Friday, December 26, 2025
type here...
Home Blog Page 1006

UN warns Gaza famine ‘almost inevitable’

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Gaza War

Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), made the remarks at a briefing in Geneva on Friday.

“If something doesn’t change, a famine is almost inevitable on the current trends,” he said, noting, “Once a famine is declared, it is too late for too many people.”

“We don’t want to get to that situation and we need things to change before that,” the official added.

“We have to look at what more and more voices, more and more loudly, are saying about the food security situation across the Gaza Strip, in particular in the north.”

The remarks came a day after the United Nations human rights chief expressed dismay concerning the brutality with which the Israeli regime was waging the war.

“There appear to be no bounds to — no words to capture — the horrors that are unfolding before our eyes in Gaza,” Volker Turk told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

More than 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed as a result of the Israeli military onslaught so far.

Israel launched the campaign on October 7 last year following Operation al-Aqsa Storm, a surprise offensive by Gaza’s resistance movements against the occupied territories.

Concomitantly with the war, the regime has been enforcing a near-total siege on Gaza, which has reduced the flow of foodstuffs, medicine, electricity, and water into the Palestinian territory into a trickle.

Also on Friday, the World Health Organization’s spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said, “The system in Gaza is on its knees, it’s more than on its knees,” adding, “All the lifelines in Gaza have more or less been cut.”

State news agency puts Iran elections turnout at 41 percent

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-
Iran Election

Polls opened at 08:00 am (0430) local time on Friday across Iran for the 12th term of the parliament and 6th Assembly of Experts since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and closed at 24:00 after the voting time was extended several times due to high turnout.

The 88-member assembly oversees the activities of the Iranian Leader

The initial results of the elections are expected to be announced by the interior ministry on Saturday.

More than 15,000 candidates were vying for the 290-seat parliament.

Over 61 million people out of Iran’s 85-million population were eligible to vote.

Nicaragua sues Germany for aiding Israel amid Gaza war

By
IFP Media Wire
-
ICJ

Nicaragua asked the ICJ, also known as the World Court, to issue emergency measures requiring Berlin to stop its military aid to Israel and reverse its decision to stop funding UNRWA.

The German Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The court usually sets a date for a hearing on any requested emergency measures within weeks of a case being filed.

According to Nicaragua’s claim, Germany is violating the 1948 Genocide Convention and the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the laws of war in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“By sending military equipment and now defunding UNRWA which provides essential support to the civilian population, Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide,” Nicaragua said in its legal filings.

Major donors to UNRWA, including the United States and Germany, suspended funding after allegations that around 12 of its tens of thousands of Palestinian employees were suspected of involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel by Hamas.

Nicaragua’s filing adds that emergency measures were needed because of Berlin’s “participation in the ongoing plausible genocide and serious breaches of international humanitarian law” in the Gaza Strip.

This claim builds on the case South Africa brought against Israel for allegedly committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Last month the ICJ said South Africa’s claims that Israel violated the genocide convention were not implausible and ordered emergency measures, including a call for Israel to halt any potential acts of genocide in Gaza.

Israel has denied allegations of genocide and said it has the right to defend itself.

Under the genocide treaty countries not only agree not to commit genocide but also to the prevent and punish any possible genocide. It also makes complicity in genocide and attempting a genocide a violation of the treaty.

Germany is one of the largest arms exporters to Israel together with the United States, according to UN experts.

7 Israeli captives killed in Gaza bombing: Hamas

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Israel Hostages

Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for Hamas’s Qassam Brigades, made the statement on the Telegram app on Friday.

The group said it confirmed the news following investigations conducted over the past few weeks after it had lost contact with the fighters who had been holding the captives.

Hamas seized about 250 Israelis and foreigners during its October 7 attacks on southern Israel, of whom about 130 are believed to still be held captive.

The Qassam Brigades announced three of the captives mentioned in Friday’s statement had been identified, but it did not clarify when the seven had died.

The group added the total number of captives killed as a result of Israeli military operations “may have exceeded” 70.

The deaths of the captives show that Israel’s government considers them a “secondary priority”, Omar Ashour, a professor of security and military studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera.

