SINGAPORE: Singapore will impose financial sanctions on four Israelis and bar them from entering the city-state, its foreign affairs ministry announced on Friday, accusing them of “egregious acts of extreme violence” against Palestinians in the West Bank.
The ministry said actions committed in the West Bank by Meir Mordechai Ettinger, Elisha Yered, Ben-Zion Gopstein and Baruch Marzel were unlawful and had jeopardized the prospects for a two-state solution in Palestine.
“As a firm supporter of international law and the two-state solution, Singapore opposes any unilateral attempts to change facts on the ground through acts which are illegal under international law,” it said.
All four individuals have been previously sanctioned by the European Union.
Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan announced in parliament in September that leaders of Israeli settler groups would be sanctioned.
He also chided Israeli politicians who had spoken about annexing parts of the West Bank or Gaza, the two Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, and said the so-called E1 settlement project would fragment the West Bank.
Apart from imposing sanctions, Balakrishnan said Singapore would also recognize a Palestine state under the right conditions.
Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law. Israel disputes this, citing historical and biblical ties to the area and saying the settlements provide security.
While Singapore and Israel have shared close diplomatic and military ties since the former gained independence in 1965, the city-state in 2024 voted in favor of numerous resolutions expressing support for the UN recognition of a Palestinian state.
Singapore imposes sanctions, entry bans on four Israeli West Bank settlers
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Singapore imposes sanctions, entry bans on four Israeli West Bank settlers
- Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan announced in parliament in September that leaders of Israeli settler groups would be sanctioned
Bangladesh begins exhuming mass grave from 2024 uprising
- The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina attempted to cling to power — deaths that formed part of her conviction last month for crimes against humanity
DHAKA: Bangladeshi police began exhuming on Sunday a mass grave believed to contain around 114 unidentified victims of a mass uprising that toppled autocratic former prime minister Sheikh Hasina last year.
The UN-supported effort is being advised by Argentine forensic anthropologist Luis Fondebrider, who has led recovery and identification missions at mass graves worldwide for decades.
The bodies were buried at the Rayerbazar Graveyard in Dhaka by the volunteer group Anjuman Mufidul Islam, which said it handled 80 unclaimed bodies in July and another 34 in August 2024 — all people reported to have been killed during weeks of deadly protests.
The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina attempted to cling to power — deaths that formed part of her conviction last month for crimes against humanity.
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Md Sibgat Ullah said investigators believed the mass grave held roughly 114 bodies, but the exact number would only be known once exhumations were complete.
“We can only confirm once we dig the graves and exhume the bodies,” Ullah told reporters.
- ‘Searched for him’ -
Among those hoping for answers is Mohammed Nabil, who is searching for the remains of his brother Sohel Rana, 28, who vanished in July 2024.
“We searched for him everywhere,” Nabil told AFP.
He said his family first suspected Rana’s death after seeing a Facebook video, then recognized his clothing — a blue T-shirt and black trousers — in a photograph taken by burial volunteers.
Exhumed bodies will be given post-mortem examinations and DNA testing. The process is expected to take several weeks to complete.
“It’s been more than a year, so it won’t be possible to extract DNA from the soft tissues,” senior police officer Abu Taleb told AFP. “Working with bones would be more time-consuming.”
Forensic experts from four Dhaka medical colleges are part of the team, with Fondebrider brought in to offer support as part of an agreement with the UN rights body the OHCHR.
“The process is complex and unique,” Fondebrider told reporters. “We will guarantee that international standards will be followed.”
Fondebrider previously headed the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, founded in 1984 to investigate the tens of thousands who disappeared during Argentina’s former military dictatorship.
Authorities say the exhumed bodies will be reburied in accordance with religious rites and their families’ wishes.
Hasina, convicted in absentia last month and sentenced to death, remains in self-imposed exile in India.
