{"id":1007,"date":"2025-06-17T04:33:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T04:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wallingtonjournal.com\/?p=1007"},"modified":"2025-09-02T17:27:56","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T17:27:56","slug":"israel-iran-deal-deadly-strikes-for-fourth-day-with-no-signs-of-restraint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wallingtonjournal.com\/?p=1007","title":{"rendered":"International Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Milestone school Dhaka mourned by Air Crushes: At least 30 dead including children, pilot dead; more then 171 hospitalized<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mahfuja, Apur Roy, Ahmmed Mumim: <\/strong>At least 22 people, including children, were dead and more than 170 people were injured after a Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) training aircraft burst into flames after crashing into the primary school building inside the Milestone College campus at Diabari in the capital’s Uttara this afternoon in 21st July. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the F-7 BGI training aircraft crashed after it took off from BAF Base Bir Uttom AK Khandker at 1:06pm. Soon after, the fighter jet faced a technical malfunction and went down. Soon after, personnel from the Bangladesh Army, Fire Service and Civil Defence, police, and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) rushed to the scene and started working jointly to rescue the victims and douse the flames. Firefighters reached the scene at around 1:22pm — four to five minutes after the plane crashed between 1:10pm and 1:15pm. Dozens of injured people were rushed to different nearby hospitals and to Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), and the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery (NIBPS), where they are receiving treatment. Those admitted to NIBPS include victims with burn injuries ranging from 5% to 100%. Eight of them are in critical condition. 7 bodies unidentified, DNA test to confirm identities . At a media briefing around 8pm, Sayedur Rahman, special assistant to the chief adviser, said seven bodies remain unidentified, and DNA samples will be collected to confirm their identities. “Three burn victims have died at the burn institute, and the confirmed death toll currently stands at 17 but the number may vary,” he said. However, he mentioned that there are slight inconsistencies in the reported number of deaths. Sayedur said 88 people have been admitted to seven hospitals following the devastating plane crash. Of them, he said 25 are in critical condition, primarily being treated at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery and the Combined Military Hospital (CMH). He stated that nine patients are in intensive care units (ICUs), and starting tomorrow, blood donations will be collected to support ongoing treatment. He added that more than 100 children were burnt in the incident. “While a few have returned home after treatment, most remain hospitalised.”Dabirul also stated that of more then 22 confirmed dead, most are children. He added, “Based on our current assessment, we have the capacity to provide necessary treatment within the country. If needed, patients will be sent abroad for further care.” Eight injured people are admitted at the Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Hospital, 70 at NIBPS, three at DMCH, 17 at CMH, one at Kurmitola General Hospital, 11 at Lubana General Hospital and Cardiac Centre, 60 at Uttara Adhunik Hospital, and one at Uttara Crescent Hospital, according to an ISPR statement issued at 5:25pm. Also, witnesses said, there are two dead bodies at NIBPS, one at DMCH, 12 at CMH, two at Kurmitola General Hospital, two at Lubana General Hospital and Cardiac Centre, and one at Uttara Adhunik Hospital. Briefing reporters at the crash site amid the rescue operation, Fire Service Director General Brig Gen Md Jahed Kamal said that they have recovered 19 bodies from the school compound so far, and the salvage efforts are still ongoing. Witness managed to bail out when the plane went down. With critical injuries, he was taken to the CMH, where he passed away while undergoing treatment. According to the Fire Service, nine firefighting units from Uttara, Tongi, Pallabi, Kurmitola, Mirpur, and Purbachal fire stations brought the fire under control at around 2:45pm, while six ambulances transported victims to the hospitals. Fire Service DG Jahed Kamal said, “The fire has been fully extinguished, and a crane has been brought in to remove the rear section of the aircraft from the wreckage.” Some of the injured with burns onto rickshaws and vans. Their clothes were ripped apart, torn, and some even were walking towards rescue vehicles with burn injuries on their bodies. Further details regarding all the deceased from the authorities concerned are yet to be available. Fire Service DG Jahed said, “We have not yet been able to identify the deceased individuals. The investigation is ongoing.” Abid , a first-year arts student of Milestone College, saw the fighter jet first hit Building No 7, which houses classes of the college students. “Then it crashed into the primary school building, around 100-150 meters away from us. “The pilot ejected from the plane with a parachute and got down while the primary school building caught