CRAZY MIRANADA (1971)

 

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE

FIFTY YEARS BEFORE MAGA

 

[Verse 1]
Crazy Miranda lives on propaganda
She believes anything she reads
It could be one side or the other
The Free Press or Time Life covers
She follows newsprint anywhere it leads
But still she can't seem to read
And nobody knows
Ah, nobody knows what she needs
It could be love

[Verse 2]
All the pretty ladies' textbooks
Tell her how to have the "next look"
The Bible tells her stay as plain as you are
But she wants all the pretty boys beside her
To write some pretty words to guide her
To tell her that they love her body as well as her mind
She wants some kind of sign—a sign of love
Oh never mind—she's not your kind

Wikipedia.orgen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bark_(Jefferson_Airplane_album)

Bark (Jefferson Airplane album) - Wikipedia

September 1971. Recorded, October 1970 – July 1971. Studio, Wally Heider ... "Crazy Miranda", Grace Slick, 3:23. 4. "Pretty as You Feel", Joey Covington .....

Wayward Chadian Olympic archer wins hearts of K-Pop star and Koreans

 his extremely rare one point score has made him an unlikely hero in the archery powerhouse of South Korea.

Seoul (AFP) – An archer from Chad has captured hearts in South Korea and been hailed by a K-Pop star for his "true Olympic spirit" after a Games debut where he almost missed the scoring rings.

Issued on: 03/08/2024 - 

South Korea's Kim Woo-jin has won two team golds in Paris and goes for individual gold on Sunday 

© Punit PARANJPE / AFP

Israel Madaye scored just one point with one of his arrows in the men's individual against top South Korea archer Kim Woo-jin, who rattled home an almost perfect score of 88 out of 90.

The 36-year-old Madaye had a steady start, losing the first set 29-26.

He scored just 15 in the second, courtesy of the one-pointer, but composed himself to score 25 in the final set and finish on 66 points in Tuesday's contest.

Madaye had carried the central African nation's flag at the Paris opening ceremony.

But turned up without his chest guard for the round of 32 contest and his extremely rare one point score has made him an unlikely hero in the archery powerhouse of South Korea.

After local media reported that Madaye had taught himself archery with limited resources, giving up his career as an electrician and training at a cemetery to become an Olympian, South Koreans flooded his Instagram page with support.

Among them was K-pop star Kwon Yuri, who posted: "I look forward to seeing you at the next Olympics. I've learned the true Olympic spirit (from you). Thank you, athlete Madaye, and I support you!"

Others wrote: "What shines brighter than 10 points is that unwavering spirit of yours".

"From Korea with respect," said another and "(We'd) like to see you in South Korea. You are always welcome".

The Chadian archer posted two pictures of himself at the Olympic venue in Paris for his South Korean supporters, with one of the captions saying: "Thank you very much Republic of Korea".

South Korean archers have dominated the sport for decades, winning 30 Olympic golds since 1984. They have won all three golds so far in Paris.

Chad's flag bearer Madaye Israel waves his country's flag (top right)at the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris © Miguel MEDINA / AFP

Kim, who has progressed into the last eight of the men's individual, has already won two team titles in Paris to increase his personal Olympic tally to four golds.

He will be targeting a fifth when the remaining rounds take place on Sunday.

Madaye told Korean broadcaster KBS in Paris that South Korea is virtually the only country that has shown interest and support to him since he was eliminated.

He said he had studied YouTube videos of Korean archers before the Olympics.

"The biggest issue in Chad is the shortage of supplies. There are no toy arrows or new targets for the children," he said.

When asked about his wayward arrow, Madaye said he had not been "too stressed".

"Since I worked hard to prepare for the Olympics, I would've been satisfied even if I ended up scoring zero."

© 2024 AFP

Rights group says security forces have killed 13 as Nigeria protests over hardship enter a third day


Issued on: 03/08/2024 - 

01:54© AFP

Nigerian police fired shots in the air to break up protests in the capital Abuja on Friday as rights group Amnesty International accused security forces of killing at least 13 demonstrators during nationwide rallies against economic hardship.

 13 dead in Nigeria protests | BBC News

Aug 2, 2024  #EndBadGovernance #Nigeria #Protests

Millions of residents in northern Nigeria have been placed under 24-hour curfews amid nationwide protests against the high cost of living.

