World
Ukraine and Russia trade accusations over fire at occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of lighting the fire which he said was visible from the Kyiv-held city of Nikopol.
![](https://www.ariananews.af/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant.jpg)
Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of starting a fire on the grounds of Europe's largest and now Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine on Sunday, with both sides reporting no sign of elevated radiation.
The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog, which has a presence at the vast six-reactor facility, said its experts had seen strong, dark smoke coming from the northern area of the plant in southern Ukraine following multiple explosions.
"These reckless attacks endanger nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident. They must stop now," IAEA chief Rafael Grossi warned in a separate statement, without attributing blame for the attack.
The fire comes less than a week after Ukraine's forces launched their largest incursion into Russian territory since the war-start in 2022, a surprise move that has brought conflict into a new phase, after weeks of Moscow's battlefield gains.
Russian state news agencies, TASS and RIA, cited the country's nuclear energy company Rosatom as saying the main fire was extinguished shortly before midnight on Sunday.
RIA, citing Rosatom, said a drone attack started the fire at the cooling tower, without providing evidence.
Ukraine's nuclear power company Energoatom said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that one of the cooling towers and other equipment were damaged.
Russia's TASS agency also reported, citing Rosatom's statement, that a cooling tower was damaged. Citing local Russian emergency ministry representatives, TASS said it was a non-functioning tower.
Grossi said the agency requested "immediate access" to the cooling tower to assess the damage. There was no immediate response from Moscow or Kyiv to Grossi's statement.
Russia captured the plant from Ukraine shortly after launching its full-scale invasion on its smaller neighbour in 2022, an attack described by Moscow as a "special operation". The plant's six nuclear reactors are in cold shutdown.
By early Monday, it was not clear what caused the fire that started at around 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Sunday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of lighting the fire which he said was visible from the Kyiv-held city of Nikopol, which looks out onto the Russian-held plant.
The IAEA said there had been no reported impact on nuclear safety at the site.
"Team was told by (the nuclear plant) of an alleged drone attack today on one of the cooling towers located at the site," it wrote on X.
Ukraine's Energoatom said Russia's "negligence" or arson could have sparked the fire. Without providing evidence, it also said Russia uses the plant's cooling towers to store military equipment and explosives.
Russia's officials in turn, including Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, accused Kyiv of deliberately trying to destroy the plant and sow "nuclear terror."
Zelenskiy published grainy video showing belching black smoke that appeared to be coming out a cooling tower with a blaze burning at its foot.
"Currently, the radiation indicators are normal. But as long as Russian terrorists retain control over the nuclear plant, the situation is not and cannot be normal," he said.
The six reactors at the plant located close to the front line of the war in Ukraine are not in operation but the facility relies on external power to keep its nuclear material cool and prevent a catastrophic accident.
Moscow and Kyiv have routinely accused each other of endangering safety around it. – Reuters
World
Dozens killed, wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza tent camp, Gaza agency says
Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forced from their homes at least once, and some have had to flee as many as 10 times.
![](https://www.ariananews.af/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Gaza-Khan-younis.jpg)
Israeli airstrikes on a tent camp for displaced Palestinians killed and wounded 65 people in southern Gaza, the enclave's civil emergency service said early on Tuesday, as the Israeli military said it had targeted a Hamas command center, Reuters reported.
Residents and medics said a tent encampment near Khan Younis in the Al-Mawasi area, a designated humanitarian zone, was struck by at least four missiles. The camp is crowded with displaced Palestinians who have fled from elsewhere in the territory.
The Gaza civil emergency service said at least 20 tents caught on fire, and missiles caused craters as deep as nine meters (30 feet). It said the 65 victims included women and children but did not provide a breakdown of deaths and injuries.
There was no immediate comment from the Gaza health ministry, which compiles casualty figures. Earlier, the Hamas-aligned Shehab News Agency said 40 Palestinians were killed.
"Our teams are still moving out martyrs and wounded from the targeted area. It looks like a new Israeli massacre," a Gaza civil emergency official said.
The official added that teams have been struggling to search for victims who might have been buried, read the report.
The Israeli military said it "struck significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control centre embedded inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Younis."
"The terrorists advanced and carried out terror attacks against IDF troops and the state of Israel," the statement said, referring to the Israeli Defence Forces.
Hamas, the Islamist group that controlled Gaza before the conflict, denied Israeli allegations gunmen existed in the targeted area, and rejected accusations it exploited civilian areas for military purposes.
"This is a clear lie that aims to justify these ugly crimes. The resistance has denied several times that any of its members exist within civilian gatherings or using these places for military purposes," said Hamas in a statement.
Ambulances raced between the tent camp and a nearby hospital, while Israeli jets could still be heard overhead, residents said.
Nearly all of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been forced from their homes at least once, and some have had to flee as many as 10 times, Reuters reported.
The war was triggered on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza has killed more than 40,900 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry.
The two warring sides each blame the other for a failure so far to reach a ceasefire that would end the fighting and see the release of hostages.
World
Israeli strikes on Syria kill at least four civilians, Syrian state media say
There has been no immediate comment from Israel, which typically does not comment on specific reports of strikes in Syria.
![](https://www.ariananews.af/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Israel-strikes-.jpg)
Multiple Israeli strikes on Syria's Hama countryside late on Sunday killed at least four civilians, Syrian state media reported, with sources saying the attacks targeted a major military research center.
Since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians and soldiers, Israel has escalated its strikes on Iranian-backed militia targets in Syria and also struck Syrian army air defences and some Syrian forces, Reuters reported.
A local health official quoted by Syria's state news agency said 13 people were also injured, including several critically, following Sunday's strikes in the vicinity of the city of Misyaf, with ambulances still ferrying the wounded.
Two regional intelligence sources said a major military research centre for chemical arms production located near Misyaf was hit several times. It is believed to house a team of Iranian military experts involved in weapons production, read the report.
Syria's state media also reported that the strikes caused two fires, which firefighters were working to extinguish.
There has been no immediate comment from Israel, which typically does not comment on specific reports of strikes in Syria.
In the most high-profile attack on Syria since the war in Gaza began, suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran's embassy in April, a strike that Iran said killed seven military advisers, including three senior commanders.
World
Thirteen Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, WAFA says
In a separate incident, five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a residential building in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
![](https://www.ariananews.af/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Gaza-airstrike-3.jpg)
At least 13 Palestinians were killed and 15 wounded in Israeli strikes on a school sheltering refugees and a residential building in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority's official news agency WAFA reported early on Saturday.
At least eight of the dead were in refugee tents at Halima al-Sa'diyya School in Jabalia in northern Gaza, WAFA said.
The Israeli army said in a statement it had "conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command and control centre... embedded inside a compound that previously served as the 'Halima al-Sa'diyya' School in the northern Gaza Strip."
In a separate incident, five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a residential building in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered Oct. 7 last year when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has since killed over 40,800 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, while displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.
According to the United Nations, at least 1.9 million people across the Gaza Strip are internally displaced, including some uprooted more than 10 times.
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