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Israel Resumes Talks With Hamas On Truce Agreement

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo)
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Israel Resumes Talks With Hamas On Truce Agreement

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers that he had resumed negotiations with Hamas to reach understandings to calm the situation in the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s Channel 13 quoted two ministers who participated in the cabinet meeting as saying that Netanyahu informed the ministers of resuming negotiations with Hamas through international mediators.

According to the sources, negotiations with Hamas via the Egyptian mediator will focus on three axes that Israel has refrained from implementing since the announcement of the truce understandings at the end of 2018.

Those include enlarging Gaza’s fishing area, easing Israeli restrictions on exports of agricultural products from the sector, and increasing the amount of the Qatari grant to poor families in Gaza.

The two ministers stressed that this comes in an attempt to avoid a security escalation ahead of the upcoming Knesset elections scheduled for April 9.

Netanyahu told the members of the security cabinet that negotiations would only proceed if calm continued along the eastern border of the besieged strip, with the Palestinians preparing to commemorate the first anniversary of the launching of the “Great Marches of Return”, which falls on March 30.

Although some ministers objected to decision by Netanyahu and the security services, none of them asked for a vote on the resolution, the sources said.

The channel quoted one of the ministers as saying that the Israeli premier and the leaders of the security services expressed satisfaction with what he called the Israeli response to the launch of missiles on Tel Aviv with 100 raids on Gaza, and the need to maintain the policy adopted by current government in this regard.

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Arab World

Lebanon: Maronite Patriarchate Leads Campaign to Address Presence of Syrian Refugees

Participants in the meeting that Bkerke called for to discuss the issue of Syrian refugees (Asharq al-Awsat)
Participants in the meeting that Bkerke called for to discuss the issue of Syrian refugees (Asharq al-Awsat)
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Lebanon: Maronite Patriarchate Leads Campaign to Address Presence of Syrian Refugees

Participants in the meeting that Bkerke called for to discuss the issue of Syrian refugees (Asharq al-Awsat)
Participants in the meeting that Bkerke called for to discuss the issue of Syrian refugees (Asharq al-Awsat)

The increasing presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon tops the crisis-hit country’s latest concerns as popular and political moves gain momentum to address the matter impacting its fragile economy.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has called for a parliament session early next week to address the matter and to discuss the EU one billion dollar grant aimed at helping stem flows of irregular migrants. The majority of Lebanon’s parliamentary blocs are expected to attend.
The Maronite Center for Documentation and Research, led by Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al Rahi, held a closed meeting to address the matter.
Several ministers took part including: Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi who represented PM Najib Mikati, Minister of Social Affairs Hektor Hajjar, Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine, Justice Minister Henri Helo, Minister of Education and Higher Education Abbas Halabi, Army Chief Joseph Aoun, in addition to representatives of the security apparatuses and governors.
“You will soon hear about the voluntary return of Syrian refugees back to their homeland”, said Mawlawi before the meeting, assuring that the controversial EU grant has not been approved.
He affirmed that all necessary measures will be taken with the assistance of the country’s municipalities, “we will not accept the presence of illegal Syrians in Lebanon”, he said.
Last week, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen announced $1 billion in aid to Lebanon to help tackle illegal migration, as rights groups warned against forced returns to Syria.
The grant drew criticisms as some considered it a bribe to keep the Syrian refugees on Lebanese soil.
The education minister said he will make sure to raise the situation of Lebanon’s educational sector “mainly the Syrians” during the meeting in Bkerke.
In 2013, the Lebanese government adopted an educational response to the Syrian crisis, enrolling Syrian refugee children in second shifts at public schools to access education.
On Thursday, the Free Patriotic Movement held a popular movement in Downtown Beirut “rejecting external interferences to solve the Syrian displacement crisis on its own soil”. An FPM bloc held talks with several officials and met with Speaker Berri on that matter.
The Lebanese Forces party also held meetings with several officials closely connected to the refugees issue, and met with Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
“Lebanon is not suitable to be a country for refugees”, they stressed.
Similarly, the Progressive Socialist Party has also called for dialogue with the Syrian state to address the matter of refugees.
The recent activity comes one week before the parliamentary session that Berri has called for at the request of Mikati. The PM was largely criticized after the EU grant matter.
Some have considered the EU grant as a “bribe” to keep the Syrian refugees on Lebanese soil.
Unnamed sources have accessed the latest momentum on the refugee crisis and Bkerke’s call for a meeting on the matter, describing it as a “popular mobilization heralding the beginning of a solution”.

