LAHORE, Pakistan: The results of Pakistan’s elections were delayed Friday a day after the vote that was marred by sporadic violence, a mobile phone service shutdown and the sidelining of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party.

Early results indicated that Jailed former premier Imran Khan’s party-backed independent candidates seemed to have sprung a surprise as the results of the started trickling in on Friday following unusual delays, leading to allegations of rigging.

Votes are being counted in Pakistan after Thursday’s general election which was marred by allegations of rigging, sporadic violence and a countrywide mobile phone shutdown.

Local media reported victories by independents backed by his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party after the imprisoned Khan was disqualified from contesting the vote because of criminal convictions he contends were politically motivated.

PTI candidates ran as independents after the Supreme Court and Election Commission said they couldn’t use the party symbol — a cricket bat. In Pakistan, parties use symbols to help illiterate voters find them on the ballots. PTI couldn’t hold rallies or open campaign offices, and its online events were blocked, steps it contended were unfair.

The chief election commissioner had previously said the results would be communicated to the oversight body by the early hours of Friday and released to the public after that. But that hasn’t happened. The Interior Ministry attributed the delay to a “lack of connectivity” resulting from security precautions.

Many Pakistani news channels reported that PTI-backed independents were giving the other big parties, led by three-time former premier Nawaz Sharif and political dynasty scion Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, a run for their money by striding ahead in dozens of constituencies.

Senator Mushahid Hussain, a member of Sharif’s party, called the media tallies “probably the biggest election upset in Pakistan’s political history” in the last 50 years. Withheld results were a recipe for disaster, he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

There are 266 seats up for grabs in the National Assembly, with a further 70 reserved for women and minorities. If no party wins an outright majority, the one with the biggest share of the seats can form a coalition government.

There were no results from the Election Commission about the National Assembly vote and no information about the count appeared on its website more than 15 hours after polls closed. A commission spokesman was not available for comment at midmorning Friday.

Sharif struck a confident and defiant note on polling day, brushing off suggestions his Pakistan Muslim League party might not win an outright majority in the parliament. But the mood outside his headquarters was different by nightfall, with sparse crowds and no festivities.

He returned to the country last October after four years of self-imposed exile abroad to avoid serving prison sentences. Within weeks of his return, his convictions were overturned, leaving him free to seek a fourth term in office.

The polling ended at 5 pm on Thursday but the first official result was announced 10 hours later at 3 am on Friday, irking many about the delay and giving fuel to the rumour mills to indulge speculation of foul play to manipulate the outcome.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) so far officially uploaded only four results of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assembly, which all were won by the PTI-backed independents. The commission has not uploaded even a single result of the National Assembly (NA) or other provinces.

However, private media channels showed that PTI-backed candidates were in the lead.

According to the Express Tribune newspaper, PTI-Independents have won six NA seats, followed by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with four and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with three.

However, BBC Urdu in its results showed that PTI-Independent and PML-N won four seats each and PPP three.

Dawn newspaper put PML-N in the lead with four wins, followed by PTI-Ind with three and PPP 2 seats.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has acknowledged a “huge” voter turnout in favour of its arch-rival PTI, however, it remains hopeful that its supremo Nawaz Sharif will get a record fourth term as the country’s prime minister.

Sharif was the favourite to win the election as he was being backed by the powerful Army.

So far among the major winners, former prime minister and PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif has won the NA 123 seat from Lahore with 63,953 votes, according to initial results.

Similarly, Balochistan National Party leader Akhtar Mengal won the election for National Assembly constituency NA-261 Surab-cum-Kalat-cum-Mastung by securing 3,404 votes.

The partial results reported by various TV channels showed that PTI-backed candidates were ahead of other parties on several seats

The excruciating delay in announcing the results pushed parties to the edge, with allegations of fraud being hurled along with demands for early results.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Aurangzeb said that the results are changing as they come in, stressing that preliminary results cannot be relied upon to say who’s winning from a said constituency.

