The roughly 1.5 million Gazans in the territory's southernmost tip have the Mediterranean Sea to their west and sealed borders to the south and east, while Israeli forces are poised to push in from the north.
"Where will we go if they enter Rafah, and where will we get a tent, mattress and blankets?" said Sabah al-Astal, 50, already displaced inside Gaza by Israel's military onslaught.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted on sending troops into Rafah to "root out" Hamas in the area that borders Egypt and Israel.
But Netanyahu has also said Tel Aviv will enable Gazans to leave, saying Sunday that his troops would not move in "while keeping the population locked in place".
Israel, though, remains vague regarding how or when this massive evacuation would take place, a challenge that aid experts consider impossible in the devastated territory.
"People don't know where to go. There's nowhere safe in Gaza," said Nadia Hardman, an expert on refugees at Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Israel has carried out a relentless bombing campaign and ground offensive since October 7t, killing at least 31,726 people, most of them women and children.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz remained evasive Monday, telling Kan public radio that "before any massive operation, we will evacuate citizens".
"Not to the north, but to the west. There are Arab countries that can help by setting up tents, or something else" in the tiny area between Rafah and the Mediterranean, he added.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, Israel's military spokesman, told the press last week about the establishment of "humanitarian islands".
Such tent cities on Gaza's territory would be "spared" Israel's onslaught and created with the international community, Hagari said.
But UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Jamie McGoldrick, said: "I honestly don't know where they are supposedly being established."
"How will they move people from wherever they are now? Will they be pushed, forced, encouraged?" he asked.
"That's not something the UN will participate in because we're not a part of any forced displacement."
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, on a visit to Israel on Sunday, voiced concern over the planned Israeli offensive.
"The military logic is one consideration, but there is a humanitarian logic as well," he said.
"How should more than 1.5 million people be protected? Where should they go?"
Netanyahu has agreed to US President Joe Biden's request to send a delegation of senior Israeli officials to Washington to discuss Israel's Rafah plans and a possible "alternative approach", the White House said Monday.
HRW's Hardman was categorical: Moving "1.5 million people in an area that is already devastated" is "absolutely impossible", she said.
Israel has declared certain areas protected humanitarian spaces, notably in Al-Mawasi, a coastal area in the south of the territory between south Gaza's main city of Khan Younis and Rafah.
But hundreds of thousands of people are already sheltering in tents there, and the area has been bombed several times since the war began more than five months ago.
Netanyahu has doubled down on plans for a Rafah offensive, announced more than a month ago, despite growing international pressure.
However, according to David Khalfa, Middle East specialist at the Jean-Jaures Foundation, the threat also involves psychological warfare.
"The Israelis maintain a strategic vagueness around their plans because they do not want to devalue their cards in order to keep Hamas in uncertainty," he said.
Khalfa called the threat of a major offensive in Rafah "a card in a game of liar's poker" with Hamas, a means to force the group to soften their positions in ongoing truce negotiations.
]]> ]]>Video footage has been circulated on social media showing a burning vehicle at Ras Jdir, accompanied by the sound of shooting and people running.
The interior ministry of the government of national unity in Tripoli was not immediately available for comment.
The ministry said on Sunday that it had deployed law enforcement to take control of the crossing to “combat smuggling and control security violations in order to maintain security and manage the movement of passengers between Libya and Tunisia”.
Tunisian Tataouine Radio said that Tunisia closed the crossing to preserve the safety of citizens going to Libya. Stranded people from the Libyan side were allowed to enter before the crossing closed.
Libya has had little peace since a 2011 uprising, and it split in 2014 between eastern and western factions, with rival administrations governing each area.
]]> ]]>When asked if Russell was referring to the agency's own estimate or was basing the figure on reporting from authorities in Gaza, a UNICEF spokesperson pointed to a press statement by the UN children's agency that attributed the figure to Gaza's health ministry.
Israel has waged a deadly war in the enclave, killing close to 32,000 people, mostly women an children. Tel Aviv's atrocities - including the imposing of a blockade in the Gaza Strip have been described as genocide-like.
"Thousands more have been injured or we can't even determine where they are. They may be stuck under rubble ... We haven't seen that rate of death among children in almost any other conflict in the world," Russell told CBS News' "Face the Nation" programme.
"I've been in wards of children who are suffering from severe anemia malnutrition, the whole ward is absolutely quiet. Because the children, the babies don't even have the energy to cry."
Russell said there were "very great bureaucratic challenges" moving trucks into Gaza for aid and assistance.
A March 14 infographic from OCHA, the UN humanitarian office, cites the Gaza government media office as saying that over 13,000 children and at least 9,000 women have been killed in Gaza since October 7.
International criticism has mounted on Israel due to the death toll of the war, the starvation crisis in Gaza, and the blocking of aid deliveries into the enclave.
A UN expert said earlier this month that Israel was destroying Gaza's food system as part of a broader "starvation campaign."
Israel's military assault on Gaza has displaced nearly its entire 2.3 million-person population, caused a starvation crisis and has flattened most of the enclave.
One in three children under age 2 in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished and famine is looming, the main UN agency operating in the Palestinian enclave said on Saturday.
]]> ]]>The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said it would not take part in the June 10 vote following a February ruling by the Federal Supreme Court to amend the electoral law.
That decision reduced the number of seats in the Kurdish parliament from 111 to 100, effectively eliminating a quota reserved for Turkmen, Armenian and Christian minorities.
It also ruled that the Iraqi Electoral Commission should oversee the vote instead of local committees.
"We believe that it is in the interest of our people for our party not to comply with an unconstitutional decision and a system imposed from the outside," the KDP said in a statement.
The KDP will not take part in a vote "imposed" by the court that "violates the law and the constitution", it added.
The KDP is the largest party in the outgoing Kurdish parliament with 45 seats.
It is followed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) which has 21 seats and enjoys friendlier ties with the federal government in Baghdad.
Under a tacit agreement between the two parties, a PUK member holds the Iraqi presidency, which is reserved for a Kurd, while the president of the Kurdish region is selected from the KDP.
A boycott of local polls by the KDP might further delay the election which had been originally slated to take place on October 22.
Last week, Christian and Turkmen political parties also announced plans to boycott the vote.
The United States, a key supporter of Iraqi Kurdistan, said it was "concerned" by the KDP decision and called for "full participation in free, fair, transparent and credible elections" .
"We also understand many of the concerns raised by Iraqi Kurds with respect to recent decisions made by the federal institutions," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters in Washington.
But he added, "we don't think that boycotting these elections will serve the interests" of Kurds or Iraqis more broadly.
The Kurdistan region has been autonomous since 1991.
Relations with Baghdad have long been tense mainly over funds allocated by federal authorities to the Kurdistan region and revenues from its large oil wealth.
]]> ]]>Italy has charged four Egyptian security agents with kidnapping and killing Giulio Regeni, a postgraduate student at Britain's Cambridge University, in Cairo in 2016.
The four men are being tried in absentia and have never responded publicly to the accusations. The Egyptian authorities have repeatedly denied any state involvement in Regeni's disappearance and death.
"The overall picture that has emerged is that of a web that slowly, between September 2015 and 25 January 2016, was tightened around Regeni by the defendants," prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco said, addressing the second hearing of the trial.
Regeni had been in Cairo to research Egypt's independent unions for his doctoral thesis, a sensitive issue in Cairo, and had struck up friendships with people who were secretly reporting back to the local security forces.
"Because of this activity, the defendants were erroneously convinced that Regeni was an English spy, sent to give financing to unions close to the Muslim Brotherhood," Colaiocco said.
The prosecutor said Regeni suffered "horrendous torture" over the period of a week and was then deliberately killed, adding that details of his suffering would be revealed in a subsequent session.
In all, the prosecution wants to call 73 witnesses, including 27 who live in Egypt. Colaiocco acknowledged that Italy would need the cooperation of the Egyptian police to serve papers on this group telling them that they had to appear.
It was not clear if the prosecution case would be fatally undermined if Egyptian witnesses did not testify.
Italian and Egyptian prosecutors initially investigated the case together, but came to different conclusions, with Egypt blaming the killing on a group of gangsters after initially suggesting he had died in a road accident or in a sex attack.
The case has strained diplomatic ties between Italy and Egypt, but in a sign that relations are returning to normal, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni travelled to Cairo on Sunday as part of a European delegation that signed a multi-billion-euro "strategic partnership" with Egypt.
Italy's main centre-left opposition party, the Democratic Party (PD) denounced the visit. "We would not strike deals with regimes like the one in Egypt that for years has been shielding the killers of Giulio Regeni, PD leader Elly Schlein said.
]]> ]]>In a social media post shared to his X (Twitter) and Instagram accounts, Azaiza wrote: "Those who turn a blind eye to the suffering and struggles of their own people should matter nought to us. Cursed be those who profit from our blood, scorch our hearts and homes, and wreck our lives."
Although Azaiza's post does not mention Hamas or any Palestinian militants, many Palestinians chose to construe it as an 'untimely' criticism of Hamas, the Palestinian faction leading the defence of Gaza against Israel's onslaught since October 7.
Indicative of the mass trauma and anger felt due to the war, Palestinians even accused him of 'selling out' and supporting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, seen as a collaborator largely silent on the genocide in Gaza.
According to a Lebanese newspaper report, Azaiza later qualified his comments to mean war profiteers who are gauging prices of basic foodstuffs in Gaza amid a near famine situation caused by Israel's weaponisation of starvation in the besieged and occupied Gaza Strip.
Azaiza also posted in English, accusing his critics of 'ignorance' and vowing to continue his struggle against "Zionist propaganda" despite his detractors.
Last week, Azaiza said Meta had suspended his Facebook account although his Instagram page remains active.
Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly civilian women and children, following Hamas' attack on southern Israel that killed up to 1,200 Israelis, including hundreds of civilians.
Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza evacuated from Gaza in January, after surviving 108 days of Israeli military onslaught on the territory.
The 25-year-old had documented the destruction wreaked upon his home city since the beginning of Israel’s latest war on Gaza in October, gathering millions of followers on Instagram along other citizen-journalists. Very few journalists now remain amid probable Israeli targeting of reporters and denial of access to Gaza to the international press.
He evacuated first to Qatar via Egypt. In late February, he travelled to Turkey to pick up a media prize, but admitted he could “feel no happiness” for the award due to the trauma of Israel’s continued war on Gaza.
He is scheduled to appear in his first ever live event in the United States on Friday hosted by Harvard University.
]]> ]]>Half of Gazans are experiencing "catastrophic" hunger, with famine projected to hit the north of the territory by May unless there is urgent intervention, a United Nations-backed food security assessment warned Monday.
"People in Gaza are starving to death right now. The speed at which this man-made hunger and malnutrition crisis has ripped through Gaza is terrifying," said Cindy McCain, head of the UN's World Food Programme (WFP).
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) partnership on Monday estimated that 1.1 million people - half the population of Gaza, on UN estimates - were facing catastrophic conditions.
"To have 50 percent of an entire population in catastrophic, near-famine levels, is unprecedented," Beth Bechdol, deputy director general of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told AFP.
The WFP confirmed this was the "highest number of people ever recorded as facing catastrophic hunger" under the IPC system, originally developed in 2004.
The situation is particularly dire in the north of the besieged Palestinian territory, where the UN says there are about 300,000 people, with aid agencies reporting huge difficulties in gaining access.
"Famine is imminent in the northern governorates and projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May 2024," said the IPC, made up of UN agencies, NGOs and regional bodies.
Martin Griffiths, the UN's humanitarian chief, said there was "no time to lose", calling for Israel to allow unfettered access for aid.
"The international community should hang its head in shame for failing to stop this," he said.
