KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — More bodies buried under the mud were retrieved in eastern Uganda on Friday and an injured person died in a hospital, bringing the death toll from this week's landslides to 20, officials said as search efforts pressed on in the stricken area.
Heavy rains had triggered the landslides that engulfed six villages in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, 280 kilometers (175 miles) east of Kampala, Uganda's capital, on Wednesday night. Some 125 houses were destroyed.
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Uganda Red Cross workers search for bodies after a landslide following heavy rains buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Irene Nakasiita)
Uganda Red Cross workers search for bodies after a landslide following heavy rains buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Irene Nakasiita)
Rescue workers and people search for bodies after landslides following heavy rains buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Watala)
Rescue workers carry an injured man after landslides following heavy rains buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Watala)
People search for bodies after landslides following heavy rains buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Watala)
Rescue workers carry bodies after a landslide following heavy rains that buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Watala)
Rescue workers and people search for bodies after a landslide following heavy rains that buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Watala)
Rescue workers and people search for bodies after landslides following heavy rains buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Watala)
The Uganda Red Cross Society spokesperson Irene Kasiita told reporters that bodies of four more people were found on Friday while a fifth person, one of the injured in the landslides, died at Mbale Hospital.
The society in a statement said 750 people had been displaced, with 216 of those living temporarily at a neighboring school while others were being housed by relatives.
The Bulambuli Resident District Commissioner Faheera Mpalanyi said soldiers have been deployed to help with the digging.
“More bodies are still buried under the heaps of soils and stones and we are trying as much as we can to recover them,” she said.
Local officials told a journalist in the area on Thursday that an excavator would be brought to assist in the rescue efforts, but the roads were covered in mud and rain was still falling. The impacted area is about 50 acres with homesteads and farmlands spread downhill.
Lawmaker Irene Muloni from the Bulambuli district said Thursday the government would help relocate residents from the landslide-prone area.
“Waterfalls are everywhere, and the rainfall is excessive,” she said, urging everyone who had lost their home to seek refuge with relatives and “leave this dangerous place.”
Uganda Red Cross workers search for bodies after a landslide following heavy rains buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Irene Nakasiita)
Uganda Red Cross workers search for bodies after a landslide following heavy rains buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Irene Nakasiita)
Rescue workers and people search for bodies after landslides following heavy rains buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Watala)
Rescue workers carry an injured man after landslides following heavy rains buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Watala)
People search for bodies after landslides following heavy rains buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Watala)
Rescue workers carry bodies after a landslide following heavy rains that buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Watala)
Rescue workers and people search for bodies after a landslide following heavy rains that buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Watala)
Rescue workers and people search for bodies after landslides following heavy rains buried 40 homes in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, eastern Uganda, Thursday, Nov. 28. 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Watala)
Two children and a woman were crushed to death Friday as a crowd of Palestinians pushed to get bread at a bakery in the Gaza Strip amid a worsening food crisis in the war-ravaged territory, medical officials said.
The bodies of two girls aged 13 and 17 and the 50-year-old woman were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where a doctor confirmed that they died from suffocation due to crowding at the al-Banna bakery. Video from The Associated Press showed their bodies placed next to each other on the floor inside the hospital's morgue.
The flow of food allowed into Gaza by Israel has fallen to nearly its lowest level of almost 14-month-old war for the past two months, according to Israeli official figures. U.N. and aid officials say hunger and desperation are growing among Gaza’s population, almost all of which relies on humanitarian aid to survive.
Osama Abu Laban, the father of one of the girls, wailed over the loss of her life outside the hospital.
“My wife fell when she heard that she (our daughter) was suffocating. She did not yet know that she was dead,” he told the AP.
Some bakeries in Gaza were closed for several days last week due to a shortage of flour. AP footage taken last week after they reopened showed large crowds of people cramming together, screaming and pushing, at one bakery in Deir al-Balah.
Palestinians across the Gaza Strip are heavily relying on bakeries and charitable kitchens, with many able to only secure one meal a day for their families.
In Lebanon, thousands of displaced people began returning to their homes this week after a ceasefire was announced between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.
Many found their homes reduced to rubble after intense Israeli airstrikes over the past two months leveled entire neighborhoods in eastern and southern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut. Nearly 1.2 million people have been displaced.
The truce was the first major sign of progress in the region since war began more than a year ago, triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza. For Palestinians in Gaza and families of hostages held in the territory, the ceasefire marked another missed opportunity to end fighting that has stretched on for nearly 14 months.
More than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel has destroyed large parts of Gaza and displaced nearly all of its 2.3 million people.
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JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said it struck an area in southern Lebanon where it detected movement of a Hezbollah rocket launcher on Friday, the third day of the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.
