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JERUSALEM – The head of the Israeli army unit, tasked with coordinating the massive international humanitarian aid operation for millions of Gazan civilians caught in the midst of a raging war in their tiny enclave, rejected recent claims that the territory was on the brink of starvation or facing the imminent threat of infectious and noxious diseases. 

Col. Moshe Tetro, head of the Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) for Gaza, a division of the military body that in peace times facilitates entry permits for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians civilians and laborers and oversees Palestinian imports and exports to Israel and beyond, told Fox News Digital that while he was familiar with reports claiming the territory was on the brink of starvation, at the moment, "there are no restrictions on food going into Gaza."

Speaking on Friday for the first time in nearly a month, President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu discussed the ongoing situation in Gaza. According to a readout of the call provided by the White House, "The President and the Prime Minister reviewed the situation in Gaza and the shift to targeted operations that will enable the flow of increasing amounts of humanitarian assistance while keeping the military pressure on Hamas and its leaders."

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Tetro, whose team of soldiers works around the clock to ensure that hundreds of aid trucks, drinking water and fuel enter the Palestinian enclave daily – and work to facilitate the hazardous journey through the Strip – said it was essential to look at the data. Before the war, he said, only 70 trucks of food entered Gaza each day. He said that number has now more than doubled to 220 trucks of food entering daily over the past week.

"If you open Telegram and other social media pages, take a look at the marketplace in Rafah last Friday – you will see that while many things are missing, there is no shortage of food," he said, referring to Gaza’s southernmost town where hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians have sought shelter from the fighting. 

"I recommend to anyone writing about this to base their words on the facts and not on the basis of political agendas," Tetro said.

"Our figures come from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA,)" said a spokesperson for the State Department. The spokesperson also noted that Blinken met with the U.N. Secretary General in Davos and spoke with the "U.N.’s newly appointed Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag underscoring the importance of strengthening the humanitarian assistance coordination mechanism in Gaza and facilitating assistance to the northern part of the Gaza Strip."

Last week the heads of the World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF and the World Health Organization issued a joint press release calling on Israel to allow more aid into the Gaza Strip as "the entire population of Gaza – roughly 2.2 million people – are in crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity." 

"Virtually all Palestinians in Gaza are skipping meals every day while many adults go hungry so children can eat," said the statement, citing the latest Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Phase Classification report. The report has warned of famine if current conditions in Gaza persist.

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"People in Gaza risk dying of hunger just miles from trucks filled with food. Every hour lost puts countless lives at risk. We can keep famine at bay but only if we can deliver sufficient supplies and have safe access to everyone in need, wherever they are," WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said in the statement, which made an urgent appeal for Israel to open additional crossing points, as well as its nearby port in Ashdod, so more aid being sent from around the world could be received.

Currently, most of the aid – mainly from Arab and Muslim countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey – arrives at the smaller Egyptian port of al-Arish in northern Sinai. From there, it is transported to two stations on the border with Israel, where soldiers from Tetro’s unit check the shipments for weapons and ammunition that may be smuggled to Hamas terrorists inside the Strip.

Following a thorough security inspection, the trucks, which include food, medicine, and essential supplies such as blankets and tents, enter Gaza either through the Kerem Shalom Crossing from Israel or at the Rafah Crossing from Egypt. International aid agencies and local Palestinian organizations then distribute the goods among the needy across the war-stricken territory. Israel has also agreed to aid shipments of flour to its port in Ashdod. 

A spokesperson for Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the military body that oversees the CLA Gaza, pointed out that Israel had already opened an additional checkpoint and another aid entry point at the Kerem Shalom crossing and increased its inspection capabilities in recent weeks. 

"We are checking more trucks than the U.N. is able to accommodate in Gaza," the spokesperson said.

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According to the latest figures published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) – based on information from the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza – more than 1.9 million people, or nearly 85% of the Strip’s population, are internally displaced. The majority of those seeking refuge are sheltering in facilities run by UNRWA, the U.N. agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, OCHA said.

At a recent meeting of the U.N. Security Council, Martin Griffiths, the U.N.’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, called the situation in Gaza "horrific," highlighting what he said were "the appalling conditions on the ground."

"Shelters are overflowing, and food and water running out, and the risk of famine is growing by the day," he said. "The health system is in a state of collapse: women are unable to give birth safely; children cannot get vaccinated; the sick and injured cannot get treatment; and infectious diseases are on the rise."

Last week, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres echoed the same sentiments saying, "the long shadow of starvation is stalking the people of Gaza – along with disease, malnutrition and other health threats."

At the Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza unit headquarters, where Israeli soldiers monitor news and social media reports coming out of Gaza 24 hours a day, speak to their local contacts on the ground and coordinate humanitarian aid efforts with international organizations, including the U.N., Col. Tetro said that he was not surprised by such comments.

"We know these agencies systematically lie and use false narratives, but we are in close contact with international and Palestinian officials in order to assess the civil situation in the Gaza Strip," he said, reiterating that there is no shortage of food or water inside Gaza. 

Tetro also refuted claims that infectious diseases were on the rise. If that’s true, he said, "then why do those diseases not exist? None of the data we have, including that from the international agencies, has identified any outbreaks of diseases."

"I’m not saying the situation in Gaza is pleasant," said Tetro, who recently authorized additional vaccines for hospitals in case of potential outbreaks. "But there is a great distance between the truth and the lies and propaganda that sadly, the international community and also the media promotes, repeating the narrative of a barbaric terror organization without even checking the facts."

On Monday, COGAT announced that the 10,000th aid truck had arrived in Gaza since the start of the war with Hamas. The statement noted that "close to 99% of the coordinated trucks were approved for entry."

Russian lawmakers are weighing a bill that would grant the state power to seize property from people who criticize Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Criticizing the invasion, which began nearly two years ago, is effectively a crime already. But the new bill aims to make penalties even harsher. 

The draft bill, considered by Russia’s parliament on Monday, would allow for the state to seize the property of Russians who have left the country and have criticized the war but who continue to rely on revenue from renting out their houses or apartments in Russia.

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The speaker of the State Duma lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, a close Putin ally, has dubbed the new bill "the scoundrel law." 

"Everyone who tries to destroy Russia, betrays it, must be punished accordingly and repay the damage to the country in the form of their property," he said at the weekend while announcing the submission of the bill.

The move is being compared to the hunts of the 1930s under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin with their "enemy of the state" rhetoric, and could affect thousands of Russians who have spoken out against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. Defense officials said U.S. and U.K. ships and warplanes carried out multiple strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Monday.

Multiple locations in Yemen experienced large explosions which were the result of the airstrikes.

A U.S. official tells Fox News one of the Houthi targets struck by U.S. and British munitions included Al Dailami Air Base along with missile launching sites and weapons storage facilities for ballistic missiles and drones.

