Hamas Names 6 Hostages it Will Release on Saturday

FILE PHOTO: People walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo
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Hamas Names 6 Hostages it Will Release on Saturday

FILE PHOTO: People walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo

The armed wing of militant group Hamas said on Friday it will release Israeli hostages Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Tal Shoham, Omer Wenkert, Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengisto on Saturday.
Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengisto are civilians, who entered Gaza a decade ago and have been held there since.

Hamas also said on Friday it would look into the possibility of an error or that human remains were mixed due to Israeli airstrikes, after the Israeli military said one of the bodies released by Hamas on Thursday did not belong to any of the hostages held in Gaza.
The group's official statement echoed that of one earlier from the group's Gaza government media office director Ismail Al-Thawabta.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would make Hamas pay for failing to release the body of hostage Shiri Bibas as agreed, in the latest potential threat to the month-old Gaza ceasefire.
Israeli specialists said one of four bodies handed over by Hamas on Thursday was an unidentified woman and not Bibas.
Netanyahu accused Hamas of acting "in an unspeakably cynical manner" by placing the body of a Gaza woman in the coffin instead of Bibas, who was kidnapped along with her two sons, Kfir and Ariel, and her husband, Yarden, during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The bodies of Kfir and Ariel were among those handed over and identified.
"We will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages - both living and dead - and ensure Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement," Netanyahu said in a video statement.
Al-Thawabta said Shiri Bibas' remains appear to have been mixed with other human remains after being buried in the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike.
"Netanyahu himself issued the orders for the direct and merciless bombing, and he bears full responsibility for killing her and her children," he said in a statement.



EU Condemns Israel's West Bank Control Measures

The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)
The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)
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EU Condemns Israel's West Bank Control Measures

The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)
The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)

The European Union on Monday condemned new Israeli measures to tighten control of the West Bank and pave the way for more settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, AFP reported.

"The European Union condemns recent decisions by Israel's security cabinet to expand Israeli control in the West Bank. This move is another step in the wrong direction," EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni told journalists.


Atrocities in Sudan's El-Fasher Were 'Preventable Human Rights Catastrophe'

Sudanese displaced people who left El Fasher after its fall, sit in the shade in Tawila at the Rwanda camp reception point on December 17, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese displaced people who left El Fasher after its fall, sit in the shade in Tawila at the Rwanda camp reception point on December 17, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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Atrocities in Sudan's El-Fasher Were 'Preventable Human Rights Catastrophe'

Sudanese displaced people who left El Fasher after its fall, sit in the shade in Tawila at the Rwanda camp reception point on December 17, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese displaced people who left El Fasher after its fall, sit in the shade in Tawila at the Rwanda camp reception point on December 17, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

The atrocities unleashed on El-Fasher in Sudan's Darfur region last October were a "preventable human rights catastrophe", the United Nations said Monday, warning they now risked being repeated in the neighbouring Kordofan region.

 

"My office sounded the alarm about the risk of mass atrocities in the besieged city of El-Fasher for more than a year ... but our warnings were ignored," UN rights chief Volker Turk told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

 

He added that he was now "extremely concerned that these violations and abuses may be repeated in the Kordofan region".

 

 

 

 


Arab League Condemns Israel's Decisions to Alter Legal, Administrative Status of West Bank

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
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Arab League Condemns Israel's Decisions to Alter Legal, Administrative Status of West Bank

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)

The General Secretariat of the Arab League strongly condemned decisions by Israeli occupation authorities to impose fundamental changes on the legal and administrative status of the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly in the West Bank, describing them as a dangerous escalation and a flagrant violation of international law, international legitimacy resolutions, and signed agreements, SPA reported.

In a statement, the Arab League said the measures include facilitating the confiscation of private Palestinian property and transferring planning and licensing authorities in the city of Hebron and the area surrounding the Ibrahimi Mosque to occupation authorities.

It warned of the serious repercussions of these actions on the rights of the Palestinian people and on Islamic and Christian holy sites.

The statement reaffirmed the Arab League’s firm support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them the establishment of their independent state on the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.