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‘It’s Reward For Terror’ – Israel’s Netanyahu Blasts Ireland, Norway, Spain For Recognising Palestinian State

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Israel has reacted to the recognition of a Palestinian state by Ireland, Norway and Spain on Wednesday even as the war against Hamas continues more than seven months in devastating Gaza.

Recall that the three European countries said they would formally recognise the State of Palestine on May 28, drawing praise from many Arab and Muslim states.

According to AFP, in a swift reaction, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move amounted to a “reward for terror”, after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched its October 7 attack which sparked the Gaza war.

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Israel said it was recalling its envoys to Dublin, Oslo and Madrid for “urgent consultations” and also summoned the three European ambassadors for a rebuke.

European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell posted on X that he would work with the bloc’s 27 members “to promote a common EU position based on a 2-state solution”.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, on his first visit since October 7 to the contested religious site of the Temple Mount in the Old City of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, said the recognition rewarded “murderers and aggressors”.

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His visits to the site — known as the Al-Aqsa mosque compound to Muslims — have been cited by Hamas as one reason for the group’s October attack on Israel, which it called “Al-Aqsa Flood”.

READ ALSO: Israeli Leaders Disagree Over Post-war Gaza Governance Amid US Pressure

The White House said President Joe Biden opposed unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, saying it should be realised “through direct negotiations”.

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Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warned Israel not to withhold funding intended for the Palestinian Authority in retaliation.

Most Western governments, including the United States, say they are willing to recognise Palestinian statehood one day — but not before thorny issues such as final borders and the status of Jerusalem are settled.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said “recognition of Palestine is a means of supporting the moderate forces which have been losing ground in this protracted and brutal conflict”.

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“In the midst of a war, with tens of thousands killed and injured, we must keep alive the only alternative that offers a political solution for Israelis and Palestinians alike: Two states, living side by side, in peace and security.”

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Netanyahu was “causing so much pain, destruction and resentment in Gaza and the rest of Palestine that the two-state solution is in danger”.

And Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris called the October 7 attack “barbaric” but stressed that “a two-state solution is the only way out of the generational cycles of violence, retaliation and resentment”.

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READ ALSO: Israeli Drone Shot Down Over Lebanon – IDF

‘Important step’

According to the Palestinian Authority, which rules parts of the occupied West Bank, 142 of the 193 UN member countries already recognise a Palestinian state.

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The Palestine Liberation Organization, seen internationally as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, hailed Wednesday’s moves as “historical”.

Hamas also welcomed “an important step towards affirming our right to our land”, while Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas political bureau member, said it would mark “a turning point in the international position on the Palestinian issue”.

A Palestinian in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, Ismail Hassuna, 46, said the European trio’s decision was a step that “will restore hope” and should help in efforts to “stop Israel from its heinous crimes”.

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Political analyst Ines Abdul Razek, who heads the Palestine Institute for Public Democracy, called the decision symbolic but “not a great victory”.

She said what was needed was “actual measures, including sanctions and arms embargoes” against Israel.

Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

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READ ALSO: UK Slams Fresh Sanctions On Iran After Israel Attack

The militants also took 252 hostages, 124 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

On Wednesday a hostages campaign group released footage of five Israeli female soldiers being captured by militants on October 7 and taken away.

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Speaking about the video, Netanyahu vowed to continue fighting Hamas to “ensure what we have seen tonight never happens again”.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,709 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Israel also imposed a siege that has deprived Gaza’s 2.4 million people of most water, food, medical and fuel supplies, and brought much of the population to the brink of famine.

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Deadly fighting

Fierce fighting has raged around Rafah, the last part of Gaza to face a ground invasion, where an AFP team reported more bombardment early Wednesday.

READ ALSO: Flights To Eternity: Those Who Took Final Bow In Helicopter Crashes

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Heavy battles have also rocked Gaza’s northern and central areas where Hamas forces have regrouped, and more Israeli strikes have hit Gaza City, Jabalia and Zeitun.

Israel said its troops were fighting on the ground in Rafah and Jabalia, and three more soldiers were killed on Wednesday, bringing the army’s toll since the ground offensive began on October 27 to 287.

Ten people were killed in the central town of Al-Zawaida overnight, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said, and Gaza’s civil defence agency said six bodies were recovered from the rubble of a house in Jabalia.

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Israel’s military said soldiers had carried out targeted raids on dozens of Hamas military compounds in Jabalia.

The World Health Organization has said northern Gaza’s last two functioning hospitals, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan, were besieged, trapping more than 200 patients.