This is the second joint U.S.-U.K. strikes from air and sea since Jan 11.

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The strikes consisted of Tomahawk missiles fired from U.S. warships, as well as F-18 fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier.

"Today, the militaries of the United States and United Kingdom, at the direction of their respective governments with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, conducted an additional round of proportionate and necessary strikes against 8 Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the Houthis' continued attacks against international and commercial shipping as well as naval vessels transiting the Red Sea," a joint statement from the U.S., U.K. and other countries stated.

The statement referred to a series of illegal, dangerous and destabilizing Houthi actions, including anti-ship ballistic missile and unmanned aerial system attacks that struck two U.S.-owned merchant vessels earlier this month.

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The "precision strikes" on Monday were intended to "disrupt and degrade" Houthi efforts to threaten global trade and the lives of mariners.

"Today's strike specifically targeted a Houthi underground storage site and locations associated with the Houthis' missile and air surveillance capabilities," the statement read. "The Houthis' now more than thirty attacks on international and commercial vessels since mid-November constitute an international challenge.

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"Our aim remains to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea, but let us reiterate our warning to Houthi leadership: we will not hesitate to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world's most critical waterways in the face of continued threats," the joint statement continued.

There have been at least 151 attacks on U.S. forces in the region since Oct. 17.

The Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince pleaded for the release of six nuns kidnapped last week and demanded that Haiti’s government crack down on gang violence, in a strongly worded letter released Monday.

The Archdiocese, along with the Haitian Conference of the Religious, said in the letter that Haitians are tired of the "reign of terror" imposed by armed groups and called on government officials to protect people and their property.

"On many occasions, the Church has denounced their silence, which is similar to an attitude of contempt for people’s suffering," the letter stated.

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Religious leaders said they were distressed to witness that there has not been a serious response to what it called a scourge of kidnappings for more than two years. They said the ongoing violence has "plunged the country into an increasingly confusing and chaotic situation" as they called for the safe release of the kidnapped nuns without conditions.

The nuns and two other people were traveling aboard a bus in Port-au-Prince when they were kidnapped last Friday. No one has publicly claimed responsibility for the abduction.

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On Sunday, Pope Francis pleaded for their release. Speaking from a window of the Apostolic Palace to faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said he learned of the news of the kidnapping with sorrow: "In asking fervently for their release, I pray for social harmony in the country, and I ask all to put stop to the violence, which causes so much suffering to that dear population."

Gangs have been blamed for the kidnappings of nearly 2,500 people last year, a more than 80% increase compared with the previous year, according to U.N. statistics. Police remain overwhelmed and underfunded, with less than 10,000 active officers at a time in a country of more than 11 million people.

The global fight against malaria took a stride forward on Monday as Cameroon started the world's first routine vaccine program against the mosquito-borne disease, although Reuters journalists witnessed few people in clinics receiving the shot.

Around 40 years in the making, the World Health Organization (WHO)-approved RTS,S vaccine developed by British drugmaker GSK is meant to work alongside existing tools such as bed nets to combat malaria, which in Africa kills nearly half a million children under the age of five each year.

After successful trials, including in Ghana and Kenya, Cameroon is the first country to administer doses through a routine program that 19 other countries aim to roll out this year, according to global vaccine alliance Gavi.

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About 6.6 million children in these countries are targeted for malaria vaccination through 2024-25.

"For a long time, we have been waiting for a day like this," said Mohammed Abdulaziz of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at a joint online briefing with the WHO, Gavi and other organizations.

Caroline Badefona, manager of Cliniques des Anges hospital in Douala, said five girls and one boy aged six months were vaccinated at her hospital on Monday.

"It went very well," she said. "We are proud to have this program in place because it will eradicate malaria in children aged six to 59 months."

In a health center in the northern Cameroon district of Datcheka, 12 children were vaccinated early on Monday, according to a Reuters reporter.

But health workers in other centers told Reuters that parents had not been adequately informed about the vaccine, and some were afraid to consent to their children receiving it.

Others were not even aware of the start of the campaign.

"The reason I didn't accept is because I wasn't made aware of it - I didn't know it existed," said Audrey Stella, a mother who declined to have her child vaccinated at the Japoma District Hospital in Douala.

Disruption linked to the COVID pandemic and other issues have hindered the fight against malaria in recent years with cases rising by around 5 million year-on-year in 2022, according to the WHO.

Overall, more than 30 countries in Africa have expressed interest in introducing the vaccine and fears of a supply squeeze have eased since a second vaccine completed a key regulatory step in December.

Rolling out the second vaccine "is expected to result in sufficient vaccine supply to meet the high demand and reach millions more children", the WHO's director of immunization, Kate O'Brien, said at the briefing.

This R21 vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India, could be launched in May or June, said Gavi's Chief Programme Officer, Aurelia Nguyen.

"Having two vaccines for malaria will help to close the huge gap between demand and supply and could save tens of thousands of young lives, especially in Africa," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, at a meeting of the U.N. body's executive board on Monday.

Some experts have expressed skepticism about the potential impact of the vaccines, saying attention and funding should not be drawn away from the wider fight against the age-old killer and the use of established preventative tools like bed nets.

Health experts at the briefing said the roll-out was accompanied by extensive community out-reach to combat any vaccine hesitancy and emphasize the importance of continuing to use all protective measures alongside the vaccines.

Iran is "very directly involved" in ship attacks that Yemen's Houthi rebels have carried out during Israel's war against Hamas, the U.S. Navy's top Mideast commander told The Associated Press on Monday.

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the Navy's 5th Fleet, stopped short of saying Tehran directed individual attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

However, Cooper acknowledged that attacks associated with Iran have expanded from previously threatening just the Persian Gulf and its Strait of Hormuz into waters across the wider Middle East.

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"Clearly, the Houthi actions, probably in terms of their attacks on merchant shipping, are the most significant that we’ve seen in two generations," he told the AP in a telephone interview. "The facts simply are that they’re attacking the international community; thus, the international response I think you’ve seen."

Iran's mission to the United Nations and the Houthi leadership in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, did not respond to a request for comment. However, the Houthis later claimed to have attacked a U.S.-flagged vessel, without offering many details.

Since November, the Iranian-backed Houthis have launched at least 34 attacks on shipping through the waterways leading up to Egypt's Suez Canal, a vital route for energy and cargo coming from Asia and the Middle East onward to Europe.

The Houthis, a Shiite rebel group that's held Sanaa since 2014 and been at war with a Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's exiled government since 2015, link their attacks to the Israel-Hamas war. However, the ships they've targeted increasingly have tenuous links to Israel — or none at all.

In recent days, the U.S. has launched seven rounds of airstrikes on Houthi military sites, targeting air bases under the rebels' control and suspected missile launch sites.

