Gaza - The African Mirror

Nov

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI, MOHAMMED SALEM and JAMES MACKENZIE

Hamas, Israel release more hostages, prisoners in fifth day of Gaza truce

HAMAS freed 12 more hostages and Israel released 30 Palestinian prisoners on Tuesday, the fifth day of an extended six-day truce between the militant Palestinian group and Israel in the Gaza war. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the 12 hostages had been transferred from Gaza, and Israel's military confirmed that the 10 Israeli citizens and two foreign nationals were with its special forces on Israeli territory. The hostages were among some 240 people seized by Hamas gunmen during a rampage into southern Israel on October 7 in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed. Israel's bombardment…

Nov

2023

By ELI BERLZON

‘Can’t find words’, Israeli families welcome second group of hostages

WORLD

EMILY Hand had her ninth birthday as a hostage in Gaza, the day before she was reunited with her father, who initially believed she had been killed in the devastating attack by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel last month. Returned in the second group of hostages released by the Islamist movement under a Qatari-brokered deal with Israel, she appeared in good health in a photograph released with fellow hostage Hila Rotem, whose mother remains in Gaza. The daughter of an Irish immigrant to Israel, Emily's mother died of cancer when she was 2 years old and her family described the violent mix…

Nov

2023

By BASSAM MASOUD and JANIS LAIZANS

Hamas releases 24 hostages on first day of Gaza truce

WORLD

HAMAS fighters released 24 hostages during the first day of the war's first truce, including Israeli women and children and Thai farm workers, after guns fell silent across the Gaza Strip for the first time in seven weeks. The hostages were transferred out of Gaza and handed over to Egyptian authorities at the Rafah border crossing, accompanied by eight staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in a four-car convoy, the ICRC said. Qatar, which acted as a mediator for the truce deal, said 13 Israelis had been released, some with dual nationalities, plus 10 Thais…

Nov

2023

By The African Mirror

South Africa hopes Gaza truce bolsters efforts to end conflict

NEWS

SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa welcomed an agreement for a four-day truce in Gaza and said he hoped the deal between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas would bolster efforts to achieve an outright end to their conflict. Ramaphosa has been one of the most prominent voices on the African continent on the brutal war between Israel and Hamas that has raged for about seven weeks. South Africa's strong support for Palestinians dates back to former President Nelson Mandela's days, with the country likening their plight to its own before the end of apartheid in 1994. Israel rejects the comparison. "It…

Nov

2023

By The African Mirror

Saudi crown prince, African leaders call for end to war in Gaza

NEWS

SAUDI Arabia's crown prince on Friday called for an end to the war in Gaza, a stance later echoed in a declaration with African leaders attending a summit in Riyadh. "We condemn what the Gaza Strip is facing from military assault, targeting of civilians, the violations of international law by the Israeli occupation authorities," Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said during the African-Saudi summit in the kingdom's capital. "We stress on the need to stop this war and the forced displacement of Palestinians," he added. Israeli air strikes hit three Gaza hospitals and a school on Friday, killing at least 27 people,…

Nov

2023

By HUMEYRA PAMUK and SIMON LEWIS

Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt closed due to security

NEWS

The Rafah border crossing into Gaza was closed due to an unspecified "security circumstance" but U.S. officials were working with Egypt and Israel to get it reopened, U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said. Rafah, which is controlled by Egypt and does not border Israel, is the only point of aid delivery since Israel launched a military assault and siege of Gaza in retaliation for an attack by Hamas militants from the coastal strip on October 7. Evacuations of foreign passport holders through the crossing were suspended on Saturday and Sunday after an Israeli strike on an ambulance that was heading…

Nov

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI, ALI SAWAFTA and SIMON LEWIS

Gaza evacuations suspended as Palestinian president presses US for ceasefire

WORLD

EFFORTS were underway to resume evacuations of foreign nationals and injured Gazans through the Rafah crossing to Egypt, suspended since Saturday after a deadly attack on an ambulance, Egyptian, U.S. and Qatari officials said. Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel said that all communications and internet services had once again been cut in the Gaza Strip amid continued bombardment while Gaza's health ministry said dozens died in a strike on a refugee camp overnight. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas demanded an immediate Israeli ceasefire at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ramallah. Blinken, who has dismissed the idea of a ceasefire by…

Oct

2023

By NELLIE PEYTON

South Africa calls for UN force to protect civilians in Gaza

NEWS

SOUTH Africa called for the United Nations to deploy a rapid protection force to protect civilians in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza from further bombardment as Israel steps up its retaliation for a deadly attack by the militant group Hamas. South Africa has long been an advocate for peace in the region, likening the plight of Palestinians to its own under the apartheid regime that ended in 1994. In calling for a protection force, South Africa has gone further in its support for the Palestinians than most nations, some of which have called for a ceasefire or the opening of…

Oct

2023

By EMILY ROSE and NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI

Israel wages ground campaign in Gaza, communications blackout eases

WORLD

ISRAEL is expanding ground operations in Gaza and its fighter jets have struck hundreds more Hamas targets, the Israeli military said, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the second phase of a three-week-old war. Telephone and internet communications were partially restored in Gaza after a more than day-long blackout that had badly impacted rescue operations as Israel pounded targets of the militant Hamas group that controls the territory. "Israel cut us off from the world in order to wipe us out, but we are hearing the sounds of explosions and we are proud the resistance fighters have stopped them at…

Oct

2023

By JANIS LAIZANS

Freed Israeli hostage says ‘I’ve been through hell’

WORLD

AN elderly Israeli hostage who was released by Hamas overnight said she had been beaten by militants when she was abducted and taken to Gaza on October 7, but was then treated well during her two-week captivity in the Palestinian enclave. Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, was one of two elderly women freed late on Monday, leaving around 220 hostages still in the hands of Hamas, including both of their husbands. "I've been through hell," Lifshitz told reporters, speaking in barely a whisper and seated in a wheelchair outside the Tel Aviv hospital where she was taken following her release. Looking frail, Lifshitz said…