Maldives new president Muizzu asks India to withdraw its military - CNA

MALE: Maldives new President Mohamed Muizzu, who campaigned on altering the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago's "India first" policy, has requested India withdraw its military from the country.

Muizzu won the presidential election in September, ousting Ibrahim Solih in a runoff after promising to remove a small Indian military presence of some 75 personnel.

India and China have been vying for influence in the region, with the coalition backing Muizzu considered to be leaning more towards China.

"The Maldivian people had given him (Muizzu) a strong mandate to make the request to India and expressed the hope that India will honour the democratic will of the people of the Maldives," the president's office said in a statement on Saturday.

India's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At his inauguration on Friday, Muizzu said, "I will ensure that this country has no foreign military presence on its soil."

Muizzu made the request to Kiren Rijiju, India's minister for earth sciences, who was representing India at the president's inauguration, it said.

"It was agreed that the two governments would discuss workable solutions for continued cooperation," a senior Indian government official said on condition of anonymity, without clarifying whether India would return its military.

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2023-11-19 08:44:34Z
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White House, Israel say no Israel-Hamas deal yet, US will 'continue to work hard' - The Straits Times

WASHINGTON – Israel and Hamas have not yet reached a deal on a temporary ceasefire, the White House and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on the night of Nov 18.

The US is continuing to work to get a deal between the two sides, the White House spokesperson said. A second US official confirmed no deal had been reached.

“No deal yet, but we continue to work hard to get a deal,” Ms Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council, said in a statement.

Mr Netanyahu told a press conference on Nov 18 evening: “Concerning the hostages, there are many unsubstantiated rumours, many incorrect reports. I would like to make it clear: As of now, there has been no deal. But I want to promise: When there is something to say – we will report to you about it.”

The Washington Post, citing people familiar with the deal, reported earlier on Saturday that Israel, the United States and Hamas have reached a tentative agreement to free dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting.

The hostage release could begin within the next several days, barring last-minute hitches, according to people familiar with the detailed, six-page agreement, the paper said.

Under the agreement, all parties would freeze combat operations for at least five days while 50 or more hostages are released in groups every 24 hours, the Post reported.

Hamas took about 240 hostages during its Oct 7 rampage inside Israel that killed 1,200 people.

The pause also is intended to allow a significant amount of humanitarian aid in, the newspaper said, adding the outline for the deal was put together during weeks of talks in Qatar.

The report comes as Israel appears to be preparing to expand its offensive against Hamas militants to southern Gaza after air strikes killed dozens of Palestinians, including civilians reported to be sheltering at two schools.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the Oct 7 attack. As the conflict entered its seventh week, authorities in Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip raised their death toll to 12,300, including 5,000 children.

After dropping leaflets earlier in the week, Israel on Nov 18 again warned civilians in parts of southern Gaza to relocate as it girds for an onslaught after subduing the north.

Raising international alarm, Israel made Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City a primary focus of its ground advance in northern Gaza.

A team led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) which visited Al Shifa on Nov 18 described it as a “death zone” with signs of gunfire and shelling. WHO said it was developing plans for immediate evacuation of the remaining patients and staff.

There were 25 health workers and 291 patients, including 32 babies in critical condition, remaining in Al Shifa, WHO said.

Elsewhere in the north, Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini of UNRWA, the UN aid organisation for Palestinian refugees, said on social media platform X that Israel bombarded two agency schools. More than 4,000 civilians were sheltered at one of them, he said.

“Dozens reported killed including children,” he said. “Second time in less than 24 hours schools are not spared. ENOUGH, these horrors must stop.”

A spokesperson for Gaza’s Hamas authorities said 200 people had been killed or injured at the school. Israel’s military did not comment.

Witnesses reported heavy fighting overnight between Israeli ground forces and Hamas gunmen in north-west Jabalia refugee camp, the largest of all camps in the enclave with nearly 100,000 people.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose government controls parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Nov 18 said “hundreds of forcibly displaced people were killed” at the two schools in Gaza.