The bloodiest-ever Gaza war broke out after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October that killed 1,200 people according to Israeli figures.
Israel responded with a relentless and indiscriminate bombing campaign and ground offensive in the Palestinian territory that has so far killed at least 31,726 people according to Gaza's health authorities.
The UN has warned for weeks of the risk of famine in Gaza.
The IPC said Monday that while the technical criteria for famine had not yet been met, "all evidence points towards a major acceleration of deaths and malnutrition".
"Waiting for a retrospective famine classification before acting is indefensible," it said.
"Hunger is a slow and painful death," said Hiba Tibi, country director for the CARE international aid group, who reported aid workers seeing children "who can barely talk and walk" for lack of food.
A famine is declared when 20 percent of households face an extreme food shortage - which is the case in Gaza, the UN says.
Other criteria are that one in three children are acutely malnourished, and that at least two in every 10,000 people die every day of starvation or malnutrition.
According to the WFP, "one in three children below the age of two is now acutely malnourished, or 'wasted'", meaning they are dangerously thin.
Arif Husain, WFP's chief economist, warned that meeting the final criteria for declaring a famine - the mortality rate - would "happen any time from now until the end of May".
Bechdol, of the FAO, said that challenges of data collection and analysis meant it was "possible that famine is already occurring in the north".
Gazans are "turning to alternative sources" for food, including animal feed and "inedible items, purely out of desperation", she told AFP.
Donors have turned to deliveries by air or sea, but air and sea missions are not viable alternatives to land deliveries, UN agencies say.
Aid charity Oxfam on Monday accused Israel of continuing to "systematically and deliberately block and undermine" the delivery of aid into Gaza, in violation of international humanitarian law.
WFP said meeting basic food needs would require at least 300 trucks to enter Gaza every day, especially in the north.
The agency has managed to get only nine convoys into the north since January, the latest on Sunday night involving 18 truckloads of food supplies delivered to Gaza City.
"The convoy, the second to use a coordinated route into Gaza City and the north, delivered some 274 metric tons of wheat flour, food parcels and ready-to-eat rations," the WFP said.
"This route needs to be made available for daily convoys and safe access to the north," it said.
The WFP's Husain said: "Our hope is we can still avert a full-fledged famine. But the window is shutting and it is shutting very, very fast."
]]> ]]>“There’s no doubt that the claim that Prime Minister Netanyahu and others are making, that somehow UNRWA is a proxy for Hamas, are just flat-out lies,” Van Hollen, a Democrat, said in an interview with CBS News on Sunday.
Van Hollen accused Netanyahu of fabricating claims in order to eliminate the agency, which provides essential services to nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees around the Middle East. "Netanyahu has wanted to get rid of UNRWA since at least 2017. That’s been his goal," Van Hollen stated.
On January 26, the Israeli army accused 12 UNRWA staff of participating in the Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, which killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and led to the capture of 240 hostages.
The timing of the accusations coincided with a verdict by the International Court of Justice that found a "real and imminent threat" of genocide carried out by the Israeli army in Gaza. Israel's indiscriminate military campaign against the territory has killed over 30,000 people and destroyed entire towns and residential areas.
In previous years, UNRWA had faced multiple Israeli or US-led smear campaigns to delegitimise its work in Gaza, although the agency abides by strict vetting procedures to comply with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism requirements set by its donors.
In the wake of Israel's accusations, UNRWA immediately terminated some staff's contracts and opened an investigation, but over a dozen countries (including the United States) halted funding to the agency, which employs 12,000 people in Gaza alone.
UNRWA effectively lost around $440 million of its annual funding, around one-third of which stems from Washington (valued at $344 million).
The defunding was widely condemned by UN officials and human rights organizations around the world as a form of collective punishment.
"We should investigate [these claims], we should hold all those people accountable," Van Hollen continued. "But … let’s not hold 2 million innocent Palestinian civilians who are dying of starvation (...) accountable for the bad acts of 14 people," he added, echoing concerns that Israel was weaponizing the claims to shut down one of Gaza's last remaining lifelines.
The Israeli army repeatedly failed to provide sufficient evidence to back its claims. Inconsistencies also appeared early on in Israel's narrative, with documents shared with Sky News by Israel naming 6 rather than 12 staff as allegedly involved in the attacks.
Several donor countries who initially suspended their assistance to UNRWA, like Australia and Canada resumed funding to the agency earlier this month.
However, a great deal of harm has been done.
Over the past months, UNRWA's lack of funds has prompted concerns within Gaza over its ability to manage the humanitarian crisis and sustain its other operations across the Middle East.
Amid the chaos, UNRWA chief Phillipe Lazzarini has been scrambling to fill the current gap in funding for the agency, with some Arab state donors outlining plans to step up to fill the gap.
]]> ]]>On the eve of the holiday, The Irish Times published a powerfully-worded essay by screenwriter and author Sally Rooney, who accused her government of doing too little for Gaza.
"What is taking place in Palestine now is one of the most profound and shocking moral catastrophes of our time," Rooney wrote in the opening paragraph of her piece, which was titled 'Killing in Gaza has been supported by Ireland’s ‘good friend’ in the White House'.
She added: "With no end in sight, the United States continues to pump money and weapons into Israel to prolong the onslaught."
The essay criticised the Irish government, led by Leo Varadkar, for maintaining good relations with the US despite its continued military support for Israel.
"Our Government can bask in the moral glow of condemning the bombers, while preserving a cosy relationship with those supplying the bombs," Rooney wrote, denouncing Varadkar's decision to visit US president Joe Biden the following day.
Rooney's article appeared amid massive shows of solidarity for Palestine across Ireland and the Irish diaspora, for St. Patrick's Day.
Calls for a ceasefire in Gaza were on full display at the St Patrick's Day parade in New York City, where participants displayed banners with Palestinian and Irish flags that read "Occupation is a crime from Ireland to Palestine."
Gaza was also front and centre at St Patrick's Day rallies in Ireland.
Social media users #posted photos and slogans "for a free Palestine" alongside pictures of Irish flags.
Videos shared on social media also showed protesters carrying Palestinian flags and banners and denouncing Israel's war in Gaza at demonstrations across the country.
People of Cork in Ireland marched through the city's streets to demand an end to the Israeli genocide in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/ha5Efuo7Q3
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) March 17, 2024
Ireland is one of the most vocal supporters of Palestine in Europe, and Dublin has repeatedly condemned Israel's indiscriminate war on Gaza, which has killed over 31,000 Palestinians to date - most of them women and children.
The roots behind this widespread political support among Irish communities are historical.
Ireland was never a colonial power in the Middle East and many Irish activists have likened Israel's current occupation of Palestine to Britain's historical occupation of Ireland, which ended in 1922 following a long drawn-out independence struggle.
Rooney is a longtime supporter of the Palestinian cause. In 2021, she rejected a translation offer from an Israeli publishing house in order to support the Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) movement . She previously spoke out numerous times against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and blockade of Gaza.
]]> ]]>Speaking in the Senate, Schumer - known as a staunch supporter of Israel - slammed Netanyahu as a "major obstacle" to peace.
Netanyahu hit back in an interview with CNN on Sunday. "We're not a banana republic," Netanyahu told CNN's "State of the Union" show.
"I think the only government that we should be working on to bring down now is the terrorist tyranny in Gaza, the Hamas tyranny that murdered over a thousand Israelis," he added.
The Israeli premier continued to insist that Israel will pursue the war as it wills. Over 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children have been killed in Israel's brutal and indiscriminate military campaign and the territory has been completely devastated, with hospitals, schools, and residential areas destroyed.
Schumer's remarks reflected growing pressure on US President Joe Biden to take a harder line with Israel over its conduct in Gaza.
Last week, eight US senators signed a letter urging President Biden to stop military assistance to Israel over its restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
The letter warned the Biden administration that Israel is violating the Foreign Assistance Act by prohibiting or restricting the entry of US humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying that this should prompt Washington into halting arms sales to its longtime ally, The Guardian reported.
Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen said the Biden administration needs to "push harder and to use all the levers of US policy" to guarantee that "people don’t die of starvation" in the enclave.
"The very fact that the United States is airlifting humanitarian supplies and is now going to be opening a temporary port is a symptom of the larger problem, which is [that] the Netanyahu government has restricted the amount of aid coming into Gaza and the safe distribution of aid within Gaza," he said.
Vice-President Kamala Harris recently called for "an immediate ceasefire" in the Palestinian territory.
The US however has staunchly stood by Israel throughout the war, and has provided at least $1 billion in military aid since October.
US officials have said that they are concerned over the civilian death toll but have given no indication that arms shipments to Israel will cease.
Last week, US officials denied claims that Washington had begun to slow down shipments to Israel in an apparent attempt to exert influence.
An unnamed senior official who spoke to ABC News said that arms shipments were arriving at a slower place than at the beginning of the assault in October. The official added that the Israeli army is in need of 155 mm artillery shells and 120 mm tanks shells, as well as guidance equipment.
Several senior US officials, including White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby, denied that military aid to Tel Aviv had been slowed.
"I'm not gonna get into the timeline for every individual system that's being provided," Kirby told ABC News. "We continue to support Israel with their self-defence needs. That's not going to change, and we have been very, very direct about that."
]]> ]]>
A new pair of shoes was added every 10 minutes while the children's names were read out over loudspeaker, showing the frequency with which children are being killed in Gaza.
At the end of the event, the whole square was filled with children's shoes.
Netherlands-based foundation 'Plant an Olive Tree' (Plant een Oliifboom) organised the event, saying that Palestinian children in Gaza are not only being killed by bombs and shells, but dying from starvation and dehydration due to the blockade on Gaza and a security breakdown.
"On average, another Palestinian child dies every 10 minutes" the foundation stated.
The UN said last week that over 12,300 children had died between October and February in the Gaza Strip.
UNICEF reported on Friday that the number of children under two years old suffering from acute malnutrition in the northern Gaza Strip had doubled within one month.
According to the UN body, 23 children have died in Gaza due to malnutrition and dehydration in recent weeks.
]]> ]]>Days after securing his position as the presumptive Republican nominee, the former president also warned of a "bloodbath" if he is not elected - though it was not clear what he was referring to, with the remark coming in the middle of comments about threats to the US auto industry.
"The date - remember this, November 5 - I believe it's going to be the most important date in the history of our country," the 77-year-old told rally-goers in Vandalia, Ohio, repeating well-worn criticisms that his rival, President Joe Biden, is the "worst" president.
Criticising what he said were Chinese plans to build cars in Mexico and sell them to Americans, he stated: "We're going to put a 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you're not going to be able to sell those cars if I get elected."
"Now if I don't get elected it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole - that's going to be the least of it, it's going to be a bloodbath for the country. That'll be the least of it. But they're not going to sell those cars."
As Trump's comment gained traction on social media, Biden's campaign released a statement calling the Republican a "loser" at the ballot box in 2020 who then "doubles down on his threats of political violence."
"He wants another January 6 but the American people are going to give him another electoral defeat this November because they continue to reject his extremism, his affection for violence, and his thirst for revenge," the campaign said, referring to the deadly attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters in 2021.
Later, Biden spoke at a dinner in Washington, where he also warned of "an unprecedented moment in history."
"Freedom is under assault... The lies about the 2020 election, the plot to overturn it, to embrace the Jan. 6 insurrection pose the greatest threat to our democracy since the American Civil War," he said.
"In 2020, they failed, but... the threat remains."
The 81-year-old, who has waved off concerns that he is too old for a second term, leavened his rhetoric with humor.
"One candidate's too old and mentally unfit to be president," he said of the presidential race. "The other guy's me."
