Hamas officials say Israel delaying aid delivery to Gaza, may affect hostages' release
Hamas officials say Israel delaying aid delivery to Gaza, may affect hostages' release/node/2588262/middle-east
Hamas officials say Israel delaying aid delivery to Gaza, may affect hostages' release
Displaced Palestinians cross a checkpoint manned by Hamas security at the Nezarim corridor as people make their way from the south to the northern parts of the Gaza Strip, on Salah al-Din road, in Mughraqa in central Gaza, on January 29, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 29 January 2025
AFP
Hamas officials say Israel delaying aid delivery to Gaza, may affect hostages' release
Updated 29 January 2025
AFP
CAIRO: Two Hamas officials on Wednesday accused Israel of delaying the delivery of vital humanitarian aid to Gaza, as agreed in the ceasefire deal, and warned that it could impact the release of hostages.
"We warn that continued delays and failure to address these points (delivery of key aid) will affect the natural progression of the agreement, including the prisoner exchange," a senior Hamas official told AFP, while another offical said the group had asked mediators to intervene in the issue. Both spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan shake hands and sign deal at White House peace summit/node/2611190/world
Leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan shake hands and sign deal at White House peace summit
Updated 09 August 2025
AP
WASHINGTON: The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan shook hands Friday at a White House peace summit before signing an agreement aimed at ending decades of conflict.
President Donald Trump was in the middle as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan flanked him on either side. As the two extended their arms in front of Trump to shake hands, the US leader reached up and clasped his hands around theirs.
The two countries in the South Caucasus signed agreements with each other and the US that will reopen key transportation routes while allowing the US to seize on Russiaâs declining influence in the region. The deal includes an agreement that will create a major transit corridor to be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, the White House said.
Trump said at the White House on Friday that naming the route after him was âa great honor for meâ but âI didnât ask for this.â A senior administration official, on a call before the event with reporters, said it was the Armenians who suggested the name.
Both leaders said the breakthrough was made possible by Trump and his team.
âWe are laying a foundation to write a better story than the one we had in the past,â Pashinyan said, calling the agreement a âsignificant milestone.â
âPresident Trump in six months did a miracle,â Aliyev said.
Trump remarked on how long the conflict went on between the two countries. âThirty-five years they fought, and now theyâre friends and theyâre going to be friends a long time,â he said.
That route will connect Azerbaijan and its autonomous Nakhchivan exclave, which are separated by a 32-kilometer-wide (20-mile-wide) patch of Armenian territory. The demand from Azerbaijan had held up peace talks in the past.
For Azerbaijan, a major producer of oil and gas, the route also provides a more direct link to Turkiye and onward to Europe.
Trump indicated heâd like to visit the route, saying, âWeâre going to have to get over there.â
Asked how he feels about lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Trump said âvery confident.â Fridayâs signing adds to the handful of peace and economic agreements brokered this year by the US
The peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda helped end the decadeslong conflict in eastern Congo, and the US mediated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, while Trump intervened in clashes between Cambodia and Thailand by threatening to withhold trade agreements with both countries if their fighting continued. Yet peace deals in Gaza and Ukraine have been elusive.
Trump has made no secret of his wish to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in helping ease long-running conflicts across the globe. Aliyev and Pashinyan on Friday joined a growing list of foreign leaders and other officials who have said the US leader should receive the award. US takes advantage of Russiaâs waning influence
The signing of a deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet republics, also strikes a geopolitical blow to their former imperial master, Russia. Throughout the nearly four-decade conflict, Moscow played mediator to expand its clout in the strategic South Caucasus region, but its influence waned quickly after it launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Trump-brokered deal would allow the US to deepen its reach in the region as Moscow retreats, senior US administration officials said.
The Trump administration began engaging with Armenia and Azerbaijan in earnest earlier this year, when Trumpâs key diplomatic envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Aliyev in Baku and started to discuss what a senior administration official called a âregional reset.â
Negotiations over who will develop the Trump Route â which will eventually include a rail line, oil and gas pipelines, and fiber optic lines â will likely begin next week, and at least nine developers have expressed interest already, according to the senior administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
Separate from the joint agreement, both Armenia and Azerbaijan signed deals with the United States meant to bolster cooperation in energy, technology and the economy, the White House said.
Trump previewed much of Fridayâs plan in a social media post Thursday evening, in which he said the agreements would âfully unlock the potentialâ of the South Caucasus region.
âMany Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to âTRUMP,ââ Trump said on his Truth Social site.
The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict has lasted for decades
The two nations were locked in conflict for nearly four decades as they fought for control of the Karabakh region, known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh.
The area was largely populated by Armenians during the Soviet era but is located within Azerbaijan. The two nations battled for control of the region through multiple violent clashes that left tens of thousands of people dead over the decades, all while international mediation efforts failed.
Most recently, Azerbaijan reclaimed all of Karabakh in 2023 and had been in talks with Armenia to normalize ties. Azerbaijanâs insistence on a land bridge to Nakhchivan had been a major sticking point, because while Azerbaijan did not trust Armenia to control the so-called Zangezur corridor, Armenia resisted control by a third party because it viewed it as a breach of sovereignty.
But the prospect of closer ties with the United States, as well as being able to move in and out of the landlocked nation more freely without having to access Georgia or Iran, helped entice Armenia on the broader agreement, according to US officials.
