GAZA: The Israeli army said it took control on Wednesday of a vital Gaza-Egypt corridor suspected of aiding weapons smuggling as it intensified its offensive against Hamas in the border city of Rafah.
The UN Security Council was set to meet for a second day of emergency talks after a strike at the weekend ignited a fire that Gaza officials said killed 45 people and injured about 250.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was among the many leaders to voice revulsion at the bloodshed, demanding that “this horror must stop.”
Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said, however, that the war could go on until the year’s end.
“We may have another seven months of fighting to consolidate our success and achieve what we have defined as the destruction of Hamas’s power and military capabilities,” Hanegbi said.
An Israeli military official later told reporters the army had taken “operational control” of the strategic, 14-kilometer (8.5-mile) Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.
The corridor had served as a buffer between Gaza and Egypt, but since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, there were fears it was being used to channel weapons to armed groups in the Palestinian territory.
Its seizure comes weeks after Israeli forces took the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which alleged Wednesday Israel was using claims of cross-border tunnels as cover for its Rafah offensive.
“Israel is using these allegations to justify continuing the operation on the Palestinian city of Rafah and prolonging the war for political purposes,” a high-level Egyptian source was quoted as saying by state-linked Al-Qahera News.
In besieged Rafah, witnesses reported escalated fighting with helicopters intensifying attacks, supported by artillery and smoke grenades.
Hamas’s military wing said it was firing rockets at Israeli troops.
AFPTV footage showed Palestinians with bloodied midriffs and bandaged limbs after being wounded in strikes near Khan Yunis, close to Rafah, being taken to the European Hospital on makeshift gurneys.
“The rockets fell directly on us. I was hurled three meters (yards)... I don’t know how I managed to get up on my feet,” said one who did not give his name.
Gaza’s civil defense said three bodies were recovered from a Khan Yunis house after it was shelled.
The United States has been among the countries urging Israel to refrain from a full-scale offensive into Rafah, the last Gaza city to see ground fighting, because of the risk to civilians.
However, the White House said Tuesday that so far it had not seen Israel cross President Joe Biden’s “red lines,” with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby saying: “We have not seen them smash into Rafah.”
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Israel to quickly devise a post-war strategy for Gaza, stressing: “In the absence of a plan for the day after, there won’t be a day after.”
A steady stream of civilians has been fleeing Rafah, the new hotspot in the gruelling war, many carrying belongings on their shoulders, in cars or on donkey-drawn carts.
Before the Rafah offensive began on May 7, the United Nations had warned that up to 1.4 million people were sheltering there. Since then, one million have fled the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Sunday’s strike and ensuing fire a “tragic accident.” The army said it had targeted a Hamas compound and killed two senior members of the group.
Israel’s military said it was investigating the strike, and its spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday that “our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size.”
Gaza civil defense agency official Mohammad Al-Mughayyir said 21 more people were killed in a similar strike Tuesday “targeting the tents of displaced people” in western Rafah.
The army denied this, saying it “did not strike in the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi,” an area it had designated for displaced people from Rafah to shelter.
New fighting also hit other areas of the besieged Palestinian territory of 2.4 million people.
In the north, Israeli military vehicles unleashed intense gunfire east of Gaza City, an AFP reporter said, and residents reported strikes on Jabalia.
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,171 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Nearly eight months into the deadliest Gaza war, Israel has faced ever louder opposition and cases before two Netherlands-based international courts.
At the UN Security Council, Algeria has presented a draft resolution that “demands an immediate ceasefire respected by all parties” and the release of all hostages.
Algeria’s UN ambassador Amar Bendjama has not specified when he hopes to put the draft to a vote.
Chinese ambassador Fu Cong expressed hope for a vote this week as President Xi Jinping told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Beijing he was “deeply pained” by the situation in Gaza.
French UN ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said “it’s high time for this council to take action. This is a matter of life and death. This is a matter of emergency.”
US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, when asked about the draft resolution, said: “We’re waiting to see it and then we’ll react to it.”
