Hamas gives Israel another hostage body, vows to return rest

Hamas handed over to Israel the remains of one more hostage on Friday night, after insisting it was committed to returning all the dead captives still unaccounted for under Gaza’s ruins after two years of war.”Israel received, via the Red Cross, the coffin of a deceased hostage who was returned” to its security forces in Gaza and would be identified at a medical analysis centre in Israel, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.Under a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas spearheaded by US President Donald Trump, the Palestinian militant group returned all 20 surviving hostages and the remains of nine out of 28 known deceased ones, not counting the remains handed over Friday night.In exchange, Israel freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners from its jails and halted the military campaign it launched in Gaza after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.- Bodies under Gaza rubble -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday reaffirmed his determination to “secure the return of all hostages”, and his defence minister has warned that the military will restart the war if Hamas fails to do so.Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad on Friday called those threats “unacceptable pressure tactics”.”The issue of the bodies is complex and requires time, especially after the occupation changed the landscape of Gaza,” Hamad said in a statement.”We will return the bodies and adhere to the agreement as we promised.”Turkey dispatched a team of specialists to help retrieve remains buried under the rubble, but the group was still waiting Friday for Israeli permission to enter the territory.”It remains unclear when Israel will allow the Turkish team to enter Gaza,” a Turkish official told AFP, noting that the team’s mission included locating both Palestinian and hostage remains.A Hamas source told AFP the Turkish delegation was expected to enter by Sunday.Gaza’s civil defence agency, a rescue force that operates under Hamas authority, said more than 280 bodies had been recovered from the rubble since the ceasefire went into effect.- Aid enters Gaza -The ceasefire deal has seen the war grind to a halt after two years of agony for the hostages’ families, and constant bombardment and hunger for Gazans.The UN’s World Food Programme said on Friday it had been able to move close to 3,000 tonnes of food supplies into Gaza since the ceasefire took hold.But it cautioned it would take time to reverse the famine in the Strip, saying all crossings needed to be opened to “flood Gaza with food”.Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza calls for renewed aid, with international organisations eagerly awaiting the reopening of southern Gaza’s strategic Rafah crossing.UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said he entered Gaza on Friday, where he watched a convoy of aid head to Rafah from Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing and later visited a bakery making pita bread.”We’ve begged for this access for months and finally we’re seeing goods moving at scale: food, medicine, tents, fuel, a lot of fuel got in today,” he said, in a video message posted to social media.- Identifying the dead -Families of surviving hostages rejoiced in their return while others buried the returned remains of their loved ones.”We’ve been waiting for this for so long, two years that we’ve been fighting for him every single day,” said 30-year-old Gal Gilboa Dalal, the older brother of Guy Gilboa Dalal, who was released after two years in Hamas captivity.Gal told AFP that Hamas had intentionally starved his brother and another prisoner for three and a half months to use him as a prop in a propaganda video about hunger.”Their bones hurt, their muscles hurt. Their recovery will be very long.”At the Nasser Hospital in Gaza, meanwhile, families searched for their loved ones among the bodies of Palestinians returned by Israel.One, Akram Khalid al-Manasra, told AFP he identified his son “thanks to the birthmark on his nose and his teeth”.Others were clearing the rubble from their destroyed homes.”I’m right under the threat of death. It could collapse at any moment,” said Ahmad Saleh Sbeih, a Gaza City resident. “But there is no choice.”The war has killed at least 67,967 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory — figures the United Nations considers credible.The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

UK govt aims to reverse ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans at Villa game

