CAIRO: At least 235 people were killed and 109 injured in a terrorist attack on a mosque in North Sinai, which Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi vowed to respond to with “brute force.”
The Egyptian Air Force targeted the vehicles of the attackers during their escape and killed at least 15 armed men suspected of carrying out the assault.
In the deadliest terrorist attack in Egypt’s modern history, terrorists targeted worshippers during their Friday prayers at Al-Rawdah mosque in Bir Al-Abed, about 40 kilometers from Al-Arish city in North Sinai. Militants set off a bomb and opened fire on worshippers inside the mosque and those trying to escape. The terrorists then escaped using 4WD cars.
El-Sisi said that the attack would only strengthen the resolve of the Egyptian people.
He said in a televised speech after a meeting of the special security committee, which included the defense minister and the head of the general security service, that “the armed forces and the police will avenge our martyrs and restore security and stability with utmost force in the very near future.” He added: “We will respond to this act by brute force to face this extremist group.”
Reuters said that the worshippers were supporters of the government, quoting what it called a security source and an eyewitness. Hussam Al-Rifai, Egyptian MP from Al-Arish area, said that the majority of the victims of the attack were from the Sawarka tribe and the attack was revenge for the tribe’s support of the Egyptian armed forces and the police against terrorism. The mosque follows a Sufi order called “Jaririyeh.”
Al-Sawark tribe issued a statement last May announcing that it was joining Al-Tarabin tribe in fighting Daesh in Sinai.
The statement said that the tribe “believes that ‘Daesh in Sinai’ is a cancerous extension of the parent Daesh in the region, and that it is a link in the chain of the wider project that aims to destroy the homelands and divide the region into smaller states in which people scramble and brothers fight each other.”
“We have agreed to enter a direct military confrontation with the terrorist gangs in Sinai (…) under the umbrella of the state and in coordination with the valiant armed forces, and in partnership with our brothers from other tribes.”
El-Sisi said: “What is happening in Sinai is a response against true efforts made against terrorism, which we are fighting alone. Egypt is facing terrorism on behalf of the region and the whole world.”
He said that the attack on Al-Rawdah mosque comes in the context of “an attempt to destroy our resolve and stop our efforts to stop the terrible criminal plan which aims to destroy what is left of the region.”
El-Sisi said that he wanted Egyptians “to be sure and confident that the battle we are fighting is the most honorable battle,” and expressed his confidence that God would grant victory to Egypt in its fight against “the evil people.”
Mai Mujib, professor of political science at Cairo University, said: “Yesterday’s (terrorist) operation cannot be separated from the successes achieved by the Egyptian security forces against infiltration attempts into Egypt in the recent past.”
Mujib pointed to the success of the Egyptian Air Force in killing terrorists who had tried to enter Egypt from Libya in the past few weeks, and the dismantling of many Muslim Brotherhood terrorist cells, the last of which happened in Beheira governorate in the northern part of Egypt.
Mohammed Juma, an expert at the Arab and Regional studies Unit at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, believes that it is more likely the attack was carried out by Daesh group, because there are no terrorist organizations in Egypt which hold views allowing the targeting of such a place with an intensive civilian presence except Daesh.
Bir Al-Abed area has witnessed many terrorist attacks in the past few months, including a similar attack on Sept. 11 against a security convoy, which killed 18 Egyptian security personnel. A suicide bomber driving a car targeted a security convoy, which was followed by an attack by terrorists using grenades and guns, and riding motorcycles and 4WD cars coming from the the desert alongside the “international highway” in the area. At that time, the Sinai Province militant group took responsibility for the attack, condemning what it called the agreements between the Egyptian intelligence service and the leadership of Hamas.
The village of Sbeikah near Bir Al-Abed witnessed another attack, which killed four members of the police force on Aug. 9.
Juma refused to link yesterday’s attack to new developments regarding the Egyptian reconciliation arrangements between the two Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas.
“The reconciliation efforts are not fast or easy enough to represent an immediate danger at the moment for the terror groups close to Daesh in Gaza,” he said. “Moreover, operations targeting civilians and civilian institutions by Daesh elements in northern Sinai had been increasing before the announcement about Egypt’s efforts on the Palestinian reconciliation path. And Christians in Al-Arish suffered from attacks aimed at pushing them out of their homes in January and February 2017.”
Juma believes that the attack may have many aims, but comes in the context of moving the operations of the Sinai Province Group toward the areas to the west of the “Rafah-Arish-Sheikh Zuweid” triangle, “which witnessed a big increase in the size of the security presence and operations against the terrorist group, making it more difficult for the terrorists to move easily and carry out operations effectively.”
