A gunbattle between Indian troops and rebels Monday killed three insurgents in disputed Kashmir and triggered more anti-India protests and clashes, officials said.
The fighting began before dawn after government forces raided a cluster of homes in a village in southern Anantnag district on a tip that rebels were hiding there and came under fire from them, police said.
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A gunbattle between Indian troops and rebels Monday killed three insurgents in disputed Kashmir and triggered more anti-India protests and clashes, officials said.
Kashmiri women watch from window of a residential building as others carry the body of rebel Easa Fazili, during his funeral procession, on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Monday, March 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
Troops retaliated and in the brief fighting three militants were killed, said Altaf Khan, a local police officer.
A Kashmiri man shouts pro freedom slogans near the body of rebel Easa Fazili, during his funeral procession, on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Monday, March 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
While one suspected militant had yet to be identified, the other two slain were local rebels who were engineering students before joining the militancy, police said.
Kashmiris crowd around the body of rebel Easa Fazili, during his funeral procession, on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Monday, March 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
A Kashmiri Muslim man kisses the body of rebel Easa Fazili, during his funeral procession, on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Monday, March 12, 2018. A gun-battle between Indian troops and rebels early Monday killed three insurgents in disputed Kashmir and triggered more anti-India protests and clashes, officials said. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
Kashmiri women watch from window of a residential building as others carry the body of rebel Easa Fazili, during his funeral procession, on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Monday, March 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
Troops retaliated and in the brief fighting three militants were killed, said Altaf Khan, a local police officer.
As news of the killings spread, protests and clashes against Indian rule broke out in several parts of the region. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Officials ordered schools closed Monday and clamped a curfew on some parts of Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, the center of protests and clashes against Indian rule.
Most shops and businesses in Srinagar and some other Kashmiri towns closed impromptu to protest the killings. Authorities deployed more paramilitary soldiers and police in riot gear to patrol streets in the densely militarized region.
Kashmiri men carry a youth who fell unconscious during the funeral of rebel Easa Fazili, on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Monday, March 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
A Kashmiri man shouts pro freedom slogans near the body of rebel Easa Fazili, during his funeral procession, on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Monday, March 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
While one suspected militant had yet to be identified, the other two slain were local rebels who were engineering students before joining the militancy, police said.
Thousands attended burial ceremonies for the two identified slain rebels, shouting slogans in favor of the militants and demanding an end to Indian rule over the region.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim it in its entirety.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, which in recent years has seen renewed rebel attacks and repeated public protests against Indian rule.
Rebels have been fighting Indian rule since 1989, demanding Kashmir be made part of Pakistan or become an independent country. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the rebels, a charge Pakistan denies.
Kashmiris crowd around the body of rebel Easa Fazili, during his funeral procession, on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Monday, March 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
Kashmiris crowd around the body of rebel Easa Fazili, during his funeral procession, on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Monday, March 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
Most Kashmiris support the rebels' cause against Indian rule while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control.
Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian military crackdown.
Palestinian hospital officials said Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip killed at least five people.
More than half of the territory’s population of 2.3 million have sought refuge in Rafah, where Israel has conducted near-daily raids as it prepares for an offensive in the city. In central Gaza, four people were killed in Israeli tank shelling.
A ship traveling in the Gulf of Aden came under attack Thursday, officials said, the latest assault likely carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels over the Israel-Hamas war.
Meanwhile, a top Hamas political official told The Associated Press that the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel.
The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
The war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, around two-thirds of them children and women.
Currently:
— Ship comes under attack off coast of Yemen as Houthi rebel campaign appears to gain new speed
— Some campuses call in police to break up pro-Palestinian demonstrations, while others wait it out
— UN report says 282 million people faced acute hunger in 2023, with the worst famine in Gaza
— EU military officer says a frigate has destroyed a drone launched from Yemen’s Houthi-held areas
— Hamas official says group would lay down its weapons if a two-state solution is implemented
— World Central Kitchen workers killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza will be honored at memorial
Here is the latest:
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders issued a joint statement Thursday calling for Hamas to release hostages held in Gaza, the latest attempt at public pressure to advance negotiations over a potential cease-fire with Israel.
The statement was issued by Biden and the leaders of 17 other countries, all of which have citizens who are missing or were taken hostage during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. The other countries are Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
Here is the statement:
"We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for over 200 days. They include our own citizens. The fate of the hostages and the civilian population in Gaza, who are protected under international law, is of international concern.
