AFP Asia Business

Gaza’s civil defence rescue agency said Friday that Israeli strikes killed at least 24 people, including 10 from the same family, after Hamas signalled its rejection of Israel’s latest ceasefire proposal.The Palestinian militants’ chief negotiator dismissed what he called Israel’s “partial agreements” and called for a “comprehensive deal” to halt the 18-month-long war.Khalil al-Hayya also urged international pressure to end Israel’s complete blockade of Gaza that began on March 2.The appeal comes after the United Nations warned of worsening conditions and shortages of medicine and other essentials for the Palestinian territory’s 2.4 million besieged people.Gaza’s civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said early Friday that crews had “recovered the bodies of 10 martyrs and a large number of wounded from the house of the Baraka family and the neighbouring houses” following Israeli strikes east of Khan Yunis in Gaza’s south.Civil defence reported at least 14 others killed in multiple Israeli strikes across the territory, including at least two strikes which hit tents sheltering displaced people. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken refuge in such shelters while trying to escape from the war, which began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.The Israeli military has intensified its aerial bombardments and expanded ground operations in the Gaza Strip since resuming its offensive on March 18.A previous ceasefire and hostage release deal began on January 19 but collapsed two months later. Israel wanted to extend the first phase, while Hamas insisted that negotiations be held for a second phase as outlined by former US President Joe Biden last year.- ‘Comprehensive deal’ -A source from Hamas told AFP that the militants sent a written response Thursday to mediators on Israel’s proposal for a 45-day ceasefire. Israel had wanted the release of 10 living hostages held by the group, according to Hamas.It also called for the freeing of 1,231 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.A Hamas official said the proposal further sought Hamas’s disarmament to secure a complete end to the war, a demand the group rejects.”Partial agreements are used by (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu as a cover for his political agenda… we will not be complicit in this policy,” Hayya said in a televised statement late Thursday.He said Hamas “seeks a comprehensive deal involving a single-package prisoner exchange in return for halting the war, a withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip, and the commencement of reconstruction” in the territory.At least 1,691 people have been killed in Gaza since the military resumed its offensive, bringing the total death toll since the war erupted to at least 51,065, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.Hamas’s attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.- ‘No food’ -Hayya also called on the international community to “intervene immediately and exert the necessary pressure to end the unjust blockade imposed on our people in the Gaza Strip”.The United Nations warned on Monday that Gaza is facing its most severe humanitarian crisis since the war began.In a statement, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said no supplies had reached Gaza for a month and a half.Gazan fisherman Abdel Halim Qanan told AFP his family had resorted to eating turtle meat.”There is no food. So it is an alternative for other sources of protein,” he said.Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said the country would keep blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza as a means of pressuring Hamas.The blockade comes as Israel transforms large swathes of Gaza into buffer zones, displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.An AFP calculation based on maps issued by the military found that the total area under Israeli control was more than 185 square kilometres (about 70 square miles), or around 50 percent of the territory.

Hamas on Friday urged the international community to exert immediate pressure to end Israel’s complete blockade of the Gaza Strip that has been in place since March 2.The appeal from the militants comes after the United Nations warned of worsening conditions and shortages of medicine and other essentials.”The international community is required to intervene immediately and exert the necessary pressure to end the unjust blockade imposed on our people in the Gaza Strip,” Hamas’s chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement.The Palestinian militant group on Thursday signalled its rejection of Israel’s latest truce proposal and called for a “comprehensive” deal to end the 18-month-long war.The United Nations warned on Monday that Gaza, which has a population of about 2.4 million, is facing its most severe humanitarian crisis since the war began in October 2023.”The humanitarian situation is now likely the worst it has been in the 18 months since the outbreak of hostilities,” said the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.In a statement, OCHA said no supplies had reached Gaza for a month and a half.Medical supplies, fuel, water and other essentials are in short supply, the UN has specified.Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said the country would keep preventing humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip.”Blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population,” Katz said in a statement.A Hamas source told AFP that the group sent a written response Thursday to mediators on Israel’s latest proposal for a 45-day ceasefire. Israel had wanted the release of 10 living hostages held by the group, according to Hamas.It also called for the freeing of 1,231 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.The proposal called for Hamas to disarm to secure a complete end to the war, a demand the group rejects.

