International
Israel withdraws from more neighborhoods of Gaza City, leaving dozens of corpses in its path
The Israeli Army withdrew from more neighborhoods of Gaza City, leaving dozens of corpses in its wake, according to the Civil Defense of the enclave, which in the Tal al Hawa area alone recovered about 60 bodies.
According to the group, Israeli troops withdrew today from the neighborhoods of Tal al Hawa and Rimal, and also from the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza capital, where Israel is holding a new offensive to try to prevent Hamas militiamen from regrouping.
Only yesterday, the rescue teams of the Civil Defense recovered another 60 corpses from the Shujaiya neighborhood, a bastion of the Islamist group in the Gaza capital that has become totally uninhabitable after the passage of Israeli soldiers, who left it on the night of Wednesday to Thursday.
This Friday, the Army announced that during its operations in Shujaiya it managed to eliminate the deputy commander of the Hamas battalion in the neighborhood, whom it identified as Ayman Showadeh.
According to Israel, Showadeh participated in the planning of the October 7 attacks and led numerous attacks against Israeli troops throughout the war in Gaza.
The Army also assured that during its attacks in Shujaiya it eliminated more than 150 alleged militiamen, including a commander identified as Ubadah Abu Heen, to whom it attributed an “important role” in the fighting in Gaza.
More than 38,300 people have already died throughout the Strip, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health of the enclave, controlled by Hamas, and it is estimated that thousands of bodies are still buried under the rubble.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Army maintains a tough offensive in Rafah, the southernmost town in the Gaza Strip, where on the last day the troops “have eliminated numerous terrorists in short-range combat and air strikes, and dismantled terrorist infrastructure in the area,” according to a military statement.
Israel also assured that its forces have located an arms production workshop and a large amount of funds “used in terrorist activities” in the center of the devastated Palestinian enclave, in addition to several militiamen who were eliminated.
In the midst of negotiations to reach a ceasefire agreement in the devastated Strip, which are at its most promising point in recent months, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, denied that the Army will leave the so-called Philadelphia corridor, located in Rafah and which runs the border of Gaza with Egypt.
“The Prime Minister insists that Israel will remain in the Philadelphia corridor. These were his instructions to the negotiating teams, and this is what he communicated to the representatives of the United States this week and to the Government last night,” the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel said in a statement.
Netanyahu thus responded to information published today by the Reuters news agency indicating that Israeli and Egyptian negotiators would be negotiating an electronic surveillance system that allows Israeli troops to leave the border in case of reaching a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
The Islamist group, for its part, accused the Israeli president of introducing new demands in the negotiations for a ceasefire, which shows that he is “procrastinating, looking for what will make the agreement fall,” according to a message from the member of the political bureau of Hamas Izzat al Risheq.
The group also insisted that managing the Gaza Strip after the war is an exclusively Palestinian matter, and confirmed that it has proposed that a single government, national and non-partisan, take control of the enclave next to the occupied West Bank.
Israel took control of the Philadelphia corridor in early May and since then controls the area, which includes the Rafah border crossing to Egypt, through which much of the humanitarian aid previously entered Gaza and which remains closed since the entry of Israeli troops into the town.
For Israel, controlling that border – in which they claim to have found at least 20 tunnels – is very important because it is the main source of arms smuggling that for years has served for the entry of Hamas weapons.
International
Mexican government prioritizes 191 communities after deadly floods
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed on Wednesday that the death toll from recent rains and floods across several central states has risen to 66, while the federal government has activated air bridges and prioritized assistance in 191 isolated communities.
“Unfortunately, 66 people have died, and 75 remain missing,” the president said during her morning press conference. She added that the official death toll will be updated later in a new report.
As of Tuesday, authorities had reported 64 fatalities. Sheinbaum also announced the creation of a public information center to centralize official data on the deceased, missing persons, damaged homes, and cut-off communities.
According to the president, the number of missing persons has decreased thanks to coordination with state authorities.
“Through calls to phone line 079, 103 people who had been reported missing have now been located,” she explained.
Priority Municipalities
The president noted that the federal government has classified 191 communities as ‘priority’, a designation based mainly on the percentage of homes affected.
International
New road and bridge explosions raise alarm amid indigenous protests in Ecuador
Ecuadorian authorities are investigating two explosions that occurred early Wednesday, one on a road in the southern part of the country and another under a bridge in Guayas province. These incidents follow the car bomb explosion in the coastal city of Guayaquil, also in Guayas, which occurred the day before and left one person dead and 30 injured.
Press reports indicate that one person was injured and several vehicles were damaged in the explosion on the Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje road in the south.
“Besides yesterday’s explosion in Guayaquil, we have received reports of explosives placed on bridges along the Guayaquil-Machala and Machala-Cuenca routes to disrupt traffic,” said Roberto Luque, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT).
On his X social media account, Luque reported that authorities have been deployed to the sites to assess the damage and determine the current condition of the structures.
“What they haven’t achieved with their call for a strike, some are trying to achieve through terrorism,” he stated, referring to the 24 days of protests organized by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie) against rising diesel prices and other demands.
The protests, called at a national level, have Imbabura province as their epicenter. Roadblocks have also been reported in the northern part of Pichincha province, whose capital is Quito, while activities in the rest of the country continue normally.
International
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Ecuador’s Armed Forces carried out an operation on Monday — including airstrikes — against illegal mining in the town of Buenos Aires, in the country’s north, Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo reported.
The mountainous, gold-rich area has been a hotspot for illegal mining since 2017, located in the Andean province of Imbabura.
In 2019, former president Lenín Moreno deployed around 2,400 soldiers to the region in an attempt to curb the illegal activity. “The operation began with mortar fire, followed by gunfire and bombing runs by Supertucano aircraft,” Loffredo said in a video released by the Defense Ministry.
He added that the operation would continue on Tuesday with patrols across the area to locate possible members of “irregular armed groups that may have crossed from the Colombian border.”
The Armed Forces stated on X that the intervention focused on the “complete elimination of multiple illegal mining tunnels” in the areas known as Mina Nueva and Mina Vieja.
The operation coincided with the deployment of a military and police convoy into Imbabura, which has been the epicenter of protests against President Daniel Noboa since September 22, following his decision to scrap the diesel subsidy.
Mexican government prioritizes 191 communities after deadly floods
New road and bridge explosions raise alarm amid indigenous protests in Ecuador
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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