DUBAI: Iran denied Israeli claims that it was involved in the seizure of a British-owned and Japanese-operated cargo ship in the southern Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthis, foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday at a press conference.
“We have said multiple times that resistance groups in the region act independently and spontaneously based on their interests and that of their people,” Kanaani said, adding that Israeli claims were aimed at diverting attention away from Israeli’s “irreparable defeat” in its battle against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday, Israel said the incident was an “Iranian act of terrorism” with consequences for international maritime security.
The Houthis, an ally of Tehran, have been launching long-range missile and drone salvoes at Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian Hamas militants fighting in Gaza.
Iran denies involvement in Red Sea ship seizure by Yemen’s Houthis
https://arab.news/nwsx7
Iran denies involvement in Red Sea ship seizure by Yemen’s Houthis
- Foreign affairs ministry spokesman: Israeli claims aimed at diverting attention away from Israeli’s ‘irreparable defeat’ in its battle against Hamas militants
Facing flak, Red Cross defends its role in Israel-Hamas war
- The Geneva-based organization had been accused of not doing enough to help hostages in Gaza or Palestinian detainees in Israel
- ICRC officials said the organization could only do so much as it is reliant on the goodwill of the belligerents
GENEVA: The Red Cross, accused of not doing enough to help hostages in Gaza or Palestinian detainees in Israel, has defended itself in a rare statement outlining the limits of its role.
Insisting on its neutrality, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the escalation of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories has triggered “a proliferation of dehumanizing language and of false and misleading information about the ICRC and our work in the current conflict.”
In recent days, ICRC vehicles have facilitated the transfer of Palestinians out of Israeli detention, and hostages held in the Gaza Strip since Hamas’s attack in Israel on October 7, 2023.
But the transfer of hostages to the ICRC has been sharply criticized following chaotic scenes on Thursday as masked fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, carrying automatic weapons, struggled to hold back a surging crowd.
ICRC officials “did nothing to interfere with this intimidating display of indignity and public humiliation,” Gerald Steinberg, president of the right-wing Israeli organization NGO Monitor, wrote in the Australian-based online magazine Quillette.
The ICRC said: “Ensuring the safety and security of the handover operations is the responsibility of the parties to the agreement.”
Furthermore, “Interfering with armed security personnel could compromise the safety of ICRC staff, and more importantly that of the hostages.”
The Geneva-based organization also said it had not given permission for “people carrying Hamas flags to get on top of our buses in Ramallah” during the release of Palestinian detainees, “nor did we have the capacity to prevent people from doing so.”
In late 2023, Israel’s then foreign minister Eli Cohen said the Red Cross had “no right to exist” if it did not visit the hostages in Gaza.
However, the organization is reliant on the goodwill of the belligerents.
“From day one, we have called for the immediate release of all the hostages, and for access to them,” it says.
In World War II, the ICRC visited prisoners of war but its mandate did not explicitly extend to civilians unless governments allowed it.
The ICRC acknowledges that during World War II, it “failed to speak out and more importantly act on behalf of the millions of people who suffered and perished in the death camps, especially the Jewish people targeted, persecuted, and murdered under the Nazi regime.”
In its statement, the ICRC reaffirmed that it was the “greatest failure” in the organization’s history, and said it unequivocally rejects anti-Semitism in all its forms.
The ICRC has been accused, particularly on social media, of not putting pressure on Israel to secure visits to Palestinian detainees since October 7, 2023, and also of not doing enough to help the wounded in the Gaza Strip.
The humanitarian organization says it has been actively engaging with the Israeli authorities “to allow for the resumption of ICRC visits and family contacts for these detainees.”
As for the wounded in Gaza, the ICRC said it had received requests to evacuate hospitals in the north, but could not regularly safely access the area due the “extremely difficult security situation — together with roads blocked and unreliable communications.”
Following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that came into effect on January 19, the ICRC, which already had 130 staff in Gaza, is deploying more personnel, including doctors.
In 1968, Leopold Boissier, a former ICRC president, noted that the criticism most frequently levelled at the organization “is the silence with which it surrounds some of its activities.”
Nearly 60 years later, the ICRC is facing similar accusations, notably since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Founded in Geneva in 1863, the organization, which has more than 18,000 staff in over 90 countries, denies being “complicit” and says it establishes trust through “confidential dialogue with all parties to the conflict.”
“Our neutrality and impartiality are critical to our ability to operate in any context.”
Egyptians protest at Rafah border crossing against Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians
- Trump said on Saturday that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from Gaza, which he called a “demolition site” following 15 months of Israeli bombardment
- Critics warned that Trump's suggestion was exactly what Israel's Zionist extremists have been trying to do, to kick out Palestinians from their homeland
CAIRO: Thousands of people demonstrated at the Rafah border crossing on Friday, an eyewitness told Reuters, in a rare state-sanctioned protest against a proposal earlier this week by US President Donald Trump for Egypt and Jordan to accept Gazan refugees.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Wednesday rejected the idea that Egypt would facilitate the displacement of Gazans and said Egyptians would take to the streets to express their disapproval.
Protesters could be heard chanting “Long Live Egypt” and waving Egyptian and Palestinian flags.
“We say no to any displacement of Palestine or Gaza at the expense of Egypt, on the land of Sinai,” said Sinai resident Gazy Saeed.
Trump said on Saturday that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from Gaza, which he called a “demolition site” following 15 months of Israeli bombardment that rendered most of its 2.3 million people homeless.
