BENGHAZI, Libya: The armed forces led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar announced a “great victory” against jihadist fighters in Libya’s second city of Benghazi on Thursday.
“We now have total control of the Qawarsha sector,” 10 kilometers (six miles) west of the center of Benghazi, said Ahmad Mesmari, spokesman for Haftar’s forces.
Mesmari hailed what he termed a “great victory” in what had been a stronghold of Ansar Al-Sharia, a group close to Al-Qaeda that is classified as a terrorist group by the United Nations and United States.
Haftar’s forces, called the Libyan National Army, were persuing the jihadists in Qanfouda, further west, one of the last remaining jihadist-held sectors of the Mediterranean city.
He did not give a casualty toll for the fighting but a military source said Wednesday that 12 of Haftar’s soldiers had been killed in clashes since Tuesday.
Thirteen “extremists” died in three days of battle, according to another spokesman for Haftar’s forces, Ali Al-Thabet, but there was no independent confirmation of that toll.
The US envoy to Libya, Jonathan Winer, on Thursday issued a rare show of support for the forces of Haftar, a controversial and divisive figure in Libya.
“Tough sacrifices by #Libya National Army soldiers this week reported — 20 killed & 40 injured in counter terror fighting in Benghazi,” he wrote on Twitter.
Benghazi, birthplace of the 2011 revolution which toppled Libya’s longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi, has been the scene of daily clashes for the past two years between Haftar’s forces and jihadist militias holding onto pockets of the city.
Five years after the revolution, the country is embroiled in violence and run by two rival administrations.
Haftar forces claim victory in Libya’s Benghazi
Haftar forces claim victory in Libya’s Benghazi
Lebanon assures Jordan of solidarity after foiled threats to national security
- After arrest of 16 suspects ‘planning acts of chaos and sabotage,’ Beirut is ‘fully prepared’ to cooperate by sharing info about 2 who reportedly trained in Lebanon, says PM Nawaf Salam
- Palestinian Authority condemns the ‘terrorist plots’ and says ‘attempts to target and weaken Jordan are targeting and weakening Palestine’
LONDON: Lebanon’s prime minister expressed solidarity with Jordan following the arrest on Tuesday of several suspects accused of involvement in plots to compromise Jordanian national security.
During a telephone conversation with his counterpart, Jafar Hassan, Nawaf Salam pledged Lebanon's full cooperation in efforts to tackle threats to Jordan’s security and stability.
Earlier, the Jordanian General Intelligence Department arrested 16 people suspected of “planning acts of chaos and sabotage,” the Jordan News Agency reported. Two of the suspects, Abdullah Hisham and Muath Al-Ghanem, were believed to have visited Lebanon to coordinate with a senior leader in the Muslim Brotherhood and receive training, the agency added.
Salam said Lebanese authorities were “fully prepared” to cooperate with their Jordanian counterparts by providing information about individuals suspected of involvement in the plots who received training in Lebanon, the country’s National News Agency reported.
“Lebanon refuses to be a base or a launching pad for any action that would threaten the security of any brotherly or friendly country,” the prime minister added.
In a message posted on social media platform X, Lebanese MP Fouad Makhzoum said the case affects Lebanon’s relations with Arab and other foreign countries, and urged the government to clarify the circumstances surrounding the suspects’ training.
“All solidarity with Jordan in the face of malicious attempts to undermine its stability,” he added.
During a telephone call with Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, Lebanon’s former prime minister, Najib Mikati, similarly expressed his solidarity with Amman.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the “terrorist plots” and said they represented an attempt to undermine national security. The president’s office said “attempts to target and weaken Jordan are targeting and weakening Palestine,” the Palestinian News Agency reported.
What happened to the Palestinian doctors detained by Israeli forces in Gaza?
- Palestinian medical workers recount abuse, starvation, and torture in Israeli detention facilities
- Rights groups say Israeli attack on health infrastructure violate international humanitarian law
LONDON: Rights groups say Israel is deliberately targeting Gaza’s health system, with at least 160 Palestinian medics currently detained having been seized from hospitals. Recently released doctors have described targeted attacks and systematic abuse.
Healthcare Workers Watch, a Palestinian watchdog, reported in February that 162 medical staff are being held by Israeli authorities, including 20 doctors and some of Gaza’s most senior physicians.
The whereabouts of 24 healthcare workers are unknown after they were forcibly removed from hospitals during Israel’s military operation, which began on Oct. 7, 2023, following the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that triggered the conflict.
Muath Alser, director of Healthcare Workers Watch, said the detention of medical workers represented a violation of international law, which had exacerbated civilian suffering by stripping Palestinians of essential medical expertise and care.