“We were in the lead [when] suddenly the results stopped coming in,” she said while calling on the ECP to announce the results as soon as possible.

She also claimed PML-N’s Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s victory on the PP-159 seat for the Punjab assembly.

The ECP said in a statement that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja “contacted the Chief Secretaries, DROs (district returning officer) and Provincial Election Commissioners and has issued strict instructions to ensure immediate declaration of results.”

“The heat of the electoral process has passed; it is time to allow the country to heal…The political leadership — Mian Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari, Imran Khan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and others — must rise above petty politics and work together to confront the immense challenges our country is facing; they need to recognise that history is not kind to selfish politicians,” he urged.

Earlier, the Returning Officers allegedly stopped issuing results to the media following an ‘apparent victory’ of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in most seats in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces.

The cellphone and internet services suspended before elections were gradually restored during the night.

In total 266 National Assembly seats were up for grabs in Thursday’s election out of 336, but polling was postponed on at least one seat after a candidate was killed in a gun attack in Bajaur.

Another 60 seats are reserved for women and 10 for minorities and are allotted to the winning parties based on proportional representation.

A party must win 133 seats out of 265 being contested to form the next government.

Another 593 seats of the four provincial assemblies, out of a total 749, were also open for contest but the ECP delayed polls on at least three seats, two in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and one in Punjab, after two candidates died and one was killed.

NEW DELHI: India signed a multi-billion dollar deal to extend LNG imports from Qatar till 2048 at rates that are lower than current prices on Tuesday, sources said.

The country will supply 7.5 MMTPA (million metric tons per annum) of LNG to India for the next twenty years.

The deal is an extension of an existing agreement supplying around 7.5 MMTPA of LNG from Qatar to India until 2028.

Petronet, in a press note, said LNG supplies will be made on a delivered (DES) basis from 2028 to 2048. Similar to the earlier 1999 agreement, GAIL (India) Limited (60%), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (30%), and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (10%) will off-take the LNG volumes after regasification, primarily from Dahej Terminal of PLL, on a substantially back-to-back basis.

“The existing long-term agreement between Petronet LNG and Qatar Energy currently accounts for around 35% of India’s LNG imports and is of national importance. The renewal of this agreement is a step towards achieving the vision of the Honorable Prime Minister of India to make India a gas-based economy and increase the share of natural gas in India’s primary energy basket to 15% by 2030,” said Akshay Kumar Singh, MD and CEO of Petronet LNG Limited.

Meanwhile, GAIL said it will off-take about 4.5 MMTPA of LNG from Petronet.

“According to the government, the agreement will provide energy security, ensure a stable and reliable supply of clean energy, and help India in its stride towards greater economic development,” Singh added.

He further added that the long-term LNG purchase agreement with Qatar Energy will strengthen the existing relationship between the two companies.

The deal will ensure the energy security of India and assure continued supplies of regasified LNG to major consuming sectors like fertilizers, CGD, refineries, petrochemicals, power, and other industries. India aims to increase the share of natural gas in the country’s energy basket from 6% to 15% by 2030.

NEW YORK: Even as Catholic dogma continues to repudiate same-sex marriage and gender transition, one of the most prominent religious orders in the United States — the Jesuits — is strengthening a unique outreach program for LGBTQ+ Catholics.

The initiative — fittingly called Outreach — was founded two years ago by the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit who is one of the country’s most prominent advocates for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church.

Outreach, a ministry of the Jesuit magazine America, sponsored conferences in New York City in 2022 and 2023, and last year launched a multifaceted website with news, essays and information about Catholic LGBTQ+ resources and events.

On Tuesday, there was another milestone for Outreach — the appointment of journalist and author Michael O’Loughlin as its first executive director.

O’Loughlin, a former staff writer at online newspaper Crux, has been the national correspondent at America. He is the author of a book recounting the varied ways that Catholics in the US responded to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and ‘90s — “Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear.”

