New York: The United States has supplied Israel with large bunker-buster bombs, among tens of thousands of other weapons and artillery shells as the Israeli military presses on its deadly offensive against Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing US officials.

The Weapons deliveries have included some 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells and began shortly after the October 7 attack, although details on the exact timing of the shipments are unavailable, including the transfer of 100 BLU-109, 2,000-pound destroyer bombs, the newspaper said.

The bomb, which carries a warhead weighing more than 900 kilograms, has previously been used in some of the deadliest Israeli attacks on the populated Palestinian territory, including an airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp that killed more than 100 people last month.

The New York Times reported back then that the regime dropped at least two 2,000-pound bombs — the second largest type in its arsenal — on the site of the densely populated refugee camp. Israel also used the bombs to strike Gaza’s tunnels that are a lifeline of the underground economy for the enclave — totally blockaded by land, air, and sea since the Jewish state waged its war on the territory.

 Israel alleges that Hamas has built its headquarters in bunkers and tunnels. In mid-November, the Israeli occupation forces raided al-Shifa Hospital, following days of heavy attacks in the area surrounding one of the largest medical centers in the Gaza Strip.

 Israel claimed that a cross-border tunnel had been built under the building. Israeli soldiers entered the facility while tanks and bulldozers were stationed in the courtyard of the hospital, where around 7,000 people were sheltering, along with 1,500 patients and medical staff. The Israeli military has reportedly detained the director of al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip along with several other senior doctors.

Hamas has strongly rejected the allegations, saying that Israel “which had no military achievements in Gaza, wants to take revenge on civilians and patients.”

Faisalabad: Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) claimed to have imposed a fine of Rs.516.8 million on 4354 electricity thieves caught during last 86 days of anti-power-theft campaign in its region.

FESCO spokesman Tahir Sheikh said here on Sunday that FESCO had launched a vigorous anti-theft drive on special direction of Minister of Energy (Power Division) and during 86 days of this campaign the anti-theft teams of the company caught 4354 power pilferers from its eight districts.

The company had imposed a total fine of Rs.516.8 million on the pilferers under the head of detection units of 11.196 million in addition to getting Rs.336.8 million recovered from them.

FESCO had also got cases registered against 4137 accused whereas the police had arrested 3614 electricity thieves so far, he added.

Giving further details, he said that the FESCO teams detected electricity theft at 1385 points in Faisalabad district and imposed a fine of Rs.163.1 million on them under the head of 3530,000 million detection units.

In Jhang district, the FESCO teams caught 481 electricity thieves and imposed a fine of Rs.65 million under 1584,000 detection units.

Similarly, 495 cases of electricity theft were detected in Bhakkar district and the company fined the power pilferers  Rs.56.1 million under 1140,000 detection units.

He further said that 446 electricity thieves were caught from Chiniot district and they were imposed a fine of Rs.63 million under 1375,000 detection units.

In Khushab district, 123 consumers were found involved in electricity theft and they were fined Rs.17.8 million for 363,000 detection units.

The FESCO teams also caught 560 power pilferers from Mianwali and they were fined Rs.55.9 million for 1229,000 detection units.

In Sargodha district, 472 cases of electricity theft were detected. Hence, a fine of Rs.49.9 million was imposed on the electricity thieves under 1053,000 detection units.

The FESCO teams also caught 333 electricity thieves from Toba Tek Singh district. Therefore, the company imposed a fine of Rs.38.3 million for 757,000 detection units,the  spokesman added.

Lahore: China’s Southern Airlines has announced that flight operations of Lahore-Guangzhou will resume from December 20.

Allama Iqbal International Airport official said that the first resumed route of China Southern Airline was the Lahore-Urumqi route, which resumed in June of 2023.

Similarly, now the second route of Lahore-Guangzhou is also being resumed from Dec 20, 2023. The resumed route is expected to have almost three return flights carrying an approximate of 177 passengers per flight.

This shows increased and prosperous relationship between Pakistan and China, sources said.

This is very pivotal flight operation which would help promote trade and tourism between China and Pakistan.

Sources suggested that the resumed flight operations are a good sign and are expected to have a healthy impact on sectors such as education and tourism between the two countries.  Traders and students have rejoiced at the start of the flight operation between Lahore and China’s Guangzhou.