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Post Date : October 15, 2023

Israel Resumes Water Supply To Southern Gaza – Minister

  Israel resumed the water supply to southern Gaza, Energy Minister Israel Katz said Sunday, as one million people have evacuated the north of the Strip to escape a massive air assault. “This will push the civilian population to the southern (part of the) Strip,” Katz said in a statement, a week after Israel had stopped supplying water to the entire territory as part of a “complete siege” on the Palestinian enclave. He said the decision to resume the supply was taken after talks between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan earlier said that Israel told him it had turned the water supply back on in southern Gaza. “I have been in touch with my Israeli counterparts just within the last hour who reported to me that they have, in fact, turned the water pipe back on in southern Gaza,” Sullivan told CNN. The municipality of Beni Suheila in southern Gaza later confirmed that the water supply had been resumed to the village. Israel embarked on a withering air campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza after they carried out a brutal attack on Israel on October 7 that left more than 1,400 people killed in Israel. The widespread air assault has killed at least 2,450 people in the Palestinian territory. ADVERTISEMENT An estimated one million people have been displaced in the first seven days of the conflict in Gaza, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees said Sunday. “The number is likely to be higher as people continue to leave their homes,” UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma told AFP. AFP

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Post Date : October 15, 2023

Arthur Eze Says Tinubu’s Appointments Has been Fair

  Igbo billionaire businessman, Prince Arthur Eze, has commended President Bola Tinubu for what he described as fairness in his recent appointments of ministers and heads of agencies. Recall that there has been a series of agitations among power brokers and politicians over the recent appointments made by the President. Some alleged lopsidedness in the appointments, while others said they were not carried along. But speaking at the Holy Mass to mark the 65th birthday of Reverend Father Patrick Alumuku at St. Louis Catholic Church, EFAB Global Estate, Mbora, Abuja, Prince Eze said that President Tinubu’s recent appointments have shown that he is the ideal president for Nigeria. He said the president has been fair in his appointments to the three major regions: the East, West, and North. He, therefore, called on Nigerians to support the president as he continues his transformational agenda. Commenting on the celebrant, Prince Eze, while describing Father Alumuku as a good man, recalled that he met him through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume. The celebrant, Father Alumuku, while speaking with journalists, said this occasion was for him to thank God for his love and kindness, which he has shown in many ways in his 65th year. “I realise that every day we live in God’s presence, and we need to thank him, especially at a moment like this. We give thanks to God. I want to use this opportunity to say to everyone that every birthday is a major event in our lives and to thank God. “Indeed, every day is important to thank, so we cannot live without God’s presence before us. We need to be consciously and continuously aware of God’s presence and be grateful to him for what he has done in our lives,” he said. Also, the Vice Chairman, Parish Pastoral Council of the Church, Sir Vincent Ukaoma, in his address, described Father Alumuku as a man of many paths. “We, the nuclear family of Father Patrick, would like him to live and enjoy this fast-approaching stage of his life gracefully. After labouring so much in God’s vineyard for more than forty years as a priest in Makurdi, in Vatican City, and now in Abuja, it will be fitting to slow down. “We, the parishioners of St. Louis Pastoral Centre, consider ourselves so blessed to have Father Patrick as our first parish priest. Within a period of three years, through his subtle pushing, our community has been positively transformed progressively, spiritually, and structurally,” he added.

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Post Date : October 15, 2023

REPORT: Heavy Flood kills Ex-seminarian In Enugu

  The dead body of a man identified as Henry Ike, suspected to have been killed by flood was on Saturday morning discovered at Alor Uno, Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, Journalist101 reports. It was gathered that the deceased who hailed from Imilike, in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State, left home about three days ago and did not return until his dead body was washed ashore by flooding in Alor Uno community. One of his relations who spoke to newsmen on condition of anonymity said that his remains which has been evacuated, would be deposited at the Bishop Shanahan Hospital at Nsukka Local Government Area of the state until police conclude investigations on the circumstances surrounding his death. The relation equally revealed that he was healthy when he was last seen three days ago, adding that he was frustrated out of seminary school some years ago. He added that life has not been rosy for him since he left seminary school. It was equally gathered that there was heavy downpour at the university town of Nsukka two days ago.

