Vidéos d’otages israéliens à Gaza: Netanyahu “consterné”, s’entretient avec les familles

Le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahu s’est dit “consterné” par les dernières vidéos diffusées par le Hamas des otages dans la bande de Gaza et a parlé avec les familles, indique un communiqué officiel.”Le Premier ministre a exprimé une profonde consternation face aux enregistrements diffusés par l’organisation terroriste Hamas et a déclaré aux familles que les efforts pour ramener tous nos otages se poursuivent et se poursuivront continuellement et sans relâche”, selon ce communiqué de ses services, diffusé dans la nuit de samedi à dimanche.La publication depuis jeudi par le Hamas et le Jihad islamique, son allié, de trois vidéos montrant deux otages israéliens, décharnés, a suscité un vif émoi en Israël et ravivé le débat sur la nécessité d’arriver au plus vite à un accord pour les libérer.Des dizaines de milliers de personnes se sont rassemblés samedi soir à Tel-Aviv en soutien à leurs familles et pour exiger leur libération.Sur les images de propagande des deux groupes islamistes, les deux captifs sont apparus très affaiblis et très amaigris, dans une mise en scène visant à faire le parallèle avec la situation humanitaire actuelle à Gaza, menacée de “famine généralisée” selon l’ONU.D’après le communiqué, M. Netanyahu “a eu une longue conversation ce soir avec les familles des otages, Rom Breslevski et Avyatar David”, tous deux exhibés dans ces dernières vidéos.”La cruauté du Hamas n’a pas de limite”, a-t-il commenté, toujours selon le bureau du Premier ministre.”Alors que l’Etat d’Israël permet l’entrée de l’aide humanitaire pour les habitants de Gaza, les militants du Hamas affament délibérément nos otages et les filment de manière cynique et odieuse. Les militants du Hamas affament également délibérément les habitants de la bande de Gaza, les empêchant de recevoir l’aide, et font écho à une campagne de propagande mensongère contre Israël”, a-t-il affirmé, appelant les “pays du monde à se mobiliser pour condamner clairement les abus criminels nazis de l’organisation terroriste Hamas”.Dimanche matin, les titres de presse restaient largement consacrés au sujet: “Affamés, décharnés et désespérés” (Yedioth Ahronoth), “L’enfer à Gaza” (Ma’ariv), “Cruauté sans limite” (Israel Hayom), “Netanyahu n’est pas pressé” (Haaretz).Sur les 251 personnes enlevées le 7 octobre 2023 lors de l’attaque sanglante du Hamas sur la bande de Gaza, 49 restent retenues dont 27 ont été déclarées mortes par l’armée israélienne.L’attaque a entraîné la mort de 1.219 personnes, en majorité des civils, selon un décompte de l’AFP réalisé à partir de données officielles.Les représailles israéliennes ont fait au moins 60.430 morts à Gaza, en majorité des civils, selon les données du ministère de la Santé du Hamas, jugées fiables par l’ONU.Depuis le début de la guerre, Israël assiège plus de deux millions de Palestiniens entassés dans un territoire de 365 km2, déjà soumis à un blocus israélien depuis plus de 15 ans.Il a levé fin mai le blocus humanitaire total qu’il avait imposé début mars mais n’autorise l’entrée que de quantités très limitées, jugées insuffisantes par l’ONU.Dans la nuit, les sirènes d’alarme ont résonné dans les localités voisines de la bande de Gaza, a annoncé l’armée.”Un missile, lancé depuis le sud de la bande de Gaza a très probablement été intercepté”, a ensuite indiqué l’armée, sans autre précision.