Lebanon's economy collapsed in late 2019, turning it into a launchpad for migrants, with Lebanese joining Syrians and Palestinian refugees making perilous Europe-bound voyages.

Lebanon says it currently hosts around two million people from neighboring Syria -- the world's highest number of refugees per capita -- with almost 785,000 registered with the United Nations.

Arab World

Netanyahu Hopes he and Biden Can Overcome Disagreements Over Gaza

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks as he meets with President Joe Biden, Oct. 18, 2023, in Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks as he meets with President Joe Biden, Oct. 18, 2023, in Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
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Netanyahu Hopes he and Biden Can Overcome Disagreements Over Gaza

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks as he meets with President Joe Biden, Oct. 18, 2023, in Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks as he meets with President Joe Biden, Oct. 18, 2023, in Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hopes he and US President Joe Biden can overcome their disagreements over the war in Gaza, after Biden withheld some weapons from Israel.

"We often had our agreements but we've had our disagreements. We've been able to overcome them. I hope we can overcome them now, but we will do what we have to do to protect our country," Netanyahu said in an interview on the "Dr. Phil Primetime" show.

Earlier Thursday, Netanyahu said Israelis are ready to fight with their "fingernails.”

Israel's long-threatened move against the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where it says thousands of Hamas fighters and potentially dozens of the hostages they seized in an Oct. 7 attack are ensconced among more than a million war-displaced Palestinians, began this week with the evacuation of some civilians followed by limited incursions.

The Biden administration has said it cannot support a major Rafah invasion in the absence of what it would deem a credible plan to safeguard non-combatants. Israel has said victory in the seven-month-old conflict is impossible without taking Rafah.
The Netanyahu government had kept silent over reports that Washington was holding back a shipment of aerial bombs - until, on Wednesday, Biden went public with the measure, saying it was part of a US warning to the Israelis not to "go into Rafah.”
"If we must stand alone, we shall stand alone," Netanyahu said without referring specifically to the US announcement.

Arab World

RSF Accused of ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ in Sudan’s Darfur

FILE PHOTO: Sudanese refugees who fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region and newly arrived ride their donkeys looking for space to temporarily settle, near the border between Sudan and Chad in Goungour, Chad May 8, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Sudanese refugees who fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region and newly arrived ride their donkeys looking for space to temporarily settle, near the border between Sudan and Chad in Goungour, Chad May 8, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
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RSF Accused of ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ in Sudan’s Darfur

FILE PHOTO: Sudanese refugees who fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region and newly arrived ride their donkeys looking for space to temporarily settle, near the border between Sudan and Chad in Goungour, Chad May 8, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Sudanese refugees who fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region and newly arrived ride their donkeys looking for space to temporarily settle, near the border between Sudan and Chad in Goungour, Chad May 8, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo

Human Rights Watch on Thursday accused the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan of carrying out ethnic cleansing and killings against the non-Arab Massalit people in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur.

The leading rights group said the attacks indicate that genocide has been or is being committed there.

In the 186-page report, “'The Massalit Will Not Come Home': Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes Against Humanity in El Geneina, West Darfur, Sudan,” HWR documented evidence of the campaign carried out against the Massalit residents in their historic capital, El Geneina.

