Cambodia denies Thailand's claims it breached ceasefire, as citizens hope truce holds
On Tuesday, the Thai military said Cambodian troops "had launched armed attacks into several areas" in "a clear attempt to undermine mutual trust", but said clashes later stopped.
Cambodia's defence ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata insisted there had been "no armed clashes against each other in any regions". However, both sides said some morning meetings between rival military commanders along the border — scheduled as part of the pact — had gone ahead. Cambodian leader Hun Manet and Thai acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai shook hands over the ceasefire deal Monday at peace talks hosted by Malaysia and attended by delegates from the United States and China. "I saw photos of the two leaders shaking hands," said 32-year-old pharmacy worker Kittisak Sukwilai in the Thai city of Surin — 50 kilometres from the border.
"I just hope it's not just a photo op with fake smiles and that those hands aren't actually preparing to stab each other in the back."
In Cambodia's Samraong city — 20 kilometres from the frontier — an AFP journalist said the sound of blasts stopped in the 30 minutes leading up to midnight, with the lull continuing until midday.
"The frontline has eased since the ceasefire at 12 midnight," Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said in a Tuesday morning message on Facebook.
How many people have been killed in clashes between Thailand and Cambodia? Jets, rockets and artillery killed at least 42 people since last Thursday and displaced more than 300,000 — prompting intervention from US President Donald Trump over the weekend. The flare-up was the deadliest since violence raged sporadically from 2008-2011 over the territory, claimed by both because of a vague demarcation made by Cambodia's French colonial administrators in 1907.
"When I heard the news I was so happy because I miss my home and my belongings that I left behind," Phean Neth told AFP at a sprawling camp for Cambodian evacuees on a temple site away from the fighting.
"I am so happy that I can't describe it," said the 45-year-old. A joint statement from both countries — as well as Malaysia — said the ceasefire was "a vital first step towards de-escalation and the restoration of peace and security". Both sides are courting Trump for trade deals to avert his threat of eye-watering tariffs, and the US State Department said its officials had been "on the ground" to shepherd peace talks. "I have instructed my Trade Team to restart negotiations on Trade," Trump said in a message on his Truth Social platform, taking credit for the ceasefire deal after it was announced.
"The US and I are still in negotiations," Thailand's Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira told reporters on Tuesday. "We're still waiting for the US to decide whether to accept our proposal."
Did China play a role in Thailand and Cambodia's negotiations? The statement said China also had "active participation" in the talks, hosted by Malaysian Prime Minister and ASEAN bloc chair Anwar Ibrahim in his country's administrative capital, Putrajaya. Hun Manet thanked Trump for his "decisive" support, while his Thai counterpart Phumtham said it should be "carried out in good faith by both sides". Each side had already agreed to a truce in principle while accusing the other of undermining peace efforts, trading allegations about the use of cluster bombs and targeting of hospitals. Thailand says 14 of its soldiers and 15 civilians were killed, while Cambodia has confirmed only eight civilian and five military deaths. More than 188,000 people have fled Thailand's border regions, while around 140,000 have been driven from their homes in Cambodia.
