Fears grow for Rafah as Israel-Hamas war rages on 200th day

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People rush to landing humanitarian aid packages dropped over the northern Gaza Strip on April 23, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (AFP)
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Updated 24 April 2024
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Fears grow for Rafah as Israel-Hamas war rages on 200th day

  • Citing Egyptian officials briefed on the Israeli plans, the Wall Street Journal said Israel was planning to move civilians from Rafah to nearby Khan Yunis over a period of two to three weeks
  • Israel has killed at least 34,183 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: The Israel-Hamas war entered its 200th day on Tuesday as aid groups warned that Israeli plans to invade the southern city of Rafah where most Gazans have taken refuge would create an “apocalyptic situation.”
Fears have been rising that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon follow through on repeated threats to send troops into Rafah, where 1.5 million people have sought shelter, many in makeshift encampments.
“Everybody seems to be on a countdown to war across the largest displacement camp on Earth, which is Rafah,” Norwegian Refugee Council chief Jan Egeland told AFP.
Egeland warned that a ground assault on Rafah would be an “apocalyptic situation” and that humanitarian groups “are completely in the dark on how to mitigate this countdown to a catastrophe.”
Also on Tuesday, the United Nations rights office said it was “horrified” at reports of mass graves found at the Gaza Strip’s two biggest hospitals after Israeli sieges and raids.
Israel has repeatedly targeted Gazan medical facilities during the war, accusing Hamas of using them as command centers and to hold hostages abducted on October 7. Hamas denies the accusation.
Over the past three days, Gaza’s Civil Defense agency said nearly 340 bodies were uncovered of people killed and buried by Israeli forces at the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis.
Israel’s army responded by saying that claims it had buried Palestinian bodies were “baseless and unfounded,” without directly addressing allegations that Israeli troops were behind the killings.
The army said that “corpses buried by Palestinians” had been examined by Israeli troops searching for hostages and then “returned to their place.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk called for an “independent” probe into the deaths at Nasser and Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospitals, noting the “special protection” awarded to medical facilities under international law.
UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said some of the bodies found at Nasser were allegedly “found with their hands tied and stripped of their clothes,” adding that efforts were underway to corroborate the reports.
AFP images from the scene showed numerous bodies under white shrouds in front of the bombed-out Nasser Hospital.
The White House said it would discuss the subject with Israel.
“Obviously scenes of mass graves in general are deeply concerning but I don’t have anything that can confirm the veracity of those,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

The Israeli army carried out intense shelling overnight of Gaza City, AFP correspondents and witnesses said.
Shelling and loud explosions were heard in southwest Gaza and Khan Yunis city, while strikes hit the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps in central Gaza.
The war began with an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 that resulted in the death of around 1,170 people, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
In retaliation, Israel launched a military offensive that has killed at least 34,183 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The Israeli army announced the death of a soldier in Gaza, raising its toll to 261 since the ground operation began.
Israel estimates that 129 of the roughly 250 people abducted during the Hamas attack remain in Gaza, including 34 who the military says are dead.
Public pressure has mounted on Netanyahu’s government to strike a truce deal that would secure the release of the remaining hostages.
Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, said that “after 200 days, the enemy remains trapped in the sands of Gaza” and the hostages would “most likely” not return home soon.
At a rally near Netanyahu’s home in the coastal town of Caesarea, protesters including relatives of hostages set fire to a symbolic Passover table at the start of the week-long Jewish holiday on Monday.
Dalit Shtivi, whose son Idan was kidnapped on October 7, said she was struggling to cope without him during Passover, also known as the “holiday of freedom.”
“It’s so hard. I cannot explain the pain. I cannot... think of celebrating without him,” she said.

Outcry has been growing around the world against Israel’s offensive, which has turned vast areas of Gaza to rubble and sparked fears of famine.
Hundreds of students have been arrested in recent days at pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the campuses of prominent universities in the United States, Israel’s top ally and military supplier.
In Gaza, the United Nations says “multiple obstacles” continue to impede delivery of urgently needed aid for Gazans desperate for food, water, shelter and medicine.
But Netanyahu has vowed to press on with a planned offensive on Rafah, on the besieged territory’s border with Egypt.
Citing Egyptian officials briefed on the Israeli plans, the Wall Street Journal said Israel was planning to move civilians from Rafah to nearby Khan Yunis over a period of two to three weeks.
Satellite images shared by Maxar Technologies showed tent camps that had recently been set up in that area.
The Journal reported that Israel would then send troops into Rafah gradually, targeting areas where Hamas’s leaders are thought to be hiding, in a military operation that would last six weeks.

