INTERNACIONAL
Gang violence in Haiti at record levels amid criticisms US has no ‘clear strategy’
Gangs in Haiti killed at least 5,600 people last year, according to a new United Nations report. The report from the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights said an additional 3,700 were injured or abducted, leading some to criticize the Biden administration for not doing enough.
«The Biden administration has taken a piecemeal and politicized response to the crisis which focused on preventing it from blowing up ahead of the elections but not resolving it,» Andrés Martínez-Fernández, senior policy analyst for Latin America at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital.
Biden gave $629 million in financial and equipment support to Haiti with $600 million already allocated, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital. By comparison, Congress provided Ukraine with more than $113 billion.
«At the end of the day, it is a similar issue in both Ukraine and Haiti that our involvement does not seem to have a clear strategy underlying it,» Martínez-Fernández added.
SITUATION IN HAITI WORSENS AMID ‘ACUTE VIOLENCE’ AS UN SUPPORT MISSION FALTERS UNDER GANG VIOLENCE
Violence in Haiti continues as gangs wreak havoc in Port-au-Prince in March 2024. (Project Dynamo)
In a horrific incident in early December, at least 207 people were massacred in the capital city Port-au-Prince by the Wharf Jérémie gang. The victims, many of them elderly, were accused of using voodoo to harm the gang leader’s son. Their bodies were mutilated and burned, and others were thrown into the sea.
Gangs now control approximately 85% of the capital, according to a recent VOA report.
«These figures alone cannot capture the absolute horrors being perpetrated in Haiti, but they show the unremitting violence to which people are being subjected,» said the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
Police from Kenya stand on the tarmac of the Toussaint Louverture International Airport after landing in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. The first U.N.-backed contingent of foreign police arrived nearly two years after the Caribbean country requested help to quell a surge in gang violence. (AP Photo/Marckinson Pierre)
Türk emphasized the urgent need to restore the rule of law in Haiti. He called for strong logistical and financial backing for the U.N.-supported Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) to help it carry out its mandate effectively.
The MSS pledged more than 2,500 personnel from several countries, yet only around 500 have been deployed so far. Many have not been paid for months and are hugely outnumbered against the 12,000 gang members operating in the country, according to a BBC report.
‘LAWLESS’ HAITI PLAGUED BY CORRUPTION AND DEADLY GANG VIOLENCE FUELS HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
The State Department defended its record and pointed to a joint operation on Dec. 15 by MSS and Haitian police that resulted in the death of a high-profile gang leader. But with violence surging, even the State Department admits that more needs to be done.
«Current personnel levels are clearly insufficient at restoring the rule of law and security to Haiti,» said the spokesperson, adding, «Given current challenges, however, the United States has backed the Haitian-led call for transitioning the MSS mission to a UNPKO (United Nations Peacekeeping Operation).»
Gang Leader Jimmy «Barbecue» Cherizier patrolling the streets with G-9 federation gang members in the Delmas 3 area on Feb. 22, 2024 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Photo by Giles Clarke/Getty Images)
Martínez-Fernández said that is unlikely to happen. «There are significant challenges regarding its feasibility, especially due to the lack of approval in the Security Council. China, in particular, has strongly opposed such efforts and I anticipate they will continue to veto them.»
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In the U.N. report, Türk renewed his call for the U.N. Security Council’s sanctions on Haiti and the arms embargo to be fully implemented to stop the flow of weapons into the country.
«Weapons flowing into Haiti often end up in the hands of the criminal gangs, with tragic results: thousands killed, hundreds of thousands displaced, essential infrastructure and services, such as schools and hospitals, disrupted and destroyed.»
INTERNACIONAL
Hamas to free another American in Saturday hostage release
The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has released the names of the three hostages set to be freed Saturday, including American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, following days of concern that a ceasefire deal with Israel could collapse.
Russian-Israeli Alexander Troufanov and Argentine-Israeli Yair Horn, who along with Dekel-Chen were abducted by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023, will also be released on Saturday, which will mark 497 days in captivity.