US strikes on a Yemeni fuel port killed at least 58 people, Huthi rebels said Friday, in the deadliest attack of Washington’s campaign against the Iran-backed group.The strikes also injured more than 100 people, according to a Huthi-run television station that broadcast footage of large blazes lighting up the night sky.The US military said its attack on the Ras Issa fuel terminal on the Red Sea aimed to cut off a source of supplies and funds for the Huthis, who control large swathes of the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country.The strikes, the latest in an intense wave of attacks under President Donald Trump, came a day before the US resumes negotiations in Rome with Iran over its nuclear programme.”The death toll… has risen to 58 martyrs and 126 wounded,” the Huthis’ Al-Masirah TV said, quoting health authorities in rebel-held Hodeida, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) southeast of the terminal.AFP could not independently verify the figures.The US military has hammered the Huthis with near-daily air strikes in a bid to end their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Claiming solidarity with Palestinians, the rebels began attacking the key maritime routes and Israel after the Gaza war began in October 2023. They paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire.The attacks under Trump began with a series of strikes on March 15 that left 53 people dead, according to the Huthis.In a statement, United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said: “US forces took action to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Huthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue that has funded Huthi efforts to terrorise the entire region for over 10 years.”Ships “have continued to supply fuel via the port of Ras Issa” despite Washington this year designating the rebels a foreign terrorist organisation, CENTCOM added, without specifying the source of the fuel.- ‘Everything was on fire’ -In images broadcast early Friday by Al-Masirah, a fireball was seen igniting off the coast as thick columns of smoke rose above what appeared to be an ongoing blaze.The Huthi TV station later screened interviews with survivors lying on stretchers, including one man with burns on his arms.”We ran away. The strikes came one after the other, then everything was on fire,” one man who said he worked at the port told Al-Masirah.US strikes on the Huthis began in January 2024 under former president Joe Biden but have resumed and multiplied under Trump.The Huthis are part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” also including Gaza’s Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah — both hit hard by wars with Israel and killings of top leaders.In January Israel carried out air strikes in Ras Issa and elsewhere in Yemen, describing the targets as military infrastructure. Similar Israeli strikes that also included Ras Issa happened in September.Iran called the latest US strikes “barbaric”, while Hamas denounced them as “blatant aggression”.On Saturday, the US and Iran are to continue talks aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear programme, following warnings it is getting ever closer to building an atomic weapon.”The military actions in Yemen are clearly sending a signal to Tehran,” Mohammed Albasha, a US-based consultant, told AFP.”The message today is unmistakable: the US is targeting not only Huthi military assets and personnel, but also their economic infrastructure,” he added.The latest US campaign was triggered by Huthi threats to resume attacks on international shipping in protest at Israel’s blocking aid to the Gaza Strip.Also on Friday, Israel’s military said it intercepted an incoming missile from Yemen that set off sirens in “several areas”.- ‘Death to America!’ -In Saada, the Huthis’ stronghold in rugged northern Yemen, hundreds of people chanted “Death to America! Death to Israel!” in rebel-organised protests, Al-Masirah footage showed.Separately, US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce accused the Chinese satellite firm Chang Guang Satellite Technology Company of “directly supporting” Huthi attacks on “US interests”.Bruce did not initially provide details, but later referred to “a Chinese company providing satellite imagery to the Huthis”.Huthi attacks on the Red Sea shipping route, which normally carries about 12 percent of global trade, forced many companies into costly detours around the tip of southern Africa.

