Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza, Egypt to host Hamas leaders for ceasefire talks

Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza, Egypt to host Hamas leaders for ceasefire talks
Smoke and flames rise from a residential building hit by an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip. (Reuters TV/via REUTERS)
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Updated 02 December 2024
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Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza, Egypt to host Hamas leaders for ceasefire talks

Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza, Egypt to host Hamas leaders for ceasefire talks
  • Later on Friday, an Israeli air strike killed at least 10 Palestinians in a house in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, medics said
  • Late on Friday, two Hamas officials told Reuters a Hamas delegation would arrive in Cairo on Saturday for talks with Egyptian officials

CAIRO: Israeli military strikes killed at least 40 Palestinians overnight and on Friday in the Gaza Strip, medics said, as efforts to revive Gaza ceasefire talks received a boost with officials from the Palestinian group Hamas headed to Cairo for a new round of talks.
Medics said they had recovered 19 bodies of Palestinians killed in northern areas of Nuseirat, one of the enclave’s eight long-standing refugee camps.
Later on Friday, an Israeli air strike killed at least 10 Palestinians in a house in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, medics said.
Others were killed in the northern and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, medics added. There was no fresh statement by the Israeli military on Friday, but on Thursday it said its forces were continuing to “strike terror targets as part of the operational activity in the Gaza Strip.”
Israeli tanks had entered northern and western areas of Nuseirat on Thursday. They withdrew from northern areas on Friday but remained active in western parts of the camp. The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said teams were unable to respond to distress calls from residents trapped in their homes.
Dozens of Palestinians returned on Friday to areas where the army had retreated to check on damage to their homes.
Medics and relatives covered up dead bodies, including of women, that lay on the road with blankets or white shrouds and carried them away on stretchers.
“Forgive me, my wife, forgive me, my Ibtissam, forgive me, my dear,” one grief-stricken man moaned through tears beside her corpse, laid out on a stretcher on the ground.
Medics said an Israeli drone on Friday had killed Ahmed Al-Kahlout, head of the Intensive Care Unit at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, where the army has been operating since early October.
Contacted by Reuters, the Israeli military said it was unaware of a strike occurring in this location or timeframe.
Kamal Adwan Hospital is one of three medical facilities on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip that barely function now due to shortages of medical, fuel, and food supplies. Most of its medical staff have been detained or expelled by the Israeli army, health officials say.
The Palestinian civil emergency service, Hamas and the Palestinian official news agency WAFA put the number of Palestinians killed in two Israeli strikes in Beit Lahiya in the past 24 hours at 70. There was no immediate confirmation of the figure by the local health ministry.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and accused Israel of “using the weapon of starvation against the people (in northern Gaza) to displace them from their land and homes.”
The Israeli army said forces operating in Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia since Oct. 5 aimed to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping and waging attacks from those areas. Residents said the army was depopulating the towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun as well as the Jabalia refugee camp.

CEASEFIRE EFFORT TO RESUME
Late on Friday, two Hamas officials told Reuters a Hamas delegation would arrive in Cairo on Saturday for talks with Egyptian officials. The visit comes days after the US said it would begin new efforts with Qatar, Egypt, and Turkiye to revive Gaza ceasefire talks.
Months of efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza have yielded scant progress, and negotiations are now on hold.
A ceasefire in the parallel conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, took effect before dawn on Wednesday, bringing a halt to hostilities that had escalated sharply in recent months and had overshadowed the Gaza conflict.
Announcing the Lebanon accord on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said he would now renew his push for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza and he urged Israel and Hamas to seize the moment.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 44,300 people and displaced nearly all the enclave’s population at least once, Gaza officials say. Vast swathes of the territory are in ruins.
The Hamas-led militants who attacked southern Israeli communities 13 months ago, triggering the war, killed some 1,200 people and captured more than 250 hostages, Israel has said.


