04/10/2025

SATURDAY | OCT 4, 2025

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Last Gaza flotilla vessel intercepted

GENEVA: Police confirmed that they sprayed tear gas on protesters in Geneva, Switzerland on Thursday evening as they marched in support of the Gaza flotilla. “We were retreating and suddenly got heavily gassed,” an eyewitness said describing a burning sensation in their eyes and difficulty breathing. Israel’s interception of the flotilla sparked protests in Geneva and Bern, as well as in Italy and Colombia. Israeli forces intercepted about 40 boats carrying aid and more than 400 foreign activists, including some Swiss nationals, and Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, to Gaza. A photo shared by an eyewitness in Geneva showed white smoke coming from a street filled with protesters, which they described as tear gas. A second eyewitness said they saw a large white vehicle spray water on the front line of protesters, which a video shared by the Swiss national broadcaster RTS also showed. Geneva police spokesperson Alexandre Brahier said around 3,000 people, mostly adults and young men, joined the protest. “We had to use control measures including tear gas and water cannons,” he said, adding that protesters were not carrying dangerous arms but were “throwing things”, causing some damage to property. Such confrontations are rare for Switzerland although pro-Gaza protests have been gathering momentum in recent weeks. – Reuters Cops use tear gas in Geneva protest Israeli strikes kill 52 in Palestine NUSEIRAT: The Gaza civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 52 people across Gaza on Thursday, including an employee of the French charity Doctors Without Borders. The agency, a rescue force which operates under Hamas authority, said the deaths were caused “by continuous Israeli bombardments on the Gaza Strip since dawn”, specifying that 10 people, including at least one child, were killed in Gaza City. Several hospitals confimed they had received 10 bodies in Gaza City, 14 in central Gaza, and 28 in the territory’s south. They reported that some were killed in air strikes, others by drone fire and shootings. The Israeli army said it was looking into the matter. The Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis reported nearly 30 deaths, including 14 killed by “Israeli gunfire” targeting Palestinians waiting for food rations at the Al-Tina and Morag areas. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah said it received nine bodies after several strikes on nearby areas. Among the dead was 42-year-old Omar al-Hayek, a Doctors Without Borders staff member. He was killed in a strike on a group of civilians in Deir al-Balah, according to the hospital and his family. “The attack took place on a street where our teams were waiting to take a bus to the Doctors Without Borders field hospital in Deir el-Balah, Gaza,”the charity said. “All staff were wearing vests identifying them as medical humanitarian workers,” it said, adding that four others were also wounded, one of whom was in a serious condition. – AFP

JERUSALEM: The organisers of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla said Israel intercepted its last remaining boat on Friday, after the interceptions of its fellow vessels drew protests worldwide. The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail last month, ferrying politicians and activists including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg towards Gaza, where the United Nations says famine is taking hold. The Israeli navy began intercepting the boats on Wednesday, and an Israeli official said the following day that boats with over 400 people on board had been prevented from reaching the Gaza Strip. Israel’s foreign ministry said Friday it deported four Italian activists who were among those iheld, adding that “the rest are in the process of being deported”. Israeli police said “more than 470 flotilla participants were taken into custody by military police, subjected to rigorous screening and transferred to the prison administration”. Authorities earlier said none of the vessels had breached its maritime blockade of the territory. “ Marinette , the last remaining boat of the Global Sumud Flotilla, was intercepted at 10:29 am (0729 GMT) local time, approximately 42.5 nautical miles from Gaza,” the flotilla organisers said on social media. Among those detained from the flotilla were more than 20 journalists, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), including reporters from Spain’s El Pais, Qatar’s Al Jazeera and Italy’s public broadcaster RAI. “Arresting journalists and preventing them from doing their work is a serious violation of the right to inform and be informed,” said RSF crisis desk head Martin Roux. Protesters around the world held rallies on Thursday condemning Israel’s interceptions and urging greater sanctions in response. WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration approved US$230 million for Lebanon’s security forces this week as they push to disarm the once powerful armed group Hezbollah, sources in Washington and Beirut said. A Lebanese source familiar with the decision said the funding included US$190 million for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and US$40 million for the Internal US WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has declared that the United States is engaged in “armed conflict” with drug cartels, his administration said in a notice sent to Congress after recent strikes on boats off Venezuela. The letter was designed as a legal justification for at least three recent strikes in international waters that have killed at least 14 people. The Trump administration has deployed several military vessels to the Caribbean Sea to counter drug

blockade on Gaza”. Hamas condemned the action by Israel of intercepting of the flotilla as a “crime of piracy and maritime terrorism”. Turkiye called the interception “an act of terrorism,” and on Thursday said it had opened an investigation after Israeli forces arrested Turkish citizens on board the flotilla. South Africa urged Israel to release the activists, who include Mandla Mandela, the grandson of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela. – AFP

o Four Italian activists deported, remaining crew being processed: Israel Foreign Ministry

flotilla, said she was “worried sick”. Protests also took place in Paris, Berlin, The Hague, Tunis, Brasilia and Buenos Aires. Rights group Amnesty International criticised Israel for blocking the flotilla, saying it was an “act of intimidation intended to punish and silence critics of Israel’s genocide and its unlawful

About 15,000 people marched in Barcelona, where the flotilla began its voyage, chanting slogans including “Gaza, you are not alone”, “Boycott Israel” and “Freedom for Palestine”. Hundreds also gathered outside the Irish parliament in Dublin, where Miriam McNally, whose daughter was sailing with the

A boy waves a Palestinian flag as protesters gather at the United States Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to condemn the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla by Israeli forces. – REUTERSPIC

US sends US$230m to Lebanon as it disarms Hezbollah

A White House official said the note was sent to Congress after one of the strikes on Sept 15, adding that it was legally mandated to do so after any attack involving the US military. “It does not convey any new information,” the official said. Tensions have mounted over the strikes and the US naval build-up. Venezuela said on Thursday it had detected “an illegal incursion” by five US fighter jets flying “75km from our shores”. – AFP implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701, the only viable framework for a durable security arrangement for both Lebanese and Israelis”. The resolution, adopted in August 2006, ended the last round of deadly conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. A conflict between Israel and Lebanon that began a year ago has battered Hezbollah and left swathes of Lebanon in ruins. – Reuters

boats allegedly loaded with drugs off the coast of Venezuela but experts have raised doubts about the legality of Washington’s actions. “As we have said many times, the president acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring (drugs) to our shores,” said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly. “He is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans.” slashing many foreign assistance programmes, saying that its priority in spending taxpayer dollars is “America First”. The release of the funds appeared to reflect the priority Trump has put on trying to resolve the conflict in Gaza and the wider region. A State Department spokesperson said US assistance supports Lebanese forces “as they work to assert Lebanese sovereignty across the country and fully

smugglers amid mounting tensions with Venezuela’s leftist President Nicolas Maduro. “The president determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organisations and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States,” the notice from the Pentagon said. The notice also describes suspected smugglers as “unlawful combatants”. The recent US strikes targeted Security Forces. Democratic US congressional aides said the funds had been released just before Washington’s fiscal year ended on Sept 30. “For a small country such as Lebanon, that is significant,” one of the aides said on a call with reporters, requesting anonymity in order to speak freely. The funding was released at a time when the Republican president’s administration has been

Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels