Migrants rescued from energy platform off Tunisia after four days, charity says
Migrants rescued from energy platform off Tunisia after four days, charity says/node/2592422/middle-east
Migrants rescued from energy platform off Tunisia after four days, charity says
General view of an oil rig at sea off Tunisia, where more than 30 migrants including two children have been stranded for three days, according to the Sea-Watch charity, in this handout picture released on Mar. 3, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 04 March 2025
Reuters
Migrants rescued from energy platform off Tunisia after four days, charity says
“This morning, Sea-Watch’s fast ship Aurora left (the Italian island of) Lampedusa to rescue them,” it said
A reconnaissance plane operated by Sea-Watch had spotted the group on the Miskar platform
Updated 04 March 2025
Reuters
ROME: A charity vessel has rescued more than 30 migrants including two children who had been stranded for four days on a gas platform in the Mediterranean off the coast of Tunisia, the Sea-Watch organization said on Tuesday.
“This morning, Sea-Watch’s fast ship Aurora left (the Italian island of) Lampedusa to rescue them. Now the people are safe, assisted by our crew,” it said in a statement.
32 people, including many children, have been stranded on the Miskar platform without food or drinking water.
raised the alarm about their situation and informed competent authorities, nothing has been done.
They need to be rescued and brought to place of safety
— MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea)
A reconnaissance plane operated by Sea-Watch had spotted the group on the Miskar platform on Saturday, with an empty rubber dinghy floating nearby.
The charity added that the migrants had been left “exposed to the cold and without care for four days after the dinghy they were using to escape from Libya went adrift.”
Fantastic news: of has rescued the group off the gas platform! While Tunisia’s coastguard failed to rescue and European authorities refused to intervene, it is again up to the to show solidarity at sea!
— @alarmphone (@alarm_phone)
Alarm Phone, a group that operates a help line for sea migrants, on Monday said on X that it had spoken to the migrants on Sunday and been informed that one person had died and others were sick.
European governments, keen to curb irregular immigration, have signed agreements with Tunisia and Libya that they will intercept and take back sea migrants, despite criticism from human rights groups.
Kuwait dispatches 16th relief aircraft to help Palestinians in Gaza
The plane carrying 10 tonnes of food supplies landed on Sunday at Al-Arish Airport in northern Sinai, Egypt
KRCS organized the aid delivery to Gaza in cooperation with the Kuwaiti ministries of foreign affairs, defense, and social affairs
Updated 05 October 2025
Arab News
LONDON: Kuwait dispatched on Sunday its 16th plane carrying aid and relief supplies bound for the territory of Gaza as the Arab Gulf state continues its humanitarian airbridge to support Palestinians.
Talal Al-Hindi, representative of the Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society, said that the Air Force plane, carrying 10 tonnes of food supplies, landed on Sunday at Al-Arish Airport in northern Sinai, Egypt.
The aid consisted of 540 food baskets provided by the Kuwaiti charity association Khairat.
KRCS organized the aid delivery to Gaza in cooperation with the Kuwaiti ministries of foreign affairs, defense, and social affairs.
Al-Hindi added that several Kuwaiti charities contributed to the shipment and that the Kuwaiti Embassy in Egypt, along with the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, is supporting and facilitating the delivery of aid to Palestinian families in Gaza.
The second phase of Kuwaiti air support has transported over 150 tonnes of essential humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Israeli authorities detained several Kuwaiti nationals last week who participated in the Global Freedom Flotilla, which aimed to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, where at least 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since late October 2023.
Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry said that the government is working to secure the release of its citizens and is monitoring their safety in Israeli detention.
Israeli bombing must stop for Gaza hostage release: Rubio
Negotiators from Israel and Hamas were set to hold talks in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh
Rubio said that there were “logistical challenges” to address to pave the way for the hostage release
Updated 34 sec ago
AFP
WASHINGTON: Israel needs to stop bombing Gaza for an eventual hostage release by Palestinian militant group Hamas to take place, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday.