"We emphasize that the deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged cease-fire in Gaza, that would facilitate a surge of additional necessary humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza, and lead to the credible end of hostilities. Gazans would be able to return to their homes and their lands with preparations beforehand to ensure shelter and humanitarian provisions.
“We strongly support the ongoing mediation efforts in order to bring our people home. We reiterate our call on Hamas to release the hostages, and let us end this crisis so that collectively we can focus our efforts on bringing peace and stability to the region.”
WASHINGTON — Abigail Edan, the 4-year-old girl who was orphaned and kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, played in the Oval Office during a meeting with President Joe Biden.
The president, before leaving Thursday on a two-day trip to New York, recalled Wednesday's tender visit to reporters, saying “it went really well.” He said Abigail did a lot of playing around on the swing set on the White House lawn, as well as in the Oval Office.
Biden said he received a note from her family, recounting that as Abigail was riding home, she said: “You know, I love Joe Biden.”
A U.S. official who earlier Thursday described the meeting said Abigail also crawled through a small door at the bottom of the president’s desk, a spot that was made famous decades ago in a photo of John F. Kennedy and his son.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private meeting, said Biden met for about an hour with members of Abigail’s family who have been taking care of her.
Abigail has joint American and Israeli citizenship. She was held by Hamas for nearly seven weeks before being released. Her visit came as the United States increases pressure on Hamas to accept a deal that would free more hostages and implement a cease-fire in Gaza.
— Associated Press journalist Christopher Megerian contributed.
JERUSALEM — An under-construction pier for a U.S.-led project to bring aid into the Gaza Strip came under fire Wednesday, forcing U.N. officials to take shelter there, Israeli and U.N. officials said.
No militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault, which the Israelis described as a mortar shell attack.
Authorities said that no one was wounded.
The attack marks a shaky start to the construction of the pier, a project that the U.S. is spearheading to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza. A Hamas official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the militant group will resist any foreign military presence involved with the port project.
NICOSIA, Cyprus — A top European Union military officer said that a frigate that’s part of an EU military mission in the Red Sea to protect merchant shipping destroyed a drone launched from an area in Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels on Thursday morning.
Austrian Gen. Robert Brieger, who is chair of the EU’s military committee, said that it would be crucial for the bloc to “conserve resources” over the long haul because the threat posed by Houthi attacks “will not disappear” due to its connection to the Israel-Hamas war.
“The task given to the military is simply to protect merchant ships and to show the public that the European Union is not willing to accept a terrorist organization will interrupt the freedom of movement at sea,” Brieger said.
Brieger said that he’s asking EU members to provide the necessary resources to the EU mission dubbed Aspides — Greek for “shields.”
He said that it’s the first time that the EU has launched a naval operation in a hostile environment that’s twice the size of the 27-nation bloc, calling it a “litmus test” that the bloc will pass successfully.
AUSTIN, Texas — With graduations looming, student protesters doubled down early Thursday on their discontent over the Israel-Hamas war on campuses across the United States as universities, including ones in California and Texas, have become quick to call in the police to end the demonstrations and make arrests.
While grappling with growing protests from coast to coast, schools have the added pressure of May commencement ceremonies. At Columbia University in New York, students defiantly erected an encampment where many are set to graduate in front of families in just a few weeks.
Columbia continued to negotiate with students after several failed attempts — and more than 100 arrests — to clear the encampment, but several universities ousted demonstrators Wednesday, swiftly turning to law enforcement when protests bubbled up on their campuses.
Police peacefully arrested student protesters at the University of Southern California, hours after officers at the University of Texas at Austin aggressively detained dozens in the latest clashes between law enforcement and those protesting the Israel-Hamas war on campuses nationwide.
JERUSALEM — A ship traveling in the Gulf of Aden has come under attack, the latest assault likely carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels over Israel’s ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The attack comes after the U.S. military said early Thursday an allied warship shot down a Houthi missile targeting a vessel the day before near the same area.
The Houthis claimed that Wednesday assault, which comes after a period of relatively few rebel attacks on shipping in the region over Israel’s ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In Thursday’s attack, a ship was targeted just over 25 kilometers southwest of Aden. That’s according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center.
BEIRUT — The Gaza Health Ministry says the bodies of 43 people killed in Israeli strikes have been brought to local hospitals over the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 64 wounded people.