Earlier this month Trump and Biden each won enough delegates to clinch their party nominations in the 2024 presidential race, all but assuring a rematch and setting up one of the longest election campaigns in US history.
Among the issues Trump is campaigning on is sweeping reform of what he calls Biden's "horror show" immigration policies, despite the ex-president successfully pressuring Republicans to block a bill in Congress that included the toughest border security measures in decades.
On Saturday he invoked the border again as he reached out to minorities who have traditionally voted Democrat.
He said Biden had "repeatedly stabbed African-American voters in the back" by granting work permits to "millions" of immigrants, warning that they and Hispanic Americans "are going to be the ones that suffer the most."
For decades Ohio had been seen as a bellwether battleground state, though it has trended more strongly Republican since Trump's White House win in 2016.
The rally came a day after Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, said he would not endorse his old boss for a second White House term.
]]> ]]>A rare ally of PA head Mahmoud Abbas, US-educated economist Mustafa once ran the Palestinian telecoms company Paltel and more recently the PA's public Palestine Investment Fund (PIF), with nearly $1 billion in assets funding projects across the Palestinian territories.
He was tapped a decade ago to help lead reconstruction efforts in Gaza after an earlier war between Israel and Islamist militant group Hamas.
Palestinian leaders hope he could now emerge as a unifying figure as he prepares to rebuild the enclave after five months of Israel's indiscriminate bombardment since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.
The internationally recognised PA, which exercises limited self rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank but lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007, aims to reunify governance of Palestinian lands after the Gaza war.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh, a member of Abbas's Fatah faction, stepped down in February to pave the way for a unity cabinet. Though close to Abbas, Mustafa is not a Fatah member, potentially making him less contentious.
Mustafa faces a huge task of management and diplomacy. Swathes of Gaza are now rubble and most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced and need aid as famine looms. The West Bank, too, has seen the worst violence in decades with Israeli raids occurring in towns and cities regularly across the territory.
In addition to overseeing billions in expected international aid, Mustafa will need both political buy-in from Hamas and its supporters and cooperation from Israel, which wants to eradicate Hamas.
Washington, which wants the PA to play a leading role in post-war governance of Gaza, has called for deep reforms in how it is run.
"Everyone is in crisis. Fatah is in crisis in the West Bank and Hamas is clearly in crisis in Gaza," Palestinian economist Mohammad Abu Jayyab said, speaking before Mustafa's appointment. Mustafa, 69, could represent the "way out" for both, he said.
Abbas appointed Mustafa as PIF chairman in 2015. He served as a deputy prime minister responsible for economic affairs from 2013 to 2014, when he led a committee tasked with rebuilding Gaza after the seven-week war in which more than 2,100 Palestinians were killed.
Speaking at Davos on 17 January, Mustafa said the "catastrophe and the humanitarian impact" of the war now was much greater than a decade ago.
At least 31,726 people are confirmed killed, mostly women and children, with thousands of others believed buried under rubble and a further 73,792 injured in Gaza.
Israel says it will never cooperate with any Palestinian government that refuses to repudiate Hamas and its 7 October attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 abducted, according to Israeli tallies.
Mustafa, in his Davos remarks, described the 7 October attack as "unfortunate for everybody".
"But it's also a symptom of a bigger problem... that the Palestinian people have been suffering for 75 years non-stop," he said.
"Until today, we still believe that statehood for Palestinians is the way forward, so we hope that this time around we will be able to achieve that, so that all people in the region can live in security and peace," he said.
He is a member of the executive committee of the Abbas-led Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which recognised Israel at the start of the peace process in 1993, hoping to establish a Palestinian state in territories captured by Israel in a 1967 war - the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.
Biden administration officials have previously said they have urged Abbas to bring new blood, including technocrats and economic specialists, into a revamped PA to help govern post-war Gaza. But they have said they do not want to be seen pressuring for the approval or rejection of specific individuals.
Mustafa has said the PA could do better "in terms of building better institutions, providing better governance so that... we can reunite Gaza and the West Bank".
But "if we cannot remove occupation, no reformed government, no reformed institutions can actually build a good successful governing system, or develop a proper economy", he said.
Mustafa has a PhD in Business Administration and Economics from George Washington University, and has worked at the World Bank in Washington. He was born in the West Bank city of Tulkarm.
He said in his 17 January remarks that $15 billion would be needed just to rebuild homes.
He said he would continue to focus on humanitarian efforts in the short and medium term, expressing hope that Gaza's borders would be opened and a reconstruction conference convened.
Asked what future role he saw for Hamas, Mustafa also said the "best way forward is to be as inclusive as possible", adding that he would like Palestinians to unite around the PLO agenda.
(Reuters & The New Arab Staff)
]]> ]]>He promised there would be no boots on the ground in Gaza, adding that Israel, “must also do its part.”
After 164 days of Israel’s relentless war on Gaza, which has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, the UN warned of an unfolding famine, especially in the north, where people have turned to animal feed to survive. More than half a million Gazans are facing starvation, and at least 27 people have already died of hunger.
US officials hinted that Biden’s decision had come out of frustration with Netanyahu’s intransigence, amid the White House’s failure to pressure Israel into allowing aid to enter Gaza by land, mainly via the Rafah Crossing with Egypt.
“We are not waiting on the Israelis. This is a moment for American leadership. And we are building a coalition of countries to address this urgent need,” a White House senior official stated.
"Palestinians are expectedly distrustful of the US, with the general feeling that the port is more about Biden's self-interest and less about Gaza's humanitarian crisis"
Israel did not oppose the plan. But reports have emerged revealing that Biden may well be implementing a plan by Netanyahu, not in spite of him.
Two weeks into the Gaza onslaught, Netanyahu discussed with Biden delivering aid to Gaza via a maritime route, provided Israel can inspect the shipments in Cyprus. The Israeli plan was brought up again in late January in a phone call between the two leaders.
What adds to the air of suspicion is that the maritime route seems like a revival of a 2017 plan by Yisrael Katz, now Israel’s Foreign Minister, to establish a seaport island off the Gaza coast to move goods in and out.
Advertised as a way for Israel to sever ties with Gaza, the plan still preserved Israeli control over the Strip’s flow of goods.
Gazans remain sceptical. They are not positive that the port and sea corridor for aid, if at all useful, would be installed in time to curb the tightening famine.
Israel is using humiliation as a weapon of war - designed to systematically dehumanise Palestinians in Gaza, writes @emadmoussa 👇 https://t.co/7lYqiRQ8gz
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) March 12, 2024
Building the port will take 60 days. With Israel continuing to block aid into mostly northern Gaza, this means no immediate relief for the starving people there. The situation is particularly dire for the few remaining hospitals that escaped the Israeli bombing, where children are dying of malnutrition.
The location of the port remains unknown. Gaza City already has a fishing port, and a smaller jetty also exists in the sea near Khan Younis in the south. The suitable locations are limited. And because Israel has now severed northern Gaza from the south, the distribution of aid will be completely at its mercy.
Even when fully operational, the port may still lack the capacity to deliver sufficient quantities of aid equal to those normally transited by land via the Rafah Crossing with Egypt and Kerem Shalom with Israel. The UN aid coordinator Sigrid Kaag emphasised that aid delivered by air or sea are “not a substitute for land.”
Another question persists: Once delivered, how will the aid be distributed?
Israel’s army has regularly opened fire on aid-seekers who ventured outside the besieged Gaza City, massacring hundreds.
Israel has been targeting Gaza’s police force and waging war on aid agencies, especially UNRWA. This has resulted in a security vacuum and crippled most efforts to get the already minimalistic aid to those most in need.
To bypass international organisations, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas, the Israeli government reportedly floated the idea of dividing Gaza into areas governed by clans, who would be responsible for distributing the aid.
Gaza’s clans swiftly rejected the Israeli plan, emphasising they were not an alternative government nor were they willing to cooperate with the occupying force.
Israel tried to implement this antiquated clan-based self-rule first with the establishment of a so-called Palestinian Village Leagues in 1978 in the West Bank and, again, during the First Intifada in 1987 in the Gaza Strip.
Tel Aviv wanted to hand over the Palestinian civil affairs to local clan chieftains, occasionally thugs, and provide them with funds and weapons. The goal was to outsource the occupation and diffuse the growing PLO support amongst the population. The plan was unsuccessful.
"What Palestinians fear most is that the temporary port will be turned into Gaza's permanent and only outlet to the outside world"
Even then, the scepticism goes beyond logistics. Palestinians are expectedly distrustful of the US, with the general feeling that the port is more about Biden’s self-interest and less about Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.
The US President is running for re-election in November and the port is an attempt to pacify the growing anger within his Democratic Party over his unrelenting support for Israel, particularly given the success of the ‘abandon Biden’ movement in primary elections.
This also comes amid reports of a widening rift between Biden and Netanyahu. US officials spoke of a possible shift in policy that could include putting conditions on military aid if Israel launches an offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza.
Many Palestinians would shrug off their shoulders at such reports. Neither the Biden-Netanyahu kerfuffles nor the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s warning to Netanyahu will change the US decades-long support of Israel.
The reality is that a humanitarian maritime route could lessen the Gaza crisis, but it will also help compensate for Israel’s two failed war objectives: destroying Hamas and the mass expulsions of Palestinians to Egypt. It is to save Israel from a looming strategic defeat.
Hamas is currently showing no signs of collapse. US intel stated that Israel may have degraded Hamas’ capabilities, but it is nowhere near defeating the group. A similar conclusion is slowly being reached within the Israeli security apparatus, despite what Netanyahu says about destroying Hamas.
The alternative to the unattainable destruction of Hamas now is to weaken it by making its rule of the Strip irrelevant. One way to do it is by finding and consolidating a third party who can distribute the aid from the sea, and then slowly establish it as a de facto law-enforcement entity.
Still, this is not Palestinians’ core concern.
What Palestinians fear most is that the temporary port will be turned into Gaza’s permanent and only outlet to the outside world. It will be made particularly critical if Israel invades Rafah and occupies the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt, thus eliminating the role of the Rafah Crossing - its only gate to the world.
When Israel’s war ends, displaced Gazans who survive will be faced with a bleak choice: either return to their homes turned to rubble and uninhabitable communities to wait for reconstruction that may take years, or give in to possible US-Israeli incentives to encourage them to leave.
That is, the forced expulsion that Israel has failed to achieve via military means may be partly achieved by severely reducing Palestinians’ options of survival in post-war Gaza, so many of them will seek to leave voluntarily.
The US will have facilitated Israel ethnic cleansing of Gaza by sea.
Dr Emad Moussa is a Palestinian-British researcher and writer specialising in the political psychology of intergroup and conflict dynamics, focusing on MENA with a special interest in Israel/Palestine. He has a background in human rights and journalism, and is currently a frequent contributor to multiple academic and media outlets, in addition to being a consultant for a US-based think tank.
Follow him on Twitter: @emadmoussa
Have questions or comments? Email us at: editorial-english@newarab.com
Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.
]]> ]]>The 80-year-old studio was severely damaged on Saturday night with the cause of the blaze still unknown.
The prosecutor general on Monday dispatched detectives to look into the fire, which has become a national issue in Egypt, to look into possible foul play.
"Crime scene investigators of the interior ministry have been tasked with identifying the cause of the fire, how it started and spread, and whether there is possible foul play or negligence behind the incident,” said an official statement released late on Sunday.
Three buildings and an area where palm trees were planted were mostly burned down.
Prosecutors questioned security personnel and workers at the studio who unanimously said the fire first began in a wooden building and then reached other structures.
The fire broke out in the early hours of Saturday, destroying the location of an Egyptian alley inside the 27,000-square-metre site, with at least nine people injured, including firefighters.
It took six hours, involving 40 fire engines, to extinguish the blaze, according to local news outlets.