The rights body documented that the RSF and their allied mainly Arab militias, targeted the predominantly Massalit neighborhoods of El Geneina in relentless waves of attacks from April to June. It showed that abuses escalated again in early November.

“Attacks by the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias in El Geneina, capital of Sudan’s West Darfur state, killed at least thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands as refugees,” the report said.

More than half a million refugees from West Darfur have fled to Chad since April 2023. As of late October 2023, 75 percent were from El Geneina.

The rights body said the serious violations that targeted the Massalit people and other non-Arab communities with the apparent objective of at least having them permanently leave the region, constitutes ethnic cleansing.

Genocide

Tirana Hassan, executive director at HRW said the particular context in which the widespread killings took place also raises the possibility that the RSF and their allies have the intent to destroy in whole or in part the Massalit in at least West Darfur, which would indicate that genocide has been and/or is being committed there.

Therefore, the rights body called for urgent action from all governments and international institutions to protect civilians.

“They should ensure investigation as to whether the facts demonstrate a specific intent on the part of the RSF leadership and its allies to destroy in whole or in part the Massalit and other non-Arab ethnic communities in West Darfur, that is, to commit genocide,” HRW noted.

Also, Hassan said the UN and African Union should urgently impose an arms embargo on Sudan, sanction those responsible for serious crimes and deploy a mission to protect civilians.

The violence in El Geneina began nine days after fighting broke out in Khartoum on April 15, 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, led by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti.

The UN says about 15,000 people are feared to have been killed in El Geneina last year. Also, the crisis left the majority of Sudan's 48 million people facing catastrophic levels of hunger and has driven more than 8.5 million people from their homes.

According to the HRW report, violence culminated in a large-scale massacre on June 15, when the RSF and its allies opened fire on a kilometers-long convoy of civilians desperately trying to flee, escorted by Massalit fighters.

Harrowing Testimony

According to the HRW report, the RSF and allied militias escalated their abuses again in November, targeting Massalit people who had found refuge in the El Geneina suburb of Ardamata, rounding up Massalit men and boys and, according to the UN, killing at least 1,000 people.

A 17-year-old boy described to HRW the killing of 12 children and 5 adults from several families. He said, “Two RSF forces grabbed the children from their parents and, as the parents started screaming, two other RSF forces shot the parents, killing them. Then they piled up the children and shot them. They threw their bodies into the river and their belongings in after them.”

Also, HRW documented the killing of Arab residents and the looting of Arab neighborhoods by Massalit forces in Darfur.

The rights body called on the global community to support the investigations of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure it has the financial resources needed in its regular budget to carry out its mandate in Darfur and across its docket.

Last July, the ICC said it is investigating alleged new war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan's Darfur region.

Arab World

UN to Vote on Resolution to Grant Palestine New Rights, Revive its UN Membership Bid

FILE PHOTO - The United Nations Security Council meets on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, US, March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar
FILE PHOTO - The United Nations Security Council meets on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, US, March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar
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UN to Vote on Resolution to Grant Palestine New Rights, Revive its UN Membership Bid

FILE PHOTO - The United Nations Security Council meets on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, US, March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar
FILE PHOTO - The United Nations Security Council meets on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, US, March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar

The UN General Assembly is expected to vote Friday on a resolution that would grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and call on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.
The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent, and US deputy ambassador Robert Wood made clear Thursday the Biden administration is opposed to the assembly resolution, The Associated Press said.
Under the UN Charter, prospective members of the United Nations must be “peace-loving,” and the Security Council must recommend their admission to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine became a UN non-member observer state in 2012.
“We’ve been very clear from the beginning there is a process for obtaining full membership in the United Nations, and this effort by some of the Arab countries and the Palestinians is to try to go around that,” Wood said Thursday. “We have said from the beginning the best way to ensure Palestinian full membership in the UN is to do that through negotiations with Israel. That remains our position.”
But unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the 193-member General Assembly and the resolution is expected to be approved by a large majority, according to three Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations were private.
The draft resolution “determines” that a state of Palestine is qualified for membership – dropping the original language that in the General Assembly’s judgment it is “a peace-loving state.” It therefore recommends that the Security Council reconsider its request “favorably.”
The renewed push for full Palestinian membership in the UN comes as the war in Gaza has put the more than 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict at center stage. At numerous council and assembly meetings, the humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians in Gaza and the killing of more than 34,000 people in the territory, according to Gaza health officials, have generated outrage from many countries.
The original draft of the assembly resolution was changed significantly to address concerns not only by the US but also by Russia and China, the diplomats said.
The first draft would have conferred on Palestine “the rights and privileges necessary to ensure its full and effective participation” in the assembly’s sessions and UN conferences “on equal footing with member states.” It also made no reference to whether Palestine could vote in the General Assembly.
According to the diplomats, Russia and China, which are strong supporters of Palestine’s UN membership were concerned that granting the list of rights and privileges detailed in an annex to the resolution could set a precedent for other would-be UN members — with Russia concerned about Kosovo and China about Taiwan.
Under longstanding legislation by the US Congress, the United States is required to cut off funding to UN agencies that give full membership to a Palestinian state – which could mean a cutoff in dues and voluntary contributions to the UN from its largest contributor.
The final draft drops the language that would put Palestine “on equal footing with member states.” And to address Chinese and Russian concerns, it would decide “on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent” to adopt the rights and privileges in the annex.
The draft also adds a provision in the annex on the issue of voting, stating categorically: “The state of Palestine, in its capacity as an observer state, does not have the right to vote in the General Assembly or to put forward its candidature to United Nations organs.”
The final list of rights and privileges in the draft annex includes giving Palestine the right to speak on all issues not just those related to the Palestinians and Middle East, the right to propose agenda items and reply in debates, and the right to be elected as officers in the assembly’s main committees. It would give the Palestinians the right to participate in UN and international conferences convened by the United Nations — but it drops their “right to vote” which was in the original draft.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas first delivered the Palestinian Authority’s application for UN membership in 2011. It failed because the Palestinians didn’t get the required minimum support of nine of the Security Council’s 15 members.
They went to the General Assembly and succeeded by more than a two-thirds majority in having their status raised from a UN observer to a non-member observer state. That opened the door for the Palestinian territories to join UN and other international organizations, including the International Criminal Court.
In the Security Council vote on April 18, the Palestinians got much more support for full UN membership. The vote was 12 in favor, the United Kingdom and Switzerland abstaining, and the United States voting no and vetoing the resolution.

Arab World

Half of Gaza Water Sites Damaged or Destroyed

Photo by Planet Labs
Photo by Planet Labs
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Half of Gaza Water Sites Damaged or Destroyed

Photo by Planet Labs
Photo by Planet Labs

Hundreds of Gaza's water and sanitation facilities have been damaged or destroyed since Israel began military action against Hamas, satellite analysis by BBC Verify has found.

Damage to a major supplies depot has also severely disrupted repairs.

The lack of clean water and flows of untreated sewage pose a serious threat to health, say aid agencies.

The destruction comes despite Israel's duty to protect critical infrastructure under the rules of war, unless there is evidence sites are being used for military reasons, say human rights lawyers.

Clean water has always been a limited resource in Gaza and the territory has largely relied on a system of boreholes and desalination plants for its supply.

BBC said in its report found that more than half of these vital facilities have been damaged or destroyed since Israel launched its retaliation in Gaza after Hamas attacked on 7 October.

It also said that four of the six wastewater treatment plants - crucial to preventing the build-up of sewage and the spread of disease - have been damaged or destroyed. The two others have shut down because lack of fuel or other supplies, according to one aid agency.

The plants were among more than 600 water and sanitation facilities that we analysed, using a list of locations provided by Gaza's Coastal

In one satellite image, of Khan Younis in the south of Gaza, two damaged large water storage tanks can be seen.

