º£½ÇÖ±²¥

Gaza journalist, her family among 12 killed in Israeli strikes

People hold up their lit mobile phones next to a LED candle sign on the ground reading
People hold up their lit mobile phones next to a LED candle sign on the ground reading "Gaza" during a candlelight vigil in front of Zojoji temple in Tokyo on October 5, 2024, to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 05 October 2024

Gaza journalist, her family among 12 killed in Israeli strikes

Gaza journalist, her family among 12 killed in Israeli strikes
  • Macron urges halt to arms deliveries to Israel, stresses ‘political solution’ to conflict

CAIRO/PARIS: Israeli airstrikes pounded areas across the Gaza Strip on Monday killing 12, including a journalist and her family, medics said, although the intensity of the ground offensive has subsided as Israel steps up its fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Palestinian health officials said Wafa Al-Udaini, who wrote articles about the war in English advocating the Palestinian viewpoint, was killed when a missile struck her house in the central city of Deir Al-Balah, also killing her husband and their two children. Udaini’s death raised the number of Palestinian journalists killed in the Israeli offensive since Oct. 7 to 174, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.
In another strike, a Palestinian was killed and several were wounded in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, while in the northern town of Beit Hanoun an airstrike killed one man and injured others, medics said.

FASTFACT

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi renewed his call for ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon as he held talks with his country’s Syrian ally.

An Israeli airstrike on a house in Nuseirat, one of Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, killed six people, health officials said.
Some residents said fighting and Israeli military activities in Gaza have declined slightly in the past week as Israel has escalated its military offensive in Lebanon.
While the intensity of the ground offensive has been lower, Israel has kept up its airstrikes in the enclave, they added.
Most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced by the war, in which more than 41,500 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities.
French President Emmanuel Macron urged a halt to arms deliveries to Israel, which has been criticized over the conduct of its retaliatory operation in Gaza.
“I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,†Macron told broadcaster France Inter.
“France is not delivering any,†he added during the interview recorded early this week.
The US provides about $3 billion in weapons to Israel each year.
In May, the State Department said it did not have enough evidence to block shipments of weapons but that it was “reasonable to assess†that Israel has used arms in ways inconsistent with standards of humanitarian law.
In September, Britain said it was suspending some arms exports to Israel, citing a “clear risk†that they could be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law.
Macron reiterated his concern over the conflict in Gaza that is continuing despite repeated calls for a ceasefire.
“I think we are not being heard,†he said. “I think it is a mistake, including for the security of Israel,†he said, adding that the conflict was leading to “hatred.â€
Macron also said avoiding an escalation in Lebanon was a “priority.â€
“Lebanon cannot become a new Gaza,†he added.

Ìı


Hamas says no special food privileges for Gaza hostages

Hamas says no special food privileges for Gaza hostages
Updated 3 sec ago

Hamas says no special food privileges for Gaza hostages

Hamas says no special food privileges for Gaza hostages
  • Hamas would only allow the ICRC to provide aid to Israeli hostages on the condition that humanitarian corridors are opened to Gaza

GAZA CITY: The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Sunday that Israeli hostages would not receive any “special privileges†in the food they are given compared to the rest of the Gazan population.
“(Hamas) does not intentionally starve the captives, but they eat the same food our fighters and the general public eat. They will not receive any special privileges amid the crime of starvation and siege,†Hamas’s military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, wrote in a statement.
The group added that it would only allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to provide aid to Israeli hostages on the condition that humanitarian corridors are opened to Gaza.
“(We) are ready to respond positively (to) any request by the Red Cross to deliver food and medicine to enemy prisoners. However, we condition our acceptance on the opening of humanitarian corridors... for the passage of food and medicine... across all areas of the Gaza Strip,†Hamas’s military wing wrote in a separate statement.
The response came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested that the ICRC help provide food to the hostages held in Gaza, and after the agency issued a “call to be granted access to the hostages†in a statement posted on X.


Syrian and Turkish authorities arrest dangerous drug kingpin

Syrian and Turkish authorities arrest dangerous drug kingpin
Updated 03 August 2025

Syrian and Turkish authorities arrest dangerous drug kingpin

Syrian and Turkish authorities arrest dangerous drug kingpin
  • A joint operation between Syria’s Anti-Narcotics Directorate and their Turkish counterparts led to his arrest insideÌıTurkish territory
  • Amer Jdei Al-Sheikh is wanted by several countries for serious organized crimes related to drug manufacturing and smuggling

LONDON: Syrian anti-narcotics authorities announced on Sunday the arrest of Amer Jdei Al-Sheikh, a highly dangerous kingpin involved in drug networks in Syria and the Middle East region.

Al-Sheikh is wanted by several countries, including Turkiye, for serious organized crimes related to drug manufacturing and smuggling, according to Syrian authorities.

On Sunday, a joint operation between Syria’s Anti-Narcotics Directorate and their Turkish counterparts led to his arrest inside Turkish territory.

The head of Syria’s Anti-Narcotics Directorate, Brig. Gen. Khaled Eid, told SANA: “The arrested individual was traveling using forged IDs and passports in an attempt to evade security pursuit. He was tracked until he eventually entered Turkish territories, where he was arrested by Turkish authorities in coordination with Syrian counterparts and was handed over to (us).â€

He said that Al-Sheikh was among the most “dangerous individuals†involved in drug smuggling networks in Syria and beyond, maintaining close ties with international smuggling rings and influential figures in the underground narcotics world.