A total of 10 adjacent residential buildings in the Al-Haram neighbourhood of Giza province, west of Cairo, including 46 flats, were impacted, many of them completely gutted by the fire.
TV review: Netflix's AlRawabi School for Girls is back for a second season. But can the taboo-busting Jordanian series live up to the hype? @HasanAmman shares his thoughts 🔗 https://t.co/YcUCNjI3md pic.twitter.com/gKi2rRDJps
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) March 15, 2024
The prosecutor-general formed three committee of experts to assess the situation. One will examine damage to nearby buildings and another to inspect the trees, which may have led the blaze to spread through the production site.
Ahram Studio was established in 1944 during the Second World War seeing the creation of over 500 major TV and cinema works.
It is one of the oldest and most prestigious film production houses in the Arab World.
Two major TV shows currently screened during the highest season of the year, the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, are at risk of being halted due to the fire
The producers of El-Kebeer Awi ("The Big Boss"), a TV sequel starting prominent comedian Ahmed Mekky, and El-Moallem ("The Master), a drama series featuring superstar Mostafa Shaaban, could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
]]> ]]>Trump oversaw the most pro-Israel administration in US history, announcing the move of the American embassy there to Jerusalem and recognising Israel's illegal claims to the occupied Golan Heights as president.
He has now attacked Netanyahu's government and pledged to end the war in Gaza if voted in as president later this year.
"I think you have to finish it up and do it quickly and get back to the world of peace," the Republican presidential favourite told Fox News anchor Howard Kurtz on Sunday.
It came days after another statement on Fox where he also criticised the Israeli government.
On March 5, he said that neither Hamas's 7 October attack nor Israel's offensive on Gaza would have happened if he had been president.
While he hinted at disagreement with Israel's actions, he also added that he was "on board" with Israel.
Trump also blasted Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for remarks he made last week calling for new elections in Israel.
"The Democrats are very bad for Israel," Trump told Fox News in relation to Schumer's remarks. "I guess Israel’s loyal - maybe to a fault - because they stick with these guys."
Israel's offensive on Gaza has killed 31,726 people since October, the majority of them women and children.
Despite the US's firm commitment to Israel throughout the war, including diplomatic support and arms sales, there is growing criticism of the devastation it is causing in Gaza.
US Vice President Kamala Harris expressed "deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza" earlier this month, although the Biden administration stopped short of taking any action to decrease the supply of weapons and munitions to Israel.
Pressure is also mounting in the Republican Party, whose leaders have generally been staunch defenders of Israel.
Trump, in particular, has had an uneasy relationship with Netanyahu since 2020 and voiced frustrations about the Israeli leader.
But he pursued an aggressively pro-Israel line during his presidency, brokering the Abraham Accords that led the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan normalising relations with Israel, and controversially led to the US recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
His so-called 'Vision for Peace' (aka the 'Deal of the Century') would have seen large parts of the occupied West Bank permanently handed over to Israel.
When Trump lost and challenged the results of the 2020 election, he reportedly felt betrayed by Netanyahu for quickly congratulating President Joe Biden on his victory.
Despite his increasingly bumpy relationship with Netanyahu, Trump is still considered to be the most pro-Israel president in US history.
In October he promised he would bar immigrants who support Hamas from entering the US if elected president, and would send officers to pro-Hamas protests to arrest and deport immigrants who publicly support the Palestinian movement.
]]> ]]>There is a real sense of harmony and joy at The Open Kitchen, with people of all backgrounds, races and religions welcomed by a friendly face, with no questions asked. There are no vigorous forms to fill in, no discrimination, no embarrassment, just the helping hands of ordinary people from the community doing extraordinary things.
"With the Islamic month of Ramadan coinciding with the two-week Easter holidays, many will be looking to the Open Kitchen for meals to break their fast with and to feed their children"
The effects of the cost of living crisis
Last year the Cost of Living Crisis report released by UK charity Muslim Hands and FareShare Midlands, demonstrated the importance of initiatives like The Open Kitchen, which were described by service users as "lifelines" amid soaring inflation.
The findings highlighted how low-income families and individuals were severely impacted by a range of factors including job losses during the pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine contributing to the rising costs of energy and food bills.
The daily struggle to survive as well as being mentally pushed to breaking point was also shared by service users. This struggle has touched all parts of society including the Muslim community.
According to research by Muslim Census, even before the pandemic over 50% of Muslims were living in poverty and 39% living in the most deprived areas of England and Wales. Since 2021, one in five Muslims have used a foodbank and one in three have reported missing meals.
These findings were sadly echoed by Kiren, a service user of The Open Kitchen. She told The New Arab, "I live with my brother, and I work part-time to make ends meet. I heard about The Open Kitchen online and have been receiving daily meals and essentials for the past year. This service has helped me a lot during the month of Ramadan, where I have been able to put food on the table for the family, including my four children, so we can open our fasts. Services like these are vital and I would dread to think if they didn’t exist. To put it bluntly, without this intervention, I would go hungry for days."
Each year since opening, both The Open Kitchen in Hounslow and Nottingham have consistently seen a rise in visitors and an increase in demand for hot meals and essential food items.
Imran Khan, the manager at the Nottingham initiative told me, "We have definitely seen an increase in demand since we opened our doors in 2021 and I believe that the rise in cost of living is playing into that. There is no doubt about it. We have seen an influx of vulnerable members of the community, including Muslims, visiting the premises. Some even asked whether we could donate clothes, as they cannot purchase them on their current budget."
|
Shazia, a volunteer at the Hounslow Open Kitchen spoke to me about the heartbreaking stories she has heard. "You have mothers that cannot provide milk for their children, and you see beneficiaries that are stressed out, unable to afford to put the freezer or the heater on. It is gut-wrenching to see how this crisis has so gravely impacted our community. Initiatives like this must exist, as it is a place for people to interact, connect and forget their worries."
School holidays where low-income families are reliant on breakfast clubs and school lunches are often met with difficulty.
With the Islamic month of Ramadan coinciding with the two-week Easter holidays, many will be looking to The Open Kitchen for meals to break their fast with and to feed their children.
The Open Kitchen has pledged to distribute over 15,000 hot meals during the 30 days across Nottingham and Hounslow. Ramadan has also provided The Open Kitchens with most of its half a million pounds worth of donations to ensure that its doors continue to stay open.
With this in mind, I couldn’t help but go back to my conversation with Abdul Rahman, the Director of UK Programmes at Muslim Hands, who put it beautifully, "The Open Kitchen is a testament to our Islamic faith, where we are reminded of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, that he is not a believer whose stomach is filled while his neighbour goes hungry. We are proud of the legacy we have planted in the heart of Hounslow and Nottingham, which we owe to our dedicated volunteers and staff, despite the ongoing difficult climate."
With everything going on in the world right now, it’s the perfect time to come together and do something special in our local communities this Ramadan.
We should remember that we are never too small to make a difference. A small shop setting on a street in Hounslow and Nottingham is being a lifeline for hundreds of people every single day. A reminder that nothing is impossible.
Sahirah Javaid is a senior press officer at the UK-based charity Muslim Hands.
Follow her on Twitter: @JavaidSahirah
]]> ]]>The deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, ordered the immediate suspension of the Civil Service Muslim Network (CSMN) pending an investigation into allegations of "antisemitism" following reports that the group held meetings to discuss the British government's stance on the war on Gaza.
The CSMN, a cross-government umbrella network that represents and supports British Muslim civil servants, reportedly hosted a series of webinars in which an unnamed official told staff that the Israeli lobby had an "insidious influence" on British politics.
The same official allegedly said that the mainstream media was "biased" and "full of lies", according to the report.
Several webinars were reported to have been organised by the CSMN to address the UK's stance on Israel's war on Gaza, which began on 7 October and has so far killed at least 31,600 people, most of them women and children.
Despite acknowledging the devastating humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's brutal onslaught, the British government has failed to call for an immediate ceasefire.
The webinars reportedly coached civil servants on how to lobby and petition senior officials to shift towards taking a harder line against Israel.
During the meetings, civil servants shared that they would wear pro-Palestinian lanyards, badges and headscarves in government offices to show their support for the Palestinians.
Dowden told The Times he was "disgusted" by the "breach of trust given to this organisation and a betrayal of hard-working, diligent Muslim civil servants who wouldn’t dream of engaging in this sort of disturbing political activism".
"We will not hesitate to take any further action, including disciplinary measures, following that investigation," he added.
It comes as the UK looks to ban MPs and officials from engaging with pro-Palestine groups who have taken part in Gaza solidarity protests.
The proposal, drafted by the Conservative government's adviser on political violence, John Woodcock, would prohibit MPs from engaging with groups that use "disruptive tactics" and "hate" on marches.
According to a Times report earlier this month, the groups cited include the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and environmental campaigners Just Stop Oil.
]]> ]]>Eyewitnesses cited by Al Jazeera said al-Ghoul and his team were beaten before being taken to an undisclosed location.
A broadcasting vehicle belonging to the Doha-based news network was destroyed by an Israeli tank, an Al Jazeera source told AFP.
It comes after a brutal Israeli nighttime raid on Al-Shifa, with the WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus slamming the move, saying "hospitals should never be battlegrounds".
The Gaza health ministry said the Israeli snipers and quadcopters were indiscriminately targeting "anyone who tries to move", adding that several people were killed and wounded.
Reports received by Al Jazeera said that bodies lay in the hospital courtyard as Israeli forces invaded.
Journalists trapped inside the building reported on the attack as it happened.
“This might be my last video, we’re now besieged inside al-Shifa Hospital. We’re being heavily shot at,” journalist Wadea Abu Alsoud said in a video posted to Insagram from the hospital.
“The occupation suddenly raided the hospital and its vicinity. As you can hear now, there are intense clashes in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital. We’re hearing sounds coming from the gate. There is shrapnel falling over the hospital’s yard.”
Israel first raided al-Shifa in November, claiming that Gaza's largest medical complex was a major Hamas command and control centre. After the hospital was invaded, Israel failed to provide compelling evidence of a major military operations centre at the hospital.
The November attack forced the evacuation of vulnerable patients from the hospital, including incubated babies.
Israel's military on Monday called on Gazans to evacuate the area in and around the territory's largest hospital as the assault on the complex, crowded with patients and displaced people, raged.
A number of staff were also abducted, including hospital director Muhammad Abu Salmiya, who remains in Israeli detention.
Last month, Al Jazeera accused Israel of systematically targeting its employees working in Gaza.
Two Al Jazeera journalists have been killed in Gaza by Israel, while bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh's family - including his wife, children and grandson - were killed in Israeli strikes.
As of Monday, at least 95 journalists and media workers - including 90 Palestinians - have been confirmed killed in Israel's war on Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), citing "preliminary investigations".
]]> ]]>The group of around 15 students were offering prayers on Saturday evening when a crowd entered and demanded they leave the hostel and pray at a mosque.
The students said there is no mosque on the university campus in Ahmedabad, so they had no choice but to pray in the hostel.
"They argued over the issue, assaulting them and hurling stones," GS Malik, the police commissioner of Ahmedabad city, told reporters at a press conference on Sunday
The mob also ransacked the students' rooms and pelted them with stones.
Students said as many as 250 people brandishing sticks and knives took part in the assault.
Videos shared online show the mob ransacking dormitory rooms and destroying students' motorcycles parked outside the dormitory, shouting Hindu religious slogans such as "Jai Shri Ram" ('Hail Lord Ram').
India's foreign ministry said local authorities would take "strict action" against perpetrators and five people have been arrested in connection with the attacks.
An incidence of violence took place at Gujarat University in Ahmedabad yesterday. State government is taking strict action against the perpetrators.
