GAZA CITY // The Arab League yesterday called for world powers to end Israel’s devastating bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Egypt also proposed a truce to start early today to be followed by talks on easing the flow of goods into Gaza.
In more than a week, Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have killed 184 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and injured nearly 1,300. The death toll has surpassed that for the 2012 war .
In Cairo last night, a report presented to the 22-member Arab League called for “urgent steps” to end “Israeli aggression on Gaza and providing protection for the Palestinians”.
Israel targeted about 100 sites in Gaza yesterday, while more than 70 rockets were fired at Israel from the Palestinian territory, the army said.
“The heavier the blow we give from the air, the easier it will be to carry out a ground operation if that proves necessary,” Israeli deputy foreign minister Zeev Elkin said.
The Arab League documents said the Israeli attacks “have become a matter that cannot be met with silence any more”.
The meeting came amid an apparent increase in diplomatic activity to halt the fighting that Israel’s military says has seen Hamas in Gaza launch more than 1,000 rockets and a drone at Israeli cities.
At a meeting on Saturday with Britain’s former premier, Tony Blair, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi confirmed that he wanted to broker an end to the fighting.
Cairo mediated the ceasefire that halted an eight-day war in 2012 between Hamas and Israel, but Mr El Sisi has tense relations with Hamas.
After removing Egypt’s president Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist ally of Hamas, last summer Mr El Sisi led the military’s destruction of tunnels linking Egypt to Gaza, badly damaging the Palestinian territory’s already fragile economy.
A spokesman for Mr El Sisi said the president was “in close contact with the Israelis and Palestinians.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, was told in a call from Jordan’s King Abdullah yesterday that Israel must stop targeting civilians.
Jordan is one of two Arab countries with a peace treaty with Israel. Egypt is the other.
“The king and Ban discussed developments in the Gaza Strip and the monarch warned against their repercussions for the entire region and its stability,” the palace said.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military said it had shot down a drone flown from Gaza with a surface-to-air Patriot missile off the coast of Ashdod, a city just north of Gaza.
But Hamas said it had sent three drones towards Israel, in the first public acknowledgement that the Islamist group had a programme to build the unmanned aircraft.
The group said it had built drones for espionage purposes and another that could carry out attacks that, if confirmed, could enhance the group’s threat in a conflict in which its rockets had failed to kill a single Israeli.
“Hamas is trying everything it can to produce some kind of achievement and it is crucial that we maintain our high state of readiness,” said Israel’s defence minister, Moshe Yaalon.
“The shooting down of a drone this morning by our air defence system is an example of their efforts to strike at us in any way possible.”
Israeli forces also responded with artillery fire to attacks from Lebanon and Syria. At least one missile launched from Syria hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which Syria claims, while rockets from Lebanon hit an empty area in northern Israel.
In the Gaza city of Khan Younis, two Israeli airstrikes killed four Palestinians, officials from the Gaza European hospital said.
It was not clear why Israel targeted the area in an attack that killed Saddam Moamar, his wife Hanadai and his father Mousa, as well as their neighbour, Maher Abu Mor.
The threat of an Israeli ground invasion has displaced thousands of Palestinians from the northern part of the enclave, forcing them to flee southward to Gaza City. Taking refuge in UN-run schools, most are still there, awaiting an end to their ordeal.
Also yesterday, a 21-year-old Palestinian was killed in confrontations with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank village of Samoa, near Hebron, Palestinian health officials said.
Residents of the village said soldiers opened fire at a group of Palestinians who were throwing stones at them.
US secretary of state John Kerry is expected in Egypt on Tuesday in the latest efforts to mediate an end to the conflict.
hnaylor@thenational.ae
* Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and Bloomberg News
hnaylor@thenational.ae
*Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and Bloomberg News
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Angela Bassett, Tina Fey
Directed by: Pete Doctor
Rating: 4 stars
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Top 10 most polluted cities
- Bhiwadi, India
- Ghaziabad, India
- Hotan, China
- Delhi, India
- Jaunpur, India
- Faisalabad, Pakistan
- Noida, India
- Bahawalpur, Pakistan
- Peshawar, Pakistan
- Bagpat, India
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
- Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
- Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
- Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
- Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
- Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
Six tips to secure your smart home
Most smart home devices are controlled via the owner's smartphone. Therefore, if you are using public wi-fi on your phone, always use a VPN (virtual private network) that offers strong security features and anonymises your internet connection.
Keep your smart home devices’ software up-to-date. Device makers often send regular updates - follow them without fail as they could provide protection from a new security risk.
Use two-factor authentication so that in addition to a password, your identity is authenticated by a second sign-in step like a code sent to your mobile number.
Set up a separate guest network for acquaintances and visitors to ensure the privacy of your IoT devices’ network.
Change the default privacy and security settings of your IoT devices to take extra steps to secure yourself and your home.
Always give your router a unique name, replacing the one generated by the manufacturer, to ensure a hacker cannot ascertain its make or model number.
Newcastle United 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2
Tottenham (Alli 61'), Davies (70')
Red card Jonjo Shelvey (Newcastle)
EXPATS
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match info
Chelsea 2
Willian (13'), Ross Barkley (64')
Liverpool 0
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Read more about the coronavirus
JOKE'S%20ON%20YOU
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Women & Power: A Manifesto
Mary Beard
Profile Books and London Review of Books
Founder: Ayman Badawi
Date started: Test product September 2016, paid launch January 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software
Size: Seven employees
Funding: $170,000 in angel investment
Funders: friends
The distance learning plan
Spring break will be from March 8 - 19
Public school pupils will undergo distance learning from March 22 - April 2. School hours will be 8.30am to 1.30pm
Staff will be trained in distance learning programmes from March 15 - 19
Teaching hours will be 8am to 2pm during distance learning
Pupils will return to school for normal lessons from April 5
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
RESULTS
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How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?
If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.
Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.
Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.
Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).
Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal.
Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.
By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.
As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.
Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.
He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.”
This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”
Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 3 (Silva 8' &15, Foden 33')
Birmginahm City 0
Man of the match Bernado Silva (Manchester City)