fire,” he told TBS. The building on which the aircraft crashed hosted classes for children from playgroup to grades 1-8 and a canteen, according to students. Talking to The Walington a witness said,, a cleaner at a nearby Dhaka Metro Rail station who witnessed the incident, said, “I saw two aircraft flying. One flew away, but the other looked like it was in trouble. “It tried to turn to line up with the [Dhaka airport] runway, but while turning at a low altitude, it hit a 10-12-storey building on the Milestone College campus and then crashed into the two-storey primary school building.” A firefighter, currently involved in the rescue operations, told TBS that many students sustained burn injuries — from minor to critical — after the aircraft crashed and caused the fire. According to witnesses, the aircraft crashed into the building just as students were coming after classes ended and the school day was over. Fire Service DG Jahed said the first floor of the building, in which the plane crashed, housed classrooms for third and fourth-grade students, while the second floor contained second and fifth-grade classrooms, the principal’s office, a meeting room, and a coaching centre. The official said that although school had ended at the time of the crash, some students were still present near the teachers’ room, and it is believed a few parents may have been with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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About 290 dead after plane crashes outside airport in Indian city of Ahmedabad<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Charlotte Wipa, Sunanda Chakrabarty, Willow Lama, Phoebe Dell:<\/strong> At least 290 people are feared to have died after a plane bound for London crashed into a residential area shortly after taking off from an airport in India\u2019s western city of Ahmedabad. The place showed thick black smoke rising up into the sky after the Air India plane crashed, with part of the aircraft pictured resting on top of a building. Other images showed scorched trees and a fire-blackened building with first responders hosing down the area. Among those killed were passengers on the flight, including some minors, local residents, and people who were inside the BJ Medical College and Hospital hostel when the plane crashed into it, a senior doctor at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, where a majority of the dead and injured people were taken. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Air India said that 242 people were on board the plane, 169 of them Indian nationals and 53 British nationals. There were also seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian national, the airline added in a statement. It confirmed there had been a single survivor among those on board, a British national. The Hindustan Times named the survivor as a British national, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, and said he was receiving treatment. What appears to be a copy of the flight manifest, shared by news agency IANS, lists Vishwash Kumar Ramesh as having been assigned seat 11A. A senior police officer told reporters that the plane had hit a doctors\u2019 hostel belonging to the BJ Medical College and Hospital. At least three medical students died, Swapnil Bhalodia of the Indian Medical Association Medical Students Network in Gujarat said. Between 50 and 60 medical students have been admitted to local hospitals, according to the Federation of All India Medical Association. The statement said two or three students are in intensive care. The flight, AI171, was bound for London\u2019s Gatwick Airport, where it was due to land at 6.25 p.m. local time (1.25 p.m. ET). A reception center has been set up at the airport to provide information and support to relatives of victims. One video captured the moment the aircraft, gaining altitude after just taking off, suddenly began to descend in mid air, before crashing down in a huge plume of fire and smoke. The plane made a Mayday call to Air Traffic Control shortly after takeoff, according to India\u2019s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). \u201cBut thereafter no response was given by the aircraft to the calls made by ATC. Aircraft immediately after departure from Runway 23, fell on ground outside the airport perimeter. Heavy black smoke was seen coming from the accident site,\u201d the statement said. According to the DCGA statement, the flight departed at 1.39 p.m. local time (4.09 a.m. ET). The aircraft\u2019s signal was lost less than a minute after takeoff, at an altitude of 625 feet, according to FlightRadar24 data. The plane then started to descend with a vertical speed of -475 feet per minute, the data showed. Hence, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the scenes as \u201cdevastating,\u201d and said he is \u201cbeing kept updated as the situation develops.\u201d He added that his \u201cthoughts are with the passengers and their families at this deeply distressing time.\u201d Meanwhile British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the UK House of Commons: \u201cThis morning, we know that British nationals were on board. And Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that the (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) is working urgently with local authorities to support British nationals and their families, and has stood up a crisis team in both Delhi and in London.