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) March 17, 2024
Two foreign students were injured in the clash. One of them has been discharged from hospital after receiving medical attention.…
"We cannot survive like this," one African student who recorded the scene said in one of the videos.
"We came to India to study and now we’re being attacked just because it’s time for Ramadan and Muslims were praying."
The students came from Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and several African countries.
Muslims across India have reported increased physical and verbal attacks by Hindu mobs since Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, became prime minister of India in 2014.
Before his election, Modi was chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014, and was accused of inciting communal violence between Muslims and Hindus.
During his tenure a massacre took place in 2002 in which over 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed by rioters.
India has recorded many instances of anti-Muslim hate since the beginning of 2024.
Hindu mobs carrying saffron flags have harassed Muslims by dancing in front of a mosque in south-central India’s Telangana state and vandalised Muslim shops and buildings in Delhi.
In Bihar in northeast India, participants in a rally celebrating the inauguration of a Ram temple set a Muslim graveyard on fire.
]]> ]]>Vladimir Putin said Russia would not be "intimidated" as he hailed an election victory that paves the way for the former spy to become the longest-serving Russian leader in more than 200 years.
All of the 71-year-old's major opponents are dead, in prison or exiled, and he has overseen an unrelenting crackdown on anybody who publicly opposes his rule or his military offensive in Ukraine.
"I want to thank all of you and all citizens of the country for your support and this trust," Putin told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Moscow early Monday, hours after polls closed.
"No matter who or how much they want to intimidate us, no matter who or how much they want to suppress us, our will, our consciousness - no one has ever succeeded in anything like this in history. It has not worked now and will not work in the future. Never," he added.
With more than 99 percent of voting stations having submitted results, Putin had secured 87 percent of all votes cast, official election data showed, according to state news agency RIA.
It is a record victory in a presidential election where he faced no genuine competition.
The three-day election was marked by a surge in deadly Ukrainian bombardments, incursions into Russian territory by pro-Kyiv sabotage groups and vandalism at polling stations.
The Kremlin had cast the election as a moment for Russians to throw their weight behind the full-scale military operation in Ukraine, where voting was also being staged in Russian-controlled territories.
Putin singled out Russian troops fighting in Ukraine for special thanks in his post-election speech in Moscow.
And he was unrelenting in claiming his forces had a major advantage on the battlefield, even after a week that saw Ukraine mount some of its most significant aerial attacks on Russia and in which pro-Ukrainian militias launched armed raids on Russian border villages.
"The initiative belongs entirely to the Russian armed forces. In some areas, our guys are just mowing them - the enemy - down," he said.
Kyiv and its allies slammed the vote as a sham. President Volodymyr Zelensky lashed out at Putin as a "dictator" who was "drunk from power".
"There is no evil he will not commit to prolong his personal power," Zelensky said.
As early as Friday, the first day of voting, EU chief Charles Michel had sarcastically congratulated Putin on his "landslide victory".
Britain's foreign minister David Cameron added his voice to the protests, saying "this is not what free and fair elections look like", while the United States criticised the holding of the vote in Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow.
The leaders of Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Bolivia congratulated Putin on his re-election, as well as China and Iran.
If he completes another full Kremlin term, Putin will have stayed in power longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century.
Allies of the late Alexei Navalny - Putin's most prominent rival, who died in an Arctic prison last month - had tried to spoil his inevitable victory, urging voters to flood polling stations at noon and spoil their ballots.
His wife, Yulia Navalnaya, was greeted by supporters with flowers and applause in Berlin. After voting at the Russian embassy, she said she had written her late husband's name on her ballot.
Some voters in Moscow answered the opposition's call, telling AFP they had come to honour Navalny's memory and show their defiance in the only legal way possible.
"I came to show that there are many of us, that we exist, that we are not some insignificant minority," said 19-year-old student Artem Minasyan at a polling station in central Moscow.
My latest @The_NewArab article is about #Putin's recent visit to the Gulf. This piece quotes @PNT_Gulf and @Mark_N_Katz. https://t.co/t4kW2RWH1j #SaudiArabia #UAE #Riyadh #AbuDhabi #Russia #Moscow #Ukraine #GazaUnderAttack #Sudan
— Giorgio Cafiero (@GiorgioCafiero) December 19, 2023
Putin said the protest had had no impact and that those who spoiled their ballots would "have to be dealt with".
In his first public comments on Navalny's death last month, Putin called his passing a "sad event".
Using his name in public for the first time in years during a televised news conference, Putin said: "As for Mr. Navalny. Yes, he passed away. This is always a sad event."
Putin said a colleague had proposed swapping Navalny several days before he died for "some people" currently held in prisons in Western countries.
"The person who was talking to me hadn't finished his sentence and I said 'I agree'".
Former Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev also congratulated Putin on his "splendid victory" long before the final results were due to be announced.
And state-run television praised how Russians had rallied with "colossal support for the president" as well as the "unbelievable consolidation" of the country behind its leader.
At Navalny's grave in a Moscow cemetery, AFP reporters saw spoiled ballot papers with the opposition leader's name scrawled across them on a pile of flowers.
"We live in a country where we will go to jail if we speak our mind. So when I come to moments like this and see a lot of people, I realise that we are not alone," said 33-year-old Regina.
There were repeated acts of protest in the first days of polling, with a spate of arrests of Russians accused of pouring dye into ballot boxes or arson attacks.
Any public dissent in Russia has been harshly punished since the start of Moscow's offensive in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and there were multiple warnings from the authorities against election protests.
The OVD-Info police monitoring group announced that at least 80 people had been detained across nearly 20 cities in Russia for protest actions linked to the elections.
]]> ]]>Witnesses in Gaza City told AFP they saw tanks surround the hospital site.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the war have sought shelter in the complex, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
The Israeli army had also carried out a November operation in Al-Shifa, sparking an international outcry.
The government media office in Gaza condemned the operation, saying that "the storming of the Al-Shifa medical complex with tanks, drones, and weapons, and shooting inside it, is a war crime".
The health ministry in the besieged territory said it had received calls from people near the hospital site who claimed there were dozens of casualties.
"No one could transport them to the hospital due to the intensity of gunfire and artillery shelling," the ministry said.
The Israeli army has carried out multiple operations in and around medical facilities across the Gaza Strip since the start of the war.
Israel claims that Hamas is running military operations from hospitals and other medical centres, but Hamas denies this.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after the Palestinian group launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7 2023, killing an estimated 1,160 Israelis, most of them civilians.
Israel has since then launched a brutal and indiscriminate attack on the Gaza Strip, targeting schools, hospitals, and residential areas and killing at least 31,645 people, most of them women and children. A further 73,792 have also been injured.
Palestinian militants seized about 250 Israeli and foreign captives during the October 7 attack, but dozens were released during a week-long truce in November.
Israel believes about 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 - eight soldiers and 25 civilians - who are presumed dead.
Israel said that there was "no obligation for the patients and medical staff to evacuate" during its attack on the Al-Shifa Hospital and that it would avoid targeting hospital facilities and equipment.
However, Israel has since instructed those residing in and around the hospital south to the Israeli designated "humanitarian zone".
Following its November 15 operation on Al-Shifa, the Israeli military said it had found weapons and other military equipment hidden in the site - claims Hamas has denied.
It also claimed it had found a 55-metre tunnel in the basement and shared footage that it claimed proved hostages had been held there, which Hamas also denied.
According to the UN, 155 health facilities in the Gaza Strip have been damaged since the war began.
'Where should they go?'
The health ministry said early Monday that dozens of people had been killed across the Gaza Strip overnight.
Over the weekend, 12 members of the same family were killed when their house was hit in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
Palestinian girl Leen Thabit, retrieving a white dress from under the rubble of their flattened house, cried as she told AFP her cousin was killed in the strike.
"She's dead. Only her dress is left," Thabit said.
For several weeks, the focus of Israel's attack had been on southern Gaza, where around 1.5 million people who have fled the remainder of the devastated territory have sought refuge since the start of the war.
Allies of Israel, including the United States, have warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government against launching a full-scale operation in Rafah near the Egyptian border.
Rafah is the only urban centre in Gaza where Israeli ground troops have yet to enter.
Visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters that if such an offensive resulted in "a large number of casualties" it "would make any peaceful development in the region very difficult".
Israel has insisted, however, that its war aim of eliminating Hamas cannot be achieved without an attack on Rafah.
On Sunday, Netanyahu vowed civilians crammed into the south of the strip would be able to leave before troops enter in pursuit of Hamas militants.
The office of Netanyahu had on Friday said he approved the military's plan for an attack on Rafah as well as "the evacuation of the population".
"Our goal in eliminating the remaining terrorist battalions in Rafah goes hand-in-hand with enabling the civilian population to leave Rafah," Netanyahu said at a press appearance alongside Scholz.
"It's not something that we will do while keeping the population locked in place."
As others have done, Scholz raised the question:
"Where should they go?"
'Out of harm's way'
The United States, which provides Israel with billions of dollars in military assistance, has said it wants a "clear and implementable plan" to ensure civilians are "out of harm's way".
Gaza is facing the threat of famine, according to the UN, and many residents of the territory have faced displacement multiple times in recent months.
There has been no indication yet of where those crammed into Rafah could go, and any suggestion of Palestinian dispersal outside the Palestinian Territories is highly contentious in the Arab world, raising fears of a second Nakba.
A speech by senior Jewish-American Democrat Chuck Schumer, in which he blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the continued war in Gaza and called for new elections in Israel, has sparked strong reactions from across the political spectrum
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) March 15, 2024
This is what he had to… pic.twitter.com/A9fWq9Dyta
A Hamas proposal for a truce calls for an Israeli withdrawal from "all cities and populated areas" in Gaza and for more humanitarian aid, according to an official from the group.
International envoys were planning to meet in Qatar soon to revive stalled talks for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Israel plans to attend the talks, and a cabinet meeting meant to decide the delegation's mandate took place on Sunday night, Netanyahu's office said.
As a result of the meetings Israel's chief of the Mossad intelligence agency is heading to Qatar to secure a six-week truce and the return of 40 Israeli captives according to Israeli officials speaking to Reuters, although it is unknown how many Palestinian's will be released as part of a deal.
]]> ]]>As the protesters inched toward an Israeli army base on the edge of her hometown, Janna grasped an iPhone from her mother's hands and panned around to catch the shimmer of Palestinian flags, juxtaposed by the olive green uniforms of a flank of Israeli soldiers.
"Journalism was my way of resistance and sending my message, which is the message of every other Palestinian child, to the world"
On the next march she did the same, and again, capturing the raucous sounds and patriotic zeal of the crowds until some weeks later her mother scrolled through her phone and chanced upon a small cache of videos filmed by Janna, including fervent addresses to the camera.
As any proud parent would, she posted them on Facebook, and thus Janna Jihad was born, the Arab world’s youngest journalist, showing life under occupation through a child’s eyes.
Janna's regular video dispatches from Nabi Salih began to garner international attention, with media from Washington to Riyadh picking up on her unique approach to reporting.
When Janna passed through an Israeli checkpoint, she would bring her phone along to document the process. When Israeli forces raided Janna's village, she was there, the camera fixed on the soldiers, providing a live report to viewers across the world.
Despite death threats and other intimidation, Janna continued with her dispatches, her way of articulating the struggles faced by all Palestinian children in the occupied territory.
“Journalism was my way of resistance and sending my message, which is the message of every other Palestinian child, to the world,” Janna told The New Arab.
"It showcased my reality, and talked about what’s truly happening, and the feelings I experienced on a daily basis."
Ten years later, Janna addressed delegates at the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool, UK early in October, just as Israel began its siege and bombardment of Gaza.
