International Glance
More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war so far, Gaza health officials said Saturday, as both sides completed the latest exchange of bodies under the terms of the tenuous ceasefire.
The latest jump in deaths occurred as more bodies are recovered in the devastated Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, and as other bodies are identified. The toll also includes Palestinians killed by strikes that Israel says target remaining militants.
Israel on Saturday returned the remains of another 15 Palestinians to Gaza, according to hospital officials there, a day after militants returned the remains of a hostage to Israel. He was identified as Lior Rudaeff, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s office. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that Rudaeff was born in Argentina.
The exchanges are the central part of the ceasefire’s initial phase, which requires that Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. Families and supporters rallied again Saturday night in Tel Aviv for the return of all.
The truce is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever between Israel and the Palestinian militant group. It began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
Gaza death toll tops 69,000 as Israel and militants again exchange remains
Ceasefire in danger as Israel strikes Gaza City after Netanyahu orders 'powerful attacks'
Israeli planes launched strikes in Gaza on Tuesday after Israel accused the militant group Hamas of violating a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory, the latest test of a fragile deal brokered earlier this month by U.S. President Donald Trump.
At least nine people were killed in the strikes, including four in Gaza City's Sabra neighborhood and five in a car targeted in Khan Younis, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes, the latest violence in a three-week-old ceasefire and which followed a statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office saying he had ordered immediate "powerful attacks."The statement did not give a specific reason for the attacks but an Israeli military official said Hamas had violated the ceasefire by carrying out an attack against Israeli forces in an area of the enclave that is under Israeli control.
"This is yet another blatant violation of the ceasefire," the official said.
Israel takes steps to shut down international aid groups in Gaza and the West Bank
Israel, having banned the United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees from sending aid and staff to Gaza, is now taking unprecedented steps to de-register major nongovernmental aid groups for ideological reasons, according to several officials of humanitarian organizations.
They say the new rules threaten the ability of some of the biggest international nongovernmental organizations — known as INGOs — to send in aid or staff to both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
"INGOs are in limbo — most who have submitted have either been not accepted or rejected," an official with an aid organization that is aware of the situation said of the application process required for nongovernmental aid organizations operating in Gaza and the West Bank. The official spoke on the condition that NPR not name their employer and not give their name because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
The ceasefire agreement in the Gaza war brokered this month by President Trump committed Israel to a surge in aid into Gaza, where food security experts declared famine in parts of the territory. But Israel continues to severely restrict crossings open for aid shipments and who can send aid through them. Of seven Israeli border crossings with Gaza, only two are currently open. Of those that are open, the U.N. and nongovernmental aid groups say many requests to enter Gaza are routinely rejected, without explanation.
TVNL Comment: Where in hell is the outrage from the rest of the world? People hailed Donald Trump as a hero for brokering a cease fire. This is a violation of the so-called 'peace plan'. THIS IS A WAR CRIME that has been waged since early March. It is illegal to use starvation as a weapon. So, where in hell is the outrage?
Trump's meeting with Putin in Budapest scrapped just days after summit was announced
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are no longer meeting in Budapest as previously planned, casting doubt over Trump's latest attempt to secure a ceasefire to stop Russia's fighting in Ukraine.
A White House official confirmed the summit is off, telling USA TODAY that a "productive call" between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the meeting unnecessary. The official said Trump and Putin have no plans to meet in the immediate future.
Putin has rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire and refused to entertain concessions as part of a peace deal with Ukraine. Moscow continues to demand that Ukraine cede territory in any agreement to end the war.
Trump, following an Oct. 16 phone call with Putin, announced plans for a meeting in Budapest to work on an agreement to end the war. The choice of Budapest for talks was controversial. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban is one of the few leaders in the European Union to maintain close relations with Russia.
Trump says U.S. struck 5th boat accused of carrying drugs off coast of Venezuela, killing 6
President Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. struck another small boat that he accused of carrying drugs in the waters off the coast of Venezuela.
The president said in a post on Truth Social that six people aboard the vessel were killed in the strike and no U.S. forces were harmed. It's the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean, where the Trump administration has asserted it is treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force. At least 27 people have been killed in the five strikes, according to figures released by the administration.
Frustration with the use of force has been growing on Capitol Hill among members of both major political parties. Some Republicans are seeking more information from the White House on the legal justification and details of the strikes. Democrats contend the strikes violate U.S. and international law.
László Krasznahorkai wins the Nobel prize in literature 2025
The Nobel prize in literature for 2025 has been awarded to the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, the Swedish Academy has announced.
The academy cited the 71-year-old’s “compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”.
Krasznahorkai is known for his dystopian, melancholic novels, which have won numerous prizes, including the 2019 National Book award for translated literature and the 2015 International Booker prize. Several of his works, including his novels Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been adapted into feature films.
“I am deeply glad that I have received the Nobel prize – above all because this award proves that literature exists in itself, beyond various non-literary expectations, and that it is still being read,” said Krasznahorkai. “And for those who read it, it offers a certain hope that beauty, nobility, and the sublime still exist for their own sake. It may offer hope even to those in whom life itself only barely flickers.”
The novelist Colm Tóibín described Krasznahorkai as “a unique literary visionary who has opened up a huge amount of rich space in the contemporary novel showing what can be done”.
US offers $15M reward for team accused of smuggling drone tech to Iran
The State Department is offering a $15 million reward for information linked to four Chinese nationals it says have helped the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) procure U.S. military equipment and drone technology.
Liu Baoxia, Li Yongxin, Yung Yiu Wa and Zhong Yanlai are accused of facilitating the sale of U.S. goods to front companies based in China that would send the technology to Iran, according to a State Department release.
Iran would then transport products to the IRGC and its linked companies including Shiraz Electronics Industries and Rayan Roshd Afzar, which use U.S.-controlled technology to develop and manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles, arms and weapons systems, according to the State Department.
Manufactured products are then sold to governments and groups in allied countries such as Russia, Sudan and Yemen in violation of U.S. sanctions.
More Articles...
- Israel and Hamas agree on the 'first phase' of Gaza ceasefire deal
- Moscow says momentum for peace deal after Trump-Putin summit has been exhausted
- These numbers show how 2 years of war have devastated Palestinian lives in Gaza
- Ukraine says it struck Russian ammunition plant, oil terminal and weapons depot
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