Washington (CNN) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday appeared to reject the idea of creating a Palestinian state, a statement that could contribute to growing tensions between Washington and Jerusalem.

“In any future arrangement … Israel needs security control all territory west of Jordan. This clashes with the idea of (Palestinian) sovereignty. What can you do?” he told a news conference in Tel Aviv when asked about reports that he told American officials he opposes the idea of Palestinian sovereignty.

“This conflict is not about the absence of a (Palestinian) state but about the existence of a state, the Jewish state,” Netanyahu also said.

The apparent rejection of a Palestinian state is at direct odds with the stated position of one of Netanyahu’s staunchest allies, US President Joe Biden, who has long advocated for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even as Biden offers support for Israel, behind the scenes he and top officials have grown frustrated that Netanyahu appears to be rejecting advice and pressure on the campaign in Gaza.

American officials said Thursday they would not allow Netanyahu’s apparent rejection of an eventual Palestinian state to stop them from pressing the matter with their Israeli counterparts.

A senior administration official noted after Netanyahu’s comments that the prime minister had reversed himself on hardline positions before – and that his statement Thursday was not necessarily the final word.

“If we took such statements as the final word, there would be no humanitarian assistance going into Gaza and no hostages released,” a senior US administration official said. “As with those and many other issues, we will continue to work toward the right outcome, particularly on issues where we strongly disagree.”

One person familiar with the matter said it wasn’t clear whether Netanyahu had, in fact, relayed his views directly to American officials, as he stated during his news conference. The person said inside the administration, his comments aren’t being viewed as a major departure from what he’s said previously.

A public rift opened between Biden and Netanyahu last month over the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza and differences in opinion about what a future for Palestinians should look like after combat operations end. The US has been signaling that it wants Israel to move to a lower intensity phase of the war that focuses more on Hamas leaders and militants rather than the mass strikes that have led to tens of thousands of Palestinian civilian deaths.

“I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives. Not stop going after Hamas, but be more careful,” Biden said last month.

Both Biden and Netanyahu have faced increasing domestic political pressure as the military campaign in Gaza has dragged on. The US president is confronted constantly by pro-Palestinian protesters who demand he call for a ceasefire and up the pressure on the Israelis to end their military campaign that began in the wake of the October 7 terror attack by Hamas.

Meanwhile Netanyahu faces pressure from Israelis over the fact that scores of hostages are still being held from Hamas’ attack and the security failures that allowed it to take place. Failure to deliver on the return of those hostages would intensify political pressure on a decisive leader whose popularity among Israelis has only plunged since October 7.

Amid calls for Netanyahu to resign, the prime minister claimed in the news conference that the Israeli politicians asking for him to step down are essentially asking for the creation of a Palestinian state.

“Those who talk about the day after Netanyahu are actually talking about the establishment of a Palestinian state,” he said, adding that an Israeli prime minister needs to be “capable of saying no to our friends,” he added.

When asked about Netanyahu’s remarks, John Kirby, the US National Security Council spokesman, told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday that “nothing has changed” in Biden’s desire for a Palestinian state.

“We’re not going to stop working towards that goal. And this is this is not a new comment by Prime Minister Netanyahu,” he said.

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(CNN) — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Monday launched ballistic missiles at what it said was a spy base for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad in northern Iraq, and at “anti-Iran terror groups” in Syria, in the latest escalation of hostilities that further risks spiraling into a wider regional conflict.

The strikes were condemned by the United States as “reckless” and imprecise.

Iranian forces said the midnight missile strike in Iraq destroyed “one of the main espionage headquarters” of Israel in Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, in response to what they said were Israeli attacks that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders and members of the Iranian resistance front.

“This headquarters has been the center for developing espionage operations and planning terrorist acts” in the region and Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement Monday.

CNN has reached out to Israel’s Prime Minister’s office for comment on the IRGC’s claim.

The IRGC also said it struck several locations in Erbil and claimed to target “sites of Iranian opposition groups.”

At least four civilians were killed and six others injured in the attack, according to a statement early Tuesday by the Security Council of the Kurdistan region.

A large villa belonging to a well-known Kurdish businessman was also destroyed, according to a CNN journalist in the region. There were unconfirmed reports of casualties at the residential property though it is not known if the building was an intended target.

“This blatant violation undermines the sovereignty of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq,” the Security Council said in its statement, which accused Iran of employing baseless pretexts to attack Erbil, a historically stable region that it said had never posed a threat to any party.

Also on Monday, the IRGC said it fired ballistic missiles at bases of “anti-Iran terror groups in occupied territories of Syria.”

It claimed the targets were involved in the recent dual bombings in the city of Kerman during a memorial for the slain Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani that left scores dead and wounded.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the deadly twin blasts near Soleimani’s burial site, in what was the deadliest attack in Iran since its 1979 revolution.

In its statement, the IRGC said it “identified and destroyed a number of key terror commanders and elements, especially Daesh (ISIS), in the occupied territories of Syria by firing a number of ballistic missiles.”

A US official said Monday initial indications of Iran’s missile attacks showed “this was a reckless and imprecise set of strikes.”

“We have seen the reports, and we tracked the missiles, which impacted in northern Iraq and northern Syria. No US personnel or facilities were targeted,” the official said.

“Iran is claiming this is in response to the terrorist attacks in Kerman, Iran, and Rask, Iran, with a focus on ISIS. We will continue to assess the situation.”

An unnamed US State Department spokesperson told CNN the strikes did not damage the “US Consulate Erbil or the New Consulate Compound under construction.”

“No American personnel were injured,” they said.

