BEKAA VALLEY, Lebanon: On the run from authorities after forcing a bank to release her family savings at gunpoint to treat her cancer-stricken sister, 28-year-old Lebanese interior designer Sali Hafiz insists she is not the criminal.
“We are in the country of mafias. If you are not a wolf, the wolves will eat you,” she said, standing on a dirt track somewhere in Lebanon’s rugged eastern Bekaa valley where she has since been in hiding.
Hafiz held up a Beirut branch of BLOM Bank last week, taking by force some $13,000 in savings in her sister’s account frozen by capital controls that were imposed overnight by commercial banks in 2019 but never made legal via legislation.
Dramatic footage of the incident, in which she cocks what later turned out to be a toy gun and stands atop a desk bossing around employees who hand her wads of cash, turned her into an instant folk hero in a country where hundreds of thousands of people are locked out of their savings.
A growing number are taking matters into their own hands, exasperated by a three-year financial implosion that authorities have left to fester — leading the World Bank to describe it as “orchestrated by the country’s elite.”
Hafiz was the first of at least seven savers who held up banks last week, prompting banks to shut their doors citing security concerns, and call for security support from the government.
George Hajj of the bank employees syndicate said the holdups were misguiding anger that should be directed at the Lebanese state, which was most to blame for the crisis, and noted some 6,000 bank employees had lost their jobs since it began.
Authorities have condemned the holdups and say they are preparing a security plan for banks.
But depositors argue that bank owners and shareholders have enriched themselves by getting high interest payments for lending the government depositors’ money and are prioritising the banks over people rather than enacting an IMF rescue plan.
The government says it is working hard to implement IMF reforms and aims to secure a $3 billion bailout this year.
The series of raids have been met with widespread support, including from crowds that gather outside the banks when they hear a holdup is taking place to cheer them on.
“Maybe they saw me as a hero because I was the first woman who does this in a patriarchal society where a woman’s voice is not supposed to be heard,” Hafiz said, adding she had not intended to harm anyone but was tired of government inaction.
“They are all in cahoots to steal from us and leave us to go hungry and die slowly,” she said.
When her sister began losing hope she would be able to afford costly treatment to help regain mobility and speech impaired by brain cancer, and the bank declined to provide the savings, Hafiz said she decided to act.
BLOM Bank said in a statement that the branch had been cooperative with her request for funds but asked for documentation as they do for all customers requesting humanitarian exceptions to the informal controls.
Hafiz then returned two days later with a toy gun she had seen her nephews playing with, and a small amount of fuel that she mixed with water and spilled on to an employee.
Before her raid, she watched popular Egyptian black comedy Irhab w Kabab — or “Terrorist and Kabab” — in which a man frustrated with government corruption holds up a state building and demands kebabs for the hostages due to the high price of meat.
She managed to get $13,000 of a total $20,000 — enough to cover travel expenses for her sister and about a month of treatment — and made sure to sign a receipt so that she would not be accused of theft.
To aid her escape, Hafiz posted on Facebook that she was already at the airport and on her way to Istanbul. She ran home and disguised herself in a robe and headscarf and placed a bundle of clothes on her belly to make herself appear pregnant.
A police officer who knocked on her door “must have been scared I would give birth in front of him. I went downstairs in front of them all, like 60 or 70 people... they were wishing me luck with the birth. It was... like the movies,” she said, after they failed to recognize her.
Two of Hafiz’s close friends with her at the bank hold up were detained after the incident over charges of threatening bank employees and holding them against their will, and ordered released on bail on Wednesday.
Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces did not respond to a request for comment on the case.
Hafiz said she would hand herself in once judges end a crippling strike that has slowed legal procedures and left detainees languishing in jail.
Abdallah Al-Saii, an acquaintance of Hafiz who held up a bank in January to get some $50,000 of his own savings, said more hold-ups were coming.
“Things will have to get worse so that they can get better,” Saii said, taking drags from a cigarette at his convenience store in the Bekaa.
“When the state can’t do anything for you and can’t even provide a tiny bit of hope over what lies in store, then we’re living by the law of the jungle.”
Instant folk hero: Lebanese woman who stole own savings says she’s not the criminal
https://arab.news/pxdj3
Instant folk hero: Lebanese woman who stole own savings says she’s not the criminal
- Sali Hafiz, who held up Beirut bank, decries ‘country of mafias’
- She was the first of at least seven savers who held up banks last week
Turkiye court postpones hearing over hotel fire
The different organizations under scrutiny denied responsibility
ISTANBUL: A Turkish court on Thursday adjourned the trial of 32 people over a fire January at a luxury ski resort hotel that killed 78 people, after 10 days of harrowing testimony.
