PARIS (AP) — The head of Ukraine’s Olympic delegation touted the limited numbers of Russian athletes at the Paris Olympics — who must compete as neutrals — as war between the two countries grinds on for a third year.
Vadym Guttsait told The Associated Press in an interview that Ukraine began the effort to reduce the number of Russian and Belarusian athletes after the Kremlin's forces invaded Ukraine in 2022 and have kept pressing it nearly until the start of the Games in Paris. Belarus is a key ally of Moscow's.
“During the war, they have no place in the international world,” Guttsait said. “Because every day our people, women and children are killed. Every day they bomb us, and the missiles are flying over our country.”
Only 15 Russian athletes will be competing in the Games and they won’t officially be representing Russia. Russia and neighboring Belarus were banned from sending national teams because of the war in Ukraine, so athletes approved to compete from those countries will do so under neutral status, including tennis star Daniil Medvedev, who won the US Open in 2021.
“It’s nothing,” Guttsait said about Russia’s presence at the 2024 Olympics. “It’s already a victory.”
In Russia, the Olympics are shown in a negative light or not at all in the media. Newspapers' main approach has been to play up the negative, writing about crime in Paris and the inconvenience of barricades placed throughout the city. Russia’s state TV channels aren’t broadcasting any of the events.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova have both slammed the Olympics opening ceremony for LGBTQ-friendly performances. Zakharova also pointed to the rain that soaked the ceremony and issues with the cleanliness of the Seine River.
Russia has refused to send athletes in some sports, including wrestling and judo. The Russian wrestling federation objected to the International Olympic Committee’s choice of which wrestlers to invite, saying the bouts would be incomplete without Russian athletes and that “any sane person understands that the status of the Olympic Games as the most significant sporting event is being questioned.”
Russian athletes' showing in Paris is a big change from the Tokyo Games held in 2021, where Russia had more than 300 athletes participating under the rebranded team name ROC (Russian Olympic Committee) because of a doping scandal. They won 71 medals.
In December 2022, Guttsait started noticing signals that Russian and Belarusian athletes might be allowed to participate in the Paris Games.
At the end of 2022, Ukraine faced missile strikes on its energy infrastructure and spent long winter hours in darkness during resulting blackouts. There was also one of the most grueling battles for the eastern city of Bakhmut, which was one of the first cities reduced to rubble before Russian troops seized it in the spring.
Ukrainian authorities complained that it was unacceptable for Russian athletes to compete at one of the world’s most prestigious sports events, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Guttsait to prevent it.
Guttsait held meetings with representatives of national Olympic committees, wrote letters and took part in Ukraine's International Summit of Sports Ministers.
“It was painstaking work where every day we received feedback from those who either supported us or not,” he said.
Ukraine announced it would boycott the 2024 Olympics if Russian and Belarusian athletes competed under a neutral flag. This decision received widespread global attention amid the war, and that was part of Ukraine’s strategy, Guttsait said.
For the Paris Games, the International Olympic Committee set specific criteria for Russian athletes to qualify, including whether they publicly supported Russia's war.
The war also has affected Ukraine’s Olympic participation, which team was one of the sporting powerhouses that emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union. The country will be represented by its smallest delegation in the history of the Summer Games — 140 athletes in 26 sports — that Guttsait attributes to the war.
While in Paris, Guttsait attends competitions every day to support the athletes, donning a panama hat with a Ukrainian coat of arms and Olympic rings.
But Ukrainians cannot leave the war experience at home, and perhaps that made Friday's opening ceremony along the Seine River even more memorable.
“When we were sailing dressed in yellow and blue colors, with our flag. ... It was rewarding, and that people stood up and greeted us with applause,” he recalled. “Our mission at the Olympics is to remind the world that Ukraine survived.”
Vadym Guttsait, Ukrainian Olympic Head, talks to people ahead of the opening event of Ukraine house at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, Saturday, July 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hanna Arhirova)
Ukrainian Olympic head Vadym Guttsait poses for a photo at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hanna Arhirova)
Ukrainian Olympic head Vadym Guttsait poses for a photo at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hanna Arhirova)
Ukrainian Olympic head Vadym Guttsait poses for a photo during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hanna Arhirova)
An Israeli airstrike hit a mosque in central Gaza and Palestinian officials said at least 19 people were killed early Sunday. Israeli planes also lit up the skyline across the southern suburbs of Beirut, striking what the military said were Hezbollah targets.
