Israeli Court Slaps 7-day Gag Order on Oil Spill

Israeli soldiers wearing protective suits listen to a briefing ahead of cleanup operations to remove tar from a beach after an oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea At Sharon Beach Nature Reserve, near Gaash, Israel, Monday, Feb. 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli soldiers wearing protective suits listen to a briefing ahead of cleanup operations to remove tar from a beach after an oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea At Sharon Beach Nature Reserve, near Gaash, Israel, Monday, Feb. 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
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Israeli Court Slaps 7-day Gag Order on Oil Spill

Israeli soldiers wearing protective suits listen to a briefing ahead of cleanup operations to remove tar from a beach after an oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea At Sharon Beach Nature Reserve, near Gaash, Israel, Monday, Feb. 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli soldiers wearing protective suits listen to a briefing ahead of cleanup operations to remove tar from a beach after an oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea At Sharon Beach Nature Reserve, near Gaash, Israel, Monday, Feb. 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A Haifa court slapped a seven-day gag order on the investigation into the source of a huge oil leak that has polluted Israel’s entire Mediterranean coast with tar.

The ruling by the Haifa Magistrate’s Court came at the request of the Environmental Protection Ministry, which is probing the spill.

The order prohibits publishing any details that may identify suspects, vessels, relevant ports, cargo and shipping lines, according to The Times of Israel.

The Environmental Protection Ministry secured satellite images, dated February 11, of a suspicious black patch on the sea surface some 50 kilometers (31 miles) off the coast and footage showing 10 ships that were in the area around that time.

Maya Jacobs, who heads the Zalul marine protection organization, reacted to the court order by saying, “When those active in the sea and creating the dangers of spills are wealthy oil and shipping companies with influence over regulators, Zalul demands a transparent investigation and the removal of the order.”

Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel pledged that authorities would use every means possible to locate whoever was responsible for the spill and prosecute.

She announced that she had agreed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on submitting a proposal for government approval on Monday for immediate funding for beach rehabilitation and advancement of legislation on preparedness for marine spills that should have been passed years ago.

Meanwhile, nine local authorities belonging to the Sharon Carmel Towns Association stopped cleanup work at contaminated beaches under their jurisdiction Monday, after the Finance Ministry refused to approve a program and budget submitted by the Environmental Protection Ministry.



Ukrainian Troops Have Engaged with North Korean Units for 1st Time in Russia, Official Says

The site of a Russian glide bomb strike on a residential area in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 04 November 2024, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
The site of a Russian glide bomb strike on a residential area in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 04 November 2024, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
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Ukrainian Troops Have Engaged with North Korean Units for 1st Time in Russia, Official Says

The site of a Russian glide bomb strike on a residential area in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 04 November 2024, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
The site of a Russian glide bomb strike on a residential area in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 04 November 2024, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)

Ukrainian troops have for the first time engaged with North Korean units that were recently deployed to help Russia in the war with its neighbor, Ukraine's defense minister said Tuesday.

Another Kyiv official said Ukraine's army fired artillery at North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk border region.

The comments were the first official reports that Ukrainian and North Korean forces have engaged in combat, following a deployment that has given the war a new complexion as it approaches its 1,000-day milestone.

Neither claim could be independently confirmed.

The Ukrainian and North Korean troops engaged in “small-scale” fighting that amounted to the start of Pyongyang’s direct involvement in Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told South Korea’s public broadcaster KBS in an interview.

North Korean soldiers are mixed with Russian troops and are misidentified on their uniforms, Umerov was quoted as saying by KBS. That makes it hard to say whether there were any North Korean casualties, he said.

Umerov reportedly said he expects that five North Korean units, each consisting of about 3,000 soldiers, will be deployed to the Kursk area.

Meanwhile, Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation branch of Ukraine’s Security Council, said “the first North Korean troops have already been shelled, in the Kursk region.”

He provided no further details.

Western governments had expected that the North Korean soldiers would be sent to Russia’s Kursk border region, where a three-month-old incursion by the Ukrainian army is the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II and has embarrassed the Kremlin.

US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments say up to 12,000 North Korean combat troops are being sent by Pyongyang to the war under a pact with Moscow.

The Pentagon said Monday that at least 10,000 North Korean soldiers were in Russia near Ukraine’s border.

More troops from North Korea’s 1.3-million-strong army may be slated for deployment in Russia, according to an analysis published Tuesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations, an international think tank.

The ramifications extend far beyond Europe, it said.

“Despite integration challenges — including communication barriers and differing military doctrines — the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia represents a significant shift in European and Asian security relations,” the analysis said. “For the first time in generations, troops from East Asia are actively engaging in a European conflict.”

The North Korean troops, whose fighting quality and battle experience is unknown, are adding to Ukraine’s worsening situation on the battlefield.

Ukrainian defenses, especially in the eastern Donetsk region, are buckling under the strain of Russia’s costly but relentless monthslong onslaught.

Russian advances have recently accelerated, with battlefield gains of up to 9 kilometers (more than 5 miles) in some parts of Donetsk, the UK Defense Ministry said Tuesday on the social platform X.

It said Russia has superior troop numbers, and despite heavy casualties the Kremlin’s recruitment drive is providing enough new troops to keep up the pressure.

Russia has held the battlefield initiative in Ukraine for the past year. Ukrainian officials have long complained that Western military support takes too long to arrive in the country.

In early October, Russian forces drove Ukrainian troops out of Vuhledar, a town perched atop a tactically significant hill in eastern Ukraine.

It was part of a key belt of Ukrainian defenses in the east. Russia’s next targets likely are the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk and the strategically important city of Chasiv Yar.

In the meantime, Russia has kept up its long-range aerial attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine, authorities say.

A Tuesday morning attack on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia killed six people and injured 23 others, regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.

The head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andrii Yermak, said the Russian attacks “must be stopped with strong action.”

“A stronger position by (Ukraine’s Western) allies is needed,” he wrote on Telegram.