Wildfires Break Out in Eastern Algeria

Civil Defense teams try to put out fires in Jijel last summer. (Civil Defense)
Civil Defense teams try to put out fires in Jijel last summer. (Civil Defense)
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Wildfires Break Out in Eastern Algeria

Civil Defense teams try to put out fires in Jijel last summer. (Civil Defense)
Civil Defense teams try to put out fires in Jijel last summer. (Civil Defense)

Several wildfires have broken out in Algeria's northeastern Bejaia and Tizi-Ouzou provinces.

While the fires in Tizi Ouzou were extinguished, the operations are ongoing to control the fire in Bejaia, according to a statement from the Civil Protection on Saturday.

The Civil Protection in Bejaia said a fire had broken out in one of the forests in the Ish El-Baz area in Boulimat.

Teams from Bouira, Setif, and Bordj Bou Arreridj were dispatched to the area. No losses in life were recorded. Populated areas were also evacuated.

Moreover, a fire broke out in Mahwi Forest Tichy in the Ish El-Baz forest in Bejaia, and in the forest of the Igdassen village in Tizi Ouzou.

Civil Protection units and helicopters were dispatched to extinguish the fire.

In July, wildfires in the country killed at least 34 people and destroyed large swathes of forests and trees.

Northern and eastern Algeria witness forest fires annually, a phenomenon that worsens year after year due to the impact of climate changes.

The Meteorological Service warned in a special bulletin of a heat wave in the country's northeastern regions, including Bejaia and Tizi Ouzou, on Saturday and Sunday, with temperatures expected to reach 43 degrees.

This year, Algeria recorded 97 blazes across 16 provinces, fanned by strong winds, said the interior ministry.



Pope Calls Gaza Airstrikes 'Cruelty'

A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Pope Calls Gaza Airstrikes 'Cruelty'

A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Pope Francis on Saturday again condemned Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, a day after an Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff for suggesting the global community should study whether the military offensive there constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.

Francis opened his annual Christmas address to the Catholic cardinals who lead the Vatican's various departments with what appeared to be a reference to Israeli airstrikes on Friday that killed at least 25 Palestinians in Gaza, Reuters reported.

"Yesterday, children were bombed," said the pope. "This is cruelty. This is not war. I wanted to say this because it touches the heart."

The pope, as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts, but he has recently been more outspoken about Israel's military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas.

In book excerpts published last month, the pontiff said some international experts said that "what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide.”

Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli sharply criticized those comments in an unusual open letter published by Italian newspaper Il Foglio on Friday. Chikli said the pope's remarks amounted to a "trivialization" of the term genocide.

Francis also said on Saturday that the Catholic bishop of Jerusalem, known as a patriarch, had tried to enter the Gaza Strip on Friday to visit Catholics there, but was denied entry.

The patriarch's office told Reuters it was not able to comment on the pope's remarks about the patriarch being denied entry.