Gaza, Jan 9 (IANS) The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip exceeded 23,000, the Gaza-based Health Ministry said.
The Ministry said on Monday in a press statement that the Israeli army killed 249 Palestinians and wounded 510 others during the past 24 hours, Xinhua news agency reported.
This brings the total number of deaths to 23,084 and injuries to 58,926 since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on October 7, 2023, it noted.
A 29-year-old Indian-origin man has pleaded guilty to firebombing an office building in the US state of Wisconsin in May 2022. Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, who was arrested from the Boston International Airport this year, was charged with one count of attempting to cause damage by means of fire or an explosive.
A 58-year-old Sikh man was kicked, pulled to the ground and an attempt was made to grab his beard in a hate crime incident by a group of teenage boys in a town in south east England. Inderjit Singh was walking through Langley Memorial Park in Slough when he was approached by a group of young boys on November 21 at around 7 pm.
US Vice-President Kamala Harris will be the highest ranking executive of the US government attending the COP 28 summit in Dubai in the absence of President Joe Biden said to be busy with the war in Ukraine and Israel–Hamas conflict as well as hostage negotiations. Harris is expected to reach Dubai later on Friday after a pushback over President Biden skipping the opening of the gathering this week amid heavy criticism from climate summit nations.
Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qedra said in a press statement that "about 109 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed by the Israeli airstrikes in the Strip", Xinhua news agency reported. According to al-Qedra, two Palestinian journalists were among the victims.
Questioning police response, a Melbourne-based Sikh shopkeeper turned to social media claiming he has been subjected to verbal abuses and a death threat, leaving him fearing for his life, a media report said. Charanvir Singh, who runs a newspaper and lottery shop in Avondale Heights, north-west of Melbourne, told SBS Punjabi news channel that the ordeal began when he denied service to a customer who failed to provide a valid ID matching a parcel's details.
Three Indian-origin men are facing criminal charges in the US for holding a 20-year-old student from India captive and repeatedly beating, starving, forcing him into labour for several months. The victim, who was forced to work at three homes at St. Charles County in Missouri state, was rescued by police officers on Wednesday, County Prosecuting Attorney Joseph McCulloch said.