Deadly Israeli strikes yesterday hit Lebanon and Gaza as the US secretary of state was set to visit Israel aiming to finalize a Gaza truce agreement that diplomats say could avert a wider regional conflagration.
The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon killed 10 people, including a Syrian woman and her two children.
The strike was among the deadliest in southern Lebanon since the onset of near-daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah following the start of the Gaza war in October last year.
Photo: Reuters
Israel’s military said it struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility.
In Hamas-run Gaza, civil defense rescuers said an Israeli airstrike killed 15 people from a single Palestinian family. The fatalities in al-Zawaida helped push the Gaza health ministry’s war death toll to 40,074.
“We are in the morgue seeing indescribable scenes of limbs and severed heads and children who are dismembered,” said Omar al-Dreemli, a relative.
On Friday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years.
An unvaccinated 10-month-old child in Gaza was on Friday diagnosed with highly infectious polio, the ministry said.
The announcement came hours after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for two seven-day breaks in the Gaza war to vaccinate more than 640,000 children against type 2 poliovirus, which was first detected in the territory’s wastewater in June.
“We are closer than we have ever been” to a ceasefire in the Gaza war, US President Joe Biden said on Friday, although previous optimism during months of on-off talks has so far proven futile.
Yesterday, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said that Biden’s comment was an “illusion.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was yesterday to leave for Israel and seek to “conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees,” the US Department of State said.
With a deal “now in sight, no one in the region should take actions to undermine this process,” Biden said.
On Friday, officials said that Hamas would not accept “new conditions” from Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Tuesday had detailed its conditions for a truce, including “a veto on certain prisoners” being released from its jails.
Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi, a Western ally, blamed Netanyahu for “impeding attempts to finalize” a deal and urged pressure on him.
Netanyahu has denied being the obstacle to a deal, blaming Hamas.
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
SAFETY FIRST: Double the number of police were deployed at the Taipei Marathon, while other cities released plans to bolster public event safety Authorities across Taiwan have stepped up security measures ahead of Christmas and New Year events, following a knife and smoke bomb attack in Taipei on Friday that left four people dead and 11 injured. In a bid to prevent potential copycat incidents, police deployments have been expanded for large gatherings, transport hubs, and other crowded public spaces, according to official statements from police and city authorities. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city has “comprehensively raised security readiness” in crowded areas, increased police deployments with armed officers, and intensified patrols during weekends and nighttime hours. For large-scale events, security checkpoints and explosives
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS