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Israel Says Troops Encircle Gaza City As Blinken Visits

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Israeli ground troops encircled Gaza City on Friday in their war against Hamas, as top US diplomat Antony Blinken arrived in Israel for a trip focused on “concrete steps” to minimise Palestinian civilian casualties.

Ahead of Blinken’s arrival, Israel’s military said on Thursday it had “completed the encirclement” of the narrow Palestinian territory’s largest city — signalling a new phase in the nearly month-long conflict.

Fighting was triggered by Hamas’ bloody raids on October 7 that Israeli officials say killed more than 1,400 people.

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The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 9,000 people have died in Israeli bombardments, mostly women and children.

Fresh Israeli strikes rocked the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, an AFP correspondent said, and the Gaza health ministry reported at least 15 deaths in Gaza City’s Zeitun neighbourhood and seven in Jabalia refugee camp.

The Hamas government has said 195 people were killed in Israeli bombardments on Jabalia earlier this week, with hundreds more missing and wounded, figures AFP could not independently verify.

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Before his departure, Blinken said he would seek to ensure that harm to Palestinian civilians is reduced, in a visible shift of tone for the United States which has promised full support and ramped-up military aid to Israel.

We will be talking about concrete steps that can and should be taken to minimise harm to men, women and children in Gaza,” Blinken said.

READ ALSO: Internet, Phones ‘Completely’ Shut Off In Gaza

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This is something that the United States is committed to.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had already had some “very impressive successes” with troops “more than on the outskirts of Gaza City. We are advancing,” he said late Thursday at a base near Tel Aviv.

Israel’s military describes Gaza City as “the centre of the Hamas terror organisation”.

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Although many of the city’s half-a-million residents fled south following Israel’s warning to leave the north ahead of a ground operation, those who stayed behind have endured weeks of withering aerial bombardments, dwindling supplies and daily carnage.

– ‘Terrified’ –

Outside Gaza City’s Al-Quds hospital, displaced residents seeking shelter from Israeli strikes told AFP on Thursday that civilians would not withstand the barrage much longer.

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“This is not a life. We need a safe place for our kids,” said 50-year-old Hiyam Shamlakh. “Everybody is terrified, children, women and the elderly.”

But yet more carnage seems to lie ahead, as the conflict turns to urban and underground warfare — with Hamas fighting from a tunnel complex believed to span hundreds of kilometres (miles).

READ ALSO: How To Apply, Benefit In Canada 2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan

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The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, insisted Israeli soldiers would go home “in black bags”.

“Gaza will be the curse of history for Israel,” spokesman Abu Obeida said.

Israel’s allies have backed its right to self-defence, but there is growing global concern and anger at how Israel has chosen to prosecute the war.

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A group of UN-mandated human rights experts warned Thursday that “time is running out to prevent genocide and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.

We remain convinced that the Palestinian people are at grave risk of genocide,” the experts, who do not speak for the United Nations, said in a joint statement.

They called for “a humanitarian ceasefire” and the immediate release of all civilians being held captive since the Hamas attack.

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“The situation in Gaza has reached a catastrophic tipping point,” the experts said, warning of the “dire need” for food, water, medicine, fuel and essential supplies and the risk of looming health hazards.

READ ALSO: How To Apply, Benefit In Canada 2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan

Israel’s Geneva embassy denounced the report as Hamas “propaganda” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

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Both Israel and the United States have ruled out a blanket ceasefire, which they say would allow Hamas to regroup and resupply.

US President Joe Biden has backed “temporary, localised” pauses in fighting to allow humanitarian work to be done.

– Escape to safety –

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Countries around the world recalled their ambassadors from Israel in protest at the strikes. Bolivia severed diplomatic ties.

Israel has sought to show Jabalia was a legitimate target, saying it killed a senior Hamas commander in a tunnel complex below the camp.

On Thursday some 400 more foreigners and dual nationals managed to escape the war to Egypt, along with 60 wounded Palestinians.

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READ ALSO: Bodies Pile Up In Central Gaza As Israel Steps Up Strikes

Egypt has said it would help evacuate 7,000 foreigners through Rafah, which was to open again on Friday, a source at the crossing told AFP.

The UN said more than 100 trucks with aid crossed into Gaza on Thursday, a significant increase from previous days.

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A total of 374 trucks have entered since a US-brokered deal was enacted on October 21, far short of what aid agencies say is needed.

Meanwhile, in Israel’s north, Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it attacked 19 Israeli positions along the border simultaneously.

Some 71 people have been killed in Lebanon since the Israel-Hamas war began, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, nine people have died.

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Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is on Friday expected to break weeks of silence and deliver a speech that could have a profound impact on the region.

Some analysts believe Hezbollah has little interest in becoming fully embroiled in a conflict that Israeli officials have threatened could destroy Lebanon.

Others say the decision lies with Iran, which leads the regional “axis of resistance” against Israel — backing Hamas, Hezbollah and a rollcall of armed groups from Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

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White House Slams Trump’s Nobel Prize Snub

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The White House lashed out at the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday after it awarded the peace prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and overlooked US President Donald Trump.