The UK government vowed on Friday to do everything to allow all fans to attend a match between Aston Villa and Tel Aviv Maccabi after anger at a ban on the Israeli team’s supporters.Birmingham-based Villa said on Thursday that the club had been informed by the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) — responsible for issuing certificates for matches — that no away fans would be permitted at the Europa League game on November 6.”The government is working with policing and other partners to do everything in our power to ensure this game can safely go ahead, with all fans present,” a government spokesperson said.”We are exploring what additional resources and support are required so all fans can attend.”A UK police commissioner asked local officials to review the decision as criticism of the ban mounted, including from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European governing body UEFA.Starmer, a keen football fan, called the move “wrong”.”We will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets. The role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation,” Starmer wrote on X.UEFA, which runs the Europa League, called on the clubs and authorities to “agree on the implementation of appropriate measures necessary to allow” Maccabi fans to attend.Birmingham has been the scene of huge pro-Palestinian rallies since the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas began.”Shameful decision! I call on the UK authorities to reverse this coward decision,” Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, posted on X.A new meeting of the SAG committee is now expected early new week, and West Midlands police are also due to set out what additional resources might be needed.Prince William, heir to the UK throne, is a keen Villa fan and often attends matches.A number of left-wing independent and Green politicians in Britain have backed the ban, with some calling for the wider exclusion of Israeli teams from international competitions due to the government’s actions in Gaza.- Public safety concerns -Villa said on Thursday that West Midlands police had advised the SAG that they had “public safety concerns outside the stadium bowl”.Police said that they had classified the fixture as “high risk”.”This decision is based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offences that occurred during the 2024 UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam,” a spokesperson for the West Midlands force said.Last November’s match between Dutch side Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv sparked two days of violent clashes between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli fans.Supporters of the Israeli team were assaulted in Amsterdam in hit-and-run attacks after skirmishes in which Maccabi fans chanted anti-Arab songs, vandalised a taxi and pulled down a Palestinian flag.Emily Damari, a British-Israeli captured during Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and held for more than a year, said the ban would prevent her from going to watch Maccabi, the team she supports.”Football is a way of bringing people together irrespective of their faith, colour or religion, and this disgusting decision does the exact opposite,” she said in a statement.Maccabi fan Tamir Nahson, 37, a wine importer in Israel, told AFP it was a “missed opportunity”.Britain “has become the UK for anti-Semitism. It’s very painful, it’s very unpleasant for us and I guess it’s also disappointing for Aston Villa fans.”Maccabi Tel Aviv chief executive Jack Angelides told BBC radio that the team had travelled to other countries where the sentiment is “not so kind towards Israeli teams”, but police “were out in force” and there were no incidents.The war has killed at least 67,967 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the territory run by the armed Palestinian group, Hamas. The United Nations considers the figures to be credible.Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.Earlier this month, two Jewish men died in an attack on a synagogue in Manchester, England, that police linked to Islamist extremism.

John Bolton: national security hawk turned Trump foe

John Bolton has spent decades navigating the halls of power in Washington, earning a reputation as a leading foreign policy hawk.The veteran diplomat with the trademark bushy white mustache unrepentantly pushed the Iraq invasion and campaigned to bomb Iran and North Korea.Bolton was semi-retired and working as a talking head on Fox News when he was tapped by the television-loving Donald Trump in 2018 to become his national security advisor.But what appeared to be his dream job ended with Bolton becoming one of the Republican president’s fiercest critics and has now seen him indicted for allegedly mishandling classified information.The 76-year-old Bolton pleaded not guilty in a federal court in Maryland on Friday to 18 counts of transmitting or retaining top secret national defense information collected during his short-lived tenure at the White House.His indictment comes after two other prominent Trump foes — New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey — were also slapped with criminal charges.While other former Trump advisors have kept respectful silences or narrowly tailored their critiques, Bolton wrote a blistering memoir after leaving the White House challenging Trump’s intelligence, ethics and basic competence.- Odd couple -Trump had already cycled through two national security advisors during his first term when he named Bolton to the post.The match appeared odd from the start.Trump was born into wealth and privilege while Bolton, the son of a working-class Baltimore firefighter, earned high school scholarships and eventually a place at elite Yale University, where he obtained a law degree.Trump took office railing against the so-called “Deep State,” while Bolton is a master of Washington’s bureaucracy, having served in top government positions since Ronald Reagan was president.And Trump is wary of involvement in foreign conflicts, whereas Bolton has long advocated taking a hard line with countries such as Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela and Iran, a stance which has reportedly earned him death threats from Tehran.Where Trump and Bolton found common cause was in a passion for fighting global institutions such as UN agencies and the International Criminal Court.In one of Bolton’s most memorable remarks, he dismissed the United Nations in a 1994 speech, quipping that if the 38-floor secretariat in New York “lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”That did not stop George W. Bush from making him US ambassador to the United Nations, although the president controversially bypassed the Senate where opposition to Bolton ran deep.- ‘Unfit to be president’ -Foreign policy disagreements — particularly over Iran and Trump’s engagement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — led to Bolton’s departure as Trump’s national security advisor in September 2019.The president claimed he was fired, but Bolton insisted that he had resigned.Bolton earned Trump’s lasting ire soon afterwards with the publication of his highly critical book, “The Room Where It Happened.”He has since become a highly visible and pugnacious detractor of Trump on television news programs and in print, condemning the man he has called “unfit to be president.”Trump, asked about Bolton’s indictment by reporters at the White House on Thursday, said his former national security advisor is a “bad guy.””That’s the way it goes,” Trump said.

Gaza: le Hamas restitue une dépouille, s’engage à rendre à Israël tous les corps d’otages

Le Hamas a restitué vendredi soir à Israël une nouvelle dépouille d’otage, s’engageant à rendre toutes les autres qu’il détient encore à Gaza conformément à l’accord de cessez-le-feu.La dépouille a été remise par la Croix-Rouge aux forces israéliennes à l’intérieur de la bande de Gaza et doit être rapatriée en Israël jusqu’à l’Institut national médico-légal, à Tel-Aviv, pour être identifiée, a indiqué dans la nuit le Bureau du Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu. Le Hamas dit “respecter son engagement envers l’accord de cessez-le-feu” parrainé par le président américain Donald Trump, et “continuera à œuvrer pour mener à bien le processus d’échange de prisonniers”, selon un communiqué du Hazem Qasem, porte-parole du mouvement islamiste. Le Hamas avait néanmoins souligné un peu plus tôt que “la question des corps est complexe et nécessite du temps”.La Turquie, proche des dirigeants politiques du Hamas, entend jouer un rôle dans l’application du cessez-le-feu en vigueur depuis le 10 octobre.  Une équipe de 81 membres de l’Afad, l’agence turque de gestion des catastrophes, “attend actuellement à la frontière côté égyptien. Ils sont prêts à mener des opérations de recherches et de secours dans les ruines”, a déclaré vendredi un responsable turc, précisant que cette mission portait sur la recherche de corps de victimes “israéliennes comme palestiniennes”.La Défense civile de Gaza, organisation de premiers secours opérant sous l’autorité du Hamas, a indiqué que, depuis l’entrée en vigueur de la trêve, “plus de 280 corps de martyrs [avaient] retrouvés sous les décombres” du territoire. Les autorités locales estiment qu’environ 10.000 corps sont ensevelis sous les décombres à Gaza. Selon une source du Hamas, citant des “médiateurs”, la délégation turque est “attendue dimanche” dans la bande de Gaza.- Matériel spécialisé -Les spécialistes turcs sont équipés de matériel spécialisé, “notamment des chiens de recherche et des dispositifs de détection de signes de vie”, a précisé le responsable.Le Hamas doit indiquer des emplacements précis où rechercher les otages, dont les corps sont difficiles à retrouver, selon le mouvement.Le Hamas avait assuré plus tôt que certains “corps ont été enterrés dans des tunnels” détruits par l’armée israélienne, “tandis que d’autres restent sous les décombres de bâtiments qu’elle a bombardés”.Israël accuse le Hamas de violer l’accord de cessez-le-feu, qui prévoyait un retour de tous les otages, vivants et morts, au plus tard le 13 octobre.Le Hamas dénonce de son côté de “nombreuses violations de l’accord”, et évoque la mort de 28 civils “tués par les tirs de l’occupant [Israël, NDLR] depuis le cessez-le-feu. L’armée israélienne a fait état vendredi de “plusieurs terroristes” qui s’approchaient de troupes israéliennes ont été “frappés” dans la zone de Khan Younes (sud).Le ministre de la Défense israélien Israël Katz a indiqué avoir ordonné à l’armée de matérialiser sur le terrain la “ligne jaune” marquant la limite de son redéploiement aux termes de l’accord de cessez-le-feu.Le Hamas a libéré dans les temps les vingt derniers otages vivants qu’il gardait captifs depuis le 7-Octobre. Il n’a en revanche restitué depuis lundi que dix dépouilles sur les 28 qu’il retenait encore, en incluant celle rendue vendredi.Dans l’après-midi, des dizaines de personnes ont pris part à Rishon Lezion, dans le centre-sud d’Israël, au cortège funéraire de l’ex-otage Inbar Hayman, dont le corps a été rapatrié mercredi.En échange du retour des dépouilles, Israël a remis au total 120 corps de Palestiniens, selon le ministère de la Santé du Hamas. Dans le sud de la bande de Gaza, des familles se rassemblent à l’hôpital Nasser de Khan Younes pour examiner des photos sur un écran, tentant d’identifier les corps de leurs proches qu’Israël a restitués. Akram Khalid al-Manasra explique à l’AFP avoir identifié son fils “grâce à son grain de beauté sur le nez et à ses dents”. – Accès restreints -Les accès à Gaza, tous contrôlés par Israël, restent très restreints. L’accord du cessez-le-feu prévoit la réouverture du point de Rafah passage crucial de Rafah, entre l’Egypte et le territoire palestinien.Le responsable de la coordination des affaires humanitaires de l’ONU, Tom Fletcher, est entré vendredi dans la bande de Gaza où il a visité une boulangerie qui a “désormais accès au carburant et à la farine, ce qui lui permet de produire jusqu’à 300.000 pains pita par jour”, a indiqué le Bureau de coordination des affaires humanitaires des Nations unies (Ocha).Mais alors que l’ONU a déclaré fin août une famine dans plusieurs zones de Gaza, ce que conteste Israël, remédier à la situation “prendra du temps”, a estimé vendredi le Programme alimentaire mondial, appelant à l’ouverture de tous les points de passage vers le territoire palestinien pour “l’inonder de nourriture”.Une étape ultérieure du plan visant à la paix prévoit notamment le désarmement du Hamas et l’amnistie ou l’exil de ses combattants et la poursuite du retrait israélien, des points qui restent sujets à discussion.L’attaque du 7 octobre a entraîné du côté israélien la mort de 1.221 personnes, en majorité des civils, selon un bilan établi par l’AFP à partir de données officielles.L’offensive israélienne menée en représailles a fait 67.967 morts à Gaza, en majorité des civils, selon les chiffres du ministère de la Santé du Hamas.

