TEHRAN: Iran said Saturday it helped broker the surprise release of Thai nationals who had been held by Palestinian militants in war-ravaged Gaza since their shock attack on Israel last month.
On Friday, Hamas unexpectedly released 10 Thais and a Filipino, along with the 13 Israeli women and children that were part of a temporary truce deal with Israel.
Israel in turn freed 39 Palestinian women and children from its prisons.
“The issue of Thai prisoners was jointly pursued by the Islamic Republic of Iran and Qatar,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani told the official IRNA news agency.
The releases took place as a temporary truce paused fighting in Gaza for the first time since October 7 when Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel, killing at least 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 240 more hostage, according to Israeli figures.
Israel has responded with a withering bombing campaign on Gaza, that has killed more than 15,000 people, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run government.
“A list of names of these prisoners was given to Hamas officials to review and assist with the issue from a humanitarian perspective,” Kanani added.
The Thai foreign ministry confirmed the releases on Saturday, saying the 10 individuals — nine men and one woman — had been taken to Israel via Egypt.
It added that roughly 20 Thais are among the estimated 215 people still held hostage in Gaza.
During the four-day truce, Hamas is expected to free a total of 50 Israeli hostages, some of them dual nationals, in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners, under an agreement brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
On Thursday, Kanani welcomed the temporary truce as “the first step in the path of completely stopping war crimes committed... by the Zionist regime against Palestinian people.”
Iran, which supports Hamas financially and militarily, has hailed the October 7 attacks as a “success” but denied any direct involvement.
Tehran has made support for the Palestinian cause a centerpiece of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iran says it helped broker release of Thais held in Gaza
https://arab.news/9qd63
Iran says it helped broker release of Thais held in Gaza
- On Friday, Hamas unexpectedly released 10 Thais and a Filipino
- “The issue of Thai prisoners was jointly pursued by the Islamic Republic of Iran and Qatar,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani told the official IRNA news agency
Iran temporarily closes airspace to most flights
WASHINGTON: Iran temporarily closed its airspace to all flights except international ones to and from Iran with official permission at 5:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday, according to a notice posted on the Federal Aviation Administration’s website.
The prohibition is set to last for more than two hours until 7:30 p.m. ET, or 0030 GMT, but could be extended, the notice said. The United States was withdrawing some personnel from bases in the Middle East, a US official said on Wednesday, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned neighbors it would hit American bases if Washington strikes.
Missile and drone barrages in a growing number of conflict zones represent a high risk to airline traffic. India’s largest airline, IndiGo said some of its international flights would be impacted by Iran’s sudden airspace closure. A flight by Russia’s Aeroflot bound for Tehran returned to Moscow after the closure, according to tracking data from Flightradar24.
Earlier on Wednesday, Germany issued a new directive cautioning the country’s airlines from entering Iranian airspace, shortly after Lufthansa rejigged its flight operations across the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region.
The United States already prohibits all US commercial flights from overflying Iran and there are no direct flights between the countries. Airline operators like flydubai and Turkish Airlines have canceled multiple flights to Iran in the past week. “Several airlines have already reduced or suspended services, and most carriers are avoiding Iranian airspace,” said Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organization that shares flight risk information.
“The situation may signal further security or military activity, including the risk of missile launches or heightened air defense, increasing the risk of misidentification of civil traffic.” Lufthansa said on Wednesday that it would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace until further notice while it would only operate day flights to Tel Aviv and Amman from Wednesday until Monday next week so that crew would not have to stay overnight.
Some flights could also be canceled as a result of these actions, it added in a statement. Italian carrier ITA Airways, in which Lufthansa Group is now a major shareholder, said that it would similarly suspend night flights to Tel Aviv until Tuesday next week.