O’Loughlin told The Associated Press he’s excited by his new job, viewing it as a chance to expand the range of Outreach’s programs and the national scope of its community.

“It’s an opportunity to highlight the ways LGBT people can be Catholic and active in parishes, ministries and charities,” he said. “There’s a lot of fear about to being too public about it. … I want them to realize they’re not alone.”

O’Loughlin says his current outlook evolved as he traveled to scores of places around the US to promote his book, talking to groups of LGBTQ+ Catholics, and their families and friends, about how to make the church more welcoming to them.

Those conversations made O’Loughlin increasingly comfortable publicly identifying as a gay Catholic after years of wondering whether he should remain in the church. Its doctrine still condemns any sexual relations between gay or lesbian partners as “intrinsically disordered.”

The latest expansion of Outreach occurs amid a time of division within the global Catholic Church as it grapples with LGBTQ+ issues.

Pope Francis, a Jesuit who has met with Martin and sent letters of support to Outreach, has made clear he favors a more welcoming approach to LGBTQ+ people. At his direction, the Vatican recently gave priests greater leeway to bless same-sex couples and asserted that transgender people, in some circumstances, can be baptized.

However, there has been some resistance to the pope’s approach. Many conservative bishops in Africa, Europe and elsewhere said they would not implement the new policy regarding blessings. In the U.S., some bishops have issued directives effectively ordering diocesan personnel not to recognize transgender people’s gender identity.

Amid those conflicting developments, Martin and other Jesuit leaders are proud of Outreach’s accomplishments and optimistic about its future.

“Pope Francis has been very encouraging, allowing himself to be interviewed by Outreach and sending personal greetings to our conference last year,” Martin added. “Perhaps the most surprising support has been from several bishops who have written for our website, as well as some top-notch Catholic theologians who see the need for serious theological reflection on LGBTQ topics.”

Martin will remain engaged in Outreach’s oversight, holding the title of founder.

The Rev. Brian Paulson, president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, evoked both Jesus and the pope when asked why his order had embraced the mission of Outreach.

“Pope Francis has repeatedly called leaders in the Catholic church to emulate the way Jesus spent his ministry on the peripheries, accompanying those who had experienced exclusion,” Paulson said email. “I think the work of Outreach is a response to this invitation.”

Paulson also said he was impressed by Martin’s “grace and patience” in responding to the often harsh criticism directed at him by some conservative Catholics.

There was ample evidence of Outreach’s stature at its conference last June at a branch of Fordham University in New York City. The event was preceded by a handwritten letter of support sent to Martin by Pope Francis, extending “prayers and good wishes” to the participants.

“It’s a special grace for LGBTQ Catholics to know that the pope is praying for them,” Martin said.

Another welcoming letter came from Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York.

“It is the sacred duty of the Church and Her ministers to reach out to those on the periphery,” he wrote to the conference attendees.

The keynote speakers included Fordham’s president, Tania Tetlow, and the closing Mass was celebrated by Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

LONDON: The UK’s Opposition Labour Party has claimed Infosys was effectively granted “VIP access” after a media report alleged the software services major was promised help to grow in Britain due to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s familial connection with co-founder Narayana Murthy.

based on a freedom of information (FOI) request said Trade Minister Lord Dominic Johnson discussed the UK operations of Infosys during a meeting at the company’s offices in Bengaluru during a visit last April.

A readout of the meeting reportedly said Lord Johnson “made clear that he was keen to see a bigger Infosys presence in the UK and would be happy to do what he could to facilitate that.”

“After the Tories handed billions in taxpayers’ cash to cronies for duff PPE (personal protective equipment), the public will wonder why an outfit so personally close to Rishi Sunak appears to have been granted this VIP access. There are serious questions to answer,” Labour’s shadow minister Jonathan Ashworth told the newspaper.

Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, has a 0.91 percent stake valued at around GBP 500 million in the IT business co-founded by her father and received millions in dividends in the past financial year.

