Minggu, 07 Januari 2024

Middle East crisis live: major civilian casualties, including two journalists, in strikes on southern Gaza - The Guardian

Two journalists have been killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza this morning. Hamza Wael Dahdouh, a journalist with Al Jazeera and Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for AFP, were killed while travelling in a car, the health ministry and medics confirmed to AFP. Reports suggest the car was hit in the region between Rafah and western Khan Younis.

Hamza Wael Dahdouh’s father, Wael Al-Dahdouh, is Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief and was also recently wounded in a strike. His wife and two children were killed by a separate Israeli strike in the initial weeks of the war.

At least 77 journalists and media workers were killed between 7 October, when the war started, and 31 December, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

There have been major civilian casualties from strikes on the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis this morning. Health officials in Nasser hospital said on Sunday that Israeli strikes on houses in the town had killed 50 people, with many images coming through this morning of babies and children who have been killed.

Palestinians mourn for relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a morgue in Khan Younis on Sunday.

At least 64 people have been killed overnight and early on Sunday in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, according to its Hamas-run health ministry. The death toll includes babies and children.

AFP reports:

Israeli bombardment [claimed] civilian lives in the southern city of Khan Yunis and in the Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where many of the territory’s displaced people have sought refuge, AFP correspondents reported.

Relatives were mourning the dead at Khan Yunis’ European hospital, among them Mohamed Awad, who wept over the body of a 12-year-old boy and listed other family members killed.

“My brother, his wife, his children, his relatives and the brothers of his wife - there are more than 20 martyrs,” he said.

The Israeli army - which said on Saturday it had “dismantled” Hamas’s military leadership in northern Gaza - reported that its forces had killed more “terrorists” in central Gaza, including in a drone strike in the Bureij refugee camp, a built-up urban area.

Two journalists have been killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza this morning. Hamza Wael Dahdouh, a journalist with Al Jazeera and Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for AFP, were killed while travelling in a car, the health ministry and medics confirmed to AFP. Reports suggest the car was hit in the region between Rafah and western Khan Younis.

Hamza Wael Dahdouh’s father, Wael Al-Dahdouh, is Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief and was also recently wounded in a strike. His wife and two children were killed by a separate Israeli strike in the initial weeks of the war.

At least 77 journalists and media workers were killed between 7 October, when the war started, and 31 December, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

There have been major civilian casualties from strikes on the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis this morning. Health officials in Nasser hospital said on Sunday that Israeli strikes on houses in the town had killed 50 people, with many images coming through this morning of babies and children who have been killed.

Palestinians from the Brais family search for missing people under the rubble following an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, 07 January 2024.

Palestinians have been searching for survivors amid the rubble in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, on Sunday after an Israeli airstrike.

Haitham Imad, a photographer for EPA, has been taking pictures this morning of the Brais family as they hunt for missing people among destroyed buildings.

It is not yet clear how many have died in the strike but other images filed this morning show multiple bodies being taken for burial from the mortuary at Nasser hospital, including babies.

Palestinians from the Brais family search for missing people under the rubble following an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.
Palestinians from the Brais family search for missing people under the rubble following an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, 07 January 2024.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, speaks at a World Food Program regional warehouse in Amman, Jordan, on Sunday.

Jordan’s King Abdullah used his meeting with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to push for an Israeli ceasefire. In a statement issued by the palace, he warned of the “catastrophic repercussions” of the continuation of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

In a sign that the talks had done little to water down Jordan’s position on the conflict, the monarch told Blinken that Washington had a major role to play to put pressure on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Reuters reports.

Blinken is in Jordan as part of his week-long tour of the region. He also met the foreign minister and visited a World Food Program warehouse where trucks are being packed with aid to be delivered to Gaza.

Peter Beaumont is in Beirut, where the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, has prompted fears that the war could spill over into Lebanon. You can read full report here, which includes powerful reportage from the city.