Kurdistan region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani called on “our partners in the international community not to remain silent in the face of repeated attacks against the people of Kurdistan.”

“Earlier this evening, Erbil was once again attacked by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. Sadly, during tonight’s unjustifiable attack, several civilians have been martyred and wounded,” Barzani said in a statement.

“I condemn this cowardly attack on the people of the Kurdistan region in the strongest terms.”

Concerns of an escalating war

Iran’s attacks will further raise fears that Israel’s war in Gaza could widen into a full-scale war in the Middle East with grave humanitarian, political and economic consequences.

Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza in response to Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks has killed more than 24,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, and wrought widespread devastation, as civilians live with the threat of imminent death – either by an airstrike, starvation or disease.

The UN emergency relief chief said the war has brought famine to Gaza “with such incredible speed,” and South Africa has brought allegations of genocide at the United Nations’ top court – claims strenuously denied by Israel.

The conflict has escalated hostilities across the region, with Iran’s allies and proxies – the so-called axis of resistance – launching attacks on Israeli forces and its allies.

US forces last week sank three boats belonging to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, and the US and UK launched strikes against Houthi targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen aimed at halting a series of attacks on commercial shipping.

On Monday, a Houthi missile hit a US-owned cargo ship in the Red Sea, marking what appears to be the first time the militants have successfully struck a US-owned or operated ship.

Last week, the US carried out a strike in Baghdad that killed a leader from an Iran-backed proxy group that Washington blamed for attacks against US personnel in the region. US troops in Iraq and Syria have repeatedly come under rocket and drone attacks from Tehran’s proxies.

Fighting has intensified between Israel and the powerful Iran-backed group Hezbollah, across the Lebanon border. On Sunday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed to press on with confrontations with Israeli forces on the Lebanon border until the end of the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Last week, a senior Hezbollah commander was killed in an Israeli drone strike on his car in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese security source told CNN. Wissam Tawil is the most senior member of the Shiite militant group to be killed in an Israeli strike since Hezbollah and Israel began trading fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border on October 8.

Israel is also suspected of carrying out an attack on high-ranking Hamas leader, Saleh Al-Arouri, in Beirut, sparking fury among Hezbollah leaders who control the area where he was killed.

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Tel Aviv, Israel (CNN) — Israel will begin pulling thousands of soldiers out of Gaza this week in preparation for a new phase of the conflict, the military announced Monday, though a top official warned that he expected the fighting to continue throughout the year.

The announcement from the Israel Defense Forces marked the biggest known withdrawal of troops from the territory since the war against Hamas began and comes after the military said it was expanding operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip.

A senior US official said Monday that the move shows signs of the country’s gradual shift to a lower-intensity phase of its war.

The 551st and 14th brigades – comprised of reservists – will return to their families and civilian lives this week, the IDF said in a statement.

The 828th brigade, which trains squad commanders; the 261st brigade, which trains army officers; and the 460th brigade, which trains the armored corps, will return to their scheduled training, the IDF said.

The statement said the move is expected to “significantly alleviate economic burdens” and the troops “to gather strength for upcoming activities in the next year, as the fighting will persist, and their services will still be needed.”

In a briefing on Sunday, IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the return of the reservists was aimed at ensuring “planning and preparation for the continuation of 2024… understanding that we will be required for additional tasks and warfare throughout this year.” The objectives of the war “require prolonged fighting,” he added.

The focus of Israel’s ground operation has moved to the center and south of the Strip, but fighting in the north continues, where an estimated 52% to 65% of structures have been damaged and 46,000 housing units completely destroyed, according to the UN.

The IDF extended operations further into Khan Younis in southern Gaza last week. The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) warned on Thursday that over 150,000 people “have nowhere to go” after the IDF warned residents in many parts of central Gaza that they must urgently leave.

Israel aims to destroy Hamas after the Palestinian militant group’s surprise attacks on October 7 left 1,200 people in Israel dead, according to Israeli authorities, as well as bring back the hostages Hamas captured.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that Israel’s war in Gaza is at its “highest level and will continue for months,” according to Israel’s Army Radio.

Senior US officials told CNN in early December that they expected the current phase of Israel’s ground operation targeting the southern end of the Strip to last several weeks before it transitions, possibly by January, to a lower-intensity, hyper-localized strategy that narrowly targets specific Hamas militants and leaders.

The US has been pressing Israeli officials to begin the more surgical phase of fighting. The Biden administration has warned Israel that it cannot replicate the kind of devastating tactics it used in the north and must do more to limit civilian casualties.

More than 21,000 people have been killed in the enclave during Israel’s offensive, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza.

A US official said Monday’s announcement appeared to reflect the start of a gradual shift to lower intensity operations in the north of Gaza that American officials had been encouraging.

The official said the move reflected the success IDF forces have had in Northern Gaza in dismantling Hamas military capabilities. Still, the official cautioned there was still fighting ongoing in the north and that it did not appear to reflect any changes in the south of Gaza.

US officials are viewing the next few weeks as a critical period that will demonstrate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s willingness to move to a lower intensity phase of going after Hamas in Gaza.

Later this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to the Middle East to continue discussions with Israeli officials about the next phase of the war in Gaza, which American officials have made clear they expect to begin soon.

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Oslo, Norway (CNN) — At the age of four, Ali Rahmani realized his family would never lead an ordinary life.

He remembers the Iranian Revolutionary Guard arresting his father. Since then, he and his twin sister Kiana’s lives have been a series of arrests, separation and exile. If one parent is present, the other is in prison.

Now aged 17, the two will be accepting the Nobel peace prize this Sunday on behalf of their jailed mother, renowned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi. Together they will deliver her Nobel lecture that was smuggled out of the notorious Evin prison.