She spoke of the unconscious biases Europeans often betray when commenting on the Palestinian issue, as well as a historic debt owed by the UK due to the country's past occupation of Palestine.
To help delegates understand this better, she put the situation of Palestinians in the context of another war on Europe’s doorstep, Ukraine, which dominated Western foreign policy for a year and a half before 7 October.
"There is always this inherited systematic racism, even in the back of [their] minds, so trying to treat Palestinians as human beings is really crucial, especially because almost the exact same situation is happening in Europe with the Russia-Ukrainian war," she said.
"We've seen amazing global mobilisation and support for Ukraine because they are facing military occupation by Russia. But when Palestinians go through exactly the same thing, over 75 years… then because we are Palestinians, not Europeans or white, we are not seen equally."
Janna's words appear particularly poignant five months later, given that what she predicted largely turned out true. The West, including the UK opposition Labour Party, has largely stood by or supported Israel as Gaza was turned into rubble and at least 12,800 children were killed in the bombardment.
Janna had urged conference attendees to remember the true values of the Labour Party, which included known supporters of the Palestinian cause such as Tony Benn, Robin Cook, Margaret McKay, and most recently Jeremy Corbyn.
[Janna Jihad's] videos of life in occupied Nabi Salih were a prodrome for the Gaza war, bringing up issues largely ignored by the media and political mainstream until an irreconcilable situation was born in the void.
While it’s impossible to know what impact, if any, this had on the MPs and officials who heard her speeches, it’s a message worth remembering today.
"The values of the Labour Party are ones that cover equality and justice, and with the apartheid system still ongoing in Palestine, and war crimes being committed by the Israeli occupation without any accountability, then this does not meet these beliefs," she told The New Arab at the time.
"If these beliefs are strong enough, the Labour Party should take action to put an end to the systematic apartheid and settler colonial system in Palestine and hopefully hold Israel accountable. Are we Palestinians hopeful? Not exactly."
On the main stage of the conference hall, Labour leader Keir Starmer spoke of Israel’s 'right to defend itself' after Hamas's 7 October attacks and in one interview appeared to bless the total siege on Gaza, when the enclave’s 2.3 million civilians were completely deprived of food, water, and power.
In the months that followed, Starmer repeatedly rebuffed calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza causing a schism within the broad church of the Labour Party.
As the death toll mounted, MPs were forced to confront their consciences and many chose to rebel, losing leading positions within the party but winning the respect of Labour members and Palestinian activists.
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The singularity of Janna’s videos has undoubtedly sparked intrigue among new allies of Palestine across the globe, as well as contributed to the groundswell in opposition to Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
Janna's exposure to daily abuses and hardships over the past decade is seen now in the unimaginable suffering of hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza, many maimed, starved, orphaned, or shellshocked.
Her videos of life in occupied Nabi Salih were a prodrome for the Gaza war, bringing up issues largely ignored by the media and political mainstream until an irreconcilable situation was born in the void.
Janna's citizen journalism is now mirrored in the heroic work of Palestinian reporters in Gaza, who, if they aren't the latest victim of the bloodiest war for media workers on record, have endured unbearable loss and hardship, such as the hardships witnessed by Wael Al-Dahdouh.
The detention of Janna’s cousin, activist Ahed Tamimi, visibly distressed on her release, highlights the conditions Palestinian detainees in the West Bank and Gaza have been subject to, where humiliation, torture, and ill-treatment are said to be the norm.
Janna has seen two close family members killed by Israeli forces over the years, tragedies played out on a colossal scale in Gaza, which has experienced the bloodiest first 100 days of any conflict of the 21st century.
It was her own experiences as a Palestinian teenager that she told the conference, one that would help people understand the root cause of the crisis. It appeared to be ignored when the Labour leadership responded to the Gaza war in the months that followed, at best, with empty words of commiseration.
She wonders if her stories will strike a chord with officials likely drawing up foreign policy for a future Labour government as we speak, one, it is hoped, that will be more understanding of life under occupation than the current administration.
"We had a good discussion, I explained what's actually going on on the ground," she said about her discussions with one leading Labour official.
"Any human listening to the atrocities we have faced daily, and have done for the past 75 years, I believe, must shake a little bit inside them."
Paul McLoughlin is a senior news editor at The New Arab
Follow him on Twitter: @PaullMcLoughlin
]]> ]]>Turkish police have detained 12 people after fans of top tier soccer club Trabzonspor invaded the pitch following a home loss against Fenerbahce, touching off violent scuffles between the fans and visiting players.
The Trabzonspor fans charged onto the pitch as Fenerbahce players celebrated their 3-2 win following the final whistle of the Turkish Superlig game in the Black Sea coastal city of Trabzon late Sunday.
Some Fenerbahce players hit back at fans who kicked or punched them and video of the clashes went viral.
Defender Bright Asayi-Samuel landed a right hook punch on the run that knocked one pitch invader to the ground and forward Michy Batshuayi struck a fan running fast toward him with a spinning high-kick move.
Security staff later helped the Fenerbahce players down the tunnel into the locker rooms.
The incident came just months after the president of top-flight club Ankaragucu was arrested for punching a referee following a match, prompting the Turkish Football Federation to briefly suspend league games.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday that police detained 12 people in connection with the violence.
Yerlikaya said among those detained were a person who threw a projectile at Fenerbahce coach İsmail Kartal during the match, a man who was the first to invade the pitch, a fan who grabbed the corner flag and charged toward the players and a person who hit Fenerbahce goalkeeper Dominic Livakovic.
Earlier, Yerlikaya said an investigation was ongoing and that those who invaded the pitch would be identified.
"The occurrence of violence on football fields is not acceptable," he wrote.
The Turkish Football Federation also condemned the incident and said those responsible would be punished following an investigation.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino used his Instagram account to condemn the incidents as "absolutely unacceptable," and called on Turkish authorities to hold the perpetrators to account.
The clashes happened after Batshuayi scored in the 87th minute to secure the win and stay just two points behind Galatasaray in a tight league title race between the Istanbul city rivals. Trabzonspor, the 2022 champion, is a distant third in the standings.
]]> ]]>Twenty Palestinians were killed in the early hours of Tuesday in Israeli air strikes on Rafah and central parts of the Gaza Strip, Gaza health officials said.
In the southern Gaza city of Rafah near the Egyptian border, where over 1 million Palestinians have sought shelter, 14 people were killed and dozens others wounded in strikes that hit several houses and apartments, Gaza medical officials said.
Six more people died in another air strike on a house in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, they added.
In Deir Al-Balah, a town in central Gaza about 14 km (8.6 miles) south of Gaza City, the sounds of explosions mixed with thunder, and rain added to the miseries of displaced families in tent camps.
“We are no longer able to distinguish between the sounds of thunder and bombings,” Shaban Abdel-Raouf, a father of five in Deir Al-Balah, said via a chat application.
“We used to await the rain and pray to God if it was late. Today we pray it doesn’t rain. The displaced people have enough miseries,” he added.
]]> ]]>Muslim students have become a major presence in some communities in the United States, prompting public schools to be more attentive to their needs during the holy month of Ramadan when dawn-to-sundown fasting is a duty of Islam.
For example, in Dearborn, Michigan — where nearly half the 110,000 residents are of Arab descent — public school teachers and staff strive to make things easier for students observing Ramadan.
“We allow students on their own to practice their faith as long as it’s not a disruption to the school day,” said Dearborn Schools spokesperson David Mustonen. “We also try to find other spaces or activities in the school during lunch for those students who may be fasting.”
But he stressed that these students are still required to complete all assignments.
In St. Paul, Minnesota, East African Elementary Magnet School has set aside space in the library where students who are fasting and don’t want to be in the cafeteria can spend the break doing other supervised activities like reading, said principal Abdisalam Adam.
The 220-student school opened last fall as part of St. Paul’s public schools system, and shares that curriculum, but it also aims to reinforce cultural and linguistic connections with Somalia and other East African countries. Adam said about 90% of the students are Somali Muslims.
Adam, who has worked with the district for nearly 30 years, said he tells his staff that accommodating observance of Ramadan fits in with an overall goal of caring for students.
“All needs are connected,” he said.
For school districts less familiar with Muslim traditions, resources are available. For example, Islamic Networks Group, a California-based nonprofit, provides, among other things, online information for educators about Ramadan and its significance to Muslims.
Many districts “don’t know very much about Islam or any of our holidays,” said Maha Elgenaidi, the group’s executive director. “If they don’t know very much about it, there’s not much they can provide to students in terms of accommodation" until they learn more and the parents are actively involved in asking for accommodations.
She says fasting students may need to be excused from strenuous activities in gym class, and should be allowed to make up for tests missed due to absence to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday that follows Ramadan.
“If they’re not accommodated at school or the school doesn’t know anything about this, they’re kind of living dual lives there."
Fasting is not required of young children, but many Muslim children like to fast to share in the month's rituals and emulate parents and older siblings, according to ING. Educators also need to know of the typical changes to Muslim families’ routines during Ramadan, such as waking up for the pre-dawn “suhoor” meal and staying up late to possibly attend prayers in the mosque, Elgenaidi said.
When Dr. Aifra Ahmed’s children were younger, the Pakistani American physician and her husband would share insight about Ramadan with their classmates, reading to them a Ramadan story and distributing goodie bags with such things as dates.
“I realized that the Muslim families in school have to do a lot of education,” said Ahmed, who lives in Los Altos, California.
Ahmed's husband, Moazzam Chaudry, said goodwill gestures, such as when educators offer a Ramadan greeting, send a message of inclusivity.
For immigrant families, “that’s the first thing that ... naturally comes to your mind, ‘Are we integrated into this society? Does this society even accept us?’" he said. “These little, little things make such a huge impact.”
Punhal, the couple’s daughter who attends a charter middle school, said she takes part in physical education during Ramadan but skips running when fasting because she would need water afterward.
She said a few non-Muslim friends told her they would like to fast with her in companionship.
Naiel, her brother who’s in a public high school, said he was pleased when a teacher talked to the class about Ramadan and told him that, if he needed, he could take a nap.
He wants others to better understand why he fasts.
“A lot of kids and teachers think ... I’m torturing myself or like it’s a diet,” he said. “When I’m fasting, I just feel a lot more gratitude towards everyone around me and towards people who don’t have as much.”
In Dearborn, 14-year-old Adam Alcodray praised the faculty at Dearborn High for their understanding during Ramadan.
“A lot of the teachers are just like more lenient, allowing us to do less,” said Alcodray, a 9th grader. “They don’t get mad because they realize we are hungry.”
Alcodray says he fasts from 6:20 a.m. until around 8 p.m.
“It’s not that bad to be honest,” he said. “When you know you can’t eat, something in your brain clicks.”
Hussein Mortada, a 17-year-old senior at Dearborn High, said family solidarity is invaluable during Ramadan.
“In my family, everybody’s fasting,” Mortada said. “Everybody’s going through the same thing. The whole month is meant for you to get closer to God and make your religion stronger."
This year, Ramadan carries extra significance due to the hardships being suffered by people in Gaza amid Israel's continuing war on the Palestinian territory, Mortada said.
“I feel helpless just sitting here on my phone, looking at everything that’s happening,” he said. “All you can do is feel for them and pray for them.”
Alcodray shared similar sentiments.
“When you look at what the children are eating in Gaza, you appreciate what your mom makes,” he said. “When you’re having a bad day, realize what they are going through.”
At the East African magnet school in St. Paul, Marian Aden — who trains other teachers there — makes it a priority to encourage Ramadan-related accommodations for fasting students.
Aden said her youngest daughter, 4-year-old Nora, woke up excited about Ramadan’s start on March 11 — but her teachers in the suburb where they live weren’t familiar with the occasion. Aden said she’ll be relieved when Nora starts attending the magnet school next year.