Mujib said: “The security successes in Rafah area forced the terrorist group to take an important part of its operations to the west,” noting that this move reveals that the group has other logistical and supply paths on top of the border with Gaza Strip, which was targeted heavily in recent times.
Mujib said: “The attack against a mosque reveals a shift in the nature of the places which could be targeted by the organization,” noting that “this means that the organization adopts more hard-line religious views which allows the targeting of civilians and even Islamic places of worship.”
Juma said that “targeting civilians and places of worship in such a huge way reflects the effects of Daesh in Syria and Iraq on the Sinai terror group, which makes it in a state of hostility with everyone. A possible cause is the influx of Daesh elements coming from Syria and Iraq to Sinai.”
Juma added: “Yesterday’s attack was an attempt to find an easy target to cause big losses, and the terrorist group managed to use the attack as a propaganda for itself among extremist elements, especially with the rise of signs for a new confrontation between Sinai Province group and some Al-Qaeda groups which are retrying to strengthen their presence in Egypt.”
Jund Al-Islam group, which is part of Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for an operation on Oct. 11 against the Sinai Province group. Jund Al-Islam posted an audio recording on the Internet on Nov. 11 announcing that it “Targeted (Omar) Al-Baghdadi’s khawarij (outsiders) on Oct. 11 because of their continuous aggressions against Muslims in Sinai, their blockade of Gaza Strip, and their betrayal of their brothers in the group.”
Jund Al-Islam asked members of Daesh to repent and defect from Al-Baghdadi’s organization, which “divided Muslims,” and brutalized their Muslim brothers without any religious proof.
Jund Al-Islam threatened Daesh that it would eradicate their presence in Sinai if they “did not stop their actions and wrongdoings.”
Egypt hunts for killers after mosque carnage
Egypt hunts for killers after mosque carnage
Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq to hand over weapons in first step toward disarmament
- “A group of guerrilla fighters will come down from the mountains and will bid farewell to their arms in an effort to declare their good will for peace and democratic politics,” PKK said
- A PKK spokesperson said the fighters will destroy their weapons “under the supervision of civil society institutions”
IRBIL, Iraq: A Kurdish militant group that has waged a long-running insurgency in Türkiye announced Thursday its fighters in northern Iraq will begin handing over their weapons, marking the first concrete step toward disarmament as part of a peace process.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, announced in May it would disband and renounce armed conflict, ending four decades of hostilities. The move came after PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999, urged his group in February to convene a congress and formally disband and disarm.
Ocalan, 76, continues to wield significant influence in the Kurdish movement despite his 25-year imprisonment. His call to end the fighting marked a pivotal step toward ending the decades-long conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s.
In the latest development, “a group of guerrilla fighters will come down from the mountains and will bid farewell to their arms in an effort to declare their good will for peace and democratic politics,” the PKK said in a statement Thursday.
The ceremony, which is expected to take place between July 10 and July 12 in the city of Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, will be the first concrete move toward disarmament.
Zagros Hiwa, a PKK spokesperson, said the fighters will destroy their weapons “under the supervision of civil society institutions and interested parties.” The number of fighters who will take part has not yet been determined but might be between 20 and 30, he said.
For the PKK to take further steps toward disarmament, he said “the regime of isolation” imposed on Öcalan in prison “has to be abolished” and “constitutional, legal and political” must be taken to “ensure that the guerrilla who have abandoned the strategy of armed struggle could be reintegrated into democratic politics in Turkiye.”
An Iraqi Kurdish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said the PKK members are expected to hand over their light weapons to the regional government.
The regional government is dominated by two parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, with the KDP overseeing the regional capital, Irbil, and the city of Dohuk. The PUK governs Sulaymaniyah.
The KDP has good relations with Türkiye and has been at odds with the PKK, while the PUK is closer to the PKK.
In Türkiye on Monday, Omer Celik, a spokesperson for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or AKP, said the PKK could begin handing over arms “within days,” but did not provide details. Celik added that Erdogan would meet with members of the pro-Kurdish party next week to discuss the peace effort.
There was no immediate statement from Türkiye’s government on Thursday’s announcement.
The PKK has long maintained bases in the mountains of northern Iraq. Turkish forces have launched offensives and airstrikes against the PKK in Iraq and have set up bases in the area. Scores of villages have emptied as a result.
The Iraqi government in Baghdad last year announced an official ban on the separatist group, which has long been prohibited in Türkiye.
Killings rise when Gaza Health Foundation distributes aid: Analysis
- Sky News finds correlation between aid drops, increased fatalities
- UN labels GHF sites ‘death traps,’ amid claims Israeli soldiers deliberately fire at civilians
LONDON: An investigation has found an increase in deaths in Gaza correlated with aid distribution overseen by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Health Foundation.
