Six dead after Iranian ship capsizes in Kuwaiti waters: Iranian media

Six dead after Iranian ship capsizes in Kuwaiti waters: Iranian media
Three bodies had been retrieved in a joint effort between Iran and Kuwait. (File/AFP)
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Updated 03 September 2024
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Six dead after Iranian ship capsizes in Kuwaiti waters: Iranian media

Six dead after Iranian ship capsizes in Kuwaiti waters: Iranian media

TEHRAN: Six crew members have died after an Iranian merchant ship capsized in Kuwaiti waters, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported Tuesday.

"The Arabakhtar I ship, whose six crew members were of Indian and Iranian nationality, sank on Sunday," Nasser Passandeh, head of Iran's port and maritime navigation authority, was quoted by IRNA as saying.

The report did not say what caused the Sunday incident, and an Iranian official said search operations were still ongoing to locate three of the victims' bodies.

Three bodies had been retrieved in a joint effort between Iran and Kuwait, Passandeh said.


UK surgeon in Gaza says ‘never seen so many blast injuries’

UK surgeon in Gaza says ‘never seen so many blast injuries’
Updated 20 sec ago
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UK surgeon in Gaza says ‘never seen so many blast injuries’

UK surgeon in Gaza says ‘never seen so many blast injuries’
KHAN YUNIS: A British surgeon visiting a Gaza hospital said Monday she had “never seen so many blast injuries” as Israel ramps up operations in the coastal Palestinian territory ravaged by 20 months of war.
“I’ve never seen so many blast injuries in my life and I’ve never seen so many injuries in Gaza in my life,” said Victoria Rose, a part of a British medical delegation to Nasser Hospital in south Gaza’s Khan Yunis.
Rose, who has previously visited Gaza to work, said she had seen a lot of severe burns, typical injuries for people who have been in an explosion.
“We’re seeing these injuries in really small children as well,” Rose said from Nasser Hospital’s paediatric wing.
With Israel conducting dozens of air strikes every day in Gaza since restarting bombardments on March 18, humanitarians have said that nowhere is safe in Gaza.
The surgeon added that the large burns she had witnessed during her visit “are very difficult to survive from even in the Western countries where there is no war, and we have functioning hospitals and all the medical supplies at our fingertips.”
“So, here, most of these burns are going to be unsurvivable.”
Rose said the other type of injuries from blasts occurred when “whatever is around you gets whipped up in the explosion and ejected at very high force, and that then hits the civilians and it causes penetrating injuries.”
Often, the victims suffer partial or complete amputations in the bombings, Rose said, and because they are living in tents they turn up with large amounts of dirt in their wounds.
“Our first course of action is to try and clean the wounds, and then to try and cover them and salvage as much of the body part as we can.”
These challenges are compounded by the dwindling number of functional medical facilities in Gaza, Rose said, including Nasser Hospital.
“On the second floor, one of the wards has been blown up, and also on the fourth floor the burns unit was blown up.”
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said last week that “94 percent of the hospitals in Gaza are now damaged or destroyed, and half of them are no longer operational.”
Rescuers said Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 52 people on Monday, 33 of them in a school turned shelter.

Sweden to summon Israeli ambassador over Gaza

Palestinians inspect the damage at school used as a shelter by displaced residents that was hit by Israeli military strike.
Palestinians inspect the damage at school used as a shelter by displaced residents that was hit by Israeli military strike.
Updated 26 May 2025
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Sweden to summon Israeli ambassador over Gaza

Palestinians inspect the damage at school used as a shelter by displaced residents that was hit by Israeli military strike.
  • Kristersson told Swedish news agency TT that the EU should impose sanctions and exert diplomatic pressure on Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza

COPENHAGEN: Sweden’s foreign ministry will summon Israel’s ambassador in Stockholm to protest against a lack of humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Monday.
Last week, under growing international pressure, Israeli authorities allowed a trickle of aid into the Palestinian enclave but the few hundred trucks carried only a tiny fraction of the food needed by a population of 2 million at risk of famine after nearly three months of blockade.
Kristersson told Swedish news agency TT that the European Union should impose sanctions and exert diplomatic pressure on Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“We have been incredibly clear about that, ourselves and together with many other European countries,” Kristersson told TT.
“That pressure is now increasing, no doubt, and for very good reasons,” he said.
The Swedish prime minister’s office confirmed to Reuters that Kristersson had made the statement.
Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas militants’ cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed some 1,200 people by Israeli tallies and saw 251 hostages abducted into Gaza.
The Israeli campaign has since killed more than 53,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip. Aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread.


World Food Programme chief rejects Israeli claims of Hamas stealing aid

World Food Programme chief rejects Israeli claims of Hamas stealing aid
Updated 26 May 2025
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World Food Programme chief rejects Israeli claims of Hamas stealing aid

World Food Programme chief rejects Israeli claims of Hamas stealing aid
  • ‘No evidence’ militant group is involved in truck hijackings, Cindy McCain tells CBS
  • Aid vehicles being swarmed by ‘desperate’ people after months-long blockade

LONDON: UN World Food Programme chief Cindy McCain has rejected Israeli government claims that Hamas is looting aid trucks arriving in Gaza, The Independent reported.

The widow of late US Sen. John McCain has repeatedly advocated for Israel to allow more aid into the Palestinian enclave, which was placed under a months-long blockade in March.

The first aid trucks began arriving in the territory last week, but the Israeli government accused Hamas of disrupting the distribution process, claiming to have killed six people affiliated with the group near an aid point at the Kerem Shalom crossing on Friday. Hamas said the armed men were guarding against looting.

