RAFAH, Palestinian Territories: Hamas handed over control of the Gaza Strip’s borders with Egypt and Israel to the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday in the first key test of a landmark Palestinian reconciliation accord agreed last month.
Nazmi Muhanna, the Palestinian Authority’s top official for border crossings, formally received control of the Rafah crossing with Egypt from his Hamas counterpart in a ceremony Wednesday morning.
At a separate checkpoint with Israel, an AFP photographer saw Hamas installations being dismantled. Palestinian Authority and Hamas officials were also there overseeing the handover.
At the Rafah crossing, Palestinian and Egyptian flags were flying, with large pictures of Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas and Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
Mufeed Al-Husayna, a Palestinian Authority minister, gave a short speech at the crossing, saying all the border crossings were being handed over.
“We began today, under the directive of the Prime Minister (Rami Hamdallah), to exercise our duties by receiving all the crossings,” he said, thanking the Egyptians for mediating the deal.
“There is no yellow and green. All our Palestinian people are under the Palestinian flag,” he added, referring to the flag colors of the political parties that signed last month’s reconciliation deal.
Hamdallah is due to visit Gaza again in the coming days, he added.
Hisham Adwan, director of information at the Hamas crossings authority, told AFP that Palestinian Authority employees would take full control of the borders.
Under the Egyptian-brokered deal, the Palestinian Authority is due to take full control of Gaza by Dec. 1.
The checkpoints had been due to be handed over by Wednesday, and were seen as a first key test of the strength of the reconciliation agreement.
Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007 when the militants seized control in a near civil war with Abbas’s Fatah, based in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has maintained a blockade on Gaza for a decade, citing the need to control Hamas, with which it has fought three wars since 2008.
Egypt has largely closed its border as well. The Rafah crossing was not open on Wednesday despite the official handover, though Hamas is hoping it will be in the coming days or weeks.
The Gaza Strip’s 2 million residents suffer from worsening humanitarian conditions, with only a few hours of power a day and a lack of clean water.
The deal has raised hopes that a more regular opening of the Egyptian border could ease humanitarian suffering.
A number of issues, including the future of Hamas’s vast military wing, remain uncertain in the agreement.
Multiple previous pushes for reconciliation have collapsed.
Hamas hands over border crossings to PA
Hamas hands over border crossings to PA
Iranian Revolutionary Guards officer killed in Syria, SNN reports
Rebels led by Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham on Wednesday launched an incursion into a dozen towns and villages in northwest Aleppo province controlled by Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire unlikely to hold: UK ex-spy chief
- Richard Dearlove: Agreement suits both parties in ‘short to medium term’
- Deal leaves Iran ‘exposed’ as its Lebanese ally is temporarily incapacitated
LONDON: The ceasefire deal struck this week between Israel and Hezbollah is unlikely to hold, a former head of MI6 has warned.
Richard Dearlove, who headed the British intelligence service from 1999 to 2004, told Sky News that the deal, which came into effect on Wednesday, is a “retreaded agreement from 2006.”
That initial deal was designed to keep Hezbollah away from the border region with Israel, overseen by the Lebanese military and the UN, but in effect it “did absolutely nothing,” he said.
This week’s deal suits both Israel and Hezbollah “in the short to medium term,” Dearlove said, adding: “The Israelis must know how much of the infrastructure of Hezbollah they’ve taken down … They haven’t taken it down completely, but maybe the Lebanese state can reassert some of its authority as the government of Lebanon and keep Hezbollah to an extent under control. We just have to wait and see what happens.”
He said the ceasefire deal will be a blow to Hezbollah’s backer Iran, leaving the latter “exposed” with one of its allies temporarily incapacitated.
But he warned that this could escalate into “direct” confrontation between Israel and Iran were the latter to launch another ballistic missile attack.
Israeli FM: ‘No justification’ for ICC to take steps against Israeli leaders
- The foreign minister also said Israel would finish the war in Gaza when it “achieves its objectives”
PRAGUE: Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said on Thursday that the ICC had “no justification” for issuing arrests warrants for Israeli leaders, in a joint press conference with Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky.
Saar told Reuters Israel has appealed the decision and that it sets a dangerous precedent.
The foreign minister also said Israel would finish the war in Gaza when it “achieves its objectives” of returning hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza and ensuring the Iranian-backed group no longer controls the strip. Saar said Israel does not intend to control civilian life in Gaza and that he believes peace is “inevitable” but can’t be based on “illusions.”
Pope Francis set to visit Turkiye for Council of Nicaea anniversary in 2025
- The pope had already expressed in June the desire to go on the trip despite international travel becoming increasingly difficult for him
ROME: Pope Francis said on Thursday he planned to visit Turkiye’s Iznik next year for the anniversary of the first council of the Christian Church, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
The early centuries of Christianity were marked by debate about how Jesus could be both God and man, and the Church decided on the issue at the First Council of Nicaea in 325.
“During the Holy Year, we will also have the opportunity to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the first great Ecumenical Council, that of Nicaea. I plan to go there,” the pontiff was quoted as saying at a theological committee event.
The city, now known as Iznik, is in western Anatolia, some 150km southeast of Istanbul.
The pope had already expressed in June the desire to go on the trip and the spiritual head of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, had said the two men would celebrate the important recurrence together but no official confirmation had been made yet.
Despite international travel becoming increasingly difficult for him because of health issues, Francis, who will turn 88 on Dec. 17, completed in September a 12-day tour across Asia, the longest of his 11-year papacy.
Israel wants India’s Adani Group to continue investments after US bribery allegations
- Adani Group holds a 70 percent stake in Haifa port in northern Israel and is involved in multiple other projects with firms in the country
- US last week accused Adani Group of being part of scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to secure contracts, misleading US investors
HYDERABAD, India: Israel wants India’s Adani Group to continue to invest in the country, Israel’s envoy to India said on Thursday, affirming the nation’s support for the ports-to-media conglomerate whose billionaire founder is facing bribery allegations in the United States.
“We wish Adani and all Indian companies continue to invest in Israel,” Ambassador Reuven Azar said in an interview with Reuters, adding that allegations by US authorities were “not something that’s problematic” from Israel’s point of view.
The Adani Group holds a 70% stake in Haifa port in northern Israel and is involved in multiple other projects with firms in the country, including to produce military drones and plans for the manufacture of commercial semiconductors.
US authorities last week accused Gautam Adani, his nephew, and Adani Green’s managing director of being part of a scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to secure Indian power supply contracts and misleading US investors during fund raising efforts there.
Adani Group has denied all the accusations, calling them “baseless.”
Still, shares and bonds of Adani companies were hammered last week and some partners began to review joint projects.
“I am sure Adani Group will resolve its problems,” Azar said on the sidelines of an event in the southern city of Hyderabad.