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ABC News
5 hours ago
- ABC News
The junior doctor from Perth trying to build a children's hospital in Gaza
As the hospital walls shook and screams filled the night, Dr Mohammed Mustafa turned on his phone to film, simultaneously shocking the world and changing the course of his life. Bombs were falling again on Gaza, a two-month-long ceasefire abruptly ended by Israel in the early hours of March 18 this year. The trainee emergency doctor from Perth, known as Dr Mo, was thrust into the carnage of a mass casualty event. "I remember just thinking to myself, "Oh my God, how many dead are there?" Dr Mo tells Australian Story. "And then I went to my room and I just recorded what was going on, what had happened that night." In the video, the 35-year-old doctor's face is etched with pain and exhaustion as he describes operating through the night on patients, mostly women and children, "burnt head-to-toe, limbs missing". Overcome, the UK-raised son of Palestinian refugees lowers his head, covers his eyes with his big hand to hide the tears and turns off the video. Then he posts it on social media. "I think it really struck a lot of chords with a lot of people," Dr Mo says. "All of a sudden I became this focal point where I had a lot of people wanting to interview me." Israel has banned foreign journalists from Gaza, and killed more than 170 Palestinian journalists, so Dr Mo became a chronicler of life and death in war-torn Palestine, talking to television networks around the world and taking video of the ever-unfolding nightmare of the emergency room. Just how deeply Dr Mo's work resonated became clear when he returned to Perth. Hundreds of supporters, many of whom only knew him via social media, filled the airport arrivals hall and cheers went up as the 190cm, 140kg man-mountain emerged. His videos also resonated globally, attracting the attention of world leaders and political figures such as former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and bringing him face-to-face with Piers Morgan and Greta Thunberg. Five months on, Dr Mo is now on a mission that has taken him not just to the halls of Australia's parliament but to governments around the world: to build a children's hospital in Gaza. To his 200,000-plus Instagram followers, Dr Mo is known by the username "Beast from the Middle East", a throwback to the chant that would rise up in the crowd as he thundered down the field as a professional rugby player. For the young Palestinian migrant to the UK, who was targeted at school for his ethnicity and Islamic faith, rugby offered a sense of belonging. Despite the schoolyard turmoil, he was a bright kid, and from an early age, Dr Mo was well aware his parents wanted him to be a doctor. "I pushed him hard [to] study medicine," his mother, Iman Mustafa, says. "I love medicine." After graduating, Dr Mo chose to specialise in emergency medicine, a field that, like rugby and his subsequent title-winning foray into ju-jitsu, satisfied his need for action. "I wanted to go and help in conflict zones," Dr Mo says. "I wanted to go help in natural disasters. I wanted to be there when it happened, to be right there and then." In 2017, despite his mother's protestations, Dr Mo moved to Queensland's Gold Coast to continue his training. "Emergency medicine in Australia is world-renowned and the pay is a lot better, the lifestyle is a lot better," he says. He became enamoured with Australia, its people, humour, and culture, and after moving to Western Australia, became an Australian citizen in April 2023. Six months later, while on night shift, Dr Mo learned of the horrific raids into Israel by Hamas on October 7. "Those images of women and children being kidnapped and taken into Gaza, when you saw dead women and children, there's no justification for that," Dr Mo says. But at the same time, he felt a sense of dread, knowing that Israel would respond with deadly force. "I felt sorry for what the people were about to endure in Gaza," he says. Israel's retaliatory strikes killed at least 1,900 children by the end of October, according to human rights researchers — an unprecedented toll in modern history. Dr Mo had never been to Gaza, never met his extended family living there. Now was the time. He volunteered as an emergency doctor and in June 2024, in the weeks after Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom was killed by an Israeli air-strike while attempting to deliver food, Dr Mo began his first of two stints in Gaza. "You could hear the bombs going off in the background and the drones overhead, and you've got these children in body bags [within] the first 30 minutes, hour, that we arrived at the hospital," Dr Mo says. Dealing with high-stress situations is part of Dr Mo's life. But when he stood up in Parliament House in May to deliver a speech urging support for a children's hospital in Gaza, he was overwhelmed. "My palms were very, very sweaty and I was very, very nervous," he says. Dr Mo told of the guilt he harbours from having to decide between the child he can treat and the child who will bleed to death on the floor. He told of how at least 1,400 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. And a child dies there every 40 minutes. Sitting in the audience, along with politicians, diplomats, and aid workers, was Matiu Bush, the nursing academic with social media know-how who Dr Mo met and collaborated with during his second mission in Gaza. Together, they spearhead the campaign for the children's hospital, recently spending months overseas engaged in high-level lobbying for support of the proposal. "We're not an organisation, we're not part of the government," Dr Mo told the crowd. "We're just a doctor and a nurse." The mission is to build a children's hospital in Gaza, with its kitchen named in Zomi Frankcom's honour. The plan is to assemble the hospital in Gaza from modular units transported from