Blinken says Netanyahu confirmed truce support, presses Hamas

Blinken says Netanyahu confirmed truce support, presses Hamas
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to media at the David Kempinski Hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel on August 19, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 20 August 2024
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Blinken says Netanyahu confirmed truce support, presses Hamas

Blinken says Netanyahu confirmed truce support, presses Hamas
  • Blinken says Netanyahu promised Israel would send team to talks scheduled to resume this week
  • Israel has relentlessly pounded Gaza, killing over 40,000 Palestinians since October last year

TEL AVIV: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured him of support for a US proposal to bridge gaps on reaching a Gaza ceasefire, and pressed Hamas to agree.

Following three hours of talks with the prime minister in Jerusalem, Blinken said that Netanyahu promised Israel would send a team to talks scheduled to resume this week, mediated by Egypt and Qatar.

“In a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu today, he confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal. He supports it. It’s now incumbent on Hamas to do the same,” Blinken told reporters later in Tel Aviv.

“What I would say to Hamas and to its leadership is, if it genuinely cares about the Palestinian people that it purports to somehow represent, then it will say ‘yes’ to this agreement, and it will work on clear understandings about how to implement it,” Blinken said, a day after Hamas accused Netanyahu of obstructing the mediation efforts.

Hamas had called on mediators to implement a framework outlined in late May by US President Joe Biden. The movement said the bridging proposal “responds to Netanyahu’s conditions” and leaves him “fully responsible for thwarting the efforts of the mediators.”

But Blinken said: “The single quickest, best, most effective way to relieve the terrible suffering of the Palestinians that was instigated by Hamas’s attack on October 7 and the war that ensued is to complete this agreement.”

Blinken said he would travel Tuesday to both Egypt and Qatar and meet with the leaders of the two Arab nations, which have worked with the United States on a ceasefire plan.

He said he hoped to hear from the Arab partners the latest on Hamas’s position and he played down the militants’ criticism of the bridging proposal.

“We’ve seen public statements before where they don’t fully reflect where Hamas is,” Blinken said.


Explosion occurs at Turkish oil refinery during drills, but no casualties are reported

Explosion occurs at Turkish oil refinery during drills, but no casualties are reported
Updated 1 min 8 sec ago
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Explosion occurs at Turkish oil refinery during drills, but no casualties are reported

Explosion occurs at Turkish oil refinery during drills, but no casualties are reported
ANKARA: An explosion occurred at an oil refinery in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, an official said, adding the situation was “under control” and there were no reports of any casualties.
Mayor Tahir Buyukakin told private NTV television that the blast occurred at the Turkish Petroleum Refineries company, Tupras, in Izmit provicince during “routine drills.”
A fire was quickly brought under control by the privately owned company’s own emergency crews and no request for help was made, he said.
Video footage from the site showed smoke rising from the refinery.
It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.

Lebanon media reports strike on residential building south of Beirut

Lebanon media reports strike on residential building south of Beirut
Updated 31 sec ago
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Lebanon media reports strike on residential building south of Beirut

Lebanon media reports strike on residential building south of Beirut

BEIRUT: Lebanese state media reported a strike on an apartment in the Jiyeh coastal area south of Beirut on Tuesday, more than a month into the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The official National News Agency said “a raid targeted a residential apartment in a building in the town of Jiyeh,” where an AFP correspondent said a large plume of grey smoke covered the area.


Iran says killed eight militants since attack on police in province bordering Pakistan

Iran says killed eight militants since attack on police in province bordering Pakistan
Updated 39 min 2 sec ago
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Iran says killed eight militants since attack on police in province bordering Pakistan

Iran says killed eight militants since attack on police in province bordering Pakistan
  • Militants from the Jaish Al-Adl group killed 10 police officers during a raid in Sistan-Baluchistan province on October 26
  • Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, is one of Iran’s most impoverished provinces

TEHRAN: Iran’s military has killed eight militants in an operation in the restive southeast since a deadly attack last month on a police station, state media reported Tuesday.
Militants from the Pakistan-based Jaish Al-Adl group killed 10 police officers during a raid on October 26 in Sistan-Baluchistan province — one of the deadliest attacks in the region in recent months.
Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, is one of Iran’s most impoverished provinces.
It has long been a flashpoint for cross-border attacks by separatists and extremists, opposed to the authorities in Iran.
Revolutionary Guards commander Ahmad Shafahi said “a total of eight terrorists have been killed” since the beginning of operations in the province, according to the official IRNA news agency on Tuesday.
“Fourteen other terrorists have been arrested,” including key figures involved in the attack, he said, adding security forces seized weapons and ammunition.
Shortly after the attack in Taftan county, some 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran, a report on the Tasnim news agency said four militants had been killed and four others arrested.
Late on Monday, IRNA quoted Guards ground forces commander Mohammad Pakpour as saying the attackers “were not Iranian,” though he did not specify their nationalities.
In early October, at least six people including police officers were killed in two separate attacks in the province.
Jaish Al-Adl said on Telegram they had carried out the attacks.
Formed in 2012 by Baluch separatists, the group is proscribed as a “terrorist organization” by both Iran and the United States.
 
 


Over 100 patients to be evacuated from Gaza, WHO says

Over 100 patients to be evacuated from Gaza, WHO says
Updated 05 November 2024
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Over 100 patients to be evacuated from Gaza, WHO says

Over 100 patients to be evacuated from Gaza, WHO says
  • The patients will travel in a large convoy on Wednesday via the Kerem Shalom crossing

GENEVA: More than 100 patients including children suffering from trauma injuries and chronic diseases will be evacuated from Gaza on Wednesday in a rare transfer out of the war-ravaged enclave, a World Health Organization official said.
“These are ad hoc measures. What we have requested repeatedly is a sustained medevac (medical evacuation) outside of Gaza,” said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, adding that 12,000 people were awaiting transfer.
The patients will travel in a large convoy on Wednesday via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel before flying to the United Arab Emirates, he added, and then a portion will travel to Romania.


Iran says two French detainees held in good conditions

Iran says two French detainees held in good conditions
Updated 05 November 2024
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Iran says two French detainees held in good conditions

Iran says two French detainees held in good conditions
  • In recent years, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security

DUBAI: Two French citizens detained in Iran since May 2022 are in good health and being held in good detention conditions, Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said on Tuesday, according to state media.
Last month, France’s foreign ministry said the conditions that three of its nationals were being held in by Iran were unacceptable.
“According to the relevant authorities, these two people have good conditions in the detention center and are in good health, so any claim regarding their conditions being abnormal is rejected,” Jahangir said.
The spokesperson was referring to Cecile Koehler and Jacques Paris, who he said were arrested on charges of espionage and will have their next court hearing on Nov. 24.
Jahangir did not mention the third French national detained in Iran. French media have disclosed only his first name, Olivier.
In recent years, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests.