“No foreign passport holder will be able to leave the Gaza Strip until wounded people who need to be evacuated from hospitals in north Gaza are transported through the Rafah crossing” to Egypt, the official said on condition of anonymity.

An Egyptian security source confirmed to AFP that “no wounded person or holder of a foreign passport arrived at the Egyptian terminal” of Rafah on Saturday.

He said the evacuation was suspended “after the bombing of ambulances transporting injured people who were on their way to the Egyptian terminal.”

On Friday, the Israeli army announced it had struck an ambulance outside Al-Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest, saying it was “used by a Hamas terrorist cell”.

At least 15 people were killed and 60 wounded in the strike, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

Israel launched a war against Hamas in Gaza following the October 7 attacks which claimed 1,400 lives — mostly civilians — according to Israel.

The Hamas-run health ministry says air, land and sea attacks on Gaza have killed nearly 9,500 Palestinians.

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BFMTV reported that a team of deminers is currently on site to carry out a survey following the threat.

The tower remains closed for the time being, according to BFMTV. Almost seven million people visit the Paris tourist attraction annually.

The monument has a police station at the foot of the south pillar, its premises are under video surveillance, and visitors have to undergo security checks before entry.

Evacuations are rare, but not unknown. In 2019 the monument was evacuated and closed after a man was spotted climbing up the side.

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At least 13 US soldiers were also killed in Thursday’s blasts, the worst single-day loss for American troops in Afghanistan since the August 2011 attack on a Chinook helicopter that killed 30 service members.

The US troops helping to evacuate Afghans desperate to flee Taliban rule are bracing for more attacks.

Thursday’s attack was claimed by ISIL (ISIS) offshoot in Afghanistan, The Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K), which said its suicide bombers singled out “translators and collaborators with the American army”.

US President Joe Biden pledged to retaliate against the attack in Kabul, confirming that the bombings were carried out by ISIS-K. “We will hunt you down and make you pay. I will defend our interests in our people with every measure at my command,” he said.

Here are the latest updates:

22 mins ago (07:55 GMT)

Turkey holds first talks with the Taliban in Kabul: Erdogan

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey has held its first talks with the Taliban in Kabul, adding that Ankara was still assessing the group’s offer to run the Afghan capital’s airport.

“We have held our first talks with the Taliban, which lasted 3.5 hours,” Erdogan told reporters. “If necessary, we will have the opportunity to hold such talks again.”

45 mins ago (07:31 GMT)

Spain ends evacuations from Kabul: government

Spain said Friday that it has ended its evacuation operations out of Kabul following the arrival of “the last two Spanish flights” in Dubai, just over a week after it began airlifting its citizens.

“A military A400 plane arrived in Dubai from Kabul at 7:20 am. A second is due to land at 8:20 am. With these two flights, the Spanish evacuation of its Afghan collaborators and their families has been completed,” the government said in a statement.

Afghan citizens board a Spanish military plane [Ministry of Defense of
 Spain/Handout via Reuters]

49 mins ago (07:28 GMT)

The UK to end evacuations from Afghanistan ‘in a matter of hours’

The United Kingdom says that it plans to complete its evacuations out of Afghanistan “in a matter of hours”.

“We will process those people that we have brought with us, the 1,000 people approximately inside the airfield now,” British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News. “And we will seek a way to continue to find a few people in the crowd, where we can, but overall the main processing has now closed and we have a matter of hours.”

Nearly 14,000 British citizens and Afghans had been rescued as part of the UK evacuations since mid-August, Wallace said, but added: “The sad fact is not every single one will get out.”

1 hour ago (07:06 GMT)

International employers accused of abandoning Afghan staff

Many international NGOs are accused of abandoning their staff as thousands of Afghans try to leave the country.

2 hours ago (06:46 GMT)

Taliban draft in thousands of fighters from provinces: AJ correspondent

Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Kabul, said “the Taliban have drafted in thousands of other fighters from the provinces to try and increase the security around the airport, but there is an increasing sense of fear and trepidation in the city”.

“These attacks are a grave indication of the kind of security challenges that the Taliban will be facing in the months ahead,” he said. “We can only imagine more roadblocks around the airport we are going to see today and even greater tension.”

Relatives transport in a car the coffin of a victim of the August 26 twin 
suicide bombs [Aamir Qureshi/AFP]

2 hours ago (06:44 GMT)

Evacuation flights resume in Kabul after deadly bombings

Evacuation flights from Afghanistan have resumed with new urgency a day after two suicide bombings targeted the thousands of desperate people fleeing the Taliban takeover.