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Post Date : October 15, 2023

REPORT: Suspected herdsmen kill three in Benue

  Suspected armed herdsmen killed three people on Saturday in Imatom village, located in the Logo local government area of Benue State. A community leader in the state, Joseph Anawa, disclosed this to newsmen on Sunday. He identified the victims of the armed herdsmen attack on Saturday as Tertsea Terkimbi Adagundu, Tertsea Mkposu, and Mimidoo Umburga. According to him, “These three young men were killed by Fulani militia herdsmen at Imatom village Square near Chembe, Ukemberagya, Logo Local Govt, Benue State, yesterday, Saturday, October 14, at about 9 p.m. “Their corpses have been deposited at the NKST hospital mortuary in Anyiin. All these renewed attacks and killings without any provocation are aimed at displacing the peasant farmers to pave the way for cattle to graze on their crops, which are yet to be harvested. Anawa also informed newsmen that the armed herdsmen had renewed their onslaught in the council area, chronicling the spate of Fulani herdsmen militia attacks since the beginning of September.   Anawa said, “Recently, on Saturday, 3/9/23, at about 11 a.m., one Monday, Hembaku of Chembe village was accosted and killed on his cassava farm by Fulani herdsmen. His corpse is still lying at the NKST Anyiin mortuary. “Five days later, on Friday, 29/9/23, at about 2 pm, two women from the same village (Chembe)—Mrs Iember Ornguga and Dinnah Chembe—were macheted and badly wounded by Fulani marauders when they went to fetch firewood. “They were rushed to a medical facility by men from Operation Wilds Stroke station at Arufu, a nearby settlement, where they are recuperating. “Another attack took place on Wednesday, 11/10/23, around 9 a.m. at Iorza along Tse Abiem Road, where two young men, Mr Mbaadega Vihimga and Chuku Gaku, who went to buy fish at Zebo Market near River Benue, were waylaid on their way back by Fulani militia who inflicted various degrees of injuries on them. “They are now receiving treatment at a medical facility in Iorza. The killing of these three young men happened yesterday, Saturday, October 14, at about 9 p.m.” He appealed to both state and federal governments to deploy security to the area. Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer for the state command, Catherine Anene, said in a terse message that she didn’t have information about the Saturday attack.

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Post Date : October 15, 2023

Prominent Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui stabbed to deathy

  One of Iran’s most prominent film-makers, Dariush Mehrjui, was stabbed to death on Saturday evening alongside his wife at their home near Tehran. A provincial chief justice said Mehrjui and his wife, Vahideh Mohammadifar, “were killed by multiple stab wounds to the neck”, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said. According to Hossein Fazeli-Harikandi, chief justice of Alborz province near Tehran, Mehrjui sent a text message to his daughter, Mona, at about 9:00 pm local time (1730 GMT) inviting her for dinner at their home in Karaj, west of Tehran. But upon her arrival an hour and a half later, she found the bodies of her dead parents with fatal wounds to their necks. Later in the day, police said “no signs of forced entry can be seen at the crime scene”, adding that “no damage has been done to the doors” of their home. However, they said “traces have been found” at the scene they believe to be “related to the murderer”. On Sunday, the Etemad newspaper included an interview with the film-maker’s wife saying she had been threatened and that their home had been burgled. “The investigation revealed that no complaints had been filed regarding the illegal entry into the Mehrjui’s family villa and the theft of their belongings”, said Fazeli-Harikandi. ‘Everything is political’ In a statement, Iran’s minister of culture, Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaili, hailed Mehrjui as “one of the pioneers of Iranian cinema” and “the creator of eternal works”. Born on December 8, 1939 in Tehran, Mehrjui studied philosophy in the United States before his return to Iran where he launched a literary magazine and released his first film in 1967, “Diamond 33”, a parody of the James Bond series. The 83-year-old was indelibly associated with the Iranian new wave of cinema, with his 1969 film “The Cow” one of the movement’s first pictures. He then directed a string of well-regarded films including “Mr Gullible” (1970), “The Cycle” (1977) before leaving Iran in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution. Between 1980 and 1985, he lived in France where he worked on the documentary “Journey to the Land of Rimbaud” (1983). On returning to his homeland, he triumphed at the box office with “The Tenants” (1987). In 1990, he directed “Hamoun”, a dark comedy showing 24 hours in the life of an intellectual tormented by divorce and psychological anxieties in an Iran overwhelmed by the technology companies Sony and Toshiba. Throughout the 1990s, Mehrjui also depicted the lives of women in “Sara” (1993), “Pari” (1995) and “Leila” (1997), a melodrama about an infertile woman who encourages her husband to marry a second woman. In interviews with the Iranian media, Mehrjui said he was “greatly influenced” by Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman and Italian Michelangelo Antonioni. “I don’t make directly political films to promote a particular ideology or point of view. But everything is political,” he once said. To Mehrjui, cinema was like “poetry, which cannot take sides with anyone” and he remained adamant that “art must not become a propaganda tool”. In addition to his cinema career, he translated works by the French playwright Eugene Ionesco and the German Marxist philosopher Herbert Marcuse into Persian.