\u201d The UK\u2019s King Charles said he and Queen Camilla are \u201cdesperately shocked\u201d by the \u201cterrible events\u201d in Ahmedabad. He also paid tribute to the \u201cheroic efforts\u201d of the emergency services and all those \u201cproviding help and support at this most heartbreaking and traumatic time.\u201d The UK and India have strong cultural and historic ties and a complicated history dating back to Britain\u2019s colonial era. The UK has a large Indian diaspora \u2013 according to data from the British government, in 2021, 1.9 million people or 3.1% of the country\u2019s population identified as having Indian ethnicity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Companies Identifiy in the UN Report with Gaza Genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Charlotte Wipa, Willow Lama, Phoebe Dell:<\/strong> The report also lists several companies developing civilian technologies that serve as \u201cdual-use tools\u201d for Israel\u2019s occupation of Palestinian territory. These include Caterpillar, Leonardo-owned Rada Electronic Industries, South Korea\u2019s HD Hyundai and Sweden\u2019s Volvo Group, which provide heavy machinery for home demolitions and the development of illegal settlements in the West Bank. Rental platforms Booking and Airbnb also aid illegal settlements by listing properties and hotel rooms in Israeli-occupied territory.The report named the US\u2019s Drummond Company and Switzerland\u2019s Glencore as the primary suppliers of coal for electricity to Israel, originating primarily from Colombia. In the agriculture sector, Chinese Bright Dairy & Food is a majority owner of Tnuva, Israel\u2019s largest food conglomerate, which benefits from land seized from Palestinians in Israel\u2019s illegal outposts. Netafim, a company providing drip irrigation technology that is 80-percent owned by Mexico\u2019s Orbia Advance Corporation, provides infrastructure to exploit water resources in the occupied West Bank. Treasury bonds have also played a critical role in funding the ongoing war on Gaza, according to the report, with some of the world\u2019s largest banks, including France\u2019s BNP Paribas and the UK\u2019s Barclays, listed as having stepped in to allow Israel to contain the interest rate premium despite a credit downgrade. The report identified US multinational investment companies BlackRock and Vanguard as the main investors behind several listed companies. BlackRock, the world\u2019s largest asset manager, is listed as the second largest institutional investor in Palantir (8.6 percent), Microsoft (7.8 percent), Amazon (6.6 percent), Alphabet (6.6 percent) and IBM (8.6 per cent), and the third largest in Lockheed Martin (7.2 percent) and Caterpillar (7.5 percent). Vanguard, the world\u2019s second-largest asset manager, is the largest institutional investor in Caterpillar (9.8 percent), Chevron (8.9 percent) and Palantir (9.1 percent), and the second largest in Lockheed Martin (9.2 percent) and Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems (2 percent). The report states that \u201ccolonial endeavours and their associated genocides have historically been driven and enabled by the corporate sector.\u201d Israel\u2019s expansion on Palestinian land is one example of \u201ccolonial racial capitalism\u201d, where corporate entities profit from an illegal occupation. Since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, \u201centities that previously enabled and profited from Palestinian elimination and erasure within the economy of occupation, instead of disengaging are now involved in the economy of genocide,\u201d the report said. For foreign arms companies, the war has been a lucrative venture. Israel\u2019s military spending from 2023 to 2024 surged 65 percent, amounting to $46.5bn \u2013 one of the highest per capita worldwide. Several entities listed on the exchange market \u2013 particularly in the arms, tech and infrastructure sectors \u2013 have seen their profits rise since October 2023. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange also rose an unprecedented 179 percent, adding $157.9bn in market value. Global insurance companies, including Allianz and AXA, invested large sums in shares and bonds linked to Israel\u2019s occupation, the report said, partly as capital reserves but primarily to generate returns. Booking and Airbnb also continue to profit from rentals in Israeli-occupied land. Airbnb briefly delisted properties on illegal settlements in 2018 but later reverted to donating profits from such listings to humanitarian causes, a practice the report referred to as \u201chumanitarian-washing\u201d. Are private companies liable under international law? According to Albanese\u2019s report, yes. Corporate entities are under an obligation to avoid violating human rights through direct action or in their business partnerships. States have the primary responsibility to ensure that corporate entities respect human rights and must prevent, investigate and punish abuses by private actors. However, corporations must respect human rights even if the state where they operate does not. A company must therefore assess whether activities or relationships throughout its supply chain risk causing human rights violations or contributing to them, according to the report. The failure