“Israel’s targeting of the healthcare workforce in this manner is having a devastating impact on the provision of healthcare to Palestinians, with extensive suffering, countless preventable deaths, and the effective eradication of whole medical specialities,” Alser told The Guardian.
The destruction of Gaza’s health infrastructure has been widely documented. A December 2024 report by the UN Human Rights Office revealed that the enclave’s healthcare system had been brought to the brink of collapse by repeated raids.
Hospitals have been damaged — both directly and indirectly by Israeli airstrikes and combat operations — putting staff and patients at risk. More than 1,000 health workers have been killed, according to the UN.
On Sunday, an Israeli airstrike destroyed parts of Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, Gaza City’s last fully functional hospital. Witnesses said the strike destroyed the intensive care and surgery departments.
Israel said it targeted the hospital because it contained a “command and control center used by Hamas,” but did not provide any evidence. Governments worldwide condemned the attack, including Saudi Arabia, which described the bombing as a “heinous crime.”
IN NUMBERS
- 1,057+ Palestinian health workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.
- 25% Gaza’s wounded with life-changing injuries who require ongoing rehabilitation.
(Source: OCHA)
Amid growing concerns over Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law, which is designed to protect hospitals, clinics, ambulances, and their staff, Gaza’s health sector is struggling to meet the overwhelming demand.
According to the World Health Organization, just 16 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remained partially operational as of January, with fewer than 1,800 beds available for tens of thousands of patients.
Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for the West Bank and Gaza, has warned that “the health sector is being systematically dismantled,” citing shortages of medical supplies, equipment, and personnel.
Since October 2023, at least 50,900 Palestinians have been killed and more than 115,688 injured, according to Gaza’s health authorities. As of September 2024, a quarter of the wounded had suffered life-changing injuries.
The WHO also verified that 297 healthcare workers in Gaza had been detained by the Israeli military since October 2023 but had no details on who was still being held. Healthcare Workers Watch reports that 339 have been detained.
Several organizations have shared testimonies from recently released Palestinian doctors describing systematic raids, arrests, and allegations of torture.
Physicians for Human Rights–Israel, in a report released in February, said many medical workers had been seized while on duty and held for months without charge under Israel’s Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law, which allows indefinite detention without evidence.
Several accounts from released detainees include details of physical violence, sexual abuse, verbal insults, and degrading treatment.
For instance, Dr. Khaled Alser, 32, a surgeon arrested at Nasser Hospital, said: “On the day of my arrest, the army ordered the evacuation of the hospital. There was a battalion outside, and they forced us to strip in front of everyone and walk naked for about 30 meters.”
He said detainees were left naked for hours before being moved to overcrowded rooms in houses, where they were handcuffed with plastic zip ties for five days and interrogated.
“I was next to my medical colleagues when they took them, tortured and beat them, and later released some while arresting others,” he added.
FASTFACTS
- As of Sept. 24, 2024, at least three Palestinian physicians have died in Israeli custody.
- Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh died under torture in Israeli custody in May 2024.
(Source: MAP)
Twenty of the 24 medical workers visited by PHRI lawyers said they were arrested while on duty in direct violation of international laws protecting medical staff from interference.
In addition, prison authorities employed brutal interrogation methods. One 60-year-old emergency coordinator and ambulance driver said he was tortured with loud music, beatings, and threats.
“I was interrogated in the ‘Disco Room’ for a week, where the volume was always deafening,” he said. “They beat me so badly during one session that my tooth filling fell out.
“They poured cold water on me, struck me on the head with a cellphone, and beat me half to death. They threatened to harm my family and parents.”
Similarly, a 38-year-old nurse said he was suspended by his wrists from the ceiling, his legs forced backward, and left in that position for hours.
“They humiliated me and spat on me,” he told the PHRI. “During the interrogation in Ofer Prison, they extinguished cigarettes on my head and poured coffee over me. I was brutally beaten.”
International humanitarian law strictly prohibits physical or psychological abuse during interrogations. Article 32 of the Fourth Geneva Convention bars acts that cause physical suffering or extermination of protected persons, including medical personnel.
“Health workers should be protected to do their work,” a WHO spokesperson told Arab News. “Anyone in detention must have their human and legal rights respected.”
Israel has accused Hamas and other militant groups of using hospitals as command centers. Under international humanitarian law, hospitals lose protected status if they are used for military purposes.
The deliberate denial of food was also said to be commonplace in Israel’s detention facilities.
The report said all 24 medical professionals interviewed suffered severe malnutrition, as prison authorities provided inadequate meals — in terms of quality and quantity — that also ignored preexisting health conditions like diabetes, causing lasting damage.