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Post Date : October 15, 2023

One million Gazans displaced as Israel readies for ground attack

  More than one million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip in the last week, the UN said Sunday, after sustained Israeli bombardment and warnings about a ground attack against Hamas commanders. Israel declared war on the Islamist group last Sunday, a day after waves of fighters broke through the heavily fortified border and shot, stabbed and burned to death more than 1,400, most of them civilians. Seven days of relentless bombing targeting those who masterminded the attack have left more than 2,300 people dead, the majority ordinary Palestinians.   But even as Israel seeks to avenge the worst attack in its history, it faced a grave warning about the security implications of putting boots on the ground in the densely populated enclave. “No one can guarantee the control of the situation and the non-expansion of the conflicts” if Israel sends its soldiers into Gaza, said Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. “Those who are interested in preventing the scope of war and crisis from expanding need to prevent the current barbaric attacks… against citizens and civilians in Gaza,” he added. Iran is Israel’s number one enemy and as well as funding Hamas also backs Hezbollah in Lebanon to the north, where cross-border fire has intensified in the last week. At least 10 people have now been killed in Lebanon and two in Israel, prompting Israel to shut the border area to civilians. Iran has praised the Hamas attacks but insisted it was not involved. However the United States, which has sent two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean in a show of support for Israel, is wary. In Washington, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States feared an escalation, particularly the prospect of Iran becoming “directly engaged”. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has in recent days toured Middle Eastern capitals in a frantic round of diplomacy to try to avert a wider crisis in the volatile region. He is due back in Israel on Monday for further talks with Israeli leaders, the State Department said as he arrived in Cairo. Blinken has appealed to China to use its influence in the region to ease tensions. But on Sunday Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Israel’s response had “gone beyond the scope of self-defence”. He called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his emergency government to “cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza”. Evacuations Israel has massed thousands of troops and heavy weaponry in the desert south of the country, waiting for the green light to go in to northern Gaza. The army has told 1.1 million Palestinians in the north of the Gaza Strip — nearly half of its 2.4-million population — to head south to safety. On the other side of the border, Israelis were moving to safer areas. Military spokesmen Lieutenant Richard Hecht and Daniel Hagari said any ground offensive would be triggered by a “political decision”. Netanyahu visited frontline troops on Saturday, telling them “more is coming” but without specifying when any ground operation would start. Hecht singled out Yahya Sinwar, the chief of Hamas in Gaza blamed for the October 7 attacks, calling him “a dead man walking”. Aid agencies, including the UN and ICRC, as well as foreign governments have repeatedly criticised Israel’s request for Gazans to leave their homes — and accused it of inflicting collective punishment on ordinary people. The UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees said on Sunday that some one million people had already been displaced in the first week of the conflict. “The number is likely to be higher as people continue to leave their homes,” UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma told AFP. Palestinians carrying whatever belongings they can, in bags and suitcases, or packed onto three-wheeled motorbikes, battered cars, vans and even donkey carts have become a common sight in recent days. But they have had to find shelter wherever they can in the increasingly crowded south of the Gaza Strip, including in the street and UN-run schools. Israel had cut off water, fuel and food supplies to Gaza for the duration of the conflict. Local hospitals are becoming overwhelmed with increasing numbers of dead and injured. The White House said on Sunday that Israel had turned water back on in the south. But electricity outages threatens to cripple life-support systems, from sea water desalination plants to food refrigeration and hospital incubators. In Rome, Pope Francis called for humanitarian corridors in Gaza and urged that “children, the sick, the elderly, women and all civilians should not fall victim to the conflict”. “There have already been so many deaths, please let’s not shed any more innocent blood,” he said, castigating “the diabolical force of hatred, terrorism and war”. Gazans are effectively trapped, with Israeli-controlled crossings closed and Egypt also having shut the Rafah border in the south. Convoys of humanitarian aid are stacked up on the Egyptian side, witnesses told AFP. Hostages The mood in Israel has swung between collective grief, fury and a strong desire to punish Hamas, which Netanyahu has likened to the Islamic State group. Public outrage has been fuelled by images and reports shared on social media of youths and families shot, stabbed, burnt and mutilated in the Hamas attack. There are also deep fears about the safety of some 120 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip. “We must bring them back home alive,” said a tearful Yrat Zailer, the aunt of children aged nine months and four years who were abducted with their mother. Israel pushed on with its evacuation of southern towns close to Gaza that were targeted in the Hamas attacks. Packed buses were taking families to hotels in Jerusalem and the Red Sea resort city Eilat. “It’s hard, I’m crying,” said Helen Afteker, 50, an evacue from the town of Sderot. “It’s terrifying every time there’s a warning, we have to leave. It’s better for the children.” Planeloads of Israelis have returned from around the world to join the latest of the