Filmmakers try to cash in on India-Pakistan battle

Indian filmmakers are locking up the rights to movie titles that can profit from the patriotism fanned by a four-day conflict with Pakistan, which killed more than 70 people.The nuclear-armed rivals exchanged artillery, drone and air strikes in May, after India blamed Pakistan for an armed attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir.The fighting came to an end when US President Donald Trump announced a surprise ceasefire.Now, some Bollywood filmmakers see an opportunity to cash in on the battle.India tagged its military action against Pakistan “Operation Sindoor”, the Hindi word for vermilion, which married Hindu women wear on their foreheads.The name was seen as a symbol of Delhi’s determination to avenge those widowed in the April 22 attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which sparked the hostilities.Film studios have registered a slew of titles evoking the operation, including: “Mission Sindoor”, “Sindoor: The Revenge”, “The Pahalgam Terror”, and “Sindoor Operation”.”It’s a story which needs to be told,” said director Vivek Agnihotri.”If it was Hollywood, they would have made 10 films on this subject. People want to know what happened behind the scenes,” he told AFP.Agnihotri struck box office success with his 2022 release, “The Kashmir Files”, based on the mass flight of Hindus from Kashmir in the 1990s.- Coloured narratives -The ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party gave that film a glowing endorsement, despite accusations that it aimed to stir up hatred against India’s minority Muslims.Since Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, some critics say Bollywood is increasingly promoting his government’s ideology.Raja Sen, a film critic and screenwriter, said filmmakers felt emboldened by an amenable government.”We tried to wage a war and then we quietened down when Mr Trump asked us to. So what is the valour here?” Sen told AFP of the Pakistan clashes. Anil Sharma, known for directing rabble-rousing movies, criticised the apparent rush to make films related to the Pahalgam attack.”This is herd mentality… these are seasonal filmmakers, they have their constraints,” he said.”I don’t wait for an incident to happen and then make a film based on that. A subject should evoke feelings and only then cinema happens,” said Sharma.Sharma’s historical action flick “Gadar: Ek Prem Katha” (2001) and its sequel “Gadar 2″ (2023), both featuring Sunny Deol in lead roles, were big hits.In Bollywood, filmmakers often seek to time releases for national holidays like Independence Day, which are associated with heightened patriotic fervour.”Fighter”, featuring big stars Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, was released on the eve of India’s Republic Day on January 25 last year.- Anti-Muslim bias -Though not a factual retelling, it drew heavily from India’s 2019 airstrike on Pakistan’s Balakot.The film received mixed-to-positive reviews but raked in $28 million in India, making it the fourth highest-grossing Hindi film of that year.This year, “Chhaava”, a drama based on the life of Sambhaji Maharaj, a ruler of the Maratha Empire, became the highest-grossing film so far this year. It also generated significant criticism for fuelling anti-Muslim bias. “This is at a time when cinema is aggressively painting Muslim kings and leaders in violent light,” said Sen.  “This is where those who are telling the stories need to be responsible about which stories they choose to tell.”Sen said filmmakers were reluctant to choose topics that are “against the establishment”.”If the public is flooded with dozens of films that are all trying to serve an agenda, without the other side allowed to make itself heard, then that propaganda and misinformation enters the public psyche,” he said.Acclaimed director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra said true patriotism is promoting peace and harmony through the medium of cinema.Mehra’s socio-political drama “Rang De Basanti” (2006) won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film and was chosen as India’s official entry for the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.”How we can arrive at peace and build a better society? How we can learn to love our neighbours?” he asked.”For me that is patriotism.” 

Pétrole: dernière salve de l’Opep+ attendue avant une pause

C’est devenu un rendez-vous mensuel: en pleine reconquête de parts de marché, Ryad, Moscou et six autres producteurs de pétrole de l’Opep+ se réunissent dimanche pour, selon toute attente, augmenter une nouvelle fois leurs quotas.La rencontre des huit ministres de l’Energie, prévue en ligne, doit fixer l’objectif pour septembre et parachever une série de hausses entamée en avril.Début juillet, ils avaient déjoué les pronostics en accélérant le rythme à 548.000 barils par jour (b/j), contre 411.000 les mois précédents. Ils devraient poursuivre sur cette cadence, de l’avis des analystes interrogés par l’AFP.Cette hausse est “largement prise en compte dans les prix”, selon Giovanni Staunovo d’UBS, qui ne prévoit pas de remous à la réouverture des marchés lundi. Le cours du Brent, référence mondiale, évolue actuellement autour de 70 dollars. On est loin des sommets à 120 dollars atteints au printemps 2022 à la suite de l’invasion russe de l’Ukraine mais l’Organisation des pays exportateurs de pétrole et ses alliés (Opep+) préfèrent désormais se concentrer sur la reconquête du terrain.Ils ont opéré ce tournant ces dernières mois après avoir longtemps lutté contre l’érosion des prix en organisant une raréfaction de l’offre via plusieurs coupes de production.C’est l’une d’elles, de 2,2 millions de barils par jour consentie par l’Arabie saoudite, la Russie, l’Irak, les Emirats arabes unis, le Koweït, le Kazakhstan, l’Algérie et Oman qui est actuellement réintroduite sur le marché. – “Trouver un équilibre” -Une hausse de 548.000 b/j signerait le retour complet de cette tranche, avant des horizons plus incertains.”Notre scénario de base parie sur le fait que le groupe marquera ensuite une pause dans ses hausses”, avance Warren Patterson, chez ING. Les prix de l’or noir ont mieux résisté que ce qu’avaient anticipé les observateurs au début de la réouverture des vannes en avril, soutenus par une demande estivale traditionnellement forte et une prime de risque géopolitique élevée, notamment depuis la guerre entre l’Iran et Israël. De plus, entre mars et juin, l’augmentation effective de la production a été moindre que celle des quotas affichés sur la même période, soulignait récemment M. Staunovo dans une note.Mais “le marché devrait connaître un excédent (d’offre de pétrole) important à partir du quatrième trimestre de cette année, et l’Opep+ devra veiller à ne pas aggraver cet excédent”, juge M. Patterson.”L’alliance s’efforce de trouver un équilibre entre regagner des parts de marché et éviter une chute brutale des cours du pétrole” afin de ne pas faire fondre ses bénéfices, ajoute Tamas Varga, de PVM. L’Arabie saoudite, son membre le plus influent, compte particulièrement sur la rente pétrolière pour financer ses projets d’investissement et de modernisation du pays. Pour l’instant, le retour des autres coupes de production (environ 3,7 millions b/j) doit être discuté lors de la prochaine réunion ministérielle de l’Opep+ fin novembre, avec cette fois l’ensemble des 22 membres. – Environnement instable -Bousculé du côté de la demande par la politique commerciale erratique menée par Donald Trump et du côté de l’offre par les tumultes géopolitiques mondiaux qui menacent l’approvisionnement, l’avenir du marché pétrolier est difficile à prédire pour les experts. Dernier rebondissement en date, le président américain a donné mardi un délai de “dix jours” à Moscou pour mettre un terme au conflit en Ukraine, sous peine de sanctions américaines contre la Russie.”Nous allons imposer des droits de douane et d’autres choses”, a averti le milliardaire républicain, qui avait précédemment évoqué une surtaxe indirecte de 100% sur les pays qui achètent des produits russes, notamment des hydrocarbures, afin d’assécher les revenus de Moscou.Le locataire de la Maison Blanche a notamment ciblé l’Inde, deuxième importateur de barils russes avec environ 1,6 million barils quotidiens depuis le début de l’année. Cela pourrait inciter l’Opep+ à poursuivre son offensive. Mais elle “ne réagira qu’en cas de perturbations réelles de l’offre”, estime Giovanni Staunovo.

