanity to proceedings with ten runs in two overs. Prasidh is the second highest wicket taker this IPL. He is tall and generates disconcerting bounce from hard lengths. He can also bowl a mean slower ball into the pitch. That is exactly what he did. He might have expected some respect, but Suryavanshi hit him for a six over long-off off the back foot. The exclamation mark of the innings.
IPL debutant Karim Janat was just a lamb thrown to slaughter with his gentle medium pace as Suryavanshi hit a boundary off each ball of the 30-run tenth over to take RR to 144. And himself to 94 off 34. The asking rate was now only a trickle above a run a ball.
It was only fitting that the century came through a six. A six off someone who will be on the Mount Rushmore of T20 bowling. Rashid, who bowled four overs for just 24 amid all the mayhem. Just too quick and too accurate to punish. Suryavanshi kept trying without success, but finally broke even Rashid down.
It took a pinpoint yorker from Krishna to send Suryavanshi on a slow walk back. The night he made his debut, Suryavanshi went back with tears in his eyes despite having wowed everyone with a six first ball. He wanted to show more of his batting. Did he ever?
Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 212 for 2 in 15.5 overs (Vaibhav Suryavanshi 101, Yashasvi Jaiswal 70*, Riyan Parag 32*; Prasidh Krishna 1-47, Rashid Khan 1-24) beat Gujarat Titans 209 for 4 in 20 overs (Sai Sudarshan 39, Shubman Gill 84, Jos Buttler 50, Washington Sundar 13; Joffra Archer 1-49, Maheesha Theekshana 2-35, Sandeep Sharma 1-33) by eight wickets
[Cricinfo]
SLNS Samudura on 27 Apr 25 set sail from the Port of Colombo to Changi, Singapore to join the International Maritime Defence Exhibition (IMDEX) Asia 2025, Asia Pacific’s leading naval and maritime defence event.
The vessel was ceremoniously sent off from Colombo, following traditional naval customs.
IMDEX Asia 2025 is set to take place from 05 to 08 May 25 featuring cutting-edge advancements in naval technology and the event will conclude with a special warship display.
The 9th International Maritime Security Conference (IMSC) will take place alongside the exhibition, featuring high-level discussions on evolving maritime security challenges in an era of geopolitical uncertainties.
Naval forces and maritime representatives from multiple nations are set to take part in the upcoming IMDEX Asia 2025 and IMSC. Taking part in this nature of naval and maritime defence events would open new avenues to the Sri Lanka Navy to build inter-operability with regional and extra-regional partners, exchange best practices and procedures in maritime operations and identify new challenges in maritime domain.
Cardinals will meet next month in a secret conclave to elect the next pope, the Vatican has said.
The closed-door meeting will start inside the Sistine Chapel on 7 May and will involve some 135 cardinals from across the world.
It follows the death of Pope Francis who died at the age of 88 on Easter Monday and whose funeral was held on Saturday.
There is no timescale as to how long it will take to elect the next pope, but the previous two conclaves, held in 2005 and 2013, lasted just two days.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said cardinals will take part in a solemn mass at St Peter’s Basilica, after which those eligible to vote will gather in the Sistine Chapel for the secretive ballot.
Once they enter the Sistine Chapel, cardinals must have no communication with the outside world until a new Pope is elected.
There is only one round of voting on the first afternoon of the conclave, but the cardinals will vote up to four times every day afterwards.
A new pope requires a two-thirds majority – and that can take time.
Each cardinal casts his vote on a simple card that says, in Latin: “I elect as Supreme Pontiff” to which they add the name of their chosen candidate.
If the conclave completes its third day without reaching a decision, the cardinals may pause for a day of prayer.
Outside the Sistine Chapel the world will be watching for the smoke from the chimney.
If the smoke is black, there will be another round of voting. White smoke signals that a new pope has been chosen.
[BBC]
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