Israeli troops began their ground assault on Rafah early this month, defying international opposition over fears for the more than one million civilians trapped there.

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Israel ordered mass evacuations from Rafah, and the UN says more than 800,000 people have fled.

Heavy fighting has also rocked the other major Palestinian territory, the occupied West Bank, where an Israeli raid entered its second day in the city of Jenin.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces had killed 10 people since the fighting began on Tuesday morning.

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NYSC Deploys 1,900 Corps Members To Bauchi State

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The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), has deployed 1,900 corps members to Bauchi State for the 2025 Batch ‘B’ Stream II orientation exercise.

Mr Kufre Umoren, NYSC State Coordinator, told journalists on Tuesday in Bauchi, that registration would be conducted from Sept. 24 to Sept. 26, at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Wailo in Ganjuwa Local Government Area of the state.

He said the swearing-in ceremony of the corps members is billed for Sept. 26, and the orientation exercise would end on Oct. 14.

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READ ALSO:NYSC Pays Arrears After Two-month Break

Umoren said each of the corps members would be allowed into the camp after being adequately certified to be genuine graduates.

He said discreet screening of the corps members would be conducted to guard against intrusion or impersonation.

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Registration dates have been announced to the corps members, and they are advised to adhere strictly to all camp rules and regulations.

READ ALSO:Release Corps Member’s Discharge Certificate, Falana Tells NYSC

Defaulters will be sanctioned in accordance with the scheme’s extant rules,” he said, warning the scheme frowned at late-night journeys and urged corps members to avoid it for their own safety.

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While urging them to be punctual, diligent, and comply with dress code, Umoren warned that defaulting corps members would be sanctioned.

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Ife Not Origin Of Yoruba Race, Says Oluwo

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The Oluwo of Iwo in Osun State, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, has disputed the claim that Ile-Ife is the origin of the Yoruba race.

The royal father said the culture of the race is not in the ancient town of Ife, long noted as the origin of the Yoruba people.

Oluwo, who made this known in a video shared on his Facebook page on Tuesday, spoke in his palace while bestowing a chieftaincy title on one of his subjects.

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Flanked by his Chiefs, Oluwo said Ife was not the origin of the Yoruba race, adding that people were living in the town before Oduduwa conquered the city and became its ruler.

He said the language spoken in ancient Ife was not the same as the common Yoruba language, restating his readiness to bring back the correct historical accounts of the Yoruba race.

READ ALSO:Tension In Osun Council As Ataoja, Oluwo Battle For Seniority

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“Ife is not the origin of the Yoruba race. Those people don’t speak our language. Their language is different. They refer to God as Eledumare, and there is nothing like Eledumare in the Yoruba language. What we have is Olodumare.

“Ife people will always say Olofin, and if you ask them what the meaning is, they will tell you it means the owner of the palace, and what that means in Yoruba is ‘Alaafin’. Ile-Ife has no Yoruba culture.

“I am the ‘Arole Olodumare because I am here to tell you the true history. Iwo is where you can get the real history that was not even documented.

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“Whatever I am telling you now, you must keep it because death can come anytime. I am not scared of death because it is inevitable,” Oluwo said in the Yoruba language.

READ ALSO:OPINION: Oluwo And The Glorification Of Ignorance (1)

The origin of the word ‘Yoruba’ often leads to controversy. The most recent one being the face-off involving the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi and Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade, over a Chieftaincy title of Okanlomo of Yorubaland, allegedly bestowed on Ibadan-based businessman, Chief Dotun Sanusi by Ooni.

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The PUNCH reports in August that the Ooni had bestowed the title on Sanusi during the unveiling of 2geda, an indigenous social media and business networking platform, at Ilaji Hotel, Ibadan.

But in a statement signed by his media aide, Bode Durojaiye, the Alaafin declared that no traditional ruler other than him has the authority to confer a title covering the entire Yorubaland. He issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Ooni to revoke the title or “face the consequences.”

READ ALSO:Why I’m Yet To Visit Ooni Of Ife — Alaafin Of Oyo

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Reacting to Alaafin’s ultimatum, the Ooni’s spokesperson, Moses Olafare, said the monarch had directed him to ignore the Alaafin’s outburst and leave the matter “in the court of public opinion.”

We can not dignify the ‘undignifyable’ with an official response. We leave the matter to be handled in the public court of opinion, as it is already being treated.