US envoy meets Israeli hostage families in Tel Aviv

US envoy Steve Witkoff met anguished relatives of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza on Saturday, as fears for the captives’ survival mounted almost 22 months into the war sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack.Witkoff was greeted with some applause and pleas for assistance from hundreds of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv, before going into a closed meeting with the families.Videos shared online showed him arriving to meet the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, as families chanted “Bring them home!” and “We need your help.”The meeting came one day after Witkoff visited a US-backed aid station in Gaza to inspect efforts to get food into the devastated Palestinian territory.”The war needs to end,” Yotam Cohen, brother of 21-year-old hostage Nimrod Cohen, told AFP.”The Israeli government will not end it willingly. It has refused to do so,” he added.”The Israeli government must be stopped. For our sakes, for our soldiers’ sakes, for our hostages’ sakes, for our sons and for the future generations of everybody in the Middle East.”Of the 251 hostages taken during the Hamas attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.After the meeting, the Forum released a statement saying Witkoff had given them a personal commitment that he and US President Donald Trump would work to return the remaining hostages.- ‘Horrifying acts’ -Hamas attempted to maintain pressure on the families, on Friday releasing a video of one of the hostages — 24-year-old Evyatar David — for the second time in two days, showing him looking emaciated in a tunnel.The video called for a ceasefire and warned that time was running out for the hostages. David’s family said their son was the victim of a “vile” propaganda campaign and accused Hamas of deliberately starving their son.”The deliberate starvation of our son as part of a propaganda campaign is one of the most horrifying acts the world has seen. He is being starved purely to serve Hamas’s propaganda,” the family said. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Saturday also denounced the video, and one released a day earlier by another Palestinian Islamist group, as “despicable”.”They must be freed, without conditions,” he posted on X. “Hamas must be disarmed and excluded from ruling Gaza.”The United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, had been mediating ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel that would allow the hostages to be released and humanitarian aid to flow more freely.But talks broke down last month and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is under domestic pressure to come up with another way to secure the missing hostages, alive and dead.He is also facing international calls to open Gaza’s borders to more food aid, after UN and humanitarian agencies warned that more than two million Palestinian civilians are facing starvation.- ‘Without rest’ –        Israel’s top general warned that there would be no respite in fighting if the hostages were not released.”I estimate that in the coming days we will know whether we can reach an agreement for the release of our hostages,” armed forces chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said in a statement.”If not, the combat will continue without rest.”Zamir denied that there was widespread starvation in Gaza. “The current campaign of false accusations of intentional starvation is a deliberate, timed, and deceitful attempt to accuse the IDF (Israeli military), a moral army, of war crimes,” he said.Alongside reports from UN-mandated experts warning a “famine is unfolding” in Gaza, more and more evidence is emerging of serious malnutrition and deaths among the most vulnerable Palestinian civilians.Modallala Dawwas, 33, living in a displacement camp in Gaza City told AFP her daughter Mariam had no known illnesses before the war but had now dropped from 25 kilograms (four stone) to 10 (around one and half stone) and was seriously malnourished. Hamas’s 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures.Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,332 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.The Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a post on X early Sunday that one of its staff members was killed and three others wounded in an Israeli attack on its Khan Yunis headquarters in Gaza.Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed 34 people in the territory on Saturday.Five people were killed in an Israeli strike on an area of central Gaza where Palestinians were awaiting food distribution by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.The GHF has largely sidelined the longstanding UN-led aid distribution system in Gaza, just as Israel in late May began easing a more than two-month aid blockade that exacerbated existing shortages.The UN human rights office in the Palestinian territories said at least 1,373 Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza were killed since May 27, adding that most of them were killed near GHF sites, and by the Israeli military.burs-gv/jj/tc/sco