Governments in the states of Kano, Jigawa, Yobe and Katsina have ordered locals not to leave their homes - and therefore not attend protests - on Friday.

There is a heavy security presence around the country with nine more "days of rage" scheduled by the movement's organisers.

The nationwide demonstrations were organised via social media using the hashtag #EndBadGovernance and according to rights group Amnesty International, 13 protesters across Nigeria were killed by security forces on the first day of the protests.

ECOCIDE

Niger oil exports under threat, as Patriotic Liberation Front warns of more pipeline attacks


Issued on: 03/08/2024 - 

Recent months have seen a series of attacks by armed rebels on the Nigerien pipeline designed to carry oil from Niger to Benin for international export. This massive pipeline was built with the help of a Chinese company, but now faces significant threats, just as Niger’s crude oil exports are crucial to the country’s growth plans. Report by Harold Girard and Lucas Philippe.

02:14

Myanmar airstrikes on border hospital near China kill 10: media

STALINIST BUDDHIST JUNTA

By AFP
August 2, 2024

A street in Laukkai in Myanmar's northern Shan State, in early July - Copyright AFP -

Myanmar military airstrikes hit a hospital in a city controlled by an ethnic minority armed group close to the China border killing 10 people, local media reported on Friday.

Military planes carried out at least two air strikes on Laukkai city, normally home to some 25,000 people, late on Thursday night, a resident told AFP, requesting anonymity for security reasons.

Local media quoted one resident as saying 10 civilians were killed in the strike.

Myanmar’s northern Shan state has been rocked by fighting since late June when an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups renewed an offensive against the military along a major trade highway to China.

The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) group have held Laukkai since January after more than 2,000 junta troops surrendered there in one of the military’s biggest defeats in decades.

MNDAA spokesman Li Jiawen told AFP a military airstrike had hit a hospital in Laukkai, but he had no information yet on casualties.

The junta has been approached for comment.

The junta has bombed Laukkai several times in recent weeks after the MNDAA renewed its offensive in northern Shan state, shredding a Beijing-brokered ceasefire.

Pictures taken on Thursday and shared with AFP by the Laukkai resident showed deserted streets.

In recent days MNDAA fighters have entered the town of Lashio, also in northern Shan state and home to the military’s northeastern command.

Fighting was ongoing in Lashio on Friday, a military source told AFP, requesting anonymity to talk to the media.

Local media, citing a local resident, reported that MNDAA fighters had entered a military hospital in Lashio and killed an unspecified number of patients and medical staff.

AFP was unable to reach people on the ground in Lashio or confirm the report.

Dozens of civilians have been killed or wounded in the recent fighting in Shan state according to the junta and local rescue groups.

Neither the junta nor the ethnic alliance have released figures on their own casualties.

Myanmar’s borderlands are home to myriad ethnic armed groups who have battled the military since independence from Britain in 1948 for autonomy and control of lucrative resources.

Some have given shelter and training to newer “People’s Defence Forces” (PDFs) that have sprung up to battle the military after the coup in 2021.

China is a major ally and arms supplier to the junta, but analysts say it also maintains ties with armed ethnic groups in Myanmar that hold territory near its border.

NO ONE LEFT BEHIND

In the prisoner swap, Putin signals that Russia won't forget its security operatives abroad

In the biggest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War, Russian President Vladimir Putin is sending a clear, morale-boosting message to his security services: If you get caught, Russia will bring you home

ByJOANNA KOZLOWSKA

 Associated Press
August 2, 2024,

President Vladimir Putin strode along the red carpet between two rows of rifle-toting honor guards and warmly greeted intelligence operatives freed in the biggest prisoner swap with the West since the Cold War.

“The Motherland hasn’t forgotten about you for a minute,” Putin said, embracing each of them after they walked down the steps of the jetliner that ferried them home.

Putin, who rarely — if ever — travels to the airport to greet foreign heads of state these days, was delivering a clear, morale-boosting message to his security services: If you get caught, Russia will bring you home.