In the statement on the airstrike, the military said it would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
The strike followed several Israeli military attacks in southern Lebanon earlier in the day, which were reported by the Lebanese state media, and an Israeli drone strike on a Hezbollah weapons depot on Thursday.
There was no immediate comment from the Lebanese army, which has accused Israel of breaking the ceasefire several times since it came into effect.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Hamas claimed responsibility for a shooting attack on an Israeli bus in the occupied West Bank on Friday that wounded eight people, including four soldiers.
It was the latest violence to scar the territory as tensions run high 14 months into the Israel-Hamas war.
The attacker, who Hamas identified in a statement as Samer Hussein, 46, was killed by Israeli troops shortly after opening fire toward the bus at a junction near the Israeli settlement of Ariel.
The military said four soldiers were lightly wounded. Paramedics said three people were critically wounded.
Attacks by Palestinian militants on Israelis in the volatile territory have grown more common since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, as Palestinian deaths have also spiked. Israeli fire has killed 796 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023, mostly in military raids on Palestinian cities and towns. Attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property have also increased.
BEIRUT — The Israeli army carried out several attacks in southern Lebanon on Friday, the third day of the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, Lebanon’s state media said.
Artillery bombardment struck the villages of Markaba, Talusa and Khiyam while four Israeli tanks moved into the western part of Khiyam, the report said, adding that an Israeli tank fired at a house in Nabatiyeh province.
Local media also reported that the Israeli army fired on civilians in the nearby village of Bint Jbeil. No casualties were immediately reported and The Associated Press was not immediately able to verify the claims.
Israel's and Lebanon's armies did not comment on the alleged attacks.
BEIRUT — The leader of a leading Christian political party in Lebanon has called on Hezbollah to engage with the Lebanese army and devise a plan to dismantle its military infrastructure south and north of the Litani river.
In a press conference Friday, Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces Party, criticized Hezbollah for opening a front with Israel and accused the Shiite militant group of committing a “major crime” against the Lebanese people.
“We could have done without the martyrdom of more than 4,000 people, the displacement of thousands and the destruction across the country,” Geagea said. “Despite all these tragedies, Hezbollah continues to talk about a victory using a bizarre and disconnected logic that has no basis in reality.”
Geagea’s comments came two days after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel went into effect. More than 3,900 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel's conflict with Hezbollah escalated.
Geagea, whose Lebanese Forces Party holds the largest bloc in Lebanon’s 128-member parliament, also addressed Lebanon’s presidential deadlock. The country has been without a president for more than two years.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has scheduled a session for presidential elections in January. "Consultations with opposition factions and our allies will begin in the coming days to explore the possibility of agreeing on presidential candidates and bringing them to parliament,” Geagea said.
Two children and a 50-year-old woman were crushed to death Friday as a crowd of Palestinians pushed to get bread at a bakery in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, medical officials said.
The flow of food allowed into Gaza by Israel has fallen to nearly its lowest level of the almost 14-month-old war for the past two months, according to Israeli official figures. U.N. and aid officials say hunger and desperation are growing among Gaza’s population, almost all of which relies on humanitarian aid to survive.
A doctor at Al-Aqsa Hospital confirmed that the three died from suffocation due to crowding at the al-Banna bakery in Deir al-Balah.
Some bakeries in Gaza were closed for several days last week due to a shortage of flour. AP footage taken last week after they reopened showed large crowds of people cramming together, screaming and pushing, at one bakery in Deir al-Balah. Bags of bread now sell in the black market near bakeries for up to $17 each.
Palestinians across the Gaza Strip are heavily relying on bakeries and charitable kitchens, with many able to only secure one meal a day for their families.
Osama Abu Laban, the father of one of the girls killed Friday, wailed over the loss of her life outside the hospital.
“My wife fell when she heard that she (our daughter) was suffocating. She did not yet know that she was dead,” he told the AP. He added that he had also lost his son, father, uncle, and cousins, all in northern Gaza.
Several women gathered inside the morgue to mourn their dead relatives, with one woman screaming “they went to buy bread, they crushed them.”
Read more of the AP's coverage of the Middle East wars:
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Damaged vehicles are seen in front of the Roman temples of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Displaced residents return to Dahiyeh, in Beirut, Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A convoy of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) drives on area along the Israeli-Lebanese border as seen from northern Israel, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A convoy of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) drives on area along the Israeli-Lebanese border as seen from northern Israel, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Israeli soldiers stand atop army armoured vehicles outside the agricultural settlement of Avivim, next to the Lebanese border in upper Galilee, Israel, Thursday Nov 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Displaced residents walk on the rubble of their destroyed house in Baalbek, eastern Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
