Category World News

More than 20 days after the vote, which was announced on Wednesday, are likely to have an impact on the Central American nation.

Asfura won 40.3% of the vote, edging out center-right Liberal Party candidate Salvador Nasralla, who received 39.5 percent, according to the electoral body, the CNE.

Asfura thanked the CNE on Wednesday in a brief social media post. I’m ready to rule in Honduras. He declared, “I will not fail you.”

Trump had heavily favored Asfura, criticizing Nasralla and Rixi Moncada, who ended up receiving less than 20% of the votes.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Asfura and said Washington was looking forward to working with him.

In a social media post, Rubio wrote that “Honduras’ people have spoken and Nasry Asfura will be its next president.”

Rubio urged “all parties to respect the confirmed results” of the elections in a separate statement.

Juan Orlando Hernandez, a member of Asfura’s National Party, was released earlier this month after receiving a pardon in the US for drug trafficking.

Asfura is of Palestinian descent and was formerly mayor of Tegucigalpa in Honduras. However, his party is steadfastly Israel-friendly.

Gideon Saar, the foreign minister of Israel, told Asfura on Wednesday that he had spoken with her and that the two countries had agreed to “strengthen bilateral relations.”

In a statement, Saar said, “I sincerely wish the people of Honduras well, wish him success in his position, and invite him to Israel.” The State of Israel and the Jewish people have a long history of friendship in Honduras.

In violation of international law, Honduras became the only nation to move its embassy there in Israel to Jerusalem under Hernandez’ leadership in 2021. Asfura has also endorsed Trump and other left-wing figures in the Americas, including Javier Milei from Argentina.

Despite the fact that Hernandez, the president of the National Party, is a former drug trafficker, the Argentinian president praised Honduras’ election results on Wednesday as a victory against “narcosocialism.”

In a social media post, Milei wrote, “The Honduran people chose to end years of authoritarianism and decay” with courage.

We from Argentina celebrate the victory of freedom and reaffirm our support for democracy, the popular will, and the region’s institutions without restrictions.

For right-wing candidates in Latin America over the past year, Asfura’s victory is another victory. In 2025, El Salvador’s right-wing leader Nayib Bukele was ably defeated in the election of Chia and Bolivia’s ultraconservative presidents.

The “Pink Tide” – the influx of left-wing leaders who came to power in the area in the early 2020s – appears to have been reversed.

The rise of right-wing governments in the area coincides with the US’s pressure campaign against Venezuela’s left-wing leader Nicolas Maduro.

Israeli attacks across Gaza have left at least one Palestinian dead and six people injured, including a young person, as a result of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threat.

Israeli forces opened fire on civilians in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on Wednesday, killing Ayoub Abdel Ayesh Nasr and injuring two others.

According to medical sources, three people were hurt east of Khan Younis when shots were fired, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.

In another place, Israeli forces shot and injured a young child in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.

Since the ceasefire’s start in October, more than 400 people have been killed in the battered enclave, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Israel “serious and systematic violations” of the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s government media office, adding that the Israeli forces have violated it 875 times since it’s enacted.

The lack of urgent medical care, including medical supplies, is compounding the situation in Gaza, which is on the verge of total collapse.

A preliminary truce, followed by steps toward a wider peace, is a 20-point plan that was suggested by US President Donald Trump in September.

Only the first phase, which included a flimsy release of prisoners and captives, and a partial Israeli withdrawal, has yet to come into effect.

Even though these are stipulated in the first phase of the agreement, Israel continues to violate a ceasefire and refuses to provide the coastal enclave with desperately needed humanitarian aid.

Israel claims that one soldier was hurt when an explosive device detonated in Rafah, in southern Gaza.

Israel responded to the incident, which Hamas denied responsibility for, by saying that the explosive device had been left over by Israeli forces.

Hamas reiterated its commitment to the October 10 ceasefire by claiming the incident occurred in a region under the control of the Israeli army and that it had warned about explosives left in the area and elsewhere since the conflict.

A delegation from Israel, according to Netanyahu’s office, met officials from mediating nations in Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday to talk about efforts to bring back the body of the last Israeli captive, police officer Ran Gvili, who was also present.

Members of the delegation included representatives from the Israeli military, the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service, and the Mossad intelligence service.

In the end, Trump’s plan calls for Israel to step down and for Hamas to cease playing a governing role in Gaza.

Israel claims it will never permit the establishment of a Palestinian state, but Hamas has stated that it will only grant arms once a Palestinian state is established.

Netanyahu and Trump will meet at the White House next week to primarily discuss the US president’s plan for Gaza.

Hamas claimed later on Wednesday that a delegation led by its top negotiator Khalil al-Haya had spoken with Turkiye’s foreign minister in Ankara about Gaza.

Al-Hayya warned against continuing Israeli violations of the ceasefire, claiming that they were intended to obstruct the transition to the next stage of the agreement.

The Hamas delegation claimed that the ceasefire had been agreed upon, but that Israel’s continued attacks had hampered progress. Additionally, they claimed that 60% of the trucks entering Gaza were carrying commercial goods rather than aid.

In honor of the thousands of people killed in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, thousands of people have gathered in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve for the first public gatherings since 2022. The city has since canceled or muted the festivities for two years.

A giant Christmas tree in Manger Square in the occupied West Bank city replaced a nativity display from the war that featured a baby Jesus amid rubble and barbed wire, symbolizing the destruction in Gaza.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the most renowned Catholic leader in the Holy Land, who drove from Jerusalem in the customary Christmas procession and called for “a Christmas full of light” led the festivities.

Scout bands from West Bank towns carried Palestinian and Palestinian flags through Bethlehem’s streets while playing their bagpipes.

Israel’s forces have launched nearly daily raids across the West Bank, detained thousands of Palestinians, and severely restricted movement between cities since the start of the country’s bloody war against Gaza.

Palestinians claim that Bethlehem’s economy is dependent on the increased military presence, road closures, and checkpoint delays, paralyzing the tourism industry.

Only a small number of foreign visitors attended the celebrations, with the majority of them being local residents.

During the genocidal war in Gaza, Bethlehem’s unemployment rate increased from 14 percent to 65 percent, according to Mayor Maher Nicola Canawati earlier this month. Around 4, 000 people left the city in search of work, he added, as the economy deteriorated.

Israeli settlement attacks and raids

Even after a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, which has been repeatedly violated by Israeli forces, was established in October, despite ongoing raids and large-scale military incursions across the occupied West Bank.

The raids frequently result in numerous mass arrests of Palestinians, home searches and demolitions, as well as physical assaults that occasionally result in fatalities.

Since the UN’s humanitarian office began keeping track of data in 2006, Israeli settlers’ attacks on Palestinians have reached their highest level. The Israeli military has frequently protected the victims of the attacks, which have included killings, beatings, and property destruction.

More than 570 Israeli settlers were reportedly under police guard entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem earlier on Wednesday, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

According to Palestinians, these incursions violate the third-holiest site in Islam’s tradition.

Palestinian officials claim that this move adds to a decades-long project of demographic engineering, land theft, and security, as Israel’s security cabinet has also approved plans to formalize 19 illegal settlements across the West Bank.

On Wednesday, the move was criticized by the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and other nations.

In a joint statement, the UK, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain all called on Israel to reverse this decision as well as the settlement expansion.