World
Deadly violence persists in Gaza despite mediators' hopes for a truce
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — As mediators expressed optimism for an imminent cease-fire deal, violence raged on Saturday in the Gaza Strip, where an Israeli airstrike killed at least 18 people, all from the same family.
The attack came days after the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza announced the death toll surpassed 40,000 in the 10-month-old Israel-Hamas war, and just hours after officials from the United States, Egypt and Qatar wrapped up two days of cease-fire talks with a message of hope that a deal could be reached.
A joint statement from the three mediators said a proposal to bridge the gaps between Israel and Hamas was presented and they expected to work out the details of how to implement the possible deal next week in Cairo.
The mediation efforts were aimed not just at securing the release of scores of Israeli hostages and stopping the fighting that has devastated Gaza, where aid and health workers fear a possible polio outbreak. It is also aimed at tamping down regional tensions that have threatened to explode into a broader war amid fears that Iran and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon would attack Israel in retaliation for the killings of top militant leaders.
The airstrike in Gaza early Saturday morning hit a house and an adjacent warehouse sheltering displaced people at the entrance of the town of Zawaida, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where the casualties were taken. An Associated Press reporter at the hospital counted the fatalities as they were brought in.
Among those killed was a wholesaler identified as Sami Jawad al-Ejlah, who coordinated with the Israeli military to bring meat and fish to Gaza. The dead also included his two wives, 11 of their children ages 2 to 22, the children’s grandmother, and three other relatives, according to a fatality list provided by the hospital.
“He was a peaceful man,” said Abu Ahmed, a neighbor who was slightly wounded in the attack.
More than 40 civilians were sheltering in the house and warehouse at the time of the strike, he said.
Associated Press footage showed bulldozers removing rubble from the heavily damaged warehouse, and trucks that Abu Ahmed said were used to bring meat and fish to Gaza from Israel.
The Israeli military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, said it was checking the report. It said Saturday that it was continuing attacks on militants in central Gaza, including one seen launching rockets at troops.
Meanwhile, another mass evacuation was ordered for areas in central Gaza. In a post on X, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Palestinians in areas in and around the urban Maghazi refugee camp should leave. He said Israeli forces will operate in these areas in response to Palestinian rocket fire.
The vast majority of Gaza’s population has been displaced by the fighting, often multiple times, and around 84% of Gaza’s territory has been placed under evacuation orders by the Israeli military, according to the United Nations.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 250 to Gaza. More than 100 were released in a November cease-fire, and around 110 are believed to still be inside Gaza, though Israeli authorities believe around a third are dead.
Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 Hamas militants, without providing evidence.
Mediators have spent months trying to hammer out a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the hostages in exchange for a lasting cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
But efforts took on new urgency in recent weeks as diplomats hoped a deal would persuade Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to hold off on retaliating for the killing of a top Hezbollah commander in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut and of Hamas’ top political leader in an explosion in Tehran that was widely blamed on Israel.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since the war started, and an Israeli strike Saturday killed at least 10 Syrians there, including a woman and her two children, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. Israel said it targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot.
An American official said Friday that the cease-fire deal presented to the two sides bridges all the gaps between Israel and Hamas. In what appeared to be a sign of confidence, mediators were beginning preparations for implementing the proposal even before it was approved, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with rules set by the White House.
The official said an “implementation cell” was being established in Cairo to focus on logistics — including freeing hostages, providing humanitarian aid for Gaza and ensuring the terms of the pact are met.
But Hamas cast doubt on whether an agreement was near, saying the latest proposal diverged significantly from a previous iteration they had accepted in principle.
The Israeli prime minister’s office issued a statement saying it “appreciates the efforts of the U.S. and the mediators to dissuade Hamas from its refusal to a hostage release deal.”
Both sides agreed in principle to a plan announced on May 31 by U.S. President Joe Biden. But Hamas has proposed amendments, and Israel has suggested clarifications, leading each side to accuse the other of trying to tank a deal.
The U.S. official said the latest proposal is the same as Biden’s, with some clarifications based on ongoing talks. The way it’s structured poses no risk to Israel’s security but enhances it, the official added.
Hamas has rejected Israel’s demands, which include a lasting military presence along the border with Egypt and a line bisecting Gaza where it would search Palestinians returning to their homes to root out militants.
But Israel showed flexibility during the talks on retreating from the border corridor, and a meeting between Egyptian and Israeli military officials was scheduled for the following week to agree on a withdrawal mechanism, according to two Egyptian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private negotiations.
Israel insisted on keeping control of the road bisecting Gaza, but American mediators vowed to return to the talks next week with a compromise on that demand, the officials said.
As part of an increased wave of diplomacy aimed at securing the deal, French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty in Cairo on Saturday.
Séjourné and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with officials in Israel on Friday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken planned to travel to Israel over the weekend and was expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo.
