Egypt arrests 2 members of Global March to Gaza, group says

CAIRO: Egyptian authorities arrested two members of the international coordination committee of the Global March to Gaza, the group said Monday.

The group said in a statement it hasn't heard from French citizen Hicham El Ghaoui and Spanish national Manuel Tapial for around a day since their arrest, and it has no details about their whereabouts.

Demonstrators from 80 countries planned to march to Egypt's border with Gaza to spotlight the deepening humanitarian crises facing Palestinians since Israel began blocking aid trucks from entering the coastal enclave in March.

“Our commitment remains unchanged: We stand with Gaza, call for the opening of a humanitarian corridor, and demand an end to the genocide against the Palestinian people. Governments must act now,” the statement said.

Foreigners are being evacuated from Iran and Israel

Some 120 people, including diplomats and their families, were evacuated from Iran via Turkmenistan, the country's Foreign Ministry said Monday. Many of those evacuated were from fellow Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, officials said.

Turkmenistan, a gas-rich nation that has remained largely isolated under its autocratic rulers since it became independent following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, shares a 1,148-km border with Iran.

The Czech Republic is also sending a plane for Czechs who want to leave Israel amid the conflict with Iran, the Czech Foreign Ministry said. Other Czechs will use another plane sent by the government of Slovakia, headed to Jordan, to return home.

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it helped 14 Taiwanese leave Israel by bus for Jordan on Sunday and will help them travel onward. The ministry is in touch with another nine Taiwanese currently in Iran and will assist them if they need help departing, the ministry said in a statement Monday.