This is an extract of his analysis of the current fears for conflict spreading further in the region:

[fear of an all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel] has dominated debate in Lebanon and the wider region in the days since Arouri’s killing, even as a tenuous normality has returned to Beirut’s sprawling southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, in wake of the attack. While streets that emptied in the immediate aftermath of the strike have become busy again, anxiety lingers. The mood was summed up by Lebanon’s outgoing prime minister, Najib Mikati, who on Friday talked of “the danger of attempts to drag Lebanon into a regional war … with serious consequences, particularly for Lebanon and neighbouring countries”.On Saturday morning, as Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel, saying the barrage was only its first response to Arouri’s killing, Mikati’s warning took on an added resonance. The cross-border exchanges have highlighted the fact that, three months on, Israel’s war against Hamas is starting to bleed ever wider across the region.

Since 8 October, limited exchanges across the border – including airstrikes and drone attacks – have become a daily occurrence between Israel and Hezbollah, as well as other factions in Lebanon, inflicting casualties on both sides. Iran-backed groups in Iraq have stepped up attacks on US military bases, while Yemen’s Houthis – who, like Hamas and Hezbollah, have long enjoyed Iranian support – have launched long-range drones and threatened commercial shipping around key routes in the Red Sea. Last week, Islamic State claimed responsibility for two blasts which ripped through a crowd in southern Iran, killing at least 84 people, while a US airstrike in Baghdad killed the commander of an Iranian-backed Shia militia.

But it has been in Lebanon, above all, where the situation has become most dangerous, undermining a fragile understanding between Hezbollah and Israel that has persisted since the hugely destructive second Lebanon war in 2006.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi at a meeting in Amman, Jordan on Sunday

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, met King Abdullah II of Jordan and the country’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, in Aman on Sunday morning as part of a diplomatic push to prevent Israel’s war against Hamas from spreading elsewhere in the region.

Blinken’s position is that detailed plans for the post-conflict future of the territory need to be worked on, but Jordan and other Arab countries have so far been highly critical of Israel’s actions and argue that no long-term planning can happen until there is a ceasefire. Blinken is pushing Israel to adjust its military operations to reduce civilian casualties while boosting the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza.

Blinken also toured a World Food Program warehouse in the Jordanian capital where trucks are being packed with aid to be delivered to Gaza.

After talks on Saturday with Turkish and Greek leaders Blinken said he wanted to prevent “an endless cycle of violence” as part of his week-long visit aimed at calming tensions in the region.

The Israeli military has signalled a shift away from its focus in northern Gaza, saying it has finished dismantling Hamas’ military infrastructure there.

Its spokesman, R Adm Daniel Hagari, said on Saturday night its forces would “continue to deepen the achievement” there, AP reported, adding that they would strengthen defences along the Israel-Gaza border fence and focus on the central and southern parts of the territory.

It comes as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is on an official visit to the region. The US has repeatedly urged Israel to wind down its air and ground offensive in Gaza and focus on more targeted attacks against Hamas leaders, to prevent harm to Palestinian civilians.

Blinken is expected to put pressure on Israel to protect civilians in Gaza when he lands on Tuesday. In recent weeks, Israel had already been scaling back its attacks on northern Gaza and pushing south, where most of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians are being pushed into smaller areas in a humanitarian disaster while Israeli airstrikes continue.

Palestinian gunmen attend the funeral of six Palestinians in the West Bank city of Jenin on Sunday.

More detail has come in on this morning’s airstrike in the occupied West Bank. The strike killed six Palestinians in Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry said, while Israel said that one of its soldiers had been killed.

Here’s some more from Reuters, who spoke to people on the ground this morning:

Israel said its aircraft fired on Palestinian militants who had attacked troops in the city of Jenin, while the Palestinian ministry said the strike targeted people who had gathered at the site, and eyewitnesses said the attack happened as Israeli forces were withdrawing.

“One of the martyrs was decapitated,” Mujahid Nazzal, a Palestinian doctor and first responder at the scene, told Reuters.

“It seemed the missile directly hit him. Others had their limbs severed. A seventh person was seriously injured and taken by the ambulance.”

Another witness, Ahmed Suleiman, said, “The air strike happened at the entrance of Jenin in an area called Martyr’s Triangle. You can see the effects of the missile. Blood and body parts scattered everywhere.”

Four of those killed were brothers, according to family members.