“Standing here, I’m trying to visualize the crowd. We’ll be standing right there giving the speech,” Kiana tells CNN as they tour the Oslo City Hall in which the prestigious ceremony will be held.

They walk through the minimalistic seating arrangement under the towering murals towards the stage. Standing next to a portrait of their mother girdled by panels of purple orchids, Kiana says, “We will have to live up to all this. A lot of important people will be here…. This is mental preparation really.”

The two have not seen their mother since they were eight years old and haven’t spoken to her in nearly two years due to increasing restrictions on communication that got even more severe ahead of the ceremony. For her activism, campaigning for human rights, in support of political prisoners and against the death penalty, Mohammadi and her family have paid a hefty price.

She has been arrested 13 times, convicted for five and sentenced to a total of 31 years and 154 lashes.

“We are extremely proud of all that she has done. What really saddens us today is that she is not here, because we should not be the ones being interviewed. That’s my mother’s right but we’ll do our best to be her voice and represent what is happening in Iran,” Ali says.

The responsibility of being the voice of not just their mother but their people weighs on them.

“We are not just here for us or our family, but for freedom and democracy and for the Woman Life Freedom movement,” Kiana says, referring to the nationwide protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jhina Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police in 2022.

It’s a road they don’t have to walk alone. In Oslo, they are continuously greeted by members of the Iranian diaspora who like their parents have paid for their dissent with years in prison or exile.

‘Disney mom’

They say they understand and accept the sacrifice, despite the impact it has had on their lives. They’ve lived with their father in self exile in France since 2015.

“Of course, at times in my life I wanted my mother by my side,” Kiana tells CNN. “At puberty, your body changes, that’s the kind of question you would ask your mom. I had no one to ask so I learned by myself. I would have loved it if she could have taken me shopping, taught me how to wear makeup and how to handle my body.”

She cherishes the childhood memories of her mother. “I’d describe her a bit like a Disney mom, a bit like in the movies,” Kiana says. “If we were hungry, we could eat as much ice cream as we wanted. If we wanted to help ourselves to more food, we always could. She did everything she could so that we would be comfortable and have stability in our lives. She played both roles really well just like my father does now.”

They last hugged her on the day of her arrest, when they were not yet nine years old. She made them breakfast, sent them to school and when they returned, she was gone.

Both Ali and Kiana find solace in a simple realization. Despite their growing concerns about their mother’s deteriorating health, they believe the international recognition and pressure on Iran could save her life.

Ali notes how tormenting the news of executions of political prisoners have been, in addition to hundreds of others killed during protests. “A lot of our countrymen have lost their fathers, their mothers and their siblings,” he says.

“Frankly I’m just glad that she’s alive, because others have lost their loved ones and I can’t even imagine what that feels like,” Kiana says.

On Saturday, a day before the ceremony they announced that Mohammadi will start yet another hunger strike in protest of human rights violations in Iran and violations of the civil rights of the Bahais, a religious minority in Iran.

Recognition

In their pre-ceremony tour, they meet Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of Norwegian Nobel Committee, who recognized Mohammadi’s struggle against “systematic discrimination and oppression” as she announced her Nobel win on October 6.

She called on the Iranian government to release Mohammadi.

“I feel very sad and I feel it is a disgrace for Iran to keep in prison a person who has been recognized and found worthy of the peace prize. I think about her all the time and that she will not have the chance to experience this grand event,” Reiss-Andersen tells CNN after meeting the twins. “But I also feel she is very well represented by her children and her husband,” she adds.

The two get a glimpse into the exhibition honoring their mother’s activism at the Nobel Peace Center.

Since the 1990s, Mohammadi has advocated for women rights and democracy and worked with the banned Defenders of Human Rights Center, founded by 2003 Peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, whose picture is also featured in the exhibition.

The walls of the museum are lined with photos from the sibling’s childhood and the rare occasions the small family was intact, together and smiling. Ali and Kiana count the steps in a corner meant to recreate the solitary confinement both of their parents had endured. Ali recounts how their father, Tagi Rahmani a political prisoner for 14 years, used to keep sane by walking back and forth, finding solace in the engravings on the walls left by previous prisoners.

It’s a type of “white torture” their mother documented in agonizing detail in a book she wrote in prison, also featured in the museum.

Prison has not silenced Mohammadi. She did not get to see the streets of Iran convulse with mass protests in 2022 against the theocratical regime. Yet, in audio recordings smuggled out of prison and shared with CNN, she’s heard leading her fellow inmates in the iconic “Women, Life, Freedom” chant of the protests.

She also continues to work tirelessly to expose sexual assault against political detainees, including in a written interview with CNN this summer facilitated by intermediaries. Her prison sentences keep increasing, for charges of conspiring against national security and spreading false propaganda, among others.

She’s vowed to never stop even it means spending the rest of her life in prison.

“I’m really not very optimistic about ever seeing [my mother] again. My mom has a 10-year sentence left and every time she does something, like sending out the speech we will read out at the ceremony, that adds to her sentence,” Kiana says. “She will always be in my heart, and I accept that because the struggle, the movement, Woman Life Freedom, is worth it. Freedom and democracy are priceless. It’s all worth the sacrifice.”

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Kyiv (CNN) — Ukraine said Saturday that Russia launched nearly 100 air attacks across the country in the space of 24 hours, as its first lady warned Ukraine was in “mortal danger” without Western military aid.

“The enemy launched a total of 28 missiles and 27 airstrikes, firing 59 times from multiple launch rocket systems at Ukrainian military positions and populated areas,” according to a social media post from the Ukrainian General Staff Saturday.