Brazil, whose ties with Israel have soured over the war, on Wednesday recalled its ambassador, further raising tensions between the two.
Meanwhile, the World Central Kitchen nonprofit organization said it was stopping its operations in Rafah because of “ongoing attacks” in the southern city.
Israel says it seizes key Gaza-Egypt corridor
https://arab.news/2bqw4
Israel says it seizes key Gaza-Egypt corridor
- “Israel is using these allegations to justify continuing the operation on the Palestinian city of Rafah and prolonging the war for political purposes,” Egyptian source said
- Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said, however, that the war could go on until the year’s end
Israeli settlers stormed Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound 20 times in February — report
- Israeli authorities repeatedly blocked calls to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron
- Awqaf documents Israeli violations against several West Bank mosques during military operations
LONDON: Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound in East Jerusalem’s Old City almost 20 times in February, according to a monthly report by the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs.
The ministry also reported that the number of Israeli settlers touring the Al-Aqsa compound under police protection increased in February. During the same period, Israeli authorities blocked calls to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron a total of 44 times.
Israeli authorities prevented some employees from accessing the mosque in February following the removal of the mosque’s director, Sheikh Moataz Abu Sneineh, from the site, the ministry said.
Access to the mosque, located in Hebron’s Old City, is possible only through an Israeli military checkpoint that surrounds the area.
The ministry condemned the Israeli escalation in Jerusalem and Hebron as Israel announced new restrictions on access to Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, which began on Saturday. It said that measures introduced at Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque were an attempt to “empty the mosque of its people and employees.”
Israeli violations were also documented against several West Bank mosques during night raids and military operations in February. These included Barqa Mosque, northwest of Nablus, and Salah Al-Din Mosque in the town of Abu Dis, in East Jerusalem.
In Kasra village, south of Nablus, the ministry said Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters in front of the town’s mosque during the Maghreb call to prayer, causing difficulty in breathing for some worshippers inside the mosque.
The ministry urged international organizations to halt Israeli violations in order to preserve religious, heritage, and historical sites in Palestine, according to a statement.
Syria forms committee to draft transitional constitutional declaration
- New authorities are focused on rebuilding Syria and its institutions after Assad’s removal in December
- Presidency announced the formation of a committee of experts tasked with drafting a constitutional declaration
DAMASCUS: The interim President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, announced on Sunday the formation of a committee to draft a constitutional declaration for the country’s transition after the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar Assad.
The new authorities are focused on rebuilding Syria and its institutions after Assad’s removal on December 8, ending more than half a century of his family’s iron-fisted rule and 13 years of devastating war.
The presidency announced “the formation of a committee of experts,” including one woman, tasked with drafting “the constitutional declaration that regulates the transitional phase” in Syria.
The seven-member committee would “submit its proposals to the president,” it said in a statement, without specifying a timeframe.
In late January, Sharaa, leader of Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) which spearheaded Assad’s overthrow, was appointed interim president for an unspecified period.
Syria’s new authorities have repealed the Assad-era constitution, and Sharaa has said rewriting it could take up to three years.
In late January, Sharaa promised a “constitutional declaration” to serve as a “legal reference” during the country’s transitional period.
Sunday’s announcement came “based on the Syrian people’s aspirations in building their state based on the rule of law, and building on the outcomes of the Syrian national dialogue conference,” said the presidency.
It also came “with the aim of preparing the legal framework regulating the transitional phase,” it added.
A national dialogue conference held this week in Damascus set out a path for the new Syria.
Who are the committee's members?
The committee includes Abdul Hamid Al-Awak, who holds a doctorate in constitutional law and lectures at a university in Turkiye, and Yasser Al-Huwaish, who was appointed this year as dean of Damascus university’s law faculty.
It also includes Bahia Mardini — the sole woman — a journalist with a doctorate in law who has been living in Britain, and Ismail Al-Khalfan, who holds a doctorate in law specializing in international law, and who this year was appointed law faculty dean at Aleppo university.
