Gaza: cinq journalistes tués dans des frappes israéliennes sur un hôpital

Cinq journalistes, dont certains collaboraient avec Al Jazeera, Reuters et AP, ont été tués lundi dans des frappes israéliennes sur un hôpital de la bande de Gaza ayant fait au total 20 morts, a annoncé la Défense civile dans le territoire palestinien ravagé par la guerre. La chaîne qatarie Al Jazeera, les agences de presse canado-britannique Reuters et américaine Associated Press ont chacune déploré la mort d’un collaborateur dans les frappes sur l’hôpital Nasser de Khan Younès (sud), exprimant choc et tristesse.L’armée israélienne a reconnu avoir mené “une frappe dans la zone de l’hôpital Nasser” et annoncé une “enquête”. Elle a dit regretter “tout dommage causé à des personnes non impliquées” et affirmé qu’elle “ne ciblait pas les journalistes en tant que tels”.Des images de l’AFP prises immédiatement après les raids montrent de la fumée couvrant l’air et des débris à l’extérieur de l’hôpital. Des Palestiniens se précipitent pour aider les victimes, transportant des corps ensanglantés dans le complexe médical.Un corps est montré suspendu au dernier étage du bâtiment, tandis qu’un homme hurle en contrebas. Une femme en blouse blanche blessée est transportée à l’intérieur de l’hôpital sur une civière, la jambe bandée et les vêtements couverts de sang.Reuters a indiqué qu’au moment de la première frappe, son collaborateur était en train de diffuser de l’hôpital un flux vidéo en direct, qui a été coupé brusquement.Plus tard dans la journée, une foule a porté les corps de certains des journalistes tués. Ils étaient enveloppés dans des linceuls blancs avec leurs gilets pare-balles placés au-dessus.Selon le Comité pour la protection des journalistes et Reporters sans frontières, environ 200 journalistes ont été tués depuis le début de la guerre à Gaza, déclenchée par une attaque sans précédent du mouvement islamiste palestinien Hamas contre Israël le 7 octobre 2023.- “Pratique abjecte” -L’Association de la presse étrangère à Jérusalem (FPA) a exigé des “explications immédiates” des autorités israéliennes, se disant “scandalisée”.La FPA, qui représente les journalistes couvrant Israël et les Territoires palestiniens pour les médias étrangers, a appelé Israël “à abandonner une fois pour toutes sa pratique abjecte consistant à prendre des journalistes pour cible”.D’après le porte-parole de la Défense civile, Mahmoud Bassal, 20 personnes dont “cinq journalistes et un membre de la Défense civile” ont été tués dans les frappes sur l’hôpital Nasser.L’établissement a été visé à deux reprises, d’abord par un drone explosif, puis par un bombardement aérien alors que les blessés étaient évacués, a ajouté M. Bassal.Selon la Défense civile, 13 autres personnes ont péri ailleurs dans le territoire palestinien, où Israël mène quotidiennement des bombardements meurtriers dans le cadre de son offensive dévastatrice menée en représailles à l’attaque du 7-Octobre.Compte tenu des restrictions imposées aux médias par Israël qui assiège Gaza depuis près de 23 mois et des difficultés d’accès sur le terrain, l’AFP n’est pas en mesure de vérifier de manière indépendante les bilans et affirmations des différentes parties.”Nous sommes dévastés d’apprendre le décès de Hossam al-Masri, collaborateur de Reuters, et les blessures infligées à un autre collaborateur, Hatem Khaled, lors des frappes israéliennes contre l’hôpital Nasser”, a déclaré Reuters. Associated Press s’est dite “choquée et attristée” par le décès de Mariam Dagga, 33 ans, journaliste photo indépendante qui collaborait avec l’agence.- “Choquantes” –  Al Jazeera a condamné la mort du photojournaliste Mohammad Salama et accusé l’armée israélienne de vouloir “faire taire la vérité”.Il y a deux semaines, la chaîne a perdu quatre journalistes et deux pigistes dans une frappe ciblée de l’armée israélienne qui accusait l’un d’eux d’être un membre du Hamas, une accusation démentie par Al Jazeera.Le syndicat des journalistes palestiniens a identifié les deux autres journalistes tués lundi comme Moaz Abou Taha et Ahmad Abou Aziz.Les frappes à Khan Younès visent à “faire taire les dernières voix qui dénoncent la mort silencieuse d’enfants victimes de la famine” à Gaza, a dénoncé Philippe Lazzarini, chef de l’agence de l’ONU pour les réfugiés palestiniens (Unrwa). “L’indifférence et l’inaction du monde sont choquantes.” “Les journalistes ne sont pas une cible. Les hôpitaux ne sont pas une cible”, a réagi Ravina Shamdasani, porte-parole du Haut-Commissariat de l’ONU aux droits de l’homme. “L’assassinat de journalistes à Gaza devrait choquer le monde, non pas en le plongeant dans un silence stupéfait mais en le faisant agir”.L’attaque du 7-Octobre a entraîné la mort de 1.219 personnes côté israélien, en majorité des civils, selon un décompte de l’AFP basé sur des données officielles.La campagne de représailles israéliennes a fait au moins 62.744 morts à Gaza, en majorité des civils, selon le ministère de la Santé du Hamas, et provoqué un désastre humanitaire. 