US envoy meets Israeli hostage families in Tel Aviv

US envoy Steve Witkoff met anguished relatives of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza on Saturday, as fears for the captives’ survival mounted almost 22 months into the war sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack.Witkoff was greeted with some applause and pleas for assistance from hundreds of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv, before going into a closed meeting with the families.Videos shared online showed him arriving to meet the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, as families chanted “Bring them home!” and “We need your help.”The meeting came one day after Witkoff visited a US-backed aid station in Gaza to inspect efforts to get food into the devastated Palestinian territory.”The war needs to end,” Yotam Cohen, brother of 21-year-old hostage Nimrod Cohen, told AFP.”The Israeli government will not end it willingly. It has refused to do so,” he added.”The Israeli government must be stopped. For our sakes, for our soldiers’ sakes, for our hostages’ sakes, for our sons and for the future generations of everybody in the Middle East.”Of the 251 hostages taken during the Hamas attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.After the meeting, the Forum released a statement saying Witkoff had given them a personal commitment that he and US President Donald Trump would work to return the remaining hostages.- ‘Horrifying acts’ -Hamas attempted to maintain pressure on the families, on Friday releasing a video of one of the hostages — 24-year-old Evyatar David — for the second time in two days, showing him looking emaciated in a tunnel.The video called for a ceasefire and warned that time was running out for the hostages. David’s family said their son was the victim of a “vile” propaganda campaign and accused Hamas of deliberately starving their son.”The deliberate starvation of our son as part of a propaganda campaign is one of the most horrifying acts the world has seen. He is being starved purely to serve Hamas’s propaganda,” the family said. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Saturday also denounced the video, and one released a day earlier by another Palestinian Islamist group, as “despicable”.”They must be freed, without conditions,” he posted on X. “Hamas must be disarmed and excluded from ruling Gaza.”The United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, had been mediating ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel that would allow the hostages to be released and humanitarian aid to flow more freely.But talks broke down last month and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is under domestic pressure to come up with another way to secure the missing hostages, alive and dead.He is also facing international calls to open Gaza’s borders to more food aid, after UN and humanitarian agencies warned that more than two million Palestinian civilians are facing starvation.- ‘Without rest’ –        Israel’s top general warned that there would be no respite in fighting if the hostages were not released.”I estimate that in the coming days we will know whether we can reach an agreement for the release of our hostages,” armed forces chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said in a statement.”If not, the combat will continue without rest.”Zamir denied that there was widespread starvation in Gaza. “The current campaign of false accusations of intentional starvation is a deliberate, timed, and deceitful attempt to accuse the IDF (Israeli military), a moral army, of war crimes,” he said.Alongside reports from UN-mandated experts warning a “famine is unfolding” in Gaza, more and more evidence is emerging of serious malnutrition and deaths among the most vulnerable Palestinian civilians.Modallala Dawwas, 33, living in a displacement camp in Gaza City told AFP her daughter Mariam had no known illnesses before the war but had now dropped from 25 kilograms (four stone) to 10 (around one and half stone) and was seriously malnourished. Hamas’s 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures.Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,332 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.The Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a post on X early Sunday that one of its staff members was killed and three others wounded in an Israeli attack on its Khan Yunis headquarters in Gaza.Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed 34 people in the territory on Saturday.Five people were killed in an Israeli strike on an area of central Gaza where Palestinians were awaiting food distribution by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.The GHF has largely sidelined the longstanding UN-led aid distribution system in Gaza, just as Israel in late May began easing a more than two-month aid blockade that exacerbated existing shortages.The UN human rights office in the Palestinian territories said at least 1,373 Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza were killed since May 27, adding that most of them were killed near GHF sites, and by the Israeli military.burs-gv/jj/tc/sco