Friday, Dec 27th
Last update09:27:41 AM GMT
International Glance
A discrepancy in the official Israeli account of Yahya Sinwar’s final moments has emerged since his death which appears likely to add fuel to the martyr’s cult fast developing around the Hamas leader.
The Israeli autopsy carried out on Sinwar concluded that he died from a gunshot wound to his head, at odds with the initial Israel Defense Forces (IDF) version which implied he was killed by a tank shell fired into the wrecked building where he made his last stand.
Ukraine struck a manufacturer of military explosives deep inside Russian territory overnight, as well as storage infrastructure at a military airfield in the Lipetsk region, Kyiv's General Staff said in a statement on Sunday.
A Mexican Catholic priest was killed on Sunday in the southern state of Chiapas after officiating a mass, his religious order and authorities said, marking the latest death in a recent wave of violence in the area.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 73 people, including women and children, in the city of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, the strip's Hamas-run authorities say.
Dozens of others are injured and many are still trapped under the rubble after the bombing late on Saturday night, officials added.
Israel said it was checking reports of casualties but said the figures published by Hamas authorities were "exaggerated" and did not match information held by its military.
The latest strikes come just hours after reports of "heavy gunfire" from Israeli troops at the Indonesian Hospital in the city.
G7 defence ministers pledged “unwavering support” for Ukraine at the grouping’s first ever ministerial meeting dedicated to defence. “We underscore our intent to continue to provide assistance to Ukraine, including military assistance in the short and long term,” read the G7 defence ministers’ final statement after the meeting in Naples. The statement also backed Kyiv’s “irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including Nato membership”.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pitched his “victory plan” to the EU and Nato but failed to get the immediate membership invitation he was calling for. Ukraine’s admission to Nato would make political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict impossible and lead to its escalation, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.
The U.S. is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel's plans to attack Iran, three U.S. officials told The Associated Press. A fourth U.S. official said the documents appear to be legitimate.
The documents are attributed to the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency and note that Israel continues to move military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran's blistering ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1. They were sharable within the “Five Eyes,” which are the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
A recent drone strike targeting the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sending “a signal” that Iran-backed militant groups are not “incapacitated,” despite losing senior leadership in recent weeks, according to a Middle East expert.
Daniel Levy, the president of the U.S./Middle East Project, in an interview with NewsNation Saturday, said he did not think the intention “necessarily was an extrajudicial killing of Netanyahu,” but the drone launch was a warning that Iran’s proxies — including Hamas and Hezbollah — are still formidable.
“It sends an important signal, doesn’t it,” Levy told “Morning in America” host Hena Doba on Saturday morning.
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