SOS Méditerranée dénonce une “attaque sans précédent” des garde-côtes libyens contre son navire

L’Ocean Viking, navire ambulance affrété par SOS Méditerranée, a été la cible dimanche d’une “attaque sans précédent” menée par des garde-côtes libyens alors que le bateau réalisait une opération de sauvetage en eaux internationales, a dénoncé l’ONG basée à Marseille.Au moment de l’attaque, le navire qui effectue des missions de sauvetage de migrants avait à son bord 87 personnes secourues la nuit précédente et se trouvait “au nord des côtes libyennes”. Il était “activement engagé dans la recherche d’une autre embarcation en détresse”, a détaillé lundi dans un communiqué l’ONG.Approchée par un bateau des garde-côtes libyens, l’embarcation humanitaire a reçu de ceux-ci l’ordre, “illégal”, de “quitter la zone”. L’équipage a alors “informé les garde-côtes que l’Ocean Viking quittait la zone”, indique l’ONG.”Cependant, sans aucun avertissement ni ultimatum, deux hommes à bord du patrouilleur ont ouvert le feu” sur l’Ocean Viking, soumettant l’embarcation et son équipage “à des tirs incessants pendant au moins vingt minutes”, poursuit SOS Méditerranée.Aucun des passagers ni aucun membre d’équipage n’a été blessé mais l’attaque a causé “des impacts de balles à hauteur de tête, la destruction de plusieurs antennes”, des fenêtres ont été brisées et “plusieurs balles ont touché et endommagé” du matériel de sauvetage, détaille l’ONG.Après avoir émis un appel de détresse et alerté l’Otan, l’Ocean Viking a été renvoyé vers un navire de la Marine italienne qui “n’a jamais répondu au téléphone”, selon l’ONG, qui dénonce une “attaque délibérée et ciblée contre notre équipage mais aussi contre nos capacités de sauvetage”.”Ce n’est pas un acte isolé”, insiste l’ONG, qui pointe “un long passé de comportements irresponsables” et de “mépris total pour le droit maritime international” des garde-côtes libyens.Elle déplore également un soutien des “États européens” au service libyen des garde-côtes, avec “l’Italie en première ligne”, soulignant que le patrouilleur à l’origine de l’attaque a “été offert par l’Italie en 2023” dans le cadre d’un programme de soutien à la Libye.Citée dans la communiqué, la directrice générale de SOS Méditerranée Sophie Beau “exige une enquête complète” sur l’incident ainsi que la “fin immédiate de toute collaboration européenne avec la Libye”.L’Ocean Viking a mis le cap sur Syracuse, sur l’île italienne de Sicile, afin de débarquer ses passagers rescapés et d’effectuer des réparations sur son navire.Sur les 87 personnes secourues par l’Ocean Viking, 80 sont originaires du Soudan. 21 sont des mineurs non accompagnés.