The European Union’s humanitarian chief Janez Lenarcic called on international donors to fund the United Nations agency UNRWA, which has been central to aid operations in Gaza.
His comment came after a much-awaited independent report found that “Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence” for its claim that UNRWA employs “terrorists.”
The report did find “neutrality-related issues,” such as agency staff sharing biased posts on social media.
After the report was released, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini called for an investigation into the “blatant disregard” for UN operations in Gaza, adding that 180 of the agency’s staff have been killed since the war began.
While some countries have renewed funding for the agency, the US and Britain are among the hold-outs.
The White House would “have to see real progress” before it restores funding, Kirby said.
The Gaza war has triggered violence across the region, with deadly cross-border exchanges on Tuesday between the Israeli army and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a Hamas ally.
The Iran-backed Lebanese group said it launched drones at northern Israeli army bases in retaliation for a strike deep into Lebanon that killed a Hezbollah fighter.
A woman and a girl were killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon later on Tuesday, local rescuers and official media said.
 

 


Egypt grand museum delay puts tourism hopes on hold

Updated 58 min 36 sec ago
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Egypt grand museum delay puts tourism hopes on hold

  • The vast museum, two decades in the making, has faced repeated delays
  • Tourism accounts for about 10 percent of Egypt’s workforce, but the sector has struggled

CAIRO: In the shadow of the Grand Egyptian Museum, souvenir shop owner Mona has been readying for the tourist boom she hoped the long-awaited opening would bring – now once again out of reach.

“I had bet everything on this opening,” she said from her shop, just steps from the iconic pyramids of Giza, which the much-anticipated museum overlooks.

Originally scheduled to fully open this month, the museum was expected to attract up to five million visitors annually, fueling optimism across Cairo’s battered tourism sector.

“We planned our entire summer and fall packages around the museum opening,” said Nadine Ahmed, a 28-year-old agent with Time Travel tours.

“But with group cancelations, refunds and route changes, we’ve lost tens of thousands of dollars.”

Though parts of the museum have been open for months, the main draw – the treasures of Tutankhamun – will remain under wraps until the official launch.

Less than three weeks before its July 3 opening, the government announced another delay, this time pushing the landmark event to the final quarter of the year.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly cited regional security concerns and the desire to host an event of “global scale.”

The vast museum, two decades in the making, has faced repeated delays – from political upheaval and economic crises to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ahead of the expected launch, Mona, who asked to be identified by her first name only, took out a loan to renovate her store and stock up on goods inspired by the museum’s collection.

A few streets away, Mohamed Mamdouh Khattab, 38, prepared months in advance, hiring and training extra staff and expanding his inventory.

“The opening of the museum is a key milestone,” said Khattab, who owns a sprawling bazaar of handcrafted jewelry and ancient replicas.

“It’s a project that should have been launched a long time ago,” said the vendor, whose family has been in the industry since the 1970s.

Tourism accounts for about 10 percent of Egypt’s workforce, but the sector has struggled – from the fallout of the 2011 Arab Spring to militant attacks and the COVID-19 shutdown.

Still, signs of recovery have emerged: Egypt welcomed 3.9 million tourists in the first quarter of 2025, up 25 percent from the same period last year – itself a record.

At a Giza papyrus workshop, 30-year-old tour guide Sara Mahmoud hopes the opening will revive visitor numbers.

“Big openings have brought a lot of tourism to Egypt before,” she said, pointing to the 2021 Pharaohs’ Golden Parade and the reopening of the Avenue of the Sphinxes.

“These events get people excited – we saw the crowds coming in.”

Such momentum could make a real difference, said Ragui Assaad, an economist at the University of Minnesota.

“Any initiative that directly increases foreign exchange earnings is likely to have a good return on investment,” he said.

“If you compare it with all the other mega-projects, which do not increase foreign exchange earnings... this is a far better project.”

He was referring to a sweeping infrastructure drive under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, including the construction of a massive new administrative capital east of Cairo.

The stakes are high: since 2022, Egypt’s currency has lost two-thirds of its value, squeezing household budgets and straining every layer of the economy.