Dekel-Chen is the second American to be released by Hamas since President Donald Trump re-entered office, following the release of Keith Siegel on Feb. 1.
FORMER HAMAS HOSTAGE’S MOM SAYS DAUGHTER WAS FORCED TO FAKE HER DEATH FOR A PROPAGANDA VIDEO
Hamas has said it will release Alexander (Sasha) Troponov, 29, Sagi Dekel-Chen, 36, Yair Horn, 46, on Saturday Feb. 15, 2025 in the next hostage release.
International concern over the stability of the ceasefire reached new heights after Hamas threatened not to release any more hostages – in direct violation of the agreement – after it claimed that Israel had violated the treaty by not facilitating the transport of humanitarian aid and targeting Palestinians in airstrikes.
Trump then said on Monday that Israel should cancel the ceasefire agreement if Hamas did not hand over all remaining hostages, not just the three slated to be released on Feb. 15 under the ceasefire agreement.
Concern mounted when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday also called on Hamas to release hostages come Saturday, but did not specify whether he meant all hostages or the three previously agreed to.
«The Israeli formal position is that we have an agreement that should be fulfilled,» retired IDF Major General Yaakov Amidror confirmed on Thursday during a discussion hosted by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA).
EGYPT REPORTEDLY RELEASES DETAILS ON PLAN TO REBUILD GAZA; THERE’S NO MENTION OF ‘COOPERATION’ WITH THE US
U.S. President Donald Trump, accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L), speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on February 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
«We don’t [want to] shake the boat by adding [Trump’s] demand,» he said. «The question is, will Hamas fulfill the agreement from its side and release the three hostages?
«I think Hamas is not going to take the risk now when this is the mood in Washington,» Amidror added. «But we don’t know.»
Just 16 of the 33 hostages scheduled to be released during the first 42-day phase of the ceasefire have been freed.
Following the first week of the rocky agreement, which saw the release of seven hostages, three hostages per week were slated to be released under terms agreed to by Hamas and Israel. The final 14 hostages will be released together on Feb. 22, marking the final week of the first phase.
MOTHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE BEGS TRUMP, NETANYAHU TO BRING SON HOME BEFORE CEASEFIRE COLLAPSES: ‘NO MORE TIME’
The Bibas family, from left: Yarden, Ariel, Shiri, and Kfir. Yarden was released by Hamas in February 2025. The fate of his family remains unknown. (Ofri Bibas Levy)
The IDF has assessed that at least eight of the hostages slated for release in the first phase have been killed while in Hamas captivity, though the number could be higher as the fate of Shiri Bibas and her two young boys – Ariel, who was four years old when he was abducted alongside his brother Kfir, who was nine months old – remains unconfirmed by the IDF.
Hamas has claimed they were killed by an Israeli airstrike, though the IDF has said it does not have evidence to support this.
Mediators were supposed to start to negotiate terms for the release of the remaining 65 hostages earlier this month, though Amidror said he does not believe they has officially begun. At least 26 of those slated for release in the second phase are assessed to have been killed.
In recent weeks, the hostages have confirmed fears that they were tortured, interrogated and starved during their time in Hamas captivity. And the state of the hostages released last week sparked an outcry as many pointed out the similarities in appearance of the three men to images of those who survived the Holocaust.
Emaciated Israeli hostages, from left to the right, Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, who were held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, are taken by terrorists to a stage before being handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Five other Americans remain in captivity, including Edan Alexander, 19, an IDF soldier and the only remaining American still assessed to be alive, though he is not slated for release until the second phase of the ceasefire.
IDF soldiers Itay Chen, 19, and Omer Neutra, 22, are believed to have been killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their bodies continue to be held alongside Gadi and Judi Haggai, who were also killed during the terrorist attack near their kibbutz.
Siegel, 65, thanked Trump for his help in securing his release but urged him to ensure that the ceasefire is upheld and said, «Your leadership and strength will ensure the agreement is honored by all sides – that is what will allow all . . . hostages to return home to their families,» he added.
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