However, risks for the global economy remain as many ships continue to bypass that route for a longer trip around Africa's southern tip. That's meant lower revenue for Egypt through the Suez Canal, a vital source of hard currency for the country's troubled economy, as well as higher costs for shipping that could push up global inflation.

As Cooper took command of the 5th Fleet in 2021, the threat to shipping focused primarily around the Persian Gulf and its narrow mouth, the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all oil traded passes. A series of attacks blamed on Iran and ship seizures by Tehran followed the collapse of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers.

In his interview with the AP, the Navy commander acknowledged the threat from Iran's proxies and that its distribution of weapons extended from the Red Sea out to the far reaches of the Indian Ocean. The U.S. has blamed Iran for recent drone attacks on shipping, and a U.S.-owned cargo vessel came under attack from the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden last week.

So far, Iran has not directly gotten involved in fighting either Israel or the U.S. since the war in Gaza began on Oct. 7. However, Cooper maintained Iran had been directly fueling the Houthi attacks on shipping.

"What I’ll say is Iran is clearly funding, they’re resourcing, they are supplying and they’re providing training," Cooper said. "They’re obviously very directly involved. There’s no secret there."

Cooper described the ship attacks striking the Mideast as the worst since the so-called Tanker War of the 1980s. It culminated in a one-day naval battle between Washington and Tehran, and also saw America accidentally shoot down an Iranian passenger jet, killing 290 people.

Back then, American naval ships escorted reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers through the Persian Gulf and the strait after Iranian mines damaged vessels in the region. Cooper said authorities had no current plans to reflag ships and escort them past Yemen.

Instead, the U.S. and its allies employ a "zone defense, and every once and a while we shift to a one-on-one," he said.

Cooper's reference to the tensions from more than three decades ago underlines just how precarious the situation in the wider Mideast has become as worries of a regional conflict over the Israel-Hamas war grow.

Monday night, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree in a recorded address claimed an attack on the Ocean Jazz, a U.S.-flagged ship managed by Seabulk, a company in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The firm declined to comment when reached by the AP. The Ocean Jazz had been in the Red Sea heading south.

Cooper spoke to the AP from the sidelines of a drone conference in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Under his command of the 5th Fleet, the naval force has created Task Force 59, a drone fleet to bolster its patrol of waterways in the region.

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Today, a variety of drones provide the 5th Fleet coverage across some 10,000 square miles of Mideast waters the Navy otherwise wouldn't have eyes on, Cooper said. That helps its efforts to interdict suspected drug and weapons shipments.

U.S. forces this month seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry from a ship bound for the Houthis in a raid that saw two Navy SEALs go missing. The U.S. military's Central Command said Sunday it now believes the SEALs are dead.

While not directly saying his fleet's drones played a part in the seizure, Cooper hinted at it.

"They are specifically designed to conduct interdiction operations," he said. He added: "There’s no squeaking anything by it."

Cooper’s command is set to end in February with the upcoming arrival of Rear Adm. George Wikoff in Bahrain. He noted the Navy and merchant shippers still face a serious threat from the Houthis as he prepares to leave.

"What we need is a Houthi decision to stop attacking international merchant ships. Period," Cooper said.

A government inquiry into the deaths of four divers in Trinidad who became trapped in a pipe while doing maintenance for a state-owned fuel supplier recommends that prosecutors consider filing corporate manslaughter charges against the company, saying it made "little or no attempt to rescue" them.

The commission of inquiry report criticizes Paria Fuel Trading Company's response to the deaths in February 2022, which angered many in the eastern Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. A fifth diver who survived recounted the ordeal to the commission.

The report accuses the company of preventing a contractor from sending commercial divers to rescue those stuck and of spending several hours searching open waters despite knowing the divers could be inside the 30-inch (76-centimeter) pipe. It says Paria delayed in seeking cameras as part of the operation and did not consult with commercial divers on site.

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"Paria made little or no attempt to rescue in that they failed to manage and coordinate the resources that were available," the report says. "The opportunity to rescue the men from the pipe was completely wasted by a degree of inertia that is difficult to comprehend."

The commission of inquiry says it found "that there are sufficient grounds to conclude that Paria’s negligence could be characterized as gross negligence and consequently criminal."

Paria did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The report was presented to Trinidad and Tobago’s Parliament on Friday.

The Trinidad & Tobago Guardian newspaper quoted a Paria spokeswoman on Sunday as saying the company would not be commenting. The newspaper also quoted legal experts noting that a corporate manslaughter charge equals a fine and no jail time.

Saddam Hosein, an opposition member in Parliament, told a press conference Sunday that the government must individually prosecute Paria officials and compensate the sole survivor, given the report’s details.

"The negligence of Paria has converted state-owned facilities into a crime scene," he said.

European Union foreign ministers argued Monday that the creation of a Palestinian state is the only credible way to achieve peace in the Middle East, and they expressed concern about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s clear rejection of the idea.

"The declarations of Benjamin Netanyahu are worrying. There will be a need for a Palestinian state with security guarantees for all," French Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Sejourne told reporters in Brussels, where ministers met to discuss the war in Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Palestinian counterpart Riad Malki also were in Belgium's capital for the talks. The issue of Gaza’s future has set Israel in opposition to the United States and its Arab allies as well as they work to mediate an end to the fighting in the besieged Palestinian territory.

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The Palestinian death toll from the war between Israel and Hamas has surpassed 25,000, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. Israel said Sunday that another of the hostages taken during the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war had died.

The EU is the world’s top provider of aid to the Palestinians but holds little leverage over Israel, despite being its biggest trading partner. The 27 member countries are also deeply divided in their approach. But as the death toll in Gaza mounts, so do calls for a halt to the fighting.

"Gaza is in a situation of extreme urgency. There is a risk of famine. There is a risk of epidemics. The violence must stop," said Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

"We demand an immediate cease-fire, the release of the hostages, the respect of international law (and) a return to the peace process, which must lead to the creation of two states living in peace side by side," Lahbib said, describing a two-state solution as "the only way to establish peace in a durable way in the region."

Israel appears far from achieving its goals of crushing Hamas and freeing the more than 100 remaining hostages. But Netanyahu rejects Palestinian statehood and seeks open-ended military control over Gaza.

The dispute over the territory’s future — with no end in sight to the war — poses a major obstacle to any plans for postwar governance or reconstruction.

The EU invited the foreign ministers of Israel, the Palestinians, Egypt, Jordan and a representative of the Arab League to take part in Monday's talks. The ministers for Israel and the Palestinians were not due to meet each other.

The European ministers wanted to hear about Israel's plans for the future.

"Which are the other solutions they have in mind?," asked EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who chaired the meeting. "To make all the Palestinians leave? To kill off them?"