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
World
Former Afghan prosecutors hunted down, killed by Taliban 3 years after US withdrawal
![Former Afghan prosecutors hunted down, killed by Taliban 3 years after US withdrawal Former Afghan prosecutors hunted down, killed by Taliban 3 years after US withdrawal](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2021/08/AP21235469399149.jpg)
The three years following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan have been a deadly game of cat and mouse for employees and allies of U.S. and NATO forces left behind under Taliban rule. Among the de facto government’s targets are thousands of Afghan prosecutors trained by U.S. personnel to enforce the rule of law and prosecute terrorists.
As the Taliban rapidly gained Afghan territory in the summer of 2021, they released convicted terrorists from government jails across the country. The Taliban had been conducting deadly attacks to target Afghan prosecutors for years before taking over Kabul on Aug. 15. The newly-released prisoners were out for revenge against the prosecutors who put them behind bars.
Joe Maida IV was a former Texas prosecutor who supported the Afghan legal system’s growth inside the country between 2006 and 2013 and worked on Afghan policy at U.S. Special Operations Command and with Special Operations and Combating Terrorism at the Pentagon through 2019. He told Fox News Digital that “The Taliban continues to hunt down individuals who supported the Afghan government.” In addition to military personnel, Maida says the Taliban “are seeking out terrorism prosecutors for retribution. They’re doing that by sending special teams to the provinces, but then also writing letters to the mosques to identify these individuals, who then disappear.”
AFGHAN DIPLOMAT SHUNS TALIBAN RULE BY REFUSING TO LEAVE POST, CALLS ON WEST TO ‘MOBILIZE’ AGAINST ABUSES
Newly recruited personnel joining Taliban security forces demonstrate their skills during their graduation ceremony in Herat on Feb. 9, 2023. The Taliban are going after the country’s former military members “on a daily basis,” a former military intelligence officer said in the new report. (Mohsen Karimi/AFP via Getty Images)
Saeed, who spoke to Fox News Digital on condition that he is identified by a pseudonym, is the executive director of the Afghan Prosecutors Association and was a prosecutor in the Attorney General’s Office of Afghanistan. Saeed provided an Excel file the Afghan Prosecutors Association has compiled containing details about 32 prosecutors and their family members who have been killed since July 5, 2021.
Victims’ manners of death are gruesome. Most were shot, either in a public location or at their homes. Some were killed by anonymous gunmen, while others were specifically murdered by the Taliban. Two prosecutors were killed by improvised explosive devices. Others were arrested and tortured. Three victims were women. More than a third of the entries included photos of the victim after their death.
Saeed said that an additional 100 prosecutors have been injured since the U.S. withdrawal, and another 50 are believed to be “locked up in Taliban prisons and their fate is unknown.”
About 1,000 of the 3,800 prosecutors believed to be in practice prior to August 2021 have fled to European countries, Saeed estimates. He said that 1,500 who remain stuck in Afghanistan are “in need of urgent assistance.” Saeed believes that about 500 prosecutors fled to Pakistan, Tajikistan and Iran, where they live in “a state of despair” amid harassment and forced deportations.
![Afghan civilians wait to board US military plane](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2021/08/1200/675/kabul1.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Hundreds of people gather near a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane at a perimeter at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, Aug. 17, 2021. (AP)
Legal professionals who protected women’s rights have also seen their efforts made null and void under the Taliban. One of thousands of hidden Afghan legal professionals, Amina spoke to Fox News Digital on condition that she was referred to by a pseudonym. Amina said she was “on the verge of qualifying to be a lawyer” when the government collapsed. In 2021, Amina was working as an assistant lawyer in the Kabul courts, focusing on domestic violence cases.
According to a report by the United States Institute for Peace, divorce is no longer a legal option for women in Afghanistan, with the Taliban issuing a blanket revocation of all divorce decrees granted by the prior Afghan government in March 2023. With domestic abuse shelters closed since August 2021, women experiencing violence at the hands of their husbands are now taken to Taliban jails, where some Afghan women have reportedly been raped and even murdered by the Taliban.
Amina says she has felt personally responsible for not “doing enough to educate women about human rights.” She now devotes herself to educating Afghan women online and providing mental health consultations for Afghans in crisis. “This is the time that my people need me,” she explained.
NO AFGHAN WOMEN ALLOWED TO ATTEND UN-LED MEETINGS WITH TALIBAN; ‘CAVING TO TERRORIST DEMANDS’
![Taliban, Kabul, government](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2022/08/1200/675/AP21237449339138.jpeg-Taliban.jpeg?ve=1&tl=1)
In this Aug. 15, 2021 file photo, Taliban fighters take control of the Afghan presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. (AP Photo/Zabi Karimi)
Many U.S.-based attorneys have joined the fight to support Afghan prosecutors, including East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore. As a member of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (APA), Moore has been supporting prosecutors in their fight to remain alive in Afghanistan. Moore told Fox News Digital that the APA is in touch with “hundreds of prosecutors who are now begging for help.” He estimates that about 20% of Afghan prosecutors and judges were women and are at special risk inside their country.
Unlike military translators and employees of American institutions, prosecutors did not serve the U.S. directly and are not eligible for special immigrant visas. Legislative efforts to extend access to the SIV program, including the Afghan Adjustment Act and Afghan Allies Protection Act, have not gained passage in Congress.