An Israeli border police officer was killed and others wounded when their vehicle was hit by an explosive device during operations in Jenin, the Israeli military and police said.

A helicopter helped rescue them with covering fire, the military said, adding that an aircraft fired at a “terrorist squad that hurled explosives and endangered our forces, a number of terrorists were killed.”

Six people were killed early on Sunday during an Israeli airstrike in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

“An Israeli occupation bombardment on a group of citizens killed six people in Jenin,” said the Palestinian Authority-run Ministry of Health, which is based in the West Bank.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported early Sunday that a major deployment of Israeli forces was under way in Jenin.

Violence has intensified in the West Bank since Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from Gaza on 7 October. More than 300 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the conflict broke out, according to the United Nations Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

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2024-01-07 11:14:26Z
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Kyiv hits Crimea military base amid deadly Russian shelling in Donetsk - Euronews

The latest developments from the war in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy vows revenge after Donetsk attack

At least 11 people were killed in Russian shelling in Donetsk on Saturday, according to regional governor Vadym Filashkin. 

Five children were among the dead and eight further people were wounded in the attack on the eastern Ukraine region, partially occupied by Russia. 

Emergency services believe the number of victims could increase as around six more people appear to be under the rubble of one destroyed building.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy said that Russia must feel the consequences of every such attack, adding "that no such strike will go without consequences."

Shelling hit the town of Pokrovsk, some 50 km from the frontline. 

Before the war, it had a population of 60,000. Nine people were killed and 82 injured in August in Russian shelling. 

Crimean air base hit

Ukraine’s military claimed it successfully attacked the Saki military airbase in the west of the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.

“Saki airfield! All targets were hit!” Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on Telegram. 

He also published a photo purporting to show the airfield, though Euronews could not immediately verify the image.

Russian officials did not comment on the alleged attack, but Russia’s Defense Ministry said in the early hours of Saturday that it had successfully downed four Ukrainian missiles over the peninsula overnight. 

Later on Saturday, the ministry reported its air defence forces had shot down six Ukrainian anti-ship missiles over the Black Sea.

North Korean-made missiles allegedly used in Ukraine

Ukrainian officials claimed on Saturday they have evidence, which shows Moscow fired North Korean-supplied missiles on Kharkiv earlier this week.

The eastern region's prosecutor’s office said a missile which hit central Kharkiv on 2 January appears to be made in North Korea.

Investigators who examined parts of the missile concluded the rocket was visually and technically different from Russian models.

On Thursday, the White House said US intelligence officials determined that Russia has acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and is seeking close-range ballistic missiles from Iran as Moscow struggles to replenish arms for its military campaign with Ukraine.

A Euronews report in September explored what Moscow and Pyongyang need from one another, ranging from food to advanced weapons. Read more on this story below. 

Christmas Eve masses in Belgorod cancelled

Local officials in Belgorod said that an “air target” was intercepted on approach to the Russian border city, some 40km from Ukraine. 

Ukrainian attacks on 30 December in Belgorod killed 25 people, with rocket and drone attacks continuing throughout this week.

It was the deadliest attack on Russian soil since the war began in February 2022, coming after a major bombardment of Ukraine's largest cities. 

As Russians prepared to celebrate Orthodox Christmas, Christmas Eve masses in Belgorod were cancelled due to the “operational situation,” Mayor Valentin Demidov said.

Experts previously told Euronews that Kyiv was launching drone strikes against Russia to hit military targets and boost morale at home by showing the country had offensive power, though they warned this strategy could backfire, especially if civilians were killed/ 

“I can see why Ukranians want Russia to feel how it feels to wake up in the morning from the sirens of air defences, hiding in cellars, waiting and hoping a missile barrage won't kill you... But they risk losing the moral high ground," said Marina Miron, a post-doctoral researcher at King’s College War Studies Department.

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2024-01-07 08:22:00Z
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Lloyd Austin: White House not told for days defence secretary in hospital - BBC

Defence Secretary Lloyd AustinReuters

The Biden administration was not told for days that US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin had been hospitalised, at least one official has told US media.

