Gaza ceasefire deal now in sight, US envoy tells UN – Newstrends
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Gaza ceasefire deal now in sight, US envoy tells UN

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Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Representative of the US to the UN, speaks during a UNSC meeting on situation in the Middle East on August 22, 2024 in New York City. (AFP)

Gaza ceasefire deal now in sight, US envoy tells UN

UNITED NATIONS: A Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal “now is in sight,” the US envoy to the United Nations told the Security Council on Thursday, urging members to press Palestinian militant group Hamas to accept a bridging proposal agreed to by Israel.

Months of on-off talks have circled the same issues, but Israel and Hamas have stuck to their demands.

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said a bridging proposal put forward last week by the US, Qatar and Egypt was consistent with a plan outlined by President Joe Biden in May and endorsed by the Security Council in June.

“Israel has accepted the bridging proposal. Now Hamas must do the same,” she told the council. “As members of this council, we must speak with one voice, and we must use our leverage to press Hamas to accept the bridging proposal.”

Disagreements over Israel’s future military presence in Gaza and over Palestinian prisoner releases are obstructing a deal, sources familiar with talks told Reuters, stemming from demands Israel has introduced since Hamas accepted Biden’s May proposal.

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“It’s a decisive moment for ceasefire talks and for the region, and so every member of this council should continue to send strong messages to other actors in the region to avoid actions that would move us away from finalizing this deal,” said Thomas-Greenfield.

The conflict in Gaza put the entire Middle East region on edge, triggering months of border clashes between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, and threatening a wider escalation drawing in major powers.

Iran has also vowed retaliation over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, which it blamed on Israel. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied it was behind the killing.

“There’s very real danger of regional escalation,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “So let us do everything in our power to get this ceasefire and hostage release deal over the finish line now.”

The current war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel’s military has leveled swathes of the Palestinian enclave, driving nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing at least 40,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Gaza ceasefire deal now in sight, US envoy tells UN

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Miss Switzerland finalist reportedly strangled, dismembered by husband

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Miss Switzerland finalist reportedly strangled, dismembered by husband

A former Miss Switzerland finalist was allegedly str@ngled and dismembered with a jigsaw before being pureed in a blender by her husband.

The body of 38-year-old model Kristina Joksimovic was found back in February in Binningen, near Basel in Switzerland.

According to Mail Online, her husband, only named by pseudonym Thomas, 41, had an appeal for release from custody rejected today by the Federal Court in Lausanne after admitting to killing his wife.

An ongoing investigation concluded today there were ‘concrete indications of mental illness’ underlying the case. 

Kristina, the mother of their two children, was allegedly killed because she had previously come at him with a knife.

Another said the relationship had been ‘in crisis for months’, with police allegedly called out beforehand over reports of physical violence.

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Investigators have said Thomas, a businessman, showed a ‘conspicuously high level of criminal energy’ in their assessment.

They cited a ‘lack of empathy and cold-bloodedness after killing his wife’, and his efforts to cover up her d£ath, adding that the defendant had ‘sadistic-sociopathic traits’.

Prosecutors say that the defendant had previously strangled his wife before killing her, local outlet BZ Basel reports.

Investigators have said Thomas, a businessman, showed a ‘conspicuously high level of criminal energy’ in their assessment.

They cited a ‘lack of empathy and cold-bloodedness after killing his wife’, and his efforts to cover up her death, adding that the defendant had ‘sadistic-sociopathic traits’.

Prosecutors say that the defendant had previously strangled his wife before killing her, local outlet BZ Basel reports.

Kristina, a Binningen native with Serbian roots, had reportedly switched from modelling to becoming a catwalk coach. She also trained Miss Switzerland candidates to follow in her footsteps.

Miss Switzerland finalist reportedly strangled, dismembered by husband

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Israeli airstrikes hit UN school, homes in Gaza, 34 killed

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Palestinians inspect a school sheltering displaced people, after it was hit by an Israeli strike, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, on Sept. 11, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli airstrikes hit UN school, homes in Gaza, 34 killed

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight and Wednesday hit a UN school sheltering displaced Palestinian families as well as two homes, killing at least 34 people, including 19 women and children, hospital officials said.

