CAIRO: Egypt said Saturday that it has coordinated an ongoing anti-terrorism offensive in the Sinai Peninsula with Israel, and that the campaign does not violate the two nations’ peace treaty.
In the military’s first news conference since the operation began five weeks ago, Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali also said Egyptian troops have killed 32 “criminals” and arrested 38 who included foreign drug traffickers.
The military launched the sweep following an Aug. 5 militant attack near the border with Israel and Gaza that killed 16 Egyptian soldiers, the deadliest internal attack on Egyptian troops in recent history.
In terms of its size and the use of heavy weapons like tanks, the offensive is unprecedented in Sinai since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. A large swath of the peninsula’s territory is demilitarized according to the 1979 peace treaty.
The Sinai has seen a security vacuum since the uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak last year, and Islamist militant groups have used it to expand their presence.
Israel, which has long complained that militants were using Sinai as a base to stage cross-border attacks, had agreed to the deployment of extra troops in areas restricted by the treaty. It raised concerns about the tanks, however, and the US asked Egypt to be transparent about its security operation.
Israel’s defense minister Ehud Barak told Army Radio last week that Israel is asking Egyptian officials to coordinate all future military activity in the area and remove its forces once the offensive ends.
Ali said Egypt has consulted with Israel in accordance with the peace treaty requirements.
“There was coordination for the use of the armed forces in the whole of the Sinai operation,” he said. “I think that there is the understanding that the military operation in Sinai is in the interest of all.”
He reiterated Egypt’s commitment to the 1979 peace treaty “without harming national interest.”
Egyptian officials have used this and similar qualifiers repeatedly to describe the country’s adherence to the treaty. For several years, Cairo has said it wants to see the treaty amended to allow the deployment of more troops. Israel has agreed to the temporary deployment of extra troops but is tepid to formal amendments to the treaty for fear of enshrining too much firepower on its border.
An Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity, said there are ongoing communications between the two sides.
Ali said troops have also located and destroyed 31 tunnels along the border with Gaza, used for smuggling, and have seized weapons and vehicles used by criminals.
He said a second phase of the operation has begun on Aug. 31 and is still underway “to prepare to uproot criminal pockets (in Sinai) completely,” he said. He did not provide further details.
Egypt says Sinai campaign coordinated with Israel
Egypt says Sinai campaign coordinated with Israel
Netanyahu’s government faces possible collapse as opposition seeks to dissolve parliament
The ultra-Orthodox parties are furious that the government has failed to pass a law exempting their community from mandatory military service, an issue that has long divided the Jewish Israeli public, especially during the 20-monthlong war in the Gaza Strip.
While many expect a last-minute compromise, the vote is the most serious challenge to Netanyahu’s government since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, the biggest security failure in Israel’s history.
The opposition submitted a bill to dissolve the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. In response, coalition members submitted numerous bills, packing Wednesday’s schedule and buying time for last-minute negotiations.
The dissolution vote, if it is not pulled, is expected to take place late at night. Separately, Argentina’s President Javier Milei will address the Knesset on Wednesday.
The bill must pass another three readings before parliament is dissolved, a process that could take days or weeks.
Even if the bill passes, it could take weeks or months for new elections to be called. If the bill fails, another vote for dissolution cannot be brought again by the opposition for at least six months. The opposition could still pull the bill if there isn’t enough support and submit it again in the coming weeks.
Netanyahu’s coalition includes two ultra-Orthodox parties, and both would need to support the dissolution bill for it to pass. On Tuesday, top ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, rabbis issued a religious decree emphasizing their stand against military service, which complicates the Haredi politicians’ ability to negotiate.
Military service is mandatory for most Jews in Israel, but the politically powerful ultra-Orthodox, who make up roughly 13 percent of Israeli society, have traditionally received exemptions if they are studying full-time in religious seminaries.
The ultra-Orthodox, also known as Haredim, or “God-fearing” in Hebrew, say that integrating into the army threatens their traditional way of life.
Israel is engaged in the longest active war in the country’s history, which has stretched its military to the breaking point. The Haredim’s widespread refusal to serve, and threats to topple the government during wartime, have enraged many Israelis, especially those who have served multiple rounds of reserve duty.
Since the start of the war, 866 Israeli soldiers have been killed.
Sudan paramilitaries claim key zone bordering Egypt, Libya
- Rapid Support Forces say they have captured the 'strategic triangle area' between the three countries
- Army accuses eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar of launching cross-border attack alongside RSF
KHARTOUM: Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said Wednesday its fighters seized a strategic zone on the border with Egypt and Libya, as the regular army announced its withdrawal from the area.
The announcements came a day after the army accused forces loyal to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar of launching a cross-border attack alongside the RSF, the first allegation of direct Libyan involvement in the Sudanese war.
“As part of its defensive arrangements to repel aggression, our forces today evacuated the triangle area overlooking the borders between Sudan, Egypt and Libya,” army spokesman Nabil Abdallah said in a statement.
Since April 2023, the war in Sudan has pitted army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against his erstwhile ally Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the RSF.
In a statement on Wednesday, the RSF said its fighters had “liberated the strategic triangle area,” adding that army forces had retreated southward “after suffering heavy losses.”
The army said on Tuesday that Haftar’s troops in coordination with the RSF attacked its border positions in a move it called “a blatant aggression against Sudan.”
The war has effectively split Sudan in two, with the army holding the center, east and north, while the paramilitaries and their allies control nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south.
The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced 13 million, including four million who fled abroad, triggering what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Efforts by international mediators to halt the fighting have so far failed, with violence continuing to escalate across the western Darfur region and the Kordofan region in the country’s south.