“There were days when I sold just one bracelet,” Mona lamented, thinking back to the years when “tourists arrived in droves.”


Israeli ultra-Orthodox party leaves government over conscription bill

Updated 15 July 2025
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Israeli ultra-Orthodox party leaves government over conscription bill

  • Ultra-Orthodox parties have argued that a bill to exempt yeshiva students was a key promise in their agreement to join the coalition in late 2022

JERUSALEM: One of Israel's ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism, said it was quitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition due to a long-running dispute over failure to draft a bill to exempt yeshiva students from military service.
Six of the remaining seven members of UTJ, which is comprised of the Degel Hatorah and Agudat Yisrael factions, wrote letters of resignation. Yitzhak Goldknopf, chairman of UTJ, had resigned a month ago.
That would leave Netanyahu with a razor thin majority of 61 seats in the 120 seat Knesset, or parliament.
It was not clear whether Shas, another ultra-Orthodox party, would follow suit.
Degel Hatorah said in a statement that after conferring with its head rabbis, "and following repeated violations by the government to its commitments to ensure the status of holy yeshiva students who diligently engage in their studies ... (its MKs) have announced their resignation from the coalition and the government."
Ultra-Orthodox parties have argued that a bill to exempt yeshiva students was a key promise in their agreement to join the coalition in late 2022.
A spokesperson for Goldknopf confirmed that in all, seven UTJ Knesset members are leaving the government.
Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers have long threatened to leave the coalition over the conscription bill.
Some religious parties in Netanyahu's coalition are seeking exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students from military service that is mandatory in Israel, while other lawmakers want to scrap any such exemptions altogether.
The ultra-Orthodox have long been exempt from military service, which applies to most other young Israelis, but last year the Supreme Court ordered the defence ministry to end that practice and start conscripting seminary students.
Netanyahu had been pushing hard to resolve a deadlock in his coalition over a new military conscription bill, which has led to the present crisis.
The exemption, in place for decades and which over the years has spared an increasingly large number of people, has become a heated topic in Israel with the military still embroiled in a war in Gaza. 

 


More than 100 migrants freed in Libya after being held captive by gang, officials say

Updated 15 July 2025
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More than 100 migrants freed in Libya after being held captive by gang, officials say

  • As of December 2024, around 825,000 migrants from 47 countries were recorded in Libya, according to UN data released in May

BENGHAZI: More than 100 migrants, including five women, have been freed from captivity after being held for ransom by a gang in eastern Libya, the country’s attorney general said on Monday.
“A criminal group involved in organizing the smuggling of migrants, depriving them of their freedom, trafficking them, and torturing them to force their families to pay ransoms for their release,” a statement from the attorney general said.
Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe via the dangerous route across the desert and over the Mediterranean following the toppling of Muammar Qaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.
Many migrants desperate to make the crossing have fallen into the hands of traffickers. The freed migrants had been held in Ajdabiya, some 160 km (100 miles) from Libya’s second city Benghazi.
Five suspected traffickers from Libya, Sudan and Egypt, have been arrested, officials said.
The attorney general and Ajdabiya security directorate posted pictures of the migrants on their Facebook pages which they said had been retrieved from the suspects’ mobile phones.
They showed migrants with hands and legs cuffed with signs that they had been beaten.
In February, at least 28 bodies were recovered from a mass grave in the desert north of Kufra city. Officials said a gang had subjected the migrants to torture and inhumane treatment.
That followed another 19 bodies being found in a mass grave in the Jikharra area, also in southeastern Libya, a security directorate said, blaming a known smuggling network.
As of December 2024, around 825,000 migrants from 47 countries were recorded in Libya, according to UN data released in May.
Last week, the EU migration commissioner and ministers from Italy, Malta and Greece met with the internationally recognized prime minister of the national unity government, Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and discussed the migration crisis. 