At least 10 Afghans dead as Kabul accuses Pakistan of breaking truce

Pakistan launched air strikes inside Afghanistan late Friday, killing at least 10 people and breaking a ceasefire that had brought two days of calm to the border, Afghan officials told AFP.The 48-hour truce paused nearly a week of bloody border clashes that killed dozens of troops and civilians on both sides.”Pakistan has broken the ceasefire and bombed three locations in Paktika” province, a senior Taliban official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Afghanistan will retaliate.”Ten civilians were killed and 12 others wounded in the strikes, a provincial hospital official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that two children were among the dead.The Afghanistan Cricket Board told AFP that three players who were in the region for a tournament were killed, revising down an earlier toll of eight.It also said it was withdrawing from the upcoming Tri-Nation T20I Series involving Pakistan, scheduled for next month.In Pakistan, a senior security official told AFP that forces had “conducted precision aerial strikes” in Afghan border areas targeting the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, a local faction linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — the Pakistani Taliban.Islamabad said that same group had been involved in a suicide bombing and gun attack at a military camp in the North Waziristan district that borders Afghanistan, which left seven Pakistani paramilitary troops dead.- ‘Heavy price’ -Security issues are at the heart of the tensions, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan of harbouring militant groups led by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — the Pakistani Taliban — on its soil, a claim Kabul denies.The cross-border violence had escalated dramatically from Saturday, days after explosions rocked the Afghan capital Kabul, just as the Taliban’s foreign minister began an unprecedented visit to India, Pakistan’s longtime rival.The Taliban then launched an offensive along parts of its southern border with Pakistan, prompting Islamabad to vow a strong response of its own.When the truce began at 1300 GMT on Wednesday, Islamabad said that it was to last 48 hours, but Kabul said the ceasefire would remain in effect until Pakistan violated it.Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif accused Kabul of acting as “a proxy of India” and “plotting” against Pakistan.”From now on, demarches will no longer be framed as appeals for peace, and delegations will not be sent to Kabul,” Asif wrote in a post on X. “Wherever the source of terrorism is, it will have to pay a heavy price.”Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said its forces had been ordered not to attack unless Pakistani forces fired first.”‘If they do, then you have every right to defend your country'”, he said in an interview with the Afghan television channel Ariana, relaying the message sent to the troops.- ‘Mixed feelings’ -Before the latest strikes, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said 37 people were killed and 425 wounded on the Afghan side of the border, calling on both sides to bring a lasting end to hostilities.In Spin Boldak, the scene of intense fighting, hundreds of people attended funerals on Thursday, including for children whose bodies were wrapped in white shrouds.”People have mixed feelings,” Nematullah, 42, told AFP. “They fear that the fighting will resume, but they still leave their homes and go about their business.”But on Friday, residents described scenes of normalcy.”Everything is fine, everything is open,” Nani, 35, told AFP.”I’m not afraid, but everyone sees things differently. Some say they’re going to send their children elsewhere as the situation isn’t good, but I don’t think anything will happen,” said Nani, who did not give a surname.Calm had also returned to Kabul, where new explosions rang out shortly before the ceasefire announcement on Wednesday.Nobody claimed responsibility for the blasts, but Pakistani security sources said they had undertaken “precision strikes” against an armed group in the Afghan capital.

