CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan discussed on Monday the fight against terrorism, especially its funding and those who provide it with media cover, an apparent criticism of Qatar.
“Both sides stressed the importance of all Arab states and the international community fighting terrorism, especially stopping the funding of terrorist groups and providing political and media cover,” El-Sisi’s office said in a statement.
The meeting, which took place in Cairo, came hours after Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said Doha had not received any demands from its Gulf neighbors and that Qatar’s internal affairs are non-negotiable, including the future of Doha-based channel Al Jazeera.
The statement did not refer to Qatar or Al Jazeera explicitly.
The channel is at the center of the controversy. Arab rulers accuse Qatar of using its multi-million-dollar franchise as a mouthpiece to attack them.
Gulf neighbors have long viewed Qatar’s foreign policy with suspicion, especially its refusal to shun Iran, and resented Al Jazeera for its readiness to air unwelcome or dissenting views from across the region. Saudi Arabia and the UAE shut down the channel when the rift happened.
Egypt views Al Jazeera as critical of its government, and the channel has been banned there since 2013. Al Jazeera says it is an independent news service giving a voice to everyone in the region.
Egyptian security forces have arrested several of its reporters and last year a Cairo court recommended the death penalty for two of them, charged in absentia with endangering national security by leaking state secrets to Qatar.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Mohammed said that he plans to travel to the US next week to discuss the impact of the rift on Qatar’s economy and on the fight against terrorism.
Sheikh Mohammed also told journalists in Doha that Qatar was ready to engage in a dialogue with other Gulf parties to resolve the crisis based on clear principles and that Doha still believed a solution was possible through Kuwaiti mediation.
Egyptian, UAE leaders, eying Qatar, discuss terror funding, media role
Egyptian, UAE leaders, eying Qatar, discuss terror funding, media role
Libya objects to Greek tender for hydrocarbon exploration off Crete
Last month Athens invited bidders for hydrocarbon exploration in two blocks south of Crete
TRIPOLI: Libya’s internationally recognized government of national unity has objected to Greece’s approval of an international tender for hydrocarbon exploration off the island of Crete, saying some of the blocks infringed upon its own maritime zones.
The two countries have been trying to mend relations strained by an accord signed in 2019 between the Libyan government and Greece’s regional rival Turkiye, which mapped out a sea area between them close to the Greek island.
Greece opposed the agreement, saying it had no legal basis as it sought to create an exclusive economic zone from Turkiye’s southern Mediterranean shore to Libya’s northeast coast, ignoring the presence of Crete.
Last month Athens invited bidders for hydrocarbon exploration in two blocks south of Crete following an expression of interest by US major Chevron.
Libya’s Tripoli-based foreign ministry said in a statement late on Thursday that some of the tendered sea blocks off Crete fell within disputed zones and were “a clear violation of Libya’s sovereign rights.”
The ministry objected “to any exploration or drilling activities in these areas without a prior legal understanding that respects the rules of international law,” it said, calling on Greek authorities to prioritize dialogue and negotiation.
Responding to questions at the Greek parliament, Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said Greece was willing to discuss with Libya “the delimitation of maritime zones within the framework of international law.”
Gerapetritis is expected to visit Libya in the coming weeks, an official with the Greek foreign ministry told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Israeli defense minister warns Hezbollah against joining conflict with Iran
- Hezbollah has made no explicit pledge to join the fighting
JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Lebanon’s Hezbollah to exercise caution on Friday, saying Israel’s patience with “terrorists” who threaten it had worn thin.
The head of Iran-backed Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, said on Thursday that the Lebanese group would act as it saw fit in the face of what he called “brutal Israeli-American aggression” against Iran.
In other statements, the group has made no explicit pledge to join the fighting and a Hezbollah official told Reuters last week that the group did not intend to initiate attacks against Israel.
Gaza rescuers say 43 killed by Israeli forces
- Civil defense official says 26 people killed while gathered near aid distribution center
GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 43 people on Friday, including 26 who had gathered near an aid distribution center, the latest in a string of deadly incidents targeting aid seekers in the Palestinian territory.