The GHF took over humanitarian supply systems in the Palestinian enclave in May, replacing around 400 distribution sites run by other charities and NGOs with four designated facilities, called Secure Distribution Sites.
They were meant to ensure that aid did not fall into the hands of Hamas or other armed groups, which Israel alleges frequently happened under the previous UN-backed system.
However, Gaza’s health authorities say more than 600 Palestinians have been killed trying to access aid at the sites, which the UN has labeled “death traps.” Israeli soldiers have been accused of opening fire directly at civilians.
Analysis conducted by Sky News suggests that killings rise when aid is distributed by the GHF.
Sky’s Data & Forensics Unit found that an average of 48 deaths and 189 injuries are reported when the GHF operates two or fewer aid distributions. That number rises almost threefold when it runs five to six aid drops.
Sky reported that between June 5 and July 1, 77 aid distributions were conducted by the GHF. Of those, 23 — or 30 percent of the total — resulted in reports of violence, and at SDS4 half of all drops saw bloodshed.
A recent report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz interviewed Israeli soldiers who said they were ordered to fire at crowds of unarmed Palestinians at the GHF sites.
The Israeli military denies the allegations, but said it is investigating incidents where civilians have been harmed.
The UN, in its most recent update on June 24, put the number of casualties at GHF sites at 410, citing data available from nearby hospitals.
The GHF has been severely criticized for the manner in which aid is distributed, with footage obtained by Sky on June 15 showing Palestinians at SDS1 crowding and rummaging among hundreds of scattered aid packages discarded on the floor.
Sky’s analysis found that aid is often delivered in significantly smaller quantities than required, with supplies running out on average after just nine minutes. At 23 percent of aid drops, supplies were exhausted before the official opening time.
Sky reported that 86 percent of distributions were announced to people in the area less than 30 minutes in advance, and that maps and instructions distributed to locals to navigate and access the sites were inaccurate or dangerous, including telling civilians trying to reach SDS2, 3 and 4 to congregate inside areas labeled live combat zones by Israel.
In addition, the congregation areas are typically some distance from the sites, causing surges when they open as people attempt to cover the open ground to access the aid.
The shortest distance from a waiting point to an SDS is 689 meters, at SDS4, approximately 10 minutes away on foot — more than the average time before supplies run out.
Sam Rose, director of operations in Gaza for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, called the GHF’s system a “free-for-all.”
He told Sky: “What they’re doing is, they’re loading up the boxes on the ground and then people just rush in.”
Rose added: “They (the GHF) don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t have anyone working on these operations who has any experience of operating, of administering food distributions because anyone who did have that experience wouldn’t want to be part of it because this isn’t how you treat people.”
A group of charities and humanitarian groups on Tuesday condemned the GHF’s operations, saying they violate international principles.
More than 200 groups have called for the reinstatement of the previous aid distribution system overseen by the UN.
UN expert urges states to cut Israel trade ties over ‘apocalyptic’ Gaza situation
- Israel has rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza
GENEVA: A UN expert on Thursday called on states to impose an arms embargo and cut off trade and financial ties with Israel, which she alleged is waging a “genocidal campaign” in Gaza.
In a speech to the UN Human Rights Council, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese said: “The situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is apocalyptic.”
“Israel is responsible for one of the cruellest genocides in modern history,” she added, in a speech that was met with a burst of applause from the Geneva council.
Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Albanese’s speech.
Israel has rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to self-defense following the deadly October 7, 2023, Hamas attack. Its delegate was not present in the room in line with a new policy to disengage with the council which Israel says has an antisemitic bias.
Albanese, one of dozens of independent UN-mandated experts to document abuses around the world, was presenting her latest report which named over 60 companies she said were involved in supporting Israeli settlements and military actions in Gaza.
“What I expose is not a list, it is a system, and that is to be addressed,” she told the council.
“We must reverse the tide,” she added, calling for states to impose a full arms embargo, suspend all trade agreements and ensure companies face legal consequences for their involvement in violations of international law.
Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva earlier this week said Albanese’s latest report was “legally groundless, defamatory and a flagrant abuse of her office.”
Dozens killed in Gaza, 38 while waiting for aid, as Hamas seeks truce guarantees
- Gaza’s Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has passed 57,000
- More than 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced, often multiple times
GAZA: Hamas is seeking guarantees that a new US ceasefire proposal for Gaza would lead to the war’s end, a source close to the militant group said on Thursday, as medics said Israeli strikes across the territory had killed scores more people.
Israeli officials said prospects for reaching a ceasefire deal and hostage deal appeared high, nearly 21 months since the war between Israel and Hamas began.
On the ground, intensified Israeli strikes across Gaza continued unabated, killing at least 59 people on Thursday, according to health authorities in the territory.