Jordan. Funding would come from philanthropic donors and the public, with like-minded governments acting as custodians, taking on overall responsibility for the hospital. Dr Mo has met with Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the minister for international development, Dr Anne Aly, pushing the need for government negotiations with Israel to allow the hospital. The UK's under-secretary of state with responsibility for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, has agreed to consider the proposal. The Irish government has pledged "full support" and the Jewish Council of Australia wants to help fundraise. He is so busy with his mission, just when Dr Mo will finish his traineeship and become an emergency medicine specialist is uncertain. But despite the days of darkness Dr Mo experienced while in Gaza, he found a shining light. "They say don't believe in love at first sight, but I was blown away by this woman," he says. He worked alongside her in the emergency room, a local doctor, "so kind and compassionate". He knew her name was Nour, but before he found the courage to ask if she was single, word came through that Dr Mo and other volunteers were to be evacuated from northern Gaza to the south within a few hours. After arriving in the south, he mentioned his feelings for Nour to an uncle, and everything happened in a rush. Her father was contacted and made the dangerous trip south to meet Dr Mo. The next day, Nour visited. They spoke for a few hours, after which Dr Mo was more convinced than ever that "this is the person that I want to be with". The next day, her father called. Nour had agreed to marry him. With drones overhead and bombs falling nearby, their families came together for a small daytime wedding ceremony — and then Nour went back north. Five days later, Dr Mo was flown back to Perth. "I worry for her safety," Dr Mo says, who has since been denied access to Gaza by Israel. "I can't wait till we manage to get her out of Gaza." When Dr Mo calls Nour, he can hear fighter jets overhead and knows the danger she faces going to work at the hospital each day. When he closes his eyes, he sees the lifeless bodies of children he has put into body bags. "Switching off the phone doesn't stop those images in my head," he says. "There's a lot of pain that I've got, but if I can put aside the pain and I can focus on something positive, then maybe people from the other side can also put aside their pain and focus on the positive. "I just want the killing to stop, and I want these kids to grow up with a chance in the future."
News.com.au
14 hours ago
- News.com.au
Israel PM says in 'profound shock' over hostage videos
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed "profound shock" over videos showing two emaciated hostages in Gaza, with the EU also denouncing the clips on Sunday and demanding the release of all remaining captives after nearly 22 months of war. Over the past few days, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have released three videos showing two hostages seized during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. The images of Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David have sparked strong reactions among Israelis, fuelling renewed calls to reach a truce and hostage release deal without delay. A statement from Netanyahu's office late Saturday said he had spoken with the families of the two hostages and "expressed profound shock over the materials distributed by the terror organisations". Netanyahu "told the families that the efforts to return all our hostages are ongoing", the statement added. Earlier in the day, tens of thousands of people had rallied in the coastal hub of Tel Aviv to urge Netanyahu's government to secure the release of the remaining captives. In the clips shared by the Palestinian Islamist groups, 21-year-old Braslavski, a German-Israeli dual national, and 24-year-old David both appear weak and malnourished. There was particular outrage in Israel over images of David who appeared to be digging what he said in the staged video was his own grave. The videos make references to the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where UN-mandated experts have warned a "famine is unfolding". EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the images "are appalling and expose the barbarity of Hamas", calling for the release of "all hostages... immediately and unconditionally". - 'Hamas must disarm' - Kallas said in the same post on X that "Hamas must disarm and end its rule in Gaza" -- demands endorsed earlier this week by Arab countries, including key mediators Qatar and Egypt. She added that "large-scale humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach those in need". Israel has heavily restricted the entry of aid into Gaza, which was already under blockade for 15 years before the war began. UN agencies, aid groups and analysts say that much of the trickle of food aid that Israel allows in is looted by gangs or diverted in chaotic circumstances rather than reaching those most in need. Many desperate Palestinians are left to risk their lives under fire seeking what aid is distributed through controlled channels. On Sunday, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed nine Palestinians who were waiting to collect food rations from a site operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Israeli attacks elsewhere killed another 10 people on Sunday, said civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal. - 'Emaciated and desperate' - Israeli newspapers dedicated their front pages on Sunday to the plight of the hostages, with Maariv decrying "hell in Gaza" and Yedioth Ahronoth showing a "malnourished, emaciated and desperate" David. Left-leaning Haaretz declared that "Netanyahu is in no rush" to rescue the captives, echoing claims by critics that the longtime leader has prolonged the war for his own political survival. In his