International
At least 40 dead and 150 injured by Israeli fire in Gaza during the last day
At least 40 Gazans died and another 150 were injured in the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health of the enclave, controlled by Hamas.
241 days from the start of the Israeli Army operation in this Palestinian territory, the total death toll amounts to 36,479, while the injured reach 82,777, with the majority of victims (about 70%) being women and children.
In addition, the ministry recalled that more than 10,000 bodies are still buried under the rubble, without ambulances or rescue teams being able to access them.
After eight months of war and with a new offer of hostage exchange and ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on the table, the Army maintains its military operation in Gaza and concentrates its attacks this Monday in Rafah and Jan Yunis, south of the devastated Palestinian enclave, and in Gaza City, to the north.
Precisely in the Jan Yunis area, the Palestinian agency Wafa reported on a military incursion in the vicinity of the European Hospital, in the Jan Yunis area.
In addition, the Gaza government office warned this Sunday that more than 3,500 children under the age of five are at risk of “starving” since Israel “for the fourth consecutive week prevents the entry of humanitarian aid including food, milk, nutritional supplements and deprives them of their vaccines.”
“These children suffer from malnutrition to an advanced degree that has affected the structure of their bodies, which in fact exposes them to the risk of contracting infectious diseases that destroy their lives, delay their growth and threaten their survival,” the office denounced in a statement in which it recalls that at least 17,000 minors live without their families.
For its part, the Israeli Army said in a statement on Monday that in the last few hours, its fighter planes “attacked more than 50 targets” in the Strip, including infrastructure, weapons storage facilities and military structures.
He also assures that in the center of the enclave they managed to identify several fighters “in a sniper post” and that their planes killed several of them.
Likewise, “the ground troops eliminated a rocket operation from Hamas in the center of the Strip.”
In Rafah, the Army reported the discovery of “RPG missiles,” anti-tank weapons of Russian origin, during the attack on a military structure carried out according to “information from its intelligence.”
As estimated yesterday by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), its 36 shelters in Rafah are empty, after about 1.7 million people have been forcibly displaced to Jan Yunis and central areas of Gaza.
“The humanitarian space continues to be reduced,” denounced the humanitarian organization, which again called for an immediate ceasefire after almost eight months of Israeli attacks and bombings in which more than 36,400 Gaza s were killed – mostly women and children – according to data from the Ministry of Health.
The Israeli Army also announced on Monday that it had found the remains of a compatriot killed in the attack in Hamas on October 7, in the vicinity of the Kibbutz of Nir Oz, near the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
“After a scientific identification and an exhaustive analysis by the Army, in coordination with experts in anthropology, Dolev Yehud’s body was found in the Nir Oz Kibbutz,” a military statement detailed today.
New scientific identification tests, along with information on the location of the remains, confirmed that it was the previously unidentified body of this 35-year-old Israeli.
Dolev Yehud, a resident of this agricultural community and father of four children, was a paramedic of United Hatzalah and the Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom. During the attacks of October 7, he left his home in an attempt to save lives, according to the military note.
In recent weeks, the Israeli Army has recovered the lifeless bodies of at least seven hostages in raids in the Gaza Strip, all killed in the October 7 attacks in Hamas.
Of the more than 250 kidnapped that day, about 120 captives remain in the enclave; 40 of them dead according to Israel, more than 70 says Hamas.
International
Mexico requests extradition of ‘Mini Lic’ for murder of journalist Javier Valdez
The Mexican government has requested the extradition of Dámaso López Serrano, a former high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel, who is accused of masterminding the 2017 murder of Mexican journalist Javier Valdez, the Attorney General’s Office announced on Tuesday.
López Serrano, known as “Mini Lic,” was arrested last Friday in Virginia, United States, on charges of fentanyl trafficking, a crime he committed while on parole.
“This is the key issue for us, he [López Serrano] is the mastermind of this murder. The rest of the perpetrators are already processed and in jail, he was the one missing,” said Attorney General Alejandro Gertz.
“We immediately made the extradition request,” the official added during the routine morning press conference of President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Valdez, an award-winning reporter specializing in drug trafficking and correspondent for AFP and the newspaper La Jornada, was murdered on May 15, 2017, in front of the office of his magazine Riodoce in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state.