The destruction of water and sanitation facilities has led to "disastrous health consequences for the population", said Dr Natalie Roberts, executive director of Medecins Sans Frontieres UK.

"The rates of diarrhoeal disease have gone catastrophically high," she said.

In very severe cases, such disease can kill young children and the vulnerable. Rates of hepatitis A - found in contaminated water and particularly dangerous for pregnant women - are also high, according to the charity.

"This is killing people," Dr Roberts said.

There is a particular spike in disease in Rafah in the south where many Gazans have fled to, Dr Roberts said, and a risk of cholera.

There has been widespread damage to buildings across Gaza since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October.
According to the UN, about 69,000 housing units have been destroyed and a further 290,000 damaged.

 

 

Arab World

Netanyahu Says Israel 'Will Stand Alone' if it Has to

FILED - 18 October 2023, Israel, Tel Aviv: US President Joe Biden (L) comforts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a joint press conference. Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO/dpa
FILED - 18 October 2023, Israel, Tel Aviv: US President Joe Biden (L) comforts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a joint press conference. Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO/dpa
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Netanyahu Says Israel 'Will Stand Alone' if it Has to

FILED - 18 October 2023, Israel, Tel Aviv: US President Joe Biden (L) comforts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a joint press conference. Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO/dpa
FILED - 18 October 2023, Israel, Tel Aviv: US President Joe Biden (L) comforts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a joint press conference. Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO/dpa

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will “stand alone” if it has to in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

His remarks in a statement issued Thursday came after President Joe Biden said the United States would not provide offensive weapons for Israel’s long-promised assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Netanyahu said: “If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone. If we need to, we will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than fingernails.”

The US is making its sharpest moves yet to influence the decision-making of its ally in the ongoing war against Hamas.

“Our view is any kind of major Rafah ground operation would actually strengthen Hamas' hands at the negotiating table, not Israel’s,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Thursday. He said more civilian deaths in Rafah from an Israeli offensive would give more ammunition to Hamas' “twisted narrative” about Israel.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also said on Thursday that the United States believes a major military operation in Rafah would weaken Israel's position in hostage talks with Hamas.

Washington continues to engage with Israel on amendments to a ceasefire proposal submitted by Hamas, Miller said, adding work was ongoing to finalize the text of an agreement but that work was "incredibly difficult."

But Israel's military spokesman said the army has the weapons it needs to press ahead with its offensive in Rafah.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari was asked at a news conference whether the army can conduct the operation without US arms.

“The army has armaments for the missions it plans, and for the missions in Rafah too -- we have what we need,” Hagari said.

Arab World

Slovenia to Recognize Palestinian State by Mid-June

Displaced Palestinians rest as they set up their tent after returning to Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 9, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Displaced Palestinians rest as they set up their tent after returning to Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 9, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
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Slovenia to Recognize Palestinian State by Mid-June

Displaced Palestinians rest as they set up their tent after returning to Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 9, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Displaced Palestinians rest as they set up their tent after returning to Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 9, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

The Slovenian government on Thursday initiated the procedure for the recognition of a Palestinian state as a form of leverage to end the conflict in Gaza, a move it announced in March, Prime Minister Robert Golob said.
"The horrors we see every day in Gaza are inadmissible and must stop," Golob was quoted as saying on the government X platform. "I call on Israel to put an immediate end to its attacks on Gaza and to use the negotiating table."
Golob said he would like his country´s recognition to be "an incentive for these negotiations to proceed more quickly" and speed up the dialogue in the United Nations on an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages and the security and existence of Israel through a two-state solution.
The announcement came as Ireland, Spain and a number of other European Union member states are reportedly considering recognizing a Palestinian state on May 21, according to a report by Ireland's national broadcaster.
The date of Slovenia's recognition will depend on the success of the progress in peace talks, with June 13 at the latest, Golob said. If progress is accelerated, Slovenia will complete the recognition procedure faster, Reuters reported.
He said the decision to initiate the recognition procedures contained expectations for all those involved in the conflict - the progress in peace talks, release of hostages and in the reform of the Palestinian Authority.
The ruling coalition agreed unanimously on this decision, Golob said, expressing hope that the recognition would inspire other countries to follow in Slovenia´s steps.
Spain, Ireland, Malta and Slovenia said in March they had agreed to take the first steps towards recognizing a Palestinian state. The countries reportedly have been waiting for a vote by the United Nations General Assembly on May 10 which could lead to the recognition of the Palestinians as qualified for full UN membership.
Since 1988, 139 out of 193 UN member states have recognized Palestinian statehood.
Israel has said that the four countries' plan constituted a "prize for terrorism" that would reduce the chances of a negotiated resolution to the Gaza conflict.

