الكاتب: kafej

Hamas has released a group of 10 Thai nationals and one citizen from the Philippines who were being held in Gaza, as part of a separate agreement to the one between Israel and the Palestinian group that saw Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners being freed.

Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson of the foreign ministry in Qatar – which has played a key mediating role – said on Friday that the Thai nationals and Filipino were among a total of 24 captives who were released.

The Thai nationals, he said, were “currently on their way out of the strip” with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

They were not covered by the truce deal between Hamas and Israel, and Qatar and Egypt mediated a separate deal with Hamas, Thai officials said.

That negotiation track was opened when Thailand’s foreign minister visited Qatar on October 31, which led to a specific agreement with Hamas to release the Thais, the officials added. Thai nationals were the single biggest group of foreigners taken captive.

But Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin posted earlier on X that he had received confirmation of the release of 12 nationals and that Thai embassy officials were to pick them up.

The group was brought to Rafah and then to the Karem Abu Salem crossing, called Kerem Shalom by Israel, east of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. They were transported to a processing point at the Hatzerim Air Force base and were to be taken to the Shamir Medical Centre, southeast of Tel Aviv.

“At this time, the gender and names of these Thais are not known,” the ministry statement said.

Apart from Qatar and Egypt, the ministry also thanked Israel, Iran, Malaysia and the ICRC.

Iran and Thailand maintain friendly relations and prominent members of Thailand’s Muslim minority made unofficial trips to Tehran to seek the captives’ freedom, The Associated Press news agency reported.

Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara had said that his Iranian counterpart, who was serving as Thailand’s intermediary with Hamas, had told him there would be “good news soon”, the report said.

At least 23 Thai workers are believed to be among the estimated 240 people who were taken captive by Hamas during the October 7 attack.

An additional 32 Thai workers were killed in the attack in southern Israel.

According to the Thai ministry, some 30,000 Thais were employed mainly in Israel’s agricultural sector at the time of the attack. More than 8,600 Thai workers have been voluntarily repatriated since then.

Under an agreement with Israel, Thai workers are paid a minimum wage of 5,300 shekels a month ($2,000), six or seven times more than they earn at home.

Qatar has led weeks of intense negotiations, coordinating with the United States and Egypt, to reach an agreement for the freeing of 50 civilian hostages from Gaza in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners, a brief truce and access to humanitarian aid.

Thirteen Israelis, including dual nationals, were released by Hamas on Friday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged that the captive release deal would not spell the end of the war, saying Israel would continue its push to “eliminate” Hamas.

Benny Gantz, a part of Israel’s war cabinet, reiterated at a solidarity rally for the families of captives in Tel Aviv that the army will resume fighting after the humanitarian pause.

“I want to assure the families of all the hostages: We will not stop. We will resume the efforts and the military action in Gaza to retrieve the hostages and restore deterrence,” Gantz said.

In his first statement since the Israeli captives were released, Netanyahu said that their return was “one of the aims of the war and we are committed to achieving all the aims of the war”.

Experts in the US fear a rising number of “super pigs” that are proving tough to eradicate could invade northern states.

As a cross-breed combining the Eurasian boar’s survival skills with the size and fertility of domestic swine in Canada, the “super pig” is described as an “ecological train wreck”.

Professor Ryan Brook, one of Canada’s authorities on the issue, added they are the “most invasive animal on the planet”, with the swine capable of spreading disease and devastating crops and wildlife.

“Nobody should be surprised when pigs start walking across that border, if they haven’t already,” Professor Brook said.

“The question is: what will be done about it?”

Northern states like Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana are taking steps to stop the invasion, but it isn’t easy to control the spiralling population.

The pigs are smart and furry, giving them the edge to survive Canadian winters, and they reproduce extremely quickly.

One sow can have six piglets in a litter and raise two litters in a year – which means that even if authorities managed to eliminate 65% of the population each year, they’d still grow.

And hunting could make the problem worse, according to Professor Brook, with the success rate for hunters only about 2- 3%.

Several states have also banned hunting because it makes the pigs more wary and nocturnal, which makes them tougher to track down.

Instead, methods under consideration are ground traps – like the so-called “BoarBuster” – or net guns fired from helicopters.

Some states have also adopted crowdsourced “Squeal on Pigs” tracking programs, while scientists have studied poisons such as sodium nitrite, but they risk harming other species.

“The only path forward is you have to be really aggressive and you have to use all the tools in the toolbox,” Professor Brook said.

Read more:
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Pigs already cost $2.5bn (£1.98bn) in damage to crops in the US each year, mostly in southern states.

They have also, on occasion, been known to attack humans, with one woman killed in Texas in 2019.

The animals are not native to North America, but have roamed there for centuries.