Since the trial opened on July 7, survivors, many of them in tears, have told the court how they escaped the deadly blaze, whose victims included 36 children.
The fire swept through the Grand Kartal Hotel in the northern mountain resort of Kartalkaya on January 21.
As well as the 78 people killed in the fire, another 130 people were injured.
The court is considering allegations that poor safety measures at the hotel contributed to the disaster.
Among the defendants facing manslaughter charges are the hotel’s owner, managers, the deputy mayor of Bolu city and two fire department officials.
“Everyone including the employees and bosses lied in their initial statements,” said Yusuf Yaman, the private DHA news agency reported. Yaman lost his daughter and grand-daughter in the fire.
“We lost 78 lives. They’re all my children. If they (the suspects) had shown courage, if they had confessed everything, they would have had a clearer conscience,” he added.
After the fire, the different organizations under scrutiny denied responsibility, the tourism ministry and the local municipality run by the main opposition CHP party blaming each other.
At the end of the 10-day hearing, the hotel’s director and owner Emir Aras expressed regret. He told the judge he did not want to be released from detention, DHA reported.
The court postponed the hearing to September 22.
Jordan treats dozens of injured Palestinians from Gaza, sends more aid to territory
- Jordanian Medical Corridor initiative aims to assist Palestinians in Gaza and is carried out in cooperation with the Jordanian armed forces, Ministry of Health, and the World Health Organization
- Since the initiative began in March, 112 injured and sick children, accompanied by 241 carers, have entered Jordan to receive treatment in private hospitals
LONDON: Jordanian associations dispatched 50 aid trucks to the Gaza Strip on Thursday and transferred dozens of Palestinian children to receive medical treatment in Jordan this week.
Dr. Fawzi Al-Hammouri, chairman of the Private Hospitals Association, confirmed that 35 sick and injured children from Gaza, accompanied by 72 carers, were admitted to several private hospitals in Jordan.
The initiative, part of the Jordanian Medical Corridor, aims to assist Palestinians in Gaza and is carried out in cooperation with the Jordanian armed forces, the Ministry of Health, and the World Health Organization.
Since the initiative began in March, 112 injured and sick children, accompanied by 241 guardians, have entered Jordan to receive treatment in private hospitals, according to Dr. Al-Hammouri.
On Thursday, the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization sent another humanitarian convoy of 50 trucks loaded with essential food supplies to the northern part of the Gaza coastal enclave. Northern Gaza is experiencing severe shortages of food and essential supplies due to disruptions in aid delivery and Israeli attacks.
Since late 2023, Jordan has delivered more than 7,815 aid trucks and 53 cargo planes through the Egyptian port of Arish, along with 102 helicopter sorties to deliver aid, to support Palestinians in Gaza.
Jordan was among the first countries to conduct airlift missions in the early days of the war, delivering relief to Gaza. More than 58,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, which have been described as genocide by human rights groups and several heads of state.
Qatar to strengthen tourism partnership with Jordan, delegation visits Amman Citadel
- Talks underway for launch of joint promotional campaigns and sharing of expertise in sustainable tourism marketing
- Central Bank of Jordan reports 11.9% increase in tourism revenues during first half of 2025 to $3.67bn, despite drop in visitors to Petra in June due to regional conflicts
LONDON: Saad Al-Kharji, the chairperson of Qatar Tourism, visited the historical site of Amman Citadel, accompanied by the Jordanian minister of tourism and antiquities, Lina Annab, as officials from the two countries met to discuss enhanced cooperation in the tourism sector.
The Qatari delegation toured several key landmarks on Wednesday and learned about Jordan’s rich cultural history as part of a visit described as an essential step as officials work to develop joint promotional campaigns and share expertise in the marketing of sustainable tourism, the Jordan News Agency reported.
The Jordanian ministry said the diverse tourism options in Jordan and Qatar provide the foundations for fostering a partnership that can enrich visitor experiences and attract foreign travelers.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Jordan reported an 11.9 percent increase in tourism revenues to $3.67 billion during the first half of 2025 compared with the same period last year.
This was despite a previously reported decline of more than 75 percent in the number of foreign visitors to Petra, the country’s main tourist attraction, in June compared with the same month in recent years due to the ongoing war in Gaza and the conflict between Iran and Israel.
British surgeon in Gaza describes wounded Palestinians dying due to malnutrition
- Professor Nick Maynard moved to tears by malnourished state of Palestinian babies at Nasser Hospital
- Even Palestinian hospital colleagues look shadow of former selves due to Israel’s aid blockade
LONDON: Palestinians being treated in one of Gaza’s few remaining hospitals are dying from their wounds because they are so malnourished, a British doctor working in the territory said.