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Post Date : October 15, 2023

Finally, FG re-issues El-Zakzaky’s travel documents

  In a surprising turn of events, the Federal Government has reissued travel documents to Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, the formerly detained leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).   Furthermore, during a convocation ceremony held on Saturday, October 14, 2023, at the University of Tehran in Iran, he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree. This development has sparked fervent demands from members of the IMN, also commonly referred to as the Shi’ites, for the emancipation of mankind from slavery, tyranny, and injustice. In a statement on Sunday, Dr. Fatima Hassan, on behalf of the Shi’ites, stressed that their demand underscores the sect’s commitment to promoting freedom and justice. She explained that the honorary doctorate degree (Honoris Causa) bestowed upon Sheikh El-Zakzaky was in recognition of his contributions to World Studies: Peace and Conflict Resolution. According to her, the award was unanimously approved by the University Senate after a thorough examination of the Sheikh’s life, education, and struggle. While congratulating their leader on his award, the Shi’ites stated, “We take great pride in our leader’s recognition, which serves as a testament to his unwavering commitment to peace and justice. We urge everyone to join us in our endeavour to liberate mankind from oppression and injustice.” The University of Tehran, which is ranked 495th in the world and 2nd in Iran by the Centre for World University Rankings, highlighted the significance of this award. Sheikh El-Zakzaky’s significant influence extends beyond Nigeria, as he leads the Islamic movement across numerous African countries. Recall that the leader of the IMN had been struggling to obtain the release of his travel documents in order to seek medical attention abroad. He, along with his wife, Zeenah, was detained without trial for several months following a clash between IMN members and the Nigerian army in December 2015. The clash resulted in the death of at least 347 IMN members, including Sheikh Zakzaky’s children. In December 2016, a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered their release from detention and awarded them financial compensation for the violation of their rights. However, the government ignored the court order, and Sheikh Zakzaky remained in custody until he was acquitted and discharged by the Kaduna State High Court in July 2021. During his time in custody, Sheikh Zakzaky experienced health challenges, including bullet fragments in his body. In 2019, he and his wife were scheduled to travel to India for medical treatment, but their travel documents were withheld by security agencies. It was not until recently that the Federal Government reissued their passports, allowing Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife to travel to Iran. In Iran, the University of Tehran considered him as an example of a true Mujahid (holy warrior) and lauded his struggle. During his visit, Sheikh Zakzaky also visited the holy shrine of Imam Khomeini and expressed gratitude to Iranians for the honour bestowed upon him.

