International

The Israeli Army withdraws all its troops from the south of the Gaza Strip

The Israeli Army withdrew all its ground troops from the south of the Gaza Strip last night, and there is only one brigade left in the enclave, a military source confirmed to EFE on Sunday.

The withdrawal comes after four months of fighting in the Jan Yunis area and six months after the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, where more than 33,100 Palestinians have already died, most of them women and children.

Currently there is only one Israeli brigade left in the Palestinian enclave that is responsible for securing a corridor between the south of Israel and the Gaza coast, blocking the passage to the north of the Strip and facilitating operations in the center and north of the territory.

The two main hospitals of this southern city, Al Amal and Naser, have been devastated and inoperative after the siege of the Hebrew troops during these months under the thesis that there was the presence of alleged fighters in these complexes.

“Dozens of suspects have been delivered to Shin Bet and Unit 504 of the Directorate of Military Intelligence to be further interrogated,” the Army said in a statement on April 2.

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Likewise, the Israeli Army reported on Sunday that, before its withdrawal, its combat units have carried out the last operations in the Al Amal neighborhood to finish “dismantling the terrorist infrastructure.”

In a message in X, former Israeli Minister of Justice Gideon Sa’ar criticized the withdrawal of troops, assuring that “the continuous decrease in the size of the Israeli forces” in Gaza “has distanced us from achieving the objectives of the war.”

Israel’s next target in Gaza seems to be the already announced military incursion into Rafah, in the south of the enclave, where 1.4 million displaced people live and there are still, according to the Army, four battalions from Hamas; an incursion opposed by the United States, Israel’s main military ally.

The official death toll in the Gaza Strip reached 33,175 this Sunday, six months after the start of the devastating Israeli war offensive.

More than 14,000 of those deaths, or 42%, are children, while 9,220 would be women, according to the same source. The total number of injured is 75,886, to which must be added about 7,000 bodies that are estimated to remain under tons of debris.

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“The Israeli occupation committed 4 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, causing 38 deaths and 71 injuries in hospitals during the last 24 hours,” the Gazazi Ministry of Health said today in a statement.

Egypt decided to increase the number of trucks with food, medical aid and emergency supplies for the Gaza Strip to at least 300 trucks per day as of this Sunday, the head of the Egyptian State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, reported in a statement.

This decision, values the note. part of “the directives of President Abdelfatah al Sisi” to increase the humanitarian aid that enters the Palestinian enclave from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, the only one that does not control Israel, despite the fact that it inspects each cargo that enters from it.

In fact, Egypt denounced on numerous occasions the delays and traffic jams of trucks in northern Sinai due to Israeli inspections and rejections of certain products, which has forced the Arab country to launch aid by air to appease the humanitarian crisis resulting from the conflict.

According to the latest report of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), “since the beginning of April, an average daily of 169 aid trucks have entered Gaza through the land crossings of Kerem Shalom and Rafah. This figure is still well below the operational capacity of both crossings and the target of 500 trucks per day.”

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated this Sunday, when it is six months of war in the Gaza Strip, that there will be no truce agreement if the 133 hostages still in the hands of Hamas do not return home, adding that Israel will not give in to the “extreme demands” of the Islamists.

“I made (something) clear to the international community: there will be no ceasefire without the return of the kidnapped. It just won’t happen,” Netanyahu said today in a speech before meeting with his cabinet, and recalled that the Administration of U.S. President Joe Biden shares his same opinion.

He added that Israel does not oppose a truce agreement and blamed Hamas for “extreme demands” whose objective is to end the war “to guarantee its survival, its rehabilitation, (and) its ability to endanger” Israeli citizens and soldiers again.

This same night a massive anti-government demonstration has been called in Jerusalem, in which not only activists but also some of the relatives of the captives will participate, who blame Netanyahu for being more concerned about his political survival than about returning his family home.

The Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, assured on Sunday that Israel has completed preparations to face “any scenario” against Iran, which has been threatening for days to retaliate for an alleged Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus (Syria).

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Gallant made these statements after the meeting held today with the head of the Israeli Army Operations Directorate, Oded Basiuk, and the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Aharon Haliva, according to a statement from the authorities.

Israel is on alert after the attack that took place last Monday, April 1, against the Iranian embassy in Damascus, the capital of Syria, in which at least 19 people died, including the highest-ranking commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Mohamed Reza Zahedi.

Iran insisted, after celebrating Zahedi’s funeral yesterday, that this attack will not be “unpunished” and that there will be a response against Israel, whom he accuses of being behind him.

The Israeli press maintains that the Iranian authorities would be planning an attack with drones and cruise missiles against the Jewish State, but also against US targets in the region. Iran considers the White House to be “accomplice” of the attack.

The fear that this attack will reach Israeli territory begins to permeate its citizens, who in recent days have made food.

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The concern of the international community that the conflict in Gaza, which is now six months old, goes beyond its borders has been constant during this time, due to the clashes that have taken place between Israel and some Arab countries, which their relationship is more tense than ever in recent decades.

The Lebanese Shiite group Hizbulá announced on Sunday that it has launched a flay of rockets against military bases on Israeli territory in response to an attack by the Jewish State against northeastern Lebanon.