The strike in Gaza hit a mosque where displaced people were sheltering near the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. Another four people were killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people near the town.
The Israeli military said both strikes targeted militants, without providing evidence.
An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead from the strike on the mosque were all men, while another man was wounded.
In Beirut, the strikes reportedly targeted a building near a road leading to Lebanon’s only international airport and another formerly used by the Hezbollah-run broadcaster Al-Manar.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark, nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.
Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the latest conflict, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Here is the latest:
RABAT, Morocco — Thousands of people have demonstrated in the streets of Morocco’s capital to call for justice for the Palestinians and for the Moroccan government to revoke its 2020 agreement formalizing its ties with Israel.
The North African nation has had — since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas — some of the Arab world’s largest protests.
A diverse group — including students, Islamists, leftists, attorneys and unions — have poured into the streets of the country’s cities and towns in an expression of support for Palestinians in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
“I don’t know who is next, probably in Syria or any other country. Maybe it’s our turn next,” said Houria, a demonstrator from northern Morocco.
Morocco’s government has spoken out against the war but retained its ties with Israel. Authorities have for the most part permitted protests yet pursued charges against demonstrators who have blocked the entrance to businesses or implicated the monarchy in their demands.
The protest in Rabat was among the largest demonstrations in months. Moroccans from throughout the country gathered in Rabat to march past the country’s parliament.
They protested against President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and carried large banners of Arab leaders killed during the conflict, including Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh and longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
SAO PAULO, Brazil — A plane carrying Brazilians fleeing Lebanon has landed in Brazil, according to a statement from the Brazilian Air Force.
The plane touched ground in Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos airport Sunday. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was at the scene to welcome them.
The flight, the first Brazil has organized to assist its nationals, was carrying 228 passengers including 10 infants, as well as three pets.
A second flight is scheduled for next week but will depend on security conditions on the ground, the foreign ministry said.
Around 21,000 Brazilians live in Lebanon, which is home to the largest community of Brazilians in the Middle East. Two Brazilian adolescents have been killed by Israeli bombardments in Lebanon.
BERLIN — On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks against Israel, hundreds of demonstrators marched behind a banner that read “Against all antisemitism,” accompanied by a police escort.
With scores of Israeli flags waving over head, some Jewish leaders led a song about “shalom” — peace — while marchers chanted “Free Gaza from Hamas!” and “Bring them home,” referring to hostages still held by Hamas militants in Gaza.
Another chant, “Rape is not resistance!” decried the sexual violence that occurred during the attack. Survivors have given The Associated Press numerous accounts of sexual atrocities committed during that day and a U.N. report released in March said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape, “sexualized torture,” and other cruel and inhumane treatment of women during its surprise attack.
Some in the crowd held up photos of hostages still held by Hamas. Photos of several women featured the word “Kidnapped” in German.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack and took another 250 hostage. They are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said one person was killed and 10 others were wounded in a stabbing and shooting attack in the southern city of Beersheba.
Sunday’s attack at the city’s central bus station came on the eve of the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel, which ignited the war in Gaza. The country is on high alert as it prepares to hold memorial ceremonies.
Israel’s police did not identify the assailant but said they were treating it as a terror attack. Palestinians have carried out a number of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks since the war began.
The attack comes a few days after seven people were killed in a shooting attack in Tel Aviv last Monday. In that attack, two Palestinian men opened fire on a crowd inside the city’s light rail and around the station before being killed by security forces in the area.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis issued a new appeal for peace “on every front” is his Sunday Angelus prayer and spoke of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas against Israel.
“Brothers and sisters, tomorrow it will be a year since the terrorist attack by Hamas against the people of Israel, to whom I renew my closeness,” the pontiff said. He called for the “immediate liberation" of the hostages still held in Gaza.
