Israel’s reckless bombing kills 50 of its own people captured by Hamas

A 48-year-old contractor died by suicide allegedly due to non-clearance of his bills for the work he executed for a state government body, police said on Saturday.

PS Goudar took the extreme step on May 27 and left behind a suicide note in which he held his family members, including his brothers, and the Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KRIDL) responsible for his death.

In the suicide note, the victim alleged that his family members caused him mental stress over the matter of ancestral property. Besides, the non-clearance of bills for the works he completed on the premises of the Agriculture department at Santebennur in Channagiri taluk, which was assigned to him by KRIDL last year also led to financial stress.

Both the issues allegedly drove him to take the extreme step, he stated.

However, police verification revealed that Goudar was not a licensed contractor.

Based on the suicide note and complaint from his wife, a case was registered under section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code against five people, including his family members and KRIDL.

"We are looking into the allegations made by him and are verifying facts. Our investigation is underway," a police official said.

Meanwhile, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge said he has ordered the constitution of a committee of senior officers to conduct an inquiry and submit a report on these allegations against the corporation.

"I have instructed the ACS (Additional Chief Secretary), RDPR (Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department) to form a committee of senior officers to enquire and submit a report on these allegations on KRIDL," he has said in a post on 'X'.

He further added that KRIDL is an engineering corporation and sub-contracting isn’t encouraged.

Iran’s interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has called for an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip, and end the Israeli genocide. 

“During a telephone conversation with Ahmed Attaf, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria, I talked about the latest developments in the Gaza war, the Zionist regime’s crimes in Gaza and Rafah, as well as mutual cooperation between Iran and Algeria,"  Bagheri Kani wrote in a post published on the social media platform X on Friday.

“While thanking the Algerian President [Abdelmadjid Tebboune], Minister of Foreign Affairs and other Algerian officials for their kind messages over the martyrdom of [late Iranian President] Ayatollah [Ebrahim] Raeisi and [late Foreign Minister Hossein] Amir-Abdollahian, I supported the efforts and initiatives of the Algerian government at the behest of Muslim countries in presenting a draft resolution to stop the Zionist regime’s assaults,” he added.

Bagheri Kani also underlined the need for an urgent and joint action by Muslim states to stop Israeli crimes against Palestinians, and step up delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“Accordingly, I called for an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the proposal was welcomed,” he said. 

Israel launched its onslaught against the Gaza Strip, targeting hospitals, residences, and houses of worship after Palestinian fighters launched a surprise attack, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm, against the regime on October 7.

Nearly 36,300 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children. More than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced during the war as well.

The death toll from the Israeli regime’s airstrikes against a designated safe zone for displaced people in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip has risen to at least 50 people.

ActionAid UK, the British chapter of an international relief organization, reported the fatalities on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, Israeli warplanes fired eight missiles toward makeshift shelters housing internally-displaced persons in the city’s northwest.

“These shelters were supposed to be safe havens for innocent civilians, yet they became targets of brutal violence,” the organization said.

“Children, women, and men are being burned alive under their tents and shelters,” it noted, warning that the number of fatalities could rise.

Reacting to the massacre, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas called it an “egregious affront” to a recent ruling by the International Court of Justice, which ordered the Israeli regime to “immediately” halt its offensive against Rafah.

The movement called on all parties, especially Egypt, to pressure the regime into ending its occupation of the city’s Rafah crossing, which borders the country and serves as the main point of entry for vital supplies into Gaza.

Hamas also urged the international community, the United Nations, and all concerned parties to scramble to support the Palestinian nation in the face of the Israeli massacre, which has been seeking to bring about the mass exodus of the Palestinian people and destroy their national cause for the past seven months.

It was referring to an October-present genocidal war that the regime has been waging against Gaza in response to a retaliatory operation by the territory’s resistance movements.

The war has so far claimed the lives of around 36,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza.

Hamas called on the world’s Muslim and Arab peoples to step up their anti-Israeli activism in the face of the genocide.

Israel must face sanctions: UN

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, meanwhile, reacted to the “horror” created by the Israeli regime in Rafah, calling for pressure on Tel Aviv.

“The Gaza genocide will not easily end without external pressure: Israel must face sanctions, justice, suspension of agreements, trade, partnership and investments, as well as participation in international forums.”

Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the world body’s special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, also denounced the bloodletting, saying, “Attacking women and children while they cower in their shelters in Rafah is a monstrous atrocity.” 

“We need concerted global action to stop Israel’s actions now,” he added.

The Israeli massacre in Rafah was also followed by mass protest rallies across the West Bank, including in the city of Ramallah and the town of Anabta, which is located to the east of the city of Tulkarm in the northern part of the occupied territory.

The Emirati Hospital in Rafah also condemned the Israeli attacks on Rafah as “a heinous massacre.”

Similar demonstrations also erupted elsewhere throughout the region, including at the Baqa’a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan and in front of the Israeli consulate in Istanbul.

In Iraq, enraged people stormed the KFC’s branch in the capital Baghdad, inflicting damage on the restaurant in protest at the United States’ ongoing support for the Israeli regime’s war on Gaza.