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Hamas Official Says Ceasefire Needed before Hostages Can be Freed

Russia’s deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov meets Hamas delegation in Moscow. 
Russia’s deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov meets Hamas delegation in Moscow. 
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Hamas Official Says Ceasefire Needed before Hostages Can be Freed

Russia’s deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov meets Hamas delegation in Moscow. 
Russia’s deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov meets Hamas delegation in Moscow. 

Hamas said it cannot release hostages seized during its attack on Israel until a ceasefire is agreed, the Russian newspaper Kommersant quoted a member of a Hamas delegation visiting Moscow as saying.

It quoted Abu Hamid as saying Hamas needed time to locate all of those who had been taken from Israel to Gaza by various Palestinian factions in a Hamas attack on Oct. 7.
"They seized dozens of people, most of them civilians, and we need time to find them in the Gaza Strip and then release them," Hamid said, Reuters reported.
Kommersant quoted him as saying a calm environment was needed to complete this task. Hamas said on Thursday around 50 of the hostages had been killed in Israeli air strikes.
Israel has urged Russia to expel the visiting Hamas delegation, calling their invitation to Moscow "deplorable".

Earlier on Thursday, Iranian and Hamas representatives arrived in Moscow to hold talks for the first time in three weeks since the war broke out between Israel and Hamas on October 7.

The deputy foreign minister of Iran, Ali Bagheri Kani, also visited Moscow on October 26, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing without giving further details.

“Hamas” said that its delegation in Moscow stressed the right of the Palestinian people to “resist” Israel in all possible means.

In a statement, the movement added that the delegation urged the international community to bear responsibility for the “genocide” committed by Israel.

The delegation led by Musa Abu Marzouk, head of the group’s International Relations Office, met Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov at the Russian foreign ministry headquarters in Moscow.

Hamas representatives showcased the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip and ways to stop what they described as US and West-backed “crimes”. They said they had told Bogdanov that they “highly valued Putin’s position and the efforts of Russian diplomacy”.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said later in a statement that it discussed the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip and the evacuation of foreigners, including Russian nationals, with a Hamas delegation.

Moscow affirmed its support for implementing the international community resolutions, which stipulate the establishment of the State of Palestine with full sovereignty and independence based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the coexistence in peace and security with Israel.

For his part, Bogdanov expressed his country’s support to the Palestinians and showcased Moscow’s efforts with relevant parties to reach a ceasefire, open crossings, and enter humanitarian aid.

Putin warned on Wednesday that there are attempts to bring other countries into the conflict in the Middle East and “launch a real wave of chaos”.

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Floods Displace 122,000 People in Malaysia

File photo: People walk past cars partially submerged in floodwaters in Shah Alam, Selangor on December 21, 2021, as Malaysia faces massive floods that have left at least 14 dead and more than 70,000 displaced. (AFP)
File photo: People walk past cars partially submerged in floodwaters in Shah Alam, Selangor on December 21, 2021, as Malaysia faces massive floods that have left at least 14 dead and more than 70,000 displaced. (AFP)
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Floods Displace 122,000 People in Malaysia

File photo: People walk past cars partially submerged in floodwaters in Shah Alam, Selangor on December 21, 2021, as Malaysia faces massive floods that have left at least 14 dead and more than 70,000 displaced. (AFP)
File photo: People walk past cars partially submerged in floodwaters in Shah Alam, Selangor on December 21, 2021, as Malaysia faces massive floods that have left at least 14 dead and more than 70,000 displaced. (AFP)

More than 122,000 people have been forced out of their homes as massive floods caused by relentless rains swept through Malaysia's northern states, disaster officials said Saturday.
The number surpassed the 118,000 displaced during one of the country's worst floodings in 2014, and disaster officials feared it could rise further as there was no let-up in torrential downpours.
The death toll remained at four recorded across Kelantan, Terengganu and Sarawak.
Kelantan state bore the brunt of the flooding, accounting for 63 percent of the 122,631 people displaced, according to data from the National Disaster Management Agency.
There were nearly 35,000 people evacuated in Terengganu, with the rest of the displacements reported from seven other states.
Heavy rains, which began early this week, continued to hammer Pasir Puteh town in Kelantan, where people could be seen walking through streets inundated with hip-deep waters.
"My area has been flooded since Wednesday. The water has already reached my house corridor and is just two inches away from coming inside," Pasir Puteh resident and school janitor Zamrah Majid, 59, told AFP.
"Luckily, I moved my two cars to a higher ground before the water level rose."
She said she allowed her grandchildren to play in the water in front of his house because it was still shallow.
"But if the water gets higher, it would be dangerous, I'm afraid they might get swept away," she added.
"I haven't received any assistance yet, whether it's welfare or other kinds of help."
Muhammad Zulkarnain, 27, who is living with his parents in Pasir Puteh, said they were isolated.
"There's no way in or out of for any vehicles to enter my neighbourhood," he told AFP.
"Of course I'm scared... Luckily we have received some assistance from NGOs, they gave us food supplies like biscuits, instant noodles, and eggs."
Floods are an annual phenomenon in the Southeast Asian nation of 34 million people due to the northeast monsoon that brings heavy rain from November to March.
Thousands of emergency services personnel have been deployed in flood-prone states along with rescue boats, four-wheel-drive vehicles and helicopters, said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who chairs the National Disaster Management Committee.