Author: CNN

ISIS-affiliated news agency Amaq released a graphic video on Saturday that purports to show Friday’s attack at a concert hall in suburban Moscow recorded by one of the attackers, suggesting the perpetrators had a direct link to ISIS in order to be able to send the video.CNN has geolocated it to the concert hall and notes that its identifying metadata has been erased.The video, which is about 90 seconds long, shows four attackers with their faces blurred and voices distorted in what appears to be the Crocus City Hall complex.The video shows one attacker signaling to another gunman, who then…

A view shows the burned Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, on Saturday. Stringer/AFP/Getty ImagsNearly 500 personnel are working to dismantle rubble at the scene of the arena attack in Moscow, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said on Saturday.“In the morning, they started the dismantling of the most difficult part: the auditorium, where the ceiling partially collapsed,” the ministry said. “The work will be carried out throughout the day.”The Russian Investigative Committee has said that, as work continues at the site, the number who died in the attack would likely rise. At least 115 people have so far…

aw enforcement officers are seen deployed outside the burning Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, on Friday. Stringer/AFP/Getty ImagesThe US warned Moscow that ISIS militants were determined to target Russia in the days before assailants stormed the Crocus City Hall in an attack that killed scores of people, but President Vladimir Putin rejected the advice as “provocative.”Gunmen stormed the concert hall near Moscow on Friday, opening fire and throwing an incendiary device in the worst terrorist attack on the Russian capital in decades.Isis has claimed responsibility for the attack.Experts said the scale of the carnage – some of which…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference in Cairo, Egypt, on Thursday, March 21. Evelyn Hochstein/Pool/ReutersUS Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that “the gaps are narrowing” between Israel and Hamas to reach a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of the hostages, but he acknowledged that “there are still real challenges.”“We worked, as you know, with Egypt, with Qatar, and with Israel to put a strong proposal on the table,” Blinken said during a press conference in Cairo, Egypt, with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. “And Hamas responded to that.” .Blinken said he still…

During his address to the Senate Republican policy lunch Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sharply critical of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s comments calling for elections to form a new government in Israel.”Clearly, the prime minister was not happy with Sen. Schumer’s speech. Nor was he happy with President (Joe) Biden’s praise of Sen. Schumer’s speech. But I think the prime minster understands the politics of all of it,” Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy said afterward. “We made it clear to the prime minister that in our judgment, the American people overwhelmingly support Israel’s war,” Kennedy said. “And he made clear he…

American officials hope to meet with Israeli and other officials in the Middle East during the next week. Source link

Israel has been waiting for the “right time to act” at Al-Shifa Hospital in central Gaza, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Monday. Speaking at his daily news conference, Hagari alleged that Hamas individuals had “fled to the area of the hospital, hid in it, and turned it into a headquarters.” He said the IDF has been “following this compound for some time and have been waiting for the right time to act.”Israeli forces surrounded the Al-Shifa Medical Complex early Monday, where the Ministry of Health in Gaza said about 30,000 people are sheltering.Hagari said an “exchange…

Palestinians search the rubble of a family home following Israeli bombardment west of the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza on March 16. AFP/Getty ImagesThe Ministry of Health in Gaza has said 37 people, including children and pregnant women, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential block in central Gaza on Friday night.CNN is unable to verify the number of casualties from the incident west of the Nuseirat Camp, but video from the scene showed ambulance crews loading bodies wrapped in blankets, as well as extensive destruction.CNN also obtained video of the dead and injured being brought…

Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike in central Gaza on March 15. Abdel Karim Hanna/AFPThe United States expressed cautious optimism about the latest round of ceasefire talks in Doha, Qatar, and the agreement proposed by Hamas, although the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office described it as “unrealistic.”The latest proposal put forward by Hamas is “certainly within the limits – in broad strokes – within the limits of the deal that we have been working on now for several months. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters: “I don’t want to go into more detail than that.”National Security Council spokesman…

Thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Thursday to protest the exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jews from mandatory military service.Religious Israelis have long held a privileged position in that society. Their religious schools, or seminaries, receive generous government subsidies. However, Haredi youth, as they are known in Hebrew, are practically exempt from compulsory military service.In 1998, Israel’s Supreme Court overturned the long-standing exemption, telling the government that allowing Haredim out of compulsory conscription violated equal protection principles. In the decades that followed, successive governments and parliaments attempted to resolve the issue, but were repeatedly told by courts…