The pope called for a day of prayer and fasting on Monday, the first anniversary of the attack - which he said sparked a war that has taken a heavy toll on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
“From that day the Middle East has fallen into worse suffering because of destructive military actions that continue to hit the Palestinian people,” the pontiff said. "It is most of all innocent civilians, they must receive the necessary humanitarian aid.”
The pope repeated his plea for “an immediate ceasefire on every front," including Lebanon.
"Let’s pray for Lebanese people, especially for the people in the south forced to leave their villages.”
TEL AVIV, Israel — Ahead of the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the Israeli military on Sunday displayed thousands of weapons seized from the militant group.
The military, which created the display at a sprawling army base south of Tel Aviv, said it has retrieved more than 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles from Gaza and destroyed double that number, as well as seized thousands of other items including drones, explosives, RPGs, scuba equipment, machine guns, sniper rifles, anti-tank missiles and weapons manufactured both inside Gaza and in Iran, Russia and North Korea.
The army also displayed homemade explosives it said Hamas used to burst through the border barrier on Oct. 7. It said they were crafted specifically after years of studying Israel’s border during years of Hamas-organized violent protests along the fence, including as early as 2018.
“What Hamas did on Oct. 7 was storm Israel with all their abilities at one time,” said military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani. He said that the Israeli military had seized the weapons from Hamas, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, to study the types of weapons used as well as track where they came from.
As Israel prepares for a day of somber memorials marking a year since the attacks, the military said it was increasing troop presence in Israel’s south to protect memorials taking place along the Gaza border.
A large memorial planned by bereaved families was expected to draw a crowd of more than 40,000 in Tel Aviv, but will be broadcast with only direct family members and media in attendance due to warnings from the military of possible rocket attacks from Lebanon.
BEIRUT — The southern suburbs of Beirut were hit by more than 30 strikes overnight, the heaviest bombardment since Sept. 23, when Israel began a significant escalation in its air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Sunday.
The targets included a gas station on the main highway leading to the Beirut airport and a warehouse for medical supplies, the agency said.
Some of the overnight strikes set off a long series of explosions, suggesting that ammunition stores may have been hit.
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron called for “a halt to arms exports for use in Gaza,” saying it's urgent to avoid escalating tensions in the region, his office said.
Macron drew strong criticism from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by saying "the priority is … that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza.” He made the comments in an interview with France Inter radio, which was recorded on Tuesday and aired Saturday.
France doesn’t deliver any weapons to Israel, Macron said.
Netanyahu released a video statement in which he called out the French president by name and referred to such calls as a “disgrace.”
In a statement, Macron’s office said “France is Israel’s unfailing friend. Mr. Netanyahu’s words are excessive and irrelevant to the friendship between France and Israel.”
“We must return to diplomatic solutions,” it added.
The statement also said that Macron had demonstrated his commitment to Israel's security when France mobilized its military resources in response to the Iranian attack. French authorities did not provided details about France’s role.
Macron has called for an immediate cease-fire in both Gaza and Lebanon.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An apparent Israeli airstrike early Sunday killed at least 18 people in central Gaza, Palestinian medical officials said.
The strike hit a mosque sheltering displaced people near the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah, the hospital said in a statement.
An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead were all men. Another two men were critically wounded, the hospital said.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment about the strike on the mosque.
The latest strikes add to the mounting Palestinian death toll in Gaza, which is now nearing 42,000 according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, but many of the dead were women and children.
BEIRUT — Powerful new explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs late Saturday as Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon, also striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.
Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the widening conflict in the region, while rallies were held around the world marking the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.
The strong explosions began near midnight after Israel’s military urged residents to evacuate areas in Beirut’s Haret Hreik and Choueifat neighborhoods. AP video showed the blasts illuminating the densely populated southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. They followed a day of sporadic strikes and the nearly continuous buzz of reconnaissance drones.
Israel’s military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 30 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.
Moroccan women wave flags and chant slogans in support of Gaza and Lebanon during a protest in Rabat, Morocco, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Smoke rises from a destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A man checks the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Emergency workers inspect a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Israeli soldiers pray at a staging area in northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
An Israeli soldier prays at a staging area in northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
People check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises from a destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Mourners gather around the bodies of Palestinian men who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