“Let’s rather focus on narratives that unite us rather than the ones capable of dividing us. No press release, please. 48 hours my foot!” he wrote on his Facebook page.
(PUNCH)

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Court Remands Man Who Beat Wife In Viral Video

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A 57-year-old sawmiller, Fatai Quadri, who was seen in a viral video assaulting his wife, 50-year-old Rukayat Quadri, was on Monday remanded at the Correctional Centre at Ijebu Ode till October 17 for further hearing into the suit instituted against him by the police before the Ijebu Ode Magistrate Court.

Quadri, according to documents made available to our correspondent on Tuesday during his arraignment, was charged with a count bordering on assault, domestic violence, and breach of peace, among others.

The charge sheet reads “That you Quadri Fatai Abiodun ‘m on the 15/09/2025 at about 0600hrs at No: 11, Bakare Street, Oke-Owa, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State in the Ijebu-Ode Magisterial District did wilfully and unlawfully assault Mrs Rukayat Quadri 50yrs your wife, by beating her with a stick and several fist blow all over her body, which caused her bodily injuries and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 355 of the criminal code, Vol.1, Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2006.

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“That you Quadri Fatai Abiodun “M’ on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District did unlawfully beat Mrs Rukayat Quadri 50yrs your wife and by so doing committed “Domestic Violence” an offence punishable under Section 21(1) of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law, Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2017.

“That you Quadri Fatai Abiodun ‘m’ on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District did unlawfully assault, beat and caused injuries to Mrs Rukayat Quadri 50yrs your wife and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 4(1) of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law, Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2017.

READ ALSO:Police Detain Lagos NURTW Leader For Killing Resident

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That you Quadri Fatai Abiodun ‘m’ on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District did intentionally intimidated, injured and threatened to the life of Mrs Rukayat Quadri 50yrs your wife not to go on the land you built 10 Rooms and Parlour Self Contains with Other Flats or otherwise and thereby committed an offence Punishable under Section 86 of the Criminal Code Vol. 1, Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2006.

“That you Quadri Fatai Abiodun ‘m’ on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District did willfully and unlawfully conduct yourself in a manner likely to cause the breach of public peace by using a stick with several fist blows to beat and injured Mrs Rukayat Quadri 50yrs your wife and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 249(1) (d) of the Criminal Code Vol. 1, Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2006”

Magistrate P O Odunsi has, however, adjourned the matter till October 17 for further hearing into the bail application of the suspect.

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The Ogun State Police Command had on Saturday confirmed arresting Fatai seen in a viral video violently assaulting his wife, Rukayat, at their residence in Illese-Ijebu on the 15th of September, 2025.

Quadri, who was seen inflicting fist blows on the victim, resulting in bodily harm, was said to have been promptly apprehended by operatives of the Igbeba Divisional Police Headquarters, Ijebu Ode.

READ ALSO:Police Detain Lagos NURTW Leader For Killing Resident

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The spokesperson of the state police command, Omolola Odutola, disclosed this in a statement sent to journalists on Saturday.

Odutola said that “Preliminary investigation revealed that the assault stemmed from a marital dispute arising from allegations of infidelity.

“The investigation further indicated that the suspect had transferred ownership of a 10-room en-suite apartment, jointly built with his wife, to another woman, which provoked the violent attack.

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“The victim is presently receiving medical treatment, while the suspect remains in custody and will be charged in court upon conclusion of the investigation”

The Commissioner of Police, Lanre Ogunlowo, however, used the opportunity to reiterate the command’s zero tolerance for domestic violence and warned that anyone found culpable of such an act will face the full wrath of the law.

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Speaking over the incident, the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the state, Oluwasina Ogungbade, SAN described the incident as very reprehensible, saying that the government was unhappy with such criminal acts and that the suspect, who is already in police custody, would be taken to court on Monday.

Ogungbade explained that “the government is aware of the viral video and we condemn it in its totality. The suspect is in police custody already.

“The Commissioner of Police, Lanre Ogunlowo, has been very proactive concerning it.

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“The matter is being transferred to the Gender Unit. He will be arraigned in Court on Monday”

The Attorney General said that the state government has always warned against all sorts of criminal acts, particularly gender-based violence and that this particular incident will be another opportunity to drive home the present administration’s posture of zero tolerance to such condemnable acts.

READ ALSO:Court Remands Tiktoker Who Claimed President Tinubu Died

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The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Adijat Adeleye, also said that she had already briefed one of the state officials to follow up on the incident, pledging that the government would ensure justice is served on the matter.

Adeleye said that “The government is not happy with such criminal acts, our position has always been zero tolerance to gender-based violence. Definitely, the suspect will account for his misdeeds, justice will be served, I assure the residents of the state.

“Already he has been picked up by the police and should be taken to court on Monday; the ministry officials will be there to lend our support and ensure that justice is served.”

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