Borrell condemned what he described as the atrocities committed by Hamas, but added that Israeli military actions "are seeding the hate for generations."

The Palestinian minister said a cease-fire is the most urgent need.

"We have to call collectively for a cease-fire. We cannot accept anything less," Malki said.

He also called on the EU "to start contemplating sanctions against Netanyahu and others who are really destroying the chances for a two state-solution and for peace in the Middle East."

Spain has pushed for a peace conference on what might happen once the fighting is over. A future meeting in Brussels is in the works, but the timing remains unclear. The plan has the backing of some EU member countries, but others say it can only happen with Israel’s support.

"If Israel is not (at) the table, there is no use to have peace conferences," Luxembourg Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel said. He does not believe Israel will be ready for talks as long as it believes that Hamas poses a danger.

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The Israeli minister refused to respond when asked about the possibility of Palestinian statehood. Holding up pictures of Israeli hostages, he said he had come to seek support for Israel’s campaign to dismantle Hamas.

"We have to bring back our security. Our brave soldiers are fighting in very hard conditions," he told reporters. The Israeli government's aims, Katz said, are clear: "to bring back our hostages and restore security for the citizens of Israel."

With regional tensions flaring, the ministers also discussed a planned EU naval mission to help ensure maritime traffic security in the Red Sea, a major trade route. Belgium has committed to send a frigate, and Germany could do the same. Italy also is willing to take part.

For months, Yemen's Houthi rebels have attacked ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden that they say are linked to Israel or heading to Israeli ports. U.S. airstrikes have hit sites of the Iranian-backed Houthis seven times, according to U.S. officials. U.K. forces participated in some strikes.

A Dutch court convicted Monday a former high-ranking member of a pro-Syrian government militia of illegal detention and complicity in torture, sentencing him to 12 years in prison.

The defendant, identified only as Mustafa A. in line with Dutch privacy laws, was found guilty in the 2013 arrest and inhumane treatment of a civilian while serving in the pro-Damascus Liwa al-Quds militia.

The 35-year-old was tried in The Hague District Court based on universal jurisdiction, a legal principle that allows suspects to be prosecuted for international offenses such as war crimes even if they are committed in another country.

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The court called the militia a criminal organization whose members "were guilty of war crimes such as looting and violence against civilians and unlawful deprivation of liberty of civilians."

A. was specifically convicted of illegal detention and complicity in the torture of a Palestinian man who was dragged out of his home at a refugee camp near the city of Aleppo and handed to the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Service, whose members subjected him to repeated torture, the court said.

He was acquitted in the arrest and torture of a second Palestinian man the same night because the court said it could not establish his personal involvement.

The defendant was granted asylum in the Netherlands in 2020 and was arrested after judicial authorities received tips that he had been a member of the Liwa al-Quds militia.

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At an earlier hearing, A. denied the charges and said he was in the militia only to fight terrorists and defend his family and people. During his trial, he repeatedly declined to answer questions.

The Netherlands has arrested several suspects from Syria for alleged atrocities in their country's civil war. The Netherlands and Canada also have jointly accused Damascus of a years-long campaign of "institutionalized" torture against Syrians in a case filed at the Hague-based International Court of Justice, the United Nations' highest court.

The Netherlands is not alone in seeking justice for crimes in Syria.

A German court convicted a former member of Assad’s secret police for facilitating the torture of prisoners. Another German court convicted a Syrian man of torturing captives while he was a member of the Islamic State group in Syria.

France, meanwhile, has issued arrest warrants for three high-ranking Syrian intelligence officers accused of complicity in crimes against humanity in the deaths of a father and son who disappeared a decade ago.

Spain’s Supreme Court ruled Monday that authorities acted illegally when they sent unaccompanied child migrants back to Morocco after thousands of people forced their way from the North African country onto Spanish soil in 2021.

Hundreds of unaccompanied minors were among a surge of around 10,000 people who tried to enter Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa, by scaling a border fence or swimming around it.

Many were believed to be sub-Saharan migrants seeking a better life in Europe. Morocco later took back most of the migrants.

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Spain’s Interior Ministry defended sending the unaccompanied children back across the border, arguing that they wanted to go home. Spanish officials denied accusations by rights groups that the returns breached international law.

Spain is legally obliged to care for young migrants until their relatives can be located or until they turn 18, but officials said that a 2007 agreement between Spain and Morocco for assisted returns once children’s cases had been considered.

The Supreme Court judges rejected arguments that the 2007 agreement superseded Spanish law and said the mass return contravened the European Convention on Human Rights.

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Tens of thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan countries try to reach Spain each year in large open boats launched from northwest Africa. Most go to the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, while others try to cross the Mediterranean Sea to mainland Spain or scale Ceuta’s fence.

Several thousand are known to die making the hazardous sea journeys.

Saudi Arabia said Sunday it would not normalize relations with Israel without an agreement to create a path to a Palestinian state, something that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected.

Saudia Arabia’s top diplomat, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, sat down for an interview that aired on Sunday with CNN’s "Fareed Zakaria GPS," stating: "Everybody agrees that the only way to get out of this cycle of violence is to inevitably be on this path to a Palestinian state, and that's absolutely necessary, and that's what we're focused on."

In the interview, the host asked: "Are you saying unequivocally that if there is not a credible and irreversible path to a Palestinian state, there will not be normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel?"

"That’s the only way we’re going to get a benefit," Prince Faisal replied. "So, yes."

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Before the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the U.S. had been trying to broker a landmark agreement in which Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel in exchange for U.S. security guarantees, aid in establishing a civilian nuclear program and progress toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In September, Netanyahu had said Israel was on "the cusp" of such a deal.

Earlier in the interview, when asked if oil-rich Saudi Arabia would finance reconstruction in Gaza, Prince Faisal gave a similar answer.

"As long as we’re able to find a pathway to a solution... then we can talk about anything," he said. "But if we are just resetting to the status quo before Oct. 7, in a way that sets us up for another round of this, as we have seen in the past, we’re not interested in that conversation."

"The key to de-escalation right now is ending the conflict in Gaza because that's feeding all of this instability in the region. We were already a very unstable region unfortunately before, but this continuing conflict and continuing carnage we’re seeing… we’re now at 30,000 civilians dead in Gaza," he added. The Hamas-controlled Palestinian Health Ministry had the death toll at 25,295 people in Gaza, with more than 60,000 wounded, but does not distinguish between militants and civilians. 

Last week, Netanyahu rejected the vision supported by the United States, as well as much of the international community, for a postwar resolution, saying he will never allow a Palestinian state and is seeking open-ended military control over Gaza. On Monday, dozens of family members of hostages held by Hamas stormed a committee meeting in Israel’s parliament, demanding a deal to win their loved ones’ release. Netanyahu has insisted to the Israeli public that pursuing the devastating offensive in Gaza is the only way to bring the hostages home.