Professor Nick Maynard, a consultant gastrointestinal surgeon, who is on his third stint volunteering in the territory since the war started, said he is seeing unprecedented levels of severe malnutrition.
“The malnutrition I’m seeing here is indescribably bad. It’s much, much worse now than a year ago,” Maynard, who is based at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, said.
UNICEF chief Catherine Russell told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that acute malnutrition among children in Gaza had almost tripled after Israel imposed an 11-week blockade on food aid to the territory in March.
Maynard said malnutrition levels were directly contributing to preventable deaths among patients receiving surgery. He said those injured in Israel’s military attacks were dying because being malnourished prevents proper healing.
“The repairs that we carry out fall to pieces; patients get terrible infections and they die,” Maynard, who is volunteering with Medical Aid for Palestinians, said. “I have had so many patients die because they can’t get enough food to recover, it’s distressing to see that and know that it is preventable and treatable.”
Maynard said babies in Nasser’s neonatal unit have been particularly affected, with four recent infant deaths blamed on malnutrition.
The surgeon said he had been reduced to tears by the state of the children he has seen.
“I saw a seven-month-old who looked like a newborn,” Maynard said. “The expression ‘skin and bones’ doesn’t do it justice. We have almost no liquid or intravenous feeds — children are being given essentially 10 percent sugar water, which is not proper nutritional support.”
Maynard said he had even seen the effects of malnutrition in his Palestinian colleagues, who were barely recognizable from when he had worked with them a year ago. He said many had lost 20-30kg due to the food shortages.
Israel’s blockade of Gaza lead to widespread warnings that the territory could descend into a state of famine.
In her briefing to the security council, UNICEF’s Russell said that of the more than 113,000 children screened for malnutrition in June, almost 6,000 were found to be acutely malnourished — an 180 percent increase in acute malnutrition cases compared to February.
“Children in Gaza are enduring catastrophic living conditions, including severe food insecurity and malnutrition,” she said.
Maynard, who is usually based at Oxford University Hospital, has been traveling to volunteer in Gaza with MAP for more than 10 years.
While on his current posting, he has witnessed the daily arrival of Palestinians who have been shot while trying to access food aid through distribution hubs set up by the new Israeli- and US-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
“We have hundreds of trauma casualties coming in every day, it’s relentless,” he said. “This is not only from Israeli military airstrikes and attacks, but we are also treating multiple gunshot wounds every day.
“These are mainly from the militarized distribution points, where starving civilians are going to try and get food but then report getting targeted by Israeli soldiers or quadcopters.”
The surgeon said he had mostly been operating on boys aged 12 or 13 who had been sent to the aid hubs to get food for their families.
“A 12-year-old boy I was operating on died from his injuries on the operating table — he had been shot through the chest.”
Maynard called on the international community to force Israel to allow the full flow of food and aid into Gaza, and to end the “collective punishment” of the territory’s population.
“The enforced malnutrition and attacks on civilians we are witnessing will kill many more thousands of people if not stopped,” he said.
Palestinian man dies in Israeli jail a week after his arrest
- Samir Mohammad Yousef Al-Rifai, 53, is the 74th Palestinian prisoner to die in Israeli custody since October 2023
- Palestinian prisoners’ advocacy groups say his death constitutes a new crime of Israeli brutality against prisoners and ongoing genocide
LONDON: A 53-year-old Palestinian prisoner died in an Israeli jail after nearly a week following his arrest in Rummana, near Jenin, in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Detainees’ Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society announced on Thursday the death of Samir Mohammad Yousef Al-Rifai. He is the 74th Palestinian prisoner to die in Israeli custody since October 2023 and the 311th since Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian Territories began in 1967.
Al-Rifai, a father of five, was arrested by Israeli occupation forces at his home in Rummana on July 10. According to the Wafa news agency, he had pre-existing heart problems and required intensive medical follow-up. He was scheduled to have his first hearing in the Salem Military Court on Thursday.
The commission and the PPS reported that Palestinian prisoners face systematic crimes, including torture, starvation, medical abuses, sexual assaults, and harsh conditions in Israeli prisons, which lead to the outbreak of diseases like scabies.
The death of Al-Rifai “constitutes a new crime added to the record of Israeli brutality, which commits all forms of crimes aimed at killing prisoners. This is another aspect of the ongoing genocide, and an extension of it,” they added.
More than 10,000 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, the highest prisoner count since the Second Intifada in 2000, Palestinian prisoners’ advocacy groups reported last week.
As of early July, some 10,800 prisoners are said to be held in Israeli detention centers and prisons, including 50 women — two of whom are from the Gaza Strip — and over 450 children.
Since the 1967 occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, over 800,000 Palestinians have spent time in Israeli jails, according to a UN report in 2023.