An Israeli military spokesperson told Reuters: “Hamas constantly calls the looters ‘guards’ or protectors’ to mask the fact that they’re disturbing the aid process.”

Speaking to “Face the Nation” on CBS on Sunday, McCain was asked by host Margaret Brennan: “Have you seen evidence that it is Hamas stealing the food?”

McCain replied: “No. Not at all. Not in this round. Listen, these people are desperate, and they see a World Food Programme truck coming in, and they run for it. This doesn’t have anything to do with Hamas or any kind of organized crime, or anything.”

She described the situation in Gaza as a “catastrophe,” and said the WFP would continue work urgently to transport food and fresh water into the enclave.

So far, the aid trucks that have entered Gaza are “a drop in the bucket as to what’s needed,” she told CBS.

“Right now, we have 500,000 people inside of Gaza that are extremely food insecure, and could be on the verge of famine if we don’t help bring them back from that.”

Contrary to Israeli claims that many of the aid trucks entering Gaza are being hijacked, McCain said they are being swarmed by “desperate” people. “Having been in a food riot myself some years ago, I understand the desperation,” she added.


UK must restart processing of Syrian asylum claims: Charity

UK must restart processing of Syrian asylum claims: Charity
Updated 26 May 2025
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UK must restart processing of Syrian asylum claims: Charity

UK must restart processing of Syrian asylum claims: Charity
  • More than 7,000 Syrians remain in ‘indefinite limbo’
  • Britain paused claim decisions after fall of Assad regime in December

LONDON: Government ministers in the UK are facing calls to restart the processing of Syrian asylum applications after new figures revealed that more than 7,000 people remain in “indefinite limbo.”

After the fall of the Assad regime in December, the UK paused decisions on Syrian asylum and permanent resettlement claims, the BBC reported.

The pause has remained in place for five months, but now many Syrians living in Britain have been left in limbo, awaiting decisions on their applications.

The Refugee Council charity has called for the resumption of claim processing on a case-by-case basis, while the government said decisions were paused “while we assess the current situation.”

The Home Office lacks “stable, objective information available to make robust assessments of risk” relating to Syrians, a source told the BBC, adding that Britain’s policy on the matter “will remain under constant review.”

The newest figures, for the end of March, show that 7,386 Syrians in the UK are awaiting an initial decision on their asylum claims.

After the UK paused decisions on Syrian asylum applications, the number of claims filed by Syrian nationals fell by 81 percent, figures show.

Those claiming asylum often lack the right to work in Britain, but are provided with government-funded accommodation and financial support.

This leaves many Syrians “stuck in limbo” and increases the burden on the taxpayer, said Jon Featonby, chief policy analyst at the Refugee Council.

At the end of March, more than 5,500 Syrians were living in UK government-funded accommodation.

The British government has pledged to clear the large backlog of overall asylum claims, but Featonby said the Syrian issue is creating a “blockage” in the system.

He added that many Syrians also fear the UK government changing its position on the Syrian Arab Republic and judging it a safe country. This could lead to the rejection of thousands of asylum applications.


Hamas source says group accepts mediators’ latest Gaza ceasefire proposal

Hamas source says group accepts mediators’ latest Gaza ceasefire proposal
Updated 26 May 2025
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Hamas source says group accepts mediators’ latest Gaza ceasefire proposal

Hamas source says group accepts mediators’ latest Gaza ceasefire proposal
  • “Hamas has agreed to the new proposal by US envoy Steve Witkoff, which the movement received from mediators,” the Hamas source said

GAZA CITY: A Hamas source said the group had accepted a Gaza ceasefire proposal presented by mediators that reportedly involves the releasing of 10 hostages in two batches and a 70-day truce.
The outline of the new potential deal was revealed as Israel ramped up its offensive in the Palestinian territory, and follows previous rounds of talks that have failed to reach a breakthrough ever since a two-month ceasefire fell apart in mid-March.
“Hamas has agreed to the new proposal by US envoy Steve Witkoff, which the movement received from mediators,” the Hamas source told AFP.
The deal, they added, included “a 70-day truce in exchange for the release of 10 hostages in two batches, and during the truce, negotiations would begin on a permanent ceasefire with American guarantees.”
Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, was involved in the negotiations that led to the last ceasefire deal.
Another Palestinian source close to the negotiations told AFP the new proposal laid out “the release of 10 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a 70-day truce, a partial (Israeli) withdrawal from the Gaza Strip (and) the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners.”
The source added that mediators presented the proposal “over the past few days.”
The United States, Egypt and Qatar have all had a hand in mediating the ceasefire talks throughout the war.
The proposal, the second source said, would involve the release of “five living Israeli hostages during the first week of the agreement’s implementation, and five others before the end of the truce period.”
Israel had said last week that it was recalling its senior Gaza hostage negotiators from talks in Doha “for consultation,” while leaving some lower-level members of its team in the Qatari capital.
Israel has recently intensified its campaign in Gaza, calling it an “expansion of the battle” against Hamas.
The last ceasefire between the sides fell apart amid disagreements over how to move forward, with Israel resuming its operations in Gaza on March 18.
On March 2, Israel imposed a total aid blockade on the territory that it said was aimed at forcing concessions from Hamas, with UN agencies since warning it has created critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicines.
Israel partially eased the blockade last week, and aid trucks have begun to trickle back into Gaza, though humanitarian groups have urged it to allow more supplies to enter faster.