European Union foreign ministers also on Monday gathered in Brussels to discuss the war in Gaza, supporting the creation of a Palestinian state as the only credible way to achieve peace in the Middle East and expressing concern about Netanyahu’s clear rejection of the idea.

EU CHIEF SAYS ISRAEL WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR HAMAS' SURGE TO POWER IN GAZA: 'FINANCED BY THE GOVERNMENT'

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Palestinian counterpart Riad Malki also were in Belgium's capital for the talks. The issue of Gaza's future has set Israel in opposition to the United States and its Arab allies as well as they work to mediate an end to the fighting in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The Palestinians seek a state that would include Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel views all of Jerusalem as its capital and the West Bank as the historical and biblical heartland of the Jewish people. It has built scores of settlements across both territories that are home to hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers. The last of several rounds of peace talks broke down nearly 15 years ago.

Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until "complete victory" over Hamas and to return all remaining hostages after the Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel that triggered the war. In that attack, some 1,200 people were killed and Hamas and other terrorists abducted around 250 people.

Around 100 hostages were freed under a week-long cease-fire deal in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. 

Around 130 remain captive, but a number have since been confirmed dead. Hamas has said it will free more captives only in exchange for an end to the war and the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners. Netanyahu has ruled out such an agreement.

The Israeli military says it has killed around 9,000 militants, without providing evidence, and blames the high civilian death toll on Hamas because it positions fighters, tunnels and other militant infrastructure in dense residential areas.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Liberia’s new president, Joseph Boakai, was sworn into office Monday after his narrow win in a November election. Boakai, who at age 79 is the country's oldest sitting head of state, promised to unite and rescue Africa’s oldest republic from its economic woes.

"Partisanship must give way to nationalism," Boakai told citizens and foreign delegation members who attended his inauguration ceremony in Monrovia, Liberia's capital. He listed improving adherence to the rule of law, fighting corruption and renewing "the lost hope" of citizens as his priorities.

The ceremony, however, ended abruptly after Boakai, who wore traditional Liberian attire for the occasion, began to show signs of physical distress while speaking. Officials led him away from the podium after he unsuccessfully tried to continue his address.

LIBERIA CELEBRATES FOUNDING, INDEPENDENCE AMID STRUGGLES WITH POVERTY AND CORRUPTION

A spokesperson for Boakai's political party said the president's weakness was caused by heat and had nothing to do with his health.

Boakai has dismissed concerns about his age, arguing that it came with a wealth of experience and achievements that would benefit the country.

He won a tight run-off election to defeat Liberia’s youngest-ever president, George Weah. Public goodwill toward soccer legend-turned-politician Weah waned as he neared the end of his first six-year term. Critics accused him of not fulfilling campaign promises to fix Liberia's ailing economy, stamp out corruption and to ensure justice for victims of the country’s back-to-back civil wars between 1989 and 2003.

Boakai, who earned a university degree in business administration, has been active in Liberia’s national politics since the 1980s, when he served as the agriculture minister. Starting in 2006, he spent 12 years as vice president under Africa’s first democratically elected female leader, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

He lost his first run for the presidency in 2017 to Weah, who took over from Sirleaf in the West African nation's first democratic transfer of power since the end of its civil wars. Boakai touted his second presidential campaign as a rescue mission to free Liberians from what he described as Weah’s failed leadership.

His promises notwithstanding, any positive changes from the new Liberian leader are likely to come slowly considering how different Boakai's agenda is from his predecessors, according to Ibrahim Nyei, a researcher and political analyst at Liberia’s Ducor Institute for Social and Economic Research.

MORE THAN 40 KILLED IN FUEL TANKER EXPLOSION IN LIBERIA, AUTHORITIES SAY

"It is not going to be a walk in the park for the Boakai administration," Nyei said. "The new leadership will have to review concessions agreements signed by Weah and Ellen’s governments to establish which one works in the interest of Liberia (and) seek new international partners that will help address some of the country’s challenges."

Monrovia resident Ansu Banban Jr. said he thinks Boakai will improve the lives of citizens. "I do not expect anything less than good from the president," Banban said.

Boakai has a public reputation as a "hardworking and humble politician" whose personality and political experience suggest he "may show more dedication toward combating corruption than previous administrations," said Zoe McCathie, a political and security analyst at Africa-focused Signal Risk Consulting.

"Nevertheless, it is unlikely that Boakai will be able to fully address this matter due to the entrenched nature of corruption within Liberian politics," McCathie said. "Achieving sustained economic growth is expected to be an uphill battle for the Boakai administration (because) of the Liberian economy’s lack of diversification and dependence on imports."

A secretive lab in China has reportedly carried out a simulation in which hypersonic missiles and satellites launched an attack on American warships. 

Details about the test – in which Chinese projectiles were launched from about 750 miles away and climbed more than 120 miles into the sky before raining down on the U.S. warships – surfaced in a December paper written in part by Liu Shichang, a scientist working at a facility in Chengdu that has ties to the country’s military, according to the South China Morning Post. 

"Commanding height has always been a pivotal tactic in war since ancient times," Liu said, according to the news organization. "With the evolution of the concept of war and the advancement of technology, space has become a new commanding height fiercely contested by the world’s military powers." 

In the computer simulation, the Chinese hypersonic missiles had assistance from numerous low-orbit electronic warfare satellites positioned above American ships, the paper reportedly said. 

SEARCH FOR MISSING NAVY SEALS IN ARABIAN SEA CALLED OFF 

Those satellites found radar signals coming from the U.S. ships and then fired back similar ones to create background noise and help mask the locations of the missiles, according to the South China Morning Post. 

Once the missiles came within 30 miles of their targets, "the satellites complete their suppression mission, the missile-borne jammers are activated, and the missiles perform terminal maneuvers for further penetration until they destroy the target," it quoted the paper as saying. 

GOP REP WARNS US NAVY PLAN TO RELOCATE FUEL FROM HAWAII COULD JEOPARDIZE OPERATIONS IN THE INDO-PACIFIC 

The paper based the U.S. detection capability on the SPY-1D radar developed by Lockheed Martin that is used in the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and stated that only two or three low-orbit satellites would be enough to attack an aircraft carrier group, the South China Morning Post reports. 

The exact kind of hypersonic missile that was used in the simulation was not identified, but its stated range is similar to China’s YJ-21 missile, the newspaper also reported. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the U.S. Navy for comment. 

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) revealed footage on Monday of a tunnel in southern Gaza, where Hamas is believed to have held Israeli hostages.

The tunnel, beneath the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis, had extensive facilities, including bathrooms. Israel says it destroyed the tunnel after completing its investigation.

