RAMALLAH: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel and the US were responsible for an attack that killed dozens in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, but the Western-backed leader also blamed Hamas for the continuing war in Gaza.
His comments signal rising tension between Abbas’s Fatah faction and the Islamist Hamas group, which accused the Palestinian president of taking Israel’s side.
Israel said the attack was aimed at killing the Hamas military chief Mohammad Deif and his aide. It remained unclear whether Deif or his deputy were killed in the strike that left at least 90 Palestinians dead and 300 wounded, according to Gaza health ministry.
“The Palestinian presidency condemns the slaughter and holds the Israeli government fully responsible, also the US administration that provides all kinds of support to the occupation and its crimes,” said Abbas in a statement published by his office.
But Abbas, whose authority maintains a limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, assigned some blame to Hamas, whose Oct 7 attack inside Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others were abducted, kicked off the nine-month war in Gaza.
“The presidency sees that by escaping national unity, and providing free pretexts to the occupation state, the Hamas movement is a partner in bearing legal, moral and political responsibility for the continuation of the Israeli war of genocide in Gaza Strip,” the statement said.
Hamas has run Gaza since its 2007 takeover of the coastal territory from Abbas loyalists.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters Abbas’s statement meant the Palestinian Authority “has chosen to be in the same trench with the occupation.”
“Such an attitude will not succeed in blackmailing the resistance or pressuring it,” said Abu Zuhri.
Efforts by Arab mediators, led by Egypt, have so far failed to reconcile power struggles between the two sides.
Another Hamas leader, Basem Naim, who took part in previous reconciliation talks with Abbas’s Fatah faction, said Abbas was to blame for the failure to reach a unity deal.
Naim said Abbas’s comments made him and his authority “partner to the Zioinist enemy and its crimes not only in Gaza but also in all of the Palestinian land.”
Palestinian president Abbas blames Hamas for continuing war in Gaza
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Palestinian president Abbas blames Hamas for continuing war in Gaza
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- His comments signal rising tension between Abbas’s Fatah faction and the Islamist Hamas group
American Airlines suspends flights to Israel until April 2025
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- Several international airlines have either halted flights to Tel Aviv or rerouted to avoid airspace affected by Israel's war with Hamas and Hezbollah
LONDON: American Airlines announced the suspension of all flights to and from Israel until April 2025, citing heightened fears of regional instability, according to a report by the official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday.
The decision reflected broader concerns over potential escalation in the Middle East, which have led several international airlines to either halt flights to Tel Aviv or reroute to avoid affected airspace.
Among the airlines that have suspended flights are Delta Air Lines, EasyJet, Ryanair, Lufthansa Group, United Airlines, Aegean Airlines, airBaltic, Air India, Air France-KLM, Cathay Pacific, Tarom, Vueling, and ITA Airways.
In contrast, El Al Israel Airlines, which has maintained its operations, reported a nearly 150% increase in profits on Thursday, benefiting from its near-monopoly status as foreign carriers pull out.
The Israeli national airline has faced criticism from customers both domestically and internationally, who accuse it of price-gouging amid the ongoing crisis.
Biden says Gaza ceasefire ‘still possible’
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WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said Sunday that a Gaza ceasefire remained a possibility, despite Israel and Hamas trading blame as top diplomat Antony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv to push a deal.
Biden told reporters after spending the weekend at his Camp David retreat that talks were still underway and that “we’re not giving up,” adding that an accord was “still possible.”
Russia says US-led coalition’s jet came “dangerously” close to its plane in Syria
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- “The Russian crew, demonstrating high professionalism, promptly took the necessary measures to prevent a collision”
MOSCOW: A fighter-bomber jet of the US-led coalition in Syria came “dangerously” close to a Russian surveillance aircraft over Homs province on Sunday, Russia’s TASS state news agency reported, citing a Russian military official in the Middle Eastern country.
The US has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in neighboring Iraq on a mission to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of Daesh, which in 2014 seized large swaths of both countries but was later pushed back.