A “steering brief” for the meeting is reported to have said that it “would be good to reassure them on the prospects for the UK economy and remind them of the support that we can provide through DBT [Department for Business and Trade].”

Lord Johnson is said to have outlined to the Infosys executives, whose names were redacted in the FOI documents, the advantages for the multinational as a result of the UK’s high-potential individual visa scheme.

“The investment minister regularly meets businesses and international investors, including a range of Indian businesses, to champion the UK as an investment destination and secure commitments worth billions of pounds. That engagement drives investment across the UK, creating thousands of high-quality jobs and boosting the UK economy,” said a DBT spokesperson.

Infosys has been approached for a reaction over these latest claims, coming in the wake of some opposition murmurings around Infosys seeking visa benefits to accrue from the proposed India-UK free trade agreement (FTA).

The briefing paper for the April 2023 meeting reportedly notes that one of the objectives was to “reassure that the FTA will further create new opportunities and investor-friendly policies to support business growth.”

This is the latest opposition attack faced by Sunak’s wife over her business interests after Labour raised questions over Akshata Murty’s decision to liquidate an investment venture named Catamaran Ventures.

The 43-year-old Indian businesswoman and daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy had incorporated the venture in 2013 with her husband as one of the directors before he resigned in 2015. It had emerged in a financial statement last year that she had decided to wind down her firm as a going concern.

The personal finances of Sunak and his wife have previously also been under scrutiny when it was revealed that Murty had legal non-domicile tax status, which meant she did not have to pay UK tax on her Indian income.

However, after an opposition furor over this issue, she had relinquished her non-dom tax status and said she would pay all her taxes in the UK to prevent the issue from becoming a distraction for her husband’s political career.

LONDON: Britain’s King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer and has begun treatment, Buckingham Palace said Monday. Less than 18 months into his reign, the 75-year-old monarch will suspend public engagements but will continue with state business, and won’t be handing over his constitutional roles as head of state.

The palace didn’t disclose what form of cancer the king has, but said it’s not related to his recent treatment for a benign prostate condition.

The palace said “a separate issue of concern was noted” during Charles’ treatment for an enlarged prostate last month, when he spent three nights in a London hospital.

“Diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer,” it said in a statement.

“His Majesty has today commenced a schedule of regular treatments, during which time he has been advised by doctors to postpone public-facing duties,” the palace said. “Throughout this period, His Majesty will continue to undertake State business and official paperwork as usual.”

The king is being treated as an outpatient, the palace said.

It said Charles, who has generally enjoyed good health, “remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible.”

The palace added that the king “has chosen to share his diagnosis to prevent speculation and in the hope it may assist public understanding for all those around the world who are affected by cancer.”

Charles became king in September 2022 when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died at the age of 96 after 70 years on the throne.

News of the king’s diagnosis comes as his daughter-in-law Kate, Princess of Wales, recovers from abdominal surgery that saw her hospitalized for about two weeks.

Kate is still taking a break from royal duties as she recovers. Her husband, Prince William, who is heir to the throne, also took time off to help look after the couple’s three children, but is due to preside over an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle and a charity dinner on Wednesday.

Charles took the throne intending to preside over a slimmed-down monarchy with fewer senior royals carrying out ceremonial public duties. But with Charles and Kate both temporarily sidelined, Prince Harry self-exiled to California and Prince Andrew largely banished from view because of his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the royal “Firm” risks becoming severely overstretched.

The king personally called both William and Harry — as well as his siblings Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward — to share news of his health.

Harry, who quit royal duties in 2020, has spoken to his father about the diagnosis and “will be traveling to U.K. to see His Majesty in the coming days,” said the office of Harry and his wife, Meghan.

U.K. political leaders sent messages of support. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted: “Wishing His Majesty a full and speedy recovery. I have no doubt he’ll be back to full strength in no time and I know the whole country will be wishing him well.”

U.S. President Joe Biden, traveling in Las Vegas on Monday, said he had just learned about Charles’s diagnosis and said he hopes to speak with him, “God willing.”

“I’m concerned about him,” Biden told reporters.

The president later posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Navigating a cancer diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship takes hope and absolute courage. Jill and I join the people of the United Kingdom in praying that His Majesty experiences a swift and full recovery.”

Charles departed from royal tradition with his openness about his prostate condition. For centuries Britain’s royal family remained tight-lipped about health matters.

When U.K. monarchs had real power, news of illness was withheld for fear it might weaken their authority. The habit of secrecy lingered after royals became constitutional figureheads.

The British public wasn’t told that Charles’ grandfather, King George VI, had lung cancer before his death in February 1952 at the age of 56, and some historians have claimed that the king himself wasn’t told he was terminally ill.

In the final years of Elizabeth’s life. the public was told only that the queen was suffering from “mobility issues.” The cause of her death was listed on the death certificate simply as “old age.”

Pat Price, founder of the Catch Up With Cancer campaign, said millions shared the “collective concern” for the king’s health.

“The king’s openness about his battle with cancer is a powerful reminder that one in two of us may face cancer at some point in our lives,” Price said.

WASHINGTON: Half of US adults say Israel’s 15-week-old military campaign in Gaza has “gone too far,” a finding driven mainly by growing disapproval among Republicans and political independents, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Broadly, the poll shows support for Israel and the Biden administration’s handling of the situation ebbing slightly further across the board. The poll shows 31% of U.S. adults approve of Biden’s handling of the conflict, including just 46% of Democrats. That’s as an earlier spike in support for Israel following the Hamas attacks Oct. 7 sags.

Melissa Morales, a 36-year-old political independent in Runnemede, New Jersey, says she finds herself watching videos and news from Gaza daily. Images of Palestinian children wounded, orphaned or unhoused by the fighting in Gaza make her mind go to her own 3-year-old boy.

“I just can’t even imagine, like, my son roaming the streets, wanting to be safe. Wanting his mom. Or just wanting someone to get him,” she said.

Israel’s offensive has gone too far, Morales says, and so has the Biden administration’s support for it. Biden has supported Israel militarily and diplomatically since the first hours after the Hamas militant group’s Oct. 7 attacks, which Israel says killed 1,200 people.

The U.S. has become increasingly isolated in its support of Israel as the Palestinian death toll rises past 27,000, with two-thirds of the victims women and children. The Biden administration says it is pressing Israel to reduce its killing of civilians and allow in more humanitarian aid.

“These kids … they’re needing the end of this,” Morales said. “It’s such an unfair fight.”

John Milor, a cybersecurity expert in Clovis, California, who describes himself as a Republican-voting independent, says he remains “100%” behind Israel.

But Milor notices more young people in his circle speaking out against Israel. A visit to a family friend led to Milor being aghast when the man’s stepson denounced Israelis as “warmongers.”

“And I’m like, ”You’re kidding, right?”’ Milor recounted.

‘’It’s not like they asked to be attacked, you know,” Milor said by phone this week. “And they still have hostages over there.”

The poll shows 33% of Republicans now say Israel’s military response has gone too far, up from 18% in November. Fifty-two percent of independents say that, up from 39%. Sixty-two percent of Democrats say they feel that way, roughly the same majority as in November.

In all, 50% of US adults now believe Israel’s military offensive has gone beyond what it should have, the poll found. That’s up from 40% in an AP-NORC poll conducted in November.

The new poll was conducted from Jan. 25 to 28. That overlapped with the killing of three U.S. troops in Jordan, the first deaths among American service members in what’s been widening regional conflict since Oct. 7. US officials blamed a drone strike by a Hamas-allied militia.

The new poll’s findings include more worrying news for President Joe Biden when it comes to support from his own political party.

Fracture lines are growing in his Democratic base, with some key Democratic blocs that Biden will likely need if he’s going to win a second term unhappy with his handling of the conflict.