Multiple regions in the east were targeted, including Kharkiv, Luhansk, and Donetsk, which have seen some of the most intense fighting.

The strikes come a day after Ukrainian authorities said they intercepted cruise missiles for the first time in nearly 80 days, as Western intelligence assessments warned Russia is likely to expand its bombardment of civilian infrastructure during the winter.

Russian forces shelled Ukraine’s Kherson region alone 62 times, firing more than 300 shells from mortars, artillery, Grad, tanks, UAVs and aircraft, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the region’s military administration.

At least one civilian was killed and another sustained shrapnel wounds after Russian forces dropped an explosive from a drone in the region’s city of Beryslav on Saturday morning, local authorities said Saturday.

A 47-year-old woman in the city of Kherson is in a medical facility after being injured during an attack on Friday night in which critical infrastructure was damaged and residential buildings shelled, Prokudin said.

The Prosecutor’s Office in the Kherson region said a pre-trial investigation has been launched “over violations of the laws and customs of war.”

‘We really need the help’

The latest Russian attacks came as Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska spoke to the BBC after Republicans in the US Senate blocked foreign aid from advancing.

“We really need the help,” said Zelenska. “In simple words, we cannot get tired of this situation, because if we do, we die.”

“And if the world gets tired, they will simply let us die,” Zelenska added.

Fighting in Ukraine remains intense despite little movement along the frontlines.

Russia has been pressing hard to capture the eastern city of Avdiivka, where soldiers have described grinding trench warfare.

During a trip to Washington, DC, on Thursday Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron called the United States “the lynchpin” of the Western coalition backing Ukraine’s fight against Russia and urged US lawmakers to “lift the morale” of Ukraine by passing an aid package for Kyiv.

He added that “the worst thing in the world would be to allow Putin a win in Ukraine.”

“It hurts us greatly to see the signs that the passionate willingness to help may fade,” Zelenska told the BBC, adding: “It is a matter of life for us. Therefore, it hurts to see that.”

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(CNN) — In Nigeria’s northern state of Kano, doctors and health workers are grappling with one of the worst diphtheria outbreaks in recent times.

Cases have been reported in the country since May of last year, but in the past few months, the outbreak has spread at an alarming rate, health officials say. Local, federal, and international bodies have struggled to contain the bacterial disease, with 17,000 suspected cases in Nigeria so far.

Worryingly, the outbreak has now spread to other West African countries such as Niger and Guinea and Medecins San Frontieres (MSF) says these nations are currently facing some of the most severe outbreaks of this vaccine-preventable disease ever documented on the continent.

However, the epicenter remains Kano, MSF health workers told CNN. So far, they have confirmed 9,310 cases and 368 deaths this year.

At its peak, MSF in Kano reported up to 700 cases a week. This rate dropped in September, but cases are slowly starting to rise again, currently at 500 weekly.

A bacterial disease

Diphtheria is a bacterial disease that creates a toxin that kills tissues and attacks cells in the respiratory system, making it hard for patients to breathe and swallow. If the toxin enters the bloodstream, it can damage the nervous system, and cause heart and kidney damage or paralysis, even after recovery, according to an MSF explainer on the disease.

Murjanatu Muhammad, a 30-year-old from Kano, has seen all of her children, 10-year-old Mohammed, eight-year-old Fatima, and twins Jamila and Husseina, aged five, admitted to hospital with diphtheria.

“You can imagine if we didn’t bring these children early enough, we don’t know what would have happened to them,” she told CNN.

For another mother, Firdausa Salisu, her son Auwal Nura has been sick since he was born four years ago and was receiving treatment from a traditional healer who advised against vaccines, his mother said.

“The traditional medicine man that was treating him advised that he should not be vaccinated at the time. By the time he recovered and I wanted him to be vaccinated, I was told he was past the age of receiving the vaccines.”

High mortality in children

Thousands of children like Auwal have experienced the alarming range of symptoms caused by diphtheria, says Dr. Hashim Juma.

Dr. Juma, with over 20 years of experience in the field, is currently based in Kano working as the emergency medical coordinator for MSF.

“Never have I ever faced this outbreak, in terms of the number of people infected, the mortality, and the complications as well,” he told CNN via a phone call from Kano.

“There are many diseases with complications, but this is very serious. Patients come in vomiting blood, paralysis in the legs… there is high mortality, particularly with children.”

Medical workers have been struggling to treat patients effectively, partly due to a lack of diphtheria anti-toxins (DAT).

So far, MSF says it has only been able to provide 5,000 DAT doses to patients.

With each severe case requiring eight to 10 vials each, this remains far from enough to support those who need it. Without treatment, patients face a roughly 50% chance of death, which reduces to a 5% chance if treated, Dr. Dagemlidet Tesfaye Worku, emergency medical program manager for West and Central Africa at MSF told CNN.

DAT doses and antibiotics are particularly hard to come by due to the lack of production, as well as the cost and time needed to manufacture.

Dr. Dagemlidet says that only three companies produce these doses, two of whom are approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).

He added that manufacturers need four weeks to make one batch of 1,500 DAT doses, and treating patients could cost up to 350 Euros ($370) from DAT alone. He believes this needs to change as soon as possible.

“In the short term, we need to improve production capacity of anti-toxins. Long term, we need to invest in research and development,” Dr. Dagemlidet says.

“It’s a global health crisis… in our globalized world, an outbreak can happen here, or in an urban area somewhere else. Global health security is so important.”

Vaccine mistrust

Vaccination has also played a crucial role in this ongoing outbreak. Whilst some vaccine uptake has helped prevent infections, there are a number of barriers from increasing uptake.