Mr Austin, 70, was admitted to the Walter Reed Medical Center on Monday due to complications following surgery.

An official told the BBC's US partner CBS that the White House was not informed of this until at least Thursday morning.

Mr Austin has accepted responsibility for the lack of communication.

"I recognise I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed," he said in a statement.

"I commit to doing better."

The defence secretary sits just below the president in the chain of command for the US military.

Mr Austin added that it was "important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure".

"I am very glad to be on the mend and look forward to returning to the Pentagon soon."

He is thought to still be in hospital but a defence department spokesperson quoted by the AFP news agency said he resumed his full duties on Friday.

It is not clear how many of his responsibilities Mr Austin has been able to carry out due to his illness, nor the extent to which Deputy Secretary of Defence Kathleen Hicks stepped in to help.

Officials told CNN that she had periodically taken on his duties during his time in hospital, while she herself was in Puerto Rico on holiday.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden is reported to have had a "warm" conversation with Mr Austin on Saturday.

"The president has full confidence in Secretary Austin. He's looking forward to him being back at the Pentagon," one official told AFP.

Republicans are among those to have expressed serious concern over the situation.

"The secretary of defence is the key link in the chain of command between the president and the uniformed military, including the nuclear chain of command, when the weightiest of decisions must be made in minutes," Senator Tom Cotton in a statement.

"If this report is true, there must be consequences for this shocking breakdown."

Fellow Senator Roger Wicker said that while he was pleased to hear of Mr Austin's recovery, "the fact remains that the Department of Defence deliberately withheld the secretary of defence's medical condition for days. That is unacceptable."

The Pentagon Press Association, made up of journalists who cover the defence department, also criticised the apparent lack of transparency in a letter to the Pentagon on Friday.

"At a time when there are growing threats to US military service members in the Middle East and the US is playing key national security roles in the wars in Israel and Ukraine, it is particularly critical for the American public to be informed about the health status and decision-making ability of its top defence leader," it said.

Mr Austin, a retired four-star general, became the first African-American defence secretary in 2020.

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Sabtu, 06 Januari 2024

Boeing passenger jets grounded after fuselage rips open mid-flight - The Telegraph

More than 170 Boeing passenger jets have been grounded after a refrigerator-sized hole opened up in a plane mid-flight.

Phones, magazines and even the shirt off a child’s back were sucked out of an Alaska Airlines service from Oregon to California on Friday, prompting concerns about the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane used by commercial airlines all over the world.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded 171 US-operated planes while officials perform safety checks. Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has demanded that all planes of the same model are inspected before entering UK airspace.

The grounding of hundreds of aircraft, which are mainly used for internal American flights, risks causing knock-on delays and travel chaos in the coming days.

First investigations show that a deactivated emergency door had popped out Credit: Twitter

Preliminary investigations on Saturday suggested that the faulty section of the plane was a deactivated emergency door built into the aircraft, but it was not in use at the time.

The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, said the two seats next to the portion of fuselage that blew out were unoccupied. 

“We are very, very fortunate here that this didn’t end up in something more tragic,” she added.

Passengers said their phones and other loose items were ripped from their hands as the cabin suffered an “explosive” depressurisation and was forced to return to Portland for an emergency landing.

One toddler seated near the hole had his shirt pulled from his back as his mother tried to stop him from being dragged out of the plane’s cabin.

A passenger said the boy appeared to have lost his shirt, and his skin looked red and irritated. Flight attendants reportedly helped the mother and son move to the other side of the plane a few minutes later.

In the distress call to air traffic control, a woman can be heard saying: “We are an emergency. We are depressurised, we do need to return back.”

Pilots made the emergency landing 35 minutes after takeoff, and around 15 minutes after the section of the plane detached.

Emma Vu, a passenger on the flight, later posted her text messages to members of her family on TikTok.

She wrote: “I am so scared right now. Please pray for me,” adding: “Please, I don’t want to die.”

Evan Smith, another passenger, told reporters: “There was a really loud bang towards the left rear of the plane and a woosh noise – and all the air masks dropped.

“They said there was a kid in that row who [had] his shirt sucked off him and out of the plane and his mother was holding onto him to make sure he didn’t go with it.”