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Post Date : October 15, 2023

126 hostages confirmed in Hamas, says Israel Army

  The Israeli military on Sunday. said it has confirmed 126 people held as hostages by Hamas since the Palestinian militant group staged their deadly attack eight days earlier. Authorities had initially estimated about 150 Israeli and foreign captives after Hamas launched its October 7 attack that killed at least 1,300 in Israel. Heavy Israeli bombardment since has killed over 2,300 in the Palestinian enclave and tens of thousands of troops have massed along Gaza’s border in readiness for an invasion. Military spokesman Richard Hecht also said that 286 Israeli soldiers had now been killed in military operations launched in response to the unprecedented Hamas attacks. Israeli officials say the number of known hostages had been revised down as bodies from the Hamas attack sites in southern Israel have been found and identified. Hecht told a briefing that 126 hostages had been “confirmed”.

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Post Date : October 15, 2023

NDLEA detains two wanted drug barons, intercepts $4.8m fake currencies

  Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have taken into custody two wanted heads of transnational criminal organisations with a multi-billion-naira worth of illicit drugs. The anti-narcotics agency also seized assets from the traffickers after weeks of intelligence-led operations within and outside the country. This was made known on Sunday by the agency’s Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, at the headquarters in Abuja. Babafemi stated that the duo, who concealed cocaine and heroin in their bellies, were arrested after its operatives intercepted consignments designated to Paris, France and Doha, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The statement read in parts, “Operatives at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos on Tuesday 10th October succeeded in taking into custody, Hakeem Babatunde Salami, the arrowhead of “Tajudeen Babatunde Abioye Transnational Criminal Organisation” involved in the illicit trade of several narcotics including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and ephedrine between Nigeria, Brazil, Ghana, South Africa, Mozambique, and Europe. “He fled Nigeria to South Africa upon the arrest of a member of his syndicate, Suleiman Babatunde Oba at the Lagos airport on August 25 over an attempt to export 25.10kgs of ephedrine to South Africa. “Hakeem Babatunde Salami was however smoked out of hiding through partnership with South African authorities and other intelligence and investigative mechanisms. While some of his luxury vehicles have been seized and his home in Surulere, Lagos, sealed, other members of the cartel are already in custody including Suleiman and Godwin Edet Mathew.” Babafemi stated further, “In his statement, he claimed he was into the importation of building materials from China to Nigeria and used to sell gold in South Africa before delving into the illicit drug trade about two years ago. “The head of another cartel, Okafor Ikechukwu Williams (aka Jantu) and his wife, Okafor Ifeyinwa Grace were also taken into custody on Thursday 5th October when NDLEA operatives raided their hideout at 9 Awa Street, Ago Palace, Okota area of Lagos, where they recovered 27.566 kilogrammes of methamphetamine concealed in a blue box and two sacks, ready for export to Europe and Asia. “Their Lexus RX350 marked ABJ 512 AY parked in the house was also seized during the operation. Their arrest followed weeks of intelligence gathering about the activities of the criminal network.” According to the statement, “At the Abuja airport, operatives on Friday 6th October arrested a drug trafficker, Nwofor Ejiogu Charles, 45, during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Doha. After a body scan revealed he ingested cocaine, he was placed under observation during which he excreted 75 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.653 kgs. At the point of his arrest, Nwofor who was the last passenger to board his flight offered to compromise an NDLEA officer with $3,000 to free him. “The following day, Saturday 7th October, another trafficker, Nwufo Charles Okwudili, 45, was also arrested while attempting to board Lufthansa Airlines flight LH 0595 to Paris, France via Frankfurt, Germany. After being put through a body scanner, he was taken into a recovery room where he excreted 96 wraps of heroin he ingested with a total weight of 1.413 kgs. “Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Okene -Lokoja-Abuja expressway on Tuesday 10th October, intercepted a commercial bus coming from Lagos to Kano. A search of the bus led to the seizure of four million, eight hundred and eighty thousand US dollars ($4,880,000), and fifty-seven million Céfa, (CFA57,000,000) suspected to be counterfeits. “In Sokoto, the Federal High Court in the state capital presided over by Justice Ahmad Mahmud has sentenced an acting district head, Alhaji Umar Mohammed (aka Dan Bala) to five and a half years in jail on four counts of possession and dealing in 436.38 kgs cannabis and 7 kgs psychotropic drugs brought against him by NDLEA in October 2022. He was convicted and sentenced to two years on each of counts 1 and 2 with an option of a N1 million fine, and eight months on each of counts 3 and 4 without an option of fine.” Furthermore, “Operatives in Edo state on Wednesday 11th October stormed the Orue forest, Owan West LGA where they arrested Happy Akashili, 37, and Solomon Uwesue, 40, in a hut located inside a cannabis farm measuring 2.367308 hectares which was destroyed, with 92 kgs already processed skunk recovered, while 49 kgs of same substance were also seized at Ogbeturu camp. “The Commands across the country balanced their drug supply reduction operations with the War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, advocacy campaigns to schools, markets, worship centres and communities. “Some of these include WADA sensitisation lecture on Drug Use and Mental Health for students of 15 secondary schools in Ibadan metropolis at the University of Ibadan, Oyo state; WADA sensitisation lecture for students of Ascension College, Iworo Imeke, Badagry Lagos; WADA sensitisation lecture at Modern Comprehensive College, Amokwe, Udi LGA, Enugu; WADA sensitisation lecture for students of National Secondary school, Awka; Students of JIBWIS Islamic Science Secondary school, Herwagana, Gombe; students of Government College, Makurdi, Benue; students of Government secondary school (Boys), Kafin Maiyaki, Kano and students of JNI Special Model primary School, Gusau, Zamfara. “While commending the efforts of the NAIA, MMIA, Kogi, Sokoto and Edo Commands of the Agency as well as the Special Operations Unit targeting the drug cartels, for jobs well done in the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) assured that officers and men of the Agency will never let down their guards no matter the tricks and distractions orchestrated against it by criminal networks.