About 6 in 10 non-white Democrats disapprove of how Biden is approaching the conflict, while about half of white Democrats approve.

Notably, about 7 in 10 Democrats under 45 disapprove. That’s the opposite of the attitude of older Democrats, among whom nearly 6 in 10 approve.

Sarah Jackson, a 31-year-old professional closet designer in Chicago, is a Democrat. She says Biden has been about right in his level of support for both Israel and the Palestinians.

But as Israel’s air and ground offensive goes on, Jackson’s thoughts turn to finding the best way to phase down US support for it, she says.

“At first I was very supportive, because I did believe they need some type of help,” Jackson said.

“But yes, as it goes on, I do become more worried,” she said. That includes worrying a new leader will take office here, and phase down support for Israel too abruptly, she says.

About 7 in 10 of the Democrats who disapprove of Biden’s handling of the conflict say it’s extremely or very important for the US to help negotiate a permanent ceasefire.

The poll also shows about half of US adults are extremely or very concerned that the latest war between Israel and Hamas will lead to a broader conflict in the Middle East.

About half have heard “a lot” or “some” about the airstrikes from the United States and British militaries against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults approve of the airstrikes, including about 6 in 10 of those who say they’ve heard a lot or some about them. About an additional 4 in 10 say they neither approve nor disapprove, and about 1 in 10 disapprove.

The poll shows 35% of U.S. adults now describe Israel as an ally that shares US interests and values. That’s back in line with the views from before the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, after a brief increase in November to 44%.

Thirty-six percent of U.S. adults say the US is not supportive enough of the Palestinians, up slightly from 31% December.

About 6 in 10 call recovering hostages being held by Hamas an important US priority, but only about 3 in 10 say it’s highly important to provide aid to Israel’s military to fight Hamas.

A similar share of US adults say that about negotiating the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

“If Hamas were in charge, absolutely not,” Milor said on the subject of an independent Palestinian nation. He said he worried that any Palestinian state would become a base for broader attacks.

But Morales, the woman from northwest New Jersey, said Palestinians should have a safe state, or at least a safe community.

“Everyone deserves a safe space where they can just be. Without interference because of who they are,” she said.

The Houthi movement in Yemen says it has struck a US merchant ship in the Red Sea in a fresh attack targeting commercial shipping.

BBC quoted Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea as saying on Wednesday that the movement’s armed forces had targeted an American merchant ship named KOI with “several appropriate naval missiles”.

The ship, he said, had been heading to “the ports of occupied Palestine”, a phrase which is sometimes used to mean Israel.

Maritime security firm Ambrey said a vessel operating south of Yemen’s port of Aden had reported an explosion on board but it did not name the ship.

Meanwhile, the US has launched new air strikes in Yemen, targeting 10 drones reportedly being set up to launch.

According to Reuters news agency, the KOI is a Liberian-flagged container ship operated by UK-based Oceonix Services. The same company’s fleet includes the oil tanker Marlin Luanda, which was damaged by a missile on Saturday

The Houthis regard all Israeli, US and British ships as legitimate targets following Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, and US and British targeting of Houthi missile positions in what the two countries say are efforts to protect commerce.

RAFAH: Israeli forces battled Palestinian militants Wednesday near the main hospital in Gaza’s second-largest city of Khan Younis, where medics said hundreds of patients and thousands of displaced people were unable to leave because of the fighting.

Israel has ordered residents to leave a swath of downtown Khan Younis that includes Nasser and two smaller hospitals as it pushes ahead with its 3-month-old offensive against Hamas. The United Nations humanitarian office said the area was home to 88,000 Palestinians and was hosting another 425,000 displaced by fighting elsewhere.

The aid group Doctors Without Borders said its staff was trapped inside Nasser Hospital with some 850 patients and thousands of displaced people because the surrounding roads were inaccessible or too dangerous. Nasser Hospital is one of only two hospitals in southern Gaza that can still treat critically ill patients, the group said. Gaza’s Health Ministry also said the hospital had been isolated.