One doctor described the food as lacking vitamins and a balanced diet, weakening the detainees’ immune systems. PHRI confirmed this by consulting a clinical nutritionist for an expert assessment of conditions at Ofer Prison near Ramallah.
Compounding health issues from violent treatment and extreme malnutrition in custody, the testimonies highlighted a severe lack of medical care, even for those with preexisting conditions.
The Israeli Prison Service, in a statement to the American broadcaster CNN following the release of PHRI’s report, denied knowledge of abuse against Palestinian medical workers inside its facilities and claimed it acted according to local law.
In the same vein, the Israeli Defense Forces told the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle it “operates in accordance with international law and does not detain medical workers due to their work as such.”
It denied withholding medical treatment or food and said that “any mistreatment of detainees, whether during detention or interrogation, is strictly prohibited and constitutes a violation of Israeli and international law, and of IDF regulations.”
The IDF added that any mistreatment would be investigated.
International human rights organizations and UN agencies have documented Israel’s actions in Gaza, accusing it of war crimes.
Amnesty International said in December that “Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza.”
In October 2024, a UN Commission on Detainee Treatment report found that Israeli security forces deliberately killed, detained, and tortured medical personnel, targeted medical vehicles, and tightened the siege on Gaza, restricting permits for medical treatment.
“These actions constitute the war crimes of wilful killing and mistreatment and of the destruction of protected civilian property and the crime against humanity of extermination,” it added.
Balkees Jarrah, acting Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in August that Israel’s “mistreatment of Palestinian healthcare workers has continued in the shadows.”
She called for a thorough investigation into “the torture and ill-treatment of doctors, nurses, and paramedics, including by the International Criminal Court.”
A lawyer representing Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, whose detention by Israeli forces in December sparked international condemnation, said after visiting him in Ofer Prison that the doctor had been tortured, beaten, and denied medical treatment.
In addition, the accounts in PHRI’s report align with findings by other media and rights organizations, including a 2024 Human Rights Watch report that documented similar abuses. It said the detentions have worsened Gaza’s health crisis by limiting access to essential care.
Likewise, interviews with The Guardian and Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism revealed testimonies from eight senior Gaza doctors, detailing torture, beatings, starvation, and humiliation during months of detention.
Some believe they were singled out for extreme violence because they were doctors.
Dr. Issam Abu Ajwa was in the middle of performing emergency surgery on a patient at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in central Gaza when Israeli soldiers came for him.
Describing his ordeal, he said: “One of the senior interrogators had given instructions that because I was a senior consultant surgeon, they should work hard to make sure that I lost (the use of my hands) and became unable to perform surgery.”
He added that he was handcuffed 24 hours a day, and interrogators used planks with chains to restrain his hands for hours at a time. “They said they wanted to make sure I could never return to work.”
None of the eight senior doctors were given an explanation for their detention, the report says. All were released without charge after months in custody.
In a statement to DW, the Israeli military rejected the allegations raised by The Guardian, saying: “During the fighting in the Gaza Strip, suspects of terrorist activities were arrested.”
It added: “The relevant suspects have been taken for further detention and questioning in Israel. Those who are not involved in terrorist activity are released back to the Gaza Strip as soon as possible.”
PHRI’s report found that Palestinian medical workers were primarily questioned about Israeli hostages, tunnels, hospital structures, Hamas activity, and fellow physicians — rarely about criminal activity or substantive charges.
The report said the interrogations appeared focused on “intelligence gathering rather than investigating alleged security offenses.”
It noted that after months in detention, most medical personnel were never formally charged and were denied legal representation.
Naji Abbas, director of PHRI’s Department for Prisoners and Detainees’ Rights, said: “Through the testimonies, through our visits, we started to understand that the doctors were arrested mainly for collecting information.
“When you hear a doctor saying that he was forced to draw a map of the hospital, when he was asked about his colleagues … you can understand that there is a pattern of questioning … fishing for information,” he told Democracy Now, a left-leaning US news program.
In a statement within the February report, Abbas called the “unlawful detention, abuse, and starvation of Gaza’s healthcare workers” a “moral and legal outrage.”
He added that “medical professionals should never be targeted, detained, or tortured for providing life-saving care,” and demanded Israel “release all detained medical personnel immediately,” urging the international community to “demand accountability.”
What we know about Israel’s latest Gaza ceasefire proposal
- A previous ceasefire, initiated on January 19, resulted in the release of 33 hostages in exchange for about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners, before it collapsed two months later
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Nearly a month after Israel resumed its aerial and ground assaults across Gaza to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages in the territory, the Palestinian militant group says it had received a new ceasefire proposal from Israel.
A senior Hamas official told AFP that the group would “most likely” respond within 48 hours.