Salvadoran man in Trump immigration row to be deported to Uganda: officials

A Salvadoran man at the center of a row over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown was rearrested on Monday and is set to be deported to Uganda, officials said.Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador in March and then sent back to the United States, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X.The Department of Homeland Security said the 30-year-old Abrego Garcia “will be processed for removal to Uganda.”Abrego Garcia was released last week from a jail in Tennessee, where he is facing human smuggling charges, and allowed to go home to Maryland pending trial.He was required to check in with ICE in Baltimore on Monday as one of the conditions of his release.Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, told a crowd of supporters outside the ICE field office that his client was taken into custody when he turned up for the appointment.”Shame, shame,” the protestors, some of whom were holding signs saying “Free Kilmar,” chanted.”The notice stated that the reason was an interview,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “Clearly that was false. There was no need for them to take him into ICE detention.”He was already on electronic monitoring from the US Marshal Service and basically on house arrest,” he said. “The only reason that they’ve chosen to take him into detention is to punish him.”The attempt to deport Garcia to Uganda in East Africa adds a new twist to a saga that became a test case for Trump’s harsh crackdown on illegal immigration — and, critics say, his trampling of the law.- ‘Administrative error’ -Abrego Garcia had been living in the United States under protected legal status since 2019, when a judge ruled he should not be deported because he could be harmed in his home country.Then he became one of more than 200 people sent to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison as part of Trump’s crackdown on undocumented migrants.But Justice Department lawyers admitted that the Salvadoran had been wrongly deported due to an “administrative error.”He was returned to US soil only to be detained again in Tennessee on human smuggling charges.Abrego Garcia denies any wrongdoing, while the administration alleges he is a violent MS-13 gang member who smuggled other undocumented migrants into the country.On Thursday, when it became clear Abrego Garcia would be released the following day, government officials made him a plea offer: remain in custody, plead guilty to human smuggling and be deported to Costa Rica.He declined the offer.The case has become emblematic of Trump’s crackdown on illegal migration.Right-wing supporters praise the Republican president’s toughness, but legal scholars and human rights advocates have blasted what they say is a haphazard rush to deport people without even a court hearing, in violation of basic US law.

Typhoon Kajiki lashes Vietnam, killing one as thousands evacuate

Vietnam’s central belt was lashed by Typhoon Kajiki on Monday, with at least one person killed by deluges and gales howling more than 130 kilometres per hour, as tens of thousands of residents were evacuated from the path of the tempest.The typhoon — the fifth to affect Vietnam this year — roiled the Gulf of Tonkin with waves of up to 9.5 metres (31 feet) before hitting shore around 3:00 pm (0800 GMT).Nearly 44,000 people were evacuated from the region as 16,000 military personnel were mobilised and all fishing boats in the typhoon’s path were called back to harbour.Two domestic airports were shut and 35 flights cancelled before it landed between Ha Tinh and Nghe An provinces, tearing the roofs off more than 600 homes according to authorities.”I have never experienced such strong winds in all my life,” 38-year-old Nguyen Thi Phuong told AFP in Vinh city, the provincial capital of Nghe An which was stricken by widespread blackouts on Monday night.One fatality was reported by the agriculture ministry, with at least eight more people wounded.The typhoon made landfall packing windspeeds between 118 and 133 kilometres per hour (73 and 82 miles per hour), Vietnam’s National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said.”The risk for flash floods overnight is very high, so we have to stay on high alert,” director Mai Van Khiem told AFP.Waterfront Vinh city was deluged early on Monday, its streets largely deserted with most shops and restaurants closed as residents and business owners sandbagged their property entrances.”I have never heard of a typhoon of this big scale coming to our city,” said 66-year-old Le Manh Tung at a Vinh indoor sports stadium, where evacuated families dined on a simple breakfast of sticky rice.”I am a bit scared, but then we have to accept it because it’s nature — we cannot do anything,” he added.- ‘Never this big’ -Human-caused climate change is driving more intense and unpredictable weather patterns that can make destructive floods and storms more likely, particularly in the tropics.”Normally we get storms and flooding, but never this big,” said 52-year-old evacuee Nguyen Thi Nhan.The typhoon’s power is due to dramatically dissipate after it makes landfall.The Joint Typhoon Warning Center said conditions suggested “an approaching weakening trend as the system approaches the continental shelf of the Gulf of Tonkin where there is less ocean heat content”.China’s tropical resort island of Hainan evacuated around 20,000 residents on Sunday as the typhoon passed its south.The island’s main city, Sanya, closed scenic areas and halted business operations.In Vietnam, more than 100 people have been killed or left missing from natural disasters in the first seven months of 2025, according to the agriculture ministry.Economic losses have been estimated at more than $21 million.Vietnam suffered $3.3 billion in economic losses last September as a result of Typhoon Yagi, which swept across the country’s north and caused hundreds of fatalities.