As of November, only 30% of patients in Kano had full vaccine protection, according to MSF. This rate is at its lowest in the northwestern state of Sokoto at just 6%. In response, WHO and UNICEF have started a vaccination campaign across 14 states in Nigeria.

Dr. Juma explains that in Kano there is mistrust and lack of awareness surrounding vaccines. He says: “There is a vaccine hesitancy here. People have had a bad experience with the side effects before. During our first intervention, we could see people were not highly welcoming to the vaccine team.”

The lack of vaccination coverage also applies to the rest of West Africa, with 65% of diphtheria patients having never received a single vaccine dose.

In late November, WHO published an updated explainer on diphtheria, emphasizing the importance of high vaccine uptake to tackle the outbreak. The organization recommends six vaccine doses to babies at six weeks old to provide long-term protection.

GAVI, a vaccine alliance programme, also announced on December 4 that eligible countries can now apply to implement diphtheria vaccines into their health programs.

As the outbreak has escalated since July, Dr. Juma has seen vaccine uptake improve. In order to contain this surge of diphtheria, and help prevent future outbreaks too, this trend must continue.

With the disease now present in neighboring Niger, there is concern that once again the population is not adequately equipped. Dr. Juma says that there is little to no vaccination coverage there, a great concern considering the high level of movement between Kano and Niger.

In order to address the outbreak, the message is clear. Vaccination must improve. Dr. Juma says: “We stress the need to make the routine vaccination system stronger and stronger… then you can control the outbreak.”

Lessons have also been learned regarding doses of antitoxins and antibiotics, explains Dr. Dagemlidet. He says: “We need to have at least a minimum quantity of anti-toxins in each country, so when the first cases happen, adequate resources are available to help local areas.

“The best way of responding to emergencies is anticipation and prevention.”

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(CNN) — Vladimir Putin says he will run for president again in Russia’s elections in March 2024, in a move that could see him retain power until at least 2030.

Putin made the announcement Friday after a ceremony at the Kremlin, the official residence of the Russian president.

Putin will bid for his fifth presidential term at the elections, set to take place on March 17, 2024, as he aims to solidify his continuous hold on power as head of state or prime minister for more than two decades.

The upcoming elections will also mark the first time that residents of the occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, annexed by Russia during the conflict, will participate in the presidential elections.

Russia’s Central Election Commission said it would organize “house-to-house voting” in those four regions over three consecutive days on March 15, 16 and 17.

The international community previously condemned local elections in these regions, organized by Russian-backed officials, as a sham.

Putin became acting prime minister of Russia in August 1999, before unexpectedly being handed the presidency by then-President Boris Yeltsin on New Year’s Eve of that year.

He served two four-year terms as president before stepping aside in 2008, as he was not constitutionally permitted to run for another presidential term. He endorsed Dmitry Medvedev, who replaced him as president, while Putin took the role of prime minister for a second time.

But he regained the presidency in 2012 and has not relinquished his grip on power since. After winning re-election in 2018, Putin then signed a law in 2021 which paved the way for him to run for two more six-year terms.

The changes to the law means that Putin, 71, could potentially extend his rule until 2036, by which time he will be in his mid-80s and his rule will be well into its third decade.

Putin is expected to face no more than token opposition in March. Under his authoritarian rule, opposition politicians have met similar fates: Exile, imprisonment or death in suspicious circumstances.

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who posed one of the most serious political challenges to Putin during his rule, was sentenced in August to 19 years in prison on extremism charges. Navalny and his supporters claim his arrest was politically motivated, intended to silence his criticism of Putin.

Navalny was immediately detained upon returning to Russia in 2021. He had been taken from Russian to Germany in 2020, after he was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. Navalny arrived comatose at a hospital in Berlin, following a medical evacuation flight from the Siberian city of Omsk. A joint investigation by CNN and the group Bellingcat implicated the Russian Security Service (FSB) in Navalny’s poisoning.

Russia denies involvement in Navalny’s poisoning. Putin said in December 2020 that if Russian security services had wanted to kill Navalny, they “would have finished” the job.

Putin’s war in Ukraine, initially expected by Russia to last just a few weeks, will likely have entered its second year by the time presidential elections are held in March. While accurately gauging public opinion in Russia is difficult, the war is still thought to command broad support among the public, despite the costs it has placed on Russian society.

The Kremlin tries to keep the Russian population isolated from the worst of the conflict, but Ukraine has repeatedly attempted to bring the war home to Russia, launching its own strikes on cities across the country – including on the Kremlin itself.

Russia has kept the casualty numbers from its war in Ukraine shrouded in secrecy. In September 2022, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said 5,937 troops had been killed in the war. The ministry has not published an update since.

But western intelligence assessments put the toll much higher. Western intelligence assessments put the toll much higher. The United Kingdom defense ministry said in October it is likely that Russia has suffered between 150,000 and 190,000 permanent casualties, meaning killed or permanently wounded, since February 2022.

Earlier this month, Russia announced it would increase its number of troops by 170,000, continuing to draw on its population as its invasion of Ukraine enters its 22nd month.

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Jerusalem (CNN) — The first groups of Israelis and Palestinians have been released under a truce brokered between Israel and Hamas that brought a temporary halt to fighting in Gaza after weeks of conflict, officials said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed 13 Israeli hostages had returned to Israel on Friday, where they have undergone initial medical assessments.

And Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, which helped broker the agreement, confirmed that the Palestinian prisoners released as part of the deal were on the way to the West Bank.

The Red Cross, which transported the detainees on Friday from Gaza to the Rafah border with Egypt, said 24 hostages had been freed.