“Mini Lic” was originally arrested in 2017 when he voluntarily turned himself in to U.S. authorities and pleaded guilty to trafficking methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine. In 2022, he was released on parole.
Gertz confirmed that the Mexican Attorney General’s Office had requested López Serrano’s extradition “countless times,” but Washington had declined to act on the request because he had become a “protected witness” for the U.S. government and “was providing a lot of information.”
“Now, with this situation where they themselves are acknowledging that this individual is still committing crimes, I think there are more than enough reasons for them to support us,” the prosecutor added.
The Sinaloa Cartel is one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in Mexico and was founded by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who is serving a life sentence in the United States.
Culiacán has been shaken by a wave of murders since the arrest of Ismael “Mayo” Zambada, another key leader of the cartel alongside Guzmán, on July 25 in New Mexico, United States.
International
Cuba’s government stresses openness to serious, respectful U.S. relations
Cuba reiterated on Tuesday its willingness to engage in dialogue with the United States, just weeks before Republican President Donald Trump assumes office. During his first term, Trump halted the historic rapprochement between the two countries, which had been initiated just ten years earlier by Democrat Barack Obama.
“It will not be Cuba that proposes or takes the initiative to suspend the existing dialogues, to suspend the existing cooperation. Not even the discreet exchanges on some sensitive issues,” said Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernández de Cossío at a press conference in Havana.
“We will be attentive to the attitude of the new government, but Cuba’s stance will remain the same as it has been for the last 64 years. We are willing to develop a serious, respectful relationship with the United States, one that protects the sovereign interests of both countries,” he added.
His statements come on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the historic rapprochement announcement between Washington and Havana.
On December 17, 2014, Cuban leader Raúl Castro (2006-2021) and Barack Obama (2008-2016) announced the beginning of a thaw in relations, which led to the restoration of diplomatic ties in 2015, after more than half a century of confrontation.
This process of thawing bilateral relations was later halted by businessman Donald Trump, who significantly reinforced economic sanctions against the communist-ruled country. The Republican will return to the White House on January 20.
Cuba, under a U.S. trade embargo since 1962, was re-listed in 2021 on the “blacklist of countries supporting terrorism,” blocking financial and economic flows to the island of 10 million inhabitants.
Subsequently, the administration of current Democratic President Joe Biden made only slight adjustments to the sanctions and also kept Cuba on this list. However, his administration resumed bilateral contacts with Havana on migration issues and the fight against terrorism.
International
Mexican government to use church atriums for gun surrender program to combat violence
The atriums of Mexican Catholic churches will be used for the voluntary surrender of weapons in exchange for economic and legal incentives as part of a plan announced on Tuesday by the government to reduce violence.
According to the Mexican government, there is a link between the illegal trafficking of weapons—almost entirely coming from the United States—and the spiral of criminal violence that has plagued the country since late 2006, when a controversial military anti-drug offensive was launched.
“The idea is to set up areas in the church atriums where people can voluntarily surrender their weapons, and in return, they will receive financial resources based on the weapon they are turning in,” explained President Claudia Sheinbaum during her regular press conference.
The left-wing leader emphasized that the program, called “Yes to Disarmament, Yes to Peace,” guarantees that those who surrender their weapons will not face any “investigation.”
“What we want is to disarm. This will be implemented next year. We also did it in Mexico City, and it had significant results,” added the former mayor of the capital, with a population of 9.2 million.
The disarmament plan is part of the government’s “comprehensive security strategy,” one of whose pillars is promoting a culture of peace, especially in regions severely affected by organized crime violence, Sheinbaum pointed out.
More than 450,000 people have been murdered in Mexico since the government launched its military-led anti-drug operation, alongside about 100,000 people who have gone missing.
Despite being a secular state, the Mexican Catholic Church has played a key role in efforts to contain violence, with priests acting as mediators between citizens and criminals. Several clergy members have been killed for this cause.
Just last week, the Catholic hierarchy called on cartels to declare a truce in their violent actions during the celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe on December 12 and the upcoming Christmas holidays.
Mexico requests extradition of ‘Mini Lic’ for murder of journalist Javier Valdez
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