“A coalition F/A-18 fighter-bomber came into dangerous contact with an An-30 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which was carrying out a scheduled flight in Syrian airspace,” TASS quoted Captain Oleg Ignasyuk, deputy head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, as saying.
“The Russian crew, demonstrating high professionalism, promptly took the necessary measures to prevent a collision.”
The incident took place over the Al-Tanf region of Homs, TASS said.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the report.
The US Department of Defense has not immediately responded to Reuters’ request for comment.
The United States has a military base in Syria’s Al-Tanf region across the border from Jordan.
US Centcom says it destroyed one Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicle in Yemen
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CAIRO: US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Sunday its forces successfully destroyed one Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicle in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen.
The Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched repeated drone and missile strikes on ships they perceive as bound to or related to Israel or the United States since November to show their support for the Palestinians in the Gaza war.
From paradise to hell: Aegean village stunned after Turkiye fire
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- At least 43 buildings were damaged in Izmir, while 26 people were hospitalized with injuries related to the blaze
SANCAKLI, Turkiye: A picturesque village perched high on the slopes of hills offered a stunning sea panorama on Turkiye’s western coast — until the engulfing flames turned the scene from paradise to a nightmare.
Fires have ripped through forests and steep valleys around Turkiye’s third most-populous city Izmir in recent days.
Abdullah Ozata was desperate to see the scale of the damage when he returned to his nearby village of Sancakli, one of the areas where residents were evacuated to avoid the rushing flames.
“Twelve of my sheep and 50 chickens have perished in the blaze” that roared across the landscape, he told AFP, while showing the remains of burnt animals, turned into ash.
“I lost all my livestock,” the 43-year-old lamented as he walked among the debris. “I neither have another job nor another source of income.”
Two officials from the finance ministry photographed the damage and recorded Ozata’s loss for the compensation claim.
“The gendarmerie evacuated us against the human loss but I lost my animals,” he said.
“Our village was pretty, it was like a paradise, but it has turned into a hell.”
After four days of raging flames spread by strong winds, the fire has largely been brought under control, authorities said Sunday.
But the fire — the biggest Turkiye has seen yet this summer — has left huge areas of charred and blackened land, destroying olive trees, gardens and beehives.
At least 43 buildings were damaged in Izmir, while 26 people were hospitalized with injuries related to the blaze.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said that efforts to douse hotspots were continuing but that the flames were now largely controlled in one place.
Gokhan Cekmez was evacuated during the fire, but defied official orders to slip back into the village through a river in an effort to battle the flames.
“I played hide-and-seek with the gendarmerie, and without me and other villagers, the scale of the damage would have been much more serious,” the 35-year-old said.
“The outside help was not enough. We tried hard to put out the fire with pots and plates.”
In Sancakli the water was just beginning to run again on Sunday, after pipes were burned by the blaze, and authorities were still repairing the electricity cables damaged by the fire.
Local administrator Ilhan Kaya said agriculture and animal breeding were the only source of income for the 200-strong village.
“The villagers have to survive with the help of the state for at least six months, we will wait for the burned areas to turn green,” Kaya said.
Gulhan Arasa, wearing a flowered headscarf on the terrace of her three-story house, was still haunted by the nightmare of the fire.
“I wish authorities would let me (help), even though I am a woman, I would take a hose and work to extinguish the fire,” she said.
“We were panicked when we were besieged by the flames that literally spread in seconds,” she said.
Arasa and her family, who rely on animal husbandry for their income, managed to keep around 100 sheep and goats in their shelter during the fire.
“Thank God, they’re all alive. We didn’t let them out because we were circled by the flames,” she said.
But other than that, she said, “everything has turned to ashes.”
“We expect the state to cover our losses. We want new saplings to be planted instead of our burnt saplings, we want trees to be planted instead of our burning trees.”
“God will help, the soil will renew itself, but when? I don’t know.”