The Israeli military said its forces were battling militants inside Khan Younis after completing their encirclement of the city the day before. It said aircraft were striking targets as part of the operations there and had also targeted suspected militants in central and northern Gaza.

Thousands of people fled south from Khan Younis on Tuesday toward the town of Rafah. The U.N. says some 1.5 million people — around two-thirds of Gaza’s population — are crowded into shelters and tent camps in and around Rafah, which is on the border with Egypt.

Even there, Palestinians have found little safety, with Israel regularly carrying out strikes in and around the town. Palestinian witnesses said that in recent days Israeli soldiers and tanks had pushed into parts of Muwasi, a sandy area along the coast that Israel had declared a safe zone, where tens of thousands of people were living in tents without basic services.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says the offensive has killed at least 25,490 people — the majority women and children — and wounded another 63,354. Its count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. U.N. officials have expressed fears that even more people could die from disease, with at least one-quarter of the population facing starvation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with the offensive until “complete victory” against Hamas, which started the war with its assault across the border on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and abducting another 250.

Netanyahu says Israel is also committed to returning the over 100 hostages that remain in captivity after most of the others were freed in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners during a November cease-fire.

Families of the hostages are also calling for a deal, and have staged increasingly aggressive protests against Israel’s leaders, even interrupting a parliamentary committee meeting Monday. Egypt and Qatar were working on a new agreement, but officials say the gap between the two sides is still wide.

In Israel, bitter political divisions that were set aside after the Oct. 7 attack have begun to reemerge, with Netanyahu facing widespread anger and protests over the failure to prevent the attack and the plight of the hostages.

Hamas was still attacking Israeli forces, even in some of the most devastated areas, and firing rockets into Israel. An attack Monday near the border killed 21 Israeli soldiers, the military’s biggest loss of life in a single attack since Oct. 7.

Israeli media said the troops were working to create an informal buffer zone about a kilometer (half a mile) wide along the border to prevent militants from attacking Israeli communities near Gaza. The military said the operation was aimed at providing security for those communities but has declined to say if it plans to carve out an official buffer zone.

The United States, which has provided essential military and diplomatic support for the offensive, has said it is opposed to any attempt by Israel to shrink Gaza’s territory.

But President Joe Biden’s administration has also urged Israel to scale back military operations and facilitate the delivery of more aid — with limited success. And Netanyahu has outright rejected calls from the U.S. and much of the international community for postwar plans that include the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.

LAGOS: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said Global South is about a “mindset, a solidarity and a self-reliance” and without the advancement of the Global South, the world is not going to see planetary progress.

Addressing the Nigerian Institute Of International Affairs (NIIA) here on India and the Global South, he said the global agenda today is on promoting rebalancing and multipolarity, thereby restoring the world to its natural diversity.

The global conversation today is focussing “on the advancement of the Global South because without the advancement of the Global South, we are not going to see planetary progress,” Jaishankar said.

However, this global conversation, the minister said, by its very nature is constantly distracted.

Some crisis happens, some big event happens, some other agenda comes in place. And the global conversation then boggles, it goes off track. People lose that sense of focus about what are the priorities, he said.

“So one of the big achievements of our (India’s) G20 presidency was that, after some experience with a very polarised divided world, which was very much, I would say, focused on one particular region…we were able to bring back the attention of the Global South,” the minister said.

Global South is about “a mindset, a solidarity and a self-reliance”, he said.

Jaishankar said, “Global South, most of all, is a mind set. Those who have it, will have it. Those who don’t have it, will never get it. It is a mind set, which has some core principles.”

“These are principles from our habits, from our political culture, from the way we have practised international relations…For example, non-intervention. For example, non-interference or being non-judgmental, or non-alliance,” he added.

Global South, the EAM said, is also about solidarity. “Global South means having a heart. Global South means willing to share,” Jaishankar said.

