Category: NEWS

CAIRO – The European Union’s top diplomat called Sunday for an end to the renewed fighting in Gaza during a stop in Egypt, before setting off for Israel and the Palestinian territories to press for resumption of a Gaza truce.

Israel on Tuesday resumed intense air strikes in the Gaza Strip, followed by ground operations, after negotiations with Hamas militants stalled over the next stage in the ceasefire.

“We strongly oppose Israel’s resumption of hostilities, which caused appalling loss of life in Gaza.

“The killing must stop. In a new war, both sides lose,” the EU’s Kaja Kallas said in Cairo during a press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.

“From the European side, it is very clear that Hamas must release all hostages and Israel must fully reinstate humanitarian aid into Gaza and negotiations must resume.”

Kallas’ team later confirmed she had departed Egypt and arrived in Israel.

During talks there and the Palestinian territories on Monday she is expected to “call for an immediate return to the full implementation of the ceasefire-hostage release agreement,” her office said.

Kallas will also refer to “the importance of unimpeded access and sustained distribution of humanitarian assistance at scale into and throughout Gaza,” it said.

The United Nations said on Friday that Gaza was facing a “nightmare” since Israel resumed military operations after a six-week ceasefire.

Aid workers warned of a desperate situation that had been made worse by Israel’s decision earlier this month to cut off aid and electricity to Gaza over the deadlock in negotiations on the next phase of the ceasefire.

Kallas was due to meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and opposition leader Yair Lapid.

She will not meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for whom the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant “for crimes against humanity and war crimes.”

In the occupied West Bank, Kallas will hold talks with Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas and prime minister Mohammad Mustafa, her office said.

Israel and the United States have sought in recent weeks to change the terms of the ceasefire deal.

Hamas, which runs Gaza, has rejected this as a violation of the agreement all parties signed.

The first phase of the truce had enabled the entry of vital food, shelter and medical assistance, and an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

AN-AFP, 23 March 2025

GAZA – Five Palestinians were killed and several others injured on Sunday evening in an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, located in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to local sources, Israeli warplanes struck the emergency building within the medical complex, resulting in five fatalities and many injuries and causing significant damage within the structure.

WAFA, 23 March 2025

ISLAMABAD – At least four policemen were killed on Saturday evening in an attack on a police mobile in Nushki district of Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province, police said.

According to the local police, some unknown terrorists ambushed the police patrol van near Ghareebabad area of Nushki.

Police, security forces and rescue teams swiftly arrived at the site and shifted the bodies to Mir Gul Khan Naseer Hospital.

The security forces immediately responded to the incident and launched a search operation in the area to track down the attackers.

In response to the attack, authorities had intensified counterterrorism efforts to prevent further incidents and ensure the protection of the region, said police.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Chief Minister of the province Sarfraz Bugti condemned the heinous attack, reiterating his government’s commitment to eliminating terrorist elements.

XINHUA

GARISSA, Kenya – At least six people were killed and four others injured early Sunday after al-Shabab militants raided a security camp in Garissa County in northeastern Kenya along the border with Somalia, the police said.

Police spokesman Michael Muchiri confirmed the attack, which occurred at about 5:30 a.m. local time at a national police reserve camp in Biyamadhow. He added that security has been reinforced, with more police and security teams dispatched to the region to pursue the militants.

The Kenya Police Reserve is an auxiliary force to assist the regular Kenya police in maintaining law and order, particularly in rural areas, by combating issues like cattle theft and armed banditry.

The police said the attackers overran the camp, shot and stabbed victims, and ransacked the camp before escaping.

“Multi-agency security operatives are piecing this incident together with the anti-terrorism police unit at the lead. Progress to follow,” the police said in a report.

The attack took place near the porous Kenya-Somalia border, an area frequently breached by al-Shabab militants. Since Kenyan soldiers crossed into Somalia in 2011 to forestall the threats posed by al-Shabab, several security officers and scores of civilians have been killed in northeastern Kenya, with many maimed and property worth millions destroyed.