On Thursday, Trump forcefully reiterated the idea, saying “We do a lot for them, and they are going to do it,” in apparent reference to abundant US aid, including military assistance, to both Egypt and Jordan.
Any suggestion that Palestinians leave Gaza — territory they hope will become part of an independent state — has been anathema to the Palestinian leadership for generations and repeatedly rejected by neighboring Arab states since the Gaza war began in October 2023.
Jordan is already home to several million Palestinians, while tens of thousands live in Egypt.
Egypt’s president El-Sisi congratulates Syria’s new president Sharaa, statement says
CAIRO: Egypt President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi congratulated Syria’s new President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who was appointed on Wednesday by armed factions, and wished him success in achieving the Syrian people’s aspirations, El-Sisi said in a statement on Friday.
Sharaa, an Islamist who was once an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, has been trying to gain support from Arab and Western leaders since he led a rebel offensive that toppled former Syrian President Bashar Assad last year.
UN ‘alarmed’ at reported summary executions of civilians in Sudan
- After months of apparent stalemate in Khartoum, the army last week broke an almost two-year RSF siege of its Khartoum General Command headquarters.
GENEVA: The UN rights chief said Friday that he was “deeply alarmed” by reports of summary executions of civilians in Khartoum North, allegedly by Sudanese army fighters and allied militia.
“Deliberately taking the life of a civilian or anyone not or no longer directly taking part in hostilities is a war crime,” Volker Turk said in a statement.
The war between Sudan’s army (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023 has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million, according to the United Nations, and pushed millions to the brink of famine.
After months of apparent stalemate in Khartoum, the army last week broke an almost two-year RSF siege of its Khartoum General Command headquarters.
On the same day, the army reported reclaiming its Signal Corps base in Khartoum North, and expelling the RSF from the Jaili oil refinery north of Khartoum.
The UN rights office said it had verified the killings of at least 18 people, including one woman, in seven separate incidents “attributed to SAF-affiliated fighters and militia since the SAF regained control of the area on 25 January.”
“Many of the victims of these incidents, which took place in the vicinity the Al Jaili oil refinery, were originally from the Darfur or Kordofan regions of Sudan,” it said.
The rights office also highlighted “further disturbing allegations emanating from Khartoum North,” which it was still corroborating.
It noted a video circulated Thursday showing men in SAF uniform and members of the Al Baraa Bin Malik Brigade in Khartoum North “reading out a long list of names of alleged RSF collaborators, saying ‘Zaili’ — Arabic for ‘killed’ — after each name.”
“These reports of summary executions, following similar incidents earlier this month in Al Jazirah State, are deeply disturbing,” Turk said, adding that “such killings must not become normalized.”
He reiterated his call for “all parties to the conflict to take urgent action to protect civilians and to uphold obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law.”
“Independent investigations must be held into these incidents in line with relevant international standards.”
The rights office voiced fear of further attacks “amid shocking threats of violence against civilians.”
It said it had reviewed a video showing a member of the Al Baraa Bin Malik Brigade “threatening to slaughter the residents of El Hadj Yusif in East Nile,” an area of Khartoum North.
The office also denounced continued RSF attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including the shelling of a camp for displaced people in El-Fasher in North Darfur that killed nine civilians on Wednesday.
And on January 24, a drone attack on a maternity hospital in El-Fasher, attributed to the RSF, left at least 67 dead and 19 injured, it said.
“Deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects are abhorrent,” Turk said.
“Such attacks constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes.”
Released Palestinian Zakaria Zubeidi blames West for Israel’s occupation
- Zubeidi given hero’s welcome in Ramallah after being freed as part of Gaza ceasefire
- Former militant commander says US, UK, France have denied Palestinians their freedom
LONDON: One of the most prominent Palestinian figures freed this week by Israel as part of the Gaza ceasefire has blamed Western countries for the Israeli occupation.
Zakaria Zubeidi, a former militant commander in the West Bank, received a hero’s welcome when he arrived in Ramallah late on Thursday after his release by Israel.
The 49-year-old, who grew up in a refugee camp in Jenin, was jailed in 2019 after an Israeli military court convicted him of involvement in terrorism.
In an interview with Sky News, Zubeidi said he still believed in “a resistance that will lead us to freedom,” but claimed that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank had been allowed to continue by the international community.
He added: “Freedom has no price. But the world that has denied me my freedom — particularly Britain, France, and the United States — must return what they have taken from me and my children.
“They are the ones who need to reconsider their mistakes, not me.
“They are the ones who have wronged us, and they should think about rectifying the harm they have caused to me and my children.”
Such is Zubeidi’s popularity that he was greeted by the former Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.
“Palestinians are desperate for peace,” Shtayyeh said. “We want a genuine peace process that does really bring peace and justice for everybody.”
A long line of people at a school in Ramallah also waited to shake Zubeidi’s hand and hug him.
Zubeidi has been banned from returning to Jenin, where Israeli forces have launched military operations after switching their focus from Gaza to the West Bank.
Zubeidi has admitted a role in a bombing attack in 2002 during the Second Intifada that killed six Israeli civilians.
During that period he was the head of the Jenin Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of the Fatah political party.
Zubeidi’s father was arrested by Israel for being a Fatah member when Zubeidi was a child. Later, as a teenager, he was shot in the leg while throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.
Zubeidi’s mother and brother were killed in 2002 during Israeli military operations in Jenin.
His mother had hosted a theater group in Jenin to promote understanding between Palestinians and Israelis, which Zubeidi attended.
He was among six prisoners who escaped in 2021 by digging a tunnel with dining plates, before being captured five days later.