UN Security Council vote on embattled Lebanon peacekeepers delayed

An expected United Nations Security Council vote on the future of the blue helmet peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon, which has faced US and Israeli opposition, was pushed back on Monday as negotiations continued.The Council is debating a French-drafted compromise that would keep the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), deployed in 1978 to separate Israel and Lebanon, in place for one more year while it prepares to withdraw.Talks began last week and it had been thought a vote could come as soon as Monday, but diplomatic sources indicated that a vote would now come by the end of the week. The force’s mandate ends Sunday.In the latest draft text seen by AFP, the Council would signal “its intention to work on a withdrawal of UNIFIL with the aim of making the Lebanese Government the sole provider of security in southern Lebanon.”Under a truce that ended a recent war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, Beirut’s army has been deploying in south Lebanon and dismantling the militant group’s infrastructure there.Lebanon has been grappling with the thorny issue of disarming Hezbollah, with the cabinet this month tasking the army with developing a plan to do so by the end of the year. The Iran-backed militant group has pushed back.Under the truce, Israel was meant to completely withdraw from Lebanon, though it has kept forces in several areas it deems strategic and continues to conduct strikes across Lebanon. The resolution would extend until August 31, 2026 the mandate of the 10,800-strong force made up of Indonesian, Indian, Italian, Ghanaian, Nepalese and other nationalities.It was not clear if Washington, which wields a veto on the Security Council, would accept the compromise language, with a State Department spokesman previously telling AFP it would not comment on Council deliberations.The text also contained language “condemning the incidents that affected United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon premises and forces, injuring several peacekeepers” — a reference to strikes by US ally Israel on UNIFIL positions that have caused injuries and damage. Israel was not specifically named.Ahead of the vote, a senior UN official warned that “to completely eliminate (UNIFIL’s) capacity at this point, or very quickly, would not serve anybody in the region,” calling any abrupt withdrawal risky.The official said UNIFIL had facilitated the deployment of 8,300 Lebanese armed forces troops to 120 locations, assisting with logistics, funds and even fuel as well as training support.UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric last week called the force’s support of Lebanon’s army “critical,” adding “we have always felt and known that UNIFIL is a presence of stability along the blue line.”

UN Security Council vote on embattled Lebanon peacekeepers delayed

An expected United Nations Security Council vote on the future of the blue helmet peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon, which has faced US and Israeli opposition, was pushed back on Monday as negotiations continued.The Council is debating a French-drafted compromise that would keep the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), deployed in 1978 to separate Israel and Lebanon, in place for one more year while it prepares to withdraw.Talks began last week and it had been thought a vote could come as soon as Monday, but diplomatic sources indicated that a vote would now come by the end of the week. The force’s mandate ends Sunday.In the latest draft text seen by AFP, the Council would signal “its intention to work on a withdrawal of UNIFIL with the aim of making the Lebanese Government the sole provider of security in southern Lebanon.”Under a truce that ended a recent war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, Beirut’s army has been deploying in south Lebanon and dismantling the militant group’s infrastructure there.Lebanon has been grappling with the thorny issue of disarming Hezbollah, with the cabinet this month tasking the army with developing a plan to do so by the end of the year. The Iran-backed militant group has pushed back.Under the truce, Israel was meant to completely withdraw from Lebanon, though it has kept forces in several areas it deems strategic and continues to conduct strikes across Lebanon. The resolution would extend until August 31, 2026 the mandate of the 10,800-strong force made up of Indonesian, Indian, Italian, Ghanaian, Nepalese and other nationalities.It was not clear if Washington, which wields a veto on the Security Council, would accept the compromise language, with a State Department spokesman previously telling AFP it would not comment on Council deliberations.The text also contained language “condemning the incidents that affected United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon premises and forces, injuring several peacekeepers” — a reference to strikes by US ally Israel on UNIFIL positions that have caused injuries and damage. Israel was not specifically named.Ahead of the vote, a senior UN official warned that “to completely eliminate (UNIFIL’s) capacity at this point, or very quickly, would not serve anybody in the region,” calling any abrupt withdrawal risky.The official said UNIFIL had facilitated the deployment of 8,300 Lebanese armed forces troops to 120 locations, assisting with logistics, funds and even fuel as well as training support.UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric last week called the force’s support of Lebanon’s army “critical,” adding “we have always felt and known that UNIFIL is a presence of stability along the blue line.”