Iran staged military parades on Friday to mark its annual Army Day celebrations, showcasing a wide array of its latest domestically built drones, missiles, tanks, and other hardware.The events coincided with the eve of the second round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States, which will be held in Rome on Saturday.Domestically developed drones, including the jet-powered Karrar, Arash, and Mohajer models, were shown in the parade in Tehran, state television reported.In addition to the capital, military parades were also staged in other major cities.The Tehran event also featured Russian-made S-300 air defence systems.It was attended by President Masoud Pezeshkian, who praised the army as the nation’s “strong fortress” and credited it with asserting the country’s regional influence.The military display came a day before delegations from Iran and the United States were set to meet in the Italian capital for a second round of indirect nuclear talks mediated by Oman.The first round, held in Muscat last Saturday, was described by both sides as “constructive”.In March, US President Donald Trump sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging renewed negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme and warning of military action if diplomacy fails.On Thursday, Trump said he is “not in a rush” to attack Iranian nuclear facilities, adding: “I think Iran wants to talk.”Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who represents Tehran in the talks, said on Thursday “we are fully serious in these talks”, and “based on the other side’s approach, will assess how to proceed”.US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff represents Washington in the talks.A  New York Times report on Wednesday said Trump had blocked an Israeli plan to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, deciding instead to prioritise diplomatic outreach.On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, even as the Iran-US talks continue.

The new US ambassador to Israel prayed at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Friday, delivering a handwritten message from President Donald Trump calling for peace in Israel.Mike Huckabee, a former Republican governor, has long been an outspoken supporter of Israel, backing calls to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank before such talk became increasingly mainstream.He presented his diplomatic credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday, as Israel’s 18-month war against Hamas Palestinian militants continues in the Gaza Strip.Located in east Jerusalem -— a sector of the holy city that is occupied and annexed by Israel —- the Western Wall is the last remaining remnant of the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, and is the holiest site where Jews are permitted to pray.”It was such an honour, an incredible privilege, to place on behalf of the president of the United States President Donald J Trump, a prayer that he wrote in his own hand, and initialled,” Huckabee, wearing a traditional Jewish kippa cap, told reporters at the site.He said Trump handed him the message at the White House with an instruction that the first thing he should do as an ambassador to Israel would be to deliver his message.Trump gave the note “with the hope that I would bring it and place it in the wall, with the best wishes and the prayers of the American people for the peace of Jerusalem,” Huckabee said, showing the small, handwritten note.It read: “For Peace in Israel”. The note had Trump’s initials “D.T”.Huckabee said that he too offered his own prayer at the holy site, calling for the return of all hostages still held in Gaza.”We will bring them home, and that is the prayer of the president as well,” he said.On October 7, 2023, the Hamas Islamist movement launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, triggering the ongoing Gaza war. During the assault, militants captured 251 individuals, 58 of whom remain hostage in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.On Friday, Hamas rejected the latest Israeli proposal for a ceasefire deal.According to a senior Hamas official, it called for a 45-day truce in exchange for the release of 10 living Israeli hostages, the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and authorisation for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.However, Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said the group would not agree to a “partial deal”.He said Hamas “seeks a comprehensive deal involving a single-package prisoner exchange in return for halting the war, a withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip, and the commencement of reconstruction” in the territory.