“I think the Israelis and everyone acknowledge you can’t release hostages in the middle of strikes, so the strikes will have to stop,” Rubio told CBS News talk show “Face the Nation.”
“There can’t be a war going on in the middle of it.”
In a text exchange with a CNN reporter released Sunday, US President Donald Trump said “yes” when asked if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on board with ending the military campaign in Gaza.
Negotiators from Israel and Hamas were set to hold talks in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, with Netanyahu expressing hope that hostages held in Gaza could be released within days.
The diplomatic push follows the Palestinian militant group’s positive response to Trump’s roadmap for an end to the fighting and the release of captives in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Rubio, who appeared on several Sunday talk shows to speak about the situation in Gaza, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that there were “logistical challenges” to address to pave the way for the hostage release.
He also predicted that the longer-term goals would be “even harder” to attain, in terms of how the war-ravaged territory will be governed and disarming militants.
“You can’t set up a government structure in Gaza that’s not Hamas in three days. I mean, it takes some time,” Rubio told NBC.
Trump told CNN he expected clarity “soon” on whether the Palestinian militant group — which carried out the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the conflict — was committed to peace.
The US president added that if Hamas were to refuse to cede to power, they would face “Complete Obliteration!”
Israel to expand Mitzpe Yeshai settlement on Palestinian land near Qalqilya
Israeli plan includes building 58 new housing units at the settlement
Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories break international law, hindering the establishment of a Palestinian state
Updated 05 October 2025
Arab News
LONDON: Israeli authorities approved a new settlement plan on Sunday to confiscate 35 dunams (9 acres) of land from the Palestinian village of Kafr Qaddum, located east of Qalqilya in the occupied northern West Bank.
The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, which monitors settlement activities in the Palestinian territories, reported that the Israeli plan includes the construction of 58 new housing units at the Mitzpe Yeshai settlement, which is situated on the land of Kafr Qaddum.
Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are a breach of international law and UN resolutions, hindering the potential for establishing a Palestinian state, the Wafa news agency said.
In early September, Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Israeli finance minister, revealed plans to annex 82 percent of the West Bank, a move that would effectively end the prospect of realizing the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have carried out more than 38,000 attacks in the West Bank, including 767 fires deliberately set on Palestinian homes and lands, and more than 1,000 demolitions that destroyed nearly 3,700 structures, including homes and agricultural facilities, according to the commission’s report.
The commission also documented the displacement of 33 Palestinian Bedouin communities caused by settler violence and the establishment of 114 new settler outposts. Israeli forces set up more than 900 permanent and temporary checkpoints in the West Bank, restricting movement throughout the occupied territory.
According to official Palestinian figures, at least 1,048 Palestinians have been killed, and about 10,300 injured by Israeli gunfire, since October 2023.
Rubio says Gaza war not yet over, priority is to get hostages out
Secretary of State says the US would know “very quickly” whether Hamas is serious or not
Updated 05 October 2025
Reuters
WASHINGTON: The war in Gaza has “not yet” ended, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday, describing the release of the hostages held by Hamas as the first phase, while details on what happens after that still need to be worked out.
He said Hamas had “basically” agreed to President Donald Trump’s proposal and the framework for releasing the hostages, while meetings were underway to coordinate the logistics of that.
“They have also agreed, in principle and generalities, to enter into this idea about what’s going to happen afterwards,” he said. “A lot of details are going to have to be worked out there.”
He said the US would know “very quickly” whether Hamas was serious or not during the current technical talks to coordinate the release of the hostages.
“Priority number one, the one that we think we can achieve something very quickly on hopefully, is the release of all the hostages in exchange for Israel moving back” to the yellow line — where Israel stood within Gaza in the middle of August — Rubio said.
He described the second phase of the long-term future of Gaza as “even harder.” “What happens after Israel pulls back to the yellow line, and potentially beyond that, as this thing develops? How do you create this Palestinian technocratic leadership that’s not Hamas?” Rubio said. “How do you disarm any sort of terrorist groups that are going to be building tunnels and conducting attacks against Israel? How do you get them to demobilize?”
“All that work, that’s going to be hard, but that’s critical, because without that, you’re not going to have lasting peace,” he added.