Israeli court rejects appeals to release eight pro-Palestine activists arrested aboard Gaza-bound boat
- Eight activists from Turkiye, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Brazil remain in the Ramla detention center
- The court has scheduled a detention review hearing for July 8 if authorities have not deported the activists by that date
LONDON: An Israeli court ruled to keep in detention eight pro-Palestine activists who were arrested this week by the Israeli navy aboard the Madleen ship, which was bound for Gaza.
The British-flagged vessel, operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition, had 11 activists and a journalist on board, including the Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who was carrying aid for Palestinians in Gaza as an act of solidarity amid the Israeli attacks.
Israel released Thunberg on Tuesday following pressure from European governments. However, eight activists from Turkiye, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Brazil remain in the Ramla detention center, according to the Wafa news agency and lawyers from the Haifa-based Adalah legal center.
On Wednesday, an Israeli court rejected the appeals made by Adalah’s lawyers to release the eight activists and ruled to keep them in custody.
The activists are Suayb Ordu from Turkiye; Mark van Rins from the Netherlands; Pascal Moreras, Riva Fiard, member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, Yanis Mohammadi, all from France; Tiago Ovila from Brazil; and Yasmin Ajar from Germany.
Adalah said that the Israeli court based its decision to continue the detention on the grounds of their “illegal entry into Israel.” The legal center emphasized that none of the Madleen’s activists intended to enter Israel or its territorial waters as they planned to depart from Sicily and reach Gaza’s territorial waters, which are part of the state of Palestine, via international waters.
The Israeli navy intercepted the Madleen ship early on Tuesday morning, detaining the activists and taking them to Israel.
Adalah said that the court has scheduled a detention review hearing for July 8 if authorities have not deported the activists by that date.
Following her release and deportation from Israel on Tuesday, Thunberg said: “I was very clear in my testimony that we were kidnapped on international waters and brought against our own will into Israel.”
“This is yet another intentional violation of rights that is added to the list of countless other violations that Israel is committing,” she said.
Child survivor of Gaza family strike heads to Italy
- Adam and his mother, paediatrician Alaa Al-Najjar, flew to Milan Wednesday for treatment
- He had a hand amputated and suffered severe burns across his body after the strike on the family house in Khan Yunis
ROME: An 11-year-old Palestinian boy who survived an Israeli air strike in Gaza last month, which killed his father and nine siblings, was due to arrive in Italy Wednesday for treatment.
Adam and his mother, paediatrician Alaa Al-Najjar, were due to fly to Milan in northern Italy on Wednesday evening alongside his aunt and four cousins, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.
“Adam will arrive in Milan and will be admitted to the Niguarda (hospital), because he has multiple fractures and he will be treated there,” Tajani told Rtl radio.
A plane carrying Palestinians in need of medical care is scheduled to land at 7:30 p.m. (1730 GMT) at Milan’s Linate airport, according to the foreign ministry.
Adam had a hand amputated and suffered severe burns across his body following the strike on the family house in the city of Khan Yunis on May 23.
His mother was at work when the bomb hit the house, killing nine of her children and injuring Adam and his father, doctor Hamdi Al-Najjar, who died last week.
Al-Najjar, who ran to the house to find her children charred beyond recognition, told Italy’s La Repubblica daily: “I remember everything. Every detail, every minute, every scream.”
“But when I remember it’s too painful, so I try to keep my mind focused entirely on Adam,” she said in an interview published Wednesday ahead of their arrival.
Asked by his mother during the interview to describe his hopes, Adam said he wanted to “live in a beautiful place.”
“A beautiful place is a place where there are no bombs. In a beautiful place the houses are not broken and I go to school,” he said, according to La Repubblica.
“Schools have desks, the kids study their lessons but then they go play in the courtyard and nobody dies.
“A beautiful place is where they operate on my arm and my arm works again. In a beautiful place my mother is not sad. They told me that Italy is a beautiful place,” he said.
Al-Najjar said she has packed the Qur’an, their documents and Adam’s clothes.
“I am heartbroken. I am leaving behind everything that was important to me. My husband, my children, the hospital where I worked, my job, my patients,” she said.
“People are dying of hunger. If not of hunger, of bombs. We would just like to live in peace,” she told the daily.
Adam is one of 17 children being brought to Italy on Wednesday from Gaza along with relatives, Tajani said.
The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 54,981 people, the majority civilians, have been killed in the territory since the start of the war. The UN considers these figures reliable.
UAE foreign minister holds talks with US counterpart in Washington
- Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Marco Rubio discussed enhancing strategic ties to support shared interests
- Sheikh Abdullah said that the US is a key strategic ally of the UAE, and the UAE will work with the US to promote peace and stability
LONDON: UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan held talks on Wednesday with his US counterpart Marco Rubio at the US Department of State headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The meeting focused on enhancing strategic ties to support shared interests, according to the Emirates News Agency.
They assessed collaboration in the economic, commercial, scientific, advanced technology, and artificial intelligence sectors, along with the results of US President Donald Trump’s recent visit to the UAE in May.
Sheikh Abdullah said that the US is a key strategic ally of the UAE, and the UAE will work with the US to promote peace and stability both in the region and globally.
During the meeting, Sheikh Abdullah and Rubio also discussed regional developments.
The meeting was attended by Yousef Al-Otaiba, UAE ambassador to the US; Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, assistant minister for political affairs; Saeed Mubarak Al-Hajeri, assistant minister for economic and trade affairs; and Dr. Maha Taysir Barakat, assistant minister for medical affairs and life sciences at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
