Author: France 24

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh held talks with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Saturday as ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas stalled. The news came after Qatar said it is re-evaluating its role as mediator in truce negotiations. Turkey however has no chance to mediate talks between the two foes as it has “burned its bridges with Israel”, FRANCE 24’s Jasper Mortimer said, reporting from Ankara. Source link

A second mayor in Ecuador – Jorge Maldonado of Portovelo – was shot dead Friday ahead of a referendum on stricter measures against organised crime, police said. Two days prior, the mayor of Camilo Ponce Enriquez in the southern province of Azuay, Jose Sanchez, was shot dead. Maldonado was the fifth Ecuadoran mayor assassinated in a year, and the third in less than a month. Source link

Issued on: 20/04/2024 – 16:22Modified: 20/04/2024 – 16:27 01:35 2024-04-20 16:05 Hundreds of Gazans queue for bread at reopened bakery after aid reaches besieged Strip © FRANCE 24 Hundreds of Palestinians queued for bread at a reopened bakery in Gaza City, after fresh supplies arrived in a heavily blockaded area that has suffered months of deprivation. They waited for hours in the streets of Gaza’s biggest city this week as the bakery turned out bags of subsidised bread after the World Food Programme was able to resupply it. Read more on related topics: Source link

Iran has dismissed as akin to child’s play the reported Israeli retaliation for an unprecedented Iranian strike, as both sides on Saturday appeared to step back from wider conflict stemming from the war in Gaza. Israel had warned it would hit back after Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones one week ago in retaliation for a deadly April 1 air strike –which Iran blamed on Israel – that levelled the Iranian consulate in Damascus and killed seven Revolutionary Guards. Source link

A huge blast rocked a military base in Iraq late on Friday, leaving a 5-metre-deep and 10-metre-wide crater in the ground, FRANCE 24 Regional Correspondent Lina Malers said. The explosion, which killed one person and injured eight others, hit the base at Calso, where former pro-Iranian paramilitary group Hashed al-Shaabi – now integrated into the regular army – is stationed. Source link

Issued on: 20/04/2024 – 10:53Modified: 20/04/2024 – 11:15 02:44 © FRANCE 24 Hamas political leader Imsail Haniyeh will meet Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday with Middle East tensions at a high after Israel’s reported attack on Iran and Gaza bracing for a new Israeli offensive. “Haniyeh sees Erdogan as a man with a voice in Washington and in Europe,” FRANCE 24’s Jasper Mortimer said, adding that Erdogan who “likened Israel to Nazi Germany” has, however, “no chance of mediating between Hamas and Israel”. Read more on related topics: Source link

Issued on: 20/04/2024 – 10:55Modified: 20/04/2024 – 11:18 01:36 The US House of Representatives is poised to hold a crucial vote on Saturday on a major aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan — and a possible ban of TikTok. The votes on the $95 billion foreign aid and arms bills are expected to begin at 1:00 pm (1700 GMT), and embattled Republican Speaker Mike Johnson will need Democratic votes to get them passed. Read more on related topics: Source link

The United States agreed Friday to withdraw its more than 1,000 troops from Niger, officials said, upending its posture in West Africa where the country was home to a major drone base. Issued on: 20/04/2024 – 08:24Modified: 20/04/2024 – 08:25 3 min The long-expected move effectively marks a new regional gain for Russia, which has ramped up its focus on Africa and backed military regimes in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso.Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell accepted the call to remove troops in a meeting in Washington with the prime minister of the junta, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, US officials…

Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published…

Unofficial sources in Israel say its forces carried out a surgical strike on a military target in Iran, reports FRANCE 24’s Irris Makler. Source link