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Israel proposes ‘safe passage’ for Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, Gaza handover: Report

By
IFP Media Wire
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Yahya Sinwar

Israel’s hostage envoy, Gal Hirsch, told the media outlet that an offer for Sinwar’s safe passage was presented a day and a half ago, but he would not characterize the response so far.

“I’m ready to provide safe passage to Sinwar, his family, whoever wants to join him,” Hirsch told Bloomberg.

“We want the hostages back. We want demilitarization, de-radicalization of course — a new system that will manage Gaza.”

The offer appears to mark a significant gesture from the Israeli government amid stalled efforts to secure a cease-fire and hostage release that has proved elusive over months of negotiations mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar.

“The fierce urgency of now is real for every individual who is suffering as a consequence of this conflict. We feel that urgency, and we — and so we have a determination,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview Tuesday from London.

“Now, at the end of the day, people have to make decisions. Leaders have to make decisions. We can’t make those decisions for them,” he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier raised the possibility of exile for Sinwar, “but I think the most important thing is that they surrender. If they lay down their arms, the war is over,” he said on the podcast “Call Me Back.”

Israeli military officials have identified Sinwar as a “dead man walking” for his apparent architecture of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, where Hamas gunmen raided southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people.

Israel’s subsequent war against Gaza has lasted more than 11 months, with an estimated 41,000 Palestinians killed.

Sinwar rose to be appointed the official head of Hamas after Israel carried out the killing of Hamas’s top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, while staying in a guesthouse in Tehran.

Hamas holds approximately 101 hostages it kidnapped from Israel, both alive and the corpses. About 100 hostages were released during a weeklong cease-fire at the end of November, and the Israeli military has freed a little more than a handful of people through military operations.

Canada halts arms sales to Israel, Gaza death toll surges 41k

By
IFP Media Wire
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All of the export permits had been approved prior to a January ban on new sales of weapons that could be used in Gaza, as the besieged Palestinian territory faced a mounting humanitarian crisis.

Foreign Minister Melanie Joly stated she had ordered a review of all Canadian weapons suppliers’ contracts with Israel and other countries.

“Following that, I suspended this summer around 30 existing permits of Canadian companies,” she added.

A key ally of the United States, which provides Israel with billions of dollars a year in military aid, Canada drew the ire of Israeli leaders when it initially announced it would halt new arms shipments to Israel as of January 8.

Pro-Palestinian protests across Canada — at universities, political events and even the Toronto International Film Festival last week — have continued to put pressure on the government to go further.

“Our policy is clear: We will not have any form of arms or parts of arms be sent to Gaza. Period,” Joly said.

“How they’re being sent and where they’re being sent is irrelevant,” she continued, alluding to ammunition that was meant to have been produced by a Canadian division of US defense contractor General Dynamics for the Israeli army.

Joly added that the government is in contact about this issue with General Dynamics.

The topic of arms deliveries to Israel has triggered legal proceedings in several countries around the world.

Israel has historically been a top receiver of Canadian arms exports, with Can$21 million worth of military material exported to Israel in 2022, according to government data, following Can$26 million in shipments in 2021.

That placed Israel among the top 10 recipients of Canadian arms exports.

Britain last week also announced it would suspend some arms exports to Israel, citing a “clear risk” that they could be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law.

Russia conducts biggest strategic naval drills in decades

By
IFP Media Wire
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Russian Navy

The aim of the drills is to assess the combat readiness of the Russian Navy and the Air Force, as well as to check their interoperability, Putin said as he joined the opening of the exercise via video link. The maneuvers involve more than 400 battleships and submarines as well as auxiliary vessels, some 120 aircraft and over 90,000 personnel.

The exercise is set to include complex operations involving simulated launches of high-precision weapons, Putin said at a meeting that was attended by Defense Minister Andrey Belousov.

The drills would employ the experience the Russian troops had gained during the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev, the president added.

The Chinese military are also taking part in the Russian drills. Four vessels and 15 aircraft of the People’s Liberation Army have joined the exercises, the head of the Russian Navy, Admiral Aleksandr Moiseev, stated.

Representatives from 15 other nations were also invited to the drills as observers, according to Putin.

Moscow plans to “pay special attention to strengthening military cooperation with friendly nations”, the Russian president said. Such cooperation gains “particular importance against the background of the growing geopolitical tensions”, he added.

Washington is “trying to maintain its global military and political dominance at any cost”, Putin warned. The US is using Ukraine in a bid to inflict a strategic defeat upon Moscow, but America and its “satellites” have also built up a military presence in Europe, the Arctic and the Pacific under the pretext of “containing” Russia and China, he continued.