Ten Thai citizens and one Filipino citizen have also been freed under a separate agreement.

Among the Israelis freed are 5-year-old Emilia Aloni and Adina Moshe, who was seen being driven away on a motorbike after being abducted from her kibbutz during the October 7 Hamas attacks.

“They’re now en route to hospitals where they will be reunited with their families – or rather, should I say, what’s left of their families,” Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy told CNN. “Many of them, of course, their families were murdered on October 7.”

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the 11 freed foreign nationals were returned to Israel alongside the Israeli hostages released on Friday night. “They all underwent an initial medical assessment at the Kerem Shalom crossing, and their lives are not at risk,” he said in a briefing.

Levy said the initial release still left 215 hostages inside Gaza. “None of us here are free until all of them are free. We are committed to that pledge: There will be no one left behind,” he said.

Israel also released 39 Palestinian prisoners in return on Friday. Buses reported to be carrying some of the released Palestinian women and teenagers were seen leaving Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank.

The Red Cross later confirmed that the group leaving Ofer prison had arrived in Ramallah.

The Israeli intelligence service Mossad and the IDF have received the second list of Israeli hostages due to be released on Saturday as part of the framework agreed on with Hamas, the office of Israel’s Prime Minister said in a written statement on Friday.

Security officials are reviewing the list of names, the statement said.

Israel’s Hostage Coordinator Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch has given the information to the families of the hostages, the statement added.

The list will not be released to the public until the hostages are safely in Israeli hands.

A major breakthrough

The hostages and Palestinians released Friday were the first to be freed through a deal between the two sides that was finalized after weeks of tense negotiations and took several agonizing days to come into effect.

The agreement, accompanied by a four-day truce between Hamas and Israel, represents a first major diplomatic breakthrough in the conflict.

The released hostages entered Egypt through the Rafah crossing before returning to Israeli soil, where they were taken to local hospitals.

Well-wishers gathered outside the Schneider Children’s Medical Center near Tel Aviv cheered and clapped as helicopters carrying now-freed hostages arrived on Friday after dark. Eight freed hostages from three families are receiving care at the center, according to hospital staff.

One nurse from a neighboring hospital who came to witness the moment told CNN it was like a “drop of joy in a sea of sadness.”

“I needed to see this moment with my own eyes,” the nurse, who asked to be identified by her first name, Elena, said.

The concurrent halt in fighting began at 7 a.m. local time (12 a.m. ET) Friday, and is believed to be holding – the first sustained break in hostilities after nearly seven weeks of conflict.

It allowed relief to flow into the besieged Gaza Strip, marking some respite in a humanitarian crisis that has worsened by the day. The United Nations said Friday that 137 trucks of humanitarian goods were offloaded in Gaza on day one of the pause in fighting, marking the largest aid convoy that has moved into the strip since October 7.

“During the humanitarian pause that has been in place since this morning, the UN was able to scale up the delivery of humanitarian assistance into and across Gaza,” a statement from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

On Friday, 129,000 liters of fuel and four trucks of gas were also delivered to Gaza, OCHA said.

OCHA added that “21 critical patients were evacuated in a large-scale medical operation from the north of Gaza.” It is not clear where those patients were taken.

While Friday saw the first batch of Israeli hostages released, more – totalling 50 women and children – are expected to be exchanged over the course of the truce.

Speaking to reporters Friday, President Joe Biden called the release of hostages a positive start and sounded an optimistic note on the potential release of Americans in the coming days.

Biden said he expected soon to get the names of the hostages who will be released on Saturday, saying he was “hopeful it’s as we anticipate.” He said he did not know when the three Americans who fall into the category of women or children, including now-four-year-old Abigail Edan, would be released, but confirmed he still does “expect it to occur.”

“My hope and expectation is it’ll be soon,” he said of the possibility of the three Americans being released.

Pressure on the Israeli government had been mounting for weeks from the families of the hostages, who have demanded answers and action from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

International calls for more humanitarian support for the people of Gaza had also been growing, and the truce is expected to give respite to those in the enclave who have endured weeks of attacks. The number of people killed since October 7 now stands at 14,854, according to information from Hamas authorities in the Strip.

Hundreds of people gathered outside Tel Aviv’s Museum of Art – in an area that has gained the name “Hostages Square” among locals – ahead of the announcement, waiting anxiously for confirmation of the hostages’ safe transfer.

Tamar Shamir said she had been visiting the square for weeks to show support for the hostages and their families. While the confirmation of the transfer came as a relief, she said more needed to be done to return all hostages taken by Hamas.

“We are not happy. We cannot be happy until everyone comes back home,” Shamir told CNN.

Residents of Gaza meanwhile began moving across parts of the Strip after Friday’s truce began, though some displaced Palestinians trying to return to homes in northern Gaza were allegedly blocked by Israeli forces, a journalist told CNN.

The IDF warned residents against attempting to travel from the south to the north, where combat between Hamas and Israel has been concentrated.

Social media videos showed people running away amid the sound of gunfire, presumed to be Israeli, on Salah Al-Din street. A journalist told CNN that Israeli tanks were seen and gunfire could be heard on Salah Al-Din street.

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on whether people attempting to enter north were fired on.

Israel declared war on Hamas following the militant group’s bloody October 7 terror attack on its territory, in which more than 1,200 people were killed – the largest such attack on Israel since the country’s founding in 1948.

Militants were holding more than 200 people captive inside Gaza from mass abductions that day, according to figures from the Israeli military.

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(CNN) — Javier Milei has won Argentina’s presidential elections in provisional results, wrenching his country to the right with a bombastic anti-establishment campaign that drew comparisons to that of former US President Donald Trump – all against the backdrop of one of the world’s highest inflation rates.