Arab World

First Shipment of Humanitarian Aid Leaves for US-built Floating Pier off Gaza

A view of the open arms ship and the container ship Sagamore, right, docked at Larnaca port, Cyprus, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, where food heading to Gaza is being loaded for eventual delivery. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
A view of the open arms ship and the container ship Sagamore, right, docked at Larnaca port, Cyprus, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, where food heading to Gaza is being loaded for eventual delivery. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
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First Shipment of Humanitarian Aid Leaves for US-built Floating Pier off Gaza

A view of the open arms ship and the container ship Sagamore, right, docked at Larnaca port, Cyprus, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, where food heading to Gaza is being loaded for eventual delivery. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
A view of the open arms ship and the container ship Sagamore, right, docked at Larnaca port, Cyprus, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, where food heading to Gaza is being loaded for eventual delivery. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

The first shipment of humanitarian aid to a newly built US-built floating pier off Gaza has left a port in Cyprus.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos says the US vessel departed from Larnaca port with the aim of transferring as much badly needed aid to Gaza by sea as possible.

US President Joe Biden gave an order about two months ago to build the large floating platform several miles (kilometers) off the Gaza coast.

The World Health Organization says shortages of fuel for its medical operations in southern Gaza have already forced one of three remaining hospitals in the city of Rafah to shut down.

The Rafah border crossing with Egypt has been closed since Israel's military took control of the Palestinian side early Tuesday, blocking the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid. The UN says northern Gaza is already in a state of "full-blown famine."

The war in Gaza has driven around 80% of the territory's population of 2.3 million from their homes and caused vast destruction to apartments, hospitals, mosques and schools across several cities. The death toll in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials.

Arab World

Israeli Forces Mass on Rafah’s Outskirts amid Empty Streets, Fear

Israeli soldiers gather on the border with the Gaza Strip (AP)
Israeli soldiers gather on the border with the Gaza Strip (AP)
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Israeli Forces Mass on Rafah’s Outskirts amid Empty Streets, Fear

Israeli soldiers gather on the border with the Gaza Strip (AP)
Israeli soldiers gather on the border with the Gaza Strip (AP)

Israeli forces massed tanks and opened fire close to built-up areas of Rafah on Thursday, residents said, after US President Joe Biden vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces launch a major invasion of the southern Gaza city.

Residents and medics in Rafah, the only major urban area in Gaza not yet invaded by Israeli ground forces, said Israeli tank fire killed three people and wounded others near a mosque in the eastern neighbourhood of Brazil.

On the city's eastern edge, residents said a helicopter opened fire, while drones hovered above houses in several areas, some close to rooftops.

Meanwhile, displaced Gazan Marwan al-Masri, sheltering in Rafah, said "life has completely ceased" since Israeli tanks and troops entered the city's east, sending desperate Palestinians fleeing north in the besieged territory.

More than 1.4 million people had crammed into Rafah as Israeli forces pushed their way southward from the coastal territory's north during months of war against Hamas militants.

Many in Rafah have been displaced multiple times during the seven-month war, and are now heading back north after Israeli forces called for the evacuation of the city's eastern past, which hosts tens of thousands of people.
"The streets are empty of people, and markets are in a state of paralysis", he told AFP.

