AFP UK

Rafah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – On the first day of a four day truce, Palestinians in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, have been waiting since the start of the truce to refill their empty gas bottles. Gazans have struggled to survive with shortages of water and other essentials such as gas and fuel. Hamas’s October 7 attack sparked an air and ground offensive by Israel, which vowed to destroy the Palestinian militants. In Gaza, nearly 15,000 people have been killed in the war, officials in the Hamas-run territory said. About 1,200 people, were killed in Israel during the October 7 attack, according to Israeli officials.

Bangkok (AFP) – Bangkok kicks off its annual light festival. The sixth edition of the “Awakening Bangkok” festival showcases 29 illuminated installations under the theme of “Time Passage” along historical streets and markets in the capital city’s old town area and will run until December 3.

Khan Yunis (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Images released by the Palestinian Red Crescent on November 24 show them evacuating wounded people from the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City to the European Hospital in Khan Yunis on the first day of the four-day Israel-Hamas truce. Hamas’s October 7 attack sparked an air and ground offensive by Israel, which has vowed to destroy the Palestinian militants. In Gaza, nearly 15,000 people have been killed in the war, officials in the Hamas-run territory said. About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israel during the October 7 attack and around 240 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.

Thailand (Thailand) (AFP) – A sister of a released Thai hostage expresses joy and disbelief that her brother, who was held by Hamas for weeks, will finally return home. “I am very happy because my hope was very dim… but suddenly there is hope,” says Roongarun Wichanguen, sister of 33-year-old hostage Vetoon Phoome. Some 24 hostages seized during Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel last month were released, officials say, as a four-day ceasefire offered some relief to residents of the war-torn Gaza Strip. Nearly 40 Palestinian prisoners were also released, according to a charity.

Antarctica (Antarctica) (AFP) – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Chile’s President Gabriel Boric visit the German Antarctic Receiving Station during a three-day tour of the icy continent aimed at witnessing firsthand “the deadly impact of the climate crisis,” according to Guterres.

Galápagos (Ecuador) (AFP) – Ecuadoran military seize about five tons of drugs from a semi-submersible vessel intercepted off the coast of the Galapagos Islands, according to Navy officials.

Rome (AFP) – The dogs are kings and queens at “Fiuto”, Italy’s first dogs’ restaurant, where humans’ favourite four-legged friends have their own menu and eat at the table with their owners.

Strasbourg (France) (AFP) – Lines are already forming in front of the mulled wine stands as the 453rd Strasbourg Christmas market opens its doors. In the Alsatian capital, tourists are strolling the streets, as are the police, who are mobilized in large numbers, with over 1,000 agents in charge of security to ensure the market runs smoothly.

Rafah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – The Director of Communications at the Rafah border crossing, Palestinian side, says more than 300 trucks will enter today as a truce between Israel and Hamas takes hold after nearly seven weeks after an unprecedented Hamas attack sparked an air and ground offensive by Israel, which has vowed to destroy the Palestinian militants. In Gaza nearly 15,000 people, 6,150 of them children, have been killed in the war, officials in the Hamas-run territory said. About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israel during the October 7 attack and around 240 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.

Rafah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Palestinians, stranded in Egypt since the beginning of the war, return to Gaza through the Rafah crossing as a four-day truce in the Israel-Hamas war takes effect, with hostages set to be released in exchange for prisoners in the first major reprieve in seven weeks of fighting that have claimed thousands of lives. After Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seizing about 240 hostages, Israel vowed to “crush” Hamas and unleashed a withering military campaign that Gaza’s Hamas government says has killed nearly 15,000 people in the coastal territory.

Pretoria (AFP) – South Africa’s ex-Olympic runner, Oscar Pistorius, has been granted parole and will be released from prison in January next year. This parole decision comes a decade after Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in a crime that gripped the world.

Rafah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – In the south of the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, a group of young Palestinians put on an acrobatic show in a school converted into a shelter for displaced families.