West Asia latest Israeli strike in Gaza kills 8 from same family

Jerusalem, Dec 17 (AP) An Israeli strike in Gaza killed at least eight people from the same family, most of them women and children, Palestinian medics said Tuesday.
     The strike late Monday hit a house in Gaza City's central neighbourhood of Daraj, according to the Health Ministry's ambulance and emergency service.
     Among the bodies recovered from the rubble were a father and his three children, and the children's grandmother, according to a casualty list obtained by The Associated Press. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strike.
     Israeli bombardment and offensives in Gaza have killed more than 45,000 Palestinians over the past 14 months, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry's tally does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but it says more than of half the dead were women and children.
     Israel launched its campaign in retaliation for Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 250 others, around 100 of whom remain in captivity.
    
     Here's the latest:
     Israeli imports from Asia-Pacific not significantly hurt by Houthi attacks on shipping
     JERUSALEM — Israel's Central Bank says imports from Asia and the Pacific have not been significantly impacted by Yemen's Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea.
     A study issued by the bank found that imports to Israel in general have decreased since the war in Gaza started in October 2023. But it said the decrease was not noticeably larger for imports from the Asia-Pacific, which reach Israel via the Red Sea.
     The Houthis say their attacks on shipping aim to show support for Palestinians and hurt Israel. The attacks, which began in November 2023, caused a drop in cargo traffic through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, a vital route connecting Asia and Europe. Shipping companies responded by rerouting much of the traffic to the longer and more costly voyage around Africa. Egypt has reported a 24 per cent drop in its revenues from the canal.
     The report released last week, by researchers Haggayi Etkes of the Bank of Israel and Nitzan Feldman, found that the value of worldwide maritime imports fell by about 35 per cent in January compared to the period before Houthi attacks started in November 2023. But it found that the rate had recovered by May as shipping adjusted to the new routes.
     It said imports from Asia to Mediterranean countries including Greece, Turkiye Italy, France and Spain were harder hit than Israel by the slowdown. It said that could be because Israel imports less from Asia than those countries. It did not provide figures on the amount of the drop in trade for Israel.
     The Houthis have targeted more than 90 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign, which also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well.
    
     Turkiye says developments in Syria shouldn't distract from the war in Gaza
     ANKARA — Turkiye said developments in Syria should not divert attention away from what it described as the “genocide” being committed by Israel in Gaza.
     A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement on Tuesday accused Israel of intensifying its attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including on school buildings and refugee camps and of using “starvation and infectious diseases as a weapon against the Palestinian people.”
     “We reiterate our call for the necessary pressured to be exerted on Israel to ensure an immediate ceasefire agreement and uninterrupted humanitarian access to the region,” the ministry said.
    
     Iran's leader says Hezbollah and axis of resistance' will not be eradicated
     TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's supreme leader said that Israel is wrong to believe that it can eradicate Hezbollah in Lebanon and that an “axis of resistance” of Tehran's allies in the region was finished.
     State TV quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying during a recent meeting on the occasion of Women's Day that “the Zionist regime, in its delusion, believes it is preparing itself through Syria to encircle and eradicate Hezbollah forces, but the one that will be eradicated is Israel.”
     Khamenei also added that Israel and the United States“thought the issue of resistance was over. They are gravely mistaken.”
     Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei meanwhile said Iran will use every opportunity to mobilize regional and international community to stop what he called Israeli aggression against neighbouring countries like Syria, Yemen and others.
     He also said that the Syrian people are the only who can decide on their country's future after the fall of President Bashar Assad, a Tehran ally. “Naturally, the regional countries should assist in this process without any destructive interference or any form of pressure and threats against the political actors in Syria.”
     Baghaei urged regional countries to put pressure on the UN Security Council to stop Israel's occupation in Syria and said, “Ultimately, the entire occupied Golan Heights of Syria must be liberated.”
     Israeli troops have seized a border buffer zone, sparking condemnation, with critics accusing Israel of violating the 1974 ceasefire and possibly exploiting the chaos in Syria for a land grab. Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it, though the international community except for the US regards it as occupied.
    
     EU head announces an additional 1 billion euros for Turkiye to help Syrian refugees
     ANKARA — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday an additional 1 billion euros for Turkiye to help it support millions of Syrian refugees.
     Speaking after a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Turkish capital, von der Leyen said the funding would help with health care and education for refugees, as well as migration and border management, including voluntary returns of Syrian refugees. She said the funds could be adjusted to meet needs that may arise as the situation in Syria evolves.
     Erdogan said both Turkiye and the EU agree on the need to establish an inclusive government in Syria following the ouster of President Bashar Assad.
     “We saw that we agree on the establishment of a participatory administration, especially on the preservation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Erdogan said.
     He reiterated Turkiye's strong opposition to the presence in Syria of the Islamic State group or of Syrian Kurdish militia that Ankara considers to be terrorists.
     “We will absolutely not allow these organisations to grow. There is no place for either the IS or the PKK and its derivatives in the future of our region,” Erdogan said, in reference to Syrian Kurdish groups that are linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK.
     Von der Leyen emphasised the need to stay alert against the “real” threat of the reemergence of IS in Syria. She acknowledged Turkiye's security concerns but said it was important to ensure that all minorities are safe, an apparent reference to Syrian Kurds.
     The Turkish leader accused the international community of failing to provide adequate support to Syrians during the long civil war. “It is now possible to compensate for this. The way to do this is to support Syria's construction and development efforts,” he said.
    
     UN investigators want to to preserve evidence of atrocities in Syria
     GENEVA — A UN-backed team investigating years of crimes in war-torn Syria says it has reached out to its new government and hopes to deploy to help gather and preserve evidence on the ground -- in hopes of bringing torturers, killers and other war criminals to justice one day.
     Robert Petit, head of the international, impartial and independent mechanism on Syria, said its team has reason to believe that mass graves exist across Syria, but exhumation, DNA collection and tests for cause of death require “a lot of resources.”
     He provided no further details about any such mass graves.
     Petit said the government of former President Bashar Assad, who fled Syria on December 8, didn't cooperate with his team, and the change of authority offers a chance to establish the fates of “tens of thousands of people” who died and suffered under his rule.
     The investigators, following Assad's downfall, have told Syrian authorities of “our willingness to engage and to go to Syria to fulfil our mandate,” he said. “We are awaiting a response. And as soon as that response is forthcoming, we will deploy.”
     A “monitoring cell” on the UN-backed team has collected recent images from social media, he said, while its sources on the ground have been able to collect new evidence and testimonies in the wake of Assad's ouster.
     The mechanism was created in 2016 by the UN General Assembly to collect, preserve, consolidate and analyze evidence of “serious crimes” committed in Syria since the civil war erupted in March 2011, Petit said. A UN-backed Commission of Inquiry is doing similar work.
    
     EU plans to reopen its office in Damascus
     BRUSSELS — The European Union plans to reopen its office in Damascus following “constructive first contacts” between an envoy and Syria's new representatives, the bloc's top diplomat said on Tuesday.
     “We are ready to reopen our delegation, which is the European embassy, and we want this to be fully operational,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told EU lawmakers.
     A diplomat from Beirut was dispatched to Damascus on Monday for talks with representatives of the new leadership and civil society in Syria.
     Kallas described it as “a very important step” that would allow for “really constructive engagement and to have the input and information from the ground as well.”
     After talks in Turkiye with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU also wants to “enhance our engagement in early recovery, including basic services like electricity and water and infrastructure.” (AP)
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)