“The [Israeli military’s] first priority is to destroy the armed wing of Hamas and the other Palestinian factions, to undermine them in any way, even if it costs the lives of some of the hostages,” Ashour said.

Friday’s reported deaths also indicate that Israel’s war strategy is not achieving its objectives, he continued, adding: “We are in the 147th day of the war, and there are more and more hostages dying, the majority of them by Israeli fire.”

During a Qatari-mediated weeklong truce in November, 105 captives were released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons.

“The only way to release the hostages safely is the way it was done before – through some sort of negotiations. The Israeli government knows that/ … They just don’t want to admit it,” Ashour said.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 30,228 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 attacks stands at 1,139.

Egyptian, Qatari and United States mediators are currently scrambling to lock down a new truce.

In telephone talks on Thursday, the three countries’ leaders set out what a ceasefire deal could look like, the White House said.

“The leaders underscored that the release of hostages would result in an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks,” the White House said.

However, Israel’s Walla news site, citing a senior Israeli official, reported that Israel has told Egypt and Qatar that it will not proceed with ceasefire negotiations until Hamas sends it a list of Israeli captives who remain alive in the Gaza Strip.

The official said Israel is also seeking a “serious answer” from Hamas on the number of Palestinian prisoners it is requesting be released as part of a potential deal, Walla reported.

Paris considering placing French Special Forces in Ukraine: Report

By
IFP Media Wire
-
French Special Forces

The newspaper did not disclose the number of French military ‘instructors’ that could potentially be authorized to cross into Ukrainian territory but reported that their ranks could include some “conventional units”.

According to Le Monde, France’s Special Forces were also involved in training Ukrainian soldiers in neighboring Poland and in escorting the nation’s arms deliveries to Kiev. They have, however, always “stopped at the Ukrainian border”, the outlet added.

The training France would like to provide to Ukrainians “on the ground” includes handling air defense systems, Friday’s report said. Kiev’s surface-to-air weapons installations are frequently targeted by Russian forces, it explained, adding that the “presence of French soldiers or [those] of other nations would potentially protect certain areas of the Ukrainian territory”.

The French government allegedly views such a troop deployment as a way of posing a “strategic dilemma” for Moscow, the paper said, adding that it could “constrain” Russia’s targeting and strike capabilities. In particular, it may prove to be “essential” ahead of the arrival of US-made F-16 fighter jets, scheduled to take place later this year, the French daily added.

So far, France has denied that any of its troops have been present in Ukraine during the conflict, the media outlet said.

French President Emmanuel Macron sparked controversy on Monday when he told journalists that a potential NATO troop deployment to Ukraine could not be ruled out in the future.

“There’s no consensus today to send, in an official manner, troops on the ground,” he stated, adding, “In terms of dynamics, we cannot exclude anything. We will do everything necessary to prevent Russia from winning this war.”

Macron’s comments prompted other members of the US-led bloc, including the US, UK, Germany and Italy, to clarify that they had no such plans. The French president’s remarks were seemingly supported by two Baltic nations – Estonia and Lithuania – who also said that such a move could not be ruled out.

Moscow warned in response that deploying NATO forces to Ukraine would make a direct conflict between Russia and the military bloc inevitable.

On Friday, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne denied that Paris was planning to send any combat units to Ukraine, adding that it would do “everything” to avoid a war with Russia.

The French president himself doubled down on his comments on Thursday by saying his words had been “thought through and measured”.

Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny laid to rest at Moscow cemetery

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Alexey Navalny

Thousands of mourners gathered to pay their respects to the former opposition figure — expressing defiance and calling Navalny a “true hero”. They were present in and outside the church where the funeral service took place and also walked with the procession to the burial site.

“Lyoha, bye! Sleep well, dear,” someone shouted from the crowd that had converged on the cemetery. Lyoha is a nickname of Navalny’s.

Others in the crowd were chanting: “Let us in to say goodbye!”

Police officers have been deployed on rooftops near the Church of Mother of God in Moscow.

Russian state news agencies and broadcasters gave very limited space to the funeral and burial of Navalny.

Navalny’s family and supporters have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of having him killed, an accusation that the Kremlin has rejected.