Hamas calls for swift prisoner release as Cairo talks set to begin
Foreign ministers of several countries say the talks a “real opportunity” to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza
The diplomatic push follows the Palestinian militant group’s positive response to US President Donald Trump’s roadmap
Updated 05 October 2025
AFP
CAIRO: Hamas on Sunday called for a swift start to a hostage-prisoner exchange with Israel as negotiators from the two warring sides meet in Egypt for crucial talks aimed at ending the nearly two-year war.
Foreign ministers of several countries, including Egypt, said the talks were a “real opportunity” to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza.
“Hamas is very keen to reach an agreement to end the war and immediately begin the prisoner exchange process in accordance with the field conditions,” a senior Hamas official said on condition of anonymity.
The diplomatic push follows the Palestinian militant group’s positive response to US President Donald Trump’s roadmap for the release of captives in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Negotiators are due to hold talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing hope that hostages held in Gaza could be released within days.
Netanyahu said Saturday he had instructed negotiators to go to Egypt “to finalize the technical details,” while Cairo confirmed it would also be hosting a delegation from Hamas for talks on “the ground conditions and details of the exchange of all Israeli detainees and Palestinian prisoners.”
Egyptian state-linked media said the two parties would hold indirect talks on Sunday and Monday, just before the second anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war.
The White House said Trump had sent two envoys to Egypt — his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Middle East negotiator Steve Witkoff.
“During communications with mediators, Hamas insisted that it is essential for Israel to halt military operations across all areas of the Gaza Strip, cease all air, reconnaissance, and drone activity, and withdraw from inside Gaza City,” a Palestinian source close to Hamas said.
“In parallel with the cessation of Israeli military activity, Hamas and the resistance factions will also halt their military operations and actions,” he added.
According to Trump’s plan, Israel is expected to release 250 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences and more than 1,700 detainees from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, triggering the ongoing war.
But Trump warned he would “not tolerate delay” from Hamas, urging the group to move quickly toward a deal “or else all bets will be off.”
Trump said on Truth Social that Israel had agreed to an initial line of withdrawal in Gaza and that this had been shared with Hamas.
“When Hamas confirms, the Ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective, the Hostages and Prisoner Exchange will begin, and we will create the conditions for the next phase of withdrawal,” he posted, alongside a map of the proposed line.
Netanyahu said that “in the coming days we will be able to bring back all our hostages... during the Sukkot holidays,” referring to the week-long Jewish festival that begins on Monday.
Strikes continue
Despite Trump calling on Israel to halt its bombings, Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Gaza.
AFPTV footage showed thick smoke billowing into the skyline over the coastal territory on Sunday.
Gaza civil defense agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas authority, said Israeli strikes killed at least five people in Gaza City in the morning, after several attacks through the night.
On Saturday, nearly 60 people were killed in Israeli strikes, including 40 in Gaza City alone, the agency reported.
“The decision to occupy Gaza, the collapse of multi-story buildings, and the intensity of IDF operations in the city have led to the evacuation of roughly 900,000 residents to the south, creating immense pressure on Hamas and the countries that support it,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a speech on Sunday.
The United Nations had estimated that around one million people were living the area before the start of the assault.
“There has been a noticeable decrease in the number of air strikes (since last night). The tanks and military vehicles have slightly pulled back, but I believe this is a tactical move, not a withdrawal,” said Muin Abu Rajab, 40, a resident of Al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City.
No role for Hamas
Hamas has insisted it should have a say in the territory’s future.
Trump’s roadmap stipulates that Hamas and other factions “not have any role in the governance of Gaza,” while also calling for a halt to hostilities, the release of hostages within 72 hours, a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas’s disarmament.
Under the proposal, administration of the territory would be taken up by a technocratic body overseen by a post-war transitional authority headed by Trump himself.
“Netanyahu will not be able to escape this time... (Trump) is the only one who can force Israel to comply and stop the war,” said Sami Adas, 50, who lives in a tent in Gaza City with his family.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 67,139 Palestinians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
