International
Unicef warns that the military incursion in Rafah is “catastrophic” for thousands of children
UNICEF warned on Monday that one of Israel’s military incursion into Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, is “catastrophic” for 600,000 children who take refuge in the city, thousands of whom have a disability, medical condition or other vulnerability that puts them in even greater danger.
“Rafah is now a city of children who have no safe place to go in Gaza,” Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, said in a statement after the warning from the Israeli Army that ordered the evacuation of about 100,000 residents of Rafah in the face of the possibility of a military action.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), after the October evacuation orders to move south, it is estimated that there are now about 1.2 million refugees in Rafah, which was home for 250,000 people.
Another aspect to take into account, given the high concentration of children, – including many who are very vulnerable and on the verge of survival – as well as the probable intensity of violence, with possible evacuation corridors probably mined or full of unexploded ammunition and services in relocation areas that are most likely limited,
He said that military operations will cause a large number of civilian casualties and that the few basic services and infrastructures that remain and that they need to survive, will be totally destroyed.
“More than 200 days of war have taken an unimaginable price in children’s lives,” Russell said.
He also assured that if large-scale military operations are carried out, children will not only be at risk of suffering violence, but also chaos and panic, “at a time when their physical and mental states are already weakened.”
Killed and injured disproportionately, children suffer more acutely from interruptions in medical care, education and lack of access to sufficient food.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 14,000 children have died in the conflict that began on October 7.
UNICEF estimates that about 65,000 children have some pre-existing disabilities, including difficulties seeing, hearing, walking, understanding and learning; that about 78,000 are under two years of age and that, of them, almost 8,000 suffer from acute malnutrition.
In addition, about 175,000 children under the age of 5 (or 9 out of 10) are affected by one or more infectious diseases and almost all of them already need psychosocial and mental health support, said the organization, which called for an “immediate and lasting” humanitarian ceasefire, the release of the hostages and the end of any serious violation against children.
International
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
A 65-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested at a border checkpoint in Croatia after attempting to enter the country in his car with a deceased woman sitting as a passenger, police announced on Tuesday.
The man was detained in a routine check in late November in Gunja, a border area separating Bosnia from Croatia, the police told AFP. Suspicious because they saw “no consciousness or movement” from the passenger, Croatian officers called a doctor, who confirmed the death of the 83-year-old woman, also Austrian, according to her identification.
The woman’s relationship to the suspect is unknown. She had died in Bosnia, and the man intended to repatriate her body to Austria to “avoid the formalities related to transporting a corpse,” according to the police. Croatian media reported that the man was her legal guardian.
Once her death was confirmed, a funeral service took charge of the body.
International
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
Colombian authorities arrested two nationals accused of the illegal trafficking of migrants to the United States and of endangering lives due to the disappearance of a boat with 40 people aboard, U.S. Department of Justice officials reported on Tuesday.
Hernando Manuel de la Cruz Rivera Orjuela, 52, and Luis Enrique Linero Pinto, 40, both Colombian citizens, were arrested on December 13 in Colombia at the request of the United States for their alleged involvement in a “transnational human trafficking operation,” the department said in a statement.
According to the charges, the detainees were transporting migrants to San Andrés Island in the Caribbean, where they would then be taken by boat to Nicaragua. The goal was to reach the United States through Central America and Mexico.
The accused are said to have advised the migrants on how to reach San Andrés Island, where they personally received them, arranged accommodations, and “took them to the boats that transported them to Nicaragua so they could enter the United States illegally,” the statement reads.
“These defendants put several migrants on the boat that disappeared off the coast of Nicaragua in 2023,” said Deputy Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, as cited in the statement.
Both men are “directly and personally responsible for the illicit trafficking of migrants on that vessel,” according to the indictment dated October 23.
International
Homemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
Two soldiers were killed and five others were injured by the explosion of homemade landmines planted by a criminal group in a mountainous area of the Mexican state of Michoacán (west), the Secretary of Defense reported on Tuesday.
The attack occurred on Monday morning in the municipality of Cotija, a border area between Michoacán and the state of Jalisco, when the military was conducting a reconnaissance mission after receiving information about an armed camp in the area, explained Secretary General Ricardo Trevilla.
“At that moment, an improvised explosive device detonated. Unfortunately, two soldiers lost their lives, and five others were injured,” the military leader detailed. The affected soldiers were airlifted to hospitals in the region by a military helicopter, while the rest of the team continued with the reconnaissance of the area.
Trevilla stated that before the explosion, the military unit had located the dismembered bodies of three people, and upon continuing the mission, they confirmed the camp was abandoned.
Asked about the individuals responsible for placing the explosives, the general suggested they could be criminals linked to the local group Cárteles Unidos, which operates in Michoacán and uses these tactics in their territorial dispute with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the country.
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
Homemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
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