Diego Murillo, also on the flight, said the gap was “as wide as a refrigerator,” while another, Elizabeth Lee, described the deafening noise as a powerful wind tore through the cabin.

“Part of the plane was missing and the wind was just extremely loud,” the 20-year-old said. “It was honestly horrifying.”

She added that the whipping wind meant that announcements made over the speaker system were inaudible.

No serious injuries were initially reported among the 171 passengers and six crew members. One flight attendant reportedly sustained minor injuries.

Passengers said the sound of the wind made the announcements over the speaker system inaudible Credit: X

Passengers who experienced the ordeal were given a complimentary flight by the airline with more leg room, and free drinks and snacks.

Alaska Airlines grounded all 65 of its Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft for testing, to ensure the accident is not repeated on any of its other services.

Ben Minicucci, the company’s chief executive, said: “Each aircraft will be returned to service only after completion of full maintenance and safety inspections.”

“My heart goes out to those who were on this flight – I am so sorry for what you experienced,” he added.

Boeing said it was aware of the incident and is “working to gather more information”.

“The FAA is requiring immediate inspections of certain Boeing 737 Max 9 planes before they can return to flight,” said Mike Whitaker, an FAA administrator.

United Airlines also said on Saturday it had temporarily suspended service on all Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft to run inspections required by the FAA.

Meanwhile, the CAA said there are no Boeing 737 Max 9 planes registered in the UK and that the impact on British travellers is therefore likely to be “minimal”.

Only in service for a month

A spokesman for the company said: “We have written to all non-UK and foreign permit carriers to ask for confirmation that inspections have been undertaken prior to any operation in UK airspace.”

China’s aviation regulator said it is conducting an emergency meeting to consider a response to the incident, including a possible grounding of the Boeing Max fleet in the country.

Images show the hole which opened up was in the back third of the plane, behind the wing, where the aircraft sometimes has an emergency exit.

Alaska Airlines chose not to configure its plane with an emergency door there, and the panel that covered the hole in the fuselage appears to have been ripped off.

The plane had only been in service for a month, having been certified in October, according to FAA records.

The incident comes fewer than three months after Alaska Airlines suffered an attempted hijack by an off-duty pilot who appeared to be suffering a psychotic episode.

Joseph Emerson, 44, later said he was under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms when he attempted to cut the plane’s engines and open the emergency exit, believing he was in a dream.

The Max is the newest version of Boeing’s 737 – a twin-engine, single-aisle plane frequently used on US domestic flights. The plane went into service in May 2017.

The model has been described as “the most scrutinised transport aircraft in history” after a series of safety issues and investigations.

Ongoing controversy

Two Max 8 planes crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people and leading to a near two-year worldwide grounding of all Max 8 and Max 9 planes. They returned to service only after Boeing made significant modifications.

About 1,300 737 Max aircraft have been delivered to customers, Boeing data show, and they are primarily used in the US by Alaska Airlines and United.

The FAA said its inspection of the domestic fleet of 737 Max 9 planes would take between four and eight hours per aircraft.

By Saturday afternoon, Alaska Airlines said it had already begun clearing some of its fleet for takeoff, after safety inspections that returned all-clear.

Other international operators that use the plane include Copa, Aeromexico, Turkish Airlines and Icelandair.

A Boeing spokesman said: “Safety is our top priority and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers.

“We agree with and fully support the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane.

“In addition, a Boeing technical team is supporting the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into last night’s event. We will remain in close contact with our regulator and customers.”

Seat belt key to survival

The Alaska Airlines incident could have been much worse if passengers had not been wearing their seat belts or quickly secured their oxygen masks, according to experts.

The jet had reached 16,000 feet when a chunk, described as the size of a “refrigerator,” was ripped off.

Anthony Brickhouse, an air safety expert at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University said: “This is a very, very serious situation, and it could have been a lot worse.”

He said the incident underscores the importance of passengers keeping their seat belts fastened while seated in an aircraft, even if the fasten-seat belt light is off.

“If someone had been sitting in that seat and they weren’t buckled in, it would have been a different situation.”