conversations with Braslavski and David's families on Saturday, Netanyahu accused Hamas of "deliberately starving our hostages", and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he was "initiating a special UN Security Council meeting on the issue of the Israeli hostages". Braslavski and David are among the 49 hostages taken during Hamas's 2023 attack who are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Most of the 251 hostages seized in the attack have been released during two short-lived truces in the war, some in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody. - Red Crescent says HQ hit - Hamas's 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,430 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a post on X early Sunday that one of its staff members was killed and three others wounded in an Israeli attack on its Khan Yunis headquarters, in southern Gaza. There was no comment from Israel. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP cannot independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence and other parties. Overnight from Saturday to Sunday, Israel's military said it had "most likely intercepted" a rocket launched from southern Gaza. Meanwhile, in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, firebrand National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said he had prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, where his repeated visits are seen as a provocation to many Palestinians. The mosque is Islam's third-holiest site, and is revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, though Jews are barred from praying there under a long-standing convention. In a video statement recorded during his visit -- Ben Gvir said "the response to Hamas's horror videos" should include Gaza's occupation and plans for the "voluntary emigration" of its people. Jordan, which acts as the site's custodian, condemned the minister's visit as "an unacceptable provocation, and a reprehensible escalation".
SBS Australia
a day ago
- SBS Australia
Hamas says it won't disarm unless independent Palestinian state is established
Hamas has warned it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established — a fresh rebuke to a key Israeli demand to end the war in Gaza. Indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel, aimed at securing a 60-day ceasefire and a deal for the release of hostages, ended last week in a deadlock. Earlier this week, Qatar and Egypt, who are mediating ceasefire efforts, endorsed a declaration by France and Saudi Arabia outlining steps toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As part of this measure, Hamas must hand over its arms to the Palestinian Authority. In its statement, Hamas — a Palestinian political and military group which has governed the Gaza Strip since the most recent elections in 2006 but has been militarily battered by Israel in the war — said it could not yield its right to "armed resistance" unless an "independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital" is established. The statement was in response to comments from United States President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, who told families of hostages being held by Hamas that he was working with the Israeli government on a plan that would effectively end the war in Gaza. Steve Witkoff is visiting Israel as its government faces mounting pressure over the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the enclave. In a recording of the meeting, reviewed by Reuters, Witkoff is heard saying: "We have a very, very good plan that we're working on collectively with the Israeli government, with Prime Minister Netanyahu ... for the reconstruction of Gaza. That effectively means the end of the war." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his remarks. Witkoff also said that Hamas was prepared to disarm in order to end the war, though the group has repeatedly said it will not lay down its weapons. Israel considers the disarmament of Hamas a key condition for any deal to end the conflict. Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described any future independent Palestinian state as a platform to destroy Israel and said, for that reason, security control over Palestinian territories must remain with Israel. He also criticised several countries, including the UK and Canada , for announcing plans to recognise a Palestinian state in response to the devastation of Gaza from Israel's offensive and blockade. He called the move a reward for Hamas' conduct. Hamas releases second video of Israeli hostage On Sunday AEST, Hamas released its second video in two days of Israeli hostage Evyatar David. In it, David, skeletally thin, is shown digging a hole, which, he says in the video, is for his own grave. "They are on the absolute brink of death," David's brother Ilay said at a rally in support of the hostages in Tel Aviv, where thousands gathered holding posters of those in captivity and chanted for their immediate release. "In the current unimaginable condition, they may have only days left to live." The war started when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza. Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has turned much of the enclave into a wasteland, killing more than 60,000 Palestinians and setting off a humanitarian catastrophe. Nearly a week has passed since Israel, under international pressure amid growing scenes of starving children, announced limited humanitarian pauses and airdrops meant to get more food to Gaza's over two million people. But the United Nations, partners and Palestinians say far too little aid is still coming in, with months' worth of supplies piled up outside Gaza waiting for Israeli approval. The leading international authority on food crises this week said a "worst-case scenario of famine" was occurring in the besieged enclave. Israeli officials deny that starvation is occurring in Gaza .