For the Kremlin, Vadim Krasikov, the hitman imprisoned in Germany for killing a former Chechen militant in Berlin, was perhaps the most important component in the exchange that saw eight Russians swapped for 16 Westerners and Russian dissidents who had been imprisoned in recent years.

Moscow freed American journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and a group of top dissidents.

Washington extolled it as a major diplomatic victory. But so did Moscow.

“Putin is sending a signal that those working abroad will have maximum protection, and that if they are arrested, the state will fight for their return and roll out the red carpet for them,” said Tatyana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.

She noted that Russian and Western perceptions of the deal were starkly different.

“In the West, it’s being viewed from a humanitarian and political perspective, closely followed by media, significant for society," Stanovaya told The Associated Press. "In Russia, it’s not an issue for society, it’s an issue for the state.”

The average Russian probably "doesn’t even know the names of those who returned," she added. “But for Putin, those who returned to Russia are real heroes, patriots who worked for the state and defended the national interest.”

Krasikov was convicted in the Aug. 23, 2019, killing of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen who had fought Russian troops in Chechnya and later claimed asylum in Germany.

At his sentencing to life in prison in 2021, German judges said Krasikov had acted on the orders of Russian authorities, who gave him the resources to carry out the killing.

In 2019, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied any Russian involvement in the killing. But on Friday, he said Krasikov is an officer of the Federal Security Service and once served in the FSB’s special forces Alpha unit, along with some of Putin’s bodyguards.

By including Krasikov in the deal, “Putin has shown how important it is to him to secure the return of imprisoned Russian spies,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

He noted the Russian leader's “determination to get Krasikov back was key to this exchange.”


Russia released twice as many people as the West in what Gould-Davies described as a “striking departure from the strict parity (or better) that Russia always insisted on in previous swaps.”

When it suits him, Putin has occasionally accepted unequal exchanges.

In September 2022, Ukraine agreed to free jailed opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk, whom Putin had personally known, and dozens of other people in exchange for over 200 Ukrainians and foreigners in Russian captivity.

Gould-Davies said Putin, a KGB veteran, could have been driven by a strong personal loyalty to the undercover agents in Thursday's swap.

"Putin now places such a high value on his spies that he is prepared to agree to an unfavorable exchange,” he said.


Abbas Gallyamov, a political analyst and former Putin speechwriter, described the swap as a way to ensure the loyalty of Russian operatives abroad and make them realize that he "will make every effort to pull them out of prison.”

“Putin showed to all his spies, killers and other people who he uses abroad that he’s like their father,” Gallyamov said. “It’s important because it ensures their loyalty.”

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Putin-chaired Security Council, declared on his messaging app channel that while “it would be desirable to see the traitors of Russia rot behind bars ... it's more useful to get our guys out.”

The anti-Western hawk added ominously that “the traitors should now frantically be choosing new names and hiding under witness protection programs.”

Among those released by Russia were Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer serving 25 years on a treason conviction widely seen as politically motivated; opposition activist Ilya Yashin, imprisoned for his criticism of the war in Ukraine; associates of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and Oleg Orlov, a veteran human rights campaigner.

While some have voiced hope the freed activists could reinvigorate Russia's beleaguered and fragmented opposition that has lacked a charismatic leader since Navalny's death, others point to steep challenges they will face.

Stanovaya said it would be hard for them to make their voices heard in Russia, where most people lack access to independent media and liberal views are shared by a relatively narrow segment of the public.

She predicted the Kremlin will portray them as serving Western interests, especially Kara-Murza, a dual Russian-British citizen who was a vocal supporter of sanctions against Moscow.

Gallyamov also said the Kremlin doesn't view the freed activists as a major threat.

“Released opposition figures won’t cause any additional issues" for the Kremlin, he said, adding that the messages that Yashin and others sent from prison evoked more sympathy and interest. “The Kremlin wins from this deal.”

___

Associated Press journalist Kostya Manenkov in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.

Behind the scenes of US-Russia prisonner swap deal

Issued on: 03/08/2024 -

02:25  Video by: Tom CANETTI

The United States and Russia completed a 24-person prisoner swap on Thursday, the largest in post-Soviet history, with Moscow releasing Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan in a multinational deal that set some two dozen people free, according to officials in Turkey, where the exchange took place. How was this deal set? FRANCE 24 journalist Tom Canetti explores the behind the scenes of the agreement.