According to the president, Washington and its allies openly speak about their plans to deploy short and medium-range missiles to the islands in the Western Pacific and to some nations located in the region.

“The US seeks to get a sizable military advantage through its aggressive actions and thus break the existing security architecture and the balance of power,” the Russian leader warned, adding that such actions “provoke the arms race”.

“Russia must be ready for any potential scenario,” the president said, adding that the armed forces should provide reliable security to both Russia’s sovereignty and its national interests.

The Russian Defense Ministry has published several videos of the Ocean-2024 drills. The clips feature ‘Oniks’ and ‘Uran’ cruise missiles being launched from mobile coastal ‘Bastion’ and ‘Bal’ missile systems. Oniks supersonic missiles are capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 800 kilometers and can travel at almost three times the speed of sound.

Iran’s President Pezeshkian pays homage to resistance commanders in Baghdad

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Partner of activist killed by Israel in West Bank pushes back on Biden calling it ‘an accident’

By
IFP Media Wire
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Palestinians march to honour Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi who was shot dead by Israeli forces, in Nablus, in the Israeli- occupied West Bank, September 8, 2024. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta

Hamid Ali, the partner of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, said in a statement that they had not heard from Biden or his White House in the days since the incident.

“An activist and volunteer, Ayşenur was peacefully standing for justice as an international observer and witness to Palestinian suffering,” Ali added in a statement.

“She was fatally shot in the head by a bullet that came from an Israeli sniper positioned 200 meters away. This was no accident, and her killers must be held accountable.”

Biden told reporters as he departed the White House on Tuesday that he was finding out more details, but “apparently it was an accident, ricocheted off the ground and got hit by accident. I’m working that out now”.

Israel said earlier Tuesday it was launching an investigation into the killing of Eygi, a 26-year-old from Seattle who was participating in a demonstration in the West Bank when she was shot and killed.

The Associated Press reported that the doctors who treated Eygi, who also had Turkish citizenship, said she was shot in the head.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the shooting in remarks to reporters during a trip to London.

“We’ve seen reports of excessive force by Israeli security forces against Palestinians. And now we have the second American citizen killed at the hands of Israeli security forces,” Blinken said.

“It’s not acceptable. It has to change. And we’ll be making that clear to the senior-most members of the Israeli government,” he added.

Biden has faced intense criticism from some Democrats over his handling of Israel’s war with Hamas, which has left tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza dead.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an independent investigation into the Israeli killing of the Turkish-American activist in the occupied West Bank.

Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said Aysenur didn’t pose an imminent threat to Israeli soldiers when she was shot in the head on Friday.

“I think we all share the feelings of anger, outrage and sadness over the killing of this young woman, who was peacefully advocating for the rights of Palestinians and peacefully pushing against settler violence and illegal settlements in the West Bank,” Shamdasani stated.

The killing is “extremely tragic but it is not an isolated incident”, she added.

“Her case is emblematic of the systematic use of lethal force in the West Bank against peaceful protesters and other Palestinians as well,” Shamdasani continued, adding, “The international community must continue to put pressure on Israel to investigate and ensure that such actions never happen again.”

Legendary Iranian theater director Pari Saberi passes away

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Saberi was born to a cultured family in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman and was sent to Paris at the age of 12 to continue her education. She graduated from the Vaugirard Cinematography College in France.

She has staged many plays based on Persian classical literature, including Rostam and Sohrab. Some of her plays like the Flying Shams and the Legend of Siavash have been seen by tens of thousands in Iran and abroad.

The maestro was a close friend and companion of prominent Iranian modernist poet Forough Farrokhzad and has made a movie about her.

Saberi has also written and translated numerous books to serve as a bridge between the Persian and Western litterateur.

She was one of the most decorated directors in Iran who received numerous prestigious awards, including the UNICEF’s Avicenna (Ibn Sina) prize in 2003, and the French Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2004.

The avid artist showed a strong passion for mysticism, poetry, Iranian sagas, music, dance and theater during her fruitful career and has been a source of inspiration for many enthusiasts.

Probe finds Israeli military used US-made bombs in Gaza’s al-Mawasi strike

By
IFP Media Wire
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At 12:34am local time (09:34 GMT), several Israeli missiles struck a refugee camp in the al-Mawasi area, located within the humanitarian zone designated by the Israeli army for displaced civilians – west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

The Israeli bombing caused widespread damage to the tents, homes, and facilities in the area.

Photos from the bombing site reveal widespread devastation, with craters 10 to 15 metres (33 – 49 feet) deep, burying dozens of tents.

Civil defence teams faced immense challenges retrieving the bodies of the dead and injured, with rescue operations continuing into the next morning.