to act in line with international law may result in criminal liability. Individual executives can be held criminally liable, including before international courts. The report called on companies to divest from all activities linked to Israel\u2019s occupation of Palestinian territory, which is illegal under international law. In July 2024, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion ruling that Israel\u2019s continued presence in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem should come to an end \u201cas rapidly as possible\u201d. In light of this advisory opinion, the UN General Assembly demanded that Israel bring to an end its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory by September 2025. Albanese\u2019s report said the ICJ\u2019s ruling \u201ceffectively qualifies the occupation as an act of aggression \u2026 Consequently, any dealings that support or sustain the occupation and its associated apparatus may amount to complicity in an international crime under the Rome Statute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Israel-Iran ceasefire holds, Iran threatens to accelerate nuclear work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jawaria, Salman Shatabdee, Hiba Hafsa:<\/strong> On Wednesday that the ceasefire with Iran would hold, at least for now. The 12-day conflict left 28 people dead in Israel and hundreds in Iran. The ceasefire brokered by the Trump administration \u2014 and enforced by President Trump personally on Tuesday as it looked perilously close to failing before it even took hold \u2014 led Israel’s Home Front Command to lift restrictions on movement in the country, with Ben Gurion International Airport reopening for commercial flights. Shops and restaurants were open, and Israelis were out on the beach in Tel Aviv, which had been largely empty for days as Israel pounded Iranian nuclear, military, and other targets and Iran responded with volleys of missiles launched at Israel. Both Israel and Iran were quick to claim victory. An Israeli military spokesman said Wednesday that the strikes on Iran had set the country’s nuclear program back by “many years,” while President Trump told reporters at a NATO summit in the Netherlands that Iran’s enrichment work was put back “basically decades.” “We have removed the threat of annihilation by nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said in a video address on Tuesday evening. He made no specific mention of the damage believed to have been inflicted on Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Iran is “not going to have a bomb and they’re not going to enrich,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday.Iran, meanwhile, has tried to present its limited retaliatory attack targeting the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, home to thousands of U.S. forces, as a victory, despite none of the missiles hitting their target. Officials in the Islamic Republic have made it clear that, regardless of the damage actually caused to Iran’s nuclear program, the country’s theocratic rulers intended to not only resume, but accelerate its enrichment work \u2014 and without any oversight by the United Nations’ atomic watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran’s parliament voted on Wednesday to fast-track a proposal that would effectively halt all cooperation with the IAEA \u2014 cooperation that expanded under the previous international nuclear agreement with Iran, and which has continued despite serious challenges since Mr. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the pact during his first term. The IAEA’s board of governors voted, to Iran’s annoyance, just before Israel launched its attacks almost two weeks ago to censure the Islamic Republic for the first time in 20 years for not working with its inspectors. Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf criticized the IAEA ahead of the vote on Wednesday, saying the agency “refused to even pretend to condemn the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.” He said for that reason, Iran’s domestic atomic energy agency “will suspend cooperation with the IAEA until security of nuclear facilities is ensured, and Iran’s peaceful nuclear program will move forward at a faster pace.” Iran’s top clerics and its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the ultimate say on all matters, did not immediately sign the measure voted on by lawmakers on Wednesday, which is required to make the move final. The conflicting information about the degree to which Iran’s nuclear program has been degraded left some Israelis unsure about what comes next on Wednesday, including medical student Roy Meiri. Asked if he felt safer, Meiri told CBS News, “I still don’t know, because I don’t really know the real harm that we did to them over there.” But life in Israel, with the ceasefire holding, at least looked more like it did two weeks earlier. All of the country’s war-time restrictions were lifted by the military, and parents brought their children back to schools across the country. It was a hit to Israel’s economy, too. Chaim Ashkenazy’s restaurant in Tel Aviv usually does a non-stop trade in shawarmas, and he said the security lockdown meant a lot of lost money. The Israeli military has said it will now turn its attention back to the decimated Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces have been accused of mass killings, many of them near aid distribution sites as desperate Palestinians seek food, almost every day in recent weeks. The IDF has said the incidents are under review. Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health said Wednesday that at least 49 people had been killed over the previous 24 hours alone, trying to access aid. Body after body was brought into Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, on Tuesday slammed a controversial new aid distribution group backed by the U.S. and Israel as “a death trap costing more lives than it saves.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Israel has attacked a hospital in Iran and the building of Iranian state TV; Iran has struck Haifa and the Tel Aviv area<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sienna Kila, Evelyn Ra, Salman Shatabdee, Grace Mill:<\/strong> Israel has attacked civilian targets in Iran, striking a hospital and an Iranian state TV building as intensive strikes exchanged by the two countries rage for a fourth consecutive day, with the military confrontation between the longstanding enemies showing no sign of ending. After those attacks late on Monday, Iranian state TV reported that a new wave of drone and missile strikes had begun, targeting Tel Aviv and Haifa. In Haifa, all refineries and subsidiary companies were shut down following the impact of an Iranian missile, with three killed in the strike, the Israeli Bazan oil refinery company said. A live broadcast on the Iranian TV station captured its most famous presenter on air saying a missile was incoming and scrambling away as an explosion took place and debris flew through the air. There are reports of casualties among journalists in the building. The strike came after a warning Monday from Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, who said: \u201cThe mouthpiece of Iranian propaganda and incitement is on the verge of disappearing\u201d. Katz later confirmed the Israeli military carried out the attack. In response, late on Monday, Iran issued warnings for Israeli news channels. \u201cIran has issued an evacuation warning for the N12 and N14 channels of Israel. This order comes in response to the hostile attack of Zionist enemy against the Islamic Republic of Iran\u2019s broadcasting service,\u201d Iranian state TV said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Iran also said Israel targeted a hospital on Monday in the country\u2019s west, condemning it as a \u201cwar crime\u201d.
\u201cFarabi Hospital in the city of Kermanshah in western Iran was targeted by the Israeli regime\u2019s aggressive attacks,\u201d said Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding that \u201cattacking hospitals alongside attacks on residential areas is a gross violation of international law and a war crime\u201d.
Video footage published by local platforms and verified by the Sanad fact-checking agency shows bloodstains, indicating casualties from the strike.
Israel has repeatedly bombed hospitals and medical facilities in the Gaza Strip during its 20-month-long military campaign in the Palestinian territory, despite those being protected under inIran\u2019s Mehr news agency reported that three Iranian Red Crescent Society workers were killed by an Israeli strike during rescue operations in Tehran.
Iran\u2019s Fars news agency also reported on Monday that an Israeli attack targeted a military base in western Tehran. Iranian media also reported explosions in eastern parts of the capital, which comes after the Israeli army issued a threat to parts of Tehran after bombing several areas of the city on Sunday.
Iranian media reported that air defences had been activated in western Tehran.
Katz had threatened on Monday that \u201cthe residents of Tehran will pay the price \u2013 and soon\u201d for killing Israeli civilians in Iran\u2019s overnight missile attacks.
Earlier, Iranian attacks on Israel on Monday morning killed at least eight people and wounded dozens, officials reported, while Tehran said Israeli attacks overnight hit military and civilian targetsternational lawIran\u2019s Mehr news agency reported that three Iranian Red Crescent Society workers were killed by an Israeli strike during rescue operations in Tehran.
Iran\u2019s Fars news agency also reported on Monday that an Israeli attack targeted a military base in western Tehran. Iranian media also reported explosions in eastern parts of the capital, which comes after the Israeli army issued a threat to parts of Tehran after bombing several areas of the city on Sunday.
Iranian media reported that air defences had been activated in western Tehran.
Katz had threatened on Monday that \u201cthe residents of Tehran will pay the price \u2013 and soon\u201d for killing Israeli civilians in Iran\u2019s overnight missile attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Earlier, Iranian attacks on Israel on Monday morning killed at least eight people and wounded dozens, officials reported, while Tehran said Israeli attacks overnight hit military and civilian targetsIn Israel, state broadcaster Israeli Army Radio reported that eight people were killed \u2013 five in the central part and three in the port city of Haifa.
That takes the total death toll in Israel to more than 20 since it launched air attacks on Iran four days ago. Some 300 others are reported wounded.