The proposal was delivered to the group’s delegation in Cairo over the weekend by Egyptian officials, who are mediating in the ceasefire talks.
Another senior Hamas official told AFP late on Monday that Israel had proposed a 45-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of 10 living hostages.
In return, Israel would free 1,231 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails and allow humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory, which it has been fully blockading since March 2.
During Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza, Palestinian militants abducted 251 hostages, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
A previous ceasefire, initiated on January 19, resulted in the release of 33 hostages in exchange for about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners, before it collapsed two months later.
The latest proposal also stipulates that any hostage release occur privately, in contrast to the previous releases involving public ceremonies in Gaza that drew widespread criticism in Israel.
The Hamas official said that the Israeli proposal calls for the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander on the first day of the ceasefire as a “gesture of goodwill.”
Alexander is the only living hostage to hold US citizenship.
On the second day, Hamas would exchange five more hostages for 66 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli jails and 611 Gazans detained during the current war.
On the third day, talks would begin over “day after” scenarios for when the war ends, including the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian factions in exchange for a permanent ceasefire.
Hamas has insisted that preserving its arms is a red line.
In the second week of the ceasefire, Hamas would release four more living hostages in exchange for 54 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and another 500 Gaza detainees.
Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan 11, said that the proposal also stipulates that Hamas release the bodies of 16 hostages on the 20th day of the ceasefire.
Hamas negotiators visited Cairo last week where they received the proposal, Suhail Al-Hindi, a member of the group’s political bureau, told AFP on Tuesday.
The official who spoke to AFP the day before said on Tuesday that “Hamas will most likely send its response to the mediators within the next 48 hours, as the movement is still conducting in-depth consultations... within its leadership framework, as well as with resistance factions, in order to formulate a unified position.”
He said that consultations were ongoing, and that Hamas was “keen to end the aggression and the war” but would require guarantees from Egypt, Qatar and US mediators that Israel would uphold its side of the deal.
“Hamas has no issue with the number of prisoners and is ready to release them all at once or in batches,” he added.
Israel has remained silent on the latest proposal.
However, the campaign group Tikva Forum of Hostages’ Families, which represents a small group of families of hostages advocating for the continuation of military pressure, said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had confirmed that the country was indeed seeking the release of 10 living captives.
According to the group, Netanyahu spoke with Ditza Or, the mother of hostage Avinatan Or, late on Monday and confirmed that Alexander was among those included in the proposed exchange.
She responded by saying that “there is a moral obligation to return everyone together in one stage and on one bus,” the group added.
Protests erupts in Tunisian town after three died in school wall collapse
- For demonstrators, the tragedy reflects the deterioration of public service in Tunisia
- Witnesses said protesters burned wheels, blocked roads, and smashed a government vehicle
TUNIS: Hundreds of Tunisians protested on Tuesday, demanding accountability, after three students died on Monday following a school wall collapse in the central town of Mazzouna, an incident that provoked widespread anger and accusations of negligence against officials.
The collapse of a dilapidated wall led to the death of three teenaged students preparing for their baccalaureate exams, and two others were seriously injured, the Civil Defense said.
For demonstrators, the tragedy reflects the deterioration of public service in Tunisia and the neglect of maintenance of the country’s aging infrastructure, amid a worsening economic and social crisis.
Witnesses said protesters burned wheels, blocked roads, and smashed a government vehicle. All shops and schools in the area were closed.
Protesters gathered near the National Guard headquarters in Mazzouna town, shouting slogans against social marginalization and demanding the dismissal of officials.
In Tunis, hundreds of young people also protested, raising anti-government slogans and demanding the government’s resignation, in a show of solidarity with the victims of the accident.
Authorities have opened an investigation into the incident. A judicial spokesperson said the school principal has been arrested.
Khamenei says Iran-US talks going well but may lead nowhere
TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday he was satisfied with talks with arch-foe the US but warned they could ultimately prove fruitless.
Tehran and Washington are due to meet again in Muscat on Saturday, a week after top officials held the highest-level talks since the landmark 2015 nuclear accord collapsed.
US President Donald Trump, who pulled out of the deal during his first term, revived his “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign after returning to office in January.
In March, he sent a letter to Khamenei urging talks and warning of possible military action if Iran refused.
Saturday’s talks were “well carried out in the first steps,” Khamenei said, quoted by state television. “Of course, we are very pessimistic about the other side, but we are optimistic about our own capabilities.”
But he added that “the negotiations may or may not yield results.”
Despite having no diplomatic ties since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, both sides described the talks as “constructive.”
Iran insists discussions remain “indirect” and mediated by Oman.
On Monday, Trump again threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities if no deal was reached, calling Iranian authorities “radicals” who should not possess nuclear weapons.
