Thursday, Nov 30th
Last update07:43:40 AM GMT
International Glance
A Russian general has reportedly been blown up by a landmine along the front line in Ukraine.
Major General Vladimir Zavadsky, deputy commander of the 14th Army Corps, was said to have stepped on the explosive on Tuesday.
His death was first reported by Colonel Anatoly Stefan, a Ukrainian military officer.
It was not immediately clear where he was killed.
Several Russian generals have reportedly died in Ukraine since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February last year.
Like many other people in Israel and across the world, my first reaction to the attack on 7 October was of shock and horror. But that initial reaction was accompanied by rage, not only at the appalling massacre perpetrated by Hamas on women and children, the elderly and the handicapped, even babies, but also at those who could have prevented this act of violence, many that preceded it and the brutal retaliation that would come in its wake.
Without clearly defined political goals, war tends to devolve into endless destruction and annihilation. The only way out of this conundrum is for Israel to declare that it seeks a peaceful resolution of the conflict with an appropriate and willing Palestinian leadership. Making such a statement would dramatically transform the situation and clear the way for intermediate steps to be taken on the ground, starting with a halt to the mutual killing and a return of all surviving hostages.
Negotiators from at least five countries were working feverishly toward an extension of a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip while Hamas announced Wednesday that three Israeli hostages have died, including a 10-month-old child.
The last scheduled release of hostages held by the militants and prisoners held by Israel was set for later Wednesday.
Hamas leaders are willing to extend the truce for four days and release more Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners, the Times of Israel reported, citing a source close to the militant group. Israeli officials also have expressed interest in extending the cease-fire in concert with the release of more hostages.
Officials in Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. have been working with Hamas and Israeli leaders on a temporary extension with an eye toward ending the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has said fighting will ultimately continue until Hamas has been crushed.
Finland has announced it will close its last remaining border crossing with Russia amid concerns that Moscow is using migrants as part of “hybrid warfare” to destabilise the Nordic country following its entry into NATO.
“The government has decided to close all the crossing points on the entire (830-mile) eastern border,” prime minister Petteri Orpo told reporters, saying Finland faced an “exceptional” situation that the government blames on Moscow for orchestrating.
The Kremlin has denied encouraging migrants to enter Finland and says it regrets the Finnish border closures.
It comes as multiple drones were fired towards Kyiv on Tuesday evening, causing air raid sirens to go off and sending civilians down into the bomb shelters.
The evacuation of the men - low-wage workers from some of India's poorest states - began more than six hours after rescuers broke through the debris in the tunnel in Uttarakhand state, which caved in on Nov. 12.
They were pulled out on wheeled stretchers through a 90 cm (3 feet) wide steel pipe, with the entire process being completed in about an hour.
Israel’s military and intelligence officials were given a highly detailed warning that Hamas was actively training to take over kibbutzim on the Gaza border and overrun military posts with the aim of inflicting substantial fatalities, according to reports in the Israeli media.
The claim made by Israel’s Channel 12 on Monday evening was based on leaked emails from the Israeli military’s 8200 cyber-intelligence unit discussing the warnings.
Those emails revealed that a senior officer who reviewed the intelligence considered the danger of a massive surprise attack by Hamas across the Gaza border to be “an imaginary scenario”.
The hugely embarrassing leak describes in shocking detail what would turn out to be key elements of Hamas’s planning for its massacre of 1,200 Israelis on 7 October, including that Israel spotters were aware of senior Hamas officials present as observers during training preparations.
The U.S. military will facilitate the first of three relief flights into Egypt on Tuesday to get food, water medicine and winter items to Gaza as the Biden administration expands humanitarian efforts during the temporary cease-fire.
The delivery of additional aid, which senior U.S. officials confirmed in a call with reporters, comes amid a two-day extension of a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas. The United Nations will take the goods that arrive in Egypt to civilians in need in Gaza, officials said.
More than 2,000 trucks of humanitarian aid have entered Gaza since Oct. 21, including 800 trucks in just the last few days while fighting temporarily halted as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas to release hostages held in Gaza.
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