Iranian military advisor assassinated by Israel in Syria

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Syria

Colonel Reza Zare’e was killed in an Israeli attack on Syria’s western port city of Baniyas.

Citing eyewitnesses, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights reported that three large explosions occurred in Baniyas shortly before dawn on Friday morning.

Iran maintains an advisory mission in Syria at the request of Damascus with the aim of helping the war-torn Arab country vanquish the foreign-backed militants who have been fighting the Syrian government since 2011.

Israel frequently targets military positions inside Syria, especially those of resistance fighters who have played a key role in helping the Syrian army in its fight against the foreign-backed terrorists.

Back in January, five military advisors serving for the IRGC mission in Syria were killed along with a number of Syrian forces in an Israeli attack on a three-story residential building in the Mezza neighborhood of Damascus, which houses several diplomatic missions.

Official: Women constitute 47 percent of voters in Iran elections

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-
Iran Election

Speaking to reporters at the elections headquarters in Tehran on Friday, Mohsen Eslami said the provinces of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Southern Khorasan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Lorestna, Qom, Golestan, Razavi Khorasan, Northern Khorasan, Ilam and Kerman have seen the highest voter turnout so far.

As many as 290 parliamentary seats are up for grabs in 208 constituencies, and 144 candidates are also running for 88 seats at the Assembly of Experts whose task is to elect the Leader and monitor his performance.

More than 61 million people are eligible to vote in Iran’s Friday elections.

President Raisi hails Iranian nations as real victor of elections

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Iran Election

President Raisi visited the Interior Ministry on Friday morning to get briefed on the process of the nationwide elections for the Parliament and the Assembly of Experts.

After casting his ballots, the president described the elections as a “national celebration” and the “manifestation of national unity and integrity”.

Hailing the Iranian nation as the true winner of the elections, Raisi said there won’t be losers in the polls, no matter who would garner the votes.

The distinguishing feature of elections in Iran is that the Iranian voters and candidates feel duty-bound to take part in the polls, he added.

Having gone through a formal qualification process by Iran’s Constitutional Council, over 15,000 candidates, including dozens of Iranians from the religious minorities, are running for the parliament.

Around 61 million Iranian people are eligible to vote, including 3.5 million first-time voters. The elections are held in around 60,000 polling stations across Iran.

A total of 144 clergymen have also been chosen as the final candidates for the Assembly of Experts elections.

There are 290 seats in the Iranian Parliament, known as Majlis, elected by direct vote of people in nationwide elections for four years.

The Assembly of Experts is a high-ranking body that elects and oversees the activities of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.

Gaza food distribution site deaths will complicate peace talks, but agreement possible: Biden

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Joe Biden

“We’re checking that out right now; there are two competing versions of what happened. I don’t have an answer yet,” the president told CNN’s Arlette Saenz at the White House on Thursday.

Asked by Saenz if he worried the deaths would complicate negotiations, he responded: “Oh, I know it will.”

But Biden still expressed optimism that a deal on the hostages and a potential ceasefire could be reached soon.

“Hope springs eternal,” Biden stated, adding, “I was on the telephone with people in the region, I’m still – probably not by Monday, but I’m hopeful.”

A senior Biden administration official said that the incident has made US officials feel even more pressure to help get a hostages-ceasefire agreement across the finish line. The situation “gives even added urgency to the process”, the official told CNN Thursday.

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza increased the death toll to at least 112 Thursday after Israeli troops opened fire while people awaited food and aid in northern Gaza. The ministry added 760 people were injured. Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour told reporters later Thursday that the death toll had risen as high as 122.

Hamas senior member Izzat Al-Risheq warned that the killing of people collecting aid from trucks in Gaza could lead to the failure of ongoing talks aiming at the release of hostages and a ceasefire.

“Negotiations are not an open process,” he said in a statement published by the Hamas on Telegram.

“We will not allow for the pathway of the negotiations…[to become] a cover for the enemy’s continued crimes against our people in the Gaza Strip,” Al-Risheq added.

1...1,0051,0061,007...5,126Page 1,006 of 5,126

© All Content by IFP News ( Iran Front Page ) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

About Us

Popular Articles

Editor Picks