Author: Steven Sahiounie

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Turkey’s third round of evacuations since the start of the Israeli-Hamas war would consist of about 50 people. Koca told reporters that the evacuation had been delayed over issues related to permission for their releases, but those problems had been largely resolved. “We expect the third evacuation to be tomorrow [Friday], and it will be an evacuation that will largely consist of children and young people,” Koca said, as reported by the Reuters news agency. Koca on Thursday welcomed a two-year-old boy and two girls aged nine and 10, who were evacuated to undergo…

President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed today British Foreign Secretary David Cameron at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah. During the meeting, President Abbas briefed Britain’s top diplomat on the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories, with a particular emphasis on the situation in Gaza. He stressed the urgent need for an immediate cessation of the all-out Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, condemning the ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestinians and calling for the swift delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. President Abbas also highlighted the necessity of halting the attacks by Israeli occupation…

Israel also prevents oppression of people in Gaza from being heard as it severs communications services, says Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused Israel of “committing war crimes” in Gaza by preventing the access of people in the besieged enclave to electricity, water and food. “Israel, which commits war crime by cutting off electricity, water and food, is trying to prevent the oppression of the people in Gaza from being heard by cutting off their communication with the outside,” Erdogan said in a video message sent to the International Strategic Communication (Stratcom)​​​​​​​ Summit 2023 in…

Mustafa Barghouti, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative, says the release of some Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails is “promising” as it could “open the road for a complete exchange of prisoners”. “That means the release of all Palestinian prisoners put in Israeli jails, many of whom – at least 1,200 – are without due charges, without due legal process,” he told Al Jazeera. Barghouti said recent developments showed that three “taboos” of the Israeli government had been broken. The first one was to accept that there would be an exchange of people being held, he said. The second…

Israel’s aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip is estimated to cost the occupying regime about $48 billion, leaving it highly dependent on bond markets, a recent report has revealed. Leader Capital Markets, a financial advisory firm in Israel, estimated that the war would cost the regime 180 billion shekels ($48 billion) in 2023-2024. The firm noted that Israel will likely endure two-thirds of the total costs, while the US will pay for the rest. The Israeli finance ministry has estimated that the war is costing the economy of the entity around $270 million every day. “Israel’s fiscal math means the…

American-Israeli author and activist Miko Peled has sharply criticized the policies of the Tel Aviv regime across the occupied Palestinian territories, stressing that Israeli officials “cannot defeat the Palestinians.” “I come from a very prominent Zionist patriotic family … I grew up as a patriot, a strong supporter of my entity, and of course, Zionism,” Peled, the grandson of a signatory to the 1948 Declaration of Israel’s Independence, said in an interview with Turkey’s Anadolu Agency that was published on Thursday. The author, whose father served as a general in the Six-Day War fought on June 5-10, 1967 between the Israeli regime on…

The head of the political bureau of Hamas has appreciated the Islamic Republic for its strong support for the Palestinian people and resistance during the recent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, commending the latest ceasefire as a “political and military” victory for the resistance front. Ismail Haniyeh made the remarks in a meeting with Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in the Qatari capital of Doha on Thursday, ahead of a landmark four-day truce that will see the exchange of captives and the delivery of relief aid to the Gaza Strip after Israel’s brutal onslaught on the besieged territory. Haniyeh expressed his…

Islamic Jihad Secretary General Ziyad Nakhalah has said that Israel failed to achieve its stated goals in the Gaza war as a four-day truce took effect in the besieged territory after seven weeks of massacres. The truce took effect at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) on Friday after a night of intense Israeli bombardment. It stipulates the release of Israelis held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. “Had it not been for the losses on the battlefield, the Zionist regime would not have agreed to the ceasefire agreement and the exchange of prisoners,” Nakhalah said in a televised address. He said the resistance will “force the Zionist enemy…

 Aid trucks were entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt on Friday, around 1-1/2 hours after a truce began between Israel and Palestinian Hamas fighters, Reuters TV footage showed.Two of the trucks, representing Egyptian organizations, sported banners that said, “Together for Humanity.” Another said: “For our brothers in Gaza.” Source: Arab News

Syrian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bassam al-Sabbagh to Sputnik said that the Israeli aggression in Gaza underscores the need for resistance and support for the Palestinians under occupation. The Syrian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Bassam al-Sabbagh, affirmed to Sputnik that the current Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip underscores the significance of supporting resistance and people under occupation. Al-Sabbagh stated, “The barbaric aggression by the Zionist enemy against Gaza’s civilians emphasizes the crucial role of resistance and supporting those under the yoke of occupation and colonialism.” He spoke to the Russian Agency on the sidelines of an event hosted by…