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Iranian, 2 Others Detained in Peru Over Plot to Kill Israelis
Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force, Esmail Qaani speaks in Tehran, Dec. 20, 2022. Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
An Iranian and two Peruvians have been sentenced to 18 months of preventative detention for allegedly plotting to kill two Israelis living in Peru.
The order by Magistrate Miguel Quevedo was issued on Tuesday but released on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press, which reported that the defendants were also accused of conspiracy to commit terrorism.
Peruvian police and prosecutors said that the Iranian, Majid Azizi, could be a member of the elite Quds force branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a US-designated terrorist organization. The Quds Force is responsible for Iran’s proxies and terror operations abroad.
The Israeli embassy in Lima, the Peruvian capital, on March 15 thanked local authorities for arresting Azizi and “having dismantled an Iranian attack that was directed against an Israeli citizen.”
Azizi contacted Walter Loja and Ángelo Trucios, both Peruvians, last month to plan the killing of Israeli Shachar Malka, according to prosecutors.
Malka’s social media indicated he was a tour guide and healer using traditional plants in Cusco, the ancient capital of the Incas, for more than five years.
The other Israeli target, according to the Associated Press, was Gilad Duchovny, who opened a cafe in Cusco in 2006.
“It has been established with a high degree of plausibility” that Azizi conspired with the Peruvians to kill the Israelis, the judge said. One of the Peruvians, Trucios, has a conviction for murder and aggravated robbery.
Police reportedly found information about Malka and Duchovny in Azizi’s house in Lima.
“We had to act quickly, because today [Azizi] was set to return to Iran after forming a terrorist cell to wipe out an Israeli national,” Gen. Oscar Arriola, chief of Peruvian police, said in a press conference last month. Azizi has been living in Peru since 1997.
Azizi’s defense has denied all charges against him.
Iran and its proxy, the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, have established operations in Latin America for years. Earlier this month, for example, Argentina’s highest criminal court blamed Iran for the fatal 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, declaring it a “crime against humanity.”
The judges ruled that the attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA), which killed 85 people and left hundreds injured, was carried out by Hezbollah and responded “to a political and strategic design” by Iran.
The post Iranian, 2 Others Detained in Peru Over Plot to Kill Israelis first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.