Another committee member, Mohammed Reda Jalkhi, holds a doctorate in law specializing in international law from Idlib university, where he graduated in 2023.
The final statement of this week’s dialogue conference called for “a constitutional committee to prepare a draft permanent constitution for the country that achieves balance between authorities, sets the values of justice, freedom and equality, and establishes a state of law an institutions.”
Syria’s conflict broke out in 2011 after Assad brutally repressed anti-government protests.
It spiralled into a complex conflict that has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions more domestically and abroad and battered the economy, infrastructure and industry.
In December, a caretaker government was appointed to steer the country until March 1, when a new government was due to be formed.
Israeli settlers storm Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound 20 times in February: report
- Israeli authorities repeatedly blocked calls to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron
- Awqaf documents Israeli violations against several West Bank mosques during military operations
LONDON: Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound in East Jerusalem’s Old City almost 20 times in February, according to a monthly report by the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs.
The ministry also reported that the number of Israeli settlers touring the Al-Aqsa compound under police protection increased in February. During the same period, Israeli authorities blocked calls to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron a total of 44 times.
Israeli authorities prevented some employees from accessing the mosque in February following the removal of the mosque’s director, Sheikh Moataz Abu Sneineh, from the site, the ministry said.
Access to the mosque, located in Hebron’s Old City, is possible only through an Israeli military checkpoint that surrounds the area.
The ministry condemned the Israeli escalation in Jerusalem and Hebron as Israel announced new restrictions on access to Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, which began on Saturday. It said that measures introduced at Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque were an attempt to “empty the mosque of its people and employees.”
Israeli violations were also documented against several West Bank mosques during night raids and military operations in February. These included Barqa Mosque, northwest of Nablus, and Salah Al-Din Mosque in the town of Abu Dis, in East Jerusalem.
In Kasra village, south of Nablus, the ministry said Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters in front of the town’s mosque during the Maghreb call to prayer, causing difficulty in breathing for some worshippers inside the mosque.
The ministry urged international organizations to halt Israeli violations in order to preserve religious, heritage, and historical sites in Palestine, according to a statement.
Prominent Lebanese Druze leader says he will visit Syria soon as tensions with Israel simmer
- Syrian Druze gunmen have clashed in recent days with government security forces in the city of Jaramana
- Israel said Saturday that it was instructing the military to prepare to protect the Druze in Jaramana
BEIRUT: A prominent Druze leader in Lebanon said Sunday that he will soon visit Syria to meet its interim leader as tensions simmer between members of the minority group, the war-torn country’s interim government, and Israel.
“The free Syrians must be cautious of the plots of Israel,” veteran Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said at a news conference Sunday, accusing Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of creating sectarian division and chaos in the country. “In Syria there is a plot for sabotage. There is a plot for sabotage in the region and for the Arabs’ national security.”
Syrian Druze gunmen have clashed in recent days with government security forces on the city of Jaramana, on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus.
Since the downfall of President Bashar Assad in December, Israel has pushed its forces into southern Syria to create a demilitarized buffer zone. Israel’s defense ministry said Saturday that it was instructing the military to prepare to defend Jaramana and protect the Druze.
In the Druze-majority southern province of Sweida, many who protested against the Assad government in recent years have also protested against Israel’s airstrikes and military push into the country.
The Druze religious sect is a minority group that began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. Over half of the roughly one million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981.
Jumblatt is one of Lebanon’s most prominent political leaders and arguably the Mideast’s most powerful Druze figure. He is both an outspoken critic of Israel and a supporter of the Palestinians, but also spoke out against the Assad dynasty in Syria.
He last visited Syria in December, days after a lightning insurgency led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham overthrew Bashar Assad, and met with interim leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa. In 2015 during the Syrian civil war, Jumblatt negotiated with Syrian opposition in Idlib, following reports of persecution and attacks on the Druze who lived in the northwestern province by extremist groups.