“Forty-three martyrs have fallen as a result of the ongoing Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip since dawn today, 26 of whom were waiting for humanitarian aid,” Mohammad Al-Mughayyir, director of medical supply at the civil defense agency in Gaza, told AFP.
UN warns of ‘disastrous consequences’ of escalating Sudan fighting
- “The recent fighting and grave risk of further aggravation in an already brutal and deadly conflict raise severe protection concerns,” Turk said
- “For too long already, the world has witnessed the unbound horrors unfolding in Sudan”
GENEVA: The United Nations’ rights chief Volker Turk said on Friday that escalating fighting in Sudan’s west and center risks aggravating harm to civilians and abuses, more than two years into the country’s war.
Turk in a statement warned of “the disastrous consequences stemming from ongoing and escalating hostilities” in the Darfur and Kordofan regions, “where civilian casualties, sexual violence, abductions and looting have been reported in multiple areas.”
“The recent fighting and grave risk of further aggravation in an already brutal and deadly conflict raise severe protection concerns, amid a pervasive culture of impunity for human rights violations,” Turk said.
The war since April 2023 pits Sudan’s army against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, with both sides facing repeated accusations of human rights violations.
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.
“For too long already, the world has witnessed the unbound horrors unfolding in Sudan and the untold suffering of its people. Civilians must be protected at all costs. Violations and crimes must be thoroughly investigated and those responsible be held to account,” Turk said.
He pointed to a paramilitary attack on the long-besieged North Darfur state capital of El-Fasher “following months of increased mobilization of fighters, including the recruitment of children.”
Turk said this mirrors a previous offensive on a nearby displacement camp that “led to hundreds of civilian deaths, widespread sexual violence and a humanitarian catastrophe.”
Turk also said civilians were “trapped” in Dibeibat town in South Kordofan state as the warring sides fight to capture it, while the army-held city of El-Obeid in North Kordofan is “reportedly surrounded” by paramilitary forces.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration on Wednesday said more than 16,000 people had been displaced from areas hit by violence, including South Kordofan and Darfur.
Gaza faces a manmade drought as water systems collapse, UNICEF says
- “Children will begin to die of thirst ... Just 40 percent of drinking water production facilities remain functional,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva
- “We just hope that a comprehensive solution could be reached to end the war in Gaza, too. We are being forgotten” said a father in Gaza
GENEVA: Gaza is facing a manmade drought as its water systems collapse, the United Nations’ children agency said on Friday.
“Children will begin to die of thirst ... Just 40 percent of drinking water production facilities remain functional,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva.
Israel is now channelling much of the aid into Gaza through a new US – and Israeli-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which uses private US security and logistics firms and operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces.
Israel has said it will continue to allow aid into Gaza, home to more than 2 million people, while ensuring it doesn’t get to Hamas. Hamas denies seizing aid, saying Israel uses hunger as a weapon.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, called the current system for distributing aid “a disgrace & a stain on our collective consciousness,” in a post on X on Wednesday.
Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, displaced almost all the territory’s residents, and caused a severe hunger crisis.
The World Food Programme called on Wednesday for a big increase in food distribution in Gaza, saying that the 9,000 metric tons it had dispatched over the last four weeks inside Gaza represented a “tiny fraction” of what was needed.
“The fear of starvation and desperate need for food is causing large crowds to gather along well-known transport routes, hoping to intercept and access humanitarian supplies while in transit,” the WFP said in a statement.
“Any violence resulting in starving people being killed or injured while seeking life-saving assistance is completely unacceptable,” it added.
Palestinians in Gaza have been closely following Israel’s air war with Iran, long a major supporter of Hamas.
“We are maybe happy to see Israel suffer from Iranian rockets, but at the end of the day, one more day in this war costs the lives of tens of innocent people,” said 47-year-old Shaban Abed, a father of five from northern Gaza.
“We just hope that a comprehensive solution could be reached to end the war in Gaza, too. We are being forgotten.”