How Putin might gain or lose from the prisoner swap


By AFP
August 2, 2024


Putin had long pushed for Krasikov to be included in a prisoner swap deal

 - Copyright POOL/AFP Kirill ZYKOV

When eight Russian citizens including a convicted hitman touched down in Moscow on Thursday in a historic prisoner swap with the West, President Vladimir Putin greeted them like heroes.

“I want to congratulate you all on your return to your Motherland,” Putin beamed, assuring the group that also included cybercriminals and spies that Russia had not forgotten them for “even a minute”.

Putin’s message — both to those released on Thursday and his agents across the world — was clear: Even if you get caught, the Kremlin has your back.

A total of 24 people were freed in Thursday’s exchange — 16 headed to the West and eight to Russia — in the biggest prisoner swap deal since the Cold War.

Russia released US journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, ex-marine Paul Whelan as well as high-profile domestic dissidents.

In return, it secured the largest number of alleged Russian spies freed in a single exchange for over a decade, as well as FSB security service assassin Vadim Krasikov.

“For the target audience, Putin brought back his soldiers, the heroes of a hybrid Third World War,” said Russian political analyst Konstantin Kalachev.

“And the audience is not just special services, but millions who feel like citizens of a country at war with a stronger enemy,” he added.

Among those returning to Russia were two sleeper agents living on false documents in Slovenia, a prolific hacker and an alleged Russian colonel posing as a Brazilian researcher in Norway.

For Putin, the main prize was Krasikov — an elite FSB officer arrested in Germany in 2019 for murdering a former Chechen separatist on what Berlin said was Moscow’s orders.

A former FSB officer himself, Putin had long pushed for Krasikov to be included in a prisoner swap deal, an idea that Germany had resisted.

The deal will have “strengthened loyalty” among other spies and assassins, said Abbas Gallyamov, an independent political analyst and former Kremlin speechwriter.

“Putin can count on them to work with greater dedication,” he added.

– ‘Win-win’ –

For the West, the exchange has raised fears Putin could become even more emboldened to take prisoners in what it blasts as “hostage diplomacy”.

The Kremlin said Friday it was determined to see the release of more Russians it believes are wrongfully imprisoned in the West.

Over the last two years, Russia had been “blatantly” detaining Westerners for a possible swap “as negotiations with the West stalled” amid the Ukraine offensive, said Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.

Russia and the West have a long history of swaps, including in 2022 when US basketball star Brittney Griner was exchanged with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

But with Thursday’s deal involving not just foreigners but Russian dissidents, Moscow reminded “the whole world of its repression, lawlessness and cruelty against critics of the authorities,” Stanovaya said in an article.

Before the 2022 agreements to free first US Marine Trevor Reed and then Griner, deals had usually involved swapping spies for spies.

Moscow has tried to present this deal in similar terms.

Gershkovich and Whelan were both convicted of “espionage” — charges rejected as baseless by the White House — and the FSB said on Thursday that the Russians it released had “acted in the interests of foreign states to the detriment of Russia’s security.”

But to the West, the arrest of Gershkovich in particular — the first “espionage” charges levelled at a US reporter in Russia since the cold War — showed the Kremlin was willing to cross red lines.

Russia may see the exchange as a great success and “wonderful victory”, political analyst Ekaterina Schulmann said in an interview with Russia’s independent TV Rain.

But the reality was more nuanced.

“Russia is getting eight clumsy losers who couldn’t do their job and got caught,” she said.

“While it is giving away people who, if they want to and if they are able, will become significant political public figures.”

 

Kremlin critics freed in prisoners swap deal vow to keep fighting against Putin

03/08/2024 - 

01:10

When Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza was suddenly moved to a detention center in Moscow from a Siberian prison, he thought he was being taken there to be shot. Opposition activist Ilya Yashin said he was warned by a security operative that he would die in prison if he returned to Russia. Neither was told they were being freed in a massive prisoner exchange with the West — the largest since the Cold War — when they were put on a bus to the airport Thursday, some still in prison garb.

