Israel orders evacuations in northern Gaza as Trump calls for war to end

By Nidal Al-Mughrabi Reuters  The Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate areas in northern Gaza on Sunday before intensified fighting against  Hamas , as U.S. President Donald Trump called for an end to the  war  amid renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire. “Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,”  Trump  posted on his Truth Social platform early on Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold talks later in the day on the progress of Israel’s offensive. A senior security official said the military will tell him the campaign is close to reaching its objectives, and warn that expanding fighting to new areas in Gaza may endanger the remaining Israeli hostages. But in a statement posted on X and text messages sent to many residents, the military urged people in northern parts of the enclave to head south towards the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis, which Israel designated as a humanitarian area. Palestinian and U.N. offi...

Militia kills at least 23 people in eastern Congo village attacks

By Yassin Kombi and Erikas Mwisi Kambale Reuters

 A militia killed at least 23 people in attacks on several villages in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri province in recent days, local authorities said on Saturday.

The Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO) group, one of many armed groups operating in the conflict-ridden east, carried out the killings in Djugu territory on Thursday and Friday, two local community leaders told Reuters.

“Most of the victims were killed with machetes, but those who tried to flee were shot. In all these villages, people’s belongings were taken, houses were burnt down,” said Vital Tungulo, president of Djugu’s Nyali-Kilo community.

The motive for the attacks was not clear but militia violence in Congo is linked to long-running competition for influence and the region’s rich mineral resources.

The human rights situation in Ituri has deteriorated since the beginning of the year as CODECO carries out more attacks, the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) said in a report published in March.

The army spokesperon in Ituri, Jules Ngongo Tshikudi, confirmed the attacks, describing them as unacceptable.

CODECO and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), another militia, are responsible for most civilian killings in eastern DRC, according to a report by the U.N. peacekeeping mission released in March.

It was not possible to reach CODECO for comment on the latest attacks.

Local resident and community leader Daniel Anikumu said they had started burying those killed, including the burial of 11 people in a mass grave in the village of Gangala.



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/eFbHA57

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