Congress alleges electoral fraud in Karnataka, demands CM Bommai's exit

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says it seeks to extend a four-day truce with the Israeli regime after it expires on Monday.

"We are seeking to extend the four-day truce with Israel if serious efforts are made [by the regime] to increase the number of Palestinian detainees released from Israeli prisons," the group said in a brief statement carried by the Palestinian Information Center on Sunday.

The truce took effect on Friday after a night of intense Israeli bombardment, requiring the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in the regime's jails. It mandated the release of 50 Israeli captives in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners.

So far following the deal, the regime has released three 39-strong batches of Palestinian prisoners. In return, Hamas has freed nearly 40 Israeli captives and a number of foreign nationals.

Following the statement, a member of Hamas' Political Bureau, Khalil al-Hayya, confirmed the movement's seriousness about extending the truce into a "comprehensive prisoner exchange deal," the agency reported.

"We were concerned from day one about the return of detained women and children to their families," he said, adding, "We will strive with full diligence to secure the release of more civilian detainees."

He added that once the movement makes sure about the possibility of securing the freedom of more Palestinian detainees, it will inform concerned parties about extension of the truce.

"We want to stop the aggression against our people and [make sure about] the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip," the official said.

After the truce entered into force, Ziyad Nakhalah, the secretary general of the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad resistance movement, said the Israeli regime agreed to the truce because it failed to achieve its stated goals in the Gaza war and also due to its "losses on the battlefield."

"Had it not been for the losses on the battlefield, the Zionist regime would not have agreed to the ceasefire agreement and the exchange of prisoners," Nakhalah added in a televised address.

He said the resistance would "force the Zionist enemy to exchange all the prisoners on a wider scale."

"The rest of the enemy's prisoners, including officers and soldiers, will not be released without the release of the rest of our prisoners, and this issue is related to the end of the war and aggression," Nakhala asserted. 

Mangaluru, Nov 28: A woman lost her life after a fire mishap led to an explosion at a flat in an apartment building at Attavar area in Mangaluru on Tuesday, November 28. 

The deceased is identified as Shaheena Nusba (58), wife of Abdullah Kola.

It is learnt that the fire erupted at around 4 a.m. due to an electrical short circuit which led to the explosion of an aquarium. 

Nine people including five children were present in the home at the time of the mishap. Shaheena who was a cardiac patient, breathed her last when the smoke engulfed the house. 

The injured have been admitted to different hospitals in Mangaluru. All are said to safe and out of danger.

As many as 59 Palestinian journalists have been killed and dozens injured during the Israeli regime's ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, says an independent human rights advocacy group.

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor provided the information in a press statement released through Palestinian media on Sunday.

According to the statement, the fatalities equaled "the highest-ever number of journalists killed in wars and conflicts in modern history."

The group attributed the regime's brutality towards journalists to its efforts to impose "a real and comprehensive media blackout" during the war.

The Israeli regime started the war on Gaza after the territory's Palestinian resistance groups carried out the surprise Operation al-Aqsa Storm against the occupied territories on October 7 in response to the regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people.

Gaza's Health Ministry says at least 13,000 Palestinians, including more than 5,000 children, have so far been killed, and about 30,000 people have been injured.

The killing spree targeting journalists, Euro-Med Monitor said, came amid unfounded allegations by some Israeli officials that Palestinian press crews had prior knowledge of the October 7 operation.

According to the group, "Israel purposefully [has] left no safe haven for journalists in the Gaza Strip. Journalists were targeted even when they were wearing press jackets in the field, in press tents erected for media coverage next to hospitals, or even in their family homes."

The latest of the fatalities were caused on Saturday, when the regime's forces killed two journalists in an airstrike targeting Gaza's Bureij refugee camp.

The victims were identified as Sari Mansour and his colleague Hassouna Salim. They lost their lives after Mansour’s home came under an Israeli bombardment inside the camp, which is located in the central Gaza Strip.

According to Euro-Med Monitor, the Israeli war has led to complete or partial destruction of at least 117 press offices.

The regime has also restricted satellite channels operating in the Palestinian territories during the war, including Lebanon's al-Mayadeen television network, and has threatened to restrict Qatar's Al Jazeera network.

The advocacy body added that it has "received identical testimonies from [Palestinian] journalists expressing their fear that the media equipment they received from international organizations via Israel may include location-tracking and eavesdropping devices, which may have facilitated their targeting during the war."

Euro-Med Monitor asserted that targeting journalists is considered a war crime under international humanitarian law.