Israeli forces storm Ramallah city, arbitrarily fire live bullets at Palestinians

The US military has officially declared an end to the mission of its floating pier off the coast of the Gaza Strip that was apparently used to facilitate an Israeli massacre instead of delivering aid to the besieged territory.

Speaking at a news briefing on Wednesday, Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the deputy commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), claimed that the water dock had “achieved its intended effect to surge a very high volume of aid into Gaza”.

"The maritime surge mission involving the pier is complete. So there's no more need to use the pier," he added.

US President Joe Biden announced back in March the construction of the $230 million pier that involved 1,000 US soldiers and sailors. 

However, bad weather delayed the initial installment of the maritime corridor, and then in late May, broke it apart. Since then, the US military has detached the pier and moved it to the port of Ashdod.

As a result, the pier operated only 25 days and delivered supplies equivalent to just a couple of days’ worth of the aid that flowed into Gaza before Israel’s ongoing genocidal war.

Meanwhile, reports said it facilitated the Israeli massacre against the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza that killed at least 274 people and wounded nearly 700 others on June 8.

The ex-US aid director for the West Bank and Gaza, Dave Harden, said that the now-closed pier was “interesting in theory, but in practice, an absolute failure – and my concern is who will be held accountable?”

“What we have not seen is a robust opening of the crossings … I think this goes first to the Israelis, and second to the Americans,” he told Al Jazeera. “And in the meantime, the Gazans themselves continue to suffer. This was a tragedy compounding a tragedy."

Biden had already expressed disappointment in the temporary water dock, saying, “I was hopeful that would be more successful.”

Several congressmen had also criticized the Gaza pier for its cost and potential risk to US troops.

Furthermore, the Gaza government had condemned the US project as a publicity stunt “to beautify its ugly face.”

Similarly, aid groups had denounced the pier as a distraction, saying Washington should have instead put pressure on Israel to open Gaza crossings and allow humanitarian aid to enter the blockaded Palestinian territory.

“The US wanted to show that it was doing something to aid the humanitarian effort, and yet it wasn’t successful in pushing Israel to do the most obvious necessary thing — which is to allow full access via the land crossing, or allow access from Israeli and West Bank markets,” said Tania Hary, the executive director of Gisha, an Israeli rights group.

“So it put in this incredibly expensive, inefficient workaround that ended up proving to be a completely disastrous waste of money, and a colossal and embarrassing failure on top.”

Israel unleashed its brutal Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after the Hamas resistance group carried out its historic operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the Tel Aviv regime has so far killed at least 38,794 Palestinians, mostly women, and children, in Gaza, and injured 89,166 others.

A shooting near a mosque in Oman killed at least four people and wounded several others in a rare act of violence in the Gulf nation.

The attack early on Tuesday took place in Wadi al-Kabir, a district east of the capital city, Muscat, during a major religious event for Shia Muslims.

Video from the scene shows people fleeing near the Imam Ali Mosque, its minaret visible, as gunfire rings out followed by a voice saying, “Oh God!”

Omani police said they’re taking “all necessary security measures and procedures … to handle the situation”. They gave an initial casualty toll of four killed and “several” injured.

“The authorities are continuing to gather evidence and conduct investigations to uncover the circumstances surrounding the incident,” police said on social media platform X.

No motive or potential suspects were identified in the attack. A state of emergency was declared in the area.

‘Remain vigilant’

It appears some of the victims were Pakistani expats as Pakistan’s ambassador “visited three hospitals and met with the wounded”, an embassy statement said, adding, “all Pakistanis residing in Oman are requested to cooperate with the authorities”.

The US Embassy in Muscat issued a security alert following the shooting and cancelled all visa appointments on Tuesday.

“US citizens should remain vigilant, monitor local news, and heed directions of local authorities,” the embassy wrote on X.

Such an attack is rare in Oman, a frequent regional mediator with a low crime rate. It comes during the Muslim day of Ashura when Shia Muslims commemorate the seventh-century battlefield martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of Prophet Muhammad.

Many Shia mark Ashura by performing a pilgrimage to Imam Hussein’s shrine in the Iraqi city of Karbala. Sunni Muslims commemorate the day through fasting. 

Mangaluru, July 18: Dozens of passengers had a narrow escape after a fire erupted in the engine of a KSRTC Airavat bus traveling from Bengaluru to Mangaluru at Uppinangady on National Highway 75 on Thursday morning.

The fire was quickly extinguished by the driver and conductor of the bus with the help of local residents.

At around 6:30 am on Thursday, as the bus reached Subrahmanya Curve in Uppinangady, smoke began to fill the interior. Upon stopping the bus, the fire in the engine intensified.

Panchayat staff Isaac and Iqbaal, along with local residents Snake Zakariya, Siddik Koppal, and Joy, rushed to the scene and helped extinguish the fire using water and sand from the riverbank. They had been observing the flood situation in the river from the roadside when they noticed the smoke.

The bus had departed from Bengaluru on Wednesday night at 10:30 pm. Due to traffic congestion in the Shiradi Ghat section, there was a three-hour delay. The fire erupted when the bus finally reached Uppinangady.

The passengers were transferred to another bus, according to Airavat bus conductor Ashok Jadhav.

Traffic movement was affected as the bus was parked on the road after the fire was spotted, causing a one-kilometer-long line of vehicles on both sides of the highway.