Mr Abbas appealed to US President Joe Biden to intervene to stop the Israeli operation in Gaza.

Palestinian health officials said 31 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the Bureij and Nusseirat refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip, including two Palestinian journalists.

The officials said a woman and her child were killed in a strike overnight in Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip.

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2023-11-19 01:52:11Z
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Japanese troops drill on island seen as vulnerable to China - CNA

TOKUNOSHIMA: Japanese marines in amphibious assault vehicles stormed an island beach at the edge of the East China Sea on Sunday (Nov 19) in a simulated attack to dislodge invaders from territory that Tokyo worries is vulnerable to attack from China.

As tensions run high with neighbours China, Russia and North Korea, the drill on the southwest island of Tokunoshima capped an 11-day series of exercises nationwide dubbed 05JX, meant to show the readiness of ground, sea and air forces to defend Japan's territory and infrastructure, including nuclear power plants.

"The goal of JX is to show that if there is an emergency situation resulting from an attack, that we are able respond in a joint way," General Yoshihide Yoshida, chief of staff of the Self-Defence Forces' Joint Staff, said after observing the drill on Tokunoshima.

Ground Self-Defence Force amphibious assault vehicles launched from two Maritime Self-Defense Force landing ships anchored offshore. Other troops arrived in semi-inflatable rubber boats, with heavy equipment carried to shore on military hovercraft.

Unlike many of the beaches along Japan's southwest island chain stretching toward Taiwan, the one on Tokunoshima does not have a coral reef that would make military operations more difficult.

The scope and pace of military exercises in Japan are likely to increase over the next few years, including with US forces, after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in December unveiled the country's biggest military buildup since World War II, with a pledge to double defence spending over five years.

Kishida has warned that East Asia could be the next Ukraine, if China, emboldened by Russia's assault on its neighbour, attacks Taiwan.

The 43.5 trillion yen (US$290 billion) in planned spending will go to new weapons such as longer-range missiles as well as to increase stocks of spare parts and munitions to fight a sustained conflict.

But the yen's sharp decline this year has forced Japan to cut back on some planned purchases, including new models of the US-made Chinook helicopters that Japan's military used in the Tokunoshima drill.

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2023-11-19 04:17:52Z
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Humanitarian team describes Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital as 'death zone': WHO - CNA

"WHO and partners are urgently developing plans for the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families," it said.

"Over the next 24 to 72 hours, pending guarantees of safe passage by parties to the conflict, additional missions are being arranged to urgently transport patients" to other hospitals in the south of Gaza.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the WHO statement or the visit.

The remaining 2,500 internally displaced people who had sought refuge on Al Shifa grounds were gone after the Israeli Defense Forces issued evacuation orders on Saturday, WHO said.

Israeli forces seized Al Shifa in their offensive across north Gaza last week, saying it concealed an underground Hamas command centre. The military said it found evidence of a Hamas base underground. Al Shifa staff say Israel has proven no such thing.

The visit was coordinated with the Israeli military to reduce risks but occurred in an active conflict zone, with heavy fighting close to the hospital, WHO said.

WHO repeated its call for an immediate ceasefire and sustained humanitarian assistance, saying options for medical care in the small coastal enclave were dwindling.

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2023-11-19 01:39:27Z
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Biden says Palestinian Authority should ultimately govern Gaza and West Bank - CNA

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said on Saturday (Nov 18) the Palestinian Authority should ultimately govern the Gaza Strip and the West Bank following the Israel-Hamas war.

"As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalised Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution," Biden said in an opinion article in the Washington Post.

"There must be no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, no reoccupation, no siege or blockade, and no reduction in territory," Biden said.

He used the op-ed to try to answer the question of what the United States wants for Gaza once the conflict is over. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took issue with Biden's plan for the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza.

"I think that the PA in its current form is not capable of accepting the responsibility for Gaza after we’ve fought and done all this, to pass it to them," he said at a news conference in Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu has previously said Israel must maintain "overall military responsibility" in Gaza "for the foreseeable future".