Elaborating, he said when India was still vaccinating people, it started supplying vaccines to 100 other countries in the world.

“And I compare it to Global North, where there were countries sitting on vaccines eight times the number of the population, and they won’t give it to a small island next to them. That is the difference between Global South and Global North,” Jaishankar said.

The transformation over the last decade, the minister said, has “enabled India to be an example, a partner and a contributor.”

The minister also said the simple principle that must guide global governance, conversations and debates, is a conviction that no one should be left behind.

“And when we speak about no one being left behind. I think the welfare of Africa is particularly important. In fact, I will say, the rise of Africa is even more crucial because in a changing global order, we have seen growth in continents, once they got decolonised, that growth over a period of time, created a rebalancing — of political rebalancing and economic rebalancing,” Jaishankar said.

“And that rebalancing today is creating a world of a multipolar nature, where middle powers and perhaps others to regional organisations would have a fairer and more equitable say in how the world is strong,” he added.

So the global agenda, the minister said, in many ways, today is about restoring the world to its natural diversity. Because the world was diverse, the world is diverse. It was distorted by the period of Western domination.

“And in a post colonial world today, restoring that natural diversity is actually our collective objective,” he said.

Jaishankar said contemporary challenges emanate from old forms of domination as well as new economic concentration.

Today, many of those who dominated the world for the last 200 to 300 years, continue to do so with new instruments, with new regimes, with different techniques, he said.

Jaishankar also said the old “world order continues obstinately because those who are in the driving seat, don’t want to create more seats for other people…”

Jaishankar arrived in Nigeria in the concluding leg of his two-nation tour to Uganda and Nigeria. He arrived in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Sunday after attending the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Uganda.

An MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres) surgeon at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis reports that last night, Israeli forces heavily bombed the area close to the hospital with no prior evacuation order, causing patients and people sheltering there to flee in panic.

“We are extremely concerned for the safety of our staff and patients. Once again, we call for the protection of all medical facilities and the unhindered access and provision of health care for both civilians and aid workers,” the surgeon said.

More than 24,000 people have been killed and nearly two million are internally displaced within Gaza. Without access to food, clean water, shelter, and health services, Palestinians also face a heightened risk of disease and starvation. And while the continues, the few hospitals that remain operational are overwhelmed and lack essential medical supplies that can save lives.

Maha (names changed for privacy and security) is from northern Gaza. She went to a hospital when she felt labor was starting, but she couldn’t be treated. All the delivery rooms were full. She knew something wasn’t right, that she needed to be admitted—she has had a Cesarean section before. But with no other option, she had to go back to her tent. Her son died. She gave birth to him in the latrines closest to her tent, according to Pascale, working as an emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Gaza for just over three weeks.

“When I entered our facility, Maha was sitting on her bed after receiving postpartum care. She’s the one who called me to talk to her. She needed to express her deep pain to all of us; she needed to cry out to us about the injustice she experienced. Without this war, she would not have lost her son,” the surgeon said in a statement issued by the MSF.

Pascale was narrating the woes of patients at Al-Emirati Hospital in Rafah, where people receive postpartum care. In addition to the exhaustion of childbirth, they must contend with the displacement, poor living conditions in Rafah, and the uncertainty of what tomorrow holds.  

Nour had a little girl, a very pretty one. After giving birth, Nour was happy but tired, half asleep and a little pale. My colleagues gave her a hemoglobin test—she needed to take some iron and vitamin C supplements. Her mother-in-law accompanied her and told me that their family is from Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip. Her house and her street are now reduced to rubble. I asked what her baby girl’s name would be. Nour hadn’t decided yet. But her mother-in-law would like her name to be Salam (Arabic for “peace”), which has never been more needed. 

Reham* had just given birth to a baby girl, too. They are both fine. She wanted to show me the face of the newborn and told me with a smile that her name is Amal, meaning “hope,” because hope is what encourages Palestinians to get up every morning despite the horrors they have lived through. And it’s the last thing Reham wants to lose.