The ministry’s latest report, issued Thursday, brings the overall Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war to at least 34,305. It says another 77,293 have been wounded.
The Health Ministry doesn’t distinguish between fighters and civilians in its tallies, but it has said that women and children make up around two thirds of those killed.
The Israeli military says it has killed some 13,000 militants, without providing evidence. The war began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and dragging some 250 hostages back to Gaza.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian hospital officials say Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip have killed at least five people.
Among those killed in the strikes overnight and into Thursday were two children, identified in hospital records as Sham Najjar, 6, and Jamal Nabahan, 8.
In central Gaza, four people were killed in Israeli tank shelling, and their bodies were brought to a hospital. Family members told The Associated Press they were killed as they tried to move to northern Gaza, where Israel’s military is preventing people from returning to their homes.
Israel has carried out near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. It has also vowed to expand its ground offensive against the Hamas militant group to the city on the border with Egypt despite calls for restraint, including from the United States.
The Israel-Hamas war was ignited by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and another 250 abducted.
The war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but has said that around two-thirds of those killed were women and children.
The war has devastated Gaza’s two largest cities and left a swath of destruction. Around 80% of the territory’s population have fled to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave.
A man stands on a house that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, in Hanine village, south Lebanon, Thursday, April 25, 2024. Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces have been exchanging fire since a day after the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Jews participate in the Cohanim Priestly caste blessing during the holiday of Passover, overlooking the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, with the golden Dome of the Rock in the background, in Jerusalem's Old City, Thursday, April 25, 2024. The Cohanim, believed to be descendants of priests who served God in the Jewish Temple before it was destroyed, perform a blessing ceremony of the Jewish people three times a year during the festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Palestinians carry the bodies of their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Students shout slogans and carry the coffin of a 10-year-old girl was killed Tuesday by an Israeli strike on a house in the town of Hanin, during her funeral procession at the backyard of Hezbollah-run Al-Mahdi school, in Tiri village, south Lebanon, Thursday April 25, 2024. Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces have been exchanging fire since a day after the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Students cry during the funeral of their classmate who was killed Tuesday by an Israeli strike on a house in the town of Hanin, at the backyard of Hezbollah-run Al-Mahdi school, in Tiri village, south Lebanon, Thursday April 25, 2024. Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces have been exchanging fire since a day after the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Israeli soldiers move on the top of a tank near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Israeli soldiers move on the top of a tank near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A man stands on a house that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, in Hanine village, south Lebanon, Thursday, April 25, 2024. Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces have been exchanging fire since a day after the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Hezbollah civil defense and Al-Mahdi scout carry the coffins of Mariam Kashakesh, background, and her 10-year-old niece Sarah Kashakesh who were killed on Tuesday by an Israeli airstrike, as they pass in front of a destroyed house during their funeral procession in Hanine village, south Lebanon, Thursday, April 25, 2024. Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces have been exchanging fire since a day after the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
This satellite picture taken by Planet Labs PBC show the construction of a new aid port near Gaza City, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. A new port is being built in the Gaza Strip ahead of a U.S. military-led operation to surge needed food and other aid into the besieged enclave as Israel's war on Hamas there grinds on, according to satellite images analyzed by Thursday, April 25, 2024, by The Associated Press. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
Smoke rises to the sky after an explosion in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians carry the bodies of their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men tour next to one of the gates to the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, or the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem during the Passover holiday, on Thursday, April 25, 2024. The holiday celebrates the biblical story of the Israelites' escape from slavery and exodus from Egypt. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
State troopers on horses push back demonstrators during a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas Wednesday April 24, 2024 in Austin, Texas. Protests Wednesday on the campuses of at least two universities involved clashes with police, while another university shut down its campus for the rest of the week. (Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
A demonstrator is restrained by police at a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A University of Southern California protester is detained by USC Department of Public Safety officers during a pro-Palestinian occupation at the campus' Alumni Park on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Protesters shout slogans during a pro-Palestinian demonstration demanding a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, near the home of Sen. Chuck Schumer in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Khalil al-Hayya, a high-ranking Hamas official who has represented the Palestinian militant group in negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage exchange deal, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Supporters of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, protest outside of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence to demand a deal for the immediate release of all hostages, after Hamas released a video of Goldberg-Polin, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Friends and supporters of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, protest outside of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence to demand a deal for the immediate release of all hostages, after Hamas released a video of Goldberg-Polin, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