The deadliest strike came Wednesday afternoon, targeting the UN’s Al-Jawni Preparatory Boys School in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas militants planning attacks from inside the school. The claim could not be independently confirmed.

At least 14 dead from the strike, including two children and a woman, were brought to Awda and Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospitals nearby, officials from the facilities said. At least 18 people were wounded in the strike, they said.

One of the children killed was the daughter of Momin Selmi, a member of Gaza’s civil defense agency, which works rescuing wounded and bodies after strikes, the agency said in a statement. Selmi hadn’t seen his daughter for 10 months, since he remained in north Gaza to keep working while his family fled south, the agency said.

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Tens of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by Israeli offensives and evacuation orders are living in Gaza’s schools. The Al-Jawni school, one of many in Gaza run by the UN agency for Palestinians UNWRA, has been hit by multiple strikes over the course of the war.

Israel frequently bombs schools, saying they are being used by Hamas militants. It blames Hamas for civilian casualties from its strikes, saying its fighters base themselves and operate within dense residential neighborhoods.

More than 90 percent of Gaza’s school buildings have been severely or partially damaged in strikes, and more than half the schools housing displaced people have been hit, according to a survey in July by the Education Cluster, a collection of aid groups led by UNICEF and Save the Children.

Israel’s 11-month-old campaign in Gaza has killed at least 41,084 Palestinians and wounded another 95,029, the territory’s Health Ministry said Wednesday. Israel launched its campaign vowing to destroy Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 250 others.

Earlier Wednesday, a strike hit a home near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, killing 11 people, including six brothers and sisters from the same family ranging in age from 21 months to 21 years old, according to the European Hospital, which received the casualties.

A strike late Tuesday on a home in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza killed nine people, including six women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and the civil defense. The civil defense said the home belonged to Akram Al-Najjar, a professor at the Al-Quds Open University, who survived the strike.

Israeli airstrikes hit UN school, homes in Gaza, 34 killed

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Nigerian nurse jailed three years in UK for causing her baby’s death

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Ruth Auta

Nigerian nurse jailed three years in UK for causing her baby’s death

Ruth Auta, a 28-year-old Nigerian nurse working in the United Kingdom, has been sentenced to three years in prison for neglect, following the tragic death of her ten-week-old baby, Joshua Akerele.

The incident occurred on December 20, 2022, when Auta left her infant son alone in her nurse’s accommodation for eight hours while she completed her shift at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

Upon returning home, Auta discovered Joshua unresponsive in his cot and immediately called emergency services, reporting that her baby was not breathing.

Despite resuscitation efforts by paramedics, Joshua was pronounced dead an hour after their arrival. Medical tests suggested that the baby may have overheated due to excessive layers of clothing and bedding.

Auta was subsequently charged with cruelty to a child and pleaded guilty at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on May 24, 2024. During the investigation, it was revealed that Auta had lied about the circumstances surrounding Joshua’s death.

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Although she initially told authorities that she had fed the baby and then fell asleep with him, CCTV footage showed Auta leaving and returning to her accommodation without Joshua, contradicting her story.

Further incriminating evidence came from text messages in which Auta instructed her childminder to falsely claim that she had been caring for Joshua on the day of the incident. The childminder later confirmed she had not seen the baby for several days.

On June 6, 2024, Auta was apprehended at Gatwick Airport while attempting to board a flight to Nigeria with a one-way ticket, further raising suspicions about her attempts to evade justice.

In her ruling, District Crown Prosecutor Sara Davie of CPS North West condemned Auta’s actions, stating, “Ruth Auta failed to provide the care her baby needed and chose to leave him alone. As a nurse, she should have been aware of the dangers of leaving her child unattended. Her attempts to evade justice further demonstrate her lack of remorse.”

The heartbreaking case has left many in shock, with calls for increased awareness about child safety and the responsibilities of caregivers.

Nigerian nurse jailed three years in UK for causing her baby’s death

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