The Palestinian Authority used to run both the West Bank and Gaza but was ousted from the latter in 2007 after a brief civil war with Hamas.

Biden also said the United States is prepared to issue visa bans against "extremists" attacking civilians in the West Bank. Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has increased since the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

"I have been emphatic with Israel’s leaders that extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and that those committing the violence must be held accountable," Biden said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Biden to pressure Israel to stop violence against Palestinians.

"I also call on you to urgently intervene to stop the attacks by Israeli forces and the continuous terrorism by settlers against our people in the West Bank and Jerusalem, which foreshadow an imminent explosion," he said in a special address aired by Palestine TV.

The West Bank, home to 3 million Palestinians who live among more than half a million Jewish settlers, has been seething for more than 18 months, drawing growing international concern as violence has escalated after Oct 7.

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2023-11-18 21:17:00Z
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Israel's government faces pressure as hostage families march on Jerusalem seeking answers - CNA

JERUSALEM: The families of Israeli hostages and thousands of their supporters arrived in Jerusalem on Saturday (Nov 18) at the end of a five-day march to confront the government over the plight of those taken captive by Hamas.

The estimated 20,000 marchers, including well-wishers who joined the procession along the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway, want to put pressure on Israel's government "to do everything they can to bring the hostages back," said Noam Alon, 25, clutching a photograph of his abducted girlfriend, Inbar.

"We are expecting them to meet with us, we are expecting them to tell us how they are going to do it," he said. "We cannot wait any longer, so we are demand(ing) them to do that now, to pay any price to bring the hostages back."

Around 240 Israelis - ranging from babies to grandparents - are believed to be in the Gaza Strip after being taken hostage by the militant faction during an Oct 7 cross-border raid on southern Israeli villages and army bases in which 1,200 people were killed.

Many relatives and friends of the missing fear they will come to harm in Israeli attacks on Gaza designed to destroy Hamas. The government says the offensive improves the chances of recovering hostages, perhaps via a mediated prisoner exchange.

But many Israelis blame their government for being blindsided by the Hamas assault.

Among those who marched to Jerusalem was centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid, who has been mostly supportive of the war but has demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Miki Zohar, a member of Netanyahu's cabinet and party, was heckled on Friday when he visited the marchers at a rest stop.

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2023-11-18 15:41:37Z
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Hundreds flee as Israel orders Gaza's main hospital evacuated - CNA

KHAN YUNIS: Hundreds of people fled on foot on Saturday (Nov 18) after Israel's army ordered the evacuation of Gaza's main hospital where more than 2,000 patients, medics and displaced people were trapped by the war between Israel and Hamas.

An AFP journalist witnessed the movement, on a road leading south, but health officials in the Hamas-ruled territory said 450 patients unable to be moved remained at Al-Shifa hospital. The facility has become the focus of the war that is entering its seventh week after Hamas' Oct 7 attacks on southern Israel.

Israel has been pressing military operations inside the hospital, searching for the Hamas operations centre it says lies under the sprawling complex - a charge Hamas denies.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the Oct 7 attacks which Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw about 240 people taken hostage.

The army's air and ground campaign has since killed 12,000 people, including 5,000 children, according to the Hamas government which has ruled Gaza since 2007.

In Gaza City on Saturday morning, Israeli troops ordered over loudspeakers the evacuation of the Al-Shifa hospital "in the next hour", an AFP journalist at the scene reported.

They called the hospital's director, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, to instruct him to ensure "the evacuation of patients, wounded, the displaced and medical staff, and that they should move on foot towards the seafront", he told AFP.

Israel has come under mounting pressure to back up its allegations that Hamas is using hospitals as command centres, a charge denied by Hamas, a militant movement with an armed wing. Al-Shifa Hospital has also rejected the allegation.

The United Nations estimated that 2,300 patients, staff and displaced Palestinians were sheltering at Al-Shifa before Israeli troops entered the facility on Wednesday.

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2023-11-18 10:19:28Z
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