"The tunnel was located in the heart of a civilian area in Khan Yunis, and the entrance to it was located in the residence of a Hamas terrorist. According to intelligence estimates, millions of shekels were invested in the construction of the tunnel," the IDF said.

Shekels are worth just over one fourth of a U.S. dollar.

HERO DOGS: ISRAEL'S CANINE UNIT SAVED LIVES BY SPOTTING HAMAS TERROR TRAPS, SAVING CIVILIANS NEAR GAZA STRIP

"As part of the examination of the tunnel, a central chamber where hostages were held and five barred prison cells were discovered. In addition, the soldiers located findings that indicated that hostages had been held there, intelligence and weapons belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization," the IDF added.

HOW TENSIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST COULD IMPACT GLOBAL SHIPPING

While Israel is in control of most of the territory in northern and southern Gaza, Hamas remains able to operate thanks to its extensive network of tunnels.

Israel has cleared, bombed and even flooded tunnels throughout the region.

US INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS WARN HEZBOLLAH MAY TARGET MAINLAND US DURING WAR IN ISRAEL: REPORT

Top Hamas commanders, like Yahya Sinwar, remain held up in the labyrinth. Recent reports have suggested that Israel knows Sinwar's location but has not attacked him because he surrounds himself with Israeli hostages.

Israel believes some 130 hostages remain in Hamas custody in Gaza, though it is unclear how many of those remain alive.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk vowed Monday to keep supporting Ukraine against Russia's nearly 2-year-old invasion, announcing a new military aid package that includes a loan to buy larger weapons and a commitment to find ways to manufacture them together.

Meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Tusk said they had reached "an understanding" to resolve through talks any differences between their countries over grain shipments and trucking. Those issues recently soured ties between the neighbors.

Ukraine’s allies have recently sought to reassure the country that they are committed to its long-term defense amid concerns that Western support could be flagging. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and France’s new foreign minister also traveled to Kyiv in the new year.

POLAND'S PRIME MINISTER APPOINTS NEW HEADS OF STATE SECURITY

Tusk, who returned to power last month and is keen to show that a change in government won't alter its Ukraine policy, also met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Denys Shmyhal.

Kyiv was the first foreign capital he visited since becoming prime minister again, Tusk said. He returned to Polish politics after serving as president of the European Council — one of the European Union's top jobs.

He framed the war as a wider struggle between Europe and Russia that had repercussions beyond Ukraine, making it a priority for Poland.

"Today Ukraine is shouldering the security matters of the entire European continent, today Ukraine is paying the huge price of blood for the values that are fundamental to the free world," he said. "Poland’s security is also at stake in this struggle."

POLISH PRIME MINISTER TUSK SWORN IN, REPLACING CONSERVATIVE PARTY AFTER 8 YEARS

Zelenskyy described the talks as "very productive" and said Poland’s new military aid would include a loan allowing Ukraine to purchase big-ticket weapons. They also assessed opportunities for joint arms production, he said, in line with similar discussions with other allies.

Tusk's visit came a day after Moscow-installed officials in eastern Ukraine reported that Ukrainian shelling killed 27 people on the outskirts of Russian-occupied Donetsk. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it a "monstrous terrorist act," and the Russia-backed local authorities declared a day of mourning.

The Ukrainian military, however, denied it had anything to do with the attack.

It was not immediately possible to verify either side's claims.

Located on NATO’s eastern flank, Poland has been one of Ukraine's strongest allies. Warsaw has provided weapons and humanitarian aid, and opened its borders to Ukrainian refugees since Moscow invaded on Feb. 24, 2022.

But relations soured last year as economic competition from Ukrainian food producers and truckers angered Poles who said their livelihoods were under threat. Polish farmers and truckers blocked border crossings, causing backups and threatening the flow of some aid to Ukraine.

Polish farmers complained that imports of Ukrainian foods had caused prices to fall, hurting their incomes, while truckers said they were being undercut by their Ukrainian counterparts. The issue surfaced during the war as Ukrainian ports were blocked and food producers turned to road routes through Europe to get their products to market.

At one point, Poland and some other European nations banned Ukrainian grain imports because of the trade dispute.

Poland's farmers and trucks have ended the protests for now. Tusk has said Warsaw wants to help Ukraine economically but not at the expense of Polish businesses. He has previously suggested that Kyiv needs to better regulate its trucking industry.

Tusk was also scheduled to honor the country's fighters and attend observances of Ukraine's Day of Unity, which commemorates the merger in 1919 that brought together its eastern and western regions.

As part of the celebration, Zelenskyy signed a decree that, among other things, instructs the government to preserve the national identity of Ukrainians living in border regions that are now part of Russia, such as Belgorod, Kursk and Briansk. Some of those areas have recently been targeted by Kyiv’s forces.

The decree also aims to establish a center for investigating crimes against Ukrainians on those territories, including forced Russification, political persecutions, and deportations.

POLAND'S PRESIDENT AND NEW PRIME MINISTER REMAIN DIVIDED ON RULE OF LAW DESPITE TALKS

In other war-related developments, Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted all eight Shahed drones that Russia launched overnight over southern and central regions of Ukraine.

Debris from three drones shot down over the central Dnipropetrovsk region started a fire at an unidentified business but no casualties were reported.

Elsewhere, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi visited Kharkiv on the third day of his tour of the country. The second-largest city was among the targets of a Jan. 16 Russian missile attack that injured 17 civilians.

Later, Grandi visited children at a school that has relocated to the city’s subway system.

Meanwhile, major Ukrainian digital banking platform Monobank said it came under a massive denial-of-service attack by unidentified hackers. The attack was successfully repelled, the bank said, with no major consequences.

Authorities in Turkey are investigating eight bodies that washed up in the Mediterranean province of Antalya, including two found Monday on a beach in the vacation resort of Serik.

The Antalya governor’s office said one body is believed to be a Turkish citizen who was reported missing. Authorities believe the seven other bodies discovered over the past week may be migrants from a boat that went missing off the coast near the Syria-Lebanon border last month on its way to Cyprus.

An estimated 90 people were on board the boat that disappeared on Dec. 11, the governor’s office said, citing information provided by the Lebanese embassy in Turkey.

TURKISH COURT CONVICTS SOMALI PRESIDENT'S SON IN FATAL MOTORCYCLE CRASH

An evaluation of currents, winds and waves indicates that the victims may have been dragged toward the Antalya coastline, the office said in a statement.

In Lebanon, a lawyer who follows migrants’ cases, Mohammed Sablouh, said the boat left northern Lebanon with about 85 people on board, including 30 children.

Sablouh said contact was lost with another boat that left Lebanon on Thursday with about 50 or 60 people on board.

TURKISH AIRSTRIKES WIPE OUT KEY ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE IN SYRIA'S KURDISH NORTHEAST

On Monday, resort staff found the two bodies 1,640 feet apart on the beach used by guests, the private Demirören News Agency reported.

