World
Death toll in Gaza soars after truce as dozens of bodies found in rubble
Palestinians have recovered dozens of bodies buried under rubble in Gaza and are searching for thousands more as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continues to hold for a second day.
Medical sources told Al Jazeera on Monday that the bodies of 97 Palestinians have been recovered in the destroyed city of Rafah in southern Gaza since the ceasefire took effect the previous day with the release of the first three captives held by Hamas and 90 Palestinians from Israeli jails.
Israeli attacks on Gaza killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded more than 111,000, according to local health authorities.
But the Palestinian Civil Defence agency said it estimated there are 10,000 bodies under destroyed structures across the strip.
At least 2,840 bodies were melted and there are no traces of them, said Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson of the Palestinian Civil Emergency Services in Gaza.
Meanwhile, many displaced residents returning to their neighbourhoods found them almost unrecognisable due to the devastation from more than 15 months of war.
“[The level of destruction] was a big shock, and the amount [of people] feeling shocked is countless because of what happened to their homes. It’s destruction, total destruction,” Mohamed Gomaa, who lost his brother and nephew in the war, told the Reuters news agency.
“It’s not like an earthquake or a flood, no no. What happened is a war of extermination.”
Meanwhile, more than 630 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Sunday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Monday, with at least 300 of those trucks going to the enclave’s north, where the UN said famine looms.
With a growing flow of aid into the Palestinian enclave, residents flocked into markets with some expressing happiness at the lower prices and the presence of new food items like imported chocolates.
“The prices have gone down, the war is over and the crossing is open to more goods,” Aya Mohammad-Zaki, a displaced woman from Gaza City sheltering in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, told Reuters.
Attention is also starting to shift to the rebuilding of the coastal enclave, which the Israeli military demolished in retaliation for Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Those assaults killed 1,139 people with about 250 taken captive into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
A UN damage assessment released this month showed that clearing more than 50 million tonnes of rubble left in the aftermath of Israel’s bombardment could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2bn.
A UN report from last year said rebuilding Gaza’s shattered homes could take at least until 2040 but could drag on for many decades. The debris is believed to be contaminated with asbestos because some refugee camps struck during the war are known to have been built with the material.
A UN Development Programme official said on Sunday that development in Gaza has been set back by 69 years as a result of the conflict.
Isolated incidents as ceasefire largely holds
Residents and officials in Gaza said on Monday that, for the most part, the ceasefire appeared to be holding – although there were incidents of violence.
Two Palestinian civilians, one of them a teenage boy, were killed by Israeli snipers in Rafah, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Eight Palestinians, including children, were also injured on Monday as a result of Israeli gunfire in Rafah.
The Israeli military said it fired warning shots towards people who approached soldiers deployed according to the ceasefire agreement.
Meanwhile, Mohamad Elmasry, a media studies professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said Israeli media are now increasingly focusing on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war on Gaza.
“They’re calling this a spectacular failure,” he told Al Jazeera, stressing that Netanyahu failed to fulfil his promise to eliminate Hamas.
“And now he has to watch on all the TV screens Hamas fighters dressed in their fatigues escorting Israeli captives to their vehicles,” the academic added.
“He’s watching as Hamas will continue to govern Gaza and oversee the security situation, the humanitarian aid situation and all elements of this ceasefire. Hamas has not been eliminated, and this is very embarrassing for Netanyahu.”
Iranians mourning the country’s supreme leader condemned U.S. strikes that Washington called retaliation for Iran’s attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. At a tightly controlled state funeral in Mashhad — one of Iran’s most conservative cities, where opponents of the government were unlikely to be found in the crowd — mourners voiced defiance and called for revenge.
World
Beloved musicians among victims in deadly Bahamas plane crash; aviation authority grounds flights
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A devastating double-aviation crisis in the Bahamas, including a deadly North Andros plane crash and a separate aircraft fire on Friday, prompted the government to suspend flight operations for a local airline and launch a federal safety probe.