The problems in Canada date back to the 1980s, when farmers were encouraged to raise wild boar, before the market collapsed in 2001 and some frustrated farmers simply set the animals free.

More than €285,000 (£250,000) has been raised for a Deliveroo driver who helped halt a knife attack outside a primary school in Dublin.

Brazilian delivery man Caio Benicio has been hailed a hero after he subdued the knifeman by hitting him on the head with his motorbike helmet.

Three young children and a creche worker, believed to be in her 30s, were injured in the attack in the Irish capital just after 1.30pm on Thursday.

Read more: What’s going on in Dublin?

A five-year-old girl and woman remain in a serious condition in hospital, police said earlier.

Riots later broke out in the city on Thursday night in a rampaged which officers blamed on a “lunatic faction driven by far-right ideology”.

Police have not revealed any further details about the attacker or his motivation, but have said the incident did not appear to be terror-related.

But, in an apparent rebuff to anti-immigrant commentary online and from some rioters, an online fundraising page called “Buy Caio Benicio a pint” has gone viral and had already raised more than €280,000 (£240,000) by late on Friday night.

Many of those who have donated praised the Brazilian for his bravery.

Another appeal in aid of the victims has also raised more than €160,000 (£140,000) – with the combined total raised heading towards half a million Euros.

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Earlier on Friday the delivery driver described how he was travelling past the school when he saw the attacker grab a girl and take out a knife.

“When I saw the knife, I stopped my bike and I just acted by instinct,” he told the PA news agency.

Mr Benicio added that he took his helmet off and hit the man in the head “with all of my power”.

The father-of-two added: “I didn’t even know there was more kids that were (hurt) at that time. I thought it was just one girl but afterwards I (found) out there are more people, more kids.

“I wish the family all the best. I pray for her to survive.”

When asked about the riots, Mr Benicio said: “I’m here for about 20 years now, I don’t know politics here deeply to have an opinion about it.

“What I can say is I know the protest is against immigrants and for me it doesn’t make sense because I’m an immigrant myself and I was the one who helped out.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said anyone who risked their lives to save lives are “real Irish heroes, whatever their nationality”, while his deputy Micheal Martin said Mr Benicio’s part “should not be forgotten”.

He added: “We had a horrific, violent attack on children and adults, we think of them and we think of the Deliveroo person who came along to save the situation, perhaps for other children,” he said.

Police have arrested 34 people following Thursday night’s violence, in which a bus, tram and police vehicles were set on fire.

More than a dozen businesses were also severely damaged or looted.

Algerian defender apologised for posting video, French authorities order him to stand trial in December.

French authorities have said that Algerian footballer Youcef Atal was detained for questioning and will stand trial for sharing a social media post that purportedly encouraged violence against Jews.

In a statement on Friday, prosecutors said that police detained Atal, who plays for French club Nice, for questioning on Thursday as part of a probe into possible “justification of terrorism” over the post.

He was released on bail of 80,000 euros ($87,500) on Friday, and placed under judicial supervision pending the trial. He is not allowed to leave France except for international games.

The 27-year-old footballer was suspended for seven games by the French football league for sharing a social media post last month in which a Palestinian preacher allegedly made anti-Semitic statements calling for violence against Jews.

Al Jazeera was not able to confirm the contents of the post, which Atal quickly deleted and apologised for.

Nice authorities opened an investigation into the matter, and prosecutors have said that Atal, who has been suspended by his club “until further notice”, will face trial on December 18 for possible incitement to religious hatred.

Atal has said that he would “never support a message of hate” and that he condemns violence “no matter where in the world” but has not offered an explanation for why he shared the video.

The Nice defender is one of several footballers who have faced criticism or penalties for social media posts amid the escalating fighting between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas that has created simmering tensions in communities around the world.

After French football star Karim Benzema criticised “unjust bombings which spare no women or children” in a social media post about Israel’s assault on Gaza, which Palestinian authorities say has killed more than 6,500 children, France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin accused him — without evidence — of having links to the Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood.

A French senator also called on Benzema to be stripped of previous football awards as well as his French citizenship.

On Thursday, a council member of the Football Association (FA), English football’s governing body, resigned after comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

“Recent events have left me bereft of energy and hope. I have felt overwhelmed at how this has transpired,” Wasim Haq said in a resignation letter posted to social media, in which he said that he had meant to criticise a politician and not Jewish people more widely.

“As someone who has worked closely with many Jewish people over the years and created meaningful and valued friendships, the most painful part of this process is knowing that some of those friends and colleagues may not forgive me for the misunderstanding and hurt I have unintentionally caused.”

Dutch footballer Anwar El Ghazi was also expelled from the German football team Mainz 05 after social media posts in support of Palestine, despite reiterating his opposition to anti-Semitism and violence against civilians.

El Ghazi has taken legal action against the club over his termination.