Frankly Speaking: Should Israel pay for rebuilding Gaza?
- Former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki Al-Faisal believes Israel bears financial responsibility for the damage in Gaza and West Bank
- Says hosting of US-Russia talks in Riyadh to end Ukraine war has reinforced Saudi Arabia’s role as a key global diplomatic actor
RIYADH: Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief and ambassador to the US and UK, has long been vocal about the plight of the Palestinian people and the destruction caused by Israel’s military campaigns.
Now, in the wake of the latest war in Gaza, he has called for a fundamental shift in how reconstruction efforts are financed — by forcing Israel to contribute to rebuilding the very infrastructure it has repeatedly destroyed.
Appearing on the Arab News current affairs program “Frankly Speaking,” Prince Turki laid out his case for why Israel should bear financial responsibility for the damage it has inflicted on Gaza and the West Bank — rather than the Gulf states footing the bill.
“I have been saying this for some time now, that there should be a fund, a worldwide fund for the reconstruction, not just in Gaza, but also in the West Bank. And Israel should be forced to chip in to that fund,” he told “Frankly Speaking” host Katie Jensen.
“We can’t have Israel, every time we reconstruct Gaza or the West Bank, coming and demolishing what has been reconstructed. That is unacceptable.
“And I think from now on, it is an issue of finality rather than temporary or procedural actions that are taken to build and then wait for the next round of destruction that comes from Israel. There has to be a finality for this situation by an end to the conflict.”
Israel mounted its military operation in Gaza in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which saw some 1,200 people killed, most of them civilians, and around 250 taken hostage, many of them foreign nationals.
At least 50,000 Palestinians were killed in the ensuing conflict and some 1.9 million displaced from their homes before a ceasefire deal was finally agreed on Jan. 19. Much of the enclave now lies in ruins and humanitarian needs are immense.
Prince Turki said a permanent ceasefire was the only way to guarantee that reconstruction efforts were not repeatedly undone by future Israeli military operations.
“The next phase of the ceasefire, as we have seen, will see a permanent ceasefire come into effect not just in Gaza but all of Palestine,” he said.
“That is the only way that we can guarantee that whatever is reconstructed can remain as a viable Palestinian state that can become independent and self-governing with all of the rights of its people.”
While much of the world’s focus has been on Gaza, Prince Turki warned that Israeli policies in the West Bank, where refugee camps have been raided by troops and settler violence has increased, should not be overlooked.
“The struggle for Palestine has not ended with the ceasefire in Gaza,” he said. “We see the Benjamin Netanyahu government doing similar things to what they did in Gaza in the West Bank, although at a slower pace than they did in Gaza.”
“They’re uprooting people in the West Bank, emptying some of the refugee camps there, and forcibly driving residents of the camps out with no destination. That is unacceptable as well. That is a form of ethnic cleansing. And yet Israel gets away with it, and nobody — especially not the US — condemns it.”
US President Donald Trump recently caused an international stir by sharing an AI-generated video on his Truth Social account depicting Gaza as a luxury holiday resort. In the surreal video, Palestinian children are seen emerging from rubble into a glitzy cityscape with cash raining from the sky. Elsewhere, Trump is seen sipping drinks with Netanyahu on a beachfront.
The video was a reference to comments Trump made in recent weeks about the possibility of removing the Palestinian people en masse to Egypt and Jordan and rebuilding Gaza as a “Riviera of the Middle East.”
When asked what Trump was hoping to achieve by sharing the video, Prince Turki said: “I don’t know. No shock can be enough of a reaction to what he’s up to. Some people have said that he does that in order to instigate or to inspire reaction in one form or another.
“Well, he doesn’t need to do that, because definitely the brutality of the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians does inspire reactions not just from the Arab world but from the world community.”
Despite the controversy, Prince Turki noted that the international community’s response to the war in Gaza had been unprecedented. “I must say that throughout this brutal attack on the Palestinians by the Netanyahu government, the world reaction has been quite good,” he said.