In previous incidents, passengers have tragically died after being fully or partially sucked out of broken windows. In 2018, Jennifer Riordan died after being partially sucked out of a window on a Southwest Airlines plane hit by debris from a blown engine at an altitude of 32,000 feet.

Passengers are also encouraged to quickly secure oxygen masks if their aircraft becomes damaged.

Prof Graham Braithwaite, an expert on flight safety at Cranfield University, said: “It appears to have happened rapidly. In this situation, the aircraft will depressurise very quickly; the air will rush out, there might be mist in the cabin, and certainly a loud noise.

“It will be pretty dramatic and scary for passengers.”

The incident would have been more severe if it occurred at cruising altitude, he added.

Depressurisation is more forceful at higher altitudes; for example, if the plane is cruising between 30,000 to 35,000 feet, and it can be more extreme on smaller flights. The larger the damage to the aircraft structure, the faster the decompression rate.

Prof Braithwaite said: “This one was at 16,000 feet, and the cabin would be pressurised between 8,000 to 10,000 feet, so the pressure difference would not have been as much as if they were at 30,000 to 35,000 feet.

“On the flight deck, they will want to descend quickly to get the aircraft down to 10,000 feet, at which people can breathe normally.”

Oxygen masks at high altitudes are essential for avoiding hypoxia. Hypoxia is a state caused by low oxygen levels in the arterial blood, leading to confusion and difficulty breathing, and if sustained, it can lead to brain damage.

He said: “When a decompression happens, it is imperative that everyone on board gets an oxygen mask on. The risk of developing hypoxia happens quite quickly, which stops people from thinking logically.”

The temperature also plummets as the cabin temperature equalises with the outside air. Additionally, air whips through the cabin, and a mist or fog can descend from the change in humidity.

Debris and unsecured items may also fly around the cabin or be ejected from the aircraft, while dust can limit visibility.

Airline staff encourage passengers to remain calm and not remove loose personal items from bags or seat pockets. They may also instruct passengers to sit in the brace position and protect their heads from loose items.

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2024-01-06 22:23:00Z
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Blinken puts pressure on Middle East countries to contain Gaza conflict - The Guardian

US secretary of state Antony Blinken has urged Middle East countries to use their influence over regional actors to ensure the Gaza conflict is contained and prevent “an endless cycle of violence,” as he continued his week-long trip aimed at calming tensions.

Blinken was speaking on Saturday, after Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah group said it had fired rockets at Israel, who said it had struck a “terrorist cell” in retaliation. Hezbollah called the strikes a “preliminary response” to the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Beirut last week in an attack widely attributed to Israel

“We want to make sure that countries … [are] using their relationships with some of the actors that might be involved to keep a lid on things, to make sure that we’re not seeing the spread of conflict,” Blinken said before flying to Jordan, after meeting the leaders of Turkey and Greece.

His comments came as France’s foreign minister told her Iranian counterpart that “Iran and its affiliates” must stop “destabilising acts” that could spark a broader conflict in the Middle East.

Blinken, who will also visit Arab states, Israel and the occupied West Bank, said he would be looking at what could be done to maximise the protection of civilians in Gaza and increase deliveries of humanitarian assistance.

“Far too many Palestinians have been killed, especially children,” he said.

The war began when Hamas fighters attacked Israel on 7 October, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed 22,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The Israeli army said on Saturday it had “completed the dismantling” of Hamas’s command structure in the northern Gaza Strip.

Army spokesperson Daniel Hagari told reporters that Palestinian militants were now operating in the area only sporadically and “without commanders”.

“Now the focus is on dismantling Hamas in the centre of the Gaza Strip and in the south of the Gaza Strip,” he said, while acknowledging that the task will take time.

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan shaking hands with US secretary of state Antony Blinken.

On Saturday, fighting raged in and near the southern city of Khan Younis, where the Israeli military said it had killed members of Hamas. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported heavy shelling near the Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis. Shrapnel flew into the medical facility amid the sound of firing from drones, it said on social media.

Elsewhere, the Palestinian health ministry said an Israeli airstrike killed six people in the West Bank city of Jenin early on Sunday. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said there was a major deployment of Israeli forces in Jenin.

