Israel Releases Another 42 Palestinian Women, Children From Prison

More Trucks With Fuel, Aid Head To Gaza Another 42 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons are to be released on Saturday as part of the agreement between the Israeli government and the Islamist Hamas movement, according to the Times of Israel newspaper. Israel will initially transfer the detainees to Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank for medical examinations by International Red Cross staff, according to the newspaper, which cited Israeli prison officials. Al Jazeera reported that the prisoners to be released include 18 women and 24 teenage boys. As a condition of the agreement, Hamas militants must first release Israeli hostages being held in Gaza before the Palestinian prisoners are released from Israeli custody, according to the report. After their release, the Palestinians are to return to the places where they previously lived, for example in the West Bank or East Jerusalem. The first group of Palestinian prisoners consisted of minors and women held in Israeli prisons on offences ranging from stone-throwing to attacks on police officers, including some who were arrested but never faced trial, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.  Meanwhile, more trucks carrying humanitarian supplies moved through Egypt’s Rafah border crossing to the Gaza Strip on Saturday, the second day of a temporary truce agreed to by Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement. Seven fuel trucks, including four loaded with cooking gas, passed through the crossing on Saturday, an Egyptian official said. In addition, 100 trucks carrying food and medical aid bound for Gaza also crossed through Rafah, Dr Raed Abdel-Nasser, the head of the Red Crescent in Egypt’s northern Sinai, told dpa. The Palestinian Red Crescent, meanwhile, said its teams received 196 trucks of relief supplies via Rafah on Friday from its Egyptian counterpart. The truce agreement, which was brokered and announced by Qatar on Wednesday, involves a four-day pause in fighting between both sides. The pause will allow desperately needed aid to flow into the densely populated Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of some hostages Hamas kidnapped during bloody Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. Israel also agreed to release a number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons as part of the deal.

FG Reaffirms Commitment To Tackling Tobacco Use By Children

The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to tackle tobacco use by children in Nigeria. Dr Jamila Ibrahim, Minister of Youth and Social Development, made the commitment in Abuja on Friday when Ms Bintou Camara, Regional Director, Tobacco Control Programme (AFRO) Campaign for Tobacco – Free Kids paid her a courtesy visit. Ibrahim said that tobacco smoking among children was a big challenge facing the country. The minister said Nigeria needs to partner and collaborate with relevant stakeholders to educate Nigerian to understand the health implication of tobacco smoking among young people. “We will focus on adolescent heath. It is the area we need to be proactive in putting mechanisms in place to achieve a preventive approach tobacco smoking among the kids. “We must work with the act that bans tobacco smoking in public places especially to prevent second hand smoke,” she said. Also speaking, Camara said that the organisation was in the country to campaign and educate Nigerians on the danger of tobacco smoking. “We are the leading advocacy organisations in the world that advocate against tobacco smoking. “We are focusing on tobacco control.“Tobacco smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths that is why is it important that we tackle tobacco prevention,” she said. According to her, tobacco companies target the young people in other to safe guard their profits. Camara said that it was important to tackle tobacco control because the world was facing an incredible enemy that may affect public health issues. She said that the organisation had been working for more than 25 years to educate the youths on the danger of tobacco smoking. “The organisation has fought to protect children and save lives from cause of preventable death. “Our vision is a future free of the death and disease caused by tobacco. Because tobacco has killed enough,” Camara said. According to her, it is the tobacco industry that is searching confidently to target young people in other to safe guard the profit over public health. She said that Nigeria was the most important market in Africa and probably the world with beautiful, powerful and strong number of young people in the continent. “Most important thing for us is to raise awareness, educate youths on the consequences of tobacco use. “Tobacco smoking has killed eight million people a year and out of the number 1.2m die from second hand smoke which means you don’t have to be a smoker, you can die from it, suffer from it whether you want it or not,” she said. Camara said that the country had passed the tobacco smoking law, saying that implementation and enforcing was most important, especially for the young people. She described tobacco as the entering way to other drugs that generates negative consequence which include mental health, lost of productive life, lost of good health, and education among others.

Tragedy As Two Children Die In Niger Boat Mishap

Two children have been confirmed dead while two others sustained various degrees of injuries in a boat mishap that occurred in Katcha Local Government Area of Niger. The Overseeing Director-General of Niger Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) /, Alhaji Salihu Garba, disclosed this in Minna on Saturday. He said the incident occurred on Friday at about 6pm when the boat engine caught fire due to a mechanical failure and inflamed a gallon of petrol stored inside the boat. He said that 145 passengers were in the boat, adding that they were from Danbo community in Kogi. Garba disclosed that the passengers were on their way back from Katcha Market when the incident occurred. He said that the body of one of the deceased children had been recovered while the search for that of the second missing child was still ongoing.