Russia prisoner swap: Turkey’s diplomatic coup


By AFP
August 2, 2024


Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has managed to maintain a warm rapport with Russia's Vladimir Putin - Copyright POOL/AFP Sergei GUNEYEV
Anne CHAON

The historic East-West prisoner swap Thursday brokered by Ankara has marked the triumphant return of Turkish diplomacy onto the world stage, despite quarrels with its NATO allies.

US President Joe Biden thanked Turkey for its part in the largest East-West exchange since the Cold War involving two dozen prisoners, including a top Russian intelligence colonel and hitman, that all came together on the tarmac of Ankara airport.

“Turkey has pulled off a diplomatic gamble,” said Sinan Ulgen, an associate researcher at the Carnegie Europe think tank.

Turkish presidential spokesman Fahrettin Altun revealed that the “Turkish secret services established communication and mediation channels”, showing that Turkey “was capable of speaking with different parties as a trustworthy and reliable partner”.

Months of secret negotiations leading up to the deal “demonstrate the importance of Turkish diplomacy”, Ulgen added, with Ankara “stepping in as a facilitator or mediator in conflicts between its neighbours, in particular, between Russia and the West.”

“The initiative gives Turkey diplomatic prestige,” he said, as Ankara often diverges from its traditional Western allies on the Middle East and Israel, “given its strong support for Hamas”.

– ‘Unsung hero’ –

Turkey has often pitched itself as a mediator in the war in Ukraine on the other side of the Black Sea, and in Gaza, highlighting its influence as a Muslim giant and fervent supporter of the Palestinian cause.

While Turkey’s vehement rhetoric against Israel compromised its involvement in the Gaza peace talks — with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “Nazi” — Turkey could has been a key broker in Russia-Ukraine negotiations.

Ankara has maintained ties with both Moscow and Kyiv since the start of the war — and remains the only government to have hosted the rivals’ top diplomats, Sergey Lavrov and Dmytro Kuleba, in March 2022. Erdogan has remained in direct contact with presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.

Turkey also brokered a UN-backed deal to lift a Russian blockade on Ukrainian grain exports in 2022 and allow their safe passage through the Black Sea.

Erdogan previously mediated a September 2022 prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia that led to the release of 215 Ukrainian prisoners and the return of besieged Ukrainian Azov Brigade commanders from Mariupol.

But the Kremlin on Friday pointed out that any Ukraine negotiations would be “completely different” from Thursday’s swap.

By making its key role public, “Turkey basically is signalling that, yes, some of its NATO allies, including the US, may not see eye-to-eye with Ankara in certain areas, but in other key areas, Turkey is crucial,” said Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

– Spymaster –

“Turkey is the unsung hero of (Thursday’s) prisoner exchange,” said Lucian Kim, a Ukraine analyst for the Crisis Group.

“Ankara facilitated the swap thanks to the close ties Erdogan has maintained with the Kremlin despite NATO membership and quiet support for Ukraine,” said Kim.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan lauded the role of its MIT intelligence agency — which he used to head — in the swap. And the former spymaster promised Turkey would “continue to be at the centre of peaceful diplomacy, in line with our president’s vision.”

Its ambitions to be a diplomatic player extend well beyond its immediate neighbours. Turkey is also attempting to act as a broker in African conflicts. Fidan on Saturday will meet with Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa, where Turkey is pushing for peace talks between Ethiopia and Somalia, said researcher Ulgen.

Transformative hobby: going for gold at Japan’s World Cosplay Summit

SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE DRAG


By AFP
August 3, 2024


Teams from 36 countries and regions faced off in central Japan

 - Copyright AFP Philip FONG

Katie Forster

It takes intense dedication, hours of prep and a whole lot of sewing: dressing up as Japanese characters may not be an Olympic sport, but these competitors are at the top of their game.

Teams from 36 countries and regions faced off in central Japan on Saturday, having faithfully recreated the elaborate outfits, colourful hairstyles and all-important attitude of their chosen anime, manga and video game stars.

The championship is part of the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya, a three-day event that draws thousands of fans — many keen to show off their own costumes.

“People really commit to cosplay competitions,” said Lettie Shiels from Britain, who won last year’s contest with her teammate Claudia Maw.

“We’re not just talking about weekends and evenings — I probably averaged about four hours’ sleep for a good number of months,” she told AFP.