"We all feel fear of any advancement in the invasion, as happened in the eastern areas, which are now completely empty of residents".

Masri said he and his relatives "are all tense and frightened" by the incessant shelling that they feel is getting closer to them.

Ibtihal al-Arouqi, who was displaced from Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, said she has found herself once again homeless.

"We emerged from under the rubble of our house in Al-Bureij, and now due to intense shelling in Rafah, my children and I are in the street", she said.

The 39-year-old said that only two weeks ago she gave birth by Caesarean section.

"We don't know where to go. There is no safe place", Arouqi added.

Meanwhile, CIA Director William Burns, back in the Egyptian capital after talks in Jerusalem, resumed meetings on Thursday with mediators trying to secure a ceasefire, two Egyptian security sources said.

Biden, who says Israel has not produced a convincing plan to safeguard civilians in Rafah, issued his starkest warning yet against a full ground invasion.

"I made it clear that if they go into Rafah, ... I'm not supplying the weapons," Biden told CNN in an interview on Wednesday.

The United States is by far the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel, and it accelerated deliveries after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 that triggered Israel's offensive in Gaza.

Israel's United Nations ambassador Gilad Erdan said the US decision to pause some weapons deliveries to Israel will significantly impair the country's ability to neutraliezHamas' power, according to Israeli public radio.

Israel kept up tank and aerial strikes across Gaza on Thursday, however. Tanks advanced in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City in the north, forcing hundreds of families to flee, residents said. The Israeli military said it was securing Zeitoun, starting with a series of intelligence-based aerial strikes on approximately 25 "terror targets".

Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza was heaving with thousands of people who had fled Rafah in recent days. Palestinian medics said two people, including a woman, were killed when a drone fired a missile at a group of people there.

 

Arab World

Preparations to Operate Int'l Flights from Eastern Yemen Begin

A Yemeni Airlines flight lands at Al-Ghaydah International Airport coming from Al-Rayyan Airport in Mukalla. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A Yemeni Airlines flight lands at Al-Ghaydah International Airport coming from Al-Rayyan Airport in Mukalla. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Preparations to Operate Int'l Flights from Eastern Yemen Begin

A Yemeni Airlines flight lands at Al-Ghaydah International Airport coming from Al-Rayyan Airport in Mukalla. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A Yemeni Airlines flight lands at Al-Ghaydah International Airport coming from Al-Rayyan Airport in Mukalla. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

A delegation from the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority visited Al-Ghaydah International Airport in Al-Mahra Governorate (eastern Yemen), in preparation for the launching of international flights to and from the airport, including trips for Yemeni pilgrims for this year’s Hajj season.
Flights were resumed in July 2023 when the Saudi Reconstruction Development Program for Yemen completed the rehabilitation of the airport, raising its efficiency and improving the quality of services provided to travelers and airlines, in accordance with the requirements of international navigation systems.
The project includes rehabilitating the airport buildings and units, equipping them with navigation (R-NAV) and communications systems that comply with International Civil Aviation Organization specifications, renovating the waiting, departure and inspection halls, and completing works for the fire, rescue and water unit at the airport, in addition to providing integrated lighting for the airport fence.
The project also provides many job and investment opportunities for residents, in addition to offering the necessary training and qualification for Yemeni cadres on the latest airport technologies, such as communications systems and modern fire fighting vehicles.
The Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction of Yemen attaches great importance to the transportation sector as one of the important tributaries of Yemen’s economy. Projects in the transportation sector include the rehabilitation of airports, mainly the Aden International Airport, whose first and second phases were launched, with the aim to improve the quality of services provided to passengers and operating airlines.
The Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction of Yemen provided more than 229 service development projects and initiatives in various Yemeni regions in 7 basic sectors, including education, health, water, energy, and transportation, in addition to agriculture and fisheries.