His rival Sergio Massa conceded the run-off vote on Sunday evening in a brief speech even before official results were announced. “Milei is the president elected for the next 4 years,” said Massa, adding that he had already called Milei to congratulate him.

Provisional results so far show Milei with over 55% of votes (13,781,154) with more than 94% of votes counted, according to data from the country’s National Electoral Chamber, which has not yet declared an official winner.

Milei’s victory marks an extraordinary rise for the former TV pundit, who entered the race as a political outsider on a promise to “break up with the status quo” – exemplified by Sergio Massa.

His campaign promise to dollarize Argentina, if enacted, is expected to thrust the country into new territory: no country of Argentina’s size has previously turned over the reins of its own monetary policy to Washington decisionmakers.

Shortly after the results were announced, Milei was greeted by cheers and thunderous applause from his supporters as he took to the stage and gave a fiery speech, pledging to take the country into a new political era.

“Today we turn the page on our history and we return to the path that we should never have lost,” Milei said. “Today we retake the path that made this country great.”

Milei, a social conservative with ties to the American right, opposes abortion rights and has called climate change a “lie of socialism.” He has promised to slash government spending by closing Argentina’s ministries of culture, education, and diversity, and by eliminating public subsidies.

“Make Argentina great again!” Trump posted on his platform Truth Social Sunday, in reaction to Milei’s win. “I am very proud of you,” he wrote.

Similarities to Trump have not gone unnoticed in the United States as it prepares for its own presidential elections. Milei succeeded in attracting attention at home not only because of his political style – including wielding chainsaws and raging outbursts – but also because of the novelty of his positions and eagerness to upset the status quo.

Echoing the Trumpian slogan, ‘Drain the swamp’, Milei’s supporters shout “¡¡Qué se vayan todos!!” which translates as “May they all leave!” – an expression of fury at politicians from both sides of the spectrum. Argentina’s left is currently in government, following rule by the right from 2015 to 2019.

Outside of his controversial plan for dollarization, Milei’s political program includes slashing regulations on gun control and transferring authority over the penitentiary system from civilians to the military; both measures part of a tough-on-crime approach. He proposes using public funds to support families who choose to educate their children privately and even privatizing the health sector, which in Argentina has always been in public hands.

Several outspoken comments landed Milei in hot water, without deterring his most ardent supporters. He triggered an uproar when it appeared Milei was in favor of opening a market for organ transplants, although he later retracted his declarations. He was similarly forced to apologize after calling Pope Francis, who is from Argentina and is seen as an icon of progressive politics in South America, “an envoy of Satan” in 2017.

Milei’s unexpected political ascent will be closely scrutinized around the world as a potential sign of a resurgence of far-right populism in the region. Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro endorsed Milei’s candidacy, while leftist leaders in the region – including current Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro – abandoned a tradition of non-intervention to back Massa in the election run-up.

Public opinion polls had shown the two candidates neck-and-neck in recent weeks.

The candidacy of Massa, a lifelong politician, came to represent Argentina’s political establishment over the course of the race against Milei. Inflation reached painful heights during his tenture as economy minister, at 142% year on year, but Massa argued that the current government’s actions were working to temper the pain – an argument that failed to convince voters exhausted by a cost-of-living crisis.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

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London (CNN) — Britain’s beleaguered Prime Minister Rishi Sunak carried out a dramatic Cabinet reshuffle on Monday, firing his divisive home secretary and bringing back former premier David Cameron to the heart of government after a seven-year absence from politics.

The hardline Home Secretary Suella Braverman was fired early on Monday morning, after making inflammatory comments about the policing of pro-Palestinian protests in central London over the weekend. Her tenure was wrought with scandals and divisive remarks, which had long caused fractures in Sunak’s government.

Sunak then announced he was bringing Cameron back to frontline politics as foreign secretary, in a stunning move that has few parallels in recent British political history.

Cameron served as prime minister from 2010 to 2016, resigning after Britain voted to leave the European Union in a referendum that he had called.

His premiership set the course of 13 years of Conservative rule, but the self-inflicted chaos of the Brexit referendum and its aftermath threw his party into years of instability from which it is still struggling to emerge.

Downing Street confirmed that James Cleverly, formerly the foreign secretary, will take over from Braverman, a shift that made space for Cameron’s remarkable return to Cabinet.

Braverman had served as Sunak’s interior minister throughout his tenure in Downing Street, but her confrontational rhetoric towards migrants, protesters, the police and even the homeless had caused rifts in the government and sparked speculation that she was plotting a future leadership bid.

She most recently courted criticism by accusing London’s police force of applying “double standards” in the way they manage protests, in an op-ed in the Times of London newspaper condemning a pro-Palestinian march that Downing Street said had not been cleared by Sunak.

On Saturday, far-right counter-protesters clashed with police in central London after Braverman called the pro-Palestinian demonstration a “hate march,” stoking tensions around a rally taking place on Remembrance Sunday.

Braverman’s comments on policing and her severe criticism of Saturday’s pro-Palestinian rally were criticized by figures across the political spectrum.

“You have a chance of inflaming both sides when you make such divisive remarks,” Neil Basu, the former head of counter-terrorism policing in the UK, told the BBC on Monday morning. “Making comments that are potentially divisive is a very dangerous thing to do… no home secretary we’ve served under would have done the same thing.”

Her departure from government comes as Sunak’s party remains deeply unpopular among voters, with polls suggesting the Conservatives are drifting towards a potentially catastrophic electoral defeat next year.