Efforts for a Gaza truce have gathered steam after the US secured a ceasefire to end a 12-day aerial conflict between Israel and Iran.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said that Israel had accepted the conditions needed to finalize a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, during which the parties will work to end the war.
Hamas is seeking clear guarantees that the ceasefire will eventually lead to the war’s end, the source close to the group said. Two Israeli officials said that those details were still being worked out.
Ending the war has been the main sticking point in repeated rounds of failed negotiations.
A separate source familiar with the matter said that Israel was expecting Hamas’ response by Friday and that if it was positive, an Israeli delegation would join indirect talks to cement the deal. It was unclear whether those would be held in Egypt or Qatar, the two countries that have been mediating talks.
The proposal includes the staggered release of 10 living Israeli hostages and the return of the bodies of 18 more in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, sources say. Of the 50 remaining hostages in Gaza, 20 are believed to still be alive.
A senior Israeli official close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said preparations were in place to approve a ceasefire deal even as the premier heads to Washington to meet Trump on Monday.
‘Readiness to advance’
Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen, who sits on Netanyahu’s security cabinet, told news website Ynet that there was “definitely readiness to advance a deal.”
In Gaza, however, there was little sign of relief. At least 17 people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a school in Gaza City where displaced families were sheltering, according to medics.
“Suddenly, we found the tent collapsing over us and a fire burning. We don’t know what happened,” one witness, Wafaa Al-Arqan, told Reuters. “What can we do? Is it fair that all these children burned?”
According to medics at Nasser hospital farther south, at least 20 people were killed by Israeli fire en route to an aid distribution site.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports and that its forces were taking precautions to mitigate harm to civilians as it battled Palestinian militants throughout Gaza.
The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent military assault has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, while displacing most of the population of more than 2 million, triggering widespread hunger and leaving much of the territory in ruins.
Israel says it won’t end the war while Hamas is still armed and ruling Gaza. Hamas, severely weakened, says it won’t lay down its weapons but is willing to release all the hostages still in Gaza if Israel ends the war.
Scorching summer heat deepens Gaza’s daily struggles
- Temperatures are exceeding 30 degrees Celsius with displaced children sweltering inside cramped nylon tents
KHAN YOUNIS: For Rida Abu Hadayed, summer adds a new layer of misery to a daily struggle to survive in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
With temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), daybreak begins with the cries of Hadayed’s seven children sweltering inside the displaced family’s cramped nylon tent. Outside, the humidity is unbearable.
The only way the 32-year-old mother can offer her children relief is by fanning them with a tray or bits of paper — whatever she can find. If she has water, she pours it over them, but that is an increasingly scarce resource.
“There is no electricity. There is nothing,” she said, her face beaded with sweat. “They cannot sleep. They keep crying all day until the sun sets.”
The heat in Gaza has intensified hardships for its 2 million residents. Reduced water availability, crippled sanitation networks, and shrinking living spaces threaten to cause illnesses to cascade through communities, aid groups have long warned.
The scorching summer coincides with a lack of clean water for the majority of Gaza’s population, most of whom are displaced in tented communities. Many Palestinians in the enclave must walk long distances to fetch water and ration each drop, limiting their ability to wash and keep cool.
“We are only at the beginning of summer,” Hadayed’s husband, Yousef, said. “And our situation is dire.”
Israel had blocked food, fuel, medicine and all other supplies from entering Gaza for nearly three months. It began allowing limited aid in May, but fuel needed to pump water from wells or operate desalination plants is still not getting into the territory.
With fuel supplies short, only 40 percent of drinking water production facilities are functioning in the Gaza Strip, according to a recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. All face imminent collapse. Up to 93 percent of households face water shortages, the June report said.
The Hadayeds were displaced after evacuation orders forced them to leave eastern Khan Younis.
“Our lives in the tent are miserable. We spend our days pouring water over their heads and their skin,” Yousef Hadayed said. “Water itself is scarce. It is very difficult to get that water.”
UNICEF’s spokesperson recently said that if fuel supplies are not allowed to enter the enclave, children will die of thirst.
“Me and my children spend our days sweating,” said Reham Abu Hadayed, a 30-year-old relative of Rida Abu Hadayed who was also displaced from eastern Khan Younis. She worries about the health of her four children.
“I don’t have enough money to buy them medicine,” she said.
For Mohammed Al-Awini, 23, the heat is not the worst part. It’s the flies and mosquitoes that bombard his tent, especially at night.
Without adequate sewage networks, garbage piles up on streets, attracting insects and illness. The stench of decomposing trash wafts in the air.
“We are awake all night, dying from mosquito bites,” he said. “We are the most tired people in the world.”