 


Mediators working to bridge gaps in faltering Gaza truce talks

Updated 15 July 2025
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Mediators working to bridge gaps in faltering Gaza truce talks

  • Hamas’s top negotiator, Khalil Al-Hayya, and the leadership of Hamas and Islamic Jihad held a “consultative meeting” in Doha on Sunday evening to “coordinate visions and positions,” a Palestinian source with knowledge of the talks told AFP
  • US President Donald Trump said he was still hopeful of securing a truce deal, telling reporters on Sunday night: “We are talking and hopefully we’re going to get that straightened out over the next week”

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Stuttering Gaza ceasefire talks entered a second week on Monday, with meditators seeking to close the gap between Israel and Hamas, as more than 20 people were killed across the Palestinian territory.
The indirect negotiations in Qatar appear deadlocked after both sides blamed the other for blocking a deal for the release of hostages and a 60-day ceasefire after 21 months of fighting.
An official with knowledge of the talks said they were “ongoing” in Doha on Monday, telling AFP: “Discussions are currently focused on the proposed maps for the deployment of Israeli forces within Gaza.”
“Mediators are actively exploring innovative mechanisms to bridge the remaining gaps and maintain momentum in the negotiations,” the source added on condition of anonymity.
Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who wants to see the Palestinian militant group destroyed — of being the main obstacle.
“Netanyahu is skilled at sabotaging one round of negotiations after another, and is unwilling to reach any agreement,” the group wrote on Telegram.
In Gaza, the civil defense agency said at least 22 people were killed Monday in the latest Israeli strikes in and around Gaza City and in Khan Yunis in the south.
An Israeli military statement said troops had destroyed “buildings and terrorist infrastructure” used by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza City’s Shujaiya and Zeitun areas.
The Al-Quds Brigades — the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, which has fought alongside Hamas — released footage on Monday that it said showed its fighters firing missiles at an Israeli army command and control center near Shujaiya.
The military later on Monday said three soldiers — aged 19, 20 and 21 — “fell during combat in the northern Gaza Strip” and died in hospital on Monday. Another from the same battalion was severely injured.

US President Donald Trump said he was still hopeful of securing a truce deal, telling reporters on Sunday night: “We are talking and hopefully we’re going to get that straightened out over the next week.”
Hamas’s top negotiator, Khalil Al-Hayya, and the leadership of Hamas and Islamic Jihad held a “consultative meeting” in Doha on Sunday evening to “coordinate visions and positions,” a Palestinian source with knowledge of the talks told AFP.
“Egyptian, Qatari and American mediators continue their efforts that make Israel present a modified withdrawal map that would be acceptable,” they added.
On Saturday, the same source said Hamas rejected Israeli proposals to keep troops in more than 40 percent of Gaza, as well as plans to move Palestinians into an enclave on the border with Egypt.
A senior Israeli political official countered by accusing Hamas of inflexibility and trying to deliberately scupper the talks by “clinging to positions that prevent the mediators from advancing an agreement.”

Netanyahu has said he would be ready to enter talks for a more lasting ceasefire once a deal for a temporary truce is agreed, but only when Hamas lays down its arms.
He is under pressure to wrap up the war, with military casualties rising and with public frustration mounting at both the continued captivity of the hostages taken on October 7 and a perceived lack of progress in the conflict.
Politically, Netanyahu’s fragile governing coalition is holding, for now, but he denies being beholden to a minority of far-right ministers in prolonging an increasingly unpopular conflict.
He also faces a backlash over the feasibility, cost and ethics of a plan to build a so-called “humanitarian city” from scratch in southern Gaza to house Palestinians if and when a ceasefire takes hold.
Israel’s security establishment is reported to be unhappy with the plan, which the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Olmert have described as a “concentration camp.”
“If they (Palestinians) will be deported there into the new ‘humanitarian city’, then you can say that this is part of an ethnic cleansing,” Olmert was quoted as saying by The Guardian newspaper late on Sunday.
Hamas’s attack on Israel in 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
A total of 251 hostages were taken that day, of whom 49 are still being held, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s military reprisals have killed 58,386 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

 


Paramilitary attack kills 48 in central Sudan village: war monitor

Updated 15 July 2025
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Paramilitary attack kills 48 in central Sudan village: war monitor

  • Over 4 million refugees have fled Sudan’s more than two-year civil war to seven neighboring countries where shelter conditions are widely viewed as inadequate due to chronic funding shortages

PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed 48 civilians in an attack on a village in the center of the war-torn country, a monitoring group reported Monday.
The Emergency Lawyers, a group that has documented atrocities throughout the two-year conflict between the regular army and the RSF, reported civilians were killed en masse Sunday when paramilitary fighters stormed the village of Um Garfa in North Kordofan state, razing houses and looting property.