A branch of the United States Embassy in Tel Aviv sustained \u201cminor damage\u201d as a result of the attack, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee said.
On Sunday, Iran said Israel had struck oil refineries, killed the intelligence chief of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and hit population centres in intensive aerial attacks.
Much of the world has urged restraint since the conflict broke out on Friday, when Israel launched an attack on Iran\u2019s nuclear and missile facilities, killing military commanders and scientists.
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he hoped the adversaries would \u201cmake a deal\u201d, but added that they might have to \u201cfight it out\u201d first.
A staunch ally of Israel, Trump has maintained erratic messaging since the strikes began, raising concern that the conflict could escalate.
Iran has said the US is complicit in the Israeli military action, and suggested it could target US forces in Syria and elsewhere in retaliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trump has insisted that Washington has \u201cnothing to do\u201d with Israel\u2019s bombing campaign, but also threatened to unleash \u201cthe full strength and might\u201d of the US military if Iran attacked its interests in the Middle East.
That has helped encourage a rise in the rhetoric emerging from both Tel Aviv and Tehran, which continued on Monday, suggesting there is little chance either side is ready to step back.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to rule out the possibility of targeting Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s not going to escalate the conflict; it\u2019s going to end the conflict.\u201d In an interview with ABC News, Netanyahu was asked directly whether such an action was on the table, to which he responded that Israel was \u201cdoing what we need to do\u201d.
Israel has previously suggested that regime change in Iran could be one result of the hostilities, hoping to press opposition to the regime in Tehran to rise. There have been no signs of that happening so far.
Iran\u2019s President Masoud Pezeshkian, meanwhile, urged citizens to put aside differences and unite against Israel.
\u201cEvery difference, issue, and problem that has existed must be put aside today, and we must stand strong against this genocidal criminal aggression with unity and coherence,\u201d he said, addressing parliament.
Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Monday that \u201cIf President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential.\u201d
\u201cIsrael must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue,\u201d Araghchi added. \u201cIt takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu. That may pave the way for a return to diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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South Korea has ratified the Hague Adoption Convention, an international treaty meant to safeguard international adoption<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maisie, Krisna Dhar, Ali Hafiz: <\/strong>South Korea has ratified the Hague Adoption Convention, an international treaty meant to safeguard international adoptions, highlighting a significant policy shift decades after sending tens of thousands of children to the West through an aggressive but poorly regulated adoption system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government\u2019s announcement Tuesday came as it faces growing pressure to address widespread fraud and abuse that plagued its adoption program, particularly during a heyday in the 1970s and ’80s when the country allowed thousands of children to be adopted every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many adoptees have since discovered that their records were falsified to portray them as abandoned orphans, while others were carelessly removed \u2014 or even outright stolen \u2014 from their birth families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Korea\u2019s Foreign Ministry and Health and Welfare Ministry, which handles adoption policies, issued a joint statement saying the country submitted the necessary documents to ratify the Hague Adoption Convention to the Dutch Foreign Ministry, the treaty\u2019s depositary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The treaty, which requires countries to strengthen state oversight and safeguards to ensure international adoptions are legal and ethical, will take effect in South Korea on Oct. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Korea signed the Hague convention in 2013, but ratification was delayed by more than a decade as the country struggled to bring adoptions under centralized government authority, as required by the treaty, after allowing private agencies to control international child placements for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGoing forward, intercountry adoptions will be permitted only when no suitable family can be found in his or her state of origin, and only if deemed to serve the child\u2019s best interests through deliberation by the adoption policy committee under the Ministry of Health and Welfare,\u201d the ministries said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement said the ratification was a significant step toward safeguarding children’s rights and \u201cestablishing an advanced, internationally compliant intercountry adoption system in Korea, reinforcing the government\u2019s commitment to upholding state responsibility across the entire adoption process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2023 law also mandates the transfer of all adoption records from private agencies to the National Center for the Rights of the Child by July, aiming to centralize processing family search requests from adoptees who have returned to South Korea as adults seeking their roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International adoptions from South Korea have plummeted in recent years, with only 58 in 2024, according to government data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 1980s, South Korea sent an average of more than 6,000 children abroad each year, under a previous military government that viewed adoption as a