By seizing large swathes of the Gaza Strip, Israel is redrawing the map of the Palestinian territory, one of the most densely populated places on Earth, making it increasingly “unlivable”.On Wednesday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military has transformed vast areas representing 30 percent of Gaza into buffer zones and displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.Agnes Levallois, lecturer at the Foundation for Strategic Research, said that leaving the buffer zones cleared and empty could be an end in itself.”Israel’s strategy in the Gaza Strip is to make the territory unlivable,” she said, with some analysts saying that Israel now controls even more than 30 percent of the territory.An AFP calculation based on maps issued by the military found that the total area under Israeli control was more than 185 square kilometres (about 70 square miles), or around 50 percent of the territory.On the ground, the Israeli army has created a wide security zone that follows Gaza’s perimeter along its borders with both Israel and Egypt, particularly to reduce the risk of cross-border smuggling with the latter.Troops have also established three militarised corridors — Philadelphi, Morag, and Netzarim — cutting across the Gaza’s width and dividing it into sections.- ‘Field of ruins’ -With 2.4 million people packed into 365 square kilometres, Gaza was already one of the world’s most densely populated places before the war started on October 7, 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel.”The Israeli army is increasingly resorting to so-called ‘evacuation orders’ which are, in fact, orders of forced displacement,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.”This has led to the forced transfer of Palestinians in Gaza into increasingly confined areas, where they have little or no access to vital services.”The remaining space is covered in ruins, with 80 percent of civilian infrastructure totally or partly destroyed, according to the UN.Nearly all Gazans have been displaced at least once, and many now live in schools turned shelters, under tents and in other makeshift shelters.”We don’t know what this government’s strategy is, maybe we’ll end up controlling all of Gaza, which means we’ll have to set up a civil administration or a military regime,” Michael Milshtein, Palestinian affairs expert at Tel Aviv University, told AFP.”I’m not sure the Israeli public is aware of the costs of this scenario.”Seizing certain parts of Gaza was “quite easy” for the army, Milshtein said.Many of the areas taken are “empty territories, you know, (the army) doesn’t directly control any Palestinians”, he said, estimating that Israel currently controls “about half” of Gaza.Levallois, a Middle East expert, believes Israel might not expand its hold any further and “leave the rest (of the territory) essentially abandoned, allowing in only the bare minimum of humanitarian aid”.”This could lead to a Somalia scenario, a state of anarchy with no authority able to emerge from this field of ruins.”In the buffer zone it now controls, the army has systematically destroyed civilian buildings, according to testimonies from anonymous soldiers collected by the anti-occupation Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence and international media.- ‘Riviera’ of the Middle East -In November, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich suggested encouraging “half” of Gaza’s population to leave the territory through “voluntary emigration”.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leading one of the most right-wing governments in Israeli history, has been supported in this idea by US President Donald Trump.In February, the Republican president suggested turning Gaza into a “Middle East Riviera” and relocating Gazans to Jordan and Egypt.Some Israeli figures who advocate for the return of settlements in the Gaza Strip — which were evacuated in 2005 — claim to have concrete plans and make regular visits to the edge of Gaza.Netanyahu has not clearly signalled any inclinations for such plans.But with no clear post-war roadmap, Gaza’s future remains uncertain.”There is no strategy,” said Milshtein.”The only strategy is to encourage or adopt Trump’s vision to encourage the Palestinians to leave Gaza. And it’s nonsense.”Most people in Israel know it’s a fantasy or an illusion,” he said.”Even Trump doesn’t seem all that interested in the idea any more.”

The United States unveiled new port fees on Chinese built and operated ships Thursday, in a bid to boost the domestic shipbuilding industry and curb China’s dominance in the sector.The move — which stems from a probe launched under the prior administration — comes as the United States and China are locked in a major …

US unveils new port fees for Chinese-linked ships Read More »

Tokyo led most Asian markets higher Friday on optimism about a Japan-US trade deal as investors keep tabs on countries’ tariff talks with the White House.US President Donald Trump’s remarks that he was reluctant to further hike levies on Beijing also provided a little support amid hope for an easing of tensions between the economic …

Tokyo leads gains in most Asian markets on trade deal hopes Read More »