The other bodies were found in resorts near the town of Manavgat and on the coast near Antalya city.

Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad attacked a graft probe into his associates as politically motivated, a week after his eldest son was ordered to hand over information to investigators.

Mahathir, a two-time prime minister who's been a fixture in Malaysian politics for decades, said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's government is using corruption charges to go after political rivals.

Mahathir came out of retirement in the wake of the massive 1MDB corruption scandal, joining hands with the opposition in 2018 for a short second term as premier after ousting a long-ruling coalition he once led.

FORMER PAKISTANI PM IMRAN KHAN INDICTED ON GRAFT CHARGES ALONGSIDE WIFE

Businessman Mirzan Mahathir and tycoon Daim Zainuddin were revealed to hold millions offshore in the Pandora Papers, a 2021 document leak that revealed offshore accounts held by some of the world's wealthiest people and politicians.

The anti-graft agency ordered Mirzan to declare all his assets within 30 days on Jan. 17. It had earlier opened a probe into Daim, a former Finance Minister and ally of Mahathir. Mirzan has also been accused of shady dealings in relation to the sale and acquisition of a government-linked company.

Mahathir, 98, said he believed Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was fishing for evidence to implicate him, and accused Anwar of selective prosecution.

Prosecutors dropped 47 graft charges against Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi last year while the trial was at an advanced stage.

Mahathir also said no action was taken against anti-graft agency chief Azam Baki over a share trading scandal in 2022.

"This is Malaysian justice under Anwar's regime," Mahathir told a news conference.

"The law is being abused for political ends. I'm saying very clearly that the people who are against the government will have the law thrown in their faces. Those who are for the government can escape," he said.

Mahathir held office from 1981-2003, and again from 2018-2020. He has a long political history with Anwar, who was his deputy and finance minister in the 1990s before they fell out amid the Asian financial crisis. Anwar was later jailed for corruption and sodomy, charges he said were framed to kill his political career.

The pair joined hands for the 2018 general elections to oust the long-ruling coalition, while Anwar was in jail for a second sodomy charge. He was pardoned by the king shortly after their victory. Mahathir became premier a second time in a deal that called for him later to hand over power to Anwar, but their alliance collapsed amid infighting.

Mahathir now supports the opposition Malay-Islamic alliance, and has constantly slammed Anwar's unity government, took power in November 2022.

The anti-graft agency has said it began investigations in August 2022 — before Anwar took power — into all entities and related assets named in the Pandora Papers and the Panama Papers, a giant leak of financial records in 2016 that showed how some of the world's richest people hide their money.

It said it has questioned 10 people so far, including Mirzan and Daim, and recently seized a building belonging to Daim. Last week, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists said that new leaked documents it obtained showed that Daim's family members were beneficiaries of a multimillion-dollar trust with investments in U.K. and U.S. real estate.

Daim and his family say their offshore assets were a result of legitimate business activities and investments, and have taken legal steps to challenge the graft probe, which they call unconstitutional.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday opened a controversial Hindu temple built on the ruins of a historic mosque in the northern city of Ayodhya, in a political triumph for the populist leader who is seeking to transform the country from a secular democracy into a Hindu state.

The temple is dedicated to Hinduism’s Lord Ram and fulfills a long-standing demand by millions of Hindus who worship the revered deity and extoll him for the virtues of truth, sacrifice and ethical governance. Modi’s party and other Hindu nationalist groups who seized on the demand have portrayed the temple as central to their vision of reclaiming Hindu pride, which they say was suppressed by centuries of Mughal rule and British colonialism.

Modi and his governing Bharatiya Janata Party hope that opening the temple will help catapult the prime minister to a record third successive term in elections expected this spring. But with the temple still under construction, critics accuse Modi of a hurried opening to woo voters.

INDIA’S RELIGIOUS DIVIDE CONTINUES TO WIDEN BETWEEN MUSLIM, HINDU COMMUNITY

Modi, dressed in a traditional kurta tunic, led the opening ceremony as Hindu priests chanted hymns inside the temple’s inner sanctum, where a 1.3-meter (4.3-foot) stone sculpture of Lord Ram was installed last week. A conch was blown by a priest to mark the temple’s opening and Modi placed a lotus flower in front of the black stone idol, decked in intricate gold ornaments and holding a golden bow and arrow. He later prostrated before the idol.

Nearly 7,500 people, including elite industrialists, politicians and movie stars, witnessed the ritual on a giant screen outside the temple as a military helicopter showered flower petals.

"Our Lord Ram has arrived after centuries of wait," Modi said in a speech after the ceremony, receiving a resounding applause from thousands of attendees. He said the temple was built after "countless sacrifices" and is testament to a rising India "breaking the shackles of slave mentality."

"Jan. 22, 2024, is not merely a date but marks the dawn of a new era," Modi said.

RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS LEAD TO CONSERVATION EFFORTS FOR SACRED FORESTS IN INDIA

Modi's government turned the event into a national occasion by organizing live screenings across the country and closing offices for half a day. Saffron flags — the color of Hinduism — adorned the streets of various cities where government party workers had gone door to door handing out religious pamphlets.

Television news channels ran non-stop coverage of the event, portrayed as a religious spectacle. Some movie theaters broadcast the event live with complimentary popcorn. Many states declared the day a public holiday. In a rare step, stock and money markets were closed for the day.

"Ram Rajya (rule) begins," a TV news headline said. Ram Rajya is a Sankrit phrase that means just and ethical governance in Hinduism but has also been used by Hindu nationalists to signify Hindu domination in an officially secular India.

Modi has been the face of an unprecedented and unapologetic fusion of religion and politics in India. Ahead of the temple opening, he set the tone by visiting numerous Ram temples over 11 days as part of a Hindu ritual.

Analysts and critics see Monday’s ceremony as the start of the election campaign for Modi, an avowed Hindu nationalist and one of India’s most consequential leaders. They say the pomp-filled display led by the government shows the extent to which the line between religion and state has eroded under Modi.

"Prime ministers prior to Modi have also been to temples, been to other places of worship, but they went there as devotees. This is the first time that he went there as somebody who performed the ritual," said Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, an expert in Hindu nationalism and author of a book on Modi.

The temple, located at one of India’s most vexed religious sites, is expected to embolden Modi’s chances of returning to power by drawing on the religious sentiments of Hindus, who make up 80% of India’s population of 1.4 billion.

Ayodhya, once crowded with tightly packed houses and rundown stalls, has undergone an elaborate makeover in the lead up to the temple's inauguration. Narrow roads have been turned into a four-lane pilgrimage route leading to the temple, tourists are arriving at a new airport and sprawling railway station, and major hotel chains are building new properties.