The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace,” White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung said on X.

“President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”

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READ ALSO:White House Threatens Mass Firings Amid Stalled Shutdown Talks

Since returning to the White House for his second term in January, Trump had repeatedly insisted that he deserved the Nobel for his role in resolving numerous conflicts — a claim observers say is broadly exaggerated.

Trump restated his claim on the eve of the peace prize announcement, saying that his brokering of the first phase of a ceasefire in Gaza this week was the eighth war he had ended.

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But he added on Thursday: “Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that, I did it because I’ve saved a lot of lives.”

Nobel Prize experts in Oslo had insisted in the run-up to Friday’s announcement that Trump had no chance, noting that his “America First” policies run counter to the ideals of the Peace Prize as laid out in Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will creating the award.

AFP

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Transgender Woman Jailed For Deceiving Man About Gender In UK

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A British court has sentenced a transgender woman, Ciara Watkin, to 21 months in prison for deceiving a man into sexual activity by falsely claiming to be a biological female.

According to a BBC report on Friday, the victim told Durham Crown Court he would not have consented to the sexual encounter had he known Watkin was biologically male.

The court heard that Watkin, 21, from Thornaby in Stockton-on-Tees, was found guilty of sexual assault after jurors rejected her claim that the man “would have realised” her gender identity.

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Recorder Peter Makepeace KC said he was “certain” the victim “fully believed from start to finish” that Watkin was a woman due to her “lies and deception.”

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Watkin, who was born male and had used the name Ciara since childhood, had not undergone any medical transition or surgery, the BBC reported.

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Both Watkin and the victim were 18 when they met on Snapchat, where she used a female cartoon character as her profile picture. They later met in person, leading to sexual contact. Prosecutor Paul Reid told the court that Watkin even claimed to be menstruating to stop the man from touching her below the waist.

When Watkin later confessed to being biologically male, the man said he was “physically sick” and immediately reported the matter to the police.

He said he was shocked and upset about being deceived, adding that he felt ashamed, embarrassed, and had been ridiculed online due to Watkin’s actions and deception,” the report stated.

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READ ALSO:Transgender Inmates Panic As Trump Orders Transfer To Men’s Prisons

The victim, who described himself as heterosexual, told the court he felt “part of his masculinity was taken away.”

Defence counsel Victoria Lamballe argued that Watkin’s actions were not “predatory or sadistic” but stemmed from “shame and a deep sense of discomfort” with her own body.

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She said Watkin, who has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, identified as female from primary school and had endured years of bullying.

“It is hardly surprising that Watkin built up a façade and presented almost as a caricature of herself to mask the inner turmoil she feels at having been born into the wrong body,” Lamballe said, adding that Watkin “simply wanted to be loved.”

READ ALSO:Transgender Inmates Panic As Trump Orders Transfer To Men’s Prisons

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However, Recorder Makepeace ruled that the victim was “totally deceived,” saying Watkin had lied to “get away” with her deception and was aware the man would not have consented if he knew her biological sex.

The judge also criticised Watkin’s attitude during the trial, describing her as “flippant, disinterested, and bored,” showing “not a shred of remorse.”

He said, “At the heart of this case was your frustration at wanting sexual experiences with heterosexual males, which, by definition, you needed to deceive to achieve.”

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Watkin will serve her sentence in a male prison, where authorities said protective measures would be taken to ensure her safety. She will also remain on the sex offenders register for 10 years and has been issued a lifetime restraining order preventing contact with the victim.

Detective Constable Martin Scotson of Cleveland Police said Watkin “purposely concealed her sex in order for the sexual activity to take place,” adding that he hoped the conviction would allow the victim to “move forward with his life.”

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Burkina Rejects US Deportees, Calls Trump’s Proposal Indecent

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Captain-Ibrahim-Traore
Burkina Faso, ruled by a junta hostile to the West, has refused to take in people kicked out of the United States, in a snub to one of President Donald Trump’s signature migration policies.

Since Trump’s return to the White House, his administration has made deporting people to third countries — often to nations they have no connection to — part of a sweeping immigration crackdown.

In Africa, Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan have all accepted people expelled from the United States in recent months. But late on Thursday, Burkina Faso’s foreign affairs minister said the west African country had refused Washington’s overtures.

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READ ALSO:Junta-led Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger To Launch Common Passport

Naturally, this proposal, which we considered indecent at the time, runs completely contrary to the principle of dignity,” Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore said on national television.

Hours earlier, the US embassy in the capital Ouagadougou announced the suspension of regular services for most visas for people living in Burkina Faso.
Instead, Burkinabe citizens will now have their services handled in Lome, the capital of neighbouring Togo.

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Is this a way to put pressure on us? Is this blackmail? Whatever it is… Burkina Faso is a place of dignity, a destination, not a place of expulsion,” Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore said.

READ ALSO:US Deportations ‘Profoundly Disturbing” — UN Official

Burkina Faso’s leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, styles himself as an anti-imperialist Pan-African strongman.

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Since seizing power in a coup in September 2022, he has shunned former colonial master France and the wider West, forging closer ties with Russia instead.

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