However, Kenyan authorities said the deployment of the troops in the southern regions of Somalia has so far helped curb the movement of explosives, counterfeit electronics and contraband sugar across the border.

XINHUA

SEOUL – At least four people have died and six have been injured in a series of wildfires in South Korea, as firefighters rushed to put out the fires amid dry, windy weather, the Korea Forest Service said on Sunday.

Over 9,000 staff and 105 helicopters were deployed to quell the fires engulfing areas mostly in the southeast of the country, damaging residential buildings and a temple, the authorities said.

More than 1,500 residents took shelter as the fires wiped out some 6,300 hectares (16,000 acres) of forests, Acting President Choi Sang-mok told a disaster response meeting.

“I request that the Korea Forest Service pay special attention to securing the safety of personnel in charge of extinguishing wildfires in the air or on the ground,” Choi said as he vowed to use all available resources to stop the fires.

Three of the four people who died were firefighters and one was a public servant, according to the Yonhap news agency.

REUTERS

MOGADISHU – Somalia’s aviation authority has confirmed that five people were killed when a cargo aircraft crashed on Saturday evening in the southwest of the country.

The Somali Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) said the DHC-5D Buffalo, with registration number 5Y-RBA, went down at around 5:43 p.m. local time (1443 GMT), about 24 km southwest of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

“There were five persons on board, all of whom have tragically lost their lives,” the SCAA said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.

It said the aircraft, operated by Kenya-based Trident Aviation Ltd., had departed from Dhobley, a strategic border town in southwestern Somalia, en route to Aden Abdulle International Airport in Mogadishu.

XINHUA

GAZA – The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has topped 50,000, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Sunday.

In the past 24 hours, 41 bodies and 61 wounded people were brought to hospitals across Gaza, bringing the total death toll to 50,021, with 113,274 injured since fighting erupted in early October 2023, the statement said.

XINHUA

KIEV – Three people were killed and eight others injured in an overnight Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian capital, Ukraine’s interior ministry said in a statement Sunday.

Among the killed were a five-year-old girl and her father, the statement said.

The drones and their debris hit apartment buildings in the eastern Dniprovskiy and central Podilskyi districts, causing fires. Damage and fires were also reported from three other districts of Kiev.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 147 combat and imitation drones.

XINHUA

NEW DELHI – One security member was killed and another injured when unidentified armed rebels called “Naxals” triggered an improvised explosive device blast in India’s eastern state of Jharkhand on Saturday, local police said.

The blast took place in Chaibasa area of the state’s West Singhbhum district. Both the victims belonged to the 193rd battalion of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force.

The two members were airlifted to the state capital Ranchi and admitted to a hospital, where one of them succumbed to his injuries. The other one was undergoing medical treatment at the hospital.

Following the blast, a manhunt was launched in the area.

XINHUA

DAKAR – An attack by a extremist group on a village in western Niger has killed 44 civilians, the country’s Interior Ministry said.

The attack took place on Friday afternoon in the village of Fambita in the rural commune of Kokorou, near the tri-state border with Mali and Burkina Faso, the ministry said in a statement. It blamed the attack on the Islamic State in the Great Sahara, or EIGS.

The Associated Press was not able to reach out to the EIGS for comment.

“Around 2 p.m., while Muslim worshippers were performing Friday prayers, these heavily armed terrorists surrounded the mosque to carry out their massacre of rare cruelty,” the statement read.

AN-AP

CAIRO – Seven people were killed and four others injured on Friday in a collision between two pickup cars in southern Egypt’s Aswan province, official media reported.

The state-run Ahram newspaper reported that the accident occurred on the Wadi al-Alaqi road in Aswan province, adding that the injured were transferred to nearby hospitals for treatment.