Jubilant devotees from across the country have arrived to celebrate the opening, with groups of them dancing to religious songs that blare from speakers on roads bedecked with flowers. Huge cut-outs of Lord Ram and billboards of Modi are ubiquitous across Ayodhya, where the borders have been sealed to prevent more people from coming in. Some 20,000 security personnel and more than 10,000 security cameras have been deployed.

The moment will be remembered as momentous and historic by many of the country’s Hindu citizens.

"I am here to see history unfolding before our eyes. For centuries, the story of Lord Ram has resonated in the hearts of millions," said Harish Joshi who arrived in Ayodhya from Uttarakhand state four days before the ceremony.

Built at an estimated cost of $217 million and spread over nearly 3 hectares (7.4 acres), the temple lies atop the debris of the 16th-century Babri Mosque, which was razed to the ground in 1992 by Hindu mobs who believed it was built on temple ruins marking the birthplace of Lord Ram.

The site has long been a religious flashpoint for the two communities, with the demolition of the mosque triggering bloody riots across India that killed 2,000 people, mostly Muslims.

The dispute ended in 2019 when, in a controversial decision, India’s Supreme Court called the mosque’s destruction "an egregious violation" of the law but granted the site to Hindus while giving Muslims a different plot of land.

The fraught history is still an open wound for many Muslims, who have increasingly come under attack in recent years by Hindu nationalist groups and see the construction of the temple as a testament to Modi’s Hindu-first politics.

Officials say the temple, a three-story structure made of pink sandstone, will open to the public after the ceremony and they expect 100,000 devotees to visit daily. Builders are still working to finish 46 elaborate doors and intricate wall carvings.

NEW JERSEY OPENS LARGEST HINDU TEMPLE OUTSIDE INDIA

But not all are rejoicing. Four key Hindu religious authorities refused to attend, saying consecrating an unfinished temple goes against Hindu scriptures. Some top leaders from India’s main opposition Congress party also boycotted the event, with many opposition lawmakers accusing Modi of exploiting the temple for political points.

Neighboring Pakistan condemned the consecration, saying a temple built on the site of a demolished mosque would remain a blot on India’s democracy.

"There is a growing list of mosques (in India) facing a similar threat of desecration and destruction," Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It urged the international community to help save Islamic heritage sites in India from "extremist groups" and ensure that minority rights are protected.

At least three historical mosques in northern India are embroiled in court disputes overclaims by Hindu nationalists who say they were built over temple ruins. Hindu nationalists have also filed cases in Indian courts seeking ownership of hundreds of historic mosques.

Indonesia’s Mount Merapi erupted Sunday, spreading searing gas clouds and avalanches of lava down its slopes as other active volcanoes flared up across the country, forcing the evacuation of thousands.

On the densely populated island of Java, Merapi unleashed clouds of hot ash and a mixture of rock, and lava that traveled up to 1.2 miles down its slopes, said Agus Budi Santoso, the head of Indonesia's Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Center. A column of hot clouds blasted about 109 yards into the air as ash blanketed several villages without casualties, he added.

Merapi is the most active out of more than 120 volcanoes across the country. Sunday's eruption is the latest since authorities raised its alert level to the second-highest in November 2020 after sensors picked up increasing activity. Residents living on the slopes were advised to stay 4.3 miles away from the crater’s mouth and be aware of possible threats from flowing lava.

ICELAND VOLCANO ERUPTION DESTROYS HOMES AS PRESIDENT SAYS REGION ENTERING 'A DAUNTING PERIOD OF UPHEAVAL'

In 2010, an eruption killed 347 people and displaced 20,000 villagers.

The 9,737-foot mountain is about 18 miles from Yogyakarta, an ancient center of Javanese culture and the seat of royal dynasties going back centuries. About a quarter million people live within 6 miles of the volcano.

Several other active volcanoes also blew up this weekend, prompting authorities to evacuate thousands of residents, said Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation in a statement released on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. No casualties were reported, it said.

The agency said Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki in East Nusa Tenggara province spewed hot clouds as high as 2,300 feet into the air on Sunday, as more than 6,500 people fled to shelters.

Also on Sunday, Mount Marapi in West Sumatra province erupted again, its third biggest flare-up this month, albeit without discharging lava. About 500 residents living near it were evacuated. Last month, it erupted, killing 23 climbers and injuring several others.

Mount Semeru in East Java province released searing gas clouds and rivers of lava on Saturday, as did Mount Ibu on Halmahera island in North Maluku province which shot a column of hot ashes as high as 4,265 feet into the air.

In December 2021, Mount Semeru, the highest volcano on Java island, erupted, leaving 48 people dead and 36 missing.

Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the "Ring of Fire," a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.

Family members of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza stormed into an Israeli parliament panel to demand action on Monday.

Roughly 20 protesters burst into the Knesset Finance Committee meeting, with many holding pictures of their loved ones. Roughly 130 hostages are believed to remain in Hamas custody.

"Just one I'd like to get back alive, one out of three!" shouted a woman who had photos of three relatives being held hostage.

"You will not sit here while they die there," others shouted. "Release them now, now, now!"

OUTRAGE AS IRAN PRESIDENT PREPARES TO ADDRESS UN: 'WANTS TO KILL AMERICAN CITIZENS'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced growing demands from relatives of hostages to cut a deal with Hamas. One lawmaker inside the committee meeting on Monday argued that disrupting Netanyahu's government would not be helpful.

"Redeeming captives is the most important precept in Judaism, especially in this case, where there is an urgency to preserving life," he said. "Quitting the coalition would not achieve anything."

IRAN MOVES TOWARD POSSIBLE ATOM BOMB TEST IN DEFIANCE OF WESTERN SANCTIONS: INTEL REPORT

Netanyahu himself responded to similar protests on Monday as well, denying that Israel had rejected a proposal from Hamas.

"There is no real proposal by Hamas. It's not true. I am saying this as clearly as I can because there are so many incorrect statements which are certainly agonising for you," Netanyahu's office quoted him as telling hostage relatives in a separate incident.

Israel says it remains open to a second wave of hostage exchanges if Hamas agrees to the correct terms.

The new negotiations come amid boiling tensions in the wider region, as Iran and its proxy terrorist groups attack Israel, the U.S. and international shipping lanes.

The Islamic Republic of Iran launched drone and missile attacks into Iraq, Syria and Pakistan in less than 24 hours last week. The regime’s open warfare follows its military aid to Hamas ahead of the organization’s massacre of 1,200 people on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.

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The U.S. has sought to prevent Israel's war against Hamas from spreading into a wider conflict in the region. Nevertheless, Israel has threatened to expand the war to include Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist group operating Lebanon to Israel's north.

Fox News' Benjamin Weinthal and Reuters contributed to this report