“You saw the demonstrations that took place and are still taking place in various places around the world in opposition to this brutality and in support of the freedom and independence of a Palestinian state. That is a very healthy sign.”
With the Arab League holding an extraordinary summit on March 4 in Cairo to discuss alternative proposals for Gaza’s postwar future, among other pressing issues facing the region, Prince Turki was cautious about predicting the outcome of the talks.
“I really have no idea whatsoever,” he said. “Of course, I was not party to the talks and I have not seen any public statement about them. What I read in speculation, you know, in media outlets, whether in Israel or America or the Arab world, I would wait until the meeting takes place and we see what is said by the officials themselves.”
Asked whether Hamas could have a role to play in governing postwar Gaza, perhaps as part of the Palestinian Authority, and whether the West would tolerate such an arrangement, Prince Turki said there were those within the Palestinian militant group who rightly prioritize the needs of the Gazan people who could well be included.
“When you say Hamas, there are individuals who are definitely neutral, if you like, and more in terms of not bound by party or by commitment to either Hamas or Fatah or any of the other Palestinian groupings there,” he said.
“Those are the people, I think, who should be in charge of Gaza and meeting the needs of the people of Gaza.”
Turning to Lebanon, Prince Turki expressed optimism about the country’s new government, headed by President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. Aoun arrives in Saudi Arabia on Monday on his first official trip abroad since being elected president on January 9.
The new government was created after more than two years of political paralysis, which had prevented Lebanon’s recovery from its devastating financial crisis that began in 2019 and the 15-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began in October 2023.
“The Kingdom has wholeheartedly supported the actions of the Lebanese parliament in electing the president,” Prince Turki said. “And now the president has designated a prime minister and I think they have announced a (cabinet) that hopefully will take its place as the ruling government of Lebanon.”
He added: “I think the Lebanese people are tired of having to be the sacrificial lamb, if you like, for either sectarian or other political factions, whether they be Hezbollah or some other Lebanese parties in the course of the development in the future.
“So, it is the Lebanese people, I think, who will be the safeguards of this new direction. And I hope that the support that is coming to Lebanon, not just from Saudi Arabia, but from the world community, will help that government to become more effective in meeting the needs of the Lebanese people.”
Although the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia remains a substantial force in Lebanon, its mauling by Israel has left it severely diminished, allowing the Lebanese state to reassert itself. Prince Turki said Saudi investors are now eager to return to Lebanon.
“I hear from Saudis here that they’re willing and anxious to be able, if you like, to go back to Lebanon,” he said. “Those who have not invested yet, I think, are also thinking of the opportunities there.
“The Lebanese people are a very talented people, and Lebanon has always been a commercial hub for the Arab world. I remember my late father, King Faisal, used to say in those days, of course, that Lebanon is the lungs of the Arab world. I hope it returns to that.”
The Kingdom recently hosted high-level talks between the US and Russia to discuss a potential peace deal in Ukraine and other topics. In doing so, they reinforced Saudi Arabia’s position as a key player in global diplomacy.
“They seem to have set a course forward on a mutual return of diplomatic representation and also mutual cooperation, not only politically but also in terms of commercial and other enterprises that can bring benefit to their two peoples,” Prince Turki said of Moscow and Washington.
“It’s good to see that the potential for nuclear war between America and Russia has decreased incredibly. Is a reassuring sign that we do not face a nuclear holocaust, for which there might have been a reason had this meeting not taken place.”
Prince Turki, who is a co-founder and trustee of the Saudi-headquartered King Faisal Foundation, an international philanthropic organization, emphasized that the Kingdom’s diplomatic efforts extended beyond Ukraine.
Alluding to Riyadh’s facilitation of peace parleys between Eritrea and Ethiopia; Djibouti and Ethiopia; and between the Houthi militia and the UN-recognized government of Yemen, he said: “Saudis are proud that they are the place where people are coming to find solutions.”