The US says further attempted attacks are expected ahead of the Tuesday deadline for foreign troops to leave, ending America’s longest war.

Kabul residents said several flights took off Friday morning.

2 hours ago (06:19 GMT)

Deadliest days for US troops in Afghanistan

At least 13 United States soldiers are among the 85 people killed in the explosions at Kabul airport, claimed by ISIL (ISIS) affiliate, the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP or ISIS-K).

It was the worst single-day loss for American troops in Afghanistan since the August 2011 attack on a Chinook helicopter that killed 30 service members.

Smoke billows from the airport area after a blast outside the Hamid Karzai 
International Airport [Akhter Gulfam/EPA]

2 hours ago (06:14 GMT)

First group of Afghan refugees arrives in Albania

The Albanian government says that the first group of Afghans evacuated from Afghanistan have arrived in the Albanian capital Tirana.

A civilian airplane of the Egyptian Almasria Universal Airlines was seen landing at the Tirana international airport with men and women, children and elderly people leaving it. Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Xhacka and US Ambassador to Tirana Yuri Kim were present at the airport.

The Afghans were first taken to military tents, where they had a rapid virus test, other medical and psychological assistance and registration before being moved to hotels. The government has said the Afghans may stay at least a year while proceeding with applications for special visas for final settlement in the US.

3 hours ago (04:58 GMT)

72 civilians among 85 killed in Kabul airport carnage

A health official and a Taliban official said the toll of Afghans killed has risen to 72, including 28 Taliban members.

The US military said 13 of its service members have been killed.

4 hours ago (04:31 GMT)

Taliban says 28 of its members killed in airport blasts

At least 28 members of the Taliban are among the people killed in explosions overnight outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, a Taliban official told Reuters news agency.

“We have lost more people than the Americans,” said the official, who declined to be identified. He said there was no reason to extend the August 31 deadline for foreign forces to leave the country.

5 hours ago (03:45 GMT)

Australia says troops pulled out before Kabul blasts

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday his country has already completed its evacuation operations in Afghanistan.

The country pulled out its troops in Kabul just before the bombings on Thursday, after receiving “very clear intelligence” of an impending attack.

“We were able to ensure the departure of the remaining Australian personnel over the course of last night, not that long before the terrible events that unfolded last night took place,” Morrison said at a news conference.

He also said that American and British forces had helped Australia over nine days to evacuate some 4,100 people, including 3,200 Australians and Afghan citizens with Australian visas.

5 hours ago (02:55 GMT)

Norway halts Kabul evacuation

Norway’s Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide has announced that her country can no longer assist in evacuating remaining citizens from Afghanistan’s capital.

“The doors at the airport are now closed and it is no longer possible to get people in,” Soereide said in an interview with TV2.

Norway had earlier agreed to provide airlift support for Afghan evacuees from the Gulf region to follow-on points in Europe, according to a US State Department statement.

7 hours ago (01:36 GMT)

Afghan staff documents left at UK embassy in Kabul: Report

The staff of the United Kingdom’s embassy in Kabul, who hurriedly evacuated following the Taliban takeover on August 15, have left documents with the contact details of Afghans working for them, as well as other identifying information such as job applications of Afghans, according to an exclusive report by The Times newspaper in the UK.

According to the report, the documents were left scattered on the ground at the British embassy compound in Kabul that has been seized by the Taliban.

“Phone calls to the numbers on the documents revealed that some Afghan employees and their families remained stranded on the wrong side of the airport perimeter wall days after their details were left in the dirt in the haste of the embassy’s evacuation on August 15,” the report said.

8 hours ago (00:33 GMT)

US says over 100,000 evacuated since August 14

The US has announced that more than 100,000 people from Afghanistan have been evacuated since August 14, the eve of the Taliban’s return to power.

“Since August 14, the US has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 100,100 people,” the White House said in a statement issued on Thursday hours after a twin blast killed dozens of Afghans and at least 13 US troops, at one of the entrances at Kabul airport.

The Taliban has given the US until August 31 to withdraw its troops and evacuate its citizens as well as Afghans with documents to leave.

9 hours ago (23:27 GMT)

US military’s toll in Kabul bombing rises to 13: Pentagon

The US Defense Department has announced that the number of US troops killed in the blasts at Kabul airport rose by one to 13 and the number of injured was 18.

“A thirteenth US service member has died from his wounds suffered as a result of the attack on Abbey Gate,” Central Command Spokesman Captain Bill Urban said in a statement.

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