At least 19 people have been killed and many wounded in the Israeli attack on the designated “safe zone” in southern Gaza, according to officials.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health announced that the bodies of the victims recovered so far were taken to hospitals after the missile attack on the tent camp in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis where Palestinians were sheltering, early on Tuesday.

“A number of victims are still under the rubble, under the sand, and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defence crews cannot reach them and retrieve them, and they have not reached hospitals yet,” the Health Ministry noted in a statement.

Israeli evacuation orders, which now cover much of the territory, have pushed hundreds of thousands of people into al-Mawasi. Aid groups have struggled to provide even basic services.

Israeli attacks have frequently hit areas where its military had previously directed civilians seeking safety.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 41,000 people, caused vast destruction and displaced about 90 percent of the enclave’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

The United Nations boss denounced Israel’s air raids on the Israeli-designated “safe” zone in southern Gaza, calling the use of heavy weapons in a densely populated area “unconscionable”.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep alarm at the continuing loss of life in Gaza and reiterated no place in the territory is safe, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

Guterres reiterated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and the immediate and unconditional release of all captives taken by Hamas on October 7, Dujarric added.

Without international action, ‘West Bank will become a new Gaza’: EU

By
IFP Media Wire
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Addressing the Arab League in Cairo, Joseph Borrell argued “Without action of the international community, the West Bank will become a new Gaza.”

He added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is working to make it impossible to create a future Palestinian state and that a ceasefire agreement initiated by US President Joe Biden is unlikely to be signed because “those waging the war have no interest in putting an end to it.”

Dozens of Palestinians were killed after Israeli forces recently launched the largest military onslaught in two decades on the West Bank.

Since the Gaza war began on October 7, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 690 Palestinians in the West Bank.

Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank hit a record in 2023, and the EU has said last year saw the most settlement building permits issued in decades.

Iran says to take reciprocal measures in response to West’s Ukraine-related sanctions

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Nasser Kanaani

Kanaani has harshly slammed an uncustomary statement by the British, French and German foreign ministers on revoking bilateral deals for providing air services to the Islamic Republic of Iran and imposing sanctions on Iran’s airline, Iran Air, under the pretext of involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

“The move by the three European countries is in line with the West’s hostile policy and economic terrorism against the Iranian people, and will face the corresponding and proportionate move by the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

The spokesperson of the Iranian diplomatic service reiterated Iran’s transparent and proclaimed stance on the war in Ukraine, adding, “As we have stressed in the past, any claim that the Islamic Republic of Iran has sold ballistic missiles to the Russian Federation is completely baseless and false.”

“The US and the three European countries are the main sources of supplying weapons to the Zionist regime and are accomplices in the massive massacre of the Palestinian people and genocide in Gaza, and they must be held accountable for their wrong policies,” he continued.

Iran has rejected allegations of supplying ballistic missiles to Russia as baseless and misleading.

The mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations said on Friday that the country regards as inhuman any military assistance to parties of the Ukraine conflict that would increase damage to lives and infrastructure in Ukraine.

Therefore, not only does it not do so, but also invites other countries to stop sending weapons to the parties involved in the conflict, the mission added.

OPEC data show Iran’s oil production keeps rising despite US sanctions

By
IFP Media Wire
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OPEC data cited in a Tuesday report by the official IRNA news agency showed that Iran’s oil production had averaged 3.277 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, up just 4,000 bpd from July.

The increase came despite a fall in total OPEC output in August as the bloc produced 26.588 million bpd of oil, down 0.197 million bpd from July.

Iran remained the third largest OPEC producer in August after Saudi Arabia an Iraq which pumped 8.983 million bpd and 4.228 million bpd, respectively, showed the OPEC data.

Nigeria had the largest increase in oil production among OPEC members in August as the African country raised its output by 57,000 bpd compared to July.

Iran, Venezuela and Libya are exempt from a series of output cuts agreed between members of the OPEC and allied countries like Russia, a grouping which is known as the OPEC+.

Iran has significantly increased its oil exports and production in the past three years despite US sanctions that restrict its oil sales.

Exports have reached over 1.5 million bpd from lows of around 0.3 million bpd seen in 2019. The Iranian government has offered discounts to private buyers in China while relying on the expertise and investment provided by domestic companies to develop its oilfields.

Latest OPEC data, which is based on information from secondary sources, showed that the average price of Iran’s heavy oil grade had declined by $6.94 to $77.63 in August. That came against a $6.2 rise in OPEC basket prices which reached $83.3 last month.

OPEC’s forecast about global oil demand in 2024 was flat on figures announced in July when the organization said that the world’s oil demand will increase by 2.3 million bpd to 104.024 million bpd this year.

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