Gaza hospital images show rows of dead bodies as Israel steps up bombing
Israel under pressure from allies to delay ground attack until hostages freed
Lyse Doucet
Chief International Correspondent, in Ashkelon
“We have never announced there is going to be a ground operation,” insisted Israeli Defence Forces spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, to the World Service’s Newshour programme earlier.
As for the hundreds of thousands of IDF reservists along the Gaza border, Lerner said they were “currently being trained, equipped, and also tasked if they need to mobilise with specific tasks that will help us achieve our goal to destroy Hamas once and for all”.
In recent days, IDF spokesmen have emphasised the current focus is intensifying airstrikes before “the next stage of the war”.
There seemed to be the clearest signal yet yesterday from the IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi: “We’ll enter Gaza, we’ll enter for an operational mission.” Observers say that could first involve limited raids.
Israel is coming under intense pressure from allies and Israeli families to delay a ground attack until hostages are freed, including foreign nationals.
It’s clearly a consideration, although Israeli officials also accuse Hamas of trying to buy time.
And there’s a chorus of voices urging Israel to allow more desperately needed aid to enter Gaza, even to agree a humanitarian ceasefire. That’s not on Israel’s agenda after the Hamas attacks of 7 October.
Iranian teenager ‘brain dead’ after alleged metro encounter with police
Update on condition of Armita Geravand, 16, could revive protests that followed death last year of Mahsa Amini
An Iranian teenager who fell into a coma this month after an alleged encounter with officers over violating the country’s hijab law is said to be brain dead, Iranian state media reported on Sunday.
“Follow-ups on the latest health condition of Armita Geravand indicate that her health condition as brain dead seems certain despite the efforts of the medical staff,” the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network said.
Iranian authorities have denied claims by rights groups that the 16-year-old was hurt in a confrontation on 1 October with officers enforcing the mandatory Islamic dress code on the Tehran metro.
The Crisis in the Middle EastDiplomacy on the Precipice
The war in Gaza could send shock waves around the world. A deep rift already runs between the West and the axis of dictatorships led by Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi. And both stand to profit from the chaos in the Middle East.
Few events have made the world’s divisions as clear as the trips taken this week by Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin. While the American president arrived in Israel on Wednesday to assure the country it would have the assistance of the United States in the wake of the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, the Kremlin leader met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. It was a meeting of the like-minded – and a welcome opportunity to demonstrate how united they are.
The rift between the West, on the one hand, and Russia and China, on the other, had already begun widening as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The two countries are seeking to build a new axis of autocracies stretching from Tehran to Pyongyang in North Korea and including as many countries from the Global South as possible.
Avaaz campaigner: ‘Neither Hamas nor Fatah can claim to represent the Palestinian people’
from our special correspondent in Ramallah – Two weeks into the Israel-Hamas war, Fadi Quran, campaigns director for Avaaz, an NGO coordinating activists worldwide, is calling for a ceasefire in the interest of children on both sides.
More than 4,000 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis have died since the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, and at least 212 people are still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip. As the death toll climbs on both sides, UN agencies and other NGOs are calling for a ceasefire.
Quran speaks to FRANCE 24 in his residence in Ramallah about the despair of the Palestinian people caught in the conflict, and implores civil societies on both sides to pressure their governments to work for peace and spare the lives of children.
Populist right grows as counting underway for Swiss election
Switzerland’s largest party, the Swiss People’s Party, is accused of running a xenophobic ad campaign that spotlighted crimes committed by foreigners.
Switzerland’s right-wing populists are expected to make gains after polls closed at the general election on Sunday.
Concerns about immigration are among voters’ top concerns, according to surveys, as are climate change and rising fees for the country’s obligatory, free-market-based health insurance system.
Initial projections of the results suggest the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) — which has already been the strongest party in the country for 20 years — has increased its share to win 29% of the vote.
Philippines, China trade blame over collisions in disputed sea
By Cecil Morella and Sebastien Ricci
Beijing and Manila traded blame on Sunday for two collisions between Chinese vessels and Philippine boats on a resupply mission to Filipino troops on a remote outpost in the disputed South China Sea.
The incidents happened near Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands, a hotly contested region where Beijing deploys ships to assert its claims over almost the entire sea.
A Philippine government task force said the “dangerous blocking maneuvers of China Coast Guard vessel 5203 caused it to collide with the Armed Forces of the Philippines-contracted indigenous resupply boat” about 25 kilometers from Second Thomas Shoal.
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