Eid said that the suspect maintained close ties with Maher Assad, the brother of the ousted Syrian president, who is accused of spearheading the highly organized expansion of captagon facilities during the era of the former regime.


At least 68 migrants dead in shipwreck off Yemen: UN migration body

Yemenis prepare to take to the sea to look for survivors after a boat carrying migrants capsized Yemen’s Shabwah province. (AFP)
Yemenis prepare to take to the sea to look for survivors after a boat carrying migrants capsized Yemen’s Shabwah province. (AFP)
Updated 29 min 2 sec ago

At least 68 migrants dead in shipwreck off Yemen: UN migration body

Yemenis prepare to take to the sea to look for survivors after a boat carrying migrants capsized Yemen’s Shabwah province. (AFP)
  • “Many bodies have been found across various beaches, suggesting that a number of victims are still missing at sea,†Abyan province’s security directorate said

DUBAI: A shipwreck off Yemen killed at least 68 migrants, with 74 still missing, The UN’s migration agency reported on Sunday.

“At this stage, the deaths of 27 people are confirmed, their bodies have been recovered,†one security source had earlier said, adding that “searches are ongoing.â€

A second source said “150 people were on board the vessel that sank,†also reporting 27 dead.

A police source told AFP that “the boat was heading for the coast of (Abyan) province,†adding that “smuggler boats regularly arrive in our region.â€

Abyan province’s security directorate said in a statement that security forces “are currently conducting a large operation to recover the bodies of a significant number of Ethiopian migrants (Oromos) who drowned off the coast of Abyan while attempting to illegally enter Yemeni territory.â€

“Many bodies have been found across various beaches, suggesting that a number of victims are still missing at sea,†it added.

Despite the war that has ravaged Yemen since 2014, irregular migration via the impoverished country has continued, in particular from Ethiopia, which itself has been roiled by ethnic conflict.

Migrants cross the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, which separates Djibouti from Yemen and is a major route for international trade headed to and from the Suez Canal, as well as for migration and human trafficking.

According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, tens of thousands of migrants have become stranded in Yemen and suffer abuse and exploitation during their journeys.


Palestinian administrative prisoner dies in Israeli jail in ‘unknown’ circumstances

Palestinian administrative prisoner dies in Israeli jail in ‘unknown’ circumstances
Updated 03 August 2025

Palestinian administrative prisoner dies in Israeli jail in ‘unknown’ circumstances

Palestinian administrative prisoner dies in Israeli jail in ‘unknown’ circumstances
  • Ahmad Said Saleh Tazazaa, from the town of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, was detained on May 6
  • The last 2 years have been among the deadliest for Palestinian prisoners, according to prisoners’ rights groups

LONDON: A 20-year-old Palestinian prisoner died on Sunday in an Israeli jail after nearly three months since his arrest, reported the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society.

Ahmad Said Saleh Tazazaa, from the town of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, was detained on May 6. He had been sentenced to administrative detention, a practice that allows Israeli authorities to hold individuals in prison without trial for several months, with the possibility of indefinite extensions.

The groups said that the circumstances surrounding Tazazaa’s death in the Megiddo prison “remain unknown.†His death brings the total number of identified Palestinian prisoners and detainees who have died in Israeli detention since October 2023 to 76 individuals, including 46 from the occupied Gaza Strip.

The last two years have been among the deadliest for Palestinian prisoners, according to the commission and the PPS. Since Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories began in 1967, 313 political prisoners have died while in detention.

Israeli authorities have arrested 18,500 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.


Israeli army reveals rise in soldiers’Ìısuicides linked to Gaza war

Israeli army reveals rise in soldiers’Ìısuicides linked to Gaza war
Updated 03 August 2025

Israeli army reveals rise in soldiers’Ìısuicides linked to Gaza war

Israeli army reveals rise in soldiers’Ìısuicides linked to Gaza war
  • Army investigation examined letters left by soldiers and gathered details from their conversations with their immediate social circle
  • Israeli army fears phenomenon will spread as 7 reservists took their own lives in July

LONDON: An Israeli army investigation has revealed that 16 soldiers committed suicide in 2025 due to harsh combat conditions related to the war in the Gaza Strip.

Soldiers faced harsh realities in Gaza, including witnessing “difficult scenes,†experiencing the loss of friends, and struggling to cope with the prolonged combat. Investigators believe these factors played a significant role in leading the soldiers to take their own lives.

The investigation examined letters left by soldiers and gathered details from their conversations with their immediate social circle. A senior military official told the Israeli Broadcasting Authority that the Israeli army fears the phenomenon will spread, as seven reservists took their own lives in July.

The official added: “Most cases of suicide among soldiers resulted from the complexities (of life) following the war. War has consequences. These (present) difficult challenges; there are quite a few cases.â€

The Israeli army is concerned about the increasing number of soldier suicides this year compared to previous years. In 2024, 21 Israeli soldiers committed suicide, including 12 reservists, whereas in 2023, the year that saw the launch of the Gaza war in its fourth quarter, 17 Israeli soldiers took their own lives.

As of July, at least 887 Israeli soldiers have been killed during military operations or in combat with Palestinian armed fighters in the Gaza Strip.