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The head of Israel’s military intelligence resigned on Monday over the security failures that led to the October 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas.
Maj Gen Aharon Haliva is the first senior Israeli figure to step down since the attack that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw about 240 taken hostage. The attack sparked Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Maj Gen Haliva said shortly after the attack that he shouldered the blame for not preventing the assault.
“The head of the Intelligence Division, Maj Gen Aharon Haliva, in co-ordination with the Chief of Staff, requested to end his position following his command responsibility as head of the National Security Agency in the events of October 7,” the army said in a post on X.
“The intelligence division under my command did not live up to the task we were entrusted with,” Maj Gen Haliva said.
“I carry that black day with me ever since, day after day, night after night. I will carry the pain with me forever.”
He will remain in his post until a replacement is appointed and said he will “do everything to defeat Hamas” until then.
Observers at a border post that was struck during the attack by Hamas had reported “unusual movements” and training activities for more than a year before it took place, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in November.
Maj Gen Haliva's resignation could set the stage for more Israeli security officials to step down from office.
Israel's opposition leader, Yair Lapid, repeated his call for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign after Mr Haliva stepped down.
Mr Lapid said Maj Gen Haliva’s resignation was “justified and honourable”.
“It would have been appropriate for Prime Minister Netanyahu to do the same,” he said.
It came on the 199th day of Israel's war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,100 Palestinians. The majority of casualties are children and women, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Mr Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would step up its military operations to force Hamas to release the 130 hostages still being held in Gaza, some of whom are believed to have died.
“In the coming days, we will increase the military and political pressure on Hamas because this is the only way to free our hostages,” Mr Netanyahu said on Sunday, ahead of the Jewish holiday of Passover, which begins on Tuesday.
He threatened to “deliver additional and painful blows”.
On Sunday, Israeli military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said that “the chief of staff has approved the next steps for the war”, without giving details.
“On Passover, it will be 200 days of captivity for the hostages … we will fight until you return home to us,” he said.
Israel has withdrawn all but one battalion from Gaza while continuing to carry out aerial and artillery bombardments on the coastal enclave.
Air strikes on Sunday killed at least 24 people, including a man, his pregnant wife and their three-year-old child in Rafah. The unborn child survived after being delivered by Caesarean section, according to the Kuwaiti Hospital.
Another strike in Rafah killed 17 children and two women from an extended family.
Gaza's southernmost city is now home to about 1.5 million people after its population swelled after people fled to the city after being displaced.
Israel says it will launch a ground offensive in Rafah in pursuit of battalions of Hamas fighters, despite concerns about the civilian toll expressed by the US and other allies.
On Monday, the World Food Programme said it delivered fuel and wheat flour to bakeries in northern Gaza.
The delivery was made so the bakeries “can begin production again after 170 days of being inoperable. Four bakeries are now up and running and WFP is urgently working to deliver more supplies,” WFP said on X.
Northern Gaza was the most severely affected by a food shortage across the enclave as Israel imposed strict controls on the entry of humanitarian aid through two land crossings in the south.
Several countries in the region, along with the US and European nations, began delivering food through air operations amid reports of deaths from malnutrition in Gaza. The crisis appears to have eased after Israel, under pressure from the US and other allies, arranged the transport of aid from the south and open land crossings in the north.
With reporting from agencies.
KYLIAN MBAPPE 2016/17 STATS
Ligue 1: Appearances - 29, Goals - 15, Assists - 8
UCL: Appearances - 9, Goals - 6
French Cup: Appearances - 3, Goals - 3
France U19: Appearances - 5, Goals - 5, Assists - 1
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
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The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
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A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Russia v Scotland, Thursday, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The biog
Name: Marie Byrne
Nationality: Irish
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption
Book: Seagull by Jonathan Livingston
Life lesson: A person is not old until regret takes the place of their dreams
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE players with central contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Adnan Mufti, Mohammed Usman, Ghulam Shabbir, Ahmed Raza, Qadeer Ahmed, Amir Hayat, Mohammed Naveed and Imran Haider.
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
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Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
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Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Results for Stage 2
Stage 2 Yas Island to Abu Dhabi, 184 km, Road race
Overall leader: Primoz Roglic SLO (Team Jumbo - Visma)
Stage winners: 1. Fernando Gaviria COL (UAE Team Emirates) 2. Elia Viviani ITA (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) 3. Caleb Ewan AUS (Lotto - Soudal)
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PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Saturday
West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur (3.30pm)
Burnley v Huddersfield Town (7pm)
Everton v Bournemouth (7pm)
Manchester City v Crystal Palace (7pm)
Southampton v Manchester United (7pm)
Stoke City v Chelsea (7pm)
Swansea City v Watford (7pm)
Leicester City v Liverpool (8.30pm)
Sunday
Brighton and Hove Albion v Newcastle United (7pm)
Monday
Arsenal v West Bromwich Albion (11pm)
MATCH INFO
Bangla Tigers 108-5 (10 ovs)
Ingram 37, Rossouw 26, Pretorius 2-10
Deccan Gladiators 109-4 (9.5 ovs)
Watson 41, Devcich 27, Wiese 2-15
Gladiators win by six wickets