A close-up of a stack of newspapers resting on a desk, symbolizing information and media.

Face aux séismes, la Californie parie sur une méthode de prévention choc

Cramponné à son siège dans un simulateur, Randy Baxter tente d’encaisser les secousses d’un tremblement de terre majeur. Mais les convulsions sont tellement violentes qu’elles envoient ses jambes valser en l’air. “C’était beaucoup plus fort que ce que j’imaginais”, sourit le professeur de 62 ans, au sortir de ce camion de prévention, sur le campus de l’université de Californie à Fullerton, près de Los Angeles.Une fois par an, l’engin réalise une tournée d’une semaine pour sensibiliser des milliers de Californiens, en répliquant les effets d’un séisme de magnitude 7. Soit la puissance du fameux “Big One”, qui pourrait causer 1.800 morts, 53.000 blessés et 200 milliards de dollars de dommages matériels, selon les projections de l’Institut américain de géophysique (USGS).”C’est dingue. (…) Si on essaie de se lever, on va être projeté à travers la pièce et se blesser. Donc c’est presque mieux de juste s’accrocher”, constate M. Baxter, pourtant habitué à ressentir des séismes d’intensité moyenne.”S’abaisser, se protéger, s’accrocher”: le slogan est martelé sur les prospectus distribués par les organisateurs. Car dans cet Etat américain comptant plus de 500 failles sismiques actives, tout le monde n’a pas les bons réflexes.”Si vous courez hors de votre maison et qu’un arbre tombe sur vous, ce n’était probablement pas une bonne décision”, explique Jon Gudel, un employé du bureau des services d’urgence de Californie (CAL OES). – Désastre garanti -En cas de tremblement de terre, “essayez de trouver quelque chose de solide, de préférence une table, glissez-vous dessous, couvrez votre tête et votre cou, et ensuite accrochez-vous à cette table jusqu’à ce que les secousses cessent”, y compris les répliques, insiste-t-il. Juchée sur la frontière entre les plaques tectoniques pacifique et nord-américaine, la Californie subit chaque année des milliers de séismes, la plupart trop faibles pour être ressentis. S’il est impossible de prédire quand le prochain désastre aura lieu, il n’en reste pas moins garanti.”Voilà pourquoi c’est important d’être préparé”, reprend M. Gudel. Dans le camion, des photos choc rappellent les catastrophes subies par le “Golden State”, du grand tremblement de terre de San Francisco, qui a détruit 80% de la ville en 1906, à celui de Northridge en 1994, qui a fait 72 morts à Los Angeles et provoqué l’effondrement de plusieurs autoroutes aériennes.De quoi doucher l’enthousiasme de certains étudiants se croyant dans un mini-parc d’attractions. Au sortir du véhicule, des professionnels leur rappellent l’importance d’avoir un sac dédié aux urgences, avec des vêtements, des médicaments, un kit de premier secours et un peu d’argent liquide.- Séismes plus fréquents -Ces préconisations résonnent d’autant plus fort que ces deux dernières années, plusieurs séismes d’une magnitude supérieure à 4 ont joué avec les nerfs des Californiens. Andrea Okoh, qui vit le long de la fameuse faille de San Andreas, cicatrice terrestre s’étendant sur près de 1.300 kilomètres dans l’Etat, s’avoue ainsi “extrêmement inquiète”. A 36 ans, cette directrice des ressources humaines a fixé ses meubles au mur depuis qu’un séisme l’a réveillée en pleine nuit en janvier. Elle craint que l’augmentation de la fréquence des secousses ne signale l’imminence d’un désastre.”Si la pression s’échappe de plus en plus, c’est évident que c’est parce qu’il y a quelque chose qui doit sortir”, redoute-t-elle.Mais sur son stand où elle explique avec une maquette la tectonique des plaques, Ashleigh Kuiroz rassure.”Un petit tremblement de terre ne signifie pas qu’un plus grand va arriver”, résume cette étudiante en géologie. Les récents séismes sont en revanche “un excellent rappel pour peut-être penser à préparer un kit de survie”.Les organisateurs recommandent également aux habitants, et même aux touristes, d’installer l’application “MyShake”, capable d’envoyer une alerte quelques instants avant la propagation des tremblements.”C’est important, parce que vous pourriez gagner des secondes vitales”, souligne M. Gudel.