“In response to the enemy’s attacks in the Bekaa region (northeast), the fighters of the Islamic Resistance targeted at 11.10 (local time, 8.10 GMT)” two military bases, one that of Yoav, and another identified as “Kila”, in the Golan Heights occupied by Israel, “with dozens of ‘Katyusha’ type rockets,” the movement said in a brief statement.

The Israeli Army announced that it attacked this morning Hizbulah’s anti-aircraft defense infrastructure in the Baalbek area, northeastern Lebanon, “in response” to a shooting down of an Israeli drone claimed by the Lebanese group after infiltrating its territory, something that happens on a daily basis.

Hizbulah, a close Iranian ally, and the Jewish State have been in intense border clashes since October 8, a day after the outsh of the Gaza War.

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International

Peruvian presidential candidate proposes death penalty amid crime surge

Peru is facing an unprecedented surge in crime ahead of its presidential election scheduled for April 12, with violence fueled by extortion networks and a wave of contract killings linked to organized crime.

Police data show that 2,200 homicides tied to organized crime were recorded in 2025, while extortion complaints increased by 19%, underscoring the growing security crisis in the South American nation.

Amid this backdrop, presidential candidate Álvarez has proposed reinstating the death penalty if elected, arguing that extreme measures are needed to curb the violence.

To implement the proposal, Álvarez said Peru would withdraw from the American Convention on Human Rights—also known as the Pact of San José—which the country signed in 1978. The agreement prevents member states that have abolished capital punishment from reinstating it.

Currently, Peruvian law only allows the death penalty in cases of treason during wartime.

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“We have to leave the Pact of San José and apply the death penalty in Peru because those miserable criminals don’t deserve to live,” Álvarez told AFP during a campaign stop at a market in Callao, the port city neighboring Lima.

“An iron fist against those criminals,” he added, proposing to declare hitmen as military targets.

During the campaign event, Álvarez walked through stalls selling vegetables, groceries, and fish, greeting vendors while musicians played cumbia music nearby.

The 62-year-old candidate, who spent more than four decades working in television as a comedian, is a newcomer to politics and is running for president under the País para Todos party.

Polls place him fifth in voter preference with nearly 4% support in a fragmented race featuring 36 candidates.

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“I am an artist who has taken a step into politics to bring peace to my country,” Álvarez told reporters while surrounded by supporters.

International

FBI: Man who attacked Michigan synagogue died from self-inflicted gunshot

The man who died during Thursday’s attack on a synagogue in the United States suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the FBI.

FBI agent Jennifer Runyan told reporters that the suspect, identified as 41-year-old Lebanese citizen Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, shot himself at some point during the confrontation.

“At some point during the shooting, Ghazali suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head,” Runyan said during a press conference.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed the suspect’s identity.

Authorities said Ghazali drove a truck into the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, located in the state of Michigan, on Thursday.

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According to Michael Bouchard, sheriff of Oakland County, synagogue security personnel noticed the vehicle and confronted the suspect with gunfire.

Investigators said it would be premature to speculate about the motive for the attack, although reports indicate Ghazali recently lost relatives during Israeli strikes in Lebanon earlier this month.

“It would be irresponsible for me to speculate about his motive,” Runyan said.

Ghazali arrived in Detroit in 2011 on a spouse visa for U.S. citizens and obtained American citizenship in 2016, according to reporting by The New York Times.

He was the father of two teenagers, divorced from his wife in 2024, and had recently been working as a waiter.

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The newspaper also reported that Ghazali attended a memorial service in the nearby city of Dearborn for relatives killed in the recent conflict, alongside other grieving family members from the Lebanese town of Machghara.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said the incident is being investigated as an act of violence targeting the Jewish community.

A source from Michigan’s Lebanese-American community told CBS News that several of Ghazali’s relatives had been killed roughly ten days before the attack, leaving him deeply devastated.

International

Mexican Navy Ships Deliver Third Shipment of Humanitarian Aid to Cuba

Two logistics support vessels from the Mexican Navy — the ARM Papaloapan and the ARM Huasteco — docked again on Friday in the bay of Havana carrying a third shipment of humanitarian aid for Cuba.

The vessels had previously arrived on the Caribbean island on February 28 with a second cargo that included 1,200 tons of food, sent to help alleviate the country’s ongoing crisis, which has worsened following the U.S. oil restrictions affecting fuel supplies to the island.

Cuba’s deputy foreign minister Josefina Vidal confirmed the new shipment in a social media post.

“Two ships carrying a third shipment of aid from the Government and the people of Mexico for the Cuban people are now arriving at the port of Havana. Thank you Mexico for your solidarity with Cuba,” she wrote.

Previous aid shipments

During the second shipment, the Papaloapan transported 1,078 tons of beans and powdered milk, while the Huastecocarried 92 tons of beans and 23 tons of assorted food products collected by social organizations with support from the government of Mexico City.

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In recent months, Mexico has become the largest provider of humanitarian aid to Cuba, sending around 2,000 tons of supplies, mostly staple foods and hygiene products, in the two shipments prior to Friday’s delivery.

The first shipment alone included 814 tons of food.

Cuba praises Mexico’s support

Hours before the ships arrived, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel highlighted Mexico’s support during a televised appearance, describing the country as “a friendly and brotherly nation that has shown tremendous solidarity,”particularly praising Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

Díaz-Canel also addressed reports suggesting that Mexican donations were being resold in state-run stores, dismissing them as a “disinformation campaign” promoted by right-wing groups.