26 killed as Syrian Turkish-backed groups attack Kurdish-held area in north

Turkish-backed Syrian fighters gather with their vehicles at a position near the northern Syrian town of Manbij. (AFP file photo
Turkish-backed Syrian fighters gather with their vehicles at a position near the northern Syrian town of Manbij. (AFP file photo
Updated 18 sec ago
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26 killed as Syrian Turkish-backed groups attack Kurdish-held area in north

Turkish-backed Syrian fighters gather with their vehicles at a position near the northern Syrian town of Manbij. (AFP file photo
  • The Ankara-backed factions said they had “taken control of the city of Manbij in the eastern countryside of Aleppo after fierce battles,” in a statement on their Telegram channel

BEIRUT, Lebanon: At least 26 combattants were killed Sunday as Turkish-backed Syrian fighters launched an offensive on the northern Manbij area, days after seizing a Kurdish-held enclave.
The pro-Turkiye fighters had already retaken the Kurdish-held Tal Rifaat enclave last week, days after  rebels swooped into government-held areas, snatching key cities before reaching Damascus on Sunday.
“Pro-Turkish factions... seized large districts of Manbij city in the eastern Aleppo countryside, after violent clashes with the Manbij Military Council,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.
The Council is affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that act as a de facto army for the Kurdish administration that controls swathes of Syria’s northeast.
“The clashes killed nine pro-Turkish fighters and at least 17 Manbij Military Council” combattants, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.
The US-backed SDF also reported “fierce clashes,” saying the military councils in Manbij and in Al-Bab were “dealing qualitative blows” to Turkish-backed fighters.
The Ankara-backed factions said they had “taken control of the city of Manbij in the eastern countryside of Aleppo after fierce battles,” in a statement on their Telegram channel.
The groups posted videos of the fighters declaring control over Manbij, said to be from inside the area.
AFP could not independently verify the videos.
Earlier Sunday, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi hailed “historic” moments with the fall of the “authoritarian regime” of President Bashar Assad.
 

 


Director of key north Gaza hospital says power outage threatens patients

Director of key north Gaza hospital says power outage threatens patients
Updated 15 min 55 sec ago
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Director of key north Gaza hospital says power outage threatens patients

Director of key north Gaza hospital says power outage threatens patients
  • “The outage of electricity and water persists, and we urgently appeal to the international community for assistance,” he said

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: The director of northern Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital said on Sunday the lives of more than 100 patients were in danger after electricity, oxygen and water supplies were cut.
Hossam Abu Safiyeh said recent Israeli shelling and bombing had severely damaged the hospital and cut the water and electricity supply to parts of it.
“The outage of electricity and water persists, and we urgently appeal to the international community for assistance,” he said.
“The situation is extremely dangerous. We have patients in the intensive care unit and others awaiting surgeries. Access to the operating rooms is only possible after restoring electricity and oxygen supply.”

Hossam Abu Safiyeh. (Supplied)

Safiyeh said the hospital currently had 112 wounded patients, including six in intensive care and 14 children.
Continued shelling near the hospital was “preventing us from conducting repairs,” he said.
Israel on Friday said it was operating around the facility but had not fired directly on the hospital.
Kamal Adwan is located in Beit Lahia, a city at the center of an intense Israeli military operation aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping in northern Gaza.
The hospital is one of the last operational medical facilities in the north of the territory.
The World Health Organization’s representative in the Palestinian territories, Rik Peeperkorn, said on Friday the hospital was operating at a “minimum” level.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s surprise October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 44,708 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry which the UN considers reliable.

 


Morocco’s king undergoes successful surgery after shoulder fracture

King Mohammed VI of Morocco. (File/AFP)
King Mohammed VI of Morocco. (File/AFP)
Updated 56 min 21 sec ago
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Morocco’s king undergoes successful surgery after shoulder fracture

King Mohammed VI of Morocco. (File/AFP)
  • King Mohammed VI of Morocco has been told to rest for 45 days to allow his shoulder to recover

RABAT: King Mohammed VI of Morocco had successful surgery on Sunday on his left shoulder after suffering a fall while working out, state media said.
He has been told to rest for 45 days to allow his shoulder to recover, state news agency MAP said, citing a statement by the king’s medical team.
The palace has issued statements about the king’s health in the past, including when he had heart surgery in 2018 and 2020, a lung infection in 2019 and COVID-19.


Across Europe, Syrians celebrate being ‘free’ of Assad

Lareen, 8, looks on as people gather in Trafalgar Square, after Syrian militants announced that they ousted Syria's Bashar Assad
Lareen, 8, looks on as people gather in Trafalgar Square, after Syrian militants announced that they ousted Syria's Bashar Assad
Updated 08 December 2024
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Across Europe, Syrians celebrate being ‘free’ of Assad

Lareen, 8, looks on as people gather in Trafalgar Square, after Syrian militants announced that they ousted Syria's Bashar Assad
  • Syrians in Athens, Belgrade, Istanbul, London, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna also waved flags in the green, red, black and white colors of the Syrian opposition

BERLIN: Thousands of jubilant Syrians rallied in Berlin and cities across Europe on Sunday, waving flags and barely able to contain their joy at the downfall of president Bashar Assad.
“Finally we are free!” exclaimed Bassam Al-Hamada, 39, among 5,000 people at an exuberant rally in the capital of Germany, where the one million-plus Syrians makes it the largest diaspora in Europe.
But Syrians in Athens, Belgrade, Istanbul, London, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna also waved flags in the green, red, black and white colors of the Syrian opposition and made clear their hostility to Assad.
Berlin police said more than 5,000 Syrians gathered in a square in the Kreuzberg district.
Many waved flags and banners that read “Free Syria” and “Freedom,” flashed “V” for victory signs and chanted “Allahu Akbar!” (God is Greatest!).
Despite a cold drizzle, many came with their families. Children’s faces were painted in the Syrian colors. Passing cars honked their horns.
Most Syrians in Germany fled their country after civil war erupted in 2011. A big community now lives in Berlin’s Neukoelln district.
“We’re happy. The dictatorship is over. Assad has gone,” said 39-year-old Berlin resident Ahmed, who preferred not to give his last name.
“All Syrians are together now,” said the railway technician, who fled the Syrian city of Aleppo in 2015.
Ahmad Al-Hallabi, a 27-year-old mechanic from Aleppo, arrived in Germany through Turkiye and Greece in 2015 at the peak of the migrant influx into Europe.
“Ten years ago, I was in Syria and saw things no-one should have to see, things that are impossible to wipe from your memory,” he said.
“Assad is the worst terrorist imaginable ... I hope there’ll be peace and everything Assad and his men destroyed will be rebuilt.”
Germany’s far-right, which has gained popularity on the back of its opposition to the arrival of Syrians and other migrants quickly raised its fears about more arrivals.
“The frontiers are closed, we will not accept any any more,” said Alternative for Germany co-leader Alice Weidel on the X social platform.
Anti-immigrant parties have also made gains in other European countries. “The top priority must be to ensure that the Syrian civilian population has prospects on the ground again and that refugees can return,” Austria’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Assad’s defeat.
Many Syrian say they want to return to their war-battered nation.
“Like many Syrians, I would like to return to my country to help rebuild it,” said Bassam Al-Hamada, a social worker who arrived in Germany in early 2016.
Sabreen, 36, an architect, said she planned to help from Germany.
“They mainly need expertise and money. All of that, we can gather here for the moment,” added the woman.
Like many of the stunned exiles in Berlin, Sabreen called for Assad to answer for the killing and torture of his people in the past 13 years. “He must be tried in the international court in The Hague,” she said.
Hundreds of ecstatic Syrians celebrated the fall of Assad on London’s Trafalgar Square, hugging each other and chanting “Mabrouk!” (Congratulations!).
Syrians greeted each other, many with the opposition flag, and singing: “Syria is ours, not the Assad family’s.”
Hundreds took part in joyous scenes outside the Fatih Mosque in Istanbul, one of the focal points for their 500,000-strong Syrian community in the Turkish city.
Several hundred Syrians also gathered outside parliament in central Athens. “Allah, Syria, freedom!” and “together, together, together,” they chanted.
“I am happy after these 13 years of displacement, massacres and tens of thousands of people killed in prisons,” said Adel Batal, 29.
“I am in Greece because of this regime,” said the man from Aleppo. “My city has been destroyed by this regime.”
Thousands also gathered in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Vienna. Sweden has Europe’s second biggest Syrian diaspora.
“I lost my homeland. My home, my family and my friends, and we fought for 14 years — so yes, today I am happy,” Noura Bittar told Danish local television.
“Of course, we are worried about what the next step will be, what kind of government will be put in place? But for now, we are just happy.”


