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MASAM Detonates 2,415 Landmines in Bab al-Mandab

Yemen is a signatory to the international Mine Ban Treaty but the deadly munitions still pose a major threat (AFP Photo/KARIM SAHIB)
Yemen is a signatory to the international Mine Ban Treaty but the deadly munitions still pose a major threat (AFP Photo/KARIM SAHIB)
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MASAM Detonates 2,415 Landmines in Bab al-Mandab

Yemen is a signatory to the international Mine Ban Treaty but the deadly munitions still pose a major threat (AFP Photo/KARIM SAHIB)
Yemen is a signatory to the international Mine Ban Treaty but the deadly munitions still pose a major threat (AFP Photo/KARIM SAHIB)

The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) project to clear mines in Yemen, MASAM, reported detonating 2,415 mines, explosive devices and unexploded ordnance in Bab al-Mandab directorate.

International expert from MASAM D.r Zawba al-Rawi confirmed that the operation included 400 anti-armor mines, 1500 shells and unexploded ordnance, 400 various fuses, in addition to 45 explosive devices and 70 anti-personnel mines.

This is the 18th operation for team 30 in the area, bringing the total number of operations carried out by the project in Yemen to 62.

Director-General of the MASAM project Ousama Al-Gosaibi announced that the teams cleared since the launch of the project until the 11th of June 169,434 mines, unexploded ordnance, and explosive devices. Last week, an area of 264,862 square meters was purified, he added, which brings the total since launching the project to 10,648,279 square meters.

Moreover, MASAM’s operation room announced that the project’s teams cleared during the second week of this month 1,279 mines, unexploded ordnance, and explosive devices, which brings the total of the period ranging between the 30th of May and the 11th of June to 2,131.

MASAM's Operation Manager Retief Horn said that the engineering teams cleared during the same period 1,036 unexploded ordnance and 3 explosive devices. He added that the teams cleared also 238 anti-tank mines and 2 anti-personnel mines.

In this context, a Yemeni was killed on Sunday by a landmine planted by Houthis in El Tor. The residents rushed to the site to rescue him but he had succumbed to his injury and passed away on spot.

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US, Arab Mediators Make Some Progress in Gaza Peace Talks, No Deal Yet

Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)
Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)
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US, Arab Mediators Make Some Progress in Gaza Peace Talks, No Deal Yet

Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)
Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)

US and Arab mediators have made some progress in their efforts to reach a ceasefire accord between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but not enough to seal a deal, Palestinian sources close to the talks said on Thursday.
As talks continued in Qatar, the Israeli military carried out strikes across the enclave, killing at least 17 people, Palestinian medics said.
Qatar, the US and Egypt are making a major push to reach a deal to halt fighting in the 15-month conflict and free remaining hostages held by the Hamas group before President Joe Biden leaves office.
President-elect Donald Trump has warned there will be "hell to pay", if the hostages are not released by his inauguration on Jan. 20.
On Thursday, a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort said the absence of a deal so far did not mean the talks were going nowhere and said this was the most serious attempt so far to reach an accord.
"There are extensive negotiations, mediators and negotiators are talking about every word and every detail. There is a breakthrough when it comes to narrowing old existing gaps but there is no deal yet," he told Reuters, without giving further details.
On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Ministry Director General Eden Bar-Tal said Israel was fully committed to reaching an agreement to return its hostages from Gaza but faces obstruction from Hamas.
The two sides have been at an impasse for a year over two key issues. Hamas has said it will only free its remaining hostages if Israel agrees to end the war and withdraw all its troops from Gaza. Israel says it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled and all hostages are free.
SEVERE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
On Thursday, the death toll from Israel's military strikes included eight Palestinians killed in a house in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, where Israeli forces have operated for more than three months. Nine others, including a father and his three children, died in two separate airstrikes on two houses in central Gaza Strip, health officials said.
There was no Israeli military comment on the two incidents.
More than 46,000 people have been killed in the Gaza war, according to Palestinian health officials. Much of the enclave has been laid waste and most of the territory's 2.1 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.
Israel denies hindering humanitarian relief to Gaza and says it has facilitated the distribution of hundreds of truckloads of food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment to warehouses and shelters over the past week.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. On Wednesday, the Israeli military said troops had recovered the body of Israeli Bedouin hostage Youssef Al-Ziyadna, along with evidence that was still being examined suggesting his son Hamza, taken on the same day, may also be dead.
"We will continue to make every effort to return all of our hostages, the living and the deceased," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.