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WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2023 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden said Friday he was “overjoyed” after Hamas released two American hostages abducted during the militant group’s surprise attack from Gaza on Israel. Biden spoke by phone to the two women after they were freed and promised they would have the government’s support “as they recover from this terrible ordeal,” the White House said. “Today, we have secured the release of two Americans taken hostage by […]
JERUSALEM, Oct 16, 2023 (AFP) – The Israeli military on Monday raised the figure to 199 people confirmed to have been abduced by Hamas to the Gaza Strip in the militants’ cross-border attacks which sparked a devastating war. “We have updated the families of 199 hostages,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari told a media briefing, revising up an earlier figure of 155 captives. Israelis and foreigners are among those abducted in the Hamas assault on October […]
GENEVA, Oct 15, 2023 (AFP) – The World Health Organization chief on Sunday urged Hamas to release all civilian hostages, as he warned that the war between Israel and the Islamist group would only bring destruction and horror. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was gravely concerned by Israeli attacks in which innocent Palestinian civilians and children were “paying the price”. The conflict “is an awful reminder of how quickly the health of millions […]
JERUSALEM, Oct 15, 2023 (AFP) – The Israeli military said Sunday it had confirmed 155 people were being held hostage by Hamas since the Palestinian militant group staged its deadly attack last week. Families of “155 hostages” have been contacted by the authorities, military spokesman Daniel Hagari said, updating an earlier figure confirming 126 hostages.
By Mai YAGHI with Jay DESMUKH in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Oct 15, 2023 (AFP) – More than one million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip in the last week, the UN said Sunday, after sustained Israeli bombardment and warnings about a ground attack targeting Hamas commanders. Israel declared war on the Islamist group last Sunday, a day after waves of fighters broke through the heavily fortified border and shot, stabbed and […]
JERUSALEM, Oct 12, 2023 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Doha later this week to discuss Hamas with Qatari leaders amid a devastating war between Israel and the militant group. “Tomorrow, Secretary Blinken will travel to Qatar to meet with senior officials there,” a US official said Thursday. A source with knowledge of the visit told AFP that Blinken’s discussions would “focus on joint Qatari-US efforts to secure the release […]
by Hashem Osseiran Agence France-Presse BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — A woman held up a Beirut bank Wednesday with a toy gun and walked out with thousands of dollars to pay for treatment for her ill sister, in a desperate heist cheered by many in crisis-hit Lebanon. It was the latest in a series of heists in Lebanon, where the savings of depositors have been devalued and trapped in banks for almost three years amid a […]
Three Indonesian fishermen kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf militants more than a year ago have been rescued in the southern Philippines, police said Friday. The men were among eight crew members aboard a vessel when it was boarded by the notorious kidnap-for-ransom militants — who have distant links to the Islamic State group — off Borneo in January 2020. They were held in Sulu province in the southern Philippines — the group’s stronghold — and during […]
(Eagle News)–The Palace on Friday, Feb. 22, gave the assurance the government was doing all that it could to secure the release of the Malaysian and Indonesian hostages of the Abu Sayyaf. In a statement issued after videos circulating online showed alleged Abu Sayyaf members threatening to behead the hostages, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo reiterated, however, the government’s no-ransom policy. “To give in to the demands of terrorists and other lawless groups would embolden them […]
(Eagle News) — Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella hailed the government troops’ rescue of 17 more hostages from terrorists holed up in Marawi and the surrender of eight terrorists who turned over other hostages as a “positive development toward the liberation of Marawi from the hands of the terrorists.” He noted, however, that military operations, which are “focused and intense”—still “necessitate time (for the) rescue (of) remaining hostages, (in order to) bring to a decisive conclusion the […]
(Eagle News) – At least 200 civilians are caught up in the war between the government and local terrorists in Marawi City. According to Brigadier General Ramiro Rey, commander of Task Force Ranao, the terrorists were also holding 100 other civilians as hostages. He said around 600 structures in the city are still being held by the militants. According to Rey, the war was confined to three barangays in the city, with Agos River needing further […]
NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP)–A group of 26 hostages freed from nearly five years in the hands of Somali pirates touched down in Kenya on Sunday, with both tears and smiles marking the end of their ordeal. “Am so, so happy. Really, am so, so happy. For UN, for Mr John (negotiator), for all the world. Thanks to you all,” said one of the hostages, Sudi Ahman. The relief of the men was palpable, with some unable to […]