![Afghan women wait to receive food](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2022/05/1200/675/Afghanistan-1.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Afghan women wait to receive food distributed by a humanitarian aid group in Kabul, Afghanistan, in April 2022. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
BLINKEN PRESSURED TO FREEZE AFGHANISTAN AID AFTER REVELATION NEARLY $300M COULD HAVE GONE TO TALIBAN
Some legislators have expressed concern about the vetting process for Afghan refugees. Moore explained that prosecutors “have been vetted repeatedly” and have “passed background checks that most American citizens could never pass,” which informs his opinion that “there’s little to fear and much to be gained by helping these people resettle in the United States.”
To help prosecutors reach safety three years after the U.S. withdrawal, Moore said the APA is raising funds to move the 1,500 prosecutors living in hiding in Afghanistan to safe third countries. The estimated cost will be around $15 million, about $10,000 per family.
There is some hope that government support for prosecutors is forthcoming. Moore said that the State Department “has been more receptive to including former prosecutors, especially women,” in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). Moore reported that the APA has been working on getting prosecutors’ applications ready for review.
![U.S. soldiers Afghanistan](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/02/1200/675/GettyImages-106035106.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
U.S. soldiers from 2nd Platoon Chaos Company 1-75 Cavalry 2nd Brigade 101st Airborne Division take position as they patrol in Didar village in Zari district of Kandahar province, south of Afghanistan on Oct. 25, 2010. (MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP via Getty Images)
A State Department spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether it is working to include prosecutors in the USRAP. The spokesperson said that the State Department “remain[s] focused on honoring our promises to these allies and are grateful to the Americans from all walks of life who have helped us welcome more than 160,000 Afghans to communities across the United States during the past three years.”
Saeed was referred to the Priority-1 program within the USRAP three months ago and recently received his notification of acceptance. He now awaits his interview and at least 12–18 months of processing.
Saeed desperately longs for peace. In 2020, he was targeted for death by Talibs released from prison. After the Taliban searched his home in December 2022, he fled to Pakistan to protect himself and his family. Saeed says he still experiences “a hopeless and problematic situation” inside Pakistan, where the cost of living is high and refugees cannot work or seek education for their children.
![Taliban fighters on vehicle in Afghanistan](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/08/1200/675/Taliban-security-forces.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Taliban fighters patrol on the road during a celebration marking the second anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan, in Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. (AP/Abdul Khaliq)
Threats of deportation continue to loom, with Pakistan deporting thousands of Afghan refugees illegally into the country in November 2023. Though Afghans with letters verifying they have a pending application for a pathway to safety in the U.S. were meant to be protected from deportation, a source who asked to remain anonymous told Fox News Digital that in July, Pakistan deported some Afghans with USRAP referrals. A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that they “have no comment on this specific incident.”
The issue of aiding prosecutors is personal for Kevin Rardin, a career prosecutor with the Memphis District Attorney’s office, who was also a Judge Advocate in the Army Reserves. As the legal advisor to the commander of the U.S. and NATO training mission, Rardin was a mentor for his Afghan counterparts. He told Fox News Digital that “the worst days of my deployment came 13 years after I left the country, in August 2021.”
“You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand that this is wrong. You just have to be a decent person with moral principles,” Rardin continued. “When I was in Afghanistan, Afghans protected me. They kept me out of trouble, they introduced me to their culture. They accepted me, I ate with them. They included me. And now we just up and left. You can’t call yourself a human being and do that.”
World
Plane crashes into sea during air show in France
![Plane crashes into sea during air show in France Plane crashes into sea during air show in France](https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/08/65/81/68/1200x675_cmsv2_c8a26bdc-e511-5289-8d74-9cb2c54b3657-8658168.jpg)
The body of a man has been recovered after the aircraft plunged into the sea during a WWII commemorative air show.
A pilot was killed when his plane crashed into the sea during an air show in southern France on Friday.
The Fouga Magister aircraft crashed around 17.00h local time (15.00h GMT) off the coast of Le Lavandou.
A rescue operation was launched immediately by the maritime gendarmerie, firefighters and the navy.
The body of the pilot was eventually recovered from the water.
Officials said a public prosecutor had opened an investigation to probe the cause of the accident.
The air show marked the 80th anniversary of Second World War military Operation Dragoon in Provence.
World
Explainer-Harris' Anti-Price Gouging Plan Could Build on US State Law
-
Ohio3 days ago
Ohio taxpayers sent families $966 million for private school tuition: Capitol Letter
-
World1 week ago
Ex-Catalan leader Puigdemont headed back to Spain despite fear of arrest
-
Politics1 week ago
Kamala Harris shuts down anti-Israel protesters during campaign speech in Michigan: 'I'm speaking'
-
Finance1 week ago
Why stocks tumbled today
-
Politics1 week ago
Blinken pressured to freeze Afghanistan aid after revelation nearly $300M could have gone to Taliban
-
News1 week ago
Map: 5.2-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Southern California
-
Politics1 week ago
With 30 days until voting starts, 'election season' kicks off sooner than you think
-
Politics1 week ago
Tim Walz 'misspoke' about using weapons ‘in war,' Harris campaign says: report