Hostages were holding white cloth on stick when Israeli forces shot them, army says
Funeral of killed hostage held in southern Israel
Mourners have gathered for the funeral of Samer Talalka, 22, one of the three hostages who were mistakenly killed by Israeli military yesterday, having been held by Hamas in Gaza
The IDF said the three men were mis-identified as a “threat”. They were fired upon while shirtless and holding a white cloth on a stick.
Talalka was buried in Hura village in southern Israel this afternoon.
Reports say dozens killed in north Gaza and many trapped under rubble
Palestinian media reports say dozens of people have been killed in Israeli air strikes in Jabalia in northern Gaza, with many civilians said to be trapped under rubble there.
Palestinian Wafa news agency said at least three dozen people had been killed in strikes on three houses in the Jabalia refugee camp.
The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted a building in Jabalia after militants were identified on the roof and its forces came under fire.
Jacob Zuma withdraws support for ANC in run-up to 2024 South African election
Former president criticises party he led, citing ‘death of democratically elected structures’
The former South African president Jacob Zuma, who was forced out of office over corruption allegations, has said he will not vote for the ruling African National Congress party (ANC) in the 2024 national elections.
Zuma, 81, criticised the president and ANC leader, Cyril Ramaphosa. The ANC, which led the decades-old struggle against apartheid, is fast losing support. Zuma said he would vote for a small radical leftwing party and would refuse to campaign for the ANC.
Iran executes man after Israel espionage conviction
The unidentified man was said to be working for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. According to media reports, Tehran carried out the execution after the alleged spy passed on confidential documents.
Authorities in Iran have executed an unidentified man who was allegedly acting as a spy for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, Iranian media reported on Saturday.
“The death sentence was carried out this morning against a spy of the Zionist regime in Zahedan prison” in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.
It said he had been convicted of “intelligence cooperation and espionage for the benefit of the hostile Zionist regime,” using the Iranian government’s term for Israel.
Passing on documents to Mossad
The man was also found guilty of “collecting and providing classified information to the Mossad spy service with the aim of disrupting public order,” Mizan added.
Global shipping firms avoid routes in the Red Sea as attacks increase
Two major freight firms including MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co, the world’s biggest container shipping line, on Saturday said they would avoid the Suez Canal as Houthi militants in Yemen stepped up their assaults on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
Yemen‘s Iranian-backed Houthi movement has been attacking vessels in response to the Gaza war on a route that allows East-West trade, and especially oil, to use the Suez Canal to save the time and expense of circumnavigating Africa. War risk insurance premiums have risen as a result.
The Liberian-flagged MSC Palatium III was attacked on Friday with a drone in the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen at the southern end of the Red Sea, according to the Houthis.
No injuries were reported, but the vessel suffered some fire damage and was taken out of service, MSC said in a statement. Another Liberian-flagged vessel, Hapag Lloyd’s Al Jasrah, was hit by a missile, the U.S. military said.
Think tank fellow: Consider redeploying U.S. tactical nukes to South Korea
By YOSHIHIRO MAKINO/ Senior Staff Writer
December 16, 2023 at 10:30 JST
The United States should keep enhancing its nuclear deterrent in South Korea until North Korea gives up on its nuclear weapons program, a South Korean think tank researcher said.
Cha Du-hyeogn, a principal fellow at the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun that North Korea is increasingly and aggressively developing missiles and nuclear weapons.
He said he was engaged in a joint report with a U.S. research center that calls on the United States to offer a stronger assurance of its nuclear umbrella for Seoul.
Al Jazeera journalist Samer Abudaqa laid to rest in southern Gaza
Al Jazeera journalist Samer Abudaqa has been laid to rest in southern Gaza, with dozens of mourners, including journalists, paying their respects to the cameraman killed in an Israeli drone attack.
The funeral was held on Saturday in the city of Khan Younis. Abudaqa’s family, friends and colleagues bid a tearful farewell as his body was lowered into the ground.
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