Meanwhile, Russia stood back when Azerbaijan reclaimed control of Karabakh in the September 2023 offensive, angering Armenia, which has moved to shed Russian influence and turn westward. Azerbaijan, emboldened by its victory in Karabakh, also has become increasingly defiant in its relations with Moscow.
Foreign ministers of five countries condemn Israeli plan to seize Gaza City
Israelâs security cabinet has approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City, escalating military operations in the devastated Palestinian territory
Updated 09 August 2025
Reuters
GAZA: The foreign ministers of Australia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom on Friday strongly condemned the Israeli Security Cabinetâs decision to launch a new large-scale military operation in Gaza.
âThe plans that the Government of Israel has announced risk violating international humanitarian law,â the ministers said in a joint statement.
Israelâs security cabinet has approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City, escalating military operations in the devastated Palestinian territory. The move drew renewed criticism at home and abroad on Friday, as concerns mounted over the nearly two-year-old war.
A view of the exterior view of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 31, 2021. (AP file p
Updated 09 August 2025
AFP
ICC unseals Libya war crimes warrant for militia officer
The crimes were allegedly committed in Benghazi or surrounding areas, in Libya, on or before June 3, 2016 until on or about July 17, 2017
Updated 09 August 2025
AFP
THE HAGUE: The International Criminal Court on Friday unsealed an arrest warrant for a Libyan militia member accused of war crimes including murder and torture between 2016 and 2017.
The court said there were âreasonable grounds to believeâ that Saif Suleiman Sneidel was responsible for war crimes of murder, torture and âoutrages upon personal dignity.â
The November 2020 warrant found âreasonable grounds to believe that Mr.Sneidel participated in three executions where a total of 23 people were murdered,â the ICCâs prosecutorâs office said in a statement.
The crimes were allegedly committed in Benghazi or surrounding areas, in Libya, on or before June 3, 2016 until on or about July 17, 2017.
The prosecutorâs office said Sneidelâs arrest warrant had been issued under seal to âmaximize arrest opportunitiesâ and to minimize risks to the criminal investigation.
âFor this reason, no details of the application or warrant could be provided until this stage,â it said.
The decision to make it public followed a second application by the prosecutorâs office to âincrease prospects for arrest.â
âWe hope to create the momentum for Mr.Sneidelâs arrest and surrender,â said deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said.
âThe Court can now discuss issues related to possible arrest with States, the UN Security Council, and the international community at large, fostering support and cooperation.â
Sneidel is believed to have been serving in Group 50, a sub-unit of the Al-Saiqa Brigade led by the the late Libyan commander, Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli.
Prior to his death, Al-Werfalli was the subject of two ICC arrest warrants for eight executions in Benghazi, three of which the prosecution alleges Sneidel took part in.
âThe prosecution alleges that Mr.Sneidel was a close associate of Mr.Al-Werfalli, and had an important leadership role alongside him in the Al-Saiqa Brigade,â the statement said.
The ICC has been investigating atrocities in Libya since 2011, following a referral from the United Nations Security Council.
The ICC also confirmed that another Libyan suspect, Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, had been arrested by German authorities on July 16, 2025 for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
He remains in custody in Germany pending legal proceedings.
Libya has faced years of instability, militia violence and fractured government since Qaddafi was overthrown and killed in 2011 near his hometown of Sirte during the Arab Spring uprising.
âAt a time when international conflicts and crises are intensifying, this step constitutes a highly significant development for the promotion of regional peace and stability
Updated 09 August 2025
AFP
ISTANBUL: Turkiye hailed an agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan as progress toward a âlasting peaceâ on Friday after US President Donald Trump declared the foes had committed to permanently end hostilities.
âWe welcome the progress achieved toward establishing a lasting peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the commitment recorded in Washington today in this regard,â Turkiyeâs foreign ministry said, in a statement.
âAt a time when international conflicts and crises are intensifying, this step constitutes a highly significant development for the promotion of regional peace and stability. We commend the contributions of the US administration in this process.â
Fire contained, historic mosque-cathedral in southern Spain âsavedâ
Considered a jewel of Islamic architecture, the site was built as a mosque â on the site of an earlier church â between the 8th and 10th centuries by the southern cityâs then Muslim ruler, Abd ar-Rahman, an emir of the Umayyad dynasty
After Christians reconquered Spain in the 13th century under King Ferdinand III of Castile, it was converted into a cathedral and architectural alterations were made over following centuries
Updated 09 August 2025
AFP
MADRID: A fire broke out in the historic mosque-turned-cathedral in Cordoba on Friday but the monument was saved as firefighters quickly contained it, the Spanish cityâs mayor said.
Widely shared videos had shown flames and smoke billowing from inside the major tourist attraction, visited by two million people per year.
âThe monument is saved. There will be no spread, it will not be a catastrophe, letâs put it that way,â Mayor Jose Mara Bellido said on Cadena television.
Earlier, the fire brigade had said the fire was under control but not extinguished.
The spectacular blaze had broken out around 9:00 PM (1900 GMT), raising fears for the early medieval architectural gem and evoking memories of the 2019 fire that ravaged Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
ABC and other newspapers reported that a mechanical sweeping machine had caught fire in the site.
Considered a jewel of Islamic architecture, the site was built as a mosque â on the site of an earlier church â between the 8th and 10th centuries by the southern cityâs then Muslim ruler, Abd ar-Rahman, an emir of the Umayyad dynasty.
After Christians reconquered Spain in the 13th century under King Ferdinand III of Castile, it was converted into a cathedral and architectural alterations were made over following centuries.