A security source at the Aswan Security Directorate told Xinhua that the accident was caused by excessive speed, which led to a direct collision between the two vehicles.

The source revealed that adding that the two cars carried Egyptian and Sudanese nationals, and relevant authorities are investigating the accident to determine who was responsible for the accident.

Traffic accidents claim thousands of lives in Egypt every year. Most of the accidents were caused by speeding, negligence of traffic rules and laws, and poor maintenance of roads.

Over the past few years, Egypt has been upgrading its traffic infrastructure by building new roads and bridges and repairing old ones to ease traffic and reduce accidents.

XINHUA

JERUSALEM – The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it struck “military strategic capabilities” at the Palmyra and Tiyas (T4) military air bases in central Syria’s Homs Governorate on Friday night.

Israel’s state-owned Kan TV News reported that Israeli air force intelligence had tracked the weapons and strategic capabilities at the bases, which were under the control of the Assad regime and collapsed in early December last year.

According to the channel, Israeli warplanes destroyed these capabilities in a broad strike to continue to maintain the air force’s air superiority in the region.

The IDF added that it will continue to act to remove any threat posed to the citizens of Israel.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper cited Arab media outlets as saying that two Syrian Defense Ministry personnel were wounded in the attack.

XINHUA

UNITED NATIONS – UN humanitarians are seeking Israel’s assurance of safety, as intensified hostilities have joined aid blockage in severely hampering the delivery of relief into Gaza.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday the United Nations is seeking concrete assurances for the safety of staff and operations in Gaza following the killing of six UN personnel and injury of several others this week, including in the attack on a clearly designated UN compound.

“We demand answers on their behalf and for those who continue the work,” Tom Fletcher, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said Wednesday.

OCHA said the 20-day closure of Gaza crossings to aid deliveries is having a devastating impact on people already facing catastrophic conditions.

“Each passing day further erodes the progress made by the UN and our humanitarian partners during the first six weeks of the ceasefire,” the office said. “OCHA warns that humanitarian operations are now being severely hampered by hostilities. Civilians, including aid workers, and civilian assets have come under attack.”

OCHA warned that as attacks continue across the Gaza Strip, the steady flow of trauma injuries is putting even more pressure on an already shattered healthcare system.

The UN’s humanitarian partners estimate that more than 120,000 Palestinians have been displaced once again this week, driven by intensified attacks and new Israeli evacuation orders across Gaza, OCHA said. “That’s about 6 percent of the surviving population.”

A new evacuation order covering areas in northern Gaza was issued on Friday following reports of rocket fire by Palestinian armed groups.

In the West Bank, OCHA said a rapid survey of movement obstacles across the occupied territory showed nearly 850 checkpoints, gates and other physical barriers, the highest number in any study over the past two decades.

“In just the past three months, three dozen new movement obstacles have been established, most of them following the announcement of the Gaza ceasefire in mid-January,” OCHA said. “Road gates account for a third of all obstacles, and most of them are frequently kept closed.”

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said that Friday marks 60 days since Israel began military operations in Jenin Camp in the West Bank.

He said such large-scale, militarized operations cannot become the new norm in the West Bank. The trend of escalating violence that started before Oct. 7, 2023 must be reversed.

XINHUA

LIMA – A mine collapse in southern Peru has left at least four people dead and four others injured, local media reported Friday.

The accident occurred on March 18 at the Santa Maria-Lunar de Oro mine in La Rinconada, a high-altitude mining town in the Puno region.

According to state news agency Andina, three workers died inside the mine, while a fourth died en route to a medical center.

Rescue operations were carried out under extreme conditions, with teams descending nearly 300 meters to recover the bodies.

Local prosecutor Fredy Condori has launched an investigation into the causes of the collapse and potential liabilities.

Santa Maria-Lunar de Oro is one of many mines in La Rinconada, where miners often work in hazardous conditions. Residents are calling for stricter safety measures to prevent future tragedies.

XINHUA