It had been nearly two years since AFP journalist Abdelmoneim Abu Idris Ali set foot in his home in war-torn Khartoum, after the sound of children playing in the street gave way to the fearsome fire of machine guns.Sudan’s once-peaceful capital awoke to the sound of bombs and gunfire on April 15, 2023 as war broke out between its two most powerful generals — army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).Bombs tore through homes, fighters took over the streets and hundreds of thousands scrambled to escape — among them Abdelmoneim, his wife, his son and three daughters. Since then they have been displaced five times — fleeing each time the front line closed in.Eventually the 59-year-old journalist sent his family to safety in another African country while he settled down to work alone from Port Sudan on the Red Sea.Then last month he was able to briefly return to his home in Khartoum North during a reporting trip escorted by the army after it recaptured the city.He found his beloved neighbourhood, known as Bahri, abandoned.”The whole place is cloaked in silence, no grocery store chit-chats, no boisterous games of football on the corner, nothing,” he said.- ‘Like an earthquake’ -“The last time I was here, the neighbours were all in the street saying goodbye, praying for each other’s safety, promising we would meet again soon.”Now their doors hung ajar, beds dragged out onto the street, apparently by RSF fighters who used them to sleep in the open air.Since the war broke out, the paramilitaries have been notorious for taking over and looting homes, selling the contents or taking it for themselves.When he got to his landing, Abdelmoneim braced himself for what he would find inside.”It was like an earthquake had hit. The furniture was upside-down and thrown around, pieces shattered on the ground,” he said.He clambered slowly from room to room, taking in the damage.The couch was pocked with burn marks where the fighters had put out cigarette after cigarette.His daughters’ closets were ripped open and emptied of every last dress.And on the floor of his office, lying among the tattered remains of his library, was a photo of his wedding to his wife Nahla, with her image torn out.”I don’t get what they have against my books and my wedding photos,” he said.”I knew they had stolen furniture. I couldn’t imagine they would destroy everything else.”- ‘Wish my kids had never seen that’ -In March, the army recaptured Khartoum, to the joy of millions of displaced Sudanese anxious to return to their homes.”But my girls say they never want to come back,” Abdelmoneim said.”How can they ever forget sleeping huddled together in the living room, terrified by the sound of every air strike?”Abdelmoneim shudders at the thought of the horrors they have seen since.”When we were leaving Khartoum, there were bodies lying in the street and an old man standing over them, trying to keep a plastic sheet in place.”When I stopped to ask him if he was okay, he said, ‘I’m trying to keep the dogs away.’ I wish my kids had never heard that.”For seven months, Abdelmoneim tried to wait out the fighting in Wad Madani, just south of Khartoum, hoping against hope they could go home.”The moment I realised this wouldn’t end for years was when the war came to Wad Madani,” he said.Again they took everything they could carry, and again they joined a wave of hundreds of thousands of people running away, this time on foot, heading east.The veteran journalist and his wife made the painful choice to separate the family — she and the children would go to another country; and he would go to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, home to the United Nations, the army-aligned government and hundreds of thousands of displaced people.- Destitution and displacement -Abdelmoneim, like countless Sudanese caught in the war’s crossfire, has lost family members, his life savings and any hope for the future.”This war has taken everything from us,” he said.”And everything they haven’t taken, they’ve destroyed.”For years he had been building up a tiny homestead on the outskirts of Khartoum, lined with fruit trees and a few simple crops he could tend when he retired. The RSF destroyed it in their rampage.His family’s home and land, in the agricultural state of Al-Jazira, were looted and cut off from power and water — his relatives left starving and powerless to defend themselves against the RSF’s predations.Now both Al-Jazira and Khartoum are under army control but the war, and the suffering it has wrought, is far from over.Tens of thousands have been killed and more than 12 million uprooted, including almost four million who fled to other countries.Hundreds of thousands are returning to areas recaptured by the army, choosing destitution at home over displacement, but most of these areas still lack clean water, electricity and health care.Famine still stalks Sudan, with around 638,000 people already in famine and eight million on the brink of mass starvation.The country remains divided, and the RSF — in control of nearly all of the western region of Darfur and, with its allies, parts of the south — has not given up the fight.In recent weeks, the paramilitaries have killed hundreds of people in famine-stricken displacement camps, while RSF chief Daglo has announced a rival administration to rule over the ashes.For many like Abdelmoneim, even their modest dreams now seem impossible.”If this war ends tomorrow, all I want is to be somewhere quiet and safe with my family, farming in peace.”