“She’ll be celebrated for who she is,” Aden said.
Minnesota has been home to growing numbers of refugees from war-torn Somalia since the late 1990s. Several school districts have recently made Eid a holiday.
In Washington, D.C., Abdul Fouzi has two daughters, ages 8 and 12, who have gradually learned the meaning and rituals of Ramadan.
Growing up in Sierra Leone in the 1980s, Fouzi said he was fasting for a full day as early as age 11. But he has not pushed his elder daughter to do likewise.
“They’re still pretty young so they’re not ready to go the whole day without food or water,” he said. “They’re not built like that.”
Still, he wants them to get used to the idea; this year he’d like them to experiment with fasting for a half day.
To Fouzi, more important than strict adherence to the rules at their age is their understanding of Ramadan’s meaning and the importance of praying for peace.
“They make up their own little rules and find loopholes figuring out how they want to participate in and practice Ramadan in different ways, and I’m okay with that,” he said.
]]> ]]>During the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussien attacked the people of Halabja with chemical weapons on 16 March 1988, killing more than 5,000 people, and wounding tens of thousands.
The event stood as one of the most horrific instances of chemical warfare targeting civilians.
Thirty-six years since the attack, relatives of the victims and survivors held the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) responsible for failing to gain any compensation.
"After 36 years from the massacre, I still have health issues in my lungs, unfortunately, I am yet to be registered by the KRG as a victim of attacking Halabja with chemical weapons," Omed Hama Ali Rashid told The New Arab, a survivor and now an employee at Halabja Monument.
He recalled how he miraculously survived the attack in 1988, regaining consciousness while inside a coffin after medics at an Iranian hospital thought he was killed along seven members of his family.
Currently, there are more than 400 survivors, and most of them suffering from chronic diseases, especially in their lungs due to inhaling the poisonous gases.
"As the legal successor of Iraq’s former regime, the Iraqi federal government has a legal and moral duty to compensate the people of Halabja," Rashid said.
Iraq's prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, was expected to visit Halabja on Saturday but neither he nor any senior official from the KRG attended the commemoration.
"I wished PM Sudani to come here and see with his own eyes, what the former Iraqi officials had done to this city," Rashid said.
Jamil Farhad, another survivor from Khurmal sub-district of Halabja province told TNA that he lost two brothers and a sister in the attack.
"I lost one eye and hardly see with the other as a result of the chemical attack. The KRG only did little for the relatives of Halabja victims," Farhad said.
He said although the Kurdish and Iraqi officials often say they will compensate the people of Halabja, their words have failed to translate into action.
Currently, the KRG authorities in Halabja are struggling to provide basic services to residents and the city has witnessed an increase in unemployment rates and environmental issues.
Saddam's regime was toppled following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, and the former dictator was captured in December 2003.
He was hung three years later following his conviction for crimes against humanity, including the Halabja massacre.
In March 2018, a Chicago-based American human rights law firm lodged a lawsuit representing 4,811 Kurds.
The lawsuit pointed fingers at numerous European companies, alleging their involvement in providing chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein's regime. The firms were accused of being fully aware that these arms were intended for the eradication of the Kurdish population.
According to The Tennessean, the Chicago-based law firm MM-Law has initiated legal action against multiple companies, alleging their complicity in the Halabja massacre.
The lawsuits target several European entities, including German companies TUI A.G., Water Engineering Trading GmbH, and Karl Kolb; French companies Groupe Protec and De Dietrich Process Systems; Dutch company Melspring International; and Luxembourg-based General Mediterranean Holding.
The trial of European companies accused of selling chemical weapons to the Iraqi Ba'ath regime is yet to reach its conclusion.
Speaking to the reporters in front of the Halabja Monument, Yann Braem, Consul General of France in Erbil, emphasised France's commitment to preventing another tragedy like the Halabja massacre by supporting the prohibition of chemical weapons and ensuring proper treatment for survivors.
He said France's had contributed to constructing a dedicated hospital for the survivors. However, Braem did not address inquiries from TNA regarding efforts to hold Western companies accountable for supplying chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein's regime.
During the concluding months of the eight-year Iraq-Iran conflict, Kurdish fighters aligned with Iran seized control of Halabja, a significant agricultural center, on March 15.
In response, the Iraqi military launched artillery barrages and airstrikes, prompting Kurdish combatants and many male residents to retreat to nearby hills, while leaving behind women, children, and the elderly.
The subsequent day witnessed Iraqi warplanes circling Halabja for five hours, dispersing a lethal concoction of poisonous gases. Kurdish fighters descending from the hills alerted international journalists, who promptly converged on the site.
By March 23, the initial harrowing images depicting streets strewn with lifeless bodies were broadcast on television, highlighting the scale of the tragedy.
]]> ]]>Juma Abu Ghanima died five days after reports emerged that his health was seriously deteriorating, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Society Prisoners’ Club (PPS) said in an official statement.
The 26-year-old was transferred from Eshel prison in the Naqab (Negev) Desert to an Israeli hospital after he was found unconscious in his cell, after his health began to rapidly decline.
Abu Ghanima’s death brings the total number of prisoners and detainees who have died in Israeli jails since October 7 to 13.
Israeli authorities claimed that Abu Ghanima, who was apprehended in December, had joined Hamas.
He was charged last month with serious security offences and was being detained until the end of legal proceedings, according to the Times of Israel.
In their statement, the Commission and the PPS said they held Israeli prison authorities fully responsible for Abu Ghanima's death, as torture and systematic medical negligence against Palestinian detainees held in Israeli jails had increased significantly since October 7 - when Israel began waging its deadly war in Gaza, killing over 31,600 people.
Several testimonies revealed that Israeli prison guards had abused and collectively punished Palestinian prisoners in the weeks that followed the military onslaught in Gaza.
Detainees, including young girls, described being hit with sticks, having muzzled dogs set on them, and had their clothes, food and blankets taken away.
The two NGOs also added that Israeli authorities are deliberately refusing to disclose the identities of a number of Gazan detainees held in Israeli prisons, as Tel Aviv continues to detain and forcibly make disappear Palestinians.
At least 250 people Palestinian prisoners, including Abu Ghanima, have died in Israeli prisons since 1967.
The total number of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli jails has surged to 9,100, including 3,558 individuals held in administrative detainees.
]]> ]]>The talks would mark the first time both Israeli officials and Hamas leaders join the indirect negotiations since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. International mediators had hoped to secure a six-week truce before Ramadan started earlier this week , but Hamas refused any deal that wouldn’t lead to a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, a demand Israel rejected.
But both sides have made moves in recent days aimed at getting the talks, which never fully broke off, back on track.
Hamas gave mediators a new proposal for a three-stage plan that would end the fighting, according to two Egyptian officials, one who is involved in the talks and a second who was briefed on them. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to reveal the contents of the sensitive discussions.
The first stage would be a six-week cease-fire that would see the release of 35 hostages — women, those who are ill and older people — held by militants in Gaza in exchange for 350 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Hamas would also release at least five female soldiers in exchange for 50 prisoners, including some serving long sentences on "terror" charges, for each soldier. Israeli forces would withdraw from two main roads in Gaza, let displaced Palestinians return to northern Gaza, which has been devastated by the fighting , and allow the free flow of aid to the area, the officials said.
Nearly one in three children under 2 years old in the isolated north have acute malnutrition, the UN children's agency said Friday.
In the second phase, the two sides would declare a permanent cease-fire and Hamas would free the remaining Israeli soldiers held hostage in exchange for more prisoners, the officials said.
In the third phase, Hamas would hand over the bodies it’s holding in exchange for Israel lifting the blockade of Gaza and allowing reconstruction to start, the officials said.
Talks were expected to resume Sunday afternoon, though they could get pushed to Monday, the Egyptian officials said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the proposal “unrealistic" but agreed to send Israeli negotiators to Qatar. His government has rejected calls for a permanent cease-fire, insisting it must first fulfill its stated goal of “annihilating Hamas.”
At least 31,645 people have been killed in Israel's indiscriminate war on Gaza, with schools, hospitals, and residential areas intentionally targeted and destroyed.
Thousands of Israelis demonstrated Saturday night in Tel Aviv to show their impatience with Netanyahu's government and demand a deal to free hostages. Some expressed support for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's sharp criticism of Netanyahu's handling of the war and his call for a new election.
“I think that we are in a situation where they are completely right, that we have a war that is continuing well beyond what is necessary,” protester Yehuda Halper said.
Netanyahu’s office said Friday he approved military plans to attack Rafah, the southernmost town in Gaza where about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians — more than half the enclave's population — are sheltering. Israel wants to target Hamas battalions stationed there.
The United States and other countries have warned that a military operation in Rafah could be disastrous.
Netanyahu's office didn't give details or a timetable for the Rafah operation, but said that it would involve the evacuation of the civilian population. The military has said it planned to direct civilians to “humanitarian islands” in central Gaza.
“Many people are too fragile, hungry and sick to be moved again,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media, adding that there are no fully functional, safe health centres they can reach elsewhere in Gaza. “In the name of humanity, we appeal to Israel not to proceed.”
An Israeli strike early Saturday flattened a house in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 19 people, including nine children, according to records at the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital. An Associated Press journalist there saw the bodies.
Israel’s offensive has driven most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes. A quarter of Gaza’s population is starving , according to the UN
As part of efforts to deliver desperately needed aid, a ship inaugurated a sea route from Cyprus on Friday and offloaded 200 tons of humanitarian supplies sent by the aid group World Central Kitchen destined for people in northern Gaza.
The group said it was preparing another vessel in Cyprus with hundreds of tons of aid.
Also on Saturday, Germany joined a group of countries, including the US and Jordan, in conducting airdrops of aid over Gaza. The U.S. also has announced separate plans to construct a pier to get aid in.
Displaced Palestinians living in tents along the Mediterranean coast remained hungry and bleak.
“The situation is so bad that no one can imagine it, and the ship, even if it helps, will be a drop in the ocean,” said Zahr Saqr in Muwasi. “We run like dogs behind air drops.”
]]> ]]>The deal will include billions in credit over coming years for highly indebted Egypt, and stepping up energy sales that could help Europe "move further away from Russian gas", said a senior European Commission official.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen - who was joined by the leaders of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece and Italy - met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ahead of the scheduled signing ceremony.
The Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership agreement includes five billion euros in loans over four years, 1.8 billion euros in investment and hundreds of millions for bilateral projects including on migration, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Egypt, mired in a painful economic crisis, borders war-battered Libya and the centres of two ongoing conflicts - Israel's war on the Gaza Strip and Sudan's war between the regular armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
"Egypt is a critical country for Europe today and for the days to come," said the commission official, who pointed to Egypt's "important position in a very difficult neighbourhood, bordering Libya, Sudan and the Gaza Strip".
Egypt already hosts around nine million migrants and refugees, including four million Sudanese and 1.5 million Syrians, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration.
The EU official said the deal includes steps to cooperate on "security, counter-terrorism cooperation and protection of borders, in particular the southern one" with Sudan.
The Gaza Strip, where Israel is at war with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas since the October 7 attack, "will not be the main focus but will be part of the discussion" in Cairo, the official added.
The delegation included three Mediterranean leaders - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, her Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides.
They were joined by Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
The agreement follows several controversial deals the EU has sealed in northern Africa - with Libya, Tunisia and Mauritania - to stem the flow of irregular migrants across the Mediterranean Sea.
The EU's border agency Frontex last year recorded nearly 158,000 migrant arrivals in Europe via the dangerous sea route, up by 50 percent from the previous year.
The trend has sparked rising anti-immigrant rhetoric in Europe and gains for right-wing populist parties in several EU nations.
Human rights groups have strongly condemned the deals with authoritarian governments.
US-based Human Rights Watch said it had documented "arbitrary arrests and mistreatment of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees by Egyptian authorities".
HRW criticised what it labelled "the EU's cash-for-migration-control approach" which it said "strengthens authoritarian rulers while betraying human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers and activists whose work involves great personal risk".
Egypt stresses that migrant boats have not sailed from its coast in recent years. But Egyptians still arrive in Europe by sea, mostly via Libya or Tunisia to Italy.
Egypt, the Arab world's most populous nation, is in dire need of financial help as it weathers a severe economic crisis marked by rapid inflation.
The International Monetary Fund this month agreed to an $8 billion loan package after Cairo implemented reforms including a flexible exchange rate and raised interest rates.
Egypt's economy, dominated by military-linked enterprises and recently focused on infrastructure mega-projects, has been hit hard by a series of recent economic shocks.
Among them have been the Covid pandemic's impact on the tourism sector, higher prices for food imports amid the Ukraine war and attacks by Yemen's Huthi rebels on Red Sea shipping that have slashed Suez Canal revenues.
Egypt's external debt has ballooned to nearly $165 billion, and the cost of servicing it is expected to reach $42 billion this year.
]]> ]]>Syria's war, which began 13 years ago with brutal regime repression of pro-democracy protests, has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and ravaged the country's economy, infrastructure and industry.
Pedersen has been trying to make progress with a so-called constitutional committee for Syria to rewrite or amend the war-torn country's constitution since October 2019, with little success.
The Geneva talks halted in 2022 after Damascus ally Moscow objected to the meeting being held in Switzerland, questioning its neutrality after it imposed sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
"The situation in Syria now is extremely difficult, and I think all indicators are pointing in the wrong direction when it comes to security, when it comes to the economy and when it comes to the political process," Pedersen told reporters in Damascus.
"We should continue to meet in Geneva and develop the constitutional committee and the work of the committee in the manner that could give hope to the Syrian people," Pedersen said after meeting with Syrian regime Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.
Pedersen said last month that Moscow and Damascus had rejected holding a ninth round of talks in Geneva, the established location for the talks, and that the parties had failed to agree on an alternate venue.
He had said he was issuing invitations for the meeting to be held in the Swiss city in late April, warning that "an indefinite hiatus can only undermine the constitutional committee's credibility and work".
On Sunday, the UN envoy said he had repeated the proposal during his meeting with Mekdad.
"We need progress on the political front," said Pedersen, who mediates the discussions between representatives from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, the opposition, and civil society.
While the Syrian opposition had sought to negotiate for a transitional phase envisioning Assad's departure, UN-facilitated talks are now limited to revising the constitution.
Endless rounds of UN-backed peace talks failed to stop the Syrian conflict and in recent years have been largely overtaken by parallel discussions involving Turkey, which has backed Syrian rebels, and regime allies Russia and Iran.
]]> ]]>
The fire broke out in the early hours of Saturday, destroying the location of an Egyptian alley inside the 27,000-square-metre site, leaving at least 10 injured, including two firefighters. No fatalities were reported. It took at least 40 fire trucks to extinguish for over six hours, according to local news outlets.ِ
About half a dozen residential buildings nearby, in the Al-Haram neighbourhood in Giza province, west of the capital Cairo, sustained major damages and were evacuated accordingly.
Prime Minster Mostafa Madouly ordered that each family receive 15000 Egyptian pounds (about $US 310) to help them rent temporary places until their homes are repaired.
A location, mimicking a local Egyptian alley, where part of the show was being shot, has completely been ravaged.
Videos and pictures that showed the severity of the fire went viral on social media shortly following the incident.
Madbouly and Minister of Culture Nevine El-Kilany visited the site for an impact assessment of the damage.
A technical committee of experts has been formed to assess the damages and work on a renovation plan for the studio and the ravaged buildings.
Preliminary findings, meanwhile, ruled out a possible foul play, suggesting the incident was caused by a short circuit.
But a witness, who lives close to the site, told The New Arab that fireworks had been used while shooting El-Moalem (The Master), a Ramadan TV series, which reportedly initiated the fire, further intensified by materials used in the décor, mainly fabric, foam and wood.
The show's director, Morkos Adel, told domestic news outlets that the cast, which included Egyptian superstar Mostafa Shaaban, had already left before the fire broke out.
"We have always reported such risks, which we could see from our balconies, to the local municipality but our complaints have never been taken seriously," the witness said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
One of the oldest and most prestigious film production houses in the Arab World, Ahram Studio was established in 1944 during WWII, and divided into three production stages that saw the creation of over 500 major TV and cinema works.
The fire is expected to impact a high season of several works screened during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and films expected to be released during Eid Al-Fitr.
]]> ]]>The man, identified as 24-year-old Laith al-Atrash, was arrested at his father’s falafel restaurant located on the main Jerusalem-Hebron street in Bethlehem’s Dheisheh camp.
The Israeli officers appear to pose as customers at the restaurant in a video shared online, and seem to wait for their order to be taken as they queued alongside other customers, before proceeding to attack al-Atrash and arrest him.
The violent incident reportedly took place before Iftar, the fast-breaking meal consumed at sunset during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, according to AlAraby TV.
In the video, which looks like CCTV footage from the restaurant. a man presumed to be al-Atrash can be seen violently pulled away by the Israeli undercover officers, causing him to fall over the falafel stand – before being dragged away by his clothing.
Remaining staff members – visibly alarmed by the incident – are seen putting their hands up in fear after the Israeli officers pull out guns and point them.
Customers can also be seen fearfully walking away, with some putting their hands up in the air.
The undercover police officers are members of the notorious Mista'arvim or Musta'arbin, an Israeli undercover unit whose operatives disguise themselves and assimilate as Palestinians.
The range of their operations includes gathering intelligence, infiltrating protests, carrying out arrests and assassinations and stifle Palestinian dissidence.
The Israeli NGO B'Tselem says Mista’arvim have killed at least 161 Palestinians between 2000 and 2010, with 19 victims being under the age of 16.
It remains unclear why al-Atrash was arrested. However, Israeli forces have carried out large-scale raids and arrests over the weekend in several cities across the West Bank.
At least 25 people have been arrested on Saturday and Sunday, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society said, with raids across Tulkarem, Ramallah, Jenin and Jerusalem.
قبل الإفطار بلحظات.. قوة خاصة إسرائيلية تختطف الشاب ليث الأطرش من مخيم الدهيشة بمدينة بيت لحم في #الضفة_الغربية pic.twitter.com/2ZogQpI8yI
— التلفزيون العربي (@AlarabyTV) March 16, 2024
Among those detained is a woman from Gaza, who was headed to Jerusalem to complete medical treatment for cancer.
Around 7,630 Palestinians have been arrested in the West Bank since October 7, amid intensified Israeli violence in the occupied territory, in the backdrop of Tel Aviv’s deadly military onslaught in Gaza, which has killed 31,645 victims.
]]> ]]>Israeli airstrikes hit several sites in southern Syria early Sunday wounding a soldier, Syrian regime media reported.
Regime news agency SANA, citing an unnamed military official, said air defences shot down some of the missiles, which came from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights at around 12:42 am local time. The strikes led to “material losses” and the wounding of a soldier, the statement said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said Israeli strikes also hit two military sites in the Qalamoun mountains northeast of Damascus, an area where the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is active. One of the targets was a weapons shipment, the observatory said.
The observatory said the strikes represented the 24th time Israel has struck inside Syria since the beginning of 2024. They have killed 43 fighters with various groups — including Hezbollah and Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard — and nine civilians.
There was no immediate statement from Israeli officials on the strikes. Israel frequently launches strikes on Iran-linked targets in Syria but rarely acknowledges them. The strikes have escalated over the past five months against the backdrop of Israel's war on Gaza and ongoing clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces on the Lebanon-Israel border.
Last week, the Israeli army said it has carried out 4,500 strikes against Hezbollah targets over the past five months, most of which were in Lebanon, while a few were in Syria.
The Israeli army said in a statement that it “will not allow for any attempted actions which could lead to the entrenchment of Hezbollah on the Syrian front.”
]]> ]]>Jon publicly announced his conversion to Islam in front of a large congregation at the mosque.
A video shared on social media showed the American rapper reciting the shahada, a testament of faith, in Arabic and then in English, under the guidance of the mosque's imam.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1972, and known by his real name Jonathan H. Smith, the rapper gained fame for his pioneering role in promoting the hip-hop subgenre in the early 2000s.
Lil Jon (@LilJon) just accepted islam at king Fahad mosque in LA before jummah prayer. Welcome to Islam brother! 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/J26MwGNYJx
— Rahim Siddiq (@rahvsid) March 15, 2024
Jon, renowned for his dynamic persona and trademark catchphrases such as "Yeah!" and "Okay," rose to prominence with chart-topping hits like "Get Low" and "Turn Down for What."
Jon becomes the second notable American to embrace Islam during the first week of Ramadan this year, following in the footsteps of US writer and activist Shaun King.
By adopting Islam, Jon joins a cohort of celebrities who have converted to the faith, including well-known figures such as Clarence Seedorf, Andrew Tate, Kevin Lee, Gervonta Davis, and Thomas Partey.
]]> ]]>United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations said a commercial ship "has reported an explosion in close proximity to the vessel", causing no casualties or damage.
The blast hit as the ship was sailing "85 nautical miles east of Aden" in Yemen, and the vessel was "proceeding to its next port of call", said UKMTO, which is run by the Royal Navy.
It did not identify the vessel.
UKMTO WARNING INCIDENT 054 ATTACK UPDATE 001https://t.co/fX3hWupi7g pic.twitter.com/ruhsAeRjzj
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) March 17, 2024
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the reported attack, which comes after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said they would expand their campaign against ships which they say are linked to Israel.
The Houthis have launched dozens of missile and drone strikes on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden over the past four months, significantly disrupting global trade.
They say these actions they say are in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who have been subjected to brutal and indiscriminate Israeli attacks that have killed at least 31,645 people.
The United States, which leads an international coalition meant to protect Red Sea shipping, has since mid-January struck Houthi targets in Yemen.
The US Central Command said on Saturday its forces had "destroyed five unmanned surface vessels and one" drone in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
CENTCOM earlier said it had shot down a drone fired by the Houthis toward the Red Sea.
Such exchanges have become frequent in the area, sending shipping insurance costs soaring and prompting many firms to detour around the southern tip of Africa.
On Thursday rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said the group would expand their attacks to ships taking the longer route around Africa's Cape of Good Hope.
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Israel's security cabinet and the smaller war cabinet were to meet to "decide on the mandate of the delegation in charge of the negotiations before its departure for Doha," the prime minister's office said.
More than five months of indiscriminate Israeli attacks and a crippling siege have led to dire humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, where the United Nations has repeatedly warned of looming famine for the coastal territory's 2.4 million people.
At least 31,645 people in Gaza, most of them women and children have been killed, according to the health ministry.
As the flow of aid trucks into Gaza has slowed, a second ship was due to depart from Cyprus along a new maritime corridor to bring food and relief goods, Cypriot officials said.
On Saturday the US charity World Central Kitchen said its team had finished unloading supplies from the first vessel to reach Gaza.
The United Nations has reported particular difficulty in accessing north Gaza, where residents say they have resorted to eating animal fodder, and where some have stormed the few aid trucks that have made it through.
Most Gazans displaced by the fighting have sought refuge in Rafah on the Egyptian border, where Israel has threatened to launch a ground offensive, without giving a timeline.
The head of the UN's World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, appealed to Israel "in the name of humanity" not to launch an assault on Rafah.
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