MORE THAN 100,000 CHILDREN HAVE BEEN DISPLACED BY THE LATEST ESCALATION IN EASTERN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, UNICEF SAID ON SUNDAY, WARNING THE NUMBERS ARE EXPECTED TO RISE AS VIOLENCE SPREADS.(PHOTO).

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 More than 100,000 children have been displaced by the latest escalation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, UNICEF said on Sunday, warning the numbers are expected to rise as violence spreads. Since Dec. 1, intense fighting has uprooted more than 500,000 people, with children accounting for over 100,000 of those displaced in South Kivu alone, the UN agency said in a statement released Sunday. It said since Dec. 2, hundreds have been killed in the fighting, and children have been among the victims, with four students killed, six injured, and at least seven schools attacked or damaged. The rapid escalation has forced hundreds of thousands of children and families to flee within Congo and into neighboring Burundi and Rwanda, it added. Many people fleeing the violence have crossed into Burundi, with over 50,000 new arrivals reported between Dec. 6 and 11, nearly half of them children, UNICEF said, adding that the numbers are expected to rise as more displaced are identified. “Chi...

ISRAEL KILLS SENIOR HAMAS COMMANDER DESPITE CEASE-FIRE. (PHOTO).


Israel kills senior Hamas commander despite cease-fire

The Israeli military said Saturday that it carried out a targeted strike in Gaza, killing Raed Saad, a senior commander in Hamas’s Qassam Brigades. The strike marks the most high-profile assassination of a top Hamas figure since a cease-fire took effect two months ago.

Israeli authorities said Saad played a key role in planning the October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, which triggered the two-year war in Gaza. Hamas has not confirmed his death, calling the strike a “further criminal breach of the cease-fire agreement,” and often taking weeks or months to verify casualties among senior members.

A veteran of Hamas, Saad had risen to become the armed wing’s second-in-command and had been operating from tunnels beneath Gaza City. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the defense minister personally ordered the strike in response to an earlier explosive device that wounded two Israeli soldiers. The attack targeted a car on Gaza’s coastal road, killing four people whose bodies were taken to Al Shifa Hospital, though identities have not been confirmed.

The assassination could destabilize the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas, which has already been tested by repeated violence. The cease-fire, brokered in mid-October, saw the release of the last 20 hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Despite the agreement, more than 300 Palestinians, including children, have been killed in Israeli attacks, and at least three Israeli soldiers have died in combat since the truce began.

International mediators, including President Trump, have pushed for the next phase of the cease-fire, which would involve Hamas disarming and Israel fully withdrawing from Gaza. Hamas, however, views relinquishing its weapons as surrender, while Netanyahu has warned that disarmament will occur by force if it is not done voluntarily.


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