The pair, who go by the stage names Tsupo and Clood, met in cosplay circles over a decade ago and have seen their hobby transform from a crafty, DIY subculture into a global phenomenon.

Perfecting self-taught skills from make-up artistry to prosthetics, dressmaking and prop design is a key part of cosplay, a combination of the words “costume” and “play”.

In Nagoya, contestants are judged on the accuracy and quality of their costumes.

“They go pretty hard on that. You have a reference picture, and everything has to be exactly the same. If anything’s missing, you’ll have points docked,” Shiels explained.

Then they must perform a two-and-a-half minute skit in character, which former champions Tsupo and Clood have been invited back to Japan to judge.

“I want to feel immersed. I want to feel like they love the source material,” which will shine through in the choreography, acting and visual effects, Shiels said.



– ‘Smiling inside’ –



Braving the mid-summer heat and humidity, crowds of Japanese and international cosplay enthusiasts throng the city centre for the annual event, which was first held in 2003.

Characters from top manga comics such as “Naruto” and “Slam Dunk” pose for photos next to others in full-body get-ups, including the fantastical mechanical fighters from “Gundam”.

There are some ground rules: gore such as bloody wounds and bruises is forbidden, as well as costumes that show too much skin or underwear, and any real-life uniforms.

Behind the scenes ahead of the performance round, the pressure is on for the national teams, each formed of two competitors, who have squeezed all their homemade gear on to international flights.

Each team is picked at national heats, similar to Eurovision, and this year cosplayers have travelled from places including France, South Africa, India, Mongolia and Thailand.

In one of the shared dressing rooms, Irina Tsapreva of Bulgaria, dressed as a character from “Mononoke”, is busy affixing realistic looking pointy ears to her partner.

“I love many things about cosplay. First of all, I have always loved carnivals and dressing up, so this is like a holiday for me,” said Tsapreva.

She has a master’s degree in theatre costume design, which helps when embroidering her costume with silk and creating everything else from scratch, including assembling traditional wooden Japanese shoes.

But many other competitors have varied day jobs, from a kindergarten teacher to a healthcare innovation worker.

Cosplay began as a hobby but is becoming more serious for Henrik Pilerud, who has created a huge, smiling, “Totoro” creature with moving eyes from the classic 1988 Studio Ghibli movie “My Neighbour Totoro”.

“We chose this because it is beloved and it’s so iconic,” the Swede said.

Even though it’s uncomfortable inside the furry shell, “people are smiling and being happy,” so “you forget all the heat and the weight, and you’re just smiling inside here as well”.

NABKA II

Palestinian sources say Israel drone strike kills 5 in West Bank

By AFP
August 3, 2024


People near Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank check the remains of a car reportedly hit by an Israeli drone strike, which Palestinian sources said killed five people - Copyright AFP 

JAAFAR ASHTIYEH

An Israeli drone strike killed five people in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the Palestinian press agency Wafa and Palestinian sources reported, while the Israeli military said it struck a “terrorist cell” in the Tulkarem region.

The director of the Thabet Thabet Hospital in Tulkarem said in a statement that “five martyrs” had arrived at the facility after “an Israeli drone strike on a Palestinian vehicle close to the village of Zeita in Tulkarem”.

According to Wafa, an Israeli military drone targeted a vehicle “with two missiles” which caught fire, killing five men.

At the scene of the strike a witness told AFP, “I live less than 50 metres (yards) from here. We came (after) the sound of an explosion and saw a vehicle on fire” on the road towards Zeita, to the north of Tulkarem.

“Next to it, we saw a body lying on the road. Inside the vehicle, there were three charred bodies, from what we were able to see, completely burnt,” added Nasser, who declined to have his last name published.

The Israeli military quickly sealed off the area, Wafa reported.

The military said in a brief statement: “An IDF (military) aircraft struck a vehicle and terrorist cell operating within the area of Tulkarm”, without providing further details for the moment.

Alongside the Israel-Hamas war that began last October in the Gaza Strip, violence has intensified in the West Bank.

At least 594 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the West Bank since October 7, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.

At least 17 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed by Palestinian attacks in the West Bank over the same period, according to official Israeli figures.