Some of Israel’s forces have recently been withdrawn from Gaza, partly in response to US pressure. Speaking about Israel’s efforts to dismantle Hamas in the central and southern Gaza Strip, Hagari said “we will do it in a different way” without elaborating.

On his current trip, Blinken is expected to put pressure on the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to do more to protect civilians in Gaza, allow more aid into the territory and rein in outspoken far-right ministers who have called for the mass resettlement of Palestinians – rhetoric the US has condemned as inflammatory and irresponsible.

Netanyahu has angered Washington by so far refusing to engage in any detailed planning for the governance of Gaza when Israel’s military offensive ends, and by rejecting the US’s preferred options. In recent days, senior Israeli officials have rushed to offer some postwar proposals.

Washington wants regional countries, including Turkey, to play a role in reconstruction, governance and, potentially, security in Gaza, which has been run by Hamas since 2007, an official said.

On Saturday, Blinken said that Turkey is committed to playing “a positive, productive” role for postwar Gaza and prepared to use its influence in the region to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from broadening even more.

The comments came after his meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, a strong critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

During the talks which went for more than an hour, Blinken pointed to the need to “work toward broader, lasting regional peace that ensures Israel’s security and advances the establishment of a Palestinian state”, US officials said.

A Turkish diplomatic source said foreign minister Hakan Fidan pressed Blinken during a separate meeting for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza that could ensure the smooth delivery of aid.

ErdoÄŸan has turned into one of the Muslim world’s harshest critics of Washington’s support for Israel’s Gaza campaign. He has compared Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, and accused the US of sponsoring the “genocide” of Palestinians.

He has also rebuffed US pressure to cut off the suspected flow of funding to Hamas through Turkey, and defended the group as legitimately elected “liberators” fighting for their land.

Reuters, Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press contributed to this report

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Passengers terrified as part of fuselage blows out forcing emergency landing as airline grounds aircraft - LBC

6 January 2024, 09:23 | Updated: 6 January 2024, 09:28

Passengers were left terrified after part of the fuselage blew out
Passengers were left terrified after part of the fuselage blew out. Picture: Social media/Alamy

A US airline has grounded all of its Boeing 737-9 planes after passengers were left terrified when a part of the fuselage blew out mid-air, leaving a gaping hole in the aircraft.

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The Alaska Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency return back to Portland International Airport in Oregon after its cabin depressurised some 16,000ft in the air.

Footage taken onboard shows passengers anxiously wait for the emergency landing as they breathe into oxygen masks.

They tell each other it was lucky nobody was sat next to the part that blew out.

A huge hole can be seen in the left hand side of the fuselage.

The plane had taken off about six minutes before it diverted.

The pilot told air traffic control that there was an emergency, and the plane had depressurised and needed to come back.

All 174 passengers and six crew members were safe.

Read more: Pilots of Japanese plane involved in horror crash didn't realise aircraft was on fire until told by crew

Ben Minicucci, the chief executive of Alaska Airlines, said: "Following tonight's event on Flight 1282, we have decided to take the precautionary step of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing 737-9 aircraft."

The aircraft will be brought back into use after repairs and safety inspections, which are expected to last just days.

The US National Transportation Safety Board said it was looking into what happened, as did the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Alaska Airlines grounded its 737-9 Max aircraft
Alaska Airlines grounded its 737-9 Max aircraft. Picture: Alamy

The Boeing 737-9 Max was certified two months ago and has flown 145 times since mid November.

The model is the newest version of the 737.

All Max 8 and Max 9 planes were grounded for two years after two Max 8s crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing more than 300 people.

Boeing had to make changes to the automated flight control system before they were put back into service.

The company said it was gathering more information about what happened in this incident.

In December, it told airlines to inspect planes for a potential loose bolt in the rudder control system.

And last year, the FAA urged pilots to limit their use of an anti-ice system because of fears that inlets near the engines could over heat, break away and hit the plane.

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Jumat, 05 Januari 2024

US Supreme Court to hear Donald Trump ballot ban appeal - Financial Times

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