Nov. 24 – A truce between Israel and Hamas, a Sunni Islamist political and military group governing Gaza and engaged in a war with Israel, was agreed this week.
The terms of the truce include the release of 13 Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and 39 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are teenage boys, held by Israel.
The Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, following a deadly attack by Hamas inside Israel. Iran’s regime has been accused of being complicit in the war over its funding and support for Hamas.
Emigration from Iran has hit record levels, according to data published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the UN’s Refugee Agency.
An analysis of the data by the Tehran-based Iran Migration Observatory (IMO) found that the number of asylum applications made by Iranians in 2022 rose by 44 per cent compared with the previous year.
The rise in migration has been linked by analysts to Iran’s political and economic woes, following brutal crackdowns on demonstrators and a soaring inflation rate along with US-led sanctions.
And Iran’s security forces were condemned by Human Rights Watch for their use of excessive force on protesters in September as Iranians commemorated the violent crackdown on large anti-regime demonstrations in 2022.
The demonstrations were named “Bloody Friday” following the deaths of at least 60 people, including children, with several hundred injured.
The rights group also accused the regime of being quick to use lethal and excessive force on ethnic minorities in the country and said authorities were committed “to brutally crushing protests.”