Sunak has apparently gambled that bringing Cameron back into the fold would project a stability that has been missing from Westminster for some time. But it risks deepening a view among large swathes of the public that the party has run out of ideas.

Cameron resigned as an MP shortly after leaving Downing Street, meaning that King Charles was required to rapidly approve his ascension to the House of Lords on Monday in order for him to become a minister.

In recent decades, the move can only be compared to Alec Douglas-Home – prime minister for a year from 1963 – who returned as foreign secretary in 1970 under Edward Heath’s government.

The arrangement has led to questions over how Britain’s new foreign secretary will be held to account; it is virtually unheard of in modern politics for a very senior minister to sit in the Lords, and not in the Commons, where MPs operate.

“I know it’s not usual for a prime minister to come back in this way but I believe in public service,” Cameron told broadcasters in his first interview after taking the role.

Cameron makes stunning comeback

Cameron wrote on Monday that he “gladly accepted” Sunak’s offer to become foreign secretary, but acknowledged criticisms he has made of the Prime Minister — such as when Sunak scrapped a long-awaited and expensive high speed rail project that Cameron had championed.

“Though I may have disagreed with some individual decisions, it is clear to me that Rishi Sunak is a strong and capable Prime Minister, who is showing exemplary leadership at a difficult time,” Cameron said.

His return to Cabinet is a staggering twist in an influential political career that had seemingly and abruptly ended seven years ago.

Cameron returned the Conservative Party to government in 2010 in a coalition with the centrist Liberal Democrats, having repaired the Tories’ then-broken image as an out-of-touch and antiquated political group.

He melded liberal social policies — pushing his party to approve the legalization of same-sex marriage — with austere economics, drastically cutting back the budgets of Britain’s public services and reducing the size of the state.

But Cameron stepped down after unsuccessfully campaigning to remain in the EU.

His appointment as foreign secretary suggests that the Tories’ experiment with populism — which first flourished during the Brexit campaign and captured the heart of the party during the tenures of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss — has been ditched in the run-up to next year’s general election.

Barely a month ago Sunak addressed the Conservative Party membership at their annual conference, describing himself as the change candidate and directly attacking aspects of his own party’s past 13 years in office. He signaled that he was ready to lean into culture war politics on trans rights and climate change.

Now, two of his three most senior Cabinet posts are filled with moderate veterans of 21st century Conservatism — in Cameron and Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor.

Cameron was ardently opposed to Brexit; despite calling the 2016 referendum to appease right-wingers in his party, he campaigned against the split from the EU and told The Times in 2019 that some people “will never forgive me” for holding the vote.

Unlike Braverman, neither Cleverly nor Cameron are likely to go off script and lash out at the police or protesters. It would be hard to imagine, for example, either man advocating for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights so it can more easily send refugees to Rwanda –- a key Braverman policy that courts have been blocking for months.

But Braverman’s influence is unlikely to disappear. Sunak has made a powerful enemy of Braverman and handed ammunition to critics who will see today as confirmation of something they’d already suspected: that the Prime Minister is a centrist sellout who is more comfortable surrounded by other centrist Conservatives than pushing populism.

Braverman dismissed after string of controversies

Braverman has long been a controversial figure within the Conservative Party. She has attempted to excite the group’s right-wing grassroots with populist messaging, and become the face of Britain’s hardline stance against asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants, but her rhetoric and controversy-ridden tenure in government has appalled many moderate members of the party.

Days before her comments on Saturday’s protest deepened discord between her office and the police, she claimed in a post on the social media platform X that rough sleepers were “living on the streets as a lifestyle choice,” and advocated a policy to stop homeless people accessing tents.

Sunak had insisted as recently as Thursday that he had confidence in Braverman. But his spokesperson said Monday that there were “issues around language” that emerged over the course of their working relationship, as well as “differences of style.”

“It’s right that we can move forward now and focus on what matters to people,” his spokesperson said.

Sunak is understood to have spoken with Braverman over the phone on Monday morning after taking the decision to fire her.

But her dismissal sets up a potential power battle at the top of the ruling party, pitching Britain towards yet another spell of political infighting and instability.

While a leadership challenge against Sunak would be a dramatic risk for a party that has already cycled through five prime ministers in seven years, there is a growing murmur of discontent in its ranks at Sunak’s inability to reverse the Conservatives’ fortunes.

Alternatively, Braverman may be eyeing a run for leadership after the impending general election, expected late next year, should the Conservatives lose power to the buoyant opposition Labour Party.

But even in that scenario, Braverman will be expected to use the coming months to position herself as a radical alternative to Sunak – a pitch that could complicate the prime minister’s electoral campaign in the new year.

Monday marks the second time in just over a year that Braverman has been sacked as home secretary. She served in the post for six weeks during Liz Truss’s shambolic premiership last year, before resigning for breaching ministerial rules by using a private email address.

But she was back in the same position just days later; her resignation sparked Truss’s downfall, and her successor Sunak speedily reinstated her after seizing power.

Under Sunak, Braverman spearheaded a heavily publicised push to clamp down on small boat crossings made by asylum-seekers. The government’s flagship illegal migration bill, approved by MPs earlier this year, would essentially hand the government the right to deport anyone arriving illegally in the United Kingdom.

She is an equally furious culture warrior, borrowing rhetoric from the American right when lambasting “woke” culture, transgender rights and climate protesters.

Her frequent headline-snatching remarks have given ammunition to the government’s critics. Last week, after Sunak’s government unveiled its plan for the new session of Parliament, opposition leader Keir Starmer told Sunak in the House of Commons to “think very carefully about what she is committing your government to do.”

“Without a serious home secretary, there can be no serious government and he cannot be a serious prime minister,” Starmer said.

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