UN Calls for Immediate Halt to Violence in Gaza

 Rockets are fired toward Israel from the Gaza Strip, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The rockets were fired as Hamas announced a new operation against Israel. (AP)
Rockets are fired toward Israel from the Gaza Strip, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The rockets were fired as Hamas announced a new operation against Israel. (AP)
TT

UN Calls for Immediate Halt to Violence in Gaza

 Rockets are fired toward Israel from the Gaza Strip, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The rockets were fired as Hamas announced a new operation against Israel. (AP)
Rockets are fired toward Israel from the Gaza Strip, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The rockets were fired as Hamas announced a new operation against Israel. (AP)

The United Nation's High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an immediate halt to violence in Gaza after Palestinian movement Hamas launched its biggest attack on Israel in years.

Volker Tuerk said he was shocked by reports that hundreds of rockets had been fired towards Israel on Saturday and reports that Israeli civilians have been taken hostage.

At least 22 Israelis have been killed in the attack and more than 250 wounded, Israel's ambulance service said, with the figures expected to rise.

"This attack is having a horrific impact on Israeli civilians," Tuerk said in a statement. "Civilians must never be the target of attack."

He called on Israel to take precautions to avoid civilian casualties as it responded to the attacks with air strikes into Gaza.

"I call for an immediate stop to the violence, and appeal to all sides and key countries in the region to de-escalate to avoid further bloodshed," Tuerk said.



Syria's Foreign Minister Calls for Lifting of Sanctions

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani attends a meeting on Syria, following the recent ousting of president Bashar al-Assad, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani attends a meeting on Syria, following the recent ousting of president Bashar al-Assad, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
TT

Syria's Foreign Minister Calls for Lifting of Sanctions

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani attends a meeting on Syria, following the recent ousting of president Bashar al-Assad, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani attends a meeting on Syria, following the recent ousting of president Bashar al-Assad, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

Syria’s new foreign minister has called for a lifting of sanctions that were imposed on his country during former President Bashar Assad’s rule.
In an interview with Turkish state broadcaster TRT that aired Thursday, Asaad al-Shibani also said Syria’s new leadership wanted to “open a new page” in its diplomatic relations with countries that had cut diplomatic ties with Damascus during the Syrian civil war.
“The economic sanctions are one of the problems that the old regime left us,” al-Shibani said in the interview, which aired a day after he met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials in Ankara. “We are saying that there is no longer any need for them. The old regime is gone.”
“These sanctions must be lifted in order for people to live in better economic conditions and for security and economic stability to be achieved,” he added.