way to reduce mouths to feed and curry favor with Western nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities specifically targeted children deemed socially undesirable, including those born to unwed mothers or impoverished families, and granted extensive powers to private adoption agencies to dictate child relinquishments and custody transfers, allowing them to send huge numbers of children abroad quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of South Korea\u2019s recent reforms have focused on abuse prevention, including a 2011 law reinstating judicial oversight of foreign adoptions that led to a significant drop in international placements. But officials are at a loss over how to handle the huge numbers of inaccurate or falsified records accumulated over past decades, which have prevented many adoptees from reconnecting with their birth families or obtaining accurate information about their biological origins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a landmark report in March, South Korea\u2019s Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that the government bears responsibility for facilitating a foreign adoption program rife with fraud and abuse, driven by efforts to reduce welfare costs and enabled by private agencies that often manipulated children\u2019s backgrounds and origins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission\u2019s findings broadly aligned with a 2024 Associated Press investigation, in collaboration with Frontline (PBS), which detailed how South Korea\u2019s government, Western countries and adoption agencies worked in tandem to supply around 200,000 Korean children to parents overseas, despite years of evidence that many were being procured through questionable or outright unscrupulous means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Israel kills 56 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them desperately seeking aid<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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United Nations rights chief Volker Turk says Israel\u2019s warfare methods are \u2018inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Evie Della, Willow Lama: <\/strong>The United Nations human rights chief condemned Israel\u2019s conduct of its war in the besieged enclave, where deadly Israeli attacks continue unabated as the country exchanges missile attacks with regional foe Iran.
Speaking on Monday, Volker Turk said Israel\u2019s \u201cmeans and methods of warfare are inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians in Gaza\u201d, where more than 20 months of Israeli attacks have killed at least 55,362 people, including thousands of children, according to health officials in Gaza.
More than 300 people have been killed so far near the perilous distribution sites and more thn 2,000 wounded since GHF began its operations.
Two Palestinians trying to get food at the Rafah site, Heba Jouda and Mohammed Abed, told The Associated Press news agency that Israeli forces fired on crowds at about 4am (01:00 GMT) at the Flag Roundabout, a traffic circle just metres from the GHF centre, which has repeatedly been the scene of shootings.
People fell to the ground, trying to take cover, they said. \u201cFire was coming from everywhere,\u201d said Jouda, who has made the dangerous journey several times to get food for her family this past week
Three more aid seekers were reported killed in northern Gaza and two in an attack on Gaza City.
\u201cIsrael has weaponised food and blocked lifesaving aid,\u201d Turk said as he presented his annual report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
\u201cI urge immediate, impartial investigations into deadly attacks on desperate civilians to reach food distribution centres,\u201d he added. \u201cDisturbing, dehumanising rhetoric from senior Israeli government officials is reminiscent of the gravest of crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


The GHF began distributing a trickle of food aid in Gaza at the end of May after Israel partially lifted a nearly three-month total blockade on food, medicines and other essential items, leading to fears of famine. No other aid has been allowed in by Israel, which in effect has kept the punishing blockade in place.
The UN and major humanitarian groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, citing concerns that it prioritises Israeli military objectives over humanitarian needs and bypasses organisations with decades of experience in providing food and medicine at hundreds of locations to the entire population of Gaza.
This month, operations at the GHF aid distribution hubs were temporarily halted after several incidents of deadly violence in Rafah and the Netzarim Corridor, where Israeli forces opened fire on aid seekers
Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera\u2019s Tareq Abu Azzoum said the current aid distribution mechanism has caused \u201cchaos and despair\u201d among Palestinians.
\u201cMany hungry Palestinians have run out of options, forced to choose between staying in their homes and starving or risking their lives to obtain a bag of flour,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Milestone school Dhaka mourned by Air Crushes: At least 30 dead including children, pilot dead; more then 171 hospitalized Mahfuja, Apur Roy, Ahmmed Mumim: At least 22 people, including children, were dead and more than 170 people were injured after a Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) training aircraft burst into flames after crashing into the primary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-w-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wallingtonjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wallingtonjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wallingtonjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wallingtonjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wallingtonjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wallingtonjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wallingtonjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wallingtonjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wallingtonjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}