Shortly after 1 p.m. local time Friday, a Cessna 402 aircraft with Bahamian registration departed Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau bound for San Andros Airport.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority (AAIA) said the plane “encountered difficulties” and crashed into bushes prior to landing.
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Authorities said 10 people were killed in a Bahamas plane crash on Friday. (Our News Bahamas via AP)
First responders, including the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Airport Authority and emergency medical personnel, rushed to the dense brush where the aircraft went down.
The Bahamas Musicians and Entertainers Union confirmed in a statement Saturday that 10 people died in the crash, including prominent members of the “The Pond Band” and a local DJ, whose artistry the union said “touched so many lives and helped to enrich the cultural fabric of The Bahamas.”
Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis said a sole survivor was pulled from the wreckage.
“Ann and I are praying for the families who are now facing unbearable grief,” Davis wrote in a statement on X. “We are also praying for the survivor, whose recovery and care will remain in our thoughts.”
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The identities of those killed in the crash have not yet been released.
While the AAIA’s preliminary reports initially indicated seven people were on board, officials are still establishing the facts of the flight manifest.
Just hours before the fatal crash in North Andros, a Flamingo Air flight en route to Mayaguana was forced to turn back to Nassau after the pilot reported a concern, according to the Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Aviation (MoET).
After the aircraft landed and passengers safely deplaned, the plane caught fire on the runway.
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FILE – The Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas temporarily suspended Flamingo Air’s Air Operator Certificate following two aircraft incidents Friday. (iStock)
Following the two back-to-back safety incidents, the Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas (CAAB) temporarily suspended Flamingo Air’s Air Operator Certificate, according to MoET officials.
“The suspension is a precautionary safety measure and should not be treated as an adverse compliance action against Flamingo Air,” the agency wrote in a statement.
FILE – The plane crashed in North Andros on Friday after taking off from Lynden Pindling International Airport. (Melissa Alcena/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Investigators from the AAIA and inspectors from the CAAB remain at the scene in North Andros as they work to determine what caused the Cessna 402 tragedy.
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Flamingo Air did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published on •Updated
Moldova’s pro-European President Maia Sandu nominated businessman Vasile Tofan on Saturday as the country’s next prime minister to replace Alexandru Munteanu, who resigned earlier this month over differences with the ruling majority.
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In a video posted to social media, Sandu said Tofan’s primary responsibility, after his candidacy is approved by the country’s parliament, would be to move the country further towards its path of “integration” into the European Union.
He should also “strengthen the resilience of state institutions and society”, and “revive the economy”, added Sandu.
The Moldovan businessman now has two weeks to secure parliamentary backing, a prospect he hopes to achieve after submitting his government programme and his ministerial cabinet nominations.
Tofan had been mentioned as a possible prime minister last year even before the appointment of Munteanu.
Igor Grosu, who heads Sandu’s Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) which won the last parliamentary elections in September, announced on Friday that he had selected him as his candidate to replace the outgoing premier.
He said Tofan shared “the same objectives” as him and PAS, specifying that “EU accession in the years to come, institutional reform and economic growth”, were among the biggest points of agreement.
The nominee for prime minister, who graduated Harvard Business School and turns 44 on Sunday, has a degree in public management from the Netherlands and is a managing partner at Horizon Capital, a private equity firm with assets primarily in Ukraine and Moldova.
He has also chaired the board of directors of Moldova’s Purcari winery, considered the crown jewel of the country’s winemaking sector.
Munteanu, another businessman who like Sandu previously worked at the World Bank, had been chosen to boost the economy and bring it closer to the EU, but turbulence with PAS saw him vacate his post less than a year into holding office.
He resigned on 3 July after less than eight months, stating that he could no longer carry out his mandate “according to (his) principles and (his) convictions”.
The EU last month officially launched a first round of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. Both countries became official EU candidate countries on 23 June 2022.
Additional sources • AFP
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