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Post Date : October 15, 2023

Gaza War: Israel Acting ‘Beyond Scope Of Self-Defence’ – China

  Israel’s actions in Gaza have gone “beyond the scope of self-defence” and the Israeli government must “cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza”, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in remarks published Sunday. Wang’s remarks, made on a call to his Saudi Arabian counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Saturday, came as Israel appeared poised for a ground offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza. VDO.AI PlayUnmute Fullscreen “Israel’s actions have gone beyond the scope of self-defence,” Wang said according to a foreign ministry readout. “It should listen earnestly to the calls of the international community and the UN secretary general, and cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza,” he added in the strongest stance China has expressed so far on the conflict. More than one million people in the northern part of the crowded enclave have been ordered to flee ahead of the expected assault, an exodus that aid groups said would set off a humanitarian disaster. The cramped and impoverished territory, where 2.3 million residents live on top of each other, has been under a land, air and sea blockade since 2006. After Hamas fighters broke through the heavily fortified border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to gun down, stab and burn to death more than 1,300 people, Israel launched a massive retaliatory bombing campaign targeting the Islamist group that has killed over 2,200 in Gaza. Most of those killed on both sides are civilians. Wang told Prince Faisal that “all parties should not take any action to escalate the situation and should return to the negotiating table as soon as possible.” Wang Yi also said in a separate call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday that Washington should “play a constructive and responsible role” in the conflict, and urged “the convening of an international peace meeting as soon as possible to promote the reaching of broad consensus”. Spillover fears China’s official statements on the conflict have not specifically named Hamas in their condemnations of violence, leading to criticism from some Western officials who said they were too weak. The country’s state broadcaster CCTV said on Sunday that China’s special envoy Zhai Jun will visit the Middle East next week to push for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict and promote peace talks. Zhai “will visit the Middle East next week to coordinate with various parties for a ceasefire, to protect civilians, ease the situation, and promote peace talks,” CCTV said in a video posted to its official social media account on Sunday. Zhai said in an interview with CCTV that “the prospect of further broadening and outward spillover (of the conflict) is deeply worrying”, according to the broadcaster. Zhai met Friday with the Arab League’s representatives in China and said Beijing supported the regional group “in playing an important role on the Palestine issue”, according to a foreign ministry statement. He told the bloc that Beijing would “make unremitting efforts to get the Middle East peace process back on track”, the statement added.

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