Bewildered, elated prisoners pour out as Assad’s jails flung open

A person gestures as individuals, reportedly freed prisoners, run in the streets of Damascus, Syria, December 8, 2024. (Reuters)
A person gestures as individuals, reportedly freed prisoners, run in the streets of Damascus, Syria, December 8, 2024. (Reuters)
Updated 08 December 2024
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Bewildered, elated prisoners pour out as Assad’s jails flung open

A person gestures as individuals, reportedly freed prisoners, run in the streets of Damascus, Syria, December 8, 2024. (Reuters)
  • Throughout the civil war that began in 2011, security forces held hundreds of thousands of people seized in detention camps

DAMASCUS: Bewildered and elated prisoners poured out of Syrian jails on Sunday, shouting with joy as they emerged from one of the world’s most notorious detention systems and walked to freedom following the collapse of Bashar Assad’s government.
All across Syria, families wept as they were reunited with children, siblings, spouses and parents who vanished years ago into the impregnable gulag of the Assad dynasty’s five-decade rule.
A video verified by Reuters showed newly freed prisoners ran through the Damascus streets, holding up the fingers of both hands to show how many years they had been in prison, asking passers-by what had happened, not immediately understanding that Assad had fallen.
“We toppled the regime!” a voice shouted and a prisoner yelled and skipped with delight in the same video. A man watching the prisoners rush through the dawn streets put his hands to head, exclaiming with wonder: “Oh my god, the prisoners!“
Throughout the civil war that began in 2011, security forces held hundreds of thousands of people seized in detention camps where international human rights organizations say torture was universal practice. Families were often told nothing of the fate of their loved ones.
As insurgents seized one city after another in a dizzying eight-day campaign, prisons were often among their first objectives. The most notorious prisons in and around Damascus itself were finally opened on the uprising’s final night and the early hours of Sunday.
When they reached Sednaya prison, militants shot the lock off the gate, a video showed, using more gunfire to open closed doors leading to cells. Men poured out into corridors and a courtyard, cheering and helping them open more cells.
In a video uploaded by Step News Agency, a grey-haired man leapt into the arms of relatives in a sudden, disbelieving hug, the three men clasping each other and sobbing with joy before one fell to his knees, still clutching the freed man’s legs.
The pan-Arab Al Arabiya news channel showed a family arriving in Damascus by car from Jordan to meet their newly released son, the elderly mother’s voice breaking with emotion as she told the interviewer he had been freed after 14 years.
Reuters was not immediately able to verify the locations of some of the videos, though no one disputed that prisons were opened across the country.
Relief and terror
In what was purported to be the women’s block at Sednaya prison on the Damascus outskirts, perhaps the most notorious in the country, a militant recorded the moment he reached cells and pulled open the doors for prisoners who seemed to have had little idea they were about to be freed.
“May God honor you!” a woman shouted to the men freeing her. As they left their cells a toddler could be seen walking the corridor, having apparently been held in the prison along with his mother.
“He (Assad) has fallen. Don’t be scared,” a voice shouts, trying to reassure the prisoners that they faced no more danger.
In another video, a deafening roar erupted as militants marched down a corridor, said to be in the prison at Mezzeh air base southwest of the old center of Damascus. Prisoners leaned through the bars at the top of doors and banged on the sides of their cells as shouts of joy echoed all around.
One video showed a shaven-headed man squatting on his heels, trembling and barely able to answer the militants asking his name and where he was from.
Over the years, thousands of Syrians were brusquely informed by authorities that their relatives had been executed, sometimes years earlier.
The United States said in 2017 it had evidence of a new crematorium built at Sednaya especially to dispose of bodies of thousands of inmates hanged during the war.
Some of the most disturbing information about Assad’s prison system came with thousands of photographs smuggled out of Syria by a military photographer codenamed Caesar who defected to the West in 2013.
His photographs of thousands of killed detainees showed clear marks of torture and starvation and for many families provided the first evidence that imprisoned relatives were dead.
A few miles from Sednaya early on Sunday, a stream of freed prisoners was recorded walking toward Damascus, many lugging sacks of belongings on their backs, and chanting “God is great!”